- If any pale student, glued to his desk, here seek an apology
for a way of life whose natural fruits is that pallid and
emasculate scholarship of which New England has had too many
examples, it will be far better that this sketch had not been
written. For the student there is, in its season, no better
place than the saddle, and no better companion than the rifle or
the oar. - Autobiography (1868) Pioneers of France in the New
World (1865)  - The growth of New England was a result of the
aggregate efforts of a busy multitude, each in his narrow circle
toiling for himself, to gather competence or wealth. The
expansion of New France was the achievement of a gigantic
ambition striving to grasp a continent. It was a vain attempt. -
A boundless vision grows upon us; an untamed continent; vast
wastes of forest verdure; mountains silent in primeval sleep;
river, lake, and glimmering pool; wilderness oceans mingling
with the sky. Such was the domain which France conquered for
Civilization. Plumed helmets gleamed in t