FASTER AND SON

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 25, 30 January 1932, Page 19

FASTER AND SON

o v w. Holmes 1.: aisiq ii.

TRIUMPHS, OF PLDI, AGE

(By "Ajax.'1)

Mr. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, J^hoSe. ;rctire.ment; frbni the Bench of the .United - Supremo Court ,was. reported on the-14th instant," was deScribed by,'a staff correspondent iirthe ,'|:Chtjstiali:.;,Sciencd; .■M§nitpr.*;';:of'';the': 5.7:th:-March- last..as,',- ...'.".-.''".' .:,■ '....:" .:.■".

'a man who"? Has' nitne'sßed 4h'i'ee;fifths of: the history of the United States unfold while-he wrought his philosophy into!;the .fabric of its institutions.; :-. _-'-.•-'.■..."■•■

'/The .explanation of .so startling, a, state-1 ment cbuld-.o^ly. be "that the Jjldge had ;iived,A; .yery long time, that: the li^b of his.vpountry had'bee,n very, short,'or, .that the. statement was incorrect. There, is" something, iii.: .ea/eh of these sugges'tioAsi/v'...!j-: ..,:.'.■ r..'., ; '.. .".'■■ '..:'•.'. ,'."'.'.■/.

{'•'/.if 'i"-':U,'. ■*; •.*■.;;' .<*.':,•• • .'•:: ..-. ' ■'■'"Jlr." Justice Holmes was' born oil '-'tho. ; frt^.; MarcjiV 1841, and this"' ■"' statement • ivtfs Written for hYs^SOth _birthday. ia''he States, which caiflbinto -being im'iho itii'-Jillyj'' 1775- was1 in •MaVch Jast, in its 156 th year.' If the-Judge. "'jta.d :,lVe/ea'; writing jijdgnie'nts ' (luring' . '•tSrc,e;fifths' of jtke nation's lif 6 ho niust "have" been 92'"6 i '93 ryeari at: tho job. .Th ; o,stat?jnent is therefore not quite ac- ,' curate','1 ;ljut if "it ■ha'd.nierely said'-that his life. coVe.red.nearly, thi;ee : fifths of the nation's fife it" would^iavb' been .unimpeachable... The Judg;e is indeed ■.yPXT 'pld aniJ.tHQicountry,'very young.' . i*dr so C'largo" a ? country? too '■'■, 'United States might perhaps.. be said, to -be .disgracefully young. .WiUL;a,',6s,ycais' ..staii". pf^th'is litfle country, it 'was.Jour\;tqen .times outage. iti.lS&J, but only twice ,^qur age'yi^igOojttod.y'ear.ty. year the: Xa^vantage.will.cqatiauo ,t<j .diminish, till very ma.nyjceritnrie?; hav&' pasged | " ,it will cease to .be tlislinguish^ble. .But ' .how s '.inariy..centu/iek\\viU Vpass before j ~t])is.:cVuntry \ .or. .ajij-": other .produQes .^another .judge ...«qual, ia.intellect;.ihdi jilcarnjiig, to .Mr, Jusfciea Holmes, and .' .Uike-, him 'jemaining; in' active.' service] '. ."vyithtlundiniinished poWers tiUwithiu .a, ■ .few^w.'eeks-of.'his, 91st :''Jjjiiih,£ay., is' a| more'; dificult.question., : . ?."■ ''^V-:.'.--.:■.'.]'','

The long and distinguished caiecri of Mr. Justice Holmes appears stilt more remarkable when associated with1 the career of his fathei, winch w«is 'equally entitled to both these epithets. Tor tho first fifty yeais of his Ufa lie' t Tvas the Oliver Wendell Holmca junior to a father whoso fame, seemed likely1 io smother his own. Oliver Wenffelli Holmes, the elder, was. Born at Cam-' budge, Massachuhctts, in that wonder I ful >ear 1809, which pioducci tincol:! also in the United States, and, Gladstone, Tennyson, and' Darwin in Great Britain. A doctor by profession, the cider Holmes found the claims ot society and literature moro attractive, ,and for_ma»y jcais lie was imputed to bo the l)Cst talker in Boston, among a company^ which included Bmexson, Longfellow, WMtiicr, BusseU LowoU, and Motley. When he transferred his talk to the first numbers of the "Atlantic Monthly" (1837 3S> his friends thought it had lost some, of the brilijiaiicQ in the process, bat there? tras enough left to mrlko. the fortune of, the magazine, and ako, alter the pnblica-' tjitfn of the first twelve articles in book form, to spread tho fama of "The Autocrat of tho Breakfast Table" throughout the Erj lish speakhig \yoild. ' *' «■ • • '■

vßut in tin wit and tho fiumour of the | 'Autocrat" and its sparkling and genial disenrsiveness: there was a Lamblike intimacy which, won for Holmes the- love as well as tho admiration o£ his readers, and he received 'a strikiajj proof of itr when he visitedtEnsland: in 1886. . • The greatness of his reputation, writes Air.^ John Bowme in. Tiae pieiace to his edition oi; "The Autocrat of the Breakfastlablc," \sas not fully realiied till he broke the monotony of his lue at the age of 75 by a three months* tour ft'Jßritain. It was a^ triumphal, yrogness. He Was the lion of the season m London, He received the highest honours from the foremost of Biitish • Uiiivejt&rhes—Osford, Cain.1 bridge, and Edinburgh. The doors of the wealthy, the noble, the learned were everjwheie open; to him. The long whirl of exfitergeot end the severe strain of pfeasuie. he eurvrved ior a peiiod of eight years.—-a tonclusive proof of the ■wtaEty of his constitution. With chaiacteristic liamour he gave the book which described. Bis, the suggestive title of "Ortf Hnndred; Days in Europe." "The -Autocratll had lived'-through as .stirring a time its Napoleon'had done duiing his brief so ereignty'of 1815—a period of gloiy not telpsed in Holmes's case by any Waterier. •

| i Holmes's biographer, Mr. John T. , Morse, jun., -rentes to the same effect:—

He was overwhelmed with attentions, so that it' was only by care that he extricated himself-alive from the "hospitalities o£ bis. British, friends. But if it ( yras .fatiguing it was exceedingly flattering- and it was a. novel and interesting experience fpr the, quiet townsman from 80-iton to find himself in the torrent o£ London in "the 'season." ''He is en-' joying himself immensely," wrote James Ruukll Lowell, "and takes as keen an interest in everything as he would have done at twenty. I almost envy him this freshness 'o{ genius. " Everybody is charmed yvith him, as it is,natural they should be." ,

■:.-.:, On- hisr.-retUTn 'from this- tour pfi triumph Holmes the, iilder shbWed him«elf so- far, from- exhausted by the strain vthatl.he -wa3'.a.b^&; iia Jwrite a book, ■ -abont.it..'At the:■ ag(i 0f.80.. he,- w,rp,tb■fifbi;' thb; 60th7 anniversary* dinner of 'the /..fani6ns'Harv,ara^ f class;.of. :.'29"; the beautiful and-touching-linea ''After the Curfew-."/ .In^ .the following year tho last of liis volumes, ffOver the. Teacups," supplied ' abundant ; evidence of the humoiii"' aiid Ugliness of touch-Tfhicli had made him/famous. On the, ,13t^,. September he waa still' busy • .•'WTiting-.replies -to—the-''-letters of- congjatolatipn^ he- had received on liisSsth . birthday a foVtnight previously. Three weeks later he iwas dead. ■•- ■

Deatb, writes 3ilr." Mqise, drew near to Dr» Holmes.withisteps so slowvgo gentlygraded, that the approach was hardly-per-' "eeptibleC;; Body and "mind could be seen to be losing something in vigour,' if-one meaeurea' =by- intervals of months, but hardly'by shorter .periods. He w&s put of doors, .taking his, nsual. walks, a few days before 'the end -came; he wad up and' about' the hotisft.actually/to thelasb day;- and he,died in Tiis chair-^painU^sly, as so humane a iirian -well "deserved, to make his. escape, o.ut of life—on 7th: October, 1894; ' ' ' • :■■■;■;

When1 Oliver Wendell .Holmes, jun., retired fro* thb Bench of tho United States Supreme Cqurt__a fortnight ago his life, ;had already exceeded his iaiher/k by. '. nearly;; sis "yeari* 'That

Vafter paSsingVliisbOfh"birthday. rhis dis- /, charge'<# one.of/the^ most difficult and ; :!ipj)prtant responsibilitiea' in' the world

■^g«ye;:pe'rfect satisfaction 'to those "best fillfled. to express an opinion'is proved the ■testimony of his • fcblleagucs. The ief Justice, of the Court in his bifthdaiy tribute referred to the Judge's arlestlng style, his pungent tvit, his: sense

of reality, and his instibct. fof leadership, and pro'ceededW -

1 Mr.■"■■'; Justice■ Holmes old?''He is' the exemplar 'and' prophet of: the ydniig--the apostle of the latest generation, the master tequally of blackletter learning and the most recent ..thou'ght, with the keen eye> to-^discfirn. fplly, ~ 'whether of the pucient Or of.the modern. '. '~. ,-,.

ißiitji as; Johnson's remark that "in. lapidary iiiscriptious a'inan is not upon oath'"' applies equally "to' the writer of ;8. .birthday eulogy, it may be 1 :-fes' well I to^'quotb ahothsr- testimony/ in which also Chief Justice ;Hughes' joined, and i which "is" quite beyond cavil,' On the 28rd Msitcli last sis written opinions _wereh'atided\down.;'by;tho United States Bhpreine Qour^ a,ja nS less than' f out flf them Av-ere" the Work of Mr; Justice Holmes. Which shows that in -the ovinio'h :of .his' eight ■.colleagues he was just as fit -for work as ever; that his appetite.for work -was just as" strong as ever • and "that if any members of the -Court were feeling thfe buirden' of yearsl,the man of 90 was'not^oU'e of them^ but they were all to. be found among the eight colleagues: whose avor_age age was less thsin 70.^ i; s r

-- : If iu;.:its-. union ■of • distinction and duration;-;; the'record, of Mr. 'Justice Holmes:jm'usfc:be hard tb;beat, tho combined : record-of and' sibn, is obvi-ously^very-much harder: The-most conspicuous British example is that of the two William!Pitts;. But the interval between the. birtK'of the elder in-1708 andi the; death of the younger in 1806 was^ only 98 years, and" their combined lives- totallea 117 years;. whereas the corresponding figures ', ;fpr-.the :two Holmes& -aro 122 and 175, ; npt out. jttany centuries are likely to' pas's before this.; double, record is broken. .';