The deep mourning of a nation at the trapper's death is but a fitting tribute to the close of such a life of virtue. It sheds a halo of beauty around the close of a noble career, but it presupposes in the Indian sympathy and charity almost divine. The world is always more willing to accept the marvelous than the commonplace. The dirty, uncivilized, brutal savage is not a fitting subject for heroic story. Gladly would we welcome the noble savage of poetry if truth could establish his existence. But history teaches that he is but a creature of this world, with many of its frailties. and with little of the romantic about him, except what he reflects from the wild nature amidst which he lives.

Parkman presents this, as we believe, the true side of Indian character. His historic facts are told in a style which gives to them a charm almost equal to romance. We follow the fortunes of that little band in their forest-girt fort at Detroit, besieged by the crafty warriors of Pontiac, with an interest which needs no romantic addition to quicken our sympathies. Parkman has a deep sympathy for Indian misfortunes, and sees with sorrow their rapid decline. He believes that their ultimate extinction is certain and ascribes it to both the encroachments of the whites and the nature of the Indians themselves. He says "either the plastic energies of a higher race or the servile pliancy of a lower one would each in its way have preserved them, but as it was, their extinction was a foregone conclusion." Their haughty spirit, too proud to bend, too weak to bear the strain of a new civilization, was doomed to break to fragments under the burden of a higher culture.

As the Indian is passing away so are the materials from which his true character can be learned. In this condition of affairs it is fortunate that he has found so careful a chronicler of his history in Parkman and so popular a narrator of his virtues in Cooper. No phase of his life, political, social or moral, will be entirely lost sight of in future ages. The proud Iroquois has a narrator of his massacres and triumphs; the persecuted Huron, of his sufferings; the mission Indian, of faith and superstition and the whole people of their struggles and their woes. If Cooper could find enough material

in the romantic side of Indian character to make his name renowned to the remotest ages, surely Parkman has shown that in historic narratives the same people may be found not less interesting. Their uncertain origin, their strange customs, and their melancholy fate, have stamped them as a peculiar people; and until humanity ceases to sympathize with misfortune their story will not lose its interest. A. E. STUART, '91.

Then his heart with love was swelling,

Love and longing for the maid
Vain its passionate upwelling,
Haughtily she checked its telling,
Haughtily his suit forbade.

With his unrequited passion

Went he forth into the night,
Where the thund'rous waves were lashing
Up against the rock coast dashing,

Launched his boat and took his flight.

'The wild waves leapt up around him—
Crushed his boat in their embrace.
In the morning light they found him,
At the castle gate they found him
With death stamped upon his face.

Then the maiden of the tower

Stood beside him once again.

Felt the strength of love's fierce power;
Knew too late, in that sad hour,

That she loved,-and loved in vain.

Yielding to despair's dark urging

Sought she death's secure release;
Leapt into the river's surging,
And the waves, her form submerging,
Drew her down to rest and peace.

Runs the tale-when night clouds cover
The wild stream, and wind sprites hover,
You may see the spirit form

Of the maiden sweeping over,

Seeking, seeking for her lover,

Pause-then vanish in the storm.

SAMUEL H. ADAMS, '91.

JUNIOR DISCUSSION.

RESOLVED THAT DIVORCE IS DETRIMENTAL TO GOOD

MORALS.

AFFIRMATIVE.

REVIOUS to the year 1840 but few suits for divorce

PREVIOUS

occurred in this country. Since then, however, with cautious but sure growth, divorce legislation and divorce litigation have assumed a character which to-day threatens the peace and security of the home, the purity and inviola

bility of the marriage obligation, and the very continuance of public and private morality.

Of all the institutions established by divine law or human effort there is none that approaches or even resembles in character, in sacredness and in obligation that of marriage.

History and ethics show that marriage is something more than a civil contract to be invalidated by consent of parties. Those entering it have assumed a duty to God, to society and to their posterity which has been recognized and avowed since creation. We know that the family is the unit of society; that it is an influence brought to bear, to curb and repress the lower and bestial influences of human nature. Divorce, separating man and wife, destroys the family, ruins the home and gives rise to gossip and scandal. It deprives the children of the proper training. Moreover we can not ignore the importance of this obligation as enunciated in holy writ. Paul, in his epistle to the Ephesians, strongly and unequivocally argues for the sacredness and indissolubility of the marriage bond. In the gospels of Mark and of Luke, our Lord absolutely prohibits divorce. "Whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another committeth adultery against her; and if a woman put away a husband and be married to another she committeth adultery." In Matthew he warns man to raise no hand against its permanency-" what God binds together let no man put asunder."

As nations have esteemed the obligation of the marriage tie so have been their morality and security. We may observe throughout history that a comprehensive and deep-felt appreciation of this obligation and its sacredness has always resulted in a high grade of public morality and has minimized vice and dissipation.

In view of these facts the constant increase in the number of divorces in this country is, to say the least, alarming. It is especially so when we consider the slight causes which, in various states, are deemed sufficient for the breaking of this bond. The number of divorces annually granted has increased from 8,000 in 1860 to over 26,000 in 1888, while the causes for divorce have increased by a still greater proportion. Observation and experience tell us that wherever the mar

riage bond is held lightly and opportunities are afforded for its breach there immorality and vice increase. When it is understood that marriage may be annulled at will or caprice, then it is often contracted thoughtlessly, imprudently and selfishly. The immoral effect of divorce has ample illustration in history. Ancient Greece and Rome furnish pitiful examples of this. Rome for the first five centuries of her history never granted a legal divorce? She prospered; but at length giving way to license, divorce became frequent. "Passion, interest or caprice," says Gibbon, "suggested daily motives for the dissolution of marriage; a word, a message, a sign declared the separation; each succeeding generation witnessed moral corruption more general, moral degradation more profound."

And we of modern times have something to fear. Gladstone in speaking of the effects of divorce, says that unquestionably since the year 1857, when the English divorce act was passed, the standard of morality in England has perceptibly declined, and he did not hesitate to attribute the cause to the change in the marriage laws.

Divorce is a menace to the family, to the home and to society; it is not sanctioned by the law of nature, of God, or of the church; it encourages hasty and unhappy marriages; and it has never been conducive to good morals in the past, therefore we claim that it is detrimental to good morals in the present. PHILIP M. WARD, '91.

NEGATIVE.

The negative will not endeavor to defend our present divorce system. All know that there is need of great improvement. But it is in reform and not destruction that relief will be found.

In support of its position, the negative will bring forward three arguments: First, justice to the individual renders divorce necessary; second, law only gives public recognition to what has already taken place; and third, it has proven beneficial to public morals among the best governed people.

Marriage has always been considered the most sacred relation. Around the fire-side cluster the fondest memories and the brightest hopes. To the true man, home means all