Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-14

early years. He began school almost a.
soon as he was able to walk and entered
the Boston Latin School at the age of nine
When he was thirteen years old he entered
Harvard, an early age even for those times
and was graduated In 1889. Immediately be.
coming a teacher in the Latin School ano
devoting his leisure moments to study fol
the ministry. He was SO diligent In his
fathers newspaper Office that he was able
to fill any position from typesetter to edi'
torial writer.
DR.. Hales career as Christian minister
he refuses to be called Clergyman
began with his licensure, in 1912. Then, ir
1916. he went to Worcester, and in 1855 ne
returned to his native city, Boston; and moi
until 1900 did he give up the pastorate Of
the South Congregational (Unitarian)
Church or cease preaching weekly. OF this
church he still is pastor emeritus, and IN Its
peculiarly family-like life his spirit is infiu-
ential. DR.. Hale also occupied pulpit In
this city for one winter.
AS a publicist and patriot DR.. Hale die
invaluable work preceding the civil wal
as an agitator against slavery, although
he never was an extremist like William
Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips. Dur
ing the war, by such poems as rake the
Loan and Put 1t Through" he spurred
the northern public on to do its duty. By
urging recruiting among his own church
members, and by setting the entire. mem
bership of his church at work In all sorts
Of schemes for betterfng the lot OF the
northern troops, he made the South Con-
gregational Church a very live celtic
quote his own figure of speech-in the ma
tional cellular tissue. AS director OF the
Freedmens Aid Society, as official Of the
sanitary commission, he found ample play
for his organizing power and skill.
Influence as a Writer.
But these activities were comparatively
restricted and local in their range. It was as
the writer for the Atlantic Of articles full OF
hope and sane optimism that DR.. Hale's
influence at this time was widest. In this
periodical appeared. in 1868. his master
piece, "a Man Without Country" which,
Be sides preaching it's sermon, demonstrated
that America had a short story writer OF
the first rank; and this at a time long be-
fore the example of the French In this
form of literature had been taken as
model by us, and SO clev verly initiated or
improved, as it has been by not few OF
our authors CuriOusly. the year which
saw the war with Spain over Cuba open
was the year of the largest sale of this
book Of DR.. Hales.
His Place as an Orator.
No survey of DR.. Hales career would be
complete without some reference to his
place as an orator. Whether as lecturer
before lyceums, historical societies, Chau-
tauQua assemblies, or bodies of college stu
dents and school pupils, or as formal orator
on state occasions, or as after dinner
speaker, DR.. Hale has always been popu-
lar--not because Of his graces of oratory.
which his uncle, Edward Everett, had to a
superlative degree, but because of his wit.
his common sense, his fathomless stores OF
reminiscence, his facility In conveying his
thoughts In speech understood of common
men, his optimism, and not infrequently
his overwhelming eloquence especially
when deeply stirred and when expoundine
Americanism. His voice and figure are
like no other man's-the voice being deep
and muffied, the body angular and massive,
the countenance benign yet rugged
As an antiquarian. versed in the begin
nings of history on the American continent.
in the settlement and development of Bos-
ton and New England, DR.. Hale has had a
peculiarly useful career as investigator and
popularizer of historical information. In
this work his large native endowment of
imagination has served him well, enabling
him TO put flesh on the bones of fact, and
thus to make his writings on themes usually
dry and sapless SO juicy and vital that he
enjoys the conspicuous honor Of being an
antiquarian who is read.