Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-03-27

Is pleasant, therefore 10 uuotc ~
statement of an Enslishman that for
soint years past he has always founI
Emerson one of the safe st Of stocks"
FROM an address on Fiske, the his
turian. given before the Maine Histmi-
cal Society. by Judge Clarence Hal. OF
Portland, the following interesting ex-
tracts are taken:
"FiSkes great work was in teIIjuc.
the American people the story Of their
past. No man ever told il to so MANY
of his countrymcn; no man, | think
ever made it 50 clear and fixed il in
the memory of so many living men.
do not make for him the intemper,te
claim that, when judged by his own
great standards, he was the greateyt
of historians or even that he was The
greatest Of those vino have written
of the American past. TO say that bc
excclled Parkman would be fuIso,ne.
but millions Of Americans he taught
to know ard love American hjstm-,
lie did this simply BY making it in
t@restng.
eft is impossible to tell what il is that
inspires human interest in d book. AZ
it is impossible to tell what it is that
inspires personal interest in d speak
or Or in any nan. | have heard Mr..
Reed say that when he heard Mr..
Cochran speak, he never could stop to
find out what reason or logic there
wax III the speech; it WAS always in
tcresting, although he could never tell
why. Ii is impossible to fix notes and
bounds and rules to human interest
and sympathy: there is an indefnable
something that eludes definition.
President Hyde with his great
power of metaphysical analysis. has
said: "In asking why some men with
moderate talents and meagre technical
equipment succeed where others with
greater ability and better preparation
fail; why some women with plain fea-
lures and few accomplishments charm;
while others, with all the advantages
Of beauty and cultivation, repel; VIC
are wont to conceal our ignorance be-
hind the vague term personality
at was the personality of Fiske's
writing that prevailed. In the latter
years of his life, he lectured nearly
every evening. Without remarkable
physical attractions of voice or pres
eEce, he interested every audience /"
addressed. The personality of his m
impres sed every hearcr, for liter
style can only open and reveal
mind of the man. Huxley said his
lures in Europe before the Royal il
tGtiCn were the best ever delivere'
anybody III England. He aroused
interest of England as he had arol
the interest of America. In the 81
way he impressed his personality
on every page he ever wrote. No I.
can love books and live with tn
without feeling that there is a
sonality to books as there is to
and women; they are our conpan
and friends. They form the staple
oCr thoughts; what they say berol
part of our lives. When a suggest
word or a controlling thought con
to mind, il is often Impossible to
at first whether living friend
said it. or whether one Of our CO
rades in the library has said it.
hate to hear Il good book spoken lgl.
~ of behind its back almost as nIut
as II hear a living associate carpet
at. I sometimes am impatient at the
prevailing habit of reviewing books.
If a book is, bad. it is not worth re-
viewing; the less said about il the hct-
ter. If il is good, it is better To say
enough to get men to read it. just as
we Introduce one good friend to
another. Choatc said he felt Il per-
Sonal pique against anybody who
challenged the law of Chief Justice
Shaw, or who misquotcd Blackstone.
Then too, when we have been exposed
10 a bad book. we have the same feel
ing ot repulsiou and humiliation that
man feels when lie has been exposed
to some contagious disease. or to some
corrupt and brutal mind.
"Wnen We think of the number of
minds that FiSkc reached in his lee
ture5 and in his books. VIC begin to
realize the great pcwer he was in the
world. and the great and cumulative
power that he is. He Impressed the
facts of American history upon mil
lions of minds; he did more: he i'm
pressed the typical character of the
American people. the meaning of its
growth and of its development. upon
millions of his fellow countrymen: he
made millions of Americans. who
would never have known their past.
interested in their own history; and 50
he added not merely to the sum of hu-
man knowledge. but greatly to human
life and happiness. never heard Mr..
Fiskc speak: never saw him.. although
many in this society have seen him
ard have heard him speak; but. so far
as | know. | have read every word he
ever published; and I should feel it a
personal loss if l thought that I had
omitted anything. 1t is a loss to any
mind to miss the enthusiasm, the
pleasure. and the growth that comes
from reading the histories of John
Fiskc.''