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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Stories of American Life and Adventure, by
+Edward Eggleston
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Stories of American Life and Adventure
+
+
+Author: Edward Eggleston
+
+Release Date: April 9, 2005  [eBook #15597]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND
+ADVENTURE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Mark C. Orton and the Project Gutenberg Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
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+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/9/15597/15597-h/15597-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/9/15597/15597-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+STORIES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND ADVENTURE
+
+by
+
+EDWARD EGGLESTON
+
+Author of _Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans_,
+_A First Book in American History_, and
+_A History of the United States and its People for the Use of Schools_
+
+American Book Company
+New York : Cincinnati : Chicago
+
+1895, 1923
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Grand Canyon.]
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+This book is intended to serve three main purposes.
+
+One of these is to make school reading pleasant by supplying matter
+simple and direct in style, and sufficiently interesting and exciting
+to hold the reader's attention in a state of constant wakefulness;
+that is, to keep the mind in the condition in which instruction can be
+received with the greatest advantage.
+
+A second object is to cultivate an interest in narratives of fact by
+selecting chiefly incidents full of action, such as are attractive to
+the minds of boys and girls whose pulses are yet quick with youthful
+life. The early establishment of a preference for stories of this sort
+is the most effective antidote to the prevalent vice of reading
+inferior fiction for mere stimulation.
+
+But the principal aim of this book is to make the reader acquainted
+with American life and manners in other times. The history of life
+has come to be esteemed of capital importance, but it finds, as yet,
+small place in school instruction. The stories and sketches in this
+book relate mainly to earlier times and to conditions very different
+from those of our own day. They will help the pupil to apprehend the
+life and spirit of our forefathers. Many of them are such as make
+him acquainted with that adventurous pioneer life, which thus far has
+been the largest element in our social history, and which has given
+to the national character the traits of quick-wittedness, humor,
+self-reliance, love of liberty, and democratic feeling. These traits
+in combination distinguish us from other peoples.
+
+Stories such as these here told of Indian life, of frontier peril and
+escape, of adventures with the pirates and kidnappers of colonial
+times, of daring Revolutionary feats, of dangerous whaling voyages, of
+scientific exploration, and of personal encounters with savages and
+wild beasts, have become the characteristic folklore of America. Books
+of history rarely know them, but they are history of the highest
+kind,--the quintessence of an age that has passed, or that is swiftly
+passing away, forever. With them are here intermingled sketches of the
+homes, the food and drink, the dress and manners, the schools and
+children's plays, of other times. The text-book of history is chiefly
+busy with the great events and the great personages of history: this
+book seeks to make the young American acquainted with the daily life
+and character of his forefathers. In connection with the author's
+"Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans," it is intended to
+form an introduction to the study of our national history.
+
+It has been thought desirable to make the readings in this book cover
+in a general way the whole of our vast country. The North and the
+South, the Atlantic seaboard, the Pacific slope, and the great
+interior basin of the continent, are alike represented in these pages.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+A White Boy among the Indians
+
+The Making of a Canoe
+
+Some Things about Indian Corn
+
+Some Women in the Indian Wars
+
+The Coming of Tea and Coffee
+
+Kidnapped Boys
+
+The Last Battle of Blackbeard
+
+An Old Philadelphia School
+
+A Dutch Family in the Revolution
+
+A School of Long Ago
+
+Stories of Whaling
+
+A Whaling Song
+
+A Strange Escape
+
+Grandmother Bear
+
+The Great Turtle
+
+The Rattlesnake God
+
+Witchcraft in Louisiana
+
+A Story of Niagara
+
+Among the Alligators
+
+Jasper
+
+Song of Marion's Men
+
+A Brave Girl
+
+A Prisoner among the Indians
+
+Hungry Times in the Woods
+
+Scouwa becomes a White Man again
+
+A Baby Lost in the Woods
+
+Elizabeth Zane
+
+The River Pirates
+
+Old-fashioned Telegraphs
+
+A Boy's Foolish Adventure
+
+A Foot Race for Life
+
+Loretto and his Wife
+
+A Blackfoot Story
+
+How Fremont crossed the Mountains
+
+Finding Gold in California
+
+Descending the Grand Canyon
+
+The-Man-that-draws-the-Handcart
+
+The Lazy, Lucky Indian
+
+Peter Petersen
+
+The Greatest of Telescope Makers
+
+Adventures in Alaska
+
+
+
+
+STORIES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND ADVENTURE.
+
+
+
+
+A WHITE BOY AMONG THE INDIANS.
+
+
+Among the people that came to Virginia in 1609, two years after the
+colony was planted, was a boy named Henry Spelman. He was the son of a
+well-known man. He had been a bad and troublesome boy in England, and
+his family sent him to Virginia, thinking that he might be better in
+the new country. At least his friends thought he would not trouble
+them so much when he was so far away.
+
+Many hundreds of people came at the same time that Henry Spelman did.
+Captain John Smith was then governor of the little colony. He was
+puzzled to know how to feed all these people. As many of them were
+troublesome, he was still more puzzled to know how to govern them.
+
+In order not to have so many to feed, he sent some of them to live
+among the Indians here and there. A chief called Little Powhatan asked
+Smith to send some of his men to live with him. The Indians wanted to
+get the white men to live among them, so as to learn to make the
+things that the white men had. Captain Smith agreed to give the boy
+Henry Spelman to Little Powhatan, if the chief would give him a place
+to plant a new settlement.
+
+Spelman staid awhile with the chief, and then he went back to the
+English at Jamestown.
+
+But when he came to Jamestown he was sorry that he had not staid among
+the Indians. Captain John Smith had gone home to England. George Percy
+was now governor of the English. They had very little food to eat, and
+Spelman began to be afraid that he might starve to death with the rest
+of them. Powhatan--not Little Powhatan, but the great Powhatan, who
+was chief over all the other chiefs in the neighborhood--sent a white
+man who was living with him to carry some deer meat to Jamestown. When
+it came time for this white man to go back, he asked that some of his
+countrymen might go to the Indian country with him. The governor sent
+Spelman, who was glad enough to go to the Indians again, because they
+had plenty of food to eat.
+
+Three weeks after this, Powhatan sent Henry Spelman back to Jamestown
+to say to the English, that if they would come to his country, and
+bring him some copper, he would give them some corn for it. The
+Indians at this time had no iron, and what little copper they had they
+bought from other Indians, who probably got it from the copper mines
+far away on Lake Superior.
+
+The English greatly needed corn, so they took a boat and went up to
+the Indian country with copper, in order to buy corn. They quarreled
+with the Indians about the measurement of the corn. The Indians hid
+themselves near the water, and, while the white men were carrying the
+corn on their vessel, the Indians killed some of them. About this
+time, seeing that the white men were so hungry, the Indians began to
+hope that they would be able to drive them all out of the country.
+
+Powhatan saved Spelman from being killed by the Indians; but, now that
+the Indians were at war with the white men, who were shut up in
+Jamestown without food, they wished to kill all the white people in
+the country.
+
+Spelman and a Dutchman, who also lived with Powhatan, began to be
+afraid that he would not protect them any longer. So, when a chief of
+the Potomac Indians visited Powhatan, and asked the Dutchman and the
+boy to go to his country, they left Powhatan and went back with them.
+Powhatan sent messengers after them, who killed the Dutchman. Henry
+Spelman ran away into the woods. Powhatan's men followed him, but the
+Potomacs got hold of Powhatan's men, and held them back until Spelman
+could get away. The boy managed at last to get to the country of the
+Potomac Indians.
+
+It was very lucky for Spelman that he was among the Indians at this
+time. Nearly all the white people in Jamestown were killed, or died of
+hunger. Spelman lived among the Indians for years. During this time
+more people came from England, and settled at Jamestown. A ship from
+Jamestown came up into the Potomac River to trade. The captain of the
+ship bought Spelman from the Indians. He was now a young man, and, as
+he could speak both the Indian language and the English, he was very
+useful in carrying on trade between the white men and the Indians.
+
+At the time that Henry Spelman first went among the Indians, they had
+no iron tools except a very few that they had bought of the white
+people. They had no guns, nor knives, nor hatchets. They had no hoes
+nor axes. They made their tools out of hard wood, shells, stones, deer
+horns, and other such things. They had not yet bought blankets from
+the white men, but made their clothes mostly out of the skins of
+animals.
+
+The Indians could not learn much about the white man's arts from
+Spelman, because he did not know much. Besides, he had no iron of
+which to make tools. He learned to make arrows of cane such as we use
+for fishing rods. He also learned to point his arrows with the spur of
+a wild turkey, or a piece of stone. These arrow points he stuck into
+the arrow with a kind of glue. But he first had to learn how to make
+his glue out of deers' horns. Before he could make any of the tools,
+he had to make himself a knife, as the Indians did. Having no iron,
+the blade of his knife was made out of a beaver's tooth, which is very
+sharp, and will cut wood. He set this tooth in the end of a stick. You
+see how hard it was for an Indian to get tools. He had to learn to
+make one tool in order to use that in making another tool.
+
+One of the principal things that an Indian had to do was to make a
+canoe; for, as the Indians had no horses, they could travel only by
+water, unless they went afoot. Canoes were the only boats they had.
+They had to make canoes without any of the tools that white men use.
+Let us explain this by a story about Henry and an Indian boy. The
+things in the story may not have happened just as they are told, but
+the account of how things are made by the Indians is all true.
+
+
+
+
+THE MAKING OF A CANOE.
+
+
+Henry had a young Indian friend whose name was Keketaw. One day
+Keketaw said to him, "Let us go into the woods and make a canoe."
+
+"If we had an ax to cut down the trees," said the white boy, "or an
+adz, such as they have at Jamestown, or if we could get a hatchet, we
+might make a canoe; but we have not even a little knife."
+
+"We will make a canoe in the Indian way," said Keketaw. "I will show
+you how. Let us get ready."
+
+"What shall we do to get ready?" asked Henry.
+
+"We must take our bows, and we must make many arrows, so as to get
+something to eat, and we must have fishing lines," said Keketaw, "or
+we shall not be able to live in the woods."
+
+For some days the two boys were getting ready. It took them a long
+time to scrape a piece of bone into a fishhook by means of a beaver's
+tooth set in a stick, but they made three of these hooks. They made
+some more hooks not so good as these by tying a splinter of bone to a
+little stick. Keketaw's mother made fishing lines for them. She took
+the long leaves of the plant which we call Spanish bayonet, and
+separated these threads into a hard cord, rubbing them between her
+hand and her knee.
+
+"We must have swords," said Keketaw.
+
+"We can cut our meat with this," said Henry, pointing to a knife made
+of cane, such as the Indians called a pamesack.
+
+"But the Monacans may come," said Keketaw. "If we should see one
+sticking up his head, I should want a sword to fight him with; and if
+we should kill him, we could cut off his scalp with it;" and Keketaw's
+eyes glistened a little at the thought of fetching home a Monacan's
+scalp.
+
+The Monacans were fierce Indians of a tribe living in the country west
+of the Powhatan Indians. They were deadly enemies of Keketaw's tribe.
+
+The two boys, by much slow work with stones and shells and
+beaver-tooth chisels, managed to scrape a wooden sword into shape.
+This, Henry was to wear at his back. Keketaw, for his part, found a
+piece of deer's horn. He stuck it into a stick so that it made
+something like a small pickax. With this he said he could quickly
+break the head of a Monacan. It would also serve as a sort of hatchet.
+
+The land round the village in which Keketaw lived had been cleared of
+trees. This had been done by burning the trees in order to make room
+for fields. In these fields the Indians planted corn, beans, pumpkins,
+and tobacco, and a plant something like a sunflower, which is called
+an artichoke. Of the root of this artichoke they made a kind of bread.
+
+For many miles there were no good canoe trees near the water. They had
+all been picked out and used. Henry and Keketaw traveled twenty miles
+into a deep woods, and chose a tree that would make a good canoe, and
+that stood near a stream which ran into the James River.
+
+The first thing they did was to break down young trees and boughs, and
+build themselves a brush tent. They made a bed out of dry leaves. The
+first night they had nothing to eat, for they had no time to shoot any
+game. The next morning they were too hungry to sleep late, and they
+knew that squirrels are early risers. Soon after daylight the Indian
+boy killed a squirrel with an arrow. Having no fire, they ate it
+without cooking; for, when one is a savage, one must not be too nice.
+
+How should they get a fire? They first took a piece of dry wood, which
+they scraped flat with stones. Then, with a blow of his tomahawk of
+deer's horn, Keketaw made a round hole in the wood. One end of a dry
+stick was placed in this hole. The other end was supported in the
+hollow of a shell which Keketaw held in his hand.
+
+The string to Henry's bow was made of one of the cords or sinews of a
+deer's leg. He wound this once round the stick. With his left hand,
+Keketaw then put some dry moss about the stick where it entered the
+hole in the dry wood.
+
+When all was ready, Henry drew his bow to and fro like a saw. Keketaw
+pressed the shell down on the upper part of the stick. The bow-string
+holding the stick made it whirl in the hole beneath. At first this
+seemed to produce no effect. After a while the rapid rubbing of the
+piece of wood in the hole made heat. Presently a very thin thread of
+smoke began to come up through the little heap of moss about the
+stick. Henry was now pretty well out of breath, but he sawed the bow
+faster than ever. At last the moss began to smolder and to show fire.
+
+Keketaw then withdrew the smoking stick, and gathered the moss
+together. Lying down by it, and putting his arm about it, the Indian
+lad began to blow it gently. The smoldering fire increased until a
+little blue flame, which he could barely see, appeared. Keketaw now
+added some very thin paper-like bits of dry bark and some small twigs
+to the pile of smoking moss. These caught fire, and sent up a
+straw-colored flame. Henry put on larger twigs until there was at last
+a crackling blaze.
+
+Taking lighted sticks from this fire, the boys made a fire all round
+the base of a large tree from which they meant to get the canoe. This
+fire they kept going constantly for two days. They even got up at
+night to put dead boughs on, it.
+
+[Illustration: Burning down a Tree.]
+
+On the third night of their stay in camp, they didn't lie down at the
+usual time, for the tree was burned nearly through. About two o'clock
+in the morning a little breeze rustled in the leaves of the great
+tree. Slowly at first, then more and more rapidly, the tree fell with
+a tremendous crashing sound, until with a final thundering roar it lay
+flat upon the ground.
+
+Sleepy as the boys were, they did not lie down for the night until
+they had built a new fire near the trunk of the tree. Having no ax to
+chop with, they had to burn the log in two. They put the fire at a
+place that would cut off enough of the tree trunk to make a canoe.
+
+The next day they built up this new fire, and then went fishing in the
+neighboring stream with their bone fishhooks, and lines made of the
+Spanish bayonet leaf. In two days after the fall of the tree they had
+burned off the log that was to make their canoe, and had scraped off
+all the bark with shells.
+
+They then lighted little fires on top of the log, and, when these had
+charred the wood for an inch or more in depth in any place, they
+removed the fire and scraped away the charcoal. Then they built
+another little fire in the same place. These little fires were made
+with gum taken from the pine trees.
+
+By burning and scraping they gradually dug out the inside of their
+boat, scraping out one end of it while they were burning out the
+other, and working at it day after day.
+
+The only tools they had for scraping were shells from the river, and
+sharp stones. Keketaw sometimes used his deer-horn tomahawk for the
+same purpose. It was fourteen days from the time they first lighted
+the fire at the foot of the tree until their canoe was finished. Two
+more days were spent in making paddles. This work was also done by
+burning and scraping.
+
+When all was done, the canoe was slid down the soft bank into the
+water. It floated right side up to the delight of its makers. The boys
+now thought it would be a fine stroke to take a deer home with them.
+So they pulled one end of their canoe up on the shore, and started out
+to look for one.
+
+But the first tracks they found were not deer tracks. They were the
+footprints of men. Keketaw made a sign to Henry by turning the palm of
+his hand toward the earth, and then moving the hand downward. This
+meant to keep low, and make no noise. Then Keketaw climbed a high pine
+tree. From the top of the tree he could see a number of Indians at a
+spring of water.
+
+The boy slid down the tree in haste. "Monacans on the war path!" he
+whispered as he reached the ground.
+
+Swiftly and silently the two boys hurried back to their canoe. They
+wasted no time in admiring it. They gathered their weapons and fishing
+lines, and got aboard. It was not a question of killing Monacans now,
+but of saving themselves and their friends. They rowed with all their
+might from the start.
+
+For hours they kept their new paddles busy. They reached the village
+after dark, and when they uttered the dreadful word "Monacans," it ran
+from one wigwam to another. The women and children shuddered with
+fear. The warriors smeared their faces with paint, to make themselves
+uglier than ever, and departed. Soon after the boys had started home,
+the Monacans had found their camp fire still burning. Thinking they
+had been discovered, and knowing that a strong party of the Powhatan
+Indians might come after them, the Monacans had hurried back to their
+own home more swiftly than they had come.
+
+
+
+
+SOME THINGS ABOUT INDIAN CORN.
+
+
+When the white people first came to America, they had never seen
+Indian corn, which did not grow in Europe. The Indians raised it in
+little patches about their villages. Before planting their corn, they
+had to clear away the trees that covered the whole country. Their axes
+were made of stone, and were not sharp enough to cut down a tree. The
+larger trees they cut down by burning them off at the bottom. They
+killed the smaller trees by building little fires about them. When the
+bark all round a tree was burned, the tree died. As dead trees bear no
+leaves, the sun could shine through their branches on the ground where
+corn was to be planted.
+
+Having no iron, they had to make their tools as they could. In some
+places they made a hoe by tying the shoulder blade of a deer to a
+stick. In other places they used half of the shell of a turtle for a
+hoe or spade to dig up the ground. This could be done where the ground
+was soft. In North Carolina the Indians had a little thing like a
+pickax which was made out of a deer's horn tied to a stick. An Indian
+woman would sit down on the ground with one of these little pickaxes
+in her hand. She would dig up the earth for a little space until it
+was loose. Then she would make a little hole in the soft earth. In
+this she would plant four or five grains of corn, putting them about
+an inch apart. Then she covered these grains with soft earth. In
+Virginia, where the ground was soft and sandy, the Indians made a kind
+of spade out of wood.
+
+Sometimes they planted a patch a long way off from their bark house,
+so that they would not be tempted to eat it while it was green. The
+Indians were very fond of green corn. They roasted the ears in the
+ashes. Some of the tribes held a great feast when the first green corn
+was fit to eat, and some of them worshiped a spirit that they called
+the "Spirit of the Corn."
+
+When the corn was dry, the Indians pounded it in order to make meal or
+hominy of it. Sometimes they parched the corn, and then pounded it
+into meal. They carried this parched meal with them when they went
+hunting and when they went to war. They could eat it with a little
+water, without stopping to cook it. They called it Nokick, but the
+white people called it No-cake.
+
+When the Pilgrims came to Cape Cod, they sent out Miles Standish and
+some other men to look through the country and find a good place for
+them to settle. Standish tried to find some of the Indians in order to
+make friends with them, but the Indians ran away whenever they saw him
+coming. One day he found a heap of sand. He knew it had been lately
+piled up, because he could see the marks of hands on the sand where
+the Indians had patted it down. Standish and his men dug up this heap.
+They soon came to a little old basket full of Indian corn. When they
+had dug further, they found a very large new basket full of fine corn
+which had been lately gathered.
+
+The white men, who had never seen it before, thought Indian corn very
+beautiful. Some of the ears were yellow, some were red. On other ears
+blue and yellow grains were mixed. Standish and his men said it was a
+"very goodly sight." The Indian basket was round and narrow at the
+top. It held three or four bushels of corn, and it was as much as two
+men could do to lift it from the ground. The white men wondered to see
+how handsomely it was woven.
+
+[Illustration: Standish and his Men find Corn.]
+
+Near the pile of corn they found an old kettle which the Indians had
+probably bought from some ship. They filled this kettle with corn,
+They also filled their baskets with it. They wanted the corn for seed.
+They made up their mind to pay the Indians whenever they could find
+them. The next summer they found out who were the owners of this
+buried corn, and paid them for all the corn they had taken. If they
+had not found this corn, they would not have had any to plant the next
+spring, and so they would have starved to death.
+
+The people that were with Miles Standish settled at Plymouth. They
+were the first that came to live in New England. An Indian named
+Squanto came to live with the white people at Plymouth. Squanto was
+born at this very place. He had been carried away to England by a sea
+captain. Then he had been brought back by another captain to his own
+country. When he got back to Plymouth, he found that all the people of
+his village had died from a great sickness. He went to live with
+another tribe near by. When the white people came to Plymouth, they
+settled on the ground where Squanto's people had lived. As he could
+speak some English, and as all his own tribe were dead, he now came to
+live with the white people.
+
+The people at Plymouth did not know how to plant the corn they had
+found, but Squanto taught them. By watching the trees, the Indians
+knew when to put their corn into the ground. When the young leaf of
+the white oak tree was as large as a squirrel's ear, they knew that it
+was time to put their corn into the ground. Squanto taught the white
+people how to catch a kind of fish which were used to make their corn
+grow. They put one or two fishes into each hill of corn, but they were
+obliged to watch the cornfield day and night for two weeks after
+planting. If they had not watched it, the wolves would have dug up the
+fishes, and the corn with them.
+
+The white people learned also to cook their corn as the Indians did.
+They learned to eat hominy and samp, and these we still call by their
+Indian names. "Succotash" is another Indian word. The white people
+learned from the Indians to use the husks of Indian corn to make
+things. The Indians made ropes of corn husks, and in some places they
+made shoes of plaited husks. The white people in early times made
+their door mats and horse collars and beds of corn husks. They also
+twisted and wove husks to make seats for their chairs.
+
+Of all the plants that grew in America, Indian corn was the most
+important to the Indians. It was also of the most value to the first
+white people who came to this country.
+
+
+
+
+SOME WOMEN IN THE INDIAN WARS.
+
+
+When white people first came to this country, they had much trouble
+with the Indians. After a while, when they had learned to defend
+themselves and got used to danger, they did not mind it much. Even the
+women became as brave as soldiers.
+
+In very early times there were some families of people from Sweden
+living not far from where Philadelphia now stands. One day the women
+were all together boiling soap. It was the custom then to make soap at
+home. Water was first poured through ashes to make lye. People put
+this lye into a large kettle, and then threw into it waste pieces of
+meat and bits of fat of all kinds. After boiling a long time, this
+mixture made a kind of soft soap, which was the only soap the early
+settlers had. The large kettle in which the soap was boiled was hung
+on a pole. This pole was held up by two forked sticks driven into the
+ground. A fire was kept burning under the kettle. Of course, this soap
+boiling took place out of doors.
+
+Some Indians, creeping through the woods, saw the women together
+without any men. They thought it a good chance to kill them or make
+them prisoners; but the women caught sight of the Indians, and ran
+away to their little church. The churches in that day were often built
+so they could be used for forts. The church to which these women ran
+was one of this kind. But the women had no guns with them. They knew
+that when they got into the church they would have nothing to fight
+with. So two of them took hold of the ends of the pole on which the
+kettle of boiling soap was hanging, and carried the kettle into the
+little church with them.
+
+The Indians tried to get into the church, but every time an Indian
+climbed up to get in, a woman would just dip up a ladleful of boiling
+soap, and dash it on him. This was a kind of fighting the Indians did
+not like. They were not used to soap in any form. So, when an Indian
+was scalded by the soap, he would run away in great pain, and not try
+it again. The next Indian that came got some of the same hot medicine.
+He also would have to go away to cool off, if he could.
+
+[Illustration: Blowing a Conch Shell.]
+
+While some of the women were watching the Indians, and fighting them
+with hot soap, one of them took up a dinner horn and blew it. This
+dinner horn was made of a great shell called a conch shell. The tip of
+a conch shell was sawed off so as to make a hole in it. By blowing
+into this hole, a very loud noise could be made. Such horns were used
+in that day to call people to dinner, and to call the neighbors when
+there was any danger. The woman blew the conch-shell horn, and kept on
+blowing.
+
+The men who were away in the woods heard the sound of the horn. They
+knew that something was wrong, because the horn was blowing when it
+was not dinner time. Either a house was on fire or the Indians had
+come. The men took up their guns and hurried toward the little church.
+When the Indians saw the men coming, they ran away.
+
+There was a woman in Massachusetts named Bradley. She had once been a
+prisoner among the Indians. She lived in a blockhouse which had a high
+fence of posts set up close together all round it to keep the Indians
+out. Such a fence was called a stockade. One day Mrs. Bradley was
+boiling soap. The gate of the stockade had been left open a little
+way. Suddenly she saw an Indian, with war paint on his face and his
+tomahawk in his hand, rushing in at the gate. The Indian thought it
+would be an easy thing to kill Mrs. Bradley. But the woman was too
+quick for him. She dashed a ladle of boiling soap upon him before he
+could run away. The soap was so hot that the Indian was killed by it.
+
+The Indians came once more to take Mrs. Bradley. This time, not having
+any soap, she got a gun and shot the foremost one dead. The rest ran
+away.
+
+In King Philip's War the Indians tried to take the town of Hadley. The
+men of the town fought hard, but the Indians were getting the best of
+the battle. A little cannon had been sent from Boston. It reached
+Hadley while the battle was going on. As all the men were busy
+fighting, the women loaded the cannon themselves. First they put in
+powder, and then small shot and nails. When the cannon was loaded, the
+women took it to the men, who pointed it into the thickest of the
+crowd of Indians, and fired it. A hail-storm of nails was a new thing
+to the Indians. Those who were not killed ran away very much
+frightened.
+
+There was a young girl in Maine who was in a house when the Indians
+attacked it. She held the door shut until thirteen women and children
+could get out of the house by the back door, and pass into a
+blockhouse, which is a kind of fort. The Indians beat down the door at
+last, and then knocked down the brave girl behind it, but they did not
+kill her.
+
+Sometimes the Indians attacked a blockhouse when there were none but
+women in it. In such cases the women would put on hats, and fix their
+hair so as to look like men. Then they would use their guns well. The
+savages, thinking there were men in the place, would go away.
+
+There was one girl who was a captive among the Indians for three weeks.
+One day she saw a horse running loose in the woods. She stripped some
+tough bark from a tree, and made a bridle of it. Then she caught the
+horse, and put her bark bridle on him. It was just growing dark when
+she climbed on his bare back, for she had no saddle. She turned the
+horse's head toward the settlements, and rode hard all night. The next
+morning she was safe among her friends.
+
+
+
+
+THE COMING OF TEA AND COFFEE.
+
+
+When the first settlers came to this country, tea and coffee were
+unknown to them. The favorite drink of that time was a kind of weak
+beer, which was usually made at home. The first settlers in America
+could not buy drinks such as they had had in England, and in a new
+country they often could not make them. So they found out ways of
+making other drinks in place of them. What we call root beer and birch
+beer, and a drink flavored with the chips of the hickory tree, were
+made in New England. Farther south the people made a kind of drink by
+mixing water and molasses together, and putting in Indian corn.
+
+Such drinks were taken at meals as we take tea and coffee. People also
+drank a great deal of cider. As the cows hardly ever gave any milk in
+winter, children were given cider and water to drink. But about fifty
+years after the time that the first settlers came to this country,
+people in England began to get tea and coffee. Tea and coffee were
+soon after brought into this country. At first they were thought to be
+medicines good for many diseases. Little books were written to tell
+how many diseases these new drinks would cure. Root beer and birch
+beer, and tea and coffee, were good things in one way. After they came
+into use, people did not care so much for stronger drinks.
+
+When tea first came, it was very fashionable. It was called the new
+China drink. Along with the tea, people brought from China little
+teacups to drink it from. Most of the cups before this time had been
+made of pewter. The new cups and saucers were called chinaware. They
+also brought from China pretty little tables on which they set the
+teacups when they drank the tea.
+
+When people first got tea in country places, they did not know how to
+use it. There was a minister in Connecticut who bought two pounds of
+tea in New York. He took it home with him, and put it away to use when
+anybody in his house should be ill. He wanted the tea for medicine.
+His daughters had heard about the fine ladies in town who took tea.
+They were curious to taste it, and were not willing to wait until they
+should be ill. So one afternoon, without letting their father know it,
+they asked two young men who were friends of theirs to the house. Then
+they got out the package of tea, intending to treat themselves and the
+young men to a new pleasure. They knew nothing about making tea. When
+they had boiled it a long time, they poured off the tea and threw it
+away. They put the tea leaves on a dish, and tried to eat them as one
+would eat spinach. This is the way they punished themselves for
+disobeying their father.
+
+Before the Revolution, when gentlemen called at fine houses in the
+afternoon, the ladies always gave them tea to drink. As soon as a
+gentleman's little cup was empty, one of the ladies would fill it up
+again, and it was not polite to refuse to drink all the tea that was
+offered. A French prince who was in Philadelphia during the Revolution
+drank twelve little cups of tea one afternoon. The ladies kept giving
+him more, and the poor prince did not know how to stop them until
+another French gentleman told him privately that if he would lay his
+teaspoon across the top of the cup no more tea would be poured in. He
+put the teaspoon across the teacup as a sign that he did not wish to
+drink any more.
+
+[Illustration: A Colonial Tea Party.]
+
+Long after tea and coffee were in use in this country they were not
+known in the backwoods. The people on the frontier drank tea made from
+the root of the sassafras tree or from the leaves of some wild vines.
+The whole work of preparing food was done at home. When they wanted to
+grind meal, they did it by pounding corn in a hole cut in the stump of
+a tree. They used a large stone pounder which was tied by a rope to a
+limb of a tree above. After each blow the limb would spring back and
+raise the pounder. Their corn meal was sifted through a sieve made of
+deerskin with little holes punched through it. They had to make their
+shoes and hats and caps themselves, and to weave their cloth at home.
+
+A boy who lived on the west side of the Alleghany Mountains in those
+days afterward wrote a book telling all about this rough life. His
+name was Joseph Doddridge. He spent his boyhood in a log cabin, in
+constant danger from Indians. The settlers had built a fort in the
+middle of the settlement. Sometimes in the night Joseph would hear a
+man tapping gently on the back window of his father's cabin. As soon
+as anybody waked up, the man would whisper, "Indians!" Joseph's father
+would then take down his gun. The children would be dressed in the
+dark as quickly as possible. Such things as would be needed in the
+fort were then picked up. Not a word was spoken, nor was any candle
+lighted. Even the little children learned to be perfectly silent, and
+the dogs were taught not to bark. When all was ready, the family would
+hurry away along the foot path to the fort. All the other families in
+the settlement would be called in the same way.
+
+Every fall these settlers sent pack horses over the mountains. The
+horses were loaded with the skins of animals. When they came back,
+they carried salt, which was the one thing that could not be made in
+the settlement. But the men never thought it worth while to bring home
+with them tea and coffee or other unnecessary things.
+
+When Joseph was about seven years of age, he was sent over the
+mountains to school. The little boy was very much puzzled when he
+first saw a house that was plastered inside. He had never in his life
+seen anything but a cabin built of logs. He could not understand how a
+plastered house was built. It seemed to him like something that had
+grown that way.
+
+When supper time came in this plastered house, he saw a teacup and
+saucer for the first time in his life. The people in his neighborhood
+used wooden bowls to drink out of. But here he saw what seemed to him
+to be a little cup standing in a bigger one. He had never heard of
+coffee. He only knew that the brownish-looking stuff in his cup was
+not milk, or hominy, or soup. What to do with the little cups, or how
+to make use of the spoon that was in them, he could not tell, so he
+watched the big folks handle their cups and spoons. He drank the
+coffee just as they did, but he disliked it very much. It made the
+tears come into his eyes to drink it. When he got his cup nearly
+empty, it was filled again. He did not dare to say that he had had
+enough, and he did not know what to do. At last he saw one man turn
+his empty cup bottom upward in the saucer, and lay his little spoon
+across the bottom of the cup. That was the custom in those days. He
+saw that this man's cup was not filled any more. So Joseph drank his
+coffee as quickly as possible, turned his cup over in the saucer, and
+laid the spoon across the bottom. He was delighted that he did not
+have to drink any more coffee.
+
+
+
+
+KIDNAPPED BOYS.
+
+
+In the days when our country belonged to England, white people were
+brought here to be sold. Some of these were poor people who could not
+get a good living in England. They came over to this country without
+any money. The captain of the ship in which they came sold them in
+this country to pay their passage.
+
+Men and women who were sold had to serve four years; and boys and
+girls, a longer time. The person sold was just like a slave until his
+time was out. The man who had bought him might beat him, or sell him
+to another master. Many of these white slaves did not get enough to
+eat.
+
+Here are some stories of boys who were brought to this country and
+sold before the Revolution. They are all true stories.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF PETER WILLIAMSON.--TWICE A SLAVE.
+
+
+One day a boy named Peter Williamson was walking along the streets of
+Aberdeen in Scotland. The little fellow was eight years old. Two men
+met him, and asked him to go on board a ship with them. When he got on
+board, he was put down in the lower part of the ship with other boys.
+The ship sailed to America with twenty boys. Like Peter, the other
+lads had been stolen from their parents. They were taken to
+Philadelphia and sold, to work for seven years.
+
+Little Peter was lucky enough to fall into the hands of a kind master.
+Among those who came to buy boys off this ship was a man who had
+himself been stolen from Scotland when he was young. He felt sorry for
+little Peter when he saw him put up for sale. The price the cruel
+captain asked for him was about fifty dollars. The Scotchman paid this
+money, and took Peter for his boy. He sent him to school in the
+winter, and treated him kindly. Peter, for his part, was a good boy,
+and did his work faithfully. He staid with his master after his time
+was out.
+
+When Peter was about seventeen years old, this good master died. He
+left to Peter about six hundred dollars in money for being a good boy.
+He also gave him his best horse and saddle and all his own clothes.
+Some years after this, Peter married, and went to live in the northern
+part of Pennsylvania. He was by this time a man of property.
+
+One night, when his wife was away from home, the Indians came about
+his house. He got a gun and ran upstairs. He pointed the gun at the
+Indians, but they told him that if he would not shoot they would not
+kill him. So he came down, and gave himself up as a prisoner.
+
+The Indians treated him very cruelly. He was with them more than a
+year. His sufferings were so great that he wished sometimes that he
+was dead. He knew that if he ran away the Indians would probably catch
+him, and kill him in some cruel way. But one night, when the Indians
+were all asleep, he resolved to take the risk. You may believe that
+when he had started he ran with all his might.
+
+When daylight came, he hid himself in a hollow tree. After a while he
+heard the Indians running all about the tree. He could hear them tell
+one another how they would kill him when they found him. But they did
+not think to look into the tree.
+
+The next night he ran on again. He came very near running into a camp
+of Indians. But at last he came in sight of the house of a friend. He
+was tired out, and starving. He had hardly any clothes left on him. He
+knocked at the door. The woman who saw him thought that he was an
+Indian. She screamed, and the man of the house got his gun to kill
+him. But he quickly told his friend that he was no Indian, but Peter
+Williamson. Everybody had given him up for dead. But now all his
+friends were happy to see him alive once more. He had twice been
+carried into slavery,--once by cruel white men, and once by yet more
+cruel red men.
+
+
+
+
+SOLD LIKE JOSEPH.--STORIES OF TWO KIDNAPPED BOYS.
+
+
+You have heard the beautiful story of Joseph in the Bible. You
+remember that he was sold by his brothers. Then he was carried into
+Egypt, where he became a great man.
+
+In 1730 there was a little English lad at sea with his uncle, who was
+the captain of a ship. Whether the boy's father and mother were dead
+or not, history does not tell. But the boy was sailing on his uncle's
+ship, as though he were the captain's son.
+
+One day the captain was taken ill at sea. After a while he died. The
+mate and the sailors thought that they would like to steal the ship
+and all the captain's property. But it now all belonged to the little
+boy. Like Joseph's brothers, the sailors laid a plan to get the boy
+out of the way. You remember that Joseph's brothers saw some slave
+traders going by. These traders were Arabs, like the Arabs that carry
+off slaves to-day. Joseph's brothers stopped the Arabs, and sold
+little Joseph to them. The Arabs took Joseph to Egypt and sold him.
+
+Just so the mate and his men saw a ship coming toward them. This ship
+had a great many people on board. They were Irish people, who were
+being taken to America to be sold as servants.
+
+The mate hailed the ship, and made a bargain with the captain and the
+mate. He sold the poor little boy, who had no friends, to this
+captain.
+
+Then the mate and his men sailed away. What became of them we do not
+know; but the ship, loaded with white servants, sailed to Boston. It
+landed at the Long Wharf, a pier running far out into the water. The
+servants were obliged to run up and down this wharf. The people who
+came to buy watched them to see how strong they might be.
+
+The little boy sold by the mate was there. He ran up and down with the
+others, to show how nimble his legs were. He was bought by a Mr.
+Willard.
+
+[Illustration: Selling the Captain's Nephew.]
+
+The boy served out his time, and became free. He became a well-known
+officer in the Indian wars. His name was Johnson. He did not become so
+great as Joseph in Egypt, but, like Joseph, he gained honor in the
+country into which he had been sold as a slave.
+
+Here is another story of the same kind. A little boy six years old got
+lost in London. After he had wandered about a good while, a ship
+captain met him, and told him that he would take him to his father.
+The captain took him into a boat, put him on board his ship, carried
+him to Maryland, and sold him. After the boy had served out his time
+and grown to be a man, he became a rich farmer.
+
+The wicked ship captain who carried off the boy was caught stealing
+many years afterward. In that day, thieves were often sold into
+America for seven years, as a punishment. This captain who had sold
+others was now put on a ship and sent to be sold in Maryland. The man
+who bought him was the very person whom he had carried off when he was
+a boy.
+
+You remember how much Joseph's brothers were afraid of him when they
+found themselves in his power. This wicked old sea captain was
+frightened when he saw that he was now a slave to the boy he had
+stolen. He was so much alarmed that he killed himself.
+
+
+
+
+A LITTLE LORD SOLD INTO BONDAGE.
+
+
+There lived in Ireland a long time ago a certain Lord Altham. The time
+was about sixty years before our American Revolution. This Lord Altham
+was a weak and foolish man. He quarreled with his wife, and sent her
+away. He wasted his money in wicked living, and got into debt. He had
+a little son named James Annesley. "Jemmy," as he was called, was sent
+to a boarding school; but the father grew more wicked, and more
+careless of his son. He sent the boy away, and pretended that he was
+dead. He did this because he wanted to sell some property that he
+could not sell if Jemmy were alive.
+
+Jemmy found himself badly treated where he lived. When he complained,
+he was told that his father did not pay his board: so he ran away. He
+lived in the streets with rough boys. He ran on errands for pay, like
+the other little street boys. But still the boys knew that Jemmy was
+the son of a lord. Strangers were surprised to hear a little ragged
+boy called "my lord" by his playmates.
+
+When he was about thirteen years old, his father died. Then Jemmy
+Annesley became Lord Altham in place of his father; but his uncle
+Richard, who was a cruel man, took Jemmy's property, and called
+himself Lord Altham.
+
+The wicked uncle was afraid that people would find out that Jemmy was
+alive, and he sent a man to see where the boy was. When the boy was
+found, his uncle accused him of stealing a silver spoon. He hired
+three policemen to arrest the boy and put him on a ship. Poor Jemmy
+wept bitterly. He told the people he was afraid his uncle would kill
+him. The ship took him to Philadelphia, where he was sold to a farmer
+to serve until he should be of age.
+
+[Illustration: Kidnapping a Lord.]
+
+One day, when he was about seventeen years old, he came into his
+master's house with a gun in one hand and a squirrel in the other.
+There were two strangers sitting by the fire. They had found the door
+open, and had walked in.
+
+One of the men said, "Are you a servant in this house?"
+
+"I am," said James.
+
+"What country did you come from?"
+
+"Ireland."
+
+"We are from Ireland ourselves," said one of the strange men. "What
+part of Ireland are you from?"
+
+"From the county of Wexford."
+
+"We are from that county. What is your name?"
+
+"James Annesley."
+
+"I never heard that name there," said the traveler.
+
+"Did you know Lord Altham?" asked the boy.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, I am his son."
+
+"What!" cried the stranger, "you the son of Lord Altham! Impossible!"
+
+But the young man insisted that he was Lord Altham's son.
+
+"Tell me how Lord Altham's house stands," said the stranger.
+
+The young man told him enough to show that he knew all about the
+place. Then the stranger said, that, if James ever came to Ireland to
+claim his estate, he would do what he could to help him.
+
+James Annesley was badly treated by his master. At length he ran away,
+but he was retaken, and put into a jail in Lancaster. He was kept in
+prison a good while. He had a fine voice, and he amused himself by
+singing. The people used to stand outside of the jail to hear him
+sing.
+
+For running away he was obliged to serve a still longer time. He spent
+thirteen years in slavery.
+
+When he got free at last, he told Mr. Ellis of Philadelphia about his
+case. This kind-hearted man gave him a passage on a ship going to the
+West Indies. An English fleet was then in the West Indies. It was
+commanded by the famous Admiral Vernon. When the brave admiral heard
+James Annesley's story, he took him to England. In England James found
+friends ready to help him.
+
+There was a long lawsuit, but James's old friends and schoolmates came
+to court as witnesses for him. One of the men who had talked with him
+while he was a servant in Pennsylvania told the Court about it. Two of
+the policemen that had helped to put little Jemmy on shipboard
+confessed the dreadful act they had done.
+
+Then the jury gave a verdict that James Annesley was the true Lord
+Altham. There was great joy among the people, and everybody detested
+the cruel uncle. The people made songs about him, and sang them under
+his windows. James Annesley was now called Lord Altham. But before the
+young lord came into possession of his title and his property, he was
+taken ill and died.
+
+I am glad that we live in better times. Children are not kidnapped and
+sold now.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAST BATTLE OF BLACKBEARD.
+
+
+Our country now reaches from one ocean to the other. But in the days
+before the Revolution there were only English colonies stretching up
+and down the Atlantic coast. Merchandise was carried from one colony
+to another, and from one country to another, in slow-going sailing
+vessels, for there were neither railroads nor steamships.
+
+In those old times there were robbers on the sea. We call sea robbers
+pirates. These men carried cannon on their ships, and they robbed any
+vessels not stronger than they were. In our days of large steamships a
+pirate would not stand any chance of getting away. He would soon be
+caught. Some of the pirates of old times sailed up and down the
+American coast. They captured ships sailing from America to Europe and
+from Europe to America. The worst of all these pirates was Blackbeard.
+
+His real name was Thatch. He was called Blackbeard because he wore a
+long black beard that covered his face. This made him look frightful
+in that day, when other men shaved their faces smooth. He divided his
+beard into locks, and twisted each lock, tying it at the end with
+ribbons. To make himself look still worse, he fastened some of these
+twists over his ears.
+
+[Illustration: Blackbeard.]
+
+When he was fighting against another ship, he wore a strap over his
+shoulders to which were fastened large pistols. In those days, cannon
+were touched off by means of a slow match, a kind of cord that burns
+slowly like punk. When Blackbeard went into battle, he twisted some of
+these slow matches or cords round his head, and stuck some of them
+under his hat. The ends of these matches were burning, and they looked
+like fiery, hissing snakes. With his beard turned back over his ears,
+and fire all about his head, he seemed to be a tall fiend.
+
+Blackbeard was more like a fiend than a man. He was cruel and wicked
+in every way. Some bad men are sometimes kind-hearted, but Blackbeard
+was always cruel. He would shoot even his own men in order to make his
+crew afraid of him.
+
+He did much of his bad work on the coast of North Carolina. Here he
+found bays and sounds where the water was shallow. Large ships could
+not easily follow him into these places. The Governor of North
+Carolina was a bad man. He took part of Blackbeard's plunder, and let
+Blackbeard go safely about the country. The people were afraid of the
+pirate. They sent to the Governor of Virginia, and asked him to fit
+out a ship to capture Blackbeard.
+
+Two sloops that could sail in shallow water were sent. Lieutenant
+Maynard was the commander. The ships left Virginia secretly. No one
+knew where they were going.
+
+When Maynard came in sight of Blackbeard's sloop, he hung out his
+flag. Blackbeard took a glass of rum and drank it, calling to Maynard,
+"I'll give you no quarter, nor take any."
+
+Maynard replied, "I do not expect any quarter from you, nor will I
+give any."
+
+This meant that neither of them would take any prisoners, but that
+every man must fight for his life.
+
+Maynard tried to run alongside Blackbeard's ship. He wanted to take
+his men on board the pirate ship, and fight it out on her deck. But
+Blackbeard had put a large negro near to the gunpowder on his ship. He
+said to the negro, "If the men from the other ship get on board of
+ours, you must set fire to the gunpowder, and blow us all up."
+
+Maynard was running toward the pirate ship to get on board; but
+Blackbeard fired all the cannon on that side of his ship, and killed
+some of Maynard's men. This was really lucky for Maynard; for, if he
+had got on board, the negro would have set fire to the gunpowder, and
+the pirates and Maynard's men would all have been blown to pieces at
+once.
+
+Maynard now sent his men down into the hold of the ship. They were out
+of sight of the pirates, but they had their pistols and swords ready.
+The sloops were soon close together, and Blackbeard's men threw boxes
+full of powder and shot, and pieces of lead and iron, on the deck of
+Maynard's sloop. These were so fixed as to go off like bombshells.
+But, as nearly all of Maynard's men were down below the deck, these
+boxes did little harm.
+
+Blackbeard, thinking that most of Maynard's men had been killed,
+jumped on board the sloop with fourteen men. Maynard now called his
+men from below, and there was a desperate fight. Blackbeard was shot
+five times, and was wounded with swords; but the old monster fought
+until he fell down dead while cocking his pistol. The rest of the
+pirates on the deck of Maynard's ship were taken prisoners.
+
+Maynard's other sloop was fighting with the men left on board
+Blackbeard's vessels. These surrendered, but they had trouble to keep
+the big negro from setting fire to the gunpowder and blowing them all
+up.
+
+Maynard took away from the Governor of North Carolina many hogsheads
+of sugar that Blackbeard had stolen. Then he hung the great ugly head
+of the pirate at the bow of his ship, and sailed back to Virginia in
+triumph.
+
+
+
+
+AN OLD PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL.
+
+
+There was a schoolmaster in Philadelphia before the Revolution who did
+not like to beat his pupils as other masters of that time did. When a
+boy behaved badly, he would take his switch and stick it into the back
+of the boy's coat collar so that the switch should rise above his head
+in the air. He would then stand the boy up on a bench in sight of the
+school, in order to punish him by making him ashamed.
+
+This schoolmaster's name was Dove. If any boy was not at school in
+time, the master would send a committee of five or six of the scholars
+to fetch him. One of this committee carried a lighted lantern, while
+another had a bell in his hand. The tardy scholar had to march down
+the street in broad daylight with a lantern to show him the way, and a
+boy ringing the school bell to let him know that it was time for him
+to be there.
+
+[Illustration: The Tardy Schoolmaster.]
+
+One morning Mr. Dove slept too late, or forgot himself. The boys made
+up a committee to bring the teacher to school. They took the lantern
+and the bell with them. Mr. Dove said they were quite right. He took
+his place in the procession, and the people saw Schoolmaster Dove
+taken to school late with a lantern and a bell.
+
+The larger schoolboys of that time were very fond of foot races. They
+would take off their coats and tie handkerchiefs about their heads
+before starting. The short breeches they wore were fastened at the
+knee by bands. When they were going to run a race, they would loosen
+these bands, and pull off their shoes and stockings. Some of the boys
+ran barefoot in this way, but others wore Indian moccasins. The race
+course was round a block; that is, about three quarters of a mile.
+Crowds would gather to see the boys run, and the people rushed from
+one side of the block to the other to see which was leading in the
+race.
+
+
+
+
+A DUTCH FAMILY IN THE REVOLUTION.
+
+
+What is now the State of New York was first settled by people from
+Holland who spoke the Dutch language. New York afterward became an
+English colony, but the Dutch settlers and their descendants still
+spoke the language of Holland, at the time of the American Revolution.
+
+In Flatbush, which is now a part of Brooklyn, was a family that spoke
+the Dutch language, while they were true Americans in feeling. When
+the British landed on Long Island, they got ready to leave the town.
+The horses were hitched to the wagon, and such things as were thought
+most valuable were put in. The first thing they put into the wagon was
+the great Dutch Bible with heavy brass clasps. A tall clock was also
+carefully lifted into the wagon. Then clothing and other things
+followed.
+
+The father of the family told the two faithful negro men, Cæsar and
+his son Mink, how to take care of things. Femmetia, the most active of
+the daughters, had the whip in her hand, and, as the sound of firing
+was coming nearer and nearer, she tapped the horses on their ears, and
+the family dashed away to the house of a cousin who lived beyond the
+region where the fight was to be.
+
+That evening Femmetia helped her father, who was an invalid, to climb
+to the top of a little hill from which they could see a fire raging in
+the village of Flatbush. The direction of the fire showed the father
+and daughter that it was their own house which was burning.
+
+When the fight was over, General Washington's troops had been driven
+from Long Island. The good Dutch family went back and found their
+house burned. They moved into another house, whose owner was still
+away, and then began to build a new house. The mother bought some
+boards with what money she had saved, but she could not get any nails.
+In that day nails were not made by machinery, as they are now. Each
+nail had to be hammered out separately by a blacksmith. Nails made in
+this way cost a great deal of money.
+
+There was but one way to do. Femmetia and her sister had to find nails
+by raking over the ashes of the old house. Some of these nails were
+crooked, and they had to be hammered to make them straight enough to
+use.
+
+Some American officers had been made prisoners at the battle of Long
+Island. They were allowed to go about the village after having given
+their word not to go farther. They liked to help the girls find nails
+in the ashes, and hammer them straight on the stones. Other young
+girls came to help them, so that there was a party of young people
+talking, joking, laughing, and digging in the ashes, every day. It was
+fun for all of them. There were not boards enough to finish the house.
+The room in which the two sisters slept was upstairs. It had but half
+a floor. Where the rest of the floor should have been were only bare
+beams.
+
+[Illustration: A Nail Party.]
+
+One night the negro woman, whose name was Dian, came into the room
+below, and called Femmetia. She told her that the British soldiers had
+come into the barn, and that they would soon take away what were left
+of the chickens.
+
+"You jes' come down." said Dian to Femmetia. So the old slave and the
+young girl went out together. They carried a gun and a broomstick. The
+moon was shining. They took great pains not to let the soldiers see
+them. First they dodged behind a great walnut tree. Then, when they
+were sure the soldiers did not see them, they ran behind the corncrib.
+Their next march brought them behind the wagon house, and then they
+slipped into the dark shadow of the barn.
+
+Dian thrust the rifle through a hole in the side door of the barn. At
+the same moment the bold Femmetia threw a stone which made the
+soldiers look round. There was moonlight enough for them to see the
+muzzle of the gun coming through the door as though it were ready to
+fire at them. They ran away in great haste, and left the chickens
+behind.
+
+The silver plate and other valuable things were buried under the
+hearth in the house. A lady in a neighboring house hid her gold coins
+in the middle of a great round ball of a pincushion. Such ball
+pincushions were worn by some of the Dutch women at that time. They
+hung them at their sides, tied by a bit of ribbon. A party of English
+soldiers came into this lady's house. They were much amused to see
+this ball at the lady's side. One of them rudely cut the ribbon with
+his sword, and then the soldiers played ball with the cushion. It was
+sent here and there about the room. Twice it fell into the ashes.
+
+The woman who owned it expected that it would be torn, and all her
+gold would spill out, but she went on with her work. If she had shown
+any anxiety about the ball, the soldiers might have thought to look
+for her money in the cushion. At last they gave it back to her,
+much-soiled, but holding its treasures safe.
+
+
+
+
+A SCHOOL OF LONG AGO.
+
+
+A hundred and fifty years ago there was a famous teacher among the
+German settlers in Pennsylvania who was known as "The Good
+Schoolmaster." His name was Christopher Dock. He had two little
+country schools. For three days he would teach at a little place
+called Skippack, and then for the next three days he would teach at
+Salford.
+
+People said that the good schoolmaster never lost his temper. There
+was a man who thought he would try to make him angry. He said many
+harsh and abusive words to the teacher, and even cursed him. But the
+only reply the teacher made was, "Friend, may the Lord have mercy on
+you."
+
+Other schoolmasters used to beat their scholars severely with whips
+and long switches. But Schoolmaster Dock had found out a better way.
+
+When a child came to school for the first time, the other scholars
+were made to give the new scholar a welcome by shaking hands with him,
+one after another. Then the new boy or girl was told that this was not
+a harsh school, but a place for those who would behave. And if a
+scholar were lazy, disobedient, or stubborn, the master would in the
+presence of the whole school pronounce him not fit for this school,
+but only for a school where children were flogged. The new scholar was
+asked to promise to obey and to be diligent. When he had made this
+promise, he was shown to a seat.
+
+[Illustration.]
+
+"Now," the good master would say, when this was done, "who will take
+this new scholar and help him to learn?"
+
+[Illustration.]
+
+When the new boy or girl was clean and bright looking, many would be
+willing to take charge of him or her. But there were few ready to
+teach a dirty, ragged little child. Sometimes no one would wish to do
+it. In such a case the master would offer to the one who would take
+such a child a reward of one of the beautiful texts of scripture which
+the schoolmasters of that time used to write and decorate for the
+children. Or he would give him one of the pictures of birds which he
+was accustomed to paint with his own hands.
+
+The old Pennsylvania teachers were fond of making these tickets with
+pictures and writing on them. The pictures which we have here will
+show you what they looked like. The writing is in German, as you will
+see.
+
+Whenever one of the younger scholars succeeded in learning his A, B,
+C, Christopher Dock would send word to the father of the child to give
+him a penny, and he would ask his mother to cook two eggs for him as a
+treat. These were fine rewards for poor children in a new country.
+
+At certain stages in his studies, the industrious child in one of
+Dock's schools would receive a penny from his father, and eat two eggs
+cooked by his mother. But all this time he was not counted a member of
+the school. He was only on trial. The day on which a boy or girl began
+to read was a great day. If the pupil had been diligent in spelling,
+the morning after the first reading day, the master would give him
+a ticket carefully written with his own hand. This ticket read
+"Industrious--One Penny." This showed that the scholar was now really
+received into the school. But if he afterward became idle or
+disobedient, Schoolmaster Dock would take away his token.
+
+There were no clocks or watches in the country. The children came to
+school, one after another taking their places near the master, who sat
+writing. They spent their time reading until all were there. But every
+one who succeeded in reading his passage without mistake stopped
+reading, and came and sat at the writing table to write. The poor
+fellow who remained last on the bench was called the Lazy Scholar.
+
+Every Lazy Scholar had his name written on the blackboard. If a child
+at any time failed to read correctly, he was sent back to study his
+passage, and called again after a while. If he failed a second or a
+third time, all the scholars cried out, "Lazy!" Then his name was
+written on the blackboard. Then all the poor Lazy Scholar's friends
+went to work to teach him to read his lesson correctly. And if his
+name should not be rubbed off the board before school was dismissed,
+all the scholars might write it down, and take it home with them. But
+if he could read well before school was out, the scholars, at the
+bidding of the master, called out, "Industrious!" and then his name
+was rubbed off the board.
+
+The funniest of Dock's rewards was that which he gave to those who
+made no mistake in their lessons. He marked a large O with chalk on
+the hand of the perfect scholar. Fancy what a time the boys and girls
+must have had, trying to go home without rubbing out this O.
+
+If you had gone into this school some day, you might have seen a boy
+sitting on a punishment bench all alone. This was a fellow who had
+told a lie or used bad language. He was put there as not fit to sit
+near anybody else. If he committed the offense often, a yoke would be
+put round his neck, as if he were a brute. Sometimes, however, the
+teacher would give the scholars their choice of a blow on the hand or
+a seat on the punishment bench. They usually preferred the blow.
+
+At certain times the scholars were permitted to study aloud, but at
+other times they were obliged to keep still. And a boy or girl was put
+as a watcher, to set down the names of those who talked in this time
+of quiet.
+
+The old schoolmaster in Skippack wrote one hundred rules of good
+behavior for his scholars. This is perhaps the first book on good
+manners written in America. But rules of behavior for people living in
+houses of one or two rooms, as they did in that day, were very
+different from those needed in our time. Here are some of the rules:
+
+"When you comb your hair, do not go out in the middle of the room,"
+says the schoolmaster. This was because families were accustomed to
+eat and sleep in the same room.
+
+"Do not eat your morning bread on the road or in school," he tells
+them, "but ask your parents to give it to you at home." From this we
+see that the common breakfast was bread alone, and that the children
+often ate it as they walked to school.
+
+The table manners of that day were very good for the time, but they
+seem very curious to us. He says, "Do not wabble with your stool,"
+because rough home-made stools were the common chairs then, and the
+floors, made of boards that were split and not sawed, were so uneven
+that a noisy child could easily rock his stool to and fro.
+
+"Put your knife upon the right and your bread on the left side," he
+says. Forks were little used in those days, and the people in the
+country did not have any. He also tells them not to throw bones under
+the table. It was a common practice among some people of that time to
+throw bones and scraps under the table, where the dogs ate them.
+
+The child is not told to wait for others when he has finished eating,
+or to ask to be excused. "Get up quietly," says the schoolmaster, "and
+take your stool with you. Wish a pleasant mealtime, and go to one
+side." The child is told not to put the remaining bread into his
+pocket.
+
+As time passed on, Christopher Dock had many friends, for all his
+scholars of former years loved him greatly. He lived to be very old,
+and taught his schools to the last. One evening he did not come home,
+and the people went to look for the beloved old man. They found their
+dear old master on his knees in the schoolhouse. He had died while
+praying alone.
+
+
+
+
+STORIES OF WHALING.
+
+
+In the old days, before petroleum or kerosene had been found in this
+country, people had many ways of lighting their houses. A cheap light
+was made by putting a little grease or oil in a saucer in which was a
+little wick or rag lying over the edge of the saucer or drawn up
+through a cork that floated on the grease. When this wick was burning,
+it gave hardly as much light as a candle. This is one of the oldest
+ways of making light. It was used thousands of years ago. Many people
+now living remember little lamps made in this way.
+
+Poor people often made light by burning pine knots, or bits of pitch
+pine chopped out of old stumps. These gave a bright light for a time.
+Pitch pine in New England was called candle wood; in the South it was
+called light wood.
+
+The commonest light in old times was the tallow candle. This was
+sometimes made by dipping a candle wick into melted tallow. Then, when
+the tallow had cooled, the candle was dipped again and again. A little
+tallow remained on it each time, and at last it was thick enough to
+burn. Candles made in this way were called "dips." Better candles were
+made by running melted tallow into molds.
+
+Before the Revolution a favorite candle for burning at fine houses was
+made of the wax-myrtle berry. This berry is full of a kind of green
+wax which came out when it was boiled. When this wax rose to the top
+of the pot, it was skimmed off and used for making wax candles. These
+candles had a pretty green color, and gave out a delicate perfume when
+they were burning. More expensive candles were made of beeswax.
+
+For hundreds of years whale oil was burned in large lamps, and
+thousands of whales were killed in order to get the oil. Candles were
+also made from spermaceti, which is a substance taken from the head of
+the sperm whale.
+
+When the people first settled on Long Island, there were a great many
+whales in the sea. Sometimes these whales would run into bays and
+other shallow places. When the tide went out, the whale would be left
+without water enough to swim in. Sometimes he found himself lying on
+the dry ground. Before the white people came, the Long Island Indians
+used to kill whales stranded in this way, with spears. The Indians
+used the fat of the whale for food. The white people killed them, and
+got the oil out of the fat by boiling. This oil they sold for lamp
+oil.
+
+Finding that much money could be made by selling whale oil, the people
+on Long Island fitted up boats, which they kept always ready along the
+seashore. Whenever anybody saw a whale, the boatmen ran to their
+boats, and rowed out to kill it. They did not yet know how to go out
+to sea in whaling ships as some people in Europe did. After a while
+the Long Island people learned to take their small boats out to sea
+for miles to look for whales. This way of killing the whales spread
+from Long Island to Connecticut, and from there to Cape Cod.
+
+The people on the island of Nantucket had also learned to kill the
+whales that came into shallow water. They got a man to come out from
+Cape Cod to show them how to go out in boats and kill whales along the
+coast. After a while they built small ships in which they went to sea
+to seek for whales, but they brought the fat on shore in order to get
+the oil out of it.
+
+In 1718 the people on this island began to build ships with great
+kettles in them for rendering the oil on board the ships. The brave
+Nantucket men, and the men on the coast near by, soon began to send
+their ships into very distant seas. Some of them sailed among the
+icebergs in the Arctic regions; others went to the Southern Ocean; and
+some of the Nantucket and Cape Cod ships went round Cape Horn into the
+Pacific Ocean. The hardy whalemen ran great risks during their long
+voyages, but, if they were fortunate in killing whales, they made a
+good deal of money.
+
+There are still whaling vessels in our times, but not so many as there
+used to be. We do not need whale oil so much, because we have
+kerosene, gaslights, and electric lights. There are not so many whales
+to be found as there used to be.
+
+When the men on a whale ship in the old times discovered a whale, they
+fitted out their boats and rowed toward it. The whale would go down
+out of sight. Each officer would place his boat where he thought the
+whale would come up. When the whale came up to get breath, the men in
+the nearest boat would row toward it. The officer who stood in the bow
+of the boat would then throw a harpoon, which would stick fast in the
+whale. As soon as the whale was struck with the harpoon, he would go
+down into the water. There was a line fast to the harpoon, which was
+coiled in a tub standing in the whaleboat. Sometimes the whale would
+run down so far, that it would take more line than the boat carried,
+to keep hold of him. When this was likely to happen, another whaling
+boat would come alongside, and tie its line to the line of the harpoon
+that was fast to the whale. In some cases nearly five thousand feet of
+line were drawn out of the boats before the whale came to the top
+again. Whales breathe air as we do, so the whale that had been
+harpooned would have to come up again. Then the whaling boat would run
+close to him, and the officer would try to kill him with a sharp
+lance. When a whale was killed, the men drew him alongside the ship.
+
+A whale's body is covered with a great mass of fat called blubber.
+When the dead whale was lying alongside the ship, the whalemen would
+fasten a hook in the blubber. They then cut the blubber into a long
+strip running round the whale. As they pulled on the hook with ropes,
+the strip of blubber came off the whale, the whale rolling over and
+over. The men unwound the blubber from his body in this way, pulling
+it up on board the ship, and cutting it into pieces.
+
+If it was a sperm whale, they would cut a hole in his head, to reach a
+place where there was a great quantity of oil. This oil they dipped
+out. Sometimes forty barrels of oil were dipped out of the head of a
+whale. From the fat of some very large whales more than two hundred
+barrels of oil could be secured.
+
+The men on the whaling ships were gone from home for years at a time.
+When there were no whales in sight, they had to find ways of amusing
+themselves. Many of them carried sharp pocket knives, and passed their
+time in whittling. By long practice they became very skillful with
+their knives. Some of them carved pretty figures in wood, and made
+pieces of furniture. Others carved shells into beautiful shapes. After
+years at sea, they would bring these things home with them, to give to
+their wives or sweethearts. Such work done on shipboard is called
+scrimshaw work.
+
+Some of the whaleships met with very curious accidents. In 1807 a ship
+named "The Union" was sailing along very quietly. All at once she
+struck something which jarred her from end to end. It was found that
+she had run right on a whale. Casks of water were thrown out of the
+ship to make her lighter, but the bottom of the ship was badly
+injured. The men on board had to get out the boats at once. They took
+food and water with them, and compasses to sail by. Soon after the
+boats got clear of the ship she filled with water, and upset.
+
+The men now found themselves in open boats in the ocean. The land
+nearest to them was Newfoundland, but, as the wind was blowing
+straight from that land at that season of the year, they knew that
+they could not reach it. So they set out in the direction toward which
+the wind blew, sailing for the islands called the Azores. These were
+hundreds of miles away. They made a sail for each boat.
+
+One day they saw a schooner, but they could not make the schooner see
+them. The next day they had fine sailing, but at night a fearful wind
+arose. There were violent squalls and bursts of thunder. The boats
+were obliged to lie still with their bows to the wind. At last the
+waves broke into the captain's boat, and it was all they could do to
+get the water out again.
+
+They now had to throw overboard most of their fresh water, so that
+they suffered much with thirst from this time on. They had only three
+quarts of water a day to be divided among sixteen men. That is about a
+small teacupful apiece. After sailing eight days, they came in sight
+of the beautiful islands of the Azores. Here they found a ship to
+bring them back to their own country again.
+
+A still stranger accident happened to the ship "Essex" in 1820. She
+was far away in the Pacific Ocean. Three of the boats of the ship went
+out after a whale. The mate's boat, having been injured, went back to
+the ship. As the mate stood on the ship, he saw a large sperm whale
+rush directly at the vessel. The whale seemed to think the ship some
+great animal, and that it would be fine fun to have a fight with it.
+He struck the ship with his great square head. The crash was fearful.
+For a moment or two the crew were so astonished that they could do
+nothing. Then they found the ship sinking. They put up signals for the
+other boats to come back.
+
+[Illustration: Attacked by a Whale.]
+
+But the whale was not satisfied. He wanted to fight it out with the
+ship. He was soon seen coming toward the vessel again. He came on so
+fast that the water foamed round him. He struck the ship a second
+blow, which almost crushed it. The mate now quickly put what
+provisions he could into a boat, and got ready to leave the ship.
+
+The other boats returned. The men were so horrified that for some time
+they could not speak to one another. The ship fell over on her side.
+The men cut away her masts. Then they cut holes into the ship's side,
+and got out what bread and water they could carry. They were a
+thousand miles from land, in the direction that the winds blew.
+
+After twenty-eight days of sailing in these open boats, the men got to
+Ducie's Island. Here they could not find food enough for so large a
+party, so the boats put off to sea again. Three men remained behind on
+the island. These were afterward found by a passing ship, which took
+them home. Some of the men in the boats perished, but the rest of them
+were picked up by a ship and taken home.
+
+
+
+
+A WHALING SONG.
+
+PART OF A FAVORITE SONG SUNG BY WHALEMEN IN OLD TIMES.
+
+
+  When spring returns with western gales,
+    And gentle breezes sweep
+  The ruffling seas, we spread our sails
+    To plow the watery deep.
+
+  Cape Cod, our dearest native land,
+    We leave astern, and lose
+  Its sinking cliffs and less'ning sands,
+    While Zephyr gently blows.
+
+  Now toward the early dawning east
+    We speed our course away,
+  With eager minds and joyful hearts,
+    To meet the rising day.
+
+  Then, as we turn our wondering eyes,
+    We view one constant show,--
+  Above, around, the circling skies,
+    The rolling seas below.
+
+  When eastward, clear of Newfoundland,
+    We stem the frozen pole,
+  We see the icy islands stand,
+    The northern billows roll.
+
+  Now see the northern regions where
+    Eternal winter reigns;
+  One day and night fills up the year,
+    And endless cold maintains.
+
+  We view the monsters of the deep,
+    Great whales in numerous swarms,
+  And creatures there, that play and leap,
+    Of strange, unusual forms.
+
+  When in our station we are placed,
+    And whales around us play,
+  We launch our boats into the main,
+    And swiftly chase our prey.
+
+
+
+
+A STRANGE ESCAPE.
+
+
+In 1658 there was a little French colony at Onondaga in New York. Some
+of the men in this colony were traders, and some were missionaries.
+They were living among the Onondaga Indians.
+
+[Illustration: A French Missionary.]
+
+The Indians had been very friendly, but the French found out that a
+plot had been formed to put them all to death. Stakes had even been
+set up in order to burn some of them alive. There seemed no hope for
+the Frenchmen to escape. They knew, that, if they tried to get away by
+land, they should all be killed. If they shut themselves up in their
+fort, the Indians would besiege them, and they would starve to death.
+They had no boats by which to get away by sailing through the lakes
+and down the St. Lawrence River.
+
+The Frenchmen went to work and built boats secretly in the attic of
+their fort or trading house. They built them strong enough to bear the
+floating ice. They had also some light canoes made of bark, which they
+hid in the upper part of their house. The question now was how to get
+away without the Indians finding it out and pursuing them.
+
+One of the young Frenchmen had been adopted into the tribe of these
+Indians. He invited the Indians to a feast. It was a feast, of a kind
+the Indians give, in which every guest is obliged to eat everything
+that is set before him, leaving nothing. The Indians kept on eating,
+while the French amused them with dancing and games. The young
+Frenchman played on his guitar, while the guests ate. The Indians
+having eaten too much, at length began to fall asleep one by one. The
+feast was not over until late at night, nor until every Indian had
+eaten till he begged not to be given any more. Some of the Indians
+fell asleep while they were eating. The rest of them were soon
+sleeping soundly in their wigwams.
+
+The Frenchmen now quickly brought their boats down stairs and put them
+into the water. They loaded them with food and other things needed for
+their journey. Then they pushed off without making any noise or
+speaking above a whisper. The water froze about their boats as they
+rowed, and every moment they feared an attack from the Indians. They
+rowed all night long, and then they rowed and paddled all the next day
+without taking any rest. It was not until the evening of the second
+day that they felt they had passed out of the greatest danger.
+
+The Indians slept late the morning after the feast. When they waked at
+last, they came out of their huts one by one, and went toward the
+French house. They were surprised to see it shut up, and everything
+silent about it. They supposed that the French were at prayer, so they
+waited quietly outside. They could hear the fowls crowing in the yard,
+and when they knocked at the door of the house, the dog barked. Noon
+came, and yet no Frenchmen appeared.
+
+Late in the afternoon the Indians climbed up the side of the house and
+got in by a window. They could hear no sound but their own steps. They
+were much frightened as they stole through the house and opened the
+main door. They searched the building from top to bottom, but not a
+Frenchman was to be found.
+
+As they were sure that the French had no boats, they were struck with
+fear. They gazed a moment at each other in silence. Then they fled
+from the house. They believed that the Frenchmen had, by some magic,
+made themselves invisible; that is, so that they could not be seen.
+They believed that the French had flown away through the air, or
+walked off on the water.
+
+Meanwhile the French passed down Lake Ontario through many dangers.
+They went down the River St. Lawrence, working their way over rapids
+and waterfalls. At last they reached Montreal, where the people looked
+on them as men that had come up from the grave.
+
+
+
+
+GRANDMOTHER BEAR.
+
+
+Mr. Alexander Henry was made prisoner by the Indians on Lake Superior
+when Fort Mackinaw was taken by Indians. This was in the time of the
+Indian war which is called Pontiac's War, because the great chief
+Pontiac started it.
+
+Nearly all the white men in Fort Mackinaw were killed, but Mr. Henry
+was saved. He had an Indian friend named Wawatam, who paid for his
+life. He went to live with Wawatam. He had his head shaved, and put on
+the dress of an Indian. He lived and hunted as the Indians did.
+
+One day Mr. Henry saw a very large pine tree. Its trunk was six feet
+in diameter. The bark had been scratched by a bear's claws. Far up on
+the tree there was a large hole. All about this hole the small
+branches were broken.
+
+Mr. Henry looked at the snow. There were no bear tracks in it. So he
+thought that an old bear had climbed up into the tree before the snow
+fell. Bears sleep nearly all winter. They do not even come out to get
+anything to eat.
+
+Mr. Henry told the Indians about the tree. There was no way of getting
+up to the bear's hole. They could not get the bear out except by
+cutting down the tree. But the Indian women did not believe that the
+Indians could do it. Their axes were too small to chop down so big a
+tree.
+
+However, the Indians wanted the bear's oil, which is of great use to
+them. It serves them for lard, and butter, and many other things. So
+at the tree they went with their little axes. As many as could stand
+about the tree worked at a time, and when one rested, another chopper
+took his place. They all worked, men and women, and they chopped all
+day. When the sun went down, they had chopped about halfway through
+the tree.
+
+The next morning they began again. They chopped away until about two
+o'clock. Then the top of the great pine tree began to tremble. Slowly
+it leaned a little. Then the tree began to fall. Everybody got far out
+of the way. It fell down among the other trees with a crash that made
+the woods roar, and lay at last upon the ground.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+But no bear came out of the big tree. Mr. Henry began to be afraid
+that there was no bear there. He thought such a crash was enough to
+wake up the sleepiest bear in the world. At last the nose of a bear
+was poked out of the hole. Then came the head. Then came out the great
+brown body of one of the largest bears in the woods. Mr. Henry shot
+the bear dead.
+
+Though the Indians kill and eat bears, they are very much afraid of
+the ghosts of the bears after they are dead. They are more afraid of a
+bear after it is dead than when it is alive. So, whenever an Indian
+has killed a bear, he always begs the dead bear's pardon. Each of
+these Indians now politely begged pardon of the bear. The old woman
+who had adopted Mr. Henry for her son took the bear's head in her
+hands and kissed it. She called it her grandmother, and asked it not
+to do them any harm. The Indians told the dead bear that a white man
+had killed it. Of course, the dead bear did not say anything.
+
+Though they called the bear their grandmother, they made haste to take
+off its skin. They were glad to find that Grandma Bear was very fat.
+It took two persons to carry home the fat. Four more were loaded with
+the meat of this nice old relative of theirs.
+
+But still wishing to fool the bear's ghost, they carried the head also
+to their tent. They put all kinds of silver trinkets on the head, and
+many belts of wampum or shell beads on it. In order to please the
+ghost of Grandmother Bear still more, they laid the head on a kind of
+table that they made for it, and placed a large quantity of tobacco
+near its nose.
+
+The next morning a feast was made to please the bear's ghost. The head
+of the bear was lifted, and a new blanket was spread under it. All the
+Indians lighted their pipes, and blew tobacco smoke into the bear's
+nose. Wawatam made a speech to the bear's spirit. He told it they were
+very sorry to have to kill their friends. But he said it could not be
+helped, for, if they did not do this, they should starve to death.
+
+The speech being over, the whole party ate heartily of the bear's
+flesh. After three days they even took down the head itself, and put
+it into the kettle. Thus they ate their grandmother up, but they did
+it very politely.
+
+
+
+
+THE GREAT TURTLE.
+
+
+Among the Indians there are priests or medicine men who pretend to
+cure diseases. They also pretend to talk to their gods and other
+spirits. They have many ways of deceiving the Indians.
+
+Mr. Alexander Henry, while a prisoner among the Indians, was present
+when the tribe he was with asked advice of the Great Turtle, which is
+one of the gods they believe in.
+
+The Indians had heard that there was an English army coming against
+them. They were very much afraid, because they had killed or taken
+prisoner all the English in Fort Mackinaw. They wished to send
+messengers to make peace with the white men, but they were afraid the
+white men would kill their messengers. In this state of mind, they
+asked the Great Turtle what they would better do.
+
+They first built a large house or wigwam. In the middle of this they
+set up five posts, and covered these posts with moose skins. This made
+a little tent in the middle of the large wigwam.
+
+When night came on, they built fires in the wigwam outside of the
+little tent. This lighted up the house where the Indians were seated.
+Soon the priest came in. Some of the Indians lifted the moose skins on
+one side of their little tent. The priest crept in on his hands and
+knees. The little tent began to shake, and from the inside there came
+sounds like the barking of dogs and the howling of wolves, with
+screams and sobs, and cries of pain and sorrow. Words were spoken in
+strange voices, and in a language which nobody could understand. These
+voices the Indians had heard before, and they thought that they
+belonged to evil spirits who would tell them lies. When they heard
+these voices, the Indians hissed. They did not want to hear any spirit
+but that of the Great Turtle. After a while these frightful noises
+ceased. There was silence for a time. Then the Indians heard a new
+voice. It was low and feeble, like the cry of a very young puppy. All
+the Indians now clapped their hands for joy. They cried out that this
+was the voice of the Great Turtle, the spirit that never lied.
+
+But now new voices came from the tent. For half an hour there were
+sounds in many different voices, but none of them were like the
+priest's own voice. When these sounds were no longer heard, the
+medicine man spoke in his own voice, and declared that the Great
+Turtle was present, and would answer any question that might be asked.
+
+The chief of the village now put a large quantity of tobacco into the
+little tent. This was a sacrifice to the Great Turtle. Then he told
+the priest to ask the Great Turtle whether the white men were coming
+to make war on them, and whether there were many soldiers at Fort
+Niagara.
+
+The medicine man put this question to the Great Turtle. The tent began
+to shake so violently that it seemed about to fall over. Then a loud
+cry came from the tent. This was to show that the Great Turtle was
+leaving.
+
+For a quarter of an hour no sound was heard. Then the Great Turtle
+returned. He now made a long speech to the priest in his little
+squeaky, puppy voice, but it was spoken in a language which nobody
+could understand. After the spirit's speech was finished, the medicine
+man spoke in his own voice, and explained to the people that in the
+last fifteen minutes the Great Turtle had crossed Lake Huron, and gone
+to Fort Niagara, hundreds of miles away. Then he had gone on down to
+Montreal. He said there were not many soldiers at Fort Niagara, but at
+Montreal the river was covered with boats filled with soldiers. He
+said the soldiers coming to make war on the Indians were as many as
+the leaves on the trees. He told the Indians, that, if they would send
+men to the general of this army, he would make peace with them, and
+fill their canoes with presents of blankets, kettles, guns, powder,
+and shot. And he said, what pleased them still more, that the general
+would give them great barrels of rum.
+
+The Indians were so much delighted with this message, that many of
+them set out, soon after, to go in boats to make peace with the white
+men. No doubt this humbug of the medicine man was a plan to persuade
+them to go. Mr. Henry was taken along to act as their friend.
+
+
+
+
+THE RATTLESNAKE GOD.
+
+
+Mr. Henry had traveled several days with the Indians going to Fort
+Niagara to make peace. One day the wind was blowing so hard that they
+could not go on. So they camped on a point in Lake Huron.
+
+While the Indians were building a hut, Mr. Henry was lighting a fire.
+He went off a little way to get dry wood, and while he was picking up
+sticks he heard a strange sound. It lasted only a little while; but,
+when Mr. Henry went a little farther, it began again. He looked up
+into the air to see where it came from. Then he looked down on the
+ground, and saw a large rattlesnake coiled close to his naked leg. If
+he had taken one step more, he would have stepped on it, and it would
+have bitten him.
+
+He now ran back to the canoe to get his gun to kill the snake.
+
+"What are you doing?" asked the Indians.
+
+"I am going to kill a rattlesnake," he said.
+
+"Oh, no! don't do that," they said.
+
+The Indians all got their tobacco bags and pipes, and went to the
+place where the snake had been seen. It was still lying in a coil.
+
+[Illustration: Grandfather Rattlesnake.]
+
+The Indians now stood round the snake, and one after another spoke to
+it. They called it their grandfather. But they took care not to go too
+close to their grandfather. They stood oft and filled their pipes with
+tobacco. Each one in turn blew tobacco smoke at the snake. The snake
+seemed to like it. For half an hour it lay there in a coil, and
+breathed the smoke. Then it slowly stretched itself out at full
+length, and seemed in a very good humor. It was more than four feet
+long.
+
+After having more smoke blown at it, it slowly crept away. The Indians
+followed, begging their grandfather, as they called it, to take care
+of their families while they were gone. They also asked that the snake
+would open the heart of the English general so that he would give them
+a great deal of rum. One of the chiefs begged the snake to take no
+notice of the insult offered to him by the white man, who would have
+killed it if the Indians had not stopped him. They also begged that it
+would remain and live in their country.
+
+The Indians thought that the snake was a spirit or god in this form.
+They thought that it had been sent to stop them on their way. They
+were almost ready to turn back, but Mr. Henry persuaded them to go on.
+
+The next morning was calm. The Indians took a short course by sailing
+straight to an island out in the lake. But after they had got far out,
+the wind began to blow very hard. They expected every moment that
+their canoe would be swallowed up by the waves. They began to pray to
+the rattlesnake to help them. One of the chiefs resolved to make a
+sacrifice to the snake. He took a dog, and tied its legs together, and
+threw it into the water. He asked the snake spirit to be satisfied
+with this. But the wind continued to grow higher, and so another dog
+was thrown into the water, and some tobacco was thrown with it. The
+chief told Grandfather Snake that the man who wanted to kill him was
+really a white man, and no kin to the snake or to the Indians.
+
+Some of the Indians began to think of throwing Mr. Henry in after the
+dog and the tobacco to satisfy the snake spirit; but the wind went
+down, and they soon got to the island. Some days afterward the party
+came to the fort. The English general was very glad to see Mr. Henry,
+and his long captivity was over, in spite of the anger of the
+rattlesnake god of the Indians.
+
+
+
+
+WITCHCRAFT IN LOUISIANA.
+
+
+The Indian medicine men or priests have many ways of deceiving their
+people. A French officer found that the people of a certain tribe
+believed very much in an idol which a medicine man had set up. This
+idol was called by a long name, Vistee-poolee-keek-apook. The Indians,
+when they stood near, would sometimes hear it speak, and this seemed
+to them a very wonderful thing.
+
+A French officer named Bossu tried to find out what made the idol
+talk. He found a long reed, such as we call a cane pole, running from
+the back of the idol's head to a cave or hollow in the rocks behind
+the idol. This reed had been made into a hollow tube. In the cave
+there was a medicine man who talked into the tube. The words coming
+out of the other end in the idol's head were heard from the mouth of
+the idol, as if the idol were speaking. Bossu showed the Indians the
+trick, and then got one of his soldiers to destroy the idol.
+
+The soldier that destroyed the idol was so brave, that the Frenchmen
+had given him a nickname which means "fearless." The medicine man
+declared that some dreadful thing would fall on Fearless because he
+had destroyed the idol. In order to make his people believe in the
+power of this god that had been thrown down, he told them that there
+was a witch or evil spirit which came to the village in the shape of a
+little black panther. He said, that, whenever he pronounced the name
+of his god, this little black panther would instantly disappear.
+
+You see, the cunning old medicine man had somehow got hold of a large
+black cat with yellow eyes. Cats were not common among the Indians,
+these animals having been brought by the white people. Such a cat as
+this, the Indians had never seen. The medicine man kept the cat in his
+cabin, and trained it. He would strike it with a whip, crying out
+every time he struck it, "Vistee-poolee-keek-apook!"
+
+The poor cat became afraid of the long ugly name of the Indian god,
+because the whip and the name always came together. One day the black
+cat crept into the cabin of an Indian woman to get something to eat.
+The medicine man who was near by saw it. He said the name of his god
+in his common voice. The cat, which the Indians believed to be a
+witch, jumped like lightning through the hole in the cabin that was
+used for a window. The Indians really believed that they had seen an
+evil spirit in the shape of a little black panther, and that it
+disappeared when the medicine man spoke the name of his god.
+
+After that, every time an Indian saw this black cat, or little black
+panther, as it was called, he spoke the name of this terrible god. Of
+course, the black cat with yellow eyes ran away. Tired out at last
+with being driven off in this fashion, the cat disappeared entirely,
+and took up its home with the wild animals in the woods, where it
+could not hear the terrible name of the idol any more.
+
+Bossu afterward made use of the Indians' belief in spirits for his own
+purpose. One of his soldiers had been killed by one of the Indians.
+Bossu could not find out who killed the soldier, or even to what tribe
+the Indian that killed him belonged. He wanted to punish or frighten
+the murderer in order to save the lives of the rest of the French
+soldiers.
+
+He called the chief of the Indians, and told him that one of his men
+was missing. He said he was sure the man had not run away. He
+therefore asked that the Indians should find the man, and said, that,
+if he were not found, he should have to think that some of the Indians
+had killed him.
+
+The chief answered that the white soldier had probably gone hunting in
+the woods, and killed himself accidentally with his gun, or else he
+had been killed by a panther. To this Bossu replied that the animal
+would not have eaten the gun or the clothes of the soldier. He said
+that if the Indians would find the Frenchman's gun, or bits of his
+clothes, they could easily show that he had been killed by a wild
+animal.
+
+Bossu had a friend among the Indians who was very much attached to
+him. He persuaded this young Indian to tell him to what tribe the
+murderer of the Frenchman belonged, but he solemnly promised that the
+other Indians should never know who had told him. He paid the young
+Indian for telling him.
+
+The Frenchman who was called Fearless now undertook to have the man
+who had killed the other soldier punished, for the dead soldier had
+been his friend. But it was necessary that he should not let the
+Indians know who had told about it. Fearless stripped off a great
+quantity of bark of the pawpaw tree. He thought he would play a trick
+like that of the medicine man, and make the Indians believe that a
+spirit was talking to them. He did everything very secretly. By
+fastening pieces of the pawpaw bark together with pitch, he managed to
+make a very large speaking trumpet, which would carry the voice a long
+distance.
+
+When he had finished this trumpet, he left the camp one very dark
+night. He carried with him his gun, some food, and a gourd full of
+water. He had also a bearskin of which to make a bed, and a buffalo
+robe to cover himself with. With these things he hid himself on a
+hill. This hill was near the Indian camp. From the top of it Fearless
+could make his voice heard for three miles round by the aid of his
+great pawpaw trumpet.
+
+He shouted through this great bark trumpet what seemed to be words in
+an unknown language, such as the Indian medicine man used. The
+frightful noise sounded through the woods. It did not seem to come
+from anywhere. The Indians thought that these cries came down from the
+sky. The Indian women were thrown into a great fright, and even the
+warriors and chiefs were alarmed. They said that the Master of Life
+was angry with their tribe, and that this horrible voice showed that
+something bad was going to happen to them.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The day after the voice was heard, the old men of the tribe came to
+consult Bossu about this strange noise. Bossu told them that the white
+soldier who had been killed could not rest. He said that every night
+his voice was heard, though nothing could be seen. He said that the
+voice cried out in a melancholy tone, "I am the white soldier that
+went with the French captain. I was killed by a man of the tribe of
+the Kanoatinos. Frenchmen, revenge my death."
+
+The Indians now saw that it was of no use for them to tell any more
+lies about the death of the white man. They believed that the
+soldier's ghost had told the Frenchmen all about it. They confessed
+the murder, but they explained that the white soldier had provoked it
+when he was drunk, by bad treatment of the Indian who killed him.
+
+Captain Bossu was not willing to take their excuses. He told them,
+that, if the soldier had done wrong, he ought to have been brought to
+his own captain to be punished. He said, "If one of my soldiers should
+kill one of your Indians, I would put him to death. You must do the
+same with the Indian who killed my soldier."
+
+The oldest of the chiefs now commanded one of his men to go and seize
+the guilty man, bind him, and bring him in to be put to death, in
+order that the ghost of the French soldier might no longer trouble
+them.
+
+Captain Bossu did not wish to put the Indian to death. He knew that
+the French soldier had very greatly wronged and provoked the Indian.
+He got his young Indian friend to go to the wife of the chief of the
+Kanoatinos, and say to her that she might beg the life of the guilty
+man. The young Indian told the chief's wife that Captain Bossu would
+not refuse her anything. The woman went, and begged that the Indian
+might be spared. Bossu consented that the Indian should live, but said
+that he did it as a favor to the chief's wife.
+
+The chief then turned to the condemned Indian, and said to him, "You
+were dead, but the captain of the white warriors has brought you to
+life at the request of the chief's wife." The white people and Indians
+then smoked the pipe of peace together.
+
+
+
+
+A STORY OF NIAGARA.
+
+
+Many years ago, the falls of Niagara, then in the midst of a great
+wilderness, and a long way from the homes of the white people, seemed
+even more wonderful than they do now. In those days, travelers from
+other countries made long journeys through the woods to see this
+wonderful waterfall. Indians lived about it, and there was a fort near
+by, belonging to the French.
+
+Wild swans, geese, and ducks used to swim in the Niagara River.
+Sometimes great flocks of them lost their lives by going over the
+falls. Water fowl are fond of floating on smooth, moving water. The
+wild geese and ducks would take great delight in finding themselves
+shooting down toward the falls. Sometimes they would try to rise and
+fly when it was too late.
+
+[Illustration: Niagara Falls.]
+
+In the autumn the soldiers of the fort used to get their meat by
+taking from the water below the falls the ducks and geese that had
+been killed in this way. Sometimes they would find a deer or a bear
+that had been carried over in trying to swim across the river above
+the falls.
+
+In the midst of the falls is an island. Many years ago two Indians
+were hunting far above the falls. They had with them a little brandy,
+which they drank. This made them sleepy, and they lay down and went to
+sleep in their canoe, which was tied to the shore. The canoe got loose
+from the shore, and floated down the stream farther and farther, until
+it came near to the island which is in the falls.
+
+The roar of the falls awakened one of them. He cried out to the other,
+"We are lost!" But by hard work they succeeded in landing the canoe at
+the island.
+
+At first they were very glad, but after a while they thought it might
+have been better if they had gone over the falls. They had now no
+choice but to die of hunger on the island, or to throw themselves into
+the water.
+
+At the lower end of the island there is no water running over the
+falls. The Indians stripped the bark from a linden or basswood tree.
+This bark is very tough and strong. They made a kind of rope ladder of
+it. They made it so long that it reached to the water below the falls.
+The upper end of this bark ladder they tied fast to a great tree that
+grew on the island. The other end they let down to the water below the
+falls.
+
+Then they went down this ladder until they came to the bottom. The
+water was roaring on both sides of them, but they had a place to
+stand. Here they rested a little while. The water in front of them was
+not rapid. They jumped into it, intending to swim ashore. But the
+water that pours in from the falls on each side, runs back against the
+rocks in this place. Every time the Indians tried to swim, they were
+thrown back against the rocks from which they started. At last they
+were so much bruised and scratched, they were obliged to give up this
+plan. So they climbed back up their bark stairs to the island, not
+knowing what to do.
+
+After a while they saw other Indians on the shore. They cried out to
+these to come and help them. The other Indians did not know what to
+do. They had no way of getting to the island. If they had tried to get
+there in a canoe, they would have been carried over the falls
+themselves. They went to the fort, and told the commander about it. He
+had poles made, and pointed with iron. He persuaded two Indians to
+take these poles, and walk with them to the island.
+
+These two Indians took leave of all their friends as if they were
+going to die. Each of them took two poles in his hands. They set these
+poles against the bottom of the river to keep themselves steady, while
+they waded through the water. It was a very dangerous thing to do, but
+at last they got to the island. Then they gave a pole to each of the
+two Indians, and all four of them started back again. By the help of
+the poles they managed to get to the shore in safety.
+
+
+
+
+AMONG THE ALLIGATORS.
+
+
+Before the Revolution there lived in Pennsylvania a man named William
+Bartram. He was a botanist; that is to say, a man who knew a great
+deal about different kinds of plants. Wishing to see the plants and
+animals of the South, he traveled through South Carolina and Georgia,
+and so on into Florida.
+
+In a little canoe, Bartram set out to go up the St. Johns River. He
+took an Indian along for a guide, but the Indian got tired of the
+trip, and left him. Bartram kept on up the river alone. The country
+was wild, and the river was filled with great alligators.
+
+Bartram saw two large alligators fighting. They ran at each other from
+opposite sides of the river. They lashed the water with their tails.
+They met in the middle of the river, and fought with great fury,
+making the water boil all round them. They twisted themselves one
+round the other, and sank to the bottom fighting. Their struggles at
+the bottom brought up a great deal of mud.
+
+Soon they came to the top once more, clapping their great jaws
+together, and roaring. They fell on each other again, and sank to the
+bottom. But one of them was by this time beaten. He swam away into the
+reeds on the bank. The other rose to the top of the water, and
+celebrated his victory by a loud roaring sound. All the alligators
+along the shore joined in the horrible roaring at the same time.
+
+The alligators had gathered in great crowds at certain places to catch
+the fish that were coming up from the sea. Bartram wanted some fish
+for his supper. He took a stick to beat off the alligators, and got
+into his canoe. But the farther he paddled from the shore, the more
+the alligators crowded round him. Several of them tried to overturn
+his canoe. Two large ones attacked him at the same time, with their
+heads above the water, and their mouths spouting water all over the
+botanist. They struck their jaws together so close to his ears that
+the sound almost stunned him.
+
+Bartram beat them off with his club, and paddled for the shore. When
+he got near the shore, the alligators left him. He went a little
+farther up the river, and got some fish. When he came back, he kept
+close to the shore. One alligator twelve feet long followed him. When
+Bartram went ashore near his camp, the creature crept close to his
+feet, and lay there looking at him for some time.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Bartram ran to his camp to get his gun. When he came back, the
+alligator was climbing into his boat to get the fish he had caught. He
+fired his gun, and killed the great beast. But while he was cleaning
+his fish, another one crept up to him, and would have dragged him into
+the water if Bartram had not looked up just in time to get out of his
+way. The next day he was pursued by more alligators; but he beat them
+off with his club, and got away.
+
+
+
+
+JASPER.
+
+
+"Marion'S Men" were famous in the Revolution for their bold
+adventures. The best known of all these bold men was Sergeant Jasper.
+At the battle of Fort Moultrie, when the flag of the fort was shot
+away, Jasper jumped down outside of the works, and picked it up. The
+balls were raining round him all the time he was outside, but he
+coolly fastened the flag to a rod which was used to wipe out the
+cannon, and then stuck it up in the sand of the breastworks.
+
+When General Moultrie saw what he had done, he took off his own sword
+and gave it to Sergeant Jasper.
+
+When Moultrie and his men were hiding in the swamps of South Carolina,
+Moultrie would send Jasper to find out what the British were doing.
+Jasper could change his looks so that nobody would know him. He often
+went into the British camp, pretending to be on that side.
+
+Once he took a friend with him, and paid a visit to the British
+soldiers. While he was there, a small party of American prisoners were
+brought in. The wife of one of the prisoners had come with her
+husband, carrying her child. As these men had once fought on the
+English side, they were all likely to be put to death. Jasper felt
+sorry for them, and resolved to deliver them if he could.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The prisoners were sent to Savannah for trial. Jasper and his friend
+left the British camp soon afterward, but they went in the opposite
+direction. When they got far enough away, they turned about and
+followed the party with the prisoners. But what could they do for
+these poor fellows? There were ten men with muskets to guard the
+prisoners. Neither Jasper nor his friend had a gun.
+
+But they knew that near Savannah there was a famous spring of water.
+They thought the party would stop there to eat and drink. So Jasper
+and his friend went on swiftly, by a path little known. When they came
+near the spring, they hid in the bushes.
+
+When the soldiers with their prisoners came to the spring, they
+halted. The prisoners sat down on the ground. The woman sat down near
+her husband. Her baby fell asleep in her lap. Six of the soldiers laid
+down their arms, and four stood guard.
+
+Two of these went to the spring to get water, and, in doing this, they
+were obliged to put down their guns. In an instant Jasper and his
+friend leaped out of the bushes and seized the two guns. They killed
+the two guards who had guns, before the latter could shoot them. Then
+they knocked down every man who resisted them, and got possession of
+all the rest of the guns of the British. With these they took the
+eight soldiers prisoners. They now gave guns to the American
+prisoners, and marched away with the eight British soldiers in
+captivity.
+
+Jasper was one of the boldest of men. He did many brave things, but at
+last he lost his life in saving the flag of his company in battle.
+
+
+
+
+SONG OF MARION'S MEN.
+
+
+  Our band is few, but tried and true,
+    Our leader frank and bold:
+  The British soldier trembles
+    When Marion's name is told.
+
+  We have no fort but dark green woods,
+    Our tent's a shady tree:
+  We know the forest round us
+    As sailors know the sea.
+
+  With merry songs we mock the wind
+    That in the tree top grieves,
+  And slumber long and sweetly
+    On beds of rustling leaves.
+
+  Well knows the fair and friendly moon
+    The band that Marion leads,--
+  The glitter of their rifles,
+    The scampering of their steeds.
+
+  'Tis life to ride the fiery horse
+    Across the moonlight plain;
+  'Tis life to feel the night wind
+    That lifts his tossing mane.
+
+  A moment in the British camp--
+    A moment--and away
+  Back to the pathless forest,
+    Before the peep of day.
+
+  ADAPTED FROM BRYANT.
+
+[Illustration: One of Marion's Men.]
+
+
+
+
+A BRAVE GIRL.
+
+
+In the time of the Revolution, a regiment of Hessian soldiers hired
+to fight on the British side were camped in South Carolina. They took
+possession of the lower part of the house of a farmer named Gibbes. The
+family were forced to retire to the upper story.
+
+Two American boats came up the Stono River, and attacked these
+Hessians. Cannon balls were soon falling all about the house. Mr.
+Gibbes, who was so ill that he could hardly walk, got leave to move his
+family to another place. To do this, the whole family had to cross a
+field where the cannon balls were flying thick. At last they got out of
+reach of the cannons. Then they remembered that a little baby had been
+left behind. Neither Mr. Gibbes nor his wife was able to travel back to
+the house again. The negroes were too much frightened to go. All the
+rest were children.
+
+Little Mary Anne Gibbes was only thirteen years old. The baby that had
+been left was her cousin.
+
+"I will go and get him," she said.
+
+It was a dark and stormy night. She went back into the heat of the
+battle. When she reached the house, the soldier who stood at the door
+would not let her go in. But, with tears in her eyes, she begged so
+hard that he let her pass. In the third story of the house she found
+the baby.
+
+Then downstairs, and out into the darkness and the crash of battle, she
+went. The cannon balls scattered dust over her and the baby when they
+struck near her, but she got back to her family at last, carrying the
+baby safe in her arms.
+
+
+
+
+A PRISONER AMONG THE INDIANS.
+
+
+James Smith lived in Pennsylvania. He was taken prisoner by the Indians
+just before the famous defeat of General Braddock. He was then about
+eighteen years old. The Indians took him to the French fort where
+Pittsburg now is. They made him run the gauntlet; that is, they made
+him run between two lines of Indians, who were beating him all the way.
+He was so badly beaten that he became unconscious, and was ill for a
+good while after. But at length he got well, and the Indians took him
+to their own country in what is now the State of Ohio.
+
+When they arrived at their own town, they did not kill him, as he
+thought they would; but an Indian pulled the hair out of his head with
+his fingers, leaving only the hair that grew on a spot about the crown.
+Part of this he cut off short. The rest was twisted up in Indian
+fashion, so as to make him look like a savage. They pierced his ears,
+and put earrings in them. Then they pierced his nose, and put in a nose
+ring. They stripped off his clothing, and put on the light clothing
+that an Indian wears about the middle of his body. They painted his
+head where the hair had been plucked out, and painted his face and
+body, in several colors. They put some beads about his neck, and silver
+bands upon his arms.
+
+All this time James thought they were dressing him up to kill him. But,
+when they had decked him in this way, an old chief led him out into the
+village street. Holding the young man by the hand, he cried out,--
+
+"Koowigh, Koowigh, Koowigh!"
+
+All the Indians came running out of their houses when they heard this.
+The old chief made them a long speech in a loud voice. James could not
+understand what this speech was about. When it was ended, the chief
+handed James over to three young Indian women.
+
+James thought the young squaws were going to put him to death. They led
+him down the bank into the river. The squaws made signs for him to
+plunge himself into the water; but, as he thought they wished to drown
+him, he refused. He was not going to drown himself to please them. The
+young women then seized him, and tried to put him under water. But he
+would not be put down All this time the Indians on the bank were
+laughing heartily.
+
+[Illustration: James Smith sitting on a Bearskin.]
+
+Then one of the young squaws, who could speak a little English, said,
+"No hurt you." Smith now gave up to them, and they scrubbed him well,
+dipping his head under water.
+
+When he came out of the water, he was dressed up in a lot of Indian
+finery. The Indians put feathers in his hair, and made him sit down on
+a bearskin. They gave him a pipe, and a tomahawk, and a bag of tobacco
+and dried sumach leaves to smoke. Then they made a speech to him, which
+an Indian who could speak English explained to him.
+
+They said that he had been made a member of an Indian family in place
+of a great man who had been killed. And then they gave him a wooden
+bowl and a spoon, and took him to a feast, where Indian politeness
+required that he should eat all the food given to him.
+
+After James Smith was adopted by the Indians, he learned to live in
+their way. He learned how to make little bowls out of elm bark to catch
+maple-sugar sap, and how to make great casks out of the bark to hold
+the sap till it could be boiled. He learned how to make a bearskin into
+a pouch to hold bear's oil, of which the Indians were very fond. They
+mixed their hominy with bear's oil and maple sugar, and they cooked
+their venison in oil and sugar also.
+
+The Indians gave James an Indian name. They called him Scouwa. The
+Indians gave him a gun. Once when they trusted him to go into the woods
+alone, he got lost, and staid out all night. Then they took away his
+gun, and gave him a bow and arrow, such as boys carried. For nearly two
+years he had to carry a bow and arrows like a boy.
+
+He was once left behind when there was a great snowstorm. He could not
+find the footsteps of the others, on account of the driving snow. But
+after a while he found a hollow tree. There was a little room three
+feet wide in the inside of the tree. He chopped a great many sticks
+with his tomahawk to close up the opening in the side of the tree. He
+left only a hole big enough for him to crawl in through. He fixed a
+block for a kind of door, so as to close this hole by drawing the door
+shut when he was inside. When the hole was shut, it was dark in the
+tree.
+
+But James, or Scouwa as he was called, could stand up in the tree. He
+broke up rotten wood to make a bed like a large goose nest. He danced
+up and down on his bed till he was warm. Then he wrapped his blanket
+about him and lay down to sleep, first putting his damp moccasins under
+his head to keep them from freezing. When he awoke, it was dark. The
+hole in the tree was so well closed that he could not tell whether it
+was daylight or not, but he waited a long time to be sure that day had
+come.
+
+Then he felt for the opening. At last he found it. He pushed on the
+block that he had used for a door, but three feet of snow had fallen
+during the night. All his strength would not move the block. He was a
+prisoner under the snow. Not one ray of light could get into this dark
+hole.
+
+Scouwa was now frightened. Not knowing what to do, he lay down again
+and wrapped his blanket round him, and tried to think of a way to get
+out. He said a little prayer to God. Then he felt for the block again.
+This time he pushed and pushed with all his might. The block moved a
+few inches, and snow came tumbling through the hole. This let a little
+daylight in, and Scouwa was happy.
+
+After a while he pulled his blanket tight about him, stuck his tomahawk
+in his belt, and took his bow in hand. Then he dug his way out through
+the snow into the daylight.
+
+All the paths were buried under the deep snow. The young man had no
+compass. The sun was not shining. How could he tell one direction from
+another, or find his way to the Indian camp? The tall, straight trees,
+especially those that stand alone, have moss on the north or northwest
+side. By looking closely at these trees, he found out which way to go.
+It was about noon when he got to the camp. The Indians had made
+themselves snowshoes to go in search of him.
+
+They all gathered about him, glad to see him. But Indians do not ask
+questions at such a time. They led the young man to a tent. There they
+gave him plenty of fat beaver meat to eat. Then they asked him to
+smoke. While he was resting here, they were building up a large fire in
+the open air. Scouwa's Indian brother asked him to come out to the
+fire. Then all the Indians young and old, gathered about him.
+
+His Indian brother now asked him to tell what had happened to him.
+Scouwa began at the beginning, and told all that had occurred. The
+Indians listened with much eagerness.
+
+Then the Indian brother made him a speech. He told the young man that
+they were glad to see him alive. He told him he had behaved like a man.
+He said, "You will one day be a great man, and do some great things."
+
+Soon after this, the Indians bought him a gun, paying for it with
+skins, and he became a hunter.
+
+
+
+
+HUNGRY TIMES IN THE WOODS.
+
+
+When James Smith, or Scouwa, had been some years among the Indians, he
+was in a winter camp with two of his adopted brothers. The younger of
+these, with his family, went away to another place. Scouwa was left
+with the older brother and his little son.
+
+The older brother was a very wise Indian. He had thought much about
+many things. He talked to his young white brother on many subjects, and
+James always remembered him as a great man.
+
+The wise Indian was now suffering from rheumatism. He could hardly move
+out of his winter hut at all. But he bore it all with gentle patience.
+Scouwa had to do all the hunting for himself, the old man, and the boy.
+
+Almost the only food to be had was deer meat. From time to time Scouwa
+succeeded in killing a deer. But at last there came a crust of snow.
+Whenever the hunter tried to creep up to a deer, the crust would break
+under his feet with a little crash, and the noise would frighten the
+deer away. After a while there was no food in the cabin.
+
+Once Scouwa hunted two days without coming back to the cabin, and with
+nothing to eat. He came back at last empty-handed.
+
+The wise Indian asked him, "What luck did you have, brother?"
+
+"None at all," said Scouwa.
+
+"Are you not very hungry?" asked the Indian.
+
+"I do not feel so hungry now as I did," said the young man, "but I am
+very faint and weary."
+
+Then the lame Indian told the little boy to bring something to eat. The
+boy had made a broth out of the dry old bones of foxes and wild-cats
+that lay about the camp. Scouwa ate this broth eagerly, and liked it.
+
+Then the old chief talked to Scouwa. He told him that the Great Spirit
+would provide food for them. He talked in this way for some time.
+
+At last he said, "Brother, go to sleep, and rise early in the morning
+and go hunting. Be strong, and act like a man. The Great Spirit will
+direct your way."
+
+In the morning James set out early, but the deer heard his feet
+breaking through the snow crust. Whenever he caught sight of them, they
+were already running away. The young man now grew very hungry. He made
+up his mind to escape from the Indians, and to try to reach his home in
+Pennsylvania. He knew that Indian hunters would probably see him and
+kill him, but he was so nearly starved that he did not care for his
+life.
+
+He walked very fast, traveling toward the east. All at once he saw
+fresh buffalo tracks. He followed these till he came in sight of the
+buffaloes; then, faint as he was, he ran on ahead of the animals, and
+hid himself.
+
+[Illustration: Scouwa shoots a Buffalo.]
+
+When the buffaloes came near, he fired his gun, and killed a large
+buffalo cow. He quickly kindled a fire, and cut off a piece of the
+meat, which he put to roast by the fire. But he was too hungry to wait.
+He took his meat away from the fire, and ate it before it was cooked.
+
+When his hunger was satisfied, he began to think about the wise Indian
+and his little boy. He could not bear to leave them to starve, so he
+gave up his plan of escaping.
+
+He hung the meat of the buffalo where the wolves could not get at it.
+Then he took what he could carry, and traveled back thirteen tedious
+miles through the snow.
+
+It was moonlight when he got to the hut. The wise Indian was as
+good-natured as ever. He did not let hunger make him cross. He asked
+Scouwa if he were not tired. He told the little boy to make haste and
+cook some meat.
+
+"I will cook for you," said Scouwa. "Let the boy roast some meat for
+himself."
+
+The boy threw some meat on the coals, but he was so hungry that he ate
+it before it was cooked. Scouwa cut some buffalo meat into thin slices,
+and put the slices into a kettle to stew for the starving man. When
+these had boiled awhile, he was going to take them off, but the Indian
+said,
+
+"No, let it cook enough."
+
+And so, hungry as he was, the wise Indian waited till the meat was well
+cooked, and then ate without haste, and talked about being thankful to
+the Great Spirit.
+
+The next day Scouwa started back for another load of buffalo meat. When
+he had gone five miles, he saw a tree which a bear had taken for its
+winter home. The hole in the tree was far from the ground. Scouwa made
+some bundles of dry, half-rotten wood. These he put on his back, and
+then climbed a small tree that stood close to the one with a hole in
+it. The rotten wood he touched to a burning stick from a fire he had
+kindled. Then he dropped the smoking bundles of rotten wood one after
+another down into the bear's den, and quickly slid to the ground again.
+
+The bear did not like smoke. After a while he crawled out of the hole
+to get breath. Scouwa shot him.
+
+He hung the bear meat out of the reach of wolves, and carried back to
+the hut all that he could take at one time. The old man and the boy
+were greatly pleased when they heard that there was bear meat as well
+as buffalo meat in plenty. After this they had food enough.
+
+
+
+
+SCOUWA BECOMES A WHITE MAN AGAIN.
+
+
+The next year after this hard winter in the woods, the Indians that
+Scouwa lived with went down the River St. Lawrence to Canada. At this
+time Canada belonged to the French. The French were at war with the
+English, to whom Pennsylvania belonged. The Indians were on the side of
+the French.
+
+Scouwa heard that there were prisoners from his country who were to be
+sent back in exchange for French prisoners. He slipped away from the
+Indians, and went to Montreal. Here he put himself among the other
+prisoners.
+
+After a while the prisoners were sent back to their own country. Scouwa
+came to his own family again. They did not know that he was alive. He
+put on white man's clothes. He let his hair grow like a white man's. He
+spoke English once more. He was no longer called Scouwa, but James
+Smith. But still he walked like an Indian. All his movements were those
+of an Indian. He had lived nearly six years among the savages.
+
+He afterward became a colonel among the white men. He moved to
+Kentucky, and fought against the Indians. But he made his men dress and
+fight as the red men did. He thought it was the best way of fighting in
+the woods.
+
+
+
+
+A BABY LOST IN THE WOODS.
+
+
+When people first began to move across the Alleghany Mountains, there
+were no roads for wagons; but there were narrow paths called trails.
+Families traveled to the west, carrying their goods on horseback along
+these trails. Here is a story that will show you how they traveled.
+
+Among those who went from Virginia to Kentucky, in 1781, was a man
+named Benjamin Craig, who took his whole family with him. Mr. Craig
+wore a hunting shirt and leggings of buckskin and a fur cap. Like all
+men in the backwoods, he carried a hatchet and a knife stuck in his
+belt, and he almost always had his old-fashioned flintlock rifle on his
+right shoulder. A horn to hold powder was worn under his left arm, and
+supported by a string over his right shoulder. He had a little buckskin
+bag of bullets fastened to his belt. At the head of the party, he
+traveled over the mountains on foot, walking before his horses.
+
+The horses came one after another. On the first horse rode Mrs. Craig.
+She carried her baby in her arms. Tied on the back of the horse were a
+pot and a skillet for frying. In a bag on the same horse were some
+pewter plates and cups, and a few knives and forks.
+
+The horse on which Mrs. Craig rode was followed by a pack horse; that
+is, a horse carrying things fastened on his back. This horse was led by
+means of a rope halter, the end of which was tied to the saddle of the
+horse in front. The pack on his back contained some meal and some salt.
+This was all the food the family carried for the long journey over the
+mountains. Mr. Craig expected to get meat by shooting deer or wild
+turkeys in the woods.
+
+The same pack horse carried a flat piece of iron to make a plow, and
+some hoes and axes. The hoes and axes were without handles, except one
+ax, which was used to cut firewood during the journey. Handles could be
+made for the tools after the family got to Kentucky.
+
+Behind this horse another one was tied. He carried two great
+basket-like things hanging on each side of him. These baskets or crates
+were made of hickory boughs. All the clothing and bedding that people
+could take on such long and rough journeys was stored in these crates.
+
+In the middle of each crate a hole was left. In one of these holes rode
+little Master George, a boy of six. In the other was stowed Betsey, a
+girl of four. One fine day during the journey, the baby was put into
+the basket by the side of Betsey, and then the two older children
+amused themselves by pointing out to the baby the things they saw by
+the wayside.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+At length the narrow trail or path passed along the edge of a dangerous
+cliff. George and Betsey shut their eyes, so as not to see how steep
+the place was. They were afraid the horse might fall off, and they be
+dashed to pieces. But baby Ben only laughed and crowed, for what did a
+little fellow like him know about danger. A hired man walked behind the
+last horse to see that nothing was lost.
+
+When night came, the horses were unloaded and turned loose. The little
+bells tied round their necks had been stuffed with grass during the day
+to keep them from jingling. This grass was removed, and the bells set
+a-tinkling, so that the horses could be found in the morning. The tired
+pack horses began at once to eat the long grass, now and then nibbling
+the boughs of young trees.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+A fire was built by a stream, and supper was cooked. If it had been
+raining, the men would have built a little tent of boughs or bark for
+the family, but, as the weather was clear, beds were made of grass and
+dry leaves in the open air. The whole family slept under blue woolen
+coverlets, with only the starry sky for shelter. The fire was kept up
+for fear of wolves.
+
+In the morning the children played about while the mother got
+breakfast. When the meal was over, Mr. Craig and the hired man went to
+look for one of the horses that had strayed away. Baby Ben climbed into
+his mother's lap, as she sat upon the log, and fell asleep. In order to
+have things all packed by the time the men returned, the mother laid
+the little fellow on some long dry grass that grew among the boughs of
+a fallen tree. When the father returned, it was nine o'clock. He
+hurried the mother upon her horse among the pots and pans, saying that
+he wished to overtake a company of travelers that was ahead of him, so
+as to travel more safely.
+
+"Now fetch me the baby," said Mrs. Craig.
+
+"No, mother, please let the baby ride with me again," said little
+Betsey, just come back from washing her face in the creek.
+
+"All right," said Mrs. Craig. "Put the baby on with the children. This
+horse is slow, and I will ride on. You can bring the other horses, and
+catch up with me soon."
+
+By the time the second horse was loaded, and George and Betsey were
+stowed away in their baskets, both the father and Betsey had forgotten
+about the baby. The mother had got so far ahead that it took the other
+horses nearly an hour to overtake her's.
+
+"Where is the baby?" cried the mother when she looked back and saw but
+two children on the horse behind.
+
+Sure enough, where was the baby? Lying under a tree top in the lonesome
+woods, where there might be fierce wolves, great panthers, or hungry
+wildcats.
+
+Mr. Craig was almost frantic when he thought of the baby's danger. He
+stripped the things from the middle horse, and sprang on his back, gun
+in hand. He laid whip to the horse, and was soon galloping back over
+the rough path. For more than an hour the mother and children waited
+with the hired man, to learn whether the baby had been killed by some
+wild animal or not.
+
+At last the sound of Mr. Craig's horse coming back was heard, and all
+held their breath. As the father came in sight in a full gallop, he
+shouted, "Here he is, safe and sound! The little rascal hadn't waked
+up."
+
+Mrs. Craig and Betsey shed tears of joy. George turned his face away,
+and wiped his eyes with his coat sleeve. He wasn't going to cry: he was
+a boy.
+
+
+
+
+ELIZABETH ZANE.
+
+
+On the banks of the Ohio River, near the place where the city of
+Wheeling now stands, there was once a fort called Fort Henry. This fort
+was of the kind called a blockhouse, which is a house built of logs
+made to fit close together. The upper part of the house jutted out
+beyond the lower, in order that the men in the blockhouse might shoot
+downwards at the Indians if they should come near the house to set it
+on fire. Fort Henry was surrounded with a stockade; that is, a fence
+made by setting posts in the ground close together.
+
+During the Revolutionary War the Indians in the neighborhood of this
+fort were fighting on the side of the English. A large number of them
+came to Fort Henry, and tried to take it. All the men that were sent
+outside of the fort to fight the Indians were either killed, or kept
+from going back. The women and the children of the village which stood
+near had all gone into the fort for safety.
+
+When at last the fiercest attack of the Indians was made, there were
+only twelve men and boys left inside of the fort. These men and boys
+had made up their minds to do their best to save the lives of the women
+and children who were with them. Every man and every boy in the fort
+knew how to shoot a rifle. They had guns enough, but they had very
+little powder. So they fired only when they were sure of hitting one of
+the enemy.
+
+The Indians kept shooting all the time. Some of them crept near to the
+blockhouse, and tried to shoot through the cracks, but the bullets of
+the men inside brought down these brave warriors.
+
+After many hours of fighting, the Indians went off a little way to
+rest. The white men had now used nearly all their gunpowder. They began
+to wish for a keg of powder that had been left in one of the houses
+outside. They knew that whoever should go for this would be seen and
+fired at by the Indians. He would have to run to the house and back
+again. The colonel called his men together, and told them he did not
+wish to order any man to do so dangerous a thing as to get the powder,
+but he said he should like to have some one offer to go for it.
+
+Three or four young men offered to go. The colonel told them he could
+not spare more than one of them. They must settle among themselves
+which one should go. But each one of the brave fellows wanted to go,
+and none of them was willing to give up to another. Then there stepped
+forward a young woman named Elizabeth Zane.
+
+"Let me go for the powder," she said.
+
+The brave men were surprised. It would be a desperate thing for a man
+to go. Nobody had dreamed that a woman would venture to do such a
+thing, nor would any of them agree to let a young woman go into danger.
+
+[Illustration: Elizabeth Zane's Return.]
+
+The colonel said, "No," her friends begged her not to run the risk.
+They told her, besides, that any one of the young men could run faster
+than she could.
+
+But Elizabeth said, "You cannot spare a single man. There are not
+enough men in the fort now. If I am killed, you will be as strong to
+fight as before. Let the young men stay where they are needed, and let
+me go for the powder."
+
+She had made up her mind, and nobody could persuade her not to go. So
+the gate of the fort was opened just wide enough for her to get out.
+Her friends gave her up to die.
+
+Some of the Indians saw the gate open, and saw the young woman running
+to the house, but they did not shoot at her. They probably thought that
+they would not waste a bullet on a woman. They could make her a
+prisoner at any time.
+
+She did not try to carry the powder keg, but she took the powder in a
+girl's way. She filled her apron with it. When she came out of the
+house with her apron full of powder, and started to run back to the
+fort, the Indians fired at her. It happened that all of their bullets
+missed her. The gate was opened again, and she got safely into the
+fort. The men were glad that they had powder enough, and they all felt
+braver than ever, after they had seen what a girl could do.
+
+The Indians had seen the gate opened to let her out and to let her in
+again. They thought they could force the gate open; but they could not
+go and push against it, because the men in the blockhouse would shoot
+them if they did. So they made a wooden cannon. They got a hollow log
+and stopped up one end of it. Then they went to the blacksmith's shop
+in the little village and got some chains. They tied these chains round
+the log to hold it together. They had no cannon balls, so, after
+putting gunpowder into the log, they put in stones and bits of iron.
+After dark that evening they dragged this wooden cannon up near to the
+gate. When all was ready, they touched off their cannon. The log cannon
+burst into pieces, and killed some of the Indians, but did not hurt the
+fort.
+
+The next day white men came from other places to help the men in the
+fort. They got into the fort, and after a few more attacks the Indians
+gave up the battle and went away.
+
+Whenever the story of the brave fight at Fort Henry is told, people do
+not forget that the bravest one in it was the girl that brought her
+apron full of gunpowder to the men in the fort.
+
+
+
+
+THE RIVER PIRATES.
+
+
+A hundred years ago the country near the great rivers in the interior
+of the United States was a wilderness. It contained only a few people,
+and these lived in settlements which were widely separated from one
+another. Hardly any of the great trees had been cut down.
+
+There were no roads, except Indian trails through the woods. Nearly all
+travelers had to follow the rivers. Steamboats had not yet been
+invented. Travelers made journeys on flatboats, keel boats, and barges.
+It was easy enough to go down the Ohio and the Mississippi in this way,
+but it was hard to come up again. It took about fifty men to work a
+boat against the stream, and many months were spent in going up the
+river.
+
+Boats were pushed up the river by means of poles. The boatmen pushed
+these against the bottom of the river. When the water was deep or the
+current very swift, a rope was taken out ahead of the boat, and tied to
+a tree on the bank. The line was then slowly drawn in by means of a
+capstan, and this drew the boat forward.
+
+Sometimes the boat was "cordelled," or towed by the men walking on the
+shore and drawing the barge by a rope held on their shoulders. But when
+there chanced to be a strong wind blowing upstream, the boatmen would
+hoist sail, and joyfully make headway against the current without so
+much toil.
+
+These slow-going boats were in danger from Indians. They were in even
+greater danger from robbers, who hid themselves along the shore. Some
+of these robbers lived in caves. Some kept boats hidden in the mouths
+of streams that flowed into the large rivers.
+
+In 1787 all the country west of the Mississippi still belonged to
+France. The French territory stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to what
+is now Minnesota. It was all called Louisiana. New Orleans and St.
+Louis were then French towns, and the travel between them was carried
+on by means of boats, which floated down the stream, and were then
+brought back by poles, ropes, and sails.
+
+The trip was as long as a voyage to China is nowadays. The boats or
+barges set out from St. Louis in the spring, carrying furs. They got
+back again in the fall with goods purchased in New Orleans.
+
+In this year, 1787, a barge belonging to a Mr. Beausoleil (bo-so-lay)
+started from New Orleans to make the voyage to St. Louis. The goods
+with which it was loaded were very valuable. Slowly the men toiled up
+against the stream day after day. At length the little vessel came near
+to the mouth of Cottonwood Creek. A well-known robber band lurked at
+this place. With joy the boatmen saw a favorable wind spring up. They
+spread their sails, and the driving gale carried the barge in safety
+past the mouth of the creek.
+
+But the pirates of Cottonwood Creek were unwilling to lose so rich a
+treasure. They sent a company of men by a short cut overland to head
+off the barge at a place farther up the river. Two days after passing
+Cottonwood Creek the bargemen brought the boat to land. They felt
+themselves beyond danger. But the robbers came suddenly out of the
+woods, took possession of the boat, and ordered the crew to return down
+the river to Cottonwood Creek.
+
+When they turned back toward the robbers' den, Beausoleil was in
+despair. His whole fortune was on the barge. He did not know whether
+the robbers would kill him and his men, or not. The only man of the
+crew who showed no regret was the cook. This cook was a fine-looking
+and very intelligent mulatto slave named Cacasotte. Instead of
+repining, he fell to dancing and laughing.
+
+"I am glad the boat was taken," he cried. "I have been beaten and
+abused long enough. Now I am freed from a hard master."
+
+Cacasotte devoted himself to his new masters, the robbers. In a little
+while he had won their confidence. He was permitted to go wherever he
+pleased, without any watch upon his movements.
+
+He found a chance to talk with Beausoleil, and to lay before him a plan
+for retaking the boat from the villains. Beausoleil thought the
+undertaking too dangerous, but at length he gave his consent. Cacasotte
+then whispered his plan to two others of the crew.
+
+Dinner was served to the pirates on deck. Cacasotte took his place by
+the bow of the boat, so as to be near the most dangerous of the
+robbers. This robber was a powerful man, well armed. When Cacasotte saw
+that the others had taken their places as he had directed, he gave the
+signal, and then pushed the huge robber at his side into the water. In
+three minutes the powerful Cacasotte had thrown fourteen of the robbers
+into the waves. The other men had also done their best. The deck was
+cleared of the pirates, who had to swim for their lives. The robbers
+who remained in the boat were too few to resist. Beausoleil found
+himself again master of his barge, thanks to the coolness and courage
+of Cacasotte.
+
+But the bargemen dared not go on up the river. Against the stream they
+would have to go slowly, and there would be danger from the robbers
+remaining at Cottonwood Creek: so they kept on down the river to New
+Orleans.
+
+The next year ten boats left New Orleans in company. These barges
+carried small cannons, and their crew were all armed. When they reached
+Cottonwood Creek, men were seen on shore; but when an armed force was
+landed, the robbers had fled. The long, low hut which had been their
+dwelling remained. There were also several flatboats loaded with
+valuable goods taken from captured barges. This plunder was carried to
+St. Louis, and restored to the rightful owners. For fifty years
+afterwards this was known as "The Year of the Ten Boats." Cacasotte's
+brave victory was not soon forgotten.
+
+
+
+
+OLD-FASHIONED TELEGRAPHS.
+
+
+THE MUSKET TELEGRAPH.
+
+
+There are many people living who can remember when there were no
+telegraphs such as we have now. The telephone is still younger.
+Railroads are not much older than telegraphs. Horses and stagecoaches
+were slow. How did people send messages quickly when there were no
+telegraph wires?
+
+When colonies in America were first settled by white people, there were
+wars with the Indians. The Indians would creep into a neighborhood and
+kill all the people they could, and then they would get away before the
+soldiers could overtake them. But the white people made a plan to catch
+them.
+
+Whenever the Indians attacked a settlement, the settler who saw them
+first took his gun and fired it three times. Bang, bang, bang! went the
+gun. The settlers who lived near the man who fired the gun heard the
+sound. They knew that three shots following one another quickly, meant
+that the Indians had come.
+
+Every settler who heard the three shots took his gun and fired three
+times. It was bang, bang, bang! again. Then, as soon as he had fired,
+he went in the direction of the first shots. Every man who had heard
+three shots, fired three more, and went toward the shots he had heard.
+Farther and farther away the settlers heard the news, and sent it along
+by firing so that others might hear. Soon little companies of men were
+coming swiftly in every direction. The Indians were sure to be beaten
+off or killed.
+
+This was a kind of telegraph. But there were no wires; there was no
+electricity; only one flint-lock musket waking up another flintlock
+musket, till a hundred guns had been fired, and a hundred men were
+marching to the battle.
+
+
+
+
+TELEGRAPHING BY FIRE.
+
+
+The firing of signal guns was telegraphing by sound. It used only the
+hearing. But there were other ways of telegraphing that used the sight.
+These have been known for thousands of years. They were known even to
+savage people.
+
+The Indians on the plains use fires to telegraph to one another.
+Sometimes they build one fire, sometimes they build many. When a war
+party, coming back from battle, builds five fires on a hill, the
+Indians who see it know that the party has killed five enemies.
+
+But the Indians have also what are known as smoke signals. An Indian
+who wishes to send a message to a party of his friends a long way off,
+builds a fire. When it blazes, he throws an armful of green grass on
+it. This causes the fire to send up a stream of white smoke hundreds of
+feet high, which can be seen fifty miles away in clear weather. Among
+the Apaches, one column of smoke is to call attention; two columns say,
+"All is well, and we are going to remain in this camp;" three columns
+or more are a sign of danger, and ask for help.
+
+[Illustration: A Smoke Signal.]
+
+Sometimes longer messages are sent. After building a fire and putting
+green grass upon it, the Indian spread his blanket over it. He holds
+down the edges, to shut the smoke in. After a few moments he takes his
+blanket off; and when he does this, a great puff of smoke, like a
+balloon, shoots up into the air. This the Indian does over and over.
+One puff of smoke chases another upward. By the number of these puffs,
+and the length of the spaces between them, he makes his meaning
+understood by his friends many miles away.
+
+At night the Indians smear their arrows with something that will burn
+easily. One of them draws his bow. Just as he is about to let his arrow
+fly, another one touches it with fire. The arrow blazes as it shoots
+through the air, like a fiery dragon fly. One burning arrow follows
+another; and those who see them read these telegraph signals, and know
+what is meant.
+
+
+
+
+TELEGRAPHS IN THE REVOLUTION.
+
+
+Our forefathers sometimes used fire to telegraph with in the
+Revolution. Whenever the British troops started on a raid into New
+Jersey, the watchmen on the hilltops lighted great beacon fires. Those
+who saw the fires lighted other fires farther away. These fires let the
+people know that the enemy was coming, for light can travel much faster
+than men on horseback.
+
+Have you heard the story of Paul Revere? When the British were about to
+send troops from Boston to Lexington, Revere and his friends had an
+understanding with the people in Charlestown. Revere was to let them
+know when the troops should march. They were to watch a certain church
+steeple. If one lantern were hung in the steeple, it would mean that
+the British were marching by land. If two lanterns were seen, the
+Charlestown people would know that the troops were leaving Boston by
+water. Revere was sent as a messenger to Lexington. He sent a friend of
+his to hang up the lanterns in the church steeple.
+
+    "Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church,
+    By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
+    To the belfry chamber overhead,
+    And startled the pigeons from their perch
+    On the somber rafters, that round him made
+    Masses and moving shapes of shade,--
+    By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
+    To the highest window in the wall,
+    Where he paused to listen and look down
+    A moment on the roofs of the town,
+    And the moonlight flowing over all."
+
+Long before Paul Revere got across the water in his little boat, the
+people on the other side had seen the lanterns in the tower. They knew
+the British were coming, and were all astir when Paul Revere got over.
+Revere rode on to Lexington and beyond, to alarm the people.
+
+The lines above are from a poem of Longfellow's about this ride. The
+poem is very interesting, but it does not tell the story quite
+correctly.
+
+Paul Revere's lanterns were used at the beginning of the Revolutionary
+War. There is a story of a different sort of telegraph used when the
+war was near its end. It is told by a British officer who had not the
+best means of knowing whether it was true or not. But it shows what
+kind of telegraphs were used in that day. This is the story:--
+
+[Illustration: Old North Church Steeple.]
+
+A British army held New York. Another British army under Cornwallis was
+at Yorktown in Virginia. General Washington had marched to Yorktown. He
+was trying to capture the army of General Cornwallis. He was afraid
+that ships and soldiers would be sent from New York to help Cornwallis.
+But there were men in New York who were secretly on Washington's side.
+One of these was to let him know when ships should sail to help
+Cornwallis.
+
+But Washington was six hundred miles away from New York. How could he
+get the news before the English ships should get there? There were no
+telegraphs. The fastest horses ridden one after another could hardly
+have carried news to him in less than two weeks. But Washington had a
+plan. One of the men who sent news to Washington was living in New
+York. When the ships set sail, he went up on the top of his house and
+hoisted a white flag, or something that looked like a white flag.
+
+On the other side of the Hudson River in a little village a man was
+watching this very house. As soon as he saw the white flag flapping, he
+took up his gun and fired it. Farther off there was a man waiting to
+hear this gun. When he heard it, he fired another gun. Farther on there
+was the crack of another, and then another gun. By the firing of one
+gun after another the news went southward. Bang, bang! went gun after
+gun across the whole State of New Jersey. Then guns in Pennsylvania
+took it up and sent the news onward. Then on across the State of
+Maryland the news went from one gun to another, till it reached
+Virginia, where it passed on from gun to gun till it got to Yorktown.
+In less than two days Washington knew that ships were coming.
+
+When Washington knew that British ships were coming, he pushed the
+fighting at Yorktown with all his might. When the English ships got to
+Chesapeake Bay at last, Cornwallis had already surrendered. The United
+States was free. The ships had come too late.
+
+
+
+
+A BOY'S TELEGRAPH.
+
+
+The best telegraph known before the use of electricity, was invented by
+two schoolboys in France. They were brothers named Chappé (shap-pay).
+They were in different boarding schools some miles apart, and the rules
+of their schools did not allow them to write letters to each other. But
+the two schools were in sight of each other. The brothers invented a
+telegraph. They put up poles with bars of wood on them. These bars
+would turn on pegs or pins. The bars were turned up or down, or one up
+and another down, or two down and one up, and so on. Every movement of
+the bars meant a letter. In this way the two brothers talked to each
+other, though they were miles apart. When the boys became men, they
+sold their plan to the French Government. The money they got made their
+fortune.
+
+[Illustration: A Mail Carrier.]
+
+About the time they were selling this plan to the French Government, a
+boy named Samuel Morse was born in this country. Fifty years later this
+Samuel Morse set up the first Morse electric telegraph, which is the
+one we now use.
+
+In the old days before telegraph wires were strung all over the
+country, it took weeks to carry news to places far away. There were no
+railroads, and the mails had to travel slowly. A boy on a horse trotted
+along the road to carry the mail bags to country places. From one large
+city to another, the mails were carried by stagecoaches.
+
+When the people had voted for President, it was weeks before the news
+of the election could be gathered in. Then it took other weeks to let
+the people in distant villages know the name of the new President.
+Nowadays a great event is known in almost every part of the country on
+the very day it happens.
+
+
+
+
+A BOY'S FOOLISH ADVENTURE.
+
+
+The Natural Bridge has long been thought one of the great curiosities
+of our country. It is in Virginia, and the county in which it is
+situated is called Rockbridge County.
+
+The traveler is riding in a stage on a wild road in the mountains. The
+road grows narrow. Soon it is a mere lane, with high board fences and
+small trees on each side. But the traveler sees nothing to show him
+that he is on the wonderful Natural Bridge.
+
+[Illustration: The Natural Bridge.]
+
+The bridge that he is driving over is about forty feet thick, and of
+solid rock. If he should go to the other side of the board fence, he
+could look down into a ravine more than two hundred feet deep.
+
+When the traveler goes down into the ravine, he looks up at the
+beautiful curve of this great bridge of rock. The bridge is nearly one
+hundred and seventy-five feet above his head.
+
+Many years ago, when the writer of this book was a boy, he stood in the
+dark chasm underneath this bridge and looked up at the great bridge of
+rock above. He took a stone, as all other visitors do, and tried to
+throw it so as to hit the arch of the bridge above. But the stone
+stopped before it got halfway up, and fell back, resounding on the
+rocks below. Then he was told the old story, that nobody had ever
+thrown to the arch except George Washington, who had thrown a silver
+dollar clear to the center of the bridge.
+
+There were names scribbled all over the rocks. People are always trying
+to write their own names in such strange places as this. Above all the
+other names were two rows of mere scratches. If they had ever been
+names, they were too much dimmed to be read by a person standing on the
+rocks below. The lower of these two high names, the people said, was
+the name of Washington. It was said that when he was a young man, he
+climbed higher than any one else to scratch his name on the rock. And
+the name above his, they said, was the name of a young man who had had
+a strange adventure in trying to write his name above that of the
+father of his country.
+
+The story of this young man's climbing up the rocks used to appear in
+the old schoolbooks. It was told with so many romantic additions, that
+it was hard to believe.
+
+The writer afterwards learned that the main fact of the story was true,
+and, that the hero of the story was still living in Virginia.
+
+This foolhardy boy, whose name was Pepper, climbed up the rock to write
+his name above the rest. Pepper climbed up by holding to little broken
+places in the rocks till he had got above the names of all the other
+climbers. He ventured to climb till he had passed the marks which
+people say are part of Washington's name. Here Pepper held fast with
+one hand, while he scratched his name in the rock.
+
+His companions were far below him. He could not get down again. The
+rock face was too smooth. He could not stoop to put his hands down into
+the cracks where his feet were. If he had tried to, he would have lost
+his hold, and been dashed to pieces on the rocks below.
+
+There was nothing to do now but to climb out from under the bridge, and
+so up the face of the rock to the top of the gorge. He must do this or
+die.
+
+Painfully clinging to the rock with his toes and his fingers, he worked
+his way up. Sometimes a crevice in the rock helped him. Sometimes he
+had to dig a place with his knife in order to get a hold. It seemed
+that each step would be his last.
+
+The few people living in the neighborhood heard of his situation, and
+gathered below and above to look at him. They watched him with
+breathless anxiety. His friends expected to see him dashed to pieces at
+any moment.
+
+As the time wore on, he worked his way up. He also got farther out from
+under the bridge. He held on like a cat. He hooked his fingers into
+every crack he could find. He dug holes with his dull knife. When he
+could find a little bush in the rocks, he thought himself lucky.
+
+Men let down ropes to him, but the ropes did not reach him. They tied
+one rope to another so as to reach farther down, but he was too far
+under the bridge. The people hardly dared to speak or to breathe.
+
+At last he began to get out at the side of the bridge where he could be
+seen from above. His strength was almost gone. His knife was too much
+worn to be of any use. He could not cling to the rock much longer.
+
+A rope with a noose in it was swung close to him. He let go his grip on
+the rock, and threw his arms and body into the noose. In a moment he
+swung clear of the rock, and dangled in the air. The rope drew tight
+about his body and held him. Young Pepper knew no more. He was drawn up
+over the rocks to the summit quite unconscious.
+
+Years afterward he became a man of distinction in his State. But when
+any of his friends asked Colonel Pepper about his climbing out from
+under the Natural Bridge, he would say, "Yes; I did that when I was a
+foolish boy, but I don't like to think about it."
+
+
+
+
+A FOOT RACE FOR LIFE.
+
+
+In 1803 that part of our country which lies west of the Mississippi was
+almost unknown to the white men. In that year the President sent
+Captain Lewis and Captain Clark to see what the country was like. They
+went up the Missouri River and across the Rocky Mountains. Then they
+went down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. It took them more
+than two years to make the trip there and back.
+
+Lewis and Clark had about forty-five men with them. One of these men
+was named Colter. In the very heart of the wild country he left the
+party, and set up as a trapper. A trapper is a man who catches animals
+in traps in order to get their skins to sell. The Blackfoot Indians
+made Colter a prisoner. Colter knew a little of their language. He
+heard them talking of how they should kill their prisoner. They thought
+it would be fun to set him up and shoot at him with their arrows until
+he was dead. At this time the Indians on the western plains had no
+guns. But the Indian chief thought he knew a better way. He laid hold
+of Colter's shoulder, and said,--
+
+"Can you run fast?"
+
+Colter could run very swiftly, but he pretended to the chief that he
+was a bad runner. So they took him out on the prairie about four
+hundred yards away from the Indians. There he was turned loose, and
+told to run.
+
+The whole band of Indians ran after him, yelling like wild beasts.
+Colter did not look back. He had to run through thorns that hurt his
+bare feet. But he was running for his life. Six miles away there was a
+river. If he could get to that, he might escape.
+
+He almost flew over the ground. At first he did not turn his head
+round. When he had run about three miles, he glanced back. Most of the
+Indians had lost ground. The best runners were ahead of the others. One
+Indian, swifter than all the rest, was only about a hundred yards
+behind him. This man had a spear in his hand to kill Colter as soon as
+he should be near enough.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Poor Colter now ran harder than ever to get away from this Indian. At
+last he was only about a mile from the river. He looked back, and saw
+the swift Indian only twenty yards away, with his spear ready to throw.
+
+It was of no use for Colter to keep on running. He turned round and
+faced the swift runner, who was about to throw his spear. Colter spread
+his arms wide, and stood still.
+
+The Indian was surprised at this. He tried to stop running, so as to
+kill the white man with his spear. But he had already run himself
+nearly to death, and, when he tried to stop quickly, he lost his
+balance, and fell forward to the ground. His lance stuck in the earth,
+and broke in two.
+
+Colter quickly pulled the pointed end of the spear out of the ground
+and killed the fallen Indian. Then he turned and ran on toward the
+river.
+
+The other Indians were coming swiftly behind; but, as they passed the
+place where the first one lay dead, each of them stopped a moment to
+howl over him, after their custom. This gave Colter a little more time.
+He reached a patch of woods near the river. He ran through this to the
+river, and jumped in He swam toward a little island.
+
+Logs and brush had floated down the river, and lodged across the
+island. This driftwood had formed a great raft. Colter dived under this
+raft. He swam to a place where he could push his head up to get air,
+and still be hidden by the brush.
+
+The Indians were already yelling on the bank of the river. A moment
+later they were swimming toward the island. When they reached the drift
+pile, they ran this way and that. They looked into all the cracks and
+tried to find the white man. They ran right over his hiding place.
+Colter thought they would surely find him.
+
+But after a long time they went away. Colter thought they would set
+fire to the raft of driftwood, but they did not think of that. Perhaps
+they thought that Colter had been drowned.
+
+He lay still under the raft till night came. Then he swam down the
+stream a long distance, left the stream, and went far out on the
+prairie. Here he felt himself safe from his enemies.
+
+But he had no clothes and no food. He had no gun to shoot animals with.
+It was several days' journey to the nearest place where there were
+white men, at a trading house.
+
+Colter had nothing to eat but roots. The sun burned his skin in the
+daytime. He shivered without a covering at night. The thorns hurt his
+feet when he walked, but he found his way to the trading house at last.
+
+He used to tell of wonderful things that he saw while traveling to the
+trading house after he got away from the Indians. He saw springs that
+were boiling hot and steaming. He saw fountains that would sometimes
+spout hot water into the air for hundreds of feet.
+
+These and many other wonderful things that he saw at this time he used
+to tell about. But nobody believed his stories. Nobody had ever seen
+anything of the kind in this country. When Colter would tell of these
+things, those who heard him thought that he was making up stories, or
+that he had been out of his head while traveling and had thought he saw
+such wonders.
+
+But after many long years the wonderful place which we call Yellowstone
+Park was found, and in it were boiling and spouting springs. People
+knew then that Colter had been telling the truth, and that he had
+traveled through the Yellowstone country.
+
+[Illustration: A Geyser.]
+
+
+
+
+LORETTO AND HIS WIFE.
+
+
+In old times white men had not made settlements in the country near the
+Rocky Mountains. Tribes of Indians fought one another over that whole
+region. A few bold white men, fond of wild life, lived there, in order
+to hunt and trap the animals that bear furs. But they themselves were
+always in danger of being hunted by the Indians.
+
+The Indians called Blackfeet and those called Crows were at war; They
+stole each other's horses at every chance, and the Indians of each
+tribe were always seeking to kill those of the other.
+
+In one of their attacks on the Blackfeet, the Crows carried off an
+Indian girl. One of the bold trappers of the Rocky Mountains was a
+Mexican. His name was Loretto. He visited a Crow village once, and saw
+this girl. He fell in love with the captive, and bought her from the
+Crows. Whether he paid for her in horses or in beaver skins, I do not
+know. But from a slave of the enemies of her tribe she was changed to
+the wife of a white man who loved her.
+
+Loretto was hired to trap for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. This
+company bought furs from the Indians of the Far West. They sent large
+parties to the mountains every year with guns, knives, hatchets,
+blankets, and other things, which they traded to the Indians for skins.
+
+Loretto was marching over the plains with a party of trappers belonging
+to this company. He had his young Blackfoot wife and his baby with him.
+The white men were much afraid of the Blackfoot Indians. The company
+that Loretto was with examined every ravine that they passed, for fear
+that the Indians would surprise them.
+
+One day a band of the Blackfoot tribe appeared on the prairie, but they
+kept near some rocks to which they could easily retire. They made signs
+of friendship. The trappers also made friendly signs. Then the
+Blackfeet sent out a party with a pipe of peace. The white men sent out
+a party to meet them. They smoked the pipe in the open ground between
+the two companies. This is the Indian way of making peace.
+
+Of course, Loretto's wife was much interested in the Blackfeet. They
+were her own people. It had been a long time since she had seen one of
+them. She looked closely at the company smoking together, and saw that
+one of them was her brother. She handed the child to Loretto. Then she
+rushed out to the place where the treaty was going on, and her brother
+threw his arms about her with the greatest affection.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+But just at that moment, Bridger, the captain of the white men, rode
+out where the pipe was being smoked. He had his rifle across the pommel
+of his saddle. The chief of the Blackfeet came up to shake hands with
+him. Bridger was afraid the chief meant to hurt him, so he slyly cocked
+his rifle. The chief heard the click, and seized the gun. He bent it
+downwards, and the gun went off, shooting a bullet into the ground. The
+chief took the gun and knocked Bridger off his horse with it. Then he
+mounted Bridger's horse and galloped back to his Indians. Indians and
+white men now got behind the rocks and trees which were not far away,
+and began to shoot at each other.
+
+Loretto's wife was carried away by her tribe. In vain she struggled to
+get free, and begged to be allowed to go back to her husband and child.
+The Indians would not let her go.
+
+Loretto saw her struggles, and heard her cries. He took his child, and
+ran to the Indians with it. He handed the child to its mother. The
+Indian bullets and arrows were flying all about him.
+
+The chief saw him carry the child across the open ground, and his heart
+was touched. It was a noble action.
+
+He said to Loretto, "You are crazy to go into such danger, but go back
+in peace; you shall not be hurt."
+
+Loretto begged to be allowed to take his wife with him, but her brother
+would not let her go, and the chief now began to look angry.
+
+"The girl belongs to her tribe," he said. "She shall not go back."
+
+Loretto wanted to stay with his wife, but she begged him to go back,
+lest he should be killed on the spot. At last he left her, and went
+back to the white men.
+
+Night came on, and the Indians drew off. Not much harm had been done to
+anybody.
+
+Loretto could not be happy without his wife. A few months later, he
+settled his accounts with the Fur Company and went away. He went boldly
+into one of the villages of the savage Blackfeet. Here he found his
+wife, and staid with her.
+
+When the white men made peace with the Blackfeet, they set up a trading
+house among them. Loretto joined the traders. They were glad to have
+him, because he could speak the language of the tribe.
+
+
+
+
+A BLACKFOOT STORY.
+
+
+Here is a story the Indians tell. It is one of the tales with which
+they amuse themselves in long evenings. It may be true. At least, the
+Indians tell it for true.
+
+An Indian chief of the tribe called Blackfoot, or Blackfeet, went over
+the Rocky Mountains with a war party. He killed some of the enemies of
+his tribe, and then started back. For fear their enemies would follow
+their tracks, the party did not take the usual path. They went up over
+the wildest part of the mountain. But when it came to going down on the
+other side, the Indians had a hard time.
+
+They had to clamber over great rocks and down the sides of cliffs.
+Drifts of snow blocked their way in places. At last they had to stop.
+They stood on the edge of a cliff. Below this cliff was a ridge or
+shelf of rock. By tying themselves together, and so helping one another
+down, they got to this shelf. Below this they found still another
+cliff. It was harder to get down to this.
+
+But when they had got down as far as this ledge, they were in a worse
+plight than ever. They stood on the brink of a great cliff. The rocks
+were too steep for them to get down. It was hundreds of feet to the
+bottom.
+
+They tried to get back up the mountain, but that they could not do.
+Then they sat down and looked over the brink of the cliff. There was no
+chance for them to get down alive. They must stay there and starve.
+
+The Indians filled their pipes with kinnikinnick, or willow bark, and
+smoked. Then they knocked the ashes out of their pipes, and lay down to
+sleep.
+
+But the chief did not sleep. He could not think of any way of getting
+out of the trouble. When morning came, they all went and looked over
+the cliff once more. Then they smoked again. After sitting silent for
+some time, the chief laid down his pipe quietly, got to his feet, and
+went to painting his face as if he were getting ready for a feast. He
+arranged his dress with the greatest care. Then he made a little
+speech.
+
+"It is of no use to stay here and die," he said. "The Great Spirit is
+not willing that we should get away. Let us die bravely."
+
+He added other remarks of the same kind. Then he sang his death song.
+When this was finished, he gave a shout, and leaped over the cliff.
+
+When the chief had gone, the others sat down and smoked again in
+silence. After a long time, a weather-beaten old Indian got up and
+walked to the edge of the cliff.
+
+"See," he said, "there is the soul of our chief, waiting for us to go
+with him to the land of spirits."
+
+The others looked over, and saw the form of a man far below, waving the
+bough of a tree.
+
+The old warrior now threw off his blanket and sang his death song. Then
+he leaped off. The others again looked over, and this time they saw two
+forms beckoning to them from below.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+One after another the Indians jumped, until there were left but two
+young men who were little more than boys. These two boys were nephews
+of the chief. They had never been in a war party.
+
+The elder of the two showed his young brother the ghosts of the whole
+party standing below. He told his brother he must jump off, but the
+frightened boy begged to be allowed to stay and die on the bare rock.
+
+The elder seized him, and, after a struggle, pushed him over. Then he
+quietly gathered up all the blankets and guns, and threw them off. He
+thought the souls of his friends would need these things in their
+journey to the land of spirits.
+
+When this was done, the young man sang his own death song and jumped
+off. Falling swiftly as an arrow, feet downward, he struck a great snow
+drift at the bottom. It received him like an immense feather bed. He
+sank in so far that he had hard work to get out. When he had succeeded,
+he found all of his party, not spirits, as he had expected, but living
+men, safe and sound. The snow had saved them from injury.
+
+
+
+
+HOW FREMONT CROSSED THE MOUNTAINS.
+
+
+It is many years now since Captain Fremont made his great journey over
+plains and mountains to California. At that time California belonged to
+Mexico. The wild country east of it belonged to the United States.
+There were hardly any roads and no railroads in the country west of the
+Missouri River. Fremont was sent out to explore that country; that is,
+he was sent to find out what kind of a country it was. The white people
+knew very little about it.
+
+Fremont had a large party of men with many horses. After months of
+travel he found himself near the great Californian mountains. These
+mountains are called the Sierra Nevada, or "Snowy Range."
+
+Here some Indians came to see him. He had a talk with them by signs,
+for he could not speak their language. They told him he could cross the
+mountains in summer. They said it was "six sleeps" to the place where
+the white men lived over the mountains. They meant that a man would
+have to pass six nights on the road in going there. But it was now
+winter, and they told him that no man could cross in the winter. They
+held their hands above their heads to show him that the snow was deeper
+than a man is tall.
+
+But Fremont told the Indians that the horses of the white men were
+strong, and that he would go over the mountains. He showed them some
+bright-colored cloths, which he said he would give to any Indian who
+would go along as a guide. The Indians called in a young man who said
+he had been over the mountains and had seen the white people on the
+other side. He agreed to go with Fremont. Fremont now talked to his
+men, and told them there was a beautiful valley on the other side of
+the mountains,--the valley of the Sacramento. He told them that Captain
+Sutter had moved to this valley from Missouri, and had become a rich
+man. It was but seventy miles to Sutter's Fort. The men agreed to try
+to cross the mountains.
+
+They had but little left to eat. They killed a dog and ate it that very
+evening. They would not have much chance to get food in crossing the
+mountains, but they started in bravely the next morning. They did not
+talk much. They knew that it was very dangerous to cross the mountains
+in February.
+
+For days and days they fought their way through the snow, which got
+deeper and deeper as they went higher up into the mountains. Traveling
+grew harder and harder. The horses had nothing to eat but what could be
+found in little patches of grass where the wind had blown the snow off
+the ground. Whenever a horse or mule grew too weak to travel, the men
+killed it and ate it.
+
+One day an old Indian came to see them. He told them they must not go
+on. He said, "Rock upon rock, rock upon rock, snow upon snow, snow upon
+snow, and even if you get over the snow, you will not be able to get
+down the mountain on the other side."
+
+He made signs to show them that the walls of rock were straight up and
+down, and that the horses would slip oft. This frightened the Indians
+in Fremont's company, and one Indian covered up his head and moaned
+while the old man was talking.
+
+The young Indian guide was afraid to go on. He ran away the next day,
+taking all the pretty things that Fremont had given him, and a blanket
+that Fremont had lent him to keep warm.
+
+The men now made snowshoes, so that they could walk over the snow
+without sinking in. Sleds were made to draw the baggage on, for the
+horses were getting too weak to carry anything. They found the snow
+twenty feet deep in some places. The men had to make great mauls or
+pounders to beat down the snow, to make a hard road on which the
+animals could travel. Fremont's men now grew very hungry, for they had
+little to eat except when they killed a starving mule or a dog.
+
+At last the whole party reached the top of the mountains at a place
+where they were nine thousand feet high. They had been three weeks in
+getting to the top. They had yet the hard task of getting down on the
+other side. But they could see the beautiful country of California
+below them. They began to work their way down over the snow and rocks.
+
+After some days Fremont took a party of eight men, and went on to get
+provisions for the rest. But for a long distance he found no grass, and
+his animals began to give out. One of his men grew so hungry and tired
+that he became insane for a while. Another got lost from the party, and
+found them only after several days. He told the rest that he had
+suffered so much from hunger that he ate small toads, and even let the
+large ants creep upon his hands so that he could eat them.
+
+One day Fremont saw some Indian huts. The Indians ran away when they
+saw the white men coming. Fremont found near these huts some great
+baskets as big as hogsheads filled with acorns. Inside the huts he
+found smaller baskets with roasted acorns in them. The men took about
+half a bushel of these roasted acorns, and left a shirt, some
+handkerchiefs, and some trinkets, to pay for them.
+
+At last they came to a place where there were paths, and tracks of
+cattle. The horses, having found grass to eat, grew strong enough for
+the men to ride them. One day Fremont found some Indians, one of whom
+could speak Spanish.
+
+The Indian said, "I am a herdsman, and work for Captain Sutter."
+
+"Where does he live?"
+
+"Just over the hill. I will show you."
+
+In a short time Fremont and his white men were at the house of Sutter.
+But Captain Fremont rested only one night. The next morning he started
+back with food for his starving men, who were coming on behind. The
+second day after he left Sutter's he met his men.
+
+They were a sad sight. They were all on foot. Each man was leading a
+horse as weak and lean as he was himself. Many of the horses had fallen
+off the rocks, and had been killed. Only half of the mules and horses
+that had started over the mountains had lived to get across. As soon as
+Fremont met his men, he told them to camp. He fed the poor starving
+fellows beef and bread and fresh salmon. The next day they all reached
+the beautiful Sacramento River, where the city of Sacramento now
+stands.
+
+
+
+
+FINDING GOLD IN CALIFORNIA.
+
+
+California once belonged to Mexico. Then there was a war between this
+country and Mexico. This is what we call the Mexican War. During that
+war the United States took California away from Mexico. It is now one
+of the richest and most beautiful States in the Union. In the old days,
+when California belonged to Mexico, it was a quiet country. Nearly all
+the white people spoke Spanish, which is the language of Mexico. They
+lived mostly by raising cattle. In those days people did not know that
+there was gold in California. A little gold had been found in the
+southern part of the State, but nobody expected to find valuable gold
+mines. A few people from the United States had settled in the country.
+They also raised cattle.
+
+Some time after the United States had taken California, peace was made
+with Mexico. California then became a part of our country. About the
+time that this peace was made, something happened which made a great
+excitement all over the country. It changed the history of our country,
+and changed the business of the whole world. Here is the story of it:--
+
+A man named Sutter had moved from Missouri to California. He built a
+house which was called Sutter's Fort. It was where the city of
+Sacramento now stands. Sutter had many horses and oxen, and he owned
+thousands of acres of land. He traded with the Indians, and carried on
+other kinds of business.
+
+But everything was done in the slow Mexican way. When he wanted boards,
+he sent men to saw them out by hand. It took two men a whole day to saw
+up a log so as to make a dozen boards. There was no sawmill in all
+California.
+
+When Sutter wanted to grind flour or meal, this also was done in the
+Mexican way. A large stone roller was run over a flat stone. But at
+last Sutter thought he would have a grinding mill of the American sort.
+To build this, he needed boards. He thought he would first build a
+sawmill. Then he could get boards quickly for his grinding mill, and
+have lumber to use for other things.
+
+Sutter sent a man named Marshall to build his sawmill. It was to be
+built forty miles away from Sutter's Fort. The mill had to be where
+there were trees to saw.
+
+Marshall was a very good carpenter, who could build almost anything. He
+had some men working with him. After some months they got the mill
+done. This mill was built to run by water.
+
+But when he started it, the mill did not run well. Marshall saw that he
+must dig a ditch below the great water wheel, to carry off the water.
+He hired wild Indians to dig the ditch.
+
+When the Indians had partly dug this ditch, Marshall went out one
+January morning to look at it. The clear water was running through the
+ditch. It had washed away the sand, leaving the pebbles bare. At the
+bottom of the water Marshall saw something yellow. It looked like
+brass. He put his hand down into the water and took up this bright,
+yellow thing. It was about the size and shape of a small pea. Then he
+looked, and found another pretty little yellow bead at the bottom of
+the ditch.
+
+Marshall trembled all over. It might be gold. But he remembered that
+there is another yellow substance that looks like gold. It is called
+"fool's gold." He was afraid he had only found fool's gold.
+
+Marshall knew that if it was gold it would not break easily. He laid
+one of the pieces on a stone; then he took another stone and hammered
+it. It was soft, and did not break. If it had broken to pieces,
+Marshall would have known that it was not gold.
+
+In a few days the men had dug up about three ounces of the yellow
+stuff. They had no means of making sure it was gold.
+
+Then Marshall got on a horse and set out for Sutter's Fort, carrying
+the yellow metal with him. He traveled as fast as the rough road would
+let him. He rode up to Sutler's in the evening, all spattered with mud.
+
+He told Captain Sutter that he wished to see him alone. Marshall's eyes
+looked wild, and Sutter was afraid that he was crazy. But he went to a
+room with him. Then Marshall wanted the door locked. Sutter could not
+think what was the matter with the man.
+
+[Illustration: Weighing the First Gold.]
+
+When he was sure that nobody else would come in, Marshall poured out in
+a heap on the table the little yellow beads that he had brought.
+
+Sutter thought it was gold, but the men did not know how to tell
+whether it was pure or not. At last they hunted up a book that told how
+heavy gold is. Then they got a pair of scales and weighed the gold,
+putting silver dollars in the other end of the scales for weights. Then
+they held one end of the scales under water and weighed the gold. By
+finding how much lighter it was in the water than out of the water,
+they found that it was pure gold.
+
+All the men at the mill promised to keep the secret. They were all
+digging up gold when not working in the mill. As soon as the mill
+should be done, they were going to wash gold.
+
+But the secret could not be kept. A teamster who came to the mill was
+told about it. He got a few grains of the precious gold.
+
+When the teamster got back to Sutter's Fort, he went to a store to buy
+a bottle of whisky, but he had no money. The storekeeper would not sell
+to him without money. The teamster then took out some grains of gold.
+The storekeeper was surprised. He let the man have what he wanted. The
+teamster would not tell where he got the gold. But after he had taken
+two or three drinks of the whisky, he was not able to keep his secret.
+He soon told all he knew about the finding of gold at Sutter's Mill.
+
+The news spread like fire in dry grass. Men rushed to the mill in the
+mountains to find gold. Gold was also found at other places. Merchants
+in the towns of California left their stores. Mechanics laid down their
+tools, and farmers left their fields, to dig gold. Some got rich in a
+few weeks. Others were not so lucky.
+
+Soon the news went across the continent. It traveled also to other
+countries. More than one hundred thousand men went to California the
+first year after gold was found, and still more poured in the next
+year. Thousands of men went through the Indian country with wagons. Of
+course, there were no railroads to the west in that day.
+
+Millions and millions of dollars' worth of gold was dug. In a short
+time California became a rich State. Railroads were built across the
+country. Ships sailed on the Pacific Ocean to carry on the trade of
+this great State. Every nation of the earth had gold from California.
+
+And it all started from one little, round, yellow bead of gold, that
+happened to lie shining at the bottom of a ditch, on a cold morning not
+so very long ago.
+
+
+
+
+DESCENDING THE GRAND CANYON.
+
+
+The Colorado River is the strangest river in the United States. For
+hundreds of miles it runs through channels in solid rocks. These
+channels are often thousands of feet deep. In some places the rocks
+rise straight up like walls. These walls are quite bare. There are no
+trees and no grass on them. There is not even any moss to be seen. The
+bare rocks are of many colors. When the sunlight strikes upon them,
+they are as beautiful as flowers and as gorgeous as the clouds, we are
+told.
+
+These deep cuts, through which the river runs, are called canyons. The
+longest of them is called the Grand Canyon (see frontispiece). It is
+about two hundred miles long. In some places it is more than a mile and
+a quarter deep. The river runs at the bottom of this deep ravine. It
+rushes over rapids, and plunges over falls. Sometimes there is a little
+strip of rock like a shelf at the edge of the river. In many places the
+walls of rock rise straight from the water, and there is no place where
+a man can put his feet.
+
+Major Powell resolved to go through this canyon in boats. No boat had
+ever gone down this deep, dark channel. Two men, running away from
+Indians, had once gone into it on a raft. The raft was dashed over
+rapids and waterfalls. The provisions of the men were washed overboard.
+One of the men was drowned, and the other at last floated out at the
+lower end of the canyon more dead than alive.
+
+Being a man of science, Major Powell wanted to find out about the Grand
+Canyon. He knew that it would be a fearful journey. He and his men
+might all be lost, but they made up their minds to try to go through.
+
+They did not know how long the canyon was. They had already passed
+through the other canyons above, and had suffered many hardships. They
+knew how wild and dangerous such places are, but whether they could
+ever get through this great and awful gorge they did not know. But they
+got into their boats, and started down the long passage. The sun shines
+down into this narrow gorge only for a short time each day. Most of the
+way the walls are too steep to climb.
+
+The boats shot swiftly down the river. Sometimes they ran over wild
+rapids. The men had many narrow escapes. The boats bumped against the
+rocks, and some of the oars were broken. New oars had to be made, and,
+to do this, the men had to find logs that had drifted down the river.
+Sometimes Major Powell and his men had to have pitch to stop the leaks
+in their boats. To get this, they had to climb up thousands of feet of
+rock to where some little pine trees grew.
+
+They could not see far ahead, because the river was not straight, and
+the side walls of the narrow gorge shut out the view. Sometimes they
+would hear a loud roaring of water ahead. Then they knew they were
+coming to a waterfall. If there was any room to walk, they would carry
+and drag their boat round the falls. If there was no shelf or shore on
+which to carry the boats, they had to let them float down over the
+falls, the men on the rocks above holding ropes tied to the boats.
+Sometimes they could not even do this. Then they had to get into the
+boats and plunge over the falls among the rocks. They had hard work to
+keep off the rocks.
+
+More than once a boat got full of water. The men had to let the boat
+run till they got to a wider place, where they could get the water out.
+
+Their flour was spoiled by getting wet. Their bacon became bad. Much of
+their food was lost overboard. They usually slept out on the rocks by
+the side of the river. Sometimes they slept in caves. Once they sat up
+all night on a shelf of rock in a pouring rain.
+
+All day they had to work, to save their lives. At night they had to
+sleep on cold rocks without blankets enough to keep them warm. The
+great rock walls on either side of them made an awful prison. They
+could not tell how far they had gone, nor did they know just how far
+they had to go.
+
+At last the food ran short. The men were tired of musty flour. They had
+lost their baking powder, and they had to make heavy bread. They
+thought that even this bad food would give out before they could reach
+the end of the canyon.
+
+But one day they came to a little patch of earth by the side of the
+river. On this some corn was growing. The Indians living on the bare
+rocks above had come down by some steep path to plant this little
+cornfield. The corn was not yet large enough to eat. But among the corn
+grew some green squashes.
+
+Major Powell's men were too near starving not to take anything they
+could find to eat. They took some of the green squashes and put them
+into their boats. Then they ran on down the canyon, out of the reach of
+any Indians. Here they stewed some of the squashes, and ate them.
+
+When they had been fifteen days in this great canyon, they had but a
+little flour and some dried apples left. They had now come to a place
+where one could climb up out of the gorge. But they did not know how
+far they were from the end. Three of the men here resolved to leave the
+party. They did not believe that there was any hope of running out of
+the canyon in the boats alive. They took their share of the food and
+some guns, and bade the others good-by. They climbed up out of the
+canyon, and were soon after killed by Indians.
+
+One of the boats was by this time nearly worn out by the rocks. As
+there were not enough men left to manage three boats, this one was left
+behind. Major Powell, with those of his men who were still with him,
+went on down the awful river. The very next day they ran suddenly out
+into an open space. They had at last got out of the Grand Canyon, which
+had held them prisoners for sixteen days.
+
+They went on down the river, and the next day after this they found
+some settlers drawing a seine or net to catch fish in the river. These
+settlers had heard that Major Powell and his men were lost, and they
+were keeping a lookout for any pieces of his boats that might float
+down from above. Food of many kinds was sent from the nearest
+settlement to feast the hungry men who had so bravely struggled through
+the Grand Canyon.
+
+
+
+
+THE-MAN-THAT-DRAWS-THE-HANDCART.
+
+
+George Northrup was but a boy of fifteen when his father died. Having
+nothing to keep him at home, he went to the Indian country, which at
+that time was in Minnesota. He had a boyish notion that he could go
+through to the Pacific Ocean by making his way from one tribe to
+another. When he was eighteen years old, a few years before the Civil
+War, he tried to make this journey. He loaded his provisions into a
+handcart, and took a big dog along for company. For thirty-six days he
+did not see anybody, or hear any voice but his own. Then he found paths
+made by Indian war parties. He knew, that, if one of these parties
+should find him, he would be killed.
+
+One morning he found all his food stolen from his handcart. Either
+Indians or wolves had taken it. He now saw how foolish his boyish plan
+had been. He turned back, and at last reached a trading post, almost
+starved to death. For days he had had little to eat except such frogs
+as he could catch.
+
+After this the Indians always called him
+"The-man-that-draws-the-handcart."
+
+As he grew older, he became a famous trapper and guide. He knew all
+about the habits of animals. He could shoot with a better aim than any
+Indian or any other white man on the frontier. He often walked eighty
+miles in a day across the prairie. He could manage the Indians as no
+other man could.
+
+This strange young man lived among rough and wicked men. But he never
+drank or swore, or did anything that anybody could have thought wrong.
+He never even smoked, as other men about him did, but he lived his own
+life in his own way. Everybody loved him for his gentleness. Everybody
+admired him for his courage and manliness. All the spare money he got
+he spent for good books.
+
+When winter time came, he would sometimes hire other trappers, who did
+not know the country so well as he did, to work for him. He would go
+away beyond the settlements and set up a camp. He would teach the other
+men how to trap. When spring came, he would bring many furs into the
+settlement. One winter he camped in the country of the Yankton Indians.
+He had six men with him. The Yanktons were wild Indians, and Northrup
+was in some danger. But he had a friend among the Indians, a chief
+called by a good long name, Taw-ton-wash-tah.
+
+But all the Yanktons were not friendly to the white men. There was one
+chief whose name was Old-man. He got together a party to go and rob
+Northrup and drive him away. Taw-ton-wash-tah tried to keep these
+Indians from going, but he could not do it.
+
+Northrup did not know that a party had been sent out against him. His
+men went on with their trapping, while George went hunting to get food
+for them. They had only a small bag of flour, and this they did not
+eat. They kept the flour for a time that might come in which they could
+not find any animals to kill for meat.
+
+One day George followed the tracks of an elk. He overtook it six miles
+from his camp. He crept up to it and shot it. Then he loaded his gun,
+so as to be ready for anything that might happen. While he was skinning
+the elk, he looked up and saw the heads of Indians coming up over a
+little hill. He quickly jumped into the bushes. He saw that there were
+thirteen Indians in the party. He put his hand on his bullet pouch, and
+knew by the feeling of it that there were fifteen bullets in the bag.
+"Every bullet must bring down an Indian," he said to himself.
+
+One of the Indians called out in his own language, "Is
+The-man-that-draws-the-handcart here?"
+
+George quickly replied in their language, "Stop! If any man comes one
+step nearer, I will kill him. Tell me whether this is a war party or a
+hunting party."
+
+One of the Indians stepped out in front and fired off both barrels of
+his gun. This was a sign of friendship.
+
+Northrup did not think this offer of peace worth much; but, if he
+refused it, he would have to fight against thirteen Indians. He could
+only accept it by firing off both barrels of his gun. This would leave
+him with his gun unloaded.
+
+But he slipped the cap off one barrel of his gun. Then he fired the
+other barrel, and brought down the hammer of the one from which he had
+taken the cap, so as to make it seem that that barrel of his gun was
+empty. Then he slyly slipped the cap back on his gun, so as to have one
+barrel ready for use.
+
+He went with the Indians to their camp, where he was a kind of
+prisoner, but he managed to load the empty barrel of his gun by going
+behind a tree where the Indians could not see him.
+
+He knew that the Indians would try to get to his camp before he did. As
+his men did not know how to manage Indians, the Indians could steal
+everything in the camp. If they should take his provisions, George and
+his men might starve on the prairies, which were covered with snow.
+
+So George made up his mind that he must get to his camp before the
+Indians, or lose his life in trying.
+
+He said to the chief, "Old-man, I am going home."
+
+He did not wait for an answer, but started along the trail leading to
+his camp. He expected the Indians to shoot him, but they only fell into
+line and marched behind him.
+
+George knew that if the Indians got into the camp with him, they would
+find everything scattered about. Before he could get things together,
+they would steal most of them. So he tried once more what he could do
+by boldness. He turned and said to the chief, "My men are new men. They
+do not know Indians. If you should go in with me, they might shoot. It
+is better that I should go in first, and tell them that you come as
+friends."
+
+Old-man said "Ho," which is the way that a Yankton has of saying "All
+right."
+
+Northrup went into the camp, and gathered everything together in one
+place, and told his men to keep watch over the things. The Indians
+staid about the camp two days, trying to get a chance to rob the white
+men, but Northrup kept his eye on them. Once he found one of his men
+without a gun.
+
+"Where is your gun?" he said.
+
+"The Indians are sitting on it," said the man. "They will not give it
+up."
+
+George found several Indians sitting on the gun. He took hold of the
+gun and looked at the Indians. They all got up. It seemed that they
+could not help doing what he wanted them to do. Northrup gave the gun
+back to its owner, and told him not to let it go out of his hands
+again.
+
+George had a fine double-barreled rifle. An English gentleman whose
+guide he had been had sent him this gun from London. When he was in his
+tent one day, he heard the Indians on the outside of it disputing who
+should have his gun. He knew by this that they meant to kill him.
+
+George patted his rifle as though it had been an old friend, and said,
+"Well, old gun, whoever gets you will have to be quick." After that his
+hand was always on his gun, and his eye was always on the Indians.
+
+He asked his men where the sack of flour was.
+
+"Old-man has it," said one of his men.
+
+To let the chief keep the flour was to run the risk of starving, but
+Northrup knew that if he took it away there might be a battle. He
+stepped up to the chief and took the bag of flour from his side and
+started away without saying a word.
+
+[Illustration: "You shall go South!"]
+
+"Man-that-draws-the-handcart," said the chief angrily, "bring back my
+flour."
+
+George stopped, and opened his coat. He pointed toward his heart and
+said,--
+
+"Old-man, if you want to kill me, shoot me, but you shall not take away
+my flour and leave me to starve."
+
+"Very well," said the chief sternly, "then,
+Man-that-draws-the-handcart, you shall go south."
+
+In the language of these Indians, to go south means to die. They think
+the soul journeys to the southward after death. Old-man meant to say
+that Northrup should die.
+
+"Very well," said George, looking the Indian in the eye, "I will go
+south, then; but if I go south, you shall go with me, and just as many
+more as I can take. Remember, Old-man, you must go south if I do."
+
+Old-man knew Northrup very well. He knew that if anybody tried to kill
+him, George's sure aim would be taken at Old-man first of all. George
+had also told all of his men to shoot the chief if there should be any
+trouble.
+
+After lingering for two days, the Indians stole a bag of chopped
+buffalo meat, or pemmican, and an old gun. With these they went off,
+and George hurried away to a better camping place, where they could not
+find him again.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAZY, LUCKY INDIAN.
+
+
+Out in the country we now call North Dakota there once lived an Indian
+known as "Lazy-man." When he was young, he had been lazy about hunting.
+When the other Indians had skins to sell, the lazy Indian had nothing.
+He grew poor. His blanket was ragged. His leggings were worn out. His
+wigwam was so wretched that all the tribe laughed at its tumble-down
+look.
+
+Every winter the tribe went off to the great plains to hunt buffalo.
+They took their little ponies along, to carry home what they got. They
+brought back the skins of the buffaloes and buffalo meat dried over a
+fire. They also brought back pemmican, which is made by chopping
+buffalo meat very fine, and mixing it with the tallow from the animal.
+Lazy-man was ashamed to go on the hunt. He had no ponies to carry the
+meat and the skins he might get.
+
+One winter, when the tribe went off on its regular hunt, Lazy-man and
+his wife staid behind as usual. They sat lonesome in their teepee, as a
+wigwam is called in their language. The weather grew colder. It was
+hard to find anything to eat. The lake near them was frozen, so that
+they could not fish. There were not many animals living in the country
+about. The lazy Indian and his wife were nearly starved.
+
+[Illustration: Buffaloes.]
+
+The buffaloes had never come down to this lake shore. But one day the
+lazy Indian looked out and saw a herd of them coming. They were running
+out on the point of land where his teepee stood. He knew that when they
+got to the ice on the lake they would turn back.
+
+"Quick, quick!" he called to his wife. The two ran right into the midst
+of the herd. It was a dangerous thing to do, but they were so hungry
+and miserable that they did not mind the danger. By running into the
+herd they separated the buffaloes out on the point from the rest.
+
+When the buffaloes on the point came to the ice, they paused and turned
+back. They were soon running in the other direction, but the lazy
+Indian and his wife faced the animals as they came. They waved their
+ragged blankets at the buffaloes. They shouted in Indian fashion,
+"Yow-wow, yow-wow, yow-wow!" They ran to and fro, waving and shouting.
+
+Once more the buffaloes stopped and looked. Lazy-man and his wife now
+ran at them, throwing their blankets in the air, and yelling more
+wildly than ever. The scared buffaloes turned about again. They were so
+badly frightened this time that they ran out on the ice on the lake.
+
+The ice was as smooth as glass. The buffaloes could not stand up on it.
+One after another they slipped and fell. The lazy Indian was not lazy
+that day. He saw a chance to get out of his poverty. He ran about on
+the ice, killing the buffaloes.
+
+For many days he and his squaw worked. They skinned the buffaloes, and
+dried the skins. They prepared the stomachs of the buffaloes, and
+stuffed them with the chopped meat, making it look like great sausages
+as big as pillows. They put a few cranberries in with the meat to give
+the pemmican a good taste. Then they poured the smoking fat of the
+buffalo into this great sausage. The fat filled up the small spaces.
+When it got cold, the pemmican sack was almost as hard as a stone. It
+could be cut only by chopping it with a tomahawk.
+
+At last spring came, and the tribe came home from the hunt. You may
+suppose that Lazy-man was proud that day. Instead of being the poor
+beggar whom everybody laughed at, he was now one of the rich men in the
+tribe. He had more buffalo robes and more pemmican than any other man
+in the village. He exchanged his buffalo robes for ponies. After that
+he always went on the hunt, and lived like the other Indians. He did
+not wish to sink into laziness and poverty again.
+
+
+
+
+PETER PETERSEN.
+
+A STORY OF THE MINNESOTA INDIAN WAR.
+
+
+Peter Petersen was a very little boy living in Minnesota. He lived on
+the very edge of the Indian country when the Indian War of 1862 broke
+out.
+
+Settlers were killed in their cabins before they knew that a war had
+begun. As the news spread, the people left their houses, and hurried
+into the large towns. Some of them saw their houses burning before they
+got out of sight. The roads were crowded with ox wagons full of women
+and children.
+
+Peter Petersen's father was a Norwegian settler. When the news of the
+Indian attack came, Peter's father hitched up his oxen, and put his
+wife and daughters and little Peter into the wagon. They drove the oxen
+hard, and got to Mankato in safety.
+
+The town was crowded with frightened people. Many were living in
+woodsheds and barns. In their hurry, these country people had not
+brought food enough with them. Before long they began to suffer hunger.
+
+Peter Petersen's father thought of the potato field he had at home. If
+he could only go back to his house long enough to dig his potatoes, his
+family would have enough to eat.
+
+When he made up his mind to go, Peter wanted to go along with him. As
+there were now soldiers within a mile of his farm, Peter's father
+thought the Indians would not be so bold as to come there. So he and
+Peter went back to the little house.
+
+The next morning Peter's father went out to dig potatoes. Peter, who
+was but five years old, was asleep in his bed. He was awakened by the
+yells of Indians. He ran to the door just in time to see his father
+shot with an arrow.
+
+Little Peter ran like a frightened rabbit to the nearest bushes. The
+Indians chased him and caught him. They were amused to see him run, and
+they thought he would be a funny little plaything to have. So they just
+set him up on the back of a cow, and drove the cow ahead of them. They
+laughed to see Peter trying to keep his seat on the cow's back.
+
+[Illustration.]
+
+The little boy lived among the Indians for weeks. They did not give him
+anything to eat. When he came into their tents to get food, they would
+knock him down. But he would pick up something to eat at last, and then
+run away. When he could not get any food, he would go out among the
+cows the Indians had taken from the white people. Little as he was, he
+would manage to milk one of the cows. He had no other cup to catch the
+milk in but his mouth. Whenever any of the Indians threatened to kill
+him, he would run away and dodge about between the legs of the cows or
+among the horses, so as to get out of their way. Sometimes he was so
+much afraid that he slept out in the grass, in the dew or rain.
+
+After some weeks, Peter and the other captives were retaken by the
+white soldiers sent to fight the Indians. But the poor little boy could
+speak no language but Norwegian. He could not tell whose child he was,
+nor where he came from. His mother and sisters had left the dangerous
+country near the Indians. They had gone to Winona, a hundred and fifty
+miles away. One of his sisters heard somebody read in the paper that
+such a little boy had been taken from the Indians. The kind-hearted
+doctor in whose house she lived tried to find the boy, but nobody could
+tell what had become of little Peter. His family at last gave up all
+hope of seeing him again.
+
+When Peter was taken by the soldiers, he had worn out all his clothes
+in traveling through the prairie grass. He had nothing on him but part
+of a shirt. The soldiers took an old suit of uniform and made him some
+clothes. He was soon dressed from top to toe in army blue.
+
+He was as much of a plaything for the soldiers as he had been for the
+Indians. They laughed at his pranks, as they might have done if he had
+been a monkey. He passed from one squad of soldiers to another. They
+fed him on hard-tack, and shared their blankets with him. He was the
+pet and plaything of them all. But after a while the Indians were
+driven away from the settlements, and the soldiers were ordered to the
+South, for it was in the time of the Civil War.
+
+The regiment that Peter happened to be with got on a steamboat, and
+Peter went aboard with them. The soldiers knew that if Peter should be
+taken to the South, he would be farther than ever away from his
+friends. So the soldiers made up their minds to put him ashore at
+Winona. It was the last place at which he would find Norwegian people.
+To put such a little fellow ashore in a large and busy place like this
+was a hard thing to do. Peter was hardly more than a baby, and he could
+not speak English. He stood about as much chance of starving to death
+here as he had in the Indian camp.
+
+When the boat landed at Winona, the soldiers gave some money to one of
+the hotel porters, and told him to give the child something to eat, and
+send him out into the country where there were Norwegian people. But as
+soon as Peter had eaten the dinner they gave him at the hotel, he
+slipped away, and went back to the river. He expected to find his
+friends, the soldiers, waiting for him; but the boat had gone. Peter
+was now in a strange city, without friends. Not without friends,
+either, for his sisters were in this same city. But he did not think
+any more of getting to his mother or his sisters. He was only thinking
+of the soldiers who had been so kind to him.
+
+When the next boat came down the river, Peter Petersen, in his little
+blue uniform, marched aboard. He thought he might overtake the
+soldiers, but the boatmen put him ashore again. He stood gazing after
+the boat, not knowing what to do or where to go.
+
+There stood on the bank that day a Norwegian. He was a guest at the
+Norwegian hotel in the town. He heard Peter say something in his own
+language, and he thought the boy must be a son of the man who kept the
+hotel. So he said to him in Norwegian, "Let's go home."
+
+It had been a long time since Peter had heard his own language spoken.
+Nobody had said anything to him about home since he was taken away from
+his father's cabin by the Indians. The words sounded sweet to him. He
+followed the strange man. He did not know where he was going, except
+that it was to some place called home. When he got to the hotel, he
+went in and sat down. He did not know what else to do.
+
+Presently the landlady came in. Seeing a strange little boy in army
+blue, she said, "Whose child are you?"
+
+Peter did not know whose child he was. Since the soldiers left him, he
+didn't seem to be anybody's child. As he did not answer, the landlady
+spoke to him rather sharply.
+
+"What do you want here, little boy?" she said.
+
+"A drink of water," said Peter.
+
+A little boy nearly always wants a drink of water.
+
+"Go through into the kitchen there, and get a drink," said the
+landlady.
+
+Peter opened the door into the kitchen, and went through. In a moment
+two arms were about him. Peter knew what home meant then. His sister,
+Matilda, had recognized her lost brother Peter in the little soldier
+boy. The next day he was put into a wagon and sent out to Rushford,
+where his mother was living. The wanderings of the little captive were
+over.
+
+
+
+
+THE GREATEST OF TELESCOPE MAKERS.
+
+
+Three great inventors in this country were portrait painters. Fulton,
+the builder of steamboats, was one of them; Morse, who planned our
+first electric telegraph, was another; and Alvan Clark, who found out a
+way of making the largest and finest telescopes in the world, was
+another.
+
+Alvan Clark was the son of a farmer. When he was eighteen years old, he
+set to work to learn engraving and drawing. He had no teacher. After a
+while he began to draw portraits. Once he sent to Boston to get some
+brushes to paint with. When the brushes came, there was a piece of
+newspaper wrapped round them. In this bit of newspaper was an
+advertisement that engravers were wanted. He went to Boston, and found
+regular work as an engraver.
+
+When he was not busy engraving, he was studying painting. After some
+years he became a painter of portraits and miniatures. He lived at
+Cambridgeport, near Boston.
+
+While Mr. Clark was living at Cambridgeport, his son was at a boarding
+school. The young boy had become interested in telescopes. He learned
+that there were two kinds of these instruments. One brought the stars
+near by showing them in a curved mirror. The other magnified by means
+of glasses that the light shone through. He had read that it was very
+hard to grind these glasses or lenses, as they are called, so that they
+would be correct. The telescope that used the mirror was not so good,
+but it was easier to make. So George Clark made up his mind that he
+would make a reflecting telescope; that is, one with a mirror in it.
+
+The mirror in such a telescope is made of polished metal. One day
+somebody broke the dinner bell at the boarding school. George dark
+picked up the pieces of brass and took them home.
+
+These pieces of brass he put into a retort. A retort is a vessel that
+will bear great heat, and that is used for melting metals and other
+substances. Young Clark put some tin into the retort with the brass.
+When the two metals were melted together, he poured the liquid into a
+mold. When it became cold, it was a round flat piece. Such a piece is
+called a disc.
+
+Alvan Clark, the father, was a very ingenious man. He was a fine
+marksman. One reason that he could shoot so well was that his eye was
+so true. Another was that he made his own rifles, and made them better
+than others.
+
+When Mr. Clark found his son trying to make a telescope out of the
+pieces of a bell, he became interested in telescopes. He studied all
+about them in order to help the boy with his work. He helped his son
+grind the metal disc into a concave mirror; that is, a mirror that is a
+little dish-shaped. With this they made a telescope with which they
+could see the rings of Saturn, and the little moons that revolve round
+Jupiter.
+
+After Mr. Clark had made this little telescope, he made larger
+reflecting telescopes that were very powerful. But he found that no
+telescope with a mirror in it could be very good.
+
+He now said to his son that they would make a refracting telescope;
+that is, one in which no mirror is used, but which brings the distant
+stars to the sight by the light shining through lenses. Lenses are
+large glasses that are regularly thicker in one part than in another.
+The glasses you see in spectacles are small lenses.
+
+George Clark, the son, told his father that the books said that the
+grinding of such glasses was very difficult. Mr. Clark would not give
+it up because it was hard. He liked to do hard things. He had already
+spent a great part of his money trying to make good reflecting
+telescopes; but he made up his mind to give them up, and try to make a
+better kind. He first looked through the great telescope just put up
+for Harvard College. The large lens in this telescope was not perfect,
+and Mr. Clark's eye was so good that he could see what the small fault
+was. When he heard that twelve thousand dollars had been paid for this
+glass, he was encouraged to try to make such lenses. But there was
+nobody in this country who could show him how to do it.
+
+He first got some poor lenses out of old telescopes. These he worked
+over, and made them better. By this means he learned how to do it. Then
+he got some discs of glass and made some new lenses. These were the
+best ever made in this country. But he was not satisfied. He kept on
+making better and larger lenses. With one of these he discovered two
+double stars, as they are called. These had never been seen to be
+double before.
+
+But nobody in America would believe that some of the best telescopes in
+the world were made in this country, for even the English astronomers
+had to get their telescopes in Germany.
+
+With one of his telescopes, larger than any he had made before, Mr.
+Clark now made a new discovery. He wrote about this to an English
+astronomer named Dawes. Mr. Dawes thought that a telescope that could
+make such a discovery would be worth having, so he bought the large
+lens out of this new telescope. Then he bought other glasses from Mr.
+Clark, and sold them again to other astronomers. In this way Mr. Clark
+became famous in England.
+
+[Illustration: Telescopic View of the Moon.]
+
+Mr. Clark had given up painting. He put his whole heart into making the
+best telescopes in the world. He went to England and saw the great
+astronomers, and looked through their telescopes.
+
+They were glad to see the man who made the best lenses in the world.
+His telescopes had helped them to find out many new things never seen
+before. By this time Mr. Clark was coming to be known in his own
+country. He got an order to make the largest glass ever made for a
+telescope in the whole world. This was to be put up in America. Nobody
+had ever dreamed of making so large and powerful a telescope.
+
+After a long time the great glass for this telescope was ground. Mr.
+Clark set it up to try it. His younger son, Alvan, who was helping him,
+turned the telescope so as to look at the bright star Sirius. As soon
+as he had looked, he cried out in surprise, "Why, father, the star has
+a companion!" Sirius is a sun. It has a satellite, a dark star like our
+world revolving round it. Nobody had ever been able to see this dark
+star before. But this telescope was stronger than any that had ever
+been pointed at the sky.
+
+Mr. Clark now looked through the tube himself. Sure enough, there was
+the companion of Sirius, never seen before by anybody on the earth. The
+large glass which had been a year in making had won its first victory.
+But Mr. Clark made much larger glasses even than that one. He had
+nobody to show him how. But by patient thought and hard work he had
+made the greatest telescopes in the world. Medals and other honors were
+sent to him from many countries.
+
+
+
+
+ADVENTURES IN ALASKA.
+
+
+[Illustration: Scene in Alaska.]
+
+The Copper River of Alaska flows from north to south into the ocean.
+The Yukon River, which is farther north, runs from the east toward the
+west. It was known that the waters of these two rivers must be near
+together at the place from which they started in the mountains, but it
+was not known whether anybody could pass from the valley of the Copper
+River over the mountains into the valley of the Yukon. A scouting party
+was sent to find out whether the crossing from one river to the other
+could be made. This party returned, saying that it was impossible to
+pass from the Copper River to the Yukon, because the mountains were too
+high and steep.
+
+In 1885 General Miles sent Lieutenant Allen to try to find a pass from
+the valley of the Copper River to that of the Yukon. Lieutenant Allen
+was a very determined man. He set out with the resolution to find some
+way of crossing the mountains, however much labor and suffering it
+might cost. He took two soldiers, and had two other white men with him,
+and he got Indians to go with him from place to place as he could. The
+party started up the Copper River in March. From the first their
+sufferings were very great. They had to travel day after day, and sleep
+night after night, with their clothes wet to the skin. They soon found
+that they could not take their canoe, on account of the ice. They had
+to leave most of their provisions, because they could not carry them.
+Some nights they sat up all night in the rain.
+
+But when they got to a country where it was not raining all the time,
+they had a way of keeping dry at night. They had brought along sleeping
+bags. These were made of waterproof linen. Each bag was a little longer
+than a man. It had draw strings at the top. They put a folded blanket
+inside, and then pushed the blanket down with their feet so that it
+would wrap about them and keep them warm. Then they drew the strings
+about the top. This kept the body dry.
+
+They suffered a great deal from hunger. There were very few animals in
+the country where they were, and most of the Indians they found had but
+little to eat. Lieutenant Allen's party were sometimes glad to pick up
+scraps of decayed meat or broken bones about an Indian camp to make a
+meal on. Much of the meat and fish they had to eat was badly spoiled.
+They grew so weak that it was hard for them to climb up a hill,
+carrying their guns and their food. They sometimes reeled like drunken
+men when they walked.
+
+They would have perished from hunger if they had not had a man with
+them who knew how to stop the rabbits when they were running. This man
+could make a little cry just like a rabbit's cry. Whenever a rabbit
+heard this sound, he would stop and look round for a moment. Then the
+hunter would have a chance to shoot him.
+
+But these rabbits were so small and so lean that it took four or five
+of them to make a meal for a man. At one place the party were so hungry
+that an Indian who was with them fainted away. When they reached a
+house soon after, where there lived a chief named Nicolai, they found a
+five-gallon kettle full of meat boiling on the fire. They drank large
+quantities of the broth, and ate about five pounds of meat apiece. Much
+of this meat was pure tallow from the moose. They all fell asleep
+immediately after eating. When they awaked, they were almost as hungry
+as before.
+
+At last they reached the head waters of the Copper River. Here they
+found the hungry Indians waiting for the salmon to come up from the
+sea, as they do every year. As long as the salmon are in the river, the
+Indians have plenty to eat. So they kept dipping their net, hoping to
+catch some salmon. At last one little salmon was caught. It was a thin,
+white-looking little fish. The Indians now knew that in two or three
+days they would have plenty. They hung their little fish on a spruce
+bough, and they kept visiting it, singing to it with delight. The white
+men did not wait for the salmon to arrive.
+
+From this place they left the Copper River, and started to cross the
+mountains. This was the pass through which it was said that nobody
+could go. Lieutenant Allen and his men were obliged to carry provisions
+with them. Part of the provisions they carried themselves: the rest
+they packed on dogs. This is a way of carrying things used only in
+Alaska. A pack is strapped on a dog's back just as though he were a
+mule, and with this the little dog goes on a long journey through the
+mountains.
+
+[Illustration: A Dog Pack Train.]
+
+The party started over the mountains in June. At this season of the
+year in that country the sun shines almost all night, and it is never
+dark. Lieutenant Allen's party traveled either by day or by night, as
+they pleased, as there was always light enough.
+
+When they got to the foot of the last mountains they had to climb, they
+found a little lake. Here they got some fish to eat, but the salmon had
+not come yet. They hired some Indians to go with them, and divided the
+weight of everything into packs. Every man carried a pack, and every
+dog carried as much as he could bear. As they climbed the mountains,
+they could look back over the beautiful valley of the Copper River.
+Still hungry and nearly tired out, they pushed on until they camped by
+a brook in the mountains.
+
+Here they found that the salmon had come up the Copper River from the
+sea, and had run up this brook and overtaken them. The fish were
+crowding up the brook to get to a little lake at the head of it, where
+they would lay their eggs. In some places there was so little water in
+the stream that the fish had to get over the shallow places by lying on
+their sides. In doing this, some of them threw themselves out of the
+water on the land. The hungry men could catch them easily, and they now
+had all they wanted to eat. One of the party ate three large salmon,
+heads and all, for his supper. As the sun shines almost all the time in
+the Arctic regions, in the summer, the days become very hot. On the
+last day of Lieutenant Allen's journey up the mountains the heat was so
+great that the party did not start until five o'clock in the afternoon.
+They reached the top of the mountains that divided the two rivers at
+half-past one o'clock that night. Though it was what we should call the
+middle of the night, it was not dark.
+
+The party were now nearly five thousand feet higher than the sea. At
+half-past one in the morning the sun was just rising. It rose almost in
+the north. Behind them the men could still see the valley of the Copper
+River. Before them lay the valley of one of the branches of the Yukon,
+with twenty beautiful lakes and a range of mountains in sight. White
+and yellow buttercups were blooming about them, though the snow was
+within a few feet. No white man had ever looked on this grand scene
+before. The men forgot their hunger and their weariness. They had done
+what hardly anybody thought could be done.
+
+A mile further on they stopped to build a fire, and here they cooked
+the last bit of extract of beef that they had with them. It was the end
+of all the provisions they had carried. Having gone to bed at two or
+three o'clock in the morning, they did not start again until two in the
+afternoon; for day and night were all one to them, except that the
+light nights were cooler and pleasanter to travel in than the days.
+
+They were told by the Indians that by marching all that night they
+could reach an Indian settlement, and, as they had no food, they
+determined to do this. In this whole day's march they killed but one
+little rabbit, which was all they had for nine starving men to eat. But
+at three o'clock in the morning of the next day the tired and hungry
+men dragged themselves into the little Indian village. Guns were fired
+to welcome them.
+
+The fish were coming up the river. A kind of platform had been built
+over the water. On this platform the Indians stood one at a time, and
+dipped a net into the water for fish. All day and all night somebody
+was dipping the net.
+
+The Indians had never seen a white man before. They were very much
+amused to see white faces, and one of the white men who had red hair
+was a wonder to them.
+
+Allen and his men got food here. Then they built a skin canoe, and
+started down the river. After many more hardships and dangers, they
+reached the ocean, and then took ship for California.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND
+ADVENTURE***
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+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Stories of American Life and Adventure, by Edward Eggleston</title>
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+<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Stories of American Life and Adventure, by
+Edward Eggleston</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Stories of American Life and Adventure</p>
+<p>Author: Edward Eggleston</p>
+<p>Release Date: April 9, 2005  [eBook #15597]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND ADVENTURE***</p>
+<br><br><h3 class="pg">E-text prepared by Mark C. Orton<br>
+                       and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3><br><br>
+<hr class="full" noshade>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/01.jpg" alt="Grand Canyon." width="361" height="562"></p>
+<p class="ctr">
+<i>Grand Canyon.</i>
+</p>
+
+
+<h1>
+STORIES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND ADVENTURE
+</h1>
+
+
+<h4>
+<i>By</i>
+</h4>
+
+<h2>
+EDWARD EGGLESTON
+</h2>
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<i>Author of<br>&quot;Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans,&quot;<br>
+&quot;A First Book in American History,&quot; and<br>
+&quot;A History of the United States and its People for the Use of Schools&quot;</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/02.jpg" alt="Decoration" width="154" height="162"></p>
+
+<h4>
+American Book Company<br>
+New York : Cincinnati : Chicago
+</h4>
+
+
+<h4>
+1895 and 1923</h4>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+<hr class="med">
+<h3>
+PREFACE.
+</h3>
+
+
+<p>
+This book is intended to serve three main purposes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of these is to make school reading pleasant by supplying matter
+simple and direct in style, and sufficiently interesting and exciting
+to hold the reader's attention in a state of constant wakefulness;
+that is, to keep the mind in the condition in which instruction can be
+received with the greatest advantage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A second object is to cultivate an interest in narratives of fact by
+selecting chiefly incidents full of action, such as are attractive to
+the minds of boys and girls whose pulses are yet quick with youthful
+life. The early establishment of a preference for stories of this sort
+is the most effective antidote to the prevalent vice of reading
+inferior fiction for mere stimulation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the principal aim of this book is to make the reader acquainted
+with American life and manners in other times. The history of life
+has come to be esteemed of capital importance, but it finds, as yet,
+small place in school instruction. The stories and sketches in this
+book relate mainly to earlier times and to conditions very different
+from those of our own day. They will help the pupil to apprehend the
+life and spirit of our forefathers. Many of them are such as make
+him acquainted with that adventurous pioneer life, which thus far has
+been the largest element in our social history, and which has given
+to the national character the traits of quick-wittedness, humor,
+self-reliance, love of liberty, and democratic feeling. These traits
+in combination distinguish us from other peoples.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stories such as these here told of Indian life, of frontier peril and
+escape, of adventures with the pirates and kidnappers of colonial
+times, of daring Revolutionary feats, of dangerous whaling voyages, of
+scientific exploration, and of personal encounters with savages and
+wild beasts, have become the characteristic folklore of America. Books
+of history rarely know them, but they are history of the highest
+kind,&mdash;the quintessence of an age that has passed, or that is swiftly
+passing away, forever. With them are here intermingled sketches of the
+homes, the food and drink, the dress and manners, the schools and
+children's plays, of other times. The text-book of history is chiefly
+busy with the great events and the great personages of history: this
+book seeks to make the young American acquainted with the daily life
+and character of his forefathers. In connection with the author's
+&quot;Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans,&quot; it is intended to
+form an introduction to the study of our national history.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It has been thought desirable to make the readings in this book cover
+in a general way the whole of our vast country. The North and the
+South, the Atlantic seaboard, the Pacific slope, and the great
+interior basin of the continent, are alike represented in these pages.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>
+CONTENTS.
+</h3>
+
+<ul class="TOC">
+<li><a href="#WhiteBoy">
+A White Boy among the Indians
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Canoe">
+The Making of a Canoe
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Corn">
+Some Things about Indian Corn
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Women">
+Some Women in the Indian Wars
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Tea">
+The Coming of Tea and Coffee
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Kidnapped">
+Kidnapped Boys
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Blackbeard">
+The Last Battle of Blackbeard
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Phildelphia">
+An Old Philadelphia School
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Dutch">
+A Dutch Family in the Revolution
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#LongAgo">
+A School of Long Ago
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#WhaleStories">
+Stories of Whaling
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#WhaleSong">
+A Whaling Song
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Escape">
+A Strange Escape
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Bear">
+Grandmother Bear
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Turtle">
+The Great Turtle
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Rattlesnake">
+The Rattlesnake God
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Witchcraft">
+Witchcraft in Louisiana
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Niagara">
+A Story of Niagara
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Alligators">
+Among the Alligators
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Jasper">
+Jasper
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Marions">
+Song of Marion's Men
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#BraveGirl">
+A Brave Girl
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Prisoner">
+A Prisoner among the Indians
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Hungry">
+Hungry Times in the Woods
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Scouwa">
+Scouwa becomes a White Man again
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Baby">
+A Baby Lost in the Woods
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Zane">
+Elizabeth Zane
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Pirates">
+The River Pirates
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Telegraphs">
+Old-fashioned Telegraphs
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Foolish">
+A Boy's Foolish Adventure
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Race">
+A Foot Race for Life
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Loretto">
+Loretto and his Wife
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Blackfoot">
+A Blackfoot Story
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Fremont">
+How Fremont crossed the Mountains
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Gold">
+Finding Gold in California
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Grand">
+Descending the Grand Canyon
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Handcart">
+The-Man-that-draws-the-Handcart
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Lazy">
+The Lazy, Lucky Indian
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Peter">
+Peter Petersen
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Telescope">
+The Greatest of Telescope Makers
+</a></li>
+
+<li><a href="#Alaska">
+Adventures in Alaska
+</a></li></ul>
+
+<hr class="long">
+
+
+<p class="ctr"><big><b>STORIES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND ADVENTURE.</b></big>
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="WhiteBoy"></a>
+<p class="chapter">
+A WHITE BOY AMONG THE INDIANS.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Among the people that came to Virginia in 1609, two years after the
+colony was planted, was a boy named Henry Spelman. He was the son of a
+well-known man. He had been a bad and troublesome boy in England, and
+his family sent him to Virginia, thinking that he might be better in
+the new country. At least his friends thought he would not trouble
+them so much when he was so far away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Many hundreds of people came at the same time that Henry Spelman did.
+Captain John Smith was then governor of the little colony. He was
+puzzled to know how to feed all these people. As many of them were
+troublesome, he was still more puzzled to know how to govern them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In order not to have so many to feed, he sent some of them to live
+among the Indians here and there. A chief called Little Powhatan asked
+Smith to send some of his men to live with him. The Indians wanted to
+get the white men to live among them, so as to learn to make the
+things that the white men had. Captain Smith agreed to give the boy
+Henry Spelman to Little Powhatan, if the chief would give him a place
+to plant a new settlement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Spelman staid awhile with the chief, and then he went back to the
+English at Jamestown.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But when he came to Jamestown he was sorry that he had not staid among
+the Indians. Captain John Smith had gone home to England. George Percy
+was now governor of the English. They had very little food to eat, and
+Spelman began to be afraid that he might starve to death with the rest
+of them. Powhatan&mdash;not Little Powhatan, but the great Powhatan, who
+was chief over all the other chiefs in the neighborhood&mdash;sent a white
+man who was living with him to carry some deer meat to Jamestown. When
+it came time for this white man to go back, he asked that some of his
+countrymen might go to the Indian country with him. The governor sent
+Spelman, who was glad enough to go to the Indians again, because they
+had plenty of food to eat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Three weeks after this, Powhatan sent Henry Spelman back to Jamestown
+to say to the English, that if they would come to his country, and
+bring him some copper, he would give them some corn for it. The
+Indians at this time had no iron, and what little copper they had they
+bought from other Indians, who probably got it from the copper mines
+far away on Lake Superior.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The English greatly needed corn, so they took a boat and went up to
+the Indian country with copper, in order to buy corn. They quarreled
+with the Indians about the measurement of the corn. The Indians hid
+themselves near the water, and, while the white men were carrying the
+corn on their vessel, the Indians killed some of them. About this
+time, seeing that the white men were so hungry, the Indians began to
+hope that they would be able to drive them all out of the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Powhatan saved Spelman from being killed by the Indians; but, now that
+the Indians were at war with the white men, who were shut up in
+Jamestown without food, they wished to kill all the white people in
+the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Spelman and a Dutchman, who also lived with Powhatan, began to be
+afraid that he would not protect them any longer. So, when a chief of
+the Potomac Indians visited Powhatan, and asked the Dutchman and the
+boy to go to his country, they left Powhatan and went back with them.
+Powhatan sent messengers after them, who killed the Dutchman. Henry
+Spelman ran away into the woods. Powhatan's men followed him, but the
+Potomacs got hold of Powhatan's men, and held them back until Spelman
+could get away. The boy managed at last to get to the country of the
+Potomac Indians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was very lucky for Spelman that he was among the Indians at this
+time. Nearly all the white people in Jamestown were killed, or died of
+hunger. Spelman lived among the Indians for years. During this time
+more people came from England, and settled at Jamestown. A ship from
+Jamestown came up into the Potomac River to trade. The captain of the
+ship bought Spelman from the Indians. He was now a young man, and, as
+he could speak both the Indian language and the English, he was very
+useful in carrying on trade between the white men and the Indians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the time that Henry Spelman first went among the Indians, they had
+no iron tools except a very few that they had bought of the white
+people. They had no guns, nor knives, nor hatchets. They had no hoes
+nor axes. They made their tools out of hard wood, shells, stones, deer
+horns, and other such things. They had not yet bought blankets from
+the white men, but made their clothes mostly out of the skins of
+animals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians could not learn much about the white man's arts from
+Spelman, because he did not know much. Besides, he had no iron of
+which to make tools. He learned to make arrows of cane such as we use
+for fishing rods. He also learned to point his arrows with the spur of
+a wild turkey, or a piece of stone. These arrow points he stuck into
+the arrow with a kind of glue. But he first had to learn how to make
+his glue out of deers' horns. Before he could make any of the tools,
+he had to make himself a knife, as the Indians did. Having no iron,
+the blade of his knife was made out of a beaver's tooth, which is very
+sharp, and will cut wood. He set this tooth in the end of a stick. You
+see how hard it was for an Indian to get tools. He had to learn to
+make one tool in order to use that in making another tool.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of the principal things that an Indian had to do was to make a
+canoe; for, as the Indians had no horses, they could travel only by
+water, unless they went afoot. Canoes were the only boats they had.
+They had to make canoes without any of the tools that white men use.
+Let us explain this by a story about Henry and an Indian boy. The
+things in the story may not have happened just as they are told, but
+the account of how things are made by the Indians is all true.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Canoe"></a>
+<p class="chapter">THE MAKING OF A CANOE.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Henry had a young Indian friend whose name was Keketaw. One day
+Keketaw said to him, &quot;Let us go into the woods and make a canoe.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;If we had an ax to cut down the trees,&quot; said the white boy, &quot;or an
+adz, such as they have at Jamestown, or if we could get a hatchet, we
+might make a canoe; but we have not even a little knife.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;We will make a canoe in the Indian way,&quot; said Keketaw. &quot;I will show
+you how. Let us get ready.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;What shall we do to get ready?&quot; asked Henry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;We must take our bows, and we must make many arrows, so as to get
+something to eat, and we must have fishing lines,&quot; said Keketaw, &quot;or
+we shall not be able to live in the woods.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For some days the two boys were getting ready. It took them a long
+time to scrape a piece of bone into a fishhook by means of a beaver's
+tooth set in a stick, but they made three of these hooks. They made
+some more hooks not so good as these by tying a splinter of bone to a
+little stick. Keketaw's mother made fishing lines for them. She took
+the long leaves of the plant which we call Spanish bayonet, and
+separated these threads into a hard cord, rubbing them between her
+hand and her knee.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;We must have swords,&quot; said Keketaw.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;We can cut our meat with this,&quot; said Henry, pointing to a knife made
+of cane, such as the Indians called a pamesack.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;But the Monacans may come,&quot; said Keketaw. &quot;If we should see one
+sticking up his head, I should want a sword to fight him with; and if
+we should kill him, we could cut off his scalp with it;&quot; and Keketaw's
+eyes glistened a little at the thought of fetching home a Monacan's
+scalp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Monacans were fierce Indians of a tribe living in the country west
+of the Powhatan Indians. They were deadly enemies of Keketaw's tribe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The two boys, by much slow work with stones and shells and
+beaver-tooth chisels, managed to scrape a wooden sword into shape.
+This, Henry was to wear at his back. Keketaw, for his part, found a
+piece of deer's horn. He stuck it into a stick so that it made
+something like a small pickax. With this he said he could quickly
+break the head of a Monacan. It would also serve as a sort of hatchet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The land round the village in which Keketaw lived had been cleared of
+trees. This had been done by burning the trees in order to make room
+for fields. In these fields the Indians planted corn, beans, pumpkins,
+and tobacco, and a plant something like a sunflower, which is called
+an artichoke. Of the root of this artichoke they made a kind of bread.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For many miles there were no good canoe trees near the water. They had
+all been picked out and used. Henry and Keketaw traveled twenty miles
+into a deep woods, and chose a tree that would make a good canoe, and
+that stood near a stream which ran into the James River.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first thing they did was to break down young trees and boughs, and
+build themselves a brush tent. They made a bed out of dry leaves. The
+first night they had nothing to eat, for they had no time to shoot any
+game. The next morning they were too hungry to sleep late, and they
+knew that squirrels are early risers. Soon after daylight the Indian
+boy killed a squirrel with an arrow. Having no fire, they ate it
+without cooking; for, when one is a savage, one must not be too nice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How should they get a fire? They first took a piece of dry wood, which
+they scraped flat with stones. Then, with a blow of his tomahawk of
+deer's horn, Keketaw made a round hole in the wood. One end of a dry
+stick was placed in this hole. The other end was supported in the
+hollow of a shell which Keketaw held in his hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The string to Henry's bow was made of one of the cords or sinews of a
+deer's leg. He wound this once round the stick. With his left hand,
+Keketaw then put some dry moss about the stick where it entered the
+hole in the dry wood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When all was ready, Henry drew his bow to and fro like a saw. Keketaw
+pressed the shell down on the upper part of the stick. The bow-string
+holding the stick made it whirl in the hole beneath. At first this
+seemed to produce no effect. After a while the rapid rubbing of the
+piece of wood in the hole made heat. Presently a very thin thread of
+smoke began to come up through the little heap of moss about the
+stick. Henry was now pretty well out of breath, but he sawed the bow
+faster than ever. At last the moss began to smolder and to show fire.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Keketaw then withdrew the smoking stick, and gathered the moss
+together. Lying down by it, and putting his arm about it, the Indian
+lad began to blow it gently. The smoldering fire increased until a
+little blue flame, which he could barely see, appeared. Keketaw now
+added some very thin paper-like bits of dry bark and some small twigs
+to the pile of smoking moss. These caught fire, and sent up a
+straw-colored flame. Henry put on larger twigs until there was at last
+a crackling blaze.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Taking lighted sticks from this fire, the boys made a fire all round
+the base of a large tree from which they meant to get the canoe. This
+fire they kept going constantly for two days. They even got up at
+night to put dead boughs on, it.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/03.jpg" alt="Burning down a Tree." width="417" height="545"></p>
+<p class="ctr">
+<i>Burning down a Tree.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the third night of their stay in camp, they didn't lie down at the
+usual time, for the tree was burned nearly through. About two o'clock
+in the morning a little breeze rustled in the leaves of the great
+tree. Slowly at first, then more and more rapidly, the tree fell with
+a tremendous crashing sound, until with a final thundering roar it lay
+flat upon the ground.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sleepy as the boys were, they did not lie down for the night until
+they had built a new fire near the trunk of the tree. Having no ax to
+chop with, they had to burn the log in two. They put the fire at a
+place that would cut off enough of the tree trunk to make a canoe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day they built up this new fire, and then went fishing in the
+neighboring stream with their bone fishhooks, and lines made of the
+Spanish bayonet leaf. In two days after the fall of the tree they had
+burned off the log that was to make their canoe, and had scraped off
+all the bark with shells.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They then lighted little fires on top of the log, and, when these had
+charred the wood for an inch or more in depth in any place, they
+removed the fire and scraped away the charcoal. Then they built
+another little fire in the same place. These little fires were made
+with gum taken from the pine trees.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By burning and scraping they gradually dug out the inside of their
+boat, scraping out one end of it while they were burning out the
+other, and working at it day after day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The only tools they had for scraping were shells from the river, and
+sharp stones. Keketaw sometimes used his deer-horn tomahawk for the
+same purpose. It was fourteen days from the time they first lighted
+the fire at the foot of the tree until their canoe was finished. Two
+more days were spent in making paddles. This work was also done by
+burning and scraping.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When all was done, the canoe was slid down the soft bank into the
+water. It floated right side up to the delight of its makers. The boys
+now thought it would be a fine stroke to take a deer home with them.
+So they pulled one end of their canoe up on the shore, and started out
+to look for one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the first tracks they found were not deer tracks. They were the
+footprints of men. Keketaw made a sign to Henry by turning the palm of
+his hand toward the earth, and then moving the hand downward. This
+meant to keep low, and make no noise. Then Keketaw climbed a high pine
+tree. From the top of the tree he could see a number of Indians at a
+spring of water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The boy slid down the tree in haste. &quot;Monacans on the war path!&quot; he
+whispered as he reached the ground.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Swiftly and silently the two boys hurried back to their canoe. They
+wasted no time in admiring it. They gathered their weapons and fishing
+lines, and got aboard. It was not a question of killing Monacans now,
+but of saving themselves and their friends. They rowed with all their
+might from the start.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For hours they kept their new paddles busy. They reached the village
+after dark, and when they uttered the dreadful word &quot;Monacans,&quot; it ran
+from one wigwam to another. The women and children shuddered with
+fear. The warriors smeared their faces with paint, to make themselves
+uglier than ever, and departed. Soon after the boys had started home,
+the Monacans had found their camp fire still burning. Thinking they
+had been discovered, and knowing that a strong party of the Powhatan
+Indians might come after them, the Monacans had hurried back to their
+own home more swiftly than they had come.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Corn"></a>
+<p class="chapter">
+SOME THINGS ABOUT INDIAN CORN.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+When the white people first came to America, they had never seen
+Indian corn, which did not grow in Europe. The Indians raised it in
+little patches about their villages. Before planting their corn, they
+had to clear away the trees that covered the whole country. Their axes
+were made of stone, and were not sharp enough to cut down a tree. The
+larger trees they cut down by burning them off at the bottom. They
+killed the smaller trees by building little fires about them. When the
+bark all round a tree was burned, the tree died. As dead trees bear no
+leaves, the sun could shine through their branches on the ground where
+corn was to be planted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having no iron, they had to make their tools as they could. In some
+places they made a hoe by tying the shoulder blade of a deer to a
+stick. In other places they used half of the shell of a turtle for a
+hoe or spade to dig up the ground. This could be done where the ground
+was soft. In North Carolina the Indians had a little thing like a
+pickax which was made out of a deer's horn tied to a stick. An Indian
+woman would sit down on the ground with one of these little pickaxes
+in her hand. She would dig up the earth for a little space until it
+was loose. Then she would make a little hole in the soft earth. In
+this she would plant four or five grains of corn, putting them about
+an inch apart. Then she covered these grains with soft earth. In
+Virginia, where the ground was soft and sandy, the Indians made a kind
+of spade out of wood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sometimes they planted a patch a long way off from their bark house,
+so that they would not be tempted to eat it while it was green. The
+Indians were very fond of green corn. They roasted the ears in the
+ashes. Some of the tribes held a great feast when the first green corn
+was fit to eat, and some of them worshiped a spirit that they called
+the &quot;Spirit of the Corn.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the corn was dry, the Indians pounded it in order to make meal or
+hominy of it. Sometimes they parched the corn, and then pounded it
+into meal. They carried this parched meal with them when they went
+hunting and when they went to war. They could eat it with a little
+water, without stopping to cook it. They called it Nokick, but the
+white people called it No-cake.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the Pilgrims came to Cape Cod, they sent out Miles Standish and
+some other men to look through the country and find a good place for
+them to settle. Standish tried to find some of the Indians in order to
+make friends with them, but the Indians ran away whenever they saw him
+coming. One day he found a heap of sand. He knew it had been lately
+piled up, because he could see the marks of hands on the sand where
+the Indians had patted it down. Standish and his men dug up this heap.
+They soon came to a little old basket full of Indian corn. When they
+had dug further, they found a very large new basket full of fine corn
+which had been lately gathered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The white men, who had never seen it before, thought Indian corn very
+beautiful. Some of the ears were yellow, some were red. On other ears
+blue and yellow grains were mixed. Standish and his men said it was a
+&quot;very goodly sight.&quot; The Indian basket was round and narrow at the
+top. It held three or four bushels of corn, and it was as much as two
+men could do to lift it from the ground. The white men wondered to see
+how handsomely it was woven.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><img src="images/04.jpg" alt="Standish and his Men find Corn." width="380" height="611"></p>
+<p class="ctr">
+<i>Standish and his Men find Corn.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Near the pile of corn they found an old kettle which the Indians had
+probably bought from some ship. They filled this kettle with corn,
+They also filled their baskets with it. They wanted the corn for seed.
+They made up their mind to pay the Indians whenever they could find
+them. The next summer they found out who were the owners of this
+buried corn, and paid them for all the corn they had taken. If they
+had not found this corn, they would not have had any to plant the next
+spring, and so they would have starved to death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The people that were with Miles Standish settled at Plymouth. They
+were the first that came to live in New England. An Indian named
+Squanto came to live with the white people at Plymouth. Squanto was
+born at this very place. He had been carried away to England by a sea
+captain. Then he had been brought back by another captain to his own
+country. When he got back to Plymouth, he found that all the people of
+his village had died from a great sickness. He went to live with
+another tribe near by. When the white people came to Plymouth, they
+settled on the ground where Squanto's people had lived. As he could
+speak some English, and as all his own tribe were dead, he now came to
+live with the white people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The people at Plymouth did not know how to plant the corn they had
+found, but Squanto taught them. By watching the trees, the Indians
+knew when to put their corn into the ground. When the young leaf of
+the white oak tree was as large as a squirrel's ear, they knew that it
+was time to put their corn into the ground. Squanto taught the white
+people how to catch a kind of fish which were used to make their corn
+grow. They put one or two fishes into each hill of corn, but they were
+obliged to watch the cornfield day and night for two weeks after
+planting. If they had not watched it, the wolves would have dug up the
+fishes, and the corn with them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The white people learned also to cook their corn as the Indians did.
+They learned to eat hominy and samp, and these we still call by their
+Indian names. &quot;Succotash&quot; is another Indian word. The white people
+learned from the Indians to use the husks of Indian corn to make
+things. The Indians made ropes of corn husks, and in some places they
+made shoes of plaited husks. The white people in early times made
+their door mats and horse collars and beds of corn husks. They also
+twisted and wove husks to make seats for their chairs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of all the plants that grew in America, Indian corn was the most
+important to the Indians. It was also of the most value to the first
+white people who came to this country.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Women"></a>
+<p class="chapter">
+SOME WOMEN IN THE INDIAN WARS.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+When white people first came to this country, they had much trouble
+with the Indians. After a while, when they had learned to defend
+themselves and got used to danger, they did not mind it much. Even the
+women became as brave as soldiers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In very early times there were some families of people from Sweden
+living not far from where Philadelphia now stands. One day the women
+were all together boiling soap. It was the custom then to make soap at
+home. Water was first poured through ashes to make lye. People put
+this lye into a large kettle, and then threw into it waste pieces of
+meat and bits of fat of all kinds. After boiling a long time, this
+mixture made a kind of soft soap, which was the only soap the early
+settlers had. The large kettle in which the soap was boiled was hung
+on a pole. This pole was held up by two forked sticks driven into the
+ground. A fire was kept burning under the kettle. Of course, this soap
+boiling took place out of doors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some Indians, creeping through the woods, saw the women together
+without any men. They thought it a good chance to kill them or make
+them prisoners; but the women caught sight of the Indians, and ran
+away to their little church. The churches in that day were often built
+so they could be used for forts. The church to which these women ran
+was one of this kind. But the women had no guns with them. They knew
+that when they got into the church they would have nothing to fight
+with. So two of them took hold of the ends of the pole on which the
+kettle of boiling soap was hanging, and carried the kettle into the
+little church with them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians tried to get into the church, but every time an Indian
+climbed up to get in, a woman would just dip up a ladleful of boiling
+soap, and dash it on him. This was a kind of fighting the Indians did
+not like. They were not used to soap in any form. So, when an Indian
+was scalded by the soap, he would run away in great pain, and not try
+it again. The next Indian that came got some of the same hot medicine.
+He also would have to go away to cool off, if he could.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><img src="images/05.jpg" alt="Blowing a Conch Shell." width="371" height="490"></p>
+<p class="ctr">
+<i>Blowing a Conch Shell.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While some of the women were watching the Indians, and fighting them
+with hot soap, one of them took up a dinner horn and blew it. This
+dinner horn was made of a great shell called a conch shell. The tip of
+a conch shell was sawed off so as to make a hole in it. By blowing
+into this hole, a very loud noise could be made. Such horns were used
+in that day to call people to dinner, and to call the neighbors when
+there was any danger. The woman blew the conch-shell horn, and kept on
+blowing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The men who were away in the woods heard the sound of the horn. They
+knew that something was wrong, because the horn was blowing when it
+was not dinner time. Either a house was on fire or the Indians had
+come. The men took up their guns and hurried toward the little church.
+When the Indians saw the men coming, they ran away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was a woman in Massachusetts named Bradley. She had once been a
+prisoner among the Indians. She lived in a blockhouse which had a high
+fence of posts set up close together all round it to keep the Indians
+out. Such a fence was called a stockade. One day Mrs. Bradley was
+boiling soap. The gate of the stockade had been left open a little
+way. Suddenly she saw an Indian, with war paint on his face and his
+tomahawk in his hand, rushing in at the gate. The Indian thought it
+would be an easy thing to kill Mrs. Bradley. But the woman was too
+quick for him. She dashed a ladle of boiling soap upon him before he
+could run away. The soap was so hot that the Indian was killed by it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians came once more to take Mrs. Bradley. This time, not having
+any soap, she got a gun and shot the foremost one dead. The rest ran
+away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In King Philip's War the Indians tried to take the town of Hadley. The
+men of the town fought hard, but the Indians were getting the best of
+the battle. A little cannon had been sent from Boston. It reached
+Hadley while the battle was going on. As all the men were busy
+fighting, the women loaded the cannon themselves. First they put in
+powder, and then small shot and nails. When the cannon was loaded, the
+women took it to the men, who pointed it into the thickest of the
+crowd of Indians, and fired it. A hail-storm of nails was a new thing
+to the Indians. Those who were not killed ran away very much
+frightened.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was a young girl in Maine who was in a house when the Indians
+attacked it. She held the door shut until thirteen women and children
+could get out of the house by the back door, and pass into a
+blockhouse, which is a kind of fort. The Indians beat down the door at
+last, and then knocked down the brave girl behind it, but they did not
+kill her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sometimes the Indians attacked a blockhouse when there were none but
+women in it. In such cases the women would put on hats, and fix their
+hair so as to look like men. Then they would use their guns well. The
+savages, thinking there were men in the place, would go away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was one girl who was a captive among the Indians for three weeks.
+One day she saw a horse running loose in the woods. She stripped some
+tough bark from a tree, and made a bridle of it. Then she caught the
+horse, and put her bark bridle on him. It was just growing dark when
+she climbed on his bare back, for she had no saddle. She turned the
+horse's head toward the settlements, and rode hard all night. The next
+morning she was safe among her friends.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Tea"></a>
+<p class="chapter">
+THE COMING OF TEA AND COFFEE.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+When the first settlers came to this country, tea and coffee were
+unknown to them. The favorite drink of that time was a kind of weak
+beer, which was usually made at home. The first settlers in America
+could not buy drinks such as they had had in England, and in a new
+country they often could not make them. So they found out ways of
+making other drinks in place of them. What we call root beer and birch
+beer, and a drink flavored with the chips of the hickory tree, were
+made in New England. Farther south the people made a kind of drink by
+mixing water and molasses together, and putting in Indian corn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such drinks were taken at meals as we take tea and coffee. People also
+drank a great deal of cider. As the cows hardly ever gave any milk in
+winter, children were given cider and water to drink. But about fifty
+years after the time that the first settlers came to this country,
+people in England began to get tea and coffee. Tea and coffee were
+soon after brought into this country. At first they were thought to be
+medicines good for many diseases. Little books were written to tell
+how many diseases these new drinks would cure. Root beer and birch
+beer, and tea and coffee, were good things in one way. After they came
+into use, people did not care so much for stronger drinks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When tea first came, it was very fashionable. It was called the new
+China drink. Along with the tea, people brought from China little
+teacups to drink it from. Most of the cups before this time had been
+made of pewter. The new cups and saucers were called chinaware. They
+also brought from China pretty little tables on which they set the
+teacups when they drank the tea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When people first got tea in country places, they did not know how to
+use it. There was a minister in Connecticut who bought two pounds of
+tea in New York. He took it home with him, and put it away to use when
+anybody in his house should be ill. He wanted the tea for medicine.
+His daughters had heard about the fine ladies in town who took tea.
+They were curious to taste it, and were not willing to wait until they
+should be ill. So one afternoon, without letting their father know it,
+they asked two young men who were friends of theirs to the house. Then
+they got out the package of tea, intending to treat themselves and the
+young men to a new pleasure. They knew nothing about making tea. When
+they had boiled it a long time, they poured off the tea and threw it
+away. They put the tea leaves on a dish, and tried to eat them as one
+would eat spinach. This is the way they punished themselves for
+disobeying their father.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before the Revolution, when gentlemen called at fine houses in the
+afternoon, the ladies always gave them tea to drink. As soon as a
+gentleman's little cup was empty, one of the ladies would fill it up
+again, and it was not polite to refuse to drink all the tea that was
+offered. A French prince who was in Philadelphia during the Revolution
+drank twelve little cups of tea one afternoon. The ladies kept giving
+him more, and the poor prince did not know how to stop them until
+another French gentleman told him privately that if he would lay his
+teaspoon across the top of the cup no more tea would be poured in. He
+put the teaspoon across the teacup as a sign that he did not wish to
+drink any more.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><img src="images/06.jpg" alt="A Colonial Tea Party." width="319" height="512">
+</p>
+<p class="ctr">
+<i>A Colonial Tea Party.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Long after tea and coffee were in use in this country they were not
+known in the backwoods. The people on the frontier drank tea made from
+the root of the sassafras tree or from the leaves of some wild vines.
+The whole work of preparing food was done at home. When they wanted to
+grind meal, they did it by pounding corn in a hole cut in the stump of
+a tree. They used a large stone pounder which was tied by a rope to a
+limb of a tree above. After each blow the limb would spring back and
+raise the pounder. Their corn meal was sifted through a sieve made of
+deerskin with little holes punched through it. They had to make their
+shoes and hats and caps themselves, and to weave their cloth at home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A boy who lived on the west side of the Alleghany Mountains in those
+days afterward wrote a book telling all about this rough life. His
+name was Joseph Doddridge. He spent his boyhood in a log cabin, in
+constant danger from Indians. The settlers had built a fort in the
+middle of the settlement. Sometimes in the night Joseph would hear a
+man tapping gently on the back window of his father's cabin. As soon
+as anybody waked up, the man would whisper, &quot;Indians!&quot; Joseph's father
+would then take down his gun. The children would be dressed in the
+dark as quickly as possible. Such things as would be needed in the
+fort were then picked up. Not a word was spoken, nor was any candle
+lighted. Even the little children learned to be perfectly silent, and
+the dogs were taught not to bark. When all was ready, the family would
+hurry away along the foot path to the fort. All the other families in
+the settlement would be called in the same way.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Every fall these settlers sent pack horses over the mountains. The
+horses were loaded with the skins of animals. When they came back,
+they carried salt, which was the one thing that could not be made in
+the settlement. But the men never thought it worth while to bring home
+with them tea and coffee or other unnecessary things.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Joseph was about seven years of age, he was sent over the
+mountains to school. The little boy was very much puzzled when he
+first saw a house that was plastered inside. He had never in his life
+seen anything but a cabin built of logs. He could not understand how a
+plastered house was built. It seemed to him like something that had
+grown that way.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When supper time came in this plastered house, he saw a teacup and
+saucer for the first time in his life. The people in his neighborhood
+used wooden bowls to drink out of. But here he saw what seemed to him
+to be a little cup standing in a bigger one. He had never heard of
+coffee. He only knew that the brownish-looking stuff in his cup was
+not milk, or hominy, or soup. What to do with the little cups, or how
+to make use of the spoon that was in them, he could not tell, so he
+watched the big folks handle their cups and spoons. He drank the
+coffee just as they did, but he disliked it very much. It made the
+tears come into his eyes to drink it. When he got his cup nearly
+empty, it was filled again. He did not dare to say that he had had
+enough, and he did not know what to do. At last he saw one man turn
+his empty cup bottom upward in the saucer, and lay his little spoon
+across the bottom of the cup. That was the custom in those days. He
+saw that this man's cup was not filled any more. So Joseph drank his
+coffee as quickly as possible, turned his cup over in the saucer, and
+laid the spoon across the bottom. He was delighted that he did not
+have to drink any more coffee.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Kidnapped"></a>
+<p class="chapter">
+KIDNAPPED BOYS.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+In the days when our country belonged to England, white people were
+brought here to be sold. Some of these were poor people who could not
+get a good living in England. They came over to this country without
+any money. The captain of the ship in which they came sold them in
+this country to pay their passage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Men and women who were sold had to serve four years; and boys and
+girls, a longer time. The person sold was just like a slave until his
+time was out. The man who had bought him might beat him, or sell him
+to another master. Many of these white slaves did not get enough to
+eat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here are some stories of boys who were brought to this country and
+sold before the Revolution. They are all true stories.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="chapter">
+THE STORY OF PETER WILLIAMSON.&mdash;TWICE A SLAVE.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+One day a boy named Peter Williamson was walking along the streets of
+Aberdeen in Scotland. The little fellow was eight years old. Two men
+met him, and asked him to go on board a ship with them. When he got on
+board, he was put down in the lower part of the ship with other boys.
+The ship sailed to America with twenty boys. Like Peter, the other
+lads had been stolen from their parents. They were taken to
+Philadelphia and sold, to work for seven years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Little Peter was lucky enough to fall into the hands of a kind master.
+Among those who came to buy boys off this ship was a man who had
+himself been stolen from Scotland when he was young. He felt sorry for
+little Peter when he saw him put up for sale. The price the cruel
+captain asked for him was about fifty dollars. The Scotchman paid this
+money, and took Peter for his boy. He sent him to school in the
+winter, and treated him kindly. Peter, for his part, was a good boy,
+and did his work faithfully. He staid with his master after his time
+was out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Peter was about seventeen years old, this good master died. He
+left to Peter about six hundred dollars in money for being a good boy.
+He also gave him his best horse and saddle and all his own clothes.
+Some years after this, Peter married, and went to live in the northern
+part of Pennsylvania. He was by this time a man of property.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One night, when his wife was away from home, the Indians came about
+his house. He got a gun and ran upstairs. He pointed the gun at the
+Indians, but they told him that if he would not shoot they would not
+kill him. So he came down, and gave himself up as a prisoner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians treated him very cruelly. He was with them more than a
+year. His sufferings were so great that he wished sometimes that he
+was dead. He knew that if he ran away the Indians would probably catch
+him, and kill him in some cruel way. But one night, when the Indians
+were all asleep, he resolved to take the risk. You may believe that
+when he had started he ran with all his might.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When daylight came, he hid himself in a hollow tree. After a while he
+heard the Indians running all about the tree. He could hear them tell
+one another how they would kill him when they found him. But they did
+not think to look into the tree.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next night he ran on again. He came very near running into a camp
+of Indians. But at last he came in sight of the house of a friend. He
+was tired out, and starving. He had hardly any clothes left on him. He
+knocked at the door. The woman who saw him thought that he was an
+Indian. She screamed, and the man of the house got his gun to kill
+him. But he quickly told his friend that he was no Indian, but Peter
+Williamson. Everybody had given him up for dead. But now all his
+friends were happy to see him alive once more. He had twice been
+carried into slavery,&mdash;once by cruel white men, and once by yet more
+cruel red men.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="chapter">
+SOLD LIKE JOSEPH.&mdash;STORIES OF TWO KIDNAPPED BOYS.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+You have heard the beautiful story of Joseph in the Bible. You
+remember that he was sold by his brothers. Then he was carried into
+Egypt, where he became a great man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1730 there was a little English lad at sea with his uncle, who was
+the captain of a ship. Whether the boy's father and mother were dead
+or not, history does not tell. But the boy was sailing on his uncle's
+ship, as though he were the captain's son.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day the captain was taken ill at sea. After a while he died. The
+mate and the sailors thought that they would like to steal the ship
+and all the captain's property. But it now all belonged to the little
+boy. Like Joseph's brothers, the sailors laid a plan to get the boy
+out of the way. You remember that Joseph's brothers saw some slave
+traders going by. These traders were Arabs, like the Arabs that carry
+off slaves to-day. Joseph's brothers stopped the Arabs, and sold
+little Joseph to them. The Arabs took Joseph to Egypt and sold him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just so the mate and his men saw a ship coming toward them. This ship
+had a great many people on board. They were Irish people, who were
+being taken to America to be sold as servants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The mate hailed the ship, and made a bargain with the captain and the
+mate. He sold the poor little boy, who had no friends, to this
+captain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the mate and his men sailed away. What became of them we do not
+know; but the ship, loaded with white servants, sailed to Boston. It
+landed at the Long Wharf, a pier running far out into the water. The
+servants were obliged to run up and down this wharf. The people who
+came to buy watched them to see how strong they might be.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The little boy sold by the mate was there. He ran up and down with the
+others, to show how nimble his legs were. He was bought by a Mr.
+Willard.
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="ctr"><img src="images/07.jpg" alt="Selling the Captain's Nephew" width="425" height="471"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>Selling the Captain's Nephew.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The boy served out his time, and became free. He became a well-known
+officer in the Indian wars. His name was Johnson. He did not become so
+great as Joseph in Egypt, but, like Joseph, he gained honor in the
+country into which he had been sold as a slave.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here is another story of the same kind. A little boy six years old got
+lost in London. After he had wandered about a good while, a ship
+captain met him, and told him that he would take him to his father.
+The captain took him into a boat, put him on board his ship, carried
+him to Maryland, and sold him. After the boy had served out his time
+and grown to be a man, he became a rich farmer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The wicked ship captain who carried off the boy was caught stealing
+many years afterward. In that day, thieves were often sold into
+America for seven years, as a punishment. This captain who had sold
+others was now put on a ship and sent to be sold in Maryland. The man
+who bought him was the very person whom he had carried off when he was
+a boy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+You remember how much Joseph's brothers were afraid of him when they
+found themselves in his power. This wicked old sea captain was
+frightened when he saw that he was now a slave to the boy he had
+stolen. He was so much alarmed that he killed himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="chapter">
+LITTLE LORD SOLD INTO BONDAGE.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+There lived in Ireland a long time ago a certain Lord Altham. The time
+was about sixty years before our American Revolution. This Lord Altham
+was a weak and foolish man. He quarreled with his wife, and sent her
+away. He wasted his money in wicked living, and got into debt. He had
+a little son named James Annesley. &quot;Jemmy,&quot; as he was called, was sent
+to a boarding school; but the father grew more wicked, and more
+careless of his son. He sent the boy away, and pretended that he was
+dead. He did this because he wanted to sell some property that he
+could not sell if Jemmy were alive.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Jemmy found himself badly treated where he lived. When he complained,
+he was told that his father did not pay his board: so he ran away. He
+lived in the streets with rough boys. He ran on errands for pay, like
+the other little street boys. But still the boys knew that Jemmy was
+the son of a lord. Strangers were surprised to hear a little ragged
+boy called &quot;my lord&quot; by his playmates.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When he was about thirteen years old, his father died. Then Jemmy
+Annesley became Lord Altham in place of his father; but his uncle
+Richard, who was a cruel man, took Jemmy's property, and called
+himself Lord Altham.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The wicked uncle was afraid that people would find out that Jemmy was
+alive, and he sent a man to see where the boy was. When the boy was
+found, his uncle accused him of stealing a silver spoon. He hired
+three policemen to arrest the boy and put him on a ship. Poor Jemmy
+wept bitterly. He told the people he was afraid his uncle would kill
+him. The ship took him to Philadelphia, where he was sold to a farmer
+to serve until he should be of age.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><img src="images/08.jpg" alt="Kidnapping a Lord." width="327" height="514"></p>
+<p class="ctr">
+<i>Kidnapping a Lord.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day, when he was about seventeen years old, he came into his
+master's house with a gun in one hand and a squirrel in the other.
+There were two strangers sitting by the fire. They had found the door
+open, and had walked in.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of the men said, &quot;Are you a servant in this house?&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;I am,&quot; said James.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;What country did you come from?&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Ireland.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;We are from Ireland ourselves,&quot; said one of the strange men. &quot;What
+part of Ireland are you from?&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;From the county of Wexford.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;We are from that county. What is your name?&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;James Annesley.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;I never heard that name there,&quot; said the traveler.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Did you know Lord Altham?&quot; asked the boy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Yes.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Well, I am his son.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;What!&quot; cried the stranger, &quot;you the son of Lord Altham! Impossible!&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the young man insisted that he was Lord Altham's son.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Tell me how Lord Altham's house stands,&quot; said the stranger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The young man told him enough to show that he knew all about the
+place. Then the stranger said, that, if James ever came to Ireland to
+claim his estate, he would do what he could to help him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+James Annesley was badly treated by his master. At length he ran away,
+but he was retaken, and put into a jail in Lancaster. He was kept in
+prison a good while. He had a fine voice, and he amused himself by
+singing. The people used to stand outside of the jail to hear him
+sing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For running away he was obliged to serve a still longer time. He spent
+thirteen years in slavery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When he got free at last, he told Mr. Ellis of Philadelphia about his
+case. This kind-hearted man gave him a passage on a ship going to the
+West Indies. An English fleet was then in the West Indies. It was
+commanded by the famous Admiral Vernon. When the brave admiral heard
+James Annesley's story, he took him to England. In England James found
+friends ready to help him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was a long lawsuit, but James's old friends and schoolmates came
+to court as witnesses for him. One of the men who had talked with him
+while he was a servant in Pennsylvania told the Court about it. Two of
+the policemen that had helped to put little Jemmy on shipboard
+confessed the dreadful act they had done.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the jury gave a verdict that James Annesley was the true Lord
+Altham. There was great joy among the people, and everybody detested
+the cruel uncle. The people made songs about him, and sang them under
+his windows. James Annesley was now called Lord Altham. But before the
+young lord came into possession of his title and his property, he was
+taken ill and died.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am glad that we live in better times. Children are not kidnapped and
+sold now.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Blackbeard"></a>
+<p class="chapter">THE LAST BATTLE OF BLACKBEARD.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Our country now reaches from one ocean to the other. But in the days
+before the Revolution there were only English colonies stretching up
+and down the Atlantic coast. Merchandise was carried from one colony
+to another, and from one country to another, in slow-going sailing
+vessels, for there were neither railroads nor steamships.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In those old times there were robbers on the sea. We call sea robbers
+pirates. These men carried cannon on their ships, and they robbed any
+vessels not stronger than they were. In our days of large steamships a
+pirate would not stand any chance of getting away. He would soon be
+caught. Some of the pirates of old times sailed up and down the
+American coast. They captured ships sailing from America to Europe and
+from Europe to America. The worst of all these pirates was Blackbeard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His real name was Thatch. He was called Blackbeard because he wore a
+long black beard that covered his face. This made him look frightful
+in that day, when other men shaved their faces smooth. He divided his
+beard into locks, and twisted each lock, tying it at the end with
+ribbons. To make himself look still worse, he fastened some of these
+twists over his ears.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><img src="images/09.jpg" alt="Blackbeard." width="373" height="566"></p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><i>Blackbeard.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When he was fighting against another ship, he wore a strap over his
+shoulders to which were fastened large pistols. In those days, cannon
+were touched off by means of a slow match, a kind of cord that burns
+slowly like punk. When Blackbeard went into battle, he twisted some of
+these slow matches or cords round his head, and stuck some of them
+under his hat. The ends of these matches were burning, and they looked
+like fiery, hissing snakes. With his beard turned back over his ears,
+and fire all about his head, he seemed to be a tall fiend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Blackbeard was more like a fiend than a man. He was cruel and wicked
+in every way. Some bad men are sometimes kind-hearted, but Blackbeard
+was always cruel. He would shoot even his own men in order to make his
+crew afraid of him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He did much of his bad work on the coast of North Carolina. Here he
+found bays and sounds where the water was shallow. Large ships could
+not easily follow him into these places. The Governor of North
+Carolina was a bad man. He took part of Blackbeard's plunder, and let
+Blackbeard go safely about the country. The people were afraid of the
+pirate. They sent to the Governor of Virginia, and asked him to fit
+out a ship to capture Blackbeard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two sloops that could sail in shallow water were sent. Lieutenant
+Maynard was the commander. The ships left Virginia secretly. No one
+knew where they were going.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Maynard came in sight of Blackbeard's sloop, he hung out his
+flag. Blackbeard took a glass of rum and drank it, calling to Maynard,
+&quot;I'll give you no quarter, nor take any.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maynard replied, &quot;I do not expect any quarter from you, nor will I
+give any.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This meant that neither of them would take any prisoners, but that
+every man must fight for his life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maynard tried to run alongside Blackbeard's ship. He wanted to take
+his men on board the pirate ship, and fight it out on her deck. But
+Blackbeard had put a large negro near to the gunpowder on his ship. He
+said to the negro, &quot;If the men from the other ship get on board of
+ours, you must set fire to the gunpowder, and blow us all up.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maynard was running toward the pirate ship to get on board; but
+Blackbeard fired all the cannon on that side of his ship, and killed
+some of Maynard's men. This was really lucky for Maynard; for, if he
+had got on board, the negro would have set fire to the gunpowder, and
+the pirates and Maynard's men would all have been blown to pieces at
+once.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maynard now sent his men down into the hold of the ship. They were out
+of sight of the pirates, but they had their pistols and swords ready.
+The sloops were soon close together, and Blackbeard's men threw boxes
+full of powder and shot, and pieces of lead and iron, on the deck of
+Maynard's sloop. These were so fixed as to go off like bombshells.
+But, as nearly all of Maynard's men were down below the deck, these
+boxes did little harm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Blackbeard, thinking that most of Maynard's men had been killed,
+jumped on board the sloop with fourteen men. Maynard now called his
+men from below, and there was a desperate fight. Blackbeard was shot
+five times, and was wounded with swords; but the old monster fought
+until he fell down dead while cocking his pistol. The rest of the
+pirates on the deck of Maynard's ship were taken prisoners.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maynard's other sloop was fighting with the men left on board
+Blackbeard's vessels. These surrendered, but they had trouble to keep
+the big negro from setting fire to the gunpowder and blowing them all
+up.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maynard took away from the Governor of North Carolina many hogsheads
+of sugar that Blackbeard had stolen. Then he hung the great ugly head
+of the pirate at the bow of his ship, and sailed back to Virginia in
+triumph.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Phildelphia"></a>
+<p class="chapter">AN OLD PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+There was a schoolmaster in Philadelphia before the Revolution who did
+not like to beat his pupils as other masters of that time did. When a
+boy behaved badly, he would take his switch and stick it into the back
+of the boy's coat collar so that the switch should rise above his head
+in the air. He would then stand the boy up on a bench in sight of the
+school, in order to punish him by making him ashamed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This schoolmaster's name was Dove. If any boy was not at school in
+time, the master would send a committee of five or six of the scholars
+to fetch him. One of this committee carried a lighted lantern, while
+another had a bell in his hand. The tardy scholar had to march down
+the street in broad daylight with a lantern to show him the way, and a
+boy ringing the school bell to let him know that it was time for him
+to be there.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><img src="images/010.jpg" alt="The Tardy Schoolmaster." width="363" height="469"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>The Tardy Schoolmaster.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One morning Mr. Dove slept too late, or forgot himself. The boys made
+up a committee to bring the teacher to school. They took the lantern
+and the bell with them. Mr. Dove said they were quite right. He took
+his place in the procession, and the people saw Schoolmaster Dove
+taken to school late with a lantern and a bell.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The larger schoolboys of that time were very fond of foot races. They
+would take off their coats and tie handkerchiefs about their heads
+before starting. The short breeches they wore were fastened at the
+knee by bands. When they were going to run a race, they would loosen
+these bands, and pull off their shoes and stockings. Some of the boys
+ran barefoot in this way, but others wore Indian moccasins. The race
+course was round a block; that is, about three quarters of a mile.
+Crowds would gather to see the boys run, and the people rushed from
+one side of the block to the other to see which was leading in the
+race.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Dutch"></a>
+<p class="chapter">A DUTCH FAMILY IN THE REVOLUTION.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+What is now the State of New York was first settled by people from
+Holland who spoke the Dutch language. New York afterward became an
+English colony, but the Dutch settlers and their descendants still
+spoke the language of Holland, at the time of the American Revolution.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In Flatbush, which is now a part of Brooklyn, was a family that spoke
+the Dutch language, while they were true Americans in feeling. When
+the British landed on Long Island, they got ready to leave the town.
+The horses were hitched to the wagon, and such things as were thought
+most valuable were put in. The first thing they put into the wagon was
+the great Dutch Bible with heavy brass clasps. A tall clock was also
+carefully lifted into the wagon. Then clothing and other things
+followed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The father of the family told the two faithful negro men, C&aelig;sar and
+his son Mink, how to take care of things. Femmetia, the most active of
+the daughters, had the whip in her hand, and, as the sound of firing
+was coming nearer and nearer, she tapped the horses on their ears, and
+the family dashed away to the house of a cousin who lived beyond the
+region where the fight was to be.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That evening Femmetia helped her father, who was an invalid, to climb
+to the top of a little hill from which they could see a fire raging in
+the village of Flatbush. The direction of the fire showed the father
+and daughter that it was their own house which was burning.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the fight was over, General Washington's troops had been driven
+from Long Island. The good Dutch family went back and found their
+house burned. They moved into another house, whose owner was still
+away, and then began to build a new house. The mother bought some
+boards with what money she had saved, but she could not get any nails.
+In that day nails were not made by machinery, as they are now. Each
+nail had to be hammered out separately by a blacksmith. Nails made in
+this way cost a great deal of money.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was but one way to do. Femmetia and her sister had to find nails
+by raking over the ashes of the old house. Some of these nails were
+crooked, and they had to be hammered to make them straight enough to
+use.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some American officers had been made prisoners at the battle of Long
+Island. They were allowed to go about the village after having given
+their word not to go farther. They liked to help the girls find nails
+in the ashes, and hammer them straight on the stones. Other young
+girls came to help them, so that there was a party of young people
+talking, joking, laughing, and digging in the ashes, every day. It was
+fun for all of them. There were not boards enough to finish the house.
+The room in which the two sisters slept was upstairs. It had but half
+a floor. Where the rest of the floor should have been were only bare
+beams.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><img src="images/011.jpg" alt="A Nail Party" width="438" height="544"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>A Nail Party.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One night the negro woman, whose name was Dian, came into the room
+below, and called Femmetia. She told her that the British soldiers had
+come into the barn, and that they would soon take away what were left
+of the chickens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;You jes' come down.&quot; said Dian to Femmetia. So the old slave and the
+young girl went out together. They carried a gun and a broomstick. The
+moon was shining. They took great pains not to let the soldiers see
+them. First they dodged behind a great walnut tree. Then, when they
+were sure the soldiers did not see them, they ran behind the corncrib.
+Their next march brought them behind the wagon house, and then they
+slipped into the dark shadow of the barn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dian thrust the rifle through a hole in the side door of the barn. At
+the same moment the bold Femmetia threw a stone which made the
+soldiers look round. There was moonlight enough for them to see the
+muzzle of the gun coming through the door as though it were ready to
+fire at them. They ran away in great haste, and left the chickens
+behind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The silver plate and other valuable things were buried under the
+hearth in the house. A lady in a neighboring house hid her gold coins
+in the middle of a great round ball of a pincushion. Such ball
+pincushions were worn by some of the Dutch women at that time. They
+hung them at their sides, tied by a bit of ribbon. A party of English
+soldiers came into this lady's house. They were much amused to see
+this ball at the lady's side. One of them rudely cut the ribbon with
+his sword, and then the soldiers played ball with the cushion. It was
+sent here and there about the room. Twice it fell into the ashes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The woman who owned it expected that it would be torn, and all her
+gold would spill out, but she went on with her work. If she had shown
+any anxiety about the ball, the soldiers might have thought to look
+for her money in the cushion. At last they gave it back to her,
+much-soiled, but holding its treasures safe.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="LongAgo"></a>
+<p class="chapter">A SCHOOL OF LONG AGO.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+A hundred and fifty years ago there was a famous teacher among the
+German settlers in Pennsylvania who was known as &quot;The Good
+Schoolmaster.&quot; His name was Christopher Dock. He had two little
+country schools. For three days he would teach at a little place
+called Skippack, and then for the next three days he would teach at
+Salford.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+People said that the good schoolmaster never lost his temper. There
+was a man who thought he would try to make him angry. He said many
+harsh and abusive words to the teacher, and even cursed him. But the
+only reply the teacher made was, &quot;Friend, may the Lord have mercy on
+you.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Other schoolmasters used to beat their scholars severely with whips
+and long switches. But Schoolmaster Dock had found out a better way.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When a child came to school for the first time, the other scholars
+were made to give the new scholar a welcome by shaking hands with him,
+one after another. Then the new boy or girl was told that this was not
+a harsh school, but a place for those who would behave. And if a
+scholar were lazy, disobedient, or stubborn, the master would in the
+presence of the whole school pronounce him not fit for this school,
+but only for a school where children were flogged. The new scholar was
+asked to promise to obey and to be diligent. When he had made this
+promise, he was shown to a seat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Now,&quot; the good master would say, when this was done, &quot;who will take
+this new scholar and help him to learn?&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the new boy or girl was clean and bright looking, many would be
+willing to take charge of him or her. But there were few ready to
+teach a dirty, ragged little child. Sometimes no one would wish to do
+it. In such a case the master would offer to the one who would take
+such a child a reward of one of the beautiful texts of scripture which
+the schoolmasters of that time used to write and decorate for the
+children. Or he would give him one of the pictures of birds which he
+was accustomed to paint with his own hands.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/012.jpg" alt="Hand-drawn bird." width="466" height="382">
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old Pennsylvania teachers were fond of making these tickets with
+pictures and writing on them. The pictures which we have here will
+show you what they looked like. The writing is in German, as you will
+see.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/013.jpg" alt="Picture and text written in German." width="403" height="501">
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whenever one of the younger scholars succeeded in learning his A, B,
+C, Christopher Dock would send word to the father of the child to give
+him a penny, and he would ask his mother to cook two eggs for him as a
+treat. These were fine rewards for poor children in a new country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At certain stages in his studies, the industrious child in one of
+Dock's schools would receive a penny from his father, and eat two eggs
+cooked by his mother. But all this time he was not counted a member of
+the school. He was only on trial. The day on which a boy or girl began
+to read was a great day. If the pupil had been diligent in spelling,
+the morning after the first reading day, the master would give him
+a ticket carefully written with his own hand. This ticket read
+&quot;Industrious&mdash;One Penny.&quot; This showed that the scholar was now really
+received into the school. But if he afterward became idle or
+disobedient, Schoolmaster Dock would take away his token.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were no clocks or watches in the country. The children came to
+school, one after another taking their places near the master, who sat
+writing. They spent their time reading until all were there. But every
+one who succeeded in reading his passage without mistake stopped
+reading, and came and sat at the writing table to write. The poor
+fellow who remained last on the bench was called the Lazy Scholar.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Every Lazy Scholar had his name written on the blackboard. If a child
+at any time failed to read correctly, he was sent back to study his
+passage, and called again after a while. If he failed a second or a
+third time, all the scholars cried out, &quot;Lazy!&quot; Then his name was
+written on the blackboard. Then all the poor Lazy Scholar's friends
+went to work to teach him to read his lesson correctly. And if his
+name should not be rubbed off the board before school was dismissed,
+all the scholars might write it down, and take it home with them. But
+if he could read well before school was out, the scholars, at the
+bidding of the master, called out, &quot;Industrious!&quot; and then his name
+was rubbed off the board.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The funniest of Dock's rewards was that which he gave to those who
+made no mistake in their lessons. He marked a large O with chalk on
+the hand of the perfect scholar. Fancy what a time the boys and girls
+must have had, trying to go home without rubbing out this O.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If you had gone into this school some day, you might have seen a boy
+sitting on a punishment bench all alone. This was a fellow who had
+told a lie or used bad language. He was put there as not fit to sit
+near anybody else. If he committed the offense often, a yoke would be
+put round his neck, as if he were a brute. Sometimes, however, the
+teacher would give the scholars their choice of a blow on the hand or
+a seat on the punishment bench. They usually preferred the blow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At certain times the scholars were permitted to study aloud, but at
+other times they were obliged to keep still. And a boy or girl was put
+as a watcher, to set down the names of those who talked in this time
+of quiet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old schoolmaster in Skippack wrote one hundred rules of good
+behavior for his scholars. This is perhaps the first book on good
+manners written in America. But rules of behavior for people living in
+houses of one or two rooms, as they did in that day, were very
+different from those needed in our time. Here are some of the rules:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;When you comb your hair, do not go out in the middle of the room,&quot;
+says the schoolmaster. This was because families were accustomed to
+eat and sleep in the same room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Do not eat your morning bread on the road or in school,&quot; he tells
+them, &quot;but ask your parents to give it to you at home.&quot; From this we
+see that the common breakfast was bread alone, and that the children
+often ate it as they walked to school.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The table manners of that day were very good for the time, but they
+seem very curious to us. He says, &quot;Do not wabble with your stool,&quot;
+because rough home-made stools were the common chairs then, and the
+floors, made of boards that were split and not sawed, were so uneven
+that a noisy child could easily rock his stool to and fro.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Put your knife upon the right and your bread on the left side,&quot; he
+says. Forks were little used in those days, and the people in the
+country did not have any. He also tells them not to throw bones under
+the table. It was a common practice among some people of that time to
+throw bones and scraps under the table, where the dogs ate them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The child is not told to wait for others when he has finished eating,
+or to ask to be excused. &quot;Get up quietly,&quot; says the schoolmaster, &quot;and
+take your stool with you. Wish a pleasant mealtime, and go to one
+side.&quot; The child is told not to put the remaining bread into his
+pocket.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As time passed on, Christopher Dock had many friends, for all his
+scholars of former years loved him greatly. He lived to be very old,
+and taught his schools to the last. One evening he did not come home,
+and the people went to look for the beloved old man. They found their
+dear old master on his knees in the schoolhouse. He had died while
+praying alone.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="WhaleStories"></a>
+<p class="chapter">STORIES OF WHALING.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+In the old days, before petroleum or kerosene had been found in this
+country, people had many ways of lighting their houses. A cheap light
+was made by putting a little grease or oil in a saucer in which was a
+little wick or rag lying over the edge of the saucer or drawn up
+through a cork that floated on the grease. When this wick was burning,
+it gave hardly as much light as a candle. This is one of the oldest
+ways of making light. It was used thousands of years ago. Many people
+now living remember little lamps made in this way.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Poor people often made light by burning pine knots, or bits of pitch
+pine chopped out of old stumps. These gave a bright light for a time.
+Pitch pine in New England was called candle wood; in the South it was
+called light wood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The commonest light in old times was the tallow candle. This was
+sometimes made by dipping a candle wick into melted tallow. Then, when
+the tallow had cooled, the candle was dipped again and again. A little
+tallow remained on it each time, and at last it was thick enough to
+burn. Candles made in this way were called &quot;dips.&quot; Better candles were
+made by running melted tallow into molds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before the Revolution a favorite candle for burning at fine houses was
+made of the wax-myrtle berry. This berry is full of a kind of green
+wax which came out when it was boiled. When this wax rose to the top
+of the pot, it was skimmed off and used for making wax candles. These
+candles had a pretty green color, and gave out a delicate perfume when
+they were burning. More expensive candles were made of beeswax.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For hundreds of years whale oil was burned in large lamps, and
+thousands of whales were killed in order to get the oil. Candles were
+also made from spermaceti, which is a substance taken from the head of
+the sperm whale.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the people first settled on Long Island, there were a great many
+whales in the sea. Sometimes these whales would run into bays and
+other shallow places. When the tide went out, the whale would be left
+without water enough to swim in. Sometimes he found himself lying on
+the dry ground. Before the white people came, the Long Island Indians
+used to kill whales stranded in this way, with spears. The Indians
+used the fat of the whale for food. The white people killed them, and
+got the oil out of the fat by boiling. This oil they sold for lamp
+oil.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Finding that much money could be made by selling whale oil, the people
+on Long Island fitted up boats, which they kept always ready along the
+seashore. Whenever anybody saw a whale, the boatmen ran to their
+boats, and rowed out to kill it. They did not yet know how to go out
+to sea in whaling ships as some people in Europe did. After a while
+the Long Island people learned to take their small boats out to sea
+for miles to look for whales. This way of killing the whales spread
+from Long Island to Connecticut, and from there to Cape Cod.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The people on the island of Nantucket had also learned to kill the
+whales that came into shallow water. They got a man to come out from
+Cape Cod to show them how to go out in boats and kill whales along the
+coast. After a while they built small ships in which they went to sea
+to seek for whales, but they brought the fat on shore in order to get
+the oil out of it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1718 the people on this island began to build ships with great
+kettles in them for rendering the oil on board the ships. The brave
+Nantucket men, and the men on the coast near by, soon began to send
+their ships into very distant seas. Some of them sailed among the
+icebergs in the Arctic regions; others went to the Southern Ocean; and
+some of the Nantucket and Cape Cod ships went round Cape Horn into the
+Pacific Ocean. The hardy whalemen ran great risks during their long
+voyages, but, if they were fortunate in killing whales, they made a
+good deal of money.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are still whaling vessels in our times, but not so many as there
+used to be. We do not need whale oil so much, because we have
+kerosene, gaslights, and electric lights. There are not so many whales
+to be found as there used to be.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the men on a whale ship in the old times discovered a whale, they
+fitted out their boats and rowed toward it. The whale would go down
+out of sight. Each officer would place his boat where he thought the
+whale would come up. When the whale came up to get breath, the men in
+the nearest boat would row toward it. The officer who stood in the bow
+of the boat would then throw a harpoon, which would stick fast in the
+whale. As soon as the whale was struck with the harpoon, he would go
+down into the water. There was a line fast to the harpoon, which was
+coiled in a tub standing in the whaleboat. Sometimes the whale would
+run down so far, that it would take more line than the boat carried,
+to keep hold of him. When this was likely to happen, another whaling
+boat would come alongside, and tie its line to the line of the harpoon
+that was fast to the whale. In some cases nearly five thousand feet of
+line were drawn out of the boats before the whale came to the top
+again. Whales breathe air as we do, so the whale that had been
+harpooned would have to come up again. Then the whaling boat would run
+close to him, and the officer would try to kill him with a sharp
+lance. When a whale was killed, the men drew him alongside the ship.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A whale's body is covered with a great mass of fat called blubber.
+When the dead whale was lying alongside the ship, the whalemen would
+fasten a hook in the blubber. They then cut the blubber into a long
+strip running round the whale. As they pulled on the hook with ropes,
+the strip of blubber came off the whale, the whale rolling over and
+over. The men unwound the blubber from his body in this way, pulling
+it up on board the ship, and cutting it into pieces.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If it was a sperm whale, they would cut a hole in his head, to reach a
+place where there was a great quantity of oil. This oil they dipped
+out. Sometimes forty barrels of oil were dipped out of the head of a
+whale. From the fat of some very large whales more than two hundred
+barrels of oil could be secured.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The men on the whaling ships were gone from home for years at a time.
+When there were no whales in sight, they had to find ways of amusing
+themselves. Many of them carried sharp pocket knives, and passed their
+time in whittling. By long practice they became very skillful with
+their knives. Some of them carved pretty figures in wood, and made
+pieces of furniture. Others carved shells into beautiful shapes. After
+years at sea, they would bring these things home with them, to give to
+their wives or sweethearts. Such work done on shipboard is called
+scrimshaw work.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some of the whaleships met with very curious accidents. In 1807 a ship
+named &quot;The Union&quot; was sailing along very quietly. All at once she
+struck something which jarred her from end to end. It was found that
+she had run right on a whale. Casks of water were thrown out of the
+ship to make her lighter, but the bottom of the ship was badly
+injured. The men on board had to get out the boats at once. They took
+food and water with them, and compasses to sail by. Soon after the
+boats got clear of the ship she filled with water, and upset.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The men now found themselves in open boats in the ocean. The land
+nearest to them was Newfoundland, but, as the wind was blowing
+straight from that land at that season of the year, they knew that
+they could not reach it. So they set out in the direction toward which
+the wind blew, sailing for the islands called the Azores. These were
+hundreds of miles away. They made a sail for each boat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day they saw a schooner, but they could not make the schooner see
+them. The next day they had fine sailing, but at night a fearful wind
+arose. There were violent squalls and bursts of thunder. The boats
+were obliged to lie still with their bows to the wind. At last the
+waves broke into the captain's boat, and it was all they could do to
+get the water out again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They now had to throw overboard most of their fresh water, so that
+they suffered much with thirst from this time on. They had only three
+quarts of water a day to be divided among sixteen men. That is about a
+small teacupful apiece. After sailing eight days, they came in sight
+of the beautiful islands of the Azores. Here they found a ship to
+bring them back to their own country again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A still stranger accident happened to the ship &quot;Essex&quot; in 1820. She
+was far away in the Pacific Ocean. Three of the boats of the ship went
+out after a whale. The mate's boat, having been injured, went back to
+the ship. As the mate stood on the ship, he saw a large sperm whale
+rush directly at the vessel. The whale seemed to think the ship some
+great animal, and that it would be fine fun to have a fight with it.
+He struck the ship with his great square head. The crash was fearful.
+For a moment or two the crew were so astonished that they could do
+nothing. Then they found the ship sinking. They put up signals for the
+other boats to come back.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><img src="images/014.jpg" alt="Attacked by a Whale." width="537" height="365"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>Attacked by a Whale.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the whale was not satisfied. He wanted to fight it out with the
+ship. He was soon seen coming toward the vessel again. He came on so
+fast that the water foamed round him. He struck the ship a second
+blow, which almost crushed it. The mate now quickly put what
+provisions he could into a boat, and got ready to leave the ship.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The other boats returned. The men were so horrified that for some time
+they could not speak to one another. The ship fell over on her side.
+The men cut away her masts. Then they cut holes into the ship's side,
+and got out what bread and water they could carry. They were a
+thousand miles from land, in the direction that the winds blew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After twenty-eight days of sailing in these open boats, the men got to
+Ducie's Island. Here they could not find food enough for so large a
+party, so the boats put off to sea again. Three men remained behind on
+the island. These were afterward found by a passing ship, which took
+them home. Some of the men in the boats perished, but the rest of them
+were picked up by a ship and taken home.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="WhaleSong"></a>
+<p class="chapter">A WHALING SONG.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<b>PART OF A FAVORITE SONG SUNG BY WHALEMEN IN OLD TIMES.</b>
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>When spring returns with western gales,</p>
+<p class="i2">And gentle breezes sweep</p>
+<p>The ruffling seas, we spread our sails</p>
+<p class="i2">To plow the watery deep.</p></div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>Cape Cod, our dearest native land,</p>
+<p class="i2">We leave astern, and lose</p>
+<p>Its sinking cliffs and less'ning sands,</p>
+<p class="i2">While Zephyr gently blows.</p></div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>Now toward the early dawning east</p>
+<p class="i2">We speed our course away,</p>
+<p>With eager minds and joyful hearts,</p>
+<p class="i2">To meet the rising day.</p></div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>Then, as we turn our wondering eyes,</p>
+<p class="i2">We view one constant show,&mdash;</p>
+<p>Above, around, the circling skies,</p>
+<p class="i2">The rolling seas below.</p></div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>When eastward, clear of Newfoundland,</p>
+<p class="i2">We stem the frozen pole,</p>
+<p>We see the icy islands stand,</p>
+<p class="i2">The northern billows roll.</p></div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>Now see the northern regions where</p>
+<p class="i2">Eternal winter reigns;</p>
+<p>One day and night fills up the year,</p>
+<p class="i2">And endless cold maintains.</p></div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>We view the monsters of the deep,</p>
+<p class="i2">Great whales in numerous swarms,</p>
+<p>And creatures there, that play and leap,</p>
+<p class="i2">Of strange, unusual forms.</p></div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>When in our station we are placed,</p>
+<p class="i2">And whales around us play,</p>
+<p>We launch our boats into the main,</p>
+<p class="i2">And swiftly chase our prey.</p></div></div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Escape"></a>
+<p class="chapter">A STRANGE ESCAPE.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+In 1658 there was a little French colony at Onondaga in New York. Some
+of the men in this colony were traders, and some were missionaries.
+They were living among the Onondaga Indians.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><img src="images/015.jpg" alt="A French Missionary." width="312" height="568"></p>
+<p class="ctr">A French Missionary.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians had been very friendly, but the French found out that a
+plot had been formed to put them all to death. Stakes had even been
+set up in order to burn some of them alive. There seemed no hope for
+the Frenchmen to escape. They knew, that, if they tried to get away by
+land, they should all be killed. If they shut themselves up in their
+fort, the Indians would besiege them, and they would starve to death.
+They had no boats by which to get away by sailing through the lakes
+and down the St. Lawrence River.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Frenchmen went to work and built boats secretly in the attic of
+their fort or trading house. They built them strong enough to bear the
+floating ice. They had also some light canoes made of bark, which they
+hid in the upper part of their house. The question now was how to get
+away without the Indians finding it out and pursuing them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of the young Frenchmen had been adopted into the tribe of these
+Indians. He invited the Indians to a feast. It was a feast, of a kind
+the Indians give, in which every guest is obliged to eat everything
+that is set before him, leaving nothing. The Indians kept on eating,
+while the French amused them with dancing and games. The young
+Frenchman played on his guitar, while the guests ate. The Indians
+having eaten too much, at length began to fall asleep one by one. The
+feast was not over until late at night, nor until every Indian had
+eaten till he begged not to be given any more. Some of the Indians
+fell asleep while they were eating. The rest of them were soon
+sleeping soundly in their wigwams.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Frenchmen now quickly brought their boats down stairs and put them
+into the water. They loaded them with food and other things needed for
+their journey. Then they pushed off without making any noise or
+speaking above a whisper. The water froze about their boats as they
+rowed, and every moment they feared an attack from the Indians. They
+rowed all night long, and then they rowed and paddled all the next day
+without taking any rest. It was not until the evening of the second
+day that they felt they had passed out of the greatest danger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians slept late the morning after the feast. When they waked at
+last, they came out of their huts one by one, and went toward the
+French house. They were surprised to see it shut up, and everything
+silent about it. They supposed that the French were at prayer, so they
+waited quietly outside. They could hear the fowls crowing in the yard,
+and when they knocked at the door of the house, the dog barked. Noon
+came, and yet no Frenchmen appeared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Late in the afternoon the Indians climbed up the side of the house and
+got in by a window. They could hear no sound but their own steps. They
+were much frightened as they stole through the house and opened the
+main door. They searched the building from top to bottom, but not a
+Frenchman was to be found.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As they were sure that the French had no boats, they were struck with
+fear. They gazed a moment at each other in silence. Then they fled
+from the house. They believed that the Frenchmen had, by some magic,
+made themselves invisible; that is, so that they could not be seen.
+They believed that the French had flown away through the air, or
+walked off on the water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the French passed down Lake Ontario through many dangers.
+They went down the River St. Lawrence, working their way over rapids
+and waterfalls. At last they reached Montreal, where the people looked
+on them as men that had come up from the grave.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Bear"></a>
+<p class="chapter">GRANDMOTHER BEAR.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Mr. Alexander Henry was made prisoner by the Indians on Lake Superior
+when Fort Mackinaw was taken by Indians. This was in the time of the
+Indian war which is called Pontiac's War, because the great chief
+Pontiac started it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nearly all the white men in Fort Mackinaw were killed, but Mr. Henry
+was saved. He had an Indian friend named Wawatam, who paid for his
+life. He went to live with Wawatam. He had his head shaved, and put on
+the dress of an Indian. He lived and hunted as the Indians did.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day Mr. Henry saw a very large pine tree. Its trunk was six feet
+in diameter. The bark had been scratched by a bear's claws. Far up on
+the tree there was a large hole. All about this hole the small
+branches were broken.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Henry looked at the snow. There were no bear tracks in it. So he
+thought that an old bear had climbed up into the tree before the snow
+fell. Bears sleep nearly all winter. They do not even come out to get
+anything to eat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Henry told the Indians about the tree. There was no way of getting
+up to the bear's hole. They could not get the bear out except by
+cutting down the tree. But the Indian women did not believe that the
+Indians could do it. Their axes were too small to chop down so big a
+tree.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However, the Indians wanted the bear's oil, which is of great use to
+them. It serves them for lard, and butter, and many other things. So
+at the tree they went with their little axes. As many as could stand
+about the tree worked at a time, and when one rested, another chopper
+took his place. They all worked, men and women, and they chopped all
+day. When the sun went down, they had chopped about halfway through
+the tree.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next morning they began again. They chopped away until about two
+o'clock. Then the top of the great pine tree began to tremble. Slowly
+it leaned a little. Then the tree began to fall. Everybody got far out
+of the way. It fell down among the other trees with a crash that made
+the woods roar, and lay at last upon the ground.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/016.jpg" alt="Picture of a bear in a tree stump." width="338" height="311">
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But no bear came out of the big tree. Mr. Henry began to be afraid
+that there was no bear there. He thought such a crash was enough to
+wake up the sleepiest bear in the world. At last the nose of a bear
+was poked out of the hole. Then came the head. Then came out the great
+brown body of one of the largest bears in the woods. Mr. Henry shot
+the bear dead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though the Indians kill and eat bears, they are very much afraid of
+the ghosts of the bears after they are dead. They are more afraid of a
+bear after it is dead than when it is alive. So, whenever an Indian
+has killed a bear, he always begs the dead bear's pardon. Each of
+these Indians now politely begged pardon of the bear. The old woman
+who had adopted Mr. Henry for her son took the bear's head in her
+hands and kissed it. She called it her grandmother, and asked it not
+to do them any harm. The Indians told the dead bear that a white man
+had killed it. Of course, the dead bear did not say anything.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though they called the bear their grandmother, they made haste to take
+off its skin. They were glad to find that Grandma Bear was very fat.
+It took two persons to carry home the fat. Four more were loaded with
+the meat of this nice old relative of theirs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But still wishing to fool the bear's ghost, they carried the head also
+to their tent. They put all kinds of silver trinkets on the head, and
+many belts of wampum or shell beads on it. In order to please the
+ghost of Grandmother Bear still more, they laid the head on a kind of
+table that they made for it, and placed a large quantity of tobacco
+near its nose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next morning a feast was made to please the bear's ghost. The head
+of the bear was lifted, and a new blanket was spread under it. All the
+Indians lighted their pipes, and blew tobacco smoke into the bear's
+nose. Wawatam made a speech to the bear's spirit. He told it they were
+very sorry to have to kill their friends. But he said it could not be
+helped, for, if they did not do this, they should starve to death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The speech being over, the whole party ate heartily of the bear's
+flesh. After three days they even took down the head itself, and put
+it into the kettle. Thus they ate their grandmother up, but they did
+it very politely.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Turtle"></a>
+<p class="chapter">THE GREAT TURTLE.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Among the Indians there are priests or medicine men who pretend to
+cure diseases. They also pretend to talk to their gods and other
+spirits. They have many ways of deceiving the Indians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Alexander Henry, while a prisoner among the Indians, was present
+when the tribe he was with asked advice of the Great Turtle, which is
+one of the gods they believe in.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians had heard that there was an English army coming against
+them. They were very much afraid, because they had killed or taken
+prisoner all the English in Fort Mackinaw. They wished to send
+messengers to make peace with the white men, but they were afraid the
+white men would kill their messengers. In this state of mind, they
+asked the Great Turtle what they would better do.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They first built a large house or wigwam. In the middle of this they
+set up five posts, and covered these posts with moose skins. This made
+a little tent in the middle of the large wigwam.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When night came on, they built fires in the wigwam outside of the
+little tent. This lighted up the house where the Indians were seated.
+Soon the priest came in. Some of the Indians lifted the moose skins on
+one side of their little tent. The priest crept in on his hands and
+knees. The little tent began to shake, and from the inside there came
+sounds like the barking of dogs and the howling of wolves, with
+screams and sobs, and cries of pain and sorrow. Words were spoken in
+strange voices, and in a language which nobody could understand. These
+voices the Indians had heard before, and they thought that they
+belonged to evil spirits who would tell them lies. When they heard
+these voices, the Indians hissed. They did not want to hear any spirit
+but that of the Great Turtle. After a while these frightful noises
+ceased. There was silence for a time. Then the Indians heard a new
+voice. It was low and feeble, like the cry of a very young puppy. All
+the Indians now clapped their hands for joy. They cried out that this
+was the voice of the Great Turtle, the spirit that never lied.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But now new voices came from the tent. For half an hour there were
+sounds in many different voices, but none of them were like the
+priest's own voice. When these sounds were no longer heard, the
+medicine man spoke in his own voice, and declared that the Great
+Turtle was present, and would answer any question that might be asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The chief of the village now put a large quantity of tobacco into the
+little tent. This was a sacrifice to the Great Turtle. Then he told
+the priest to ask the Great Turtle whether the white men were coming
+to make war on them, and whether there were many soldiers at Fort
+Niagara.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The medicine man put this question to the Great Turtle. The tent began
+to shake so violently that it seemed about to fall over. Then a loud
+cry came from the tent. This was to show that the Great Turtle was
+leaving.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For a quarter of an hour no sound was heard. Then the Great Turtle
+returned. He now made a long speech to the priest in his little
+squeaky, puppy voice, but it was spoken in a language which nobody
+could understand. After the spirit's speech was finished, the medicine
+man spoke in his own voice, and explained to the people that in the
+last fifteen minutes the Great Turtle had crossed Lake Huron, and gone
+to Fort Niagara, hundreds of miles away. Then he had gone on down to
+Montreal. He said there were not many soldiers at Fort Niagara, but at
+Montreal the river was covered with boats filled with soldiers. He
+said the soldiers coming to make war on the Indians were as many as
+the leaves on the trees. He told the Indians, that, if they would send
+men to the general of this army, he would make peace with them, and
+fill their canoes with presents of blankets, kettles, guns, powder,
+and shot. And he said, what pleased them still more, that the general
+would give them great barrels of rum.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians were so much delighted with this message, that many of
+them set out, soon after, to go in boats to make peace with the white
+men. No doubt this humbug of the medicine man was a plan to persuade
+them to go. Mr. Henry was taken along to act as their friend.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Rattlesnake"></a>
+<p class="chapter">THE RATTLESNAKE GOD.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Mr. Henry had traveled several days with the Indians going to Fort
+Niagara to make peace. One day the wind was blowing so hard that they
+could not go on. So they camped on a point in Lake Huron.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the Indians were building a hut, Mr. Henry was lighting a fire.
+He went off a little way to get dry wood, and while he was picking up
+sticks he heard a strange sound. It lasted only a little while; but,
+when Mr. Henry went a little farther, it began again. He looked up
+into the air to see where it came from. Then he looked down on the
+ground, and saw a large rattlesnake coiled close to his naked leg. If
+he had taken one step more, he would have stepped on it, and it would
+have bitten him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He now ran back to the canoe to get his gun to kill the snake.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;What are you doing?&quot; asked the Indians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;I am going to kill a rattlesnake,&quot; he said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Oh, no! don't do that,&quot; they said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians all got their tobacco bags and pipes, and went to the
+place where the snake had been seen. It was still lying in a coil.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr"><img src="images/017.jpg" alt="Grandfather Rattlesnake." width="554" height="374"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>Grandfather Rattlesnake.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians now stood round the snake, and one after another spoke to
+it. They called it their grandfather. But they took care not to go too
+close to their grandfather. They stood oft and filled their pipes with
+tobacco. Each one in turn blew tobacco smoke at the snake. The snake
+seemed to like it. For half an hour it lay there in a coil, and
+breathed the smoke. Then it slowly stretched itself out at full
+length, and seemed in a very good humor. It was more than four feet
+long.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After having more smoke blown at it, it slowly crept away. The Indians
+followed, begging their grandfather, as they called it, to take care
+of their families while they were gone. They also asked that the snake
+would open the heart of the English general so that he would give them
+a great deal of rum. One of the chiefs begged the snake to take no
+notice of the insult offered to him by the white man, who would have
+killed it if the Indians had not stopped him. They also begged that it
+would remain and live in their country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians thought that the snake was a spirit or god in this form.
+They thought that it had been sent to stop them on their way. They
+were almost ready to turn back, but Mr. Henry persuaded them to go on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next morning was calm. The Indians took a short course by sailing
+straight to an island out in the lake. But after they had got far out,
+the wind began to blow very hard. They expected every moment that
+their canoe would be swallowed up by the waves. They began to pray to
+the rattlesnake to help them. One of the chiefs resolved to make a
+sacrifice to the snake. He took a dog, and tied its legs together, and
+threw it into the water. He asked the snake spirit to be satisfied
+with this. But the wind continued to grow higher, and so another dog
+was thrown into the water, and some tobacco was thrown with it. The
+chief told Grandfather Snake that the man who wanted to kill him was
+really a white man, and no kin to the snake or to the Indians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some of the Indians began to think of throwing Mr. Henry in after the
+dog and the tobacco to satisfy the snake spirit; but the wind went
+down, and they soon got to the island. Some days afterward the party
+came to the fort. The English general was very glad to see Mr. Henry,
+and his long captivity was over, in spite of the anger of the
+rattlesnake god of the Indians.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Witchcraft"></a>
+<p class="chapter">WITCHCRAFT IN LOUISIANA.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+The Indian medicine men or priests have many ways of deceiving their
+people. A French officer found that the people of a certain tribe
+believed very much in an idol which a medicine man had set up. This
+idol was called by a long name, Vistee-poolee-keek-apook. The Indians,
+when they stood near, would sometimes hear it speak, and this seemed
+to them a very wonderful thing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A French officer named Bossu tried to find out what made the idol
+talk. He found a long reed, such as we call a cane pole, running from
+the back of the idol's head to a cave or hollow in the rocks behind
+the idol. This reed had been made into a hollow tube. In the cave
+there was a medicine man who talked into the tube. The words coming
+out of the other end in the idol's head were heard from the mouth of
+the idol, as if the idol were speaking. Bossu showed the Indians the
+trick, and then got one of his soldiers to destroy the idol.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The soldier that destroyed the idol was so brave, that the Frenchmen
+had given him a nickname which means &quot;fearless.&quot; The medicine man
+declared that some dreadful thing would fall on Fearless because he
+had destroyed the idol. In order to make his people believe in the
+power of this god that had been thrown down, he told them that there
+was a witch or evil spirit which came to the village in the shape of a
+little black panther. He said, that, whenever he pronounced the name
+of his god, this little black panther would instantly disappear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+You see, the cunning old medicine man had somehow got hold of a large
+black cat with yellow eyes. Cats were not common among the Indians,
+these animals having been brought by the white people. Such a cat as
+this, the Indians had never seen. The medicine man kept the cat in his
+cabin, and trained it. He would strike it with a whip, crying out
+every time he struck it, &quot;Vistee-poolee-keek-apook!&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The poor cat became afraid of the long ugly name of the Indian god,
+because the whip and the name always came together. One day the black
+cat crept into the cabin of an Indian woman to get something to eat.
+The medicine man who was near by saw it. He said the name of his god
+in his common voice. The cat, which the Indians believed to be a
+witch, jumped like lightning through the hole in the cabin that was
+used for a window. The Indians really believed that they had seen an
+evil spirit in the shape of a little black panther, and that it
+disappeared when the medicine man spoke the name of his god.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After that, every time an Indian saw this black cat, or little black
+panther, as it was called, he spoke the name of this terrible god. Of
+course, the black cat with yellow eyes ran away. Tired out at last
+with being driven off in this fashion, the cat disappeared entirely,
+and took up its home with the wild animals in the woods, where it
+could not hear the terrible name of the idol any more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bossu afterward made use of the Indians' belief in spirits for his own
+purpose. One of his soldiers had been killed by one of the Indians.
+Bossu could not find out who killed the soldier, or even to what tribe
+the Indian that killed him belonged. He wanted to punish or frighten
+the murderer in order to save the lives of the rest of the French
+soldiers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He called the chief of the Indians, and told him that one of his men
+was missing. He said he was sure the man had not run away. He
+therefore asked that the Indians should find the man, and said, that,
+if he were not found, he should have to think that some of the Indians
+had killed him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The chief answered that the white soldier had probably gone hunting in
+the woods, and killed himself accidentally with his gun, or else he
+had been killed by a panther. To this Bossu replied that the animal
+would not have eaten the gun or the clothes of the soldier. He said
+that if the Indians would find the Frenchman's gun, or bits of his
+clothes, they could easily show that he had been killed by a wild
+animal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bossu had a friend among the Indians who was very much attached to
+him. He persuaded this young Indian to tell him to what tribe the
+murderer of the Frenchman belonged, but he solemnly promised that the
+other Indians should never know who had told him. He paid the young
+Indian for telling him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Frenchman who was called Fearless now undertook to have the man
+who had killed the other soldier punished, for the dead soldier had
+been his friend. But it was necessary that he should not let the
+Indians know who had told about it. Fearless stripped off a great
+quantity of bark of the pawpaw tree. He thought he would play a trick
+like that of the medicine man, and make the Indians believe that a
+spirit was talking to them. He did everything very secretly. By
+fastening pieces of the pawpaw bark together with pitch, he managed to
+make a very large speaking trumpet, which would carry the voice a long
+distance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When he had finished this trumpet, he left the camp one very dark
+night. He carried with him his gun, some food, and a gourd full of
+water. He had also a bearskin of which to make a bed, and a buffalo
+robe to cover himself with. With these things he hid himself on a
+hill. This hill was near the Indian camp. From the top of it Fearless
+could make his voice heard for three miles round by the aid of his
+great pawpaw trumpet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He shouted through this great bark trumpet what seemed to be words in
+an unknown language, such as the Indian medicine man used. The
+frightful noise sounded through the woods. It did not seem to come
+from anywhere. The Indians thought that these cries came down from the
+sky. The Indian women were thrown into a great fright, and even the
+warriors and chiefs were alarmed. They said that the Master of Life
+was angry with their tribe, and that this horrible voice showed that
+something bad was going to happen to them.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/018.jpg" alt="Man shouting through great bark trumpet." width="528" height="383"></p>
+
+<p>
+The day after the voice was heard, the old men of the tribe came to
+consult Bossu about this strange noise. Bossu told them that the white
+soldier who had been killed could not rest. He said that every night
+his voice was heard, though nothing could be seen. He said that the
+voice cried out in a melancholy tone, &quot;I am the white soldier that
+went with the French captain. I was killed by a man of the tribe of
+the Kanoatinos. Frenchmen, revenge my death.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians now saw that it was of no use for them to tell any more
+lies about the death of the white man. They believed that the
+soldier's ghost had told the Frenchmen all about it. They confessed
+the murder, but they explained that the white soldier had provoked it
+when he was drunk, by bad treatment of the Indian who killed him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Captain Bossu was not willing to take their excuses. He told them,
+that, if the soldier had done wrong, he ought to have been brought to
+his own captain to be punished. He said, &quot;If one of my soldiers should
+kill one of your Indians, I would put him to death. You must do the
+same with the Indian who killed my soldier.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The oldest of the chiefs now commanded one of his men to go and seize
+the guilty man, bind him, and bring him in to be put to death, in
+order that the ghost of the French soldier might no longer trouble
+them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Captain Bossu did not wish to put the Indian to death. He knew that
+the French soldier had very greatly wronged and provoked the Indian.
+He got his young Indian friend to go to the wife of the chief of the
+Kanoatinos, and say to her that she might beg the life of the guilty
+man. The young Indian told the chief's wife that Captain Bossu would
+not refuse her anything. The woman went, and begged that the Indian
+might be spared. Bossu consented that the Indian should live, but said
+that he did it as a favor to the chief's wife.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The chief then turned to the condemned Indian, and said to him, &quot;You
+were dead, but the captain of the white warriors has brought you to
+life at the request of the chief's wife.&quot; The white people and Indians
+then smoked the pipe of peace together.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Niagara"></a>
+<p class="chapter">A STORY OF NIAGARA.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Many years ago, the falls of Niagara, then in the midst of a great
+wilderness, and a long way from the homes of the white people, seemed
+even more wonderful than they do now. In those days, travelers from
+other countries made long journeys through the woods to see this
+wonderful waterfall. Indians lived about it, and there was a fort near
+by, belonging to the French.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wild swans, geese, and ducks used to swim in the Niagara River.
+Sometimes great flocks of them lost their lives by going over the
+falls. Water fowl are fond of floating on smooth, moving water. The
+wild geese and ducks would take great delight in finding themselves
+shooting down toward the falls. Sometimes they would try to rise and
+fly when it was too late.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/019.jpg" alt="Niagara Falls" width="516" height="399"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>Niagara Falls.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the autumn the soldiers of the fort used to get their meat by
+taking from the water below the falls the ducks and geese that had
+been killed in this way. Sometimes they would find a deer or a bear
+that had been carried over in trying to swim across the river above
+the falls.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the midst of the falls is an island. Many years ago two Indians
+were hunting far above the falls. They had with them a little brandy,
+which they drank. This made them sleepy, and they lay down and went to
+sleep in their canoe, which was tied to the shore. The canoe got loose
+from the shore, and floated down the stream farther and farther, until
+it came near to the island which is in the falls.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The roar of the falls awakened one of them. He cried out to the other,
+&quot;We are lost!&quot; But by hard work they succeeded in landing the canoe at
+the island.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At first they were very glad, but after a while they thought it might
+have been better if they had gone over the falls. They had now no
+choice but to die of hunger on the island, or to throw themselves into
+the water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the lower end of the island there is no water running over the
+falls. The Indians stripped the bark from a linden or basswood tree.
+This bark is very tough and strong. They made a kind of rope ladder of
+it. They made it so long that it reached to the water below the falls.
+The upper end of this bark ladder they tied fast to a great tree that
+grew on the island. The other end they let down to the water below the
+falls.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then they went down this ladder until they came to the bottom. The
+water was roaring on both sides of them, but they had a place to
+stand. Here they rested a little while. The water in front of them was
+not rapid. They jumped into it, intending to swim ashore. But the
+water that pours in from the falls on each side, runs back against the
+rocks in this place. Every time the Indians tried to swim, they were
+thrown back against the rocks from which they started. At last they
+were so much bruised and scratched, they were obliged to give up this
+plan. So they climbed back up their bark stairs to the island, not
+knowing what to do.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a while they saw other Indians on the shore. They cried out to
+these to come and help them. The other Indians did not know what to
+do. They had no way of getting to the island. If they had tried to get
+there in a canoe, they would have been carried over the falls
+themselves. They went to the fort, and told the commander about it. He
+had poles made, and pointed with iron. He persuaded two Indians to
+take these poles, and walk with them to the island.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These two Indians took leave of all their friends as if they were
+going to die. Each of them took two poles in his hands. They set these
+poles against the bottom of the river to keep themselves steady, while
+they waded through the water. It was a very dangerous thing to do, but
+at last they got to the island. Then they gave a pole to each of the
+two Indians, and all four of them started back again. By the help of
+the poles they managed to get to the shore in safety.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Alligators"></a>
+<p class="chapter">AMONG THE ALLIGATORS.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Before the Revolution there lived in Pennsylvania a man named William
+Bartram. He was a botanist; that is to say, a man who knew a great
+deal about different kinds of plants. Wishing to see the plants and
+animals of the South, he traveled through South Carolina and Georgia,
+and so on into Florida.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a little canoe, Bartram set out to go up the St. Johns River. He
+took an Indian along for a guide, but the Indian got tired of the
+trip, and left him. Bartram kept on up the river alone. The country
+was wild, and the river was filled with great alligators.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bartram saw two large alligators fighting. They ran at each other from
+opposite sides of the river. They lashed the water with their tails.
+They met in the middle of the river, and fought with great fury,
+making the water boil all round them. They twisted themselves one
+round the other, and sank to the bottom fighting. Their struggles at
+the bottom brought up a great deal of mud.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Soon they came to the top once more, clapping their great jaws
+together, and roaring. They fell on each other again, and sank to the
+bottom. But one of them was by this time beaten. He swam away into the
+reeds on the bank. The other rose to the top of the water, and
+celebrated his victory by a loud roaring sound. All the alligators
+along the shore joined in the horrible roaring at the same time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The alligators had gathered in great crowds at certain places to catch
+the fish that were coming up from the sea. Bartram wanted some fish
+for his supper. He took a stick to beat off the alligators, and got
+into his canoe. But the farther he paddled from the shore, the more
+the alligators crowded round him. Several of them tried to overturn
+his canoe. Two large ones attacked him at the same time, with their
+heads above the water, and their mouths spouting water all over the
+botanist. They struck their jaws together so close to his ears that
+the sound almost stunned him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bartram beat them off with his club, and paddled for the shore. When
+he got near the shore, the alligators left him. He went a little
+farther up the river, and got some fish. When he came back, he kept
+close to the shore. One alligator twelve feet long followed him. When
+Bartram went ashore near his camp, the creature crept close to his
+feet, and lay there looking at him for some time.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/020.jpg" alt="An alligator." width="542" height="382"></p>
+
+<p>
+Bartram ran to his camp to get his gun. When he came back, the
+alligator was climbing into his boat to get the fish he had caught. He
+fired his gun, and killed the great beast. But while he was cleaning
+his fish, another one crept up to him, and would have dragged him into
+the water if Bartram had not looked up just in time to get out of his
+way. The next day he was pursued by more alligators; but he beat them
+off with his club, and got away.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Jasper"></a>
+<p class="chapter">JASPER.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+&quot;Marion'S Men&quot; were famous in the Revolution for their bold
+adventures. The best known of all these bold men was Sergeant Jasper.
+At the battle of Fort Moultrie, when the flag of the fort was shot
+away, Jasper jumped down outside of the works, and picked it up. The
+balls were raining round him all the time he was outside, but he
+coolly fastened the flag to a rod which was used to wipe out the
+cannon, and then stuck it up in the sand of the breastworks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When General Moultrie saw what he had done, he took off his own sword
+and gave it to Sergeant Jasper.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/021.jpg" alt="General Moultrie giving his sword to Sergeant Jasper." width="539" height="370"></p>
+
+<p>
+When Moultrie and his men were hiding in the swamps of South Carolina,
+Moultrie would send Jasper to find out what the British were doing.
+Jasper could change his looks so that nobody would know him. He often
+went into the British camp, pretending to be on that side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once he took a friend with him, and paid a visit to the British
+soldiers. While he was there, a small party of American prisoners were
+brought in. The wife of one of the prisoners had come with her
+husband, carrying her child. As these men had once fought on the
+English side, they were all likely to be put to death. Jasper felt
+sorry for them, and resolved to deliver them if he could.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The prisoners were sent to Savannah for trial. Jasper and his friend
+left the British camp soon afterward, but they went in the opposite
+direction. When they got far enough away, they turned about and
+followed the party with the prisoners. But what could they do for
+these poor fellows? There were ten men with muskets to guard the
+prisoners. Neither Jasper nor his friend had a gun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But they knew that near Savannah there was a famous spring of water.
+They thought the party would stop there to eat and drink. So Jasper
+and his friend went on swiftly, by a path little known. When they came
+near the spring, they hid in the bushes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the soldiers with their prisoners came to the spring, they
+halted. The prisoners sat down on the ground. The woman sat down near
+her husband. Her baby fell asleep in her lap. Six of the soldiers laid
+down their arms, and four stood guard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two of these went to the spring to get water, and, in doing this, they
+were obliged to put down their guns. In an instant Jasper and his
+friend leaped out of the bushes and seized the two guns. They killed
+the two guards who had guns, before the latter could shoot them. Then
+they knocked down every man who resisted them, and got possession of
+all the rest of the guns of the British. With these they took the
+eight soldiers prisoners. They now gave guns to the American
+prisoners, and marched away with the eight British soldiers in
+captivity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Jasper was one of the boldest of men. He did many brave things, but at
+last he lost his life in saving the flag of his company in battle.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Marions"></a>
+<p class="chapter">SONG OF MARION'S MEN.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>Our band is few, but tried and true,</p>
+<p class="i2">Our leader frank and bold:</p>
+<p>The British soldier trembles</p>
+<p class="i2">When Marion's name is told.</p></div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>We have no fort but dark green woods,</p>
+<p class="i2">Our tent's a shady tree:</p>
+<p>We know the forest round us</p>
+<p class="i2">As sailors know the sea.</p></div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>With merry songs we mock the wind</p>
+<p class="i2">That in the tree top grieves,</p>
+<p>And slumber long and sweetly</p>
+<p class="i2">On beds of rustling leaves.</p></div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>Well knows the fair and friendly moon</p>
+<p class="i2">The band that Marion leads,&mdash;</p>
+<p>The glitter of their rifles,</p>
+<p class="i2">The scampering of their steeds.</p></div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>'Tis life to ride the fiery horse</p>
+<p class="i2">Across the moonlight plain;</p>
+<p>'Tis life to feel the night wind</p>
+<p class="i2">That lifts his tossing mane.</p></div>
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>A moment in the British camp&mdash;</p>
+<p class="i2">A moment&mdash;and away</p>
+<p>Back to the pathless forest,</p>
+<p class="i2">Before the peep of day.</p></div></div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+  ADAPTED FROM BRYANT.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/022.jpg" alt="One of Marion's Men, on horseback, holding a lance." width="343" height="646"></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="BraveGirl"></a>
+<p class="chapter">A BRAVE GIRL.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+In the time of the Revolution, a regiment of Hessian soldiers hired
+to fight on the British side were camped in South Carolina. They took
+possession of the lower part of the house of a farmer named Gibbes. The
+family were forced to retire to the upper story.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two American boats came up the Stono River, and attacked these
+Hessians. Cannon balls were soon falling all about the house. Mr.
+Gibbes, who was so ill that he could hardly walk, got leave to move his
+family to another place. To do this, the whole family had to cross a
+field where the cannon balls were flying thick. At last they got out of
+reach of the cannons. Then they remembered that a little baby had been
+left behind. Neither Mr. Gibbes nor his wife was able to travel back to
+the house again. The negroes were too much frightened to go. All the
+rest were children.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Little Mary Anne Gibbes was only thirteen years old. The baby that had
+been left was her cousin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;I will go and get him,&quot; she said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a dark and stormy night. She went back into the heat of the
+battle. When she reached the house, the soldier who stood at the door
+would not let her go in. But, with tears in her eyes, she begged so
+hard that he let her pass. In the third story of the house she found
+the baby.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then downstairs, and out into the darkness and the crash of battle, she
+went. The cannon balls scattered dust over her and the baby when they
+struck near her, but she got back to her family at last, carrying the
+baby safe in her arms.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Prisoner"></a>
+<p class="chapter">A PRISONER AMONG THE INDIANS.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+James Smith lived in Pennsylvania. He was taken prisoner by the Indians
+just before the famous defeat of General Braddock. He was then about
+eighteen years old. The Indians took him to the French fort where
+Pittsburg now is. They made him run the gauntlet; that is, they made
+him run between two lines of Indians, who were beating him all the way.
+He was so badly beaten that he became unconscious, and was ill for a
+good while after. But at length he got well, and the Indians took him
+to their own country in what is now the State of Ohio.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When they arrived at their own town, they did not kill him, as he
+thought they would; but an Indian pulled the hair out of his head with
+his fingers, leaving only the hair that grew on a spot about the crown.
+Part of this he cut off short. The rest was twisted up in Indian
+fashion, so as to make him look like a savage. They pierced his ears,
+and put earrings in them. Then they pierced his nose, and put in a nose
+ring. They stripped off his clothing, and put on the light clothing
+that an Indian wears about the middle of his body. They painted his
+head where the hair had been plucked out, and painted his face and
+body, in several colors. They put some beads about his neck, and silver
+bands upon his arms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All this time James thought they were dressing him up to kill him. But,
+when they had decked him in this way, an old chief led him out into the
+village street. Holding the young man by the hand, he cried out,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Koowigh, Koowigh, Koowigh!&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All the Indians came running out of their houses when they heard this.
+The old chief made them a long speech in a loud voice. James could not
+understand what this speech was about. When it was ended, the chief
+handed James over to three young Indian women.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+James thought the young squaws were going to put him to death. They led
+him down the bank into the river. The squaws made signs for him to
+plunge himself into the water; but, as he thought they wished to drown
+him, he refused. He was not going to drown himself to please them. The
+young women then seized him, and tried to put him under water. But he
+would not be put down All this time the Indians on the bank were
+laughing heartily.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then one of the young squaws, who could speak a little English, said,
+&quot;No hurt you.&quot; Smith now gave up to them, and they scrubbed him well,
+dipping his head under water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When he came out of the water, he was dressed up in a lot of Indian
+finery. The Indians put feathers in his hair, and made him sit down on
+a bearskin. They gave him a pipe, and a tomahawk, and a bag of tobacco
+and dried sumach leaves to smoke. Then they made a speech to him, which
+an Indian who could speak English explained to him.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/023.jpg" alt="James Smith sitting on a Bearskin." width="559" height="392"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>James Smith sitting on a Bearskin.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They said that he had been made a member of an Indian family in place
+of a great man who had been killed. And then they gave him a wooden
+bowl and a spoon, and took him to a feast, where Indian politeness
+required that he should eat all the food given to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After James Smith was adopted by the Indians, he learned to live in
+their way. He learned how to make little bowls out of elm bark to catch
+maple-sugar sap, and how to make great casks out of the bark to hold
+the sap till it could be boiled. He learned how to make a bearskin into
+a pouch to hold bear's oil, of which the Indians were very fond. They
+mixed their hominy with bear's oil and maple sugar, and they cooked
+their venison in oil and sugar also.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians gave James an Indian name. They called him Scouwa. The
+Indians gave him a gun. Once when they trusted him to go into the woods
+alone, he got lost, and staid out all night. Then they took away his
+gun, and gave him a bow and arrow, such as boys carried. For nearly two
+years he had to carry a bow and arrows like a boy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was once left behind when there was a great snowstorm. He could not
+find the footsteps of the others, on account of the driving snow. But
+after a while he found a hollow tree. There was a little room three
+feet wide in the inside of the tree. He chopped a great many sticks
+with his tomahawk to close up the opening in the side of the tree. He
+left only a hole big enough for him to crawl in through. He fixed a
+block for a kind of door, so as to close this hole by drawing the door
+shut when he was inside. When the hole was shut, it was dark in the
+tree.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But James, or Scouwa as he was called, could stand up in the tree. He
+broke up rotten wood to make a bed like a large goose nest. He danced
+up and down on his bed till he was warm. Then he wrapped his blanket
+about him and lay down to sleep, first putting his damp moccasins under
+his head to keep them from freezing. When he awoke, it was dark. The
+hole in the tree was so well closed that he could not tell whether it
+was daylight or not, but he waited a long time to be sure that day had
+come.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he felt for the opening. At last he found it. He pushed on the
+block that he had used for a door, but three feet of snow had fallen
+during the night. All his strength would not move the block. He was a
+prisoner under the snow. Not one ray of light could get into this dark
+hole.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Scouwa was now frightened. Not knowing what to do, he lay down again
+and wrapped his blanket round him, and tried to think of a way to get
+out. He said a little prayer to God. Then he felt for the block again.
+This time he pushed and pushed with all his might. The block moved a
+few inches, and snow came tumbling through the hole. This let a little
+daylight in, and Scouwa was happy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a while he pulled his blanket tight about him, stuck his tomahawk
+in his belt, and took his bow in hand. Then he dug his way out through
+the snow into the daylight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All the paths were buried under the deep snow. The young man had no
+compass. The sun was not shining. How could he tell one direction from
+another, or find his way to the Indian camp? The tall, straight trees,
+especially those that stand alone, have moss on the north or northwest
+side. By looking closely at these trees, he found out which way to go.
+It was about noon when he got to the camp. The Indians had made
+themselves snowshoes to go in search of him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They all gathered about him, glad to see him. But Indians do not ask
+questions at such a time. They led the young man to a tent. There they
+gave him plenty of fat beaver meat to eat. Then they asked him to
+smoke. While he was resting here, they were building up a large fire in
+the open air. Scouwa's Indian brother asked him to come out to the
+fire. Then all the Indians young and old, gathered about him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His Indian brother now asked him to tell what had happened to him.
+Scouwa began at the beginning, and told all that had occurred. The
+Indians listened with much eagerness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the Indian brother made him a speech. He told the young man that
+they were glad to see him alive. He told him he had behaved like a man.
+He said, &quot;You will one day be a great man, and do some great things.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Soon after this, the Indians bought him a gun, paying for it with
+skins, and he became a hunter.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Hungry"></a>
+<p class="chapter">HUNGRY TIMES IN THE WOODS.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+When James Smith, or Scouwa, had been some years among the Indians, he
+was in a winter camp with two of his adopted brothers. The younger of
+these, with his family, went away to another place. Scouwa was left
+with the older brother and his little son.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The older brother was a very wise Indian. He had thought much about
+many things. He talked to his young white brother on many subjects, and
+James always remembered him as a great man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The wise Indian was now suffering from rheumatism. He could hardly move
+out of his winter hut at all. But he bore it all with gentle patience.
+Scouwa had to do all the hunting for himself, the old man, and the boy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Almost the only food to be had was deer meat. From time to time Scouwa
+succeeded in killing a deer. But at last there came a crust of snow.
+Whenever the hunter tried to creep up to a deer, the crust would break
+under his feet with a little crash, and the noise would frighten the
+deer away. After a while there was no food in the cabin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once Scouwa hunted two days without coming back to the cabin, and with
+nothing to eat. He came back at last empty-handed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The wise Indian asked him, &quot;What luck did you have, brother?&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;None at all,&quot; said Scouwa.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Are you not very hungry?&quot; asked the Indian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;I do not feel so hungry now as I did,&quot; said the young man, &quot;but I am
+very faint and weary.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the lame Indian told the little boy to bring something to eat. The
+boy had made a broth out of the dry old bones of foxes and wild-cats
+that lay about the camp. Scouwa ate this broth eagerly, and liked it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the old chief talked to Scouwa. He told him that the Great Spirit
+would provide food for them. He talked in this way for some time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last he said, &quot;Brother, go to sleep, and rise early in the morning
+and go hunting. Be strong, and act like a man. The Great Spirit will
+direct your way.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the morning James set out early, but the deer heard his feet
+breaking through the snow crust. Whenever he caught sight of them, they
+were already running away. The young man now grew very hungry. He made
+up his mind to escape from the Indians, and to try to reach his home in
+Pennsylvania. He knew that Indian hunters would probably see him and
+kill him, but he was so nearly starved that he did not care for his
+life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He walked very fast, traveling toward the east. All at once he saw
+fresh buffalo tracks. He followed these till he came in sight of the
+buffaloes; then, faint as he was, he ran on ahead of the animals, and
+hid himself.
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/024.jpg" alt="Scouwa shoots a Buffalo." width="531" height="385"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>Scouwa shoots a Buffalo.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the buffaloes came near, he fired his gun, and killed a large
+buffalo cow. He quickly kindled a fire, and cut off a piece of the
+meat, which he put to roast by the fire. But he was too hungry to wait.
+He took his meat away from the fire, and ate it before it was cooked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When his hunger was satisfied, he began to think about the wise Indian
+and his little boy. He could not bear to leave them to starve, so he
+gave up his plan of escaping.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He hung the meat of the buffalo where the wolves could not get at it.
+Then he took what he could carry, and traveled back thirteen tedious
+miles through the snow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was moonlight when he got to the hut. The wise Indian was as
+good-natured as ever. He did not let hunger make him cross. He asked
+Scouwa if he were not tired. He told the little boy to make haste and
+cook some meat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;I will cook for you,&quot; said Scouwa. &quot;Let the boy roast some meat for
+himself.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The boy threw some meat on the coals, but he was so hungry that he ate
+it before it was cooked. Scouwa cut some buffalo meat into thin slices,
+and put the slices into a kettle to stew for the starving man. When
+these had boiled awhile, he was going to take them off, but the Indian
+said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;No, let it cook enough.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And so, hungry as he was, the wise Indian waited till the meat was well
+cooked, and then ate without haste, and talked about being thankful to
+the Great Spirit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day Scouwa started back for another load of buffalo meat. When
+he had gone five miles, he saw a tree which a bear had taken for its
+winter home. The hole in the tree was far from the ground. Scouwa made
+some bundles of dry, half-rotten wood. These he put on his back, and
+then climbed a small tree that stood close to the one with a hole in
+it. The rotten wood he touched to a burning stick from a fire he had
+kindled. Then he dropped the smoking bundles of rotten wood one after
+another down into the bear's den, and quickly slid to the ground again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bear did not like smoke. After a while he crawled out of the hole
+to get breath. Scouwa shot him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He hung the bear meat out of the reach of wolves, and carried back to
+the hut all that he could take at one time. The old man and the boy
+were greatly pleased when they heard that there was bear meat as well
+as buffalo meat in plenty. After this they had food enough.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Scouwa"></a>
+<p class="chapter">SCOUWA BECOMES A WHITE MAN AGAIN.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+The next year after this hard winter in the woods, the Indians that
+Scouwa lived with went down the River St. Lawrence to Canada. At this
+time Canada belonged to the French. The French were at war with the
+English, to whom Pennsylvania belonged. The Indians were on the side of
+the French.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Scouwa heard that there were prisoners from his country who were to be
+sent back in exchange for French prisoners. He slipped away from the
+Indians, and went to Montreal. Here he put himself among the other
+prisoners.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a while the prisoners were sent back to their own country. Scouwa
+came to his own family again. They did not know that he was alive. He
+put on white man's clothes. He let his hair grow like a white man's. He
+spoke English once more. He was no longer called Scouwa, but James
+Smith. But still he walked like an Indian. All his movements were those
+of an Indian. He had lived nearly six years among the savages.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He afterward became a colonel among the white men. He moved to
+Kentucky, and fought against the Indians. But he made his men dress and
+fight as the red men did. He thought it was the best way of fighting in
+the woods.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Baby"></a>
+<p class="chapter">A BABY LOST IN THE WOODS.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+When people first began to move across the Alleghany Mountains, there
+were no roads for wagons; but there were narrow paths called trails.
+Families traveled to the west, carrying their goods on horseback along
+these trails. Here is a story that will show you how they traveled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Among those who went from Virginia to Kentucky, in 1781, was a man
+named Benjamin Craig, who took his whole family with him. Mr. Craig
+wore a hunting shirt and leggings of buckskin and a fur cap. Like all
+men in the backwoods, he carried a hatchet and a knife stuck in his
+belt, and he almost always had his old-fashioned flintlock rifle on his
+right shoulder. A horn to hold powder was worn under his left arm, and
+supported by a string over his right shoulder. He had a little buckskin
+bag of bullets fastened to his belt. At the head of the party, he
+traveled over the mountains on foot, walking before his horses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The horses came one after another. On the first horse rode Mrs. Craig.
+She carried her baby in her arms. Tied on the back of the horse were a
+pot and a skillet for frying. In a bag on the same horse were some
+pewter plates and cups, and a few knives and forks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The horse on which Mrs. Craig rode was followed by a pack horse; that
+is, a horse carrying things fastened on his back. This horse was led by
+means of a rope halter, the end of which was tied to the saddle of the
+horse in front. The pack on his back contained some meal and some salt.
+This was all the food the family carried for the long journey over the
+mountains. Mr. Craig expected to get meat by shooting deer or wild
+turkeys in the woods.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same pack horse carried a flat piece of iron to make a plow, and
+some hoes and axes. The hoes and axes were without handles, except one
+ax, which was used to cut firewood during the journey. Handles could be
+made for the tools after the family got to Kentucky.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Behind this horse another one was tied. He carried two great
+basket-like things hanging on each side of him. These baskets or crates
+were made of hickory boughs. All the clothing and bedding that people
+could take on such long and rough journeys was stored in these crates.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the middle of each crate a hole was left. In one of these holes rode
+little Master George, a boy of six. In the other was stowed Betsey, a
+girl of four. One fine day during the journey, the baby was put into
+the basket by the side of Betsey, and then the two older children
+amused themselves by pointing out to the baby the things they saw by
+the wayside.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/025.jpg" alt="Children in open crates attached to the sides of a horse." width="529" height="174"></p>
+
+
+<p>
+At length the narrow trail or path passed along the edge of a dangerous
+cliff. George and Betsey shut their eyes, so as not to see how steep
+the place was. They were afraid the horse might fall off, and they be
+dashed to pieces. But baby Ben only laughed and crowed, for what did a
+little fellow like him know about danger. A hired man walked behind the
+last horse to see that nothing was lost.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/026.jpg" alt="Horses and hired man at the end of the procession." width="531" height="172"></p>
+
+<p>
+When night came, the horses were unloaded and turned loose. The little
+bells tied round their necks had been stuffed with grass during the day
+to keep them from jingling. This grass was removed, and the bells set
+a-tinkling, so that the horses could be found in the morning. The tired
+pack horses began at once to eat the long grass, now and then nibbling
+the boughs of young trees.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+A fire was built by a stream, and supper was cooked. If it had been
+raining, the men would have built a little tent of boughs or bark for
+the family, but, as the weather was clear, beds were made of grass and
+dry leaves in the open air. The whole family slept under blue woolen
+coverlets, with only the starry sky for shelter. The fire was kept up
+for fear of wolves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the morning the children played about while the mother got
+breakfast. When the meal was over, Mr. Craig and the hired man went to
+look for one of the horses that had strayed away. Baby Ben climbed into
+his mother's lap, as she sat upon the log, and fell asleep. In order to
+have things all packed by the time the men returned, the mother laid
+the little fellow on some long dry grass that grew among the boughs of
+a fallen tree. When the father returned, it was nine o'clock. He
+hurried the mother upon her horse among the pots and pans, saying that
+he wished to overtake a company of travelers that was ahead of him, so
+as to travel more safely.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Now fetch me the baby,&quot; said Mrs. Craig.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;No, mother, please let the baby ride with me again,&quot; said little
+Betsey, just come back from washing her face in the creek.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;All right,&quot; said Mrs. Craig. &quot;Put the baby on with the children. This
+horse is slow, and I will ride on. You can bring the other horses, and
+catch up with me soon.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By the time the second horse was loaded, and George and Betsey were
+stowed away in their baskets, both the father and Betsey had forgotten
+about the baby. The mother had got so far ahead that it took the other
+horses nearly an hour to overtake her's.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Where is the baby?&quot; cried the mother when she looked back and saw but
+two children on the horse behind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sure enough, where was the baby? Lying under a tree top in the lonesome
+woods, where there might be fierce wolves, great panthers, or hungry
+wildcats.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Craig was almost frantic when he thought of the baby's danger. He
+stripped the things from the middle horse, and sprang on his back, gun
+in hand. He laid whip to the horse, and was soon galloping back over
+the rough path. For more than an hour the mother and children waited
+with the hired man, to learn whether the baby had been killed by some
+wild animal or not.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last the sound of Mr. Craig's horse coming back was heard, and all
+held their breath. As the father came in sight in a full gallop, he
+shouted, &quot;Here he is, safe and sound! The little rascal hadn't waked
+up.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mrs. Craig and Betsey shed tears of joy. George turned his face away,
+and wiped his eyes with his coat sleeve. He wasn't going to cry: he was
+a boy.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Zane"></a>
+<p class="chapter">ELIZABETH ZANE.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+On the banks of the Ohio River, near the place where the city of
+Wheeling now stands, there was once a fort called Fort Henry. This fort
+was of the kind called a blockhouse, which is a house built of logs
+made to fit close together. The upper part of the house jutted out
+beyond the lower, in order that the men in the blockhouse might shoot
+downwards at the Indians if they should come near the house to set it
+on fire. Fort Henry was surrounded with a stockade; that is, a fence
+made by setting posts in the ground close together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During the Revolutionary War the Indians in the neighborhood of this
+fort were fighting on the side of the English. A large number of them
+came to Fort Henry, and tried to take it. All the men that were sent
+outside of the fort to fight the Indians were either killed, or kept
+from going back. The women and the children of the village which stood
+near had all gone into the fort for safety.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When at last the fiercest attack of the Indians was made, there were
+only twelve men and boys left inside of the fort. These men and boys
+had made up their minds to do their best to save the lives of the women
+and children who were with them. Every man and every boy in the fort
+knew how to shoot a rifle. They had guns enough, but they had very
+little powder. So they fired only when they were sure of hitting one of
+the enemy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians kept shooting all the time. Some of them crept near to the
+blockhouse, and tried to shoot through the cracks, but the bullets of
+the men inside brought down these brave warriors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After many hours of fighting, the Indians went off a little way to
+rest. The white men had now used nearly all their gunpowder. They began
+to wish for a keg of powder that had been left in one of the houses
+outside. They knew that whoever should go for this would be seen and
+fired at by the Indians. He would have to run to the house and back
+again. The colonel called his men together, and told them he did not
+wish to order any man to do so dangerous a thing as to get the powder,
+but he said he should like to have some one offer to go for it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Three or four young men offered to go. The colonel told them he could
+not spare more than one of them. They must settle among themselves
+which one should go. But each one of the brave fellows wanted to go,
+and none of them was willing to give up to another. Then there stepped
+forward a young woman named Elizabeth Zane.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Let me go for the powder,&quot; she said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The brave men were surprised. It would be a desperate thing for a man
+to go. Nobody had dreamed that a woman would venture to do such a
+thing, nor would any of them agree to let a young woman go into danger.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+The colonel said, &quot;No,&quot; her friends begged her not to run the risk.
+They told her, besides, that any one of the young men could run faster
+than she could.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Elizabeth said, &quot;You cannot spare a single man. There are not
+enough men in the fort now. If I am killed, you will be as strong to
+fight as before. Let the young men stay where they are needed, and let
+me go for the powder.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She had made up her mind, and nobody could persuade her not to go. So
+the gate of the fort was opened just wide enough for her to get out.
+Her friends gave her up to die.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some of the Indians saw the gate open, and saw the young woman running
+to the house, but they did not shoot at her. They probably thought that
+they would not waste a bullet on a woman. They could make her a
+prisoner at any time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She did not try to carry the powder keg, but she took the powder in a
+girl's way. She filled her apron with it. When she came out of the
+house with her apron full of powder, and started to run back to the
+fort, the Indians fired at her. It happened that all of their bullets
+missed her. The gate was opened again, and she got safely into the
+fort. The men were glad that they had powder enough, and they all felt
+braver than ever, after they had seen what a girl could do.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/027.jpg" alt="Elizabeth Zane's Return." width="393" height="461"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>Elizabeth Zane's Return.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians had seen the gate opened to let her out and to let her in
+again. They thought they could force the gate open; but they could not
+go and push against it, because the men in the blockhouse would shoot
+them if they did. So they made a wooden cannon. They got a hollow log
+and stopped up one end of it. Then they went to the blacksmith's shop
+in the little village and got some chains. They tied these chains round
+the log to hold it together. They had no cannon balls, so, after
+putting gunpowder into the log, they put in stones and bits of iron.
+After dark that evening they dragged this wooden cannon up near to the
+gate. When all was ready, they touched off their cannon. The log cannon
+burst into pieces, and killed some of the Indians, but did not hurt the
+fort.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next day white men came from other places to help the men in the
+fort. They got into the fort, and after a few more attacks the Indians
+gave up the battle and went away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whenever the story of the brave fight at Fort Henry is told, people do
+not forget that the bravest one in it was the girl that brought her
+apron full of gunpowder to the men in the fort.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Pirates"></a>
+<p class="chapter">THE RIVER PIRATES.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+A hundred years ago the country near the great rivers in the interior
+of the United States was a wilderness. It contained only a few people,
+and these lived in settlements which were widely separated from one
+another. Hardly any of the great trees had been cut down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were no roads, except Indian trails through the woods. Nearly all
+travelers had to follow the rivers. Steamboats had not yet been
+invented. Travelers made journeys on flatboats, keel boats, and barges.
+It was easy enough to go down the Ohio and the Mississippi in this way,
+but it was hard to come up again. It took about fifty men to work a
+boat against the stream, and many months were spent in going up the
+river.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Boats were pushed up the river by means of poles. The boatmen pushed
+these against the bottom of the river. When the water was deep or the
+current very swift, a rope was taken out ahead of the boat, and tied to
+a tree on the bank. The line was then slowly drawn in by means of a
+capstan, and this drew the boat forward.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sometimes the boat was &quot;cordelled,&quot; or towed by the men walking on the
+shore and drawing the barge by a rope held on their shoulders. But when
+there chanced to be a strong wind blowing upstream, the boatmen would
+hoist sail, and joyfully make headway against the current without so
+much toil.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These slow-going boats were in danger from Indians. They were in even
+greater danger from robbers, who hid themselves along the shore. Some
+of these robbers lived in caves. Some kept boats hidden in the mouths
+of streams that flowed into the large rivers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1787 all the country west of the Mississippi still belonged to
+France. The French territory stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to what
+is now Minnesota. It was all called Louisiana. New Orleans and St.
+Louis were then French towns, and the travel between them was carried
+on by means of boats, which floated down the stream, and were then
+brought back by poles, ropes, and sails.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The trip was as long as a voyage to China is nowadays. The boats or
+barges set out from St. Louis in the spring, carrying furs. They got
+back again in the fall with goods purchased in New Orleans.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this year, 1787, a barge belonging to a Mr. Beausoleil (bo-so-lay)
+started from New Orleans to make the voyage to St. Louis. The goods
+with which it was loaded were very valuable. Slowly the men toiled up
+against the stream day after day. At length the little vessel came near
+to the mouth of Cottonwood Creek. A well-known robber band lurked at
+this place. With joy the boatmen saw a favorable wind spring up. They
+spread their sails, and the driving gale carried the barge in safety
+past the mouth of the creek.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the pirates of Cottonwood Creek were unwilling to lose so rich a
+treasure. They sent a company of men by a short cut overland to head
+off the barge at a place farther up the river. Two days after passing
+Cottonwood Creek the bargemen brought the boat to land. They felt
+themselves beyond danger. But the robbers came suddenly out of the
+woods, took possession of the boat, and ordered the crew to return down
+the river to Cottonwood Creek.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When they turned back toward the robbers' den, Beausoleil was in
+despair. His whole fortune was on the barge. He did not know whether
+the robbers would kill him and his men, or not. The only man of the
+crew who showed no regret was the cook. This cook was a fine-looking
+and very intelligent mulatto slave named Cacasotte. Instead of
+repining, he fell to dancing and laughing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;I am glad the boat was taken,&quot; he cried. &quot;I have been beaten and
+abused long enough. Now I am freed from a hard master.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cacasotte devoted himself to his new masters, the robbers. In a little
+while he had won their confidence. He was permitted to go wherever he
+pleased, without any watch upon his movements.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He found a chance to talk with Beausoleil, and to lay before him a plan
+for retaking the boat from the villains. Beausoleil thought the
+undertaking too dangerous, but at length he gave his consent. Cacasotte
+then whispered his plan to two others of the crew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dinner was served to the pirates on deck. Cacasotte took his place by
+the bow of the boat, so as to be near the most dangerous of the
+robbers. This robber was a powerful man, well armed. When Cacasotte saw
+that the others had taken their places as he had directed, he gave the
+signal, and then pushed the huge robber at his side into the water. In
+three minutes the powerful Cacasotte had thrown fourteen of the robbers
+into the waves. The other men had also done their best. The deck was
+cleared of the pirates, who had to swim for their lives. The robbers
+who remained in the boat were too few to resist. Beausoleil found
+himself again master of his barge, thanks to the coolness and courage
+of Cacasotte.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the bargemen dared not go on up the river. Against the stream they
+would have to go slowly, and there would be danger from the robbers
+remaining at Cottonwood Creek: so they kept on down the river to New
+Orleans.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next year ten boats left New Orleans in company. These barges
+carried small cannons, and their crew were all armed. When they reached
+Cottonwood Creek, men were seen on shore; but when an armed force was
+landed, the robbers had fled. The long, low hut which had been their
+dwelling remained. There were also several flatboats loaded with
+valuable goods taken from captured barges. This plunder was carried to
+St. Louis, and restored to the rightful owners. For fifty years
+afterwards this was known as &quot;The Year of the Ten Boats.&quot; Cacasotte's
+brave victory was not soon forgotten.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Telegraphs"></a>
+<p class="chapter">OLD-FASHIONED TELEGRAPHS.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="chapter">THE MUSKET TELEGRAPH.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+There are many people living who can remember when there were no
+telegraphs such as we have now. The telephone is still younger.
+Railroads are not much older than telegraphs. Horses and stagecoaches
+were slow. How did people send messages quickly when there were no
+telegraph wires?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When colonies in America were first settled by white people, there were
+wars with the Indians. The Indians would creep into a neighborhood and
+kill all the people they could, and then they would get away before the
+soldiers could overtake them. But the white people made a plan to catch
+them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whenever the Indians attacked a settlement, the settler who saw them
+first took his gun and fired it three times. Bang, bang, bang! went the
+gun. The settlers who lived near the man who fired the gun heard the
+sound. They knew that three shots following one another quickly, meant
+that the Indians had come.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Every settler who heard the three shots took his gun and fired three
+times. It was bang, bang, bang! again. Then, as soon as he had fired,
+he went in the direction of the first shots. Every man who had heard
+three shots, fired three more, and went toward the shots he had heard.
+Farther and farther away the settlers heard the news, and sent it along
+by firing so that others might hear. Soon little companies of men were
+coming swiftly in every direction. The Indians were sure to be beaten
+off or killed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was a kind of telegraph. But there were no wires; there was no
+electricity; only one flint-lock musket waking up another flintlock
+musket, till a hundred guns had been fired, and a hundred men were
+marching to the battle.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="chapter">TELEGRAPHING BY FIRE.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+The firing of signal guns was telegraphing by sound. It used only the
+hearing. But there were other ways of telegraphing that used the sight.
+These have been known for thousands of years. They were known even to
+savage people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians on the plains use fires to telegraph to one another.
+Sometimes they build one fire, sometimes they build many. When a war
+party, coming back from battle, builds five fires on a hill, the
+Indians who see it know that the party has killed five enemies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the Indians have also what are known as smoke signals. An Indian
+who wishes to send a message to a party of his friends a long way off,
+builds a fire. When it blazes, he throws an armful of green grass on
+it. This causes the fire to send up a stream of white smoke hundreds of
+feet high, which can be seen fifty miles away in clear weather. Among
+the Apaches, one column of smoke is to call attention; two columns say,
+&quot;All is well, and we are going to remain in this camp;&quot; three columns
+or more are a sign of danger, and ask for help.
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/028.jpg" alt="A smoke signal." width="376" height="503"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>A Smoke Signal.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sometimes longer messages are sent. After building a fire and putting
+green grass upon it, the Indian spread his blanket over it. He holds
+down the edges, to shut the smoke in. After a few moments he takes his
+blanket off; and when he does this, a great puff of smoke, like a
+balloon, shoots up into the air. This the Indian does over and over.
+One puff of smoke chases another upward. By the number of these puffs,
+and the length of the spaces between them, he makes his meaning
+understood by his friends many miles away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At night the Indians smear their arrows with something that will burn
+easily. One of them draws his bow. Just as he is about to let his arrow
+fly, another one touches it with fire. The arrow blazes as it shoots
+through the air, like a fiery dragon fly. One burning arrow follows
+another; and those who see them read these telegraph signals, and know
+what is meant.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="chapter">TELEGRAPHS IN THE REVOLUTION.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Our forefathers sometimes used fire to telegraph with in the
+Revolution. Whenever the British troops started on a raid into New
+Jersey, the watchmen on the hilltops lighted great beacon fires. Those
+who saw the fires lighted other fires farther away. These fires let the
+people know that the enemy was coming, for light can travel much faster
+than men on horseback.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Have you heard the story of Paul Revere? When the British were about to
+send troops from Boston to Lexington, Revere and his friends had an
+understanding with the people in Charlestown. Revere was to let them
+know when the troops should march. They were to watch a certain church
+steeple. If one lantern were hung in the steeple, it would mean that
+the British were marching by land. If two lanterns were seen, the
+Charlestown people would know that the troops were leaving Boston by
+water. Revere was sent as a messenger to Lexington. He sent a friend of
+his to hang up the lanterns in the church steeple.
+</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+    &quot;Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church,<br>
+    By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,<br>
+    To the belfry chamber overhead,<br>
+    And startled the pigeons from their perch<br>
+    On the somber rafters, that round him made<br>
+    Masses and moving shapes of shade,&mdash;<br>
+    By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,<br>
+    To the highest window in the wall,<br>
+    Where he paused to listen and look down<br>
+    A moment on the roofs of the town,<br>
+    And the moonlight flowing over all.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/029.jpg" alt="Old North Church Steeple." width="197" height="526"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>Old North Church Steeple.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Long before Paul Revere got across the water in his little boat, the
+people on the other side had seen the lanterns in the tower. They knew
+the British were coming, and were all astir when Paul Revere got over.
+Revere rode on to Lexington and beyond, to alarm the people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lines above are from a poem of Longfellow's about this ride. The
+poem is very interesting, but it does not tell the story quite
+correctly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Paul Revere's lanterns were used at the beginning of the Revolutionary
+War. There is a story of a different sort of telegraph used when the
+war was near its end. It is told by a British officer who had not the
+best means of knowing whether it was true or not. But it shows what
+kind of telegraphs were used in that day. This is the story:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+A British army held New York. Another British army under Cornwallis was
+at Yorktown in Virginia. General Washington had marched to Yorktown. He
+was trying to capture the army of General Cornwallis. He was afraid
+that ships and soldiers would be sent from New York to help Cornwallis.
+But there were men in New York who were secretly on Washington's side.
+One of these was to let him know when ships should sail to help
+Cornwallis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Washington was six hundred miles away from New York. How could he
+get the news before the English ships should get there? There were no
+telegraphs. The fastest horses ridden one after another could hardly
+have carried news to him in less than two weeks. But Washington had a
+plan. One of the men who sent news to Washington was living in New
+York. When the ships set sail, he went up on the top of his house and
+hoisted a white flag, or something that looked like a white flag.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the other side of the Hudson River in a little village a man was
+watching this very house. As soon as he saw the white flag flapping, he
+took up his gun and fired it. Farther off there was a man waiting to
+hear this gun. When he heard it, he fired another gun. Farther on there
+was the crack of another, and then another gun. By the firing of one
+gun after another the news went southward. Bang, bang! went gun after
+gun across the whole State of New Jersey. Then guns in Pennsylvania
+took it up and sent the news onward. Then on across the State of
+Maryland the news went from one gun to another, till it reached
+Virginia, where it passed on from gun to gun till it got to Yorktown.
+In less than two days Washington knew that ships were coming.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Washington knew that British ships were coming, he pushed the
+fighting at Yorktown with all his might. When the English ships got to
+Chesapeake Bay at last, Cornwallis had already surrendered. The United
+States was free. The ships had come too late.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="chapter">A BOY'S TELEGRAPH.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+The best telegraph known before the use of electricity, was invented by
+two schoolboys in France. They were brothers named Chapp&eacute; (shap-pay).
+They were in different boarding schools some miles apart, and the rules
+of their schools did not allow them to write letters to each other. But
+the two schools were in sight of each other. The brothers invented a
+telegraph. They put up poles with bars of wood on them. These bars
+would turn on pegs or pins. The bars were turned up or down, or one up
+and another down, or two down and one up, and so on. Every movement of
+the bars meant a letter. In this way the two brothers talked to each
+other, though they were miles apart. When the boys became men, they
+sold their plan to the French Government. The money they got made their
+fortune.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+About the time they were selling this plan to the French Government, a
+boy named Samuel Morse was born in this country. Fifty years later this
+Samuel Morse set up the first Morse electric telegraph, which is the
+one we now use.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the old days before telegraph wires were strung all over the
+country, it took weeks to carry news to places far away. There were no
+railroads, and the mails had to travel slowly. A boy on a horse trotted
+along the road to carry the mail bags to country places. From one large
+city to another, the mails were carried by stagecoaches.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/030.jpg" alt="A mail carrier." width="387" height="285"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>A Mail Carrier.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the people had voted for President, it was weeks before the news
+of the election could be gathered in. Then it took other weeks to let
+the people in distant villages know the name of the new President.
+Nowadays a great event is known in almost every part of the country on
+the very day it happens.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Foolish"></a>
+<p class="chapter">A BOY'S FOOLISH ADVENTURE.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+The Natural Bridge has long been thought one of the great curiosities
+of our country. It is in Virginia, and the county in which it is
+situated is called Rockbridge County.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The traveler is riding in a stage on a wild road in the mountains. The
+road grows narrow. Soon it is a mere lane, with high board fences and
+small trees on each side. But the traveler sees nothing to show him
+that he is on the wonderful Natural Bridge.
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/031.jpg" alt="The Natural Bridge." width="329" height="509"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>The Natural Bridge.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bridge that he is driving over is about forty feet thick, and of
+solid rock. If he should go to the other side of the board fence, he
+could look down into a ravine more than two hundred feet deep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the traveler goes down into the ravine, he looks up at the
+beautiful curve of this great bridge of rock. The bridge is nearly one
+hundred and seventy-five feet above his head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Many years ago, when the writer of this book was a boy, he stood in the
+dark chasm underneath this bridge and looked up at the great bridge of
+rock above. He took a stone, as all other visitors do, and tried to
+throw it so as to hit the arch of the bridge above. But the stone
+stopped before it got halfway up, and fell back, resounding on the
+rocks below. Then he was told the old story, that nobody had ever
+thrown to the arch except George Washington, who had thrown a silver
+dollar clear to the center of the bridge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were names scribbled all over the rocks. People are always trying
+to write their own names in such strange places as this. Above all the
+other names were two rows of mere scratches. If they had ever been
+names, they were too much dimmed to be read by a person standing on the
+rocks below. The lower of these two high names, the people said, was
+the name of Washington. It was said that when he was a young man, he
+climbed higher than any one else to scratch his name on the rock. And
+the name above his, they said, was the name of a young man who had had
+a strange adventure in trying to write his name above that of the
+father of his country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The story of this young man's climbing up the rocks used to appear in
+the old schoolbooks. It was told with so many romantic additions, that
+it was hard to believe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The writer afterwards learned that the main fact of the story was true,
+and, that the hero of the story was still living in Virginia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This foolhardy boy, whose name was Pepper, climbed up the rock to write
+his name above the rest. Pepper climbed up by holding to little broken
+places in the rocks till he had got above the names of all the other
+climbers. He ventured to climb till he had passed the marks which
+people say are part of Washington's name. Here Pepper held fast with
+one hand, while he scratched his name in the rock.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His companions were far below him. He could not get down again. The
+rock face was too smooth. He could not stoop to put his hands down into
+the cracks where his feet were. If he had tried to, he would have lost
+his hold, and been dashed to pieces on the rocks below.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was nothing to do now but to climb out from under the bridge, and
+so up the face of the rock to the top of the gorge. He must do this or
+die.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Painfully clinging to the rock with his toes and his fingers, he worked
+his way up. Sometimes a crevice in the rock helped him. Sometimes he
+had to dig a place with his knife in order to get a hold. It seemed
+that each step would be his last.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The few people living in the neighborhood heard of his situation, and
+gathered below and above to look at him. They watched him with
+breathless anxiety. His friends expected to see him dashed to pieces at
+any moment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the time wore on, he worked his way up. He also got farther out from
+under the bridge. He held on like a cat. He hooked his fingers into
+every crack he could find. He dug holes with his dull knife. When he
+could find a little bush in the rocks, he thought himself lucky.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Men let down ropes to him, but the ropes did not reach him. They tied
+one rope to another so as to reach farther down, but he was too far
+under the bridge. The people hardly dared to speak or to breathe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last he began to get out at the side of the bridge where he could be
+seen from above. His strength was almost gone. His knife was too much
+worn to be of any use. He could not cling to the rock much longer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A rope with a noose in it was swung close to him. He let go his grip on
+the rock, and threw his arms and body into the noose. In a moment he
+swung clear of the rock, and dangled in the air. The rope drew tight
+about his body and held him. Young Pepper knew no more. He was drawn up
+over the rocks to the summit quite unconscious.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Years afterward he became a man of distinction in his State. But when
+any of his friends asked Colonel Pepper about his climbing out from
+under the Natural Bridge, he would say, &quot;Yes; I did that when I was a
+foolish boy, but I don't like to think about it.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Race"></a>
+<p class="chapter">A FOOT RACE FOR LIFE.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+In 1803 that part of our country which lies west of the Mississippi was
+almost unknown to the white men. In that year the President sent
+Captain Lewis and Captain Clark to see what the country was like. They
+went up the Missouri River and across the Rocky Mountains. Then they
+went down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. It took them more
+than two years to make the trip there and back.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lewis and Clark had about forty-five men with them. One of these men
+was named Colter. In the very heart of the wild country he left the
+party, and set up as a trapper. A trapper is a man who catches animals
+in traps in order to get their skins to sell. The Blackfoot Indians
+made Colter a prisoner. Colter knew a little of their language. He
+heard them talking of how they should kill their prisoner. They thought
+it would be fun to set him up and shoot at him with their arrows until
+he was dead. At this time the Indians on the western plains had no
+guns. But the Indian chief thought he knew a better way. He laid hold
+of Colter's shoulder, and said,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Can you run fast?&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Colter could run very swiftly, but he pretended to the chief that he
+was a bad runner. So they took him out on the prairie about four
+hundred yards away from the Indians. There he was turned loose, and
+told to run.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The whole band of Indians ran after him, yelling like wild beasts.
+Colter did not look back. He had to run through thorns that hurt his
+bare feet. But he was running for his life. Six miles away there was a
+river. If he could get to that, he might escape.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He almost flew over the ground. At first he did not turn his head
+round. When he had run about three miles, he glanced back. Most of the
+Indians had lost ground. The best runners were ahead of the others. One
+Indian, swifter than all the rest, was only about a hundred yards
+behind him. This man had a spear in his hand to kill Colter as soon as
+he should be near enough.
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/032.jpg" alt="Indian warrior about to throw a spear." width="341" height="446"></p>
+
+<p>
+Poor Colter now ran harder than ever to get away from this Indian. At
+last he was only about a mile from the river. He looked back, and saw
+the swift Indian only twenty yards away, with his spear ready to throw.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was of no use for Colter to keep on running. He turned round and
+faced the swift runner, who was about to throw his spear. Colter spread
+his arms wide, and stood still.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indian was surprised at this. He tried to stop running, so as to
+kill the white man with his spear. But he had already run himself
+nearly to death, and, when he tried to stop quickly, he lost his
+balance, and fell forward to the ground. His lance stuck in the earth,
+and broke in two.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Colter quickly pulled the pointed end of the spear out of the ground
+and killed the fallen Indian. Then he turned and ran on toward the
+river.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The other Indians were coming swiftly behind; but, as they passed the
+place where the first one lay dead, each of them stopped a moment to
+howl over him, after their custom. This gave Colter a little more time.
+He reached a patch of woods near the river. He ran through this to the
+river, and jumped in He swam toward a little island.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Logs and brush had floated down the river, and lodged across the
+island. This driftwood had formed a great raft. Colter dived under this
+raft. He swam to a place where he could push his head up to get air,
+and still be hidden by the brush.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians were already yelling on the bank of the river. A moment
+later they were swimming toward the island. When they reached the drift
+pile, they ran this way and that. They looked into all the cracks and
+tried to find the white man. They ran right over his hiding place.
+Colter thought they would surely find him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But after a long time they went away. Colter thought they would set
+fire to the raft of driftwood, but they did not think of that. Perhaps
+they thought that Colter had been drowned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He lay still under the raft till night came. Then he swam down the
+stream a long distance, left the stream, and went far out on the
+prairie. Here he felt himself safe from his enemies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But he had no clothes and no food. He had no gun to shoot animals with.
+It was several days' journey to the nearest place where there were
+white men, at a trading house.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Colter had nothing to eat but roots. The sun burned his skin in the
+daytime. He shivered without a covering at night. The thorns hurt his
+feet when he walked, but he found his way to the trading house at last.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He used to tell of wonderful things that he saw while traveling to the
+trading house after he got away from the Indians. He saw springs that
+were boiling hot and steaming. He saw fountains that would sometimes
+spout hot water into the air for hundreds of feet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These and many other wonderful things that he saw at this time he used
+to tell about. But nobody believed his stories. Nobody had ever seen
+anything of the kind in this country. When Colter would tell of these
+things, those who heard him thought that he was making up stories, or
+that he had been out of his head while traveling and had thought he saw
+such wonders.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But after many long years the wonderful place which we call Yellowstone
+Park was found, and in it were boiling and spouting springs. People
+knew then that Colter had been telling the truth, and that he had
+traveled through the Yellowstone country.
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/033.jpg" alt="A Geyser." width="391" height="600"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>A Geyser.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Loretto"></a>
+<p class="chapter">LORETTO AND HIS WIFE.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+In old times white men had not made settlements in the country near the
+Rocky Mountains. Tribes of Indians fought one another over that whole
+region. A few bold white men, fond of wild life, lived there, in order
+to hunt and trap the animals that bear furs. But they themselves were
+always in danger of being hunted by the Indians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians called Blackfeet and those called Crows were at war; They
+stole each other's horses at every chance, and the Indians of each
+tribe were always seeking to kill those of the other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In one of their attacks on the Blackfeet, the Crows carried off an
+Indian girl. One of the bold trappers of the Rocky Mountains was a
+Mexican. His name was Loretto. He visited a Crow village once, and saw
+this girl. He fell in love with the captive, and bought her from the
+Crows. Whether he paid for her in horses or in beaver skins, I do not
+know. But from a slave of the enemies of her tribe she was changed to
+the wife of a white man who loved her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Loretto was hired to trap for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. This
+company bought furs from the Indians of the Far West. They sent large
+parties to the mountains every year with guns, knives, hatchets,
+blankets, and other things, which they traded to the Indians for skins.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Loretto was marching over the plains with a party of trappers belonging
+to this company. He had his young Blackfoot wife and his baby with him.
+The white men were much afraid of the Blackfoot Indians. The company
+that Loretto was with examined every ravine that they passed, for fear
+that the Indians would surprise them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day a band of the Blackfoot tribe appeared on the prairie, but they
+kept near some rocks to which they could easily retire. They made signs
+of friendship. The trappers also made friendly signs. Then the
+Blackfeet sent out a party with a pipe of peace. The white men sent out
+a party to meet them. They smoked the pipe in the open ground between
+the two companies. This is the Indian way of making peace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of course, Loretto's wife was much interested in the Blackfeet. They
+were her own people. It had been a long time since she had seen one of
+them. She looked closely at the company smoking together, and saw that
+one of them was her brother. She handed the child to Loretto. Then she
+rushed out to the place where the treaty was going on, and her brother
+threw his arms about her with the greatest affection.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But just at that moment, Bridger, the captain of the white men, rode
+out where the pipe was being smoked. He had his rifle across the pommel
+of his saddle. The chief of the Blackfeet came up to shake hands with
+him. Bridger was afraid the chief meant to hurt him, so he slyly cocked
+his rifle. The chief heard the click, and seized the gun. He bent it
+downwards, and the gun went off, shooting a bullet into the ground. The
+chief took the gun and knocked Bridger off his horse with it. Then he
+mounted Bridger's horse and galloped back to his Indians. Indians and
+white men now got behind the rocks and trees which were not far away,
+and began to shoot at each other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Loretto's wife was carried away by her tribe. In vain she struggled to
+get free, and begged to be allowed to go back to her husband and child.
+The Indians would not let her go.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Loretto saw her struggles, and heard her cries. He took his child, and
+ran to the Indians with it. He handed the child to its mother. The
+Indian bullets and arrows were flying all about him.
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/034.jpg" alt="Loretto handing the child to its mother." width="518" height="354"></p>
+
+<p>
+The chief saw him carry the child across the open ground, and his heart
+was touched. It was a noble action.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He said to Loretto, &quot;You are crazy to go into such danger, but go back
+in peace; you shall not be hurt.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Loretto begged to be allowed to take his wife with him, but her brother
+would not let her go, and the chief now began to look angry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;The girl belongs to her tribe,&quot; he said. &quot;She shall not go back.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Loretto wanted to stay with his wife, but she begged him to go back,
+lest he should be killed on the spot. At last he left her, and went
+back to the white men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Night came on, and the Indians drew off. Not much harm had been done to
+anybody.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Loretto could not be happy without his wife. A few months later, he
+settled his accounts with the Fur Company and went away. He went boldly
+into one of the villages of the savage Blackfeet. Here he found his
+wife, and staid with her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the white men made peace with the Blackfeet, they set up a trading
+house among them. Loretto joined the traders. They were glad to have
+him, because he could speak the language of the tribe.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Blackfoot"></a>
+<p class="chapter">A BLACKFOOT STORY.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Here is a story the Indians tell. It is one of the tales with which
+they amuse themselves in long evenings. It may be true. At least, the
+Indians tell it for true.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An Indian chief of the tribe called Blackfoot, or Blackfeet, went over
+the Rocky Mountains with a war party. He killed some of the enemies of
+his tribe, and then started back. For fear their enemies would follow
+their tracks, the party did not take the usual path. They went up over
+the wildest part of the mountain. But when it came to going down on the
+other side, the Indians had a hard time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They had to clamber over great rocks and down the sides of cliffs.
+Drifts of snow blocked their way in places. At last they had to stop.
+They stood on the edge of a cliff. Below this cliff was a ridge or
+shelf of rock. By tying themselves together, and so helping one another
+down, they got to this shelf. Below this they found still another
+cliff. It was harder to get down to this.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But when they had got down as far as this ledge, they were in a worse
+plight than ever. They stood on the brink of a great cliff. The rocks
+were too steep for them to get down. It was hundreds of feet to the
+bottom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They tried to get back up the mountain, but that they could not do.
+Then they sat down and looked over the brink of the cliff. There was no
+chance for them to get down alive. They must stay there and starve.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians filled their pipes with kinnikinnick, or willow bark, and
+smoked. Then they knocked the ashes out of their pipes, and lay down to
+sleep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the chief did not sleep. He could not think of any way of getting
+out of the trouble. When morning came, they all went and looked over
+the cliff once more. Then they smoked again. After sitting silent for
+some time, the chief laid down his pipe quietly, got to his feet, and
+went to painting his face as if he were getting ready for a feast. He
+arranged his dress with the greatest care. Then he made a little
+speech.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;It is of no use to stay here and die,&quot; he said. &quot;The Great Spirit is
+not willing that we should get away. Let us die bravely.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He added other remarks of the same kind. Then he sang his death song.
+When this was finished, he gave a shout, and leaped over the cliff.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/035.jpg" alt="Indian warriors at edge of cliff." width="388" height="555"></p>
+
+<p>
+When the chief had gone, the others sat down and smoked again in
+silence. After a long time, a weather-beaten old Indian got up and
+walked to the edge of the cliff.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;See,&quot; he said, &quot;there is the soul of our chief, waiting for us to go
+with him to the land of spirits.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The others looked over, and saw the form of a man far below, waving the
+bough of a tree.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The old warrior now threw off his blanket and sang his death song. Then
+he leaped off. The others again looked over, and this time they saw two
+forms beckoning to them from below.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+One after another the Indians jumped, until there were left but two
+young men who were little more than boys. These two boys were nephews
+of the chief. They had never been in a war party.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The elder of the two showed his young brother the ghosts of the whole
+party standing below. He told his brother he must jump off, but the
+frightened boy begged to be allowed to stay and die on the bare rock.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The elder seized him, and, after a struggle, pushed him over. Then he
+quietly gathered up all the blankets and guns, and threw them off. He
+thought the souls of his friends would need these things in their
+journey to the land of spirits.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When this was done, the young man sang his own death song and jumped
+off. Falling swiftly as an arrow, feet downward, he struck a great snow
+drift at the bottom. It received him like an immense feather bed. He
+sank in so far that he had hard work to get out. When he had succeeded,
+he found all of his party, not spirits, as he had expected, but living
+men, safe and sound. The snow had saved them from injury.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Fremont"></a>
+<p class="chapter">HOW FREMONT CROSSED THE MOUNTAINS.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+It is many years now since Captain Fremont made his great journey over
+plains and mountains to California. At that time California belonged to
+Mexico. The wild country east of it belonged to the United States.
+There were hardly any roads and no railroads in the country west of the
+Missouri River. Fremont was sent out to explore that country; that is,
+he was sent to find out what kind of a country it was. The white people
+knew very little about it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fremont had a large party of men with many horses. After months of
+travel he found himself near the great Californian mountains. These
+mountains are called the Sierra Nevada, or &quot;Snowy Range.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here some Indians came to see him. He had a talk with them by signs,
+for he could not speak their language. They told him he could cross the
+mountains in summer. They said it was &quot;six sleeps&quot; to the place where
+the white men lived over the mountains. They meant that a man would
+have to pass six nights on the road in going there. But it was now
+winter, and they told him that no man could cross in the winter. They
+held their hands above their heads to show him that the snow was deeper
+than a man is tall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Fremont told the Indians that the horses of the white men were
+strong, and that he would go over the mountains. He showed them some
+bright-colored cloths, which he said he would give to any Indian who
+would go along as a guide. The Indians called in a young man who said
+he had been over the mountains and had seen the white people on the
+other side. He agreed to go with Fremont. Fremont now talked to his
+men, and told them there was a beautiful valley on the other side of
+the mountains,&mdash;the valley of the Sacramento. He told them that Captain
+Sutter had moved to this valley from Missouri, and had become a rich
+man. It was but seventy miles to Sutter's Fort. The men agreed to try
+to cross the mountains.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They had but little left to eat. They killed a dog and ate it that very
+evening. They would not have much chance to get food in crossing the
+mountains, but they started in bravely the next morning. They did not
+talk much. They knew that it was very dangerous to cross the mountains
+in February.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For days and days they fought their way through the snow, which got
+deeper and deeper as they went higher up into the mountains. Traveling
+grew harder and harder. The horses had nothing to eat but what could be
+found in little patches of grass where the wind had blown the snow off
+the ground. Whenever a horse or mule grew too weak to travel, the men
+killed it and ate it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day an old Indian came to see them. He told them they must not go
+on. He said, &quot;Rock upon rock, rock upon rock, snow upon snow, snow upon
+snow, and even if you get over the snow, you will not be able to get
+down the mountain on the other side.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He made signs to show them that the walls of rock were straight up and
+down, and that the horses would slip oft. This frightened the Indians
+in Fremont's company, and one Indian covered up his head and moaned
+while the old man was talking.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The young Indian guide was afraid to go on. He ran away the next day,
+taking all the pretty things that Fremont had given him, and a blanket
+that Fremont had lent him to keep warm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The men now made snowshoes, so that they could walk over the snow
+without sinking in. Sleds were made to draw the baggage on, for the
+horses were getting too weak to carry anything. They found the snow
+twenty feet deep in some places. The men had to make great mauls or
+pounders to beat down the snow, to make a hard road on which the
+animals could travel. Fremont's men now grew very hungry, for they had
+little to eat except when they killed a starving mule or a dog.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last the whole party reached the top of the mountains at a place
+where they were nine thousand feet high. They had been three weeks in
+getting to the top. They had yet the hard task of getting down on the
+other side. But they could see the beautiful country of California
+below them. They began to work their way down over the snow and rocks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After some days Fremont took a party of eight men, and went on to get
+provisions for the rest. But for a long distance he found no grass, and
+his animals began to give out. One of his men grew so hungry and tired
+that he became insane for a while. Another got lost from the party, and
+found them only after several days. He told the rest that he had
+suffered so much from hunger that he ate small toads, and even let the
+large ants creep upon his hands so that he could eat them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day Fremont saw some Indian huts. The Indians ran away when they
+saw the white men coming. Fremont found near these huts some great
+baskets as big as hogsheads filled with acorns. Inside the huts he
+found smaller baskets with roasted acorns in them. The men took about
+half a bushel of these roasted acorns, and left a shirt, some
+handkerchiefs, and some trinkets, to pay for them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last they came to a place where there were paths, and tracks of
+cattle. The horses, having found grass to eat, grew strong enough for
+the men to ride them. One day Fremont found some Indians, one of whom
+could speak Spanish.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indian said, &quot;I am a herdsman, and work for Captain Sutter.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Where does he live?&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Just over the hill. I will show you.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a short time Fremont and his white men were at the house of Sutter.
+But Captain Fremont rested only one night. The next morning he started
+back with food for his starving men, who were coming on behind. The
+second day after he left Sutter's he met his men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They were a sad sight. They were all on foot. Each man was leading a
+horse as weak and lean as he was himself. Many of the horses had fallen
+off the rocks, and had been killed. Only half of the mules and horses
+that had started over the mountains had lived to get across. As soon as
+Fremont met his men, he told them to camp. He fed the poor starving
+fellows beef and bread and fresh salmon. The next day they all reached
+the beautiful Sacramento River, where the city of Sacramento now
+stands.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Gold"></a>
+<p class="chapter">FINDING GOLD IN CALIFORNIA.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+California once belonged to Mexico. Then there was a war between this
+country and Mexico. This is what we call the Mexican War. During that
+war the United States took California away from Mexico. It is now one
+of the richest and most beautiful States in the Union. In the old days,
+when California belonged to Mexico, it was a quiet country. Nearly all
+the white people spoke Spanish, which is the language of Mexico. They
+lived mostly by raising cattle. In those days people did not know that
+there was gold in California. A little gold had been found in the
+southern part of the State, but nobody expected to find valuable gold
+mines. A few people from the United States had settled in the country.
+They also raised cattle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some time after the United States had taken California, peace was made
+with Mexico. California then became a part of our country. About the
+time that this peace was made, something happened which made a great
+excitement all over the country. It changed the history of our country,
+and changed the business of the whole world. Here is the story of it:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A man named Sutter had moved from Missouri to California. He built a
+house which was called Sutter's Fort. It was where the city of
+Sacramento now stands. Sutter had many horses and oxen, and he owned
+thousands of acres of land. He traded with the Indians, and carried on
+other kinds of business.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But everything was done in the slow Mexican way. When he wanted boards,
+he sent men to saw them out by hand. It took two men a whole day to saw
+up a log so as to make a dozen boards. There was no sawmill in all
+California.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Sutter wanted to grind flour or meal, this also was done in the
+Mexican way. A large stone roller was run over a flat stone. But at
+last Sutter thought he would have a grinding mill of the American sort.
+To build this, he needed boards. He thought he would first build a
+sawmill. Then he could get boards quickly for his grinding mill, and
+have lumber to use for other things.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sutter sent a man named Marshall to build his sawmill. It was to be
+built forty miles away from Sutter's Fort. The mill had to be where
+there were trees to saw.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Marshall was a very good carpenter, who could build almost anything. He
+had some men working with him. After some months they got the mill
+done. This mill was built to run by water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But when he started it, the mill did not run well. Marshall saw that he
+must dig a ditch below the great water wheel, to carry off the water.
+He hired wild Indians to dig the ditch.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the Indians had partly dug this ditch, Marshall went out one
+January morning to look at it. The clear water was running through the
+ditch. It had washed away the sand, leaving the pebbles bare. At the
+bottom of the water Marshall saw something yellow. It looked like
+brass. He put his hand down into the water and took up this bright,
+yellow thing. It was about the size and shape of a small pea. Then he
+looked, and found another pretty little yellow bead at the bottom of
+the ditch.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Marshall trembled all over. It might be gold. But he remembered that
+there is another yellow substance that looks like gold. It is called
+&quot;fool's gold.&quot; He was afraid he had only found fool's gold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Marshall knew that if it was gold it would not break easily. He laid
+one of the pieces on a stone; then he took another stone and hammered
+it. It was soft, and did not break. If it had broken to pieces,
+Marshall would have known that it was not gold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a few days the men had dug up about three ounces of the yellow
+stuff. They had no means of making sure it was gold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Marshall got on a horse and set out for Sutter's Fort, carrying
+the yellow metal with him. He traveled as fast as the rough road would
+let him. He rode up to Sutler's in the evening, all spattered with mud.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He told Captain Sutter that he wished to see him alone. Marshall's eyes
+looked wild, and Sutter was afraid that he was crazy. But he went to a
+room with him. Then Marshall wanted the door locked. Sutter could not
+think what was the matter with the man.
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/036.jpg" alt="Weighing the First Gold." width="496" height="415"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>Weighing the First Gold.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When he was sure that nobody else would come in, Marshall poured out in
+a heap on the table the little yellow beads that he had brought.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sutter thought it was gold, but the men did not know how to tell
+whether it was pure or not. At last they hunted up a book that told how
+heavy gold is. Then they got a pair of scales and weighed the gold,
+putting silver dollars in the other end of the scales for weights. Then
+they held one end of the scales under water and weighed the gold. By
+finding how much lighter it was in the water than out of the water,
+they found that it was pure gold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All the men at the mill promised to keep the secret. They were all
+digging up gold when not working in the mill. As soon as the mill
+should be done, they were going to wash gold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the secret could not be kept. A teamster who came to the mill was
+told about it. He got a few grains of the precious gold.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the teamster got back to Sutter's Fort, he went to a store to buy
+a bottle of whisky, but he had no money. The storekeeper would not sell
+to him without money. The teamster then took out some grains of gold.
+The storekeeper was surprised. He let the man have what he wanted. The
+teamster would not tell where he got the gold. But after he had taken
+two or three drinks of the whisky, he was not able to keep his secret.
+He soon told all he knew about the finding of gold at Sutter's Mill.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The news spread like fire in dry grass. Men rushed to the mill in the
+mountains to find gold. Gold was also found at other places. Merchants
+in the towns of California left their stores. Mechanics laid down their
+tools, and farmers left their fields, to dig gold. Some got rich in a
+few weeks. Others were not so lucky.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Soon the news went across the continent. It traveled also to other
+countries. More than one hundred thousand men went to California the
+first year after gold was found, and still more poured in the next
+year. Thousands of men went through the Indian country with wagons. Of
+course, there were no railroads to the west in that day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Millions and millions of dollars' worth of gold was dug. In a short
+time California became a rich State. Railroads were built across the
+country. Ships sailed on the Pacific Ocean to carry on the trade of
+this great State. Every nation of the earth had gold from California.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And it all started from one little, round, yellow bead of gold, that
+happened to lie shining at the bottom of a ditch, on a cold morning not
+so very long ago.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Grand"></a>
+<p class="chapter">DESCENDING THE GRAND CANYON.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+The Colorado River is the strangest river in the United States. For
+hundreds of miles it runs through channels in solid rocks. These
+channels are often thousands of feet deep. In some places the rocks
+rise straight up like walls. These walls are quite bare. There are no
+trees and no grass on them. There is not even any moss to be seen. The
+bare rocks are of many colors. When the sunlight strikes upon them,
+they are as beautiful as flowers and as gorgeous as the clouds, we are
+told.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These deep cuts, through which the river runs, are called canyons. The
+longest of them is called the Grand Canyon (see frontispiece). It is
+about two hundred miles long. In some places it is more than a mile and
+a quarter deep. The river runs at the bottom of this deep ravine. It
+rushes over rapids, and plunges over falls. Sometimes there is a little
+strip of rock like a shelf at the edge of the river. In many places the
+walls of rock rise straight from the water, and there is no place where
+a man can put his feet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Major Powell resolved to go through this canyon in boats. No boat had
+ever gone down this deep, dark channel. Two men, running away from
+Indians, had once gone into it on a raft. The raft was dashed over
+rapids and waterfalls. The provisions of the men were washed overboard.
+One of the men was drowned, and the other at last floated out at the
+lower end of the canyon more dead than alive.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Being a man of science, Major Powell wanted to find out about the Grand
+Canyon. He knew that it would be a fearful journey. He and his men
+might all be lost, but they made up their minds to try to go through.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They did not know how long the canyon was. They had already passed
+through the other canyons above, and had suffered many hardships. They
+knew how wild and dangerous such places are, but whether they could
+ever get through this great and awful gorge they did not know. But they
+got into their boats, and started down the long passage. The sun shines
+down into this narrow gorge only for a short time each day. Most of the
+way the walls are too steep to climb.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The boats shot swiftly down the river. Sometimes they ran over wild
+rapids. The men had many narrow escapes. The boats bumped against the
+rocks, and some of the oars were broken. New oars had to be made, and,
+to do this, the men had to find logs that had drifted down the river.
+Sometimes Major Powell and his men had to have pitch to stop the leaks
+in their boats. To get this, they had to climb up thousands of feet of
+rock to where some little pine trees grew.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They could not see far ahead, because the river was not straight, and
+the side walls of the narrow gorge shut out the view. Sometimes they
+would hear a loud roaring of water ahead. Then they knew they were
+coming to a waterfall. If there was any room to walk, they would carry
+and drag their boat round the falls. If there was no shelf or shore on
+which to carry the boats, they had to let them float down over the
+falls, the men on the rocks above holding ropes tied to the boats.
+Sometimes they could not even do this. Then they had to get into the
+boats and plunge over the falls among the rocks. They had hard work to
+keep off the rocks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+More than once a boat got full of water. The men had to let the boat
+run till they got to a wider place, where they could get the water out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Their flour was spoiled by getting wet. Their bacon became bad. Much of
+their food was lost overboard. They usually slept out on the rocks by
+the side of the river. Sometimes they slept in caves. Once they sat up
+all night on a shelf of rock in a pouring rain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All day they had to work, to save their lives. At night they had to
+sleep on cold rocks without blankets enough to keep them warm. The
+great rock walls on either side of them made an awful prison. They
+could not tell how far they had gone, nor did they know just how far
+they had to go.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last the food ran short. The men were tired of musty flour. They had
+lost their baking powder, and they had to make heavy bread. They
+thought that even this bad food would give out before they could reach
+the end of the canyon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But one day they came to a little patch of earth by the side of the
+river. On this some corn was growing. The Indians living on the bare
+rocks above had come down by some steep path to plant this little
+cornfield. The corn was not yet large enough to eat. But among the corn
+grew some green squashes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Major Powell's men were too near starving not to take anything they
+could find to eat. They took some of the green squashes and put them
+into their boats. Then they ran on down the canyon, out of the reach of
+any Indians. Here they stewed some of the squashes, and ate them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When they had been fifteen days in this great canyon, they had but a
+little flour and some dried apples left. They had now come to a place
+where one could climb up out of the gorge. But they did not know how
+far they were from the end. Three of the men here resolved to leave the
+party. They did not believe that there was any hope of running out of
+the canyon in the boats alive. They took their share of the food and
+some guns, and bade the others good-by. They climbed up out of the
+canyon, and were soon after killed by Indians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of the boats was by this time nearly worn out by the rocks. As
+there were not enough men left to manage three boats, this one was left
+behind. Major Powell, with those of his men who were still with him,
+went on down the awful river. The very next day they ran suddenly out
+into an open space. They had at last got out of the Grand Canyon, which
+had held them prisoners for sixteen days.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They went on down the river, and the next day after this they found
+some settlers drawing a seine or net to catch fish in the river. These
+settlers had heard that Major Powell and his men were lost, and they
+were keeping a lookout for any pieces of his boats that might float
+down from above. Food of many kinds was sent from the nearest
+settlement to feast the hungry men who had so bravely struggled through
+the Grand Canyon.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Handcart"></a>
+<p class="chapter">THE-MAN-THAT-DRAWS-THE-HANDCART.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+George Northrup was but a boy of fifteen when his father died. Having
+nothing to keep him at home, he went to the Indian country, which at
+that time was in Minnesota. He had a boyish notion that he could go
+through to the Pacific Ocean by making his way from one tribe to
+another. When he was eighteen years old, a few years before the Civil
+War, he tried to make this journey. He loaded his provisions into a
+handcart, and took a big dog along for company. For thirty-six days he
+did not see anybody, or hear any voice but his own. Then he found paths
+made by Indian war parties. He knew, that, if one of these parties
+should find him, he would be killed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One morning he found all his food stolen from his handcart. Either
+Indians or wolves had taken it. He now saw how foolish his boyish plan
+had been. He turned back, and at last reached a trading post, almost
+starved to death. For days he had had little to eat except such frogs
+as he could catch.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this the Indians always called him
+&quot;The-man-that-draws-the-handcart.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he grew older, he became a famous trapper and guide. He knew all
+about the habits of animals. He could shoot with a better aim than any
+Indian or any other white man on the frontier. He often walked eighty
+miles in a day across the prairie. He could manage the Indians as no
+other man could.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This strange young man lived among rough and wicked men. But he never
+drank or swore, or did anything that anybody could have thought wrong.
+He never even smoked, as other men about him did, but he lived his own
+life in his own way. Everybody loved him for his gentleness. Everybody
+admired him for his courage and manliness. All the spare money he got
+he spent for good books.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When winter time came, he would sometimes hire other trappers, who did
+not know the country so well as he did, to work for him. He would go
+away beyond the settlements and set up a camp. He would teach the other
+men how to trap. When spring came, he would bring many furs into the
+settlement. One winter he camped in the country of the Yankton Indians.
+He had six men with him. The Yanktons were wild Indians, and Northrup
+was in some danger. But he had a friend among the Indians, a chief
+called by a good long name, Taw-ton-wash-tah.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But all the Yanktons were not friendly to the white men. There was one
+chief whose name was Old-man. He got together a party to go and rob
+Northrup and drive him away. Taw-ton-wash-tah tried to keep these
+Indians from going, but he could not do it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Northrup did not know that a party had been sent out against him. His
+men went on with their trapping, while George went hunting to get food
+for them. They had only a small bag of flour, and this they did not
+eat. They kept the flour for a time that might come in which they could
+not find any animals to kill for meat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One day George followed the tracks of an elk. He overtook it six miles
+from his camp. He crept up to it and shot it. Then he loaded his gun,
+so as to be ready for anything that might happen. While he was skinning
+the elk, he looked up and saw the heads of Indians coming up over a
+little hill. He quickly jumped into the bushes. He saw that there were
+thirteen Indians in the party. He put his hand on his bullet pouch, and
+knew by the feeling of it that there were fifteen bullets in the bag.
+&quot;Every bullet must bring down an Indian,&quot; he said to himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of the Indians called out in his own language, &quot;Is
+The-man-that-draws-the-handcart here?&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+George quickly replied in their language, &quot;Stop! If any man comes one
+step nearer, I will kill him. Tell me whether this is a war party or a
+hunting party.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of the Indians stepped out in front and fired off both barrels of
+his gun. This was a sign of friendship.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Northrup did not think this offer of peace worth much; but, if he
+refused it, he would have to fight against thirteen Indians. He could
+only accept it by firing off both barrels of his gun. This would leave
+him with his gun unloaded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But he slipped the cap off one barrel of his gun. Then he fired the
+other barrel, and brought down the hammer of the one from which he had
+taken the cap, so as to make it seem that that barrel of his gun was
+empty. Then he slyly slipped the cap back on his gun, so as to have one
+barrel ready for use.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He went with the Indians to their camp, where he was a kind of
+prisoner, but he managed to load the empty barrel of his gun by going
+behind a tree where the Indians could not see him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He knew that the Indians would try to get to his camp before he did. As
+his men did not know how to manage Indians, the Indians could steal
+everything in the camp. If they should take his provisions, George and
+his men might starve on the prairies, which were covered with snow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So George made up his mind that he must get to his camp before the
+Indians, or lose his life in trying.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He said to the chief, &quot;Old-man, I am going home.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He did not wait for an answer, but started along the trail leading to
+his camp. He expected the Indians to shoot him, but they only fell into
+line and marched behind him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+George knew that if the Indians got into the camp with him, they would
+find everything scattered about. Before he could get things together,
+they would steal most of them. So he tried once more what he could do
+by boldness. He turned and said to the chief, &quot;My men are new men. They
+do not know Indians. If you should go in with me, they might shoot. It
+is better that I should go in first, and tell them that you come as
+friends.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Old-man said &quot;Ho,&quot; which is the way that a Yankton has of saying &quot;All
+right.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Northrup went into the camp, and gathered everything together in one
+place, and told his men to keep watch over the things. The Indians
+staid about the camp two days, trying to get a chance to rob the white
+men, but Northrup kept his eye on them. Once he found one of his men
+without a gun.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Where is your gun?&quot; he said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;The Indians are sitting on it,&quot; said the man. &quot;They will not give it
+up.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+George found several Indians sitting on the gun. He took hold of the
+gun and looked at the Indians. They all got up. It seemed that they
+could not help doing what he wanted them to do. Northrup gave the gun
+back to its owner, and told him not to let it go out of his hands
+again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+George had a fine double-barreled rifle. An English gentleman whose
+guide he had been had sent him this gun from London. When he was in his
+tent one day, he heard the Indians on the outside of it disputing who
+should have his gun. He knew by this that they meant to kill him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+George patted his rifle as though it had been an old friend, and said,
+&quot;Well, old gun, whoever gets you will have to be quick.&quot; After that his
+hand was always on his gun, and his eye was always on the Indians.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He asked his men where the sack of flour was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Old-man has it,&quot; said one of his men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To let the chief keep the flour was to run the risk of starving, but
+Northrup knew that if he took it away there might be a battle. He
+stepped up to the chief and took the bag of flour from his side and
+started away without saying a word.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Man-that-draws-the-handcart,&quot; said the chief angrily, &quot;bring back my
+flour.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+George stopped, and opened his coat. He pointed toward his heart and
+said,&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Old-man, if you want to kill me, shoot me, but you shall not take away
+my flour and leave me to starve.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Very well,&quot; said the chief sternly, &quot;then,
+Man-that-draws-the-handcart, you shall go south.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the language of these Indians, to go south means to die. They think
+the soul journeys to the southward after death. Old-man meant to say
+that Northrup should die.
+</p>
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/037.jpg" alt="You shall go South" width="504" height="546"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>&quot;You shall go South!&quot;</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Very well,&quot; said George, looking the Indian in the eye, &quot;I will go
+south, then; but if I go south, you shall go with me, and just as many
+more as I can take. Remember, Old-man, you must go south if I do.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Old-man knew Northrup very well. He knew that if anybody tried to kill
+him, George's sure aim would be taken at Old-man first of all. George
+had also told all of his men to shoot the chief if there should be any
+trouble.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After lingering for two days, the Indians stole a bag of chopped
+buffalo meat, or pemmican, and an old gun. With these they went off,
+and George hurried away to a better camping place, where they could not
+find him again.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Lazy"></a>
+<p class="chapter">THE LAZY, LUCKY INDIAN.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Out in the country we now call North Dakota there once lived an Indian
+known as &quot;Lazy-man.&quot; When he was young, he had been lazy about hunting.
+When the other Indians had skins to sell, the lazy Indian had nothing.
+He grew poor. His blanket was ragged. His leggings were worn out. His
+wigwam was so wretched that all the tribe laughed at its tumble-down
+look.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Every winter the tribe went off to the great plains to hunt buffalo.
+They took their little ponies along, to carry home what they got. They
+brought back the skins of the buffaloes and buffalo meat dried over a
+fire. They also brought back pemmican, which is made by chopping
+buffalo meat very fine, and mixing it with the tallow from the animal.
+Lazy-man was ashamed to go on the hunt. He had no ponies to carry the
+meat and the skins he might get.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One winter, when the tribe went off on its regular hunt, Lazy-man and
+his wife staid behind as usual. They sat lonesome in their teepee, as a
+wigwam is called in their language. The weather grew colder. It was
+hard to find anything to eat. The lake near them was frozen, so that
+they could not fish. There were not many animals living in the country
+about. The lazy Indian and his wife were nearly starved.
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/038.jpg" alt="Bufaloes." width="494" height="356"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>Buffaloes.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The buffaloes had never come down to this lake shore. But one day the
+lazy Indian looked out and saw a herd of them coming. They were running
+out on the point of land where his teepee stood. He knew that when they
+got to the ice on the lake they would turn back.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Quick, quick!&quot; he called to his wife. The two ran right into the midst
+of the herd. It was a dangerous thing to do, but they were so hungry
+and miserable that they did not mind the danger. By running into the
+herd they separated the buffaloes out on the point from the rest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the buffaloes on the point came to the ice, they paused and turned
+back. They were soon running in the other direction, but the lazy
+Indian and his wife faced the animals as they came. They waved their
+ragged blankets at the buffaloes. They shouted in Indian fashion,
+&quot;Yow-wow, yow-wow, yow-wow!&quot; They ran to and fro, waving and shouting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once more the buffaloes stopped and looked. Lazy-man and his wife now
+ran at them, throwing their blankets in the air, and yelling more
+wildly than ever. The scared buffaloes turned about again. They were so
+badly frightened this time that they ran out on the ice on the lake.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ice was as smooth as glass. The buffaloes could not stand up on it.
+One after another they slipped and fell. The lazy Indian was not lazy
+that day. He saw a chance to get out of his poverty. He ran about on
+the ice, killing the buffaloes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For many days he and his squaw worked. They skinned the buffaloes, and
+dried the skins. They prepared the stomachs of the buffaloes, and
+stuffed them with the chopped meat, making it look like great sausages
+as big as pillows. They put a few cranberries in with the meat to give
+the pemmican a good taste. Then they poured the smoking fat of the
+buffalo into this great sausage. The fat filled up the small spaces.
+When it got cold, the pemmican sack was almost as hard as a stone. It
+could be cut only by chopping it with a tomahawk.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last spring came, and the tribe came home from the hunt. You may
+suppose that Lazy-man was proud that day. Instead of being the poor
+beggar whom everybody laughed at, he was now one of the rich men in the
+tribe. He had more buffalo robes and more pemmican than any other man
+in the village. He exchanged his buffalo robes for ponies. After that
+he always went on the hunt, and lived like the other Indians. He did
+not wish to sink into laziness and poverty again.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Peter"></a>
+<p class="chapter">PETER PETERSEN.
+</p>
+
+<p class="chapter">A STORY OF THE MINNESOTA INDIAN WAR.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Peter Petersen was a very little boy living in Minnesota. He lived on
+the very edge of the Indian country when the Indian War of 1862 broke
+out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Settlers were killed in their cabins before they knew that a war had
+begun. As the news spread, the people left their houses, and hurried
+into the large towns. Some of them saw their houses burning before they
+got out of sight. The roads were crowded with ox wagons full of women
+and children.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Peter Petersen's father was a Norwegian settler. When the news of the
+Indian attack came, Peter's father hitched up his oxen, and put his
+wife and daughters and little Peter into the wagon. They drove the oxen
+hard, and got to Mankato in safety.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The town was crowded with frightened people. Many were living in
+woodsheds and barns. In their hurry, these country people had not
+brought food enough with them. Before long they began to suffer hunger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Peter Petersen's father thought of the potato field he had at home. If
+he could only go back to his house long enough to dig his potatoes, his
+family would have enough to eat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When he made up his mind to go, Peter wanted to go along with him. As
+there were now soldiers within a mile of his farm, Peter's father
+thought the Indians would not be so bold as to come there. So he and
+Peter went back to the little house.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next morning Peter's father went out to dig potatoes. Peter, who
+was but five years old, was asleep in his bed. He was awakened by the
+yells of Indians. He ran to the door just in time to see his father
+shot with an arrow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Little Peter ran like a frightened rabbit to the nearest bushes. The
+Indians chased him and caught him. They were amused to see him run, and
+they thought he would be a funny little plaything to have. So they just
+set him up on the back of a cow, and drove the cow ahead of them. They
+laughed to see Peter trying to keep his seat on the cow's back.
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/039.jpg" alt="Little Peter on a cow's back." width="529" height="396"></p>
+
+<p>
+The little boy lived among the Indians for weeks. They did not give him
+anything to eat. When he came into their tents to get food, they would
+knock him down. But he would pick up something to eat at last, and then
+run away. When he could not get any food, he would go out among the
+cows the Indians had taken from the white people. Little as he was, he
+would manage to milk one of the cows. He had no other cup to catch the
+milk in but his mouth. Whenever any of the Indians threatened to kill
+him, he would run away and dodge about between the legs of the cows or
+among the horses, so as to get out of their way. Sometimes he was so
+much afraid that he slept out in the grass, in the dew or rain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After some weeks, Peter and the other captives were retaken by the
+white soldiers sent to fight the Indians. But the poor little boy could
+speak no language but Norwegian. He could not tell whose child he was,
+nor where he came from. His mother and sisters had left the dangerous
+country near the Indians. They had gone to Winona, a hundred and fifty
+miles away. One of his sisters heard somebody read in the paper that
+such a little boy had been taken from the Indians. The kind-hearted
+doctor in whose house she lived tried to find the boy, but nobody could
+tell what had become of little Peter. His family at last gave up all
+hope of seeing him again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Peter was taken by the soldiers, he had worn out all his clothes
+in traveling through the prairie grass. He had nothing on him but part
+of a shirt. The soldiers took an old suit of uniform and made him some
+clothes. He was soon dressed from top to toe in army blue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was as much of a plaything for the soldiers as he had been for the
+Indians. They laughed at his pranks, as they might have done if he had
+been a monkey. He passed from one squad of soldiers to another. They
+fed him on hard-tack, and shared their blankets with him. He was the
+pet and plaything of them all. But after a while the Indians were
+driven away from the settlements, and the soldiers were ordered to the
+South, for it was in the time of the Civil War.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The regiment that Peter happened to be with got on a steamboat, and
+Peter went aboard with them. The soldiers knew that if Peter should be
+taken to the South, he would be farther than ever away from his
+friends. So the soldiers made up their minds to put him ashore at
+Winona. It was the last place at which he would find Norwegian people.
+To put such a little fellow ashore in a large and busy place like this
+was a hard thing to do. Peter was hardly more than a baby, and he could
+not speak English. He stood about as much chance of starving to death
+here as he had in the Indian camp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the boat landed at Winona, the soldiers gave some money to one of
+the hotel porters, and told him to give the child something to eat, and
+send him out into the country where there were Norwegian people. But as
+soon as Peter had eaten the dinner they gave him at the hotel, he
+slipped away, and went back to the river. He expected to find his
+friends, the soldiers, waiting for him; but the boat had gone. Peter
+was now in a strange city, without friends. Not without friends,
+either, for his sisters were in this same city. But he did not think
+any more of getting to his mother or his sisters. He was only thinking
+of the soldiers who had been so kind to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the next boat came down the river, Peter Petersen, in his little
+blue uniform, marched aboard. He thought he might overtake the
+soldiers, but the boatmen put him ashore again. He stood gazing after
+the boat, not knowing what to do or where to go.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There stood on the bank that day a Norwegian. He was a guest at the
+Norwegian hotel in the town. He heard Peter say something in his own
+language, and he thought the boy must be a son of the man who kept the
+hotel. So he said to him in Norwegian, &quot;Let's go home.&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It had been a long time since Peter had heard his own language spoken.
+Nobody had said anything to him about home since he was taken away from
+his father's cabin by the Indians. The words sounded sweet to him. He
+followed the strange man. He did not know where he was going, except
+that it was to some place called home. When he got to the hotel, he
+went in and sat down. He did not know what else to do.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently the landlady came in. Seeing a strange little boy in army
+blue, she said, &quot;Whose child are you?&quot;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Peter did not know whose child he was. Since the soldiers left him, he
+didn't seem to be anybody's child. As he did not answer, the landlady
+spoke to him rather sharply.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;What do you want here, little boy?&quot; she said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;A drink of water,&quot; said Peter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A little boy nearly always wants a drink of water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&quot;Go through into the kitchen there, and get a drink,&quot; said the
+landlady.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Peter opened the door into the kitchen, and went through. In a moment
+two arms were about him. Peter knew what home meant then. His sister,
+Matilda, had recognized her lost brother Peter in the little soldier
+boy. The next day he was put into a wagon and sent out to Rushford,
+where his mother was living. The wanderings of the little captive were
+over.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Telescope"></a>
+<p class="chapter">THE GREATEST OF TELESCOPE MAKERS.
+</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Three great inventors in this country were portrait painters. Fulton,
+the builder of steamboats, was one of them; Morse, who planned our
+first electric telegraph, was another; and Alvan Clark, who found out a
+way of making the largest and finest telescopes in the world, was
+another.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alvan Clark was the son of a farmer. When he was eighteen years old, he
+set to work to learn engraving and drawing. He had no teacher. After a
+while he began to draw portraits. Once he sent to Boston to get some
+brushes to paint with. When the brushes came, there was a piece of
+newspaper wrapped round them. In this bit of newspaper was an
+advertisement that engravers were wanted. He went to Boston, and found
+regular work as an engraver.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When he was not busy engraving, he was studying painting. After some
+years he became a painter of portraits and miniatures. He lived at
+Cambridgeport, near Boston.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While Mr. Clark was living at Cambridgeport, his son was at a boarding
+school. The young boy had become interested in telescopes. He learned
+that there were two kinds of these instruments. One brought the stars
+near by showing them in a curved mirror. The other magnified by means
+of glasses that the light shone through. He had read that it was very
+hard to grind these glasses or lenses, as they are called, so that they
+would be correct. The telescope that used the mirror was not so good,
+but it was easier to make. So George Clark made up his mind that he
+would make a reflecting telescope; that is, one with a mirror in it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The mirror in such a telescope is made of polished metal. One day
+somebody broke the dinner bell at the boarding school. George dark
+picked up the pieces of brass and took them home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These pieces of brass he put into a retort. A retort is a vessel that
+will bear great heat, and that is used for melting metals and other
+substances. Young Clark put some tin into the retort with the brass.
+When the two metals were melted together, he poured the liquid into a
+mold. When it became cold, it was a round flat piece. Such a piece is
+called a disc.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Alvan Clark, the father, was a very ingenious man. He was a fine
+marksman. One reason that he could shoot so well was that his eye was
+so true. Another was that he made his own rifles, and made them better
+than others.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When Mr. Clark found his son trying to make a telescope out of the
+pieces of a bell, he became interested in telescopes. He studied all
+about them in order to help the boy with his work. He helped his son
+grind the metal disc into a concave mirror; that is, a mirror that is a
+little dish-shaped. With this they made a telescope with which they
+could see the rings of Saturn, and the little moons that revolve round
+Jupiter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After Mr. Clark had made this little telescope, he made larger
+reflecting telescopes that were very powerful. But he found that no
+telescope with a mirror in it could be very good.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He now said to his son that they would make a refracting telescope;
+that is, one in which no mirror is used, but which brings the distant
+stars to the sight by the light shining through lenses. Lenses are
+large glasses that are regularly thicker in one part than in another.
+The glasses you see in spectacles are small lenses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+George Clark, the son, told his father that the books said that the
+grinding of such glasses was very difficult. Mr. Clark would not give
+it up because it was hard. He liked to do hard things. He had already
+spent a great part of his money trying to make good reflecting
+telescopes; but he made up his mind to give them up, and try to make a
+better kind. He first looked through the great telescope just put up
+for Harvard College. The large lens in this telescope was not perfect,
+and Mr. Clark's eye was so good that he could see what the small fault
+was. When he heard that twelve thousand dollars had been paid for this
+glass, he was encouraged to try to make such lenses. But there was
+nobody in this country who could show him how to do it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He first got some poor lenses out of old telescopes. These he worked
+over, and made them better. By this means he learned how to do it. Then
+he got some discs of glass and made some new lenses. These were the
+best ever made in this country. But he was not satisfied. He kept on
+making better and larger lenses. With one of these he discovered two
+double stars, as they are called. These had never been seen to be
+double before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But nobody in America would believe that some of the best telescopes in
+the world were made in this country, for even the English astronomers
+had to get their telescopes in Germany.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With one of his telescopes, larger than any he had made before, Mr.
+Clark now made a new discovery. He wrote about this to an English
+astronomer named Dawes. Mr. Dawes thought that a telescope that could
+make such a discovery would be worth having, so he bought the large
+lens out of this new telescope. Then he bought other glasses from Mr.
+Clark, and sold them again to other astronomers. In this way Mr. Clark
+became famous in England.
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/040.jpg" alt="Telescopic View of the Moon." width="303" height="517"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>Telescopic View of the Moon.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Clark had given up painting. He put his whole heart into making the
+best telescopes in the world. He went to England and saw the great
+astronomers, and looked through their telescopes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They were glad to see the man who made the best lenses in the world.
+His telescopes had helped them to find out many new things never seen
+before. By this time Mr. Clark was coming to be known in his own
+country. He got an order to make the largest glass ever made for a
+telescope in the whole world. This was to be put up in America. Nobody
+had ever dreamed of making so large and powerful a telescope.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a long time the great glass for this telescope was ground. Mr.
+Clark set it up to try it. His younger son, Alvan, who was helping him,
+turned the telescope so as to look at the bright star Sirius. As soon
+as he had looked, he cried out in surprise, &quot;Why, father, the star has
+a companion!&quot; Sirius is a sun. It has a satellite, a dark star like our
+world revolving round it. Nobody had ever been able to see this dark
+star before. But this telescope was stronger than any that had ever
+been pointed at the sky.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Clark now looked through the tube himself. Sure enough, there was
+the companion of Sirius, never seen before by anybody on the earth. The
+large glass which had been a year in making had won its first victory.
+But Mr. Clark made much larger glasses even than that one. He had
+nobody to show him how. But by patient thought and hard work he had
+made the greatest telescopes in the world. Medals and other honors were
+sent to him from many countries.
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<a name="Alaska"></a>
+<p class="chapter">ADVENTURES IN ALASKA.
+</p>
+
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/041.jpg" alt="Scene in Alaska." width="537" height="335"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>Scene in Alaska.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Copper River of Alaska flows from north to south into the ocean.
+The Yukon River, which is farther north, runs from the east toward the
+west. It was known that the waters of these two rivers must be near
+together at the place from which they started in the mountains, but it
+was not known whether anybody could pass from the valley of the Copper
+River over the mountains into the valley of the Yukon. A scouting party
+was sent to find out whether the crossing from one river to the other
+could be made. This party returned, saying that it was impossible to
+pass from the Copper River to the Yukon, because the mountains were too
+high and steep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1885 General Miles sent Lieutenant Allen to try to find a pass from
+the valley of the Copper River to that of the Yukon. Lieutenant Allen
+was a very determined man. He set out with the resolution to find some
+way of crossing the mountains, however much labor and suffering it
+might cost. He took two soldiers, and had two other white men with him,
+and he got Indians to go with him from place to place as he could. The
+party started up the Copper River in March. From the first their
+sufferings were very great. They had to travel day after day, and sleep
+night after night, with their clothes wet to the skin. They soon found
+that they could not take their canoe, on account of the ice. They had
+to leave most of their provisions, because they could not carry them.
+Some nights they sat up all night in the rain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But when they got to a country where it was not raining all the time,
+they had a way of keeping dry at night. They had brought along sleeping
+bags. These were made of waterproof linen. Each bag was a little longer
+than a man. It had draw strings at the top. They put a folded blanket
+inside, and then pushed the blanket down with their feet so that it
+would wrap about them and keep them warm. Then they drew the strings
+about the top. This kept the body dry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They suffered a great deal from hunger. There were very few animals in
+the country where they were, and most of the Indians they found had but
+little to eat. Lieutenant Allen's party were sometimes glad to pick up
+scraps of decayed meat or broken bones about an Indian camp to make a
+meal on. Much of the meat and fish they had to eat was badly spoiled.
+They grew so weak that it was hard for them to climb up a hill,
+carrying their guns and their food. They sometimes reeled like drunken
+men when they walked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They would have perished from hunger if they had not had a man with
+them who knew how to stop the rabbits when they were running. This man
+could make a little cry just like a rabbit's cry. Whenever a rabbit
+heard this sound, he would stop and look round for a moment. Then the
+hunter would have a chance to shoot him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But these rabbits were so small and so lean that it took four or five
+of them to make a meal for a man. At one place the party were so hungry
+that an Indian who was with them fainted away. When they reached a
+house soon after, where there lived a chief named Nicolai, they found a
+five-gallon kettle full of meat boiling on the fire. They drank large
+quantities of the broth, and ate about five pounds of meat apiece. Much
+of this meat was pure tallow from the moose. They all fell asleep
+immediately after eating. When they awaked, they were almost as hungry
+as before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last they reached the head waters of the Copper River. Here they
+found the hungry Indians waiting for the salmon to come up from the
+sea, as they do every year. As long as the salmon are in the river, the
+Indians have plenty to eat. So they kept dipping their net, hoping to
+catch some salmon. At last one little salmon was caught. It was a thin,
+white-looking little fish. The Indians now knew that in two or three
+days they would have plenty. They hung their little fish on a spruce
+bough, and they kept visiting it, singing to it with delight. The white
+men did not wait for the salmon to arrive.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From this place they left the Copper River, and started to cross the
+mountains. This was the pass through which it was said that nobody
+could go. Lieutenant Allen and his men were obliged to carry provisions
+with them. Part of the provisions they carried themselves: the rest
+they packed on dogs. This is a way of carrying things used only in
+Alaska. A pack is strapped on a dog's back just as though he were a
+mule, and with this the little dog goes on a long journey through the
+mountains.
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="ctr">
+<img src="images/042.jpg" alt="A dog pack train." width="507" height="399"></p>
+<p class="ctr"><i>A Dog Pack Train.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The party started over the mountains in June. At this season of the
+year in that country the sun shines almost all night, and it is never
+dark. Lieutenant Allen's party traveled either by day or by night, as
+they pleased, as there was always light enough.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When they got to the foot of the last mountains they had to climb, they
+found a little lake. Here they got some fish to eat, but the salmon had
+not come yet. They hired some Indians to go with them, and divided the
+weight of everything into packs. Every man carried a pack, and every
+dog carried as much as he could bear. As they climbed the mountains,
+they could look back over the beautiful valley of the Copper River.
+Still hungry and nearly tired out, they pushed on until they camped by
+a brook in the mountains.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here they found that the salmon had come up the Copper River from the
+sea, and had run up this brook and overtaken them. The fish were
+crowding up the brook to get to a little lake at the head of it, where
+they would lay their eggs. In some places there was so little water in
+the stream that the fish had to get over the shallow places by lying on
+their sides. In doing this, some of them threw themselves out of the
+water on the land. The hungry men could catch them easily, and they now
+had all they wanted to eat. One of the party ate three large salmon,
+heads and all, for his supper. As the sun shines almost all the time in
+the Arctic regions, in the summer, the days become very hot. On the
+last day of Lieutenant Allen's journey up the mountains the heat was so
+great that the party did not start until five o'clock in the afternoon.
+They reached the top of the mountains that divided the two rivers at
+half-past one o'clock that night. Though it was what we should call the
+middle of the night, it was not dark.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The party were now nearly five thousand feet higher than the sea. At
+half-past one in the morning the sun was just rising. It rose almost in
+the north. Behind them the men could still see the valley of the Copper
+River. Before them lay the valley of one of the branches of the Yukon,
+with twenty beautiful lakes and a range of mountains in sight. White
+and yellow buttercups were blooming about them, though the snow was
+within a few feet. No white man had ever looked on this grand scene
+before. The men forgot their hunger and their weariness. They had done
+what hardly anybody thought could be done.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A mile further on they stopped to build a fire, and here they cooked
+the last bit of extract of beef that they had with them. It was the end
+of all the provisions they had carried. Having gone to bed at two or
+three o'clock in the morning, they did not start again until two in the
+afternoon; for day and night were all one to them, except that the
+light nights were cooler and pleasanter to travel in than the days.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They were told by the Indians that by marching all that night they
+could reach an Indian settlement, and, as they had no food, they
+determined to do this. In this whole day's march they killed but one
+little rabbit, which was all they had for nine starving men to eat. But
+at three o'clock in the morning of the next day the tired and hungry
+men dragged themselves into the little Indian village. Guns were fired
+to welcome them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fish were coming up the river. A kind of platform had been built
+over the water. On this platform the Indians stood one at a time, and
+dipped a net into the water for fish. All day and all night somebody
+was dipping the net.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians had never seen a white man before. They were very much
+amused to see white faces, and one of the white men who had red hair
+was a wonder to them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Allen and his men got food here. Then they built a skin canoe, and
+started down the river. After many more hardships and dangers, they
+reached the ocean, and then took ship for California.
+</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr class="full" noshade>
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND ADVENTURE***</p>
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@@ -0,0 +1,5098 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Stories of American Life and Adventure, by
+Edward Eggleston
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Stories of American Life and Adventure
+
+
+Author: Edward Eggleston
+
+Release Date: April 9, 2005  [eBook #15597]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND
+ADVENTURE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Mark C. Orton and the Project Gutenberg Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 15597-h.htm or 15597-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/9/15597/15597-h/15597-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/5/9/15597/15597-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+STORIES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND ADVENTURE
+
+by
+
+EDWARD EGGLESTON
+
+Author of _Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans_,
+_A First Book in American History_, and
+_A History of the United States and its People for the Use of Schools_
+
+American Book Company
+New York : Cincinnati : Chicago
+
+1895, 1923
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Grand Canyon.]
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+This book is intended to serve three main purposes.
+
+One of these is to make school reading pleasant by supplying matter
+simple and direct in style, and sufficiently interesting and exciting
+to hold the reader's attention in a state of constant wakefulness;
+that is, to keep the mind in the condition in which instruction can be
+received with the greatest advantage.
+
+A second object is to cultivate an interest in narratives of fact by
+selecting chiefly incidents full of action, such as are attractive to
+the minds of boys and girls whose pulses are yet quick with youthful
+life. The early establishment of a preference for stories of this sort
+is the most effective antidote to the prevalent vice of reading
+inferior fiction for mere stimulation.
+
+But the principal aim of this book is to make the reader acquainted
+with American life and manners in other times. The history of life
+has come to be esteemed of capital importance, but it finds, as yet,
+small place in school instruction. The stories and sketches in this
+book relate mainly to earlier times and to conditions very different
+from those of our own day. They will help the pupil to apprehend the
+life and spirit of our forefathers. Many of them are such as make
+him acquainted with that adventurous pioneer life, which thus far has
+been the largest element in our social history, and which has given
+to the national character the traits of quick-wittedness, humor,
+self-reliance, love of liberty, and democratic feeling. These traits
+in combination distinguish us from other peoples.
+
+Stories such as these here told of Indian life, of frontier peril and
+escape, of adventures with the pirates and kidnappers of colonial
+times, of daring Revolutionary feats, of dangerous whaling voyages, of
+scientific exploration, and of personal encounters with savages and
+wild beasts, have become the characteristic folklore of America. Books
+of history rarely know them, but they are history of the highest
+kind,--the quintessence of an age that has passed, or that is swiftly
+passing away, forever. With them are here intermingled sketches of the
+homes, the food and drink, the dress and manners, the schools and
+children's plays, of other times. The text-book of history is chiefly
+busy with the great events and the great personages of history: this
+book seeks to make the young American acquainted with the daily life
+and character of his forefathers. In connection with the author's
+"Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans," it is intended to
+form an introduction to the study of our national history.
+
+It has been thought desirable to make the readings in this book cover
+in a general way the whole of our vast country. The North and the
+South, the Atlantic seaboard, the Pacific slope, and the great
+interior basin of the continent, are alike represented in these pages.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+A White Boy among the Indians
+
+The Making of a Canoe
+
+Some Things about Indian Corn
+
+Some Women in the Indian Wars
+
+The Coming of Tea and Coffee
+
+Kidnapped Boys
+
+The Last Battle of Blackbeard
+
+An Old Philadelphia School
+
+A Dutch Family in the Revolution
+
+A School of Long Ago
+
+Stories of Whaling
+
+A Whaling Song
+
+A Strange Escape
+
+Grandmother Bear
+
+The Great Turtle
+
+The Rattlesnake God
+
+Witchcraft in Louisiana
+
+A Story of Niagara
+
+Among the Alligators
+
+Jasper
+
+Song of Marion's Men
+
+A Brave Girl
+
+A Prisoner among the Indians
+
+Hungry Times in the Woods
+
+Scouwa becomes a White Man again
+
+A Baby Lost in the Woods
+
+Elizabeth Zane
+
+The River Pirates
+
+Old-fashioned Telegraphs
+
+A Boy's Foolish Adventure
+
+A Foot Race for Life
+
+Loretto and his Wife
+
+A Blackfoot Story
+
+How Fremont crossed the Mountains
+
+Finding Gold in California
+
+Descending the Grand Canyon
+
+The-Man-that-draws-the-Handcart
+
+The Lazy, Lucky Indian
+
+Peter Petersen
+
+The Greatest of Telescope Makers
+
+Adventures in Alaska
+
+
+
+
+STORIES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND ADVENTURE.
+
+
+
+
+A WHITE BOY AMONG THE INDIANS.
+
+
+Among the people that came to Virginia in 1609, two years after the
+colony was planted, was a boy named Henry Spelman. He was the son of a
+well-known man. He had been a bad and troublesome boy in England, and
+his family sent him to Virginia, thinking that he might be better in
+the new country. At least his friends thought he would not trouble
+them so much when he was so far away.
+
+Many hundreds of people came at the same time that Henry Spelman did.
+Captain John Smith was then governor of the little colony. He was
+puzzled to know how to feed all these people. As many of them were
+troublesome, he was still more puzzled to know how to govern them.
+
+In order not to have so many to feed, he sent some of them to live
+among the Indians here and there. A chief called Little Powhatan asked
+Smith to send some of his men to live with him. The Indians wanted to
+get the white men to live among them, so as to learn to make the
+things that the white men had. Captain Smith agreed to give the boy
+Henry Spelman to Little Powhatan, if the chief would give him a place
+to plant a new settlement.
+
+Spelman staid awhile with the chief, and then he went back to the
+English at Jamestown.
+
+But when he came to Jamestown he was sorry that he had not staid among
+the Indians. Captain John Smith had gone home to England. George Percy
+was now governor of the English. They had very little food to eat, and
+Spelman began to be afraid that he might starve to death with the rest
+of them. Powhatan--not Little Powhatan, but the great Powhatan, who
+was chief over all the other chiefs in the neighborhood--sent a white
+man who was living with him to carry some deer meat to Jamestown. When
+it came time for this white man to go back, he asked that some of his
+countrymen might go to the Indian country with him. The governor sent
+Spelman, who was glad enough to go to the Indians again, because they
+had plenty of food to eat.
+
+Three weeks after this, Powhatan sent Henry Spelman back to Jamestown
+to say to the English, that if they would come to his country, and
+bring him some copper, he would give them some corn for it. The
+Indians at this time had no iron, and what little copper they had they
+bought from other Indians, who probably got it from the copper mines
+far away on Lake Superior.
+
+The English greatly needed corn, so they took a boat and went up to
+the Indian country with copper, in order to buy corn. They quarreled
+with the Indians about the measurement of the corn. The Indians hid
+themselves near the water, and, while the white men were carrying the
+corn on their vessel, the Indians killed some of them. About this
+time, seeing that the white men were so hungry, the Indians began to
+hope that they would be able to drive them all out of the country.
+
+Powhatan saved Spelman from being killed by the Indians; but, now that
+the Indians were at war with the white men, who were shut up in
+Jamestown without food, they wished to kill all the white people in
+the country.
+
+Spelman and a Dutchman, who also lived with Powhatan, began to be
+afraid that he would not protect them any longer. So, when a chief of
+the Potomac Indians visited Powhatan, and asked the Dutchman and the
+boy to go to his country, they left Powhatan and went back with them.
+Powhatan sent messengers after them, who killed the Dutchman. Henry
+Spelman ran away into the woods. Powhatan's men followed him, but the
+Potomacs got hold of Powhatan's men, and held them back until Spelman
+could get away. The boy managed at last to get to the country of the
+Potomac Indians.
+
+It was very lucky for Spelman that he was among the Indians at this
+time. Nearly all the white people in Jamestown were killed, or died of
+hunger. Spelman lived among the Indians for years. During this time
+more people came from England, and settled at Jamestown. A ship from
+Jamestown came up into the Potomac River to trade. The captain of the
+ship bought Spelman from the Indians. He was now a young man, and, as
+he could speak both the Indian language and the English, he was very
+useful in carrying on trade between the white men and the Indians.
+
+At the time that Henry Spelman first went among the Indians, they had
+no iron tools except a very few that they had bought of the white
+people. They had no guns, nor knives, nor hatchets. They had no hoes
+nor axes. They made their tools out of hard wood, shells, stones, deer
+horns, and other such things. They had not yet bought blankets from
+the white men, but made their clothes mostly out of the skins of
+animals.
+
+The Indians could not learn much about the white man's arts from
+Spelman, because he did not know much. Besides, he had no iron of
+which to make tools. He learned to make arrows of cane such as we use
+for fishing rods. He also learned to point his arrows with the spur of
+a wild turkey, or a piece of stone. These arrow points he stuck into
+the arrow with a kind of glue. But he first had to learn how to make
+his glue out of deers' horns. Before he could make any of the tools,
+he had to make himself a knife, as the Indians did. Having no iron,
+the blade of his knife was made out of a beaver's tooth, which is very
+sharp, and will cut wood. He set this tooth in the end of a stick. You
+see how hard it was for an Indian to get tools. He had to learn to
+make one tool in order to use that in making another tool.
+
+One of the principal things that an Indian had to do was to make a
+canoe; for, as the Indians had no horses, they could travel only by
+water, unless they went afoot. Canoes were the only boats they had.
+They had to make canoes without any of the tools that white men use.
+Let us explain this by a story about Henry and an Indian boy. The
+things in the story may not have happened just as they are told, but
+the account of how things are made by the Indians is all true.
+
+
+
+
+THE MAKING OF A CANOE.
+
+
+Henry had a young Indian friend whose name was Keketaw. One day
+Keketaw said to him, "Let us go into the woods and make a canoe."
+
+"If we had an ax to cut down the trees," said the white boy, "or an
+adz, such as they have at Jamestown, or if we could get a hatchet, we
+might make a canoe; but we have not even a little knife."
+
+"We will make a canoe in the Indian way," said Keketaw. "I will show
+you how. Let us get ready."
+
+"What shall we do to get ready?" asked Henry.
+
+"We must take our bows, and we must make many arrows, so as to get
+something to eat, and we must have fishing lines," said Keketaw, "or
+we shall not be able to live in the woods."
+
+For some days the two boys were getting ready. It took them a long
+time to scrape a piece of bone into a fishhook by means of a beaver's
+tooth set in a stick, but they made three of these hooks. They made
+some more hooks not so good as these by tying a splinter of bone to a
+little stick. Keketaw's mother made fishing lines for them. She took
+the long leaves of the plant which we call Spanish bayonet, and
+separated these threads into a hard cord, rubbing them between her
+hand and her knee.
+
+"We must have swords," said Keketaw.
+
+"We can cut our meat with this," said Henry, pointing to a knife made
+of cane, such as the Indians called a pamesack.
+
+"But the Monacans may come," said Keketaw. "If we should see one
+sticking up his head, I should want a sword to fight him with; and if
+we should kill him, we could cut off his scalp with it;" and Keketaw's
+eyes glistened a little at the thought of fetching home a Monacan's
+scalp.
+
+The Monacans were fierce Indians of a tribe living in the country west
+of the Powhatan Indians. They were deadly enemies of Keketaw's tribe.
+
+The two boys, by much slow work with stones and shells and
+beaver-tooth chisels, managed to scrape a wooden sword into shape.
+This, Henry was to wear at his back. Keketaw, for his part, found a
+piece of deer's horn. He stuck it into a stick so that it made
+something like a small pickax. With this he said he could quickly
+break the head of a Monacan. It would also serve as a sort of hatchet.
+
+The land round the village in which Keketaw lived had been cleared of
+trees. This had been done by burning the trees in order to make room
+for fields. In these fields the Indians planted corn, beans, pumpkins,
+and tobacco, and a plant something like a sunflower, which is called
+an artichoke. Of the root of this artichoke they made a kind of bread.
+
+For many miles there were no good canoe trees near the water. They had
+all been picked out and used. Henry and Keketaw traveled twenty miles
+into a deep woods, and chose a tree that would make a good canoe, and
+that stood near a stream which ran into the James River.
+
+The first thing they did was to break down young trees and boughs, and
+build themselves a brush tent. They made a bed out of dry leaves. The
+first night they had nothing to eat, for they had no time to shoot any
+game. The next morning they were too hungry to sleep late, and they
+knew that squirrels are early risers. Soon after daylight the Indian
+boy killed a squirrel with an arrow. Having no fire, they ate it
+without cooking; for, when one is a savage, one must not be too nice.
+
+How should they get a fire? They first took a piece of dry wood, which
+they scraped flat with stones. Then, with a blow of his tomahawk of
+deer's horn, Keketaw made a round hole in the wood. One end of a dry
+stick was placed in this hole. The other end was supported in the
+hollow of a shell which Keketaw held in his hand.
+
+The string to Henry's bow was made of one of the cords or sinews of a
+deer's leg. He wound this once round the stick. With his left hand,
+Keketaw then put some dry moss about the stick where it entered the
+hole in the dry wood.
+
+When all was ready, Henry drew his bow to and fro like a saw. Keketaw
+pressed the shell down on the upper part of the stick. The bow-string
+holding the stick made it whirl in the hole beneath. At first this
+seemed to produce no effect. After a while the rapid rubbing of the
+piece of wood in the hole made heat. Presently a very thin thread of
+smoke began to come up through the little heap of moss about the
+stick. Henry was now pretty well out of breath, but he sawed the bow
+faster than ever. At last the moss began to smolder and to show fire.
+
+Keketaw then withdrew the smoking stick, and gathered the moss
+together. Lying down by it, and putting his arm about it, the Indian
+lad began to blow it gently. The smoldering fire increased until a
+little blue flame, which he could barely see, appeared. Keketaw now
+added some very thin paper-like bits of dry bark and some small twigs
+to the pile of smoking moss. These caught fire, and sent up a
+straw-colored flame. Henry put on larger twigs until there was at last
+a crackling blaze.
+
+Taking lighted sticks from this fire, the boys made a fire all round
+the base of a large tree from which they meant to get the canoe. This
+fire they kept going constantly for two days. They even got up at
+night to put dead boughs on, it.
+
+[Illustration: Burning down a Tree.]
+
+On the third night of their stay in camp, they didn't lie down at the
+usual time, for the tree was burned nearly through. About two o'clock
+in the morning a little breeze rustled in the leaves of the great
+tree. Slowly at first, then more and more rapidly, the tree fell with
+a tremendous crashing sound, until with a final thundering roar it lay
+flat upon the ground.
+
+Sleepy as the boys were, they did not lie down for the night until
+they had built a new fire near the trunk of the tree. Having no ax to
+chop with, they had to burn the log in two. They put the fire at a
+place that would cut off enough of the tree trunk to make a canoe.
+
+The next day they built up this new fire, and then went fishing in the
+neighboring stream with their bone fishhooks, and lines made of the
+Spanish bayonet leaf. In two days after the fall of the tree they had
+burned off the log that was to make their canoe, and had scraped off
+all the bark with shells.
+
+They then lighted little fires on top of the log, and, when these had
+charred the wood for an inch or more in depth in any place, they
+removed the fire and scraped away the charcoal. Then they built
+another little fire in the same place. These little fires were made
+with gum taken from the pine trees.
+
+By burning and scraping they gradually dug out the inside of their
+boat, scraping out one end of it while they were burning out the
+other, and working at it day after day.
+
+The only tools they had for scraping were shells from the river, and
+sharp stones. Keketaw sometimes used his deer-horn tomahawk for the
+same purpose. It was fourteen days from the time they first lighted
+the fire at the foot of the tree until their canoe was finished. Two
+more days were spent in making paddles. This work was also done by
+burning and scraping.
+
+When all was done, the canoe was slid down the soft bank into the
+water. It floated right side up to the delight of its makers. The boys
+now thought it would be a fine stroke to take a deer home with them.
+So they pulled one end of their canoe up on the shore, and started out
+to look for one.
+
+But the first tracks they found were not deer tracks. They were the
+footprints of men. Keketaw made a sign to Henry by turning the palm of
+his hand toward the earth, and then moving the hand downward. This
+meant to keep low, and make no noise. Then Keketaw climbed a high pine
+tree. From the top of the tree he could see a number of Indians at a
+spring of water.
+
+The boy slid down the tree in haste. "Monacans on the war path!" he
+whispered as he reached the ground.
+
+Swiftly and silently the two boys hurried back to their canoe. They
+wasted no time in admiring it. They gathered their weapons and fishing
+lines, and got aboard. It was not a question of killing Monacans now,
+but of saving themselves and their friends. They rowed with all their
+might from the start.
+
+For hours they kept their new paddles busy. They reached the village
+after dark, and when they uttered the dreadful word "Monacans," it ran
+from one wigwam to another. The women and children shuddered with
+fear. The warriors smeared their faces with paint, to make themselves
+uglier than ever, and departed. Soon after the boys had started home,
+the Monacans had found their camp fire still burning. Thinking they
+had been discovered, and knowing that a strong party of the Powhatan
+Indians might come after them, the Monacans had hurried back to their
+own home more swiftly than they had come.
+
+
+
+
+SOME THINGS ABOUT INDIAN CORN.
+
+
+When the white people first came to America, they had never seen
+Indian corn, which did not grow in Europe. The Indians raised it in
+little patches about their villages. Before planting their corn, they
+had to clear away the trees that covered the whole country. Their axes
+were made of stone, and were not sharp enough to cut down a tree. The
+larger trees they cut down by burning them off at the bottom. They
+killed the smaller trees by building little fires about them. When the
+bark all round a tree was burned, the tree died. As dead trees bear no
+leaves, the sun could shine through their branches on the ground where
+corn was to be planted.
+
+Having no iron, they had to make their tools as they could. In some
+places they made a hoe by tying the shoulder blade of a deer to a
+stick. In other places they used half of the shell of a turtle for a
+hoe or spade to dig up the ground. This could be done where the ground
+was soft. In North Carolina the Indians had a little thing like a
+pickax which was made out of a deer's horn tied to a stick. An Indian
+woman would sit down on the ground with one of these little pickaxes
+in her hand. She would dig up the earth for a little space until it
+was loose. Then she would make a little hole in the soft earth. In
+this she would plant four or five grains of corn, putting them about
+an inch apart. Then she covered these grains with soft earth. In
+Virginia, where the ground was soft and sandy, the Indians made a kind
+of spade out of wood.
+
+Sometimes they planted a patch a long way off from their bark house,
+so that they would not be tempted to eat it while it was green. The
+Indians were very fond of green corn. They roasted the ears in the
+ashes. Some of the tribes held a great feast when the first green corn
+was fit to eat, and some of them worshiped a spirit that they called
+the "Spirit of the Corn."
+
+When the corn was dry, the Indians pounded it in order to make meal or
+hominy of it. Sometimes they parched the corn, and then pounded it
+into meal. They carried this parched meal with them when they went
+hunting and when they went to war. They could eat it with a little
+water, without stopping to cook it. They called it Nokick, but the
+white people called it No-cake.
+
+When the Pilgrims came to Cape Cod, they sent out Miles Standish and
+some other men to look through the country and find a good place for
+them to settle. Standish tried to find some of the Indians in order to
+make friends with them, but the Indians ran away whenever they saw him
+coming. One day he found a heap of sand. He knew it had been lately
+piled up, because he could see the marks of hands on the sand where
+the Indians had patted it down. Standish and his men dug up this heap.
+They soon came to a little old basket full of Indian corn. When they
+had dug further, they found a very large new basket full of fine corn
+which had been lately gathered.
+
+The white men, who had never seen it before, thought Indian corn very
+beautiful. Some of the ears were yellow, some were red. On other ears
+blue and yellow grains were mixed. Standish and his men said it was a
+"very goodly sight." The Indian basket was round and narrow at the
+top. It held three or four bushels of corn, and it was as much as two
+men could do to lift it from the ground. The white men wondered to see
+how handsomely it was woven.
+
+[Illustration: Standish and his Men find Corn.]
+
+Near the pile of corn they found an old kettle which the Indians had
+probably bought from some ship. They filled this kettle with corn,
+They also filled their baskets with it. They wanted the corn for seed.
+They made up their mind to pay the Indians whenever they could find
+them. The next summer they found out who were the owners of this
+buried corn, and paid them for all the corn they had taken. If they
+had not found this corn, they would not have had any to plant the next
+spring, and so they would have starved to death.
+
+The people that were with Miles Standish settled at Plymouth. They
+were the first that came to live in New England. An Indian named
+Squanto came to live with the white people at Plymouth. Squanto was
+born at this very place. He had been carried away to England by a sea
+captain. Then he had been brought back by another captain to his own
+country. When he got back to Plymouth, he found that all the people of
+his village had died from a great sickness. He went to live with
+another tribe near by. When the white people came to Plymouth, they
+settled on the ground where Squanto's people had lived. As he could
+speak some English, and as all his own tribe were dead, he now came to
+live with the white people.
+
+The people at Plymouth did not know how to plant the corn they had
+found, but Squanto taught them. By watching the trees, the Indians
+knew when to put their corn into the ground. When the young leaf of
+the white oak tree was as large as a squirrel's ear, they knew that it
+was time to put their corn into the ground. Squanto taught the white
+people how to catch a kind of fish which were used to make their corn
+grow. They put one or two fishes into each hill of corn, but they were
+obliged to watch the cornfield day and night for two weeks after
+planting. If they had not watched it, the wolves would have dug up the
+fishes, and the corn with them.
+
+The white people learned also to cook their corn as the Indians did.
+They learned to eat hominy and samp, and these we still call by their
+Indian names. "Succotash" is another Indian word. The white people
+learned from the Indians to use the husks of Indian corn to make
+things. The Indians made ropes of corn husks, and in some places they
+made shoes of plaited husks. The white people in early times made
+their door mats and horse collars and beds of corn husks. They also
+twisted and wove husks to make seats for their chairs.
+
+Of all the plants that grew in America, Indian corn was the most
+important to the Indians. It was also of the most value to the first
+white people who came to this country.
+
+
+
+
+SOME WOMEN IN THE INDIAN WARS.
+
+
+When white people first came to this country, they had much trouble
+with the Indians. After a while, when they had learned to defend
+themselves and got used to danger, they did not mind it much. Even the
+women became as brave as soldiers.
+
+In very early times there were some families of people from Sweden
+living not far from where Philadelphia now stands. One day the women
+were all together boiling soap. It was the custom then to make soap at
+home. Water was first poured through ashes to make lye. People put
+this lye into a large kettle, and then threw into it waste pieces of
+meat and bits of fat of all kinds. After boiling a long time, this
+mixture made a kind of soft soap, which was the only soap the early
+settlers had. The large kettle in which the soap was boiled was hung
+on a pole. This pole was held up by two forked sticks driven into the
+ground. A fire was kept burning under the kettle. Of course, this soap
+boiling took place out of doors.
+
+Some Indians, creeping through the woods, saw the women together
+without any men. They thought it a good chance to kill them or make
+them prisoners; but the women caught sight of the Indians, and ran
+away to their little church. The churches in that day were often built
+so they could be used for forts. The church to which these women ran
+was one of this kind. But the women had no guns with them. They knew
+that when they got into the church they would have nothing to fight
+with. So two of them took hold of the ends of the pole on which the
+kettle of boiling soap was hanging, and carried the kettle into the
+little church with them.
+
+The Indians tried to get into the church, but every time an Indian
+climbed up to get in, a woman would just dip up a ladleful of boiling
+soap, and dash it on him. This was a kind of fighting the Indians did
+not like. They were not used to soap in any form. So, when an Indian
+was scalded by the soap, he would run away in great pain, and not try
+it again. The next Indian that came got some of the same hot medicine.
+He also would have to go away to cool off, if he could.
+
+[Illustration: Blowing a Conch Shell.]
+
+While some of the women were watching the Indians, and fighting them
+with hot soap, one of them took up a dinner horn and blew it. This
+dinner horn was made of a great shell called a conch shell. The tip of
+a conch shell was sawed off so as to make a hole in it. By blowing
+into this hole, a very loud noise could be made. Such horns were used
+in that day to call people to dinner, and to call the neighbors when
+there was any danger. The woman blew the conch-shell horn, and kept on
+blowing.
+
+The men who were away in the woods heard the sound of the horn. They
+knew that something was wrong, because the horn was blowing when it
+was not dinner time. Either a house was on fire or the Indians had
+come. The men took up their guns and hurried toward the little church.
+When the Indians saw the men coming, they ran away.
+
+There was a woman in Massachusetts named Bradley. She had once been a
+prisoner among the Indians. She lived in a blockhouse which had a high
+fence of posts set up close together all round it to keep the Indians
+out. Such a fence was called a stockade. One day Mrs. Bradley was
+boiling soap. The gate of the stockade had been left open a little
+way. Suddenly she saw an Indian, with war paint on his face and his
+tomahawk in his hand, rushing in at the gate. The Indian thought it
+would be an easy thing to kill Mrs. Bradley. But the woman was too
+quick for him. She dashed a ladle of boiling soap upon him before he
+could run away. The soap was so hot that the Indian was killed by it.
+
+The Indians came once more to take Mrs. Bradley. This time, not having
+any soap, she got a gun and shot the foremost one dead. The rest ran
+away.
+
+In King Philip's War the Indians tried to take the town of Hadley. The
+men of the town fought hard, but the Indians were getting the best of
+the battle. A little cannon had been sent from Boston. It reached
+Hadley while the battle was going on. As all the men were busy
+fighting, the women loaded the cannon themselves. First they put in
+powder, and then small shot and nails. When the cannon was loaded, the
+women took it to the men, who pointed it into the thickest of the
+crowd of Indians, and fired it. A hail-storm of nails was a new thing
+to the Indians. Those who were not killed ran away very much
+frightened.
+
+There was a young girl in Maine who was in a house when the Indians
+attacked it. She held the door shut until thirteen women and children
+could get out of the house by the back door, and pass into a
+blockhouse, which is a kind of fort. The Indians beat down the door at
+last, and then knocked down the brave girl behind it, but they did not
+kill her.
+
+Sometimes the Indians attacked a blockhouse when there were none but
+women in it. In such cases the women would put on hats, and fix their
+hair so as to look like men. Then they would use their guns well. The
+savages, thinking there were men in the place, would go away.
+
+There was one girl who was a captive among the Indians for three weeks.
+One day she saw a horse running loose in the woods. She stripped some
+tough bark from a tree, and made a bridle of it. Then she caught the
+horse, and put her bark bridle on him. It was just growing dark when
+she climbed on his bare back, for she had no saddle. She turned the
+horse's head toward the settlements, and rode hard all night. The next
+morning she was safe among her friends.
+
+
+
+
+THE COMING OF TEA AND COFFEE.
+
+
+When the first settlers came to this country, tea and coffee were
+unknown to them. The favorite drink of that time was a kind of weak
+beer, which was usually made at home. The first settlers in America
+could not buy drinks such as they had had in England, and in a new
+country they often could not make them. So they found out ways of
+making other drinks in place of them. What we call root beer and birch
+beer, and a drink flavored with the chips of the hickory tree, were
+made in New England. Farther south the people made a kind of drink by
+mixing water and molasses together, and putting in Indian corn.
+
+Such drinks were taken at meals as we take tea and coffee. People also
+drank a great deal of cider. As the cows hardly ever gave any milk in
+winter, children were given cider and water to drink. But about fifty
+years after the time that the first settlers came to this country,
+people in England began to get tea and coffee. Tea and coffee were
+soon after brought into this country. At first they were thought to be
+medicines good for many diseases. Little books were written to tell
+how many diseases these new drinks would cure. Root beer and birch
+beer, and tea and coffee, were good things in one way. After they came
+into use, people did not care so much for stronger drinks.
+
+When tea first came, it was very fashionable. It was called the new
+China drink. Along with the tea, people brought from China little
+teacups to drink it from. Most of the cups before this time had been
+made of pewter. The new cups and saucers were called chinaware. They
+also brought from China pretty little tables on which they set the
+teacups when they drank the tea.
+
+When people first got tea in country places, they did not know how to
+use it. There was a minister in Connecticut who bought two pounds of
+tea in New York. He took it home with him, and put it away to use when
+anybody in his house should be ill. He wanted the tea for medicine.
+His daughters had heard about the fine ladies in town who took tea.
+They were curious to taste it, and were not willing to wait until they
+should be ill. So one afternoon, without letting their father know it,
+they asked two young men who were friends of theirs to the house. Then
+they got out the package of tea, intending to treat themselves and the
+young men to a new pleasure. They knew nothing about making tea. When
+they had boiled it a long time, they poured off the tea and threw it
+away. They put the tea leaves on a dish, and tried to eat them as one
+would eat spinach. This is the way they punished themselves for
+disobeying their father.
+
+Before the Revolution, when gentlemen called at fine houses in the
+afternoon, the ladies always gave them tea to drink. As soon as a
+gentleman's little cup was empty, one of the ladies would fill it up
+again, and it was not polite to refuse to drink all the tea that was
+offered. A French prince who was in Philadelphia during the Revolution
+drank twelve little cups of tea one afternoon. The ladies kept giving
+him more, and the poor prince did not know how to stop them until
+another French gentleman told him privately that if he would lay his
+teaspoon across the top of the cup no more tea would be poured in. He
+put the teaspoon across the teacup as a sign that he did not wish to
+drink any more.
+
+[Illustration: A Colonial Tea Party.]
+
+Long after tea and coffee were in use in this country they were not
+known in the backwoods. The people on the frontier drank tea made from
+the root of the sassafras tree or from the leaves of some wild vines.
+The whole work of preparing food was done at home. When they wanted to
+grind meal, they did it by pounding corn in a hole cut in the stump of
+a tree. They used a large stone pounder which was tied by a rope to a
+limb of a tree above. After each blow the limb would spring back and
+raise the pounder. Their corn meal was sifted through a sieve made of
+deerskin with little holes punched through it. They had to make their
+shoes and hats and caps themselves, and to weave their cloth at home.
+
+A boy who lived on the west side of the Alleghany Mountains in those
+days afterward wrote a book telling all about this rough life. His
+name was Joseph Doddridge. He spent his boyhood in a log cabin, in
+constant danger from Indians. The settlers had built a fort in the
+middle of the settlement. Sometimes in the night Joseph would hear a
+man tapping gently on the back window of his father's cabin. As soon
+as anybody waked up, the man would whisper, "Indians!" Joseph's father
+would then take down his gun. The children would be dressed in the
+dark as quickly as possible. Such things as would be needed in the
+fort were then picked up. Not a word was spoken, nor was any candle
+lighted. Even the little children learned to be perfectly silent, and
+the dogs were taught not to bark. When all was ready, the family would
+hurry away along the foot path to the fort. All the other families in
+the settlement would be called in the same way.
+
+Every fall these settlers sent pack horses over the mountains. The
+horses were loaded with the skins of animals. When they came back,
+they carried salt, which was the one thing that could not be made in
+the settlement. But the men never thought it worth while to bring home
+with them tea and coffee or other unnecessary things.
+
+When Joseph was about seven years of age, he was sent over the
+mountains to school. The little boy was very much puzzled when he
+first saw a house that was plastered inside. He had never in his life
+seen anything but a cabin built of logs. He could not understand how a
+plastered house was built. It seemed to him like something that had
+grown that way.
+
+When supper time came in this plastered house, he saw a teacup and
+saucer for the first time in his life. The people in his neighborhood
+used wooden bowls to drink out of. But here he saw what seemed to him
+to be a little cup standing in a bigger one. He had never heard of
+coffee. He only knew that the brownish-looking stuff in his cup was
+not milk, or hominy, or soup. What to do with the little cups, or how
+to make use of the spoon that was in them, he could not tell, so he
+watched the big folks handle their cups and spoons. He drank the
+coffee just as they did, but he disliked it very much. It made the
+tears come into his eyes to drink it. When he got his cup nearly
+empty, it was filled again. He did not dare to say that he had had
+enough, and he did not know what to do. At last he saw one man turn
+his empty cup bottom upward in the saucer, and lay his little spoon
+across the bottom of the cup. That was the custom in those days. He
+saw that this man's cup was not filled any more. So Joseph drank his
+coffee as quickly as possible, turned his cup over in the saucer, and
+laid the spoon across the bottom. He was delighted that he did not
+have to drink any more coffee.
+
+
+
+
+KIDNAPPED BOYS.
+
+
+In the days when our country belonged to England, white people were
+brought here to be sold. Some of these were poor people who could not
+get a good living in England. They came over to this country without
+any money. The captain of the ship in which they came sold them in
+this country to pay their passage.
+
+Men and women who were sold had to serve four years; and boys and
+girls, a longer time. The person sold was just like a slave until his
+time was out. The man who had bought him might beat him, or sell him
+to another master. Many of these white slaves did not get enough to
+eat.
+
+Here are some stories of boys who were brought to this country and
+sold before the Revolution. They are all true stories.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF PETER WILLIAMSON.--TWICE A SLAVE.
+
+
+One day a boy named Peter Williamson was walking along the streets of
+Aberdeen in Scotland. The little fellow was eight years old. Two men
+met him, and asked him to go on board a ship with them. When he got on
+board, he was put down in the lower part of the ship with other boys.
+The ship sailed to America with twenty boys. Like Peter, the other
+lads had been stolen from their parents. They were taken to
+Philadelphia and sold, to work for seven years.
+
+Little Peter was lucky enough to fall into the hands of a kind master.
+Among those who came to buy boys off this ship was a man who had
+himself been stolen from Scotland when he was young. He felt sorry for
+little Peter when he saw him put up for sale. The price the cruel
+captain asked for him was about fifty dollars. The Scotchman paid this
+money, and took Peter for his boy. He sent him to school in the
+winter, and treated him kindly. Peter, for his part, was a good boy,
+and did his work faithfully. He staid with his master after his time
+was out.
+
+When Peter was about seventeen years old, this good master died. He
+left to Peter about six hundred dollars in money for being a good boy.
+He also gave him his best horse and saddle and all his own clothes.
+Some years after this, Peter married, and went to live in the northern
+part of Pennsylvania. He was by this time a man of property.
+
+One night, when his wife was away from home, the Indians came about
+his house. He got a gun and ran upstairs. He pointed the gun at the
+Indians, but they told him that if he would not shoot they would not
+kill him. So he came down, and gave himself up as a prisoner.
+
+The Indians treated him very cruelly. He was with them more than a
+year. His sufferings were so great that he wished sometimes that he
+was dead. He knew that if he ran away the Indians would probably catch
+him, and kill him in some cruel way. But one night, when the Indians
+were all asleep, he resolved to take the risk. You may believe that
+when he had started he ran with all his might.
+
+When daylight came, he hid himself in a hollow tree. After a while he
+heard the Indians running all about the tree. He could hear them tell
+one another how they would kill him when they found him. But they did
+not think to look into the tree.
+
+The next night he ran on again. He came very near running into a camp
+of Indians. But at last he came in sight of the house of a friend. He
+was tired out, and starving. He had hardly any clothes left on him. He
+knocked at the door. The woman who saw him thought that he was an
+Indian. She screamed, and the man of the house got his gun to kill
+him. But he quickly told his friend that he was no Indian, but Peter
+Williamson. Everybody had given him up for dead. But now all his
+friends were happy to see him alive once more. He had twice been
+carried into slavery,--once by cruel white men, and once by yet more
+cruel red men.
+
+
+
+
+SOLD LIKE JOSEPH.--STORIES OF TWO KIDNAPPED BOYS.
+
+
+You have heard the beautiful story of Joseph in the Bible. You
+remember that he was sold by his brothers. Then he was carried into
+Egypt, where he became a great man.
+
+In 1730 there was a little English lad at sea with his uncle, who was
+the captain of a ship. Whether the boy's father and mother were dead
+or not, history does not tell. But the boy was sailing on his uncle's
+ship, as though he were the captain's son.
+
+One day the captain was taken ill at sea. After a while he died. The
+mate and the sailors thought that they would like to steal the ship
+and all the captain's property. But it now all belonged to the little
+boy. Like Joseph's brothers, the sailors laid a plan to get the boy
+out of the way. You remember that Joseph's brothers saw some slave
+traders going by. These traders were Arabs, like the Arabs that carry
+off slaves to-day. Joseph's brothers stopped the Arabs, and sold
+little Joseph to them. The Arabs took Joseph to Egypt and sold him.
+
+Just so the mate and his men saw a ship coming toward them. This ship
+had a great many people on board. They were Irish people, who were
+being taken to America to be sold as servants.
+
+The mate hailed the ship, and made a bargain with the captain and the
+mate. He sold the poor little boy, who had no friends, to this
+captain.
+
+Then the mate and his men sailed away. What became of them we do not
+know; but the ship, loaded with white servants, sailed to Boston. It
+landed at the Long Wharf, a pier running far out into the water. The
+servants were obliged to run up and down this wharf. The people who
+came to buy watched them to see how strong they might be.
+
+The little boy sold by the mate was there. He ran up and down with the
+others, to show how nimble his legs were. He was bought by a Mr.
+Willard.
+
+[Illustration: Selling the Captain's Nephew.]
+
+The boy served out his time, and became free. He became a well-known
+officer in the Indian wars. His name was Johnson. He did not become so
+great as Joseph in Egypt, but, like Joseph, he gained honor in the
+country into which he had been sold as a slave.
+
+Here is another story of the same kind. A little boy six years old got
+lost in London. After he had wandered about a good while, a ship
+captain met him, and told him that he would take him to his father.
+The captain took him into a boat, put him on board his ship, carried
+him to Maryland, and sold him. After the boy had served out his time
+and grown to be a man, he became a rich farmer.
+
+The wicked ship captain who carried off the boy was caught stealing
+many years afterward. In that day, thieves were often sold into
+America for seven years, as a punishment. This captain who had sold
+others was now put on a ship and sent to be sold in Maryland. The man
+who bought him was the very person whom he had carried off when he was
+a boy.
+
+You remember how much Joseph's brothers were afraid of him when they
+found themselves in his power. This wicked old sea captain was
+frightened when he saw that he was now a slave to the boy he had
+stolen. He was so much alarmed that he killed himself.
+
+
+
+
+A LITTLE LORD SOLD INTO BONDAGE.
+
+
+There lived in Ireland a long time ago a certain Lord Altham. The time
+was about sixty years before our American Revolution. This Lord Altham
+was a weak and foolish man. He quarreled with his wife, and sent her
+away. He wasted his money in wicked living, and got into debt. He had
+a little son named James Annesley. "Jemmy," as he was called, was sent
+to a boarding school; but the father grew more wicked, and more
+careless of his son. He sent the boy away, and pretended that he was
+dead. He did this because he wanted to sell some property that he
+could not sell if Jemmy were alive.
+
+Jemmy found himself badly treated where he lived. When he complained,
+he was told that his father did not pay his board: so he ran away. He
+lived in the streets with rough boys. He ran on errands for pay, like
+the other little street boys. But still the boys knew that Jemmy was
+the son of a lord. Strangers were surprised to hear a little ragged
+boy called "my lord" by his playmates.
+
+When he was about thirteen years old, his father died. Then Jemmy
+Annesley became Lord Altham in place of his father; but his uncle
+Richard, who was a cruel man, took Jemmy's property, and called
+himself Lord Altham.
+
+The wicked uncle was afraid that people would find out that Jemmy was
+alive, and he sent a man to see where the boy was. When the boy was
+found, his uncle accused him of stealing a silver spoon. He hired
+three policemen to arrest the boy and put him on a ship. Poor Jemmy
+wept bitterly. He told the people he was afraid his uncle would kill
+him. The ship took him to Philadelphia, where he was sold to a farmer
+to serve until he should be of age.
+
+[Illustration: Kidnapping a Lord.]
+
+One day, when he was about seventeen years old, he came into his
+master's house with a gun in one hand and a squirrel in the other.
+There were two strangers sitting by the fire. They had found the door
+open, and had walked in.
+
+One of the men said, "Are you a servant in this house?"
+
+"I am," said James.
+
+"What country did you come from?"
+
+"Ireland."
+
+"We are from Ireland ourselves," said one of the strange men. "What
+part of Ireland are you from?"
+
+"From the county of Wexford."
+
+"We are from that county. What is your name?"
+
+"James Annesley."
+
+"I never heard that name there," said the traveler.
+
+"Did you know Lord Altham?" asked the boy.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, I am his son."
+
+"What!" cried the stranger, "you the son of Lord Altham! Impossible!"
+
+But the young man insisted that he was Lord Altham's son.
+
+"Tell me how Lord Altham's house stands," said the stranger.
+
+The young man told him enough to show that he knew all about the
+place. Then the stranger said, that, if James ever came to Ireland to
+claim his estate, he would do what he could to help him.
+
+James Annesley was badly treated by his master. At length he ran away,
+but he was retaken, and put into a jail in Lancaster. He was kept in
+prison a good while. He had a fine voice, and he amused himself by
+singing. The people used to stand outside of the jail to hear him
+sing.
+
+For running away he was obliged to serve a still longer time. He spent
+thirteen years in slavery.
+
+When he got free at last, he told Mr. Ellis of Philadelphia about his
+case. This kind-hearted man gave him a passage on a ship going to the
+West Indies. An English fleet was then in the West Indies. It was
+commanded by the famous Admiral Vernon. When the brave admiral heard
+James Annesley's story, he took him to England. In England James found
+friends ready to help him.
+
+There was a long lawsuit, but James's old friends and schoolmates came
+to court as witnesses for him. One of the men who had talked with him
+while he was a servant in Pennsylvania told the Court about it. Two of
+the policemen that had helped to put little Jemmy on shipboard
+confessed the dreadful act they had done.
+
+Then the jury gave a verdict that James Annesley was the true Lord
+Altham. There was great joy among the people, and everybody detested
+the cruel uncle. The people made songs about him, and sang them under
+his windows. James Annesley was now called Lord Altham. But before the
+young lord came into possession of his title and his property, he was
+taken ill and died.
+
+I am glad that we live in better times. Children are not kidnapped and
+sold now.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAST BATTLE OF BLACKBEARD.
+
+
+Our country now reaches from one ocean to the other. But in the days
+before the Revolution there were only English colonies stretching up
+and down the Atlantic coast. Merchandise was carried from one colony
+to another, and from one country to another, in slow-going sailing
+vessels, for there were neither railroads nor steamships.
+
+In those old times there were robbers on the sea. We call sea robbers
+pirates. These men carried cannon on their ships, and they robbed any
+vessels not stronger than they were. In our days of large steamships a
+pirate would not stand any chance of getting away. He would soon be
+caught. Some of the pirates of old times sailed up and down the
+American coast. They captured ships sailing from America to Europe and
+from Europe to America. The worst of all these pirates was Blackbeard.
+
+His real name was Thatch. He was called Blackbeard because he wore a
+long black beard that covered his face. This made him look frightful
+in that day, when other men shaved their faces smooth. He divided his
+beard into locks, and twisted each lock, tying it at the end with
+ribbons. To make himself look still worse, he fastened some of these
+twists over his ears.
+
+[Illustration: Blackbeard.]
+
+When he was fighting against another ship, he wore a strap over his
+shoulders to which were fastened large pistols. In those days, cannon
+were touched off by means of a slow match, a kind of cord that burns
+slowly like punk. When Blackbeard went into battle, he twisted some of
+these slow matches or cords round his head, and stuck some of them
+under his hat. The ends of these matches were burning, and they looked
+like fiery, hissing snakes. With his beard turned back over his ears,
+and fire all about his head, he seemed to be a tall fiend.
+
+Blackbeard was more like a fiend than a man. He was cruel and wicked
+in every way. Some bad men are sometimes kind-hearted, but Blackbeard
+was always cruel. He would shoot even his own men in order to make his
+crew afraid of him.
+
+He did much of his bad work on the coast of North Carolina. Here he
+found bays and sounds where the water was shallow. Large ships could
+not easily follow him into these places. The Governor of North
+Carolina was a bad man. He took part of Blackbeard's plunder, and let
+Blackbeard go safely about the country. The people were afraid of the
+pirate. They sent to the Governor of Virginia, and asked him to fit
+out a ship to capture Blackbeard.
+
+Two sloops that could sail in shallow water were sent. Lieutenant
+Maynard was the commander. The ships left Virginia secretly. No one
+knew where they were going.
+
+When Maynard came in sight of Blackbeard's sloop, he hung out his
+flag. Blackbeard took a glass of rum and drank it, calling to Maynard,
+"I'll give you no quarter, nor take any."
+
+Maynard replied, "I do not expect any quarter from you, nor will I
+give any."
+
+This meant that neither of them would take any prisoners, but that
+every man must fight for his life.
+
+Maynard tried to run alongside Blackbeard's ship. He wanted to take
+his men on board the pirate ship, and fight it out on her deck. But
+Blackbeard had put a large negro near to the gunpowder on his ship. He
+said to the negro, "If the men from the other ship get on board of
+ours, you must set fire to the gunpowder, and blow us all up."
+
+Maynard was running toward the pirate ship to get on board; but
+Blackbeard fired all the cannon on that side of his ship, and killed
+some of Maynard's men. This was really lucky for Maynard; for, if he
+had got on board, the negro would have set fire to the gunpowder, and
+the pirates and Maynard's men would all have been blown to pieces at
+once.
+
+Maynard now sent his men down into the hold of the ship. They were out
+of sight of the pirates, but they had their pistols and swords ready.
+The sloops were soon close together, and Blackbeard's men threw boxes
+full of powder and shot, and pieces of lead and iron, on the deck of
+Maynard's sloop. These were so fixed as to go off like bombshells.
+But, as nearly all of Maynard's men were down below the deck, these
+boxes did little harm.
+
+Blackbeard, thinking that most of Maynard's men had been killed,
+jumped on board the sloop with fourteen men. Maynard now called his
+men from below, and there was a desperate fight. Blackbeard was shot
+five times, and was wounded with swords; but the old monster fought
+until he fell down dead while cocking his pistol. The rest of the
+pirates on the deck of Maynard's ship were taken prisoners.
+
+Maynard's other sloop was fighting with the men left on board
+Blackbeard's vessels. These surrendered, but they had trouble to keep
+the big negro from setting fire to the gunpowder and blowing them all
+up.
+
+Maynard took away from the Governor of North Carolina many hogsheads
+of sugar that Blackbeard had stolen. Then he hung the great ugly head
+of the pirate at the bow of his ship, and sailed back to Virginia in
+triumph.
+
+
+
+
+AN OLD PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL.
+
+
+There was a schoolmaster in Philadelphia before the Revolution who did
+not like to beat his pupils as other masters of that time did. When a
+boy behaved badly, he would take his switch and stick it into the back
+of the boy's coat collar so that the switch should rise above his head
+in the air. He would then stand the boy up on a bench in sight of the
+school, in order to punish him by making him ashamed.
+
+This schoolmaster's name was Dove. If any boy was not at school in
+time, the master would send a committee of five or six of the scholars
+to fetch him. One of this committee carried a lighted lantern, while
+another had a bell in his hand. The tardy scholar had to march down
+the street in broad daylight with a lantern to show him the way, and a
+boy ringing the school bell to let him know that it was time for him
+to be there.
+
+[Illustration: The Tardy Schoolmaster.]
+
+One morning Mr. Dove slept too late, or forgot himself. The boys made
+up a committee to bring the teacher to school. They took the lantern
+and the bell with them. Mr. Dove said they were quite right. He took
+his place in the procession, and the people saw Schoolmaster Dove
+taken to school late with a lantern and a bell.
+
+The larger schoolboys of that time were very fond of foot races. They
+would take off their coats and tie handkerchiefs about their heads
+before starting. The short breeches they wore were fastened at the
+knee by bands. When they were going to run a race, they would loosen
+these bands, and pull off their shoes and stockings. Some of the boys
+ran barefoot in this way, but others wore Indian moccasins. The race
+course was round a block; that is, about three quarters of a mile.
+Crowds would gather to see the boys run, and the people rushed from
+one side of the block to the other to see which was leading in the
+race.
+
+
+
+
+A DUTCH FAMILY IN THE REVOLUTION.
+
+
+What is now the State of New York was first settled by people from
+Holland who spoke the Dutch language. New York afterward became an
+English colony, but the Dutch settlers and their descendants still
+spoke the language of Holland, at the time of the American Revolution.
+
+In Flatbush, which is now a part of Brooklyn, was a family that spoke
+the Dutch language, while they were true Americans in feeling. When
+the British landed on Long Island, they got ready to leave the town.
+The horses were hitched to the wagon, and such things as were thought
+most valuable were put in. The first thing they put into the wagon was
+the great Dutch Bible with heavy brass clasps. A tall clock was also
+carefully lifted into the wagon. Then clothing and other things
+followed.
+
+The father of the family told the two faithful negro men, Caesar and
+his son Mink, how to take care of things. Femmetia, the most active of
+the daughters, had the whip in her hand, and, as the sound of firing
+was coming nearer and nearer, she tapped the horses on their ears, and
+the family dashed away to the house of a cousin who lived beyond the
+region where the fight was to be.
+
+That evening Femmetia helped her father, who was an invalid, to climb
+to the top of a little hill from which they could see a fire raging in
+the village of Flatbush. The direction of the fire showed the father
+and daughter that it was their own house which was burning.
+
+When the fight was over, General Washington's troops had been driven
+from Long Island. The good Dutch family went back and found their
+house burned. They moved into another house, whose owner was still
+away, and then began to build a new house. The mother bought some
+boards with what money she had saved, but she could not get any nails.
+In that day nails were not made by machinery, as they are now. Each
+nail had to be hammered out separately by a blacksmith. Nails made in
+this way cost a great deal of money.
+
+There was but one way to do. Femmetia and her sister had to find nails
+by raking over the ashes of the old house. Some of these nails were
+crooked, and they had to be hammered to make them straight enough to
+use.
+
+Some American officers had been made prisoners at the battle of Long
+Island. They were allowed to go about the village after having given
+their word not to go farther. They liked to help the girls find nails
+in the ashes, and hammer them straight on the stones. Other young
+girls came to help them, so that there was a party of young people
+talking, joking, laughing, and digging in the ashes, every day. It was
+fun for all of them. There were not boards enough to finish the house.
+The room in which the two sisters slept was upstairs. It had but half
+a floor. Where the rest of the floor should have been were only bare
+beams.
+
+[Illustration: A Nail Party.]
+
+One night the negro woman, whose name was Dian, came into the room
+below, and called Femmetia. She told her that the British soldiers had
+come into the barn, and that they would soon take away what were left
+of the chickens.
+
+"You jes' come down." said Dian to Femmetia. So the old slave and the
+young girl went out together. They carried a gun and a broomstick. The
+moon was shining. They took great pains not to let the soldiers see
+them. First they dodged behind a great walnut tree. Then, when they
+were sure the soldiers did not see them, they ran behind the corncrib.
+Their next march brought them behind the wagon house, and then they
+slipped into the dark shadow of the barn.
+
+Dian thrust the rifle through a hole in the side door of the barn. At
+the same moment the bold Femmetia threw a stone which made the
+soldiers look round. There was moonlight enough for them to see the
+muzzle of the gun coming through the door as though it were ready to
+fire at them. They ran away in great haste, and left the chickens
+behind.
+
+The silver plate and other valuable things were buried under the
+hearth in the house. A lady in a neighboring house hid her gold coins
+in the middle of a great round ball of a pincushion. Such ball
+pincushions were worn by some of the Dutch women at that time. They
+hung them at their sides, tied by a bit of ribbon. A party of English
+soldiers came into this lady's house. They were much amused to see
+this ball at the lady's side. One of them rudely cut the ribbon with
+his sword, and then the soldiers played ball with the cushion. It was
+sent here and there about the room. Twice it fell into the ashes.
+
+The woman who owned it expected that it would be torn, and all her
+gold would spill out, but she went on with her work. If she had shown
+any anxiety about the ball, the soldiers might have thought to look
+for her money in the cushion. At last they gave it back to her,
+much-soiled, but holding its treasures safe.
+
+
+
+
+A SCHOOL OF LONG AGO.
+
+
+A hundred and fifty years ago there was a famous teacher among the
+German settlers in Pennsylvania who was known as "The Good
+Schoolmaster." His name was Christopher Dock. He had two little
+country schools. For three days he would teach at a little place
+called Skippack, and then for the next three days he would teach at
+Salford.
+
+People said that the good schoolmaster never lost his temper. There
+was a man who thought he would try to make him angry. He said many
+harsh and abusive words to the teacher, and even cursed him. But the
+only reply the teacher made was, "Friend, may the Lord have mercy on
+you."
+
+Other schoolmasters used to beat their scholars severely with whips
+and long switches. But Schoolmaster Dock had found out a better way.
+
+When a child came to school for the first time, the other scholars
+were made to give the new scholar a welcome by shaking hands with him,
+one after another. Then the new boy or girl was told that this was not
+a harsh school, but a place for those who would behave. And if a
+scholar were lazy, disobedient, or stubborn, the master would in the
+presence of the whole school pronounce him not fit for this school,
+but only for a school where children were flogged. The new scholar was
+asked to promise to obey and to be diligent. When he had made this
+promise, he was shown to a seat.
+
+[Illustration.]
+
+"Now," the good master would say, when this was done, "who will take
+this new scholar and help him to learn?"
+
+[Illustration.]
+
+When the new boy or girl was clean and bright looking, many would be
+willing to take charge of him or her. But there were few ready to
+teach a dirty, ragged little child. Sometimes no one would wish to do
+it. In such a case the master would offer to the one who would take
+such a child a reward of one of the beautiful texts of scripture which
+the schoolmasters of that time used to write and decorate for the
+children. Or he would give him one of the pictures of birds which he
+was accustomed to paint with his own hands.
+
+The old Pennsylvania teachers were fond of making these tickets with
+pictures and writing on them. The pictures which we have here will
+show you what they looked like. The writing is in German, as you will
+see.
+
+Whenever one of the younger scholars succeeded in learning his A, B,
+C, Christopher Dock would send word to the father of the child to give
+him a penny, and he would ask his mother to cook two eggs for him as a
+treat. These were fine rewards for poor children in a new country.
+
+At certain stages in his studies, the industrious child in one of
+Dock's schools would receive a penny from his father, and eat two eggs
+cooked by his mother. But all this time he was not counted a member of
+the school. He was only on trial. The day on which a boy or girl began
+to read was a great day. If the pupil had been diligent in spelling,
+the morning after the first reading day, the master would give him
+a ticket carefully written with his own hand. This ticket read
+"Industrious--One Penny." This showed that the scholar was now really
+received into the school. But if he afterward became idle or
+disobedient, Schoolmaster Dock would take away his token.
+
+There were no clocks or watches in the country. The children came to
+school, one after another taking their places near the master, who sat
+writing. They spent their time reading until all were there. But every
+one who succeeded in reading his passage without mistake stopped
+reading, and came and sat at the writing table to write. The poor
+fellow who remained last on the bench was called the Lazy Scholar.
+
+Every Lazy Scholar had his name written on the blackboard. If a child
+at any time failed to read correctly, he was sent back to study his
+passage, and called again after a while. If he failed a second or a
+third time, all the scholars cried out, "Lazy!" Then his name was
+written on the blackboard. Then all the poor Lazy Scholar's friends
+went to work to teach him to read his lesson correctly. And if his
+name should not be rubbed off the board before school was dismissed,
+all the scholars might write it down, and take it home with them. But
+if he could read well before school was out, the scholars, at the
+bidding of the master, called out, "Industrious!" and then his name
+was rubbed off the board.
+
+The funniest of Dock's rewards was that which he gave to those who
+made no mistake in their lessons. He marked a large O with chalk on
+the hand of the perfect scholar. Fancy what a time the boys and girls
+must have had, trying to go home without rubbing out this O.
+
+If you had gone into this school some day, you might have seen a boy
+sitting on a punishment bench all alone. This was a fellow who had
+told a lie or used bad language. He was put there as not fit to sit
+near anybody else. If he committed the offense often, a yoke would be
+put round his neck, as if he were a brute. Sometimes, however, the
+teacher would give the scholars their choice of a blow on the hand or
+a seat on the punishment bench. They usually preferred the blow.
+
+At certain times the scholars were permitted to study aloud, but at
+other times they were obliged to keep still. And a boy or girl was put
+as a watcher, to set down the names of those who talked in this time
+of quiet.
+
+The old schoolmaster in Skippack wrote one hundred rules of good
+behavior for his scholars. This is perhaps the first book on good
+manners written in America. But rules of behavior for people living in
+houses of one or two rooms, as they did in that day, were very
+different from those needed in our time. Here are some of the rules:
+
+"When you comb your hair, do not go out in the middle of the room,"
+says the schoolmaster. This was because families were accustomed to
+eat and sleep in the same room.
+
+"Do not eat your morning bread on the road or in school," he tells
+them, "but ask your parents to give it to you at home." From this we
+see that the common breakfast was bread alone, and that the children
+often ate it as they walked to school.
+
+The table manners of that day were very good for the time, but they
+seem very curious to us. He says, "Do not wabble with your stool,"
+because rough home-made stools were the common chairs then, and the
+floors, made of boards that were split and not sawed, were so uneven
+that a noisy child could easily rock his stool to and fro.
+
+"Put your knife upon the right and your bread on the left side," he
+says. Forks were little used in those days, and the people in the
+country did not have any. He also tells them not to throw bones under
+the table. It was a common practice among some people of that time to
+throw bones and scraps under the table, where the dogs ate them.
+
+The child is not told to wait for others when he has finished eating,
+or to ask to be excused. "Get up quietly," says the schoolmaster, "and
+take your stool with you. Wish a pleasant mealtime, and go to one
+side." The child is told not to put the remaining bread into his
+pocket.
+
+As time passed on, Christopher Dock had many friends, for all his
+scholars of former years loved him greatly. He lived to be very old,
+and taught his schools to the last. One evening he did not come home,
+and the people went to look for the beloved old man. They found their
+dear old master on his knees in the schoolhouse. He had died while
+praying alone.
+
+
+
+
+STORIES OF WHALING.
+
+
+In the old days, before petroleum or kerosene had been found in this
+country, people had many ways of lighting their houses. A cheap light
+was made by putting a little grease or oil in a saucer in which was a
+little wick or rag lying over the edge of the saucer or drawn up
+through a cork that floated on the grease. When this wick was burning,
+it gave hardly as much light as a candle. This is one of the oldest
+ways of making light. It was used thousands of years ago. Many people
+now living remember little lamps made in this way.
+
+Poor people often made light by burning pine knots, or bits of pitch
+pine chopped out of old stumps. These gave a bright light for a time.
+Pitch pine in New England was called candle wood; in the South it was
+called light wood.
+
+The commonest light in old times was the tallow candle. This was
+sometimes made by dipping a candle wick into melted tallow. Then, when
+the tallow had cooled, the candle was dipped again and again. A little
+tallow remained on it each time, and at last it was thick enough to
+burn. Candles made in this way were called "dips." Better candles were
+made by running melted tallow into molds.
+
+Before the Revolution a favorite candle for burning at fine houses was
+made of the wax-myrtle berry. This berry is full of a kind of green
+wax which came out when it was boiled. When this wax rose to the top
+of the pot, it was skimmed off and used for making wax candles. These
+candles had a pretty green color, and gave out a delicate perfume when
+they were burning. More expensive candles were made of beeswax.
+
+For hundreds of years whale oil was burned in large lamps, and
+thousands of whales were killed in order to get the oil. Candles were
+also made from spermaceti, which is a substance taken from the head of
+the sperm whale.
+
+When the people first settled on Long Island, there were a great many
+whales in the sea. Sometimes these whales would run into bays and
+other shallow places. When the tide went out, the whale would be left
+without water enough to swim in. Sometimes he found himself lying on
+the dry ground. Before the white people came, the Long Island Indians
+used to kill whales stranded in this way, with spears. The Indians
+used the fat of the whale for food. The white people killed them, and
+got the oil out of the fat by boiling. This oil they sold for lamp
+oil.
+
+Finding that much money could be made by selling whale oil, the people
+on Long Island fitted up boats, which they kept always ready along the
+seashore. Whenever anybody saw a whale, the boatmen ran to their
+boats, and rowed out to kill it. They did not yet know how to go out
+to sea in whaling ships as some people in Europe did. After a while
+the Long Island people learned to take their small boats out to sea
+for miles to look for whales. This way of killing the whales spread
+from Long Island to Connecticut, and from there to Cape Cod.
+
+The people on the island of Nantucket had also learned to kill the
+whales that came into shallow water. They got a man to come out from
+Cape Cod to show them how to go out in boats and kill whales along the
+coast. After a while they built small ships in which they went to sea
+to seek for whales, but they brought the fat on shore in order to get
+the oil out of it.
+
+In 1718 the people on this island began to build ships with great
+kettles in them for rendering the oil on board the ships. The brave
+Nantucket men, and the men on the coast near by, soon began to send
+their ships into very distant seas. Some of them sailed among the
+icebergs in the Arctic regions; others went to the Southern Ocean; and
+some of the Nantucket and Cape Cod ships went round Cape Horn into the
+Pacific Ocean. The hardy whalemen ran great risks during their long
+voyages, but, if they were fortunate in killing whales, they made a
+good deal of money.
+
+There are still whaling vessels in our times, but not so many as there
+used to be. We do not need whale oil so much, because we have
+kerosene, gaslights, and electric lights. There are not so many whales
+to be found as there used to be.
+
+When the men on a whale ship in the old times discovered a whale, they
+fitted out their boats and rowed toward it. The whale would go down
+out of sight. Each officer would place his boat where he thought the
+whale would come up. When the whale came up to get breath, the men in
+the nearest boat would row toward it. The officer who stood in the bow
+of the boat would then throw a harpoon, which would stick fast in the
+whale. As soon as the whale was struck with the harpoon, he would go
+down into the water. There was a line fast to the harpoon, which was
+coiled in a tub standing in the whaleboat. Sometimes the whale would
+run down so far, that it would take more line than the boat carried,
+to keep hold of him. When this was likely to happen, another whaling
+boat would come alongside, and tie its line to the line of the harpoon
+that was fast to the whale. In some cases nearly five thousand feet of
+line were drawn out of the boats before the whale came to the top
+again. Whales breathe air as we do, so the whale that had been
+harpooned would have to come up again. Then the whaling boat would run
+close to him, and the officer would try to kill him with a sharp
+lance. When a whale was killed, the men drew him alongside the ship.
+
+A whale's body is covered with a great mass of fat called blubber.
+When the dead whale was lying alongside the ship, the whalemen would
+fasten a hook in the blubber. They then cut the blubber into a long
+strip running round the whale. As they pulled on the hook with ropes,
+the strip of blubber came off the whale, the whale rolling over and
+over. The men unwound the blubber from his body in this way, pulling
+it up on board the ship, and cutting it into pieces.
+
+If it was a sperm whale, they would cut a hole in his head, to reach a
+place where there was a great quantity of oil. This oil they dipped
+out. Sometimes forty barrels of oil were dipped out of the head of a
+whale. From the fat of some very large whales more than two hundred
+barrels of oil could be secured.
+
+The men on the whaling ships were gone from home for years at a time.
+When there were no whales in sight, they had to find ways of amusing
+themselves. Many of them carried sharp pocket knives, and passed their
+time in whittling. By long practice they became very skillful with
+their knives. Some of them carved pretty figures in wood, and made
+pieces of furniture. Others carved shells into beautiful shapes. After
+years at sea, they would bring these things home with them, to give to
+their wives or sweethearts. Such work done on shipboard is called
+scrimshaw work.
+
+Some of the whaleships met with very curious accidents. In 1807 a ship
+named "The Union" was sailing along very quietly. All at once she
+struck something which jarred her from end to end. It was found that
+she had run right on a whale. Casks of water were thrown out of the
+ship to make her lighter, but the bottom of the ship was badly
+injured. The men on board had to get out the boats at once. They took
+food and water with them, and compasses to sail by. Soon after the
+boats got clear of the ship she filled with water, and upset.
+
+The men now found themselves in open boats in the ocean. The land
+nearest to them was Newfoundland, but, as the wind was blowing
+straight from that land at that season of the year, they knew that
+they could not reach it. So they set out in the direction toward which
+the wind blew, sailing for the islands called the Azores. These were
+hundreds of miles away. They made a sail for each boat.
+
+One day they saw a schooner, but they could not make the schooner see
+them. The next day they had fine sailing, but at night a fearful wind
+arose. There were violent squalls and bursts of thunder. The boats
+were obliged to lie still with their bows to the wind. At last the
+waves broke into the captain's boat, and it was all they could do to
+get the water out again.
+
+They now had to throw overboard most of their fresh water, so that
+they suffered much with thirst from this time on. They had only three
+quarts of water a day to be divided among sixteen men. That is about a
+small teacupful apiece. After sailing eight days, they came in sight
+of the beautiful islands of the Azores. Here they found a ship to
+bring them back to their own country again.
+
+A still stranger accident happened to the ship "Essex" in 1820. She
+was far away in the Pacific Ocean. Three of the boats of the ship went
+out after a whale. The mate's boat, having been injured, went back to
+the ship. As the mate stood on the ship, he saw a large sperm whale
+rush directly at the vessel. The whale seemed to think the ship some
+great animal, and that it would be fine fun to have a fight with it.
+He struck the ship with his great square head. The crash was fearful.
+For a moment or two the crew were so astonished that they could do
+nothing. Then they found the ship sinking. They put up signals for the
+other boats to come back.
+
+[Illustration: Attacked by a Whale.]
+
+But the whale was not satisfied. He wanted to fight it out with the
+ship. He was soon seen coming toward the vessel again. He came on so
+fast that the water foamed round him. He struck the ship a second
+blow, which almost crushed it. The mate now quickly put what
+provisions he could into a boat, and got ready to leave the ship.
+
+The other boats returned. The men were so horrified that for some time
+they could not speak to one another. The ship fell over on her side.
+The men cut away her masts. Then they cut holes into the ship's side,
+and got out what bread and water they could carry. They were a
+thousand miles from land, in the direction that the winds blew.
+
+After twenty-eight days of sailing in these open boats, the men got to
+Ducie's Island. Here they could not find food enough for so large a
+party, so the boats put off to sea again. Three men remained behind on
+the island. These were afterward found by a passing ship, which took
+them home. Some of the men in the boats perished, but the rest of them
+were picked up by a ship and taken home.
+
+
+
+
+A WHALING SONG.
+
+PART OF A FAVORITE SONG SUNG BY WHALEMEN IN OLD TIMES.
+
+
+  When spring returns with western gales,
+    And gentle breezes sweep
+  The ruffling seas, we spread our sails
+    To plow the watery deep.
+
+  Cape Cod, our dearest native land,
+    We leave astern, and lose
+  Its sinking cliffs and less'ning sands,
+    While Zephyr gently blows.
+
+  Now toward the early dawning east
+    We speed our course away,
+  With eager minds and joyful hearts,
+    To meet the rising day.
+
+  Then, as we turn our wondering eyes,
+    We view one constant show,--
+  Above, around, the circling skies,
+    The rolling seas below.
+
+  When eastward, clear of Newfoundland,
+    We stem the frozen pole,
+  We see the icy islands stand,
+    The northern billows roll.
+
+  Now see the northern regions where
+    Eternal winter reigns;
+  One day and night fills up the year,
+    And endless cold maintains.
+
+  We view the monsters of the deep,
+    Great whales in numerous swarms,
+  And creatures there, that play and leap,
+    Of strange, unusual forms.
+
+  When in our station we are placed,
+    And whales around us play,
+  We launch our boats into the main,
+    And swiftly chase our prey.
+
+
+
+
+A STRANGE ESCAPE.
+
+
+In 1658 there was a little French colony at Onondaga in New York. Some
+of the men in this colony were traders, and some were missionaries.
+They were living among the Onondaga Indians.
+
+[Illustration: A French Missionary.]
+
+The Indians had been very friendly, but the French found out that a
+plot had been formed to put them all to death. Stakes had even been
+set up in order to burn some of them alive. There seemed no hope for
+the Frenchmen to escape. They knew, that, if they tried to get away by
+land, they should all be killed. If they shut themselves up in their
+fort, the Indians would besiege them, and they would starve to death.
+They had no boats by which to get away by sailing through the lakes
+and down the St. Lawrence River.
+
+The Frenchmen went to work and built boats secretly in the attic of
+their fort or trading house. They built them strong enough to bear the
+floating ice. They had also some light canoes made of bark, which they
+hid in the upper part of their house. The question now was how to get
+away without the Indians finding it out and pursuing them.
+
+One of the young Frenchmen had been adopted into the tribe of these
+Indians. He invited the Indians to a feast. It was a feast, of a kind
+the Indians give, in which every guest is obliged to eat everything
+that is set before him, leaving nothing. The Indians kept on eating,
+while the French amused them with dancing and games. The young
+Frenchman played on his guitar, while the guests ate. The Indians
+having eaten too much, at length began to fall asleep one by one. The
+feast was not over until late at night, nor until every Indian had
+eaten till he begged not to be given any more. Some of the Indians
+fell asleep while they were eating. The rest of them were soon
+sleeping soundly in their wigwams.
+
+The Frenchmen now quickly brought their boats down stairs and put them
+into the water. They loaded them with food and other things needed for
+their journey. Then they pushed off without making any noise or
+speaking above a whisper. The water froze about their boats as they
+rowed, and every moment they feared an attack from the Indians. They
+rowed all night long, and then they rowed and paddled all the next day
+without taking any rest. It was not until the evening of the second
+day that they felt they had passed out of the greatest danger.
+
+The Indians slept late the morning after the feast. When they waked at
+last, they came out of their huts one by one, and went toward the
+French house. They were surprised to see it shut up, and everything
+silent about it. They supposed that the French were at prayer, so they
+waited quietly outside. They could hear the fowls crowing in the yard,
+and when they knocked at the door of the house, the dog barked. Noon
+came, and yet no Frenchmen appeared.
+
+Late in the afternoon the Indians climbed up the side of the house and
+got in by a window. They could hear no sound but their own steps. They
+were much frightened as they stole through the house and opened the
+main door. They searched the building from top to bottom, but not a
+Frenchman was to be found.
+
+As they were sure that the French had no boats, they were struck with
+fear. They gazed a moment at each other in silence. Then they fled
+from the house. They believed that the Frenchmen had, by some magic,
+made themselves invisible; that is, so that they could not be seen.
+They believed that the French had flown away through the air, or
+walked off on the water.
+
+Meanwhile the French passed down Lake Ontario through many dangers.
+They went down the River St. Lawrence, working their way over rapids
+and waterfalls. At last they reached Montreal, where the people looked
+on them as men that had come up from the grave.
+
+
+
+
+GRANDMOTHER BEAR.
+
+
+Mr. Alexander Henry was made prisoner by the Indians on Lake Superior
+when Fort Mackinaw was taken by Indians. This was in the time of the
+Indian war which is called Pontiac's War, because the great chief
+Pontiac started it.
+
+Nearly all the white men in Fort Mackinaw were killed, but Mr. Henry
+was saved. He had an Indian friend named Wawatam, who paid for his
+life. He went to live with Wawatam. He had his head shaved, and put on
+the dress of an Indian. He lived and hunted as the Indians did.
+
+One day Mr. Henry saw a very large pine tree. Its trunk was six feet
+in diameter. The bark had been scratched by a bear's claws. Far up on
+the tree there was a large hole. All about this hole the small
+branches were broken.
+
+Mr. Henry looked at the snow. There were no bear tracks in it. So he
+thought that an old bear had climbed up into the tree before the snow
+fell. Bears sleep nearly all winter. They do not even come out to get
+anything to eat.
+
+Mr. Henry told the Indians about the tree. There was no way of getting
+up to the bear's hole. They could not get the bear out except by
+cutting down the tree. But the Indian women did not believe that the
+Indians could do it. Their axes were too small to chop down so big a
+tree.
+
+However, the Indians wanted the bear's oil, which is of great use to
+them. It serves them for lard, and butter, and many other things. So
+at the tree they went with their little axes. As many as could stand
+about the tree worked at a time, and when one rested, another chopper
+took his place. They all worked, men and women, and they chopped all
+day. When the sun went down, they had chopped about halfway through
+the tree.
+
+The next morning they began again. They chopped away until about two
+o'clock. Then the top of the great pine tree began to tremble. Slowly
+it leaned a little. Then the tree began to fall. Everybody got far out
+of the way. It fell down among the other trees with a crash that made
+the woods roar, and lay at last upon the ground.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+But no bear came out of the big tree. Mr. Henry began to be afraid
+that there was no bear there. He thought such a crash was enough to
+wake up the sleepiest bear in the world. At last the nose of a bear
+was poked out of the hole. Then came the head. Then came out the great
+brown body of one of the largest bears in the woods. Mr. Henry shot
+the bear dead.
+
+Though the Indians kill and eat bears, they are very much afraid of
+the ghosts of the bears after they are dead. They are more afraid of a
+bear after it is dead than when it is alive. So, whenever an Indian
+has killed a bear, he always begs the dead bear's pardon. Each of
+these Indians now politely begged pardon of the bear. The old woman
+who had adopted Mr. Henry for her son took the bear's head in her
+hands and kissed it. She called it her grandmother, and asked it not
+to do them any harm. The Indians told the dead bear that a white man
+had killed it. Of course, the dead bear did not say anything.
+
+Though they called the bear their grandmother, they made haste to take
+off its skin. They were glad to find that Grandma Bear was very fat.
+It took two persons to carry home the fat. Four more were loaded with
+the meat of this nice old relative of theirs.
+
+But still wishing to fool the bear's ghost, they carried the head also
+to their tent. They put all kinds of silver trinkets on the head, and
+many belts of wampum or shell beads on it. In order to please the
+ghost of Grandmother Bear still more, they laid the head on a kind of
+table that they made for it, and placed a large quantity of tobacco
+near its nose.
+
+The next morning a feast was made to please the bear's ghost. The head
+of the bear was lifted, and a new blanket was spread under it. All the
+Indians lighted their pipes, and blew tobacco smoke into the bear's
+nose. Wawatam made a speech to the bear's spirit. He told it they were
+very sorry to have to kill their friends. But he said it could not be
+helped, for, if they did not do this, they should starve to death.
+
+The speech being over, the whole party ate heartily of the bear's
+flesh. After three days they even took down the head itself, and put
+it into the kettle. Thus they ate their grandmother up, but they did
+it very politely.
+
+
+
+
+THE GREAT TURTLE.
+
+
+Among the Indians there are priests or medicine men who pretend to
+cure diseases. They also pretend to talk to their gods and other
+spirits. They have many ways of deceiving the Indians.
+
+Mr. Alexander Henry, while a prisoner among the Indians, was present
+when the tribe he was with asked advice of the Great Turtle, which is
+one of the gods they believe in.
+
+The Indians had heard that there was an English army coming against
+them. They were very much afraid, because they had killed or taken
+prisoner all the English in Fort Mackinaw. They wished to send
+messengers to make peace with the white men, but they were afraid the
+white men would kill their messengers. In this state of mind, they
+asked the Great Turtle what they would better do.
+
+They first built a large house or wigwam. In the middle of this they
+set up five posts, and covered these posts with moose skins. This made
+a little tent in the middle of the large wigwam.
+
+When night came on, they built fires in the wigwam outside of the
+little tent. This lighted up the house where the Indians were seated.
+Soon the priest came in. Some of the Indians lifted the moose skins on
+one side of their little tent. The priest crept in on his hands and
+knees. The little tent began to shake, and from the inside there came
+sounds like the barking of dogs and the howling of wolves, with
+screams and sobs, and cries of pain and sorrow. Words were spoken in
+strange voices, and in a language which nobody could understand. These
+voices the Indians had heard before, and they thought that they
+belonged to evil spirits who would tell them lies. When they heard
+these voices, the Indians hissed. They did not want to hear any spirit
+but that of the Great Turtle. After a while these frightful noises
+ceased. There was silence for a time. Then the Indians heard a new
+voice. It was low and feeble, like the cry of a very young puppy. All
+the Indians now clapped their hands for joy. They cried out that this
+was the voice of the Great Turtle, the spirit that never lied.
+
+But now new voices came from the tent. For half an hour there were
+sounds in many different voices, but none of them were like the
+priest's own voice. When these sounds were no longer heard, the
+medicine man spoke in his own voice, and declared that the Great
+Turtle was present, and would answer any question that might be asked.
+
+The chief of the village now put a large quantity of tobacco into the
+little tent. This was a sacrifice to the Great Turtle. Then he told
+the priest to ask the Great Turtle whether the white men were coming
+to make war on them, and whether there were many soldiers at Fort
+Niagara.
+
+The medicine man put this question to the Great Turtle. The tent began
+to shake so violently that it seemed about to fall over. Then a loud
+cry came from the tent. This was to show that the Great Turtle was
+leaving.
+
+For a quarter of an hour no sound was heard. Then the Great Turtle
+returned. He now made a long speech to the priest in his little
+squeaky, puppy voice, but it was spoken in a language which nobody
+could understand. After the spirit's speech was finished, the medicine
+man spoke in his own voice, and explained to the people that in the
+last fifteen minutes the Great Turtle had crossed Lake Huron, and gone
+to Fort Niagara, hundreds of miles away. Then he had gone on down to
+Montreal. He said there were not many soldiers at Fort Niagara, but at
+Montreal the river was covered with boats filled with soldiers. He
+said the soldiers coming to make war on the Indians were as many as
+the leaves on the trees. He told the Indians, that, if they would send
+men to the general of this army, he would make peace with them, and
+fill their canoes with presents of blankets, kettles, guns, powder,
+and shot. And he said, what pleased them still more, that the general
+would give them great barrels of rum.
+
+The Indians were so much delighted with this message, that many of
+them set out, soon after, to go in boats to make peace with the white
+men. No doubt this humbug of the medicine man was a plan to persuade
+them to go. Mr. Henry was taken along to act as their friend.
+
+
+
+
+THE RATTLESNAKE GOD.
+
+
+Mr. Henry had traveled several days with the Indians going to Fort
+Niagara to make peace. One day the wind was blowing so hard that they
+could not go on. So they camped on a point in Lake Huron.
+
+While the Indians were building a hut, Mr. Henry was lighting a fire.
+He went off a little way to get dry wood, and while he was picking up
+sticks he heard a strange sound. It lasted only a little while; but,
+when Mr. Henry went a little farther, it began again. He looked up
+into the air to see where it came from. Then he looked down on the
+ground, and saw a large rattlesnake coiled close to his naked leg. If
+he had taken one step more, he would have stepped on it, and it would
+have bitten him.
+
+He now ran back to the canoe to get his gun to kill the snake.
+
+"What are you doing?" asked the Indians.
+
+"I am going to kill a rattlesnake," he said.
+
+"Oh, no! don't do that," they said.
+
+The Indians all got their tobacco bags and pipes, and went to the
+place where the snake had been seen. It was still lying in a coil.
+
+[Illustration: Grandfather Rattlesnake.]
+
+The Indians now stood round the snake, and one after another spoke to
+it. They called it their grandfather. But they took care not to go too
+close to their grandfather. They stood oft and filled their pipes with
+tobacco. Each one in turn blew tobacco smoke at the snake. The snake
+seemed to like it. For half an hour it lay there in a coil, and
+breathed the smoke. Then it slowly stretched itself out at full
+length, and seemed in a very good humor. It was more than four feet
+long.
+
+After having more smoke blown at it, it slowly crept away. The Indians
+followed, begging their grandfather, as they called it, to take care
+of their families while they were gone. They also asked that the snake
+would open the heart of the English general so that he would give them
+a great deal of rum. One of the chiefs begged the snake to take no
+notice of the insult offered to him by the white man, who would have
+killed it if the Indians had not stopped him. They also begged that it
+would remain and live in their country.
+
+The Indians thought that the snake was a spirit or god in this form.
+They thought that it had been sent to stop them on their way. They
+were almost ready to turn back, but Mr. Henry persuaded them to go on.
+
+The next morning was calm. The Indians took a short course by sailing
+straight to an island out in the lake. But after they had got far out,
+the wind began to blow very hard. They expected every moment that
+their canoe would be swallowed up by the waves. They began to pray to
+the rattlesnake to help them. One of the chiefs resolved to make a
+sacrifice to the snake. He took a dog, and tied its legs together, and
+threw it into the water. He asked the snake spirit to be satisfied
+with this. But the wind continued to grow higher, and so another dog
+was thrown into the water, and some tobacco was thrown with it. The
+chief told Grandfather Snake that the man who wanted to kill him was
+really a white man, and no kin to the snake or to the Indians.
+
+Some of the Indians began to think of throwing Mr. Henry in after the
+dog and the tobacco to satisfy the snake spirit; but the wind went
+down, and they soon got to the island. Some days afterward the party
+came to the fort. The English general was very glad to see Mr. Henry,
+and his long captivity was over, in spite of the anger of the
+rattlesnake god of the Indians.
+
+
+
+
+WITCHCRAFT IN LOUISIANA.
+
+
+The Indian medicine men or priests have many ways of deceiving their
+people. A French officer found that the people of a certain tribe
+believed very much in an idol which a medicine man had set up. This
+idol was called by a long name, Vistee-poolee-keek-apook. The Indians,
+when they stood near, would sometimes hear it speak, and this seemed
+to them a very wonderful thing.
+
+A French officer named Bossu tried to find out what made the idol
+talk. He found a long reed, such as we call a cane pole, running from
+the back of the idol's head to a cave or hollow in the rocks behind
+the idol. This reed had been made into a hollow tube. In the cave
+there was a medicine man who talked into the tube. The words coming
+out of the other end in the idol's head were heard from the mouth of
+the idol, as if the idol were speaking. Bossu showed the Indians the
+trick, and then got one of his soldiers to destroy the idol.
+
+The soldier that destroyed the idol was so brave, that the Frenchmen
+had given him a nickname which means "fearless." The medicine man
+declared that some dreadful thing would fall on Fearless because he
+had destroyed the idol. In order to make his people believe in the
+power of this god that had been thrown down, he told them that there
+was a witch or evil spirit which came to the village in the shape of a
+little black panther. He said, that, whenever he pronounced the name
+of his god, this little black panther would instantly disappear.
+
+You see, the cunning old medicine man had somehow got hold of a large
+black cat with yellow eyes. Cats were not common among the Indians,
+these animals having been brought by the white people. Such a cat as
+this, the Indians had never seen. The medicine man kept the cat in his
+cabin, and trained it. He would strike it with a whip, crying out
+every time he struck it, "Vistee-poolee-keek-apook!"
+
+The poor cat became afraid of the long ugly name of the Indian god,
+because the whip and the name always came together. One day the black
+cat crept into the cabin of an Indian woman to get something to eat.
+The medicine man who was near by saw it. He said the name of his god
+in his common voice. The cat, which the Indians believed to be a
+witch, jumped like lightning through the hole in the cabin that was
+used for a window. The Indians really believed that they had seen an
+evil spirit in the shape of a little black panther, and that it
+disappeared when the medicine man spoke the name of his god.
+
+After that, every time an Indian saw this black cat, or little black
+panther, as it was called, he spoke the name of this terrible god. Of
+course, the black cat with yellow eyes ran away. Tired out at last
+with being driven off in this fashion, the cat disappeared entirely,
+and took up its home with the wild animals in the woods, where it
+could not hear the terrible name of the idol any more.
+
+Bossu afterward made use of the Indians' belief in spirits for his own
+purpose. One of his soldiers had been killed by one of the Indians.
+Bossu could not find out who killed the soldier, or even to what tribe
+the Indian that killed him belonged. He wanted to punish or frighten
+the murderer in order to save the lives of the rest of the French
+soldiers.
+
+He called the chief of the Indians, and told him that one of his men
+was missing. He said he was sure the man had not run away. He
+therefore asked that the Indians should find the man, and said, that,
+if he were not found, he should have to think that some of the Indians
+had killed him.
+
+The chief answered that the white soldier had probably gone hunting in
+the woods, and killed himself accidentally with his gun, or else he
+had been killed by a panther. To this Bossu replied that the animal
+would not have eaten the gun or the clothes of the soldier. He said
+that if the Indians would find the Frenchman's gun, or bits of his
+clothes, they could easily show that he had been killed by a wild
+animal.
+
+Bossu had a friend among the Indians who was very much attached to
+him. He persuaded this young Indian to tell him to what tribe the
+murderer of the Frenchman belonged, but he solemnly promised that the
+other Indians should never know who had told him. He paid the young
+Indian for telling him.
+
+The Frenchman who was called Fearless now undertook to have the man
+who had killed the other soldier punished, for the dead soldier had
+been his friend. But it was necessary that he should not let the
+Indians know who had told about it. Fearless stripped off a great
+quantity of bark of the pawpaw tree. He thought he would play a trick
+like that of the medicine man, and make the Indians believe that a
+spirit was talking to them. He did everything very secretly. By
+fastening pieces of the pawpaw bark together with pitch, he managed to
+make a very large speaking trumpet, which would carry the voice a long
+distance.
+
+When he had finished this trumpet, he left the camp one very dark
+night. He carried with him his gun, some food, and a gourd full of
+water. He had also a bearskin of which to make a bed, and a buffalo
+robe to cover himself with. With these things he hid himself on a
+hill. This hill was near the Indian camp. From the top of it Fearless
+could make his voice heard for three miles round by the aid of his
+great pawpaw trumpet.
+
+He shouted through this great bark trumpet what seemed to be words in
+an unknown language, such as the Indian medicine man used. The
+frightful noise sounded through the woods. It did not seem to come
+from anywhere. The Indians thought that these cries came down from the
+sky. The Indian women were thrown into a great fright, and even the
+warriors and chiefs were alarmed. They said that the Master of Life
+was angry with their tribe, and that this horrible voice showed that
+something bad was going to happen to them.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The day after the voice was heard, the old men of the tribe came to
+consult Bossu about this strange noise. Bossu told them that the white
+soldier who had been killed could not rest. He said that every night
+his voice was heard, though nothing could be seen. He said that the
+voice cried out in a melancholy tone, "I am the white soldier that
+went with the French captain. I was killed by a man of the tribe of
+the Kanoatinos. Frenchmen, revenge my death."
+
+The Indians now saw that it was of no use for them to tell any more
+lies about the death of the white man. They believed that the
+soldier's ghost had told the Frenchmen all about it. They confessed
+the murder, but they explained that the white soldier had provoked it
+when he was drunk, by bad treatment of the Indian who killed him.
+
+Captain Bossu was not willing to take their excuses. He told them,
+that, if the soldier had done wrong, he ought to have been brought to
+his own captain to be punished. He said, "If one of my soldiers should
+kill one of your Indians, I would put him to death. You must do the
+same with the Indian who killed my soldier."
+
+The oldest of the chiefs now commanded one of his men to go and seize
+the guilty man, bind him, and bring him in to be put to death, in
+order that the ghost of the French soldier might no longer trouble
+them.
+
+Captain Bossu did not wish to put the Indian to death. He knew that
+the French soldier had very greatly wronged and provoked the Indian.
+He got his young Indian friend to go to the wife of the chief of the
+Kanoatinos, and say to her that she might beg the life of the guilty
+man. The young Indian told the chief's wife that Captain Bossu would
+not refuse her anything. The woman went, and begged that the Indian
+might be spared. Bossu consented that the Indian should live, but said
+that he did it as a favor to the chief's wife.
+
+The chief then turned to the condemned Indian, and said to him, "You
+were dead, but the captain of the white warriors has brought you to
+life at the request of the chief's wife." The white people and Indians
+then smoked the pipe of peace together.
+
+
+
+
+A STORY OF NIAGARA.
+
+
+Many years ago, the falls of Niagara, then in the midst of a great
+wilderness, and a long way from the homes of the white people, seemed
+even more wonderful than they do now. In those days, travelers from
+other countries made long journeys through the woods to see this
+wonderful waterfall. Indians lived about it, and there was a fort near
+by, belonging to the French.
+
+Wild swans, geese, and ducks used to swim in the Niagara River.
+Sometimes great flocks of them lost their lives by going over the
+falls. Water fowl are fond of floating on smooth, moving water. The
+wild geese and ducks would take great delight in finding themselves
+shooting down toward the falls. Sometimes they would try to rise and
+fly when it was too late.
+
+[Illustration: Niagara Falls.]
+
+In the autumn the soldiers of the fort used to get their meat by
+taking from the water below the falls the ducks and geese that had
+been killed in this way. Sometimes they would find a deer or a bear
+that had been carried over in trying to swim across the river above
+the falls.
+
+In the midst of the falls is an island. Many years ago two Indians
+were hunting far above the falls. They had with them a little brandy,
+which they drank. This made them sleepy, and they lay down and went to
+sleep in their canoe, which was tied to the shore. The canoe got loose
+from the shore, and floated down the stream farther and farther, until
+it came near to the island which is in the falls.
+
+The roar of the falls awakened one of them. He cried out to the other,
+"We are lost!" But by hard work they succeeded in landing the canoe at
+the island.
+
+At first they were very glad, but after a while they thought it might
+have been better if they had gone over the falls. They had now no
+choice but to die of hunger on the island, or to throw themselves into
+the water.
+
+At the lower end of the island there is no water running over the
+falls. The Indians stripped the bark from a linden or basswood tree.
+This bark is very tough and strong. They made a kind of rope ladder of
+it. They made it so long that it reached to the water below the falls.
+The upper end of this bark ladder they tied fast to a great tree that
+grew on the island. The other end they let down to the water below the
+falls.
+
+Then they went down this ladder until they came to the bottom. The
+water was roaring on both sides of them, but they had a place to
+stand. Here they rested a little while. The water in front of them was
+not rapid. They jumped into it, intending to swim ashore. But the
+water that pours in from the falls on each side, runs back against the
+rocks in this place. Every time the Indians tried to swim, they were
+thrown back against the rocks from which they started. At last they
+were so much bruised and scratched, they were obliged to give up this
+plan. So they climbed back up their bark stairs to the island, not
+knowing what to do.
+
+After a while they saw other Indians on the shore. They cried out to
+these to come and help them. The other Indians did not know what to
+do. They had no way of getting to the island. If they had tried to get
+there in a canoe, they would have been carried over the falls
+themselves. They went to the fort, and told the commander about it. He
+had poles made, and pointed with iron. He persuaded two Indians to
+take these poles, and walk with them to the island.
+
+These two Indians took leave of all their friends as if they were
+going to die. Each of them took two poles in his hands. They set these
+poles against the bottom of the river to keep themselves steady, while
+they waded through the water. It was a very dangerous thing to do, but
+at last they got to the island. Then they gave a pole to each of the
+two Indians, and all four of them started back again. By the help of
+the poles they managed to get to the shore in safety.
+
+
+
+
+AMONG THE ALLIGATORS.
+
+
+Before the Revolution there lived in Pennsylvania a man named William
+Bartram. He was a botanist; that is to say, a man who knew a great
+deal about different kinds of plants. Wishing to see the plants and
+animals of the South, he traveled through South Carolina and Georgia,
+and so on into Florida.
+
+In a little canoe, Bartram set out to go up the St. Johns River. He
+took an Indian along for a guide, but the Indian got tired of the
+trip, and left him. Bartram kept on up the river alone. The country
+was wild, and the river was filled with great alligators.
+
+Bartram saw two large alligators fighting. They ran at each other from
+opposite sides of the river. They lashed the water with their tails.
+They met in the middle of the river, and fought with great fury,
+making the water boil all round them. They twisted themselves one
+round the other, and sank to the bottom fighting. Their struggles at
+the bottom brought up a great deal of mud.
+
+Soon they came to the top once more, clapping their great jaws
+together, and roaring. They fell on each other again, and sank to the
+bottom. But one of them was by this time beaten. He swam away into the
+reeds on the bank. The other rose to the top of the water, and
+celebrated his victory by a loud roaring sound. All the alligators
+along the shore joined in the horrible roaring at the same time.
+
+The alligators had gathered in great crowds at certain places to catch
+the fish that were coming up from the sea. Bartram wanted some fish
+for his supper. He took a stick to beat off the alligators, and got
+into his canoe. But the farther he paddled from the shore, the more
+the alligators crowded round him. Several of them tried to overturn
+his canoe. Two large ones attacked him at the same time, with their
+heads above the water, and their mouths spouting water all over the
+botanist. They struck their jaws together so close to his ears that
+the sound almost stunned him.
+
+Bartram beat them off with his club, and paddled for the shore. When
+he got near the shore, the alligators left him. He went a little
+farther up the river, and got some fish. When he came back, he kept
+close to the shore. One alligator twelve feet long followed him. When
+Bartram went ashore near his camp, the creature crept close to his
+feet, and lay there looking at him for some time.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Bartram ran to his camp to get his gun. When he came back, the
+alligator was climbing into his boat to get the fish he had caught. He
+fired his gun, and killed the great beast. But while he was cleaning
+his fish, another one crept up to him, and would have dragged him into
+the water if Bartram had not looked up just in time to get out of his
+way. The next day he was pursued by more alligators; but he beat them
+off with his club, and got away.
+
+
+
+
+JASPER.
+
+
+"Marion'S Men" were famous in the Revolution for their bold
+adventures. The best known of all these bold men was Sergeant Jasper.
+At the battle of Fort Moultrie, when the flag of the fort was shot
+away, Jasper jumped down outside of the works, and picked it up. The
+balls were raining round him all the time he was outside, but he
+coolly fastened the flag to a rod which was used to wipe out the
+cannon, and then stuck it up in the sand of the breastworks.
+
+When General Moultrie saw what he had done, he took off his own sword
+and gave it to Sergeant Jasper.
+
+When Moultrie and his men were hiding in the swamps of South Carolina,
+Moultrie would send Jasper to find out what the British were doing.
+Jasper could change his looks so that nobody would know him. He often
+went into the British camp, pretending to be on that side.
+
+Once he took a friend with him, and paid a visit to the British
+soldiers. While he was there, a small party of American prisoners were
+brought in. The wife of one of the prisoners had come with her
+husband, carrying her child. As these men had once fought on the
+English side, they were all likely to be put to death. Jasper felt
+sorry for them, and resolved to deliver them if he could.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The prisoners were sent to Savannah for trial. Jasper and his friend
+left the British camp soon afterward, but they went in the opposite
+direction. When they got far enough away, they turned about and
+followed the party with the prisoners. But what could they do for
+these poor fellows? There were ten men with muskets to guard the
+prisoners. Neither Jasper nor his friend had a gun.
+
+But they knew that near Savannah there was a famous spring of water.
+They thought the party would stop there to eat and drink. So Jasper
+and his friend went on swiftly, by a path little known. When they came
+near the spring, they hid in the bushes.
+
+When the soldiers with their prisoners came to the spring, they
+halted. The prisoners sat down on the ground. The woman sat down near
+her husband. Her baby fell asleep in her lap. Six of the soldiers laid
+down their arms, and four stood guard.
+
+Two of these went to the spring to get water, and, in doing this, they
+were obliged to put down their guns. In an instant Jasper and his
+friend leaped out of the bushes and seized the two guns. They killed
+the two guards who had guns, before the latter could shoot them. Then
+they knocked down every man who resisted them, and got possession of
+all the rest of the guns of the British. With these they took the
+eight soldiers prisoners. They now gave guns to the American
+prisoners, and marched away with the eight British soldiers in
+captivity.
+
+Jasper was one of the boldest of men. He did many brave things, but at
+last he lost his life in saving the flag of his company in battle.
+
+
+
+
+SONG OF MARION'S MEN.
+
+
+  Our band is few, but tried and true,
+    Our leader frank and bold:
+  The British soldier trembles
+    When Marion's name is told.
+
+  We have no fort but dark green woods,
+    Our tent's a shady tree:
+  We know the forest round us
+    As sailors know the sea.
+
+  With merry songs we mock the wind
+    That in the tree top grieves,
+  And slumber long and sweetly
+    On beds of rustling leaves.
+
+  Well knows the fair and friendly moon
+    The band that Marion leads,--
+  The glitter of their rifles,
+    The scampering of their steeds.
+
+  'Tis life to ride the fiery horse
+    Across the moonlight plain;
+  'Tis life to feel the night wind
+    That lifts his tossing mane.
+
+  A moment in the British camp--
+    A moment--and away
+  Back to the pathless forest,
+    Before the peep of day.
+
+  ADAPTED FROM BRYANT.
+
+[Illustration: One of Marion's Men.]
+
+
+
+
+A BRAVE GIRL.
+
+
+In the time of the Revolution, a regiment of Hessian soldiers hired
+to fight on the British side were camped in South Carolina. They took
+possession of the lower part of the house of a farmer named Gibbes. The
+family were forced to retire to the upper story.
+
+Two American boats came up the Stono River, and attacked these
+Hessians. Cannon balls were soon falling all about the house. Mr.
+Gibbes, who was so ill that he could hardly walk, got leave to move his
+family to another place. To do this, the whole family had to cross a
+field where the cannon balls were flying thick. At last they got out of
+reach of the cannons. Then they remembered that a little baby had been
+left behind. Neither Mr. Gibbes nor his wife was able to travel back to
+the house again. The negroes were too much frightened to go. All the
+rest were children.
+
+Little Mary Anne Gibbes was only thirteen years old. The baby that had
+been left was her cousin.
+
+"I will go and get him," she said.
+
+It was a dark and stormy night. She went back into the heat of the
+battle. When she reached the house, the soldier who stood at the door
+would not let her go in. But, with tears in her eyes, she begged so
+hard that he let her pass. In the third story of the house she found
+the baby.
+
+Then downstairs, and out into the darkness and the crash of battle, she
+went. The cannon balls scattered dust over her and the baby when they
+struck near her, but she got back to her family at last, carrying the
+baby safe in her arms.
+
+
+
+
+A PRISONER AMONG THE INDIANS.
+
+
+James Smith lived in Pennsylvania. He was taken prisoner by the Indians
+just before the famous defeat of General Braddock. He was then about
+eighteen years old. The Indians took him to the French fort where
+Pittsburg now is. They made him run the gauntlet; that is, they made
+him run between two lines of Indians, who were beating him all the way.
+He was so badly beaten that he became unconscious, and was ill for a
+good while after. But at length he got well, and the Indians took him
+to their own country in what is now the State of Ohio.
+
+When they arrived at their own town, they did not kill him, as he
+thought they would; but an Indian pulled the hair out of his head with
+his fingers, leaving only the hair that grew on a spot about the crown.
+Part of this he cut off short. The rest was twisted up in Indian
+fashion, so as to make him look like a savage. They pierced his ears,
+and put earrings in them. Then they pierced his nose, and put in a nose
+ring. They stripped off his clothing, and put on the light clothing
+that an Indian wears about the middle of his body. They painted his
+head where the hair had been plucked out, and painted his face and
+body, in several colors. They put some beads about his neck, and silver
+bands upon his arms.
+
+All this time James thought they were dressing him up to kill him. But,
+when they had decked him in this way, an old chief led him out into the
+village street. Holding the young man by the hand, he cried out,--
+
+"Koowigh, Koowigh, Koowigh!"
+
+All the Indians came running out of their houses when they heard this.
+The old chief made them a long speech in a loud voice. James could not
+understand what this speech was about. When it was ended, the chief
+handed James over to three young Indian women.
+
+James thought the young squaws were going to put him to death. They led
+him down the bank into the river. The squaws made signs for him to
+plunge himself into the water; but, as he thought they wished to drown
+him, he refused. He was not going to drown himself to please them. The
+young women then seized him, and tried to put him under water. But he
+would not be put down All this time the Indians on the bank were
+laughing heartily.
+
+[Illustration: James Smith sitting on a Bearskin.]
+
+Then one of the young squaws, who could speak a little English, said,
+"No hurt you." Smith now gave up to them, and they scrubbed him well,
+dipping his head under water.
+
+When he came out of the water, he was dressed up in a lot of Indian
+finery. The Indians put feathers in his hair, and made him sit down on
+a bearskin. They gave him a pipe, and a tomahawk, and a bag of tobacco
+and dried sumach leaves to smoke. Then they made a speech to him, which
+an Indian who could speak English explained to him.
+
+They said that he had been made a member of an Indian family in place
+of a great man who had been killed. And then they gave him a wooden
+bowl and a spoon, and took him to a feast, where Indian politeness
+required that he should eat all the food given to him.
+
+After James Smith was adopted by the Indians, he learned to live in
+their way. He learned how to make little bowls out of elm bark to catch
+maple-sugar sap, and how to make great casks out of the bark to hold
+the sap till it could be boiled. He learned how to make a bearskin into
+a pouch to hold bear's oil, of which the Indians were very fond. They
+mixed their hominy with bear's oil and maple sugar, and they cooked
+their venison in oil and sugar also.
+
+The Indians gave James an Indian name. They called him Scouwa. The
+Indians gave him a gun. Once when they trusted him to go into the woods
+alone, he got lost, and staid out all night. Then they took away his
+gun, and gave him a bow and arrow, such as boys carried. For nearly two
+years he had to carry a bow and arrows like a boy.
+
+He was once left behind when there was a great snowstorm. He could not
+find the footsteps of the others, on account of the driving snow. But
+after a while he found a hollow tree. There was a little room three
+feet wide in the inside of the tree. He chopped a great many sticks
+with his tomahawk to close up the opening in the side of the tree. He
+left only a hole big enough for him to crawl in through. He fixed a
+block for a kind of door, so as to close this hole by drawing the door
+shut when he was inside. When the hole was shut, it was dark in the
+tree.
+
+But James, or Scouwa as he was called, could stand up in the tree. He
+broke up rotten wood to make a bed like a large goose nest. He danced
+up and down on his bed till he was warm. Then he wrapped his blanket
+about him and lay down to sleep, first putting his damp moccasins under
+his head to keep them from freezing. When he awoke, it was dark. The
+hole in the tree was so well closed that he could not tell whether it
+was daylight or not, but he waited a long time to be sure that day had
+come.
+
+Then he felt for the opening. At last he found it. He pushed on the
+block that he had used for a door, but three feet of snow had fallen
+during the night. All his strength would not move the block. He was a
+prisoner under the snow. Not one ray of light could get into this dark
+hole.
+
+Scouwa was now frightened. Not knowing what to do, he lay down again
+and wrapped his blanket round him, and tried to think of a way to get
+out. He said a little prayer to God. Then he felt for the block again.
+This time he pushed and pushed with all his might. The block moved a
+few inches, and snow came tumbling through the hole. This let a little
+daylight in, and Scouwa was happy.
+
+After a while he pulled his blanket tight about him, stuck his tomahawk
+in his belt, and took his bow in hand. Then he dug his way out through
+the snow into the daylight.
+
+All the paths were buried under the deep snow. The young man had no
+compass. The sun was not shining. How could he tell one direction from
+another, or find his way to the Indian camp? The tall, straight trees,
+especially those that stand alone, have moss on the north or northwest
+side. By looking closely at these trees, he found out which way to go.
+It was about noon when he got to the camp. The Indians had made
+themselves snowshoes to go in search of him.
+
+They all gathered about him, glad to see him. But Indians do not ask
+questions at such a time. They led the young man to a tent. There they
+gave him plenty of fat beaver meat to eat. Then they asked him to
+smoke. While he was resting here, they were building up a large fire in
+the open air. Scouwa's Indian brother asked him to come out to the
+fire. Then all the Indians young and old, gathered about him.
+
+His Indian brother now asked him to tell what had happened to him.
+Scouwa began at the beginning, and told all that had occurred. The
+Indians listened with much eagerness.
+
+Then the Indian brother made him a speech. He told the young man that
+they were glad to see him alive. He told him he had behaved like a man.
+He said, "You will one day be a great man, and do some great things."
+
+Soon after this, the Indians bought him a gun, paying for it with
+skins, and he became a hunter.
+
+
+
+
+HUNGRY TIMES IN THE WOODS.
+
+
+When James Smith, or Scouwa, had been some years among the Indians, he
+was in a winter camp with two of his adopted brothers. The younger of
+these, with his family, went away to another place. Scouwa was left
+with the older brother and his little son.
+
+The older brother was a very wise Indian. He had thought much about
+many things. He talked to his young white brother on many subjects, and
+James always remembered him as a great man.
+
+The wise Indian was now suffering from rheumatism. He could hardly move
+out of his winter hut at all. But he bore it all with gentle patience.
+Scouwa had to do all the hunting for himself, the old man, and the boy.
+
+Almost the only food to be had was deer meat. From time to time Scouwa
+succeeded in killing a deer. But at last there came a crust of snow.
+Whenever the hunter tried to creep up to a deer, the crust would break
+under his feet with a little crash, and the noise would frighten the
+deer away. After a while there was no food in the cabin.
+
+Once Scouwa hunted two days without coming back to the cabin, and with
+nothing to eat. He came back at last empty-handed.
+
+The wise Indian asked him, "What luck did you have, brother?"
+
+"None at all," said Scouwa.
+
+"Are you not very hungry?" asked the Indian.
+
+"I do not feel so hungry now as I did," said the young man, "but I am
+very faint and weary."
+
+Then the lame Indian told the little boy to bring something to eat. The
+boy had made a broth out of the dry old bones of foxes and wild-cats
+that lay about the camp. Scouwa ate this broth eagerly, and liked it.
+
+Then the old chief talked to Scouwa. He told him that the Great Spirit
+would provide food for them. He talked in this way for some time.
+
+At last he said, "Brother, go to sleep, and rise early in the morning
+and go hunting. Be strong, and act like a man. The Great Spirit will
+direct your way."
+
+In the morning James set out early, but the deer heard his feet
+breaking through the snow crust. Whenever he caught sight of them, they
+were already running away. The young man now grew very hungry. He made
+up his mind to escape from the Indians, and to try to reach his home in
+Pennsylvania. He knew that Indian hunters would probably see him and
+kill him, but he was so nearly starved that he did not care for his
+life.
+
+He walked very fast, traveling toward the east. All at once he saw
+fresh buffalo tracks. He followed these till he came in sight of the
+buffaloes; then, faint as he was, he ran on ahead of the animals, and
+hid himself.
+
+[Illustration: Scouwa shoots a Buffalo.]
+
+When the buffaloes came near, he fired his gun, and killed a large
+buffalo cow. He quickly kindled a fire, and cut off a piece of the
+meat, which he put to roast by the fire. But he was too hungry to wait.
+He took his meat away from the fire, and ate it before it was cooked.
+
+When his hunger was satisfied, he began to think about the wise Indian
+and his little boy. He could not bear to leave them to starve, so he
+gave up his plan of escaping.
+
+He hung the meat of the buffalo where the wolves could not get at it.
+Then he took what he could carry, and traveled back thirteen tedious
+miles through the snow.
+
+It was moonlight when he got to the hut. The wise Indian was as
+good-natured as ever. He did not let hunger make him cross. He asked
+Scouwa if he were not tired. He told the little boy to make haste and
+cook some meat.
+
+"I will cook for you," said Scouwa. "Let the boy roast some meat for
+himself."
+
+The boy threw some meat on the coals, but he was so hungry that he ate
+it before it was cooked. Scouwa cut some buffalo meat into thin slices,
+and put the slices into a kettle to stew for the starving man. When
+these had boiled awhile, he was going to take them off, but the Indian
+said,
+
+"No, let it cook enough."
+
+And so, hungry as he was, the wise Indian waited till the meat was well
+cooked, and then ate without haste, and talked about being thankful to
+the Great Spirit.
+
+The next day Scouwa started back for another load of buffalo meat. When
+he had gone five miles, he saw a tree which a bear had taken for its
+winter home. The hole in the tree was far from the ground. Scouwa made
+some bundles of dry, half-rotten wood. These he put on his back, and
+then climbed a small tree that stood close to the one with a hole in
+it. The rotten wood he touched to a burning stick from a fire he had
+kindled. Then he dropped the smoking bundles of rotten wood one after
+another down into the bear's den, and quickly slid to the ground again.
+
+The bear did not like smoke. After a while he crawled out of the hole
+to get breath. Scouwa shot him.
+
+He hung the bear meat out of the reach of wolves, and carried back to
+the hut all that he could take at one time. The old man and the boy
+were greatly pleased when they heard that there was bear meat as well
+as buffalo meat in plenty. After this they had food enough.
+
+
+
+
+SCOUWA BECOMES A WHITE MAN AGAIN.
+
+
+The next year after this hard winter in the woods, the Indians that
+Scouwa lived with went down the River St. Lawrence to Canada. At this
+time Canada belonged to the French. The French were at war with the
+English, to whom Pennsylvania belonged. The Indians were on the side of
+the French.
+
+Scouwa heard that there were prisoners from his country who were to be
+sent back in exchange for French prisoners. He slipped away from the
+Indians, and went to Montreal. Here he put himself among the other
+prisoners.
+
+After a while the prisoners were sent back to their own country. Scouwa
+came to his own family again. They did not know that he was alive. He
+put on white man's clothes. He let his hair grow like a white man's. He
+spoke English once more. He was no longer called Scouwa, but James
+Smith. But still he walked like an Indian. All his movements were those
+of an Indian. He had lived nearly six years among the savages.
+
+He afterward became a colonel among the white men. He moved to
+Kentucky, and fought against the Indians. But he made his men dress and
+fight as the red men did. He thought it was the best way of fighting in
+the woods.
+
+
+
+
+A BABY LOST IN THE WOODS.
+
+
+When people first began to move across the Alleghany Mountains, there
+were no roads for wagons; but there were narrow paths called trails.
+Families traveled to the west, carrying their goods on horseback along
+these trails. Here is a story that will show you how they traveled.
+
+Among those who went from Virginia to Kentucky, in 1781, was a man
+named Benjamin Craig, who took his whole family with him. Mr. Craig
+wore a hunting shirt and leggings of buckskin and a fur cap. Like all
+men in the backwoods, he carried a hatchet and a knife stuck in his
+belt, and he almost always had his old-fashioned flintlock rifle on his
+right shoulder. A horn to hold powder was worn under his left arm, and
+supported by a string over his right shoulder. He had a little buckskin
+bag of bullets fastened to his belt. At the head of the party, he
+traveled over the mountains on foot, walking before his horses.
+
+The horses came one after another. On the first horse rode Mrs. Craig.
+She carried her baby in her arms. Tied on the back of the horse were a
+pot and a skillet for frying. In a bag on the same horse were some
+pewter plates and cups, and a few knives and forks.
+
+The horse on which Mrs. Craig rode was followed by a pack horse; that
+is, a horse carrying things fastened on his back. This horse was led by
+means of a rope halter, the end of which was tied to the saddle of the
+horse in front. The pack on his back contained some meal and some salt.
+This was all the food the family carried for the long journey over the
+mountains. Mr. Craig expected to get meat by shooting deer or wild
+turkeys in the woods.
+
+The same pack horse carried a flat piece of iron to make a plow, and
+some hoes and axes. The hoes and axes were without handles, except one
+ax, which was used to cut firewood during the journey. Handles could be
+made for the tools after the family got to Kentucky.
+
+Behind this horse another one was tied. He carried two great
+basket-like things hanging on each side of him. These baskets or crates
+were made of hickory boughs. All the clothing and bedding that people
+could take on such long and rough journeys was stored in these crates.
+
+In the middle of each crate a hole was left. In one of these holes rode
+little Master George, a boy of six. In the other was stowed Betsey, a
+girl of four. One fine day during the journey, the baby was put into
+the basket by the side of Betsey, and then the two older children
+amused themselves by pointing out to the baby the things they saw by
+the wayside.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+At length the narrow trail or path passed along the edge of a dangerous
+cliff. George and Betsey shut their eyes, so as not to see how steep
+the place was. They were afraid the horse might fall off, and they be
+dashed to pieces. But baby Ben only laughed and crowed, for what did a
+little fellow like him know about danger. A hired man walked behind the
+last horse to see that nothing was lost.
+
+When night came, the horses were unloaded and turned loose. The little
+bells tied round their necks had been stuffed with grass during the day
+to keep them from jingling. This grass was removed, and the bells set
+a-tinkling, so that the horses could be found in the morning. The tired
+pack horses began at once to eat the long grass, now and then nibbling
+the boughs of young trees.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+A fire was built by a stream, and supper was cooked. If it had been
+raining, the men would have built a little tent of boughs or bark for
+the family, but, as the weather was clear, beds were made of grass and
+dry leaves in the open air. The whole family slept under blue woolen
+coverlets, with only the starry sky for shelter. The fire was kept up
+for fear of wolves.
+
+In the morning the children played about while the mother got
+breakfast. When the meal was over, Mr. Craig and the hired man went to
+look for one of the horses that had strayed away. Baby Ben climbed into
+his mother's lap, as she sat upon the log, and fell asleep. In order to
+have things all packed by the time the men returned, the mother laid
+the little fellow on some long dry grass that grew among the boughs of
+a fallen tree. When the father returned, it was nine o'clock. He
+hurried the mother upon her horse among the pots and pans, saying that
+he wished to overtake a company of travelers that was ahead of him, so
+as to travel more safely.
+
+"Now fetch me the baby," said Mrs. Craig.
+
+"No, mother, please let the baby ride with me again," said little
+Betsey, just come back from washing her face in the creek.
+
+"All right," said Mrs. Craig. "Put the baby on with the children. This
+horse is slow, and I will ride on. You can bring the other horses, and
+catch up with me soon."
+
+By the time the second horse was loaded, and George and Betsey were
+stowed away in their baskets, both the father and Betsey had forgotten
+about the baby. The mother had got so far ahead that it took the other
+horses nearly an hour to overtake her's.
+
+"Where is the baby?" cried the mother when she looked back and saw but
+two children on the horse behind.
+
+Sure enough, where was the baby? Lying under a tree top in the lonesome
+woods, where there might be fierce wolves, great panthers, or hungry
+wildcats.
+
+Mr. Craig was almost frantic when he thought of the baby's danger. He
+stripped the things from the middle horse, and sprang on his back, gun
+in hand. He laid whip to the horse, and was soon galloping back over
+the rough path. For more than an hour the mother and children waited
+with the hired man, to learn whether the baby had been killed by some
+wild animal or not.
+
+At last the sound of Mr. Craig's horse coming back was heard, and all
+held their breath. As the father came in sight in a full gallop, he
+shouted, "Here he is, safe and sound! The little rascal hadn't waked
+up."
+
+Mrs. Craig and Betsey shed tears of joy. George turned his face away,
+and wiped his eyes with his coat sleeve. He wasn't going to cry: he was
+a boy.
+
+
+
+
+ELIZABETH ZANE.
+
+
+On the banks of the Ohio River, near the place where the city of
+Wheeling now stands, there was once a fort called Fort Henry. This fort
+was of the kind called a blockhouse, which is a house built of logs
+made to fit close together. The upper part of the house jutted out
+beyond the lower, in order that the men in the blockhouse might shoot
+downwards at the Indians if they should come near the house to set it
+on fire. Fort Henry was surrounded with a stockade; that is, a fence
+made by setting posts in the ground close together.
+
+During the Revolutionary War the Indians in the neighborhood of this
+fort were fighting on the side of the English. A large number of them
+came to Fort Henry, and tried to take it. All the men that were sent
+outside of the fort to fight the Indians were either killed, or kept
+from going back. The women and the children of the village which stood
+near had all gone into the fort for safety.
+
+When at last the fiercest attack of the Indians was made, there were
+only twelve men and boys left inside of the fort. These men and boys
+had made up their minds to do their best to save the lives of the women
+and children who were with them. Every man and every boy in the fort
+knew how to shoot a rifle. They had guns enough, but they had very
+little powder. So they fired only when they were sure of hitting one of
+the enemy.
+
+The Indians kept shooting all the time. Some of them crept near to the
+blockhouse, and tried to shoot through the cracks, but the bullets of
+the men inside brought down these brave warriors.
+
+After many hours of fighting, the Indians went off a little way to
+rest. The white men had now used nearly all their gunpowder. They began
+to wish for a keg of powder that had been left in one of the houses
+outside. They knew that whoever should go for this would be seen and
+fired at by the Indians. He would have to run to the house and back
+again. The colonel called his men together, and told them he did not
+wish to order any man to do so dangerous a thing as to get the powder,
+but he said he should like to have some one offer to go for it.
+
+Three or four young men offered to go. The colonel told them he could
+not spare more than one of them. They must settle among themselves
+which one should go. But each one of the brave fellows wanted to go,
+and none of them was willing to give up to another. Then there stepped
+forward a young woman named Elizabeth Zane.
+
+"Let me go for the powder," she said.
+
+The brave men were surprised. It would be a desperate thing for a man
+to go. Nobody had dreamed that a woman would venture to do such a
+thing, nor would any of them agree to let a young woman go into danger.
+
+[Illustration: Elizabeth Zane's Return.]
+
+The colonel said, "No," her friends begged her not to run the risk.
+They told her, besides, that any one of the young men could run faster
+than she could.
+
+But Elizabeth said, "You cannot spare a single man. There are not
+enough men in the fort now. If I am killed, you will be as strong to
+fight as before. Let the young men stay where they are needed, and let
+me go for the powder."
+
+She had made up her mind, and nobody could persuade her not to go. So
+the gate of the fort was opened just wide enough for her to get out.
+Her friends gave her up to die.
+
+Some of the Indians saw the gate open, and saw the young woman running
+to the house, but they did not shoot at her. They probably thought that
+they would not waste a bullet on a woman. They could make her a
+prisoner at any time.
+
+She did not try to carry the powder keg, but she took the powder in a
+girl's way. She filled her apron with it. When she came out of the
+house with her apron full of powder, and started to run back to the
+fort, the Indians fired at her. It happened that all of their bullets
+missed her. The gate was opened again, and she got safely into the
+fort. The men were glad that they had powder enough, and they all felt
+braver than ever, after they had seen what a girl could do.
+
+The Indians had seen the gate opened to let her out and to let her in
+again. They thought they could force the gate open; but they could not
+go and push against it, because the men in the blockhouse would shoot
+them if they did. So they made a wooden cannon. They got a hollow log
+and stopped up one end of it. Then they went to the blacksmith's shop
+in the little village and got some chains. They tied these chains round
+the log to hold it together. They had no cannon balls, so, after
+putting gunpowder into the log, they put in stones and bits of iron.
+After dark that evening they dragged this wooden cannon up near to the
+gate. When all was ready, they touched off their cannon. The log cannon
+burst into pieces, and killed some of the Indians, but did not hurt the
+fort.
+
+The next day white men came from other places to help the men in the
+fort. They got into the fort, and after a few more attacks the Indians
+gave up the battle and went away.
+
+Whenever the story of the brave fight at Fort Henry is told, people do
+not forget that the bravest one in it was the girl that brought her
+apron full of gunpowder to the men in the fort.
+
+
+
+
+THE RIVER PIRATES.
+
+
+A hundred years ago the country near the great rivers in the interior
+of the United States was a wilderness. It contained only a few people,
+and these lived in settlements which were widely separated from one
+another. Hardly any of the great trees had been cut down.
+
+There were no roads, except Indian trails through the woods. Nearly all
+travelers had to follow the rivers. Steamboats had not yet been
+invented. Travelers made journeys on flatboats, keel boats, and barges.
+It was easy enough to go down the Ohio and the Mississippi in this way,
+but it was hard to come up again. It took about fifty men to work a
+boat against the stream, and many months were spent in going up the
+river.
+
+Boats were pushed up the river by means of poles. The boatmen pushed
+these against the bottom of the river. When the water was deep or the
+current very swift, a rope was taken out ahead of the boat, and tied to
+a tree on the bank. The line was then slowly drawn in by means of a
+capstan, and this drew the boat forward.
+
+Sometimes the boat was "cordelled," or towed by the men walking on the
+shore and drawing the barge by a rope held on their shoulders. But when
+there chanced to be a strong wind blowing upstream, the boatmen would
+hoist sail, and joyfully make headway against the current without so
+much toil.
+
+These slow-going boats were in danger from Indians. They were in even
+greater danger from robbers, who hid themselves along the shore. Some
+of these robbers lived in caves. Some kept boats hidden in the mouths
+of streams that flowed into the large rivers.
+
+In 1787 all the country west of the Mississippi still belonged to
+France. The French territory stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to what
+is now Minnesota. It was all called Louisiana. New Orleans and St.
+Louis were then French towns, and the travel between them was carried
+on by means of boats, which floated down the stream, and were then
+brought back by poles, ropes, and sails.
+
+The trip was as long as a voyage to China is nowadays. The boats or
+barges set out from St. Louis in the spring, carrying furs. They got
+back again in the fall with goods purchased in New Orleans.
+
+In this year, 1787, a barge belonging to a Mr. Beausoleil (bo-so-lay)
+started from New Orleans to make the voyage to St. Louis. The goods
+with which it was loaded were very valuable. Slowly the men toiled up
+against the stream day after day. At length the little vessel came near
+to the mouth of Cottonwood Creek. A well-known robber band lurked at
+this place. With joy the boatmen saw a favorable wind spring up. They
+spread their sails, and the driving gale carried the barge in safety
+past the mouth of the creek.
+
+But the pirates of Cottonwood Creek were unwilling to lose so rich a
+treasure. They sent a company of men by a short cut overland to head
+off the barge at a place farther up the river. Two days after passing
+Cottonwood Creek the bargemen brought the boat to land. They felt
+themselves beyond danger. But the robbers came suddenly out of the
+woods, took possession of the boat, and ordered the crew to return down
+the river to Cottonwood Creek.
+
+When they turned back toward the robbers' den, Beausoleil was in
+despair. His whole fortune was on the barge. He did not know whether
+the robbers would kill him and his men, or not. The only man of the
+crew who showed no regret was the cook. This cook was a fine-looking
+and very intelligent mulatto slave named Cacasotte. Instead of
+repining, he fell to dancing and laughing.
+
+"I am glad the boat was taken," he cried. "I have been beaten and
+abused long enough. Now I am freed from a hard master."
+
+Cacasotte devoted himself to his new masters, the robbers. In a little
+while he had won their confidence. He was permitted to go wherever he
+pleased, without any watch upon his movements.
+
+He found a chance to talk with Beausoleil, and to lay before him a plan
+for retaking the boat from the villains. Beausoleil thought the
+undertaking too dangerous, but at length he gave his consent. Cacasotte
+then whispered his plan to two others of the crew.
+
+Dinner was served to the pirates on deck. Cacasotte took his place by
+the bow of the boat, so as to be near the most dangerous of the
+robbers. This robber was a powerful man, well armed. When Cacasotte saw
+that the others had taken their places as he had directed, he gave the
+signal, and then pushed the huge robber at his side into the water. In
+three minutes the powerful Cacasotte had thrown fourteen of the robbers
+into the waves. The other men had also done their best. The deck was
+cleared of the pirates, who had to swim for their lives. The robbers
+who remained in the boat were too few to resist. Beausoleil found
+himself again master of his barge, thanks to the coolness and courage
+of Cacasotte.
+
+But the bargemen dared not go on up the river. Against the stream they
+would have to go slowly, and there would be danger from the robbers
+remaining at Cottonwood Creek: so they kept on down the river to New
+Orleans.
+
+The next year ten boats left New Orleans in company. These barges
+carried small cannons, and their crew were all armed. When they reached
+Cottonwood Creek, men were seen on shore; but when an armed force was
+landed, the robbers had fled. The long, low hut which had been their
+dwelling remained. There were also several flatboats loaded with
+valuable goods taken from captured barges. This plunder was carried to
+St. Louis, and restored to the rightful owners. For fifty years
+afterwards this was known as "The Year of the Ten Boats." Cacasotte's
+brave victory was not soon forgotten.
+
+
+
+
+OLD-FASHIONED TELEGRAPHS.
+
+
+THE MUSKET TELEGRAPH.
+
+
+There are many people living who can remember when there were no
+telegraphs such as we have now. The telephone is still younger.
+Railroads are not much older than telegraphs. Horses and stagecoaches
+were slow. How did people send messages quickly when there were no
+telegraph wires?
+
+When colonies in America were first settled by white people, there were
+wars with the Indians. The Indians would creep into a neighborhood and
+kill all the people they could, and then they would get away before the
+soldiers could overtake them. But the white people made a plan to catch
+them.
+
+Whenever the Indians attacked a settlement, the settler who saw them
+first took his gun and fired it three times. Bang, bang, bang! went the
+gun. The settlers who lived near the man who fired the gun heard the
+sound. They knew that three shots following one another quickly, meant
+that the Indians had come.
+
+Every settler who heard the three shots took his gun and fired three
+times. It was bang, bang, bang! again. Then, as soon as he had fired,
+he went in the direction of the first shots. Every man who had heard
+three shots, fired three more, and went toward the shots he had heard.
+Farther and farther away the settlers heard the news, and sent it along
+by firing so that others might hear. Soon little companies of men were
+coming swiftly in every direction. The Indians were sure to be beaten
+off or killed.
+
+This was a kind of telegraph. But there were no wires; there was no
+electricity; only one flint-lock musket waking up another flintlock
+musket, till a hundred guns had been fired, and a hundred men were
+marching to the battle.
+
+
+
+
+TELEGRAPHING BY FIRE.
+
+
+The firing of signal guns was telegraphing by sound. It used only the
+hearing. But there were other ways of telegraphing that used the sight.
+These have been known for thousands of years. They were known even to
+savage people.
+
+The Indians on the plains use fires to telegraph to one another.
+Sometimes they build one fire, sometimes they build many. When a war
+party, coming back from battle, builds five fires on a hill, the
+Indians who see it know that the party has killed five enemies.
+
+But the Indians have also what are known as smoke signals. An Indian
+who wishes to send a message to a party of his friends a long way off,
+builds a fire. When it blazes, he throws an armful of green grass on
+it. This causes the fire to send up a stream of white smoke hundreds of
+feet high, which can be seen fifty miles away in clear weather. Among
+the Apaches, one column of smoke is to call attention; two columns say,
+"All is well, and we are going to remain in this camp;" three columns
+or more are a sign of danger, and ask for help.
+
+[Illustration: A Smoke Signal.]
+
+Sometimes longer messages are sent. After building a fire and putting
+green grass upon it, the Indian spread his blanket over it. He holds
+down the edges, to shut the smoke in. After a few moments he takes his
+blanket off; and when he does this, a great puff of smoke, like a
+balloon, shoots up into the air. This the Indian does over and over.
+One puff of smoke chases another upward. By the number of these puffs,
+and the length of the spaces between them, he makes his meaning
+understood by his friends many miles away.
+
+At night the Indians smear their arrows with something that will burn
+easily. One of them draws his bow. Just as he is about to let his arrow
+fly, another one touches it with fire. The arrow blazes as it shoots
+through the air, like a fiery dragon fly. One burning arrow follows
+another; and those who see them read these telegraph signals, and know
+what is meant.
+
+
+
+
+TELEGRAPHS IN THE REVOLUTION.
+
+
+Our forefathers sometimes used fire to telegraph with in the
+Revolution. Whenever the British troops started on a raid into New
+Jersey, the watchmen on the hilltops lighted great beacon fires. Those
+who saw the fires lighted other fires farther away. These fires let the
+people know that the enemy was coming, for light can travel much faster
+than men on horseback.
+
+Have you heard the story of Paul Revere? When the British were about to
+send troops from Boston to Lexington, Revere and his friends had an
+understanding with the people in Charlestown. Revere was to let them
+know when the troops should march. They were to watch a certain church
+steeple. If one lantern were hung in the steeple, it would mean that
+the British were marching by land. If two lanterns were seen, the
+Charlestown people would know that the troops were leaving Boston by
+water. Revere was sent as a messenger to Lexington. He sent a friend of
+his to hang up the lanterns in the church steeple.
+
+    "Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church,
+    By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
+    To the belfry chamber overhead,
+    And startled the pigeons from their perch
+    On the somber rafters, that round him made
+    Masses and moving shapes of shade,--
+    By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
+    To the highest window in the wall,
+    Where he paused to listen and look down
+    A moment on the roofs of the town,
+    And the moonlight flowing over all."
+
+Long before Paul Revere got across the water in his little boat, the
+people on the other side had seen the lanterns in the tower. They knew
+the British were coming, and were all astir when Paul Revere got over.
+Revere rode on to Lexington and beyond, to alarm the people.
+
+The lines above are from a poem of Longfellow's about this ride. The
+poem is very interesting, but it does not tell the story quite
+correctly.
+
+Paul Revere's lanterns were used at the beginning of the Revolutionary
+War. There is a story of a different sort of telegraph used when the
+war was near its end. It is told by a British officer who had not the
+best means of knowing whether it was true or not. But it shows what
+kind of telegraphs were used in that day. This is the story:--
+
+[Illustration: Old North Church Steeple.]
+
+A British army held New York. Another British army under Cornwallis was
+at Yorktown in Virginia. General Washington had marched to Yorktown. He
+was trying to capture the army of General Cornwallis. He was afraid
+that ships and soldiers would be sent from New York to help Cornwallis.
+But there were men in New York who were secretly on Washington's side.
+One of these was to let him know when ships should sail to help
+Cornwallis.
+
+But Washington was six hundred miles away from New York. How could he
+get the news before the English ships should get there? There were no
+telegraphs. The fastest horses ridden one after another could hardly
+have carried news to him in less than two weeks. But Washington had a
+plan. One of the men who sent news to Washington was living in New
+York. When the ships set sail, he went up on the top of his house and
+hoisted a white flag, or something that looked like a white flag.
+
+On the other side of the Hudson River in a little village a man was
+watching this very house. As soon as he saw the white flag flapping, he
+took up his gun and fired it. Farther off there was a man waiting to
+hear this gun. When he heard it, he fired another gun. Farther on there
+was the crack of another, and then another gun. By the firing of one
+gun after another the news went southward. Bang, bang! went gun after
+gun across the whole State of New Jersey. Then guns in Pennsylvania
+took it up and sent the news onward. Then on across the State of
+Maryland the news went from one gun to another, till it reached
+Virginia, where it passed on from gun to gun till it got to Yorktown.
+In less than two days Washington knew that ships were coming.
+
+When Washington knew that British ships were coming, he pushed the
+fighting at Yorktown with all his might. When the English ships got to
+Chesapeake Bay at last, Cornwallis had already surrendered. The United
+States was free. The ships had come too late.
+
+
+
+
+A BOY'S TELEGRAPH.
+
+
+The best telegraph known before the use of electricity, was invented by
+two schoolboys in France. They were brothers named Chappe (shap-pay).
+They were in different boarding schools some miles apart, and the rules
+of their schools did not allow them to write letters to each other. But
+the two schools were in sight of each other. The brothers invented a
+telegraph. They put up poles with bars of wood on them. These bars
+would turn on pegs or pins. The bars were turned up or down, or one up
+and another down, or two down and one up, and so on. Every movement of
+the bars meant a letter. In this way the two brothers talked to each
+other, though they were miles apart. When the boys became men, they
+sold their plan to the French Government. The money they got made their
+fortune.
+
+[Illustration: A Mail Carrier.]
+
+About the time they were selling this plan to the French Government, a
+boy named Samuel Morse was born in this country. Fifty years later this
+Samuel Morse set up the first Morse electric telegraph, which is the
+one we now use.
+
+In the old days before telegraph wires were strung all over the
+country, it took weeks to carry news to places far away. There were no
+railroads, and the mails had to travel slowly. A boy on a horse trotted
+along the road to carry the mail bags to country places. From one large
+city to another, the mails were carried by stagecoaches.
+
+When the people had voted for President, it was weeks before the news
+of the election could be gathered in. Then it took other weeks to let
+the people in distant villages know the name of the new President.
+Nowadays a great event is known in almost every part of the country on
+the very day it happens.
+
+
+
+
+A BOY'S FOOLISH ADVENTURE.
+
+
+The Natural Bridge has long been thought one of the great curiosities
+of our country. It is in Virginia, and the county in which it is
+situated is called Rockbridge County.
+
+The traveler is riding in a stage on a wild road in the mountains. The
+road grows narrow. Soon it is a mere lane, with high board fences and
+small trees on each side. But the traveler sees nothing to show him
+that he is on the wonderful Natural Bridge.
+
+[Illustration: The Natural Bridge.]
+
+The bridge that he is driving over is about forty feet thick, and of
+solid rock. If he should go to the other side of the board fence, he
+could look down into a ravine more than two hundred feet deep.
+
+When the traveler goes down into the ravine, he looks up at the
+beautiful curve of this great bridge of rock. The bridge is nearly one
+hundred and seventy-five feet above his head.
+
+Many years ago, when the writer of this book was a boy, he stood in the
+dark chasm underneath this bridge and looked up at the great bridge of
+rock above. He took a stone, as all other visitors do, and tried to
+throw it so as to hit the arch of the bridge above. But the stone
+stopped before it got halfway up, and fell back, resounding on the
+rocks below. Then he was told the old story, that nobody had ever
+thrown to the arch except George Washington, who had thrown a silver
+dollar clear to the center of the bridge.
+
+There were names scribbled all over the rocks. People are always trying
+to write their own names in such strange places as this. Above all the
+other names were two rows of mere scratches. If they had ever been
+names, they were too much dimmed to be read by a person standing on the
+rocks below. The lower of these two high names, the people said, was
+the name of Washington. It was said that when he was a young man, he
+climbed higher than any one else to scratch his name on the rock. And
+the name above his, they said, was the name of a young man who had had
+a strange adventure in trying to write his name above that of the
+father of his country.
+
+The story of this young man's climbing up the rocks used to appear in
+the old schoolbooks. It was told with so many romantic additions, that
+it was hard to believe.
+
+The writer afterwards learned that the main fact of the story was true,
+and, that the hero of the story was still living in Virginia.
+
+This foolhardy boy, whose name was Pepper, climbed up the rock to write
+his name above the rest. Pepper climbed up by holding to little broken
+places in the rocks till he had got above the names of all the other
+climbers. He ventured to climb till he had passed the marks which
+people say are part of Washington's name. Here Pepper held fast with
+one hand, while he scratched his name in the rock.
+
+His companions were far below him. He could not get down again. The
+rock face was too smooth. He could not stoop to put his hands down into
+the cracks where his feet were. If he had tried to, he would have lost
+his hold, and been dashed to pieces on the rocks below.
+
+There was nothing to do now but to climb out from under the bridge, and
+so up the face of the rock to the top of the gorge. He must do this or
+die.
+
+Painfully clinging to the rock with his toes and his fingers, he worked
+his way up. Sometimes a crevice in the rock helped him. Sometimes he
+had to dig a place with his knife in order to get a hold. It seemed
+that each step would be his last.
+
+The few people living in the neighborhood heard of his situation, and
+gathered below and above to look at him. They watched him with
+breathless anxiety. His friends expected to see him dashed to pieces at
+any moment.
+
+As the time wore on, he worked his way up. He also got farther out from
+under the bridge. He held on like a cat. He hooked his fingers into
+every crack he could find. He dug holes with his dull knife. When he
+could find a little bush in the rocks, he thought himself lucky.
+
+Men let down ropes to him, but the ropes did not reach him. They tied
+one rope to another so as to reach farther down, but he was too far
+under the bridge. The people hardly dared to speak or to breathe.
+
+At last he began to get out at the side of the bridge where he could be
+seen from above. His strength was almost gone. His knife was too much
+worn to be of any use. He could not cling to the rock much longer.
+
+A rope with a noose in it was swung close to him. He let go his grip on
+the rock, and threw his arms and body into the noose. In a moment he
+swung clear of the rock, and dangled in the air. The rope drew tight
+about his body and held him. Young Pepper knew no more. He was drawn up
+over the rocks to the summit quite unconscious.
+
+Years afterward he became a man of distinction in his State. But when
+any of his friends asked Colonel Pepper about his climbing out from
+under the Natural Bridge, he would say, "Yes; I did that when I was a
+foolish boy, but I don't like to think about it."
+
+
+
+
+A FOOT RACE FOR LIFE.
+
+
+In 1803 that part of our country which lies west of the Mississippi was
+almost unknown to the white men. In that year the President sent
+Captain Lewis and Captain Clark to see what the country was like. They
+went up the Missouri River and across the Rocky Mountains. Then they
+went down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. It took them more
+than two years to make the trip there and back.
+
+Lewis and Clark had about forty-five men with them. One of these men
+was named Colter. In the very heart of the wild country he left the
+party, and set up as a trapper. A trapper is a man who catches animals
+in traps in order to get their skins to sell. The Blackfoot Indians
+made Colter a prisoner. Colter knew a little of their language. He
+heard them talking of how they should kill their prisoner. They thought
+it would be fun to set him up and shoot at him with their arrows until
+he was dead. At this time the Indians on the western plains had no
+guns. But the Indian chief thought he knew a better way. He laid hold
+of Colter's shoulder, and said,--
+
+"Can you run fast?"
+
+Colter could run very swiftly, but he pretended to the chief that he
+was a bad runner. So they took him out on the prairie about four
+hundred yards away from the Indians. There he was turned loose, and
+told to run.
+
+The whole band of Indians ran after him, yelling like wild beasts.
+Colter did not look back. He had to run through thorns that hurt his
+bare feet. But he was running for his life. Six miles away there was a
+river. If he could get to that, he might escape.
+
+He almost flew over the ground. At first he did not turn his head
+round. When he had run about three miles, he glanced back. Most of the
+Indians had lost ground. The best runners were ahead of the others. One
+Indian, swifter than all the rest, was only about a hundred yards
+behind him. This man had a spear in his hand to kill Colter as soon as
+he should be near enough.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Poor Colter now ran harder than ever to get away from this Indian. At
+last he was only about a mile from the river. He looked back, and saw
+the swift Indian only twenty yards away, with his spear ready to throw.
+
+It was of no use for Colter to keep on running. He turned round and
+faced the swift runner, who was about to throw his spear. Colter spread
+his arms wide, and stood still.
+
+The Indian was surprised at this. He tried to stop running, so as to
+kill the white man with his spear. But he had already run himself
+nearly to death, and, when he tried to stop quickly, he lost his
+balance, and fell forward to the ground. His lance stuck in the earth,
+and broke in two.
+
+Colter quickly pulled the pointed end of the spear out of the ground
+and killed the fallen Indian. Then he turned and ran on toward the
+river.
+
+The other Indians were coming swiftly behind; but, as they passed the
+place where the first one lay dead, each of them stopped a moment to
+howl over him, after their custom. This gave Colter a little more time.
+He reached a patch of woods near the river. He ran through this to the
+river, and jumped in He swam toward a little island.
+
+Logs and brush had floated down the river, and lodged across the
+island. This driftwood had formed a great raft. Colter dived under this
+raft. He swam to a place where he could push his head up to get air,
+and still be hidden by the brush.
+
+The Indians were already yelling on the bank of the river. A moment
+later they were swimming toward the island. When they reached the drift
+pile, they ran this way and that. They looked into all the cracks and
+tried to find the white man. They ran right over his hiding place.
+Colter thought they would surely find him.
+
+But after a long time they went away. Colter thought they would set
+fire to the raft of driftwood, but they did not think of that. Perhaps
+they thought that Colter had been drowned.
+
+He lay still under the raft till night came. Then he swam down the
+stream a long distance, left the stream, and went far out on the
+prairie. Here he felt himself safe from his enemies.
+
+But he had no clothes and no food. He had no gun to shoot animals with.
+It was several days' journey to the nearest place where there were
+white men, at a trading house.
+
+Colter had nothing to eat but roots. The sun burned his skin in the
+daytime. He shivered without a covering at night. The thorns hurt his
+feet when he walked, but he found his way to the trading house at last.
+
+He used to tell of wonderful things that he saw while traveling to the
+trading house after he got away from the Indians. He saw springs that
+were boiling hot and steaming. He saw fountains that would sometimes
+spout hot water into the air for hundreds of feet.
+
+These and many other wonderful things that he saw at this time he used
+to tell about. But nobody believed his stories. Nobody had ever seen
+anything of the kind in this country. When Colter would tell of these
+things, those who heard him thought that he was making up stories, or
+that he had been out of his head while traveling and had thought he saw
+such wonders.
+
+But after many long years the wonderful place which we call Yellowstone
+Park was found, and in it were boiling and spouting springs. People
+knew then that Colter had been telling the truth, and that he had
+traveled through the Yellowstone country.
+
+[Illustration: A Geyser.]
+
+
+
+
+LORETTO AND HIS WIFE.
+
+
+In old times white men had not made settlements in the country near the
+Rocky Mountains. Tribes of Indians fought one another over that whole
+region. A few bold white men, fond of wild life, lived there, in order
+to hunt and trap the animals that bear furs. But they themselves were
+always in danger of being hunted by the Indians.
+
+The Indians called Blackfeet and those called Crows were at war; They
+stole each other's horses at every chance, and the Indians of each
+tribe were always seeking to kill those of the other.
+
+In one of their attacks on the Blackfeet, the Crows carried off an
+Indian girl. One of the bold trappers of the Rocky Mountains was a
+Mexican. His name was Loretto. He visited a Crow village once, and saw
+this girl. He fell in love with the captive, and bought her from the
+Crows. Whether he paid for her in horses or in beaver skins, I do not
+know. But from a slave of the enemies of her tribe she was changed to
+the wife of a white man who loved her.
+
+Loretto was hired to trap for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. This
+company bought furs from the Indians of the Far West. They sent large
+parties to the mountains every year with guns, knives, hatchets,
+blankets, and other things, which they traded to the Indians for skins.
+
+Loretto was marching over the plains with a party of trappers belonging
+to this company. He had his young Blackfoot wife and his baby with him.
+The white men were much afraid of the Blackfoot Indians. The company
+that Loretto was with examined every ravine that they passed, for fear
+that the Indians would surprise them.
+
+One day a band of the Blackfoot tribe appeared on the prairie, but they
+kept near some rocks to which they could easily retire. They made signs
+of friendship. The trappers also made friendly signs. Then the
+Blackfeet sent out a party with a pipe of peace. The white men sent out
+a party to meet them. They smoked the pipe in the open ground between
+the two companies. This is the Indian way of making peace.
+
+Of course, Loretto's wife was much interested in the Blackfeet. They
+were her own people. It had been a long time since she had seen one of
+them. She looked closely at the company smoking together, and saw that
+one of them was her brother. She handed the child to Loretto. Then she
+rushed out to the place where the treaty was going on, and her brother
+threw his arms about her with the greatest affection.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+But just at that moment, Bridger, the captain of the white men, rode
+out where the pipe was being smoked. He had his rifle across the pommel
+of his saddle. The chief of the Blackfeet came up to shake hands with
+him. Bridger was afraid the chief meant to hurt him, so he slyly cocked
+his rifle. The chief heard the click, and seized the gun. He bent it
+downwards, and the gun went off, shooting a bullet into the ground. The
+chief took the gun and knocked Bridger off his horse with it. Then he
+mounted Bridger's horse and galloped back to his Indians. Indians and
+white men now got behind the rocks and trees which were not far away,
+and began to shoot at each other.
+
+Loretto's wife was carried away by her tribe. In vain she struggled to
+get free, and begged to be allowed to go back to her husband and child.
+The Indians would not let her go.
+
+Loretto saw her struggles, and heard her cries. He took his child, and
+ran to the Indians with it. He handed the child to its mother. The
+Indian bullets and arrows were flying all about him.
+
+The chief saw him carry the child across the open ground, and his heart
+was touched. It was a noble action.
+
+He said to Loretto, "You are crazy to go into such danger, but go back
+in peace; you shall not be hurt."
+
+Loretto begged to be allowed to take his wife with him, but her brother
+would not let her go, and the chief now began to look angry.
+
+"The girl belongs to her tribe," he said. "She shall not go back."
+
+Loretto wanted to stay with his wife, but she begged him to go back,
+lest he should be killed on the spot. At last he left her, and went
+back to the white men.
+
+Night came on, and the Indians drew off. Not much harm had been done to
+anybody.
+
+Loretto could not be happy without his wife. A few months later, he
+settled his accounts with the Fur Company and went away. He went boldly
+into one of the villages of the savage Blackfeet. Here he found his
+wife, and staid with her.
+
+When the white men made peace with the Blackfeet, they set up a trading
+house among them. Loretto joined the traders. They were glad to have
+him, because he could speak the language of the tribe.
+
+
+
+
+A BLACKFOOT STORY.
+
+
+Here is a story the Indians tell. It is one of the tales with which
+they amuse themselves in long evenings. It may be true. At least, the
+Indians tell it for true.
+
+An Indian chief of the tribe called Blackfoot, or Blackfeet, went over
+the Rocky Mountains with a war party. He killed some of the enemies of
+his tribe, and then started back. For fear their enemies would follow
+their tracks, the party did not take the usual path. They went up over
+the wildest part of the mountain. But when it came to going down on the
+other side, the Indians had a hard time.
+
+They had to clamber over great rocks and down the sides of cliffs.
+Drifts of snow blocked their way in places. At last they had to stop.
+They stood on the edge of a cliff. Below this cliff was a ridge or
+shelf of rock. By tying themselves together, and so helping one another
+down, they got to this shelf. Below this they found still another
+cliff. It was harder to get down to this.
+
+But when they had got down as far as this ledge, they were in a worse
+plight than ever. They stood on the brink of a great cliff. The rocks
+were too steep for them to get down. It was hundreds of feet to the
+bottom.
+
+They tried to get back up the mountain, but that they could not do.
+Then they sat down and looked over the brink of the cliff. There was no
+chance for them to get down alive. They must stay there and starve.
+
+The Indians filled their pipes with kinnikinnick, or willow bark, and
+smoked. Then they knocked the ashes out of their pipes, and lay down to
+sleep.
+
+But the chief did not sleep. He could not think of any way of getting
+out of the trouble. When morning came, they all went and looked over
+the cliff once more. Then they smoked again. After sitting silent for
+some time, the chief laid down his pipe quietly, got to his feet, and
+went to painting his face as if he were getting ready for a feast. He
+arranged his dress with the greatest care. Then he made a little
+speech.
+
+"It is of no use to stay here and die," he said. "The Great Spirit is
+not willing that we should get away. Let us die bravely."
+
+He added other remarks of the same kind. Then he sang his death song.
+When this was finished, he gave a shout, and leaped over the cliff.
+
+When the chief had gone, the others sat down and smoked again in
+silence. After a long time, a weather-beaten old Indian got up and
+walked to the edge of the cliff.
+
+"See," he said, "there is the soul of our chief, waiting for us to go
+with him to the land of spirits."
+
+The others looked over, and saw the form of a man far below, waving the
+bough of a tree.
+
+The old warrior now threw off his blanket and sang his death song. Then
+he leaped off. The others again looked over, and this time they saw two
+forms beckoning to them from below.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+One after another the Indians jumped, until there were left but two
+young men who were little more than boys. These two boys were nephews
+of the chief. They had never been in a war party.
+
+The elder of the two showed his young brother the ghosts of the whole
+party standing below. He told his brother he must jump off, but the
+frightened boy begged to be allowed to stay and die on the bare rock.
+
+The elder seized him, and, after a struggle, pushed him over. Then he
+quietly gathered up all the blankets and guns, and threw them off. He
+thought the souls of his friends would need these things in their
+journey to the land of spirits.
+
+When this was done, the young man sang his own death song and jumped
+off. Falling swiftly as an arrow, feet downward, he struck a great snow
+drift at the bottom. It received him like an immense feather bed. He
+sank in so far that he had hard work to get out. When he had succeeded,
+he found all of his party, not spirits, as he had expected, but living
+men, safe and sound. The snow had saved them from injury.
+
+
+
+
+HOW FREMONT CROSSED THE MOUNTAINS.
+
+
+It is many years now since Captain Fremont made his great journey over
+plains and mountains to California. At that time California belonged to
+Mexico. The wild country east of it belonged to the United States.
+There were hardly any roads and no railroads in the country west of the
+Missouri River. Fremont was sent out to explore that country; that is,
+he was sent to find out what kind of a country it was. The white people
+knew very little about it.
+
+Fremont had a large party of men with many horses. After months of
+travel he found himself near the great Californian mountains. These
+mountains are called the Sierra Nevada, or "Snowy Range."
+
+Here some Indians came to see him. He had a talk with them by signs,
+for he could not speak their language. They told him he could cross the
+mountains in summer. They said it was "six sleeps" to the place where
+the white men lived over the mountains. They meant that a man would
+have to pass six nights on the road in going there. But it was now
+winter, and they told him that no man could cross in the winter. They
+held their hands above their heads to show him that the snow was deeper
+than a man is tall.
+
+But Fremont told the Indians that the horses of the white men were
+strong, and that he would go over the mountains. He showed them some
+bright-colored cloths, which he said he would give to any Indian who
+would go along as a guide. The Indians called in a young man who said
+he had been over the mountains and had seen the white people on the
+other side. He agreed to go with Fremont. Fremont now talked to his
+men, and told them there was a beautiful valley on the other side of
+the mountains,--the valley of the Sacramento. He told them that Captain
+Sutter had moved to this valley from Missouri, and had become a rich
+man. It was but seventy miles to Sutter's Fort. The men agreed to try
+to cross the mountains.
+
+They had but little left to eat. They killed a dog and ate it that very
+evening. They would not have much chance to get food in crossing the
+mountains, but they started in bravely the next morning. They did not
+talk much. They knew that it was very dangerous to cross the mountains
+in February.
+
+For days and days they fought their way through the snow, which got
+deeper and deeper as they went higher up into the mountains. Traveling
+grew harder and harder. The horses had nothing to eat but what could be
+found in little patches of grass where the wind had blown the snow off
+the ground. Whenever a horse or mule grew too weak to travel, the men
+killed it and ate it.
+
+One day an old Indian came to see them. He told them they must not go
+on. He said, "Rock upon rock, rock upon rock, snow upon snow, snow upon
+snow, and even if you get over the snow, you will not be able to get
+down the mountain on the other side."
+
+He made signs to show them that the walls of rock were straight up and
+down, and that the horses would slip oft. This frightened the Indians
+in Fremont's company, and one Indian covered up his head and moaned
+while the old man was talking.
+
+The young Indian guide was afraid to go on. He ran away the next day,
+taking all the pretty things that Fremont had given him, and a blanket
+that Fremont had lent him to keep warm.
+
+The men now made snowshoes, so that they could walk over the snow
+without sinking in. Sleds were made to draw the baggage on, for the
+horses were getting too weak to carry anything. They found the snow
+twenty feet deep in some places. The men had to make great mauls or
+pounders to beat down the snow, to make a hard road on which the
+animals could travel. Fremont's men now grew very hungry, for they had
+little to eat except when they killed a starving mule or a dog.
+
+At last the whole party reached the top of the mountains at a place
+where they were nine thousand feet high. They had been three weeks in
+getting to the top. They had yet the hard task of getting down on the
+other side. But they could see the beautiful country of California
+below them. They began to work their way down over the snow and rocks.
+
+After some days Fremont took a party of eight men, and went on to get
+provisions for the rest. But for a long distance he found no grass, and
+his animals began to give out. One of his men grew so hungry and tired
+that he became insane for a while. Another got lost from the party, and
+found them only after several days. He told the rest that he had
+suffered so much from hunger that he ate small toads, and even let the
+large ants creep upon his hands so that he could eat them.
+
+One day Fremont saw some Indian huts. The Indians ran away when they
+saw the white men coming. Fremont found near these huts some great
+baskets as big as hogsheads filled with acorns. Inside the huts he
+found smaller baskets with roasted acorns in them. The men took about
+half a bushel of these roasted acorns, and left a shirt, some
+handkerchiefs, and some trinkets, to pay for them.
+
+At last they came to a place where there were paths, and tracks of
+cattle. The horses, having found grass to eat, grew strong enough for
+the men to ride them. One day Fremont found some Indians, one of whom
+could speak Spanish.
+
+The Indian said, "I am a herdsman, and work for Captain Sutter."
+
+"Where does he live?"
+
+"Just over the hill. I will show you."
+
+In a short time Fremont and his white men were at the house of Sutter.
+But Captain Fremont rested only one night. The next morning he started
+back with food for his starving men, who were coming on behind. The
+second day after he left Sutter's he met his men.
+
+They were a sad sight. They were all on foot. Each man was leading a
+horse as weak and lean as he was himself. Many of the horses had fallen
+off the rocks, and had been killed. Only half of the mules and horses
+that had started over the mountains had lived to get across. As soon as
+Fremont met his men, he told them to camp. He fed the poor starving
+fellows beef and bread and fresh salmon. The next day they all reached
+the beautiful Sacramento River, where the city of Sacramento now
+stands.
+
+
+
+
+FINDING GOLD IN CALIFORNIA.
+
+
+California once belonged to Mexico. Then there was a war between this
+country and Mexico. This is what we call the Mexican War. During that
+war the United States took California away from Mexico. It is now one
+of the richest and most beautiful States in the Union. In the old days,
+when California belonged to Mexico, it was a quiet country. Nearly all
+the white people spoke Spanish, which is the language of Mexico. They
+lived mostly by raising cattle. In those days people did not know that
+there was gold in California. A little gold had been found in the
+southern part of the State, but nobody expected to find valuable gold
+mines. A few people from the United States had settled in the country.
+They also raised cattle.
+
+Some time after the United States had taken California, peace was made
+with Mexico. California then became a part of our country. About the
+time that this peace was made, something happened which made a great
+excitement all over the country. It changed the history of our country,
+and changed the business of the whole world. Here is the story of it:--
+
+A man named Sutter had moved from Missouri to California. He built a
+house which was called Sutter's Fort. It was where the city of
+Sacramento now stands. Sutter had many horses and oxen, and he owned
+thousands of acres of land. He traded with the Indians, and carried on
+other kinds of business.
+
+But everything was done in the slow Mexican way. When he wanted boards,
+he sent men to saw them out by hand. It took two men a whole day to saw
+up a log so as to make a dozen boards. There was no sawmill in all
+California.
+
+When Sutter wanted to grind flour or meal, this also was done in the
+Mexican way. A large stone roller was run over a flat stone. But at
+last Sutter thought he would have a grinding mill of the American sort.
+To build this, he needed boards. He thought he would first build a
+sawmill. Then he could get boards quickly for his grinding mill, and
+have lumber to use for other things.
+
+Sutter sent a man named Marshall to build his sawmill. It was to be
+built forty miles away from Sutter's Fort. The mill had to be where
+there were trees to saw.
+
+Marshall was a very good carpenter, who could build almost anything. He
+had some men working with him. After some months they got the mill
+done. This mill was built to run by water.
+
+But when he started it, the mill did not run well. Marshall saw that he
+must dig a ditch below the great water wheel, to carry off the water.
+He hired wild Indians to dig the ditch.
+
+When the Indians had partly dug this ditch, Marshall went out one
+January morning to look at it. The clear water was running through the
+ditch. It had washed away the sand, leaving the pebbles bare. At the
+bottom of the water Marshall saw something yellow. It looked like
+brass. He put his hand down into the water and took up this bright,
+yellow thing. It was about the size and shape of a small pea. Then he
+looked, and found another pretty little yellow bead at the bottom of
+the ditch.
+
+Marshall trembled all over. It might be gold. But he remembered that
+there is another yellow substance that looks like gold. It is called
+"fool's gold." He was afraid he had only found fool's gold.
+
+Marshall knew that if it was gold it would not break easily. He laid
+one of the pieces on a stone; then he took another stone and hammered
+it. It was soft, and did not break. If it had broken to pieces,
+Marshall would have known that it was not gold.
+
+In a few days the men had dug up about three ounces of the yellow
+stuff. They had no means of making sure it was gold.
+
+Then Marshall got on a horse and set out for Sutter's Fort, carrying
+the yellow metal with him. He traveled as fast as the rough road would
+let him. He rode up to Sutler's in the evening, all spattered with mud.
+
+He told Captain Sutter that he wished to see him alone. Marshall's eyes
+looked wild, and Sutter was afraid that he was crazy. But he went to a
+room with him. Then Marshall wanted the door locked. Sutter could not
+think what was the matter with the man.
+
+[Illustration: Weighing the First Gold.]
+
+When he was sure that nobody else would come in, Marshall poured out in
+a heap on the table the little yellow beads that he had brought.
+
+Sutter thought it was gold, but the men did not know how to tell
+whether it was pure or not. At last they hunted up a book that told how
+heavy gold is. Then they got a pair of scales and weighed the gold,
+putting silver dollars in the other end of the scales for weights. Then
+they held one end of the scales under water and weighed the gold. By
+finding how much lighter it was in the water than out of the water,
+they found that it was pure gold.
+
+All the men at the mill promised to keep the secret. They were all
+digging up gold when not working in the mill. As soon as the mill
+should be done, they were going to wash gold.
+
+But the secret could not be kept. A teamster who came to the mill was
+told about it. He got a few grains of the precious gold.
+
+When the teamster got back to Sutter's Fort, he went to a store to buy
+a bottle of whisky, but he had no money. The storekeeper would not sell
+to him without money. The teamster then took out some grains of gold.
+The storekeeper was surprised. He let the man have what he wanted. The
+teamster would not tell where he got the gold. But after he had taken
+two or three drinks of the whisky, he was not able to keep his secret.
+He soon told all he knew about the finding of gold at Sutter's Mill.
+
+The news spread like fire in dry grass. Men rushed to the mill in the
+mountains to find gold. Gold was also found at other places. Merchants
+in the towns of California left their stores. Mechanics laid down their
+tools, and farmers left their fields, to dig gold. Some got rich in a
+few weeks. Others were not so lucky.
+
+Soon the news went across the continent. It traveled also to other
+countries. More than one hundred thousand men went to California the
+first year after gold was found, and still more poured in the next
+year. Thousands of men went through the Indian country with wagons. Of
+course, there were no railroads to the west in that day.
+
+Millions and millions of dollars' worth of gold was dug. In a short
+time California became a rich State. Railroads were built across the
+country. Ships sailed on the Pacific Ocean to carry on the trade of
+this great State. Every nation of the earth had gold from California.
+
+And it all started from one little, round, yellow bead of gold, that
+happened to lie shining at the bottom of a ditch, on a cold morning not
+so very long ago.
+
+
+
+
+DESCENDING THE GRAND CANYON.
+
+
+The Colorado River is the strangest river in the United States. For
+hundreds of miles it runs through channels in solid rocks. These
+channels are often thousands of feet deep. In some places the rocks
+rise straight up like walls. These walls are quite bare. There are no
+trees and no grass on them. There is not even any moss to be seen. The
+bare rocks are of many colors. When the sunlight strikes upon them,
+they are as beautiful as flowers and as gorgeous as the clouds, we are
+told.
+
+These deep cuts, through which the river runs, are called canyons. The
+longest of them is called the Grand Canyon (see frontispiece). It is
+about two hundred miles long. In some places it is more than a mile and
+a quarter deep. The river runs at the bottom of this deep ravine. It
+rushes over rapids, and plunges over falls. Sometimes there is a little
+strip of rock like a shelf at the edge of the river. In many places the
+walls of rock rise straight from the water, and there is no place where
+a man can put his feet.
+
+Major Powell resolved to go through this canyon in boats. No boat had
+ever gone down this deep, dark channel. Two men, running away from
+Indians, had once gone into it on a raft. The raft was dashed over
+rapids and waterfalls. The provisions of the men were washed overboard.
+One of the men was drowned, and the other at last floated out at the
+lower end of the canyon more dead than alive.
+
+Being a man of science, Major Powell wanted to find out about the Grand
+Canyon. He knew that it would be a fearful journey. He and his men
+might all be lost, but they made up their minds to try to go through.
+
+They did not know how long the canyon was. They had already passed
+through the other canyons above, and had suffered many hardships. They
+knew how wild and dangerous such places are, but whether they could
+ever get through this great and awful gorge they did not know. But they
+got into their boats, and started down the long passage. The sun shines
+down into this narrow gorge only for a short time each day. Most of the
+way the walls are too steep to climb.
+
+The boats shot swiftly down the river. Sometimes they ran over wild
+rapids. The men had many narrow escapes. The boats bumped against the
+rocks, and some of the oars were broken. New oars had to be made, and,
+to do this, the men had to find logs that had drifted down the river.
+Sometimes Major Powell and his men had to have pitch to stop the leaks
+in their boats. To get this, they had to climb up thousands of feet of
+rock to where some little pine trees grew.
+
+They could not see far ahead, because the river was not straight, and
+the side walls of the narrow gorge shut out the view. Sometimes they
+would hear a loud roaring of water ahead. Then they knew they were
+coming to a waterfall. If there was any room to walk, they would carry
+and drag their boat round the falls. If there was no shelf or shore on
+which to carry the boats, they had to let them float down over the
+falls, the men on the rocks above holding ropes tied to the boats.
+Sometimes they could not even do this. Then they had to get into the
+boats and plunge over the falls among the rocks. They had hard work to
+keep off the rocks.
+
+More than once a boat got full of water. The men had to let the boat
+run till they got to a wider place, where they could get the water out.
+
+Their flour was spoiled by getting wet. Their bacon became bad. Much of
+their food was lost overboard. They usually slept out on the rocks by
+the side of the river. Sometimes they slept in caves. Once they sat up
+all night on a shelf of rock in a pouring rain.
+
+All day they had to work, to save their lives. At night they had to
+sleep on cold rocks without blankets enough to keep them warm. The
+great rock walls on either side of them made an awful prison. They
+could not tell how far they had gone, nor did they know just how far
+they had to go.
+
+At last the food ran short. The men were tired of musty flour. They had
+lost their baking powder, and they had to make heavy bread. They
+thought that even this bad food would give out before they could reach
+the end of the canyon.
+
+But one day they came to a little patch of earth by the side of the
+river. On this some corn was growing. The Indians living on the bare
+rocks above had come down by some steep path to plant this little
+cornfield. The corn was not yet large enough to eat. But among the corn
+grew some green squashes.
+
+Major Powell's men were too near starving not to take anything they
+could find to eat. They took some of the green squashes and put them
+into their boats. Then they ran on down the canyon, out of the reach of
+any Indians. Here they stewed some of the squashes, and ate them.
+
+When they had been fifteen days in this great canyon, they had but a
+little flour and some dried apples left. They had now come to a place
+where one could climb up out of the gorge. But they did not know how
+far they were from the end. Three of the men here resolved to leave the
+party. They did not believe that there was any hope of running out of
+the canyon in the boats alive. They took their share of the food and
+some guns, and bade the others good-by. They climbed up out of the
+canyon, and were soon after killed by Indians.
+
+One of the boats was by this time nearly worn out by the rocks. As
+there were not enough men left to manage three boats, this one was left
+behind. Major Powell, with those of his men who were still with him,
+went on down the awful river. The very next day they ran suddenly out
+into an open space. They had at last got out of the Grand Canyon, which
+had held them prisoners for sixteen days.
+
+They went on down the river, and the next day after this they found
+some settlers drawing a seine or net to catch fish in the river. These
+settlers had heard that Major Powell and his men were lost, and they
+were keeping a lookout for any pieces of his boats that might float
+down from above. Food of many kinds was sent from the nearest
+settlement to feast the hungry men who had so bravely struggled through
+the Grand Canyon.
+
+
+
+
+THE-MAN-THAT-DRAWS-THE-HANDCART.
+
+
+George Northrup was but a boy of fifteen when his father died. Having
+nothing to keep him at home, he went to the Indian country, which at
+that time was in Minnesota. He had a boyish notion that he could go
+through to the Pacific Ocean by making his way from one tribe to
+another. When he was eighteen years old, a few years before the Civil
+War, he tried to make this journey. He loaded his provisions into a
+handcart, and took a big dog along for company. For thirty-six days he
+did not see anybody, or hear any voice but his own. Then he found paths
+made by Indian war parties. He knew, that, if one of these parties
+should find him, he would be killed.
+
+One morning he found all his food stolen from his handcart. Either
+Indians or wolves had taken it. He now saw how foolish his boyish plan
+had been. He turned back, and at last reached a trading post, almost
+starved to death. For days he had had little to eat except such frogs
+as he could catch.
+
+After this the Indians always called him
+"The-man-that-draws-the-handcart."
+
+As he grew older, he became a famous trapper and guide. He knew all
+about the habits of animals. He could shoot with a better aim than any
+Indian or any other white man on the frontier. He often walked eighty
+miles in a day across the prairie. He could manage the Indians as no
+other man could.
+
+This strange young man lived among rough and wicked men. But he never
+drank or swore, or did anything that anybody could have thought wrong.
+He never even smoked, as other men about him did, but he lived his own
+life in his own way. Everybody loved him for his gentleness. Everybody
+admired him for his courage and manliness. All the spare money he got
+he spent for good books.
+
+When winter time came, he would sometimes hire other trappers, who did
+not know the country so well as he did, to work for him. He would go
+away beyond the settlements and set up a camp. He would teach the other
+men how to trap. When spring came, he would bring many furs into the
+settlement. One winter he camped in the country of the Yankton Indians.
+He had six men with him. The Yanktons were wild Indians, and Northrup
+was in some danger. But he had a friend among the Indians, a chief
+called by a good long name, Taw-ton-wash-tah.
+
+But all the Yanktons were not friendly to the white men. There was one
+chief whose name was Old-man. He got together a party to go and rob
+Northrup and drive him away. Taw-ton-wash-tah tried to keep these
+Indians from going, but he could not do it.
+
+Northrup did not know that a party had been sent out against him. His
+men went on with their trapping, while George went hunting to get food
+for them. They had only a small bag of flour, and this they did not
+eat. They kept the flour for a time that might come in which they could
+not find any animals to kill for meat.
+
+One day George followed the tracks of an elk. He overtook it six miles
+from his camp. He crept up to it and shot it. Then he loaded his gun,
+so as to be ready for anything that might happen. While he was skinning
+the elk, he looked up and saw the heads of Indians coming up over a
+little hill. He quickly jumped into the bushes. He saw that there were
+thirteen Indians in the party. He put his hand on his bullet pouch, and
+knew by the feeling of it that there were fifteen bullets in the bag.
+"Every bullet must bring down an Indian," he said to himself.
+
+One of the Indians called out in his own language, "Is
+The-man-that-draws-the-handcart here?"
+
+George quickly replied in their language, "Stop! If any man comes one
+step nearer, I will kill him. Tell me whether this is a war party or a
+hunting party."
+
+One of the Indians stepped out in front and fired off both barrels of
+his gun. This was a sign of friendship.
+
+Northrup did not think this offer of peace worth much; but, if he
+refused it, he would have to fight against thirteen Indians. He could
+only accept it by firing off both barrels of his gun. This would leave
+him with his gun unloaded.
+
+But he slipped the cap off one barrel of his gun. Then he fired the
+other barrel, and brought down the hammer of the one from which he had
+taken the cap, so as to make it seem that that barrel of his gun was
+empty. Then he slyly slipped the cap back on his gun, so as to have one
+barrel ready for use.
+
+He went with the Indians to their camp, where he was a kind of
+prisoner, but he managed to load the empty barrel of his gun by going
+behind a tree where the Indians could not see him.
+
+He knew that the Indians would try to get to his camp before he did. As
+his men did not know how to manage Indians, the Indians could steal
+everything in the camp. If they should take his provisions, George and
+his men might starve on the prairies, which were covered with snow.
+
+So George made up his mind that he must get to his camp before the
+Indians, or lose his life in trying.
+
+He said to the chief, "Old-man, I am going home."
+
+He did not wait for an answer, but started along the trail leading to
+his camp. He expected the Indians to shoot him, but they only fell into
+line and marched behind him.
+
+George knew that if the Indians got into the camp with him, they would
+find everything scattered about. Before he could get things together,
+they would steal most of them. So he tried once more what he could do
+by boldness. He turned and said to the chief, "My men are new men. They
+do not know Indians. If you should go in with me, they might shoot. It
+is better that I should go in first, and tell them that you come as
+friends."
+
+Old-man said "Ho," which is the way that a Yankton has of saying "All
+right."
+
+Northrup went into the camp, and gathered everything together in one
+place, and told his men to keep watch over the things. The Indians
+staid about the camp two days, trying to get a chance to rob the white
+men, but Northrup kept his eye on them. Once he found one of his men
+without a gun.
+
+"Where is your gun?" he said.
+
+"The Indians are sitting on it," said the man. "They will not give it
+up."
+
+George found several Indians sitting on the gun. He took hold of the
+gun and looked at the Indians. They all got up. It seemed that they
+could not help doing what he wanted them to do. Northrup gave the gun
+back to its owner, and told him not to let it go out of his hands
+again.
+
+George had a fine double-barreled rifle. An English gentleman whose
+guide he had been had sent him this gun from London. When he was in his
+tent one day, he heard the Indians on the outside of it disputing who
+should have his gun. He knew by this that they meant to kill him.
+
+George patted his rifle as though it had been an old friend, and said,
+"Well, old gun, whoever gets you will have to be quick." After that his
+hand was always on his gun, and his eye was always on the Indians.
+
+He asked his men where the sack of flour was.
+
+"Old-man has it," said one of his men.
+
+To let the chief keep the flour was to run the risk of starving, but
+Northrup knew that if he took it away there might be a battle. He
+stepped up to the chief and took the bag of flour from his side and
+started away without saying a word.
+
+[Illustration: "You shall go South!"]
+
+"Man-that-draws-the-handcart," said the chief angrily, "bring back my
+flour."
+
+George stopped, and opened his coat. He pointed toward his heart and
+said,--
+
+"Old-man, if you want to kill me, shoot me, but you shall not take away
+my flour and leave me to starve."
+
+"Very well," said the chief sternly, "then,
+Man-that-draws-the-handcart, you shall go south."
+
+In the language of these Indians, to go south means to die. They think
+the soul journeys to the southward after death. Old-man meant to say
+that Northrup should die.
+
+"Very well," said George, looking the Indian in the eye, "I will go
+south, then; but if I go south, you shall go with me, and just as many
+more as I can take. Remember, Old-man, you must go south if I do."
+
+Old-man knew Northrup very well. He knew that if anybody tried to kill
+him, George's sure aim would be taken at Old-man first of all. George
+had also told all of his men to shoot the chief if there should be any
+trouble.
+
+After lingering for two days, the Indians stole a bag of chopped
+buffalo meat, or pemmican, and an old gun. With these they went off,
+and George hurried away to a better camping place, where they could not
+find him again.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAZY, LUCKY INDIAN.
+
+
+Out in the country we now call North Dakota there once lived an Indian
+known as "Lazy-man." When he was young, he had been lazy about hunting.
+When the other Indians had skins to sell, the lazy Indian had nothing.
+He grew poor. His blanket was ragged. His leggings were worn out. His
+wigwam was so wretched that all the tribe laughed at its tumble-down
+look.
+
+Every winter the tribe went off to the great plains to hunt buffalo.
+They took their little ponies along, to carry home what they got. They
+brought back the skins of the buffaloes and buffalo meat dried over a
+fire. They also brought back pemmican, which is made by chopping
+buffalo meat very fine, and mixing it with the tallow from the animal.
+Lazy-man was ashamed to go on the hunt. He had no ponies to carry the
+meat and the skins he might get.
+
+One winter, when the tribe went off on its regular hunt, Lazy-man and
+his wife staid behind as usual. They sat lonesome in their teepee, as a
+wigwam is called in their language. The weather grew colder. It was
+hard to find anything to eat. The lake near them was frozen, so that
+they could not fish. There were not many animals living in the country
+about. The lazy Indian and his wife were nearly starved.
+
+[Illustration: Buffaloes.]
+
+The buffaloes had never come down to this lake shore. But one day the
+lazy Indian looked out and saw a herd of them coming. They were running
+out on the point of land where his teepee stood. He knew that when they
+got to the ice on the lake they would turn back.
+
+"Quick, quick!" he called to his wife. The two ran right into the midst
+of the herd. It was a dangerous thing to do, but they were so hungry
+and miserable that they did not mind the danger. By running into the
+herd they separated the buffaloes out on the point from the rest.
+
+When the buffaloes on the point came to the ice, they paused and turned
+back. They were soon running in the other direction, but the lazy
+Indian and his wife faced the animals as they came. They waved their
+ragged blankets at the buffaloes. They shouted in Indian fashion,
+"Yow-wow, yow-wow, yow-wow!" They ran to and fro, waving and shouting.
+
+Once more the buffaloes stopped and looked. Lazy-man and his wife now
+ran at them, throwing their blankets in the air, and yelling more
+wildly than ever. The scared buffaloes turned about again. They were so
+badly frightened this time that they ran out on the ice on the lake.
+
+The ice was as smooth as glass. The buffaloes could not stand up on it.
+One after another they slipped and fell. The lazy Indian was not lazy
+that day. He saw a chance to get out of his poverty. He ran about on
+the ice, killing the buffaloes.
+
+For many days he and his squaw worked. They skinned the buffaloes, and
+dried the skins. They prepared the stomachs of the buffaloes, and
+stuffed them with the chopped meat, making it look like great sausages
+as big as pillows. They put a few cranberries in with the meat to give
+the pemmican a good taste. Then they poured the smoking fat of the
+buffalo into this great sausage. The fat filled up the small spaces.
+When it got cold, the pemmican sack was almost as hard as a stone. It
+could be cut only by chopping it with a tomahawk.
+
+At last spring came, and the tribe came home from the hunt. You may
+suppose that Lazy-man was proud that day. Instead of being the poor
+beggar whom everybody laughed at, he was now one of the rich men in the
+tribe. He had more buffalo robes and more pemmican than any other man
+in the village. He exchanged his buffalo robes for ponies. After that
+he always went on the hunt, and lived like the other Indians. He did
+not wish to sink into laziness and poverty again.
+
+
+
+
+PETER PETERSEN.
+
+A STORY OF THE MINNESOTA INDIAN WAR.
+
+
+Peter Petersen was a very little boy living in Minnesota. He lived on
+the very edge of the Indian country when the Indian War of 1862 broke
+out.
+
+Settlers were killed in their cabins before they knew that a war had
+begun. As the news spread, the people left their houses, and hurried
+into the large towns. Some of them saw their houses burning before they
+got out of sight. The roads were crowded with ox wagons full of women
+and children.
+
+Peter Petersen's father was a Norwegian settler. When the news of the
+Indian attack came, Peter's father hitched up his oxen, and put his
+wife and daughters and little Peter into the wagon. They drove the oxen
+hard, and got to Mankato in safety.
+
+The town was crowded with frightened people. Many were living in
+woodsheds and barns. In their hurry, these country people had not
+brought food enough with them. Before long they began to suffer hunger.
+
+Peter Petersen's father thought of the potato field he had at home. If
+he could only go back to his house long enough to dig his potatoes, his
+family would have enough to eat.
+
+When he made up his mind to go, Peter wanted to go along with him. As
+there were now soldiers within a mile of his farm, Peter's father
+thought the Indians would not be so bold as to come there. So he and
+Peter went back to the little house.
+
+The next morning Peter's father went out to dig potatoes. Peter, who
+was but five years old, was asleep in his bed. He was awakened by the
+yells of Indians. He ran to the door just in time to see his father
+shot with an arrow.
+
+Little Peter ran like a frightened rabbit to the nearest bushes. The
+Indians chased him and caught him. They were amused to see him run, and
+they thought he would be a funny little plaything to have. So they just
+set him up on the back of a cow, and drove the cow ahead of them. They
+laughed to see Peter trying to keep his seat on the cow's back.
+
+[Illustration.]
+
+The little boy lived among the Indians for weeks. They did not give him
+anything to eat. When he came into their tents to get food, they would
+knock him down. But he would pick up something to eat at last, and then
+run away. When he could not get any food, he would go out among the
+cows the Indians had taken from the white people. Little as he was, he
+would manage to milk one of the cows. He had no other cup to catch the
+milk in but his mouth. Whenever any of the Indians threatened to kill
+him, he would run away and dodge about between the legs of the cows or
+among the horses, so as to get out of their way. Sometimes he was so
+much afraid that he slept out in the grass, in the dew or rain.
+
+After some weeks, Peter and the other captives were retaken by the
+white soldiers sent to fight the Indians. But the poor little boy could
+speak no language but Norwegian. He could not tell whose child he was,
+nor where he came from. His mother and sisters had left the dangerous
+country near the Indians. They had gone to Winona, a hundred and fifty
+miles away. One of his sisters heard somebody read in the paper that
+such a little boy had been taken from the Indians. The kind-hearted
+doctor in whose house she lived tried to find the boy, but nobody could
+tell what had become of little Peter. His family at last gave up all
+hope of seeing him again.
+
+When Peter was taken by the soldiers, he had worn out all his clothes
+in traveling through the prairie grass. He had nothing on him but part
+of a shirt. The soldiers took an old suit of uniform and made him some
+clothes. He was soon dressed from top to toe in army blue.
+
+He was as much of a plaything for the soldiers as he had been for the
+Indians. They laughed at his pranks, as they might have done if he had
+been a monkey. He passed from one squad of soldiers to another. They
+fed him on hard-tack, and shared their blankets with him. He was the
+pet and plaything of them all. But after a while the Indians were
+driven away from the settlements, and the soldiers were ordered to the
+South, for it was in the time of the Civil War.
+
+The regiment that Peter happened to be with got on a steamboat, and
+Peter went aboard with them. The soldiers knew that if Peter should be
+taken to the South, he would be farther than ever away from his
+friends. So the soldiers made up their minds to put him ashore at
+Winona. It was the last place at which he would find Norwegian people.
+To put such a little fellow ashore in a large and busy place like this
+was a hard thing to do. Peter was hardly more than a baby, and he could
+not speak English. He stood about as much chance of starving to death
+here as he had in the Indian camp.
+
+When the boat landed at Winona, the soldiers gave some money to one of
+the hotel porters, and told him to give the child something to eat, and
+send him out into the country where there were Norwegian people. But as
+soon as Peter had eaten the dinner they gave him at the hotel, he
+slipped away, and went back to the river. He expected to find his
+friends, the soldiers, waiting for him; but the boat had gone. Peter
+was now in a strange city, without friends. Not without friends,
+either, for his sisters were in this same city. But he did not think
+any more of getting to his mother or his sisters. He was only thinking
+of the soldiers who had been so kind to him.
+
+When the next boat came down the river, Peter Petersen, in his little
+blue uniform, marched aboard. He thought he might overtake the
+soldiers, but the boatmen put him ashore again. He stood gazing after
+the boat, not knowing what to do or where to go.
+
+There stood on the bank that day a Norwegian. He was a guest at the
+Norwegian hotel in the town. He heard Peter say something in his own
+language, and he thought the boy must be a son of the man who kept the
+hotel. So he said to him in Norwegian, "Let's go home."
+
+It had been a long time since Peter had heard his own language spoken.
+Nobody had said anything to him about home since he was taken away from
+his father's cabin by the Indians. The words sounded sweet to him. He
+followed the strange man. He did not know where he was going, except
+that it was to some place called home. When he got to the hotel, he
+went in and sat down. He did not know what else to do.
+
+Presently the landlady came in. Seeing a strange little boy in army
+blue, she said, "Whose child are you?"
+
+Peter did not know whose child he was. Since the soldiers left him, he
+didn't seem to be anybody's child. As he did not answer, the landlady
+spoke to him rather sharply.
+
+"What do you want here, little boy?" she said.
+
+"A drink of water," said Peter.
+
+A little boy nearly always wants a drink of water.
+
+"Go through into the kitchen there, and get a drink," said the
+landlady.
+
+Peter opened the door into the kitchen, and went through. In a moment
+two arms were about him. Peter knew what home meant then. His sister,
+Matilda, had recognized her lost brother Peter in the little soldier
+boy. The next day he was put into a wagon and sent out to Rushford,
+where his mother was living. The wanderings of the little captive were
+over.
+
+
+
+
+THE GREATEST OF TELESCOPE MAKERS.
+
+
+Three great inventors in this country were portrait painters. Fulton,
+the builder of steamboats, was one of them; Morse, who planned our
+first electric telegraph, was another; and Alvan Clark, who found out a
+way of making the largest and finest telescopes in the world, was
+another.
+
+Alvan Clark was the son of a farmer. When he was eighteen years old, he
+set to work to learn engraving and drawing. He had no teacher. After a
+while he began to draw portraits. Once he sent to Boston to get some
+brushes to paint with. When the brushes came, there was a piece of
+newspaper wrapped round them. In this bit of newspaper was an
+advertisement that engravers were wanted. He went to Boston, and found
+regular work as an engraver.
+
+When he was not busy engraving, he was studying painting. After some
+years he became a painter of portraits and miniatures. He lived at
+Cambridgeport, near Boston.
+
+While Mr. Clark was living at Cambridgeport, his son was at a boarding
+school. The young boy had become interested in telescopes. He learned
+that there were two kinds of these instruments. One brought the stars
+near by showing them in a curved mirror. The other magnified by means
+of glasses that the light shone through. He had read that it was very
+hard to grind these glasses or lenses, as they are called, so that they
+would be correct. The telescope that used the mirror was not so good,
+but it was easier to make. So George Clark made up his mind that he
+would make a reflecting telescope; that is, one with a mirror in it.
+
+The mirror in such a telescope is made of polished metal. One day
+somebody broke the dinner bell at the boarding school. George dark
+picked up the pieces of brass and took them home.
+
+These pieces of brass he put into a retort. A retort is a vessel that
+will bear great heat, and that is used for melting metals and other
+substances. Young Clark put some tin into the retort with the brass.
+When the two metals were melted together, he poured the liquid into a
+mold. When it became cold, it was a round flat piece. Such a piece is
+called a disc.
+
+Alvan Clark, the father, was a very ingenious man. He was a fine
+marksman. One reason that he could shoot so well was that his eye was
+so true. Another was that he made his own rifles, and made them better
+than others.
+
+When Mr. Clark found his son trying to make a telescope out of the
+pieces of a bell, he became interested in telescopes. He studied all
+about them in order to help the boy with his work. He helped his son
+grind the metal disc into a concave mirror; that is, a mirror that is a
+little dish-shaped. With this they made a telescope with which they
+could see the rings of Saturn, and the little moons that revolve round
+Jupiter.
+
+After Mr. Clark had made this little telescope, he made larger
+reflecting telescopes that were very powerful. But he found that no
+telescope with a mirror in it could be very good.
+
+He now said to his son that they would make a refracting telescope;
+that is, one in which no mirror is used, but which brings the distant
+stars to the sight by the light shining through lenses. Lenses are
+large glasses that are regularly thicker in one part than in another.
+The glasses you see in spectacles are small lenses.
+
+George Clark, the son, told his father that the books said that the
+grinding of such glasses was very difficult. Mr. Clark would not give
+it up because it was hard. He liked to do hard things. He had already
+spent a great part of his money trying to make good reflecting
+telescopes; but he made up his mind to give them up, and try to make a
+better kind. He first looked through the great telescope just put up
+for Harvard College. The large lens in this telescope was not perfect,
+and Mr. Clark's eye was so good that he could see what the small fault
+was. When he heard that twelve thousand dollars had been paid for this
+glass, he was encouraged to try to make such lenses. But there was
+nobody in this country who could show him how to do it.
+
+He first got some poor lenses out of old telescopes. These he worked
+over, and made them better. By this means he learned how to do it. Then
+he got some discs of glass and made some new lenses. These were the
+best ever made in this country. But he was not satisfied. He kept on
+making better and larger lenses. With one of these he discovered two
+double stars, as they are called. These had never been seen to be
+double before.
+
+But nobody in America would believe that some of the best telescopes in
+the world were made in this country, for even the English astronomers
+had to get their telescopes in Germany.
+
+With one of his telescopes, larger than any he had made before, Mr.
+Clark now made a new discovery. He wrote about this to an English
+astronomer named Dawes. Mr. Dawes thought that a telescope that could
+make such a discovery would be worth having, so he bought the large
+lens out of this new telescope. Then he bought other glasses from Mr.
+Clark, and sold them again to other astronomers. In this way Mr. Clark
+became famous in England.
+
+[Illustration: Telescopic View of the Moon.]
+
+Mr. Clark had given up painting. He put his whole heart into making the
+best telescopes in the world. He went to England and saw the great
+astronomers, and looked through their telescopes.
+
+They were glad to see the man who made the best lenses in the world.
+His telescopes had helped them to find out many new things never seen
+before. By this time Mr. Clark was coming to be known in his own
+country. He got an order to make the largest glass ever made for a
+telescope in the whole world. This was to be put up in America. Nobody
+had ever dreamed of making so large and powerful a telescope.
+
+After a long time the great glass for this telescope was ground. Mr.
+Clark set it up to try it. His younger son, Alvan, who was helping him,
+turned the telescope so as to look at the bright star Sirius. As soon
+as he had looked, he cried out in surprise, "Why, father, the star has
+a companion!" Sirius is a sun. It has a satellite, a dark star like our
+world revolving round it. Nobody had ever been able to see this dark
+star before. But this telescope was stronger than any that had ever
+been pointed at the sky.
+
+Mr. Clark now looked through the tube himself. Sure enough, there was
+the companion of Sirius, never seen before by anybody on the earth. The
+large glass which had been a year in making had won its first victory.
+But Mr. Clark made much larger glasses even than that one. He had
+nobody to show him how. But by patient thought and hard work he had
+made the greatest telescopes in the world. Medals and other honors were
+sent to him from many countries.
+
+
+
+
+ADVENTURES IN ALASKA.
+
+
+[Illustration: Scene in Alaska.]
+
+The Copper River of Alaska flows from north to south into the ocean.
+The Yukon River, which is farther north, runs from the east toward the
+west. It was known that the waters of these two rivers must be near
+together at the place from which they started in the mountains, but it
+was not known whether anybody could pass from the valley of the Copper
+River over the mountains into the valley of the Yukon. A scouting party
+was sent to find out whether the crossing from one river to the other
+could be made. This party returned, saying that it was impossible to
+pass from the Copper River to the Yukon, because the mountains were too
+high and steep.
+
+In 1885 General Miles sent Lieutenant Allen to try to find a pass from
+the valley of the Copper River to that of the Yukon. Lieutenant Allen
+was a very determined man. He set out with the resolution to find some
+way of crossing the mountains, however much labor and suffering it
+might cost. He took two soldiers, and had two other white men with him,
+and he got Indians to go with him from place to place as he could. The
+party started up the Copper River in March. From the first their
+sufferings were very great. They had to travel day after day, and sleep
+night after night, with their clothes wet to the skin. They soon found
+that they could not take their canoe, on account of the ice. They had
+to leave most of their provisions, because they could not carry them.
+Some nights they sat up all night in the rain.
+
+But when they got to a country where it was not raining all the time,
+they had a way of keeping dry at night. They had brought along sleeping
+bags. These were made of waterproof linen. Each bag was a little longer
+than a man. It had draw strings at the top. They put a folded blanket
+inside, and then pushed the blanket down with their feet so that it
+would wrap about them and keep them warm. Then they drew the strings
+about the top. This kept the body dry.
+
+They suffered a great deal from hunger. There were very few animals in
+the country where they were, and most of the Indians they found had but
+little to eat. Lieutenant Allen's party were sometimes glad to pick up
+scraps of decayed meat or broken bones about an Indian camp to make a
+meal on. Much of the meat and fish they had to eat was badly spoiled.
+They grew so weak that it was hard for them to climb up a hill,
+carrying their guns and their food. They sometimes reeled like drunken
+men when they walked.
+
+They would have perished from hunger if they had not had a man with
+them who knew how to stop the rabbits when they were running. This man
+could make a little cry just like a rabbit's cry. Whenever a rabbit
+heard this sound, he would stop and look round for a moment. Then the
+hunter would have a chance to shoot him.
+
+But these rabbits were so small and so lean that it took four or five
+of them to make a meal for a man. At one place the party were so hungry
+that an Indian who was with them fainted away. When they reached a
+house soon after, where there lived a chief named Nicolai, they found a
+five-gallon kettle full of meat boiling on the fire. They drank large
+quantities of the broth, and ate about five pounds of meat apiece. Much
+of this meat was pure tallow from the moose. They all fell asleep
+immediately after eating. When they awaked, they were almost as hungry
+as before.
+
+At last they reached the head waters of the Copper River. Here they
+found the hungry Indians waiting for the salmon to come up from the
+sea, as they do every year. As long as the salmon are in the river, the
+Indians have plenty to eat. So they kept dipping their net, hoping to
+catch some salmon. At last one little salmon was caught. It was a thin,
+white-looking little fish. The Indians now knew that in two or three
+days they would have plenty. They hung their little fish on a spruce
+bough, and they kept visiting it, singing to it with delight. The white
+men did not wait for the salmon to arrive.
+
+From this place they left the Copper River, and started to cross the
+mountains. This was the pass through which it was said that nobody
+could go. Lieutenant Allen and his men were obliged to carry provisions
+with them. Part of the provisions they carried themselves: the rest
+they packed on dogs. This is a way of carrying things used only in
+Alaska. A pack is strapped on a dog's back just as though he were a
+mule, and with this the little dog goes on a long journey through the
+mountains.
+
+[Illustration: A Dog Pack Train.]
+
+The party started over the mountains in June. At this season of the
+year in that country the sun shines almost all night, and it is never
+dark. Lieutenant Allen's party traveled either by day or by night, as
+they pleased, as there was always light enough.
+
+When they got to the foot of the last mountains they had to climb, they
+found a little lake. Here they got some fish to eat, but the salmon had
+not come yet. They hired some Indians to go with them, and divided the
+weight of everything into packs. Every man carried a pack, and every
+dog carried as much as he could bear. As they climbed the mountains,
+they could look back over the beautiful valley of the Copper River.
+Still hungry and nearly tired out, they pushed on until they camped by
+a brook in the mountains.
+
+Here they found that the salmon had come up the Copper River from the
+sea, and had run up this brook and overtaken them. The fish were
+crowding up the brook to get to a little lake at the head of it, where
+they would lay their eggs. In some places there was so little water in
+the stream that the fish had to get over the shallow places by lying on
+their sides. In doing this, some of them threw themselves out of the
+water on the land. The hungry men could catch them easily, and they now
+had all they wanted to eat. One of the party ate three large salmon,
+heads and all, for his supper. As the sun shines almost all the time in
+the Arctic regions, in the summer, the days become very hot. On the
+last day of Lieutenant Allen's journey up the mountains the heat was so
+great that the party did not start until five o'clock in the afternoon.
+They reached the top of the mountains that divided the two rivers at
+half-past one o'clock that night. Though it was what we should call the
+middle of the night, it was not dark.
+
+The party were now nearly five thousand feet higher than the sea. At
+half-past one in the morning the sun was just rising. It rose almost in
+the north. Behind them the men could still see the valley of the Copper
+River. Before them lay the valley of one of the branches of the Yukon,
+with twenty beautiful lakes and a range of mountains in sight. White
+and yellow buttercups were blooming about them, though the snow was
+within a few feet. No white man had ever looked on this grand scene
+before. The men forgot their hunger and their weariness. They had done
+what hardly anybody thought could be done.
+
+A mile further on they stopped to build a fire, and here they cooked
+the last bit of extract of beef that they had with them. It was the end
+of all the provisions they had carried. Having gone to bed at two or
+three o'clock in the morning, they did not start again until two in the
+afternoon; for day and night were all one to them, except that the
+light nights were cooler and pleasanter to travel in than the days.
+
+They were told by the Indians that by marching all that night they
+could reach an Indian settlement, and, as they had no food, they
+determined to do this. In this whole day's march they killed but one
+little rabbit, which was all they had for nine starving men to eat. But
+at three o'clock in the morning of the next day the tired and hungry
+men dragged themselves into the little Indian village. Guns were fired
+to welcome them.
+
+The fish were coming up the river. A kind of platform had been built
+over the water. On this platform the Indians stood one at a time, and
+dipped a net into the water for fish. All day and all night somebody
+was dipping the net.
+
+The Indians had never seen a white man before. They were very much
+amused to see white faces, and one of the white men who had red hair
+was a wonder to them.
+
+Allen and his men got food here. Then they built a skin canoe, and
+started down the river. After many more hardships and dangers, they
+reached the ocean, and then took ship for California.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND
+ADVENTURE***
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