8:00 P.M. W. in his room reading Symonds' essays. Had he gone back to it for more than casual glimpses? "Well, I suppose I have. I have been reading the book off and on now for several days." Said, "I am disappointed not to get a word from Bucke today. This was the day I had set." Mrs. Davis brought up some ice cream. "Oh!" exclaimed he, "is it a treat, Mary?" After she had gone and he had swallowed the first spoonful, "Cold is thy bath, Apollo!" Had the ride hurt him Saturday? "O no! Not a bit! And then these two delicious days on top of it! I am in luck!" He had seen disrespectful allusion to Fanny Wright in newspaper. "They do not understand—she was one of the noblest—none nobler—and beautiful, too! Had she lived among the Greeks, they would have made her a goddess! I suppose altogether the most beautiful woman I have ever known. Mary Costelloe—do you know Mary? Mary is a beauty, too—has points not unlike." Next said, "O'Donovan was over—he tells me they will go to Harleigh in a day or two. It is not improbable but I shall go along." To be photoed in front of tomb? "No, not that! Remember what I told you the other day," which was to this effect (while we were driving), "Not a bit of it! I am not to be in it! That time will come!"—a grim pleasantry!—"but is not here yet. I will depute you, Horace, or Anne here, or Warrie, to take my place."
I picked up a pamphlet from the table—"A Woman on the Case"—W. saying, "Haven't you seen it? Have you heard of Cones? He sent a letter with it. Take it along if you are curious at all. It is woman's rights—an argument." 1726 N Street Washington, D.C. July 21, 1891 My Dear Friend, If I may call you so—I wish you peace and joy, and many more years in which to know and feel how great is your fame. We have seldom met, and you will hardly remember me; but I recall pleasant hours with you in this city, just after the war, and I not long since came to see you in your home, with Mrs. Cones, among the many visitors who wish to do you homage. Some of your published expressions lead me to think you may be in sympathy with the spirit of a little tract which I send, and which please accept. Should you find time to glance at it, and find any reflection of thoughts that have passed across the mirror of your own mind, I should be proud and pleased. Your sincere friend, Elliott Cones Here was also Johnston's Bolton letter of 23d May. "There are curious things in it for you. How reverent those Lancashire fellows seem! Are eligible to it." And he has a poem "from one Danson, Kansas City," written in "palpable presence of 'Leaves of Grass.'"
Kept on through all this eating the cream, which he says "has a direct personal application to the best spot in a man's make-up!" We took up question of diet. He said, "I study everything—try not to take any risks." And when I told him my own preferences, "All simple tastes! All excellent simple tastes!" Further, "Have you ever tasted any of Mary's dumplings? They are the best ever was! I love them—though nowadays I cut off even there!"
Did not Kennedy write less than of old? "He don't write at all. It has been weeks now without any word. But Sloane is busy—his work is exacting. I know nothing which makes more demand upon a man—to read proofs day in and out, nights, anytime." Sailor downstairs with Warren—a brother of the lost Nesbit. Warren playing violin with great vehemence, to show what he could do—W. inquired of Mrs. Davis when she came into the room.