Ohio History Journal

378        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.

 

friend and ardent admirer of and deep sympathizer with John Brown.

He wrote her a letter the night before his execution, expressing his

appreciation of her long friendship and his perfect resignation to his

fate. Well do we remember, though at that time but a child of eight,

how on the morning of December 2, after the breakfast meal, that

mother at the morning invocation, broke forth in a fervent prayer that

Divine Providence would sustain John Brown in the ordeal through

which, in a few hours he was to pass, and bless the cause for which he

was to die. Thousands of such petitions ascended throughout the land.

John Brown's execution was a triumphant apotheosis. He suffered

death upon the scaffold. It was an unparalleled exhibition of consecrated

heroism in behalf of the cause of freedom. His soul went marching on

and led the armies of liberty and humanity to the sublimest victory

the world has ever witnessed.

John Brown is one of the great characters of history. He had a

prophetic soul, the fortitude and faith of the Christian martyrs. His

life and deeds will shine brighter and brighter throughout the ages. The

story of his life, with all its undercurrents and its subtle influences and

tendencies, has not yet been told. Mr. Von Hoist has touched upon

the philisophy of his life. Mr. Sanborn has thrown much light upon

the events of his career. Mr. Redpath has concisely related the main

facts. But the proper historian of John Brown has not yet appeared, per-

haps he is not yet born. Mr. Connelley's book admirably accomplishes

the purpose for which it was put forth. It should be read by all students

of John Brown. It is published by Crane & Co., Topeka, Kansas.

 

 

BURKE AARON HINSDALE.

Burke Aaron Hinsdale, born at Wadsworth, Ohio, March 31, 1837,

died at Atlanta, Georgia, November 29, 1900. His ancestors were New

England Puritans. His parents came from Connecticut to the Western

Reserve in 1812. Burke was raised upon the farm. He had an irre-

sistible desire for scholarship. At the age of sixteen he made his way

to Hiram Hill, where the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (afterwards

Hiram College) had been opened three years before. For thirty years,

as student and professor, Mr. Hinsdale was identified with this insti-

tution. Young Garfield was a fellow student, and there sprang up be-

tween them a firm and sympathetic friendship, broken only by the tragic

death of Garfield. Professor Hinsdale was a close and accurate scholar.

Possessed of a remarkable memory and an omniverous reader, he be-

came a man of most extensive and useful information. He was a

natural educator. He became President of Hiram College (1870), was

ordained to the Christian ministery. For years associate editor of the

Christian Standard. His capacity for work and powers of endurance,

almost incredible. He lectured, preached, edited, talked and wrote books

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Comments, Notes and Reviews.                  379

 

to an astonishing extent. In 1882 he was made superintendent of the

schools of Cleveland. He became famous throughout the country as au-

thority upon the questions touching our public schools, their manage-

ment, the courses of study, discipline of the pupils and general training

of the youth. In 1888 he was called to the chair of the Science and Art

of Teaching at the University of Michigan. This position he filled with

great ability until the time of his death. Some of his published works

are "The Genuineness and Authenticity of the Gospels," "The Jewish

Christian Church," "Ecclesiastical Traditions," "Schools and Studies,"

"Campaign Text Book for 1880," "President Garfield and Education,"

"Garfield's Life and Works" (2 Vols.), "The Old Northwest," "The

American Government," "How to Teach and Study History," "Jesus as

a Teacher," "Teaching the Language Arts," "Studies in Education,"

"Civil Government of Ohio," "Life of Horace Mann," "The Art of

Study," "A History of the University of Michigan." A monograph on

the "Training of Teachers" which he wrote was awarded a medal at the

late Paris Exposition. Besides the above he contributed extensively to

educational journals and reviews. Several valuable articles in the early

numbers of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications, were

from his pen. He took a deep and constant interest in this Society, and

only a short time before his death, did the writer of these lines receive

a letter from Prof. Hinsdale concerning some work he wished to do for us.

He was a veritable encyclopedia upon the events of the early history of

Ohio. He received academic honors from Williams College, Bethany Col-

lege, Hiram College, Ohio University and Ohio State University. He

was a member of many educational, historical and literary societies. He

was a most genial and companionable man; a most entertaining con-

versationalist, brimming over with information upon almost any topic.

The writer has spent many a delightful hour in his company. He was

deep in sympathy with young men, their struggles, their difficulties, their

aims, their triumphs. To his pupils he was always warm-hearted, help-

ful and encouraging. He was the true tutor, not only informing, but

inspiring. There are few whose lives are so rounded out and so fruitful

as was that of Burke Aaron Hinsdale.

 

 

OUR SOCIETY LIBRARY is much enriched by a complete set of the Old

South Leaflets. These leafllets are reprints of important original papers

(lectures and essays), accompanied by useful historical and bibliograph-

ical notes. They are edited by Edwin D. Mead, the wellknown au-

thor and scholar. They are published under the auspices of the Direc-

tors of the Old South Work, Old South Meeting House, Boston, Mass.

These leaflets now embrace a hundred different subjects, each one of them

of importance and interest in American History, chiefly of the New Eng-

land pioneer period. They may be obtained in single leafllets for five

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