His
biographer says that Holmes learned at his cost as a doctor that the world
had made up its mind "that he who writes rhymes must not write
prescriptions, and he who makes jests should not escort people to their
graves." He later warned his students that if they would succeed in any one
calling they must not let the world find out that they were interested in
anything else. From his own point of view, he wrote:--
"It's a vastly pleasing prospect, when you're screwing out a laugh,
That your very next year's income is diminished by a half,
And a little boy trips barefoot that your Pegasus may go,
And the baby's milk is watered that your Helicon may flow."
He was driven, like Emerson and Lowell, to supplement his modest income by
what he called "lecture peddling." Although Holmes did not have the
platform presence of these two contemporaries, he had the power of reaching
his audiences and of quickly gaining their sympathy, so that he was very
popular and could always get engagements.
His scientific training made him intolerant of any philosophical or
religious creed which seemed to him to be based merely upon superstition or
tradition.
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