Francis Parkman 197 



year, as those glorious volumes came one after an- 

 other from the press, until the story of the struggle 

 between France and England for the possession of 

 North America was at last completed. It was an 

 experience of which the full significance required 

 study in many and apparently diverse fields to 

 realize. By step after step one would alight upon 

 new ways of regarding America and its place in 

 universal history. 



First and most obvious, plainly visible from the 

 threshold of the subject, was its extreme pictur- 

 esqueness. If is a widespread notion that Amer- 

 ican history is commonplace and dull ; and as for 

 the American red man, he is often thought to 

 be finally disposed of when we have stigmatized 

 him as a bloodthirsty demon and grovelling beast. 

 It is safe to say that those who entertain such 

 notions have never read Mr. Parkman. In the 

 theme which occupied him his poet's eye saw no- 

 thing that was dull or commonplace. To bring 

 him vividly before us, I will quote his own words 

 from one of the introductory pages of his opening 

 volume : 



" The French dominion is a memory of the past ; 

 and when we evoke its departed shades, they rise 

 upon us from their graves in strange romantic 

 guise. Again their ghostly camp fires seem to 



