210 A Century of Science 



begun to teach us that the red Indian is one of 

 the most interesting of men. He represents a 

 stage of evolution through which civilized men 

 have once passed, a stage far more ancient and 

 primitive than that which is depicted in the Odys- 

 sey or in the Book of Genesis. When Champlain 

 and Frontenac met the feathered chieftains of the 

 St. Lawrence, they talked with men of the Stone 

 Age face to face. Phases of life that had van- 

 ished from Europe long before Rome was built 

 survived in America long enough to be seen and 

 studied by modern men. Behind Mr. Parkman's 

 picturesqueness, therefore, there lies a significance 

 far more profound than one at first would suspect. 

 He has portrayed for us a wondrous and forever 

 fascinating stage in the evolution of humanity. 

 We may well thank Heaven for sending us such 

 a scholar, such an artist, such a genius, before it 

 was too late. As we look at the changes wrought 

 in the last fifty years, we realize that already the 

 opportunities by which he profited in youth are in 

 large measure lost. He came not a moment too 

 soon to catch the fleeting light and fix it upon his 

 immortal canvas. 



Thus Parkman is to be regarded as first of all 

 the historian of Primitive Society. No other great 

 historian has dealt intelligently and consecutively 



