Francis Parkman 229 



four years of plastic boyhood in Middlesex Fells 

 gave to Parkman's mind the bent which directed 

 him toward the history of the wilderness. This 

 fact he recognized of himself in after life, while he 

 recalled those boyish days as the brightest in his 

 memory. 



At the age of fifteen or so the retorts and cruci- 

 bles were thrown away forever, and a reaction in 

 favor of woodland life began ; "a fancy," he says, 

 " which soon gained full control over the course of 

 the literary pursuits to which he was also addicted." 

 Here we come upon the first mention of the com- 

 bination of interests which determined his career. 

 A million boys might be turned loose in Middlesex 

 Fells, one after another, there to roam in solitude un- 

 til our globe should have entered upon a new geolo- 

 gical period, and the chances are against any one of 

 them becoming a great historian, or anything else 

 above mediocrity. But in Parkman, as in all men 

 of genius, the dominant motive power was some- 

 thing within him, something which science has not 

 data enough to explain. The divine spark of 

 genius is something which we know only through 

 the acts which it excites. In Parkman the strong 

 literary instinct showed itself at Chauncy Hall 

 School, where we find him, at fourteen years of 

 age, eagerly and busily engaged in the study and 



