The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-10-08
OLIVER W. HOLMES.

en army Washington occupied the
house for time, A little latter it became
HE home of DIR. Abiel Holmes, historian of
New England, clergyman and author, and
IN 1t, on the Goth of August, 1909, was born
his famous son, Oliver Wendell Holmes
Abiel Holmes second wife was daughter
Of Oliver Wendell, and of her five children
tho third was the renowned gcnialist and
"Autocrat Of the Breakfast Table"
Except the historian Bancroft no other
American had SO long literary career,
and probably no other had ono SO uni
fOrmly brilliant, for he did admirable
work In boyhood, and until quite recently
1t could truly be said of him that the fire
oil his intellect was not dimmed or his
natural force abated. At 10 he wrote
musical lines glowing with optimism, and
at S3 he looked upon the world without
Asperlty and expressed himself with all the
vivacity of youth.
While preparing for college at Phillips
Andoycr academy he made his first at
Tempt at versifcation, turning the first
book OF the Eneid into heroic coupIets. In
lS29 he was graduated from Harvard,
among his classmates being William II.
Channng, Benjamin II. Curtis and James
Freeman Clarke. He was poet of the class
Rt commencement, and was one of the six
tcen chosen into the Phi Beta Kappa So
riety, an honor of which he was proud to
the last of his life, as appears by many al
lusions In his writings.
His first poem to attract general atten-
hon was tho famous one ON the constitu-
han, beginning
Ay, tear her tattered ensign DOWN.
Long las 1t waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to sec
That banner in the sky;
Beneath II rung the battle shout
And burst the cannon's roar;
The meteor OF the ocean air
Shall weep the clouds no more
1t stirred tho popular heart as did the
hStar Spangled Banner" The young
poets fame became national in a month
and world wide soon after. The poem was
published in almost every paper in the
United States and circulated by thousands
sn handbills. His suddenly won popular
tty was never once lost during the sixty
stid years Of literary life which followed.
SO far as DIR. Holmes views on the un-
esen and unknown can be gathered from
bis writings he was philosophic or scien-
tflc pantheist, nor does it appear that he
ever had any orthodox faith, even in child
hood. 1t has often been remarked that in
tho United States the most pronounced ag-
nostics have been the sons of ministers,
Holmes, Ingersoll and Draper being cited
Is noted instances In tho "Autocrat of
tho Breakfast Table" are found the most
pointed Of DR. Holmes stabs at the clergy,
and there he gives otfcnse chiefly by ignor-
ing what is said on the other side as simply
Beneath notice
The young graduate had decided, or
more likely 1t had been decided for him,
that he was to be u lawyer, and he studied
yaw for one year. During this time he
wrote Evening: BY Tailor" and other
popular pieces of humor, then decided
against the law and went to Paris as soon
o he could afford it to study medicine,
4tfter three years abroad he published his
drst volume of poems In 1896, the most
noted productions in IL being My Aunt"
and THE Last Leaf"
In 1889 he was chosen professor of anat-
omy and physiology at Dartmouth, and in
2ei0 married Amelia Leo, daughter of
Judge Charles jackson, of the supreme
court Of Massachusetts. son of this
marriage, Oliver Wendell, Jr, born March
ls4l made a very honorable record In
fhe war for the Union, and has attained
high rank as jurist. In 1882 he was made
o member of the supreme court of Massa-
ohusetts, having previously published va
tious law works.
In lS47 DIR. Holmes succeeded Dr. John
o. Warren as professor of anatomy and
physiology in the medical school at Har-
ward, and soon after became prominent as
o lyceum lecturer. Thence, till 1850, his
larger works appeared in rapid succession,
works on literature and medicine alternat-
lng
! The zepith Of his power was attained in |
pts contributions to The Atlantic Monthly
for the first three or four years of its exist
ance-lso7 to 1851. The most popular of all
his productions, the one which secured |
him the title BY which be is best known,
,The Autocrat Of the Breakfast Table" |
sppeared as a serial In the first numbers OF |
Inc Atlantic, and its advent was an era in |
literature.
he continued TO give the public new
works occasionally till In 1887, when "Ons
Hundred Days In Europe" appeared. Sew
Ieral OF his poems have given the public |
popular phrases Of almost universal use. |
such as "the wonderful one hoss shay, - for |