CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE 1. T r i T RIPLE-IJKAXCTIKIEEDE . . I I VII. E A C O S N T REET . . . . . . . 201 V1 I I. CI ARACTERIST . IC . S . . . . . 234 I S . POETRY . . . . . . . . . . 2G7 XI. A TOCKATI . IS . A . . . . . . 3 IG TIIE TRIPLE-BI XSC1 EI TREE. THE twenty-ninth clay of A I I O Sin , th c ycnr eight cc11 ho ltlrcd nrltl ninc, was Comn cncc nc D l n t y in a tloublc sc lsci n the town of Cnmbridgc, Inssnchusctts for on that day of srnilcs and grcct irlgs, - thc mcrricst of all the ycnr, thc clay of thc gratlunting fcstivnl of 1 Iarvnrd Collcgc, - thc Itcv. Dr. Abicl IIol ncs cntcrcd in his little a1-mnnnc t hc nlcn orantlum, Sorl b. , at t hc snmc time spri lklingo ver the ritingn fcw grains of snntl, which still glisten upo l the pngc just as thcy ditl 1 hc11 h c closctl thc book, scvccl t y-four ycars ago. It was cor lmcnccnlcnt in n clo lblc scnsc, ancl it ms colnn cllccnlc l i t n a triplc scnsc sincc, in ndditio lt o thc beginnings that havc I I already bccn mentioned, there was in the nerves that feeling of new vigor, in the landscape that touch of garnet and crimson, in thc air that tinge of coolness, and in a11 nature that strange stillness, that kind of dcad-point in t he rcvol. ing wheel of the seasons, vhich, colnbincd with thc chirping of the black-coat crickets, and the first goldening of the goldenrods, formcd u lmistakablc premonitions of the approach of the autumnal season, the plcnsantcst time of the year in Ncw Eng land. It was under cheerful auspices, then, that the laughing philosopher at that time, ho cvctrh, e little crying philosopher of St. I3otolphs town took his first dcgrcc, and made his first public speech, graduating sti ztiz z C N N itzzi ic from the dormitory of his nl im r mtcv. In the country at large, howc cr, there hal pc lcdto bc grcat tlcpl-cssio lo f spirits and flagging of busi lcss i ltcrcsts, owing to the cml argo, or non-intcrcoursc policy, cnnctctl ant1 cnforccd by the Amcrimn. government against the then warring Euro-I I C I I I IOIYC ST. 1 1c1-e ms in Hoston at that tinlc an almost total cessation of commerce Ilcr mcrchant ships lay rotting at the rharvcs, THE TRlPL E-BRA SCJIED TREE. I3 or wcrc drawn up on the bcach and dismnntlctl and the sound of the busy harnnlcr was unheard in hcr shipyards. Hut all this was to bc changctl in a few years after thc war of I S I 1 by intcrnntional adjustment and proclamation of pcacc. Thc ancestral trce of Olivcr endell IIolmcs, whose birth WC haw just bccn rclating, is a triplc-bmnchcd one, a11d the thrcc branches arc mcmorizcd in his own name. 13. wny of sportive symbol, we might hang upon the Olivcr branch a loaf of bro vn bread ryc n injun ant1 a pot of baked bcans upon thc endcl1 branch a dough lut, or Dutch olykock and upon thc I lolmcs branch a wootlcn nutmcg. VC will begirl with thc olykock branch. Thc inother of our poet wns Sarnh cndell, daughter of thc I Ion. Olivcr Vcrldcll of Iloston. Thc Wc ltlclls are n Dutch fanlily who cnn c to 13oston from Albany i l l the ci, htccnthce ntury, ant1 it is doubtless lnrgcly from then1 that Ilr. IIol ncsh as inhcritctl the solitl pact icnl clunlitics - thrift, intlust ry, caution, - which makes him succcssful as a physician and professor...