Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1881-03-08
"DR. HOLMES" Z"
HOW THE OLD GENTLEMAN's POETRY WAS
REMoDELLEp BY A LAW REPORTER.
.,l.


well as the editor. What is it !" and
the law reporter braced himself
"Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes" replied
the gentleman, his handsome face beam
ing with good nature Il have little
poem should like TO submit. Shall |
leave it with you -
The law reporter took it and read it
aloud.
You call it Winter Day on the
Prarie, ~ said he, "hm; yes,
A binding glare. II silver sky.
A sea of snow. with frozen spray,
The foaming billows swelling high,
| Updashed against the icy day
White laden northern whirlwinds blow.
Across the pale seas heavy breast,
( And nll the creamy ebb and iow
with stormy terror and unrest.
The storm birds ny athwart the main
Like rudderless. bewiidered ships.
The stranded winds breathe sobs Of pain
And frosty froth from pallid lips.
The scethng milky waves. in swim,
| Harsh struggles with the fate that binds,
| Breaks into frozen riffs and drifts
Against the wrecked and straining winds.
A sea ofloneliness and death
Whose waves are ghosts, whose wales are
graves,
Whose inspiration Il the breath
That turks in northern winter caves.
snowy gloom. whose icy shade
Lies white beneath the spray.tpped crest.
Whose silver sombrcness is laid
A glaring pail across his breast.
Just so, just so, continued the law
reporter "Did you want this published
as i, is ;"
IL had thought something of giving it
publicity replied the doctor.
You'll have to get the advertising
clerk TO register il. then, retorted the Law
reporter. | wouldn' take the response
bility of sending it in as it stands now.
What seems to be the matter with
it." inquired the doctor.
Il don't think it is natural. Now,
here: YOU take a snow-storm on the prai-
rie and make il sea. Then you freeze
it all up and maka it dash around.
You've either got to thaw it out or quit
dashing it. We may be able to alter 1t
so it will do if you'll leave it.
What alterations would yol sug-
gest ;" asked the doctor.
I'D fix tina, first verse so ~ to be IN
accordance with the facts; make 1t Sc
auential,' as we say in law. Instead oil
having the binding, and the silver, and
the foaming pillows, and the white laden
winds, and the creamy ebb, and all that
rot, I'd put il this way
In township thirty. range twenty -nine'
Described in the deed a. prairie land.
| IL sometimes SHOWS In the winter time,
| As we are given 10 understand
This alleged snow falls on level.
| It's said, some several feet or more,
| And when the wind blows like the devil.
II drifts from where II was before.
I'm that way continued the law re
porter. ''you get the facts before the pub =
lie without committing this paper to any
thing. Under your poem any man who
would prove that you were talking about
his land could bring libel suit, and the
measure of damages would be what he
could have sold it for if you hadn't writ
ten it up as a sea.
"Will the other verses do" asked the
doctor.
I'm afraid not" replied the law re-
porter. This business about the storm
bird without a rudder, and stranded
winds, and milky waves dent prove any
thing. They wouldn't be admitted in
evidence anywhere. suppose you want
to express desolation, but the testimony
isn't good. Why don't you say:
In the place aforesaid. when the sad winds
blow,
| The tenants thereof don't go about,
And such birds a find they can't stand the snow
Look as though they'd had their tails pulled
| out
| And when the said snow and winds are gone,
It's found the said land finds ready taker,
For though they can't farm much when the
winters on.
The property don't fall a cent on acre.
There you get your desolation, and
your birds, like rudderless ships, and at
the same time you throw in clause
which lets you out of the libel by showing
that the snow don't affect the value OF
the ground. The way you had it you
would have brought all the Western set
Elements down on US. Been poet long i"
"I-I-that is, begin to think not,
gasped the unhappy doctor. but can't
you do something with the last verse;"
1--WE might leave that out altogether
or we might substitute something for it
The last verse is a contradiction of terms.
It's nonsequitur, as we term it in law,
and could have no status in court in the
event of an action. You can't say snowy
gbom, or white shade, and as for glar.
ing pail, l presume you mean the white
velvet one they use for infants. couldn'
pass that in, but / might change it fo
you. How would this do:
II Is rumored that while the snow
Is on the land before described.
II looks as though one couldn't SOW
Seed to advantage, though this is denied.
Some people hold that IL empties the pouch
To buy land in the winter in the North;
! For this unsupported statement we do no
vouch,
But give the story for what it is worth.