THE RANDALL FAMILY 69
father ; and it was his call upon Dr. Randall, who had known and valued Dr. Gay, with reference to this sub- scription, that first began a friendship between the two families which grew deeper and stronger to the end.
The first time I ever saw Dr. Randall was in Mrs. Gay's house on Essex street, not far from the house of Wendell Phillips, but on the opposite side. It must have been very soon after Dr. Gay's death ; and how I, a little boy only just thirteen years old, came to be there at all, is a mys- tery now past solving. But there I was, sitting quite apart in a corner, and watching visitors who came on errands of sympathy and condolence to the sad-faced lady, alone on the sofa. Only one of these visitors left any last- ing impression on my memory ; all the rest were forms vanishing from an unretentive mirror, but this one left a picture imprinted on a remembering mind,
A gentleman of medium height, clad in black, pausing a moment at the opposite parlor door, then slowly moving across the room, taking with great respect the sad-faced lady's hand, sitting down upon a chair near by, speaking something, I know not what, in a voice so deep, rich, and mellow, so musical, so fascinating in its fine modulations, that I seem to hear it still : a pale but striking face under masses of black hair, close-shaven, strong, grandly chis- elled, full of intellect, decision, pride, melancholy, and withal of something quite indescribable, yet visible enough here in the presence of sorrow, that riveted the little boy's gaze, and made him instinctively but unmistakably aware of a great heart, making an outlet for itself through the glance of those kind, grave, penetrating eyes. The child sat in his corner, observing but unobserved ; he had dreamed much of genius — 1:0 vv he felt that he had seen it. All the rest is lost in the abyss of a long-dead past, but that vision stands out fresh as yesterday.
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