great good fortune to have with us to-night, most unexpectedly,
one of whom Brampton is, and for many years has been, justly proud."
(Cheers.) "One whose career Brampton has followed with a mother's eyes
and with a mother's heart. One who has chosen a broader field for
the exercise of those great powers with which Nature endowed her than
Brampton could give. One who has taken her place among the luminaries of
literature of her time." (Cheers.) "One who has done more than any
other woman of her generation toward the uplifting of the sex which she
honors." (Cheers and clapping of hands.) "And one who, though her lot
has fallen among the great, has not forgotten the home of her childhood.
For has she not written those beautiful lines which we all know by
heart?

'Ah, Coniston! Thy lordly form I see
Before mine eyes in exile drear.'

"Mr. Chairman and fellow-townsmen and women, I have the extreme honor
of introducing to you one whom we all love and revere, the author of
the 'Hymn to Coniston,' the editor of the Woman's Hour, Miss Lucretia
Penniman.'" (Loud and long-continued applause.)

Well might Brampton be proud, too, of Gamaliel Ives, president of
its literary club, who could make such a speech as this on such short
notice. If the truth be told, the literary club had sent Miss Lucretia
no less than seven invitations, and this was the speech Mr. Ives had
intended to make on those seven occasions. It was unquestionably a neat
speech, and Judge Graves or no other chairman should cheat him out of
making it. Mr. Ives, with a wave of his hand toward the celebrity, sat
down by no means dissatisfied with himself. What did he care how the
judge glared. He did not see how stiffly Miss Lucretia sat in her chair.
She could not take him on her knee then, but she would have liked to.

Miss Lucretia rose, and stood quite as stiffly as she had sat, and the
judge rose, too. He was very angry, but this was not the time to get
even with Mr. Ives. As it turned out, he did not need to bother about
getting even.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said he, "in the absence of any other chairman I
take pleasure in introducing to you Miss Lucretia Penniman."

More applause was started, but Miss Lucretia put a stop to it by the
lifting of a hand. Then there was a breathless silence. Then she
cast her eyes around the hall, as though daring any one to break that
silence, and finally they rested upon Mr. Ives.

"Mr. Chairman," she said, wit