Chapter 6

These people are glad to come because the workingmen of America receive higher wages than those of any other country, and because in America a man is free to rise to any position that he is fitted to hold. The country is ready to give the education that will prepare her citizens to rise to high positions. It is believed that an educated man is likely to make a better citizen than an ignorant man, and therefore the public schools of the United States are entirely free. Then, too, there are public libraries not only in the cities but in many of the little villages, so that men who are too old to go to school may educate themselves by reading. There is opportunity to use all kinds of knowledge in carrying on the manufactures of the country. Almost everything that used to be made by hand is now made by machinery, and the skill to invent a machine that will work a little better than the one in use is always well rewarded. Knowledge is also needed to develop the mineral wealth of the country. Within the limits of the United States are metals, coal, natural gas, and petroleum, and it is the skill and inventive genius of her citizens that have brought such great wealth to the country from these products.

This inventive genius has also given us rapid and cheap transportation. In the old days a man had to make or raise most things for himself. Manufactured articles that could be made very cheaply in one place became exceedingly dear when they had to be carried long distances by wagons over poor roads. Many delicate kinds of fruit would spoil on such long journeys. Now, fruit can be sent from California to Maine in fine condition. Cheap and rapid transportation is a great convenience. Business men need not live in the cities near their offices,--the steam or electric cars will carry them eight or ten miles in the time that it would take to walk one mile. The postal service and the telegraph are sure and rapid. So also is the telephone. No wonder, then, that our commerce has reached the fabulous sum of one billion, five hundred million dollars in one year.

What the United States will become tomorrow, will lie in the hands of those who are the children of to-day.

LESSON LVII

PICTURES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY

On the southern bank of the James River in Virginia stand the ruins of an old church. Its crumbling tower and broken arch are almost hidden by the tangled vines which cover it. Within the walls of the church-yard may be found a few ancient tombstones overgrown with ivy and long grass.

This is all that remains of the first English settlement in America,--the colony of Jamestown, Virginia.

This first permanent English settlement in the New World was made in the year 1607, more than a hundred years after the discovery of America by Columbus. Some attempts to colonize had been made by the English before this time. The most important of these was undertaken by the famous but unfortunate Sir Walter Raleigh.

Raleigh obtained from Queen Elizabeth a grant of a vast territory, to be called Virginia, in honor of Elizabeth, the "virgin queen." It extended from the Hudson River to the boundary of what is now Georgia.

In attempting to colonize Virginia, Raleigh spent a large fortune. But his colonies never prospered. The settlers returned home disgusted with the hardships of the wilderness. In 1589 Raleigh sold his rights to a stock company.

Nevertheless the enterprise which proved too difficult for Raleigh was carried out during Raleigh's lifetime, under the leadership of the famous John Smith.

The idea of colonizing Virginia had been growing wonderfully. In 1606 a company of "noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants," called the London Company, obtained from King James the First a charter for "planting and ruling" South Virginia.

The company had gathered together a band of men willing to try their fortunes in Virginia, and they were just about to embark when Smith reached London. To Smith's bold and roving disposition the idea of a New World was irresistible, and he joined the colonists.

In the last month of the year 1606, the party--in all, one hundred and five men--set sail in a little fleet of three vessels commanded by Captain Newport.

On the 23d of May, 1607, after a weary and distressing voyage, the Virginia colonists landed. They commenced the settlement of Jamestown. When the king's sealed instructions were opened, and the names of the seven directors were made known, it was found that John Smith was to be one of the seven. Through the jealousy of Wingfield, who was chosen president, he was not allowed to take his place in the council.

But this did not prevent his being the ablest man among them, and the colonists were soon glad to turn to him for guidance. For now their condition was most deplorable. They were surrounded by hostile Indians; the provisions they had brought from England were soon consumed; and the diseases caused by the hot, moist climate in a short time reduced their number by one-half.

Besides, the colonists were a troublesome class to deal with. Many of them were broken-down "gentlemen," who despised hard work. A very few were farmers or mechanics or persons fitted for the life they sought.

Day by day Smith made his influence more and more felt. He soon became the head of the colony. He put in force the good old rule that he who would not work should not eat.

Many strange adventures are told about John Smith during the two years he remained in Virginia. He left the colony in the autumn of 1609 on account of a severe wound which he received, and which obliged him to return to England to be cured.

The colonists, having lost the guidance of this resourceful man, were soon reduced to great want; still they held out and later on became a flourishing colony.

LESSON LVIII

THOMAS A. EDISON

One of the greatest inventors of the age is Thomas A. Edison, and his whole life is an interesting story for young people. His mother had been a teacher, and her greatest wish for her son was that he should love knowledge and grow up to be a good and useful man.

When Edison was only twelve years of age, he secured a position as train boy on the Grand Trunk Railroad in one of the western states. He went through the train and sold apples, peanuts, papers, and books. He had such a pleasant face that everybody liked to buy his wares. He traded some of his papers for things with which to try experiments. He then fitted out an old baggage car as a little room in which he began his first efforts in the way of inventions.

One of the things he did while working as a train boy was to print a paper on the train. The "London Times" spoke of it as the only paper in the world published on a train. It was named the "Grand Trunk Herald."

Young Edison worked as a train boy for four years, and he had in that time saved two thousand dollars, which he gave to his parents.

Once he thought he would like to read all the books in the city library. He read for a long time, but he found that he could not finish all the books. He then made up his mind that one would have to live a thousand years in order to read all the books in that library, so he gave up the idea.

One day he bought a book on electricity. Soon after that the basement of his home was filled with many odd things. He used a stovepipe to connect his home with that of another boy, and through this the boys could talk when they wished.

A kind friend taught young Edison how to telegraph, and in five months he could operate well and was given a position. He worked very hard, night and day, so that he could learn all he could about electricity. He lost place after place because he was always trying some new idea. When he first proposed to send four messages on one wire at the same time, he was laughed at by the people; but Edison succeeded. Later on he invented the phonograph. His greatest invention is the incandescent light, which is used for lighting purposes.

Mr. Edison loves his work, and although he is now a very wealthy man, he keeps on inventing and working every day. It is said that he sometimes works for twenty-four hours, day and night, without food or rest, until he has perfected some new invention. Mr. Edison is a true type of an American gentleman.

SELECTION XVII

OFT IN THE STILLY NIGHT

Oft in the stilly night, Ere slumber's chain has bound me, Fond memory brings the light Of other days around me; The smiles, the tears Of boyhood's years, The words of love then spoken; The eyes that shone, Now dimm'd and gone, The cheerful hearts now broken. Thus in the stilly night, Ere slumber's chain has bound me, Sad memory brings the light Of other days around me.

When I remember all The friends, so linked together, I've seen around me fall, Like leaves in wintry weather, I feel like one Who treads alone Some banquet hall deserted, Whose lights are fled, Whose garlands dead, And all but he departed. Thus in the stilly night, Ere slumber's chain has bound me, Sad memory brings the light Of other days around me.

_Thomas Moore_.

LESSON LIX

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Abraham Lincoln, the restorer of the Union, the sixteenth president of the United States, was born in Kentucky on the twelfth of February, 1809. His father was a typical backwoodsman, and young Lincoln grew up among frontier surroundings. The Lincoln family came originally from Pennsylvania. At a later period the Lincolns moved south to Virginia, and again they migrated to Kentucky. It was here that the grandfather of Abraham Lincoln lost his life in a battle with the Indians.

The first seven years of Lincoln's life were spent in the wilds of Kentucky. In 1816 his father left that state and moved northward to Indiana, but here the surroundings were not much better. A rude blockhouse, with a single large room below and a low garret above, was the home of our young hero. Every hardship and privation of the pioneer's life was here the lot of our growing youth. But he loved the tangled woods, and hunting and fishing were his delight.

There were no schools there, and Abraham learned a little reading and writing from a man who shared the poor blockhouse with the Lincoln family. For writing, a slate was used, and now and then a pine board, or even some flat stone upon which the figures were traced with charcoal. His books were few, but he read them over and over again, and the impressions they made on him were so much the deeper. In this way Lincoln acquired the rudiments of education. When Abraham was scarcely nine years old, his excellent mother died. His father married again, and fortunately for young Lincoln, his stepmother was a lady of refinement, who took the greatest interest in her rugged but talented step-son. She sent him to a private school for a while, and Abraham learned many useful things and easily kept at the head of his class. His stepmother also procured more books for him, for Abraham was a most ardent reader, and he spent all his leisure time in reading and self-culture. Being tall of stature and well built, young Lincoln had to help his father on the farm a great deal, and the only time left for study was late at night or in the early morning.

Thus our future president grew up to manhood; a sturdy, awkward, but honest backwoodsman, with a sound mind in a healthy body.

When Lincoln was about eighteen years old, his father again moved northward, this time to Illinois. Here Abraham continued to work and to improve his mind as best he might. Borrowing books from some law office, he studied them at night and returned them in the morning. His honesty and true merit were soon recognized by the rest of the community where he lived, and he was elected to represent the people in the legislature.

Lincoln became a lawyer of more than ordinary ability, and although his appearance remained somewhat ungainly, he easily won his lawsuits by the clear and logical conclusions which he advanced over those of his opponents. He had thus secured a splendid law-practice and had settled in Springfield, Illinois, when he became the republican candidate for president of the United States in 1860, and was elected the same year.

The country at this time was agitated over two great questions: the question of slavery and that of secession. The South was ready to separate from the North, and the entire country was in a most critical condition. Such was the state of affairs when Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office as president of the United States. Lincoln was scarcely three weeks in office when the great war of the Rebellion between the North and the South broke out; a war of which there is no parallel in history. Brother fought against brother, and father against son. Here it was that Lincoln showed his heroic courage, and by his indomitable will kept the reins of government firmly in his hands, thus saving the country from utter anarchy. The war continued with unrelenting vigor for two years, and its horrible consequences were sorely felt throughout the land. In September, 1862, Lincoln issued his famous Emancipation Proclamation, by which slavery was forever banished from this country. Still the warring did not cease. In 1864 Lincoln was elected for a second term in office. The people knew his noble character and they had full confidence in him.

At last peace seemed to be in sight. The North had sacrificed the blood of thousands of its men as well as the wealth of its treasuries. The South, in the same manner, had not only lost tens of thousands of its bravest men, but it was utterly ruined, on account of the terrible punishment the war had inflicted upon that sunny land.

Richmond, the stronghold of the rebellion, had fallen, and victory was on the side of the Union. Amidst universal rejoicings, there came the saddest news. On the 14th day of April, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

The whole nation was thrown into deepest mourning. The noble heart of Lincoln beat no more. He is called the "Martyr President."

His remains were taken to Springfield, Illinois, where they rest at the foot of a small hill in Oakwood Cemetery. A simple monument, with the name--"Lincoln"--upon it, is the only epitaph of him, who next to Washington was the greatest man of our glorious Republic.

LESSON LX

ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE DEDICATION OF THE CEMETERY AT GETTYSBURG

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that the nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate--we cannot consecrate--we cannot hallow--this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

_Abraham Lincoln_.

November 19th, 1863.

SELECTION XVIII

THE PICKET OF THE POTOMAC

"All quiet along the Potomac," they say, "Except now and then a stray picket Is shot as he walks on his beat to and fro, By a rifleman hid in the thicket." 'Tis nothing--a private or two now and then Will not count in the tale of the battle; Not an officer lost--only one of the men Breathing out all alone the death-rattle.

All quiet along the Potomac to-night, Where the soldiers lie peacefully dreaming, Their tents in the ray of the clear autumn moon, And the light of the watch-fires gleaming. A tremulous sigh from the gentle night wind Through the forest leaves slowly is creeping, While the stars up above, with their glittering eyes, Keep watch while the army is sleeping.

There's only the sound of the lone sentry's tread, As he tramps from the rock to the fountain, And thinks of the two in the low trundle-bed Far away in the hut on the mountain. His musket falls slack; his face, dark and grim, Grows gentle with memories tender, As he mutters a prayer for the children asleep, For their mother,--may heaven defend her!

The moon seems to shine as serenely as then, That night when the love, yet unspoken, Lingered long on his lips, and when low-murmured vows Were pledged, never more to be broken. Then, drawing his sleeve roughly over his eyes, He dashes the tears that are welling, And gathers his gun closer up to its place, As if to keep down the heart-swelling.

He passes the fountain, the blasted pine-tree-- The footstep is lagging and weary; Yet onward he glides through the broad belt of light, Towards the shade of a forest so dreary. Hark! Was it the night wind that rustled the leaves? Is it moonlight so suddenly flashing? It looked like a rifle-- "Ha, Mary, good-night!" His life-blood is ebbing and dashing.

All quiet along the Potomac to-night, No sound save the rush of the river; But the dew falls unseen on the face of the dead-- The picket's off duty forever.

_Ethel L. Beers_.

LESSON LXI

WAGES

Wages are a compensation given to the laborer for the exertion of his physical powers, or of his skill and ingenuity. They must, therefore, vary according to the severity of the labor to be performed, or to the degree of skill and ingenuity required. A jeweller or engraver, for example, must be paid a higher rate of wages than a servant or laborer. A long course of training is necessary to instruct a man in the business of jewelling or engraving, and if the cost of his training were not made up to him in a higher rate of wages, he would, instead of learning so difficult an art, betake himself to such employments as require hardly any instruction.

A skilled mason, who has served a long apprenticeship to his trade, will always obtain higher wages than a common laborer, who has simply to use his mere bodily strength. Were it not so, there would be nothing to induce the mason to spend many years in learning a trade at which he could earn no higher wages than the man who was simply qualified to carry lime in a hod, or to roll a wheelbarrow.

The wages of labor in different employments vary with the constancy and inconstancy of employment. Employment is much more constant in some trades than in others. Many trades can be carried on only in particular states of weather, and seasons of the year; and if the workmen who are employed in these cannot easily find employment in others during the time they are thrown out of work, their wages must be proportionally raised. A journeyman weaver, shoemaker, or tailor may reckon, unless trade is dull, upon obtaining constant employment; but masons, bricklayers, pavers, and in general all those workmen who carry on their business in the open air, are liable to constant interruptions. Their wages, accordingly, must be sufficient to maintain them while they are employed, and also when they are necessarily idle.

From the preceding observations it is evident that those who receive the highest wages are not, when the cost of their education, and the chances of their success, are taken into account, really better paid than those who receive the lowest. The wages earned by the different classes of workmen are equal, not when each individual earns the same number of dollars in a given space of time, but when each is paid in proportion to the severity of the labor he has to perform, and to the degree of previous education and skill it requires. So long as each individual is allowed to employ himself as he pleases, we may be assured that the rate of wages in different employments will be comparatively equal.

SELECTION XIX

COLUMBIA, THE GEM OF THE OCEAN; OR, THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE

1. O Columbia, the gem of the ocean, The home of the brave and the free, The shrine of each patriot's devotion, A world offers homage to thee. Thy mandates make heroes assemble, When Liberty's form stands in view, Thy banners make tyranny tremble, When borne by the red, white and blue.

CHORUS.

When borne by the red, white and blue, When borne by the red, white and blue, Thy banners make tyranny tremble, When borne by the red, white and blue.

2. When war winged its wide desolation. And threatened the land to deform, The ark then of freedom's foundation, Columbia, rode safe thro' the storm; With her garlands of vict'ry around her, When so proudly she bore her brave crew, With her flag proudly floating before her, The boast of the red, white and blue.

CHORUS.

3. The wine-cup, the wine-cup bring hither, And fill you it true to the brim; May the wreaths they have won never wither, Nor the star of their glory grow dim. May the service united ne'er sever, But they to their colors prove true. The Army and Navy forever, Three cheers for the red, white and blue.

CHORUS.

_David T. Shaw_.

LESSON LXII

LOVE FOR THE DEAD

The sorrow for the dead is the only sorrow from which we refuse to be divorced. Every other wound we seek to heal--every other affliction to forget; but this wound we consider it a duty to keep open--this affliction we cherish and brood over in solitude. Where is the mother who would willingly forget the infant that perished like a blossom from her arms, though every recollection is a pang? Where is the child that would willingly forget the most tender of parents, though to remember be but to lament? Who, even in the hour of agony, would forget the friend over whom he mourns? Who, even when the tomb is closing upon the remains of her he most loved--when he feels his heart, as it were, crushed in the closing of its portal--would accept of consolation that must be bought by forgetfulness?

No, the love which survives the tomb is one of the noblest attributes of the soul. If it has its woes, it has likewise its delights; and when the overwhelming burst of grief is calmed into the gentle tear of recollection--when the sudden anguish and the convulsive agony over the present ruins of all that we most loved is softened away into pensive meditation on all that it was in the days of its loveliness--who would root out such a sorrow from the heart? Though it may sometimes throw a passing cloud over the bright hour of gayety, or spread a deeper sadness over the hour of gloom, yet who would exchange it, even for the song of pleasure or the burst of revelry? No, there is a voice from the tomb sweeter than song. There is a remembrance of the dead to which we turn even from the charms of the living. Oh, the grave! the grave! It buries every error--covers every defect. From its peaceful bosom spring none but fond regrets and tender recollections. Who can look down upon the grave even of an enemy, and not feel remorse that he should ever have warred with the poor handful of earth that lies mouldering before him?

LESSON LXIII

ECONOMY OF TIME