5.30 P.M. W. had just finished dinner. "See the cookies," he said, pointing to the table—"take some of them: they will please you—they are Mary's."
Informed me he had "sent off a number of the Bruno books today." On the table a blue-pencilled memorandum that he had done so to Tennyson, Symonds, Rossetti, Dowden, Sarrazin and some others. He offered the mem. to me. "Suppose you give it to Dr. Brinton to show him how we are bestowing the books." I suggested retaining till next week—he might have more to send: which he acquiesced in. One copy addressed to Dowden and endorsed, "Walt Whitman America," he asked me to put in the P.O. as I passed.
Coughed much and complained that the cough hurt his throat and head. His color better than for some days: a trace of paleness still visible. Amusedly, showed me a new pair of shoes—the first shoes to the ankle he had worn in several years. Straightened his leg out so I could inspect them—thought them "a bargain at 3 dollars" and laughed at the idea of his "hunting bargains."
Said that Jim Scovel and Charlie Jefferies had been in today. Jim "was sober and looked well." Somehow having something to say of policemen at large, W. remarked: "I am under the impression that the London police are the best of all—more human, more knowing, better calculated for their work. I know we often hear of their brutality—brutality in the face of mobs; but then, in the case of mobs, the brutality is probably on both sides."