Samuel Griswold Goodrich [pp. 736-739]

738 Saue GrsodGorih OTB
out-a prevailing philosophy, viz: that fiction is
the only sugar-plum that can tempt children over
the barriers to mental exertion, was to be discarded.
Nor is this all. The mind and character of
childhood, was to be thoroughly understood. That
subtlest of all philosophy, the taste, aptitude and
capacity of the waking spirit, was to be mastered;
and beyond this, the art of dealing with it, was to
be possessed. This latter power, the power of
communicating a great variety of ideas by the simple and stinted vocabulary of words understood by
children-the power of rejecting idiomatic expressions and forms of speech not likely to be understood, and of selecting those only which would be
comprehended, was alike indispensable, and of rare
occurrence.
In all these qualities, necessary to success in
dealing with childhood, Mr. Goodrich excels. He
has, therefore, furnished an example of style, which
has now become a sort of standard in juvenile literature. He has as many imitators on both sides
of the Atlantic, as ever followed in the wake of
Scott or Byron. But this is not the only point in
which he is qualified for the task of the reform upon
which he entered, and which he has so well accomplished. He possesses a dramatic talent and
power of description, which have largely entered
into the secret of his success. The character of
Peter Parley is drawn with a verisimilitude, quite
equal to that of Robinson Crusoe. The real existence of such a person, has fastened itself upon the
readers of the books issued under his name, with a
firmness of conviction that can hardly be shaken
off. At the same time, the cheerfulness, benevolence, condescension and piety of the good old man,
have given him grace in the eyes of all; and many
an eye has glistened, many a lip quivered in believing sympathy with his pains and pleasures. In
illustration of the dramatic and descriptive talent
displayed in these works, we will make an extract
from Parley's Tales about America:
"At length the morning came, and the chief of the tribe
arrived, with several other Indians. He was an old man,
but still strong and active. The Indians told him of my
capture, and attempt to escape, and asked him what should
be my fate. Having heard the story, he came near to me,
and in a stern voice, he spoke as follows:
"White man, listen to me! Once the red man was king
over these woods and waters. The mountains and rivers
were then the red man's, and then he was rich and happy.
"At length, the white men, thy fathers, came. The red
men bade them welcome. But they were ungrateful and
treacherous. When they grew strong, they drove the red
men over the mountains, and took their lands-and I was
still the white man's friend.
"But see here," said he, pointing to a scar on his breast,
'this is the mark of a white man's bullet. I had harmed hin
not-I had lived among the white men, and served them.
But tey shot at me as if I were a wild-cat.
rWhite man," said he, "listen! I was once the white
maii's friend-I am now his enemy. Think no more of escape. This hour you shall die."
" Chief," said I, "do as you like. If it is God's will that
I die, I shall die contented. My father was a friend to the
red man, and his son has never harmed them.
" My father saved the life of a red man, and now you will
kill his son. If it will make an Indian chief happy to spill
the blood of one who saved a red man's life, then kill meI am ready to die.
"And my soul will go to the Great Spirit, and will say
to Him,'My father was a benefactor to the red man, and
they murdered his son!'
"Speak," said the Chief, " Where did your father live!"
"In Boston," said 1.
"And who was the Indian whose life he saved?"
"His name was Wampum," I replied.
"White man," said he, i look at me, I am Wampum! I
know you. You were the boy who came to my wigwvam at
Holyoke. You were the boy who went with me to the
Great Falls. It was your father who saved my life! And
shall I suffer his son to die?
"Brethren," said Wampum, speaking to the Indians, "I
was a stranger in a distant city of the white men-I drank
their fire-water, and it made me wild "1 struck a sailor, and he was angry. He came upon me
with twelve men. They beat me down, and trampled on
me. They would have killed mne, but a white man with
a strong arm, beat them off. The friend of the red men
saved my life. Here is his son-shall he die?"
The Indians answered by untying my hands and feet"Go," said Wampum, "go to your friends and tell them
that the red men will not forget kindness.
"Tell them that we will repay to the children the good
deeds of their fathers. We war only with the wicked; we
seek only the blood of our enemies."
It will be perceived, that here is not only simplicity, but force of thought; the power of putting
such thought into the minds of children, and, at the
same time, of furnishing it, constitutes talent of a
high order.
We have said, that Mr. Goodrich had taught the
lesson that truth may be made attractive to youth;
yet it is to be remarked, that he has by no means
discarded the use of imagination as an instrument
for teaching and training the understanding. It is
by the power of imagination, indeed, that he is in
a great degree indebted for his success. The character of Parley is a fiction, yet the inculcation of
truth is the object and result of the whole. The
power of rendering fiction subservient to truth-of
using the fancy in such a manner as to make it the
servant, and not the master, of the understandingis Mr. Goodrich's highest qualification. As an illustration of this, we quote the following lines, and
close our review with the general remark, that
while hIis works for children are the best that have
been produced, the perusal of them has still given
great pleasure to minds of the highest grade, both
for natural endowment and cultivation. The same
talent devoted to these, exerted in a higher sphere
of literature, had insured success to the possessor:
THE SAGE AND LINNET: A FABLE.
A wise old man, one Summner's day,
Was walking in a. lonely woodAnd there, upon a leafless spray,
A linnet sang ill solittudle.
738
Samuel Griswold Goodrich.
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