Letters Of John Holmes - To James Russell Lowell And Others

LETTEES OF JOHN JEOLMES TO JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL AND OTHERS EDITED BY WILLIAM RO3COE THAYER WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ALICE M. LONGFELLOW AND WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY Cfje Eitser itie n Cambridge 1917 1917 BY HrouorrroN MZFKI-IW AZ. X. R. IGHCTS K. ESKR. VEI Published JSTov ember 1317 TBERKK HUMORED COPIES OF THIS FIRST EDI TION HAVE BEEN BOUND WITH UNCUT EDGES ANT PAPER LABEL THIS book is Issued under the auspices of the Cambridge Historical Society, which, early in 1916, appointed a Committee, consisting of Miss Alice M. Longfellow, Miss Mary Lee Ware, and William Roscoe Thayer, to collect and edit the letters of John Holmes. The letters as written by Mr. Holmes are often hard to decipher sometimes the manuscript has been torn, and Mr. Holmes, even in Ms best days of writing, did not permit himself to be too strictly bound by laws of punctuation or of orthography. In editing, our purpose has been to make the text as clear as possible by supplying here and there omitted words, commas, and semicolons, and by correcting obviously unintentional slips in spelling. W. R. T. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION, BY ALICE M. LONGFELLOW . . xi I. ORIGIN AKI EARLY LIFE 1 II. SETTLING DOWN 42 III. A RIGHT LOCAL MAN 64 IV. A TRIP TO EUROPE, 1872-73 .... 89 V. THE MELLOW YEARS 125 VI. TOWARDS SUNSET 182 VII. LAST DAYS 231 VIII. CONCLUSION 284 ILLUSTRATIONS JOHN HOLMES Frontispiece THE GAMBREL-ROOFED HOUSE 4 THE WHIST CLUB JOHN HOLMES, ESTES HOWE, ROBERT CARTER, AND JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL . 44 DR. CHARLES ELIOT WARE, JOHN HOLMES, AND WALDO HIGGINSON 80 No. 5 APPIAN WAY IN 1917 126 JOHN HOLMES AS A FARMER 212 JOHN HOLMES 232 INTRODUCTION MR. JOHN HOUVEBS, or John Holmes, as liewas always affectionately called, belonged to an age of quietude and simplicity now long passed away, and scarcely understood. The rule of Ms life was few needs and desires, few friends, and simple surroundings. He was bom in 1812 in the old gambrel-roofed parsonage, the son of the Reverend Abiel Holmes, and younger brother of Oliver Wendell Holmes. He graduated from Harvard in 1832, and remained in the charm ing old home with his mother as long as she lived. He was betrothed in his youth to a young com panion, but unfortunately she died before their marriage, and the affection and devotion of his warm and unselfish nature were bestowed in fullest measure on his mother. He was over fifty when she died, and he then moved with the old housekeeper to the little house on Appian Way, or A. W., as he always called it. The chronicles of this busy thoroughfare gave him infinite amusement, and here he closed his retired life in 1899. A chronic lameness kept him often confined to his room, and, with his naturally quiet disposition, prevented his taking any active part in life. Three short trips to Europe and occasional visits