The record-union., 1891-01-26

young man luSplIadoH 70 nave met Win
such teachers and to have numbered
among his friends such men as Schleier-
macher. Won Humboldt, Vanhagen, Won
Hense, and Goethe. And he left beyond
the sea those who admired him. Tt was
sad parting, too, from little Bancroft. He
is most interesting youth, and is to
make one of our great men,
ssHe taught and translated and wrote
for some time after returning home,
kept up his studies all the time. He was
elected to the Legislature, nominated for
the State Senate, but declined these hon
ols, and published the first volume of his
lile-work, the History of the United
States, in the year "a. The lastssvolume
appeafed forty years later. He was Sec
rotary of the Navy under President Polk,
and later Minister to Great Britain, Rus
STA, Germany, etc.
.lHe was greatly honored and esteemed
by the people of all these countries.
"What he says of Franklin at the Court
of France may be said of him also: He
never disturbed by recollections or fear.
y Free from the illusions of poetic
natures, he loved truth for it's own sake,
and looked upon things just as they We're.
AS consequence, he had no eloquence
but that Of clearness. In regard to money
he was frugal that he might be generous.
He owed good health to his exemplary
temperance. 8 His charm was
simplicity, which gave grace to his style
and ease to his manners
ESTEEMED BY ROYALTY.
"The old Emperor of Germany es-
teemed him very highly and gave him his
own Hfe-siZe portrait with the inscrip-
ton: THE Emperor, William /. to his
friend George Bancroft, in remembrance
ofthe years 67-74' Thus by personal quail
ification, by training, at home and abroad,
by the habit of industry and painstaking,
he was the right man to undertake the
writing of our country's history.
1.-THE work was vast; and when we
know that forty years elapsed between
and that of the last, and these the years of
the authors inatured strength of body
and mind, we may know what it meant
to give to our people what we have. Many
persons predicted that the author would
never live to complete his work. The
last volume makes one feel that he him
self felt SO, as there seems TO be hurry
ing to the close. One gets the impression
OF writer who feels the necessity of has
tcning because the day is far spent, and
the Mig at is at hand. But the sequel proves
that he might have worked more
leisurely, and possibly with greater salts
faction to himself and to the nation.
storehouse of wisdom, library
of instruction to which every
American can point with pride. No one
! can be informed in our country's history
without sitting at the feet of this man. He
! is the Gamaliel to whom all the people
must go for information. And it is a sat
| isfaction to know that we have one his
torian who is used as a standard OF refer
ence by the great instructors in German
universities. This is because the work is
| done by a master hand One is made to
| feel that the history OF this period is now
written and accessible to every person in
the land. 1t is not likely that another
will attempt to write the same period in
hundred years, SO well has it been done.
| We are made to feel in reading that here
| is q new vein in American history. The
subject is lifted out of the hands of the
mere annalist and commentator, anG
raised to the dignity of philosophic nara
tive. The account of the colonial period
| is picturesque and charming; the tribute
| paid to Roger Williams shows the author
to be true native son of the republic;
| the spirit of fairness and hberallty is
| everywhere seen. We meet with
BRILLIANT AND DARING
Style, picturesque characters and Incl
| dents, acute reasoning and vast compass of
| learning. This man writes like one who
loves his country and loves the blessed
God who gave him such land. He burns
with enthusiasm for his subject The
characters are living and real, and glow
! before him as he sketches their pictures.
You feel the effect of their actual pres
ence Here the lives of heroes are made
to shine with a sort of immortal bright
ness. AS the sculptor gives to his hero a
form of something more than mortal; as
the painter Suffuses the cheek with q glow
above life, and snnoothes away the burrows
which care or disease or age has plowed
i'll the manly countenance; so this his
torian kindles with passion for his SUBJ
lect and aiming to awaken the illustrious
dead into immortality of fame, describes
persons as If actually in his presence
| No young person nor old person can af-
ford to be ignorant of the contents of
these volumes. They open window,
Offering q clear outlook upon the deeds Of
those early heroes, men guided by God to
found the greatest nation on which the
sun shines to-day. Take studious posi-
ton at this window if you would get the
best information on subjects of greatest
importance.
but while we are glad to accept the leg
acy OF this great man, we are sorry to part
with the giver. He has dignified labor
by life full of toll, and has gone to God
who is faithful to reward him who has
done what he could. Some time ago he
wrote: was trained to look upon life
here as season for labor. Being more
than four score years old, l know the
time for my release will soon come.
conscious of being near the shore of
eternity, | wait without impotence and
without dread the reckoning of the hand
which will summon me to rest
(" That hand has beckoned, and we trust
our country's historian has entered that
rest which remaineth for the people of
God.'n