WILLIAM P. TRENT. Born in Virginia in 1862. Teacher and author. He has written, among other things, "English Culture in Virginia," "Life of William Gilmore Simms," "Southern Statesmen of the Old Régime," "Authority of Criticism," etc.

AMÉLIE RIVES ("Princess Troubetzkoy). Born in Virginia in 1863. A writer of prose and poetry of unusual gifts. Author of “The Quick and the Dead,". a freakish, perverse production that had considerable vogue, “Virginia of Virginia," "Herod and Mariamne" (a drama), "Barbara Dering," "Tanis," etc.

WINSTON CHURCHILL. Born in Missouri in 1871. Author of "Richard Carvel" and "The Crisis," two historical novels that have been very popular. RUTH MCENERY STUART. Born in Louisiana. A popular writer of short stories. Author of "A Golden Wedding, and Other Tales," "Carlotta's Intended," "The Story of Babette," " Sonny," "Holly and Pizen," etc. JOHN FOX, JR. Born in Kentucky. Author of "A Cumberland Vendetta," "The Kentuckians," "Bluegrass and Rhododendron," and "The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come," some of which have been widely read. JOHN B. TABB. Born in Virginia in 1845. A Roman Catholic priest, and teacher in St. Charles College. A lyric poet of refined feeling. Author of "Poems," "Lyrics," ," "Poems Grave and Gay," etc.

MADISON JULIUS CAWEIN. Born in Kentucky in 1865. One of the best of living American lyrists. Author of 66 Bloom of the Berry," "Lyrics and Idyls,' ," "Poems of Nature and Love," "The Garden of Dreams," "Shapes and Shadows," etc.

WILLIAM HAMILTON HAYNE. Born in South Carolina in 1856, the son of Paul Hamilton Hayne. A lyrical poet of refined taste. Author of "Sylvan Lyrics, and Other Verses."

THE WEST.

FRANCIS BRET HARTE (1839-1903). A native of New York, but spent a considerable part of his life in California. An editor, poet, and novelist. Author of some forty different works, among which are "Luck of Roaring Camp," "Poems," "Tales of the Argonauts," "Gabriel Conroy," "Tales of Trail and Town," "Under the Redwoods," etc. (See text.) Lewis Wallace ("Lew Wallace") (1827-1903). Born in Indiana. A lawyer, soldier, diplomat, and author. Minister to Turkey, 1881-1885. Author of "Ben Hur, a Tale of the Christ," "The Fair God," "The Prince of India," etc.

EDWARD EGGLESTON (1837-1903). A native of Indiana. A Methodist minister and author. Author of "The Hoosier Schoolmaster," "The End of the World," "The Mystery of Metropolisville," "The Circuit Rider," "Roxy," "The Graysons," works on American history, etc. (See text.) SAMUEL L. CLEMENS ("Mark Twain "). Born in Missouri in 1835. Miner and journalist in Nevada until his popularity as a humorist turned him to lecturing and authorship. The most popular, though not the most delicate, of our humorists. Author of "The Innocents Abroad," "Roughing It," "Adventures of Tom Sawyer," "A Tramp Abroad," "The Adven tures of Huckleberry Finn,” “A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur,” "Joan of Arc," etc.

EUGENE FIELD (1850-1895). A native of Missouri. A journalist and author of Chicago, whose writings, especially his poems for and about children, have attracted much attention. Author of "A Little Book of Profitable Tales,” “A Little Book of Western Verse," "Love Songs of Childhood,” "With Trumpet and Drum," "Songs and Other Verse," etc. CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER ("Joaquin Miller") (1841-1903). Born in Indiana, but spent the most of his life in the far West as lawyer, judge, editor, and author. Among his principal works are "Songs of the Sierras," "Songs of the Sunland," "The Danites in the Sierras," "Shadows of Shasta," "Songs of Far-Away Lands," etc. (See text.) JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. Born in Indiana in 1853. He has long been known as "The Hoosier Poet." Much of his verse, which is quite popular, is in the Western dialect. Author of "The Old Swimmin' Hole and 'Leven More Poems," "Rhymes of Childhood," "Green Fields and Running Brooks," "Neighborly Poems," "Poems Here at Home," etc. WILL CARLETON. Born in Michigan in 1845. Author, lecturer, and editor. A writer of homely verse, in which the story often takes the place of poetic inspiration. Author of "Farm Ballads," "Farm Legends," "Farm Festivals," "City Ballads," "Rhymes of Our Planet,” etc.

MAURICE THOMPSON (1844-1901). Born in Indiana. A Confederate soldier, State Geologist of Indiana, journalist, novelist, and poet. Author of "A Tallahassee Girl," "His Second Campaign," "A Fortnight of Folly," "Alice of Old Vincennes," "Songs of Fair Weather," "Poems,” etc. EDITH M. THOMAS. Born in Ohio in 1854, living since 1888 in New York and its vicinity. A poet and prose-writer characterized by refinement of thought and expression. Author of "The Round Year," "Lyrics and Sonnets," "The Inverted Torch," "A Winter Swallow, and Other Verse," etc.

JOHN HAY. Born in Indiana in 1838. Private secretary of President Lincoln, ambassador to England, and Secretary of State. Author of "Cas

tilian Days," "Pike County Ballads," "Abraham Lincoln," "Poems,"

etc.

CHARLES KING. Born in New York in 1844. A brigadier-general in the war against Spain. A resident for many years of Wisconsin. Author of more than thirty volumes, principally military novels, which have been extensively read. Among his publications are "Famous and Decisive Battles," "Between the Lines," "Under Fire," "The General's Double," "A War Time Wooing," "Kitty's Conquest," etc.

NEWTON BOOTH TARKINGTON. Born in Indiana in 1869. A graduate of Princeton. Author of "The Gentleman from Indiana," which made him famous, "Monsieur Beaucaire," and "The Two Vanrevels."

JOHN JAMES PIATT. Born in Indiana in 1835. Consul at Cork, and later at Dublin, Ireland. A journalist and poet. Author of "Poems in Sunshine and Firelight," "Poems of House and Home,” “Idyls and Lyrics of the Ohio Valley," "The Ghost's Entry, and Other Poems," etc.

SARAH MORGAN BRYAN PIATT. Born in Kentucky in 1836. Wife of John James Piatt. Author of "A Woman's Poems," "A Voyage to the Fortunate Isles, and Other Poems," "That New World, and Other Poems," "Poems in Company with Children," etc. Her "Complete Poems," 2 vols., appeared in 1894.

EDWIN MARKHAM. Born in Oregon in 1852. A teacher, prose-writer, and poet. His poem, "The Man with the Hoe," attracted widespread attention. Author of "The Man with the Hoe, and Other Poems," coln, and Other Poems," etc.

HELEN FISKE JACKSON ("Helen Hunt") (1831-1885).

"Lin

Born in Massachu-
A prose-writer and

setts; resided the latter part of her life in Colorado. poet of unusual gifts. Author of "A Century of Dishonor," "Sonnets and Lyrics," "Ramona," one of our best-known novels, and of many other works.

ALICE FRENCH ("Octave Thanet "). Born in Massachusetts in 1850; has resided chiefly in the West. A story-writer and novelist. Author of "Knitters in the Sun," "Otto, the Knight," "Stories of a Western Town," "A Book of True Lovers," "The Heart of Toil," "A Slave to Duty," etc.

ALBION WINEGAR TOURGÉE. Born in Ohio in 1838. Officer in the Union army, resident of North Carolina, 1865-1881, consul at Bordeaux. A lawyer and novelist. His novel, "A Fool's Errand," created a sensation. Author of “Bricks without Straw,” “Hot Plowshares,” “Pactolus Prime,” "A Son of Old Harry," "The Man Who Outlived Himself," etc,

V.

SECOND NATIONAL PERIOD.

(1861-1904.)

THE Second National Period begins with the Civil War, and will probably be terminated by important social or political changes in the first half of the present century. The present time is regarded by many thoughtful persons as a period of transition. It is felt that the old order is changing. What is to follow as the result of influences now at work cannot be clearly discerned. But of one thing we may be sure, whatever changes may come will be in the line of human progress. Humanity is slowly but surely working its way up to greater freedom, intelligence, and goodness.

As compared with previous periods, literature now exhibits a many-sided activity. Its themes are as varied as the interests of our race. Philosophy, history, science, fiction, poetry, are more generally cultivated than ever before. The literature of the present time is characterized by greater artistic excellence. The prevailing scientific spirit, rejecting the dicta of mere authority, makes truth its only criterion. The beliefs and opinions of tradition are once more put into the crucible. While there are many conflicting theories and creeds, a liberal-minded urbanity has replaced the old-time harshness and intolerance. Our literature at the present time is diffusive and critical,

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rather than creative; and thus it happens that, while we have many accomplished writers, there is no great original or dominating personality in American letters.

Most of the writers considered in the previous period, though they survived far beyond it, were formed under the influences prevailing before the Civil War. In every case they struck the key-note to their literary career before 1861. But most of the writers belonging to the present period were born since that time, or were children while the great struggle was going on. They have developed their literary taste and activity under the influences then and since existing.

The Civil War itself, the dividing line between the First and Second National Periods, has exerted no little influence upon our literature. In spite of the effort of self-seeking and narrow-minded politicians to perpetuate sectional prejudice, a strong national feeling, especially since the war with Spain, in which Northern and Southern heroes fought side by side, now binds all parts of our country together in an indissoluble union. With the abolition of slavery and the settlement of State rights, our civilization has become more homogeneous. Our vast railway systems carry the lifeblood of trade and commerce to all parts of our country. Through education and periodical literature, the people of all parts of our land share a common intellectual life. Our people are united as never before in community of interest, and in patriotic devotion to the general welfare. These new conditions are favorable to an expansion of literature, and tend to give it greater breadth of sympathy. But apart from its result in laying a solid foundation for national greatness, the Civil War directly occasioned no insignificant body of literature. Poetry brought its sweet ministrations of comfort or cheer. In our previous studies