NORMAN HOWARD BARTLETT eorge BY G. WALDO BROWNE 66 Author of Japan: the Place and the People," "The Paradise of the 6 vols., "Two American Boys in Hawaii," etc., etc. "Life is the mirror of king and slave, Give to the world the best you have, And the best will come back to you." MANCHESTER, N. H. PRINTED BY THE JOHN B. CLARKE COMPANY A 111 Portrait at twenty-nine years of age Luther Theological Seminary, Hamline, Minnesota, and St. James Hotel, Montreal, P. Q. 156 FOREWORD. Calmly he looked on either life, and here Saw nothing to regret, or there to fear; From Nature's temperate feast rose satisfied; Thanked Heaven that he had lived, and that he died. The fairest, noblest, strongest of the leaders of men are not born of the purple and reared in plenty, but rather the best specimens of humanity are those who have won their diplomas by persistent effort, and gained their success by untiring zeal and constant endeavor. The noblest must feel the throb of life's storms to appreciate the sunlight of restful days. There is a glory and a grandeur in the life well rounded out with years of work, when the toiler falls at the set of sun worn with his tasks prolonged, that leads us to exclaim: "He has been blessed with complete success; what a glorious career!" Man and nature here united to build one perfect whole. But when we stand by the silent form of him who was cut down in the springtime, with so much of promise, of anticipation, of ambition unfulfilled, we are led to murmur: "What a pity; what a loss!" He may have accomplished more than many who have lived the allotted three score years and ten, but we forget that in the disap pointment of this sudden destruction of our castles of hope. There is an exhilarating influence, a specific encouragement in his early endeavor and triumph that does not come with the efforts of later years. Every young man with a laudable ambition, and a firm resolution to conquer, becomes in the deepest sense of the word a brother of him cut down in the midst of his work, his spirit flown to that "undiscovered country" fresh from the battlefield here, and strong to take up there the onward march to that success which, at its highest, can be only a dream to him who remains. The story of Norman Bartlett's earthly career is that of condensed effort, determined purpose, and fitting reward; it proves the value and the capacity of youth. By his grave the young man can stand with a deeper, truer consciousness of his own subtle powers than elsewhere. What an example such a career is to the discouraged youth halting at the foot of the hill, hesitating to brave the obstacles that lie in his path, the stern realities that forever environ the garden of the gods! If Norman Howard Bartlett, with the shadow of physical weakness ever haunting him, could mount to such heights, how far may he not climb in the full swing of a vigorous manhood, if he will only throw the load of a faint-heart at his feet! In closing this prelude to my simple memoir of him who deserved a more trenchant pen than mine to build the work, I feel that I can not do better than to embody the ideas and the words of a student of his, who has happily said in speaking of Mr. Bartlett's oratorical training and manner of teaching the art he loved so well: "Indeed, the |
