Part 2
HAIL, NEIGHBOUR REPUBLICS! 266
AMERICA FOR THE AMERICANS 268
WHAT ONE AMERICAN DID 271
THE AMAZING MEETING 272
WHAT HAPPENED AFTERWARD 274
THE MYSTERY SOLVED 276
MARCH 15
ANDREW JACKSON, OLD HICKORY
I WANT TO SAY THAT ANDREW JACKSON, _Theodore Roosevelt_ 280
MISCHIEVOUS ANDY, _James Parton_ 281
READING THE DECLARATION 282
OUT AGAINST TARLETON, _James Parton_ 283
AN ORPHAN OF THE REVOLUTION, _James Parton_ 285
THE HOOTING IN THE WILDERNESS, _James Parton_ 286
FORT MIMS 289
DAVY CROCKETT 290
CHIEF WEATHERFORD, _James Parton_ 291
SAM HOUSTON 295
WHY JACKSON WAS NAMED OLD HICKORY, _James Parton_ 297
THE COTTON-BALES 299
AFTER THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS, _James Parton_ 300
APRIL 13
THOMAS JEFFERSON, THE FRAMER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
THE FOURTH OF JULY, _Hezekiah Butterworth_ 304
THE BOY OWNER OF SHADWELL FARM, _James Parton_ 305
A CHRISTMAS GUEST, _James Parton_ 306
THE AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION 308
PROCLAIM LIBERTY 309
ONLY A REPRIEVE 310
ON THE FOURTH OF JULY 313
MAY 29
PATRICK HENRY, THE ORATOR OF THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE
TO THE READER, _Patrick Henry_ 316
THE ORATOR OF THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE, _Charles Morris_ 317 A Surprise to All A Failure That Was a Success Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!
FACING DANGER 322
JUNE 9
FRANCISCO DE MIRANDA OF VENEZUELA, THE FLAMING SON OF LIBERTY
THE PRINCE OF FILIBUSTERS, _William Spence Robertson_ 326
THE SPANISH GALLEONS 327
THE ROMANCE OF MIRANDA 331
THE MYSTERY SHIP, _James Biggs and Moses Smith_ 335
THE END OF THE MYSTERY SHIP 339
THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS FIFTH 341
A TERRIBLE THING 343
END OF THE ROMANCE 344
JUNE 23-24
ROGER WILLIAMS AND THE FOUNDING OF PROVIDENCE
GOD MAKES A PATH, _Roger Williams_ 348
ROGER, THE BOY 349
SOUL LIBERTY 350
WHAT CHEER! _Z. A. Mudge_ 352
RISKING HIS LIFE, _Charles Morris_ 354
JULY 6
JOHN PAUL JONES, AMERICA’S IMMORTAL SEA-FIGHTER
PAUL JONES, _Ballad_ 358
THE BOY OF THE SOLWAY, _J. T. Headley_ 359
DON’T TREAD ON ME! _J. T. Headley_ 360
THE FIRST SALUTE, _Alexander S. Mackenzie_ 361
THE POOR RICHARD 364
MICKLE’S THE MISCHIEF HE HAS DUNE, _J. T. Headley_ 365
PAUL JONES HIMSELF, _J. T. Headley_ 367
SOME OF HIS SAYINGS 369
JULY 24
SIMON BOLIVAR OF VENEZUELA, THE LIBERATOR
BOLIVAR, _Barry Cornwall_ 372
THE PRECIOUS JEWEL 373
THE FIERY YOUNG PATRIOT 376
SEEING BOLIVAR, _By a Young Englishman_ 378
UNCLE PAEZ--THE LION OF THE APURE 382
ANGOSTURA 384
THE CROSSING, _By One who Accompanied Bolivar_ 385
PERU NEXT 388
THE BREAK 389
BOLIVAR THE MAN, _William Spence Robertson_ 390
AUGUST 20
BERNARDO O’HIGGINS, FIRST SOLDIER, FIRST CITIZEN OF CHILE
THE NAME OF O’HIGGINS, _W. H. Koebel_ 394
THE SON OF THE BAREFOOT BOY 395
THE SINGLE STAR FLAG 397
THE HERO OF RANCAGUA 398
COMPANIONS-IN-ARMS 400
THE PATRIOT RULER 400
FIRST SOLDIER, FIRST CITIZEN 402
CHILE AS SHE IS 403
ONE OF TWENTY 405
THE BETTER WAY 406
SEPTEMBER 6
THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE, THE FRIEND OF AMERICA
AFTER THE SACRIFICES I HAVE MADE, _Lafayette_ 412
I WILL JOIN THE AMERICANS! _Edith Sichel_ 413
IN AMERICA 414
ON THE FIELD NEAR CAMDEN 414
THE BANNER OF THE MORAVIAN NUNS 416
LOYAL TO THE CHIEF, _John Fiske_ 418
WE ARE GRATEFUL, LAFAYETTE! 420
SOME OF WASHINGTON’S HAIR, _T. R. Ybarra_ 421
WELCOME! FRIEND OF AMERICA! 422
SEPTEMBER 24
JOHN MARSHALL, THE EXPOUNDER OF THE CONSTITUTION
HE HAD A DEEP SENSE OF MORAL AND RELIGIOUS OBLIGATION, _Justice Joseph Story_ 426
THE BOY OF THE FRONTIER, _Albert J. Beveridge_ 427 In a Log Cabin Off to the Blue Ridge Making an American Give Me Liberty!
THE YOUNG LIEUTENANT, _Horace Binney_ 433
SERVING THE CAUSE, _Henry Flanders_ 434
AT VALLEY FORGE, _William Henry Rawle_ 435
SILVER HEELS, _J. B. Thayer_ 436
WITHOUT BREAD, _John Marshall’s Sister_ 437
HIS MOTHER, _Sallie E. Marshall Hardy_ 438
HIS FATHER, _Justice Joseph Story_ 438
THREE STORIES, _James B. Thayer_ 439 What Was in the Saddlebags Eating Cherries Learned in the Law of Nations
THE CONSTITUTION 442
EXPOUNDING THE CONSTITUTION, _Chief Justice Waite_ 444
THE GREAT CHIEF JUSTICE, _Horace Binney_ 446 Respected by All The True Man
WHAT OF THE CONSTITUTION? _Washington_, _Bolivar_, _Webster_, _Lincoln_ 448
ENVOY 450
APPENDIX
I. Programme of Stories from the History of the United States 453
II. Story Programme of South America’s Struggle for Independence 460
SUBJECT INDEX 465
ILLUSTRATIONS
BREAKFAST WITH THE CHILDREN AT MOUNT VERNON _Frontispiece_
COLUMBUS EXAMINES THE PEARLS 18
ROOSEVELT BREAKING “DEVIL” 50
JOHN BILLINGTON BROUGHT ON THE SHOULDERS OF AN INDIAN 136
FRANKLIN AND THE KITE EXPERIMENT 170
“HE’S BEAUTIFUL” 182
“‘TREASON! TREASON!’ CRIED SOME OF THE EXCITED MEMBERS” 318
PAUL JONES HOISTING THE STARS AND STRIPES 362
_Drawn by Frank T. Merrill_
OCTOBER 12
COLUMBUS AND DISCOVERER’S DAY
_The Very Magnificent Lord Don Cristobal Colon, High Admiral of the Ocean Sea, Viceroy and Governor of the Islands and Tierra Firma._
COLUMBUS
_“My men grow mutinous day by day; My men grow ghastly wan and weak.” The stout Mate thought of home; a spray Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek. “What shall I say, brave Admiral, say, If we sight naught but seas at dawn?” “Why you shall say at break of day, Sail on! Sail on! Sail on! and on!”_
_Then pale and worn, he kept his deck, And peered through darkness. Ah, that night Of all dark nights! And then a speck-- A light! A light! A light! A light! It grew, a starlit Flag unfurled! It grew to be Time’s burst of dawn. He gained a World, he gave that World Its grandest lesson-- “On! Sail on!”_
_From_ JOAQUIN MILLER’S _Columbus_
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS was born in Italy, about 1451
First landed on an island of America, October 12, 1492
Sighted South America, 1498
Was sent in chains to Spain, 1500
Returned from his Fourth Voyage, 1504
He died, May 20, 1506
His name in Spanish is Cristobal Colon.
THE SEA OF DARKNESS
Before America was ever heard of, over four hundred years ago, a boy lived in Genoa the Proud City.
He was just one of hundreds of boys in that beautiful Italian town, whose palaces, marble villas, and churches climbed her picturesque hillsides. The boy’s name was Christopher Columbus.
Whenever he could leave his father’s workshop, where he was learning to comb wool, for his father was a weaver, how eagerly the boy must have run down to the wharfs and sat there watching the ships come and go.
They came from all those parts of the world which people knew about then, from Iceland and England, from European and Asiatic ports, and from North Africa. Caravels, galleys, and galleons, and sailing craft of all kinds, came laden with the wealth that made Genoa one of the richest cities of her time.
The sailors, who lounged on the wharfs, spun wonderful yarns. They told how beyond the Pillars of Hercules which guarded the straits of Gibraltar, there rolled a vast, unknown sea, called the Atlantic Ocean or the Sea of Darkness.
No one, they said, had ever crossed it. No one knew what lay beyond it. All was mystery. And any mariners, the sailors said, who had ventured far out on its black waters had never returned.
Fearful things had happened to such mariners, the sailors added, for the Sea of Darkness swarmed with spectres, devils, and imps. And when night fell, slimy monsters crawled and swam in its boiling waves. Among these monsters, was an enormous nautilus large enough to crush a whole ship in its squirming arms, and a serpent fifty leagues long with flaming eyes and horse’s mane. Sea-elephants, sea-lions, and sea-tigers, fed in beds of weeds. Harpies and winged terrors flew over the surface of the water.
And horrible, they said, was the fate which overtook the ship of any foolhardy mariners who ventured too far out on that gloomy ocean. A gigantic hand was thrust up through the waves, and grasped the ship. A polypus, spouting two water-spouts as high as the sky, made such a whirlpool that the vessel, spinning round and round like a top, was sucked down into the roaring abyss.
These frightful sea-yarns and many like them, the sailors told about the Atlantic Ocean, and people believed them. But the eyes of the boy Columbus, as he sat listening, must have sparkled as he longed to explore those mysterious waters of the Sea of Darkness, and follow them to the very edge of the world.
For all that lay to the west of the Azores, was a great and fascinating mystery, when Columbus was a boy, before America was discovered.
THE FORTUNATE ISLES
Listen now to some of the stories that the Irish sailors who visited Genoa, told when Columbus was a boy. And people in those days, believed them to be true.
They told how far, far in the West, where the sun set in crimson splendour, lay the Terrestrial Paradise from which Adam and Eve were driven. And other wonder tales the sailors told.
One was the enchanting tale of Maeldune, the Celtic Knight, who seeking his father’s murderer, sailed over the wide Atlantic in a coracle of skins lapped threefold, one over the other.
Many were the wonder-islands that Maeldune and his comrades visited--the Island of the Silvern Column; the Island of the Flaming Rampart; the Islands of the Monstrous Ants, and the Giant Birds; the Islands of the Fierce Beasts, the Fiery Swine, and the Little Cat; the Islands of the Black Mourners, the Glass Bridge, and the Spouting Water; the Islands of the Red Berries, and the Magic Apples; and the islands of many other wonders.
Many were the strange adventures that Maeldune had in enchanted castles with beautiful Queens and lovely damsels, with monstrous birds, sleep-giving potions, and magic food.
And the Irish sailors told, also, of good St. Brandan who set sail in a coracle, and discovered the Fortunate Isles. There he dwelt in blessed happiness, they said:--
“_And his voice was low as from other worlds, and his eyes were sweet;_ _And his white hair sank to his heels, and his white beard fell to his feet._”
And still another tale the Irish sailors told, a tale of Fairy Land, called the Land of Youth. Thither once went Usheen the Irish Bard.
It happened on a sweet, misty morning that Usheen saw a slender snow-white steed come pacing along the shore of Erin. Silver were his shoes, and a nodding crest of gold was on his head. Upon his back was seated a Fairy Maiden crowned with gold, and wrapped in a trailing mantle adorned with stars of red gold.
Weirdly but sweetly she smiled, and sang an Elfin song; while over sea and shore there fell a dreamy silence. Through the fine mist she urged on her steed, singing sweeter and ever sweeter as she came nearer and nearer to Usheen.
She drew rein before him. His friends saw him spring upon the steed, and fold the Fairy Maiden in his arms. She shook the bridle which rang forth like a chime of bells, and swiftly they sped over the water and across the sea, the snow-white steed running lightly over the waves.
They plunged into a golden haze that shrouded them from mortal eyes. Ghostly towers, castles, and palace-gates loomed dimly before Usheen, then melted away. A hornless doe bounded near him, chased by a white hound. They vanished into the haze.
Then a Fairy Damsel rode swiftly past Usheen, holding up a golden apple to him. Fast behind her, galloped a horseman, his purple cloak streaming in the still air, a sharp sword glittering in his hand. They, too, melted mysteriously away.
And soon Usheen himself vanished into the Land of Youth, into Fairy Land.
These are some of the wonder tales that folk used to tell about the mysterious Atlantic Ocean, when Columbus was a boy.
THE ABSURD TRUTH
When Columbus was a boy, there was a story told that the Earth was round. Nearly every one who heard it thought it foolish--absurd.
“The Earth round!” they said; “do we not know that the Earth is flat? And does not the sun set each night at the edge of the World?”
But young Columbus had a powerful, practical imagination. He believed there were good reasons to think that the Earth was not flat. He attended the University of Pavia. He studied astronomy and other sciences. He learned map-making. He read how the ancient philosophers thought the Earth to be a sphere and how they had tried to prove their theory by observing the sun, moon, and stars.
Then, too, there were scholars in Europe, when Columbus was young, who agreed with the philosophers.
But no scholar or philosopher had ever risked his life in a frail ship and ventured across the terrible Sea of Darkness to battle with its horrors, and prove his theory to be fact. The surging billows of the Atlantic with angry leaping crests of foam, still guarded their mystery.
Young Columbus became a sailor, cruising with his uncle on the Mediterranean, sometimes chasing pirate ships. When older, he made long voyages. He learned to navigate a vessel. He visited, so some historians say, England and Thule. They say, too, that Thule was Iceland. Then if he visited Iceland, Columbus must have heard the strange tale of how Leif, son of Erik the Red, the bold Northman, sailed in a single ship over the Sea of Darkness, and discovered Vinland the Good on the other side of the Atlantic.
Columbus talked with sailors about their voyages. He heard how the waves of the Sea of Darkness sometimes cast upon the Islands of the Azores, gigantic bamboos, queer trees, strange nuts, seeds, carved logs, and bodies of hideous men with flat faces, the flotsam and jetsam from unknown lands far to the west.
Columbus’s imagination and spirit of adventure were fired. He became more eager than ever to explore that vast expanse of water, and learn what really lay in the mysterious region, where the sun set each night and from which the sun returned each morning.
“The Earth is not flat,” thought he, “much goes to prove it. India, from which gold and spices come, is assuredly on the other side. If I can but cross the Sea of Darkness, I shall reach Tartary and Cathay the Golden Country of Kublai Khan. I shall have found a Western Passage to Asia. I will bring back treasure; but more than all else I shall be able to carry the Gospel of Christ to the heathen.”
For Columbus, you must know, was one of the most devout Christian men of his time.
And he signed his name to letters, “Christ Bearing.” _Christopher_ in the Greek language, means Christ-Bearer. Perhaps, he was thinking of the beautiful legend of St. Christopher, who on his mighty shoulders bore the Christ Child across the swelling river, even as he, Christopher Columbus, humbly wished to bear Christ’s Gospel across the raging waters of the Sea of Darkness.
CATHAY THE GOLDEN
Where was Cathay the Golden?
Who was Kublai Khan?
One of Columbus’s favourite books was written by Marco Polo, the great Venetian traveller, who served Kublai, Grand Khan of Tartary in Asia. Cathay was the name which Marco Polo gave to China.
In his book, Marco Polo told of many marvels. In the chief city of Cathay the Golden, ruled over by Kublai Khan, stood the Grand Khan’s palace. Its walls were covered with gold and silver, and adorned with figures of dragons, beasts, and birds. Its lofty roof was coloured outside with vermilion, yellow, green, blue, and every other hue, all shining like crystal.
To this city of Cathay, were brought the most costly articles in the world, gold, silver, precious jewels, spices, and rare silks. The Grand Khan had so many plates, cups, and ewers of gold and silver, that no one would believe it without seeing them. He had five thousand elephants in magnificent trappings, bearing chests on their backs filled with priceless treasure. He had also, a vast number of camels with rich housings.
At the New Year Feast, the people made presents to Kublai Khan of gold, silver, pearls, precious stones, and rich stuffs. They presented him, also, with many beautiful snow-white horses handsomely caparisoned.
These and other wonderful things, did Marco Polo write about in his book, and Columbus read them all.
* * * * *
At last the time came, when Columbus was fully determined to discover a Western Passage, and thus open a path through the Ocean from Europe to Asia.
The Spanish courtiers laughed at Columbus; they called him a fool and madman to believe that the Sea of Darkness might be crossed. But as the years of waiting went by, Columbus grew stronger in his determination.
The story of his many years of patient but determined waiting in Spain, of his pleadings with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, for money, men, and ships with which to cross the Ocean Sea, is told in “Good Stories for Great Holidays.”
And in “Good Stories for Great Holidays,” it is told how at last Columbus was befriended by the Friar Juan Perez. There also may be found the stories of Columbus and the Egg, of his little son Diego at La Rabida, of Queen Isabella pledging her jewels, of Columbus’s sailing across the Sea of Darkness, of the mutiny, of his faith, perseverance, and wisdom, and how at last he sighted a cluster of beautiful green islands, lying like emeralds in the blue waters of the Atlantic--all these stories may be read in “Good Stories for Great Holidays.”
THE EMERALD ISLANDS
_Columbus’s Day, October 12, 1492_
It was with songs of praise, that Columbus first landed on one of those emerald islands of the New World.
And what delightful islands they were, sparkling with streams, and filled with trees of great height. There were fruits, flowers, and honey in abundance. Among the large leaves and bright blossoms, flocks of birds sang and called. There were cultivated fields of Indian corn.
And there were savages, naked dark-skinned folk, who peeped from behind trees, or ran frightened away. Later they grew bolder, and traded with Columbus and his men. Some of the savages smoked rolls of dried leaves. This was the first tobacco that white men had ever seen. Thus Columbus and his men discovered Indian corn, and tobacco.
As Columbus sailed along the shores of the islands, he watched anxiously for the crystal-shining domes of Kublai Khan’s Palace to rise among the trees. But no Cathay the Golden gleamed among the green, no elephants in trappings of cloth-of-gold, paced the sands.
Instead, all was wild though so beautiful. The only people were the dark-skinned ones, whom Columbus named _Indians_; for he was sure that he had come across the Sea of Darkness by the Western Passage to India.
THE MAGNIFICENT RETURN
It was a day of great rejoicing when Columbus returned to Spain. The whole country rose up to do him honour. Bells were rung, mass was said, and vast crowds cheered him as he passed along streets and highways.
No one called him a fool and madman then. Had he not crossed the Sea of Darkness and returned alive? Neither nautilus, gigantic hand, nor polypus had dared to harm him. The Sea of Darkness was a mysterious gloomy sea no longer, instead it was the wide Atlantic Ocean, a safe pathway for brave mariners and good ships, a pathway leading to new lands of gold and spices far toward the setting sun. And so all Spain did honour to Columbus.
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella eagerly awaited him at Barcelona. He entered that city with pomp and in procession. Balconies, windows, roofs were thronged. Crowds surged through the streets to gaze in wonder on that strange procession, so spectacular, so magnificent.
First came the dark-skinned savage men, in paint and gold ornaments; after them walked men bearing live parrots of every colour; then others came carrying rich glittering coronets and bracelets, together with beautiful fruits and strange vegetables and plants, such as the people of Europe had never dreamed could exist.
Then passed the great discoverer himself, Christopher Columbus, a-horseback, and surrounded by a cavalcade of the most brilliant courtiers of Spain.