y. Comprehending
vividly the points and the sequence of his argument, we fancy that we
are concurring in the argument itself. It is not every mind which is
at once able to analyze the satisfaction it receives from such essays
as we see here. If it were merely beauty of style for which they were
distinguished--if they were remarkable only for rhetorical
flourishes--we would not be apt to estimate these flourishes at more
than their due value. We would not agree with the doctrines of the
essayist on account of the elegance with which they were urged. On the
contrary, we would be inclined to disbelief. But when all ornament
save that of simplicity is disclaimed--when we are attacked by
precision of language, by perfect accuracy of expression, by
directness and singleness of thought, and above all by a logic the
most rigorously close and consequential--it is hardly a matter for
wonder that nine of us out of ten are content to rest in the
gratification thus received as in the gratification of absolute
truth.

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

Born in 1809, died in 1894; professor in the Medical School
of Harvard in 1847-82; wrote for the _Atlantic Monthly_ "The
Autocrat of the Breakfast Table" in 1857-58, "The Professor
at the Breakfast Table" in 1859, "The Poet at the Breakfast
Table" in 1872; published "Elsie Venner" in 1861, "The
Guardian Angel" in 1868, "A Mortal Antipathy" in 1885; a
collection of verse entitled "Songs in Many Keys" in 1861,
"Humorous Poems" in 1865, "Songs of Many Seasons," in 1874,
"Before the Curfew" in 1888; also wrote volumes of essays
and memoirs of Emerson and Motley.

I

OF DOCTORS, LAWYERS, AND MINISTERS[9]

"What is your general estimate of doctors, lawyers, and ministers?"
said I.

"Wait a minute, till I have got through with your first question,"
said the Master. "One thing at a time. You asked me about the young
doctors, and about our young doctors, they come home _tres bien
chausses_, as a Frenchman would say, mighty well shod with
professional knowledge. But when they begin walking round among their
poor patients--they don't commonly start with millionaires--they find
that their new shoes of scientific acquirements have got to be broken
in just like a pair of boots or brogans. I don't know that I have put
it quite strong enough. Let me try again. You've seen those fellows at
the circus that get up on horseback, so big that you