land for the mastery of the North American continent, one of the
most important events of modern times. This is not the place to give
any critical estimate of Mr. Parkman's work. It is enough to say that it
stands in the front rank. It is a great contribution to history, and
a still greater gift to the literature of this country. All Americans
certainly should read the volumes in which Parkman has told that
wonderful story of hardship and adventure, of fighting and of
statesmanship, which gave this great continent to the English race and
the English speech. But better than the literature or the history is
the heroic spirit of the man, which triumphed over pain and all other
physical obstacles, and brought a work of such value to his country
and his time into existence. There is a great lesson as well as a lofty
example in such a career, and in the service which such a man rendered
by his life and work to literature and to his country. On the tomb of
the conqueror of Quebec it is written: "Here lies Wolfe victorious."
The same epitaph might with entire justice be carved above the grave of
Wolfe's historian.

"REMEMBER THE ALAMO"

The muffled drum's sad roll has beat
The soldier's last tattoo;
No more on life's parade shall meet
That brave and fallen few.
On fame's eternal camping-ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead.

* * *

The neighing troop, the flashing blade,
The bugle's stirring blast,
The charge, the dreadful cannonade,
The din and shout are past;
Nor war's wild note, nor glory's peal
Shall thrill with fierce delight
Those breasts that never more may feel
The rapture of the fight.
--Theodore O'Hara.

"Thermopylae had its messengers of death, but the Alamo had none." These
were the words with which a United States senator referred to one of
the most resolute and effective fights ever waged by brave men against
overwhelming odds in the face of certain death.

Soon after the close of the second war with Great Britain, parties of
American settlers began to press forward into the rich, sparsely settled
territory of Texas, then a portion of Mexico. At first these immigrants
were well received, but the Mexicans speedily grew jealous of them, and
oppressed them in various ways. In consequence, when the settlers
f