 | The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes |  |
RESPONSE TO A TOAST
BOSTON BAR ASSOCIATION
JANUARY 30, 1883
His Honor's father yet remains
His proud paternal posture firm in;
But, while his right he still maintains
To wield the household rod and reins,
He bows before the filial ermine.
His proud paternal posture firm in;
But, while his right he still maintains
To wield the household rod and reins,
He bows before the filial ermine.
What curious tales has life in store,
With all its must-be's and its may-be's!
The sage of eighty years and more
Once crept a nursling, on the floor,—
Kings, conquerors, judges,—all were babies.
With all its must-be's and its may-be's!
The sage of eighty years and more
Once crept a nursling, on the floor,—
Kings, conquerors, judges,—all were babies.
The fearless soldier, who has faced
The serried bayonet's gleam appalling,
For nothing save a pin misplaced
The peaceful nursery has disgraced
With hours of unheroic bawling.
The serried bayonet's gleam appalling,
For nothing save a pin misplaced
The peaceful nursery has disgraced
With hours of unheroic bawling.
The mighty monarch, whose renown
Fills up the stately page historic,
Has howled and wakened half the town,
And finished off by gulping down
His castor-oil or paregoric.
Fills up the stately page historic,
Has howled and wakened half the town,
And finished off by gulping down
His castor-oil or paregoric.
The justice, who, in gown and cap,
Condemns a wretch to strangulation,
Has scratched his nurse and spilled his pap
And sprawled across his mother's lap
For wholesome law's administration.
Condemns a wretch to strangulation,
Has scratched his nurse and spilled his pap
And sprawled across his mother's lap
For wholesome law's administration.
Ah, life has many a reef to shun
Before in port we drop our anchor,
But when its course is proudly run,
Look aft! for there the work was done.
Life owes its headway to the spanker!
Before in port we drop our anchor,
But when its course is proudly run,
Look aft! for there the work was done.
Life owes its headway to the spanker!
Yon seat of Justice well might awe
The fairest manhood's half-blown summer,—
There Parsons scourged the laggard law,
There reigned and ruled majestic Shaw,—
What ghosts to hail the last new-comer!
The fairest manhood's half-blown summer,—
There Parsons scourged the laggard law,
There reigned and ruled majestic Shaw,—
What ghosts to hail the last new-comer!
One cause of fear I faintly name,—
The dread lest duty's dereliction
Shall give so rarely cause for blame
Our guileless voters will exclaim,
“No need of human jurisdiction!”
The dread lest duty's dereliction
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Our guileless voters will exclaim,
“No need of human jurisdiction!”
What keeps the doctor's trade alive?
Bad air, bad water,—more's the pity!
But lawyers walk where doctors drive,
And starve in streets where surgeons thrive
Our Boston is so pure a city.
Bad air, bad water,—more's the pity!
But lawyers walk where doctors drive,
And starve in streets where surgeons thrive
Our Boston is so pure a city.
What call for judge or court, indeed,
When righteousness prevails so through it?
Our virtuous car conductors need
Only a card whereon they read
“Do right! It's naughty not to do it!”
When righteousness prevails so through it?
Our virtuous car conductors need
Only a card whereon they read
“Do right! It's naughty not to do it!”
The whirligig of time goes round
And changes all things but affection;
One blessed comfort may be found
In Heaven's broad statute, which has bound
Each household to its head's protection.
And changes all things but affection;
One blessed comfort may be found
In Heaven's broad statute, which has bound
Each household to its head's protection.
If e'er aggrieved, attacked, accused,
A sire may claim a son's devotion
To shield his innocence abused,
As old Anchises freely used
His offspring's legs for locomotion.
A sire may claim a son's devotion
To shield his innocence abused,
As old Anchises freely used
His offspring's legs for locomotion.
You smile. You did not come to weep,
Nor I my weakness to be showing;
And these gay stanzas, slight and cheap,
Have served their simple use—to keep
A father's eyes from overflowing.
Nor I my weakness to be showing;
And these gay stanzas, slight and cheap,
Have served their simple use—to keep
A father's eyes from overflowing.
| The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes | |