Biographical Notice 



and ambitions of his life. A man 

 can forswear society altogether and 

 do his life's work ; or he can give 

 himself up to society and let his work 

 go. King took a middle course, con- 

 tinuing to study and to labor, while 

 he freely gave and received social en- 

 joyment, but defied the engrossing 

 demands of formal etiquette. And 

 " society " forgave him, because it 

 could not have him on any other 

 terms. 



But perhaps it was given to me, in 

 hours of unconstrained communion, 

 to gain a deeper glimpse into his 

 character than many days of mere su- 

 perficial association could have given. 

 And I found him clean to the bot- 

 tom ; full of noble scorn for things 

 trivial, vile and selfish ; alive to the 

 highest ideals ; ready for the service 

 of human needs. 



It was in such an hour that he told 

 me (veiling with a transparent whim- 

 368 



