Table of Contents:
  • I. Abiel and his son oliver 1800-1841 : The reverend Abiel Holmes decides to write a book and marry a Wendell
  • Mr. and Mrs. Abiel Holmes-A son is born
  • Mr. Madison's war and the hartford convention-Oliver Wendell Homes is a boy in Cambridge-Abiel Homes sees a threat to the old religion
  • Oliver Holmes goes to school and college. His father finishes the annals of America
  • Oliver Holmes is graduated from Harvard-Abiel loses his parish
  • Oliver changes his profession-He goes abroad to study-Abiel Homes sees his son receive a prize
  • Oliver Holmes is a physician-Death of Abiel Holmes-Oliver marries a Jackson and names his first born Oliver Wendell Holmes
  • II. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Junior 1841-1861 : State of the Union when o.w.h. was born-Dr. Holmes becomes professor of anatomy at the Harvard medical school
  • Wendell Holmes is a boy in Boston-He meets Mr. Dixwell, his future father in law
  • The nation grows restless-Wendell Holmes gets ready for Harvard
  • Harvard College-Autocrat of the breakfast table-Uncle John gives his autograph
  • Harvard College, continued-Father and son-Fanny Dixwell
  • Lincoln's election-War-Class day at Harvard
  • III. The soldier 1861-1864 : The twentieth regiment-Ball's bluff
  • The seven days-Antietam-Dr. Holmes hunts for a wounded captain
  • Father and son-Holmes's third wound
  • Ten months at home-The wilderness-Holmes is mustered out
  • Law school
  • The war ends-Holme's asks himself some questions about the law
  • IV. The lawyer 1866-1882 : William James-Fanny Dixwell-Wendell Holmes plays with his mind
  • Holmes reads law-He is examined for the bar
  • Counsellor at law-"To know is not less than to feel"
  • Kent's commentaries-Holmes's sails for the pole
  • Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Junior
  • Holmes works at the office-He prepares a little book on the common law
  • Holmes lectures on the common law-He presents his father with a book, and is made a full professor at the law school
  • V. Judge in Massachusetts 1882-1902 : A judge with a sense of history-And a brief summary of the conditions that confronted him
  • Judge in Massachusetts
  • Judge Holmes dissents from his brethren-Farewell to the doctor
  • Fanny Holmes and her husband-Vegelahn v. Guntner-Theodore Roosevelt enters the scene, and the old century is ended
  • Chief justice in Massachusetts-Roosevelt writes to lodge about Holmes-Farewell to Boston
  • VI. Washington 1902-1935 : Justice and Mrs. Holmes move to Washington
  • The norther securities case-Theodore Roosevelt frowns-The Lochner case
  • The justice is seventy-Holmes's annuals-He makes a prophecy
  • World war-The U.S. v. child labor-War's aftermath-Holmes defends the bill of rights
  • "The great dissenter"
  • Fanny Dixwell Holmes-"Tell him I loved him."-Philosophy in a hard hour
  • Holmes's last dissent-He resigns from the court-A nation's greeting
  • Death of Oliver Wendell Holmes-A soldier's burial-The great affirmer.