Part 7 (1/2)
No one would care or dare to re a watch he earing, 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 hi: 'I want it to go ticking fronetized by huh 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 fashi+on, 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 tith of time before this enty-four years for a watch to run
I think of these rare souls, Ole Bull and Dr Dorereater heights, constantly receiving new revelations of omnipotent pohich ”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 hile fault, through his seventy years, Has ever been noticed by one of his peers
Holess 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 theh 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 froer he'll turn lead or tin To invisible gas, and then back again; He will set thes are lit by the Sun's hottest ray
With oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen,--all-- No gas can resist his imperative call-- He'll solidify, liquefy, or turn into ice; Or all of them re-convert, back in a trice
Amid oxides and alkalies, bromides and salts, He makes them all dance in a chemical waltz; And however much he with acids may play, There's never a drop stains his pure s will affect one another; What acts as an enemy, and what as a brother; He feels quite at home with all chemic affinities, And treats them respectfully, as mystic Divinities
His wisdom is spread from far Texas to Maine; For thousands on thousands have heard him explain The secrets of Nature, and all her arcana, From the youth of the Gulf, to the youth of Montana
In Paris, Doremus may compress'd powder compound, Or, at home, wrap the Obelisk with paraffine round; Or ht students of famous Bellevue
He believes in the spirits of all physical things, And can s; But ask hihtly, saying, ”See!--if you can”
Wherever he colad when he's near; His voice is a trumpet that stirreth the blood; You feel that he's cheery, and you know that he's good
No doors in the city have swung open so wide, To artists at ho, Badiali, Marini, To Nilsson and Phillips, Rachel and Salvini
Much, race of his life, To the influence ever of his beautiful wife; She, so grand and so stately, so true and so kind, So lovely in person and so char well acquainted with Mr Charles H Webb, a truly funny ”funny ht stutter only added to the effect of his hu Branch, Saratoga, etc, idely read He knew that he wrote absolute nonsense at tireatly needed in this world, and exquisitely droll nonsensical nonsense is as uncommon as co and infor, as _Seaweed and What We Seed_ He wrote several parodies on sensational novels of his time
_Griffith Gaunt_, he made fun of as ”Liffith Lank”; _St Elmo_, as ”St Twelmo” _A Wicked Woe volume, ”_John Paul's Book_, moral and instructive, travels, tales, poetry, and like fabrications, with several portraits of the author and other spirited engravings” This book was dedicated, ”To the Bald-Headed, that noble and shi+ning army of martyrs” When you turn to look at his portrait, and the illue, you find them not The Frontispiece picture is upside down The very ridiculosity of his easy daring to do or say anything is taking He once wrote, in one of those trying books, hich we used to be bored stiff, with questions such as ”What is your favourite hour of the day? He wrote dinner hour; what book not sacred would you part with last? My pocket-book Your favourite motto? When you must,--you better” I especially liked the poeht”