The record-union., 1891-01-26
GEORGE BANCROFT.
A Tribute to the Memory Of Americas
Famous Historian.
What He Has Done for the world-His
Life from Boyhood to
u
Manhood.

Rev. w. S. Hoskinson, of the English
Lutheran Church, treated his congrega-
ton to splendid address last evening on
the life of Americas famous historian,
George Bancroft.
The reverend gentleman based his re-
marks on: THE words of wise men are
heard in quiet. Feel. TX, IL.
"Of no class of WRITER'S" began the
speaker, lis this quotation more true, than
of the historian. His work lives on and
ever is influencing in very quiet way
the lives of all the people. Be he man
OF piety and truth and virtue, his writings
have wonderful power for good. It is
hard task to write good history, and
great benefit to the people when written.
1t takes great and good man to do this
work well.
'When such man dies, as the one
whom we, as a people, mourn to-day, it is
right that his good traits and deeds should
be recounted.
!" Nature does seem to exist for the eX-
cellent, and it is good men who make the
earth excellent. We are a much richer
nation to-day for the life OF this good
man, and it is imperishable riches
which we have gained. Our religion
teaches US to cherish these patrons OF so
ciety. We believe it is right to honor
great and good men at their death. We
honor virtue itself when we honor these
illustrations of virtue; and this is our ex-
PLANTATION for presenting this subject to-
night.
falls into three divisions-the Colonial
Period, the Revolutional Period and the
Union. The first two are already made
and have been finished for some time.
Their deeds are ready for the recorders
pen. No coming events can make any
changes in them.
THE STIRRING SCENES
| Of these momentous years have become,
matters of history and may be put into
| permanent form. So the subject OF this
discourse thought sixty years ago, and he
! set to work to gather the materials and
write a book. But the third period is not
| yet made. Our real existence as q union
| is only century. We are too young rs
a nation to engage the attention of the
historian. Much is as yet only expert
ment with Us. Then we are too recently
| from the smoke of battle and the clash of
arms. The strife of opinions is rife, show
| ing that matters of State and national in
! terest remain unsettled. Thus the last
period was not ready when the historian
began his work, and it may take some
| tlliic yea Dclc1O tlc
make the record. Contributions may be
made; local narratives, personal biogra-
phleS, political discussions should Oe care
fully kept; but We are still too near to the
strife, too much in the mist and dust Of
party strife occasioled by the conflicts of
| battle to have point ofvison far enough
away for viewing the whole scene and
painting the picture for the ages of pos
| terity.
Leaving the third and last period
for some historian of the coming time,
| this learned man undertook to give to
the world a history of this country from
the earliest times up to the close OF the
| taling-a vast subject requiring a master
mind and faithful heart. 1t was a new
| path this historian must travel. He was
TO record the deeds of a people who were
set for the defense of the equal rights of
man. They had broken from the tyranny
of kings, and the people alone were
sovereign. Justice to all men was the
| watchword of this people; free compe-
tition quickened invention, and labor was
rewarded with sure and fair returns.
''Here all was free-iree as mountain
air and water.
"The mighty streams were found roll
ing on in their majesty, just as they had
continued to flow from the creations the,
vast forests; which no hand had violated,
were 1iourishlng in grandeur and beauty,
their only inhabitants the wild animals
and the Indians, almost as wild. One can
easily. imagine the feelings Of the early
| inhabitant of this favored land. The
| free, pure air of vale and mountain made
the heart work with quickened pulsa-
| tons, and these men had the experience
| of Tell as he roamed through the wild
| cantons Of Switzerland. We would not
expect them to act as men had done be-
fore them, and they did not. They made
maths and roads nf THAR on1 ho
historian who had to follow them found
| the roads different from the
BEATEN PATHS OF NATIONS
In the Old World. Here the people
| found no courts of high commission and
! star chamber, and God grant that they
| never shall find any. They had left these
relics of tyrrany and barbarism and
sought land where a man was free to
think and act and worship his god. But
| in such a land, where ali We're free and
equal, where the rights of all must be re-
| Spected, at time when the force of moral
! opinion is rapidly increasing, a fair and
| truthful and unbiased man must be found
| to make a record Of the deeds of this
! people. He must be man who can sim
ely and conscientiously, with his whole
heart make his .oblation on the altar of
| truth.
"None other shall see fit to make the
record of such people.
HE alone will get at the meaning of
| their history. The best man for the task
must fear God and love his brother ALSO
| He must feel the touch of fraternal re-
| lationship, must be one of the grand fra
| ternity, and be able to say at the very
| beginning, we are brethren He must
not look upon the fortunes of this nation
as if under the control of blind destiny,
| but he must see and follow the steps by
which a tavoring Providence, calling our
| institutions into being. has conducted the
country to its present happiness and
glory
He should have lived long enough in
| the third period of our country's history
to see the effect of the working of those
! principles for which the fathers fought
in the two former periods, and he should
be as close to these periods as possible, in
order to catch their spirit and feel the i'm
| portance of their cause. He should know
how to write the biographies of every one
| of these early heroes. He ought to be
man OF two centuries. But where shah
| we find man with all these endow-
| ments?
| "We can think of no man who more
| completely filled the niche for which God
| intended him than the man who was laid
! to rest this week in Worcester, Mass,
| George Bancroft, the historian of Amer
| lea. Born at the close OF the last century,
| reared in Christian home, trained in the
truths of religion at mothers knees, he
had just the early instruction which
would prepare him for writing the history
of Christian people. His father was a
Congregationalist minister, and this
careful instruction was given in order
| that the son might also become a minis
| ter. He did indeed preach some sermons,
| but soon turned his attention entirely to
| letters. A very smart lad was the young
Bancroft. He was instructed by his
4 f.fl.