e Bishop spoke this summer on "Sidney Lanier and
His Poetry," and placed him high on the roll of American poets.

Another lecturer who pleased us all was the bright essayist, Samuel
McChord Crothers. His paper on "The Society for Polite Unlearning" was
heard by a crowd in the Hall of Philosophy. Most of the audience caught
the undertone of wisdom with the wit, but a few thought that it was only
funny, in which they were mistaken. Dr. Shailer Mathews, Dr. C. F. Aked,
and Bishop McDowell were among those who conducted the daily Devotional
Services.

Grand Army Day was a dramatic occasion in the fact that before an
audience of old Union soldiers, in their G. A. R. uniforms, the address
was given by Mrs. LaSalle Corbell Pickett, the widow of General George
Edward Pickett of the Confederate Army, who led the famous "Pickett's
Charge" in the battle of Gettysburg--an attack that stands in history
beside the "Charge of the Light Brigade," sung by Tennyson. Her story
of that great day, deciding the destiny of a continent, was listened to,
not merely with interest, but with outbreaking enthusiasm by an audience
of Union soldiers, who honored the memory of a soldier whom they looked
upon less as a foe than as a hero.

One little incident told by Mrs. Pickett we must make room for; in
substance it was this: On Lee's march through Pennsylvania, Pickett's
division passed a young girl who waved a United States flag, and then,
fastening it around her waist, cried, "Traitors! come and touch this
flag if you dare!" At this fierce challenge, a mingled stir of many
voices went through the long gray ranks and many a rifle shifted
uneasily. General Pickett rode in front of his men, and with true
southern chivalry saluted her flag. Then he turned and faced his men.
The soldiers followed his example, and as they passed by, every hat was
swung aloft in honor of the girl and her flag. The little maiden was so
overcome by this generosity that she cried out, "I wish I had a rebel
flag; I'd wave that too!"

In October, 1907, the Colonnade Building, which had been standing only
two years, was wholly destroyed by fire, causing a loss of $100,000,
with an insurance of about $55,000. The indirect loss is not easy to
estimate, for it included the contents of the stores and the issues of
the Magazine ready for mailing, with much other printed matter of the
Institution. This was the fourth fire which had occurred during the
thirty-four years of Chauta