The Advocate and news., 1898-03-30
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AMERICAN LITERATURE COURSE.
LESSON TX. PART l.
THE CAMBRIDGE SCHOLARS. II.
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
(1809-1894.)

IL is UOL III lNS pOOllC hSlu oAShS SAAN@S
Oliver Wendell Holmes has distinguished
himself; he was an essayist, biogra-
pher, a wit, scientist, novelist, pro-
fessor and a physician. He was born
August 20, 1SO9 at Cambridge, Mass.
His father was for more than forty years
pastor of a church in Cambridge, and
was also a professor and historian.
Thus DR.. Holmes was born and bred
in a literary atmosphere; or, as ne eX-
presses it, Il was born and bred among
books, and have the easy feeling when
| get into their presence that stable
boy has among horses"
Although he worked in so many diff
ferent departments he has produced re-
suits that rank high, II not with the
highest.
II. Il. Tuckerman says Of him: His
best lines are a series of rhymed pictures,
witticisms or sentiments, let off with the
precision and brilliancy OF the scintilla-
tions that sometimes illumine the North
ern horizon"
He graduated at Harvard with hrsL
honors in 1880. He like so many OF our
authors, studied law, but gave 1t up to
enter the medical profession, which ne
enthusiastically followed. Having COM
peted the study Of medicine in Boston
he took medical course in Europe.
Returning home he was made professor
of anatomy and physiology at Harvard.
He first drew the attention OF the pub
lie as writer by his ballad Of "Old Iron
Sides
LAY! Tear her tattered ensign DOWN.
composed about $780, when 1t was pro-
posed by the government to take to
pieces the unseaworthy hulk Of the Con
stitution." His poem reused the public
to a spirited opposition to the destruc-
ton of the old man-of-waT and 1t was
spared.
His witty poem, my Aunt" amused
everybody as in rhyme he tells how
"They pinched her feet,
They screwed 1t up with pins;
o. never mortal suffered more
In penance for her SINS
"The Last Leaf" which Immediately
became popular song and which Abra-
ham Lincoln found "inexpressibly touch
ing" came out in the same volume with
my Aunt" "The Last Leaf" DR..
Holmes said, suited himself. The clos
ing lines do not, however, apply to his
life, as only increasing honor and rev.
erence were his to the last day OF his
life.
"And IL should live to be
The last leaf upon the tree,
In the spring,
Let them smile as l do now
At the old forsaken bOugh
Where / cling"
The most important work for which
he is loved and quoted is THE Autocrat
Of the Breakfast Table"
ut is his masterpiece" says Beers,
land holds the fine quintessence Of his
humor, his scholarship, his satire, ge-
NAL observation, and ripe experience or
men and cities"
This was followed by "The Professor
at the Breakfast Table" which was not
as successful as the former.
Fifteen years later followed "The Poet
at the Breakfast Table," which was bet
ter than the second, but one must re-
member that the author was now 64
years old.
He has written two novels, Elsie Ven
ner" and THE Guardian Angel" The
first of these Is tale in which the
heroine, with all her fascinating human
qualities, has something of the nature
of a serpent. The heroine in "The Guar
dian Angel inherited from several gen.
erations before the instincts and dispo-
sition of her Indian ancestors. Both
novels are in some ways studies on
medico-psychologica subjects.
So often was he called upon for verses
for special occasions that he has been
called "the poet laureate of America" T"
He certainly deserved the title, as he has
written nearly a hundred poems for COM
mencements, class reunions, ETC., etc.
He was the last of that famous group
who founded our literature, and when
he died, October 4, 1894, he was mourned
and loved by all Americans.
Tenderly and reverently they laid to
rest the last of all the men who helped