“Sad it is that he felt his grandchildren would turn against him as they grew older. He used to forebode as much. As it is, I have nothing but a remembrance of glorious fun, mixed with a childish awe, as of some one who knew far and strange things.”
As the last meed of glory, Melville received this flattering letter:
“12 Lucknow Terrace,
“Halifax, N. S.
Nov. 21, 1889.
“Dear Sir:
“Although a stranger, I take the liberty of addressing you on the ground of my ardent admiration for your works. For a number of years I have read and reread Moby-Dick with increasing pleasure in every perusal: and with this study, the conviction has grown up that the unique merits of that book have never received due recognition. I have been a student for ten years and have dabbled in literature more or less myself. And now I find myself in a position which enables me to give myself to literature as a life-work. I am anxious to set the merits of your books before the public and to that end, I beg the honour of corresponding with you. It would be of great assistance to me, if I could gather some particulars of your life and literary methods from you, other than given in such books as Duyckinck’s dictionary. In the matter of style, apart from the matter altogether I consider your books, especially the earlier ones, the most thoroughly New World product in all American literature.
“Hoping that I am not asking too much, I remain,
“Yours most respectfully,
“Archd. MacMeehan, Ph.D.
“Munro Professor of English at Dalhousie University.”
Melville replied: