New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-03-10
pronounced his hest effort and that
RnAai67onf r lincoln -n!efon rnaik~11

1SuUOA u 1OSAS- Ail0 NIstuy OlU0IS nave
passed into the common speech OF the
race. To my mind 1.-The Nautilus is
the noblest of all, especially the In
imita bic last two stanzas:
Thanks for the heavenly message bneught
by thee,
Child of the wandering sea,
Cast from her lap forlorn
From thy dead lips clearer note is born
Than ever Triton blew from Wreathed
horn.
While on mine ear it rings
Through the deep caves OF thought hear
voice that sings:
Build thee more stately mansions, o my
AS the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low vaulted past!
Let each new temple. nObler than the
Shut thee from heaven with \ dome more
vast
TIL thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's
unresting sea!
From no conceivable standpoint can
serious fault be found with that poem
For classic diction, pleasing form, mu-
sic, clearness, imagery, mystic touch,
deep thought and noble appeal it is as
well nigh perfect Of its kind as our
human things attain. Whatever may
be said Of his other work, 1.-THE Cham
bered Nautilus makes Oliver Wendell
Holmes a member Of that
Choir invisible
Whose music is the gladness OF the world
1t Is rare privilege to chat with the
unborn and to talk into the ear Of the
ages.
DR.. Holmes belonged to what he was
fond of calling 1.-THE Brahman caste Of
New England" Other people speak Of
it as 1.-The Cambridge school of poets,'
the greatest group America has pro-
duced and one Of the greatest in the
history of letters. 1.-The Autocrat''
outlived all the rest. He was eighty
five at death, truly The Last Leaf
And if l should live to be
The last leaf upon the tree
In the spring
Lot them smile, as do now,
At the old forsaken bough
Where I cling.
But they did not smile. No. Their
eyes shone too much for smiles There
was suggestion Of tears in the look;
also Of affection and reverence, both
for the gray poet and for his mighty
brethren who had passed on and Of
whom he was the one remaining SYM
boil.
Say this he once charged an in
tersiewer, land you will say some
thing worth coming for: We made
American literature American when
there was no truly American litera-
ture. am glad that the younger
writer's today are so inclined to write
what they themselves as Americans
think and see and feel. l believe in
being American"
There he sounded note that must
keep OH ringing until there is an
American literature greater than the
world has seen till now The Cam
bridge group were the prophets OF
some mightier school that is to be. All
our accomplishments in other fields
point to an equal achievement in this.
A new era of invention, new indus
trial1sm, new politics and new self
reliance and self upbuilding are coming
into birth here, and they must have an
adequate voice. These poets Of the
nineteenth century were the singers OF
the dawn, heralding the fuller burst OF
melody. They did make an American
literature and made that literature re-
spected the world around. In this they
rendered a greater service than they
0nV11d IyD,oxr EVIL
chorus breaks it will fulfill and reveal
the old. We shall then see how much
they accomplished who laid the founda-
lions Of the temple Of American letters
Like his great associates, DR.
Holmes home life was white He mar
ried Amelia Lee. Jackson, whose un-
selfishness, loyalty and tact made her
an ideal wife for man Of letters.
Mrs. Holmes and two children the
aged poet saw laid in the grave before
him. One son only survives him, and
he, too, is named Oliver Wendell
Holmes and is a justice Of the supreme
court of the United States.
In the close Of the "Autocrat," when
that worthy was taking his last walk
with the schoolmistress, occurs this
touching scene:
81 think ! tried to speak twice with
out making myself distinctly audible
At,last l got out
I the question, NJ
win you take II
the long path |
1 with me?' Ger Illn |
tainly.' said the
| schoolmfstress.
with much pleas - !
ure. Think
said, before you IN 1
answer. II you ~
! take the long IN 0AS4