Chapter VIII: Front Matter (8)

WOODROW WILSON, a famous American educator and author, and twenty-eighth President of the United States, was born at Staunton, Va., December 28, 1856, and died at Washington, D. C., February 3, 1924. His works include: "Congressional Government: A Study of American Politics," "The State: Elements of Historical and Practical Politics," "Division and Reunion," "Epochs of American History," "An Old Master, and Other Political Essays," "Mere Literature and Other Essays," "George Washington," "A History of the American People," "Constitutional Government in the United States," "The New Freedom," "When a Man Comes to Himself," "On Being Human."

Selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race.

"Speech," Hawarden, May 28, 1890,--_William E. Gladstone_.

WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE, the eminent English statesman, essayist, and translator from the classics, was born in Liverpool, December 29, 1809, and died in 1898. His works include: "Studies in Homer and the Homeric Age," "Church and State," "Juventus Mundi," "Homeric Synchronism," "Gleanings of Past Years," etc.

The tumult and the shouting dies,--
The Captains and the Kings depart,--
Still stands thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.

"Recessional,"--_Rudyard Kipling_.

RUDYARD KIPLING, a renowned English short-story writer, poet, and novelist, was born at Bombay, India, December 30, 1865. Among his writings are: "Life's Handicap," "Mine Own People," "Many Inventions," "Soldiers Three," "The Light That Failed," "The Seven Seas," "Barrack Room Ballads," "The Jungle Books," "Captains Courageous," "The Day's Work," "Stalky and Co.," "Just So Stories for Little Children," "Kim," "The Five Nations," "Traffics and Discoveries," "Puck of Pook's Hill," "Actions and Reactions," "Rewards and Fairies," "The Harbour Watch" (a play), "The New Armies in Training," "France at War," "Fringes of the Fleet," "A Diversity of Creatures," "The Years Between," etc.

Die Todten reiten schnell.[2]

"Lenore,"--_Bürger_.

GOTTFRIED AUGUST BÜRGER, an eminent German poet, was born at Molmerswende, near Ballenstedt, Anhalt, December 31, 1747 (or January 1, 1748), and died in Göttingen, June 8, 1794. He wrote: "The Parson's Daughter," "The Wild Huntsman," "The Song of the Brave Man," "Kaiser and Abbot," "The Robber Count," "The Wives of Weinsberg," and his most famous ballad, "Lenore."

"Isn't God upon the ocean
Just the same as on the land?"

"The Tempest,"--_James Thomas Fields_.

JAMES THOMAS FIELDS, a noted American publisher and author, was born at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, December 31, 1817, and died in Boston, April 24, 1881. He published: "Underbrush," "Yesterdays with Authors," etc.

In winter, when the dismal rain
Comes down in slanting lines,
And Wind, that grand old harper, smote
His thunder-harp of pines.

"A Life Drama," Sc. ii,--_Alexander Smith_.

ALEXANDER SMITH, a famous Scottish poet, was born in Kilmarnock, December 31, 1830, and died at Wardie, near Edinburgh, January 5, 1867. Among his poetical works are: "City Poems," "Edwin of Deira," and "A Life Drama," his most famous work. His prose works include: "Miss Oona McQuarrie," "Alfred Hagart's Household," "Dreamthorpe," "A Summer in Skye," etc.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] I fear God, dear Abner, and I have no other fear.

[2] The dead ride swiftly.

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