p.

4 Louisburg Square,
Boston, Sept.24, 188[0?]

My dear Stedman:

I have been reading
your paper on [Longfellows?] work
a curious [?][Sch?],
for I lived over the whole
course of my liking for the
[verse?] and the man as I
read. I believe I should
on the whole rate him
higher than you do; with
all his simplicity (and even
superficiality as regards
passion) he was such a
[underline]great[/underline] artist. I think
that whoever [else?] of our day
shall live to after times he is