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Lowell (Massachusetts, United States) (search for this): chapter 9
himself is mysteriously silent concerning his college course, and so are his biographers; but we may surmise that it was not very different in general tenor from Lowell's; although his Yankee shrewdness would seem to have preserved him from serious catastrophes. In the Autocrat of the breakfast table Doctor Holmes mentions an When Phillips & Sampson consulted Lowell in regard to the editorship of the Atlantic, he said at once: We must get something from Oliver Wendell Holmes. He was Lowell's great discovery and proved to be his best card,--a clear, shining light, and not an ignis fatuus. When the Autocrat of the breakfast table first appeared fee ten feet in length which strikes without warning and straight as a fencer's thrust. But Elsie Venner and Holmes's second novel, The Guardian Angel, are, to use Lowell's expression on a different subject: As full of wit, gumption and good Yankee sense, As there are mosses on an old stone fence. In the autumn of 1865 some
Liverpool (United Kingdom) (search for this): chapter 9
edical profession should take an exceptional interest in poisonous reptiles? Professor Reichert and Dr. S. Weir Mitchell spent a large portion of their leisure hours for several years in experimenting with the virus of rattlesnakes, and of the Gila monster, without, however, quite exhausting the subject. Doctor Holmes kept a rattlesnake in a cage for a pet, and was accustomed to stir it up with an ox-goad. A New York doctor lost his life by fooling with a poisonous snake, and another in Liverpool frightened a whole congregation of scientists with two torpid rattlesnakes which suddenly came to life on the president's table. Does it arise from their custom of dealing with deadly poisons, or is it because they officiate as the high priests of mortality? Doctor Holmes's Elsie Venner was one of the offshoots of this peculiar medical interest, and when we think of it in that light the story seems natural enough. The idea of a snaky woman is as old as the fable of Medusa. I read the
Brazil, Clay County, Indiana (Indiana, United States) (search for this): chapter 9
the old doctor who serves as the presiding genius of the plot: he knew the kind of people who are never sick but what they are going to die, and the other kind who never know they are sick until they are dead. If Doctor Holmes had taken this as his text, and written a novel on those lines, he might have created a work of far-reaching importance. He appears to have known very little concerning poisonous reptiles; had never heard of the terrible fer-de-lance, which infests the caneswamps of Brazil — a snake ten feet in length which strikes without warning and straight as a fencer's thrust. But Elsie Venner and Holmes's second novel, The Guardian Angel, are, to use Lowell's expression on a different subject: As full of wit, gumption and good Yankee sense, As there are mosses on an old stone fence. In the autumn of 1865 some Harvard students, radically inclined, obtained possession of a religious society in the college called the Christian Union, revolutionized it and changed i
Mexico (Mexico) (search for this): chapter 9
or fifteen years earlier, when Holmes was in his prime? Then it might have been a service and a satisfaction to him; but when a man is seventy such tributes have small value for him. There had been an Atlantic breakfast for Doctor Holmes in Boston, and a Holmes breakfast in New York. He was in the public eye, and by honoring him the University honored itself. So Harvard conferred an Ll.D. on General Winfield Scott just before the fatal battle of Bull Run,--instead of after his brilliant Mexican campaign. If the degree was not conferred on Holmes for his literary work, what reason could be assigned for it; and if he deserved it on that account, Emerson and Hawthorne certainly deserved it much more. Let us be thankful that no such mischief was contemplated. If honorary degrees are to be given in order to attract attention to a university, or worse still, for the purpose of obtaining legacies, they had better be abolished altogether. During his last visit to England Doctor Hol
Europe (search for this): chapter 9
shed a volume of poetry which was generally well received, but was criticised in the Nation with needless and unmerciful severity. Rev. Edward Everett Hale and other friends of his had already been attacked in the same periodical, and the Doctor thought he knew the man who did it; but whether he was right in his conjecture cannot be affirmed. There can be no doubt that these diatribes were written by a Harvard professor who owned a large interest in the Nation, and who was obliged to go to Europe the following year in order to escape the odium of an imprudent speech at a public dinner. In this critique Holmes's poetry was summed up under the heading of versified misfortunes ; and Holmes himself wrote to Mrs. Stowe that the object of the writer was evidently to injure at any rate, and to wound if possible. It was certainly contemptible to treat a man like Doctor Holmes in this manner,--one so universally kind to others, and whose work was always, at least, above mediocrity. He b
San Francisco (California, United States) (search for this): chapter 9
ear no mental masks and other disguises like the people we meet at fashionable entertainments; and each acts himself or herself. Boarding-houses, sanitariums, and sea voyages are the places to study human nature. When a man is half seasick the old original Adam shows forth in him through all the wrappings of education, social restraint, imitation and attempts at self-improvement, with which he has covered it over for so many years. Once on a Cunard steamship I heard an architect from San Francisco tell the story of the hoop-snake, which takes its tail in its teeth and rolls over the prairies at a speed equal to any express train. He evidently believed the story himself, and as I looked round on the company I saw that they all believed it, too, excepting Captain Martyn, who gave me a sly look from the corner of his eye. Rocked in the cradle of the deep, they had become like children again, and were ready to credit anything that was told in a confident manner. But Doctor Holmes's
Holyoke (Massachusetts, United States) (search for this): chapter 9
ually does who is confident of the respect of those about him. Thus he acquired a style of his own, different from that of any other person in Boston. He was not a man to be treated with disrespect or undue familiarity. A medical student named Holyoke once had occasion to call on him, and as soon as he had introduced himself Doctor Holmes said: There, me friend, stand there and let me take an observation of you. He then fetched an old book from his library which contained a portrait of Holyoke's grandfather, who had also been a physician. He compared the two faces, saying: Forehead much the same; nose not so full; mouth rather more feminine; chin not quite so strong; but on the whole a very good likeness, and I have no doubt you will make an excellent doctor. After Holyoke had explained his business Doctor Holmes finally said: I liked your grandfather, and shall always be glad to see you here. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., was class poet of 1861, an honor which pleased his fa
Concord (Massachusetts, United States) (search for this): chapter 9
great magnet of the age, and the world could not help being attracted by him. It modified its course, and Emerson also modified his, so that the final reconciliation might take place. Meanwhile Doctor Holmes pursued the even tenor of his way. Concord does not appear to have been attractive to him. He had a brother, John Holmes, who was reputed by his friends to be as witty as the Autocrat himself, but who lived a quiet, inconspicuous life. John was an intimate friend of Hon. E. R. Hoar and often went to Concord to visit him; but I never heard of the Doctor being seen there, though it may have happened before my time. He does not speak over-much of Emerson in his letters, and does not mention Hawthorne, Thoreau or Alcott, so far as we know, at all. They do not appear to have attracted his attention. We are indebted to Lowell for all that Doctor Holmes has given us. The Doctor was forty-eight when the Atlantic Monthly appeared before the public, and according to his own confess
Mexico (Mexico, Mexico) (search for this): chapter 9
d the public whom he addressed. One of Goethe's critics complained that the class of persons he had introduced in Wilhelm Meister did not belong to good society; and to this the aristocratic poet replied: I have often been in society called good, from which I have not been able to obtain an idea for the shortest poem. So it is always: the interesting person is the one who struggles. After the struggle is over, and prosperity commences, the moral ends,young Corey and his bride go off to Mexico. The lives of families are represented by those of its prominent individuals. The ambitious son of an old and wealthy family makes a new departure from former precedents, thus creating a fresh struggle for himself, and becomes an orator, like Wendell Philips, or a scientist, like Darwin. In the Autocrat we recognize the dingy wall-paper of the dining-room, the well-worn furniture, the cracked water-pitcher, and the slight aroma of previous repasts; but we soon forget this unattractive b
Cantabrigia (United Kingdom) (search for this): chapter 9
ctor inquired concerning her literary occupation she replied that she considered herself too old to drive a quill any longer, and then fortunately added: Now, there is Doctor Holmes, I think he shows his customary good judgment in retiring from the literary field in proper season. What the Doctor thought of this is unknown, but he still continued to write. At the age of seventy his alma mater conferred on Doctor Holmes an Ll.D., and this was followed soon afterwards by Oxford and Cambridge, in England; but why was it not given ten or fifteen years earlier, when Holmes was in his prime? Then it might have been a service and a satisfaction to him; but when a man is seventy such tributes have small value for him. There had been an Atlantic breakfast for Doctor Holmes in Boston, and a Holmes breakfast in New York. He was in the public eye, and by honoring him the University honored itself. So Harvard conferred an Ll.D. on General Winfield Scott just before the fatal battle of Bull
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