a country with such exemplars is indeed one to
awaken envy, and he will not forget the brave souls who followed where
they led. I like to think of the Memorial Day orator, speaking thirty
years ago with his mind full of the Civil War and our Revolution, giving
utterance to these noble words of Pericles: "I would have you day by
day fix your eyes upon the greatness of your country, until you become
filled with love of her; and when you are impressed by the spectacle of
her glory, reflect that this empire has been acquired by men who knew
their duty and had the courage to do it; who in the hour of conflict had
the fear of dishonor always present to them; and who, if ever they
failed in an enterprise, would not allow their virtues to be lost to
their country, but freely gave their lives to her as the fairest
offering which they could present at her feast. They received each one
for himself a praise which grows not old, and the noblest of all
sepulchers. For the whole earth is the sepulcher of illustrious men; not
only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions in their own
country, but in foreign lands there dwells also an unwritten memorial of
them, graven not on stone, but in the hearts of men."

[1] President's Inaugural Address, American Historical Association,
Boston, December 27, 1899; printed in the Atlantic Monthly of
February, 1900.

[2] Since this essay was first printed I have seen the authenticity
of this portrait statue questioned.

CONCERNING THE WRITING OF HISTORY

Address delivered at the Meeting of the American Historical Association
in Detroit, December, 1900.

CONCERNING THE WRITING OF HISTORY

Called on at the last moment, owing to the illness of Mr. Eggleston, to
take the place of one whose absence can never be fully compensated, I
present to you a paper on the writing of history. It is in a way a
continuance of my inaugural address before this association one year
ago, and despite the continuity of the thought I have endeavored to
treat the same subject from a different point of view. While going over
the same ground and drawing my lessons from the same historians, it is
new matter so far as I have had the honor to present it to the American
Historical Association.

A historian, to make a mark, must show some originality somewhere in his
work. The originality may be in a method of investigation; it may be in
the use of some hitherto inacc