THE PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF COLUMBUS.
Hernando Columbus, son of Christopher. Born at Cordova, 1488; died at Valladolid, 1539.
He was tall, well formed, muscular, and of an elevated and dignified demeanor. His visage was long, neither full nor meager; his complexion fair and freckled, and inclined to ruddy; his nose aquiline; his cheek bones were rather high, his eyes light gray, and apt to enkindle; his whole countenance had an air of authority. His hair, in his youthful days, was of a light color, but care and trouble, according to Las Casas, soon turned it gray, and at thirty years of age it was quite white. He was moderate and simple in diet and apparel, eloquent in discourse, engaging and affable with strangers, and his amiability and suavity in domestic life strongly attached his household to his person. His temper was naturally irritable, but he subdued it by the magnanimity of his spirits, comporting himself with a courteous and gentle gravity, and never indulging in any intemperance of language. Throughout his life he was noted for strict attention to the offices of religion, observing rigorously the fasts and ceremonies of the church; nor did his piety consist in mere forms, but partook of that lofty and solemn enthusiasm with which his whole character was strongly tinctured.
THE SONG OF AMERICA.
Kinahan Cornwallis. From his "Song of America and Columbus; or, The Story of the New World." New York, 1892. Published by the Daily Investigator.
Hail! to this New World nation; hail!
That to Columbus tribute pays;
That glorifies his name, all hail,
And crowns his memory with bays.
Hail! to Columbia's mighty realm,
Which all her valiant sons revere,
And foemen ne'er can overwhelm.
Well may the world its prowess fear.
Hail! to this richly favored land,
For which the patriot fathers fought.
Forever may the Union stand,
To crown the noble deeds they wrought.
Hail! East and West, and North and South,
From Bunker Hill to Mexico;
The Lakes to Mississippi's mouth,
And the Sierras crowned with snow.
Hail! to the wondrous works of man,
From Maine to California's shores;
From ocean they to ocean span,
And over all the eagle soars.
THE FLEET OF COLUMBUS.
Six sail were in the squadron he possessed,
And these he felt the Lord of Hosts had blessed,
For he was ever faithful to the cross,
With which compared, all else was earthly dross.
Southwestward toward the equinoctial line
He steered his barks, for vast was his design.
There, like a mirror, the Atlantic lay,
White dolphins on its breast were seen to play,
And lazily the vessels rose and fell,
With flapping sails, upon the gentle swell;
While panting crews beneath the torrid sun
Lost strength and spirits—felt themselves undone.
Day after day the air a furnace seemed,
And fervid rays upon them brightly beamed,
The burning decks displayed their yawning seams,
And from the rigging tar ran down in streams.—Ibid.