wife, my good wife joins me in a hearty New-Year's blessing. Ever cordially yours, J. SPAULDING. Letter from Dr. Cheever to Mr. Spaulding. MY DEAR BROTHER SPAULDING: If I'm not a sailor, I'm sure you are one; A pair of such sea-legs don't drop from the sun : Like a squirrel or cat in the rigging you'd go; For you know all the odds twixt the anchor and cable, All the signs of a calm or a hurricane roar; And could whistle a gale, if the winds were unable, Letter from Mr. Longfellow to Dr. Cheever. MY DEAR CHEEVER: I ought to have answered your letter sooner, and should have done so but for a thousand and one things that have prevented. I spare you the catalogue of them. You must know from your own experience what they are. Your photograph, the front face, is excellent. I like it extremely, and have had it lying on my desk ever since it came, looking at it at intervals, and studying its expression. It not only resembles you, but two other persons whom one may not be ashamed to resemble, namely, Dr. Channing and Mr. Ruskin. The same outline of face; the same expression. I hope you may be as well satisfied with the enclosed. My supply falling short, I was obliged to send to England, which will account for this long delay. Is Sawtelle your neighbor? He also lives at Englewood; and when you meet him please say that I have received his letter and will reply soon. With kind regards to Mrs. Cheever, and thanks for her cordial invitation, Always affectionately yours, HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. Dr. Cheever's Humorous and Satirical Poem entitled "The Horse Gospel of Evolution." PROEM. O what a world by Evolution wrought! Each moment but the music and the rhyme All you might be, beyond your reach was thrown. And you, the growth of Nature's laws, your birth unknown, Solves the dark riddle of Eternity. But if your Consciousness should still abide, You may to heaven on the HORSE-GOSPEL Ride. THE HORSE-gospel of EVOLUTION. NIGHT is the prophecy of Morn, The Evening Star predicts the Dawn; Here, then, we have, as clear as mud, How Light from earth, like Topsy, "grow'd;" And then the Light on Motion rode; Being never more and never less, But when our Scientists are ask'd, By which such motion could be proved, At the beginning he was not ; Yet now, with Modern Science bright, And make it plain as Bread and Butter. For when from Milk the Cream is brought, Then Butter from the Cream is wrought, By being stirred within a churn, Which any girl of twelve can learn. And then you have your nice white bread, Or brown, just as you please, and spread Over the same a sheet of gold, Of nutty flavor, sweet and cold; And by such steps at length you know By the same steps you know, of course, The final causes of the Horse. O list, while I relate the story At first he had a single hoof, Of horses' patterns, such as camels, Amid the necessary trammels For Indians of our Western Prairies. Since no succeeding fossil shows Our specimens for ages seen, And thus our Western Science, rich Those once beguiled by Moses' word, And under lock and key laid up, The atavistic Centaurs, then, With rainbows crowned, and regal mien, Throw, then, your Bibles to the wind, Letter from Mrs. Charles Smith to the Publishers, received as the Volume was going to Press. 40 WEST TWELFTH STREET, NEW YORK. Dec. 1, 1890. DEAR SIRS: I have seen it announced that the "Memorabilia" of Dr. George B. Cheever will soon be published by you. There is one interesting incident of his life that impressed me very strongly in my early childhood, and possibly it may not have been known to the compiler of those reminiscences. When Mr. Cheever (he can hardly then have been D.D.) was sentenced to thirty days in the Salem jail for writing the article entitled Inquire at Amos Giles's Distillery,' my father was the sheriff of Essex County, and from that time dates a much-valued acquaintance. A carpet for the cell-floor and books were sent to Mr. Cheever by my mother, and my father obtained permission for him to chop wood in the passage-way, that his health might not suffer from the confinement and lack of exercise. many friends called to see him that he was obliged to name reception-hours. At the expiration of the thirty days, wishing to avoid a scene, my father went down at midnight to release the man who had become a personal friend. So It was a bright, clear night, and as Mr. Cheever came out and looked up at the stars, his heart glowed within |