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 i) 
 
 
 WHY IS HISTORY RE AT) So\ 
 
 LITTLE ? 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 TO- 
 
 (Parents, Teachers, and Members of 
 Fashionable Society, 
 
 BY 
 
 A STUDENT OF HISTORY. 
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 1 Walter F. Wheaton, IS William Street, New Bedford, Mass. 
 
 1876.
 
 WHY IS HISTORY <REA<D SO 
 
 LITTLE ? 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 TO 
 
 (Parents, Teachers, and Members of 
 Fashionable Society, 
 
 BY 
 
 A STUDENT OF HISTORY. 
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 Walter F. Wheaton, 18 William Street, New Bedford, Mass- 
 
 1876.
 
 h 
 
 %t t\\t Jimty, 
 
 Having, for several years, been a reader and 
 student of history and English Literature, I have 
 noticed how few there are around us that read history. 
 In publishing this little pamphlet I am trying to 
 show the reasons for this lack of study and reading, 
 and hope it may draw the attention of parents and 
 teachers to desire more carefully to attend to the in- 
 struction of the young. 
 
 What is contained in this pamphlet was first writ- 
 ten in the form of letters to a friend. A desire was 
 expressed that they should be printed, so I have 
 re-arranged, and now call you attention to them. I 
 do not claim that there is anything very new in them, 
 and do not desire to be called a critic or historian be- 
 cause of them. All the statements I know to be 
 true, many of them I have seen in practice when at 
 school. If any one has any remarks to make upon 
 this pamphlet, either pro or con, they would be very 
 acceptable to 
 
 A STUDENT OF HISTOKY. 
 
 NOTE. — This little pamphlet can be obtained, post-paid, by sending 
 fifteen cents (the cost of printing,) to A Student of Htstory, care of 
 Walter F. Wheaton, Herald Printirjg Honse, New Bedford, Mass. All 
 letters to that address will reach the author of this pamphlet.
 
 FOUR REASONS WHY HISTORY 
 IS RE AT) SO LITTLE. 
 
 On passing through the streets in the evening one 
 can not help noticing the large number of young men, 
 standing on the corners or idly walking about and 
 seeming to have no end or aim in life. These young 
 men are generally satisfied to earn enough to buy 
 food and clothing for to-day and have no thought for 
 to-morrow. They do not care to cultivate their 
 minds or have any more education than what they 
 now have. Their thoughts of work and duty end at 
 six o'clock, and they are content to pass their even- 
 ings in smoking, attending. sensational amusements, 
 loafing and drinking in beer saloons (or in worse 
 places), gossiping, joking, and often gambling in a 
 small way. Most of them could have become intel- 
 lectual students, and though few of them would have 
 made famous scholars yet by their studies could have 
 had a desire for better company, and greater culture, 
 and have had a greater influence in the world. They 
 would have been more respected and perhaps have 
 led some more capable brother or friend to a desire 
 for usefulness. Idleness is surely the "mother of 
 mischief." We scarcely ever see men of great intel- 
 lectual powers in prisons or almshouses. Their 
 studies keep them from vice and wickedness. The 
 number of idle men far exceed the useful and studi- 
 ous, and that number is increasing rapidily. It will 
 increase far more rapidly unless a thirst for wisdom
 
 6 
 
 of some kind, is planted in them. Young men to- 
 day waste money enough to purchase a fine library 
 and obtain a good education. A gentleman in a 
 Boston railroad office, with a moderate salary, has 
 spent his evenings in study, until he has mastered 
 several languages, and is now the possessor of a fine 
 library. Instead of spending his evenings in idle- 
 ness he has been studious, and the money he would 
 have spent in drink and folly he has spent in books. 
 A friend once asked me why more young men did 
 not read and study history, and I gave him these 
 four reasons: — 
 
 I. They are not taught to love it at home, in 
 their childhood. 
 
 II. They are not taught to love it at school. 
 
 III. The popularity of Scientific Studies, for the 
 past few years has usurped the place that belongs to 
 histoid 7 . 
 
 IV. It is not fashionable; that is, it is not en- 
 couraged by modern society. 
 
 Let us look into the matter and see if the above is 
 not true. 
 
 Ask any of these young men what they think of 
 history? and they will answer: "It is a collection 
 of facts, figures, dates and events. It is the dryest 
 reading. It is of no interest to any one except old 
 men and book-worms.'' If some one has tried to 
 drill it into them in years past and has not tried to 
 show them why it is pleasant reading, and has not 
 tried to make it interesting; or, if they themselves 
 have tried to read some Universal history of fifty 
 volumes, they are right in giving such an answer. 
 People, especially the young, should be led to love it.
 
 It can be done easily now, for the old fashioned way 
 of writing history has passed away. 
 
 In speaking of those old style histories, Dr. Samuel 
 A. Greene says: "Most of those entered largely 
 into details. They faithfully recorded every minor 
 conflict and delighted in the description of battles. 
 We are told what the right wing of an army did and 
 what happened to the left. The number of men en- 
 gaged on each side was given, and the number of 
 killed, wounded and captured, were carefully record- 
 ed. All historians delighted in a formidable array of 
 dates." * 
 
 Histories of this day are better. The main and 
 more interesting dates are given. Then, if the reader 
 desires a more full and complete knowledge of the 
 events, he can read separate books upon the subject. 
 
 It is plain to any observer, that this study of his- 
 tory is losing ground, more rapidly than any other 
 study, and something must be done to keep it in its 
 place. It is thought by some that during the next 
 seven years, and more especially the present year, 
 when Centennial celebrations will be held in nearly 
 every city and town, that the study will receive a new 
 impetus. A larger number of lovers of the subject 
 think it will create only a short-lived interest, and 
 the lack of real interest will be greater than before. 
 Tradesmen, manufacturers, professors, and every 
 calling will make money out of it. We saw it at the 
 Bunker Hill Celebration. Most of the books that 
 were printed for the occasion were either parts of 
 
 NOTE.—* " School Histories : and some Errors in Them; " by Samuel 
 A. Greene, M. D. This essay originally appeared in the k ' American Ed- 
 ucational Monthly," June, 1872.
 
 8 
 
 more complete works, old publications issued with 
 new titles, or hastily or poorly written volumes by 
 which author and publisher tried to make a few dol- 
 lars. Mere catch-penny affairs, with miserable il- 
 lustrations, miserable paper and miserable type, 
 whose glowing titles and gaudy covers appealed to 
 the day's patriotism and excitement and stole money 
 from the ignorant purchaser. How great the dearth 
 left behind. 
 
 True love of study and true patriotism must be 
 instilled into the minds of the people when they are 
 young, and because that is not done is the first and 
 main reason why the study of history is rapidly loos- 
 ing "round. Home, the place where the child should 
 be taught and learn all that is good. Not that kind 
 of a home which is merely a domitory and restaurant 
 but a haven of rest, where the members of the fam- 
 ily love to congregate. There the father should not 
 bring his cares and trials — or, at least not show them 
 to the little ones. There the mother should have, or 
 should make, a time in which to instruct those who 
 are to be our future men and women. Home should 
 be the nursery of the young tree which is destined 
 to bear fruit of some kind, the quality and quantity 
 depending almost entirely upon the parents. Teach 
 the young child by story and example what to do and 
 what to he. Be careful, however, not to force its 
 mind in an opposite direction to inclinations, provided 
 that inclination is proper and right. Washington, 
 Stuart Mill, Bulwer, and a host of others have learned 
 from their parents that which has made them great. 
 
 As the child's mind is plastic during his early 
 years, it is easy to create in him a love for historical 
 study. He will listen with wonder and amazement
 
 9 
 
 at fables and mythological stories, and these stories 
 will so impress his mind that he will long remember 
 them, and in after years will desire to know more of 
 the heroes of which he heard in his childhood. No 
 matter how simple, impossible or false, the story, the 
 young listener will often carry it to his grave. But 
 above all do not fill the stories with extremely good 
 or extremely bad children, or have them filled with 
 many religious texts. Neither must they be too 
 simple, but just a step in advance of the hearer, that 
 he may put forth his hand to grasp them. Many a 
 time has a child been quieted when troublesome by a 
 short anecdote. That is the time to teach him. No 
 matter if he has heard the story a hundred times he 
 will learn something new from it. The narrator 
 must tell the story with spirit, and clothe it with his 
 own imagination, putting his own words into the 
 month of the hero. Though Sir Walter Scott had 
 a natural gift for authorship, that gift was enlarged 
 by his surroundings when young. From lying upon 
 the grass at Sandy-Knowe and listening to the stories 
 told him by the shepherd, watching his sheep; and 
 from listening to the legends told him by his grand- 
 mother, he passed through school, the favorite of his 
 schoolmates, the bosom friend of John Irving, who 
 used to sit in Arthur's seat, Salisbury Crags, and 
 there discuss books with him; and from that to 
 Abbotsford, his beautiful home, where he wrote those 
 novels that took the world by storm, and gave him 
 the titles he deserved, — "Ariasto of the North,'' and 
 " The Great Magician." 
 
 The parent may not have this gift of story telling, 
 but it is easy to acquire it, or a part of it, and too 
 there are a great many books, which when read to
 
 10 
 
 the child will answer, in place of the gift. There too, 
 comes in a need of historical knowledge. Sometimes 
 a story like those written by Mr. John Abbott, 01 
 Miss Louisa M. Alcott, will be very well read to the 
 child. Any tale that contains a mixture of goodness 
 and childish mischief — containing more reason and less 
 long talks upon mere morality. Such stories as the 
 boyhood of Lincoln and Putnam; but never the 
 w r oni out and foolish story of Washington and the 
 little hatchet. If good and true historical stories 
 are impressed upon the child's mind in his tender 
 years, and if the stories become deeper and deeper 
 as he advances in years, he can not help learning some- 
 thing of history. And, too, if a love for such stories 
 is instilled into his mind, even if the stories are only 
 datached portions of a nation's history, it seems rea- 
 sonable to say that he will have a desire for a more 
 complete knowledge of it when he is older. If 
 parents do not have such stories on their tongues' 
 end let them learn them. Let them leave some of 
 their trashy reading and study to please their 
 children. 
 
 Parents, stop and think! See what a great re- 
 sponsibility rests upon your shoulders. You are 
 making or marring the future generation. You are 
 making good or bad, wise or ignorant, industrious or 
 idle men and women, who are yet to fill your places, 
 and perform the duties you now perform. Is it not 
 far more noble to be the father of a John Stuart Mill, 
 than to be the richest man in London? Is it not far 
 nearer true womanhood to be the mother of a 
 Washington, than the most fashionable and most fas- 
 cinating woman of New York? 
 
 The second reason why history is so little read is
 
 11 
 
 on account of its not being' taught in a correct man- 
 ner at school. This veiy often is caused by the 
 Educational Boards who try to govern the teacher 
 too much A manual is given the instructor. 80 
 much time is allowed for each study, and so much 
 ground must be gone over in so many weeks. The 
 Board has no knowledge of the pupils to be instruct- 
 ed, while the teacher has; but still they hamper his 
 Work by obliging him to teach as they direct. 
 
 Next in importance to the parents, is the responsi- 
 bility which rests with the teacher. Until the child 
 is far advanced in his studies, a lady teacher is pre- 
 ferable to a gentleman She should be well versed 
 upon all the subjects she teaches, though she cannot 
 be as thorough in half a dozen as the college pro- 
 fessor is in two, yet the pupil does not require as pro- 
 found learning as the student at the university. 
 What the pupil needs is a guide or instructor, who is 
 thoroughly in earnest, and who feels the responsibility 
 resting upon her, and who means icork, whose 
 thought, life and spirit, is with her work. Since the 
 demand for teachers is so large, the places are filled 
 with many who are not fit for the positions they 
 attempt to occupy. It requires as much of a genius 
 to be a good teacher, as it does to paint a picture or 
 plan a campaign. Too many teach simply for a 
 livelihood. They leave all thought of school behind 
 them when they close the school-room door at night. 
 They perform their daily routine as if it were a dis- 
 agreeable duty — the sooner done the better. They 
 keep excellent order — order often as well kept as 
 a jail. They teach nothing. The scholars pass a 
 fair examination, provided they are asked certain 
 questions.
 
 12 
 
 Many teachers do not love the study of histor} 7 , and 
 how can they create a love for it in another? If a 
 child comes to such a person he will never be a 
 student of history unless some outside influence is 
 brought to bear upon him. The teacher's duty is to 
 show to each pupil the use of the study, the pleasure 
 to be derived from it, and make it interesting to him. 
 The pupil who has 'been taught to love it at home, 
 when he enters school may need some assistance to 
 understand the cause of events and the connection 
 between the different epochs, but even if he is left to 
 himself he will find out what he desires. The child 
 who enters school without any knowledge of or love 
 for the study, will never have any desire to know 
 unless the teacher leads him to it. 
 
 Let us see how history is taught in some of the 
 schools. One teacher takes the text book, and marks 
 in brackets just such sentences, or parts of sentences, 
 that will answer the questions at the foot of the 
 page. Then the study becomes question and answer 
 The pupil does not notice or care for, any connection 
 between the answers. Another teacher has the scholar 
 recite the text from memory, word for word, (parrot- 
 like). I know of one teacher who told her scholars 
 there were no need of their reading the foot notes in 
 Lossing's School History. (The foot-notes of that 
 history are very important, and often contain a great 
 deal of superior information) . One lady, with whom I 
 once studied history, had an excellent faculty to make 
 things plain, and impress the lesson upon the student's 
 mind. She did it by reading historical anecdotes, 
 which had a connection with the lesson, and giving the 
 statements of other historians, and reading fuller ac- 
 counts from other books. Then followed familiar
 
 13 
 
 talks between teacher and scholar. I recollect with 
 what interest we restuclied the first chapter of our 
 school history. It was about the Northmen. (See 
 appendix A). But the best way to teach history is 
 by informal lectures, as in college. The teacher can 
 introduce the entire lesson into a talk with the 
 scholars, and also bring in much that he finds in out- 
 side matter. Such stories as Pocahontas savins: 
 Smith's life having been proved to be false, must not 
 be introduced. No story or account, which the pupil 
 in alter years, will see is false, should be introduced. 
 Columbus and the egg, is doubtless true. (See 
 Historical Magazine, new series, vol. Ill, pp. 116). 
 Some school histories contain errors, which the 
 teacher should set right. One of these errors is that 
 Virginia Dare was the first child of foreign parent- 
 age born in America. It was Snorre, son of Gudrid, 
 wife of Thorfin. (See appendix B). 
 
 All this, and more, the teacher should know. He 
 need not say there is a lack of time or money to buy 
 books. He should make time, and when there are 
 so many books to be had without money as there are 
 in our free public libraries, he can get all the in- 
 formation wanted without cost. When the study 
 is conducted in the form of informal talks or 
 lectures, the child can cram for an examination, and 
 in fact, he may know but little of his lesson. 
 This cramming is done in our colleges, and even in 
 our schools by the present way of teaching, when a 
 pupil is drilled for examination. 
 
 Historical works are written for all ages, and 
 though the child may need some assistance in select- 
 ing suitable works, yet if he has been taught to love 
 the study, he will find what he wants himself, and
 
 14 
 
 then become a real student of history. lie will be 
 prepared to listen understandingly to college lectures, 
 and what to many at the present day is dry, dead 
 and uninteresting, will become to him an agreeable, 
 lively and pleasant occupation. 
 
 A third reason why history is so little read, is on 
 account of the present age of scientific discovery. 
 That seems to be the favorite study of many who 
 had no regular desire for study when 3 7 ounger. In 
 colleges and advanced halls of learning, it is rapidly 
 thrusting out literary, classical, sesthetical and his- 
 torical studies. Latin and Greek are considered 
 almost Worthless, and poor history is almost forgotten. 
 It is not so, I believe, in Germany. There time and 
 influence is not taken from one study to assist an- 
 other, but a new or more popular study draws from 
 other sources. It has been proved that nothing so 
 invigorates mental thought or lays as good a founda- 
 tion for knowledge, or is of such value for mental 
 discipline as the study of the classics. Though some 
 argue that it is superfluous, let not that which has 
 been proved by years of use, be pushed into the cor- 
 ner for mere easy and popular studies. 
 
 Since religion and science have joined hands, and 
 since so many books and magazines are published 
 upon the subject, it is not strange that the study of 
 the sciences should become more general. (But all 
 the world should not study the same subject). If it 
 is popular, all who wish to appear learned will get a 
 smattering of it. It is a very fascinating study, as 
 the objects it studies are constantly around u«; yet, 
 that study is not a mere learning of what some one 
 else has proved, or found out— it is observation and 
 examination. History should also be read by ex-
 
 15 
 
 amination and criticism. The reading is not a 
 committing to memory of facts and dates. It is the 
 observation and comparison of events that have led 
 to certain results. Anyone can learn a list of events 
 and dates, but the student must understand the whys 
 and wherefores of epochs and events. lie must 
 see why the seed of our national independence was 
 planted when the Pilgrims signed the compact, on 
 board the Mayflower, in 1(520; how it took root at 
 the Convention held at Albany, in 1754, and grew 
 up to a tree at the signing of the Declaration of 
 Independence, in 177(5. 
 
 Most readers have one or two favorite studies, but 
 there are some who like to have a general knowledge 
 that they may appear well in company, understand 
 the newspapers, and be called learned. The latter 
 are to be pitied. They do not fill any place in 
 society. Their smattering of many kinds of know- 
 ledge may be pleasant to themselves, but their 
 conversation will be little better than "small talk," 
 and they will appear to be so very wise. They will 
 be timid when in company with a thoroughly learned 
 man, and egotistic when with the more ignorant. 
 They are generally mere shallow pretenders. I 
 would not have a person make a hobby of his favorite 
 study or studies, and continually talk upon the one 
 subject. I would have a person understand as 
 thoroughly as possible one or two subjects, then when 
 his time comes, he will be called upon to speak. 
 However, when I see a young man with no real end 
 or aim in his reading, or one who cares for nothing 
 but fiction, [and generally such like only the weakest 
 fiction], I would say find something that you enjoy 
 studying. Create a love for something higher.
 
 16 
 
 We have but one or two eloquent lecturers who 
 make history their subject, and we have no "Popular 
 Historical Monthly," by which a person can create a 
 love for historical research; but we have a large 
 number of popular historical books. [See appendix 
 C]. Genteel society does not demand of its members 
 a knowledge of history. Women, the rulers of this 
 society, do not love it ; and the fashionable beaux, who 
 court their company and study only to please them, 
 will not desire to understand what the rulers do not 
 love. Women's influence is far beyond men's, but in 
 their love for dress and show they use this influence 
 in a wrong direction. If they loved study, men who 
 like their company would learn to love study. No 
 one has any cause to say it is not made plain, or in- 
 teresting, for several writers have devoted their 
 whole attention to making it simple and interesting. 
 They have reduced the great events from ten volumed 
 works to one or two. John S. C. Abbott, in his pre- 
 face to Frederick the Great, says he wrote that book 
 simpty for those who did not have time to read Carlyle's 
 ten volumes. In his Romance of Spanish History 
 he has brought out the principle events of the history 
 of that nation so strongly, and clothed them with 
 such fine descriptions of men, and periods that one 
 cannot close the volume without a desire to read 
 Irving, Prescott, and Robinson. His aim is to tell 
 the truth, after having diligently searched for it, in 
 such a style as to impress it upon the reader's mind, 
 and create in him a desire to read more extended 
 histories. He does not enter into long and extended 
 accounts and discissions which will be tedious to 
 the new reader of history, or tell what he thinks is 
 incorrect, simply to amuse. His works are written
 
 17 
 
 in a style to please the youngest reader. They are 
 upon, French, German, Spanish, Russian and Italian 
 history. He is now at work upon a series of volumes 
 called "American Heroes and Patriots.'' These will 
 be of great interest and service to the young who 
 are now studying American history in our public 
 schools. I myself, know of several young people, 
 who are now reading more extended works, who were 
 led to it, by reading some of his. Francis Park- 
 man, too, is engaged upon a series of American 
 historical works, suitable to children of older years. 
 Geo. W. Curtis says of them — " It is to the pages of 
 Mr. Parkman that we must go for the American 
 Indian. Cooper so* bewitches our young fancies with 
 Uncas and the red heroes, that it is veiy difficult to 
 divest our estimate of the Indian of a false and fool- 
 ish glamour. Mr. Parkman, however, knows him 
 by personal experience and long and thoughtful 
 study." The series being upon the early French 
 discoveries and settlements, will be profitably read 
 by many, and can not fail to please all that read them. 
 Then, too, there are now being published a series of 
 short histories, called " Epochs of History," under 
 the editorship of Edward E. Morris, and others. 
 These little books give clear, concise and truthful 
 pictures of events, some of which have long waited 
 for a historian to render interesting to the young. 
 Every volume has a list of books to read upon the 
 subject it explains. The best of these lists is that 
 arranged for " The French Revolution," by President 
 White, of Cornell University. They are published 
 by Longmans & C6., of London, and Scribner & 
 Armstrong, of New York. 
 
 The popular reading to-day is fiction and Shakes-
 
 18 
 
 peare. There is for too much of the former, and 
 many who read the latter only read it because it is 
 fashionable. Shakespeare Clubs are useless as they 
 are generally conducted. How are they conducted? 
 One club spends half the evening in simply reading 
 a part of a play. Then supper is brought, and the 
 musicians come in. The rest of the evening is spent 
 in cards and dancing. Another club reads a play 
 through each evening. The different characters 
 being read by the different members. No questions 
 are asked, no study or preparation made, no comments 
 or opinions, no criticisms of text, characters or plots. 
 But little, if any, good can come from such reading. 
 Thought, study and work must be given to obtain a 
 knowledge of Shakespeare. The members of the 
 class must study before they meet to read. There 
 the members should discuss the poet's historical ac- 
 curacy, the mistakes and incorrections be pointed 
 out, the meaning of the text explained, and the whole 
 read with spirit and feeling. Then the time spent is 
 not thrown away. Then the study helps to amuse 
 and instruct the student, whether he be a student of 
 other subjects, or not. 
 
 Members of fashionable society sometimes read 
 Historical Fiction, but is most cases that is not read 
 correctly. Historical fiction, has its use, though too 
 often it is read wrongly. It should not be read for 
 its plot, but for the information it contains. It should 
 be used as an illustration to regular historical works 
 — the picture, not the text: the map, not the country. 
 Its place is to show the manners and customs of the 
 people, how they lived and acted in their homes and 
 private lives. It can fasten many historic truths and 
 give a better idea of the people than th< regular
 
 19 
 
 Encyclopaedia accounts. All the descriptions should 
 be true, and every part of history that is brought in 
 should be correct. A little plot, which should be 
 drawn from truth, an anecdote or interesting fact 
 should be introduced, but the author should be ex- 
 tremely careful that all he says is correct. The 
 truth and falsehood of a statement should be well 
 weighed in the balance, and the author should give, in 
 an appendix or in notes, the sources from which he 
 drew his information. Of this class, Scott stands 
 first; but even he has failed in some respects. 
 "Ivanhoe" illustrates the days of Chivalry, and 
 " The Talisman," the days of the Crusades. But 
 when it introduces Shakespeare in Kennelworth, he 
 is at fault. (See appendix D). Mundt (L. Muel- 
 bach), is too sensational, sometimes, but she gives 
 well drawn pictures of the French Revolution, and 
 German History. Thackery, though not what could 
 be called a regular historical novelist, has drawn a 
 fine picture of Queen Anne's reign, in Henry Esmand. 
 Shakespeare is incorrect in historical information 
 in King John and Macbeth. But in Richard III, he 
 has kept within history, and still gives us a better 
 idea of that hero than can be found in any history. 
 (See appendix D). 
 
 The fiction of past da}^s which has come down to 
 us gives us the best idea of the people of the time 
 in which they were written. This is seen in dancer's 
 w r orks. One who reads historical fiction for mere 
 amusement and plot, will generally find it dry, but 
 one who reads it for instruction will often find it a 
 great assistance. 
 
 The conversation and reading of this fashionable 
 society is made up of nonsense and "small talk," and
 
 20 
 
 the gossip. The student can find nothing there to 
 enrich his mind, so he returns to his study and his 
 book. Thus he looses the benefit and enjoyment, 
 which might be derived from the thought and con- 
 versation of those around him. Our public men and 
 statesmen often show a want of historical knowledge 
 in their work, and hence comes many of their blun- 
 ders and mistakes, for only by a study of the past 
 can we govern the present. 
 
 Until home, school, and society encourage the 
 study, and until some force is brought forward to 
 counteract the rage for scientific study, we cannot 
 expect the young men around us, and those who are 
 soon to be young men, will become students of his- 
 tory. Where are the young men who are to fill the 
 places of these older men, who are now searching in 
 ancient books and dusty papers to bring truth out? 
 They are in our homes and in our schools. Let 
 every one who has, or can have, any influence over 
 them, use it rightly.
 
 £SGG*r = Si&*:£*§±*ZaS* = 5*£* = £%£±i 
 
 A ( P ( PEJJ4)IX. 
 
 -&?^^*r ^5%$=**$&i
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 To this recitation the scholars brought all the in- 
 formation they could glean from other books, and 
 also brought several books. Among these books 
 were the "Northmen in New England," by J. T. 
 Smith; and "Pre-Columbian Discovery,"' by Rev. 
 B. DeCosta. The latter interested the scholars very 
 much. That would be a very servicable book for 
 teachers of American history. Mr. DeCosta has 
 long been a student of the early discovery of 
 America, and has spent much time, strength and 
 money upon the subject. His opinion is often op- 
 posite to more celebrated historians, but is always 
 considered correct by the most learned historical 
 students. The Historical Magazine says of him, 
 (new series, vol. III. pp. J85), "The historical world 
 has found another writer who desires to read for him- 
 self, to think for himself, and to speak for himself; 
 and, although he must expect to meet little favor 
 from those on whose ancestral or partisan corns he 
 will tread in his fearless combat for the truth, he 
 will earn the respect of every one, where respect is 
 worth anything besides the approval of his own con- 
 science and the lasting regard of the wide world of 
 letters." Mr. DeCosta has not only spent much 
 time upon Icelandic voyagers, and written Several 
 able books and pamphlets upon the subject: but has 
 also published several historical papers upon other 
 subjects.
 
 24 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 "The first child bora here of foreign parentage 
 was Snorre, son of Guclrid, the wife of Thorfin, one 
 of the Icelandic navigators. The child attained to 
 manhood: and his grandson, Thorlak was advanced 
 to the Episcopate, and compiled a code of ecclesias- 
 tical laws for the Church in Iceland. The learned 
 Icelander, Prof. Finn Magnusson and Thorwaldson 
 the sculptor, were among the desendants of Snorre. 
 No person who is aware of the amount of attention 
 paid to genealogy by the Icelander will entertain a 
 doubt on the subject. This child was born, it is 
 thought, near Mount Hope." See " Footprints of 
 Miles Standish," by Kev. B. F. DeCosta. 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 In 1872 a very interesting monthly was published 
 in Philadelphia under the editorship of Dr. Benson 
 J. Lossing. It was devoted to American history, 
 had some fine illustrations, and was printed with 
 good type and on good paper. It deserved to be well 
 received by the scholars of America. After being 
 published three years, it was changed into the pre- 
 sent Potter's American Monthly, on account of its 
 not being a financial success. Being devoted en- 
 tirely to historical research and being written in a 
 style to please every age, it should have been better 
 received. The magazine did not support itself. As 
 it is published now it is devoted partly to history but 
 more to fiction and other studies. 
 
 " The New England Genealogical and Historical 
 Register," has now reached its thirtieth volume. 
 In this the student can find very much instruction
 
 25 
 
 md many papers of great interest, showing great 
 •eseareh and labor but this has only kept itself alive 
 >y the free contributions of such men as John Ward 
 Dean, Samuel G. Drake, and Com. Geo. Henry 
 Preble. These gentlemen, and a host of others no 
 less able and noted, have filled its pages with articles 
 of value, given their time to it, simply out of love 
 for the study of history and a desire to spread knowl- 
 edge. Great praise is due them for their unselfish 
 work, and though only a part of this generation 
 values or is aware of their labor, yet we all hope the 
 next generation will be aware of it. Let all interested 
 in the work show their interest by sending a sub- 
 scription, at once, to 18 Somerset St., Boston, Mass. 
 There is also published at Morrisaina, New York, 
 another Historical Magazine, owned and edited by 
 Mr. Henry B. Dawson. This is a monthly. The 
 proprietor has spent much money upon it, and the 
 periodical does not pay for itself. Its articles are 
 from the pens of some of oar ablest historical 
 writers, wdio assist Mr. Dawson in his great under- 
 taking. Material which would not otherwise be 
 printed, appears in its columns, and it is constantly 
 used by historians, for the value, depth, research, and 
 information, contained in its pages. The studious- 
 portion of our people should subscribe to it at once, 
 and those who desire to help education should assist 
 the learned and self-sacrificing proprietor in his work, 
 of saving what is valuable to the student and spread- 
 ing it out to the world. 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 Dr. R. Shelton Mackenzie, in his " Life of Sir
 
 26 
 
 "Walter Scott," published by J. R. Osgood & Co., of 
 Boston, says — "It has been said the 'Great Homer 
 sometimes nods,' and therefore perhaps Scott may be 
 excused for some palpable mistakes he made in 'KeniJ- 
 worth,' — in quoting from Shakespeare which were not 
 written at the stated date of the story. Elizabeth paid 
 the visit to Lord Leicester in Kenilworth Castle, so 
 well described by Scott, in July, 1575; and at that 
 date we have Way land Smith 'singing a stave from a 
 comedy which was then new, and was supposed, 
 among the more favorable judges to augur some 
 genius on the part of the author.' The quotation, a 
 couplet put into the mouth of Caliban, occurs in 
 "The Tempest," which was not acted until 1611. 
 Queen Elizabeth quotes from 'Troilus and Cressida,' 
 written two years earlier. Walter Raleigh quotes 
 the beautiful compliment to the maiden queen, the 
 1 Fair vestal throned by the west,' uttered by Oberon, 
 in 'A Midsummer-Night's Dream,' not written until 
 1598, thirty years later! There seldom has been a 
 greater anachronism than this, especially as, when 
 Elizabeth was at Kenilworth, Shakespeare, born in 
 1564, was only eleven years old." 
 
 This "Life of Scott," by Dr. Mackenzie, contains 
 very much that is not in Lockhart's more ex- 
 tended biography, and will be of great assistance 
 to any one reading Scott's novels. It gives in 
 many places the sources from which the novelist 
 drew his .information, little criticisms upon the 
 novels and characters in them, and a pleasing 
 account of his life, the influence that made him 
 what he was, and interesting accounts of his 
 friends, his work, and the society in which he 
 moved. It- is just the book for one with only
 
 27 
 
 a little time to read, but who desires to learn 
 much in that little time. 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 Hiram Corson, M. A., Professor of Anglo-Saxon 
 and English Literature in the Cornell University, 
 said, in an address upon " The Claims of Literary 
 Culture," among many other good things the follow- 
 ing: — " Take any one of the great characters of 
 Shakespeare, and it will be found that the poet, by 
 the subtle and, to some extent, unsearchable, alchemy 
 of his imagination, has worked into new forms, 
 ordinary elements of humanity, and that the boldest 
 of his creations serve but to exhibit the essential 
 principles of our common nature. In the character 
 of Richard III., he has moulded into a consistant 
 individuality, 'the hero, the lover, the statesman, the 
 buffoon, the hypocrite, the hardened and repentant 
 sinner.' "
 
 
 
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