1783

PEN AND PENCIL SKETCHES

OF

AMERICAN POETS AND THEIR HOMES.

BY

ARTHUR GILMAN AND OTHERS.

PUBLIC

BOSTON:

D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY,

FRANKLIN ST., CORNER OF HAWLEY.

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

S I write, my eye wanders occasionally from the

A paper, and I look out of my library window

towards the Washington Elm, beyond which I see a straight path across the Common that seems to end at the door of a great gambrel-roofed house. It is historic ground. Under that aged elm tree the Father of his Country first drew his sword as Commander-inChief of the army that won freedom for the United States, and on that Common the brave soldiers who composed the patriot army encamped after the battle of Lexington. Of one of these scenes Dr. Holmes wrote in 1875:

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