CONTENTS
- Vineland and the Vikings [9]
- Frobisher and the Northwest Passage [26]
- Champlain and the Iroquois [34]
- Sir William Phips and the Silver-Ship [53]
- The Story of the Regicides [69]
- How the Charter Was Saved [80]
- How Franklin Came to Philadelphia [90]
- The Perils of the Wilderness [98]
- Some Adventures of Major Putnam [111]
- A Gallant Defence [128]
- Daniel Boone, the Pioneer of Kentucky [138]
- Paul's Revere's Ride [157]
- The Green Mountain Boys [172]
- The British at New York [180]
- A Quakeress Patriot [189]
- The Siege of Fort Schuyler [195]
- On the Track of a Traitor [211]
- Marion, the Swamp-fox [223]
- The Fate of the Philadelphia [237]
- The Victim of a Traitor [249]
- How the Electric Telegraph was Invented [259]
- The Monitor and the Merrimac [275]
- Stealing a Locomotive [285]
- An Escape from Libby Prison [298]
- The Sinking of the Albemarle [314]
- Alaska, a Treasure House of Gold, Furs, and Fishes [327]
- How Hawaii Lost its Queen and Entered the United States [338]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
AMERICAN. VOLUME I.
- Washington Crossing the Delaware.[Frontispiece.]
- Viking Ships at Sea. [11]
- Lake Champlain and its Surroundings. [41]
- Pond Island, Mouth of the Kennebec. [54]
- The Cave of the Regicides. [76]
- The Charter Oak, Hartford. [85]
- Printing-press at Which Franklin Worked when a Boy. [90]
- Washington's Home at Mt. Vernon. [98]
- Shore of Lake George. [118]
- Indian Attack and Gallant Defence. [128]
- The Old North Church, Boston. [158]
- The Spirit of '76. [166]
- Ethan Allen's Entrance, Ticonderoga. [172]
- The Old State House, Philadelphia. [191]
- The Benedict Arnold Mansion. [220]
- The Monitor and the Merrimac. [280]
- Libby Prison, Richmond. [298]
- Sinking of the Albemarle. [319]
- Muir Glacier in Alaska. [328]
- A Native Grass Hut, Hawaii. [340]
VINELAND AND THE VIKINGS.
The year 1000 A.D. was one of strange history. Its advent threw the people of Europe into a state of mortal terror. Ten centuries had passed since the birth of Christ. The world was about to come to an end. Such was the general belief. How it was to reach its end,—whether by fire, water, or some other agent of ruin,—the prophets of disaster did not say, nor did people trouble themselves to learn. Destruction was coming upon them, that was enough to know; how to provide against it was the one thing to be considered.
Some hastened to the churches; others to the taverns. Here prayers went up; there wine went down. The petitions of the pious were matched by the ribaldry of the profligate. Some made their wills; others wasted their wealth in revelry, eager to get all the pleasure out of life that remained for them. Many freely gave away their property, hoping, by ridding themselves of the goods of this earth, to establish a claim to the goods of Heaven, with little regard to the fate of those whom they loaded with their discarded wealth.