The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-02-04
WITH HOLMES
PLYMOUTH CHURCH CONGREGATION
HEARS HIM E~ULOGIZED.
The Poet physicinn's Life Discussed
by DIR. William d.. Fletcher and
a. ID. M~cGrcEory.

The congregation of Plymouth church lis
tened last night to a symposium on the sub
ject of Oliver Wendell Holmes. The speak
ers We're Mr.. A. B. McGregory and DIR.
William B. Fletcher, of this city, who was
a personal acquaintance and student under
the celebrated poet, philosopher and physi-
clan. Mr.. McGregory spoke first of the life
of Holmes, proclaiming him an apostle of
good nature and teacher of a new order of
things. The poet was born in Boston, near
Harvard College, in 1890, during the COM
mencement Of the university. The year of
his birth was productive also of a large
number of great minds which became fa-
nous. The Puritan influence was still very
strong, and it remained for Holmes to teach
that humor is more helpful in life than
the serious gravity of the Puritan character.
Holmes, continued the speaker, had a trim
ity of noted titles in his full name, Oliver
Wendell Holmes. He was related TO the
family Of Governor Bradstreet, the Danas,
C~hannings. the Phillips, and through his
mother to the Dutch Wendells. His own
father was a minister for forty years, who
had lived during the revolutionary war.
The speaker said the family history of
Holmes showed that poets are born, not
made. The illustrious ancestor of Holmes
justified him in his honorable weakness of
pride of family. He quoted the Autocrat
as saying that he had always been at ease
among books, having grown up among them.
The speaker described the Holmes home
stead, which was reproduced as the Massa-
chusetts building at the worlds fair, in an
entertaining way, investing 1t with a great
deal of poetical sentiment itself. Washing
ton, he said, had beer. a guest at that house
during the war of independence, and 1t was
there it is believed that the battle of Bunk
err Hill was planned, while the elder Holmes
stepped outside to pray for the success OF
the conflict.
The first teachers of the poet were the
school ma'ams of Massachusetts. he pre-
pared for college at Philips Andover Acaao
with James Freeman Clark and others
who afterward became illustrious. as class,
mates. He first studied law, but abandoned
this for the profession of medicine. He
took his medical degree in the colleges or
professor of anatomy in the Dartmouth
Medical College. In 1S47 he attended the
Harvard Medical College. His life was a
busy one in literature as Well as medicine.
The Breakfast Table articles began with
the Atlantic Monthly in 1857. and this, the
him him After r. fifty Years Holmes again visit
ed Europe and received marked honors. He
lived until December, 1884, nearly a whole
of the century's sweet amenities, indeed.
he brought many of them to it. His life
Emerson. who was his friend. His mission
was to preach joyousness, ana ne iaugneu
at wrong oftener than fd ne o tana ice : u. study
of Holmes as a medical man. he said tnal
Holmes could not have written as he did
p%erience of a physician. 1t is doubtful, he
said, If any other man ever did so much for
the mind. of the patient He was free from
logical falIacies, however popular. His
writings were free from faint and teemed
with wholesome humor. AS a student or
medicine, he had won three out Of four
prizes. and impressed the value of his re-
Fletcher commended the pamphlet, upon
"Puerperal Fever and Private. Pestilence,"
tagious and can be carried by nurses from
one young mother to another. Dr.. Fletcher
said that Holmes held all practitioners as
merely to MATCHMAKING. His discoveries
were given TO the world tree
pathy and Kindred Decisions Holmes had
shown his estimate of those who take
money for cures that sa We're s,s que ,5rs Wholly ronst,n TO
with Holmes was on a barren island off
Newburyport, at a clambake, at which.
an accidental guest. BE remembered Holmes
as a little. active man with a .French,like
was talking most of the time There is
something about James Whitcomb Riley,
he sn said, that recalls plS.v Holmes lines and N g makes :
poet, ought to have qualified himself for a
physician. AS a lecturer Holmes was noted
for his facility. in making the student who
knew least understand what he was study
ing. The Doctor recalled that the last time
he saw Holmes was at a medical banquet
in Boston. when Holmes was on the recep-
ton committee and greeted the delegates
from a distance. His happy. manner and
a bluejay skipping around among a lot of
dawes.
Mr.. McGregory then discussed the poet
physician from a literary standpoint, say
ing that, while Whittier did more to soften
the asperities of Puritan theology, Holmes
did more to soften the Puritan temper of
the times. While attacking error with a
flashing scimitar of wit, he was yet 2 man
of abounding charity. His strength lay in
his power to analyze and to moralize. His