Page:The Life and Letters of Emily Dickinson (1924).pdf/59

Rh him down the century, came to see her often. She says it was to hear Susie's letters, and insists, she admires him, but lets him come only to give him this pleasure. It was at this point in her life that she began to be called down to entertain callers, and she confesses she went with sorry grace. In the July of 1851 she heard Jenny Lind sing at Northampton and cared more for her than her voice or manner of singing.

Before Emily ceased to mingle with the other young people, she shared the lectures upon which the village throve. The professors all gave of their best; John Lord, who was considered a wizard of style and manner, persuaded to any conclusion by his perennial charm; and Richard Dana, father of the poet Dana, and even wise men from Europe occasionally appeared. It was one of the pleasant pastimes of the young ladies of that day to attend, escorted by some attractive Senior, before whose class they were always given, the walk and escort often blurring in the young brains the cloudy values of information.

The sketch of "Society in Amherst Sixty Years Ago," to which allusion has been made, was written for the family remembrance by her sister-in-law, just before her own death in 1913. In this, there are many quaint illuminations of the life Emily Dickinson shared with the rest. From it we learn:

The social life at Amherst in those early days was no less unique in grace and simplicity than that of Northampton, though differing always in certain social habits held contraband by piety and conscience in Amherst. The harmless cards and dancing common there were not even so much as mentioned at Amherst as suitable or even possible occupations for immortal beings, until a quite recent date. Yet sixty years ago, dear