"_December_ 14th.--Went to pass the afternoon with Longfellow,
and found his son able to walk about a little. He described his own
arrival at a railway station south of Washington. He found no one
there but a rough-looking officer, who was walking up and down the
platform. At each turn he regarded Longfellow, and at length came up,
and taking his hand said:
"'Is this Professor Longfellow? It was I who translated "Hiawatha"
into Russian. I have come to this country to fight for the Union.'"
In the year 1865 began those Wednesday evenings devoted to reading the
new translation of Dante. They were delightful occasions. Lowell,
Norton, Greene, Howells, and such other Dante scholars or intimate
friends as were accessible, made up the circle of kindly critics.
Those evenings increased in interest as the work progressed, and when
it was ended and the notes written and read, it was proposed to
re-read the whole rather than to give up the weekly visit to Longfellow's
house. In 1866 he wrote to Mr. Fields:--
"Greene is coming expressly to hear the last canto of 'Paradiso' to-
morrow night, and will stay the rest of the week. I really hoped you
would be here, but as you say nothing about it I begin to tremble.
Perhaps, however, you are only making believe and will take us by
surprise. So I shall keep your place for you.
"This is not to be the end of all things. I mean to begin again in
September with the dubious and difficult passages; and if you are not
in too much of a hurry to publish, there is still a long vista of
pleasant evenings stretching out before us. We can pull them out like
a spyglass. I am shutting up now to recommence the operation."