Little Folks of North America / Stories about children living in the different parts of North America - 1

A Little Indian Boy.

Little Folks of

North America

STORIES ABOUT CHILDREN LIVING IN

THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF

NORTH AMERICA

MARY HAZLETON WADE

Illustrated by reproductions from Photographs

W. A. WILDE COMPANY

BOSTON CHICAGO

By W. A. Wilde Company

Little Folks of North America

CONTENTS

CHAPTER		PAGE
I.	Little Folks of Iceland	[13]
II.	Little Folks of Greenland	[26]
III.	Little Folks of Alaska	[55]
IV.	Little Folks of Canada	[80]
V.	Little Folks of Labrador	[116]
VI.	Little Folks of Newfoundland	[120]
VII.	Little Folks of the United States	[128]
VIII.	Little Folks of Mexico	[179]
IX.	Little Folks of Central America	[206]
X.	Little Folks of the West Indies	[214]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

	PAGE
A Little Indian Boy	[Frontispiece]
An Eskimo Mother and Baby	[30]
An Eskimo Village in Summer	[52]
An Eskimo Village in Alaska	[60]
An Alaskan Village Showing Indian Totem Poles	[74]
Little Canadian Indian Children	[96]
Picking Cotton on a Georgia Plantation	[144]
How They Harvest Wheat on the Prairies	[152]
Children Working in the Cotton Factory in a Big City	[174]
A Mexican Village	[190]

Foreword

You all know the story of Columbus—how, more than four hundred years ago, he sailed from Spain out into the west; and also how the people, as they watched his ships fading from sight, believed they would never look upon the fleet again, for the brave sailors who manned it were moving into an unknown world whose dangers no one could measure.

You also remember what happened before Columbus returned from that long voyage—that a new continent was discovered where strange people of a race before unheard-of were living the life of savages, and that the great sailor, believing he had entered the waters of India, named these red men, Indians.

Instead of reaching India, as he supposed, he had brought to light a new and great continent—so vast that it embraced all climates; rich, moreover, in mines and forests, lakes and rivers, high mountains, fertile plains and valleys. And there were none to enjoy all these beautiful gifts of God save tribes of red men, except in the far north the Eskimos in scattered villages. They, too, like the Indians, were savages who knew nothing of the ways of white men. They lived in small settlements along the ice-covered shores of the ocean.

After Columbus had crossed the Atlantic and discovered this New World, other ships soon followed in the course he had marked, and the people of Europe settled in one place after another. At first they made their homes near the shores of the ocean. This was partly through fear of the red men who were not pleased at the thought of these new neighbors, so different from themselves. As years went by, however, the newcomers moved farther and farther into the west, driving the Indians and the wild beasts before them, until now the homes of the white men are found throughout the land. People of unlike faiths and speaking different languages cross the ocean in shiploads, for they feel that when America is reached they will find freedom and happiness.

The Indians who are still left in the country are slowly learning the ways of the white men. They are taught in schools by white teachers. They live in houses instead of the wigwams which were their former homes. They dress in white men’s clothes. They even plant gardens and care for their farms in the way of civilized people.

There are many Negroes in North America also, but they are found mostly in the southern part of the United States. They were first brought as slaves from Africa, but are now free and independent. Although they were once savages like the Indians, they have been quick to imitate and have easily fallen into the ways of the white men. Thus the red and the black races, the white and the yellow, can all be found at home in North America, abiding together in peace and comfort as the children of One Great Father should do.