Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1864-01-07
Defense of New England by Holmes
Oliver Wendell Holmes letter 10 defense
Of New England is SO characteristic of the
man that We give il entire 1


Oliver Wendsll Holmes letter in defense
Of New England is so characteristic If the
man that we give il entirsa f..
BosIsS, 'De,. l6, 1863.
Mr. DEAR SIR: regyet that | cannot
become pilgrim myselt, and set my foot ON
that fragment Of Pilgrim Rock which forms
the treshold Of the Astor House.
II would be great pleasure to meet nv
brethern who have invaded the territory OF
my sncsstors-for have ante natal rec1l-
iections Of New Amsterdam and its depen-
denotes. tracing one stair Of my blood TO
Dutch ruling elder and his Duchess, or
female Hellander. 80 .a..,. si -......
| should 90. to listen rather than to speak
| should hardly care to have my voice heard
in the company IF those whose eloquence
belongs not to New En- .land alone, but to
all Anerica-to all English speaking or
reading communicable civilization itself
may, TO all mankind for they speak for
liberty, which is the birthbright Of all
esrth's dependent children --babss in the
wood, whose uncles are the plotting tyrants
who have disiaherited them. .,..
There is one temptation you do not prorn-
ise me. | will 60 a great way to see one Of
those persons who have tried 10 make favor
with city ,nobs and border bafbarians by
abusing New England. ... t.....'
! should have looked with intense curiosity
to see what manner Of persons they were
whose culture entitled them to sneer at her
educational institutions, al Harvard and
Yale. at Dartmouth, Amherst, Williams and
the est; would thankfully have brought
photographer with me to catch the features
OF the person whose learning authorizes
him to dsspise her libraries, whose taste en-
titles him to scof at her galleries, whose
science can dispense With her museums,
whose knowledge Of the past fits him TO sit
in judgment on her historians, who can
teach her philosophers how to think and her
poets how to sing-in short, who can whistle
any tune he chooses better than that over
grown bagpipe foolishiy called the Great
Organ" can play IL. te .hF sf et.-a
| should like to take cast OF the eounts-
nance of the man who surveys the benevn-
lent agencies of New England, her. hospit-
ais, her city missions, her schools for every
form of bodily or mental in6rmity, from a
platform Of moral elevation, which entities
him to treat her as an inferior.
That persons answering this description
have been running large is unquestionable,
but MIR. Barnum has never exhibited one of
them not one of .hem is to be found
among the preserved reptiles of our Ma.
tional History Societies on the shelf with
the blind worm, or among the eyeless fishes
OF Western czveIns, nor yet among the
slobe-rolli beetles Of the eAtomologists.
should have liked q model Of the crsnial
developments in one Of these persons for /
am curious in phrenology. aud / should Ike
to know whether the shell has mountain
in place Of ''self-esteem, - or bottomless
pit in the situation where we look for the
organ 'conscientiousness. .ss.
1fIcould be sure of seeing one of these
specimens Of humanity should fnd 1t hard
to.stay away from the meeting Of the New
England Society. An American by birth, a
citizen Of the United States, who could sit
down in cold blood to abuse New England
at time when her blood is oosing from her
veins like sweat from tho mowers face--at
an hour when national division would be
national death. and loyal union is the tri
umph of liberty, not only for America but
for all mankind such being IL better
worth studying than the AItecs and Bush
men We look at with 80 much curiosity
Even the honoodudatas, the African hu-
man being with caudal appendags, would
interest no less, as specimen Of the ma
ture's aberrant types, for he puts forward
no pretensions. and could be made a decent
man Of by slight surgical operation.
New England is abused by balf-taught
has made thought her speciality and uader-
silly heads against her as much as they like;
they will find their successes chronicled in a
few lines written for another set of simple
h,t x,ht uwfn . he all, nuh h.