Emerson believes in him; Lowell not at all; Longfellow finds
some good in his 'yaup;' but the truth is, he is in an amorphous
condition."
Longfellow was once speaking of an address he had heard which he
considered quite a perfect performance. "Yes--yes," said Dr. Holmes;
"I don't doubt it was very good; but the speaker is such an unpleasant
person! He is just one of those fungi that always grow upon
universities."
The following extract is from a brief diary:
"Charles Sumner, Longfellow, Greene, Dr. Holmes, came to dine. The
latter sparkled and coruscated as I have seldom heard him before. We
are more than ever convinced that no one since Sydney Smith was ever
so brilliant, so witty, spontaneous, naif, and unfailing as he."
In speaking of his own class in college he said: "There never was such
vigor in any class before, it seems to me. Almost every member turns
out sooner or later distinguished for something. We have had every
grade of moral status from a criminal to a chief justice, and we never
let any one of them drop. We keep hold of their hands year after year,
and lift up the weak and failing ones till they are at last redeemed.
Ah, there was one exception! Years ago we voted to cast a man out who
had been a defaulter or who had committed some offense of that nature.
The poor fellow sank down, and before the next year, when we repented
of this decision, he had gone too far down and presently died.
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