George Whitefield Chadwick. Abbott Lawrence Lowell. Augustus Thomas. William Roscoe Thayer. Robert Grant. Frederick MacMonnies. William Gillette. Paul Elmer More. The deceased members, likewise in the order of their elec tion, are: William Dean Howells. Samuel Langhorne Clemens.. Edward MacDowell. Charles Follen McKim. Henry Adams. Charles Eliot Norton. John Quincy Adams Ward. Thomas Raynesford Lounsbury. Theodore Roosevelt. Richard Watson Gilder. Horace Howard Furness. John Bigelow. Alfred Thayer Mahan. Edward Everett Hale. Daniel Coit Gilman. Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Donald Grant Mitchell. Andrew Dickson White. Julia Ward Howe. Francis Hopkinson Smith. Henry Charles Lea. William Merritt Chase. Hamilton Wright Mabie. Bronson Howard. Thomas Nelson Page. William Vaughn Moody. Abbott Handerson Thayer. Charles Francis Adams. Henry Mills Alden. John White Alexander. William Dean Howells, who occupied Chair 1, was president of the American Academy from the time of organization until his death in 1920, when Booth Tarkington was elected as the second incumbent of Chair 1. The present officers are: President, William Milligan Sloane; Chancellor, Brander Matthews; Secretary, Robert Underwood Johnson; Treasurer, Thomas Hastings; Directors, the officers and Nicholas Murray Butler, Hamlin Garland, Cass Gilbert, Archer Milton Huntington, and Augustus Thomas. In March, 1923, the academy took possession of its handsome new home on West 155th Street, New York City, near the Hudson River. SOME INTERESTING PROBLEMS (GIVE GOOD REASONS FOR YOUR DECISIONS) CHAPTER I. IN DAYS OF OLD 1. If you had lived in colonial times, would you have preferred to dwell in Virginia or in Massachusetts ? 2. If Cotton Mather and Samuel Sewall had been your neighbors, with which one would you have been more friendly? 3. In what respects did Penn's attitude toward the Indians resemble Woolman's attitude toward negro slaves? 4. Have you ever been cruel to birds or beasts, as young John Woolman was to the mother robin? 5. What traits in Franklin's character account for his becoming a successful business man? 6. Which of the proverbs quoted from Poor Richard's Almanac are most likely to help you in shaping your career? 7. What inspiration can a poor boy get from the earlier chapters of Franklin's Autobiography? CHAPTER II. THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 8. What qualities do you admire in such leaders as James Otis and Patrick Henry? 9. If you had been a member of the Continental Congress, would you have signed the Declaration of Independence? 10. Does the Declaration of Independence proclaim any great principle that we have failed to observe? 11. What kind of persons were the "summer soldier" and the “sunshine patriot" that Paine mentions in The Crisis? 12. Which of the matters emphasized by Washington in his "Farewell Address" do you regard as most important? 13. Which of Washington's warnings to the young republic have we had occasion to remember in recent years? 14. What characteristics in the verses quoted from Freneau justify us in calling him " 'a true poet"? 15. Do you believe Crèvecœur was right in asserting that a new race of men was being created in America? 16. What, according to Crèvecœur, are the advantages of being an American? CHAPTER III. THE AWAKENING OF NEW YORK 17. Why did the older families of New York City resent the publication of Irving's History of New York? 18. Is it customary for Americans to take pleasure in poking fun at their ancestors? 19. What circumstances helped to make Irving a more genial man than Cooper? 20. Is a quarrelsome disposition likely to be reflected in an author's literary work? 21. Does Bryant's "Thanatopsis" seem like the kind of poetry that a youth of eighteen would naturally write? 22. How do you account for the great popularity of Bryant's little poem "To a Waterfowl"? 23. Name some other writers who, like Bryant, abandoned the legal profession for literature. 24. Why is Bryant's later poetry neglected by most readers to-day? CHAPTER IV. AN ADVENTURE IN PHILOSOPHY 25. If you had been editor of The Dial, would you have felt discouraged by its small circulation? 26. Would you care to live for a few years in such a social community as Brook Farm? 27. Why do such experiments in social reorganization usually turn out to be failures? 28. What benefits could a man like Emerson get from travelling in Europe? 29. If you had a chance to go abroad, which countries would you pre fer to visit? 30. Would you try to meet distinguished men abroad, or merely visit places of interest? 31. What inspiring ideas can an ambitious youth derive from Emerson's Essays? |