SIZE AND BEAUTY OF THE UNITED STATES.
The United States is more than three times the size of Great Britain and Ireland, France and Germany, Italy and Austria, Spain and Portugal, Switzerland, Denmark and Greece. Though among the youngest of the family of nations, its territorial area exceeds that of Rome when its empire was mightiest. Although its population is less than that of some smaller countries, it has an area of land more than a dozen times as large, and in the coming future the “Bad Lands” of the Dakotas, and the great “Columbian Plains” of Washington will be adorned with towns and cities, and what are now barren places will be changed into veritable Edens.
The United States is not only the largest, but it is the most beautiful and richest country of the world. Its mountain peaks crowned with ice-jewels are as beautiful as those of Switzerland. Its valleys are not exceeded by the valley of the Nile. Its shores equal India’s coral strand. Its towering hills are stored with an abundance of iron and copper, enough to supply the nations of the globe. Its prairies are the granaries of the world. Its bowels are full of oil that seems inexhaustible, and its coal, silver and gold mines are of inestimable value. The inscription once drilled in the rock on the shore of Monument Bay is now becoming a fact because of these many things:
“The Eastern nations sink, their glory ends,
An empire rises where the sun descends.”
The United States stands unique in the history of civil governments and has illustrated more than any other constitutional freedom in all its beneficence, power and grandeur. “Nowhere else has government so ennobled man, so elevated woman, so inspired its young men with heroism and ambition, so helped them in their aims in life, so made citizenship glorious by the expansion of Christian morality and intelligence, so fostered letters, the arts and sciences, so protected every creed, so smoothed the road of life and given to all an equal chance for happiness and homes.” For the first time in human annals it has by right-doing and patriotic endeavor demonstrated that freedom, intelligence and Christianity, are of God, and forever blest by God.
WHAT IS PATRIOTISM?
Many men as well as boys imagine that patriotism means fighting. This is not so. “A patriot is a person who loves his land, honors its history, applauds its achievements, does not minimize its motives, but says, my heart and hand for its prosperity and perpetuity, upholding and upbuilding.” To cultivate this spirit every boy needs to read and study the history of this nation, follow the Pilgrims across the briny Atlantic, associate with them and their descendants in their hardships, fight with them in their battles, share with them in their victories, and then will he be thoroughly imbued with this spirit.
BOY HEROES OF THE REVOLUTION AND REBELLION.
In an old-fashioned farmhouse near the village of Shoreham, which was opposite Fort Ticonderoga, lived a farmer and his son by the name of Beman. It was in the days when the fathers of their country rebelled against English tyranny. Paul Revere had ridden with all speed to Lexington. Sixteen patriots had been killed or wounded by the first volley of the soldiers under Pitcairn. The news aroused the country. Notable men leaped to the front to do battle wherever they could, and amongst these were Farmer Beman and his boy. It was in the month of May, 1775, that Ethan Allen at the head of the famous Green Mountaineers came up through the forests to surprise and capture the fort and its garrison known as Ticonderoga. The expedition with which Benedict Arnold was connected was composed of three divisions, one of which was to capture some boats at Skenesborough and send them down the lake to Allen and his men, who were to get them at Shoreham. When the renowned Green Mountain leader reached the little village during the night not a single boat had arrived. This was a bitter disappointment, for Allen had but eighty-three men with him and his position was one of great hazard. It looked like madness to assail with his small force so armed a place as Ticonderoga, yet it was still more dangerous to remain idle. “We can’t wait for the boats, my boys!” exclaimed the intrepid Allen, “we must assault the fortress.” In looking for a guide the Vermonter found Farmer Beman, who said as soon as he understood their mission: “Why not take my boy? Nathan knows all about the fort. He’s been all over it with the boys whose fathers compose the garrison. He knows the location of every rat-hole, inside and out.” The suggestion delighted Allen, and Nathan was called and questioned. “I’ll go, sir,” he said at once. “I know the way to Delaplace’s quarters, too, if you should want to find him.”