Dr. HOSMER: Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen:
We meet here in the midst of beautiful surroundings, but with
considerable discomfort. Perhaps we hardly make it real to ourselves
that this is in our country a time of calamity. Never in the course of a
somewhat long experience, can I remember so many fatalities from the
terrible heat of the summer. The newspapers have come to us from day to
day with the list of victims from the great cities, and this morning
comes in intelligence of a death which touches us librarians very
closely--the death of John Fiske. He died yesterday at Gloucester,
Mass., overcome by the heat; and I think it entirely right to say that
in the death of John Fiske comes the extinction of the greatest force in
American literature at the present moment. John Fiske, while not a
member of our association, was at one time a librarian; he had a great
interest in the Association; he was the personal friend of many of its
members. It is perhaps quite right to say that no author at the present
time is so frequently in the mouths and in the hands of the librarians.
It has been thought fitting by the executive committee that we should
make an exception in his case, and that there should be some formal
mention of his passing. I regret very much that the time is so brief.
What I have to say must be unconsidered.
In several directions, John Fiske was a great writer. First as regards
the doctrine of evolution, the great idea which has come to the world in
our day. What a great and solemn thing it is! The slow process through
the lapse of ages from the monad to that which crawls, then to that
which swims, then to that which flies, until we come at last to that
which walks erect with brow expanded broadly to the light of heaven; the
slow increment of intelligence in the brain, as species becomes merged
in constantly higher species; the extension of infancy, with its
beautiful sequence of humanity, of love, of spirituality. This has come
to be accepted by scientific minds as the path which the divine energy
chooses to follow in the work of creation. Now, among our American
writers, I suppose there is no one who has had so much to do with the
development of the doctrine of evolution as John Fiske. He was the
intimate friend and counsellor of Darwin, of Huxley, of Herbert Spencer,
of Tyndall. They recognized in him their peer, and if it is the
case--and I believe it to be the case--that John Fiske contributed to
the doctrine of evolution the idea of the "extension of infancy" as
being the cause of what is most gentle and lovely in humanity he
deserves to be named with the first of those who have been connected
with that great theory.
In the second place as a historian, this wonderfully versatile man
stands among the very first of the country. As a historian, John Fiske
is not to be spoken of without discrimination. He had his limitations. I
do not think that he had the power of picturesque description to the
extent that Motley or Prescott possessed it. I do not think that he had
the power of indefatigable research to the extent that it was possessed
by our honored fellow-member, Justin Winsor. I do not think that he had
the faculty of character-drawing as it was possessed for instance by the
great historian, Clarendon, of the seventeenth century. But John Fiske
had his gift, and it was a remarkable one. Taking a chaotic mass of
facts, I know of no other American writer who had such genius to go in
among them, to discern the vital links that connected one with another,
to get order and system out of it, and then to present the result with a
lucidity and a beauty which carried captive every reader. That was his
faculty, as a historian; and he possessed it to such an extent and he
used it in such a way that he is entitled to a place among our greatest
historians.
Nor are these the only claims to distinction of this great man who has
gone. As a religious leader, John Fiske is one of the foremost men of
the time. His "Destiny of man," his "Idea of God," his latest noble
address on the immortality of the soul, not yet published, are priceless
writings, and men and women among the very best and brightest find in
these books the best expression and guidance for their religious
feelings.
Every one here has had opportunity, abundant opportunity, to know the
greatness of John Fiske's mind. Few here, perhaps no other one, has had
such opportunity as I have had to know the warmth and the generosity of
his heart. For ten years in the Washington University, at St. Louis, we
were colleagues; for 35 years we have been friends, and as I stand here
before you to speak of him, my emotions fairly overcome me and I can do
nothing but take my seat; but it is appropriate that in the American
Library Association there should be some recognition taken of the
passing from the midst of us of this great and noble figure.
Pres. CARR: After these fitting and touching words, we can hardly have
it in our hearts to transact any further business this session, and
therefore, if there is no objection, we will proceed to take an
adjournment.
Mr. CRUNDEN: I think a fitting action, on the suggestion of Dr. Hosmer,
would be the appointment of a committee, with Dr. Hosmer as chairman, to
draw up memorial resolutions. I make a motion to that effect.
The motion was adopted, and a committee was appointed, of J. K. Hosmer,
George Iles, and R. G. Thwaites.
Adjourned 12 m.
_THIRD SESSION._
(FOUNTAIN SPRING HOUSE, SATURDAY MORNING, JULY 6.)
The meeting was called to order by President CARR at 10.20.