Page:Oregon Literature by Horner.djvu/103

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OREGON LITERATURE.
77

of American nobility. Nations have perished in a day, but the family tree of the Lowells, planted in colonial times, survived the revolutionary period, flourished in the national age of the republic, and made Elmwood a noted home of classical poetry, and patriotic song.

Why should not this be a home of patriotism and poetry, since everything around and about it indicates that Cambridge is the great school of patriotism and poetry? We have just passed the Charles on whose banks stands the steepled church that signaled the midnight ride of Paul Revere; undei yonder elm, Washington took command of the American forces; there are the cemeteries peopled with the good and the great who died for freedom; beyond is the home of Longfellow, the father of American literature; and a thousand other influences among which is Harvard, the first university of America all historic, all patriotic all poetic.

In response to a stroke or two of the old-fashioned knocker, the door swings open. A glance within reveals the library, the desk, the tobacco knife, the pipe, and such other things as were common in the homes of the Eastern poets. Paintings, mirrors, statuary and souvenirs from representative men and countries of both continents adorn the rooms and halls of the palace. All the appointments are such as would especially administer to the comfort and pleasure of a plain old man, who, as a polished scholar, had won distinction in the