Mr. Justice Holmes 1 5 3 



protested that Mrs. Jackson was completely reconstructed. 

 Mrs. Holmes replied, "But I'm not." And being a most 

 completely independent being she stayed away, invitation 

 to the White House notwithstanding. 



The Justice was very frank concerning his likes and 

 dislikes and the things of which he felt himself completely 

 a master. He was extraordinarily sentimental. I have seen 

 him break down and cry so that he would have to dis- 

 continue reading some of the poems about the war, which 

 I will frankly confess I could not have read myself with- 

 out acting in just the same way. For while at first sight 

 he was austere, apparently inflexible, indeed the personifi- 

 cation of the ideal judge, he nevertheless had a warm and 

 tender heart. I can see him now as he sobbed unashamedly 

 when he came immediately to call on Rosamond after our 

 only son died on September 3, 1933. 



The Justice was an inveterate correspondent. He wrote, 

 always in longhand, rapidly and easily for hours and hours 

 at a time. Rosamond knew that he liked a box of good 

 New England apples in the autumn, roses at Christmas, a 

 salmon when we went to Canada in the spring, and oranges 

 from Grandmother's grove at Eau Gallie. Each gift 

 brought a charming and affectionate letter, like the one 

 he wrote on January i, 1927: — 



My dear Rosamond: 



The first letter of this year is to wish you a Happy 

 New Year and to thank you for the beautiful roses 

 that were put upon my desk half an hour ago. We 

 began to be cousins in good earnest last summer and it 



