The mild climate and exercise in the open air had done all that could have been expected for Dr. Howe, and he returned from Santo Domingo much improved in health. The seeds of disease, however, were still lurking in his system, and the change from tropical weather to our own uncertain spring brought on a severe attack of rheumatism, by which his strength was greatly reduced. He rallied somewhat in the autumn, and was able to pass the winter in reasonable comfort and activity. The first of May, 1875, found him at his country seat in South Portsmouth, R. I, where the planting of his garden and the supervision of his poultry afforded him much amusement and occupation.
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all colored men, marched to the building over which the flag was floating.
Every man carried a fresh rose at the end of his musket.
Dr. Howe made a pathetic little speech, explanatory of the circumstances, and a military salute was fired as the flag was hauled down.
A spiteful caricature appeared in a paper published, I think, at the capital, representing the transaction just mentioned, with Dr. Howe in the foreground in an attitude of deep dejection, Mrs. Howe standing near, and saying, ‘Never mind.’
From my own memoir of Dr. Howe I quote the following record of his last days on earth.
Houghton and Mifflin Company, 1899.
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