The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1876-09-28
A POPULAR HISTORY.


nal Times 10 the Present Day. By John
Clark Ridpath, A. NJ, Professor of History
and Eelles-Lettres, Indiana Asbury Univer-
sity. Royal Octave Illustrated with Maps,
Charts, Portraits and Diagrams. Sold only
by subscription. Price, $500. Jones Bros.
aCo., Philadelphia, Chicago and Cincinnati.
In its clear and racy style, in its sum-
mary of all the facts in convenient space
in the neat and attractive binding and
make up of the volume and the maps
and charts which aid the exploitation of
the text, in short in all respects which
make a good book, this work must take
the highest rank.
What we particularly admire is the
able manner in which the writer closes
the history of the several men and colo
MES with short and ''meaty" paragraphs
in analysis of character and motives. As
IN instance, how much more clearly and
forcibly, is the condition of the colonies
at the beginning of the Revolution, set
forth in this brief extract, than i'll the
ordinary lengthy dissertations on the
subject
such were the American colones-such the
be exposed to the blast of war. These people,
whose ancestors had been driven into exile by
the eyactionS of European government and the
bigotry OF cccleslat1cai power, had become the
rightfui proprietorS of the New World They
had fairly won it from savage man and savage
nature. They had subdued it and built States
within it.. They owned it by all the claims of
actual possession by toll and trial; by the or
deal of suffering by peril, privatlon, and hard
ship by the baptism of sorrow and the she'd
ding of blood. No wonder that patriotism was
the child of such travail and discipline No
si1arr hiatt W fnI n md
sky and river. from orchard and valley and for
est, from the memories of the past, the aspira-
had drank in the spirit of Liberty until their
souls were peryaded with her sublime essence,
were now ready when the iron heel of OPP
preston was set upon their cherished rights,
to draw the vindictive sword even against the
venerable monarchy OF England" i.
The heroic explorers, the brave old
founders of American Commonwealth,
the warriors and statesmen of the Revo-
luton, the adoption of our constitution
and the growth OF q mighty nation under
it, surely these are themes worthy the
pen Of genius. While the work shows
ample research and iberality of senti-
ment which sees the greatness of the
whole country, the hand and brain of
the philosophical historian are manifest
throughout and every page glows with
an ardent patriotism.
The progress we have made towards a
''more perfect nation" is finely shown in
the authors closing comments, from
which we extract the following
1.-The idea that the United States are che Nation,
and not thirty-eght nations, is the grand car
dinal doctrine of a sound political faith State
pride and sectional attachment are natural pas
sions i'll the human breast, and are so near akin
to patriotism as to be distinguished from it on
ly in the court of higher reason But there is a
nobier love of country-a patriotism that rises
above all places and sections, that knows no
County no State, no North, 10 South but ONLY
naive land that claims no 'nonntain siona.
that clings to no river bank that worships no
range of hills, but lifts the aspiring eye to a
continent redeem ed from barbariSm by COM
mon sacrifices and made sacred by tho shedding
of kindred blood. Such patriotism is the Ca
BILE and sheet-anchor OF our hope.
These passages illustrate the spirit and
finish of the work better than We could
by our brief comments.
The work is adorned with portraits of
all the principal men in our history, to-
biographical diagrams showing the vicin-
ity of all important battles, maps Illus
trating the condition of the country from
time TO time, and chronological charts
which show at a glance the connection
of contemporary men and events. 1t is
elegantly printed on fine calendered pa
per and handsomely and substantially
bound. The publishers have, in the
makeup of the book, illustrated the per-
lection to which the art of book making
has attained. Altogether an exceedingly
able and valuable work, it should be read
md studied by every citizen who would
be informed of the history and greatness