Pages from an Old Volume of Life; A Collection of Essays, 1857-1881

This is a collection of five essays by Wendell Holmes, namely: Bread and the Newspaper-My Hunt After the Captain-The Inevitable Trial-Cinders From the Ashes-The Pulpit and the Pew. Excerpt: Everything else we can give up. If we are rich, we can lay down our carriages, stay away from Newport or Saratoga, and adjourn the trip to Europe sine die. If we live in a small way, there are at least new dresses and bonnets and everyday luxuries which we can dispense with. If the young Zouave of the family looks smart in his new uniform, its respectable head is content, though he grows seedy as a caraway-umbel late in the season. He will cheerfully calm the perturbed nap of his old beaver by patient brushing in place of buying a new one if only the Lieutenant's jaunty cap is what it should be. We all take pride in sharing the epidemic economy of the time. Only bread and the newspaper we must have, whatever else we do without.