New-York tribune., 1900-10-07

10 MIN In MS historical work. as. indeed uItt-
mately proved to be the case. But It is sIenfff-
cant that he gave his summer vacations to Wan
derings among scenes in the United States and
Canada which were later TO engage his uro-
found attention part OF the historical prov
ince which he to make his own. Mr Farm
ham, delighting in Parkman's love OF nature
is tacitly troubled by his herO's indifference 70
the works OF man Touching upon the travels IN
Europe. he says: Seldom does a celebrated his
tOrian show Parkman's degree OF Indifference to
archaeology" This inevitable In the hrst
place. has been indicated above, Parkman
came Of a stock in which culture though NOT
without breadth. certainly without the eEe-
ments which make for aesthetic enthusiasmzs
and. secondly, he all his life absorbed IN
the study Of events which had the prinevaI
forest for their theatre. 1t seems the most nat
ural thing in the world that he should have
mingled with his praise OF Lake Como a com
plant that ii was not after all. quite the sort
Of thing he loved best It reminds him Of Lake
George he writes. but there are none OF those
little islands covered with rough and moss
grown pine trees. which give a certain savage
character TO the beauties Of the American
lake, he adds, and concludes with these charac-
teristic words: "An here is like a finished pict-
ure; even the widest rocks seem sOftened in The
air of Italy. Give me Lake George. and the
I
philistine in his good natured railIery Of the
Italian guide who was always pestering him
with handfuls of old coins picked up for next to
nothing among the peasants-fnds that prob
ably would have rejOiCed the soul of an anti
quarian-but one has only to take Parknan
on his own ground TO realize that in his way
he poet
He had the poets love Of the wildwood the
hunger for nature at first hand When, in the
sixties. the pressure of i'll health was so i'm
perative that he had to abandon literature tenn
porarily, whether he liked it OF not, he turned
hOrticulturist. He won success by dint OF en-
ergy and skill He seems an essentially practi-
cal man among his flowers 1t is noted that as
a grower of roses and a specialist in the hy-
bFidizat;on of lilies he gained $40 awards. be-
tween 1859 and 1884 and gave the 'I-..--n
Parkmanni' to horticulture But beyond pretty
1 passage in address which he delivered as
president of the Massachusetts Horticultural
/ Society, there is nothing in this phase Of his
/ career to suggest affinity for the beauties OF
| his garden; We must follow him into the forest
among the Indians. on old battle fields to feel
I the full force of his devotion TO nature There
moreover. his poetic and historical faculties
meet; there he stands forth as the rare indi-
viduality of Mr. Farnham's most interesting
pages The bulk of this volume is based on a
\ 4
scarcity OF peTsOnalia necessitatng this ar
rangement 1t is full of the bracing atmosphere
which Parkman found out OF doors and put into
his books Mr.. Farnham never ornits 20 show
how the steps which his friend rose to the
completion of his works were often found in
books IN documentary archives. but Just as
often in the imaginative reconstruction on the
spot. of great acts in the drama which the au-
thor had set himself to narrate The reader OF
the works will have guessed at this for himself
The actual details of his method OF compost
tiOn are, perhaps less familiar. and may well
be given in Mr.. Farnham's words as follows:
Extreme sensitiveness of sight obliged him to
reading and writing. In his researches abroad
ne would take some educated man with him 10
a library, spending as many hours a day as MS
strength allowed in listening to the reading of
documents and in noting what he should need
Tor subsequent and more thorough study of a
/ SUBJECT Under such disabilities for writ
ing ne naturally took as few notes as possible
and developed a very retentive memory AS
the SenSltlVenesS of his eyes made il Impossible
Tor him to look at paper while writing he caused
10 be constructed what he called his ''zridironr
Ihls simple invention was an Indispensable com
panlon IN all his labor up to the completion 4
La Salle in 1863 After these first and wors-
twenty years. he was able to use his ewes enough
10 make notes. at least, without such a guide
1t was impracticable for him TO compose away
from home. As he based his works ~,
original sources the most of which had not been
printed. he had TO have do Of