They had schools, so
that in several of the colonies there was no one to be found beyond
childhood, who could not read and write; they had the printing press
scattering among them books, and pamphlets, and many newspapers; they
had a ministry chiefly composed of men of their own election. In private
life they were accustomed to take care of themselves; in public affairs
they had local legislatures, and municipal self-direction. And now this
continent from the Gulf of Mexico to where civilized life is stayed by
barriers of frost, was become their dwelling-place and their heritage.
* * * * *
From "The History of the United States."
=_131._= DEATH OF MONTCALM.
But already the hope of New France was gone. Born and educated in camps,
Montcalm had been carefully instructed, and was skilled in the language
of Homer as well as in the art of war. Greatly laborious, just,
disinterested, hopeful even to rashness, sagacious in council, swift in
action, his mind was a well-spring of bold designs; his career in Canada
a wonderful struggle against inexorable destiny. Sustaining hunger and
cold, vigils and incessant toil, anxious for his soldiers, unmindful
of himself, he set, even to the forest-trained red men, an example of
self-denial and endurance, and in the midst of corruption made the
public good his aim.
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