JOHN FISKE. 665 



JOHN FISKE. 



On the 4th of July, 1901, John Fiske, philosopher, lecturer, and 

 historian, died at Gloucester. On the morning of the fifth, hundreds of 

 obituary notices of this distinguished man. were read in the daily news- 

 papers from Maine to Texas, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and even 

 across the water in the capital of Great Britain, by a public familiar, 

 through his ministrations on the platform, with his giant form and ruddy 

 countenance. These preliminary notices were followed at a later date 

 by biographical and critical articles treating of his career, more finished 

 in style and more analytical in character, in reviews and magazines ; 

 in weekly, monthly, and quarterly publications. Many of these were 

 characterized by a familiarity with the details of Mr. Fiske's early life, 

 unusual under such circumstances, but easily to be accounted for, since 

 his biography had been partially written during his lifetime by two 

 competent authors. 



The first of these sketches, and in some respects the more complete 

 of the two, was published by Edwin D. Mead, in the " Christian Register," 

 in a series of papers occasioned by an address by Mr. Fiske before the 

 Concord School of Philosophy in 1886. The second was by the late 

 Horace E. Scudder, and appeared in a sort of introduction to one of the 

 editions of " The War of Independence." The striking similarity of 

 these biographies extends even to the language used, and indicates a 

 common origin. It is certain that Mr. Fiske himself furnished the 

 material for Mr. Mead's sketch, and there can be but little doubt that 

 he did the same by Mr. Scudder. This will fully explain the points of 

 coincidence, and will also give to both the authoritative character, which 

 neither in words claims, of being practically autobiographical. 



From these sketches we learn that on the 30th of March, 1842, 

 there was born in Hartford, Connecticut, to Edmund Brewster Green 

 and Mary Fiske Green, a son named by them Edmund Fiske Green, 

 the greater part of whose child life was spent in Middletown, Connecticut. 

 This Edmund Fiske Green was our John Fiske, his name having been 

 changed during boyhood to that borne by his maternal grandfather. 



At an early age the wonderful precocity of the child foreshadowed the 

 marvellous attainments of his later years. His education was carried 

 on first in the lower schools at Middletown and later at Stamford. 

 Then he returned to Middletown and was placed in a private school, 

 after which he went to Cambridge. Meantime he seems to have browsed 



