MANKATO HISTORICAL PAGEANT, JULY 4, 1916. BY CLARA E. WILLARD, MANKATO, MINN. July fourth of this year there was presented in the little city of Mankato, Minn., a historical pageant which may be of some interest to history teachers, especially in the Central West. By way of introduction, let me say that Mankato is a spot of great local historical interest, since Le Sueur landed there, and also since it was the scene of the execution of the thirty-eight Indians found most guilty in the great Sioux massacre of the early sixties. The city has also been settled by a number of different nationalities, and each of these, here as elsewhere in our country, has made an interesting contribution to our national life and traditions. Many different organizations helped to produce the final result. Each took charge of a certain episode; as, for example, the Clio and Art History Clubs were responsible for the coming of Le Sueur. Yet, though each division worked independently, the whole production was very harmonious. Eight hundred persons took part-the majority of them volunteering their services. Local talent was used, except that in a few cases the lineal descendants of cerItain historical characters were invited to come from other places to impersonate their ancestors. The occasion was made in this and other ways a real "home-coming" day. No class distinctions were observed. Some one was heard to say in wonderment after a certain beautiful chorus had been given, "Why, those fellows are nothing but ordinary working-men! Really the way in which everything was planned typified the true spirit of America, co-operation of all races and kinds of people for the common weal. The place in which the pageant was held was the meeting-place of the Blue Earth and Minnesota Rivers, supposed to be the actual spot where Le Sueur landed. The acting was done on a large, mossy plain with a wooded mound as background. The first episode, or the coming of Le Sueur in 1700, showed an Indian village. Camp-fires were scattered here and there. Squaws were at work and papooses played merrily everywhere. The braves held a hunting dance, led by their chief, Mankato. In the midst of the festivities French boat songs were heard in the distance. The Indians stopped to listen and gradually fell back prepared to defend themselves as a little band of white men, led by Le Sueur, entered. They were seeking the wonderful copper-bearing blue earth of which they had heard and wished for guides. The Indians refused to help them. Then the explorers unrolled strips of brightly-colored cloth, and the savages at once succumbed to the fascination, and led the new-comers on their way. The interlude between this and the next episode was, very appropriately, the Indian's prophetic lament for the fair hunting grounds which he felt sure the white man would soon wrest from him. The second episode represented the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, in 1851. The Indians came from all directions to the "Dance of the Thunder Bird." They had been suffering from excessive rainfall, as could plainly be seen by their closely drawn blankets and disconsolate faces. The medicine man raised an enormous wooden bird on high. As he repeated incantations his followers howled, leaped about in frenzy, and finally shot the bird. From the changed attitude of all it could be determined that the desired result had been brought about, and the sun was again shining brightly. At this favorable juncture the white men appeared, the pipe of peace was smoked, and, after much parleying, the treaty was signed. The interlude which followed was perhaps the most striking part of the pageant, and symbolized the meeting of the forest and the prairie, as indeed the city stood between the two in early days. Young girls dressed in dark green advanced from the right to represent the forest. They were met by an opposing sisterhood in light green, representing the grass of the prairie. With them were many little children in bright dresses of various colors. These were the prairie flowers. Among them came the pioneer farmer, and as he swung his sturdy sickle, green robes gave place to golden, and behold, the wheat field. This gradually pressed upon the forest till the latter faded away and disappeared. The third episode, or the settlement of Mankato, was supposed to take place in 1852. Four men drove up and laid out the town site. More settlers landed from a steamboat. Costumes were typical of the times-full hoop skirts and steeple-jack hats. A German band came next, and sang songs of the Fatherland. They were closely followed by the Welsh in their strange national costume. These sang hymns. The coming of the first mail was shown, and all crowded eagerly around the old stage-coach. Last came the naming of the town, Mankato, meaning, "blue earth." As the name was announced, the flag was run up on top of the bluff at the back of the tableau. The fourth episode followed at once. A model of the first schoolhouse slowly rose into place. Before it the children and their earliest teachers grouped themselves. They gazed upon a vision of what education was to mean to them and their descendants. The spirit of education entered and presented one by one the symbolic figures of music, science, art and literature. Then a group of children danced the dance of Joy, young women with lifted trombones and stately movements stood for Inspiration, and a long line of those who had helped the community, from the lumberman with his axe to the scholar in cap and gown, showed Achievement. The interlude which followed presented the earliest church and the actual bell which hung in its belfry. The services of the bell were symbolized by a group of young women representing the emotions called forth by Worship, the Fire, a Funeral, and a Wedding. Of these, perhaps the fire was most beautiful. Dressed in grayish purple to represent smoke, they circled and eddied about a swaying center of orange. For the fifth episode, the bugler sounded a call to arms. President Lincoln had asked for volunteers, and down the street came the boys in blue. The school children presented each soldier with a Testament, a flag was given to the company, and away they marched to Fort Snelling. The sixth episode was the Sioux outbreak of 1862. Smoke was seen and firing heard, refugees poured into the village coming in lumber wagons, prairie schooners, and even by ox team. Amid great excitement, a volunteer company was formed and marched away. They returned with their wounded and thirty-eight Indian prisoners. These stolidly received their sentence of death, and were marched away to await their hanging. The seventh episode represented a body of settlers who ing was so gradual, scenes came among us later on, the Scandinavians. As this comacross the sea were chosen rather than the actual arrival of these people in the North Star State. Swedish folk dances and a quaint Norwegian peasant wedding made up this part of the program. In closing, a tableau was given to show the spirit of the nation. America, draped with the flag, and surrounded ! In the "Nuova Antologia" for July, Prof. Agostino Rossi, of the University of Catania, gives "The Cause of the Overthrow of the Triple Alliance" to be the conflict of Italian and Austrian interests, and Germany's consideration of only the latter country's welfare. Gino C. Speranza-special correspondent of the "Outlook" in Italy, gives a vivid account of the brutality of the war in his "A Dead City." ("Outlook," September 6th.) George Townsend Warner's "The United States as a Neutral" ("Blackwood's," August) is not so much an account of the present attitude of the United States towards the European powers, as it is a study of the historical antecedents of that attitude. The anonymous portrait of Joffre in the September "Atlantic" is a charming account of a personal interview with the great General. The same issue contains J. B. W. Gardner's excellent summary of the second year of the war, which, he says, has left the Allies poorer in territory, but richer in experience and in the practical needs of the present, as well as in full possession of their material resources. Raymond Recouly (Captain X) publishes a clear and detailed account of the battle of Verdun in the September "Scribner's." The article was written in May of this year, and is perhaps the best account of the battle which has appeared thus far. Not the least of its merits are its excellent maps. The editor of the "National Review," L. J. Maxse, discusses "The Perils of Premature Peace" in the August number of that magazine. The relation of the Irish Rebellion to the war, and the inefficiency of the British ministry, are both likewise discussed. Mr. Maxse's general conclusion is that it would be a crime against civilization to declare peace until the war is carried to German soil, that the German people may have their share of the war's desolation. Louis Martin Sears' "The Puritan and His Indian Ward" ("American Journal of Sociology," July) is a splendid interpretation of the relations existing between the New England colonists and the Indians in the seventeenth century. The author says in conclusion: "In his conquest over primitive man and nature the Puritan girded his loins for that later combat with the problems of our democracy in which he has ever stood for progress. As for the vanquished, the vast concerns of the universe pause not to lament his fate. The future lies with the victor, and as we look backward through the years to the childhood of New England, we know it was for the best that she unfolded her destinies as a homogeneous people." In the "English Historical Review" for July, Herbert C. Bell discusses the British commercial policy in the West Indies, 1783-1793. The question of this period is how the British government contrived to preserve its old monopolist system and yet avoid the injuries to the West Indies. Mr. Bell answers this by the terms of Grenville's bill of 1783, which crystallized the operations of the ministry and enforced existing regulations which were the results of various experimental enabling acts. BOOK REVIEWS EDITED BY PROFESSOR WAYLAND J. CHASE, SWEETSER, ARTHUR. Roadside Glimpses of the Great War. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1916. Pp. 272. $1.25. This book is a narrative of the personal experiences of an American newspaperman during several weeks while the great German advance was pushing into France in September, 1915. He left Boston at the outbreak of the war, got to France late in August, and went to see some fighting for himself. He got to Lille before the Germans did, and riding a bicycle onward was in a little town when the Germans arrived. Then he bicycled in the wake of the advancing German host till it was checked at the Marne. On crossing into the French lines he was arrested as a spy, but secured his release after some delay. Later he tried to follow the French army, but was arrested as a spy and won release only after many trying experiences. Later he went to western Belgium just before the Germans took Antwerp. Mr. Sweetser's adventures were so unusual that without the photographic fac-similes of his passes and other identification papers, one might have difficulty in believing his story. He certainly presents a thrilling and vivid picture of conditions behind the lines of fast-marching armies. The book is thoroughly readable, and will surely interest the general public. Ohio State University. CLARENCE PERKINS. DODDS, MADELEINE HOPE, AND DODDS, RUTH. The Pilgrimage of Grace, 1536-1537, and the Exeter Conspiracy, 1538. Two volumes. Cambridge University Press, 1915. (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.) At first glance it would seem to be out of proportion to devote two large and sumptuous volumes to a narrative of historical events taking place in but one section of one country within a period of only two years. But this historical study justifies its proportions. So critical was the occasion, so complicated the occurrences, so full the surviving testimony, and with so much clarity and spirit has the story been told that one can only be grateful that these historical incidents have been so fully treated and that a fund exists than can publish such work without the presumable risk involved in the effort to make it commercially profitable. The Pilgrimage of Grace, although as a matter of fact entirely unsuccessful, represents an extreme crisis in the history of the Reformation in England. Almost en tirely personal and official as the English Reformation was, at least in its inception, a little better leadership of the northern rebels, a little more unanimity among the dissatisfied elements, and the whole movement might have been nipped in the bud, and if the Reformation had taken place at all, it would have followed an entirely different course. The great northern rebellion was a movement of mingled political, social and religious elements, and came to a close with the execution of its leaders and the establishment of the Council of the North. The conspiracy" which gives its second title to this book was merely an expression of the personal and religious discontent of the few surviving Yorkist nobility, raised to the dignity of a plot by the king and, Cromwell to give an excuse for sweeping possible rivals from Henry's path. The authors of this study have utilized with the greatest industry and skill all the surviving material for tracing and explaining these two movements. They are no admirers of Henry VIII, although they recognize his ability and his strength of character. His treatment of the north of England is thus described: "He found the north poor, and he robbed it of the only treasure it possessed in the wealth of the abbeys. He found it backward, and he nearly destroyed the only civilizing influence at work there, the Church. He found that the people cherished, among many faults, a few rude virtues, truthfulness, personal honor, fidelity to family and friends. He made no serious effort to reform their faults, but he did his best to eradicate their virtues." This extract may serve as an example of the style of the book as well as a judgment of the king. It is unusually well written and unusually interesting for so detailed and scientific an historical monograph. One has the feeling that here at least is a piece of historical work that will not have to be done again. University of Pennsylvania. E. P. CHEYNEY. KAHN, ALEXANDER. Life of General Joffre. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1915. Pp. 114. 50 cents. It is but a slender biography, yet it is timely and serves to supply some of the outlines of the picture of this famous son of a Pyrenean cooper, whose ancestor, a Spanish refugee, came to France in 1779. Born in 1852 he was early characterized by a love of study, and excelled especially in mathematics and drawing. In his sixteenth year he was put into a private school in Paris, and about two years later entered the Polytechnic. From this he as second lieutenant joined the army that in 1870 defended Paris against the Prussians. At twenty-four he earned a captaincy because of the excellence of fortifications constructed under his supervision. After many years of garrison life in France he was sent in 1886 to Indo-China as commander of sappers, and earned there the decoration of the Legion of Honor. In 1888 he returned to France, was attached to the staff of the general commanding the engineering branch of the army, and given title of commandant. In 1891 he was appointed to the chair of fortifications at the Artillery and Military Engineering School of Fontainebleau. Two years later he was assigned to railway building in the Soudan and achieved distinction by taking and holding Timbuktu under conditions that presented peculiar difficulties and perils. This success made him lieutenant-colonel, and the world began to be aware of him. To his fellow officers his thoroughness and foresight had long been known, as well as his habit of silence, and his imperturbability. With them his nickname is said to have been "Old System." Expert direction was needed by the French Government of fortification-construction in Madagascar, and he was sent to Diego-Suarez to create a fortified naval mety base there. Here he wrought so well as to make it a Prof "Gibraltar of strength" and to earn new military honors, being made General of Artillery in 1901. Since then honors and responsibilities have come rapidly, and in 1911 he was made Commander-in-Chief. BENEZET, L. P. The Story of the Map of Europe: Its Making and Its Changing. Chicago: Scott, Foresman & Co., 1916. Pp. 277. 60 cents. hi This little sketch of the causes of the Great War grew out of a series of talks of a city superintendent of schools, first to his pupils and eventually to others in the community. In five short chapters he delineates the remote Up background of the Europe of to-day with an account of a the rise and fall of Rome, and of the entrance upon the s stage of history of the ancestors of present-day Europeans.d Then in the succeeding fifteen chapters is presented the re sequence of events of modern history through which the European states developed, and the conditions and issues were shaped from which this war has sprung. The first e and last chapters treat of the causes of war in general and the remedy for it. The plan of the book is well conceived and well executed. It is simply and clearly written, and, P though not without worth for the general reader, is especially well adapted to pupils of the upper grades. Fiftysix illustrations of indifferent value and twenty-two maps of more than ordinary excellence are furnished. WHIPPLE, WAYNE. The Story Life of Napoleon. New York: The Century Co., 1914. Pp. 606. $2.40. It is announced that more than nine hundred stories about Napoleon are here reconciled and fitted together in t a complete and continuous biography." Examination shows that these stories have been gathered from very many sources which comprehend in their wide range of variety both those that are accredited and those that are discredited by critical historians. The gossip from the distrusted memoirs of Bourrienne is given equal place and authority with the extracts from the approved biographies of Rose and Sloane, and that which is untrue stands for the unknowing with equal stature side by side with that which is true. How, then, can the announced aim of this book be realized-" To reveal the true Napoleon to the casual reader and to the student? So far as high school libraries are concerned, better reference material on Napoleon than this is available. VAN DER ESSEN, LEON. A Short History of Belgium. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1916. Pp. 168. $1.00. At first the reader may think that this volume is a "war book." The author expressly disclaims this. Nevertheless his general survey of Belgian history from the time of the Romans up to now does help greatly to understand the conditions in Belgium. Till recent years most scholars have tried to follow the political history of Belgium and become involved in the local history of the various duchies and counties into which the country was divided. The author declares that "the national culture of Belgium is a synthesis, where one finds the genius of two races-the Romans and the Germanic-mingled, yet modified by the imprint of the distinctively Belgian." His history is a survey of the development of Belgian civilization rather than a political chronicle. Social and economic conditions are stressed, but especial emphasis is laid on Belgian struggle for liberty against feudal lords, against Spain, against www. LEES, BEATRICE ADELAIDE. Alfred the Great, the Truth Teller, Maker of England (848-899). New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1915. Pp. xv, 493. $2.50. Upon first looking over this life of Alfred, one is struck by certain unfortunate references-like the one to the Dark Ages—that give an uneasy feeling that this book, with such good press-work and illustrations, is perhaps only a popular compilation. But that this is far from the truth is evidenced by further reading. Professor Vinogradoff, for example, is one of the sponsors; and the bibliography and notes give evidence that Liebermann, Sedgefield, Chadwick, and other recent writers in this field, have been carefully consulted. Perhaps the scope of Miss Lees' study can be best shown in an analysis of the topics treated. Chapters I and II are devoted respectively to "Europe before Alfred the Great and " England before Alfred the Great." These occupy sixty pages. Then Chapters III, IV, V, VI, are given more particularly to Alfred, down to 886 (pp. 61-199). At this point come several studies: "The Alfredian State," "Alfredian Society," "Alfredian Literature (pp. 200-389). Two chapters cover the period from 887 to 899 (pp. 390432); and the concluding chapter is upon "The Myth of King Alfred" (pp. 433-466). Probably the chapters upon the States, Society and Literature will be found the most useful; but the others are necessary and delightful accessories. The footnotes, while not particularly frequent, are judicious and properly designed to indicate lines for further reading. There are about fifty well-chosen illustrations which add greatly to the charm and value of the work; especially the Map of Southern Britain in the Time of King Alfred" taken from Plummer's "Life and Times of Alfred the Great" (Ford Lectures for 1901), and the numerous fac-simile reproductions of contemporary manuscripts. Stanford University. HENRY L. CANNON. The phase of the subject that clearly has the author's warmest sympathy is the Italian, treated in the fifth chapter. Mazzini's ideals not only wrought the united Italy, but, according to Mr. Rose, is destined under the new conditions of to-day and working through national patriotism to achieve the higher cosmopolitan ideas also; ideas which find expression not so much in a "Declaration of the Rights of Man as in a Declaration of the Duties of Man." The chapter on Spanish national development belongs too exclusively to the Napoleonic period, and is much narrower in its treatment than “The Awakening of the Slavs," chapter VI. Up to 1885, the date somewhat arbitrarily chosen, the author considers the national spirit as a constructive force. Subsequent to that time, partly in Germany and the Balkans, it became neurotic and Chauvinistic, a manifestation to which he ascribes the less favorable term of nationalism, and to which and to the Bagdad Bahn he is inclined to attribute the present war. Before this aggressive and narrow form of patriotism, the broader internationalism treated in the last chapter has proved absolutely supine. Even the Socialists, despite unanimous efforts at their congress to do all in their power to stop war, particularly in Germany, lost themselves early in the nationalistic war, while on the other hand, neutral countries have failed entirely to maintain any of the agreements of The Hague. WM. E. LINGELBACH. University of Pennsylvania. BOOKS ON HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT PUBLISHED LISTED BY CHARLES A. COULOMB, PH.D. Bishop, Farnam. Our first war in Mexico. N. Y.: Scrib- Fairfield, Asa M. History of Lassen County, California. San Francisco: The author, care of H. S. Crocker Co. 506 pp. $3.50. 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