410 NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER 



of going for a part of the time to his upstairs "den." He had so 

 much that he wanted to write about that he looked forward 

 with infinite pleasure to the unburdening of his mind at his 

 own choice of time and place. He hoped to spend more of his 

 days in the country, with an occasional dip each year into the 

 life of the great cities; so he proposed. 



On the twenty-second of February, 1906, according to an old 

 custom a reception was given to the Southern Club. He always 

 enjoyed these commemorative entertainments and commended 

 the arrangements for this one, into which some humorous feat- 

 ures were introduced, as more successful than usual. He did 

 not, however, seem as vivacious as was his wont ; indeed he com- 

 plained of not feeling well, but since he was suffering from what 

 was supposed to be a slight attack of indigestion, no importance 

 was attached to the circumstance. It was obvious, however, 

 that the passing days did not bring his usual vigor. It was not 

 many weeks after this that he walked to Corey Hill, in Brook- 

 line, to see a sick friend in the sanitarium there who had been 

 operated upon for appendicitis. After the visit the wife of his 

 friend insisted upon his driving home and lunching with her, 

 and later she commented upon the chivalrous feeling which 

 prompted him to say, "No, I would like to, but if I stayed 

 away my wife would be lonesome." A hard crust of snow on 

 the ground made the walk more taxing than he expected, and 

 when he reached home he complained of great weariness, and of 

 other sensations worse than fatigue. The doctor was sent for 

 and discovered alarming symptoms. The next morning the 

 operation for appendicitis was performed. At first all went un- 

 commonly well ; but after a while pneumonia set in, and the 

 fight for life began. Along with those about him he struggled 

 heroically to keep at bay the terrible foe. It would seem from 

 the resisting power his body had always shown that he might 

 have had much to endure before death came; such, however, 

 was not the case. The combat was hard and sharp, but it was 

 short. Then just before the end, on April the tenth, he dwelt 



