The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-10-10
+" THE LAST LEAF"

1.-THE LAST LEAF"
Withthe passing of OLIVER WENDELL
HOLMES the Excalibur of New Eng
lands great group of literati has passed
cleaning beneath the waters of the
present.
| And II I should live to be
The last leaf upon the tree
| In the spring.
| Let the IN smile, as I do now,
| At the old forsaken bough
| Where cling.
OF the dead poet what can be said ex-
cept that none knew him but to love
him, and that almost all knew him
What better could be said? His sweet
and gracious personality was so widely
known, and formed such large part of
his fame, that it is neither possible nor
| gracious TO attempt yet to class him as
literary man, or range his works in
their proper alcove for posterity's use.
His books and his poems were so like
himself that it seems, now, like rudely
disturbing his first quiet sleep to speak
OF the humorous and humane emotions
they filled us with as we read them.
We must stroll down the "long walk"
with the Schoolmistress to shed quiet
tear upon soil consecrated to his mem
ory in the hearts OF many and many a
thousand in New England, and else
where.
Sweet and gracious and wise and
helpful his long life was, right up to the
very gates Of death. To swell the sum
of human content and happiness was
his mission, and right loyal he always
was to it. His nature was that rarely
known combination Of keen per
ception and acute powers of
expression with broad sense
OF mans brotherhood to the deep
needs of the great proportion. His
talent was doubly refined, pure, clear
strong, even, sustained. His genius
he had genius-was fashy, in operation,
not in quality.
HOLMES death gives the great his
toric New England group completely to
history. Some of its members have
been off the stage long enough to render
estimate just. EMERSON, LOWELL,
LoNGFELI.ow, WHITTIER, HOLMES
a aquintet to always excite pride of mem
ory, at least. Which of them were poets?
They all wrote poetry excellent
poetry. The books of LOWELL and LONG
FELLOW are the most alive at present.
which is indicative of the public taste.
The others are fading, apparently.
EMERSON, the sage, the prophet, the
bugler, is being neglected. Is it be-
cause we have become lifted up so near
TO his altitude that his moral
and esthetic nervine is no longer need
ful? Aud WHITTIER, what of that most
gentle and humane of all poets of
America? Why is he slipping out of
our lives? Some may hold that he is
not, but the inexorable logic of the pub
lie demand for his books cannot be gain.
said.
What is there to live i'm HOLMES
writngsg The Autocrat ought to live.
Perhaps it might had it not been fol-
lowed by the Poet and the Professor,
which were delightful, but sapped the
essence from the Autocrat. Many Of |
his poems are too bright and too full OF |
the milk of human kndliness to die at
once. The timbrel's ring is in them: in |
some there is the clash of the cymbals.
The verses OF war set the blood ting
ling; the shrill Of the fife is in them.
The Boston group-the Atlantic school
was too notable rs a whole to make
the death of its last member other than
a sadly memorable incident. IL throws
one back upon memory aud imagina-
tion. Therefore HOLMES will gain
nightly by the unconscious pay
ment Of sentimental tribute
through him 10 the group.
Ar last--not so far in the future--it
must be that ont Of his writings a few
bits Will remain undulled by time. and
the rest fade. II is their fate They
have selsd we'll their part. which was