This affectionate portrait of Oliver Wendell Holmes begins in the old Cambridge house where he was born in 1809, a home haunted by Revolutionary memories and filled with the learning, piety, and warmth of a distinguished New England family. It traces the Holmes and Wendell lines through generations of ministers, scholars, judges, and poets, linking him to figures such as Anne Bradstreet and Dorothy Quincy and showing how family portraits, books, and traditions nourished his imagination and sense of identity. From this rich inheritance, the chapter follows Holmes through a boyhood of vivid impressions: gardens, fields, village roads, ghostly rooms, superstitions, and the small humiliations and joys that left lasting marks on his character. His sharp eye, tender conscience, love of nature, and early talent for verse emerge alongside schoolroom episodes and the shaping influence of teachers and religion. The later tribute celebrates him as both a brilliant man of letters and a devoted Harvard professor of anatomy and physiology, honored by poets, friends, and admirers who praise his wit, generosity, and lifelong charm. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.