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LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF

NORTH CAROLINA
C-U

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in

2011 with funding from

Hil

University of North Carolina at Chapel

[Link]

THE MEN

Who Found

AMERICA

"

Columbus was dressed

in

shining steel, with a beautiful red cloak, and he

carried the red

and yellow

flag of

Spain."

The

MEN Who

Found
By

AMERICA

Frederick Winthrop Hutchinson

Illustrations in Color by

E.

Roscoe Shrader
AND

Herbert
Edwin
J.

Moore
Prittie

"Decorations by

PHILADELPHIA

Edward Stern & 1909

Co., Inc.

Copyright, 1909, by

Edward

Stern

&

Co., Inc.

Published, September, 1909

Press of

Edward Stern

&

Co., Inc.

CONTENTS

A Preface
Chapter
I.

to Parents.
Page

The Alan Who Found America The White Tyrant

The
Beautiful
Islands
of Darien

13

Chapter Chapter

II.

26
Floating

III.

City

of

the

37

Chapter Chapter
Chapter

IV. V.

The Swineherd The Noble

Who Wanted

a Castle.

48 64

Who Became
Came
to

a Slave
the Father of

VI.

How De

Soto

Waters

77

Chapter

VII.
VIII.

The Boy

Who
Red

Loved the Sea

Princess of the Forest.
Sailed

90
104

Chapter

The

Little

Chapter IX.

The Englishman Who

Dutch

for

the

116
of

Chapter X.
Chapter XI. Chapter XII.

The Father
The Friends

New

France

127
141

of the Indians

What Came

of It All

155

Go

List of

COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS

Opposite

Page

"

Columbus was dressed

tiful

in

shining steel, with a beaucarried

red cloak, and he

the red-and-yellow

flag of

Spain."

Frontispiece.

"

The kind King Montezuma wanted

he

peace, and said that

would give

the

Spaniards
to their

more gold
"

if

they

would only go back

" If

own country
I

40

you

will

let

me

go

free,
it

Pizarro,

will

fill

up

this

room with
" It

gold,

and

will all

be yours "

56

was Ferdinand de Soto who

river,

first

found this great

who

first

came

to the Father of

Waters"...

88

"

Walter sprang forward and spread

on the

his

handsome cloak
96

muddy

spot "
furs

"

Henry Hudson got many

from the Indians and

120

made them
"

all his friends "

Champlain came back

began to build a

to the St.

Lawrence River and

little

city called

Quebec "

132

"The

Indians loved

the

brave Father Marquette, and

144

called

him

their friend "

HOW
like the

quickly the years pass

But yesterday they were

a

babies;

now

he

is

a great boy, clamoring for trousers

little
girl,
is

with vast, mysterious pockets; and she, dear

mother, caressing her dolls with an infinity of maternal graces.

Could they but stay young!

one
in these stories,
It is

to

Were there but a keep them forever

fountain,
safe in a

mother's arms.
land.

sad to think of their ever leaving Baby-

There
children.
castles,

is

no country

like

unto this beautiful bourn of our

Here are the dim,

and

magic

forests,

the

enchanted

the deep, hidden caves, the secret tree-hollows, where

fairies

dwell sparrows and

lost

little

children.

In

this

land the princess

is

ever young and ever beautiful;

the bold

Prince Charming slays always the wicked,

watchful dragon;

the fierce Ogre, with his one malevolent eye forever eats the

tender children at his ravenous evening meal.

The land
Here bad
from

is

always

full,

yet always

filling;

the sun

is

forever shining, and

feet.
is

flowers spring

up under the patter of

is

little

bad, and good

is

good, and always the good comes true.

For
the

there not a fairy

godmother

to

save the child

all

childish evil in the world?

What

a land of adventure

it is!

What
all!

daring deeds!

What
with

heroic exploits!
so tenderly

The

little
is

white

crib, into

which we tuck him

why, that
unknown

no crib at

It is a great ship,

flapping sails unfurled, creaking under stress of storm and sea,

sailing

oceans

to lands of

which we have never heard.

It is also

a locomotive, a dizzy air-ship, an automobile, and, in

turn,

fort,

a palace,
little

forest

and a wicked robber's cave.

Resolutely the

captain, aeronaut, king, robber and policeall this

man marches

through

brave realm of limitless adventure.

this

Only too soon the child must leave

losing his baby's heritage, enter

warm,

fair land,

and,

upon the schoolboy's

estate.

The wicked animals who

Soon the
knowledge.
tear

giants, the fairy princesses, the wonderful,

magic

talk

and think, vanish forever before the

spelling-

book and arithmetic.

little

little

learning

is

a dangerous thing.

pilgrim

must make

his exploration of life

and

He, too, "must find America." Still, let us not him from his own charmed domains, nor blow our icy breath upon the warm creatures of his quickening imagination.

Let us rather gently bring our world to him, so that, as his eyelids

open

after his

deep child's

sleep,

he

may

see this

try in his lap, as on the

dawn
life

of the Christmas

new counmorn he finds

the gracious gifts of Santa Claus upon the laden, glittering tree.

Into the wild, romantic

of the nursery

venture to bring

these twelve tales of twelve great

men and

brave.

They

are

strange stories,
are true

and should be welcomed as

strangers.

And

they
all

as true as Cinderella, as true as Sinbad, as true as

the golden dreams of childhood.

And

it is

no wonder;

for these stories of exploration are first

cousins to those your children already know.

Aladdin's lamp

was not more magically pregnant than the Devil's courage of the Spaniards in the fairyland of El Dorado; Dick Whittington

was not more marvelously transformed than the swineherd who came to rule a new-found nation and bad Bluebeard, or even the gaunt wolf, who ate Red Riding Hood's grandhimself
;

mother, was not so fantastically melodramatic as the wicked,

wicked

man who
so
I

hid in a barrel.
little

And

send these stories to the

children in the hope

that they

may

pass from the true tales of fairies to these other

10

true tales without shock or rude awakening.

May

the old,

beautiful visions linger, and at last fade but gently into the

wildly unreal truth of the actual world!

tale of the nursery

May

the two, the

and the

tale of the great

dominion beyond

the nursery, live together in friendship and amity, so that,

at last the little one

when

comes to

lose his

fund of baby

lore, it will

pass from him as gently as the fleeing consciousness leaves the

drowsy

child

To
these

the

little

children of America, and to the children

all

who

have borne and reared children, to

little tales

who must

find

America,

of

'

'The

Man Who Found

America " and other

stories are affectionately dedicated.

11

THE

MANm W

H O

FOUND

AMERICA

THE MAN

Who Found

AMERICA
years ago,

hundred MORE King Ferdinand and

than four
Isabella ruled over Spain, there
.

the wise, gentle

when Queen

&*

M
m

where the brave nobles and beautiful ladies stayed, a poor He was man named Christopher Columbus. He had a great poor, but he was very wise. plan, a plan to get heaps and heaps of shining pearls, and red rubies, and diamonds, and soft blue and white and yellow silks, and many other wonderful things for Spain and the good King and Queen. Columbus came to tell the King and Queen about his plan, and to ask them to
the court,

came one day to King and Queen and all the

help him.
In those days, even the wisest
that

men
table.

believed

the

earth
if
it

was

flat,

like

They
the

thought that

a ship sailed

far, far

across

would fall off the edge of the earth, and down, down into a black hole that was so big and deep that it had no bottom. When Columbus was a little boy, he would often lie in the warm, sunny sands by the seashore and listen to the talk of the sailors, who came together and
wide ocean,

mim

i&v
rtj!.'

'''.,"'

\ifrri

THE

E N

H O

FOUND

AMERICA
Once
a
lIKIlWiH

whispered
sailor

stories of

this far-off ocean.

with long black hair and a big black beard

told Christopher

how

his ship
it

had

sailed

into a

sea that
like

was so hot
a

that

sometimes boiled up

water in

tea-kettle.

Another very big

the

sailor,

with only one eye, said that he had seen

water,

big serpent gliding through

and and
its

ugly black demons

who

lay in wait for ships

men.

Another

sailor

told of

a bird as
lifted

big as

the tallest house.

This bird

ships in

claws and dropped them

down
old,

into

the ocean

with a great splash, and

all

the poor sailors were

drowned.
said that he

There was an
had seen

old

sailor

who

out of the sea

hand come up and catch the ships and drag them

a big, black

down

into

the deep ocean.

This sailor had a

big, sharp knife in his belt. to little Christopher that he to the

Once he whispered
had sailed and
sailed

edge of the earth and had looked over the edge into the deep, black hole. And he said he was so frightened that his hair, that was as brown
as a tree before, got quite white.

He _told

little

Christopher that

this

ocean was so terrible that

Sea of Darkness."

people called
After

it

"The

many

years

little

Christopher grew up
said,

to be a brave, wise

man.

He

"These

stories

4' v
1

14

THE

M A X

H O

FOUND
He
that

AMERICA
sailed

are foolish.

They

are not true."

had

often on

the ocean and

he had never seen the

great black bird, or the big

s,.

hand

came out

of the sea, or

any of these terrible things.

all

He

had read books, and he thought

the sea and the earth.

night about

"The
is

earth has no edge,"

he said

at last;

"the earth

round."

books that Columbus read was This about a brave sailor named Marco Polo. Marco Polo had gone far away from his little white house by the sea. He went always towards

One

of

the

the rising

sun,

sometimes walking, sometimes

told

riding on queer-looking camels with

their

backs.

The book

humps on how Marco Polo

had found
ing
cities,

in that far-off country beautiful, shin-

with people in them

who had

never

heard
Indies.

of

God.

This country was called the

pearls

Marco Polo had brought home with

and
soft
silks,

him big white

and spices
that

that smelled strange

and sweet, and he said

anyone who could reach the Indies could get these beautiful things. But it took years and
years to get' there, and there were fierce robbers

on the road, so the people were afraid to go. Columbus, too, wanted to reach this wonderful
land.

But he knew an easier way than the long

THE

E N

H O

FOUND
taken.
like

AMERICA
Columbus knew
it

journey

Marco Polo had

was round,

that the earth

an orange, because
is

he was very wise.

then
I

And
it

he said, "If

round,
the

can

sail

around

and

won't
is

fall off

edge of the ocean, because there

I

no edge.
I

So

will

sail

around the earth

until

reach the

Indies."

Then it was that Columbus went to the King and Queen and told them about his plan. The King and Queen were much surprised at the strange stories that Columbus told them, and
they called around them their wise

men

to talk

about

The wise men of Spain laughed at Columbus. They said: "Columbus says the earth is round. If it is round, how do the people on the other side live? They would have to stand on their heads; the rain and snow would fall up instead of down; the sun would never
it.

shine there, and

it

would always be dark.

that."
to

People
told

could not
the

live like

The wise men

help

r-^

Columbus, because he was crazy. And the little boys and girls made fun of Columbus and touched their foreheads when he passed them in the streets, because their fathers had told them that Columbus was crazy.

King and Queen not

..,.,,
IUj

ADW-'-'

[Link]

16

THE

MAN

H O

FOUND

AMERICA

So the King and Queen told Columbus that they would not help him. This made Columbus
very sad.

But he knew that he was right, and

lili

King and Queen wherever they went. He went with them from city to city, always asking them for help. But there was a great war in Spain, and the King and Queen were too busy about the war to listen
he kept on trying.
followed the
to

He

Columbus. At last Columbus

said:

"If the King and

Queen of Spain will not help me, I will go to some other king and ask." He started to leave Spain. You can well believe that he was very
sad.

On

But then a very strange thing happened. the way he stopped at a convent to beg some
little
is

bread and water for his

son.

This boy's

name was Diego, which

James.
convent.
told,

the Spanish

name

for

There was a good, wise old man

at this

When

he heard the story that Columbus

he said he would help him.

So the good

the convent went to see Queen and begged her to help Columbus. He told her how rich and great Spain would become

old

man from

Isabella

if

saw-

Columbus found the Indies. But still the Queen was afraid that Columbus was not right, and she said that she would not help him. Then

HHg
17

THE

MEN

WHO
angry.

FOUND
He

AMERICA

Columbus was
Spain.

started again to leave

This time he almost reached the end of

Spain
It

when he heard someone

a

calling to

him.

Queen. "Good news! Good news!" cried the man. "Good Queen She has said: Isabella has promised to help you. I will give Columbus ships and men, even if I must sell my golden crown and my beautiful rings and chains to get the money.'" How glad Columbus wasl He had waited a

was

man

sent by the

'

long, long time, and now, at

last,

he could go

on

his voyage.

Queen

Isabella gave

him
she

three
told

ships,

and

sailors .to

sail

them,

and

Columbus that if he found the golden Indies she would give him barrels of shining gold and some
and diamonds and silks that he Columbus thanked her and would find there. kissed her hand, which is the way people do with
of

the

pearls

Queens.

The King and Queen and

all

the great

lords, with their shining

swords and velvet coats,

and the pretty ladies came down to sea to say good-by to Columbus, and he sailed away into
the big, strange ocean.

For many days Columbus sailed and sailed At first the sailors with him were and sailed.

happy and obedient,

for

Columbus

said,

"I

will

H E

MAN

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA

give you lots of beautiful things

when we reach
day
after

the
into

Indies."
this

But

as they sailed

day
very

strange ocean,

they grew very,

At night, when Columbus could not see them, they got together and whispered to each other stories of the big black hand that pulled ships down into the sea, and of the great bird that lifted ships high into the air and then dropped them deep into the ocean, so that the Even the soft, genpoor sailors were drowned. tle wind that blew always from the east frightened them. "How can we ever get back to Spain," they cried, "if the wind blows always away from Spain?" For in those days they had no steamers, with big engines that can send ships anywhere. They had only ships with sails, which went the way the wind blew. At last the sailors begged Columbus to go
afraid.

much

back.

"We
little

shall

all

die in

this

strange sea,"

they cried,

"and we
babies.

shall

never see our wives

us

and

Let

go

back."

But

Columbus would not go back. Every day he told them stories of the rich, beautiful country which they would find. And he told them to be brave. But after a while they would not listen any more; and when they found that Columbus

THE

MEN
AAA
8

WHO
Vir

FOUND
of

AMERICA
said:

would not go back, some

"Let Then we can us throw Columbus into the sea. go back to Spain, and if any one asks us, 'Where is Columbus?' we will say that he fell into the Columbus knew what they said, but ocean."
he was brave and was not afraid.
that
if

them

He

believed

he sailed

far

enough he would reach the

beautiful Indies.

Then, one day, they saw something on the far-off ocean, and the sailors joyfully shouted, " Land! Land! " But when they sailed near, they saw it was only a cloud. Then the sailors were Every day they all looked out for sad again.
land.
of

Queen

Isabella

had promised

handful

shining gold to the one

said

who

first

saw land,

and Columbus
velvet coat.

he would also give a fine

How

lonely the poor sailors were!

Every day

they saw nothing but the wide, wide ocean, with

the rolling waves.

flew over the ships.

At last, one day, some birds "Look! Look!" the sailors

shouted joyfully.
birds, there

And

they said, "If there are

for

must be land
the
birds,

them

to rest

on."
sailed

But although they looked and looked, and

quickly
land.
after

they

could

not

find

0&M
tort

20

THE

A N

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA

of
it,

Then, on another day, Columbus fished out the sea a hawthorn branch with berries on
and
a

carved

stick.

The

sailors

crowded
stick,

around
for the

to look at the

branch and the

and

laughed and sang

for joy.

hawthorn

to

"There must be land grow on," they said, "and

there
i^-*e

must be people who carved this stick." Everyone was glad and happy and watched eagerly
iQs

for land.

Columbus watched
ocean.
darkness.

too.

One

night he stood

alone on his ship, looking out over the black

All at once he saw a
It
little

light in the

was so little he could not be sure So he called two of his men and it was a light. asked them whether they could see the light.
"Yes! yes! " they cried, "we can see
to
it.

It

seems

move up and down."

sure
the
until,

Still,

they could not be

quite

about

two hours afterwards,

to

when

morning began

grow

brighter, one

of the other ships fired a gun.

This meant that

see

they had seen land.

When
the land.

the sun
It

came up, everyone could

&&

was a beautiful land, with waving green trees and flowers. But it seemed even more beautiful than it really was to brave Columbus and his poor, tired sailors, because they had seen

21

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA
many
days.
imiUMt

nothing but the wide ocean

for so

They quickly rowed their boats to the shore and Columbus was dressed in shining steel, landed.
with a beautiful red cloak, and he carried the
red and yellow flag of Spain.
carried flags.

They

all

His captains also knelt down on the shore

bringing

and

thanked

God

for

them

to

this

beautiful place.

They did not see any of the beautiful cities that Marco Polo had written about, but men came out of the woods and ran up to them on
the beach.

These men had

straight

black hair

and brown
their hair,

skins, with bright-colored feathers in

and they had hardly any clothes on. "Look! Look at the people from heaven!" they cried, when they saw Columbus and his men,
with their white skins and beautiful clothes, and
their ships,
"<:,_

which looked like big white birds. These people were Indians not fierce like the Indians we know, but very kind and gentle. Columbus had never seen an Indian before, and the Indians had never seen a white man in all

their lives.

So both Columbus and the Indians

were very
to the

much

surprised

and looked

at

each
caps

other for a long time.

Indians.

Columbus was He gave them little

very kind
red

22

THE

MAN
glass

WHO
beads and

FOUND
little

AMERICA
bells.

aMSKnzjej

and pretty

tinkling

The Indians liked these they gave Columbus fresh

and green parrots and

things very
fruits

much, and

and beautiful red

of gold.

little bits

Columbus
that

called these people Indians because

he thought this country was part of the Indies

Marco Polo had written about. He did not know that he had discovered a wonderful new world, far richer and more beautiful than the golden Indies. This new world was our own America, the beautiful land where we all live
now.

Columbus went back to Spain to tell the King and Queen about this land. When Columbus sailed up to the city by the sea,
After a while,
the people in
fired

Spain cheered and rang bells and

guns

to

show

their joy.

When Columbus

came to the throne, the King and Queen made him sit down beside them. This was a great
honor, because no one
is

allowed to

sit

down

when a king or queen is in the room. So Columbus sat down and told them how he had
sailed

across the
this

Sea of

Darkness and

at

last

found

beautiful

country.

How

glad

now

was the good Queen Isabella that she had sent Columbus! She made him a great lord in Spain

23

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA

mm

Lfc
uiifwiitt

and gave him gold and jewels; and she kept his little son Diego always with her, to hold up her long silken train and to carry her fan and
handkerchief.

]Xi

to

But he wanted Columbus was happy now. see more of this new land, and he sailed across

Once, while he was away, some wicked men told the King and The King and Queen lies about Columbus.
the

ocean again three times.

Queen

believed what these wicked

men

said,

and

they ordered their soldiers to put big iron chains

on Columbus' hands and feet and send him back Poor Columbus! How sad he felt! to Spain. When they came to Spain and Columbus saw Queen Isabella, she soon found that he was a good man and that the stories about him were not true, and she told the soldiers to take the chains off Columbus, and said she was sorry. But Columbus was still sad, because after he had found this beautiful country for Spain, they had So he always kept the put chains on him. chains, and when he died, he asked the people
to

bury the chains with him.

There was another thing that happened that When was not fair to Christopher Columbus. a man finds a new country, it always ought to

24

"_-_L".;m

THE
be

MAN
:z
r

WHO
him.

FOUND

E R

named

after

But our country was never

About seven years after Columbus found the new country, an Italian, named Amerigo Vespucci, sailed across the ocean and wrote a little book about the new land. He did not say one word about Christopher Columbus
called

Columbia.

being there
that

many foolish people thought Amerigo was the man who found the new
first.

So

:?-

honor of Amerigo. And this is its name to-day; and this, I think, will always be its name. Columbus was old when he died, and he was poor, too. Good, kind Queen Isabella had died, and the King forgot that Columbus had found a
it

country, and they called

America,

in

beautiful

give

new country for him, and he did not him any more money. So Columbus was
After he was dead the people
that the country he

sad and poor.

had found was not the Indies, but a rich, wonderful country, our own America. And that is why all good Americans
love the

knew

name

of Christopher

Columbus, because

he came and found America.

25

THE

E N

H O

FOUND

AMERICA

The

WHITE TYRANT <DARIEN

only
a brave

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS was not

man, he was
I

also a very

good man.
the Spanof these

wish that

could say the same of

after

all

iards

who came

him.

But

many

men were

cruel and deceitful and wicked.

They

were not kind to the Indians, and they fought and robbed and cheated, and their only thought was
to

grow

rich.

most wicked of all these Spaniards was Balboa. His full name was Vasco
of

Now, one

the

Nunez de
be.

Balboa, but

think

shall

call

him

only Balboa.

He was

as cruel as a

man
if

could

anyone was in trouble, Balboa would not help him, but

He

liked to see people suffer, and

would laugh at the poor man's misfortune. He borrowed money and promised to pay it back;

when the time came, he told the people who had lent him the money to get it back the best way they could. He quarreled with everybody,
but

and everybody said man.

other Spaniards, he

that he

was

a wicked,

wicked

This Balboa was born in Spain; but

like

many
live.

went

to

America

to

26

THE
Now

T E

TYRANT
America

O F

D A R

E N

there was in

a great island called

Hispaniola, where

many Spaniards had

houses.
kind,

These Spaniards were very cruel

gentle Indians.

to the

They made slaves of them, and they made them work so very hard and so very
long that

many

of the poor Indians died.

And

all

the while the Spaniards lived without doing any

work themselves.
fine

They walked about

they

in their

clothes,

and
as

drank and swore and

be.

quarreled

with one another, and in every way

were

as

bad

bad could

And

of all these

wicked Spaniards, Balboa was the worst. Whenever anything wicked was to be done, Balboa would do it. You see he was not only wicked, but very brave and very, very bold. Well, after a while, Balboa grew tired of the lazy life in Hispaniola. He wanted to become rich, and it was harder to get money in Hispaniola than in other parts of America. Besides, nobody in all the island liked Balboa. He was so cruel and quarrelsome, so unkind to the
Indians, that the people used to look at

him

coldly,

and shake
the street.

their heads

when

they passed him in

Then, too, those who had lent money to him began to want it back again, and some

men

said to Balboa, " If

you do not pay back the

5. 27

w:4jt

THE

E N

H O

FOUND
Mm
us,

AMERICA

throw you into prison, and there you can stay in the dark with the rats and the mice until you die." For in
shall

money you owe

we

those cruel days, a

man who
the

could not pay his

debts was thrown into prison.

well
believe
that

Now, you can

wicked Balboa was only too anxious to get away from the island. But how could he do it? He could not walk away, because an island has water on all sides, and he could not go by boat, because he had no money; so he thought and thought and thought. And at last Balboa hit upon a very clever plan. One he walked day down to the sea-coast, where a ship was being loaded, and when nobody was watching he quickly crawled into a great empty
wine-cask and pulled the
every
lid

on the
after

top.

There

he waited and waited, hour

hour, afraid

someone would miss him and look in the wine-casks on the boat. He hardly dared breathe, and even the beating of his heart seemed to him as loud as a great drum. But no one came, and at last the boat took up its anchor and sailed away. Then Balboa was very happy, for he knew that he was free from Hispaniola and all the pepole who hated him and all the people to whom he owed money. He
that

moment

28

THE
knew
But
say

WHITE
that

TYRANT

OF

DARIEN

he would not have to go to prison. he was afraid to

at first

come out
waited
a

of the cask,

because he was afraid of what the captain would

when he saw him.

He
at

good many

hours in the barrel, but

to the lid,

last

he gave a shove he heard the

and out popped the red face and red

beard of Balboa.
captain and
all

As he did

so,

the sailors give a great shout, for

you may be sure that they were much surprised to see a man's head come out of a barrel.

whose name was Encisco, was a very disagreeable man, and he was quite angry when he saw Balboa's head come out of the barrel. He did not like to carry people on his ship for nothing, and he thought that Balboa had
the captain,

Now,

cheated him

when he

hid himself

in a barrel.

"What
I

does this

he swore so

mean?" he shouted, and then many oaths that I am glad you and
it

were not there, though perhaps we could not

have understood, because

was

all

in Spanish.

Well,

when Balboa

told the captain

had to run away from the island, no money to pay for the voyage, Encisco became angrier and angrier. He stamped his foot and

how he and how he had

shook his fist; his eyes got black, and he swore and swore and swore. "I will tell you what I

M
29

THE.

MEN
will

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA
HfUlMt

ml
m

do with you," roared the captain so loud that the wicked Balboa shook with fear; "I shall put you on a desert island without food or water and you can starve to death, you wicked cheater." Now, I must say that Balboa was a brave man, but at these cruel words he became very frightened. He knew that Encisco would do as he
said.

In those days people did not think

much

about killing each other, and Balboa was so cruel

himself that he would have treated the captain
just as cruelly as the captain treat

him;

so

Balboa

was now going to threw himself on his

life.

knees and begged the captain to spare his

and begged, but the more he begged, the more the captain swore and the angrier he grew. But at last, he did feel a little sorry for
Balboa;
so he said,
I

He begged

"Get up from your

your
life."

knees.

This time

will spare

Now, you

Mm

will think, perhaps, that

Balboa was very grateful

life,

to the captain for sparing his

but really he

was

not.

He

kissed

the

captain's

hand and

thanked him over and over again, and swore that

he would lay he wished
it;

down
but

his life for

in

Encisco whenever
secret

his

real

heart

he

hated the captain and only waited for the chance

to

do him harm.

THE

WHITE

TYRANT

OF

D A R

E N

Well, the chance came sooner even than Balboa One day a great storm came up had thought.

and the little ship tossed and rocked and everybody The was afraid that the boat would go down. sailors, who were wicked men, went down on their knees and tried to pray that their lives But they had all forgotten might be spared. how to say their prayers, and the storm grew worse and worse, and at last the little ship was
dashed to pieces on
all fell

>}

a rocky coast.

into the sea, but luckily for

was not deep and they were able At last the men were all on land again, alive. but not one of them knew the name of the place or the name of the country where they had been wrecked. They looked up and down the coast, but everywhere they found only sand and rocks, and back a little way great woods of waving
palm-trees.

The sailors them the water to swim ashore

Now

the captain ought always to

know where
But the

he takes his ship;

the captain the

so each of the sailors asked

of the country.

name

captain had never been in any of that country,

t&

and he did not know the name any better than the sailors; so you may well believe that they were all very much frightened. Then up spoke

1
31

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND
He

AMERICA

the crafty Balboa.

had been very quiet and respectful on the boat, because he was still afraid of the desert island; but here on the land he was
as bold as

you

please. " Captain," he said, "I

I

know
This
off is

where we
is

are, for

have been here before.

little

the country of Darien, and a

I

way

an Indian village to which

will take

you."

words of Balboa, they were very glad. They cheered and cheered and threw up their caps, which were still wet from the sea-water. Then they all started
the sailors heard these
off

Now, when

for the

Indian village, everybody following

had looked on at this strange march, you would have thought that Balboa was the real captain and Encisco only a It was not easy to march through this sailor.
bold
Balboa,

and

if

you

country of Darien, because the Indians were very

unfriendly.

You see, before this time some other Spaniards had come to the country, and robbed

Perhaps and killed and tortured the Indians. Well, anyBalboa was one of these very men.
way, the Indians did not love the white

men who

had been so cruel, and so from behind trees they

shot arrows at the ship-wrecked sailors.
sailors

Many

were killed and more were wounded; but Balboa, though very wicked, was a brave and
,,
utlt&nrW

imSSt
32

THE

WHITE

TYRANT

O F

D A R

E N

wise General, and he beat off the Indians and

got the sailors safely to the
little

Indian village.

At

last

the time had

come

for

Balboa

Captain Encisco sorry for wanting to

make put him off

to

on

a desert island.

forgive the captain

You see Balboa could never for making him kneel and
was very proud and
So Balboa took

beg for wanted

his
all

life.

Besides, he

the glory for himself.

the sailors aside one by one, and whispered to

each of them, "Encisco

is

poor captain and

am
will

good one. Make me your captain and I treat you better than Encisco does." So
all

the sailors

made Balboa

their captain.

Now, at last, Balboa had his wish and was a great man in a new country. Here he could get money and become very rich but I am
;

sorry to say that he was always very, very cruel.

He
as

used to rob the poor Indians and murder

them, and when they did not have as

he wanted, he would
tie

much

gold
their

them up by

thumbs until they screamed with pain. He made them hang there until they told him where more gold could be found. Sometimes the poor Indians would not know; but just to be rid of the pain, they would pretend that gold was hidden in the forest and they would take Balboa to
^lfak<

33

THE

E N

\Y

FOUND
if

AMERICA

the place.
there,

But

Balboa did not find any gold

it

and often he did not,

with the poor Indians.

alive

He
that

on

a slow fire, so

went still worse would burn them they would suffer

of

great

pain.

Indeed, he grew so cruel that the

Indians

called

him

"The White Tyrant

came
I

Darien."

One day

the son of an Indian chief

to

where Balboa was living and spoke to the "You always want gold," said he, "but

tyrant.

will

show you something

a

still

better.

Come

with

me

few days to the West, and you may see an ocean as great as the great sea you sailed when

you camefromyourhome." Now, Balboa thought, "If I can find this great sea and be the first white man to look at it, then I shall be a famous man. Besides, there may be gold and silver and
jewels in the lands beyond this

new

sea."

So

off

he went, taking with him the chief's son and It was not a long some of the Spanish sailors.
journey,
a^_

and

in

few days

they

came

to

mountain.
"

This the Indian told Balboa to climb.

From

the top," he said,

"you

will see the great

ocean."

Balboa told

all his

men

to stay below,

and he

went up alone

to the top of the

mountain; and

THE

WHITE

TYRANT
true.

O F

D A R

E N

^^
what the Indian had said came
the
great sea, stretching
in all as the eye as

There

lay

directions as far

could reach.
;

The

blue waters were

quiet

as a little lake

but Balboa

knew
a

that

this

was

ocean

great

ocean.

And

it

was
is

great

the Pacific Ocean, which

the greatest

who had from Hispaniola and run away had hidden himself in a barrel, was the first white man to see it.
body of water in the world.
So Balboa,

though he was, knelt down on the top of the mountain and thanked God that he had been the first to
cruel
see this great ocean.
his

Then Balboa, wicked and

After that he called up

men. Up they ran, each trying to be the first, and when they reached the top, they all
looked with wonder
that
at

the great, peaceful sea,

shone so beautifully in the noonday sun.

the

up great stones until there was a high heap, and Balboa went down the mountain and carved the name of King
piled

Then

men

Ferdinand upon the bark of the

days later Balboa came
the sea,

trees.

few
to

down

the

mountain

&er\

which before he had only seen, but not touched. He walked a little way out into the ocean, and, waving his sword in the air, cried out in a loud voice that all that great sea and

35

THE

E N

H O

FOU
and

N D

E R

all

the islands in

it

all

the lands about

it

iimiiimt

belonged to Ferdinand, the King of Spain. Now, if any one did such a foolish thing
day,
I

to-

believe that

we would

all

laugh

at

him.

great ocean cannot belong to any one

if

man,

even

he
all

is

King, or even to any one nation,

all

but to

the nations and

the people of the

world.

But King Ferdinand was very proud when he heard of what the bold Balboa had
done, and
so

he

made him

the

ruler of the

great ocean he had found.

But the wicked Balboa did not go without Every day he punishment for all his evil deeds.

became more hard and more

cruel.

He

did

not keep his promise to be kinder than Encisco,

and everybody hated him, even the people who knew that he was brave. So one day the Governor of Darien had him sent to prison, and a
short time after that
I

Balboa's head was cut

off.

anybody was sorry. Balboa was a very brave, bold man, and he did find the But the braver a man is, the Pacific Ocean. more gentle and kind and good he should be;
that

do not know

so

think Balboa deserved his death, just as he

deserved the
of

name

the Indians had

of Darien."

given him

"The White Tyrant

THE BEAUTIFUL CITY OF THE FLOATING ISLANDS

THE BEAUTIFUL CITY .//^ FLOATING ISLANDS

COLUMBUS
had gone on his great journey
to find gold, but

nowhere did he

find

it.

Other Spaniards came to America, all looking for gold, like Columbus. But gold does not growin the street
:

nor on the dusty roads.

It is

found

......

in gold mines, deep,

deep under the earth, where

men work by candle-light and dig and dig. Now, there was a man named Cortez, who wanted gold much gold. He wanted to become a very rich man and go back to Spain, and live

in a beautiful

castle,

with servants, and horses,

and

fine clothes,

and jewels of many colors that

Cortez was a very young
live.

glistened in the sun.

man when
a lion.

he went to America to

He was

only nineteen, but he was strong and as brave as

There was island where Cortez

not like Cortez.
prison, and

Spanish Governor in the

lived,

He

and the Governor did threw the young man into

the Governor

when Cortez escaped,

&BF

threw him

in again.

But Cortez was very brave

and very

clever,

and so once more he got away,

iiriiiiiM*i^'

ii

ii"

in

37

THE

E N

FOUND
that the

AMERICA
immiitK

and hid himself so

find him.

Governor could not

Now,

there had

from the there was much gold in that land. So the Governor of the island said to himself, "I will send some soldiers there, and they will take the gold away from the Indians and bring it to me;
then
I

come news from further west, land which we now call Mexico, that

shall

be a rich man, and can go back to

Spain and

live in a castle."

For

in those

days

there were castles in Spain, large and gray and

beautiful, with great iron gates

and

ditch of

water
except

all

around, so that no

man

could enter

the friends of the owner.

You

see the

Governor of this island wanted to be rich and great, and that is why he sent a little army of Spanish soldiers to the new land of Mexico.

"Who
asked
the

is

the

man

that will lead

my army?"
be

Governor.

"There

will

many
in a

dangers.

Perhaps the ships will go down

all

storm and
die

will give out

will be drowned; perhaps the food and the soldiers and their Generals will

from hunger, or it may be that the Indians will fight them and shoot them to death with bows and arrows. I must have a good General strong, and as brave as a lion." And then he

38

BEAUTIFUL CITY OF THE FLOATING ISLANDS

]
thought
army.
of

Cortez,

the

brave,

strong

young
little

Spaniard, and he

made him General

of the

USE
men by
telling

So one day the ships sailed away to the new

land of Mexico. Cortez cheered the
-

.L-

them

stories of the great

country they were going

to find.

"We

are to sail

and

to fight," said he;

"to fight for our good King, for Spain and for God.

The people that live in this land are not Christians. They do not believe in our God, and we must teach them about Him and make them Christians." But even while he spoke, the young
Cortez thought of gold, gold, gold

dollars of

gold piled up to the sky; goblets and plates and

dishes of gold; tables and chairs of gold.
gold, yellow gold, that

Gold,

would make the young

in all the world.

Spaniard the richest

man

The
It

little

ships took up their anchors and

in the waters.

sailed west

towards the sun setting

was a beautiful sea, all green and blue, with here and there reefs of white coral, and at last, far in the distance, they saw the beautiful new land of Mexico. The sun shone bright upon the green trees of the forest, and all the flowers of the field, red and purple and blue and yellow, glistened in the bright light. The boats came up to the shore.

THE

MEN
"Here,"
call
it

WHO

FOUND

E R

BMM

Wu^^^m^B* I
cried Cortez, as he stood on the white
I

beach, "here

shall

found

my

city,

and
in

shall

the 'City of the

True Cross,'
of Spain."

honor of
to this

God and
day the

the

good King

city bears that

name

And

the "City of the

True Cross."

Now,
high

there lived in the

new land
a

of

Mexico,
of

up

behind

the

mountains,

nation

Indians called Aztecs.

They were very proud

and strong and brave, and had conquered many peoples. These Aztecs were not like the Indians

we see in the circus. They had a beautiful city made of wood and stone, with houses full of gold
and
silver

ornaments, and

this

wonderful

city

was

The King of the Aztecs was a very great man. His name was Montezuma, and his father had been King before him and his grandfather had been King before
built

upon

floating islands.

him; and

so, for so

many, many

years, that

among
ber.

the Aztecs, even the oldest,

no one could remem-

Now,

there was a story

among

the Aztecs that

Sun would come from the East and drive Montezuma and his Indians away. These Children of the Sun, according to the story, were not red like the

some day

the Children of the

40

The kind King Montezuma wanted

Spaniards more gold
if

peace, and said that he would give the they would only go back to their own country."

THE BEAUTIFUL CITY OF THE FLOATING ISLANDS

7T-. -.-.- -- .i- -:~

Aztecs, but white

soldiers.

like

Cortez and his Spanish

the

Montezuma heard of white men, who had come and founded

So when
City of the True Cross, he called his wise
together.

the

men

They were very old and very wise, and they bowed deep to Montezuma, because he
listened to

was King, and they

what he

said.

"Now, my Lords," said Montezuma to the wise men about him, "I have strange news to
tell

There have come from the East the They are white men, with Children of the Sun. black hair and beards, and their clothes are
you.
of

made

metal as
in

bright

as

silver,

so

that

it

glistens
V:~.

the sun.

They

ride
a

animals that
see,

run

faster

than

on big, strong man." You

Montezuma had

never seen horses.

went on the King, "these children here in houses that sail on the sea I such as we Aztecs know not of.

"And," have come

in

ships

fear that,

when

they see our beautiful city, they will kill

our people, and then the Aztec nation will be

no more."

The King paused, and

the wise
zger

in the great hall,

all

where
could

men were

gathered,

was

silent, so

silent that the

breathing of the wise

the

men

be heard.

Then again

King spoke:

mmmSm

j^

41

T H E
rr-rr

^R*.-

ME
1

N
-

WHO

FOUND
out,

AMERICA
"what
of
shall
I

"My
do?" And
a

Lords!" he called

young man,

the

bravest

all

the

Aztec princes, arose quietly and, facing the King, answered his question.

'The Aztecs,
fought.

my Lord," he
as

said,

"have always

We

must do

our fathers have ever

beautiful 'City

done, fight for our

King and our

silent

of the Floating Islands.'"

Montezuma was
brave words
of

as

he listened to the
prince, and
all

the

young

the

wise

men were

silent too.

man, the oldest and wisest of all the wise men in the kingdom, rose in his turn; and all the wise men listened as the old
a very old

Then

man spoke. "Not so, my

slowly.

gracious King, not so," he said

are

"We

brave men, but

the

we cannot
is

fight the Children of

;'

Sun.

It

true that

many and the white men are Sun has given to them his fire. They have tubes that are called guns, and when
our soldiers are
but the

few;

the Indians fight these white children, the tubes

speak out

fire

and noise, which

kill the

red men.

Where

are our brothers to the

East

who

have

fought the white

men?

Dead,

my
rW

Lord, dead.

42

THE BEAUTIFUL CITY OF THE FLOATING ISLANDS

We

cannot fight against the Sun or against his

children.

presents

We

must send
in their

to

the

white
silver,

men
and
the

rich presents of

gold and

beg them
sea

go away, they, and their horses, and their guns, and not come up to our beautiful city."
to

to

go away

houses that

sail

And

as the

old

Montezuma
bright

did.

man had said, so the King He gathered together great

chests of gold and silver, dresses and cloaks of

green peacock feathers, and heaps and

heaps of red rubies, and milky white pearls, and

precious jewels that glistened in the sun.
these to the white

"Take

men," he
silver

said to his servants;

all

"take

this gold

and

and

these beautiful

gifts to the

white men,

who

are Children of the

Sun, and beg them to go away and not

come

up to our beautiful city."

The
them.

servants did as

Montezuma had bidden They did not have horses, but all day
flies,

and

all

night they ran as swift as the bird

until at last they

came

to

soldiers waited.

Then

they

where Cortez and his fell on their knees

ground.

and bowed

their heads to the

"Behold, oh Children of the Sun," they said, "this gold and silver, and all these rubies and
)recious
stones,

and

all

these beautiful

things

fir r

43

THE

E N

H O

FOUND
our good King

E R

C A

are the presents of

to the white

Montezuma
;

and our
the

men who have come from the East King Montezuma begs the white men
silver

not to go up to his beautiful city, but to take

gold and

and to go away
sail

in

their

on the sea." Now, when Cortez saw all the gold and silver that Montezuma had sent, he became very greedy. He wanted still more gold, and he knew that if

wonderful houses that

Montezuma could
presents, there
derful city.

send

him

such

beautiful

must be great riches

in the

won-

So he said to the waiting servants,

"Tell your good King Montezuma that I thank him for the gold and silver which he has sent me, and that I and all my men with me will

Siiy

back with the [Link] was a long and dangerous journey to the beautiful city of the Aztecs, and Cortez feared that his men might be afraid to go so far from their ships, so he called them together. "I am going on a long and dangerous journey," he said; "those who go with me shall become
the
sage.
rich, very
rich,

come to Then

visit

him

in his beautiful city."

servants went

but

those

stay here

on the seacoast."

who are afraid can And the soldiers

Cortez,

answered,

"You

are our

General,

and

jMU

',//fl'(tf

i^ft'Viiirrltiiiia^giii'ii

THE BEAUTIFUL CITY OF THE FLOATING ISLANDS

where you go we will go too." Then Cortez burned his ships so that no one could turn back,
and with
sss
his

beautiful city

army marched up to where King Montezuma lived.

little

the

Now, when Montezuma heard that the white men were coming to his beautiful city, he did not know what to do. Some of his wise men
said, " Let us fight the

Children of the Sun," and

let

others said, "Let us have peace;

the white

us

men

as guests to our city."

welcome So Montelands

zuma

did not

know what
reached

to do.

When

Cortez

the

high
built

and

looked out upon the

sight in the world.

city,

he saw the strangest

on islands that floated on the lakes, and there was water all about it, and bridges with gates, and soldiers that stood by the gates to keep the white men out. And Cortez was afraid. You see the bridges were very narrow, and it would have been very easy
city

The

was

for the

Aztecs to shoot the Spanish soldiers as

so the crafty Cortez

they crossed the bridges;

said to the Indians, "Listen,

my

friends; let us

come

into your beautiful City

of

the

Floating

Islands, for

we

are tired after our long journey.

little,

Let us rest with you a

friends and

for

we

are

your

we wish you

to be ours."

45

THE

MEN

FOUND
let

AMERICA
men
cross
the
UlliUlltft

So the Aztecs
as

the white

bridges and enter the gates of their

city.

Now,

soon as Cortez and his soldiers were inside the city they behaved very badly. They went out

on the streets and quarreled with the Aztecs. They found fault with the palace, which the good

King Montezuma had given them

the Aztecs their gold
stones.

to live in,

they always thought of ways in which to

and take from

and

silver

and precious

Now,

Cortez,

who was

very strong and

brave, was also very cruel and deceitful.

He invited

and

Montezuma to come and see him in his palace, when the Aztec King came to see him,
the white

Cortez told his soldiers to hold him prisoner.

Then

men went

out into the streets

and fought the good Indians and killed many of them. The kind King Montezuma wanted peace,

and said that he would give the Spaniards more gold if they would only go back to their own country. But the Spaniards did not wish to go
back, not until they had found
silver
all

the gold and

in all the

land of the Aztecs.

battles,

So they

fought battles,

many

and the Spaniards,

who were
all

brave, but very, very cruel,

that country.

Many

conquered of the Aztecs were killed,

lost his life.

and even the good King Montezuma

BE
46

THE BEAUTIFUL CITY OF THE FLOATING ISLANDS

Thus

it

all

came

to pass just as the wise

men

had foretold, and the City of the Floating Islands became the white men's city.
But
sure,
it

did not go well with Cortez.

first

To

be

at

beautiful

became very rich, and had houses, and lands, and horses, and gold
he he did not long keep these things.

and
rM*i~

silver; but

He grew

poor again, and when he got to be an

old man, he was very sad and unhappy.

And
for all

sometimes

think he must have been sorry for

his cruelties,

and

lies,

and wickedness, and

the unkind things he did to the poor Aztecs

when

he

and

his

soldiers

went up into Mexico and

Floating

conquered the beautiful City of the

Islands.

47

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA
m

WANTED
ONCE
He
upon
in

THE SWINEHERD WHO

A
a

CASTLE
a
little

time, there lived in

village

Spain a boy

who tended

pigs.

His clothes were was a very ragged boy. old and torn; he wore no cap, and he had never in all his life had on a pair of shoes. His food was even worse than his clothing. He ate nuts and grapes and stale crusts of bread, and sometimes he had cheese.

But meat he could not

have more than once a month.

cause the boy was very, very poor.

This was be-

Now,

it

is

not pleasant to tend pigs.

They
is

are such dirty animals, and they grunt and grunt

and make ugly noises

disagreeable to
sit

all

the time.

It

very

all

day and have nothing to

do but to talk to filthy pigs, and see that they do not walk off into the woods and get lost. So the little Spanish boy hated his work and wished that he could get away. The name of this little boy was Francisco Pizarro. I do not wish to pretend that he was He was a a good boy, because he was not.

THE SWINEHERD W H O W A NTED

bad boy, and he grew up to be a wicked man; but one thing I must say for him, he was surely very brave. And perhaps he became bad be-

AST

u,
::;j

not have a good nor any nice boys to play with.

cause, as a

boy, he did

home

Near where Francisco

castle.
It

had

big, light

and

fine gilt chairs,

was a beautiful rooms, and long tables, and wonderful pictures, and
lived

everything that the heart could desire.

cisco had

Fran-

never seen the inside of this castle.

a great wall all

There was
wall
:

around

it,

and

in this

big, strong

gate

that

was locked every

?m

night.

soldier in a yellow-and-red coat stood

and of course he would not let the ragged little swineherd in. The young Francisco used to watch the old soldier as he pulled at his mustache, and sometimes, when the soldier
at this gate,

wasn't looking, the boy pressed his head against the iron bars and looked into the garden. He

could only see a little corner of the castle, but he saw the beautiful trees in the garden, and the
soft,

green grass and the fountain which seemed

so cool in the hot afternoons.

It

made Francisco

very

angry to

see

this

beautiful garden and not be allowed to go into

it.

He

complained

to his

mother, but she could

49

THE

MEN

\Y

H O

FOUND
it

AMERICA

~ " -'-*T?g

not do anything, because

wasn't her castle,

and she was

as

poor

as

Francisco.

'You

are

only a swineherd," she said to him,

herds cannot have castles;

"and swineof

so stop thinking

the castle and go back to your pigs."

But Francisco did not stop thinking of the He had seen in the garden a little boy castle.
of
his

own

age,

and he
of
fine,

saw

that

the

boy's
that

clothes were

made

soft cloth,

and

He he had a lovely black feather in his cap. remembered, too, that a kind old man, with a
long white beard, had walked with this boy in the garden, and had taught him many things
out of a great book.

been to
like

Poor Francisco had never school, and he had never had a teacher,
boy with
the
fine

this

clothes;

but

he

#2

wanted all the things that the little boy in the garden had, and he made up his mind that he would get them. Francisco was not a I told you before that good boy, and so he did not ask himself whether right for him to want all these things. it was "I do not care," he said almost out loud; "I

do not care what

priest says, or
r-7V

my

mother

says, or

what the
That

anybody.

Good

or bad, right or
castle."

wrong,

am

going to get

my

50

THE SWINEHERD WHO

show you the

CASTLE

will

sort of a

boy Francisco

really

was.

was no use to there he would always be a swineherd. Every day he hated the pigs more and more. He hated them so much that he threw stones at them when they squealed. At last, with two other boys, he ran away. I
it

Now,

Francisco saw that

little

stay in his

village;

think that Francisco and his two friends were

a
little

afraid, at first, that their

mothers would
So they went

send after them and catch them.

away by night, and by the next morning they

along the quiet road. Day after day they walked. They used to find chestnuts on

were

far

ground, and over the high, green hedges hung bunches of wild purple grapes that anythe

body might pick. were all as poor

a

The good country people

as

poor could be;

Francisco

but they

always gave the tired boys a bite of bread and

cup of

goat's

milk.

was

very

happy.

He was

glad to be away from the dirty,

squealing pigs, and he believed that every step he took brought him nearer to the castle he had

dreamed of. At last, the boys Seville was a very

reached
large

Seville.

Now,
city.

and

beautiful

THE

MEN

WHO
fine

FOUND
houses and

AMERICA
palaces,
mimiiiw

There were
in

glorious

like the castle that

Francisco wanted, and

women
up
and

beautiful

dresses

and

men

rode

down
It

the crowded streets on great black horses.

all

was

like

Wonderland; and,

looked
people

at

everything

as

Francisco

the

streets,

shops

and

his eyes almost

this

popped out
of

of his head.

But

in

rich

city

Seville,

Francisco

was poorer than ever before in all his life. Here in the great city nobody cared for the ragged boy, and there were no kind country people to give him bread and goat's milk. Yet,
after a while, Francisco

managed

to

make

a little

money, though even then he was still poor. Often he went to bed without supper, and his castle seemed to be as far away as ever. Of all the things in the great city of Seville, They seemed Francisco liked the soldiers best. so big and brave in their beautiful uniforms, and
the

boy envied them and wished that

a

he, too,

could be
rich," he

soldier.

thought to
times.

good way to get It was a good himself.

"It's
a

way
vSi

in

those

Nowadays people don't

but in the olden

get rich by killing each other; days, to be a soldier

was one of the best ways

great.

Lto

get

money and become

r/er/

52

THE SWINEHERD WHO WANTED

who was now

CASTLE

So Pizarro,

quite big and strong,

became
in

a soldier.

great war

was being fought

and Pizarro was sent there with other The Spanish soldiers to fight for his King. I think that, even young man was very brave. then, he was cruel, but the Spaniards did not care about that, so long as he was only brave. So when he came back from the great war in
Italy,

Italy,

everybody said "Pizarro

in the
I

is

very good

iQ?

soldier."

Now,
tgi0m

meantime, Columbus had found

America.

told you, in another story,

how

the

people in Spain were very glad over the

news,

and how everybody wanted

ful

to

go

to the

wonderbut
I

new

lands to

make

fortune.

Well, you

may

be sure that Pizarro wanted to go too;

for a

long time he could not leave Spain.

tell

cannot
myself.

you why, because

not.

do not know
But
at last

Anyhow, he could
the

he

got a chance, and with a band of other Spaniards

went
found.

to

new country

that

Columbus had
longer a boy,

m
fcUffitf

By
years

this

time

Pizarro was no

nor even a young man;

of

he was almost forty

age.

He

had seen many lands and

yet he

done many things;

was

still

poor, and

it

THE

E X

H O

FOUND

AMERICA
HUlliB

seemed to him dreamed of as

Well,
Spain.
at

as a

first

though the castle that he had boy was as far away as ever. America was no better than

Pizarro lived

on

rich

island,

which

was then named Hispaniola, but which is now called Cuba. There were many other Spaniards on the island, and these were all just as greedy and anxious to get rich as Pizarro. They were a very wicked set of men. All the bad things
that a

man

can do they did; but above

to the

all,

they
to

were cruel

poor Indians.
for

They used
beat

make
and
poor
if

the red

men work
until
just

them day and

I

night, the
that

the

work was not enough, they

they
died.
as

Indians

think

Pizarro
spite of

was
his

cruel as

the rest;

but in

wickedness he did not get

rich.

Now,
fifty

after a while,

when
to

Pizarro was almost

a

years

old, he

went

new country
rich,

in

America, where the Indians were very

where there were very few Spaniards.

the

land
ten

of

Darien, where
years
before.

and This was Balboa had gone

the
friendly

about
Indians
jewels.

Here
and

had

much

gold

They gave to Pizarro stones and more gold than he had had in all his life; so the swineherd became rich at last.

many beautiful many precious

THE SWINEHERD WHO WANTED

CASTLE

But Pizarro was not

riches.

satisfied

even with these

so

The more he had, the more he wanted; one day, when he heard of some islands in
where the Indians
his
rich,

the great ocean to the West,

were very
these
dians.

islands

to go to and take the gold from these In-

he

made up

mind

His

men were
a very

very glad to go, so they

got canoes and paddled out to where the islands

lay.

This was
over

bold thing to do, because

;/)

the sea was rough, and

many

times the canoes

turned

and

the

soldiers

were

almost

drowned.

At

last

they reached the island, and Pizarro,

standing up in his canoe, saw the Indians crowding on the beach, with their bows and arrows
in

hand, ready to shoot the

first

Spaniard
a

who
his In-

landed.

Now,

Pizarro,

though

wicked and
he
as

greedy man, was very brave;

soldiers to fire their guns.

so

told

As soon
little

the

dians heard the guns of the Spaniards they were

frightened, and
after a

battle

they

ran

away.

Then

Pizarro

and

his

men

landed on

sger

Here they found many pearls, which they took, and when there were no more pearls on the island, they paddled back to their
the sandy beach.

homes.

55

THE

MEN
When
to

WHO

FOUND

AM ERIC
UIM1IIW

Pizarro had sold these pearls he was

very rich indeed.

He
It

buy

his

castle.

had now enough money was really not exactly a

house
in a

castle, but

fine,
it

big

Darien, with
great

fields

around

and

cattle,

and

many
be

Indian servants to do whatever Pizarro wanted.

You would
-J,"':

think

now

that

Pizarro would

satisfied, for

he was a hundred times richer than

the other
in

little

boy who used to

live in the castle

the

old, old days

when

Pizarro was only a

swineherd.

But the greedy Pizarro was never

After
a

satisfied.

few years,

he

heard

how

the

brave

Cortez had conquered Mexico, and he heard,

too, that

Cortez had become even richer than

he was.

So Pizarro wanted to be

as

rich

as

Cortez, and he looked around for a

to conquer.

new

nation

Now, at this many hundreds

tribe of

time there was living in Peru,

of

miles to the South, a great

Incas.

Indians called the

wise,

They were
like

not

savages, but

kind

people

the

Aztecs of Mexico,

whom

Cortez had conquered.

These

Incas were very rich.

derful gold and silver

They had wonmines, and they owned so

that

much

gold

and

silver

they

could

cover

ML

<VA

S m:

" If

you

will

let

me

go

free, Pizarro,
it

will

till

up

this

room with

gold,

and

will

all

be yours."

THE SWINEHERD WHO WANTED

CASTLE

walls

with them;

and they also had precious

stones, green emeralds, red rubies, blue sapphires

and beautiful,
in the sun.
I

brilliant

diamonds

that

glistened

could

tell

curious people
the

how

you

many

things

about these

they prayed to the sun and

moon

instead of to

God;

of

the

wonderful
of
their

temples and
fine,
A-.i

palaces

that they built;

hard roads cut through the mountains, and

of

the King's messengers,

who

ran along these

I and night, carrying news. could tell you how all the people obeyed the Inca, who was King of the country; how they all worked for him, and how he gave them food and clothing and houses, so that no man in all the land was ever hungry or thirsty or cold.

roads, day

Now, when
fight

Pizarro heard of these Incas, he

thought to himself, "I will go up to Peru and

with these people, and
all

them

their gold

and

silver

I and palaces." wicked of Pizarro to want to disturb these good, quiet people, and it seems to me that the man who had been a poor swineherd should have been satisfied with the money he had, and could

their cities

away from and jewels and all think that it was

take

have

left

the Incas alone.

57

THE

E N

H O

FOUND
was
always
of

AMERICA
He
got
to

But

Pizarro
little

greedy.

together a

band
I

soldiers

and started

go up
high up
that
it

to

Peru.

say up, because

Peru was
but things

among

the mountains.
to find

Pizarro thought

would be easy

Peru;

did not go as he had hoped.

Nobody could
and there

him where were no maps

tell

the great country lay,

to

show him
his
little

the way.

By misa

take, Pizarro

and

army landed on

There were swamps and marshes on this island, and there was little to eat, and even the water was not good to drink. The men suffered from mosquitoes and great flies, that stung them so they could not sleep. And worse than all, there were poisonous snakes that bit the men so that
lonely desert island in the Pacific Ocean.

They suffered from hunger and thirst, and some fell sick and died. Pizarro sent back his ship for more men and more food,
they died.

and

am

sure he was glad when, after a few

sails

weeks, the white

of

were seen again.

food
;

The
would
sent

ship brought plenty of

but the Governor

of

Darien,

who was

jealous

Pizarro,

not

send any more soldiers.

the

Instead, he

word by

ship to Pizarro, saying, "Pizarro,

to Darien."

you must come back

58

THE SWINEHERD WHO W A X T EL)

CASTLE

Now, the men were only too glad to go back. They had suffered enough, and they did not
no, and starved any more "We will go home," not for a hundred Perus. At first the they said, "as our Governor says."

want

to

be

bitten

bold Pizarro said nothing; then with the point

of his

sword he drew
of
this

a sharp line in the sand.

"North

line,"

he

said, "is

home;

south of this line are Peru and glory and gold."

And

meaning that he was going to Peru, even if he had to go The soldiers all saw that Pizarro was a alone. brave man, but none of them wanted to go
then he stepped across the
line,

do not wish to be killed," they said to themselves. At last, the pilot of the ship, a brave, reckless fellow, with a long
with him.
beard,

"We

named

Luiz, crossed the line.

"I go,"
After that

he said, "wherever Pizarro leads."

others

followed.

At

men

across the line

were thirteen who were willing to go with

last

there

Francisco Pizarro.

These brave men,

to cross the sea

can

tell

you, had a pretty

hard time before they reached Peru.

They had

on

a raft,

which

is

a very danger-

ous thing to do.

But the Indians were kind to

to eat,

them and gave them food

and when they

'

'

V*-V"

59

THE

E N

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA
Now,
UflrtlH*

got to Peru the Incas were even kinder.

very deceitful, and he
that

Pizarro was not only greedy, but he was also

made

believe to the Incas

all

he was their friend;

the

but

the time

that

he was taking their beautiful presents, he was

learning about country,
so
that

he could

come back

in a little

while with a bigger army

and rob and murder them. And, in a few years, Pizarro did come back This time he had two hundred with a big army. men and thirty horses and a great many guns. The Incas in all their lives had never seen a
horse, and

had never seen

people

killed with

guns; so Pizarro knew that they would be very

much
horses,

frightened

when

they saw his

men on

and saw the guns

that killed with bullets.

And
his

they were afraid.

soldiers

Wherever Pizarro and

lost

went, the Incas

their courage.

When
that
it

they saw a

man on

horse, they thought

was all one animal, half man and half horse; and so frightened were they, that Pizarro came to one city that was quite empty, for all the people had run away in fear of the cruel Spaniards who were half men and half horses. Yet I do not think that Pizarro would have There conquered Peru if he had fought fair.
-

HI^BB^^BB^BH

^BRwRS
Ul)r

Hi

THE SWINEHERD WHO WANTED

CASTLE

were so many soldiers among the Incas that they seemed to spring up everywhere; but Pizarro

was very
clever,

crafty,
plot.

and

he

thought

out

very

cruel

He made
who was

believe

he

was
of
Ik

a friend to the Inca,

all
-":ii,:--.'

the great

King

these

people, and he invited

the Inca

him on

a visit.

came to visit Pizarro, wicked man had him arrested and cast
prison, and
all

Then when

that

into
?Q?

the

Indians

who were

with the

Inca were killed or driven away.

wzm
!>!?

was a very brave young man, but he did not want to be killed. He knew that when he was dead, his soldiers would lose
the Inca
their

Now,

courage.

After a while, he noticed that

so he said to
(itepy;.
free, Pizarro,
it

Pizarro was very greedy for gold;

him, "If you will

fill

let

me go

will

up

this

room with
old

gold, and

will

all

be

yours."

The greedy
this,

Pizarro was very happy over

for

he always wanted gold.

Now,
so

do
very

not know why any man should want much gold, because you cannot eat it
it

or drink

or wear

it.

But Pizarro was greedy, as greedy

as

any old

man

in

all

the

world, and
free
if

so

he

promised the Inca

to let

him go

he

filled

up the room with gold.

The Inca

sent for his

mm
61

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA

messengers, and day after day the servants of the Inca came carrying great heaps of gold.

At

last, after

filled to

months, the room was almost the ceiling; but even then the treachersix

ous Pizarro did not keep his word.

believe that the Inca

He made

was trying to raise an army against the Spaniards (which I think he would have had a right to do if he wanted to, for, after all, the country belonged to him and not to the
cruel

Spaniards);

so,

instead

of

letting

the

brave Inca go home, as he had promised, the

cruel

Pizarro told

him he must

die,

and the

very same day he had the Inca put to death.

After that, the greedy, deceitful

Pizarro got

more gold, and more gold, and always more and more and more. Wherever he went he made the people give him money. He really ruled
the
-i

country,
that

dians

although he pretended to the Inhe did not, and he ruled it very

cruelly indeed, and every day he

became

richer.

But

after

all,

him any good.

money he got did not do He was now one of the richest

the

men
and

in all the world.

I

But nobody loved him,

Pizarro was

think that in his secret heart

not very happy.

.

Every day the savage old

man

became more greedy and more wicked and more

62

THE SWINEHERD WHO WANTED

CASTLE

cruel, until

not only did the

Indians fear him

and hate him, but the Spaniards hated him even There was a man named Almagro, who more. had once been his friend; but Pizarro cheated Well, at him, too, and then murdered him. last, one day, the son of this Almagro, a young

man named
some
of

Diego, went to Pizarro's palace with

friends.

his

father," cried

Diego;

"You have killed my "now it is your turn."

was seventy
end;
but he
to

The
years

cruel old

Pizarro, though he

old, fought

bravely

the

was stabbed over and over again, and at last he fell dead at the feet of Diego. And thus ended the life of the brave, wicked Pizarro, the swineherd who wanted a castle. He became one of the richest men in all the world and conquered a nation; yet sometimes I think he would have been happier if he had always remained till the end of his days a poor
swineherd.

63

E N

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA
wimiii*

THE NOBLE
DURING
a
all

Who Became
time, while

SLAVE
Cortez

fighting in

was Mexico and Pizarro was makthis

ing his plans to go to Peru, there lived in Spain

great

noble,

named Cabeza de Vaca.

This

man was
could
tell

always talking about America.

He

you about Christopher Columbus and his great voyages, and about Balboa and Cortez, and all the other Spaniards who had gone to Whenever any ship came back from America.
that land,
all

De Vaca was

always anxious to hear

the news.

went on, De Vaca thought He that he, too, would like to go to America. said to himself, "If Cortez can find gold and

Now,

as the years

riches
sides,

in

that

country,
like

he

believed,

why cannot I?" so many others at

Indies.
rich,

Bethat

time, that

somehow

or other he could find a

way

through America to the

The

Indies

were
the

supposed to be very
it

and De Vaca
cities

thought

was
of

a country with

more

than

stars

the

heavens.

He
a

had been told

in
it

that each of

these cities had

in

more people
year,

than

you

could count

and he also

JlilH*^

THE- NOBLE

WHO BECAME
these people had gold and
dia-

SLAVE

thought that

all

H
HI

monds and
for little

rubies,

and would give them

"If
I

to

you
shall

glass

beads.

only can find a

himself,
I

way

to this place," he said to

"I

be the richest

man

in the world.

shall

be as

great as the great King." So, because he wished to find gold in America and because he wanted to find a way to another land which, he thought, was even richer than

America,

De Vaca

sailed

away

to

the

West.

He was
a

not the captain of the

lord, he was,

fleet;

but, being

rich

of course, very important.

West

the

ships

sailed, until
at

one bright day in

Bay, in Florida.

Spring they landed

Tampa

Now, Cabeza de Vaca and the Spaniards with him were not the first men who had come to
Florida.

This part
sixteen

of

the

country had been

earlier

found
of

about

years

by a

rich

Spaniard named Ponce de Leon; and the story

how Ponce

de Leon came to find Florida

I

is

must tell you about it. Ponce de Leon was one of the brave men who had sailed with Columbus across the great
so interesting that

ocean, and afterwards he had been

of an island called Porto Rico.

made Governor
was
rich,

He

and

famous, and powerful; but he was not happy,

65

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA

because he was growing old and he wanted to

be young.
In
those days the people
believed
just

that
as

old

men

could

grow

young

again,

they

believed

many

other things that

are very foolish.

we now know One day an Indian came to

Leon and
said
to him,

the great Ponce de

"If
will

you

will

go

to the islands of

the

West you

magic fountain. Bathe your hands in the fountain and drink the waters, and as soon have done so, a strange thing will as you happen. Your white beard will become black; your dim eyes will grow clear; your weak, thin legs will grow strong and stout again." Ponce de Leon loved youth more than he loved money or power or anything else in the world. So he made up his mind to sail away on a ship and find the magic fountain. I do not know whether he wanted only to get young himself, or whether he wanted all the people in the world to bathe, so that no one would ever grow old and no one would ever die. It would have been very strange, I think, if Ponce de Leon had There would never have found the fountain. been any old people any more, and your grandfather would have been as young as you are.
find there a

66

THE NOBLE WHO BECAME

Well, there wasn't a place in
of
all

SLAVE

the

islands

West that Ponce de Leon did not visit to Every day the old find the magic fountain. man would put his hands under some little founthe
tain,

and then watch

to

see

whether his hair

It

would grow black and

never happened, and,
that there ever

his legs strong again.

for one,
a
I

do not believe

"..v."-.

'

magic fountain. Well, one Easter morning, while sailing around looking for islands, where the magic fountain might be hidden by trees, Ponce de Leon saw a beautiful new land, the most beautiful land he had ever There were wonderful green palms that seen. never died, and on the ground were flowers of all colors, red and yellow and blue and purple. The air was soft and warm, and high up in the
was such
trees

the

birds

sang so sweetly that

it

almost

made

the old

De Leon
I

weep.

"It

is

Paradise,"

he said; "here

shall surely find

my

youth."
is

He
name
for

called the
it

country Florida, which

the

and he looked everywhere the magic fountain, of which he had been

still

bears,

told by the Indian.

that

But he did not find

it

it

at

saw

though he came back again, with many men who wished to make homes in Florida. The Indians were
time, nor did he find
later,

?sL
67

THE

MEN

WHO
1_L^

FOUND

AMERICA
.&

&

very unfriendly;
to land,

they did not want the Spaniards

so

there

was

battle

between

the
shot.

Spaniards and the Indians and

De Leon was

The arrow had been dipped in poison and the wound got worse and worse, and in a short time Ponce de Leon died.
happened that the old man who looked for youth found death instead. Yet, to-day, Florida is a beautiful land, where the flowers still grow and the birds still sing, and many
So
it

people go there from

bathe in the wonderful

all

over our country to

salt

water and the

warm

sunshine, and here they get health and strength,

though, of course, they do not get what Ponce

de Leon looked for

youth everlasting.

Perhaps the Spanish noble, Cabeza de Vaca,

Ponce de Leon when, so many years after, he and his companions landed in Florida. "What will happen to us?" he said "Will we find what we want, gold to himself. and a way to the Indies, or will we too die from hunger and sickness and the poisoned arrows of
thought of
the poor the Indians?"

When
they

the Spaniards landed from

that

their ships,

found

the

Indians were

quite

as

unfriendly as they had been to Ponce de Leon.

THE NOBLE W
So the Spanish noble,

H O

BECAME
Vaca, told the captain,

AVE

De

whose name was Narvaez, that he thought it would be safer to stay near the ships. The Indians had told Narvaez that there was gold in
the country towards
tains.

the West, near

the

moun-

Narvaez wanted gold right away, so he and his men didn't listen to De Vaca, but began their weary march inland.

Now,

this

march was much longer and harder

and more dangerous than any of the Spaniards had thought when they started. There were no
roads or even paths, and they had to cut their

way through

great forests,

bushes grew so thick that

where the trees and you could hardly tell

where you were going. Often they lost their way in swamps. Their feet sank into the water, and they had to ask each other's help so that they would not sink into the swamp and die. The sun, too, was broiling hot, and the mosquitoes and
insects
bit

them

all

day and

all

night, so that often they cried out with pain

and

could not sleep.

Besides, every day the Indians were

more and

more
fault.

unfriendly.

This was the Spaniards'

own
all

They had burned some Indian

they had found in a
little

chiefs,

whom

village,

and

69

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA
UiMUWt

the other Indians hated the Spaniards and thought

They called them white devils. Now, the Indians knew of a good way through the swamps and the forests, but they would not tell the Spaniards, because of the
Indian chiefs

them very wicked.

whom

the

Spaniards had burned.

the

So Narvaez and

De Vaca and

men who were

with them had to fight their way through the great

swamps. Some poor fellows died of sickness, and all were hungry and tired. So you can well believe that they were glad to reach at last a
little

Indian village.
to find gold here, but

The Spaniards expected

there

was hardly any gold in all the village. They did find a little corn and enough food to keep them from dying; but even with this they were
little

better off than before.

The Indians were

to

their

enemies, and whenever a Spaniard walked

village he

S3i

away from the

with an arrow.
their

was sure

be killed
led

Even when the Spaniards

at

horses to water, they were shot

by the

At last things became so bad that the Spaniards had to go back to their boats by the sea. It was a hard
Indians,
trees.

who were hidden behind

march.

They could only

it,

get

food

from the

Indians by fighting for

and many Spaniards

THE NOBLE WHO BECAME

were shot, and many others
fell

SLAVE
7

sick and died

r 4

from the bad water

to

in

the

go

on, because

the

They had Indians would kill any

swamps.
they

who

marched, and marched, and marched, day after day, and day
stayed

behind.

So

after day, losing

men

all

the

time, until at

last

they reached the great sea.

But

it

wasn't

Tampa

Bay, where they had

before, nor

left

2il

was the coast like any they had ever seen before. There was no life anywhere on all the great water, and there was no human being on all the miles of hot, white sand that stretched away as far as the eye
their ships

many weeks

could

see.

The
never

soldiers

lost

their

courage.
cried
in

"We
coast,"

shall

get

home,"
die

they

despair.

"We

shall

on

this

terrible

sea-

men

and some of the great, strong, bearded threw themselves on the sands and cried as
their hearts

though

would break.
things
look, a brave
that they

Well, after a while they picked up courage.

No

matter

how bad

man
were

never gives up hope.

They knew

hundreds

of

miles west of
that there

Tampa

Bay, but they

&&

remembered
Vaca and

were some few Spaniards

living near the place

the

others

where they were. So De made up their minds to

THE

MEN

WHO

F O U N D
:

AMERICA
"^^^
sail to
'

-r^i

build boats in which they might Spaniards.

the other

;:;'j!i>K

Well,

it

is

not easy to build ships

when you have no

no pitch, and no ropes; but with patience you can do almost anything. So the Spaniards cut down trees for wood, made rope out of the hair of
sails,

and no

tools,

and

and manes, and used their shirts for sails. Month after month they worked, living on horse-meat and shell-fish and a little corn which they took from the Indians. At last the boats were finished and they sailed away. Up and down the coast they went, always hunting for the Spaniards who lived nearby,
their horses' tails

and

all

the time

things grew worse and worse

sick and

with them.
frozen
to

They were hungry and

the

bone.

For days

the

sun

beat

down on them, burning

their skin,

and then the

cold shock gave them chills and fever.

At

last

a great storm came, that drove their boats

apart

and threw them up against the rocks. The boat on which De Vaca sailed landed on a little island, and the little band of soldiers

would surely have died of hunger if the Indians had not been very kind. The Indians built large fires for the half-drowned men, and gave them hot food and drink, and when some other

THE NOBLE WHO BECAME

boats appeared like
distance, they threw
that the
little

SLAVE

specks

far

away

in

the

more wood on the fires so smoke would rise in clouds and guide
the
tired

these ships also to the shore.

Here

Spaniards stayed for

live

many
long.

months; but most of them did not

One
all

after

another they died, until only

alive.

De Vaca

and three others were

who were

left

of

the

These four were bold men who had

brave

sailed for Florida a year before.

But the troubles of

his three

the

De Vaca and
They good
to the

tired

men were

not yet over.

could not stay long on the island with the

Indians, so one fine
to their

morning they

said

good-by

new
It
is

friends,

and made their way

West.
not

a great

wonder

to

me

that they did

and dangers were great. Sometimes the Indians were kind to them, and gave them food and a place to sleep; but often they were very cruel, and once they kept De Vaca and his men locked up, and made
all die,

for their troubles

them work
for

as slaves.

You can imagine,

tOV
great

perhaps,

how hard
a

it

was

Cabeza de Vaca, who was

noble and a

man

in his

own

country, to have to

be a

slave in a little

Indian village.

In Spain there

73

MEN

WHO

FOUND

E R

t
were always people to wait on him, and whenever he wanted anything, he called and a servant
uimiiitK

what he wanted. But here in the Indian village, where all the people were half naked, he had to work in the fields and dig,
to ask
little

came

and cut wood and carry water, and do whatever else his master told him. Yet, I wonder, did De Vaca ever think of the thousands of Indians who had been made slaves by the Spaniards?
Slavery
is

always wrong, and

it

was

just as

wrong

to have Indian slaves as to have black

slaves, or

white slaves, or slaves of any kind.

had to work for the was not for long. In a short time, the Indians saw that their slave was wiser
this

So

great
it

noble

Indians,

but

teach them many them when they were sick. So they were good to him and treated him as a chief, and after a while they let him and his three men go free. Now that De Vaca and his three men were free, they started on their journey again. They went on day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year. It was six years, six long years, that they walked on and on

than they

were; he

could

things, and he could cure

over

deserts

and

thick

forests, crossing

deadly

Mmm

74

THE NOBLE WHO BECAME

swamps and
clothes had
great,

SLAVE

wide

rivers.

Often they had

nothing to eat but nuts and roots, and as their

worn

out, they froze in winter

and

almost burned in summer.

Many

time they

wanted

to

lie

down and

die

but, being brave

men,
they

they never quite gave up hope.

So they kept on.

forest

Then one
that

day, through
sea,

the great

caught sight of the

they wept

tears

and they were so happy of joy; and here they

ro?

found that they were among their own people For the first time in six years they saw again.
white faces once more;
years they heard
ful

for the

first

time in six

men

speaking their

own

beauti-

language, the Spanish language, which they

loved so dearly.

You can
to see

well imagine

how

fir-

glad everybody was

>r

them.

The

tired

but happy Cabeza de

Vaca had

he

all

and over again the wonderful adventures he had had since

to tell
his

story over

landed in

Tampa

Bay, of the

great

rivers

and swamps he had crossed, and of the sufferings he had passed through. And where do you think he was? He was far to the West, way
out

upon

the Gulf of California, near the

great

&er

Pacific

Ocean.

Cabeza de Vaca had walked

across America.

75

THE

MEN
It is

WHO
true that

FOUND

AMERICA

^
De Vaca
he came to
did

_
never found the things

America to find; for not always gold and glory like Cortez and Pizarro. But De Vaca was happy and satisfied. When he sailed away back to his own home in Spain, he had no gold to take with him, but he was happy, happy to be with his own people once more, happy that he no longer had to be a

men

find

slave to the Indians in

America.

76

HOW DE SOTO CAME TO THE FATHER OF WATERS

z^&i

HOW
gray,

DE SOTO CAME TO

THE FATHER OF WATERS

the olden days, while the bold Columbus IN was sailing across the ocean, there lived in a

mossy

castle in Spain a

young

lad

named

Ferdinand de Soto.
lonely boy.

This Ferdinand was a very

He

had no father and no mother,

and there were no other boys with whom he could play. All he could do was to watch the
-

birds flying in the green

woods near

the castle,

and

listen to their sweet songs.

Sometimes, in

the long, beautiful afternoons, he

walking with
his

his faithful

big black horse, that

would go out dog, or ride on top of the boy had known and
little

loved ever since he was a

baby.
school.

Ferdinand
weren't

did

not

go

to

There

many

schools in those days and only the

very rich could

lived
in

go;

and Ferdinand, though he

was very poor. But he did learn how to ride on a horse and how to fence with a sword. His servant taught him these things. This servant was a good, strong old man, with eyes as black as coal and hair and
a castle,
*&*>

<#tK

6SS

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA

beard as white as snow.

Soon the young Fer-

dinand learned so well that he could fence better than his teacher, and as for horses, Ferdinand
could ride horses that the old

man was

afraid to

mount.

One day there came to the nobleman, named Don Pedro.

pleased with

castle a very rich

He

looked

at the

handsome young Ferdinand and was very much

him.

Ferdinand was very polite

and had good manners, so at last Don Pedro said to him, "You seem like a very fine lad. How would you like to come to my palace and learn to read and write and become a great soldier like your father used to be?" "I should
like
I

it

very

much,"

replied the

young Ferdinand.
things and then be

should like to learn

many

a soldier;
to

and when
like

am

man

wish to go
said
live

America

Columbus."
with

"Very well,"
in

Don

Pedro;

"come

me and
the

my
Fer-

palace."

You can imagine how happy

dinand was
with
to leave the

young

Don
a

Pedro.

gloomy old And he was

for

castle to
still

go

happier

when he
had

got there;

the rich

Don Pedro
This Isabella

daughter named Isabella.

was

as beautiful as the

day and

as

good

as

she

r*W

HOW DE SOTO CAME TO THE FATHER

OF WATERS

was

beautiful.

The two children

the
its

liked

each

other,

and

in

lonely afternoons they played

many games
on the green

while the sun cast

grass.

long shadows
lessons.

Ferdinand

now had

He
.

learned to read and to write;

he went to a

great

school where they taught him

many won-

derful things, and every day he

stronger, until at last his

grew taller and birthday came around

again and he was nineteen years old.

Then

a strange thing

happened.

The young

had grown up to be a beautiful girl, with wonderful deep gray eyes, and red lips that
Isabella, too,

curved like a bow, and her hair was as black

as

the darkest night.

Ferdinand loved Isabella

live

very tenderly, and Isabella loved Ferdinand, and

they wanted to marry and

happily ever afterin

wards.

But

Don Pedro was away

to wait until he

America

came back. At last Don Pedro came home, and Ferdinand went up to him and said, "Don Pedro, you have been very good to me. You have brought me Now I am a man and up like your own son.
and they had
I

love your daughter, Isabella.

May

have her

as

my

wife?"
a

saw

Now, Don Pedro was

wanted
his

greedy man, and he

a great, rich lord,

daughter to marry

THE

E N

H O

FOUND

E R

TS*
and not
he
said,

poor young boy like

Ferdinand.

So

daughter.

"No, I will not let you marry my You have taken my food, but you
take

may

not

my

child."

So
to

Ferdinand was
do, for he loved

sad and did not

know what

Isabella very dearly; but he could not

marry her

against her father's wishes.

Then Don Pedro thought

plan.

of

very clever

He
their

said to himself,

"If the young Ferlive

dinand and the young Isabella

castle,

here in

my

grow until it knows no bounds; and perhaps some day when I am away serving my King, these young people will
love will

get married.

That

will never do.

But

if

can

get

Ferdinand away, then Isabella

will

forget
live

him, and will marry a great, rich lord and

in a beautiful, big castle."

So the clever
:CM

Don Pedro

said to Ferdinand,

"You
to

have always wanted to be a soldier and go

like the great

America
is

Christopher Columbus.
are
a

man, and can gain honor and gold for yourself, and new counYou must not think of tries for your King. Isabella; you must think of America." The words of the clever Don Pedro moved
your time.
the heart of
the brave

Now

You

young

lad.

"You

are

80

HOW DE SOTO CAME TO THE FATHER OF WATERS

right,

Don

Pedro," he answered; "I will go to

America."
I

think that Ferdinand must have been very

these words; for
all little

when he had spoken did he know whether, in

sad
ever again look
Isabella.

his

life,

he would

upon the

sweet, beautiful face of

Perhaps on his way to America the little ship would strike a rock or go down in a Or storm, and Ferdinand would be drowned.
perhaps the Indians would kill him, or he would die of a fever, or would be cast into prison, with

nothing

drink but bread and water, and the rats would squeak, and the day would be Perhaps he would be as dark as the night.
to

eat or

thrown into such a prison by some wicked man And even if he and never be set free again. came back after many hard years and many great perils, he might find that Isabella had married and forgotten all about him; so you may well believe that Ferdinand, brave young man as he was, wept bitter tears when he said good-by to
the fair Isabella.

All Ferdinand was anxious to go. the brave young Spaniards wanted to go to

And

yet

America to about God,

fight

the

Indians,

to

teach them

to find gold for themselves

and new

THE

DOB
MEN
countries

WHO
for

FOUND
King.
Every

AMERICA
now and
then
umnjitD

the

some young man would come back from America with gold, and silver, and pearls, and
rubies,

and

beautiful,

wonderful

birds,

and

strange things that no

before; and

man had

ever set eyes on

many were
the ship

the stories about the red

men who
Well,

lived in the beautiful land of

at last

America.

was ready and Ferdinand

long years he stayed
tell

sailed away,
in

and
I

for fifteen

America.

cannot begin to
sights

you

of

all

the wonderful

he

saw

there,

or of the

many bold deeds that he did. Of all the brave men who had gone to America, none was braver
than Ferdinand de Soto.
After a while he met
the Spanish General, Pizarro,

who was going

Pizarro told

to

Peru to conquer that country.

ful

De

Soto about Peru and the Incas, of their wonder-

temples and palaces, and

all

how

rich they were

with

their gold

and

silver.

"I

am going
to

to

Peru to conquer that country," he said

Soto,

De

"and

want you
a brave

to

come with me because

you are such

man."

Now, when
meet
in that

Pizarro said these words to

all

De

Soto and told him of

the

dangers he would
he loved the

new

land, the

young Ferdinand was

as

not afraid.

He

loved

danger

82

HOW DE SOTO CAME TO THE FATHER OF WATERS

a
beautiful
Isabella

whom

he

had

left

in

Spain.

go with you, Pizarro," said Ferdinand, "and I will be a brave and true soldier." And so, during all that great war against the Incas of Peru, Ferdinand fought bravely by the side of Pizarro, the wisest and the bravest of all the men
will
in that

"I

ij

army.

When
Spain.

Peru was conquered, and

after

many
to

other great adventures,

Ferdinand returned

Fifteen years had passed since he had

mm

left.

Now

he was no longer a poor boy, but a

man, and everybody respected him because of his wise words and brave deeds. You may be sure that Ferdinand was very happy to see once more the beautiful country in which he was born. However much you may travel, you are always happy when at last you come back So it was with Ferdinand. to your own home. He almost cried with joy when he saw again the old, mossy castle where he had played as a There were the same old trees, the same boy. long, dusty road where he used to ride upon his great black horse; but most happy of all was Ferdinand when he saw again the beautiful Her Isabella. She was more lovely than ever. father, the clever Don Pedro, was now dead, and
rich and powerful

THE

MEN
during
all

FOUND
these

ERICA
beautiful

^inillli^^liAffi,ii
of

long

years

the

w\
mm*

had loved the young Ferdinand. She had been very sad because Ferdinand was away,
Isabella

but she never forgot him; and

lords of

when

the

great

r^v

and asked her to marry them, she always shook her head and spoke sadly. "No, my good lord," she answered; "I love the young Ferdinand de Soto who fights for his King in the land of America. I shall wait until he comes for me." So they were married, and all the great lords and ladies who were invited to the wedding said they had never seen so handsome a couple. There were plenty of cakes and wine for all the people who came, and there was a table where the poor could sit down and eat as much as they wished. Everybody laughed and cried for joy. Then Ferdinand took his beautiful wife to a great palace in Seville, and there they lived so happily that the days flew by like minutes, and even the King envied them because they were so happy. The brave Ferdinand was very good to his beautiful wife. He bought for her all that her heart could desire. So it happened that he spent all the gold and silver that he had brought with him from America. Then, one day, Ferto her

Spain had

come

84

HOW DE SOTO CAME TO THE FATHER

OF WATERS

dinand said
again to

go to America bring you more gold and more silver

to his wife,

"I

shall

and

all

the

beautiful

things that are found

this to

in

that country."

Ferdinand said

make

his

wife happy;

but the beautiful Isabella was not

happy.
last
r^C'~

"I was so sad when you went away the

I

time," she said, "

cannot bear to have you

I

leave

me
the

again.

Let me,

pray you, go with

you and share your dangers."

good Ferdinand de Soto kissed his brave wife and told her she might go with him and many young lords of Spain wanted to go also. They all knew how bold and true and wise Ferdinand was; so the ships were filled with young
So
nobles,
all

dressed

in

bright-colored
the

clothes.
to

After a long
island
of

journey,

ships

came

the

where there were many Spaniards. Here Ferdinand told Isabella to wait for him. "There are many dangers where I go," he said; " but soon I will come back with gold and silver and all that the heart can desire." Little did Ferdinand know when he kissed his wife good-by that he would never again see her
Hispaniola,
in
all

this

world.

Boldly he sailed to the land

of

Florida.

things,

Here he found many wonderful but nowhere did he find the great mines

85

E N

WHO
silver

FOUND
that

AMERICA
seen in
iiiimin*

of

gold and

Cortez had

Mexico and Pizarro in Peru. The Indians told him that gold and silver could be found in the
great wild

country to

and

his

little

West; so Ferdinand army marched toward the West.

the

Every day they moved further and further away

home, and further and further away the lonely Isabella, who waited on the island. Everywhere they looked for gold, but
from from
the
their

Indians

always pointed
sets.

toward the West,

where the sun

Always they said to the Spaniards, "Go West; go far West into the wild, wild country and there you will find gold." In their long, hard march, the brave Ferdinand de Soto and his little army had many adventures. Sometimes the Indians were friendly and would sit down with the white men about the This was a fire and smoke their long pipes. sign among the Indians to show that they were friends with the white men. But sometimes the Indians were not friendly and fought with the I do not blame these Indians for Spaniards. fighting with De Soto. Before De Soto had come to this land, there had been other Spaniards there, and these men had been very, very cruel. They had killed many Indians and thrown their

86

HOW DE SOTO CAME TO THE FATHER OF WATERS "1

pretty

little

babies

into the

river,

and one day

off.
all

they took the Indian chief and cut his nose

Some
were

of

the Indians thought that

Spaniards fought

cruel

and

wicked, and so

they

against

De

Soto and killed

Then other were many great

many of his men. misfortunes befell De Soto. There

rivers to cross

and there were

no boats; so De Soto made canoes out of the trunks of trees and moved his little band of But sometimes the boats soldiers over on these. were unsafe, and horses and men were drowned.
Then,
.:-"

too,

many

of
to

the

men

died

of

fever

go through great swamps, where no white men had ever been before, and where you sank into the ground up. to your Sometimes there was not enough food, waist. and many of the men grew sick and died;
because they had

grew afraid and begged to be But the bold De Soto said, "No; taken home. we are all brave men and we must never turn
so the
soldiers

back."

Then
things in

there
all

happened one

of

the

greatest

the world.
find

De much
the

Soto had

come

to
it;

America
river.

to

gold and he did not find

greater, a

but he found what was

mighty
in
all

This

river

was

greatest

THE

MEN
America.

WHO
It

FOUND

AMERICA
milium!

was so large and great that the Indians called it the Mississippi, which means in their language the Father of Waters. This
river

has

become

the

great

water

way

of

America; cities have grown upon it, boats have gone up and down its wide waters, and more good has come from it than from many barrels And it was Ferdinand de Soto who of gold. first found this river, who first came to the
Father of Waters.

When De
there were

Soto saw this Mississippi

River,

no boats on it and no cities near it. It was just a great, wide river, gleaming in the sun, stretching out its wide arms toward the north and the south. But De Soto was happy.

He

loved

the river

as

he

loved the

beautiful

Isabella,

who
back.

waited for him so many,

many
willing

miles away.
to

And now Ferdinand was

turn

friendly,

The Indians were not at all and his army was very little and very

were sick from the fever; so sadly De Soto turned his back on the great river and started his march home. But before he had gone many miles, the great Every day he Ferdinand de Soto fell sick. grew worse, and every day he longed to see his
weak.
of

Many

the

soldiers

,V
Ml

&

" It

was Ferdinand de Soto who

first

found this great

river,

who

first

came

to the Father of Waters."

HOW DE SOTO CAME TO THE FATHER OF WATERS

beautiful Isabella and the wonderful

Mississippi

River that he had found.

But the fever grew

the brave Ferdinand

worse and worse, and

de Soto died.
-

at last

The

sad soldiers buried

then started homewards.

gone many
find

steps,

one of

and But before they had the soldiers, who was

in the forest

him

very clever, thought of a plan.

"If the Indians

De

Soto's grave," he said, "they will

is

know
will
let

that our brave leader

dead.
us.

Then they
Therefore,

no longer
so that

fear to attack

us

bury him in the great river that he loved so well,

And this no man can find his grave." They took up his body and put it they did. into the hollow of a great, heavy tree, and in the dead of night they placed it in the river and This was almost four hundred years let it sink. Yet, perhaps, even to-day, at the bottom of ago. the great Mississippi River, there lies the body of the brave Ferdinand de Soto, who, among all white men, was the first to come to the Father
of

-C^

Waters.

afar

89

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA
wimiixt

^^^^'^%jfel
The

BOY
little

WHO LOVED

the

SEA
in

MORE

than three

hundred years ago,

town on the shores of the sea, there lived an English lad whose name was Walter Raleigh. This Walter was a very bright, happy boy, active and brave. He loved all kinds of sports. He loved to run and fight and play.

He

loved

to

breathe in the cool, fresh

air, as

every evening he ran along the lonely country

roads;

but most of

all

he loved the sea.

Every

day the young Walter could be found in the

blue water,

swimming near

the

shore, or

rowing
loved

in a boat, or sailing before the wind.

He

the

sea,

and was not afraid of

it,

even in the

stormiest weather.

Now, Walter was who loved the sea.

loved
it.

not the only English boy

All the
little

English lads
live

The English

at this

time did not

in great cities as they

like

do

to-day.
in

Many
little

of them,

Walter Raleigh, lived

right
at

towns and
sea.

villages

on the shores of the

the water every day

They
it

could look

when

was
also

blue and quiet and the sky was clear, and

when

the sea

was rough and angry and storms

90

THE

BOY

WHO

LOVED
'&2
overhead.

THE

SEA

'-SpkIu

There were many bold fishermen in those days, and these fishermen would sometimes take the little lads out with them in their boats; and so it happened that at this time many of the English
broke out
boys knew a great deal about the sea and became

from the clouds

good
n*f*.

sailors.

The young Walter used

stories

to

listen

to

long

about the great English sailors

all

who were

taking their ships to

the seas;

but the stories

he loved most to hear were of two brave young

Englishmen,

named Francis Drake and John

Hawkins. These sailors hated the Spaniards, who were then the strongest and most cruel
people in the world.
sailors

So these brave English

their vessels

used to fight against the cruel Spaniards

and
the

lay in wait to capture

and

all

gold and silver that was in them.

I

SomeP:

times

think the

English sailors were just as

cruel as the Spaniards with

whom

they fought;

but they were very brave, these English sailors

were, and

when

the

young Walter heard about

them, he, too, wanted to go to sea and fight the Spaniards and take their gold.

But the time had not yet come. The young Walter was only fourteen years old, and he had
y*a*

3*i/

m i

THE

MEN
much

WHO
learn.

FOUND

AMERICA

m
boy should learn many things before he becomes a man. So the young Walter was sent to the great University of
yet to

Oxford, where he was taught a great

many

things.

used to study out of big books, that were so heavy that a boy could hardly carry them. It

He

was a very beautiful place, this Walter met there many lads from
land.

Oxford, and
all

over Eng-

They

told
of

him wonderful

stories

about

the

great

sailors,

England, the soldiers and the poets and the great lords who lived
the

men

in

London and saw

Queen every

day, and
to

helped to rule the kingdom.

Walter longed

grow up to be a lord, so he, too, could see the Queen and help to rule the kingdom. Now, Walter loved to study; but, more than
anything
the
else,

he wanted to go out into the great So

at
at

world and be a man.

beautiful

seventeen he

left

school

France, where a

and went great war was going on.

Oxford

to

He

fought for

six years,

doing many brave acts and

becoming a great soldier. Then he went to Holland and helped the people of that country
to fight against

the

Spaniards;

and everywhere

he went the people loved him, because he was

so brave and

handsome and

witty.

92

THE

BOY

WHO

LOVED

THE

SEA

But Raleigh loved the sea even more than he

loved fighting, and
of age, he left the

when he was

twenty-six years

America.

army and went on a ship to He wanted to go to Newfoundland,

north of
this
sail

which
further

is

an island many miles

because he
a

country,

thought
or

he

could
that

and find

river

strait

lead right through

If

America

to the Pacific
strait,

would Ocean.

he could find such

sail

a river or

then he

could

right through

America
tried
to

to

the Indies,

and do what Columbus

years before.

do so many
strait

Well,

there

isn't

any

such

in

all

America, and so Raleigh never could have found it; but he did not even get the chance. The
Spaniards saw his
little

vessels

and sailed

after

him, and he
ships were
to

lost

one of his ships and his other

damaged; so the brave Raleigh had

a little thing that

come home again. Then there happened

made

&&
>*

most famous man in all One day, while he was in London, he saw the Queen walking along the street. Now the Queen, whose name was Elizabeth, was
Walter Raleigh the
England.
very proud and very fond of clothes.

She had
of

over a thousand dresses,

and

many

these

93

THE

MEN

H O

FOUND
B9BB

E R

were embroidered with beautiful jewels. I do not know how many shoes and slippers and silk stockings she had, but I do know that she had very many. Now, just as Walter looked up, he saw that the Queen stopped in front of a muddy place in the street. She did not want to

umiwm

WiLft

new shoes wet. The great lords who were with the Queen looked worried. They did not know what to do; but young Walter sprang forward, took off his handsome cloak,
get her the

9SS

most beautiful cloak he had, and, kneeling down before the queen, spread the cloak on the muddy spot in the road, so that she could walk on without getting her shoes dirty. Well, the Queen was very much pleased. She smiled at the handsome young man at her feet, and, telling him to rise, asked, "What is your "May it please your name, young man?" majesty," he replied, bowing very low, "my name is Walter Raleigh." "Well, Master Raleigh," replied the Queen, "you have done a very gracious act. Ask of me what you will and you may have it." Now, this was the way in which queens spoke in those days when they were pleased with anything you did and sometimes the man would
;

f)))'
IIU

Ji!)"'

94

THE
ask for
horse,

BOY
a
suit

WHO
...

LOVED

THE

SEA

of

armor, and sometimes for a

gold.
these.

and sometimes for a hundred pieces of But Walter Raleigh asked for none of
it

"May

please your majesty," he said, "if

I

may have anything

to step."

wish, then

ask for the

cloak upon which your majesty has just deigned

By

this

he meant that

it

was

a great

honor

Queen to walk on his cloak. Now, Queen Elizabeth was very much
for the

sur-

prised.

"Why, Master
cloak
is

Raleigh," she answered, "the

it

not mine to give;

is

yours and has

always been yours."

"not so, your majesty. The cloak was mine until your royal foot touched it, but in that moment it became yours. And this is what I ask of your
so," replied Walter Raleigh;

"Not

majesty, that you

give to

me my

cloak that

may always look on it and remember this day." So the Queen gave Raleigh his cloak, but she gave him many other things besides. She made him a knight, which was something that all men
wanted to be, and she let him have lands and gold and many beautiful things. She made it a law that no man in all England could sell

mem

95

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA

broadcloth or wines except only Walter Raleigh,

which made the young man even richer than

before.

Those were good days for Walter Raleigh, or, as he was now called, Sir Walter Raleigh. He was the greatest man in all England. His clothes were the finest in the kingdom. Even the band around his hat had pearls on it, and he wore diamonds and rubies and beautiful feathers, and the white ribbons that tied his shoes had beautiful, gleaming jewels sewed all over them. He even had a suit of armor that was made all of silver. Indeed, he had so many things that I cannot remember them all. Of course, Raleigh loved to be a great lord among the English and help to rule the kingdom, but he loved the sea even more. "Now, that I am rich," he said, "I wish to buy ships and sail to America. There I can find a new land for England, and in after years English-

men
So

will bless the

Sir

name

of

Walter Raleigh."
to the

Walter Raleigh went

his

Queen and

iv

"Yes," said the Queen, "I shall be glad if you send your ships to America and find new lands for England but cannot yourself, Sir I want you go Walter. you
told her of

plan.

rW
Mist-flu

w>

ww

^^

"

Walter sprang forward and spread

his

handsome cloak on the muddy

spot.

THE
to

BOY

WHO

LOVED

THE

SEA

England and help me rule the kingdom." She said this because she was very fond of Sir Walter, and was afraid he might die on
stay in

the long journey, or be killed by the Indians in

America.

Now,
new

the

Walter very sad.

ships to the
a
to
little

Queen's words made Sir He wanted to go with the

sea;

land, because ever since he

boy he had loved the

as

was but he had

sailed

do

the

Queen

said, so

the

ships

without him.

Now
home
Sill

these ships went to

again.

The

sailors

America and came brought back with

them

gleaming pearls, skins of strange animals, and two Indians, to show Englishmen what red men looked like. They told
a string of white,
Sir

Walter wonderful
country, and
the
sailors,

stories
Sir

of

the beauty

of

the

when

Walter

heard

the

stories of

he wanted to go to this
ever;

new
sent

land

more than out more ships.

so the

next year he
these

Now, on
it

second

ships went one hundred brave

men, who, when

Virginia.

they saw the

new

land, called

The
him

Indians told Ralph Lane, the Governor of this

colony,
of

many

strange

stories.

They

told

a beautiful city,

back

in the forest,

walls were

made

of

pearl,

where the and where there was

97

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND
^|)
streets.

AMERICA
As

<=>-^>

^jUgg^g^
Now, we know
umiiit*

gold and silver in the

that there

was no such city; but the Governor believed the Indians, and instead of planting corn for the winter, he and his men searched and searched for the walls of pearl. Everything went badly with the little colony. There was not enough food to eat, and many of the men The Indians, too, became starved to death. unfriendly, though at first they had been very I will tell you why kind to the white men. they changed. One day an Indian stole a silver cup from an Englishman, and instead of punishing the thief, the white men burned all the corn that all the Indians had planted, and set fire to all their houses, till the whole village was in ashes; so the poor Indians had nothing to eat, and no place to sleep, and I, for one, don't blame them for not being friendly to the white men. Every day things grew worse, and at last the little band of Englishmen went back to their own They had not found gold or silver, country. but they had found what was much better, These things had tobacco, potatoes and corn. never been known in England before, though

to-day

all

the people

THE
as the

BOY

WHO

LOVED

THE

SEA

Americans do. Sir Walter himself liked tobacco very much, and, being a grown man, he
used to smoke every day out of a great, long
pipe.

One day
a

very funny thing happened.

servant, a
all

He
sent

had hired

new

man who had

Sir

never seen tobacco in

,~^':.~;

his

life.

Walter

him out to bring in a great pitcher of beer, and when he came back he saw smoke coming out of his master's mouth and nose, and he thought that he must be on fire. So what do
you think he did?
beer over Sir

;\;

poured the pitcher of Walter's head to put out the fire.

all

He

Of course

the fire did not go out, but

of

Sir
*'
-I

Walter's clothes were spoiled;

but

Sir

Walter
to

had more clothes, and so he only laughed. The ships which Sir Walter had sent

America all came back, but he did not lose hope, and after a while he sent out a third colony to the new land. In this colony there were one hundred and fifty men, seventeen women, and eleven little children, and Captain John White was their Governor. But the people of this colony, too, were cruel to the Indians, and so,
of

course, the Indians were unfriendly to them.

After a

little

while

all their

food gave out, and

as the Indians

would not give them corn, they

wn

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND

E R

asked Captain White to go to England and come

back with more food. Now, Captain White did not want to go on this long journey. His little granddaughter, the first English child ever born in America, was only a few weeks old, and Captain White didn't wish to leave her; but if he did not go back, the people would die of hunger.

r'.VSM

So one fine day he

at

set sail for

England.
a

Now,

this

time,

there

was

great war

going on in England against the Spaniards, and all English ships had to be used in the fight; so Captain White's vessels were taken from him,

and he could not go back to

daughter, Virginia Dare,

his little grand-

nor to the
left in

men and
It

women and
Sfflftl

children he had

Virginia.

was three years before he could get ships to cross the great ocean, and when he did make the long journey, the people he had left so long ago had all been lost. What became of them no man ever knew. Perhaps they died of hunger or were killed by the Indians. It was all so many, many years ago, and the people that were alive
then are

now

all

dead; so we shall never

little

know

what did become of the

Walter Raleigh sent to

band whom Sir America, or of the dear

?m%

little

baby, Virginia Dare.

<v

&y

im
100

t.m

THE

BOY

WHO

LOVED
who
still

THE
loved the

SEA

After a few years, Raleigh,

sea,

got the

Queen

to

let

him
the

leave

England.
to

This made him very happy, and, buying some

ships,

he

sailed

across

ocean

South

America.

Here he landed

in a country called

Guiana, not a rich country, but where there were

many
stories
said,

Indians.

Of course, these Indians

stories,

told

him wonderful
were not
lived

and,

of

course,

these

true.

tribe of

Indians, they

who
in

up the

river,

were so rich that

they sprinkled gold dust on their bodies;

and

back

the

forest

were other tribes

stories,

who had
because in

eyes in their shoulders and mouths in their chests.

Raleigh believed these foolish

to-day,

those days people were not so wise as they are

and so he

sailed

up the great

river in

search of these riches.

Well, as there was no gold or wonderful

of

city,

course, Sir

Walter Raleigh
a

could

not

find
so,

them, though he hunted

after a

long time, and

few months, he went

as Sir

back

to

England

very sad man.

Now,
is

Walter Raleigh grew older,

this

what happened.
Sir

Queen

Elizabeth, as queens

sometimes do, grew

day poor

tired of her friend,

and one

Walter was thrown into prison.

THE
I

MEN
Of course,
this

WHO
the

FOUND
let

AMERICA
again, but, by
against
iiiimiKB

Queen

him out
turned

time,

everyone

had

him.

Now, many men

his great pride;

hated Sir Walter because of

so,

when Queen Elizabeth died, and a new King, King James, ruled over England, the King heard many stories against Sir
Walter.

He

believed these stories, and so, for

the second time, Sir Walter

was put
sad

in

prison.

Here he stayed
was
a

for

twelve

years.
I

That
sup-

long time to stay in prison; but,

pose, Sir

Walter would have been there even

longer had he not thought of a plan by which

to get out.

You

see,

Sir

Walter knew that King James

was very fond of gold; so he sent a man to the King to say, "In South America is much
gold.
I

If

your majesty will

to that country,

let

me

out of prison,

will

go

and

after a short

time
of

will

return to

England with
plan
pleased

my

ships

full

gold."

This

King James

very

much, so he let Sir Walter out of prison, and gave him ships, and sent him to South America. But we cannot always do what we promise to do; and though Sir Walter tried very hard, he
could
not
find

any

gold

in

South America.

Instead, he

became very

sick,

and some great

us

THE
Spanish

BOY
vessels,

WHO
seeing

LOVED
how
small
his to

THE
ships

SEA

u
mm mMi mm

were,

chased him, and

forced

him

return well

home.

Poor

Sir

Walter Raleigh!

you may

was sad at the thought of meeting his angry King. And the King was angry when he found that Sir Walter had not brought the promised gold.
believe that he

He

threw him into prison, and then a

off.

little

later

ordered his head to be cut

By

this

you see

how very angry the King was. Now, Sir Walter was always
brave as a
little

brave.

He

was
of

boy, brave as a soldier, and brave

to die.

when he came
the

Touching

the edge

axe that was to cut off

is

his head, he said,

"This
all

a sharp

medicine, but a sound cure for

that after death

diseases."

his

By this he meant troubles would all be over.

so they were.
off

And

Though
this

the cruel

King

James cut

the

head of

brave man, he

could not make people forget him.

Even to-day

we remember Sir Walter Raleigh. We have a city named Raleigh in memory of him, and in
all

parts of

our country the children are told of

English boy

the brave
saw*
i

little

who

loved the sea.

<-

103

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA

^M^JU^^^st^

THE LITTLE RED PRINCESS OF THE FOREST

THIS
is

the story of a princess

not a fairy

princess with golden locks and long, silken

gowns, but

real

princess.
if

You might have

called her a savage

you had seen her running

Indian
girl,

barefooted about in the forest, because she was

just a little, black-haired

who

played

with other
ginia.

little

Indians in the woods of Virlittle

Yet
the
is

this

girl

was

princess and

her father was a king.

Now,
9
tas.
It

name

of this princess

was Pocahon-

a large

name

and

yet,

lived,

though it is no one has forgotten her name.

lived in

such a little girl; three hundred years since she

for

No
is

one
the

has forgotten the story of the beautiful red princess

who

Virginia,

and

this

reason why:

was very different from what it is to-day. There were no cities, and railroads, and houses, and street cars; no theatres, or parks, or schools. There were no white people there at all. It was all a wild country,

In those days Virginia

THE LITTLE RED PRINCESS OF THE FOREST

1)

with great

rivers,

and

and
little

all

the

people

forests

where no roads led, the men and women, the

even
the tiny, dear
little

babies

were

boys and

girls,

Indians.
little

Well, as the years went on,

Pocahontas
the Indians
skirts

had her twelfth birthday.

loved her.

She was so beautiful,

that
all

and so very good and kind,

The women embroidered her

with bright-colored porcupine quills, and with

and beads, and the men brought her presents of beautiful birds and little gray squirrels which they trapped in the forest. But the King, her father, loved her most. Whenever he
feathers

came back from

always,

a journey, his
is

first

question was

"Where

Pocahontas?"
for

And

then he

patted her on the head and gave her some shells

which the Indians used

do

money.

There was

nothing in the world that the King would not

for his little daughter.

Now, Pocahontas had never seen a white man. She thought that all men were red like her
and the other brave Indians with whom she lived. You see, there never had been any
father

white

men

in

her

part

of

the

country.

The

brave, cruel Spaniards

had gone to Cuba and Florida and Mexico and countries to the south,

ateBfamaoi

THE

MEN

WHO
M

FOUND

AMERICA
UliiUMt

^sMfhSm^i^k^A

and the French explorers, who were very brave too, had gone north to Canada and to the great
St.

Lawrence River.
sent

The

English, to be sure,

had

men

to Virginia,

but they had

only

looked around the coast and had not gone into the forest. So Pocahontas and her father, King

Powhatan, had never seen a white

their lives.

man

in

all

But one day the soldiers of the King brought

whose hands and feet were tied with thongs. This prisoner was a tall man, with light hair and blue eyes, and, what was even more wonderful, with skin as white as
into the village a prisoner,

milk.
front

The Indians shook their tomahawks in of his face, and made a motion with their

long knives as though they were going to cut off his head, but the man only laughed and he did

show any fear. Now, the Indians like a brave man, and when their prisoner laughed at their knives, they thought he must be a very
not
brave

man

indeed.

And

little

Pocahontas,

who

was watching from the door of her father's wigwam, which is the Indian name for a little tent, thought him brave too. She liked this white man, who was not afraid of the tomahawks of the bravest warriors, and she was sorry when she

106

THE LITTLE RED PRINCESS OF THE FOREST

saw how the thongs

of deer-skin, with
his

which he
so

K
-'

was

bound, cut

into

white

skin;

she

asked her father to have the Indians unbind their

prisoner, and this they did.

Now,
p3S

at

the

name of this white man who laughed tomahawks was Captain John Smith. He
the
of the bravest of
to
all

was one

the brave English-

S^W

America so long ago. He had been a soldier in England, and when he was very young had gone to fight against the Turks, who were making war on the Christians. The young John Smith was so very brave in this war that when the English wanted men to win the new country of Virginia for their good King James, they chose him for their captain. I do not think that anybody ever had more trouble or ran into more danger than did this brave gentleman. It was not easy to cross the ocean in those days. The little sail-boats were often wrecked, and then there were cruel pirates who would catch sailors and throw them into And even when John Smith and his the sea. little band of men sailed up the James River in Virginia, and made the new city of Jamestown, their troubles were not over. They did not have enough to eat, and it was hard to get any food

men who came

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND
^rijl

AMERICA
iiiiimiitH

ml
silver

from the unfriendly Indians. Besides, the men who had come with Captain Smith were not used to work. They wanted to find gold and
and become rich right away, and they did not want to plant corn, and build houses, and
barns, and forts.

So you

may

well believe that Captain

Smith

had enough trouble. When his people did not have food and were hungry, and when some of them fell sick and died, as they did, then they
all

complained.

to England.

They even cried to go home They had much trouble with the
and
at last, as
I

Indians, too;

told

you before,

Captain John Smith and some of his

captured, and Smith was

men were
to

bound and taken

So

King
when,

Powhatan's
to please

village.

believe that

poor John Smith

you can well was very happy

Pocahontas, the

King ordered
to

him

to be untied.

Now,
in

the Indians were curious

know

all

about the white men.

front
of
their

They spent long hours wigwams listening to the

r^T

He wrote a few words on a sheet of paper, and when the Indians saw how the white men in Jamestown could read these little black marks on the paper,
strange stories of Captain Smith.
,r?f

108

THE LITTLE RED PRINCESS OF THE FOREST

they were

filled

with wonder, for the Indians

had no schools, and could not read or write.

"It
is

strange,"

they said,

"our

prisoner can

talk to a

hundred miles away. He must be a great chief and a friend of the gods." Then Captain Smith showed the Indians his compass. He told them that with this little

man

needle he could never be lost in the forest; even

where the woods were dense, he could find his way back to the camp-fire. Now, you and I know that the needle of a compass points always
to the north; but the Indians did not

know

this,

and they thought

this

it

was magic

that told Captain

John Smith the way.

white man;

So they grew afraid of

but Pocahontas was not afraid.

till

The days

passed,

one morning the King,

their captive.

Powhatan, called his warriors together to see

what they wished

all sat

to

do with
pipe.

They

around
his

a great camp-fire,

smoked

long

and each man Pocahontas was not

no woman was allowed at these meetings; but you may be sure that she was very anxious to hear what they would do with the white man. After a while, one of the Indian chiefs he was a very old man, with a great scar
there, because

running across

his forehead

spoke:

->',

vsmi

109

MEN

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA

[^'iindmsM'

"I know it is the custom of our tribe, oh, King Powhatan, to kill the men who are taken in battle; but this man is not like other men. He is brave; he can talk to his friends a hundred miles away; he speaks with magic to the stars. So I say send him back to his people."

When
that

the

man
the

with the scar

Indians

speaking, there was a

had finished low murmur, which showed

were pleased.
not
like

many

of

But

there

were others
old man,

who

did
to

Captain
alive.

Smith and were

little

afraid

keep him

who was

very thin, and had a

very squeaky voice, arose and spoke:

"Oh, King Powhatan, it is not safe to let this man live. He is the friend of the devils, or how else could he talk with the stars, or by little marks speak to his friends a hundred miles away? Besides, it is the custom of our tribe that we
kill all prisoners.
let

Therefore,
die."

say, oh,

King,

the white

man

was agreed. I think that in his heart the good King Powhatan would have liked to save Captain Smith, but he would not go
so
it

And

against the wishes of his chiefs.

believe
that

Pocahontas was very

friend

You may sad when

well

she

heard that her

must

die.

During the

110

THE LITTLE RED PRINCESS OF THE FORE

-

V-

long summer days, when he had been a prisoner

had grown very fond of him. He had told her wonderful stories of England, the great country across the sea, and of the little white boys and girls who lived there, and
in the village, she of the schools they

played;

kind to

went to and the games they and now the man who had been so her must die a cruel death, far from the

country he loved.
forest, trying to think of some plan by which she could save his
life;

All day she walked in the

but

when

night

came and she returned

sadly to camp, she had not yet thought of a plan.

Now,
brave

as she

neared the village, she met a young dressed in his war-paint. "Hurry, oh

Princess," he said, "for the white

at

man

is

to die

sundown." Poor Pocahontas! She ran even faster than the young brave, and reached her father's wig-

wam

just

in

time

hand and foot, resting on a big,

John Smith, bound stretched on the ground, his head

to see
flat

stone.

All

the

Indians

made way
to

for the Princess as she

pushed her way

the

front,

and then,

as

warrior raised a

great club to dash out the Englishman's brains,

she

fell

on her knees and threw her arms around

WM
111

MEN
his neck.

WHO
If

FOUND
fell

E R

on Captain Smith, it must kill her too. From her knees she begged her father, the King, to give to her the life of the white man. Powhatan and all the Indian chiefs loved a
the club

brave act.

They looked

at

the

little

girl kneel-

ing before them, ready to die to save her white friend. So the King said, " Let the white man

go free." And the Indians all grunted, which meant that they, too, were really glad. So John Smith rose from the ground a free man, and was sent with twelve Indians back to Jamestown. But this was not the only time that
the
little

friend.

Red Princess The Jamestown

saved

the

life

of

her

settlement was in dan-

ger of attacks by bad Indians, and more than

once Pocahontas came through the great

at

forest

night to warn Captain Smith that his enemies

were coming.
the
little

Then,

too, she asked her father,

the King, to give corn to the English, and often

village

would have starved but

for the

Little

Red

Princess of the Forest,

who

sent

them

corn.

One
back
to

day,

when Pocahontas came

to be

to

James-

town, she found that Captain Smith had gone

England

cured of a wound. This

112

THE LITTLE RED PRINCESS OF THE FOREST

made her
Jamestown

very sad, but she

still

went often

to
last

to hear news of her friend.

At

one day she was told that he was dead.

that the Little

After

Red

Princess stayed in the forest.

vil-

She did not go then very often to the English

lage,

though she

still

sent presents

of

corn to

the white people.

But John Smith was not dead, and Pocahontas was to meet her good friend once more.

Not
in

in the

great, silent forests

little

was she

to

see

him, nor yet in the

city of

Jamestown, but

England,

far across the sea.

And

this

is

how

the Little
to

Red

Princess of the Forest happened

go
In

to England.

Jamestown there lived a young Englishman named John Rolfe. Now Rolfe was not a prince, and in stories only the prince can marry the princess; but a real red princess is different from a fairy one, and so, after some years, Pocahontas and John Rolfe were married. The wedding was in the little church at Jamestown, because Pocahontas had become a Christian, and you may well believe that all the good Indians came to see their beautiful printhe
village

of

cess married.

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND

E R

Well, after some time, John Rolfe and his

young wife crossed

thus
it

the ocean to

England, and

was that in the great city of London Pocahontas met her old friend, John Smith, once more. You may well believe that she was glad to see him again after so many years, and that they had many happy times together. It soon happened that everyone in London was talking about Pocahontas. The London people had
never seen a red princess before, especially a

who had done so many brave deeds, and saved the lives of so many Englishmen. So all London wished to honor her. The King and
princess
the
at

Queen
their

sent for Pocahontas,

where all ladies loved her and gave her beautiful presents. But at last the time came for John Rolfe to go back to Jamestown. Pocahontas was very sad at the thought of leaving England and all her kind English friends, and she was sad, too, because her little son, who had been born in England, must take the long, rough journey. But their plans were all made, and the good ship was ready to sail. Then it was, at the last moment, that poor Pocahontas was taken ill. All the great doctors
court,

and she was often the great lords and

hliisfJH!

114

THE LITTLE RED PRINCESS OF THE FOREST

of

London came
she died.

to see her, but their

after a

medicines
suffer-

were of no use, and,

ing,
.-.
:.''
-

few days of
but

John Rolfe buried her

in
I

Englike

land,

among

the white people there;

to think of her best in the great, silent

woods

of

Virginia, where, for so long, she had

r&Sq

lived with

her Indian tribe, and where she was called Pocahontas, the Little

Red

Princess of the Forest.

n'z
!

115

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA

THE ENGLISHMAN WHO SAILED FOR THE DUTCH

THIS
It all
is

the story of the

man who

started

New

York, the greatest

city in all

America.

happened three hundred years ago, at a time when Sir Walter Raleigh was still in prison, and when the Little Red Princess of the Forest,

way down
Captain
In a

in

Virginia, was

saving
this
is

the the

life

of
it

John Smith. happened:

little

And

way

English village there lived a boy

named Henry Hudson.

wanted
to be a sailor.

This boy,

like so

many

other English lads, loved the sea, and he always

There were many games that Henry could play, but he was never really happy except when he was out on the ocean sailing his boat, and learning how to keep it safe in the wind and storm. He used to watch the rough fishermen as they steered their boats and cared for their sails in the rough weather,

and soon there was nothing about

ii^:

a boat that the

young Henry did not know

man.

just

as well

as

THE ENGLISHMAN WHO SAILED FOR THE DUTCH

Well, while Henry was

to sea to learn

still

boy, he went

more about

the great ocean.

He

did not run away secretly, but he went to the

captain of a vessel and told

him

that he

would
capto

work

as a sailor for a

few years without any pay,

all

so that he could learn

tain looked the
foot,

about boats.

The
is

young Henry over from head

to himself,

and he thought

"Here

a fine,

strong lad.

He

will

make
I

good

sailor."

So

he said to Henry,
are twenty-one,

"You

stay with

me

until

you

and

will teach

you everything
sailor

about a ship and make a

good

out of

you."

So Henry Hudson

stayed with

the captain,

and every day he learned more about the ways of the sea and how to handle a boat. He
studied in

books, too, and soon

all

knew

all

about

the seas of the world, and

the countries that

any white
glad to

man had
on

ever visited.

He was now a
knew
that

captain of a ship himself, and everybody was

sail

his boat, because they

a brave sailor,

Henry Hudson was

and was not

afraid even in the roughest sea.

In those days there were great companies

sent out ships to
all

who

parts of the world to trade

with the different

nations.

In

England there

117

THE

MEN
was
a

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA

company of this kind, called the Muscovy Company. Now, this company heard about the wise captain, Henry Hudson, and they wanted him to sail a ship for them and find out new
countries, and sell English goods to the strange

people he met

in

the

new

lands;

so

Hudson
far

made

several voyages for them.

He

sailed

north, and every day the weather got colder and

colder;

for,

as

everybody

knows,
if

if

you go
it

south

it

gets

warmer, and

you go north
it

gets colder.

Well, after a while

got so cold
of

that the sailors almost froze.

;'-.

The ropes

the
ice,

ships and even the sails were covered with

and
tains

in

the

sea

the

sailors

saw great floating

mountains of frozen snow.

are

Now,
and

these

mounvery

called

icebergs,

they

are

beautiful, especially

them, and the

ice turns a

when white snow

the

sun shines upon

glistens,

and the clear

wonderful shade of green.

But the icebergs, although very beautiful, are

also very dangerous.
sea,

They

float

around

in the

and if they strike a ship, then that ship is broken to pieces the way a nut is crushed in a nut-cracker. So every day the voyage in the north became more dangerous, and some of Hudson's men wanted to go home; but their

118

THE ENGLISHMAN WHO SAILED FOR THE DUTCH

(^

"I will not go back," he said, "until I have done what I was sent to So when do," and he kept on his voyage. Henry Hudson reached England, he had sailed further north than any man had sailed in all the
world up to that time.

captain would not return.

Now, when the people of Europe heard of how Hudson had sailed further north than anybody
sail

in

all

the world, they

all

their

ships.
sailors,

Holland,

at

wanted him this time, was

to a

country of
like

and here,

too,

was

company

Muscovy Company, only it was called Well, the men the Dutch East India Company. who owned this company were always looking for brave captains; so, when they heard of Henry Hudson, they sent for him and said, "We are all Dutchmen and you are an Englishman; but, as you are a brave and a wise sailor, we
the

want you

to sail our ships for

us."

And

they

gave him money, and sent him off in a ship

SSW

Moon, with twenty sailors, some of them Englishmen and some Dutchmen; and thus it was that the bold Englishman, Henry Hudson, sailed for the Dutch. Again Hudson sailed towards the north, but
called the Half
this time
it

was colder even than before, and the

THE

E N

H O

FOUND

E R

sea

was so

full of ice that his sailors

first

even more afraid than his

grew afraid, sailors had been.

you could not

UlUUllttt

You
If

see the ice

was
shut

really very, very dangerous. in

a boat
it,

got

the

ice,

no matter how hard you tried; and if it got caught between two great icebergs, it was squeezed until its masts and sides were broken

move

to pieces.

So

am

not surprised that the sailors

grew frightened, for I should have been frightened if I were there, and I think you would have
been frightened too.

And
so

they were frightened.

They

said they

would throw Hudson overboard

unless he steered south;

the pilot to turn the

Hudson had
sailed

to tell

along the coast of

boat, and he America.

south

Now,
Atlantic

have told you before

believed
in

how
cut

in those days

all sailors

short

between the
it

Ocean and

the Pacific

Ocean; so

is

not strange that

cut, too,

Hudson

believed in this short

and wanted to find it. Besides, Captain Smith, who was a friend of Hudson, had told him that there was such a short cut. The name that was given to this short cut was the Northwest Passage, although nobody had ever seen and, in truth, there wasn't any to see.
it,

Well, as

Hudson was

sailing along the coast, he

came

to

"

Henry Hudson got many

furs

from the Indians and made them

all his

friends

THE ENGLISHMAN WHO SAILED FOR THE DUTCH

maoBH

__

.'-:-

which he thought must be the great Northwest Passage that all brave sailors were in search of; so he turned his boat and sailed up the river, which was really the Hudson River, the river that flows through the State of New York, and does not go anywhere near the Pacific Ocean. The water was clear and fresh, and the longer Hudson sailed, the shallower it became, until, after he had gone about a hundred miles, his boat could go no further, so he had to turn around once more and sail back. His men landed on the beautiful green banks of the river and rested from their hard journey. So it was that the Hudson River was found by Henry Hudson, and the great city of New York was founded by Dutchmen. You see, though Henry Hudson was born in England, he sailed for the Dutch, and that gave the Dutch the right
a great stream,

itep

to all the land he found.

river, these

Well, they liked this

home-loving
its

Dutchmen, and they

liked, too,

beautiful harbor, so they sent out

from Holland ships with people to build houses and forts and trading stores for the Indians. Here
they also gave the Indians hatchets and knives

and

little

glass beads of

many

colors,

from the

red

men

soft,

beautiful

and got furs; and

121

THE

MEN
soon

WHO
a

FOUND
little

AMERICA
which the
their

there was
called

village here,
after

Dutch
city of

New

Amsterdam,
in

own
fifty

Amsterdam

Holland.

For over

years they held this

lish

little city,
it

came and took

York.

and then the Engfrom them, and called it

is

New
name
built

And
the land

this

its

name

to-day, the
city

of the greatest city in all

America, the

which Henry Hudson found. Let us return to Henry Hudson. He soon saw that this beautiful stream was nothing but a river, and not a short cut to the Pacific at all. He was sorry, of course; but anyway, he did a
great deal.

upon

He

got

many

furs

from the Indians

the
to

and made them

Indians liked

all his friends. You see Hudson because he was good

them.

He

did not treat them cruelly as the

Spaniards had done, and he did not try to rob

them, or murder them, or make slaves of them; and the Indians never forgot this kindness, and

i^.

on they were friendly to all the Dutch who came to that part of the country. At first the Indians did not know what to say or do to Hudson and the white men. Like the other Indians of our stories, they had never seen a ship or a white man before. Some of them thought that the ship was a great fish or an
that time

from

THE ENGLISHMAN WHO SAILED FOR THE DUTCH

animal, and

still

others
that

believed
floated

that

it

was

'.

:,

on the water. strange, new house As for Hudson, they thought he was the Manitou, or Great Spirit, who was the god of the Indians, and they worshipped him in a very
queer
way.

Gathering

in a

great circle, they

danced around him all their queer Indian dances, because, being a great spirit, they thought that their dancing would please him.

Then Henry Hudson gave

the

Indians axes

and shoes and stockings, but the red men did They not know what to do with the gifts. thought the heads of the axes and the shoes
7-KI

must be ornaments to be worn about the neck, and the stockings they used to put tobacco in and they hung them at their belts. Now, I think that shoes and stockings were very foolish gifts
to

make

to the Indians, because everybody

knows

that

they always wear mocassins;

sensible present.

but the axes

The Indians were They cut down trees pleased with these axes. and chopped wood for their fires, much more easily than before, when they had used their big
were a very
hunting knives.
Well, the Indians certainly did like

Hudson

and Hudson liked the Indians; so one day the

123

THE

MEN
chief

WHO
him
in

FOUND
to

AMERICA
It

invited

dinner.

would not

luniuitK

have been polite to refuse this

see,

invitation.

You

Hudson could

not say that he had a "pre-

way some people have of making excuses when they do not want to go anywhere. Anyway, Hudson really wanted to go. When he came to the wigwam, he found the chief seated on a mat on the ground. Hudson looked around for a chair; but,
is

vious

engagement,"

which

the

down on a mat too, and waited for what would come next. Then the food was served. It was in two big wooden
as there

was none, he

sat

bowls and of only one kind

a sort

of

stew,

made up of pigeons and dog cooked together. Now, a dog isn't a very good thing to eat, at least we don't think it is; but the Indians thought this a very fine feast. Well, Hudson was polite,
and he had such a good time at the dinner that the Indians were sorry when he sailed away.
I

think that Henry

Hudson wanted

to

back again

to the friendly Indians; but

come when he

reached Europe, the English kept his vessel and

made him
sail

stay in

England.
for

again for the Dutch, but his

sail

"No; you must

find

Hudson wanted to own people said, us. You must not

new

lands for any country but England."

124

THE ENGLISHMAN WHO SAILED FOR THE DUTCH

So the next year the brave Hudson sailed once

more, and
ship.
lad,
this

time he sailed

on an English
son, a

He
and
a

took with him his

own

young

si
*
-

man named Henry Green, and also a good many sailors. You will hear of this Henry
Green again before
Far north
this story is

V.'.Sl

ended.
little

Hudson

steered the

vessel,

and soon he came

to a great

bay which no white

man had
wards found

ever seen before, and

which was

after-

Hudson's Bay, because Hudson it. Here it was very cold indeed, and every day it grew colder. The ice froze around the vessel, and for eight months the little ship
called

could not move an inch.

starving

Food got

scarce,

and

then, as always happens, the

men were

afraid of

and longed to get home. As soon as the ice began to melt even a little, they begged Hudson to go back to England. " Do not stay in this
cold land,"
freeze

they

said,

"where we
at

shall surely

and

starve to death."

But Hudson would

last

afca*!

he was Northwest Passage, and would soon find the Pacific Ocean. "Be brave," he said, "for this ship shall not return to England until I find out about this bay." Perhaps these words of Hudson would have kept the men quiet if it had
this.

not do
in the

He

believed that

\M

125

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA
r
Hudson

not been for the wicked

Henry Green.

had always been friendly to Green, but this wicked man was not grateful. Night and day
he talked to the
against their

men

until he got

them

to turn

good

captain.

And

they did turn

against

him

in this way.
foot both

Hand and
loose,

Henry Hudson and

his

son were tied so tight that they could not get

and then, with seven sick men, they were put in a little boat and turned adrift in the great sea, while the wicked Henry Green and the other men sailed home to England. When they reached home, I am glad to say, these wicked men were
all

punished.

They were put

in

prison,

and

ship was sent to

Hudson Bay

to

look for the

Henry Hudson; but he was not found, and to this day no one knows what became of the little boat and of good Captain Hudson.
brave

So

suppose

that, left

alone without food, he

frozen
sea.

died there in

the

great,

But who

knows?

There were many simple Dutch people

who
tains,

lived near

New

York, in the Catskill Moun-

who

never believed that

it

Hudson was
hills,

dead.
old

Whenever

thundered in the
say,

these
his

men

used to

"Henry Hudson and

men

are playing ninepins in the mountains."

$MmWmlmar.
126

THE

FATHER

OF

NEW

FRANCE

7^
.

FATHER
three

*/

NEW FRANCE

hundred years ago, there lived in France a man who wanted to find a new country. He loved France, its green fields and its cool forests, its rivers and quiet country roads, its cottages and its beautiful palaces; but what this man wanted was a New France, a country where Frenchmen could go and speak their own language and meet other Frenchmen. This man's name was Samuel Champlain. Even as a little boy, when he played with other to find a lads in the fields, he had this one plan

ABOUT

:>;'

new country
find this

for France.

He knew

that he could

country in America,

because America

was so big; so he asked everybody he met to tell him what they knew about the great wild country beyond the sea.

He
plains.

asked

questions
its

about

the

lakes
its

of

America,
silver, its

its rivers,

great forests and

its

He

asked questions about

fisheries,

wide gold and

SSW

and the vegetables and fruits, and everything that grew there. Now, in the little town in which Champlain grew up, there lived some fishermen who had

mines and

>-

127

THE

E N

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA
Eiifflfe

been to America.

They had not been

for

in

the

southern lands, like Mexico, Florida and Peru,

where the Spaniards had gone

Spaniards
did
let a

gold.

The
they

not

like

the

French, and

would not
that

Frenchman

live in

the countries

belonged to them; so these bold fishermen of France sailed further north. They used to
start in the first
little

warm

days of spring, in their

sail
all

fishing boats, and

the

way

across

the ocean to America.

Here,

in the quiet, silent

Maine and Newfoundland, they would fish all summer, and when the weather got cold, they would sail back with their fish to their little homes in France. They were very brave men, I can tell you, these French fishermen. Sometime one of them would get caught in a storm, and his little boat would go down to the bottom of the cold sea. Then a poor woman in France would sit by the window waiting for her husband to return
waters, off the coasts of

waiting, waiting,

waiting.

And sometimes
on the shore
in

these

fishermen

would

land

America, or
told

sail their

boats up the rivers.

They
had
the

Champlain

of the wonderful sights they

seen; of the wide rivers rushing

down from

north; of the deep quiet of the beautiful forests;

THE
of

FATHER
tall

OF

N E

FRANCE

the

spruce and pine trees; of the clean,

little

cold waters of the

the

lakes.

They
in

told

how

naked Indians went about

of the

light canoes,

made

bark of trees;
their canoes

how

these Indians

would carry
river to river

on

their

backs from

and from lake

the

to lake.

They
and

told

?;0

Champlain
that

of

beautiful

furs that the Indians

had

brown

white

furs so soft

and warm

any lady in France, even the Queen herself,

stories,

would be happy to wear them. When Champlain had heard all these he became more eager than ever to make
France in America.
lakes

new

This cold country of the

and

forests did not have gold

after all,

mines; but,

and silver thought Champlain, "gold

live

and

silver are

not the only things in the world."

in
this

The Frenchmen who would

France could get
Indians.
fish

New

from the rivers, beautiful woods from the forests, and soft, warm furs from

Champlain dreamed of the time when all this country would be filled with Frenchmen, living in beautiful new cities, and loving and obeying the King of France. Now4 Champlain was just the man to find a new country. He was very wise, and very, very brave. Of all the men who went to America,
the

Ay@N

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND

AMERICA
umuii*

Spaniards and Frenchmen,

lishmen,
I

Dutchmen and Eng-

do not think there was anyone braver than Champlain. When he was still very young, he had sailed in the French ships and had learned to be a good sailor and a plucky soldier. He had fought in many battles for his King, and no one could ever say that Samuel Champlain was
a coward.

Then

later, after

he had

left

the army,

Cham-

plain went

to the

Here he saw
the

the lands that

West Indies and to Mexico. Columbus had found,

Spaniards were doing in

lands that
all

Cortez had conquered, and he

lands to the south.

watched
these

that the

soft,
I

warm
new

But as
to the

told you, the bold

Champlain wished

to find his

country, not in the

warm
little

lands

south, but in the cold

So, after a while, he

countries to the

north.
of

joined a

band

Frenchmen who were going to the great country which is now called Canada. Now, these Frenchmen with whom Champlain went were good, kind men. They did not kill the Indians
nor
rob them,
as, I

am

sorry to say, so

many

other white

men did, but they loved the Indians. There was one man among them who was very,
His name was
Poutrincourt.

very kind.

He

THE

FATHER
in

OF

NEW
own
to

FRANCE

had been a great lord

he
did

his

country, but
his

not want to go

back

beautiful

mi

and happily with the Indians, taught them new ways of farming and many other things of which they had never heard before. And the Indians loved the French lord as they did their own father. Even the little Indian children used to come in and out of his house whenever they liked, and lie on the ground while he ate his dinner; and every now and then he threw them raisins and nuts, which they
France.
lived peacefully

He

caught in their

little

brown hands.

was very beautiful; but Champlain was not happy. He wanted this great country of America to belong to France, and he wanted to learn all about its rivers and lakes
this life

Now,

and

forests, so that the other

later

people
to

who would
go and the
till

come

would know the way

in.

best places to live

Across great forests he

went, looking
at last

at rivers

and islands and lakes,

St.

Lawrence River, where another Frenchman had been a hundred years before. Here Champlain stayed for several months, and then he returned to France. But the next year, which was 1608, Champlain came back again to the St. Lawrence

he reached the mighty

THE

E N

H O

U N

River.
called

He

began now

to

build

little

city

Quebec, which was

country;

to be the great city of

the

new

but even before his

first

workmen

were through putting up the

houses, there

was trouble

good Champlain. Among the men whom he had brought with him from France, was a very wicked fellow named Duval. I do not know why Champlain let him come
for

along, but

suppose that

at first

he did not

how wicked Duval really was. You see, the soldiers who first went to America were
cruel

know many of
very

and
a

very wicked.

Anyway,
slept.

this

made
four

plan with three other

men

to

Duval go to
all

Champlain's bed while he

Then

the

men were

to take

Champlain's neck in their

he could not breathe, and

hands and squeeze

so strangle

it till

him to death. It would have gone hard with Champlain if one of the men had not told him of this wicked plot. When Champlain
heard
the
it,

he arrested the four men.

He

then had

wicked Duval hanged, and the other three men he sent back to France to be punished. But this was not the last of Champlain's troubles. A great sickness called scurvy broke out among the men who were with him. Of the twenty-eight men, twenty died, and only eight

13?

Champlain came back

to the St.

city called

Lawrence River and began Quebec."

to build a little

THE
were
left

O F

N E

FRANCE

o-

Even these eight men were sick, and every day they came to Champlain and begged him to take them back to France. " Do you not remember," they said; "do you not remember how warm and sunny and beautiful it is at home; how the blue grapes hang in heavy bunches on the green vines; how the lovely women smile with joy, and the little children play about our knees and beg us for stories? Let us go back to our beautiful France and to our wives and children." But Champlain told them to be brave and patient; so they waited, and in the spring their courage was rewarded. More ships came with brave Frenchmen, and these ships were loaded down with food; so all the men with Champlain were again happy. Champlain had learned that it was best to be kind to the Indians, and so it happened that all the Indians near Quebec were his friends. Now, one day Champlain heard of a great lake to the south, and he wanted to go there to find out all about it. So he asked the friendly Indians to take him; but they shook their heads. "We cannot go there in peace," they said, "because
to

bury the dead.

of

the

Five

Nations."

"Who

are

these

Five

Nations?" asked Champlain.

Then

the friendly

WiiVrir

mmUBiimiim

133

THE
Indians answered him quickly:

"They
They

are our

mmiiittt

enemies, these Five Nations.

tribes

are Indian

who kill us when they can, and whom we kill when we can. We are always at war. " But," they told Champlain, "though we cannot go to
'

the great lake in

peace,

we

are

going there

in

war.

We

are going to fight the

Five Nations.

Come
and
the

with us, you and your

men and

your guns,
with

fight with us against these peoples."

So Champlain and two of his

friendly Indians to fight the
sixty Indians in
all,

men went
Five

Nations.
trav-

There were

and they

eled in light canoes, going

emptied into the

to shoot

down the rivers that The Indians in Great Lake.

bows
in their hands, ready

front always held their

if

they should see any of the warriors

of

the Five Nations, and those in the back canoes

were always looking around for animals, so that they could shoot them and cook them, so that the Every night little army would have enough food.
they sent a few canoes ahead to watch out for
the

Champlain and his men were canoeing down the lake, they met the Indians There were two hundred of the Five Nations.
as

enemy. At last, one evening,

Indians

in

this

army;

but

the

sixty

friendly

r*#

m
134

:M

THE

FATHER

OF

NEW

FRANCE
Cham-

Indians were not afraid, because they had

plain with them.

"When

the Five Nations seethe

guns of the Frenchmen," said the chiefs among themselves, "and hear them speak noise and fire and death, they will be so afraid that they will run away and we will win the battle."
It
little

was too

late to

fight

that

night, so

both

armies waited until the sun rose on the lake

the next

morning.

During

all

the long hours

they stayed near each other, and in the darkness

they each called the others cowards.

2S5S

They made

a great noise,

can

tell

you.

Well, the fight began the next morning, and

then the army of the Five Nations had a great
surprise.

The

first

thing they saw was a white

a in

gleaming armor, who held hands, and had a gleaming sword

in

man

gun
his

in his
belt.

The Indians

shot their arrows at this white man,

more harm than if they had been shot at a rock. Then Champlain aimed his gun and shot bullets, and two
but the arrows did not do any
of

the chiefs of the Five Nations

fell

down

dead.

Two
chiefs

other
fell

Frenchmen
dead.

and more Now, the Five Nations had

shot
bullets

never seen

men

killed in this

way

before.
fast

They

could not see the bullets that went so

through

THE

E N

H O

FOUND
men had
army
of
iimiuuK

the air, and they thought that the white

killed their chiefs with
a noise;

so the

grew very much afraid. One of the Indians began to run, then another, then another, and soon their whole army was running The Indians who were with Champlain away. ran after them, shooting them with their arrows, killing and catching very many. I think that
the

Five Nations

both sides were very cruel, and

it

seems to

me

sometimes that Champlain, though he was a brave man and a very wise man, would have done better
if

he had kept out of

all

their quarrels;

for,

from that day, the Five Nations were always the enemies of the French, and would never let the French go to the south, where they wanted to go. After this, came busy years for the brave Samuel Champlain. He had found his new
country for France, and every year he traveled
over
it

and learned more about

Indians
for

it.

He

traded

with the
sent

their

beautiful

furs

and

them to France, where the fine ladies of the Court wore them in the winter. Champlain sent a young Frenchman to study the Indian languages, so that Champlain could talk to them
in their

own way, and

to learn to

he

sent

an

Indian

to

France

speak French.

136

THE

FATHER

OF

NEW

FRANCE

But Champlain was too brave

in

to stay always

Quebec, and so every now and then he would go on a great trip. Once he went north to find a great salt sea that a Frenchman had told him It was one of the hardest and most danabout.

There were great swamps, where Champlain sank to his waist; and deep forests, where the bushes and brushwood were so thick and dense that he had
gerous trips that a
ever took.
to cut his

man

way with
all

a great knife before taking

a step.

And

these hardships were

useless,
so, of

for there really wasn't

any great
it.

salt sea;

course, they never found

Then Champlain went on

journey to
the

second
with
at last

long
the

west.

He

traveled
till

friendly Indians for

many weeks,

they
j!L>

came upon the town of the Five Nations. You would have been surprised to see that town. It
was not like other cities, with streets, and stores, and brick houses, and electric cars. It was just
a

few plain, long, one-story houses, as big as

In these houses were
a
lot

m
.

theatres.

of

little
--,

rooms, and in each room a family of Indians.

Around

the

town were four rows

the

of stakes, like

telegraph poles, and

these poles

Indians stood behind

when

they shot their arrows.

THE

E N

WHO

FOUND
who were
told them.

AMERICA
with

This time the Indians

not do as the
\S

Chamwould

UliflHI*

plain were beaten in the fight, because they

Frenchman

plain himself

was shot twice in Indians had to carry him away in

Even Chamthe leg, and the

a basket that
see, they

they fastened to their backs.

friends of

You

were

him

to

Champlain, and they did not want be caught and killed by the Indians of
a hard winter for

the Five Nations.

That was
Indians

who were

friendly to

The him wanted him to

Champlain.

stay with them,

to

and when he asked for a guide show him the way back to his home in Quebec,

they

would not

let

him

go.

You

see,

Champlain

did not
did,

know

this

country as well as the Indians

of getting lost in the forest;

and he was afraid

but the Indians treated him well, and spring came around again they
to his city of

when the took him home

After this,
to

Quebec. Champlain worked day and night

his
it

build

up

new

country.

He

tried very

hard to
in

make

pleasant for the people

who

lived

Quebec, and always tried to get more Frenchmen to come from France and live in the new
country.

Every year he took the long journey

across the ocean and told everybody there of the

THE

FATHER

OF

NEW
Of
all

FRANCE

wonderful land of America.

in the world,
to

the things

make
I

this

what Champlain most wanted was new France even greater and more
if

beautiful than the old France.

Champlain had not been a very patient man, he would have many a time given up Quebec and gone back to France to lead a peaceful, quiet life. Oftert things went very bad indeed.
think that

New

people did not cross the ocean as

fast

as

Champlain wanted them to, and those who did come grumbled and quarreled. Often, too, the food gave out and the people got sick and many starved. But Champlain, though he was now a pretty old man, would never give up. Once some English warships sailed into the harbor and asked Champlain to give up the city to them. The brave Frenchman had hardly any soldiers;
but he said,
of

"No;
I

will never give

up

my

city

New

France.

As long
never

as

have a

man

or a

bullet

left,

will

give

up the

city of

?m

Quebec." And after a while, the English capbecame frightened because he thought that Champlain might have a big army, and so he sailed away; but the next year three more English vessels sailed up the harbor, and as this time Champlain had only sixteen half-starved
tain

THE

E N

WHO

FOUND

AM ERIC

men, he had to surrender. But England did not It was handed back to long keep the city. France, and Champlain was again sent out to

Quebec
So

as

commander

over the

little

town.

Samuel Champlain, the boy who had dreamed of New France, now went back once more to that country; but his days were almost over. He became very ill, and, after lying in bed for more than two months, he died an old man, at the age of sixty-eight years. Many, many years later, there was a great war between France and England, and after the war was over the whole country of New France was The English changed the given to England. name of the country to Canada; but even now
there are

more than

a million

people living there

who speak
the
tions,

French, and

who

are the children of

children of the children for

of

many

genera-

the

men who

lived with

Champlain.

And

even now, after three hundred years, these

Frenchmen, and other people in Canada, and people all over the world for that matter, revere the name of the great and good Champlain, and call him, as they used to call him so long ago,

"The

Father of

New

France."

140

THE

FRIENDS

N D

A N

THE FRIENDS
MANY,
try,

of the

INDIANS
Frenchmen,
covered with

many

years

ago, two

traveling through a new, wild forest coun-

came upon

a cross that

was

all

There were no white men in all this country, and so the Frenchmen wondered who had put the cross there, and who had placed the flowers on it; but later they learned that the Indians in this part of the country had laid the flowers on the cross. Then the Frenchmen knew that these Indians were friends, because everywhere the French went they carried the cross, and taught the Indians, who loved them, to place flowers on it.
flowers.

Now,
men.
Indians,

these two

Frenchmen were very good

They

treated the Indians kindly, and the liked to be treated kindly, were also

who

i&sr

There is a very good lesson in all this. If you want people to be good to you, then you must always be kind to them. Now, all the Frenchmen who came to America knew this, and from the first they were kind to the Indians. The Spaniards had been very harsh. They had killed the red men or made slaves of
to the

good

Frenchmen.

<*

141

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND
mM

AMERICA
iJJk

mm
too;

mum
mifomit

them, and sometimes the Indians had been cruelly beaten until they died. They had been tortured,

hung up by

their fingers

and toes; roasted

%
''.. ''

over a hot fire;

great, fierce

and even chased with blood-hounds. So I am not surstarved,

prised that the Indians did not love the Spaniards.

Now,

the English and

Dutch who came

treated the

to

America were not quite so cruel

but sometimes
harshly.
they,
too,
little

as the Spaniards,

Indians

For a
Besides,

very

shoot an Indian or
village.

wrong they would burn down a whole Indian

were
very

they

proud, and

thought that the red

men were
tell

only savages, and

very bad
to like

they did not want to have anything to do with

them; and

this,

may
if

you,

is

way

to act

and think,

you want people

to

you and help you.

The Frenchmen who came much more wisely. They

Indians, and often lived with

America acted
loved
the

really

them in their poor little villages. Some of the Frenchmen had been great lords in their own country. They had had beautiful castles, with fine, big rooms, and gold and silver and wonderful carpets. They had had

many
in the

servants to wait

on them, and everything world that they wanted. Yet these very

142

THE

FRIENDS

O F

THE

INDIANS

men were

not too proud to sleep on the ground

in the hut of

an Indian, or share with him

they fished

meal of corn and dried meat.

W3

the Indians;

They hunted with with them, they smoked

their pipes with them,

and Indians and French-

men

sat

around the roaring camp-fire and talked

up in silence at the bright little stars. Wherever the Frenchmen went, they put up little chapels, and here Frenchmen and Indians kneeled down side by side and prayed The French priest would bapto the good God. tize the little red children, and when they grew old enough to understand, he would teach them about God and the Bible. Some of the Indians became Christians, and hung flowers on the little crosses which the Frenchmen built all over the country. And so it was that when our two Frenchmen saw the flowers on the cross, they rejoiced and were glad,
together, or looked

because they
try, far

knew

that even in this wild counall

away from
these

white men, they were with

not only very good, but

friends.

Now,

men were

they were also very brave.

One

of

them was

named Louis Joliet. He had been sent by the King of France to find out some good way to

<M

143

THE

MEN

WHO

w -AdMAMfa***
The
priest,

FOUND

AMERICA

the Pacific Ocean.

quette, a
soldier.

other was Father Maras brave a

French

man

as

any
their

This Father Marquette had lived with

the Indians many,

many

years.

He knew

languages and
loved

all

their customs,

and the Indians

him and
it

called

him

their friend.

was not an easy thing that these brave Frenchmen were trying to do. No white man had ever been in all this country before. It was
Well,

much

pleasanter

staying

in

Quebec, the
Father
Joliet

city

which good Champlain, the France, had founded; but

Father

of

New
good

and

Marquette were not

sailed

afraid

of danger.

f&*g

Lawrence River into the Great Lakes, and then on and on and on, day after day, and day after day, until at last they I think this reached Lake Michigan. part of their journey must have been the most pleasant. The weather was warm, the Indians they met were friendly, and now and then they would come across some Frenchman who was living
the St.

They

down

out in the
their
furs

wild
or

country, trapping animals

for

trading

with
a

the

Indians;

and

sometimes they would meet

good French

priest,

who had come

about God.

this great

way

to teach the Indians

'SV

jm m

"The

Indians loved the brave Father Marquette, and called him their friend."

THE

FRIENDS
at last

O F

THE

INDIANS

Well,
the last

they

left

the last

Frenchman and
a

wooden

cross,

and started down

little river

narrow

but beautiful river that they believed flowed into

the Mississippi.
::

with rice that

boats found
left
it

was so choked grew wild along its banks that the hard to move. Here their guides
till

The

them, and then for a week they drifted slowly,

slowly

down
this

the river,

at

last,

with cries of

joy, they

came

to the Mississippi.

Now,
river in

Mississippi

River

is

the

greatest
rivers

America, and one of the greatest

It

was the same river that De Soto had found so many, many years before, when the Indians had told him that its name was
in all the world.

the Father of Waters.

Now, you
little

see,

whatever
the

country owned the Mississippi River, the great

river

that

flowed
to

from
it

streams

all

way down

where

emptied into the great,

would own all the land along its banks, and so would be the greatest country in America. This was why Joliet and Father Marquette wanted to sail all the way down the river, so that all the land on its banks might
great sea, that country

belong to
perhaps
see,
it

France.

Besides, they thought

that

flowed into the Pacific Ocean.

You

Joliet

and Father Marquette had no good

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND
as

AMERICA
you and
I

maps, and they did not know,

that the Mississippi

know,

River flowed not west into

the

Pacific

Ocean, but south into the Gulf of

Mexico.

two brave Frenchmen reached the Mississippi River, they were a little afraid of the
the

When

Indians

who

lived

along

its

banks.

Perhaps

would be their enemies and would kill them; so they no longer left their canoes at night and slept on the banks about a roaring
these Indians

camp-fire.

They

feared that

the sharp eyes of

unfriendly Indians might see the smoke, and that

they might

come and

cut off their scalps while

they slept

so they tied their canoes to the shore

and they rolled themselves up in blankets, so as to be ready to wake in a minute and paddle away. They also made one of their men stay awake all night to watch for the red men; but for eight days there was not an Indian in sight.

On
go

the ninth day they saw a path leading up

river,

from the

and they knew that

Joliet

this

path must

to an Indian village.

and Father Mar-

quette did not

friendly or not

know whether
;

these Indians were

but they were both brave men.

a
little

Maybe
thought

their hearts beat

that,

faster,

as

they
kill

perhaps, the

Indians would

'.*>

# m

146

THE
em;

FRIENDS

O F

THE

INDIANS
fear

but, anyway, they did not

show any

they walked up the path to the village.

after all, the

Well,
chief

Indians were friendly.

The

came forward with hands raised above his head, which was always a sign of friendship with the Indians. Then other red men waved the long pipe of peace, which was the same as though they had said, "Let us be friends, oh, white men!" The two Frenchmen were invited to take dinner, and the chief told them stories about the
Great River and about the other
lived along
its

Indians that

banks.

And
said

at last,

when
all

Joliet

and Father Marquette Indians went with them

the

good-by,

the

as far as the

river,

and

Indian chief

gave them a present, which

silver,

was better than gold, or

rubies.

or diamonds, or

Now,
was
you;
as a
silver,

suppose you will want

this present that

to know what was better than gold, or

or diamonds, or rubies.
it

Well,

will

tell

was

a pipe.

Not

a stale old

pipe, such

man

carries in his pocket, but the calumet,

Wherever Joliet and Father Marquette went, all they had to do was to show this calumet, or pipe of peace, and every Indian knew that the great chief was the good friend
the pipe of peace.

iMx

THE

MEN
of

WHO

FOUND
ii
iiMi

AMERICA
r
i

riJ

f'

men; and many times this pipe saved the lives of the two brave Frenchmen. Well, wherever they went, Joliet and Father Marquette showed the calumet of the great
these white

Indian chief, and then the other Indians were

y - :;

friendly too.

And

these

good and brave

their

that

two Frenchmen were so the Indians liked them for

own
big

sakes;
forests

so

down

the river they sailed,

and beautiful, rolling prairies, until one day they saw a wide, yellow river that This was the Misflowed into the Mississippi. souri, a great, yellow, roaring river, and if they
past

had time,
sailed

think the two

Frenchmen would have

II

up it; but they could not stop. So day after day they sailed on down, down, down the I think that they must have had a Mississippi.

good time
while;

of

it,

seeing a

new country

all

the

go the whole way. When they had gone many hundreds of miles, they were told stories of some very cruel Indians
but
they did

not

who

lived in the

south.

The

friendly Indians

said to them, "If

you
will

fall

into the
tie

hands of these

bad Indians, they

surely
if

you

to

pole

and burn you

the

alive;

Spaniards will
as

you escape, perhaps catch you, and they are as

and

wicked

the

others."

THE
So
for a

FRIENDS
Joliet

O F

THE

INDIANS

and Father Marquette talked it over long time, and at last they thought it would
Slowly they sailed up the

be wiser to go back.
"-S3

Mississippi River, and then across the country to

'

same way they had come. On the way home they saw graceful, white swans, with long, beautiful necks, swimming on the little silver lakes, and in the dark, green forests were cattle, and goats, and beautiful brown deer, with wonderful spreading horns. At last they reached Quebec, and all the people in the town wanted to hear of the great adventures and lucky escapes of Joliet and Father
the Great Lakes, and back the

Marquette.

Now, there was a brave man named La Salle, who heard these stories from the mouth of Joliet. This La Salle was a very great man in France.
His family were nobles and were very rich, and young La Salle, whose first name was Robert, had been well brought up, and had been taught

many

was so good that he even became a priest, and everybody said that Robert La Salle was a very good and a very wise man. But Robert La Salle wanted to go to America,
things.

He

sfis"

not only to find

so

new

lands, but also to find

many

others had tried to find, a

what new way to

THE

E N

H O

F O U N D
,

AMERICA
IlllilUlliH

the Pacific Ocean.

So he gave up being a priest

and went to the great, new country of America. La Salle was not only a wise man, but one

who thought
of
a

a great deal,

new

plan.

and now he thought This plan was to build little

little

French

forts,

very

but very strong,

all

the

way along

the Great Lakes and the

at the

Mississippi

River; and

mouth

of

the

Mississippi he

planned a great, great

fort.

He

wanted

to

put

whole river and all the country around would belong When this was done, Frenchmen to France. could go everywhere to get furs, and soon little cities could be built, and there would be a great, So the dream strong, New France in America.
French soldiers
in these forts, so that the

of

Champlain would come Now, the first thing La

little

true.

to sail

had to do was down the great Mississippi and find the

Salle
forts

best places for his

and trading posts;

and

was not an easy thing to do. In those days it was a long and hard journey from Quebec to the mouth of the Great River, and La Salle
this

tried

many

times before he succeeded.

On

the

was wrecked in a great storm and nearly everything was lost. Then he had no food, and had to sail back miles and miles and
first trip

his ship

m
SB*.
t) ) .tf l

Mt:Mlii

150

THE

FRIENDS

OF

THE
Later, his

INDIANS
money

miles to get bread and meat.

gave out, and he had to wait until he had sold

enough

furs to

buy

new

ship.

And

then,

when

his

men

tried to sail

on the

lakes, the

wind blew

against them, and

many

times they had to sleep

on the
them.

icy ground, with nothing but the sky over

Often and often they had no food

Salle

at all

but a few handfuls of corn.

had was They did not want to do much with his men. work, and they were always complaining because the journey was so hard and because they had
But the worst trouble that La

lis

nothing to

eat.

Now,
it

they

knew

very well before

easy,

they started that

and so I, for one, think that they ought not to have complained; but so it is with people. Some, like La Salle's men, will grumble and grumble over
little

would not be

every
of

thing, while others will bear

all

sorts

hardship and never say a word.

two men who never complained. his faithful French friend, Tonti, and another faithful friend was an Indian. These two men, one a Frenchman and one an Indian, loved La Salle and did whatever
there were with

Now,

La One was

Salle

he asked.

could find

The Indian knew his way through the

the

forest.

He

great, thick trees

MEN

WHO

FOUND
so

AMERICA
took him as his

even in the dark;

guide.

La

Salle
else

When

everybody

was

tired

and

good Indian was as brave and as patient as ever. This was because he loved La Salle, and because La Salle was always kind to
cross, this
all

Indians.

Well,

all

the time

the troubles of

La

Salle
little

grew worse and worse.

streams were
filled

Sometimes the
ice,

with

so that the canoes

had

to

be

moved on

sledges,

and sometimes
water

these brave

men had

to

wade

for miles in

up

to their waists.

Of course,

the brambles

and
it

thorns tore their clothing to rags, and

when

grew

cold, their clothes froze as

hard as

ice.

Then
I

they had

to

stop and build a fire before

they could go any further.

am

sure

these

were times when even the

brave heart of La Salle almost broke, but not

once did he give up.

day after day,
Mississippi
till

Again and again he

last,

tried,

at

after years

of

disap-

pointment, La Salle reached the mouth of the

River.

ance were finally

His patience and perseverrewarded. It was in February,

over two hundred years ago, that the Father of

Waters and all the country nearby was given by La Salle to the King of France.

pirt.'JW

MM
152

THE

FRIENDS
the

O F

THE
La
Salle

INDIAN
when
at

You can imagine

last

joy of

he reached the end of his long journey.

He
Then

put up a cross on the banks of the river.

mm
'Vi

he asked

all

his

men

Then

it

was

that

down and pray. he named the new country

to kneel

Louisiana, in honor of

King Louis, and,

in

a
all

loud voice, called out that from that time on

the land should belong to France.

And

for

many

years the great country of the

Mississippi

did belong to France.

But
of the

later,

much later, when the grandchildren who had been with La Salle were all
k0&
country grew up in America

dead,

men a new
all

our country, the Yet the

of

United

States.

And
is

to

us the French sold

this great

country of the Mississippi.

Louisiana
still

name
of

of

the
all

name

one of

our States, and even to-day

La
For

Salle as a

Americans think great and good man who did

well for his country.

all

his

good deeds

La

Salle

was

not years

rewarded
after

as he should

have been.

Two

he had found the mouth of the Mississippi

River, he

came back again with

four ships and

two hundred and eighty men. This time he wanted to build the city and fort that he had
planned so

many

years before;

but the captain

153

THE

MEN
of

WHO
was

FOUND
a

AMERICA
very

these vessels

very stupid and a

jealous man.

He

took La Salle to the wrong

place instead of to the

mouth

of the Mississippi,

and when La Salle wanted him to sail again and try once more to find the mouth of the river, this evil man would not do so; so La Salle started by land. Now he had no map, and it was much further than he thought. Then, too,

men grumbled and grumbled, and would not do as he said. And at last two of the men, who were very wicked, hid behind trees, and when La Salle was walking to the camp, they shot him dead.
hardships, and his

there were

many

And that was the end of Robert La Salle, the man who found the mouth of the Mississippi, and who was one of the true, good and great
friends of the Indians.

HAT

CAME
*5*

O F

A L L

WHAT CAME
AND now
.

OF IT ALL
What wonstrange and

ray stories are ended.

derful stories they are!

How

how true! As I finished my last story, I closed my eyes, and it seemed to me that I saw again all those brave men who had come from the East to explore
our America.
I

saw them
soldier,

all

noble and swine-

herd, priest and

Spaniard and FrenchI

man, and Englishman and Dutchman.

the wise

saw

Columbus following

the
let

place to place, begging her to

Indies.

Queen from him sail to the

he

And

again

saw him,

after

had

found America, when he was an old man, poor,

sick

and

wicked Balboa, the brave Henry Hudson, the good Father Marquette, who loved the Indians and was loved by them. How strangely it all happened! These bold men searched for one thing and found another. Columbus looked for the Indies and found America; De Soto hunted for gold and came to the Mississippi River, and Ponce de Leon wanted a fountain of youth, so that he might
others
the

forgotten.

And

so,

too,

saw the

VMi-

^g f*R?

4mmks
155

THE

E N

H O

drink the waters and never die, and instead of youth and life he found Florida and death. And
so
it

illll'Jll.K

was

with the others.

The unfortunate
of

Henry Hudson never thought

of

the great city

York, which was to grow up on his river; he only thought of a short cut to the Pacific Ocean. And the wicked Balboa, who
hid in a barrel, did not think that he would
the
all

New

be

first

man

to

look upon the great ocean; but

he wanted was to get away from the

men who
it

had lent him happen!

strange
lives.

money.

So strangely did

all

Yes, they were strange

men and they led Up and down they went, somehad

nothing
in all

times rich, sometimes poor, but always bold and

daring.

A man who

the

world would stumble upon a great empire and become rich and famous in the eyes of all men.

who came out of prison to conquer all of Mexico, and who became so rich that he did not know what to do with his money, though at last he died poor and unhappy! And
Think
of

Cortez,

think

of

Pizarro,

the

barefooted,
of
in

bareheaded
the

swineherd,
richest

who became one and wickedest men

the greatest and

all

world!
to

How

strange Cortez must have

seemed

the

156

Aztecs,

who had

never before seen a white man,

nor a horse, nor a gun, nor a house that sailed

PC

on the sea! And how strange the greedy Pizarro must have looked to the Incas, and how strange
and curious the Incas and
try

their

wonderful coun-

must have seemed to Pizarro! Just so strange and wonderful were the things that happened to the other explorers. There was the nobleman, De Vaca, who became a slave to
the wild Indians.

Then

there

was bold Captain

was saved by the Little Red Princess of the Forest; and stranger still, this same little girl, who had saved his life in Virginia, saw him again in London, and this time she was a Christian and an Englishman's wife, and the friend of the King and Queen of all England. It was all very, very strange.
Smith, whose
life
I

wm
fe

men

the wise Columbus, who sailed new seas and found America; the patient Champlain, the good Father of New France; the bold La Salle,

wish that

could really see

all

these

great

who
ful

sailed

down
Yes,

the Mississippi River; the faiththe brave

Henry Hudson,
I

De

Soto, and

all

the others.

should like to meet them, to

shake their hands, to hear from their

'i*

own

lips

their

wonderful

stories;

but

this

cannot be.

THE

MEN

WHO

FOUND

AMERIC
tHillllltX

All of these things happened hundreds of years

ago,

long before
all

was born, and

all

all

the

men

and

the

women,

the Kings, and Queens,

priests,

and nobles, and sailors, and soldiers, and and Indian chiefs all are dead.

And now you

all.

will ask
is

me what came Many

brave

of

it

Well,
say,

that

another story, or rather,

stories.

should

many

men

came

America, and many brave men lived here, and strange and wonderful things happened; but the end of it all was that a new
to

country arose in America

the United States, and

you and

and

all

other Americans have this good

land for our country.

we Americans, who live in the country that Columbus found, and the others explored and conquered, should always remember those brave men who risked their lives so many, many years ago; and for this reason we, who love
so

And

America, should be grateful to them all, but especially to the one who first pointed out the way to the bold sailor who crossed an unknown sea, the good, wise Christopher Columbus, the man who found America.

THE END.]

mm Hi

ISWii