FIGHTING THE INSECTS 



knowledge of the rare and beautiful personality, the distinguished 

 achievement, the great intellectual qualities of this man who still 

 was filled with a youth that made no count of years.^ 



Undoubtedly there have been in Washington, groups of people 

 who have held weekly or occasional meetings that in a way, 

 perhaps, approached in interest and importance the Graham 

 Bell Wednesday evenings. There was, for example, the old Lit- 

 erary Society, of which I was not a member, but to the meetings 

 of which Mrs. Howard and I were occasionally invited. 



Then, too, there was a small and exclusive group of people 

 that for some years met from time to time at the home of Henry 

 Adams. It is well known that Mr. Adams shunned publicity, and 

 only a few people knew him. Although he was an original 

 member of the Cosmos Club, I do not believe that he ever visited 

 that institution. At all events, although I joined early in 1886, 

 I never saw him there, and, in fact, never met him. But I have 

 heard that he was a delightful host, and that the small group 

 who went to his "evenings" considered themselves very fortunate. 



Eventually, there grew up another organization that became 

 known as the Round Table Club. It deserves special mention. 



Herbert Putnam is a very distinguished man and a charming 

 gentleman. He must, by now, be approaching the retiring age. 

 After much experience in library work at Minneapolis, Minnesota, 

 and in the Boston Public Library, he was placed in charge (about 

 1909) of the Library of Congress. Since then, he has made a 

 truly national monument of that institution, and has set the pace 

 for all of the great libraries of the country. 



^ I wrote what precedes in this chapter after Graham Bell's death, at the request 

 of his family, and I understand that it is their intention to use it in a biographical 

 volume. It is published here with the explicit permission of Dr. Gilbert Grosvenor, 

 Dr. Bell's son-in-law. 



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