Henry Augustus Homes. 



7 



This combination of qualities, which Dr. Homes possessed in so 

 eminent a degree, is very much rarer than we are apt to imagine, and 

 as valuable as it is rare. If there exists such an emanation from the 

 Universal Intelligence as the library Genius, it can be nothing else 

 than a subtle combination of that comprehensive range of vision, that 

 unerring instinct, that fine sense of fitness and proportion, that 

 catholic yet chastened love, that industry quickened by zeal, which 

 were never more harmoniously joined than in the subject of this 

 imperfect tribute. 



With what an exclusive devotion Dr. Homes confined himself within 

 the round of duties of his vocation has been referred to. What he 

 might have accomplished in that field of letters if he had allowed 

 himself to stray into that alluring path of life, we are forbidden to 

 know. That he had the literary instinct, the habit of mind which 

 predisposes a man to express himself in letters, no one who came into 

 contact with him could fail to discover. The few stray leaves which 

 fell from his table gave evidence of his possession of several, at least, 

 of the qualities which lead men to the heights of literary success. 

 Along with a richly stored mind went powers of acute analysis, close 

 observation, shrewd reflection, industry and judgment in research, 

 and clear and lucid statement. His style was excellent, dignified 

 yet rapid, and his logic invincible. His few scattered writings — 

 scattered at wide intervals along the years and in ephemeral forms — 

 won instant recognition from the masters of the subjects he treated. 

 The wide sweep of .his interest and scope of his information are well 

 illustrated in these rare pamphlets, in which he ranges from Mesopo- 

 tamian missions to Numismatics, and from local history and genealogy 

 to library economy. 



There are those who, realizing his qualifications for a literary career, 

 and failing to appreciate the true importance of the librarian's work 

 in the world, have lamented his exclusive devotion to that work. 

 One of these men — himself one of the leading historians and not the 

 least among the librarians of America — said recently : " It is a pity 

 that Dr. Homes did not write more. He might have made a name 

 in the field of historical research." The nature of our rejoinder to 

 this and all like regrets has been disclosed. We are not prepared to 

 admit that our distinguished associate, who has gone out from among 

 us, could have done more to make straight the crooked ways of 

 humanity in any other path of life than in that which he so long, so 

 faithfully and so successfully pursued. 



He seems to have had not a trace of that vulgar craving for noto- 



