The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-10-21

gun to put forth such growth, promising in
quality. but We; the quantity and in maturity
wholly Inadequate to the eAigent need
Paradoxieal as it may seem, the diffusion Of
education and intelligence is at present acting
against the free development of the highest edu.
cation and intelligence. Many have hoped and
still hope that by giving partial teaching to
great numbers OF persons a stimulus would be
applied TO the best minds among them, and a
thiret for knowledge awakened which would lead
to high results; but thus far the results have not
equaed the expectation. There has been vast
expenditure of brick and mortar for educational
purposes, and, what is more to the purpose,
many excellent and faithful teachers of both
sexes have labored diligently in their vocation;
but the system of competitive examining in our
public schools has not borne fruits on which We
have much cause to congratulate ourselves. 1t
has produced an immense number Of readers;
but what thinkers are to be found may be said
to exist in spite OF it. The public school has
put money in abundance in the pockets Of the
dealers in sensation stories, sensation newspapers
and all the swarm of trivial, sickly and rascally
literature. From this and cheap newspapers
thousands, nay, millions, draw all their mental
Improvement. and hamper their mental stomachs
with adulterated not to say poisoned, sweet
meats, till they have neither desire nor digestion
for strong and wholesome food
mands elocution rather than reason of
those who address it; something to
cite the feelings and captivate the fancy rather
than something to instruct the understanding.
II rejoices in sweeping statements, contden. ac-
sertions, bright lights, and black shadows alter
mating with something funny. Neither does it
care much for terse, idiomatc and pointed die
ton, but generally prefers the fatulent periods
of the ready writer. On matters of the gravest
interest it Graves to be excited amused. Lee
lures protesting to instruct turned to a
tissue of jokes, and the pulpit itself is some
times enlivened after similar fashion.
This was written before the days of yell
low journals and Sam Jones. What Park
man would have said about the colored
supplement of the average New York Sum-
day newspaper can better be imagined
than described. He probably would have
resorted to one of his rare expressions Of
profanity.
paragraph in the concluding chapter
deserves to be quoted for its concise sum-
ming up Of the character Of the man:
He never regarded death or any other event as
dspensaton of Providence, or attached TO it
any degree of mysticism or fatality When his
son died. and some one said, 'He was too gooc
to live Parkman corrected at once any such
Misrepresentation of life, by saying that such
an idea is true of no one; that the world needs
the best, and the best can always find place in
it. Again, at the death of his wife when a sympa-
thetic friend assumed that life had no longer any
interest for him, he promptly dispelled any such
gloomy conception. His patience never included
either personal encouragement, fretful rebellion,
or passive surrender to the guidance Of super
natural powers. He said, "a man must feel that
he holds his fate in his own hands" And since
We have to take men and things as they are 1t
would be difficult to find a philosophy better
fitted to the man. or a man better fitted to his
experience. He often had to face prospects that
would have daunted many a man of less firm-
ness and more sentiment. In 1859. for example,
he was in one OF the "dismallest dens earth"
The previous autumn he had gone to Paris for
relief in his spirits after the death Of his wife,
and for medical help against his maladies, which
were then very threatening. He returned in no
better health, to what would have been cheer
less hearth but for the devotion OF his mother
and sisters. The bright visions, the adventures,
the sInshine. and freedom that had appeared in
separable from the energetic youth, were now re-
placed by very different elements of life. Shut
up in his darkened study, threatened with total
blindness, he led at this time life Of monastic
solitude; in place Of enjoying bouyant activity
he sat down to the endurance OF pain; his am
bition was met either by absolute inability to
work by exaspcrating interruptions and petty
achievements; worst of all, he was in danger OF
insanity. The enemy lay ambushcd in the dark
est possibilities: and how pitilessly must these
have pressed upon him in the weakest moments.
Yet undoubtedly he stated his own philosophy in
giving Vassal Mortons: BLOWS good for
most men, and suffering, to the farthest limit OF
their endurance, what they most need"
With this stern and lofty summary of
the meaning of life as Parkman saw 1t,
one may well close the hook. The biog-
raphy is one which Should be a valuable
accompaniment to every set Of the his
torlan's works, since 1t shows, as nothing
else could. the heroism which could
achieve such perfection in spite Of almost
every conceivable hindrance. Boston:
Little, Brown & Co. s2.50.)