32 EEV. JONES VERY, IN MEMORIAM ; 



and sensitive spirit may be applied to Mr. Very and to what he 

 wrote : "He was as pure as a mountain spring." 



With regard, 



Very truly yours, 



HENUY W. FOOTE. 



MILTON, MASS., DEC. 13, 1880. 



MY DEAR SIR : 



I thank you for letting me know about the Jones 

 Very Memorial Meeting to-morrow. No fear but he will live, whether 

 we talk about him or not. 



Every spring will bring its fresh memorials, as the robin comes 

 back to whistle the note so dear to his ear, and the columbine still 

 holds the words of blessing which he dropped into its radiant cup. 



How can we doubt that some of his sonnets will be more valued 

 two hundred years hence, than they are to-day? 



Nor will the traditions of his visible presence among you soon 

 vanish. Amid all the competitions and strifes, the vain tossings and 

 envyings which were vexing the multitude around him, he calmly 

 walked on from year to year, like an impersonation of "the still, 

 small voice." 



It is easy to believe that he has now found a sphere more delicately 

 attuned to his sensitive, loving, and devout nature. Even in this 

 world, his conscientiousness and his vivid sympathies sometimes 

 overmastered his inherent reserve. 



Forty-four years ago, as our Greek tutor in Cambridge, this shy 

 student was the ideal instructor. When others were entrenching 

 themselves behind the dignities of their office, or, trying to forget in 

 their comfortable homes, the irksome routine of their work, this man 

 was singling out among the freshmen those with whom he might take 

 long walks, whom he could visit at their rooms, and who would call 

 upon him. The class was so small that it was not hard for him, grad- 

 ually, to get acquainted with us all. 



He was none the less a Grecian, for being a child-like Christian. 

 In the spirit of his Divine Master, he gave himself to his pupils. 



The best evidence that what hi? said and did was not in vain is the 

 hearty, loving testimony which our surviving classmates, forty years 

 later, as they met together in the hilarity of a class supper, rendered 

 to his memory. He came in among us then, invisibly, and, like the 

 gentle breathings of an JEolian harp, his pleadings in behalf of purity 

 and uprightness seemed to make themselves heard again, as one after 

 another attested his individual sense of obligation to Jones Very. 



Had you been there to listen you would have said : What benefactor 

 can compare with him, who touches the springs of character? 



