Chapter III: Introduction (1)

“THE ink of a Nation’s Scholars is more sacred than the blood of its martyrs,”――declares Mohammed. It is with this sentence in mind, and a desire to impress upon our fellow countrymen the excellence, scope and volume of American literature, and the dignity and personality of American authorship, that this work has been prepared and is now offered to the public.

The volume is distinctly American, and, as such it naturally appeals to the patriotism of Americans. Every selection which it contains was written by an American. Its perusal, we feel confident, will both entertain the reader and quicken the pride of every lover of his country in the accomplishments of her authors.

European nations had already the best of their literature before ours began. It is less than three hundred years since the landing of the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock, and the planting of a colony at Jamestown, marked the first permanent settlements on these shores. Two hundred years were almost entirely consumed in the foundation work of exploring the country, settling new colonies, in conflicts with the Indians, and in contentions with the mother country. Finally――after two centuries――open war with England served the purpose of bringing the jealous colonists together, throwing off our allegiance to Europe, and, under an independent constitution, of introducing the united colonists――now the _United States of America_――into the sisterhood of nations.

Thus, it was not until the twilight of the eighteenth century that we had an organized nationality, and it was not until the dawn of the nineteenth that we began to have a literature. Prior to this we looked abroad for everything except the products of our soil. Neither manufacturing nor literature sought to raise its head among us. The former was largely prohibited by our generous mother, who wanted to make our clothes and furnish us with all manufactured articles; literature was frowned upon with the old interrogation, “Who reads an American book?” But simultaneously with the advent of liberty upon our shores was born the spirit of progress――at once enthroned and established as the guardian saint of American energy and enterprise. She touched the mechanic and the hum of his machinery was heard and the smoke of his factory arose as an incense to her, while our exhaustless stores of raw materials were transformed into things of use and beauty; she touched the merchant and the wings of commerce were spread over our seas; she touched the scholar and the few institutions of learning along the Atlantic seaboard took on new life and colleges and universities multiplied and followed rapidly the course of civilization across the mountains and plains of the West.

But the spirit of progress did not stop here. Long before that time Dr. Johnson had declared, “The chief glory of every people arises from its authors,” and our people had begun to realize the force of the truth, which Carlyle afterwards expressed, that “A country which has no national literature, or a literature too insignificant to force its way abroad, must always be to its neighbors, at least in every important spiritual respect, an unknown and unesteemed country.” The infant nation had now begun its independent history. Should it also have an independent literature; and if so, what were the bases for it? The few writers who had dared to venture into print had dealt with European themes, and laid their scenes and published their books in foreign lands. What had America, to inspire their genius?

The answer to this question was of vital importance. Upon it depended our destiny in literature. It came clear and strong. To go elsewhere were to imitate the discontented and foolish farmer who became possessed of a passion for hunting diamonds, and, selling his farm for a song, spent his days in wandering over the earth in search of them. The man who bought this farm found diamonds in the yard around the house, and developed that farm into _the famous Golconda mines_. The poor man who wandered away had acres of diamonds at home. They were his if he had but been wise enough to gather them.

So was America a rich field for her authors. Nature nowhere else offered such inspiration to the poet, the descriptive and the scientific writer as was found in America. Its mountains were the grandest; its plains the broadest; its rivers the longest; its lakes were inland seas; its water-falls were the most sublime; its caves were the largest and most wonderful in the world; its forests bore every variety of vegetable life and stretched themselves from ocean to ocean; it had a soil and a climate diversified and varied beyond that of any other nation; birds sang for us whose notes were heard on no other shores; we had a fauna and a flora of our own. For the historian there was the aboriginal red man, with his unwritten past preserved only in tradition awaiting the pen of the faithful chronicler; the Colonial period was a study fraught with American life and tradition and no foreigner could gather its true story from the musty tomes of a European library; the Revolutionary period must be recorded by an American historian. For the novelist and the sketch writer our magnificent land had a rich legendary lore, and a peculiarity of manners and customs possessed by no other continent. The story of its frontier, with a peculiar type of life found nowhere else, was all its own.

It was to this magnificent prospect, with its inspiring possibilities that Progress,――the first child of liberty――stood and pointed as she awoke the slumbering genius of independent American Authorship, and, placing the pen in her hand bade her write what she would. Thus the youngest aspirant in literature stood forth with the freest hand, in a country with its treasures of the past unused, and a prospective view of the most magnificent future of the nations of earth.

What a field for literature! What an opportunity it offered! How well it has been occupied, how attractive the personality, how high the aims, and how admirable the methods of those who have done so, it is the province of this volume to demonstrate. With this end in view, the volume has been prepared. It has been inspired by a patriotic pride in the wonderful achievement of our men and women in literature, in making America, at the beginning of her second century as a nation, the fair and powerful rival of England and Continental Europe in the field of letters.

Wonderful have been the achievements of Americans as inventors, mechanics, merchants――indeed, in every field in which they have contended――but we are prepared to agree with Dr. Johnson that “The chief glory of a nation is its authors;” and, with Carlyle, that they entitle us to our greatest respect among other nations. The reading of the biographies and extracts herein contained should impress the reader with the debt of gratitude we as a people owe to those illustrious men and women, who, while wreathing their own brows with chaplets of fame, have written the name, “_America_,” high up on the literary roll of honor among the greatest nations of the world.

Illustration: THE POETS OF NEW ENGLAND

THE DISTINCTIVE PURPOSE AND PLAN OF THIS VOLUME.

THIS work has been designed and prepared with a view to presenting an outline of American literature in such a manner as to stimulate a love for good reading and especially to encourage the study of the lives and writings of our American authors. The plan of this work is unique and original, and possesses certain helpful and interesting features, which――so far as we are aware――have been contemplated by no other single volume.

The first and main purpose of the work is to present to our American homes a mass of wholesome, varied and well-selected reading matter. In this respect it is substantially a volume for the family. America is pre-eminently a country of homes. These homes are the schools of citizenship, and――next to the Bible, which is the foundation of our morals and laws――we need those books which at once entertain and instruct, and, at the same time, stimulate patriotism and pride for our native land.

This book seeks to meet this demand. Four-fifths of our space is devoted exclusively to American literature. Nearly all other volumes of selections are made up chiefly from foreign authors. The reason for this is obvious. Foreign publications until within the last few years have been free of copyright restrictions. Anything might be chosen and copied from them while American authors were protected by law from such outrages. Consequently, American material under forty-two years of age could not be used without the consent of the owner of the copyright. The expense and the difficulty of obtaining these permissions were too great to warrant compilers and publishers in using American material. The constantly growing demand, however, for a work of this class has encouraged the publishers of this volume to undertake the task. The publishers of the works from which these selections are made and many living authors represented have been corresponded with, and it is only through the joint courtesy and co-operation of these many publishers and authors that the production of this volume has been made possible. Due acknowledgment will be found elsewhere. In a number of instances the selections have been made by the authors themselves, who have also rendered other valuable assistance in supplying data and photographs.

The second distinctive point of merit in the plan of the work is the _biographical feature_, which gives the story of each author’s life separately, treating them both personally and as writers. Longfellow remarked in “Hyperion”――“If you once understand the character of an author the comprehension of his writings becomes easy.” He might have gone further and stated that when we have once read the life of an author his writings become the more interesting. Goethe assures us that “Every author portrays himself in his works even though it be against his will.” The patriarch in the Scriptures had the same thought in his mind when he exclaimed “Oh! that mine enemy had written a book.” Human nature remains the same. Any book takes on a new phase of value and interest to us the moment we know the story of the writer, whether we agree with his statements and theories or not. These biographical sketches, which in every case are placed immediately before the selections from an author, give, in addition to the story of his life, a list of the principal books he has written, and the dates of publication, together with comments on his literary style and in many instances reviews of his best known works. This, with the selections which follow, established that necessary bond of sympathy and relationship which should exist in the mind of the reader between every author and his writings. Furthermore, under this arrangement the biography of each author and the selections from his works compose a complete and independent chapter in the volume, so that the writer may be taken up and studied or read alone, or in connection with others in the particular class to which he belongs.

This brings us to the third point of _classification_. Other volumes of selections――where they have been classified at all――have usually placed selections of similar character together under the various heads of Narrative and Descriptive, Moral and Religious, Historical, etc. On the contrary, it has appeared to us the better plan in the construction of this volume to classify the authors, rather than, by dividing their selections, scatter the children of one parent in many different quarters. There has been no small difficulty in doing this in the cases of some of our versatile writers. Emerson, for instance, with his poetry, philosophy and essays, and Holmes, with his wit and humor, his essays, his novels and his poetry. Where should they be placed? Summing them up, we find their writings――whether written in stanzas of metred lines or all the way across the page, and whether they talked philosophy or indulged in humor――were predominated by the spirit of poetry. Therefore, with their varied brood, Emerson and Holmes were taken off to the “Poet’s Corner,” which is made all the richer and more enjoyable by the variety of their gems of prose. Hence our classifications and groupings are as _Poets_, _Novelists_, _Historians_, _Journalists_, _Humorists_, _Essayists_, _Critics_, _Orators_, etc., placing each author in the department to which he most belongs, enabling the reader to read and compare him in his best element with others of the same class.

_Part I., “Great Poets of America,”_ comprises twenty of our most famous and popular writers of verse. The work necessarily begins with that immortal “Seven Stars” of poesy in the galaxy of our literary heavens――Bryant, Poe, Longfellow, Emerson, Whittier, Holmes and Lowell. Succeeding these are those of lesser magnitude, many of whom are still living and some who have won fame in other fields of literature which divides honors with their poetry. Among these are Bayard Taylor, the noted traveler and poet; N. P. Willis, the most accomplished magazinist of his day; R. H. Stoddard, the critic; Walt Whitman; Maurice Thompson, the scientist; Thomas Bailey Aldrich and Richard Watson Gilder, editors, and Colonel John Hay, politician and statesman. The list closes with that notable group of well-known Western poets, James Whitcomb Riley, Bret Harte, Eugene Field, Will Carleton, and Joaquin Miller.

The remaining nine parts of the book treat in similar manner about seventy-five additional authors, embracing noted novelists, representative women poets of America; essayists, critics and sketch writers; great American historians and biographers; our national humorists; popular writers for young people; noted journalists and magazine contributors; great orators and popular lecturers. Thus, it will be seen that in this volume the whole field of American letters has been gleaned to make the work the best and most representative of our literature possible within the scope of a single volume.

In making a list of authors in whom the public were sufficiently interested to entitle them to a place in a work like this, naturally they were found to be entirely too numerous to be all included in one book. The absence of many good names from the volume is, therefore, explained by the fact that the editor has been driven to the necessity of selecting, first, those whom he deemed pre-eminently prominent, and, after that, making room for those who best represent a certain class or particular phase of our literature.

To those authors who have so kindly responded to our requests for courtesies, and whose names do not appear, the above explanation is offered. The omission was imperative in order that those treated might be allowed sufficient space to make the work as complete and representative as might be reasonably expected.

Special attention has been given to _illustrations_. We have inserted portraits of all the authors whose photographs we could obtain, and have, also, given views of the homes and studies of many. A large number of special drawings have also been made to illustrate the text of selections. The whole number of portraits and other illustrations amount to nearly one hundred and fifty, all of which are strictly illustrative of the authors or their writings. None are put in as mere ornaments. We have, furthermore, taken particular care to arrange a number of special groups, placing those authors which belong in one class or division of a class together on a page. One group on a page represents our greatest poets; another, well-known western poets; another, famous historians; another, writers for young people; another, American humorists, etc. These groups are all arranged by artists in various designs of ornamental setting. In many cases we have also had special designs made by artists for commemorative and historic pictures of famous authors. These drawings set forth in a pictorial form leading scenes in the life and labors of the author represented.

Illustration: THE NEW CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY, WASHINGTON, D. C.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.
⭘ An Author at Fourteen
⭘ The Influence of his Father
⭘ Bryant’s Best Known Poems
⭘ Personal Appearance
⭘ A Long and Useful Life
⭘ ‘Thanatopsis’
⭘ ‘Waiting By the Gate
⭘ ‘Blessed are They That Mourn’
⭘ ‘Antiquity of Freedom’
⭘ ‘To a Water Fowl’
⭘ ‘Robert of Lincoln’
⭘ ‘Drought’
⭘ ‘The Past’
⭘ ‘The Murdered Traveler’
⭘ ‘The Battle-Field’
⭘ ‘The Crowded Street’
⭘ ‘Fitz Greene Halleck (Notice of)’
⭘ ‘A Corn-Shucking in South Carolina’

EDGAR ALLEN POE.
⭘ Comparison with Other American Poets
⭘ Place of Birth and Ancestry
⭘ Career as a Student
⭘ The Sadness of his Life and Its Influence Upon his Literature
⭘ Conflicting Statements of his Biographers
⭘ Great as a Story Writer and as a Poet
⭘ His Literary Labors and Productions
⭘ ‘The City in the Sea’
⭘ ‘Annabel Lee’
⭘ ‘To Helen’
⭘ ‘Israfel’
⭘ ‘To One in Paradise’
⭘ ‘Lenore’
⭘ ‘The Bells’
⭘ ‘The Raven’

HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.
⭘ His Place in Literature
⭘ Comparison With American and English Poets
⭘ His Education, Collegemates and Home
⭘ His Domestic Life. His Poems
⭘ Prose Works and Translations
⭘ The Wayside Inn (A view of)
⭘ His Critics, Poe, Margaret Fuller, ♦Duyckinck

♦ ‘Duyckink’ replaced with ‘Duyckinck’

⭘ Longfellow’s Genius
⭘ ‘The Psalm of Life’
⭘ ‘The Village Blacksmith’
⭘ ‘The Bridge’
⭘ ‘Resignation’
⭘ ‘God’s Acre’
⭘ ‘Excelsior’
⭘ ‘The Rainy Day’
⭘ ‘The Wreck of the Hesperus’
⭘ ‘The Old Clock On the Stairs’
⭘ ‘The Skeleton in Armour’
⭘ ‘King Witlaf’s Drinking Horn’
⭘ ‘Evangeline On the Prairie’
⭘ ‘Literary Fame (Prose)’

RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
⭘ The Difficulty of Classifying Emerson
⭘ The Liberator of American Letters
⭘ A Master of Language
⭘ Emerson and Franklin
⭘ Birth, Education, Early Life
⭘ Home at Concord, Brook-Farm Enterprise
⭘ Influence on Other Writers
⭘ Modern Communism and the New Theology
⭘ ‘Hymn Sung at the Completion of the Concord Monument (1836)’
⭘ ‘The Rhodora’
⭘ ‘A True Hero’
⭘ ‘Mountain and Squirrel’
⭘ ‘The Snow-Storm’
⭘ ‘The Problem’
⭘ ‘Traveling’
⭘ ‘The Compensation of Calamity’
⭘ ‘Self Reliance’
⭘ ‘Nature’

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.
⭘ Whittier’s Humble Birth, Ancestry, Education
⭘ Poet of the Abolitionists
⭘ His Poems and His Prose
⭘ New England’s History Embalmed in Verse
⭘ Our Most Distinctively American Poet
⭘ ‘My Playmate’
⭘ ‘The Changeling’
⭘ ‘The ♦Worship of Nature’

♦ ‘Workskip’ replaced with ‘Worship’

⭘ ‘The Bare-foot Boy’
⭘ ‘Maud Muller’
⭘ ‘Memories’
⭘ ‘In Prison For Debt’
⭘ ‘The Storm’ (From ‘Snow Bound’)
⭘ ‘Ichabod’

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
⭘ Admired by the English-speaking World
⭘ His Education and Popularity
⭘ Early Poems
⭘ Autocrat and Professor at the Breakfast Table
⭘ Holmes’ Genial and Lovable Nature
⭘ ‘Bill and Joe’
⭘ ‘Union and Liberty’
⭘ ‘Old Ironsides’
⭘ ‘My Aunt’
⭘ ‘The Height of the Ridiculous’
⭘ ‘The Chambered Nautilus’
⭘ ‘Old Age and the Professor’ (Prose)
⭘ ‘The Brain’ (Prose)
⭘ ‘My Last Walk with the School Mistress’
⭘ ‘A Random Conversation on Old Maxims, Boston and other Towns’

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
⭘ Profoundest of American Poets
⭘ Early Life and Beginning in Literature
⭘ Marriage, and the Influence of his Wife
⭘ Home at Cambridge (view of)
⭘ Humorous Poems and Prose Writings
⭘ Longfellow’s Poem on Mrs. Lowell’s Death
⭘ Public Career of the Author
⭘ How Lowell is Regarded by Scholars
⭘ ‘The Gothic Genius’ (From ‘The Cathedral’)
⭘ ‘The Rose’
⭘ ‘The Heritage’
⭘ ‘Act For Truth’
⭘ ‘The First Snow-Fall’
⭘ ‘Fourth-of-July Ode’
⭘ ‘The Dandelion’
⭘ ‘The Alpine Sheep’ (by Mrs. Lowell)

BAYARD TAYLOR.
⭘ Life as a Farmer Boy
⭘ Education
⭘ His First Book
⭘ Encouragement from Horace Greeley
⭘ A Two Years’ Tramp Through Europe
⭘ A Most Delightful Book of Travel
⭘ An Inveterate Nomad
⭘ Public Career of the Author
⭘ ‘The Bison Track’
⭘ ‘The Song of the Camp’
⭘ ‘Bedouin Song’
⭘ ‘The Arab to the Palm’
⭘ ‘Life on the Nile’

NATHANIEL P. WILLIS.
⭘ A Devotee of Fashion
⭘ Birth and Ancestors
⭘ Educational Facilities
⭘ His First Poems
⭘ A Four Years’ Tour in Europe
⭘ Marriage and Home
⭘ A Second Journey to England
⭘ Death
⭘ An Untiring Worker
⭘ ‘David’s Lament for Absalom’
⭘ ‘The Dying Alchemist’
⭘ ‘The Belfry Pigeon’

RICHARD HENRY STODDARD.
⭘ His Humble Origin and Early Struggles
⭘ Introduction into Literature
⭘ Stoddard’s Style
⭘ Literary Dinner in His Honor (1892)
⭘ Ik Marvel’s Letter and Whitcomb Riley’s Poem
⭘ ‘A Curtain Call’
⭘ ‘Hymn to the Beautiful’
⭘ ‘A Dirge’
⭘ ‘The Shadow of the Hand’
⭘ ‘A Serenade’

WALTER WHITMAN (WALT).
⭘ The Estimates of Critics
⭘ Charms of Whitman’s Poetry
⭘ Life and Works of the Poet
⭘ Biographies of the Poet
⭘ ‘Darest Thou Now, O Soul’
⭘ ‘O Captain! My Captain’
⭘ ‘In All, Myself’
⭘ ‘Old Ireland’
⭘ ‘Pæan of Joy’

JAMES MAURICE THOMPSON.
⭘ Birth and Early Life
⭘ A Thorough Southerner
⭘ Man of Letters and Scientist
⭘ Chief of the State Geological Survey
⭘ Works of the Author
⭘ ‘Ceres’
⭘ ‘Diana’

THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH.
⭘ At the Head of Modern Lyrical Writers
⭘ Birth and Early Life
⭘ Mercantile Career
⭘ War Correspondent
⭘ Life in Boston
⭘ Works
⭘ Visit to England
⭘ ‘Alec Yeaton’s Son’
⭘ ‘On Lynn Terrace’
⭘ ‘Sargent’s Portrait of Edwin Booth at “The Players.”’

RICHARD WATSON GILDER.
⭘ Purity of Sentiment and Delicacy of Expression
⭘ Education and Early Life
⭘ Journalist
⭘ Editor of “Hours at Home”
⭘ Politician and Reformer
⭘ A Staunch Friend of our Colleges
⭘ A Man of Exalted Ideals
⭘ ‘Sonnet (After the Italian)’
⭘ ‘The Life Mask of Abraham Lincoln’
⭘ ‘Sheridan’
⭘ ‘Sunset From the Train’
⭘ ‘O Silver River Flowing to the Sea’
⭘ ‘There is Nothing New Under the Sun’
⭘ ‘Memorial Day’
⭘ ‘A Woman’s Thought’

JOHN HAY.
⭘ His Western Birth and Education
⭘ Service to President Lincoln
⭘ Military Career
⭘ Appointed Ambassador to Great Britain
⭘ A List of His Books
⭘ How He Came to Write “Little Breeches”
⭘ ‘Little Breeches’
⭘ ‘Jim Bludso’
⭘ ‘How it Happened’

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.
⭘ Great Popularity with the Masses
⭘ A Poet of the Country People
⭘ Birth and Education
⭘ First Occupation
⭘ Congratulated by Longfellow
⭘ Mr. Riley’s Methods of Work
⭘ The Poet’s Home
⭘ Constantly “on the Wing”
⭘ ‘A Boy’s Mother’
⭘ ‘Thoughts on the Late War’
⭘ ‘Our Hired Girl’
⭘ ‘The Raggedy Man’

BRET HARTE.
⭘ The Poet of the Mining Camp
⭘ Birth and Education
⭘ Emigrated to California
⭘ Schoolteacher and Miner
⭘ Position on a Frontier Paper
⭘ Editorial Position on the “Golden Era”
⭘ Secretary of the U. S. Mint at San Francisco
⭘ In Chicago and Boston
⭘ U. S. Consul to Crefield and Glasgow
⭘ A List of his Works
⭘ ‘The Society Upon the Stanislaus’
⭘ ‘Dickens in Camp’

EUGENE FIELD.
⭘ The “Poet of Child Life”
⭘ Troups of Children for his Friends
⭘ Peace-maker Among the Small Ones
⭘ A Feast with his Little Friends
⭘ A Devoted Husband
⭘ Congenial Association with his Fellow-workers
⭘ Birth and Early Life
⭘ His Works
⭘ ‘Our Two Opinions’
⭘ ‘Lullaby’
⭘ ‘A Dutch Lullaby’
⭘ ‘A Norse Lullaby’

WILL CARLETON.
⭘ His Poems Favorites for Recitation
⭘ Birth and Early Life
⭘ Teacher, Farmhand and College Graduate
⭘ Journalist and Lecturer
⭘ A List of his Works
⭘ ‘Betsy and I Are Out’
⭘ ‘Gone With a Handsomer Man’

CINCINNATUS HINER MILLER (JOAQUIN).
⭘ Removal from Indiana to Oregon
⭘ Experiences in Mining and Filibustering
⭘ Marries and Becomes Editor and Lawyer
⭘ Visit to London to Seek a Publisher
⭘ ‘Thoughts of My Western Home’
⭘ ‘Mount Shasta’
⭘ ‘Kit Carson’s Ride’
⭘ ‘J. Miller’s Alaska Letter’

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER.
⭘ First American Novelist
⭘ Birth and Childhood
⭘ The Wilderness his Teacher
⭘ Sailor Life
⭘ Marriage and Home
⭘ “The Spy”
⭘ Plaudits From Both Sides of the Atlantic
⭘ The First Genuine Salt-water Novel
⭘ Removal to New York
⭘ A Six Years’ Visit to Europe
⭘ His Remaining Nineteen Years
⭘ ‘Encounter With a Panther’
⭘ ‘The Capture of a Whale’

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.
⭘ The Greatest of American Romancers
⭘ Birth, Ancestors, and Childhood
⭘ Twelve Years of Solitary Existence
⭘ His First Book
⭘ “Twice Told Tales”
⭘ A Staunch Democrat
⭘ Marriage and the “Old Manse”
⭘ The Masterpiece in American Fiction
⭘ Books Written by Hawthorne
⭘ Death and Funeral
⭘ ‘Emerson and the Emersonites’
⭘ ‘Pearl’
⭘ ‘Sights From a Steeple’
⭘ ‘A Reminiscence of Early Life’

EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
⭘ Among the Best Known American Authors
⭘ A Noted Lecturer
⭘ Birth and Education
⭘ Career as a Clergyman
⭘ Newspaper and Magazine Work
⭘ A Prominent Short-Story-teller
⭘ An Historical Writer of Great Prominence
⭘ Patriotic Interest in Public Affairs
⭘ ‘Lost’

WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS.
⭘ One of the Greatest of Modern American Novelists
⭘ Birth and Early Life
⭘ Editor of the “Ohio State Journal”
⭘ His First Volume of Verse
⭘ His “Life of Abraham Lincoln”
⭘ Consul to Venice
⭘ Mr. Howells’ Works
⭘ Editor of the “Atlantic Monthly”
⭘ ‘The First Boarder’
⭘ ‘Impressions on Visiting Pompeii’
⭘ ‘Venetian Vagabonds’

GENERAL LEW WALLACE.
⭘ Began His Literary Career Late in Life
⭘ Birth and Early Life
⭘ Lawyer and Soldier
⭘ Governor of Utah
⭘ Appointed Minister to Turkey
⭘ His Most Popular Book
⭘ Enormous Circulation
⭘ ‘Description of Christ’
⭘ ‘The Prince of India Teaches Re-incarnation’
⭘ ‘The Prayer of the Wandering Jew’
⭘ ‘Death of Montezuma’
⭘ ‘Description of Virgin Mary’

EDWARD EGGLESTON.
⭘ Birth and Early Life
⭘ A Man of Self-culture
⭘ His Early Training
⭘ Religious Devotion and Sacrifice
⭘ Beginning of his Literary Career
⭘ What Distinguishes his Novels
⭘ List of his Chief Novels and Stories
⭘ ‘Spelling down the Master’

THOMAS NELSON PAGE.
⭘ Birth and Earliest Recollections
⭘ Childhood, Ancestors, and Education
⭘ His First Literary Success
⭘ “In Ole Virginia” and other stories
⭘ Prominent Journalist and Lecturer
⭘ A Tour Abroad
⭘ ‘Old Sue’

EDWARD PAYSON ROE.
⭘ Great Popularity Among the Masses
⭘ The Character of his Novels
⭘ Birth and Education
⭘ Served as Chaplain During the Civil War
⭘ List of His Works
⭘ ‘Christine, Awake For Your Life’

FRANCIS MARION CRAWFORD.
⭘ “The Most Versatile of Modern Novelists”
⭘ Birth, Ancestors, and Early Life
⭘ Editor on the “Allahabad Herald”
⭘ Varied Experiences
⭘ How he Came to Write “Mr. Isaacs”
⭘ His Most Popular Novels
⭘ A Novel Written in Twenty-four ♦Days

♦ ‘Hours’ replaced with ‘Days’

⭘ His Other Chief Works
⭘ ‘Horace Bellingham’
⭘ ‘In the Himalayas’

FRANCIS RICHARD STOCKTON.
⭘ A Prolific and Popular Author
⭘ Birth and Educational Training
⭘ Engraver and Designer
⭘ One New Book Almost Every Year
⭘ Some of his Best Known Books
⭘ ‘The End of a Career’

EDWARD BELLAMY.
⭘ A Most Remarkable Sensation
⭘ 100,000 Copies Per Year
⭘ Mr. ♦Bellamy’s Ideal

♦ ‘Belamy’s’ replaced with ‘Bellamy’s’

⭘ Birth and Education
⭘ His Books
⭘ An Ideal Home
⭘ ‘Music in the Year 2000’

GEORGE W. CABLE.
⭘ “Circumstances Make the Man”
⭘ Birth and Early Life
⭘ Service in the Confederate Army
⭘ Errand Boy in a Store
⭘ On the “New Orleans Picayune”
⭘ Devotes his Life to Literature
⭘ His Most Prominent Works
⭘ ‘The Doctor’

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.
⭘ Ancestors, Birth, and Girlhood
⭘ Removal to Cincinnati
⭘ A Trip Across the River
⭘ Marriage
⭘ Severe Trials
⭘ A Memorable Year
⭘ “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”
⭘ Her Pen Never Idle
⭘ Removal to Hartford, Conn.
⭘ Her Death
⭘ ‘The Little Evangelist’
⭘ ‘The Other World’

M. VIRGINIA TERHUNE (MARION HARLAND).
⭘ Wide Variety of Talent
⭘ Birth and Education
⭘ Marriage and Home
⭘ Her Most Prominent Works
⭘ ‘A Manly Hero’

MARY ABIGAIL DODGE (GAIL HAMILTON).
⭘ Essayist, Critic and Novelist
⭘ Birth and Education
⭘ Career as a Writer
⭘ Her Published Volumes
⭘ The Only Authorized Life of J. G. Blaine
⭘ ‘Fishing’

HELEN HUNT JACKSON.
⭘ Helen Hunt’s Cabin
⭘ Birth and Education
⭘ Marriage and Removal to Newport, R. I.
⭘ Her First Poems
⭘ Great Distinction as a Writer
⭘ Removal to Colorado
⭘ At the Foot of Pike’s Peak
⭘ List of her Most Prominent Works
⭘ Death and Burial Place
⭘ ‘Christmas Night at St. Peter’s’
⭘ ‘Choice of Colors’

FRANCES H. BURNETT.
⭘ Pluck, Energy and Perseverance
⭘ Her First Story
⭘ Marriage and Tour in Europe
⭘ Her Children Stories
⭘ A Frequent Contributor to Periodicals
⭘ ‘Pretty Polly P.’

MARY N. MURFREE (CHAS. EGBERT CRADDOCK).
⭘ An Amusing Story
⭘ Birth, Ancestry and Misfortunes
⭘ A Student of Humanity
⭘ Her Style Bold and Full of Humor
⭘ ‘The Confession’

ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS WARD.
⭘ Favorable Reception of “Gates Ajar!”
⭘ An Early Writer
⭘ A Long Series of Books
⭘ Marriage and Home
⭘ Her Purpose Always High
⭘ ‘The Hands at Hayle and Kelso’s’

AMELIA E. BARR.
⭘ Popularity of her Works
⭘ Her Sorrows and Hardships
⭘ Birth and Early Education
⭘ Marriage and Travels
⭘ Death of her Husband and Four Sons
⭘ An Instantly Successful Book
⭘ ‘Little Jan’s Triumph’
⭘ ‘The Old Piano’

ALICE FRENCH (OCTAVE THANET).
⭘ A Genuine Yankee Woman
⭘ Her Puritan Ancestry
⭘ Education and First Manuscript
⭘ Her First Book
⭘ Her Most Prominent Publications
⭘ Her nom-de-plume
⭘ Philosopher, Artist, and Novelist
⭘ An Assiduous Student of her Subjects
⭘ ‘Two Lost and Found’

JANE GOODWIN AUSTIN.
⭘ A Famous Daughter of the “Pilgrims”
⭘ Birth and Parents
⭘ A List of her Best Books
⭘ Her Personality
⭘ ‘An Afternoon in Nantucket’

LYDIA H. SIGOURNEY.
⭘ The Most Prolific of American Women Writers
⭘ Critical Estimate of her Works
⭘ Birth and Educational Advantages
⭘ Her First Book
⭘ Some of her Other Works
⭘ A Tour of Europe
⭘ Death
⭘ ‘Columbus’
⭘ ‘The Alpine Flowers’
⭘ ‘Niagara’
⭘ ‘Death of an Infant’
⭘ ‘A Butterfly on a Child’s Grave’

ELIZABETH OAKES SMITH.
⭘ Ancestors and Birth
⭘ A Liberal Contributor to Periodicals
⭘ Her Published Works
⭘ ‘The Step-mother’
⭘ ‘Guardian Angels’
⭘ ‘The Brook’
⭘ ‘The April Rain’
⭘ ‘Flowers’
⭘ ‘Eros and Anteros’

LUCY LARCOM.
⭘ Operative in a Cotton Factory
⭘ Birth and Early Life
⭘ Her First Literary Production
⭘ Some of her Best Works
⭘ The Working Woman’s Friend
⭘ ‘Hannah Binding Shoes’

ALICE AND PHŒBE CARY.
⭘ Their Birth and Early Lot
⭘ Encouragement From Editors
⭘ Their First Volume
⭘ Some of their Prominent Works
⭘ A Comparison Between the Two Sisters
⭘ One in Spirit through Life
⭘ United in Death
⭘ ‘Pictures of Memory’
⭘ ‘Nobility’
⭘ ‘The Gray Swan’
⭘ ‘To the Evening Zephyr’
⭘ ‘Death Scene’
⭘ ‘Memories’
⭘ ‘Equal to Either Fortune’
⭘ ‘Light’

LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON.
⭘ Birth and Education
⭘ Her First Book at Nineteen Years
⭘ Her Following Publications
⭘ Residence in Boston and Trips Abroad
⭘ A Systematic Worker
⭘ Personal Friendship
⭘ ‘If There Were Dreams to Sell’
⭘ ‘Wife to Husband’
⭘ ‘The Last Good-Bye’
⭘ ‘Next Year’
⭘ ‘My Mother’s Picture’

WASHINGTON IRVING.
⭘ The First Great Pioneer in American Letters
⭘ Birth and Ancestors
⭘ Named After George Washington
⭘ Early Success as a Journalist
⭘ A Two Years’ Trip in Europe
⭘ A Shrewd Advertisement
⭘ Seventeen Years Abroad
⭘ The Winning Character of his Genius
⭘ ‘The Organ of Westminster Abbey’
⭘ ‘Baltus Van Tassel’s Farm’
⭘ ‘Columbus at Barcelona’
⭘ ‘The Galloping Hessian’

CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER.
⭘ The Meditative School in American Literature
⭘ Birth, Ancestry and Education
⭘ Early Life
⭘ In “The Brotherhood of Authors”
⭘ His First Literary Work
⭘ A Few of his Other Publications
⭘ ‘The Moral Quality of Vegetables’

DONALD G. MITCHELL.
⭘ Characteristics of the Author
⭘ A Disciple of Washington Irving
⭘ Birth, Education, and Early Life
⭘ Home and Marriage
⭘ U. S. Consul to Venice
⭘ Semi-public Positions
⭘ His Most Prominent Books
⭘ ‘Washington Irving’
⭘ ‘Glimpses of “Dream Life”’

THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON.
⭘ A Noble Part in the Battles for Freedom
⭘ Activity in the Anti-Slavery Agitation
⭘ His Contributions to Literature
⭘ A Popular Historian
⭘ ‘A Puritan Sunday Morning’

HAMILTON W. MABIE.
⭘ Birth, Family, and Education
⭘ Familiar with the Classics
⭘ On the Staff of the “Christian Union”
⭘ Profound Study of the Problems of Life
⭘ A Declaration Typical of all his Thought
⭘ ‘Country Sights and Sounds’

EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN.
⭘ Two Sensational Poems
⭘ Birth, Ancestry, and Early Life
⭘ Journalist at Twenty-one
⭘ On the New York “Tribune”
⭘ Editor of the “World”
⭘ A Remarkable War Letter
⭘ A List of his Prominent Works
⭘ Poet and Man of Business
⭘ An Ideal Home Life
⭘ ‘Betrothed Anew’
⭘ ‘The Door-Step’

GEORGE H. BANCROFT.
⭘ The First Among American Historians
⭘ Birth and Education
⭘ Extensive Studies in Europe
⭘ Appointed to the Chair of Greek in Harvard College
⭘ A School of High Classical Character
⭘ Official Service
⭘ Removal to New York
⭘ Minister to Russia and to Germany
⭘ His “History of the United States” and other Works
⭘ A Long and Useful Life
⭘ ‘Character of Roger Williams’
⭘ ‘Destruction of the Tea in Boston Harbor’
⭘ ‘Chivalry and Puritanism’
⭘ ‘The Position of the Puritans’

JAMES PARTON.
⭘ Ancestry, Birth, and Education
⭘ A Very Successful Teacher
⭘ His Career as a Literary Man
⭘ On the Staff of “The New York Ledger”
⭘ His Most Prominent Works
⭘ ‘Old Virginia’

FRANCIS PARKMAN.
⭘ Birth, Education, and Visit Abroad
⭘ A Summer With the ♦Dacotah Indians

♦ ‘Dakotah’ replaced with ‘Dacotah’

⭘ Compelled to Suspend Intellectual Work
⭘ An Interesting Example of his Persistency
⭘ His Interest in Horticulture
⭘ ‘The New England Colonies’
⭘ ‘The Heights of Abraham’

WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT.
⭘ A Popular Historian
⭘ Birth, Parentage and Early Life
⭘ A Thorough Preparation
⭘ Marriage and Happy Home
⭘ His Method of Composition
⭘ Successful as a Writer from the First
⭘ A List of his Works
⭘ Many Engaging Qualities
⭘ ‘The Golden Age of Tezcuco’
⭘ ‘The Banquet of the Dead’

JOHN L. MOTLEY.
⭘ Birth, Boyhood, and Early Associates
⭘ Intimate Friend of Prince Bismarck
⭘ Member of Massachusetts’ Legislature
⭘ “History of Holland”
⭘ Minister to Austria, 1861; to England, 1869
⭘ Patriot, Scholar, Historian
⭘ ‘Bismarck’
⭘ ‘The Siege of Leyden’
⭘ ‘Assassination of William of Orange’

JOHN FISKE.
⭘ Precocious Ability
⭘ Birth, Education and Early Life
⭘ His Literary Work and Most Noted Books
⭘ His Principal Historical Works
⭘ His School-books
⭘ ‘Land Discovered’
⭘ ‘The Federal Convention’

JOHN B. McMASTER.
⭘ Excelling in Different Fields
⭘ Parentage, Birth and Early Life
⭘ Professor of American History
⭘ His View of History
⭘ Instructor of the Young
⭘ ‘The American Workman in 1784’
⭘ ‘The Minister in New England’

FRANCES M. WHITCHER (THE WIDOW BEDOTT).
⭘ Her nom-de-plume
⭘ Richness of Humor
⭘ Birth, Childhood and Education
⭘ Marriage and Literary Fame
⭘ Removal from Elmira, N. Y.
⭘ ‘Widow Bedott to Elder Sniffles’
⭘ ‘The Widow’s Poetry and her Comments on the Same About Hezekiah’

CHARLES F. BROWN (ARTEMUS WARD).
⭘ Birth and Education
⭘ On the “Commercial,” Toledo, Ohio
⭘ Local Editor of the “Plain Dealer”
⭘ Successful Lecturer in England
⭘ Death at Southampton
⭘ His Works
⭘ ‘Artemus Ward Visits the Shakers’
⭘ ‘At the Tomb of Shakespeare’

HENRY W. SHAW (JOSH BILLINGS).
⭘ Birth and Education
⭘ His Early Life of Adventure
⭘ Entered the Lecture Field
⭘ Contributor to “The New York Weekly”
⭘ His Published Books
♦⭘ ‘Josh Billing’s Advertisement’

♦ added work omitted from the TOC

⭘ ‘Manifest Destiny’
⭘ ‘Letters to Farmers’

SAMUEL L. CLEMENS (MARK TWAIN).
⭘ A World-wide Reputation
⭘ Birth, Boyhood and Education
⭘ His Pilot Life
⭘ Editor of the Virginia City “Enterprise”
⭘ Journalist and Gold Digger
⭘ A Trip to Hawaii
⭘ Innocents Abroad
⭘ Some of his Other Works
⭘ A Lecturing Trip Around the World
⭘ ‘Jim Smiley’s Frog’
⭘ ‘Uncle Dan’l’s Apparition and Prayer’
⭘ ‘The Babies’

MARIETTA HOLLEY (JOSIAH ALLEN’S WIFE).
⭘ A Writer at an Early Age
⭘ Birth and Ancestors
⭘ Rise and Increase of Her Fame
⭘ Some of her Prominent Works
⭘ A Quarter Million Copies Sold
⭘ Characteristics of her Books
⭘ ‘Josiah Allen’s Wife Calls on the President’

CHARLES F. ADAMS (YAWCOB STRAUSS).
⭘ A Not-Soon-to-be-Forgotten Author
⭘ Birth, Education and Early Life
⭘ Service in Many Hard-fought Battles
⭘ Prominent Business Man
⭘ A Contributor to Prominent Journals
⭘ A Genial and Companionable Man
⭘ ‘Der Drummer’
⭘ ‘Hans and Fritz’
⭘ ‘Yawcob Strauss’
⭘ ‘Mine Moder-in-Law’
⭘ ‘Yawcob’s Dribulations’
⭘ ‘The Puzzled Dutchman’
⭘ ‘Der Oak and Der Vine’

EDGAR WILSON NYE (BILL NYE).
⭘ A Man of Genuine Wit
⭘ Birth and Early Surroundings
⭘ Studied Law, Admitted to the Bar
⭘ Organized the Nye Trust
⭘ Famous Letters from Buck’s Shoals, N. C.
⭘ “History of the United States”
⭘ His Death
⭘ ‘The Wild Cow’
⭘ ‘Mr. Whisk’s True Love’
⭘ ‘The Discovery of New York’

JOEL C. HARRIS (UNCLE REMUS).
⭘ “An Accidental Author”
⭘ Birth and Humble Circumstances
⭘ In the Office of the “Countryman”
⭘ Beginning of his Literary Career
⭘ Studied and Practiced Law
⭘ Co-editor of the Atlanta “Constitution”
⭘ His Works
⭘ ‘Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Buzzard’

ROBERT J. BURDETTE.
⭘ A Prominent Place Among “Funny Men”
⭘ Birth and Early Education
⭘ Fought in the Civil War
⭘ Journalist, Lecturer and Baptist Minister
⭘ Contributor to “Ladies’ Home Journal”
⭘ His Other Works
⭘ ‘The Movement Cure for Rheumatism’

LOUISA M. ALCOTT.
⭘ Architect of her Own Fortune
⭘ Her Father’s Misfortunes
⭘ Her Early Writings
⭘ Her Letters in the Government Hospitals
⭘ Young People’s True Friend
⭘ Her Books
⭘ An Admirer of Emerson
⭘ A Victim of Over-Work
⭘ ‘How Jo Made Friends’

WILLIAM T. ADAMS (OLIVER OPTIC).
⭘ Writer for the Young
⭘ Birth and Early Life
⭘ Teacher in Public Schools of Boston
⭘ His Editorials and Books
⭘ His Style and Influence
⭘ ‘The Sloop That Went to the Bottom’

SARAH JANE LIPPINCOTT (GRACE GREENWOOD).
⭘ Favorite Writer for Little Children
⭘ Birth and Childhood
⭘ Her Marriage
⭘ Contributions to Journals and Magazines
⭘ Her Numerous Books
⭘ Life Abroad
⭘ ‘The Baby in the Bath Tub’

HORATIO ALGER.
⭘ A Wholesome Author for Young People
⭘ His First Book, Great Success
⭘ A New Field
⭘ Birth, Education and Early Life
⭘ Residence in New York
⭘ Some of his Most Prominent Books
⭘ ‘How Dick Began the Day’

EDWARD ELLIS.
⭘ Birth and Early Life
⭘ His Historical Text-Books
⭘ His Contributions to Children’s Papers
⭘ ‘The Signal Fire’

MARTHA FINLEY.
⭘ Birth, Ancestry and Early Life
⭘ Beginning of her Literary Career
⭘ Struggle Against Adversity
⭘ Great Exertions
⭘ ‘Elsie Series,’ Great Popularity
⭘ ‘Elsie’s Disappointment’

MARY MAPES DODGE.
⭘ Writer of Stories for Children
⭘ Birth and Parentage
⭘ Married William Dodge
⭘ Contributor to “Hearth and Home”
⭘ Success of her Works
⭘ Editor of “St. Nicholas Magazine”
⭘ Her Home in New York
⭘ ‘Too Much of a Good Thing’

HORACE GREELEY.
⭘ Birth and Early Taste for Literature
⭘ On the “Northern Spectator”
⭘ Tries his Fortune in New York
⭘ Part Owner of the “New Yorker”
⭘ The “Log Cabin” and the N. Y. “Tribune”
⭘ Elected to Congress
⭘ His Works
⭘ Nominated for Presidency
⭘ His Last Resting Place
⭘ ‘A Debtor’s Slavery’
⭘ ‘The Press’

CHARLES A. DANA.
⭘ One of Our Foremost Men
⭘ Birth and Early Life
⭘ A Remarkable Life
⭘ His Education and College Career
⭘ Joining the “Brook Farm” Men
⭘ His First Journalistic Experience
⭘ On the New York “Tribune”
⭘ Busy Years
⭘ Difference Between Mr. Greeley and Mr. Dana
⭘ Assistant Secretary of War
⭘ One Year in Chicago
⭘ Manager of the New York “Sun”
⭘ ‘Roscoe Conkling’

LYMAN ABBOTT.
⭘ Ancestors, Birth and Education
⭘ Ordained a Minister
⭘ Secretary to the American Freedmen’s Commission
⭘ Work as a Journalist
⭘ Successor of Henry Ward Beecher
⭘ Prolific Publisher
⭘ Successful Pulpit Speaker
⭘ ‘The Jesuits’
⭘ ‘The Destruction of the Cities of the Plain’

HENRY W. WATTERSON.
⭘ Influential Modern Journalist
⭘ Birth and Education
⭘ Editor of the “Republican Banner”
⭘ Service in the Confederate Army
⭘ The “Courier-Journal,” Louisville, Ky.
⭘ Prominent Part in Politics
⭘ ‘The New South’

MURAT HALSTEAD.
⭘ One of the Greatest Living Journalists
⭘ Nativity, Early Life and Education
⭘ Editor of “The Commercial,” Cincinnati, Ohio
⭘ A Continued Success
⭘ Correspondent During the Franco-Prussian War, 1870
⭘ In Washington and New York
⭘ Home and Family Life
⭘ ‘The Young Man at the Door’

WHITELAW REID.
⭘ “Fortune Favors the Brave”
⭘ Birth and Early Training
⭘ War Correspondent to the “Cincinnati Gazette”
⭘ An Important Work
⭘ Editorial Writer Upon N. Y. “Tribune”
⭘ His Most Prominent Works
⭘ His Palatial Home and Family Life
⭘ ‘Pictures of a Louisiana Plantation’

ALBERT SHAW.
⭘ Birth, Education and Personal Characteristics
⭘ Residence in Baltimore
⭘ On the Minneapolis Daily “Tribune”
⭘ Extensive Studies Abroad
⭘ Editor of the “Review of Reviews”
⭘ Great Success
⭘ ‘Recent Development of the West’

JULIAN HAWTHORNE.
⭘ His Imaginative Power, Vivid Statement
⭘ Parentage, Birth and Travels Abroad
⭘ College Life and Early Training
⭘ Long Sojourn Abroad
⭘ Some of his Most Prominent Works
⭘ Expedition to India
⭘ ‘The Wayside and the War’
⭘ ‘First Months in England’
⭘ ‘The Horrors of the Plague in India’

RICHARD HARDING DAVIS.
⭘ Marvelous Skill in Seeing the World
⭘ A Clever Newspaper Reporter
⭘ Birth and Hereditary Bent for Letters
⭘ Interesting Career as a Journalist
⭘ The Book that Made Him Famous
⭘ Some of His Other Works
⭘ ‘The Greek Defence of Velestino’

PATRICK HENRY.
⭘ His Talents as a Popular Orator
⭘ Parentage and Education
⭘ Marriage and Early Life
⭘ A Prominent Lawyer
⭘ Bold Principles
⭘ The Leader of his Colony
⭘ The First Governor of Virginia
⭘ His Death
⭘ ‘Resistance to British Aggression’
⭘ ‘The War Inevitable’

HENRY CLAY.
⭘ The “Great Pacificator”
⭘ Birth, Early Hardships, Toil and Poverty
⭘ Removal to Kentucky and Success
⭘ Marriage and Home
⭘ In the Senate of the United States
⭘ Member of the House of Representatives
⭘ Elected Speaker
⭘ Secretary of State
⭘ The Conflict of 1818
⭘ The Disappointment of His Life
⭘ The “Compromise” of 1850
⭘ The Leading Object of His Life
⭘ ‘Defence of Jefferson,’ 1813
⭘ ‘Reply to John Randolph’
⭘ ‘On Recognizing the Independence of Greece’

DANIEL WEBSTER.
⭘ First among the “Makers of the Nation”
⭘ Birth, Ancestors and Early Life
⭘ The “Webster’s Boy”
⭘ Extraordinary Memory
⭘ Majestic Appearance
⭘ Lawyer, Orator and Statesman
⭘ A Famous Case
⭘ His Most Famous Speeches
⭘ Secretary of State
⭘ Home and Home Life
⭘ Death and Funeral
⭘ ‘South Carolina and Massachusetts’
⭘ ‘Liberty and Union’
⭘ ‘The Eloquence of Action’
⭘ ‘The Twenty-second of February’
⭘ ‘America’s Gift to Europe’

EDWARD EVERETT.
⭘ The Great Charm of His Orations
⭘ Birth, Education and Early Life
⭘ Professor of Greek at Harvard College
⭘ Editor of the “North American Review”
⭘ Member of Congress
⭘ Minister to England
⭘ President of Harvard College
⭘ Secretary of State
⭘ His Lectures and Orations
⭘ Death
⭘ ‘Twenty-five Years of Peace’
⭘ ‘The Father of the Republic’
⭘ ‘The Land of Our Forefathers’

WENDELL PHILLIPS.
⭘ “The Silvery-tongued Orator”
⭘ How He came into Prominence
⭘ A Memorable Speech
⭘ Birth, Parents and Education
⭘ A Popular Lecturer
⭘ His Most Celebrated Addresses
⭘ ‘Political Agitation’
⭘ ‘Toussaint L’Ouverture’

HENRY WARD BEECHER.
⭘ No Superior as Pulpit Orator
⭘ Parentage, Birth and Childhood
⭘ Education and Conversion
⭘ His Marriage and First Pastorate
⭘ Pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, N. Y.
⭘ A Bold Abolitionist
⭘ Ever the Champion of the Right
⭘ His Death and Funeral
⭘ ‘Public Dishonesty’
⭘ ‘Eulogy on General Grant’
⭘ ‘From “The Sparks of Nature”’

JOHN B. GOUGH.
⭘ A Great National Orator
⭘ Birth and Early Life
⭘ A Life of Hopeless Dissipation
⭘ Public Confession and Reformation
⭘ A Popular Lecturer
⭘ Called to England
⭘ A Happy Life
⭘ His Published Works
⭘ ‘Water and Rum’
⭘ ‘The Power of Habit’
⭘ ‘What is a Minority?’

CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW.
⭘ Great Versatility
⭘ Birth, Ancestors and Boyhood
⭘ A Close Student of Politics
⭘ A Highly Successful Lawyer
⭘ A Giant in Politics
⭘ Member of Congress
⭘ Secretary of State
⭘ Minister to Japan
⭘ His Career as a Railway Man
⭘ ‘The Pilgrims’

HENRY W. GRADY.
⭘ Devoid of Sectional Animosities
⭘ The Union His Pride
⭘ Eloquent, Logical and Aggressive
⭘ His Principal Speeches
⭘ Birth, Parentage and Education
⭘ Marriage and Struggle for Existence
⭘ “A Friend in Need”
⭘ Success at Last
⭘ Premature Death
⭘ ‘The New South’
⭘ ‘Regard for the Negro Race’
⭘ ‘Appeal for Temperance’

JULIA WARD HOWE.
⭘ Her Home a Meeting Place for Great Men
⭘ Birth, Parentage and Education
⭘ Marriage and Tour Abroad
⭘ Her First Book
⭘ Interest in the Anti-Slavery Question
⭘ Her Famous “Battle Hymn”
⭘ Visit to England
⭘ A New Journey Abroad
⭘ ‘The Battle Hymn of the ♦Republic’

♦ ‘Rebublic’ replaced with ‘Republic’

⭘ ‘Our Country’
⭘ ‘The Unspeakable Pang’

MARY A. LIVERMORE.
⭘ Her Early Experience
⭘ Birth, Parentage and Education
⭘ Teacher of Latin and French
⭘ In the South
⭘ Marriage
⭘ An Active Temperance Worker
⭘ Her Literary Work
⭘ War Service
⭘ An Ardent Woman-Suffragist
⭘ Her Pen Never Idle
⭘ ‘Useful Women’

BELVA ANN LOCKWOOD.
⭘ One of the Greatest Benefactors of Her Sex
⭘ Birth, Education and Early Life
⭘ Professor at Lockport Academy
⭘ Admission to the Supreme Court of the U. S.
⭘ A Remarkable Nomination
⭘ Great Popularity
⭘ Several Times Delegate to International Congresses of Peace
⭘ Assistant Editor to the “Peacemaker”
⭘ ‘Address before the Committee of the House of Delegates,
Washington, in Support of Woman Suffrage’

SUSAN B. ANTHONY.
⭘ Early Life and Education
⭘ How She Became an Abolitionist, Woman-Suffragist and Temperance
Worker
⭘ Arrested, Tried and Fined for Voting
⭘ Speeches and Lectures
⭘ Celebration of Her Seventieth Birthday
⭘ ‘Woman’s Right to Suffrage’

ELIZABETH CADY STANTON.
⭘ Forceful, Logical and Eloquent Orator
⭘ Primarily a Woman-Suffragist
⭘ Birth, Childhood and Education
⭘ How She Became a Woman’s Rights Believer
⭘ How She Became an Abolitionist
⭘ The First Woman’s Rights Convention
⭘ Her Addresses and Speeches
⭘ Her Literary Works
⭘ A Thoroughly Domestic Woman
⭘ ‘A Plea for Equal Rights’
⭘ ‘Address to the Legislature of New York’

FRANCES E. WILLARD.
⭘ Birth, Childhood and Early Life
⭘ Teacher and President of Evanston College
⭘ The Women’s “Crusade against Rum Shops”
⭘ Joining in the Crusade
⭘ The Result of Her Work
⭘ ‘Home Protection’

LYDIA MARIA CHILD.
⭘ Activity against the “Fugitive Slave Law”
⭘ Birth, Education and Early Life
⭘ Her First Book a Success
⭘ Marriage and Anti-Slavery Work
⭘ The First Anti-Slavery Book in America
⭘ ‘A Little Waif’
⭘ ‘To Whittier on His Seventieth Birthday’
⭘ ‘Politeness’
⭘ ‘Flowers’
⭘ ‘Unselfishness’

ANNA ELIZABETH DICKINSON.
⭘ A Fearless Girl
⭘ Birth, Childhood and Education
⭘ Her Debut Before the Public
⭘ Cast Upon the World
⭘ How She was Named “The Girl Orator”
⭘ The Mistake of Her Life
⭘ Misfortunes and Difficulties
⭘ Rare Eloquence and Dramatic Fervor
⭘ ‘Why Colored Men Should Enlist in the Army’

MISCELLANEOUS MASTERPIECES.
⭘ ‘Home, Sweet Home’
⭘ ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’
⭘ ‘The American Flag’
⭘ ‘Blind Man and the Elephant’
⭘ ‘Hail, Columbia!’
⭘ ‘Betty and the Bear’
⭘ ‘Visit of St. Nicholas’
⭘ ‘Woodman, Spare that Tree’
⭘ ‘Sanctity of Treaties, 1796’
⭘ ‘The Bloom was on the Alder and the Tassel on the Corn’
⭘ ‘The Declaration of Independence’
⭘ ‘Washington’s Address to His Soldiers, 1776’
⭘ ‘The General Government and the States’
⭘ ‘What Saved the Union’
⭘ ‘The Birthday of Washington’
⭘ ‘Oh! Why Should the Spirit of Mortal be Proud?’
⭘ ‘Columbus in Chains’
⭘ ‘The Bivouac of the Dead’
⭘ ‘Address at the Dedication of Gettysburg Cemetery’
⭘ ‘Memory’
⭘ ‘All Quiet Along the Potomac’
⭘ ‘A Life on the Ocean Wave’
⭘ ‘The Blue and the Gray’
⭘ ‘Roll-call’
⭘ ‘Theology in the Quarters’
⭘ ‘Ruin Wrought by Rum’
⭘ ‘To a Skeleton’
⭘ ‘Pledge with Wine’
⭘ ‘Spartacus to the Gladiators at Capua’
⭘ ‘The Crabbed Man’
⭘ ‘Putting up O’ the Stove’
⭘ ‘The Poor Indian!’
⭘ ‘Jenkins Goes to a Picnic’
⭘ ‘Sewing on a Button’
⭘ ‘Casey at the Bat’
⭘ ‘The Magical Isle’
⭘ ‘Stray Bits of Character’

FAMOUS AMERICAN AUTHORS.

WHOSE WRITINGS, BIOGRAPHIES AND PORTRAITS APPEAR IN THIS VOLUME.

Abbott, Lyman.
Adams, Charles Follen, (_Yawcob Strauss_).
Adams, Wm. T., (_Oliver Optic_).
Alcott, Louisa May.
Aldrich, Thomas Bailey.
Alger, Horatio, Jr.
Anthony, Susan B.
Artemus Ward, (_Charles F. Browne_).
Austin, Jane Goodwin.
Bancroft, George H.
Barr, Amelia E.
Beecher, Henry Ward.
Bellamy, Edward.
Bill Nye (_Edgar Wilson Nye_).
Browne, Charles F., (_Artemus Ward_).¹
Bryant, William Cullen.
♦Burdette, Robert J.

♦ ‘Burdett’ replaced with ‘Burdette’

Burnett, Frances Hodgson.
Cable, George W.
Carleton, Will.
Cary, Alice.
Cary, Phoebe.
Child, Lydia Maria.¹
Clay, Henry.
Clemens, Samuel L., (_Mark Twain_).
Cooper, James Fenimore.
Craddock, Charles Egbert, (_Mary N. Murfree_).
Crawford, Francis Marion.
Dana, Charles A.
Davis, Richard Harding.
Depew, Chauncey M.
Dickinson, Anna Elizabeth.
Dodge, Mary Abigail, (_Gail Hamilton_).¹
Dodge, Mary Mapes.¹
Eggleston, Edward.
Ellis, Edward.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo.
Everett, Edward.
Field, Eugene.
Finley, Martha.
Fiske, John.¹
French, Alice, (_Octave Thanet_).
Gail Hamilton, (_Mary Abigail Dodge_).¹
Gilder, Richard Watson.
Gough, John B.
Grady, Henry W.
Greeley, Horace.
Grace Greenwood, (_Sarah J. Lippincott_).
Hale, Edward Everett.
Halstead, Murat.
Harris, Joel Chandler, (_Uncle Remus_).
Harte, Bret.
Hawthorne, Julian.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel.
Hay, John.
Henry, Patrick.
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth.
Holley, Marietta, (_Josiah Allen’s Wife_).¹
Holmes, Oliver Wendell.
Howe, Julia Ward.
Howells, William Dean.
Ik Marvel, (_Donald G. Mitchell_).
Irving, Washington.
Jackson, Helen Hunt.
Joaquin Miller (_Cincinnatus Heine Miller_).
Josiah Allen’s Wife, (_Marietta Holly_).¹
Josh Billings, (_Henry W. Shaw_).¹
Larcom, Lucy.
Lippincott, Sarah Jane, (_Grace Greenwood_).
Livermore, Mary A.
Lockwood, Belva Ann.
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth.
Lowell, James Russell.
Mabie, Hamilton W.
Mark Twain, (_Samuel L. Clemens_).
Marion Harland, (_Mary V. Terhune_).
McMaster, John B.
Miller, Cincinnatus Heine, (_Joaquin_).
Mitchell, Donald Grant (_Ik Marvel_).
Motley, John L.
Moulton, Louise Chandler.
Murfree, Mary N., (_Chas. Egbert Craddock_).
Nye, Edgar Wilson, (_Bill Nye_).
Oliver Optic, (_William T. Adams_).
Octave Thanet, (_Alice French_).
Page, Thomas Nelson.
Parkman, Francis.¹
Parton, James.
Phillips, Wendell.
Poe, Edgar Allen.¹
Prescott, William.
Reid, Whitelaw.
Riley, James Whitcomb.
Roe, Edward Payson.
Shaw, Albert.
Shaw, Henry W., (_Josh Billings_).
Sigourney, Lydia H.
Smith, Elizabeth Oakes.
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady.
Stedman, Edmund Clarence.
Stockton, Frank.
Stoddard, Richard Henry.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher.
Taylor, Bayard.¹
Terhune, Mary Virginia.
Thompson, Maurice.¹
Wallace, General Lew.¹
Ward, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps.
Warner, Charles Dudley.
Watterson, Henry.
Webster, Daniel.
Whitman, Walt.
Whittier, John Greenleaf.
Willard, Frances E.
Willis, Nathaniel Parker.
Whitcher, Mrs. (_The Widow Bedott_).¹

¹ No Portrait.

Illustration: “UNDER A SPREADING CHESTNUT TREE
THE VILLAGE SMITHY STANDS.”
_Longfellow._

GREAT POETS OF AMERICA.

Illustration: WELL KNOWN AMERICAN POETS

N. P. WILLIS
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH • WALT WHITMAN
RICHARD HENRY STODDARD
RICHARD WATSON GILDER • COL. JOHN HAY

Illustration: (‡ decoration)

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

THE POET OF NATURE.

IT is said that “genius always manifests itself before its possessor reaches manhood.” Perhaps in no case is this more true than in that of the poet, and William Cullen Bryant was no exception to the general rule. The poetical fancy was early displayed in him. He began to write verses at nine, and at ten composed a little poem to be spoken at a public school, which was published in a newspaper. At fourteen a collection of his poems was published in 12 mo. form by E. G. House of Boston. Strange to say the longest one of these, entitled “The Embargo” was political in its character setting forth his reflections on the Anti-Jeffersonian Federalism prevalent in New England at that time. But it is said that never after that effort did the poet employ his muse upon the politics of the day, though the general topics of liberty and independence have given occasion to some of his finest efforts. Bryant was a great lover of nature. In the Juvenile Collection above referred to were published an “Ode to Connecticut River” and also the lines entitled “Drought” which show the characteristic observation as well as the style in which his youthful muse found expression. It was written July, 1807, when the author was thirteen years of age, and will be found among the succeeding selections.

“Thanatopsis,” one of his most popular poems, (though he himself marked it low) was written when the poet was but little more than eighteen years of age. This production is called the beginning of American poetry.