Page:Nicolae Iorga - My American lectures.djvu/5

 med with the world-wide recognition which his genius so richly deserves. But time will in the end demolish those barriers of nationalistic feeling which prevent us from appreciating the true worth of man, irrespective of his origins.

It is to the great credit of France, the second patrie to Iorga as to all intellectuals of all times, that she was prompt to evaluate justly the all-embracing genius of Iorga. But it is to the still greater credit of Iorga’s countrymen of Roumania that they have always felt in their hearts his greatness, and that the magnitude of his mind and character has aroused in them a veneration unequalled in modern times. In my humble opinion, one of the finest expressions of what may be called the spiritual in this materialistic world has been the eagerness with which our worthy fellow citizens of Roumanian extraction — from the humblest workman to the leading intellectual — have sought to attract Professor lorga to our shores. Indeed, during the years that I have had the pleasure of associating myself with their endeavours, I have found that the magic name of lorga was always the open-sesame to the hearts of his countrymen.

Since the remarkable career of our distinguished guest may not be so wellknown to Americans as it is to Roumanians, I am taking the liberty of giving a few facts regarding his life and activities. Nicolae Iorga was born on June 6, 1871, in Botoșani, Roumania. His father having died while Nicolae was yet very young, his mother took charge of his early education. His great-uncle, Manolache Drăghici, a well-known historian, gave him the necessary elementary training. So unusual was the mind of young Nicolae that at the age of six he read the Chronicles of Moldavia and knew by heart Florian’s Fables and Victor Hugo’s Orientales. At that time he was also reading in the original French Champfleury, Amédée Pichot and Émile Souvestre as well as Roumanian authors. At the age of thirteen he was