actions, generally with deeds of war and feats of arms. In this
one I desire to give if possible the impression, for it can be no
more than an impression, of a life which in its conflicts and its
victories manifested throughout heroic qualities. Such qualities
can be shown in many ways, and the field of battle is only one of
the fields of human endeavor where heroism can be displayed.

Francis Parkman was born in Boston on September 16, 1822. He came
of a well-known family, and was of a good Puritan stock. He was
rather a delicate boy, with an extremely active mind and of a
highly sensitive, nervous organization. Into everything that
attracted him he threw himself with feverish energy. His first
passion, when he was only about twelve years old, was for
chemistry, and his eager boyish experiments in this direction
were undoubtedly injurious to his health. The interest in
chemistry was succeeded by a passion for the woods and the
wilderness, and out of this came the longing to write the history
of the men of the wilderness, and of the great struggle between
France and England for the control of the North American
continent. All through his college career this desire was with
him, and while in secret he was reading widely to prepare himself
for his task, he also spent a great deal of time in the forests
and on the mountains. To quote his own words, he was "fond of
hardships, and he was vain of enduring them, cherishing a
sovereign scorn for every physical weakness or defect; but
deceived, moreover, by the rapid development of frame and sinew,
which flattered him into the belief that discipline sufficiently
unsparing would harden him into an athlete, he slighted the
precautions of a more reasonable woodcraft, tired old foresters
with long marches, stopped neither for heat nor for rain, and