Part 3

He dismounted, and entered the saloon where the King and Queen sat beneath a canopy of brocade. He modestly greeted them on bended knee. They raised him most graciously, and bade him be seated in their presence.

After they had heard his tale with wonder, and had examined the treasures that he had brought with him from beyond the Sea of Darkness, the King and Queen together with their whole Court knelt in thanksgiving to God.

To reward Columbus, his Sovereigns bestowed upon him the titles of Don Christopher Columbus, Our Admiral of the Ocean Sea, and Viceroy and Governor of the Islands discovered in the Indies. They also promised to make him ruler over any other islands and mainland he might discover.

Columbus immediately began to prepare for another voyage. With a fleet of seventeen ships, bearing supplies and colonists, he sailed across the Sea of Darkness once more to the islands of the New World. He planted a colony there. He discovered other islands. And he still kept on searching diligently for Cathay the Golden.

Turbulent adventurers, rapacious gold-hunters, and vicious men, were among the colonists. And Columbus, in the name of his Sovereigns, with great difficulty ruled over them all.

THE FATAL PEARLS

_Tierra Firme_

It was in May, 1498. The fleet of Admiral Don Christopher Columbus, in the name of the Holy Trinity, set sail from Spain for a third voyage across the Atlantic.

It was no longer a Sea of Darkness to Columbus, but a sure pathway to golden lands. There he still hoped to find the Earthly Paradise from which Adam and Eve had been driven. And there too, he still expected to discover Cathay the Golden in Tartary, and Cipango, the great island of the western sea, which we call Japan.

His ships sailed on, now plunging through the lifting billows, now lying becalmed on glassy waters under the fierce rays of the tropic sun, and now moving through a region of balmy airs and light refreshing breezes.

July arrived, yet he had not sighted land. The fierce heat of the sun had sprung the seams of the ships. The provisions were rancid. There was scarcely any sweet water left in the casks. The anxious, watchful Admiral scanned the horizon.

On the last day of the month, came a shout from the masthead:--“Land!”

And Columbus beheld the peaks of three mountains rising from the sea, outlined sharply against the sky. Then he and his men, lifting up their voices, sang anthems of praise and repeated prayers of thanksgiving.

As the ships drew nearer to the three peaks, Columbus perceived that they rose from an island and were united at their base.

“Three in one,” he said, and named the island after the Holy Trinity in whose name he had set sail. For he had vowed before leaving Spain, to name the first new land he saw after the Trinity. That is why that island, to-day, is called Trinidad.

They filled their casks there. Then onward they sailed, skirting the coast of Trinidad, hoping to find a harbour to put into while repairing the ships. Soon, they saw a misty headland opposite the island.

“It is another island,” said Columbus.

It was no island. Wonderful to relate, Columbus had just discovered a new Country.

It was the coastline of a vast southern continent. It was _Tierra Firme_. It was South America!

_The Pearls_

Young Indian braves, graceful and handsome, their black hair straight and long, their heads wrapped in brilliant scarfs, other bright scarfs wound round their middles, came in a canoe to visit Columbus’s ships.

Soon after this visit, Columbus set sail again, not knowing that he had just sighted one of the richest and greatest continents on earth. Sailing past the mouths of the mighty Orinoco River, pouring out their torrents with angry roar into the Caribbean Sea, Columbus skirted what is now called Venezuela.

Other friendly Indians came to his ships. It was then that Columbus saw for the first time the pearls which were to help ruin him, and which were to work wretchedness and death for so many poor Indian folk.

Among the friendly Indians were some who wore bracelets of lustrous pearls. The gold and spices got by Columbus on his former voyages were of slight beauty compared with those strings of magnificent pearls.

Columbus examined them eagerly. He longed for some to send back to Queen Isabella, in order to prove to her what a rich land he had just discovered.

He questioned the Indians. Where had they got the pearls? They came from their own land, and from a country to the north and west, they answered.

Columbus was eager to go thither. But first he sent men ashore to barter for some of the bracelets. With bright bits of earthenware, with buttons, scissors, and needles, they bought quantities of the pearls from the delighted Indians, to whom such articles were worth more than gold and jewels of which they had plenty.

Then Columbus, hoisting sail, ran farther along the coast purchasing pearls until he had half a bushel or so of the lustrous sea-jewels, some of them of very large size.

He named a great gulf, the Gulf of Pearls. He discovered other islands, among them the island of Margarita, which means a pearl.

After which he turned his ships toward Santo Domingo, not knowing how tragic a thing was to befall him there, partly on account of the pearls.

_The Curse of the Pearls_

Those fatal sea-jewels had already begun their evil work.

While Columbus was tarrying to collect them, a rebellion fomented by bad men who had taken advantage of his absence, had broken out in the Island of Santo Domingo. When Columbus reached there, he suppressed it. But his enemies hastened to send lying reports about him to the Spanish Court. And the courtiers, who were jealous of his high position, wealth, and power, urged King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to have him deposed.

One of their accusations against him was, that he had held back from his Sovereigns their rightful portion of the rich find of pearls.

So at last, the royal edict went forth that the very magnificent Don Christopher Columbus, Admiral of the Ocean Sea, Viceroy and Governor of the Indies, should be tried and, if found guilty, deposed and returned to Spain.

The man sent to do all this, and govern in Columbus’s stead, was named Bobadilla.

Bobadilla arrived at Santo Domingo with royal commands for Columbus to surrender all power to him, and to obey him in everything. He caused him to be arrested and thrown into prison. He tried and condemned him. He ordered him put into chains. But no one could be found to rivet the chains until one of Columbus’s own servants, “a shameless and graceless cook,” did so with glee.

Then Bobadilla reigned in Columbus’s place over the Indies.

Meanwhile, the grand old Admiral broken in spirit, carped at by his foes, was placed in manacles aboard a caravel.

Bobadilla had given orders that the chains should not be removed, but the humane master of the ship offered to break them.

“Nay,” said Columbus with dignity, “my Sovereigns have commanded me to submit, and Bobadilla has chained me. I will wear these irons until by royal order they are removed. And I shall keep them as relics and memorials of the reward of my services.”

But when Queen Isabella learned how he had been brought back to Spain in shackles, she was greatly angered. Both Sovereigns commanded that he should be immediately released. And when the venerable Columbus grown old in her service, entered her presence, Queen Isabella wept bitterly. Columbus fell at her feet, unable to utter a word, so great was his sorrow.

Both Sovereigns promised to restore all his titles and the wealth which had been taken from him by force. But though Bobadilla was finally deposed from power because of his treatment of Columbus and because of his evil rule, yet the royal promise was not fulfilled. His titles and property were never restored to Columbus.

Instead, he was again sent overseas, on a fourth voyage of discovery.

With four miserable caravels manned by only a hundred and fifty men, the gray-headed, weary Columbus set forth once more still hoping to discover the country of Kublai Khan, and find the Earthly Paradise. And this time Columbus took with him his younger son, Ferdinand, who was thirteen years old.

QUEEN ISABELLA’S PAGE

Off to find Kublai Khan, to drink from his golden cups, to eat from his silvern plates, to ride his elephants, to visit in his great palace, and, perhaps, to discover the Earthly Paradise--what more thrilling adventure could a boy want?

So Ferdinand Columbus, Queen Isabella’s page, eager for adventure, set sail with his father Columbus, to cross the Sea of Darkness and explore beyond the emerald islands.

For, while his father, on his former voyage, had been gathering pearls among the Pearl Islands of the New World, the boy Ferdinand, amid the splendour of the Spanish Court, had been waiting upon Queen Isabella.

But now, what a change! Ferdinand was off across the heaving, foaming Sea of Darkness in a small caravel tossed about like a cockleshell on the billows. A tempest with rain, thunder, and lightning arose. It struck Columbus’s wretched caravels. They were buffeted by the wind, their sails were torn, their rigging, cables, and boats were lost. Food was washed overboard. The sailors were terrified, they ran about making religious vows and confessing their sins to each other. Even the boldest was pale with fear.

“But the distress of my son who was with me, grieved me to the soul ...” wrote Columbus afterward, “for he was but thirteen years old, and he enduring so much toil for so long a time. Our Lord, however, gave him strength to enable him to encourage the rest. He worked as if he had been eighty years at sea.”

But there was more to trouble plucky Ferdinand than the storm at sea. Columbus, his father, fell sick near to death. There was no one who could direct the ships’ course, but Columbus himself. So he had a little cabin rigged up on deck. Lying there, he gave his orders. Presently, to Ferdinand’s joy, he grew better.

Meanwhile, what was happening to the wicked Bobadilla? That same tempest was doing great things. It was buffeting, lashing, and wrecking a caravel which was taking Bobadilla to Spain. The ship, plunging under the howling, raging, black waters, sank to the bottom of the ocean, taking Bobadilla with it, and the treasure he had stolen from Columbus.

But Columbus’s own caravels won safely through the storm and across the Caribbean Sea. They drew near to an unknown shore--the coast of Central America.

There is not space here in which to tell of the many adventures of Columbus and his men, nor of all the things that Ferdinand saw. There were other storms. At one time, the seas ran high and terrific, foaming like a caldron. The sky burned like a furnace, the lightning played with such fury that the waves were red like blood.

The coast of Central America was thickly peopled with savages. Some of them were richly clothed, and wore ornaments of gold and coral, and carried golden mirrors fastened round their necks. Ferdinand saw other savages in trees living like wild birds, their huts built on sticks placed across from bough to bough. He saw strange beasts, beautiful birds, delicious fruits, brilliant flowers, great apes, and alligators basking in the rivers.

There were fights with natives, a massacre of some of his father’s men, there was starvation and misery. Then Columbus, after having sailed down the coast and back again, turned the ships homeward.

Then came the most terrible adventure of all. The ships were riddled by worms, their sides were rotten, and the water was pouring through them like a sieve. Columbus reached the lonely island of Jamaica, just in time to drive his two remaining ships on the beach, and save them from sinking.

There for many months Ferdinand was marooned with his father and the men. There was more starvation, a mutiny, and adventures with savages. Then came the exciting rescue by two caravels.

Such were the adventures of Queen Isabella’s page. But he went back to Spain without seeing Cathay the Golden and Kublai Khan’s palace.

THE TWIN CITIES

While Columbus was exploring the coast of Central America, he fell sick of a fever. He had a dream. He tells us of this dream in his own letters.

He dreamed that a compassionate Voice spoke to him, bidding him believe in God, and serve Him who had had him from infancy in His constant and watchful care, and who had chosen him to unlock the barriers of the Ocean Sea.

This Voice said many things to Columbus, adding these words, “Even now He partially shows thee the reward of so many toils and dangers incurred by thee in the service of others. Fear not but trust.”

And even then, Columbus, though he did not know it, was actually seeing the land where his hopes were to come true. For to-day, we Americans know that while Columbus was exploring inlets and river-mouths on the coast of Central America searching for the Western Passage to Asia, he entered Limon Bay of Panama. He even sailed part way up the Chagres River.

And if his melancholy eager eyes might have been opened, what a vision he would have had of the future! He would have beheld the Caribbean Sea beating on civilized shores. He would have seen Twin Cities rising, their pleasant white, palm-shaded houses smiling in the sun, the Twin Cities of Cristobal and Colon--Christopher and Columbus--proud to bear his famous name. He would have seen those Twin Cities guarding _a Western Passage to Asia_.

He would have perceived in his vision ships, greater than any Spanish caravels, sliding through a Canal the wonder of the world, on their way to and from Asia the Golden.

* * * * *

But as it was, in a miserable little caravel, tempest-racked, with masts sprung and sides worm-eaten, the weary disappointed Columbus with the boy Ferdinand, returned at last to Spain.

And about two years later, in the City of Valladolid, “the Grand Old Admiral,” who had given a New World to the Old, died almost in poverty. As he passed away, he murmured, “Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”

THE PEARLS AGAIN

The curse of the pearls still held strong after Columbus’s death. News of the discovery of the Pearl Islands in the New World, spread rapidly through Europe. Many cruel and greedy pearl-hunters hastened to set out for the islands.

They pillaged the native villages. They hunted the Indians like wild beasts. They forced them to work in the mines. But, worst of all, they made them dive into the deep sea for pearls, under the most horrible conditions.

Then it was that the compassionate friend of the Indians, the humane priest Bartolome de Las Casas, took up their cause and pleaded for them with the Spanish Crown. But Spain was too far away for the Crown to control Spanish officials in America, and do much to lessen the sufferings of the natives.

Thus sorrow and desolation followed the finding of the sea-jewels. In time, they became a rich part of the cargoes of the Treasure Galleons. And they forged one of the first links in the chain of oppression which bound all Spanish America for over three hundred years.

For how this chain was broken by the great Liberators, read:--

_Miranda, the Flaming Son of Liberty_, page 325; _San Martin, the Protector_, page 235; _O’Higgins, First Soldier, First Citizen_, page 393; _Bolivar, the Liberator_, page 371.

OCTOBER 14

WILLIAM PENN THE FOUNDER OF PENNSYLVANIA

_As Justice is a preserver, so it is a better procurer of Peace, than War._ WILLIAM PENN

_Within the Land of Penn, The sectary yielded to the citizen, And peaceful dwelt the many-creeded men._

_Peace brooded over all. No trumpet stung The air to madness, and no steeple flung Alarums down from bells at midnight rung._

_The Land slept well. The Indian from his face Washed all his war-paint off, and in the place Of battle-marches, sped the peaceful chase._

* * * * *

_The desert blossomed round him; wheatfields rolled Beneath the warm wind, waves of green and gold, The planted ear returned its hundredfold._

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

WILLIAM PENN was born in London, October 14, 1644

Received the Charter, granting him Pennsylvania, 1681

Composed the Plan for the Peace of Europe, 1693

He died in England, May 30, 1718.

THE BOY OF GREAT TOWER HILL

In a house on Great Tower Hill near London Wall, was born William Penn, who was to become the Founder of Pennsylvania.

He was christened William after his ancestor, Penn of Penn’s Lodge. He was a charming baby, with round face, soft blue eyes, and curling hair. His father, Captain Penn, who had been called home to see the new baby on that first birthday of little William Penn, went back to his ship rejoicing that he had such a handsome son and heir.

When William Penn was ten years old, a strange thing befell him. He was not like other boys. He was quiet and serious. At that time he was a schoolboy in an English village.

One day, he was alone in his room. Suddenly he felt a wonderful peace and an “inner comfort,” while a glory filled the room. He felt that he was drawn near to God, so that his soul might speak with him. A strange experience for a boy to have. But it was an experience which helped to shape William Penn’s life. From that time on, he believed that he had been called to live a holy life.

When he grew older, his family tried to make him forget this religious experience, but he never forgot. In time he became a Friend--or Quaker. In those days, Friends were bitterly persecuted in England. William Penn suffered imprisonments and persecutions, but always with patient sweetness and endurance.

At last, the persecutions of the Friends made William Penn turn his thoughts toward the New World of America.

HE WORE IT AS LONG AS HE COULD

When William Penn became a Friend, he did not immediately leave off his gay apparel, as other Friends did. He even wore a sword, as was customary among men of rank and fashion.

One day, being with George Fox the great leader of the Friends, he asked his advice about wearing the sword, saying that it had once been the means of saving his life without injuring his antagonist, and that moreover Christ has said, “He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.”

“I advise thee,” answered George Fox quietly, “to wear it _as long as thou canst_.”

Shortly after this, they met again. William Penn had no sword.

“William,” said George Fox, “where is thy sword?”

“Oh!” replied William Penn, “I have taken thy advice. I wore it _as long as I could_!”

_Samuel M. Janney_ (_Retold_)

THE PEACEMAKER

“He must not be a man but a statue of brass or stone, whose bowels do not melt when he beholds the bloody tragedies of this war in Hungary, Germany, Flanders, Ireland, and at sea; the mortality of sickly and languishing camps and navies; and the mighty prey the devouring winds and waves have made upon ships and men,” wrote William Penn over two hundred years ago.

It was then that William Penn became the peacemaker.

The world was in the midst of a terrible war. William Penn did not believe in war. He had cast aside his own sword for principle’s sake, and had bravely suffered persecutions and imprisonments in the Tower of London and in Newgate. Fearlessly now he came forward with a plan for world peace, which he hoped would stop bloody wars, and persuade rulers to arbitrate their quarrels.

He published a “Plan for the Peace of Europe,” urging the formation of a league of European countries.

So earnest is this plan and so profoundly thought out, that it has had much influence on rulers and statesmen, who from time to time have held peace congresses in Europe. But rivalry of Nations, has prevented the peace plan from ever being carried out.

“Christians,” argued William Penn, “have embrewed their hands in one another’s blood, invoking and interesting all they could the good and merciful God to prosper their arms to their brethren’s destruction. Yet their Saviour has told them that He came to save and not to destroy the lives of men, to give and plant peace among men. And, if in any sense, He may be said to send war, it is the Holy War indeed, for it is against the Devil, and not the persons of men. Of all His titles, this seems the most glorious as well as comfortable for us, that He is the _Prince of Peace_.”

WESTWARD HO, AND AWAY!

The time arrived when William Penn’s peaceful thoughts went sailing over the Atlantic, westward ho, and away! For he was appointed a trustee of Jersey in America. There came to him while he was still in England, news of immense tracts of land lying beyond Jersey, so fertile that under cultivation they would yield harvests unparalleled in his island home. He heard of rich minerals, of noble forests, of river-banks offering splendid sites for towns and cities, of bays where proud navies might ride at anchor.

Moreover, many Friends, who had fled from persecution in England, were settled in Jersey. Their industry had already turned the wilderness into a garden. They were holding their meetings and worshipping God, without fear of constables and fines, of imprisonments and attacks by mobs. In Jersey, they had full liberty of conscience.

And William Penn, as his thoughts sailed westward ho, and away! saw, rising from the sea, bright and fair, a land of refuge not only for persecuted Friends, but for all oppressed people. He determined to found a new State in America, where nobody should be persecuted for religion’s sake, where everybody should be free, and where the people should govern themselves. “A holy experiment,” he called it.

He presented a petition to Charles the Second, asking for a royal grant of land near Jersey. “After many waitings, watchings, solicitings,” the title to a vast tract was confirmed to him under the Great Seal of England. He was to be its ruler and “Lord Proprietor,” “with large powers and privileges.” He was to make laws, grant pardons, and appoint officials as he saw fit, but subject to the approval of the English Government.

Penn named his land, “Sylvania”; but the King called it Penn-sylvania, in honour of old Admiral Penn, William Penn’s father.

Almost the first thing that Penn did was to write to the people already settled in Pennsylvania, “a loving address.”

“My Friends,” he began, “I wish you all happiness, here and hereafter. These are to let you know that it hath pleased God, in his providence, to cast you within my lot and care....

“You shall be governed by laws of your own making, and live a free, and, if you will, a sober and industrious people.”

Thus William Penn promised the People of Pennsylvania, Liberty and the right to govern themselves. And he kept his promises.

_John Stoughton_ (_Retold_)

THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE

With what delight did William Penn first set foot on the shore of the Delaware River. It was Autumn. The sweet clear air, the serene skies, the trees, fruits, and flowers, filled him with a wellnigh unspeakable joy.

And later, while being rowed up the river in a barge, he saw the ancient forest trees on either bank, their leaves flaming with red, gold, and amber. He saw flocks of wild fowl rise up from the water, and fly screaming overhead. The solitude and grandeur of the wilderness brooded over all.

Meanwhile, farther up the river, a welcome was awaiting him. In a little town, shaded by pine-trees and built on the high shore, there were white men and Indians hurrying to and fro. They were preparing an entertainment for William Penn, their Governor.

The town was Penn’s capital city. He had named it Philadelphia, which means Brotherly Love.

And as his barge drew near the City of Brotherly Love, the white settlers, Swedish, Dutch, and English Friends, greeted him heartily, for they already knew how just, gentle, and wise he was.