eeble step, or bending o'er
The sweet-breathed roses which he loved so well,
While through long years his burdening cross he bore,
From those firm lips no coward accents fell.

A brave bright memory! His the stainless shield
No shame defaces and no envy mars!
When our far future's record is unsealed,
His name will shine among its morning stars.
--Holmes.

The stories in this volume deal, for the most part, with single actions,
generally with deeds of war and feats of arms. In this one I desire
to give if possible the impression, for it can be no more than
an impression, of a life which in its conflicts and its victories
manifested throughout heroic qualities. Such qualities can be shown in
many ways, and the field of battle is only one of the fields of human
endeavor where heroism can be displayed.

Francis Parkman was born in Boston on September 16, 1822. He came of
a well-known family, and was of a good Puritan stock. He was rather a
delicate boy, with an extremely active mind and of a highly sensitive,
nervous organization. Into everything that attracted him he threw
himself with feverish energy. His first passion, when he was only about
twelve years old, was for chemistry, and his eager boyish experiments in
this direction were undoubtedly injurious to his health. The interest in
chemistry was succeeded by a passion for the woods and the wilderness,
and out of this came the longing to write the history of the men of the
wilderness, and of the great struggle between France and England for the
control of the North American continent. All through his college career
this desire was with him, and while in secret he was reading widely to
prepare himself for his task, he also spent a great deal of time in the
forests and on the mountains. To quote his own words, he was "fond of
hardships, and he was vain of enduring them, cherishing a sovereign
scorn for every physical weakness or defect; but deceived, moreover, by
the rapid development of frame and sinew, which flattered him into the
belief that discipline sufficiently unsparing would harden him into an
athlete, he slighted the precautions of a more reasonable woodcraft,
tired old foresters with long marches, stopped neither for heat nor for
rain, and slept on the earth without blankets." The result was that his
intense energy carried him beyond his strength, and while his muscles
strengthened and h