Ohio History Journal

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Henry Howe, the Historian

Henry Howe, the Historian.            311

 

 

HENRY HOWE, THE HISTORIAN.

 

BY JOSEPH P. SMITH.*

 

"You don't find Ohio much like it was in the good old times

of forty years ago, do you, Mr. Howe?" asked an elderly gentle-

man, at Columbus, in 1886. He seemed well informed and intel-

ligent, but inclined to mournfully, disparage the present.

"' Those who compare the age on which their lot has fallen

with a golden age which exists only in their imagination may

talk of degeneracy and decay,"' cheerily answered the venerable

author, quoting, half unconsciously, the words of the greatest

of historians, "' but no man who is correctly informed as to the

past will be disposed to take a morose or desponding view of the

present.' Since 1840 Ohio has doubled her population and quad-

rupled her wealth, but the average of intelligence among her

people is greater, and that of morality and sobriety higher now

than it was then. The world gets wiser and better every day;

so does Ohio."

Such was the genial spirit in which this kindly, confiding,

and innocent man always wrote or spoke; always hopeful and

helpful, even humorous and gay, amid difficulties and embarrass-

ments that would have crushed a weaker nature, and made the

stoutest heart sick and despondent. With the highest respect

and veneration for the great men and grand work of the past, he

was proud of the enterprise and progress of the present, and

looked confidently forward to a still nobler civilization in the

future. "Human life never had such a full cup," he was fond

of saying, "as in these our days of expanding knowledge and

humanities." Such an observer could not but kindly appreciate

"the age (and place) on which his lot had fallen," and do ample

justice to opportunity and occasion.

Nor did he labor in vain. Poor he may always have been,

distressed he frequently was, but unappreciated he did not

remain, and ages hence will not be. His gain in this regard, at

 

*Librarian Ohio State Library.