Emily's letters

One day, long ago, the editor of this blog was a student at the U of MN. It must have been summer. He was living at home, but had an interview at the University. He invited me to ride along to Minneapolis. Off we went and most likely drove across that I35W bridge over the Mississippi. Knowing what a library person I am, he dropped me at the University library while he had his interview. When he came to collect me, I was very excited. I had in my hands a copy of the very expensive two volume complete collection of Emily Dickinson's letters. I had never been able to find it anywhere else. Our kindly editor hated to take them from me so soon. He took his university card and checked them out for me. I was shocked to see how long the check-out period was. I think I had those books at home for at least three months. I always felt guilty about that. Suppose some very shy English major had been trying to write an important paper on Emily D. Imagine her going back to the library over and over looking for those books and never finding them. On the other hand, at her age she should have been trying to overcome her shyness. If she had just spoken up, I'm sure I would have given them back.