stream beyond to the portage; then crossing the water-shed, the canoes were reëmbarked, and they floated down the Wisconsin to its mouth. The clear placid current of the Great River rolled before them, and we can well, imagine the wonder and delight which this scene awakened. They again launch their canoes, and day after day and week after week float upon the mighty tide. They note the turbulent flood poured in by the Missouri, and the discoloration of the water extending to the whole volume; and after several days' voyaging, they again note the clear water discharged by the Ohio. Finally they reached the mouth of the Arkansas, when, learning that the Indians were hostile and were armed with guns procured from the Spaniardsfor Spain was then at war with France —they resolved to retrace their course. Arrived on their return voyage at the mouth of the Illinois, they ascended that stream to the great Indian town near where Utica now stands, where they were hospitably received by the Indians, who guided them across the portage of the Des Plaines to the Chicago River. Thus, then, Marquette and his followers were the first white men to view the site on which the city of Chicago has been erected! This was in September, 1673. From this point they proceeded to Green Bay, having, in the course of four months, paddled their canoes more than two thousand five hundred miles. Marquette had a longing desire to plant the standard of the Cross among the Indians of the Illinois Valley. Accordingly, the next year, late in October, with two voyageurs, he left Green Bay for Chicago. Arrived there he ascended the river for about two leagues and built a hut in which to pass the winter. Game was abundant-buffalo, deer, and turkeys, were shot in sight of their habitation. Marquette was aware that the seal of death was upon him, and so expressed himself to his voyageurs; and the exposures incident to his voyage so late in the season had aggravated his disease. His hemorrhage returned, but with the return of spring the disease relented. He then proceeded to the Indian town, where he gathered about him the chiefs and their followers and proclaimed the mysteries of the faith. Returning to Chicago, he embarked for Mackinac, circling the head of the lake, and then coasting along its eastern shore to where a small stream discharges itself into the great reservoir, south of the conspicuous promontory known as the "Sleeping Bear." His disease had returned and he lay prostrate in the canoe. The warm breath of spring revived him not, and the bursting buds failed to attract his dimmed eye. He was aware that his hour had come, and requested his voyageurs to land. Tenderly they bore him to the bank of the stream and built for his shelter a bark hut. Calmly he gave directions as to the mode of his burial, craved the forgiveness of his companions if in aught he had offended, administered to them the sacrament, and thanked God that it had been vouchsafed to him to die in the wilderness. As the night stole on he insisted that they rest, saying that he would call them as the final hour approached. Two hours after they heard his feeble cry, and as they reached his side they found him in the last agony. This was on the 18th of May, 1675. Upon the bank of the stream which bears his name they dug his grave and buried him as directed; but this was not destined to be his final restingplace. A party of Ottawas a year or two afterwards, being in the vicinity, opened the grave and placed the relics in a birchen box. They then conveyed them in a canoe, escorted by many others, to St. Ignace; and as the Indians approached the shore, wailing their rude funeral songs, priests, neophytes, and traders, all gathered to receive the sacred trust, which was deposited with solemn ceremonies beneath the floor of the chapel in which the good missionary had so often administered the rites of his religion. Such is a brief abstract of the career of two remakable men, as recorded in the volume under review. THE WOMAN WHO DARED. By Epes Sargent. Boston: Roberts Brothers. Chicago: W. B. Keen & Cooke. 12mo. pp. 270. We might with great justice quote the language of a once famous reviewer, and say that this poem belongs to the class "which neither gods nor men are said to permit." While there are many passages which evince high art, we do not know when we have seen such a quantity of matter which is nothing but measured prose-and not always accurately measured at that. While it is pretty difficult to define what poetry really is, yet there is supposed to be required a certain elevation of thought, and a certain play of the fancy irradiating the whole, as the sunlight at eve changes the murky vapors into hues of gold and crimson. We are at a loss to conceive how the most commonplace sentiments, such as we hear in the shops, on the farm, at the bench, and in the factory, arranged in metrical form, and without any marked recurring cadence, should be dignified with the name of poetry. We insert a few extracts which, using a printer's phrase, we will "run on," and we think it will puzzle the reader to scan the lines and fix the capitals. We are of the opinion that the age of really great poets has passed away forever, that science and the practical arts of life are fatal to the cultivation of the imagination; and yet those who cultivate this faculty should ever bear in mind that their only hope of being re membered by posterity, is to invest great thoughts in concise graphic phrases. They should not indulge in mere wordiness, but should give us the essence, aye, the quintessence of things. But to the extracts, taken almost at random: "We'll corner the 'old man,' and his bald head shan't save him. By the way, if you want money let me be your banker; I'm well content to risk a thousand dollars on the result of my experiment." "Now the discourse slid off to women's rights; for Lothian held a newspaper which told of some convention, the report of which might raise a smile. One of the lady speakers, it seems, would give her sex the privilege of taking the initiative in wooing, if so disposed." This we regard as prose, and very bald prose at that. Occasionally, however, we have a brilliant passage: "The ocean billows melted into one, And that stretched level as a marble floor. THE POLAR WORLD. By Dr. G. Hertwig, Author of "The Sea and its Living Wonders," "The Harmonies of Nature," and "The Tropical World." With additional chapters and 163 Illustrations. New York: Harper & Brothers. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co. Crown 8vo. pp. 486. This is a reprint of an English work, with many illustrations substituted which from time to time have appeared in "Harper's Magazine." It is not a work of original research, but a very wellexecuted compendium of the researches of others in the circumpolar regions. It is an encyclopedia of the existing knowledge, useful to those who would gain a general idea of the physical geography of those regions, but not specific enough to satisfy the student in any department of natural history. We have graphic descriptions of the Barren Grounds or Tundri; of the quadrupeds and birds; of ice-action as seen in the glacier, the berg, and the hummock; of marine animals like the whale, grampus, walrus, seal, polar bear, etc; while, too, the inhabitants of the high latitudes are described. We have a succinct account of nearly all those navigators who at various times have traversed those mysterious seas. Dr. Hertwig has performed his task with great judgment, and the result is a book which ought to be in every popular library. BOOKS RECEIVED. GERMAN TALES. By Berthold Auerbach. Handy-Volume Series. Boston: Roberts Brothers. Chicago: The Western News Company. 16mo. pp. 352. THE LAKE SHORE SERIES OF STORIES. "On Time," "Through by Daylight," "Lightning Express," and "Switch Off." By Oliver Optic. Boston: Lee & Shepard. Chicago: W. B. Keen & Cooke. 4 vols. 16mo. pp. 282, 288, 300, 312. ADVENTURES ON THE GREAT HUNTINGGROUNDS OF THE WORLD. By Victor Meunier. Illustrated with Twentytwo Wood-Cuts. New York: Charles Scribner & Co. Chicago: Hadley, Hill & Co. 16mo. pp. 297. SYBARIS, AND OTHER HOMES. By E. E. Hale. Boston: Fields, Osgood & Co. For sale by all booksellers. 16mo. pp. 206. THE WRITINGS OF MADAME SWETCHINE. Translated from the French. By Harriet W. Preston. Boston: Roberts Brothers. Chicago: The Western News Company. 16mo. pp. 255. LIVING THOUGHTS. A Selection of Prose and Poetry. Boston: Lee & Shepard. Chicago: Cobb, Pritchard & Co. 16mo. pp. 246. HOW CHARLEY ROBERTS BECAME A By MAN. Charley Roberts Series. the Author of "Forrest Mills, A Prize Story." Boston: Lee & Shepard. Chicago: W. B. Keen & Cooke. 16mo. pp. 256. THE POETICAL WORKS OF JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. Diamond EditionComplete. Boston: Fields, Osgood & Co. For sale by all booksellers. 32mo. pp. 437. THE VILLAGE ON THE CLIFF; with other Stories and Sketches. By Anne Isabella Thackeray. Household Edition. Boston: Fields, Osgood & Co. For sale by all booksellers. 16mo. pp. 277. HESTER STRONG'S LIFE-WORK; or, The Mystery Solved. By Mrs. S. A. Southworth, Author of "Lawrence Monroe," etc. Boston: Lee & Shepard. Chicago: The Western News Company. 16mo. pp. 453. ECHOES FROM HOME. A Collection of Songs, Ballads, and other Home Poetry. By the Editor of "Chimes for Childhood." Illustrated by Hammatt Billings. Boston: Lee & Shepard. Chicago: Cobb, Pritchard & Co. 16mo. pp. 228. How EVA ROBERTS GAINED HER EDU- THE YOUNG DETECTIVE; or, Which THE SUNSET-LAND; or, The Great Pacific Slope. By Rev. John Todd, D. D. Boston: Lee & Shepard. Chicago: W. B. Keen & Cooke. 16mo. pp. 322. DOTTY DIMPLE'S FLYAWAY. By Sophie May, Author of "Little Prudy Stories." Illustrated. Boston: Lee & Shepard. Chicago: W. B. Keen & Cooke. 32mo. pp. 200. THE ATLANTIC ALMANAC for 1870. Boston: Fields, Osgood & Co. For sale by all booksellers. CHIT-CHAT. THEODORE PARKER Was a man in whom were combined many commanding as well as enviable traits. He had the heroism of a martyr, and would have cheerfully gone to the stake to vindicate a principle. He had all the stern resolution of the Puritan, without his bigotry; all his self-sacrificing devotion, without his fanaticism. While we do not sympathize with his religious views, yet we can not impugn the sincerity of his convictions, nor deny that his course was such as was necessary to vindicate religious freedom. We believe that it was Jefferson who said that error is harmless where truth is left free to combat it. Nothing is to be feared from full and free discussion. The men who on each Lord's day filled Music Hall in Boston-the largest audience-room in the city-were not infidels, but earnest reformers connected with the great movements of the day. When Parker fell, the Music Hall organization fell with it. The concession of a principle had destroyed its vitality. In those days we would occasionally drop in upon that assembly. In looking over the large crowd, there were not there the gay and frivolous, but the venerable and reflective; and one could pick out very many who were eminent in the various walks of life. No preacher in America addressed a more intellectual congregation. The pulpit consisted simply of a table, on which were placed, even in midwinter, a bouquet of flowers. At the appointed hour would step forward a man not above the medium hight, spectacled, bald-headed, the apex of his head shining like an iceberg in the sun. After a brief prayer he would give out, perhaps, Longfellow's "Psalm of Life:" There "Tell me not in mournful numbers Life is but an empty dream." Then would follow the sermon. was nothing sensational; in fact there was a paucity of gesture and intonation on the part of the speaker. It was a purely intellectual feast that was presented to the guests. As he assailed some crying wrong or exposed some miserable sophism, a smile might be seen to spread over the countenances of the audience, and even reach an audible laugh. It was a smile of admiration-such a one as a medical student may be disposed to give when he sees a skillful anatomist perform a delicate operation, the patient stretched upon the dissecting-table before him; the keen blade, the incision, laying bare the flesh and integuments, the extraction of the tumor, and the operator cool and indifferent to the writhings of the patient. The Music Hall audiences enjoyed a satisfaction akin to this as Parker dissected the vices of modern society. If any one doubt his power as a moral anatomist, let him read his discourse on Daniel Webster. Never was there such a cutting-up and taking to pieces of the reputation of a great man. It was a most merciless excoriation. At that day the gravity and respectability of Boston were enlisted, if not in upholding, at least in palliating, the enormity of slavery; and it required some audacious hand, in imitation of the Roundheads of old, to enter the temples and mutilate and overthrow the idols of popular worship. That office Parker performed. mixed up with the attempted rescue, and a jury, under the manipulations of Hallett, was found pliant enough to bring in an indictment against him for high treason! Think of this, O posterity! in the light of subsequent events, when such arch-traitors as Jeff. Davis, Breckenridge, and Toombs, who involved the country in a war which cost millions of lives and billions of treasure, go "unwhipped of justice," while a comparatively quiet parson up in Massachusetts was indicted for the highest crime known to the law, in that he had aided and abetted in the escape of a fugitive slave! The indictment, we believe, fell through upon some mere technical defect. There were many who would have been glad, to use a somewhat expressive phrase, to "squelch" him out. The orthodox church, and even that church from whose portals he had gone forth, frowned upon him. Beacon street recognized him not; the "eminently respectable" would have placed a ban upon him; and finally the power of the judiciary of the United States was invoked to suppress a pestilent agitator. A Curtis was on the bench-one of a race never remarkably notable for devotion to popular rights-and Ben Hallett, an unscrupulous servant of the slave-power, was district-attorney. We are not quite sure that we can recall all the attendant circumstances, and it would be a cheerless task to go back and hunt up musty documents to show what steps were taken by the dominant politicians, aided by the federal judiciary, to compel the people of Massachusetts "to conquer their prejudices." The Fugitive Slave law had been enacted, and its vigorous enforcement was demanded by the politicians of the South as a condition precedent to their remaining in the Union. An attempt to rescue Anthony Burns, a slave and a fugitive, had been made under the very shadow of the Boston court-house. Southern politicians heard the news with sneering indignation; northern politicians with undisguised dismay. In the very first attempt to enforce that nicely-adjusted scheme of despotism for which Clay had labored and Webster had sacrificed his manhood, and which was deemed essential to the perpetuation of the Union, "the powers that be" had nearly met with a signal overthrow. A manacled slave, convicted of no crime other than a desire to assert his personal liberty, sent from Boston, the hot-bed of isms, to the South- and thus have time and opportunity to would be regarded as a most grateful propitiation, a sweet savor in the nostrils of her politicians. In some way Theodore Parker became While these proceedings were pending, one morning strolling through Boston Common in company with Anson Burlingame-who now occupies the most distinguished diplomatic position in the world, and who, as a Massachusetts politician, was a most ardent anti-slavery man-we met Theodore Parker. Interchanging the ordinary salutations, we deprecated not only the present annoyances to which he was subjected, but adverted to the really serious consequences which might ensue. "Give yourselves no uneasiness, gentlemen," responded Parker. "When this thing first flashed upon me I thought as you do. The idea of being forcibly torn away from my home, my books, my friends, my morning walks, and immured within the four walls of a dungeon, was terrible; but then I consoled myself with the thought that it was all for the best. In prison I shall have ample time for meditation. surround myself with books. I shall be excluded from the exterior world, I can meditate my defense, which will consist of an octavo volume of about three hundred and seventy pages." We believe that among his collected |