The herald., 1896-02-23


great many people to acquire hetter
knowledge of American history. Pro-
fessor Hart has recently published an
article in the Outlook on this subject,
from which we make the following ex-
tracts:
"For real study some one period
ought to be selected; and out of the
whole field Of four centuries there are
three episodes which are of peculiar
interest. The first is that of colonial
settlements, say from 1906 to 1886.
Perhaps one of the three groups Of col
onies, New England, middle and south
ern, would be quite sufficient. The
Importance of this period is that the
settlers we're building our foundations,
and in a novel and interesting manner
were making experiments which have
revolutionized the world. For in
stance, they invented the election of
governors by the people, the extension
of the suffrage, and the use Of written
constitutions. A second period Of
great Importance is that from 1901 to
1925; it is marked by the foreign COM
plications into. which the country was
unwillingly drawn; by very unsuc-
cessful and wasteful war, and by the
assertion OF the Monroe doctrine,
which has of late been 80 hard worked.
1t is also period interesting for the
rapid growth of Jeffersonian Democ-
racy, which is the principle now under
lying the governments Of the United
States, Switzerland, France, England
and the English colonies. A third and
brN i'd so fhnt
from 1885 to 1861, the development OF
the "irrepres sibls conflict" over slsv-
cry, 1t is time noticeable not only
for the great issues, but for great men
CLAY, Calhoun, Webster. Chase,
Seward, Douglas and Lincoln"
"Ths principle is simply to begin
with brief outlines; to enlarge them
from general work, from brief bio
graphies, from broader biographies and
special works; and to use sources-au-
photographers. "reminiscences, debates,
documents-sufficien to give bits of
personally selected color. This ma.
terial is to be held in solution in the
mind by the aid of brief and we'll
colored notes. So held it will always
be ready to apply to similar questions
in current history. No one who has
studied the history of the Monroe
doctrine would be at loss to know
whether President Monroe meant it to
apply to boundary controversies. No
one who has studied the, slavery ques-
tion will question the right of free
opinion now. And the habit Of con-
centrated thinking upon historical sub
jects will enable the student to find
out for himself the truth of matters
not already covered by his study"
A New Literary Light-JohRnna
Ambrosius Is her name, and she was
born in East Prussia forty years ago.
OF poor workingman's family. there
was added to her privations the whole
care of an invalid mother, which gave
her no chance to read-one magazine
being her literary stock, and this she
hardly found an opportunity to read.
At 20 she married q young peasant as
poor as herself, and the struggle for
existence was even harder than in her
fathers home. Yet she somehow man
aged to write verses, and year ago a
little volume was published which has
already run through twelve editions.
OF her work The Critic says:
ION the one hand it is doing her an
injustice to look upon her work as
merely phenomenal, with the same
compassionate admiration we bestow
upun a composition of Helen Keller.
On the other, one cannot but feel that
life's handicap has been too severe;
that too much vitality has had to go
into the mere struggle for life; that
her "Muse," as she likes to call her
poetic inspiration, has been saddened
ience. And yet these poems are quite
worthy to stand by themselves, to be
read for their own sake, without
shadow of apology for their authors
lack of intellectual opportunities. Had
these opportunities been bestowed,
her works would probably have been
more numerous; it is doubtful il what
we have before us would have been
of better quality. After all, she has
been through the full gamut of human
experiences, and these must always be
the same, be it for prince or pauper;
and out of the fullness of her heart she
sings Of that which she has felt. The
peot is born, not made, and with all
that has been denied her, the gift of
song was fully granted"
Her portrait strikingly resembles
that Of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps.
Il &
Those of our readers who remember
the struggles Of George Meredith to
get a hearing before the literary world
AS we'll as their own struggles now to
find out exactly where to place him in
our literature, will be interested in the
following bit Of gossip:
"Thirty-five years ago, when Mr..
Meredith was in moderate circum-
stances, he and Swinburne, who was in
about the same financial position, went
to live in the same house with Ros-
setti, who likewise had limited posses
sions. Their residence was cheerful
and commodious house in Chelsea,
standing in Cheyne Walk, and facing
the river Thames, that then swept up
and forth, at ebb and flow, under the
wooden piers of old Battersea bridge,
now gone. It was the same house that
George Eliot occupied in the latter and
more prosperous period of her career.
Within it's walls Swinburne wrote his
great drama, "AtslRnta." and the first
series of his "Poems and Ballads" and
critical essay on William Blake, be.
sides other productions of less impor-
tance. In another room Rossetti al
ternately wrought upon his famous
picture of Dante and Beatrice and
wrote many Of his finest poems. In
still another room Meredith labored
to condense his stsnzas into lines and
his pages into paragraphs. Meredith