saying goodbye, when it suddenly occurred to me to ask—referring of course to her husband,'May I see the great man?' Mrs. Carlyle took me down some dark kitchen stairs, and there, in a corner, with his trousers drawn up to his knees, sat Carlyle on a chair, with his feet and legs in a great tub of cold water!"
If that little luncheon party was responsible for nothing more, it will be memorable for one thing. It was the scene of the denial of the accuracy of probably one of the most famous anecdotes told of any man. Who has not heard the story? Dr. Stodart Walker related it once again. It is to the effect that one day Professor Blackie caused a notice to be written on the black-board of the class-room, stating that "Professor Blackie will not meet his classes to-day." The story continues that a wag of a student, entering soon after, very unkindly rubbed off the letter c. Still furthermore, so runs the anecdote, the Professor himself entered, and seeing the obliteration of the c, immediately proceeded to wipe out the l!
Bust of Professor Blackie as a young man.
"It's not true! it's not true!" exclaimed Professor Blackie, dramatically, rising from his chair and striking his fist on the table.
"But, my dear,' said Mrs. Blackie, merrily, "it's just what you would have done," and the Professor crossed to his wife, and putting his arms about her neck, kissed her. Then he cried vigorously, as he looked out at 'the weather,' "It's going to be a beautiful afternoon. I'll go out—I'll go out!" In five minutes the blue dressing-gown with the red silk sash, the Panama straw hat, have been cast aside, and the Professor appears in a black frock coat with his plaid cast round him, and a large broad-brimmed black felt hat. on his head. We are standing at the door. "Oh," says the Professor, light-heartedly, as he selects one of the twenty walking-sticks, "I still do my three or four miles a day. But there were times when I lived at Oban, when I would go off for a fortnight's walk on what I used to call 'The One Shirt Expedition.' Why, there's not a high mountain in Scotland that I have not been to the top of, and I've no doubt but that I could do one now—with a rest by the way." We left the house together.Harry How.
