He was thoroughly alert, open-minded, and liberal upon all such
questions. On subjects of politics, war, or the abolition of slavery, he
was, on the other hand, strongly conservative. He had the aristocratic
dread of change. He was distinctly the courtly gentleman, the gifted
talker, and the social, genial, refined companion.
[Illustration: HOLMES'S STUDY]
Holmes was a conscientious worker, but he characteristically treated his
mental processes in a joking way, and wrote to a friend: "I like nine
tenths of any matter I study, but I do not like to _lick the plate_. If I
did, I suppose I should be more of a man of science and find my brain tired
oftener than I do." Again he wrote, "my nature is to snatch at all the
fruits of knowledge and take a good bite out of the sunny side--after that
let in the pigs." Despite these statements, Holmes worked steadily every
year at his medical lectures. He was very particular about the exactness
and finish of all that he wrote, and he was neither careless nor slipshod
in anything. His life, while filled with steady, hard work, was a placid
one, full of love and friendships, and he passed into his eightieth year
with a young heart.
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