His tall figure and dignified bearing would attract attention in any gathering, and as he entered the room with his long stride, all eyes were turned towards him.
The Professor rose to receive him. The room was beautifully yet simply decorated with hangings of harmonious colors, and the Doctor noticed these immediately and addressing Madam Purple:
_Dr. Wyld._—“What a pleasure it is to come into a room where there is such harmony of tone and color. I can well understand what the Professor told me that your meetings here are always delightful. The very atmosphere seems conducive to harmony of feeling and the awakening of high thought.”
_Madam Purple._—“That is true, Doctor, I hold that color ought to be made a very important factor in life, and that the harmonies of sound and color are essential features of true education.”
_Dr. Wyld._—“And I think you have already struck the key-note of this in your production of the Eumenides, and I wish to tell you of the rare treat it was to me to witness it and the opportunity it gave me of really judging what a Greek play is like—such as could never be gained from reading. It had all the aroma of ancient Athens. One of my friends remarked that it had the beauty of a Greek statue, but I would go further, for it had also the grace and beauty of life. I do not mean that the performance was perfect but it was the spirit that pervaded it that gave it this great charm. And after seeing it I do not wonder in coming here that you also carry out your ideas of harmony in the decoration of your Club-room. It is a further carrying out of what you teach and which I fully agree with, that what is most needed in our educational system and in life generally is a sense of harmony and of the due proportion of things.”
Here the Rev. Alex. Fulsom, who had come in a short time before Dr. Wyld, and had listened more attentively than usual (without going to sleep) to the conversation, moved his chair a little forward as if to speak, but waited a moment. Although he always expressed himself as most sensitive to harmonious shades of color and adored—as he expressed it—Greek statuary, though he equally adored a pretty bonnet, nevertheless did not in any way support Madam Purple in her revival of the ancient Drama.