The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964 Page: 80
672 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
life. For his new family he settled in an attractive house belonging
to the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain.
Clarence B. Kobuski, an associate at the Arboretum, in his
memorial to Palmer, published in both Rhodora and in the Jour-
nal of the Arnold Arboretum, says in part:
Palmer possessed a physique that defied age. He was the slender,
wiry type and at the time of his retirement and departure from
Jamaica Plain for Webb City could outlast any of us on a collecting
trip. Although I did not see him again I understand from his long
letters and from various conversations with others that he continued
his same brisk manner in everything which he undertook. His letters
show that when he retired he merely transferred his activities from
Massachusetts to Missouri. In a letter to me in February, 1955,
he says:
Of course we miss many friends there [Jamaica Plain], and I miss many of the
associations at the Arboretum. But I have never been sorry that I retired when I
did, for my life on the whole has been quite happy here. I have never been busier
at any time or interested in more things. In April I will pass another anniversary-
and you can figure it out as the records show that I was born in 1875. It is hard
for me to believe it as I still feel as strong in body and mind-so far as I can tell-
as I did at fifty. I can easily walk ten miles any day; and I think I could climb a
good sized tree, if there was anything at the top of it that I wanted badly enough.
... Steyermark' and I are still working actively on the Flora of Missouri ... Speci-
mens of Crataegus, Quercus and other genera keep coming to me for determination
or revision ... Other collections in my museum also occupy much time . I have
agreed to talk to a joint meeting of all the Garden Clubs of Carthage at the public
library. While I do not solicit or particularly enjoy speaking engagements, I fill
them occasionally ... It is so fine and warm today that I think I will go fossil
hunting this afternoon.
For a man retired and eighty years old he certainly was enjoying
life to the fullest, doing exactly what he wanted to do-and he
seemed so well equipped to do it.
To all botanists he is well-known in that field, but scarcely out-
side of it, for his professional work, of course, took most of his
time.
The poem presented here was written early in his professional
life, in part while he was traveling across the high plains of
Texas on a train from southwestern Texas northeastward to Ama-
rillo during the period when prohibition was a major political
issue.' Since the poem is quoted in its entirety, I shall let the
'Julian A. Steyermark.
'The Texas Legislature adopted the national prohibition amendment on February
28, 1918, and a state prohibition law quickly followed. It was just after that that
the poem was written, though there is no definite date to indicate it.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964, periodical, 1964; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101197/m1/100/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.