already too-complicated question, it also shows how increased activity
of thought and thoroughness of purpose bring us face to face with
difficulties of whose existence we had scarcely a suspicion. The more we
accomplish, the more there is to challenge our courage, skill, and
capabilities. Improved machinery, reformed methods, accumulated
experience, with increased ability and aptitude on the part of teachers,
cannot fail to advance the problem of popular education nearer to a
satisfactory solution; but we must never allow ourselves to forget that
many of the most important elements that contribute to the success of
teaching are not at the command of the teacher. Education has to do with
mind and character; and these are very subtle things, and exceedingly
difficult to deal with; and success depends on many things that can
never be incorporated in a theory or scheme of education, or in any
curriculum of studies.
FOOTNOTES:
[G] This newest educational suggestion appears in a vigorous and
thoughtful paper on "Education and a Philosophy of Life," in the January
number of _Education_.
HISTORICAL RECORD.
[_By sending to the editor brief contributions suitable for use in this
department, readers will greatly add to its completeness and value._]
MAINE:
Dec. 22.--Meeting of the Maine Historical Society in Portland, President
James W. Bradbury in the chair. A communication from Curtis M. Sawyer,
of Mechanics Falls, called attention to the fact that traces of Indian
settlements in Maine are now disappearing, and suggested that some means
should be taken to mark sites of Indian villages and shell-heaps. The
Rev. Henry O. Thayer read a paper on Popham colony. E. H. Elwell read a
paper on the "British View of the Ashburton Treaty, and the Northeastern
Boundary Question;" the Hon. Joseph Williamson on "The Rumored French
Invasion of Maine in 1798;" the Rev. Dr. Burrage on "Additional Facts
concerning George Waymouth;" Dr. Charles E. Banks on "The Administration
of William Gorges from 1636 to 1637." The original diploma of the
Society of the Cincinnati, signed by George Washington and General Knox,
was exhibited by Thomas L. Talbot. B. F. Stevens, of London, who has for
many years collected documents relating to the Revolution, and
negotiations of that period, requested that the attention of Congress be
called to these manuscripts, and an effort be made to have the
government purchase them. It was voted to refer the matter to a standing
committee with power. It was also voted that the subject relating to the
limits of Indian towns be left to a standing committee.
* * * * *
MASSACHUSETTS:
Dec. 21.--Forefather's Day was appropriately celebrated in many places.
At Plymouth, addresses were delivered by Hon. Thomas Russell, President
of the Pilgrim Society, James Russell Lowell, Rev. George E. Ellis, D.
D., Dr. Henry M. Dexter, Judge Charles Levi Woodbury, and others.
Dec. 22.--Dedication of new public library building in Chelsea, the gift
of Eustace C. Fitz. An eloquent dedicatory address was delivered by
James Russell Lowell.
Dec. 24.--Streets of Lawrence lighted for the first time by the
incandescent electric light.
Jan. 6.--Annual meeting of the New England Historic Genealogical
Society. Marshall P. Wilder was re-elected President, and Grover
Cleveland was made an honorary member. The following were elected to
fill vacancies in the old board of officers: Vice-president, Horace
Fairbanks, of St. Johnsbury, Vt.; honorary vice-presidents, Charles C.
Jones, of Savannah, Ga., and W. F. Mallalieu, of New Orleans, La.;
director, John F. Andrew, of Boston; committee on heraldry, John K.
Clarke, of Needham; committee on library, Walter Adams, of Framingham;
committee on papers and essays, Waldo Burnett, of Southboro, Alexander
Williams, of Boston. The report of the treasurer showed: Income of the
past year, $3,637.92; expenditures, $3,510.61; present balance, $127.31;
total of the building fund, $25,028.19; total of all funds, $66,610.23.
The librarian's report showed: Addition of books by purchase, 121; by
gift, 401; present total, 20,778; pamphlets purchased, 30; gifts, 1848.
Present total, 64,604. Nathaniel F. Safford offered a resolution of
thanks to Mr. Wilder for his services in general to the society, and in
particular for his persevering personal efforts during the past few
years by which he has obtained, not merely the subscriptions of his
friends, but the payment thereof for the building fund of the society,
so that the money, about $25,000, is now on deposit, and at the
society's disposal. The resolution was adopted unanimously by a rising
vote.
Meeting of Massachusetts Legislature. President Pillsbury of the Senate,
Speaker Brackett, of the House, and Clerks Gifford and Mr. Laughlin were
re-elected. Captain J. G. B. Adams, of Lynn, was elected
Sergeant-at-Arms.
Dec. 12.--Annual meeting of the Bostonian Society. The following were
chosen directors for the coming year: Thomas C. Amory, William S.
Appleton, Thomas J. Allen, Joshua P. Bodfish, Curtis Guild, John T.
Hassam, Hamilton A. Hill, Samuel H. Russell, and William Wilkins Warren.
The report on the library showed a total of 520 volumes, and many
pamphlets not yet enumerated, being an addition of 184 volumes, and 126
pamphlets during the year. The report of the treasurer showed: Balance
of last year, $3,857.85; receipts, to make a total of $4,736.65;
expenditures, to leave a present balance of $1,992.23. It was announced
that Mr. D. T. V. Huntoon, the secretary and treasurer, declined a
re-election, being about to take a journey for the benefit of his
health. The vacancy was not filled.
Jan. 14.--Monthly meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Dr.
Green, as one of the executors of the will of John Langdon Sibley, read
that part of the will in which he has constituted this society the
residuary legatee of nearly all his estate. This amount is by far the
largest sum of money ever given or bequeathed to the society, and will
place the name of Sibley among the greatest benefactors of historical
research. It was voted that a committee consisting of Judge Hoar, Mr.
Cobb, and Professor E. C. Smyth be appointed to consider and report to
the society what action should be taken in view of this munificent
bequest.
Mr. R. C. Winthrop, Jr., communicated thirty-two letters, written
between 1693 and 1699, from General Lord Cutts to Colonel Joseph Dudley,
then lieutenant-governor of the Isle of Wight, and afterward governor of
Massachusetts. They contain incidental reference to William of Orange,
and many public men of that period, as well as to the campaign of the
allied army in Flanders, and the evident sincerity and soldierly
bluntness of the writer renders them quite entertaining. Lord Cutts was
not merely a famous commander, but a poet, and his verses are quoted by
Horace Walpole. Mr. Winthrop expressed a desire to learn where a picture
of him might be found, and he discussed the authority and probable date
of various portraits of Governor Joseph Dudley, and his wife, Rebecca
Tyng.
Mr. Appleton spoke of the flag carried by the minute-men of Bedford to
Concord, on the 19th of April, 1775, a photograph of which had been
exhibited at the last meeting. It was originally designed in England in
1660-70 for the three county troops of Massachusetts, and became one of
the accepted standards of the organized militia of this State, and as
such was used by the Bedford company. Mr. Appleton said that in his
opinion this flag far exceeds in historic value the famed flag of Eutaw
and Pulaski's banner, and, in fact, is the most precious memorial of its
kind of which we have any knowledge.
The Hon. R. C. Winthrop presented from the Hon. John Bigelow, of New
York, late minister to France, and author of an elaborate life of
Franklin, five old maps, on one of which the name of this city is
spelled Baston, and on another Briston.
Mr. Windsor made a communication in reference to a ditch and embankment
found in Weston, at the confluence of Stony Brook and Charles River,
which indicate, it has been lately said, that a trading post and fort
were erected there by the French in the early part of the sixteenth
century. He gave reasons for the opinion that these relics may mark the
site of an early attempt to found the town of Boston there, since soon
after the arrival of Winthrop at Salem he set out for Charlestown,
whence, with a party, he explored the neighboring rivers for a
convenient spot to found their town, and discovered such a place "three
leagues up Charles River." Dr. Palfrey, who seems not to have known of
the existence of these remains, says that the spot must have been
somewhere in Waltham or Weston, and most likely near the mouth of Stony
Brook.
Mr. Winsor also read a paper in which he referred to a statement which
had appeared in several popular histories, that, during the eight years
of the Revolutionary War, the thirteen colonies sent two hundred and
thirty-two thousand men to the Continental army. He traced the origin of
this extravagant statement. In 1790, General Knox, then Secretary of
War, presented to President Washington a report on the number of troops
furnished during the war. He showed the number credited to the several
States, making no distinction between those who served for a shorter or
a longer period, and he did not tabulate his separate statements for
each year into one including the whole war. This was done, however, in
the first volume of the New Hampshire Historical Society's collections,
and the error was copied by many subsequent publications. It was
afterwards said in explanation, that these figures denoted enlistments
or years of service, and not men. The truth of the matter is that these
figures are worthless as representing the number of men which made up
the Continental line, or the years of actual service, and their only
value is as enabling us approximately to judge how much more or less
relatively one State contributed than another to the military force that
gained our independence.
* * * * *
RHODE ISLAND:
Dec. 17.--The committee appointed by the Providence City Council to
consider what action should be taken by the city government for the
proper observance of its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, submitted
its report. The committee is of the opinion that the celebration should
consist of a festival lasting two days. It is recommended that the first
day be devoted to literary and historical exercises in the First Baptist
Meeting-House, with an historical address giving a complete history of
the city, together with appropriate odes, poems, and music. The
committee recommends that on the second day there be a grand trades
procession representative of the past and present industries of
Providence; also an elaborate military and civic parade; that, in the
afternoon, balloon ascensions, band concerts, and other amusements be
provided for the people, and that the celebration be brought to a
termination by a grand display of fireworks in the evening. As the best
historical authorities name the date of the founding of Providence as
between the 20th and 25th of June, the committee is of the opinion that
the 23d and 24th should be selected. This suggestion is made also in
view of the fact that the 24th of June will be observed as a festival
day by the French residents, and the Masonic Fraternity. It is proposed
that the city appropriate $10,000 for the observance, and that the State
legislature be requested to make a further appropriation of $5,000.
* * * * *
CONNECTICUT:
Jan. 6.--The Legislature organized by electing Stiles T. Stanton,
President _pro tem._ of the Senate, and John T. Tibbets, of New London,
as Speaker of the House.
The article on the Wayte family, in the January number of the NEW
ENGLAND MAGAZINE, has provoked much pleasant comment in Lyme, the
birthplace and summer home of Chief Justice Waite, and New London, the
residence of Hon. John T. Wait.
The History of Hartford County in two splendid volumes, press of Ticknor
& Co., of Boston, is now being printed, and will be ready for delivery
in a few weeks.
* * * * *
VERMONT:
Six young men, playing Spanish mandolins, guitars, and harps, says the
Chicago _Herald_, Jan. 18, sat in the balcony of one of the banquet
halls at Kinsley's last evening. Below the musicians, and seated at an
E-shaped table were two hundred and fifty elderly gentlemen, members of
the Illinois Association of the Sons of Vermont, who were destroying
their ninth annual banquet. Pots filled with pork and beans, huge
pumpkin pies, and large blocks of brown bread were spread before the
banqueters. Glass fruit-dishes piled high with ruddy winter apples and
little dishes overflowing with cracked hickory nuts came later, and then
all these good things were washed down with cider and claret. The toasts
were: "Vermont," H. N. Hibbard; "Clergymen of Vermont," Rev. G. N.
Boardman; "Stumps of Vermont," E. B. Sherman; "The Star that never
sets," W. W. Chandler. After the speech-making, Jules Lombard, robed in
black and wearing a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles upon the breast of
his Prince Albert coat, sang "America" and a pretty Scottish serenade.
Among those present were E. G. Keith, II, P. Kellogg, O. S. A. Sprague,
R. S. Smith, Gen. H. H. Thomas, H. N. Hibbard, George Chandler, Harvey
Edgerton, Dr. C. N. Fitch, E. A. Jewett, Col. Arba N. Waterman, E. B.
Sherman, John M. Thatcher, A. W. Butler, Frank Deinson, H. N. Nash, John
M. Southworth, George W. Newcombe, and S. W. Burnham.
NECROLOGY.
December 15.--Samuel Dyer, a pioneer in the anti-slavery movement, died
at South Abington, Mass., aged seventy-eight years. He was intimately
associated with Wendell Phillips and Garrison as an abolitionist, and at
one time held the office of president of the anti-slavery society of
Plymouth county. He was among the first to aid and assist Frederick
Douglass. When George Thompson, of England, became identified with the
anti-slavery movement, his intercourse with Mr. Dyer began, and they
worked together in the cause for many years. He had been a prominent
business man of the town and had held several public offices.
On the same day died at his home in Cambridge, Mass., James C. Fisk,
ex-president of the Cambridge Railroad Company. He was born in Cambridge
in 1825, and always lived in that city. He was President of the Fiskdale
Mills, at Sturbridge, Mass. Mr. Fisk was president of the common council
two years, 1858-9.
December 20.--Frederic Kidder died in Melrose, Mass., aged eighty-one
years. He was born in New Ipswich, N. H., and was formerly engaged in
the cotton trade in Boston. He was a member of the New England Historic
Genealogical Society, and published several historical works.
December 22.--Rev. Daniel James Noyes, D. D., Professor Emeritus of
Intellectual and Moral Philosophy and Political Economy at Dartmouth
College, being in term of service next to the senior instructor in that
institution, died at Chester, N. H. He was born in Springfield, Sept.
17, 1812; was fitted for college at Pembroke, and was graduated from
Dartmouth in 1832; after graduation was a tutor at Columbian College at
Washington; was graduated from the Andover Theological Seminary in 1836,
and then for one year was a tutor at Dartmouth. In 1837 he was ordained
to the ministry and installed pastor of the South Congregational Church
in Concord. In 1849 he was dismissed in order to accept the Phillips
Foundation Chair of Theology at Dartmouth, which he filled until 1869,
when he was transferred to the chair which he held at the time of his
death, having been Professor Emeritus since 1883. The University of
Vermont conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1854.
December 29.--Edwin D. Sanborn, LL.D., Winkley Professor Emeritus at
Dartmouth College of Anglo-Saxon and English Language and Literature,
died in New York. He was born at Gilmanton, N. H., May 14, 1808, and was
the son of David Edwin and Harriet (Hook) Sanborn. He was fitted at
Gilmanton Academy, and was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1832. He
gained reputation as a teacher in the academies at Derry and Topsfield,
Mass., and at Gilmanton, being preceptor of the latter. In 1834 he
declined a tutorship at Dartmouth, and at Meredith Bridge began the
study of law, which he abandoned and entered the Andover Theological
Seminary. In 1835 he was a tutor at Hanover; then Professor of Latin and
Greek for two years, and later filled the chair of Latin alone from 1837
to 1859. Then he accepted the place of Professor of Latin and Classical
Literature at Washington University, St. Louis, where he remained four
years. In March, 1863, he returned to Hanover and became Professor of
Rhetoric and Belles Lettres. In 1880 he took the Winkley chair. Since
1882 he had been Professor Emeritus, his failing health preventing him
from performing the duties of that professorship. The deceased was
licensed as a Congregational minister, Nov. 1, 1836. The University of
Vermont in 1859 conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws. For
many years he held most of the justice's courts in Hanover. In 1848 and
'49 he represented the town in the Legislature and was a delegate to the
Constitutional Convention in 1850. In 1869 he was elected to the State
Senate, but declined to serve. The deceased was widely known as an
orator and literateur. In 1875 he published a history of New Hampshire.
The death of Professor Sanborn is not only a great loss to Dartmouth
College, but to the State and country at large.
Jan. 3.--A. S. Roe, author of many popular stories, died in East
Windsor, Conn., aged eighty-seven years.
On the same day Prof. Charles E. Hamlin, of the Harvard Museum of
Natural History, died at Cambridge, Mass., aged sixty years.
Jan. 4.---Zuar Eldridge Jameson, died in Irasburg, Orleans County, Vt.,
aged fifty-one years. He was a well-known writer and lecturer on
agricultural topics, whose initials, with transpositions, as well as
other pseudonyms, are familiar to readers of the agricultural papers,
particularly the New York _Weekly Tribune_, Albany, N. Y., _Country
Gentleman_ and Boston _Cultivator_. He was a member of the lower branch
of the Vermont Legislature in 1878, and of the State Board of
Agriculture in 1870-74, for many years Secretary of the Orleans County
Agricultural Society, and for one or two years lecturer of the Vermont
State Grange, Patrons of Husbandry. Aside from the large amount of
purely agricultural matter written he was a frequent producer of short
sketches of fiction, usually treating of rural life. He was associated
with Dr. T. H. Hoskins in the editing of the old Vermont _Farmer_ (not
the present Vermont _Farmer_) at Newport, which was from a literary
standpoint the most successful of Vermont agricultural journals.
Jan. 5.--Death of Noble H. Hill, senior proprietor of the Boston
Theatre. He was born in Shoreham, Vt., in 1821; received a good
education; came to Boston in 1840; was in active trade till 1867, being
at that time a partner in the firm of Hill, Burrage & Co; in 1876 became
a partner with Orlando Tompkins for conducting the Boston Theatre.
On the same day died Dr. James H. Whittemore, Superintendent of the
Massachusetts General Hospital, aged 47 years.
Jan. 8.--Death of the Hon. Nahum Capen, at Dorchester, Mass., aged
eighty-two years. He was born in Canton in 1804. He came to Boston at
the age of twenty-one, embarked in the publishing business in the firm
of Marsh, Capen & Lyon, and afterward was connected with several of the
leading publishing houses of this city. His tastes were always literary,
and for the past forty years he has devoted himself to literature and
study, except when he held the office of postmaster, 1857 to 1861. He
was appointed postmaster by President Buchanan, and it was during his
term of office that the postoffice was removed from the Merchant's
Exchange building to Summer street at the corner of Chauncy street,
where it remained for about a year and a half. He mapped out the free
delivery system, and was the first postmaster in the country to
establish the outside letter collection boxes. Mr. Capen has written
(most of them anonymously) and has published many books, scientific and
political, and was a very liberal contributor to the newspapers and
magazines. He was a sound thinker and was considered an able writer. His
last work, on which he has been engaged for twenty-five years, is a
history of Democracy. The first volume has been published, and the
remaining three have been written and are ready to be printed, except a
portion of the last.
LITERATURE AND ART.
_History of the Civil War in America.[H]_ The deep and widespread
interest which is being felt in this country in all that relates to the
late war is likely to receive increased stimulus from the appearance of
recent instalments of the translation of the "History" of the Comte de
Paris. The fact that the narrative is written by a foreigner, not so
much for the information of American as of European readers, will in no
way interfere with the profound interest Americans themselves must feel
in what, when finished, will probably be, if not the most impartial yet
the most accurate, comprehensive, complete, and reliable record of that
long, lamentable and costly struggle. The interest in American affairs
which has culminated in the production of this history had been a
long-cherished feeling with the author before he conceived the purpose
which he has so far executed so admirably. For years materials of all
kinds that promised to shed light upon his subject and assist him in his
undertaking had been industriously collected. He enjoyed, besides, the
great advantage of having personally served on the staff of General
McClellan, in this way attaching to himself many friends, who, after his
return to Europe, continued to keep him posted up in all that related to
the movements of the belligerents, and the incidents and aspects of the
conflict. These advantages, together with the count's very thorough
knowledge of military science, justified his attempting a task which, as
it approaches completion, promises to be a splendid success, and which,
so far as it has been carried out, has already received high
commendation from distinguished soldiers and statesmen both in Europe
and America. The work, though voluminous, is sure to find, as it
deserves, many readers. No American professing to be proud of his
country's struggles and achievements can well afford to be ignorant of
its contents. It may be as well to note that the Count fully confides in
the translator's ability to perform his task with care and accuracy.
FOOTNOTES:
[H] Philadelphia: Porter & Coates.
INDEX TO PERIODICAL LITERATURE.
(First numeral refers to foot note and name of periodical.
Second numeral to page. Date of periodical is that of month
preceding this issue of the New England Magazine, unless
otherwise stated.)
AGRICULTURE. Questions in. 6, 18.
ANTHROPOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY. Lo, the Poor Indian. _Geo. F. Marshall._ 3,
206.--Varieties of the Human Species. _Horatio Hale._ Illus. 5,
296.--Natural Heirship, or the World Akin. _Rev. Henry Kendall._ 5,
377.--Race Characteristics of the Jews. 5, 429.--Prehistoric Human
Remains in Mexico. 5, 420.
ART. "Famous Pictures and the Sermons they teach." Crit. art. on
Reynolds' painting of the infant Samuel. _Rev. Robt. Maguire, D. D._ 1,
1.--A French Painter (M. Duran) and his Pupils. 7, 373.--A Broad View of
Art. 7, 474.--The Lesson of Greek Art. _Charles Waldstein._ 7, 397.--Sir
Joshua Reynolds. _Frances C. Sparhawk._
BIOGRAPHY. Tribute to Thomas A. Hendricks. _Hon. J. W. Gerard._ 2,
18.--Bishop Meade of Va. John Washington. James Bridger. 2, 93.--David
Meade of Ky. 2, 94.--John Breckenridge of Va. 2, 97.--B. F. Wade, the
Judge. _Hon. A. G. Riddle._ 3, 235.--Thomas Hoyne, Chicago. 3,
288.--Judge Stephenson Burke, Cleveland, O. 3, 296.--Dr. Wm. Bushnell,
Mansfield, O. 3, 306.--George Whittier Jackson. David Hostetter,
Pittsburg. 3, 258. Frank Buckland (Scientist). 5, 401.--Guiseppi Verdi,
Port. 7, 323-414.--Daniel Webster. _Rogers._ 8, 13.--Richard and
Gamaliel Wayte. _A. T. Lovell._ 8, 48.
BIOLOGY. Questions in. 6, 17.