Omaha daily bee., 1909-08-29
oliver Wendell Holmes.

There has been at every stage
plenty Of writing in America. BY the
time Duane had established the Au-
rora ard another set in Philadelphia
had begun to print the Portfolio, the
little nation had become positively
g%arrulous. AT that time and for long
a~fterward the writing was initiative.
What was not the slave of English
models followed the French at a dis
lance. Even the Declaration was de-
clared to be too stilted to SAVIOR ex-
actly of the soil. When Americans
did begin to write as they talked it
was not long before some of them had
the sane good seDse of the first
American" Ben Franklin. with a dis
tinctiveness of style they have never
lost.
By common consent, with not much
demur of school or section, the finest
and rarest output of the purely Amer
lean literary spirit has been that of
the unique group Of friends the best
known of whom were Emerson,
Holmes, Longfellow, Hawthorne and
Thoreau, attended with the less
known Dana, Alcott, Brisbane, Ripley
and Margaret Fuller. 1t is Opportune
that the Holmes centenary comes at
this time, when there is so much dilu-
tion in the real American spirit of ex-
preston that it can not be recognized
except in the forced form of dialect.
1t is as opportune as was the chance
that threw together on terms of I'M
usual intellectual intimacy that re-
markedly varied company of talents.
Tradition tells us that Holmes was by
far the most versatile, captivating and
fluent of the group. Indeed, if we are
to credit tradition, he was one of the
most fascinating takers that ever
lived. The living, who can only read,
see the quaint, inimitable humor, the
human kindness, the broad mental
grasp and the immovable fidelity to
truth. This is a noble list of qualities
for a man to possess. He possessed
them all and more. He was not, it
may be, the greatest of the group.
That may have peer Hawthorne, the
poorest talker of them all. Holmes
was the most charming talker and,
speaking for all the people, was the
most agreeable and penetrating writer.
If literature had to lose one it would
spare him with sharpest regret, be-
cause he will never be initiated, repro
duced or unintelligible. There is
hardly a short poem of Holmes which
is not at this centenary date as fresh
and clear and widely popular as when
# was written. 1t is invigorating to
have our minds taken back by the
centenary to the life and work of the
most typical representative that dis
tinctively American expression ever
gave to literature.
Nobody would call it a perfectly fair
way of comparing the merits of great
authors to say that one could do some
thing that another could not do, but
1t is not without point to assert that
the creator of 1.-THE Chambered Nauti-
lus" could have written "Evangeline''
if he had set himself at it, while Long
fellow could never have comprised
THE Last Leaf" THE One-Hoss
Shay or "The Old Boys" On the
other hand, it has been urged that
Holmes was provincial and of the con-
tracted vicinage Of eastern Massachu-
sets. That is not estimate or criti-
cism. 1t is more accurate to say that
the centenary recalls the legacy of a
wonderfully representative national
singer whose harp has never been put
in tune by another hand.