The last time I had the privilege of listening to Ole Bull's witchery
with his violin, he gave an hour to Norwegian folk-songs, his wife at
the piano. She played with finish, feeling, and restraint. She first
went through the air, then he joined in with his violin with
indescribable charm. Critics said he lacked technique. I am glad he
did: his music went straight to the heart. At the last he told us he
would give the tune always played after a wedding when the guests had
stayed long enough--usually three days--and their departure was
desired. We were to listen for one shrill note which was imperative.
No one would care or dare to remain after that.
Dr. Doremus showed me one evening a watch he was wearing, saying:
In Ole Bull's last illness when he no longer had strength to
wind his watch, he asked his wife to wind it for him, and then
send it to his best friend, saying: 'I want it to go ticking
from my heart to his.'
That watch magnetized by human love passing through it is now in the
possession of Arthur Lispenard Doremus, to whom it was left by his
father. It had to be wound by a key in the old fashion, and it ran in
perfect time for twenty-nine years. Then it became worn and was sent
to a watchmaker for repairs. It is still a reliable timekeeper, quite
a surprising story, as the greatest length of time before this was
twenty-four years for a watch to run.
I think of these rare souls, Ole Bull and Dr. Doremus, as reunited,
and with their loved ones advancing to greater heights, constantly
receiving new revelations of omnipotent power, which "it is not in the
heart of man to conceive."
LINES
Read at the Celebration of the Seventieth Birthday
of DOCTOR R. OGDEN DOREMUS, January
11th, 1894, at 241 Madison Avenue,
by LUTHER R. MARSH.
What shall be said for good Doctor Doremus?
To speak of him well, it well doth beseem us.
Not one single fault, through his seventy years,
Has ever been noticed by one of his peers.
How flawless a life, and how useful withal!
Fulfilling his duties at every call!
Come North or come South, come East or come West,
He ever is ready to work for the best.
In Chemics, the Doctor stands first on the list;
The nature, he knows, of all things that exist.
He lets loose the spirits of earth, rock or water,
And drives them through solids, cemented with mortar.
How deftly he handles the retort and decanter!
Makes lightning and thunder would scare Tam O'Shanter;
Makes feathers as heavy as lead, in a jar,
And eliminates spirits from coal and from tar.
By a touch of his finger he'll turn lead or tin
To invisible gas, and then back again;
He will set them aflame, as in the last day,
When all things are lit by the Sun's hottest ray.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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