 Smith met Pound, then a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, in 1901 or 1902, when the latter was aged sixteen.The two became friends, in one of Pound's first true friendships.As Smith was an avid reader, he introduced Pound to the works of English decadents such as Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley; this included gifting Pound a copy of Wilde's "Salome".