With poetry and sparkling wit that met you on the street corner, in the butcher shop, in her home, where she was a rare hostess, Martha Dickinson Bianchi gave lift and inspira­tion in a sometimes dullish world and, when life was that ex­hilirating, rode with you on its highest crest.

She was not universally understood, who is? She was one whose mind leapt betimes far beyond the average reach, strik­ing sparks from the upper ether.

To those who accepted her for what she was without requir­ing her to conform to all our small conventions, but appre­ciated the richness that she had to give, she was a rare, warm and loyal friend. Such saw also the pure depths of a gallant soul meeting life with a sail never furled, one who stood up to whatever it brought gaining power there from and giving in­spiration that fairly leaped from her to you.

Martha Dickinson Bianchi is one without whom this world is a duller, poorer place.

In 1931, the degree of Doctor of Letters was conferred upon Madame Bianchi by Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, with the following citation:

"Martha Gilbert Dickinson Bianchi, whose great grandfather was a founder of this College, and whose grandfather and father were its treasurers for nearly sixty years; niece of that rare and original spirit, Emily Dickinson, whose poems you have brought into renewed and deserved admiration; yourself a biographer, novelist, and poet; it is both you and your family whom the College honors in conferring upon you the degree of Doctor of Letters."