| It's Winter Break! Hooray! The fall school term is over! And whom do we have to thank for Winter Break? Why, Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request) of course! Dickinson proposed the idea of a winter break when he was a professor at Harvard Junior College in Washerst, PA. He convinced the school's Board of Visitors that such a break would rejuvenate tired faculty and students who had worked hard throughout the fall. He commemorated the first Winter Break in his now-classic poem "At last to be without a care" (below on the left). His poem inspired third-cousin Emily to pen her poem "At last to be identified" (below on the right). |  |
| By Emmett Lee Dickinson: At last to be without a care At last, my rump’s upon the chair And for tonight I’ll rest Past midnight, past the morning star! Past sunrise! Ah! What leisure waits For my sore feet today! | By Emily Dickinson: At last to be identified! At last, the lamp’s upon thy side, The rest of life to see! Past midnight, past the morning star! Past sunrise! Ah! What leagues there are Between our feet and day! |
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