Francis Parkman 223 



The story of Mr. Parkman's life can be briefly 

 told. He was born in Boston, in what is now 

 known as Allston Street, September 16, 1823. 

 His ancestors had for several generations been 

 honourably known in Massachusetts. His great- 

 grandfather, Eev. Ebenezer Parkman, a graduate 

 of Harvard in 1741, was minister of the Congre- 

 gational church in Westborough for nearly sixty 

 years ; he was a man of learning and eloquence, 

 whose attention was not all given to Calvinistic 

 theology, for he devoted much of it to the study 

 of history. A son of this clergyman, at the age 

 of seventeen, served as private in a Massachusetts 

 regiment in that greatest of modern wars which 

 was decided on the Heights of Abraham. How 

 little did this gallant youth dream of the glory 

 that was by and by to be shed on the scenes and 

 characters passing before his eyes by the genius 

 of one of his own race and name ! Another son 

 of Ebenezer Parkman returned to Boston and be- 

 came a successful merchant, engaged in that for- 

 eign traffic which played so important and liber- 

 alizing a part in American life in the days before 

 the Enemy of mankind had invented forty per cent 

 tariffs. The home of this merchant, Samuel Park- 

 man, on the corner of Green and Chardon streets, 

 was long famous for its beautiful flower garden, 



