1 Homes

mien of men performing a simple duty, lends a
significance of the highest order to the work and
stirs the imagination by its suggestion of manly
heroism. All the romance of the seaman's life
is brought to mind by means of a few dramatic
episodes illustrating events which are of almost
daily occurrence in real life but which one rare-
ly visualizes. Nothing is exaggerated; no melo-
dramatic emphasis mars the sense of stark truth;
the tale is told in the simple and brief terms of a
ship's log. But beneath this reserve and brevity
of statement is a world of feeling and meaning,
all the more poignant because of the absence of
insistence. Homer's heroes are the common,
rough men who sail the seven seas before-the
mast, who endure hardships and privations and
tyranny, who face danger and think little of it
because it is all in the day's work. He has made
of their deeds nothing less than a monumental
national epic.

The treatment is worthy of the theme. With-
out much academic training, by dint of indomi-
table will-power and remarkable singleminded-
ness, he triumphed over all difficulties, winning
laurels which with peculiar unanimity have been
conferred upon him by his fellow artists, the
critics, and the man in the street.

[W. H. Downes, The Life and Works of Winslow
Homer (1911), with an exhaustive bibliography; Ken-
yon Cox, Winslow Homer (1914); Leila Mechlin,
"Winslow Homer/' in International Studio> June 1908 ;
Homer Saint-Gaudens, "Winslow Homer," in the
Critic, Apr. 1905; Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of
Paintings by Winslow Homer (Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York, 1911) ; F. W. Morton, "The Art of
Winslow Homer," in Brush and Pencilt Apr. 1902;
N. Y. Times, Oct. i, 1910.] W.H. D.

HOMES, HENRY AUGUSTUS (Mar. 10,
i8i2-Nov. 3, 1887), missionary, librarian, was
born in Boston, Mass., the son of Henry and
Dorcas (Freeman) Homes, and a descendant of
Rev. William Homes of Ireland who came to
America about 1686, William's son Robert, a
sea captain, married Mary Franklin, sister of
Benjamin Franklin, and through this line Henry
Augustus traced descent His father was a
wealthy Boston merchant, his mother a woman
of intelligence and kindliness. At the early age
of ten, their son was sent to Phillips Andover
Academy, from which he entered Amherst in
1826, graduating in 1830. Not forced by circum-
stances to enter a gainful occupation, he followed
his scholarly bent, first in Andover Theological
Seminary, 1831-32, then at Yale, 1832-34, where
he studied medicine as well as theology. He re-
ceived his divinity degree from Andover, then
studied for a year in Paris, specializing in Ara-
bic, and in June 1835 he was ordained by the
figlise Reformer The following year he went to

Homes

Turkey as a missionary for the American Board
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He
carried on his work with characteristic energy
and devotion. He preached and taught, pub-
lished and distributed religious books and tracts
incessantly, and traveled extensively, in 1839 ac-
companying Dr. Asahel Grant [q.v.] on an ex-
pedition into Kurdistan (Missionary Herald,
November, December 1840). From 1851 to 1853
he was connected with the American legation at
Constantinople, serving successively as interpre-
ter, acting-consul, and charge d'affaires.

On returning to the United States in 1854,
Homes altered the course of his career. He be-
came assistant librarian of the New York State
Library, and eight years later he became chief
librarian, continuing in this position for the re-
mainder of his active life. His annual reports,
especially "The Future Development of the New
York State Library" (Documents of the Senate
of the State of New York, 1879, No. 14, Ap-
pendix C), show his wide knowledge of the his-
tory and administration of libraries and indicate
his conception of the means of realizing the pur-
poses of the library. His other papers, covering
a variety of subjects, include: "Observations on
the Design and Import of Medals," "California
and the North-west Coast One Hundred Years
Since," "The Palatine Emigration to England in
1709," "The Alchemy of Happiness, by Mo-
hammed Ghazzali," a translation from the Turk-
ish, and "The Water Supply of Constantinople,"
published in the Transactions of the Albany In-
stitute, and "The Pompey (New York) Stone,
with an Inscription and Date of A. D. 1520," in
the Transactions of the Oneida Historical So-
ciety (1881). He also published a pamphlet,
Description and Analysis of the Remarkable Col-
lection of Unpublished Manuscripts of Robert
Morris (1876), and The Correct Arms of the
State of New York (1880), giving much study
to the preparation of the latter. When the com-
mittee was appointed by the state Senate to de-
cide upon a standard design for the arms of the
state, the model which Homes submitted was ac-
cepted as authentic and was so designated in the
act of 1892, despite the adverse criticism of other
authorities. Homes was married, on Apr. 15,
1841, to Anna Whiting Heath, the daughter of
John Heath, of Brooldine, Mass. At the time of
his death it was said of him (New York Genea-
logical and Biographical Record, January 1888,
p. 38) that he was "very fixed in his views on all
subjects when once formed, although sometimes
they were erroneous."

[Geo. W. Kirchwey and others, "In Meraoriam,1'
Trans, of the Albany Ipst., vol. XII (1893); Am. An-

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