Letters to Melville Cane                            17

Thou hadst no answet but thy song.

Clear as the soft June light,
Sweet as the fragrant earth, and long

As that immortal night.

May 2, 1909
. . . Butler & the Trustees are anxious I should come,"" & 1 have
superb backing all along the line. 1 start as adjunct-professor, with
a fine salary, & promotion ahead, & I shall ha\e all sorts of op¬
portunities to write. If 1 had followed my wish, I should have
waited till I was older, but the administration was determined to
rescue the English in the College at once, & of course if anyone
else got the place, the chance would be lost forever. I felt also that
as a friend of Woodberry's I can count on the support of the loyal
band, & if 1 make good, I can heal that breach. It's the chance of a
lifetime, & I'm going to make a gigantic effort to live up to it. We
shall live right by the college, as the plans now are, & I'm going to
work for the boys as I've done here. I have the satisfaction of
leaving in a stream of local tears. One of the nicest sides of it is,
we shall see something of each other!

Yours in ecstasy,
John

* To Columbia