II
My People
Under Dom Pedro’s guiding influence, Brazil gained steadily in power, importance, and reputation. Home industries and foreign commerce doubled. Telegraphic communications were established with the United States and Europe. Good steamship lines, both coastwise and oceanic, made Brazil accessible to all the world. Public property was opened to settlement, and the Government became as hospitable to all foreign enterprise as it had before this been exclusive.
Above all things, Dom Pedro wanted to stimulate the love of knowledge among his People, to give the boys and girls of every class an equal chance. Free public schools were established all over the Empire.
One time, the Emperor learned that 3,000,000 francs had been pledged by citizens for a fine bronze statue of himself to be given the place of honour in a city square. Dom Pedro, expressing his deep gratitude, said that it would please him far more if the money could be used for public schools instead. The grade and high school buildings of Rio have always been noted for their beauty, size, and equipment.
While so many of the South American States were lagging far behind the times, Brazil, under Dom Pedro, caught up with other progressive Nations of the World. Liberty of speech and religious tolerance were not even questioned, but taken for granted.
III
Emancipating the Slaves
1888
The greatest national event during Dom Pedro’s reign was the Abolition of Slavery, and no one worked harder to bring it to pass than the Emperor himself.
The African slave-trade had been abolished in 1850 and from that time on public opinion grew more and more in favour of Emancipation, in spite of the strong opposition of planters and wealthy slave owners.
Following Dom Pedro’s example, many high-minded citizens freed their own slaves. The slave was enabled to free himself in many ways, such as raising his own purchase money. The incentive to do this was great, for an ambitious slave had plenty of chance to rise in the world.
Dom Pedro’s dearest wish was that he might live to see every slave in the country a free man, and this wish came true in the last year of his reign.
He had gone abroad in poor health, leaving his daughter Isabel as Regent. When Congress met, the Princess Isabel railroaded the Abolition Bill through both Houses in eight days, and signed the bill which put the law into immediate effect.
IV
The Empire of the Southern Cross—No More!
Soon after the humane Princess Isabel had freed the slaves, Dom Pedro came hastening home from Europe. He landed in Rio, and was received with genuine enthusiasm. But his loved personality could no longer stand between the throne and the widespread desire for a Republic together with the popular discontent aroused by the Princess’s acts.
In 1889, a Republican revolt took the whole Empire by surprise. It had long been brewing beneath the surface, but so great was the Emperor’s popularity that Republicans had tacitly agreed to postpone the new Government until his death.
A rumor that Dom Pedro might abdicate in favour of Princess Isabel, and thus initiate another generation of monarchy, precipitated the Revolution. The Republican leagues, with the backing of the army and navy, refused to wait any longer.
Dom Pedro, summoned from Petropolis by telegram, found a Provisional Government already organized when he reached the capital. In the Imperial Palace at Rio, surrounded by insurgents, the old Emperor was told briefly that his long reign was over.
“We are forced to notify you,” said the ultimatum, “that the Provisional Government expects from your Patriotism the sacrifice of leaving Brazilian territory with your family in the shortest possible time.”
Dom Pedro the Second replied simply:—
“I resolve to submit to the command of circumstances and will depart with my family for Europe to-morrow, leaving this beloved Country to which I have tried to give firm testimony of my love and my dedication during nearly half a century as chief of the State. I shall always have kind remembrances of Brazil and hopes for its prosperity.”
The next day the Imperial Family sailed for Lisbon.
In three days’ time a monarchy had been overthrown without bloodshed or opposition. The Emperor, who had sometimes been called the best Republican in Brazil, was replaced by a military dictator.
The homesick Emperor, living in European hotels or rented villas, “always remained as one on the point of departure, as if he ever expected to be recalled by his former subjects, a hope which till the last moment would not die out of his heart.”
Margarette Daniels (Arranged)
THE UNITED STATES OF BRAZIL
Brazil, whose name originally meant the Land of Red Dye Wood, is to-day, the United States of Brazil with a Constitution like our own. It has a President, Vice-President, and House of Congress, and an army and navy. It has railroads, beautiful cities, many towns, and a world commerce.
Brazil exports quantities of rubber, sugar, coffee, and other products. The milky juice of the caoutchouc or rubber, is gathered largely from the wild rubber-trees growing in the tropical forests far in the interior of Brazil, or along the banks of the Amazon. Our United States receives great shipments of this rubber. The coffee-trees flourish in the famous red earth of Brazil, producing large crops of the delicious berry, to make happy the breakfast tables of the world.
There is the friendliest of relations between our United States and Brazil. It is no uncommon sight to meet Brazilian sailors in their picturesque uniform, at home on the streets of New York City. And when the statue of Bolivar, the Liberator of Venezuela, was unveiled in Central Park in 1921, there was present a detachment of Brazilian Marines detailed from their battleship anchored in New York Harbour. They made an imposing appearance, filing down the park-slope of Bolivar Hill, in the military procession which accompanied President Harding.
The year 1922, the one hundredth anniversary of Brazilian Independence, has been celebrated by People of the United States. Out of friendship for Brazil, they have presented her with a statue of Liberty cast in bronze. Liberty holds aloft two entwined banners, the Brazilian Flag and the Stars and Stripes. The Brazilian Government has selected one of the most prominent spots in the city of Rio Janeiro, as a site for the statue.
DECEMBER 20
WILLIAM BRADFORD
AND
THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS
The word of God to Leyden came,
Dutch town, by Zuyder Zee:
“Rise up, my Children of no name,
My kings and priests to be.
There is an Empire in the West
Which I will soon unfold,
A thousand harvests in her breast,
Rocks ribbed with iron and gold.”
. . . . . . . . . .
They left the towers of Leyden Town,
They left the Zuyder Zee,
And where they cast their anchor down,
Rose Freedom’s realm to be.”
J. E. Rankin
THE PILGRIM FATHERS
So they left that goodly and pleasant city which had been their resting place near twelve years.
But they knew they were Pilgrims, and looked not much on these things; but lift up their eyes to the Heavens, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits.
Governor William Bradford
William Bradford was born about 1590
The Mayflower reached Cape Cod; Mayflower Compact signed, November 11, 1620
The Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, probably December 20, 1620
William Bradford died, May 9, 1657
THE FATHER OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES
William Bradford’s birthday, we celebrate on the anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock. We do not know the exact date of his birth.
He was just an ordinary boy living in a small English village. He was brought up by relatives, for his father and mother had died when he was a child. They had left him a small fortune, so he was not in want.
When about twelve years old, he began to read the Bible. It interested him so much, that when older he attended the meetings of some neighbours who were studying the Bible and worshipping God in their own little Assembly. Separatists, they were called, for they had separated from the Established Church of England.
In those days, it was a crime in England for any one to hold or attend religious meetings of Separatists. The Bible printed in the English tongue, had long been forbidden reading, but in William Bradford’s days, it was beginning to be read quite widely, specially by Separatists.
These poor people’s Assemblies were watched by spies and informers. Separatists were arrested and imprisoned, while some were executed. Others fled into Holland—brave liberty-loving Holland—where there was no persecution for religion’s sake.
William Bradford became a Separatist. When about eighteen years old, he, too, fled into Holland, where he might serve his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in full liberty of conscience.
For ten years or more he lived in Holland. He was a member of an English Separatist Church in Leyden, under the gentle rule of its beloved pastor, John Robinson.
The Separatists believed that every man in the church-congregation should have a voice in its management; thus they elected their pastor.
The time came when a part of Pastor Robinson’s congregation decided to emigrate and seek a home in the New World. The leaders of this little band of Pilgrims—the Pilgrim Fathers, we call them—were William Bradford, John Carver, and Edward Winslow. With them went William Brewster, who was to be their pastor in the New World. Miles Standish, also, went with them, and became the Captain of their small army, which defended them against the Indians.
So the Pilgrim Fathers, together with their wives, little ones, and men and maid servants, said farewell to Holland’s hospitable shore. Soon after, they sailed from England in the Mayflower, to found a settlement in the savage New World, under the rule of England.
They took with them the seeds of American Independence. They had left England so that they might have the freedom which was theirs by rights. They were come to America so that they might govern themselves, every man having a voice in the government of the new settlement as well as in the management of his own congregation. This principle of self-government, the Pilgrims embodied in the famous Mayflower Compact, an agreement which they drew up and signed the day they reached New England.
Meanwhile, far to the South of New England another Colony of Englishmen had planted and was fostering other seeds of American Independence.[3]
But let us see what became of William Bradford, since we are celebrating his birthday. We will let Cotton Mather tell it in his own quaint style:—
“The rest of his days were spent in the services and the temptations of that American wilderness. Here was Master Bradford, in the year 1621, unanimously chosen the Governor of the Plantation. The difficulties whereof were such that if he had not been a person of more than ordinary piety, wisdom, and courage, he must have sunk under them.” He served for thirty-seven years, “in every one of which he was chosen their Governor, except the three years wherein Master Winslow and the two years wherein Master Prince, at the choice of the people, took a turn with him.... But the crown of all was his holy, prayerful, watchful, and fruitful, walk with God.... He died May 9th, 1657, in the 69th year of his age, lamented by all the Colonies of New England as a common Blessing and Father to them all.”
THE SAVAGE NEW WORLD
It was November, 1620. The ocean swelled angrily. A cold wind was blowing, as day broke over the gray water. Sea-gulls swooped and wheeled around the good ship Mayflower, which, with tattered sails, was driving through the billows. For over two months she had been on her way from Plymouth, England, carrying the Pilgrims. And, now, while the dull day was breaking, suddenly a cry was heard:—
“Land Ho!”
The Pilgrims came crowding to the deck, fathers, mothers, children, men, and maid-servants. They looked eagerly toward the west. They saw the coast of the New World, as the ship rushed nearer, low with a white line of surf beating against its wooded shore.
It was a very new, strange, savage world awaiting them, full of unknown horrors and Indians. Yet the Pilgrims were not fearful. Had they not committed themselves to God’s will? And was not this to be their home, the land to which He was bringing them? So they fell on their knees, and blessed Him who had guided them safely through storm and stress.
The wide bay where they first anchored—Cape Cod Bay—was wooded to the water’s edge, with pines and oaks, with sassafras and juniper, with birch and holly, ash and walnut. Whales swam spouting around the ship, while flocks of wild fowl flew screaming overhead.
And when at last the Pilgrims went ashore in that uninhabited spot, how briskly the mothers and sisters rubbed and scrubbed, as they washed the Pilgrims’ clothes. For it had been a frightful two months’ voyage, with so many storms and so much sickness aboard, that little washing had been done. And the first thing the Pilgrim Mothers did, was to hold a great wash day.
And while the women washed, the carpenter repaired the ship’s shallop; for William Bradford and some of the others wished to explore the coast, in order to find a safe and pleasant spot for their settlement.
While the shallop was being got ready, the Pilgrims decided to send out a party by land, to see what the country was like.
And many thrilling adventures, the Pilgrim Fathers had before they discovered a site, and built Plymouth Town.
On their first adventure, they saw Indians in the distance. They walked through fields of corn-stubble which belonged to Indians. They found a white man’s kettle and the ruins of a cabin. They dug up a fine, great, new basket filled with corn, red, yellow, and blue. They took the corn with them, intending to search out the owner, and pay him well.
On the second adventure, they found empty Indian wigwams, more corn, and the grave of a man with yellow hair.
On the third adventure, they left their shallop, at night, to camp on shore. In the gray dusk of morning, a band of fierce Nauset Indians attacked them. A flight of brass-headed or claw-tipped arrows came flying across the Pilgrims’ barricade. The Pilgrims fired their guns, and the Nausets, whooping loudly, bounded away into the dusk. The Pilgrims pursued them for a short distance.
Though many arrows had fallen around them, none of the Pilgrims were hurt. They gave thanks to God for their deliverance; and, after naming the spot The Place of the First Encounter, they sailed away in their shallop to explore the coast near by.
Then, at last, they discovered a beautiful site for their town, situated on a fine harbour. They returned to the Mayflower, with the good news. And a few days before Christmas, the Mayflower anchored in the harbour, and the Pilgrim folk landed on Plymouth Rock.
On Christmas day, they began to build Plymouth Town.
WELCOME, ENGLISHMEN!
“Welcome!”
That cry—just one English word—sounded through the street of Plymouth, and startled the Pilgrims. They caught up their muskets and ran from the houses.
A tall naked savage, his lank hair clinging to his shoulders, was stalking along the street, holding a bow and arrows.
“Welcome!” he shouted.
The Pilgrims returned his greeting.
He was Samoset, Chief of Pemaquid, he told them. He had journeyed from very far off. He had learned English among the Englishmen who sometimes came to fish off the coast of his country.
The Pilgrims, glad to talk with a friendly Indian, invited him to eat with them. Then, as the wind was rising, they wrapped a warm coat around his naked body. They gave him biscuit with butter, and cheese, and a piece of cooked duck; all of which he seemed to relish hugely.
And in answer to their questions Samoset told them many things about that country. As for the Nauset Indians, who had attacked them so fiercely at The Place of the First Encounter, he said that these Nausets hated all white men because a certain Englishman, one Captain Hunt, a short time before the Pilgrims landed, had cruelly deceived the Nauset Indians, kidnapping twenty of them, and selling them to other white men.
All this and much more, Samoset told the Pilgrims. He stayed with them that night. The next day they sent him away with a gift of a knife, a ring, and a bracelet. He went off promising that he would come soon again and bring other Indians to trade with them.
But the Pilgrims were troubled, for they had not found the owners of the buried corn.
LOST! LOST! A BOY!
There were children on the Mayflower—Oceanus Hopkins who was born at sea, Peregrine White who gave his first baby-cry soon after the Mayflower reached the New World, Francis Billington who almost blew up the Mayflower, while trying to make fireworks, and John Billington.
John was a mischievous youngster, and so lively that the Pilgrim Fathers had to keep a stern eye upon him. But in spite of their watching, he got lost. For one day, soon after the Pilgrims were settled in Plymouth, he slipped out of the town, and into the woods that stretched farther than eye could see from the top of the highest tree.
That night when John did not come home, the Plymouth folk were worried. Where was the boy? they asked. How had he managed to slip from the town without being seen? Had he strayed into the woods? Had a savage caught him and carried him off?
Governor Bradford sent a party to look for him. They scoured the woods about, but there was no John.
Five days went by,—five anxious days for the Plymouth folk. And John had not returned when a message came from the friendly Indian, King Massasoit, saying that the Nausets had the lad. The Nauset Indians were the same fierce savages who had attacked the Pilgrims at The Place of the First Encounter.
A shallop was launched and victualed; and the next morning ten of the Pilgrims, with Tisquantum, their Indian interpreter, set sail for Nauset.
It was a dangerous trip. At first the day was calm and bright, then came on a storm of wind with thunder and lightning, that lashed the little ship; while a waterspout almost broke over her. “But GOD be praised!” says the Pilgrim Chronicle, which tells about the lost boy, “GOD be praised! it dured not long, and we put in that night for harbour at a place called Cummaquid, where we had some hope to find the boy.”
But they didn’t find him there. “The Nausets have got him,” said the friendly Cummaquid Indians, when they came down the next morning to catch lobsters. And they invited the Pilgrims to come ashore and eat with them. So six of them landed, hoping to learn something more about John.
Iyanough, the handsome young Cummaquid Chief, welcomed them heartily. He made a feast of venison and maize cakes. And after they had eaten, he offered to go with them to help rescue John. So the Pilgrims put out to sea again, taking Iyanough and two of his braves. They made the best speed possible, for they were anxious to find what had happened to the boy.
The tide was out when they reached Nauset, and the water was so shallow that they had to anchor at a distance from land. Iyanough, his braves, and Tisquantum, went ashore to find Aspinet the Nauset Chief. They hoped to persuade him to give up John, if he was still alive.
Meanwhile, crowds of Nauset Indians came running down to the beach. They waded out from shore; and soon they were swarming around the shallop. The Pilgrims stood guard to keep them from boarding her, for they remembered all too well, how these same savages had attacked them with showers of brass-headed arrows.
Finally, they allowed two of the Indians to climb into the shallop. And what was the Pilgrims’ delight when they found that one of the two was part owner of the corn dug up at Cornhill. They welcomed him gladly. They told him that they wished to pay for the corn. They asked him to come to Plymouth for the payment. He promised that he would.
By this time the sun was setting, but Iyanough had not returned with news of John. This made the Pilgrims all the more anxious.
After sunset, they saw a long train of Nauset Indians come winding down to the beach. At their head, walked their haughty Chief Aspinet. He drew near to the edge of the beach. Some of his warriors stood guard with their bows and arrows ready to shoot. The others laid down their weapons and followed Aspinet into the water. They began to wade out toward the shallop. And whom should the Pilgrims see sitting on the shoulders of a big Indian, but John himself, covered with strings of beads! He had been visiting in the Nauset village, where his new friend the big Indian had feasted and entertained him in his wigwam.
And while the Indian was giving John over to the Pilgrims, Aspinet announced that he and his people wished to make peace with the white men. So the Pilgrims made peace with him, and presented him with a strong English knife. They gave another one to the big Indian in return for his kindness to John. Aspinet and his warriors then went back friendly and satisfied, to their village.
So the lost boy was found.
And so the buried corn was paid for at last.
THE RATTLESNAKE CHALLENGE
It was just before Christmas, when a strange Brave came into Plymouth town, carrying a bundle of new arrows wrapped in a rattlesnake-skin.
He asked for Tisquantum. When they told him that Tisquantum was away, he smiled and seemed glad. He laid down the skin, and turned to run out of the town.
But Governor Bradford did not like his looks nor his queer gift, so ordered Captain Standish to seize him. The Captain laid hold of him, and locked him up for the night. At first the poor Indian shook so with fear that he could not speak. Then as they questioned him gently, he grew calmer. And when they promised to set him free if he would tell who had sent him, he confessed to being a messenger from Canonicus, the great Chieftain of the Naragansett Indians, a People powerful and many thousands strong.
Governor Bradford, in the morning, set him free, bidding him go back to Canonicus and tell him that if he would not live at peace with the white men, as their other Indian neighbours did, the white men would show him their wrath.
The messenger listened quietly. He refused all offers of food, but thanked the Pilgrims for their kindness. Then he sped away to his master.
When Tisquantum came back, they asked him what the rattlesnake-skin meant.
To send a rattlesnake-skin meant an enemy, he said. It was the same as sending a challenge.
In answer, Governor Bradford stuffed the skin full of powder, and sent it back by an Indian runner to Canonicus.
The runner delivered it with such terrifying words of defiance, that Canonicus would not even touch it for fear of the powder and shot, nor would he let the rattlesnake-skin stay overnight in his village. The runner refused to take it back to Plymouth. Canonicus then gave it to one of his own Indians, who had it posted from place to place, until at last it was returned to Governor Bradford—unopened!
THE GREAT DROUGHT
How the Pilgrims’ little farms did flourish! Rye, barley, maize, oats, beans, and peas grew and thrived; also parsnips, carrots, turnips, onions, melons, radishes, and beets. In the gardens, were fragrant herbs. Refreshing watercresses grew wild in the meadows; while fruit ripened on the trees, which the Pilgrims had found already growing in the land.
But early during the third Summer, destruction threatened those little farms. There was a great drought. For many weeks, scarcely a drop of rain fell.
The corn, oats, rye, and barley, drooped their yellowing blades. The beans stopped running, and lay parched and shrivelling. The other vegetables were turning yellow. Unless rain should fall soon, the Pilgrims knew that they and their little children must starve when Winter came.
To add to the misery of it all, a ship laden with supplies, which had been sent from England, was missing. Nothing had been heard of her for months. And now, during the great drought, the wreck of a ship was cast on shore.
In sorrow and anxiety, the Pilgrims met together for a day of public fasting and prayer.
We will let Edward Winslow himself, tell what happened:—
“But, Oh! the mercy of our God! who was as ready to hear as we to ask!
“For though in the morning when we assembled together, the heavens were as clear and the drought as like to continue as ever it was, yet our Exercise (public worship) continuing some eight or nine hours, before our departure the weather was overcast, the clouds gathered together on all sides.
“And on the next morning distilled such soft, sweet, and moderate showers of rain continuing some fourteen days and mixed with such seasonable weather, as it was hard to say whether our withered corn or drooping affections were most quickened or revived.
“Such was the bounty and goodness of our God!
“So that having these many signs of God’s favour, and acceptation, we thought it would be great ingratitude if secretly we should smoother up the same or content ourselves with private thanksgiving, for that which by private prayer could not be obtained.
“And therefore another Solemn Day was set apart and appointed for that end. Wherein we returned glory, honour, and praise, with all thankfulness to our good God which dealt so graciously with us.”
Governor Edward Winslow (Condensed)
The story of “The First Harvest Home in Plymouth” may be found in “Good Stories for Great Holidays.”
JANUARY 7
GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM
“OLD PUT”
The picturesque wolf-slayer, a brave and sterling Patriot.
John Fiske
There was a generosity and buoyancy about the brave old man, that made him a favourite throughout the Army; especially with the younger officers, who spoke of him familiarly and fondly as “Old Put.”
Washington Irving
General Israel Putnam was born in Massachusetts, January 7, 1718
Moved to Connecticut, 1740
Left his plough to fight at Bunker Hill, 1775
He died, May 29, 1790.
SEEING BOSTON
It was before the War for Independence. A country boy in rough homespun clothes was walking along the streets of Boston. He was staring at the shop signs and windows. It was his first visit to the big city. He had never seen such interesting things before. The boy was Israel Putnam, the son of a farmer.
A city boy, much bigger than Putnam, saw him wandering about staring curiously at everything. He thought that it would be safe to bully such a raw-looking boy. Stepping up to Putnam, he began to make fun of his coarse clothes and his awkward walk.
Putnam stood it as long as he could, for though he was known as a fighter at home, he never provoked a quarrel. But now, as he saw a crowd gathering which seemed to enjoy his humiliation, his blood rose. He turned on the big boy, and gave him such a drubbing that the crowd cheered with delight. The boy slunk off, and Putnam walked away and had no more annoyance.
That was the kind of boy—and man too—Israel Putnam was; slow to anger; but when once roused by injustice, nothing could hold him back.
THE FIGHT WITH THE WOLF
Israel Putnam grew older, married, and went to live in Connecticut. He had a stock farm.
One winter, wolves began to kill his animals. There was a she-wolf, particularly fierce and ravenous, who had lost the toes of one foot. She attacked and devoured animals for miles around.
During a single night Putnam lost seventy fine sheep and goats, besides having many lambs and kids badly torn. In the morning he found around the fold the tracks of the she-wolf’s toeless foot.
Putnam and some of his neighbours traced her to a cave about five miles away. Then they returned home.
The next morning they started out with dogs, guns, and brimstone. The dogs chased the wolf into her cave, but came running out again torn and yelping. Putnam and the men built a fire in the cave-entrance. They threw on brimstone which gave out choking fumes. They threw on straw which made a thick smoke. But there were no signs of the wolf. All was quiet in the cave.
It grew to be nearly ten o’clock at night. Putnam tried once more to make his dog enter the cave, but he would not stir. Putnam, then, asked his negro man to go in and shoot the beast. But the black man, shivering with fright, refused to crawl in.
Putnam grew angry. In spite of all that his neighbours could say, he threw off his coat and lighted a torch. Then, tying a rope around his legs, he gave the end to his friends, saying when he signaled to pull him out.
In he went, headfirst, holding the lighted torch before him. Stooping, he groped his way into the body of the cave. The torch made a dim circle of light; all the rest of the den was in terrifying darkness. Silence like death was around him.
He cautiously proceeded onward to an ascent. As he was slowly climbing it on hands and knees, he discovered the glaring eyeballs of the she-wolf just in front of him. Startled at the sight of the flaming torch, she gnashed her teeth and gave a sullen growl.
Putnam kicked the rope, and his friends, who were listening with painful anxiety and who heard the growling of the beast, pulled him out so quickly that his shirt was stripped over his head and his body was badly cut.
After he had adjusted his clothes, he loaded his gun with buckshot. Then holding the torch in one hand and the gun in the other, he entered again. This time the wolf assumed a still more fierce and terrible aspect, howling, rolling her eyes, and snapping her teeth. Then she dropped her head between her legs making ready to spring.
At this moment Putnam raised his gun and fired.
Stunned by the noise and suffocated with smoke, he felt himself being jerked backward out of the cave. His friends had heard the shot, and were pulling the rope.
He rested a few moments in the fresh air, while letting the smoke dissipate. Then in he went a third time.
The wolf lay stretched on the floor as if asleep. He put the torch to her nose to make sure that she was dead. Then he took her by the ears and kicked the rope.
His friends, with loud cheers, drew him out, and the wolf with him.
FROM PLOUGH TO CAMP
Israel Putnam did not stay on his farm. When the French and Indian War broke out, he enlisted. He served as major. He had many thrilling escapes from Indians. Once he was captured and tortured by savages, but was rescued by the French.
After many years’ service, he resigned and went back to his farm. When the news of the Battle of Lexington reached him, he was ploughing. He left his plough in the field, and unyoked his team. Then, in his old farm-clothes, he sprang on a horse and galloped off to Governor Trumbull for orders.
“Go,” said the Governor, “to the seat of action.”
“But my clothes, Governor!” exclaimed Putnam.
“Oh, never mind your clothes,” answered he, “your military experience will be of service to your countrymen.”
“But my men, Governor! What shall I do about my men?”
“Oh, never mind your men,” said he, “I’ll send your men after you.”
So without waiting to change his soiled farm-clothes, Putnam put spurs to his horse and in a single day rode all the way to Cambridge.
He attended a council of war held by the Americans, returned to Connecticut, raised a regiment, and went back to Cambridge in time to take part in the Battle of Bunker Hill. There on Prospect Hill he unfurled the new Banner of Connecticut, which, as a cannon fired a salute, was seen to rise and unroll itself to the wind.
When Washington, appointed by Congress to be Commander-in-Chief, arrived at Cambridge, and saw the redoubts that had been cast up by Putnam and his men, he said to Putnam:—
“You seem, General, to have the faculty of infusing your own spirit into all the workmen you employ.”
Washington had brought with him a commission from Congress, making Israel Putnam a Major-General.
HE MADE WASHINGTON LAUGH
General Putnam once had the honour of making Washington laugh heartily.
It was during the Siege of Boston.
There was a traitor in camp. No one knew who he was. A strange woman—a spy—had delivered a letter, intended for him, to the wrong person. It was laid before Washington. It was in cipher. Washington ordered the woman to be arrested, but she was gone.
Not long after, as Washington was standing in the upper window at Headquarters, he saw the oddest sight.
It was stout “Old Put” himself, in all his regimentals, mounted on his horse, proudly cantering up to Headquarters. Behind him, seated on his saddle-bow and hanging on like grim death, was a very fat woman. “Old Put” had captured the spy.
Washington burst into a hearty laugh. He hurried to the top of the stairs, just as “Old Put” escorted the fat woman into the hall. Washington, as gravely as he could, called down, in his severest tones, that unless she confessed everything, a halter was waiting for her.
She confessed immediately, and the traitor in camp was found.
A GENEROUS FOE
Israel Putnam was brave, bluff, and honest, and he was also compassionate.
During the French and Indian War, the enemy’s wounded lay dying and neglected on one of the battle-fields.
After the fierce fighting was over, Putnam himself hurried out onto the field, to tend the poor fellows. He gathered them together into one place. He gave them what food and drink he could get. He furnished each with a blanket. Under one badly wounded French sergeant, he placed three blankets, and laid him in a comfortable position against a tree.
Gratefully, the suffering man squeezed his hand, while Putnam said reassuringly:—
“Ah! depend upon it, my brave soldier, you shall be brought to the camp as soon as possible, and the same care shall be taken of you as if you were my brother.”
At the Battle of Princeton a Scotch Captain of the British Army was desperately wounded in the lungs and left for dead. Putnam found him in great pain, with no surgeon, and without any friend to cheer him. He had him supplied with every comfort and the best of care.
One day, when Putnam was visiting him, the Scotchman said:—
“Pray, sir, what countryman are you?”
“An American,” answered Putnam.
“Not a Yankee!” exclaimed the Scotchman.
“A full-blooded one,” replied Putnam.
“I’m sorry for that!” rejoined the Scotchman with an oath. “I did not think there could be so much goodness and generosity in an American, or, indeed, in anybody but a Scotchman!”
Thanks to Putnam’s friendly Yankee care, the Scotchman recovered.
PUTNAM NOT FORGOTTEN!
When General Putnam, full of years and honours, retired from the Army, Washington wrote him a letter telling him that he was entitled to full pay till the close of the War, and afterward to half-pay. The letter was cordial and warm, and in it Washington said:—
“Among the many worthy and meritorious officers, with whom I have had the happiness to be connected in service through the course of this War, and from whose cheerful assistance and advice I have received much support and confidence ... the name of Putnam is not forgotten, nor will it be but with that stroke of time which shall obliterate from my mind the remembrance of all those toils and fatigues through which we have struggled for the preservation and establishment of the Rights, Liberties, and Independence of our Country....
“I commend you, my dear sir, my other friends, and with them the interests and happiness of our dear Country, to the keeping and protection of Almighty God.
“George Washington”
JANUARY 11
ALEXANDER HAMILTON
DEFENDER OF THE CONSTITUTION
THE CONSTITUTION; OR, THE NEW ROOF
1787
Our roof is now raised, and our song still shall be
A Federal Head o’er a People that’s free!
Huzza! my brave boys, our work is complete,
The World shall admire Columbia’s fair seat;
Its strength against tempest and time shall be proof;
And thousands shall come to dwell under our roof.
Francis Hopkinson (Condensed)
ALEXANDER HAMILTON
He gave the whole powers of his mind to the contemplation of the weak and distracted condition of the Country.... He saw ... the absolute necessity of some closer bond of Union for the States.... He saw at last his hopes fulfilled; he saw the Constitution adopted, and the Government under it established and organized.
The discerning eye of Washington immediately called him to the post which was far the most important in the administration of the new system. He was made Secretary of the Treasury. And how he fulfilled the duties of such a place, at such a time, the whole Country perceived with delight and the whole World saw with admiration.
Daniel Webster
Alexander Hamilton was born in the West Indies, January 11, 1757
Came to New York City, 1772
Signed the Constitution, 1787
Was appointed first Secretary of the Treasury, 1789
He was killed by Aaron Burr in a duel, 1804
THE BOY OF THE HURRICANE
On the 11th of January, 1757, there was born on the little West Indian island of Nevis, a boy who was to become one of the foremost citizens of his adopted Country, and who was to have a large part in determining its Independence, its form of government, and in working out the details of its administration. This was Alexander Hamilton.
His mother died when he was very young. His father was not so situated as properly to care for his son, so he was sent to the adjoining island of St. Croix, to live with his mother’s relatives, who were people of means.
He was given a place in their counting-house, where he acquitted himself with much credit, though the work was not at all to his liking.
When Hamilton was only fifteen years old, a terrible hurricane swept over the island. The sea was lashed into fury. The storm swept across the land, uprooting trees, and carrying devastation in its path. Even the bravest of the inhabitants were greatly frightened, and many were terror-stricken. But young Hamilton watched the storm with the greatest interest and without fear.
A few days later, an account of the storm appeared in a paper printed in a neighbouring island. The account was so vivid, the word-painting so marvellous, that the people were certain some writer of note must have been among them without their knowledge. And when they learned that the account was written by Alexander Hamilton, and he a mere boy, they were greatly astonished.
They felt that such a lad should have a better chance for education than St. Croix could afford, and a wider field in which to exercise his talents. His friends raised a fund for him, and he was sent to America. He entered a preparatory school at Elizabethtown in the Jerseys. He then went to New York City, and entered King’s College, now Columbia University.
At this time, he was disposed to side with the friends of the King of England in the controversy between the Colonists and the Mother Country; but after he had been at college for half a year, he made a visit to Boston where he heard Samuel Adams, James Otis, and other Patriots, and came back a most earnest Patriot himself.
About the time of the breaking out of the War for Independence, Hamilton organized a company of the college students who adopted the name “Hearts of Oak.” Later Hamilton was appointed the Captain of the first company of artillery raised in the Colony. He so thoroughly drilled and disciplined it, that the attention of General Greene was attracted. He sought the acquaintance of Hamilton, and spoke most enthusiastically to Washington about him, saying that he was a natural master of men, and a young man worthy the attention of the Commander-in-Chief.
Sherman Williams (Arranged)
CALL COLONEL HAMILTON
While young Hamilton was directing his battery during the passage of the Raritan, Washington, who was anxiously watching the passing of the troops, observed Hamilton’s skill and courage. He ordered one of his officers to find out the young man’s name, and tell him to report at Headquarters.
Therefore, as soon as possible, young Hamilton hurried to Headquarters. As a result of this interview, Washington made him a member of his own staff. Hamilton became Washington’s private secretary.
Many a night, after long hours of work together, Washington and Hamilton would retire to their rooms. Then suddenly a courier with important despatches would gallop up to Headquarters. Washington would arise, read the despatches and say:—
“Call Colonel Hamilton.”
And the young secretary would come and take his dictation.
Washington had the greatest confidence in Hamilton’s judgment. So much did Washington value his advice, that when he wrote his “Farewell Address,” “acting as every wise man would do under the circumstances,” he asked Hamilton for his opinion, as he also asked James Madison for his. Washington desired to get the different points of view of two large minds, on so important a document.
A STRUGGLE
After the Constitution of the United States had been framed by the Constitutional Convention, a severe political struggle took place to bring about its ratification by the States themselves. There were selfish political interests at work to prevent ratification.
The influence of Alexander Hamilton, through his speeches and writings, so brilliant and convincing, did much to bring the People of the United States to understand the absolute necessity for a strong Federal Union and for a Constitution to safeguard the liberties of the Country.
In the State of New York, the opposition to ratification was most violent. But Alexander Hamilton, during weeks of furious debate in the State Convention, spoke again and again in defense of the Constitution. And when the weary weeks of contention were passed, the vote was taken; and Alexander Hamilton’s arguments had won votes enough to carry the ratification of the Constitution. He had saved the day.
“HE KNOWS EVERYTHING”
“He knows everything,” said Robert Morris to President Washington.
Robert Morris, during the War for Independence, had been Superintendent of Finance. When Congress needed funds, when Washington wished money with which to pay the soldiers, Robert Morris provided the means since his private commercial credit was great. Men had confidence in his business ability and honour.
Once, when Congress was utterly without cash, Robert Morris supplied the Army with four or five thousand barrels of flour. And when France sent troops to America to fight for us, Robert Morris personally borrowed through Count Rochambeau, money for our Country’s use.
When Robert Morris sought to procure for Congress, money from abroad, he borrowed large sums through the Patriot, Haym Salomon, “the little friend in Front Street.”
So after Washington was elected President, and while he was making up his Cabinet, he visited Robert Morris, and said:—
“The Treasury, Morris, will of course be your berth. After your invaluable services as Financier of the Revolution, no one can pretend to contest the office of Secretary of the Treasury with you.”
This flattering offer, Robert Morris promptly declined, adding:—
“But, my dear General, you will be no loser by my declining the Secretaryship of the Treasury, for I can recommend to you a far cleverer fellow than I am, for your minister of finance, in the person of your former aide-de-camp, Colonel Hamilton.”
“I always knew Colonel Hamilton to be a man of superior talents,” said Washington, “but never supposed he had any knowledge of finance.”
To which Robert Morris replied:—
“He knows everything, sir! To a mind like his, nothing comes amiss.”
Washington then appointed Hamilton to be Secretary of the Treasury.
Hamilton took up his duties. The Country and the States were in debt. He organized the finances of our young and new Nation, putting them upon a sound basis; he provided funds with which to pay the National debt, so that the United States of America “might command the respect of the Nations of the World.”
It was Alexander Hamilton who laid the foundations of the financial system of our Republic.
JANUARY 17
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
THE AMERICAN SOCRATES
We have reason to be thankful he was so long spared, that the most useful life should be the longest, also that it was protracted so far beyond the ordinary span allotted to man, as to avail us of his wisdom in the establishment of our own Freedom.
Thomas Jefferson
OUR COUNTRY
Dr. Benjamin Franklin to General George Washington
I must soon quit the scene, but you may live to see our Country flourish, as it will amazingly and rapidly after the War is over; like a field of young Indian Corn, which long fair weather and sunshine had enfeebled and discoloured, and which in that weak state, by a thundergust of violent wind, hail, and rain, seemed to be threatened with absolute destruction; yet the storm being past, it recovers fresh verdure, shoots up with double vigour, and delights the eye not of its owner only, but of every observing traveller.
March 5, 1780
Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, January 17, 1706
Went to Philadelphia, 1723
Through his diplomacy, France was persuaded to recognize the United States by treaty, February 6, 1778
He signed the Constitution of the United States, 1787
He died in Philadelphia, April 17, 1790
THE WHISTLE
Told by Franklin Himself
When I was a child of seven years old, my friends on a holiday filled my pocket with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys for children, and being charmed with the sound of a whistle that I met by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered and gave all my money for one.
I then came home and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family.
My brothers and sisters and cousins, understanding the bargain I had made, told me I had given four times as much for it as it was worth; put me in mind what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money, and laughed at me so much for my folly, that I cried with vexation. And the reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure.
This, however, was afterwards of use to me, the impression continuing on my mind, so that often, when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary thing, I said to myself:—
“Don’t give too much for the whistle!”
And I saved my money.
As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I thought I met with many, very many, who gave too much for the whistle.
From The Whistle
THE CANDLE-MAKER’S BOY
Benjamin Franklin, when a boy, used to work in his father’s shop at the Sign of the Blue Ball. His father was a tallow chandler, and made soap and candles.
The boy got up early, cut wicks for candles, filled moulds with tallow, ran errands, and tended shop. Though he worked hard and honestly, his heart was not in his work. He wanted to go to sea. His elder brother, a sailor, had come home; and he told the most thrilling tales of his adventures. So Benjamin Franklin could not get the sea out of his mind.
He grew to detest the trade of tallow chandler, and hankered more and more for the sea. His father, wishing him to give up thoughts of a roving life, took him to talk with joiners, bricklayers, turners, and other workmen, and to watch them at work. But none of their trades appealed to the boy.
His place was at home his father urged, adding:
“Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before Kings; he shall not stand before mean men.”
THE BOY OF THE PRINTING PRESS
But Benjamin Franklin did not run away to sea. He became a printer’s boy.
Because he liked books, he was apprenticed to his brother James, who had set up a printing press in Boston. To James’s house he went, taking with him his collection of precious volumes.
There he worked hard by day, and read and studied at night. Recollecting his father’s favourite proverb, “Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before Kings,” Franklin saved his money, and worked early and late.
When James began to issue a newspaper, Franklin helped him print it, and delivered copies to customers. He wrote articles and slipped them under the printing-house door, and James published them, without knowing who was their author. Later Franklin wrote clever, audacious, and humorous articles on the questions of the day, which were widely read and much talked about.
So things continued until he was seventeen years old, when he ran away—but not to sea. He and his brother quarrelled often. Benjamin the apprentice was saucy and provoking, and James the master was hot-tempered and beat his younger brother severely. After a particularly bad quarrel, Franklin sold some of his books, and took passage on a sloop bound for New York.
Arriving at New York, he found no employment there, and went on to Philadelphia.
THE THREE ROLLS
Early in the morning of an October day, young Benjamin Franklin, seventeen years old and seeking his fortune, reached Philadelphia. He was tired and hungry, and had only a dollar of his little fund left.
He stopped at a baker’s, and bought three big puffy rolls. He put a roll under each arm, and, munching the third, walked along Market Street.
In the doorway of a house, stood a young girl. She saw the awkward, handsome boy, trudging past hungrily eating a big roll. She laughed to herself; she thought it funny to see him with his broad-brimmed hat, knee-breeches, and buckled shoes all shabby and dusty, and his great pockets stuffed with stockings and shirts.
So she laughed to herself, did Deborah Read. And little she knew that in a few years, she would become that boy’s wife! But so it happened.
Young Benjamin Franklin found work in a printer’s shop. He came to lodge at Deborah Read’s home. In a few years, he owned his own printing press. He married Deborah Read. He became a well-known printer. He issued an influential newspaper, and published “Poor Richard’s Almanack.” He was industrious, studious, thrifty, and prosperous. In time, he became the most famous and learned citizen of Pennsylvania, and a great American Patriot.
STANDING BEFORE KINGS
When the American Colonies rose against the exactions of England, Benjamin Franklin was called upon to serve his Country as a diplomat in France and England.
“My father,” wrote Franklin, “having among his instructions to me when a boy frequently repeated a proverb of Solomon, ‘Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before Kings; he shall not stand before mean men,’ “I from thence considered industry as a means of obtaining wealth and distinction, which encouraged me, though I did not think that I should ever literally stand before Kings, which, however, has since happened, for I have stood before five, and even had the honour of sitting down with one, the King of Denmark, to dinner.”
THE WONDERFUL KITE EXPERIMENT
In Benjamin Franklin’s time, there were no electric trains, no telegraphs, telephones, radiographs, and radiophones. The driving and lighting power of electricity was not understood. People did not know that lightning was due to the presence of electricity in nature.
Benjamin Franklin, who was keen and inquisitive, made scientific experiments with the Leyden jar and with simple machines which produced electricity by friction. He discovered that in certain ways, the action of electricity and lightning was the same, and he observed that electric fluid might be conducted along a pack-string.
So he determined to prove that electricity and lightning were the same, by drawing lightning down from the clouds along a pack-string. He used a silk kite, with a sharp-pointed wire fastened to its framework, and a silk ribbon tied to the end of the kite-string holding a metal key in place.
He secretly flew the kite during a June thunderstorm. And as he saw the kite-string stiffen in a strange way, he eagerly laid his hand against the key. Instantly he felt a shock of electricity pass through him. He had made one of the most important discoveries of all ages!
His discovery was soon known throughout the world. Men made other experiments, and in time invented the wonderful electrical machines and devices which we enjoy to-day.
THE RISING SUN
When the Federal Constitutional Convention met at Philadelphia, General Washington was unanimously made President of the Convention. He took the chair with diffidence. He assured the members that he was not used to such a situation, that he was embarrassed, and he hoped they would excuse his errors. And in what masterly fashion he conducted the convention, history shows.
Behind his chair was painted a picture of the sun. After the debates were over and the Constitution was adopted, Benjamin Franklin, who had just signed the immortal Document, turned to some of the members. He drew their attention to the sun behind General Washington’s chair.
“I have often and often,” said Franklin, “in the course of the session and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the President, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now, at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising, and not a setting, sun.”
TO MY FRIEND
From Franklin’s Will and Testament
My fine crabtree walking-stick, with a gold head curiously wrought in the form of the Cap of Liberty, I give to my friend and the friend of Mankind, General Washington.
If it were a Sceptre, he has merited it, and would become it.
Benjamin Franklin
FEBRUARY 12
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
THE GREAT EMANCIPATOR
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the Nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all Nations.
Oh, slow to smite and swift to spare,
Gentle and merciful and just!
Who, in the fear of God, didst bear
The sword of power, a Nation’s trust!
In sorrow by thy bier we stand,
Amid the awe that hushes all,
And speak the anguish of a land
That shook with horror at thy fall.
Thy task is done; the bond are free:
We bear thee to an honoured grave,
Whose proudest monument shall be
The broken fetters of the slave.
Pure was thy life; its bloody close
Hath placed thee with the sons of light,
Among the noble host of those
Who perished in the cause of Right.
William Cullen Bryant
Abraham Lincoln was born, February 12, 1809
Was elected President, 1860
Issued the Emancipation Proclamation, New Year’s Day, 1863
Was re-elected, 1864
He was assassinated, 1865
THE CABIN IN THE CLEARING
It was only a small cabin in a forest-clearing in the wilderness of Indiana. It stood on a knoll overlooking a piece of ground where corn and vegetables grew. In the woods around the cabin were bear, deer, and other wild creatures. The furniture was rude, brought from the East, or made of logs and hickory-sticks, while the bed was a sack of leaves. In the big fireplace, the logs cut from the forest, burned with a cheerful blaze.
And there lived little Abe Lincoln, nine years old, with his father and sister and his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln.
Abe was born in Kentucky. When he was seven, his family moved to the cabin in Indiana. He helped clear the way through the wilderness to the new home. So with swinging the axe and blazing trails, he was made unusually large and strong for his age, alert and courageous—a real backwoods boy.
He could shoot, fish, cut down trees, and work on the farm in the clearing. In his veins ran the red blood of Kentucky pioneers. His grandfather, in the days of Daniel Boone, had been killed by an Indian, while Abe’s father—a child then—had been rescued from this same Indian by his brother, Mordecai Lincoln, a daring lad, who shot the savage with his dead father’s rifle, so saving his little brother.
HOW HE LEARNED TO BE JUST
Let us have faith that Right makes Might, and in that Faith, let us to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.
Abraham Lincoln, from his speech at Cooper Institute
But it was not all work for Abe on the new farm in Indiana. He picked wild plums and pawpaws in the woods, and ate corn dodgers, fried bacon, roast wild turkey, and fish caught in the Indiana streams. He went to school when he could, which was not often, for in those days schools were few and far between, and teachers were not many.
But little Abe had the best teacher of all, his mother, Nancy Lincoln. For, though his father could scarcely write his own name, his mother could read, and she loved books. She taught her little son his letters and how to read. Often they sat together in the cabin, Abe and his sister at their mother’s knee, while she read the Bible to them.
“I would rather my son would be able to read the Bible, than to own a farm, if he can’t have but one,” she said.
She was a beautiful woman, slender, sad, and pale, with dark hair. She was more refined than most women of those hardy pioneer times, but she could use a rifle, work on the farm, spin, and do other housework. Because of her gentle and firm character, she was loved and respected not only by her husband and children, but by her neighbours.
Above all things she had a deep and tender religious spirit which she shared with Abe and his sister, Sarah. She taught Abe to love truth and justice and to revere God. In time he could repeat by heart much of the Bible, and, when he grew up, he thought and wrote in the simple, clear, and forceful language of the Bible. And he learned from it his ideas of right and his scorn of wrong, making him “Honest Abe.”
OFF TO NEW ORLEANS
Young Abe Lincoln went on several flatboat trips carrying produce down the Mississippi to New Orleans.
One of these trips made a deep and lasting impression upon him. In New Orleans, he visited the slave-market. There negro men, women, and children were bought, sold, and flogged. Wives were torn from their husbands, children from their mothers, and auctioned off like cattle.
The anguish of these scenes wrung Lincoln’s heartstrings. With quivering lips, he said, “If ever I get a chance to hit that thing, I will hit it hard.”
John Hanks, a relative who was with him at the slave-market, said in after years:—
“Lincoln saw it; his heart bled; said nothing much, was silent, looked bad. I can say it, knowing him, that it was on this trip that he formed his opinions of slavery. It run its iron into him, then and there.”
THE KINDNESS OF LINCOLN
The Little Birds
When Lincoln was a lawyer, one day he was going with a party of lawyers to attend court. They were riding, two by two, on horseback through a country lane, Lincoln in the rear. As they passed through a thicket of wild plum and crab-apple trees, his friends missed him.
“Where is he?” they asked.
Just then Lincoln’s companion came riding up. “Oh,” replied he, “when I saw him last, he had caught two young birds that the wind had blown out of their nest, and was hunting for the nest to put them back.”
After a little while, Lincoln rode up, and when his friends rallied him about his tender heart, he said:—
“I could not have slept, unless I had restored those little birds to their mother.”
Rescuing the Pig
Another time, Lincoln was riding past a deep miry ditch, and saw a pig struggling in the mud. The animal could not get out, and was squealing with terror.
Lincoln looked at the pig and the mud, and then at his clothes—clean ones, that he had just put on. Then he decided in favour of the clean clothes, and rode along.
But he could not get rid of the thought of the poor animal struggling so pitifully in its terror. He had not gone far when he turned back.
He reached the ditch, dismounted, and tied his horse. Then he collected some old wooden rails, and with them made a foot-bridge to the bottom of the ditch. He carefully walked down the bridge, and caught hold of the pig. He pulled it out, and setting it on the ground, let it run away.
The screaming, struggling pig, had spattered Lincoln’s clean clothes with mud. His hands were covered with filth; so he went to the nearest brook, washed them, and wiped them on the grass.
Later, when telling a friend about his adventure, Lincoln said that he had rescued the pig for purely selfish reasons, “to take a pain out of his own mind.”
Opening Their Eyes
It was toward the close of the Civil War, the crisis had come, and the end of the long struggle was in sight. The Union troops were hemming in Richmond. President Lincoln went himself to City Point, and there he remained, anxiously waiting.
In his tent lived a pet cat. It had a family of new-born kittens. Sometimes, the President relieved his mind by playing with them.
Finally Richmond was taken, and Lincoln prepared to visit the city. Before he left his tent, he picked up one of the kittens, saying:—
“Little kitten, I must perform a last act of kindness for you before I go. I must open your eyes.”
He passed his hand gently over its closed lids, until the eyes opened; then he set the kitten on the floor, and said:—
“Oh! that I could open the eyes of my blinded fellow-countrymen as easily as I have those of that little creature!”
LINCOLN AND THE CHILDREN
Hurrah for Lincoln!
Abraham Lincoln loved children, and even strange children were drawn to him, as though they had known him all their lives. Here are a few of the stories told about Lincoln and his child-friends.
Soon after Lincoln was elected President, he went to Chicago, where he was welcomed with shouts and cheers.
Later, as he sat in a room talking with friends, a little boy was led in. At the sight of the President-elect, he took off his hat and swung it, shouting:—
“Hurrah for Lincoln!”
Lincoln rose, and catching the little fellow in his strong hands, tossed him to the ceiling, shouting:—
“Hurrah for you!”
Only Eight of Us, Sir!
On this same visit to Chicago, while Lincoln was talking with visitors, a little German girl, heading a delegation of other girls, walked timidly up to him.
“What do you want, my little girl? What can I do for you?” he asked kindly.
“I want your name,” she said.
“But there are many other little girls that want my name, and as I cannot give it to them all, they will feel hurt if I give it to you.”
She looked around at her companions, and said, “Only eight of us, sir!”
Lincoln could not resist that, so he sat down immediately, and forgetting his other visitors, took eight sheets of paper and wrote a line and his name on each. These he gave to the little girls, and they went away happy.
He’s Beautiful!
Once a little girl’s father took her to call upon Lincoln. She had been told that he was very homely. But when he lifted her on his knee and talked to her in his kindly, merry way, she turned to her father, and exclaimed:—
“O Pa! He isn’t ugly at all! He’s beautiful!”
Please Let Your Beard Grow
But there was another little girl who did not think so. She lived in Westfield, in the State of New York. She had seen Lincoln’s picture, and did not like it; so after his election she wrote a letter asking him to let his beard grow, as she thought it would make him better looking.
Lincoln enjoyed the letter very much.
It happened later that he was on a train passing through Westfield, and, as the train stopped for a few minutes, he was asked to address the people at the station. He told about the letter, and stroking his chin, added:—
“I intend to follow her advice!”
He then called for the little girl. She came forward, and he greeted her kindly.
Three Little Girls
One day, after Lincoln had gone to Washington, three little girls, the children of a workingman, went to the White House on a reception day. They joined the throng, and were pushed along until they came to where Lincoln was shaking hands with each of his visitors.
When the children reached him, they were so bashful, that they did not dare to put out their hands. But Lincoln saw them passing by, and called:—
“Little girls, are you going to pass me without shaking hands?”
Then, stooping over, he kept every one waiting while he shook hands with each child.
THE PRESIDENT AND THE BIBLE
Lincoln’s love of truth, justice, and mercy, his detestation of everything ignoble, brutal, or mean, were taught him or strengthened in him from childhood through his reading of the Bible.
The language of his speeches and writings was forceful and direct like the English of the Bible, and such a phrase as “A house divided against itself,” he took from the Bible.
While President, he used to carry a New Testament with him; and he could quote whole passages. He used often to rise early in the morning to get time to read and pray before the pressing business of the day began.
He read the Bible aloud to the coloured servants of the White House. Once, when a Committee of Coloured People waited upon him, to present him with a fine copy of the Bible, he took it and made a speech to them, a part of which was:—
“In regard to this great book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good Saviour gave to the World was communicated through this book. But for it, we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it.
“To you I return my most sincere thanks for the very elegant copy of the great Book of God which you present.”
WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN SPEAK
A LINCOLN ORDER
To the Army and Navy
The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, desires and enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by the officers and men in the military and naval service.
The importance for man and beast of the prescribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of a Christian people, and a due regard for the Divine will, demand that Sunday labour in the Army and Navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity.
The discipline and character of the national forces should not suffer, nor the cause they defend be imperilled, by the profanation of the day or name of the Most High.
“At this time of public distress”—adopting the words of Washington in 1776—“men may find enough to do in the service of God and their Country without abandoning themselves to vice and immorality.”
The first General Order issued by the Father of his Country after the Declaration of Independence indicates the spirit in which our institutions were founded and should ever be defended:—
“The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavour to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier, defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his Country.”
November 15, 1862.
ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE DEDICATION OF THE GETTYSBURG NATIONAL CEMETERY
Fourscore and seven years ago our Fathers brought forth on this continent a new Nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that Nation, or any Nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that Nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The World will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of Freedom; and that Government of the People, by the People, for the People, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863.
The following famous stories about Lincoln are in “Good Stories for Great Holidays”: A Solomon Come to Judgment; The Colonel of the Zouaves; Courage of his Convictions; George Pickett’s Friend; He Rescues the Birds; His Springfield Farewell Address; Lincoln and the Little Girl; Lincoln the Lawyer; Mr. Lincoln and the Bible; A Stranger at Five-Points; Training for the Presidency; Why Lincoln was called “Honest Abe”; The Widow and her Three Sons; The Young Sentinel.
FEBRUARY 22
GEORGE WASHINGTON
THE FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY
Where may the wearied eye repose,
When gazing on the Great;
Where neither guilty glory glows,
Nor despicable state?
Yes—one—the first—the last—the best—
The Cincinnatus of the West,
Whom Envy dared not hate,
Bequeathed the name of Washington,
To make man blush there was but one!
Lord Byron
LINCOLN ON WASHINGTON’S BIRTHDAY
This is the one hundred and tenth anniversary of the birthday of Washington. We are met to celebrate this day. Washington is the mightiest name of earth—long since mightiest in the cause of Civil Liberty; still mightiest in moral reformation. On that name no eulogy is expected. It cannot be. To add brightness to the sun or glory to the name of Washington, is alike impossible. Let none attempt it.
In solemn awe pronounce the name, and in its naked deathless splendour, leave it shining on.
Abraham Lincoln, February 22, 1849
Washington was born, February 22, 1732
Was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the American Army, 1775
Was made President of the Federal Convention for Framing the Constitution, and signed the Constitution, 1787
Was inaugurated, first President of the United States, 1789
Issued his “Farewell Address,” 1796
He died at Mount Vernon, December 14, 1799
THE BOY IN THE VALLEY
The boy George Washington was magnificently strong and tall, with firm muscles and powerful body. He could run, leap, wrestle, toss the bar, and pitch quoits. He rode fiery horses and hunted foxes. He was a silent, determined lad, truth-telling, with a wonderful grip on his temper. By the time that he was sixteen he was an excellent surveyor.
And he was a proud and happy boy when, one spring day, he leaped on his horse, and, with a companion, rode away into the Wilderness on a real job of surveying.
Lord Fairfax, his close friend, owned a great estate of over five million acres stretching to the westward. A part of the estate was a wilderness, and lay on the other side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It had never been surveyed. Squatters were stealing the land. So Lord Fairfax had sent sixteen-year old George Washington to survey it for him.
As the boy rode over the mountains, and guided his horse down the steep trail into the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, Spring was busy all around him. Cascades and torrents of snow-water were rushing from the mountain-tops to feed the bright Shenandoah River—“The Daughter of the Stars,” the Indians called the river.
The boy spent the better part of the first day riding through fine groves of sugar maples, and admiring the trees and the richness of the land. Here and there showed the little clearings, where the squatters were preparing their small farms for crops of tobacco, hemp, and corn.
For some days, he surveyed along the banks of the river and in the valley, roughing it at night. And many were the adventures he had about which he has written in his diary.
Sometimes he slept before the camp-fire or in a hut, at others in a tent. Once, he was nearly burnt to death when his straw bed caught fire. He roasted wild turkeys, and ate off chips for plates. He swam his horse through swollen streams, and followed the rough roads made by the squatters.
But his most exciting adventure was with Indians.
On the bank of the Potomac stood a little cabin. Near it was hung a huge kettle suspended over a place always ready for a fire. The cabin belonged to Cresap, a frontiersman, and so did the kettle. He kept the fireplace and everything in readiness for the passing Indians to cook their meals. The grateful Red Skins called him “Big Spoon.”
Rain and floods drove Washington to the cabin. Big Spoon invited him to stay until the bad weather was past.
On the third day, Washington looked out and saw a band of Indians carrying a scalp, come toward the cabin. It was a war-party returning from a raid.
Big Spoon greeted them heartily, for everybody was welcome at his place. The Indians built a fire, sat down in a circle, and held a big celebration. Then they performed a war-dance, while their musicians played on drums made of pots half full of water, with deerskin stretched tightly over them.
And as Washington watched their savage antics, he little dreamed how soon he himself would be fighting with Red Skins.
When his surveying was finished, he returned home to make his report. Lord Fairfax was delighted with his careful work and fine maps. In fact, to-day the surveys Washington made when a boy, stand unquestioned; they are so perfect.
Roughing it in the Shenandoah Valley was not the last of Washington’s adventures in the Wilderness. He was appointed public surveyor. For the next three years, he spent a great deal of time in the wilds, with settlers, frontiersmen, trappers, and Indians.
He grew to be over six feet tall, and remarkably strong and rugged. He overcame difficulties and faced dangers through pluck and perseverance.
He became a Colonel of a Virginia regiment. He acquired military training and widened his knowledge of handling all sorts of men.
What he learned about Indian warfare and life in the forests and in the Wilderness, taught him the caution and knowledge which he showed while guarding the retreat of what was left of Braddock’s troops.
So his adventures while a boy in the Valley, and his experiences as a young man roughing it on the frontier, fighting with Indians, carrying messages through the Wilderness, and serving as a soldier,—all prepared Washington to become the Liberator of our Country.
WASHINGTON’S MOTHER
Molly Ball of Virginia, Molly Ball with hair like flax and cheeks like mayblossoms,—as she is described in the fragment of a quaint old letter,—married Augustine Washington of Virginia, and became the mother of George Washington.
Washington was like his mother in qualities of character. He had her strength of will, love of truth, firm purpose, high sense of duty, dignity, and reverence.
All these noble qualities were strengthened and made practical by her careful education and discipline.
When he became great, she was quietly proud of him. And when people spoke warmly of his glory and success, she would say:—
“But, my good sirs, here is too much flattery. Still, George will not forget the lessons I early taught him. He will not forget himself, though he is the subject of so much praise.”
When she was informed by special messenger that Cornwallis had surrendered, she exclaimed:
“Thank God! war will now be ended, and peace, Independence, and happiness, bless our Country!”
After the surrender of Cornwallis, Washington visited his mother at Fredericksburg, where she was living in her own little house. She was about seventy-five years old.
He reached Fredericksburg surrounded by his numerous and brilliant suite. He dismounted, and sent to inquire when it would be her pleasure to receive him.
Afoot and alone, he walked to her house. She was by herself, employed in a household task, when she was told that the victor-chief was waiting at her door. She bade him welcome by a warm embrace, calling him “George,” the dear familiar name of his childhood.
She spoke to him of old times and old friends, but of his glory, not one word.
Meanwhile, in the town of Fredericksburg there was excitement and rejoicing. The place was crowded with foreign and American officers. Gentlemen from miles around were hastening into town to congratulate the conquerors of Yorktown.
The citizens got up a splendid ball in Washington’s honour, to which his mother was specially invited.
The foreign officers were eager to meet their Chief’s mother. They had heard of her remarkable character. They expected to see her enter the ballroom in glittering attire, clad in rich brocades, like the noble ladies of Europe.
How surprised they were, when, leaning on her son’s arm, she entered dressed simply. She was dignified and imposing. She received quietly all the compliments and attentions showered upon her. At an early hour she wished the company much pleasure, saying that it was time for old folk to be in bed.
She retired leaning on the arm of her son.
“If such are the matrons in America,” exclaimed the foreign officers, “well may she boast of illustrious sons!”
George Washington Parke Custis and Other Sources
WASHINGTON’S WEDDING DAY
Washington plighted his troth with Martha Dandridge, the charming widow of Daniel Parke Custis. She was young, pretty, intelligent, and an heiress.
It was a brilliant wedding party which assembled on a winter day in the little church near Mrs. Custis’s home. There were gathered the gay, free-thinking, high-living Governor, gorgeous in scarlet and gold; British officers, red-coated and gold-laced; and all the neighbouring gentry in their handsomest clothes.
The bride was attired in silk and satin, laces and brocade, with pearls on her neck and in her ears. While the bridegroom appeared in blue and silver trimmed with scarlet, and with gold buckles at his knees and on his shoes.
After the ceremony, the bride was taken home in a coach and six, Washington riding beside her, mounted on a splendid horse, and followed by all the gentlemen of the party.
Henry Cabot Lodge (Arranged)