And thus, with kindly souls that pass From strength to strength this pilgrim went With grace that ne'er forsook him, Till suddenly, at break of day, He was not, for God took him. We tell our loss, we bear our pain, For life so large and fruit so fair Our God, the giver, praising; The heart must bleed, the tears must fall, The sweet within the bitter. Brethren of this church, of these churches, friends and neighbors all, it is no extravagance to say that not only ou churches, but many of our homes, all our good causes, this whole city, indeed, is made distinctly poorer by the departure of our friend. All things pure and honorable and of good report have lost a true lover, a strong helper. From that fund of active friendliness and sympathy which makes social life possible some serious deduction has been made. Is there not need that we, that all of us, should charge ourselves with the duty of repairing what we can of this loss-so that the ranks of those. who care for the good fame of this city shall stand firmly and move forward; so that the standards of honorable business shall not be lowered, and they who give their lives to the services of charity shall not lose heart, and the heralds of sweetness and light shall speak not to heedless ears; so that the heavy laden may be cheered and comforted, and the lonely may not lack a friend, and the way be kept open for the beautiful feet of those who come proclaiming peace on earth and good will to men. 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 gentleman, at Columbus, in 1886. He seemed well informed and intelligent, but inclined to mournfully disparage the present. 666 "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 quadrupled 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 embarrassments 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. least, is not entirely incommensurate with his deserts. Certainly no name is more familiarly or so indelibly associated with Ohio history as Henry Howe's, and none is so certain to be devotedly cherished for earnest, faithful, and unselfish work in preserving the annals of a great State. His name has been a household word in the homes of Ohio people, wherever scattered, for half a century, and the chief events of his career are well known to them; yet it is a privilege and pleasure always to record the incidents of so beautiful and useful a life, and never without interest and advantage to review the career of one who consecrated himself to so grand an object. He tells us that his purpose was not merely to compile an abstract of written or printed official records, of easy access in any period, but rather to tell as simply as possible the story of the founding and development of Ohio, in the very words and accents, and with all the pride and enthusiasm, of the brave and sturdy pioneers, the noble and heroic men and women, who made the State great and prominent from the day of its birth. He did not aspire "to the high literary merit, the dignified style, the generalization of facts, the philosophical deductions of regular history." On the contrary, he studied "simplicity," "fullness of detail," and the introduction "of minor, but interesting incidents," which the more ambitious histories "could not step aside to notice," while at all times he "avoided the philosophy which only the scholastic can comprehend." He sought to present a work that would contain "something adapted to all ages, classes, and tastes," so that if the unlettered even should stop to examine the volume, they, too, in many instances, could derive gratification from the pictorial representation of their native villages-of perhaps the very dwellings in which they first drew breath, and around which entwined early and cherished associations." This was something new and far ahead of the times in authorship and book-making. Indeed, Mr. Howe may be said to have been the pioneer author, teacher, and leader of the whole country in the important mission of preparing and inspiring town, county, and State histories. great commonwealths-New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and Ohio- he himself collected invaluable materials for the State at |