The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-01-09
WEEKLY HAWK-EYE

DEFENSE OF NEW ENGLAND BY HOLMES.
Oliver Wendell Holmes letter in defense OF
New England, is 80 characteristic that We
give it entire
regret that cannot become u pilgrim my
self and set my foot on that fragment OF
Pilgrim Rock which forms the threshold
Of the Aston House.
1t would be greet pleasure to meet my
brethren who have invaded the territory o.
my ancestors--for haye ante natal recol-
lections of New Amsterdam and its depen-
denotes, trading one stain of my blood 70 a
Dutch ruling elder and his Duchess, or te
male Hol,ander.
/ should 60 to listen rather than to speak.
should hardly care to have my voice
heard in the company of those whose elo-
quence belongs not to New England alone,
but to all America--to all English speak
ing or reading communicated civilization
itselt--nay, to all mankind; for they speak
for liberty, which is the birthright OF all
earth's dependent childrcn-babes in the
wood, wl,ost, uncies are the plotting ty-
rants who have disinherited them.
There IS one temptation you do not prom
lsc me. I viii - great way 70 see one Of
those persons who have trist, TO make IA
vor With city mobs and border barbarians
Nv abusing New En gland.
should have looked with intense curl
DSltN 10 see WHat manner OF pHFsOfS tHey
We're whose culture entitled them to sneer
at her educational institutions, a Harvard
and Yale, at Dartmouth, Amherst, Will
JAMS and the rest; wolliu thankfully have
brought Il photographer with nc To catch
tsit features OF the person whose learning
authorizes him TO Gesplse her libraries,
whose taste entities him - scott III her gall
.erleS, whose science can dispense with her
museums, whose knowledge of the past Iits
Isl his .,r
who can teach ner philosophers how to
;hinh and her poets ho" - sing IL short,
WHO can whistle any tune he chooses bet
ter than that oVer"rown bagppe toolishiy
called the Great Organ" can play 1t.
! should Ike 10 take a cast OF The eounte-
nance Of the man who surveys the beneNo-
lent agencies vi New England, her hospi-
tails, her city missions, her schools for exc
~ form 81 bodily or mental intirmity, from
a platform OF moral elevation, which enti-
Ties him t. treat her an inferior.
That persons answering 70 .his deScrip-
ton have been running at large is unques-
tionabie, bat Mr.. Barnum has never ex-
hihted one OF them; not one % them Is to
be found among the preserved reptiles of
our National History Societies on the shelf
with the blind worm. or among the eveless
fishes OF western caverns, nor yet among
the globe rolling beetles of the entomolo-
gists. ] should have liked a model OF the
cranial developments in one OF these per-
sons, for am curious IN Entomology, and
1 should like to know whether the shell
has a mountain in place OF "self esteem"
or Il bottomless pit in the situation where
we look for the organ of Conscientious
ness
II could be sure Of seeing one of those
specimens Of humanity should find il
hard to STAY away from the meeting Of the
New England Society. An American by
birth, citizen OF the United States, who
could sit down in cold blood to abuse New
England at a time when her blood is DOSING
from her veins like sweat from mower
face--at an hour when national division
would be national death, and loyal union
is the triumph of liberty, not only for
America but for all mankind-such a be-
| ing is better worth studying than the Az
tees and Bushmen we look at with so much
curiosity. Even the homocduGdtus, the
African human being with Il caudal appen-
dage, would interest no less, as a specimen
OF natures aberrant types, for he puts for
ward no professions, and could be made a
decent man of by slight surgical opera
| ton.
New England is abused by half-taught
and half-souled people, simply because she
has made thought her speciality and under
stands her business. Let them knock their
silly heads against her as much rs they
like they will find their success chroni-
cled in few lines written for another set
Of simpletons, but which will tit the case
well enough:
The feeble ea-birds, blinded in the storms,
On some tall lighthouse dash their little forms
And the rude granite scattcrs for their pains
Those small de posts that were meant for btainS.
Yet the proud fabric in the morning sun
Stands all unconscious Of the mischief done;
Still the red beacon pouIs its evening rays
For the lost pilot with as iull a blaze.
Day shines all radiance Yer the scattered feet
Ofgulls and boobies brainless at her feet.
Therefore, as sentiment:
Neso England and her Defenders-As
long as they will find brains she will fur
nish granite, and let them find out which
is the hardest. Yours very truly,
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
To Elliot G. CowD!N. ESQ.