New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-11-10


letters and kilograms came from all parts Of the
world. His home, on the south bank of Jamaica
| Pond. one of the most beautiful dwellings
| In the suburbs Of Boston, and 1t was there that
| he did his best work in his last days. Several
months ago Mr.. Parkmans condition was re-
garded as serious and fears OF his death were
| entertained. but he rallied from the attack. He
| remained however. in weakened condition.
| and when attacked by peritonitis his vitality
was insufficient to sustain him.
The funeral services Of the honored historian
will be held in Kings Chapel. this city, at noon
| Saturday
| Few Americans who were boys in the iftes and
were fond Of reading could fail to have pleasant
memories of Francis Parkman. This was due to
single volume published in 1919. or about that
date and subsequently republished many times.
1t was entitled THE California and Oregon Trail;
being Sketches of Prairie and Rocky Mountain
Life and there few II any books that set
forth faithfully 1t does the peculiarites of
the Indian character. Parkman studied the red
man from many diverse points Of view. He watched
them they hunted the buffalo, and 1t was he
among the first who noted that the hunters almost
invariably ate certain interior parts OF their game
raw even before the flesh had time to cool. Every
one who has studied the history of customs knows
how significant this fact Is. Parkman Joined his
Indian hosts at their favorite feasts OF dog stew
He saw the way they made their bows and arrows
and noted with amazement what tremendous force
was exerted by a bow that looked so short slender
and weak as the weapon that was used by the
Indians OF the plains. He recorded that he had
seen an arrow delivered at close quarters pass
clear through buffalo. The Sioux. whom he knew
particularly the Ogaallah tribesmen-were in his
day passing from the prehistoric stage to the stage
of modern weapons They used the bow, but they
had guns and OF the most amusing bits or
descriptions in Parkmans early volume Is that OF
a riot in an Indian village when the quarrel OF Two
factions broke out into open and the partisans
l rfth ha0u ting
and lodging and dancing about so that the vo-
lent fusilade ended without a soul being the worse.
STUDIED NATURE IN HIS BoYHoOD
| This work. which is perhaps more vivid In the
memory Of many than any of his later works be-
longs almost to the period OF his boyhood Inc
Journey Of which II was record was made IN 1910
and at that time the author was only twenty-three
wears old. But he had already had some or the
training most necessary for the evolution Of char
| acter and a genius such his was TO be- AS
child his health frail. and for this reason ne
was sent to live in the house OF his maternal grand
father at Medford Though he was only twelve
miles from Boston, he lived for four years on the
horder of Mddlesex Fells, a wide forest tract as
| wild as it was when the woodmans axe began 10
resound at its boundaries two centuries BEFORE In
such surroundings he learned to love Nature ana TO
study her secrets The intimacy has lasted all MS
| life 1t Is manifest almost every page OF his
works and II taught him. above all. that even
history cannot be learned from books. Not even
| Freeman himself was more careful than Parkman
| to study places well as events. and the vvid-
! ness with which the American reproduced what
| his own eyes attested was never dreamed OF by the
aborious and scholarly Englishman AT twelve years
of age young Parkman was sent to the school since
| known as Chauncy Hall, and from there In due
time to Harvard College. Much Of the reading
| which he had done boy related 10 the early
| history OF the New-England Colonies and one can
therefore easily credit the statement that by the
! time he reached his sophomore year he mad formed
| the general purpose Of writing history or the
| French War Even his outings contributed to nour-
isb this PURPOSE One vacation was spent In a
canoe on Magaoway River, In the forests OF North
| ern Maine and another on the waters OF Lake
| George and Lake Champlain. the very centre or
| the drama which II his destiny to spend his
life in unfolding Then, when he was about twenty
wears of age came an accident In the Harvard
gymnasium which, instead of being a bar to his prog
rass in the line which Nature had marked. proved
| the very thing which forcbly but painfully ad-
vanced him on his way. He was sent to Europe
| and I'D the Mediterranean. Thus he saw in youth
Gibraltar and Malta, places around which ragged
that hitter storm of war the mere fringe of which
brought anguish and terror remembered for gener-
ations by the people who had made their homes
nv Lake Champlain and along the St. Lawrence
| river Thus at the very outset he viewed. per
hans unconsciously most diverse phases both So
cally and geographically, OF the theme when ne
was to make his own.
| THE HISTORIANS ANCESTRY.
Nor was there lacking the element Of heredity
so fondy looked for nowadays in the case of every
great man whether he be man of action or a
man of letters. His great-grandfather the Kew
| Enenezer Parkman who was graduated from
| Harvard College in 1854, Congregational
| minister of distinction His grandfather, Samuel
parrman was a successful merchant in Boston.
and his father whose full name he bore. not
| only a Unitarian minister OF renown. but also an
author on his mothers side, Parkman was de-
seconded from the Rev. John Cotton, eminent among
tho early divines of Massachusetts There were
| cruel drawbacks in young Parkman's career. but
they were compensated in some measure by the
literary aptitude which was his by right OF birth,
and by the early start he had in the right direction
| Rorn on September l6 1893. we find him already in
is1a at the age of twenty doing just the things
| uh,cb he should have done In the light OF his
Either Of his own motion or oy the urgency Of
50 soma law No learning comes amlss but it is quite
c OF that the two years desutory study for
s u'g IN sF With
fSs far e%'aSi plains The Gr.a.
had been sRat In Is nf ma when found
path across the Rocky Mountains Hm The great Ore,
esrayans Of restless people, who had learned that
10 'ss Se ns
| lns. aanm,v,,em.nt on the Great Salt Lake Young
Parkman and his cousin followed the course Of
tiese a,n,,y and OF the Dacotahs lney went aside
o. Old "t {, is 10 the fact that they did so that
anu ~ lS.,shtfl book OF travel and adventure.
T TSe author lived the Indians lived. He slept
hsi5 t lSsEd dances their legends and
returned s$'q y: ,'m with The a,mo.
pneIe " renewed within the domain of the
United The only b to al that
the eap1su' ill., medical aid deepened and strength
enea the TO Se fr6 Pa rsTaman Tas
never Ssd psrssasn indomt.Sle win and physical
flame genial temper described BY those