She places the study of history upon a moral basis, as
it shows "the great lines of tendency which make for righteousness and
justice and human freedom." "To comprehend is higher than to remember,"
is her text, and she adds some valuable advice to the teacher of
children: "With the growing complexity of life and events it is becoming
an impossible task for the memory to carry the increasing burden of
details; and even if it succeeds in performing this feat, it is at the
expense of a clear and intelligent comprehension of the meaning of the
whole. We may succeed in reducing the mental structure to a mere
storehouse. But if in achieving this the mind has lost the power to
grasp, and to combine, its acquisitions have been dearly purchased."
Mindful of Huxley's definition of culture, that it "must consist of
criticism and comparison," Mrs. Parmele sweeps away all secondary
details, all the less important incidents, and proceeds to her narrative
of Columbus's discovery, the colonial period, the founding of our
Republic, and its subsequent life down to the present year, with the
simple directness of a dramatist; there is no halting in her impetuous
relation; it is infused throughout with the same degree of philosophical
ardor, and one follows as one does a wonder tale the rapid sequence of
events, tracing with an awakened interest the national issues, which,
presented in this new, concise, imaginative way, take on a fresh, an
enchanting charm.
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