[9]
loved master in the things of the mind that I
have sought to draw his portrait.
It is at this stage of my undertaking that
I wish I could achieve the impossible, and, as
a preliminary toward the recital of many of
La Farge's own sayings, so paint him that the
reader might see and hear him. The charm of
La Farge was prodigiously heightened by the
originality and distinction of his countenance,
the vividness of the appeal made through his
carriage, his typical gestures, and a quiet but
curiously rich and characterful voice. He had
the thinker's skull, amply domed, and his dark
brown hair, extraordinarily fine and silky, re-
tained its color long after age had set its mark
upon him. In fact, it was only very late, when
he had entered upon the final struggle with
illness, that the graying of his hair became
noticeable. His features both harmonized with
the pure structure of his head and gave it ele-
ments of strangeness, like the accents placed
here and there by genius in a great sculptured
portrait. The nose was long, straight, and pow-
erful, with nostrils well curved, delicate in
texture, very firmly defined, the nose of a
man of breeding. It descended from between
strongly marked brows, which, with the fine