Heritage History | Story of the Thirteen Colonies by Helene Guerber (2024)

Learned men, who read the story of the earth in the mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes, and seaswhich cover its surface, tell us that America, although known as the New World, is reallyolder than Europe. The sun has shone upon this continent and the rain has watered it formore centuries than we can count. If you study your maps carefully, you will notice loftymountains, great lakes, and long rivers in many parts of the country; and you will seethat it is beautiful and fertile almost everywhere, except in the far north, where snowcovers the ground most of the year.

The same wise men who found out that the country is so old, dug down into the soil,examined the things they found there, questioned the Indians, and, little by little,discovered that our continent has been inhabited by many different kinds of animals andmen. They found huge bones of animals which died thousands of years ago, and placed thesein museums, where you can now see them. They also found the bones of some of the ancientmen and women, with some of their weapons, tools, kitchen pots, and bits of theirgarments.

By studying these things very carefully, and by listening to the stories of the natives,they learned a great deal about the country which, from Greenland and Alaska in the north,to Cape Horn in the south, was once inhabited by tribes of Indians. None of these hadwhite skins like the inhabitants of Europe, black skins like the negroes in Africa, oryellow skins like the Chinamen in Asia. But as they were more like the people in Asia thanlike those in Africa or Europe, some men now think they may once have belonged to the samefamily.

Still, the men living on our continent were so unlike others that they are called red men,and form a race by themselves. Those who lived in the part of the country which is nowcalled the United States had copper-colored skins, high cheek bones, straight, coarseblack hair, small black eyes, and very wide mouths. Although they all looked somewhatalike, they were very different in their ways of living. The Indians living east of theRocky Mountains were a little more civilized thanthose living west of those mountains and in the far northern parts of the continent.

The western and northern Indians are generally called savage Indians, for they lived byhunting and fishing, had no houses like ours, and were always roaming around in search ofgame. They were sheltered from the sun and rain by tents called wigwams. These rudedwellings were made by driving poles in the ground, in a circle as big as the wigwam wasto be. When all the poles had been set up, the tops were drawn close together and firmlytied. Over these slanting poles the Indians spread the skins of the animals they hadkilled, or else they wove leaves and branches between the poles to form a thick screen.The space between two of the poles was left open to serve as a door, and over this washung a bear or buffalo skin to keep out the sun, rain, or cold.

The space inside the wigwam was generally very small; but all the family crowded in, andwhen it was cold or wet, a fire was lighted in the middle of the floor. The smoke thenescaped through a hole purposely left in the top of the wigwam, or through the open door.

The savage Indians had learned to make baskets, whichthey plastered with clay inside and out, and dried in the sun until they could hold water.When they wanted to boil their meat or to warm water, the women, called squaws, heatedstones in the fire, and then dropped them into the water, which was thus brought to aboil.

These Indians rowed about in canoes made of basket work, of birch bark, or even of hollowtree trunks. As they had only stone axes, they could not easily cut down trees, so theybrought them to the ground by kindling a fire all around them. When the tree had fallenthey built another fire farther up the trunk. A log of the right length having thus beensecured, they hollowed it out by starting small fires on top of the trunk, and scrapingaway the charred wood, until the log formed a rude canoe.

The Indians made their birch-bark canoes by sewing long strips of bark together with plantfibers or the sinews of the animals they had killed. The basket-work canoes were coveredwith skins to make them water-tight.

The Indians east of the Rocky Mountains knew a little more than the savage Indians, so theyare called the barbarous Indians. Besides hunting and fishing, they dug up roots withstone hoes, or with shells, and planted corn, beans, pumpkins, squashes, tomatoes,tobacco, and sun-flowers. Of course they did not have neat fields and gardens, such as yousee now; but they scratched a hole wherever the ground seemed good enough, dropped a fewseeds into it, and covering them over, left them to grow without further care.

The barbarous Indians were not content, like the savage Indians in the West, to fling askin around them to keep off the cold, merely fastening it with a big thorn to hold ittogether. So they made winter garments by sewing skins together with sinews or plantfibers. In summer they had lighter clothes, rudely woven out of cotton or plant fibers.They, too, wove baskets, made beautiful birch-bark canoes, and after fashioning pots andpans out of clay, hardened them in the fire, so that they could use them in cooking.

These Indians had tools and weapons made of finely polished stone or bone, and they likedto live in villages. Instead of wigwams, many of them built houses of wood, or basket workand clay, roofed over with strips of bark. Sometimes the roof was a very thick layer oflong grass, laid on rude rafters, and held down by poles to form a kind of thatch.

The houses thus built were generally very long and rather narrow, with a door at eitherend, and a passageway running through the center. On either side of this hall there werelittle rooms, each occupied by a family. At intervals along the passage the ground washollowed out, and a clay or earthen fireplace was built, where four families cooked theirmeals. Above the fireplace there was a hole in the roof to serve as chimney. The roomsnear the doors were generally used as storerooms for food and fuel. When several of theselong houses were built together, they were often surrounded by a wooden wall, or palisade,to keep out the wild beasts and to serve as protection in time of war.

The Indians who once lived in New York and in the valley of the St. Lawrence lived in longhouses, but theMissouri Indians had round houses, built of the same materials. In the round houses thefireplace was in the middle, and families lived in rooms shaped like cuts of a pie. Manyof these round houses were built close together, and then surrounded by a palisade made oftree trunks. These were driven into the ground so close together that they formed a verystrong fence.

Although Indians did not have family names, such as we have now, each great family, orclan, had a special sign whereby it was known, such as a bear, a turtle, or a beaver. Thissign was often marked upon their bodies in bright colors, and they carved and scratched iton all their belongings. From this sign the family was known as the bear, the turtle, orthe beaver clan. Each clan selected a ruler, called sachem, or sagamore, whose orders allobeyed, and they also chose a chief to lead them in time of war.

The Indians had never been told about the God we love, so they worshiped the sun, moon,and stars, the lightning and thunder, the wind and rain, and said that one great spirit,called Manito, was always watching over them. They also believed that when they died theywould be carried off to a place where they could hunt and fish forever, and they calledthis heaven the happy hunting grounds.

Their religious ceremonies were usually performed by Indians called medicine men. Thesepretended to be very wise, and frightened the others by dancing and yelling wildly, andusing strange words and signs. They said this would please their gods, and drive away theevil spirits of sickness, storm, or drought. The Indians were so simple that they believedall this nonsense, and they wereso afraid of evil spirits that they often begged an animal's pardon for killing it. Yousee, they thought the spirit of a wolf or bear might else be so angry as to torment themin their dreams!

The men spent their time hunting, fishing, and fighting, but left all the rest of the workto the women. When they moved from one place to another, the squaws had to carry all thehousehold goods, as well as the papooses, or babies. But the men carried only their bowsand arrows, hunting knives, and the hatchets called tomahawks, which they threw with greatforce and skill.

Besides the savage Indians of the north and west, and the barbarous Indians of the east, therewere also half-civilized Indians in the south of our country. They dwelt not only in whatis now New Mexico and Arizona, but were also found in Mexico, Central America, and SouthAmerica, as far down the map as Chile.

The southern Indians had learned how to build canals, so as to lead the water far awayfrom the streams into dry and barren lands. When the ground had thus been watered, orirrigated, it became very fruitful, and they could grow all the grain and vegetables theyneeded.

The southern Indians lived together in huge fortresses, built of sun-dried bricks, calledadobe. These fortresses were large houses five or six stories high, containing ever somany little rooms, each occupied by one family. Thus one house often sheltered two orthree thousand people.

Sometimes these Indians built their houses on the ledges of steep rocks, or canyons. Suchhouses were called cliff dwellings, and many remains of these queer homes are still foundin the southwestern part of our country. The Indians who lived there were gentle, and notfond offighting, but they built fortresses and cliff dwellings to defend themselves when attackedby the savage Indians

You see, the savage Indians did not grow any grain or vegetables, but they came down fromthe north to steal the provisions of the southern Indians. These, therefore, carried alltheir supplies into the cliff houses, which they built in such a way that it was almostimpossible for an enemy to get in them.

The inhabitants themselves, however, easily went in and out by means of ladders, which ledfrom story to story, or from ledge to ledge. Their houses had no doors down near thefloor, but were entered by a hole in the roof.

In each of these fortresses there was a great cistern, full of water, and so large asupply of food that the Indians could stand a long siege. In times of danger they pulledall their ladders away up out of reach, and when their enemies tried to climb the steepcliffs or straight walls, they pelted them with stones and arrows, and thus drove themaway.

Wise men tell us that even before our country was occupied by the savage, barbarous, andhalf-civilized Indians, whose way of living has just been described, it had been inhabitedby their ancestors or by an older race of men. We know they existed, because people havedug up their bones. These have been found principally inside huge earthen mounds of veryqueer shapes. The mounds were evidently built by those early inhabitants, who are henceknown as the mound builders. Trees hundreds of years old now grow upon these mounds, whichare found in most parts of the eastern Mississippi valley, especially in Ohio.

In one place you can see a big mound representing a snake one thousand feet long, his bodylying in graceful curves along the ground.

This snake's mouth is wide open, and he looks as if trying to swallow an egg-shaped mound,which is one hundred and sixty-four feet long, and hence a pretty big mouthful. As thismound is so odd, it has been inclosed in a park, where it is to be kept just as it is, toremind people of the mound builders who lived here so long ago.

No one now knows exactly why these queer mounds were made, but learned men have dug intoabout two thousand of them, and as they have generally found bones, stone arrowheads andaxes, beads, mortars, hammers, tools for spinning and weaving, pottery, baskets, andcoarse cloth, they think the mounds must have been intended principally as burying places.The beads found in them are very like those which the barbarous Indians called wampum andused as money.Indians wore these beads in strings around their necks, or wove them intobelts, using beads of different colors to form very pretty patterns.

As you have seen in the first chapters of this book, America was once a very differentcountry from what it is to-day. Now you are going to learn how it changed, little bylittle, from the wild land where Indians roamed about in the huge forests covering thegreater part of the country, into a civilized country.

We are told that in all the wide territory now occupied by the United States, there were,four hundred and fifty years ago, about two hundred thousand Indians. These were very fewinhabitants for so big a country, for now there are many cities here which count many morecitizens.

The Indians then little suspected that on the other side of the great ocean there wasanother country, occupied by a race of white men, who knew much more than they did, andwho were soon coming to take possession of their land.

But the people in Europe, wise as they were, did not know many things which everybodyknows now. That was not their fault, however, for they had been trying for severalcenturies to learn all they could. In the middle of the fifteenth century Europe wasalready an old country, where long series of kings and queens had ruled over the people.There were then in Europe cities more than two thousand years old, ancient temples andcastles, and many of the beautiful Christian churches which people still admire, becausenone finer have ever been built.

The people in Europe had long been great travelers by land and sea, although it was not soeasy to get aboutthen as it is now. Indeed, on land they could go only in wagons, in litters, on horseback,or on foot; and on the water they used nothing but rowboats or sailboats, because no onehad yet imagined that one could use steam or electricity. On the sea, even the boldestsailors did not dare venture far out of sight of land, for fear they would not be able tofind their way back.

The best seamen in Europe were the Northmen, or Vikings. Already in the eighth centurythey used to sail out of the viks, or bays, in Norway, every spring, to go in search ofadventures. These Northmen, Norsem*n, or Normans, little by little explored the coast ofthe North Sea, and of the Atlantic Ocean, and finally came to the Strait of Gibraltar.Passing through this opening, they came to the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, where theycruised about, even visiting the Greek islands and the renowned city of Constantinople.

As you will see by looking at your maps, this was a very long journey for men who hadnothing but sailboats or rowboats, such as very few sailors would dare to use nowadays.But the Northmen were afraid of nothing, and when the wind blew, and the great wavestossed their little vessels up and down like co*ckleshells, they held tight to the rudderand steered on, singing one of their famous songs.

Sometimes, however, the tempest raged so fiercely that they were driven far out of theircourse. Thus, in the middle of the ninth century, one of these hardy seamen, after tossingabout on the stormy seas several days, landed on an island which he had never seen before.

This new place was Iceland, and he was so pleasedwith his discovery that he sailed home and persuaded his family and friends to go backthere with him to settle down. In a few years other Northmen came to live in Iceland,sailing across the Atlantic from time to time to visit their old homes and friends. Soonthe colony grew so large that its seamen kept up a lively trade with different ports inEurope.

One of these Icelandic seamen, Gunnbiorn, on his way home, was once overtaken by a violentstorm. It drove him far out of his course, and finally brought him in sight of a new land,covered with snow, which he called the White Land. When he reached home he told theIcelanders what he had seen; but no one cared then to go and see if there really was aland west of Iceland, as he had said.

About a hundred years later another man, Eric the Red, was driven out of Iceland formurder. Remembering what Gunnbiorn had said, he sailed westward, and went to settle in thenew country, which he called Greenland, so as to attract other settlers. A number of themsoon joined him there, and began to trade with the Eskimos, a race of Indians who lived inthe coldest part of the country, where they hunted white bears and fished for cod andseals.

After Eric the Red had settled in Greenland, he sent word to one of his friends, Biarni, to comeand visit him. Biarni gladly accepted the invitation, and althoughhe had none of the instruments which sailors now use to guide them safely over the seas,he set out boldly, steering his course by the stars.

"Unfortunately for biarni, a storm soon came up. the stars could no longer be seen, andhis ship was driven far out of its way. when the skies cleared biarni saw land before him,and fancied he had reached greenland. so he sailed slowly along the coast, looking foreric's settlement; but, as he could not find it, he soon turned around and went back toiceland.

Of course he told his adventures to his friends, and Leif the Lucky, hearing him describethe land he had seen, set out in search of it, in a large ship manned by a number of men.Sailing westward, Leif coasted along Labrador and Nova Scotia, came to Cape Cod, andlanded, it is thought, somewhere in Rhode Island, in the year tool.

Although Biarni and Leif did not know it, they had been the first white men to see NorthAmerica, which, as you will see, did not receive this name till many years later. Leif theLucky found so many wild grapes in this region that he called the country Vineland, andloading his ship with timber and grapes, he went home. But he, with another Northman, sooncame back to spend a winter in the new country, where the climate was much milder than inIceland or Greenland.

For some years ships sailed from Norway to Iceland, from Iceland to Greenland, and fromGreenland to North America, where a Northman finally settled with about one hundred andforty men and women. Snorri, the son of this brave leader, was the first European childbornin America. He lived to grow up, and the great sculptor Thorwaldsen, as well as severalother noted men, claimed him as one of their ancestors.

The Northmen, however, had a very hard time in America, for they were soon attacked by theIndians, whom they called Skraelings. Even the women had to fight to defend themselvesagainst the savages. But when they found that these attacks did not cease, they decided toleave the country, and went home in 1012.

As far as we know, after that no ships from the North visited America for several hundredyears. But the story of Eric the Red and of Leif the Lucky was, fortunately,written down in one of the old Norse tales, or sagas. It is probable that the people wenton talking for some time of the strange country their friends had visited, but after awhile they forgot it entirely. Indeed, were it not for the old story, no one would nowknow that they were the first Europeans who set foot in our country, and you will stillhear some people deny that they ever came here.

Now, it may seem very strange to you that the news of the Norse discovery of the new landwas not made known everywhere; but you must remember that the people in Europe had nonewspapers or printing presses, and that news traveled very slowly. No one but a fewNorthmen, therefore, were aware that land had been found in the West.

So America was forgotten until, according to an old story, a Welsh prince named Madoc wasdriven across the Atlantic by a storm, in the twelfth century. He was so well pleased withthe new country he found that he is said to have left some of his men there, promising toreturn soon with more settlers. The story goes on to say that he sailed from Wales to keepthis promise, but no one ever heard anything more of him, or of the men he left inAmerica.

Some people think that he and his men perished in a storm, and that the settlers he leftbehind him were murdered by the Indians. Others insist that the whole story was made up bythe Welsh, so they could claim the honor of having discovered America. Whether the Welshever came here or not,—and it is hardly likely they ever did,—the fact remains that ourcontinent, after being discovered by Europeans, was lost again.

People living in Europe, near the sea, were all fond of cruising about; but as they had nocompass at first, they seldom ventured out of sight of land, for fear of losing their way.After a time they learned to steer their vessels by means of the stars; but as these couldserve as guides only on clear nights, sailors were glad to use the compass when it becameknown in Europe, in the twelfth century.

But although seamen now fearlessly cruised about the European waters, they did not venturefar out into the Atlantic, which was then known as the "Sea of Darkness." The fact is,they were afraid to do so, because they had been told they would meet strange monstersthere, such as mermen and mermaids. They also thought their vessels would be drawn towardthe "Loadstone Mountain," a great magnetic rock which would draw all the nails out oftheir planks, and thus make their boats fall to pieces.

Of course this was all nonsense, but most of the seamen believed these tales as firmly assome sailors now believe that Friday is an unlucky day; and as no one had ever gone farout in the Atlantic, even learned men could not prove to them that they were mistaken.Besides, although they had fairly good maps of the countries they had visited, people knewnothing at all of the rest of theworld. Their maps showed only the northern part of Africa, the western and southern partsof Europe, and the western part of Asia. All the rest was a blank.

Common people then believed that the earth was round and flat, like a pie, with the oceanflowing all around it. So they were afraid to venture too far out, lest they should fallover the edge of the world and drop down into space! Wise men, however, already knewbetter; for about three hundred years before Christ, Greek philosophers had begun tosuspect that the earth is round like a ball, and not flat, as every one until then hadsupposed.

They and their pupils wrote books giving their reasons for believing this; but as printingwas not invented till seventeen hundred years later, these works were known only to a fewlearned men. Most of the European scholars then lived in Greece or Constantinople, andkept these precious manuscripts in monasteries or private libraries, or in palaces andschools.

In the twelfth century a Spanish-Arabian philosopher read some of these Greek manuscripts,and then wrote a book, saying that he not only believed that the earth is round, but thathe thought it would be possible to sail around it! This statement, so natural and simplenow, seemed so absurd to the people who heard it then that they began to make all mannerof fun of it. They asked how it would be possible for a ship to sail uphill, evensupposing it did not tumble off the earth when it reached the edge, which they called thejumping-off place.

They also asked how the trees on the other side of the earth could grow with their rootsup in the air, and inquired whether the rain and snow flew up instead of fallingdown. These questions, which seem so odd now, were very natural, for people did not thenknow, what your teachers have explained to you, that the earth is like a big magnet. Itholds fast everything on its surface, and nothing can fall off, even though it spinsaround and around, and whirls through space much faster than the fastest express train cantravel.

The Turks, who were not Christians, besieged the city of Constantinople in 1453, and whenthey became masters of it, and of the surrounding country, the learned men all fled,taking with them many of their precious manuscripts. Deprived of their quiet homes, and inmany cases forced to teach to earn their living, these wise men settled in various cities,where they imparted to others all they knew.

As printing had just been invented, books, instead of being worth a fortune, soon becameso much cheaper that almost everybody could afford to have one or two volumes. Theprecious manuscripts the wise men had saved from the Turks were therefore printed, andpeople soon began to talk about the strange things they read in them, and* longed to knowmore.

Among the first books printed were the accounts of the travels of two daring men, Marco Polo andSir John Mandeville. These men had visited many of the countries of the East, and thefirst had even gone to China, which was then called Cathay. The stories thesetravelers told were so interesting and exciting that people became anxious to visit thesestrange countries, and especially to trade there and thus grow rich.

Ever since the days of Alexander the Great, if not sooner, a certain amount of trading hadbeen done with the East. But as all the silk, sugar, spices, etc., had to be brought bycoasting vessels to the head of the Persian Gulf or the Red Sea, and thence overland bycaravans to some port on the Black or the Mediterranean, they became very costly.

Sometimes, too, the goods were brought all the way from China or India, or the heart ofAfrica, through deserts and over mountains to the Black, the Mediterranean, or the RedSea, by caravan, although it took a long while to travel all those weary miles.

For some time the Turks allowed this trade to go on, but by and by they began to treat thetraders so badly that the traffic almost stopped. The cities of Venice and Genoa in Italy,whose ships had constantly sailed to and fro in the Mediterranean and Black seas, to carrythese goods from port to port, were now nearly idle, and the people who had grown so richwere about to become poor.

As the Turks were too strong to be driven away, the traders longed to find another road toreach India, Cathay, and Cipango, or Japan. A way of reaching these countries by sea waswhat they most desired, because it is much easier to carry goods in ships than on camels.

The Venetians and Genoese, however, were not the only ones who wished to find a new roadto the East. Many of the European coast cities fancied that if they could only discoverit, they could keep the trade all to themselves, and thus grow richer and more powerfulthan their neighbors.

One of the countries which most coveted the Eastern trade was Portugal, where a bright boywas heir to the throne. This lad, Prince Henry of Portugal, once went with his father toCeuta in Africa. Although then very young, he listened eagerly to the wonderful storiestold about Guinea, on the southern side of the Sahara. He soon began to wonder if it wouldnot be possible to get there by sailing along the coast instead of crossing the Africandesert. This, you must know, was a great undertaking, because people found nothing to eator drink there, and suffered much from the heat. Besides, the wind called the simoomraised such clouds of dust that whole caravans were sometimes buried in the sand.

By looking at the maps in your geography, you can see that it was easy to sail fromPortugal to Guinea; but at that time people knew nothing of the west coast of Africa.Prince Henry, in hopes of solving the problem, began to study very, hard. Before long heread in an old book that a wise man thought it possible to sail all around Africa, and helonged to find out if this was true.

As soon as he grew up, he therefore hired a number of seamen to try it, and showed suchinterest in sea voyages that he is often called the Navigator. The mariners thus sent out,little by little explored the coast of Africa, and creeping farther south every journey,they discovered the Madeira and Canary Islands.

But the sight of the smoke above the volcano of Tenerife so terrified them that they daredgo no farther. It was only some time later that Portuguese mariners reached the Cape VerdeIslands and Senegal. But one of their number had in the meantime learned, from a Flemishseaman, that there was a group of islands westward, and the Portuguese, going there,planted a colony on the Azores, which still belong to them.

While Henry the Navigator was busy with his discoveries, the rest of the world was not standingstill. Although he little suspected it, a boy born in Genoa, about 1436, was to be a fargreater navigator than he. This boy was Christopher Columbus.

Although Christopher's father was only a poor wool comber, he managed to send his son toschool at Pavia. There the little fellow studied hard. But he had no pretty books such asyou have now, and had to pore over musty parchments. In spite of that, he took specialinterest in geography and mathematics. When only thirteen, Christopher was forced to leaveschool, because his father could not afford to keep him there any longer. After combingwool for a short time, he went to sea with one of his relatives.

A sailor at fourteen, Columbus began to lead a very stirring and adventurous life. Genoa,his native city, was then often at war with other places, and battles were fought on thesea as well as on land. Besides, in going about from place to place, Genoese vessels werefrequently overtaken by pirates; so mariners in those days had to know how to fight, aswell as how to sail their vessels. Columbus, therefore, had more than one battle withthese sea robbers, whose aim was to secure the goods on board his ship. Once he took partin a fight off Cape St. Vincent. Here, his vessel having caught fire, he and his crewsprang into the sea to escape the flames. By rare good fortune, Columbus managed to graspa floating oar, and with this slight help he swam to the distant shore.

In the course of his many journeys Columbus visited all the principal ports of theMediterranean Sea. Ever eager to learn, he questioned the seamen and travelers he met, andthey gladly told him the strange things they had seen and heard while visiting foreignlands.

After a time Columbus came to Lisbon, hoping to be employed in making discoveries for thecrown; for, as wehave seen, the Portuguese were the boldest seamen of the day. Whether or not Columbus tookpart in some of their journeys we do not now know; but we do know that he soon foundhimself obliged to earn his scanty living by drawing maps. As he was a very pious man, hedaily went to say his prayers in a neighboring convent church, where he met a young ladywhom the nuns were educating. Falling in love with her, Columbus soon made her his wife.

The newly married couple lived with the mother of the bride, the widow of a seaman andchart maker. She soon gave her son-in-law her husband's papers and instruments. In lookingover the former, Columbus found that his wife's father had once been in the employ ofHenry the Navigator, and had written an account of his voyages.

Poring over these papers, and thinking over all he had read and heard from travelers,Columbus became more and more convinced that the earth is round, and that by sailingdirectly westward one would reach the coast of Asia. This idea, which had already hauntedhim for some time, now left him no rest. He longed to try, for he was in hopes of findinga new road to India, which would enable his native city to carry on the trade which hadmade it so rich. This trade had been stopped, when he was about seventeen, by the takingof Constantinople, as you have already heard.

According to the calculations of Columbus,—for, like all the wise men of his time, hefancied the earth smaller than it is, the lands known to the Europeans extended over abouttwo thirds of the surface of the globe. As he thought that Asia stretched much farthereast, henow began to think that perhaps the strip of ocean which separated Cipango from the CanaryIslands might not be so very broad, after all.

To discover whether others shared this belief, Columbus wrote to Toscanelli, a learnedItalian, asking him whether he thought it possible to reach Asia by sailing straightacross the Atlantic. Toscanelli answered that he thought it could be done. He also sentColumbus a map he had drawn, on which he had placed Cipango (Japan) nearly on the spotwhich Cuba occupies in your geographies.

When Columbus received this map he determined to make an attempt to reach Asia by boldlysailing westward. But he was too poor to buy or hire a vessel himself, and we are toldthat when he once asked the Genoese to supply him with one, offering to give them thebenefit of his discoveries, they only made fun of his plans.

Although disappointed, Columbus did not give up his idea, and still tried to gain all theinformation he could. He even made a journey to Iceland; but the people he talked withthere had so entirely forgotten the land that Eric and Biarni had visited in the west,that they never even mentioned it to him, so far as we now know.

Genoa having refused to help him, Columbus, some time later, explained his wishes to John II.,the new king of Portugal, for Henry the Navigator was dead. This ruler also took greatinterest in such matters, butas he was not very wise himself, he called together a council of his most learned men tolisten to all that Columbus had to say. These men declared the plan absurd; but the kingdid not feel quite sure that they were right.

John did not wish any other country to have the glory of finding the new road to India;still, he did not want to trust a ship to Columbus. Advised by one of his bishops, hesecretly sent out a light ship, with orders to sail directly westward. The captain andcrew did not believe one could sail across the Atlantic, and were sorely afraid of themonsters which they fancied swarmed in the Sea of Darkness. They therefore took advantageof the very first storm to come back, reporting that it was impossible to go any farther.

When Columbus heard that the king had been so dishonest as to try to steal his ideas, hewas justly indignant. He left Lisbon in anger, vowing he would have nothing more to dowith such a ruler. Still, as he was fully determined not to give up his cherished plan totry himself, he sent his brother Bartholomew to England to ask if Henry VII. would givehim a ship.

In the meanwhile Columbus staid in Spain, earning a scanty living for himself and hislittle son Diego; for by this time his wife had died, leaving him alone with this child.But although so poor that he often had to beg food, Columbus thought night and day of thetime when he would sail westward to Asia. As he went from place to place, he tried tointerest various people in his plans, and for a while believed that some Spanish noblemenwould help him.

But they finally told him they could not undertakesuch an important expedition, and advised him to apply for aid to the king and queen atCordova. Hoping still, Columbus journeyed thither, and found that the royal couple weretoo busy trying to drive the Moors out of Spain to pay much attention to him.Time went on thus, and while Columbus was anxiously waiting, Portuguese seamen crept downthe coast of Africa until they reached its southern point. There a tempest raged sofiercely that the captain called it the Cape of Storms, and, not daring to venture aroundit, sailed home. When he told John II. of his discovery, the king declared that the capeshould henceforth be called the Cape of Good Hope, for there were now good prospects ofreaching India by coasting all around Africa.

In 1487, the very year that the Portuguese thus finished exploring the western coast ofAfrica, Columbus was called before the learned men of the Spanish court at Salamanca, toexplain what it was he wanted to do.

But after talking about his plan for three years, these men also declared it wasimpossible, because one of the fathers of the church had said that the earth could not beround. Columbus was in despair, for he had spent years in trying to convince them, and infollowing the court from one city to another.

Greatly discouraged, yet determined not to give up, Columbus decided to leave Spain and goto France to seek help of the French king. He therefore set out on foot for the nearestseaport, but on the way thither stopped at the monastery of La Rabida to ask for a drinkof water and a bit of bread for his hungry boy.

While the child was eagerly eating the food given him,the prior, or chief of the monastery, passed by. Struck by the noble appearance ofColumbus, he began to question him. Columbus then told Prior Perez how much he longed tocarry out the plan upon which he had set his heart.

The prior, who was a learned man, listened with great interest to the tale Columbus told.He also invited the travelers to tarry with him a few days, and sending for his friends,bade them hear what the stranger had to say. Among the listeners were the brothers Pinzon,experienced seamen from the neighboring port of Palos.

The prior and the Pinzons were so impressed by all Columbus said that the latter offeredto furnish a ship and go with him, provided he could secure enough help to carry out hisplan. As for the prior, he offered to go to court and persuade Queen Isabella—whoseconfessor he had once been—to supply the necessary funds.

True to his resolve, the prior rode off on his mule, and laid the whole subject so simplyand plainly before Isabella that she promised to give all the help needful. This answer sopleased Perez that he wrote to Columbus, "I came, I saw, God conquered," and sent himmoney, bidding him come to court without further delay.

It seemed at first as if Columbus's troubles were now over; but in spite of all Isabella'sgood will, some timepassed by before she and King Ferdinand could hear him. Then, more delays having occurred,Columbus set out, in disgust, to try his luck elsewhere. But Isabella, fearing that thechance of great wealth and honor would escape her, sent a messenger after him, saying shewould even pledge her own jewels to raise the necessary sum. Hearing this, Columbus cameback, and only with great difficulty secured a royal promise that he should have the titleof admiral, that he and his descendants should govern any lands he discovered for Spain,and that he and they should receive one tenth of all the pearls, gold, and spices broughtto Spain from these new countries.

In 1492, therefore, more than eighteen years after he began asking for help to carry out his daringplan, Columbus sailed out of the port of Palos with three little vessels—the SantaMaria, the Pinta, and the Nina. Columbus himself commanded the first,the Pinzon brothers were captains of the other ships, and the crews, all told, consistedof about one hundred men.

The vessels were small and uncomfortable, without real decks, cabins, or holds; butColumbus started out boldly to brave unknown dangers and venture into strange seas. Hiscourse was first southward, because he intended to get fresh water at the Canary Islandsbefore sailing due west in search of Asia.

Although still in well-known waters, the seamen already seemed doubtful and afraid, andthe third day after they sailed, the Pinta signaled that there was something wrong,Columbus soon learned that her rudder was out of order; and although Pinzon tried to mendit, his vessel could not sail fast.

When Columbus came to the Canary Islands the rudder was properly repaired, and whilewaiting for that to be done, he heard from the inhabitants that after strong westerlywinds they had often found on the beach strangely carved bits of wood. Once two bodieswere washed ashore, and the islanders said they were those of men unlike any race everseen in Europe or the parts of Asia and Africa with which they were familiar.

Setting out from the Canaries, Columbus quieted the fears of his crew, when they camewithin sight of Mount Tenerife, by explaining to them that it was only a volcano, likeMount Etna. Then he steered directly westward.

The men's hearts sank as they lost sight of land, and all began to think over the terriblestories they had heard. People who are always looking out for something to get scared atare easily frightened; so when the three ships sailed into the warm waters of the middleAtlantic, where seaweed grows in such quantity as to make the sea look green, the sailorswere terrified.

But Columbus was no faint-heart, and he steered right on, making the ships cut their waythrough the floating masses of seaweed in the Sargasso Sea, as that part of the Atlanticis called. Perceiving that his men grew more frightened as the distance increased betweenthem and their homes, Columbus did not tell them how many miles they had really gone, butcarefully kept the account for his own use. To cheer his men, he promised a great rewardto the first who caught sight of land.

Instead of looking for mermaids, monsters, and boiling seas, the sailors now began towatch for land, and several times they mistook clouds for distant mountain peaks. Dayafter day passed on, until the men, horror-struck at the endless stretch of sea and sky,again and again begged Columbus to turn around; but he always refused.

Then they grew so angry that they plotted to throw him overboard and take command of thevessels themselves. They were on the point of doing this, when they saw a shrub coveredwith fresh berries floating over the waters. A little farther on they found a carved stickand a small board, and soon after beheld birds flying southward. By these signs they feltsure land must be near, and eagerly resumed their watch for it.

To please one of the Pinzon brothers, Columbus unwillingly consented to change his courseand follow the birds; but if he had gone straight on he would have landed in what is nowcalled Florida.

Standing on top of the poor little cabin of his vessel, on the evening of October i r,Columbus peered out into the darkness, wondering whether he would see land before him whenthe sun rose. Suddenly he fancied hesaw a light. He called two men, and as they saw it too, he felt sure they were near landat last.

A few hours later, at early dawn on Friday morning, October 12, 1492, the Pinta,which was ahead, gave the joyful signal that land was in sight. When the sun rose, all onboard beheld one of the Bahamas, which Columbus mistook for an island off the coast ofAsia.

Although uncultivated, the island was inhabited, and the Spaniards soon saw naked savagesrun out of their low huts, to stare in wonder at the ships. The poor creatures, who hadnever seen sailing vessels before, fancied that the boats had come straight down from thesky.

Dressed in scarlet, wearing beautiful armor, and carrying a flag which bore the crowns andinitials of Ferdinand and Isabella, Columbus went ashore in a small boat. Ashe set foot upon land, he fell on his knees, and after thanking God for bringing him therein safety, he took possession of the island in the name of the king and queen, and calledit San Salvador.

His men, who had been disobedient, hateful, and ready to kill him such a short timebefore, now crowded around him, kissing his hands and feet, and begging his pardon fortheir past ill conduct. The natives, who had fled into the woods at the approach of thestrangers, watched all these proceedings from behind the trees. After a short time theytimidly carne forward, and, encouraged by the Spaniards' kind glances, wonderingly touchedthe white men's hands and beards, and evidently admired their gay apparel.

Columbus was so sure he was near India that he called the savages Indians, a name whichhas ever since been used for the red men in America. Then he gave them colored caps, glassbeads, and little bells, trinkets which the Indians fancied were priceless heavenlytreasures!

Although Columbus could not understand one word of the language the savages spoke, and althoughthey did not know Spanish, he tried to talk to them. As you can readily imagine, this wasnot an easy thing to do; but by making signs, Columbus soon made the Indians understandthat he would give them more of his trinkets in exchange for fruit, a kind of bread theyshowed him, and the yellow ornaments they wore.

When Columbus found out that these ornaments were of pure gold, he felt more convincedthan ever that he was near Cipango, Cathay, and India, and he asked the natives where theyhad found the precious metal. As they kept pointing southward, and said words which hefancied sounded like Cathay and Cipango, he imagined they were trying to tell him aboutthose countries, and about a king in the south, who was so rich that all his dishes wereof gold.

The desire to reach this country and to visit Asia's ruler—for whom he had brought lettersfrom Ferdinand and Isabella—made Columbus set out early on the morrow. He took with himseven happy natives, whom he intended to use as interpreters; but they fancied he wascarrying them off to heaven.

Coming to some more small islands, Columbus took possession of them also; and on the wayto a larger one he overtook a savage in a light canoe. The Spaniards drew the man on boardwith his skiff, and as they found in the latter a gourd of water, some bread, red paintsuch as the savages used to beautify themselves, and a string of the beads they hadbrought, they concluded he was going to announce their coming to some friends.

When they drew near the coast, therefore, they sent this man ashore in his little canoe,and, landing themselves the next morning, found the savages assembled and ready toexchange gold and food for worthless European trinkets.

After visiting several of these islands, Columbus steered southward in search of a largerisland, which was Cuba, but which he at first mistook for Japan. Here the savages fled athis approach; but Columbus, anxious to make friendswith them, went into their huts, and left a few beads in each, forbidding his men to carryanything away.

Still searching for the wonderful city of the fabulous ruler who ate and drank fromvessels of pure gold, Columbus coasted along Cuba. As he saw nothing but mean huts, hefancied that the city must be far inland, and that none but poor fishermen lived on theshore. He therefore sent an expedition inland; but his men were sorely disappointed tofind a collection of mud huts instead of the grand palaces they had expected to behold.

The savages here did something which greatly puzzled the Spaniards. Taking a certain kindof dried leaf, they rolled it up, and, lighting one end, stuck the other between theirlips. Then they drew into their mouths and blew out a strangely perfumed smoke! Seeingthat the savages seemed to enjoy it, the Spaniards tried it also, and thus becameacquainted with the tobacco plant and learned to smoke.

It was now so late in the season that Columbus did not dare to wait any longer to securethe cargo of silks, pearls, spices, and gold which he had hoped to carry home. Hetherefore determined to sail back to Spain, make known his discovery to the king andqueen, and fit out a larger expedition for trading.

On his way home he discovered and took possession of Haiti, which he called Hispaniola, or"Little Spain." His best ship, the Santa Maria, having been wrecked, forty men wereleft behind in a fort there. Columbus bade them be good to the savages, and learn theirlanguage, so they could tell him all about the great king when he came back.

Columbus set out on his return journey in January, but he was obliged to go very slowly, becausethe wind was often against him, and because one of his vessels was badly crippled. In themiddle of February a terrible storm separated the two ships, and Columbus, fearing hisvessel would sink, and the news of his discovery perish with him, wrote out two accountsof his journey. These were inclosed in cakes of wax, which were put into empty casks. Oneof them was cast into the sea, but the other was left on deck, so it could float off ifthe boat sank.

The storm grew so fierce that Columbus and his men vowed to go in procession tothe first church they saw after landing, and return thanks, if they were only spared. Whenthe storm-tossed navigators finally reached the Azores, therefore, they tried to keep thispromise; but the people were so unkind that they imprisoned those who landed. Columbusmanaged to recover his men, but on the way from those islands to Spain another tempestovertook him, and it was only after much tossing that the Nina at last reachedPortugal.

As soon as he landed, Columbus sent a messenger toFerdinand and Isabella to announce his safe return, and the success of his undertaking.The very people who had once made fun of him now eagerly listened to all he had to say,and their hearts were full of envy at the thought that the newly discovered islands wouldbelong to Spain, and not to Portugal. It is even said that some one basely proposed tomurder Columbus and send out ships to take possession of the land in the name of Portugal.

The king, however, would not consent, and Columbus, sailing away again, finally enteredthe port of Palos, whence he had started so many months before. As soon as the peopleheard that he had succeeded, they were almost wild with joy, and rang all the bells in thecity. One of the Pinzons, who had hoped that Columbus's vessel had gone down in the storm,came into Palos just then with the Pinta. He had intended to claim all the honorsof the new discovery, and was greatly disappointed when he found that Columbus had reachedport before him.

As the court was at Barcelona, Columbus immediately went there, with his Indians, parrots,and other curiosities, and all along the road people came in crowds to stare at him. Theygazed in wonder at the Indians, who, in their turn, were bewildered by all the strangesights they beheld.

The royal couple received Columbus in state, and, after he had bent the knee before themin homage, made him sit down in their presence—a great honor—and relate his adventures.Columbus gave them glowing descriptions of the new islands, told them he had found theroad to India, and promised that they should soon be rich. This news caused such rejoicingthat the royal couple went to give solemn thanks in the chapel.

Honors were now showered upon Columbus, who was welcomed and feasted everywhere. In fact,people made such a fuss over him that some of the courtiers became jealous. A story istold about one of these men who sneeringly remarked at a banquet that even if Columbus hadnot discovered the road across the ocean, there were plenty of brave Spaniards who couldhave done so. Columbus seemed to pay no special attention to this taunt, but quietlytaking an egg from a dish placed in front of him, he asked the guests if they could makeit stand on end. All tried, and failed. When they finally declared the feat impossible,Columbus struck the egg on the table hard enough to break its shell slightly. Then,leaving it standing there, he calmly said that everything was equally easy after you knewhow to do it.

The news brought by Columbus made a sensation everywhere; but while all the people weretalking about his discoveries, he was actively preparing to cross the Atlantic again,intending this time to, reach India. Instead of three miserable little ships, and verysmall crews, he now had a fleet of seventeen vessels, carrying about fifteen hundred men.

The second expedition set sail in September, 1493, and,after stopping at the Canary Islands, steered across the Atlantic to the eastern WestIndies. There Columbus found a fierce race of Caribs, of whose attacks the Indians hadcomplained to him the year before. The Spaniards explored these islands, lost their way attimes in the forest, and once came to the homes of some cannibal Caribs. When they saw aheap of human bones, left over from a horrible feast, they shuddered with dread at thethought of falling into the hands of these cruel men.

About one year after leaving the colony at Haiti, Columbus came back, to find the placedeserted. One of the Indians who had gone to Spain with him knew enough Spanish by thistime to act as interpreter. Through him, Columbus learned that some of the colonists hadfallen ill and died. The rest, disobeying his orders, had been cruel and unkind to thenatives, and so anxious to get rich that the Indians, in self-defense, had fallen upon andkilled them.

The site of the first colony having proved so unlucky, Columbus established the next onanother spot, and called it Isabella, in honor of the queen. Here the Spaniards began totrade with the natives for gold, and Columbus sent this metal to Spain, asking thatprovisions should be sent out in exchange, because the Spaniards did not like the natives'food, and had not yet found time to grow crops for their own use.

Besides the gold, Columbus sent back a whole cargo of men, women, and children, to be soldas slaves. This was cruel and wicked; but Columbus believed, as most men did then, that itwas far better for the Indians to be slaves among Christians than free among heathens.

The colonists had expected to grow rich very fast, and to find all the gold they wanted.They were therefore sorely disappointed at getting so little, and before long becamediscontented and hard to manage. While they were trading with the natives, Columbus sailedaway, still seeking for India, which he felt sure must be quite near there.

He went along the coast of Cuba, and then southward to Jamaica, finding several othersmall islands. But after cruising about for some time, he came back to Isabella, where hefound the colonists ill and unhappy. They had not only quarreled among themselves, but hadill-treated the natives, robbing them of their wives and daughters, as well as takingtheir food.

The Indians, who had once been so happy and indolent, were now weary and sad. Besides,they had learned to hate the Spaniards, and were plotting to murder them. Learning this,Columbus had to treat them as foes, to protect the Spaniards. The natives next refused tosell any more food to their enemies, and if a provision ship had not come from Spain,Columbus and his colony would surely have died of hunger. As there was very little gold tosend back this time, Columbus shipped all his prisoners of war, and thus five hundrednatives were forwarded to the Spanish slave market.

During the next two years Columbus had much troublewith the Indians, who, finding it almost impossible to collect the amount of gold heexacted as tribute, often revolted. He also had a hard time managing the colonists.Homesick and discouraged, they accused him of deceiving them by false tales of the richesthey could get, and of ruling so badly that their lives were in danger.

These complaints were sent to Spain, and the royal couple, hearing so much againstColumbus, sent a nobleman to Haiti to find out if their viceroy was really actingunjustly. Some people say that this nobleman did not even try to find out the truth, andColumbus found it necessary to go back to Spain with him and explain matters to the kingand queen, leaving Bartholomew Columbus in charge of the colony.

The second arrival of Columbus at court was very different from the first. Instead ofgreeting him with cheers and festivities, people now looked coldly upon him and avoidedhim as much as they could. It was only three years since he had discovered a road acrossthe Atlantic; but as he had not yet brought back huge cargoes of spices and silks fromIndia, people openly despised him.

Although this reception cut Columbus to the heart, it made him all the more anxious toreach India, the goal of all his hopes. He therefore prepared a third expedition; but thistime he had so much trouble in getting funds and ships that it was not till May, 1498,that he could again set sail, with a fleet of six vessels.

Instead of taking his usual course, Columbus steered directly westward from the Cape VerdeIslands, and reached Trinidad in the middle of the summer. After visiting that island, heexplored the gulf behind it, andcame to the mouth of the Orinoco River. From the great volume of water, he concluded thatthis river must flow through an extensive continent, and thought it must surely be one ofthe four great streams from the Garden of Eden!

Although Columbus now felt certain he had finally reached the mainland of Asia, he couldfind none of the rich cities he sought, and sadly went back to Haiti. There things hadbeen going on worse than ever, for the Spaniards had mutinied, as well as the natives.

Columbus now forwarded the most disobedient of the colonists to Spain. But when they gotthere, they complained so much about him that the king and queen again sent out a noblemanto see what was amiss. The Spanish officer no sooner reached Haiti than he took thecommand away from Columbus, who was put in irons and sent back to Spain to be tried there.

Eight years after his first journey across the Atlantic Columbus returned to Spain a prisoner!The captain of the vessel wanted to remove his chains, but Columbus proudly said that asthey had been put on by the orders of his sovereigns, he would wear them until the kingand queen set him free. He also added that he would keep those chains as long as he lived,and have them buried with him, so that people might know how unjustly he had been treated.It is said that the fetters hungsix years over his bed, and that, at his request, they were placed in his coffin andburied with him.

When Columbus reached Spain the sensation was great. The people, who had been at firstenthusiastic and then indifferent about him, were now indignant that he should be treatedso unjustly, and when Isabella received a letter, telling her how he had been insulted,her heart was filled with pity.

She immediately sent a messenger to remove Columbus's chains, and summoned him to court,where she wept with him when she heard him describe his sufferings. But although Isabellapromised that his honors should all be given back to him, and that she would soon fit outa new expedition for him, she kept him waiting two long years.

In 1502 Columbus set out on his fourth and last journey, not as ruler of the new lands,but merely as explorer. After a stormy passage, he reached the colony at Haiti, where thegovernor refused to allow him to land. Columbus told this man that a tempest was comingup, and that it would not be safe for any one to leave the port. But the governor wouldnot believe him, and ordered some Spanish vessels, which were laden with gold and ready tostart, to set out for Spain.

They no sooner got out of the harbor than the storm overtook and sorely damaged them. ButColumbus, who had warned them of the danger, safely weathered the storm, and, sailing on,he explored the coast of Central America, still seeking a road to India.

Columbus was now old and ill; so after coming to a part of the coast which he took for theSpice Islands because he found spices there, and after suffering shipwreck, hereturned to Haiti and thence to Spain. There he soon heard that Isabella, Queen of Castileand Leon (parts of Spain), was dead, and his sorrow at her loss made his health worse thanever. The Spaniards, knowing his principal friend was gone, now treated him even morescornfully than before, and mockingly called him "Lord of Mosquito Land," because therewere so many mosquitoes along the South American coast.

These insults, added to his disappointment at not finding India, helped to make Columbus'sillness fatal; and feeling that he was about to die, he wrote his will, leaving his titleof admiral to his son. He passed away in the month of May, 1506, saying: "Into thy hands,O Lord, I commend my spirit."

Buried at Valladolid, his body was removed first to Seville, then to Santo Domingo, inHaiti, then to Havana, in Cuba, and finally, after the relinquishment of Cuba by Spain in1898, back to Seville again. After his death, people began to realize what a great manColumbus was, and King Ferdinand, who had been so unkind to him while he lived, put up amonument in his honor, on which was later inscribed the motto: "To Castile and LeonColumbus gave a new world."

Since then, many monuments have been erected and many pictures painted of the man who, inspite of poverty, illness, and countless obstacles, never gave up his aim, and manfullystrove to reach it as long as he lived. His faith, his courage, and his perseverance haveserved as shining examples for more than four hundred years, and although he died poor andneglected, he is rightly considered one of the world's greatest men.

The news of Columbus's first successful journey no sooner became known in Europe than eachcountry wanted to secure some share of the profitable trade which they fancied would soonbe opened with India. Henry VII., King of England, who had refused to listen to Columbus'splan, now hired a Venetian captain named John Cabot, and sent out an expedition in 1497.

Cabot crossed the Atlantic, and explored what he thought was China, but what was reallypart of North America, probably the coast of Newfoundland and of the mainland fromLabrador to Cape Cod. Sailing along, he found a beautiful country, saw a bear plunge intothe water to catch fish, and, landing at least once, planted an English flag upon oursoil, thus taking formal possession of it in the name of England.

The next year his son made a similar journey. Sailing in and out of every bay, he sought astrait which would take him past these wild lands to the rich cities of the East, which hefancied were very near there. Of course he failed to find such a strait between NovaScotia and Cape Hatteras, but the English later claimed all this part of the country,because it had been discovered by the Cabots. Still, for many years they made no attemptto plant a colony there, and prized their discovery so little that Henry VII. gave Cabotonly Rio reward for all he had done.

The Portuguese, as we have seen, were very jealous when Columbus came back from his firstjourney, sayinghe had found the road to India. But while he was away on his third expedition, one oftheir captains, Vasco da Gama, sailing all around Africa and across the Indian Ocean,reached Calicut in India. He came home in 1499, with a rich cargo of silks and spices; andthe Portuguese rejoiced greatly that they were the first to reach India by sea.

The next year some Portuguese ships, on their way around Africa, happened to go so farwest that they sighted the coast of South America. Spain and Portugal had by this timedrawn a line of demarcation on the map, agreeing that all lands west of it should belongto Spain, and all east to Portugal. As the new land was east of this line, the King ofPortugal sent a fleet to explore it, and thus found it was a great continent. All thelands already discovered by the Spanish and English were supposed to form part of Asia;but this land was so far south that it was called the New World.

The pilot of the Portuguese fleet was a young Italian named Americus Vespucius. He tooknote of all he saw, and wrote an interesting account of his voyage. This narrativedescribed the country, and as every one wanted to hear about the new discovery, it wassoon published. A German geographer, reading the account of Americus, was so delightedwith it that he suggested that the new continent should be named America, in honor of theman who had explored and described it so well. The name was thus given at first only topart of South America; but when, years afterwards, it was found that all the western landsbelonged to the same continent, the whole of the New World was called America. Thus, by anaccident, ourcountry bears the name of Americus, instead of that of Columbus, its real discoverer, forit was the latter who showed the way to it, although he believed till his death that hehad found only a new road to Asia.

Many writers claim that the first voyage of Americus to the West was in 1497, four yearsbefore his exploration of South America, and that he then landed on the Americancontinent, shortly before Cabot, and more than a year before Columbus reached themainland. According to them, Americus was thus the first to reach the continent whichbears his name.

The Spaniards, as we have seen, immediately began planting colonies in the West Indies, and ina few years they took possession of all the islands, and made the natives their slaves.These poor creatures were forced to work hard for their new masters, who, thirsting forgold, made them wash the sands of all their streams, and toil without ceasing.

The Spaniards in Cuba and Haiti, hearing many tales of the gold to be found in the west,soon sent out several expeditions. They also planted a few colonies along the coast ofCentral America, but at first these did not thrive.

Among the colonists in Haiti there was a Spaniard named Balboa. He was poor but verydaring, and wished to join an expedition bound for the mainland. As he could not pay forhis passage, he hid in a cask and had himself carried on board ship as freight.When far out at sea Balboa crept out of his hiding place, won the captain's forgiveness,and soon made so many friends that he became a leader in the settlement they founded onthe Isthmus of Darien, or Panama.

After a time he learned from the natives that a great ocean lay on the other side of theridge of mountains. He therefore made his way through the tangled underbrush and ranktropical growth, bidding his men wait at the foot of the mountain, while he climbed upalone.

On reaching the top, he gazed southward and beheld a great stretch of water, which hecalled the Great South Sea (1513). Falling down upon his knees, he gave thanks to God, andthen made joyful signs to his followers to come up and join him.

Accompanied by these men, Balboa next went down the opposite slope, and, reaching theshore, waded out into the ocean, with a flag in one hand and his drawn sword in the other.Standing thus in the waters of the Great South Sea, he took possession of it in the nameof Spain, declaring that all the countries it bathed belonged to his sovereigns.

That same year one of the former companions of Columbus, Ponce de Leon, started out fromPuerto Rico. Like many other men of his time, he believed that all the stories he hadheard were true, and that somewhere in the world there was a magic spring called theFountain of Youth. He thought that if one drank of its waters, or bathed in them, onewould be sure to become young again, and as he was rapidly growing old he longed to findand try it.

After vainly seeking the fountain on the newly discovered islands, he fancied, from whatthe natives told him, that it might be situated on the mainland, so he set out in quest ofit. On Easter Sunday (Pascua florida), he landed in a beautiful country, which, in honorof the day, he called Florida. After taking possession of it for Spain, he beganexploring; but although he drank from every spring, and bathed in every stream, he couldnot find the Fountain of Youth, and kept growing older and older.

After several years he made another journey to Florida, to continue his search, and tomake a settlement; but as there were no roads through the dense forests and treacherousmarshes, he and his men suffered greatly from hunger and heat. Finally Ponce de Leon wassorely wounded in a fight with the Indians, and his men carried him back to Cuba. There hedied, a wrinkled old man, still regretting that he had not been able to find the Fountainof Youth. His friends, who admired his bravery, and often said he was as bold as hisnamesake the lion, wrote upon his tomb: "In this sepulcher rest the bones of a man who wasLeon [lion] by name and still more by nature."

While Ponce de Leon was seeking the magic fountain, some of his countrymen were exploringthe Gulf coast, from Florida to Mexico, under the leadership of Pineda. In 1519, also, aPortuguese, named Magellan, took a Spanish fleet down the coast of South America. After atime he came to the strait bearing his name, and, sailing through it, beheld the GreatSouth Sea.

Magellan was such a brave seaman that he steered boldly across this unknown expanse ofwater. It was so much smoother than the Atlantic that he called it the Pacific, or"Peaceful "Ocean, a name which it has borne ever since, and which suits it much betterthan the one given by Balboa. After a journey of a year and a half, Magellan finallyreached the Philippine Islands, where he was killed in a fight with the natives.

One of his officers now took command, and went on till he reached India. Thence, by way ofthe Cape of Good Hope, he came to Spain, sailing for the first time allaround the globe. Besides proving that the earth is round, this voyage showed that SouthAmerica is separated from India by a great stretch of water. Magellan's journey took threeyears, but now, thanks to steamboats and railroads, it can be made in about two months.

The year 1519 was eventful for the Spanish. In that year Magellan started out on his journeyaround the world, Pineda explored the Gulf coast, and Cortez,—a very braveSpaniard,—landing at Vera Cruz, marched into the country and took Mexico, the city of agreat Indian chief named Montezuma.

Although Cortez had only five hundred men, and the Indians were very numerous, he soonbecame master of the whole country, which belonged to Spain for many a year. The Indiansin Mexico were partly civilized, and the region was rich in gold and precious stones.Another Spaniard, named Pizarro, shortly after conquered Peru, and owing to the cargoes ofgold constantly sent from Mexico, Peru, and other parts of the newly discovered lands,Spain soon became the wealthiest country in Europe.

Although the Spaniards were anxious to grow rich, they also wished to convert the natives.Besides soldiers and colonists, therefore, every vessel brought out priests to convert theheathen. These men were very good, and so fearless that they went everywhere, preachingand teaching with great zeal.

They tried to learn the natives' language, and often questioned the people about thecountry. All that they heard they repeated to their leaders, who, finding there was muchgold in the northwest, resolved to go in search of it. A party headed by Narvaez set out,therefore, to explore and conquer the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

But Narvaez was very unfortunate. While he was inland his ships sailed on, and when hecame back to the shore they were out of sight. Painfully making his way along through thetangled woods for many miles, he finally reached the coast again and built a second fleet.This, however, was wrecked at the mouth of the Mississippi ("The Father of Waters"), whereNarvaez was drowned.

Four of the followers of Narvaez, narrowly escaping death, soon after fell into the handsof the Indians. By pretending to be magicians, these men made the Indians fear them. Theylived eight years among various savage tribes, wandering all across the continent to theGulf of California, and finally came back to Mexico, where their leader, Cabeza de Vaca,told their adventures to the Spaniards. He was the first European to visit the regionbetween the Mississippi and California, and it is said that he tramped more than tenthousand miles during those eight years of captivity.

The tales told by Vaca and his companions made the Spaniards long to visit the country andfind the Seven Cities of Cibola, where they fancied they could secure much gold. A priestnamed Marcos therefore set out to question and convert the natives. Taking one of Vaca'scompanions, a negro servant, as guide,Marcos wandered on foot into New Mexico, where he saw from afar seven Zuni pueblos, orvillages.

Hearing from the Indians that these were the Seven Cities of Cibola, he went back toreport what he had seen. A Spaniard named Coronado now set out with an army of about twohundred and fifty men. He made his way into the new country, visited the Cibola pueblos,and hearing wonderful tales of Acoma, a city built in the skies, set out to find it. Aftermany hardships, he and his little army came into a wide valley, in the center of whichrose a huge rock, with straight sides more than three hundred feet high, and with a broadflat top of about seventy acres.

On the top of this rock the Indians had built one of their cliff dwellings, which theyreached by narrow rocky stairways. Coronado visited this strange city, but finding thepeople poor, and hearing there was gold farther north, he pressed on, and even came to theGrand Canyon of the Colorado.

While Coronado was thus exploring much of the south-western part of our country, anotherSpaniard, De Soto, who had helped conquer Peru,—set out from Cuba with nine vessels and anarmy of nearly a thousand men. He landed in Tampa Bay, and, searching for gold, wanderedfor three years through the forests of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Oftenattacked by hostile Indians, and suffering greatly from hunger and sickness, henevertheless reached the Mississippi River, and crossed it near Lower Chickasaw Bluffs.

But he could not find the El Dorado, or "Land of Gold," he was seeking, and afterexploring the region betweenthe Missouri and the Red rivers, and losing many men, he resolved to turn back. Beforelong, however, De Soto died of malaria (1541), and the Spaniards, after secretly buryinghim, told the Indians he had gone on a long journey. But when they saw that the savagesdid not believe them, and gazed suspiciously at the upturned soil, they began to fear theIndians would treat De Soto's remains shamefully.

In the middle of the night, therefore, they took their dead leader up out of his grave,and wrapped him in a cloak weighted with sand. Then, rowing out into the Mississippi, theynoiselessly lowered his body into the middle of the great stream which he had been thefirst European to visit since the Spaniards were shipwrecked at its mouth in 1519.

His little army, after making a desperate attempt toretrace its way overland, came back to the Mississippi. Here the Spaniards built hugerafts, and, floating down the stream, reached its mouth at the end of nineteen days. Then,coasting along the Gulf, they made their way to a Mexican settlement, where they told thestory of all their adventures during this long search for gold.

Columbus had been dead for nearly fifty years, and yet people were only just beginning to explorethat part of the New World which is occupied by our country. But the coast of SouthAmerica was quite well known by this time, and already clearly outlined on maps, whileNorth America was still a mystery.

Most people still fancied that North America was only a narrow strip of land, like CentralAmerica. They also thought that somewhere north of the Gulf of Mexico there must be astrait, by means of which it would be easy to pass into the Pacific Ocean, and therebyreach India without taking the long journey all around South America.

The navigators who visited the coast of North America in search of this strait, spoke, ontheir return, of the great quantities of fish they had seen. Even the Cabots had foundmany fish there. Now, all the Christian people in western Europe were Roman Catholics inthose days, and so ate fish instead of meat on fast days, which were so many that theytook up about one third of the time. Fish was therefore in great demand.

As the rivers did not supply enough, fishing soon became a paying trade for those wholived by the sea; and because many fish were found on the coasts of Brittany, in France,the Breton fishermen did a good business. Still, when they heard of great schools ofcodfish on the Banks of Newfoundland, which could be caught and salted very easily, thesebold fishermen were anxious to secure them. They therefore began to make fishing tripsacross the Atlantic, and before long gave their name to Cape Breton.

France and Spain often waged costly wars, and seeing that the Spaniards received much goldfrom the New World, the French longed to have some of it, too. Their king, therefore, saidthat he had as good a right to any undiscovered land as the Spaniards, and that the lattershould not be allowed to keep the New World all to themselves.

Next, he sent out an expedition under Verrazano, who explored the coast of North Americafrom what is now North Carolina to Newfoundland. Some historians say that this captainfinally fell into the hands of cannibal Indians, who devoured him in the sight of hishelpless crew; but others declare that Verrazano was caught by the Spaniards during a warwith France, and hanged as a pirate.

The French were not discouraged, however. A few years after the death of Verrazano theysent out another expedition, in charge of Cartier. After sailing nearly all the way aroundNewfoundland, this explorer, in 1534, came to the mainland, set up a huge wooden cross,and took possession of the country, in the name of France. The next year he came back,and, sailingup the St. Lawrence River, gave it that name because it was Saint Lawrence's day in thecalendar. He visited the place where Quebec now stands, and went on up the stream until hecame to an Indian village, composed of several long houses surrounded by a palisade.

Near this village there was a hill which Cartier climbed, and when his eyes rested uponthe beautiful view at his feet, he exclaimed that this was truly a Montreal, or royalmountain. A city built some time after on this very spot still bears the name he gave theplace.

After spending a short time on the St. Lawrence, Cartier went back to France, takingseveral Indians with him.. Some of these savages died, and when Cartier returnedwithout them, and tried to establish a colony, he had trouble with their relatives.Cartier gave the name of Canada to part of the country, and in talking with the Indianslearned that far inland there was a huge waterfall, whose roar could be heard many milesaway. Indeed, some of the Indians called it Niagara, which in English means "The Thunderof Waters."

Although Cartier longed to see this wonder, he had no time to visit it, and as the climateproved too cold for his men, he went back to France, saying it would not be possible toplant a colony so far north. For the next few years, therefore, the French had only a fewtrading posts along the St. Lawrence River, where the Indians came at certain times toexchange the furs of the animals they had killed for the beads and trinkets they loved sowell.

Twenty years passed by before the French again attempted to plant a colony in America—twenty veryeventful years for France and for all western Europe. The people, who, as you have heard,had all been Roman Catholics for centuries, now began to divide. Some of them refused toobey the pope, and wanted to worship in a somewhat different way. In France these peoplewere called Huguenots, and among them was a nobleman named Coligny.

Seeing that the Huguenots were much disliked in their own country, Coligny proposed thatthey should goto the New World and found a colony where they could worship as they pleased withoutoffending any one. As Cartier said the climate was too cold in Canada, Coligny sent theHuguenots farther south, in charge of Laudonniere and Ribault.

The French colonists, landing in the New World, called the country Carolina, in honor oftheir king, Charles, and they also gave this name to their fort. But they soon lacked foodand became discouraged. As the vessel in which they had come had sailed away, they built anew ship and set out for France. At sea, lack of provisions soon brought them to suchdesperate straits that they drew lots and ate one of their number. In fact, had they notbeen taken prisoners by an English ship, it is very likely they would all have died ofhunger.

Two years later another French settlement of the same name was made in Florida, on the St.Johns River. As soon as the colonists were comfortably settled, Ribault went off to punishsome Spaniards for attacking his fleet in time of peace. But while he was away theSpaniards came by land to surprise the Huguenot settlement.

Now, you must know that the Spaniards were ardent Roman Catholics, so they considered itvery wicked to refuse to obey the pope. Besides, they hated the French, with whom they hadoften been at war, and claimed Florida as their own land because Ponce de Leon had visitedit first. They were so sure, therefore, that they were doing right by killing the FrenchHuguenots, that when the massacre was all over, their leader Menendez put up a sign on atree near by, saying that he had slain the colonists, not because they wereFrenchmen, but because they were not good Catholics. This done, Menendez went back to thecolony of St. Augustine, which he had founded two years before (1565) in Florida. This isthe oldest city on the mainland of the United States, and it still proudly bears the namegiven by Menendez, its Spanish founder.

The news of the massacre of the Huguenot colonists was received with great indignation inFrance. As the king would take no steps to avenge it, a nobleman named De Gourgues fittedout an expedition at his own expense, and attacked the Spaniards on the St. Johns. He cameupon them unawares, and killed them all, as they had murdered the Huguenots at the sameplace. Then he placed a sign above the heads of the men he had hanged,saying they had been executed, not because they were Spaniards, but because they werepirates and murderers. De Gourgues then sailed away, for the Spaniards had so strong afort at St. Augustine that the French had given up all hope of settling in Florida.

Four years after founding St. Augustine, the Spaniards planted the colony of San Diego inCalifornia, which, however, was soon abandoned. Their next colony was started many yearslater at Santa Fe, in New Mexico, and thence many priests went out to build missionstations in the West and convert the Indians.

The present city of Santa Fe, the oldest town in the western United States, was founded in1598 by a Spaniard named Ovate, who had married the granddaughter of Cortez, conqueror ofMexico. This Ovate had helped the Spaniards conquer Peru. He was a very brave man, andhearing about the "Sky City "of Acoma, he resolved to visit it. About fifty years afterCoronado, therefore, he came within sight of the strange town perched upon a rock.

The Indians, who by this time had learned to fear and hate the Spaniards, thought thiswould be a good chance to kill their greatest foe. So they invited Ovate up into theircity, and showed him their cisterns and granaries. Then, taking him to the top of one oftheir great houses, they bade him step down through an open trapdoor into a dark chamber.

Ovate, suspecting treachery, refused to enter, and it was well for him that he did so, fora number of armed Indians were lurking there in the darkness, ready to kill the Spaniardsas soon as they set foot in the apartment.

Although Onate cleverly escaped being murdered by the Indians in Acoma, another Spanish captain,Zaldivar, was less fortunate, a short time after. He and half his force imprudentlyventured up on the rock; but instead of staying together, as Onate's troops had done, theyscattered to view the strange place. The Indians took advantage of this to pounce upontheir unsuspecting guests, at a given signal, and began killing them.

The Spaniards, clad in armor, defended themselves heroically; but many fell, and the lastfive were driven to the very edge of the rock and forced to jump down. But, strange torelate, only one of these men was killed. The others fell into a heap of fine sand, whichthe wind had piled up against the base of the great rock.

These men were promptly rescued by their comrades, who, knowing this attempt would befollowed by a general attack upon all the missions, hastened back to warn Onate of hisperil. After taking immediate measures to protect the priests, Onate sent a force ofseventy men, under Zaldivar's brother, to punish the people of Acoma.

The Indians, warned of the Spaniards' coming, closely guarded their rocky staircases. Whenthe second Zaldivar summoned them to surrender, they mocked him, bade their medicine mencurse him, and flung showers of arrows and stones down upon him. The Spaniards, unable toreach their foes, were obliged to take refuge under the over-hanging rock to escape themissiles hurled down upon them.

All night long they heard the shrieks of the Indians. They were holding a monster wardance overhead, and fiercely illustrating the tortures they meant to make the Spaniardssuffer the next day. This prospect, however, did not frighten Zaldivar's brave men, andwhile their foes shouted and danced, they made a clever plan to surprise the city.

Early the next day, Zaldivar and part of his force pretended to storm the north side ofthe rock. But while they were thus engaging the attention of the Indians, twelve of theirnumber slowly crawled up a neighboring pinnacle of rock, dragging a small cannon afterthem. No one noticed what they were doing, and it was only when the cannon was in place,and the first stone ball came crashing into the adobe houses, that the Indians perceivedtheir danger.

The rock upon which the Spaniards had planted their cannon was on a level with Acoma,separated from it by a chasm only a few feet wide but about three hundred feet deep. Fromthis point the Spaniards shot ball after ball into the town. When night came on, theycrept down again, cut several trees, dragged the trunks up to the top of their rock, andat dawn flung one of them across the abyss.

In spite of a hail of stones and arrows hurled by the Indians, twelve Spaniards rushedboldly across this dizzy bridge before the log was accidentally jerked out of place by oneof their number. Cut off from their companions, and unable to retreat, these brave menwere now in great danger, for they had to face all those raging savages alone.

Seeing their peril, one of their comrades drew back asfar as he could on the outlying rock, and rushing forward took a flying leap across thechasm! By great good fortune he landed safely on the other side, drew the log into placeonce more, and thus enabled the other Spaniards to cross with their cannon.

One house after another was now battered down, and at the end of three days' hard fightingthe Spaniards were complete masters of the Sky City of Acoma. But they soon left it, andmany years later, when Fray Ramirez, a Spanish priest, came thither and began climbing thestaircase, the Indians tried to keep him away by flinging a shower of stones down uponhim.

Spanish priests, however, were ready to risk everything for the sake of their religion, soFray Ramirez calmly continued to climb up. In the general excitement a little Indian girldrew too near to the edge of the rock, and, losing her balance, fell over! Although herpeople fancied she had fallen to the ground and been killed, she had only dropped to anarrow ledge, where they could not see her. Fray Ramirez, looking upward, saw theaccident. Climbing carefully along the ledge, he picked up the little maiden, and soonreappeared on the staircase, carrying her on his shoulder.

The Indians, believing the child dead, now cried out that this was a miracle, and suddenlyceased throwing stones. When the priest reached the plateau they ran to meet him, listenedquietly to his teachings, and even built a church in Acoma under his directions. And it isin memory of his coming among them that the stone stairway of Acoma is still known as the"Path of the Father."

After the voyages of the Cabots in 1497-1498, the English for some time took little interest inthe New World. But in the middle of the sixteenth century several noted seamen visitedAmerica. One of these men was Hawkins, who brought over from Africa a cargo of negroes. Hesold these as slaves to the Spaniards in the West Indies.

Until then prisoners of war had often been sold as slaves, and the Indians on the newlydiscovered islands had, as we have seen, found cruel taskmasters in the colonists. But asthese savages were not used to hard work, they soon died.

Hawkins fancied he was doing a very wise thing in bringing negroes over from Africa toreplace them. Indeed, he was so proud of this idea that he had a slave painted on his coatof arms, and said, like Columbus, that it was much better for the negroes to be slavesamong Christians than free among heathens.

It was thus that the negro slave trade began, and for two hundred and fifty years slaveships plied to and fro across the Atlantic Ocean, bringing over countless colored people,who were sold first to the Spaniards and later to the Americans.

The English were so anxious to discover a northwest passage to India (that is, a way tosail through or around the northern part of America) that they sent Frobisher out tosearch for it in 1576. He sailed northward until he came to the bay which still bears hisname. He landedthere, and, to his delight, found some yellow ore, which he carried home. This was what isnow known as fool's gold, or pyrites; but the English, thinking it was real gold, quicklysent out a ship to bring home a whole cargo of the worthless stuff.

Some time after this visit of Frobisher's, Davis sailed still farther north, only to bedriven back by the ice in the strait which still bears his name. Although he did not knowit, Davis had discovered the entrance to the long-sought northwest passage; but it couldnever be used to reach Asia, as people hoped, on account of the great icebergs which blockit up nearly all the year.

Another great English seaman of this time was Francis Drake, who first sailed with theslave trader Hawkins. When he came to the Spanish settlements in the West Indies andMexico, and saw how much gold was shipped to Spain, he wanted to get some of it for hiscountry, too. He therefore set out with several vessels, and although war had not yet beendeclared between England and Spain, he boldly attacked the Spanish colonies and ships, andsecured much booty.

When war broke out Drake became more daring than ever, and running unexpectedly into theSpanish ports, he began plundering. Then, setting fire to the shipping, he sailed offa*gain, after thus "singeing the King of Spain's beard," as he called it. During one of hismany journeys, Drake landed on the Isthmus of Panama, where, climbing the mountains, hewas the first Englishman to behold the Pacific ocean, about fifty years after it had beenseen by Balboa.

In the course of his piratical expeditions Drake sailedthrough the Strait of Magellan into the Pacific Ocean, and, after securing much booty fromthe Spaniards in Peru, coasted about until he came to the Californian bay which stillbears his name. He called this part of the country New Albion, and made such friends withthe Indians there that they invited him to stay and be their king.

But Drake was anxious to carry his treasures home, and as he knew a Spanish fleet waslying in wait for him near the Strait of Magellan, he boldly crossed the Pacific, and wentback by way of the Cape of Good Hope. He was thus, as he said, the first Englishman who"plowed a furrow around the globe." Queen Elizabeth was so proud of this fact that sheknighted Drake on board of his own ship, the Pelican, and graciously accepted all thestolen jewels he gave her (1580).

The Pelican was carefully preserved for about one hundred years, and when it fell topieces a chair was made from its timbers, and given to the Oxford University, where it canstill be seen. As for Drake, he lived to continue his journeys some time longer, and totake part in the great naval battle against the Spanish Armada; and he finally perishedwhile on his way to make an attack on the West Indies.

The greatest of all the English seamen of this time was Sir Walter Raleigh. A poet,philosopher, historian, courtier, and colonizer, Raleigh was also a favorite of QueenElizabeth. We are told that he won this lady's approval by once spreading his new cloak onthe ground so that she might pass dry-shod over a muddy spot.

Raleigh's great ambition was to "plant an English nation in America." He and hishalf-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, therefore obtained Elizabeth's permission to start acolony in any part of the New World not yet occupied by any other Christian power. ThenGilbert started across the Atlantic with several ships and took possession ofNewfoundland. While cruising near there, one of his vessels was wrecked.

On his return voyage his little fleet was overtaken by a storm. Gilbert was on a leakyvessel, but as the other ships were not large enough to contain all his men, he refused toleave it for a safer one. When they told him that he was in great danger, he quietlyanswered, "Heaven is as near by water as by land," and calmly went on reading his Bible.The storm increased. All at once the other boats missed the light of Gilbert's ship! Theypeered anxiously out into the darkness, but all in vain, for the vessel had sunk with itsbrave captain and all its crew.

Undaunted by this first failure, Raleigh soon sent out a new expedition. It brought backsuch favorable reports of the coast farther south that Raleigh named the countryVirginia, in honor of Elizabeth, the virgin (or unmarried) queen, who gave him a grant ofland there.

Among other strange things, Raleigh's explorers brought back potatoes, which had never yetbeen seen in England. Raleigh planted these on his estate in Ireland, where people were atfirst afraid to eat them, lest they should be poisonous. Before long, however, potatoesbecame so common that they have been the chief food of the Irish peasants for many a year.

The first colony established by Raleigh, on Roanoke Island, in what is now North Carolina,suffered many hardships. The people were so discouraged by the time Drake came to visitthem, that they persuaded him to carry them back to England. Then a second colony wasstarted on the same spot, which thus became the home of the first little English baby bornin our country. She was called Virginia, in honor of her birthplace.

A war with Spain prevented Raleigh's sending supplies to this colony for several years,and when the grandfather of the first English-American child finally visited Roanoke,little Virginia had vanished, as well as all the rest of the colonists. No one has everknown what became of them, but it is supposed that they were all killed by the Indians.The only trace ever found was one word carved on a big tree, the name of the neighboringvillage of Croatan.

These ventures, and his many journeys, made Raleigh so poor that he finally had to give upall his rights to the land.

As we have seen, Raleigh was a great favorite of the queen, therefore many stories aretold about him. For instance, it is related that he was the first Englishman touse tobacco, which the Indians said "cured being tired." One day, when Raleigh was smokingin his room, a new servant came in with a pitcher of water. Seeing smoke come out of hismaster's mouth and nose, the man fancied that Raleigh was on fire, and hastily upset thewater on his head to put out the flames!

We are also told that Raleigh taught Queen Elizabeth how to smoke, and that they twoenjoyed many a pipe together. On one occasion Raleigh made a bet with the queen that hecould tell the exact weight of the smoke from her pipe. First he carefully weighed thetobacco she put in her pipe; then, when she was through smoking, he weighed the ashes, andwon his wager by telling her that the difference in weight between tobacco and ashes wasthat of the smoke! Elizabeth paid the money cheerfully, but remarked that, while she hadoften heard of turning gold into smoke, he was the first who had turned smoke into gold.

About twenty years after Raleigh founded his first colony, another English seaman, namedGosnold, decided that it was very foolish to take the roundabout way by Iceland or theAzores Islands to reach America. He therefore boldly steered straight across the Atlantic,thus shortening the trip by about one thousand miles.

The first land he saw he named Cape Cod, because he found so many codfish there. Soonafter he stopped on Cutty-hunk Island, near the coast, where he built a house. Then, aftersecuring a cargo of sassafras, which was at that time used as a medicine for almost everydisease, Gosnold sailed home, leaving his house tenantless.

Sir Walter Raleigh was in favor as long as Elizabeth lived, but when she died he was accused of treason andput in prison by James I. While in his cell this brave man wrote a history of the worldfor young Prince Henry, who often visited him, and longed to free him. He once said: "Onlysuch a king as my father would keep such a bird in such a cage." The same monarch finallyordered Raleigh to be put to death. Mounting the scaffold, the prisoner asked to see theax, and, running his finger along its edge to test its keenness, said: "This is a sharpmedicine, but a cure for all evils."

Before going to prison Raleigh had given up all his claims in America to Englishmerchants. They formed two bodies, the London Company and the Plymouth Company, andpersuaded the king to give each of them a piece of land in North America one hundred milessquare.

This matter being decided, the London Company sent out a shipload of settlers, who, in1607, sailed into Chesapeake Bay. They called the capes on either side Charles and Henry,in honor of the two princes; then, passing up a river, they landed on a marshy cape, wherethey founded the first lasting English colony in the United States. River and town wereboth named after King James, who had selected their officers and made their laws.

The Jamestown colonists were nearly all gentlemen, who had come without their familiesbecause they intended to stay only long enough to get rich. As there were only fourcarpenters among them, these men were kept verybusy. But, instead of building comfortable houses, and plowing and sowing, the rest of thesettlers spent all their time looking for gold. The result was that their supplies gaveout, and as the Indians were unfriendly and would not give them food, they were soon indanger of starving. Besides, Jamestown was on low, damp ground, and the water was so badthat the ill-fed people suffered from malaria, and about half of them died.

Among the Englishmen who had come to Virginia there was Captain John Smith. This man hadbeen a soldier, had traveled a great deal, and had visited France, Italy, and Egypt.

We are told that while he was on his way to Egypt a great storm once overtook his ship.The pilgrims on the vessel cried out that there must be a wrongdoer, or a Jonah, amongthem, and in their terror proposed to draw lots. Finding out thus that Smith was theguilty person, they hastily pitched him overboard. But although there was no whale toswallow him, Smith managed to swim ashore, and some time later, longing for moreadventures, he went to fight in Hungary.

Here he declared that the teachings of Christ were far better than those of Mohammed, andoffered to prove it by fighting three Turks. He killed them all, but, being wounded, wassoon made a prisoner and sold as a slave. One day, when Smith was threshing in the field,his cruel taskmaster beat him severely, although he had done nothing wrong. Indignant atthis unjust treatment, Smith suddenly raised his flail, and struck the Turk such a hardblow that the man fell to the ground dead.

Seeing a chance to escape, Smith now quicklyexchanged clothes with the dead man, hid the latter's body under the straw, filled a bagwith corn, and jumping on a horse rode rapidly away across the plains. After many days ofhard riding, he came to a place where his chains were struck off, and thence continued hisjourney home.

After several other journeys and adventures, Smith joined the newly formed London Company,proposing to go out himself with the colonists. On the way to Virginia he was falselyaccused of crime, and nearly hanged; but when he reached land his innocence was proved,and he soon became the leading spirit of Jamestown.

Through all the sickness and famine Smith alone seemed brave and strong. Hoping to securefood for the colonists, he once set out to find the Indians and trade with them for corn.But at the approach of the English, we are told that the savages ran away in such hastethat they left their dinner on the fire. The colonists, drawing near; saw that the Indianshad been roasting oysters, and, tasting them for the first time in their lives, weredelighted to discover a new and delicious kind of food. After shooting a few turkeys, theEnglish overtook these Indians, from whom they managed to get quite a supply of corn inexchange for trinkets and a copper kettle.

In another expedition Captain Smith was surprised by the Indians while he stood in amarsh, picking berries. He seized one of the savages and held him fast, using him as ashield against the arrows of the rest until surrounded and made a prisoner.

Instead of showing anger or resisting, Smith now followed his captors quietly, allowingthem to touch and examine him as much as they pleased. He also tried to interestthem by showing them his compass and explaining its use. Besides, he made friends with theIndian children and whittled playthings for them. All the prettiest ones, however, wereset aside for Pocahontas, the twelve-year-old daughter of the Indian chief Powhatan; andit seems she was specially pleased with the wooden doll he made for her.

We are told that Pocahontas soon grew very fond of Captain Smith, and that when theIndians once tried to kill him, she stood between him and their raised tomahawks, pleadingso hard for his life that her father declared the white man should not be slain. But thisstory is also told of several other explorers, and we do not know if it is quite true.

After several weeks of captivity Captain Smith bargained with the Indians to set him free, inexchange for a certain number of trinkets and one of the bright brass cannons they hadseen at Jamestown. This settled, he wrote a letter to the colonists, telling them whattrinkets they were to give the bearers, and warning them to be sure to shoot off thecannon in the Indians' presence, so that they should not dare carry it off.

Having finished his letter, Smith gave it to his captors, bidding them take it toJamestown. He added that it would tell the English what they wanted, and that they wouldhear the big noise which came out of the bright log (cannon) they coveted. All this, ofcourse, seemed very mysterious to people who did not know how to write, so they set outfor Jamestown full of curiosity.

When they saw that the white men, after looking at the letter, gave them all the trinketsthey had bargained for, they were amazed. Then they tried to lift the bright log, and weresurprised at its weight. Motioning them aside, the colonists next shot off the cannon. Theloud noise, and the fact that the cannon ball splintered a good-sized tree, filled theIndians with such terror that, as Smith had foreseen, they refused to touch it again. Whenthey got back to their camp they let Captain Smith go, and he bade a friendly good-by tothe red men, from whom he had learned all he could during his short sojourn, in theirmidst.

Free once more, Captain Smith used all his energies toget enough grain for his friends; but had it not been for the Indian girl Pocahontas thecolonists would probably have starved to death. Several times, in the course of that firsthard winter, she brought them game and corn, and, thanks to her pleading, her fatherPowhatan became quite friendly, and supplied their most pressing needs.

In 1608 more colonists came over to Jamestown in search of gold; but they, too, weregentlemen, and intended to remain only a short time. They unfortunately discovered somepyrites, and in spite of all Captain Smith could say, there was "no talk, no hope, nowork, but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold, load gold." The result was that the vessel inwhich they had come was sent home laden with worthless dirt, instead of carrying a cargoof lumber, sassafras, or furs, which could have been sold in England for considerablemoney.

The only man who did not share this thirst for gold was Captain Smith. He continued hisexplorations, and made a complete map of Chesapeake Bay to send back to England. Then, thegovernor having sailed away with the fool's gold, and the others having proved badmanagers, Smith was soon chosen to be head of the colony.

He began his work by making a few very strict rules, which all the colonists had to obey.The fine English gentlemen, who had spent their time playing bowls in the streets ofJamestown, priding themselves upon never having done any labor, were now told that if theywould not work they should not eat.

To stop the constant swearing in which these men freely indulged, Captain Smith nextordered that a can full of cold water should be poured down any offender's sleeve.This soon put an end to profanity, and by the time a third set of colonists reachedJamestown it was quite an orderly community.

Two women came out with these last-mentioned settlers to make real homes in Jamestown, thefirst English city in what is now the United States. The same ship also brought overpresents from King James to the Indian King Powhatan. These were a bed, basin and pitcher,a coat trimmed with gold lace, and a crown.

Powhatan was therefore solemnly invited to Jamestown, to receive these gifts and becrowned. The Indian chief was greatly pleased with his fine red coat. But no onecould make him understand that he must kneel to receive his crown. Finally, in despair,the colonists standing on either side of him leaned so heavily upon his shoulders thatthey forced him to bend the knee before the governor, who quickly crowned him.

To the savages' great delight, drums were loudly beaten in honor of King Powhatan, butwhen the cannon was shot off, too, the newly crowned king of Virginia was so amazed thathe almost fell over backward. When he had recovered from his fright Powhatan gave thegovernor his old moccasins, or shoes, and a tattered and dirty robe of raccoon skins,telling him to send them to King James in return for his gifts!

The last Jamestown settlers brought over letters in which the English merchants asked forgold, and urged the colonists to make diligent search for a passage to India, where somuch money could be made by trading for silks, pearls, and spices. In obedience to theseorders, a new excursion was tried, but of course no such passage was ever found on thecoast of Virginia.

When the ships went back to England, Smith sent a letter to the company, begging them tosend out farmers, carpenters, blacksmiths, masons, and men to cut down trees, rather thanso many fine gentlemen who did not know how to work.

Then, as soon as the ships had gone, Captain Smith set all the colonists to work buildinghouses, planting corn, and working hard in many ways, so as to supply their daily needs.He also ordered that the Indians should be treated kindly. But the settlers, thinking theyknew better than he, refused to work, and treated the Indians so unjustly that theysecretly planned to kill all the English.

We are told that this plot was overheard by Pocahontas. She ran through the forest allalone, one dark night, and, coming to Jamestown, secretly told Captain Smith of his peril.He was so grateful to Pocahontas for her warning that he wanted to give her a present; butshe refused it, saying that if her people saw it they would suspect she had betrayed them.

By Captain Smith's wise measures, the Indians were awed into good behavior, and for a timeJamestown was safe. But, unfortunately, a terrible accident soon happened to the brave manwho had been the life of the colony. A gun, shot off by accident, set fire to the powderin a boat where Smith lay asleep. He was badly wounded, and would have been burned todeath had he not had the presence of mind to roll out of the boat into the water.

There were no good doctors in Jamestown, and as the wound in his thigh did not heal,Captain Smith sailed back to England in the next vessel, never to visit Jamestown again.But when quite cured he explored the northeast coast of our country, and drew a good mapof it, calling that part of America New England. It was in reward for this service thatthe king gave him the title of Admiral of New England." Being now too old tocontinue his journeys any longer, Smith spent the rest of his life in writing an accountof his travels and of the founding of Jamestown.

Some people say that Captain Smith, like many sailors, was so fond of spinning yarns thathe did not always tell the exact truth. He cannot have been a bad man, however, for whenhe died, those who had gone out to Jamestown with him said that he hated baseness,laziness, pride, and falsehood; that he never sent any one into a danger he was not readyto share; that he was strictly honest in all his dealings; and that he loved actions morethan words; and he was honored and mourned by all. Brave Captain Smith was buried inLondon, where his friends placed this inscription over his grave: "Here lies oneconquered, that hath conquered kings."

After Captain Smith left them, the Jamestown colonists became idler than ever, and treatedthe Indians so unkindly that even Pocahontas refused to visit them any more. The resultwas that they could not buy any corn, and as they had no crops of their own, they had solittle food, when winter came, that only sixty out of about six hundred colonists managedto live.

This terrible winter in Jamestown is known in history as "Starvation Time; "and somepeople say that the settlers became so desperate from hunger that they actually turnedcannibals. Their sufferings were so great that those who survived determined to go home inthe spring. So they put their scant stock of provisions on board their ships, and preparedto sail.

But before leaving they wanted to set fire to the houses they had built, and destroy theplace where "none hadenjoyed one happy day." The governor, however, refused to let them do this. To make surehis orders should not be disobeyed, he embarked last, after seeing that all was safe.

The little band of discouraged settlers now sailed slowly down the James River. But onreaching its mouth, they were overjoyed to meet three ships coming from England, with astock of provisions and many new colonists. They therefore turned around and went back toJamestown, where, you may be sure they were very thankful to find their houses stillstanding and all ready to receive them.

Anew governor, named Dale, now took charge of the Jamestown colony, and seeing that thecolonists were lazy and indifferent, he tried to find out the cause. He soon discoveredthat the workers thought it unjust that they should have to feed the lazy, for the rulehad been that all supplies should go into a common storehouse, and that each man shouldreceive an equal share.

As the company had in 1609 received a new charter from the king, granting them land forfour hundred miles along the coast, and thence "up into the land throughout from sea tosea, west and northwest," they were very anxious that the Jamestown colony should thrive.Dale, therefore, now said that each man should work for himself only. The result was thatthose who were willing to laborwere soon very comfortable, while the lazy colonists became poorer and poorer. Still,seeing that they must work or starve, the idlers now did enough to keep themselves alive.

Other laws were made at the same time, and it was decided that those who disobeyed themshould have their tongues pierced with a red-hot iron. From this time on Jamestownprospered; more colonists came, grain became plentiful, and instead of digging for gold,the settlers planted tobacco to sell in England.

The English had by this time learned to like tobacco, although King James disapproved sostrongly of smoking that he wrote a book called A Counterblast to Tobacco. In fact,the use of this weed was so general that the colonists, finding they could get aboutseventy-five cents a pound for it, raised all they could, thus following the example setby John Rolfe, one of their number.

Four years after Captain Smith left the Jamestown colony, the English captain Argall,remembering how useful Pocahontas had been, determined to capture her. Hearing that shewas with a neighboring tribe, he bargained with the chief to lure her on board his vesseland leave her there.

The chief consented, and walked off in triumph with his reward,—a shiny copperkettle,—leaving Pocahontas in the hands of Captain Argall. He took her to Jamestown, whereshe was kindly treated. John Rolfe converted the young prisoner, and made her his wife assoon as she had been baptized. Powhatan and many of his tribe were invited to thiswedding, the first between an Englishman and an Indian girl. Of course it was a greatevent in thecolony, so when the next ship went back to England it carried this piece of news to court.

When the king heard it he was greatly displeased, for he fancied that, after marrying thedaughter of the King of Virginia, Rolfe might want to rule over the country. But Rolfewished nothing of the kind, and after growing tobacco for a while, he took his Indian wifeto England.

To please Captain Smith, the queen welcomed Pocahontas kindly. She appeared at court infashionable English clothes,—which must have seemed very uncomfortable to an Indian,—andwas presented as the "Lady Rebecca," for since her baptism her name had been changed.Pocahontas spent a few months in England, and she had juststarted to return to Virginia, when she was taken ill and died. But she left a little son,who lived to grow up and become the ancestor of several noted families in Virginia.

The colonists soon found tobacco so profitable that they planted it even in the streets ofJamestown, and used it for money. Instead of saying a thing was worth so many dollars, aswe do now, they said it was worth so many pounds of tobacco. They rapidly grew rich, andas they no longer feared starvation, all longed to have wives to make them comfortable.

They therefore wrote to England, asking that women should be sent out to them, offering togive from one hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco to pay for their passage.The next ship, therefore, brought overa cargo of young women, and the men who wanted wives rushed down to the wharf, and wooedthem so eagerly that there were soon many happy homes in Virginia.

As tobacco crops rapidly exhaust the soil, the colonists occupied more and more land,settling generally near a stream, so that vessels could come and load at their privatedocks. And because tobacco is planted, and not sown, their lands were called plantations,a name still used in the South for any large farm. Some people, however, say the name wasgiven to any settlement planted in a new place.

To make sure they would always have a good government, the Virginia planters, who in 1619had eleven settlements, or boroughs, chose two men from each borough to sit in a House ofBurgesses at Jamestown. These burgesses helped to make a set of laws, called the "GreatCharter." The fact that the colonists now had a share in ruling themselves, made them takespecial pride in their new homes, although they still spoke lovingly of England as the"mother country."

Strange to relate, the same year that the Virginia colonists claimed their right asfreemen to help govern themselves, a Dutch ship brought twenty negroes to Jamestown, andsold them as slaves. But although these were the first colored people in our country, theywere not the first or only slaves, for the king had already sent out a number of convictsand homeless children to serve the colonists.

There was always a great difference between white and colored slaves. White men were soldonly for a certain length of time, after which they again became free; but the negroeswere sold for good and all, and they and their children were to be slaves forever.

While the English were gaining ground in Virginia, the other nations were not idle. TheSpaniards, as we have seen, had settled in Florida and New Mexico, and, in the latterplace especially, their priests started several mission stations.

This was very dangerous work, because they often had to go alone among the Indians, who attimes rose up against them and even tortured them to death. But these priests were quiteready to die for the sake of their religion, and although in the course of the next onehundred years more than forty were murdered, others were always ready to take theirplaces.

After many failures the Spaniards finally made friends with and converted most of thePueblo Indians, who learned to live on peaceable terms with the white men, as they stilldo to-day. In fact, although they had but one small town, Santa Fe, the Spaniards had manymissions and eleven churches in New Mexico before the Jamestown colonists first sat in theHouse of Burgesses.

The French Huguenots, as already said, tried to make a settlement in the southern part ofour country, but had been murdered by their Spanish neighbors. Next, some Frenchmen triedto settle in Maine, but soon gave up the attempt. Their first lasting settlement wastherefore made in 1604, at Port Royal in Acadia, where they at first suffered much, butafterwards prospered greatly and had comfortable homes.

The Dutch, living near the ocean, were great seamenand traders, so you will not be surprised to hear that they, too, sent ships across theAtlantic before long. One of these vessels, the Half-Moon, under Henry Hudson, cameover here to look for the northwest passage. Sailing along the New England coast, andthence southward, Hudson entered Delaware and New York bays. He also sailed up a greatstream, then called the North River, but now generally known as the Hudson (1609).

At first Hudson thought this broad river must be the long-sought road to India, because athigh tide the water was salt many miles upstream. But sailing on, he finally discoveredthat it was a river, which he explored to the point where Albany now stands. It was inSeptember, the weather was beautiful, and Hudson and his crew were in raptures over thelovely views. The coming of this vessel created a great sensation among the Indians, whorushed to the edge of the water to see the "great white bird." They called theHalf-Moon a bird on account of its spreading sails.

Hudson traded with the natives for tobacco and furs, and once when they tried to stealsome of his trinkets he gave them a terrible fright by shootingoff his cannon. On his return he landed on Manhattan Island, where the Indians gave him afeast, breaking their arrows to show he need fear no treachery on their part.

We are told that, in exchange for their hospitality, Hudson offered the savages some rumto drink. They looked at it, and smelled it, but passed it on without tasting it. Finallythe bottle came to an Indian who was somewhat bolder than the rest, or who feared tooffend the white man. He drank a great deal of the liquor, but he had no sooner done sothan he fell down senseless, and all his companions thought he was dead.

After a few hours, however, the Indian awoke from his drunken sleep, to remark that theDutchman had the strongest water he had ever tasted. The other savages were now all eagerto try the "fire water" too; and, having drunk it once, they took such a fancy to it thatbefore long they were ready to give all they had in exchange for more. But, as you willsee, this fire water was to do them a great deal of harm.

On his way home Hudson stopped in England, where they kept him a prisoner, saying anEnglishman ought to make discoveries only for the good of his own country. But Hudsonmanaged to send a description of his journey to Holland, and he then reported that he hadvisited "as beautiful a land as one can tread upon." Hearing from him also that greatbargains in furs could be made with the Indians, Dutch merchants soon sent out vessels toestablish trading stations near Albany and on Manhattan Island.

While the Dutch were thus bartering, Hudson, set free, started out on a voyage forEngland. Sailing farthernorth, in search of a passage to India, he came, in 1611, to the bay which still bears hisname. Here his crew suffered so much from the cold climate that, in their anger againsttheir captain, they put him, his son, and seven sick men in a boat, and cut them adrift.The ship came back to Europe in safety, but nothing more was ever heard of Hudson or theunfortunate sailors with him.

The Dutch soon built Fort Orange on the Hudson, near Albany, Fort Nassau on the Delaware,and, later, a fort on Manhattan Island. Here, in 1614, they founded the colony latercalled New Amsterdam, on the very spot where a shipwrecked captain had built the firstDutch-American vessel about one year before. Little by little the Dutch now tookpossession of the land along the Hudson River and New York Bay. They built comfortablehouses of bricks brought over from Holland, and before long had many thrifty farms in whatthey called the New Netherlands.

While the Spaniards were settling in Florida and New Mexico, the French in Acadia, and the Dutchin the New Netherlands, the English, as we have seen, had also been busy. In Virginia theyhad founded Jamestown, and Gosnold and John Smith had visited and named several places inNew England, such as Cape Cod and the Charles River.

During the next few years several attempts were made to found a colony in New England, butall failed. Still,although no real settlements were made, English fishing vessels were often seen along thecoast, where codfish could easily be caught and dried. The captain of one of these fishingboats is said to have captured twenty-four Indians, whom he carried off to sell as slaves.Among these savages was one named Squanto. He was taken first to Spain and then to Englandbefore he was shipped back to his native land.

When poor Squanto finally reached the New England shores once more he found everythingsadly changed. During his absence a terrible plague had broken out and swept away nearlyall his tribe. Wigwams, fields, hunting and fishing grounds were now deserted, and the fewIndians who had escaped death had gone to live elsewhere. Squanto therefore joined anothertribe, to whom he soon proved very useful, for he had learned enough English to serve asinterpreter between them and the fishermen.

Nowadays people can be of any religion they choose, but in the beginning of theseventeenth century every one was expected to practice the religion of the country inwhich he lived. After following the Roman Catholic religion for about nine centuries, theEnglish, in the middle of the sixteenth century, suddenly decided that England should havea church of her own. Their king, Henry VIII., said that while the pope was head of theRoman Catholic Church, he would henceforth be head of the Anglican or English Church. Headded that all his subjects would have to attend the services of that church, and pay atax to him for its support, just as they had done to the pope.

Although there were a great many people quite willingto do this, others said that as their parents had been Roman Catholics they would be sotoo. These people were very firm, and although the king tried to force them to changetheir religion, some of them bravely died rather than do what they considered wrong.

At first there were only Roman Catholics and Anglicans in England. But after a time someof the Anglicans said that they wanted a plainer and purer religion. They repeated this sooften that before long they were known all over England as the Puritans. Next, some of thePuritans refused to go to the Anglican Church at all, or to pay for its support, andbecause they did this they were treated just as unkindly as the Roman Catholics.

Those Puritans who separated themselves from their brethren and refused to go to theAnglican Church were soon called Separatists. They were held in great contempt, andpersecuted by all those who did not believe exactly as they did. After standing this forseveral years, some of them left England in 1607, and after many trials founded aSeparatist colony at Leyden in Holland.

Here they had to work very hard to make a living; and although they tried to keep theirchildren apart from the rest of the people, they soon saw that the boys and girls werelearning the Dutch language and ways so rapidly that before long they would cease to beEnglish. The Separatists therefore began to wonder where they could go so their childrenwould hear nothing but the English language, have no dealings with people of a differentreligion, and still have a fair chance to make a living.

They finally decided to go to the New World, and sent to ask King James's permission tofound a colony in aplace where, while remaining his faithful subjects, they could worship as they pleased.James allowed them to go to America, but refused to give them a paper granting all therights they wished. Still, as the Separatists knew that the king was as likely to break awritten promise as a verbal one, they made up their minds to run the risk.

Too poor to hire vessels to carry them and their goods across the ocean, the Separatistsborrowed the necessary money from English speculators, promising that all their earningsfor the next seven years should be equally divided between the merchants and thecolonists. Then, hearing that none but Church of England people would be received inVirginia, they decided to settle in the land Hudson had described so favorably.

As the Separatists were about to set out on a long pilgrimage, or journey, for the sake oftheir religion, they took the name of Pilgrims. The youngest and strongest among them wereto go out first, under the guidance of one of their teachers, Elder Brewster. But all theold and feeble members were to remain in Holland a little longer, in charge of theirminister, Mr. Robinson. After a last feast together, and a solemn parting prayer, thePilgrims received their pastor's blessing, said good-by to their friends, and embarked onthe Speedwell at Delfshaven. The spot whence they started is now marked by amonument commemorating their departure, and from there Robinson prayerfully watched themuntil they were out of sight. Although their vessel was old and leaky, the Pilgrimsreached Southampton safely. Here they found friends waiting for them, and all ready tosail in the Mayflower. After a short delay both vessels set out together;but they soon had to put back, because the Speedwell proved unsafe. Leaving it atPlymouth, one hundred and two of the most determined Pilgrims embarked on theMayflower, which set out alone to cross the Atlantic Ocean (1620).

In those times all travel, whether by land or sea, was very slow. It was therefore onlyafter sixty-three days that the Mayflower, driven out of its course by a storm,reached Cape Cod Bay. Thus, you see, it came to the shores of New England instead of NewYork or New Jersey. During that long and tempestuous journey one of the passengers died;but, as one little baby was born on the ship, the Pilgrims still numbered one hundred andtwo souls.

The season was so far advanced when the Pilgrims reached our northeast coast, and the seaswere so rough, that the captain of the Mayflower said it would not be safe to goany farther. So the Pilgrims, who were tiredof the ship and eager to begin building their new homes, decided to settle in New England.Before they left the ship, however, the menu assembled in the little cabin to draw up apaper, in which they pledged themselves to be true to their country, king, and religion,and to obey any laws made for the good of the colony. Then they elected John Carver, oneof their number, as governor for one year, and named Miles Standish, an old soldier, theircaptain.

While the women hastened ashore to wash their linen, Standish and his little band ofPilgrim soldiers began to explore the coast to find the best spot for their settlement.For a few days they tramped up and down on Cape Cod, once only catching a glimpse of anIndian and a dog. But finally they came to a ruined wigwam, where they saw a copperkettle. This showed them that Europeanshad been there before. Soon after they found some buried corn, and carried it off,intending to pay the owners for it later.About three weeks after this, some Pilgrims and seamen took a boat and sailed off to makea more extensive exploration of the coast. After going a long distance they landed, and asthey walked along they were surprised to find so many graves, for they did not know thenthat the plague had raged there two years before. Early one day, after spending anuncomfortable night out of doors, and saying their morning prayers, the explorers werestartled by a terrible Indian war whoop, and a flight of arrows fell all around them.

But Miles Standish was so brave a man that he made his men stand firm and drive theIndians away. The Indians had attacked the party only because they fancied that thePilgrims had come to steal Indians, as the fishermen had done several times before.

The Pilgrims now continued their explorations in the midst of a driving snowstorm. Theirrudder broke, and they had to steer with their oars. Finally they were driven ashore,where they kindled a fire, spending Sunday in prayer and praise, and resuming theirjourney only on Monday morning.

On December 21 or 22 they again ran ashore, landing on a rock, since called "thestepping-stone of New England," and now carefully preserved and known as "Plymouth Rock."The land around seemed so favorable that they decided to plant their colony here, namingit Plymouth, in honor of the last English town they had seen before leaving old England.

As the landing of the Pilgrim fathers is one of the great events of our history, theanniversary of their coming is still kept in New England and elsewhere, and is known as"Forefathers' Day."

While Standish and his men were busy exploring, the Mayflower rode at anchor, andits inmates barely escaped a horrible death. One of the colonists, named Billington,having gone into the cabin to get powder, carelessly left the barrel open. His boy, amischievous youngster, crept into the cabin unseen, and began playing with a gun. Ofcourse it went off unexpectedly, and the child came very near setting fire to the powderin the barrel, and thus blowing up the Mayflower and all on board.

As soon as Standish had made his report, the anchor was raised, and four days later thePilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. The first woman to set foot upon it, we are told, was aPuritan maiden. Soon all the settlers were very busy building a storehouse for theirprovisions, and homes for themselves.

The men, exposed to the bad weather, caught such heavy colds that before long all wereill, and when the storehouse and a log hut were finished, both had to serve as hospitalsfor the sick. In spite of an unusually mild winter, the colonists found their closequarters on the Mayflower and in damp log houses so uncomfortable that theysuffered greatly.

At one time all but seven were seriously ill, and in the course of the winter nearly halfof their number perished. Grave after grave was dug in the frozen ground, but thePilgrims, dared not mark them in any way, lest the Indians should discover how many of thewhite men had died. They were careful about this, because, although they had not seen any,they knew that Indians were lurking near them, for tools left in the woods a few hours hadmysteriously vanished.

Early in the spring the Pilgrims were startled, one day, by the voice of an Indian saying:"Welcome, Englishmen." Looking up, they saw a savage named Samoset, who had boldly walkedinto their village to greet them with words learned from English fishermen.

The Pilgrims received Samoset so kindly that he came back on the morrow with Squanto, whotold the colonists that the Indian chief Massasoit wished to make friends with them. Ameeting was appointed, and when Massasoit appeared, a few days later, Standish receivedhim. The drums were beaten loudly, and the Pilgrim soldiers gravely escorted the Indianchief to their principal log hut, where Governor Carver was waiting for them.

Here all the choice articles of the Pilgrims had been gathered together to make a fineshow, and a rug and green cushion were laid on the floor for Massasoit to sit upon.

After smoking the calumet, or "pipe of peace," together, the Indian chief and the Plymouthgovernor—with the help of their interpreters—made a treaty, whereby they promised not toharm but to help each other, and to trade in a friendly spirit.

The Indians now walked freely in and out of the village, where they ate and drank so muchthat the Pilgrims' scant stock of provisions grew rapidly less. Edward Winslow, one of thePilgrims, therefore took occasion, on returning Massasoit's visit, to tell him that theIndians were to come to Plymouth only when they bore messages from him. To make sure thatthe right Indians would always be well treated, Winslow gave Massasoit a ring, which wasto serve as passport for his men.

Were you to read Winslow's description of his visit to the Indian chief, you would begreatly amused. Massasoit had no provisions in his wigwam, so he and his guests went tobed hungry. Besides, Winslow and his men had to sleep side by side with the dirty chiefand his squaw,and they were so crowded by other Indians that they were very uncomfortable indeed.

In April the Mayflower went back to England; but although the Pilgrims had sufferedso sorely during the winter, they all wrote brave letters to send home, and not one ofthem asked to go back. After the Mayflower had sailed away Governor Carver fell illand died, so William Bradford was elected to take his place. This Bradford made so good aruler that he was elected again and again, and during the next thirty-six years he washead of the colony nearly all the time.

Squanto soon became a great favorite with the Pilgrims. He played with the children,taught the boys to trap game, and told the settlers to plant their corn as soon as theleaves of the white oak were as large as a mouse's ear. He also taught them to put a fatfish in each hill, to serve as manure for the growing grain, because the ground aroundthere was very sandy.

The colonists now worked diligently, making their fields and gardens over the graves oftheir dead companions, so that no hostile Indians should ever find out how many had died,or dig up their bones. The crops being all planted, the Pilgrims went on building, madefriends with nine Indian chiefs, and traded briskly with the savages for furs.

But day by day the stock of provisions brought from England grew less and less, until theyfinally saw with dismay that it would be entirely exhausted long before their corn wasripe. So they were put on such scant rations that it is said they sometimes had only sixgrains of corn for a meal! As they were not good hunters orexperienced fishermen, they lived almost entirely on shellfish, Elder Brewster piouslygiving thanks to God for supplying them with "the abundance of the seas and the treasureshid in the sand."

Although the winter had been very damp, the summer proved so dry that it soon seemed as ifthe Pilgrims' crops would perish for want of rain. A day of fasting and prayer wastherefore appointed, and for nine hours the Pilgrims besought God to help them. SomeIndians, hearing that they were going to pray for rain, watched the sky anxiously, andwhen it finally clouded over and a gentle rain began to fall, they remarked in awe-strucktones that the God of the white men had evidently heard their prayers.

Ten days of moisture which followed the day of prayer assured a plentiful harvest, whichwas safely gathered. The Pilgrims were so grateful for this mercy that they set a day inwhich to give thanks. After a solemn service they held a great feast, to which Massasoitand ninety other Indians were invited.

At this dinner they ate wild turkeys shot by the colonists, venison supplied by thesavages, and pies which the Pilgrim mothers made from yellow pumpkins, as they had noapples. During the next three days all the young people indulged in games and athleticsports, in which the Indians also shared. After this "Thanksgiving Day," as the Pilgrimsnamed it, a feast like it was kept every year in New England. This custom gradually spreadfrom there over the whole country, until now the day is observed in all the states of ourUnion. The President, who appoints the day, generally chooses the last Thursday inNovember.

As the Pilgrims were just in all their dealings with the Indians, and honestly paid them forthe corn taken when they first landed, the natives became quite friendly. They not onlybrought back the missing tools, but once found and carried home the mischievous Billingtonboy, who had lost his way in the forest, near the pond which still bears his name.

The Indians felt such respect for the Pilgrims that when Massasoit fell ill he sent forWinslow right away. The latter went to the chief's wigwam, where he found a crowd ofIndians eagerly watching the antics of the medicine man, who had come to drive away thechief's disease.

After ordering all the Indians out of the wigwam, Winslow let in some fresh air, cooledthe sick Indian's hot brow and hands with clean water, and gave him some medicine.Presently the savage chief asked for chicken broth, which he had once tasted at Plymouth,so Winslow sent a messenger to Plymouth for a fowl. Thanks to Winslow's good nursing,—forfresh air and cleanliness are good doctors,—Massasoit soon recovered, and ever after hewas the white men's firm ally.

All the Indians were not friendly, however. Canonicus, chief of the Narragansetts, anenemy of Massasoit, hated to see the land occupied by the English, so he soon sent them arattlesnake's skin full of arrows. Governor Bradford looked at it wonderingly and thenasked Squanto what it meant. The Indian said it signified that unlessthe white men crept away like serpents the Indians would slay them all with their arrows.

Hearing this, Bradford coolly took the arrows out of the skin, stuffed it full of powderand bullets, and silently handed it to the messenger to carry back to Canonicus. Thesavage glided rapidly away, and gave the skin to Canonicus, who, afraid of the powder,passed it on to another Indian. The snake skin went thus from hand to hand, but wasfinally sent back to Plymouth, with an offer of friendship. The Indians, seeing that theEnglish governor was not afraid of them, now begged for peace, promising to bury the warhatchet so deep that it could never again be dug up.

The fact is that powder at first seemed a very mysterious thing to the red men. They wereafraid of it, but at the same time longed to have some. One Indian is said to have boughtpowder from a colonist, who gravely told him that if he wanted any more he must plant theblack seed. The savage obeyed, but as nothing came up from it, the shrewd Indian declaredthat he would pay the colonist only when the powder grew!

The Pilgrims, fearing the Indians might attack them, built a log meetinghouse on a hill,and used it as a fort, placing their cannon on its flat roof. This place was alsosurrounded by a palisade, or great fence of tree trunks, so that it could afford thecolonists a safe shelter in time of danger. Generally, however, it served as ameeting-house, for the Pilgrims were all very religious, and when the drums beat on Sundaymorning all came out of their houses and marched in solemn procession to church.

At the door the men stacked their arms, leaving themin charge of a guard, who was to give the alarm at the first sign of danger. In themeetinghouse men and women sat apart, listening to the long prayers and sermons, or slowlysinging very sober hymns. The boys sat on the pulpit steps, in full view of thecongregation, to make sure they would behave properly.

The sexton, armed with a long stick, rapped the boys on the head if they proved unruly, orpoked the men when they fell asleep. But if the girls or women dozed, he gently tickledtheir cheeks with the foxtail hanging at the other end of the same stick. Sometimes, too,it was he who turned the hourglass when all its sands had run out, for the minister wasthen only halfway through his two hours' sermon.

In the first fall the colony was increased by the arrival of more Separatists; but it didnot really prosper until the settlers bought the shares of the English merchants, and,instead of holding everything in common, began to work each for himself. They were soindustrious and thrifty that before long their debts were all paid, and they hadcomfortable homes and good farms.

The Plymouth people were so strict that they would allow none but church members to vote.Their colony therefore grew very slowly, and at the end of ten years it numbered onlyabout three hundred souls. But other Puritans, who did not believe exactly as the Plymouthcolonists, came over to America and founded other colonies along the New England coast.

Thus, for instance, the first Massachusetts Bay colonists came over in 1628. As their hopewas to convert the Indians, they adopted a seal on which there was an Indian,with the inscription, "Come over and help us." They, too, were very strict. They said, "Noidle drone may live among us," and expected every one to work hard. They settled at somedistance from Plymouth, in a spot which they called Salem ("Peace"), because they hoped tolive and worship there in peace.

The principal man in the Massachusetts Bay colony was John Endicott. He felt such intensehorror for the Roman Catholic religion that before he had been in America very long, hedrew out his sword and cut the cross right out of the English flag, saying that Puritanscould not look with respect upon such a popish emblem. Besides, hearing that some Englishcolonists had put up a Maypole on Merry Mount, and danced there, he cut down the pole andscolded the people for indulging in "the folly of amusem*nts."

Besides Puritans, a few other men came over to New England. Among these was Standish, who, as youknow, proved very useful to the Plymouth colony, and a learned man named Blackstone. Thelatter tried at first to live with the Separatists at Plymouth, but when he saw that theywere not willing to let him do as he thought right, and wanted to force him to think justas they did, he boldly said: "I came from England because I did not like the Lord Bishops,but I cannot join with you, because I would not be under the Lord Brethren."

Having spoken thus, Blackstone left the colony, andwithdrew to a hill about forty miles up the coast, where he built himself a comfortablehouse. Here he soon had a fine garden, where he grew the first apples seen in New England;and his cow, wandering around in search of pasture, made the first winding paths throughthe forest in that part of the country.

Although the Plymouth settlers were, as we have seen, usually on friendly terms with theIndians, there were some worthless settlers where Weymouth now is, who soon quarreled withthem (1623). Hearing that the Indians had planned to kill all the whites, Captain Standishand his little force marched over to Weymouth. Though small, he was very brave. He sentfor the Indian chiefs, and met them in a log hut. When one of them threatened his life,Standish boldly attacked him. There was a terrible tussle, but the white man finallykilled his huge enemy. This act of daring made other Indians respect Standish, whom theycalled the "big little man."

While Standish was struggling with one Indian, two more were killed by the other white menin the hut, and a few others were slain afterwards. When this news reached Mr. Robinson atLeyden, he sadly cried: "Oh, that they had converted some before they killed any!"

In 1630 the colonists of Massachusetts Bay were reinforced by the arrival of seven hundrednewcomers, "the very flower of the English Puritans." Led by John Winthrop, a noble andclever man, some of them came over in a ship which was called the Lady Arbela, in honor ofa delicate lady on board. But seventy-six days of sea journey proved so trying to thisfrail woman that she died soon after landing at Salem.

At first the newcomers tried to settle near Charlestown; but they found the drinking waterso bad there that they finally went to Trimountain, or Tremont ("Three Hills"), whereBlackstone had built his house. Not liking to live so near a large colony of Puritans,Blackstone sold them his house and land, and went to settle elsewhere.

The land thus purchased was divided among the settlers, who, for convenience' sake, builttheir houses along the paths made by Blackstone's cow. Some people say that this accountsfor the crooked streets in old Boston, for such was the name this settlement received soonafter it was made (1630). Six acres, however, were set apart as the Common, or pastureground, for everybody. This part of Blackstone's farm still bears that name, but it is nowin the very heart of the city of Boston, a beautiful, well-kept park, and no longer a merepasture ground.

The Boston colonists had brought tools, cattle, and seed in abundance; but in spite of alltheir foresight and supplies, their first winter proved very hard. It was very cold, andas they had to go some distance for their fuel, many could not secure enough. We are toldthat one man was even caught stealing wood from Winthrop's pile. Now, the Puritansconsidered stealing almost as bad as murder, and had the man been publicly accused, theywould perhaps have condemned him to death. But Governor Winthrop was so good and gentlethat he merely said he would cure the man of the habit of stealing, and did so by sendingthe rascal all the fuel he needed until spring.

Like the Plymouth colonists, the Puritans were threatened with starvation long beforetheir ships could return. Winthrop then generously supplied the people's needsfrom his own store, and actually gave the last flour he had in his house to a poor man whocame to beg. But the good governor did not suffer on account of his generosity, for thatvery day the returning ships sailed into port, bringing plenty of provisions for all.

The colony now prospered greatly, and sent home such encouraging letters that more andmore people ventured across the ocean. Winthrop sent for his wife, and a minister wrote tohis friends that "a sup of New England air is better than a whole draught of Old England'sAle."

During the next ten years, more than twenty thousand English-speaking persons came over toNew England. There, in time, they formed fifty parishes, or villages, connected by roadsand bridges. Some of these settlements were planted far inland, although the Puritans atfirst declared they would never need more land than what was inclosed in a circle drawnten miles around Boston.

A governor was elected to rule over the colony, and each town ruled itself. But the peoplealso sent representatives to the General Court, or Assembly, where public matters werediscussed and laws were made for the good of the whole colony.

The government being in the hands of the people, and the Puritans wishing their childrento be well educated, public schools were soon provided in every village, and in 1636 theGeneral Court started the first college. It was located in a spot which was calledCambridge, in honor of the great university town in England. Two years later, a ministernamed Harvard left his library of about two hundred and fifty books and some money to thenew college, which since then has borne his, name.

At first, Harvard College had only a very few students, who were to be educated for theministry. All the colonists contributed to the support of the institution, for those whowere too poor to give twelve-pence in money were told to bring a measure of corn or somefire wood. Four years after the college was founded, the first English printing press wasset up there, and began to print books of psalms for the Puritan churches.

While the new college was training missionaries for the Indians, the latter had found agood friend in John Eliot, who came over to America in 1631. While preaching in Boston andRoxbury, Eliot learned the Massachusetts Indian language, and began to translate the Bibleinto that tongue. It took him nearly thirty years of patient work to do this, in the midstof all his preaching and teaching. But his Bible was the first printed in America, andmany of his "praying Indians," as the converts were called, learned to read in it.

Eliot was a sweet, simple, and very lovable man. He was so generous that once, in payinghim his salary, the parish treasurer tied it up in the good man's handkerchief withseveral knots, so that he should not be able to give it all away before reaching home. ButEliot, unable to undo these hard knots when he met a poor woman, gave her handkerchief andall, saying: "Here, my dear, take it; I believe the Lord designs it all for you."

After years of faithful work among the savages, Eliot, the "Apostle of the Indians," died,at the age of eightysix. He tried harder than any other Puritan to convert the red men, who lost their bestfriend when he passed away. The Bible he worked so diligently to translate still exists;but as there are no Massachusetts Indians left, it is now of no use, except to remind usof Eliot's great patience and perseverance.

As the soil was poor, hands few, and the harvests too scanty to supply food for all, thecolonists soon began to wonder how they could earn money. Before long, they discoveredthat by sending fish to England, they could get all the food they wanted. For that reasonthey fished diligently, and soon used a huge codfish as an emblem for the MassachusettsBay colony. Next, the colonists built a large ship called the Blessing of the Bay, inwhich they sent lumber to the West Indies. In exchange for timber, they got sugar andmolasses, from which they made rum to ship to England. Thus commerce was begun, and,increasing year by year, finally made the Massachusetts Puritans both rich andindependent.

The Puritans, as you have seen, left England because they were not allowed to worshipthere as they pleased. But although they did not like it when the English tried to makethem obey the Anglican Church, they now wanted to force all who came among them to thinkjust as they did.

One young man, Roger Williams, came to New England in 1631, and preached for a while atSalem. But as he openly said that the Puritans had no right to punish people for thinkingdifferently about religious matters, or for such trifles as smoking on the street orlaughing too loud, he soon displeased some of the colonists.

They sent him away for a while, thinking he would change his mind; but when Williams cameback to Salem, he insisted harder than ever that every man had a right to think just as hepleased, to worship God as his conscience bade him', and to vote whether he went to churchor not. He also declared that the land around there belonged to the Indians and not to theKing of England. These opinions seemed so wicked to the good Puritans that they called himup before their Council to reprove him.

Finding that the Puritans would not let him live in peace in any part of the colony, butintended to send him back to England to be tried, Williams secretly escaped fromMassachusetts, and went to live among the Indians. As he knew their language, and had madefriends with them, he spent a very peaceful winter in their camp.

When spring came, Williams wanted to settle at Seekonk; but as the Plymouth people claimedthat part of the land, he went farther still, to a place which he called Providence.Settling there, in 1636, on land he bought from the Indians, Williams was soon joined byothers who shared his opinions, and thus a colony was formed in what is now Rhode Island,where all except Jews were allowed to vote. This was considered very generous in thosedays, although it now seems unfair to exclude any one on account of religion.

Because Williams was so much broader-minded than many other people of his time, he hasoften been called the "Apostle of Toleration"—a word which means letting others alone,—orallowing others to do as they please. People of every belief came to settle in Williams'sneighborhood before long, and there was soon such a variety of them that it was said if aman had lost his religion he would be sure to find it again in Rhode Island.

One of the first important persons who followed Williams to Rhode Island was Mrs. AnneHutchinson. Soon after her arrival in Massachusetts, in 1634, she began to hold meetingsand to preach. The Puritans, who did not believe in women's talking in public, told her tobesilent; but she refused to obey, and went on preaching until she gained great influenceover many people.

Indeed, when an Indian war broke out, her followers even refused to go and fight unlessshe was allowed to talk just as much as she pleased. But as soon as the war was over, Mrs.Hutchinson was banished. Then she, too, went to Rhode Island (1637), where she bought fromthe Indians the large island of that name. She gave them only twenty hoes, ten coats, andforty fathoms of wampum in payment for it, and near one end of it she began the town whichis now the beautiful city of Newport. Several Quakers, driven out of the Massachusettscolonies by the Puritans, also came to live near her, and her settlement prosperedgreatly.

Other colonies were also begun farther north. A short time after the founding of Plymouth,Mason and Gorges received from the king a grant of land. Coming over to America, theydivided their land and founded colonies, Gorges in Maine and Mason in New Hampshire. Amongthe principal settlements thus made were the towns of Portsmouth and Dover. Some yearslater, however, these places were added to Massachusetts, to which colony New Hampshirewas joined for about thirty-five years.

In 1630, at the time when Boston was founded, some fishermen reported that the ConnecticutRiver flowed between very fertile banks. This news made Lords Say, Brooke, and others askfor a grant of land there, which the king readily gave them. These owners then prepared tofound a new colony, which was called Saybrook, after two of their number. But they verysoon found that there was no time to lose if they wanted to claim theland the king had given them, for the Dutch had already built a trading station whereHartford now stands, and were threatening to occupy all the Connecticut valley.

In spite of the fact that the Dutch got there first, Winthrop's son was told to build afort at the mouth of the Connecticut, or Long River, where he was soon joined by a colonyof about fifty men. These settlers suffered greatly from lack of food and proper shelter.

Still, the white men spread rapidly in Connecticut, and in the spring of 1636, PastorHooker, "the light of the western church," came there from Massachusetts, with about onehundred men, women, and children. Walking through the woods, driving their cattle beforethem, and carrying poor sick Mrs. Hooker on a litter, these colonistscame to settle on the banks of the Connecticut, where they founded Hartford. They broughtwritten laws with them, in which, among other things, it was stated that a man need not bea church member to vote.

But the Connecticut colonists soon met two foes in this new region; they were the Dutchand the Pequot Indians, of whom the latter proved by far the more troublesome. Soon aftermurdering one settler, the Pequots carried his family off to Block Island. The news ofmurder and capture no sooner reached Massachusetts, than ninety men set out, under JohnEndicott, to punish the Indians.

Sailing to Block Island, the Indian stronghold, they killed the Indians and burned downtheir village. Then some of them went on to the Connecticut valley, to join and help theEnglish there. The Pequots, angry with the colonists, now sought the friendship of theNarragansett and Mohegan Indians; for they thought that if three such powerful tribesjoined forces, the white men would soon be crushed.

When the settlers heard of this, they were terrified. But knowing Roger Williams was theonly man who could prevent the Narragansetts from making an alliance with their foes, theyhastily sent him a message, imploring his aid. Instead of acting meanly, as some other menwould have done in his place, and leaving those who had treated him ill to look out forthemselves, Roger Williams set out right away, although a terrible storm was then raging.

Narrowly escaping death, he paddled bravely on in his frail skiff till he came to theNarragansetts' camp. There he found the Pequots fiercely urging their friends to fightby showing them the bloody scalps they had already taken. During the next three days andnights, Williams pleaded and argued with the Narragansett Indians, and he finallypersuaded them not to take part in the Pequot war. Thanks to his efforts, too, theMohegans sided with the white men, their chief bravely helping John Mason, the commanderof the settlers' force.

After a night spent in prayer, the combined force of colonists and friendly Indianssuddenly attacked the principal Pequot camp in what is now southeastern Connecticut. Takenunawares, the savages, roused by the barking of their dogs, sprang out of their wigwams,only in time to see the white men rush into their fort. A moment later, the invaders flungblazing torches at their dwellings, which were soon in flames over the heads of theirwives and children. Many perished in the fire, and the glare of the flames allowed thecolonists to see and kill nearly all their dusky foes.

Soon after this massacre, the Pequot chief was overtaken and slain, and his head was longexposed on a tree, in a place since known as Sachems Head, or Point. The few remainingPequots either became slaves or fled to the Hudson River. This was the first real Indianwar in New England (1636-1638). After it was all over the colonists along the Connecticutwere left in peace, and for nearly forty years there was no more trouble with the red men.

The Pequot war was scarcely finished when three hundred English settlers came to found NewHaven. They were mostly rich trading people, and they wanted to have a colony which wouldbe governed only by the laws of the Bible. The New Haven colony grew fast, and beforelong included Saybrook and five other very prosperous towns.

It was in the Pequot war that the colonies first saw the advantage of helping one another,and five years later (1643) a league was formed between Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth,Connecticut, and New Haven. Maine and Rhode Island were not allowed to join it, becausethey were not Puritan colonies. But New Hampshire really belonged to it, as that colonyhad been joined to Massachusetts in 1641.

While the English were founding the New England colonies, many changes had taken place inEngland. King James I. was succeeded by Charles I., and the English, weary of monarchs whodid not keep their promises, rose up in rebellion in 1643.

By this time, the English Puritans had increased so that they became masters of the wholecountry. It was governed by their chief, Oliver Cromwell, and called the Commonwealth ofEngland. The Puritans, being in power, made the Roman Catholics and the Church of Englandpeople as uncomfortable as the latter had once made them. Many Catholics and Anglicanswere therefore only too glad to cross the ocean, in their turn, so as to found new homeswhere they could worship as they pleased; and you shall soon hear how they prospered.

Cromwell, as Protector of the Commonwealth of England, made a new law (1651), called theNavigation Act.By this law it was decided that the colonists should build no more ships, and that alltheir goods should be carried across the ocean only in English vessels. This law was veryunjust, and captains of English ships speedily took advantage of it to raise their pricesfor freight. So, while England was rapidly growing rich, her colonists grumbled sorely atthe heavy rates they had to pay.

That same year began the great Quaker excitement in Massachusetts. The Quakers were thedisciples of a very good man, George Fox. They called themselves Friends, but were calledQuakers by the other people, because they often said one ought to quake at the thought ofthe wrath of God.

As some of the months and days of the week bore the names of old heathen gods, the Friendswould not use them, but, instead, numbered the days and months, speaking of the first dayof the sixth month, the twelfth day of the second month, and so on. They would not takeany oaths, either, but used only the words "yea"and "nay." They further treated allpersons alike, calling even the king by his given name, and refused to take off their hatsin his presence. Although generally quiet and modest, a few of the Quakers were so anxiousto spread the teachings of their preacher Fox that they came over to Massachusetts,knowing they would be ill-treated there.

Nevertheless, they began preaching, and firmly but quietly refused to stop when told to doso. They were therefore tortured and punished in many ways. A few were whipped, sent tojail, or put in the stocks. Their books were burned; they were driven out of the colony;and as all this was not enough, four of them were hanged.

The Quaker excitement finally grew so great that some of them were sent back to Englandand the rest forced to take refuge in Rhode Island, where they could practice any religionthey liked. But the Quakers who had been shipped back to England, and especially a fewdiscontented colonists, complained very much of the Massachusetts government, and madeconsiderable trouble for New England.

Cromwell having died in 1658, the English, most of whom were still greatly attached to the royalfamily, soon begged Charles II. to come back and take possession of his throne. He gladlyreturned to England, where he punished no one for the revolution, except the men who hadcondemned his father, Charles I., to death. A few of these king-killers, or "regicides,"as they were called, fled from England as soon as they heard the king was coming, andthree took passage for America.

Two of these men, Goffe and Whalley, after some trouble, reached the New Haven colony,where Puritan friends helped them to hide. The king sent orders to arrest them, andmagistrates began to search every house to secure the regicides. For about eighteen yearsthese two men lived in constant dread of being caught; but, thanks to their many friends,they always escaped. They dwelt for a while in a deserted mill, then in a cave, and oncehid under a bridge while their pursuers galloped over it, expecting soon to overtake them.

The fact that the New Haven people had sheltered some of his father's judges, added to thecomplaints of the Quakers and discontented colonists, displeased Charles II. greatly; andhe finally declared that New Haven should cease to form a separate colony, and joined itto Connecticut, which received a new charter (1662).

It is also said, however, that these two colonies were united mainly to please theConnecticut people, because they had won the king's favor by sending him a pretty messageto welcome him back to the throne. The charter he gave them was the most liberal evergranted the colonists, although the one Roger Williams secured for Rhode Island alsogranted many privileges.

You doubtless remember the treaty made between the Indian King Massasoit and GovernorCarver, when the Pilgrims first came to Plymouth. This treaty was kept forty years, andMassasoit and his tribe faithfully helped the colonists to fight the other Indians. Butwhen Massasoit died, his two sons, who had received the names of Alexander and Philip,began to rule in their turn..

Alexander knew, by the wampum belts which were the history books of his tribe, that nearlyall the land of his Indian fathers had been sold to the white men, piece by piece. It hadbeen given in exchange for beads, kettles, blankets, etc., and now very little was left.But the Indians fancied that, although they had sold the land, they could still hunt andfish there as much as they pleased. The colonists, however, would not allow them to do so,and drove the Indians farther and farther off, until they began to feel cramped for space.

It is said that when one of the colonists once came tobid an Indian chief to remove still farther from the white settlements, the red maninvited him to take a seat beside him on a log. Crowding nearer and nearer his guest, thechief bade him move again and again, until he forced him to the very end of the log. Butwhen the colonist declared he could not move another inch without falling off, the chiefcalmly answered: "It is just so with us. We have moved as far as we can go, and now youcome here to ask us to move farther still."

This feeling of unfair treatment made Alexander so angry, at last, that he formed a secretalliance with the Narragansett Indians to kill all the white men. But the Plymouthgovernor, hearing of this, promptly sent for him, bidding him come and clear himself ofthe accusation of treachery. Then, as the Indian did not obey at once, Winslow quickly setout, with his men, to bring him by force.

Alexander, furious at being thus compelled to mind, fell seriously ill from fever. Thecolonists then allowed his followers to carry him home; but on the way back, the Indianchief breathed his last. Ever after, his people were in the habit of saying that he hadgone to the Happy Hunting Grounds, where the palefaces could never come to crowd him out.

At Alexander's death, Philip became chief of his tribe; and thinking the English had poisonedAlexander, he began to plot revenge. After brooding over his wrongs for several years,Philip was accused of planning to attackthe colonists. The governor of Plymouth sent word to Philip to come and explain hisconduct, but, we are told, the Indian haughtily said to the messenger: "Your governor isbut a subject of King Charles of England. I shall not treat with a subject. I shall onlytreat with the king, my brother. When he comes, I am ready."

Still, Philip did come, and promised to keep the peace. But a few years later, he wasabout to fall upon the colonists unexpectedly, when a praying Indian warned them of theirdanger. This Indian was murdered by three of Philip's friends, who were found guilty andput to death for the crime. Not long after this, the Indians attacked the colonists atSwansea, as they were walking home from church, and killed all those who could not escapein time to the blockhouse.

As had been agreed beforehand, an alarm was sent rightaway to Plymouth and Boston, where signal fires were kindled on what is still known asBeacon Hill. An army of colonists hastily obeyed this summons, and set out to attackPhilip. But the latter was too quick for them, and managed to escape from his camp atMount Hope, with about seven hundred Indians.

Small villages and outlying farmhouses were now in constant danger; for the savages,gliding along as noiselessly as snakes, pounced upon the people by day or by night. Theyforced their way into the houses, killed and scalped the men, carried women and childrenoff into captivity, and left nothing but heaps of smoking ruins behind them.

In the course of this terrible war, several women were carried off with all theirchildren. One child—a tiny babe—annoyed one of the savages by crying, so he killed it inthe poor mother's arms. The unhappy woman, too ill to walk as fast as the Indians wished,was also slain; but the rest of her children were sold into captivity. In time, all wererescued, except one little girl, who later married an Indian, and never saw her familyagain until she was a grandmother.

In the course of King Philip's War, which lasted from 1675 till 1678, forty out of ninetyEnglish towns suffered greatly, and thirteen were burned to the ground. Although therewere no great battles,—except a swamp fight, in which about one thousand Indians werekilled, there were many small engagements, one of the fiercest being that of Bloody Brook,near Deerfield. It seems that, owing to an alarm, the village was deserted, but nearly onehundred men were sent there to save the crops. Ontheir way back, they carelessly laid their guns in a cart, and scattered to eat grapes.The Indians, lurking in the forest in great numbers, took advantage of this to fall uponthem unawares, and seizing their weapons, killed all but a few of them.

The Indians treated all their captives cruelly, and often made them suffer horribletortures. Terrible stories are told of this time, when many died, and but few captivesescaped. Once, the savages suddenly broke into a house, and a servant hastily thrust alittle child under a big kettle to hide it from them. The little one kept so very quietthat the Indians did not know it was there, and later on it was found unharmed. We arealso told that a woman once drove a party of Indians away by flinging ladlefuls of boilingsoap at them, which made them flee, shrieking with pain. Another band of Indians, creepinginto a house by way of the chimney, were killed on the hearth, one after another, by amother who thus bravely defended her little ones.

Once, while the people of Hadley were at church, some Indians came sneaking into thevillage; but they were seen by the king-killer Goffe, who happened to be hiding just thenin the minister's house. Rushing out, that white-haired old man gave the alarm, and ledthe colonists so boldly that the Indians were driven away. But as soon as the danger wasover, Goffe again disappeared, and was never seen in public again, although he is said tohave died at Hadley a few years later, and to have been buried in the minister's cellar.

All these secret attacks and massacres roused the anger of the colonists, who finally gotthe better of their savagefoes. Philip's wife and son fell into their hands, and we are told that when the Indianchief heard that his child had been sent to the West Indies, to be sold as a slave, hebitterly cried: "My heart breaks! I am ready to die."

Shortly after, the camp where he and his tribe were rapidly starving to death wassurrounded by Captain Church's little army. Philip fled, hoping yet to escape; but abullet from an Indian's gun struck him, and "he fell upon his face in the mud and water,with his gun under him." When his body was found thus, his head was cut off, and set up ona pole in Plymouth, where it was kept for about twenty years. To reward Church for hisservices to the colony, the settlers gave him Philip's wampum belt, which has always beencarefully kept as a great curiosity; and the sword which he handled in King Philip's Warcan still be seen in the rooms of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Charles II. was such a very merry and easy-going king that whenever his followers asked him for landin America, he readily granted it to them. In fact, he was so free-handed that sometimeshe even gave away what really did not belong to him! Thus, he told his brother James, Dukeof York, that he could have all the country claimed by the Dutch, saying that it wasEnglish because Cabot had visited it first.

As you will see, this led to trouble; for the Dutch, after building their first tradingpost on Manhattan Island, in1614, had begun to form a colony in the New World. At first, the Dutch settlers were onvery good terms with the Indians; but, owing mostly to the fire water they so freely sold,quarrels soon arose.

Seeing this, the Dutchman Minuit purchased the whole of Manhattan Island, in 1626, forabout twenty-four dollars' worth of beads and trinkets. The town on it was called NewAmsterdam, after a great city in Holland, and this sale, which gave the Dutch land for onesixth of a cent an acre, was soon followed by many others. Indeed, they soon owned all theHudson and Delaware valleys, besides a strip of coast between the mouths of these tworivers.

Under Governor Kieft, the Indians, exasperated by the treatment they received, planned tomurder all the Dutch. But a grateful Indian gave a colonist timely warning of the comingdanger. Kieft now tried to make friends with the redskins, and appointed a meeting withtheir chiefs on Long Island. When called upon to state their causes of complaint, theIndians brought forth a bundle of sticks, and laying them down, one after another, relateda special wrong for each stick.

Realizing that they had good cause for complaint, Kieft made a treaty with them, which,however, was soon broken. Again farms were attacked and settlers were scalped, and it wasonly after the number of whites had been greatly reduced, and more than a thousand Indianskilled, that peace was finally made, in 1645. It was during this war that Mrs. Hutchinson,who had left Rhode Island and settled in the western part of Connecticut, was slain, withall her children except one, who was carried off into captivity.

To induce people to come and settle in the New Netherlands,—as the Dutch called theirshare of the New World, rich settlers, or patroons, were promised a farm of sixteen mileswater front, provided they brought out fifty colonists with the, necessary farming toolsand stock. The result of this offer was that many comfortable Dutch houses arose in theNew Netherlands, which soon had many prosperous settlements, in each of which was a freeschool, so the children should not grow up ignorant.

These colonists were simple-hearted, jolly, and fond of good things to eat. On theirnumerous holidays they danced gayly, a pastime which the Puritans considered very wicked,and they often assembled to help one another and have a good time. Their principalfestivals were held in honor of St. Nicholas, and on January 1, when they called upon alltheir friends to wish them a happy New Year.

In 1656, about ten years after the Indian troubles ended, there were about one thousandinhabitants in the city of New Amsterdam, which stood on the lower part of ManhattanIsland. Protected on three sides by the waters of the North and East rivers and the Bay,the town was cut off from the rest of the island by a high palisade running from shore toshore. This was called the "Wall," and the place where it once stood is still known asWall Street. Beyond this palisade were many farms, among others one on Bowery Lane, whichbelonged to Peter Stuyvesant, the fourth governor of the city.

The settlers having been driven away from Fort Nassau, on the Delaware, by the Indians,some Dutch merchants soon sent Swedes to form a colony on the spot whereWilmington now stands. The country around there was therefore called New Sweden. But thenewcomers could not live in peace with the Dutch; so Governor Stuyvesant attacked them,seventeen years later, and took possession of their town, so that New Sweden ceased toexist.

It was while this fighting governor was at the head of affairs that King Charles's brotherJames, admiral of the English navy, first claimed his new territory. His ships appearedunexpectedly at New Amsterdam, and the astonished Stuyvesant soon received a letterordering him to surrender the city. Although Stuyvesant had but one leg, he was a braveman, and wanted the people to resist. Butthey refused to fight, and made him so angry by their talk of yielding that he tore theEnglish letter all to pieces.

In spite of his rage, however, New Amsterdam surrendered, and Stuyvesant had to march outof the town and return to Holland. The Dutch flag was hauled down and replaced by theEnglish; but, as the city had been seized in time of peace, Holland soon showed herdispleasure by declaring war against England. Vessels were sent out to retake NewAmsterdam, which surrendered the second time as easily as the first, and the Dutch againruled over their city.

But when the war was all over, the whole province of the New Netherlands was given up tothe English. New Amsterdam's name was changed to New York (1664), and Holland never againclaimed any part of our country. But the Dutch settlers continued to occupy their farms,and there are many people now in America who proudly claim descent from the early settlersof the New Netherlands. Interesting stories are told about the Dutch settlers, the mostfamous of all being Washington Irving's tales of Sleepy Hollow and of Rip Van Winkle.

The Duke of York, owner of all the land in the New World which had once belonged toHolland, shortly gave part of it to two of his friends, who called their tracts East andWest New Jersey. The owner of West New Jersey did not keep his share long, but sold it tosome Quakers, who settled near Burlington. East New Jersey was likewise sold to WilliamPenn and others; but both provinces were given up to the crown in 1702. New Jersey—as theywere now called—was under the same rule as New York until 1738, when it became a separatecolony.

In the meantime, the Friends in England had greatly increased in number. There were now manyrich and clever people among them besides William Penn, who was a scholar and a preacher.He had become a Quaker in spite of all his father's efforts to make him a courtier, forthe elder Penn was an admiral, and a great friend of Charles II., to whom he lent largesums of money. As the king could not repay this money, William Penn suggested, after hisfather's death, that Charles should give him, instead of all other payment, a large tractof land in the New World.Charles was only too happy to clear his debt in such an easy way. He therefore made Penn agrant of woodland, which he insisted upon calling Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woodland"). But weare told that Penn tried to bribe the clerk to write the name "Sylvania" only, as hethought it absurd that the land should bear his name. In exchange for this tract, all theking asked was two beaver skins a year, and one fifth of all the gold and silver foundthere. The land secured, Penn prepared to carry out a long-cherished plan, which was tofound colonies of Friends in the New World. For that purpose, he had already bought ashare in the West New Jersey colony, and, in 1682, he crossed over to America himself.

As soon as Penn set foot in West New Jersey, we are told that the colonists brought him asod in which was planted a green twig, to show that he owned the land and all that grewupon it. Next they presented him with a dish full of water, because he was master of theseas and rivers, andwith the keys of the fort, to indicate that he was in command of the army and had all thepower. Penn graciously accepted these offerings, and, as you shall see, made a noble useof his authority over his province. Although Pennsylvania had been given him by the king,he rightly considered the Indians the real owners of the soil, and decided to pay them forit.

He therefore sent for the chiefs, whom he met under a huge elm. Penn came among theIndians unarmed, and, after smoking a peace pipe with them, bargained for the purchase ofa large tract of land. Under this elm he also made a treaty which lasted for more thansixty years,—"the only one never sworn to and never broken."

On this occasion Penn made a speech, to which theIndians replied by saying: We will live in peace with Penn and his children as long as themoon and the sun shall endure." Then the two parties exchanged gifts, the Indiansbestowing upon the Quaker a wampum belt on which a paleface and a redskin were representedhand in hand. This belt is still carefully kept by the Pennsylvania Historical Society.

The elm under whose branches this interview took place was carefully preserved for manyyears. Even during the Revolutionary War, sentinels mounted guard over it, so that none ofits branches should be cut off for fire wood. But in 1810 it was unfortunately blown down,and a monument, bearing the inscription, "Unbroken faith," now marks the spot where Pennand the Indians first met.

Before crossing the Atlantic, Penn had written out laws for his province, granting hispeople the right to do as their conscience bade in religious matters, to vote, and to betried by a jury of twelve men. He now added that if there was any trouble between anIndian and a settler, the case was to be tried by six Indians and six colonists, to makesure that justice should be equally well meted out to both parties.

When the Quakers first left England for the New World, people made great fun of them,declaring that, since the fighting Puritans, Dutch, and Virginians had such hard timeswith the Indians, the Quakers, whose religion forbade them to return blow for blow, wouldsoon be killed. They were greatly mistaken, however, for none of the colonies sufferedless from the natives than Pennsylvania.

The Friends were so gentle that they treated every one kindly, and a little story willshow you how good andgenerous even the children were. We are told that a little girl sat at the door of a loghouse, one day, eating her milk porridge. Her mother heard her softly say again and again:"Now, thee shan't;" then, "Keep to thy part." As no gone was near, the mother stole up ontiptoe to find out to whom the child could be talking. Imagine her surprise when she sawher little girl sharing her supper with a big black snake, which ate from one side of thebowl while she helped herself from the other, patting him on the head with her spoonwhenever he tried to come over to her side!

It was Penn himself who founded the first town in his grant. He called it Philadelphia, orthe "City of Brotherly Love," because he wished all the people to live in peace together,like one family. The first houses were built of wood; then brick dwellings were seen; andeach cottage was soon surrounded by a neat garden, in which bloomed gay flowers. ManyGermans came over before long, at Penn's invitation, and settled just north ofPhiladelphia, in what is still known as Germantown.

These were joined by other colonists, from different parts of central Europe; and as theEnglish did not perceive any difference between the various forms of the German languageand that used in Holland, they generally called all the newcomers Dutch. These settlersmanaged to understand one another, however, by using a strange dialect, which is stillheard in some parts of Pennsylvania, where it is now known as "Pennsylvania Dutch."

As Pennsylvania had no seacoast of its own, Penn was glad to buy some land south ofhim,—called Delaware, in honor of one of the governors of Virginia. Havingplaced his colony on a good footing, Penn went back to England. He had spent much money indoing this, and was no longer as rich as he had once been. Besides, his opinions got himinto trouble, and we are told he went to prison rather than pay what he thought an unjustdebt. For a time he was even deprived of his lands; but they were finally given back tohim, and he and his heirs ruled Pennsylvania until the Revolution.

It was within the limits of Delaware that the Dutch, as we have seen, had built FortNassau. They were driven away by the Indians, and that part of the country belonged forseventeen years to the Swedes, who called it New Sweden. At the end of that time, however,it again fell into the hands of the Dutch, who, about eighteen years later, finally gaveit up to the English, with all the rest of the New Netherlands.

Thus within less than fifty years Delaware had completely changed hands four times, whenit was purchased by Penn as seaboard for his state. For a time it was part ofPennsylvania; but after 1703 it had an assembly of its own, and it is counted as one ofthe thirteen famous English colonies founded in North America.

When Henry VIII. made a change in the national church, many Catholics became discontented, andlonged to leave England and settle elsewhere. One of these, Lord Baltimore, then decidedto make a home for Catholics in the New World. As the climate of Newfoundland, where hetried to plant his first colony, proved too cold, he came to Virginia, in 1629. But theVirginians, being Church of England people, refused to receive any Catholics in theirmidst.

Thus driven away from Virginia, Lord Baltimore crossed to the opposite side of thePotomac. He asked for a grant of land here, which was given, in 1634, to his son. Hepromised to pay the king two Indian arrows every year, with one fifth of all the gold andsilver he found. This tract was called Maryland, in honor of the Catholic, Queen HenriettaMaria, and prosperous settlements were made at St. Marys and at Annapolis. As he hadpromised that no one should be persecuted for religion, and that all except Jews couldvote, people of every faith soon came thither, and Maryland was rapidly settled.

This colony, however, had its troubles, too. There was first a quarrel with Virginia, andthen several Indian wars; and when William became King of England, he took the governmentaway from its Catholic proprietor. But later on, Baltimore's heirs, having turnedProtestant, recovered their rights, and were left in control of the whole province untilthe time of the Revolution. Maryland's chief city, Baltimore, was founded about 1729. Itwas named in honor of the Catholic founder of the colony, and it still contains thousandsof faithful Roman Catholics.

Owing to mistakes made in drawing up the different grants; the boundary betweenPennsylvania and Maryland became a cause for disputes which lasted about fifty years.Several times surveyors were sent out from England to settle the quarrel, and the linethey finally drew is generally known as the Mason and Dixon line. At the end of everymile, these surveyors set up a stone post, bearing on either side the initial of thecolony it faced; and every five miles, a larger pillar, with the arms of both families,the Penns and the Baltimores.

While all the changes we have been describing were thus taking place in the rest of theNew World, Virginia had not been standing still. Indeed, it had prospered so greatly thatit had become the most important of all the colonies. But its progress was interruptedseveral times. For instance, three years after the founding of the House of Burgesses, aquarrel between an Indian and a settler ended in a murder, which brought about an Indianwar.

Powhatan, who had vowed that the sky should fall before the Indians broke peace with theVirginians, was now dead. The savages, hating to see their former huntingand fishing grounds occupied by the planters, now attacked the scattered settlements, andmurdered men, women, and children. Even Jamestown itself would have been surprised, andall the colonists slain, had not a friendly Indian given the people timely warning.

Terrified by this Indian outbreak, the colonists no longer dared occupy their plantations,and either crowded into a few of the towns or went back to England. In a short time thecolony thus found itself reduced by half, although the Indians were beaten in the war.Some years later, seeing that the Indians were rising again, and that nothing but severemeasures could save the settlement, another war was begun, and all the hostile Indianswere either driven away or slain.

When King James I. heard that the colony was failing, he fancied that the trouble arosefrom poor laws and bad government; so he took away the Virginia charter, and made thecolony a royal province, in 1624. But although he boasted that he would soon make new andbetter laws for Virginia, he never did so. His son and successor, Charles, after whom oneof the capes at the entrance of Chesapeake Bay had been named by the first settlers, alsofound too much to do at home to trouble himself about the Virginians, who were sorelytried by tyrannical governors.

Still, although they lived on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, the colonists loudlyinsisted that they had the rights of free-born Englishmen. They therefore said that thegovernors the king sent over could not tax them or make new laws, except through the Houseof Burgesses. But as the governors would not always agree to this, quarrels arose, whichgradually became more and more bitter.

It was while Governor Berkeley ruled Virginia that Puritan England revolted against andbeheaded King Charles I.; and soon after that they made Cromwell Protector of the newrepublic, or Commonwealth, of England. When these tidings came to Virginia, many of thecolonists were indignant. Just as in England, the people sided for or against the king,the Puritans being called "Roundheads," while the Royalists claimed the title of"Cavaliers."

The latter were by far the more numerous in Virginia, and as they prided themselves upontheir great loyalty, they invited Charles II., son of the beheaded king, to come over andrule their colony, which they now affectionately called "the Old Dominion." Charles didnot accept this invitation, and Parliament, deciding that the colony should obey England,sent out a new governor. The latter, upon arriving in Virginia, declared that, accordingto the new Navigation Act, Virginia, like all the rest of the colonies, would have to sendits produce to England in English ships.

This law was very unjust, and the English captains who came into the bays and up therivers for cargoes, now charged higher rates to carry produce to England. They could notget good prices for it in England, had to pay high prices for the goods they bought there,and, besides, asked heavy freight rates for bringing these goods back to the planters inVirginia. The colonists thus got little in exchange for their tobacco and other produce.They werealso greatly annoyed, for even the goods they wished to send to the neighboring colonies,or to the West Indies, had to be carried first to England and then back again, unless theypaid a heavy duty.

This was unfair, and the Virginians did not like it. Still, it did not prevent theircolony from increasing rapidly, for many of the Royalists, finding life unbearable underPuritan government in England, came out to America. Here they talked a great deal of theroyal family, prided themselves upon being true to the exiled king, and when the newsfinally came that Cromwell was dead (1658), many Virginia planters openly rejoiced.

Two years later, the royal family was restored in England, and the House of Burgessesrecalled Governor Berkeley, who had ruled there in the days of Charles I. But theBurgesses warned him that, while they were loyal subjects of the king, they were fullydetermined to make their own laws, and that his duty would consist mainly in seeing thatthese were duly obeyed.

Although the colonists thought their troubles would end when the king had come to thethrone, they soon found out that Charles II. was a worse master than Cromwell. Always inneed of money, the king not only kept up the hated Navigation Act, but, as Virginia hadbecome the property of the crown in 1624, he now made a present of it to two of hisfriends, Lords Culpepper and Arlington (1673), telling them they might keep it forthirty-one years, and have all the money they could make from it.

These two noblemen, hearing that there were about forty thousand people in the OldDominion, fancied they would be able to tax them as much as they pleased; butthe colonists, who were proud of their rights and homes, grumbled at this change ofowners, and said they would obey no one except the king.

Jamestown was then the only city in Virginia; but each plantation formed a small colony byitself, and people traveling from place to place were always hospitably entertained in thehouses they passed. The estates were so large and scattered that there were very fewschools; but the richest colonists hired private tutors for their children, and sent theirsons to the English universities to complete their education. In this, Virginia wasdifferent from the Northern colonies, and the greater part of her people were ignorant.Thinking they would therefore be easier to rule, a Virginia governor once boasted of thefact that they had neither printing press nor free schools, and added that he hoped theywould not have any for the next hundred years!

In the midst of the trouble caused in Virginia by the change of owners, and the increasedtaxes they imposed, the Indians, who had been quiet for about thirty years, suddenly cameback. They said that while they had sold the land to the English, they still had the rightto fish and hunt wherever they pleased. A dispute about this question again resulted in amurder, which for history often repeats itself—occasioned another war.

Since Berkeley took no steps to defend them from thesavages, who boldly attacked outlying plantations, the Virginians determined to actthemselves, and chose Nathaniel Bacon as their leader. But Berkeley declared they wererebels, and hearing that they had started, he would have pursued them, could he haveraised troops.

When the Virginian army came home in triumph from the first brush with the Indians, Baconwas called before the governor and tried as a rebel. But the jury promptly acquitted him,to Berkeley's great disgust. The governor waited until war broke out again, and when Baconwas too busy fighting to offer any resistance, he declared him an outlaw. This accusation,added to grievances about the taxes, caused a short civil war in Virginia, during whichJamestown was seized by the rebels, and Berkeley fled.

But the governor returned as soon as Bacon was called away, and prepared to defend himselfin Jamestown. Hearing of this, Bacon came back, ready to lay siege to the city. The angrygovernor ordered out the cannon to shoot the rebels; but we are told that Bacon, havingcaptured the wives of Berkeley's men, now put these women in front of his little force,knowing their presence there would prevent any bloodshed.

Thus routed by a "white-apron brigade," Berkeley fled a second time; and Bacon, fearing hemight return and fortify the city, burned Jamestown to the ground (1676). The firstEnglish city built in the United States thus became a heap of ruins, and no trace of itnow remains, except a small part of the old church tower and a few gravestones.

Shortly after the burning of Jamestown, Bacon fell ill and died, his followers sadlycrying: "Who is there nowto plead our cause?" Their helpless grief was so great that Berkeley took advantage of itto return. He then began to punish all those who had taken any part in what is known inhistory as "Bacon's Rebellion," or the "Great Rebellion "in Virginia.

In fact, Berkeley showed himself so cruel that many of those who had borne arms werecondemned to die. Once, when a prisoner whom he particularly hated was brought before him,he angrily cried: "You are very welcome; I am more glad to see you than any man inVirginia; you shall be hanged in half an hour." This prisoner was executed, and so manyothers shared his fate that King Charles, hearing how Berkeley abused his power,indignantly cried: "The old fool has taken away more lives in that naked country than Ifor the murder of my father."

When Berkeley was called back to England in disgrace, none of the Virginians were sorry to seehim leave. But the new governor sent out by the owners was no better, for he laid suchheavy taxes upon the people that the king finally had to take back the gift he had made tohis friends. Virginia, therefore, once more became a royal province. But shortly after,King Charles died, and his Catholic brother, James, had to put down a rebellion in Englandbefore he could occupy the throne in peace. James was very resentful; so many of those whohad taken up arms against him were sentenced by a harsh Englishjudge to be shipped to Virginia and sold there as slaves for a term of ten years.

But although both king and judge had decreed that none of these poor prisoners should beallowed to buy their freedom, the Virginians generously set them at liberty as soon asthey landed. The governor, seeing it would make trouble if he tried to oppose theVirginians in this, made no great objection, and after that no white men were ever sold asslaves in America.

Before long, too, another improvement was made; for the Virginians, feeling that it wasnecessary to have a college of their own, sent a messenger to England for a charter.Although the king's ministers swore at this man at first, and told him that Virginiansought to think of nothing but tobacco, permission was finally granted, on condition thattwo copies of Latin verse should be sent to England every year. The college thusfounded—the second in our country—was called William and Mary, in honor of the king andqueen who succeeded James II. in 1688.

Some years later, Governor Spotswood built himself a beautiful house in Virginia, which heornamented with large mirrors. But the woods were still so thick there that we are told adeer strayed into the parlor one day. Catching a glimpse of his reflection in a tallmirror, he rushed up to the glass and dashed it to pieces with his horns!

This same Spotswood was of an adventurous turn of mind, and wishing to see what lay beyondthe Blue Ridge Mountains, he once set out on a journey of exploration. It is said that heand his jolly companions crossedboth the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies, coming home after a ride of about one thousandmiles, delighted with the beautiful country they had found on the other side of themountains.

They sent such a glowing account of this journey to King George I. that he knightedSpotswood, giving him a coat of arms bearing a golden horseshoe. Some writers add that, inmemory of this long ride, Spotswood founded an order of knighthood in Virginia, whichincluded all those who had made part of the expedition, and their direct descendants.

You remember, do you not, how Raleigh tried and failed to plant a colony on Roanoke Island, inwhat is now North Carolina? For about seventy-five years after this, that part of thecountry was left to the Indians and the few settlers who strayed there from Virginia. Butin 1663 Charles II. gave a large tract of land to several of his favorites, who werecalled the lords proprietors. To flatter the king, they named the country Carolina, thevery name which the French had given it many years before, in honor of their monarch,Charles IX.

Now, the lords proprietors wanted to make this colony different from all the rest byplacing all the power in the hands of the rich and noble, as was arranged by a code oflaws drawn up by John Locke. But these laws could never be used, and to induce people tosettle in Carolina at all, the lords proprietors had to promise themlarge tracts of land, freedom of thought, and a share in making the laws.

This granted, Quakers, Huguenots, Puritans, Scotch, Irish, English, Swiss, Germans, andDutch came there in great numbers. In the north, the colonists devoted themselves tolumbering, tobacco-raising, and the production of tar, pitch, and turpentine; but in thesouth, they grew a great deal of rice, indigo, and tobacco, and many sweet potatoes.

At first, the French Huguenots tried to raise silk-worms in their new colony; but theysoon had to give up this attempt, because the climate proved too damp. Still, althoughunfavorable for silkworms, Carolina proved just right for the growing of rice. The firstseed was brought to the governor of Charleston by a Madagascar ship captain, who bade himplant it in marshy soil. There the rice grew so well that before long all the swamps wereturned into rice fields, and Carolina rice is now famous in all parts of the country.

Some fifty years later, a planter's daughter tried to raise indigo. After severalfailures, she succeeded in doing so, and indigo was raised in Carolina until the time camewhen cotton paid better. Thanks to its rice, tobacco, indigo, and marine supplies,Carolina became so rich and prosperous that, although it was the twelfth English colony,it soon outstripped several of the rest. The Carolina planters, growing rich, bought manynegroes to work their large tracts of land, and spent the greater part of the year atCharleston, where they led a gay life and entertained a great deal.

Carolina was also noted for her bold seamen, for allalong the coast there were many small harbors, in which pirates could hide. They sailedout of these places to attack vessels on their way to and from the West Indies, and oftensecured much booty. The best known of all the Carolina pirates was Blackbeard. LikeCaptain Kidd of New England, he is supposed to have buried great treasures in the sandalong the coast, and there are still people foolish enough to try to find them.

The Spaniards, who still held Florida, had always been jealous of the English. When thelatter came to settle in Carolina and Georgia, the Spaniards, hoping to drive them away,stirred up the Indians to war against them, and sometimes took part in the fightsthemselves. Besides, many disputes arose about the boundaries, both parties being equallyinclined to claim all the land they could.

In 1729 the lords proprietors ceased to have any control over their lands, which, dividedinto North and South Carolina, became two royal provinces. These prospered much during thefollowing years, and by the time the Revolutionary War began, North Carolina ranked fourthin importance among the colonies.

We have now seen how twelve of the English colonies were planted on our coast, and beforetraveling northward once more, to see how New England was getting along, you shall hearhow the thirteenth and last colony was founded, in 1733.

James Oglethorpe, a kind-hearted Englishman, perceiving the suffering of debtors, who werethen imprisoned like criminals, longed to give them a chance to begin life over again.Thinking they could best do this in the New World, he asked George II. for a tract of landthere,promising to hold it in trust for the poor. This territory was called Georgia, in honor ofthe king; and Oglethorpe, having assembled his colonists, sailed for America.

Arriving at Charleston, he went southward and founded the city of Savannah. Before doingso, however, he had an interview with the Indians of that section, from whom he bought theland. In exchange for his gifts, they presented him with a buffalo robe lined with eaglefeathers, saying: "The eagle signifies swiftness, and the buffalo strength. The Englishare swift as a bird to fly over the vast seas, and as strong as a beast before theirenemies. The eagle's feathers are soft, and signify love; the buffalo's skin is warm, andmeans protection: therefore, love and protect our families."

An attempt to cultivate olive trees and breed silkworms proved as great a failure inGeorgia as in Carolina; but rice soon became one of the staples of the colony, and thefirst fine cotton was raised there from seed brought from India. Oglethorpe, wishing togive his colony a good start, said that neither rum nor slaves should be allowed withinits limits. But some of his colonists were displeased at this, although both Oglethorpeand John Wesley—the founder of the Methodist Church—tried to convince them that they wouldbe far better off if they did their own work and kept sober. Shortly after the visit ofthe Wesley brothers, Whitefield also came out to visit the Georgia colony, where hesupported the first orphan asylum built in our country.

In 1739, war having broken out between England and Spain, Oglethorpe led a small army ofGeorgians into Florida, to besiege St. Augustine. To punish the Georgiansfor this attempt to take their city, the Spaniards invaded their land three years later,but only to be defeated at the battle of Frederica. When these troubles came to an end,Oglethorpe went back to England. But even before his departure people began to change thelaws, and in a few years they introduced both rum and slavery. Although Oglethorpe gave upGeorgia to the king in 1752, he took a great interest in the settlement he had founded,and as he lived to be very old, he saw it join the other colonies in 1776, for it was oneof the famous thirteen.

After King Philip's War was over in New England, Charles II. turned his attention to the colonyof Massachusetts Bay, where four things did not suit him. The Navigation Law, whichapplied to all the colonies, was not kept in Massachusetts; there were many quarrelsbetween that colony and the settlements in Maine; Massachusetts would not have anEpiscopal church; and it had coined money. To punish the colony for these things, Charlestook away its charter (1679), and said that thereafter New Hampshire should form aseparate royal province.

The Massachusetts people were, of course, angry at being deprived of their charter; still,they managed to keep the money they had minted. These coins bore on one side a rudelystamped pine tree. Charles having asked to see one of them, the man who showed it to himcarefully explained that the picture represented the RoyalOak, whose branches had concealed the king when Cromwell's soldiers were seeking for him.This clever explanation so amused the merry monarch that he allowed Massachusetts toretain its "pine-tree shillings." We are also told that the mint master was allowed acertain number of these coins as pay. When his daughter married, he made her sit down inone scale, filled the other with "pine-tree shillings" till the scales balanced, and gaveher with this dowry to his new son-in-law, telling him he now had a wife who was reallyworth her weight in silver.

When James II. came to the throne, he sent Governor Andros to rule over New England andNew York. This man, wishing to make sure all the power would be in his hands, tried to gethold of the charters of the colonies. But when he asked the people of Rhode Island to giveup theirs, they gravely answered they did not have any.

Next, he went to Hartford and asked the Connecticut Assembly to surrender their charter.The people, unwilling to give it up, argued about the matter until it grew so dark thatcandles had to be brought into the room. Seeing that the governor would yet compel them toobey his orders, a patriot, Captain Wadsworth, suddenly flung his cloak over the candles,and taking advantage of the darkness and confusion, seized the charter, which he cleverlyhid in a hollow oak. This tree stood in Hartford until 1856, when it blewdown; but the spot where the Charter Oak once stood is now marked by a monument.

As there were no matches in those days, it took time to relight the candles; but as soonas that was done, Andros again demanded the charter. No trace of it could now be found.Andros, in a rage, then called for the record books of the colony, and writing Finis ("TheEnd") at the bottom of the page, declared he would rule Connecticut without any charter atall.

He next proceeded to Boston, where he made the people equally angry by insisting uponholding Episcopal services in the Old South Church, by laying extra taxes upon them to payfor the building of a fine new chapel, and by trying to assume all the power. Histyrannical ways finally made the Bostonians so indignant that they put him in prison.

Some of the governor's friends, who were called Tories, because they sided with the king,now tried to rescue him. They cleverly smuggled women's garments into the prison, andGovernor Andros, dressed like a lady, would have gotten out of prison safely had not hisbig feet roused the suspicions of the guard. Shortly after, he was sent to England to betried, and although he later governed Virginia, he never came back to New England. Hismaster, James II., being as much disliked in England as Andros was in the colonies, hadmeanwhile been driven out of the country, where his son-in-law and daughter, William andMary, came to reign in his stead (1688).

The New England people, like most of the English, were delighted with this change ofmasters. They had cause to be, for Connecticut and Rhode Island were nowallowed to keep their old charters, while Massachusetts received a new one, by which thePlymouth colony and Maine were added to it, and by which the right to vote and partlygovern themselves was assured to the people.

But we are told that Governor Fletcher, who ruled over Connecticut after Andros, had solittle respect for its charter that he once went to Hartford to assume command over themilitia there. He, too, was met by Captain Wadsworth, who, having called out his men asrequested, bade them beat the drums every time the governor tried to have his orders read.

This scene must have been very funny; for while the governor roared, "Silence!" Wadsworthloudly cried, "Drum! drum, I say!" Finally the captain laid his hand on his sword, sayingvery firmly: "If I am interrupted again, I will make the sun shine through you in aminute." Frightened by this threat, Governor Fletcher returned in haste to New York, andnever made another attempt to tamper with the Connecticut charter.

At about the same time an interesting meeting was held by several Connecticut ministers atNew Haven. They had decided they needed a new school, so each man brought a few books,which he laid down on the table, saying they were his contribution to the new institution.This school was held in different places at first, but in I7I8 it took the name of YaleCollege, because a man of that name gave some books and money for its use.

A few of the old Tories, both in England and America, remained faithful to the banishedJames, and among them was the governor of New York. When William and Mary were proclaimedrulers, this governor fled, leaving thecolony without any head. Leisler, a patriotic citizen, knowing the French and Indians inthe north would take advantage of this state of affairs to invade the province, nowrallied his friends around him, and with their help began to govern for William and Mary.

But as Albany at first refused to obey Leisler, there was some trouble and bloodshed. Soona messenger came over from England, to say that the king and queen were going to send overa new governor, named Sloughter. This messenger bade Leisler, in the meantime, give up thepower to him; but the patriot refused to do so, and surrendered it only to Sloughter whenhe finally came.

Because of this refusal, Leisler and eight of his friends were accused of treason, andsentenced to death. But Sloughter, feeling that the trial had been hardly fair, would notsign their death warrants, so they could not be put to death. Leisler's foes, therefore,had to wait until a dinner party took place, when they made the drunken governor sign thepapers, and hanged Leisler. A few years later, the whole affair was brought beforeParliament, which declared that Leisler had died innocent, and paid his family a certainsum of money because he had been wrongfully accused and killed.

About four years after the Revolution of 1688, in England, arose the Salem witchcraft delusion,which you will now hear about. In olden times, as you have seen, people had very few andpoor chances of learning,compared with what you have now. Almost everybody then believed in witches. These weresupposed to be persons who had sold their souls to Satan, could ride through the air onbroomsticks, make others ill by looking at them with an evil eye, cast a spell uponcattle, houses, or furniture, and, in short, do all sorts of impossible things.

As you know, some children have very lively imaginations, and hearing people talk of suchthings as seriously as if they were quite true, a few children in Salem, Massachusetts,began to fancy they must be bewitched, because they were not quite well and had fits. Thegrown-up people, who should have known better and merely given the children medicine tocure their illness, believed these youngsters, and anxiously inquired who could have casta spell upon them.

The children, remembering that their elders often spoke of the witches as old, first beganto talk of such and such a woman who had looked at them crossly or threatened to beat themwith her staff when they played tricks upon her. These poor old creatures, who were reallyin their second childhood, and not responsible for what they said or did, were put intoprison, and tortured in many cruel ways, so as to force them to confess that they werewitches. Bewildered, and hoping to get free, some of the poor old creatures finallyacknowledged that they were witches.

Almost everybody believed in witchcraft at that time, and for many years supposed witcheshad been treated with great cruelty in Europe. When persons accused of witchcraft refusedto confess, some people thought that the only way to find out the truth was to throw themintothe water. If the victims sank, it was said they could not be witches, but if they swam,it was considered a sure sign that they had sold themselves to the Evil One, and they weresentenced to death, either by hanging, burning, or torture. But this was, after all, onlya choice of deaths, for the poor creatures who sank were allowed to remain under water solong, to make sure they were innocent, that they were generally dead when taken out.

Persons who were only suspected of witchcraft were put in the stocks, fastened to thepillory, whipped at the cart tail, or placed on the ducking stool, or had their earschopped off. These were punishments often applied to criminals in those days, and if youcare to see pictures of pillory, stocks, and ducking stool, you can find them in any largedictionary. Both men and women were accused of witchcraft in Salem, and one of the men wasput to death by a torture called peine forte et dure, by which he was slowlycrushed under a thick door, upon which tremendous weights were laid. He was, fortunately,the only person in our country who was ever punished in this inhuman way.

Nearly one hundred and fifty people of all kinds were arrested for witchcraft in Salem,and nineteen of them, after being tried by a court, were found guilty and put to death.But people finally saw that it was all folly, and even the learned minister, CottonMather, who had believed in witches just like the rest, had to own that he had beenmistaken. The children were now punished when they pretended to be under a spell, and theSalem witchcraft delusion came to an end. Ever since then, no one with a grain of sensehas believed in witches; but you will oftenhear people speak of the terrible time they had in Salem while the belief in them lasted.The building shown in the picture was one of the houses of Salem at that time; and it isstill pointed out there as "the witch house."

Mather, the famous "Patriarch of New England," who believed in witches, was a very learnedman. He wrote more books than there are days in the year, and was so busy that he wroteover his door, "Be short," so that people should not take up his time with idle talk. Inone of his books he once read that smallpox could be prevented by vaccination. He toldthis to Boylston, a Boston doctor, who tried it on his own son and servants. But when theBostonians first heard of it, they were so indignant that they wanted to kill Boylston.

In time, however, people saw that the doctor was right and ever since vaccination has beenpracticed, few people have died of the disease which once swept away whole families.Because Boylston went ahead and did what was right, in spite of people's threats, he isnow greatly honored, and a fine street in Boston bears his name.

While the English were planting thirteen colonies along the Atlantic seaboard, between NovaScotia and Florida, the French were equally busy farther north. As we have seen, Bretonfishermen visited the banks of Newfoundland early in the sixteenth century, and gave theirname to Cape Breton Island. Verrazano and Cartier both crossed the Atlantic in behalf ofthe French, Cartier naming the St. Lawrence, Canada, and Montreal, and claiming all Acadia(the land east of Maine), together with New France, which was situated in the basin of theLakes and the St. Lawrence River.

Religious troubles had, as we have also seen, led Coligny to try to plant colonies inCarolina and Florida. But the Huguenot settlers were murdered by the Spaniards, and theattempt of De Monts to establish a colony in Maine proved equally unsuccessful. The firstreal settlement of the French was made at Port Royal (Annapolis), in Acadia (Nova Scotia),in 1604. This colony, composed of thrifty people, in time became prosperous, and theAcadians lived in peace and comfort in their new homes, being on excellent terms with allthe neighboring Indians.

In 1608, Champlain, the "Father of New France," a noble, brave, and good Frenchman,crossed the Atlantic for the fourth time. He sailed far up the St. Lawrence, and made asettlement at Quebec, which soon became the chief French town in America. Champlainexplored the country for hundreds of miles aroundthere. He was the first European to behold the lake which bears his name, the same yearthat Hudson sailed up the river to Albany (1609). During these explorations of New France,Champlain made friends with the Algonquin Indians, the great foes of the Iroquois (or FiveNations), who occupied all the central part of what is now New York state.

The Algonquin Indians, being at war with the Iroquois, persuaded Champlain to help them.His presence in armor in the next battle, and the report of European firearms, soterrified the Iroquois that they were badly beaten on the shore of Lake Champlain. Thisever after made them hate the French as cordially as they did their lifelong enemies, theAlgonquin Indians. To be able to cope with the latter, who easily got firearms from Frenchtraders,the Iroquois began to buy guns from the Dutch; for their usual weapons, tomahawk and bowand arrows, were far less effective than firearms.

The French had come to Quebec with two great purposes in view: the first, to trade forfurs, and the second, to convert the Indians. The colonists were, therefore, eithertrappers, traders, or missionaries. The former went about from place to place to set theirtraps or trade with the Indians, and were therefore called voyageurs (travelers),or coureurs de bois (wood rangers). Finding the European dress unsuited to therough life they led, these men soon adopted a half-Indian costume of soft deerskin, andlearned many of the woodland ways of the redskins.

Wherever the trappers and traders went, priests boldly followed, carrying only a crucifix,a prayer book, and sometimes a portable altar. They diligently taught, preached, andbaptized, making every effort to learn the Indian languages as quickly as possible, sothey could preach the gospel and win more converts. Full of zeal for their religion, thesemissionaries were so brave that they soon won the respect of the Indians; and when thelatter saw how quietly the priests endured hardships of all kinds, they lent an attentiveear to their teachings.

Both traders and priests were on very friendly terms with the Indians, whose good willthey retained by living among them and by making them frequent small presents. As theFrench hunters considered the Indians their equals, they soon married squaws, and theirchildren, being half Indian and half French, strengthened the bonds between the two races.Little by little, priests and traders pressed farther and farther inland, visiting theGreat Lakes, along whose shores they established missions, forts, and trading posts.Finally, they came to what are now Illinois and Wisconsin, where many places still bearthe French names then given them.

The most remarkable of all these French traders was Joliet. Not only was he thoroughly athome in the trackless forests, but he could also talk several Indian languages. Hearingthe savages tell of a great river flowing southward, he fancied that it must empty intothe Pacific Ocean.

Joliet had long been the companion of Marquette, a Catholic priest, so they two resolvedto go and explore that region. But the Indians tried to frighten them by telling themthere were awful monsters on the "Father of Waters," which swallowed men and canoes.

Frontenac, the governor of New France, having consented to this journey, Marquette andJoliet met at the outlet of Lake Michigan, paddled up to Green Bay, and went up the FoxRiver. Then their Indian guides carried their canoes across to the Wisconsin River, where,bidding them farewell, the trader, priest, and five voyageurs drifted down the stream tothe Mississippi. This was in 1673. Sailing southward for many miles, without seeing asingle human being, the explorers came to huge cliffs upon which the Indians had paintedrude demons; then they beheld wide prairies and great herds of buffaloes on the right bankof the river.

Some distance farther on they saw a path, and, following it, they came to an Indianvillage. When the Indianssaw the white men draw near, the chief came out to welcome them, shading his eyes with hishand, and saying: "Frenchmen, how bright the sun shines when you come to visit us!" Tohonor his guests, he had a feast of buffalo meat and fish prepared, and fed the strangerswith a huge wooden spoon, just as if they were babies. Other Indians removed fish bonesfor them with their fingers, blew on their food to cool it, and from time to time pokedchoice bits into their mouths. As these were Indian good manners, Marquette and Jolietsubmitted as gracefully as they could. But it seems that it hurt their host's feelingswhen they refused to taste his best dish, a fat dog nicely roasted!

After spending the night with these Indians, Joliet and Marquette were escorted back totheir canoes. Paddling on, they next came to the place where the Missouri joins theMississippi. The waters of the Missouri were both swift and muddy, and whirled whole treesalong as easilyas mere chips. After passing the mouth of the Ohio, the explorers saw Indians armed withguns and hatchets, which proved they were near European settlements.

Fully convinced by this time that the Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, and notinto the Pacific Ocean, as they had first supposed, and anxious to make this fact known atQuebec, the explorers turned back, south of the mouth of the Arkansas. They had thusreached nearly the same place which De Soto had visited about one hundred and thirty-twoyears before. Slowly paddling upstream, they now worked their way up the Illinois River,and carried their canoes overland to the Chicago River, through which they reentered LakeMichigan, after eighteen months' journey.

Marquette staid at a mission on Green Bay for a while, then journeyed to the Illinois, andwhen spring came again, he made an effort to get back to Michilimackinac. But he became soill that before long he had to be carried ashore, and laid under a tree, where he breathedhis last, and was buried.

Meantime, Joliet hastened back to Montreal to make his report to the governor. His canoeupset, and his plans and papers were lost, but the news he brought made the French anxiousto secure the land by building trading forts along the rivers that had been explored.

It is because Marquette and Joliet were the first white men who visited this part of thecountry, that their names have been given to a port and county at the northern end of LakeMichigan, and to a town in Illinois. They were such bold explorers that beautifulmonuments have also been erected in their honor.

In the meantime, another French explorer, La Salle, had also been at work, and had discoveredthe Ohio River. In 1679, six years after Marquette and, Joliet sailed down theMississippi, La Salle came to the Illinois River, where he built Fort Crevecoeur("heartbreak"), near the place occupied by the present city of Peoria.

La Salle next went back to Canada for supplies, and reached Montreal only by means of muchpaddling and a long tramp of a thousand miles. But he left orders with a priest, namedHennepin, to explore the upper part of the Mississippi River. Father Hennepin, therefore,went down the Illinois, and then paddled upstream to the Falls of. St. Anthony, in 1680.His adventures were very exciting, for he fell into the hands of the Sioux Indians. Longafter he got back to Europe, he claimed to have been the first to sail all the way downthe Mississippi; but this honor is now generally believed to belong to La Salle.

When La Salle came back to Crevecoeur a year later, he found his fort in ruins; most ofhis men had deserted. At first he thought that his few faithful followers had been killedby the Indians, but his fears were quieted when they joined him at Michilimackinac.

In 1681 La Salle again set out, with his lieutenant Tonty and a band of Indians, for thesouthern end of Lake Michigan. Sailing tip the Chicago, he had his canoes carried acrossto the Illinois River. It was the Indians whotaught the white men thus to pass from one stream to another, and to avoid falls andrapids. These carrying places received from the French explorers the name of "portage," bywhich they are still known, even though no one now thinks of using them for that purpose.

Sailing down the Illinois and Mississippi, La Salle reached the mouth of the latter streamin 1682. As was the custom with explorers of every nation, he solemnly took possession, inthe name of his king, of the river and the land it drained. This territory, as you can seeon your map, included most of the region between the Rocky and Alleghany Mountains, theGreat Lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico; it was called Louisiana, in honor of Louis XIV. ofFrance.

Arriving at Quebec, after meeting with many adventures, La Salle told Frontenac thatFrance ought to make good her claim to the land by building trading posts at intervals allalong the principal streams. He added that it was also necessary to have a fort at themouth of the Mississippi, and soon after went to France to tell the king about hisdiscoveries, and ask for help.

Louis XIV. gave La Salle several ships loaded with supplies; and a small army of colonistshaving joined him, the explorer set out. His fleet reached the Gulf of Mexico in 1684 but,owing to some mistake, it sailed past the mouth of the Mississippi without seeing it. Asthe captain would not believe La Salle and turn back, they coasted on until they finallylanded at Matagorda Bay, in Texas.

Here a fort was built; but the spot proved so unhealthful that many colonists died. Theships having gone back, run aground, or been dashed to pieces, the French couldnot get away again by sea. La Salle therefore decided to set out on foot, so as to joinTonty and obtain more supplies for his unhappy colony.

As had been agreed, Tonty had come down the Mississippi to meet La Salle. But afterwaiting vainly for him several months, he went northward again, leaving a letter in thefork of a tree, and telling the Indians to give it to the first white man they saw. Longbefore reaching this place, La Salle's men became angry because their expedition had beena failure. They blamed their leader for all their sufferings, and, falling upon himunawares, basely murdered the man who is known as the "father of French colonization inthe Mississippi valley."

Although La Salle was dead, his plan was too good to be abandoned. Some thirteen yearslater, therefore, a Frenchman named Iberville came out from France to found a fort at themouth of the Mississippi. He sailed up the stream, and received from the Indians Tonty'sletter, which, they gravely said, was a "speaking bark." As Iberville found no good placefor a fort near the mouth of the "Father of Waters," he built Biloxi, on the coast of whatis now the state of Mississippi.

Shortly after, a party of Frenchmen, exploring the banks of the river, saw an English shipsailing upstream. The newcomers said they had come to build a fort on the Mississippi; butthe Frenchmen either deceived them by telling them this was not the stream they sought, orgave them to understand they had come too late. So the English turned around and sailedaway, and ever since that bend in the great river has been called the "English Turn."

Iberville's brother, Bienville, in 1718 builta fort and established a colony on the spot where New Orleans now stands. He gave theplace that name in honor of the French city of Orleans.

There was no more trouble with the English, but this colony came very near being sweptaway by the Natchez Indians, who made an agreement with the Choctaws to fall upon thewhite men on a certain day and hour, and kill them all. To make sure that there should beno misunderstanding, each chief was given a small bundle of sticks, with directions toburn one every day, making the attack only after the last had been consumed.

An Indian boy, seeing his father burn one of these sticks, stole two, and secretly setfire to them; and though he thus found out that they were nothing but ordinary wood, histheft made his father attack the French two days too soon.

Instead of a general raid upon all the settlements, only one was surprised, two hundredmen being killed, and the women and children carried off into captivity. The other Frenchcolonists had time to arm, and they defended themselves so bravely that the plans of theIndians came to naught.

The French were in possession of Acadia, New France, and Louisiana. The immense tract of landdrained by the St. Lawrence and Mississippi rivers was rich in fur-bearing animals, whosepelts were brought by Indiansand trappers to the missions and trading posts. There they were loaded in canoes andfloated down the Lakes and the St. Lawrence, or down the Mississippi, so as to be shippedto France from Quebec and New Orleans.

You might think that the French would have been satisfied with all they had, but they werenot. They longed to control the Hudson also, which they claimed for France, because theysaid Verrazano had first visited New York Bay. Besides, Champlain had come within a fewmiles of where Albany now stands, shortly before Hudson sailed up the river bearing hisname.

Longing for an excuse to drive the English away from the Hudson valley, the French wereglad when war was declared, in 1689. Their king sent over Count Frontenac to be governorof Canada again, and to lead in the struggle with the English. Frontenac was a goodgeneral, and had much influence over the Indians. He is said to have joined in their wardances and athletic sports, in spite of his old age, and to have boasted of the tortureshe meant to inflict on his English foes and their Iroquois allies.

But when Frontenac arrived in Canada (1689), he found that the Iroquois had struck first.They had destroyed some French villages, had killed many settlers, and had even roastedand eaten some of their captives in sight of Montreal. On the other hand, some Indianallies of the French had surprised Dover, in New Hampshire. Here dwelt Major Waldron, whohad taken part in King Philip's war. To avenge the capture of two hundred of their race atthat time, the savages now tortured Waldron to death, cutting off his hand to see how muchit weighed. To their amazement, the scales marked just one pound!This awed them greatly, for although the traders had always told them that a white man'shand exactly balanced a pound of beaver skins, they had always doubted the truth of thatstatement. Half the people in Dover were killed, the rest carried off into captivity, andthe town reduced to ashes.

The next winter (1690), Frontenac sent a small band of French and Indians against thevillage of Schenectady, New York, on snowshoes. They arrived there in the dead of night.The place was defended by a high palisade, but the inhabitants felt so sure no one wouldattack them that cold night, that they had left both gates wide open, and guarded only byhuge snow sentinels set up there in fun.

Roused from sound slumbers by blood-curdling Indian war whoops, a few escaped, but only todie of cold on their way to Albany. Many of the rest were killed by the attacking party,who, after burning the place to the ground, withdrew with their captives and plunder.

In the course of this struggle,—which is known in our history as "King William's War,"because it took place during that monarch's reign,—the French and Indians attacked manyvillages in New York and New England. The most daring of all their attempts was againstHaverhill, a town not very far from Boston. Here much property was destroyed, and manypeople killed or captured.

There are countless stories told of the deeds of valor done by men, women, and even littlechildren in those terrible times. You shall hear the story of Hannah Dustin, of Haverhill,as an example. This poor woman was just recovering from illness, and was alone in thehouse, with her baby and nurse. Seven other children were out in thefields with their father, who was busy with his plow. All at once, they were startled by awar whoop. Mr. Dustin, seeing the Indians between him and his house, and knowing he couldnot save his wife, bade the children run to the blockhouse, while he bravely covered theirretreat.

Father and children reached the fort in safety; but the Indians rushed into the house,killed the baby by dashing its head against the wall, and carried both women off ascaptives. After several days' march and much ill treatment Mrs. Dustin, her nurse, and twocaptive boys made up their minds to escape. One of the boys had learned from an Indian howto kill and scalp a foe; so one night,when their captors were asleep, the four prisoners noiselessly rose, seized tomahawks, andkilled and scalped ten Indians. Then they took a canoe, and with some trouble made theirway home. Mrs. Dustin received fifty pounds reward for those scalps, besides a presentfrom the governor of Maryland, who admired her pluck. That people might not forget whathard times the settlers had, her statue has been placed in Concord, New Hampshire, whereyou can see her grasping a tomahawk, ready to kill her foes.

As long as the war lasted, New Englanders and New Yorkers defended themselves as bravelyas they could. But Indian foes were very hard to fight, because they always fell uponpeople unawares. In their anger, the colonists finally determined to carry the war intothe enemy's country.: They therefore sent out a fleet under Sir William Phips, to attackand destroy Port Royal, in Acadia. This being done, the fleet tried to take Quebec, whilearmies from New York and Connecticut attacked Montreal. But both these attempts failed,and when the war was ended by the treaty of Ryswick (1697), neither party had gainedanything, although many lives had been lost.

Both the French and the English suffered greatly during King William's War, but the peace whichfollowed it did not last long. Five years later, "Queen Anne's War" brought about newsufferings, and more deeds of heroism.

We are told that, urged by a French priest, the Indians built a church at St. Regis, inCanada. Wishing to have a bell to hang in the tower of this chapel, each convert brought apelt, and the bell was ordered from France. But on its way over, it fell, by accident,into the hands of the English, who hung it up in the town of Deerfield, in Massachusetts.

The Indians, feeling that the bell belonged to them, and egged on by their priest, made asudden raid upon Deerfield, in 1704, and, after killing or capturing many of the people,rescued their bell from the English meetinghouse, or church, and carried it off to St.Regis. They were so delighted with it that it is said they rang it every step of the way.This bell was cracked over a hundred years later, and the Indians, who still prized itgreatly, carried it to Troy, where they had it refounded, while they mounted guard over itday and night.

France and Spain were allies in this war, so the trouble was not confined to New York andNew England. The Spaniards made a raid from St. Augustine, and vainly attacked Charleston.A few years later, the New Englanders conquered Acadia, and at the treaty of Utrecht, in1713, the British received this province, Newfoundland, and the land around Hudson Bay.But Acadia's name was now changed to Nova Scotia, and Port Royal was called Annapolis, inhonor of the English queen.

For the next thirty years peace reigned unbroken; still, during that time the French beganto build their chain of sixty forts along the Lakes, the Ohio, and the Mississippi, thusdrawing a line from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Mississippi. Most ofthese forts havesince become cities, and you will find that many of them still bear the French names givenby their founders. Their strongest fort, however, was at Louisburg, on Cape Breton Island.It was so well fortified that the French boasted that even women could defend it against alarge army.

The third struggle with the French and Indians, which began in 1744, is known in ourcountry as "King George's War," and in Europe as the "War of the Austrian Succession."

Now, Louisburg was so near Annapolis that the colonists felt sure the French would set outfrom there to recover Acadia. They therefore sent a messenger to England to explain theirdanger and beg for troops to protect them. But the prime minister knew so little aboutAmerica that the messenger had to show him Louisburg and Annapolis on a map. He was sosurprised then to discover that Cape Breton is an island, that he ran off to tell it tothe king as a great piece of news.

Seeing that the British did not supply much help in answer to their appeal, the colonistsbefore long made up their minds to take Louisburg themselves; and an army of them bravelyset out from New England, under the leadership of Pepperell, in 1745. After six weeks'siege, and many deeds of daring, these four thousand New Englanders took the fortress, andwhen the news reached Boston the people almost went mad with joy. Three years later,however, this joy was turned to equally deep sorrow, for when the treaty ofAix-la-Chapelle (1748) was signed, the fortress was given back to France, in exchange forthe town of Madras in India.

Three wars had now been fought between the French and the English, but the vexed questionas to who should own North America was not yet settled. The French had, as you have seen,taken possession of the Mississippi valley; but although some rumors of their presencethere had reached the colonies, very few people really knew what the country was like, andwhat a vast tract of land France could thus claim.

Many of the English colonies had received grants of land running "from sea to sea," andnow that populationwas increasing rapidly, people began to talk of crossing the Alleghany Mountains to settleon the other side. They were eager to do so, because hunters brought back to Virginiaglowing descriptions of the Ohio, or "Beautiful River," the "Gateway of the West," and ofthe fertile lands through which it flowed. Just at this time, the governor of Virginiaheard that the French were on the point of building a fort on the Allegheny River, so hebade George Washington, a young surveyor, find out if this news was true, and carry aletter to the French officer there to warn him that the Ohio country belonged to Virginia.

As you are going to hear a great deal about Washington, it will interest you to learnsomething of his family and his youth. Two Washington brothers came over from England toVirginia about the year 1657, and settled near the Potomac River. Augustine Washington,the grandson of one of these men, married twice, and had, in all, ten children. His eldestson by his second wife was born on February 22, 1732, and named George. Shortly after hisbirth, the family went to live on the Rappahannock River, and there George spent his earlychildhood. He was a fearless, strong, hot-tempered little lad, but, having good parents,was even then taught to control his passions.

As he is the greatest man in our history, many stories, true and untrue, are told abouthim. Perhaps the mostfamous is about his new hatchet. We are told that Father Washington planted young cherrytrees in his garden. He visited them daily to see how they throve, and was very angry whenhe saw, one day, that a favorite tree was badly hacked. On all Virginia plantations, therewere many negro children always running about. Thinking one of these had done themischief, Augustine Washington was about to punish him, when his little son stopped him,saying: "Father, I cannot tell a lie; I did it with my little hatchet."

Washington was sent to a small school near by, and his blank books, which can still beseen, show what a careful, painstaking student he was. In one of these books he copied aset of rules for good behavior, which he even then tried to put into practice, and ofwhich the last two were: "Let your recreations be manful, not sinful," and "Labor to keepalive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience."

When Washington was only twelve, his father died, leaving an estate to each of his sonsThe care of the six younger children and of their property was left to his wife, a goodand very sensible woman. She was very strict, and brought up her children so carefullythat they all filled well their places in life. Indeed, her eldest son, George, like mosttruly great men, often said that he owed his mother more than words could ever tell.

Washington was always fond of all athletic exercises, and as a lad delighted in riding thewildest horses on the plantation. Among these was one young colt of such a fiery temperthat no one was allowed to mount him. One day, the temptation to do so became too strongforGeorge, and he suddenly sprang upon the horse's back. The colt tried to throw dashed offat such a rate that he burst a blood vessel and fell down dead.

Washington, dismayed at the result of his disobedience, went silently home. At table, hismother asked her guests if they had seen her beautiful young horse. Covered withblushes,—for he was always modest and reserved,—Washington now confessed what he had done.Although Mrs. Washington keenly regretted the death of the colt, she showed no anger, butquietly said: "It is well; but while I regret the loss of my favorite, I rejoice in myson, who always speaks the truth."

She was so fond of this son that when one of his half-brothers wanted him to serve in theBritish navy, she refused to let him go. As soon as Washington had finished school, hewent to live with this brother at Mount Vernon, where he learned to know all the peoplearound there, and, among others, Lord Fairfax.

This nobleman owned great tracts of land in the valleys of the Alleghany Mountains, and asthey had never beensurveyed, he hired young George to do the work. This was a very hard task, and theseventeen-year-old Washington was often, for days at a time, far away from any settlement,forced to depend upon hunting for food, and obliged to sleep out in the open air.These hardships, however, only made him strong and self-reliant, and when he came back tohis home, from time to time, he doubly enjoyed the amusem*nts of the young people, anddanced gayly, a pastime of which he was always fond. It was probably during one of thesesurveying expeditions that Washington first visited the Natural Bridge in Virginia. Herehe showed his athletic skill by tossing a coin on top of it when standing almost directlyunder it.

We are also told that he scaled the rocks, which were then free from any except nature'smarks, and reaching a high point, carved his name in the stone. For years,Washington's name is said to have stood there on the rocks, as far above all the rest asis his worth compared with that of other men. But a young man once climbed up there tocarve his name above Washington's, an act of presumption for which every one scorns him.He went up so far that he could not come down again, but had to climb higher and higher,and at last be drawn to the top with a rope.

By the time Washington was nineteen, he had shown himself so capable, honest, and thoroughlytrust-worthy that every one who knew him greatly respected him. His brother Lawrencehaving fallen ill of consumption, Washington went with him to Barbados, where he had anattack of smallpox.

This journey, the only one Washington ever made outside the limits of our country, was sointeresting to him that he kept a diary in which he made note of all he saw and heard.After a winter spent in the West Indies, Washington came home to get his sister-in-law;but before they could sail to join the invalid, they heard he was coming home to die.

Washington tenderly nursed this older brother to the end, and was made the guardian of hisdelicate little girl. Lawrence Washington said that if his daughter died unmarried, theestate of Mount Vernon was to belong to George. In spite of all Washington's tenderinterest in this little niece, and of the utmost care, she did not livelong, and, as his brother had wished, Washington became owner of Mount Vernon. There hebegan his favorite occupation as a planter, and showed himself to be as careful andpainstaking a farmer as he was a surveyor.

We are told he packed his tobacco himself, and sent such good flour to the West Indiesthat barrels marked "George Washington" were always allowed to pass the customhousewithout being examined. Besides filling his place as surveyor and planter, Washington alsobecame major in the Virginia militia, and took great interest in all military affairs.

When the news of the Frenchmen's purpose to build forts along the Allegheny and the Ohioreached Governor Dinwiddie, he resolved, as we have seen, to send out a trustworthy personto see if it was true, and to carry a letter to the commander of the French force (1753).His choice promptly fell upon Washington, who, receiving his instructions, and perceivingthe need of haste, started out that same day to carry out the governor's orders.

He made his way across country to Logstown, where he heard that the French commandingofficer was on an upper branch of the Allegheny River. He therefore went thither, anddelivered his letter. But the Frenchman shrugged his shoulders, and said he would send theletter on to Governor Duquesne, whose orders he was in the meantime bound to carry out.Tramping thus through the wilderness in the dead of winter, Washington found out allGovernor Dinwiddie wished. Seeing he must hasten, if the French were to be checked, theyoung officer left his guides, baggage, and horses, and, alone with Gist, an experiencedhunter and trapper,—went back toVirginia by a short cut. During this journey he and Gist had several narrow escapes.

Once an Indian who had probably been bribed by the French to kill them—shot at them. Gistand Washington, suspecting treachery, pretended it was only an accident; but when theIndian left them at night, promising to come back in the morning, they promptly brokecamp. Pressing forward all night, they reached the Allegheny early in the morning, andfound it only partly frozen. As they could not cross on the ice, as they had hoped, theyplied their one dull hatchet with such a will that they soon cut down several trees andbuilt a rude raft.

But when they got out into the stream, Washington's pole caught in the ice and jerked himout into ten feet of ice-cold water. Grasping the raft, Washington escaped; but hisclothes were dripping wet, and a few moments later they were frozen stiff. The raft wasnow driven on an island, where Gist lighted a fire as quickly as possible; and hereWashington spent the night, turning around and around so as to dry his clothes. Luckily,on the next day the travelers found that the ice was strong enough to bear them, and,crossing over to the other side of the river, they hurried on.

After visiting an Indian queen, with whom he made friends by giving her a few trinkets,Washington went on to Virginia, where he gave Governor Dinwiddie all the necessaryinformation. The governor was so pleased with what Washington had done, and thought hisnews so important, that he published Washington's journal. Then, to carry out the ordershe had received from England, and make sure the land south of the Ohio should not besnatched away from him, Dinwiddie raised a force of two hundred men, and sent them tobuild a fort at the forks of the Ohio. While these men were busy erecting their stockade,the French, one thousand strong, came down from Venango, on the Allegheny, and, drivingthe English away, completed the fort for their own use, calling it Duquesne, after theirgovernor.

When the Virginians learned that the French had driven their men away from the forks of theOhio, and had taken possession of the fort they had just begun, they were naturally veryangry. Seeing that they would lose all claim to the land unless they drove the Frenchaway, they now determined to raise enough men and money to equip an army. Before long,therefore, Washington was sent out with about three hundred men, and he was busy erectinga small breastwork (called Fort Necessity) at Great Meadows, when he heard that the Frenchwere near there.

Setting out immediately, he surprised and defeated this force; but learning that moretroops were coming, he prudently retreated to Fort Necessity, at Great Meadows, which heonce described as "a charming field for an encounter." Here the French and Indians soonattacked him in such numbers that, in spite of his valor, he was forced to surrender, onJuly 4, 1754. Washington's men had behaved so bravely that the French allowed them tomarch out with the honors of war; that is, taking their flag and their arms with them.

In describing this battle, Washington is reported to have said: "I heard the bulletswhistle, and believe me, there is something charming in the sound." But later on, when hehad seen what a sad thing war really is, and some one asked if he had ever said this, hequietly answered: "If I said so, it was when I was young!"

When Washington and his troops came back to Virginia after the battle at Great Meadows,the colonies saw that the French were fully determined to leave them no land west of theAlleghanies. They had felt so sure of this that a few weeks before the battle they sentmen to Albany to discuss how they could best resist their enemies, and keep what theyclaimed as their own.

Still, in one sense, neither French nor English had any right to this land, for as abewildered Indian chief remarked when he first heard of the dispute: "If the French claimall the land north of the river, and the English all the land south of it, where is theland of the Indians?"

One man was to have a great share in the last French and Indian war, although he was nosoldier. This man was Franklin, and as he is one of the greatest men in our history, itwill surely interest you to hear a little about him.

Born in a poor family in Boston, the lad was namedBenjamin, probably because he was his father's twelfth child. With so many brothers andsisters older than himself, Benjamin was not spoiled. As they were all very poor, he wasoften obliged, small as he was, to help his father make soap and dip tallow candles, awork he greatly disliked. But as there had been free schools in New England from the verybeginning, Benjamin learned to read out of the New England Primer when only a tiny boy. Hehas told us many stories of himself; among others, one of his childhood which you ought toknow, because it has given rise to an American proverb.

It seems that Benjamin once had a few pennies. This was a great fortune for so small alad, and although his brothers and sisters teased him to know what he was going to buywith them, he would not tell. On the street, one day, he saw a big boy blowing a whistlewith all his might. This whistle so fascinated little Benjamin that, after talking to itsowner awhile, he gave all his pennies in exchange for the toy.

Marching home, Benjamin proudly exhibited his treasure, thinking he had made a greatbargain and bought the finest thing in the world. His disappointment was very keen,therefore, when his brothers told him that it was only a common whistle, such as he couldhave bought anywhere for one penny! Ever since then, when any one pays too much forpleasure, or anything else, people have said: "He has paid dear, very dear, for hiswhistle."

As was the custom in all Puritan families, the Franklins had long prayers, and they saidsuch a lengthy grace before meals that hungry little Benjamin often grew impatient. Astheir breakfasts generally consisted of smoked anddried herring, he once suggested that his father should say grace over the whole barrel,so that he need not stop to repeat it every time the fish was served!

Franklin's father was too poor to let him go on with his studies, so at twelve Franklinbecame apprentice to an older brother, the printer of the fourth newspaper issued in ourcountry. Here Franklin learned to, set type and to handle the rude press then in use. Healso began to write, and as he did not want his brother to know it, he disguised hishandwriting, and slipped his contributions under the shop door at night.

These articles, written by a boy of fourteen, proved so able that the brother read themaloud to his friends, who greatly praised them, little suspecting that they were writtenby the apprentice setting type in the corner. But Benjamin's elder brother proved sounkind to him that the boy left Boston at seventeen, and, embarking upon a coastingvessel, went to New York, where he vainly sought employment.

There he heard that work was to be had in Philadelphia, then the largest city in ourcountry. A stage ran between that place and New York twice a week, making the journey intwo days. This rate of travel seemed so very rapid then that this coach was generallycalled the "Flying Machine." But as Franklin did not have the means to pay for a seat inthis conveyance, he embarked on a sloop, working his way. After several days' tacking, along, weary tramp, and a row on the Delaware, he landed in Philadelphia early one morning.

By this time he had only a few pennies left, which, as he felt hungry, he soon gave to abaker for threelarge rolls. The small amount of luggage he had with him was thrust into his coat pockets,and with a roll under either arm, and one in his hand, Franklin strolled down the street,munching his bread as he walked along. A girl standing on her father's doorstep laughed atthe awkward lad passing by, little thinking that a few years later she would be his wife.

Finding employment in Philadelphia, Franklin worked hard, studying as much as he couldafter hours. Every book he could buy or borrow was eagerly read, and he paid small sums tobooksellers for the loan of their volumes overnight, sitting up late and rising early soas to get allhe could out of them. Franklin loved books so dearly that he soon learned a great dealabout foreign countries. He longed to visit them, and therefore gladly welcomed a proposalto go to England and buy a printing press.

As the governor of Pennsylvania promised to supply the necessary funds, Franklin set out;but upon landing in England he found that the governor had deceived him, and that therewas no money to be had. Alone in a foreign land, without means or friends, Franklin againsought employment, and worked for an English printer during the next few years. By dint ofhard work and great economy, he managed to save money enough to bring him back toPhiladelphia, at the age of twenty. Then, after working as clerk and printer for a while,Franklin set up in business for himself, and married.

Besides printing a newspaper,—for which he wrote the articles, set the type, handled thepress, and even carted the paper to his shop in a wheelbarrow,—Franklin soon began topublish a pamphlet called Poor Richard's Almanac. It contained not only the usualinformation about sunrise and sunset, the moon, tide, and weather, but many short sayings,full of good advice. They were so easily remembered, and so often quoted, that some ofthem have become household sayings. A few are: "No gains without pains." "Never leave thattill to-morrow which you can do to-day." "Time is money." "Keep conscience clear, thennever fear."

You might think that Franklin was busy enough with all this work; still, he managed tolearn a great deal besides French, German, Spanish, and Italian, which he studied aloneand at night. He founded the first publiclibrary in Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania, and the first fire brigade, thefirst insurance company, and the first hospital in the city. Besides that, he invented thefirst good stove, advised paving the streets, and was constantly in political office fromthe time he was thirty until he died, at the age of eighty-four.

Franklin was so interested in sciences that he studied them closely, too; and in 1752,after thinking the matter over a long while, he decided that lightning must be the samething as the electricity produced by rubbing a cat's fur. He therefore determined to bringlightning down from the clouds, to find out whether he was right. After many experiments,he built a kite, fastened a sharp point to it, and flew it one stormy day. He had takenall his measures so carefully that he thus really drew down some electric sparks from thesky.

As Franklin was a very practical man, he immediately made use of this knowledge to inventlightning rods for protecting churches and houses from thunderbolts. His discovery,ridiculed at first, soon became known abroad, and thus Franklin was the first American whowon a European reputation.

Franklin's kite-flying paved the way for all the wonderful discoveries since made inelectricity, many of which he then foretold, although people thought he was only joking.Indeed, we are told he even demonstrated the deadly effect of alive wire by killing aturkey on the other side of the river! When his discoveries became known in Europe, theycreated a great sensation, and the "Franklin experiments "were for a while all thefashion.

In 1754, Franklin, deputy postmaster-general of the colonies, was sent to Albany, where, as we havealready seen, a congress of delegates from the colonies met to discuss the best way ofopposing the French. Franklin, knowing that it was only by working all together that thebest results could be reached, now made a plan for the union of the colonies.

As one can often make people understand things better by telling them stories or showingthem pictures, Franklin remembered the common belief that a snake, cut into pieces, wouldbecome whole again if the parts were allowed to touch. He therefore placed at the head ofhis paper the picture of such a snake, cut into pieces to represent the colonies, which hefurther indicated by their initials. Under this picture he wrote the motto: "Join or die."

Although the colonies did not adopt Franklin's plan of union, they nevertheless voted menand money for the war. The British, on their part, sent over General Braddock, one oftheir best officers, to take charge of the campaign. Meeting the governors of thedifferent colonies in Virginia, Braddock decided that, while one army marched north fromAlbany to take Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point before going on to Quebec, a secondshould move westward from the same point to Lake Ontario and Niagara.

In the meantime, a fleet was to sail from New England to join the first army in besiegingQuebec. But the fourth and principal expedition, led by Braddock himself, was to marchacross Pennsylvania to Fort Duquesne, so as todrive the French out of the coveted Ohio valley. This plan was very fine; but Braddock,used to the European way of fighting, little knew how to carry on war with the French andIndians in the pathless forests.

Washington now advised Braddock, his superior officer, to leave the heavy baggage andcannons behind; but the British general would not consent. After much delay, thePennsylvania farmers loaned their wagons and horses to carry the baggage, thanks toFranklin's personal efforts, and the army set out. But as Braddock insisted upon thearmy's marching along in an orderly file, a road had first to be built, and Washingtononce impatiently said that they stopped "to level every molehill."

Washington knew it be best to advance rapidly and surprise Fort Duquesne; but the armymoved slowly until, at about eight miles from the fort, it was suddenly attacked by theFrench andIndians. The British soldiers, clad in red and marching in close ranks, made fine targetsfor their enemies, who, as usual, hid behind every tree and rock, whence they poured adeadly fire upon them. Braddock bravely rallied his men again and again; but not knowinghow to fight unseen foes, they were helplessly slain. The general himself, after seeinggreat numbers of his men and officers fall, was mortally wounded, and had to order aretreat.

In the midst of this horrible scene, Washington and his Virginian soldiers alone keptcool. Four bullets passed through Washington's coat, and two horses were killed under him,for the Indians aimed specially at him. But all their bullets failed, and they afterwardssaid with awe that he surely bore a charmed life, and that no shot could ever touch him.

Nearly all the officers were killed, but Washington managed to cover the retreat of theBritish, and their wounded general was picked up and borne off the battlefield of theMonongahela. Braddock was now full of remorse for not following Washington's advice, andhe died four days later, saying: "Who would have thought it? Who would have thought it? Weshall better know how to deal with them another time."

Washington sadly buried the brave general in the Pennsylvania woods, making the army marchover his grave, so that no trace of upturned soil should betray to the Indians his lastresting place. Then the beaten and disheartened troops slowly made their way back,encouraged by Washington, who, going afoot, shared all their hardships, and relieved theweary men by loading their muskets and baggage upon his own horse.

The army marching westward from Albany had, in the meantime, paused discouraged at Oswego,while the one moving northward beat the French on the shores of a lake, which they calledGeorge, in honor of the victory won for their king (1755). The French officer Dieskau wascaptured there, and among the English dead was Ephraim Williams, who left his fortune tofound the college in Massachusetts which bears his name.

Fearing that the Acadian farmers, who still spoke French and loved their mother country,would turn against them, the British now tried to make the peasants take an oath offidelity. When they refused, the men and boys were bidden to assemble, and then, aftersome delay, they and their families were sent on board British ships and taken away(1755). In the confusion several families were separated.

Thus ruthlessly torn from home, the Acadians were scattered throughout the colonies. Manymade their way to Louisiana, so as to be still under French rule; others escaped into thewoods; and a few spent long years vainly seeking those they loved. If you care to learnhow one girl wandered thousands of miles in quest of her lover, you should readLongfellow's beautiful poem Evangeline.

Until 1756, the war between the French and the British raged only in America; but after that it brokeout in Europe also, where it was known as the "Seven Years' War."

The French sent over Montcalm, one of their best generals, who, helped by the Indians,soon took and burned Oswego. Next, he captured Fort William Henry, which the Americans hadjust built; but he promised that the garrison should leave under safe escort (1757). HisIndian allies, however, loath to see the foe depart unharmed, suddenly attacked them, andkilled many. Montcalm bravely and vainly tried to stop this, crying: "Kill me, but sparethe English who are under my protection."

This year of 1757 was, on the whole, a disastrous one for the British; but during thenext, the tables were turned. The principal statesman in England was then William Pitt, agood friend to the American colonies. Knowing that, unless prompt measures were taken, theBritish would lose the main part of their possessions in America, Pitt sent over men withgreat stores of arms and money.

The British and American troops, properly equipped, now started out again to carry outBraddock's plan. This time, Forbes was in command, ably assisted by Washington, and theyforced the French to abandon Fort Duquesne. Near its ruins the British built a stockadewhich was named Pittsburg, in honor of William Pitt.

Upon returning to Virginia after this triumph, Washington, who had lately married a widowwith two children,quietly took his seat in the House of Burgesses. To his dismay, the Speaker praised himfor all he had done for his country. Embarrassed by this speech, Washington arose andvainly tried to make the proper response, until the Speaker, seeing his predicament,kindly said: "Sit down, Mr. Washington; your modesty equals your valor, and that surpassesthe power of any language I possess."

A few months before the seizure of Fort Duquesne, the British captured the fortress ofLouisburg for the second time, and Fort Frontenac was destroyed. Thus, step by step, theFrench were driven into Canada, where James Wolfe, a brave young British officer, wasordered to take Quebec. Now, Quebec is built upon a high rock, and it was impossible toreach its citadel from three sides. But Wolfe, thinking that it could be attacked from thePlains of Abraham, went up the river past the city, and then, one night, driftednoiselessly downstream toward the place where he wished to land.

Wolfe was a charming young man, loving art and poetry, and as he went down the St.Lawrence, he mentioned a poem of Gray's, saying: "I would rather be the author of the'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard' than have the glory of beating the Frenchto-morrow." Then he repeated the following lines with deep feeling:

As the brave young man seemed to foresee, the path of glory was to lead him also to thegrave. A fewminutes later, his boats came within range of the French sentinels, and their challengewas answered in such good French that they let the boats pass. After landing, Wolfeclimbed up the steep path, and had his army all drawn up for battle on the Plains ofAbraham the next morning.

Montcalm, taken thus unawares, led out his troops and fought bravely; but he was defeatedby Wolfe, who, as well as Montcalm, was mortally wounded in the fray. The French commanderbreathed his last a few hours later, saying: "Thank God, I shall not live to see Quebecsurrender!"

His equally brave young enemy, dying on the battle-field, heard his men cry: "They run!they run!" Breathlessly he inquired, "Who run?" but when he heard that it was the French,he fell back, saying: "Now God be praised! I can die in peace."

This memorable battle, fought in 1759, is commemorated by a monument on* the Plains ofAbraham, on which the names of both generals are carved. There is also a famous monumentin Westminster Abbey, in honor of Wolfe, the conqueror of Quebec.

The fall of Quebec decided the fate of the French in America. They had already lost theOhio valley, Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and soon after, Montreal surrendered too.

Although the last French and Indian War was now over in America, the war between Franceand England continued until 1763, when it was ended by the treaty of Paris. Because moreland changed hands on this occasion than ever before, the treaty of Paris is known inhistory as the

biggest land deal ever made. To Great Britain France gave up Canada and her claims to allthe land east of the Mississippi, except New Orleans. For herself she kept only two smallislands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on which to dry fish. Spain, siding with France inthis war, received from her ally all of Louisiana west of the Mississippi, and the city ofNew Orleans. To recover Havana, which had been taken by a British fleet, Spain gave upFlorida, which had belonged to her ever since Ponce de Leon first visited it in 1512.

All these changes did not please everybody, and the Indians so disliked the English rulethat, led by Pontiac, one of their chiefs, they began a war which bears his name (1763).In the course of this struggle seven forts were taken, and many settlers cruelly slain.

The garrison at Detroit, however, having been warned that the Indians were planning asurprise, showed so brave a front that Pontiac failed to get possession of that place. Butsome of his allies had better luck at Michilimackinac. They assembled near there as if toplay a game, and tossing their ball nearer and nearer the palisade, finally made a wilddash through the open gates. The garrison was butchered, and only one trader managed toescape. Then, after continuing this war some time longer, the Indians were forced tosubmit, and three years later, Pontiac, the leader of the revolt, was shot by an Indianwho had been bribed to kill him.

The people in England had seemed to think all along that the colonies in America ought to doall they could to enrich England. Their idea was that the mother country had a right tothe earnings of the colonies, so they treated the colonists like little children, not oldenough to think or work for themselves.

Among other things, the English made laws about trade and navigation which were very goodfor England, butvery bad for the colonies. For instance, they said that the Americans should not selltheir tobacco, rice, sugar, furs, etc., to any country except England. Any colonist havingany of these things for sale had to put them on English ships, and pay freight to carrythem to England. Then he had to pay duty before his produce could be sold. Some otherarticles could be sold to other countries, provided they were sent over in English ships.But no vessels from foreign countries were allowed to come into any of the American ports,either to buy or to sell; and if a colonist wanted something from France, he had to get itby way of England, although it cost him much more.

As if all this were not bad enough, the English were so anxious to sell the goods theymanufactured, that they said the Americans must buy of them, instead of making sucharticles for sale. Thus, a farmer could hammer out rough tools for his own use from theiron dug up on his land, but he could not make even a hoe for his neighbors in any othercolony.

The women, who spun and wove their own flax andwool, cut and made ordinary family garments, and plaited straw, which they sewed togetherfor hats, could not even sell a pair of mittens in the next colony. If the New Englanderswanted to exchange codfish for Virginia tobacco, they either had to send it by way ofEngland, thus paying for its being carried twice across the Atlantic, or else they wereobliged to pay heavy duties.

In her fear that the colonies would sell to other countries anything she could use,England even forbade Americans to cut down any very large or straight trees without herpermission. She said that all this timber should be kept until she needed it as masts forher vessels.

Of course, the colonies did not like this, but they bore it for a long time as patientlyas they could. Other countries did not approve of England's trade and navigation laws,either. Both the French and the Dutch, for instance, wanted to trade with the colonies. Asthe coast was very long, and there were customhouse officers in only a few of the towns,some foreign vessels managed to slip into small bays unseen, and thus began smugglinggoods in and out of the country.

As long as France owned Canada, smuggling could not very well be stopped, for French orDutch vessels caught along the coast said that they were on their way to or from Canada,and that they had been driven out of their course by contrary winds. But when the lastFrench and Indian War was over, foreign vessels no longer had any excuse for coming nearNorth America. The British, therefore, declared they would now seize any foreign vesselthey met, and search any house where they fancied smuggled goods could be found.

Orders to search houses were called search warrants. They gave government officers theright to go over every part of a dwelling, and look into every closet and drawer. Butpeople like to feel that their houses are their own, and that no one can come in unlessinvited. Knowing that those search warrants would make it easy for any officer whohappened to dislike them to annoy them constantly, the Americans naturally objected tothem.

The man who first spoke publicly against these search warrants, in the old statehouse inBoston, was James Otis. When he declared that this was not right, he was told it was donein Great Britain as well as in America. Otis then answered that, as the British had ashare in making that law, they were, of course, obliged to obey it. But he added that theAmericans had no seats in the British Parliament, had had no share in making the law, andwere therefore not bound to respect it.

Many of the colonists agreed with Otis, so the British officers did not dare offend themby making frequent visits to their houses; but they kept ships along the coast to chaseall suspicious vessels and see whether they had any foreign goods on board. Thisproceeding was almost as disagreeable to the colonists as searching their houses.

One of these boats, the Gaspee, in pursuing a colonial vessel, ran ashore inNarragansett Bay, Rhode Island, in 1772. Before it could be worked off the shoal,—which isstill known as Gaspee Point,—a number of the best citizens of Providence came in disguiseand set fire to the ship. But although the British said their flag had been insulted, andtried to find the guilty parties, they never could lay hands upon them.

Besides the galling trade and navigation laws to which the poor American colonists had to submit,there were other troubles which you must try to understand. The French and Indian War hadcost a great deal of money, which had to be paid. It was also needful to take steps toarrange for the government of the new territory, and especially to defend it, for theBritish knew that the French and Spaniards would like to get it back.

Now, King William's War, Queen Anne's War, and King George's War had been waged becauseEngland and France were fighting in Europe. They had done no good to the colonists, who,even after furnishing men and money, and winning Louisburg, saw it given back to theFrench. It was different, though, with the fourth war, which was begun in America, whileGreat Britain furnished men, money, and arms to defend the colonies. The colonies had donetheir best to help, and the American soldiers, whom the British mockingly called "YankeeDoodles," had shown great courage.

Franklin tried to arrange matters of taxation by his plan of government, which, youremember, was set aside at Albany (1754). The colonies refused it because they said itgave too much power to the king; and the king refused to accept it because it gave toomuch power to the colonies.

King George's advisers now told him that as Great Britain had run into debt fighting inAmerica, it was only right that the colonies should help to pay the money. They added thatit would be necessary to keep an armyin America to defend the new-won lands, and that the colonies ought to feed and pay thesesoldiers.

If Great Britain had asked the colonies, Will you support an army?" they might perhapshave consented. But instead of letting the Americans talk the matter over and raise themoney in any way they pleased, measures were taken by Parliament to raise a large sum,which the king was to use in providing for a standing army.

At that time, many of the British were dissatisfied, too, for the members of the House ofCommons no longer represented the whole nation. New cities like Birmingham, Manchester,and Leeds had no right to vote at all, while a few tumble-down places, which had beentowns two hundred years before, still sent several members to Parliament. Pitt and someother statesmen said that a new census ought to be taken, and that the House of Commonsshould represent all the people of Great Britain; but the king, among others, thoughtthings ought to remain just as they were.

The two parties were still quarreling over this when the question about America came up,and it was greatly because the British were not fairly represented that unjust laws weremade. To raise the money, Parliament decreed that the colonies would have to keep thetrade and navigation laws, and pay a tax upon sugar and molasses, and that no newspapershould be printed or deed written except on paper stamped by government officers. This wascalled the "Stamp Act."

As soon as Pitt heard that the Stamp Act had been passed, he said it was wrong to tax thecolonies without their consent. But Parliament would not listen to him.In those days, vessels crossed the Atlantic only once a month. There was no telegraph, nodaily newspapers, and the post between large cities like Philadelphia and New York ranonly twice or thrice a week. It therefore took some time before the news of the passing ofthe Stamp Act became generally known in America.

Franklin, who was then in England, did his best to hinder the making of such an unjustlaw. He was once asked whether the Americans would be angry; and, hoping to make theBritish understand how unreasonable they were, he told them this story: A Frenchman oncecame running out of his house with a red-hot poker. He grasped an Englishman, passing by,and said: "Let me run this poker through you!" Of course the Englishman declined. Then theFrenchman said: "Well, let me at least run it a few inches into your body." But when theEnglishman again refused, the Frenchman said, in an aggrieved way: "If you won't let me doeither, you should at least pay for the trouble of heating this poker!"

Still, all Franklin's tact and good sense could not prevent the law being passed, and hesadly wrote home: "The sun of liberty is set; the Americans must light the lamp ofindustry and economy."

Most Americans were not ready to take things so quietly as Franklin. Indeed, as soon as thenews of the Stamp Act became known, there was great excitement. Bells were tolled, andevery one looked sad. InVirginia, Patrick Henry arose in the House of Burgesses, and made a fiery speech whichconvinced the people that it would be wrong and cowardly to yield. In his speech he saidthat tyranny must be resisted, and added: "Caesar had his Brutus, Charles I. his Cromwell,and George III.—"

"Treason! Treason!" cried some of the members who were friends of the king.

But Patrick Henry went firmly on, "—may profit by their example. If this be treason, makethe most of it!"

His speech fairly carried the people away, and when he concluded it by saying: "Give meliberty, or give me death," the Virginians drew up a set of resolutions saying that theyhad the same rights as the people in GreatBritain, that they could be taxed only by their assemblies, and that they would not allowany one else to tax them.

In North Carolina, John Ashe said: "This law will be resisted in blood and death." Thisopinion was so general that Massachusetts suggested that a general "Stamp Act Congress"should be held in New York, in 1765. All but four colonies were, represented in it, andsix of them drew up a paper saying that as British subjects they could be taxed only bytheir own consent, and that as they had no members in Parliament, they would not obey thatbody.

This paper was called the "Declaration of Rights," and they added to it another, sayingthat there were five things they had to complain about. These were: being taxed withouttheir consent; being tried in some cases without a jury; being hampered in their trading;and being asked to pay the sugar tax and the stamp tax.

Men everywhere began thinking how they could keep their rights, and formed companiescalled "Sons of Liberty." These bands visited the men chosen to sell the stamped paper,and sternly warned them not to try to do so unless they wished to be treated liketraitors. The result was that, so far as is now known, not a single sheet of stamped paperwas ever sold in America. Indeed, when the day came when they were to have been firstused, a Pennsylvania newspaper appeared with the heading, "No stamped paper to be had."

The excitement was such that even the children marched up and down like their elders,crying, "Liberty, Property, and No Stamps!" or even such hard words as "Taxation withoutrepresentation is tyranny."

As we have already seen, there were many people inGreat Britain who thought the Stamp Act unjust. Two great men, Burke and Pitt, openly saidso; and when the news came that the Americans refused to obey, the latter exclaimed: "Irejoice that America has resisted. Three millions of people so dead to all the feelings ofliberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to makeslaves of all the rest."

The British minister, Grenville, now sent for Franklin, and asked whether he thought theAmericans would pay the stamp tax if it were less. But Franklin said: "No; never! Theywill never submit to it;" and went on to explain that it was not a question of more orless money, but a question of right and wrong.

As the Americans declared they would not buy a single thing from the British until theirrights were respected, British vessels soon went home with unsold cargoes, and Britishmerchants loudly cried that their business was ruined. These complaints, added to thecolonists' determined resistance, made Parliament repeal, or call back, the Stamp Act, sixmonths after it was to be enforced.

The stamps which were never used were stored away in a room in the House of Parliament.Here they lay forgotten for many a year, and when they were finally unearthed again, theywere either given away as curiosities or destroyed.

The news of the repeal of the Stamp Act set the Americans almost crazy with joy. Bellswere rung, bonfires lighted, and speeches made. In New York the people were so happy thatthey erected a new liberty pole, and made a big leaden statue of King George, which theyset up on Bowling Green.

In their joy the colonists did not at first notice that Parliament, in repealing the StampAct; still claimed the right to tax the colonies "in all cases whatsoever." But the verynext year Parliament passed what are known in history as the "Townshend Acts," from theman who proposed them. These laws, besides forcing the colonists to feed the king's troopsand keep the trade law, placed a tax on glass, paint, tea, and a few other things.

The money raised by these taxes was to be used partly for paying the salaries ofgovernors, judges, customhouse and other colonial officers. Hitherto, the colonies hadpaid the salaries of governors and judges themselves, and they said that, while it mightbe all right to let a good king be paymaster, a bad king might make them veryuncomfortable by sending out governors like Andros and Berkeley, who, being paid by him,would care only to please him.

Urged on by the Massachusetts people, all the colonies wrote to Great Britain that theywould not buy any British goods until the taxes were removed. The king, offended by theletters sent him, ordered the governors to dissolve the colonial assemblies again andagain; but he could not prevent the Americans from talking and thinking as they pleased.When his troops began to come, men, women, and children scowled at them, openly callingthem "lobsters" and "bloody-backs" because they wore red coats.

As the Massachusetts people talked loudest, and urged the other colonies to resist, KingGeorge sent General Gage to Boston with two regiments. They came into thecity on Sunday morning, with flags flying and drums beating, a thing which greatly shockedthe good Puritans.

The presence of British soldiers in America greatly annoyed the people. They daily grewmore and more angry about it, and before long a small fight took place between soldiersand citizens, at Golden Hill, in the city of New York. Two months later, in the midst ofthe excitement caused by a false alarm of fire in Boston, a British soldier, annoyed bythe taunts and snowballs of a mob, shot a man. This became the signal for more firing,which killed five men and wounded a few others (1770).

The excitement caused in the city by the "Boston Massacre," or the "Bloody Massacre," asit is known in history, proved very great. Although the principal men in Boston knew thesoldiers had not been greatly to blame for what had happened, they saw that there would bemoretrouble unless the troops left the town. Samuel Adams, therefore, explained this to thegovernor, who asked him if the people would be satisfied if he sent one regiment away.Adams answered that he would find out, but, going to the Old South Meetinghouse, where thepatriots were assembled, he passed up the aisle, whispering to his friends right and left:"Both regiments or none."

When Adams reached the platform, and told the people what the governor had said, hisfriends loudly cried: "Both regiments or none!" The rest of the people shouted the samething. So the governor, much against his will, was forced to place the soldiers on anisland in the bay. But afterthat, when mentioning those troops, King George spitefullycalled them "Sam Adams's regiments."

The removal of the soldiers quieted the Boston people a little; still, they often met inFaneuil Hall, where such stirring patriotic speeches were made that the building is oftencalled the "Cradle of Liberty."

The people had said they would not buy anything from Great Britain until the taxes wereremoved; so, when tea ships came over, their cargoes were either sent back, stored in dampcellars, or destroyed. The Britishmerchants complained about this, and the king himself, who was interested in the teacompany, soon found he was losing money, too. He therefore proposed that the price of teashould be reduced, so that even after the tax of three-pence a pound was paid, tea wouldbe cheaper than ever before. But this made no difference to the colonists. The questionwith them was not cheap tea, but untaxed tea.

To prevent any one from buying any of this tea, all the ports were carefully watched: butfinally three ships entered Boston harbor with strict orders to land their cargoes. As thegovernor would not send the ships back, and insisted that the king's orders should becarried out, Samuel Adams finally said, in a large assembly: "This meeting can do nothingmore to save the country."

This was evidently a secret signal, for a voice immediately asked in an innocent way:"Will tea mix with sea water?" In reply some one shouted: "Boston harbor for a teapotto-night! Hurrah for Griffin's wharf!" The crowd now poured out of the Old South, and onreaching the street saw a band of men, disguised as Indians, rushing toward the pier.These make-believe Indians took possession of the dock, boarded the three ships, brokeopen the tea chests with their tomahawks, and poured their contents into the harbor, whichthus became a monster teapot at Boston's famous Tea Party.

The Indians were careful, however, not to touch anything else, and when their work wasdone, they quickly vanished. Still, they were so honest that a padlock, broken by mistake,was secretly replaced by a new one on the next day. It is said that the tide the nextmorning left heaps of damp tea leaves on the beach.Some was put in bottles and kept, in memory of Boston's Tea Party; but the rest of it waseither thrown back into the water or burned, so that no one should be tempted to touch it.

Upon hearing the news of the Boston Tea Party Parliament made five harsh laws to punish theBostonians. These were that no ships should be allowed to come in or go out of their portuntil they had paid forthe tea; that the governor could send any one he pleased to England for trial; that thecharter of Massachusetts was to be taken away that the colonists should receive and feedthe troops; and that the province of Quebec should be extended to the Ohio, thus includingthe western lands claimed by Massachusetts.

The Bostonians said they could not, and would not, stand these five laws, which theycalled the "five intolerable acts." The other colonies declared that the Bostonians wereright, and promised to help them resist; so it was decided that delegates from all thecolonies should meet at Philadelphia, in 1774, to act together.

All the colonies except Georgia sent delegates to this First Continental Congress. Theymet in Carpenter's Hall, in Philadelphia, and decided to print and circulate papersexplaining to the colonies, to the Canadians, and to the British people their causes ofcomplaint. They also drew up a declaration of rights and an address to the king.

Samuel Adams, who is often called the "Father of the Revolution," wrote this petition tothe king; and his young daughter, seeing the paper, cried: "Only think of it; that paperwill soon be in the king's hand!" But her father dryly answered: "My dear, it will morelikely be spurned by the royal foot!"

There were many noted men among the fifty-five members of the First Continental Congress.Franklin had come home to take part in it, after having patiently tried to make peace withthe Englishmen, who insulted him. While Congress was in session, some one asked Pat-rickHenry who was the leading man there, and he answered: "If you speak of eloquence, Mr.Rutledge ofSouth Carolina is by far the greatest orator; but if you speak of solid information,Colonel Washington is unquestionably the greatest man on the floor!"

Before separating, this congress decided that another should assemble the next year tohear King George's answer to their petition, and to discuss what steps should next betaken. But although Congress was dismissed, the colonies, in spite of the bad postalarrangements of the age, kept up a lively correspondence.

Patrick Henry, on his return home, told the Virginia convention what had been done, andconcluded an eloquent speech by saying: "We must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight!An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us." And in South Carolina thepatriots loudly echoed the sentiments of their delegate, showing that "three million braveAmericans, scattered over three thousand miles, had but one soul."

This was the opinion of patriots everywhere, and, feeling that they might soon be calledupon to maintain their rights, they formed companies and drilled regularly. One of thesebands of militia was formed in Virginia, where Washington said: "I shall very cheerfullyaccept the honor of, commanding it, if occasion requires it to be drawn out." In NewEngland many similar regiments were drilled, and as these volunteer soldiers were to beready to start at a moment's notice, they were known as "minutemen."

The women were quite as patriotic as the men. They gave up tea and all other importedgoods, and began to spin and weave with such energy that they and their families soon worenothing but homespun. Even at, a ball, inVirginia, the ladies wore rough cloth of their own manufacture, rather than purchasecloth, silk, and lace from England.

As Boston suffered most of all, the other colonies showed their sympathy by sending allthe supplies they could by land. Indeed, neighboring places, such as Marblehead and Salem,even offered to let Boston merchants use their port free of charge.

Instead of answering the "olive branch "petition sent by the colonies, King George toldGeneral Gage, governor of Massachusetts, to bring the people to order as soon as possible.But Gage soon saw that the colonists were too angry to yield tamely, and all he dared dowas to stop their meetings and to fortify Boston Neck.

But meetings were held in spite of him, for the principal Bostonians went to Cambridge,where they formed a Committee of Safety. This was to watch the movements of the British,collect arms and ammunition, and see that the minutemen were always ready for duty. Forevery one now felt that the fight must soon break out, although neither party wished tobegin it.

General Gage knew that the patriots were collecting supplies, and he was determined to seize them if hecould. But there were good patriots in Boston who were watching him closely, and they hadagreed to warn their friends of any danger, by means of lanterns hung up in the tower ofthe Old North Church.

Two lights in the tower, one night, notified the people of Charlestown that the Britishwere moving, and the minutemen on guard scattered to rouse their fellow-soldiers. PaulRevere, among others, dashed off on horseback, narrowly escaping capture by the British,who were guardingall the roads. As he galloped rapidly on, he roused the people by crying: "The British arecoming!" Finally he reached Lexington, about nine miles from Boston. Here Samuel Adams andJohn Hanco*ck had both taken refuge, because Gage wanted to seize and ship them off toEngland, to be tried there for treason.

The clatter made by Revere roused the sleeping patriots, and when one of them asked whatall this noise meant, Revere quickly answered: "Noise! You'll have noise enough beforelong. The regulars are coming!" Just then the window opened, and Hanco*ck called Revere in.Soon after Revere rode rapidly on again to warn Concord, Massachusetts, while Adams begancleaning his gun to join in the fight. But Hanco*ck stopped his companion, saying that itwas their duty, as members of the Council, to plan and think, instead of fighting.

The alarm enabled the patriots to conceal most of their arms and stores, and when theBritish soldiers arrived in Lexington, soon after sunrise on April 19, 1775, they foundabout seventy minutemen drawn up on the green. The leader of the minutemen bade them"Stand firm! Don't fire until you are fired at. But if they want war, let it begin righthere."

The British officer, at the head of about three hundred men, now loudly cried: "Disperse,ye rebels! Disperse!" Then, as they did not obey, he drew his pistols. Who fired first isa question which has never been settled, but a few minutes later seven American patriotslay on the ground dead, and the rest were obliged to retreat.

The British now marched on to Concord, where they began to destroy the stores. Althoughthey had fanciedthe patriots would offer no more resistance, they soon found they were mistaken. Theminutemen were assembling as fast as they could, and Dr. Warren addressed those atLexington, saying: "Keep up a brave heart. They have begun it—that either party can do;and we'll end it—that only we can do."

The British guard at the Concord bridge was now attacked. Hearing shots in that direction,the British hurried back, to find their men falling rapidly beneath the fire of theminutemen. The latter were posted behind every bush, tree, barn, and stone wall all alongthe road, so that the British had to retreat between two lines of fire.

Bewildered by the constant shots of enemies they could not see, the British soldiers soonbroke ranks and rushed blindly on, never pausing to take breath until they met new forcesat Lexington, which covered their retreat. There the fugitives fell to the groundexhausted and panting, their tongues hanging out of their mouths from heat and thirst.After they recovered a little, the British, who had marched out of Charlestown thatmorning playing "Yankee Doodle "to vex the patriots, were only too thankful to beat aretreat. When they reached their fortifications at sundown they had lost about threehundred men, while only eighty-eight of the patriots had fallen.

The Revolutionary War had begun, and the day after the battle of Lexington theMassachusetts Congress wrote to England: "We determine to die or be free." The news of thefirst bloodshed was rapidly carried from place to place by men on horseback. They wenteverywhere, calling the people to arms. Guns were polished and bullets cast, the womensacrificing even cherished pewter spoons and dishes to supply the necessary ammunition.

The call to arms found Israel Putnam—a hero of the last French and Indian War—plowing inhis field. Unyoking his oxen from the plow, Putnam bade a lad run for his coat and gun,while he saddled his horse. He then rode quickly away to take part in the struggle, whichwas to last about seven years. Two other patriots, John Stark from New Hampshire, andBenedict Arnold from Connecticut, were equally prompt in responding to this appeal, and itis said that in less than three days, sixteen thousand Americans were assembled aroundBoston, completely hemming in General Gage and the British troops.

The news of the battles at Lexington and Concord, where, as Emerson says, was "fired the shotheard round the world," traveled with remarkable speed to Vermont'. There the GreenMountain Boys quickly sprang to arms, and, under Ethan Allen, their leader, marched on toFort Ticonderoga. This place was in the hands of the British, and contained large storesof arms and ammunition, which the Americans coveted.

But before the Green Mountain Boys reached Ticonderoga, Arnold joined them to assumecommand of their force. As Ethan Allen refused to give it up, the two patriots headed theforce together. They came upon the fort so unexpectedly that, at the cry of "Surrender!"the British commander sprang out of bed and rushed to the door, defiantly asking, "By whatauthority?" "In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" thunderedEthan Allen. The British officer was forced to yield, although he knew the Green MountainBoys could have no such orders, for the Second Continental Congress was to assemble onlythe next day. The taking of Ticonderoga, and of Crown Point on the morrow, proved a greathelp to the Revolutionary cause, for the patriots thus secured cannon and powder whichthey were to need before long.

Traveling rapidly from place to place, the news of the battle of Lexington soon spread allthrough the colonies. The congressional delegates, therefore, left their homes to meet inPhiladelphia, knowing there was a great piece ofwork before them. One of them, George Washington, felt it so keenly that before startinghe wrote to his brother: "It is my full intention to devote my life and fortune to thecause we are engaged in, if needful."

It was well that he was so ready to serve his country, for it was sorely in need of help.Congress no sooner assembled, with Hanco*ck for president, than it began to govern thecountry, and called for an army of fifteen thousand men. Adams then arose, saying he wouldlike to propose as general a gentleman from Virginia, whose "skill and experience as anofficer, independent fortune, great talents, and universal character will command theapproval of all America."

George Washington, who had expected nothing of the sort, and who was as modest as he wasgood, fled from the room when he heard this. But every one voted for him, and when he wascalled back he reluctantly accepted the charge given him, saying: "I beg it may beremembered by every gentleman in this room that I this day declare, with the utmostsincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with." But he then wenton to say that he would do his best, and refused all pay for his services, asking onlythat Congress should pay his expenses, of which he would keep an exact account.

Washington wrote to his wife, at Mount Vernon: "I should enjoy more real happiness in onemonth with you at home than I have the most distant prospect of finding abroad, if my staywere seven times seven years." But as he always did his duty promptly and cheerfully, heimmediately set out on horseback for Boston, where the continental troops were rapidlyassembling.

The British, in the meantime, had withdrawn once more into Boston, which they dulyfortified by earthworks across the Neck. Here they were soon joined by new troops; forGenerals Howe, Burgoyne, and Clinton had been sent from England to put down the rebellion.On first hearing that the British soldiers were kept in Boston by ill-equipped and badlytrained Americans, one of these officers cried: "What! can ten thousand Yankee Doodlesshut up five thousand soldiers of the king? Only let us get in there, and we'll soon findelbow room!" But, as you will see, they did not find this an easy task.

The Americans, learning that the British were planning to fortify Bunker Hill and BreedsHill, back of Charlestown, determined to prevent their doing so, if possible, by occupyingthose places first. Twelve hundred men were therefore put under command of ColonelPrescott, and, after a solemn prayer, they noiselessly crept up Breeds Hill in thedarkness, and began to throw up earthworks.

As the patriots toiled silently on, they heard from time to time the British sentinels cryout, "All's well!" But when the sun rose, the British found that all was not well, for theAmericans were intrenched on Breeds Hill. Still, thinking it would be an easy matter todislodge the patriots, they joyfully prepared for the battle. The Americans did not quailwhen British bullets began to rain around them, for their leader, seeing their dismay whenthe first man fell, encouraged them by walking along the top of his breastwork as coollyas if there were no danger at all.

General Gage, perceiving him through his telescope, asked a Bostonian who he was, andwhether he would fight. The Bostonian proudly answered that the man's name wasWilliam Prescott, and added: "Fight? Yes, yes! you may depend upon him to do that to thevery last drop of blood in his veins." In the meantime, Prescott charged his men, who hadfew rounds of ammunition, not to fire until he bade them, or until they could see thewhites of the enemies' eyes.

This order was so manfully obeyed that when the red coats climbed the hill they fell inswaths before the patriots' rifles. Twice the British fell back dismayed before thisdeadly fire, and twice their officers bravely rallied them and led them back. But Prescottkept up the courage of his men until, seeing that they had no more bullets, he bade themretreat, using their guns as clubs, since they had no bayonets. The gallant Warren, whohad gone into this fight saying, "Sweet and fitting it is todie for one's country," fell on the very spot where Bunker Hill Monument now stands; andPrescott bravely covered the retreat of his men, being the last to leave the works.

In this battle, which is called the "battle of Bunker Hill," the British drove thepatriots away, but at the cost of so many lives that when the news reached Europe a Frenchstatesman said: "Two more such victories, and England will have no army left in America."Not only did many British soldiers perish, but as the Americans discovered that the onlycause of their defeat on this occasion was lack of ammunition, they looked forward to thenext battle without fear.

All felt, as Ward said, that "We shall finally come off victorious, and triumph over theenemies of freedom and America." This belief, however, was not shared in England, althoughFranklin proved that it had cost the mother country three million pounds and many men tokill about three hundred and fifty Yankees. He added that in the meantime so many childrenhad been born in our country that, at that rate, it would be impossible to find men andmoney enough to conquer the whole territory.

The news of the battle of Bunker Hill, and of Howe's setting fire to Charlestown during thestruggle, was sent without delay to Congress. The messenger who bore it met Washington onhis way to Cambridge to take command of the army. The general in chief eagerly asked howthe Americans had behaved, and when he heard that they had stood their ground bravely, hefervently cried: "The liberties of the country are safe!"

The messenger then continued on his way, and when the news reached Congress there wasgreat excitement. The patriots felt that the fight could now end only when their rightswere assured; and Franklin wrote to some friends in England: "England has lost hercolonies forever."

Riding on, Washington quickly reached Cambridge, where he made his headquarters in thehouse later occupied by the famous American poet Longfellow. In the beginning of July,1775, standing under the Cambridge Elm, Washington took command of the continental army,composed of about fifteen thousand men of every age and size. They were armed with huntingrifles, knives, swords.or pitchforks; most of them had no idea of military drill or discipline, and all were inneed of arms, ammunition, uniforms, and food.

It was impossible to fight without three of these things; so while the patriots broughtfood for the soldiers, Washington bestirred himself to secure arms and ammunition, beggingCongress to supply hunting shirts, so that his army might present a more orderlyappearance. To prevent the enemy from discovering, through spies, that he had less thanhalf a pound of powder for each man, Washington had a number of barrels filled with sand.A little powder was put on top of each, and they were stored away and guarded as carefullyas if there were the greatest danger of their exploding at any minute.

While waiting for the artillery which Ethan Allen had secured at Ticonderoga to be broughtacross country on ox sleds, Washington and his aids drilled their ungainly troops. But thepatriots were independent and hard to manage. It is said that when a corporal once bade aprivate get a pail of water, the latter coolly answered: "I won't. Get it yourself. I gotthe last pail; it is your turn now."

The officers, on the other hand, seemed afraid to lower themselves by doing any work.Washington, hearing a corporal urge his men to remove a log which was too heavy for them,suggested to the corporal that in such cases it was well to lend a hand. But the manproudly answered: "Do you realize that I am a corporal?" Feeling that example would bebetter than preaching, Washington dismounted, lent a vigorous hand to the men, and, whenthe log was in place, showed them hisuniform and rode off, bidding the men call for him whenever they needed help.

We are told that on another occasion he found some Marblehead fishermen and Virginiariflemen quarreling. Unable to bring them to order in any other way, Washington, who wasmore than six feet tall and very strong, strode into their midst, and, seizing thenoisiest by their collars, shook them until he brought them back to their senses.

For eight months Washington waited and drilled, keeping the British shut up in Boston.Here the officers tried to kill time by writing and acting plays, and it is said that themost clever of all these productions was a work by André making fun of Washington. TheBritish soldiers, having nothing to do, annoyed the citizens, and so often spoiled thechildren's play on the Common, that a numberof big boys finally went to General Gage to complain about it.

The British general angrily asked: "What! Have your fathers sent you here to exhibit therebellion they have been teaching you?" But the boys bravely answered: "Nobody sent us. Wehave never injured your troops, but they have trampled down our snow hills and broken theice of our skating pond. We complained, and they called us young rebels, and told us tohelp ourselves if we could. We told the captain, and he laughed at us. Yesterday our workswere destroyed for the third time, and we will bear it no longer."

The boys' spirited reply could not but appeal to General Gage, who said to some peoplestanding near him: "The very children draw in a love of liberty with the air theybreathe." Then, turning to the boys, he added: "Go, my brave boys, and be assured that ifmy troops trouble you again they shall be punished."

While Washington was holding the British prisoners in Boston, Congress made one more vainattempt to be on good terms with the king. But the only answer he made to their petitionwas to call for more soldiers. Finding that the English, who in many cases thought theAmericans were right, would not fight for him, he hired seventeen thousand Hessian andother German soldiers to put down the rebellion.

The news that the king was hiring Germans and bribing the Indians on the frontier to maketrouble, made the Americans very angry. On the same day, they heard that the British hadburned down Falmouth (Portland), in Maine, so they determined to take active measures.

Knowing that the Canadians under Carleton would soon march southward, they sent two armiesto the north. One, under Montgomery, passed up Lake Champlain and soon took Montreal. Theother army, although it was winter, heroically forced its way through the Maine woods toQuebec, led by Benedict Arnold.

There Montgomery joined Arnold; but their combined forces proved too weak to take thecity. Montgomery fell in the very beginning of the fight, and Arnold, who had behaved likea hero, was badly wounded. Before he could recover and make a new attempt to seizeQuebec,—where much ammunition was stored,—new British troops came and drove the Americanforces out of Canada.

Washington, as we have seen, was seemingly idle, only because his troops needed drillingand he had no powder. As he did not wish the enemy to know this, he kept the secret untilmany people began to murmur because he spent the winter in Cambridge with Mrs. Washington,without striking a blow. He had, however, been far from idle, for, besides drilling hisarmy, he had made many arrangements, and provided that the American prisoners should bekindly treated or exchanged. To do this, he wrote to General Gates, who had fought by hisside at Monongahela twenty years before, promising that the British prisoners shouldreceive just the same care as was given to the Americans.

As soon as the cannons came from Ticonderoga, Washington resolved to attack Boston, inspite of the objections of his officers. The principal house owners there had long urgedhim to do so, notwithstanding the fact that their property would suffer greatly. Onenight, therefore, he bade his men secretly climb and fortify Dorchester Heights. When theBritish awoke the next morning, they saw that the American guns covered them. Rather thanstand such a deadly fire, General Howe decided to leave the town. His troops, and aboutnine hundred of his friends, went on board the British vessels in the harbor, and sailedoff to Halifax.

On St. Patrick's day, 1776, Washington triumphantly entered Boston, where his troops werereceived with every demonstration of great joy. Indeed, the Bostonians were so happy thatthey gave Washington a gold medal, on one side of which he is represented on horseback,pointing to the vanishing British fleet.

But Washington did not linger there long. Suspecting that Howe's next attempt would be toseize New York, and fearing lest he might have gone there straight from Boston, Washingtonsoon hurried away. Just before he left the city, a British ship, laden with powder, sailedinto the harbor, as its captain thought the British were still there. Its cargo wasquickly seized, and provided the American army with seven times more powder than they hadbeen able to secure by any other means.

About three months later a second British fleet, under Clinton, suddenly appeared offCharleston, where it began bombarding Fort Moultrie. The governor of Charleston havingsent word to the general, "Keep cooland do mischief," the fire was promptly returned. Besides, the British were greatlydismayed to see their cannon balls burying themselves harmlessly in the soft palmetto logsand the big sand heaps of which the fort was composed. But the balls from the fortcrippled the British vessels so badly that they had to sail away again without takingpossession of Charleston.

In the midst of this battle, a British cannon ball cut Fort Moultrie's flagstaff in two,and brought down the flag. The enemy cheered loudly at this lucky shot; but a sergeantnamed Jasper quickly jumped over the parapet, caught up the fallen flag, and set it upagain, notwithstanding the hail of bullets falling around him; so that it was now theAmericans' turn to raise a cheer of triumph. In reward for his daring action, Jasper wasoffered the rank of lieutenant; but as he could neither read nor write, he sadly refusedit, saying: "I am not fit for the company of officers."

In June, 1776, Richard Henry Lee brought into Congress a resolution "that these UnitedColonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States." This was now theopinion of the principal men in our country, and Washington wrote: "When I took command ofthe army, I abhorred the idea of independence; now I am convinced nothing else will saveus."

The minds of the people having been prepared for thechange by a little pamphlet called "Common Sense," Congress appointed five men to draw upa Declaration of Independence. These five men were Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin,John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston; but as the paper, with the exception ofa few words, is the work of Jefferson, he is generally called the "Father of theDeclaration of Independence."

On July 4, 1776, this paper was adopted by Congress, after hours of discussion. In themeantime, crowds of people were anxiously waiting in the street in front of the oldstatehouse in Philadelphia to hear the decision of the Congress. A story says that the oldbell ringer was at his post, ready to proclaim the glad news as soon as he received thesignal from a grandson stationed below. But time seemed so long to the old man that hemuttered again and again: "They'll never do it." All at once, however, a little lad dartedout of the statehouse, clapping his hands and shouting: "Ring, grandpa! Ring!"

Then the Independence Bell, which, strange to relate, bore the inscription, "Proclaimliberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof," pealed out loud andclear, announcing the birth of the United States of America! All the other bells took upthe joyful strain, and the news, flying from place to place, was welcomed everywhere.

John Hanco*ck, president of Congress, was the first to sign the Declaration ofIndependence, writing his namein large, plain letters, and saying: "There; John Bull can read my name withoutspectacles. Now let him double the price on my head, for this is my defiance." Then heturned to the other members, and solemnly added: "We must be unanimous [of one mind];there must be no pulling different ways; we must all hang together."

"Yes," said Franklin, quaintly: "we must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall allhang separately."

We are told that Charles Carroll, thinking his writing looked shaky, added the words "ofCarrollton," so that the king should not be able to make any mistake as to whose namestood there.

Copies of the Declaration of Independence were promptly sent to every colony, where it wassolemnly read. In Pennsylvania this reading took place in theyard in front of the statehouse, which has ever since then been known as IndependenceHall. It was there that the Liberty Bell hung, and pealed out the happy news. When thetidings reached New York, they were joyfully received by the army, and the Sons of Libertypulled down King George's leaden statue. They later sent it to Connecticut, where patriotwomen broke it up and melted it to make bullets for the army.

At the same time, fault began to be found with the name of King's College, which had beenestablished in New York over twenty years. But nothing was done till after the war, whenthe name was changed to Columbia College.

In the summer of 1776 Howe came into New York Bay with twenty-five thousand men, and soonafter landed on Staten Island. In coming to New York, Howe was carrying out part of agreat plan which had been made to separate the southern from the New England colonies. Todo this, he was to march up the Hudson, while Carleton came south from Canada by way ofLake Champlain.

This plan was, as you see, very cleverly laid; but it was not so easy to carry out as theBritish expected. Although Carleton marched south and won a victory over Arnold at ValcourIsland, in Lake Champlain, it was at such a cost that he soon retreated in haste, insteadof pressing on.

Soon after General Howe reached New York Bay, his brother, Lord Howe, made a proclamationoffering pardon to all who would lay down their arms and promise to obey the king. Next,he sent an officer to the American camp, with this proclamation in a letter addressed to"GeorgeWashington, Esq." Washington, knowing that he must uphold the dignity of his country,rightly refused to receive any letter addressed to him as a private citizen. He said thatGeorge Washington, the Virginia planter, would not be at home to receive letters until thewar was over, and that the general in chief of the American army could not receive anyletters unless they bore the proper address.

Lord Howe now sent a second missive, addressed to "George Washington, Esq., etc., etc.;"but Washington also refused that. Seeing that the American general would not yield, LordHowe ever after sent his letters properly directed, although he hated to do so, because itseemed to acknowledge the new government.

We are told that it was sometime during Washington's sojourn in New York that the Britishbribed a man to throw poison into the general's dish of pease. But, thanks to the warningof a faithful servant, Washington, although very fond of them, did not eat any, and thusescaped death.

While Washington was in New York, Putnam had charge of the troops on Long Island. Here GeneralHowe suddenly came upon him with such a large force that Putnam was beaten and forced toretreat. Washington, who saw the battle of Long Island from a distance, is reported tohave wrung his hands, and to have cried, with tears running down his cheeks: "My God! whatbrave fellows I must lose this day!"

At nightfall, the Americans were intrenched on Brooklyn Heights, where Howe planned totake the "nest of rebels "by siege. But, thanks to a fog which rose over the bay,Washington cleverly and noiselessly drew off these troops, and when the sun rose on thesecond day, Howe found that the Americans were all on the other side of the East River.Knowing that Howe would pursue him, and not wishing to expose New York city to the enemy'scannon, Washington began to retreat up the Hudson.

While part of the British army landed near the Battery, the rest, under Howe himself,crossed the East River higher up, so as to cut off the retreat of the Americans underPutnam. To prevent this, Washington stationed troops at the landing at Kips Bay (whereEast Thirty-fourth Street now ends), bidding them hold the British at bay long enough toenable Putnam to retreat. But the Americans fled at the first fire, although Washingtontried to stop them. In his rage and despair over their cowardice, Washington is said tohave flung his hat on the ground, and bitterly cried: "Are these the men with whom I am todefend America?"

Still, one man could not hold an army in check; so Washington rode northward, sending wordto Putnam to hurry, and begging Mrs. Murray, a lady living on a hill near by, to use herwoman's wit to detain the enemy. Mrs. Murray bade her servants prepare refreshments, andwhen General Howe rode past her gate, she stepped out to invite him into her house.

It was a very warm day, the house looked cool and inviting, and Howe accepted, thinking afew moments' delay would not do any harm. But the ladies proved soentertaining, and the food they set before the officers so welcome, that instead ofstaying only a few moments, they lingered there several hours. Finally a servant came inand whispered something to Mrs. Murray, who, rising from her seat, begged Howe toaccompany her to see something which she thought might interest him.

We are told that she then led the British general to an upper window, and pointed outPutnam's army vanishing in the dim distance. The delay had enabled the Americans to escapeto a point higher up, where they still held Forts Lee and Washington, on either side ofthe river.

While the battle of Long Island was raging, Washington, needing information, sent NathanHale, a Yale graduate, into the British ranks. This brave youth was betrayed by a formerfriend, and the British, having taken him captive, condemned him to be hanged as a spy.This was no more than the young man expected; but they cruelly refused him a Bible or aminister to prepare for death.

We are told that even his last letters to his mother and betrothed were torn to piecesbefore his eyes, as they dragged him off to the gallows. But as the young patriot stoodthere, surrounded by foes, he firmly said: "I regret only that I have but one life to losefor my country." These noble words are carved on the pedestal of his statue, which nowstands in one of the principal squares of New York city.

Howe and Clinton were now both in New York, where they were warmly welcomed by a fewpersons who were still faithful to King George. But as they had failed to secure theAmerican army, they soon set out to pursue Washington, who slowly retreated before them.

Washington did not try to do more than check their advance, because he knew their shipscould sail up the Hudson, across which he had vainly tried to make a barrier by sinkingsome old ships. Step by step, therefore, Washington withdrew until he came to WhitePlains. There a battle was fought; but, while the Americans were defeated, the Britishretreated on the next day, rather than renew the fight and lose more men.

Washington had left General Nathanael Greene in charge of Fort Washington, telling him toforsake it rather than run any risk of losing his troops. But Greene thought it would besafe to remain there awhile longer. Unfortunately, however, a traitor gave General Howethe plans of the place, thus enabling him to surprise and capture Fort Washington,together with three thousand men.

These soldiers, like many other American prisoners, were sent on board a rotting ship inNew York harbor, where, in the course of the Revolutionary War, more than eleven thousandmen died from bad food, bad water, and bad air. These victims of British cruelty werefirst buried in the mud at low tide, but their remains now rest in Washington Park,Brooklyn. A memorial monument has also been erected in their honor in Trinity Church,bearing the inscription: "To those great and good men who died while imprisoned in thiscity, for their devotion to the cause of American Independence." This honor waswell deserved, for soldiers who die of disease or in captivity are just as likely to beheroes as those who fall on the battlefield.

Washington, seeing his fort taken, now went to Hackensack, sending orders to GeneralCharles Lee to cross the Hudson and join him in New Jersey. But instead of obeyingpromptly, Lee delayed so long that, as you will soon see, he hampered Washington greatly.The British, in the meantime, crossed the river, and Greene was obliged to leave Fort Leein hot haste. Indeed, the enemy were so near that they found the soup pots still boilingon the fire, and merrily ate the dinner which was to have been served for the Americans.

Still faithful to his plan to worry and check the British, without meeting them in openbattle, Washington now slowly retreated across New Jersey. We are told that he often lefta place as the enemy came in; and because he thus imitated the tactics of a Roman general,you will often hear him called the "American Fabius."

Cornwallis, the British general now in charge, pursued the Americans as fast as he could,in order to force them to meet him in pitched battles. But while the armies were oftenclose enough to hear the music of each other's bands, and there were many smallskirmishes, no real battle took place.

In one of these small engagements the wads used in loading the guns gave out. The chaplainof the regiment, who hated the British because they had cruelly shot his wife and baby,rushed into a church, tore up some hymn books, and, carrying the leaves to the soldiersfor wads, said: "Give 'em Watts, boys! Give 'em Watts!"

While retreating before Cornwallis, Washington kept sending stern orders to Lee to hasten andjoin him, so that their combined forces could be used against the British. But Lee did notobey, and came on very slowly. Indeed, he said freely that he did not consider Washingtona good general, and often boasted that if he were only at the head of the army the warwould soon be over.

Lee was in a little inn in New Jersey, writing a letter to General Gates expressing hisopinion of Washington, when he was suddenly surrounded by the British and made a prisoner.Without giving him time to change his dressing-gown and slippers, or get into his uniform,the British bore him off in triumph, thinking they had taken the most clever of all theAmerican generals. But Lee was really no loss, and his army, having fortunately gone onahead, joined Washington sooner without a general than it would have done had Lee beenthere.

Many of the Americans now fancied, like the British, that since Lee was a prisoner theirmainstay was gone. Besides, the British began to threaten to ill-treat Lee, and as theAmericans held no British generals as prisoners, they could not offer an exchange. Knowingthis, a Rhode Island officer named Barton made a bold plan.

He had heard that the British General Prescott was quartered on the seashore not very farfrom Newport. Taking a party of forty brave seamen and soldiers, he rowed with muffledoars right through the British fleet, one darknight. Then a sentinel was noiselessly killed, and the small force surrounded the housewhere Prescott lay asleep. A moment later the Americans burst into his bedroom, bore himoff half clothed to their boats, and, rowing away in safety, sent word to the British thatPrescott should receive just the same treatment that they gave Lee. Nine months later anexchange was made, and Lee and Prescott went back to their posts (1778).

In the meantime Washington still avoided a battle, and retreated to the Delaware. There,having cleverly secured every boat within a hundred miles, he took his army over theriver. When the British came up, not a single boat was to be had; so they camped near thestream, thinking it would soon freeze hard enough to allow them to cross on the ice andseize Philadelphia.

This was a time of great trial for the Americans, and Washington was the only man who didnot despair. Still, the British had set a price upon his head, and were loudly boastingthat they would soon hang him. Speaking of this, Washington once told his friend JosephReed: "My neck does not feel as though it were made for a halter." Then he added that ifthings came to the worst they would have to retreat into Virginia, or even over theAlleghanies, but that they must never give up the struggle they had begun.

Congress, fearing the British would carry out their plan and seize Philadelphia, nowhastily withdrew to Baltimore. But before leaving, Samuel Adams wrote: "Let America exerther own strength, and He who cannot be indifferent to her righteous cause will even workmiracles, if necessary, to establish her feet upon a rock."

Washington, as we have seen, was very prudent; but he was not lacking in courage. Seeingthat the British forces were scattered, he now thought it a fine chance to win a victory,which would rekindle the ardor of his men and give new courage to all the nation.

He therefore planned to surprise the Hessians at Trenton by crossing the river, in spiteof huge cakes of floating ice which nearly blocked it. Marblehead fishermen were put incharge of the boats, and such was their skill and daring that they took twenty-fourhundred men safely over. This crossing of the Delaware on Christmas Right (1776) was oneof the most daring feats ever performed. Besides, the men were only half clad, and sobadly shod that they left bloody footprints in the snow; and the cold was so intense thatnight, that two of their number were actually frozen to death.

In spite of drifting snow and driving wind, Washington's force marched bravely on, andsurprised the Hessians at Trenton. The wounded commander, Rahl, was forced to surrender,and his whole army was seized. We are told that the Hessian soldiers had been so busykeeping Christmas that they were all half drunk, and that Rahl himself was too absorbed ina game of cards to read a note sent to warn him of his peril. Thinking it a matter of noimportance, he thrust it into his pocket unread, and thus he and his men fell intoWashington's hands.

The news of the victory of Trenton filled the hearts of the Americans with great joy, butit proved a bitter disappointment to Cornwallis. Fancying the war all over, he had packedhis trunks and gone on board a vessel to return to England. But now General Howe sent himback in haste to Trenton to fight Washington. Hedged in between a river full of floatingice and a large army, it now seemed as if Washington could not escape.

One evening, therefore, Cornwallis gleefully told one of his officers that they would "bagthe old fox "on the next day. The officer suggested that it might be better not topostpone it till the morrow; but Cornwallis answered that this time the Americans couldnot escape. That same night, however, Washington took advantage of the fact that the roadsfroze hard enough to enable him to remove his cannon, and slipped away by back roads,leaving his camp fires burning brightly so as to deceive the enemy. When the British awokethe next morning, the "old fox" was gone, and sounds of firing in the direction ofPrinceton soon convinced them that a battle must be going on there.

Running into Cornwallis's tent, an officer roused him, crying: "To arms, general!Washington has outgeneraled us. Let us fly to the rescue of Princeton!" But,notwithstanding all their haste, they reached Princeton only after the battle—on thepresent college grounds was all over, and the victorious Washington had safely advanced toMorristown Heights. This campaign, in the dead of winter, was so wonderful that it won forWashington the title of "Savior of his Country," and Frederick the Great of Prussia oncesaid that it was the most brilliant piece of generalship in the pages of history.

While Washington was spending the rest of the winter at Morristown, the news of his triumphsreached France. Franklin had been sent there, in 1776, to secure help, if possible. Hisreputation as a man of science, his great talents, and his affable manners made him agreat favorite in Paris, where the fashionable ladies and gentlemen carried fans andsnuffboxes decorated with his portrait. But although both king and queen received Franklinvery graciously, they would not at first promise him any aid.

A young French nobleman named Lafayette, longing to help the Americans, now decided toleave his young wife and home. But as the king forbade him to leave court, he secretlyembarked upon a vessel he fitted out himself, and crossed the Atlantic. Then, as soon ashelanded, he went straight to Congress and offered to serve the United States without pay. Afew days later he met Washington, whose helper he became, and who soon learned to love himas dearly as if he had been his own son.

Several other illustrious foreigners came in the same way to fight for America andfreedom. The bravest among them were the Germans De Kalb and Steuben,and the Poles Pulaski and Kosciusko. It is said that when Kosciusko first presentedhimself, and was asked what he could do, he briefly answered: "Try me." This reply sopleased Washington that he made the young man his aid-de-camp.

Washington's victories at Trenton and Princeton, and his return toward New York, could notdivert Howe from his purpose to secure Philadelphia. When summer came on, therefore, heset out with his fleet to take that city. Washington began retracing his steps, and,knowing that Howe could not sail up the Delaware,—which was defended by forts,—went tomeet him at Chadds Ford on the Brandywine (1777). Here a battle was fought, and not onlywere the Americans defeated, but Lafayette was sorely wounded.

Although beaten, Washington's army retreated in good order to Philadelphia, which was soontaken by Howe and the British forces. Hoping to drive them away, Washington surprisedthem, one morning, at Germantown. Here he would have won a brilliant victory, had not adense fog made two divisions of his men shoot each other before they discovered theirmistake, thus creating a panic.

As there was nothing to be gained by fighting with exhausted troops, Washington nowwithdrew, and before long went to Valley Forge for the winter. Meanwhile, Howe attackedthe forts on either side of the Delaware River. One of these held out bravely for sixdays, refusing to surrender until it had been battered to pieces. Then, as one fort alonecould not check the British fleet, the second surrendered also.

Hoping to damage some of the British vessels atPhiladelphia, the patriots made rude torpedoes, which were placed inside of small kegs andsent floating down the river. One of these engines struck a cake of ice and exploded, andthe British, thus warned of danger, shot at every floating object they saw, thus wagingwhat has been called in fun the "Battle of the Kegs."

The British, having nothing else to do, now settled down comfortably in Philadelphia,where they lived on the very best of everything. They spent most of their time givingballs and parties, and grew so fat and lazy that, as Franklin wittily said, "Howe has nottaken Philadelphia so much as Philadelphia has taken Howe." This remark proved true, foralthough the plan had been that Howe should march northward, he was delayed by Washingtonuntil it was almost too late. Besides, we are told that the British general never receivedpositive orders to go north, for the paper, being badly written, was laid aside to becopied, and forgotten until too late.

Meanwhile the British again tried to carry out their plan of invading New York fromCanada. This time, while one army started from Lake Ontario for the Mohawk valley,Burgoyne came southward up Lake Champlain, with British and Indian troops, and took FortsTiconderoga and Edward. This was considered a great victory in England, and when KingGeorge heard that Ticonderoga was taken, he clapped his hands and shouted: "I have beatthem! I have beat all the Americans!"

This was not true, however. But General Schuyler, sent to oppose Burgoyne, had so small aforce that all he could do was to hinder the enemy's advance by cutting down trees anddestroying bridges.

The king's advisers had told Burgoyne to hire Indians to help him, and in spite of all hecould do to prevent it, these savage allies fought with their usual cruelty. They evenkilled and scalped Jane McCrea, a beautiful young lady, who, it is said, was on her way tomeet a British officer to whom she was engaged. When this man saw her long golden locksamong the scalps the Indians brought back, he left the army, and spent the rest of hislife alone, mourning for his betrothed.

After taking the two forts, Burgoyne, hearing that there were cannon and stores atBennington, Vermont, sent part of his German troops thither to secure them. But when hismen drew near this place, they found it ably defended by General Stark.

Even as a boy, this American patriot had always shown great courage and presence of mind.Once, when a prisoner of the Indians, and forced to run the gantlet, Stark snatched a clubfrom one of his captors, and struck right and left with such vigor that he dealt moreblows than he received. Later on, he also did many brave deeds during the French andIndian wars.

When the Germans drew near Bennington, Stark led his men against the foe, crying: "Therethey are, boys! We beat them to-day or Molly Stark's a widow." The men, fired by hisexample, fought so bravely that they soon won a signal victory. As Washington said, thiswas a "grand stroke," for the Germans were almost all captured or killed, while only a fewof the Americans were lost.

We are told that one old man had five sons in this battle. On the morrow, a neighbor,wishing to break the news of one son's death, gently said: "One of your sonshas been unfortunate." "Did he run away or neglect his duty?" the father asked quickly."No; worse than that! He has fallen, but while fighting bravely." "Ah!" said the father,"then I am satisfied!" For the old man was such a good patriot that he was quite willinghis sons should die for their country, and considered that only traitors and cowardsneeded pity.

The victory at Bennington not only saved the American cannon and supplies from the hands ofthe foe, but enabled Stark and the Green Mountain Boys to get between Burgoyne and Canada.They thus cut him off from all help from the north, whence he expected both food andammunition for his men.

While Burgoyne was thus between Generals Schuyler and Stark, St. Leger, another Britishgeneral, was coming along the Mohawk valley to join Burgoyne at Albany. On his way,however, he stopped to besiege Fort Stanwix, or Schuyler. Eight hundred volunteers set outto reinforce the garrison, but on the way thither, at Oriskany, they were surprised by theIndian chief Brant. Their leader, General Herkimer, mortally wounded in the very beginningof the engagement, bade his men place him under a tree, and then bravely said: "Now, goand fight. I will face the enemy." In spite of pain, he calmly lighted his pipe, and,while smoking, directed his troops with such vigor that before long the Indians wererouted.

The garrison at Fort Stanwix, hearing shots in the forest, made a brave sortie, in whichthey captured five flags from St. Leger. These they hoisted above their fort, upside down,putting above them all a new flag made from pieces of a soldier's old shirt, a bluejacket, and a red flannel petticoat. Although fashioned from such queer materials, thisflag bore thirteen alternate red and white stripes, and in a blue field in one corner wasa wreath of thirteen white stars, the number of the United States. This was the newAmerican flag suggested by Washington—whose coat of arms bore stars and stripes—andadopted by Congress in June, 1777.

But while the patriots thus fashioned a rude flag in the wilderness, and were the first tofight under this emblem, it was Mrs. Ross, of Philadelphia, who made the first Americanflag of this kind, in June, 1777.

When Schuyler heard of Herkimer's brave stand, and of the bold sortie from Fort Stanwix,he bade Arnold go and relieve the fort. Fearing that his force might not prove strongenough, Arnold made use of a trick. He told one of the prisoners, a half-witted lad, thathe should be free if he would only do exactly as he was bidden. The lad agreed, and, cladin torn garments, ran to St. Leger's camp, loudly shouting, "The Americans are coming!" Ofcourse the British and Indians crowded around him, and when the idiot was asked how manymen were on the way, he answered by pointing mysteriously to the leaves on the treesoverhead. This strange behavior made St. Leger believe that a large force was advancing,and created such a panic among his men that, in spite of all he could do, they beat ahasty retreat.

As St. Leger had gone back, and Howe had not come up the Hudson, Burgoyne was leftentirely alone in the heart of the enemy's country. Schuyler was therefore on the point ofwinning a glorious victory, after all his hard work, when Congress suddenly bade him giveup his command to General Gates. Although wounded to the quick by this order, Schuyler wastoo noble a man to show any anger. He gallantly said, "The country before everything," andasked permission of Gates to serve as an officer under him, since he could no longercommand.

Burgoyne was surrounded, and seeing that he must fight, he advanced toward the Americanposition on Bemis Heights, near which the first battle of Saratoga took place. But nightcame on before it was over, and for more than two weeks the armies stood face to face,watching each other closely, yet not daring to risk a new battle. Finally, seeing that hemust fight, starve, or retreat, Burgoyne marched out again, to face the Americans in whatis known as the battle of Stillwater.

Daniel Morgan and his sharpshooters, posted behind trees, carefully singled out thebravest men, and shot them with unerring aim, Indeed, such was their skill that it is saidMorgan's riflemen could "toss up an apple and shoot all the seeds out of it as it fell."

Chief among the British officers on that day was General Fraser, who, when urged to take aless exposed position, simply replied: "My duty forbids me to fly from danger." Even whilehe was speaking thus, Morgan pointed him out to one of his best marksmen, saying: "Thatgallant officer is General Fraser. I admire and honor him; but he must die. Stand amongthose bushes, and do your duty."These orders were so promptly carried out that a moment later Fraser lay among the dead.

Arnold had been unjustly deprived of his command, but he could not keep out of the fray.Dashing to the front, he led the advance with his usual bravery, and forced his way intothe British camp. But as he reached it he fell wounded in the same leg which had sufferedat Quebec. His men tenderly bore him off the field of battle, where he had won a victorywhile General Gates was lingering in his tent.

During the battle, some women and children who were with the British army crouched interror in the cellar of a neighboring house, listening to the shriek of the cannon ballsoverhead. The wounded in this building clamored for water, until, knowing the men wouldperish if they ventured out, a soldier's wife marched boldly down to the river. She didthis several times, in full view of the Americans, who admired her courage and let heralone.

The battle had raged so fiercely that Burgoyne retreated to Saratoga, where he held acouncil of war to determine whether he should surrender. In the midst of his talk, aneighteen-pound cannon ball passed right over the table where he and his officers sat, sothey quickly and wisely concluded that it was high time to give up (1777). The Britishsoldiers, therefore, laid down their arms, and the Americans marched into their campplaying "Yankee Doodle," the tune they had adopted as a national air.

We are told that Burgoyne, on handing Gates his sword in token of surrender, proudlyremarked: "The fortune of war, General Gates, has made me your prisoner"; to which Gatesanswered, as he gave it back: "I shallalways be ready to bear testimony that it has not been through any fault of yourExcellency." Later on, touched by the courtesy of Schuyler, whose house he had burneddown, Burgoyne said: "You show me much kindness, though I have done you much injury.""That was the fate of war," said Schuyler, kindly; "let us say no more about it."

Although Gates received all the credit at first, the two battles of Saratoga were really won bySchuyler, Morgan, and Arnold. Burgoyne's surrender proved the turning point of theRevolutionary War, so thefight at Saratoga is known as one of the decisive battles of the world. Not only did itend the British plan of separating New England from the Southern States, but it made theFrench promise to help the Americans openly. It also gave King George such a fright thathe even offered to let the Americans send members to Parliament, if they would lay downtheir arms and promise to obey him.

But this offer, which would have more than satisfied the colonists a short time before,came too late. They had suffered so much that they were not willing to give up what theyhad won and again become subject to a king who, like those who had come before him, mightat any time change his mind or break his promises. Besides, they remembered only tooclearly that, after granting charters, kings had often taken them away again, and so theydecided to keep on fighting until the matter was settled once for all.

The news of the victory at Saratoga created a great sensation in Paris, where the Frenchhad been waiting to see how things turned out before they openly sided with the Americans.The king now not only acknowledged the independence of the United Colonies of America(1778), but made a treaty of friendship and commerce with them, and soon sent a fleet tohelp them fight the British.

This happy turn of affairs was mainly brought about by Franklin, who for the past twoyears had been making as many friends for. America as he could. Every one admired him forhis learning and good nature, and the French minister Turgot once proposed his health,saying: "He snatched a thunderbolt from heaven, and the scepter from the hand of thetyrant!"

But Franklin—who had a keen sense of humor, and, like all really great men, was verymodest—smiled, and quaintly answered that while he appreciated the kindness of the speech,he was obliged to confess that not only had he left thunder in the clouds,—just where hehad found it,—but that more than one million of his countrymen had helped him snatch thescepter from the hands of the tyrant!

News traveled so slowly in those days that it took months before Franklin heard ofBurgoyne's surrender, and before Washington and Howe received word that the French weregoing to help the colonies openly. These months were full of hardships for all theAmericans, for while the men were away fighting, the heroic women were obliged to do theirwork too.

Washington's army, as we have seen, had encamped at Valley Forge, where the soldiers livedin rude log huts. They were without proper food or clothes, and cowered miserably overcampfires, for which they had to carrywood on their backs from neighboring forests. Even General Washington had but one room,and lived on cabbage and potatoes, with a few hickory nuts for dessert from time to time.

His heart was wrung at the sight of his men's sufferings, and as soon as his wife joinedhim at Valley Forge, he begged her to work as hard as she could to supply the men withstockings. Mrs. Washington's own knitting needles now flew faster than ever; besides, sheinterested all her friends in the work, and every day visited the soldiers' quarters,carrying them the stout garments thus secured. But provisions grew so scarce thatWashington had to send all the women home, and Mrs. Washington again withdrew to MountVernon, where she lived as economically as possible, working day and night for her husbandand the army.

As if matters were not bad enough already, some of the officers now formed a plot to takethe command away from Washington, and put Gates at the head of the army in his stead. Thisplot, known as the Conway cabal, was headed by a man named Conway, to whom Washington hadbeen particularly kind, but who was angry because he had not been promoted as fast as hewished.

The question was brought before Congress at Baltimore, where, hearing that there wasdanger of Washington's being dismissed for lack of a vote, Duer, one of his friends,although ill in bed, determined to go to the meeting. His doctor, however, said that if hedid so it would be at the risk of his life. "Do you mean I should expire before reachingthe place?" asked Duer. "No; but I should not answer for your leaving it alive," answeredthe doctor.Hearing this, the good man firmly said: "Very well, sir; you have done your duty; now Iwill do mine." Then he called for a litter to carry him to Congress.

Luckily for him, some of Washington's friends came back in time to prevent his leaving hissick room. But better still for the welfare of our country, the Conway plot failed, andWashington remained at the head of the army. Conway had been so ungrateful that he wasforced to leave the country, where people despised him for the mean part he had played.

All these trials wrung Washington's noble heart, and as he had no privacy in hisheadquarters, he sometimes rode out alone to think. A Quaker, hearing a noise in thebushes, once stole up cautiously, and found the general's horse tied to a tree. A few feetfarther away, he beheld Washington kneeling in the snow, praying aloud for his country,with great tears streaming down his cheeks. The good Quaker crept away again unseen, butin telling the story some years later, he remarked that he felt at the time that the Lordcould not but answer the fervent prayer of so good a man.

The British quartered in Philadelphia were leading an easy and merry life; but several timesduring the winter Howe made plans to surprise Washington's troops. To his dismay, however,his plans always seemed known to the Americans, and therefore failed. Afraid that somespy might overhear him, Howe once held a secret meeting at night in the house of a Quakerwoman, named Lydia Darrah. To make sure that he should not be overheard, he bade her go tobed, and see that all her family retired likewise.

Lydia obeyed, and the general, thinking all was safe, explained his plan to his officers.But the Quaker woman had noiselessly slipped out of her room again, and was now standingat the door listening to all that was said. As soon as the talk was over she crept back toher room, and when the officers had all gone, Howe called her, as agreed, to lock the doorbehind him. But she pretended to be sound asleep, and let him knock at her door threetimes before she rose, yawning, to show him out.

The next day, Lydia, who had not dared breathe a word of what she had heard to any one,said she was out of flour, and got a pass to go and buy some at a village near by. Meetinga patriot there, she quickly warned him of Washington's peril, and then quietly went home.

The next day Howe crossly said to her: "It is very strange; you, I know, were asleep, forI knocked at your door three times before you heard me; yet it is certain we werebetrayed. On arriving, we found Washington so prepared at every point that we have beencompelled to march back without injuring our enemy, like a parcel of fools." Lydia heardthis without making a sign, and not till the war was over did it become known that it wasshe who had saved the army.

Besides the American patriots, foreigners were helping Washington with all their might.Among these was the Prussian officer, Baron Steuben, who knew no English, andtherefore brought over an interpreter with him. According to one story, this interpretermade an idle bet to kiss the first Yankee girl he met. Landing at Portsmouth, this man wonhis wager by stepping up to a pretty girl, bowing politely, and begging permission to kissher, saying: "Before leaving my native land to fight for American freedom, I made a vow toask, in earnest of victory, a kiss from the first lady I should meet." The story adds thatthe young lady accepted the kiss, saying she could not refuse so small a favor to a manwho had come to fight, and if necessary, to die, for her country.

Steuben joined Washington at Valley Forge, and there began to drill the troops, so theycould meet the British on an equal footing. At first the German officer was shocked bytheir lack of discipline, and swore at them in every language he knew; sometimes he evencalled to his interpreter: "Come and swear for me in English; these fellows will not dowhat I bid them."

You see, soldiers in those days thought it manly to swear; and as Baron Steuben had beenaccustomed to European soldiers, who obeyed without a question, it took him some time togrow used to Americans, who, as he said, had to be told, "This is the reason why you oughtto do that," before they would obey. Still, he soon taught our men to fight like old andtrained soldiers.

The winter the troops spent at Valley Forge was one of the coldest ever seen, andtherefore the soldiers' sufferings were very great. But with the spring, hope revived, forthe news of the coming French fleet made the British leave Philadelphia to defend NewYork.

General Howe having gone back to England for hishealth, it was Clinton who conducted this retreat. Leaving the camp at Valley Forge,Washington pursued him across New Jersey, planning to engage him in a battle at Monmouth(1778).

Here Lee, who had been exchanged for Prescott, and was again in command, disobeyed orders,and bade his men retreat. Warned by Lafayette, Washington came up just in time to checkthis movement, and, dashing up to Lee, hotly asked what his disobedience meant. Leeanswered: "These men cannot face the British grenadiers." But Washington exclaimed: "Theycan do it, and they shall!" He was right; the men could, and did, face the enemy bravely.But precious time had been lost, and instead of winning a victory, the Americans onlymanaged to stand their ground.

During the battle, Molly Pitcher, a gunner's wife, carrying a pail (of water to herhusband, saw him fall. Sheimmediately rushed forward, took his place, and, loading his cannon, fired it as quicklyand well as he. In reward for filling her husband's place that day, Congress paid her asmall pension, and the soldiers, who admired her pluck, ever after called her "MajorMolly."

When darkness came on, the fight ceased, and Washington flung himself down to rest. Duringthe night an officer drew softly near, and the general quickly bade him advance anddeliver his message, saying: "I lie here to think, and not to sleep." Washington'sthoughts were busy, for now he could no longer doubt that Charles Lee was a traitor.Indeed, he foresaw what soon happened—that Lee would be dismissed from the army indisgrace. In fact, Lee, who had tried to harm the American cause, was never allowed toserve his country again, and had to withdraw to Virginia. There he lived a loveless andsolitary life, in a house whose only partitions were chalk lines across the floor.

On the morrow of the battle of Monmouth, Washington found that Clinton had withdrawn his armyso as to avoid a second battle. The British were now well on their way to New York, soWashington could no longer hope to overtake them. To hem them in, however, he stretched aline of American troops all the way from Morristown to West Point.

But Washington had to abandon his plan for seizing New York with the help of the Frenchfleet, becausethe vessels drew too much water to be able to cross the bar. As the fleet could not reachNew York, it made an attempt to seize Newport. Here it was met by British ships; butbefore a battle could take place, a sudden storm scattered both fleets, and caused so muchdamage that they had to refit.

When Clinton saw that Washington had drawn a close line about him in New Jersey, he triedto force the American general to break it by attacking the towns in Connecticut. ButWashington would not stir, for he knew that General Israel Putnam, in charge of the forcesthere, was well able to look out for himself. As this Putnam is one of the heroes of theRevolutionary War, it will interest you to hear a few stories about him, which allAmericans should know.

We are told that, even as a lad, Putnam was famous for his courage. Once, when a wolfcaused great damage in his neighbors' herds, he determined to kill it. But the wolfwithdrew into its den, where it could be reached only by crawling along through a narrowpassage. As the creature could neither be smoked nor starved out, Putnam offered to go inand kill it. Tying a rope to his foot, he bade his companions pull him out when they feltthe rope twitch, or heard a shot. Then he crawled along the passage on his stomach,carefully holding his gun. At the end of a few minutes he came to a place where thepassage widened a little, and there, in the darkness, he saw the yellow gleam of the bigwolf's eyes! Putnam raised his gun, shot, and was dragged out by his companions in suchhaste that his clothes were actually torn off his back, and his skin somewhat scraped.

Determined to know whether the old wolf was dead, Putnam, at the end of a few minutes,again crept into the den. When his companions obeyed the twitch of the rope a few minuteslater, and drew him out a second time, they thought he was very heavy; but when he got outthey found he was dragging by the leg the biggest gray wolf they had ever seen!

Putnam had taken part in the last French and Indian War. The year after the French tookand destroyed Fort William Henry, he was with a British army that encamped on the sameground; and when this army advanced to attack Ticonderoga, his company led the way. Whilethey were thus marching through the woods, the French surprised them; and had it not beenthat Rogers came to their rescue with more men, Putnam and his detachment would havefallen. At another time, we are told, Fort Edward took fire, and the powder magazine wasin great danger. But Putnam fought the flames inch by inch, putting them out barely intime to prevent the explosion of the whole store of ammunition.

During this French and Indian War Putnam once volunteered to mount guard at a place wherethe sentinel was always found dead in the morning. While watching there, he heard astrange noise in the bushes, and saw what he took in the darkness for a wild pig or abear. He fired at it without a moment's delay, and, on drawing near, found he had killedan Indian, who, covered by a bearskin, and imitating the actions of an animal, had alwaysmanaged to get near enough to the sentinels to kill them.

Another time, when Putnam and Rogers were sent to recapture some baggage wagons, thelatter spent the noonhour in target practice, although warned it was dangerous. The Indians, guided by thesound of firing, fell upon the British unawares, and seizing Putnam bound him to a tree.

For a while Putnam found himself between the fire of his own party and that of theIndians; and when the latter were driven from the battlefield, they took him away withthem. After torturing him in many ways, breaking his jaw and cutting open his cheek, theIndians tied him to a tree and began to roast him alive.

The fire was raging around him when a sudden and violent shower put it out. But as soon asthe rain was over the savages rekindled it. They would have succeeded in roasting Putnamalive, had not a French officer come up just then, rushed into the fire, cut him loose,and thus saved him from a horrible death.

Burned, gashed, disfigured, and bowed down by weakness, Putnam was taken to Montreal,where the other prisoners were careful not to tell who he was. So the French, thinking hima poor old man who would never have the strength to fight again, gladly exchanged him forone of their captive soldiers.

Putnam then went on fighting again till the war was over. He took an active part in thecapture of Montreal in 1760, and in that of Havana two years later.

A British general once showed him a French vessel on Lake Ontario, saying it must bedestroyed. Putnam immediately volunteered to destroy it, and rowing out in the dark, hesecretly drove wedges behind the rudder. As the vessel could no longer obey its helm, itwas soon driven ashore and wrecked.

The French and Indian War ended, Putnam resumed work on his Connecticut farm. At the time ofthe Stamp Act trouble he and some of his fellow citizens visited the house of one of themen whohad stamped paper for sale. They told him he must not sell a single sheet of it;and when he objected that he must mind the king, Putnam declared that if he dared disobeythem his house would "be level with the dust in five minutes."

You have already seen how quick Putnam was to respond to the call when the patriots flewto arms. Ever since the beginning of the war he had been equally active. Called upon tomeet the British in Connecticut, with but veryfew men, Putnam nevertheless managed to hamper their movements greatly.

On one occasion he found himself almost surrounded by the British. Calling to hiscompanions to save themselves, he drew off the British soldiers, who hotly pursued him.With the enemy on three sides of him, and a frightfully steep and rocky slope on theother, it seemed quite impossible that Putnam should escape. But he boldly drove his spursinto his steed, rode safely down the stone steps at Horseneck, and as none of the Britishdared follow him, he thus managed to get away.

Hearing that the British were burning farmhouses and villages in Connecticut, Washingtonfancied it might be a good plan to strike a blow which would frighten them and make themcome back. He therefore planned to storm Stony Point, a place on the Hudson, where theBritish were building a new fort.

Sending for Anthony Wayne, an officer who was so brave and daring that his men generallycalled him "Mad Anthony," Washington told him what he wanted. The young man, devoted toWashington, promptly cried: "I'll storm hell, general, if you will only plan it!" Thepatriotic young soldier's answer was so well meant that Washington, who never sworehimself, and generally reproved his men when they did so, merely smiled on this occasion,and quietly said: "Hadn't we better try Stony Point first?"

The Americans, with guns unloaded and bayonets fixed, drew near the fort unseen, led by anold negro who often went in and out of the British camp to sell strawberries. He walked upto the sentinel, and whispered: "The fort isours." As this was the password, the soldier began to chat with him, and thus did notnotice the Americans creeping up behind him until they seized and gagged him.

The patriots thus got halfway up the hill before the alarm was given and firing began.Although one of the first shots wounded Mad Anthony, he bade his men carry him, and,cheering his soldiers on, led the way into the fort. Taken by surprise, the British lostmany men and their new fort, and at two o'clock in the morning Wayne wrote to Washington:"The fort and garrison, with Colonel Johnson, are ours. Our officers and men behaved likemen who are determined to be free." This charge at Stony Point (1777) is considered one ofthe mostbrilliant deeds of the Revolutionary War, and the place where it occurred is oftenvisited.

When war first broke out the British hired many Indians to fight for them. While the twomain armies were busy in New Jersey, southern New York, and Connecticut, people living innorthern New York, and all along the western frontier, were in constant danger. Led by aman named Butler, some Tories—friends of the king

and many Indians suddenly appeared in the Wyoming Valley, in Pennsylvania. Here theycruelly murdered men, women, and children. We are even told that a cruel soldier once ranhis bayonet through a tiny baby, and tossed it out of its cradle, saying it was a rebelalso!

Not satisfied with one raid of this kind, the Indians soon made a second one at CherryValley, in New York. These massacres roused the Americans' anger, not only against theIndians, but also against the British for hiring the help of such cruel allies. Still, itwas only the king and some of his ministers who were to blame for this, for mostEnglishmen felt like Burke. When the order had been given to make use of the Indians, butforbidding them to be cruel, Burke made a speech in the House of Commons; saying: "Supposethere was a riot on Tower Hill. What would the keeper of his Majesty's lions do? Would henot fling open the dens of the wild beasts, and then address them thus: 'My gentle lions,my humane bears, my tender-hearted hyenas, go forth! But I exhort you, as you areChristians and members of civilized society, to take care not to hurt any man, woman, orchild!'"

To punish the Indians for the massacres at Wyoming Valley and Cherry Valley, GeneralSullivan now marchedinto the Indian territory, where he burned more than forty villages. He also killed somany warriors that the Indians in that part of the country never again dared rise upagainst the Americans.

The Indian war not only raged in the northeast, but extended even into what is nowKentucky. Although there were but very few settlers there then, many of these were slain.To put an end to Indian raids, General George Rogers Clark of Virginia marched northward,hoping to conquer all the land between the Ohio, the Lakes, and the Mississippi.

Although his army was small, it was composed of brave men, used to the woods and to theIndian way of fighting. They followed him boldly through the wilderness, fording riversand streams. We are told that they once came to water so deep that their little drummerboy, seeingit would rise above his head, used his drum as a raft, begging the tallest soldier tosteer him safely across.

Marching thus from point to point, Clark's forces took all the forts in the Illinoiscountry; but as he had few men, he could not send fair-sized garrisons to all. Some timeafter Vincennes submitted, a large British force appeared to capture it, and loudlycommanded the American officer there to surrender. After some parley, this man consentedto do so, provided he and his garrison were allowed to march out with all the honors ofwar.

The British officer granted this request; but imagine his surprise and anger when he sawthe officer march out, followed by only one man! These two composed the whole garrison,and could boast that they had held the fort of Vincennes against a force of eight hundredmen. When Clark heard what had happened, he marched over with a large force and recapturedthe fort.

As you have heard, the land south of the Ohio suffered much from Indian raids. This part ofthe country had already been the scene of so many Indian battles that it well deserved thename of Kentucky, or the "dark and bloody ground." Six years before the Revolutionary Warbegan, Daniel Boone, a hardy pioneer, first crossed the Alleghany Mountains and came intothis beautiful region. Seeing the tall forest trees and plentiful game, he thought itwould be a good place to live in.

After wandering about it for months, and escaping from the hands of some Indians who hadtaken him captive, Boone made up his mind to settle there. He therefore went back to NorthCarolina for his wife and daughter, and, with his brother and several other pioneers,returned to Kentucky where he formed a settlement called Boonesboro (1775). Like allpioneer villages, this was merely a collection of a few log huts, surrounded by a tallpalisade to serve as a rampart against Indian attacks.

Boone's daughter and two younger girls, little suspecting danger, once went out in a canoeto pick flowers along the banks of a stream. Suddenly several Indians sprang out of athicket, seized them, and bore them off into the woods. While the younger girls criedhelplessly, Boone's daughter, seeing it was of no use to struggle, quietly followed hercaptor. But she took care to leave the print of her shoe here and there where the soil wasdamp, to break twigs of bushes, and to fasten shreds of her dress to the briers along theway, so that her tracks could be followed.

As soon as the girls' capture was discovered, Boone and six other men set out in pursuit.Thanks to the girl's clever way of marking her passage, they soon came to where thesavages were camping in the woods. Creeping up stealthily, the white men noiselessly gotbetween the children and the Indians, for they knew the latter would kill and scalp theircaptives at the first alarm. The Indians, suddenly finding themselves in danger, hastilyfled, leaving captives and weapons behind them.

In the third year of the Revolutionary War, some Indians, hired by the British to make waralong the frontier, came to attack Boonesboro. But the place was sogallantly defended by the settlers that they could not get in. They vainly directed asteady fire against the palisades for some time, and then withdrew to a short distance torest.

The settlers, who had very little powder within the palisade, were anxious to secure a kegfull of powder that was standing in a hut near by. Still, they knew that if a man venturedout, the Indians would probably kill him, and they did not feel that they could spare asingle one. A brave girl, Elizabeth Zane, therefore insisted upon going, for she said theycould easily get along without her, although they needed all the men.

At her request, the gate was opened, and she sped like an arrow to the house where thepowder had been left. The Indians, astonished at the sight of a woman running out of thefort, stood perfectly still. In a few seconds they saw her rush back, her apron full ofpowder.

Now they understood what it all meant; but it was too late to stop the brave girl, who hadreached the fort in safety. The powder thus securedsaved the settlement; for the Indians, after losing many men, gave up the siege and wenthome.

In 1778, while out hunting, Boone was captured by Indians, who carried him off to Detroit.They were about to kill him when an old squaw claimed him to take the place of her son whohad been slain. The Indians consented, and Boone was adopted by the squaw, who pulled outall his hair, except a scalp lock, which she dressed with feathers in fine Indian style.

Boone now made believe to be quite satisfied to stay with the Indians; so they took himout hunting every day, giving him only a certain amount of powder and bullets. Boone wassuch a good marksman that he soon found he could kill his game with half a bullet and lesspowder. He therefore secretly cut his bullets in two, and although he brought back a bird,rabbit, or deer for every charge the savages gave him, he really saved half his ammunitionwithout their suspecting it.

When he had thus collected enough powder and bullets, Boone stole a piece of dried meatand some parched corn, and went out hunting, as usual. But as soon as he got out of sighthe began running as hard as he could. As he ran he hid his traces, so the Indians couldnot follow him. Thus he darted along fallen trees, jumped from stone to stone, ran up anddown shallow streams, and once, at least, grasped a trailing grapevine, and, swinginghard, landed on his feet a long distance ahead.

The Indians, finding out his escape, soon started to follow him; but while they werehunting around for his broken tracks, he ran on, pausing to rest only when his strengthgave out. Boone thus reached the Ohio, wherehe had the good luck to find a leaky canoe, in which he paddled across the stream.

Then, for the first time, he used one of the bullets he had saved to kill a turkey, whichhe roasted over the first fire he had dared to light since his escape. Tramping thus allthe way from the Indian camp to Boonesboro, Boone found his home deserted. At first hethought all his family had been killed; but he soon heard they had merely gone back totheir old home, thinking he was dead.

As he knew the Indians would soon come to attack Boonesboro, Boone collected aboutfifty-five men, who helped him repair the palisade. They were scarcely through their workwhen more than four hundred Indians appeared, led by a French officer serving in theBritish army. When they bade Boone surrender, he answered: "We are determined to defendour fort while a man of us lives."

Although the Indians tried to break into the fort, they were driven back, and theirbullets had no effect on the heavy logs of the palisade. Next they made an attempt to setfire to the fort, but the flames were quickly quenched; and when they began to tunnel away into the place, they were forced to give it up.

Weary of vain attempts, the Indians finally withdrew; and when they had gone, Boone andhis companions picked up a hundred and twenty-five pounds of bullets, which had fallenharmlessly along the palisade. Later on, Boone brought his family back to Kentucky; butthe Indians continued to make trouble during the next ten years. Still, when those darkdays were all over, so many settlers came into Kentucky that Boone declared the place wastoo crowded for him, and said he needed more elbow-room.

He therefore removed first to a place near the Great Kanawha, and then to Missouri, whichat that time belonged to Spain. Here he lived long enough to see many settlers cross theMississippi. He was again saying that he felt crowded, and talking of moving still fartherwest, when he died, at the age of eighty-five, still hale and hearty, and a famous hunterand pioneer.

While American patriots were busy fighting the British on land, others, equally brave, werefighting them at sea. As soon as the war began, Congress gave seamen letters of marque,which were permissions to attack and seize any British vessel they met.

The bravest and best known of all the American seamen of this time was John Paul Jones.Although born in Scotland, he adopted this country for his own, and, when the War ofIndependence began, offered his services to Congress. He proved such an able seaman thatin 1777 hewas sent to France on an important errand. Although the French did not give him a largeship, as he had hoped, he boldly cruised around in a little American vessel called theRanger, on which he hoisted the first American flag ever seen and saluted at sea.

Paul Jones sailed boldly along, capturing and sinking English vessels, and even runninginto the port of Whitehaven, where he tried to burn all the shipping. Then, as his boatwas no longer good enough to continue fighting, he went back to France, in quest of along-promised new ship. But after five months' weary delay, he was still ashore andwaiting.

One day he read in "Poor Richard's Almanac": "If you would have your business done, go; ifnot, send." This saying seemed so true that he immediately set out for Paris. There hemanaged to talk to the French minister, who again promised him a fine ship. But when theyoung seaman saw this craft, five days later, he was sorely disappointed, for it was bothold and clumsy.

Still, any kind of a ship was better than no ship at all; so Paul Jones named it BonhommeRichard, a French translation of "Poor Richard." Then he set sail in it, accompanied by afew smaller vessels, and coasted along the North Sea. There Jones ran near the shore,where his visits were so dreaded that, we are told, an old Scotch minister at Kirkcaldyonce prayed: "Now, dear Lord, don't you think it a shame for you to send this vile pirateto rob our folk of Kirkcaldy? You know that they are poor enough already, and have nothingto spare."

Still, Paul Jones was not so vile a pirate as the old minister supposed, for whenever helanded for provisions,he paid the poor people for the food and cattle he took. We are also told that, his menhaving once robbed a castle of its silver plate, Jones sent it all back, eight yearslater, with a polite note.

But while Jones did not wish to harm the poor, he did want to damage the British navy asmuch as he could. He therefore cruised about until he met the Serapis, a Britishman-of-war, off Flamborough Head (1779). Here was waged one of the fiercest naval battlesever fought. Although Jones's ship was afire from the very beginning, his guns alldisabled, the vessel shot away between decks and slowly sinking, he boldly lashed it fastto the Serapis. While doing so he heard one of his men swear, and turning to him, quietlysaid: "Don't swear, sir; in another moment we may all be in eternity."

By this time the smoke was so thick that the British captain could not see whether theAmerican flag had been hauled down. Hetherefore shouted: "Have you struck your colors?" But Jones coolly answered: "I have notyet begun to fight." Such was Jones's pluck that the British commander finally yielded;but when he gave up his sword to Paul Jones, he haughtily said: "It is with greatreluctance that I surrender my sword to a man who fights with a halter round his neck."

Paul Jones gave him back the weapon, politely saying: "Captain Pearson, you have foughtlike a hero, and I have no doubt that your sovereign will reward you for it in the mostample manner." These words came true, for after Captain Pearson had been duly exchanged,George III. called him to court and made him a knight.

As the Bonhomme Richard was sinking, Jones transferred his men and prisoners to theSerapis. Then he sadly watched his own ship settle down and vanish beneath the waves. TheSerapis was next taken to France, where it was discovered that Captain Landais, the Frenchcommander of one of the smaller vessels in Jones's fleet, was insane. Paul Jones and hismen had known this for some time, because Landais had disobeyed orders several times, andwhen the Bonhomme Richard was fighting against the Serapis, he had even used his cannonagainst it instead of attacking the enemy.

The news of Paul Jones's victory caused great rejoicings both in America and in France,and when the young captain returned to the latter country, he was invited to court withFranklin. King Louis XVI. heard Jones's account of the fight, and told him that his enemy,Captain Pearson had just been knighted, and had received a new ship. Paul Jones then gaylyanswered: "Well, he deservedthe honor, and if I meet him in his new ship I'll make a lord of him."

This answer greatly amused the king; but at the same time it showed that Paul Jones, heroas he was, had one great fault that of boasting. When he came back to America, Congresshonored him; but as the young sailor did not think his services were well enoughappreciated in America, he left our country soon after the war was ended, and went toserve Russia.

Paul Jones was not the only hero on the seas at this time, for we are told the Americanprivateers captured five hundred British vessels in three years, secured much booty, anddid great harm to the shipping in several English ports.

The British had failed not only in their first attempt, against Boston, but also in theirsecond,—to seize the Hudson valley and thus separate the southern colonies from NewEngland. But as they were not yet ready to give up the struggle, they decided to try athird plan. That was to begin a new campaign in the far south, and march up the Atlanticcoast, leaving nothing but conquered people behind them.

In 1778, therefore, they began their operations by besieging and taking Savannah. Soonafter, they became masters of Augusta and of nearly all Georgia. These successes delightedthem, for, with one province won, they fancied they would soon be masters of all the rest.Still, before they could do much more, the French fleet under D'Estaing, and an Americanarmy under Lincoln, came to recover Savannah. While the French were bombarding that cityfrom their ships, the Americans, led by Pulaski, tried to storm it (1777).

But in spite of a most gallant charge, the patriots were driven back with great loss.Among the dead was Sergeant Jasper, still holding the flag given him at Fort Moultrie, andCount Pulaski, the generous Pole who had joined the army and served under Washington inthe battle of the Brandywine. Both of these men were so brave that their names will neverbe forgotten, and in Savannah fine monuments have been erected in their honor.

The first attempt to take Savannah having failed, the French admiral refused to lend anymore aid to the Americans in the South. So Lincoln, after defending Charleston alone forforty days, was forced to surrender. The British, coming to the city, exacted such hardconditions from him that they roused the indignation of alltrue Americans. But when the British minister heard that the city was taken, he proudlycried: "We look on America as at our feet!"

The British now overran the state, behaving most cruelly everywhere. An officer namedTarleton not only burned houses, and beat women and children, but when some Americansasked for quarter, that is, vowed not to fight any more if he would spare their lives, hebroke his promise and had them all killed. Because he did not keep his word, theexpression "Tarleton's quarter" was used in the South as a term for immediate death.

Although by Lincoln's surrender one American army was lost, the patriots were not ready togive up yet, and as soon as another force was raised, Gates was sent southward to commandit. He was so proud of his victory at Saratoga that he started out full of confidence.When he stopped, on his way, to visit Lee, the latter, hearing him boast, quietlyremarked: "Take care your northern laurels do not turn to southern willows."

Unfortunately, however, Gates paid no heed to this warning. Thinking he would soon forceCornwallis to surrender, he was very imprudent, and when he met the British at Camden, afew months later (1780), he suffered a defeat instead of winning a victory. We are toldthat when he saw the day was lost, Gates turned and fled, never daring to stop until hehad put about eighty miles between himself and his foes. The German officer De Kalb, whohad so generously come to help the Americans, fought in this battle with great courage,and died from the eleven wounds he received there. He is buried at Camden, where amonument marks his resting place.This was the worst battle for the Americans during the whole war, and it was speedilyfollowed by the loss of nearly all South Carolina. The only people who still had courageto fight were a few patriots led by such heroes as Marion, Sumter, and Pickens.

The first of these three men was so upright, brave, and gentlemanly that he has often beencompared to a brave French knight, and is therefore known as the "Bayard of the South."Marion and his men had retreats in the woods and swamps, whence they made sudden raidsupon the British. It seems that the latter, wishing to exchange prisoners, once sent anofficer into one of these hiding places under a flag of truce. As Marion did not wish theBritish to learn the way to his retreat, this officer was blindfolded and led a longdistance. When his bandage was removed, he was surprised to find himself, not in a fort orhouse, as he had expected, but in a lonely spot in the woods. Marion stepped forward,politely offered him a seat on a log, and, when business was over, cordially invited himto share his dinner.

The officer was just wondering where his dining room could be, when one of the raggedsoldiers appeared, carrying a piece of bark on which smoked some sweet potatoes, roastedin the camp fire. Marion helped his guest to a potato on a chip, and began to eat onehimself with a relish. Of course the British officer immediately followed his example; buthe soon asked whether the American officers often dined so simply. Marion, the "SwampFox," answered, "Yes; "and then gayly added, "but we are fortunate on this occasion,having company to entertain, to have more than our usual allowance."

The officer, hearing this, suggested that the Americans probably gave their soldiers bigpay to make up for such poor fare and uncomfortable quarters. But Marion truthfullyanswered that he received no salary at all. The astonished officer then asked why heserved such a mean country at all; and the brave young Southerner, looking him full in theface, proudly remarked that a man was always ready to do anything for the lady he loved,and that the name of his sweetheart was Liberty.

The British officer could not but admire such a man and such an answer. On returning tocamp, we are told, he left the service, saying he would have no share in depriving suchbrave men as Marion of the rights due them.

In the meantime things were going very badly in the North. The winter spent at Valley Forgehad, indeed, been hard to bear, but that which Washington spent at Morristown was in somerespects even worse. Congress, in those days, had no power to tax the people to raisemoney, the states were in many cases too poor to supply much, and it was very difficult toborrow funds abroad, because it was quite evident that if the Americans were beaten theirdebts would never be paid.

Already in 1777 Congress began to issue paper money. Of course it had no real value of itsown, like gold or silver, but was merely a promise that Congress would some day give thebearer the amount it called for in real money. As everybody knew that Congress did nothave, and therefore could not give, gold or silver in exchange for these "continentalbills," no one liked to take them in payment for food or clothing.

To make matters worse, the British printed ever so many bills just like those issued byCongress, and paper money soon became so nearly worthless as to give rise to theexpression still used, "Not worth a continental." By this time there was two hundredmillions' worth of this money in circulation, and people gave one hundred and fiftydollars in bills for a bushel of corn, and several thousand for a suit of clothes, whenthey had no silver or gold.

Many times during the Revolutionary War the soldiers, knowing their families werestarving, clamored loudly for their money. As it was not paid to them, some of themrebelled, and it took all their love for Washington—the only person whom they reallytrusted—to hold the army together. Still, these soldiers were faithful to their country;for when British spies once came among them, offering gold if they would only desert, theynobly gave these spies up to their officers, saying that, while they wanted their dues,they were not traitors.

The British not only tried to win over the men, but also attempted to bribe Americanofficers and statesmen. But they failed in this, too; and when they approached JosephReed, he proudly said: "I am not worth purchasing; but such as I am, the King of GreatBritain is not rich enough to buy me."

Washington always supplied the needs of his men as far as he could; but as he had beenaway from Mount Vernon several years now, his fortune was much smaller than it had been,and as time went on he had less and less ready money. In despair at his men's sufferings,he wrote again and again to Congress. Finally he warned Robert Morris, who had charge ofmoney matters, that it would be impossible to keep the army together if food, money, andclothing were not forthcoming right away.

This appeal proved successful. Morris not only gave all the money he had, but, going fromdoor to door, begged from all his friends for the safety of the country. ThePhiladelphians nobly answered his appeal, and on New Year's Day. Washington could gladdenthe soldiers' hearts by giving them food and money. Shortly after, the Philadelphialadies, wishing to help also, sent him twenty-two thousand shirts, which they had made forthe almost naked soldiers, who were glad to get into warm and whole garments.

You may remember that Benedict Arnold marched gallantly through the Maine woods to attackQuebec, and was wounded there in the beginning of the war. After his recovery he showedhis courage in many ways. For instance, he was once surrounded by Tories, who killed hishorse. While Arnold was trying to release his foot from the stirrup, one of his foesrushed toward him, crying, Surrender!" "Not yet," answered Arnold, and, drawing hispistol, he shot the Tory, jumped up, and ran into the woods near by. There, findinganother horse, he quickly mounted, and came back to take part in the fight once more.

You remember, too, how he won the victory of Stillwater, with Morgan and Schuyler, whileGates was lingering idly in his tent. On this occasion, however, Arnold was again badlywounded. As he lay upon the ground, helpless, one of the enemy, who had fought with greatvalor and had fallen only a moment before him, slowly raised himself, and, in spite of abad wound, tried to get at Arnold to kill him. Just then a friend of Arnold's came up, andwas about to slay the soldier, when Arnold stopped him by crying: "For God's sake, don'thurt him; he is a fine fellow!"

Although Arnold could thus show himself both brave and forgiving, he had one great fault,his vanity. While recovering from his wound, in Philadelphia, he got into bad company, raninto debt, and behaved in such a way that Congress bade Washington reprove him publiclyforhis conduct. Washington did so as gently as he could, and some time later, when Arnoldasked him for the command at West Point, he gladly granted this request; for he knew thatArnold was brave, and thought he had been treated rather unfairly. But no sooner hadArnold secured this important place than, forgetting his duty to his country and his honoras a man, he determined to avenge his wrongs by giving up the fort to the British (1780).He therefore began a secret correspondence with General Clinton, and finally arranged tomeet a British officer, so as to settle the particulars of the affair with him.

True to the appointment, Major John Andre came up the Hudson in an English vessel, theVulture. Landing at night, he met Arnold as agreed; but their talk lasted until morning,and the ship, being then discovered by the Americans, was fired upon. It therefore droppeddown the river. Seeing that he could not join it without running too great a risk ofdiscovery, Andre now got a pass from Arnold. He then crossed the Hudson, and set out forNew York on horseback, reaching Tarrytown in safety, although travelers were then oftenstopped by parties of "Skinners" or "Cowboys," as marauding British and American troopswere generally called. Andre was just beginning to think that all danger of capture wasover, when three men suddenly sprang out of the bushes, seized his horse, and forced himto dismount.

Although Andre offered his horse, his watch, and a large sum of money to these three menif they would only let him go, they held him fast and began searching him. At first theyfound nothing suspicious; but in his bootsthey finally discovered plans of the fort at West Point, and other important papers.

Sure that they held a spy, Paulding, Williams, and Van Wart now sent word to Arnold tolook out, for they had caught a spy, and then they took Andre to White Plains. Arnold wasat breakfast when the notice of Andre's capture reached him. Rising from the table, hehurriedly explained matters to his fainting wife, kissed his child good-by, and, mountinghis horse, galloped wildly off to the river. There he found his boat, as usual, and wasrowed off to the Vulture. The British, who had watched his approach, received him in grimsilence; for while they would have been glad to take advantage of his baseness, they alldespised him as a traitor.

Washington, then on his way to West Point, received the news of Andre's arrest too late toseize Arnold, although he tried very hard to do so. Still, he did not forget that Arnold'swife was innocent. Pitying her evident suffering, he soon sent her word that her husbandhad escaped, and said that she would be allowed to join him in New York.

The news of Arnold's treachery, which wrung tears from Washington, and made him exclaim,"Whom can we trust now?" filled the whole country with dismay. People were horror-struck;but while all hated Arnold, many were almost as excited over the capture and probable fateof Andre. An artist, writer, and soldier, this young man had many admirers; but as he hadplayed the part of a spy, and had been captured in disguise within the American lines,most people thought he deserved to be hanged.

Still, it was felt that Arnold, the traitor, was the one who merited that death most, sowhen the British protested that Andre should not be hanged, the Americans offered toexchange him for Arnold, thinking that if they could only make an example of the realculprit it would prevent similar cases in the future.

But, much as the British despised Arnold, they could not, of course, give him up. Andre'strial, therefore, went on, and the jury condemned him to death as a spy. Instead oftreating him as the British had treated Hale, however, the Americans allowed him to writeto his friends andprepare for death. When he was ready, Andre paid the penalty of his wrongdoing by beinghanged. Still, people have always felt sorry for him, and the British, who would havegained greatly by his spying, declared that he had fallen a martyr. They therefore gavehim a place in Westminster Abbey, where many of their greatest men are buried. Besides,two monuments have been erected for him in our country, at Tarrytown and Tappan, thusmarking the places where he was captured and hanged.

But, although Andre was hanged, his sufferings were slight and merciful compared withthose of Arnold. This was just; for, while the former had tried to serve his country, thelatter had betrayed his trust, and it was natural that his conscience should trouble himnight and day. Although the British, as they had promised, gave him a large sum of moneyand a place in their army, none of their officers ever treated him as a friend.

We are told that Washington, still anxious to secure and punish Arnold for the country'ssake, made a plan to seize him shortly after his escape. An officer named Campe desertedthe American army, by Washington's orders, and—narrowly escaping recapture by hiscomrades, who were not in the secret—swam out to a British vessel anchored in New YorkBay. The enemy, having breathlessly watched his escape from his pursuers, welcomed himwarmly, and, without asking any questions, allowed him to enlist in Arnold's new regiment.

Campe intended, with the help of two other patriots, to seize and gag Arnold when he waswalking alone in his garden, as he did every night. Thence they meant toconvey him to a boat, row him secretly across the river, and hand him over to one ofWashington's most devoted officers, Henry Lee, who was called "Light-Horse Harry," todistinguish him from the Lee who disgraced himself at Monmouth.

Unfortunately, on the very night when Campe's plan was to have been carried out, Arnoldtook his regiment on board a vessel in the bay, and sailed south to fight for the Britishin Virginia. There poor Campe had to wait for months before he got a chance to desertArnold and rejoin his countrymen. Until then all his fellow-soldiers had believed him areal deserter; but after welcoming him cordially, Washington and Lee publicly told theothers how nobly Campe had tried to serve his country, and how nearly he had secured thetraitor.

While fighting in the South, we are told, Arnold once asked one of his prisoners, "What doyou suppose my fate would be if my misguided countrymen were to take me prisoner?" Theman, who was a good American, promptly answered: "They would cut off the leg that waswounded at Quebec and Saratoga, and bury it with the honors of war; but the rest of youthey would hang on a gibbet."

Before continuing the story of the Revolutionary War, it is well to finish this painful story ofa traitor. After fighting against his country in Virginia, and burning many houses andvillages there, Arnold was sent intoConnecticut, where he set fire to New London, watching the flames from the church tower.But soon after this Arnold went to London, where he spent most of the rest of his life,with few friends.

We are told that no one respected him there, and once, when he went into Parliament tohear the speeches, a member pointed right at him, saying: "Mr. Speaker, I will not speakwhile that man is in the house." Another time Arnold was introduced to a British officerwho had fought against him at Saratoga. But, while this man had then admired him for hiscourage, and would have been proud to know him, he now refused to shake hands with him,curtly saying that he could not endure traitors.

A gentleman who did not know Arnold's story once asked him for letters of introduction tohis friends, saying he was about to sail for America. But the traitor sadly answered: "Iwas born in America; I lived there to the prime of my life; but, alas! I can call no manin America my friend." In fact, even his children were so ashamed of what he had done thattwo of his sons changed their name as soon as they grew up.

After living thus twenty years, bereft of his own as well as public respect, Arnold on hisdeathbed begged for the epaulets and sword-knot which Washington had once given him, andcried: "Let me die in my old American uniform, in which I fought my battles. God forgiveme for ever having put on any other!"

Arnold was buried in England. While his victories are honored in America, his treacheryhas made his name so disliked that it is always coupled with the words "the traitor." Thebattles of Saratoga, where he, Schuyler,and Morgan really won the victories attributed to Gates, are kept in mind by history andby the beautiful monument at Saratoga. There you can see four niches. Three are occupiedby statues of Gates, Schuyler, and Morgan; but the fourth—which was to contain a statue ofArnold—must always remain empty!

The sadness which filled all patriot hearts in the country at the news of Arnold's treasonwas, however, soon made more bearable by the welcome tidings of a victory in the South—thebattle of Kings Mountain (1780).

More than a thousand of the British troops took up their position on the top of thismountain, and their leader then cried: "Well, boys, here is a place from which all therebels outside of hell cannot drive us!" Still, a smaller number of patriots climbed up bythree different paths, and, hidingbehind rocks and trees, killed many of the British, and took the rest prisoners.

General Greene, taking command of the American forces in the South after Gates's defeat atCamden, found himself at the head of a ragged and almost famished army. But stout heartsbeat beneath tattered garments, and the forces under Morgan soon after won a great victoryat Cowpens (1781).

The cruel Tarleton was in command on this occasion, and during the battle he was woundedby Colonel William Washington, a distant relative of the general in chief. In speaking ofthe battle afterwards, Tarleton scornfully remarked to an American lady that ColonelWashington was so ignorant a man that he could not even write his own name. As people whocould not write in those days were in the habit of making a rough mark instead of signingtheir names, the lady archly said, pointing to his wound: "Ah, colonel, you bear evidencethat he can at least make his mark!" When Tarleton later added that he wondered whatColonel Washington looked like, the same lady slyly said: "Had you only looked behind youat Cowpens, you might have had that pleasure."

When the battle of Cowpens was over, and the few remnants of Tarleton's force had fled to joinCornwallis, the latter marched forward, hoping to catch up with Morgan's army and crush itwith his superiorforce before it could join Greene's forces. Both armies were therefore anxious to reachthe ford over the Catawba first, and tramped ahead as fast as possible, stopping to restonly when the men were completely exhausted. But, in spite of the great odds against him,Morgan finally managed to give Cornwallis the slip, and, crossing at the ford, was soonjoined by Greene. The two generals continued the retreat, cleverly tempting Cornwallis tofollow, until finally the whole American army was safe beyond the Dan River in Virginia.

We are told that it was during this race for the Dan that Greene once stopped at the houseof a patriot Southern lady, Mrs. Steele. She quickly supplied him with warm garments andfood, and hearing him say he could not pay her because he was penniless, she brought himall her savings, which she forced him to accept and use for the sake of his country.

It seems also that in the course of this campaign the Americans laid siege to a housewhich served as a fort for British soldiers. Although Light-Horse Harry Lee was veryanxious to secure these men, he soon found that he could not drive them out of the house.He therefore asked Mrs. Motte, owner of the place, whether she would allow him to set fireto it, to force the British out.

She not only consented to this,—although the house was all she had, but brought Lee anIndian bow and arrows, so that he could shoot bits of flaming wood upon the shingled roof.The house was thus soon in flames, and the British, seeing they would be roasted alive ifthey staid in it, and shot if they tried to escape, promptly surrendered. Then the firewas put out, and as it had notyet gained much headway, Mrs. Motte did not, after all, lose the house which she had beenwilling to sacrifice for the sake of her country.

As was the case all through the Southern campaign, the British were very cruel; still, afew patriots managed to escape from their clutches. For example, one of Tarleton's menonce ordered a prisoner to give him the silver buckles he wore. The man proudly bade theEnglishman take them if he wanted them. Knowing that he would be slain if he did notescape, the American killed the man kneeling before him, and, jumping on a riderlesshorse, dashed away. Before any of the four hundred men around there thought of pursuinghim, he was out of reach.

As soon as his men had rested a little from their fatigues, Greene again led them againstthe British, whom he met at Guilford Courthouse in North Carolina. Here, although theAmericans behaved with great valor, the British won the victory. But it was at the cost ofso many lives that" when Fox, a British statesman, heard of it, he sadly exclaimed:"Another such victory would ruin us!"

The site of the old Revolutionary battlefield at Guilford Courthouse is now a beautifulpark. Here are many interesting statues, and in the museum, among other curiosities, youcan see British and American flags peacefully crossed, showing that after the war was overthe two parties generously forgot the past and were ready to meet as friends.

After the battle of Guilford Courthouse, Cornwallis retreated to the coast, and Greeneturned his attention to the British forces farther south, with which he fought the battlesof Hobkirk Hill and Eutaw Springs. In thelatter engagement, Marion, surrounded by the foe, encouraged his brave men by saying:"Hold up your heads, boys! Three fires, three cheers, and a charge, and you are free!"During the same engagement one of Lee's men found himself alone and without arms in themidst of the enemy. With great presence of mind, he seized an officer, wrenched his swordout of his hand, and, using him as a shield, fought his way back to his friends.

Though Greene was often defeated and never won a great victory, the British loudlycomplained that he never knew when he was beaten. But while Greene modestly described hisown doings as, "We fight, get beat, rise and fight again," he and his two thousand menwere little by little driving the British out of South Carolina. Indeed, by their braveefforts the. Americans finally recovered both South Carolina and Georgia, with theexception of the cities of Charleston and Savannah.

Retreating from the Carolinas, Cornwallis marched into Virginia to take the place of Arnold, whom theBritish had been watching closely, lest he should betray them, too. Clinton now badeCornwallis keep near the coast, so that he could embark quickly and come to the rescue ofNew York, in case Washington should suddenly attack it:

The fact was, though, that Washington had no intention of doing anything of the sort. Onthe contrary, he hadlaid his plans to catch Cornwallis in Virginia, where he had sent Lafayette some timebefore. As he did not wish Clinton to suspect this plan, Washington wrote letters sayinghe meant to take New York, and cleverly contrived that they should accidentally fall intoBritish hands. After reading them, Clinton felt so sure he knew all about the Americanplans that he did not stir.

There was no telegraph in those days, and it was a great surprise to Cornwallis when theFrench fleet, under De Grasse suddenly appeared in Chesapeake Bay. Thus, even beforeClinton suspected the Americans' intentions, Cornwallis was hemmed in at Yorktown betweenLafayette's troops and De Grasse's fleet, and Washington was rapidly marching southward tohelp them.

Hoping to check Washington's advance, or even force him to come back, Clinton now sentArnold into Connecticut, where, as we have seen, he burned New London. This base deed soangered a lady whose guest he had once been, that she tried to shoot him, we are told, andwould have done so, had not her gun missed fire.

Arnold, and the British officers with him, proved very cruel all through this campaign;and when one of them seized Fort Griswold, near New London, he haughtily demanded, "Whocommands here?" "I did," courteously answered the American officer, coming forward tosurrender his sword, "but you do now." The British officer took the weapon, ran it throughits owner, and coolly bade his men kill all the garrison in the same way.

Although the news of pillage, burning, and murder was carried to Washington as quickly aspossible, he did not—as Clinton perhaps expected—turn around to defendConnecticut, but kept steadily on. As he marched by, all good Americans wildly cheeredhim, crying: "Long live Washington! He is going to catch Cornwallis in his mouse trap!"Indeed, such was the faith people had in him that an old patriot, coming into the roomwhere he was dining, raised his arms to heaven and solemnly cried, like Simeon in theBible: "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thysalvation."

On his way to Yorktown, Washington paid a flying visit to his home at Mount Vernon, whichhe had not seen since he left it to attend the Continental Congress six years before.There he learned that it would have been burned to the ground, had not his steward bribedsome British soldiers to let it stand. When Washington heard this, he gravely said that hewould rather lose all he had, than save it by making friends with his country's foes.'

Reaching Yorktown,—where Cornwallis had once boasted that he would soon capture "thatboy," as he scornfully termed Lafayette,—Washington found all his orders so well carriedout that the bombarding of the city could begin without further delay. The French fleetand American army worked together to such good purpose that before long it became plainthat Cornwallis would have to yield. During this siege a gentleman carefully pointed outhis own house, advising Washington to batter it down first with his cannon; for he thoughtthat Cornwallis must have selected it for his headquarters, because it was the best intown.

Washington, who was never wounded in any battle, stood on a height directing the movementsof his troops.He was in such an exposed place that some of his aids, hoping to make him change hisposition, ventured to remark that they were in great danger. "If you think so," answeredWashington, quietly, "you are at liberty to step back." But as he did not move, the othersbravely stood their ground.

A moment later a ball struck a cannon only a few feet off, and General Knox impulsivelycried, "My dear general, we can't spare you yet!" and tried to drag him away. ButWashington carelessly remarked, "It's a spent ball," and stood there like a rock until hesaw the redoubt taken. Then he joyfully exclaimed: "The work is done, and well done!"

Washington was right; the work was done, and the patriots' troubles nearly over.Cornwallis, finding himself unable to escape or receive help, was forced to surrender onthe 19th of October, 1781. But his pride was so hurt at having to give up his sword, thathe pretended illness, and sent one of his officers to carry it to Washington. The latter,remembering how the British had tried to shame General Lincoln at the surrender ofCharleston, therefore bade the British officer deliver it to Lincoln.

The next day, when the British troops marched out of Yorktown between the French andAmerican armies, their bands dolefully played: "The World Turned Upside Down." Washington,ever considerate of people's feelings, had given strict orders that his soldiers shouldnot jeer at the enemy, or make any unkind remarks. This order was obeyed, but Lafayette,seeing that the British—who had made such unmerciful fun of him—did not even look up,suddenly bade his band strike up "YankeeDoodle." At this hated sound the British all started, and Lafayette had the boyishsatisfaction of knowing that they had seen him heading part of the forces which hadconquered them.

The news of the surrender of Cornwallis filled all American hearts with joy; for our peopleknew, as well as the British, that the war was now ended. The tidings reached Philadelphiaat night, while the watchman, making his rounds as usual, was passing up and down thestreets. To the customary announcement of the time, and the cry, "All's well," hetherefore added, "and Cornwallis is taken!"

The joy of this event proved fatal to the old door-keeper of Congress, while on all sidesbells were rung and loud cheers were heard. On the next day the members of Congressmarched in a body to church, to return thanks for the "victory of a great and good man ina great and good cause." But when the news reached England it caused great dismay. We aretold that Lord North fell back as if struck by a cannon ball, and gasped: "O God, it isall over!"

Although the War of Independence was really over, andseveral Americans went to Europe to settle the terms of peace, British troops staid inAmerica some time longer, and kept possession of Savannah and Charleston about a year.Washington, therefore, did not dare dismiss his army. To keep better guard over theBritish at New York, he collected all his forces at Newburgh. But although there was nomore fighting, Washington's presence was more sorely needed than ever, for the men, havingreceived only a small part of their long-promised pay, and unable to go home and work fortheir destitute families, were restless and discontented. In fact, even the officersthought Congress managed things badly, and wished to make Washington king.

Had Washington thought of himself more than of others, or been unduly ambitious, he couldnow have gone, at the head of the army, to overthrow Congress and take the power into hisown hands, like Caesar and Napoleon. But Washington was a real patriot, and had no thoughtbeyond the good of his country. He therefore sent for his officers, and made them a littlespeech.

In reading a letter from a congressman, promising that they should receive their dues, hehad to take out his glasses, and as he put them on he quietly begged them to excuse him,saying: "My eyes have grown dim in the service of my country, but I have never doubted herjustice." In his address he urged them not to tarnish the glory of their past services byrash conduct, and explained that Congress would soon settle their just demands. Such wasthe reliance placed upon his mere word, and the good influence he had over every man inhis army, that all now consented to wait patiently until their services could receivetheir reward.

While Washington was thus keeping the soldiers in order, Franklin was in Europe, treatingfor peace. In 1782 George III. formally announced that he would recognize the independenceof the United States, and closed his speech by saying he hoped that the same "religion,language, interests, and affections might prove a bond of permanent union between the twocountries."

The treaty, however, was signed in Paris, on the 3rd of September, 1783. On this occasionFranklin donnedthe suit of Manchester velvet clothes which he had worn ten years before, when insulted inParliament, and which he had vowed never to use again until his country was free. By thistreaty the seacoast from Maine to Georgia was given up to the United States, together withall the land between the Great Lakes and Florida, westward as far as the Mississippi. Atthe same time, the British gave Florida back to Spain.

The news of this treaty was followed by the departure of the British soldiers from NewYork. They sailed away, leaving their flag still floating from the top of the libertypole. Here some soldiers had nailed it fast, carefully greasing the pole so that theAmericans should not haul down their colors until they were at least out of sight.

But a clever New York boy, seeing, that it was useless to try to climb the greased pole inthe usual way, ran into a neighboring store, and soon came back with a pocket full ofnails, some cleats, and a hammer. Nailing a cleat a short distance up, he stood upon it tonail another still higher, sand, climbing thus from point to point, reached the top of thepole, tore off the British flag, and replaced it by the American colors, amid the cheersof the assembled people!

Washington had already disbanded his army in Newburgh, when, on the eighth anniversary of the battleof Lexington, the war was formally declared to be over. Now, the British having gone, itremained only tobid farewell to his officers. On this occasion he said: "With a heart full of love andgratitude I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be asprosperous as your former have been glorious and honorable. I cannot come to each of youto take my leave, but I shall be obliged to you if each of you will come and take me bythe hand."

General Knox was the first to advance, and Washington drew him toward him and kissed him.He also embraced all the rest—in dead silence, for all hearts were too full for speech.The officers then followed him to the boat and silently watched him out of sight. From NewYork, where this parting took place, Washington went direct to Annapolis, where, on the23d of December, 1783, he received the formal message: "The United States, in Congressassembled, is prepared to receive the communications of the commander in chief."Washington then appeared before that body to lay down the heavy charge which he had borneso bravely for nearly eight years. He again refused to accept any reward for his services,but handed over the exact account of his expenses, proving that he had spent more thansixty-three thousand dollars of his own money for the good of his country.

Then he went back to his farm at Mount Vernon, to take up again his usual work. He hadbeen longing to do this for some time, for farming was his chief pleasure. Knowing this,his officers formed a society of which they made him head. They called themselves theCincinnati, in honor of a Roman patriot, Cincinnatus, who left his plow to save hiscountry from danger, but hurried back to it as soon as the war was over.

Instead of other pay, many of these officers and of the continental soldiers now receivedgrants of land in what was then called the Northwest Territory. There they soon settled,working hard, and serving their country just as nobly by being good farmers, goodcitizens, good husbands, and good fathers as they had done by being good soldiers in theRevolutionary War. Before long, towns sprang up in the wilderness, and one of them wasnamed Cincinnati, in honor of the society of which Washington was the first president.

But there were others besides the soldiers who were anxious to get back to their families.Foremost among these was the worthy Franklin, who had spent nearly nine years in France,looking after the interests of his country. He had seen the Peace of Paris signed; andwhen he reached Philadelphia, just sixty-two years after his firstvisit, he was welcomed with loud cheers and great rejoicings. He deserved all the cheeringand honors he received, for he had been second only to Washington in the services he hadrendered his beloved country.

As it was now decided beyond doubt that the former colonies were to be free states,independent of Great Britain, the Story of the Thirteen Colonies is ended. There is stillto be told the Story of the Great Republic which was formed from these colonies, and whichhas grown to be one of the foremost nations in the world.