AMERICANMEN OF MIND

BY

BURTON E. STEVENSON

AUTHOR OF "A GUIDE TO BIOGRAPHY--MEN OF ACTION, " "A SOLDIER OFVIRGINIA, " ETC. ; COMPILER OF "DAYS AND DEEDS--POETRY, " "DAYS ANDDEEDS--PROSE, " ETC. 

GARDEN CITY NEW YORK

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY

1913

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COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY

THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY

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Published, June, 1910

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[Illustration: LONGFELLOW]

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CONTENTS

 CHAPTER PAGE

 I. --"MEN OF MIND" 11

 II. --WRITERS OF PROSE 19

 Summary to Chapter II 49

 III. --WRITERS OF VERSE 54

 Summary to Chapter III 80

 IV. --PAINTERS 85

 Summary to Chapter IV 120

 V. --SCULPTORS 125

 Summary to Chapter V 154

 VI. --THE STAGE 157

 Summary to Chapter VI 182

 VII. --SCIENTISTS AND EDUCATORS 186

 Summary to Chapter VII 224

 VIII. --PHILANTHROPISTS AND REFORMERS 231

 Summary to Chapter VIII 286

 IX. --MEN OF AFFAIRS 291

 Summary to Chapter IX 324

 X. --INVENTORS 327

 Summary to Chapter X 371

 INDEX 375

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 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

 FACING PAGE

 Longfellow _Frontispiece_

 Hawthorne 28

 Emerson 44

 Greeley 48

 Stuart 92

 Booth 158

 Agassiz 190

 Eliot 216

 Girard 232

 Beecher 252

 Wanamaker 314

 Morse 336

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CHAPTER I

"MEN OF MIND"

In the companion volume of this series, "Men of Action, " the attempt wasmade to give the essential facts of American history by sketching inbroad outline the men who made that history--the discoverers, pioneers, presidents, statesmen, soldiers, and sailors--and describing the partwhich each of them played. 

It was almost like watching a great building grow under the hands of theworkmen, this one adding a stone and that one adding another; but therewas one great difference. For a building, the plans are made carefullybeforehand, worked out to the smallest detail, and followed to theletter, so that every stone goes exactly where it belongs, and the workof all the men fits together into a complete and perfect whole. But whenAmerica was started, no one had more than the vaguest idea of what thefinished result was to be; indeed, many questioned whether any enduringstructure could be reared on a foundation such as ours. So there wasmuch useless labor, one workman tearing down what another had built, and only a few of them working with any clear vision of the future. 

The convention which adopted the Constitution of the United States mayfairly be said to have furnished the first plan, and George Washingtonwas the master-builder who laid the foundations in accordance with it. He did more than that, for the plan was only a mere outline; soWashington added such details as he found necessary, taking care alwaysthat they accorded with the plan of the founders. He lived long enoughto see the building complete in all essential details, and to be assuredthat the foundation was a firm one and that the structure, which iscalled a Republic, _would_ endure. 

All that has been done since his time has been to build on an additionnow and then, as need arose, and to change the ornamentation to suit thetaste of the day. At one time, it seemed that the whole structure mightbe rent asunder and topple into ruins; but again there came amaster-builder named Abraham Lincoln, and with the aid of a milliondevoted workmen who rallied to his call, he saved it. 

There have been men, and there are men to-day, who would attack thefoundation were they permitted; but never yet have they got withineffective striking distance. Others there are who have marred the simpleand classic beauty of the building with strange excrescences. But theseare only temporary, and the hand of time will sweep them all away. Forthe work of tearing down and building up is going forward to-day just asit has always done; and the changes are sometimes for the better andsometimes for the worse; but, on the whole, the building grows morestately and more beautiful as the generations pass. 

It was the work of the principal laborers on this mighty edifice whichwe attempted to judge in "Men of Action, " and this was a comparativelyeasy task, because the work stands out concretely for all to see, and, as far as essentials go, at least, we are all agreed as to what is goodwork and what is bad. But the task which is attempted in the presentvolume is a much more difficult one, for here we are called upon tojudge not deeds but thoughts--thoughts, that is, as translated into anovel, or a poem, or a statue, or a painting, or a theory of theuniverse. 

Nobody has ever yet been able to devise a universal scale by whichthoughts may be measured, nor any acid test to distinguish gold fromdross in art and literature. So each person has to devise a scale of hisown and do his measuring for himself; he has to apply to the things hesees and reads the acid test of his own intellect. And however imperfectthis measuring and testing may be, it is the only sort which has anyvalue for that particular person. In other words, unless you yourselffind a poem or a painting great, it isn't great for you, however criticsmay extol it. So all the books about art and literature and music are ofvalue only as they improve the scale and perfect the acid test of theindividual, so that the former measures more and more correctly, and thelatter bites more and more surely through the glittering veneer whichseeks to disguise the dross beneath. 

It follows from all this that, since there are nearly as many scales asthere are individuals, very few of them will agree exactly. Time, however, has a wonderful way of testing thoughts, of preserving thosethat are worthy, and of discarding those that are unworthy. Just howthis is done nobody has ever been able to explain; but the fact remainsthat, somehow, a really great poem or painting or statue or theory liveson from age to age, long after the other products of its time have beenforgotten. And if it is really great, the older it grows, the greater itseems. Shakespeare, to his contemporaries, was merely an actor andplaywright like any one of a score of others; but, with the passing ofyears, he has become the most wonderful figure in the world'sliterature. Rembrandt could scarcely make a living with his brush, industriously as he used it, and passed his days in misery, haunted byhis creditors and neglected by the public; to-day we recognize in himone of the greatest artists who ever lived. Such instances are commonenough, for genius often goes unrecognized until its possessor is dead;just as many men are hailed as geniuses by their contemporaries, andpromptly forgotten by the succeeding generation. The touchstone of timeinfallibly separates the false and the true. 

Unfortunately, to American literature and art no such test can beapplied, for they are less than a century old--scarcely out of swaddlingclothes. The greater portion of the product of our early years has longsince been forgotten; but whether any of that which remains is reallyimmortal will take another century or two to determine. So the onlytests we can apply at present are those of taste and judgment, and theseare anything but infallible. 

Especially is this true of literature. Somebody announced, not long ago, that "the foremost poet of a nation is that poet most widely read andtruly loved by it, " and added that, in this respect, Longfellow waseasily first in America. No doubt many people will agree with thisdictum; and, indeed, the test of popularity is difficult to disregard. But it is not at all a true test, as we can see easily enough if weattempt to apply it to art, or to music, or to public affairs. Popularity is no more a test of genius in a poet than in a statesman, and when we remember how far astray the popular will has sometimes ledus in regard to politics, we may be inclined to regard with suspicionits judgments in regard to literature. 

The test of merit in literature is not so much wide appeal asintelligent appeal; the literature which satisfies the taste andjudgment of cultured people is pretty certain to rank higher than thatwhich is current among the uncultured. And so with art. Consequently, for want of something better, the general verdict of cultured peopleupon our literature and art has been followed in these pages. 

Two or three other classes of achievers have been grouped, forconvenience, in this volume--scientists and educators, philanthropistsand reformers, men of affairs, actors and inventors--and it may betruly argued concerning some of them that they were more "men ofaction, " and less "men of mind" than many who were included in theformer volume. But all distinctions and divisions and classificationsare more or less arbitrary; and there is no intention, in this one, tointimate that the "men of action" were not also "men of mind, " or viceversa. The division has been made simply for convenience. 

These thumb-nail sketches are in no sense the result of originalresearch. The material needed has been gathered from such sources as areavailable in any well-equipped public library. An attempt has been made, however, to color the narrative with human interest, and to give itconsecutiveness, though this has sometimes been very hard to do. But, even at the best, this is only a first book in the study of American artand letters, and is designed to serve only as a stepping-stone to moreelaborate and comprehensive ones. 

There are several short histories of American literature which willprove profitable and pleasant reading. Mr. W. P. Trent's is written witha refreshing humor and insight. The "American Men of Letters" seriesgives carefully written biographies of about twenty-five of our mostfamous authors--all that anyone need know about in detail. There is agreat mass of other material on the shelves of every public library, which will take one as far as one may care to go. 

But the important thing in literature is to know the man's work ratherthan his life. If his work is sound and helpful and inspiring, his lifeneedn't bother us, however hopeless it may have been. The strikingexample of this, in American literature, is Edgar Allan Poe, whose fame, in this country, is just emerging from the cloud which his unfortunatecareer cast over it. The life of the man is of importance only as ithelps you to understand his work. Most important of all is to createwithin yourself a liking for good books and a power of telling good frombad. This is one of the most important things in life, indeed; and Mr. John Macy points the way to it in his "Child's Guide to Reading. "

Only second to the power to appreciate good literature is the power toappreciate good art. For the material in this volume the author isindebted largely to the excellent monographs by Mr. Samuel Isham and Mr. Lorado Taft on "American Painting, " and "American Sculpture. " There aremany, guides to the study of art, among the best of them being Mr. Charles C. Caffin's "Child's Guide to Pictures, " "American Masters ofPainting, " "American Masters of Sculpture, " and "How to Study Pictures";Mr. John C. VanDyke's "How to Judge of a Picture, " and "The Meaning ofPictures, " and Mr. John LaFarge's "Great Masters. " In the study of art, as of literature, you will soon find that America's place is as yetcomparatively unimportant. 

For the chapter on "The Stage, " Mr. William Winter's various volumes ofbiography and criticism have been drawn upon, more especially withreference to the actors of the "old school, " which Mr. Winter admiresso deeply. There are a number of books, besides these, which makecapital reading--Clara Morris's "Life on the Stage, " Joseph Jefferson'sautobiography, Stoddart's "Recollections of a Player, " and Henry AustinClapp's "Reminiscences of a Dramatic Critic, " among them. 

The material for the other chapters has been gathered from many sources, none of which is important enough to be mentioned here. Appleton's"Cyclopedia of American Biography" is a mine from which most of thefacts concerning any American, prominent twenty years or more ago, maybe dug; but it gives only the dry bones, so to speak. For more than thatyou must go to the individual biographies in your public library. 

If you live in a small town, the librarian will very probably be glad topermit you to look over the shelves yourself, as well as to give yousuch advice and direction as you may need. In the larger cities, thisis, of course, impossible, to say nothing of the fact that you would belost among the thousands of books on the shelves. But you will find achildren's librarian whose business and pleasure it is to help childrento the right books. If this book helps you to form the library habit, and gives you an incentive to the further study of art and literature, it will more than fulfill its mission. 

CHAPTER II

WRITERS OF PROSE

It is true of American literature that it can boast no name ofcommanding genius--no dramatist to rank with Shakespeare, no poet torank with Keats, no novelist to rank with Thackeray, to take names onlyfrom our cousins oversea--and yet it displays a high level of talent anda notable richness of achievement. Literature requires a background ofhistory and tradition; more than that, it requires leisure. A new nationspends its energies in the struggle for existence, and not until thatexistence is assured do its finer minds need to turn to literature forself-expression. As Poor Richard put it, "Well done is better than wellsaid, " and so long as great things are pressing to be done, great menwill do their writing on the page of history, and not on papyrus, orparchment, or paper. 

So, in the early history of America, the settlers in the new countrywere too busily employed in fighting for a foothold, in getting food andclothing, in keeping body and soul together, to have any time for thefine arts. Most of the New England divines tried their hands at limpingand hob-nail verse, but prior to the Revolution, American literature isremarkable only for its aridity, its lack of inspiration and itsportentous dulness. In these respects it may proudly claim never to havebeen surpassed in the history of mankind. In fact, American literature, as such, may be said to date from 1809, when Washington Irving gave tothe world his inimitable "History of New York. " It struck a new andwholly original note, with a sureness bespeaking a master's touch. 

Where did Irving get that touch? That is a question which one asksvainly concerning any master of literature, for genius is a thing whichno theory can explain. It appears in the most unexpected places. Anobscure Corsican lieutenant becomes Emperor of France, arbiter ofEurope, and one of the three or four really great commanders of history;a tinker in Bedford County jail writes the greatest allegory inliterature; and the son of two mediocre players develops into the firstfigure in American letters. Conversely, genius seldom appears where onewould naturally look for it. Seldom indeed does genius beget genius. Itexpends itself in its work. 

Certainly there was no reason to suppose that any child of WilliamIrving and Sarah Sanders would develop genius even of the second order, more especially since they had already ten who were just average boysand girls. Nor did the eleventh, who was christened Washington, show, inhis youth, any glimpse of the eagle's feather. 

Born in 1783, in New York City, a delicate child and one whose life wasmore than once despaired of, Washington Irving received little formalschooling, but was allowed to amuse himself as he pleased by wanderingup and down the Hudson and keeping as much as possible in the open air. It was during these years that he gained that intimate knowledge of theHudson River Valley of which he was to make such good use later on. Hestill remained delicate, however, and at the age of twenty was sent toEurope. The air of France and Italy proved to be just what he needed, and he soon developed into a fairly robust man. 

With health regained, he returned, two years later, to America, and gothimself admitted to the bar. Why he should have gone to this trouble isa mystery, for he never really seriously tried to practise law. Instead, he was occupying himself with a serio-comic history of New York, whichgrew under his pen into as successful an example of true and sustainedhumor as our literature possesses. The subject was one exactly suited toIrving's genius, and he allowed his fancy to have free play about thepicturesque personalities of Wouter Van Twiller, and Wandle Schoonhovon, and General Van Poffenburgh, in whose very names there is a comicsuggestion. When it appeared, in 1809, it took the town by storm. 

Irving, indeed, had created a legend. The history, supposed to have beenwritten by one Diedrich Knickerbocker, gives to the story of New Yorkjust the touch of fancy and symbolism it needed. For all time, New Yorkwill remain the Knickerbocker City. The book revealed a genuine masterof kindly satire, and established its author's reputation beyondpossibility of question. Perhaps the surest proof of its worth is thefact that it is read to-day as widely and enjoyed as thoroughly as itever was. 

It is strange that Irving did not at once adopt letters as a profession;but instead of that, he entered his brothers' business house, which wasin a decaying condition, and to which he devoted nine harassed andanxious years, before it finally failed. That failure decided him, andhe cast in his lot finally with the fortunes of literature. He was atthat time thirty-five years of age--an age at which most men are settledin life, with an established profession, and a complacent readiness todrift on into middle age. 

Rarely has any such choice as Irving's received so prompt and triumphanta vindication, for a year later appeared the "Sketch Book, " with its"Rip Van Winkle, " its "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "The SpectreBridegroom"--to mention only three of the thirty-three items of itstable of contents--which proved the author to be not only a humorist ofthe first order, but an accomplished critic, essayist and short-storywriter. The publication of this book marked the culmination of hisliterary career. It is his most characteristic and important work, andon it and his "History, " his fame rests. 

He lived for forty years thereafter, a number of which were spent inSpain, first as secretary of legation, and afterwards as United Statesminister to that country. It was during these years that he gatheredthe materials for his "Life of Columbus, " his "Conquest of Granada, " andhis "Alhambra, " which has been called with some justice, "The SpanishSketch Book. " A tour of the western portion of the United Statesresulted also in three books, "The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, ""Astoria, " and "A Tour on the Prairies. " His last years were spent at"Sunnyside, " his home at Tarrytown, on the Hudson, where he amusedhimself by writing biographies of Mahomet, of Goldsmith, and of GeorgeWashington. 

All of this was, for the most part, what is called "hack work, " and histurning to it proves that he himself was aware that his fount ofinspiration had run dry. This very fact marks his genius as of thesecond order, for your real genius--your Shakespeare or Browning orThackeray or Tolstoi--never runs dry, but finds welling up within him aperpetual and self-renewing stream of inspiration, fed by thought andobservation and every-day contact with the world. 

Irving's closing years were rich in honor and affection, and found himunspoiled and uncorrupted. He was always a shy man, to whom publicity ofany kind was most embarrassing; and yet he managed to be on the mostintimate of terms with his time, and to possess a wide circle of friendswho were devoted to him. 

Such was the career of America's first successful man of letters. For, strangely enough, he had succeeded in making a good living with his pen. More than that, his natural and lambent humor, his charm and grace ofstyle, and a literary power at once broad and genuine, had won him aplace, if not among the crowned heads, at least mong the princes ofliterature, side by side with Goldsmith and Addison. Thackeray calledhim "the first ambassador whom the New World of letters sent to theOld, " and from the very first he identified American literature withpurity of life and elevation of character, with kindly humor and graceof manner--qualities which it has never lost. 

Two years after the appearance of the "Sketch Book, " another starsuddenly flamed out upon the literary horizon, and for a time quiteeclipsed Irving in brilliancy. It waned somewhat in later years, but, though we have come to see that it lacks the purity and gentle beauty ofits rival, it has still found a place among the brightest in ourliterary heaven--where, indeed, only one or two of the first magnitudeshine. J. Fenimore Cooper was, like Irving, a product of New York state, his father laying out the site of Cooperstown, on Lake Otsego, andmoving there from New Jersey in 1790, when his son was only a year old. James, as the boy was known, was the eleventh of twelvechildren--another instance of a single swan amid a flock of ducklings. 

Cooperstown was at that time a mere outpost of civilization in thewilderness, and it was in this wilderness that Cooper's boyhood waspassed. And just as Irving's boyhood left its impress on his work, sodid Cooper's in even greater degree. Mighty woods, broken only here andthere by tiny clearings, stretched around the little settlement; Indiansand frontiersmen, hunters, traders, trappers--all these were a part ofthe boy's daily life. He grew learned in the lore of the woods, and laidup unconsciously the stores from which he was afterwards to draw. 

At the age of eleven, he was sent to a private school at Albany, andthree years later entered Yale. But he had the true woodland spirit; hepreferred the open air to the lecture-room, and was so careless in hisattendance at classes that, in his third year, he was dismissed fromcollege. There is some question whether this was a blessing or thereverse. No doubt a thorough college training would have made Cooperincapable of the loose and turgid style which characterizes all hisnovels; but, on the other hand, he left college to enter the navy, andthere gained that knowledge of seamanship and of the ocean which makehis sea stories the best of their kind that have ever been written. Hissea career was cut short, just before the opening of the war of 1812, byhis marriage into an old Tory family, who insisted that he resign fromthe service. He did so, and entered upon the quiet life of a well-to-docountry gentleman. 

For seven or eight years, he showed no desire nor aptitude to beanything else. He had never written anything for publication, had neverfelt any impulse to do so, and perhaps never would have felt such animpulse but for an odd accident. Tossing aside a dull British novel, one day, he remarked to his wife that he could easily write a betterstory himself, and she laughingly dared him to try. The result was"Precaution, " than which no British novel could be duller. But Cooper, finding the work of writing congenial, kept at it, and the next year sawthe publication of "The Spy, " the first American novel worthy of thename. By mere accident, Cooper had found his true vein, the story ofadventure, and his true field in the scenes with which he was himselffamiliar. In Harvey Birch, the spy, he added to the world's gallery offiction the first of his three great characters, the other two being, ofcourse, Long Tom Coffin and Leatherstocking. 

The book was an immediate success, and was followed by "The Pioneers"and "The Pilot, " both remarkable stories, the former visualizing for thefirst time the life of the forest, the latter for the first time thelife of the sea. Let us not forget that Cooper was himself a pioneer andblazed the trails which so many of his successors have tried to follow. If the trail he made was rough and difficult, it at least possesses themerits of vigor and pristine achievement. "The Spy, " "The Pioneers, " and"The Pilot" established Cooper's reputation not only in this country, but in England and France. He became a literary lion, with the resultthat his head, never very firmly set upon his shoulders, was completelyturned; he set himself up as a mentor and critic of both continents, andwhile his successive novels continued to be popular, he himself becameinvolved in numberless personal controversies, which embittered hislater years. 

The result of these quarrels was apparent in his work, which steadilydecreased in merit, so that, of the thirty-three novels that he wrote, not over twelve are, at this day, worth reading. But those twelve paint, as no other novelist has ever painted, life in the forest and on theocean, and however we may quarrel with his wooden men and women, hisfaults of taste and dreary wastes of description, there is about themsome intangible quality which compels the interest and grips theimagination of school-boy and gray-beard alike. He splashed his paint ona great canvas with a whitewash brush, so to speak; it will not bearminute examination; but at a distance, with the right perspective, itfairly glows with life. No other American novelist has added to fictionthree such characters as those we have mentioned; into those he breathedthe breath of life--the supreme achievement of the novelist. 

For seventeen years after the publication of "The Spy, " Cooper had noconsiderable American rival. Then, in 1837, the publication of a littlevolume called "Twice-Told Tales" marked the advent of a greater than he. No one to-day seriously questions Nathaniel Hawthorne's right to firstplace among American novelists, and in the realm of the short story hehas only one equal, Edgar Allan Poe. 

We shall speak of Poe more at length as a poet; but it is curious andinteresting to contrast these two men, contemporaries, and the mostsignificant figures in the literature of their country--Poe, an actor'schild, an outcast, fighting in the dark with the balance against him, living a tragic life and dying a tragic death, leaving to America thepurest lyrics and most compelling tales ever produced within herborders; Hawthorne, a direct descendant of the Puritans, a recluse and adreamer, his delicate genius developing gradually, marrying mosthappily, leading an idyllic family life, winning success and substantialrecognition, which grew steadily until the end of his career, and whichhas, at least, not diminished--could any contrast be more complete?

[Illustration: HAWTHORNE]

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a direct descendant of that William Hawthornewho came from England in 1630 with John Winthrop in the "Arabella, " andwas born at Salem, Massachusetts, the family's ancestral home, in 1804. He was a classmate of Longfellow at Bowdoin College, graduating withoutespecial distinction, and spending the twelve succeeding years at Salem, living a secluded life in accordance with his abnormally shy andsensitive disposition. He was already resolved on the literary life, andspent those years in solitary writing. The result was a morbid novel, "Fanshawe, " and a series of short stories, none of which attractedespecial attention or gave indication of more than average talent. Notuntil 1837 did he win any measure of success, but that year saw thepublication of the first series of "Twice-Told Tales, " which, by theircharm and delicacy, won him many readers. 

Even at that, he found the profession of letters so unprofitable thathe was glad to accept a position as weigher and gauger at the Bostoncustom-house, but he lost the place two years later by a change inadministration; tried, for a while, living with the Transcendentalistsat Brook Farm, and finally, taking a leap into the unknown, married andsettled down in the old manse at Concord. It was a most fortunate step;his wife proved a real inspiration, and in the months that followed, hewrote the second series of "Twice-Told Tales, " and "Mosses from an OldManse, " which mark the culmination of his genius as a teller of tales. 

Four years later, the political pendulum swung back again, and Hawthornewas offered the surveyor-ship of the custom-house at Salem, accepted it, and moved his family back to his old home. He held the position for fouryears, completed his first great romance, and in 1850 gave to the world"The Scarlet Letter, " perhaps the most significant and vital novelproduced by any American. Hawthorne had, at last, "found himself. " Ayear later came "The House of the Seven Gables, " and then, in quicksuccession, "Grandfather's Chair, " "The Wonder Book, " "The Snow-Image, ""The Blithedale Romance, " and "Tanglewood Tales. "

A queer product of his pen, at this time, was a life of Franklin Pierce, the Democratic candidate for the Presidency; and when Pierce waselected, he showed his gratitude by offering Hawthorne the consulship atLiverpool, a lucrative position which Hawthorne accepted and which heheld for four years. Two years on the continent followed, and in 1860, he returned home, his health breaking and his mind unsettled, largely bythe prospect of the Civil War into which the country was drifting. Hefound himself unable to write, failed rapidly, and the end came in thespring of 1864. 

Of American novelists, Hawthorne alone shows that sustained power andhigh artistry belonging to the masters of fiction; and yet his novelshave not that universal appeal which belongs to the few really greatones of the world. Hawthorne was supremely the interpreter of old NewEngland, a subject of comparatively little interest to other peoples, since old New England was distinguished principally by a narrowspiritual conflict which other peoples find difficult to understand. Thesubject of "The Scarlet Letter" is, indeed, one of universal appeal, andis, in some form, the theme of nearly all great novels; but its settingnarrowed this appeal, and Hawthorne's treatment of his theme, symbolicalrather than simple and concrete, narrowed it still further. Yet with allthat, it possesses that individual charm and subtlety which is apparent, in greater or less degree, in all of his imaginative work. 

Contemporary with Hawthorne, and surviving him by a few years, wasanother novelist who had, in his day, a tremendous reputation, but whois now almost forgotten, William Gilmore Simms. We shall considerhim--for he was also a maker of verse--in the next chapter, inconnection with his fellow-townsmen, Henry Timrod and Paul HamiltonHayne. So we pause here only to remark that the obscurity which enfoldshim is more dense than he deserves, and that anyone who likes frontierfiction, somewhat in the manner of Cooper, will enjoy reading "TheYemassee, " the best of Simms's books. 

Hawthorne stands so far above the novelists who come after him that onerather hesitates to mention them at all. With one, or possibly two, exceptions, the work of none of them gives promise of permanency--so faras can be judged, at least, in looking at work so near that it has noperspective. Prophesying has always been a risky business, and will notbe attempted here. But, whether immortal or not, there are some five orsix novelists whose work is in some degree significant, and who deserveat least passing study. 

Harriet Beecher Stowe is one of these. Born in 1811, the daughter ofLyman Beecher, and perhaps the most brilliant member of a brilliantfamily, beginning to write while still a child, and continuing to do sountil the end of her long life, Mrs. Stowe's name is neverthelessconnected in the public mind with a single book, "Uncle Tom's Cabin, " abook which has probably been read by more people than any other everwritten by an American author. Mrs. Stowe had lived for some years inCincinnati and had visited in Kentucky, so that she had some surfaceknowledge of slavery; she was, of course, by birth and breeding, anabolitionist, and so when, early in 1851, an anti-slavery paper calledthe "National Era" was started at Washington, she agreed to furnish a"continued story. "

The first chapter appeared in April, and the story ran through the year, attracting little attention. But its publication in book form marked thebeginning of an immense popularity and an influence probably greaterthan that of any other novel ever written. It crystallized anti-slaverysentiment, it was read all over the world, it was dramatized and gavecountless thousands their first visualization of the slave traffic. Thather presentation of it was in many respects untrue has long since beenadmitted, but she was writing a tract and naturally made her case asstrong as she could. From a literary standpoint, too, the book is fullof faults; but it is alive with an emotional sincerity which sweepseverything before it. She wrote other books, but none of them is readto-day, except as a matter of duty or curiosity. 

And let us pause here to point out that the underlying principle ofevery great work of art, whether a novel or poem or painting or statue, is sincerity. Without sincerity it cannot be great, no matter how wellit is done, with what care and fidelity; and with sincerity it may oftenattain greatness without perfection of form, just as "Uncle Tom's Cabin"did. But to lack sincerity is to lack soul; it is a body without aspirit. 

We must refer, too, to the most distinctive American humorist of thelast half century, Samuel Langhorne Clemens--"Mark Twain. " Born inMissouri, knocking about from pillar to post in his early years, serving as pilot's boy and afterwards as pilot on a Mississippisteamboat, as printer, editor, and what not, but finally "findinghimself" and making an immense reputation by the publication of aburlesque book of European travel, "Innocents Abroad, " he followed it upwith such widely popular stories as "Tom Sawyer, " "Huckleberry Finn, ""The Prince and the Pauper, " and many others, in some of which, atleast, there seems to be an element of permanency. "Huckleberry Finn, "indeed, has been hailed as the most distinctive work produced inAmerica--an estimate which must be accepted with reservations. 

Three living novelists have contributed to American letters books ofinsight and dignity--William Dean Howells, George W. Cable and HenryJames. Mr. Howells has devoted himself to careful and painstakingstudies of American life, and has occasionally struck a note so truethat it has found wide appreciation. The same thing may be said of Mr. Cable's stories of the South, and especially of the Creoles ofLouisiana; while Mr. James, perhaps as the result of his long residenceabroad, has ranged over a wider field, and has chosen to depict theevolution of character by thought rather than by deed, in his early workshowing a rare insight. Of the three, he seems most certain of a lastingreputation. 

Others of less importance have made some special corner of the countrytheirs, and possess a sort of squatter-right over it. To Bret Hartebelongs mid-century California; to Mary Noailles Murfree, the Tennesseemountains; to James Lane Allen and John Fox, present-day Kentucky; toMary Johnston, colonial Virginia; to Ellen Glasgow, present-dayVirginia; to Stewart Edward White, the great northwest. Others cultivatea field peculiar to themselves. Frank R. Stockton is whimsicallyhumorous, Edith Wharton cynically dissective; Mary Wilkins Freeman ismost at home with rural New England character; and Thomas Nelson Pagehas done his best work in the South of reconstruction days. 

But of the great mass of fiction being written in America to-day, littleis of value as literature. It is designed for the most part as anamusing occupation for idle hours. Read some of it, by all means, if youenjoy it, since "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"; butremember that it is only the sweetmeat that comes at the end of themeal, and for sustenance, for the bread and butter of the literary diet, you must read the older books that are worth while. 

 * * * * *

It may be questioned whether America has produced any poet or novelistor essayist of the very first rank, but, in another branch of letters, four names appear, which stand as high as any on the scroll. The writingof history is not, of course, pure literature; it is semi-creativerather than creative; and yet, at its best, it demands a high degree ofimaginative insight. It appears at its best in the works of Prescott, Motley, Bancroft and Parkman. 

George Bancroft was, of this quartette, the most widely known half acentury ago, because he chose as his theme the history of America, andbecause he was himself for many years prominent in the political life ofthe country. Born in Massachusetts in 1800, graduating from Harvard, and, after a course of study in Germany, resolving to be a historian, hereturned to America and began work on his history, the first volume ofwhich appeared in 1834. Three years later, came the second volume, andin 1840, the third. 

Glowing with national spirit as they did, they attracted publicattention to him, and he was soon drawn into politics. During the nexttwelve years he held several government positions, among them Secretaryof the Navy and Minister to England, which gave him access to greatmasses of historical documents. It was not until 1852 that his fourthvolume appeared, then five more followed at comparatively frequentintervals. Again politics interrupted. He was sent as Minister toPrussia and later to the German Empire, again largely increasing hisstore of original documents, with which, toward the last, he seems tohave been fairly overburdened. In 1874, he published his tenth volume, bringing his narrative through the Revolution, and eight years later, the last two dealing with the adoption of the Constitution. His lastyears were spent in revising and correcting this monumental work. 

It is an inspiring record--a life devoted consistently to one greatwork, and that work the service of one's country, for such Bancroft'sreally was. Every student of colonial and revolutionary America mustturn to him, and while his history has long since ceased to be generallyread, it maintains an honored place among every collection of booksdealing with America. It is easily first among the old-school historiesas produced by such men as Hildreth. Tucker, Palfrey and Sparks. 

At the head of the other school, which has been called cosmopolitanbecause it sought its subjects abroad rather than at home, standsWilliam Hickling Prescott. Of this school, Washington Irving may fairlybe said to have been the pioneer. We have seen how his residence inSpain turned his attention to the history of that country and resultedin three notable works. Prescott, however, was a historian byforethought and not by accident. Before his graduation from Harvard, hehad determined to lead a literary life modelled upon that of EdwardGibbon. His career was almost wrecked at the outset by an unfortunateaccident which so impaired his sight that he was unable to read or towrite except with the assistance of a cumbrous machine. That any man, laboring under such a disability, should yet persevere in pursuing therocky road of the historian seems almost unbelievable; yet that is justwhat Prescott did. 

Let us tell the story of that accident. It was while he was at Harvard, in his junior year. One day after dinner, in the Commons Hall, some ofthe boys started a rude frolic. Prescott took no part in it, but just ashe was leaving, a great commotion behind him caused him to turn quickly, and a hard piece of bread, thrown undoubtedly at random, struck himsquarely and with great force in the left eye. He fell unconscious, andnever saw out of that eye again. Worse than that, his other eye soongrew inflamed, and became almost useless to him, besides causing him, from time to time, the most acute suffering. But in spite of all this, he persisted in his determination to be a historian. 

After careful thought, he chose for his theme that period of Spanishhistory dominated by Ferdinand and Isabella, and went to work. Documentswere collected, an assistant read to him for hours at a time, notes weretaken, and the history painfully pushed forward. The result was apicturesque narrative which was at once successful both in Europe andAmerica; and, thus encouraged, Prescott selected another romantic theme, the conquest of Mexico, for his next work. Following this came thehistory of the conquest of Peru, and finally a history of the reign ofPhilip II, upon which he was at work, when a paralytic stroke ended hiscareer. 

Prescott was fortunate not only in his choice of subjects, but in thepossession of a picturesque and fascinating style, which has given hishistories a remarkable vogue. Fault has been found with him on theground of historical inaccuracy, but such criticism is, for the mostpart, unjustified. His thoroughness, his judgment, and his criticalfaculty stand unimpeached, and place him very near the head of Americanhistorians. 

Prescott's successor, in more than one sense, was John Lothrop Motley. A Bostonian and Harvard man, well-trained, after one or two unsuccessfulventures in fiction, he turned his attention to history, and in 1856completed his "Rise of the Dutch Republic, " for which he could not finda publisher. He finally issued it at his own expense, with no littleinward trembling, but it was at once successful and seventeen thousandcopies of it were sold in England alone during the first year. Itreceived unstinted praise, and Motley at once proceeded with his"History of the United Netherlands. " The opening of the Civil War, however, recalled his attention to his native land, he was drawn intopolitics, and did not complete his history until 1868. Six years laterappeared his "John of Barneveld"; but his health was giving way and theend came in 1877. 

In brilliancy, dramatic instinct and power of picturesque narration, Motley was Prescott's equal, if not his superior. The glow and fervor ofhis narrative have never been surpassed; his characters live andbreathe; he was thoroughly in sympathy with his subject and found apersonal pleasure in exalting his heroes and unmasking his villains. Butthere was his weakness; for often, instead of the impartial historian, he became a partisan of this cause or that, and painted his heroeswhiter and his villains blacker than they really were. In spite of that, or perhaps because of it--because of the individual and intenselyearnest personal point of view--his histories are as absorbing andfascinating as any in the world. 

The last of this noteworthy group of historians, Francis Parkman, isalso, in many respects, the greatest. He combined the virtues of all ofthem, and added for himself methods of research which have never beensurpassed. Through it all, too, he battled against a persistentill-health, which unfitted him for work for months on end, and, even atthe best, would permit his reading or writing only a few minutes at atime. 

Like the others, Parkman was born in Boston, and, as a boy, was sodelicate that he was allowed to run wild in the country, acquiring alove of nature which is apparent in all his books. In search of health, he journeyed westward from St. Louis, in 1846, living with Indians andtrappers and gaining a minute knowledge of their ways. The results ofthis journey were embodied in a modest little volume called "The OregonTrail, " which remains the classic source of information concerning thefar West at that period. 

Upon his return to the East, he settled down in earnest to the taskwhich he had set himself--a history, in every phase, of the strugglebetween France and England for the possession of the North Americancontinent. Years were spent in the collection of material--and in 1865appeared his "Pioneers of France in the New World, " followed at periodsof a few years by the other books completing the series, which ends withthe story of Montcalm and Wolfe. 

The series is a masterpiece of interpretative history. Every phase ofthe struggle for the continent is described in minute detail and withthe intimate touch of perfect knowledge; every actor in the great dramais presented with incomparable vividness, and its scenes are paintedwith a color and atmosphere worthy of Prescott or Motley, and withabsolute accuracy. His work satisfies at once the student and the loverof literature, standing almost unique in this regard. His flexible andcharming style is a constant joy; his power of analysis and presentmenta constant wonder; and throughout his work there is a freshness offeeling, an air of the open, at once delightful and stimulating. He saidthe last word concerning the period which his histories cover, and haslent to it a fascination and absorbing interest which no historian hassurpassed. The boy or girl who has not read Parkman's histories hasmissed one of the greatest treats which literature has to offer. 

Other historians there are who have done good service to Americanletters and whose work is outranked only by the men we have alreadymentioned--John Bach McMaster, whose "History of the People of theUnited States" is still uncompleted; James Ford Rhodes, who hasportrayed the Civil War period with admirable exhaustiveness andaccuracy; Justin Winsor, Woodrow Wilson, William M. Sloane, and JohnFiske. John Fiske's work, which deals wholly with the different periodsof American history, is especially suited to young people because of itssimplicity and directness, and because, while accurate, it is notoverburdened with detail. 

We have said that, during the Colonial period of American history, mostof the New England divines devoted a certain amount of attention to thecomposition of creaking verse. More than that, they composed histories, biographies and numberless works of a theological character, whichprobably constitute the dullest mass of reading ever produced upon thisearth. The Revolution stopped this flood--if anything so dry can becalled a flood--and when the Revolution ended, public thought was formany years occupied with the formation of the new nation. But in thesecond quarter of the nineteenth century there arose in New England agroup of writers who are known as Transcendentalists, and who producedone of the most important sections of American literature. 

Transcendentalism is a long word, and it is rather difficult to define, but, to put it as briefly as possible, it was a protest againstnarrowness in intellectual life, a movement for broader culture and fora freer spiritual life. It took a tremendous grip on New England, beginning about 1830, and kept it for nearly forty years; for NewEngland has always been more or less provincial--provincialism being thehabit of measuring everything by one inadequate standard. 

The high priest of the Transcendental movement was Amos Bronson Alcott, born on a Connecticut farm in 1799, successively in youth a clockmaker, peddler and book-agent, and finally driven by dire necessity to teachingschool. But there could be no success at school-teaching for a man themost eccentric of his day--a mystic, a follower of Oriental philosophy, a non-resistant, an advocate of woman suffrage, an abolitionist, avegetarian, and heaven knows what besides. So in the end, he was soldout, and removed with his family to Concord, where he developed into asort of impractical idealist, holding Orphic conversations and writingscraps of speculation and criticism, and living in the clouds generally. 

Life would have been far less easy for him but for the development of anunexpected talent in one of his daughters, Louisa May Alcott. From hersixteenth year, Louisa Alcott had been writing for publication, but withlittle success, although every dollar she earned was welcome to a familyso poor that the girls sometimes thought of selling their hair to get alittle money. She also tried to teach, and finally, in 1862, went toWashington as a volunteer nurse and labored for many months in themilitary hospitals. The letters she wrote to her mother and sisters wereafterwards collected in a book called "Hospital Sketches. " At last, atthe suggestion of her publishers, she undertook to write a girls' story. The result was "Little Women, " which sprang almost instantly into atremendous popularity, and which at once put its author out of reach ofwant. 

Other children's stories, scarcely less famous, followed in quicksuccession, forming a series which has never been equalled forlong-continued vogue. Few children who read at all have failed to read"Little Men, " "Little Women, " "An Old-Fashioned Girl, " "Eight Cousins, "and "Rose in Bloom, " to mention only five of them, and edition afteredition has been necessary to supply a demand which shows no sign oflessening. The stories are, one and all, sweet and sincere and helpful, and while they are not in any sense literature, they are, at least, aninteresting contribution to American letters. 

But to return to the Transcendentalists. 

The most picturesque figure of the group was Margaret Fuller. Startingas a morbid and sentimental girl, her father's death seems suddenly tohave changed her, at the age of twenty-five, into a talented andthoughtful woman. Her career need not be considered in detail here, since it was significant more from the inspiration she gave others thanfrom any achievement of her own. She proved herself a sympatheticcritic, if not a catholic and authoritative one, and a pleasing andsuggestive essayist. 

What she might have become no one can tell, for her life was cut shortat the fortieth year. She had spent some years in Italy, in an epoch ofrevolutions, into which she entered heart and soul. A romantic marriage, in 1847, with the Marquis Ossoli, served further to identify her withthe revolutionary cause, and when it tumbled into ruins, she and herhusband escaped from Rome and started for America. Their shipencountered a terrific storm off Long Island, was driven ashore, brokento pieces by the waves, and both she and her husband were drowned. 

[Illustration: EMERSON]

By far the greatest of the Transcendental group and one of the mostoriginal figures in American literature was Ralph Waldo Emerson--afigure, indeed, in many ways unique in all literature. Born in Boston in1803, the son of a Unitarian clergyman and a member of a large andsickly family, he followed the predestined path through Harvard College, graduating with no especial honors, entered the ministry, and served aspastor of the Second Church of Boston until 1832. Then, finding himselfill at ease in the position, he resigned, and, settling at Concord, turned to lecturing, first on scientific subjects and then on mannersand morals. His reputation grew steadily, and, especially in thegeneration younger than himself, he awakened the deepest enthusiasm. 

In 1836, the publication of a little volume called "Nature" gaveconclusive evidence of his talent, and, followed as it was by his"Essays, " "Representative Men, " and "Conduct of Life, " established hisreputation as seer, interpreter of nature, poet and moralist--areputation which has held its own against the assaults of time. 

And yet no personality could be more puzzling or elusive. He was at onceattractive and repulsive--there was a certain line which no one crossed, a charmed circle in which he dwelt alone. There was about him a certaincoldness and detachment, a self-sufficiency, and a prudence which heldhim back from giving himself unreservedly to any cause. He lackedheart and temperament. He was a homely, shrewd and cold-blooded Yankee, to put it plainly. Yet, with all that, he was a serene and benignantfigure, of an inspiring optimism, a fine patriotism, and profoundintellect--a stimulator of the best in man. Upon this basis, probably, his final claim to memory will rest. 

Another Transcendental eccentric with more than a touch of genius wasHenry David Thoreau, and it is noteworthy that his fame, which burneddimly enough during his life, has flamed ever brighter and brightersince his death. This increase of reputation is no doubt due, in somedegree, to the "return to nature, " which has recently been so prominentin American life and which has gained a wide hearing for so noteworthy a"poet-naturalist"; but it is also due in part to a growing recognitionof the fact that as a writer of delightful, suggestive and inspiringprose he has had few equals. 

Thoreau is easily our most extraordinary man of letters. Born in Concordof a poor family, but managing to work his way through Harvard, he spentsome years teaching; but an innate love of nature and of freedom led himto seek some form of livelihood which would leave him as much his ownmaster as it was possible for a poor man to be. To earn money for anyother purpose than to provide for one's bare necessities was to Thoreaua grievous waste of time, so it came about that for many years he was asort of itinerant tinker, a doer of odd jobs. Another characteristic, partly innate and party cultivated, was a distrust of society and adislike of cities. "I find it as ever very unprofitable to have much todo with men, " he wrote; and finally, in pursuance of this idea, he builthimself a little cabin on the shore of Walden pond, where he lived forsome two years and a half. 

It was there that his best work was done, for, at bottom, Thoreau was aman of letters rather than a naturalist, with the most seeing eye manever had. "Walden, or Life in the Woods, " and "A Week on the Concord andMerrimac Rivers" contain the best of Thoreau, and any boy or girl who isinterested in the great outdoors, as every boy and girl ought to be, will enjoy reading them. 

The last of the Transcendental group worthy of mention here is GeorgeWilliam Curtis, a versatile and charming personality, not a genius inany sense, but a writer of pleasant and amusing prose, an orator of nosmall ability, and one of the truest patriots who ever loved and laboredfor his country. It is in this latter aspect, rather than as the authorof "Nile Notes" and "The Potiphar Papers, " that Curtis is bestremembered to-day. The books that he produced have, to a large extent, lost their appeal; but the work he did during the dark days ofreconstruction and after entitles him to admiring and gratefulremembrance. 

 * * * * *

It is scarcely possible to close a chapter upon American prose writerswithout referring to at least one of the great editors who have done somuch to mould American public opinion. To James Gordon Bennett andCharles A. Dana only passing reference need be made; but Horace Greeleydeserves more extended treatment. 

[Illustration: GREELEY]

Early in the last century, on a rocky little farm in New Hampshire, lived a man by the name of Zaccheus Greeley, a good neighbor, but a badmanager--so bad that, in 1820, when his son Horace was nine years old, the farm was seized by the sheriff and sold for debt. The proceeds ofthe sale did not pay the debt, and so, in order to escape arrest, forthey imprisoned people for debt in those days, Zaccheus Greeley fledacross the border into Vermont, where his family soon joined him. Hemanaged to make a precarious living by working at odd jobs, in which, ofcourse, the boy joined him whenever he could be of any use. 

He was a rather remarkable boy, with a great fondness for books, andwhen he was eleven years old, he tried to get a position in a printingoffice, but was rejected because he was too young. Four years later, heheard that a boy was wanted in an office at East Poultney, and hehastened to apply for the position. He was a lank, ungainly anddull-appearing boy, and the owner of the office did not think he couldever learn to be a printer, but finally put him to work, with theunderstanding that he was to receive nothing but his board and clothesfor the first six months, and after that forty dollars a yearadditional. 

The boy soon showed an unusual aptitude for the business, and finallydecided that the little village was too restricted a field for histalents. With youth's sublime confidence, he decided to go to New YorkCity. He managed to get a position in a printing office there, and twoyears later, at the age of twenty-two, he and a partner established thefirst one-cent daily newspaper in the United States. It was ahead of thetimes, however, and had to be abandoned after a few months. 

But he had discovered his peculiar field, and in 1840 he establishedanother paper which he called the "Log Cabin, " in which he supportedWilliam Henry Harrison through the famous "log cabin and hard cider"campaign. The paper was a success, and in the year following heestablished the New York "Tribune, " which was destined to make him bothrich and famous. For more than thirty years he conducted the "Tribune, "making it the most influential paper in the country. He became the mostpowerful political writer in the United States, and in every villagegroups gathered regularly to receive their papers and to see what "OldHorace" had to say. He was to his readers a strong and vividpersonality--they had faith in his intelligence and honesty, and theybelieved that he would say what he believed to be right, regardless ofwhose toes were pinched. It was as different as possible to theanonymous journalism of to-day, when not one in a hundred of anewspaper's readers knows anything about the personality of the editor. 

We have already referred to the fact that, at the beginning ofsecession, Greeley doubted the right of the North to compel the secedingstates to remain in the Union. Indeed, he counselled peaceful separationrather than war, as did many others, but he was later a staunchsupporter of President Lincoln's policy. 

We have also spoken of the fact that, when Grant was re-nominated forPresident in 1872, a large section of the party, believing himincompetent, broke away from the party and named a candidate of theirown. The party they formed was called the Liberal Republican, and theircandidate was Horace Greeley. They managed to secure for him the supportof the Democratic convention, which placed him at the head of theDemocratic ticket, but they could not secure the support of theDemocrats themselves, who could not forget that Greeley had beenfighting them all his life; and the result was that he wasoverwhelmingly defeated. He had not expected such a result, his healthhad been undermined by the labors and anxieties of the campaign, andbefore the rejoicing of the Republicans was over, Greeley himself laydead. 

SUMMARY

IRVING, WASHINGTON. Born at New York City, April 3, 1783; went abroadfor health, 1804; returned to America, 1806; published "Knickerbocker'sHistory of New York, " 1809; attaché of legation at Madrid, 1826-29;secretary of legation at London, 1829-32; minister to Spain, 1842-46;died at Sunnyside, near Tarrytown, New York, November 28, 1859. 

COOPER, JAMES FENIMORE. Born at Burlington, New Jersey, September 15, 1789; entered Yale, 1802, but left after three years; midshipman inUnited States navy, 1808-11, when he resigned his commission; publishedfirst novel, "Precaution, " anonymously, 1820, and followed it with manyothers; died at Cooperstown, New York, September 14, 1851. 

HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL. Born at Salem, Massachusetts, July 4, 1804;graduated at Bowdoin College, 1825; served in Custom House at Boston, 1838-41; at Brook Farm, 1841; settled at Concord, Massachusetts, 1843;surveyor of the port of Salem, 1846-49; United States consul atLiverpool, 1853-57; published "Twice-Told Tales, " 1837; "Mosses from anOld Manse, " 1846; "The Scarlet Letter, " 1850; "The House of the SevenGables, " 1851; and a number of other novels and collections of tales;died at Plymouth, New Hampshire, May 19, 1864. 

STOWE, HARRIET BEECHER. Born at Litchfield, Connecticut, June 14, 1812;educated at Hartford, Connecticut; taught school there and atCincinnati; published "Uncle Tom's Cabin, " 1852; "Dred, " 1856; and anumber of other novels; died at Hartford, Connecticut, July 1, 1896. 

CLEMENS, SAMUEL LANGHORNE. Born at Florida, Missouri, November 30, 1835;apprenticed to printer, 1847; alternated between mining and newspaperwork, until the publication of "Innocents Abroad, " 1869, made himfamous as a humorist; died at Redding, Connecticut, April 22, 1910;published many collections of short stories and several novels. 

BANCROFT, GEORGE. Born at Worcester, Massachusetts, October 3, 1800;graduated at Harvard, 1817; collector of the port of Boston, 1838-41;Democratic candidate for governor of Massachusetts, 1844; secretary ofthe navy, 1845-46; minister to Great Britain, 1846-49; minister toBerlin, 1867-74; published first volume of his "History of the UnitedStates, " 1834, last volume, 1874; died at Washington, Jan. 17, 1891. 

PRESCOTT, WILLIAM HICKLING. Born at Salem, Massachusetts, May 4, 1796;published "History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, " 1838;"Conquest of Mexico, " 1843; "Conquest of Peru, " 1847; "History of theReign of Philip II, " 1858; died at Boston, January 28, 1859. 

MOTLEY, JOHN LOTHROP. Born at Dorchester (now part of Boston), Massachusetts, April 15, 1814; graduated at Harvard, 1831; studiedabroad, 1831-34; United States minister to Austria, 1861-67, and toGreat Britain, 1869-70; published "Rise of the Dutch Republic, " 1856;"History of the United Netherlands, " 1868; "Life and Death of John ofBarneveld, " 1874; died in Dorset, England, May 29, 1877. 

PARKMAN, FRANCIS. Born at Boston, September 16, 1823; graduated atHarvard, 1844; published "The Conspiracy of Pontiac, " 1851, andcontinued series of histories dealing with the French in America to "AHalf Century of Conflict, " 1892; died at Jamaica Plain, near Boston, November 8, 1893. 

ALCOTT, AMOS BRONSON. Born at Wolcott, Connecticut, November 29, 1799; abook-peddler and school-teacher, conducting a school in Boston, 1834-37;removed to Concord, 1840; published "Orphic Sayings, " 1840; "Tablets, "1868; "Concord Days, " 1872; "Table-Talk, " 1877; "Sonnets and Canzonets, "1882; died at Boston, March 4, 1888. 

ALCOTT, LOUISA MAY. Born at Germantown, Pennsylvania, November 29, 1832;teacher in early life and army nurse during Civil War; published "LittleWomen, " 1868; "Old-Fashioned Girl, " 1869; "Little Men, " 1871, and manyother children's stories; died at Boston, March 6, 1888. 

FULLER, SARAH MARGARET, MARCHIONESS OSSOLI. Born at Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, May 23, 1810; edited _Boston Dial_, 1840-42; literarycritic _New York Tribune_, 1844-46; published "Summer on the Lakes, "1843; "Woman in the Nineteenth Century, " 1845; "Papers on Art andLiterature, " 1846; went to Europe, 1846; married Marquis Ossoli, 1847;drowned off Fire Island, July 16, 1850. 

EMERSON, RALPH WALDO. Born at Boston, Massachusetts, May 25, 1803;graduated at Harvard, 1821; Unitarian clergyman at Boston, 1829-32;commenced career as lecturer, 1833, and continued for nearly fortyyears; edited the _Dial_, 1842-44; published "Nature, " 1836; "Essays, "1841; "Poems, " 1846; "Representative Men, " 1850; and other books ofessays and poems; died at Concord, Massachusetts, April 27, 1882. 

THOREAU, HENRY DAVID. Born at Concord, Massachusetts, July 12, 1817;graduated at Harvard, 1837; lived alone at Walden Pond, 1845-47;published "A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers, " 1849; "Walden, orLife in the Woods, " 1854; died at Concord, May 6, 1862. Severalcollections of his essays and letters were published after his death. 

CURTIS, GEORGE WILLIAM. Born at Providence, Rhode Island, February 24, 1824; joined the Brook Farm Community, 1842, and afterwards spent someyears in travel; published "Nile Notes of a Howadji, " "The Howadji inSyria, " "The Potiphar Papers, " and other books; prominent as ananti-slavery orator and as the editor of "Harper's Weekly"; died at WestNew Brighton, Staten Island, August 31, 1892. 

GREELEY, HORACE. Born at Amherst, New Hampshire, February 3, 1811;founded _New York Tribune_, 1841; member of Congress from New York, 1848-49; candidate of Liberal-Republican and Democratic parties forPresident, 1872; died at Pleasantville, Westchester County, New York, November 29, 1872. 

CHAPTER III

WRITERS OF VERSE

"Poetry, " says the Century dictionary, "is that one of the fine artswhich addresses itself to the feelings and the imagination by theinstrumentality of musical and moving words"; and that is probably asconcise a definition of poetry as can be evolved. For poetry isdifficult to define. Verse we can describe, because it is mechanical;but poetry is verse with a soul added. 

It is for this very reason that there is so wide a variance in thecritical estimates of the work of individual poets. The feelings andimagination of no two persons are exactly the same, and what will appealto one will fail to appeal to the other; so that it follows that what ispoetry for one is merely verse for the other. Tastes vary in poetry, just as they do in food. Indeed, poetry is a good deal like food. We allof us like bread and butter, and we eat it every day and get good, solidnourishment from it; but only the educated palate can appreciate therefinements of caviar, or Gorgonzola cheese, or some rare and specialvintage. So most of us derive a mild enjoyment from the works of suchpoets as Longfellow and Tennyson and Whittier; but it requires atrained taste to appreciate the subtle delights of Browning or EdgarAllan Poe. 

Now the taste for the simple and obvious is a natural taste--the child'staste, healthy, and, some will add, unspoiled; but poetry must be judgedby the nicer and more exacting standard, just as all other of the finearts must. I wonder if you have ever read what is probably the mostperfect lyric ever written by an American? I am going to set it downhere as an example of what poetry can be, and I want you to compare yourfavorite poems, whatever they may be, with it. It is by Edgar Allan Poeand is called

 TO HELEN

 Helen, thy beauty is to me Like those Nicæan barks of yore; That gently, o'er a perfumed sea, The weary, wayworn wanderer bore To his own native shore. 

 On desperate seas long wont to roam; Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face, Thy Naiad airs, have brought me home To the glory that was Greece And the grandeur that was Rome. 

 Lo! in yon brilliant window-niche How statue-like I see thee stand, The agate lamp within thy hand! Ah, Psyche, from the regions which Are Holy Land!

In 1821--the same year which saw the publication of _The Spy_, the firstsignificant American novel--there appeared at Boston a little pamphletof forty-four pages, bound modestly in brown paper boards, andcontaining eight poems. Two of them were "To a Waterfowl" and"Thanatopsis, " and that little volume marked the advent of the firstAmerican poet--William Cullen Bryant. Out of the great mass of verseproduced on our continent for two centuries after the Pilgrim Fatherslanded on Plymouth Rock, his was the first which displayed thosequalities which make for immortality. 

Before him our greatest poets had been Philip Freneau, the "Poet of theRevolution"; Francis Scott Key, whose supreme achievement was "TheStar-Spangled Banner"; Fitz-Greene Halleck, known to every school-boy byhis "Marco Bozzaris, " but chiefly memorable for a beautiful littlelyric, "On the Death of Joseph Rodman Drake"; and Drake himself, perhapsthe greatest of the four, but dying at the age of twenty-five withnothing better to his credit than the well-known "The American Flag, "and the fanciful and ambitious "The Culprit Fay. " But these men were, atbest, only graceful versifiers, and Bryant loomed so far above them andthe other verse-makers of his time that he was hailed as a miracle ofgenius, a sort of Parnassan giant whose like had never before existed. We estimate him more correctly to-day as a poet of the second rank, whose powers were limited but genuine. Indeed, even in his own day, Bryant's reputation waned somewhat, for he never fulfilled the promiseof that first volume, and "To a Waterfowl" and "Thanatopsis" remain thebest poems he ever wrote. 

William Cullen Bryant was born at Cummington, Massachusetts, in 1794, the son of a physician, from whom he received practically all his earlytraining, and who was himself a writer of verse. The boy's talent forversification was encouraged, and some of his productions were recitedat school and published in the poet's corner of the local newspaper. In1808, when Bryant was fourteen years old, the first volume of his poemswas printed at Boston, with an advertisement certifying the extremeyouth of the author. It contained nothing of any importance, and whyanyone should care to read dull verse because it was written by a childis incomprehensible, but the book had some success, and Bryant's fatherwas a very proud man. 

Three years later, Bryant entered Williams College, but soon left, and, not having the means to pay his way through Yale, gave up the thought ofcollege altogether, and began the study of law. He also read widely inEnglish literature, and while in his seventeenth year produced what mayfairly be called the first real poem written in America, "Thanatopsis, "a wonderful achievement for a youth of that age. Six months later camethe beautiful lines, "To a Waterfowl, " and Bryant's career as a poet wasfairly begun. In 1821 came the thin volume in which these and otherpoems were collected, and its success finally decided its author torelinquish a career at the bar and to turn to literature. 

In the years that followed, Bryant produced a few other noteworthypoems, yet it is significant of the thinness of his inspiration that, though he began writing in early youth and lived to the age ofeighty-four, his total product was scant in the extreme when comparedwith that of any of the acknowledged masters. His earnings from thissource were never great, and, removing to New York, he secured, in 1828, the editorship of the _Evening Post_, with which he remained associateduntil his death. 

In his later years, he became an imposing national figure. But hispoetry never regained the wide acceptation which it once enjoyed, largely because taste in verse has changed, and we have come to lay morestress upon beauty than upon ethical teaching. 

America has never lacked for versifiers, and Bryant's success encourageda greater throng than ever to "lisp in numbers"; but few of them grewbeyond the lisping stage, and it was not until the middle of the centurythat any emerged from this throng to take their stand definitely besidethe author of "Thanatopsis. " Then, almost simultaneously, six othersdisengaged themselves--Longfellow, Whittier, Poe, Lowell, Holmes andEmerson--and remain to this day the truest poets in our history. 

Of Emerson we have already spoken. His poetry has been, and still is, the subject of controversy. To some, it is the best in our literature;to others, it is not poetry at all, but merely rhythmic prose. It islacking in passion, in poetic glow--for how can fire come out of aniceberg?--but about some of it there is the clean-cut beauty of thecameo. You know, of course, his immortal quatrain, Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why This charm is wasted on the earth and sky, Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing, Then Beauty is its own excuse for being. 

More than once he hit the bull's-eye, so to speak, in just that splendidway. 

Of the others, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is easily first in popularreputation, if not in actual achievement. Born at Portland, Maine, in1807, of a good family, he developed into an attractive and promisingboy; was a classmate at Bowdoin College of Nathaniel Hawthorne, andafter three years' study abroad, was given the chair of modern languagesthere. For five years he held this position, filling it so well that in1834 he was called to Harvard. He entered upon his duties there afteranother year abroad, and continued with them for eighteen years. Theremainder of his life was spent quietly amid a congenial circle offriends at Cambridge. He was essentially home-loving, and took nostrenuous interest in public affairs; for this reason, perhaps, he won awarmer place in public affection than has been accorded to any otherAmerican man-of-letters, for the American people is a home-lovingpeople, and especially admires that quality in its great men. 

From his earliest youth, Longfellow had written verses of somewhatunusual merit for a boy, though remarkable rather for smoothness ofrhythm than for depth or originality of thought. His modern languagestudies involved much translation, but his first book, "Hyperion, " wasnot published until 1839. It attained a considerable vogue, but asnothing to the wide popularity of "Voices of the Night, " which appearedthe same year. Two years later appeared "Ballads and Other Poems, " andthe two collections established their author in the popular heart beyondpossibility of assault. They contained "A Psalm of Life, " "The Reaperand the Flowers, " "The Village Blacksmith, " and "Excelsior, " which, however we may dispute their claims as poetry, have taken their placeamong the treasured household verse of the nation. 

Four years later, in "The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems, " he addedtwo more to this collection, "The Day is Done" and "The Bridge. " Thepublication, in 1847, of "Evangeline" raised him to the zenith of hisreputation. His subsequent work confirmed him in popular estimation asthe greatest of American poets--"Hiawatha, " "The Courtship of MilesStandish, " and such shorter poems as "Resignation, " "The Children'sHour, " "Paul Revere's Ride, " and "The Old Clock on the Stairs. "

But, after all, Longfellow was not a really great poet. He lacked thestrength of imagination, the sureness of insight and the delicacy offancy necessary to great poetry. He was rather a sentimentalist to whomstudy and practice had given an exceptional command of rhythm. Theprevailing note of his best-known lyrics is one of sentimentalsorrow--the note which is of the very widest appeal. His public islargely the same public which weeps over the death of little Nell andloves to look at Landseer's "The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner. "Longfellow and Dickens and Landseer were all great artists and didadmirable work, but scarcely the very highest work. But Longfellow'sballads "found an echo in the universal human heart, " and won him anaffection such as has been accorded no other modern poet. His place isby the hearth-side rather than on the mountain-top--by far the morecomfortable and cheerful position of the two. 

The year of Longfellow's birth witnessed that of another American poet, more virile, but of a narrower appeal--John Greenleaf Whittier. Whittier's birthplace was the old house at East Haverhill, Massachusetts, where many generations of his Quaker ancestors had dwelt. The family was poor, and the boy's life was a hard and cramped one, withfew opportunities for schooling or culture; yet its very rigor made forcharacter, and developed that courage and simplicity which wereWhittier's noblest attributes. 

What there was in the boy that moved him to write verse it would bedifficult to say--some bent, some crotchet, which defies explanation. Certain it is that he did write; his sister sent some of his verses to aneighboring paper, and the result was a visit from its editor, WilliamLloyd Garrison, who encouraged the boy to get some further schooling, and afterwards helped him to secure a newspaper position in Boston. Buthis health failed him, and he returned to Haverhill, removing, in 1836, to Amesbury, where the remainder of his life was spent. 

He had already become interested in politics, had joined theabolitionists, and was soon the most influential of the protestantsagainst slavery. Into this battle he threw himself heart and soul. It isamusing to reflect that, though a Quaker and advocate of non-resistance, he probably did more to render the Civil War inevitable than any otherone man. During the war, his lyrics aided the Northern cause; and assoon as it was over, he labored unceasingly to allay the evil passionswhich the contest had aroused. He lived to the ripe age of eighty-five, simply and bravely, and his career was from first to last consistent andinspiring, one of the sweetest and gentlest in history. 

Although Whittier was endowed with a brighter spark of the divine firethan Longfellow, he himself was conscious that he did not possess

 The seerlike power to show The secrets of the heart and mind. 

He was lacking, too, in intellectual equipment--in culture, in masteryof rhythm and diction, in felicitous phrasing. And yet, on at least twooccasions, he rang sublimely true--in his denunciation of Webster, "Ichabod, " and in his idyll of New England rural life, "Snow-Bound. "

The third of these New England poets, and also the least important, isOliver Wendell Holmes. Born at Cambridge, in the inner circle of NewEngland aristocracy, educated at Harvard, and studying medicine inBoston and Paris, he practiced his profession for twelve years, until, in 1847, he was called to the chair of anatomy and physiology atHarvard, continuing in that position until 1882. He lived until 1894, the last survivor of the seven poets whom we have mentioned. 

During his student days, Holmes had gained considerable reputation as awriter of humorous and sentimental society verse, and during his wholelife he wrote practically no other kind. Long practice gave him an easycommand of rhythm, and a careful training added delicacy to his diction. He became remarkably dexterous in rhyme, and grew to be the recognizedcelebrant of class reunions and public dinners. Urbane, felicitous andpossessing an unflagging humor, he was the prince of after-dinnerpoets--not a lofty position, be it observed, nor one making for immortalfame. His highwater mark was reached in three poems, "The ChamberedNautilus, " "The Deacon's Masterpiece, " and that faultless piece offamiliar verse, "The Last Leaf, " all of which are widely andaffectionately known. He lacked power and depth of imagination, thefield in which he was really at home was a narrow one, and the verdictof time will probably be that he was a pleasant versifier rather than atrue poet. 

His claim to the attention of posterity is likely to rest, not on hisverses, but upon a sprightly hodgepodge of imaginary table-talk, called"The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table"--a warm-hearted, kindly book, which still retains its savor. 

And this brings us to our most versatile man-of-letters--James RussellLowell. Born at Cambridge, in the old house called "Elmwood, " so dear tohis readers, spending an ideal boyhood in the midst of a culturedcircle, treading the predestined path through Harvard, studying law andgaining admission to the bar--such was the story of his life for thefirst twenty-five years. As a student at Harvard, he had written a greatdeal of prose and verse of considerable merit, and he continued thiswork after graduation, gaining a livelihood somewhat precarious, indeed, yet sufficient to render it unnecessary for him to attempt to practicelaw. But it was not until 1848 that he really "struck his gait. "

Certainly, then, he struck it to good purpose by the publication of the"Biglow Papers" and "A Fable for Critics, " and stood revealed as one ofthe wisest, wittiest, most fearless and most patriotic of moralists andsatirists. For the "Biglow Papers" mark a culmination of Americanhumorous and satiric poetry which has never since been rivalled; and the"Fable for Critics" displays a satiric power unequalled since the dayswhen Byron laid his lash along the backs of "Scotch Reviewers. "

Both were real contributions to American letters, but as pure poetryboth were surpassed later in the same year by his "Vision of SirLaunfal. " These three productions, indeed, promised more for the futurethan Lowell was able to perform. He had gone up like a balloon; but, instead of mounting higher, he drifted along at the same level, and atlast came back to earth. 

The succeeding seven years saw no production of the first importancefrom his pen, although a series of lectures on poetry, which hedelivered before the Lowell Institute, brought him the offer of thechair at Harvard which Longfellow had just relinquished. Two yearslater, he became editor of the _Atlantic Monthly_, holding the positionuntil 1861. During this time, he wrote little, but the opening of theCivil War gave a fresh impetus to his muse, his most noteworthycontribution to letters being the "Commemoration Ode" with which hemarked its close--a poem which has risen steadily in public estimation, and which is, without doubt, the most notable of its kind ever deliveredin America. The poems which he published during the next twenty yearsdid little to enhance his reputation, which, as a poet, must rest uponhis "Biglow Papers, " his odes, and his "Vision of Sir Launfal. "

Yet poetry was but one of his modes of expression, and, some think, theless important one. Immediately following the Civil War, he turned hisattention to criticism, and when these essays were collected under thetitles "Among My Books" and "My Study Windows, " they proved their authorto be the ablest critic, the most accomplished scholar, the mostcultured writer--in a word, the greatest all-around man-of-letters, inAmerica. 

This prominence brought him the offer of the Spanish mission, which heaccepted, going from Madrid to London, in 1880, as Ambassador to GreatBritain, and remaining there for five years. The service he did there isincalculable; as the spokesman for America and the representative ofAmerican culture, he took his place with dignity and honor amongEngland's greatest; his addresses charmed and impressed them, and he maybe fairly said to have laid the foundations of that cordial friendshipbetween America and Great Britain which exists to-day. "I am a bookman, "was Lowell's proudest boast--not only a writer of books, but a mightyreader of books; and he is one of the most significant figures inAmerican letters. 

So we come to the man who measures up more nearly to the stature of agreat poet than any other American--Edgar Allan Poe. Outside of America, there has never been any hesitancy in pronouncing Poe the first poet ofhis country; but, at home, it is only recently his real merit has cometo be at all generally acknowledged. 

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston in 1809--a stroke of purest irony onthe part of fate, for he was in no respect a Bostonian, and it was toBostonians especially that he was anathema. His parents were actors, travelling from place to place, and his birth at Boston was purelyaccidental. They had no home and no fortune, but lived from hand tomouth, in the most precarious way, and both of them were dead beforetheir son was two years old. He had an elder brother and a youngersister, and these three babies were left stranded at Richmond, Virginia, entirely without money. Luckily they were too young to realizehow very dark their future was, and the Providence which looks after thesparrows also looked after them. The wife of a well-to-do tobaccomerchant, named John Allan, took a fancy to the dark-eyed, dark-hairedboy of two, and, having no children of her own, adopted him. 

It was better fortune than he could have hoped for, for he was broughtup in comfort in a good home, and his foster-parents seem to have lovedhim and to have been ambitious for his future. He was an erratic boy, and was soon to get into the first of those difficulties which ended bywrecking his life. For, entering the University of Virginia, he made themistake of associating with a fast set, with whom he had no business, and ended by losing heavy sums of money, which he was, of course, unableto pay, and which his foster-father very properly refused to pay forhim. Instead, he removed the boy from college and put him to work in hisoffice at Richmond. 

Edgar felt that, in refusing to pay his debts, his foster-father hadbesmirched his honor. The thought rankled in his soul, and he ended byrunning away from home. He got to Boston, somehow, and enlisted in thearmy, serving for three years as a private. At the end of that time, there was a reconciliation between him and his foster-father, and thelatter provided a substitute for him in the army, and secured him anappointment to the military academy at West Point. 

Why Poe should have felt that he was fitted for army life is difficultto understand, since he had always been impatient of discipline; but toWest Point he went and very promptly got into trouble there, whichculminated, at the end of the year, in court-martial and dismissal. Heknew that his foster-father's patience was exhausted, and that he couldexpect nothing more from him, and he soon proved himself incapable ofself-support. 

He drifted from New York to Baltimore, often without knowing where hisnext meal was coming from, and finally, at Baltimore, his father'swidowed sister gave him a home, and he soon married her fragiledaughter, Virginia Clemm. But he had long been a prey to intemperance, and his habits in consequence were so irregular that he was unable toretain any permanent position. The truth seems to be that Poe was of atemperament so intensely nervous and sensitive that the smallest amountof alcoholic stimulant excited him beyond control, and he lacked thewill-power to leave it alone altogether, which was his only chance ofsafety. 

Yet he had gained a certain reputation with discerning people by thepublication of a few poems of surprising merit, as well as a number oftales as remarkable and compelling as have ever been written in anylanguage. That is a broad statement, and yet it is literally true. Notonly is Poe America's greatest poet, but he is still more decidedly hergreatest short-story writer--so much the greatest, that with theexception of Nathaniel Hawthorne, she has never produced another torival him. 

If further testimony to his genius were needed, it might be found in thefact that he was still unable to make a living with his pen, and wasforced to see his wife growing daily weaker without the means to provideher proper nourishment. His sufferings were frightful; he was compelledto bend his pride to an appeal for public charity, and the death of hiswife wrecked such moral self-control as he had remaining. 

The rest is soon told. There was a rapid deterioration, and on October3, 1849, he was found unconscious in a saloon at Baltimore, where anelection had been in progress and where Poe had been made drunk and thenused as an illegal voter. He was taken to a hospital, treated fordelirium tremens, and died three days later, a miserable outcast, at anage where he should have been at the very zenith of his powers. Thepages of the world's history show no death more pathetically tragic. 

Such a death naturally offended right-thinking people. Especially did itoffend the New England conscience, which has never been able to divorceart from morals; and as the literary dominance of New England was atthat time absolute, Poe was buried under a mass of uncharitablecriticism. It should not be forgotten that he had struck the poisonedbarb of his satire deep into many a New England sage, and it was, perhaps, only human nature to strike back. So it came to pass that Poewas pointed out, not as a man of genius, but as a horrible example anddegrading influence to be sedulously avoided. 

With foreign readers, all this counted for nothing. They were concernednot with the life of the man, but with the work of the artist, and theyfound that work consummately good. They were charmed and thrilled by thehaunting melody of his verse and the weird horror of his tales. In hisown country, recognition of his genius has grown rapidly of recentyears. Within his own sphere, he is unquestionably the greatest artistAmerica can boast--he climbed Parnassus higher than any of hiscountrymen, and if he did not quite attain a seat among the immortals, he at least caught some portion of their radiance. 

After Poe, the man whom foreign critics consider America's mostrepresentative poet is another who has been without honor in his owncountry, and about whom, even yet, there is the widest difference ofopinion--Walt Whitman. Whitman was ostracized for many years not becauseof his life, which was regular and admirable enough, but because of hisverse, which is exceedingly irregular in more than one respect. 

Whitman was by birth and training a man of the people. His father was acarpenter, and, after receiving a common-school education, the boyentered a printer's office at the age of thirteen. A printer's officeis, in itself, a source of education, and Whitman soon began to writefor the papers, finally going to New York City, where, for twelve years, he worked on Newspaper Row, as reporter or compositor, making friendswith all sorts and conditions of men and entering heart and soul intothe busy life of the great city. The people, the seething masses on thestreets, had a compelling fascination for him. 

Tiring of New York, at last, he started on a tramp trip to thesouthwest, worked in New Orleans and other towns, swung around throughthe northwest, and so back to Brooklyn, where he became, strangelyenough, a contractor--a builder and seller of houses. He had beenreading a great deal, all these years, but as yet had given noindication of what was to be his literary life-work. 

And yet, fermenting inside the man and at last demanding expression, wasa strange new philosophy of democracy, all-tolerant, holding theindividual to be of the first importance, male and female equal, thebody to be revered no less than the soul. For the promulgation of thisphilosophy, some worthy literary form was needed--poetry, since that wasthe noblest form, but poetry stripped of conventions and stock phrases, as "fluent and free as the people and the land and the great system ofdemocracy which it was to celebrate. " With some such idea as this, notoutlined in words, nor, perhaps, very clearly understood even byhimself, Whitman set to work, and the result was the now famous "Leavesof Grass, " a collection of twelve poems, printed by the author inBrooklyn in 1855. 

Like most other philosophies and prophecies, it fell on heedless ears. Few people read it, and those who did were exasperated by itsfar-fetched diction or scandalized by its free treatment of delicatetopics. In the next year, a second edition appeared, containingthirty-two poems; but the book had practically no sale. 

Then came the Civil War, and Whitman, volunteering not for the field, but for work in the hospitals, proved that the doctrine of brotherlylove, so basic to his poems, was basic also to his character. "Not tillthe sun excludes you, neither will I exclude you, " he had declared; andnow he devoted himself to nursing, on battlefield, in camp and hospital, doing what he could to cheer and lighten the worst side of war, anattractive and inspiring figure. 

Lincoln, looking out of a window of the White House, saw him go past oneday; a majestic person with snow-white beard and hair, his cotton shirtopen at the throat, six feet tall and perfectly proportioned; and thePresident, without knowing who he was, but mistaking him probably for acommon laborer, turned to a friend who stood beside him and remarked, "There goes a man!" And Whitman was a man. Up to that time, he had neverbeen ill a day; but two years later, at the age of fifty-three, hishealth gave way, under the strain of nursing, and from that time untilhis death he was, physically, "a man in ruins. " Mentally, he was asalert and virile as ever. 

He was given a clerical position in one of the departments at Washingtonafter that, remaining there until, in 1873, an attack of paralysisincapacitated him even for clerical labor. Meanwhile he had issued hispoems of the war, under the title "Drum-Taps, " and had softened somehostile hearts by the two noble tributes to Lincoln there included, "OCaptain, my Captain!" and "When Lilacs last in the Dooryard Bloom'd. "But his poetry brought him no income and, for a time, after his removalto Camden, New Jersey, where the remainder of his life was to be passed, he was in absolute want. Friends increased, however; his poems werere-issued, and his last years were spent in the midst of a circle ofdisciples, who hailed Whitman as a seer and prophet and were guilty ofother fatuities which made the judicious grieve and did much to keepthem alienated from the poet's work. 

Since his death, his fame has become established on a firmer basis thanhysterical adulation; but it is yet too soon to attempt to judge him, tosay what his ultimate rank will be. It seems probable that it will be ahigh one, and it is possible that, centuries hence, the historian ofAmerican letters will start with Whitman as the first exponent of anoriginal and democratic literature, disregarding all that has gonebefore as merely imitative of Europe. 

Of our lesser poets, only a few need be mentioned here. Bayard Taylor, born in Pennsylvania in 1825, of Quaker stock and reared in the tenetsof that sect, at one time loomed large in American letters, but it isdoubtful whether anything of his has the quality of permanency. Hispersonality was a picturesque and fascinating one and his lifeinteresting and romantic. 

A poor boy, burning with the itch to write and especially to travel; atthe age of nineteen making his way to England, and from there toGermany; spending two years in Europe, enduring hardships, living withthe common people; and finally returning home to find that his lettersto the newspapers had been read with interest and had won a considerableaudience--these were the first steps in his struggle for recognition. Hecollected his letters into a book called "Views Afoot, " which at oncebecame widely popular, and his reputation was made. 

But it was a reputation as a reporter and traveller, and Taylor, much ashe despised it, was never able to get away from it. He became, perforce, a sort of official traveller for the American people, journeyed inCalifornia, in the Orient, in Russia, Lapland--in most of theout-of-the-way corners of the world--and his books of travel wereuniformly interesting and successful. They do not attract to-day, not, as Park Benjamin put it, because Taylor travelled more and saw less thanany other man who ever lived, but because they lack the charm of style, depth of thought, and keenness of observation which the presentgeneration has come to expect. 

During all this time, Taylor was struggling with pathetic earnestnessfor recognition as a novelist and poet, but with poor measure ofsuccess. His novels were crude and amateurish, and have long sincebecome negligible; but his verse is somewhat more important. His travelsin the East furnished him material for his "Poems of the Orient, " whichrepresent him at his best. 

His ambition, however, was to write a great epic; but for this he lackedboth intellectual and emotional equipment, and his attempts in thisfield were virtual failures. These failures were to him most tragic; notonly that, but he found himself financially embarrassed, and was forcedto turn to such hack work as the writing of school histories in order togain a livelihood. But his friends, of whom he had always a wide circle, secured him the mission to Germany, and he entered on his duties in highspirits--only to die suddenly one morning while sitting in his libraryat Berlin. A generous, impulsive and warm-hearted man, Bayard Taylorwill be remembered for what he was, rather than for what he did. 

Two other poets, whose deaths occurred not many months ago, have madenoteworthy contributions to American letters--Edmund Clarence Stedmanand Thomas Bailey Aldrich. Of the two, Aldrich was by far the bettercraftsman, his verse possessing a wit, a daintiness and perfection offinish which sets it apart in a class almost by itself. In prose, too, Aldrich wrote attractively, but always rather with the air of adilettante, and without the depth and passion of genius. Stedman alsopossessed wit and polish, though in less degree, and the verse of boththese men is delightful reading. 

More recent still has been the death of a man whose verse ranks withthat of either Stedman or Aldrich--Richard Watson Gilder. Some of hislyrics are very beautiful, but they appeal to the intellect rather thanto the heart. Perhaps for this reason, as well as for a certain lack ofsubstance and virility, his verse has never had a wide appeal. 

Two men whose names have become household words because of theirdelightful verses for and about children are Eugene Field and JamesWhitcomb Riley. Field is the greater of the two, for he possessed adepth of feeling and insight which is lacking in Riley. Few lyrics havebeen more widely popular than his "Little Boy Blue" and "Dutch Lullaby";while Riley's "Little Orphant Annie" and "The Raggedy Man" are equallywell known. 

Alice and Phoebe Cary are remembered for a few simply-written lyrics;Julia Ward Howe's "Battle-Hymn of the Republic" lives as the worthiestpiece of verse evoked by the Civil War; and Joaquin Miller is known fora certain rude power in song; but none of them is of sufficientimportance to demand extended study. 

 * * * * *

It will be noted that, among all the poets who have been mentioned here, not one was distinctively of the South. Poe's youth was spent inRichmond, but he was in no sense Southern. Indeed, the South has onlythree names to offer of even minor importance--Sidney Lanier, HenryTimrod, and Paul Hamilton Hayne. None of these men produced anything ofthe first order, and much of their verse is marred by amateurishness andwant of finish--the result, in the first place, of defective training, and, in the second place, of an incapacity for taking pains, of a habitwhich relied too much on "inspiration" and too little on intellectualeffort. 

For verse, to be perfect, must be polished like a diamond, slowly andcarefully, until every facet sparkles. This means that the right word orphrase must be searched for until it is found. Perhaps you have read Mr. Barrie's inimitable story "Sentimental Tommy, " and you will remember howTommy failed to write the prize essay because he couldn't think of theright word, and would be satisfied with no other. Well, that is thespirit. Somebody has said that "easy writing makes hard reading, " andthis is especially true of poetry. Inspiration doesn't extend totechnic--that must be acquired, like any art, with infinite pains. 

Of the three poets, Lanier, Timrod, and Hayne, Lanier was by far thegreatest, and has even become, in a small way, the centre of a cult; buthis voice, while often pure and sweet, lacks the strength needed tocarry it down the ages. He is like a little brook making beautiful somemeadow or strip of woodland; but only mighty rivers reach the ocean. Lanier is memorable not so much for his work as for the gallant fight hemade against the consumption which he had contracted as the result ofexposure in the Confederate army during the Civil War. The war alsoplayed a disastrous part in the lives of both Hayne and Timrod, for itimpoverished both of them, and did much to hasten the latter's death. 

Timrod, too, rose occasionally to noble utterance, but his voice isfainter and his talent more slender than Lanier's. His life was apainful one, marred by poverty and disease, and he died at the age ofthirty-eight. Hayne's work is even less important, for he did not, likeTimrod and Lanier, touch an occasional height of inspired utterance. Hisname is cherished in his native state of South Carolina, and in Georgia, where his last years were spent; but his poems are little readelsewhere. 

Timrod and Hayne were both born at Charleston, South Carolina, as was athird poet and novelist, who, in his day, loomed far larger than eitherof them, but who is now almost forgotten, except by students of Americanliterature--William Gilmore Simms. Few American writers have produced somuch--eighteen volumes of verse, three dramas, thirty-five novels andvolumes of short stories, and about as many more books of history, biography and miscellany--and none, of like prominence in his day, hasdropped more completely out of sight. In common with the other Southernwriters we have mentioned, Simms lacked self-restraint and the power ofself-criticism. 

Genius has been defined as the capacity for taking pains; and perhaps itis because Southern writers have lacked this capacity that none of themhas proved to be a genius. Elbert Hubbard says that Simms "courtedoblivion--and won her" by returning to the South after having achievedsome success in the North; but it is doubtful if this had anything to dowith it. The truth is that Simms's work has lost its appeal because ofits inherent defects, and there is no chance that its popularity willever be regained. And yet, while his verse is negligible--although healways thought himself a greater poet than novelist--some of his talesof the Carolinas and the Southwest possess a rude power and interestdeserving of a better fate. Certainly Simms seems to have been the bestimaginative writer the antebellum South produced. 

American imaginative literature to-day resembles a lofty plateau ratherthan a mountain range. It shows a high level of achievement, but nomighty peaks. Novelists and poets alike have learned how to use theirtools; they work with conviction--but in clay rather than in marble. Inother words, they work without what we call inspiration; they havetalent, but not genius. This is, perhaps, partly the fault of the age, which has come to place so high a value upon literary form that thequality of the material is often lost sight of. Let us hope that someday a genius will arise who will be great enough to disregard form andto strike out his own path across the domain of letters. 

Meanwhile, it is safe to advise boys and girls to spend their time overthe old things rather than over the new ones. There is so much goodliterature in the world that there is really no excuse for reading bad, and the latest novel will not give half the solid entertainment to begot from scores of the older ones. One of the most valuable anddelightful things in the world is the power to appreciate goodliterature. To have worthy "friends on the shelf, " in the shape of greatbooks, is to insure oneself against loneliness and ennui. 

SUMMARY

BRYANT, WILLIAM CULLEN. Born at Cummington, Massachusetts, November 3, 1794; studied at Williams College, 1810-11; admitted to the bar, 1815;published "Thanatopsis, " 1816; editor-in-chief _New York Evening Post_, 1829; published first collection of poems, 1821, and others from time totime until his death, at New York City, June 12, 1878. 

LONGFELLOW, HENRY WADSWORTH. Born at Portland, Maine, February 27, 1807;graduated at Bowdoin College, 1825; travelled in Europe, 1826-29;professor of modern languages at Bowdoin, 1829-35; professor of modernlanguages and _belles lettres_ at Harvard, 1836-54; published "Voices ofthe Night, " 1839; "Ballads and Other Poems, " 1841; "Poems on Slavery, "1842; and many other collections of his poems, until his death atCambridge, Massachusetts, March 24, 1882. 

WHITTIER, JOHN GREENLEAF. Born at Haverhill, Massachusetts, December 17, 1807; attended Haverhill Academy; edited "American Manufacturer, " atBoston, 1829; edited the _Haverhill Gazette_, 1830; became secretary ofthe American Anti-Slavery Society, 1836; member of Massachusettslegislature, 1835-36; settled at Amesbury, Massachusetts, 1840;published "Legends of New England, " 1831; "Moll Pitcher, " 1832; and manyother collections of his poems until his death at Hampton Falls, NewHampshire, September 7, 1892. 

HOLMES, OLIVER WENDELL. Born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, August 29, 1809; professor of anatomy and physiology, Harvard Medical School, 1847-82; published "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, " 1858; "ElsieVenner, " 1861; "Songs in Many Keys, " 1861; and other collections ofpoems and essays; died at Cambridge, October 7, 1894. 

LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL. Born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, February 22, 1819; graduated at Harvard, 1838; professor of _belles lettres_ atHarvard, 1855; editor _Atlantic Monthly_, 1857-62; editor _NorthAmerican Review_, 1863-72; minister to Spain, 1877-80; minister to GreatBritain, 1880-85; published "A Year's Life, " 1841; "Vision of SirLaunfal, " 1845; "A Fable for Critics, " 1848; "The Biglow Papers, " 1848;and many other collections of essays, criticisms, and poems; died atCambridge, August 12, 1891. 

POE, EDGAR ALLAN. Born at Boston, January 19, 1809; entered Universityof Virginia, 1826; ran away from home, 1827; published "Tamerlane andOther Poems, by a Bostonian, " 1827; enlisted in the army as Edgar A. Perry, rising to rank of sergeant-major, 1829; entered West Point, July1, 1830; dismissed, March 6, 1831; married Virginia Clemm, 1835, whodied in 1847; published "Poems, " 1831; "Tales of the Grotesque andArabesque, " 1840; died at Baltimore, October 7, 1849. 

WHITMAN, WALT OR WALTER. Born at West Hills, Long Island, May 31, 1819;a printer, carpenter, and journalist in early life; volunteered as armynurse, 1861; seized with hospital malaria, 1864; held governmentposition at Washington, 1864-73; disabled by paralysis and removed toCamden, New Jersey, where he died, March 26, 1892. "Leaves of Grass, "published originally in 1855, was many times revised, a final editionappearing in 1892. 

TAYLOR, BAYARD. Born at Kennett Square, Chester County, Pennsylvania, January 11, 1825; apprenticed to a printer, 1842; travelled on footthrough Europe, 1844-46; in Egypt, Asia Minor, and Syria, 1851-52; inIndia, China, and Japan, 1852-53; secretary of legation at St. Petersburg, 1862-63; minister to Berlin, 1878; died at Berlin, December19, 1878. He published collections of poems and travel letters. 

STEDMAN, EDMUND CLARENCE. Born at Hartford, Connecticut, October 8, 1833; entered Yale, 1839, leaving in junior year; was correspondent _NewYork World_, 1861-63; later became stockbroker in New York City, retiring only a short time before his death in New York, January 18, 1908. Published several collections of poems. 

ALDRICH, THOMAS BAILEY. Born at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, November 11, 1836; editor of _Every Saturday_, 1870-74; editor of _The AtlanticMonthly_, 1881-90; published "Bells, " 1855; "Ballad of Baby Bell, " 1856;and many other collections of poetry, together with several novels andcollections of short stories; died March 19, 1907. 

FIELD, EUGENE. Born at St. Louis, Missouri, September 2, 1850; begannewspaper work at age of twenty-three, and ten years later becameassociated with the _Chicago Daily News_, where most of his workappeared; his first book of verse, "A Little Book of Western Verse, " waspublished in 1889, and a number of others followed; died at Chicago, Illinois, November 4, 1895. 

RILEY, JAMES WHITCOMB. Born at Greenfield, Indiana, 1853; enteredjournalism at Indianapolis, 1873; wrote first verses, 1875; first bookof verse, "The Old Swimmin'-Hole and 'Leven More Poems, " published in1883; numerous volumes since then. 

LANIER, SIDNEY. Born at Macon, Georgia, February 3, 1842; served inConfederate Army, and suffered exposure which resulted in consumption;studied and practised law till 1873; then decided to devote life tomusic and poetry; played first flute in the Peabody Symphony Orchestraat Baltimore; lecturer on English literature at Johns HopkinsUniversity, 1879-81; complete poems published 1881; died at Lynn, NorthCarolina, September 7, 1881. 

TIMROD, HENRY. Born at Charleston, South Carolina, December 8, 1829;educated at the University of Georgia, studied law and supported himselfas a private tutor until the Civil War; war correspondent and thenassistant editor of _The South Carolinian_, at Columbia, until Shermanburned the town; died at Columbia, South Carolina, October 6, 1867; hispoems, edited by Paul Hamilton Hayne, published 1873. 

HAYNE, PAUL HAMILTON. Born at Charleston, South Carolina, January 1, 1830; graduated at the University of South Carolina, edited _Russell'sMagazine_ and the _Literary Gazette_, and served for a time in theConfederate Army; first poems published 1855; complete edition, 1882;died near Augusta, Georgia, July 6, 1886. 

SIMMS, WILLIAM GILMORE. Born at Charleston, South Carolina, April 17, 1806; admitted to bar, 1827, but abandoned law for literature andjournalism; first poems published 1827; resided at Hingham, Massachusetts, 1832-33, where longest poem, "Atalantis, " was written;first novel, "Martin Faber, " published 1833, and followed by manyothers; returned to South Carolina, 1833, and died at Charleston, June11, 1870. 

CHAPTER IV

PAINTERS

If background and tradition are needed for literature, they are evenmore needed for art, and it is curiously worth noting that thebackground and traditions of England did not serve for her child acrossthe sea. In both literature and art, so far as vital and significantachievement is concerned, the young nation had to find itself, and, starting from a rude and rough beginning, work its way upward of its ownstrength. Perhaps in no other way may the youth of America be socompletely realized as by the thought that all of real importance inboth literature and art which she can boast has been produced within thepast ninety years--little more than the three score years and ten whichthe Psalmist assigned as the span of a single life. 

We do not mean to say that European influence is not plainly to betraced in both our art and literature. There is a family resemblance, soto speak, as between a child and its parents, and yet the child has anindividuality of its own. In literature, Cooper, Poe, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Whitman are distinctively American; and, as we shall find, so are our masters of painting and sculpture. 

American art begins with John Singleton Copley. There had been daubersbefore him, as there were after, but Copley was the first man born inAmerica who produced paintings which the world still contemplates withpleasure. Copley was born in Boston in 1737, his father dying shortlyafterwards, and his mother supporting herself by keeping a tobacco shop. About 1746 she married again, most fortunately for her son, for hersecond husband was Peter Pelham, a mezzotint engraver of considerablemerit, who gave the boy lessons in drawing. He proved an apt andprecocious pupil, and by the time he had reached seventeen had executeda number of portraits. 

His reputation steadily increased, and his income from his work was sosatisfactory that he hesitated to try his fortunes in the larger fieldof London. Finally, in 1774, he sailed for England, and in the next yearsent for his family to join him there. The opening of the Revolutionpersuaded him to stay in England, as there would be no demand for hiswork in America in so tumultuous a time. In London his talents broughthim ample patronage, his income enabled him to live the stately anddignified life he loved, so that, when the Revolution ended, thereseemed no reason why he should abandon it for the crudities of Boston. He therefore continued in London until the end of his life, which camein 1815. 

Copley was a laborious and painstaking craftsman, setting down what hesaw upon canvas with uncompromising sincerity. He worked very slowlyand many stories are told of how he tried the patience of his sitters. The result was a series of portraits which preserve the very spirit ofthe age--serious, self-reliant and capable, pompous and lacking humor. His later work has an atmosphere and repose which his early work lacks, but it is less important to America. His early portraits, which hang onthe walls of so many Boston homes, and which Oliver Wendell Holmescalled the titles of nobility of the old Boston families, are pricelessdocuments of history. 

Copley was an artist from choice rather than necessity; he followedpainting because it assured him a good livelihood, and he was a patientand painstaking craftsman. His life was serene and happy; he was withoutthe tribulations, as he seems to have been without the enthusiasms ofthe great artist. Not so with his most famous contemporary, BenjaminWest, whose life was filled to overflowing with the contrast andpicturesqueness which Copley's lacked. 

West was born in 1738 at a little Pennsylvania frontier settlement. Hisparents were Quakers, and to the rigor and simplicity of frontier lifewere added those of that sect. But even these handicaps could not turnthe boy aside from his vocation, for he was a born painter, if thereever was one. At the age of six he tried to draw, with red and blackink, a likeness of a baby he had been set to watch; a year later, aparty of friendly Indians, amused by some sketches of birds and leaveshe showed them, taught him how to prepare the red and yellow colorswhich they used on their ornaments. His mother furnished some indigo, brushes were secured by clipping the family cat--no doubt greatly to itsdisgust--and with these crude materials he set to work. 

His success won him the present of a box of paints from a relative inPhiladelphia. With that treasure the boy lived and slept, and hismother, finally discovering that he was running away from school, foundhim in the garret with a picture before him which she refused to let himfinish lest he should spoil it. That painting was preserved to beexhibited sixty-six years later. 

The boy's talent was so evident, and his determination to be a painterso fixed, that his parents finally overcame their scruples against anoccupation which they considered vain and useless, and sent him toPhiladelphia. There he lived as frugally as possible, saving his moneyfor a trip to Italy, and finally, at the age of twenty-two, set sail forEurope. 

His success there was immediate. He gained friends in the mostinfluential circles, spent three years in study in Italy, and going toLondon in 1764, received so many commissions that he decided to livethere permanently. He wrote home for his father to join him, and tobring with him a Miss Shewell, to whom West was betrothed. He also wroteto the young lady, stating that his father would sail at a certain time, and asking her to join him. The letter fell into the hands of MissShewell's brother, who objected to West for some reason, and whopromptly locked the girl in her room. Three friends of West's concludedthat this outrage upon true love was not to be endured, smuggled arope-ladder to her, and got her out of the house and safely on board thevessel. These three friends were Benjamin Franklin, Francis Hopkinsonand William White, the latter the first Bishop of the American EpiscopalChurch, and the exploit was one which they were always proud toremember. Miss Shewell reached London safely and the lovers were happilymarried. 

Meanwhile West's success had been given a sudden impetus by hisintroduction to King George III. The two men became lifelong friends, and the King gave him commission after commission, culminating in acommand to decorate the Royal Chapel at Windsor. His first reverse camewhen the King's mind began to fail. His commissions were cancelled andhis pensions stopped. He was deposed from the Presidency of the RoyalAcademy, which he had founded, and was for a time in needycircumstances; but the tide soon turned, and his last years were markedby the production of a number of great paintings. He died at the age ofeighty-two, and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral with splendidceremonies. So ended one of the most remarkable careers in history. 

West was, perhaps, more notable as a man than as an artist, for his fameas a painter has steadily declined. His greatest service to art was theexample he set of painting historical groups in the costume of theperiod instead of in the vestments of the early Romans, as had been thecustom. This innovation was made by him in his picture of the death ofGeneral Wolfe, and created no little disturbance. His friends, includingReynolds, protested against such a desecration of tradition; even theKing questioned him, and West replied that the painter should be boundby truth as well as the historian, and to represent a group of Englishsoldiers in the year 1758 as dressed in classic costume was absurd. After the picture was completed, Reynolds was the first to declare thatWest had won, and that his picture would occasion a revolution inart--as, indeed, it did. 

It is difficult to understand the habit of thought which insisted onclothing great men in garments they could never by any possibility haveworn, yet it persisted until a comparatively late day. The most famousexample in this country is Greenough's statue of Washington, justoutside the Capitol. One looks at it with a certain sense of shock, forthe Father of His Country is sitting half-naked, in a great arm chair, with some drapery over his legs, and a fold hanging over one shoulder. We shall have occasion in the next chapter to speak of it and of itsmaker. 

Another of West's services to art was the wholehearted way in which heextended a helping hand to any who needed it. He was always willing togive such instruction as he could, and among his pupils were at leastfour men who added not a little to American art--Charles Willson Peale, Gilbert Stuart, John Trumbull, and Thomas Sully. 

Peale was born in Maryland in 1741, and was, among other things, asaddler, a coach-maker, a clock-maker and a silversmith. He finallydecided to add painting to his other accomplishments, so he secured somepainting materials and a book of instructions and set to work. In 1770, a number of gentlemen of Annapolis furnished him with enough money to goto England, a loan which he promised to repay with pictures upon hisreturn. West received him kindly, and when Peale's money gave out, as itsoon did, welcomed him into his own house. Peale remained in London forfour years, returning to America in time to join Washington as a captainof volunteers, and to take part in the battles of Trenton andGermantown. 

After the war he continued painting, but, in 1801, his mind, alwaysalert for new experiences, was led away in a strange direction. Thebones of a mammoth were discovered in Ulster County, New York, and Pealesecured possession of them, had them taken to Philadelphia, and starteda museum. It rapidly increased in size, for all sorts of curiositiespoured in upon him, and he began a series of lectures on naturalhistory, which, whether learned or not, proved so interesting that largeand distinguished audiences gathered to hear him. In 1805, he foundedthe Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the oldest and mostflourishing institution of the kind in the country. He lived to a haleold age, never having known sickness, and dying as the result ofincautious exposure. Like West, his life is more interesting than hiswork, for while he painted fairly good portraits, they were the workrather of a skilled craftsman than of an artist. 

[Illustration: STUART]

The second of West's pupils whom we have mentioned, Gilbert Stuart, wasby far the greatest of the earlier artists. He was born near Newport, R. I. , in 1755, his father being a Jacobite refugee from Scotland. He beganto paint at an early age, worked faithfully at drawing, and finally, atthe age of nineteen, began portrait painting in earnest. One of hisfirst pictures was a striking example of a remarkable characteristic, the power of visual memory, which he retained through his whole life. His grandmother had died five or six years before, but he painted aportrait of her, producing so striking a likeness that it immediatelybrought him orders for others. But Newport had grown distasteful to him, and in 1775, he started for London. 

How he got there is not certainly known, but get there he did, withoutmoney or friends, or much hope of making either, and for three yearslived a precarious life, earning a little money, borrowing what hecould, twice imprisoned for debt, and with it all so gay and brilliantand talented that those he wronged most loved him most. Finally, he wasintroduced to Benjamin West, and found in him an invaluable friend andpatron. For nearly four years, Stuart worked as West's student andassistant, steadily improving in drawing, developing a technique ofastonishing merit, and, more than that, one that was all his own. 

His portraits soon attracted attention, and at the end of a fewyears, he was earning a large income. But he squandered it so recklesslythat he was finally forced to flee to Ireland to escape his creditors. They pursued him, threw him into prison, and the legend is that hepainted most of the Irish aristocracy in his cell in the Dublin jail. 

At last, in 1792, he returned to America, animated by a desire to painta portrait of Washington. Arrangements for a sitting were made, but itis related that Stuart, although he had painted many famous men and wasat ease in most society, found himself strangely embarrassed inWashington's presence. The President was kindly and courteous, but theportrait was a failure. He tried again, and produced the portrait whichremains to this day the accepted likeness of the First American. Youwill find it as the frontispiece to "Men of Action, " and it is worthexamining closely, for it is an example of art rarely surpassed, as wellas a remarkable portrait of our most remarkable citizen. 

Gilbert Stuart still holds his place among the greatest of Americanportrait painters. His heads, painted simply and without artifice, andyet with high imagination, are unsurpassed; they possess insight, theyaccomplish that greatest of all tasks, the delineation of character. Stuart's portraits--as every portrait must, to be truly great--show notonly how his sitters looked but _what they were_. Art can accomplish nomore than that. 

The anecdotes which are told of him are innumerable, and most of themhave to do with his hot temper, which grew hotter and hotter as hisyears increased and he became more and more a public character. One day, a loving husband, whose wife Stuart had put on canvas in an unusuallyuncompromising way, complained that the portrait did not do her justice. 

"What an infernal business is this of a portrait painter, " Stuart cried, at last, his patience giving way. "You bring him a potato and expect himto paint you a peach!"

But look at his portrait at the beginning of this chapter, and you willsee a witty and kindly old gentleman, as well as an irascible one. 

John Trumbull was a student of West's at the same time that Stuart was. He was a year younger, and was a son of that Jonathan Trumbull, afterwards governor of Connecticut, whose title of Brother Jonathan, given him by Washington, became afterwards a sort of national nickname. He was an infant prodigy, graduating from Harvard at an age when mostboys were entering, and afterwards going to Boston to take lessons fromCopley. The outbreak of the Revolution stopped his studies; he enlistedin the army, won rapid promotion, and finally resigned in a huff becausehe thought his commission as colonel incorrectly dated. 

In 1780, he sailed for France, on his way to London, met BenjaminFranklin in Paris and from him secured a letter of introduction toBenjamin West, who welcomed him with his unfailing cordiality; but hehad scarcely commenced his studies when he was arrested and thrown intoprison. The reason was the arrest and execution at New York of MajorAndré, who was captured with Benedict Arnold's treasonablecorrespondence hidden in his boot, and who was hanged as a spy. Knowingthat Trumbull had been an officer in the American army, and anxious toavenge André's death, the King ordered his arrest, but West intercededfor him and secured his release several weeks later. 

Warned that England was unsafe for him, Trumbull returned to America andremained there until after the close of the Revolution. The beginning of1784 saw him again in London, at work on his two famous paintings, "TheBattle of Bunker Hill" and "The Death of General Montgomery, " and fromthat time until his death he was occupied almost exclusively with thepainting of pictures illustrating events in American history--"TheSurrender of Cornwallis, " "The Battle of Princeton, " "The Capture of theHessians at Trenton, " to mention only three. In 1816 he received acommission to paint four of the eight commemorative pictures in theCapitol at Washington, and completed the last one eight years later, this being his last important work. 

Trumbull is in no respect to be compared with Gilbert Stuart, but hiswork was done with a painstaking accuracy which makes it valuable as ahistorical document. For the personages of his pictures he painted agreat number of miniatures from life, which, in many cases, are the onlysurviving presentments of some of the most prominent men of the time. 

After Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully was by far the greatest of the menwho studied in West's studio. Stuart aside, there was no Americanpainter of the day to equal him. He was born in England in 1783, but wasbrought to this country by his parents at the age of nine. The Sullyswere actors of some talent and secured an engagement at Charleston, South Carolina, and there the boy was placed first in school, and thenin the office of an insurance broker. He spent so much time makingsketches that his employer decided he was destined for art and not forbusiness, and secured another clerk. 

Young Sully thoroughly agreed with this and started out to be an artist. He had no money, nor means of earning any, but he managed to secure somedesultory instruction, and this, added to his native talent, enabled himto begin to paint portraits for which uncritical persons were willing topay. But it was a hard road, and none was more conscious of hisdeficiencies than himself. He knew that he needed training, and finallystarted for England with a purse of four hundred dollars in his pocket, which had been subscribed by friends, who were each to be repaid by acopy of an old master. 

Arrived at London, Sully at once got himself introduced to BenjaminWest, who received him "like a father, " admitted him to his studio, andaided him in many ways. He remained there, painting by day, drawing bynight, studying anatomy in every spare moment, and living on bread andpotatoes and water in order to make his money last as long as possible. At the end of nine months it was gone, and he was forced to return toAmerica. 

But those nine months of study had given him just what he needed, andhis talent soon gained recognition. Orders poured in upon him at goodprices; and though his prosperity afterwards dwindled somewhat, he neveragain experienced the pangs of poverty. He made Philadelphia his home, and for nearly half a century occupied a house on Chestnut Street whichhad been built for him by Stephen Girard. His work is in every wayworthy of respect--firm and serious and rich with a warm and mellowcolor. 

Benjamin West had many other pupils--indeed, his studio was a sort ofincubator for American artists--but none of them won any permanent fame. One, Washington Allston, achieved considerable contemporary reputation, but it seems to have resulted more from his own winning personality thanfrom his work. He possessed a charm which fairly dazzled all who methim, notably Coleridge and Washington Irving. His smaller canvasses, graceful figures or heads, to which he attached little importance, aremore admired to-day than his more ambitious ones. 

Another pupil was John Vanderlyn, of Dutch stock, as his name shows, aprotégé of Aaron Burr, and the painter of the best known portrait of hisdaughter, Theodosia, as well as of Burr himself. When Burr, an outcastin fortune and men's eyes, fled to Paris, Vanderlyn, who had made somereputation there, was able to repay, to some extent, the kindness whichBurr had shown him. His work shows care and serious thought, but hislast years were embittered by the indifference of the public, and hedied in want. 

 * * * * *

That versatile genius and hale old man, Charles Willson Peale, to whomwe have already referred, had many children, and he christened them withmost distinguished names, so that, in the end, he could boast himselfthe father of Raphael, Rembrandt, Rubens and Titian. Alas that the namedoes not make the man! Only one of them, Rembrandt, achieved anydistinction in art, and that but a faint and far-off reflection of themaster whose name he bore. 

Like his father, he was interested in many things besides his art; heconducted a museum at Baltimore, introduced illuminating gas there, wrote voluminous memoirs, and, living until 1860, became a sort of deanof the profession. An example of his work will be found in "Men ofAction, " the likeness of Thomas Jefferson given there being areproduction from a portrait painted by him. His portraits are not heldin high estimation at the present day, for, while correct enough indrawing, they show little insight. We have come to demand something morethan mechanical skill, and that "something more, " which makes the artistand divides him from the artisan, is exactly what Rembrandt Peale didnot possess. 

It is interesting, too, to note that one of the most promising paintersof the time was S. F. B. Morse. In the Yale School of Fine Arts hangs aportrait of Mrs. De Forest, and in the New York City Hall one ofLafayette, both of them from his brush, and both not unworthy the besttraditions of American art. But a chance conversation about electricityturned his thoughts in that direction, and he abandoned painting forinvention--the result being the electric telegraph. We shall speak ofhim further in the chapter on inventors. 

 * * * * *

The passing of Washington Allston and his group marked the end ofBenjamin West's influence, and, in a way, of English influence, onAmerican painting. It marked, too, a lapse in interest, for it was along time before it found for itself an adequate mode of expression. There are, however, two or three men of the period whom we must mention, not so much because of their achievements, which had littlesignificance, as because of their remarkable and inspiring lives. 

Chester Harding, reared on the New York frontier, a typicalback-woodsman, by turns a peddler, a tavern-keeper, and house-painter, and a failure at all of them, got so deeply in debt that he ran away toPittsburgh to escape his creditors, and there, to his amazement, one daysaw an itinerant painter painting a portrait. Before that, he hadsecured work of some sort, and his wife had joined him. Filled withadmiration for the artist's work, he procured a board and some paint, and sat down to paint a portrait of his wife. He actually did produce alikeness, and, delighted at the result, practiced a while longer, andthen, proceeding to Paris, Kentucky--perhaps through some association ofthe name with the great art centre of Europe--boldly announced himselfas a portrait painter, and got about a hundred people to pay himtwenty-five dollars apiece to paint them. 

He spent some time at Cincinnati, and got as far west as St. Louis, where he journeyed nearly a hundred miles to find Daniel Boone living inhis log cabin on his Missouri land, and painted the portrait of that oldpioneer which is reproduced in "Men of Action. " Boone was at that timeninety years of age, and Harding found him living almost alone, roastinga piece of venison on the end of his ramrod, as had been his custom allhis life. 

One of the most surprising things in the history of American art is thefacility with which men of all trades turned to portrait painting, apparently as a last resort, and managed to make a living at it. Duringthe first half of the last century, the country seems to have beenoverrun with wandering portrait painters, whose only equipment for theart was some paint and a bundle of brushes. They had, for the most part, no training, and that anyone, in a time when money was scarce and hardlyearned, should have paid it out for the wretched daubs these menproduced is a great mystery. But they did pay it out, and, as we haveseen, Harding earned no less than twenty-five hundred dollars in acomparatively short time. 

With such of this money as he had been able to save, he went toPhiladelphia and spent two months in study there; then he returned tohis old home, and astonished his neighbors by paying his debts. Heastonished them still more when they found he was making money bypainting portraits, for which he now charged forty dollars each, and hisaged grandfather felt obliged to protest. 

"Chester, " he said, having called him aside so that none could overhear, "I want to speak to you about your present mode of life. I think it nobetter than swindling to charge forty dollars for one of those effigies. Now I want you to give up this way of living and settle down on a farmand become a respectable man. "

However excellent this advice may have been, Chester had gone too far toheed it. He had decided to go to England, but he stayed in America longenough to earn money to buy a farm for his parents and to settle his ownfamily at Northampton. This duty accomplished, he set sail for London, and his success there was immediate, due as much to his remarkablepersonality as to his work. He returned to America in 1826, and spentthe rest of his life here, painting most of the political leaders of thecountry. It has been said of his portraits that his heads are as solidas iron and his coats as uncompromising as tin, while his faces shinelike burnished platters. 

Remarkable as Harding's story is, it is no more so than that of many ofhis contemporaries. Francis Alexander, for instance, born in Connecticutin 1800, a farm boy and afterwards a school teacher, never attemptedpainting until he was over twenty. Then one day, having caught apickerel, its beauty reminded him of a box of water-colors a boy hadleft him, and he attempted to paint the fish, with such success that hewas filled with amazement and delight. He practiced a while longer, decorating the white-washed walls of a room with rude landscapes filledwith cattle, horses, sheep, hogs and chickens. All the neighbors came tosee his work and marvelled at it, though none of them cared to have hishouse similarly decorated; but finally one of them offered Alexanderfive dollars if he would paint a full-length portrait of a child. 

Other orders followed, and finally with sixty dollars in his pocket, hestarted for New York. Some years later, he sought Gilbert Stuart, atBoston, got some systematic instruction and ended by painting verypassable portraits. 

Some amusing stories are told of the persistency with which he huntedfor orders. In 1842, Charles Dickens visited America for the first time, and while his ship was yet out of sight of land, the pilot clambered onboard, and after him Alexander, who begged the great novelist for theprivilege of painting his portrait. Dickens, amused at his enterprise, consented, and Alexander's studio, during the sittings, became thecentre of literary Boston. It is a curious commentary upon Alexander'sdevelopment that, after a trip or two abroad, he professed to find thecrudities of his native land unbearable, and spent his last years inItaly. 

A third self-made artist was John Neagle, whose portrait of GilbertStuart, which heads this chapter, is the best that exists. Neagle wasapprenticed, when a boy, to a coach-painter, and soon was spending hisspare time practicing a more ambitious branch of the paintingprofession. As soon as he was through his apprenticeship he set up as aportrait painter, and travelled over the mountains to Lexington, Kentucky, hoping to fare as well as Harding had. But he found the fieldalready pre-empted by two other painters, one of whom, Matthew Jouett, was an artist of considerable skill. 

Neagle had a hard time getting back home again, but he finally reachedPhiladelphia, and spent most of the remainder of his life there. Practice and study gave him a certain skill; he visited Boston and hadthe advantage of some instruction from Gilbert Stuart, but his workremained to the end inferior to either Harding's or Alexander's. 

Henry Inman had a more varied talent than any of these men, for besidesportraits he painted genre scenes and landscapes, and excelled in all ofthem. At the age of fourteen, he had been apprenticed to a painter bythe name of John Wesley Jarvis, a picturesque character, betterremembered by his anecdotes than by his work; and when hisapprenticeship was over he began painting on his own account in NewYork and afterwards in Philadelphia. For a time his popularity was verygreat and his income large; but reverses came, ill health followed, andhe died in poverty at the age of forty-five. 

It is worth noting that, up to this time, practically no landscapes hadbeen produced by American artists. A few of them had tried their handsat landscape work, but soon abandoned it for the more profitable fieldof portraiture. The first of the American school of landscapists may befairly said to be Asher Brown Durand. Durand was the eighth of elevenchildren, and his father, who managed a small farm on the slope ofOrange Mountain, in New Jersey, was renowned throughout the neighborhoodfor his mechanical ingenuity. Much of this ingenuity his son inherited, and his first artistic effort was an attempt to reproduce the woodcutsin his school books by engraving them on little plates which he hadbeaten out of copper cents. This led to his being apprenticed to anengraver, and after his apprenticeship was over, he devoted three yearsto engraving the plate of Trumbull's "Signing of the Declaration ofIndependence. " The work was excellently done and established Durand'sreputation. 

But he was not satisfied with engraving, and soon abandoned it for themore creative work of painting. He tried his hand first at portraiture, in which he had considerable success; but he turned more and more tolandscape work as the years went on. He practiced it continuously untilhis eighty-third year. Then he laid down his brush forever, saying, "Myhand will no longer do my bidding, " and the remaining seven years of hislife were passed peacefully on the farm where he was born. 

Durand's work is marked throughout by sincerity and skill, if not bygenius. His portraits were in a style especially his own, thorough inworkmanship, delicately modelled and strongly painted. His landscapes, too, are his own, clearly and definitely finished, and with a bewitchingsilvery gray tone, which could have come only by painting direct fromhis subject in the open air, a practice exceptional at the time. Hispictures are not "compositions, " in the artistic sense of the term--thatis, he did not combine detail into a balanced whole; they are ratherstudies or sketches from nature, with a central point of interest. Butthe work is done so truly and with such patience and enthusiasm that itdeserves the sincerest admiration. 

Joined with Durand as the earliest of the landscapists is Thomas Cole. Cole was born in England and did not come to America until he hadreached his nineteenth year, but he afterwards became so good anAmerican that he declared he would give his left hand to have beenidentified with America by birth instead of adoption. He foundemployment in Philadelphia as an engraver. Then, after some practice, hegot together a kit of painting materials, and started to tramp about thecountry as a portraitist. He found the woods full of them, andcompetition so fierce that he was unable to make a living; but, determining to be an artist at any cost, he returned to Philadelphia andpassed a fearful winter there, living on bread and water, half frozen bythe cold, with only a cloth table-cover for overcoat and bed, andsuffering tortures from inflammatory rheumatism. A second trying winterfollowed, but in the spring of 1825 he removed to New York, and hisprivations were at an end. 

For in those years of suffering he had developed a delicate art as alandscapist, and he found a ready sale for his pictures, at first at lowprices, it is true; but his fame spread rapidly, and he was able, in1829, to go abroad and spend three years in Italy and England. He livedonly to the age of forty-seven, his last years being passed principallyin his studio in the Catskills, where some of his most famous pictureswere painted. 

Cole was widely known for many years for the various series of moral anddidactic pictures which he was fond of painting. Perhaps the most famousof these was his "Voyage of Life, " showing infancy, youth, manhood, andold age floating down the stream of time. The taste of the periodapproved them, and they were especially popular for schoolrooms, lecture-halls and other places where youth would have a chance to gazeupon and gather edification from them. It has since come to berecognized that the proper way to tell a story is by words and not bypictures, and "The Voyage of Life, " and "Course of Empire, " and "TheCross and the World" have, for the most part, been relegated to theattic. 

Durand and Cole were the founders of the famous Hudson River, or WhiteMountain school, which loomed so large in American art half a centuryago. Its members, now rather regarded in the light of primitives, gloried in the views of the Hudson, especially as seen from theCatskills, and journeyed into the wilds of the Rockies and theYellowstone in search of sublime subjects--too sublime to be transferredto canvas. They loved nature--loved to copy her minutely and literally, loved to live in her hills and woods. Some of them came afterwards tosee that, after all, this was not art, or only one of her lowerforms--that to achieve a great result, a picture must express an idea. 

Cole had a pupil and disciple, who did some admirable work, in FrederickEdwin Church. Church was born in 1826, and lived with Cole in his housein the Catskills until the latter's death. He then established himselfin New York, and proceeded to visit the four corners of the earth insearch for grandiose scenes. For he made the mistake of thinking thatthe greatness of a landscape lay in its subject rather than in itsexecution; so he painted views of the Andes, and Niagara, and Cotopaxi, and Chimborazo, and the Parthenon, throwing in rainbows and sunsets andmists for good measure. These pictures were welcomed with the wildestenthusiasm--just as Clarke Mills's statue of General Jackson had been, fifteen years before. Strange to say, they were not absurd, as thatamazing figure is, but were really fine examples of clever handling andof a true, if untrained, feeling. 

Two men attempted to duplicate Church's success, but with veryindifferent result. They were Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran. Theformer sought the Rocky Mountains for his subjects; the latter, theYosemite and the Yellowstone; but neither of them succeeded intransferring to canvas more than a pale and unconvincing presentment ofthe wonders of those regions. 

Durand also had a disciple, more famous than Cole's, in FrederickKensett, the best known of the so-called Hudson River school. He was aclose follower of Durand in believing that nature should be literallyrendered, but he missed the truth of the older man by working in hisstudio from drawings and sketches, instead of in the open air directfrom his subject. So he got into the habit of painting all shadows atransparent brown, and of making his rocks and trees brilliant bytouching in high-lights where he thought they ought to be instead ofwhere they actually should have been. He surpassed Durand, however, inhis range of subject, for all hours and seasons had their charm for him, while Durand was really at home only in the full light of a summer day. 

On this foundation a loftier structure was soon built and the builderswere George Inness, Alexander Wyant and Homer D. Martin. Inness was theoldest of the three, having been born in 1825, and was contemporarywith some of the most arbitrary and hide-bound of the nature copyists. But he felt the weakness of the method and himself attained a muchfuller and completer art. He seems to have dabbled with paint andbrushes from his youth, but had little regular instruction, studying, for the most part, from prints of old pictures, and finally, in 1847, getting a chance to see the original when a friend offered to send himto Europe. He passed fifteen months in Rome, and afterwards a year atParis. 

A long period of assimilation followed, in which he developed a theoryof art and struggled to transfer it to canvas. It was a sound and truetheory, and is worth setting down here for its own sake. "The purpose ofthe painter, " Inness held, "is to reproduce in other minds theimpression which a scene had made upon him. A work of art does notappeal to the intellect or to the moral sense. Its aim is not toinstruct, not to edify, but to awaken an emotion. It must be a singleemotion, if the work has unity, as every such work should have, and thetrue beauty of the work consists in the beauty of the sentiment oremotion which it inspires. Its real greatness consists in the qualityand force of this emotion. "

To the very last, Inness's work was changing and developing to fit thistheory. He steadily gained mastery of tone and breadth of handling, oftrue harmony, and it is his crowning merit that he does to some extentsucceed in "reproducing in other minds the impression which the scenemade upon him. "

Alexander H. Wyant was a pupil of Inness, journeying from the littleOhio town where he was born to see him and to ask for advice and aid, which Inness freely gave. Wyant's boyhood had been the American artist'susual one--an early fondness for drawing, a little practice, and thensetting up as a painter. In 1873 he joined an expedition to Arizona andNew Mexico. The hardships which he endured resulted in a stroke ofparalysis and he was never again able to use his right hand. With aninspiring patience, he set to work to learn to use his left hand, andgrew to be more skillful with it than he had been with his right. 

But even at his best, Wyant's appeal is more limited than Inness's. Helearned to paint a typical picture, a glimpse of rolling country seenbetween the trunks of tall and slender birches or maples, and wascontent to paint variations of it over and over. That he sometimes didit superbly cannot be denied, and he possessed a certain delicaterefinement, an ability to throw upon his pictures the silvery shimmer ofsummer sunshine, in which no other American artist has ever surpassedhim. 

The third, and in some respects the most interesting member of the groupis Homer D. Martin. Born in Albany in 1838, he turned naturally topainting and began to produce pictures after only two weeks'instruction. At first, he was a disciple of Kensett, with brown shadowsand artificial high-lights, but study of nature soon cured thesemannerisms, and he grew steadily in skill and power, until he succeededin imparting to his pictures the deep, grave and sobering sentiment, which is the keynote of his work. His coast views, with their swirl andalmost audible thunder of billow, are considered his crowningachievements. 

This culmination of the Hudson River school brings us fairly to our owntimes and to the work of men still living, for the period just precedingand following the Civil War was marked by no new impulse in American artand by no work which demands attention. But in the early seventies, there were a number of Americans studying at home or in Europe who havesince won a wide reputation for inspiring achievement. 

Foremost among these is Elihu Vedder, born in New York City in 1836, andfollowing, in his manhood, the manifest bent of his childish years. Hewent to Paris before he was of age, and from there to Rome, where hespent five years. The five succeeding years were spent in America, andfinally, in 1866, he settled in Rome and has since made it his home. Herepresents a revival of the classical quality of Raphæl or MichælAngelo, though he belongs to no school, and his work has from the veryfirst possessed a distinct originality. He has held to the oldsimplicity, which minimized detail and exalted the subject. Generalrecognition came to him in 1884, when he published his illustrations tothe Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam--the most sympathetic and beautifulpictorial comment which has ever been given any book of poetry. Sincethen he has executed much decorative work of a high order, though themastery in this branch of the art is held by another. 

That other is John LaFarge, admittedly the greatest mural painter theworld has seen in recent years. His life was a fortunate one. Hisfather, an officer of the French marine, came to this country in 1806, married, and purchased a great plantation in Louisiana, from which hederived a large revenue. His son, born in 1835, grew up in an artisticatmosphere of books and pictures, and was early taught to draw. When, after some study of law, he visited Paris, his father advised him totake up the study of art as an accomplishment, and he entered one of thestudios, merely as an amateur, at the same time gaining admittance, through his family connections, to the inner artistic circles of thecapital. For some years he studied art, not to become a painter, butbecause he wished to understand and appreciate great work, and at theend of that time, he returned to New York and entered a lawyer's office. 

But he was ill at ease there, and finally definitely decided upon anartistic career, went to Newport and worked under the guidance ofWilliam Morris Hunt, painting everything, but turning in the end todecorative work, and afterwards to stained glass. In these he has had noequal, and his high achievement, as well as the wide appreciation hiswork has won, is peculiarly grateful to Americans, since LaFarge'scareer has been characteristically American. He had little actual studyin Europe, and yet possesses certain great traditions of the masters toa degree unequalled by any compatriot. 

Of his work as a whole, it is difficult to speak adequately. Perhaps itsmost striking characteristic is the thought that is lavished upon it, sothat the artist gives us the very spirit of his subjects. Ininspiration, in handling, in drawing, and in color, LaFarge standsalone. No man of his generation has equalled him in the power to liftthe spectator out of himself and into an enchanted world by theconsummate harmony of strong, pure color. This feeling for colorculminated in his stained-glass work--probably the richest colorcreations that have ever been fashioned on this earth. In all his variedmass of production there is nothing that lacks interest and charm. 

We have referred to LaFarge's study under William Morris Hunt, and wemust pause for a moment to speak of the older artist. His artisticcareer was in some respects an accident, for, developing a tendency toconsumption in his late boyhood, his mother took him to Rome andremained there long enough to enable him to imbibe some of the artistictraditions of the Eternal City and to begin work with H. K. Brown, thesculptor. He found the work so congenial that he persuaded his mother toomit the course at Harvard which had been expected of him, and to permithim to devote his life to art. 

For five or six years thereafter, he studied at Rome and Paris, thenfor three years he was with Millet at Barbizon. Finally, in 1855, hereturned to America, settling first at Newport and afterwards at Boston. He painted many portraits and figure pieces, and was an active socialand artistic influence to the day of his death. As an artist, he lackedtraining, and remained to the end an amateur of great promise, which wasnever quite fulfilled. 

And this brings us to the most eccentric, the most striking, and in somerespects the greatest artist of his time--James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Whistler was born at Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1834. His grandfather, ofan English family long settled in Ireland, had been a member ofBurgoyne's invading army, but afterwards joined the American service, and, after the close of the Revolution, settled at Lowell. His fatherwas a distinguished engineer, and major in the army, and after his deathin 1849, it was natural that young Whistler should turn to the army as acareer. He entered West Point in 1851, remained there three years, andwas finally dropped for deficiency in chemistry. 

There was one study, however, in which he had distinguished himself, andthat was drawing; and after his dismissal he went to Paris, where hestudied for two or three years. Then he removed to London, where most ofthe remainder of his life was spent. His work, striking and original, was at first utterly misunderstood by the public. The most famous pieceof hostile criticism to which he was subjected was Ruskin's remark, after looking at "The Falling Rocket" in 1877, that here was a fellowwith the effrontery to charge a hundred guineas for flinging a pot ofpaint in the public's face. Some further years of abuse followed, andthen the pendulum swung the other way, and the eccentric artist became asort of cult. In the end, he won a wide reputation, and before his deathwas recognized as one of the leading painters of his time. 

And this reputation was deserved, for his work possesses a rare anddelicate beauty, individual to it. His portraits of his mother and ofThomas Carlyle are admirable in their simplicity and quiet dignity; andmany of his "harmonies, " as he liked to call them, are so complete andflawless that they are works of pure delight. Whistler always declaredthat he had no desire to reproduce external nature, but only beautifulcombinations of pattern, and tone; what he meant, probably, was that hesought, not external realities, but the spirit which underlies them. That, of course, has been the quest of every great painter. 

If Whistler was a law unto himself, so, in another sense, is WinslowHomer, who has worked out for himself an individual point of view andmethod of expression. Born in Boston in 1836, and early developing ataste for drawing, he entered a lithographer's shop at the age ofnineteen and two years later set up for himself. During the Civil War heacted as correspondent and artist for _Harper's Weekly_, and, when peacecame, began his paintings with a series of army scenes. After that hetried his hand at landscape, and finally found his real vocation as apainter of the sea. From the first, his pictures possessed obvioussincerity. More than that, they convince by their absolute veracity, asa reproduction of the thing seen--seen, be it understood, by the eyes ofthe artist--and so they have lived and been remembered where moreambitious work would have been forgotten. Again, he chooses his subjectswith a fine disregard of what other men have done or decided that it wasimpossible to do, and painted them in a manner wholly independent andoriginal. No other artist has so conveyed on canvas the weight andbuoyancy and enormous force of water; no one else approaches his as aninterpreter of the power of the sea. 

Lineal successor of Inness is Dwight William Tryon, not that his workresembles the older man's, but because both paint the American landscapewith a deep personal feeling and with a superb technique. Tryon has notyet developed into so commanding a figure as Inness, but there is notelling what the future holds for him, for his work seems as full ofpoetry and emotion as the older man's, with a spirit more delicate and afoundation more firm. 

The work of Francis D. Millet has attracted wide attention and is alsofull of promise and inspiration. Millet has the American versatility--hehas been a war-correspondent, an illustrator, has written travels, criticism, and even fiction, has acted as an expert on old pictures, raised carnations, and even, in time of need, performed surgicaloperations on wounded soldiers--all of it, not as an amateur, but as aprofessional asking no odds of anyone. In addition to which, he hasbeen a painter, and a painter whose work has shown no sign of haste ordistraction. The quiet, human side of English life in the seventeenthand eighteenth centuries is what has most appealed to him, the countryparlors and white-washed kitchens, peopled with travellers and buxomserving-maids, and these groups are unusually attractive and wellexecuted. 

Allied with Millet in taste and viewpoint, and with a much widerpopularity, is Edwin A. Abbey. Beginning his career as an illustrator, he soon reached the front rank in that profession, especially with hisillustrations of classic English poems, into whose spirit he has enteredso completely that he might better be called their interpreter thantheir illustrator. From pen-and-ink work, he progressed naturally tooil, and here, too, he has achieved some notable triumphs--so notable, indeed, that, though American, he was chosen by the English governmentto paint the official picture of the coronation of King Edward VII. Itis a curious coincidence that the official picture of the coronation ofQueen Victoria was also painted by an American, C. R. Leslie. 

More important than Abbey, and perhaps the greatest American artistalive to-day is John Singer Sargent, whose nationality has occasioned nolittle controversy. Born in Florence of American parents, receiving hisartistic training in Paris, residing since in England, though with muchtravelling through Europe and only two or three trips to the land ofhis allegiance, he may still be held an American, if descent counts foranything. His paintings have been shown wherever pictures are to be seenand he has received for them all honors that a painter can receive. 

Before the freedom and certainty of Sargent's art criticism standsabashed. His portraits have a wonderful effect of vitality, and a purityand brilliancy of color which have never been surpassed; but mostnoteworthy of all, he achieves the supreme triumph of the portraitpainter by comprehending and displaying character. He shows the verysoul of his sitter, without malice but also without mercy. Only towardschildren does he show tenderness, and then he paints with a wonderfuland varied charm. Not only of people but of places does he give thecharacter--a room takes on personality; silks, velvets, furniture, bric-à-brac are all eloquent. On the whole, his qualities are such thathe may rightly be considered the greatest portrait painter sinceReynolds and Gainsborough. The portrait of Edwin Booth, at the beginningof the chapter dealing with the stage, is an excellent specimen of hiswork. 

Sargent's portraits have placed him among the masters of all time, butperhaps he is most widely known by his remarkable decorations in theBoston Public Library, which in the original and in photographicreproductions, have given the keenest delight to thousands and thousandsof persons. It is impossible to give any detailed description here ofthese masterpieces of decorative art, so perfect technically that theymight almost serve as a canon to decorative painters. 

American painting may be said to have reached its culmination inSargent, yet there are two other painters, who, if they fall below himin sheer genius, possess a charm and originality all their own. One ofthese is George de Forest Brush, who, somewhat after the fashion ofHolbein, looks for a beauty of spirit independent of form or feature. Hepaints mothers and children not as young goddesses rollicking withcherubs, but as grave and tender women, who have sacrificed withoutregret something of their health and youthful freshness to the childrenthey hold in their arms. In such groups there is a note of penetratingpeace, a delicate distinction, which give Brush a position by himself. 

The other is John W. Alexander, whose work is interesting as introducinga certain new element into art--a concentration of energy on theoriginality of the first general effect, including nothing that does notinterest, and yet giving the effect of completeness. In Alexander'sportraits there is nothing to distract the interest from the personalityof the sitter, and he usually achieves a delineation of character directand truthful. 

Here this short review of the great personalities of American art mustend. There are many other painters alive to-day whose work is full ofpromise, and who may yet achieve great places in the world's Pantheon. Indeed, it would almost seem that a renascence of American art is athand. The country has emerged from the crudities of its first years, and from the mediocre conventionality of its middle period, withouthaving lost the freshness and enthusiasm conducive to high achievement. Its face is toward the sunrise. 

SUMMARY

COPLEY, JOHN SINGLETON. Born at Boston, July 3, 1737; went to Europe, 1771, and spent the remainder of his life there, principally in London;associate of Royal Academy, 1771; full member, 1773; died at London, September 9, 1815. 

WEST, BENJAMIN. Born at Springfield, Chester County, Pennsylvania, October 10, 1738; studied in Italy, 1760-63; settled in London, 1763;became court historical painter, 1772; president of the Royal Academyfor many years; died at London, March 11, 1820. 

PEALE, CHARLES WILLSON. Born at Chestertown, Maryland, April 16, 1741;with Copley at Boston, 1768-69; went to London, 1770; and studied underBenjamin West; returned to America, 1774; served in Revolution, 1776-77;opened "Peale's Museum, " 1802; died at Philadelphia, February 22, 1827. 

STUART, GILBERT. Born at Narragansett, Rhode Island, December 3, 1755;went to London and became pupil of West, 1775; returned to UnitedStates, 1792; died at Boston, July 27, 1828. 

TRUMBULL, JOHN. Born at Lebanon, Connecticut, June 6, 1756; served inRevolution, attaining rank of colonel; studied under West in London, andreturned to America, 1804; died at New York City, November 10, 1843. 

SULLY, THOMAS. Born at Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England, June 8, 1783;brought to America at the age of nine; went to London, 1809, and studiedunder West; settled in Philadelphia in 1810, and spent the remainder ofhis life there, dying November 5, 1872. 

ALLSTON, WASHINGTON. Born at Naccamaw, South Carolina, November 5, 1779;graduated at Harvard, 1800; studied at Royal Academy and at Rome, returning to America, 1809; died at Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 9, 1843. 

VANDERLYN, JOHN. Born at Kingston, New York, October 15, 1775; studiedart abroad, 1796-1801; and spent subsequent years in Europe, returningto America in 1815; died at Kingston, September 24, 1852. 

PEALE, REMBRANDT. Born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1778;went to London and studied under West, 1801-03; died at Philadelphia, October 3, 1860. 

HARDING, CHESTER. Born at Conway, Massachusetts, September 1, 1792;studied in London, 1823-26; died at Boston, April 1, 1866. 

ALEXANDER, FRANCIS. Born in Connecticut, 1800; went to Europe in 1831, finally taking up his residence in Florence, where he died. 

NEAGLE, JOHN. Born at Boston, November 4, 1796; died at Philadelphia, September 17, 1865. 

INMAN, HENRY. Born at Utica, New York, October 20, 1801; served sevenyears' apprenticeship with John Wesley Jarvis; died at New York City, January 17, 1846. 

DURAND, ASHER BROWN. Born at Jefferson, New Jersey, August 21, 1796;apprenticed to Peter Maverick, an engraver, 1812; president of NationalAcademy of Design, 1845-61; died at South Orange, New Jersey, September17, 1886. 

COLE, THOMAS. Born at Bolton-le-Moors, Lancashire, England, February 1, 1801; came to America, 1819; settled in New York, 1825; died atCatskill, New York, February 11, 1848. 

CHURCH, FREDERIC EDWIN. Born at Hartford, Connecticut, May 4, 1826;pupil of Thomas Cole; National Academician, 1849; died at New York City, April 7, 1900. 

BIERSTADT, ALBERT. Born at Düsseldorf, Germany, January 7, 1830; broughtto America, 1831; early developed a taste for art, and studied atDüsseldorf, 1853-57; returned to America and remained here, except forbrief visits to Europe; died at New York City, February 18, 1902. 

MORAN, THOMAS. Born at Bolton, England, January 12, 1837; came toAmerica, 1844; National Academician, 1884; still living in New YorkCity. 

KENSETT, JOHN FREDERICK. Born at Chester, Connecticut, March 22, 1818;in Europe, 1840-44; National Academician, 1849; died at New York City, December 16, 1872. 

INNESS, GEORGE. Born at Newburgh, New York, May 1, 1825; NationalAcademician, 1868; died at Bridge of Allan, Scotland, August 3, 1894. 

WYANT, ALEXANDER H. Born at Port Washington, Ohio, January 11, 1836;studied in Germany and settled in New York, 1864; suffered paralyticstroke, 1877, and afterwards painted with left hand; died at New YorkCity, November 29, 1892. 

MARTIN, HOMER DODGE. Born at Albany, New York, October 28, 1836; openedNew York studio, 1862; National Academician, 1875; died at St. Paul, Minnesota, February 12, 1897. 

VEDDER, ELIHU. Born at New York City, February 26, 1836; in Paris andItaly, 1856-61; and, after a year or two in America, returned to Italy, where he has since resided; National Academician, 1865. 

LA FARGE, JOHN. Born at New York City, March 31, 1835; studied underCouture and Hunt; National Academician, 1869; president Society ofAmerican Artists and Society of Mural Painters. 

HUNT, WILLIAM MORRIS. Born at Brattleboro, Vermont, March 31, 1824;studied under Couture and Millet, 1846-55; opened Boston studio, 1856;died at Appledore, Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire, September 8, 1879. 

WHISTLER, JAMES ABBOTT MCNEILL. Born at Lowell, Massachusetts, 1834;entered West Point Academy, 1851, but soon left; settled in Paris, 1856, and studied art two years, and then settled in London, where theremainder of his life was passed; died there, July 17, 1903. 

HOMER, WINSLOW. Born at Boston, February 24, 1836; accompanied Army ofPotomac in its campaigns, 1861-62; National Academician, 1865. 

TRYON, DWIGHT WILLIAM. Born at Hartford, Connecticut, August 13, 1849;National Academician, 1891. 

MILLET, FRANCIS DAVIS. Born at Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, November 3, 1846; drummer 60th Massachusetts Volunteers, 1864; graduated at Harvard, 1869; studied at Antwerp, 1871-72; correspondent Russo-Turkish war, 1877-78; director of decorations World's Columbian Exposition, 1892-93. 

ABBEY, EDWIN AUSTIN. Born at Philadelphia, April 1, 1852; educated atPhiladelphia Academy of Fine Arts; went to England, 1878, and has sincemade that his home. 

SARGENT, JOHN SINGER. Born at Florence, Italy, 1856; studied underCarolus Duran; has made England his home; Royal Academician, 1891;National Academician, 1897. 

CHAPTER V

SCULPTORS

If background and tradition are needed for painting, how much more arethey needed for sculpture! America was settled by a people entirelywithout sculptural tradition, for, in the early seventeenth century, British sculpture did not exist. More than that, to most of thesettlers, art, in whatever form, was an invention of the devil, to beavoided and discouraged. So it is not surprising that two centurieselapsed before the first American statue made its shy and awkwardappearance. 

In considering the achievements of American sculpture, we must rememberthat it is still an infant. That it is a lusty infant none will deny, though some may find it lacking in that grace and charm which come onlywith maturity. 

The first man born in America who was foolhardy enough deliberately tochoose sculpture as a profession was Horatio Greenough, born in 1805, ofwell-to-do parents, and carefully educated. It is difficult to say justwhat it was that turned the boy to this difficult and exacting art--anunknown art, too, so far as America was concerned. But he seems to havebegun woodcarving at an early age, and to have progressed from that tochalk and on to plaster of Paris. The American national habit ofwhittling was perhaps responsible for the development of more than onesculptor. 

At any rate, by the time he was twelve years old, Horatio Greenough hadproduced some portrait busts in chalk, and, after having triedunsuccessfully to learn clay-modelling from directions in an oldencyclopedia, took some lessons from an artist who chanced to be inBoston, and from a maker of tombstones, got a little insight into themethod of carving marble. 

These lessons, elementary as they must have been, were very valuable tothe boy, and his work showed such promise that his father finallyconsented to his adopting this strange profession, insisting only thathe first graduate from Harvard, on the ground that a college educationwould be of value, whatever his vocation. So he entered college at theage of sixteen, devoting all his spare time to reading works of art, todrawing and modelling, and the study of anatomy. He had also the goodfortune to meet and win the friendship of Washington Allston, whoadvised him as to plans of study. 

Immediately upon graduation, he sailed for Italy, which was, sadlyenough, to be the Mecca of American sculptors for many years to come. For Italian sculpture was bound hand and foot by the traditions ofclassicism, to which our early sculptors soon fell captive. Greenoughwas no exception, and some years of study in the Italian studiosrivetted the chains. 

His first commission was given him by J. Fenimore Cooper. It was a groupcalled the "Chanting Cherubs, " and when it was sent home for exhibition, it awakened a tempest of the first magnitude. Puritan ideas wereoutraged at sight of the little naked bodies, the group was declaredindecent, and the bitter controversy was not stilled until it waswithdrawn from view. Greenough wrote of Cooper, "he saved me fromdespair; he employed me as I wished to be employed; and has, up to thismoment, been a father to me in kindness"--a singularly interestingaddition to the portrait of the great novelist, famous for his enmitiesrather than for his friendships. 

The tragedy of Greenough's life was the fate of his great statue ofWashington, of which we have already spoken. He conceived the work on ahigh plane, "as a majestic, god-like figure, enthroned beneath the domeof the Capitol at Washington, gilded by the filtered rays of thefar-falling sunlight. " Perhaps it was too high, but on its executionGreenough labored faithfully for eight years. "It is the birth of mythought, " he wrote. "I have sacrificed to it the flower of my days, andthe freshness of my strength; its every lineament has been moistened bythe sweat of my toil and the tears of my exile. I would not barter awayits association with my name for the proudest fortune that avarice everdreamed. "

It will be seen from the above that Greenough's epistolary style wasflorid and grandiose in the extreme, but no doubt there was a foundationof sincerity beneath it. A bitter disappointment awaited him. Theponderous figure reached Washington safely in 1843, and was conveyed tothe Capitol, where, beneath the rotunda, its predestined pedestalawaited it. But the statue was found too large to pass the door, andwhen the door was widened and the great stone rolled inside, the floorsettled so ominously that it was hastily withdrawn. 

It does not seem to have occurred to anyone that the floor might bebraced; instead, the pedestal was set up outside, facing the building, and the statue hoisted into place. It speedily became the butt of publicridicule. Once the fashion started, no one looked at it without a smile. 

Greenough was in despair. "Had I been ordered to make a statue for anysquare or similar situation at the metropolis, " he wrote, still in hisinflated style, "I should have represented Washington on horseback andin his actual dress. I would have made my subject purely a historicalone. I have treated my subject poetically, and confess I would feel painin seeing it placed in direct flagrant contrast with every-day life. "

But that is exactly how it was placed, and it is the incongruity of thiscontrast which strikes the beholder and blinds him to the merits of thework. For Greenough has represented Washington seated in a massivearmchair, naked except for a drapery over the legs and right shoulder, one hand pointing dramatically at the heavens, the other extendedholding a reversed sword. It shows sincerity and faithful work, and hadit been placed within the rotunda, would no doubt have been impressiveand majestic. Where it stands, it is a hopeless anachronism. 

This was the first colossal marble carved by an American. Fronting it onone of the buttresses of the main entrance of the Capitol, is thesecond, also by Greenough. It is a group called "The Rescue, " and showsa pioneer saving his wife and child from being tomahawked by an Indian, while his dog watches the struggle with a strange apathy--almost with asmile. Like most of his other work, it is stilted and unconvincing; butlet us remember that Greenough was the pathfinder, the trail-blazer, andas such to be honored and admired. 

Greenough's fame, such as it was, was soon to be eclipsed by that of aman born in the same year, but later in development because he had aharder road to travel. Hiram Powers was born into a large andpoverty-stricken family. While he was still a boy, his father removedfrom the sterile hills of Vermont to the almost frontier town ofCincinnati, Ohio. He seems to have had little schooling, but was put towork as soon as he was old enough to contribute something toward thefamily exchequer. He did all sorts of odd jobs, and soon developed anunusual talent, that of modelling faces. 

Those were the halcyon days of the dime museum, and there was one atCincinnati. Its proprietor chanced to hear of the boy's gift formodelling, and offered him employment as a modeller of wax figures. Ofcourse Powers accepted, for this was work after his own heart, and hesucceeded not only in producing some figures which resembled definitehuman beings, but "breathed the breath of life into them" by means ofclock-work devices, which enabled them to move their heads and arms in amanner sufficiently jerky, but at the same time astonishing to thesimple people who visited the museum to behold its wonders. 

Emboldened by this success, the young genius produced an "Inferno, " or"Chamber of Horrors, " which, when completed, was an immense success--tooimmense, indeed, for it had to be closed because of the fearfulimpression it made upon the ladies, who fainted in their escorts' armswhenever they gazed upon its terrors. One is inclined to suspect thatthe ladies might have withstood the horrors of the sight, but for adesire to prove their extreme sensibility. Fainting was more fashionableeighty years ago than it is to-day. 

Powers soon developed from this work a talent for catching likenesses, and, searching for a wider field, proceeded finally to Washington, wherehe modelled busts in wax of Andrew Jackson, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, John Marshall, and other celebrities of the period. From wax, he naturally wished to graduate into marble, and in 1837, left Americafor Italy, never to return. Greenough, then laboring away at hisWashington, assisted him in various ways; and Hawthorne met him in Italyand was much impressed by him, as his "Italian Note-Book" shows. 

In 1843, he completed the figure which was destined to make him famous, the "Greek Slave. " The statue was supposed to represent a maidencaptured by the Turks, "stripped and manacled and offered for sale inthe market place, " and so had a sentimental appeal which went straightto the heart of a sentimental people, and overcame any antagonism whichher nudity might have produced. It inspired Elizabeth Barrett Browningto a not very noteworthy sonnet, clergymen gave it certificates ofcharacter, so to speak, and "it made a sensation wherever shown, and wasfondly believed to be the greatest work of sculpture known to history. "Let us say at once that it is an engaging and creditable piece of work, and worthy, in the main, of the enthusiasm which it excited. 

The "Greek Slave" was only the beginning. Powers turned out one statueafter another with considerable rapidity, but his reputation restsmainly to-day on his portrait busts of men. It is characteristic ofartists that the things they do best and easiest they value least, andthis was so with Powers. His portrait busts were, in a sense, merepot-boilers; he lavished himself upon his ideal figures. But these arenow ranked as unimaginative and commonplace. 

Third among our early sculptors of importance was Thomas Crawford, borneight years later than Greenough and Powers, and preceding the latter tothe grave by many years, yet leaving behind him a mass of work which, ifit shows no great imagination, displays considerable poetic refinement. Driven to Italy because it was only there that marble work could bewell and economically done, he lived there for some years, earning abare subsistence by the production of second-rate portrait busts andcopies of antique statuary. Then he attracted the attention of CharlesSumner, and with his help, was enabled, in 1839, to produce his firstimportant work, the "Orpheus, " now in the Boston Museum. Many othersfollowed, but they were of that ideal and sentimental type, very foreignto modern taste. 

Crawford was an indefatigable workman, and few American museums arewithout one or more examples of his product. In the public square atRichmond, Virginia, stands one of his most important monuments, crownedby an astonishing equestrian figure of Washington, which he himselfexecuted. Two of the subordinate statues are also his--those of PatrickHenry and Thomas Jefferson--and represent the best work he ever did. 

Another of his productions is the great figure of Freedom which crownsthe dome of the Capitol at Washington, not unworthily. By a fortunatechance, which the sculptor could hardly have foreseen, the bulky androughly modelled figure gains airiness and majesty from its loftyposition, where its sickly-sweet countenance and clumsy adornment arerefined by distance. It has become, in a way, a national ideal, a partof the Republic. 

The success of these three men and the immense reputation which theyattained naturally attracted others to a profession whose rewards wereso exalted. The first to achieve anything like an enduring reputationwas Henry Kirke Brown, born in Massachusetts in 1814. He early displayedsome talent for portrait painting, and went to Boston to study underChester Harding. Chance led him to model the head of a friend, and theresult was so interesting that he then and there renounced painting forsculpture. 

Naturally, his eyes turned to Italy, but he had no money to take himthere, so perforce remained at home, getting such instruction as hecould. In 1837, at the age of twenty-three, he produced his first marblebust, and within the next four years, had carved at least forty more, besides four or five figures. From all this work, he managed to save themoney needed for the trip to Italy, but after four years in the Italianstudios, he sailed for home again. On July 4, 1856, the secondequestrian statue to be set up in the United States was unveiled inUnion Square, New York City, and gave Brown a reputation which stillendures. 

It is a statue of Washington, and, in some amazing fashion, Brownsucceeded in producing a work of art, which, in some respects, has neverbeen surpassed in America, and which has served as a pattern and guideto other sculptors from that day to this. It is a sincere, honest anddignified embodiment of the First American. Brown did some notable workafter that, but none of it possesses the high inspiration which producedthe noble and commanding figure which dominates Union Square. 

We have said that it was the second equestrian statue produced inAmerica. The first may still be seen by all who, on entering or leavingthe White House, glance across the street at the public square beyond. One glance is certain to be followed by others, for that statue is notonly the first, it is the most amazing ever set up in a public place inthis country. It has divided with Greenough's "Washington, " at the otherend of Pennsylvania Avenue, the horrors of being a national joke. Itsauthor was Clarke Mills, and its inception is probably unparalleled inthe history of sculpture. 

Mills was born in New York State in 1815, lost his father while still achild, and at the age of thirteen was driven by harsh treatment to runaway from the uncle with whom he had made his home. Thenceforward hesupported himself in any way he could--as farm-hand, teamster, canal-hand, post-cutter, and finally as cabinet maker. He drifted aboutthe country; to New Orleans, and finally to Charleston, South Carolina, where he learned to do stucco work, and whiled away his leisure hours bymodelling busts in clay. 

With Yankee ingenuity, he invented a process of taking a cast from theliving face, and this simple method of getting a likeness enabled him toturn out busts so rapidly and cheaply that he had all the work he coulddo. He was, of course, anxious to try his hand at marble, and procuringa block of native Carolina stone, hewed out, with infinite labor, a bustof that South Carolina idol, John C. Calhoun. It was the best bust evermade of that celebrated statesman, and was the beginning of Mills's goodfortune, and of the sequence of events which resulted in his statue ofthe hero of New Orleans. 

For his Calhoun attracted much attention and secured him othercommissions--among them, one for the busts of Webster and Crittenden. Toget these, he was forced to go to Washington, and there he met the Hon. Cave Johnson, President of the Jackson Monument Commission, which hadgot together the funds for an equestrian statue of that old hero. Johnson suggested to Mills that he submit a design for this statue. AsMills had never seen either General Jackson or an equestrian statue, andhad only the vaguest idea of what either was like, he naturally feltsome doubt of his ability to execute such a work; but Johnson pointedout that this was only modesty, and so Mills finally evolved a design, which the commission accepted. 

Then he went to work on his model, and executed it on an entirely newprinciple, which was to secure a balanced figure by bringing the hindlegs of the horse under the centre of its body. Congress donated for thebronze of the statue the British cannon which Jackson had captured atNew Orleans, and after many trials and disheartening failures, it wasfinally cast, hoisted into place, and dedicated on the eighth ofJanuary, 1853. 

The whole country gazed at it in wonder and admiration, for surely neverhad another work of art so unique and original been unveiled in anyland. Mills had balanced his horse adroitly on his hind legs, andrepresented the rider as clinging calmly to this perilous perch anddoffing his chapeau to the admiring multitude. A delighted Congressadded $20, 000 to the price already paid, while New Orleans ordered areplica at an even higher figure. Absurd as the statue is, it yet mustcommand from us a certain respect for the enthusiast who designed it. Remember, he had never seen an equestrian statue, because there was nonein the country for him to see; he had no notion of dignified sculpturaltreatment; but he did what he could, as well as he was able. 

Mills was the last of the primitives, for following him came Erasmus D. Palmer and Thomas Ball, the two men who, more than any others, shapedthe course and guided the development of American sculpture. 

Erasmus Palmer was born in 1817, and followed the trade of a carpenter. But in the odd moments of 1845, he made a cameo portrait of his wife, which was a rather unusual likeness. Encouraged by this success, hepractised further, and ended by abandoning his saws and planes to devotehis whole time to carving portraits. But the constant strain so weakenedhis eyes, that he was about to return to carpentering, when a friendsuggested that he try his hand at modelling in clay. The result was the"Infant Ceres, " modelled from one of his own children, which, reproducedin marble, created a sensation at the exhibitions in 1850. 

From that moment, Palmer's career was steadily upwards. It culminatedeight years later in his delightful figure, the "White Captive, "reminiscent in a way of the "Greek Slave, " but a better work of art, and one which stands among the most charming achievements of Americansculpture. One of its wonders, too--wonder that an untrained hand and anunschooled brain should have been able to create a work of art at onceso tender and so firm. Following it came some admirable portrait busts;and finally, in 1862, his "Peace in Bondage. " No doubt the sculptor'sbeautiful and adequate conception sprang from the tragic period whichgave it birth; for "Peace in Bondage" shows a winged female figureleaning wearily against a tree-trunk, and gazing hopelessly into space. It is carved in high relief, with great skill and insight. In fact, nothing finer had been produced in America. 

With this work, American art may be said to have found itself. It notonly raised the standard of achievement, but it put an end at once andforever to the idea that study in Italy was necessary to artisticsuccess. For only once did Palmer visit Europe, and then it was to staybut a short time. In fact, Italy was artistic poison for many men; itsart lacked originality and vigor, and it sapped the native strength ofmany of the Americans who worked in its studios. 

Thomas Ball was an exception to this; for, in spite of many yearsabroad, he remained always characteristically American. He comes next toPalmer in strength and rightness of achievement; his work, like hislife, was earnest and noble. 

Thomas Ball's father was a house and sign painter of Boston, with someartistic skill, which he passed on to his son. That was the boy's onlyinheritance, and when his father died, he undertook the support of thefamily, first as a boy-of-all-work in the New England Museum, and thenas a cameo-cutter. From that he graduated naturally to engraving, miniature painting, and finally to portraiture. 

His first attempt at modelling resulted in a bust of Jenny Lind, doneentirely from photographs, which had a wide vogue, for the SwedishNightingale was then at the height of her popularity. Other moreambitious work followed, and finally, at the age of thirty-five, he wasable to realize his ambition to study in the studios of Florence. But hefound the Italian environment less inspiring than he had hoped, and twoyears later he was back in Boston, working on an equestrian statue ofWashington--the first equestrian group in New England and the fourth inthe United States. He built his plaster model with his own hands, andwas three years getting it ready. The result was a work which ranksamong the first equestrian statues of the country. Other works ofimportance followed, among them the well-known emancipation groupshowing Lincoln blessing a kneeling slave, which was unveiled atWashington in 1875. 

The years touched Ball lightly, and at seventy years of age, heundertook his greatest work, an elaborate Washington monument for thetown of Methuan, Massachusetts. The principal figure, a giganticWashington in bronze, was exhibited at the Columbian Exposition of1893, and received the highest honors of the exposition--a distinctionit richly merited by its nobility of a conception and execution. ThomasBall, indeed, set a new standard in public statuary, and one which nosuccessor has dared to disregard. The far-reaching effects of hisinfluence and that of Erasmus Palmer can hardly be over-estimated. 

One of the most engaging and versatile personalities in the whole rangeof American art was that of William Wetmore Story. Born at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1819, graduated at Harvard, admitted to the bar, theauthor of a volume of graceful verse and of a valuable life of hisfather, Chief Justice Story, he yet, in 1851, put all this work aside, adopted sculpture as a profession, and, proceeding to Rome, opened astudio there. 

It was from the first an extraordinary studio, attracting the mostbrilliant people of Rome in literature as well as art; and if Story didnot quite practise the perfection he was somewhat fond of preaching, itwas because of his very versatility, which absorbed his talent in somany directions that it could not be concentrated in any. Hisimagination outran his achievement, and the most famous of his works, his statue of Cleopatra, owes its reputation not so much to its ownmerit, which is far from overwhelming, as to the ecstatic description ofit which Nathaniel Hawthorne included in "The Marble Faun. " A master ofliterature is not necessarily an inspired critic of art, and it is to besuspected that Hawthorne permitted some of the fire of his imaginationto play about the cold and uninspired marble. 

"Cleopatra" marked Story's culmination. He fell away from it year byyear, producing a long line of figures whose only impressive featureswere the names he gave them--"The Libyan Sibyl, " "Semiramis, " "Salome, ""Medea, " and so on. However, he did much to increase the popularity ofsculpture, for the stories he attempted to tell in stone by means ofheavy-browed, frowning women in classic costume and with classic names, were exactly suited to the child-like intelligence of his public. Hegave art, too--as William Penn gave the Quakers--a sort of socialsanction because of his own social position. If the son of Chief JusticeStory could turn sculptor, surely that profession was not so irregular, after all!

Another sculptor who shared with Story the admiration of the public wasRandolph Rogers, born at Waterloo, New York, in 1825. Until the age oftwenty-three such modelling as he did was done in the spare moments of abusiness life; but when he gave an exhibition of the results of thislabor, his employers were so impressed that they provided the moneyneeded to send him to Italy, where he was to spend the remainder of hislife, with the exception of five years' residence in New York. Two ofhis earlier figures are his most famous, his "Nydia" and his "LostPleiad. " Scores of replicas in marble of these two figures were madeduring their author's life time, and they still retain for many people asimple and pathetic charm. Nearly every one, of course, has made theacquaintance of Nydia, the blind girl, in Bulwer-Lytton's "The Last Daysof Pompeii, " and so gaze at Rogers's fleeing figure with eyes toosympathetic to see its faults. 

Far more important is the work of William H. Rinehart, of the same ageas Rogers, and resembling him somewhat in development. Born on aMaryland farm, his early years were those of the average farmer's boy, but at last some blind instinct led him to abandon farming forstonecutting, and he became assistant to a mason and stonecutter of theneighborhood. As soon as he had learned his trade, at the age oftwenty-one, he went to Baltimore, where there was work in plenty, andwhere he could, at the same time, attend the night schools of theMaryland Institute. This sounds much easier than it really was. Todevote the evenings to study, after ten and often twelve hours of thehardest of all manual labor, required grit and moral courage such as fewpossess. 

He was soon trying his hand at modelling, and convinced, at last, thatsculpture was his vocation, he managed, by the time he was thirty, tosave enough money for a short period of study at Rome. Three years ofwork at Baltimore, after that, gave him some reputation, and he thenreturned to Rome, to spend the remainder of his life there. 

If you have ever visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New YorkCity, you have seen, in the hall of statuary, one of Rinehart's mostcharacteristic groups, "Latona and Her Children. " The mother halfseated, half lying upon the ground, gazes tenderly down at the twosleeping children, sheltered in the folds of her mantle. The whole workpossesses a serene poetic charm and dignity very noteworthy; and thisand other groups are among the most beautiful that any American everturned out of an Italian studio. 

Rinehart was one of the last American disciples of the classic school. Certainly no art could have been more opposed to his than the frank andvivid realism of his immediate successor, John Rogers. Born in Salem, Massachusetts, the son of a family of merchants, he was educated in thecommon schools, worked for a time in a store, and then entered a machineshop as an apprentice, working up through all the grades, until finallyhe was in charge of a railroad repair shop. 

During all these years he had no suspicion of artistic talent withinhimself, but one day in Boston he happened to see a man modelling someimages in clay. In that instant, the artist instinct clutched him, andprocuring some clay and modelling tools, he spent all his leisure inpractice. This leisure was scant enough, for his trade kept him employedfourteen hours of every day; but at the age of twenty-nine he was ableto secure an eight months' vacation, which he spent in Europe, principally at Paris and Rome. He returned to America greatlydiscouraged, for the only thing he saw in Europe was classic sculpture, with which he had no sympathy and which, indeed, he could notunderstand. 

So, abandoning all thought of making sculpture a profession, he went towork as a draughtsman in Chicago, amusing himself, at odd hours, by theconstruction of a group of small figures, which he called "The CheckerPlayers. " It was exhibited at a charity fair, and awakened so muchinterest and delight that Rogers burned his bridges behind him byresigning his position, and proceeded to New York, and rented a studio, determined to be a sculptor in spite of classicism. 

The outbreak of the Civil War furnished him a host of subjects which hetreated with a patriotic fervor that went straight to the heart of anoverwrought people. "The Returned Volunteer, " "The Picket-Guard, " "TheSharp-shooters, " "The Camp-fire, " "One More Shot, " and many others, camefrom his studio in rapid succession. They were all thoroughly American, and some were even admirably sculptural. They, at least, stood for anoriginal idea, and deserve better treatment than the silent contemptwhich, in these days, is about all that has been accorded them. 

At about this time, there came upon the scene the first and only reallyfamous woman sculptor in the history of American art, Harriet Hosmer. She had had an unusual childhood, and had grown into an original andengaging woman. Born in 1830, at Watertown, Massachusetts, the daughterof a physician, she inherited her mother's delicate constitution, andher father encouraged her in an outdoor life of physical exercise suchas only boys, at that time, were accustomed to. She became expert inrowing, riding, skating and shooting, developed great endurance, filledher room with snakes and insects and birds' nests, and in a clay pit atthe end of her father's garden modelled rude figures of animals. 

A few years of schooling followed this wild girlhood; then she was sentto Boston to study drawing and modelling; but finding that no womanwould be admitted to the Boston Medical School, whose course in anatomyshe was anxious to take, she went to St. Louis and entered the medicalcollege there. Finally, in 1852, accompanied by her father and CharlotteCushman, she set sail for Italy. 

She remained there for eight years, turning out a number of verycreditable figures, which, if not great, at least possess some measureof grace and charm. Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his "Italian Note-Book, " hasleft a vivid impression of Miss Hosmer, whose eccentricity of dress andmanner impressed him deeply, as did also the work which she showed him. But she never reached any high development. 

Which brings us to the present of American art, for the sculptors wehave yet to consider are either yet alive or have died so recently thatthey belong to the present rather than the past. 

The first and one of the most important of these is John Quincy AdamsWard, born in 1830 on an Ohio farm. An accident showed the possession oflatent talent, for some good pottery clay happened to be discovered onhis father's farm, and his guardian angel inspired the boy to take ahandful of it and model the grotesque countenance of a negro servant. The result was striking, and no doubt he felt within himself some of thestirrings of genius, but not until 1849 did he realize his vocation. Then, while on a visit to a sister in Brooklyn, he happened to pass theopen door of H. K. Brown's studio. The glimpse he caught of the scenewithin fascinated him; he returned again and again, and ended byentering the studio as a pupil. 

He could have found no better master, and for seven years he remainedthere, assisting Brown in every detail of his work. His first group, modelled after long study, was his "Indian Hunter, " now placed inCentral Park, New York--a group instinct with vitality--a glimpse of aforgotten past, evoked with the skill of a master. It was the first of along line of statues, many of them portraits of contemporaries, a fieldin which Ward has no superior. It is perhaps the highest tribute whichcould be paid the man to say that, with all his great production, he hasnever done bad work, never produced anything trifling or unworthy. 

A fellow student with Ward in Henry Kirke Brown's studio was Larkin G. Meade, the first indication of whose talent was a unique one. One wintermorning, about the middle of the century, the good people ofBrattleboro, Vermont, were astonished to find set up in one of thepublic squares of the town a colossal snow image, in the form of amajestic angel--crude, no doubt, in execution, but singularly effective. Inquiry developed that it was the work of young Meade, then only fifteenyears of age. The incident got into the newspapers, magnifiedconsiderably, and attracted the attention of old Nicholas Longworth, ofCincinnati, who, on more than one occasion, had himself appeared asangel to struggling artists. 

It was so in this case. Mr. Longworth wrote to Brattleboro, making someinquiries as to the essential truth of the story, and having satisfiedhimself on that point, offered to help the boy to get an artisticeducation. The offer was accepted, and young Meade was placed in Brown'sstudio, going afterwards to Italy. While there, he heard of theassassination of President Lincoln, and prepared an elaborate design inplaster for a national monument to the martyred President's memory. Assoon as this was completed, he started for home with it, arriving atprecisely the right moment. The rage for monument building was sweepingup and down the land. Councils, legislatures, all sorts of public andprivate bodies, were making appropriations to commemorate someparticular hero of the Civil War, which was just ended; Meade's designappealed to the popular imagination, and the commission was awarded him. 

The monument, which was destined to cost a quarter of a million dollars, was by far the most important that had ever been erected in thiscountry, and the inexperienced young sculptor sailed back to Italy tobegin work. Not until 1874 was it sufficiently completed to dedicate, and the last group of statuary was not put in place until ten yearslater. All this time, the sculptor had spent quietly in his studio atFlorence, quite apart from the world of progress or of new ideas in art, and long before his work was finished, public taste had outgrown it andfound it uninspired and commonplace. 

Much more important to American art is the work of Olin Levi Warner, theson of an itinerant Methodist preacher, whose wanderings prevented theboy getting any regular schooling. During his childhood, he had shownconsiderable talent for carving statuettes in chalk, and he finallydecided to immortalize his father by carving a portrait bust of him. Fora stone, he "set" a barrel of plaster in one solid mass and then, breaking off the staves, began hacking away at it with such poorimplements as he could command. It was a well-nigh endless task, but"it's dogged that does it, " and the boy worked doggedly away until thebust was completed. It was considered such a success that young Warner, convinced of his vocation, set to work to earn enough money to goabroad. For six years he worked as a telegrapher, and it was not until1869, when he was twenty-five years old, that he had saved the moneyneeded. 

Three years later he returned to New York, and opened a studio, but metwith a reception so dismal and indifferent that, after a four years'desperate struggle, he was forced to abandon the fight and return to hisfather's farm. Anxious for any employment, he applied to Henry Plant, President of the Southern Express Company, for work. Mr. Plant wasinterested, and instead of offering him a job as messenger or teamster, gave him a commission for two portrait busts. 

It was the turning point in Warner's career, for the busts he producedwere of a craftsmanship so delicate and beautiful that they at onceestablished his position among his fellow-sculptors, though yearselapsed before he received any wide public recognition. The truth isthat he was too great and sincere an artist to cater to a public tastewhich he had himself outgrown; so that, until quite recently, he hasremained a sculptor's sculptor. His untimely death, in 1896, from theeffects of a fall while riding in Central Park, brought forth a notabletribute from his fellow-craftsmen, and students of sculpture have cometo recognize in him one of the most delicate and truly inspired artistsin our history. 

But the most powerful influence in the recent development of Americansculpture has been that great artist, Augustus Saint Gaudens. Born in1848, at Dublin, Ireland, of a French father and an Irish mother, he wasbrought to this country while still an infant. Perhaps this mixedancestry explains to some degree Saint Gaudens's peculiar genius. At theage of thirteen, he was apprenticed to a cameo-cutter in New York City, and worked for six years at this employment, which demands the utmostkeenness of vision, delicacy of touch, and refinement of manner. Hisevenings he spent in studying drawing, first at Cooper Union and then, outgrowing that, at the National Academy of Design. So it happened that, at the age of twenty, when most men were just beginning their specialstudies, Saint Gaudens was thoroughly grounded in drawing and an expertin low relief. 

Another thing he had learned; and let us pause here to lay stress uponit, for it is the thing which must be learned before any great life-workcan be done. He had learned the value of systematic industry, of puttingin so many hours every day at faithful work. The weak artist, whether instone or paint or ink, always contends that he must wait forinspiration, and so excuses long periods of unproductive idleness, during which he grows weaker and weaker for lack of exercise. The greatartist compels inspiration by whipping himself to his work and settinggrimly about it, knowing that the "inspiration, " so-called, will come. For inspiration is only seeing a thing clearly, and the one way to seeit clearly is to keep the eyes and mind fixed upon it. 

At the age of twenty, then, Saint Gaudens was not only a trained artist, but an industrious one. Three years in the inspiring atmosphere ofParis, and three years in Italy, followed; and finally, in 1874, helanded again at New York with such an equipment as few sculptors everhad. And seven years later he proved his mastery when his statue ofAdmiral Farragut was unveiled in Union Square, New York. That superbwork of art made its author a national figure, and Saint Gaudens tookdefinitely that place at the head of American sculpture which was hisuntil his death. 

Six years later Saint Gaudens's "Lincoln" was unveiled in Lincoln Park, Chicago, and was at once recognized as the greatest portrait statue inthe United States. It has remained so--a masterpiece of exaltedconception and dignified execution. Other statues followed, eachmemorable in its way; but Saint Gaudens proved himself not only thegreatest but the most versatile of our sculptors by his work in otherfields--by portraits in high and low relief, by ideal figures, andnotably by the memorial to Robert Gould Shaw, a work distinctivelyAmerican and without a counterpart in the annals of art. It is thespiritual quality of Saint Gaudens's work which sets it apart upon alofty pinnacle--the largeness of the man behind it, the artist mind andthe poet heart. 

Saint Gaudens's death in 1907 deprived American art of one of its mostcommanding figures, but there are other American sculptors alive to-daywhose work is noteworthy in a high degree. One of these is DanielChester French. Born of a substantial New England family, and showing noespecial artistic talent in youth, one day, in his nineteenth year, hesurprised his family by showing them the grotesque figure of a frog inclothes which he had carved from a turnip. Modelling tools were securedfor him, and he went to work. The schooling which prepared him for hisremarkable career was of the slightest. He studied for a month with J. Q. A. Ward, and for the rest, worked out his own salvation as best hecould. 

His first important commission came to him at the age oftwenty-three--the figure of the "Minute Man" for the battle monument atConcord, Massachusetts. It was unveiled on April 19, 1875, andattracted wide attention. For here was a work of strength andoriginality produced by a young man without schooling orexperience--produced, too, without a model, or, at least, from nothingbut a large cast of the "Apollo Belvidere, " which was the only model thesculptor had. But there was no hint of that famous figure under theclothes of the "Minute Man. " It had been entirely concealed by thepersonality and vigor he had impressed upon his work. 

After that Mr. French spent a year in Florence, but he returned toAmerica at the end of that period to remain. He has grown steadily inpower and certainty of touch, rising perhaps to his greatest height inhis famous group, "The Angel of Death and the Young Sculptor, " intendedas a memorial to Martin Milmore, but touching the universal heart by itsdeep appeal, conveyed with a sure and admirable artistry. Mr. French'sgreat distinction is to have created good sculpture which has touchedthe public heart, and to have done this with no concession to publictaste. 

Another sculptor who has gained a wide appreciation is FrederickMacMonnies, who for sheer audacity and dexterity of manipulation isalmost without a rival. He was born in Brooklyn in 1863, his father aScotchman who had come to New York at the age of eighteen, and hismother a niece of Benjamin West. The boy's talent revealed itself early, and was developed in the face of many difficulties. Obliged to leaveschool while still a child and to earn his living as a clerk in ajewelry store, he still found time to study drawing, and at the age ofsixteen had the good fortune to attract the attention of Saint Gaudens, who received him as an apprentice in his studio. 

No better fate could have befallen the lad, and the five years spentwith Saint Gaudens gave him the best of all training in the fundamentalsof his art. Some years in Paris followed, where he replenished hisslender purse with such work as he could find to do, until, in 1889, his"Diana" emerged from his studio, radiant and superb. A year later camehis statue of "Nathan Hale, " and there was never any lack of commissionsafter that. "Nathan Hale" stands in City Hall Park, New York City, thevery embodiment of that devoted young patriot. The artist has shown himat the supreme moment when, facing the scaffold, he uttered thememorable words which still thrill the American heart, and expressionand sentiment were never more perfectly in accord. He struck the samehigh note with his famous fountain at Chicago Exposition, where hundredsof thousands of people suddenly discovered in this young man a nationalpossession to be proud of. 

A year later his name was again in every mouth, when the Boston PublicLibrary refused a place to perhaps his greatest work, the dancing"Bacchante, " which has since found refuge in the Metropolitan Museum atNew York--a composition so original and daring that it astonishes whileit delights. 

Like MacMonnies, George Gray Barnard began life as a jeweller'sapprentice, became an expert engraver and letterer, and finally, urgedby a ceaseless longing, deserted that lucrative profession for theextremely uncertain one of sculpture. A year and a half of study inChicago brought him an order for a portrait bust of a little girl, andwith the $350 he received for this, he set off for Paris. That meagresum supported him for three years and a half--with what privation andself-denial may be imagined; but he never complained. He lived, indeed, the life of a recluse, shutting himself up in his studio with his work, emerging only at night to walk the streets of Paris, lost in dreams ofambition. That from this period of ordeal came some of the deep emotionwhich marks his work cannot be doubted. 

This quality, which sets Barnard apart, is well illustrated in hisfamous group, "The Two Natures, " suggested by a line of Victor Hugo, "Ifeel two natures struggling within me. " Two male figures are shown, heroic in size and powerfully modelled, a victor half erect bending overa prostrate foe. 

Besides these men, who are, in a way, the giants of the Americansculptors of to-day, there are, especially in New York, many otherswhose work is graceful and distinctive. Paul Wayland Bartlett, HerbertAdams, Charles Niehaus, John J. Boyle, Frank Elwell, FrederickRuckstuhl, to mention only a few of them, are all men of originality andpower, whose work is a pleasure and an inspiration, and to whose handsthe future of American sculpture may safely be confided. 

SUMMARY

GREENOUGH, HORATIO. Born at Boston, September 6, 1805; graduated atHarvard, 1825; went to Italy, 1825, and made his home there, with theexception of short visits to America and France; died at Somerville, Massachusetts, December 18, 1852. 

POWERS, HIRAM. Born at Woodstock, Vermont, July 29, 1805; modelled waxfigures at Cincinnati, Ohio, for seven years; went to Washington, 1835, and to Florence, 1837; died there, June 27, 1873. 

CRAWFORD, THOMAS. Born at New York City, March 22, 1814; went to Italy, 1834, and took up residence at Rome for the remainder of his life;afflicted with sudden blindness in 1856, and died at London, October 16, 1857. 

BROWN, HENRY KIRKE. Born at Leyden, Massachusetts, February 24, 1814;studied in Italy, 1842-46; opened Brooklyn studio, 1850; died atNewburgh, New York, July 10, 1886. 

MILLS, CLARKE. Born in Onondaga County, New York, December 1, 1815; diedat Washington, January 12, 1883. 

PALMER, ERASTUS DOW. Born at Pompey, Onondaga County, New York, April 2, 1817; opened studio in Albany, 1849; in Paris, 1873-74; died at Albany, New York, March 9, 1904. 

BALL, THOMAS. Born at Charlestown, Massachusetts, June 3, 1819;practised painting, 1840-52; adopted sculpture, 1851; resided inFlorence, Italy, 1865-97; opened New York studio, 1898. 

STORY, WILLIAM WETMORE. Born at Salem, Massachusetts, February 19, 1819;graduated at Harvard, 1838; admitted to the bar, 1840; published avolume of poems, 1847; went to Italy, 1848, and lived at Florence untilhis death, October 5, 1895. 

ROGERS, RANDOLPH. Born at Waterloo, New York, July 6, 1825; removed toItaly, 1855; died at Rome, January 15, 1892. 

RINEHART, WILLIAM HENRY. Born in Maryland, September 13, 1825; removedto Rome, 1858, and died there, October 28, 1874. 

ROGERS, JOHN. Born at Salem, Massachusetts, October 30, 1829; visitedEurope, 1858-59; died, July 27, 1904. 

HOSMER, HARRIET G. Born at Watertown, Massachusetts, October 9, 1830;studied in Rome, 1852-60; opened Boston studio, 1861; died at Cambridge, Massachusetts, February 21, 1908. 

WARD, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. Born at Urbana, Ohio, June 29, 1830; studiedunder H. K. Brown, 1850-57; studio in New York City since 1861. 

MEADE, LARKIN GOLDSMITH. Born at Chesterfield, New Hampshire, January 3, 1835; studied under Brown and in Florence; artist at the front for_Harper's Weekly_ during Civil War; afterwards returned to Florence andmade his home there. 

WARNER, OLIN LEVI. Born at Suffield, Connecticut, April 9, 1844; studiedin Paris, 1869-72; opened New York studio, 1873; died there, August 14, 1896. 

SAINT GAUDENS, AUGUSTUS. Born at Dublin, Ireland, March 1, 1848; came toAmerica in infancy; learned trade of cameo cutter; studied at Paris, 1867-70; Rome, 1870-72; opened New York studio, 1872; died at Corinth, N. H. , August 3, 1907. 

FRENCH, DANIEL CHESTER. Born at Exeter, New Hampshire, April 20, 1850;studied in Boston and Florence; studio in Washington, 1876-78; inBoston, 1878-87; in New York since 1887. 

MACMONNIES, FREDERICK. Born at Brooklyn, New York, September 20, 1863;studied under Saint Gaudens, 1880-84; also at Paris, and has spent manyof the succeeding years in France. 

BARNARD, GEORGE GRAY. Born at Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, May 24, 1863;studied at Paris, 1884-87; spent some years in New York, and thenreturned to France. 

CHAPTER VI

THE STAGE

The golden age of American acting was not so very long ago. Mostwhite-haired men remember it, and love to talk of the days of Booth andForrest and Charlotte Cushman. Joseph Jefferson, the last survivor ofthe old régime, died just the other day, and to the very end showed thepresent generation the charm and humor of Bob Acres and Rip Van Winkle. 

No doubt that golden age is made to appear more golden than it reallywas by the mists of time; but undoubtedly the old actors possessed amellowness, a solidity, a sort of high tradition now almost unknown. These qualities were due in part, perhaps, to the long and arduous stockcompany training, where, in the old days, every actor must serve hisapprenticeship, and in part to the study of the classic drama which hadso large a place in stock company repertoire. 

Success was infinitely harder to win than it is to-day. There were fewertheatres, so that the great actors were forced to play together, totheir mutual advantage and improvement. The multiplication of theatresat the present time, and the vast increase of the theatre-going public, has led to the "star" system--to the placing of an actor at the head ofa company, as soon as he has won a certain reputation. And, since careis taken that the "star" shall outshine all his associates, it followsthat he has no one to measure himself with, he is no longer on hismetal, and his growth usually stops then and there. 

But let us be frank about it. The attitude of the public toward thetheatre has changed. To-day we would not tolerate the heavy melodramaswhich enchained our parents and grandparents. The age of rant andfustian has passed away, and Edwin Forrest could never gain a secondfortune from such a combination of these qualities as "Metamora. " We aremore sophisticated; we refuse to be thrilled by Ingomar, no matter howloudly he bellows. What we ask for principally is to be amused, andconsequently the great effort of the theatre is to amuse us, for thetheatre must cater to its public. So, if the stage to-day is not what itwas fifty years ago, the fault lies principally in front of thefootlights and not behind them. 

 * * * * *

[Illustration: BOOTH]

To the student of American acting, one name stands out before all therest, the name of Booth. No other actors in this country have everequalled the achievements of Junius Brutus Booth and of his son, EdwinBooth. They possessed the genius of tragedy, if any men ever did, and noone who saw them in their great moments can forget the impression ofabsolute reality which they conveyed. 

Junius Brutus Booth was the son of an eccentric silversmith of London, and was born there in 1796. Let us pause here to remark that, just asthe greatest Frenchman who ever lived was an Italian, and the greatestRussian woman a German, so most of the early American actors were eitherEnglish or Irish. This sounds rather Irish itself; but it is true. Certainly, in the end Napoleon Bonaparte became as French as anyFrenchman and the Empress Catherine II Russian to the core; and theEnglish and Irish actors who came to these shores in search of fame andfortune, and who found them and spent the remainder of their lives here, have every right to be considered in any account of the American stagewhich they did so much to adorn. 

Junius Brutus Booth, then, was born in London in 1796. Twenty yearsbefore, his father had been so carried away by Republican principlesthat he had sailed for America to join the ranks of the army ofindependence, but he was captured and sent back to England. So it willbe seen that he was something more than a mere silversmith; but he wasvery successful at his trade, and was able to give his son a carefulclassical education, to fit him for the bar. Imagine his chagrin whenthe boy, after a short experience in amateur theatricals, announced hisintention of becoming an actor. 

He secured some small parts, made a tour of the provinces, and finally, in London, engaged in a remarkable war with the great tragedian, EdmundKean, which divided the town into two factions. But Booth tired of thestruggle, in which the odds were all against him, and in 1821 sailed forAmerica. He won an instant success, and was a great popular favoriteuntil the day of his death. He was a short, spare, muscular man, with apale countenance, set off by dark hair and lighted by a pair of piercingblue eyes, and he possessed a voice of wonderful compass and thrillingpower. Upon the stage he was formidable and tremendous, giving animpression of overwhelming power, in which his son, perhaps, never quiteequalled him. 

Shortly after his arrival in America, Booth bought a farm nearBaltimore, and there, on November 13, 1833, Edwin Booth was born. Therewas a great shower of meteors that night, which, if they portendednothing else, may be taken as symbolical of the career of America'sgreatest tragedian. He was the seventh of ten children, all of whominherited, in some degree, their father's genius. It was not without atrace of madness, and reached a fearful culmination in John WilkesBooth, when he shot down Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre inWashington. 

From the first, Edwin Booth felt himself destined for the stage. Hisfather did not encourage him, but finally, in 1849, consented to hisappearance with him in the unimportant part of Tressel, in "King Richardthe Third. " From that time on, he accompanied his father in all hiswanderings, and partook of the strange and sad adventures of thatwayward man of genius. In 1852, he went with his father to California, and was left there by the elder Booth, who no doubt thought it the bestschool for the boy's budding talent. There, in the Sandwich Islands, andin Australia, among the rough crowds of the mining camps, he had fouryears of the most severe training that hardship, discipline, and sternreality can furnish. Amid it all his genius grew and deepened, and whenhe returned again to the east in 1856 he was no longer a novice, but anaccomplished actor. 

His last years in California had been shadowed by a great sorrow--thesudden and pitiful death of his father. The elder Booth had for yearsbeen subject to attacks of insanity, brought on, or at leastintensified, by extreme intemperance. On one occasion he had attemptedto commit suicide. On another, he had had his nose broken, an accidentwhich so interfered with his voice that he did not regain completecontrol of it for nearly two years. On his return from California, wherehe had left his son, he stopped at New Orleans, and remained there aweek, performing to crowded houses. He then started north by way of theMississippi, and was found dying in his stateroom a few days later. Hehad been caught in a severe rain as he left New Orleans, a colddeveloped, complications followed, and for forty-eight hours he layunattended in his stateroom, without that medical attention which he wasunable or unwilling to summon. He died November 30, 1852, and his bodywas interred at Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore, in a grave afterwardsmarked by a monument erected by his son Edwin. 

This was only one of many tragedies which darkened the life of EdwinBooth, for, to use the words of William Winter, he was "tried by some ofthe most terrible afflictions that ever tested the fortitude of a humansoul. Over his youth, plainly visible, impended the lowering cloud ofinsanity. While he was yet a boy, and while literally struggling forlife in the semi-barbarous wilds of old California, he lost his belovedfather, under circumstances of singular misery. In early manhood he laidin her grave the woman of his first love, the wife who had died inabsence from him, herself scarcely past the threshold of youth, lovelyas an angel and to all who knew her precious beyond expression. A littlelater his heart was well nigh broken and his life was well nigh blastedby the crime of a lunatic brother that for a moment seemed to darken thehope of the world. Recovering from that blow, he threw all his resourcesand powers into the establishment of the grandest theatre in themetropolis of America, and he saw his fortune of more than a milliondollars, together with the toil of some of the best years of his lifefrittered away. Under all trials he bore bravely up, and kept the even, steadfast tenor of his course; strong, patient, gentle, neither elatedby public homage nor embittered by private grief. "

It has been said that Booth returned from California a finished actor. He had, besides, the prestige of a great name, and he was welcomed withopen arms. He had not yet reached the summit of his skill, but he showedan extraordinary grace and "a spirit ardent with the fire of genius. "From that time forward, his career was one of lofty endeavor and ofhigh achievement. In the great characters of Shakespeare, especially inthose of Hamlet, Richard the Third, and Iago, he had no rivals, and noone who witnessed him in any of these parts ever outlived the deepimpression the performance made. During the last two or three years ofhis life his health failed gradually, and he was finally compelled toleave the stage. On April 19, 1893, he suffered a stroke of paralysisfrom which he never rallied, lingering in a semi-conscious state untilJune 7th, when he sank rapidly and died. 

Of his art no words can give an adequate idea. It was essentiallypoetic, full of a strange and compelling charm. His great moments laidupon his audience the spell of his genius, and rank with the highestachievements of any actor who ever lived. His countenance--

 "That face which no man ever saw And from his memory banished quite, The eyes in which are Hamlet's awe And Cardinal Richelieu's subtle light"--

as Thomas Bailey Aldrich wrote of Sargent's portrait, which heads thischapter--was a strange and moving one, and in range of expressionunsurpassed. His eyes were especially wonderful, dark brown, but seemingto turn black in moments of passion, and conveying, with electricaleffect, the actor's thought. He was unique. He stood apart. The Americanstage has never produced another like him. 

Second only to Edwin Booth in sheer glory of achievement stands EdwinForrest. He fell far below Booth in grace, in charm, and in poeticinsight, but he surpassed him in physical equipment for the great partsof tragedy, particularly in his voice, magnificent, vibrating, with anextraordinary depth and purity of tone. 

Unlike Booth, Forrest came from no family of actors, nor inherited aname famous in the annals of the stage. He was born in Philadelphia in1806, his father being a Scotchman, employed in Stephen Girard's bank, and making just enough money to keep his family of six children fromactual want. He died when Edwin was thirteen years old, and his widow, by opening a little store, managed to support the children. She was aserious and devout woman and decided that Edwin should enter theministry. But meantime, he must earn a living, so he was apprenticed toa cooper. 

How long he stayed with the cooper nobody knows; but it could not havebeen long, for already he was fired with an ambition to be an actor, andafter some experience as an amateur, astonished and grieved his motherby announcing that he was going on the stage. He made his firstappearance on the 27th of November, 1820, as Young Norval, in Home'stragedy of "Douglas, " and was an immediate success. His youth--remember, he was but fourteen--his handsome face and manly bearing, and, aboveall, that wonderful and resonant voice, won the audience at once, andhis career was begun. 

But many hardships awaited him. The theatres of New York andPhiladelphia had their companies of well-known and well-trained actors. There was no hope for him in either of those cities; but at last hesecured an engagement to play juvenile parts at Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Lexington, and other towns of the middle west, at a salary of eightdollars a week. This, of course, was scarcely enough to keep body andsoul together, but all Forrest wanted was a chance, and he did notmurmur at the suffering and hardship which followed. 

For business was poor, and Forrest did not always receive even thateight dollars. The end came at Dayton, Ohio, where the company went topieces. Forrest, without money and almost without clothes, walked theforty miles to Cincinnati, where, after a time, he found anotherposition. Such was the beginning of his career, and this hard novitiatelasted for four years, until, in 1826, at the age of twenty, he was ableto return to New York and secure an engagement at the old BoweryTheatre. He was an instant success, and from year to year his wonderfulpowers seemed to increase, until he became easily the most famous actorof the day. 

But his fame was soon to be dulled by unfortunate personalities. Conceiving a jealousy of Macready, the famous English actor, he hissedhim at a performance in Edinburgh, and when Macready came to America in1849, Forrest's followers broke in upon a performance at the Astor Placeopera house, and a riot followed in which twenty-two men were killed. Aquarrel with his wife led to the divorce court, and the suit was decidedagainst him. 

The end was pathetic. He had been troubled with gout for a long time, and in 1865, it took a malignant turn, paralyzing the sciatic nerve, sothat he lost the use of one hand, and could not walk steadily. His powerhad left him, and in the five years that followed, he played to emptyhouses and an indifferent public, not content to retire, but hopingagainst hope that he might in some way regain his lost prestige. Astroke of paralysis finally ended the hopeless struggle. 

Forrest's art was of a cruder and more robust sort than Edwin Booth'swho, by the way, was named after him. He was greatest in charactersdemanding a great physique, a commanding presence and--yes, let us sayit!--a loud voice. Coriolanus, Spartacus, Virginius--those were hisroles, and no man ever looked more imposing in a Roman toga. 

Forrest, during his English engagement of 1845, and on other occasions, shared the honors with a remarkable actress, Charlotte Cushman. Andperhaps none ever had a more astonishing career. Born in Boston in 1816, her youth was one of poverty, for her father died while she was veryyoung, leaving no property. The girl was remarkably bright, and soondeveloped a contralto voice of unusual richness and compass. She sang ina choir and assisted to support the family from the age of twelve, securing such musical instruction as she could. In 1834, she made herfirst appearance in opera and scored a tremendous success. A splendidcareer seemed opening before her, when suddenly, a few months later, hervoice, strained by the soprano parts which had been, assigned her, failed completely. 

Her friends advised her to become an actress, and she went diligently towork, not allowing herself to despond over that first greatdisappointment. For the next seven years, she worked faithfully learningthe new profession from the very bottom. "I became aware, " she said, "that one could never sail a ship by entering at the cabin windows; hemust serve and learn his trade before the mast. " In that way she learnedhers, playing minor parts, doing cheerfully the drudgery of herprofession, refusing all offers for more important work until she feltherself thoroughly capable of undertaking it. One would wish that herexample might be taken to heart by her sisters of the present day. 

At last her chance came. In 1842, William C. Macready, the great Englishtragedian, visited the United States, and in Charlotte Cushman he founda splendid support. Indeed, she divided the honors with him. A yearlater, she went to London and won immense applause. "Since the firstappearance of Edmund Keane, in 1814, " said a London journal, in speakingof her first night as "Bianca, " "never has there been such a début onthe stage of an English theatre. " For eighty-four nights she appearedwith Edwin Forrest. "All my successes put together, " she wrote to hermother, "would not come near my success in London. "

In the winter of 1845 she tried one of the most daring experiments evermade by an actress, appearing as Romeo to her sister, Susan Cushman's, Juliet. It was a notable success. Her deep contralto voice made itpossible for her to give a complete illusion of the young and handsomelover. She played other male characters in after years, notably Hamlet, and created a deep impression in them. Her sister was a lovely girl, andan accomplished actress, and their "Romeo and Juliet" ran for twohundred nights. Susan Cushman would no doubt also have won high fame asan actress, but she soon retired from the stage, marrying thedistinguished chemist and author, James Sheridan Muspratt, of Liverpool. 

Charlotte Cushman returned to America in the fall of 1849, and wasreceived with acclamation. There was never any question, after that, ofher position as the greatest English-speaking actress, and that positionshe easily maintained until her death. She gathered wealth as well asfame, built a villa at Newport, and in 1863 earned nearly nine thousanddollars for the United States Sanitary Commission by benefitperformances. Energetic, resolute, faithful, impatient of anyachievement but the highest, she seemed the very embodiment of many ofShakespeare's greatest creations. She possessed a strange, and weirdgenius, akin, in some respects, to that of Edwin Booth, and herdelineation of the sublime, the beautiful, the terrible has never beensurpassed. A noble interpreter of noble minds, Charlotte Cushman standsfor the supreme achievement of the actress. 

What Booth and Forrest were to tragedy, William J. Florence was tocomedy. Indeed, he may be said to have gone farther than either Booth orForrest, for he founded a school and gave to the stage the chivalrous, light-hearted and lucky Irishman, who has since become so familiar tothe drama, however rare he may be outside the theatre. 

Florence was born in Albany, New York, in 1831. His family name wasConlin, from which it will be seen that he came naturally by his insightinto Irish character; but he changed this name when he went upon thestage to the more romantic and euphonious one of Florence. He gaveevidence of possessing unusual dramatic talent while still a boy, andmade his début on the regular stage at the age of eighteen. He had theusual hardships of the young actor, playing in various stock companieswithout attracting especial attention, and finally, in 1853, marryingMalvina Pray, herself an actress of considerable ability. 

It was at this time that Florence began to find his field in thedelineation of Irish and Yankee characters, his wife appearing with him, and together they won a wide popularity. Florence wrote some plays and anumber of sprightly songs, which his wife sang inimitably. He himselfimproved steadily in his acting, and, especially in the gentle humor andmelting pathos with which he clothed his characters, stood quite alone. A tour through England added to his fame, and his songs were soon beingsung and whistled in the streets pretty generally wherever the Englishtongue was spoken. One song in particular, called "Bobbing Around, " hadimmense popularity. 

But Florence was more than a mere song-writer Irish comedian. In hislater years he proved himself to be an actor of high attainments and noone who ever witnessed a performance of "The Rivals, " with Jefferson asBob Acres, and Florence as Sir Lucius O'Trigger, will ever forget hisfinished and glowing impersonation. 

When Edwin Forrest, heart-broken and discredited, died in 1872, he lefthis manuscript plays to another great tragedian, whom he regarded as hislegitimate successor, John McCullough. In some respects McCullough was agreater actor than Forrest, for he possessed that quality of poeticinsight and high imagination which Forrest lacked, while in physicalequipment for the great characters of tragedy he was in no whit hisinferior. 

John McCullough was born in Coleraine, Ireland, in 1837, his parents, who were small farmers, bringing him to this country at the age ofsixteen. They settled at Philadelphia and the boy was apprenticed to achair-maker, but he soon broke away from that hum-drum employment, andin 1855, appeared in a minor part in "The Belle's Strategem. " His story, after that, was the usual one of long years of training in various stockcompanies. He gradually worked his way into prominence, and finally in1866, became associated with Edwin Forrest, taking the second parts inthe latter's plays; and, after Forrest's death, taking his place as thefirst impersonator of robust tragedy in America. 

For ten years his success was tremendous--then came the sad ending. McCullough had always been supremely great in characters requiring thedelineation of madness--Virginius, King Lear, Othello. Whether this hadanything to do with the final tragedy cannot be said, but in 1884, whileplaying at Chicago, he broke down in the midst of a performance, and hadto be led from the stage. His mind was gone; he never rallied, and endedhis days in an asylum for the insane. 

One of the most successful engagements McCullough ever had was in 1869and for some years thereafter, when, with Lawrence Barrett, he appearedat the Bush Street theatre in San Francisco. Barrett's name is alsoclosely associated with that of Edwin Booth, for he played oppositeBooth through many seasons--Othello to Booth's Iago, Cassius to Booth'sBrutus, and so on; and the two formed a combination which for sheergenius has never been surpassed. But Barrett never commanded theadoration of the public as Booth did, because he lacked that power ofenchantment which Booth possessed in a supreme degree. His mind wasaustere, he could win respect but not affection, and, as a result, criticism was more captious, honors came grudgingly or not at all, andthe fight for recognition was up-hill all the way. 

Lawrence Barrett was born in 1838, and he began his theatrical career atthe age of fifteen. After the usual hard stock-company experience, hesecured a New York engagement, where, for nearly two years, hesupported such actors as Charlotte Cushman and Edwin Booth. From NewYork he went to Boston for a similar engagement, but at the outbreak ofthe Civil War he left the stage, accepted a captaincy in theTwenty-eighth Massachusetts Infantry, and served through the war withdistinction. Then he returned to the theatre, gaining an ever-increasingreputation until his death. 

Clara Morris called him "The Man with the Hungry Eyes, " and they werehungry, for life was always a battle to him. From an obscure and humbleposition, without fortune, friends, or favoring circumstances he hadfought his way upward in the face of indifference, disparagement andcold dislike. 

Clara Morris has told the story of her own life better than anyone elsecould tell it, and has shown in doing it the very qualities which mademost for her success--a wide sympathy, an impetuous heart, and aninvincible optimism. She, too, had a hard struggle at thefirst--entering the ballet at the age of fifteen to help her motherafter her father's death, and working her way up until she secured a NewYork engagement with Augustin Daly's famous stock company, where shesoon was sharing the honors with Ada Rehan. Ill health shortened heracting career, and compelled her retirement from the stage when at thevery height of her powers. 

Just the other day there died in California another woman who won agreat public a generation ago by a genius and charm seldom equalled. Helena Modjeska's story was an unusual one. Born in Cracow, Poland, in1844, the daughter of a great musician, her early years were passed inan inspiring atmosphere, and almost from the first she felt an impulsetoward the stage. But her family refused to permit her to become anactress, and it was not until after her marriage that her chance came. Her husband consented to a few trial appearances, and her success was sogreat that she was soon engaged as leading lady for the theatre atCracow. 

But her husband incurred the ill-will of the authorities by hispolitical writings, and she herself got into trouble with them byresisting the Russian censorship of the Polish theatre. It was evidentthat arrest and banishment for either or both of them might come at anymoment, and under this incessant and increasing worry, her health beganto fail. So she renounced the theatre, as she thought, forever, came toAmerica, purchased a ranch in California, and settled down to spend theremainder of her life in quiet. But Edwin Booth, John McCullough, andothers, encouraged her to study English and appear upon the Americanstage. She did so, and four months later appeared at San Francisco asAdrienne Lecouvreur. She had an instant success, and for more thanthirty years maintained her position as one of the greatest actresses ofthe day. 

Her personal fascination was of an exceedingly rare kind, her figuretall and graceful, her face wonderfully attractive in its intellectualcharm and eloquent mobility. Shakespeare was her chief delight, and asJuliet, Rosalind and Ophelia she enchanted thousands. 

 * * * * *

On the evening of Thursday, November 25, 1875, an audience assembled atone of the theatres of Louisville, Kentucky, to witness "the firstappearance upon any stage" of "a young lady of Louisville. " The younglady in question had chosen as her vehicle Shakespeare's Juliet, whichwas certainly beginning at the top; she was only sixteen years of ageand had never received any practical stage training; her experience oflife was narrow and provincial--and yet, when the curtain rang down forthe last time, the discerning ones in that audience knew that, despitethe crudity of the performance, a new star had arisen and a great careerbegun. For that "young lady of Louisville" was Mary Anderson. Her storyis unique in the history of the American stage. 

Born in California in 1859, but taken to Louisville a year later; herfather, Charles Joseph Anderson, dying in 1863, an officer in theConfederate army, Mary Anderson was reared by her mother in the RomanCatholic faith and received her education in a parochial school atLouisville. She left school before she was fourteen, and two yearslater, as we have seen, was upon the stage. Her first appearance won heran engagement at Louisville, and for thirteen years thereafter she wasan actress, never in a stock company, but always a star. Then, at thevery meridian of her career, she married and retired forever from thestage. 

Mary Anderson's charm was not that of a great actress, for a greatactress she never became. She had not the training necessary to finishedand rounded work. Her charm was rather that of a sweet and graciouspersonality, of a beautiful nature and a high sincerity. Sumptuouslybeautiful, and possessed of a clear and resonant voice, such statuesquecharacters as Galatea and Hermione attracted her irresistibly, and inthese she achieved her greatest triumphs. 

Scarcely second to her was Ada Rehan, born a year later, appearing onthe stage two years earlier, in other words, at the age of thirteen. AdaRehan, appropriately enough, was born at Limerick, Ireland, and theroguish and perverse Irish spirit was ever uppermost in her acting. Shewas brought to America when she was five years old, and lived and wentto school in Brooklyn. Two of her elder sisters were upon the stage, butshe does not seem to have indicated any especial desire to imitate them, and her first appearance was by accident. An actress playing a smallpart in "Across the Continent" was taken suddenly ill, and the child, who happened to be at the theatre, was hastily dressed for it and taughther few lines; but she displayed so much readiness and natural talentthat, at a family council which followed the performance, it was decidedthat she should proceed with a stage career, and she was soon regularlyembarked. 

This meant a long and severe course of training in the stock companiesmaintained at the various theatres throughout the country to supportsuch wandering stars as Booth and McCullough, and Barrett, and AdelaideNeilson, and she emerged from this training well grounded in all thebusiness of the actress. In 1879, she attracted Augustin Daly'sattention, and from that time forward until Daly's death, she was theleading woman at his famous New York house, becoming one of the mostadmired figures upon the stage. Her art, luminous and sparkling, especially fitted her for high comedy, and it was there that sheachieved her greatest distinction. 

Ada Rehan's name was closely associated for many years with that of JohnDrew, also a member of the Daly company, and a son of the famous "Mr. And Mrs. John Drew, " two of the most versatile, charming and popularmembers of the old school. The elder John Drew was born in Ireland in1825, but came to America at the age of twenty and spent the remainderof his life here, except for a few absences on tour. He was consideredthe best Irish comedian on the American stage. His wife, born in Londonin 1820 of a theatrical family, appeared in child's parts at the age ofeight, came to this country at the age of twenty, and made a greatsuccess here in high comedy parts. Their son can scarcely be said tohave fulfilled the promise of his early years, but seems to be contentwith an achievement which shows him to be an accomplished and finished, but by no means inspired or imaginative, actor. 

Another family as celebrated in American theatrical annals as that ofJohn Drew was E. L. Davenport's. Davenport himself had received histraining in the old stock companies, and notably as Junius BrutusBooth's support in a number of plays. He was equally at home in tragedyand comedy. Associated with him after their marriage in 1849 was hiswife, Fanny Elizabeth Vining, an actress of considerable ability. 

No less than six of their children followed the stage as a career. Themost famous of them was Fanny Davenport, whose stage career began whenshe was a mere baby. Her young girlhood was occupied with soubretteparts, but she soon developed unusual emotional powers, and attractedAugustin Daly's notice. He added her to his stock company in 1869, andshe soon won a notable success in such parts as Lady Gay Spanker, LadyTeazle and Rosalind. 

Perhaps no American actor ever had a more remarkable career than WilliamWarren. Born in 1812, the son of a player of considerable reputation, his first appearance was at the age of twenty. For twelve years hishistory was that of most other struggling actors, but in 1846 he becameconnected with the Howard Athenæum at Boston, where he remained forthirty-five years, retiring permanently from the stage in 1882. 

During his career, he had given 13, 345 performances and had appeared in577 characters, a record which has probably never been approached. Hewas especially notable in his representations of the "fine old Englishgentleman, " and he became to Boston a sort of Conservatory of Acting inhimself. That he was appreciated both as man and artist his longresidence in Boston proves. 

He was a cousin of one of the best loved actors who ever trod theAmerican stage--Joseph Jefferson; but their careers were very different, for Jefferson, in the last quarter century of his life confined himselfto a few parts--practically to four, Bob Acres, Rip Van Winkle, Dr. Pangloss and Cabel Plummer. In these he was inimitable. Something isgained and lost, of course, by either of these methods; one is inclinedto think the wiser plan, that making for the greatest achievement, is awide diversity of parts, and constant creation of new ones. And yet, when one looks back upon Jefferson's delicate and cameo-clearimpersonations, one would not have him different. 

Joseph Jefferson was the third of his name to challenge Americantheatre-goers. His grandfather, born in England, in 1774, came toAmerica twenty-three years later and spent the remainder of his lifehere, gaining some reputation as a comedian. His father is said to havehad little ability, and to have been careless and improvident. The thirdof the name was born in Philadelphia in 1829, and began his stage careerat the age of three, appearing as the child in "Pizarro, " which musthave frightened him nearly to death. 

His father died when he was only fourteen, and the lad joined a companyof strolling players, who made their way through Texas, and during thewar with Mexico, followed the American army into Mexican territory. American drama was in no great demand, so at Matamoras Jefferson openeda stall for the sale of coffee and other refreshments, making enoughmoney to get back to the United States. 

For the next ten years he appeared in stock companies in the largereastern cities, meeting such players as Edwin Forrest, James E. Murdoch, and Edwin Adams; but the one who influenced him most was his ownhalf-brother, Charles Burke, an unusually accomplished serio-comic. William Warren also ranked high in his affections. 

The turning point of his career came in 1857 when he became associatedwith Laura Keene at her theatre in New York. Here his first part was onewith which he was afterwards so closely identified, that of Dr. Pangloss, and then came "Our American Cousin, " in which he gained anotable success as Asa Trenchard, and in which Edward A. Sothern laidthe foundation of the fantastic character of Lord Dundreary, which wasto make him famous. A year later, he created another of his greatcharacters, Caleb Plummer, in "The Cricket on the Hearth, " and soonafterwards, the most famous of all, Rip Van Winkle, which remained tothe end his supreme impersonation. 

After that time, his career was a golden and happy one. He won theaffection of the American public as perhaps no recent player has everdone. His art had a peculiarly wide appeal because it was fine andsweet; he won sympathy and inspired affection; and seemed the veryembodiment of the tender, artless and lovable characters it was his joyto represent. 

Jefferson's death marked the passing of the last of the "oldschool"--that mellow, fluent, and accomplished circle of players whoseem so different to their successors. But public taste is differenttoo. We care no longer for the rantings and heroics of Virginius andSpartacus and all the rest of those toga-clothed gentlemen who differedfrom each other only in their names. We demand something more subtle, more--yes, let us say it!--intellectual. The modern who came nearest toanswering this demand, to showing us the complex thing which we knowhuman nature to be, was Richard Mansfield. A great artist, whom nodifficulty appalled, he gave the American public, season after season, the most significant procession of worthy dramas that one man everproduced. 

Mansfield was born in Heligoland in 1857, and studied for the EastIndian civil service, but came to Boston and opened a studio, studiedart, and then suddenly abandoned it for the stage. Curiously enough, hebegan with small parts in comic opera, and a few years later, made oneof the funniest Kokos who ever appeared in "The Mikado. " But he soonchanged to straight drama, and the first great success of his career wasas Baron Chevrial in "A Parisian Romance, " a part which was given himafter other actors had refused to take it, and in which he created areal sensation. His reputation was secure after that, and grew steadilyuntil the swift and complete collapse from over-work, which ended hislife at the age of fifty-one. 

Are there any great players alive in America to-day? E. H. Sothern, perhaps, comes nearest to greatness, and has at least won respectfulattention by a sincerity and earnestness which have accomplished much. He is the son of Edward Askew Sothern, whose career was a most peculiarone. Intended for the ministry, he chose the stage instead, apparentlywith no talent for it, and for six or seven years, only the mostunimportant of minor parts were entrusted to him. 

One of these was that of Lord Dundreary in "Our American Cousin. " Itconsisted of only a few lines and Sothern accepted it under protest, buthe made such a hit in it that it was amplified and became the principalpart of the play. In fact, the play became, in the end, a series ofmonologues for Dundreary. It had some remarkable runs, one, forinstance, in London, for four hundred and ninety-six consecutive nights. Sothern continued playing the part until his death. His son isundoubtedly a far greater actor, and may achieve a high and lastingfame. 

Associated with him in many of his later and more ambitious productionshas been Julia Marlowe, undoubtedly the most finished and accomplishedactress in America. She had a thorough training, having been on thestage since her twelfth year, and devoting herself closely to the studyof her art. Her sincerity, too, promises much for the future. AfterSothern, Otis Skinner is perhaps the most noteworthy, and after him, well, anyone of a dozen, whom it is needless to name here. 

It was Joseph Jefferson who remarked that "all the good actors aredead. " He meant, of course, that the present seems always of littleworth when compared with the past; and this is the case not only withthe theatre, but in some degree with all the arts. It is especially trueof the theatre, however, because the player lives only in the memoriesof those who saw him, and memory sees things, as it were, through agolden glow. 

SUMMARY

BOOTH, JUNIUS BRUTUS. Born at London, May 1, 1796; first appearance, 1813; came to America, 1821; died on a Mississippi steamboat, November30, 1852. 

BOOTH, EDWIN. Born at Bel Air, Maryland, November 13, 1833; firstappearance, 1849; first appearance as "star, " as Sir Giles Overreach, 1857; played under management of Lawrence Barrett, 1886-91, in "Hamlet";founded "The Players' Club, " 1888; died at its club-house, in New YorkCity, June 7, 1893. 

FORREST, EDWIN. Born at Philadelphia, March 9, 1806; first appearance, 1820; first notable success as Othello, 1826; last appearance in March, 1871; died at Philadelphia, December 12, 1872. 

CUSHMAN, CHARLOTTE. Born at Boston, July 23, 1816; first appearance, 1835; played with Macready, 1842-44; in London, 1844-48; died at Boston, February 8, 1876. 

FLORENCE, WILLIAM JAMES. Born at Albany, New York, July 26, 1831; firstappearance, 1849; died at Philadelphia, November 19, 1891. 

MCCULLOUGH, JOHN. Born at Coleraine, Ireland, November 2, 1837; came toAmerica, 1853; first appearance, 1855; broke down mentally andphysically, 1884; died in insane asylum at Philadelphia, November 8, 1885. 

BARRETT, LAWRENCE. Born at Paterson, New Jersey, April 4, 1838; firstappearance, 1853; enlisted in 28th Massachusetts Volunteers, 1861; from1887 until his death closely associated with Edwin Booth; died at NewYork City, March 21, 1891. 

MORRIS, CLARA. Born at Toronto, Canada, 1849; first appearance, 1861;leading lady, 1869; joined Daly's company, 1870; married Frederick C. Harriott, 1874. 

MODJESKA, HELENA. Born at Cracow, Poland, October 12, 1844; firstappearance, 1861; first appearance in English at San Francisco, 1877;died in California, April 8, 1909. 

ANDERSON, MARY. Born at Sacramento, California, July 28, 1859; firstappearance, 1875; married Antonio de Navarro, 1889, and retired from thestage. 

REHAN, ADA. Born at Limerick, Ireland, April 22, 1860; came to Americain childhood; first appearance, 1874; joined Daly's company, 1879;leading lady there until his death in 1899. 

DREW, JOHN. Born at Philadelphia, in 1853; first appearance, 1873;leading man in Daly's company, 1879-99. 

DREW, JOHN, SR. Born at Dublin, Ireland, September 3, 1825; firstappearance in New York, 1845; died at Philadelphia, May 21, 1862. 

DREW, MRS. JOHN, SR. (LOUISA LANE). Born at London, January 10, 1820;first appearance when mere child; came to America, 1828; married JohnDrew, 1850; died at Larchmont, New York, August 31, 1897. 

DAVENPORT, EDWARD LOOMIS. Born at Boston, Massachusetts, November 15, 1814; first appearance, 1836; played in England, 1847-54; died atCanton, Pennsylvania, September 1, 1877. 

DAVENPORT, FANNY ELIZABETH VINING. Born at London, July 6, 1829; beganplaying baby parts at age of three; made first appearance, 1847, asJuliet; married E. L. Davenport, January 8, 1849; first appearance inNew York, 1854. 

DAVENPORT, FANNY LILY GIPSY. Born in London, April 10, 1850; firstAmerican appearance, 1862; died at Danbury, Massachusetts, September 26, 1898. 

WARREN, WILLIAM. Born at Philadelphia, November 17, 1812; firstappearance, 1832; died at Boston, September 21, 1888. 

JEFFERSON, JOSEPH. Born at Philadelphia, February 20, 1829; firstappearance on stage as child; first became prominent as Asa Trenchard, in "Our American Cousin, " 1858; died at West Palm Beach, Florida, April23, 1905. 

SOTHERN, EDWARD ASKEW. Born at Liverpool, England, April 1, 1826; firstappearance, 1849; first American appearance, 1852; made his mark as LordDundreary, 1858; died at London, January 20, 1881. 

SOTHERN, EDWARD H. Born in London; appeared as child; first took leadingpart, 1887. 

CHAPTER VII

SCIENTISTS AND EDUCATORS

To give even the briefest account, within the limits of a singlechapter, of the lives of noteworthy American scientists and educatorsis, of course, quite beyond the bounds of possibility. All that can bedone, even at best, is to mention a few of the greatest names and toindicate in outline the particular achievements with which they areassociated. That is all that has been attempted here. There are at leasta hundred men, in addition to those mentioned in this chapter, whosework is of consequence in the development of American science andeducation. The record of their achievements is an inspiring one which, if properly told, would occupy many volumes. 

In the annals of American science, two names stand out with peculiarlustre--John James Audubon and Louis Agassiz. Neither was, strictlyspeaking, American, for Agassiz was born in Switzerland and did not cometo this country until he was nearly forty years of age; while Audubonwas born in French territory, the son of a French naval officer, and waseducated in France. But the work of both men was distinctively American, for Audubon devoted his life to the study of American birds, andAgassiz the latter part of his to the study and classification ofAmerican fishes--as well as to services of the most valuable kind in thefield of geology and paleontology. 

Audubon's story is a curious and interesting one. His father, the son ofa Vendean fisherman, after working his way up to the command of a Frenchman-of-war, purchased a plantation in Louisiana, which at that timebelonged to France. He married there, and there, in 1780, John JamesAudubon was born. He was a precocious child, and early developed a lovefor nature, which his parents encouraged in every way they could. He wasespecially fond of drawing birds and coloring his drawings. He acquiredso much skill in doing this that his father sent him to Paris and placedhim in the studio of the celebrated painter, David. 

It is related of young Audubon that his drawings for many years fell sofar short of his ideal, that on each of his birthdays he regularly madea bonfire of all he had produced during the previous year. He cared fornothing else, however, and after his return to America, his home becamea museum of birds' eggs and stuffed birds. He took long tramps throughthe wilderness, with no companions save dog and gun, all the time addingnew drawings to his collection. Some birds he was obliged to shoot, afterwards supporting them in natural positions while he painted them;others which he could not approach, he drew with the aid of a telescope, representing them amid their natural surroundings, and all withpainstaking care and exactitude. 

This work, occupying years of time, and accompanied by every sort ofsuffering and exposure, by long trips through the wilderness of thewest, in heat and cold, snow and rain, was carried forward from purelove of nature and enthusiasm for the work itself, without thought orhope of reward. Audubon's friends began to consider him a kind ofharmless madman, for what sane person would devote his life to a work solaborious and seemingly so useless? He made a little money occasionallyby giving drawing lessons; but he was never content except when roamingthe plains and forests, hunting for some new specimen. For his ambitionwas to study and draw every kind of bird which lived in America. 

In 1824 he happened to be in Philadelphia, and met there a son of LucienBonaparte, to whom he showed his drawings. The Frenchman was at oncedeeply interested, for he saw their beauty and value, and he urged uponAudubon that some arrangement be made by which they could be publishedand given to the world. The obstacles in the way of such an enterprisewere enormous, for the processes of color reproduction at that time wereslow and expensive, and it was estimated that the cost of the entirework would exceed a hundred thousand dollars. 

But Audubon had overcome obstacles before that, and three years later heissued the prospectus of his famous "Birds of America. " It was toconsist of four folio volumes of plates, and the price of each copy wasfixed at a thousand dollars. Three years more were spent in securingsubscriptions, and then the work of publication began, though Audubonhad barely enough money to pay for a single issue. Funds came in, however, after the appearance of the first number, and the work wentsteadily forward to completion in 1839. It was called by the greatnaturalist, Cuvier, "the most magnificent monument that art ever raisedto ornithology. " It contained 448 beautifully colored plates, showing1065 species of North American birds, each of them life size. 

Before it was completed, Audubon had planned another work on similarlines, to be known as "The Quadrupeds of America, " and set to work atonce to gather the necessary material, which meant the study from lifeof each of these animals. He even projected an extensive trip to theRocky Mountains in search of material, but was pursuaded by his friendsto give it up, as he was then nearly sixty years of age, and sufferingfrom the effects of his long years of exposure. His sons assisted him inthe preparation of the work, the first volume of which appeared in 1846, the last in 1854, three years after his death. 

Audubon's life illustrates strikingly the compelling power of devotionto an ideal. Few men have met such discouragements as he, and fewerstill have overcome them. For many years, in all climates, in allweathers, pausing at no difficulty or peril, his life frequentlyendangered by wild beasts or still wilder savages, he trudged thepathless wilderness, quite alone, sleeping under a rude shelter ofboughs or in a hollow tree, living on such game as he could shoot, seeking only one thing, new birds, and when he found them, observingtheir habits and setting them on paper with an infinite patience. On oneoccasion, rats got into the room where his drawings were stored, anddestroyed almost all of them; but he set to work at once re-drawingthem, where most men would have given up in despair. His work remains tothis day the standard one on American birds--a mighty monument to theideals of its maker. 

[Illustration: AGASSIZ]

Jean Louis Rudolphe Agassiz was also a born naturalist, but no suchobstacles confronted him as Audubon surmounted, nor did he strike outfor himself a field so absolutely original. Born in Switzerland in 1807, the descendent of six generations of preachers, but destined for theprofession of medicine, he refused to be anything but a naturalist. Fromhis earliest years, he showed a passion for gathering specimens, and hisfirst collection of fishes was made when he was ten years old. Hereceived the very best training to be had in Switzerland, France andGermany, and early attracted attention for original work of the mostimportant description. He came to be recognized as the greatestauthority on fishes in Europe, and his work on fossil fishes, publishedin 1843, was a contribution to science of the first importance. 

In 1846, Agassiz came to the United States, partly to deliver a courseof lectures at Boston and partly to make himself familiar with thegeology and natural history of this country. His reception was socordial and he found so much to interest him here, that he acceptedthe chair of zoology and geology in the Lawrence Scientific School atCambridge, Massachusetts, and decided to make the United States hishome. He soon made Cambridge a great scientific centre, and provedhimself the most inspiring, magnetic and influential teacher of sciencethis country has ever seen. 

In succeeding years, he traversed practically the entire country, accumulating vast collections of specimens which formed the foundationof the great natural history museum at Cambridge. He was preparinghimself for the publication of a comprehensive work to be called"Contributions to the Natural History of the United States, " the firstvolume of which appeared in 1857. Succeeding years were occupied with ajourney to Brazil, another around Cape Horn, and the establishment ofthe Pekinese Island school of natural history, where he was able tocarry out his long contemplated plan of teaching directly from nature. But his labors had impaired his health, and he died in Cambridge in1873, after a short illness. His grave is marked by a boulder from theglacier of the Aar, and shaded by pine trees brought from his nativeSwitzerland. 

Agassiz was one of the most remarkable teachers of science that everlived. Handsome, enthusiastic, overflowing with vitality, and with alearning broad and deep, his students found in him a real inspiration tointellectual endeavor. His lectures, however technical and abstrusetheir subjects, were of an incomparable clarity and simplicity. He wasone of the first to advocate the teaching of science to women, not inits technical details, but in its broad outlines. 

"What I wish for you, " he said, one day, addressing a class of girls, "is a culture that is alive and active. My instruction is only intendedto show you the thoughts in nature which science reveals. 

"A physical fact is as sacred as a moral principle, " he used to say. "Our own nature demands from us this double allegiance. "

Of the pupils of Agassiz, not the least famous was his son, Alexander, who, after graduating from Harvard, assisted his father in his work, collected many specimens for the museum at Cambridge, and was finallyappointed assistant in zoology there. In the following years he put hisscientific knowledge to a very practical use. In his geological surveysof the country, he had been impressed with the richness of the coppermines on Lake Superior. For five years, he acted as superintendent ofthe famous Calumet and Hecla mines, developing them into the mostsuccessful copper mines in the world, and himself gaining wealth fromthem which permitted his making gifts to Harvard aggregating half amillion dollars. It was characteristic of him that, after his servicewith the Calumet and Hecla, he resumed his duties at the museum atCambridge, and continued as curator until ill health compelled hisresignation in 1885. 

Among other pupils of Agassiz who won more than ordinary fame asnaturalists may be mentioned Albert Smith Bickmore, Alonzo HowardClark, Charles Frederick Hartt, Alpheus Hyatt, Theodore Lyman, EdwardSylvester Morse, Alpheus Spring Packard, Frederick Ward Putnam, SamuelHubbard Scudder, Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, William Stimpson, SanbornTenney, Addison Emory Merrill, Burt Green Wilder and Henry AugustusWard--as brilliant a galaxy of names as American science can boast, bearing remarkable testimony to the inspiring qualities of their greatteacher. 

What Agassiz did for geology and natural history, Asa Gray to someextent did for botany. Born at Paris, N. Y. , in 1810, and at an earlyage abandoning the study of medicine for that of botany, he accepted, in1842, a call to the Fisher professorship of natural history at Harvard, a post which he held for over thirty years. Gray's work began at thetime when the old artificial system of classification was giving way tothe natural system, and he, perhaps more than any other one man, established this system firmly on the basis of affinity. 

In 1864, he presented to Harvard his herbarium of more than two hundredthousand specimens, and his botanical library. He remained in charge ofthe herbarium until his death, adding to it constantly, until it becameone of the most complete in the world. His publications upon the subjectof botany were numerous and of the highest order of scholarship, andlong before his death he was recognized as the foremost botanist of thecountry. 

Scarcely inferior to him in reputation was John Torrey. It was toTorrey that Gray owed his first lessons in botany, and if the pupilafterwards surpassed the master, it was because he was able to build onthe foundations which the master laid. John Torrey, born in New YorkCity in 1796, was the son of a Revolutionary soldier, and in early lifedetermined to become a machinist, but afterwards studied medicine andbegan to practice in New York, taking up the study of botany as anavocation. He found the profession of medicine uncongenial, and finallyabandoned it altogether for science, serving for many years as professorof chemistry and botany at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in NewYork City. The succeeding years brought him many honors, and saw manyworks of importance issue from his hands. 

The progress of the last century in the various branches of science isan interesting study, and America has made no inconsiderablecontributions to every one of them. In astronomy, six names are worthyof mention here. The first of these, John William Draper, was noted forhis devotion to many other lines of science, especially to photography, and was the first person in the world to take a photograph of a humanbeing. His service to astronomy was in the application of photography tothat science. In 1840, he took the first photograph ever made of themoon, and a few years later published his "Production of Light by Heat, "an early and exceedingly important contribution to the subject ofspectrum analysis. 

His work in astronomy and more especially in physics was carriedon most worthily by his son, Henry Draper, who, at his home atHastings-on-the-Hudson, built himself an observatory, mounting in it areflecting telescope, which he also made. His description of theprocesses of grinding, polishing, silvering, testing and mounting it hasremained the standard work on the subject. With this telescope he took aphotograph of the moon which remains one of the best that has ever beenmade. Among his other noteworthy achievements were his spectrumphotographs of 1872 and 1873, and in 1880 his photograph of the greatnebula in Orion, the first photograph of a nebula ever secured. Perhapsthe most brilliant discovery ever made in physical science by anAmerican was that by Draper in 1877, when he demonstrated the presenceof oxygen in the sun so conclusively that it could not be disputed. Itwas a sort of _tour de force_ that took the scientific world by surpriseand gained its author the widest recognition. 

The services of Lewis Morris Rutherford to astronomy resembled in manyways those of Draper. Starting in life as a lawyer, he abandoned thatprofession at the age of thirty-three to devote his whole time toscience, principally to the perfection of astronomical photography andspectrum analysis. The service which photography has rendered toastronomy can scarcely be overestimated, and these pioneers in the artwere laying the foundations for its recent wonderful developments. Hewas the first to attempt to classify the stars according to theirspectra, and invented a number of instruments of the greatest service instar photography. All in all, it is doubtful if anyone added more to thedevelopment of this branch of the science than did he. 

Very different from the services of these men were those rendered thescience of astronomy by Charles Augustus Young. Called to the chair ofastronomy at Princeton University in 1877, he held that importantposition for thirty years, his courses a source of inspiration to hisstudents. He was a member of many important scientific expeditions, invented an automatic spectroscope which has never been displaced, measured the velocity of the sun's rotation, and was a large contributorto public knowledge of the science. 

Equally important have been the contributions made by Samuel PierpontLangley, perhaps the greatest authority on the sun alive to-day. Heshowed a decided fondness for astronomy even as a boy, and at the age ofthirty was assistant in the observatory at Harvard. Two years later, hewas invited to fill the chair of astronomy in the Western University ofPennsylvania at Pittsburgh, and his work there began with theestablishment of a complete time service, the first step toward thepresent daily time service conducted by the government. In 1870, hebegan the series of brilliant researches on the sun which have placedhim at the head of authorities on that body. His scientific papers arevery numerous and his series of magazine articles on "The NewAstronomy" did much to acquaint the public with the rapid development ofthe science. In 1887, he was chosen to the important post of secretaryof the Smithsonian Institution, and his recent years have been spent inexperimenting with aëronautics. 

Simon Newcomb is another who rendered yeoman service to the science. Born in Nova Scotia, the son of the village schoolmaster, he lived tobecome one of the eight foreign associates of the Institute of France, the first native American since Franklin to be so honored; to win theHuygens medal, given once in twenty years to the astronomer who had donethe greatest service to the science in that period, and to receive thehighest degree from practically every American college. 

In his autobiography he tells how, at the age of five, he began to studyarithmetic, at twelve algebra, and at thirteen Euclid. At the age ofeighteen, planning to make his way to the United States, he set out onfoot, taught school for a year or so, and then attracted the attentionof Prof. Joseph Henry, of the Smithsonian Institution, by sending him aproblem in algebra. The unusual aptitude for mathematics which the boypossessed so impressed Prof. Henry, that he set him to work as acomputer on the Nautical Almanac; but he was soon attracted to "exact, "or mathematical astronomy, which became his life work. Some idea of itsimportance may be gained when it is stated that every astronomer in theworld to-day uses his determinations of the movements of the planetsand the moon; every skipper in the world guides his ship by tables whichNewcomb devised; and every eclipse is computed according to his tables. He supervised the construction and mounting of the equatorial telescopein the naval observatory at Washington, the Lick telescope, and Russiaapplied to him, in 1873, for aid in placing her great telescope. 

A man of humor, sympathy and anecdote, he found, in the fall of 1908, that he was suffering from cancer, and hastened the work on the moon, which was to be his masterpiece. Ten months later, he was told that hiscourse was nearly run--and his great work was still incomplete. 

"Take me to Washington, " he said, "I must work while there is time. "

And there, lying in agony on his bed, for three weeks he dictatedsteadily to stenographers on a subject which required the utmostconcentration. His indomitable will alone supported him, and a weekafter the last word had been written, came the end. Verily, there was aman!

The last of the great American astronomers whom we shall mention here isEdward Charles Pickering, whose name is so closely connected with thedevelopment of the great observatory at Harvard. Born at Boston, andeducated at the Lawrence Scientific School, his first work was in thefield of physics, but in 1876, he was appointed professor of astronomyand geodesy, and director of the Harvard observatory, which, under hismanagement, has become of the first importance. His principal work hasbeen the determination of the relative brightness of the stars, and manythousands have been charted. On the death of Henry Draper, the study ofthe spectra of the stars by means of photography was continued as amemorial to that great scientist, and the results obtained have been ofthe most important character, including a star map of the entireheavens. Other phases of the science of scarcely less importance havebeen carefully developed, and the work which has been done underPickering's direction, is second to none in the history of the science. Not satisfied with the Northern hemisphere, a branch has beenestablished in Peru, in which the observatory's methods of research havebeen extended to the south celestial pole. So for eighteen years andmore, it has kept ceaseless watch of the heavens, with an accuracy ofwhich the world has hardly a conception. For this great work thescientific world must pay tribute to the genius and perseverance ofEdward Charles Pickering. 

The second department of science claiming our attention is that ofpaleontology. Here one of the most eminent of American names is that ofOthniel Charles Marsh. A graduate of Yale and firmly grounded in zoologyand kindred sciences by a course of study at Heidelberg and Berlin, hereturned to the United States in 1866 to accept the chair ofpaleontology which had been established for him at Yale. The remainderof his life was devoted to the original investigation of extinctvertebrates, especially in the Rocky Mountain regions. In theseexplorations, more than a thousand new species of extinct vertebrateswere brought to light, many of which possess great scientific interest, representing new orders never before discovered in America. So importantwas this work that the national geological survey undertook thepublication of his reports, which formed the most remarkablecontributions to the subject ever written in this country, attractingthe attention and admiration of the whole scientific world. 

Associated with Marsh as paleontologist for the Geological Survey wasEdward Drinker Cope, whose work was second only to the older man's inimportance. He also devoted much of his attention to the exploration ofthe Rocky Mountain region, and found that there, in the strata of theancient lake beds, records of the age of mammals had been made andpreserved with a fulness surpassing that of any other known region onearth. The profusion of vertebrate remains brought to light was almostunbelievable. Prof. Marsh, who was first in the field, found threehundred new tertiary species between 1870 and 1876, besides unearthingthe remains of two hundred birds with teeth, six hundred flying dragons, and fifteen hundred sea serpents, some of them sixty feet in length. Ina single bed of rock not larger than a good sized lecture room, he foundthe remains of no less than one hundred and sixty mammals. 

It was this work which Prof. Cope took up and carried forward. Itsimportance may be appreciated when it is stated that among theseremains are found examples of just such intermediate types of organismsas must have existed if the succession of life on the earth has been anunbroken lineal succession. Here are snakes with wings and legs, andbirds with teeth and other snakelike characteristics, bridging the gapbetween modern birds and reptiles. The line of descent of the horse, thecamel, the hippopotamus and other mammals has been traced to a singleancestor, the result being the proof of the theory of evolution. 

The whole work of American paleontology has, of course, been along theselines. Agassiz himself was a living and vital force in it, as were suchmen as Joseph Leidy and H. F. Osborne. 

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It is a remarkable fact that one of the few truly original and novelideas the past century can boast, and the one which has had the deepestinfluence on geology, had its origin in the brain of an illiterate Swisschamois hunter named Perraudin. Throughout the Alps, on lofty crags, great bowlders were often found, which had no relation to the geology ofthe region and which were called erratics, because they had evidentlycome there from a distance. But how? Scientists explained it in manyways, but it remained for the mountaineer to suggest that the bowldershad been left in their present positions by glaciers. The scientificworld laughed at the idea, but ten years later, it was brought to theattention of Louis Agassiz; he investigated it, became a convert, andsaw that its implications extended far beyond the Alps, for theseerratic bowlders were found on mountains and plains throughout thenorthern hemisphere. Agassiz found everywhere evidences of glacialaction, and became convinced that at one time a great ice cap hadcovered the globe down to the higher latitudes of the northernhemisphere. So came the conception of a universal Ice Age, now one ofthe accepted tenets of geology. 

The dean of American geologists was Benjamin Silliman, who, at the verybeginning of the nineteenth century, took up at Yale University the workwhich he was to carry on so successfully for more than fifty years. Asan inspiring teacher he was scarcely less successful than Agassiz at alater day. His popular lectures began in 1808 and soon attracted to NewHaven the brightest young men in the country. Among them was JamesDwight Dana, who was to carry on most worthily the work which Prof. Silliman had begun. 

James Dwight Dana was attracted to Yale by Prof. Silliman's greatreputation and received there the inspiration which started him upon ascientific career. Three years after his graduation, he was appointedassistant to his former instructor, and two years later sailed for theSouth Seas as mineralogist and geologist of the United States exploringexpedition commanded by Charles Wilkes. He was absent for three yearsand spent thirteen more in studying and classifying the material he hadcollected. He then resumed his work at Yale, succeeding Prof. Sillimanin the chair of geology and mineralogy. His work was recognizedthroughout the world as most important, and many honors were conferredupon him. 

Another famous name in American geology is that of John Strong Newberry. His name is connected principally with the explorations of the Columbiaand Colorado rivers. He was afterwards appointed professor of geologyand paleontology at the Columbia College School of Mines, and tookcharge of that department in the autumn of 1866. During his connectionwith the institution, he created a museum of over one hundred thousandspecimens, principally collected by himself, containing the bestrepresentation of the mineral resources of the United States to be foundanywhere. 

Among the pupils of Prof. Silliman who afterwards won a wide reputationwas Josiah Dwight Whitney. Graduating from Yale in 1839, he spent fiveyears studying in Europe, and then, returning to America, was connectedwith the survey of the Lake Superior region, of Iowa, of the upperMissouri, and of California, issuing a number of books giving theresults of these investigations, and in 1865, being called to the chairof geology at Harvard. 

Still another of Prof. Silliman's pupils was Edward Hitchcock, whoselife was an unusually interesting one. His parents were poor and hespent his boyhood working on a farm or as a carpenter, gaining sucheducation as he could by studying at night. Deciding to enter theministry, he managed to work his way through Yale theological seminary, graduating at the age of twenty-seven. It was here that he came underthe influence of Prof. Silliman, and after a laboratory course and muchfield work, he was chosen professor of chemistry and natural history atAmherst College. He held this position for twenty years, and in 1845 waschosen president of the college, transforming it, before his retirementnine years later, from a poor and struggling institution into awell-endowed and firmly established one. He had meanwhile served asstate geologist of Massachusetts, and completed the first survey of anentire state ever made by authority of a government. 

The most important recent contribution to American geology has been thethree volume work issued in 1904-5, under the joint editorship of ThomasC. Chamberlain and Rollin D. Salisbury. Both are geologists of wideexperience, and their work presents the present status of the scienceinterestingly and simply. 

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America has had her full share of daring and successful surgeons, and inthe science of surgery stands to-day second to no nation on earth, butperhaps the most famous American surgeon who ever lived was ValentineMott. Dr. Mott was descended from a long line of Quaker ancestors, andwas born in 1785. His father was a physician, and Dr. Mott began hismedical and surgical studies at the age of nineteen, first in New YorkCity, and afterwards in the hospitals of London, where he made aspecialty of the study of practical anatomy by the method of dissection. At that time there was in this country a deep-seated prejudice againstthe use of the human body for this purpose, and the experience which Dr. Mott secured in London, and which stood him in such good stead in afteryears, would have been impossible of attainment here. A year was alsospent in Edinburgh, and finally, in 1809, Dr. Mott returned to Americawith an exceptional equipment. 

His skill won him a wide reputation and he was soon recognized as one ofthe first surgeons of the age. His boldness and originality wereexceptional, and his success was no doubt due in some degree to hisconstant practice throughout his life of performing every novel andimportant operation upon a cadaver before operating upon the livingsubject. To describe in detail the operations which he originated wouldbe too technical for such a book as this, but many of them were of thefirst importance. Sir Astley Cooper said of him: "Dr. Mott has performedmore of the great operations than any man living, or that ever didlive. " He possessed all the qualifications of a great operator, extraordinary keenness of sight, steadiness of nerve, and physicalvigor. He could use his left hand as skillfully as his right, anddeveloped a dexterity which has never been surpassed. 

It should be remembered that in those days the use of anæsthetics hadnot yet been discovered, and every operation had to be performed uponthe conscious subject, as he lay strapped upon the table shrieking withagony. To perform an operation under such circumstances required an ironnerve. Dr. Mott was one of the first to recognize the value ofanæsthetics, and his use of them, immediately following their discovery, greatly facilitated their rapid and general introduction. 

It is one of the boasts of American medicine that the first man in theworld to conceive the idea that the administration of a definite drugmight render a surgical operation painless was an American--Crawford W. Long. Dr. Long graduated from the medical department of the Universityof Pennsylvania in 1839. When a student, he had once inhaled ether forits intoxicant effects, and while partially under the influence of thedrug, had noticed that a chance blow to his shin produced no pain. Thisgave him the idea that ether might be used in surgical operations, andon March 30, 1842, at Jefferson, Georgia, he used it with entiresuccess. He repeated the experiment several times, but he did notentirely trust the evidence of these experiments. So he delayedannouncing the discovery until he had subjected it to further tests, andwhile these experiments were going on, another American, Dr. W. T. G. Morton, of Boston, also hit upon the great discovery and announced it tothe world. 

Dr. Morton was a dentist who, in 1841, introduced a new kind of solderby which false teeth could be fastened to gold plates. Then, in theendeavor to extract teeth without pain, he tried stimulants, opium andmagnetism without success, and finally sulphuric ether. On September 30, 1846, he administered ether to a patient and removed a tooth withoutpain; the next day he repeated the experiment, and the next. Then, filled with the immense possibilities of his discovery, he went to Dr. J. C. Warren, one of the foremost surgeons of Boston, and askedpermission to test it decisively on one of the patients at the Bostonhospital during a severe operation. The request was granted, and onOctober 16, 1846, the test was made in the presence of a large body ofsurgeons and students. The patient slept quietly while the surgeon'sknife was plied, and awoke to an astonished comprehension that thedreadful ordeal was over. The impossible, the miraculous, had beenaccomplished; suffering mankind had received such a blessing as it hadnever received before, and American surgery had scored its greatesttriumph. Swiftly as steam could carry it, the splendid news was heraldedto all the world, and its truth was soon established by repeatedexperiments. 

To tell of the work of the men who came after these pioneers in thefield of surgery and medicine is a task quite beyond the compass of thislittle volume. There are at least a score whose achievements are of thefirst importance, and nowhere in the world has this great science, whichhas for its aim the alleviation of human suffering, reached a higherdevelopment. 

Among the physicists of the country, Joseph Henry takes a high place. His boyhood and youth were passed in a struggle for existence. He wasplaced in a store at the age of ten, and remained there for five years. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to a watchmaker, and had somethought of studying for the stage, but during a brief illness, hestarted to read Dr. Gregory's "Lectures on Experimental Philosophy, Astronomy and Chemistry, " and forthwith decided to become a scientist. He began to study in the evenings, managed to take a course ofinstruction at the academy at Albany, New York, and finally, in 1826, was made professor of mathematics there. 

Almost at once began a series of brilliant experiments in electricitywhich have linked his name with that of Benjamin Franklin as one of thetwo most original investigators in that branch of science which thiscountry has ever produced. His first work was the improving of existingforms of apparatus, and his first important discovery was that of theelectro-magnet. His development of the "intensity" magnet in 1830 madethe electric telegraph a possibility. Two years later he was called tothe chair of natural philosophy at Princeton University, where hecontinued his investigations, many of which have been of permanent valueto science. In 1846, he was elected first secretary of the SmithsonianInstitution, and removed to Washington, where the last forty years ofhis life were passed in the development of the great scientificestablishment of which he was the head. He steadily refused the mostflattering offers of other positions, among them the presidency ofPrinceton, and like Agassiz, he might have answered, when tempted bylarger salaries, "I cannot afford to waste my time in making money. " Tohis efforts is largely due the establishment of the national lighthousesystem, as well as that of the national weather bureau. 

Besides his services to American science as instructor at HarvardCollege, Louis Agassiz rendered another when he persuaded Arnold Guyot, his colleague in the college at Neuchâtel, to accompany him to thiscountry. Guyot was at that time forty years old, and was already widelyknown as a geologist and naturalist, and the delivery of a series oflectures before the Lowell Institute, established his reputation in thiscountry. He was soon invited to the chair of physical geography andgeology at Princeton, which he held until his death. He founded themuseum at Princeton, which has since become one of the best of its kindin the United States. Perhaps he is best known for the series ofgeographies he prepared, and which were at one time widely used inschools throughout the United States. 

Perhaps no family has been more closely associated with American sciencethan that of the Huguenot Le Conte, who settled at New Rochelle, NewYork, about the close of the seventeenth century, moving afterwards toNew Jersey. There, in 1782, Lewis Le Conte was born. He was graduated atColumbia at the age of seventeen and started to study medicine, but wassoon afterwards called to the management of the family estates ofWoodsmanston, in Georgia. There he established a botanical garden and alaboratory in which he tested the discoveries of the chemists of theday. His death resulted from poison that was taken into his system whiledressing a wound for a member of his family. 

His son, John Le Conte, after studying medicine and beginning thepractice of his profession at Savannah, Georgia, was called to the chairof natural philosophy and chemistry at Franklin College, and after someyears in educational work, was appointed professor of physics andindustrial mechanics in the University of California, which position heheld until his death, serving also for some years as president of theUniversity. His scientific work extended over a period of more than halfa century, being confined almost exclusively to physical science, inwhich he was one of the first authorities. 

Another son of Lewis, Joseph Le Conte, like his brother, studiedmedicine and started to practice it; but in 1850, attracted by the greatwork being done by Louis Agassiz, he entered the Lawrence ScientificSchool at Harvard, devoting his attention especially to geology. Afterholding a number of minor positions, he became professor of geology andnatural history in the University of California in 1869, and his mostimportant work was done there in the shape of original investigations ingeology, which placed him in the front rank of American geologists. 

Lewis Le Conte had a brother, John Eathan Le Conte, who was also widelyknown as a naturalist of unusual attainments. He published many papersupon various branches of botany and zoology, and collected a vast amountof material for a natural history of American insects, only a part ofwhich was published. His son, John Lawrence Le Conte, was a pupil ofAgassiz, and conducted extensive explorations of the Lake Superior andupper Mississippi regions, and of the Colorado river. He afterwards madea number of expeditions to Honduras, Panama, Europe, Egypt and Algiers, collecting material for a work on the fauna of the world, which, however, was left uncompleted at his death. 

American science recently suffered a heavy loss in the death ofNathaniel Southgate Shaler, one of the most brilliant of the pupils ofAgassiz, and from 1864 until the time of his death, connected with thegeological department of Harvard University, rising to the fullprofessorship in geology, which he held for over twenty years, and tothe position of dean of the Lawrence Scientific School. He did much toincrease public interest in and knowledge of the development of thescience by frequent popular articles in the leading magazines, inaddition to more technical books and memoirs intended especially forscientists. 

Of living scientists, we can do no more than mention a few. Perhaps themost famous, and dearest to the popular heart is John Burroughs, anature philosopher, if there ever was one, a keen observer of the lifeof field and forest, and the author of a long list of lovable books. Oneof the leaders in the "return to nature" movement which has reachedsuch wide proportions of recent years, he has held his position as itsprophet and interpreter against the assaults of younger, more energetic, but narrower men. 

Prominent in the same field is Liberty Hyde Bailey, since 1903 directorof the College of Agriculture at Cornell University. His early trainingtook place under Asa Gray, and his attention has been devotedprincipally to botanical and horticultural subjects. He has written manybooks, his principal work being his Cyclopedia of American Horticulture, which has just been completed. Other recent important contributions toscience have been made by Vernon L. Kellogg, whose work has dealtprincipally with American insects, and whose recent book on that subjecthas been recognized as a standard authority; by Charles Edward Bessey, professor of botany at the University of Nebraska since 1884, a pupil ofDr. Asa Gray and the author of a number of valued books upon the subjectwhich has been his life work; by George Frederick Barker, now emeritusprofessor of physics in the University of Pennsylvania, and therecipient of high honors at home and abroad; and by many others whom itis not necessary to mention here. 

It will be evident enough from the foregoing that American science canboast no men of commanding genius--no men, that is, to rank with Darwin, or Huxley, or Lord Kelvin, or Sir Isaac Newton, to mention onlyEnglishmen. Its record has been one of respectable achievement ratherthan of brilliant originality, but is yet one of which we have noreason to be ashamed. 

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Most of the men mentioned in this chapter have, in the widest sense beeneducators. Agassiz, Gray, Silliman, Guyot--all were educators in thefullest and truest way. It remains for us to consider a few others whohave labored in this country for the spread of knowledge. That thepresent educational system of the United States is not a spontaneousgrowth, but has been carefully fostered and directed, goes withoutsaying. It is the result, first, of a wise interest and support on thepart of the state, which early recognized the importance of educatingits citizens, and, second, of the self-sacrificing efforts of a numberof intelligent, earnest, and public-spirited men. 

One of the first of these was Horace Mann, born in Massachusetts in1796, the son of a poor farmer. His struggle to gain an education was adesperate one, and its story cannot but be inspiring. As a child heearned his school books by braiding straw, and his utmost endeavors, between the ages of ten and twenty, could secure him no more than sixweeks' schooling in any one year. Consequently he was twenty-three yearsof age when he graduated from Brown University, instead of seventeen oreighteen, as would have been the case had he had the usualopportunities. He went to work at once as a tutor in Latin and Greek, studied law, was admitted to the bar, elected to the state legislatureand afterwards to the senate, and finally entered upon his real work assecretary to the Massachusetts board of education. 

He introduced a thorough reform into the school system of the state, made a trip of inspection through European schools, and by his lecturesand writings awakened an interest in the cause of education which hadnever before been felt. His reports were reprinted in other states, attaining the widest circulation. It is noteworthy that as early as1847, he advocated the disuse of corporal punishment in schooldiscipline. After a service of some years as member of Congress, duringwhich he threw all his influence against slavery, he accepted thepresidency of Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, Ohio, where hecontinued until his death. It was there that the experiment ofco-education was tried, and found to work successfully, and thefoundations laid for one of the most characteristic of recent greatdevelopment of higher school education in America. Oberlin College, alsoin Ohio, had by a few years preceded Dr. Mann's experiment, but thelatter's great reputation as an educator caused his ardent advocacy ofco-education to carry great weight with the public. From this time on itbecame a custom, as state universities opened in the west, to admitwomen, and the custom gradually spread to the east and even to some ofthe larger colleges supported by private endowments. 

Turning to the three great universities, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, which have done so much for the intellectual welfare of the country, wefind a galaxy of brilliant names. On the list of Harvard presidents, three stand out pre-eminent--Josiah Quincy, Edward Everett, and CharlesWilliam Eliot. Josiah Quincy, third of the name of the greatMassachusetts Quincys, graduated at Harvard in 1790 at the head of hisclass, studied law, drifted inevitably into politics, held a number ofoffices, which do not concern us here, and finally, after a remarkableterm as mayor of Boston, was, in 1829, chosen president of Harvard. Thework that he did there was important in the extreme. He introduced thesystem of marking which continued in use for over forty years;instituted the elective system, which permitted the student to shape hiscourse of study to suit the career which he had chosen; secured largeendowments, and, when he retired from the presidency in 1845, left thecollege in the foremost position among American institutions oflearning. Edward Everett, who was president of the college from 1846-49, was more prominent as a statesman than as an educator, and an outline ofhis career will be found in "Men of Action. " The third of the trio, Charles William Eliot, whose term as president of the college covered aperiod of forty years, is rightly regarded as one of the greatest, ifnot the greatest educator this country has produced. 

[Illustration: ELIOT]

Graduating from Harvard in 1853, at the age of nineteen, he devoted hisattention principally to chemistry, and, after some years of teaching, and of study in Europe, was, in 1865, appointed professor of chemistryin the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The same year, arevolution occurred in the government of Harvard, which was transferredfrom the state legislature to the graduates of the college. The effectof the change was greatly to strengthen the interest of the alumni inthe management of the university, and to prepare the way for extensiveand thorough reforms. Considerable time was spent in searching for theright man for president and finally, in 1869, Prof. Eliot was chosen. 

That the right man had been found was evident from the first. "King Loghas made room for King Stork, " wrote Oliver Wendell Holmes, thenprofessor of anatomy and physiology at Harvard, to John Motley. "Mr. Eliot makes the corporation meet twice a month instead of once. He comesto the meeting of every faculty, ours among the rest, and keeps us up toeleven and twelve o'clock at night discussing new arrangements. I cannothelp being amused at some of the scenes we have in our medicalfaculty--this cool, grave young man proposing in the calmest way to turneverything topsy turvy, taking the reins into his hands and driving asif he were the first man that ever sat on the box. 

"'How is it, I should like to ask, ' said one of our members, the otherday, 'that this faculty has gone on for eighty years managing its ownaffairs and doing it well, and now within three or four months it isproposed to change all our modes of carrying on the school? It seemsvery extraordinary, and I should like to know how it happens. '

"'I can answer Dr. ----'s question very easily, ' said the bland, grave young man. 'There is a new president. '

"The tranquil assurance of this answer had an effect such as I hardlyever knew produced by the most eloquent sentences I ever heard uttered. "

The bland young man's innovations did not seem to do much harm toHarvard, for under his administration, her financial resources have beenmultiplied by ten, as has the number of her teachers, while the numberof her students has been multiplied by five. Dr. Eliot has grown intothe real head of the educational system of this country; his influencehas wrought vast changes in every department of teaching, from thekindergarten to the university. It was his idea that common schooleducation and college education ought to be flexible, ought to be madeto fit the needs of the pupil. The result has been the broad developmentof the elective system--broader than Josiah Quincy ever dreamed of. Thesame system has changed the whole aspect of the teaching profession, resulting in the demand for a competent training in some specialty forevery teacher. 

Dr. Eliot, who is in a sense the first living citizen of America, hasnot attained that position merely by success in his profession. He hasdevoted time and thought to the great problems of our government, andhas taken an active part in many public movements--the race question, the relations of capital and labor, the movement for universalarbitration. He has been honored by France, by Italy, and by Japan, andresigned from his great office, in 1909, at the age of seventy-five, with mental and physical powers in splendid condition, not to retirefrom active life, but to devote himself even more wholly to the serviceof his countrymen. In this age of commercial domination, a career suchas Dr. Eliot's is more than usually inspiring. 

In the history of the administration of Yale university, the moststriking personalities are the two Timothy Dwights and Noah Porter. Thefirst Timothy Dwight, born in 1752, and graduating from Yale at the ageof seventeen, began to teach, and at the outbreak of the Revolution, enlisted as Chaplain in Parson's brigade of the Connecticut line. It wasat this time he wrote a number of stirring patriotic songs, one ofwhich, "Columbia, " still lives. At the close of the war, he continuedpreaching and also opened an academy, at which women were admitted tothe same courses with men, and which soon acquired considerablereputation. In 1795, he was called to the presidency of Yale, a positionwhich he held until his death. His administration marked the beginningof a new era in the history of the college. At his accession, thecollege had about one hundred students, and the instructors consisted ofthe president, one professor and three tutors. He established permanentprofessorships and chose such men to fill them as Jeremiah Day, BenjaminSilliman, and James Kingsley. The result of this policy was a steadygrowth in the number of students, until, at his death, they hadincreased to over three hundred. 

Noah Porter, who came to the presidency in 1871, had been graduatedfrom the college forty years before, during which time he had studiedtheology, held a number of important charges, was called to the chair ofmoral philosophy at Yale, and finally elevated to the presidency. Hiswork was most important, one feature of it being the introduction ofelective studies, though he insisted also upon a required course, asopposed to the Harvard system. Some of the University's finest buildingswere erected during his administration, and at its close the studentbody numbered nearly eleven hundred. 

He was succeeded in 1886 by Timothy Dwight, grandson of the elderpresident Dwight, who, for many years has been closely associated withthe University, its financial growth being largely due to his efforts. Under his management the growth of the institution was unprecedented, the number of students increasing nearly fifty per cent within fiveyears. He was also prominently identified with the general educationalmovement throughout the country, and his "True Ideal of an AmericanUniversity, " published in 1872, attracted much attention. 

Princeton has also had its share of eminent men, among them JonathanEdwards, John Witherspoon, and James McCosh. Jonathan Edwards was one ofthe most remarkable characters in American history. Born in 1703, he wasthe fifth of eleven children and the only son. As a mere child, hedeveloped uncommon qualities, entered Yale College at the age of twelveand graduated at the age of seventeen. His father was a clergyman, andthe boy had been brought up in a household and community intenselyreligious, so that he very early began to have "a variety of concernsand exercises about his soul. " It was inevitable, of course, that heshould become a minister, and, at the age of nineteen, was ordained andbegan to preach at a small church in New York City. Edwards seems tohave been afflicted from the first with what is in these daysirreverently called an in-growing conscience, and early formulated forhimself a set of seventy resolutions of the most exalted nature, which, however praiseworthy in themselves, were too high and good for humannature's daily food, and must have made him a most uncomfortable personto live with. He developed, however, into a powerful preacher, and hisservices were much sought, especially at revivals. One of his sermons, called "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, " is said to have created aprofound impression wherever delivered. 

A difference with his congregation at Northampton caused him to resignhis pastorate there, and, declining a number of calls to establishedparishes, he went as a missionary to the Housatonick Indians, at sosmall an income that his wife and daughters were forced to labor withthe needle to support the family. It was while engaged in this work, that an unexpected call came to him to take the presidency of Princeton. He accepted and was installed as president early in 1758. At once hebegan a series of reforms in the college administration, but an epidemicof small-pox broke out in the neighborhood, and Edwards, exposinghimself to it fearlessly, contracted the disease and died thirty-fourdays after his installation. 

Jonathan Edwards probably came as near to the old idea of a saint asAmerica ever produced. Self-denying, stern, of an exalted piety, andintensely religious, he lived in a world of his own, and was regardedwith no little awe and trembling. That he was a power for good cannot bedoubted, and his sermons are still read, where those of hiscontemporaries have long since been forgotten. 

Much more important to Princeton, was John Witherspoon, who came to thepresidency in 1768, after a distinguished career in Scotland, one of theincidents of which was being taken a prisoner while incautiouslywatching the battle of Falkirk. He never wholly recovered from theeffects of the imprisonment which followed. He brought with him fromScotland a valuable library which he gave to the college, and, findingthe college treasury empty, he undertook a vigorous campaign toreplenish it, making a tour of New England, and even extending his questas far as Jamaica and the West Indies. Through his administrativeability and the changes and additions which he made in the course ofstudy, the college received a great impetus. 

The service to his adopted country by which Witherspoon will be longestremembered, was the course he followed at the beginning of theRevolution. From the first, he took the side of the colonies, and byprecept and example, held not only the great body of Presbyterians trueto that cause, but also the Scotch and Scotch-Irish, who were naturallyTories by sympathy. He was a member of the Continental Congress, urgedceaselessly the passage of the Declaration of Independence, was one ofits signers, and as a member of succeeding Congresses, distinguishedhimself by his services. After the close of the war, he returned toPrinceton and devoted the remainder of his life to its administration. 

Greatest of the three as an educator was James McCosh. A Scotchman, likeWitherspoon, a student of the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, apupil of Thomas Chalmers, he was ordained to the ministry in 1835, andwas a leading spirit in the movement which culminated in theestablishment of the Free Church of Scotland. His publications onphilosophical subjects brought him the appointment as professor of logicand metaphysics in Queen's College, Belfast, where he remained forsixteen years, drawing to the college a large body of students, andpublishing other philosophical works of the first importance. In 1868, he was chosen president of Princeton, and his administration, lastingfor nearly a quarter of a century, was remarkably successful. Under him, the student attendance nearly doubled, the teaching staff was more thandoubled, and the resources of the college enormously increased. Duringthese years, too, he continued his philosophical work, publishing aseries of volumes which are the most noteworthy of their kind everproduced in America. 

The temptation is great to dwell upon other educators connected with thegreat universities: Ira Remsen, and his contributions to chemistry;David Starr Jordan, and his great work on American fishes; WoodrowWilson, and his contributions to the study of American history; JacobGould Schurman, and his work in the field of ethics;--to mention only afew of them--but there is not space to do so here. However, this chaptercannot be closed without some reference to the career of a remarkablewoman, an educator in the truest sense, whose influence for good canhardly be estimated--Jane Addams. 

John Burns, the English cabinet minister and labor leader, has calledher "the only saint America has produced. " Her sainthood is of themodern kind, which devotes itself by practical work to the alleviationof suffering and the uplifting of humanity, as opposed to the oldfashioned kind of which we were speaking a moment ago in connection withJonathan Edwards. 

Graduating at Rockford College, in 1881, Miss Addams, then a delicategirl, spent two years in Europe. The sight which impressed her most, andwhich, to a large extent, determined her future career, was that of MileEnd Road, the most crowded and squalid district of London, where shebeheld a dirty and destitute mob quarreling over food unfit to eat. Thisvision of squalor and sin never left her, and the result was theestablishment, in 1889, of the Social Settlement of Hull House, in theslums of Chicago. For Miss Addams had come to the conclusion that theonly way to reach the destitute and despairing was to dwell among them. 

How right she was has been abundantly proved by the splendid work HullHouse has done. Its object, as stated in its charter, is "to provide acenter for a higher civic and social life; to institute and maintaineducational and philanthropic enterprises, and to investigate andimprove the conditions in the industrial districts of Chicago. " All thatit has done, and much more; for it has been a beacon light of progress, pointing the way for like undertakings elsewhere. But most valuable ofall has been Miss Addams's personal influence, the inspiration which herlife has been to workers everywhere for social betterment, and themessage which, by tongue and pen, she has given to the world. As anexample of a useful, devoted and well-rounded life, hers stands uniquein America to-day. 

SUMMARY

AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES. Born near New Orleans, May 4, 1780; published"Birds of America, " 1830-39; "Ornithological Biography, " 1831-39;"Quadrupeds of America, " 1846-54; died at New York City, January 27, 1851. 

AGASSIZ, JEAN LOUIS RUDOLPHE. Born at Motier, canton of Fribourg, Switzerland, May 28, 1807; professor of natural history at Neuchâtel, 1832; studied Aar glacier, 1840-41; came to United States, 1846;professor of zoölogy and geology at Cambridge, 1848; curator ofCambridge Museum of Comparative Zoölogy, 1859; travelled in Brazil, 1865-66; around Cape Horn, 1871-72; died at Cambridge, Massachusetts, December 14, 1873. 

AGASSIZ, ALEXANDER. Born at Neuchâtel, Switzerland, December 17, 1835;came to United States, 1849; graduated at Harvard, 1855; developed LakeSuperior copper mines, 1865-69; curator of Cambridge Museum ofComparative Zoölogy, 1874-85; died at sea, March 29, 1910. 

GRAY, ASA. Born at Paris, Oneida County, New York, November 18, 1810;professor of natural history at Harvard, 1842-88; died at Cambridge, Massachusetts, January 30, 1888. 

TORREY, JOHN. Born at New York City, August 15, 1796; professor atPrinceton and in College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York; StateGeologist of New York; United States assayer; died at New York, March10, 1873. 

DRAPER, JOHN WILLIAM. Born at St. Helena, near Liverpool, England, May5, 1811; came to America, 1832; professor of chemistry University of NewYork, 1839; president of the Medical College, 1850-73; died atHastings-on-the-Hudson, New York, January 4, 1882. 

RUTHERFORD, LEWIS MORRIS. Born at Morrisania, New York, November 25, 1816; graduated at Williams College, 1834; admitted to bar, 1839;abandoned law to devote himself to study of physics, 1849; died atTranquillity, New Jersey, May 30, 1892. 

YOUNG, CHARLES AUGUSTUS. Born at Hanover, New Hampshire, December 15, 1834; graduated at Dartmouth, 1858; professor of astronomy at Princeton, 1877-1905; died at Hanover, New Hampshire, January 4, 1908. 

LANGLEY, SAMUEL PIERPONT. Born at Roxbury, Boston, August 22, 1834;secretary Smithsonian Institution, 1887-1908. 

NEWCOMB, SIMON. Born at Wallace, Nova Scotia, March 12, 1835; came toUnited States, 1853; graduated Lawrence Scientific School, 1858;professor of Mathematics, U. S. Navy, 1861; director Nautical Almanacoffice, 1877-97; professor mathematics and astronomy Johns HopkinsUniversity, 1884-94; died at Washington, July 11, 1909. 

PICKERING, EDWARD CHARLES. Born at Boston, July 19, 1846; graduatedLawrence Scientific School, 1865; professor of astronomy and director ofHarvard Observatory since 1877. 

MARSH, OTHNIEL CHARLES. Born at Lockport, New York, October 29, 1831;professor paleontology Yale University, 1866, to death at New Haven, March 18, 1899. 

COPE, EDWARD DRINKER. Born at Philadelphia, July 28, 1840; professor ofnatural sciences, Haverford College, 1864-67; paleontologist to UnitedStates Geological Survey, 1868 to death at Philadelphia, April 12, 1897. 

SILLIMAN, BENJAMIN. Born at North Stratford, Connecticut, August 8, 1779; graduated at Yale, 1796; tutor there, 1799, and professor, 1802;professor emeritus, 1853; died at New Haven, Connecticut, November 24, 1864. 

DANA, JAMES DWIGHT. Born at Utica, New York, February 12, 1813;graduated at Yale, 1833; assistant to Professor Silliman, 1836-38;professor of geology and natural history, 1850-64; died at New Haven, April 14, 1895. 

NEWBERRY, JOHN STRONG. Born at Windsor, Connecticut, December 22, 1822;professor of geology at school of mines, Columbia College, 1866-90;state geologist of Ohio, 1869; died at New Haven, Connecticut, December7, 1892. 

WHITNEY, JOSIAH DWIGHT. Born at Northampton, Massachusetts, November 23, 1819; graduated at Yale, 1839; geologist with New Hampshire survey, 1840-42; Lake Superior, 1847-49; state chemist of Iowa, 1855; stategeologist of California, 1860-74; professor of geology at Harvard, 1865to death at Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire, August 18, 1896. 

HITCHCOCK, EDWARD. Born at Deerfield, Massachusetts, May 24, 1793;professor of chemistry, Amherst College, 1825; president of the college, 1845-54; died at Amherst, Massachusetts, February 27, 1864. 

MOTT, VALENTINE. Born at Glen Cove, Long Island, August 20, 1785;graduated Columbia College, 1806; professor of surgery at Columbia, 1810-35; died at New York City, April 26, 1865. 

LONG, CRAWFORD W. Born at Danielsville, Georgia, November 1, 1815;graduated medical department University of Pennsylvania, 1839; died atAthens, Georgia, June 16, 1878. 

MORTON, WILLIAM THOMAS GREEN. Born at Charlton, Massachusetts, August19, 1819; practised dentistry at Boston, 1841-58; discovered anæstheticproperties of ether, 1864; died in New York City, July 15, 1868. 

HENRY, JOSEPH. Born at Albany, New York, December 17, 1797; professor ofnatural philosophy at Princeton, 1832-46; first secretary of SmithsonianInstitution, 1846; died at Washington, May 13, 1878. 

GUYOT, ARNOLD HENRY. Born near Neuchâtel, Switzerland, September 28, 1807; came to America, 1847; professor of physical geography and geologyat Princeton, 1855; died at Princeton, February 8, 1884. 

LE CONTE, JOHN. Born in Liberty County, Georgia, December 4, 1818;professor of physics University of California, 1869, to death atBerkeley, California, April 29, 1891. 

LE CONTE, JOSEPH. Born in Liberty County, Georgia, February 26, 1823;professor of geology, University of California, 1869; died in YosemiteValley, California, July 6, 1901. 

LE CONTE, JOHN LAWRENCE. Born at New York City, May 13, 1825; surgeon ofvolunteers during Civil War, and chief clerk of mint at Philadelphiafrom 1878 until his death there, November 15, 1883. 

SHALER, NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE. Born at Newport, Kentucky, February 22, 1841; graduated Lawrence Scientific School, 1862; professor paleontologyat Harvard, 1868-87; professor of geology, 1887, to death, April 11, 1906. 

MANN, HORACE. Born at Franklin, Massachusetts, May 7, 1796; admitted tothe bar, 1823; secretary of Massachusetts Board of Education, 1837-48;member of Congress, 1848-53; president of Antioch College, 1852-59;died at Yellow Springs, Ohio, August 2, 1859. 

QUINCY, JOSIAH. Born at Boston, February 4, 1772; member of Congress, 1805-13; mayor of Boston, 1823-28; president of Harvard, 1829-45; diedat Quincy, Massachusetts, July 1, 1864. 

ELIOT, CHARLES WILLIAM. Born at Boston, March 20, 1834; graduated fromHarvard, 1853; taught mathematics and chemistry in Lawrence ScientificSchool, 1858-69; president of Harvard, 1869-1909. 

DWIGHT, TIMOTHY. Born at Northampton, Massachusetts, May 14, 1752;graduated from Yale, 1769; president of Yale, 1795-1817; died at NewHaven, Connecticut, January 11, 1817. 

PORTER, NOAH. Born at Farmington, Connecticut, December 14, 1811;graduated at Yale, 1831; tutor at Yale, 1833-35; pastor ofCongregational churches at New Milford, Connecticut, and Springfield, Massachusetts, 1836-46; professor of metaphysics at Yale, 1846-71;president of Yale, 1871-86; died at New Haven, March 4, 1892. 

DWIGHT, TIMOTHY. Born at Norwich, Connecticut, November 16, 1828;graduated at Yale, 1849; studied divinity, 1851-55; professor of sacredliterature, 1858; president of Yale, 1886-98. 

EDWARDS, JONATHAN. Born at East Windsor, Connecticut, October 5, 1703;pastor of Congregational Church, Northampton, Massachusetts, 1727-50;missionary to the Indians, 1751-58; president of Princeton College, 1758; died at Princeton, March 22, 1758. 

WITHERSPOON, JOHN. Born in Haddingtonshire, Scotland, February 5, 1722;president of Princeton, 1768; delegate to Continental Congress, 1774-75;died near Princeton, September 15, 1794. 

MCCOSH, JAMES. Born at Carskeoch, Ayrshire, Scotland, April 1, 1811;president of Princeton, 1868-88; died at Princeton, November 16, 1894. 

ADDAMS, JANE. Born at Cedarville, Illinois, 1860; graduated RockfordCollege, 1881; opened Hull House, 1889. 

CHAPTER VIII

PHILANTHROPISTS AND REFORMERS

This has been a country celebrated for its great fortunes, and themakers of some of those fortunes will be considered in the chapterdealing with "men of affairs"; but many who have been grouped under thatheading might well have been included under this, since, for the mostpart, the richest men have been the freest in their benefactions. It isworth noting that the recorded public gifts in this country during 1909amounted to $135, 000, 000. The giving of money is, of course, only onekind of benefaction, and not the highest kind, which is the giving ofself; but the good which these gifts have rendered possible is beyondcalculation. 

[Illustration: GIRARD]

This kind of philanthropy is no new thing in the United States. It isalmost as old as the country itself. Indeed, few of the olderinstitutions of learning but had their origin in some such gift. One ofthe earliest of such philanthropists was Stephen Girard, whoselife-story is unusually interesting and inspiring. The son of a sailor, and with little opportunity for gaining an education, he shipped ascabin-boy, while still a mere child, and after some years of roughknocking around, rose to the position of mate, and finally to a partownership in the vessel. In 1769, at the age of nineteen, he establishedhimself in the ship business in Philadelphia, but the opening of theRevolution put an end to that business. Not until the close of the warwas he able to re-embark in it. The foundation of his fortune was soonlaid by his integrity and enterprise, but it was largely augmented in amost peculiar manner. 

Two of his vessels happened to be in one of the ports of Hayti, when aslave insurrection broke out there, and a number of the planters hastilyremoved their treasure to his vessels for safe-keeping. That night, theinsurrection reached its height, and the planters, together with theirfamilies, were massacred. Heirs to a portion of the treasure werediscovered by Mr. Girard, but he found himself possessed of about$50, 000 to which no heirs could be traced. 

With remarkable foresight, Mr. Girard invested largely in the shares ofthe old Bank of the United States, and in 1812, purchased its buildingand succeeded to much of its business. He was the financial mainstay ofthe government during the second war with England--in fact, it was hewho made the financing of the war possible. And yet he was, to alloutward appearances, a singularly repulsive and hard-fisted old miser. In early youth, an unfortunate accident had caused the loss of one eye, and his other gradually failed him until he was quite blind; he was alsopartially deaf, and was sour, crabbed and unapproachable. In smallmatters he was a miser, ready to avoid paying a just claim if hecould in any way do so, living in a miserable fashion and refusingcharity to every one, no matter how deserving. He was forbidding inappearance, and drove daily to and from his farm outside of Philadelphiain a shabby old carriage drawn by a single horse. No visitor was everwelcomed at that farm, where its owner dragged out a penuriousexistence. 

Yet in public matters no one could have been more open-handed, and when, after his death in 1831, his will was opened, it created a shock ofsurprise, for practically his whole fortune of $9, 000, 000 had beenbequeathed for charitable purposes. Large sums were given to providefuel for the poor in winter, for distressed ship-masters, for the blind, the deaf and dumb, and for the public schools. Half a million was givenPhiladelphia for the improvement of her streets and public buildings;but his principal bequest was one of $2, 000, 000, besides real estate, and the residue of his property, for the establishment at Philadelphiaof a college for orphans. In 1848, Girard College was opened, and hassince then continued its great work, educating as many orphans as theendowment can support. So Girard atoned after his death, for themistakes of his life. 

Almost equally singular was the life of the founder of that splendidgovernment enterprise, the Smithsonian Institution--perhaps the mostimportant scientific center in the world. James Smithson was in no sensean American. Indeed, so far as known, he never even visited the UnitedStates, and yet no account of American philanthropy would be completewithout him. He was born in France in 1765, and was the illegitimate sonof Hugh Smithson, afterwards Duke of Northumberland. He went by hismother's name for the first forty years of his life, being known asJames Macie, until, in 1802, he assumed his father's name. 

Born under this shadow, the boy soon developed unusual qualities, graduated from Oxford, with high honors in chemistry and mineralogy, andadded greatly to his reputation by a series of scientific papers ofgreat importance. A large portion of his life was passed in Europe, where he associated with the greatest scientists of the day, honored byall of them. He died at Genoa at the age of sixty-four, and, when hiswill was opened, it was seen how the circumstances of his birth hadweighed upon him. For, "in order that his name might live in the memoryof man when the titles of the Northumberlands are extinct andforgotten, " he bequeathed his whole fortune "to the United States ofAmerica, to found at Washington, under the name of the SmithsonianInstitution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion ofknowledge among men. " After a suit in chancery, the bequest was paidover to the United States government, amounting to over half a milliondollars. In 1846, the Smithsonian Institution was formally established, its first secretary being Joseph Henry, of whose great work there wehave already spoken. It has increased in scope and usefulness year byyear, and stands to-day without a counterpart in any country. 

Peter Cooper also left a portion of his wealth for "the diffusion ofknowledge among men, " but a different sort of knowledge--the knowledgethat would help a man or woman to earn a living. His own career hadshown him how necessary such knowledge is. His father was a hatter bytrade, and the boy's earliest recollection was of his being employed topull hair out of rabbit-skins, his head just reaching above the table. But the hat business was unprofitable, and the elder Cooper tried anumber of businesses, brewing, brick-making, what not, the boy beingrequired to take part in each of them, so that he had no time forschooling, and had to pick up such odds and ends of knowledge as hecould. Finally, in 1808, at the age of seventeen, he was apprenticed toa carriage-maker, and remained with him until he was of age. 

After that, the young man himself tried various occupations withoutgreat success, until the establishment of a glue factory began to bringhim large returns. By the beginning of 1828, he was able to purchasethree thousand acres of land within the city of Baltimore and toestablish the Canton iron-works, which was the first of his greatenterprises tending toward the development of the iron industry in theUnited States. Other plants were built or purchased, rolling mills andblast furnaces established, and a great impetus given to this branch ofmanufacture. He practically financed the Atlantic Cable Company, in theface of ridicule, and made the cable possible, and he saved theBaltimore & Ohio Railroad from bankruptcy by designing and building alocomotive--the first ever built in this country--especially adapted tothe uneven country over which the track was laid. 

The fortune thus acquired he devoted to a well-considered and practicalplan of philanthropy. His career had shown him the great value of atrade to any man or woman. The schools taught every kind of knowledgeexcept that which would enable a man to earn a living with his hands, which seemed to him the most important of all. He determined to do whathe could remedy this defect, and in 1854, secured a block of land in NewYork City, at the junction of Third and Fourth Avenues, where, shortlyafterwards, the cornerstone was laid of "The Cooper Union for theAdvancement of Science and Art. " It was completed five years later, andhanded over to six trustees; a scheme of education was devised andspecial emphasis was laid upon "instruction in branches of knowledge bywhich men and women earn their daily bread; in laws of health andimprovement of the sanitary condition of families as well asindividuals; in social and political science, whereby communities andnations advance in virtue, wealth and power; and finally in matterswhich affect the eye, the ear, and the imagination, and furnish a basisfor recreation to the working classes. " Free courses of lectures wereestablished, a free reading room, and free instruction was given invarious branches of the useful arts. From that day to this, Cooper Unionhas been an ever-growing force for progress in the life of the greatcity; it has been a pioneer in the work of industrial education, whichhas, of recent years, reached such great proportions. 

Peter Cooper lived to see the institution which he had founded realizeat least some of his hopes for it. He himself lived a most active life, taking a prominent part in many movements looking to the reform ofnational or civic abuses. In 1876, he was nominated by the nationalindependent party as their candidate for president and received nearly ahundred thousand votes. Since his death, the institution which hefounded has grown steadily in importance; other bequests have been addedto his, and Cooper Union has come to stand, in a way, for civicrighteousness. 

The year 1795 saw the birth of two children who were destined to do agreat work for their country--George Peabody and Johns Hopkins. Bothwere the sons of poor parents, with little opportunity for achieving thesort of learning which is taught in schools; but both, by hardexperience with the world, gained another sort of learning which isoften of more practical value. At the age of eleven, George Peabody wasforced to begin to earn his own living, and a place was found for him ina grocery store. His habits were good, he did his work well, andfinally, at the age of nineteen, was offered a partnership by anothermerchant, who had noticed and admired his energy and enthusiasm. Thebusiness increased, branch houses were established, and at the age ofthirty-five, George Peabody found himself at the head of a greatbusiness, his elder partner having retired. He decided to make Londonhis place of residence, and became a sort of guardian angel forAmericans visiting the great English capital. He had never married, andit seemed almost as if the whole world were his family. His constantthought was of how he could elevate humanity, and he was not long inputting some of his plans into effect. 

In 1852, his native town of Danvers, Massachusetts, celebrated hercentennial, and her most distinguished citizen was, of course, invitedto be present. He was too busy to attend, but sent a sealed envelope tobe opened on the day of the celebration. The seal was broken at thedinner with which the celebration closed, and the envelope was found tocontain two slips of paper. On one was written this toast, "Education--adebt due from present to future generations. " The other was a check fortwenty thousand dollars, afterwards increased to two hundred and fiftythousand, for the purpose of founding an Institute, with a free libraryand free course of lectures. Four years later, the Peabody Institute wasdedicated, its founder being in attendance. Soon afterwards, he decidedto build a similar Institute at Baltimore, only on a more elaboratescale, as befitting the greater city, and gave a million dollars for thepurpose. It was opened in 1869, twenty thousand school childrengathering to meet the donor and forming a guard of honor for him. 

Two other great gifts marked his life--the sum of three million dollarsfor the erection of model tenements for the London poor, and a like sumfor the education of the American negro. When, in 1869 the end came inLondon, a great funeral was held at Westminster Abbey, and the Queen ofEngland sent her noblest man-of-war to bear in state across the Atlanticthe body of "her friend, " the poor boy of Danvers. 

It is a strange coincidence that Baltimore, which had profited sogreatly from George Peabody's philanthropy, should also be the object ofthat of Johns Hopkins. The latter was of Quaker stock, was raised on afarm, and at the age of seventeen became a clerk in his uncle's grocerystore at Baltimore. He soon accumulated enough capital to go intobusiness for himself, first as a grocer, then as a banker, and finallyas one of the backers of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway. In 1873, he gaveproperty valued at four and a half millions to found in the city ofBaltimore a hospital, which, by its charter, is free to all, regardlessof race or color; and three and a half millions for the endowment ofJohns Hopkins University, which, opened in 1876, has grown to be one ofthe most famous schools of law, medicine and science in the country. 

Another Quaker, Ezra Cornell, is also associated with the name of agreat university. Reared among the hills of western New York, helpinghis father on his farm and in his little pottery, the boy soon developedconsiderable mechanical genius, and at the age of seventeen, with thehelp of only a younger brother, he built a new home for the family, atwo-story frame dwelling, the largest and best in the neighborhood. Hesoon struck out into the world, engaged in businesses of various kindswith varying success, but it was not until he was thirty-six years oldthat he found his vocation. 

It was at that time he became associated with S. F. B. Morse, whoengaged him to superintend the erection of the first line of telegraphbetween Washington and Baltimore. Thereafter he devoted himself entirelyto the development of the new invention; succeeded, after many rebuffsand disappointments, in organizing a company to erect a line from NewYork to Washington, and superintended its construction. It was the firstof many, afterwards consolidated into the Western Union TelegraphCompany, which, for many years, held a monopoly of the telegraphbusiness of the country, and which made Ezra Cornell a millionaire. Hehimself was well advanced in years, and finally retired from activelife, buying a great estate near Ithaca, New York, where he livedquietly, devising a method for the best disposition of his greatfortune. 

He at last decided to found an institution "where _any_ person can findinstruction in _any_ study. " Work was begun at once, and in 1868, Cornell College was formally opened, over four hundred students enteringthe first year. The founder's gifts to this institution aggregated overthree millions. Many other bequests followed, which have made Cornellone of the most liberally-endowed colleges in the country. Froude, thegreat English historian, visited it on one occasion, and afterwardssaid:

"There is something I admire even more than the university, and that isthe quiet, unpretending man by whom it was founded. We have had such menin old times, and there are men in England who make great fortunes andwho make claim to great munificence; but who manifest their greatness inbuying great estates and building castles for the founding of peeragesto be handed down from father to son. Mr. Cornell has sought forimmortality, and the perpetuity of his name among the people of a freenation. There stands his great university, built upon a rock, to endurewhile the American nation endures. "

The next great benefaction we have to record is, in some respects, unique. John Fox Slater was born in Slatersville, Rhode Island, in 1815. He was the son of Samuel Slater, proprietor of the greatest cotton-millsin New England, and he naturally succeeded to the business upon hisfather's death. The business prospered, receiving a great impetus fromthe invention of the cotton-gin, and Slater's wealth increased rapidly. 

He had, on more than one occasion, visited the south and seen thenegroes at work in the cotton fields. As time went on, the idea grew inhis mind that he should do something for these poor laborers to whom, indirectly, his own fortune was due, and in 1882, he set aside the sumof one million dollars for the purpose of "uplifting the latelyemancipated population of the Southern States, and their posterity. " Forthis gift he received the thanks of Congress. No part of the gift isspent for grounds or buildings, but the whole income is spent inassisting negroes in industrial education and in preparing them to bethe teachers of their own race. By the extraordinary ability of thefund's treasurer, it has been increased to a million and a half, although half a million has been expended along the lines contemplatedby the donor. This, with the Peabody fund, comprises a powerful agencyin working out the difficult problem of negro education. 

 * * * * *

The fortunes of such men as Peabody and Cornell and Hopkins and PeterCooper seem small enough to-day when compared with the giganticaggregations of money which a few men have succeeded in piling up. Notall of them, by any means, devote their wealth to philanthropy. Here, asin England, there are men concerned only with the idea of building up afamily and a great estate; but there are a few who have labored asfaithfully to use their wealth wisely as they did to accumulate it. 

First of them is Leland Stanford, born in the valley of the Mohawk, studying law, and moving to Wisconsin to practise it, but losing his lawlibrary and all his property by fire, and finally joining the rush tothe newly-discovered California gold-fields, where he arrived in 1852, being at that time twenty-eight years old. After some experience in themines, he decided that there were surer ways of getting gold thandigging for it, and set up a mercantile business in San Francisco, whichgrew rapidly in importance and proved the foundation of a vast fortune. He was the first president of the Central Pacific Railroad, and was incharge of its construction over the mountains, driving the last spike atPromontory Point, Utah, on the tenth of May, 1869. He was prominent inthe politics of state and nation, being elected to the United StatesSenate in 1885. 

It is not by his public life, however, that he will be remembered, forhe did nothing there that was in any way memorable, but by his gift oftwenty million dollars to found a great university at Palo Alto, California, in memory of his only son. On May 14, 1887, the cornerstoneof this great institution was laid, and the university was formallyopened in 1891. The idea of its founder was that it should teach notonly the studies usually taught in college, but also other practicalbranches of education, such as telegraphy, type-setting, type-writing, book-keeping, and farming. This it has done, and so rapid has been itsgrowth, that it now has over seventeen hundred students enrolled. 

After Senator Stanford's death in 1893, the university was furtherendowed by his widow, Jane Lathrop Stanford, so that the presentproductive funds of the university, after all of the buildings have beenpaid for, amount to nearly twenty-five million dollars. 

The second of the great givers of recent years is John DavisonRockefeller, whose name is synonymous with the greatest natural monopolyof modern times, the Standard Oil Company. His rise from clerk in agrocery store to one of the greatest capitalists in the history of theworld is an interesting one, as well as an important one in thecommercial history of America. Born at Richford, New York, in 1839, hisparents moved to Cleveland, Ohio, when he was a boy of fourteen, andsuch education as he had was secured in the Cleveland public schools. Hesoon left school for business, getting employment first as clerk in acommission house, and at nineteen being junior partner in the firm ofClark & Rockefeller, commission merchants. 

At that time the petroleum fields of Pennsylvania were just beginning tobe developed, and young Rockefeller's attention was soon attracted tothem. He seems to have been one of the first to realize the vastpossibilities of the oil business, and in 1865, he and his brotherWilliam built at Cleveland a refinery which they called the Standard OilWorks. They had little money, but unlimited nerve, and very soon beganthe work of consolidation, which culminated in the formation of theStandard Oil Trust in 1882. They were able to kill competition largelyby securing from the railroads lower shipping rates than any competitor, in some cases going so far as to get a rebate on all oil shipped bycompetitors. That is, if a railroad charged the Standard Oil Company onedollar to carry its oil between two points and charged a competitor adollar and a quarter for the same service, that extra quarter went, notinto the coffers of the railroad, but into the coffers of the StandardOil Company. Such methods of business have since been made illegal, andthe Standard is compelled to do business on the same basis as itscompetitors, but its vast resources and occupancy of the field give itan advantage which nothing can counteract. 

The operations of the Standard Oil Company naturally piled up a greatfortune for John D. Rockefeller--how great cannot even be estimated. Notuntil comparatively recent years, did he turn his attention from makingmoney to spending it, but when he did, it was in a royal fashion. Tenmillion dollars were given to the University of Chicago, which openedits doors in 1892, and now has an enrollment of over five thousandstudents; ten million more were given to the General Education Board, organized in 1903, for the purpose of promoting education in the UnitedStates, without distinction of race, sex, or creed, and especially topromote and systematize various forms of educational beneficence; amillion was given to Yale; the great Rockefeller Institute for MedicalResearch was founded at New York and liberally endowed; and Mr. Rockefeller's total benefactions probably exceed a total of thirtymillions. This will soon be greatly increased, for he has just askedCongress to charter an institution to be known as the RockefellerFoundation, which he will endow on an enormous scale to carry outvarious plans of charity, through centuries to come. 

He seems recently to have experienced a change of heart, too, toward thepublic. During his early years, he gained a reputation for coldness andreserve, which made him probably the best-hated man in the UnitedStates. Then, suddenly, he changed about. Instead of refusing himself toreporters, he welcomed them; he seemed glad to talk, anxious to show thepublic that he was by no means such a monster as he was painted; and hehas even, quite recently, written his life story and given it to a greatmagazine for publication. Seldom before has any public man shown such asudden and complete change of heart. He still remains, in a sense, anenigma, for it seems possible that the smiling face he has lately turnedto the world conceals the real man more effectively than the frowningcountenance he wore in former years. 

As the dramatist saves his finest effect for the fall of the curtain, sowe have saved for the last the most remarkable giver in history--AndrewCarnegie, whose total benefactions amount to at least one hundredmillions of dollars. A sum so stupendous would bankrupt many a nation, yet Mr. Carnegie is so far from bankrupt that his gifts show no sign ofdiminution. The story of how, starting out as a poor boy, on the lowestround of the ladder, he acquired this immense fortune, is a strikingone. 

Andrew Carnegie was born in Scotland in 1835. His father was a weaver, at one time fairly well-to-do, for he owned four hand looms; but theintroduction of steam ruined hand-loom weaving, and after a longstruggle, ending in hardship and poverty, the looms were sold at asacrifice and the family set sail for America. Mrs. Carnegie happened tohave two sisters living at Pittsburgh, and there the family settled--byone of those curious chances of fate, the very place in all the worldbest suited to the development of young Andrew Carnegie's peculiargenius. 

At the age of twelve years, he became a wage-earner, his first positionbeing that of bobbin-boy in a cotton mill at Alleghany City, where hissalary was $1. 20 a week. Pretty soon he was set to firing a small enginein the cellar of the mill, but he did not like this work, and finallysecured a position as messenger boy in the office of the Atlantic & OhioTelegraph Company, at Pittsburgh. One night, at the end of the month, hedid not receive his pay with the rest of the boys, but was told to waittill the others had left the room. He thought that dismissal was coming, and wondered how he could ever go home and tell his father and mother!But he found that he was to be given an increase in salary, from $11. 25to $13. 50 a month. 

"I ran all the way home, " said Mr. Carnegie, in telling of the incident, long afterwards. "Talk about your millionaires! All the millions I'vemade combined, never gave me the happiness of that rise of $2. 25 amonth. Arrived at the cottage where we lived, I handed my mother theusual $11. 25, and that night in bed told brother Tom the great secret. The next morning, Sunday, we were all sitting at the breakfast table, and I said: 'Mother, I have something else for you, ' and then I gave herthe $2. 25, and told her how I got it. Father and she were delighted tohear of my good fortune, but, motherlike, she said I deserved it, andthen came tears of joy. "

It was at the dinner given, in 1907, in his honor as "Father of theCorps, " by the surviving members of the United States Military TelegraphCorps of the Civil War, that Mr. Carnegie spoke these words, and hecontinued as follows:

"Comrades, I was born in poverty, and would not exchange its sacredmemories with the richest millionaire's son who ever breathed. What doeshe know about mother or father? They are mere names to him. Give me thelife of the boy whose mother is nurse, seamstress, washerwoman, cook, teacher, angel and saint, all in one, and whose father is guide, exemplar, and friend. These are the boys who are born to the bestfortune. Some men think that poverty is a dreadful burden, and thatwealth leads to happiness. They have lived only one side; they imaginethe other. I have lived both, and I know there is very little in wealththat can add to human happiness, beyond the small comforts of life. Millionaires who laugh are rare. My experience is that wealth is apt totake the smiles away. "

But we are getting ahead of our story. That small increase in salarymeant a good deal to the little family, whose father was working fromdawn to dark in the cotton-mill, and whose mother was contributing whatshe could to the family earnings by binding shoes in the intervals ofhousework. Meantime the superintendent of the company for which the boywas working happened to meet him while visiting the Pittsburgh office, and it was discovered that both of them had been born near the sametown in Scotland. The fact may have had something to do with the boy'ssubsequent promotion, and it is worth noting that forty years later, hewas able to secure for his old employer the United States consulship tothe town of their birth. But for the time being, he was busy with hiswork as messenger-boy. He soon learned the Morse alphabet and practisedmaking the signals early in the morning before the operators arrived. Hewas soon able to send and receive messages by means of the Morseregister--a steel pen which embossed the dots and dashes of the messageon a narrow strip of paper. But young Carnegie soon progressed a stepbeyond this, and was soon able to read the messages by sound, withoutneed of the register. It was, of course, only a short time after thatwhen he was regularly installed as operator. 

He was not to remain long in the telegraph business, however, for ThomasA. Scott, superintendent of the Pittsburgh division of the PennsylvaniaRailroad, offered him a position at a salary of $35 a month. Carnegiepromptly accepted, and on February 1, 1853, at the age of seventeen, entered the employ of the road. His promotion was rapid, and he rose tobe superintendent of the Pittsburgh division before the success of hisother ventures caused him to resign from the service. These ventureswere, in the first place, investment in the newly-developed oil-fieldsof Pennsylvania, which yielded a great profit, and afterwards theestablishment of a steel rolling-mill, in the development of which hefound his true vocation, building up the most complete system of ironand steel industries ever controlled by an individual. Some idea of thevalue of the business may be gained from the fact that, when the UnitedStates Steel Corporation was organized in 1901 to take over Mr. Carnegie's interests he received for them, first mortgage bonds to theamount of three hundred million dollars. 

It is this sum which he has been disposing of for years. Unlike mostother philanthropists, he has not used his wealth to endow a greatuniversity, but has devoted it mainly to another branch of education, the establishment of free public libraries. He conceived the unique planof offering a library building, completely equipped, to any communitywhich would agree to maintain it suitably, and, by the beginning of1909, had, under this plan, given nearly fifty-two millions of dollarsfor the erection of 1858 buildings, of which 1167 are in this country. Among his other great gifts was one of $12, 000, 000, for the founding atWashington of an institution "which shall, in the broadest and mostliberal manner, encourage investigation, research, and discovery, showthe application of knowledge to the improvement of mankind, and providesuch buildings, laboratories, books, and apparatus as may be needed. "

The sum of ten millions was given to the great Carnegie Institute, ofPittsburgh; still another ten millions were given to Scottishuniversities, and still another for the purpose of providing pensionsfor college professors in the United States and Canada; and finallyfive millions for the establishment of a fund to be used for the benefitof the dependants of those losing their lives in heroic effort to savetheir fellow-men, or for the heroes themselves, if injured only. Whatgreat benefaction will next be announced cannot, of course, be foretold, but that some other announcement will some day be forthcoming canscarcely be doubted, since Mr. Carnegie has announced his ambition todie poor. 

Although born in Scotland and maintaining a great estate there, he is anAmerican out-and-out. He proved his patriotism during the Civil War byserving as superintendent of military railways and government telegraphlines in the east; and has proved it more than once since by enlistingin the fight for civic betterment and good government. Thousands ofbenefactions stand to his credit, besides the great ones which have beenmentioned above, and it is doubtful if in the history of the world therehas ever been another man armed with such power and using it in such away. 

We will end here the story of American benefactions, although scarcelythe half of it has been told. During the last forty years, not less thanone hundred millions of dollars have been given to American colleges;nearly as much again has been given for the endowment of hospitals, sanitariums and infirmaries; vast sums have been given for othereducational or charitable purposes, so that, of the great fortunes whichhave been accumulated in this country, at least three hundred millionshave been returned, in some form or other, to the people. And the endis not yet. Scientific philanthropy is as yet in its infancy. Just theother day, Mrs. Russell Sage set apart the sum of ten million dollarsfor a fund whose chief and almost sole purpose it is to obtain accurateinformation concerning social and economic conditions--in other words, to furnish the data upon which the scientific philanthropy of the futurewill be based. The disposition toward such employment of great fortunes, and away from the selfish piling-up of wealth is one of the mostcheering and promising developments of the new century in this greatland of ours; the kings of finance are coming to realize that, afterall, wealth is useless unless it is used for good, and the next halfcentury will no doubt witness the establishment of philanthropicenterprises on a scale hitherto unknown to history. 

 * * * * *

We have already said that the highest form of philanthropy is not thegiving of money, but the giving of self, and we shall close this chapterwith a brief consideration of the careers of a few of the many men andwomen who, in the course of American history, have devoted their livesto the betterment of humanity, either as ministers of the gospel or aslaborers for some great reform. 

[Illustration: BEECHER]

Among ministers, no name has been more widely known than that ofBeecher--first, Lyman Beecher, and afterwards his brilliant son, HenryWard Beecher. Lyman Beecher was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in1775, the son of a blacksmith, and his youth was spent betweenblacksmithing and farming. His love of books soon manifested itself, however, and means were found to prepare him for Yale, where hegraduated at the age of twenty-two. A further year of study enabled himto enter the ministry. For sixteen years, he was pastor of theCongregational church at Litchfield, Connecticut, and soon took rank asthe leading clergyman of his denomination. His eloquence, zeal andcourage won a wide reputation, and in 1832, he was offered thepresidency of the newly-organized Lane seminary, at Cincinnati. Thisplace he held for twenty years, and his name was continued as presidentin the seminary catalogue, until his death. 

Soon after he assumed this position, the slavery question began toassume the acute phase which ended in the Civil War. Mr. Beecher was, ofcourse, an Abolitionist, and for a time lived in a turmoil, for many ofthe seminary students were from the south, while Cincinnati itself wasso near the borderline that there was a great pro-slavery sentimentthere. But during Mr. Beecher's absence, his trustees tried to allayexcitement and, in a way, carry water on both shoulders, by forbiddingall further discussion of slavery in the seminary, and succeeded innearly wrecking the institution, for the students withdrew in a body, and while a few were persuaded to return, the great majority refused todo so and laid the foundation of Oberlin College. For seventeen years, Mr. Beecher labored to restore the seminary's prosperity, but finallyabandoned the task in despair. He resigned the presidency in 1852, intending to devote his remaining years to the revision and publicationof his works, but a paralytic stroke put an end to his active career. 

Mr. Beecher's vigor of mind and body were imparted in a remarkabledegree to his children, of whom he had thirteen. Of Harriet BeecherStowe we have already spoken, but by far the most famous of them wasHenry Ward Beecher. Born in 1813, and renouncing an early desire for asea-faring life in favor of the ministry, he secured his first charge in1837, and ten years later entered upon the pastorate of Plymouth church, in Brooklyn, where his chief fame was won. The church, one of thelargest in the country, soon became inadequate to hold the crowds whichflocked to hear his brilliant preaching. As a lecturer and platformorator he soon came to be in such demand that he was at last compelledto decline all such engagements. He took an active part in politics, holding that Christianity was not a series of dogmas, but a rule ofeveryday life, and did not hesitate to attack the abuses of the day fromthe pulpit. He was as facile with the pen as with the tongue, and hispublications were many and important. All in all, he was one of the mostinfluential and picturesque figures that has ever occupied an Americanpulpit. 

Lyman Beecher was at all times a doughty antagonist, and in 1826 he hadbeen called to Boston to take up the cudgels against the so-calledUnitarian movement which had developed there, under the leadership ofWilliam Ellery Channing. For six years and a half, he wielded thecudgels of controversy, but with no great effect, for Channing was afoeman in every sense his equal. Channing had graduated at Harvard in1798, a small man of an almost feminine sensibility, with a singularcapacity for winning devoted attachment from all with whom he came incontact. For two years, he served as tutor in a family at Richmond, Virginia, where he acquired an abhorrence of slavery that lasted throughlife. Upon his return north, he began the study of theology atCambridge, and in 1803, became pastor of a church in Boston, where hesoon attracted attention by sermons of a rare "fervor, solemnity, andbeauty. " He was from the first identified with the movement of thought, which came to be known as Unitarian, and gave to the body so-called aconsciousness of its position and a clear statement of its convictionswith his sermon delivered at Baltimore, in 1819, on the occasion of theordination of Jared Sparks. For the fifteen years succeeding, Channingwas best known to the public as the leader of the Unitarian movement, and his sermons delivered during that period constitute the best body ofpractical divinity which that movement has produced. In later years, hewas identified with many philanthropical and reform movements, and wasone of the pillars of the anti-slavery cause, though never adopting theextreme opinions of the abolitionists. Of his rare quality and power asa pulpit orator many traditions remain, and his death at the age ofsixty-two removed a great power for righteousness. 

Even to give a list of the men and women who have sacrificed their livesin the attempt to carry the gospel of Christianity to heathen nations isbeyond the limits of a book like this, but at least mention can be madeof two of the earliest, Adoniram Judson and his wife, whose experiencesform one of the most thrilling chapters in missionary history. 

Adoniram Judson was born in Malden, Massachusetts, in 1788, and aftergraduating at Brown University, and taking a special course at AndoverTheological seminary, became deeply interested in foreign missions, andin 1810, determined to go to Burmah. Securing the support of the LondonMissionary Society, he sailed for Asia on the nineteenth of February, 1812. Two weeks before, he had married Ann Haseltine, who consented toshare his work, and who sailed with him. On that long voyage, they hadample time to discuss and consider the various dogmas of their faith, and they became convinced that the baptism of the New Testament wasimmersion, and in accordance with this view, both of them were baptizedby immersion upon reaching Calcutta. But this change of faith cut themoff from the body which had sent them to India, and it was not until1814 that the Baptists of America took the two missionaries under theircare. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Judson mastered the Burmese language and began his publicpreaching. Before long, he baptized his first convert, and pushedforward the work with renewed zeal, translating the gospels intoBurmese, publishing tracts in that language, and undertaking the mostperilous journeys. The Burmese government had never been friendly, andin 1824, seized the missionaries and threw them into prison. They wereconfined in the "death hole, " reeking with foul air, without light, andwere loaded with fetters. Just enough food was given them to keep themalive, and at last, stripped almost naked, they were driven like cattleunder the burning sun, to another prison, where it was intended to burnthem alive. They were saved by the intercession of Sir ArchibaldCampbell, but Mrs. Judson's health had been wrecked by the terribleexperience. She never recovered, dying two years later. Undaunted bydifficulties, Dr. Judson continued his work, completing his translationof the Bible, travelling over India, compiling a Burmese grammar anddictionary, but his labors at last undermined even his constitution andhe died at sea in 1850, while on his way to the Isle of France. 

Turn we now to Lucretia Mott, one of the most extraordinary women whoever lived in America. Born in Nantucket in 1793, the daughter of asea-captain named Thomas Coffin, she was raised in the strict Quakerfaith, to which her parents belonged. She began teaching while still agirl, and at the age of eighteen, married a fellow teacher, James Mott. It was not long after that, that she developed the "gift" of speaking atthe Quaker meetings, simply, earnestly and eloquently. The Quakers hadalways opposed slavery and Lucretia Mott was soon working heart andsoul against it. When the American Anti-Slavery Society was organized in1833, she was one of four women who joined it, and she proceededimmediately to organize the Female Anti-Slavery Society, the firstorganization of women in America working for a political purpose. Yearsof abuse followed, for in those days anti-slavery lecturers were tarredand feathered, their homes burned, and many other indignities heapedupon them. Throughout all this, Mrs. Mott never lost her serenity, andnever suffered bodily injury. On one occasion, the annual meeting of theAnti-Slavery Society, in New York, was broken up by a mob, and some ofthe speakers were roughly handled. Perceiving that some of the womenwere badly frightened, Mrs. Mott asked her escort to look after them. 

"But who will take care of you?" he asked. 

"This man will, " she said, and smilingly laid her hand upon the arm ofone of the leaders of the mob. "He will see me safe through. "

The rioter stared down at her for a moment, his conflicting thoughtsbetraying themselves upon his countenance, then his better naturetriumphed and he led her respectfully to a place of safety. 

She seems to have possessed the power of charming any audience, andcarried her anti-slavery campaign even into Kentucky, where shecommanded respectful attention. She was one of the first to take up thequestion of woman suffrage, and in 1848, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton anda few others, called the first Woman's Suffrage Convention ever held inthis country. For fifty years she continued her public work, until shegrew to be one of the best known and best loved women in the country. She lived to see the slave freed, and when she died, a great concoursefollowed her body silently to the grave. As they stood there with bowedheads, a low voice asked, "Will no one say anything?"

"Who can speak?" another voice responded, "The preacher is dead. "

 * * * * *

In this day of pitying and enlightened treatment of the insane, it isdifficult to realize the barbarities which they were called upon toendure a century ago. They were regarded almost as wild beasts, werekept chained in foul and loathsome places, fed with mouldy bread, filthywater, and allowed to die the most miserable death. For everyone used tobelieve that insanity was a mark of God's displeasure, and the outcastfrom His heart became equally an outcast from the hearts of men. Theinsane were regarded with fear and loathing, and it was not until thebeginning of the nineteenth century that such men as Dr. Channing beganto insist on the presence in human nature, even in its most degradedcondition, of grains of good. 

It was from Dr. Channing that Dorothea Lynde Dix drank in this theorywith passionate faith, and proceeded at once to convert it into action. She was governess of Dr. Channing's children, and had long beeninterested in bettering the condition of convicts; but now herattention was turned to the insane and she proceeded at once to masterthe whole question of insanity, its origin, its development, and itstreatment, so far as it was then known. Enlisting the aid of a number ofbroad-minded men, among them Charles Sumner, she went to work. In oneprison, she found two insane women, each confined in a small cage ofplanks; others were locked in closets, cellars, and stalls; some of themwere naked, some were chained, some were regularly beaten and scourged. With all her data at hand, she addressed a memorial to the Massachusettslegislature, setting forth, in page after page, the details of thesealmost incredible horrors, which she herself had witnessed. 

It exploded like a bombshell, for it was a terrific arraignment of thewhole state. Her statements were denounced as untrue and slanderous, buta little investigation proved their truth, and with such men behind heras Channing, Horace Mann, and Samuel G. Howe, it was soon apparent thatsomething would be done. The obstructions and delays of politicians wereswept away before a steadily rising tide of public indignation, and alarge appropriation was made by the legislature to provide properquarters and proper treatment for insane persons. So Miss Dix won herfirst great victory, the forerunner of similar ones in almost everystate in the union; for she travelled from state to state making thesame investigations she had in Massachusetts, arousing public opinion, and compelling legislature after legislature to make adequate provisionfor the insane. The vastness of this campaign which Miss Dix planneddeliberately and which she carried through until she had visited everystate east of the Rocky Mountains, gives evidence to her extraordinarycharacter. During the Civil War, she was superintendent of hospitalnurses, having the entire control of their appointment and assignment. But the care of the insane was her life work. She resumed it at theclose of the war, and carried it forward until her death. 

 * * * * *

We have already referred more than once, in the course of thesechapters, to the anti-slavery agitation which ended in the Civil War. During the second quarter of the nineteenth century, it was the onegreat political question in America, upon which men were compelled totake one side or the other. From the first, there existed in the north aband of abolitionists--of men, in other words, who believed that theonly solution of the slavery question was to put an end to thatinstitution at once and forever. Of the persecutions which were visitedon the abolitionists we have spoken when telling the story of LucretiaMott. Social ostracism was the least of them. 

Perhaps no one person in America did more to crystalize public sentimentagainst slavery than Lydia Maria Child. An author at the age ofseventeen, and writing continuously until her death, coming early underthe influence of William Lloyd Garrison, that great leader of theabolitionists, it was inevitable that she should employ her pen toassist the cause. In 1833 appeared her "Appeal for that class ofAmericans called Africans, " the first anti-slavery work printed inAmerica in book form, antedating Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" bynineteen years. It attracted wide attention, enlisting the interest ofsuch men as Dr. Channing, who walked from Boston to Roxbury to thank theauthor. But it was not without its penalties, for society closed itsdoors to Mrs. Child, many of her friends deserted her, and she was madethe subject of much cruel comment. However, she became more and moreinterested in the anti-slavery crusade, edited the "NationalAnti-Slavery Standard, " and wrote pamphlet after pamphlet. When JohnBrown was taken prisoner, she wrote him a letter of sympathy, which drewforth a courteous rebuke from Governor Wise, of Virginia, and a letterfrom the wife of Senator Mason, the author of the fugitive slave law, threatening her with future damnation. These letters were published andhad a circulation of three hundred thousand copies. Wendell Phillipspaid an eloquent tribute to her character and influence, at her funeral:"She was the kind of woman, " he said, "one would choose to representwoman's entrance into broader life. Modest, womanly, sincere, solid, real, loyal, to be trusted, equal to affairs, and yet above them; acompanion with the password of every science and all literature. "

But however valuable the services of women like Lucretia Mott and LydiaMaria Child and Harriet Beecher Stowe were in the fight against slavery, the leader and high priest of the movement was William Lloyd Garrison. Born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, in 1805, his was an unhappy boyhood, for his father, a sea-captain of intemperate and adventurous habits, left his family, soon after the boy was born, and was never seen again. The mother, a woman of unusual strength of character, went to work toearn a living for herself and her son, and it was to her carefultraining that his development was due. At fourteen years of age, he wasapprenticed to a printery and served until he was of age. From the firsthe was remarkable for his firmness of moral principle and for aninflexible adherence to his convictions, no matter at what cost tohimself. 

He soon showed, too, that he was destined for something more than aprinter--a man who puts in print the ideas of others--that he had ideasof his own. His apprenticeship over, he started a paper of his own, butit was too reformatory for the taste of the day, and proved a failure. The most noteworthy thing in connection with it was the publication ofsome poems which had been sent in anonymously, and which Garrison, recognizing their merit, discovered to be the work of John G. Whittier, then entirely unknown. He visited the poet, encouraged him to keep onwriting, and laid the foundation of a friendship which was broken onlyby death. 

Going to Boston after the failure of his paper, Garrison for a timeedited the "National Philanthropist, " devoted to prohibition. Thispaper, too, was a failure, but at Boston Garrison met a man whoseinfluence changed the whole course of his life. His name was BenjaminBundy. He was a Quaker, and at that time thirty-nine years of age. Hewas a saddler by trade, but for thirteen years had devoted his life tothe anti-slavery cause, forming anti-slavery societies and editing alittle monthly paper with a portentous name--"The Genius of UniversalEmancipation. " Bundy, whose home was in Baltimore, had journeyed to NewEngland in the hope of interesting the clergy in the cause. In this hewas bitterly disappointed, but he mightily stirred the heart of youngGarrison, who soon became his ally and afterwards his partner in theconduct of the paper. His vigorous editing of it was soon a nationalsensation. He had seen with dismay the indifference with which the northregarded the great issue--an indifference grounded on the belief thatslavery was intrenched by the constitution and that all discussion of itwas a menace to the Union. He realized that this indifference could bebroken only by heroic measures, and he took the ground that sinceslavery was wrong, every slave had a right to instant freedom, and thatimmediate emancipation was the duty of the master and of the state. 

Baltimore was at that time one of the centres of the slave trade. Therewere slave-pens on the principal streets, and Garrison soon witnessedscenes which would have touched a less tender heart. In the first issueof his paper, he denounced this traffic as "domestic piracy, " and namedsome men engaged in it, among them a vessel-owner of his own town ofNewburyport. This man immediately had Garrison arrested for "gross andmalicious libel, " he was found guilty, fined fifty dollars and costs, and as there was no one to pay this, was thrown into prison. 

Garrison took his imprisonment calmly enough, but his old friend, JohnG. Whittier, was deeply distressed and appealed to Henry Clay to securethe release of the "guiltless prisoner. " This Clay would probably havedone, but he was anticipated by another friend of Garrison's, ArthurTappan, of New York, who sent the money to pay the fine, and the youngagitator was free again, after an imprisonment of forty-nine days. Hehad not been idle while in prison, but had prepared a series of lectureson slavery, which he proceeded at once to deliver. Then, on the firstday of January, 1831, he began in Boston the publication of a weeklypaper called the "Liberator, " which he continued for thirty-five years, until its fight was won and slavery was abolished. 

How well that fight was waged history has shown. In his first number heannounced: "I will be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising asjustice. On this subject I do not wish to think, to speak, or write withmoderation. No! No! Tell the man whose home is on fire to give amoderate alarm; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from thefire into which it has fallen; but urge me not to use moderation in acause like the present. I am in earnest--I will not equivocate--I willnot excuse--I will not retreat a single inch--and I will be heard. "

And heard he was. The whole land was soon filled with excitement; theapathy of years was broken. From the south came hundreds of lettersthreatening him with death if he did not desist, and the state ofGeorgia offered a reward of $5, 000 for his apprehension. In the north, anti-slavery societies were formed everywhere, and the movement grewwith great rapidity, in spite of powerful efforts to crush it. Therewere riots everywhere. Garrison was dragged through the streets ofBoston with a rope around his body and his life was saved only bylodging him in jail; Elijah Lovejoy was slain at Alton, Illinois, whiledefending his press; Marius Robinson, an anti-slavery lecturer, wastarred and feathered in Mahoning County, Ohio; in the cities of thesouth, mobs broke into the postoffice and made bonfires of anti-slaverypapers and pamphlets found there. Quarrels and dissension in theanti-slavery ranks developed in time, but when the Civil War was over, the leaders of the Republican party united with Garrison's friends inraising for him the sum of $30, 000, and after his death the city ofBoston raised a statue to his memory. Perhaps no better estimate of himhas ever been made than that of John A. Andrew, war governor ofMassachusetts:

"The generation which preceded ours regarded him only as a wildenthusiast, a fanatic, or a public enemy. The present generation sees inhim the bold and honest reformer, the man of original, self-poised, heroic will, inspired by a vision of universal justice, made actual inthe practice of nations; who, daring to attack without reserve theworst and most powerful oppression of his country and his time, hasoutlived the giant wrong he assailed, and has triumphed over thesophistries by which it was maintained. "

Closely second to Garrison in the awakening of the public conscience tothe enormities of slavery was Theodore Parker, one of the purest, mostself-sacrificing and interesting of personalities. He came of goodstock. His grandfather, John Parker, commanded the little company ofminute-men who held the bridge at Lexington on that fateful nineteenthof April, 1775; his father a farmer, and Theodore himself the youngestof eleven children. The family was poor and the boy was brought up tohard labor, with short intervals of schooling now and then. But histhirst for knowledge seems to have been insatiable, and he readeverything he could lay his hands on, even to translations of Homer andPlutarch and Rollin's "Ancient History. " A century ago, a book was a fargreater treasure than it is to-day, when their very number has made usin a way contemptuous of them; and the few which young Parker couldsecure were read and re-read and learned through and through. His memorywas amazing, and at the age of twenty he walked from his home inLexington to Cambridge, took the entrance examination for HarvardCollege, passed with honors, and, walking home again, told hisunsuspecting father, then in bed, of his success. He could not be sparedfrom the farm, however, nor was there any money to pay for hismaintenance at Cambridge, so he continued working on the farm, keepingup with his class by studying in the evenings and going to Cambridgeonly to take the examinations. 

He undertook teaching after that, and gradually worked his way towardthe ministry, to which he was admitted in 1837. He was soon called toBoston, to a congregation independent of sectarian bonds, and here hereached the culmination of his fame, attracting the most cultured peopleof the city by his breadth of knowledge, warmth of feeling and intensityof conviction. His interest in slavery began early, and by 1845, hisshare in the anti-slavery struggle had become engrossing. He threwhimself into it heart and soul, and no one did more to awaken theconscience of the north. His speeches, letters, sermons, tracts andlectures had an immense influence; he took an active part in aidingrunaway slaves to get to Canada, and his labors were incessant andprodigious. His health at last gave way, and the end came in 1860, atFlorence, Italy, where he lies buried. 

Parker's immense influence was due to the brain rather than to theheart. He possessed no grace of person, music of voice, or charm ofmanner, none of that fascination which is a part of the great orator. Hewas a white-hot flame which scorched and seared, an intellect pure andpiercing, a self-made instrument to expose the shams of society. 

Closely associated with Garrison and Parker in the fight againstslavery, and in some ways more famous than either, was Wendell Phillips. The very opposite of Parker, handsome in person, cultivated in manner, with a charm of personality seldom equalled, --the two yet worked hand inhand for a common cause, the one, as it were, supplementing the other. 

Wendell Phillips was the son of John Phillips, the first mayor ofBoston, and was a year younger than Theodore Parker. He went the way ofall well-to-do Boston youth through Harvard, graduating there in 1831, without distinguishing himself particularly, except by his skill indebate and his finished elocution. During one of the revivals ofreligion which followed the settlement of Dr. Lyman Beecher at Boston, he became a convert, and this marked the beginning of his interest inthe great moral question of the day, slavery. It soon becameoverwhelming, and was given point and passion by a spectacle which hewitnessed on October 21, 1835. 

He had studied for the law, been admitted to the bar, and opened anoffice, and looking from his office window on that October day, he saw amob break up an anti-slavery meeting on the street below, pull WilliamLloyd Garrison off the platform, tear his clothes from his back, throw arope around him and drag him through the streets, ready to hang him, andprevented from doing so only by a ruse of the mayor, who got Garrisoninto the jail and locked him up for safety. That spectacle moved theyoung lawyer through and through, and from that moment he was an avowedAbolitionist. 

"If clients do not come, " he had said to a friend a short time before, "I will throw myself heart and soul into some good cause and devote mylife to it. "

Clients would have come, no doubt, but the good cause came first. Hisopportunity came in 1837, when Elijah Lovejoy was murdered by a mob atAlton, Illinois, for publishing an anti-slavery paper. Phillips, stirredwith indignation, arranged for a public meeting at Faneuil Hall, and wasof course present, but with no expectation of speaking. Dr. Channingmade an impressive address, and one or two others followed, when JamesT. Austin, attorney-general of the state, and bitterly opposed to theanti-slavery agitation, arose. He eulogized the Alton murderers, comparing them with the patriots of the Revolution, and declared thatLovejoy had "died as the fool dieth. " Some instinct led the chair tocall upon Wendell Phillips to reply. He consented, and as he steppedupon the platform won instant admiration by his dignity, hisself-possession, and his manly beauty. 

"Mr. Chairman, " he began, "when I heard the gentleman who has justspoken lay down principles which placed the rioters, incendiaries, andmurderers of Alton side by side with Otis and Hancock, with Quincy andAdams, I thought those pictured lips [pointing to the portraits in thehall] would have broken into voice, to rebuke the recreant American, theslanderer of the dead. Sir, for the sentiments he has uttered on soilconsecrated by the prayers of Puritans and the blood of patriots, theearth should have yawned and swallowed him up. "

The effect of the whole speech was tremendous. At last theabolitionists had found a champion equal to the best, and from that hourto the end of the anti-slavery conflict, he was foremost in the fight. He accepted without reservation the doctrines which Garrison hadformulated: that slavery was under all circumstances a sin and thatimmediate emancipation was a fundamental right and duty. Up and down theland, obeying every call so far as his strength would permit, hetravelled, lecturing against slavery, asking no pecuniary reward. He wassoon a great popular favorite--the greatest, perhaps, who ever mounted alecture platform in America, --and gained a hearing in quarters where, before, abolitionists had been hated and derided. His tact in winningover a turbulent audience was extraordinary; the strongest opponents ofthe anti-slavery cause felt the spell of his power, and often confessedthe justice of his arguments. 

When that fight was won and the negro had gained his freedom, WendellPhillips remained the foremost critic of public men and measures inAmerica, and year after year, he devoted his great gifts to guidingpopular opinion. A champion of temperance, of the rights of labor, ofthe Indians, of equal suffrage, he stood forth until his death aninspiring and august figure--a man who devoted his life wholly to thewelfare of his country. 

One of the reforms which Wendell Phillips advocated was that of womansuffrage, but this movement has come to be particularly associated withthe name of Susan B. Anthony. Like her great predecessor in that cause, Lucretia Mott, Miss Anthony was a Quaker, and the Quakers, it should beremembered, made no distinction of sex when it came to speaking in theirmeeting-houses. Her father was well-to-do, and she received a carefuleducation, and in 1847, first spoke in public. The temperance movementabsorbed her energies at first; then the Abolitionist cause; and finallythe work of securing equal civil rights for women. During the winter of1854, she held woman suffrage meetings in every county in New YorkState, and the remainder of her life was devoted to this cause. 

Her most prominent co-worker was Elizabeth Cady Stanton, whoseinspiration came directly from Lucretia Mott, whom she met in 1840, andwith whom she joined, eight years later, in issuing a call for the firstwoman's suffrage convention. The convention was held at Mrs. Stanton'shome at Seneca Falls, New York, and from that time forward, she devotedherself entirely to lecturing and writing upon the subject. That thecause of woman suffrage has made so little headway is certainly notbecause of a lack of devoted and accomplished advocates; it seems ratherto be due to the fact that it has not yet succeeded in winning over thegreat body of women, who have held aloof and viewed the movement withindifference, if not with suspicion. 

 * * * * *

We cannot close this consideration of the anti-slavery movement withoutsome reference to that strange fanatic, John Brown, who headed aforlorn hope and gave up his life for an idea. It was the custom at onetime to consider John Brown a saint, at the north, and a very emissaryof Satan, at the south. One estimate was as untrue as the other. He wasmerely a misguided old man, grown a little mad, perhaps, from longbrooding over one subject. 

He was born at Torrington, Connecticut, in 1800, his father being ashoemaker and tanner, who, five years later, moved to Hudson, Ohio, thena mere outpost in the wilderness. He was soon expert in woodcraft, andhe relates how, when he was six years old, an Indian boy gave him ayellow marble, the first he had ever seen, and which he treasured for along time. He had little or no schooling, and a project to educate himfor the ministry was cut short by an inflammation of the eyes. He grewup into a tall, handsome man, headstrong, but humane and kind, andeasily moved to tears. He married young and had many children, for someof whom a tragic fate was waiting. 

He soon became interested in the anti-slavery movement, and, by 1837, was so absorbed by it that he made his family take a solemn oath ofactive opposition to slavery. Ten years later, he unfolded to FrederickDouglass a plan for a negro insurrection in the Virginia mountains, butnothing came of it. From that time forward, the project seems to haveslumbered at the back of his mind, and he grew more and more certainthat the only way to end slavery was to arm the blacks and encouragethem to fight for freedom. In 1854, his sons emigrated to Kansas, thenin the throes of civil war over the slavery question, and their fatherbusied himself raising money to send arms and ammunition into thetroubled state. Finally, in September, 1855, he himself removed toKansas, became the captain of a band of Free State Rangers, took part inthe fight at Lawrence, and in some other affairs, and then, proceedingto the shores of Pottawatomie creek, where several pro-slavery menlived, seized five of them and put them to death. 

For this deed he never experienced any compunction; he believed that hewas directed by Providence in these "executions, " as he called them, andafter they were over, he held divine services. His fearful deed sent athrill of horror through the country, and Brown and his sons becamemarked men. Their houses were burned, and one of the sons went insanefrom brooding over the father's deed. Brown himself was charged withmurder, treason and conspiracy, and a price put on his head, but no oneattempted to arrest him. Another of his sons was soon afterwards shotand killed by pro-slavery men and Brown, hastily collecting a smallforce, attacked the marauders, and killed or wounded many of them, himself being injured by a spent rifle ball. The fight was known as "thebattle of Osawatomie, " and Brown was thereafterwards known as"Osawatomie" Brown. 

But the fight in Kansas was about won, and Brown again took up the ideaof a slave insurrection. He went to Boston to raise the necessary money, and succeeded in getting it without much trouble, though most of thepeople who gave it to him had only the haziest kind of an idea of whatit was he proposed to do. He bought rifles and ammunition, and also hada thousand pikes made with which to arm the negroes, who, of course, would not know how to use the rifle. Then he got together a band ofyoung men, secured a military instructor; and on July 3, 1859, heappeared at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, hired a small farm near there, andquietly assembled his men and munitions. 

Harper's Ferry had been selected because there was a well-equippedarsenal there which would furnish the arms and munitions which he hadbeen unable to buy, and would also serve as a base of operations. Brownintended to proceed to the mountains, gathering up the slaves as hewent, and establish headquarters in some strong position, where he coulddrill his forces and prepare for a raid on the rest of the state. Hebelieved the slaves would flock to him, and that he would soon be at thehead of a great army. He tried to get Frederick Douglass to join him, but Douglass refused, and, at last, on the night of Sunday, October 16, 1859, at the head of a little band of twenty-two men, whites andnegroes, he moved on the arsenal. They reached the covered bridge overthe Potomac without adventure, crossed until they were near the Virginiaside, seized the solitary sentinel who challenged them, broke down thearmory gate with a sledge hammer, seized the remainder of the guard, anda few citizens, who attempted to interfere, and were soon firmly inpossession of not only the arsenal, but also the little town. 

Meanwhile, the country round about was arming, and by noon, of Monday, Brown was so surrounded that he could not escape. Why he had not gotaway to the mountains in the morning, as he had intended doing, no oneknows. The Virginia militia gathered, and in the early evening, acompany of United States marines arrived from Washington, under commandof Colonel Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant J. E. B. Stuart. They soon foundout how small Brown's force was, carried the arsenal by assault, andtook Brown and the survivors of his little band prisoners. Brown's twosons were dead, as were seven others of his followers, and seven morehad succeeded in escaping, though two were afterwards captured. 

The rest is soon told. Brown was swiftly tried and convicted of "treasonand conspiring and advising with slaves and others to rebel, and ofmurder in the first degree, " was sentenced to death, and was hanged onDecember 2, 1859. The affair made the South wild with rage andapprehension, for a slave insurrection was a thing to be trembled at, and Brown's execution similarly affected his friends at the North. Hehad once remarked, "I am worth a good deal more to hang than for anyother purpose, " and this was, in a sense, true, for in the words of thegreat marching song of the Northern armies during the war whichfollowed, "his soul was marching on. "

Another branch of philanthropy with which the name of a woman is closelyidentified is that of caring for the wounded and destitute in time ofwar or disaster, and the woman is Clara Barton. Born in Massachusettsabout 1830, she started in life as a school-teacher, but in 1854 secureda position in the patent office at Washington, where she remained untilthe opening of the Civil War. The sight of the suffering in theWashington hospitals revealed to her her real vocation, and shedetermined to devote herself to the care of wounded soldiers on thebattlefield. This work of mercy was one that carried with it a wideappeal, and she soon secured influential backing and support. 

Her work was so effective that in 1864, she was appointed "lady incharge" of the hospitals at the front of the Army of the James, and inthe following year was sent to Andersonville, Georgia, to identify andmark the graves of the Union soldiers buried there. Soon afterwards shewas placed by President Lincoln in charge of the search for missing menof the Union armies--a work of the first importance, to which shedevoted all her energies, and which she carried on for some years afterthe war closed, raising the necessary money by lectures and appeals fordonations. Thousands of families at the North have reason to thank herfor definite knowledge as to the fate of their loved ones. 

Her health broke down under the strain, at last, and she went for a restto Switzerland, but the outbreak of the Franco-German war, in 1870, called her again to duty, assisting the grand duchess of Baden in thepreparation of military hospitals, and giving the Red Cross Society thebenefit of her experience. In 1871, at the request of the Germanauthorities, she superintended the supplying of work to the poor ofStrasburg, after that city had been reduced by siege; and after the fallof Paris, she was placed in charge of the distribution of supplies tothe destitute of that great city. At the close of the war, she wasdecorated with the golden cross of Baden and the iron cross of Germany. 

Although the Red Cross societies in Europe had been established as earlyas 1863, and an international organization completed six years later, the society was not officially recognized by the United States until1882. The American Association of the Red Cross was at once organized, and Miss Barton chosen its president, a position which she held withoutopposition for many years. Its object as stated by its constitution is"to organize a system of national relief and apply the same inmitigating suffering caused by war, pestilence, famine and othercalamities. " Since then, every such occasion has found the society inthe forefront of relief work, and it has distributed many millions inassuaging human suffering. 

 * * * * *

Still another great reform, ridiculed at first, but now recognized asone of the most beneficent movements of the age is associated with asingle name. The reform is the protection of dumb animals, and the nameis that of Henry Bergh. 

Born in New York City in 1823, the son of a wealthy ship-builder andinheriting his father's fortune at the age of twenty, Henry Bergh, afterspending some years in Europe, a portion of them in the diplomaticservice of the United States, returned to this country, determined todevote the remainder of his life to the interests of animals. 

It was a new idea which he presented to the public, met at first withindifference, then with ridicule and opposition. But as a bold worker inthe streets of New York, by a relentless activity in carrying cases ofill-treatment of animals to the courts, and an eloquent advocacy of hiscause on the floor of the legislature, he soon won friends and support, as every great cause is bound to do, and finally succeeded in so winningover public sentiment that, in 1866, the legislature passed the lawswhich he had prepared, creating the Society for the Prevention ofCruelty to Animals, with himself as president. He gave not only histime, but his property to the work, and soon had the society in aprosperous condition, with branches forming in other cities. Indeed, theidea which he fostered has spread to the whole country, and nowhere mayanimals be mistreated with impunity. The idea that man is responsiblenot only for the happiness of his fellows, but for the well-being of hisbeasts marks a long stride forward in ethics. 

Bergh's influence, indeed, extended beyond this country. Not only didpractically every state in the Union enact the laws for the protectionof animals which he had procured from the state of New York, but Brazil, the Argentine Republic, and many other foreign countries did likewise. In 1874, Bergh rescued a little girl from inhuman treatment, and thisled to the formation of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty toChildren, which has also done a great work. 

No doubt before Bergh's time, there were many people who were pained tosee either children or animals mistreated and who passed by with avertedeyes. Bergh did not pass by. He made it his business, in the firstplace, to secure adequate laws for the punishment of cruelty, and in thesecond place, to provide means for the enforcement of those laws. 

There are many of us to-day who are shocked at the injustice andsuffering in the world, and who would welcome its regeneration. Butwishing for a thing never got it. Nor does philanthropy consist merelyin wishing men well. It means labor and self-sacrifice, and frequentlyobloquy and misunderstanding. The reward of the reformer is usually astone and a sneer, if nothing worse. But when a man's heart is in thework, stones and sneers seem only to spur him on. They are like wind toa flame, fanning it white-hot. And it is a wonderful commentary on theessential goodness of human nature that never yet, in the history ofmankind, has a real and needed reform failed, in the end, of success. 

Among latter-day clergymen in America, none has achieved a widerreputation or a greater personal popularity than Phillips Brooks. Bornin Boston in 1835, a graduate of Harvard, ordained to the Episcopalministry at the age of twenty-four, and ten years later called to therectorship of Trinity church, Boston, it was in this latter field, whichhe would never leave, that he showed himself to be one of the strongestpersonalities and noblest preachers of his age. No more striking figureever appeared in a pulpit. Of magnificent physique, with a striking andmassive head and handsome countenance, breathing the very spirit ofyouth, in spite of his grey hair, he had the interest and attention ofany audience before he opened his lips. 

Phillips Brooks has been compared to Henry Ward Beecher, and in manythings they were alike. But the former's culture, while perhaps lessvaried than Beecher's, was deeper and richer, his sermons were lessbrilliant but cast in better form, his appeal was narrower but to a farmore influential class. He was, in a word, the preacher of theintellectual. No one who heard him preach ever failed to be startled atfirst by his tremendous rapidity of delivery--averaging two hundredwords a minute--or failed to find himself, at first, lagging behind theequal rapidity of thought. But once accustomed to these--once realizingthat, in listening to him there could be no inattention or wandering ofwits--his sermon became a source of keenest intellectual delight andnoblest spiritual inspiration. 

Phillips Brooks often said that he had to preach rapidly, or not at all. In youth he had suffered from something resembling an impediment in hisspeech, and more measured utterance gave it a chance to recur. Certainly, no one who ever listened to his fluent and limpid utterancewould have suspected it. But he was far more than a great preacher. Byhis broad tolerance, his lofty character and immense personal influence, he became, in a way, a national figure, the common property of thenation which felt itself the richer for possessing him. A gracious andcourtly figure, with a heart as wide as the human race, he lives, somehow, as the true type of clergyman, whose concern is humanity andwhose field the world. 

Which brings us to the life of the last man we shall consider in thischapter, a man the opposite in many ways of the great clergyman whosecareer we have just noted, and yet, like him, of broadest sympathies andmost sincere convictions; a man whose life was more picturesque, whosebattle against fate was harder, and whose achievement was even moreremarkable--the greatest evangelist the modern world has ever produced, Dwight L. Moody. If ever a man labored for his fellow-men, he did, andthe story of his life reads almost like a romance. 

He was born at Northfield, Massachusetts, in 1837, the son of astone-mason, who, disheartened and worn out by business reverses, diedwhen the boy was only four years old. There were nine children, theoldest only fifteen, and when the father's creditors came and took everypossession they had in the world, the future looked dark indeed. Themother was urged to place the children in various homes, but she managedto keep them together by doing housework for the neighbors and tilling alittle garden. 

As soon as he was old enough, Dwight was put to work on a farm, but hisearnings were small, and finally, when he was seventeen, he started forBoston to look for something better. He managed to get a position in ashoe-store, and there came under the influence of Edward Kimball, whopersuaded him to become a Christian and to join a church. But he was notadmitted to membership for nearly a year; so poor was his command oflanguage and so awkward his sentences that it was doubted if heunderstood Christianity at all, and even when he was admitted, thecommittee stated that they thought him "very unlikely ever to become aChristian of clear and decided views of gospel truth; still less to fillany extended sphere of public usefulness. " How blind, indeed, we oftenare to the possibilities in human nature!

At the age of nineteen, Dwight removed to Chicago, secured anotherposition as shoe-salesman, and offered his services to a mission schoolas a teacher. His appearance made anything but a favorable impression, but finally he was told that he might teach provided he brought his ownscholars. The next Sunday he walked in at the head of a score ofragamuffins he had gathered up along the wharves. The divine fire seemsto have been working in him; he was finding words with which to expresshimself, and burning for a wider field. So he rented a room in the slumdistricts which had been used as a saloon and opened a Sunday schoolthere. It was an immense success, soon outgrew the little room, and wasremoved to a large hall, where, every Sunday, a thousand boys and girlsattended. For six years, Moody conducted that school, sweeping it outand doing the janitor work himself, attending to his business assalesman throughout the week. But in 1860, at the age of twenty-three, he decided to devote all his time to Christian work. 

He had no income, and to keep his expenses as low as possible, he sleptat night on a bench in his school, and cooked his own food. Then theCivil War began, and he erected a tent at the camp near Chicago wherethe recruits were gathered, and labored there all day, sometimes holdingeight or ten meetings. He went with the men to the front, and was at thedesperate battles of Shiloh, Murfreesboro, and Chattanooga. The warover, he took up again his work in Chicago. The great fire of 1871 sweptaway his church, but he soon had a temporary structure erected, andlabored on. 

By this time, his fame had got abroad, and finally in 1873, his greatopportunity came. Accompanied by Ira D. Sankey, the famous singer ofhymns, he started on an evangelist tour of Great Britain. At his firstmeeting only four people were present; at his last, thirty thousandcrowded to hear him. In Ireland, the crowds sometimes covered six acres, and during the four months he spent in London, over two million peopleheard him preach. Great Britain had never before experienced such areligious awakening; but it was as nothing to the reception given himwhen he returned to America two years later. There are many people stillliving who remember those wonderful revivals in Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, with their great choirs, and Ira Sankey's singing, andMoody's soul-stirring talks. From that time forward he was easily thefirst evangelist in the world--perhaps the greatest the world had everseen. 

It is doubtful if any man ever faced and preached to so many people. Hespoke to thousands night after night, week in and week out. In histhemes he kept close to life, and few men were his equal in makingscriptural biography vivid and realistic; in reconstructing scripturalscenes and setting them, as it were, bodily before his audience. He wasnot a cultured man, as we understand the word--not a man of broadlearning; perhaps such learning would only have weakened him--nor did hehave the presence and voice which go so far toward the equipment of theorator. But he burned with an intense conviction, and his sermons wereso free from art, so direct, so persuasive, that they were perfectlyadapted to the end he sought--the conversion of human beings. 

SUMMARY

GIRARD, STEPHEN. Born near Bordeaux, France, May 24, 1750; sailed ascabin-boy to West Indies, and then to America; established inPhiladelphia, 1769; financial mainstay of government in war of 1812;died at Philadelphia, December 26, 1831. 

SMITHSON, JAMES LEWIS MACIE. Born in France in 1765; matriculated fromPembroke College, Oxford, England, 1782; Fellow Royal Society, 1786;distinguished as student of mineralogy and chemistry; died at Genoa, Italy, June 27, 1829. 

COOPER, PETER. Born at New York City, February 12, 1791; apprenticed tocarriage-maker, 1808; engaged in various enterprises and establishedCanton Iron Works, Canton, Maryland, 1830; Greenback candidate forPresident, 1876; died at New York, April 4, 1883. 

PEABODY, GEORGE. Born at Danvers, Massachusetts, February 18, 1795;settled in London as a banker, 1837; died there, November 4, 1869. 

HOPKINS, JOHNS. Born at Waterbury, Connecticut, May 19, 1795; foundedhouse of Hopkins & Brothers, 1822; chairman of finance committeeBaltimore & Ohio railroad, 1855; died at Baltimore, December 24, 1873. 

CORNELL, EZRA. Born at Westchester Landing, New York, January 11, 1807;mechanic and miller at Ithaca, New York, 1828-41; member of StateAssembly, 1862-63; State Senator, 1864-67; died at Ithaca, New York, December 9, 1874. 

SLATER, JOHN FOX. Born at Slatersville, Rhode Island, March 4, 1815;established Slater Fund, 1882; died at Norwich, Connecticut, May 7, 1884. 

STANFORD, LELAND. Born at Watervliet, New York, March 9, 1824;Republican governor of California, 1861-63; United States Senator, 1885-93; died at Palo Alto, California, June 20, 1893. 

ROCKEFELLER, JOHN DAVISON. Born at Richford, New York, July 8, 1839;partner of Clark & Rockefeller, 1858; built Standard Oil Works, Cleveland, Ohio, 1865; organized Standard Oil Company, 1870; StandardOil Trust, 1882. 

CARNEGIE, ANDREW. Born at Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland, November 25, 1837; came to United States, 1848; telegraph messenger boy, 1851;introduced Bessemer steel process to America, 1868; formed CarnegieSteel Company, 1899; merged into United States Steel Corporation, 1901, when he retired from business. 

BEECHER, LYMAN. Born at New Haven, Connecticut, October 12, 1775; pastorof various Congregational churches, 1799-1832; president LaneTheological Seminary, 1832-51; died at Brooklyn, New York, January 10, 1863. 

BEECHER, HENRY WARD. Born at Litchfield, Connecticut, June 24, 1813;graduated at Amherst, 1834; pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church, Brooklyn, 1847-87; founder of the _Independent_ and the _ChristianUnion_; died at Brooklyn, March 8, 1887. 

CHANNING, WILLIAM ELLERY. Born at Newport, Rhode Island, April 7, 1780;graduated at Harvard, 1798; pastor of Federal Street Church, Boston, 1803-42; died at Bennington, Vermont, October 2, 1842. 

JUDSON, ADONIRAM. Born at Malden, Massachusetts, August 9, 1788;graduated at Brown, 1807; started as missionary to Burmah, 1812, andremained in far East until his death, April 12, 1850. 

MOTT, LUCRETIA. Born at Nantucket, Massachusetts, January 3, 1793;entered ministry of Friends, 1818; assisted at formation of Americananti-slavery society, 1833; called first woman suffrage convention, 1848; died near Philadelphia, November 11, 1880. 

DIX, DOROTHEA LYNDE. Born at Worcester, Massachusetts, 1805; devoted herwhole life to work for paupers, convicts, and insane persons;superintendent of hospital nurses during Civil War; died at Trenton, NewJersey, July 19, 1887. 

CHILD, LYDIA MARIA. Born at Medford, Massachusetts, February 11, 1802;editor _National Anti-Slavery Standard_, 1840-43; published a number ofnovels; died at Wayland, Massachusetts, October 20, 1880. 

GARRISON, WILLIAM LLOYD. Born at Newburyport, Massachusetts, December10, 1805; began publication of the _Liberator_, 1831; president AmericanAnti-Slavery Society, 1843-65; died at New York City, May 24, 1879. 

PARKER, THEODORE. Born at Lexington, Massachusetts, August 24, 1810;studied at Cambridge Divinity School, 1834-36; Unitarian clergyman atRoxbury, 1837; head of an independent society at Music Hall, Boston, 1846; died at Florence, Italy, May 10, 1860. 

PHILLIPS, WENDELL. Born at Boston, November 29, 1811; educated atHarvard; admitted to the bar, 1834; leading orator of the Abolitionists, 1837-61; president of the Anti-Slavery Society, 1865-70; Prohibitionistcandidate for governor of Massachusetts, 1870; died at Boston, February2, 1884. 

ANTHONY, SUSAN BROWNELL. Born at South Adams, Massachusetts, February15, 1820; became agitator in cause of woman suffrage, organized NationalAmerican Woman Suffrage Association and was its president for manyyears; died March 13, 1906. 

STANTON, ELIZABETH CADY. Born at Johnstown, New York, November 12, 1815;graduated at Willard Seminary, 1832; met Lucretia Mott, 1840; held firstwoman's suffrage convention, 1848; associated with Susan B. Anthony;died at New York City, October 26, 1902. 

BROWN, JOHN. Born at Torrington, Connecticut, May 9, 1800; removed withparents to Ohio, 1805; emigrated to Kansas, 1855; won battle ofOsawatomie, August, 1856; seized arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, October 16, 1859; captured, October 18; tried by Commonwealth ofVirginia, October 27-31; hanged at Charlestown, Virginia, December 2, 1859. 

BARTON, CLARA. Born at Oxford, Massachusetts, 1821; superintended reliefwork on battle-fields during Civil War; laid out grounds of nationalcemetery at Andersonville, 1865; worked through Franco-Prussian war, 1870; distributed relief in Strasburg, Belfort, Montpelier, Paris, 1871; secured adoption of Treaty of Geneva, 1882; president American RedCross Society, 1881-1904. 

BERGH, HENRY. Born at New York City, 1823; secretary of legation at St. Petersburg, 1862-64; organized American Society for the Prevention ofCruelty to Animals, 1866; founded Society for the Prevention of Crueltyto Children, 1874; died at New York City, March 12, 1888. 

BROOKS, PHILLIPS. Born at Boston, December 13, 1835; graduated atHarvard, 1855; graduated from Episcopal Seminary, Alexandria, Virginia, 1859; rector of Trinity Church, Boston, 1870-93; elected Bishop ofEpiscopal Diocese of Massachusetts, 1891; died at Boston, January 23, 1893. 

MOODY, DWIGHT LYMAN. Born at Northfield, Massachusetts, February 5, 1837; started missionary work at Chicago, 1856; conducted revivalmeetings in Great Britain, 1873-75; and devoted the remainder of hislife to this work; died at Northfield, December 22, 1899. 

CHAPTER IX

MEN OF AFFAIRS

Almost from the first years of her existence America has been knownchiefly as a commercial nation, as a nation noted for her men ofaffairs, rather than for her artists and men of letters. Which is to saythat the life of the Republic has been practical rather than artistic, and it is only of late years, except for a sporadic instance here andthere, that any genuine artistic impulse has made itself felt. 

This is not a cause of reproach. Given the circumstances, it wasinevitable that America should develop first on her commercial side. Here was a great continent, stretching thousands of miles to thewestward, waiting for man's occupancy. Millions of acres of plain andwoodland awaited development. There were cities to found and rivers tobridge and roads to make and soil to till and gold to dig before Americacould think of writing poetry or painting pictures. Think--it is onlythree centuries since Jamestown was founded; only a century and aquarter since we became a nation--a mere handbreadth of time whencompared with the long centuries of English or French or Italianhistory. We have already said that for art historic background isnecessary; a background of achievement and tradition. Such a backgroundwe are just achieving. Besides, during our first century, there weresuch great deeds of conquest and development to be done that theychallenged our strongest men. Great fortunes were made, as a matter ofcourse, and Europe witnessed the unique spectacle of men, born inpoverty and obscurity, rising to be captains of the world. It is thiswhich has never ceased to shock the European sense of the fitness ofthings--that the poor boy of yesterday may be the millionaire ofto-morrow and take his place with the greatest of the nation. It is thestory of a few such boys which will be told in this chapter. 

First is the man who financed the Revolution and who to a large extentmade possible its successful termination--Robert Morris. Born inLiverpool, England, in 1734, he came to this country with his father atthe age of thirteen, and a place was soon found for him in thecounting-house of Charles Willing, a wealthy merchant of Philadelphia. By his diligence and activity, as well as unusual intelligence, he grewin favor and confidence, until, upon the death of the elder Willing, hewas taken into partnership by the latter's son, and by the opening ofthe Revolution, the firm of Willing & Morris was one of the largest andmost prosperous in Philadelphia. 

Of English birth, and bound to England by the ties of business, Morriswas nevertheless opposed to the stamp-act and was one of those who, in1765, signed an agreement to import nothing further from England untilthe act was repealed. He was, however, opposed to independence, and, asa member of the Continental Congress, voted on July 1, 1776, against theDeclaration. Three days later he declined to vote, but when theDeclaration was adopted, he signed it, and threw in his fortunesunreservedly with his new country. His services were more thanvaluable--they were indispensable. As a member of the Committee of Waysand Means, he backed the government's credit with his own. Without hisaid, the last campaigns of the war would have been impossible. It was hewho supplied General Green with munitions of war for the great campaignof the south, and shortly afterwards raised a million and a half on hisown notes to assist Washington in the movement which resulted in thecapture of Cornwallis at Yorktown. A year later, when the financialsituation of the government had become desperate, he organized the Bankof North America to assist in financing it. For three years, he acted assuperintendent of finance, with complete control of the monetary affairsof the country. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention, andwhen the new government was organized, Washington asked him to acceptthe treasury portfolio, but he declined, suggesting instead AlexanderHamilton. That was not the least of his services to America, forHamilton was preëminently the man for the place. 

It was the striking irony of fate that the man who had controlled thefinances of a nation and by his personal exertions saved it frombankruptcy should himself die in a debtor's prison; yet such was thecase. A series of unfortunate land speculations swept away his wealthand ruined his credit; he found himself unable to meet his obligationsand was seized by his creditors and thrown into prison, where heremained for some years, and where death found him in 1806. 

So Robert Morris was not one of the founders of great fortunes. Turn weto the earliest and perhaps most successful of these, John Jacob Astor, the very type of the astute, large-minded, and far-sighted financier. Born at Waldorf, Germany, in 1763, the son of a poor butcher in whoseshop he worked until sixteen years of age, there was nothing in his lifeor circumstances to indicate the future which lay before him. One of hisbrothers, however, had come to America and settled at New York, andyoung John Astor resolved to join him in the land of opportunity. At theage of twenty, he was able to do so, bringing with him some musicalinstruments to sell on commission, but a chance acquaintance which hemade on shipboard changed the whole course of his life. 

This acquaintance was that of a furrier, who told young Astor of thegreat profits to be made by buying furs from the Indians and sellingthem to the large dealers. Perhaps he exaggerated the profits of thebusiness; at any rate, he fired the ambition of his hearer, and thelatter decided to enter the fur business without delay. Upon landing inNew York, therefore, he at once secured a position in the shop of aQuaker furrier, and after learning all the details of the business, opened a shop of his own. 

Perhaps no one ever worked harder in establishing a business than JohnJacob Astor did. Early and late he was at his shop, except when absenton long and arduous purchasing expeditions into the wilderness. Morethan that, he possessed admirable business judgment, so that, afterfifteen years of work, he had succeeded in accumulating a fortune of aquarter of a million dollars. With careful and sagacious management, thebusiness prospered so that Astor was soon able to send his furs toEurope in his own vessels, and bring back European goods. And about thistime, he began working on a grandiose and picturesque enterprise. 

The English Hudson Bay Company, established many years before, withhundreds of trappers and traders and scores of trading-posts, controlledthe rich fur business of Canada and the northwest. We have seen how, years after the events which we are now narrating, the agents of thecompany tried to save Oregon for England and how Marcus Whitman foiledthem. Astor's plan, in outline, was to render American trade independentof the Hudson Bay Company by establishing a chain of trading-posts fromthe great lakes to the Pacific, to plant a central depot at the mouth ofthe Columbia river, and to acquire one of the Sandwich Islands andestablish a line of vessels between the western coast of America andthe ports of Japan, China and India. Surely a man who could conceive aplan like that was something more than a mere trader, and Astorproceeded at once to carry it into effect. 

Two expeditions were sent out, one by land and one by sea, to open upintercourse with the Indians of the Pacific coast, and the settlement ofAstoria was planted at the mouth of the Columbia river. Whether Astorwould have been able to carry out the remainder of his plan is purelyproblematical, for before he had it fairly under way, the war of 1812began, and he was forced to abandon the enterprise. The story of thisfar-reaching project has been told by Washington Irving in his"Astoria. " Until his death, he continued to enlarge and increase hisbusiness, and left a fortune estimated at twenty millions of dollars. 

The Astor plan of investment is one of the safest, most sagacious in theworld. Practically all of his profits were invested by John Jacob Astorin real estate outside the compact portion of the city of New York. Asthe city grew out to his holdings, he would improve them, rent or sellthem, and reinvest further out. In this way the growth of the citymarked also the growth of his fortune, and this plan of investment hasbeen followed by his descendants to the present day, until they havebecome by far the most important owners of real estate in New York City. His son, William B. Astor, gave his life to the preservation and growthof the vast property he inherited, and at his death had more thandoubled it, dividing an estate of $45, 000, 000 between his two sons. 

Not that the whole thought of these two men was money-getting, for theirpublic gifts were numerous and important. The most noteworthy was theAstor library, founded by John Jacob Astor at the suggestion ofWashington Irving, and largely added to by his son, the total amount ofthe Astor donations to it exceeding a million dollars. But they stand astwo types of sagacious and hard-headed business men, to whommoney-making and the still more difficult art of money-keeping was aninstinctive accomplishment. 

The second great American fortune was that founded by CorneliusVanderbilt, as remarkable and picturesque a character as this countryever produced. Born on Staten Island in 1794, the son of a farmer inmoderate circumstances, the boy soon developed a remarkable talent fortrade. His father owned a sail-boat, in which he conveyed his produceacross the bay to the New York markets, and the boy soon learned tomanage this and was intrusted with these daily trips. When he wassixteen years old, he bought a boat of his own, in which he ferriedpassengers across the bay, and two years later he was owner of two boatsand captain of a third. This was the beginning of the great fleet ofsteamers, sloops and schooners which he built up for the navigation ofthe shores of New York bay and the Hudson river, which won him the titleof "Commodore, " which clung to him all his life. Before he was fortyyears old, he had accumulated a fortune of half a million dollars, andwas ready for those great financial operations which marked his laterlife. 

The discovery of gold in California led him to establish a passengerline by way of Lake Nicaragua which netted him ten millions in tenyears; he established a fast line of passenger steamships between NewYork and Havre; and finally was attracted to railway development as afield of enterprise destined to win large returns. In the course of afew years he had secured control of both the Hudson River and New YorkCentral roads, and brought both of them to the highest state ofefficiency, and after consolidating them, extended the system to Chicagoby the purchase of the Lake Shore, the Canada Southern and MichiganCentral. He built a great terminal in New York City, and made the systemso profitable that, from it, and a series of fortunate speculations, heaccumulated a fortune of $100, 000, 000, practically all of which hebequeathed to his eldest son, William Henry. One million was also givenfor the establishment of Vanderbilt University at Nashville, Tennessee. 

Cornelius Vanderbilt, for many years, had a very poor opinion of hisson's financial ability, and giving him a small farm on Staten Island, left him to shift for himself. Everyone has read of the incident whichchanged this opinion. William needed some fertilizer for his farm, andasked his father to give him a load of manure from his stables. Hisfather told him to go ahead and take a load, and William thereuponbrought a great scow up to the pier near the stables, proceeded to loadit, and when his father protested, pointed out that he had not specifiedthe kind of load, but that he had meant a scow-load. This bit of sharppractice pleased his father, and, shortly afterwards, the great successwith which he managed the Staten Island Railroad, as receiver, established him in his father's confidence. He continued and extendedhis father's policy of railway investment, and added to the greatfortune which had been left him, and which still remains one of thegreatest in America, though it has been split up among the differentbranches of the Vanderbilt family. William himself distributed about twomillions in various benevolent and public enterprises, one of thequeerest of which was the removal of one of "Cleopatra's Needles" fromEgypt to Central Park, New York City, at a cost of over a hundredthousand dollars. 

In the business world of New York City, half a century ago, no name wasmore prominent than that of A. T. Stewart, whose success as a merchantwas one of the most astonishing features of the time. Born near Belfast, Ireland, in 1803, Stewart was a descendant from one of those hardy andthrifty Scotch-Irish, whom we have had occasion to mention before. Hisfather was a farmer, but died while the son was still at school, and atthe age of twenty the latter came to New York, and after looking overthe field, opened a small store on lower Broadway, with a sleepingapartment for himself in the rear. Such was the beginning of thegreatest dry-goods business this country ever saw. It increased by leapsand bounds, for Stewart seems to have had a sort of instinctive geniusfor the business. He was continually moving to larger and largerquarters, and in 1862, built on Broadway a store which was at that timethe largest in the world, and which, even in this day of mammothstructures, commands attention. Its cost was nearly three millions, acolossal sum for those days; two thousand people were employed in it andit cost a million a year to run. But it brought a tremendous return, andits owner soon became one of the wealthiest men in New York. 

He wanted more than wealth--he hungered for political and social honorswhich were never fully his. He had made a large contribution to the fundof $100, 000 presented by the merchants of New York to General Grant, andin 1869, Grant appointed him secretary of the treasury. The senaterefused to confirm the appointment, on the ground that the law excludedfrom that office anyone interested in the importation of merchandise. Grant sent to the senate a message recommending that this law berepealed, but the senate refused; and Stewart thereupon offered to placehis business in the hands of trustees and devote its entire profits tocharity during his term of office; but still the senate refused, and thenomination was withdrawn. It was a bitter blow to Stewart, nor was hisfight for social prominence much more fortunate. As his last stake, asit were, he began the erection of a great marble palace on FifthAvenue, designed to cost a million and to be the finest privateresidence in the world, but he died before it was completed. 

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One of the great industries of the country is that of sugar refining, and it is inseparably connected with the name of Havemeyer, for to theHavemeyers is due its development and its formation into a so-calledtrust, which practically controls the market, and which has won greatwealth for its organizers. The ancestor of the Havemeyers was a thriftyGerman who came to this country in the latter part of the eighteenthcentury, and, after engaging in various pursuits, opened a little sugarrefinery in New York City, which soon brought him a comfortable income. There, in 1804, William Frederick Havemeyer was born, and after acareful education, entered the refinery, gained a thorough knowledge ofthe business and, in 1828 succeeded to it, having as a partner hiscousin, Frederick Christian Havemeyer. These two men developed thebusiness in a wonderful manner, installing new machinery, inventing newprocesses, which reduced the manufacturing cost, acquiring possession ofother plants and securing government support in the shape of aprotective tariff, which made a naturally profitable business doubly so, and netted its owners many millions. 

William Frederick Havemeyer found time, in the intervals of running hisbusiness, to take a prominent part in New York politics. He was mayorof the city from 1845 to 1851, and again in 1873, dying before the lastterm was finished. 

As far as possible removed from Havemeyer's humdrum existence was thatof Phineas Taylor Barnum, the greatest showman the world has ever seen, the originator of the great travelling circus, the exploiter of TomThumb and Jenny Lind, the owner of Jumbo, the most famous elephant thatever lived, whose name has passed into the English language as a synonymfor bigness. 

Barnum was born at Bethel, Connecticut, in 1810. His father was aninn-keeper and died when the boy was fifteen years old, leaving noproperty. He tried his hand at store-keeping, and failed; ran anewspaper, and was imprisoned for libel, and finally reached New York atabout the end of his resources and looking around for something to do. That was in 1834, and by accident he hit upon his real vocation. 

A man by the name of R. W. Lindsay was exhibiting through the country anold negro woman named Joice Heth, advertising her as being 161 yearsold, and as having been the nurse of George Washington. Barnum went tosee her and found her an extraordinary-looking object. He has himselftold how he was impressed by her. 

"Joice Heth, " he says, "was certainly a remarkable curiosity, and shelooked as though she might have been far older than her age asadvertised. She was apparently in good health and spirits, but from ageor disease, or both, was unable to change her position; she could moveone arm at will, but her lower limbs could not be straightened; her leftarm lay across her breast and she could not remove it; the fingers ofher left hand were drawn down so as nearly to close it, and were fixed;the nails on that hand were almost four inches long and extended aboveher wrist; her head was covered with a thick bush of gray hair; but shewas toothless and totally blind, and her eyes had sunk so deeply in thesockets as to have disappeared altogether. Nevertheless she was pert andsociable and would talk as long as people would converse with her. Shewas quite garrulous about 'dear little George, ' at whose birth shedeclared she was present, having been at the time a slave of ElizabethAtwood, a half-sister of Augustine Washington, the father of GeorgeWashington. As nurse, she put the first clothes on the infant, and sheclaimed to have raised him. "

Barnum was so impressed by this extraordinary object, that he bought herfor a thousand dollars, putting his last cent into the venture andborrowing what he lacked. He proceeded to advertise her withcharacteristic energy, and great crowds thronged to see her, so that hisreceipts sometimes ran as high as $1, 500 a week. However, the old womandied within a year, and a post-mortem examination showed that she wasreally only about eighty years old. 

But Barnum had found his vocation, that of showman, and after a fewunsuccessful ventures, bought Scudder's American Museum, in New YorkCity, and started out on a brilliant career. It is interesting to notethat the museum which Barnum purchased consisted in part of the curioscollected years before by Charles and Rembrandt Peale. Barnum added toit, was indefatigable in securing curiosities, really created the art ofmodern advertising, and it was his proudest boast that no one ever leftthe museum without having got his money's worth. He was one of the firstto realize that the best possible advertisement is a pleased customer, and he tried honestly to keep his museum supplied with every novelty. The public soon came to appreciate this, and perhaps his greatest assetwas public confidence in his promises. People came to believe that whenBarnum advertised a thing, he really had it. But the most fortunate dayin all his life was that November day of 1842, when he discovered atBridgeport, Connecticut, the midget whose real name was Charles S. Stratton, but who was to become world-famous as General Tom Thumb. 

The story of Tom Thumb's success reads like a romance. He was quiteyoung when Barnum got him, and the showman took great pains with hiseducation and training, for he wanted the midget to appear a finishedman of the world. He became a great public favorite, toured America andEurope, was introduced to kings and princes and made a great fortune forhimself and his exhibitor. Barnum struck the apogee of his fortunes whenhe discovered another midget, Lavinia Warren, who achieved a successscarcely less than Tom Thumb's. Indeed, she and the General fell inlove with each other and were married at Grace Church, and as Generaland Mrs. Tom Thumb were perhaps the greatest drawing cards in the world. Another triumph of his career was his engagement of Jenny Lind for aseries of one hundred concerts, at a salary of a thousand dollars anight, the receipts of the tour being over seven hundred thousanddollars. 

Barnum had many ups and downs, which he met with an invincible optimism. His museum burned down and he rebuilt it, but it soon burned down again. It was then that the idea occurred to him to establish a travellingmuseum, exhibiting under a tent, and it was this idea which developedinto "The Greatest Show on Earth. " It really was the greatest and itsowner never spared money in his endeavor to keep it so. Large-hearted, benevolent, a true entertainer, he will always occupy a bright place inthe memory of the American public. 

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Perhaps no name in the history of America was ever more closelyconnected in the public mind with money-making for its own sake thanthat of Russell Sage. It will be surprising news to many, who knew himonly as a money-lender on a large scale, that he started out on a publiccareer, as alderman, county treasurer, and finally as member of congressfor two terms, from 1853 to 1857. He was the first person to advocate, on the floor of congress, the purchase of Mount Vernon by thegovernment. His career on Wall street began shortly after that, at firstin a small way; but before his death, he had developed into thegreatest individual money-lender in the world. 

That was his whole life. He took no part in any political or charitablemovement; he had no interest in art, and he lived in the simplestmanner. He used his wealth, not to procure enjoyment for himself orother people, but to procure more wealth. He was saving to the point ofmiserliness; he got the utmost he could out of his money; he never tooka vacation--and dying, at the age of ninety, left a fortune of manymillions. He had no children and the whole fortune went to his wife. Sheat once proceeded to bestow it in carefully-considered benevolences, sothat the Sage millions are to benefit humanity, after all. In fact, itis doubtful if any other fortune, amassed by a single man, will, in theend, do so much good in the world as will this of Russell Sage, for Mrs. Sage is devoting it to what may be called scientific charity, which hasfor its object the universal betterment of mankind. 

Mrs. Sage, who thus becomes one of the world's great philanthropists, was Margaret Olivia Slocum, of Syracuse, New York, and was married toMr. Sage in 1869. She was of a family in only moderate circumstances, and was a school teacher previous to her marriage. The turn of the wheelmade her the wealthiest woman in the world, and she proceeded withoutdelay to the carrying out of the immense benevolent enterprises whichshe had doubtless long meditated. 

The name of Cyrus West Field is so closely associated with his supremeachievement, the laying of the first Atlantic cable, that we are apt toforget that he was in the beginning a manufacturer and had amassed aconsiderable fortune before his attention was called to the possibilityof linking Europe to America by a telegraph line laid on the bottom ofthe Atlantic. It was under A. T. Stewart that Field received hismercantile training, having gone to New York in 1834, at the age offifteen, from his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and enteringStewart's employ as a clerk. 

He was an apt pupil, and before he was of age, owned an establishment ofhis own for the manufacture and sale of paper. In this business, in thecourse of a dozen years, he had amassed a fortune so considerable thathe was able to retire from active charge of it, and to spend his time intravel. It was in 1853 that the project of carrying a telegraph lineacross the Atlantic ocean suggested itself to him during a conversationwith his brother, who was interested in building a line acrossNewfoundland. The more he considered and investigated the project, themore feasible it seemed, and he proceeded to organize the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company, himself taking one fourth ofthe capital stock, and interesting such other capitalists as PeterCooper, Moses Taylor, Chandler White and Marshall Roberts. 

But the project which had appeared simple enough in theory and on paper, proved extremely difficult of execution. If Field could have foreseenthe thirteen years of constant anxiety which awaited him, he would nodoubt have hesitated to undertake it. It looked, at first, as thoughsuccess would crown his efforts almost at the outset, for in 1858, thelaying of a cable was completed, and for some days, messages were sentfrom one continent to the other. Then the signals began to grow fainterand fainter, until they became imperceptible, supposedly from the waterof the ocean penetrating the cable covering. 

At any rate, the work had to be done all over again, with little moneyon hand, and the coming of the Civil War helped to make further progressimpossible. Field visited Europe more than twenty times in the effort toraise money for the enterprise and to keep it before the public, but itwas not until 1865 that another effort to lay the cable could be made. The "Great Eastern, " the largest ship in the world, was secured, andbegan paying out the cable; but twelve hundred miles from shore thecable parted and could not be regained, although every effort was madeto grapple it. So the vessel had to put back to England, and Field wasconfronted with the heart-breaking task of raising even more money. Hesucceeded in doing so, and in 1866, another expedition started out witha new cable. This time, it met with no serious misadventure, and on July27, telegraphic communication was re-established between England andAmerica, and has never since been interrupted. 

That cable was the first of the hundreds which now encircle the globe. Congress presented the bold adventurer with a gold medal and the thanksof the nation; John Bright pronounced him "the Columbus of modern times, who, by his cable, has moored the New World alongside of the Old"; theParis exposition of 1867 gave him the grand medal, the highest prize ithad to bestow; and he received votes of thanks and medals and presentsfrom all parts of the world. 

In 1884, two other cables were laid across the Atlantic by John W. Mackay and James Gordon Bennett, whose private property they remained. Mackay had had an adventurous career, and was destined to be the founderof another of those great American fortunes which are the wonder andadmiration of Europe. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1831, hisfather being another of those sturdy Scotch-Irish of whom we havealready had occasion to speak. He was brought to New York at the age ofnine; but his father died a short time thereafter and the boy was thrownpractically upon his own resources. 

When gold was discovered in California in 1849, Mackay joined the crowdthat rushed to the new El Dorado, and for several years, he lived atypical miner's life, roughing it in the camps, but gaining littleexcept a thorough knowledge of mining. In 1860, some guiding spirit ledhim eastward to Nevada; his fortunes there steadily improved, until hebecame one of the leading men in the settlement, and in 1872, he madeone of the most famous and romantic discoveries in mining history, thatof the famous Comstock lode, on a ledge of rock high in the Sierras, under which Virginia City now nestles. So rich in silver was this greatledge of rock and its enormous production added so greatly to theworld's supply of silver that the market price fell to a point wheresuch countries as India and China, whose currency was on a silver basis, were seriously embarrassed to maintain values. From one mine alone over$150, 000, 000 was taken out. Mackay devoted himself personally to thesuperintendence of the mines, working in the lower levels with his men, who idolized him. 

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Let us turn for a moment to the career of another great fortune-builder, the man who was, perhaps, the greatest freebooter the American financialworld ever saw, who made his money by destroying rather than buildingup, and whose wealth finally killed him--Jay Gould. Let us see if we canget some sort of idea of the personality of this extraordinary man. 

Born in 1836, a farmer's boy, with only such education as he could pickup, he managed to find time to study surveying, and for two or threeyears was engaged in making surveys of various New York counties. Whilethus engaged, he fell in with a wealthy and eccentric individual namedZadock Pratt, who sent him to the western part of the state to select asite for a tannery. He was soon doing a large lumbering business, firstwith Pratt and then in his own name; but he sold out just before thepanic of 1857, and soon after entered upon that career of speculationin New York City which, in the end, made him the best-hated man inAmerica. 

Picture the man, small, only five feet six inches in height, with sallowskin and jet black whiskers, his eyes dark and piercing, his wholepersonality, as one observer put it, "reminiscent of the spider. " Hisreputation was that of an unscrupulous and immoral rascal, who would nothesitate to sacrifice his best friends, if need be. His war againstCornelius Vanderbilt for control of the Erie was one of his typicaloperations--a war which, when he saw he was losing, he won by issuing$5, 000, 000 worth of fraudulent stock. There was never any question aboutthe criminality of this proceeding, and Gould was forced to flee to NewJersey, where he spent millions in corrupting courts andlegislatures--millions, not taken from his own pocket, but from thetreasury of the Erie, of which he had control. He was ousted, at last, but not until he had added $62, 000, 000 to the indebtedness of the road, of which amount it was asserted Gould had pocketed $12, 000, 000. 

The culminating feature of his career was his attempt to corner gold, which brought about the famous Black Friday panic of 1869. The scheme, one of the most daring ever attempted by any operator, came nearsuccess. Gould is said to have bribed the brother-in-law of PresidentGrant and to have persuaded the President himself not to release any ofthe government supply of gold. He then succeeded in driving the price upto 162½, when suddenly the bubble burst. Gould, himself, had beenwarned and succeeded in getting away with his immense profits, coveringhimself at the expense of his associates, an act of treacheryunprecedented even in the stock market. 

These were only two of the remarkable operations which he engineered, and which need not be given in detail here. The net result was a fortuneof some seventy million dollars, and a reputation for duplicity such asperhaps no man in America ever had before. It is only fair to Gould tosay, however, that he accomplished merely what most stock gamblers wouldlike to accomplish, if they could, and that outside of finance, he seemsto have been an estimable man, faithful to his wife, devoted to hischildren, and passionately fond of flowers. He made no gifts of anyconsequence to charity during his life, nor did he make a singlebenevolent bequest in his will; but one of his children, Helen MillerGould, has more than atoned for this by practically devoting her lifeand her fortune to charitable work. It is doubtful if there is abetter-loved woman in America to-day than Helen Gould, who has shown sonotably how a life may be consecrated to good works. 

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[Illustration: WANAMAKER]

The great marble palace which A. T. Stewart built on Broadway, in NewYork City, to house his business, and which was, at the time, thelargest building in the world devoted to a retail business, is nowoccupied by another great merchant, who, starting from a beginning evensmaller than Stewart's, has built up a business many times as great. John Wanamaker, whatever the growth of the country may be hereafter, will always remain one of America's most representative and mostsuccessful men of affairs--both representative and successful becausehis business has rested from the first on the principle of honestdealing, of making satisfied customers--in a word, upon the altogethermodern principle of "your money back, if you want it. "

John Wanamaker was born in Philadelphia in 1838, a poor boy with his wayto make in the world. He received his education in the common schools, and at the age of fourteen, entered upon his business career as anerrand boy in a book store. From that, he got a clerkship in a clothingstore, and for some years acted as salesman, until he could save enoughmoney to start a little store of his own. This he was able to do in1861, in partnership with a man named Nathan Brown, and ten years later, he was sole owner of a prosperous and growing business. It was at aboutthis time that an idea occurred to him which was destined torevolutionize the retail business of the larger cities of the country. 

The idea was simply this: In the great cities, most shoppers have totravel a considerable distance to get to the business centre, and mustthere waste time and energy going from one store to another to maketheir purchases. Why not, then, combine all the representative retailbusinesses into one store, so that the shopper could make all purchasesunder a single roof, pay for them all at once, and have them alldelivered at the same time? Moreover, why could not one great businessbe conducted more cheaply, and so undersell, the small ones, since asingle executive staff would do for it, rent, delivery cost, and ahundred other fixed charges would be reduced, to say nothing of theadvantages of large buying, and the advertising which every departmentwould get from all the rest? The idea grew into a carefully-formulatedplan, and 1876 saw the start of the great Wanamaker department store, perhaps the most famous retail business in the world. 

Its tremendous success is an old story now, and it has found hundreds ofimitators. Twenty years after the opening of the Philadelphia store, another was opened in New York in the old Stewart building, to whichanother building, four times as large, has recently been added. Wanamaker from the first firmly believed in P. T. Barnum's old adagethat "A satisfied customer is the best advertisement, " and he made everyeffort to see that none left the Wanamaker stores unsatisfied. He alsomade it a rule that no visitor to his store should ever be urged to buyanything; that every article of merchandise should be exactly asrepresented, and that any purchase might be returned and the purchasemoney would be refunded without question. As a result, Wanamaker got areputation for fair dealing which proved his greatest asset. 

One would think that the management of such a business would fullyoccupy any man, but Wanamaker found time for many public and benevolentinterests. He founded, in 1858, the Bethany Sunday School, which hasgrown into perhaps the largest in the world and of which he has alwaysbeen superintendent; he has taken part in many movements for civicreform, and from 1889 to 1893 was postmaster general of the UnitedStates. He reorganized the service; set in motion the rural deliverysystem, the greatest single improvement in its service the departmenthas ever made; and tried to secure a postal telegraph, a postalsavings-bank, a parcels post and one-cent letter postage. He was thefirst official to regard the service as a business pure and simple, andif the reforms he suggested had been carried out, the United Statespostoffice would now be a model for the world. 

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The greatest banker and financier in America at the present day isundoubtedly J. Pierpont Morgan, who, however, is known not so well forthe millions he has accumulated as for the other millions he has spentin collecting rare objects of art, until he has become the possessor ofa collection surpassing any ever possessed by another privateindividual. That much of this will one day be bequeathed by its owner tothe public there can be little doubt. 

J. Pierpont Morgan is of a family of bankers. His father, Junius SpencerMorgan, was for many years a partner in the great London banking houseof George Peabody & Co. , and on the retirement of Mr. Peabody, succeededhim as the head of the business. There was never any doubt of the son'svocation. Born in 1837, and carefully educated, he entered the bankinghouse of Duncan, Sherman & Co. At the age of twenty, and from that time, rose steadily, until he became the head of the greatest banking house inthe country. He has been largely concerned in the reorganization ofrailways and the consolidation of industrial properties, and themagnitude of some of his operations is fairly astounding. During theCleveland administration, he floated a national bond issue of$62, 000, 000; he marketed the securities of the United States SteelCorporation, with a capitalization of $1, 100, 000, 000; he securedAmerican subscriptions aggregating $50, 000, 000 for the British war loanof 1901; he controls over fifty thousand miles of railway, and hisinterests extend into practically every great financial enterprise inAmerica. He has given large sums of money for public enterprises in NewYork City, among them a million and a half for a great lying-inhospital. He built the "Columbia, " which twice defeated the "Shamrock"in the races for the America's cup, and he has made many valuable giftsto the various museums and libraries of New York City. The power hewields is enormous, but he wields it wisely and legitimately, winningthe respect, as well as the admiration of men. 

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The greatest work of American men of affairs during the past halfcentury has been the upbuilding and extension of the railroad system ofthe country. The railroad mileage of the United States at the presenttime is over three hundred and twenty-five thousand; the total cost ofthe railroad equipment of the country reaches fourteen billion dollarsand the yearly earnings average over two and a half billions. Theyemploy over a million and a half men, whose wages average three milliondollars a day--and, it may be added, they kill or injure nearly ninetythousand. But that is a detail. With this vast development of therailroad business the names of some half dozen men are so closelyconnected that the great systems of the country are generally known asthe Hill lines, the Harriman lines, the Vanderbilt lines, the Gouldlines, and so on. Of these men we shall try to tell something brieflyhere. 

We have already related how Cornelius Vanderbilt secured control of theNew York Central and Hudson River roads, and added to these until he hadsecured an entrance into Chicago; and how his son, William HenryVanderbilt, added to this system until it became, and still remains, oneof the strongest in the country. We have told, too, of Jay Gould's ideasof railroad management, which seem to have been to get the most out ofit for Jay Gould. But when Jay Gould died, he was caught, as it were, with thousands of miles of railroads on his hands. He left four sons, George Gould, Edwin Gould, Howard Gould and Frank Gould, of whom Georgeis the only one that really counts. But he, with a real genius forrailroad building, has developed the Gould lines into a great systemstretching from Buffalo and Pittsburgh southwestward to Chicago, Omaha, Kansas City, Denver, Ogden, St. Louis, New Orleans, Galveston and awayout to El Paso. These lines have played a most important part in thedevelopment of the great Southwest, and it is said that George Gould isalready blazing a way to the Atlantic seaboard, as an outlet for themighty freight traffic which his lines control. 

No man connected with railroad building in this country has had a moreinteresting or adventurous career than James J. Hill. Born on a littleCanadian farm in 1838, descended from the hardy Scotch-Irish of whom wehave spoken so often, his father died when he was fifteen years, and hewas left to his own resources. He found work as a wood-chopper, and oneday, while he was chopping down a tree a traveler stopped at the houseto take dinner, hitching his horse to the gate. The boy noticed that itwas tired and fagged and carried it a bucket of water. This attentionpleased the traveler, and as he drove away, tossed the boy a Minnesotanewspaper, remarking, "Go out there, young man. That country needsyoungsters of your spirit. "

The boy read the paper with its glowing accounts of the new country, andthe next morning, walking to the tree he had been cutting he hit it onelast lick for luck, and announced, "I've chopped my last tree. " Thattree, it is said, bears to-day a great placard with the words, "The lasttree chopped by James J. Hill. " It _was_ the last one, for a day or twolater the boy started for St. Paul. He brought with him to the UnitedStates the lusty body, frugal instincts and good principles of hisScotch-Irish ancestry, and, in addition to those, a self-confidence andsureness of judgment destined to take him far. 

He got employment as a shipping clerk in a steamboat office in St. Paul, and so took his first lessons in transportation problems. Pretty soon hewas agent for a steamboat line, then he established a fuel andtransportation business on his own account and managed it so well thatby 1873, he had accumulated a fortune of a hundred thousand dollars. There was in Minnesota at the time a little railroad called the St. Paul& Pacific. It started at St. Paul, but it stopped after it had got onlya few hundred miles toward the Pacific. Hill decided to buy it. Theprice was half a million, so he tramped back to Canada and persuaded thebank of Montreal to let him have the $400, 000 he needed. That was surelyone of the most wonderful feats of a wonderful career. The directors ofthe bank were severely criticised; men laughed at his purchase, pointingout that the road had never paid, and prophesying that it never wouldpay. 

Yet that Jim Crow road was the foundation of the Great Northern system, the Hill line, stretching across Dakota and Montana to Puget Sound. Every man who went into the enterprise with Hill now owns his stock init as a free gift, for in the intervening years, the cost has beenreturned to him in the shape of dividends and bonuses. It has neverfailed to pay regular dividends, and has, perhaps, won public confidencemore surely than any other in the country. For James J. Hill has keptfaith in the smallest detail with every man who ever entrusted a dollarto his hands. The loyalty of the employes of the Great Northern haspassed into a proverb, "Once a Hill man, always a Hill man, " and it istrue. He knows his road as few other men do. Before he bought the St. Paul & Pacific, he traveled over the route in an ox-cart, studying notonly the road, but the people along the way--there weren't many--and theresources of the country. Before he extended his line to the Pacific, hewent the whole distance on foot and horseback. 

People laughed at him when he announced that he was going to extend hisline to the Pacific. No line had ever been built across the continentwithout a great subsidy from the government--to secure a subsidy wasalways the first step; besides, it was believed that the country throughwhich the Great Northern was to extend would not even grow wheat, andthe new road was promptly dubbed "Hill's Folly. " But in 1893, his linereached the Pacific. A few years later, the owners of the great NorthernPacific were begging him to manage that road, too. For he had createdbusiness for his road--a great market in the Orient to fill hiswest-bound freight cars, and a great market in the eastern United Statesfor Puget Sound lumber to fill his east-bound cars. For remember norailroad can make money unless, after it has hauled a loaded car fromone end of the line to the other, it can find another load to put inthat same car to haul back again. Hill supplied the business and hisstory is the wonderful story of the development of the Great Northwest. 

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Which brings us to the Napoleon of the railroad world, E. H. Harriman. America has never seen another quite like him. When the panic of 1901was at its height and the financial world seemed trembling in ruinsabout his head, he refused to break the corner, as he might have done, but sat watching the tape, cool, quiet and calculating, while menfailed, banks tottered, and his own associates begged him to yield. Forthe ambition of this man knew no limitation. His kingdom must stretchfrom sea to sea and from the lakes to the gulf. 

His kingdom lay to the south of Hill's, for he ruled the Union Pacific, and between the two men there was ceaseless war. Physically and mentallythey were as far apart as two men could be. Hill is a large man, withmassive head and brow, and his eyes are steady and cool and brown, hislips full and sensitive, his whole personality bespeaking force anddecision. Quite different was Harriman; a small, ordinary looking man, with glasses and a scraggy mustache, giving the impression of nervousforce rather than of power; an irritable man, easily angered; a fighterclear through, but fighting sometimes when peace were wiser--that wasHarriman. 

Harriman was born at Hempstead, Long Island, the son of a clergyman witha large family and a small income. The boy was renowned chiefly for hisdaily fights and for his aversion to study. At the age of fourteen, hewas put to work in a broker's office in Wall street, at eighteen he hada partnership, at twenty-two he bought a seat on the stock exchange, andpretty soon entered the railroad field by getting control of theIllinois Central. He at once inaugurated a new policy. Before that time, the prevailing idea of railroad management was to run a road as cheaplyas possible and pay big dividends. Harriman's idea was that the biggestdividends would be secured in the end by making a good road, and heproceeded to carry the idea out by putting his road in the very pink ofcondition. And it paid. 

That was the beginning. His great coup was the rebuilding of the UnionPacific. A railroad with 7, 500 miles of track, a giant crushed by itsown weight, it had gone into a receivership in the panic of 1893. Forfive years it stayed there, despite the utmost efforts of the giants offinance to lift it out. Then Harriman got possession of it, and takingan engine and a car, turned the train backward and, running in the daytime only, went over the road mile by mile. He decided that the roadmust be made a good road, and he told his executive committee that heneeded for his immediate necessities one hundred millions of dollars!

Well, he got the money and he got good men and went to work. The resultwas soon apparent. Earnings grew, business increased, and the company'scredit improved. Never before in the history of railroading had therebeen such daring rebuilding. The line was levelled down to a maximumgrade of forty-one feet to a mile; two hundred and forty-seven feet werescaled off the top of the Great Divide; millions of cubic yards of dirtand stone were blasted out and moved; tunnels were drilled; and, finally, when the Southern Pacific, too, was acquired, a trestletwenty-three miles long was built across Great Salt Lake, through waterthirty feet deep, taking railroad trains farther from land than they hadever yet been run, and shortening the road forty-four miles. And theresult? The gross earnings have risen to over $170, 000, 000 a year, and$28, 000, 000 a year are distributed in dividends. Truly a transformationfrom the old water-logged road which Harriman took over. 

He had his reverses--he attempted to get hold of the Northern Pacific, but it slipped through his fingers; the Burlington was cut out fromunder his guns, and so was the Rock Island. James J. Hill outgeneraledhim more than once, and he was never able to "get back" at Hilleffectively. 

With Harriman we shall close this chapter on men of affairs. Many othersmight have been noted. In fact, none of the great industries of thecountry has been built up except by inspired work. Armour and Cudahy andSwift made the packing business; Marshall Field built up a business inChicago rivalling Wanamaker's; August Belmont, William C. Whitney, LeviLeiter, Robert Goelet, Pierre Lorillard, and a hundred others, amassedgreat fortunes. Yet there was nothing in their career different tothose of the men already considered in this chapter. They had a geniusfor money-making. Each in some special field; but, beyond that, they didfew memorable things. And so we need not pause longer over them here, except to remark, that it is, in the main, to such men as these, thatAmerica owes her great material prosperity. 

SUMMARY

MORRIS, ROBERT. Born at Liverpool, England, January 20, 1734; came toAmerica, 1747, and settled at Philadelphia; delegate to ContinentalCongress, 1775-78; gave his credit to assist in financing Revolution andelected superintendent of finance, 1781; organized Bank of NorthAmerica, 1781; member of Constitutional Convention, 1787; United Statessenator, 1789-95; died in debtor's prison at Philadelphia, May 8, 1806. 

ASTOR, JOHN JACOB. Born at Waldorf, Germany, July 17, 1763; came toAmerica, 1783, and settled at New York City; founded Astoria, at mouthof Columbia River, 1811; died at New York City, March 29, 1848. 

VANDERBILT, CORNELIUS. Born near Stapleton, Staten Island, New York, May27, 1794; became chief owner Harlem railroad, 1863, and of Hudson Riverand New York Central roads soon afterwards; died at New York City, January 4, 1877. 

STEWART, ALEXANDER TURNEY. Born near Belfast, Ireland, October 12, 1803;came to America, 1823, and established drygoods business at New YorkCity; died there April 10, 1876. 

BARNUM, PHINEAS TAYLOR. Born at Bethel, Connecticut, July 5, 1810;opened Barnum's Museum in New York City, 1841; managed Jenny Lind'sconcert tour, 1850-51; established "Greatest Show on Earth, " 1871; diedat Bridgeport, Connecticut, April 7, 1891. 

SAGE, RUSSELL. Born in Oneida County, New York, August 4, 1816; memberof Congress, 1853-57; established himself as broker and money-lender inNew York City, 1863; died there, July 22, 1906. 

FIELD, CYRUS WEST. Born at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, November 30, 1819; in paper business in New York, 1840-53, retiring with a fortune;organized New York, Newfoundland & London Telegraph Company, 1854;Atlantic Telegraph Company, 1856; laid Atlantic cable, 1866; firstmessage over it, July 29; died at New York City, July 12, 1892. 

MACKAY, JOHN WILLIAM. Born at Dublin, Ireland, November 28, 1831; camewith parents to America, 1840; went to California, 1850; discoveredBonanza mines, 1872; died, July 20, 1902. 

GOULD, JAY. Born at Roxbury, New York, May 27, 1836; established himselfas broker in New York City, 1859; notorious for manipulations of variousrailroad and other securities, and for "Black Friday"; died at New YorkCity, December 2, 1892. 

WANAMAKER, JOHN. Born at Philadelphia, July 11, 1838; establishedclothing house of Wanamaker & Brown, 1861; established department storein Philadelphia, 1876, and in New York City, 1896; Postmaster-General, 1889-93; founded Bethany Sunday School, 1858; president Philadelphia Y. M. C. A. , 1870-83. 

MORGAN, JOHN PIERPONT. Born at Hartford, Connecticut, April 17, 1837;entered banking business, 1857, and developed present firm of J. P. Morgan & Co. , largest private bankers of the United States. 

HILL, JAMES J. Born near Guelph, Ontario, September 16, 1838; removed toMinnesota, 1856; entered transportation business; general manager St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Ry. Co. , 1879-82; president since 1883;built Great Northern, with steamship connection with Japan and China, 1883-93; president of Great Northern system since 1893. 

HARRIMAN, EDWARD HENRY. Born at Hempstead, Long Island; entered WallStreet as clerk at age of fourteen; entered New York Stock Exchangeeight years later; was president and chairman of the board of directorsof the Union Pacific, Oregon Short Line, Southern Pacific, Texas & NewOrleans, and many other great railway systems; died near New York City, September 9, 1909. 

CHAPTER X

INVENTORS

It is a curious fact that the men to whom the world owes most generallyget the least reward. The genius in art or letters is seldom recognizedas such until long after he himself has passed away--his life is usuallyembittered by derision or neglect. But, in the history of civilization, the lot of no man has been harder or more thankless than that of theinventor. Poverty and want have always been his portion, and even afterhe had won his triumph, had compelled public recognition of some greatinvention, it was usually some one else who won the reward. 

America has been especially strong in the field of invention. Indeed, practically all the great labor-saving devices of the past century andmore have originated here. "Yankee ingenuity" has passed into a proverb, and a true one, for the country which has produced the steamboat, thecotton gin, the sewing machine, the electric telegraph, the phonograph, the telephone, the typewriter, the reaper and binder, to mention only afew of the achievements of American inventors, may surely claim firstplace in this respect among the nations of the world. There are fewstories more inspiring than that of American invention, and asbenefactors to their race, the long line of American inventors mayrightly rank before even the great philanthropists whose careers areoutlined elsewhere in this volume. Indeed, if we judge greatness by thebenefits which a man confers upon mankind, such men as Whitney and Howeand Morse and Bell and Edison far surpass most of the great charactersof history. 

First of the line is Benjamin Franklin, whose many-sided genius giveshim a unique place in American history. His career has been consideredin the chapter dealing with our statesmen, but let us pause for a momenthere to speak of his inventions. One of them, the Franklin stove, isstill in use in hundreds of old houses, and as an economizer of fuel hasnever been surpassed; another was the lightning-rod. He introduced thebasket willow, the water-tight compartment for ships, the culture ofsilk, the use of white clothing in hot weather, and the use of oil toquiet a tempest-tossed sea. From none of his inventions did he seek toget any return. The Governor of Pennsylvania offered to give him amonopoly of the sale of the Franklin stove for a period of years, but hedeclined it, saying, "That, as we enjoy great advantages from theinventions of others, we should be glad to serve others by any inventionof ours"--a principle characteristic of Franklin's whole philosophy oflife. 

After Franklin, came Robert Fulton, the first man successfully to applythe power of the steam-engine to the propulsion of boats. Everyone hasheard the story of how, years before, the youthful James Watt first gothis idea of the power of steam by noticing how it rattled the lid on hismother's boiling teakettle. From that came the stationary engine, andfrom that the engine as applied to the locomotive. It remained forFulton to apply it to water navigation. 

Born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, of Irish parents, in poorcircumstances, the boy received only the rudiments of an education, butdeveloped a surprising talent for painting, so that, when he wasseventeen, he removed to Philadelphia and set up there as an artist, painting portraits and landscapes. He remained there for some years, andfinally, having made enough money to purchase a small farm for hismother, sailed for London, where he introduced himself to that amiablepatron of all American painters, Benjamin West. West, who was at thattime at the height of his fame, received Fulton with great kindness, andmade a place in his house for him, where he remained for several years. 

Those years were not devoted exclusively to painting, for Fulton haddeveloped an interest in mechanics, secured a patent for an improvementin canal locks, invented a "plunging" boat, a kind of submarine, amachine for spinning flax, one for making ropes, one for sawing marble, and many others of minor importance. Finally abandoning art altogether, he went to Paris, where he spent seven years with the family of JoelBarlow, conducting with him a number of experiments; one series of whichhas developed into the modern submarine torpedo. He succeeded ininteresting the French government in his submarine experiments andconstructed a boat equipped with a small engine, with which, in theharbor of Brest, he seems actually to have made some progress underwater, remaining under on one occasion for more than four hours. But theFrench government finally withdrew its support, and finding the Britishgovernment also indifferent, Fulton sailed for New York in December, 1806. 

Here, he succeeded in interesting the United States government, whichgranted him $5, 000 to continue his submarine experiments, but interestin them soon waned, and Fulton turned his whole attention to the subjectof steam navigation. He had been experimenting in this direction for anumber of years, and, in conjunction with Chancellor Livingston, of NewJersey, had secured from the legislature of New York the exclusive rightand privilege of navigating all kinds of boats which might be propelledby the force of fire or steam on all the waters within the territory ofNew York for a period of twenty years, provided he would, by the end of1807, produce a boat that would attain a speed of four miles an hour. Fulton went to work at once, the experiments being paid for byLivingston, and after various calculations, discarded the use of paddlesor oars, of ducks' feet which open as they are pushed out and close asthey are drawn in, and also the idea of forcing water out of the sternof the vessel. He finally decided on the paddle-wheel, and, in August, 1807, the first American steamboat appeared on the East River. A greatconcourse witnessed the first trial, incredulous at first, but convertedinto enthusiastic believers before the boat had gone a quarter of amile. 

She was christened the "Clermont, " and soon afterwards made a trip upthe Hudson to Albany, to the astonishment of the people living along thebanks of that mighty river. The distance of 150 miles, against thecurrent of the river, was covered in thirty-two hours, and there couldno longer be any question of Fulton's success. A regular schedulebetween Albany and New York was established, and the "Clermont" beganthat great river traffic now carried on by the most palatial riversteamers in the world. 

After that, it was merely a question of development. More boats werebuilt, improvements were made, and every year witnessed an increase ofspeed and efficiency. In 1814, in the midst of the second war withEngland, Fulton built the first steam ship-of-war the world had everseen, designed for the defense of New York harbor. This ancestor of themodern "Dreadnought" was named "Fulton the First" in honor of herdesigner. She indirectly caused his death, for, exposing himself forseveral hours of a bitter winter day, in supervising some changes onher, he developed pneumonia and died a few days later. Could he re-visitthe world to-day and see the wonderful and mighty ships which have grownout of his idea, he would no doubt be as astonished as were the peoplealong the Hudson on that fall day in 1807 when they saw the "Clermont"making her way up the stream against wind and tide. 

The same year that Robert Fulton was born, another inventive geniusfirst saw the light in the little town of Westborough, Massachusetts. His name was Eli Whitney, and the work he was to do revolutionized theindustrial development of the South, paid off its debts, and trebled thevalue of its lands. It did something else, too, which was to fasten uponthe South the system of negro slavery, resulting in the Civil War. Butthough he added hundreds of millions of dollars to the wealth of hiscountry, his own reward was neglect, indifference, countless lawsuitsand endless vexation of body and spirit. 

Whitney's father ran a little wood-working shop where he made wheels andchairs, and there the boy spent every possible hour. At the age oftwelve, he made himself a violin, and his progress was so steady, thatby the time he was sixteen, he had greatly enlarged the business and hadgained the reputation of being the best mechanic in all the countryround. He soon discovered the value of education, and managed to preparehimself for Yale College, which he entered in 1789, at the age oftwenty-four--an age at which most men had long since graduated andsettled in life. But Whitney persevered, graduating in 1792, and almostimmediately securing a position as private tutor in a Georgia family, which was to change the whole course of his life. 

Until he reached the South, he had never seen raw cotton, only a littleof which, indeed, had been raised in the United States. It had not beenprofitable because of the difficulty of picking out the greencottonseed. To separate one pound of the staple from the seed was aday's work, so that cotton was considered rather as a curiosity than asa profitable crop. Whitney was impressed by the possibilities of cottonculture, could this obstacle be overcome, and devoted his spare time tothe construction of the machine upon which his fame rests. At last itwas done, and did its work so perfectly that there could be no questionof its success. Experiments showed that with it, one man, with the aidof two-horse power, could clean five thousand pounds of cotton a day!

A patent was at once applied for and every effort made to keep theinvention a secret until a patent had been secured. But knowledge of itswept through the state, and great crowds of people came to see themachine. Whitney refused to show it, and after much excitement, a mobone night broke into the building where it was, and carried it away. Others were at once made, using it as a model, and by the time Whitneyhad secured his patent, they were in successful operation in many partsof the state. 

That was the beginning of Whitney's trials. He had not enough money toproduce machines rapidly enough to meet the tremendous demand for them, and various rivals sprang up, some of them even claiming the honor ofthe invention. Other gins were put on the market, differing fromWhitney's only in some unimportant detail, and plainly an infringementof his patent; but he had not the means to prosecute theirmanufacturers. The result was, that after two years of dishearteningstruggle, Whitney was reduced to bankruptcy. 

The attitude of the South toward him caused him especial distress. "Ihave invented a machine, " he wrote, "from which the citizens of theSouth have already realized immense profits, which is worth to themmillions, and from which they must continue to derive the most importantprofits, and in return to be treated as a felon, a swindler, and avillain, has stung me to the very soul. And when I consider that thiscruel persecution is inflicted by the very persons who are enjoyingthese great benefits, and expressly for the purpose of preventing myever deriving the least advantage from my labors, the acuteness of myfeelings is altogether inexpressible. "

Finally, the states of North and South Carolina voted him a royalty uponall the machines in use, and this enabled him to pay his debts; butWhitney at last abandoned hope of ever receiving from his invention thereturns he had hoped for, and, turning his attention to other business, received, in 1798, a contract from the United States government for10, 000 stand of arms. Eight years were consumed in filling thiscontract. A contract for 30, 000 stand followed, and so many improvementsin design and process of manufacture were made by Whitney that no othermanufacturer could compete with him. 

The result of all this was that Whitney was enabled to end his life incomparative independence. His last days were his happiest, and he foundin the care and affection of a loving family some consolation for theinjustice and ingratitude which he had suffered. 

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[Illustration: MORSE]

Sixteen years after the battle of Bunker Hill, a boy was born in a greatframe house at the foot of Breed's Hill, upon which that famous andmisnamed battle was really fought. The boy's father was a preacher namedJedediah Morse, and the boy was named Samuel Finley, after his maternalgreat grandfather, the renowned president of Princeton College, andBreese, after his mother's maiden name, so that he comes down throughhistory as S. F. B. Morse. He received a thorough schooling, graduatingfrom Yale in 1807, and at once turned his attention to art. We havealready spoken of his achievements in that respect, which were really ofthe first importance. He was an artist, heart and soul, but the wholecourse of his life was to be changed in a remarkable fashion. 

In the autumn of 1832, Morse, being at that time forty-one years of age, sailed from Havre for New York in the ship Sully. It happened that therewere on board some scientists who had been interested in electricaldevelopment, and the talk one evening turned on electricity. Morse knewlittle about it, except what he had learned in a few lectures heard atYale; but when somebody asked how long it took a current of electricityto pass through a wire, and when the answer was that the passage wasinstantaneous, his interest was aroused. 

"If that is the case, " he said, "and if the passage of the current canbe made visible or audible, there is no reason why intelligence cannotbe transmitted instantaneously by electricity. "

The company broke up, after a while, but Morse, filled with his greatidea, went on deck, and at the end of an hour had jotted down in hisnotebook the first skeleton of the "Morse alphabet. " Before he reachedNew York, he had made drawings and specifications of his invention, which he seems to have grasped clearly and completely from the first, although its details were worked out only by laborious thought. It wasnecessary for him to earn a living, and not until three years later wasthe first rude instrument completed. Two years more, and he had a shortline in operation, but it was looked upon as a scientific toyconstructed by an unfortunate dreamer. Finally, in 1838, Morse appearedbefore Congress, exhibited his invention and asked aid to construct anexperimental line between Washington and Baltimore. He was laughed at, and for twelve years an extraordinary struggle ensued, Morse laboring toconvince the world of the value of his invention, and the world scoffingat him. His own situation was forlorn in the extreme; for his paintingwas his only means of livelihood, and, absorbed as he was by his greatinvention, he found painting utterly impossible. His home was a singleroom in the fifth story of a building at the corner of Nassau andBeekman streets in New York City--a room which served as studio, workshop, parlor, kitchen and bedroom. There he labored and slept, using such money as he could earn for his experiments, and almoststarving himself in consequence. 

But at last the tide turned. He was appointed to a position in theUniversity of the City of New York, which provided him with better meansfor experiment, and in 1843, again appeared before Congress. This time, he found some backers, and by a close vote, at the last hour of thesession, an appropriation of $30, 000 was made to enable him to constructa line between Washington and Baltimore. Wild with delight andenthusiasm, the inventor went to work, and on the twenty-fourth day ofMay, 1844, the first message flashed over the wire, "What hath Godwrought!"

The wonder and amazement of the public can be better imagined thandescribed. Morse offered to sell his invention to the government for thesum of $100, 000, but the Postmaster General, a thickheaded individualnamed Cave Johnson, refused the offer, stating that in his opinion, noline would ever pay for the cost of operation!

It was inevitable that rival claimants for the honor of the inventionshould crop up on every side, but, after years of bitter litigation, Morse succeeded in defending his title, and honors began to pour in uponhim. It is worth remarking that the Sultan of Turkey, supposedly themost benighted of all rulers, was the first monarch to acknowledge Morseas a public benefactor. That was in 1848; but the monarchs of Europesoon followed, and in 1858, a special congress was called by theEmperor of the French to devise some suitable testimonial to the greatinventor. But perhaps the most fitting testimonial of all were theceremonies at the unveiling of the Morse monument in New York City in1871. Delegates were present from every state in the Union, and at theclose of the reception, William Orton, president of the Western UnionTelegraph Company, announced that the telegraph instrument before theaudience was in connection with every other one of the ten thousandinstruments in America, and that, beside every instrument an operatorwas waiting to receive a message. Then a young operator sent thismessage from the key: "Greeting and thanks to the telegraph fraternitythroughout the world. Glory to God in the highest; on earth, peace, good-will to men. " Then the venerable inventor, the personification ofdignity, simplicity and kindliness, bent above the key, and sent out, "S. F. B. Morse. " A storm of enthusiasm swept over the audience, and thescene will never be forgotten by any who took part in it. The proudestboast of many an old operator is that he received that message. Deathcame to the inventor a year later, and on the day of his funeral, everytelegraph office throughout the land was draped in mourning. 

Although to Morse belongs all the credit for the invention of thetelegraph, it should, in justice to one man, be pointed out that itwould have been impossible but for a discovery which preceded it--thatof the electro-magnet. To Joseph Henry, the great physicist, first ofPrinceton, then of the Smithsonian Institution, this invention ischiefly due. We have already spoken of Professor Henry's work inscience, but none of it was more important than his invention, in 1828, of the modern form of electro-magnet--a coil of silk-covered wire woundin a series of crossed layers around a soft iron core, and in 1831, hehad used it to produce the ringing of a bell at a distance. It is thismagnet which forms the basis of every telegraph instrument--is essentialto it, and is the foundation of the entire electrical art. Let it beadded to this great scientist's credit that he never sought to patentany of his inventions, giving them, as Franklin had done, free to allthe world. 

The struggle which Morse made to perfect and secure public recognitionof his telegraph and the injustice shown Eli Whitney by the people ofthe South, were as nothing when compared with the trials of that mostunfortunate of all inventors, Charles Goodyear, whose story is one ofthe most tragic in American annals. No one can read of his struggleswithout experiencing the deepest admiration for a man who, at the time, was regarded as a hopeless lunatic. 

Charles Goodyear was born at New Haven, Connecticut, in 1800. While hewas still a child, his father moved to Philadelphia and engaged in thehardware business, in which his son joined him, as soon as he was oldenough to do so. But the panic of 1836 wiped the business out ofexistence, and Goodyear was forced to look around for some other meansof livelihood. He had been interested for some time in the wonderfulsuccess of some newly-established India-rubber companies, and, out ofcuriosity, bought an India-rubber life-preserver. Upon examining it, hefound a defect in the valve, and inventing an improvement in it, he wentto New York with the intention of selling his improvement to themanufacturer. The manufacturer was impressed with the new device, buttold Goodyear frankly that the whole India-rubber business of thecountry was on the verge of collapse, and indeed, the collapse came afew months later. 

The trouble was that the goods which the rubber companies had beenturning out were not durable. The use of rubber had begun about fifteenyears before, first in France in the manufacture of garters andsuspenders, and then in England where a manufacturer named Mackintoshmade water-proof coats by spreading a layer of rubber between two layersof cloth. Then, in 1833, the Roxbury India-Rubber Company was organizedin the United States, and manufactured an India-rubber cloth from whichwagon-covers, caps, coats, and other articles were made. Its success wasso great that other companies were organized and seemed on the highroadto fortune, when a sudden reverse came. For the heat of summer meltedwagon-covers, caps and coats to sticky masses with an odor so offensivethat they had to be buried. So the business collapsed, the variouscompanies went into bankruptcy, and the very name of India-rubber cameto be detested by producers and consumers alike. 

It was at this time that Charles Goodyear appeared upon thescene--unfortunately enough for himself, but fortunately forhumanity--and determined to discover some method by which rubber couldbe made to withstand the extremes of heat and cold. From that time untilthe close of his life, he devoted himself wholly to this work, in theface of such hardships and discouragements as few other men have everexperienced. He began his experiments at once, and finally hit uponmagnesia as a substance which, mixed with rubber, seemed to give itlasting properties; but a month later, the mixture began to ferment andbecame as hard and brittle as glass. 

His stock of money was soon exhausted, his own valuables, and even thetrinkets of his wife were pawned, but Goodyear never for an instantthought of giving up the problem which he had set himself to solve. Again he believed he had discovered the secret by boiling the solutionof rubber and magnesia in quicklime and water, when he found to hisdismay that a drop of the weakest acid, such as the juice of an apple, would reduce an apparently fine sheet of rubber to a sticky mass. Thefirst real step in the right direction was made by accident, for, inremoving some bronzing from a piece of rubber with aqua fortis, he foundthat the chemical worked a remarkable change in the rubber, which wouldnow stand a degree of heat that would have melted it before. He calledthis "curing" India-rubber, and after careful tests, patented theprocess, secured a partner with capital, rented an old India-rubberworks on Staten Island, and set to work, full of hope. But commercialdisaster swept away his partner's fortune, and Goodyear could find noone else who would risk his money in so doubtful an enterprise. 

Indeed, in all America he seemed to be the only man who had theslightest hope of accomplishing anything with India-rubber. His friendsregarded him as a lunatic, and especially when he made himself a suit ofclothes out of his India-rubber cloth, and wore it on all occasions. Oneday a man looking for Goodyear asked one of the latter's friends how hewould recognize him if he met him. 

"If you see a man with an India-rubber coat on, " was the reply, "India-rubber shoes, India-rubber hat, and in his pocket an India-rubberpurse with not a cent in it, that's Goodyear. "

The description was a good one, for that purse had been without a centin it for a long time. It was to stay empty for some weary years longer. For he had not yet discovered the secret of making India-rubberpermanent, as he found when he tried to fill a contract for a hundredand fifty mail bags ordered by the government. The bags were apparentlyperfect, but in less than a month began to soften and ferment and werethrown back on his hands. All his property was seized and sold for debt;his family was reduced to the point of starvation, and friends, relatives and even his wife joined in demanding that he abandon thisuseless quest. 

Goodyear was in despair, for he had just made another discovery thatseemed to promise success--the discovery that sulphur was the active"curing" agent for India-rubber, and that it was the sulphuric acid inaqua fortis which had wrought the changes in rubber which he had noticedin his experiments. One day, while explaining the properties of asulphur-cured piece of rubber to an incredulous crowd in acountry-store, he happened to let it fall on the red-hot stove. To hisamazement it did not melt; it had shrivelled some, but had not softened. And, at last, he had the key, which was that rubber mixed with sulphurand subjected to a certain degree of heat, would be rendered imperviousto any extremes of temperature!

But what degree of heat? He experimented in the oven of his wife'scooking-stove, and in every other kind of oven to which he could gainaccess; he induced a brick-layer to make him an oven, paying him inrubber aprons; he grew yellow and shrivelled, for he and his family wereliving upon the charity of neighbors; more than once, there was not amorsel of food in the house; his friends thought seriously of shuttinghim up in an asylum; he tried to get to New York, but was arrested fordebt, and thrown into prison. Even in prison, he tried to interest menwith capital in his discovery, for he needed delicate and expensiveapparatus, and at last two brothers, William and Emory Rider agreed toadvance him a certain sum. The laboratory was built, and in 1844, Goodyear astonished the world by producing perfect vulcanizedIndia-rubber with economy and certainty. The long and desperate battlehad been won!

Did he reap a fortune? By no means! In one way or another, he wasdefrauded of his patent rights. In England, for instance, another manwho received a copy of the American patent, actually applied for andobtained the English rights in his own name. In 1858, the United StatesCommissioner of Patents said, "No inventor, probably, has ever been soharassed, so trampled upon, so plundered by that sordid and licentiousclass of infringers known in the parlance of the world as 'pirates. '"Worn out with work and disappointment, Goodyear died two years later, abankrupt. But his story should be remembered, and his memory honored, byevery American. 

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Near a little mountain hamlet of central Sweden stands a great pyramidof iron cast from ore dug from the neighboring mountains. It is set upon a base of granite also quarried from those mountains, and bears uponit two names, Nils Ericsson and John Ericsson. The monument marks theplace where these two men were born. The life of the former was passedin Sweden and does not concern us, but John Ericsson's name is closelyconnected with the history of the United States. 

He was the son of a poor miner, and one of his earliest recollectionswas of the sheriff coming to take away all their household goods inpayment of a debt. He was put to work in the iron mines as soon as hewas able to earn a few pennies daily, and he soon developed aremarkable aptitude for mechanics. At the age of eleven, he planned apumping engine to keep the mines free from water, and at the age oftwelve, was made a member of the surveying party in charge of theconstruction of the Gotha ship canal, and was soon himself in charge ofa section of the work, with six hundred men under him, one of whom wasdetailed to follow him with a stool, upon which he stood to use thesurveying instruments. It reminds one of Farragut commanding a war ship, at the age of eleven. 

In 1826, at the age of twenty-three, he went to England to introduce aflame or gas-engine which he had invented. He remained there for elevenyears, and then a fortunate chance won him for the United States. He hadbeen experimenting with a screw or propeller for steamboats, instead ofthe paddle-wheels as used by Fulton, and finally, equipping a small boatwith two propellers, offered the invention to the British admiralty. Butthe admiralty was skeptical. The United States consul in Liverpoolhappened to be Francis B. Ogden, a pioneer in steam navigation on theOhio river. He was impressed with Ericsson's invention, introduced himto Robert F. Stockton, of the United States navy, and on their assurancethat the invention would be taken up in the United States, closed up hisaffairs in England and sailed for this country. 

His first experiment was disastrous--though through no fault of his. Aship-of-war called the Princeton was ordered by the government andcompleted. She embodied, besides screw propellers, many other featureswhich made her a nine days' wonder. A distinguished company boarded herfor her trial trip, and it was decided also to test her big guns. But atthe first discharge, the gun burst, killing the secretary of state, thesecretary of the navy, the captain of the ship, and a number of otherwell known men. As a consequence, the experiment was stopped andEricsson was twelve years in securing from the government the $15, 000 hehad spent in equipping the Princeton. 

However, he was soon to render the country a service which will never beforgotten. In 1861, he appeared before the navy department with a planfor an iron-clad consisting of a revolving turret mounted upon anarmored raft. He secured an order for one such vessel, to be paid foronly in the event that it proved successful. The majority of the boardwhich gave the order doubtless laughed in their sleeves as the inventorwithdrew, for what chance of success had such a vessel? There were somewho even doubted whether she would float--among them her builders, whotook the precaution of placing buoys under her before they launched herfour months later. 

Of the voyage of the little craft from New York to Hampton Roads, and ofher epoch-making battle with the Merrimac we have already told. Ericssonhad asked that she be named the "Monitor, " as a warning to the nationsof the world that a new era in naval warfare had begun, and that she waswell-named no one could doubt after that momentous ninth of March, 1862. Honors were showered upon the inventor, whose great service to thenation could not be questioned. The following ten years of his life weredevoted to the construction of his famous torpedo-boat, the "Destroyer, "which, he believed, would annihilate any vessel afloat--the predecessorof all the torpedo-boats, past and present, which have played soimportant a part in naval warfare. He lived for more than twenty yearsin a house in Beach street, New York, where he died, in 1889. 

The Monitor's attack upon the Merrimac would have been ineffective butfor the remarkable guns with which the little craft was armed--twoeleven-inch rifled cannon, the invention of John Adolph Dahlgren. Dahlgren had been connected with the ordnance department of the navy atWashington for many years, and his inventions had revolutionized UnitedStates gunnery. 

Dahlgren was born at Philadelphia, where his father was Swedish consul, a position which he held until his death in 1824. The boy, from hisearliest years, had been ambitious to enter the navy, and finally, atthe age of seventeen, received his midshipman's warrant. In 1847, he wasassigned to ordnance duty at Washington, and began that career ofextraordinary energy, which lasted for sixteen years. He saw almost atonce the many defects in the cannon which were at that time beingmanufactured, and soon offered a design of his own, which proved a vastadvance over old guns. The Dahlgren gun, as it was called, was of iron, cast solid, with a thick breech adjusted to meet varying pressurestrains. The invention of the rifled cannon followed, and it was thisweapon which caused even the great armored Merrimac to tremble. AdmiralDahlgren's career was a distinguished one, but no service he renderedhis country was more noteworthy than this. 

But there are triumphs of peace, as well as of war, and one of the mostnotable of these was won by Cyrus Hall McCormick when he invented theautomatic reaper which bears his name. In 1859, it was estimated thatthe reaper was worth $55, 000, 000 a year to the United States; William H. Seward remarked that, "owing to Mr. McCormick's invention, the line ofcivilization moves westward thirty miles each year"; and the LondonTimes declared, after it had been tested at the great internationalexhibition of 1851, that it was "worth to the farmers of England thewhole cost of that exhibition. " To few men is it given to confer suchbenefits upon mankind, and the career of this one is well worth dwellingupon. 

Cyrus McCormick was born in 1809, in a little house at the hamlet ofWalnut Grove, Virginia. His father was a farmer, and was also somethingof a mechanical genius, and as early as 1816, had tried to build amechanical reaper. His son inherited this aptitude, and helped hisfather in mechanical experiments, soon quite outstripping him. As afarmer's boy, his day's work in the fields began at five o'clock in themorning, and in the harvesting season even earlier. But in the harvestfield, he found himself unable to keep up with grown men in the hardwork of swinging the scythe, and so devised a harvesting-cradle, whichmade the work so much easier that he was able to do his share. At theage of twenty-two he invented a plough, which threw alternate furrows oneither side, and two years later, a self-sharpening plough, which proveda great success. 

Then he turned his attention to a mechanical reaper, though his fatherwarned him against wasting time and money on so impracticable a project. But the possibility of making a machine do the hot hand-work of theharvest field fascinated the young man, and he set to work upon theproblem. It was not an easy one, for the machine, to be successful, mustnot only work in fields where the wheat stood straight, but also whereit had become tangled and beaten down by wind and rain. In 1831, heproduced his first practicable machine, making every part of it himselfby hand. Its three essential features have never been changed--avibrating cutting-blade, a reel to bring the grain within reach of theblade, and a platform to receive the falling grain. The problem had beensolved. 

Three years, however, were spent in perfecting the minor working parts, then another was built and tested. It worked well, but McCormick wasstill not satisfied with it, and not until 1840, was it perfectedsufficiently to make him willing to put it on the market. Thisself-restraint was remarkable, but it had this good effect, that whenthe machine was finally offered to the public, it was not anexperiment. So there were no failures, but a steady increase in demandfrom the very first, until the great factory, which McCormick earlylocated at Chicago, now turns out nearly two hundred thousand machines ayear. The whir of these machines is heard around the world--everywherethe McCormick reaper is doing its share toward lightening man's labor. 

Another of the great victories of peace was won by Elias Howe, when, in1844, he invented a machine which would sew. Strangely enough, he was atfirst regarded as an enemy of humanity, rather than as a friend; anenemy, especially, of the poor sewing-women who earned a pitiful livingwith the needle. Few had the foresight to perceive that it was thesevery women whose toil he was doing most to lighten!

Elias Howe, born in Spencer, Massachusetts, in 1819, as the son of apoor miller, and was put to work at the age of six to contribute hismite to the support of the family. He was a frail child and slightlylame, so that, after trying in vain to do farm labor, he went to work inthe mill, and afterwards in a machine shop, where he learned to be afirst-class machinist--knowledge which, at a later day, was to stand himin good stead. He married, at the age of twenty-one, and three childrenwere born to him. Then came a period of illness, during which the youngmother supported the family by sewing; and as Howe lay upon his bed, watching his wife at this tedious labor, the thought came to him what ablessing it would be to mankind if a machine could be devised to dothat work. 

The idea remained with him, and finally led to experiments. Of the manydisappointments, the long months of patient labor, the intense thought, the repeated failures, there is not room to tell here; but at last hehit upon the solution of the problem--the use of two threads, making thestitch by means of a shuttle and a needle with the eye near the point. In October, 1844, he produced a rude machine which would actually sew. Another year was spent in perfecting it, while he kept his family fromstarvation by doing such odd jobs as he could find, and in the winter of1845, he was ready to introduce his machine to the public. 

But here an unforeseen difficulty arose. The public refused to haveanything to do with the machine. The tailors declared it would ruintheir trade, and refused to try it; nobody could be found who wouldinvest a dollar in it; and Howe, in despair, was forced to put hisinvention away and to accept a place as railway engineer in order tosupport his family. Some disastrous years followed, his wife died, andhe was left in absolute poverty, but at last came a ray of light. A mannamed Bliss became interested in Howe's invention, and a few machineswere made and marketed in New York. Riots among the workingmen followed, so serious that for a time the use of the machines was stopped; but nohuman power could stay the wheel of progress, and as the value of theinvention came to be recognized, all opposition to it faded away. Howe's royalties grew to enormous proportions, but he had been broken inhealth by his years of struggle and hardship, and lived only a few yearsto enjoy them. 

George Henry Corliss was another mechanical genius, who, in one respect, anticipated Howe, for about 1842 he actually invented a machine forstitching leather. That was two years before Howe made his discovery. But Corliss was soon attracted to other work, and the development of thesewing machine was left for the other inventor. It was in 1846 thatCorliss began to develop those improvements in the steam engine whichwere to revolutionize its construction. One trouble with the steamengine as then built was that it was not uniform in motion. That is, ifthe engine was running a lot of machines their speed would vary frommoment to moment, as they were started or stopped. For instance, ahundred looms, all running at once, would run at a certain speed, but ifsome of them were shut off, the speed of the others would increase, sothat it was very difficult to regulate them. Again, there was atremendous waste of power, so that the fuel consumption was out of allproportion to the power actually developed. 

It was these defects that Corliss set himself to remedy, and he did itsimply by taking a load off the governor, which had always been used tomove the throttle-valve. In the Corliss engine, the governor simplyindicated to the valves the work to be done, and the saving of fuel wasso great that the inventor often installed his engine under a contractto take the saving in coal-bills from a certain period as his pay. Oneof his great achievements was the construction of a 1400 horse powerengine to move all the machinery at the centennial exposition atPhiladelphia, in 1876. The engine, which worked splendidly, was one ofthe sights of the exposition. 

What the sewing-machine is to the needle, the typewriter is to the pen. No other one invention has so revolutionized business, and the creditfor the invention of a practicable typewriting machine is due to C. Latham Sholes. Others had tried their hands at the problem before hetook it up, but he was the first to hit upon its solution--a number oftype-bars carrying the letters of the alphabet operated by levers andstriking upon a common centre, past which the paper was carried on arevolving cylinder. 

Sholes had a varied and picturesque career. Born in Pennsylvania in1819, he followed the printer's trade for a number of years, and it wasno doubt from the type that he got his idea of engraved dies mounted ontype-bars. Finally he removed to Wisconsin, where he edited a paper andsoon became prominent in the politics of the state, holding a number ofappointive positions. It was in 1866 that he began to experiment with awriting-machine, and his first one, which was patented two years later, was as big as a sewing-machine. Still, it embodied the essentialprinciples of the typewriter as it is made to-day, and after spendingfive years in perfecting it, Sholes made a contract with E. Remington &Son to manufacture it. It is one of the ironies of fate that the nameprincipally connected with the typewriter in the public mind is that ofthe manufacturer, the identity of the inventor being completely lost, sofar as applied, at least, to the name of any machine. 

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We have spoken elsewhere of the career of John D. Rockefeller, of theimmense fortune he made from petroleum and the manner in which hedisposed of a portion of it. It is worth pausing a moment to considerthe career of the two men who discovered petroleum, who sunk the firstwell in search of a larger supply, and who put it on the market. Thereis scarcely any development of modern life to rank in importance withthe introduction of kerosene. It added at once several hours to everyday, and who can estimate what these evening hours, spent usually instudy or reading, have meant to humanity?

In the early part of the century, whales were so plentiful, especiallyalong the New England coast, that whale, or sperm, oil was used forlighting purposes, and many of the old whale-oil lamps are still inexistence. The light they gave was dim and smoky, but it was far betterthan no light at all. As the years passed, whales became more and morescarce, until sperm oil was selling at over two dollars a gallon. Onlythe richest people could afford to pay that, and the poor passed theirevenings in darkness. 

In 1854, a man named James M. Townsend brought to Professor Silliman, ofYale, a bottle of oil, asking him to test it. This was done, and theastonished professor found that here was an oil, whose source he couldonly guess, which made a splendid illuminant and which also seemed tohave some medicinal properties. The oil was from Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, and Townsend, associating with himself a conductor namedE. L. Drake, formed the Seneca Oil Company and began gathering the oilby digging trenches. At first it was bottled and sold for medicinalpurposes at one dollar a gallon; then Drake suggested that a largersupply might be secured if a well was bored for it. A man familiar withsalt well boring was employed, and in 1859 the first well was begun atTitusville. 

Most people regarded Drake as a madman, and thought that he was simplythrowing money away. The work was costly and slow, and finally, when$50, 000 had been spent without result, the stockholders of the companyrefused to go further--all except Townsend. That enthusiast managed torake up another $500, which he sent to Drake, with instructions to makeit go as far as possible. It did not go very far--and yet farenough--for one day the auger, which was down sixty-eight feet, struck acavity, and up came a flow of oil to within five feet of the surface. Pumping began at the rate of five hundred barrels a day, and fortuneseemed in sight. But three months later, the company's works weredestroyed by fire, and before they could be rebuilt, scores of otherwells had been sunk, many of which were "gushers, " requiring no pumping, and the supply was soon so far in excess of the demand that the priceof oil tumbled to one dollar a barrel. Discouraged by all this, theSeneca Company sold out its leases and disbanded, leaving Townsend andDrake poorer than they had been before their great discovery. 

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Years ago, in 1790, to be exact, an Italian scientist named Galvani, experimenting with the legs of a frog, happened to touch the exposednerves with a piece of metal, while the legs were lying across anotherpiece. He was astonished to see the legs contract violently. Furtherexperiments followed, and the galvanic battery resulted. Years later, our own Professor Henry discovered that if an insulated wire carrying acurrent of electricity was wrapped around a piece of soft iron, thelatter became a magnet. Out of these simple discoveries, came theelectric telegraph, and, still more wonderful, the telephone, by whichthe human voice may be instantly projected hundreds of miles, not onlyintelligibly, but with every tone and inflection reproduced. In an ageof wonders, this is surely one of the greatest. 

On February 14, 1876, two applications were made at the patent office atWashington for patents upon the conveyance of sound by electricity. Onewas filed by Elisha Gray, the other by Alexander Graham Bell. They werepractically identical, but it was Bell's good fortune to be the first tomake his device practically effective, and so he may fairly beconsidered the inventor of the telephone. 

Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1847, the sonof the famous Alexander Melville Bell, the inventor of the system bywhich deaf people are enabled to read speech more or less correctly byobserving the motion of the lips. The family moved to Canada in 1872, and Alexander Bell came to Boston, where he soon became widely known asan authority in the teaching of the deaf and dumb. The reproduction ofthe human voice by mechanical means interested him deeply, and his studyof the construction of the human ear, with its drum vibrating inresponse to sound vibrations, gave him the idea of a vibrating piece ofiron in front of an electric magnet. He was, however, very poor and hadno money to expend in experiments--so poor, indeed, that when attackedby illness, his hospital expenses were paid by his employer, and sofriendless that during his illness no one visited him except two orthree pupils from his school. 

He persevered with his experiments, with such rude apparatus as he couldmake himself, and the first Bell telephone was brought into existencewith an old cigar-box, two hundred feet of wire, and two magnets from atoy fish-pond. In an improved form, it was shown at the Centennialexhibition of 1876, where Sir William Thomson pronounced it "thegreatest marvel hitherto achieved by the electric telegraph. " As isalways the case, the public was slow to appreciate the importance of theinvention, and as late as 1877, Bell was unable to secure $10, 000 for ahalf interest in the European rights. The rapid growth of the businessin this country is almost without a parallel in history, and noinvention has added more to the convenience of modern life. 

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A distinguished scientist one day asked the late Clerk Maxwell what wasthe greatest scientific discovery of the last half century, and Maxwellanswered without an instant's hesitation: "That the Gramme machine isreversible. " Probably the whole scientific world will agree with him, for that discovery meant that power will not only produce electricity, but that electricity will produce power. Let us see how that has beenapplied. Falling water is one of the most powerful agents in the world, and at a great waterfall like Niagara, millions of horsepower go towaste every day. So at the foot of Niagara, great power-houses have beenbuilt where the power of the water is converted into electricity. Theelectricity is conducted along wires for hundreds of miles to the greatindustrial centres, and there converted back again into power. In otherwords, the water of Niagara is to-day turning machinery in Buffalo andAlbany. The same method of producing power, the cheapest that has everbeen discovered, is being installed all over the world, and will, intime, produce a revolution in manufacturing processes. 

The vital mechanism in the production of this power is the dynamo, andit is to Charles F. Brush, of Cleveland, Ohio, that its development isprincipally due. He was interested in electricity from his earliestyears, and when he was only thirteen, distinguished himself by makingmagnetic machines and batteries for the Cleveland high-school, where hewas a pupil. During his senior year, the physical apparatus of theschool laboratory was placed under his charge, and he constructed anelectric motor having its field magnets as well as its armature excitedby the electric current. He devised an apparatus for turning on the gasin the street lamps of Cleveland, lighting it and turning it off again, thus doing away with the expensive process of lighting them and turningthem out by hand. 

After graduating from the University of Michigan with the degree ofmining engineer, he returned to Cleveland, where, in 1875, his attentionwas drawn to the great need of a more effective dynamo than the clumsyand inefficient types then in use. In two months, Brush had made adynamo so perfect in every way that it was running until taken to theChicago Exposition, in 1893. Six months more of experimenting resultedin the Brush arc light, and in 1879 the Brush Electric Company wasorganized. A year later, the first Brush lights were installed in NewYork City, and now there is scarcely a town in the country which doesnot pay tribute to the inventor. 

 * * * * *

Let us turn for a moment from the field of electricity, in which Americahas been pre-eminent, to another in which Yankee ingenuity has also ledthe world--the railroad. It was in this country that the sleeping-car, the diner, the parlor-car were first used; no other country affordssuch luxury of travel; and no other country has added to railroading anydevice comparable in importance to the invention of George Westinghouse, the air-brake. Before its introduction, to stop a train brakes must beset painfully by hand, and even then were not always effective. Now, theengineer, by pulling a single lever, sets the brakes instantly all alonghis train, and so effectively that the passengers sometimes feel asthough the train had struck a rock. More than that, should any accidentoccur, breaking the train in two, the brakes are instantly setautomatically. All of which is done by the power of compressed air, working through a series of pipes and air-hose beneath the cars. 

George Westinghouse's father was superintendent of the SchenectadyAgricultural Works, and it was there that the boy found his vocation. Before he was fifteen, he had modelled and built a steam engine, andfollowed that with a steel railroad frog, which was so great animprovement over the frogs then in use that it was soon widely adopted, and brought the young inventor both money and reputation. He moved toPittsburgh, as the centre of the iron and steel business, and began themanufacture of his frogs there. 

One day he came across a newspaper account of the successful use ofcompressed air in the digging of the Mont Cenis tunnel, in Switzerland, and the thought occurred to him that perhaps a railroad train could becontrolled by the same agency. He worked over the problem for a time, but when he mentioned his idea to his friends, they were inclined tothink it absurd to suppose that a rubber-tube strung along under thecars could work the brakes effectively. However, Westinghouse was notdiscouraged, but continued to experiment, and the air-brake as we haveit to-day was the result. 

 * * * * *

Which brings us to the most remarkable genius in the field of inventionthe world has ever known--the man who has made invention, as it were, abusiness, whose life has been devoted to rendering practical and usefulthe dreams of other men, who has reduced invention to a science--ThomasAlva Edison. There are some who are inclined to belittle Edison'sachievements because some of the greatest of them have been founded uponthe ideas of others. He is best known, for instance, as the inventor ofthe modern incandescent light; but the discovery that light may beobtained from wire heated to incandescence in a glass bulb from whichthe air has been exhausted, was made when Edison was only two years old. Experiments with this light were made by a dozen scientists, but itremained a mere laboratory curiosity until Edison took hold of it, andwith a patience, ingenuity and fertility of resource, in which he standsalone, made it a practicable, efficient and convenient source of light. That the incandescent light, as it is known to-day, is his through andthrough cannot be questioned. 

It is as a scientific inventor that Edison likes to be known. He abhorsthe word discoverer, as applied to himself. "Discovery is notinvention, " he once said. "A discovery is more or less in the nature ofan accident, while an invention is purely deductive. In my own case, butfew, and those the least important, of my inventions, owed anything toaccident. Most of them have been hammered out after long and patientlabor, and are the result of countless experiments all directed towardattaining some well-defined object. "

There is, however, one modern marvel for which Edison is whollyresponsible, both for the initial idea and for its practicalworking-out--the phonograph--but let us tell something of his earlylife, before we relate the achievements of his manhood. 

Born in a little village in Erie County, Ohio, in 1847, Edison was earlyintroduced to the struggle for existence. His father was very poor, being, indeed, the village jack-of-all-trades, and living upon such oddjobs as he was able to procure. The boy, of course, was put to work assoon as he was old enough, and of regular schooling had only two monthsin all his life. At the age of twelve, he was a train-boy on theMichigan Central Railroad, selling books, papers, candy, and fruit tothe passengers. He managed to get some type and an old press and issueda little paper called the "Grand Trunk Herald, " containing the news ofthe railroad. One day, he snatched the little child of thestation-master at Port Clements, Michigan, from under the wheels of atrain, and in return the grateful father taught the boy telegraphy. 

It was the turning-point in his career, for it turned his attention tothe study of electricity, with which he was soon fascinated. Ateighteen, he was working as an operator at Indianapolis, but he was fromthe very first, more of an inventor than an operator, and his inventionssometimes got him into trouble. For instance, at one place where he hada night trick, he was required to report the word "six" every half-hourto the manager to show that he was awake and on duty. After a while, herigged up a wheel to do it for him, and all went well until the managerhappened to visit the office one night and found Edison sleeping calmlywhile his wheel was sending in the word "six. " But he neverthelessdeveloped into one of the swiftest operators in the country, all thetime devising changes and improvements in the mechanism of telegraphy. 

His first great success came with the sale of an improvement in theinstruments used to record stock quotations, which enabled these"tickers" to print the quotations legibly on paper tape, and thissuccess enabled him to get some capitalists to finance his experimentswith the electric light. The arrangement was that they were to pay theexpense of the experiments and to share in such inventions as resulted. For the sake of quiet, he moved out to a little place in New Jerseycalled Menlo Park, and built himself a shop. Then began that remarkableseries of experiments--one of the most remarkable in history--whichresulted in the perfection of the incandescent lamp. 

The problem was to find a material for the filament which would give abright light and which, would, at the same time, be durable, and withthis end in view, hundreds and hundreds of different filaments weretried. The difficulties in the way of this experimenting were enormous, since the light only burns when in a vacuum, and the instant the vacuumis impaired, out it goes. At one time, all the lamps he had burning atMenlo Park, about eighty in all, went out, one after another, withoutapparent cause. The lamps had been equipped with filaments of carbon andhad burned for a month. There seemed to be no reason why they should notburn for a year, and Edison was stunned by the catastrophe. He began atonce the most exhaustive series of experiments ever undertaken by anAmerican physicist, remaining in his laboratory for five days andnights, dining at his work bench on bread and cheese, and snatching alittle sleep occasionally, when one of his assistants was on duty. Itwas finally discovered that the air had not been sufficiently exhaustedfrom the lamps. 

Again success seemed in sight, but soon the lamps began acting queerlyagain. Worn out with fatigue and disappointment, Edison took to his bed. Ultimate failure was freely predicted, and the price of gas stock roseagain. In five months, the inventor had aged five years, but he was notyet ready to give up the fight. And at last it was won, and theincandescent lamp placed on the market. It has not displaced gas, assome people thought it would, but it is the basis of a business whichmade the inventor sufficiently rich to realize his great ambition ofbuilding himself the finest laboratory in the world; where the mostexpert iron-workers, wood-workers, glass-blowers, metal-spinners, machinists and chemists in the world find employment. Every known metal, every chemical, every kind of glass, stone, earth, wood, fibre, paper, skin, cloth, may be found in its store-rooms, ready for instant use. Thelibrary contains one of the finest collections of scientific books andperiodicals to be found anywhere. These are the tools, and with themEdison is constantly at work upon a great variety of problems. 

The first thing he turned his hand to after his installation in his newlaboratory was the phonograph. The patient thought and experiment, extending over many years, lavished on this wonderful invention arealmost unbelievable. The idea had come to him years before, when he hadworked out an instrument that would not only record telegrams byindenting a strip of paper with the dots and dashes of the Morse code, but would also repeat the message any number of times by running theindented strip of paper through it. 

"Naturally enough, " said Edison, in telling the story, "the ideaoccurred to me that if the indentations on paper could be made to giveoff again the click of the instrument, why could not the vibrations of adiaphragm be recorded and similarly reproduced? I rigged up aninstrument hastily and pulled a strip of paper through it, at the sametime shouting 'Hallo!' Then the paper was pulled through again, andlistening breathlessly, I heard a distinct sound, which a strongimagination might have translated into the original 'Hallo!' That wasenough to lead me to a further experiment. I made a drawing of a model, and took it to Mr. Kruesi, at that time engaged on piece-work for me. Itold him it was a talking-machine. He grinned, thinking it a joke; buthe set to work and soon had the model ready. I arranged some tin-foil onit and spoke into the machine. Kruesi looked on, still grinning. Butwhen I arranged the machine for transmission and we both heard adistinct sound from it, he nearly fell down in his fright. I must admitthat I was a little scared myself. " The words which he had spoken intothe machine and which were the first ever to be reproduced mechanically, was the old Mother Goose quatrain, starting, "Mary had a Little Lamb. "

From that rude beginning came the phonograph, with which Edison hasnever ceased to experiment. He has made improvements in it from year toyear, until it has reached its present high state of efficiency--astate, however, which Edison hopes to improve still further. In additionto the two great inventions of the phonograph and incandescent lamp, which we have dwelt upon here, many more stand to his credit. In fact, he has been the greatest client the patent office ever had, nearly onethousand patents having been issued in his name. At the age ofsixty-three, he shows no sign of falling off in either mental orphysical energy, and no doubt more than one invention has yet to comefrom Llewellyn Park before he quits his great laboratory forever. 

No one can ever guess at the future of electrical invention. The recentmarvelous development of the wireless telegraph, by which the impalpableether is harnessed to man's service, is an indication of the wonderswhich may be expected in the future. It was our own Joseph Henry who, in1842, discovered the electric wave--the "induction" upon which wirelesstelegraphy depends. He discovered that when he produced an electricspark an inch long in a room at the top of his house, electrical actionwas instantly set up in another wire circuit in the cellar. After somestudy, he saw and announced that the electric spark started some sort ofaction in the ether, which passed through floors and ceilings and allother intervening objects, and caused induction in the wires in thecellar. But wireless telegraphy was made a commercial possibility not byany great scientist, but by a young Italian named Marconi. Alreadyexperiments with wireless telephony are going forward, and another halfcentury may see all the labor of the world performed by this wonderfuland mysterious force which we call electricity. 

 * * * * *

From earliest times, man has longed to navigate the air. He has watchedwith envy the free flight of birds, and has tried to imitate it, usuallywith disastrous results. The balloon, of course, enabled him to rise inthe air, but once there, he was at the mercy of every wind. Morerecently, balloons fitted with motors and steering gear have beendevised, which are to some extent dirigible; but the real problem hasbeen to fly as birds do without any such artificial aid as balloonsprovide. 

Experiments to solve this problem were begun several years ago byProfessor S. P. Langley, of the Smithsonian Institution, undergovernment supervision, and pointed the way to other investigators. Heproved, theoretically, that air-flight was possible, provided sufficientvelocity could be obtained. He showed that a heavier-than-air machinewould sustain itself in the air if it could only be driven fast enough. You have all skipped flat stones across the water. Well, that is exactlythe principle of the flying machine. As long as the stone went fastenough, it skipped along the top of the water, which sustained it andeven threw it up into the air again. When its speed slackened, it sank. So the boy on skates can skim safely across thin ice which would notbear his weight for an instant if he tried to stand upon it. 

So, theoretically, it was possible to fly, but to reduce theory topractice was a very different thing. Professor Langley tried for yearsand failed. He built a great machine, which plunged beneath the watersof the Potomac a minute after it was launched. All over the world, inventors were struggling with the problem, but nowhere with any greatdegree of success. It remained for two brothers, in a little workshop atDayton, Ohio, to produce the first machine which would really fly. 

Orville and Wilbur Wright were poor boys, the sons of a clergyman, andapparently in no way distinguished from ordinary boys, except by a tastefor mechanics. They had a little workshop, and one day in 1905, theybrought out a strange looking machine from it, and announced that it wasa flying-machine. The people of Dayton smiled skeptically, and assembledto witness the demonstration with the thought that there would probablysoon be need for an ambulance. The gasoline motor with which the machinewas equipped, was started, one of the brothers climbed aboard andgrasped the levers, the other dropped a weight which started the machinedown a long incline. For a moment, it slid along, then its great forwardplanes caught the air current and it soared gracefully up into the air. 

That was a great moment in human history, so great that the crowdlooking on scarcely realized its import. They watched the machine withbated breath, and saw it steered around in a circle, showing that itcould go against the wind as well as with it. For thirty-eight minutesit remained in the air, making a circular flight of over twenty-fourmiles. Then it was gently landed and the exhibition was over. Greatcrowds flocked to Dayton, after that, expecting to see furtherexhibitions, but they were disappointed. The machine had been taken backto the shop, and the young inventors announced that they were makingsome changes in it. No one was admitted to the shop, nor were any otherflights made. 

One day the inventors also disappeared, and months later it wasdiscovered that they had built themselves a little shop on a desertedstretch of the sandy North Carolina coast, and that they were carryingon their experiments there, secure from observation. Enterprisingreporters tried to interview them and failed; but, ambushed afar off, they one day saw the great machine soaring proudly in a wide circleabove the sands. A photographer even got a distant photograph of it. There could be no doubt that the Wright brothers had solved the problemof flight. 

But not for two years more were they ready for public exhibitions. Then, in 1908, they appeared at Fort Myer, Virginia, ready to take part in thecontest set by the United States government. No one who was present onthat first day will ever forget his sensations as the great wingedcreature rose gracefully from the ground and circled about in the airoverhead. Again and again flights were made, sometimes with an extrapassenger; great speed was attained and the machine was under perfectcontrol. But an unfortunate accident put a stop to the trials, for oneday a propellor-blade broke while the machine was in mid-air, and itstruck the ground before it could be righted. The passenger, a member ofthe United States Signal Corps, was instantly killed and Orville Wrightwas seriously injured. 

Meanwhile, the other brother, Wilbur, had gone to Europe, where, firstin France, and afterwards in Italy and England, he created a tremendoussensation by his spectacular flights. They were uniformly successful. Not an accident marred them. The governments of Europe were quick tosecure the right to manufacture the aeroplane; kings and princes viedwith each other in honoring the young inventor, and when he returned tothe United States, city, state, and nation combined in a great receptionto him and to his brother. 

As these lines are being written, in August, 1909, another series offlights has been concluded at Fort Myer. They were successful in everyway in fulfilling the government tests, and the Wrights' machine waspurchased by the government for $30, 000. Everywhere air-ship flights arebeing made successfully, and it is only a question of time until theaeroplane becomes a common means of conveyance. Wilbur Wright declaresthat it is already safer than the automobile, and it would seem thatthere is in store for man a new and exquisite sensation, that of flight. 

Surely, America has cause to be proud of her inventors!

SUMMARY

FULTON, ROBERT. Born at Little Britain, Pennsylvania, 1765; went toLondon, 1786, to study painting under Benjamin West; abandoned painting, 1793; returned to America, 1806; first successful trip in steamboat, theClermont, August 11, 1807; died at New York City, February 24, 1815. 

WHITNEY, ELI. Born at Westborough, Massachusetts, December 8, 1765;graduated at Yale, 1792; went to Georgia as teacher and inventedcotton-gin, 1792-93; died at New Haven, Connecticut, January 8, 1825. 

MORSE, SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE. Born at Charlestown, Massachusetts, April27, 1791; graduated at Yale, 1810; studied art under Benjamin West inLondon, and opened studio in New York City, 1823; first presidentNational Academy of Design, 1826-42; designed electric telegraph, 1832;applied for patent, 1837; first line completed between Baltimore andWashington, 1844; died at New York City, April 2, 1872. 

GOODYEAR, CHARLES. Born at New Haven, Connecticut, December 29, 1800;began experiments with rubber, 1834; secured patent, 1844; died at NewYork City, July 1, 1860. 

ERICSSON, JOHN. Born in parish of Fernebo, Wermland, Sweden, July 31, 1803; went to England, 1826; came to America, 1839; constructed caloricengine, 1833; applied screw to steam navigation, 1836-41; inventedturreted ironclad Monitor, 1862; died at New York City, March 8, 1889. 

DAHLGREN, JOHN ADOLPH. Born at Philadelphia, November 13, 1809;lieutenant in navy, 1837; assigned to ordnance duty at Washington, 1847;commander, 1855; rear-admiral, 1863; took important part in navaloperations during Civil War; died at Washington, July 12, 1870. 

MCCORMICK, CYRUS HALL. Born at Walnut Grove, West Virginia, February 15, 1809; invented mechanical reaper, 1831; died at Chicago, May 13, 1884. 

HOWE, ELIAS. Born at Spencer, Massachusetts, July 9, 1819; inventedsewing-machine, 1844; died at Brooklyn, New York, October 3, 1867. 

CORLISS, GEORGE HENRY. Born at Easton, New York, July 2, 1817; inventedCorliss engine, 1849; died at Providence, Rhode Island, February 21, 1888. 

SHOLES, CHRISTOPHER LATHAM. Born at Mooresburg, Pennsylvania, February14, 1819; state senator, Wisconsin, 1848, 1856-58; held many positionsof trust in Milwaukee, 1869-78; patented typewriter, 1868. 

BELL, ALEXANDER GRAHAM. Born at Edinburgh, Scotland, March 3, 1847; cameto Canada, 1870, and to Boston, 1871; invented telephone, 1876;graphophone, 1883. 

BRUSH, CHARLES FRANCIS. Born at Euclid, Ohio, March 17, 1849; graduatedUniversity of Michigan, 1869; invented modern arc electric lighting;founder Brush Electric Company. 

WESTINGHOUSE, GEORGE. Born at Central Bridge, Schoharie County, NewYork, October 6, 1846; invented rotary engine at age of fifteen; inUnion army, 1863-64; invented air brake, 1868; also inventions inrailway signals, steam and gas engines, turbines, and electricmachinery. 

EDISON, THOMAS ALVA. Born at Milan, Ohio, February 11, 1847; establishedworkshop at Menlo Park, New Jersey, 1876; invented megaphone, phonograph, aërophone, incandescent electric lamp, kinetoscope, and manyother things. 

WRIGHT, ORVILLE. Born at Dayton, Ohio, 1871. 

WRIGHT, WILBUR. Born at Dayton, Ohio, 1869. 

INDEX

Abbey, Edwin A. , 117, 124. 

Adams, Edwin, 179. 

Adams, Herbert, 153. 

Addams, Jane, 223-224, 230. 

Agassiz, Alexander, 192, 225. 

Agassiz, Louis, 186-192, 193, 201-202, 209-210, 211, 213, 224. 

Alcott, Amos Bronson, 41-43, 52. 

Alcott, Louisa May, 42-43, 52. 

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, 75-76, 82-83, 163. 

Alexander, Francis, 102-103, 121. 

Alexander, John W. , 119. 

Allen, James Lane, 33. 

Allston, Washington, 97, 99, 121, 126. 

Anderson, Charles Joseph, 174. 

Anderson, Mary, 174-175, 183. 

Andrew, John A. , 266. 

Anthony, Susan B. , 271-272, 289. 

Arnold, Benedict, 95. 

Astor, John Jacob, 294-297, 324. 

Astor, William B. , 296-297. 

Atwood, Elizabeth, 303. 

Audubon, John James, 186-190, 224. 

Austin, James T. , 270. 

Bailey, Liberty Hyde, 212. 

Ball, Thomas, 136, 137-139, 155. 

Bancroft, George, 34-36, 51. 

Barker, George Frederick, 212. 

Barlow, Joel, 329. 

Barnard, George Gray, 153, 156. 

Barnum, Phineas Taylor, 302-305, 314, 325. 

Barrett, Lawrence, 171-172, 176, 183. 

Bartlett, Paul Wayland, 153. 

Barton, Clara, 277-278, 289. 

Beecher, Henry Ward, 252, 254, 281, 287. 

Beecher, Lyman, 31, 252-254, 269, 287. 

Bell, Alexander Graham, 328, 356-358, 373. 

Bell, Alexander Melville, 357. 

Belmont, August, 323. 

Benjamin, Park, 74. 

Bennett, James Gordon, 47, 309. 

Bergh, Henry, 278-280, 290. 

Bessey, Charles Edward, 212. 

Bickmore, Albert Smith, 193. 

Bierstadt, Albert, 108, 122. 

Boone, Daniel, 100. 

Booth, Edwin, 118, 157, 158, 160-164, 166, 168, 169, 171, 172, 173, 176, 182, 183. 

Booth, John Wilkes, 161. 

Booth, Junius Brutus, 158-162, 177, 182. 

Boyle, John J. , 153. 

Brooks, Phillips, 281-282, 290. 

Brown, Henry Kirke, 113, 132-133, 145, 146, 154, 155. 

Brown, John, 262, 272-276, 289. 

Brown, Nathan, 313. 

Brush, Charles F. , 358-359, 373. 

Brush, George de Forest, 119. 

Bryant, William Cullen, 55-58, 80. 

Bundy, Benjamin, 264. 

Burke, Charles, 179. 

Burr, Aaron, 97, 98. 

Burr, Theodosia, 97. 

Burroughs, John, 211-212. 

Cable, George Washington, 33. 

Caffin, Charles C. , 17. 

Calhoun, John C. , 130, 134, 135. 

Campbell, Archibald, 257. 

Carnegie, Andrew, 246-251, 287. 

Cary, Alice, 76. 

Cary, Phoebe, 76. 

Chamberlain, Thomas C. , 204. 

Channing, William Ellery, 254-256, 259, 260, 262, 270, 288. 

Child, Lydia Maria, 261-262, 288. 

Church, Frederick Edwin, 107-108, 122. 

Clapp, Henry Austin, 18. 

Clark, Alonzo Howard, 193. 

Clay, Henry, 265. 

Clemens, Samuel Langhorne, 32-33, 50-51. 

Clemm, Virginia, 68, 81. 

Coffin, Thomas, 257. 

Cole, Thomas, 105-107, 108, 122. 

Cooper, James Fenimore, 24-27, 31, 50, 85, 127. 

Cooper, Astley, 205. 

Cooper, Peter, 235-237, 242, 286, 307. 

Cope, Edward Drinker, 200-201, 226. 

Copley, John Singleton, 86-87, 94, 120. 

Corliss, George Henry, 352-353, 373. 

Cornell, Ezra, 239-241, 242, 286. 

Crawford, Thomas, 131-132, 154. 

Curtis, George William, 46, 53. 

Cushman, Charlotte, 144, 157, 166-168, 172, 182. 

Cushman, Susan, 168. 

Dahlgren, John Adolph, 347-348, 372. 

Daly, Augustin, 172, 176, 177, 183, 184. 

Dana, Charles Anderson, 47. 

Dana, James Dwight, 202-203, 226-227. 

Davenport, E. L. , 176-177, 184. 

Davenport, Fanny, 177, 184. 

Day, Jeremiah, 218. 

Dix, Dorothea Lynde, 259-261, 288. 

Douglass, Frederick, 273, 275. 

Drake, E. L. , 355-356. 

Drake, Joseph Rodman, 56. 

Draper, Henry, 195, 199. 

Draper, John William, 194-195, 225. 

Drew, John, 176, 184. 

Drew, Mrs. John, 184. 

Durand, Asher Brown, 104-105, 107, 108, 122. 

Dwight, Timothy, 218, 219, 229. 

Edison, Thomas A. , 328, 361-367, 373. 

Edwards, Jonathan, 219-221, 223, 229. 

Eliot, Charles William, 215-218, 229. 

Elwell, Frank, 153. 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 44-45, 52, 58-59. 

Ericsson, John, 344-347, 372. 

Ericsson, Nils, 344. 

Everett, Edward, 215. 

Farragut, David Glasgow, 149, 345. 

Field, Cyrus West, 307-309, 325. 

Field, Eugene, 76, 83. 

Field, Marshall, 323. 

Fiske, John, 40. 

Florence, William J. , 169-170, 183. 

Forrest, Edwin, 157, 158, 164-166, 167, 169, 170, 179, 182. 

Fox, John, 33. 

Franklin, Benjamin, 89, 94, 197, 208, 328, 339. 

Freeman, Mary Wilkins, 34. 

French, Daniel Chester, 150-151, 156. 

Freneau, Philip, 56. 

Fulton, Robert, 328-332, 345, 371. 

Garrison, William Lloyd, 61, 261, 262-267, 268, 269, 271, 288. 

Gilder, Richard Watson, 76. 

Girard, Stephen, 97, 164, 231-233, 286. 

Glasgow, Ellen, 34. 

Goelet, Robert, 323. 

Goodyear, Charles, 339-344, 372. 

Gould, Edwin, 317. 

Gould, Frank, 317. 

Gould, George, 317-318. 

Gould, Helen Miller, 312. 

Gould, Howard, 317. 

Gould, Jay, 310-312, 317, 325. 

Grant, Ulysses S. , 49, 300-311. 

Gray, Asa, 193, 194, 212, 213, 225. 

Gray, Elisha, 356. 

Greeley, Horace, 46-49, 53. 

Greeley, Zaccheus, 47. 

Greenough, Horatio, 90, 125-129, 130, 131, 134, 154. 

Guyot, Arnold, 209, 213, 228. 

Hale, Nathan, 152. 

Halleck, Fitz-Greene, 56. 

Hamilton, Alexander, 293. 

Harding, Chester, 99-102, 103, 121, 133. 

Harriman, E. H. , 321-324, 326. 

Harriott, Frederick C. , 183. 

Harrison, William Henry, 48. 

Harte, Bret, 33. 

Hartt, Charles Frederick, 193. 

Haseltine, Anne, 256. 

Havemeyer, Frederick Christian, 301. 

Havemeyer, William Frederick, 301-302. 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 27-30, 31, 50, 59, 69, 85, 130, 139, 144. 

Hawthorne, William, 28. 

Hayne, Paul Hamilton, 30, 77, 78, 84. 

Henry, Joseph, 197, 208-209, 228, 234, 338-339, 356, 367. 

Henry, Patrick, 132. 

Heth, Joice, 302-303. 

Hildreth, Richard, 36. 

Hill, James J. , 318-321, 323, 326. 

Hitchcock, Edward, 203-204, 227. 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 58, 62-64, 81, 87, 216. 

Homer, Winslow, 115-116, 123. 

Hopkins, Johns, 237, 239, 242, 286. 

Hopkinson, Francis, 89. 

Hosmer, Harriet, 143-144, 155. 

Howe, Elias, 328, 350-352, 372. 

Howe, Julia Ward, 76. 

Howe, Samuel G. , 260. 

Howells, William Dean, 33. 

Hubbard, Elbert, 79. 

Hunt, William Morris, 112, 113-114, 123. 

Hyatt, Alpheus, 193. 

Inman, Henry, 103-104, 121. 

Inness, George, 108-110, 116, 122. 

Irving, Washington, 20-24, 36, 49-50, 97, 296-297. 

Irving, William, 20. 

Isham, Samuel, 17. 

Jackson, Andrew, 107, 130, 135-136. 

James, Henry, 33. 

Jarvis, John Wesley, 103, 121. 

Jefferson, Joseph, 18, 157, 170, 178-180, 182, 184. 

Jefferson, Thomas, 98, 132. 

Johnson, Cave, 135, 337. 

Johnston, Mary, 34. 

Jordan, David Starr, 223. 

Jouett, Matthew, 103. 

Judson, Adoniram, 256-257, 288. 

Kean, Edmund, 159. 

Keene, Laura, 179. 

Kellogg, Vernon L. , 212. 

Kensett, Frederick, 108, 110, 122. 

Key, Francis Scott, 56. 

Kimball, Edward, 283. 

Kingsley, James, 218. 

LaFarge, John, 17, 112-113, 123. 

Langley, Samuel Pierpont, 196, 226, 368. 

Lanier, Sidney, 77-78, 83. 

Le Conte, John, 210, 228. 

Le Conte, John Eathan, 210-211. 

Le Conte, John Lawrence, 211, 228. 

Le Conte, Joseph, 210, 228. 

Le Conte, Lewis, 209-210. 

Lee, Robert E. , 276. 

Leidy, Joseph, 201. 

Leiter, Levi, 323. 

Leslie, C. R. , 117. 

Lincoln, Abraham, 12, 49, 72, 138, 146, 149, 160. 

Lind, Jenny, 138, 302, 305. 

Lindsay, R. W. , 302. 

Livingston, Robert R. , 330. 

Long, Crawford W. , 206, 227. 

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 15, 28, 54, 58, 59-61, 80, 85. 

Longworth, Nicholas, 146. 

Lorillard, Pierre, 323. 

Lovejoy, Elijah, 266, 270. 

Lowell, James Russell, 58, 64-66, 81. 

Lyman, Theodore, 193. 

Macie, James. See Smithson, James. 

McCormick, Cyrus Hall, 348-350, 372. 

McCosh, James, 219, 222, 230. 

McCullough, John, 170-171, 173, 176, 183. 

Mackay, John W. , 309-310, 325. 

McMaster, John Bach, 40. 

MacMonnies, Frederick, 151-152, 156. 

Macready, William C. , 165, 167. 

Macy, John, 17. 

Mann, Horace, 213-214, 228-229, 260. 

Mansfield, Richard, 180-181. 

"Mark Twain. " See Clemens, S. L. 

Marlowe, Julia, 181. 

Marsh, Othniel Charles, 199-200, 226. 

Marshall, John, 130. 

Martin, Homer Dodge, 108, 110-111, 123. 

Maverick, Peter, 122. 

Meade, Larkin G. , 145-147, 155. 

Merrill, Addison Emory, 193. 

Miller, Cincinnatus Heine (Joaquin), 76. 

Millet, Francis B. , 116-117, 124. 

Mills, Clarke, 107, 133-136, 154. 

Milmore, Martin, 151. 

Modjeska, Helena, 172-174, 183. 

Moody, Dwight L. , 282-285, 290. 

Moran, Thomas, 108, 122. 

Morgan, J. Pierpont, 315-316, 326. 

Morgan, Junius Spencer, 315. 

Morris, Clara, 18, 172, 183. 

Morris, Robert, 292-293, 324. 

Morse, Edward Sylvester, 193. 

Morse, Jedediah, 335. 

Morse, Samuel Finley Breese, 99, 240, 328, 335-339, 372. 

Morton, W. T. G. , 206-207, 227-228. 

Motley, John Lothrop, 34, 37-38, 40, 51, 216. 

Mott, James, 257. 

Mott, Lucretia, 257-259, 261, 262, 272, 288. 

Mott, Valentine, 204-206, 227. 

Murdock, James E. , 179. 

Murfree, Mary Noailles, 33. 

Muspratt, James Sheridan, 168. 

Navarro, Antonio de, 183. 

Neagle, John, 103, 121. 

Neilson, Adelaide, 176. 

Newberry, John Strong, 203, 227. 

Newcomb, Simon, 197-198, 226. 

Nilhaus, Charles, 153. 

Ogden, Francis B. , 345. 

Orton, William, 338. 

Osborne, H. F. , 201. 

Ossoli, Margaret Fuller, 43-44, 52. 

Packard, Alpheus Spring, 193. 

Page, Thomas Nelson, 34. 

Palfrey, John Gorham, 36. 

Palmer, Erasmus D. , 136-137, 139, 154. 

Parker, John, 267. 

Parker, Theodore, 267-268, 269, 288. 

Parkman, Francis, 34, 39-40, 51. 

Peabody, George, 237-239, 242, 286, 315. 

Peale, Charles Willson, 90-92, 98, 120, 304. 

Peale, Rembrandt, 98, 121, 304. 

Pelham, Peter, 86. 

Penn, William, 140. 

Phillips, John, 269. 

Phillips, Wendell, 262, 268-271, 289. 

Pickering, Edward Charles, 198-199, 226. 

Pierce, Franklin, 29. 

Plant, Henry, 147. 

Poe, Edgar Allan, 17, 27, 28, 55, 58, 66-70, 76, 81-82, 85. 

Porter, Noah, 218-219, 229. 

Powers, Hiram, 129-131, 154. 

Pratt, Zadock, 310. 

Pray, Malvina, 169. 

Prescott, William Hickling, 34, 36-38, 40, 51. 

Putnam, Frederick Ward, 193. 

Quincy, Josiah, 215, 217, 229. 

Rehan, Ada, 172, 175-176, 183. 

Remsen, Ira, 222. 

Rhodes, James Ford, 40. 

Rider, Emory, 343. 

Rider, Williams, 343. 

Riley, James Whitcomb, 76, 83. 

Rinehart, William H. , 141-142, 155. 

Roberts, Marshall, 307. 

Robinson, Marius, 266. 

Rockefeller, John Davison, 243-246, 287, 354. 

Rogers, John, 142-143, 155. 

Rogers, Randolph, 140-141, 155. 

Ruckstuhl, Frederick, 153. 

Rutherford, Lewis Morris, 195-196, 225. 

Sage, Russell, 305-306, 325. 

Sage, Mrs. Russell, 252, 306. 

Saint Gaudens, Augustus, 148-150, 152, 156. 

Salisbury, Rollin D. , 204. 

Sanders, Sarah, 20. 

Sankey, Ira D. , 284, 285. 

Sargent, John Singer, 117-119, 124, 163. 

Schurman, Jacob Gould, 223. 

Scott, Thomas A. , 249. 

Scudder, Samuel Hubbard, 193. 

Seward, William H. , 348. 

Shaler, Nathaniel Southgate, 193, 211, 228. 

Shaw, Robert Gould, 150. 

Sholes, C. Latham, 353-354, 373. 

Silliman, Benjamin, 202-204, 213, 218, 226, 227, 354. 

Simms, William Gilmore, 30-31, 78-79, 84. 

Skinner, Otis, 181. 

Slater, John Fox, 241-242, 287. 

Sloane, William Milligan, 40. 

Slocum, Margaret Olivia. See Sage, Mrs. Russell. 

Smithson, James, 233-234, 286. 

Sothern, Edward A. , 179, 181, 185. 

Sothern, E. H. , 181, 185. 

Sparks, Jared, 36, 255. 

Stanford, Jane Lathrop, 243. 

Stanford, Leland, 242-243, 287. 

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 258, 272, 289. 

Stedman, Edmund Clarence, 75-76, 82. 

Stewart, A. T. , 299-301, 307, 312, 324. 

Stimpson, William, 193. 

Stockton, Frank R. , 34. 

Stockton, Robert F. , 345. 

Stoddart, J. H. , 18. 

Story, Joseph, 139, 140. 

Story, William Wetmore, 139-140, 155. 

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 31-32, 50, 254, 262. 

Stratton, Charles S. See "Thumb, Tom. "

Stuart, Gilbert, 90, 92-94, 102, 103, 120. 

Stuart, J. E. B. , 276. 

Sully, Thomas, 90, 96-97, 121. 

Sumner, Charles, 132, 260. 

Taft, Lorado, 17. 

Tappan, Arthur, 265. 

Taylor, Bayard, 73-75, 82. 

Taylor, Moses, 307. 

Tenney, Sanborn, 193. 

Thomson, William, 357. 

Thoreau, Henry David, 45-46, 52-53. 

Thumb, Tom, 302, 304-305. 

Timrod, Henry, 30, 77, 78, 83. 

Torrey, John, 193-194, 225. 

Townsend, James M. , 354-356. 

Trent, W. P. , 16. 

Trumbull, Jonathan, 94. 

Trumbull, John, 90, 94-96, 104, 120. 

Tryon, Dwight William, 116, 124. 

Tucker, George, 36. 

Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 297-299, 311, 317, 324. 

Vanderbilt, William Henry, 298-299, 317. 

Vanderlyn, John, 97-98, 121. 

Van Dyke, John C. , 17. 

Vedder, Elihu, 111-112, 123. 

Vining, Fanny Elizabeth, 177, 184. 

Wanamaker, John, 312-315, 323, 325. 

Ward, Henry Augustus, 193. 

Ward, J. Q. A. , 144-145, 150, 155. 

Warner, Olin Levi, 147-148, 156. 

Warren, J. C. , 207. 

Warren, Lavinia, 304-305. 

Warren, William, 177-179, 184. 

Washington, Augustine, 303. 

Washington, George, 12, 23, 90, 91, 93, 94, 127, 128, 130, 132, 133, 134, 138, 293, 302, 303. 

Webster, Daniel, 130, 135. 

West, Benjamin, 87-90, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97, 99, 120, 121, 151, 329. 

Westinghouse, George, 359-361, 373. 

Wharton, Edith, 34. 

Whistler, James Abbott McNeill, 114-115, 123. 

White, Chandler, 307. 

White, Stewart Edward, 34. 

White, William, 89. 

Whitman, Marcus, 295. 

Whitman, Walt, 70-73, 82, 85. 

Whitney, Eli, 328, 332-335, 339, 371. 

Whitney, Josiah Dwight, 203, 227. 

Whitney, William C. , 323. 

Whittier, John Greenleaf, 54, 58, 61-62, 80-81, 263, 265. 

Wilder, Burt Green, 193. 

Wilkes, Charles, 202. 

Willing, Charles, 292. 

Wilson, Woodrow, 40, 223. 

Winsor, Justin, 40. 

Winter, William, 17, 18, 162. 

Winthrop, John, 28. 

Witherspoon, John, 219, 221-222, 230. 

Wright, Orville, 368-371, 373. 

Wright, Wilbur, 368-371, 373. 

Wyant, Alexander, 108, 110, 123. 

Young, Charles Augustus, 196, 225. 

 * * * * *

THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESSGARDEN CITY, N. Y. 

 * * * * *

 +----------------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has been | | preserved. | | | | A reference to the index has been added to the ToC for | | convenience. | | | | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. These are:-- | | | | Page 99 ran away to Pittsburg | | changed to | | ran away to Pittsburgh | | Page 105 landscapists in Thomas Cole. | | changed to | | landscapists is Thomas Cole. | | Page 218 history of adminstration | | changed to | | history of administration | | Page 341 rubber and magnesia is quicklime | | changed to | | rubber and magnesia in quicklime | | Page 347 played so imporant | | changed to | | played so important | | Page 360 power of compresed air, | | changed to | | power of compressed air, | | Page 363 The arrrangement | | changed to | | The arrangement | | Page 376 Cary, Ph[oe]be, 76. | | changed (for consistency with main text) to | | Cary, Phoebe, 76. | | Page 381 Silliman, Benjamin, 202-203-204 | | changed to | | Silliman, Benjamin, 202-204 | | Page 382 Warren, William, 177-178-179-184. | | changed to | | Warren, William, 177-179, 184. | +----------------------------------------------------------------+