380 SUNDRY JOURNEYS AND EXPERIENCES-I 



and Oilman always insisted that he had heard him once, 

 when preaching on the parable of Dives and Lazarus, 

 discuss the prayer of Dives in torments for a drop of 

 water, as follows : &quot; To this, my brethren, under the cir 

 cumstances entirely natural, but, at the same time, no 

 less completely inadmissible request, the aged patriarch 

 replied. 



The bishop, who enjoyed a reputation for eloquence, 

 was wont to draw his lungs full of air at frequent periods 

 during his discourses, thus keeping his voice strong, as 

 skilful elocutionists advise ; and on one very warm sum 

 mer afternoon, according to Oilman s account, a little 

 boy in the congregation, son of one of the most distin 

 guished laymen in the diocese, becoming very uneasy 

 and begging his mother to allow him to go home, she had 

 quieted him several times by assuring him that the bishop 

 would soon be through, when, just at one of the most im 

 pressive passages, the bishop having drawn in his breath 

 as usual, the little boy screamed so as to be heard 

 throughout the church, &quot;No, he won t ctop, mama; no, he 

 won t stop; don t you see he has just blowed hisself up 

 again?&quot; 



Oilman also told us a story of the bishop s catechizing 

 the children in a Boston church, when, having taken the 

 scriptural account of Jonah and carried the prophet into 

 the whale s belly, he asked very impressively, &quot;And now, 

 children, how do you suppose that Jonah felt?&quot; Where 

 upon little Sohier, son of the noted lawyer, piped out, 

 &quot;Down in the mouth, sir.&quot; Oilman insisted that the 

 bishop was exceeding wroth, and complained to the boy s 

 father, who was unable to conceal from the bishop his 

 delight at his son s answer. 



At one visit or another, mainly during the years of my 

 connection with Cornell University, I met at Boston, 

 pleasantly, the men who were then most distinguished 

 in American literature. One of these, who interested me 

 especially, was Ticknor, author of the History of Span 

 ish Literature.&quot; Longfellow always seemed to me a most 



