New-York tribune., 1911-12-03
A POCKET PARKMAN
The Historians Works in a New
and Ideal Form.
THE WORKS OF FRANCIS PARkMAN.
Roston: Little, Brown & Co.

THE WORKS or FRANCIS PARKMaASoNs.
| Iilustrated I'm twelve pocket Volumes
Boston: Little, Brown & CO.
The Indispensable edition OF every
classical author is, of course, the Ll-
brarv Edition" which sooner or later al
ways gets itself made. But In recent
wears II has been pressed close by the
reprint I'm miniature volumes, bound III
linn leather. and prepared absoluteiy
for intimate. even careless. use. Here
, for example. in "The Pocket Parkman'
we have a set OF books In nowise
! stately. but destined to be cherished WIN
affection. 1t is In just this form that
one wishes to have writer distinguished
among historians for the sheer readable
ness Of his works.
Parkman, who is one Of the most SOL
idly serviceable of authors, is also one
| of the most entertaining. He VINO
comes to his richly colored pages for
the first time would do well to begin
with THE Oregon Trail" and thereby
get to close quarters with Parkman in
personal experience-which is to say
/ with Parkman breathing the winds or
nature, youthfully thrilling TO the magic
of the wildwood and feeding his liter
arv genius at sources not bookish No
one ever knew better than he knew the
use TO be made of books. In the preface
to his "Montcalm and Wolfe" alluding
to the mass Of published and unpub-
lished evidence he had read and col
lectcd. he says that more than COM
mon pains have been taken to secure ac-
curacy of statement" But he adds that
the study of books and papers could not
alone answer his purpose, and, he goes
on. "the subject has been studied as
much from lifc and i'm the open air as
at the library table" That was his
peculiar gift, TO bring life and the open
| air into his books And it was this in
stinct Of his that kept him out Of all the
| pitfalls OF the historian saved him from
the purple patch. from sentimentality.
| from everything that means overstate-
ment and its inevitable note of falsity.
! Take for example, the death Of Wolfe,
an event so easy to romanticize. Park
man only intensifies it's dramatic signifl-
canoe by describing It in this tcrse fash
/ ion:
| At the English right. though the attack
| ing column was broken 10 pieces, a fre was
still kept up, chiefly. 1t seems, by sharp
| shooters from the bushes and cornf1elds,
where they had lain for an hour or more.
| Here Wolfe himself led the charge at the
, head Of the Louisbourg Grenadiers. a shot
shattered his wrist He wrapped his hand
kerchief about II and kept on. Another
shot struck him and he stll advanced,
when q third lodged I'm his breast: He stag
gered and sat on the ground. Lieutenant
Brown Of the grenadierS, one Henderson, a
vate soldier aided by officer Of artillery
who ran to Join them carried him In their
arms TO the rear. He begged them TO lay
him down. They did so and asked IL ne
would have a surgeon. There's no need,
he answered: ITS all over with me-"
moment after one. Of them cried out; "IheH!
iIun: see how they rum Who run
Wolfe demanded. like a man reused from
sleep "The enemy, sir. Egad, they give
way everywhere" "Go. one of YOU, to
Colonel Burton returned the dying man;
tell him to march Webb's regiment down
TO Charles River, to cut off their retreat
SIDE he rn,Irmiired, Now, God be praised,
/ / viii die in peace.'' and in a few moments
/ his gallant soul had fed.
Does the reader need any better proof
/ than this that Parkman could make his
! tory, in the old phrase, as interesting as
a novel? It is amusing 10 contrast the
foregoing illuminating passage with
such a version Of the scene as pictorial
art has given us in the old canvas re-
produced by Parkman i'm his second vol
ume.
The painter could not do what Park
man could do. The painter had not his
genius. Nevertheless the frontispieces in
this edition are not by any means unwel-
come. One. for example, is a good por-
trait Of the historian himself, and the
others are excellent studies by differ
ent hands of picturesque themes Of his
providing There are also number Of
fine maps Paper and Typography are
Of a high quality, the end papers and
the decorated backs are in good taste
and the flexible binding. quiet in tone. Is