Produced by Eric Eldred, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team CAMBRIDGE SKETCHES [Illustration: CHARLES SUMNER] CAMBRIDGE SKETCHES BY FRANK PRESTON STEARNS AUTHOR OF "TRUE REPUBLICANISM," "LIFE OF PRINCE OTTO VON BISMARCK," "SKETCHES FROM CONCORD AND APPLEDORE," ETC. 1905 PREFACE It has never been my practice to introduce myself to distinguished persons, or to attempt in any way to attract their attention, and I now regret that I did not embrace some opportunities which occurred to me in early life for doing so; but at the time I knew the men whom I have described in the present volume I had no expectation that I should ever write about them. My acquaintance with them, however, has served to give me a more elevated idea of human nature than I otherwise might have acquired in the ordinary course of mundane affairs, and it is with the hope of transmitting this impression to my readers that I publish the present account. Some of them have a world-wide celebrity, and others who were distinguished in their own time seem likely now to be forgotten; but they all deserve well of the republic of humanity and of the age in which they lived. THE EVERGREENS, JANUARY 4, 1905. CONTENTS * * * * * THE CLOSE OF THE WAR FRANCIS J. CHILD LONGFELLOW LOWELL C. P. CRANCH T. G. APPLETON DOCTOR HOLMES FRANK BIRD AND THE BIRD CLUB SUMNER CHEVALIER HOWE THE WAR GOVERNOR THE COLORED REGIMENTS EMERSON'S TRIBUTE TO GEORGE L. STEARNS ELIZUR WRIGHT DR. W. T. G. MORTON LEAVES FROM A ROMAN DIARY CENTENNIAL CONTRIBUTIONS * * * * * THE CLOSE OF THE WAR Never before hast thou shone So beautifully upon the Thebans; O, eye of golden day: --_Antigone of Sophocles_. One bright morning in April, 1865, Hawthorne's son and the writer were coming forth together from the further door-way of Stoughton Hall at Harvard College, when, as the last reverberations of the prayer-bell were sounding, a classmate called to us across the yard: "General Lee has surrendered!" There was a busy hum of voices where the three converging lines of students met in front of Appleton Chapel, and when we entered the building there was President Hill seated in the recess between the two pulpits, and old Doctor Peabody at his desk, with his face beaming like that of a saint in an old religious painting. His prayer was exceptionally fervid and serious. He asked a blessing on the American people; on all those who had suffered from the war; on the government of the United States; and on our defeated enemies. When the short service had ended, Doctor Hill came forward and said: "It is not fitting that any college tasks or exercises should take place until another sun has arisen after this glorious morning. Let us all celebrate this fortunate event."