the inhabitants hid in caves or climbed the hills."

Again, more attention is paid to the worth of the subject matter and
to sincerity of utterance than to mere form or polish. The literature
of this race has usually been more distinguished for the value of the
thought than for artistic presentation. Prejudice is felt to-day
against matter that relies mainly on art to secure effects.

IV. Repression of sentiment is a marked characteristic of _Beowulf_
and it still remains a peculiarity of the Anglo-Saxon race. Some
people say vastly more than they feel. This race has been inclined to
feel more than it expresses. When it was transplanted to New England,
the same characteristic was prominent, the same apparent contradiction
between sentiment and stern, unrelenting devotion to duty. In _Snow
Bound_, the New England poet, Whittier, paints this portrait of a New
England maiden, still Anglo-Saxon to the core:--

"A full, rich nature, free to trust,
Truthful and almost sternly just,
Impulsive, earnest, prompt to act,
And make her generous thought a fact,
Keeping with many a light disguise
The secret of self-sacrifice."

No matter what stars now shine over them, the descendants of the
English are still truthful and sternly just; they still dislike to
give full expression to their feelings; they still endeavor to
translate thoughts into deeds, and in this world where all need so
much help, they take self-sacrifice as a matter of course. The spirit
of _Beowulf_, softened and consecrated by religion, still persists in