CHAPTER VIII. LONGFELLOW VISITS JULES JANIN. "A millstone and the human heart are driven ever round, If they have nothing else to grind, they must themselves be ground." THE RESTLESS HEART. "Perchance the living still may look Into the pages of this book, And see the days of long ago, END TALES OF A WAYSIDE INN. HE rain commenced to fall about noon, and we were in for a wet day. No one could go out of doors, and even the favorite terrace was so deluged with salt spray and mist, that it was quite unsafe. The professor was very well, and seemed to enjoy the gloomy down-pour. I was visibly reminded of his exquisite poem, and said softly to myself: "The day is cold, and dark and dreary." He interrupted me: my favorite "You are trying to flatter me," said he, smiling; "still you must know that that is one of poems." I continued to repeat a portion, until he looked up with a quick sense of humor, and said : "I know the lines!" After that we all laughed, and there were no more poetic quotations. After luncheon we again assembled in the drawing-room, and commenced a talk and discussion on things in general. Longfellow is a charming conversationalist, and it was peculiar that while he spoke, with the greatest beauty and ease, seven languages, he never interlarded a word from one tongue into a conversation held in another. If English, it was all English, with beautiful round phrases, and the choicest of words. If necessary to use one of the many expressions that have become familiar to the Anglo-Saxon, he even then translated it immediately, which gave an adequate idea of his exactitude in speech, and the value he set upon his mother tongue. He spoke of his visit to Paris as a student, and a call on Jules Janin. "I went up five flights of terrible stairs," he said, "and when you have seen some of those houses in the Quartier Latin (Latin quarter), you may imagine what those particular stairs were like. I rapped on a door, as there was no bell-rope visible, and a smiling maid showed me into a very small antechamber, and from thence into a modest parlor, study and dining-room, all in one. "The greatest confusion reigned everywhere, and the master of the house, sitting among his household gods, was the greatest study of all. "He greeted me with French effusion, and a pen in his hand, freshly dipped in ink-turned around with such vivacity that a large drop splashed almost in my face. He half dragged me into a chair which he said looked uninviting, but was really very com fortable. He then called some one, with a clear voice. A very young lady came into the apartment. She was introduced as Madame Janin, and I had barely time to look at her when he started up and said, Now that you are come, we will have dinner.' "I did not see where we would have it, but he smiled with delight, saying, 'Watch me,' and I did. "He swept everything off the table on the floor in the corner of the room, and with great glee announced the banqueting board ready. "The maid came in, quickly laid the cloth, and before I realized it a steaming soup was on the table. He insisted on putting me in front of him, and madame at his right. "The soup was a very excellent pot-au-feu, and' although a little bewildered by the rapid way in which things had come about, I was a hungry student, and did not need a second invitation. "Jules Janin was a very bright man, with a good disposition, and exceedingly gay. He talked about Paris life and women in a way that amazed me, and all with an air of perfect propriety that was astound ing. The more surprised I was to see the meek young woman who sat at his side, laugh with him and enjoy jokes that I could not listen to without blushing. He rattled them off with such infinite zest that I began to think something had been amiss with my education, as I seemed not to appreciate them in the right way. He was debonair and friendly with the madame, often stopping in the midst of his speech to pat her cheek, call her his dear little cabbage, or smile upon her with an affection that was quite charming to see. She never spoke, and seemed, however, beyond this quite a nonentity. "Well, this dinner was one of startling surprises to me. I thought then that I enjoyed it, and I did-the eating part, but the looseness of the conversation scarcely compared favorably with what I had been accustomed to. Towards the dessert, he became more serious, and I listened to his really brilliant remarks with great pleasure. "He gave me much very useful information, and I have since seen how true were his sayings in one When we had finished our coffee, he sug sense. |