Henry Augustus Homes. 



riety, from which not even all our great men are wholly exempt. He 

 had no ambition to shine in the world, not even to become promi- 

 nently known in connection with his library work. Of the many 

 distinctions which attended his faithful service in the cause of learn- 

 ing, he valued chiefly the degree of LL. D., conferred upon him, in 

 1873, by Columbia College, and in regard to this he wrote to his 

 friend, Prof. Tyler, that it was as unexpected as it was undeserved. 

 "I have not the slightest idea/' he wrote, "from whence proceeded 

 the influence that had it bestowed on me. I think it such a mark of 

 friendship that I wonder one's friends do not give him a chance to 

 know who loves him enough to go out of the way to do something for 



The men of this sort, who are content to do the chosen task faith- 

 fully and unostentatiously, who deem themselves unworthy of the 

 honor which meaner men seek all their lives to gain, such men are 

 not so common in the world that they run much danger of being over- 

 looked. Accordingly Dr. Homes did not, especially during the latter 

 part of his life, lack the satisfaction of appreciation and honor at the 

 hands of those who were fitted to recognize his worth. The bed on 

 which he lay those long months, waiting with resignation the approacli 

 of death, was watched with anxious foreboding, not only by the faith- 

 ful wife and son and the friends of his hearth, but throughout the 

 land by the men whom we would wish to breathe a regret over our 

 graves — the men of letters and learning, scholars in high places, the 

 presidents of our great colleges, the chiefs of our great libraries, all 

 those who by the masonry of learning and the insight of wisdom and 

 high service recognize those who are akin to themselves. 



By Horace E. Smith, LL. D. 



Mr. President, the opportunity of joining in this tribute to the 

 memory and worth of Dr. Homes affords me a melancholy pleasure. 

 My personal acquaintance with him extends only through the last 

 decade ; but that acquaintance was of a very pleasant character, and 

 quite long enough to impress me thoroughly with his worth, and com- 

 mand my warm regard. In all my intercourse with him he was kind 

 and courteous, and his whole bearing that of the cultured gentleman. 



From my personal observation and the testimony of others, I judge 

 that he was a man of liberal intellectual endowments and ripe scholar- 

 ship. His character, it seemed to me, while not wanting in firmness 

 and strength, was distinguished by singular transparency and purity. 



