and had a Swiss chalet
in his garden for them to use as a playhouse. Many great people gave
them dinners and parties. But what pleased them most of all was the
respect shown their father. One of the daughters still lives in Craigie
House, which is often visited by people who love Longfellow's poems and
who wish to see the rooms in which he lived.

Longfellow could sell his verses as fast as he wrote them. A New York
editor once paid Longfellow three thousand dollars for one short poem.
And imagine how proud his wife and children must have been to overhear
people saying: "I wonder if Mr. Longfellow has written anything lately.
If he has, I must read it!" Imagine how happy it made his father that he
had kept his word: "If you will let me have my way, I will promise to be
famous in something." And surely all the Americans who were on that
steamer and heard the Russian, the Greek, and other foreigners reciting
Longfellow's poems must have been proud that a man from their own
country had won the name of "The Poet of Every Land."

JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER

It was about seventy-five years ago that the Emperor of Russia, Nicolas
I., made up his mind that he wanted a railroad between Moscow and St.
Petersburg. He meant to have it one of the best in the world. So he
called an officer into his council chamber and said: "Now take plenty of
time to look about in the different countries, have all the men you want
to help you, but find me, somewhere, an engineer that will lay out a
perfect railroad line." Men appointed by this colonel traveled some
months. They visited many cities, wrote letters, and asked advice. Then
the colonel went back to the emperor and said: "The man you need to do
this piece of work lives in the United States of America."

"What's his name?" asked Nicolas.

"He is Major George Washington Whistler. He is one of the founders of
the city in which he lives, Lowell, Massachusetts. He is a
distinguished army officer and a fine engineer."

"He is named for a great officer," answered Nicolas, remembering our
General Washington, and he dispatched a letter to the Lowell engineer.

The major made haste to start for Russia, because the honor was great,
and the payment would be generous. He left his boys and his wife behind,
because he did not know just how comfortable he could make them in the
far-off country, but he told the boys to be good and to mind their
mother.

These boys were named James McNeill, W