THE CALL OF THE STREET 331 



ing lot, many of them given to dropping in upon 

 me for an evening, with delightful unexpected- 

 ness. So, too, with many of the acquaintances I 

 had made in Washington. 



Most interesting of these was Albert Brisbane, 

 to whom I was introduced by Horace Greeley, 

 who told me that he had more brains than the rest 

 of Washington taken together. Brisbane had 

 been the personal friend of Goethe and Heine, 

 was one of the Brook Farm colony and the great 

 American Fourrierite who paid the Tribune a 

 big sum for publishing writings little more rad- 

 ical than those for which his son receives a 

 princely salary. He was always riding a hobby 

 and could usually charm me into having faith in 

 it. 



The best story-teller of those who favored me 

 with their visits was Proctor Knott. There was 

 no more exquisite humor in any part of his 

 famous Duluth speech than in the account he 

 gave me of the way in which he got a chance to 

 deliver it. His stories of his experiences when 

 riding on circuit were exhaustless and inimitable. 



