But I couldn't on any account be so sneaky as to get up
and recite poor old "Hanover" over again. Oh, no! If anything, it must
be of the "paullo majora."
"Silvae sint consule dignae." Let us have a brand-new poem or none.
Yours as on the preceding page.
The next letters which I find as having passed between the two friends
are dated in the year 1851, and it must have been about this period
that their relations began to grow closer. In every succeeding year
they became more and more intimate; and when death interrupted their
communication, Dr. Holmes's untiring kindness to me continued to the
end. Unfortunately for this record, the friendship was not maintained
by correspondence. Common interests brought the two men together
almost daily, long before Dr. Holmes bought a house in Charles Street
within a few doors of our own, and such contiguity made correspondence
to any great extent unnecessary.
The removal from Montgomery Place, where he had lived some years, to
Charles Street was a matter of great concern. He says in the
"Autocrat" that "he had no idea until he pulled up his domestic
establishment what an enormous quantity of roots he had been making
during the years he had been planted there." Before announcing his
intention, he came early one morning, with his friend Lothrop Motley,
to inspect our house, which was similar to the one he thought of
buying. I did not know his intention at the time, but I was delighted
with his enthusiasm for the view over Charles River Bay, which in
those days was wider and more beautiful than it can ever be again.
Pages:
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107