New-York tribune., 1896-05-03

ncent that nearly everything he has to say about
Holmes has been said by the latter himself IN
his printed WORKS. and to dnyTreaders, more
over. II; will seem that in those works Holmes
has said all that 1t was necessary to say. Yet
Mr. Morse parfoFpls-a sersdce -inSgo'ng oyer the
familiar ground for he puts the reader IN posi-
ton 10 coordinate the-eld material and to real
lie what he has never reolized before, ihe char
acter of Holiness youth. There lies the virtue
Of this biography. Itshows that If the Autocrat
has always. been the. .Autocrat, Holmes has al
ways been Holmes. Recall the fact that he was
born in 1902 and it will be seen how easy it hos
been for the present generation to make the
error to which alluslon has been made above,
the error Of regarding Holmes purely as type
of ripe and serene wisdom. Does every reader
of the works remember the consistent develop
ment of the man his steady cultivation offeld-
ments of character which were with him in his
boyhood? Possibly some have been. aware or
this growth and, appreciating the humanity IN
Holmes have taken it as matter of course that
he was the sweet and winning figure in his
youth which was loved wherever he went in his
old age But no one would have suspected thar
there lurked in Holmes the young man whom
Paris took by storm. who could write home from
the midst Of his medical studies III the French
capital. -"1 am getting more and more French
man.. love TO talk French. to eat French, to
drink French every now and then Ghese wines
are superb and nobody gets drunk, except as an
experiment in physiology. and do believe. If
Napoleon alive. and stayed here much
lCrget should want 10 fight little"
This is the unfamiliar Holmes whom It is de-
ughtful 70 encounter. and whose advent in the
pages of this biography throws light upon the
nature OF the older man. 1t reveals the roots
Of that curious breadth Of view which dis
tingushed his maturity; a catholicity not so
curious In itself as fin Its relation to the
New w-England unity Of mind Ito give It its
kindest term) which went furthest TO make him
what he was The same condition of things Is
noticeable in others of his group 1t Is conspcu-
Gus in Lowell In Motley, in Hawthorne. They
wero all spiritually and intellectually New Eng
land men, and 10 any Of them there might
have been applied the lines written by Holmes
himself and here quoted with reference 10 his
religious belief I'VE are all tattooed In our
cradles with the beliefs of our tribe: the record
may~seem superficial but 1t Is indelible" Now
It has always. been Interesting to, observe. the
persistence of the New-En gland tattoo through
the diplomatic polish Of Motley. through the cos
mopontanism of lowell through the English
and Italian enthusiasms of Hawthorne. In
Holmes 1t Is fascinating 10 see the spirit 81 the
world. He was born and brought up among de-
vout New Englanders. On the whole, he re-
mained New-Englander until his death, more
thoroughly, perhaps, than any Of the distin-
guished men Of his time. But to follow him
through the vivacties OF his college life and
through his medical studies in Paris is TO see
how emphatically he was born nimble. even
volatile genius. with the more austere traits Of
the New-England character slipping from him
with amazing rapidty. His letters TO Phineas
Barnes, a school friend, reveal him as the gay
temperament that he was to the end. II feel"
he says what one of the most fl-begotten cubs
that ever entered college when he was old enough
to be a grandfather most feelingy lamented,
The want of female society," If there was a girl
In the neighborhood whose blood ever rose above
the freezing point, who ever dreamed of such
thing as opening her lips without having her.
father and mother and all her little mpish
brothers and sisters for her audience;--nay; it;
there was even a cherry checked kitchen girl 10
romance with occasionally. 1t might possibly be
endurabe. Nothing but vinegar-faced old maids
and drawing room sentmentalists.--nothing that
would do to write poetry to but the sylph Of the
confectioner's counter. and she-sweet little
Fanny--has left US to weep when we think OF her
departed smiles and her too fieeting ice-creams".
The above ,oassage may seem trivial, bat 1t
Is closely characteristic Of Holmes and ii serves
torillustrate the liberal-minded gayety of heart,
the genuine youth. which belonged to him.
The New.Engiand strain. 1t may be repeated,
was never quenched. but do not the words.
quoted above stand for point Of view whole
leagues removed from m-that-saads-eonventiona
in the life OF Cambridge and Boston half a
century ago? No one needs to be told how
Holmes loved Boston. but II is good to take him
now. as these volumes make. It possible .to.ta,ee
him aoh his youthful. perennial side. on the
side or him which meant a wary1- booded feel.
ing for -A1i human things, anywhere. every 3
where Al the risk of bringing into too vivid
a light one fibre in this broad sympathy pf
hie. the following passage from one of bis
Parisians letters is quoted, He is'wrfting OF
the .amusements ayafabis" after the strain = of
hard study at La Pitif or the. Ecoie de sMeye:
cine, una he speaks Of s.another,r.. - Ola
ruder nature -. :. essentially vulgar ex-
hieftfop,. and. of Sourse. to be seen 81 every
body except, the petits maitres. who travel in
white glevea and so Hooper. Warren, and I
took, a, box one day aat the Combats des ;An-
maux which take place twice a week Just IL
the outskirts sof the city. IA great, mum bere OF
bulldogs Fought with each other IN succession.
each pair nghtng unth one was killed or rairly
beaten; and, Of eourse,iT suppose. bets being
laid upon them Then wolf was tied 10 post
and worried by bulldogs, and afterward n
bear and Wild boar and bull, and last of all
5ackasA The wolf. and bear we're poor con-
Germs and got worse than they gave; the wild
boar ran round the ring making a great noise
anAsstrying to get out: the bull had his horns
SAVED on but he tossed the dogs up into the
afp9seter each other HE 50 many .coppers. and