Last night a meeting was held in Sanders Theatre, under the auspices of the Cambridge Historical Society, to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow h.'59, Smith Professor of the French and Spanish languages and literatures, and Professor of Belles Lettres, in the University from 1836 to 1854. Sanders Theatre was crowded to the utmost so that many were forced to stand, and many others could not gain admittance. Professor C. E. Norton '46, chairman of the assembly, opened the meeting by a short address, which is printed in full below. The other speakers of the evening were President Eliot '53 and Colonel T. W. Higginson '41. A poem, which is also printed below, by T. B. Aldrich h.'96 was read by Mr. Copeland, owing to the illness of Mr. Aldrich. The principal address of the evening was written by Mr. W. D. Howells h.'67, but on account of Mr. Howell's illness, it was read by Professor Bliss Perry. In addition to the addresses of the evening a short cantata entitled "The Village Blacksmith" was rendered by an orchestra and chorus composed of pupils in the Cambridge public schools.

Among the guests of honor seated upon the platform with the speakers were: Governor Guild '81, Professor W. W. Goodwin '51, Dr. W. J. Rolfe, Mayor Ward-well of Cambridge, Professor W. James '69, Professor K. Francke, Professor J. Royce, Professor H. Munsterberg and Mrs. Julia Ward Howe.

Following are the addresses according to the order of the program:

Address by Charles Eliot Norton.

"Forty years ago today the Boston Daily Advertiser contained some verses addressed to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on his birthday. They were signed with the initials of his neighbor, friend and brother poet, Lowell. The second stanza read as follows:

"'With loving breath with all the winds his name

Is blown about the world, but to his friends

A sweeter secret hides behind his fame.

And love steals softly in through the applause

To murmur a "God bless you," and there ends.'

The last stanza but one of the brief poem contained a prophecy of the fulfilment of which this meeting of ours is one of the many signs:

"'Surely if skill in song the shears may stay

And of its purpose cheat the charmed abyss,

He shall not go, although his presence may,

And the next age in praise shall double this.'