FRANCIS PARKMAN. 437 



During his college course lie had to go abroad for his health. Tie 

 returned in time to take his degree in 1844. Fur a little while he 

 studied law. Then, his eyes failing him, he started, in search of 

 health and of material for his history alike, on that exhausting jour- 

 ney to the then savage West, which he has recorded in " The Oregon 

 Trail." The physical strain served only, in the end, to confirm his 

 trouble. The book in which he tells the story was dictated, chiefly 

 from memory, to the kinsman who was his comrade on the journey. 

 It was published in 1847. 



In 1850 he was married to Catharine Scollay, daughter of Dr. Jacob 

 Bigelow, of Boston. In 1851 appeared the first fruit of the historical 

 purpose which he had already cherished for nine years. In this book 

 — "The Conspiracy of Pontiac" — is virtually sketched the whole 

 plan of the historical work which occupied him for forty years to 

 come. A few years later he published a novel, " Vassall Morton," 

 which he is said subsequently to have regretted. It was produced at 

 moments when his health forbade him to work seriously at the task 

 he really cared for. In parts, perhaps, it was more nearly autobi- 

 ographic than he meant it to be. A cheerful reticence about himself 

 was one of his marked traits. " Vassall Morton," they say, he dis- 

 liked to hear mentioned ; it has generally been forgotten. Another 

 of his avocations, however, will always be remembered. In 1851 he 

 bought a small place on the edge of Jamaica Pond, where he lived, 

 for part of the year at least, until his death. Here, as his strength per- 

 mitted, he devoted himself to horticulture, with such results that his 

 name is almost as familiar to lovers of flowers as to lovers of books. 

 It was here that he died. The garden he so cared for has already 

 become a part of the great park system of Boston. 



In 1858 Mrs. Parkman died, leaving two daughters. In the same 

 year he went abroad for his health. It was not until 1865 that his 

 next book appeared, — " The Pioneers of France in the New World." 

 From this time his power of production increased. His malady, per- 

 haps, was beginning to relax. In 1867 came " The Jesuits in North 

 America," in 1869 "The Discovery of the Great West," in 1874 

 "The Old Regime in Canada," in 1877 " Frontenac," in 1884 "Mont- 

 calm and Wolfe," in 1802 his final book, " The Half-Century of Con- 

 flict." Though the conflict referred to in this title is of course that 

 between France and England for the continent of America, the title, 

 by a happy accident, has a peculiar felicity. Just half a century 

 had elapsed since 1842, when he first conceived the historical plan 

 which at length he had finished. On the 8th of November, 1893, he 

 died, after a very short illness, at Jamaica Plain. 



