25 files changed, 12535 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/23887-8.txt b/23887-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..97d702a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4156 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Strange Stories from History for Young
+People, by George Cary 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: Strange Stories from History for Young People
+
+
+Author: George Cary Eggleston
+
+
+
+Release Date: December 17, 2007  [eBook #23887]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE STORIES FROM HISTORY FOR
+YOUNG PEOPLE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by David Garcia, Annie McGuire, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) from page
+images generously made available by Kentuckiana Digital Library
+(http://kdl.kyvl.org/)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 23887-h.htm or 23887-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/8/23887/23887-h/23887-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/8/23887/23887-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through the Kentuckiana
+      Digital Library. See
+      http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc=kyetexts;xc=1&idno=b92-202-30752275&view=toc
+
+
+
+
+
+STRANGE STORIES FROM HISTORY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
+
+by
+
+GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON
+
+Author of
+"Red Eagle," "The Big Brother," "The Wreck of the Red Bird,"
+"The Signal Boys," Etc.
+
+Illustrated
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+New York
+Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square
+
+
+[Illustration: Title Page]
+
+
+
+
+HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE SERIES.
+
+Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, $1.00 per volume.
+
+  THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMY BROWN. Edited by W. L. ALDEN.
+  THE CRUISE OF THE CANOE CLUB. By W. L. ALDEN.
+  THE CRUISE OF THE "GHOST." By W. L. ALDEN.
+  THE MORAL PIRATES. By W. L. ALDEN.
+  TOBY TYLER; OR, TEN WEEKS WITH A CIRCUS by JAMES OTIS.
+  MR. STUBBS'S BROTHER. A sequel to "Toby Tyler." By JAMES OTIS.
+  TIM AND TIP: OR, THE ADVENTURES OF A BOY AND A DOG. By JAMES OTIS.
+  LEFT BEHIND: OR, TEN DAYS A NEWSBOY. By JAMES OTIS.
+  RAISING THE "PEARL." By JAMES OTIS.
+  MILDRED'S BARGAIN, AND OTHER STORIES. By LUCY C. LILLIE.
+  NAN. By LUCY C. LILLIE.
+  THE FOUR MACNICOLS. By WILLIAM BLACK.
+  THE LOST CITY; OR, THE BOY EXPLORERS IN CENTRAL ASIA. By DAVID KER.
+  THE TALKING LEAVES. An Indian Story. By W. O. STODDARD.
+  WHO WAS PAUL GRAYSON? By JOHN HABBERTON, Author of "Helen's Babies."
+  PRINCE LAZYBONES, AND OTHER STORIES. By Mrs. W. J. HAYS.
+  THE ICE QUEEN. By ERNEST INGERSOLL.
+  CHAPTERS ON PLANT LIFE. By Mrs. S. B. HERRICK.
+  STRANGE STORIES FROM HISTORY. By GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON.
+
+PUBLISHED BY Harper & Brothers, NEW YORK.
+
+_Any of the above works will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to
+any part of the United States or Canada, on receipt of the price._
+
+Copyright, 1885, by HARPER & BROTHERS.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+In calling the tales in this volume "Strange Stories" I have sought
+simply to indicate that, in the main, they are unfamiliar to youthful
+readers, and that most of them relate deeds and occurrences some what
+out of the common. In choosing the themes I have tried to avoid the
+tales that have been often used, and to tell only those of which young
+readers generally have not before heard.
+
+Of course, a book of this kind can make no pretension to originality of
+matter, as the facts used in it are to be found in historical works of
+recognized authority, though many of them have been drawn from books
+that are not easily accessible to the majority of readers. If there is
+any originality in my little volume it is in the manner in which the
+tales are told. I have endeavored to tell them as simply as possible,
+and at the same time with as much dramatic force and fervor as I could
+command, while adhering rigidly to the facts of history.
+
+It would be impossible for me to say to what sources I am indebted for
+materials. The incidents related have been familiar to me for years, as
+they are to all persons whose reading of history has been at all
+extensive, and I cannot say with any certainty how much of each I
+learned from one and how much from another historical writer. Nor is it
+in any way necessary that I should do so, as the recorded facts of
+history are common property. But a special acknowledgment is due to Mr.
+James Parton in the case of the tale of the Negro Fort, and also for
+certain details in those relating to the New Orleans campaign of
+1814-15. In that field Mr. Parton is an original investigator, to whose
+labors every writer on the subject must be indebted. I wish also to
+acknowledge my obligation to Mr. A. B. Meek, the author of a little
+work entitled "Romantic Passages in Southwestern History," for the main
+facts in the stories of the Charge of the Hounds and the Battle of the
+Canoes on the Alabama River; but, with respect to those matters, I have
+had the advantage of private sources of information also.
+
+Most of the stories in the volume were originally written for _Harper's
+Young People_; one was first published in _Good Cheer_, and a few in
+other periodicals. I owe thanks to the editors and publishers concerned
+for permission to reprint them in this form.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                           PAGE
+HISTORY STORIES.
+
+  THE STORY OF THE NEGRO FORT                                13
+
+  A WAR FOR AN ARCHBISHOP                                    26
+
+  THE BOY COMMANDER OF THE CAMISARDS                         38
+
+  THE CANOE FIGHT                                            55
+
+  THE BATTLE OF LAKE BORGNE                                  67
+
+  THE BATTLE IN THE DARK                                     77
+
+  THE TROUBLESOME BURGHERS                                   88
+
+  THE DEFENCE OF ROCHELLE                                    99
+
+  THE SAD STORY OF A BOY KING                               111
+
+  TWO OBSCURE HEROES                                        120
+
+  THE CHARGE OF THE HOUNDS                                  130
+
+  THE STORY OF A WINTER CAMPAIGN                            140
+
+  YOUNG WASHINGTON IN THE WOODS                             151
+
+  THE STORY OF CATHERINE                                    163
+
+  THE VIRGINIA WIFE-MARKET                                  175
+
+
+BIOGRAPHY STORIES.
+
+  BOYHOOD OF DANIEL WEBSTER                                 185
+
+  THE SCULLION WHO BECAME A SCULPTOR                        193
+
+  BOYHOOD OF WILLIAM CHAMBERS                               200
+
+  HOW A BOY HIRED OUT, AND WHAT CAME OF IT                  206
+
+  THE WICKEDEST MAN IN THE WORLD                            212
+
+  A PRINCE WHO WOULD NOT STAY DEAD                          228
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+  _Breakfast and Battle_                                              23
+
+  _Vladimir Besieging the City Containing his Archbishop_             35
+
+  _Cavalier Personating the Lieutenant of the Count Broglio_          47
+
+  _With a Single Blow he Knocked over the Indian with whom
+       Austill was Struggling_                                        63
+
+  _Boarding the Gun-boats_                                            73
+
+  _General Jackson at New Orleans_                                    79
+
+  _The Burghers Prepare to Defend their City_                         95
+
+  _Richelieu Surveying the Works at Rochelle_                        103
+
+  _The Parting between King Richard II. and Queen Isabella_          117
+
+  _Martin Preaching to the People on the Duty of Fighting_           125
+
+  "_Just at the Moment when Matters were at their Worst, he
+       Rode up_"                                                     137
+
+  _Capture of the Dutch fleet by the Soldiers of the French
+       Republic_                                                     149
+
+  _Washington as a Surveyor_                                         157
+
+  "_She Went Boldly into his Tent_"                                  171
+
+  "_'To the End of the Twelfth Book of the �neid,' answered
+       the 'Idle' Boy in Triumph_"                                   189
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF THE NEGRO FORT.
+
+
+During the war of 1812-14, between Great Britain and the United States,
+the weak Spanish Governor of Florida--for Florida was then Spanish
+territory--permitted the British to make Pensacola their base of
+operations against us. This was a gross outrage, as we were at peace
+with Spain at the time, and General Jackson, acting on his own
+responsibility, invaded Florida in retaliation.
+
+Among the British at that time was an eccentric Irish officer, Colonel
+Edward Nichols, who enlisted and tried to make soldiers of a large
+number of the Seminole Indians. In 1815, after the war was over, Colonel
+Nichols again visited the Seminoles, who were disposed to be hostile to
+the United States, as Colonel Nichols himself was, and made an
+astonishing treaty with them, in which an alliance, offensive and
+defensive, between Great Britain and the Seminoles, was agreed upon. We
+had made peace with Great Britain a few months before, and yet this
+ridiculous Irish colonel signed a treaty binding Great Britain to fight
+us whenever the Seminoles in the Spanish territory of Florida should see
+fit to make a war! If this extraordinary performance had been all, it
+would not have mattered so much, for the British government refused to
+ratify the treaty; but it was not all. Colonel Nichols, as if determined
+to give us as much trouble as he could, built a strong fortress on the
+Appalachicola River, and gave it to his friends the Seminoles, naming it
+"The British Post on the Appalachicola," where the British had not the
+least right to have any post whatever. Situated on a high bluff, with
+flanks securely guarded by the river on one side and a swamp on the
+other, this fort, properly defended, was capable of resisting the
+assaults of almost any force that could approach it; and Colonel Nichols
+was determined that it should be properly defended, and should be a
+constant menace and source of danger to the United States. He armed it
+with one 32-pounder cannon, three 24-pounders, and eight other guns. In
+the matter of small-arms he was even more liberal. He supplied the fort
+with 2500 muskets, 500 carbines, 400 pistols, and 500 swords. In the
+magazines he stored 300 quarter casks of rifle powder and 763 barrels of
+ordinary gunpowder.
+
+When Colonel Nichols went away, his Seminoles soon wandered off, leaving
+the fort without a garrison. This gave an opportunity to a negro bandit
+and desperado named Gar�on to seize the place, which he did, gathering
+about him a large band of runaway negroes, Choctaw Indians, and other
+lawless persons, whom he organized into a strong company of robbers.
+Gar�on made the fort his stronghold, and began to plunder the country
+round about as thoroughly as any robber baron or Italian bandit ever
+did, sometimes venturing across the border into the United States.
+
+All this was so annoying and so threatening to our frontier settlements
+in Georgia, that General Jackson demanded of the Spanish authorities
+that they should reduce the place; and they would have been glad enough
+to do so, probably, if it had been possible, because the banditti
+plundered Spanish as well as other settlements. But the Spanish governor
+had no force at command, and could do nothing, and so the fort remained,
+a standing menace to the American borders.
+
+Matters were in this position in the spring of 1816, when General Gaines
+was sent to fortify our frontier at the point where the Chattahoochee
+and Flint rivers unite to form the Appalachicola. In June of that year
+some stores for General Gaines's forces were sent by sea from New
+Orleans. The vessels carrying them were to go up the Appalachicola, and
+General Gaines was not sure that the little fleet would be permitted to
+pass the robbers' stronghold, which had come to be called the Negro
+Fort. Accordingly, he sent Colonel Clinch with a small force down the
+river, to render any assistance that might be necessary. On the way
+Colonel Clinch was joined by a band of Seminoles, who wanted to
+recapture the fort on their own account, and the two bodies determined
+to act together.
+
+Meantime the two schooners with supplies and the two gun-boats sent to
+guard them had arrived at the mouth of the river; and when the
+commandant tried to hold a conference with Gar�on, the ship's boat,
+bearing a white flag, was fired upon.
+
+Running short of water while lying off the river's mouth, the officers
+of the fleet sent out a boat to procure a supply. This boat was armed
+with a swivel and muskets, and was commanded by Midshipman Luffborough.
+The boat went into the mouth of the river, and, seeing a negro on shore,
+Midshipman Luffborough landed to ask for fresh-water supplies. Gar�on,
+with some of his men, lay in ambush at the spot, and while the officer
+talked with the negro the concealed men fired upon the boat, killing
+Luffborough and two of his men. One man got away by swimming, and was
+picked up by the fleet; two others were taken prisoners, and, as was
+afterwards learned, Gar�on coated them with tar and burned them to
+death.
+
+It would not do to send more boats ashore, and so the little squadron
+lay together awaiting orders from Colonel Clinch. That officer, as he
+approached the fort, captured a negro, who wore a white man's scalp at
+his belt, and from him he learned of the massacre of Luffborough's
+party. There was no further occasion for doubt as to what was to be
+done. Colonel Clinch determined to reduce the fort at any cost, although
+the operation promised to be a very difficult one.
+
+Placing his men in line of battle, he sent a courier to the fleet,
+ordering the gun-boats to come up and help in the attack. The Seminoles
+made many demonstrations against the works, and the negroes replied with
+their cannon. Gar�on had raised his flags--a red one and a British
+Union-jack--and whenever he caught sight of the Indians or the
+Americans, he shelled them vigorously with his 32-pounder.
+
+Three or four days were passed in this way, while the gun-boats were
+slowly making their way up the river. It was Colonel Clinch's purpose to
+have the gun-boats shell the fort, while he should storm it on the land
+side. The work promised to be bloody, and it was necessary to bring all
+the available force to bear at once. There were no siege-guns at hand,
+or anywhere within reach, and the only way to reduce the fort was for
+the small force of soldiers--numbering only one hundred and sixteen
+men--to rush upon it, receiving the fire of its heavy artillery, and
+climb over its parapets in the face of a murderous fire of small-arms.
+Gar�on had with him three hundred and thirty-four men, so that, besides
+having strong defensive works and an abundant supply of large cannon,
+his force outnumbered Colonel Clinch's nearly three to one. It is true
+that the American officer had the band of Seminoles with him, but they
+were entirely worthless for determined work of the kind that the white
+men had to do. Even while lying in the woods at a distance, waiting for
+the gun-boats to come up, the Indians became utterly demoralized under
+the fire of Gar�on's 32-pounder. There was nothing to be done, however,
+by way of improving the prospect, which was certainly hopeless enough.
+One hundred and sixteen white men had the Negro Fort to storm,
+notwithstanding its strength and the overwhelming force that defended
+it. But those one hundred and sixteen men were American soldiers, under
+command of a brave and resolute officer, who had made up his mind that
+the fort could be taken, and they were prepared to follow their leader
+up to the muzzle of the guns and over the ramparts, there to fight the
+question out in a hand-to-hand struggle with the desperadoes inside.
+
+Finally the gun-boats arrived, and preparations were made for the
+attack. Sailing-master Jairus Loomis, the commandant of the little
+fleet, cast his anchors under the guns of the Negro Fort at five
+o'clock in the morning on the 27th of July, 1816. The fort at once
+opened fire, and it seemed impossible for the little vessels to endure
+the storm of shot and shell that rained upon them from the ramparts
+above. They replied vigorously, however, but with no effect. Their guns
+were too small to make any impression upon the heavy earthen walls of
+the fortress.
+
+Sailing-master Loomis had roused his ship's cook early that morning, and
+had given him a strange breakfast to cook. He had ordered him to make
+all the fire he could in his galley, and to fill the fire with
+cannon-balls. Not long after the bombardment began the cook reported
+that breakfast was ready; that is to say, that the cannon-balls were
+red-hot. Loomis trained one of his guns with his own hands so that its
+shot should fall within the fort, instead of burying itself in the
+ramparts, and this gun was at once loaded with a red-hot shot. The word
+was given, the match applied, and the glowing missile sped on its way. A
+few seconds later the earth shook and quivered, a deafening roar
+stunned the sailors, and a vast cloud of smoke filled the air, shutting
+out the sun.
+
+The hot shot had fallen into the great magazine, where there were
+hundreds of barrels of gunpowder, and the Negro Fort was no more. It had
+been literally blown to atoms in a second.
+
+The slaughter was frightful. There were, as we know already, three
+hundred and thirty-four men in the fort, and two hundred and seventy of
+them were killed outright by the explosion. All the rest, except three
+men who miraculously escaped injury, were wounded, most of them so badly
+that they died soon afterwards.
+
+One of the three men who escaped the explosion unhurt was Gar�on
+himself. Bad as this bandit chief was, Colonel Clinch would have spared
+his life, but it happened that he fell into the hands of the sailors
+from the gun-boat; and when they learned that Gar�on had tarred and
+burned their comrades whom he had captured in the attack on
+Luffborough's boat, they turned him over to the infuriated Seminoles,
+who put him to death in their own cruel way.
+
+[Illustration: BREAKFAST AND BATTLE.]
+
+This is the history of a strange affair, which at one time promised to
+give the government of the United States no little trouble, even
+threatening to involve us in a war with Spain, for the fort was on
+Spanish territory, and the Spaniards naturally resented an invasion of
+their soil.
+
+
+
+
+A WAR FOR AN ARCHBISHOP.
+
+THE CURIOUS STORY OF VLADIMIR THE GREAT.
+
+
+In the latter part of the tenth century Sviatozlaf was Grand Prince of
+Russia. He was a powerful prince, but a turbulent one, and he behaved so
+ill towards his neighbors that, when an opportunity offered, one of them
+converted his skull into a gold-mounted drinking-cup, with an
+inscription upon it, and his dominions were parcelled out between his
+three sons--Yaropolk, Oleg, and Vladimir.
+
+Yaropolk, finding his possessions too small for his ambition, made war
+on Oleg, and conquered his territory; but his brother Oleg having been
+killed in the war, the tender-hearted Yaropolk wept bitterly over his
+corpse.
+
+The other brother, Vladimir, was so grieved at the death of Oleg that he
+abandoned his capital, Novgorod, and remained for a time in seclusion.
+Yaropolk seized the opportunity thus offered, and made himself master of
+Vladimir's dominions also. Not long afterwards Vladimir appeared at the
+head of an army, and Yaropolk ran away to his own capital, Kiev.
+Vladimir at once resumed the throne, and sent word to Yaropolk that he
+would in due time return the hostile visit.
+
+About this time Yaropolk and Vladimir both asked for the hand of the
+Princess Rogneda, of Polotzk, in marriage; and the father of the
+princess, fearing to offend either of the royal barbarians, left the
+choice to Rogneda herself. She chose Yaropolk, sending a very insulting
+message to Vladimir, whereupon that prince marched against Polotzk,
+conquered the province, and with his own hand slew the father and
+brothers of the princess. Then, with their blood still unwashed from his
+hands, he forced Rogneda to marry him.
+
+Having attended to this matter, Vladimir undertook to return his
+brother's hostile visit, as he had promised to do. Yaropolk's capital,
+Kiev, was a strongly fortified place, and capable of a stout resistance;
+but Vladimir corrupted Blude, one of Yaropolk's ministers, paying him to
+betray his master, and promising, in the event of success, to heap
+honors on his head. Blude worked upon Yaropolk's fears, and persuaded
+him to abandon the capital without a struggle, and Vladimir took
+possession of the throne and the country. Even in his exile, however,
+Yaropolk had no peace. Blude frightened him with false stories, and
+persuaded him to remove from place to place, until his mind and body
+were worn out, when, at Blude's suggestion, he determined to surrender
+himself, and trust to the mercy of Vladimir. That good-natured brother
+ordered the betrayed and distressed prince to be put to death.
+
+Then Vladimir rewarded Blude. He entertained him in princely fashion,
+declaring to his followers that he was deeply indebted to this man for
+his faithful services, and heaping all manner of honors upon him. But at
+the end of three days he said to Blude: "I have kept my promise
+strictly. I have received you with welcome, and heaped unwonted honors
+upon your head. This I have done as your friend. To-day, as judge, I
+condemn the traitor and the murderer of his prince." He ordered that
+Blude should suffer instant death, and the sentence was executed.
+
+Now that both Oleg and Yaropolk were dead, Vladimir was Grand Prince of
+all the Russias, as his father before him had been. He invaded Poland,
+and made war upon various others of his neighbors, greatly enlarging his
+dominions and strengthening his rule.
+
+But Vladimir was a very pious prince in his heathen way, and feeling
+that the gods had greatly favored him, he made rich feasts of
+thanksgiving in their honor. He ordered splendid memorials to various
+deities to be erected throughout the country, and he specially honored
+Perune, the father of the gods, for whom he provided a new pair of
+golden whiskers--golden whiskers being the special glory of Perune.
+
+Not content with this, Vladimir ordered a human sacrifice to be made,
+and selected for the victim a Christian youth of the capital. The father
+of the boy resisted, and both were slain, locked in each other's arms.
+
+Vladimir gave vast sums of money to the religious establishments, and
+behaved generally like a very devout pagan. His piety and generosity
+made him so desirable a patron that efforts were made by the priests of
+other religions to convert him. Jews, Mohammedans, Catholics, and Greeks
+all sought to win him, and Vladimir began seriously to consider the
+question of changing his religion. He appointed a commission, consisting
+of ten boyards, and ordered them to examine into the comparative merits
+of the different religions, and to report to him. When their report was
+made, Vladimir weighed the matter carefully.
+
+He began by rejecting Mohammedanism, because it forbids the use of wine,
+and Vladimir was not at all disposed to become a water-drinker. Judaism,
+he said, was a homeless religion, its followers being wanderers on the
+face of the earth, under a curse; so he would have nothing to do with
+that faith. The Catholic religion would not do at all, because it
+recognized in the pope a superior to himself, and Vladimir had no mind
+to acknowledge a superior. The Greek religion was free from these
+objections, and moreover, by adopting it he would bring himself into
+friendship with the great Greek or Byzantine Empire, whose capital was
+at Constantinople, and that was something which he earnestly desired to
+accomplish.
+
+Accordingly, he determined to become a Christian and a member of the
+Greek Church; but how? There were serious difficulties in the way. In
+order to become a Christian he must be baptized, and he was puzzled
+about how to accomplish that. There were many Greek priests in his
+capital, any one of whom would have been glad to baptize the heathen
+monarch, but Vladimir would not let a mere priest convert him into a
+Christian. Nobody less than an archbishop would do for that, and there
+was no archbishop in Russia.
+
+It is true that there were plenty of archbishops in the dominions of his
+Byzantine neighbors, and that the Greek emperors, Basil and Constantine,
+would have been glad to send him a dozen of them if he had expressed a
+wish to that effect; but Vladimir was proud, and could not think of
+asking a favor of anybody, least of all of the Greek emperors. No, he
+would die a heathen rather than ask for an archbishop to baptize him.
+
+Nevertheless, Vladimir had fully made up his mind to have himself
+baptized by an archbishop. It was his lifelong habit, when he wanted
+anything, to take it by force. He had taken two thirds of his dominions
+in that way, and, as we have seen, it was in that way that he got his
+wife Rogneda. So now that he wanted an archbishop, he determined to take
+one. Calling his army together, he declared war on the Greek emperors,
+and promising his soldiers all the pillage they wanted, he marched away
+towards Constantinople.
+
+The first serious obstacle he met with was the fortified city of
+Kherson, situated near the spot where Sebastopol stands in our day. Here
+the resistance was so obstinate that month after month was consumed in
+siege operations. At the end of six months Vladimir became seriously
+alarmed lest the garrison should be succored from without, in which case
+his hope of getting himself converted into a Christian must be abandoned
+altogether.
+
+While he was troubled on this score, however, one of his soldiers picked
+up an arrow that had been shot from the city, and found a letter
+attached to it. This letter informed the Grand Prince that the
+water-pipes of the city received their supplies at a point immediately
+in his rear, and with this news Vladimir's hope of becoming a Christian
+revived. He found the water-pipes and stopped them up, and the city
+surrendered.
+
+There were plenty of bishops and archbishops there, of course, and they
+were perfectly willing--as they had been from the first, for that
+matter--to baptize the unruly royal convert, but Vladimir was not
+content now with that. He sent a messenger to Constantinople to tell the
+emperors there that he wanted their sister, the Princess Anne, for a
+wife; and that if they refused, he would march against Constantinople
+itself. The Emperors Basil and Constantine consented, and although
+Vladimir had five wives already, he married Anne, and was baptized on
+the same day.
+
+Having now become a Christian, the Grand Prince determined that his
+Russians should do the same. He publicly stripped the god Perune of his
+gorgeous golden whiskers, and of his rich vestments, showing the people
+that Perune was only a log of wood. Then he had the deposed god whipped
+in public, and thrown into the river, with all the other gods.
+
+He next ordered all the people of his capital city to assemble on the
+banks of the Dnieper River, and, at a signal, made them all rush into
+the water, while a priest pronounced the baptismal service over the
+whole population of the city at once. It was the most wholesale baptism
+ever performed.
+
+[Illustration: VLADIMIR BESIEGING THE CITY CONTAINING HIS ARCHBISHOP.]
+
+That is the way in which Russia was changed from a pagan to a
+Christian empire. The story reads like a romance, but it is plain,
+well-authenticated history. For his military exploits the Russian
+historians call this prince Vladimir the Great. The people call him St.
+Vladimir, the Greek Church having enrolled his name among the saints
+soon after his death. He was undoubtedly a man of rare military skill,
+and unusual ability in the government of men. Bad as his acts were, he
+seems to have had a conscience, and to have done his duty so far as he
+was capable of understanding it.
+
+
+
+
+THE BOY COMMANDER OF THE CAMISARDS.
+
+
+When Louis XIV. was King of France, that country was generally Catholic,
+as it is still, but in the rugged mountain region called the Cevennes
+more than half the people were Protestants. At first the king consented
+that these Protestant people, who were well behaved both in peace and in
+war, should live in quiet, and worship as they pleased; but in those
+days men were not tolerant in matters of religion, as they are now, and
+so after a while King Louis made up his mind that he would compel all
+his people to believe alike. The Protestants of the Cevennes were
+required to give up their religion and to become Catholics. When they
+refused, soldiers were sent to compel them, and great cruelties were
+practised upon them. Many of them were killed, many put in prison, and
+many sent to work in the galleys.
+
+When this persecution had lasted for nearly thirty years, a body of
+young men who were gathered together in the High Cevennes resolved to
+defend themselves by force. They secured arms, and although their
+numbers were very small, they met and fought the troops.
+
+Among these young men was one, a mere boy, named Jean Cavalier. His home
+was in the Lower Cevennes, but he had fled to the highlands for safety.
+This boy, without knowing it, had military genius of a very high order,
+and when it became evident that he and his comrades could not long hold
+out against the large bodies of regular troops sent against them, he
+suggested a plan which in the end proved to be so good that for years
+the poor peasants were able to maintain war against all the armies that
+King Louis could send against them, although he sent many of his finest
+generals and as many as sixty thousand men to subdue them.
+
+Cavalier's plan was to collect more men, divide, and make uprisings in
+several places at once, so that the king's officers could not tell in
+which way to turn. As he and his comrades knew the country well, and had
+friends to tell them of the enemy's movements, they could nearly always
+know when it was safe to attack, and when they must hide in the woods.
+
+Cavalier took thirty men and went into one part of the country, while
+Captain La Porte, with a like number, went to another, and Captain St.
+John to still another. They kept each other informed of all movements,
+and whenever one was pressed by the enemy, the others would begin
+burning churches or attacking small garrisons. The enemy would thus be
+compelled to abandon the pursuit of one party in order to go after the
+others, and it soon became evident that under Cavalier's lead the
+peasants were too wily and too strong for the soldiers. Sometimes
+Cavalier would fairly beat detachments of his foes, and give them chase,
+killing all whom he caught; for in that war both sides did this, even
+killing their prisoners without mercy. At other times Cavalier was
+worsted in fight, and when that was the case he fled to the woods,
+collected more men, and waited for another chance.
+
+Without trying to write an orderly history of the war, for which there
+is not space enough here, I shall now tell some stories of Cavalier's
+adventures, drawing the information chiefly from a book which he himself
+wrote years afterwards, when he was a celebrated man and a general in
+the British army.
+
+One Sunday Cavalier, who was a preacher as well as a soldier, held
+services in his camp in the woods, and all the Protestant peasants in
+the neighborhood attended. The Governor of Alais, whose name was De la
+Hay, thought this a good opportunity not only to defeat Cavalier's small
+force, but also to catch the Protestant women and children in the act of
+attending a Protestant service, the punishment for which was death. He
+collected a force of about six hundred men, cavalry and infantry, and
+marched towards the wood, where he knew he should outnumber the peasants
+three or four to one. He had a mule loaded with ropes, declaring that he
+was going to hang all the rebels at once.
+
+When news of De la Hay's coming was brought to the peasants, they sent
+away all the country people, women, and children, and began to discuss
+the situation. They had no commander, for although Cavalier had led them
+generally, he had no authority to do so. Everything was voluntary, and
+everything a subject of debate. On this occasion many thought it best to
+retreat at once, as there were less than two hundred of them; but
+Cavalier declared that if they would follow him, he would lead them to a
+place where victory might be won. They consented, and he advanced to a
+point on the road where he could shelter his men. Quickly disposing them
+in line of battle behind some defences, he awaited the coming of the
+enemy.
+
+De la Hay, being over-confident because of his superior numbers,
+blundered at the outset. Instead of attacking first with his infantry,
+he placed his horsemen in front, and ordered an assault. Cavalier was
+quick to take advantage of this blunder. He ordered only a few of his
+men to fire, and this drew a volley from the advancing horsemen, which
+did little damage to the sheltered troops, but emptied the horsemen's
+weapons. Instantly Cavalier ordered a charge and a volley, and the
+horsemen, with empty pistols, gave way, Cavalier pursuing them. De la
+Hay's infantry, being just behind the horsemen, were ridden down by
+their own friends, and became confused and panic-stricken. Cavalier
+pursued hotly, his men throwing off their coats to lighten themselves,
+and giving the enemy no time to rally. A reinforcement two hundred
+strong, coming up, tried to check Cavalier's charge; but so impetuous
+was the onset that those fresh troops gave way in their turn, and the
+chase ended only when the king's men had shut themselves up in the
+fortified towns. Cavalier had lost only five or six men, the enemy
+losing a hundred killed and many more wounded. Cavalier captured a large
+quantity of arms and ammunition, of which he was in sore need.
+
+When the battle was over it was decided unanimously to make Cavalier the
+commander. He refused, however, to accept the responsibility unless it
+could be accompanied with power to enforce obedience, and his troops at
+once voted to make his authority absolute, even to the decision of
+questions of life and death. According to the best authorities, Cavalier
+was only seventeen years old when this absolute command was conferred
+upon him. How skilfully he used the scant means at his disposal we shall
+see hereafter.
+
+On one occasion Cavalier attacked a party of forty men who were marching
+through the country to reinforce a distant post, and killed most of
+them. While searching the dead bodies, he found in the pocket of the
+commanding officer an order signed by Count Broglio, the king's
+lieutenant, directing all military officers and town authorities to
+lodge and feed the party on their march. No sooner had the boy soldier
+read this paper than he resolved to turn it to his own advantage in a
+daring and dangerous way.
+
+The castle of Servas, near Alais, had long been a source of trouble to
+him. It was a strong place, built upon a steep hill, and was so
+difficult of approach that it would have been madness to try to take it
+by force. This castle stood right in the line of Cavalier's
+communications with his friends, near a road which he was frequently
+obliged to pass, and its presence there was a source of annoyance and
+danger to him. Moreover, its garrison of about forty men were constantly
+plundering and murdering Cavalier's friends in the country round about,
+and giving timely notice to his enemies of his own military movements.
+
+When he found the order referred to, he resolved to pretend that he was
+Count Broglio's nephew, the dead commander of the detachment which he
+had just destroyed. Dressing himself in that officer's clothes, he
+ordered his men to put on the clothing of the other dead royalists. Then
+he took six of his best men, with their own Camisard uniforms on, and
+bound them with ropes, to represent prisoners. One of them had been
+wounded in the arm, and his bloody sleeve helped the stratagem. Putting
+these six men at the head of his troop, with a guard of their disguised
+comrades over them, he marched towards the Castle of Servas. There he
+declared himself to be Count Broglio's nephew, and said that he had met
+a company of the Barbets, or Camisards, and had defeated them, taking
+six prisoners; that he was afraid to keep these prisoners in the village
+overnight lest their friends should rescue them; and that he wished to
+lodge them in the castle for safety. When the governor of the castle
+heard this story, and saw the order of Count Broglio, he was completely
+imposed upon. He ordered the prisoners to be brought into the castle,
+and invited Cavalier to be his guest there for the night. Taking two of
+his officers with him, Cavalier went into the castle to sup with the
+governor. During supper several of his soldiers, who were encamped just
+outside, went into the castle upon pretence of getting wine or bread,
+and when five or six of them were in, at a signal from Cavalier, they
+overpowered the sentinels and threw the gates open. The rest of the
+troop rushed in at once, and before the garrison could seize their
+arms the boy commander was master of the fortress. He put the garrison
+to the sword, and, hastily collecting all the arms, ammunition, and
+provisions he could find, set fire to the castle and marched away. When
+the fire reached the powder magazine the whole fortress was blown to
+fragments, and a post which had long annoyed and endangered the
+Camisards was no more.
+
+[Illustration: CAVALIER PERSONATING THE LIEUTENANT OF THE COUNT
+BROGLIO.]
+
+On another occasion, finding himself short of ammunition, Cavalier
+resolved to take some by force and stratagem from the strongly fortified
+town of Savnes. His first care was to send a detachment of forty men to
+a point at some distance, with orders to burn a church which had lately
+been fortified, "thereby," he says, "to make the inhabitants of Savnes
+believe we were busy in another place." Then he detached an officer and
+fifty men, and ordered them to disguise themselves as country militia in
+the king's service, and to go into Savnes in that character. With some
+difficulty this officer accomplished his purpose, and then Roland and
+Cavalier marched upon the place. His officer inside the town, when the
+alarm was given, said to the governor, "Let them come; you'll see how
+I'll receive them." Anxious for his own safety, the governor permitted
+the supposed officer of militia to take charge of the defence, and the
+armed citizens put themselves under his command. He instructed the
+citizens to reserve their fire until he should give them orders, and in
+that way enabled Cavalier to approach unharmed. Suddenly the officer,
+directing the aim of his men against the citizens, ordered them to throw
+down their arms upon pain of instant death, and they, seeing themselves
+caught in a trap, obeyed. Cavalier marched in without opposition,
+secured all that he could carry away of arms, ammunition, and
+provisions, and retired to the woods.
+
+Throughout the summer and autumn the boy carried on his part of the war,
+nearly always getting the better of his enemies by his shrewdness and
+valor, and when that was impossible, eluding them with equal shrewdness.
+During that first campaign he destroyed many fortified places, won many
+fights against superior numbers of regular troops, and killed far more
+soldiers for the enemy than he had under his own command. Failing to
+conquer him by force or strategy, his foes fell back upon the confident
+hope of starving him during the winter, for he must pass the winter in
+the forests, with no bases of supply to draw upon for either food or
+ammunition. But in indulging this hope his enemies forgot that the crown
+and glory of his achievements in the field had been his marvellous
+fertility of resource. The very qualities which had made him formidable
+in fight were his safeguard for the winter. He knew quite as well as
+they did that he must live all winter in the woods surrounded by foes,
+and, knowing the difficulty of doing so, he gave his whole mind to the
+question of how to do it.
+
+He began during the harvest to make his preparations. He explored all
+the caves in the mountains, and selected the most available ones for use
+as magazines, taking care to have them in all parts of the mountains, so
+that if cut off from one he could draw upon another. In these caves he
+stored great quantities of grain and other provisions, and during the
+winter, whenever he needed meal, some of his men, who were millers,
+would carry grain to some lonely country mill and grind it. To prevent
+this, the king's officers ordered that all the country mills should be
+disabled and rendered unfit for use; but before the order could be
+executed, Cavalier directed some of his men, who were skilled
+machinists, to disable two or three of the mills by carrying away the
+essential parts of their machinery and storing them in his caves. Then,
+when he wanted meal, his machinists had only to replace the machinery in
+some disabled mill, and remove it again after his millers had done the
+necessary grinding. His bakers made use of farmers' ovens to bake bread
+in, and when the king's soldiers, hearing of this, destroyed the ovens,
+Cavalier sent his masons--for he had all sorts of craftsmen in his
+ranks--to rebuild them.
+
+Having two powder-makers with him, he collected saltpetre, burned willow
+twigs for charcoal, and made all the powder he needed in his caves.
+Before doing so he had been obliged to resort to many devices in order
+to get powder, sometimes disguising himself as a merchant and going into
+a town and buying small quantities at a time, so that suspicion might
+not be awakened, until he secured enough to fill his portmanteau.
+
+For bullets he melted down the leaden weights of windows, and when that
+source of supply failed he melted pewter vessels and used pewter
+bullets--a fact which gave rise to the belief that he used poisoned
+balls. Finally, in a dyer's establishment, he had the good luck to find
+two great leaden kettles, weighing more than seven hundred quintals,
+which, he says, "I caused immediately to be carried into the magazines
+with as much diligence and care as if they had been silver."
+
+Chiefly by Cavalier's tireless energy and wonderful military skill, the
+war was kept up against fearful odds for years, and finally the young
+soldier succeeded in making a treaty of peace in which perfect liberty
+of conscience and worship--which was all he had been fighting for--was
+guaranteed to the Protestants of the Cevennes. His friends rejected this
+treaty, however, and Cavalier soon afterwards went to Holland, where he
+was given command of a regiment in the English service. His career in
+arms was a brilliant one, so brilliant that the British made him a
+general and governor of the island of Jersey; but he nowhere showed
+greater genius or manifested higher soldierly qualities than during the
+time when he was the Boy Commander of the Camisards.
+
+
+
+
+THE CANOE FIGHT.
+
+AN INCIDENT OF THE CREEK WAR.
+
+
+The smallest naval battle ever fought in the world, perhaps, occurred on
+the Alabama River on the 13th of November, 1813, between two canoes, and
+this is the way in which it happened.
+
+The United States were at war with Great Britain at that time, and a war
+with Spain was also threatened. The British had stirred up the Indians
+in the Northwest to make war upon the whites, and in 1813 they persuaded
+the Creek Indians of Alabama and Mississippi to begin a war there.
+
+The government troops were so busy with the British in other quarters of
+the country that very little could be done for the protection of the
+white settlers in the Southwest, and for a good while they had to take
+care of themselves in the best way they could. Leaving their homes,
+they gathered together here and there and built rude stockade forts, in
+which they lived, with all their women and children. All the men,
+including all the boys who were old enough to pull a trigger--and
+frontier boys learn to use a gun very early in life--were organized into
+companies of volunteer soldiers.
+
+At Fort Madison, one of the smallest of the forts, there was a very
+daring frontiersman, named Samuel (or Sam) Dale--a man who had lived
+much with the Indians, and was like them in many respects, even in his
+dress and manners. Hearing that the Indians were in force on the
+southeastern bank of the Alabama River, the people in Fort Madison were
+greatly alarmed, fearing that all the crops in that region--which were
+ripe in the fields--would be destroyed. If that should occur, they knew
+they must starve during the coming winter, and so they made up their
+minds to drive the savages away, at least until they could gather the
+corn.
+
+Captain Dale at once made up a party, consisting of seventy-two men,
+all volunteers. With this force he set out on the 11th of November,
+taking Tandy Walker, a celebrated scout, for his guide. The column
+marched to the Alabama River, and crossed it at a point about twenty
+miles below the present town of Claiborne.
+
+Once across the river, Dale knew that he was among the Indians, and,
+knowing their ways, he was as watchful as if he had been one of them
+himself. He forbade his men to sleep at all during the night after
+crossing the river, and kept them under arms, in expectation of an
+attack.
+
+No attack being made, he moved up the river the next morning, marching
+most of the men, but ordering Jerry Austill, with six men, to paddle up
+in two canoes that had been found. This Jerry Austill--who afterwards
+became a merchant in Mobile and a state senator--was a boy only nineteen
+years of age at the time, but he had already distinguished himself in
+the war by his courage.
+
+At a point called Peggy Bailey's Bluff, Dale, who was marching with one
+man several hundreds of yards ahead of his men, came upon a party of
+Indians at breakfast. He shot one of them, and the rest ran away,
+leaving their provisions behind them. Securing the provisions, Dale
+marched on for a mile or two, but, finding no further trace of Indians,
+he concluded that the country on that side of the river was now pretty
+clear of them, and so he set to work to cross to the other side, meaning
+to look for enemies there.
+
+The river at that point is about a quarter of a mile wide, and, as there
+were only two small canoes at hand, the work of taking the men across
+was very slow. When all were over except Dale and about a dozen others,
+the little remnant of the force was suddenly attacked.
+
+The situation was a very dangerous one. With the main body of his
+command on the other side of the river, where it could give him no help,
+Dale had to face a large body of Indians with only a dozen men, and, as
+only one canoe remained on his side of the river, it was impossible for
+the whole of the little party to escape by flight, as the canoe would
+not hold them all.
+
+Concealing his men in the bushes, behind trees, and under the
+river-bank, he replied to the fire of the Indians, and kept them at bay.
+But it was certain that this could not last long. The Indians must soon
+find out from the firing how small the number of their adversaries was;
+and Dale knew that as soon as the discovery was made, they would rush
+upon him, and put the whole party to death.
+
+He called to the men on the other side of the river to come over and
+help him, but they were panic-stricken, probably because they could see,
+as Dale could not, how large a body of Indians was pressing their
+commander. The men on the other bank did, indeed, make one or two slight
+attempts to cross, but those came to nothing, and the little party on
+the eastern shore seemed doomed to destruction.
+
+Bad as matters were with Dale, they soon became worse. An immense canoe,
+more than thirty feet long and four feet deep, came down the river,
+bearing eleven warriors, who undertook to land and attack Dale in the
+rear. This compelled the party to fight in two directions at once. Dale
+and his companions kept up the battle in front, while Jerry Austill,
+James Smith, and one other man fought the warriors in the canoe to keep
+them from landing. One of the eleven was killed, and another swam ashore
+and succeeded in joining the Indians on the bank.
+
+Seeing how desperate the case was, Dale resolved upon a desperate
+remedy. He called for volunteers for a dangerous piece of work, and was
+at once joined by Jerry Austill, James Smith, and a negro man whose name
+was C�sar. With these men he leaped into the little canoe, and paddled
+towards the big Indian boat, meaning to fight the nine Indians who
+remained in it, although he and his canoe party numbered only four men
+all told.
+
+As the two canoes approached each other, both parties tried to fire, but
+their gunpowder was wet, and so they grappled for a hand-to-hand battle.
+Jerry Austill, being in front, received the first attack. No sooner did
+the two canoes touch than an Indian sprang forward, and dealt the youth
+a terrible blow with a war-club, knocking him down, and making a dent in
+his skull which he carried through life. Once down, he would have been
+killed but for the quickness of Smith, who, seeing the danger his
+companion was in, raised his rifle. With a single blow he knocked over
+the Indian with whom Austill was struggling.
+
+Then Austill rose, and the fierce contest went on. Dale and his men
+rained their blows upon their foes, and received blows quite as lusty in
+return, but C�sar managed the boat so skilfully that, in spite of the
+superior numbers of the Indians, the fight was not very unequal. He held
+the little boat against the big one, but kept it at the end, so that the
+Indians in the other end of the big canoe could not reach Dale's men.
+
+In this way those that were actually fighting Dale, Austill, and Smith
+never numbered more than three or four at any one time, and so the
+three could not be borne down by mere force of numbers. Dale stood for a
+time with one foot in each boat; then he stepped over into the Indian
+canoe, giving his comrades more room, and crowding the Indians towards
+the end of their boat.
+
+One by one the savages fell, until only one was left facing Dale, who
+held C�sar's gun, with bayonet attached, in his hand. This sole survivor
+was Tar-cha-chee, an Indian with whom Dale had hunted and lived, one
+whom he regarded as a friend, and whom he now wished to spare. But the
+savage was strong within the Indian's breast, and he refused to accept
+mercy even from a man who had been his comrade and friend. Standing
+erect in the bow of the canoe, he shook himself, and said, in the
+Muscogee tongue, "Big Sam, you are a man, I am another; now for it."
+
+With that he rushed forward, only to meet death at the hands of the
+friend who would gladly have spared him.
+
+[Illustration: "WITH A SINGLE BLOW HE KNOCKED OVER THE INDIAN WITH WHOM
+AUSTILL WAS STRUGGLING."]
+
+The canoe fight was ended, but Dale's work was not yet done. His party
+on the bank were every minute more closely pressed, and if they were to
+be saved it must be done quickly. For this purpose he and his companions
+at once began clearing the big canoe of its load of dead Indians. Now
+that only the white men were there, the Indians upon the bank directed a
+galling fire upon the canoe, but by careening it to one side Dale made a
+sort of breastwork of its thick gunwale, and thus succeeded in clearing
+it. When this was done he went ashore and quickly carried off the party
+there, landing all of them in safety on the other side.
+
+The hero of this singular battle lived until the year 1841. The whole
+story of his life is a romance of hardship, daring, and wonderful
+achievement. When he died, General John F. H. Claiborne, who knew him
+intimately, wrote a sketch of his career for a Natchez newspaper, in
+which he described him as follows:
+
+"In person General Dale was tall, erect, raw-boned, and muscular. In
+many respects, physical and moral, he resembled his antagonists of the
+woods. He had the square forehead, the high cheek-bones, the compressed
+lips, and, in fact, the physiognomy of an Indian, relieved, however, by
+a firm, benevolent Saxon eye. Like the red men, too, his foot fell
+lightly upon the ground, and turned neither to the right nor left. He
+was habitually taciturn, his face grave, he spoke slowly and in low
+tones, and he seldom laughed. I observed of him what I have often noted
+as peculiar to border men of high attributes: he entertained the
+strongest attachment for the Indians, extolled their courage, their love
+of country, and many of their domestic qualities; and I have often seen
+the wretched remnant of the Choctaws camped round his plantation and
+subsisting on his crops."
+
+It is a curious fact that after the war ended, when Weatherford (Red
+Eagle), who commanded the Indians on the shore in this battle with Dale,
+was about to marry, he asked Dale to act as his best man, and the two
+who had fought each other so desperately stood side by side, as devoted
+friends, at the altar.
+
+
+
+
+THE BATTLE OF LAKE BORGNE.
+
+HOW THE BRITISH MADE A LANDING UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
+
+
+When the British made up their minds, near the end of the year 1814, to
+take New Orleans, and thus to get control of the Mississippi River,
+there seemed to be very little difficulty in their way.
+
+So far as anybody on either side could see, their only trouble was
+likely to be in making a landing. If they could once get their splendid
+army on shore anywhere near the city, there was very little to prevent
+them from taking the town, and if they had taken it, it is easy to see
+that the whole history of the United States would have been changed.
+
+They did make a landing, but they did not take New Orleans, and in the
+story of "The Battle in the Dark" I shall tell how and why they failed.
+In the present story I want to tell how they landed.
+
+The expedition consisted of a large fleet bearing a large army. At first
+the intention was to sail up the Mississippi River, but General Jackson
+made that impossible by building strong forts on the stream, and so it
+was necessary to try some other plan.
+
+It happens that New Orleans has two entrances from the sea. The river
+flows in front of the city, and by that route it is about a hundred
+miles from the city to the sea; but just behind the town, only a few
+miles away, lies a great bay called Lake Pontchartrain. This bay is
+connected by a narrow strait with another bay called Lake Borgne, which
+is connected directly with the sea.
+
+Lake Borgne is very shallow, but the British knew little about it. They
+only knew that if they could land anywhere on the banks of Lake Borgne
+or Lake Pontchartrain they would be within an easy march of New Orleans.
+
+Accordingly, the fleet bearing the British army, instead of entering the
+mouth of the Mississippi, and trying to get to New Orleans in front,
+sailed in by the back way, and anchored near the entrance of Lake
+Borgne.
+
+Here the British had their first sight of the preparations made to
+resist them. Six little gun-boats, carrying twenty-three guns in all,
+were afloat on the lake under command of Lieutenant Thomas Ap Catesby
+Jones. These gun-boats were mere mosquitoes in comparison with the great
+British men-of-war, and when they made their appearance in the track of
+the invading fleet, the British laughed and wondered at the
+foolhardiness of the American commander in sending such vessels there.
+
+Lieutenant Thomas Ap Catesby Jones knew what he was about, however, as
+the British soon found out. He sailed up almost within cannon-shot of
+the enemy's ships, and they, of course, gave chase to him. Then he
+nimbly sailed away, with the fleet after him. Very soon a large
+man-of-war ran aground; then another and another struck the bottom, and
+the British Admiral began to understand the trick. It was evident that
+Lake Borgne was much too shallow for the large ships, and so the
+commander called a halt, and transferred the troops to the smaller
+vessels of the fleet.
+
+When that was done the chase was begun again by the smaller ships, and
+for a time with every prospect of success; but presently even these
+ships were hard aground, and the whole British fleet which had been
+intended to carry the army across the lake was stuck fast in the mud
+near the entrance, and thirty miles from the point at which the landing
+was to be made.
+
+The British commander was at his wits' end. It was clear that the ships
+could not cross the lake, and the only thing to be done was to transport
+the army across little by little in the ships' boats, and make a landing
+in that way. But to do that while Lieutenant Jones and his gun-boats
+were afloat was manifestly impossible. If it had been attempted, the
+little gun-boats, which could sail anywhere on the lake, would have
+destroyed the British army by boat-loads.
+
+There was nothing to be done until the saucy little fleet was out of
+the way, and to put it out of the way was not easy.
+
+Lieutenant Jones was an officer very much given to hard fighting, and in
+this case the British saw that they must fight him at a disadvantage. As
+they could not get to him in their ships, they must make an attack in
+open boats, which, of course, was a very dangerous thing to do, as the
+American gun-boats were armed with cannon.
+
+The British commander wanted his bravest men for such work, and so he
+called for volunteers to man the boats. A thousand gallant fellows
+offered themselves, and were placed in fifty boats, under command of
+Captain Lockyer. Each boat was armed with a carronade--a kind of small
+cannon--but the men well knew that the real fighting was not to be done
+with carronades. The only hope of success lay in a sudden, determined
+attack. The only way to capture the American gun-boats was to row up to
+them in the face of their fire, climb over their sides, and take them by
+force in a hand-to-hand fight.
+
+[Illustration: BOARDING THE GUN-BOATS.]
+
+When the flotilla set sail, on the 14th of December, Lieutenant Jones
+knew what their mode of attack would be quite as well as Captain Lockyer
+did. If he let them attack him in the open lake he knew very well that
+the British could overpower him and capture his fleet; but he did not
+intend to be attacked in the open lake if he could help it. His plan was
+to sail slowly, keeping just out of reach of the row-boats, and
+gradually to draw them to the mouth of the strait which leads into Lake
+Pontchartrain. At that point there was a well-armed fort, and if he
+could anchor his gun-boats across the narrow channel, he believed he
+could destroy the British flotilla with the aid of the fort, and thus
+beat off the expedition from New Orleans.
+
+Unluckily, while the fleet was yet far from the mouth of the strait the
+wind failed entirely, and the gun-boats were helpless. They could not
+sail without wind, and they must receive the attack right where they
+were.
+
+At daylight on the morning of December 15 the British flotilla was
+about nine miles away, but was rapidly drawing nearer, the boats being
+propelled by oars. Lieutenant Jones called the commanders of his
+gun-boats together, gave them instructions, and informed them of his
+purpose to make as obstinate a fight as possible. His case was hopeless;
+his fleet would be captured, but by fighting obstinately he could at
+least gain time for General Jackson at New Orleans, and time was greatly
+needed there.
+
+Meanwhile the British boats, carrying a thousand men, all accustomed to
+desperate fighting, approached and anchored just out of gunshot. Captain
+Lockyer wished his men to go into action in the best condition possible,
+and therefore he came to anchor in order to rest the oarsmen, and to
+give the men time for breakfast.
+
+At half-past ten o'clock the British weighed anchor, and, forming in
+line, began the advance. As soon as they came within range the American
+gun-boats opened fire, but with little effect at first. Of course the
+British could not reply at such a distance, but being under fire, their
+chief need was to go forward as fast and come to close quarters as
+quickly as possible. The sailors bent to their oars, and the boats flew
+over the water. Soon the men at the bows began to fire the carronades in
+reply to the American cannon. Then as the boats drew nearer, small arms
+came into use, and the battle grew fiercer with every moment. The
+British boats were with difficulty kept in line, and their advance grew
+slower. Oarsmen were killed, and time was lost in putting others into
+their places. Still the line was preserved, and the battle went on, the
+attacking boats slowly and steadily advancing all the time.
+
+Two of the American gun-boats had drifted out of place, and were
+considerably in advance of the rest. Seeing this, Captain Lockyer
+ordered the men commanding the British boats to surround them, and a few
+minutes later the sailors were climbing over the sides of these vessels.
+Their attack was stoutly resisted. The American sailors above them fired
+volleys into their faces, and beat them back with handspikes. Scores of
+the British fell back into the water dead or wounded, while their
+comrades pressed forward to fill their places. There were so many of
+them that in spite of all the Americans could do to beat them off they
+swarmed over the gunwales and gained the decks. Their work was not yet
+done, however. The Americans fiercely contested every inch of their
+advance, and the two parties hewed each other down with cutlasses, the
+Americans being slowly beaten back by superior numbers, but still
+obstinately fighting until they could fight no more.
+
+One by one all the gun-boats were taken in this way, Lieutenant Jones's
+vessel holding out longest, and the Lieutenant himself fighting till he
+was stricken down with a severe wound.
+
+Having thus cleared Lake Borgne, the British were free to begin the work
+of landing. It was a terrible undertaking, however--scarcely less so
+than the fight itself. The whole army had to be carried thirty miles in
+open boats and landed in a swamp. The men were drenched with rain, and,
+a frost coming on, their clothes were frozen on their bodies. There was
+no fuel to be had on the island where they made their first landing, and
+to their sufferings from cold was added severe suffering from hunger
+before supplies of food could be brought to them. Some of the sailors
+who were engaged in rowing the boats were kept at work for four days and
+nights without relief.
+
+The landing was secured, however, and the British cared little for the
+sufferings it had cost them. They believed then that they had little
+more to do except to march twelve miles and take possession of the city,
+with its one hundred and fifty thousand bales of cotton and its ten
+thousand hogsheads of sugar. How it came about that they were
+disappointed is made clear in the next story.
+
+
+
+
+THE BATTLE IN THE DARK.
+
+HOW GENERAL JACKSON RECEIVED THE BRITISH.
+
+
+When the British succeeded in taking Lieutenant Jones's little gun-boats
+and making a landing, after the manner described in the preceding story,
+they supposed that the hardest part of their work was done. It was not
+far from their landing-place to New Orleans, and there was nothing in
+their way. Their army numbered nearly twenty thousand men, and the men
+were the best soldiers that England had. Many of them were Wellington's
+veterans.
+
+It seemed certain that such an army could march into New Orleans with
+very little trouble indeed, and everybody on both sides thought
+so--everybody, that is to say, but General Jackson. He meant to fight
+that question out, and as the Legislature and many of the people in the
+city would do nothing to help him, he put the town under martial law,
+and worked night and day to get together something like an army.
+
+On the 23d of December, 1814, the British arrived at a point a few miles
+below the city, and went into camp about noon. As soon as Jackson heard
+of their arrival he said to the people around him, "Gentlemen, the
+British are below: we must fight them tonight."
+
+He immediately ordered his troops forward. He had made a soldier of
+everybody who could carry a gun, and his little army was a curiously
+mixed collection of men. There were a few regulars, in uniform; there
+were some Mississippi troopers, and Coffee's Kentucky and Tennessee
+hunters, in hunting-shirts and jeans trousers; there were volunteers of
+all sorts from the streets of New Orleans--merchants, lawyers, laborers,
+clerks, and clergymen--armed with shot-guns, rifles, and old muskets;
+there were some criminals whom Jackson had released from prison on
+condition that they would fight; there was a battalion of free negroes,
+who were good soldiers; and, finally, there were about twenty Choctaw
+Indians.
+
+[Illustration: GENERAL JACKSON AT NEW ORLEANS.]
+
+With this mixed crowd Jackson had to fight the very best troops in the
+British army. Only about half of his men had ever heard a bullet
+whistle, and less than half of them were drilled and disciplined; but
+they were brave men who believed in their general, and they were about
+to fight for their country as brave men should. When all were
+counted--backwoodsmen, regulars, city volunteers, negroes, Indians, and
+all--the whole army numbered only 2131 men! But, weak as this force was,
+Jackson had made up his mind to fight with it. He knew that the British
+were too strong for him, but he knew too that every day would make them
+stronger, as more and more of their troops would come forward each day.
+
+The British camp was nine miles below the city, on a narrow strip of
+land between the river and a swamp. Jackson sent a gun-boat, the
+_Carolina_, down the river, with orders to anchor in front of the camp
+and pour a fire of grape-shot into it. He sent Coffee across to the
+swamp, and ordered him to creep through the bushes, and thus get upon
+the right flank of the British. He kept the rest of his army under his
+own command, ready to advance from the front upon the enemy's position.
+
+But no attack was to be made until after dark. The army was kept well
+out of sight, and the British had no suspicion that any attack was
+thought of. They did not regard Jackson's men as soldiers at all, but
+called them a _posse comitatus_ of ragamuffins--that is to say, a mob of
+ragged citizens--and the most they expected such a mob to do was to wait
+somewhere below the city until the British soldiers should get ready to
+drive them away with a few volleys.
+
+So the British lighted their camp-fires, stacked their arms for the
+night, and cooked their suppers. They meant to stay where they were for
+a day or two until the rest of their force could come up, and then they
+expected to march into the town and make themselves at home.
+
+Night came on, and it was exceedingly dark. At half-past seven o'clock
+there came a flash and a roar. The _Carolina_, lying in the river,
+within a few hundred yards of the camp, had begun to pour her broadsides
+into the British quarters. Her cannon vomited fire, and sent a
+hail-storm of grape-shot into the camp, while the marines on board kept
+up a steady fire of small-arms.
+
+The British were completely surprised, but they were cool-headed old
+soldiers, who were not to be scared by a surprise. They quickly formed a
+line on the bank, and, bringing up some cannon, gave battle to the saucy
+gun-boat.
+
+For ten minutes this fight went on between the Americans on the river
+and the British on shore; then Jackson ordered his troops to advance.
+His columns rushed forward and fell upon the enemy, again surprising
+them, and forcing them to fight on two sides at once. Coffee, who was
+hidden over in the swamp, no sooner heard the roar of the _Carolina's_
+guns than he gave the word to advance, and, rushing out of the bushes,
+his rough Tennesseeans and Kentuckians attacked still another side of
+the enemy's position.
+
+Still the sturdy British held their ground, and fought like the brave
+men and good soldiers that they were. It was too dark for anybody to see
+clearly what was going on. The lines on both sides were soon broken up
+into independent groups of soldiers, who could not see in what direction
+they were marching, or maintain anything like a regular fight. Regiments
+and battalions wandered about at their own discretion, fighting whatever
+bodies of the enemy they met, and sometimes getting hopelessly entangled
+with each other. Never was there so complete a jumble on a battle-field.
+Whenever two bodies of troops met, they had to call out to each other to
+find out whether they were friends or foes; then, if one body proved to
+be Americans and the other British, they delivered a volley, and rushed
+upon each other in a desperate struggle for mastery.
+
+Sometimes a regiment would win success in one direction, and just as its
+enemy on that side was driven back, it would be attacked from the
+opposite quarter. Coffee's men were armed with squirrel rifles, which,
+of course, had no bayonets; but the men had their long hunting-knives,
+and with no better weapons than these they did not hesitate to make
+charge after charge upon the lines of gleaming bayonets.
+
+The British suffered terribly from the first, but their steadiness was
+never lost for a moment. The mad onset of the Americans broke their
+lines, and in the darkness it was impossible to form them again
+promptly; but still the men kept up the fight, while the officers, as
+rapidly as they could, directed their detached columns towards protected
+positions.
+
+Retreating slowly and in as good order as they could, the British got
+beyond the range of the _Carolina's_ guns by nine o'clock, and, finding
+a position where a bank of earth served for a breastwork, they made a
+final stand there. It was impossible to drive them from such a position,
+and so, little by little, the Americans withdrew, and at ten o'clock
+the Battle in the Dark was at an end.
+
+Now let us see what Jackson had gained or lost by this hasty attack. The
+British were still in a position to threaten New Orleans. They had not
+been driven away, and the rest of their large army, which had not yet
+come up, was hurrying forward to help them. They had lost a great many
+more men than Jackson had, but they could spare men better than he
+could, and they were not whipped by any means. Still, the attack was
+equal to a victory for the Americans. It is almost certain that if
+Jackson had waited another day before fighting he would have lost New
+Orleans, and the whole Southwest would have been overrun.
+
+But, by making this night attack, he showed the British that he could
+and would fight; and they, finding what kind of a defence he meant to
+make, made up their minds to move slowly and cautiously. They waited for
+the rest of their force to come up, and while they were waiting and
+getting ready Jackson had more than two weeks' time in which to collect
+troops from the country north of him, to get arms and ammunition, and to
+throw up strong fortifications. When the British made their grand attack
+on the 8th of January, 1815, they found Jackson ready for them. His army
+was increased, his men were full of confidence, and, best of all, he had
+a line of strong earth-works to fight behind. It is commonly said that
+his fortifications were made of cotton-bales, but that is an error. When
+he first began to fortify, he used some cotton-bales, and some sugar,
+which, it was thought, would do instead of sand; but in some of the
+early skirmishes it was found that the sugar was useless, because it
+would not stop cannon-balls; while the cotton was worse, because it took
+fire, and nearly suffocated the men behind it with smoke. The cotton and
+sugar were at once thrown aside, and the battle of New Orleans was
+fought behind earth-works. In that battle the British were so badly
+worsted that they gave up all idea of taking New Orleans, which, a month
+before, they had believed it would be so easy to capture.
+
+
+
+
+THE TROUBLESOME BURGHERS.
+
+
+Philip van Artevelde was a Dutchman. His father, Jacob, had been
+Governor of Ghent, and had made himself a great name by leading a revolt
+against the Count of Flanders, and driving that tyrant out of the
+country on one occasion.
+
+Philip was a quiet man, who attended to his own affairs and took no part
+in public business; but in the year 1381 the good people of Ghent found
+themselves in a very great difficulty. Their city was subject to the
+Count of Flanders, who oppressed them in every way. He and his nobles
+thought nothing of the common people, but taxed them heavily and
+interfered with their business.
+
+The city of Bruges was the rival of Ghent, and in those days rivals in
+trade were enemies. The Bruges people were not satisfied with trying to
+make more money and get more business than Ghent could, but they wanted
+Ghent destroyed, and so they supported Count Louis in all that he did to
+injure their neighboring city.
+
+Having this quarrel on their hands, the Ghent people did not know what
+to do. Count Louis was too strong for them, and they were very much
+afraid he would destroy their town and put the people to death.
+
+A public meeting was held, and remembering how well old Jacob van
+Artevelde had served them against the father of Count Louis, they made
+his son Philip their captain, and told him he must manage this quarrel
+for them.
+
+Philip undertook this duty, and tried to settle the trouble in some
+peaceable way; but the Count was angry, and would not listen to anything
+that Van Artevelde proposed. He said the Ghent people were rebels, and
+must submit without any conditions at all, and this the sturdy Ghent
+burghers refused to do.
+
+Count Louis would not march against the town and give the people a fair
+chance to fight the matter out. He preferred to starve them, and for
+that purpose he put soldiers on all the roads leading towards Ghent, and
+refused to allow any provisions to be taken to the city.
+
+The people soon ate up nearly all the food they had, and when the spring
+of 1382 came they were starving. Something must be done at once, and
+Philip van Artevelde decided that it was of no use to resist any longer.
+He took twelve deputies with him, and went to beg the Count for mercy.
+He offered to submit to any terms the Count might propose, if he would
+only promise not to put any of the people to death. Philip even offered
+himself as a victim, agreeing that the Count should banish him from the
+country as a punishment, if he would spare the people of the town. But
+the haughty Count would promise nothing. He said that all the people of
+Ghent from fifteen to sixty years old must march half-way to Bruges
+bareheaded, with no clothes on but their shirts, and each with a rope
+around his neck, and then he would decide how many of them he would put
+to death and how many he would spare.
+
+The Count thought the poor Ghent people would have to submit to this,
+and he meant to put them all to death when they should thus come out
+without arms to surrender. He therefore called on his vassals to meet
+him in Bruges at Easter, and to go out with him to "destroy these
+troublesome burghers."
+
+But the "troublesome burghers," as we shall see presently, were not the
+kind of men to walk out bareheaded, with ropes around their necks, and
+submit to destruction.
+
+Philip van Artevelde returned sadly to Ghent, on the 29th of April, and
+told the people what the Count had said. Then the gallant old soldier
+Peter van den Bossche exclaimed:
+
+"In a few days the town of Ghent shall be the most honored or the most
+humbled town in Christendom."
+
+Van Artevelde called the burghers together, and told them what the
+situation was. There were 30,000 people in Ghent, and there was no food
+to be had for them. There was no hope that the Count would offer any
+better terms, or that anybody would come to their assistance. They must
+decide quickly what they would do, and Philip said there were three
+courses open to them. First, if they chose, they could wall up the gates
+of the town and die of starvation. Secondly, they could accept the
+Count's terms, march out with the ropes around their necks, and take
+whatever punishment the Count might put upon them. If they should decide
+to do that, Philip said he would offer himself to the Count to be hanged
+first. Thirdly, they could get together 5000 of their best men, march to
+Bruges, and fight the quarrel out.
+
+The answer of the people was that Philip must decide for them, and he at
+once said, "Then we will fight."
+
+The 5000 men were got together, and on the 1st of May they marched out
+of the town to win or lose the desperate battle. The priests of the
+city stood at the gates as the men marched out, and prayed for blessings
+upon them. The old men, the women, and the children cried out, "If you
+lose the battle you need not return to Ghent, for you will find your
+families dead in their homes."
+
+The only food there was for these 5000 men was carried in five little
+carts, while on another cart two casks of wine were taken.
+
+The next day Van Artevelde placed his little army in line on the common
+of Beverhoutsveld, at Oedelem, near Bruges. There was a marsh in front
+of them, and Van Artevelde protected their flank by a fortification
+consisting of the carts and some stakes driven into the ground. He then
+sent a messenger to the Count, begging him to pardon the people of
+Ghent, and, having done this, he ordered his men to go to sleep for the
+night.
+
+At daybreak the next morning the little army was aroused to make final
+preparations for the desperate work before them. The priests exhorted
+the men to fight to the death, showing them how useless it would be to
+surrender or to run away, as they were sure to be put to death at any
+rate. Their only hope for life was in victory, and if they could not win
+that, it would be better to die fighting like men than to surrender and
+be put to death like dogs.
+
+After these exhortations were given, seven gray friars said mass and
+gave the sacrament to all the soldiers. Then the five cart-loads of
+provisions and the two casks of wine were divided among the men, for
+their last breakfast. When that meal was eaten, the soldiers of Ghent
+had not an ounce of food left anywhere.
+
+Meanwhile the Count called his men together in Bruges, and got them
+ready for battle; but the people of Bruges were so sure of easily
+destroying the little Ghent army that they would not wait for orders,
+but marched out shouting and singing and making merry.
+
+[Illustration: THE BURGHERS PREPARE TO DEFEND THEIR CITY.]
+
+As their column marched along the road in this noisy fashion, the
+"troublesome burghers" of Ghent suddenly sprang upon them, crying,
+"Ghent! Ghent!"
+
+The charge was so sudden and so fierce that the Bruges people gave way,
+and fled in a panic towards the town, with Van Artevelde's men at their
+heels in hot pursuit. The Count's regular troops tried to make a stand,
+but the burghers of Ghent came upon them so furiously that they too
+became panic-stricken and fled. The Count himself ran with all his
+might, and as soon as he entered the city he ordered the gates to be
+shut. He was so anxious to save himself from the fury of Van Artevelde's
+soldiers that he wanted to close the gates at once and leave those of
+his own people who were still outside to their fate. But it was already
+too late. Van Artevelde's column had followed the retreating crowd so
+fast that it had already pushed its head into the town, and there was no
+driving it back. The five thousand "troublesome burghers," with their
+swords in their hands, and still crying "Ghent!" swarmed into Bruges,
+and quickly took possession of the town. The Count's army was utterly
+routed and scattered, and the Count himself would have been taken
+prisoner if one of the Ghent burghers had not hidden him and helped him
+to escape from the city.
+
+Van Artevelde's soldiers, who had eaten the last of their food that
+morning in the belief that they would never eat another meal on earth,
+supped that night on the richest dishes that Bruges could supply; and
+now that the Count was overthrown, great wagon trains of provisions
+poured into poor, starving Ghent.
+
+There was a great golden dragon on the belfry of Bruges, of which the
+Bruges people were very proud. That dragon had once stood on the Church
+of St. Sophia in Constantinople, and the Emperor Baldwin had sent it as
+a present to Bruges. In token of their victory Van Artevelde's
+"troublesome burghers" took down the golden dragon and carried it to
+Ghent.
+
+
+
+
+THE DEFENCE OF ROCHELLE.
+
+HOW THE CITY OF REFUGE FOUGHT FOR LIBERTY.
+
+
+In the old times, when people were in the habit of fighting each other
+about their religion, the little French seaport Rochelle was called "the
+city of refuge." The Huguenots, or French Protestants, held the place,
+and when the armies of the French king tried to take it, in the latter
+part of the sixteenth century, they were beaten off and so badly used in
+the fight that the king was glad to make terms with the townspeople.
+
+An agreement was therefore made that they should have their own
+religion, and manage their own affairs; and to make sure of this the
+king gave Rochelle so many special rights that it became almost a free
+city. After that, whenever a Protestant in any part of France found that
+he could not live peaceably in his own home, he went to Rochelle, and
+that is the way the place came to be called the city of refuge.
+
+For a good many years the people of Rochelle went on living quietly.
+They had a fine harbor of their own, their trade was good, and they were
+allowed to manage their own affairs. At last the new King of France made
+up his mind that he would not have two religions in his country, but
+would make everybody believe as he did. This troubled the people of
+Rochelle, but the king sent them word that he only meant to make them
+change their religion by showing them that his was better, and that he
+did not intend to trouble them in any way.
+
+In those days promises of that kind did not count for much; but the
+king's prime-minister, Cardinal Richelieu, who really managed
+everything, knew very well that Rochelle could give a great deal of
+trouble if it chose, and so, perhaps, he really would have let the town
+alone if it had not been for the meddling of the English prime-minister,
+Buckingham.
+
+This Buckingham, with an English fleet and army, sailed into the harbor
+of Rochelle in the middle of July, 1627, and undertook to help the
+people against the French king. If Buckingham had been either a soldier
+or a sailor, he might have made himself master of the French king's
+forts near Rochelle at once; but, although he had command of a fleet and
+an army, he really knew nothing about the business of a commander, and
+he blundered so badly that the generals of the French king got fresh
+troops and provisions into the forts, and were able to hold them in
+spite of all that the English could do.
+
+Seeing how matters stood, Richelieu at once sent an army to surround
+Rochelle, and at daylight on the 10th of August the people found a
+strong force in front of the town. Rochelle had not made up its mind to
+join the English, and the magistrates sent word to the French general
+that they wanted peace. They said they were loyal to the French king,
+and even offered to help drive the English away, if their king would
+promise not to break the treaty that had been made with them many years
+before.
+
+It was too late to settle the matter in that way, however. The French
+general meant to make the town surrender, and so, while the English were
+fighting to get control of the island of Rh�, at some distance from the
+town, he began to build works around Rochelle. His plan was to shut the
+people up in the city and cut off their supplies of food; and when the
+Rochelle folk saw what he was doing, they opened fire on his men.
+
+The war was now begun, and the Huguenots made terms with Buckingham,
+hoping, with his help, to win in the struggle. Buckingham promised to
+help them, and he did try to do so in his blundering way; but he did
+them more harm than good, for when he found that he could not take the
+forts he sailed away, taking with him three hundred tons of grain, which
+he ought to have sent into the town.
+
+It was November when the English left, and Rochelle was in a very bad
+situation. Richelieu set to work to shut the town in and seal it up. He
+built strong works all around the land side, and then, with great
+labor, brought earth and stones and built a mole, or strip of land,
+nearly all the way across the mouth of the harbor, so that no boats
+could pass in or out.
+
+[Illustration: RICHELIEU SURVEYING THE WORKS AT ROCHELLE.]
+
+The situation was a terrible one, but the people of Rochelle were brave,
+and had no thought of flinching. They chose the mayor, Guiton, for their
+commander, and when he accepted the office he laid his dagger on the
+table, saying: "I will thrust that dagger into the heart of the first
+man who speaks of giving up the town." He then went to work to defend
+the place. He strengthened the works, and made soldiers of all the men
+in the city, and all the boys, too, for that matter. Everybody who could
+handle a weapon of any kind had to take his place in the ranks. England
+had promised to send help, and the only question, Guiton thought, was
+whether or not he could hold out till the help should come; so he laid
+his plans to resist as long as possible.
+
+The French in great numbers stormed the defences time after time; but
+the brave Rochellese always drove them back with great loss. It was
+clear from the first that Guiton would not give way, and that no column,
+however strong, could force the city gates. But there was an enemy
+inside the town which was harder to fight than the one outside. There
+was famine in Rochelle! The cattle were eaten up, and the horses went
+next. Then everything that could be turned into food was carefully used
+and made to go as far as it would. Guiton stopped every kind of waste;
+but day by day the food supply grew smaller, and the people grew weaker
+from hunger. Starvation was doing its work. Every day the list of deaths
+grew longer, and when people met in the streets they stared at each
+other with lean, white, hungry faces, wondering who would be the next to
+go.
+
+Still these heroic people had no thought of giving up. They were
+fighting for liberty, and they loved that more than life. The French
+were daily charging their works, but could not move the stubborn,
+starving Rochellese.
+
+The winter dragged on slowly. Spring came, and yet no help had come
+from England. In March the French, thinking that the people must be worn
+out, hurled their heaviest columns against the lines; but, do what they
+would, they could not break through anywhere, and had to go back to
+their works, and wait for famine to conquer a people who could not be
+conquered by arms.
+
+One morning in May an English fleet was seen outside the mole. The news
+ran through the town like wildfire. Help was at hand, and the poor
+starving people were wild with joy. Men ran through the streets shouting
+and singing songs of thanksgiving. They had borne terrible sufferings,
+but now help was coming, and they were sure that their heroic endurance
+would not be thrown away. Thousands of their comrades had fallen
+fighting, and thousands of their women and children had starved to
+death; but what was that if, after all, Rochelle was not to lose her
+liberties?
+
+Alas! their hope was a vain one, and their joy soon turned to sorrow.
+The English fleet did nothing. It hardly tried to do anything; but
+after lying within sight of the town for a while it sailed away again
+and left Rochelle to its fate.
+
+Richelieu was sure that Guiton would surrender now, and so he sent a
+messenger to say that he would spare the lives of all the people if the
+town were given up within three days. But the gallant Guiton was not
+ready even yet to give up the struggle. "Tell Cardinal Richelieu," he
+said to the messenger, "that we are his very obedient servants;" and
+that was all the answer he had to make.
+
+When the summer came some food was grown in the city gardens, but this
+went a very little way among so many people, and the famine had now
+grown frightful. The people gathered all the shellfish they could find
+at low tide. They ate the leaves off the trees, and even the grass of
+the gardens and lawns was used for food. Everything that could in any
+way help to support life was consumed; everything that could be boiled
+into the thinnest soup was turned to account; everything that could be
+chewed for its juice was used to quiet the pains of fierce hunger; but
+all was not enough. Men, women, and children died by thousands. Every
+morning when the new guard went to take the place of the old one many of
+the sentinels were found dead at their posts from starvation.
+
+Still the heroic Guiton kept up the fight, and nobody dared say anything
+to him about giving up. He still hoped for help from England, and meant
+to hold out until it should come, cost what it might. In order that the
+soldiers might have a little more to eat, and live and fight a little
+longer, he turned all the old people and those who were too weak to
+fight out of the town. The French would not let these poor wretches pass
+their lines, but made an attack on them, and drove them back towards
+Rochelle. But Guiton would not open the city gates to them. He said they
+would starve to death if he let them into Rochelle, and they might as
+well die outside as inside the gates.
+
+At last news came that the English had made a treaty with the French,
+and so there was no longer any hope of help for Rochelle, and truly the
+place could hold out no longer. The famine was at its worst. Out of
+about thirty thousand people only five thousand were left alive, and
+they were starving; of six hundred Englishmen who had stayed to help the
+Rochellese all were dead but sixty-two. Corpses lay thick in the
+streets, for the people were too weak, from fasting, even to bury their
+dead. The end had come. On the 30th of October, 1628, after nearly
+fifteen months of heroic effort and frightful suffering, Rochelle
+surrendered.
+
+Richelieu at once sent food into the town, and treated the people very
+kindly; but he took away all the old rights and privileges of the city.
+He pulled down all the earth-works used by the defenders of the place,
+and gave orders that nobody should build even a garden fence anywhere
+near the town. He made a law that no Protestant who was not already a
+citizen of Rochelle should go thither to live, and that the "city of
+refuge" should never again receive any stranger without a permit from
+the king.
+
+
+
+
+THE SAD STORY OF A BOY KING.
+
+
+London took a holiday on the 16th of July, 1377. There were processions
+of merry-makers in the streets, and the windows were crowded with gayly
+dressed men, women, and children. The great lords, glittering in armor,
+and mounted upon splendid steel-clad horses, marched through the town.
+The bishops and clergymen in gorgeous robes made a more solemn, but not
+less attractive show. The trade-guilds were out in their best clothing,
+bearing the tools of their trades instead of arms. Clowns in motley,
+merry-makers of all kinds, great city dignitaries, lords and
+commons--everybody, in short, made a mad and merry holiday; and at night
+the houses were illuminated, and great bonfires were lighted in the
+streets.
+
+All England was wild with joy; but the happiest person in the land was
+Richard Plantagenet, a boy eleven years of age. Indeed, it was for this
+boy's sake and in his honor that all this feasting and merry-making went
+on, for on that day young Richard was crowned King of England; and in
+those times a king of England was a much more important person than now,
+because the people had not then learned to govern themselves, and the
+king had powers which Englishmen would not allow any man to have in our
+time.
+
+Richard was too young to govern wisely, and so a council was appointed
+to help him until he should grow up; but in the meantime he was a real
+king, boy as he was, and it is safe to say that he was the happiest boy
+in England on that July day, when all London took a holiday in his
+honor.
+
+But if he had known what this crowning was to lead to, young Richard
+might have been very glad to change places with any baker's or butcher's
+boy in London. The boy king had some uncles and cousins who were very
+great people, and who gave him no little trouble after a while. He had
+wars on his hands, too, and needed a great deal more money than the
+people were willing to give him; and so, when he grew older and took the
+government into his own hands, he found troubles all around him. The
+Irish people rebelled frequently; the Scotch were hostile; there was
+trouble with Spain because Richard's uncle wanted to become king of that
+country, and there was a standing war with France.
+
+But this was not all. In order to carry on these wars the king was
+obliged to have money; and when he ordered taxes to be collected the
+common people, led by Wat Tyler, rose in rebellion. They marched into
+London, seized the Tower, and put to death the treasurer of the kingdom,
+the Archbishop of Canterbury, and many other persons high in the
+government. Tyler was so insolent one day that the Lord Mayor of London
+killed him; but the boy king, who was only sixteen years old, seeing
+that the rebels were too strong for him, put himself at their head, and
+marched with them out of the city; and so the king, against whom the
+rebellion was made, became the leader of the rebels. As soon as matters
+grew quiet, however, he broke all the promises he had made, and punished
+the chief rebels very harshly.
+
+Not long after this one of the king's uncles made himself master of the
+kingdom by force, and it was several years before Richard could put him
+out of power.
+
+But the greatest of all Richard's troubles were yet to come. His cousin,
+Henry Bolingbroke, the son of old John of Gaunt, had misbehaved, and
+Richard had sent him out of England, not to return for ten years. But
+while Richard was in Ireland putting down a rebellion there, Henry came
+back to England, raised an army, and was joined by many of the most
+powerful men in the kingdom. When Richard came back from Ireland Henry
+made him a prisoner, and not long afterwards the great men made up their
+minds to set up Henry as the king instead of Richard. They made Richard
+sign a paper giving up his right to the crown, and then, to make the
+matter sure, Parliament passed a law that Richard should be king no
+longer.
+
+Richard was only thirty-three years old when all this was done, but
+after so many troubles he might well have been glad to give up his
+kingship, if that had been the end of the matter. But a king who has
+been set aside is always a dangerous man to have in the kingdom, and it
+would not do to let Richard go free. He might gather his friends around
+him and give trouble. So it was decided that the unfortunate man should
+be shut up in a prison for the rest of his life.
+
+But even this was not the worst of the matter. Richard had a wife--Queen
+Isabella--whom he loved very dearly, and if the two could have gone away
+together into some quiet place to live, they might still have been happy
+in spite of being under guard all the time. But the new king would not
+have it so. He gave orders that Richard should be shut up closely in a
+prison, and that Isabella should go back to France, where Richard had
+married her.
+
+This was a terrible thing for the young man and his younger wife, who
+might have had a long life of happiness still before them if Richard
+had never been a king. But Richard had been King of England, and so he
+had to give up both his freedom and his wife.
+
+In his play of "King Richard the Second" Shakespeare makes a very
+touching scene of their parting. In the play their farewell takes place
+in the street, as shown in our picture. Isabella, anxious to see her
+husband once more before they part forever, waits at a point which she
+knows he must pass on his way to prison. There they meet and talk
+together for the last time on earth. The words which Shakespeare puts
+into their mouths are terribly sad, but very beautiful. You will find
+the scene at the beginning of Act V. of the play. The picture shows the
+two at the moment when Richard moves away to his prison, leaving
+Isabella to mourn for him in a nunnery for the rest of her life.
+
+It is not certainly known what became of Richard after he was taken to
+prison. It is believed that he was murdered there--perhaps starved to
+death--but there is a story that he got away and lived in Scotland,
+dying there in 1419. It is not at all likely that the story is true,
+however, and the common belief has always been that he died or was
+killed in Pontefract Castle, where he was imprisoned.
+
+[Illustration: THE PARTING BETWEEN KING RICHARD II. AND QUEEN ISABELLA.]
+
+However that may be, Richard's life was a terribly unhappy one, and all
+his sorrows grew out of the fact that he was a king. If he could have
+looked forward on that July day when the people were making merry in his
+honor, and could have known all that was to happen to him, instead of
+being the happiest boy in England on his coronation day, he would have
+been the most wretched.
+
+
+
+
+TWO OBSCURE HEROES.
+
+HOW THE PARTISAN WARFARE IN THE CAROLINAS WAS BEGUN.
+
+
+When the British marched up from Savannah and took Charleston, in the
+spring of 1780, they thought the Revolution was at an end in the
+Southern States, and it really seemed so. Even the patriots thought it
+was useless to resist any longer, and so when the British ordered all
+the people to come together at different places and enrol themselves as
+British subjects, most of them were ready to do it, simply because they
+thought they could not help themselves.
+
+Only a few daring men here and there were bold enough to think of
+refusing, and but for them the British could have set up the royal power
+again in South Carolina, and then they would have been free to take
+their whole force against the patriots farther north. The fate of the
+whole country depended, to a large extent, upon the courage of the few
+men who would not give up even at such a time, but kept up the fight
+against all odds. These brave men forced the British to keep an army in
+the South which they needed farther north.
+
+The credit of beginning this kind of partisan warfare belongs chiefly to
+two or three plain men, who did it simply because they loved their
+country more than their ease.
+
+The man who first began it was Justice Gaston--a white-haired patriot
+who lived on a little stream called Fishing Creek, near Rocky Mount. He
+was eighty years of age, and might well have thought himself too old to
+care about war matters; but he was a brave man and a patriot, and the
+people who lived near him were in the habit of taking his advice and
+doing as he did.
+
+When the news came that Tarleton had killed a band of patriots under
+Colonel Buford in cold blood Justice Gaston called his nine sons and
+many of his nephews around him. Joining hands, these young men promised
+each other that they never would take the British oath, and never would
+give up the cause, come what might.
+
+Soon afterwards a British force came to the neighborhood, and all the
+people were ordered to meet at Rocky Mount to enrol their names and take
+the oath. One of the British officers went to see Justice Gaston, and
+tried to persuade him that it was folly to refuse. He knew that if
+Gaston advised the people to give up, there would be no trouble; but the
+white-haired patriot told him to his face that he would never take the
+oath himself or advise anybody else to do so.
+
+As soon as the officer left the old man sent for his friends, and about
+thirty brave fellows met at his house that night, with their rifles in
+their hands. They knew there would be a strong force of British and
+Tories at Rocky Mount the next day, but, in spite of the odds against
+them, they made up their minds to attack the place, and when the time
+came they did so. Creeping through the woods, they suddenly came upon
+the crowd, and after a sharp fight sent the British flying
+helter-skelter in every direction. This stopped the work of enrolling
+the people as British subjects, and it did more than that. It showed the
+patriots through the whole country that they could still give the
+British a great deal of trouble, and after this affair many of the men
+who had thought of giving up rubbed up their rifles instead, and formed
+little bands of fighting men to keep the war going.
+
+Another man who did much to stir up partisan warfare was the Rev.
+William Martin, an old and pious preacher in the Scotch-Irish
+settlements. These Scotch-Irish were very religious people, and their
+preacher was their leader in all things. One Sunday, after the news had
+come to the settlement that Buford's men had been killed by the British
+in cold blood, the eloquent old man went into his pulpit and preached
+about the duty of fighting. In the afternoon he preached again, and even
+when the service was over he went on in the open air, still preaching to
+the people how they should fight for their country, until all the men
+in the settlement were full of fighting spirit. The women told the men
+to go and do their duty, and that they would take care of the crops.
+
+These little bands of patriots were too small to fight regular battles,
+or even to hold strong posts. They had to hide in the woods and swamps,
+and only came out when they saw a chance to strike a blow. Then the blow
+fell like lightning, and the men who dealt it quickly hid themselves
+again.
+
+They had signs by which they told each other what they were going to do.
+A twig bent down, a few stones strung along a path, or any other of a
+hundred small signs, served to tell every patriot when and where to meet
+his friends. A man riding about, breaking a twig here and there, or
+making some other sign of the kind, could call together a large force at
+a chosen spot within a few hours. The men brought out in this way would
+fall suddenly upon some stray British force that was off its guard, and
+utterly destroy it. The British would at once send a strong body of
+troops to punish the daring patriots, but the redcoat leader would look
+in vain for anybody to punish. The patriots could scatter and hide as
+quickly as they could come together.
+
+[Illustration: MARTIN PREACHING TO THE PEOPLE ON THE DUTY OF FIGHTING.]
+
+Finding that they could not destroy these patriot companies, the British
+and Tories took their revenge on women and children. They burned the
+houses of the patriots, carried off their crops, and killed their
+cattle, so as to starve their families; but the women were as brave us
+the men, and from first to last not one of them ever wished her husband
+or son to give up the fight.
+
+If the patriots could not conquer the British, they at least kept them
+in a hornets' nest. If they could not drive them out of South Carolina,
+they could keep them there, which was nearly as good a thing to do,
+because every soldier that Cornwallis had to keep in the South would
+have been sent to some other part of the country to fight the Americans
+if the Carolinians had let the British alone.
+
+In this way small bands of resolute men kept Cornwallis busy, and held
+the state for the American cause, until General Greene went south and
+took command. Greene was one of the greatest of the American generals,
+and after a long campaign he drove the British out of the state. But if
+it had not been for the partisans the South would have been lost long
+before he could be spared to go there; and if the partisans had not kept
+a British army busy there, it might have gone very hard with the
+Americans in the rest of the country.
+
+When we rejoice in the freedom of our country we ought not to forget how
+much we owe the partisans, and especially such men as Justice Gaston and
+the Rev. William Martin, who first set the partisans at their work. It
+would have been much easier and pleasanter for them to remain quiet
+under British rule; and they had nothing to gain for themselves, but
+everything to lose, by the course they took. Gaston knew that his home
+would be burned for what he did, and the eloquent old Scotch preacher
+knew that he would be put into a prison-pen for preaching war sermons
+to his people; but they were not men to flinch. They cared more for
+their country than for themselves, and it was precisely that kind of men
+throughout the land, from New England to Georgia, who won liberty for us
+by seven years of hard fighting and terrible suffering.
+
+
+
+
+THE CHARGE OF THE HOUNDS.
+
+AN INCIDENT OF THE CREEK WAR.
+
+
+A terrible bit of news was carried from mouth to mouth through the
+region that is now Alabama at the beginning of September, 1813. The
+country was at that time in the midst of the second war with Great
+Britain, and for a long time British agents had been trying to persuade
+the Creeks--a powerful nation of half-civilized but very warlike Indians
+who lived in Alabama--to join in the war and destroy the white
+settlements in the Southwest.
+
+For some time the Creeks hesitated, and it was uncertain what they would
+do. But during the summer of 1813 they broke out in hostility, and on
+the 30th of August their great leader, Weatherford, or the Red Eagle, as
+they called him, stormed Fort Mims, the strongest fort in the Southwest.
+He took the fort by surprise, with a thousand warriors behind him, and,
+after five hours of terrible fighting, destroyed it, killing about five
+hundred men, women, and children.
+
+This was the news that startled the settlers in the region where the
+Alabama and Tombigbee rivers come together. It was certain, after such a
+massacre as that, that the Indians meant to destroy the settlements, and
+kill all the white people without mercy.
+
+In order to protect themselves and their families the settlers built
+rude forts by setting pieces of timber endwise in the ground, and the
+people hurried to these places for safety. Leaving their homes to be
+burned, their crops to be destroyed, and their cattle to be killed or
+carried off by the Indians, the settlers hastily got together what food
+they could, and took their families into the nearest forts.
+
+One of the smallest of these stockade forts was called Sinquefield. It
+stood in what is now Clarke County, Alabama, and, as that region was
+very thinly settled, there were not enough men to make a strong force
+for the defence of the fort. But the brave farmers and hunters thought
+they could hold the place, and so they took their families thither as
+quickly as they could.
+
+Two families, numbering seventeen persons, found it was not easy to go
+to Sinquefield on the 2d of September, and so, as they were pretty sure
+that there were no Indians in their neighborhood as yet, they made up
+their minds to stay one more night at a house a few miles from the fort.
+That night they were attacked, and all but five of them were killed.
+Those who got away carried the news of what had happened to the fort,
+and a party was sent out to bring in the bodies.
+
+The next day all the people in Fort Sinquefield went out to bury their
+dead friends in a valley at some little distance from the fort, and,
+strange as it seems, they took no arms with them. Believing that there
+were no Indians near the place, they left the gates of the fortress
+open, and went out in a body without their guns.
+
+As a matter of fact there was a large body of Indians not only very
+near them, but actually looking at them all the time. The celebrated
+Prophet Francis was in command, and in his sly way he had crept as near
+the fort as possible to look for a good chance to attack it. Making his
+men lie down and crawl like snakes, he had reached a point only a few
+hundred yards from the stockade without alarming the people, and now,
+while they stood around the graves of their friends without arms to
+defend themselves with, a host of their savage enemies lay looking at
+them from the grass and bushes on the hill.
+
+As soon as he saw that the right moment had come, Francis sprang up with
+a savage war-cry, and at the head of his warriors made a dash at the
+gates. He had seen that the men outside were unarmed, and his plan was
+to get to the gates before they could reach them, and thus get all the
+people of the place at his mercy in an open field and without arms to
+fight with.
+
+The fort people were quick to see what his purpose was, and the men
+hurried forward with all their might, hoping to reach the fort before
+the savages could get there. By running at the top of their speed they
+did this, and closed the gates in time to keep the Indians out. But, to
+their horror, they then saw that their wives and children were shut out
+too. Unable to run so fast as the men had done, the women and children
+had fallen behind, and now the Indians were between them and the gates!
+
+Seeing that he had missed his chance of getting possession of the fort,
+Francis turned upon the women and children with savage delight in the
+thought of butchering these helpless creatures in the sight of their
+husbands, fathers, and brothers.
+
+It was a moment of terror. There were not half enough white men in the
+fort to master so large a force of Indians, and if there had been it was
+easy to see that by the time they could get their rifles and go to the
+rescue it would be too late.
+
+At that moment the hero of this bit of history came upon the scene. This
+was a young man named Isaac Haden. He was a notable huntsman, who kept
+a famous pack of hounds--fierce brutes, thoroughly trained to run down
+and seize any live thing that their master chose to chase. This young
+man had been out in search of stray cattle, and just at the moment when
+matters were at their worst he rode up to the fort, followed by his
+sixty dogs.
+
+Isaac Haden had a cool head and a very daring spirit. He was in the
+habit of taking in a situation at a glance, deciding quickly what was to
+be done, and then doing it at any risk that might be necessary. As soon
+as he saw how the women and children were placed, he cried out to his
+dogs, and, at the head of the bellowing pack, charged upon the flank of
+the Indians. The dogs did their work with a spirit equal to their
+master's. For each to seize a red warrior and drag him to earth was the
+work of a moment, and the whole body of savages was soon in confusion.
+For a time they had all they could do to defend themselves against the
+unlooked-for assault of the fierce animals, and before they could beat
+off the dogs the men of the fort came out and joined in the attack, so
+that the women and children had time to make their way inside the gates,
+only one of them, a Mrs. Phillips, having been killed.
+
+The men, of course, had to follow the women closely, as they were much
+too weak in numbers to risk a battle outside. If they had done so the
+Indians would have overcome them quickly, and then the fort and
+everybody in it would have been at their mercy, so the settlers hurried
+into the fort as soon as the women were safe.
+
+But the hero who had saved the people by his quickness and courage was
+left outside, and not only so, but the savages were between him and the
+fort. He had charged entirely through the war party, and was now beyond
+their line, alone, and with no chance of help from any quarter.
+
+His hope of saving himself was very small indeed; but he had saved all
+those helpless women and little children, and he was a brave enough
+fellow to die willingly for such a purpose as that if he must. But brave
+men do not give up easily, and young Haden did not mean to die without a
+last effort to save himself.
+
+[Illustration: "JUST AT THE MOMENT WHEN MATTERS WERE AT THEIR WORST, HE
+RODE UP."]
+
+Blowing a loud blast upon his hunting-horn to call his remaining dogs
+around him, he drew his pistols--one in each hand--and plunged spurs
+into his horse's flanks. In spite of the numbers against him he broke
+through the mass of savages, but the gallant horse that bore him fell
+dead as he cleared the Indian ranks. Haden had fired both his pistols,
+and had no time to load them again. He was practically unarmed now, and
+the distance he still had to go before reaching the gates was
+considerable. His chance of escape seemed smaller than ever, but he
+quickly sprang from the saddle, and ran with all his might, hotly
+pursued, and under a terrific fire from the rifles of the savages. The
+gate was held a little way open for him to pass, and when he entered the
+fort his nearest pursuers were so close at his heels that there was
+barely time for the men to shut the gate in their faces.
+
+Strangely enough, the brave young fellow was not hurt in any way. Five
+bullets had passed through his clothes, but his skin was not broken.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF A WINTER CAMPAIGN.
+
+
+Nearly all the countries in Europe were making war upon France in 1795.
+The French people had set up a republic, and all the kingdoms round
+about were trying to make them submit to a king again. This had been
+going on for several years, and sometimes it looked as though the French
+would be beaten, in spite of their brave struggles to keep their enemies
+back and manage their own affairs in their own way.
+
+At one time everything went against the French. Their armies were worn
+out with fighting, their supply of guns had run short, they had no
+powder, and their money matters were in so bad a state that it seemed
+hardly possible for France to hold out any longer. In the meantime
+England, Austria, Spain, Holland, Piedmont, and Prussia, besides many of
+the small German states, had joined together to fight France, and their
+armies were on every side of her.
+
+A country in such a state as that, with so many powerful enemies on
+every side, might well have given up; but the French are a brave people,
+and they were fighting for their liberties. Instead of giving up in
+despair, they set to work with all their might to carry on the war.
+
+The first thing to be done was to raise new armies, and so they called
+for men, and the men came forward in great numbers from every part of
+the country. In a little while they had more men to make soldiers of
+than had ever before been brought together in France. But this was only
+a beginning. The men were not yet trained soldiers, and even if they had
+been, they had no guns and no powder; no clothing was to be had, and
+there was very little food for them to eat. Still the French did not
+despair.
+
+Knowing that there would not be time enough to train the new men, they
+put some of their old soldiers in each regiment of new ones, so that
+the new men might learn from the veterans how to march and how to
+fight.
+
+In the meantime they had set up armories, and were making guns as fast
+as they could. Their greatest trouble was about powder. They had
+chemists who knew how to make it, but they had no nitre to make it of,
+and did not know at first how to get any. At last one of their chemists
+said that there was some nitre--from a few ounces to a pound or two--in
+the earth of every cellar floor; and that if all the nitre in all the
+cellar floors of France could be collected, it would be enough to make
+plenty of powder.
+
+But how to get this nitre was a question. The cellar floors must be dug
+up, the earth must be washed, and the water must be carefully passed
+through a course of chemical treatment in order to get the nitre, free
+from earth and from all other things with which it was mixed. It would
+take many days for a chemist to extract the nitre from the earth of a
+singly cellar, and then he would get only a pound or two of it at most.
+
+It did not seem likely that much could be done in this way, but all the
+people were anxious to help, and so the cry went up from every part of
+the country, "Send us chemists to teach us how, and we will do the work
+and get the nitre ourselves." This was quickly done. All the chemists
+were set at work teaching the people how to get a little nitre out of a
+great deal of earth, and then every family went to work. In a little
+while the nitre began to come in to the powder-factories. Each family
+sent its little parcel of the precious salt as a free gift to the
+country. Some of them were so proud and glad of the chance to help that
+they dressed their little packages of nitre in ribbons of the national
+colors, and wrote patriotic words upon them. Each little parcel held
+only a few ounces, or at most a pound or two, of the white salt; but the
+parcels came in by tens of thousands, and in a few weeks there were
+hundreds of tons of nitre at the powder-mills.
+
+As soon as there was powder enough the new armies began to press their
+enemies, and, during the summer and fall of 1794, they steadily drove
+them back. When they met their foes in battle they nearly always forced
+them to give way. They charged upon forts and took them at the point of
+the bayonet; cities and towns everywhere fell into their hands, and by
+the time that winter set in they were so used to winning battles that
+nothing seemed too hard for them to undertake.
+
+But the French soldiers were in a very bad condition to stand the cold
+of winter. One great army, under General Pichegru, which had driven the
+English and Dutch far into the Netherlands, was really almost naked. The
+shoes of the soldiers were worn out, and so they had to wrap their feet
+in wisps of straw to keep them from freezing. Many of the men had not
+clothing enough to cover their nakedness, and, for decency's sake, had
+to plait straw into mats which they wore around their shoulders like
+blankets. They had no tents to sleep in, but, nearly naked as they were,
+had to lie down in the snow or on the hard frozen ground, and sleep as
+well as they could in the bitter winter weather.
+
+There never was an army more in need of a good rest in winter-quarters,
+and as two great rivers lay in front of them, it seemed impossible to do
+anything more until spring. The English and Dutch were already safely
+housed for the winter, feeling perfectly sure that the French could not
+cross the rivers or march in any direction until the beginning of the
+next summer.
+
+The French generals, therefore, put their men into the best quarters
+they could get for them, and the poor, half-naked, barefooted soldiers
+were glad to think that their work for that year was done.
+
+Day by day the weather grew colder. The ground was frozen hard, and ice
+began running in the rivers. After a little while the floating ice
+became so thick that the rivers were choked with it. When Christmas came
+the stream nearest the French was frozen over, and three days later the
+ice was so hard that the surface of the river was as firm as the solid
+ground.
+
+Then came an order from General Pichegru to shoulder arms and march. In
+the bitterest weather of that terrible winter the barefooted, half-clad
+French soldiers left their huts, and marched against their foes.
+Crossing the first river on the ice, they fell upon the surprised Dutch
+and utterly routed them. About the same time they made a dash at the
+strong fortified posts along the river, and captured them.
+
+The French were now masters of the large island that lay between the two
+rivers, for they are really only two branches of one river, and the land
+between them is an island. But the ice in the farther stream was not yet
+hard enough to bear the weight of cannon, so Pichegru had to stay where
+he was for a time. Both sides now watched the weather, the French hoping
+for still harder frosts, while their enemies prayed for a thaw.
+
+The cold weather continued, and day by day the ice became firmer. On the
+8th of January, 1795, Pichegru began to cross, and on the 10th his whole
+army had passed the stream, while his enemies were rapidly retreating.
+He pushed forward into the country, sending his columns in different
+directions to press the enemy at every point. The barefooted, half-naked
+French soldiers were full of spirit, and in spite of frost and snow and
+rough frozen roads they marched steadily and rapidly. City after city
+fell before them, and on the 20th of January they marched into Amsterdam
+itself, and were complete conquerors.
+
+Hungry and half-frozen as they were, it would not have been strange if
+these poor soldiers had rushed into the warm houses of the city and
+helped themselves to food and clothing. But they did nothing of the
+kind. They stacked their arms in the streets and public squares, and
+quietly waited in the snow, patiently bearing the bitter cold of the
+wind for several hours, while the magistrates were getting houses and
+food and clothing ready for them.
+
+This whole campaign was wonderful, and on almost every day some strange
+thing happened; but, perhaps, the strangest of all the events in this
+winter war was that which is shown in the picture. Pichegru, learning
+that there was a fleet of the enemy's vessels lying at anchor near the
+island of Texel, sent a column of cavalry, with some cannon, in that
+direction, to see if anything could be done. The cavalry found the
+Zuyder Zee hard frozen, and the ships firmly locked in the ice. So they
+put spurs to their horses, galloped over the frozen surface of the sea,
+marched up to the ships, and called on them to surrender. It was a new
+thing in war for ships to be charged by men on horseback; but there the
+horsemen were, with strong ice under them, and the ships could not sail
+away from them. The sailors could make a fight, of course, but the
+cavalry, with their cannon, were too strong for them, and so they
+surrendered without a battle, and for the first time in history a body
+of hussars captured a squadron of ships at anchor.
+
+[Illustration: CAPTURE OF THE DUTCH FLEET BY THE SOLDIERS OF THE FRENCH
+REPUBLIC.]
+
+
+
+
+YOUNG WASHINGTON IN THE WOODS.
+
+THE STORY OF A PERILOUS JOURNEY.
+
+
+No man ever lived whose name is more honored than that of George
+Washington, and no man ever deserved his fame more. All the success that
+ever came to him was won by hard work. He succeeded because he was the
+kind of man that he was, and not in the least because he had "a good
+chance" to distinguish himself. He never owed anything to "good luck,"
+nor even to a special education in the business of a soldier. Some men
+are called great because they have succeeded in doing great things; but
+he succeeded in doing great things because he was great in himself.
+
+Everybody who knew him, even as a boy, seems to have respected as well
+as liked him. There was something in his character which made men think
+well of him. When he was only sixteen years of age Lord Fairfax admired
+him to such a degree that he appointed him to a post which not many men
+would have been trusted to fill. He put the boy at the head of a
+surveying party, and sent him across the mountains to survey the valley
+of Virginia--a vast region which was then unsettled. So well did
+Washington perform this difficult and dangerous task that a few years
+later, when he was only twenty-one years old, the Governor of Virginia
+picked him out for a more delicate and dangerous piece of work.
+
+The English colonies lay along the Atlantic coast, while the French held
+Canada. The country west of the Alleghany Mountains, which we now know
+as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, etc., was claimed by both the French and the
+English, though only the Indians lived there. The French made friends of
+the savages, and began building forts at different points in that
+region, and putting soldiers there to keep the English away. The
+Governor of Virginia wanted to put a stop to this, and so he resolved to
+send a messenger into "the Great Woods," as the western country was
+called, to warn the French off, and to win the friendship of the Indians
+if possible.
+
+For such a service he needed a man with a cool head, good sense, great
+courage, and, above all, what boys call "grit;" for whoever should go
+would have to make his way for many hundreds of miles through a
+trackless wilderness, over mountains and rivers, and among hostile
+Indians. Young Washington had already shown what stuff he was made of,
+and, young as he was, he was regarded as a remarkable man. The governor
+therefore picked him out as the very best person for the work that was
+to be done.
+
+It was November when Washington set out, and the weather was very cold
+and wet. He took four white men and two Indians with him, the white men
+being hunters who knew how to live in the woods. As the country they had
+to pass through was a wilderness, they had to carry all their supplies
+with them on pack-horses. They rode all day through the woods, and when
+night came slept in little tents by some spring or watercourse. Day
+after day they marched forward, until at last they reached an Indian
+village, near the spot where Pittsburgh now stands, and there they
+halted to make friends with the Indians.
+
+This was not very easy, as the French had already had a good deal to do
+with the tribes in that region; but Washington persuaded the chief,
+whose name was Tanacharisson, to go with him to visit the French
+commander, who was stationed in a fort hundreds of miles away, near Lake
+Erie.
+
+This march, like the other, was slow and full of hardships; but at last
+the fort was reached, and Washington delivered his message to the French
+officer. A day or two later the Frenchman gave him his answer, which was
+that the western country belonged to the French, and that they had no
+notion of giving it up.
+
+All the trouble Washington had met in going north was nothing compared
+with what was before him in going back to Virginia again. The winter was
+now at its worst, and the weather was terrible. The rivers and creeks
+were full of floating ice, and the woods were banked high with snow. But
+Washington was not to be daunted by any kind of difficulty. He set out
+on his return march, and with the aid of canoes, in which his baggage
+was carried down a small stream that ran in that direction, he took his
+party as far as Venango, in the northwestern part of Pennsylvania.
+
+There he found that he could go no farther on horseback. The ground was
+frozen on top, but soft beneath, and the poor horses broke through the
+hard crust at every step. There was a French fort at Venango, and
+Washington might have waited there very comfortably for better weather;
+but it was his duty to get back to Virginia as soon as possible with the
+French commander's answer, and so he made up his mind to go on, even at
+the risk of his life.
+
+Leaving the rest of the party to come when they could with the horses,
+Washington and a single companion named Gist set out on foot for the
+long winter march. As they had no pack-horses to carry tents and
+cooking-vessels and food, they had to leave everything behind except
+what they could carry on their backs; and as they were obliged to take
+their rifles, powder-horns, and bullet-pouches, their hunting-knives and
+hatchets, and a blanket apiece, they were pretty heavily loaded, and
+could not afford to burden themselves with much else.
+
+Day by day the two brave fellows trudged on through the snow-drifts,
+sleeping at night as best they could, exposed to the biting cold of the
+winter, without shelter, except such as the woods afforded. There were
+other dangers besides cold and hunger. At one time a treacherous Indian,
+who had offered to act as guide, tried to lead the two white men into a
+trap. As they suspected his purpose, they refused to do as he wished,
+and a little later he suddenly turned about and shot at Washington, who
+was only a few paces distant. Missing his aim, he was quickly
+overpowered, and Gist wanted to kill him, not merely because he deserved
+to be put to death for his treachery, but also because, if allowed to go
+free, he was pretty sure to bring other hostile Indians to attack the
+lonely travellers during the night.
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON AS A SURVEYOR.]
+
+But Washington would not have him killed. He made him build a camp-fire,
+and then told him to leave them at once. The Indian did so, and as soon
+as it was certain that he was out of sight and hearing the two young men
+set out to make their escape. They knew the Indian would soon come back
+with others, and that their only chance for life was to push on as fast
+as they could. The Indians could track them in the snow, but by setting
+out at once they hoped to get so far ahead that they could not be easily
+overtaken.
+
+It was already night, and the travellers were weary from their day's
+march, but they could not afford to stop or rest. All through the night
+they toiled on. Morning came, and they must have felt it nearly
+impossible to drag their weary feet farther, but still they made no
+halt. On and on they went, and it was not till night came again that
+they thought it safe at last to stop for the rest and sleep they needed
+so badly. The strain they had undergone must have been fearful. They
+were already weary and wayworn when they first met the treacherous
+Indian, and after that they had toiled through the snow for two days and
+a night without stopping to rest or daring to refresh themselves with
+sleep.
+
+Just before reaching their journey's end they arrived at the brink of a
+river which they expected to find frozen over; but they found it full of
+floating ice instead. Without boat or bridge, there seemed no chance of
+getting across; but after a while they managed to make a rude raft, and
+upon this they undertook to push themselves across with long poles.
+
+The current was very strong, the raft was hard to manage, and the great
+fields of ice forced it out of its course. In trying to push it in the
+right direction, Washington missed his footing and fell into the icy
+river. His situation was very dangerous, but by a hard struggle he got
+upon the floating logs again. Still the current swept them along, and
+they could not reach either shore of the stream.
+
+At last they managed to leap from the logs, not to the bank, but to a
+small island in the river. There they were very little better off than
+on the raft. They were on land, it is true, but there was still no way
+of getting to shore; and as there was nothing on the island to make a
+fire with, Washington was forced, drenched as he was with ice-water, to
+pass the long winter night in the open air, without so much as a tiny
+blaze or a handful of coals by which to warm himself.
+
+Unfortunately the night proved to be a very cold one, and poor Gist's
+feet and hands were frozen before morning. Washington got no
+frost-bites, but his sufferings must have been great.
+
+During the night that part of the stream which lay between the island
+and the shore that Washington wished to reach froze over, and in the
+morning the travellers were able to renew their journey. Once across
+that, the worst of their troubles were over.
+
+Is it any wonder that a young man who did his duty in this way rapidly
+rose to distinction? He was always in earnest in his work, and always
+did it with all his might. He never shammed or shirked. He never let his
+own comfort or his own interest stand in the way when there was a duty
+to be done. He was a great man before he became a celebrated one, and
+the wisest men in the country found out the fact.
+
+When the revolution came there were other soldiers older and better
+known than Washington, but there were men in Congress who had watched
+his career carefully. They made him, therefore, commander-in-chief of
+the American armies, knowing that nobody else was so sure to do the very
+best that could be done for the country. They did not make him a great
+man by appointing him to the chief command; they appointed him because
+they knew he was a great man already.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF CATHERINE.
+
+
+Peter the Great, the emperor who, in a few years, changed Russia from a
+country of half-savage tribes into a great European nation, was one day
+visiting one of his officers, and saw in his house a young girl, who
+attracted his attention by her beauty and her graceful manners. This
+girl was a prisoner named Martha, and she was living as a sort of
+servant and housekeeper in the family of the Russian officer. She had
+been taken prisoner when the town she lived in was captured. Nobody
+knows, even to this day, exactly who she was, except that she was a poor
+orphan girl who had been brought up by a village clergyman; but it is
+generally believed that her father was a Livonian peasant.
+
+Martha's beauty and the brightness of her mind pleased the emperor so
+much that, after a while, he made up his mind to marry her, in spite of
+her humble origin. Peter was in the habit of doing pretty much as he
+pleased, whether his nobles liked it or not; but even he dared not make
+a captive peasant girl the Empress of Russia. He therefore married her
+privately, in the presence of a few of his nearest friends, who were
+charged to keep the secret. Before the marriage took place he had Martha
+baptized in the Russian Church, and changed her name to Catherine.
+
+Now Peter had a bad habit of losing his temper, and getting so angry
+that he fell into fits. As he was an absolute monarch and could do
+whatever he liked, it was very dangerous for anybody to go near him when
+he was angry. He could have a head chopped off as easily as he could
+order his breakfast. But he was very fond of Catherine, and she was the
+only person who was not in the least afraid of him. She soon learned how
+to manage him, and even in his worst fits she could soothe and quiet the
+old bear.
+
+Peter was nearly always at war, and in spite of the hardships and
+dangers of the camp and battle-field Catherine always marched with him
+at the head of the army. The soldiers wondered at her bravery, and
+learned to like her more than anybody else. If food was scarce, the
+roads rough, and the marches long, they remembered, that Catherine was
+with them, and were ashamed to grumble. If she could stand the hardships
+and face the dangers, they thought rough soldiers ought not to complain.
+
+Catherine was a wise woman as well as a brave one. She soon learned as
+much of the art of war as Peter knew, and in every time of doubt or
+difficulty her advice was asked, and her opinion counted for as much as
+if she had been one of the generals. After she had thus shown how able a
+woman she was, and had won the friendship of everybody about her by her
+good temper and her pleasant ways, Peter publicly announced his
+marriage, and declared Catherine to be his wife and czarina. But still
+he did not crown her.
+
+This was in the year 1711, and immediately afterwards Peter marched
+into the Turkish country at the head of forty thousand men. This army
+was not nearly large enough to meet the Turks, but Peter had other
+armies in different places, and had ordered all of them to meet him on
+the march. For various reasons all these armies failed to join him, and
+he found himself in a Turkish province with a very small number of
+troops. The danger was so great that he ordered Catherine and all the
+other women to go back to a place of safety. But Catherine would not go.
+She had made up her mind to stay with Peter at the head of the army, and
+was so obstinate about it that at last Peter gave her leave to remain.
+Then the wives of the generals, and, finally, of the lower officers,
+wanted to stay also. She persuaded Peter to let them do so, and the end
+of it was that the women all stayed with the army.
+
+Everything went against Peter on this march. The weather was very dry.
+Swarms of locusts were in the country, eating every green thing. There
+was no food for the horses, and many of them starved to death. It was
+hard for the Russians to go forward or to go backward, and harder still
+to stay where they were.
+
+At last the soldiers in front reported that the Turks were coming, and
+Peter soon saw a great army of two hundred thousand fierce Moslems in
+front of his little force, which counted up only thirty-eight thousand
+men. Seeing the odds against him he gave the order to retreat, and the
+army began its backward march. As it neared the river Pruth a new danger
+showed itself. The advance-guard brought word that a great force of
+savage Crim Tartars held the other bank of the river, completely cutting
+off Peter's retreat.
+
+The state of things seemed hopeless. With two hundred thousand Turks on
+one side, and a strong force of Crim Tartars holding a river on the
+other, Peter's little army was completely hemmed in. There was no water
+in the camp, and when the soldiers went to the river for it, the Tartars
+on the other shore kept up a fierce fight with them. A great horde of
+Turkish cavalry tried hard to cut off the supply entirely by pushing
+themselves between Peter's camp and the river, but the Russians managed
+to keep them back by hard fighting, and to keep a road open to the
+river.
+
+Peter knew now that unless help should come to him in some shape, and
+that very quickly, he must lose not only his army, but his empire also,
+for if the Turks should take him prisoner, it was certain that his many
+enemies would soon conquer Russia, and divide the country among
+themselves. He saw no chance of help coming, but he made up his mind to
+fight as long as he could. He formed his men in a hollow square, with
+the women in the middle, and faced his enemies.
+
+The Turks flung themselves in great masses upon his lines, trying to
+crush the little force of Russians by mere numbers. But Peter's brave
+men remembered that Catherine was inside their hollow square, and they
+stood firmly at their posts, driving back the Turks with frightful
+slaughter. Again and again and again they fell upon his lines in heavy
+masses, and again and again and again they were driven back, leaving
+the field black with their dead.
+
+This could not go on forever, of course, and both sides saw what the end
+must be. As the Turks had many times more men than Peter, it was plain
+that they would, at last, win by destroying all the Russians.
+
+For three days and nights the terrible slaughter went on. Peter's men
+beat back the Turks at every charge, but every hour their line grew
+thinner. At the end of the third day sixteen thousand of their brave
+comrades lay dead upon the field, and only twenty-two thousand remained
+to face the enemy.
+
+Towards night on the third day a terrible rumor spread through their
+camp. A whisper ran along the line that _the ammunition was giving out_.
+A few more shots from each soldier's gun, and there would be nothing
+left to fight with.
+
+Then Peter fell into the sulks. As long as he could fight he had kept up
+his spirits, but now that all was lost, and his great career seemed near
+its end, he grew angry, and went to his tent to have one of his savage
+fits. He gave orders that nobody should come near him, and there was no
+officer or soldier in all the army who would have dared enter the tent
+where he lay, in his dangerous mood.
+
+But if Peter had given up in despair, Catherine had not. In spite of
+Peter's order and his anger, she boldly went into his tent, and asked
+him to give her leave to put an end to the war by making a treaty of
+peace with the Turks, if she could. It seemed absurd to talk of such a
+thing, or to expect the Turks to make peace on any terms when they had
+so good a chance to conquer Peter, once for all, and to make him their
+prisoner. Nobody but Catherine, perhaps, would have thought of such a
+thing; but Catherine was a woman born for great affairs, and she had no
+thought of giving up any chance there might be to save Peter and the
+empire.
+
+Her first difficulty was with Peter himself. She could not offer terms
+of peace to the Turks until Peter gave her leave, and promised to fulfil
+whatever bargain she might make with them. She managed this part of
+the matter, and then set to work at the greater task of dealing with the
+Turks.
+
+[Illustration: "SHE WENT BOLDLY INTO HIS TENT."]
+
+She knew that the Turkish army was under the command of the Grand
+Vizier, and she knew something of the ways of Grand Viziers. It was not
+worth while to send any kind of messenger to a Turkish commander without
+sending him also a bribe in the shape of a present, and Catherine was
+sure that the bribe must be a very large one to buy the peace she
+wanted. But where was she to get the present? There was no money in
+Peter's army-chest, and no way of getting any from Russia. Catherine was
+not discouraged by that fact. She first got together all her own jewels,
+and then went to all the officers' wives and asked each of them for
+whatever she had that was valuable--money, jewels, and plate. She gave
+each of them a receipt for what she took, and promised to pay them the
+value of their goods when she should get back to Moscow. She went in
+this way throughout the camp, and got together all the money, all the
+jewelry, and all the silver plate that were to be found in the army. No
+one person had much, of course; but when the things were collected
+together, they made a very rich present, or bribe, for the Grand Vizier.
+
+With this for a beginning, Catherine soon convinced the Turkish
+commander that it was better to make peace with Russia than to run the
+risk of having to fight the great armies that were already marching
+towards Turkey. After some bargaining she secured a treaty which allowed
+Peter to go back to Russia in safety, and thus she saved the czar and
+the empire. A few years later Peter crowned her as Empress of Russia,
+and when he died he named her as the fittest person to be his successor
+on the throne.
+
+Thus the peasant girl of Livonia, who was made a captive in war and a
+servant, rose by her genius and courage to be the sole ruler of a great
+empire--the first woman who ever reigned over Russia. It is a strange
+but true story.
+
+
+
+
+THE VIRGINIA WIFE-MARKET.
+
+TWO SHIPLOADS OF SWEETHEARTS AND THE PRICES PAID FOR THEM.
+
+
+The first English settlement in America that came to anything was made
+in the most absurd way possible. A great company of London merchants set
+about the work of planting an English colony in Virginia, and they were
+very much in earnest about it too; but if they had been as anxious to
+have the scheme fail as they were to make it succeed, they could hardly
+have done worse for it than they did in some respects.
+
+They knew that the colonists must have something to eat and must defend
+themselves against the Indians, and so it ought to have been plain to
+them that the first men sent out must be stout farmers, who could cut
+down trees, plough the ground, raise food enough for the people to eat,
+and handle guns well, if need be. The work to be done was that of
+farmers, wood-choppers, and men who could make a living for themselves
+in a new country, and common-sense ought to have led the London Company
+to send out nobody but men of that kind to make the first settlement.
+Then, after those men had cleared some land, built some houses, and
+raised their first crop, men of other kinds might have been sent as fast
+as there was need for their services.
+
+But that was not the way in which the London Company went to work. They
+chose for their first settlers about the most unfit men they could have
+found for such a purpose. There were one hundred and five of them in
+all, and forty-eight of them--or nearly half of the whole company--were
+what people in those days called "gentlemen"--that is to say, they were
+the sons of rich men. They had never learned how to do any kind of work,
+and had been brought up to think that a gentleman could not work without
+degrading himself and losing his right to be called a gentleman. There
+were a good many "servants" also in the party, and probably most of them
+were brought to wait upon the gentlemen. There were very few farmers and
+not many mechanics in the party, although farmers and mechanics were the
+men most needed. There were some goldsmiths, who expected to work the
+gold as soon as the colonists should find it, and there was a
+perfume-maker. It is hard to say in what way this perfume-man was
+expected to make himself useful in the work of planting a settlement in
+the swamps of Virginia; but, as there were so many fine "gentlemen" in
+the party, the perfumer probably thought his wares would be in demand.
+
+None of the men brought families with them. They were single men, who
+came out to this country, not to make comfortable homes for wives and
+children, by hard and patient work, but to find gold and pearls, or to
+grow rich in some other quick and easy way, and then to go back and live
+in ease in England.
+
+It is a wonder that such men ever succeeded in planting a settlement at
+all. From the first it does not seem to have been clear to them that
+they ought to raise plenty of food for themselves and learn how to live
+by their own work. They expected the company in London to send them most
+of their food and everything else that they needed. They had plenty of
+rich land and a good climate, but they expected to be fed by people
+three thousand miles away, across a great ocean.
+
+Luckily, there was one man of sense and spirit among them--the
+celebrated Captain John Smith--who got them to work a little, and, after
+many hardships and two or three narrow escapes from failure, the colony
+was firmly planted.
+
+The London Company sent out ships every year with supplies and fresh
+colonists; but, strange as it seems, most of the men sent were
+unmarried, and even those who had wives and children left them in
+England.
+
+When we think of it, this was a very bad way to begin the work of
+settling a new country. The bachelors, of course, did not intend to
+stay all their lives in a country where there were no women and
+children. They meant to make some money as quickly as they could and
+then go back to England to live. The married men who had left their
+families behind them were in still greater haste to make what they could
+and go home. In short, for a dozen years after the colony was planted,
+nobody thought of it as his real home, where he meant to live out his
+life. If the colonists had been married men, with wives and children in
+Virginia, they would have done all they could to make the new settlement
+a pleasant one to live in: they would have built good houses, set up
+schools, and worked hard to improve their own fortunes and to keep order
+in the colony.
+
+But year after year the ships brought cargoes of single men to Virginia,
+and the settlement was scarcely more than a camp in the woods. After the
+company had been trying for a good many years to people a new country by
+landing shiploads of bachelors on its shores, it began to dawn upon
+their minds that if the Virginia settlement was ever to grow into a
+thriving and lasting colony, there must be women and children there to
+make happy homes, as well as men to raise wheat, corn, and tobacco.
+
+Sir Edwin Sandys was the wise man who saw all this most clearly. He
+urged the company to send out hard-working married men, who would take
+their wives and children with them to Virginia and settle there for
+good. But this was not all. There were already a great many bachelors in
+the colony, and there were no young women there for them to marry. Sir
+Edwin knew that if these bachelors were to stay in Virginia and become
+prosperous colonists they must have a chance to marry and set up homes
+of their own. So he went to work in England to get together a cargo of
+sweethearts for the colonists. He persuaded ninety young women of good
+character to go out in one of the company's ships, to marry young men in
+Virginia.
+
+The plan was an odd one, but it was managed with good sense and did well
+for everybody concerned. It was agreed that the company should provide
+the young women with such clothing and other things as they would need
+for the voyage, and should give them free passage on board the ship.
+When they landed in Virginia they were to be perfectly free to marry or
+not, as they pleased. If any of them did not at once find husbands to
+their liking they were to be provided for in good homes until they chose
+to marry.
+
+But no man could marry one of these young women without paying for her
+in tobacco, which was used instead of money in Virginia. The girls were
+not to be sold, exactly, but it was expected that each colonist who
+married one of them should pay the company as much as it had spent in
+bringing her across the ocean.
+
+And the men of the colony were glad enough to do this. When the shipload
+of sweethearts landed at Jamestown a large number of men who were tired
+of bachelor life hurried to the wharf to get wives for themselves if
+they could. They went among the young maids, introduced themselves, got
+acquainted, and did all the courting that was necessary in a very
+little time. The young women were honest, good, well-brought-up girls,
+and among the many men there were plenty of good, industrious, and brave
+fellows who wanted good wives, and so all the girls were "engaged" at
+once. The men paid down one hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco
+apiece--for that was the price fixed upon--and, as there was nothing to
+wait for, the clergymen were sent for and the weddings took place
+immediately.
+
+It was an odd thing to do, of course, but the circumstances were very
+unusual, and the plan of importing sweethearts by the cargo really seems
+to have been a very good one. It must have been a strange sight when the
+girls landed and met the men who had come to the town to woo and marry
+them. And many of the girls must have felt that they took great risks in
+coming three thousand miles from home and marrying men whom they had
+known for so short a time; but it seems that the marriages were happy
+ones, in spite of the haste in which they were made. The newly-married
+pairs went to work in earnest to create good homes for themselves, and
+when their English friends learned from their letters how happy and
+prosperous they were, another company of sixty sweethearts set sail for
+the colony and became the wives of good men.
+
+It was in this way that the English camp at Jamestown was changed into a
+real colony of people who meant to live in America and to build up a
+thriving community here. Now that the men had wives and children to
+provide for, they no longer lived "from hand to mouth," hoping to make a
+fortune by some lucky stroke, and then to leave the colony forever. They
+went to work, instead, to cultivate the land, to build good houses, to
+make and save money, to educate their children, and to become prosperous
+and happy in their homes. Virginia, which had been a mere stopping-place
+to them, was now their own country, where their families lived and their
+nearest friends were around them. There they expected to pass their
+lives in efforts to better their own fortunes, and to make the country
+a pleasant one for their children and grandchildren after them to live
+in. They were anxious to have schools and churches, and to keep up right
+standards of morals and proper manners in the colony, so that their
+children might grow to be good and happy men and women.
+
+That is the way in which the first English colony in America became
+prosperous, and many of the men who afterwards became famous in the
+history of the nation were the great-great-grandsons of the women whom
+Sir Edwin Sandys sent out as sweethearts for the colonists.
+
+The Pilgrims, who settled at Plymouth about the time that all this
+happened, brought their families with them, and quickly made themselves
+at home in America. The planting of these two colonies--the first in
+Virginia and the second in Massachusetts--was the beginning from which
+our great, free, and happy country, with its fifty millions of people,
+has grown.
+
+
+
+
+THE BOYHOOD OF DANIEL WEBSTER.[A]
+
+[A] For some of the materials used in this sketch I am indebted
+to the work entitled "The Boyhood of Great Men," by John G. Edgar,
+published by Messrs. Harper & Brothers.
+
+
+Daniel Webster, the great statesman, orator, and lawyer, was born on the
+18th of January, 1782.
+
+His father lived near the head-waters of the Merrimac River, and the
+only school within reach was a poor one kept open for a few months every
+winter. There Webster learned all that the country schoolmaster could
+teach him, which was very little; but he acquired a taste which did more
+for him than the reading, writing, and arithmetic of the school. He
+learned to like books, and to want knowledge; and when a boy gets really
+hungry and thirsty for knowledge it is not easy to keep him ignorant.
+When some of the neighbors joined in setting up a little circulating
+library, young Webster read every book in it two or three times, and
+even committed to memory a large part of the best of them. It was this
+eagerness for education on his part that led his father afterwards to
+send him to Exeter to school, and later to put him into Dartmouth
+College.
+
+There are not many boys in our time who have not declaimed parts of
+Webster's great speeches; and it will interest them to know that the boy
+who afterwards made those speeches could never declaim at all while he
+was at school. He learned his pieces well, and practised them in his own
+room, but he could not speak them before people to save his life.
+
+Webster was always fond of shooting and fishing, and, however hard he
+studied, the people around him called him lazy and idle, because he
+would spend whole days in these sports. Once, while he was studying
+under Dr. Woods to prepare for college, that gentleman spoke to him on
+the subject, and hurt his feelings a little. The boy went to his room
+determined to have revenge, and this is the way he took to get it. The
+usual Latin lesson was one hundred lines of Virgil, but Webster spent
+the whole night over the book. The next morning before breakfast he went
+to Dr. Woods and read the whole lesson correctly. Then he said:
+
+"Will you hear a few more lines, doctor?"
+
+The teacher consenting, Webster read on and on and on, while the
+breakfast grew cold. Still there was no sign of the boy's stopping, and
+the hungry doctor at last asked how much farther he was prepared to
+read.
+
+"To the end of the twelfth book of the �neid," answered the "idle" boy,
+in triumph.
+
+After that, Webster did not give up his hunting and fishing, but he
+worked so hard at his lessons, and got on so fast, that there was no
+further complaint of his "idleness." He not only learned the lessons
+given to him, but more, every day, and besides this he read every good
+book he could lay his hands on, for he was not at all satisfied to know
+only what could be found in the school-books.
+
+Webster's father was poor and in debt, but finding how eager his boy was
+for education, and seeing, too, that he possessed unusual ability, he
+determined, ill as he could afford the expense, to send him to college.
+Accordingly, young Daniel went to Dartmouth.
+
+Many anecdotes are told to illustrate the character of young Dan. He was
+always lavish of his money when he had any, while his brother was
+careful but generous, especially to Dan, whom he greatly admired. On one
+occasion the boys went to a neighboring town on a high holiday, each
+with a quarter of a dollar in his pocket.
+
+"Well, Dan," said the father on their return, "what did you do with your
+money?"
+
+"Spent it," answered the boy.
+
+"And what did you do with yours, Zeke?"
+
+"Lent it to Dan," was the answer. The fact was that Dan had spent both
+quarters.
+
+Young Webster was very industrious in his studies, as we have seen, and
+he was physically strong and active as his fondness for sport proved;
+but he could never endure farm-work. One day his father wanted him to
+help him in cutting hay with a scythe; but very soon the boy complained
+that the scythe was not "hung" to suit him; that is to say, it was not
+set at a proper angle upon its handle. The old gentleman, adjusted it,
+but still it did not suit the boy. After repeated attempts to arrange it
+to Dan's liking, the father said, impatiently, "Well, hang it to suit
+yourself." And young Dan immediately "hung" it over a branch of an
+apple-tree and left it there. That was the hanging which pleased him.
+
+[Illustration: "'TO THE END OF THE TWELFTH BOOK OF THE �NEID,' ANSWERED
+THE 'IDLE' BOY, IN TRIUMPH."]
+
+After finishing his college course Webster began studying law, but
+having no money, and being unwilling to tax his father for further
+support, he went into Northern Maine, and taught school there for a
+time. While teaching he devoted his evenings to the work of copying
+deeds and other legal documents, and by close economy managed to live
+upon the money thus earned, thus saving the whole of his salary as a
+teacher. With this money to live on, he went to Boston, studied law, and
+soon distinguished himself. The story of his life as a public man, in
+the senate, in the cabinet, and at the bar, is well known, and does not
+belong to this sketch of his boyhood.
+
+
+
+
+THE SCULLION WHO BECAME A SCULPTOR.
+
+
+In the little Italian village of Possagno there lived a jolly
+stone-cutter named Pisano. He was poor, of course, or he would not have
+been a stone-cutter; but he was full of good humor, and everybody liked
+him.
+
+There was one little boy, especially, who loved old Pisano, and whom old
+Pisano loved more than anybody else in the world. This was Antonio
+Canova, Pisano's grandson, who had come to live with him, because his
+father was dead, and his mother had married a harsh man, who treated the
+little Antonio roughly.
+
+Antonio was a frail little fellow, and his grandfather liked to have him
+near him during his working hours.
+
+While Pisano worked at stone-cutting, little Canova played at it and at
+other things, such as modelling in clay, drawing, etc. The old
+grandfather, plain, uneducated man as he was, soon discovered that the
+pale-faced little fellow at his side had something more than an ordinary
+child's dexterity at such things.
+
+The boy knew nothing of art or of its laws, but he fashioned his lumps
+of clay into forms of real beauty. His wise grandfather, seeing what
+this indicated, hired a teacher to give him some simple lessons in
+drawing, so that he might improve himself if he really had the artistic
+ability which the old man suspected. Pisano was much too poor, as he
+knew, ever to give the boy an art-education and make an artist of him,
+but he thought that Antonio might at least learn to be a better
+stone-cutter than common.
+
+As the boy grew older he began to help in the shop during the day, while
+in the evening his grandmother told him stories or sang or recited
+poetry to him. All these things were educating him, though without his
+knowing it, for they were awakening his taste and stimulating his
+imagination, which found expression in the clay models that he loved to
+make in his leisure hours.
+
+It so happened that Signor Faliero, the head of a noble Venetian family,
+and a man of rare understanding in art, had a place near Pisano's house,
+and at certain seasons the nobleman entertained many distinguished
+guests there. When the palace was very full of visitors, old Pisano was
+sometimes hired to help the servants with their tasks, and the boy
+Canova, when he was twelve years old, sometimes did scullion's work
+there, also, for a day, when some great feast was given.
+
+On one of these occasions, when the Signor Faliero was to entertain a
+very large company at dinner, young Canova was at work over the pots and
+pans in the kitchen. The head-servant made his appearance, just before
+the dinner hour, in great distress.
+
+The man who had been engaged to furnish the great central ornament for
+the table had, at the last moment, sent word that he had spoiled the
+piece. It was now too late to secure another, and there was nothing to
+take its place. The great vacant space in the centre of the table
+spoiled the effect of all that had been done to make the feast artistic
+in appearance, and it was certain that Signor Faliero would be sorely
+displeased.
+
+But what was to be done? The poor fellow whose business it was to
+arrange the table was at his wits' end.
+
+While every one stood dismayed and wondering, the begrimed scullion boy
+timidly approached the distressed head-servant, and said, "If you will
+let me try, I think I can make something that will do."
+
+"You!" exclaimed the servant; "and who are you?"
+
+"I am Antonio Canova, Pisano's grandson," answered the pale-faced little
+fellow.
+
+"And what can you do, pray?" asked the man, in astonishment at the
+conceit of the lad.
+
+"I can make you something that will do for the middle of the table,"
+said the boy, "if you'll let me try."
+
+The servant had little faith in the boy's ability, but not knowing what
+else to do, he at last consented that Canova should try.
+
+Calling for a large quantity of butter, little Antonio quickly modelled
+a great crouching lion, which everybody in the kitchen pronounced
+beautiful, and which the now rejoicing head-servant placed carefully
+upon the table.
+
+The company that day consisted of the most cultivated men of
+Venice--merchants, princes, noblemen, artists, and lovers of art--and
+among them were many who, like Faliero himself, were skilled critics of
+artwork.
+
+When these people were ushered in to dinner their eyes fell upon the
+butter lion, and they forgot for what purpose they had entered the
+dining-room. They saw there something of higher worth in their eyes than
+any dinner could be, namely, a work of genius.
+
+They scanned the butter lion critically, and then broke forth in a
+torrent of praises, insisting that Faliero should tell them at once
+what great sculptor he had persuaded to waste his skill upon a work in
+butter, that must quickly melt away. But Signor Faliero was as ignorant
+as they, and he had, in his turn, to make inquiry of the chief servant.
+
+When the company learned that the lion was the work of a scullion,
+Faliero summoned the boy, and the banquet became a sort of celebration
+in his honor.
+
+But it was not enough to praise a lad so gifted. These were men who knew
+that such genius as his belonged to the world, not to a village, and it
+was their pleasure to bring it to perfection by educating the boy in
+art. Signor Faliero himself claimed the right to provide for young
+Antonio, and at once declared his purpose to defray the lad's expenses,
+and to place him under the tuition of the best masters.
+
+The boy whose highest ambition had been to become a village
+stone-cutter, and whose home had been in his poor old grandfather's
+cottage, became at once a member of Signor Faliero's family, living in
+his palace, having everything that money could buy at his command, and
+daily receiving instruction from the best sculptors of Venice.
+
+But he was not in the least spoiled by this change in his fortunes. He
+remained simple, earnest, and unaffected. He worked as hard to acquire
+knowledge and skill in art as he had meant to work to become a dexterous
+stone-cutter.
+
+Antonio Canova's career from the day on which he moulded the butter into
+a lion was steadily upward; and when he died, in 1822, he was not only
+one of the most celebrated sculptors of his time, but one of the
+greatest, indeed, of all time.
+
+
+
+
+THE BOYHOOD OF WILLIAM CHAMBERS.
+
+
+Boys and girls who can buy attractive periodicals and books at any
+bookstore or news-stand, can have very little notion of the difficulty
+that little folk had seventy or eighty years ago in getting something to
+read. It was only about fifty years ago, indeed, that this first efforts
+were made to supply cheap, instructive, and entertaining literature, and
+one of the men who made those efforts was Mr. William Chambers, who, in
+1882, when he was eighty-two years of age, published a little account of
+his life. What he has to tell of his boyhood and youth is very
+interesting.
+
+His father was unfortunate in business, and became so poor that young
+Chambers had to begin making his own way very early in life. He had
+little schooling--only six pounds' (thirty dollars) worth in all, he
+tells us--and, as there were no juvenile books or periodicals in those
+days, and no books of any other kind, except costly ones, it was hard
+for him to do much in the way of educating himself. But William Chambers
+meant to learn all that he could, and that determination counted for a
+good deal. There was a small circulating library in his native town, and
+he began by reading all the books in it, without skipping one. Then he
+got hold of a copy of the "Encyclop�dia Britannica," which most boys
+would regard as very dry reading. He read it carefully. When that was
+done young Chambers was really pretty well educated, although he did not
+know it.
+
+About that time the boy had to go to work for his living. He became an
+apprentice to a bookseller in Edinburgh. His wages were only four
+shillings (about a dollar) a week, and on that small sum he had to
+support himself, paying for food, lodging, clothes, and everything else,
+for five years. "It was a hard but somewhat droll scrimmage with
+semistarvation," he says; for, after paying for his lodgings and
+clothes, he had only about seven cents a day with which to buy his food.
+
+In the summer he jumped out of bed at five o'clock every morning, and
+spent the time before the hour for beginning business in reading and
+making electrical experiments. He studied French in that way too, and on
+Sundays carried a French Testament to church, and read in French what
+the minister read in English.
+
+Winter came on, and the poor lad was puzzled. It was not only cold, but
+entirely dark at five o'clock in the morning during the winter months,
+and William, who had only seven cents a day to buy food with, could not
+afford either a fire or a candle to read by. There was no other time of
+day, however, that he could call his own, and so it seemed that he must
+give up his reading altogether, which was a great grief to the ambitious
+lad.
+
+Just then a piece of good-luck befell him. He happened to know what is
+called a "sandwich man"--that is to say, a man who walks about with
+signs hanging behind and before him. One day this man made him a
+proposition. The sandwich man knew a baker who, with his two sons,
+carried on a small business in a cellar. The baker was fond of reading,
+but had no time for it, and as he and his sons had to bake their bread
+early in the morning, he proposed, through the sandwich man, to employ
+William Chambers as reader. His plan was that Chambers should go to the
+cellar bakery every morning at five o'clock and read to the bakers, and
+for this service he promised to give the boy one hot roll each morning.
+Here was double good-fortune. It enabled Chambers to go on with his
+reading by the baker's light and fire, and it secured for him a
+sufficient breakfast without cost.
+
+He accepted the proposition at once, and for two and a half hours every
+morning he sat on a flour-sack in the cellar, and read to the bakers by
+the light of a penny candle stuck in a bottle.
+
+Out of his small wages it was impossible for the boy to save anything,
+and so, when the five years of his apprenticeship ended, he had only
+five shillings in the world. Yet he determined to begin business at once
+on his own account. Getting credit for ten pounds' worth of books, he
+opened a little stall, and thus began what has since grown to be a great
+publishing business.
+
+He had a good deal of unoccupied time at his stall, and "in order to
+pick up a few shillings," as he says, he began to write out neat copies
+of poems for albums. Finding sale for these, he determined to enlarge
+that part of his business by printing the poems. For that purpose he
+bought a small and very "squeaky" press and a font of worn type which
+had been used for twenty years. He had to teach himself how to set the
+type, and, as his press would print only half a sheet at a time, it was
+very slow work; but he persevered, and gradually built up a little
+printing business in connection with his book-selling. After a while he
+published an edition of Burns's poems, setting the type, printing the
+pages, and binding the books with his own hands, and clearing eight
+pounds by the work.
+
+Chambers wrote a good deal at that time, and his brother Robert wrote
+still more, so that they were at once authors, printers, publishers, and
+booksellers, but all in a very small way. After ten years of this work,
+William Chambers determined to publish a cheap weekly paper, to be
+filled with entertaining and instructive matters, designed especially
+for the people who could not afford to buy expensive books and
+periodicals. Robert refused to join in this scheme, and so, for a time,
+the whole work and risk fell upon William. His friends all agreed in
+thinking that ruin would be the result; but William Chambers thought he
+knew what the people wanted, and hence he went on.
+
+The result soon justified his expectations. The first number was
+published on the 4th of February, 1832. Thirty thousand copies were sold
+in a few days, and three weeks later the sale rose to fifty thousand
+copies a week.
+
+
+
+
+HOW A BOY WAS HIRED OUT, AND WHAT CAME OF IT.
+
+
+When Michael Angelo was twelve years of age, although he had had no
+instruction in art, he did a piece of work which greatly pleased the
+painter Domenico Ghirlandajo. That artist at once declared that here was
+lad of genius, who must quit his school studies and become a painter.
+
+This was what the little Michael most wished to do, but he had no hope
+that his father would listen for a moment to the suggestion. His father,
+Ludovico Buonarotti, was a distinguished man in the state, and held art
+and artists in contempt. He had planned a great political career for his
+boy, as the boy knew very well.
+
+Ghirlandajo was enthusiastic, however, and, in company with the lad, he
+at once visited Ludovico, and asked him to place Michael in his studio.
+
+Ludovico was very angry, saying that he wished his son to become a
+prominent man in society and politics, not a dauber and a mason; but
+when he found that young Michael was determined to be an artist or
+nothing he gave way, though most ungraciously. He would not say that he
+consented to place his son with Ghirlandajo; he would not admit that the
+study of art was study, or the studio of an artist anything but a shop.
+He said to the artist: "I give up my son to you. He shall be your
+apprentice or your servant, as you please, for three years, and you must
+pay me twenty-four florins for his services."
+
+In spite of the insulting words and the insulting terms, Michael Angelo
+consented thus to be hired out as a servant to the artist, who should
+have been paid by his father for teaching him. He had to endure much,
+indeed, besides the anger and contempt of his father, who forbade him
+even to visit his house, and utterly disowned him. His fellow-pupils
+were jealous of his ability, and ill-treated him constantly, one of
+them going so far as to break his nose with a blow.
+
+When Michael Angelo had been with Ghirlandajo about two years, he went
+one day to the Gardens of St. Mark, where the Prince Lorenzo de'
+Medici--who was the foremost patron of art in Florence--had established
+a rich museum of art-works at great expense. One of the workmen in the
+garden gave the boy leave to try his hand at copying some of the
+sculptures there, and Michael, who had hitherto studied only painting,
+was glad of a chance to experiment with the chisel, which he preferred
+to the brush. He chose for his model an ancient figure of a faun, which
+was somewhat mutilated. The mouth, indeed, was entirely broken off, but
+the boy was very self-reliant, and this did not trouble him. He worked
+day after day at the piece, creating a mouth for it of his own
+imagining, with the lips parted in laughter and the teeth displayed.
+
+When he had finished, and was looking at his work, a man standing near
+asked if he might offer a criticism.
+
+"Yes," answered the boy, "if it is a just one."
+
+"Of that you shall be the judge," said the man.
+
+"Very well. What is it?"
+
+"The forehead of your faun is old, but the mouth is young. See, it has a
+full set of perfect teeth. A faun so old as this one is would not have
+perfect teeth."
+
+The lad admitted the justice of the criticism, and proceeded to remedy
+the defect by chipping away two or three of the teeth, and chiselling
+the gums so as to give them a shrivelled appearance.
+
+The next morning, when Michael went to remove his faun from the garden,
+it was gone. He searched everywhere for it, but without success.
+Finally, seeing the man who had made the suggestion about the teeth, he
+asked him if he knew where it was.
+
+"Yes," replied the man, "and if you will follow me I'll show you where
+it is."
+
+"Will you give it back to me? I made it, and have a right to it."
+
+"Oh, if you must have it, you shall."
+
+With that he led the way into the palace of the prince, and there, among
+the most precious works of art in the collection, stood the faun. The
+young sculptor cried out in alarm, declaring that the Prince Lorenzo
+would never forgive the introduction of so rude a piece of work among
+his treasures of sculpture. To his astonishment the man declared that he
+was himself the Prince Lorenzo de' Medici, and that he set the highest
+value upon this work.
+
+"I am your protector and friend," he added. "Henceforth you shall be
+counted as my son, for you are destined to become one of the great
+masters of art."
+
+This was overwhelming good-fortune. Lorenzo de' Medici was a powerful
+nobleman, known far and wide to be a most expert judge of works of art.
+His approval was in itself fame and fortune.
+
+Filled with joy, the lad went straightway to his father's house, which
+he had been forbidden to enter, and, forcing his way into Ludovico's
+presence, told him what had happened. The father refused to believe the
+good news until Michael led him into Lorenzo's presence.
+
+When the prince, by way of emphasizing his goodwill, offered Ludovico
+any post he might choose, he asked for a very modest place indeed,
+saying, with bitter contempt, that it was good enough "for the father of
+a mason."
+
+
+
+
+THE WICKEDEST MAN IN THE WORLD.
+
+
+Precisely at what time the faithful and affectionate subjects of his
+Majesty Ivan IV., Czar of all the Russias, conferred upon him his pet
+name, "The Terrible," history neglects to inform us, but we are left in
+no uncertainty as to the entire appropriateness of the title, which is
+now inseparably linked with his baptismal name. He inherited the throne
+at the age of three years, and his early education was carefully
+attended to by his faithful guardians, who snubbed and scared him, in
+the hope that they might so far weaken his intellect as to secure a
+permanent control over him, and through him govern Russia as they
+pleased. They made a footstool of him sometimes, and a football at
+others, and, under their system of training, the development of those
+qualities of mind and heart for which he is celebrated was remarkably
+rapid. He was always Ivan the Terrified, and he became Ivan the Terrible
+before he was old enough to have played a reasonably good game of
+marbles, or to have become tolerably expert in the art of mumbling the
+peg. Indeed, it seems that the young grand-prince was wholly insensible
+to the joys of these and the other excellent sports in which ordinary
+youths delight, and being of an ingenious turn of mind, he invented
+others better suited to his tastes and character. One of these
+pastimes--perhaps the first and simplest one devised by the youthful
+genius--consisted in the dropping of cats, dogs, and other domestic
+animals from the top of the palace to the pavement below, and
+sentimental historians have construed these interesting experiments in
+the law of gravitation into acts of wanton cruelty. Another of the young
+czar's amusements was to turn half-famished pet bears loose upon passing
+pedestrians, and it is the part of charity to suppose that his purpose
+in this was to study the psychological and physiognomical phenomena of
+fear. A less profitable way he had of accomplishing the same thing was
+by throwing, or, as youthful Americans phrase it, "shying," stones at
+passers-by, concealing himself meanwhile behind a screen. He cultivated
+his skill in horsemanship by riding over elderly people, cripples, and
+children. In short, his boyish sports were all of an original and highly
+interesting sort.
+
+Up to the age of thirteen Ivan was under the tutelage of a council, of
+which the Prince Shnisky was chief, and it was this prince who
+domineered over the boy and made a footstool and a football of his body.
+At that age Ivan asserted his independence in a very positive and
+emphatic way, which even the Prince Shnisky could not misapprehend. The
+young czar was out hunting, accompanied by Shnisky and other princes and
+boyards, among whom was Prince Gluisky, a rival of Shnisky's, who was
+prejudiced against that excellent gentleman. At his suggestion, Ivan
+addressed his guardian Shnisky in language which the latter deemed
+insolent. Shnisky replied angrily, and Ivan requested his dogs to
+remonstrate with the prince, which they did by tearing him limb from
+limb.
+
+Having thus silenced the dictation of Shnisky, the young prince became
+the ward of the no less excellent Gluisky, and was carefully taught that
+the only way in which he could effectually assert authority was by
+punishment. It was made clear to his budding intellect, too, that the
+shortest, simplest, and altogether the best way to get rid of
+disagreeable persons was to put them to death, and throughout his life
+Ivan never forgot this lesson for a single moment. Power, he was told,
+was worthless unless it was used, and the only way in which it could be
+really used was by oppression. For three years no pains were spared to
+teach him this system of ethics and politics, and the young prince, in
+his anxiety to perfect himself in the art of governing, diligently
+practised all these precepts.
+
+When he was seventeen years of age he was formally crowned czar. The
+citizens, ignorant of the truths of political economy and the principles
+of governmental science underlying the young Czar's system, became
+alarmed, and fired the city one night. When Ivan awoke, he was
+terrified, being of an abnormally nervous temperament, and the
+apparition of a warning monk, together with the influence of Anastasia,
+the young czarina, led the czar to abandon the simple and
+straightforward methods of government in which he had been bred, and for
+thirteen years, under the dictation of Alexis Adascheff and the monk
+Sylvester, Ivan devoted himself to the commonplace employments of
+developing Russia politically and socially. He dismissed his ministers
+and put others in their places. He reorganized the army; revised the
+code, in the interest of abstract justice; equalized assessments;
+subdued the Tartars; established forts for the protection of the
+frontiers; laid the foundation for the future greatness of his empire;
+began the work which was completed so grandly under Peter the Great;
+introduced printing into Russia; added greatly to her possessions;
+checked the abuses of the clergy; brought artists from western Europe,
+and in a hundred ways made himself famous by doing those things which
+historians love to chronicle.
+
+Meanwhile, his genius for governing upon the Gluiskian system lay
+dormant. It was not dead, but slept, and after its nap of thirteen years
+it awoke one day, refreshed. Anastasia, the beautiful queen whose
+influence had been supreme for so long a time, died, and Ivan was free
+again. He recalled an old bishop who had been banished for his crimes,
+and consulted him as to his future course.
+
+"If you wish to be truly a sovereign," said this eminent prelate, "never
+seek a counsellor wiser than yourself; never receive advice from any
+man. Command, but never obey; and you will be a terror to the boyards.
+Remember that he who is permitted to begin by advising is certain to end
+by ruling his sovereign."
+
+Here was advice of a sort suited to Ivan's taste and education, and for
+reply he kissed the good bishop's hand, saying:
+
+"My own father could not have spoken more wisely."
+
+That the czar spoke sincerely, his faithfulness in following the
+bishop's precepts abundantly attests.
+
+His ministers and advisers being manifestly wiser than he, and therefore
+not at all the proper kind of people to have about, he straightway
+banished them. He then began a diligent search for their partisans, some
+of whom he put to death, condemning others to imprisonment and torture.
+He next turned his attention to his own household, which he was resolved
+upon ruling absolutely, at least, if not well. One of the princes made
+himself disagreeable by declining to participate freely in the pleasures
+of the palace, and, for the sake of domestic harmony, Ivan had him
+poniarded while he was at his prayers. Another so far overstepped the
+bounds of courtesy and propriety as to remonstrate with one of the new
+favorites upon his improper conduct, and Ivan, in order that there might
+be no bickerings and hard feelings in his family, slew the discourteous
+prince with his own hand.
+
+He was in the habit of carrying an iron rod about with him, and he had a
+playful way of striking his friends with it now and then, merely for his
+amusement. His pleasantries of this and like sorts were endless. One day
+Prince Boris, a boyard, came to pay his respects to the czar, and as he
+bowed to the ground, according to custom, Ivan, seizing a knife, said,
+"God bless thee, my dear Boris; thou deservest a proof of my favor," and
+with that he kindly cut the nobleman's ear off.
+
+When Prince Kurbsky, whom he had threatened with death, fled to Poland
+and wrote him a letter thence, telling him pretty plainly what he
+thought of him, the czar playfully struck the bearer of the missive with
+his iron rod, as a preliminary to the reading of the letter, and the
+blood flowed copiously from the man's wounds while Ivan pondered the
+words of his rebellious subject. He then became convinced that the
+boyards generally sympathized with Kurbsky, and to teach them better he
+put a good many of them to death by torture, and deprived many others
+of their estates. His alarm was very real, however, for he was a
+phenomenon of abject cowardice. He therefore fled to a fortified place
+in the midst of a dense forest, where he remained a month, writing
+letters to the Russians, telling them that he had abdicated and left
+them to their fate as a punishment for their disloyalty and their
+crimes. Singularly enough, his flight terrified the people. He had
+taught them that he was their god as God was his, and his flight to
+Alexandrovsky seemed to them a withdrawal of the protection of
+Providence itself. Business was suspended. The courts ceased to sit. The
+country was in an agony of terror. A large deputation of boyards and
+priests journeyed to Alexandrovsky, and besought the sovereign to return
+and resume his holy functions as the head of the church, that the souls
+of so many millions might not perish. Exacting of clergy and nobles an
+admission of his absolute right to do as he pleased, and a promise that
+they would in no way interfere with or resist his authority, he returned
+to Moscow. Here he surrounded himself with a body-guard of desperadoes,
+one thousand strong at first, and afterwards increased to six thousand,
+whose duty it was to discover the czar's enemies and to sweep them from
+the face of the earth. As emblems of these their functions, each member
+of the guard carried at his saddle-bow a dog's head and a broom. As the
+punishment of the czar's enemies included the confiscation of their
+property, a large part of which was given to the guards themselves,
+these were always singularly successful in discovering the disaffection
+of wealthy nobles, finding it out oftentimes before the nobles
+themselves were aware of their own treasonable sentiments.
+
+Feeling unsafe still, Ivan built for himself a new palace, outside the
+walls of the Kremlin, making it an impregnable castle. Then, finding
+that even this did not lull his shaken nerves to rest, he proceeded to
+put danger afar off by dispossessing the twelve thousand rich nobles
+whose estates lay nearest the palace, and giving their property to his
+personal followers, so that the head which wore the crown might lie
+easy in the conviction that there were no possible enemies near on the
+other side of the impregnable walls which shut him in. But even then he
+could not sleep easily, and so he repaired again to his forest
+stronghold at Alexandrovsky, where he surrounded himself with guards and
+ramparts. Here he converted the palace into a monastery, made himself
+abbot, and his rascally followers monks. He rigorously enforced monastic
+observances of the severest sort, and no doubt became a saint, in his
+own estimation. He spent most of his time at prayers, allowing himself
+no recreation except a daily sight of the torture of the prisoners who
+were confined in the dungeons of the fortress. His guards were allowed
+rather a larger share of amusement, and they wandered from street to
+street during the day, punishing, with their hatchets, such disloyal
+persons as they encountered. They were very moderate in their
+indulgences, however, in imitation of their sovereign, doubtless, and it
+is recorded to their credit, that, at this time, they rarely killed
+more than twenty people in one day, while sometimes the number was as
+low as five.
+
+But a quiet life of this kind could not always content the czar.
+Naturally, he grew tired of individual killings, and began to long for
+some more exciting sport. When, one day, a quarrel arose between some of
+his guards and a few of the people of Torjek, Ivan saw at a glance that
+all the inhabitants of Torjek were mutinous rebels, and of course it
+became his duty to put them all to death, which he straightway did.
+
+Up to this time the genius of Ivan seems to have been cautiously feeling
+its way, and so the part of his history already sketched may be regarded
+as a mere preliminary to his real career. His extraordinary capacity for
+ruling an empire upon the principles taught him by the Prince Gluisky
+was now about to show itself in all its greatness. A criminal of
+Novgorod, feeling himself aggrieved by the authorities of that city, who
+had incarcerated him for a time, wrote a letter offering to place the
+city under Polish protection. This letter he signed, not with his own
+name, but with that of the archbishop, and, instead of sending it to the
+King of Poland, to whom it was addressed, he secreted it in the church
+of St. Sophia. Then, going to Alexandrovsky, he told Ivan that treason
+was contemplated by the Novgorodians, and that the treasonable letter
+would be found behind the statue of the Virgin in the church. Ivan sent
+a messenger to find the letter, and upon his return the czar began his
+march upon the doomed city. Happening to pass through the town of Khur,
+on his way to Novgorod, he put all its inhabitants to death, with the
+purpose, doubtless, of training his troops in the art of wholesale
+massacre, before requiring them to practise it upon the people of
+Novgorod. Finding this system of drill an agreeable pastime, he repeated
+it upon his arrival at the city of Twer, and then, in order that the
+other towns along his route might have no reason to complain of
+partiality, he bestowed upon all of them a like manifestation of his
+imperial regard.
+
+It is not my purpose to describe in detail the elaborate and ingenious
+cruelty practised in the massacre of the Novgorodians. The story is
+sickening. Ivan first heard mass, and then began the butchery, which
+lasted for many days, was conducted with the utmost deliberation and
+most ingenious cruelty, and ended in the slaughter of sixty thousand
+people. Ivan had selected certain prominent citizens, to the number of
+several hundred, whom he reserved for public and particularly cruel
+execution at Moscow. Summoning the small and wretched remnant of the
+population to his presence, he besought their prayers for the
+continuance and prosperity of his reign, and with gracious words of
+farewell took his departure from the city.
+
+The execution in Moscow of the reserved victims was a scene too horrible
+to be described in these pages. Indeed, the half of Ivan's enormities
+may not be told here at all, and even the historians content themselves
+with the barest outlines of many parts of his career. He thought himself
+in some sense a deity, and blasphemously asserted that his throne was
+surrounded by archangels precisely as God's is. Identifying himself
+with the Almighty, he claimed exemption from the observance of God's
+laws, and, in defiance of the fundamental principles of the Greek
+Church, of which he was the head, he married seven wives. Believing that
+he might with equal impunity insult the moral sense of other nations, he
+actually sought to add England's queen, Elizabeth, to the list of his
+spouses. And he was so far right in his estimate of his power to do as
+he pleased, that the Virgin Queen, head of the English Church, while she
+would not herself become one of his wives, consented to assist him, and
+selected for his eighth consort Mary Hastings, the daughter of the Earl
+of Huntingdon. She came near bringing about a marriage between the two,
+in face of the fact that the two churches of which Ivan and she were
+respectively the heads were agreed in condemning polygamy as a heinous
+crime.
+
+For one only of all his crimes Ivan showed regret, if not remorse. His
+oldest and favorite son, when the city of Pskof was besieged by the
+Poles, asked that he might be intrusted with the command of a body of
+troops with which to assist the beleaguered place. Ivan was so great a
+coward that he dared not trust the affection and loyalty of even his own
+favorite child, and in a fit of mingled fear and rage he beat the young
+man to death with his iron staff, saying, "Rebel, you are leagued with
+the boyards in a conspiracy to dethrone me."
+
+Remorse seized upon him at once, and his sufferings and his fears of
+retribution were terrible. Finally he determined to abandon the throne
+and seek peace in a convent, but the infatuated Russians entreated him
+not to desert them. He died at last, in 1580.
+
+Did Scheherazade herself ever imagine a stranger story than this? And
+yet it is plain history, and is only a fragment of the truth.
+
+
+
+
+A PRINCE WHO WOULD NOT STAY DEAD.
+
+
+His name was Dmitri, and he was hereditary Grand-Prince of all the
+Russias, being the son of Ivan the Terrible, and only surviving brother
+of Feodor, the childless successor of that blood-thirsty czar. He was
+carefully killed in the presence of witnesses, during his boyhood, and
+duly buried, with honors appropriate to his station in life; so that if
+Dmitri had been an ordinary mortal, or even an ordinary prince, there
+would have been no story of his life to tell, except the brief tragedy
+of his taking off. He was no ordinary prince, however, and so the
+trifling incident of his death during childhood had as little to do with
+his career as had one or two other episodes of a like nature in the
+history of his later life. He was born to rule Russia, and was not at
+all disposed to excuse himself from the performance of the duty
+Providence had thus imposed upon him, by pleading the two or three
+thorough killings to which he was subjected. The story, as preserved in
+authentic history, is a very interesting one, and may perhaps bear
+repeating here. The reader may find all the facts in any reputable
+history of Russia, or of the houses of Rurik and Romanoff.
+
+In his jealousy of the absolute power he wielded, Ivan the Terrible had
+made constant war upon his nobility--killing them, or driving them away,
+and in every way possible destroying whatever share of influence they
+possessed in the state. When he died, leaving as his successor Feodor, a
+weak prince, of uncertain temper and infirm intellect, the
+nobility--naturally enough--hoped to regain their ancient influence in
+the state, and might have accomplished their purpose without difficulty
+if their measures to that end had been taken concertedly; but, jealous
+as they were of the privileges of their class, they were even more
+tenacious of their individual and family pretensions. They quarrelled
+among themselves, in short, and, while they were quarrelling, a bold and
+ambitious man, Boris Godunof, who happened to be the czar's
+brother-in-law, conceived the project of becoming prime-minister and
+actual ruler of the empire. Indeed, his ambition extended even further
+than this. Not content with governing Russia in the name of Feodor, he
+set covetous eyes upon the purple itself, and was resolved to become
+czar in name as well as in fact. But this was a delicate and difficult
+task, and could by accomplished only at great risk and by great
+patience. Boris was a man of undoubted genius, extreme shrewdness,
+unlimited ambition, and remarkable personal courage; and difficult and
+dangerous as his task was, he seems never to have faltered in his
+purpose from the instant of its conception to the time of its execution.
+
+Knowing the power of money in state affairs, he took care to accumulate
+a vast sum in his own private coffers, as a first step. He conciliated
+the common people in a hundred ways--by wise legislation, by the
+reformation of abuses which pressed hardly upon them, and sometimes by
+the oppression of the nobles in the interest of the lower classes. He
+was not long in making himself altogether the most popular man in
+Russia. He removed, by death or banishment, those whom he could not
+conciliate, together with all other persons whom he thought likely to
+prove obstacles in the way of his grand purpose. In short, a very brief
+time sufficed him for the winning of a popularity which, in any country
+but Russia, would have been sufficient for his need. But Boris knew his
+Russians well. He knew that loyalty to the line of Rurik was the
+strongest feeling in their breasts, after that of devotion to their
+creed--of which, indeed, it formed a chief part. It was their fixed
+belief in the divine right of the legitimate princes of the House of
+Rurik to reign, that had kept them patient, even under the rigors of
+Ivan's rule; and Boris knew well enough that no usurper, however
+strongly intrenched in their affections he might be, could hope to win
+those superstitiously loyal people to his support against any prince of
+the right line, however brutal, unjust, and despotic that prince might
+be. He knew, in brief, that so long as any descendant of Rurik should
+live, no other man could hope to seat himself upon the Muscovite throne.
+Feodor had no children, but he had one brother, the lad Dmitri, who
+would be his successor in the natural course of events. His existence
+was sure to prove an effectual bar to all Boris's hopes; and so it was
+necessary to get him out of the way before the scheme should be ripe for
+execution. To accomplish this, the wily minister sent Dmitri and his
+mother to the distant town of Uglitch, and there, by his orders, the
+young prince was murdered, in the presence of his nurse and six other
+people, and buried from his mother's residence. This was in 1591. The
+lad's death was announced, of course. Indeed, it was known to nearly
+everybody in Uglitch, the tocsin having been sounded, and the population
+having gathered around the murdered boy, where they put to death a good
+many who were suspected of complicity with the murderers. But in
+publishing it abroad in Russia, Boris deemed it prudent to attribute it,
+some say to a fever, others to an accidental fall upon a knife with
+which the boy had been playing; and lest the people of Uglitch should
+embarrass the minister by insisting upon a different diagnosis of the
+boy's last illness, that prudent official put a great many of them to
+death, cut the tongues out of others' heads, and banished the rest to
+Siberia--laying the town in ashes. He spared the lad's mother, but shut
+her up in a convent.
+
+Dmitri was now out of the way, or, rather, he would have been if he had
+had an ordinary capacity for staying comfortably killed; and Boris
+redoubled his efforts to prepare the way for his own elevation to the
+throne, as Feodor's successor, when that prince should chance to let the
+sceptre fall from his grasp.
+
+To secure the influence of the Church in his behalf, he bought of a
+Greek bishop the right to appoint the successor of the patriarch (a sort
+of Greek Church pope); and that office presently becoming vacant, he
+appointed a creature of his own as head of the Church. He succeeded in
+winning the favor of the inferior nobility, who were very numerous, and
+made himself strong in many other ways.
+
+Boris was a fellow of infinite good-luck; and so it fell out that, at
+the precise moment when all his plans were complete, the Czar Feodor
+obligingly died. So opportunely did this event happen, that grave
+historians have been inclined to suspect Boris of having procured it in
+some way; but of this there is no positive evidence.
+
+Feodor dead, there was no heir to the throne. With him ended the line of
+Rurik, which alone the Russians recognized as legitimately entitled to
+rule the empire; and now a new czar must be chosen. The nobles
+quarrelled, of course. They agreed in thinking that one of their order
+should be elevated to the throne; but they could by no means agree which
+one it should be. Each resented the pretensions of all the others, and
+it speedily became manifest that the patriarch's nomination, upon
+whomsoever it might fall, would turn the scale and elect a czar. The
+patriarch was Boris's own creature, appointed for the sole purpose of
+forwarding that minister's plans; and he promptly nominated Boris to the
+vacant throne. The election was a prearranged affair; and presently
+Boris was waited upon--in the convent to which he had retired with the
+declared purpose of leading a monastic life in future--and informed of
+his selection by the people as Czar of all the Russias. He modestly
+declined, of course; and, equally of course, his modesty only made the
+people the more clamorous. After some weeks of petty dalliance Boris
+finally allowed himself to be persuaded, and was crowned czar, in due
+form, in the year 1598.
+
+He was not long in discovering that his position was insecure, and
+incapable of being made safe. Whatever policy he might adopt--and he was
+disposed, it appears, to govern wisely and well--was sure to displease
+some of his subjects; and in the hands of a hostile faction, his want of
+hereditary claim upon the throne was a powerful weapon. What he had
+seized by crime he must keep by tyranny and violence, and a three years'
+famine added greatly to his embarrassments. Whatever he did excited
+discontent; and to make his wretchedness complete, he fancied himself
+haunted by the ghost of the murdered Dmitri. There were symptoms of
+mutiny everywhere, which daily threatened to culminate in open revolt.
+It needed only a match to fire the mine.
+
+In 1603, when matters were at their worst, there appeared in Poland a
+young man who claimed to be the murdered Dmitri. His story was that, by
+means of an adroit substitution, another boy had been killed in his
+place; that he had escaped; and he claimed the throne of the Ruriks. He
+strongly resembled the prince he claimed to be, and his identity seemed
+to be established, also, by other evidence than mere personal
+resemblance. There was no "strawberry mark on his left arm," but both he
+and the dead prince, if, indeed, they were two distinct persons, had a
+wart on the forehead, and another under the right eye, and in both one
+arm was slightly longer than the other. The pretender, or real prince,
+as the case may be, had also a valuable jewel which had belonged to
+Dmitri; and so he was not long in winning credence for his story, both
+in Poland and in Russia. Boris gave out that the young man was the monk
+Otrafief, who had appeared in the army as his advocate and emissary; and
+some historians--Karamsin and Bell among the number--have accepted this
+theory; but a careful comparison of dates seems to contradict it.
+Whoever the man was, he was an able and accomplished diplomatist as well
+as a singularly bold warrior; and he succeeded presently in winning the
+recognition of Sigismund, King of Poland, and putting himself at the
+head of an army with which he invaded Russia. He had privately abjured
+the Greek faith, and undertaken to convert Russia into a Catholic power;
+and, in addition to the many other favors promised the Poles, he had
+engaged to marry Marina, the daughter of a Polish nobleman.
+
+During the autumn of the year 1604, this new Dmitri began his invasion
+at the head of a small army made up of Poles and Don Cossacks. On his
+march his force was swelled by accessions, and a number of towns
+declared in his favor. Boris sent an army four times as great as his
+own, to destroy him; and battle was joined on the last day of December.
+Dmitri's case seemed utterly hopeless; but he was both able and brave.
+He fought with the resolution and courage of a hero, the skill of a
+consummate tactician, and the fury of a demon. And in spite of the
+terrible odds against him, he won a great victory. In a military way,
+its results were neutralized by the withdrawal of his Poles, and by some
+other circumstances which forbade his pushing forward towards the
+capital; but the moral effect was altogether in his favor. The
+superstitious Russians saw in his marvellous success a miracle, and
+accepted it as proof positive that this was the true prince, to oppose
+whom was sacrilege. By dint of great energy Boris was able to maintain
+the war till the time of his own death, which happened during the spring
+of 1605. His son Feodor was crowned as his successor; but a few weeks
+later he was deposed and strangled, and the new Dmitri came to the
+throne.
+
+For a time his wisdom as a statesman promised to equal his skill and
+courage as a soldier, but his manifest preference for Poles to Russians
+soon created jealousy; and imagining that he could overcome prejudices
+by violent measures, as easily as he had conquered a throne, he spared
+no pains to insult the Russian national feeling. He appointed only Poles
+to high office, and lavished upon foreigners so much attention as to
+breed discontent in his own capital. His apostasy from the Greek to the
+Roman faith, also, was suspected, and the clergy became his implacable
+enemies. The disaffection grew daily, and the efforts Dmitri made to
+overawe his enemies only exasperated them. Finally, on the occasion of
+his marriage with Marina, the Polish princess--which was celebrated with
+great pomp by a throng of Polish soldiers and others, invited to Moscow
+for the purpose--a mob, headed by Shuiski, or Schnisky--for the name is
+spelled in both of these and half a dozen other ways--stormed the
+palace, butchered the Poles, and impaled Dmitri on a spear. To leave no
+doubt of his death this time, they kept his body transfixed with the
+spear, in front of the palace, for three days, that the people might
+wreak their vengeance upon the dead czar by insulting his corpse.
+
+Schnisky profited by his victory, and while the blood of the populace
+was still hot was chosen czar, as successor of the impostor he had
+overthrown. His popularity was short-lived, however. His fellows among
+the nobles resented his elevation above themselves, and ere long the
+desire for his removal was as unanimous as his election had been. This
+seemed a good time for the doubly dead Dmitri to come to life again; and
+so it was presently rumored that after all he had not been killed; that
+the corpse the people had spat upon and insulted was not his; that he
+was alive, in Poland, and ready to claim his own. This report was
+industriously circulated by the nobles; but as the people had not yet
+forgotten their hatred for the usurper, he was permitted to lie down in
+his grave again.
+
+To prevent his coming to life for a third time, the dead czar's remains
+were disinterred and burned. The ashes were collected and fired from a
+piece of artillery, and it was supposed that further resurrection on
+his part was impossible. But, as we have seen, Dmitri had a most
+astonishing genius for coming to life after being thoroughly killed; and
+presently he appeared again in Poland. This time, history says, he was
+either a Russian schoolmaster or a Polish Jew; but however that may be,
+certain it is that he so closely resembled the other two Dmitri's in
+personal appearance, even to the two warts and unequally long arms, that
+he imposed on everybody around him with his story. Even the Princess
+Marina accepted him, and actually lived with him as his wife.
+
+He was able, without much difficulty, to interest the King of Poland in
+his behalf, and to secure a declaration of war by that potentate against
+Czar Schnisky. He invaded Russia, won battles, captured Smolensko,
+invested Moscow, and finally entered the city.
+
+About this time Dmitri appeared in several other places, but only one of
+him was in Moscow at the head of a victorious army; and in behalf of
+this particular one Schnisky resigned his crown and retired to a
+monastery, whence he was soon removed to a dungeon.
+
+At this juncture the King of Poland, having plans of his own for the
+union of Russia and his own kingdom, withdrew his countenance from
+Dmitri; and that prince retired from the business of governing, and
+devoted himself for the rest of his life to the less honorable, but
+perhaps equally lucrative, profession of highway robbery. He was again
+killed after awhile, this time by a Don Cossack. But even this public
+killing had small effect. A dozen or more new Dmitri's appeared,
+claiming the throne; and some of them, says the historian Bell,
+"actually touched the sceptre for a moment, but only to recoil in fear
+from the dangerous object of their insane ambition."
+
+After awhile, having found the task an unprofitable one, perhaps, Dmitri
+seems to have made up his mind to stay dead; but in due course a race of
+his sons sprang up quite as mysteriously, if not quite as persistently,
+to pester the Russians, and peace came to them only through the
+elevation of the Romanoffs to the imperial throne. Connected as they
+were by ties of blood with the race of Rurik, they brought legitimacy to
+the rescue of a land long torn by faction. The loyalty of the people to
+sovereigns whose right to rule was derived from Rurik, gave the dynasty
+a strength sufficient to maintain itself; and after a little while Peter
+the Great taught his Russians civilization, and a new era in Russian
+history was begun.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE STORIES FROM HISTORY FOR
+YOUNG PEOPLE***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 23887-8.txt or 23887-8.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/8/23887
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://www.gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
diff --git a/23887-8.zip b/23887-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8500ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-8.zip
diff --git a/23887-h.zip b/23887-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b70dd7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h.zip
diff --git a/23887-h/23887-h.htm b/23887-h/23887-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..66e9f3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h/23887-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,4207 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Strange Stories from History for Young People, by George Cary Eggleston</title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[  XML blockout */
+<!--
+    p {  margin-top: .75em;
+         text-align: justify;
+         margin-bottom: .75em;
+         }
+    h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {
+         text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+         clear: both;
+         }
+    hr { width: 33%;
+	 margin-top: 2em;
+	 margin-bottom: 2em;
+         margin-left: auto;
+         margin-right: auto;
+         clear: both;
+       }
+
+    table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}
+
+    body{margin-left: 10%;
+         margin-right: 10%;
+        }
+
+     a:link {color:blue;
+           text-decoration:none}
+     link {color:blue;
+           text-decoration:none}
+     a:visited {color:blue;
+           text-decoration:none}
+     a:hover {color:red}
+
+    .center   {text-align: center;}
+    .smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
+
+    .caption  {font-weight: bold;}
+
+    .figcenter   {margin: auto; text-align: center;}
+
+    .footnote         {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;}
+    .footnote .label  {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;}
+    .fnanchor         {vertical-align: super; font-size: .5em; text-decoration: none;}
+
+    hr.full { width: 100%;
+              margin-top: 3em;
+              margin-bottom: 0em;
+              margin-left: auto;
+              margin-right: auto;
+              height: 4px;
+              border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */
+              border-style: solid;
+              border-color: #000000;
+              clear: both; }
+    pre      {font-size: 85%;}
+    // -->
+    /* XML end  ]]>*/
+    </style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Strange Stories from History for Young
+People, by George Cary 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 = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Strange Stories from History for Young People</p>
+<p>Author: George Cary Eggleston</p>
+<p>Release Date: December 17, 2007  [eBook #23887]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE STORIES FROM HISTORY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>E-text prepared by David Garcia, Annie McGuire,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net/c/">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br />
+    from page images generously made available by<br />
+    Kentuckiana Digital Library<br />
+    (<a href="http://kdl.kyvl.org/">http://kdl.kyvl.org/</a>)</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;" cellpadding="10">
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">
+      Note:
+    </td>
+    <td>
+      Images of the original pages are available through the Kentuckiana
+      Digital Library. See
+      <a href="http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc=kyetexts;xc=1&amp;idno=b92-202-30752275&amp;view=toc">
+      http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc=kyetexts;xc=1&amp;idno=b92-202-30752275&amp;view=toc</a>
+	</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;">
+<img src="images/ill-001.jpg" width="454" height="700" alt="TITLE PAGE." title="" />
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h1>STRANGE STORIES FROM HISTORY</h1>
+
+<h3>FOR</h3>
+
+<h2>YOUNG PEOPLE</h2>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON</h2>
+
+<h5>AUTHOR OF</h5>
+
+<h4>"RED EAGLE," "THE BIG BROTHER," "THE WRECK OF THE RED BIRD,"</h4>
+<h4>"THE SIGNAL BOYS," ETC.</h4>
+
+<h3>Illustrated</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h3>NEW YORK</h3>
+<h3>HARPER &amp; BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE SERIES.</h2>
+
+<h4>Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, $1.00 per volume.</h4>
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMY BROWN. Edited by <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;L. Alden</span>.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE CRUISE OF THE CANOE CLUB. By <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;L. Alden</span>.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE CRUISE OF THE "GHOST." By <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;L. Alden</span>.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE MORAL PIRATES. By <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;L. Alden</span>.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">TOBY TYLER; <span class="smcap">or</span>, TEN WEEKS WITH A CIRCUS by <span class="smcap">James Otis</span>.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">MR. STUBBS'S BROTHER. A sequel to "Toby Tyler." By <span class="smcap">James Otis</span>.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">TIM AND TIP: <span class="smcap">or</span>, THE ADVENTURES OF A BOY AND A DOG. By <span class="smcap">James Otis</span>.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">LEFT BEHIND: <span class="smcap">or</span>, TEN DAYS A NEWSBOY. By <span class="smcap">James Otis</span>.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">RAISING THE "PEARL." By <span class="smcap">James Otis</span>.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">MILDRED'S BARGAIN, AND OTHER STORIES. By <span class="smcap">Lucy C. Lillie</span>.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">NAN. By <span class="smcap">Lucy C. Lillie</span>.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE FOUR MACNICOLS. By <span class="smcap">William Black</span>.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE LOST CITY; <span class="smcap">or</span>, THE BOY EXPLORERS IN CENTRAL ASIA. By <span class="smcap">David Ker</span>.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE TALKING LEAVES. An Indian Story. By <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;O. Stoddard</span>.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">WHO WAS PAUL GRAYSON? By <span class="smcap">John Habberton</span>, Author of "Helen's Babies."</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">PRINCE LAZYBONES, AND OTHER STORIES. By Mrs. <span class="smcap">W.&nbsp;J. Hays</span>.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE ICE QUEEN. By <span class="smcap">Ernest Ingersoll</span>.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">CHAPTERS ON PLANT LIFE. By Mrs. <span class="smcap">S.&nbsp;B. Herrick</span>.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">STRANGE STORIES FROM HISTORY. By <span class="smcap">George Cary Eggleston</span>.</span></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Published by</span> Harper &amp; Brothers, <span class="smcap">New York</span>.</h4>
+
+<h4><i>Any of the above works will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the</i></h4>
+<h4><i>United States or Canada, on receipt of the price.</i></h4>
+
+<h4>Copyright, 1885, by <span class="smcap">Harper &amp; Brothers</span>.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2>
+
+<p>In calling the tales in this volume "Strange Stories" I have sought
+simply to indicate that, in the main, they are unfamiliar to youthful
+readers, and that most of them relate deeds and occurrences some what
+out of the common. In choosing the themes I have tried to avoid the
+tales that have been often used, and to tell only those of which young
+readers generally have not before heard.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, a book of this kind can make no pretension to originality of
+matter, as the facts used in it are to be found in historical works of
+recognized authority, though many of them have been drawn from books
+that are not easily accessible to the majority of readers. If there is
+any originality in my little volume it is in the manner in which the
+tales are told. I have endeavored to tell them as simply as possible,
+and at the same time with as much dramatic force and fervor as I could
+command, while adhering rigidly to the facts of history.</p>
+
+<p>It would be impossible for me to say to what sources I am indebted for
+materials. The incidents related have been familiar to me for years, as
+they are to all persons whose reading of history has been at all
+extensive, and I cannot say with any certainty how much of each I
+learned from one and how much from another historical writer. Nor is it
+in any way necessary that I should do so, as the recorded facts of
+history are common property. But a special acknowledgment is due to Mr.
+James Parton in the case of the tale of the Negro Fort, and also for
+certain details in those relating to the New Orleans campaign of
+1814-15. In that field Mr. Parton is an original investigator, to whose
+labors every writer on the subject must be indebted. I wish also to
+acknowledge my obligation to Mr. A.&nbsp;B. Meek, the author of a little
+work entitled "Romantic Passages in Southwestern History," for the main
+facts in the stories of the Charge of the Hounds and the Battle of the
+Canoes on the Alabama River; but, with respect to those matters, I have
+had the advantage of private sources of information also.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the stories in the volume were originally written for <i>Harper's
+Young People</i>; one was first published in <i>Good Cheer</i>, and a few in
+other periodicals. I owe thanks to the editors and publishers concerned
+for permission to reprint them in this form.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+
+<tr><td align='center'><b>HISTORY STORIES.</b></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_STORY_OF_THE_NEGRO_FORT"><b>THE STORY OF THE NEGRO FORT.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#A_WAR_FOR_AN_ARCHBISHOP"><b>A WAR FOR AN ARCHBISHOP.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_BOY_COMMANDER_OF_THE_CAMISARDS"><b>THE BOY COMMANDER OF THE CAMISARDS.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_CANOE_FIGHT"><b>THE CANOE FIGHT.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_BATTLE_OF_LAKE_BORGNE"><b>THE BATTLE OF LAKE BORGNE.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_BATTLE_IN_THE_DARK"><b>THE BATTLE IN THE DARK.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_TROUBLESOME_BURGHERS"><b>THE TROUBLESOME BURGHERS.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_DEFENCE_OF_ROCHELLE"><b>THE DEFENCE OF ROCHELLE.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_SAD_STORY_OF_A_BOY_KING"><b>THE SAD STORY OF A BOY KING.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#TWO_OBSCURE_HEROES"><b>TWO OBSCURE HEROES.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_CHARGE_OF_THE_HOUNDS"><b>THE CHARGE OF THE HOUNDS.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_STORY_OF_A_WINTER_CAMPAIGN"><b>THE STORY OF A WINTER CAMPAIGN.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#YOUNG_WASHINGTON_IN_THE_WOODS"><b>YOUNG WASHINGTON IN THE WOODS.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_STORY_OF_CATHERINE"><b>THE STORY OF CATHERINE.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_VIRGINIA_WIFE-MARKET"><b>THE VIRGINIA WIFE-MARKET.</b></a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='center'><b>BIOGRAPHY STORIES.</b></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_BOYHOOD_OF_DANIEL_WEBSTER"><b>THE BOYHOOD OF DANIEL WEBSTER.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_SCULLION_WHO_BECAME_A_SCULPTOR"><b>THE SCULLION WHO BECAME A SCULPTOR.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_BOYHOOD_OF_WILLIAM_CHAMBERS"><b>THE BOYHOOD OF WILLIAM CHAMBERS.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#HOW_A_BOY_WAS_HIRED_OUT_AND_WHAT_CAME_OF_IT"><b>HOW A BOY WAS HIRED OUT, AND WHAT CAME OF IT.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_WICKEDEST_MAN_IN_THE_WORLD"><b>THE WICKEDEST MAN IN THE WORLD.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#A_PRINCE_WHO_WOULD_NOT_STAY_DEAD"><b>A PRINCE WHO WOULD NOT STAY DEAD.</b></a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS" id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#BREAKFAST_AND_BATTLE"><i>Breakfast and Battle</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#VLADIMIR_BESIEGING_THE_CITY"><i>Vladimir Besieging the City Containing his Archbishop</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CAVALIER_PERSONATING_THE_LIEUTENANT"><i>Cavalier Personating the Lieutenant of the Count Broglio</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#WITH_A_SINGLE_BLOW"><i>With a Single Blow he Knocked over the Indian with whom<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Austill was Struggling</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#BOARDING_THE_GUNBOATS"><i>Boarding the Gun-boats</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#GENERAL_JACKSON"><i>General Jackson at New Orleans</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_BURGHERS_PREPARE"><i>The Burghers Prepare to Defend their City</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#RICHELIEU_SURVEYING_THE_WORKS"><i>Richelieu Surveying the Works at Rochelle</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_PARTING"><i>The Parting between King Richard II. and Queen Isabella</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#MARTIN_PREACHING"><i>Martin Preaching to the People on the Duty of Fighting</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#HE_RODE_UP"><i>"Just at the Moment when Matters were at their Worst,<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;he Rode up"</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CAPTURE_OF_THE_DUTCH_FLEET"><i>Capture of the Dutch fleet by the Soldiers of the French<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Republic</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#WASHINGTON_AS_A_SURVEYOR"><i>Washington as a Surveyor</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#SHE_WENT_BOLDLY"><i>"She Went Boldly into his Tent"</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><a href="#END_OF_THE_TWELFTH_BOOK"><i>"To the End of the Twelfth Book of the &AElig;neid,'answered<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;the 'Idle' Boy in Triumph"</i></a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_STORY_OF_THE_NEGRO_FORT" id="THE_STORY_OF_THE_NEGRO_FORT"></a>THE STORY OF THE NEGRO FORT.</h2>
+
+<p>During the war of 1812-14, between Great Britain and the United States,
+the weak Spanish Governor of Florida&mdash;for Florida was then Spanish
+territory&mdash;permitted the British to make Pensacola their base of
+operations against us. This was a gross outrage, as we were at peace
+with Spain at the time, and General Jackson, acting on his own
+responsibility, invaded Florida in retaliation.</p>
+
+<p>Among the British at that time was an eccentric Irish officer, Colonel
+Edward Nichols, who enlisted and tried to make soldiers of a large
+number of the Seminole Indians. In 1815, after the war was over, Colonel
+Nichols again visited the Seminoles, who were disposed to be hostile to
+the United States, as Colonel Nichols himself was, and made an
+astonishing treaty with them, in which an alliance, offensive and
+defensive, between Great Britain and the Seminoles, was agreed upon. We
+had made peace with Great Britain a few months before, and yet this
+ridiculous Irish colonel signed a treaty binding Great Britain to fight
+us whenever the Seminoles in the Spanish territory of Florida should see
+fit to make a war! If this extraordinary performance had been all, it
+would not have mattered so much, for the British government refused to
+ratify the treaty; but it was not all. Colonel Nichols, as if determined
+to give us as much trouble as he could, built a strong fortress on the
+Appalachicola River, and gave it to his friends the Seminoles, naming it
+"The British Post on the Appalachicola," where the British had not the
+least right to have any post whatever. Situated on a high bluff, with
+flanks securely guarded by the river on one side and a swamp on the
+other, this fort, properly defended, was capable of resisting the
+assaults of almost any force that could approach it; and Colonel Nichols
+was determined that it should be properly defended, and should be a
+constant menace and source of danger to the United States. He armed it
+with one 32-pounder cannon, three 24-pounders, and eight other guns. In
+the matter of small-arms he was even more liberal. He supplied the fort
+with 2500 muskets, 500 carbines, 400 pistols, and 500 swords. In the
+magazines he stored 300 quarter casks of rifle powder and 763 barrels of
+ordinary gunpowder.</p>
+
+<p>When Colonel Nichols went away, his Seminoles soon wandered off, leaving
+the fort without a garrison. This gave an opportunity to a negro bandit
+and desperado named Gar&ccedil;on to seize the place, which he did, gathering
+about him a large band of runaway negroes, Choctaw Indians, and other
+lawless persons, whom he organized into a strong company of robbers.
+Gar&ccedil;on made the fort his stronghold, and began to plunder the country
+round about as thoroughly as any robber baron or Italian bandit ever
+did, sometimes venturing across the border into the United States.</p>
+
+<p>All this was so annoying and so threatening to our frontier settlements
+in Georgia, that General Jackson demanded of the Spanish authorities
+that they should reduce the place; and they would have been glad enough
+to do so, probably, if it had been possible, because the banditti
+plundered Spanish as well as other settlements. But the Spanish governor
+had no force at command, and could do nothing, and so the fort remained,
+a standing menace to the American borders.</p>
+
+<p>Matters were in this position in the spring of 1816, when General Gaines
+was sent to fortify our frontier at the point where the Chattahoochee
+and Flint rivers unite to form the Appalachicola. In June of that year
+some stores for General Gaines's forces were sent by sea from New
+Orleans. The vessels carrying them were to go up the Appalachicola, and
+General Gaines was not sure that the little fleet would be permitted to
+pass the robbers' stronghold, which had come to be called the Negro
+Fort. Accordingly, he sent Colonel Clinch with a small force down the
+river, to render any assistance that might be necessary. On the way
+Colonel Clinch was joined by a band of Seminoles, who wanted to
+recapture the fort on their own account, and the two bodies determined
+to act together.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime the two schooners with supplies and the two gun-boats sent to
+guard them had arrived at the mouth of the river; and when the
+commandant tried to hold a conference with Gar&ccedil;on, the ship's boat,
+bearing a white flag, was fired upon.</p>
+
+<p>Running short of water while lying off the river's mouth, the officers
+of the fleet sent out a boat to procure a supply. This boat was armed
+with a swivel and muskets, and was commanded by Midshipman Luffborough.
+The boat went into the mouth of the river, and, seeing a negro on shore,
+Midshipman Luffborough landed to ask for fresh-water supplies. Gar&ccedil;on,
+with some of his men, lay in ambush at the spot, and while the officer
+talked with the negro the concealed men fired upon the boat, killing
+Luffborough and two of his men. One man got away by swimming, and was
+picked up by the fleet; two others were taken prisoners, and, as was
+afterwards learned, Gar&ccedil;on coated them with tar and burned them to
+death.</p>
+
+<p>It would not do to send more boats ashore, and so the little squadron
+lay together awaiting orders from Colonel Clinch. That officer, as he
+approached the fort, captured a negro, who wore a white man's scalp at
+his belt, and from him he learned of the massacre of Luffborough's
+party. There was no further occasion for doubt as to what was to be
+done. Colonel Clinch determined to reduce the fort at any cost, although
+the operation promised to be a very difficult one.</p>
+
+<p>Placing his men in line of battle, he sent a courier to the fleet,
+ordering the gun-boats to come up and help in the attack. The Seminoles
+made many demonstrations against the works, and the negroes replied with
+their cannon. Gar&ccedil;on had raised his flags&mdash;a red one and a British
+Union-jack&mdash;and whenever he caught sight of the Indians or the
+Americans, he shelled them vigorously with his 32-pounder.</p>
+
+<p>Three or four days were passed in this way, while the gun-boats were
+slowly making their way up the river. It was Colonel Clinch's purpose to
+have the gun-boats shell the fort, while he should storm it on the land
+side. The work promised to be bloody, and it was necessary to bring all
+the available force to bear at once. There were no siege-guns at hand,
+or anywhere within reach, and the only way to reduce the fort was for
+the small force of soldiers&mdash;numbering only one hundred and sixteen
+men&mdash;to rush upon it, receiving the fire of its heavy artillery, and
+climb over its parapets in the face of a murderous fire of small-arms.
+Gar&ccedil;on had with him three hundred and thirty-four men, so that, besides
+having strong defensive works and an abundant supply of large cannon,
+his force outnumbered Colonel Clinch's nearly three to one. It is true
+that the American officer had the band of Seminoles with him, but they
+were entirely worthless for determined work of the kind that the white
+men had to do. Even while lying in the woods at a distance, waiting for
+the gun-boats to come up, the Indians became utterly demoralized under
+the fire of Gar&ccedil;on's 32-pounder. There was nothing to be done, however,
+by way of improving the prospect, which was certainly hopeless enough.
+One hundred and sixteen white men had the Negro Fort to storm,
+notwithstanding its strength and the overwhelming force that defended
+it. But those one hundred and sixteen men were American soldiers, under
+command of a brave and resolute officer, who had made up his mind that
+the fort could be taken, and they were prepared to follow their leader
+up to the muzzle of the guns and over the ramparts, there to fight the
+question out in a hand-to-hand struggle with the desperadoes inside.</p>
+
+<p>Finally the gun-boats arrived, and preparations were made for the
+attack. Sailing-master Jairus Loomis, the commandant of the little
+fleet, cast his anchors under the guns of the Negro Fort at five
+o'clock in the morning on the 27th of July, 1816. The fort at once
+opened fire, and it seemed impossible for the little vessels to endure
+the storm of shot and shell that rained upon them from the ramparts
+above. They replied vigorously, however, but with no effect. Their guns
+were too small to make any impression upon the heavy earthen walls of
+the fortress.</p>
+
+<p>Sailing-master Loomis had roused his ship's cook early that morning, and
+had given him a strange breakfast to cook. He had ordered him to make
+all the fire he could in his galley, and to fill the fire with
+cannon-balls. Not long after the bombardment began the cook reported
+that breakfast was ready; that is to say, that the cannon-balls were
+red-hot. Loomis trained one of his guns with his own hands so that its
+shot should fall within the fort, instead of burying itself in the
+ramparts, and this gun was at once loaded with a red-hot shot. The word
+was given, the match applied, and the glowing missile sped on its way. A
+few seconds later the earth shook and quivered, a deafening roar
+stunned the sailors, and a vast cloud of smoke filled the air, shutting
+out the sun.</p>
+
+<p>The hot shot had fallen into the great magazine, where there were
+hundreds of barrels of gunpowder, and the Negro Fort was no more. It had
+been literally blown to atoms in a second.</p>
+
+<p>The slaughter was frightful. There were, as we know already, three
+hundred and thirty-four men in the fort, and two hundred and seventy of
+them were killed outright by the explosion. All the rest, except three
+men who miraculously escaped injury, were wounded, most of them so badly
+that they died soon afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>One of the three men who escaped the explosion unhurt was Gar&ccedil;on
+himself. Bad as this bandit chief was, Colonel Clinch would have spared
+his life, but it happened that he fell into the hands of the sailors
+from the gun-boat; and when they learned that Gar&ccedil;on had tarred and
+burned their comrades whom he had captured in the attack on
+Luffborough's boat, they turned him over to the infuriated Seminoles,
+who put him to death in their own cruel way.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a name="BREAKFAST_AND_BATTLE" id="BREAKFAST_AND_BATTLE"></a>
+<img src="images/ill-025.jpg" width="500" height="385" alt="BREAKFAST AND BATTLE." title="" />
+<span class="caption">BREAKFAST AND BATTLE.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>This is the history of a strange affair, which at one time promised to
+give the government of the United States no little trouble, even
+threatening to involve us in a war with Spain, for the fort was on
+Spanish territory, and the Spaniards naturally resented an invasion of
+their soil.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="A_WAR_FOR_AN_ARCHBISHOP" id="A_WAR_FOR_AN_ARCHBISHOP"></a>A WAR FOR AN ARCHBISHOP.</h2>
+
+<h4>THE CURIOUS STORY OF VLADIMIR THE GREAT.</h4>
+
+<p>In the latter part of the tenth century Sviatozlaf was Grand Prince of
+Russia. He was a powerful prince, but a turbulent one, and he behaved so
+ill towards his neighbors that, when an opportunity offered, one of them
+converted his skull into a gold-mounted drinking-cup, with an
+inscription upon it, and his dominions were parcelled out between his
+three sons&mdash;Yaropolk, Oleg, and Vladimir.</p>
+
+<p>Yaropolk, finding his possessions too small for his ambition, made war
+on Oleg, and conquered his territory; but his brother Oleg having been
+killed in the war, the tender-hearted Yaropolk wept bitterly over his
+corpse.</p>
+
+<p>The other brother, Vladimir, was so grieved at the death of Oleg that he
+abandoned his capital, Novgorod, and remained for a time in seclusion.
+Yaropolk seized the opportunity thus offered, and made himself master of
+Vladimir's dominions also. Not long afterwards Vladimir appeared at the
+head of an army, and Yaropolk ran away to his own capital, Kiev.
+Vladimir at once resumed the throne, and sent word to Yaropolk that he
+would in due time return the hostile visit.</p>
+
+<p>About this time Yaropolk and Vladimir both asked for the hand of the
+Princess Rogneda, of Polotzk, in marriage; and the father of the
+princess, fearing to offend either of the royal barbarians, left the
+choice to Rogneda herself. She chose Yaropolk, sending a very insulting
+message to Vladimir, whereupon that prince marched against Polotzk,
+conquered the province, and with his own hand slew the father and
+brothers of the princess. Then, with their blood still unwashed from his
+hands, he forced Rogneda to marry him.</p>
+
+<p>Having attended to this matter, Vladimir undertook to return his
+brother's hostile visit, as he had promised to do. Yaropolk's capital,
+Kiev, was a strongly fortified place, and capable of a stout resistance;
+but Vladimir corrupted Blude, one of Yaropolk's ministers, paying him to
+betray his master, and promising, in the event of success, to heap
+honors on his head. Blude worked upon Yaropolk's fears, and persuaded
+him to abandon the capital without a struggle, and Vladimir took
+possession of the throne and the country. Even in his exile, however,
+Yaropolk had no peace. Blude frightened him with false stories, and
+persuaded him to remove from place to place, until his mind and body
+were worn out, when, at Blude's suggestion, he determined to surrender
+himself, and trust to the mercy of Vladimir. That good-natured brother
+ordered the betrayed and distressed prince to be put to death.</p>
+
+<p>Then Vladimir rewarded Blude. He entertained him in princely fashion,
+declaring to his followers that he was deeply indebted to this man for
+his faithful services, and heaping all manner of honors upon him. But at
+the end of three days he said to Blude: "I have kept my promise
+strictly. I have received you with welcome, and heaped unwonted honors
+upon your head. This I have done as your friend. To-day, as judge, I
+condemn the traitor and the murderer of his prince." He ordered that
+Blude should suffer instant death, and the sentence was executed.</p>
+
+<p>Now that both Oleg and Yaropolk were dead, Vladimir was Grand Prince of
+all the Russias, as his father before him had been. He invaded Poland,
+and made war upon various others of his neighbors, greatly enlarging his
+dominions and strengthening his rule.</p>
+
+<p>But Vladimir was a very pious prince in his heathen way, and feeling
+that the gods had greatly favored him, he made rich feasts of
+thanksgiving in their honor. He ordered splendid memorials to various
+deities to be erected throughout the country, and he specially honored
+Perune, the father of the gods, for whom he provided a new pair of
+golden whiskers&mdash;golden whiskers being the special glory of Perune.</p>
+
+<p>Not content with this, Vladimir ordered a human sacrifice to be made,
+and selected for the victim a Christian youth of the capital. The father
+of the boy resisted, and both were slain, locked in each other's arms.</p>
+
+<p>Vladimir gave vast sums of money to the religious establishments, and
+behaved generally like a very devout pagan. His piety and generosity
+made him so desirable a patron that efforts were made by the priests of
+other religions to convert him. Jews, Mohammedans, Catholics, and Greeks
+all sought to win him, and Vladimir began seriously to consider the
+question of changing his religion. He appointed a commission, consisting
+of ten boyards, and ordered them to examine into the comparative merits
+of the different religions, and to report to him. When their report was
+made, Vladimir weighed the matter carefully.</p>
+
+<p>He began by rejecting Mohammedanism, because it forbids the use of wine,
+and Vladimir was not at all disposed to become a water-drinker. Judaism,
+he said, was a homeless religion, its followers being wanderers on the
+face of the earth, under a curse; so he would have nothing to do with
+that faith. The Catholic religion would not do at all, because it
+recognized in the pope a superior to himself, and Vladimir had no mind
+to acknowledge a superior. The Greek religion was free from these
+objections, and moreover, by adopting it he would bring himself into
+friendship with the great Greek or Byzantine Empire, whose capital was
+at Constantinople, and that was something which he earnestly desired to
+accomplish.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, he determined to become a Christian and a member of the
+Greek Church; but how? There were serious difficulties in the way. In
+order to become a Christian he must be baptized, and he was puzzled
+about how to accomplish that. There were many Greek priests in his
+capital, any one of whom would have been glad to baptize the heathen
+monarch, but Vladimir would not let a mere priest convert him into a
+Christian. Nobody less than an archbishop would do for that, and there
+was no archbishop in Russia.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that there were plenty of archbishops in the dominions of his
+Byzantine neighbors, and that the Greek emperors, Basil and Constantine,
+would have been glad to send him a dozen of them if he had expressed a
+wish to that effect; but Vladimir was proud, and could not think of
+asking a favor of anybody, least of all of the Greek emperors. No, he
+would die a heathen rather than ask for an archbishop to baptize him.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, Vladimir had fully made up his mind to have himself
+baptized by an archbishop. It was his lifelong habit, when he wanted
+anything, to take it by force. He had taken two thirds of his dominions
+in that way, and, as we have seen, it was in that way that he got his
+wife Rogneda. So now that he wanted an archbishop, he determined to take
+one. Calling his army together, he declared war on the Greek emperors,
+and promising his soldiers all the pillage they wanted, he marched away
+towards Constantinople.</p>
+
+<p>The first serious obstacle he met with was the fortified city of
+Kherson, situated near the spot where Sebastopol stands in our day. Here
+the resistance was so obstinate that month after month was consumed in
+siege operations. At the end of six months Vladimir became seriously
+alarmed lest the garrison should be succored from without, in which case
+his hope of getting himself converted into a Christian must be abandoned
+altogether.</p>
+
+<p>While he was troubled on this score, however, one of his soldiers picked
+up an arrow that had been shot from the city, and found a letter
+attached to it. This letter informed the Grand Prince that the
+water-pipes of the city received their supplies at a point immediately
+in his rear, and with this news Vladimir's hope of becoming a Christian
+revived. He found the water-pipes and stopped them up, and the city
+surrendered.</p>
+
+<p>There were plenty of bishops and archbishops there, of course, and they
+were perfectly willing&mdash;as they had been from the first, for that
+matter&mdash;to baptize the unruly royal convert, but Vladimir was not
+content now with that. He sent a messenger to Constantinople to tell the
+emperors there that he wanted their sister, the Princess Anne, for a
+wife; and that if they refused, he would march against Constantinople
+itself. The Emperors Basil and Constantine consented, and although
+Vladimir had five wives already, he married Anne, and was baptized on
+the same day.</p>
+
+<p>Having now become a Christian, the Grand Prince determined that his
+Russians should do the same. He publicly stripped the god Perune of his
+gorgeous golden whiskers, and of his rich vestments, showing the people
+that Perune was only a log of wood. Then he had the deposed god whipped
+in public, and thrown into the river, with all the other gods.</p>
+
+<p>He next ordered all the people of his capital city to assemble on the
+banks of the Dnieper River, and, at a signal, made them all rush into
+the water, while a priest pronounced the baptismal service over the
+whole population of the city at once. It was the most wholesale baptism
+ever performed.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a name="VLADIMIR_BESIEGING_THE_CITY" id="VLADIMIR_BESIEGING_THE_CITY"></a>
+<img src="images/ill-037.jpg" width="500" height="360" alt="VLADIMIR BESIEGING THE CITY CONTAINING HIS ARCHBISHOP." title="" />
+<span class="caption">VLADIMIR BESIEGING THE CITY CONTAINING HIS ARCHBISHOP.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>That is the way in which Russia was changed from a pagan to a
+Christian empire. The story reads like a romance, but it is plain,
+well-authenticated history. For his military exploits the Russian
+historians call this prince Vladimir the Great. The people call him St.
+Vladimir, the Greek Church having enrolled his name among the saints
+soon after his death. He was undoubtedly a man of rare military skill,
+and unusual ability in the government of men. Bad as his acts were, he
+seems to have had a conscience, and to have done his duty so far as he
+was capable of understanding it.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_BOY_COMMANDER_OF_THE_CAMISARDS" id="THE_BOY_COMMANDER_OF_THE_CAMISARDS"></a>THE BOY COMMANDER OF THE CAMISARDS.</h2>
+
+<p>When Louis XIV. was King of France, that country was generally Catholic,
+as it is still, but in the rugged mountain region called the Cevennes
+more than half the people were Protestants. At first the king consented
+that these Protestant people, who were well behaved both in peace and in
+war, should live in quiet, and worship as they pleased; but in those
+days men were not tolerant in matters of religion, as they are now, and
+so after a while King Louis made up his mind that he would compel all
+his people to believe alike. The Protestants of the Cevennes were
+required to give up their religion and to become Catholics. When they
+refused, soldiers were sent to compel them, and great cruelties were
+practised upon them. Many of them were killed, many put in prison, and
+many sent to work in the galleys.</p>
+
+<p>When this persecution had lasted for nearly thirty years, a body of
+young men who were gathered together in the High Cevennes resolved to
+defend themselves by force. They secured arms, and although their
+numbers were very small, they met and fought the troops.</p>
+
+<p>Among these young men was one, a mere boy, named Jean Cavalier. His home
+was in the Lower Cevennes, but he had fled to the highlands for safety.
+This boy, without knowing it, had military genius of a very high order,
+and when it became evident that he and his comrades could not long hold
+out against the large bodies of regular troops sent against them, he
+suggested a plan which in the end proved to be so good that for years
+the poor peasants were able to maintain war against all the armies that
+King Louis could send against them, although he sent many of his finest
+generals and as many as sixty thousand men to subdue them.</p>
+
+<p>Cavalier's plan was to collect more men, divide, and make uprisings in
+several places at once, so that the king's officers could not tell in
+which way to turn. As he and his comrades knew the country well, and had
+friends to tell them of the enemy's movements, they could nearly always
+know when it was safe to attack, and when they must hide in the woods.</p>
+
+<p>Cavalier took thirty men and went into one part of the country, while
+Captain La Porte, with a like number, went to another, and Captain St.
+John to still another. They kept each other informed of all movements,
+and whenever one was pressed by the enemy, the others would begin
+burning churches or attacking small garrisons. The enemy would thus be
+compelled to abandon the pursuit of one party in order to go after the
+others, and it soon became evident that under Cavalier's lead the
+peasants were too wily and too strong for the soldiers. Sometimes
+Cavalier would fairly beat detachments of his foes, and give them chase,
+killing all whom he caught; for in that war both sides did this, even
+killing their prisoners without mercy. At other times Cavalier was
+worsted in fight, and when that was the case he fled to the woods,
+collected more men, and waited for another chance.</p>
+
+<p>Without trying to write an orderly history of the war, for which there
+is not space enough here, I shall now tell some stories of Cavalier's
+adventures, drawing the information chiefly from a book which he himself
+wrote years afterwards, when he was a celebrated man and a general in
+the British army.</p>
+
+<p>One Sunday Cavalier, who was a preacher as well as a soldier, held
+services in his camp in the woods, and all the Protestant peasants in
+the neighborhood attended. The Governor of Alais, whose name was De la
+Hay, thought this a good opportunity not only to defeat Cavalier's small
+force, but also to catch the Protestant women and children in the act of
+attending a Protestant service, the punishment for which was death. He
+collected a force of about six hundred men, cavalry and infantry, and
+marched towards the wood, where he knew he should outnumber the peasants
+three or four to one. He had a mule loaded with ropes, declaring that he
+was going to hang all the rebels at once.</p>
+
+<p>When news of De la Hay's coming was brought to the peasants, they sent
+away all the country people, women, and children, and began to discuss
+the situation. They had no commander, for although Cavalier had led them
+generally, he had no authority to do so. Everything was voluntary, and
+everything a subject of debate. On this occasion many thought it best to
+retreat at once, as there were less than two hundred of them; but
+Cavalier declared that if they would follow him, he would lead them to a
+place where victory might be won. They consented, and he advanced to a
+point on the road where he could shelter his men. Quickly disposing them
+in line of battle behind some defences, he awaited the coming of the
+enemy.</p>
+
+<p>De la Hay, being over-confident because of his superior numbers,
+blundered at the outset. Instead of attacking first with his infantry,
+he placed his horsemen in front, and ordered an assault. Cavalier was
+quick to take advantage of this blunder. He ordered only a few of his
+men to fire, and this drew a volley from the advancing horsemen, which
+did little damage to the sheltered troops, but emptied the horsemen's
+weapons. Instantly Cavalier ordered a charge and a volley, and the
+horsemen, with empty pistols, gave way, Cavalier pursuing them. De la
+Hay's infantry, being just behind the horsemen, were ridden down by
+their own friends, and became confused and panic-stricken. Cavalier
+pursued hotly, his men throwing off their coats to lighten themselves,
+and giving the enemy no time to rally. A reinforcement two hundred
+strong, coming up, tried to check Cavalier's charge; but so impetuous
+was the onset that those fresh troops gave way in their turn, and the
+chase ended only when the king's men had shut themselves up in the
+fortified towns. Cavalier had lost only five or six men, the enemy
+losing a hundred killed and many more wounded. Cavalier captured a large
+quantity of arms and ammunition, of which he was in sore need.</p>
+
+<p>When the battle was over it was decided unanimously to make Cavalier the
+commander. He refused, however, to accept the responsibility unless it
+could be accompanied with power to enforce obedience, and his troops at
+once voted to make his authority absolute, even to the decision of
+questions of life and death. According to the best authorities, Cavalier
+was only seventeen years old when this absolute command was conferred
+upon him. How skilfully he used the scant means at his disposal we shall
+see hereafter.</p>
+
+<p>On one occasion Cavalier attacked a party of forty men who were marching
+through the country to reinforce a distant post, and killed most of
+them. While searching the dead bodies, he found in the pocket of the
+commanding officer an order signed by Count Broglio, the king's
+lieutenant, directing all military officers and town authorities to
+lodge and feed the party on their march. No sooner had the boy soldier
+read this paper than he resolved to turn it to his own advantage in a
+daring and dangerous way.</p>
+
+<p>The castle of Servas, near Alais, had long been a source of trouble to
+him. It was a strong place, built upon a steep hill, and was so
+difficult of approach that it would have been madness to try to take it
+by force. This castle stood right in the line of Cavalier's
+communications with his friends, near a road which he was frequently
+obliged to pass, and its presence there was a source of annoyance and
+danger to him. Moreover, its garrison of about forty men were constantly
+plundering and murdering Cavalier's friends in the country round about,
+and giving timely notice to his enemies of his own military movements.</p>
+
+<p>When he found the order referred to, he resolved to pretend that he was
+Count Broglio's nephew, the dead commander of the detachment which he
+had just destroyed. Dressing himself in that officer's clothes, he
+ordered his men to put on the clothing of the other dead royalists. Then
+he took six of his best men, with their own Camisard uniforms on, and
+bound them with ropes, to represent prisoners. One of them had been
+wounded in the arm, and his bloody sleeve helped the stratagem. Putting
+these six men at the head of his troop, with a guard of their disguised
+comrades over them, he marched towards the Castle of Servas. There he
+declared himself to be Count Broglio's nephew, and said that he had met
+a company of the Barbets, or Camisards, and had defeated them, taking
+six prisoners; that he was afraid to keep these prisoners in the village
+overnight lest their friends should rescue them; and that he wished to
+lodge them in the castle for safety. When the governor of the castle
+heard this story, and saw the order of Count Broglio, he was completely
+imposed upon. He ordered the prisoners to be brought into the castle,
+and invited Cavalier to be his guest there for the night. Taking two of
+his officers with him, Cavalier went into the castle to sup with the
+governor. During supper several of his soldiers, who were encamped just
+outside, went into the castle upon pretence of getting wine or bread,
+and when five or six of them were in, at a signal from Cavalier, they
+overpowered the sentinels and threw the gates open. The rest of the
+troop rushed in at once, and before the garrison could seize their
+arms the boy commander was master of the fortress. He put the garrison
+to the sword, and, hastily collecting all the arms, ammunition, and
+provisions he could find, set fire to the castle and marched away. When
+the fire reached the powder magazine the whole fortress was blown to
+fragments, and a post which had long annoyed and endangered the
+Camisards was no more.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a name="CAVALIER_PERSONATING_THE_LIEUTENANT" id="CAVALIER_PERSONATING_THE_LIEUTENANT"></a>
+<img src="images/ill-049.jpg" width="500" height="365" alt="CAVALIER PERSONATING THE LIEUTENANT OF THE COUNT
+BROGLIO." title="" />
+<span class="caption">CAVALIER PERSONATING THE LIEUTENANT OF THE COUNT
+BROGLIO.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>On another occasion, finding himself short of ammunition, Cavalier
+resolved to take some by force and stratagem from the strongly fortified
+town of Savnes. His first care was to send a detachment of forty men to
+a point at some distance, with orders to burn a church which had lately
+been fortified, "thereby," he says, "to make the inhabitants of Savnes
+believe we were busy in another place." Then he detached an officer and
+fifty men, and ordered them to disguise themselves as country militia in
+the king's service, and to go into Savnes in that character. With some
+difficulty this officer accomplished his purpose, and then Roland and
+Cavalier marched upon the place. His officer inside the town, when the
+alarm was given, said to the governor, "Let them come; you'll see how
+I'll receive them." Anxious for his own safety, the governor permitted
+the supposed officer of militia to take charge of the defence, and the
+armed citizens put themselves under his command. He instructed the
+citizens to reserve their fire until he should give them orders, and in
+that way enabled Cavalier to approach unharmed. Suddenly the officer,
+directing the aim of his men against the citizens, ordered them to throw
+down their arms upon pain of instant death, and they, seeing themselves
+caught in a trap, obeyed. Cavalier marched in without opposition,
+secured all that he could carry away of arms, ammunition, and
+provisions, and retired to the woods.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout the summer and autumn the boy carried on his part of the war,
+nearly always getting the better of his enemies by his shrewdness and
+valor, and when that was impossible, eluding them with equal shrewdness.
+During that first campaign he destroyed many fortified places, won many
+fights against superior numbers of regular troops, and killed far more
+soldiers for the enemy than he had under his own command. Failing to
+conquer him by force or strategy, his foes fell back upon the confident
+hope of starving him during the winter, for he must pass the winter in
+the forests, with no bases of supply to draw upon for either food or
+ammunition. But in indulging this hope his enemies forgot that the crown
+and glory of his achievements in the field had been his marvellous
+fertility of resource. The very qualities which had made him formidable
+in fight were his safeguard for the winter. He knew quite as well as
+they did that he must live all winter in the woods surrounded by foes,
+and, knowing the difficulty of doing so, he gave his whole mind to the
+question of how to do it.</p>
+
+<p>He began during the harvest to make his preparations. He explored all
+the caves in the mountains, and selected the most available ones for use
+as magazines, taking care to have them in all parts of the mountains, so
+that if cut off from one he could draw upon another. In these caves he
+stored great quantities of grain and other provisions, and during the
+winter, whenever he needed meal, some of his men, who were millers,
+would carry grain to some lonely country mill and grind it. To prevent
+this, the king's officers ordered that all the country mills should be
+disabled and rendered unfit for use; but before the order could be
+executed, Cavalier directed some of his men, who were skilled
+machinists, to disable two or three of the mills by carrying away the
+essential parts of their machinery and storing them in his caves. Then,
+when he wanted meal, his machinists had only to replace the machinery in
+some disabled mill, and remove it again after his millers had done the
+necessary grinding. His bakers made use of farmers' ovens to bake bread
+in, and when the king's soldiers, hearing of this, destroyed the ovens,
+Cavalier sent his masons&mdash;for he had all sorts of craftsmen in his
+ranks&mdash;to rebuild them.</p>
+
+<p>Having two powder-makers with him, he collected saltpetre, burned willow
+twigs for charcoal, and made all the powder he needed in his caves.
+Before doing so he had been obliged to resort to many devices in order
+to get powder, sometimes disguising himself as a merchant and going into
+a town and buying small quantities at a time, so that suspicion might
+not be awakened, until he secured enough to fill his portmanteau.</p>
+
+<p>For bullets he melted down the leaden weights of windows, and when that
+source of supply failed he melted pewter vessels and used pewter
+bullets&mdash;a fact which gave rise to the belief that he used poisoned
+balls. Finally, in a dyer's establishment, he had the good luck to find
+two great leaden kettles, weighing more than seven hundred quintals,
+which, he says, "I caused immediately to be carried into the magazines
+with as much diligence and care as if they had been silver."</p>
+
+<p>Chiefly by Cavalier's tireless energy and wonderful military skill, the
+war was kept up against fearful odds for years, and finally the young
+soldier succeeded in making a treaty of peace in which perfect liberty
+of conscience and worship&mdash;which was all he had been fighting for&mdash;was
+guaranteed to the Protestants of the Cevennes. His friends rejected this
+treaty, however, and Cavalier soon afterwards went to Holland, where he
+was given command of a regiment in the English service. His career in
+arms was a brilliant one, so brilliant that the British made him a
+general and governor of the island of Jersey; but he nowhere showed
+greater genius or manifested higher soldierly qualities than during the
+time when he was the Boy Commander of the Camisards.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_CANOE_FIGHT" id="THE_CANOE_FIGHT"></a>THE CANOE FIGHT.</h2>
+
+<h4>AN INCIDENT OF THE CREEK WAR.</h4>
+
+<p>The smallest naval battle ever fought in the world, perhaps, occurred on
+the Alabama River on the 13th of November, 1813, between two canoes, and
+this is the way in which it happened.</p>
+
+<p>The United States were at war with Great Britain at that time, and a war
+with Spain was also threatened. The British had stirred up the Indians
+in the Northwest to make war upon the whites, and in 1813 they persuaded
+the Creek Indians of Alabama and Mississippi to begin a war there.</p>
+
+<p>The government troops were so busy with the British in other quarters of
+the country that very little could be done for the protection of the
+white settlers in the Southwest, and for a good while they had to take
+care of themselves in the best way they could. Leaving their homes,
+they gathered together here and there and built rude stockade forts, in
+which they lived, with all their women and children. All the men,
+including all the boys who were old enough to pull a trigger&mdash;and
+frontier boys learn to use a gun very early in life&mdash;were organized into
+companies of volunteer soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>At Fort Madison, one of the smallest of the forts, there was a very
+daring frontiersman, named Samuel (or Sam) Dale&mdash;a man who had lived
+much with the Indians, and was like them in many respects, even in his
+dress and manners. Hearing that the Indians were in force on the
+southeastern bank of the Alabama River, the people in Fort Madison were
+greatly alarmed, fearing that all the crops in that region&mdash;which were
+ripe in the fields&mdash;would be destroyed. If that should occur, they knew
+they must starve during the coming winter, and so they made up their
+minds to drive the savages away, at least until they could gather the
+corn.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Dale at once made up a party, consisting of seventy-two men,
+all volunteers. With this force he set out on the 11th of November,
+taking Tandy Walker, a celebrated scout, for his guide. The column
+marched to the Alabama River, and crossed it at a point about twenty
+miles below the present town of Claiborne.</p>
+
+<p>Once across the river, Dale knew that he was among the Indians, and,
+knowing their ways, he was as watchful as if he had been one of them
+himself. He forbade his men to sleep at all during the night after
+crossing the river, and kept them under arms, in expectation of an
+attack.</p>
+
+<p>No attack being made, he moved up the river the next morning, marching
+most of the men, but ordering Jerry Austill, with six men, to paddle up
+in two canoes that had been found. This Jerry Austill&mdash;who afterwards
+became a merchant in Mobile and a state senator&mdash;was a boy only nineteen
+years of age at the time, but he had already distinguished himself in
+the war by his courage.</p>
+
+<p>At a point called Peggy Bailey's Bluff, Dale, who was marching with one
+man several hundreds of yards ahead of his men, came upon a party of
+Indians at breakfast. He shot one of them, and the rest ran away,
+leaving their provisions behind them. Securing the provisions, Dale
+marched on for a mile or two, but, finding no further trace of Indians,
+he concluded that the country on that side of the river was now pretty
+clear of them, and so he set to work to cross to the other side, meaning
+to look for enemies there.</p>
+
+<p>The river at that point is about a quarter of a mile wide, and, as there
+were only two small canoes at hand, the work of taking the men across
+was very slow. When all were over except Dale and about a dozen others,
+the little remnant of the force was suddenly attacked.</p>
+
+<p>The situation was a very dangerous one. With the main body of his
+command on the other side of the river, where it could give him no help,
+Dale had to face a large body of Indians with only a dozen men, and, as
+only one canoe remained on his side of the river, it was impossible for
+the whole of the little party to escape by flight, as the canoe would
+not hold them all.</p>
+
+<p>Concealing his men in the bushes, behind trees, and under the
+river-bank, he replied to the fire of the Indians, and kept them at bay.
+But it was certain that this could not last long. The Indians must soon
+find out from the firing how small the number of their adversaries was;
+and Dale knew that as soon as the discovery was made, they would rush
+upon him, and put the whole party to death.</p>
+
+<p>He called to the men on the other side of the river to come over and
+help him, but they were panic-stricken, probably because they could see,
+as Dale could not, how large a body of Indians was pressing their
+commander. The men on the other bank did, indeed, make one or two slight
+attempts to cross, but those came to nothing, and the little party on
+the eastern shore seemed doomed to destruction.</p>
+
+<p>Bad as matters were with Dale, they soon became worse. An immense canoe,
+more than thirty feet long and four feet deep, came down the river,
+bearing eleven warriors, who undertook to land and attack Dale in the
+rear. This compelled the party to fight in two directions at once. Dale
+and his companions kept up the battle in front, while Jerry Austill,
+James Smith, and one other man fought the warriors in the canoe to keep
+them from landing. One of the eleven was killed, and another swam ashore
+and succeeded in joining the Indians on the bank.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing how desperate the case was, Dale resolved upon a desperate
+remedy. He called for volunteers for a dangerous piece of work, and was
+at once joined by Jerry Austill, James Smith, and a negro man whose name
+was C&aelig;sar. With these men he leaped into the little canoe, and paddled
+towards the big Indian boat, meaning to fight the nine Indians who
+remained in it, although he and his canoe party numbered only four men
+all told.</p>
+
+<p>As the two canoes approached each other, both parties tried to fire, but
+their gunpowder was wet, and so they grappled for a hand-to-hand battle.
+Jerry Austill, being in front, received the first attack. No sooner did
+the two canoes touch than an Indian sprang forward, and dealt the youth
+a terrible blow with a war-club, knocking him down, and making a dent in
+his skull which he carried through life. Once down, he would have been
+killed but for the quickness of Smith, who, seeing the danger his
+companion was in, raised his rifle. With a single blow he knocked over
+the Indian with whom Austill was struggling.</p>
+
+<p>Then Austill rose, and the fierce contest went on. Dale and his men
+rained their blows upon their foes, and received blows quite as lusty in
+return, but C&aelig;sar managed the boat so skilfully that, in spite of the
+superior numbers of the Indians, the fight was not very unequal. He held
+the little boat against the big one, but kept it at the end, so that the
+Indians in the other end of the big canoe could not reach Dale's men.</p>
+
+<p>In this way those that were actually fighting Dale, Austill, and Smith
+never numbered more than three or four at any one time, and so the
+three could not be borne down by mere force of numbers. Dale stood for a
+time with one foot in each boat; then he stepped over into the Indian
+canoe, giving his comrades more room, and crowding the Indians towards
+the end of their boat.</p>
+
+<p>One by one the savages fell, until only one was left facing Dale, who
+held C&aelig;sar's gun, with bayonet attached, in his hand. This sole survivor
+was Tar-cha-chee, an Indian with whom Dale had hunted and lived, one
+whom he regarded as a friend, and whom he now wished to spare. But the
+savage was strong within the Indian's breast, and he refused to accept
+mercy even from a man who had been his comrade and friend. Standing
+erect in the bow of the canoe, he shook himself, and said, in the
+Muscogee tongue, "Big Sam, you are a man, I am another; now for it."</p>
+
+<p>With that he rushed forward, only to meet death at the hands of the
+friend who would gladly have spared him.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a name="WITH_A_SINGLE_BLOW" id="WITH_A_SINGLE_BLOW"></a>
+<img src="images/ill-065.jpg" width="500" height="331" alt="&quot;WITH A SINGLE BLOW HE KNOCKED OVER THE INDIAN WITH WHOM
+AUSTILL WAS STRUGGLING.&quot;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;WITH A SINGLE BLOW HE KNOCKED OVER THE INDIAN WITH WHOM
+AUSTILL WAS STRUGGLING.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The canoe fight was ended, but Dale's work was not yet done. His party
+on the bank were every minute more closely pressed, and if they were to
+be saved it must be done quickly. For this purpose he and his companions
+at once began clearing the big canoe of its load of dead Indians. Now
+that only the white men were there, the Indians upon the bank directed a
+galling fire upon the canoe, but by careening it to one side Dale made a
+sort of breastwork of its thick gunwale, and thus succeeded in clearing
+it. When this was done he went ashore and quickly carried off the party
+there, landing all of them in safety on the other side.</p>
+
+<p>The hero of this singular battle lived until the year 1841. The whole
+story of his life is a romance of hardship, daring, and wonderful
+achievement. When he died, General John F.&nbsp;H. Claiborne, who knew him
+intimately, wrote a sketch of his career for a Natchez newspaper, in
+which he described him as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"In person General Dale was tall, erect, raw-boned, and muscular. In
+many respects, physical and moral, he resembled his antagonists of the
+woods. He had the square forehead, the high cheek-bones, the compressed
+lips, and, in fact, the physiognomy of an Indian, relieved, however, by
+a firm, benevolent Saxon eye. Like the red men, too, his foot fell
+lightly upon the ground, and turned neither to the right nor left. He
+was habitually taciturn, his face grave, he spoke slowly and in low
+tones, and he seldom laughed. I observed of him what I have often noted
+as peculiar to border men of high attributes: he entertained the
+strongest attachment for the Indians, extolled their courage, their love
+of country, and many of their domestic qualities; and I have often seen
+the wretched remnant of the Choctaws camped round his plantation and
+subsisting on his crops."</p>
+
+<p>It is a curious fact that after the war ended, when Weatherford (Red
+Eagle), who commanded the Indians on the shore in this battle with Dale,
+was about to marry, he asked Dale to act as his best man, and the two
+who had fought each other so desperately stood side by side, as devoted
+friends, at the altar.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_BATTLE_OF_LAKE_BORGNE" id="THE_BATTLE_OF_LAKE_BORGNE"></a>THE BATTLE OF LAKE BORGNE.</h2>
+
+<h4>HOW THE BRITISH MADE A LANDING UNDER DIFFICULTIES.</h4>
+
+<p>When the British made up their minds, near the end of the year 1814, to
+take New Orleans, and thus to get control of the Mississippi River,
+there seemed to be very little difficulty in their way.</p>
+
+<p>So far as anybody on either side could see, their only trouble was
+likely to be in making a landing. If they could once get their splendid
+army on shore anywhere near the city, there was very little to prevent
+them from taking the town, and if they had taken it, it is easy to see
+that the whole history of the United States would have been changed.</p>
+
+<p>They did make a landing, but they did not take New Orleans, and in the
+story of "The Battle in the Dark" I shall tell how and why they failed.
+In the present story I want to tell how they landed.</p>
+
+<p>The expedition consisted of a large fleet bearing a large army. At first
+the intention was to sail up the Mississippi River, but General Jackson
+made that impossible by building strong forts on the stream, and so it
+was necessary to try some other plan.</p>
+
+<p>It happens that New Orleans has two entrances from the sea. The river
+flows in front of the city, and by that route it is about a hundred
+miles from the city to the sea; but just behind the town, only a few
+miles away, lies a great bay called Lake Pontchartrain. This bay is
+connected by a narrow strait with another bay called Lake Borgne, which
+is connected directly with the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Lake Borgne is very shallow, but the British knew little about it. They
+only knew that if they could land anywhere on the banks of Lake Borgne
+or Lake Pontchartrain they would be within an easy march of New Orleans.</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, the fleet bearing the British army, instead of entering the
+mouth of the Mississippi, and trying to get to New Orleans in front,
+sailed in by the back way, and anchored near the entrance of Lake
+Borgne.</p>
+
+<p>Here the British had their first sight of the preparations made to
+resist them. Six little gun-boats, carrying twenty-three guns in all,
+were afloat on the lake under command of Lieutenant Thomas Ap Catesby
+Jones. These gun-boats were mere mosquitoes in comparison with the great
+British men-of-war, and when they made their appearance in the track of
+the invading fleet, the British laughed and wondered at the
+foolhardiness of the American commander in sending such vessels there.</p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant Thomas Ap Catesby Jones knew what he was about, however, as
+the British soon found out. He sailed up almost within cannon-shot of
+the enemy's ships, and they, of course, gave chase to him. Then he
+nimbly sailed away, with the fleet after him. Very soon a large
+man-of-war ran aground; then another and another struck the bottom, and
+the British Admiral began to understand the trick. It was evident that
+Lake Borgne was much too shallow for the large ships, and so the
+commander called a halt, and transferred the troops to the smaller
+vessels of the fleet.</p>
+
+<p>When that was done the chase was begun again by the smaller ships, and
+for a time with every prospect of success; but presently even these
+ships were hard aground, and the whole British fleet which had been
+intended to carry the army across the lake was stuck fast in the mud
+near the entrance, and thirty miles from the point at which the landing
+was to be made.</p>
+
+<p>The British commander was at his wits' end. It was clear that the ships
+could not cross the lake, and the only thing to be done was to transport
+the army across little by little in the ships' boats, and make a landing
+in that way. But to do that while Lieutenant Jones and his gun-boats
+were afloat was manifestly impossible. If it had been attempted, the
+little gun-boats, which could sail anywhere on the lake, would have
+destroyed the British army by boat-loads.</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing to be done until the saucy little fleet was out of
+the way, and to put it out of the way was not easy.</p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant Jones was an officer very much given to hard fighting, and in
+this case the British saw that they must fight him at a disadvantage. As
+they could not get to him in their ships, they must make an attack in
+open boats, which, of course, was a very dangerous thing to do, as the
+American gun-boats were armed with cannon.</p>
+
+<p>The British commander wanted his bravest men for such work, and so he
+called for volunteers to man the boats. A thousand gallant fellows
+offered themselves, and were placed in fifty boats, under command of
+Captain Lockyer. Each boat was armed with a carronade&mdash;a kind of small
+cannon&mdash;but the men well knew that the real fighting was not to be done
+with carronades. The only hope of success lay in a sudden, determined
+attack. The only way to capture the American gun-boats was to row up to
+them in the face of their fire, climb over their sides, and take them by
+force in a hand-to-hand fight.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a name="BOARDING_THE_GUNBOATS" id="BOARDING_THE_GUNBOATS"></a>
+<img src="images/ill-073.jpg" width="500" height="387" alt="BOARDING THE GUN-BOATS." title="" />
+<span class="caption">BOARDING THE GUN-BOATS.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>When the flotilla set sail, on the 14th of December, Lieutenant Jones
+knew what their mode of attack would be quite as well as Captain Lockyer
+did. If he let them attack him in the open lake he knew very well that
+the British could overpower him and capture his fleet; but he did not
+intend to be attacked in the open lake if he could help it. His plan was
+to sail slowly, keeping just out of reach of the row-boats, and
+gradually to draw them to the mouth of the strait which leads into Lake
+Pontchartrain. At that point there was a well-armed fort, and if he
+could anchor his gun-boats across the narrow channel, he believed he
+could destroy the British flotilla with the aid of the fort, and thus
+beat off the expedition from New Orleans.</p>
+
+<p>Unluckily, while the fleet was yet far from the mouth of the strait the
+wind failed entirely, and the gun-boats were helpless. They could not
+sail without wind, and they must receive the attack right where they
+were.</p>
+
+<p>At daylight on the morning of December 15 the British flotilla was
+about nine miles away, but was rapidly drawing nearer, the boats being
+propelled by oars. Lieutenant Jones called the commanders of his
+gun-boats together, gave them instructions, and informed them of his
+purpose to make as obstinate a fight as possible. His case was hopeless;
+his fleet would be captured, but by fighting obstinately he could at
+least gain time for General Jackson at New Orleans, and time was greatly
+needed there.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the British boats, carrying a thousand men, all accustomed to
+desperate fighting, approached and anchored just out of gunshot. Captain
+Lockyer wished his men to go into action in the best condition possible,
+and therefore he came to anchor in order to rest the oarsmen, and to
+give the men time for breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>At half-past ten o'clock the British weighed anchor, and, forming in
+line, began the advance. As soon as they came within range the American
+gun-boats opened fire, but with little effect at first. Of course the
+British could not reply at such a distance, but being under fire, their
+chief need was to go forward as fast and come to close quarters as
+quickly as possible. The sailors bent to their oars, and the boats flew
+over the water. Soon the men at the bows began to fire the carronades in
+reply to the American cannon. Then as the boats drew nearer, small arms
+came into use, and the battle grew fiercer with every moment. The
+British boats were with difficulty kept in line, and their advance grew
+slower. Oarsmen were killed, and time was lost in putting others into
+their places. Still the line was preserved, and the battle went on, the
+attacking boats slowly and steadily advancing all the time.</p>
+
+<p>Two of the American gun-boats had drifted out of place, and were
+considerably in advance of the rest. Seeing this, Captain Lockyer
+ordered the men commanding the British boats to surround them, and a few
+minutes later the sailors were climbing over the sides of these vessels.
+Their attack was stoutly resisted. The American sailors above them fired
+volleys into their faces, and beat them back with handspikes. Scores of
+the British fell back into the water dead or wounded, while their
+comrades pressed forward to fill their places. There were so many of
+them that in spite of all the Americans could do to beat them off they
+swarmed over the gunwales and gained the decks. Their work was not yet
+done, however. The Americans fiercely contested every inch of their
+advance, and the two parties hewed each other down with cutlasses, the
+Americans being slowly beaten back by superior numbers, but still
+obstinately fighting until they could fight no more.</p>
+
+<p>One by one all the gun-boats were taken in this way, Lieutenant Jones's
+vessel holding out longest, and the Lieutenant himself fighting till he
+was stricken down with a severe wound.</p>
+
+<p>Having thus cleared Lake Borgne, the British were free to begin the work
+of landing. It was a terrible undertaking, however&mdash;scarcely less so
+than the fight itself. The whole army had to be carried thirty miles in
+open boats and landed in a swamp. The men were drenched with rain, and,
+a frost coming on, their clothes were frozen on their bodies. There was
+no fuel to be had on the island where they made their first landing, and
+to their sufferings from cold was added severe suffering from hunger
+before supplies of food could be brought to them. Some of the sailors
+who were engaged in rowing the boats were kept at work for four days and
+nights without relief.</p>
+
+<p>The landing was secured, however, and the British cared little for the
+sufferings it had cost them. They believed then that they had little
+more to do except to march twelve miles and take possession of the city,
+with its one hundred and fifty thousand bales of cotton and its ten
+thousand hogsheads of sugar. How it came about that they were
+disappointed is made clear in the next story.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_BATTLE_IN_THE_DARK" id="THE_BATTLE_IN_THE_DARK"></a>THE BATTLE IN THE DARK.</h2>
+
+<h4>HOW GENERAL JACKSON RECEIVED THE BRITISH.</h4>
+
+<p>When the British succeeded in taking Lieutenant Jones's little gun-boats
+and making a landing, after the manner described in the preceding story,
+they supposed that the hardest part of their work was done. It was not
+far from their landing-place to New Orleans, and there was nothing in
+their way. Their army numbered nearly twenty thousand men, and the men
+were the best soldiers that England had. Many of them were Wellington's
+veterans.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed certain that such an army could march into New Orleans with
+very little trouble indeed, and everybody on both sides thought
+so&mdash;everybody, that is to say, but General Jackson. He meant to fight
+that question out, and as the Legislature and many of the people in the
+city would do nothing to help him, he put the town under martial law,
+and worked night and day to get together something like an army.</p>
+
+<p>On the 23d of December, 1814, the British arrived at a point a few miles
+below the city, and went into camp about noon. As soon as Jackson heard
+of their arrival he said to the people around him, "Gentlemen, the
+British are below: we must fight them tonight."</p>
+
+<p>He immediately ordered his troops forward. He had made a soldier of
+everybody who could carry a gun, and his little army was a curiously
+mixed collection of men. There were a few regulars, in uniform; there
+were some Mississippi troopers, and Coffee's Kentucky and Tennessee
+hunters, in hunting-shirts and jeans trousers; there were volunteers of
+all sorts from the streets of New Orleans&mdash;merchants, lawyers, laborers,
+clerks, and clergymen&mdash;armed with shot-guns, rifles, and old muskets;
+there were some criminals whom Jackson had released from prison on
+condition that they would fight; there was a battalion of free negroes,
+who were good soldiers; and, finally, there were about twenty Choctaw
+Indians.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 227px;">
+<a name="GENERAL_JACKSON" id="GENERAL_JACKSON"></a>
+<img src="images/ill-081.jpg" width="227" height="400" alt="GENERAL JACKSON AT NEW ORLEANS." title="" />
+<span class="caption">GENERAL JACKSON AT NEW ORLEANS.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>With this mixed crowd Jackson had to fight the very best troops in the
+British army. Only about half of his men had ever heard a bullet
+whistle, and less than half of them were drilled and disciplined; but
+they were brave men who believed in their general, and they were about
+to fight for their country as brave men should. When all were
+counted&mdash;backwoodsmen, regulars, city volunteers, negroes, Indians, and
+all&mdash;the whole army numbered only 2131 men! But, weak as this force was,
+Jackson had made up his mind to fight with it. He knew that the British
+were too strong for him, but he knew too that every day would make them
+stronger, as more and more of their troops would come forward each day.</p>
+
+<p>The British camp was nine miles below the city, on a narrow strip of
+land between the river and a swamp. Jackson sent a gun-boat, the
+<i>Carolina</i>, down the river, with orders to anchor in front of the camp
+and pour a fire of grape-shot into it. He sent Coffee across to the
+swamp, and ordered him to creep through the bushes, and thus get upon
+the right flank of the British. He kept the rest of his army under his
+own command, ready to advance from the front upon the enemy's position.</p>
+
+<p>But no attack was to be made until after dark. The army was kept well
+out of sight, and the British had no suspicion that any attack was
+thought of. They did not regard Jackson's men as soldiers at all, but
+called them a <i>posse comitatus</i> of ragamuffins&mdash;that is to say, a mob of
+ragged citizens&mdash;and the most they expected such a mob to do was to wait
+somewhere below the city until the British soldiers should get ready to
+drive them away with a few volleys.</p>
+
+<p>So the British lighted their camp-fires, stacked their arms for the
+night, and cooked their suppers. They meant to stay where they were for
+a day or two until the rest of their force could come up, and then they
+expected to march into the town and make themselves at home.</p>
+
+<p>Night came on, and it was exceedingly dark. At half-past seven o'clock
+there came a flash and a roar. The <i>Carolina</i>, lying in the river,
+within a few hundred yards of the camp, had begun to pour her broadsides
+into the British quarters. Her cannon vomited fire, and sent a
+hail-storm of grape-shot into the camp, while the marines on board kept
+up a steady fire of small-arms.</p>
+
+<p>The British were completely surprised, but they were cool-headed old
+soldiers, who were not to be scared by a surprise. They quickly formed a
+line on the bank, and, bringing up some cannon, gave battle to the saucy
+gun-boat.</p>
+
+<p>For ten minutes this fight went on between the Americans on the river
+and the British on shore; then Jackson ordered his troops to advance.
+His columns rushed forward and fell upon the enemy, again surprising
+them, and forcing them to fight on two sides at once. Coffee, who was
+hidden over in the swamp, no sooner heard the roar of the <i>Carolina's</i>
+guns than he gave the word to advance, and, rushing out of the bushes,
+his rough Tennesseeans and Kentuckians attacked still another side of
+the enemy's position.</p>
+
+<p>Still the sturdy British held their ground, and fought like the brave
+men and good soldiers that they were. It was too dark for anybody to see
+clearly what was going on. The lines on both sides were soon broken up
+into independent groups of soldiers, who could not see in what direction
+they were marching, or maintain anything like a regular fight. Regiments
+and battalions wandered about at their own discretion, fighting whatever
+bodies of the enemy they met, and sometimes getting hopelessly entangled
+with each other. Never was there so complete a jumble on a battle-field.
+Whenever two bodies of troops met, they had to call out to each other to
+find out whether they were friends or foes; then, if one body proved to
+be Americans and the other British, they delivered a volley, and rushed
+upon each other in a desperate struggle for mastery.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes a regiment would win success in one direction, and just as its
+enemy on that side was driven back, it would be attacked from the
+opposite quarter. Coffee's men were armed with squirrel rifles, which,
+of course, had no bayonets; but the men had their long hunting-knives,
+and with no better weapons than these they did not hesitate to make
+charge after charge upon the lines of gleaming bayonets.</p>
+
+<p>The British suffered terribly from the first, but their steadiness was
+never lost for a moment. The mad onset of the Americans broke their
+lines, and in the darkness it was impossible to form them again
+promptly; but still the men kept up the fight, while the officers, as
+rapidly as they could, directed their detached columns towards protected
+positions.</p>
+
+<p>Retreating slowly and in as good order as they could, the British got
+beyond the range of the <i>Carolina's</i> guns by nine o'clock, and, finding
+a position where a bank of earth served for a breastwork, they made a
+final stand there. It was impossible to drive them from such a position,
+and so, little by little, the Americans withdrew, and at ten o'clock
+the Battle in the Dark was at an end.</p>
+
+<p>Now let us see what Jackson had gained or lost by this hasty attack. The
+British were still in a position to threaten New Orleans. They had not
+been driven away, and the rest of their large army, which had not yet
+come up, was hurrying forward to help them. They had lost a great many
+more men than Jackson had, but they could spare men better than he
+could, and they were not whipped by any means. Still, the attack was
+equal to a victory for the Americans. It is almost certain that if
+Jackson had waited another day before fighting he would have lost New
+Orleans, and the whole Southwest would have been overrun.</p>
+
+<p>But, by making this night attack, he showed the British that he could
+and would fight; and they, finding what kind of a defence he meant to
+make, made up their minds to move slowly and cautiously. They waited for
+the rest of their force to come up, and while they were waiting and
+getting ready Jackson had more than two weeks' time in which to collect
+troops from the country north of him, to get arms and ammunition, and to
+throw up strong fortifications. When the British made their grand attack
+on the 8th of January, 1815, they found Jackson ready for them. His army
+was increased, his men were full of confidence, and, best of all, he had
+a line of strong earth-works to fight behind. It is commonly said that
+his fortifications were made of cotton-bales, but that is an error. When
+he first began to fortify, he used some cotton-bales, and some sugar,
+which, it was thought, would do instead of sand; but in some of the
+early skirmishes it was found that the sugar was useless, because it
+would not stop cannon-balls; while the cotton was worse, because it took
+fire, and nearly suffocated the men behind it with smoke. The cotton and
+sugar were at once thrown aside, and the battle of New Orleans was
+fought behind earth-works. In that battle the British were so badly
+worsted that they gave up all idea of taking New Orleans, which, a month
+before, they had believed it would be so easy to capture.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_TROUBLESOME_BURGHERS" id="THE_TROUBLESOME_BURGHERS"></a>THE TROUBLESOME BURGHERS.</h2>
+
+<p>Philip van Artevelde was a Dutchman. His father, Jacob, had been
+Governor of Ghent, and had made himself a great name by leading a revolt
+against the Count of Flanders, and driving that tyrant out of the
+country on one occasion.</p>
+
+<p>Philip was a quiet man, who attended to his own affairs and took no part
+in public business; but in the year 1381 the good people of Ghent found
+themselves in a very great difficulty. Their city was subject to the
+Count of Flanders, who oppressed them in every way. He and his nobles
+thought nothing of the common people, but taxed them heavily and
+interfered with their business.</p>
+
+<p>The city of Bruges was the rival of Ghent, and in those days rivals in
+trade were enemies. The Bruges people were not satisfied with trying to
+make more money and get more business than Ghent could, but they wanted
+Ghent destroyed, and so they supported Count Louis in all that he did to
+injure their neighboring city.</p>
+
+<p>Having this quarrel on their hands, the Ghent people did not know what
+to do. Count Louis was too strong for them, and they were very much
+afraid he would destroy their town and put the people to death.</p>
+
+<p>A public meeting was held, and remembering how well old Jacob van
+Artevelde had served them against the father of Count Louis, they made
+his son Philip their captain, and told him he must manage this quarrel
+for them.</p>
+
+<p>Philip undertook this duty, and tried to settle the trouble in some
+peaceable way; but the Count was angry, and would not listen to anything
+that Van Artevelde proposed. He said the Ghent people were rebels, and
+must submit without any conditions at all, and this the sturdy Ghent
+burghers refused to do.</p>
+
+<p>Count Louis would not march against the town and give the people a fair
+chance to fight the matter out. He preferred to starve them, and for
+that purpose he put soldiers on all the roads leading towards Ghent, and
+refused to allow any provisions to be taken to the city.</p>
+
+<p>The people soon ate up nearly all the food they had, and when the spring
+of 1382 came they were starving. Something must be done at once, and
+Philip van Artevelde decided that it was of no use to resist any longer.
+He took twelve deputies with him, and went to beg the Count for mercy.
+He offered to submit to any terms the Count might propose, if he would
+only promise not to put any of the people to death. Philip even offered
+himself as a victim, agreeing that the Count should banish him from the
+country as a punishment, if he would spare the people of the town. But
+the haughty Count would promise nothing. He said that all the people of
+Ghent from fifteen to sixty years old must march half-way to Bruges
+bareheaded, with no clothes on but their shirts, and each with a rope
+around his neck, and then he would decide how many of them he would put
+to death and how many he would spare.</p>
+
+<p>The Count thought the poor Ghent people would have to submit to this,
+and he meant to put them all to death when they should thus come out
+without arms to surrender. He therefore called on his vassals to meet
+him in Bruges at Easter, and to go out with him to "destroy these
+troublesome burghers."</p>
+
+<p>But the "troublesome burghers," as we shall see presently, were not the
+kind of men to walk out bareheaded, with ropes around their necks, and
+submit to destruction.</p>
+
+<p>Philip van Artevelde returned sadly to Ghent, on the 29th of April, and
+told the people what the Count had said. Then the gallant old soldier
+Peter van den Bossche exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"In a few days the town of Ghent shall be the most honored or the most
+humbled town in Christendom."</p>
+
+<p>Van Artevelde called the burghers together, and told them what the
+situation was. There were 30,000 people in Ghent, and there was no food
+to be had for them. There was no hope that the Count would offer any
+better terms, or that anybody would come to their assistance. They must
+decide quickly what they would do, and Philip said there were three
+courses open to them. First, if they chose, they could wall up the gates
+of the town and die of starvation. Secondly, they could accept the
+Count's terms, march out with the ropes around their necks, and take
+whatever punishment the Count might put upon them. If they should decide
+to do that, Philip said he would offer himself to the Count to be hanged
+first. Thirdly, they could get together 5000 of their best men, march to
+Bruges, and fight the quarrel out.</p>
+
+<p>The answer of the people was that Philip must decide for them, and he at
+once said, "Then we will fight."</p>
+
+<p>The 5000 men were got together, and on the 1st of May they marched out
+of the town to win or lose the desperate battle. The priests of the
+city stood at the gates as the men marched out, and prayed for blessings
+upon them. The old men, the women, and the children cried out, "If you
+lose the battle you need not return to Ghent, for you will find your
+families dead in their homes."</p>
+
+<p>The only food there was for these 5000 men was carried in five little
+carts, while on another cart two casks of wine were taken.</p>
+
+<p>The next day Van Artevelde placed his little army in line on the common
+of Beverhoutsveld, at Oedelem, near Bruges. There was a marsh in front
+of them, and Van Artevelde protected their flank by a fortification
+consisting of the carts and some stakes driven into the ground. He then
+sent a messenger to the Count, begging him to pardon the people of
+Ghent, and, having done this, he ordered his men to go to sleep for the
+night.</p>
+
+<p>At daybreak the next morning the little army was aroused to make final
+preparations for the desperate work before them. The priests exhorted
+the men to fight to the death, showing them how useless it would be to
+surrender or to run away, as they were sure to be put to death at any
+rate. Their only hope for life was in victory, and if they could not win
+that, it would be better to die fighting like men than to surrender and
+be put to death like dogs.</p>
+
+<p>After these exhortations were given, seven gray friars said mass and
+gave the sacrament to all the soldiers. Then the five cart-loads of
+provisions and the two casks of wine were divided among the men, for
+their last breakfast. When that meal was eaten, the soldiers of Ghent
+had not an ounce of food left anywhere.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the Count called his men together in Bruges, and got them
+ready for battle; but the people of Bruges were so sure of easily
+destroying the little Ghent army that they would not wait for orders,
+but marched out shouting and singing and making merry.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a name="THE_BURGHERS_PREPARE" id="THE_BURGHERS_PREPARE"></a>
+<img src="images/ill-097.jpg" width="500" height="376" alt="THE BURGHERS PREPARE TO DEFEND THEIR CITY." title="" />
+<span class="caption">THE BURGHERS PREPARE TO DEFEND THEIR CITY.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>As their column marched along the road in this noisy fashion, the
+"troublesome burghers" of Ghent suddenly sprang upon them, crying,
+"Ghent! Ghent!"</p>
+
+<p>The charge was so sudden and so fierce that the Bruges people gave way,
+and fled in a panic towards the town, with Van Artevelde's men at their
+heels in hot pursuit. The Count's regular troops tried to make a stand,
+but the burghers of Ghent came upon them so furiously that they too
+became panic-stricken and fled. The Count himself ran with all his
+might, and as soon as he entered the city he ordered the gates to be
+shut. He was so anxious to save himself from the fury of Van Artevelde's
+soldiers that he wanted to close the gates at once and leave those of
+his own people who were still outside to their fate. But it was already
+too late. Van Artevelde's column had followed the retreating crowd so
+fast that it had already pushed its head into the town, and there was no
+driving it back. The five thousand "troublesome burghers," with their
+swords in their hands, and still crying "Ghent!" swarmed into Bruges,
+and quickly took possession of the town. The Count's army was utterly
+routed and scattered, and the Count himself would have been taken
+prisoner if one of the Ghent burghers had not hidden him and helped him
+to escape from the city.</p>
+
+<p>Van Artevelde's soldiers, who had eaten the last of their food that
+morning in the belief that they would never eat another meal on earth,
+supped that night on the richest dishes that Bruges could supply; and
+now that the Count was overthrown, great wagon trains of provisions
+poured into poor, starving Ghent.</p>
+
+<p>There was a great golden dragon on the belfry of Bruges, of which the
+Bruges people were very proud. That dragon had once stood on the Church
+of St. Sophia in Constantinople, and the Emperor Baldwin had sent it as
+a present to Bruges. In token of their victory Van Artevelde's
+"troublesome burghers" took down the golden dragon and carried it to
+Ghent.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_DEFENCE_OF_ROCHELLE" id="THE_DEFENCE_OF_ROCHELLE"></a>THE DEFENCE OF ROCHELLE.</h2>
+
+<h4>HOW THE CITY OF REFUGE FOUGHT FOR LIBERTY.</h4>
+
+<p>In the old times, when people were in the habit of fighting each other
+about their religion, the little French seaport Rochelle was called "the
+city of refuge." The Huguenots, or French Protestants, held the place,
+and when the armies of the French king tried to take it, in the latter
+part of the sixteenth century, they were beaten off and so badly used in
+the fight that the king was glad to make terms with the townspeople.</p>
+
+<p>An agreement was therefore made that they should have their own
+religion, and manage their own affairs; and to make sure of this the
+king gave Rochelle so many special rights that it became almost a free
+city. After that, whenever a Protestant in any part of France found that
+he could not live peaceably in his own home, he went to Rochelle, and
+that is the way the place came to be called the city of refuge.</p>
+
+<p>For a good many years the people of Rochelle went on living quietly.
+They had a fine harbor of their own, their trade was good, and they were
+allowed to manage their own affairs. At last the new King of France made
+up his mind that he would not have two religions in his country, but
+would make everybody believe as he did. This troubled the people of
+Rochelle, but the king sent them word that he only meant to make them
+change their religion by showing them that his was better, and that he
+did not intend to trouble them in any way.</p>
+
+<p>In those days promises of that kind did not count for much; but the
+king's prime-minister, Cardinal Richelieu, who really managed
+everything, knew very well that Rochelle could give a great deal of
+trouble if it chose, and so, perhaps, he really would have let the town
+alone if it had not been for the meddling of the English prime-minister,
+Buckingham.</p>
+
+<p>This Buckingham, with an English fleet and army, sailed into the harbor
+of Rochelle in the middle of July, 1627, and undertook to help the
+people against the French king. If Buckingham had been either a soldier
+or a sailor, he might have made himself master of the French king's
+forts near Rochelle at once; but, although he had command of a fleet and
+an army, he really knew nothing about the business of a commander, and
+he blundered so badly that the generals of the French king got fresh
+troops and provisions into the forts, and were able to hold them in
+spite of all that the English could do.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing how matters stood, Richelieu at once sent an army to surround
+Rochelle, and at daylight on the 10th of August the people found a
+strong force in front of the town. Rochelle had not made up its mind to
+join the English, and the magistrates sent word to the French general
+that they wanted peace. They said they were loyal to the French king,
+and even offered to help drive the English away, if their king would
+promise not to break the treaty that had been made with them many years
+before.</p>
+
+<p>It was too late to settle the matter in that way, however. The French
+general meant to make the town surrender, and so, while the English were
+fighting to get control of the island of Rh&eacute;, at some distance from the
+town, he began to build works around Rochelle. His plan was to shut the
+people up in the city and cut off their supplies of food; and when the
+Rochelle folk saw what he was doing, they opened fire on his men.</p>
+
+<p>The war was now begun, and the Huguenots made terms with Buckingham,
+hoping, with his help, to win in the struggle. Buckingham promised to
+help them, and he did try to do so in his blundering way; but he did
+them more harm than good, for when he found that he could not take the
+forts he sailed away, taking with him three hundred tons of grain, which
+he ought to have sent into the town.</p>
+
+<p>It was November when the English left, and Rochelle was in a very bad
+situation. Richelieu set to work to shut the town in and seal it up. He
+built strong works all around the land side, and then, with great
+labor, brought earth and stones and built a mole, or strip of land,
+nearly all the way across the mouth of the harbor, so that no boats
+could pass in or out.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a name="RICHELIEU_SURVEYING_THE_WORKS" id="RICHELIEU_SURVEYING_THE_WORKS"></a>
+<img src="images/ill-105.jpg" width="500" height="415" alt="RICHELIEU SURVEYING THE WORKS AT ROCHELLE." title="" />
+<span class="caption">RICHELIEU SURVEYING THE WORKS AT ROCHELLE.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The situation was a terrible one, but the people of Rochelle were brave,
+and had no thought of flinching. They chose the mayor, Guiton, for their
+commander, and when he accepted the office he laid his dagger on the
+table, saying: "I will thrust that dagger into the heart of the first
+man who speaks of giving up the town." He then went to work to defend
+the place. He strengthened the works, and made soldiers of all the men
+in the city, and all the boys, too, for that matter. Everybody who could
+handle a weapon of any kind had to take his place in the ranks. England
+had promised to send help, and the only question, Guiton thought, was
+whether or not he could hold out till the help should come; so he laid
+his plans to resist as long as possible.</p>
+
+<p>The French in great numbers stormed the defences time after time; but
+the brave Rochellese always drove them back with great loss. It was
+clear from the first that Guiton would not give way, and that no column,
+however strong, could force the city gates. But there was an enemy
+inside the town which was harder to fight than the one outside. There
+was famine in Rochelle! The cattle were eaten up, and the horses went
+next. Then everything that could be turned into food was carefully used
+and made to go as far as it would. Guiton stopped every kind of waste;
+but day by day the food supply grew smaller, and the people grew weaker
+from hunger. Starvation was doing its work. Every day the list of deaths
+grew longer, and when people met in the streets they stared at each
+other with lean, white, hungry faces, wondering who would be the next to
+go.</p>
+
+<p>Still these heroic people had no thought of giving up. They were
+fighting for liberty, and they loved that more than life. The French
+were daily charging their works, but could not move the stubborn,
+starving Rochellese.</p>
+
+<p>The winter dragged on slowly. Spring came, and yet no help had come
+from England. In March the French, thinking that the people must be worn
+out, hurled their heaviest columns against the lines; but, do what they
+would, they could not break through anywhere, and had to go back to
+their works, and wait for famine to conquer a people who could not be
+conquered by arms.</p>
+
+<p>One morning in May an English fleet was seen outside the mole. The news
+ran through the town like wildfire. Help was at hand, and the poor
+starving people were wild with joy. Men ran through the streets shouting
+and singing songs of thanksgiving. They had borne terrible sufferings,
+but now help was coming, and they were sure that their heroic endurance
+would not be thrown away. Thousands of their comrades had fallen
+fighting, and thousands of their women and children had starved to
+death; but what was that if, after all, Rochelle was not to lose her
+liberties?</p>
+
+<p>Alas! their hope was a vain one, and their joy soon turned to sorrow.
+The English fleet did nothing. It hardly tried to do anything; but
+after lying within sight of the town for a while it sailed away again
+and left Rochelle to its fate.</p>
+
+<p>Richelieu was sure that Guiton would surrender now, and so he sent a
+messenger to say that he would spare the lives of all the people if the
+town were given up within three days. But the gallant Guiton was not
+ready even yet to give up the struggle. "Tell Cardinal Richelieu," he
+said to the messenger, "that we are his very obedient servants;" and
+that was all the answer he had to make.</p>
+
+<p>When the summer came some food was grown in the city gardens, but this
+went a very little way among so many people, and the famine had now
+grown frightful. The people gathered all the shellfish they could find
+at low tide. They ate the leaves off the trees, and even the grass of
+the gardens and lawns was used for food. Everything that could in any
+way help to support life was consumed; everything that could be boiled
+into the thinnest soup was turned to account; everything that could be
+chewed for its juice was used to quiet the pains of fierce hunger; but
+all was not enough. Men, women, and children died by thousands. Every
+morning when the new guard went to take the place of the old one many of
+the sentinels were found dead at their posts from starvation.</p>
+
+<p>Still the heroic Guiton kept up the fight, and nobody dared say anything
+to him about giving up. He still hoped for help from England, and meant
+to hold out until it should come, cost what it might. In order that the
+soldiers might have a little more to eat, and live and fight a little
+longer, he turned all the old people and those who were too weak to
+fight out of the town. The French would not let these poor wretches pass
+their lines, but made an attack on them, and drove them back towards
+Rochelle. But Guiton would not open the city gates to them. He said they
+would starve to death if he let them into Rochelle, and they might as
+well die outside as inside the gates.</p>
+
+<p>At last news came that the English had made a treaty with the French,
+and so there was no longer any hope of help for Rochelle, and truly the
+place could hold out no longer. The famine was at its worst. Out of
+about thirty thousand people only five thousand were left alive, and
+they were starving; of six hundred Englishmen who had stayed to help the
+Rochellese all were dead but sixty-two. Corpses lay thick in the
+streets, for the people were too weak, from fasting, even to bury their
+dead. The end had come. On the 30th of October, 1628, after nearly
+fifteen months of heroic effort and frightful suffering, Rochelle
+surrendered.</p>
+
+<p>Richelieu at once sent food into the town, and treated the people very
+kindly; but he took away all the old rights and privileges of the city.
+He pulled down all the earth-works used by the defenders of the place,
+and gave orders that nobody should build even a garden fence anywhere
+near the town. He made a law that no Protestant who was not already a
+citizen of Rochelle should go thither to live, and that the "city of
+refuge" should never again receive any stranger without a permit from
+the king.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_SAD_STORY_OF_A_BOY_KING" id="THE_SAD_STORY_OF_A_BOY_KING"></a>THE SAD STORY OF A BOY KING.</h2>
+
+<p>London took a holiday on the 16th of July, 1377. There were processions
+of merry-makers in the streets, and the windows were crowded with gayly
+dressed men, women, and children. The great lords, glittering in armor,
+and mounted upon splendid steel-clad horses, marched through the town.
+The bishops and clergymen in gorgeous robes made a more solemn, but not
+less attractive show. The trade-guilds were out in their best clothing,
+bearing the tools of their trades instead of arms. Clowns in motley,
+merry-makers of all kinds, great city dignitaries, lords and
+commons&mdash;everybody, in short, made a mad and merry holiday; and at night
+the houses were illuminated, and great bonfires were lighted in the
+streets.</p>
+
+<p>All England was wild with joy; but the happiest person in the land was
+Richard Plantagenet, a boy eleven years of age. Indeed, it was for this
+boy's sake and in his honor that all this feasting and merry-making went
+on, for on that day young Richard was crowned King of England; and in
+those times a king of England was a much more important person than now,
+because the people had not then learned to govern themselves, and the
+king had powers which Englishmen would not allow any man to have in our
+time.</p>
+
+<p>Richard was too young to govern wisely, and so a council was appointed
+to help him until he should grow up; but in the meantime he was a real
+king, boy as he was, and it is safe to say that he was the happiest boy
+in England on that July day, when all London took a holiday in his
+honor.</p>
+
+<p>But if he had known what this crowning was to lead to, young Richard
+might have been very glad to change places with any baker's or butcher's
+boy in London. The boy king had some uncles and cousins who were very
+great people, and who gave him no little trouble after a while. He had
+wars on his hands, too, and needed a great deal more money than the
+people were willing to give him; and so, when he grew older and took the
+government into his own hands, he found troubles all around him. The
+Irish people rebelled frequently; the Scotch were hostile; there was
+trouble with Spain because Richard's uncle wanted to become king of that
+country, and there was a standing war with France.</p>
+
+<p>But this was not all. In order to carry on these wars the king was
+obliged to have money; and when he ordered taxes to be collected the
+common people, led by Wat Tyler, rose in rebellion. They marched into
+London, seized the Tower, and put to death the treasurer of the kingdom,
+the Archbishop of Canterbury, and many other persons high in the
+government. Tyler was so insolent one day that the Lord Mayor of London
+killed him; but the boy king, who was only sixteen years old, seeing
+that the rebels were too strong for him, put himself at their head, and
+marched with them out of the city; and so the king, against whom the
+rebellion was made, became the leader of the rebels. As soon as matters
+grew quiet, however, he broke all the promises he had made, and punished
+the chief rebels very harshly.</p>
+
+<p>Not long after this one of the king's uncles made himself master of the
+kingdom by force, and it was several years before Richard could put him
+out of power.</p>
+
+<p>But the greatest of all Richard's troubles were yet to come. His cousin,
+Henry Bolingbroke, the son of old John of Gaunt, had misbehaved, and
+Richard had sent him out of England, not to return for ten years. But
+while Richard was in Ireland putting down a rebellion there, Henry came
+back to England, raised an army, and was joined by many of the most
+powerful men in the kingdom. When Richard came back from Ireland Henry
+made him a prisoner, and not long afterwards the great men made up their
+minds to set up Henry as the king instead of Richard. They made Richard
+sign a paper giving up his right to the crown, and then, to make the
+matter sure, Parliament passed a law that Richard should be king no
+longer.</p>
+
+<p>Richard was only thirty-three years old when all this was done, but
+after so many troubles he might well have been glad to give up his
+kingship, if that had been the end of the matter. But a king who has
+been set aside is always a dangerous man to have in the kingdom, and it
+would not do to let Richard go free. He might gather his friends around
+him and give trouble. So it was decided that the unfortunate man should
+be shut up in a prison for the rest of his life.</p>
+
+<p>But even this was not the worst of the matter. Richard had a wife&mdash;Queen
+Isabella&mdash;whom he loved very dearly, and if the two could have gone away
+together into some quiet place to live, they might still have been happy
+in spite of being under guard all the time. But the new king would not
+have it so. He gave orders that Richard should be shut up closely in a
+prison, and that Isabella should go back to France, where Richard had
+married her.</p>
+
+<p>This was a terrible thing for the young man and his younger wife, who
+might have had a long life of happiness still before them if Richard
+had never been a king. But Richard had been King of England, and so he
+had to give up both his freedom and his wife.</p>
+
+<p>In his play of "King Richard the Second" Shakespeare makes a very
+touching scene of their parting. In the play their farewell takes place
+in the street, as shown in our picture. Isabella, anxious to see her
+husband once more before they part forever, waits at a point which she
+knows he must pass on his way to prison. There they meet and talk
+together for the last time on earth. The words which Shakespeare puts
+into their mouths are terribly sad, but very beautiful. You will find
+the scene at the beginning of Act V. of the play. The picture shows the
+two at the moment when Richard moves away to his prison, leaving
+Isabella to mourn for him in a nunnery for the rest of her life.</p>
+
+<p>It is not certainly known what became of Richard after he was taken to
+prison. It is believed that he was murdered there&mdash;perhaps starved to
+death&mdash;but there is a story that he got away and lived in Scotland,
+dying there in 1419. It is not at all likely that the story is true,
+however, and the common belief has always been that he died or was
+killed in Pontefract Castle, where he was imprisoned.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a name="THE_PARTING" id="THE_PARTING"></a>
+<img src="images/ill-119.jpg" width="500" height="369" alt="THE PARTING BETWEEN KING RICHARD II. AND QUEEN ISABELLA." title="" />
+<span class="caption">THE PARTING BETWEEN KING RICHARD II. AND QUEEN ISABELLA.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>However that may be, Richard's life was a terribly unhappy one, and all
+his sorrows grew out of the fact that he was a king. If he could have
+looked forward on that July day when the people were making merry in his
+honor, and could have known all that was to happen to him, instead of
+being the happiest boy in England on his coronation day, he would have
+been the most wretched.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="TWO_OBSCURE_HEROES" id="TWO_OBSCURE_HEROES"></a>TWO OBSCURE HEROES.</h2>
+
+<h4>HOW THE PARTISAN WARFARE IN THE CAROLINAS WAS BEGUN.</h4>
+
+<p>When the British marched up from Savannah and took Charleston, in the
+spring of 1780, they thought the Revolution was at an end in the
+Southern States, and it really seemed so. Even the patriots thought it
+was useless to resist any longer, and so when the British ordered all
+the people to come together at different places and enrol themselves as
+British subjects, most of them were ready to do it, simply because they
+thought they could not help themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Only a few daring men here and there were bold enough to think of
+refusing, and but for them the British could have set up the royal power
+again in South Carolina, and then they would have been free to take
+their whole force against the patriots farther north. The fate of the
+whole country depended, to a large extent, upon the courage of the few
+men who would not give up even at such a time, but kept up the fight
+against all odds. These brave men forced the British to keep an army in
+the South which they needed farther north.</p>
+
+<p>The credit of beginning this kind of partisan warfare belongs chiefly to
+two or three plain men, who did it simply because they loved their
+country more than their ease.</p>
+
+<p>The man who first began it was Justice Gaston&mdash;a white-haired patriot
+who lived on a little stream called Fishing Creek, near Rocky Mount. He
+was eighty years of age, and might well have thought himself too old to
+care about war matters; but he was a brave man and a patriot, and the
+people who lived near him were in the habit of taking his advice and
+doing as he did.</p>
+
+<p>When the news came that Tarleton had killed a band of patriots under
+Colonel Buford in cold blood Justice Gaston called his nine sons and
+many of his nephews around him. Joining hands, these young men promised
+each other that they never would take the British oath, and never would
+give up the cause, come what might.</p>
+
+<p>Soon afterwards a British force came to the neighborhood, and all the
+people were ordered to meet at Rocky Mount to enrol their names and take
+the oath. One of the British officers went to see Justice Gaston, and
+tried to persuade him that it was folly to refuse. He knew that if
+Gaston advised the people to give up, there would be no trouble; but the
+white-haired patriot told him to his face that he would never take the
+oath himself or advise anybody else to do so.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the officer left the old man sent for his friends, and about
+thirty brave fellows met at his house that night, with their rifles in
+their hands. They knew there would be a strong force of British and
+Tories at Rocky Mount the next day, but, in spite of the odds against
+them, they made up their minds to attack the place, and when the time
+came they did so. Creeping through the woods, they suddenly came upon
+the crowd, and after a sharp fight sent the British flying
+helter-skelter in every direction. This stopped the work of enrolling
+the people as British subjects, and it did more than that. It showed the
+patriots through the whole country that they could still give the
+British a great deal of trouble, and after this affair many of the men
+who had thought of giving up rubbed up their rifles instead, and formed
+little bands of fighting men to keep the war going.</p>
+
+<p>Another man who did much to stir up partisan warfare was the Rev.
+William Martin, an old and pious preacher in the Scotch-Irish
+settlements. These Scotch-Irish were very religious people, and their
+preacher was their leader in all things. One Sunday, after the news had
+come to the settlement that Buford's men had been killed by the British
+in cold blood, the eloquent old man went into his pulpit and preached
+about the duty of fighting. In the afternoon he preached again, and even
+when the service was over he went on in the open air, still preaching to
+the people how they should fight for their country, until all the men
+in the settlement were full of fighting spirit. The women told the men
+to go and do their duty, and that they would take care of the crops.</p>
+
+<p>These little bands of patriots were too small to fight regular battles,
+or even to hold strong posts. They had to hide in the woods and swamps,
+and only came out when they saw a chance to strike a blow. Then the blow
+fell like lightning, and the men who dealt it quickly hid themselves
+again.</p>
+
+<p>They had signs by which they told each other what they were going to do.
+A twig bent down, a few stones strung along a path, or any other of a
+hundred small signs, served to tell every patriot when and where to meet
+his friends. A man riding about, breaking a twig here and there, or
+making some other sign of the kind, could call together a large force at
+a chosen spot within a few hours. The men brought out in this way would
+fall suddenly upon some stray British force that was off its guard, and
+utterly destroy it. The British would at once send a strong body of
+troops to punish the daring patriots, but the redcoat leader would look
+in vain for anybody to punish. The patriots could scatter and hide as
+quickly as they could come together.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a name="MARTIN_PREACHING" id="MARTIN_PREACHING"></a>
+<img src="images/ill-127.jpg" width="500" height="383" alt="MARTIN PREACHING TO THE PEOPLE ON THE DUTY OF FIGHTING." title="" />
+<span class="caption">MARTIN PREACHING TO THE PEOPLE ON THE DUTY OF FIGHTING.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Finding that they could not destroy these patriot companies, the British
+and Tories took their revenge on women and children. They burned the
+houses of the patriots, carried off their crops, and killed their
+cattle, so as to starve their families; but the women were as brave us
+the men, and from first to last not one of them ever wished her husband
+or son to give up the fight.</p>
+
+<p>If the patriots could not conquer the British, they at least kept them
+in a hornets' nest. If they could not drive them out of South Carolina,
+they could keep them there, which was nearly as good a thing to do,
+because every soldier that Cornwallis had to keep in the South would
+have been sent to some other part of the country to fight the Americans
+if the Carolinians had let the British alone.</p>
+
+<p>In this way small bands of resolute men kept Cornwallis busy, and held
+the state for the American cause, until General Greene went south and
+took command. Greene was one of the greatest of the American generals,
+and after a long campaign he drove the British out of the state. But if
+it had not been for the partisans the South would have been lost long
+before he could be spared to go there; and if the partisans had not kept
+a British army busy there, it might have gone very hard with the
+Americans in the rest of the country.</p>
+
+<p>When we rejoice in the freedom of our country we ought not to forget how
+much we owe the partisans, and especially such men as Justice Gaston and
+the Rev. William Martin, who first set the partisans at their work. It
+would have been much easier and pleasanter for them to remain quiet
+under British rule; and they had nothing to gain for themselves, but
+everything to lose, by the course they took. Gaston knew that his home
+would be burned for what he did, and the eloquent old Scotch preacher
+knew that he would be put into a prison-pen for preaching war sermons
+to his people; but they were not men to flinch. They cared more for
+their country than for themselves, and it was precisely that kind of men
+throughout the land, from New England to Georgia, who won liberty for us
+by seven years of hard fighting and terrible suffering.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_CHARGE_OF_THE_HOUNDS" id="THE_CHARGE_OF_THE_HOUNDS"></a>THE CHARGE OF THE HOUNDS.</h2>
+
+<h4>AN INCIDENT OF THE CREEK WAR.</h4>
+
+<p>A terrible bit of news was carried from mouth to mouth through the
+region that is now Alabama at the beginning of September, 1813. The
+country was at that time in the midst of the second war with Great
+Britain, and for a long time British agents had been trying to persuade
+the Creeks&mdash;a powerful nation of half-civilized but very warlike Indians
+who lived in Alabama&mdash;to join in the war and destroy the white
+settlements in the Southwest.</p>
+
+<p>For some time the Creeks hesitated, and it was uncertain what they would
+do. But during the summer of 1813 they broke out in hostility, and on
+the 30th of August their great leader, Weatherford, or the Red Eagle, as
+they called him, stormed Fort Mims, the strongest fort in the Southwest.
+He took the fort by surprise, with a thousand warriors behind him, and,
+after five hours of terrible fighting, destroyed it, killing about five
+hundred men, women, and children.</p>
+
+<p>This was the news that startled the settlers in the region where the
+Alabama and Tombigbee rivers come together. It was certain, after such a
+massacre as that, that the Indians meant to destroy the settlements, and
+kill all the white people without mercy.</p>
+
+<p>In order to protect themselves and their families the settlers built
+rude forts by setting pieces of timber endwise in the ground, and the
+people hurried to these places for safety. Leaving their homes to be
+burned, their crops to be destroyed, and their cattle to be killed or
+carried off by the Indians, the settlers hastily got together what food
+they could, and took their families into the nearest forts.</p>
+
+<p>One of the smallest of these stockade forts was called Sinquefield. It
+stood in what is now Clarke County, Alabama, and, as that region was
+very thinly settled, there were not enough men to make a strong force
+for the defence of the fort. But the brave farmers and hunters thought
+they could hold the place, and so they took their families thither as
+quickly as they could.</p>
+
+<p>Two families, numbering seventeen persons, found it was not easy to go
+to Sinquefield on the 2d of September, and so, as they were pretty sure
+that there were no Indians in their neighborhood as yet, they made up
+their minds to stay one more night at a house a few miles from the fort.
+That night they were attacked, and all but five of them were killed.
+Those who got away carried the news of what had happened to the fort,
+and a party was sent out to bring in the bodies.</p>
+
+<p>The next day all the people in Fort Sinquefield went out to bury their
+dead friends in a valley at some little distance from the fort, and,
+strange as it seems, they took no arms with them. Believing that there
+were no Indians near the place, they left the gates of the fortress
+open, and went out in a body without their guns.</p>
+
+<p>As a matter of fact there was a large body of Indians not only very
+near them, but actually looking at them all the time. The celebrated
+Prophet Francis was in command, and in his sly way he had crept as near
+the fort as possible to look for a good chance to attack it. Making his
+men lie down and crawl like snakes, he had reached a point only a few
+hundred yards from the stockade without alarming the people, and now,
+while they stood around the graves of their friends without arms to
+defend themselves with, a host of their savage enemies lay looking at
+them from the grass and bushes on the hill.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he saw that the right moment had come, Francis sprang up with
+a savage war-cry, and at the head of his warriors made a dash at the
+gates. He had seen that the men outside were unarmed, and his plan was
+to get to the gates before they could reach them, and thus get all the
+people of the place at his mercy in an open field and without arms to
+fight with.</p>
+
+<p>The fort people were quick to see what his purpose was, and the men
+hurried forward with all their might, hoping to reach the fort before
+the savages could get there. By running at the top of their speed they
+did this, and closed the gates in time to keep the Indians out. But, to
+their horror, they then saw that their wives and children were shut out
+too. Unable to run so fast as the men had done, the women and children
+had fallen behind, and now the Indians were between them and the gates!</p>
+
+<p>Seeing that he had missed his chance of getting possession of the fort,
+Francis turned upon the women and children with savage delight in the
+thought of butchering these helpless creatures in the sight of their
+husbands, fathers, and brothers.</p>
+
+<p>It was a moment of terror. There were not half enough white men in the
+fort to master so large a force of Indians, and if there had been it was
+easy to see that by the time they could get their rifles and go to the
+rescue it would be too late.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment the hero of this bit of history came upon the scene. This
+was a young man named Isaac Haden. He was a notable huntsman, who kept
+a famous pack of hounds&mdash;fierce brutes, thoroughly trained to run down
+and seize any live thing that their master chose to chase. This young
+man had been out in search of stray cattle, and just at the moment when
+matters were at their worst he rode up to the fort, followed by his
+sixty dogs.</p>
+
+<p>Isaac Haden had a cool head and a very daring spirit. He was in the
+habit of taking in a situation at a glance, deciding quickly what was to
+be done, and then doing it at any risk that might be necessary. As soon
+as he saw how the women and children were placed, he cried out to his
+dogs, and, at the head of the bellowing pack, charged upon the flank of
+the Indians. The dogs did their work with a spirit equal to their
+master's. For each to seize a red warrior and drag him to earth was the
+work of a moment, and the whole body of savages was soon in confusion.
+For a time they had all they could do to defend themselves against the
+unlooked-for assault of the fierce animals, and before they could beat
+off the dogs the men of the fort came out and joined in the attack, so
+that the women and children had time to make their way inside the gates,
+only one of them, a Mrs. Phillips, having been killed.</p>
+
+<p>The men, of course, had to follow the women closely, as they were much
+too weak in numbers to risk a battle outside. If they had done so the
+Indians would have overcome them quickly, and then the fort and
+everybody in it would have been at their mercy, so the settlers hurried
+into the fort as soon as the women were safe.</p>
+
+<p>But the hero who had saved the people by his quickness and courage was
+left outside, and not only so, but the savages were between him and the
+fort. He had charged entirely through the war party, and was now beyond
+their line, alone, and with no chance of help from any quarter.</p>
+
+<p>His hope of saving himself was very small indeed; but he had saved all
+those helpless women and little children, and he was a brave enough
+fellow to die willingly for such a purpose as that if he must. But brave
+men do not give up easily, and young Haden did not mean to die without a
+last effort to save himself.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a name="HE_RODE_UP" id="HE_RODE_UP"></a>
+<img src="images/ill-139.jpg" width="500" height="408" alt="&quot;JUST AT THE MOMENT WHEN MATTERS WERE AT THEIR WORST, HE
+RODE UP.&quot;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;JUST AT THE MOMENT WHEN MATTERS WERE AT THEIR WORST, HE
+RODE UP.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Blowing a loud blast upon his hunting-horn to call his remaining dogs
+around him, he drew his pistols&mdash;one in each hand&mdash;and plunged spurs
+into his horse's flanks. In spite of the numbers against him he broke
+through the mass of savages, but the gallant horse that bore him fell
+dead as he cleared the Indian ranks. Haden had fired both his pistols,
+and had no time to load them again. He was practically unarmed now, and
+the distance he still had to go before reaching the gates was
+considerable. His chance of escape seemed smaller than ever, but he
+quickly sprang from the saddle, and ran with all his might, hotly
+pursued, and under a terrific fire from the rifles of the savages. The
+gate was held a little way open for him to pass, and when he entered the
+fort his nearest pursuers were so close at his heels that there was
+barely time for the men to shut the gate in their faces.</p>
+
+<p>Strangely enough, the brave young fellow was not hurt in any way. Five
+bullets had passed through his clothes, but his skin was not broken.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_STORY_OF_A_WINTER_CAMPAIGN" id="THE_STORY_OF_A_WINTER_CAMPAIGN"></a>THE STORY OF A WINTER CAMPAIGN.</h2>
+
+<p>Nearly all the countries in Europe were making war upon France in 1795.
+The French people had set up a republic, and all the kingdoms round
+about were trying to make them submit to a king again. This had been
+going on for several years, and sometimes it looked as though the French
+would be beaten, in spite of their brave struggles to keep their enemies
+back and manage their own affairs in their own way.</p>
+
+<p>At one time everything went against the French. Their armies were worn
+out with fighting, their supply of guns had run short, they had no
+powder, and their money matters were in so bad a state that it seemed
+hardly possible for France to hold out any longer. In the meantime
+England, Austria, Spain, Holland, Piedmont, and Prussia, besides many of
+the small German states, had joined together to fight France, and their
+armies were on every side of her.</p>
+
+<p>A country in such a state as that, with so many powerful enemies on
+every side, might well have given up; but the French are a brave people,
+and they were fighting for their liberties. Instead of giving up in
+despair, they set to work with all their might to carry on the war.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing to be done was to raise new armies, and so they called
+for men, and the men came forward in great numbers from every part of
+the country. In a little while they had more men to make soldiers of
+than had ever before been brought together in France. But this was only
+a beginning. The men were not yet trained soldiers, and even if they had
+been, they had no guns and no powder; no clothing was to be had, and
+there was very little food for them to eat. Still the French did not
+despair.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing that there would not be time enough to train the new men, they
+put some of their old soldiers in each regiment of new ones, so that
+the new men might learn from the veterans how to march and how to
+fight.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime they had set up armories, and were making guns as fast
+as they could. Their greatest trouble was about powder. They had
+chemists who knew how to make it, but they had no nitre to make it of,
+and did not know at first how to get any. At last one of their chemists
+said that there was some nitre&mdash;from a few ounces to a pound or two&mdash;in
+the earth of every cellar floor; and that if all the nitre in all the
+cellar floors of France could be collected, it would be enough to make
+plenty of powder.</p>
+
+<p>But how to get this nitre was a question. The cellar floors must be dug
+up, the earth must be washed, and the water must be carefully passed
+through a course of chemical treatment in order to get the nitre, free
+from earth and from all other things with which it was mixed. It would
+take many days for a chemist to extract the nitre from the earth of a
+singly cellar, and then he would get only a pound or two of it at most.</p>
+
+<p>It did not seem likely that much could be done in this way, but all the
+people were anxious to help, and so the cry went up from every part of
+the country, "Send us chemists to teach us how, and we will do the work
+and get the nitre ourselves." This was quickly done. All the chemists
+were set at work teaching the people how to get a little nitre out of a
+great deal of earth, and then every family went to work. In a little
+while the nitre began to come in to the powder-factories. Each family
+sent its little parcel of the precious salt as a free gift to the
+country. Some of them were so proud and glad of the chance to help that
+they dressed their little packages of nitre in ribbons of the national
+colors, and wrote patriotic words upon them. Each little parcel held
+only a few ounces, or at most a pound or two, of the white salt; but the
+parcels came in by tens of thousands, and in a few weeks there were
+hundreds of tons of nitre at the powder-mills.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as there was powder enough the new armies began to press their
+enemies, and, during the summer and fall of 1794, they steadily drove
+them back. When they met their foes in battle they nearly always forced
+them to give way. They charged upon forts and took them at the point of
+the bayonet; cities and towns everywhere fell into their hands, and by
+the time that winter set in they were so used to winning battles that
+nothing seemed too hard for them to undertake.</p>
+
+<p>But the French soldiers were in a very bad condition to stand the cold
+of winter. One great army, under General Pichegru, which had driven the
+English and Dutch far into the Netherlands, was really almost naked. The
+shoes of the soldiers were worn out, and so they had to wrap their feet
+in wisps of straw to keep them from freezing. Many of the men had not
+clothing enough to cover their nakedness, and, for decency's sake, had
+to plait straw into mats which they wore around their shoulders like
+blankets. They had no tents to sleep in, but, nearly naked as they were,
+had to lie down in the snow or on the hard frozen ground, and sleep as
+well as they could in the bitter winter weather.</p>
+
+<p>There never was an army more in need of a good rest in winter-quarters,
+and as two great rivers lay in front of them, it seemed impossible to do
+anything more until spring. The English and Dutch were already safely
+housed for the winter, feeling perfectly sure that the French could not
+cross the rivers or march in any direction until the beginning of the
+next summer.</p>
+
+<p>The French generals, therefore, put their men into the best quarters
+they could get for them, and the poor, half-naked, barefooted soldiers
+were glad to think that their work for that year was done.</p>
+
+<p>Day by day the weather grew colder. The ground was frozen hard, and ice
+began running in the rivers. After a little while the floating ice
+became so thick that the rivers were choked with it. When Christmas came
+the stream nearest the French was frozen over, and three days later the
+ice was so hard that the surface of the river was as firm as the solid
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>Then came an order from General Pichegru to shoulder arms and march. In
+the bitterest weather of that terrible winter the barefooted, half-clad
+French soldiers left their huts, and marched against their foes.
+Crossing the first river on the ice, they fell upon the surprised Dutch
+and utterly routed them. About the same time they made a dash at the
+strong fortified posts along the river, and captured them.</p>
+
+<p>The French were now masters of the large island that lay between the two
+rivers, for they are really only two branches of one river, and the land
+between them is an island. But the ice in the farther stream was not yet
+hard enough to bear the weight of cannon, so Pichegru had to stay where
+he was for a time. Both sides now watched the weather, the French hoping
+for still harder frosts, while their enemies prayed for a thaw.</p>
+
+<p>The cold weather continued, and day by day the ice became firmer. On the
+8th of January, 1795, Pichegru began to cross, and on the 10th his whole
+army had passed the stream, while his enemies were rapidly retreating.
+He pushed forward into the country, sending his columns in different
+directions to press the enemy at every point. The barefooted, half-naked
+French soldiers were full of spirit, and in spite of frost and snow and
+rough frozen roads they marched steadily and rapidly. City after city
+fell before them, and on the 20th of January they marched into Amsterdam
+itself, and were complete conquerors.</p>
+
+<p>Hungry and half-frozen as they were, it would not have been strange if
+these poor soldiers had rushed into the warm houses of the city and
+helped themselves to food and clothing. But they did nothing of the
+kind. They stacked their arms in the streets and public squares, and
+quietly waited in the snow, patiently bearing the bitter cold of the
+wind for several hours, while the magistrates were getting houses and
+food and clothing ready for them.</p>
+
+<p>This whole campaign was wonderful, and on almost every day some strange
+thing happened; but, perhaps, the strangest of all the events in this
+winter war was that which is shown in the picture. Pichegru, learning
+that there was a fleet of the enemy's vessels lying at anchor near the
+island of Texel, sent a column of cavalry, with some cannon, in that
+direction, to see if anything could be done. The cavalry found the
+Zuyder Zee hard frozen, and the ships firmly locked in the ice. So they
+put spurs to their horses, galloped over the frozen surface of the sea,
+marched up to the ships, and called on them to surrender. It was a new
+thing in war for ships to be charged by men on horseback; but there the
+horsemen were, with strong ice under them, and the ships could not sail
+away from them. The sailors could make a fight, of course, but the
+cavalry, with their cannon, were too strong for them, and so they
+surrendered without a battle, and for the first time in history a body
+of hussars captured a squadron of ships at anchor.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a name="CAPTURE_OF_THE_DUTCH_FLEET" id="CAPTURE_OF_THE_DUTCH_FLEET"></a>
+<img src="images/ill-151.jpg" width="500" height="387" alt="CAPTURE OF THE DUTCH FLEET BY THE SOLDIERS OF THE FRENCH
+REPUBLIC." title="" />
+<span class="caption">CAPTURE OF THE DUTCH FLEET BY THE SOLDIERS OF THE FRENCH
+REPUBLIC.</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="YOUNG_WASHINGTON_IN_THE_WOODS" id="YOUNG_WASHINGTON_IN_THE_WOODS"></a>YOUNG WASHINGTON IN THE WOODS.</h2>
+
+<h4>THE STORY OF A PERILOUS JOURNEY.</h4>
+
+<p>No man ever lived whose name is more honored than that of George
+Washington, and no man ever deserved his fame more. All the success that
+ever came to him was won by hard work. He succeeded because he was the
+kind of man that he was, and not in the least because he had "a good
+chance" to distinguish himself. He never owed anything to "good luck,"
+nor even to a special education in the business of a soldier. Some men
+are called great because they have succeeded in doing great things; but
+he succeeded in doing great things because he was great in himself.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody who knew him, even as a boy, seems to have respected as well
+as liked him. There was something in his character which made men think
+well of him. When he was only sixteen years of age Lord Fairfax admired
+him to such a degree that he appointed him to a post which not many men
+would have been trusted to fill. He put the boy at the head of a
+surveying party, and sent him across the mountains to survey the valley
+of Virginia&mdash;a vast region which was then unsettled. So well did
+Washington perform this difficult and dangerous task that a few years
+later, when he was only twenty-one years old, the Governor of Virginia
+picked him out for a more delicate and dangerous piece of work.</p>
+
+<p>The English colonies lay along the Atlantic coast, while the French held
+Canada. The country west of the Alleghany Mountains, which we now know
+as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, etc., was claimed by both the French and the
+English, though only the Indians lived there. The French made friends of
+the savages, and began building forts at different points in that
+region, and putting soldiers there to keep the English away. The
+Governor of Virginia wanted to put a stop to this, and so he resolved to
+send a messenger into "the Great Woods," as the western country was
+called, to warn the French off, and to win the friendship of the Indians
+if possible.</p>
+
+<p>For such a service he needed a man with a cool head, good sense, great
+courage, and, above all, what boys call "grit;" for whoever should go
+would have to make his way for many hundreds of miles through a
+trackless wilderness, over mountains and rivers, and among hostile
+Indians. Young Washington had already shown what stuff he was made of,
+and, young as he was, he was regarded as a remarkable man. The governor
+therefore picked him out as the very best person for the work that was
+to be done.</p>
+
+<p>It was November when Washington set out, and the weather was very cold
+and wet. He took four white men and two Indians with him, the white men
+being hunters who knew how to live in the woods. As the country they had
+to pass through was a wilderness, they had to carry all their supplies
+with them on pack-horses. They rode all day through the woods, and when
+night came slept in little tents by some spring or watercourse. Day
+after day they marched forward, until at last they reached an Indian
+village, near the spot where Pittsburgh now stands, and there they
+halted to make friends with the Indians.</p>
+
+<p>This was not very easy, as the French had already had a good deal to do
+with the tribes in that region; but Washington persuaded the chief,
+whose name was Tanacharisson, to go with him to visit the French
+commander, who was stationed in a fort hundreds of miles away, near Lake
+Erie.</p>
+
+<p>This march, like the other, was slow and full of hardships; but at last
+the fort was reached, and Washington delivered his message to the French
+officer. A day or two later the Frenchman gave him his answer, which was
+that the western country belonged to the French, and that they had no
+notion of giving it up.</p>
+
+<p>All the trouble Washington had met in going north was nothing compared
+with what was before him in going back to Virginia again. The winter was
+now at its worst, and the weather was terrible. The rivers and creeks
+were full of floating ice, and the woods were banked high with snow. But
+Washington was not to be daunted by any kind of difficulty. He set out
+on his return march, and with the aid of canoes, in which his baggage
+was carried down a small stream that ran in that direction, he took his
+party as far as Venango, in the northwestern part of Pennsylvania.</p>
+
+<p>There he found that he could go no farther on horseback. The ground was
+frozen on top, but soft beneath, and the poor horses broke through the
+hard crust at every step. There was a French fort at Venango, and
+Washington might have waited there very comfortably for better weather;
+but it was his duty to get back to Virginia as soon as possible with the
+French commander's answer, and so he made up his mind to go on, even at
+the risk of his life.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the rest of the party to come when they could with the horses,
+Washington and a single companion named Gist set out on foot for the
+long winter march. As they had no pack-horses to carry tents and
+cooking-vessels and food, they had to leave everything behind except
+what they could carry on their backs; and as they were obliged to take
+their rifles, powder-horns, and bullet-pouches, their hunting-knives and
+hatchets, and a blanket apiece, they were pretty heavily loaded, and
+could not afford to burden themselves with much else.</p>
+
+<p>Day by day the two brave fellows trudged on through the snow-drifts,
+sleeping at night as best they could, exposed to the biting cold of the
+winter, without shelter, except such as the woods afforded. There were
+other dangers besides cold and hunger. At one time a treacherous Indian,
+who had offered to act as guide, tried to lead the two white men into a
+trap. As they suspected his purpose, they refused to do as he wished,
+and a little later he suddenly turned about and shot at Washington, who
+was only a few paces distant. Missing his aim, he was quickly
+overpowered, and Gist wanted to kill him, not merely because he deserved
+to be put to death for his treachery, but also because, if allowed to go
+free, he was pretty sure to bring other hostile Indians to attack the
+lonely travellers during the night.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 384px;">
+<a name="WASHINGTON_AS_A_SURVEYOR" id="WASHINGTON_AS_A_SURVEYOR"></a>
+<img src="images/ill-159.jpg" width="384" height="500" alt="WASHINGTON AS A SURVEYOR." title="" />
+<span class="caption">WASHINGTON AS A SURVEYOR.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>But Washington would not have him killed. He made him build a camp-fire,
+and then told him to leave them at once. The Indian did so, and as soon
+as it was certain that he was out of sight and hearing the two young men
+set out to make their escape. They knew the Indian would soon come back
+with others, and that their only chance for life was to push on as fast
+as they could. The Indians could track them in the snow, but by setting
+out at once they hoped to get so far ahead that they could not be easily
+overtaken.</p>
+
+<p>It was already night, and the travellers were weary from their day's
+march, but they could not afford to stop or rest. All through the night
+they toiled on. Morning came, and they must have felt it nearly
+impossible to drag their weary feet farther, but still they made no
+halt. On and on they went, and it was not till night came again that
+they thought it safe at last to stop for the rest and sleep they needed
+so badly. The strain they had undergone must have been fearful. They
+were already weary and wayworn when they first met the treacherous
+Indian, and after that they had toiled through the snow for two days and
+a night without stopping to rest or daring to refresh themselves with
+sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Just before reaching their journey's end they arrived at the brink of a
+river which they expected to find frozen over; but they found it full of
+floating ice instead. Without boat or bridge, there seemed no chance of
+getting across; but after a while they managed to make a rude raft, and
+upon this they undertook to push themselves across with long poles.</p>
+
+<p>The current was very strong, the raft was hard to manage, and the great
+fields of ice forced it out of its course. In trying to push it in the
+right direction, Washington missed his footing and fell into the icy
+river. His situation was very dangerous, but by a hard struggle he got
+upon the floating logs again. Still the current swept them along, and
+they could not reach either shore of the stream.</p>
+
+<p>At last they managed to leap from the logs, not to the bank, but to a
+small island in the river. There they were very little better off than
+on the raft. They were on land, it is true, but there was still no way
+of getting to shore; and as there was nothing on the island to make a
+fire with, Washington was forced, drenched as he was with ice-water, to
+pass the long winter night in the open air, without so much as a tiny
+blaze or a handful of coals by which to warm himself.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately the night proved to be a very cold one, and poor Gist's
+feet and hands were frozen before morning. Washington got no
+frost-bites, but his sufferings must have been great.</p>
+
+<p>During the night that part of the stream which lay between the island
+and the shore that Washington wished to reach froze over, and in the
+morning the travellers were able to renew their journey. Once across
+that, the worst of their troubles were over.</p>
+
+<p>Is it any wonder that a young man who did his duty in this way rapidly
+rose to distinction? He was always in earnest in his work, and always
+did it with all his might. He never shammed or shirked. He never let his
+own comfort or his own interest stand in the way when there was a duty
+to be done. He was a great man before he became a celebrated one, and
+the wisest men in the country found out the fact.</p>
+
+<p>When the revolution came there were other soldiers older and better
+known than Washington, but there were men in Congress who had watched
+his career carefully. They made him, therefore, commander-in-chief of
+the American armies, knowing that nobody else was so sure to do the very
+best that could be done for the country. They did not make him a great
+man by appointing him to the chief command; they appointed him because
+they knew he was a great man already.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_STORY_OF_CATHERINE" id="THE_STORY_OF_CATHERINE"></a>THE STORY OF CATHERINE.</h2>
+
+<p>Peter the Great, the emperor who, in a few years, changed Russia from a
+country of half-savage tribes into a great European nation, was one day
+visiting one of his officers, and saw in his house a young girl, who
+attracted his attention by her beauty and her graceful manners. This
+girl was a prisoner named Martha, and she was living as a sort of
+servant and housekeeper in the family of the Russian officer. She had
+been taken prisoner when the town she lived in was captured. Nobody
+knows, even to this day, exactly who she was, except that she was a poor
+orphan girl who had been brought up by a village clergyman; but it is
+generally believed that her father was a Livonian peasant.</p>
+
+<p>Martha's beauty and the brightness of her mind pleased the emperor so
+much that, after a while, he made up his mind to marry her, in spite of
+her humble origin. Peter was in the habit of doing pretty much as he
+pleased, whether his nobles liked it or not; but even he dared not make
+a captive peasant girl the Empress of Russia. He therefore married her
+privately, in the presence of a few of his nearest friends, who were
+charged to keep the secret. Before the marriage took place he had Martha
+baptized in the Russian Church, and changed her name to Catherine.</p>
+
+<p>Now Peter had a bad habit of losing his temper, and getting so angry
+that he fell into fits. As he was an absolute monarch and could do
+whatever he liked, it was very dangerous for anybody to go near him when
+he was angry. He could have a head chopped off as easily as he could
+order his breakfast. But he was very fond of Catherine, and she was the
+only person who was not in the least afraid of him. She soon learned how
+to manage him, and even in his worst fits she could soothe and quiet the
+old bear.</p>
+
+<p>Peter was nearly always at war, and in spite of the hardships and
+dangers of the camp and battle-field Catherine always marched with him
+at the head of the army. The soldiers wondered at her bravery, and
+learned to like her more than anybody else. If food was scarce, the
+roads rough, and the marches long, they remembered, that Catherine was
+with them, and were ashamed to grumble. If she could stand the hardships
+and face the dangers, they thought rough soldiers ought not to complain.</p>
+
+<p>Catherine was a wise woman as well as a brave one. She soon learned as
+much of the art of war as Peter knew, and in every time of doubt or
+difficulty her advice was asked, and her opinion counted for as much as
+if she had been one of the generals. After she had thus shown how able a
+woman she was, and had won the friendship of everybody about her by her
+good temper and her pleasant ways, Peter publicly announced his
+marriage, and declared Catherine to be his wife and czarina. But still
+he did not crown her.</p>
+
+<p>This was in the year 1711, and immediately afterwards Peter marched
+into the Turkish country at the head of forty thousand men. This army
+was not nearly large enough to meet the Turks, but Peter had other
+armies in different places, and had ordered all of them to meet him on
+the march. For various reasons all these armies failed to join him, and
+he found himself in a Turkish province with a very small number of
+troops. The danger was so great that he ordered Catherine and all the
+other women to go back to a place of safety. But Catherine would not go.
+She had made up her mind to stay with Peter at the head of the army, and
+was so obstinate about it that at last Peter gave her leave to remain.
+Then the wives of the generals, and, finally, of the lower officers,
+wanted to stay also. She persuaded Peter to let them do so, and the end
+of it was that the women all stayed with the army.</p>
+
+<p>Everything went against Peter on this march. The weather was very dry.
+Swarms of locusts were in the country, eating every green thing. There
+was no food for the horses, and many of them starved to death. It was
+hard for the Russians to go forward or to go backward, and harder still
+to stay where they were.</p>
+
+<p>At last the soldiers in front reported that the Turks were coming, and
+Peter soon saw a great army of two hundred thousand fierce Moslems in
+front of his little force, which counted up only thirty-eight thousand
+men. Seeing the odds against him he gave the order to retreat, and the
+army began its backward march. As it neared the river Pruth a new danger
+showed itself. The advance-guard brought word that a great force of
+savage Crim Tartars held the other bank of the river, completely cutting
+off Peter's retreat.</p>
+
+<p>The state of things seemed hopeless. With two hundred thousand Turks on
+one side, and a strong force of Crim Tartars holding a river on the
+other, Peter's little army was completely hemmed in. There was no water
+in the camp, and when the soldiers went to the river for it, the Tartars
+on the other shore kept up a fierce fight with them. A great horde of
+Turkish cavalry tried hard to cut off the supply entirely by pushing
+themselves between Peter's camp and the river, but the Russians managed
+to keep them back by hard fighting, and to keep a road open to the
+river.</p>
+
+<p>Peter knew now that unless help should come to him in some shape, and
+that very quickly, he must lose not only his army, but his empire also,
+for if the Turks should take him prisoner, it was certain that his many
+enemies would soon conquer Russia, and divide the country among
+themselves. He saw no chance of help coming, but he made up his mind to
+fight as long as he could. He formed his men in a hollow square, with
+the women in the middle, and faced his enemies.</p>
+
+<p>The Turks flung themselves in great masses upon his lines, trying to
+crush the little force of Russians by mere numbers. But Peter's brave
+men remembered that Catherine was inside their hollow square, and they
+stood firmly at their posts, driving back the Turks with frightful
+slaughter. Again and again and again they fell upon his lines in heavy
+masses, and again and again and again they were driven back, leaving
+the field black with their dead.</p>
+
+<p>This could not go on forever, of course, and both sides saw what the end
+must be. As the Turks had many times more men than Peter, it was plain
+that they would, at last, win by destroying all the Russians.</p>
+
+<p>For three days and nights the terrible slaughter went on. Peter's men
+beat back the Turks at every charge, but every hour their line grew
+thinner. At the end of the third day sixteen thousand of their brave
+comrades lay dead upon the field, and only twenty-two thousand remained
+to face the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Towards night on the third day a terrible rumor spread through their
+camp. A whisper ran along the line that <i>the ammunition was giving out</i>.
+A few more shots from each soldier's gun, and there would be nothing
+left to fight with.</p>
+
+<p>Then Peter fell into the sulks. As long as he could fight he had kept up
+his spirits, but now that all was lost, and his great career seemed near
+its end, he grew angry, and went to his tent to have one of his savage
+fits. He gave orders that nobody should come near him, and there was no
+officer or soldier in all the army who would have dared enter the tent
+where he lay, in his dangerous mood.</p>
+
+<p>But if Peter had given up in despair, Catherine had not. In spite of
+Peter's order and his anger, she boldly went into his tent, and asked
+him to give her leave to put an end to the war by making a treaty of
+peace with the Turks, if she could. It seemed absurd to talk of such a
+thing, or to expect the Turks to make peace on any terms when they had
+so good a chance to conquer Peter, once for all, and to make him their
+prisoner. Nobody but Catherine, perhaps, would have thought of such a
+thing; but Catherine was a woman born for great affairs, and she had no
+thought of giving up any chance there might be to save Peter and the
+empire.</p>
+
+<p>Her first difficulty was with Peter himself. She could not offer terms
+of peace to the Turks until Peter gave her leave, and promised to fulfil
+whatever bargain she might make with them. She managed this part of
+the matter, and then set to work at the greater task of dealing with the
+Turks.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a name="SHE_WENT_BOLDLY" id="SHE_WENT_BOLDLY"></a>
+<img src="images/ill-173.jpg" width="500" height="467" alt="&quot;SHE WENT BOLDLY INTO HIS TENT.&quot;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;SHE WENT BOLDLY INTO HIS TENT.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>She knew that the Turkish army was under the command of the Grand
+Vizier, and she knew something of the ways of Grand Viziers. It was not
+worth while to send any kind of messenger to a Turkish commander without
+sending him also a bribe in the shape of a present, and Catherine was
+sure that the bribe must be a very large one to buy the peace she
+wanted. But where was she to get the present? There was no money in
+Peter's army-chest, and no way of getting any from Russia. Catherine was
+not discouraged by that fact. She first got together all her own jewels,
+and then went to all the officers' wives and asked each of them for
+whatever she had that was valuable&mdash;money, jewels, and plate. She gave
+each of them a receipt for what she took, and promised to pay them the
+value of their goods when she should get back to Moscow. She went in
+this way throughout the camp, and got together all the money, all the
+jewelry, and all the silver plate that were to be found in the army. No
+one person had much, of course; but when the things were collected
+together, they made a very rich present, or bribe, for the Grand Vizier.</p>
+
+<p>With this for a beginning, Catherine soon convinced the Turkish
+commander that it was better to make peace with Russia than to run the
+risk of having to fight the great armies that were already marching
+towards Turkey. After some bargaining she secured a treaty which allowed
+Peter to go back to Russia in safety, and thus she saved the czar and
+the empire. A few years later Peter crowned her as Empress of Russia,
+and when he died he named her as the fittest person to be his successor
+on the throne.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the peasant girl of Livonia, who was made a captive in war and a
+servant, rose by her genius and courage to be the sole ruler of a great
+empire&mdash;the first woman who ever reigned over Russia. It is a strange
+but true story.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_VIRGINIA_WIFE-MARKET" id="THE_VIRGINIA_WIFE-MARKET"></a>THE VIRGINIA WIFE-MARKET.</h2>
+
+<h4>TWO SHIPLOADS OF SWEETHEARTS AND THE PRICES PAID FOR THEM.</h4>
+
+<p>The first English settlement in America that came to anything was made
+in the most absurd way possible. A great company of London merchants set
+about the work of planting an English colony in Virginia, and they were
+very much in earnest about it too; but if they had been as anxious to
+have the scheme fail as they were to make it succeed, they could hardly
+have done worse for it than they did in some respects.</p>
+
+<p>They knew that the colonists must have something to eat and must defend
+themselves against the Indians, and so it ought to have been plain to
+them that the first men sent out must be stout farmers, who could cut
+down trees, plough the ground, raise food enough for the people to eat,
+and handle guns well, if need be. The work to be done was that of
+farmers, wood-choppers, and men who could make a living for themselves
+in a new country, and common-sense ought to have led the London Company
+to send out nobody but men of that kind to make the first settlement.
+Then, after those men had cleared some land, built some houses, and
+raised their first crop, men of other kinds might have been sent as fast
+as there was need for their services.</p>
+
+<p>But that was not the way in which the London Company went to work. They
+chose for their first settlers about the most unfit men they could have
+found for such a purpose. There were one hundred and five of them in
+all, and forty-eight of them&mdash;or nearly half of the whole company&mdash;were
+what people in those days called "gentlemen"&mdash;that is to say, they were
+the sons of rich men. They had never learned how to do any kind of work,
+and had been brought up to think that a gentleman could not work without
+degrading himself and losing his right to be called a gentleman. There
+were a good many "servants" also in the party, and probably most of them
+were brought to wait upon the gentlemen. There were very few farmers and
+not many mechanics in the party, although farmers and mechanics were the
+men most needed. There were some goldsmiths, who expected to work the
+gold as soon as the colonists should find it, and there was a
+perfume-maker. It is hard to say in what way this perfume-man was
+expected to make himself useful in the work of planting a settlement in
+the swamps of Virginia; but, as there were so many fine "gentlemen" in
+the party, the perfumer probably thought his wares would be in demand.</p>
+
+<p>None of the men brought families with them. They were single men, who
+came out to this country, not to make comfortable homes for wives and
+children, by hard and patient work, but to find gold and pearls, or to
+grow rich in some other quick and easy way, and then to go back and live
+in ease in England.</p>
+
+<p>It is a wonder that such men ever succeeded in planting a settlement at
+all. From the first it does not seem to have been clear to them that
+they ought to raise plenty of food for themselves and learn how to live
+by their own work. They expected the company in London to send them most
+of their food and everything else that they needed. They had plenty of
+rich land and a good climate, but they expected to be fed by people
+three thousand miles away, across a great ocean.</p>
+
+<p>Luckily, there was one man of sense and spirit among them&mdash;the
+celebrated Captain John Smith&mdash;who got them to work a little, and, after
+many hardships and two or three narrow escapes from failure, the colony
+was firmly planted.</p>
+
+<p>The London Company sent out ships every year with supplies and fresh
+colonists; but, strange as it seems, most of the men sent were
+unmarried, and even those who had wives and children left them in
+England.</p>
+
+<p>When we think of it, this was a very bad way to begin the work of
+settling a new country. The bachelors, of course, did not intend to
+stay all their lives in a country where there were no women and
+children. They meant to make some money as quickly as they could and
+then go back to England to live. The married men who had left their
+families behind them were in still greater haste to make what they could
+and go home. In short, for a dozen years after the colony was planted,
+nobody thought of it as his real home, where he meant to live out his
+life. If the colonists had been married men, with wives and children in
+Virginia, they would have done all they could to make the new settlement
+a pleasant one to live in: they would have built good houses, set up
+schools, and worked hard to improve their own fortunes and to keep order
+in the colony.</p>
+
+<p>But year after year the ships brought cargoes of single men to Virginia,
+and the settlement was scarcely more than a camp in the woods. After the
+company had been trying for a good many years to people a new country by
+landing shiploads of bachelors on its shores, it began to dawn upon
+their minds that if the Virginia settlement was ever to grow into a
+thriving and lasting colony, there must be women and children there to
+make happy homes, as well as men to raise wheat, corn, and tobacco.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Edwin Sandys was the wise man who saw all this most clearly. He
+urged the company to send out hard-working married men, who would take
+their wives and children with them to Virginia and settle there for
+good. But this was not all. There were already a great many bachelors in
+the colony, and there were no young women there for them to marry. Sir
+Edwin knew that if these bachelors were to stay in Virginia and become
+prosperous colonists they must have a chance to marry and set up homes
+of their own. So he went to work in England to get together a cargo of
+sweethearts for the colonists. He persuaded ninety young women of good
+character to go out in one of the company's ships, to marry young men in
+Virginia.</p>
+
+<p>The plan was an odd one, but it was managed with good sense and did well
+for everybody concerned. It was agreed that the company should provide
+the young women with such clothing and other things as they would need
+for the voyage, and should give them free passage on board the ship.
+When they landed in Virginia they were to be perfectly free to marry or
+not, as they pleased. If any of them did not at once find husbands to
+their liking they were to be provided for in good homes until they chose
+to marry.</p>
+
+<p>But no man could marry one of these young women without paying for her
+in tobacco, which was used instead of money in Virginia. The girls were
+not to be sold, exactly, but it was expected that each colonist who
+married one of them should pay the company as much as it had spent in
+bringing her across the ocean.</p>
+
+<p>And the men of the colony were glad enough to do this. When the shipload
+of sweethearts landed at Jamestown a large number of men who were tired
+of bachelor life hurried to the wharf to get wives for themselves if
+they could. They went among the young maids, introduced themselves, got
+acquainted, and did all the courting that was necessary in a very
+little time. The young women were honest, good, well-brought-up girls,
+and among the many men there were plenty of good, industrious, and brave
+fellows who wanted good wives, and so all the girls were "engaged" at
+once. The men paid down one hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco
+apiece&mdash;for that was the price fixed upon&mdash;and, as there was nothing to
+wait for, the clergymen were sent for and the weddings took place
+immediately.</p>
+
+<p>It was an odd thing to do, of course, but the circumstances were very
+unusual, and the plan of importing sweethearts by the cargo really seems
+to have been a very good one. It must have been a strange sight when the
+girls landed and met the men who had come to the town to woo and marry
+them. And many of the girls must have felt that they took great risks in
+coming three thousand miles from home and marrying men whom they had
+known for so short a time; but it seems that the marriages were happy
+ones, in spite of the haste in which they were made. The newly-married
+pairs went to work in earnest to create good homes for themselves, and
+when their English friends learned from their letters how happy and
+prosperous they were, another company of sixty sweethearts set sail for
+the colony and became the wives of good men.</p>
+
+<p>It was in this way that the English camp at Jamestown was changed into a
+real colony of people who meant to live in America and to build up a
+thriving community here. Now that the men had wives and children to
+provide for, they no longer lived "from hand to mouth," hoping to make a
+fortune by some lucky stroke, and then to leave the colony forever. They
+went to work, instead, to cultivate the land, to build good houses, to
+make and save money, to educate their children, and to become prosperous
+and happy in their homes. Virginia, which had been a mere stopping-place
+to them, was now their own country, where their families lived and their
+nearest friends were around them. There they expected to pass their
+lives in efforts to better their own fortunes, and to make the country
+a pleasant one for their children and grandchildren after them to live
+in. They were anxious to have schools and churches, and to keep up right
+standards of morals and proper manners in the colony, so that their
+children might grow to be good and happy men and women.</p>
+
+<p>That is the way in which the first English colony in America became
+prosperous, and many of the men who afterwards became famous in the
+history of the nation were the great-great-grandsons of the women whom
+Sir Edwin Sandys sent out as sweethearts for the colonists.</p>
+
+<p>The Pilgrims, who settled at Plymouth about the time that all this
+happened, brought their families with them, and quickly made themselves
+at home in America. The planting of these two colonies&mdash;the first in
+Virginia and the second in Massachusetts&mdash;was the beginning from which
+our great, free, and happy country, with its fifty millions of people,
+has grown.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_BOYHOOD_OF_DANIEL_WEBSTER" id="THE_BOYHOOD_OF_DANIEL_WEBSTER"></a>THE BOYHOOD OF DANIEL WEBSTER.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></h2>
+
+<p>Daniel Webster, the great statesman, orator, and lawyer, was born on the
+18th of January, 1782.</p>
+
+<p>His father lived near the head-waters of the Merrimac River, and the
+only school within reach was a poor one kept open for a few months every
+winter. There Webster learned all that the country schoolmaster could
+teach him, which was very little; but he acquired a taste which did more
+for him than the reading, writing, and arithmetic of the school. He
+learned to like books, and to want knowledge; and when a boy gets really
+hungry and thirsty for knowledge it is not easy to keep him ignorant.
+When some of the neighbors joined in setting up a little circulating
+library, young Webster read every book in it two or three times, and
+even committed to memory a large part of the best of them. It was this
+eagerness for education on his part that led his father afterwards to
+send him to Exeter to school, and later to put him into Dartmouth
+College.</p>
+
+<p>There are not many boys in our time who have not declaimed parts of
+Webster's great speeches; and it will interest them to know that the boy
+who afterwards made those speeches could never declaim at all while he
+was at school. He learned his pieces well, and practised them in his own
+room, but he could not speak them before people to save his life.</p>
+
+<p>Webster was always fond of shooting and fishing, and, however hard he
+studied, the people around him called him lazy and idle, because he
+would spend whole days in these sports. Once, while he was studying
+under Dr. Woods to prepare for college, that gentleman spoke to him on
+the subject, and hurt his feelings a little. The boy went to his room
+determined to have revenge, and this is the way he took to get it. The
+usual Latin lesson was one hundred lines of Virgil, but Webster spent
+the whole night over the book. The next morning before breakfast he went
+to Dr. Woods and read the whole lesson correctly. Then he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Will you hear a few more lines, doctor?"</p>
+
+<p>The teacher consenting, Webster read on and on and on, while the
+breakfast grew cold. Still there was no sign of the boy's stopping, and
+the hungry doctor at last asked how much farther he was prepared to
+read.</p>
+
+<p>"To the end of the twelfth book of the &AElig;neid," answered the "idle" boy,
+in triumph.</p>
+
+<p>After that, Webster did not give up his hunting and fishing, but he
+worked so hard at his lessons, and got on so fast, that there was no
+further complaint of his "idleness." He not only learned the lessons
+given to him, but more, every day, and besides this he read every good
+book he could lay his hands on, for he was not at all satisfied to know
+only what could be found in the school-books.</p>
+
+<p>Webster's father was poor and in debt, but finding how eager his boy was
+for education, and seeing, too, that he possessed unusual ability, he
+determined, ill as he could afford the expense, to send him to college.
+Accordingly, young Daniel went to Dartmouth.</p>
+
+<p>Many anecdotes are told to illustrate the character of young Dan. He was
+always lavish of his money when he had any, while his brother was
+careful but generous, especially to Dan, whom he greatly admired. On one
+occasion the boys went to a neighboring town on a high holiday, each
+with a quarter of a dollar in his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Dan," said the father on their return, "what did you do with your
+money?"</p>
+
+<p>"Spent it," answered the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"And what did you do with yours, Zeke?"</p>
+
+<p>"Lent it to Dan," was the answer. The fact was that Dan had spent both
+quarters.</p>
+
+<p>Young Webster was very industrious in his studies, as we have seen, and
+he was physically strong and active as his fondness for sport proved;
+but he could never endure farm-work. One day his father wanted him to
+help him in cutting hay with a scythe; but very soon the boy complained
+that the scythe was not "hung" to suit him; that is to say, it was not
+set at a proper angle upon its handle. The old gentleman, adjusted it,
+but still it did not suit the boy. After repeated attempts to arrange it
+to Dan's liking, the father said, impatiently, "Well, hang it to suit
+yourself." And young Dan immediately "hung" it over a branch of an
+apple-tree and left it there. That was the hanging which pleased him.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 390px;">
+<a name="END_OF_THE_TWELFTH_BOOK" id="END_OF_THE_TWELFTH_BOOK"></a>
+<img src="images/ill-191.jpg" width="390" height="500" alt="&quot;&#39;TO THE END OF THE TWELFTH BOOK OF THE &AElig;NEID,&#39; ANSWERED
+THE &#39;IDLE&#39; BOY, IN TRIUMPH.&quot;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;&#39;TO THE END OF THE TWELFTH BOOK OF THE &AElig;NEID,&#39; ANSWERED
+THE &#39;IDLE&#39; BOY, IN TRIUMPH.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>After finishing his college course Webster began studying law, but
+having no money, and being unwilling to tax his father for further
+support, he went into Northern Maine, and taught school there for a
+time. While teaching he devoted his evenings to the work of copying
+deeds and other legal documents, and by close economy managed to live
+upon the money thus earned, thus saving the whole of his salary as a
+teacher. With this money to live on, he went to Boston, studied law, and
+soon distinguished himself. The story of his life as a public man, in
+the senate, in the cabinet, and at the bar, is well known, and does not
+belong to this sketch of his boyhood.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_SCULLION_WHO_BECAME_A_SCULPTOR" id="THE_SCULLION_WHO_BECAME_A_SCULPTOR"></a>THE SCULLION WHO BECAME A SCULPTOR.</h2>
+
+<p>In the little Italian village of Possagno there lived a jolly
+stone-cutter named Pisano. He was poor, of course, or he would not have
+been a stone-cutter; but he was full of good humor, and everybody liked
+him.</p>
+
+<p>There was one little boy, especially, who loved old Pisano, and whom old
+Pisano loved more than anybody else in the world. This was Antonio
+Canova, Pisano's grandson, who had come to live with him, because his
+father was dead, and his mother had married a harsh man, who treated the
+little Antonio roughly.</p>
+
+<p>Antonio was a frail little fellow, and his grandfather liked to have him
+near him during his working hours.</p>
+
+<p>While Pisano worked at stone-cutting, little Canova played at it and at
+other things, such as modelling in clay, drawing, etc. The old
+grandfather, plain, uneducated man as he was, soon discovered that the
+pale-faced little fellow at his side had something more than an ordinary
+child's dexterity at such things.</p>
+
+<p>The boy knew nothing of art or of its laws, but he fashioned his lumps
+of clay into forms of real beauty. His wise grandfather, seeing what
+this indicated, hired a teacher to give him some simple lessons in
+drawing, so that he might improve himself if he really had the artistic
+ability which the old man suspected. Pisano was much too poor, as he
+knew, ever to give the boy an art-education and make an artist of him,
+but he thought that Antonio might at least learn to be a better
+stone-cutter than common.</p>
+
+<p>As the boy grew older he began to help in the shop during the day, while
+in the evening his grandmother told him stories or sang or recited
+poetry to him. All these things were educating him, though without his
+knowing it, for they were awakening his taste and stimulating his
+imagination, which found expression in the clay models that he loved to
+make in his leisure hours.</p>
+
+<p>It so happened that Signor Faliero, the head of a noble Venetian family,
+and a man of rare understanding in art, had a place near Pisano's house,
+and at certain seasons the nobleman entertained many distinguished
+guests there. When the palace was very full of visitors, old Pisano was
+sometimes hired to help the servants with their tasks, and the boy
+Canova, when he was twelve years old, sometimes did scullion's work
+there, also, for a day, when some great feast was given.</p>
+
+<p>On one of these occasions, when the Signor Faliero was to entertain a
+very large company at dinner, young Canova was at work over the pots and
+pans in the kitchen. The head-servant made his appearance, just before
+the dinner hour, in great distress.</p>
+
+<p>The man who had been engaged to furnish the great central ornament for
+the table had, at the last moment, sent word that he had spoiled the
+piece. It was now too late to secure another, and there was nothing to
+take its place. The great vacant space in the centre of the table
+spoiled the effect of all that had been done to make the feast artistic
+in appearance, and it was certain that Signor Faliero would be sorely
+displeased.</p>
+
+<p>But what was to be done? The poor fellow whose business it was to
+arrange the table was at his wits' end.</p>
+
+<p>While every one stood dismayed and wondering, the begrimed scullion boy
+timidly approached the distressed head-servant, and said, "If you will
+let me try, I think I can make something that will do."</p>
+
+<p>"You!" exclaimed the servant; "and who are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am Antonio Canova, Pisano's grandson," answered the pale-faced little
+fellow.</p>
+
+<p>"And what can you do, pray?" asked the man, in astonishment at the
+conceit of the lad.</p>
+
+<p>"I can make you something that will do for the middle of the table,"
+said the boy, "if you'll let me try."</p>
+
+<p>The servant had little faith in the boy's ability, but not knowing what
+else to do, he at last consented that Canova should try.</p>
+
+<p>Calling for a large quantity of butter, little Antonio quickly modelled
+a great crouching lion, which everybody in the kitchen pronounced
+beautiful, and which the now rejoicing head-servant placed carefully
+upon the table.</p>
+
+<p>The company that day consisted of the most cultivated men of
+Venice&mdash;merchants, princes, noblemen, artists, and lovers of art&mdash;and
+among them were many who, like Faliero himself, were skilled critics of
+artwork.</p>
+
+<p>When these people were ushered in to dinner their eyes fell upon the
+butter lion, and they forgot for what purpose they had entered the
+dining-room. They saw there something of higher worth in their eyes than
+any dinner could be, namely, a work of genius.</p>
+
+<p>They scanned the butter lion critically, and then broke forth in a
+torrent of praises, insisting that Faliero should tell them at once
+what great sculptor he had persuaded to waste his skill upon a work in
+butter, that must quickly melt away. But Signor Faliero was as ignorant
+as they, and he had, in his turn, to make inquiry of the chief servant.</p>
+
+<p>When the company learned that the lion was the work of a scullion,
+Faliero summoned the boy, and the banquet became a sort of celebration
+in his honor.</p>
+
+<p>But it was not enough to praise a lad so gifted. These were men who knew
+that such genius as his belonged to the world, not to a village, and it
+was their pleasure to bring it to perfection by educating the boy in
+art. Signor Faliero himself claimed the right to provide for young
+Antonio, and at once declared his purpose to defray the lad's expenses,
+and to place him under the tuition of the best masters.</p>
+
+<p>The boy whose highest ambition had been to become a village
+stone-cutter, and whose home had been in his poor old grandfather's
+cottage, became at once a member of Signor Faliero's family, living in
+his palace, having everything that money could buy at his command, and
+daily receiving instruction from the best sculptors of Venice.</p>
+
+<p>But he was not in the least spoiled by this change in his fortunes. He
+remained simple, earnest, and unaffected. He worked as hard to acquire
+knowledge and skill in art as he had meant to work to become a dexterous
+stone-cutter.</p>
+
+<p>Antonio Canova's career from the day on which he moulded the butter into
+a lion was steadily upward; and when he died, in 1822, he was not only
+one of the most celebrated sculptors of his time, but one of the
+greatest, indeed, of all time.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_BOYHOOD_OF_WILLIAM_CHAMBERS" id="THE_BOYHOOD_OF_WILLIAM_CHAMBERS"></a>THE BOYHOOD OF WILLIAM CHAMBERS.</h2>
+
+<p>Boys and girls who can buy attractive periodicals and books at any
+bookstore or news-stand, can have very little notion of the difficulty
+that little folk had seventy or eighty years ago in getting something to
+read. It was only about fifty years ago, indeed, that this first efforts
+were made to supply cheap, instructive, and entertaining literature, and
+one of the men who made those efforts was Mr. William Chambers, who, in
+1882, when he was eighty-two years of age, published a little account of
+his life. What he has to tell of his boyhood and youth is very
+interesting.</p>
+
+<p>His father was unfortunate in business, and became so poor that young
+Chambers had to begin making his own way very early in life. He had
+little schooling&mdash;only six pounds' (thirty dollars) worth in all, he
+tells us&mdash;and, as there were no juvenile books or periodicals in those
+days, and no books of any other kind, except costly ones, it was hard
+for him to do much in the way of educating himself. But William Chambers
+meant to learn all that he could, and that determination counted for a
+good deal. There was a small circulating library in his native town, and
+he began by reading all the books in it, without skipping one. Then he
+got hold of a copy of the "Encyclop&aelig;dia Britannica," which most boys
+would regard as very dry reading. He read it carefully. When that was
+done young Chambers was really pretty well educated, although he did not
+know it.</p>
+
+<p>About that time the boy had to go to work for his living. He became an
+apprentice to a bookseller in Edinburgh. His wages were only four
+shillings (about a dollar) a week, and on that small sum he had to
+support himself, paying for food, lodging, clothes, and everything else,
+for five years. "It was a hard but somewhat droll scrimmage with
+semistarvation," he says; for, after paying for his lodgings and
+clothes, he had only about seven cents a day with which to buy his food.</p>
+
+<p>In the summer he jumped out of bed at five o'clock every morning, and
+spent the time before the hour for beginning business in reading and
+making electrical experiments. He studied French in that way too, and on
+Sundays carried a French Testament to church, and read in French what
+the minister read in English.</p>
+
+<p>Winter came on, and the poor lad was puzzled. It was not only cold, but
+entirely dark at five o'clock in the morning during the winter months,
+and William, who had only seven cents a day to buy food with, could not
+afford either a fire or a candle to read by. There was no other time of
+day, however, that he could call his own, and so it seemed that he must
+give up his reading altogether, which was a great grief to the ambitious
+lad.</p>
+
+<p>Just then a piece of good-luck befell him. He happened to know what is
+called a "sandwich man"&mdash;that is to say, a man who walks about with
+signs hanging behind and before him. One day this man made him a
+proposition. The sandwich man knew a baker who, with his two sons,
+carried on a small business in a cellar. The baker was fond of reading,
+but had no time for it, and as he and his sons had to bake their bread
+early in the morning, he proposed, through the sandwich man, to employ
+William Chambers as reader. His plan was that Chambers should go to the
+cellar bakery every morning at five o'clock and read to the bakers, and
+for this service he promised to give the boy one hot roll each morning.
+Here was double good-fortune. It enabled Chambers to go on with his
+reading by the baker's light and fire, and it secured for him a
+sufficient breakfast without cost.</p>
+
+<p>He accepted the proposition at once, and for two and a half hours every
+morning he sat on a flour-sack in the cellar, and read to the bakers by
+the light of a penny candle stuck in a bottle.</p>
+
+<p>Out of his small wages it was impossible for the boy to save anything,
+and so, when the five years of his apprenticeship ended, he had only
+five shillings in the world. Yet he determined to begin business at once
+on his own account. Getting credit for ten pounds' worth of books, he
+opened a little stall, and thus began what has since grown to be a great
+publishing business.</p>
+
+<p>He had a good deal of unoccupied time at his stall, and "in order to
+pick up a few shillings," as he says, he began to write out neat copies
+of poems for albums. Finding sale for these, he determined to enlarge
+that part of his business by printing the poems. For that purpose he
+bought a small and very "squeaky" press and a font of worn type which
+had been used for twenty years. He had to teach himself how to set the
+type, and, as his press would print only half a sheet at a time, it was
+very slow work; but he persevered, and gradually built up a little
+printing business in connection with his book-selling. After a while he
+published an edition of Burns's poems, setting the type, printing the
+pages, and binding the books with his own hands, and clearing eight
+pounds by the work.</p>
+
+<p>Chambers wrote a good deal at that time, and his brother Robert wrote
+still more, so that they were at once authors, printers, publishers, and
+booksellers, but all in a very small way. After ten years of this work,
+William Chambers determined to publish a cheap weekly paper, to be
+filled with entertaining and instructive matters, designed especially
+for the people who could not afford to buy expensive books and
+periodicals. Robert refused to join in this scheme, and so, for a time,
+the whole work and risk fell upon William. His friends all agreed in
+thinking that ruin would be the result; but William Chambers thought he
+knew what the people wanted, and hence he went on.</p>
+
+<p>The result soon justified his expectations. The first number was
+published on the 4th of February, 1832. Thirty thousand copies were sold
+in a few days, and three weeks later the sale rose to fifty thousand
+copies a week.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="HOW_A_BOY_WAS_HIRED_OUT_AND_WHAT_CAME_OF_IT" id="HOW_A_BOY_WAS_HIRED_OUT_AND_WHAT_CAME_OF_IT"></a>HOW A BOY WAS HIRED OUT, AND WHAT CAME OF IT.</h2>
+
+<p>When Michael Angelo was twelve years of age, although he had had no
+instruction in art, he did a piece of work which greatly pleased the
+painter Domenico Ghirlandajo. That artist at once declared that here was
+lad of genius, who must quit his school studies and become a painter.</p>
+
+<p>This was what the little Michael most wished to do, but he had no hope
+that his father would listen for a moment to the suggestion. His father,
+Ludovico Buonarotti, was a distinguished man in the state, and held art
+and artists in contempt. He had planned a great political career for his
+boy, as the boy knew very well.</p>
+
+<p>Ghirlandajo was enthusiastic, however, and, in company with the lad, he
+at once visited Ludovico, and asked him to place Michael in his studio.</p>
+
+<p>Ludovico was very angry, saying that he wished his son to become a
+prominent man in society and politics, not a dauber and a mason; but
+when he found that young Michael was determined to be an artist or
+nothing he gave way, though most ungraciously. He would not say that he
+consented to place his son with Ghirlandajo; he would not admit that the
+study of art was study, or the studio of an artist anything but a shop.
+He said to the artist: "I give up my son to you. He shall be your
+apprentice or your servant, as you please, for three years, and you must
+pay me twenty-four florins for his services."</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the insulting words and the insulting terms, Michael Angelo
+consented thus to be hired out as a servant to the artist, who should
+have been paid by his father for teaching him. He had to endure much,
+indeed, besides the anger and contempt of his father, who forbade him
+even to visit his house, and utterly disowned him. His fellow-pupils
+were jealous of his ability, and ill-treated him constantly, one of
+them going so far as to break his nose with a blow.</p>
+
+<p>When Michael Angelo had been with Ghirlandajo about two years, he went
+one day to the Gardens of St. Mark, where the Prince Lorenzo de'
+Medici&mdash;who was the foremost patron of art in Florence&mdash;had established
+a rich museum of art-works at great expense. One of the workmen in the
+garden gave the boy leave to try his hand at copying some of the
+sculptures there, and Michael, who had hitherto studied only painting,
+was glad of a chance to experiment with the chisel, which he preferred
+to the brush. He chose for his model an ancient figure of a faun, which
+was somewhat mutilated. The mouth, indeed, was entirely broken off, but
+the boy was very self-reliant, and this did not trouble him. He worked
+day after day at the piece, creating a mouth for it of his own
+imagining, with the lips parted in laughter and the teeth displayed.</p>
+
+<p>When he had finished, and was looking at his work, a man standing near
+asked if he might offer a criticism.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered the boy, "if it is a just one."</p>
+
+<p>"Of that you shall be the judge," said the man.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well. What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"The forehead of your faun is old, but the mouth is young. See, it has a
+full set of perfect teeth. A faun so old as this one is would not have
+perfect teeth."</p>
+
+<p>The lad admitted the justice of the criticism, and proceeded to remedy
+the defect by chipping away two or three of the teeth, and chiselling
+the gums so as to give them a shrivelled appearance.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning, when Michael went to remove his faun from the garden,
+it was gone. He searched everywhere for it, but without success.
+Finally, seeing the man who had made the suggestion about the teeth, he
+asked him if he knew where it was.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied the man, "and if you will follow me I'll show you where
+it is."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you give it back to me? I made it, and have a right to it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if you must have it, you shall."</p>
+
+<p>With that he led the way into the palace of the prince, and there, among
+the most precious works of art in the collection, stood the faun. The
+young sculptor cried out in alarm, declaring that the Prince Lorenzo
+would never forgive the introduction of so rude a piece of work among
+his treasures of sculpture. To his astonishment the man declared that he
+was himself the Prince Lorenzo de' Medici, and that he set the highest
+value upon this work.</p>
+
+<p>"I am your protector and friend," he added. "Henceforth you shall be
+counted as my son, for you are destined to become one of the great
+masters of art."</p>
+
+<p>This was overwhelming good-fortune. Lorenzo de' Medici was a powerful
+nobleman, known far and wide to be a most expert judge of works of art.
+His approval was in itself fame and fortune.</p>
+
+<p>Filled with joy, the lad went straightway to his father's house, which
+he had been forbidden to enter, and, forcing his way into Ludovico's
+presence, told him what had happened. The father refused to believe the
+good news until Michael led him into Lorenzo's presence.</p>
+
+<p>When the prince, by way of emphasizing his goodwill, offered Ludovico
+any post he might choose, he asked for a very modest place indeed,
+saying, with bitter contempt, that it was good enough "for the father of
+a mason."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_WICKEDEST_MAN_IN_THE_WORLD" id="THE_WICKEDEST_MAN_IN_THE_WORLD"></a>THE WICKEDEST MAN IN THE WORLD.</h2>
+
+<p>Precisely at what time the faithful and affectionate subjects of his
+Majesty Ivan IV., Czar of all the Russias, conferred upon him his pet
+name, "The Terrible," history neglects to inform us, but we are left in
+no uncertainty as to the entire appropriateness of the title, which is
+now inseparably linked with his baptismal name. He inherited the throne
+at the age of three years, and his early education was carefully
+attended to by his faithful guardians, who snubbed and scared him, in
+the hope that they might so far weaken his intellect as to secure a
+permanent control over him, and through him govern Russia as they
+pleased. They made a footstool of him sometimes, and a football at
+others, and, under their system of training, the development of those
+qualities of mind and heart for which he is celebrated was remarkably
+rapid. He was always Ivan the Terrified, and he became Ivan the Terrible
+before he was old enough to have played a reasonably good game of
+marbles, or to have become tolerably expert in the art of mumbling the
+peg. Indeed, it seems that the young grand-prince was wholly insensible
+to the joys of these and the other excellent sports in which ordinary
+youths delight, and being of an ingenious turn of mind, he invented
+others better suited to his tastes and character. One of these
+pastimes&mdash;perhaps the first and simplest one devised by the youthful
+genius&mdash;consisted in the dropping of cats, dogs, and other domestic
+animals from the top of the palace to the pavement below, and
+sentimental historians have construed these interesting experiments in
+the law of gravitation into acts of wanton cruelty. Another of the young
+czar's amusements was to turn half-famished pet bears loose upon passing
+pedestrians, and it is the part of charity to suppose that his purpose
+in this was to study the psychological and physiognomical phenomena of
+fear. A less profitable way be had of accomplishing the same thing was
+by throwing, or, as youthful Americans phrase it, "shying," stones at
+passers-by, concealing himself meanwhile behind a screen. He cultivated
+his skill in horsemanship by riding over elderly people, cripples, and
+children. In short, his boyish sports were all of an original and highly
+interesting sort.</p>
+
+<p>Up to the age of thirteen Ivan was under the tutelage of a council, of
+which the Prince Shnisky was chief, and it was this prince who
+domineered over the boy and made a footstool and a football of his body.
+At that age Ivan asserted his independence in a very positive and
+emphatic way, which even the Prince Shnisky could not misapprehend. The
+young czar was out hunting, accompanied by Shnisky and other princes and
+boyards, among whom was Prince Gluisky, a rival of Shnisky's, who was
+prejudiced against that excellent gentleman. At his suggestion, Ivan
+addressed his guardian Shnisky in language which the latter deemed
+insolent. Shnisky replied angrily, and Ivan requested his dogs to
+remonstrate with the prince, which they did by tearing him limb from
+limb.</p>
+
+<p>Having thus silenced the dictation of Shnisky, the young prince became
+the ward of the no less excellent Gluisky, and was carefully taught that
+the only way in which he could effectually assert authority was by
+punishment. It was made clear to his budding intellect, too, that the
+shortest, simplest, and altogether the best way to get rid of
+disagreeable persons was to put them to death, and throughout his life
+Ivan never forgot this lesson for a single moment. Power, he was told,
+was worthless unless it was used, and the only way in which it could be
+really used was by oppression. For three years no pains were spared to
+teach him this system of ethics and politics, and the young prince, in
+his anxiety to perfect himself in the art of governing, diligently
+practised all these precepts.</p>
+
+<p>When he was seventeen years of age he was formally crowned czar. The
+citizens, ignorant of the truths of political economy and the principles
+of governmental science underlying the young Czar's system, became
+alarmed, and fired the city one night. When Ivan awoke, he was
+terrified, being of an abnormally nervous temperament, and the
+apparition of a warning monk, together with the influence of Anastasia,
+the young czarina, led the czar to abandon the simple and
+straightforward methods of government in which he had been bred, and for
+thirteen years, under the dictation of Alexis Adascheff and the monk
+Sylvester, Ivan devoted himself to the commonplace employments of
+developing Russia politically and socially. He dismissed his ministers
+and put others in their places. He reorganized the army; revised the
+code, in the interest of abstract justice; equalized assessments;
+subdued the Tartars; established forts for the protection of the
+frontiers; laid the foundation for the future greatness of his empire;
+began the work which was completed so grandly under Peter the Great;
+introduced printing into Russia; added greatly to her possessions;
+checked the abuses of the clergy; brought artists from western Europe,
+and in a hundred ways made himself famous by doing those things which
+historians love to chronicle.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, his genius for governing upon the Gluiskian system lay
+dormant. It was not dead, but slept, and after its nap of thirteen years
+it awoke one day, refreshed. Anastasia, the beautiful queen whose
+influence had been supreme for so long a time, died, and Ivan was free
+again. He recalled an old bishop who had been banished for his crimes,
+and consulted him as to his future course.</p>
+
+<p>"If you wish to be truly a sovereign," said this eminent prelate, "never
+seek a counsellor wiser than yourself; never receive advice from any
+man. Command, but never obey; and you will be a terror to the boyards.
+Remember that he who is permitted to begin by advising is certain to end
+by ruling his sovereign."</p>
+
+<p>Here was advice of a sort suited to Ivan's taste and education, and for
+reply he kissed the good bishop's hand, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"My own father could not have spoken more wisely."</p>
+
+<p>That the czar spoke sincerely, his faithfulness in following the
+bishop's precepts abundantly attests.</p>
+
+<p>His ministers and advisers being manifestly wiser than he, and therefore
+not at all the proper kind of people to have about, he straightway
+banished them. He then began a diligent search for their partisans, some
+of whom he put to death, condemning others to imprisonment and torture.
+He next turned his attention to his own household, which he was resolved
+upon ruling absolutely, at least, if not well. One of the princes made
+himself disagreeable by declining to participate freely in the pleasures
+of the palace, and, for the sake of domestic harmony, Ivan had him
+poniarded while he was at his prayers. Another so far overstepped the
+bounds of courtesy and propriety as to remonstrate with one of the new
+favorites upon his improper conduct, and Ivan, in order that there might
+be no bickerings and hard feelings in his family, slew the discourteous
+prince with his own hand.</p>
+
+<p>He was in the habit of carrying an iron rod about with him, and he had a
+playful way of striking his friends with it now and then, merely for his
+amusement. His pleasantries of this and like sorts were endless. One day
+Prince Boris, a boyard, came to pay his respects to the czar, and as be
+bowed to the ground, according to custom, Ivan, seizing a knife, said,
+"God bless thee, my dear Boris; thou deservest a proof of my favor," and
+with that he kindly cut the nobleman's ear off.</p>
+
+<p>When Prince Kurbsky, whom he had threatened with death, fled to Poland
+and wrote him a letter thence, telling him pretty plainly what he
+thought of him, the czar playfully struck the bearer of the missive with
+his iron rod, as a preliminary to the reading of the letter, and the
+blood flowed copiously from the man's wounds while Ivan pondered the
+words of his rebellious subject. He then became convinced that the
+boyards generally sympathized with Kurbsky, and to teach them better he
+put a good many of them to death by torture, and deprived many others
+of their estates. His alarm was very real, however, for he was a
+phenomenon of abject cowardice. He therefore fled to a fortified place
+in the midst of a dense forest, where he remained a month, writing
+letters to the Russians, telling them that he had abdicated and left
+them to their fate as a punishment for their disloyalty and their
+crimes. Singularly enough, his flight terrified the people. He had
+taught them that he was their god as God was his, and his flight to
+Alexandrovsky seemed to them a withdrawal of the protection of
+Providence itself. Business was suspended. The courts ceased to sit. The
+country was in an agony of terror. A large deputation of boyards and
+priests journeyed to Alexandrovsky, and besought the sovereign to return
+and resume his holy functions as the head of the church, that the souls
+of so many millions might not perish. Exacting of clergy and nobles an
+admission of his absolute right to do as he pleased, and a promise that
+they would in no way interfere with or resist his authority, he returned
+to Moscow. Here he surrounded himself with a body-guard of desperadoes,
+one thousand strong at first, and afterwards increased to six thousand,
+whose duty it was to discover the czar's enemies and to sweep them from
+the face of the earth. As emblems of these their functions, each member
+of the guard carried at his saddle-bow a dog's head and a broom. As the
+punishment of the czar's enemies included the confiscation of their
+property, a large part of which was given to the guards themselves,
+these were always singularly successful in discovering the disaffection
+of wealthy nobles, finding it out oftentimes before the nobles
+themselves were aware of their own treasonable sentiments.</p>
+
+<p>Feeling unsafe still, Ivan built for himself a new palace, outside the
+walls of the Kremlin, making it an impregnable castle. Then, finding
+that even this did not lull his shaken nerves to rest, he proceeded to
+put danger afar off by dispossessing the twelve thousand rich nobles
+whose estates lay nearest the palace, and giving their property to his
+personal followers, so that the head which wore the crown might lie
+easy in the conviction that there were no possible enemies near on the
+other side of the impregnable walls which shut him in. But even then he
+could not sleep easily, and so he repaired again to his forest
+stronghold at Alexandrovsky, where he surrounded himself with guards and
+ramparts. Here he converted the palace into a monastery, made himself
+abbot, and his rascally followers monks. He rigorously enforced monastic
+observances of the severest sort, and no doubt became a saint, in his
+own estimation. He spent most of his time at prayers, allowing himself
+no recreation except a daily sight of the torture of the prisoners who
+were confined in the dungeons of the fortress. His guards were allowed
+rather a larger share of amusement, and they wandered from street to
+street during the day, punishing, with their hatchets, such disloyal
+persons as they encountered. They were very moderate in their
+indulgences, however, in imitation of their sovereign, doubtless, and it
+is recorded to their credit, that, at this time, they rarely killed
+more than twenty people in one day, while sometimes the number was as
+low as five.</p>
+
+<p>But a quiet life of this kind could not always content the czar.
+Naturally, he grew tired of individual killings, and began to long for
+some more exciting sport. When, one day, a quarrel arose between some of
+his guards and a few of the people of Torjek, Ivan saw at a glance that
+all the inhabitants of Torjek were mutinous rebels, and of course it
+became his duty to put them all to death, which he straightway did.</p>
+
+<p>Up to this time the genius of Ivan seems to have been cautiously feeling
+its way, and so the part of his history already sketched may be regarded
+as a mere preliminary to his real career. His extraordinary capacity for
+ruling an empire upon the principles taught him by the Prince Gluisky
+was now about to show itself in all its greatness. A criminal of
+Novgorod, feeling himself aggrieved by the authorities of that city, who
+had incarcerated him for a time, wrote a letter offering to place the
+city under Polish protection. This letter he signed, not with his own
+name, but with that of the archbishop, and, instead of sending it to the
+King of Poland, to whom it was addressed, he secreted it in the church
+of St. Sophia. Then, going to Alexandrovsky, he told Ivan that treason
+was contemplated by the Novgorodians, and that the treasonable letter
+would be found behind the statue of the Virgin in the church. Ivan sent
+a messenger to find the letter, and upon his return the czar began his
+march upon the doomed city. Happening to pass through the town of Khur,
+on his way to Novgorod, he put all its inhabitants to death, with the
+purpose, doubtless, of training his troops in the art of wholesale
+massacre, before requiring them to practise it upon the people of
+Novgorod. Finding this system of drill an agreeable pastime, he repeated
+it upon his arrival at the city of Twer, and then, in order that the
+other towns along his route might have no reason to complain of
+partiality, he bestowed upon all of them a like manifestation of his
+imperial regard.</p>
+
+<p>It is not my purpose to describe in detail the elaborate and ingenious
+cruelty practised in the massacre of the Novgorodians. The story is
+sickening. Ivan first heard mass, and then began the butchery, which
+lasted for many days, was conducted with the utmost deliberation and
+most ingenious cruelty, and ended in the slaughter of sixty thousand
+people. Ivan had selected certain prominent citizens, to the number of
+several hundred, whom he reserved for public and particularly cruel
+execution at Moscow. Summoning the small and wretched remnant of the
+population to his presence, he besought their prayers for the
+continuance and prosperity of his reign, and with gracious words of
+farewell took his departure from the city.</p>
+
+<p>The execution in Moscow of the reserved victims was a scene too horrible
+to be described in these pages. Indeed, the half of Ivan's enormities
+may not be told here at all, and even the historians content themselves
+with the barest outlines of many parts of his career. He thought himself
+in some sense a deity, and blasphemously asserted that his throne was
+surrounded by archangels precisely as God's is. Identifying himself
+with the Almighty, he claimed exemption from the observance of God's
+laws, and, in defiance of the fundamental principles of the Greek
+Church, of which he was the head, he married seven wives. Believing that
+he might with equal impunity insult the moral sense of other nations, he
+actually sought to add England's queen, Elizabeth, to the list of his
+spouses. And he was so far right in his estimate of his power to do as
+he pleased, that the Virgin Queen, head of the English Church, while she
+would not herself become one of his wives, consented to assist him, and
+selected for his eighth consort Mary Hastings, the daughter of the Earl
+of Huntingdon. She came near bringing about a marriage between the two,
+in face of the fact that the two churches of which Ivan and she were
+respectively the heads were agreed in condemning polygamy as a heinous
+crime.</p>
+
+<p>For one only of all his crimes Ivan showed regret, if not remorse. His
+oldest and favorite son, when the city of Pskof was besieged by the
+Poles, asked that he might be intrusted with the command of a body of
+troops with which to assist the beleaguered place. Ivan was so great a
+coward that he dared not trust the affection and loyalty of even his own
+favorite child, and in a fit of mingled fear and rage he beat the young
+man to death with his iron staff, saying, "Rebel, you are leagued with
+the boyards in a conspiracy to dethrone me."</p>
+
+<p>Remorse seized upon him at once, and his sufferings and his fears of
+retribution were terrible. Finally he determined to abandon the throne
+and seek peace in a convent, but the infatuated Russians entreated him
+not to desert them. He died at last, in 1580.</p>
+
+<p>Did Scheherazade herself ever imagine a stranger story than this? And
+yet it is plain history, and is only a fragment of the truth.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="A_PRINCE_WHO_WOULD_NOT_STAY_DEAD" id="A_PRINCE_WHO_WOULD_NOT_STAY_DEAD"></a>A PRINCE WHO WOULD NOT STAY DEAD.</h2>
+
+<p>His name was Dmitri, and he was hereditary Grand-Prince of all the
+Russias, being the son of Ivan the Terrible, and only surviving brother
+of Feodor, the childless successor of that blood-thirsty czar. He was
+carefully killed in the presence of witnesses, during his boyhood, and
+duly buried, with honors appropriate to his station in life; so that if
+Dmitri had been an ordinary mortal, or even an ordinary prince, there
+would have been no story of his life to tell, except the brief tragedy
+of his taking off. He was no ordinary prince, however, and so the
+trifling incident of his death during childhood had as little to do with
+his career as had one or two other episodes of a like nature in the
+history of his later life. He was born to rule Russia, and was not at
+all disposed to excuse himself from the performance of the duty
+Providence had thus imposed upon him, by pleading the two or three
+thorough killings to which he was subjected. The story, as preserved in
+authentic history, is a very interesting one, and may perhaps bear
+repeating here. The reader may find all the facts in any reputable
+history of Russia, or of the houses of Rurik and Romanoff.</p>
+
+<p>In his jealousy of the absolute power he wielded, Ivan the Terrible had
+made constant war upon his nobility&mdash;killing them, or driving them away,
+and in every way possible destroying whatever share of influence they
+possessed in the state. When he died, leaving as his successor Feodor, a
+weak prince, of uncertain temper and infirm intellect, the
+nobility&mdash;naturally enough&mdash;hoped to regain their ancient influence in
+the state, and might have accomplished their purpose without difficulty
+if their measures to that end had been taken concertedly; but, jealous
+as they were of the privileges of their class, they were even more
+tenacious of their individual and family pretensions. They quarrelled
+among themselves, in short, and, while they were quarrelling, a bold and
+ambitious man, Boris Godunof, who happened to be the czar's
+brother-in-law, conceived the project of becoming prime-minister and
+actual ruler of the empire. Indeed, his ambition extended even further
+than this. Not content with governing Russia in the name of Feodor, he
+set covetous eyes upon the purple itself, and was resolved to become
+czar in name as well as in fact. But this was a delicate and difficult
+task, and could by accomplished only at great risk and by great
+patience. Boris was a man of undoubted genius, extreme shrewdness,
+unlimited ambition, and remarkable personal courage; and difficult and
+dangerous as his task was, he seems never to have faltered in his
+purpose from the instant of its conception to the time of its execution.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing the power of money in state affairs, he took care to accumulate
+a vast sum in his own private coffers, as a first step. He conciliated
+the common people in a hundred ways&mdash;by wise legislation, by the
+reformation of abuses which pressed hardly upon them, and sometimes by
+the oppression of the nobles in the interest of the lower classes. He
+was not long in making himself altogether the most popular man in
+Russia. He removed, by death or banishment, those whom he could not
+conciliate, together with all other persons whom he thought likely to
+prove obstacles in the way of his grand purpose. In short, a very brief
+time sufficed him for the winning of a popularity which, in any country
+but Russia, would have been sufficient for his need. But Boris knew his
+Russians well. He knew that loyalty to the line of Rurik was the
+strongest feeling in their breasts, after that of devotion to their
+creed&mdash;of which, indeed, it formed a chief part. It was their fixed
+belief in the divine right of the legitimate princes of the House of
+Rurik to reign, that had kept them patient, even under the rigors of
+Ivan's rule; and Boris knew well enough that no usurper, however
+strongly intrenched in their affections he might be, could hope to win
+those superstitiously loyal people to his support against any prince of
+the right line, however brutal, unjust, and despotic that prince might
+be. He knew, in brief, that so long as any descendant of Rurik should
+live, no other man could hope to seat himself upon the Muscovite throne.
+Feodor had no children, but he had one brother, the lad Dmitri, who
+would be his successor in the natural course of events. His existence
+was sure to prove an effectual bar to all Boris's hopes; and so it was
+necessary to get him out of the way before the scheme should be ripe for
+execution. To accomplish this, the wily minister sent Dmitri and his
+mother to the distant town of Uglitch, and there, by his orders, the
+young prince was murdered, in the presence of his nurse and six other
+people, and buried from his mother's residence. This was in 1591. The
+lad's death was announced, of course. Indeed, it was known to nearly
+everybody in Uglitch, the tocsin having been sounded, and the population
+having gathered around the murdered boy, where they put to death a good
+many who were suspected of complicity with the murderers. But in
+publishing it abroad in Russia, Boris deemed it prudent to attribute it,
+some say to a fever, others to an accidental fall upon a knife with
+which the boy had been playing; and lest the people of Uglitch should
+embarrass the minister by insisting upon a different diagnosis of the
+boy's last illness, that prudent official put a great many of them to
+death, cut the tongues out of others' heads, and banished the rest to
+Siberia&mdash;laying the town in ashes. He spared the lad's mother, but shut
+her up in a convent.</p>
+
+<p>Dmitri was now out of the way, or, rather, he would have been if he had
+had an ordinary capacity for staying comfortably killed; and Boris
+redoubled his efforts to prepare the way for his own elevation to the
+throne, as Feodor's successor, when that prince should chance to let the
+sceptre fall from his grasp.</p>
+
+<p>To secure the influence of the Church in his behalf, he bought of a
+Greek bishop the right to appoint the successor of the patriarch (a sort
+of Greek Church pope); and that office presently becoming vacant, he
+appointed a creature of his own as head of the Church. He succeeded in
+winning the favor of the inferior nobility, who were very numerous, and
+made himself strong in many other ways.</p>
+
+<p>Boris was a fellow of infinite good-luck; and so it fell out that, at
+the precise moment when all his plans were complete, the Czar Feodor
+obligingly died. So opportunely did this event happen, that grave
+historians have been inclined to suspect Boris of having procured it in
+some way; but of this there is no positive evidence.</p>
+
+<p>Feodor dead, there was no heir to the throne. With him ended the line of
+Rurik, which alone the Russians recognized as legitimately entitled to
+rule the empire; and now a new czar must be chosen. The nobles
+quarrelled, of course. They agreed in thinking that one of their order
+should be elevated to the throne; but they could by no means agree which
+one it should be. Each resented the pretensions of all the others, and
+it speedily became manifest that the patriarch's nomination, upon
+whomsoever it might fall, would turn the scale and elect a czar. The
+patriarch was Boris's own creature, appointed for the sole purpose of
+forwarding that minister's plans; and he promptly nominated Boris to the
+vacant throne. The election was a prearranged affair; and presently
+Boris was waited upon&mdash;in the convent to which he had retired with the
+declared purpose of leading a monastic life in future&mdash;and informed of
+his selection by the people as Czar of all the Russias. He modestly
+declined, of course; and, equally of course, his modesty only made the
+people the more clamorous. After some weeks of petty dalliance Boris
+finally allowed himself to be persuaded, and was crowned czar, in due
+form, in the year 1598.</p>
+
+<p>He was not long in discovering that his position was insecure, and
+incapable of being made safe. Whatever policy he might adopt&mdash;and he was
+disposed, it appears, to govern wisely and well&mdash;was sure to displease
+some of his subjects; and in the hands of a hostile faction, his want of
+hereditary claim upon the throne was a powerful weapon. What he had
+seized by crime he must keep by tyranny and violence, and a three years'
+famine added greatly to his embarrassments. Whatever he did excited
+discontent; and to make his wretchedness complete, he fancied himself
+haunted by the ghost of the murdered Dmitri. There were symptoms of
+mutiny everywhere, which daily threatened to culminate in open revolt.
+It needed only a match to fire the mine.</p>
+
+<p>In 1603, when matters were at their worst, there appeared in Poland a
+young man who claimed to be the murdered Dmitri. His story was that, by
+means of an adroit substitution, another boy had been killed in his
+place; that he had escaped; and he claimed the throne of the Ruriks. He
+strongly resembled the prince he claimed to be, and his identity seemed
+to be established, also, by other evidence than mere personal
+resemblance. There was no "strawberry mark on his left arm," but both he
+and the dead prince, if, indeed, they were two distinct persons, had a
+wart on the forehead, and another under the right eye, and in both one
+arm was slightly longer than the other. The pretender, or real prince,
+as the case may be, had also a valuable jewel which had belonged to
+Dmitri; and so he was not long in winning credence for his story, both
+in Poland and in Russia. Boris gave out that the young man was the monk
+Otrafief, who had appeared in the army as his advocate and emissary; and
+some historians&mdash;Karamsin and Bell among the number&mdash;have accepted this
+theory; but a careful comparison of dates seems to contradict it.
+Whoever the man was, he was an able and accomplished diplomatist as well
+as a singularly bold warrior; and he succeeded presently in winning the
+recognition of Sigismund, King of Poland, and putting himself at the
+head of an army with which he invaded Russia. He had privately abjured
+the Greek faith, and undertaken to convert Russia into a Catholic power;
+and, in addition to the many other favors promised the Poles, he had
+engaged to marry Marina, the daughter of a Polish nobleman.</p>
+
+<p>During the autumn of the year 1604, this new Dmitri began his invasion
+at the head of a small army made up of Poles and Don Cossacks. On his
+march his force was swelled by accessions, and a number of towns
+declared in his favor. Boris sent an army four times as great as his
+own, to destroy him; and battle was joined on the last day of December.
+Dmitri's case seemed utterly hopeless; but he was both able and brave.
+He fought with the resolution and courage of a hero, the skill of a
+consummate tactician, and the fury of a demon. And in spite of the
+terrible odds against him, he won a great victory. In a military way,
+its results were neutralized by the withdrawal of his Poles, and by some
+other circumstances which forbade his pushing forward towards the
+capital; but the moral effect was altogether in his favor. The
+superstitious Russians saw in his marvellous success a miracle, and
+accepted it as proof positive that this was the true prince, to oppose
+whom was sacrilege. By dint of great energy Boris was able to maintain
+the war till the time of his own death, which happened during the spring
+of 1605. His son Feodor was crowned as his successor; but a few weeks
+later he was deposed and strangled, and the new Dmitri came to the
+throne.</p>
+
+<p>For a time his wisdom as a statesman promised to equal his skill and
+courage as a soldier, but his manifest preference for Poles to Russians
+soon created jealousy; and imagining that he could overcome prejudices
+by violent measures, as easily as he had conquered a throne, he spared
+no pains to insult the Russian national feeling. He appointed only Poles
+to high office, and lavished upon foreigners so much attention as to
+breed discontent in his own capital. His apostasy from the Greek to the
+Roman faith, also, was suspected, and the clergy became his implacable
+enemies. The disaffection grew daily, and the efforts Dmitri made to
+overawe his enemies only exasperated them. Finally, on the occasion of
+his marriage with Marina, the Polish princess&mdash;which was celebrated with
+great pomp by a throng of Polish soldiers and others, invited to Moscow
+for the purpose&mdash;a mob, headed by Shuiski, or Schnisky&mdash;for the name is
+spelled in both of these and half a dozen other ways&mdash;stormed the
+palace, butchered the Poles, and impaled Dmitri on a spear. To leave no
+doubt of his death this time, they kept his body transfixed with the
+spear, in front of the palace, for three days, that the people might
+wreak their vengeance upon the dead czar by insulting his corpse.</p>
+
+<p>Schnisky profited by his victory, and while the blood of the populace
+was still hot was chosen czar, as successor of the impostor he had
+overthrown. His popularity was short-lived, however. His fellows among
+the nobles resented his elevation above themselves, and ere long the
+desire for his removal was as unanimous as his election had been. This
+seemed a good time for the doubly dead Dmitri to come to life again; and
+so it was presently rumored that after all he had not been killed; that
+the corpse the people had spat upon and insulted was not his; that he
+was alive, in Poland, and ready to claim his own. This report was
+industriously circulated by the nobles; but as the people had not yet
+forgotten their hatred for the usurper, he was permitted to lie down in
+his grave again.</p>
+
+<p>To prevent his coming to life for a third time, the dead czar's remains
+were disinterred and burned. The ashes were collected and fired from a
+piece of artillery, and it was supposed that further resurrection on
+his part was impossible. But, as we have seen, Dmitri had a most
+astonishing genius for coming to life after being thoroughly killed; and
+presently he appeared again in Poland. This time, history says, he was
+either a Russian schoolmaster or a Polish Jew; but however that may be,
+certain it is that he so closely resembled the other two Dmitri's in
+personal appearance, even to the two warts and unequally long arms, that
+he imposed on everybody around him with his story. Even the Princess
+Marina accepted him, and actually lived with him as his wife.</p>
+
+<p>He was able, without much difficulty, to interest the King of Poland in
+his behalf, and to secure a declaration of war by that potentate against
+Czar Schnisky. He invaded Russia, won battles, captured Smolensko,
+invested Moscow, and finally entered the city.</p>
+
+<p>About this time Dmitri appeared in several other places, but only one of
+him was in Moscow at the head of a victorious army; and in behalf of
+this particular one Schnisky resigned his crown and retired to a
+monastery, whence he was soon removed to a dungeon.</p>
+
+<p>At this juncture the King of Poland, having plans of his own for the
+union of Russia and his own kingdom, withdrew his countenance from
+Dmitri; and that prince retired from the business of governing, and
+devoted himself for the rest of his life to the less honorable, but
+perhaps equally lucrative, profession of highway robbery. He was again
+killed after awhile, this time by a Don Cossack. But even this public
+killing had small effect. A dozen or more new Dmitri's appeared,
+claiming the throne; and some of them, says the historian Bell,
+"actually touched the sceptre for a moment, but only to recoil in fear
+from the dangerous object of their insane ambition."</p>
+
+<p>After awhile, having found the task an unprofitable one, perhaps, Dmitri
+seems to have made up his mind to stay dead; but in due course a race of
+his sons sprang up quite as mysteriously, if not quite as persistently,
+to pester the Russians, and peace came to them only through the
+elevation of the Romanoffs to the imperial throne. Connected as they
+were by ties of blood with the race of Rurik, they brought legitimacy to
+the rescue of a land long torn by faction. The loyalty of the people to
+sovereigns whose right to rule was derived from Rurik, gave the dynasty
+a strength sufficient to maintain itself; and after a little while Peter
+the Great taught his Russians civilization, and a new era in Russian
+history was begun.</p>
+
+<h4>THE END.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4>Footnotes.</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> For some of the materials used in this sketch I am indebted
+to the work entitled "The Boyhood of Great Men," by John G. Edgar,
+published by Messrs. Harper &amp; Brothers.</p></div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE STORIES FROM HISTORY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 23887-h.txt or 23887-h.zip *******</p>
+<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br />
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/8/23887">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/8/8/23887</a></p>
+<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.</p>
+
+<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.</p>
+
+
+
+<pre>
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license">http://www.gutenberg.org/license)</a>.
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's
+eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII,
+compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over
+the old filename and etext number.  The replaced older file is renamed.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving
+new filenames and etext numbers.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org">http://www.gutenberg.org</a>
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000,
+are filed in directories based on their release date.  If you want to
+download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular
+search system you may utilize the following addresses and just
+download by the etext year.
+
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a>
+
+    (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99,
+     98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
+
+EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are
+filed in a different way.  The year of a release date is no longer part
+of the directory path.  The path is based on the etext number (which is
+identical to the filename).  The path to the file is made up of single
+digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename.  For
+example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at:
+
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234
+
+or filename 24689 would be found at:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689
+
+An alternative method of locating eBooks:
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a>
+
+*** END: FULL LICENSE ***
+</pre>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/23887-h/images/ill-001.jpg b/23887-h/images/ill-001.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d006b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h/images/ill-001.jpg
diff --git a/23887-h/images/ill-025.jpg b/23887-h/images/ill-025.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c8e0d8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h/images/ill-025.jpg
diff --git a/23887-h/images/ill-037.jpg b/23887-h/images/ill-037.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5f44e09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h/images/ill-037.jpg
diff --git a/23887-h/images/ill-049.jpg b/23887-h/images/ill-049.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..28dadca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h/images/ill-049.jpg
diff --git a/23887-h/images/ill-065.jpg b/23887-h/images/ill-065.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ffe2cfc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h/images/ill-065.jpg
diff --git a/23887-h/images/ill-073.jpg b/23887-h/images/ill-073.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f218943
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h/images/ill-073.jpg
diff --git a/23887-h/images/ill-081.jpg b/23887-h/images/ill-081.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..76814dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h/images/ill-081.jpg
diff --git a/23887-h/images/ill-097.jpg b/23887-h/images/ill-097.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4141d36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h/images/ill-097.jpg
diff --git a/23887-h/images/ill-105.jpg b/23887-h/images/ill-105.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..66bdc09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h/images/ill-105.jpg
diff --git a/23887-h/images/ill-119.jpg b/23887-h/images/ill-119.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..01db0f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h/images/ill-119.jpg
diff --git a/23887-h/images/ill-127.jpg b/23887-h/images/ill-127.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a8a2bd6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h/images/ill-127.jpg
diff --git a/23887-h/images/ill-139.jpg b/23887-h/images/ill-139.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..93f4b09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h/images/ill-139.jpg
diff --git a/23887-h/images/ill-151.jpg b/23887-h/images/ill-151.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab0f734
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h/images/ill-151.jpg
diff --git a/23887-h/images/ill-159.jpg b/23887-h/images/ill-159.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fcda3c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h/images/ill-159.jpg
diff --git a/23887-h/images/ill-173.jpg b/23887-h/images/ill-173.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..90a13a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h/images/ill-173.jpg
diff --git a/23887-h/images/ill-191.jpg b/23887-h/images/ill-191.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..00b7830
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887-h/images/ill-191.jpg
diff --git a/23887.txt b/23887.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0928c82
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4156 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Strange Stories from History for Young
+People, by George Cary 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: Strange Stories from History for Young People
+
+
+Author: George Cary Eggleston
+
+
+
+Release Date: December 17, 2007  [eBook #23887]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE STORIES FROM HISTORY FOR
+YOUNG PEOPLE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by David Garcia, Annie McGuire, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) from page
+images generously made available by Kentuckiana Digital Library
+(http://kdl.kyvl.org/)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 23887-h.htm or 23887-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/8/23887/23887-h/23887-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/8/23887/23887-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through the Kentuckiana
+      Digital Library. See
+      http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc=kyetexts;xc=1&idno=b92-202-30752275&view=toc
+
+
+
+
+
+STRANGE STORIES FROM HISTORY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
+
+by
+
+GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON
+
+Author of
+"Red Eagle," "The Big Brother," "The Wreck of the Red Bird,"
+"The Signal Boys," Etc.
+
+Illustrated
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+New York
+Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square
+
+
+[Illustration: Title Page]
+
+
+
+
+HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE SERIES.
+
+Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, $1.00 per volume.
+
+  THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMY BROWN. Edited by W. L. ALDEN.
+  THE CRUISE OF THE CANOE CLUB. By W. L. ALDEN.
+  THE CRUISE OF THE "GHOST." By W. L. ALDEN.
+  THE MORAL PIRATES. By W. L. ALDEN.
+  TOBY TYLER; OR, TEN WEEKS WITH A CIRCUS by JAMES OTIS.
+  MR. STUBBS'S BROTHER. A sequel to "Toby Tyler." By JAMES OTIS.
+  TIM AND TIP: OR, THE ADVENTURES OF A BOY AND A DOG. By JAMES OTIS.
+  LEFT BEHIND: OR, TEN DAYS A NEWSBOY. By JAMES OTIS.
+  RAISING THE "PEARL." By JAMES OTIS.
+  MILDRED'S BARGAIN, AND OTHER STORIES. By LUCY C. LILLIE.
+  NAN. By LUCY C. LILLIE.
+  THE FOUR MACNICOLS. By WILLIAM BLACK.
+  THE LOST CITY; OR, THE BOY EXPLORERS IN CENTRAL ASIA. By DAVID KER.
+  THE TALKING LEAVES. An Indian Story. By W. O. STODDARD.
+  WHO WAS PAUL GRAYSON? By JOHN HABBERTON, Author of "Helen's Babies."
+  PRINCE LAZYBONES, AND OTHER STORIES. By Mrs. W. J. HAYS.
+  THE ICE QUEEN. By ERNEST INGERSOLL.
+  CHAPTERS ON PLANT LIFE. By Mrs. S. B. HERRICK.
+  STRANGE STORIES FROM HISTORY. By GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON.
+
+PUBLISHED BY Harper & Brothers, NEW YORK.
+
+_Any of the above works will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to
+any part of the United States or Canada, on receipt of the price._
+
+Copyright, 1885, by HARPER & BROTHERS.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+In calling the tales in this volume "Strange Stories" I have sought
+simply to indicate that, in the main, they are unfamiliar to youthful
+readers, and that most of them relate deeds and occurrences some what
+out of the common. In choosing the themes I have tried to avoid the
+tales that have been often used, and to tell only those of which young
+readers generally have not before heard.
+
+Of course, a book of this kind can make no pretension to originality of
+matter, as the facts used in it are to be found in historical works of
+recognized authority, though many of them have been drawn from books
+that are not easily accessible to the majority of readers. If there is
+any originality in my little volume it is in the manner in which the
+tales are told. I have endeavored to tell them as simply as possible,
+and at the same time with as much dramatic force and fervor as I could
+command, while adhering rigidly to the facts of history.
+
+It would be impossible for me to say to what sources I am indebted for
+materials. The incidents related have been familiar to me for years, as
+they are to all persons whose reading of history has been at all
+extensive, and I cannot say with any certainty how much of each I
+learned from one and how much from another historical writer. Nor is it
+in any way necessary that I should do so, as the recorded facts of
+history are common property. But a special acknowledgment is due to Mr.
+James Parton in the case of the tale of the Negro Fort, and also for
+certain details in those relating to the New Orleans campaign of
+1814-15. In that field Mr. Parton is an original investigator, to whose
+labors every writer on the subject must be indebted. I wish also to
+acknowledge my obligation to Mr. A. B. Meek, the author of a little
+work entitled "Romantic Passages in Southwestern History," for the main
+facts in the stories of the Charge of the Hounds and the Battle of the
+Canoes on the Alabama River; but, with respect to those matters, I have
+had the advantage of private sources of information also.
+
+Most of the stories in the volume were originally written for _Harper's
+Young People_; one was first published in _Good Cheer_, and a few in
+other periodicals. I owe thanks to the editors and publishers concerned
+for permission to reprint them in this form.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                           PAGE
+HISTORY STORIES.
+
+  THE STORY OF THE NEGRO FORT                                13
+
+  A WAR FOR AN ARCHBISHOP                                    26
+
+  THE BOY COMMANDER OF THE CAMISARDS                         38
+
+  THE CANOE FIGHT                                            55
+
+  THE BATTLE OF LAKE BORGNE                                  67
+
+  THE BATTLE IN THE DARK                                     77
+
+  THE TROUBLESOME BURGHERS                                   88
+
+  THE DEFENCE OF ROCHELLE                                    99
+
+  THE SAD STORY OF A BOY KING                               111
+
+  TWO OBSCURE HEROES                                        120
+
+  THE CHARGE OF THE HOUNDS                                  130
+
+  THE STORY OF A WINTER CAMPAIGN                            140
+
+  YOUNG WASHINGTON IN THE WOODS                             151
+
+  THE STORY OF CATHERINE                                    163
+
+  THE VIRGINIA WIFE-MARKET                                  175
+
+
+BIOGRAPHY STORIES.
+
+  BOYHOOD OF DANIEL WEBSTER                                 185
+
+  THE SCULLION WHO BECAME A SCULPTOR                        193
+
+  BOYHOOD OF WILLIAM CHAMBERS                               200
+
+  HOW A BOY HIRED OUT, AND WHAT CAME OF IT                  206
+
+  THE WICKEDEST MAN IN THE WORLD                            212
+
+  A PRINCE WHO WOULD NOT STAY DEAD                          228
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+  _Breakfast and Battle_                                              23
+
+  _Vladimir Besieging the City Containing his Archbishop_             35
+
+  _Cavalier Personating the Lieutenant of the Count Broglio_          47
+
+  _With a Single Blow he Knocked over the Indian with whom
+       Austill was Struggling_                                        63
+
+  _Boarding the Gun-boats_                                            73
+
+  _General Jackson at New Orleans_                                    79
+
+  _The Burghers Prepare to Defend their City_                         95
+
+  _Richelieu Surveying the Works at Rochelle_                        103
+
+  _The Parting between King Richard II. and Queen Isabella_          117
+
+  _Martin Preaching to the People on the Duty of Fighting_           125
+
+  "_Just at the Moment when Matters were at their Worst, he
+       Rode up_"                                                     137
+
+  _Capture of the Dutch fleet by the Soldiers of the French
+       Republic_                                                     149
+
+  _Washington as a Surveyor_                                         157
+
+  "_She Went Boldly into his Tent_"                                  171
+
+  "_'To the End of the Twelfth Book of the AEneid,' answered
+       the 'Idle' Boy in Triumph_"                                   189
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF THE NEGRO FORT.
+
+
+During the war of 1812-14, between Great Britain and the United States,
+the weak Spanish Governor of Florida--for Florida was then Spanish
+territory--permitted the British to make Pensacola their base of
+operations against us. This was a gross outrage, as we were at peace
+with Spain at the time, and General Jackson, acting on his own
+responsibility, invaded Florida in retaliation.
+
+Among the British at that time was an eccentric Irish officer, Colonel
+Edward Nichols, who enlisted and tried to make soldiers of a large
+number of the Seminole Indians. In 1815, after the war was over, Colonel
+Nichols again visited the Seminoles, who were disposed to be hostile to
+the United States, as Colonel Nichols himself was, and made an
+astonishing treaty with them, in which an alliance, offensive and
+defensive, between Great Britain and the Seminoles, was agreed upon. We
+had made peace with Great Britain a few months before, and yet this
+ridiculous Irish colonel signed a treaty binding Great Britain to fight
+us whenever the Seminoles in the Spanish territory of Florida should see
+fit to make a war! If this extraordinary performance had been all, it
+would not have mattered so much, for the British government refused to
+ratify the treaty; but it was not all. Colonel Nichols, as if determined
+to give us as much trouble as he could, built a strong fortress on the
+Appalachicola River, and gave it to his friends the Seminoles, naming it
+"The British Post on the Appalachicola," where the British had not the
+least right to have any post whatever. Situated on a high bluff, with
+flanks securely guarded by the river on one side and a swamp on the
+other, this fort, properly defended, was capable of resisting the
+assaults of almost any force that could approach it; and Colonel Nichols
+was determined that it should be properly defended, and should be a
+constant menace and source of danger to the United States. He armed it
+with one 32-pounder cannon, three 24-pounders, and eight other guns. In
+the matter of small-arms he was even more liberal. He supplied the fort
+with 2500 muskets, 500 carbines, 400 pistols, and 500 swords. In the
+magazines he stored 300 quarter casks of rifle powder and 763 barrels of
+ordinary gunpowder.
+
+When Colonel Nichols went away, his Seminoles soon wandered off, leaving
+the fort without a garrison. This gave an opportunity to a negro bandit
+and desperado named Garcon to seize the place, which he did, gathering
+about him a large band of runaway negroes, Choctaw Indians, and other
+lawless persons, whom he organized into a strong company of robbers.
+Garcon made the fort his stronghold, and began to plunder the country
+round about as thoroughly as any robber baron or Italian bandit ever
+did, sometimes venturing across the border into the United States.
+
+All this was so annoying and so threatening to our frontier settlements
+in Georgia, that General Jackson demanded of the Spanish authorities
+that they should reduce the place; and they would have been glad enough
+to do so, probably, if it had been possible, because the banditti
+plundered Spanish as well as other settlements. But the Spanish governor
+had no force at command, and could do nothing, and so the fort remained,
+a standing menace to the American borders.
+
+Matters were in this position in the spring of 1816, when General Gaines
+was sent to fortify our frontier at the point where the Chattahoochee
+and Flint rivers unite to form the Appalachicola. In June of that year
+some stores for General Gaines's forces were sent by sea from New
+Orleans. The vessels carrying them were to go up the Appalachicola, and
+General Gaines was not sure that the little fleet would be permitted to
+pass the robbers' stronghold, which had come to be called the Negro
+Fort. Accordingly, he sent Colonel Clinch with a small force down the
+river, to render any assistance that might be necessary. On the way
+Colonel Clinch was joined by a band of Seminoles, who wanted to
+recapture the fort on their own account, and the two bodies determined
+to act together.
+
+Meantime the two schooners with supplies and the two gun-boats sent to
+guard them had arrived at the mouth of the river; and when the
+commandant tried to hold a conference with Garcon, the ship's boat,
+bearing a white flag, was fired upon.
+
+Running short of water while lying off the river's mouth, the officers
+of the fleet sent out a boat to procure a supply. This boat was armed
+with a swivel and muskets, and was commanded by Midshipman Luffborough.
+The boat went into the mouth of the river, and, seeing a negro on shore,
+Midshipman Luffborough landed to ask for fresh-water supplies. Garcon,
+with some of his men, lay in ambush at the spot, and while the officer
+talked with the negro the concealed men fired upon the boat, killing
+Luffborough and two of his men. One man got away by swimming, and was
+picked up by the fleet; two others were taken prisoners, and, as was
+afterwards learned, Garcon coated them with tar and burned them to
+death.
+
+It would not do to send more boats ashore, and so the little squadron
+lay together awaiting orders from Colonel Clinch. That officer, as he
+approached the fort, captured a negro, who wore a white man's scalp at
+his belt, and from him he learned of the massacre of Luffborough's
+party. There was no further occasion for doubt as to what was to be
+done. Colonel Clinch determined to reduce the fort at any cost, although
+the operation promised to be a very difficult one.
+
+Placing his men in line of battle, he sent a courier to the fleet,
+ordering the gun-boats to come up and help in the attack. The Seminoles
+made many demonstrations against the works, and the negroes replied with
+their cannon. Garcon had raised his flags--a red one and a British
+Union-jack--and whenever he caught sight of the Indians or the
+Americans, he shelled them vigorously with his 32-pounder.
+
+Three or four days were passed in this way, while the gun-boats were
+slowly making their way up the river. It was Colonel Clinch's purpose to
+have the gun-boats shell the fort, while he should storm it on the land
+side. The work promised to be bloody, and it was necessary to bring all
+the available force to bear at once. There were no siege-guns at hand,
+or anywhere within reach, and the only way to reduce the fort was for
+the small force of soldiers--numbering only one hundred and sixteen
+men--to rush upon it, receiving the fire of its heavy artillery, and
+climb over its parapets in the face of a murderous fire of small-arms.
+Garcon had with him three hundred and thirty-four men, so that, besides
+having strong defensive works and an abundant supply of large cannon,
+his force outnumbered Colonel Clinch's nearly three to one. It is true
+that the American officer had the band of Seminoles with him, but they
+were entirely worthless for determined work of the kind that the white
+men had to do. Even while lying in the woods at a distance, waiting for
+the gun-boats to come up, the Indians became utterly demoralized under
+the fire of Garcon's 32-pounder. There was nothing to be done, however,
+by way of improving the prospect, which was certainly hopeless enough.
+One hundred and sixteen white men had the Negro Fort to storm,
+notwithstanding its strength and the overwhelming force that defended
+it. But those one hundred and sixteen men were American soldiers, under
+command of a brave and resolute officer, who had made up his mind that
+the fort could be taken, and they were prepared to follow their leader
+up to the muzzle of the guns and over the ramparts, there to fight the
+question out in a hand-to-hand struggle with the desperadoes inside.
+
+Finally the gun-boats arrived, and preparations were made for the
+attack. Sailing-master Jairus Loomis, the commandant of the little
+fleet, cast his anchors under the guns of the Negro Fort at five
+o'clock in the morning on the 27th of July, 1816. The fort at once
+opened fire, and it seemed impossible for the little vessels to endure
+the storm of shot and shell that rained upon them from the ramparts
+above. They replied vigorously, however, but with no effect. Their guns
+were too small to make any impression upon the heavy earthen walls of
+the fortress.
+
+Sailing-master Loomis had roused his ship's cook early that morning, and
+had given him a strange breakfast to cook. He had ordered him to make
+all the fire he could in his galley, and to fill the fire with
+cannon-balls. Not long after the bombardment began the cook reported
+that breakfast was ready; that is to say, that the cannon-balls were
+red-hot. Loomis trained one of his guns with his own hands so that its
+shot should fall within the fort, instead of burying itself in the
+ramparts, and this gun was at once loaded with a red-hot shot. The word
+was given, the match applied, and the glowing missile sped on its way. A
+few seconds later the earth shook and quivered, a deafening roar
+stunned the sailors, and a vast cloud of smoke filled the air, shutting
+out the sun.
+
+The hot shot had fallen into the great magazine, where there were
+hundreds of barrels of gunpowder, and the Negro Fort was no more. It had
+been literally blown to atoms in a second.
+
+The slaughter was frightful. There were, as we know already, three
+hundred and thirty-four men in the fort, and two hundred and seventy of
+them were killed outright by the explosion. All the rest, except three
+men who miraculously escaped injury, were wounded, most of them so badly
+that they died soon afterwards.
+
+One of the three men who escaped the explosion unhurt was Garcon
+himself. Bad as this bandit chief was, Colonel Clinch would have spared
+his life, but it happened that he fell into the hands of the sailors
+from the gun-boat; and when they learned that Garcon had tarred and
+burned their comrades whom he had captured in the attack on
+Luffborough's boat, they turned him over to the infuriated Seminoles,
+who put him to death in their own cruel way.
+
+[Illustration: BREAKFAST AND BATTLE.]
+
+This is the history of a strange affair, which at one time promised to
+give the government of the United States no little trouble, even
+threatening to involve us in a war with Spain, for the fort was on
+Spanish territory, and the Spaniards naturally resented an invasion of
+their soil.
+
+
+
+
+A WAR FOR AN ARCHBISHOP.
+
+THE CURIOUS STORY OF VLADIMIR THE GREAT.
+
+
+In the latter part of the tenth century Sviatozlaf was Grand Prince of
+Russia. He was a powerful prince, but a turbulent one, and he behaved so
+ill towards his neighbors that, when an opportunity offered, one of them
+converted his skull into a gold-mounted drinking-cup, with an
+inscription upon it, and his dominions were parcelled out between his
+three sons--Yaropolk, Oleg, and Vladimir.
+
+Yaropolk, finding his possessions too small for his ambition, made war
+on Oleg, and conquered his territory; but his brother Oleg having been
+killed in the war, the tender-hearted Yaropolk wept bitterly over his
+corpse.
+
+The other brother, Vladimir, was so grieved at the death of Oleg that he
+abandoned his capital, Novgorod, and remained for a time in seclusion.
+Yaropolk seized the opportunity thus offered, and made himself master of
+Vladimir's dominions also. Not long afterwards Vladimir appeared at the
+head of an army, and Yaropolk ran away to his own capital, Kiev.
+Vladimir at once resumed the throne, and sent word to Yaropolk that he
+would in due time return the hostile visit.
+
+About this time Yaropolk and Vladimir both asked for the hand of the
+Princess Rogneda, of Polotzk, in marriage; and the father of the
+princess, fearing to offend either of the royal barbarians, left the
+choice to Rogneda herself. She chose Yaropolk, sending a very insulting
+message to Vladimir, whereupon that prince marched against Polotzk,
+conquered the province, and with his own hand slew the father and
+brothers of the princess. Then, with their blood still unwashed from his
+hands, he forced Rogneda to marry him.
+
+Having attended to this matter, Vladimir undertook to return his
+brother's hostile visit, as he had promised to do. Yaropolk's capital,
+Kiev, was a strongly fortified place, and capable of a stout resistance;
+but Vladimir corrupted Blude, one of Yaropolk's ministers, paying him to
+betray his master, and promising, in the event of success, to heap
+honors on his head. Blude worked upon Yaropolk's fears, and persuaded
+him to abandon the capital without a struggle, and Vladimir took
+possession of the throne and the country. Even in his exile, however,
+Yaropolk had no peace. Blude frightened him with false stories, and
+persuaded him to remove from place to place, until his mind and body
+were worn out, when, at Blude's suggestion, he determined to surrender
+himself, and trust to the mercy of Vladimir. That good-natured brother
+ordered the betrayed and distressed prince to be put to death.
+
+Then Vladimir rewarded Blude. He entertained him in princely fashion,
+declaring to his followers that he was deeply indebted to this man for
+his faithful services, and heaping all manner of honors upon him. But at
+the end of three days he said to Blude: "I have kept my promise
+strictly. I have received you with welcome, and heaped unwonted honors
+upon your head. This I have done as your friend. To-day, as judge, I
+condemn the traitor and the murderer of his prince." He ordered that
+Blude should suffer instant death, and the sentence was executed.
+
+Now that both Oleg and Yaropolk were dead, Vladimir was Grand Prince of
+all the Russias, as his father before him had been. He invaded Poland,
+and made war upon various others of his neighbors, greatly enlarging his
+dominions and strengthening his rule.
+
+But Vladimir was a very pious prince in his heathen way, and feeling
+that the gods had greatly favored him, he made rich feasts of
+thanksgiving in their honor. He ordered splendid memorials to various
+deities to be erected throughout the country, and he specially honored
+Perune, the father of the gods, for whom he provided a new pair of
+golden whiskers--golden whiskers being the special glory of Perune.
+
+Not content with this, Vladimir ordered a human sacrifice to be made,
+and selected for the victim a Christian youth of the capital. The father
+of the boy resisted, and both were slain, locked in each other's arms.
+
+Vladimir gave vast sums of money to the religious establishments, and
+behaved generally like a very devout pagan. His piety and generosity
+made him so desirable a patron that efforts were made by the priests of
+other religions to convert him. Jews, Mohammedans, Catholics, and Greeks
+all sought to win him, and Vladimir began seriously to consider the
+question of changing his religion. He appointed a commission, consisting
+of ten boyards, and ordered them to examine into the comparative merits
+of the different religions, and to report to him. When their report was
+made, Vladimir weighed the matter carefully.
+
+He began by rejecting Mohammedanism, because it forbids the use of wine,
+and Vladimir was not at all disposed to become a water-drinker. Judaism,
+he said, was a homeless religion, its followers being wanderers on the
+face of the earth, under a curse; so he would have nothing to do with
+that faith. The Catholic religion would not do at all, because it
+recognized in the pope a superior to himself, and Vladimir had no mind
+to acknowledge a superior. The Greek religion was free from these
+objections, and moreover, by adopting it he would bring himself into
+friendship with the great Greek or Byzantine Empire, whose capital was
+at Constantinople, and that was something which he earnestly desired to
+accomplish.
+
+Accordingly, he determined to become a Christian and a member of the
+Greek Church; but how? There were serious difficulties in the way. In
+order to become a Christian he must be baptized, and he was puzzled
+about how to accomplish that. There were many Greek priests in his
+capital, any one of whom would have been glad to baptize the heathen
+monarch, but Vladimir would not let a mere priest convert him into a
+Christian. Nobody less than an archbishop would do for that, and there
+was no archbishop in Russia.
+
+It is true that there were plenty of archbishops in the dominions of his
+Byzantine neighbors, and that the Greek emperors, Basil and Constantine,
+would have been glad to send him a dozen of them if he had expressed a
+wish to that effect; but Vladimir was proud, and could not think of
+asking a favor of anybody, least of all of the Greek emperors. No, he
+would die a heathen rather than ask for an archbishop to baptize him.
+
+Nevertheless, Vladimir had fully made up his mind to have himself
+baptized by an archbishop. It was his lifelong habit, when he wanted
+anything, to take it by force. He had taken two thirds of his dominions
+in that way, and, as we have seen, it was in that way that he got his
+wife Rogneda. So now that he wanted an archbishop, he determined to take
+one. Calling his army together, he declared war on the Greek emperors,
+and promising his soldiers all the pillage they wanted, he marched away
+towards Constantinople.
+
+The first serious obstacle he met with was the fortified city of
+Kherson, situated near the spot where Sebastopol stands in our day. Here
+the resistance was so obstinate that month after month was consumed in
+siege operations. At the end of six months Vladimir became seriously
+alarmed lest the garrison should be succored from without, in which case
+his hope of getting himself converted into a Christian must be abandoned
+altogether.
+
+While he was troubled on this score, however, one of his soldiers picked
+up an arrow that had been shot from the city, and found a letter
+attached to it. This letter informed the Grand Prince that the
+water-pipes of the city received their supplies at a point immediately
+in his rear, and with this news Vladimir's hope of becoming a Christian
+revived. He found the water-pipes and stopped them up, and the city
+surrendered.
+
+There were plenty of bishops and archbishops there, of course, and they
+were perfectly willing--as they had been from the first, for that
+matter--to baptize the unruly royal convert, but Vladimir was not
+content now with that. He sent a messenger to Constantinople to tell the
+emperors there that he wanted their sister, the Princess Anne, for a
+wife; and that if they refused, he would march against Constantinople
+itself. The Emperors Basil and Constantine consented, and although
+Vladimir had five wives already, he married Anne, and was baptized on
+the same day.
+
+Having now become a Christian, the Grand Prince determined that his
+Russians should do the same. He publicly stripped the god Perune of his
+gorgeous golden whiskers, and of his rich vestments, showing the people
+that Perune was only a log of wood. Then he had the deposed god whipped
+in public, and thrown into the river, with all the other gods.
+
+He next ordered all the people of his capital city to assemble on the
+banks of the Dnieper River, and, at a signal, made them all rush into
+the water, while a priest pronounced the baptismal service over the
+whole population of the city at once. It was the most wholesale baptism
+ever performed.
+
+[Illustration: VLADIMIR BESIEGING THE CITY CONTAINING HIS ARCHBISHOP.]
+
+That is the way in which Russia was changed from a pagan to a
+Christian empire. The story reads like a romance, but it is plain,
+well-authenticated history. For his military exploits the Russian
+historians call this prince Vladimir the Great. The people call him St.
+Vladimir, the Greek Church having enrolled his name among the saints
+soon after his death. He was undoubtedly a man of rare military skill,
+and unusual ability in the government of men. Bad as his acts were, he
+seems to have had a conscience, and to have done his duty so far as he
+was capable of understanding it.
+
+
+
+
+THE BOY COMMANDER OF THE CAMISARDS.
+
+
+When Louis XIV. was King of France, that country was generally Catholic,
+as it is still, but in the rugged mountain region called the Cevennes
+more than half the people were Protestants. At first the king consented
+that these Protestant people, who were well behaved both in peace and in
+war, should live in quiet, and worship as they pleased; but in those
+days men were not tolerant in matters of religion, as they are now, and
+so after a while King Louis made up his mind that he would compel all
+his people to believe alike. The Protestants of the Cevennes were
+required to give up their religion and to become Catholics. When they
+refused, soldiers were sent to compel them, and great cruelties were
+practised upon them. Many of them were killed, many put in prison, and
+many sent to work in the galleys.
+
+When this persecution had lasted for nearly thirty years, a body of
+young men who were gathered together in the High Cevennes resolved to
+defend themselves by force. They secured arms, and although their
+numbers were very small, they met and fought the troops.
+
+Among these young men was one, a mere boy, named Jean Cavalier. His home
+was in the Lower Cevennes, but he had fled to the highlands for safety.
+This boy, without knowing it, had military genius of a very high order,
+and when it became evident that he and his comrades could not long hold
+out against the large bodies of regular troops sent against them, he
+suggested a plan which in the end proved to be so good that for years
+the poor peasants were able to maintain war against all the armies that
+King Louis could send against them, although he sent many of his finest
+generals and as many as sixty thousand men to subdue them.
+
+Cavalier's plan was to collect more men, divide, and make uprisings in
+several places at once, so that the king's officers could not tell in
+which way to turn. As he and his comrades knew the country well, and had
+friends to tell them of the enemy's movements, they could nearly always
+know when it was safe to attack, and when they must hide in the woods.
+
+Cavalier took thirty men and went into one part of the country, while
+Captain La Porte, with a like number, went to another, and Captain St.
+John to still another. They kept each other informed of all movements,
+and whenever one was pressed by the enemy, the others would begin
+burning churches or attacking small garrisons. The enemy would thus be
+compelled to abandon the pursuit of one party in order to go after the
+others, and it soon became evident that under Cavalier's lead the
+peasants were too wily and too strong for the soldiers. Sometimes
+Cavalier would fairly beat detachments of his foes, and give them chase,
+killing all whom he caught; for in that war both sides did this, even
+killing their prisoners without mercy. At other times Cavalier was
+worsted in fight, and when that was the case he fled to the woods,
+collected more men, and waited for another chance.
+
+Without trying to write an orderly history of the war, for which there
+is not space enough here, I shall now tell some stories of Cavalier's
+adventures, drawing the information chiefly from a book which he himself
+wrote years afterwards, when he was a celebrated man and a general in
+the British army.
+
+One Sunday Cavalier, who was a preacher as well as a soldier, held
+services in his camp in the woods, and all the Protestant peasants in
+the neighborhood attended. The Governor of Alais, whose name was De la
+Hay, thought this a good opportunity not only to defeat Cavalier's small
+force, but also to catch the Protestant women and children in the act of
+attending a Protestant service, the punishment for which was death. He
+collected a force of about six hundred men, cavalry and infantry, and
+marched towards the wood, where he knew he should outnumber the peasants
+three or four to one. He had a mule loaded with ropes, declaring that he
+was going to hang all the rebels at once.
+
+When news of De la Hay's coming was brought to the peasants, they sent
+away all the country people, women, and children, and began to discuss
+the situation. They had no commander, for although Cavalier had led them
+generally, he had no authority to do so. Everything was voluntary, and
+everything a subject of debate. On this occasion many thought it best to
+retreat at once, as there were less than two hundred of them; but
+Cavalier declared that if they would follow him, he would lead them to a
+place where victory might be won. They consented, and he advanced to a
+point on the road where he could shelter his men. Quickly disposing them
+in line of battle behind some defences, he awaited the coming of the
+enemy.
+
+De la Hay, being over-confident because of his superior numbers,
+blundered at the outset. Instead of attacking first with his infantry,
+he placed his horsemen in front, and ordered an assault. Cavalier was
+quick to take advantage of this blunder. He ordered only a few of his
+men to fire, and this drew a volley from the advancing horsemen, which
+did little damage to the sheltered troops, but emptied the horsemen's
+weapons. Instantly Cavalier ordered a charge and a volley, and the
+horsemen, with empty pistols, gave way, Cavalier pursuing them. De la
+Hay's infantry, being just behind the horsemen, were ridden down by
+their own friends, and became confused and panic-stricken. Cavalier
+pursued hotly, his men throwing off their coats to lighten themselves,
+and giving the enemy no time to rally. A reinforcement two hundred
+strong, coming up, tried to check Cavalier's charge; but so impetuous
+was the onset that those fresh troops gave way in their turn, and the
+chase ended only when the king's men had shut themselves up in the
+fortified towns. Cavalier had lost only five or six men, the enemy
+losing a hundred killed and many more wounded. Cavalier captured a large
+quantity of arms and ammunition, of which he was in sore need.
+
+When the battle was over it was decided unanimously to make Cavalier the
+commander. He refused, however, to accept the responsibility unless it
+could be accompanied with power to enforce obedience, and his troops at
+once voted to make his authority absolute, even to the decision of
+questions of life and death. According to the best authorities, Cavalier
+was only seventeen years old when this absolute command was conferred
+upon him. How skilfully he used the scant means at his disposal we shall
+see hereafter.
+
+On one occasion Cavalier attacked a party of forty men who were marching
+through the country to reinforce a distant post, and killed most of
+them. While searching the dead bodies, he found in the pocket of the
+commanding officer an order signed by Count Broglio, the king's
+lieutenant, directing all military officers and town authorities to
+lodge and feed the party on their march. No sooner had the boy soldier
+read this paper than he resolved to turn it to his own advantage in a
+daring and dangerous way.
+
+The castle of Servas, near Alais, had long been a source of trouble to
+him. It was a strong place, built upon a steep hill, and was so
+difficult of approach that it would have been madness to try to take it
+by force. This castle stood right in the line of Cavalier's
+communications with his friends, near a road which he was frequently
+obliged to pass, and its presence there was a source of annoyance and
+danger to him. Moreover, its garrison of about forty men were constantly
+plundering and murdering Cavalier's friends in the country round about,
+and giving timely notice to his enemies of his own military movements.
+
+When he found the order referred to, he resolved to pretend that he was
+Count Broglio's nephew, the dead commander of the detachment which he
+had just destroyed. Dressing himself in that officer's clothes, he
+ordered his men to put on the clothing of the other dead royalists. Then
+he took six of his best men, with their own Camisard uniforms on, and
+bound them with ropes, to represent prisoners. One of them had been
+wounded in the arm, and his bloody sleeve helped the stratagem. Putting
+these six men at the head of his troop, with a guard of their disguised
+comrades over them, he marched towards the Castle of Servas. There he
+declared himself to be Count Broglio's nephew, and said that he had met
+a company of the Barbets, or Camisards, and had defeated them, taking
+six prisoners; that he was afraid to keep these prisoners in the village
+overnight lest their friends should rescue them; and that he wished to
+lodge them in the castle for safety. When the governor of the castle
+heard this story, and saw the order of Count Broglio, he was completely
+imposed upon. He ordered the prisoners to be brought into the castle,
+and invited Cavalier to be his guest there for the night. Taking two of
+his officers with him, Cavalier went into the castle to sup with the
+governor. During supper several of his soldiers, who were encamped just
+outside, went into the castle upon pretence of getting wine or bread,
+and when five or six of them were in, at a signal from Cavalier, they
+overpowered the sentinels and threw the gates open. The rest of the
+troop rushed in at once, and before the garrison could seize their
+arms the boy commander was master of the fortress. He put the garrison
+to the sword, and, hastily collecting all the arms, ammunition, and
+provisions he could find, set fire to the castle and marched away. When
+the fire reached the powder magazine the whole fortress was blown to
+fragments, and a post which had long annoyed and endangered the
+Camisards was no more.
+
+[Illustration: CAVALIER PERSONATING THE LIEUTENANT OF THE COUNT
+BROGLIO.]
+
+On another occasion, finding himself short of ammunition, Cavalier
+resolved to take some by force and stratagem from the strongly fortified
+town of Savnes. His first care was to send a detachment of forty men to
+a point at some distance, with orders to burn a church which had lately
+been fortified, "thereby," he says, "to make the inhabitants of Savnes
+believe we were busy in another place." Then he detached an officer and
+fifty men, and ordered them to disguise themselves as country militia in
+the king's service, and to go into Savnes in that character. With some
+difficulty this officer accomplished his purpose, and then Roland and
+Cavalier marched upon the place. His officer inside the town, when the
+alarm was given, said to the governor, "Let them come; you'll see how
+I'll receive them." Anxious for his own safety, the governor permitted
+the supposed officer of militia to take charge of the defence, and the
+armed citizens put themselves under his command. He instructed the
+citizens to reserve their fire until he should give them orders, and in
+that way enabled Cavalier to approach unharmed. Suddenly the officer,
+directing the aim of his men against the citizens, ordered them to throw
+down their arms upon pain of instant death, and they, seeing themselves
+caught in a trap, obeyed. Cavalier marched in without opposition,
+secured all that he could carry away of arms, ammunition, and
+provisions, and retired to the woods.
+
+Throughout the summer and autumn the boy carried on his part of the war,
+nearly always getting the better of his enemies by his shrewdness and
+valor, and when that was impossible, eluding them with equal shrewdness.
+During that first campaign he destroyed many fortified places, won many
+fights against superior numbers of regular troops, and killed far more
+soldiers for the enemy than he had under his own command. Failing to
+conquer him by force or strategy, his foes fell back upon the confident
+hope of starving him during the winter, for he must pass the winter in
+the forests, with no bases of supply to draw upon for either food or
+ammunition. But in indulging this hope his enemies forgot that the crown
+and glory of his achievements in the field had been his marvellous
+fertility of resource. The very qualities which had made him formidable
+in fight were his safeguard for the winter. He knew quite as well as
+they did that he must live all winter in the woods surrounded by foes,
+and, knowing the difficulty of doing so, he gave his whole mind to the
+question of how to do it.
+
+He began during the harvest to make his preparations. He explored all
+the caves in the mountains, and selected the most available ones for use
+as magazines, taking care to have them in all parts of the mountains, so
+that if cut off from one he could draw upon another. In these caves he
+stored great quantities of grain and other provisions, and during the
+winter, whenever he needed meal, some of his men, who were millers,
+would carry grain to some lonely country mill and grind it. To prevent
+this, the king's officers ordered that all the country mills should be
+disabled and rendered unfit for use; but before the order could be
+executed, Cavalier directed some of his men, who were skilled
+machinists, to disable two or three of the mills by carrying away the
+essential parts of their machinery and storing them in his caves. Then,
+when he wanted meal, his machinists had only to replace the machinery in
+some disabled mill, and remove it again after his millers had done the
+necessary grinding. His bakers made use of farmers' ovens to bake bread
+in, and when the king's soldiers, hearing of this, destroyed the ovens,
+Cavalier sent his masons--for he had all sorts of craftsmen in his
+ranks--to rebuild them.
+
+Having two powder-makers with him, he collected saltpetre, burned willow
+twigs for charcoal, and made all the powder he needed in his caves.
+Before doing so he had been obliged to resort to many devices in order
+to get powder, sometimes disguising himself as a merchant and going into
+a town and buying small quantities at a time, so that suspicion might
+not be awakened, until he secured enough to fill his portmanteau.
+
+For bullets he melted down the leaden weights of windows, and when that
+source of supply failed he melted pewter vessels and used pewter
+bullets--a fact which gave rise to the belief that he used poisoned
+balls. Finally, in a dyer's establishment, he had the good luck to find
+two great leaden kettles, weighing more than seven hundred quintals,
+which, he says, "I caused immediately to be carried into the magazines
+with as much diligence and care as if they had been silver."
+
+Chiefly by Cavalier's tireless energy and wonderful military skill, the
+war was kept up against fearful odds for years, and finally the young
+soldier succeeded in making a treaty of peace in which perfect liberty
+of conscience and worship--which was all he had been fighting for--was
+guaranteed to the Protestants of the Cevennes. His friends rejected this
+treaty, however, and Cavalier soon afterwards went to Holland, where he
+was given command of a regiment in the English service. His career in
+arms was a brilliant one, so brilliant that the British made him a
+general and governor of the island of Jersey; but he nowhere showed
+greater genius or manifested higher soldierly qualities than during the
+time when he was the Boy Commander of the Camisards.
+
+
+
+
+THE CANOE FIGHT.
+
+AN INCIDENT OF THE CREEK WAR.
+
+
+The smallest naval battle ever fought in the world, perhaps, occurred on
+the Alabama River on the 13th of November, 1813, between two canoes, and
+this is the way in which it happened.
+
+The United States were at war with Great Britain at that time, and a war
+with Spain was also threatened. The British had stirred up the Indians
+in the Northwest to make war upon the whites, and in 1813 they persuaded
+the Creek Indians of Alabama and Mississippi to begin a war there.
+
+The government troops were so busy with the British in other quarters of
+the country that very little could be done for the protection of the
+white settlers in the Southwest, and for a good while they had to take
+care of themselves in the best way they could. Leaving their homes,
+they gathered together here and there and built rude stockade forts, in
+which they lived, with all their women and children. All the men,
+including all the boys who were old enough to pull a trigger--and
+frontier boys learn to use a gun very early in life--were organized into
+companies of volunteer soldiers.
+
+At Fort Madison, one of the smallest of the forts, there was a very
+daring frontiersman, named Samuel (or Sam) Dale--a man who had lived
+much with the Indians, and was like them in many respects, even in his
+dress and manners. Hearing that the Indians were in force on the
+southeastern bank of the Alabama River, the people in Fort Madison were
+greatly alarmed, fearing that all the crops in that region--which were
+ripe in the fields--would be destroyed. If that should occur, they knew
+they must starve during the coming winter, and so they made up their
+minds to drive the savages away, at least until they could gather the
+corn.
+
+Captain Dale at once made up a party, consisting of seventy-two men,
+all volunteers. With this force he set out on the 11th of November,
+taking Tandy Walker, a celebrated scout, for his guide. The column
+marched to the Alabama River, and crossed it at a point about twenty
+miles below the present town of Claiborne.
+
+Once across the river, Dale knew that he was among the Indians, and,
+knowing their ways, he was as watchful as if he had been one of them
+himself. He forbade his men to sleep at all during the night after
+crossing the river, and kept them under arms, in expectation of an
+attack.
+
+No attack being made, he moved up the river the next morning, marching
+most of the men, but ordering Jerry Austill, with six men, to paddle up
+in two canoes that had been found. This Jerry Austill--who afterwards
+became a merchant in Mobile and a state senator--was a boy only nineteen
+years of age at the time, but he had already distinguished himself in
+the war by his courage.
+
+At a point called Peggy Bailey's Bluff, Dale, who was marching with one
+man several hundreds of yards ahead of his men, came upon a party of
+Indians at breakfast. He shot one of them, and the rest ran away,
+leaving their provisions behind them. Securing the provisions, Dale
+marched on for a mile or two, but, finding no further trace of Indians,
+he concluded that the country on that side of the river was now pretty
+clear of them, and so he set to work to cross to the other side, meaning
+to look for enemies there.
+
+The river at that point is about a quarter of a mile wide, and, as there
+were only two small canoes at hand, the work of taking the men across
+was very slow. When all were over except Dale and about a dozen others,
+the little remnant of the force was suddenly attacked.
+
+The situation was a very dangerous one. With the main body of his
+command on the other side of the river, where it could give him no help,
+Dale had to face a large body of Indians with only a dozen men, and, as
+only one canoe remained on his side of the river, it was impossible for
+the whole of the little party to escape by flight, as the canoe would
+not hold them all.
+
+Concealing his men in the bushes, behind trees, and under the
+river-bank, he replied to the fire of the Indians, and kept them at bay.
+But it was certain that this could not last long. The Indians must soon
+find out from the firing how small the number of their adversaries was;
+and Dale knew that as soon as the discovery was made, they would rush
+upon him, and put the whole party to death.
+
+He called to the men on the other side of the river to come over and
+help him, but they were panic-stricken, probably because they could see,
+as Dale could not, how large a body of Indians was pressing their
+commander. The men on the other bank did, indeed, make one or two slight
+attempts to cross, but those came to nothing, and the little party on
+the eastern shore seemed doomed to destruction.
+
+Bad as matters were with Dale, they soon became worse. An immense canoe,
+more than thirty feet long and four feet deep, came down the river,
+bearing eleven warriors, who undertook to land and attack Dale in the
+rear. This compelled the party to fight in two directions at once. Dale
+and his companions kept up the battle in front, while Jerry Austill,
+James Smith, and one other man fought the warriors in the canoe to keep
+them from landing. One of the eleven was killed, and another swam ashore
+and succeeded in joining the Indians on the bank.
+
+Seeing how desperate the case was, Dale resolved upon a desperate
+remedy. He called for volunteers for a dangerous piece of work, and was
+at once joined by Jerry Austill, James Smith, and a negro man whose name
+was Caesar. With these men he leaped into the little canoe, and paddled
+towards the big Indian boat, meaning to fight the nine Indians who
+remained in it, although he and his canoe party numbered only four men
+all told.
+
+As the two canoes approached each other, both parties tried to fire, but
+their gunpowder was wet, and so they grappled for a hand-to-hand battle.
+Jerry Austill, being in front, received the first attack. No sooner did
+the two canoes touch than an Indian sprang forward, and dealt the youth
+a terrible blow with a war-club, knocking him down, and making a dent in
+his skull which he carried through life. Once down, he would have been
+killed but for the quickness of Smith, who, seeing the danger his
+companion was in, raised his rifle. With a single blow he knocked over
+the Indian with whom Austill was struggling.
+
+Then Austill rose, and the fierce contest went on. Dale and his men
+rained their blows upon their foes, and received blows quite as lusty in
+return, but Caesar managed the boat so skilfully that, in spite of the
+superior numbers of the Indians, the fight was not very unequal. He held
+the little boat against the big one, but kept it at the end, so that the
+Indians in the other end of the big canoe could not reach Dale's men.
+
+In this way those that were actually fighting Dale, Austill, and Smith
+never numbered more than three or four at any one time, and so the
+three could not be borne down by mere force of numbers. Dale stood for a
+time with one foot in each boat; then he stepped over into the Indian
+canoe, giving his comrades more room, and crowding the Indians towards
+the end of their boat.
+
+One by one the savages fell, until only one was left facing Dale, who
+held Caesar's gun, with bayonet attached, in his hand. This sole survivor
+was Tar-cha-chee, an Indian with whom Dale had hunted and lived, one
+whom he regarded as a friend, and whom he now wished to spare. But the
+savage was strong within the Indian's breast, and he refused to accept
+mercy even from a man who had been his comrade and friend. Standing
+erect in the bow of the canoe, he shook himself, and said, in the
+Muscogee tongue, "Big Sam, you are a man, I am another; now for it."
+
+With that he rushed forward, only to meet death at the hands of the
+friend who would gladly have spared him.
+
+[Illustration: "WITH A SINGLE BLOW HE KNOCKED OVER THE INDIAN WITH WHOM
+AUSTILL WAS STRUGGLING."]
+
+The canoe fight was ended, but Dale's work was not yet done. His party
+on the bank were every minute more closely pressed, and if they were to
+be saved it must be done quickly. For this purpose he and his companions
+at once began clearing the big canoe of its load of dead Indians. Now
+that only the white men were there, the Indians upon the bank directed a
+galling fire upon the canoe, but by careening it to one side Dale made a
+sort of breastwork of its thick gunwale, and thus succeeded in clearing
+it. When this was done he went ashore and quickly carried off the party
+there, landing all of them in safety on the other side.
+
+The hero of this singular battle lived until the year 1841. The whole
+story of his life is a romance of hardship, daring, and wonderful
+achievement. When he died, General John F. H. Claiborne, who knew him
+intimately, wrote a sketch of his career for a Natchez newspaper, in
+which he described him as follows:
+
+"In person General Dale was tall, erect, raw-boned, and muscular. In
+many respects, physical and moral, he resembled his antagonists of the
+woods. He had the square forehead, the high cheek-bones, the compressed
+lips, and, in fact, the physiognomy of an Indian, relieved, however, by
+a firm, benevolent Saxon eye. Like the red men, too, his foot fell
+lightly upon the ground, and turned neither to the right nor left. He
+was habitually taciturn, his face grave, he spoke slowly and in low
+tones, and he seldom laughed. I observed of him what I have often noted
+as peculiar to border men of high attributes: he entertained the
+strongest attachment for the Indians, extolled their courage, their love
+of country, and many of their domestic qualities; and I have often seen
+the wretched remnant of the Choctaws camped round his plantation and
+subsisting on his crops."
+
+It is a curious fact that after the war ended, when Weatherford (Red
+Eagle), who commanded the Indians on the shore in this battle with Dale,
+was about to marry, he asked Dale to act as his best man, and the two
+who had fought each other so desperately stood side by side, as devoted
+friends, at the altar.
+
+
+
+
+THE BATTLE OF LAKE BORGNE.
+
+HOW THE BRITISH MADE A LANDING UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
+
+
+When the British made up their minds, near the end of the year 1814, to
+take New Orleans, and thus to get control of the Mississippi River,
+there seemed to be very little difficulty in their way.
+
+So far as anybody on either side could see, their only trouble was
+likely to be in making a landing. If they could once get their splendid
+army on shore anywhere near the city, there was very little to prevent
+them from taking the town, and if they had taken it, it is easy to see
+that the whole history of the United States would have been changed.
+
+They did make a landing, but they did not take New Orleans, and in the
+story of "The Battle in the Dark" I shall tell how and why they failed.
+In the present story I want to tell how they landed.
+
+The expedition consisted of a large fleet bearing a large army. At first
+the intention was to sail up the Mississippi River, but General Jackson
+made that impossible by building strong forts on the stream, and so it
+was necessary to try some other plan.
+
+It happens that New Orleans has two entrances from the sea. The river
+flows in front of the city, and by that route it is about a hundred
+miles from the city to the sea; but just behind the town, only a few
+miles away, lies a great bay called Lake Pontchartrain. This bay is
+connected by a narrow strait with another bay called Lake Borgne, which
+is connected directly with the sea.
+
+Lake Borgne is very shallow, but the British knew little about it. They
+only knew that if they could land anywhere on the banks of Lake Borgne
+or Lake Pontchartrain they would be within an easy march of New Orleans.
+
+Accordingly, the fleet bearing the British army, instead of entering the
+mouth of the Mississippi, and trying to get to New Orleans in front,
+sailed in by the back way, and anchored near the entrance of Lake
+Borgne.
+
+Here the British had their first sight of the preparations made to
+resist them. Six little gun-boats, carrying twenty-three guns in all,
+were afloat on the lake under command of Lieutenant Thomas Ap Catesby
+Jones. These gun-boats were mere mosquitoes in comparison with the great
+British men-of-war, and when they made their appearance in the track of
+the invading fleet, the British laughed and wondered at the
+foolhardiness of the American commander in sending such vessels there.
+
+Lieutenant Thomas Ap Catesby Jones knew what he was about, however, as
+the British soon found out. He sailed up almost within cannon-shot of
+the enemy's ships, and they, of course, gave chase to him. Then he
+nimbly sailed away, with the fleet after him. Very soon a large
+man-of-war ran aground; then another and another struck the bottom, and
+the British Admiral began to understand the trick. It was evident that
+Lake Borgne was much too shallow for the large ships, and so the
+commander called a halt, and transferred the troops to the smaller
+vessels of the fleet.
+
+When that was done the chase was begun again by the smaller ships, and
+for a time with every prospect of success; but presently even these
+ships were hard aground, and the whole British fleet which had been
+intended to carry the army across the lake was stuck fast in the mud
+near the entrance, and thirty miles from the point at which the landing
+was to be made.
+
+The British commander was at his wits' end. It was clear that the ships
+could not cross the lake, and the only thing to be done was to transport
+the army across little by little in the ships' boats, and make a landing
+in that way. But to do that while Lieutenant Jones and his gun-boats
+were afloat was manifestly impossible. If it had been attempted, the
+little gun-boats, which could sail anywhere on the lake, would have
+destroyed the British army by boat-loads.
+
+There was nothing to be done until the saucy little fleet was out of
+the way, and to put it out of the way was not easy.
+
+Lieutenant Jones was an officer very much given to hard fighting, and in
+this case the British saw that they must fight him at a disadvantage. As
+they could not get to him in their ships, they must make an attack in
+open boats, which, of course, was a very dangerous thing to do, as the
+American gun-boats were armed with cannon.
+
+The British commander wanted his bravest men for such work, and so he
+called for volunteers to man the boats. A thousand gallant fellows
+offered themselves, and were placed in fifty boats, under command of
+Captain Lockyer. Each boat was armed with a carronade--a kind of small
+cannon--but the men well knew that the real fighting was not to be done
+with carronades. The only hope of success lay in a sudden, determined
+attack. The only way to capture the American gun-boats was to row up to
+them in the face of their fire, climb over their sides, and take them by
+force in a hand-to-hand fight.
+
+[Illustration: BOARDING THE GUN-BOATS.]
+
+When the flotilla set sail, on the 14th of December, Lieutenant Jones
+knew what their mode of attack would be quite as well as Captain Lockyer
+did. If he let them attack him in the open lake he knew very well that
+the British could overpower him and capture his fleet; but he did not
+intend to be attacked in the open lake if he could help it. His plan was
+to sail slowly, keeping just out of reach of the row-boats, and
+gradually to draw them to the mouth of the strait which leads into Lake
+Pontchartrain. At that point there was a well-armed fort, and if he
+could anchor his gun-boats across the narrow channel, he believed he
+could destroy the British flotilla with the aid of the fort, and thus
+beat off the expedition from New Orleans.
+
+Unluckily, while the fleet was yet far from the mouth of the strait the
+wind failed entirely, and the gun-boats were helpless. They could not
+sail without wind, and they must receive the attack right where they
+were.
+
+At daylight on the morning of December 15 the British flotilla was
+about nine miles away, but was rapidly drawing nearer, the boats being
+propelled by oars. Lieutenant Jones called the commanders of his
+gun-boats together, gave them instructions, and informed them of his
+purpose to make as obstinate a fight as possible. His case was hopeless;
+his fleet would be captured, but by fighting obstinately he could at
+least gain time for General Jackson at New Orleans, and time was greatly
+needed there.
+
+Meanwhile the British boats, carrying a thousand men, all accustomed to
+desperate fighting, approached and anchored just out of gunshot. Captain
+Lockyer wished his men to go into action in the best condition possible,
+and therefore he came to anchor in order to rest the oarsmen, and to
+give the men time for breakfast.
+
+At half-past ten o'clock the British weighed anchor, and, forming in
+line, began the advance. As soon as they came within range the American
+gun-boats opened fire, but with little effect at first. Of course the
+British could not reply at such a distance, but being under fire, their
+chief need was to go forward as fast and come to close quarters as
+quickly as possible. The sailors bent to their oars, and the boats flew
+over the water. Soon the men at the bows began to fire the carronades in
+reply to the American cannon. Then as the boats drew nearer, small arms
+came into use, and the battle grew fiercer with every moment. The
+British boats were with difficulty kept in line, and their advance grew
+slower. Oarsmen were killed, and time was lost in putting others into
+their places. Still the line was preserved, and the battle went on, the
+attacking boats slowly and steadily advancing all the time.
+
+Two of the American gun-boats had drifted out of place, and were
+considerably in advance of the rest. Seeing this, Captain Lockyer
+ordered the men commanding the British boats to surround them, and a few
+minutes later the sailors were climbing over the sides of these vessels.
+Their attack was stoutly resisted. The American sailors above them fired
+volleys into their faces, and beat them back with handspikes. Scores of
+the British fell back into the water dead or wounded, while their
+comrades pressed forward to fill their places. There were so many of
+them that in spite of all the Americans could do to beat them off they
+swarmed over the gunwales and gained the decks. Their work was not yet
+done, however. The Americans fiercely contested every inch of their
+advance, and the two parties hewed each other down with cutlasses, the
+Americans being slowly beaten back by superior numbers, but still
+obstinately fighting until they could fight no more.
+
+One by one all the gun-boats were taken in this way, Lieutenant Jones's
+vessel holding out longest, and the Lieutenant himself fighting till he
+was stricken down with a severe wound.
+
+Having thus cleared Lake Borgne, the British were free to begin the work
+of landing. It was a terrible undertaking, however--scarcely less so
+than the fight itself. The whole army had to be carried thirty miles in
+open boats and landed in a swamp. The men were drenched with rain, and,
+a frost coming on, their clothes were frozen on their bodies. There was
+no fuel to be had on the island where they made their first landing, and
+to their sufferings from cold was added severe suffering from hunger
+before supplies of food could be brought to them. Some of the sailors
+who were engaged in rowing the boats were kept at work for four days and
+nights without relief.
+
+The landing was secured, however, and the British cared little for the
+sufferings it had cost them. They believed then that they had little
+more to do except to march twelve miles and take possession of the city,
+with its one hundred and fifty thousand bales of cotton and its ten
+thousand hogsheads of sugar. How it came about that they were
+disappointed is made clear in the next story.
+
+
+
+
+THE BATTLE IN THE DARK.
+
+HOW GENERAL JACKSON RECEIVED THE BRITISH.
+
+
+When the British succeeded in taking Lieutenant Jones's little gun-boats
+and making a landing, after the manner described in the preceding story,
+they supposed that the hardest part of their work was done. It was not
+far from their landing-place to New Orleans, and there was nothing in
+their way. Their army numbered nearly twenty thousand men, and the men
+were the best soldiers that England had. Many of them were Wellington's
+veterans.
+
+It seemed certain that such an army could march into New Orleans with
+very little trouble indeed, and everybody on both sides thought
+so--everybody, that is to say, but General Jackson. He meant to fight
+that question out, and as the Legislature and many of the people in the
+city would do nothing to help him, he put the town under martial law,
+and worked night and day to get together something like an army.
+
+On the 23d of December, 1814, the British arrived at a point a few miles
+below the city, and went into camp about noon. As soon as Jackson heard
+of their arrival he said to the people around him, "Gentlemen, the
+British are below: we must fight them tonight."
+
+He immediately ordered his troops forward. He had made a soldier of
+everybody who could carry a gun, and his little army was a curiously
+mixed collection of men. There were a few regulars, in uniform; there
+were some Mississippi troopers, and Coffee's Kentucky and Tennessee
+hunters, in hunting-shirts and jeans trousers; there were volunteers of
+all sorts from the streets of New Orleans--merchants, lawyers, laborers,
+clerks, and clergymen--armed with shot-guns, rifles, and old muskets;
+there were some criminals whom Jackson had released from prison on
+condition that they would fight; there was a battalion of free negroes,
+who were good soldiers; and, finally, there were about twenty Choctaw
+Indians.
+
+[Illustration: GENERAL JACKSON AT NEW ORLEANS.]
+
+With this mixed crowd Jackson had to fight the very best troops in the
+British army. Only about half of his men had ever heard a bullet
+whistle, and less than half of them were drilled and disciplined; but
+they were brave men who believed in their general, and they were about
+to fight for their country as brave men should. When all were
+counted--backwoodsmen, regulars, city volunteers, negroes, Indians, and
+all--the whole army numbered only 2131 men! But, weak as this force was,
+Jackson had made up his mind to fight with it. He knew that the British
+were too strong for him, but he knew too that every day would make them
+stronger, as more and more of their troops would come forward each day.
+
+The British camp was nine miles below the city, on a narrow strip of
+land between the river and a swamp. Jackson sent a gun-boat, the
+_Carolina_, down the river, with orders to anchor in front of the camp
+and pour a fire of grape-shot into it. He sent Coffee across to the
+swamp, and ordered him to creep through the bushes, and thus get upon
+the right flank of the British. He kept the rest of his army under his
+own command, ready to advance from the front upon the enemy's position.
+
+But no attack was to be made until after dark. The army was kept well
+out of sight, and the British had no suspicion that any attack was
+thought of. They did not regard Jackson's men as soldiers at all, but
+called them a _posse comitatus_ of ragamuffins--that is to say, a mob of
+ragged citizens--and the most they expected such a mob to do was to wait
+somewhere below the city until the British soldiers should get ready to
+drive them away with a few volleys.
+
+So the British lighted their camp-fires, stacked their arms for the
+night, and cooked their suppers. They meant to stay where they were for
+a day or two until the rest of their force could come up, and then they
+expected to march into the town and make themselves at home.
+
+Night came on, and it was exceedingly dark. At half-past seven o'clock
+there came a flash and a roar. The _Carolina_, lying in the river,
+within a few hundred yards of the camp, had begun to pour her broadsides
+into the British quarters. Her cannon vomited fire, and sent a
+hail-storm of grape-shot into the camp, while the marines on board kept
+up a steady fire of small-arms.
+
+The British were completely surprised, but they were cool-headed old
+soldiers, who were not to be scared by a surprise. They quickly formed a
+line on the bank, and, bringing up some cannon, gave battle to the saucy
+gun-boat.
+
+For ten minutes this fight went on between the Americans on the river
+and the British on shore; then Jackson ordered his troops to advance.
+His columns rushed forward and fell upon the enemy, again surprising
+them, and forcing them to fight on two sides at once. Coffee, who was
+hidden over in the swamp, no sooner heard the roar of the _Carolina's_
+guns than he gave the word to advance, and, rushing out of the bushes,
+his rough Tennesseeans and Kentuckians attacked still another side of
+the enemy's position.
+
+Still the sturdy British held their ground, and fought like the brave
+men and good soldiers that they were. It was too dark for anybody to see
+clearly what was going on. The lines on both sides were soon broken up
+into independent groups of soldiers, who could not see in what direction
+they were marching, or maintain anything like a regular fight. Regiments
+and battalions wandered about at their own discretion, fighting whatever
+bodies of the enemy they met, and sometimes getting hopelessly entangled
+with each other. Never was there so complete a jumble on a battle-field.
+Whenever two bodies of troops met, they had to call out to each other to
+find out whether they were friends or foes; then, if one body proved to
+be Americans and the other British, they delivered a volley, and rushed
+upon each other in a desperate struggle for mastery.
+
+Sometimes a regiment would win success in one direction, and just as its
+enemy on that side was driven back, it would be attacked from the
+opposite quarter. Coffee's men were armed with squirrel rifles, which,
+of course, had no bayonets; but the men had their long hunting-knives,
+and with no better weapons than these they did not hesitate to make
+charge after charge upon the lines of gleaming bayonets.
+
+The British suffered terribly from the first, but their steadiness was
+never lost for a moment. The mad onset of the Americans broke their
+lines, and in the darkness it was impossible to form them again
+promptly; but still the men kept up the fight, while the officers, as
+rapidly as they could, directed their detached columns towards protected
+positions.
+
+Retreating slowly and in as good order as they could, the British got
+beyond the range of the _Carolina's_ guns by nine o'clock, and, finding
+a position where a bank of earth served for a breastwork, they made a
+final stand there. It was impossible to drive them from such a position,
+and so, little by little, the Americans withdrew, and at ten o'clock
+the Battle in the Dark was at an end.
+
+Now let us see what Jackson had gained or lost by this hasty attack. The
+British were still in a position to threaten New Orleans. They had not
+been driven away, and the rest of their large army, which had not yet
+come up, was hurrying forward to help them. They had lost a great many
+more men than Jackson had, but they could spare men better than he
+could, and they were not whipped by any means. Still, the attack was
+equal to a victory for the Americans. It is almost certain that if
+Jackson had waited another day before fighting he would have lost New
+Orleans, and the whole Southwest would have been overrun.
+
+But, by making this night attack, he showed the British that he could
+and would fight; and they, finding what kind of a defence he meant to
+make, made up their minds to move slowly and cautiously. They waited for
+the rest of their force to come up, and while they were waiting and
+getting ready Jackson had more than two weeks' time in which to collect
+troops from the country north of him, to get arms and ammunition, and to
+throw up strong fortifications. When the British made their grand attack
+on the 8th of January, 1815, they found Jackson ready for them. His army
+was increased, his men were full of confidence, and, best of all, he had
+a line of strong earth-works to fight behind. It is commonly said that
+his fortifications were made of cotton-bales, but that is an error. When
+he first began to fortify, he used some cotton-bales, and some sugar,
+which, it was thought, would do instead of sand; but in some of the
+early skirmishes it was found that the sugar was useless, because it
+would not stop cannon-balls; while the cotton was worse, because it took
+fire, and nearly suffocated the men behind it with smoke. The cotton and
+sugar were at once thrown aside, and the battle of New Orleans was
+fought behind earth-works. In that battle the British were so badly
+worsted that they gave up all idea of taking New Orleans, which, a month
+before, they had believed it would be so easy to capture.
+
+
+
+
+THE TROUBLESOME BURGHERS.
+
+
+Philip van Artevelde was a Dutchman. His father, Jacob, had been
+Governor of Ghent, and had made himself a great name by leading a revolt
+against the Count of Flanders, and driving that tyrant out of the
+country on one occasion.
+
+Philip was a quiet man, who attended to his own affairs and took no part
+in public business; but in the year 1381 the good people of Ghent found
+themselves in a very great difficulty. Their city was subject to the
+Count of Flanders, who oppressed them in every way. He and his nobles
+thought nothing of the common people, but taxed them heavily and
+interfered with their business.
+
+The city of Bruges was the rival of Ghent, and in those days rivals in
+trade were enemies. The Bruges people were not satisfied with trying to
+make more money and get more business than Ghent could, but they wanted
+Ghent destroyed, and so they supported Count Louis in all that he did to
+injure their neighboring city.
+
+Having this quarrel on their hands, the Ghent people did not know what
+to do. Count Louis was too strong for them, and they were very much
+afraid he would destroy their town and put the people to death.
+
+A public meeting was held, and remembering how well old Jacob van
+Artevelde had served them against the father of Count Louis, they made
+his son Philip their captain, and told him he must manage this quarrel
+for them.
+
+Philip undertook this duty, and tried to settle the trouble in some
+peaceable way; but the Count was angry, and would not listen to anything
+that Van Artevelde proposed. He said the Ghent people were rebels, and
+must submit without any conditions at all, and this the sturdy Ghent
+burghers refused to do.
+
+Count Louis would not march against the town and give the people a fair
+chance to fight the matter out. He preferred to starve them, and for
+that purpose he put soldiers on all the roads leading towards Ghent, and
+refused to allow any provisions to be taken to the city.
+
+The people soon ate up nearly all the food they had, and when the spring
+of 1382 came they were starving. Something must be done at once, and
+Philip van Artevelde decided that it was of no use to resist any longer.
+He took twelve deputies with him, and went to beg the Count for mercy.
+He offered to submit to any terms the Count might propose, if he would
+only promise not to put any of the people to death. Philip even offered
+himself as a victim, agreeing that the Count should banish him from the
+country as a punishment, if he would spare the people of the town. But
+the haughty Count would promise nothing. He said that all the people of
+Ghent from fifteen to sixty years old must march half-way to Bruges
+bareheaded, with no clothes on but their shirts, and each with a rope
+around his neck, and then he would decide how many of them he would put
+to death and how many he would spare.
+
+The Count thought the poor Ghent people would have to submit to this,
+and he meant to put them all to death when they should thus come out
+without arms to surrender. He therefore called on his vassals to meet
+him in Bruges at Easter, and to go out with him to "destroy these
+troublesome burghers."
+
+But the "troublesome burghers," as we shall see presently, were not the
+kind of men to walk out bareheaded, with ropes around their necks, and
+submit to destruction.
+
+Philip van Artevelde returned sadly to Ghent, on the 29th of April, and
+told the people what the Count had said. Then the gallant old soldier
+Peter van den Bossche exclaimed:
+
+"In a few days the town of Ghent shall be the most honored or the most
+humbled town in Christendom."
+
+Van Artevelde called the burghers together, and told them what the
+situation was. There were 30,000 people in Ghent, and there was no food
+to be had for them. There was no hope that the Count would offer any
+better terms, or that anybody would come to their assistance. They must
+decide quickly what they would do, and Philip said there were three
+courses open to them. First, if they chose, they could wall up the gates
+of the town and die of starvation. Secondly, they could accept the
+Count's terms, march out with the ropes around their necks, and take
+whatever punishment the Count might put upon them. If they should decide
+to do that, Philip said he would offer himself to the Count to be hanged
+first. Thirdly, they could get together 5000 of their best men, march to
+Bruges, and fight the quarrel out.
+
+The answer of the people was that Philip must decide for them, and he at
+once said, "Then we will fight."
+
+The 5000 men were got together, and on the 1st of May they marched out
+of the town to win or lose the desperate battle. The priests of the
+city stood at the gates as the men marched out, and prayed for blessings
+upon them. The old men, the women, and the children cried out, "If you
+lose the battle you need not return to Ghent, for you will find your
+families dead in their homes."
+
+The only food there was for these 5000 men was carried in five little
+carts, while on another cart two casks of wine were taken.
+
+The next day Van Artevelde placed his little army in line on the common
+of Beverhoutsveld, at Oedelem, near Bruges. There was a marsh in front
+of them, and Van Artevelde protected their flank by a fortification
+consisting of the carts and some stakes driven into the ground. He then
+sent a messenger to the Count, begging him to pardon the people of
+Ghent, and, having done this, he ordered his men to go to sleep for the
+night.
+
+At daybreak the next morning the little army was aroused to make final
+preparations for the desperate work before them. The priests exhorted
+the men to fight to the death, showing them how useless it would be to
+surrender or to run away, as they were sure to be put to death at any
+rate. Their only hope for life was in victory, and if they could not win
+that, it would be better to die fighting like men than to surrender and
+be put to death like dogs.
+
+After these exhortations were given, seven gray friars said mass and
+gave the sacrament to all the soldiers. Then the five cart-loads of
+provisions and the two casks of wine were divided among the men, for
+their last breakfast. When that meal was eaten, the soldiers of Ghent
+had not an ounce of food left anywhere.
+
+Meanwhile the Count called his men together in Bruges, and got them
+ready for battle; but the people of Bruges were so sure of easily
+destroying the little Ghent army that they would not wait for orders,
+but marched out shouting and singing and making merry.
+
+[Illustration: THE BURGHERS PREPARE TO DEFEND THEIR CITY.]
+
+As their column marched along the road in this noisy fashion, the
+"troublesome burghers" of Ghent suddenly sprang upon them, crying,
+"Ghent! Ghent!"
+
+The charge was so sudden and so fierce that the Bruges people gave way,
+and fled in a panic towards the town, with Van Artevelde's men at their
+heels in hot pursuit. The Count's regular troops tried to make a stand,
+but the burghers of Ghent came upon them so furiously that they too
+became panic-stricken and fled. The Count himself ran with all his
+might, and as soon as he entered the city he ordered the gates to be
+shut. He was so anxious to save himself from the fury of Van Artevelde's
+soldiers that he wanted to close the gates at once and leave those of
+his own people who were still outside to their fate. But it was already
+too late. Van Artevelde's column had followed the retreating crowd so
+fast that it had already pushed its head into the town, and there was no
+driving it back. The five thousand "troublesome burghers," with their
+swords in their hands, and still crying "Ghent!" swarmed into Bruges,
+and quickly took possession of the town. The Count's army was utterly
+routed and scattered, and the Count himself would have been taken
+prisoner if one of the Ghent burghers had not hidden him and helped him
+to escape from the city.
+
+Van Artevelde's soldiers, who had eaten the last of their food that
+morning in the belief that they would never eat another meal on earth,
+supped that night on the richest dishes that Bruges could supply; and
+now that the Count was overthrown, great wagon trains of provisions
+poured into poor, starving Ghent.
+
+There was a great golden dragon on the belfry of Bruges, of which the
+Bruges people were very proud. That dragon had once stood on the Church
+of St. Sophia in Constantinople, and the Emperor Baldwin had sent it as
+a present to Bruges. In token of their victory Van Artevelde's
+"troublesome burghers" took down the golden dragon and carried it to
+Ghent.
+
+
+
+
+THE DEFENCE OF ROCHELLE.
+
+HOW THE CITY OF REFUGE FOUGHT FOR LIBERTY.
+
+
+In the old times, when people were in the habit of fighting each other
+about their religion, the little French seaport Rochelle was called "the
+city of refuge." The Huguenots, or French Protestants, held the place,
+and when the armies of the French king tried to take it, in the latter
+part of the sixteenth century, they were beaten off and so badly used in
+the fight that the king was glad to make terms with the townspeople.
+
+An agreement was therefore made that they should have their own
+religion, and manage their own affairs; and to make sure of this the
+king gave Rochelle so many special rights that it became almost a free
+city. After that, whenever a Protestant in any part of France found that
+he could not live peaceably in his own home, he went to Rochelle, and
+that is the way the place came to be called the city of refuge.
+
+For a good many years the people of Rochelle went on living quietly.
+They had a fine harbor of their own, their trade was good, and they were
+allowed to manage their own affairs. At last the new King of France made
+up his mind that he would not have two religions in his country, but
+would make everybody believe as he did. This troubled the people of
+Rochelle, but the king sent them word that he only meant to make them
+change their religion by showing them that his was better, and that he
+did not intend to trouble them in any way.
+
+In those days promises of that kind did not count for much; but the
+king's prime-minister, Cardinal Richelieu, who really managed
+everything, knew very well that Rochelle could give a great deal of
+trouble if it chose, and so, perhaps, he really would have let the town
+alone if it had not been for the meddling of the English prime-minister,
+Buckingham.
+
+This Buckingham, with an English fleet and army, sailed into the harbor
+of Rochelle in the middle of July, 1627, and undertook to help the
+people against the French king. If Buckingham had been either a soldier
+or a sailor, he might have made himself master of the French king's
+forts near Rochelle at once; but, although he had command of a fleet and
+an army, he really knew nothing about the business of a commander, and
+he blundered so badly that the generals of the French king got fresh
+troops and provisions into the forts, and were able to hold them in
+spite of all that the English could do.
+
+Seeing how matters stood, Richelieu at once sent an army to surround
+Rochelle, and at daylight on the 10th of August the people found a
+strong force in front of the town. Rochelle had not made up its mind to
+join the English, and the magistrates sent word to the French general
+that they wanted peace. They said they were loyal to the French king,
+and even offered to help drive the English away, if their king would
+promise not to break the treaty that had been made with them many years
+before.
+
+It was too late to settle the matter in that way, however. The French
+general meant to make the town surrender, and so, while the English were
+fighting to get control of the island of Rhe, at some distance from the
+town, he began to build works around Rochelle. His plan was to shut the
+people up in the city and cut off their supplies of food; and when the
+Rochelle folk saw what he was doing, they opened fire on his men.
+
+The war was now begun, and the Huguenots made terms with Buckingham,
+hoping, with his help, to win in the struggle. Buckingham promised to
+help them, and he did try to do so in his blundering way; but he did
+them more harm than good, for when he found that he could not take the
+forts he sailed away, taking with him three hundred tons of grain, which
+he ought to have sent into the town.
+
+It was November when the English left, and Rochelle was in a very bad
+situation. Richelieu set to work to shut the town in and seal it up. He
+built strong works all around the land side, and then, with great
+labor, brought earth and stones and built a mole, or strip of land,
+nearly all the way across the mouth of the harbor, so that no boats
+could pass in or out.
+
+[Illustration: RICHELIEU SURVEYING THE WORKS AT ROCHELLE.]
+
+The situation was a terrible one, but the people of Rochelle were brave,
+and had no thought of flinching. They chose the mayor, Guiton, for their
+commander, and when he accepted the office he laid his dagger on the
+table, saying: "I will thrust that dagger into the heart of the first
+man who speaks of giving up the town." He then went to work to defend
+the place. He strengthened the works, and made soldiers of all the men
+in the city, and all the boys, too, for that matter. Everybody who could
+handle a weapon of any kind had to take his place in the ranks. England
+had promised to send help, and the only question, Guiton thought, was
+whether or not he could hold out till the help should come; so he laid
+his plans to resist as long as possible.
+
+The French in great numbers stormed the defences time after time; but
+the brave Rochellese always drove them back with great loss. It was
+clear from the first that Guiton would not give way, and that no column,
+however strong, could force the city gates. But there was an enemy
+inside the town which was harder to fight than the one outside. There
+was famine in Rochelle! The cattle were eaten up, and the horses went
+next. Then everything that could be turned into food was carefully used
+and made to go as far as it would. Guiton stopped every kind of waste;
+but day by day the food supply grew smaller, and the people grew weaker
+from hunger. Starvation was doing its work. Every day the list of deaths
+grew longer, and when people met in the streets they stared at each
+other with lean, white, hungry faces, wondering who would be the next to
+go.
+
+Still these heroic people had no thought of giving up. They were
+fighting for liberty, and they loved that more than life. The French
+were daily charging their works, but could not move the stubborn,
+starving Rochellese.
+
+The winter dragged on slowly. Spring came, and yet no help had come
+from England. In March the French, thinking that the people must be worn
+out, hurled their heaviest columns against the lines; but, do what they
+would, they could not break through anywhere, and had to go back to
+their works, and wait for famine to conquer a people who could not be
+conquered by arms.
+
+One morning in May an English fleet was seen outside the mole. The news
+ran through the town like wildfire. Help was at hand, and the poor
+starving people were wild with joy. Men ran through the streets shouting
+and singing songs of thanksgiving. They had borne terrible sufferings,
+but now help was coming, and they were sure that their heroic endurance
+would not be thrown away. Thousands of their comrades had fallen
+fighting, and thousands of their women and children had starved to
+death; but what was that if, after all, Rochelle was not to lose her
+liberties?
+
+Alas! their hope was a vain one, and their joy soon turned to sorrow.
+The English fleet did nothing. It hardly tried to do anything; but
+after lying within sight of the town for a while it sailed away again
+and left Rochelle to its fate.
+
+Richelieu was sure that Guiton would surrender now, and so he sent a
+messenger to say that he would spare the lives of all the people if the
+town were given up within three days. But the gallant Guiton was not
+ready even yet to give up the struggle. "Tell Cardinal Richelieu," he
+said to the messenger, "that we are his very obedient servants;" and
+that was all the answer he had to make.
+
+When the summer came some food was grown in the city gardens, but this
+went a very little way among so many people, and the famine had now
+grown frightful. The people gathered all the shellfish they could find
+at low tide. They ate the leaves off the trees, and even the grass of
+the gardens and lawns was used for food. Everything that could in any
+way help to support life was consumed; everything that could be boiled
+into the thinnest soup was turned to account; everything that could be
+chewed for its juice was used to quiet the pains of fierce hunger; but
+all was not enough. Men, women, and children died by thousands. Every
+morning when the new guard went to take the place of the old one many of
+the sentinels were found dead at their posts from starvation.
+
+Still the heroic Guiton kept up the fight, and nobody dared say anything
+to him about giving up. He still hoped for help from England, and meant
+to hold out until it should come, cost what it might. In order that the
+soldiers might have a little more to eat, and live and fight a little
+longer, he turned all the old people and those who were too weak to
+fight out of the town. The French would not let these poor wretches pass
+their lines, but made an attack on them, and drove them back towards
+Rochelle. But Guiton would not open the city gates to them. He said they
+would starve to death if he let them into Rochelle, and they might as
+well die outside as inside the gates.
+
+At last news came that the English had made a treaty with the French,
+and so there was no longer any hope of help for Rochelle, and truly the
+place could hold out no longer. The famine was at its worst. Out of
+about thirty thousand people only five thousand were left alive, and
+they were starving; of six hundred Englishmen who had stayed to help the
+Rochellese all were dead but sixty-two. Corpses lay thick in the
+streets, for the people were too weak, from fasting, even to bury their
+dead. The end had come. On the 30th of October, 1628, after nearly
+fifteen months of heroic effort and frightful suffering, Rochelle
+surrendered.
+
+Richelieu at once sent food into the town, and treated the people very
+kindly; but he took away all the old rights and privileges of the city.
+He pulled down all the earth-works used by the defenders of the place,
+and gave orders that nobody should build even a garden fence anywhere
+near the town. He made a law that no Protestant who was not already a
+citizen of Rochelle should go thither to live, and that the "city of
+refuge" should never again receive any stranger without a permit from
+the king.
+
+
+
+
+THE SAD STORY OF A BOY KING.
+
+
+London took a holiday on the 16th of July, 1377. There were processions
+of merry-makers in the streets, and the windows were crowded with gayly
+dressed men, women, and children. The great lords, glittering in armor,
+and mounted upon splendid steel-clad horses, marched through the town.
+The bishops and clergymen in gorgeous robes made a more solemn, but not
+less attractive show. The trade-guilds were out in their best clothing,
+bearing the tools of their trades instead of arms. Clowns in motley,
+merry-makers of all kinds, great city dignitaries, lords and
+commons--everybody, in short, made a mad and merry holiday; and at night
+the houses were illuminated, and great bonfires were lighted in the
+streets.
+
+All England was wild with joy; but the happiest person in the land was
+Richard Plantagenet, a boy eleven years of age. Indeed, it was for this
+boy's sake and in his honor that all this feasting and merry-making went
+on, for on that day young Richard was crowned King of England; and in
+those times a king of England was a much more important person than now,
+because the people had not then learned to govern themselves, and the
+king had powers which Englishmen would not allow any man to have in our
+time.
+
+Richard was too young to govern wisely, and so a council was appointed
+to help him until he should grow up; but in the meantime he was a real
+king, boy as he was, and it is safe to say that he was the happiest boy
+in England on that July day, when all London took a holiday in his
+honor.
+
+But if he had known what this crowning was to lead to, young Richard
+might have been very glad to change places with any baker's or butcher's
+boy in London. The boy king had some uncles and cousins who were very
+great people, and who gave him no little trouble after a while. He had
+wars on his hands, too, and needed a great deal more money than the
+people were willing to give him; and so, when he grew older and took the
+government into his own hands, he found troubles all around him. The
+Irish people rebelled frequently; the Scotch were hostile; there was
+trouble with Spain because Richard's uncle wanted to become king of that
+country, and there was a standing war with France.
+
+But this was not all. In order to carry on these wars the king was
+obliged to have money; and when he ordered taxes to be collected the
+common people, led by Wat Tyler, rose in rebellion. They marched into
+London, seized the Tower, and put to death the treasurer of the kingdom,
+the Archbishop of Canterbury, and many other persons high in the
+government. Tyler was so insolent one day that the Lord Mayor of London
+killed him; but the boy king, who was only sixteen years old, seeing
+that the rebels were too strong for him, put himself at their head, and
+marched with them out of the city; and so the king, against whom the
+rebellion was made, became the leader of the rebels. As soon as matters
+grew quiet, however, he broke all the promises he had made, and punished
+the chief rebels very harshly.
+
+Not long after this one of the king's uncles made himself master of the
+kingdom by force, and it was several years before Richard could put him
+out of power.
+
+But the greatest of all Richard's troubles were yet to come. His cousin,
+Henry Bolingbroke, the son of old John of Gaunt, had misbehaved, and
+Richard had sent him out of England, not to return for ten years. But
+while Richard was in Ireland putting down a rebellion there, Henry came
+back to England, raised an army, and was joined by many of the most
+powerful men in the kingdom. When Richard came back from Ireland Henry
+made him a prisoner, and not long afterwards the great men made up their
+minds to set up Henry as the king instead of Richard. They made Richard
+sign a paper giving up his right to the crown, and then, to make the
+matter sure, Parliament passed a law that Richard should be king no
+longer.
+
+Richard was only thirty-three years old when all this was done, but
+after so many troubles he might well have been glad to give up his
+kingship, if that had been the end of the matter. But a king who has
+been set aside is always a dangerous man to have in the kingdom, and it
+would not do to let Richard go free. He might gather his friends around
+him and give trouble. So it was decided that the unfortunate man should
+be shut up in a prison for the rest of his life.
+
+But even this was not the worst of the matter. Richard had a wife--Queen
+Isabella--whom he loved very dearly, and if the two could have gone away
+together into some quiet place to live, they might still have been happy
+in spite of being under guard all the time. But the new king would not
+have it so. He gave orders that Richard should be shut up closely in a
+prison, and that Isabella should go back to France, where Richard had
+married her.
+
+This was a terrible thing for the young man and his younger wife, who
+might have had a long life of happiness still before them if Richard
+had never been a king. But Richard had been King of England, and so he
+had to give up both his freedom and his wife.
+
+In his play of "King Richard the Second" Shakespeare makes a very
+touching scene of their parting. In the play their farewell takes place
+in the street, as shown in our picture. Isabella, anxious to see her
+husband once more before they part forever, waits at a point which she
+knows he must pass on his way to prison. There they meet and talk
+together for the last time on earth. The words which Shakespeare puts
+into their mouths are terribly sad, but very beautiful. You will find
+the scene at the beginning of Act V. of the play. The picture shows the
+two at the moment when Richard moves away to his prison, leaving
+Isabella to mourn for him in a nunnery for the rest of her life.
+
+It is not certainly known what became of Richard after he was taken to
+prison. It is believed that he was murdered there--perhaps starved to
+death--but there is a story that he got away and lived in Scotland,
+dying there in 1419. It is not at all likely that the story is true,
+however, and the common belief has always been that he died or was
+killed in Pontefract Castle, where he was imprisoned.
+
+[Illustration: THE PARTING BETWEEN KING RICHARD II. AND QUEEN ISABELLA.]
+
+However that may be, Richard's life was a terribly unhappy one, and all
+his sorrows grew out of the fact that he was a king. If he could have
+looked forward on that July day when the people were making merry in his
+honor, and could have known all that was to happen to him, instead of
+being the happiest boy in England on his coronation day, he would have
+been the most wretched.
+
+
+
+
+TWO OBSCURE HEROES.
+
+HOW THE PARTISAN WARFARE IN THE CAROLINAS WAS BEGUN.
+
+
+When the British marched up from Savannah and took Charleston, in the
+spring of 1780, they thought the Revolution was at an end in the
+Southern States, and it really seemed so. Even the patriots thought it
+was useless to resist any longer, and so when the British ordered all
+the people to come together at different places and enrol themselves as
+British subjects, most of them were ready to do it, simply because they
+thought they could not help themselves.
+
+Only a few daring men here and there were bold enough to think of
+refusing, and but for them the British could have set up the royal power
+again in South Carolina, and then they would have been free to take
+their whole force against the patriots farther north. The fate of the
+whole country depended, to a large extent, upon the courage of the few
+men who would not give up even at such a time, but kept up the fight
+against all odds. These brave men forced the British to keep an army in
+the South which they needed farther north.
+
+The credit of beginning this kind of partisan warfare belongs chiefly to
+two or three plain men, who did it simply because they loved their
+country more than their ease.
+
+The man who first began it was Justice Gaston--a white-haired patriot
+who lived on a little stream called Fishing Creek, near Rocky Mount. He
+was eighty years of age, and might well have thought himself too old to
+care about war matters; but he was a brave man and a patriot, and the
+people who lived near him were in the habit of taking his advice and
+doing as he did.
+
+When the news came that Tarleton had killed a band of patriots under
+Colonel Buford in cold blood Justice Gaston called his nine sons and
+many of his nephews around him. Joining hands, these young men promised
+each other that they never would take the British oath, and never would
+give up the cause, come what might.
+
+Soon afterwards a British force came to the neighborhood, and all the
+people were ordered to meet at Rocky Mount to enrol their names and take
+the oath. One of the British officers went to see Justice Gaston, and
+tried to persuade him that it was folly to refuse. He knew that if
+Gaston advised the people to give up, there would be no trouble; but the
+white-haired patriot told him to his face that he would never take the
+oath himself or advise anybody else to do so.
+
+As soon as the officer left the old man sent for his friends, and about
+thirty brave fellows met at his house that night, with their rifles in
+their hands. They knew there would be a strong force of British and
+Tories at Rocky Mount the next day, but, in spite of the odds against
+them, they made up their minds to attack the place, and when the time
+came they did so. Creeping through the woods, they suddenly came upon
+the crowd, and after a sharp fight sent the British flying
+helter-skelter in every direction. This stopped the work of enrolling
+the people as British subjects, and it did more than that. It showed the
+patriots through the whole country that they could still give the
+British a great deal of trouble, and after this affair many of the men
+who had thought of giving up rubbed up their rifles instead, and formed
+little bands of fighting men to keep the war going.
+
+Another man who did much to stir up partisan warfare was the Rev.
+William Martin, an old and pious preacher in the Scotch-Irish
+settlements. These Scotch-Irish were very religious people, and their
+preacher was their leader in all things. One Sunday, after the news had
+come to the settlement that Buford's men had been killed by the British
+in cold blood, the eloquent old man went into his pulpit and preached
+about the duty of fighting. In the afternoon he preached again, and even
+when the service was over he went on in the open air, still preaching to
+the people how they should fight for their country, until all the men
+in the settlement were full of fighting spirit. The women told the men
+to go and do their duty, and that they would take care of the crops.
+
+These little bands of patriots were too small to fight regular battles,
+or even to hold strong posts. They had to hide in the woods and swamps,
+and only came out when they saw a chance to strike a blow. Then the blow
+fell like lightning, and the men who dealt it quickly hid themselves
+again.
+
+They had signs by which they told each other what they were going to do.
+A twig bent down, a few stones strung along a path, or any other of a
+hundred small signs, served to tell every patriot when and where to meet
+his friends. A man riding about, breaking a twig here and there, or
+making some other sign of the kind, could call together a large force at
+a chosen spot within a few hours. The men brought out in this way would
+fall suddenly upon some stray British force that was off its guard, and
+utterly destroy it. The British would at once send a strong body of
+troops to punish the daring patriots, but the redcoat leader would look
+in vain for anybody to punish. The patriots could scatter and hide as
+quickly as they could come together.
+
+[Illustration: MARTIN PREACHING TO THE PEOPLE ON THE DUTY OF FIGHTING.]
+
+Finding that they could not destroy these patriot companies, the British
+and Tories took their revenge on women and children. They burned the
+houses of the patriots, carried off their crops, and killed their
+cattle, so as to starve their families; but the women were as brave us
+the men, and from first to last not one of them ever wished her husband
+or son to give up the fight.
+
+If the patriots could not conquer the British, they at least kept them
+in a hornets' nest. If they could not drive them out of South Carolina,
+they could keep them there, which was nearly as good a thing to do,
+because every soldier that Cornwallis had to keep in the South would
+have been sent to some other part of the country to fight the Americans
+if the Carolinians had let the British alone.
+
+In this way small bands of resolute men kept Cornwallis busy, and held
+the state for the American cause, until General Greene went south and
+took command. Greene was one of the greatest of the American generals,
+and after a long campaign he drove the British out of the state. But if
+it had not been for the partisans the South would have been lost long
+before he could be spared to go there; and if the partisans had not kept
+a British army busy there, it might have gone very hard with the
+Americans in the rest of the country.
+
+When we rejoice in the freedom of our country we ought not to forget how
+much we owe the partisans, and especially such men as Justice Gaston and
+the Rev. William Martin, who first set the partisans at their work. It
+would have been much easier and pleasanter for them to remain quiet
+under British rule; and they had nothing to gain for themselves, but
+everything to lose, by the course they took. Gaston knew that his home
+would be burned for what he did, and the eloquent old Scotch preacher
+knew that he would be put into a prison-pen for preaching war sermons
+to his people; but they were not men to flinch. They cared more for
+their country than for themselves, and it was precisely that kind of men
+throughout the land, from New England to Georgia, who won liberty for us
+by seven years of hard fighting and terrible suffering.
+
+
+
+
+THE CHARGE OF THE HOUNDS.
+
+AN INCIDENT OF THE CREEK WAR.
+
+
+A terrible bit of news was carried from mouth to mouth through the
+region that is now Alabama at the beginning of September, 1813. The
+country was at that time in the midst of the second war with Great
+Britain, and for a long time British agents had been trying to persuade
+the Creeks--a powerful nation of half-civilized but very warlike Indians
+who lived in Alabama--to join in the war and destroy the white
+settlements in the Southwest.
+
+For some time the Creeks hesitated, and it was uncertain what they would
+do. But during the summer of 1813 they broke out in hostility, and on
+the 30th of August their great leader, Weatherford, or the Red Eagle, as
+they called him, stormed Fort Mims, the strongest fort in the Southwest.
+He took the fort by surprise, with a thousand warriors behind him, and,
+after five hours of terrible fighting, destroyed it, killing about five
+hundred men, women, and children.
+
+This was the news that startled the settlers in the region where the
+Alabama and Tombigbee rivers come together. It was certain, after such a
+massacre as that, that the Indians meant to destroy the settlements, and
+kill all the white people without mercy.
+
+In order to protect themselves and their families the settlers built
+rude forts by setting pieces of timber endwise in the ground, and the
+people hurried to these places for safety. Leaving their homes to be
+burned, their crops to be destroyed, and their cattle to be killed or
+carried off by the Indians, the settlers hastily got together what food
+they could, and took their families into the nearest forts.
+
+One of the smallest of these stockade forts was called Sinquefield. It
+stood in what is now Clarke County, Alabama, and, as that region was
+very thinly settled, there were not enough men to make a strong force
+for the defence of the fort. But the brave farmers and hunters thought
+they could hold the place, and so they took their families thither as
+quickly as they could.
+
+Two families, numbering seventeen persons, found it was not easy to go
+to Sinquefield on the 2d of September, and so, as they were pretty sure
+that there were no Indians in their neighborhood as yet, they made up
+their minds to stay one more night at a house a few miles from the fort.
+That night they were attacked, and all but five of them were killed.
+Those who got away carried the news of what had happened to the fort,
+and a party was sent out to bring in the bodies.
+
+The next day all the people in Fort Sinquefield went out to bury their
+dead friends in a valley at some little distance from the fort, and,
+strange as it seems, they took no arms with them. Believing that there
+were no Indians near the place, they left the gates of the fortress
+open, and went out in a body without their guns.
+
+As a matter of fact there was a large body of Indians not only very
+near them, but actually looking at them all the time. The celebrated
+Prophet Francis was in command, and in his sly way he had crept as near
+the fort as possible to look for a good chance to attack it. Making his
+men lie down and crawl like snakes, he had reached a point only a few
+hundred yards from the stockade without alarming the people, and now,
+while they stood around the graves of their friends without arms to
+defend themselves with, a host of their savage enemies lay looking at
+them from the grass and bushes on the hill.
+
+As soon as he saw that the right moment had come, Francis sprang up with
+a savage war-cry, and at the head of his warriors made a dash at the
+gates. He had seen that the men outside were unarmed, and his plan was
+to get to the gates before they could reach them, and thus get all the
+people of the place at his mercy in an open field and without arms to
+fight with.
+
+The fort people were quick to see what his purpose was, and the men
+hurried forward with all their might, hoping to reach the fort before
+the savages could get there. By running at the top of their speed they
+did this, and closed the gates in time to keep the Indians out. But, to
+their horror, they then saw that their wives and children were shut out
+too. Unable to run so fast as the men had done, the women and children
+had fallen behind, and now the Indians were between them and the gates!
+
+Seeing that he had missed his chance of getting possession of the fort,
+Francis turned upon the women and children with savage delight in the
+thought of butchering these helpless creatures in the sight of their
+husbands, fathers, and brothers.
+
+It was a moment of terror. There were not half enough white men in the
+fort to master so large a force of Indians, and if there had been it was
+easy to see that by the time they could get their rifles and go to the
+rescue it would be too late.
+
+At that moment the hero of this bit of history came upon the scene. This
+was a young man named Isaac Haden. He was a notable huntsman, who kept
+a famous pack of hounds--fierce brutes, thoroughly trained to run down
+and seize any live thing that their master chose to chase. This young
+man had been out in search of stray cattle, and just at the moment when
+matters were at their worst he rode up to the fort, followed by his
+sixty dogs.
+
+Isaac Haden had a cool head and a very daring spirit. He was in the
+habit of taking in a situation at a glance, deciding quickly what was to
+be done, and then doing it at any risk that might be necessary. As soon
+as he saw how the women and children were placed, he cried out to his
+dogs, and, at the head of the bellowing pack, charged upon the flank of
+the Indians. The dogs did their work with a spirit equal to their
+master's. For each to seize a red warrior and drag him to earth was the
+work of a moment, and the whole body of savages was soon in confusion.
+For a time they had all they could do to defend themselves against the
+unlooked-for assault of the fierce animals, and before they could beat
+off the dogs the men of the fort came out and joined in the attack, so
+that the women and children had time to make their way inside the gates,
+only one of them, a Mrs. Phillips, having been killed.
+
+The men, of course, had to follow the women closely, as they were much
+too weak in numbers to risk a battle outside. If they had done so the
+Indians would have overcome them quickly, and then the fort and
+everybody in it would have been at their mercy, so the settlers hurried
+into the fort as soon as the women were safe.
+
+But the hero who had saved the people by his quickness and courage was
+left outside, and not only so, but the savages were between him and the
+fort. He had charged entirely through the war party, and was now beyond
+their line, alone, and with no chance of help from any quarter.
+
+His hope of saving himself was very small indeed; but he had saved all
+those helpless women and little children, and he was a brave enough
+fellow to die willingly for such a purpose as that if he must. But brave
+men do not give up easily, and young Haden did not mean to die without a
+last effort to save himself.
+
+[Illustration: "JUST AT THE MOMENT WHEN MATTERS WERE AT THEIR WORST, HE
+RODE UP."]
+
+Blowing a loud blast upon his hunting-horn to call his remaining dogs
+around him, he drew his pistols--one in each hand--and plunged spurs
+into his horse's flanks. In spite of the numbers against him he broke
+through the mass of savages, but the gallant horse that bore him fell
+dead as he cleared the Indian ranks. Haden had fired both his pistols,
+and had no time to load them again. He was practically unarmed now, and
+the distance he still had to go before reaching the gates was
+considerable. His chance of escape seemed smaller than ever, but he
+quickly sprang from the saddle, and ran with all his might, hotly
+pursued, and under a terrific fire from the rifles of the savages. The
+gate was held a little way open for him to pass, and when he entered the
+fort his nearest pursuers were so close at his heels that there was
+barely time for the men to shut the gate in their faces.
+
+Strangely enough, the brave young fellow was not hurt in any way. Five
+bullets had passed through his clothes, but his skin was not broken.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF A WINTER CAMPAIGN.
+
+
+Nearly all the countries in Europe were making war upon France in 1795.
+The French people had set up a republic, and all the kingdoms round
+about were trying to make them submit to a king again. This had been
+going on for several years, and sometimes it looked as though the French
+would be beaten, in spite of their brave struggles to keep their enemies
+back and manage their own affairs in their own way.
+
+At one time everything went against the French. Their armies were worn
+out with fighting, their supply of guns had run short, they had no
+powder, and their money matters were in so bad a state that it seemed
+hardly possible for France to hold out any longer. In the meantime
+England, Austria, Spain, Holland, Piedmont, and Prussia, besides many of
+the small German states, had joined together to fight France, and their
+armies were on every side of her.
+
+A country in such a state as that, with so many powerful enemies on
+every side, might well have given up; but the French are a brave people,
+and they were fighting for their liberties. Instead of giving up in
+despair, they set to work with all their might to carry on the war.
+
+The first thing to be done was to raise new armies, and so they called
+for men, and the men came forward in great numbers from every part of
+the country. In a little while they had more men to make soldiers of
+than had ever before been brought together in France. But this was only
+a beginning. The men were not yet trained soldiers, and even if they had
+been, they had no guns and no powder; no clothing was to be had, and
+there was very little food for them to eat. Still the French did not
+despair.
+
+Knowing that there would not be time enough to train the new men, they
+put some of their old soldiers in each regiment of new ones, so that
+the new men might learn from the veterans how to march and how to
+fight.
+
+In the meantime they had set up armories, and were making guns as fast
+as they could. Their greatest trouble was about powder. They had
+chemists who knew how to make it, but they had no nitre to make it of,
+and did not know at first how to get any. At last one of their chemists
+said that there was some nitre--from a few ounces to a pound or two--in
+the earth of every cellar floor; and that if all the nitre in all the
+cellar floors of France could be collected, it would be enough to make
+plenty of powder.
+
+But how to get this nitre was a question. The cellar floors must be dug
+up, the earth must be washed, and the water must be carefully passed
+through a course of chemical treatment in order to get the nitre, free
+from earth and from all other things with which it was mixed. It would
+take many days for a chemist to extract the nitre from the earth of a
+singly cellar, and then he would get only a pound or two of it at most.
+
+It did not seem likely that much could be done in this way, but all the
+people were anxious to help, and so the cry went up from every part of
+the country, "Send us chemists to teach us how, and we will do the work
+and get the nitre ourselves." This was quickly done. All the chemists
+were set at work teaching the people how to get a little nitre out of a
+great deal of earth, and then every family went to work. In a little
+while the nitre began to come in to the powder-factories. Each family
+sent its little parcel of the precious salt as a free gift to the
+country. Some of them were so proud and glad of the chance to help that
+they dressed their little packages of nitre in ribbons of the national
+colors, and wrote patriotic words upon them. Each little parcel held
+only a few ounces, or at most a pound or two, of the white salt; but the
+parcels came in by tens of thousands, and in a few weeks there were
+hundreds of tons of nitre at the powder-mills.
+
+As soon as there was powder enough the new armies began to press their
+enemies, and, during the summer and fall of 1794, they steadily drove
+them back. When they met their foes in battle they nearly always forced
+them to give way. They charged upon forts and took them at the point of
+the bayonet; cities and towns everywhere fell into their hands, and by
+the time that winter set in they were so used to winning battles that
+nothing seemed too hard for them to undertake.
+
+But the French soldiers were in a very bad condition to stand the cold
+of winter. One great army, under General Pichegru, which had driven the
+English and Dutch far into the Netherlands, was really almost naked. The
+shoes of the soldiers were worn out, and so they had to wrap their feet
+in wisps of straw to keep them from freezing. Many of the men had not
+clothing enough to cover their nakedness, and, for decency's sake, had
+to plait straw into mats which they wore around their shoulders like
+blankets. They had no tents to sleep in, but, nearly naked as they were,
+had to lie down in the snow or on the hard frozen ground, and sleep as
+well as they could in the bitter winter weather.
+
+There never was an army more in need of a good rest in winter-quarters,
+and as two great rivers lay in front of them, it seemed impossible to do
+anything more until spring. The English and Dutch were already safely
+housed for the winter, feeling perfectly sure that the French could not
+cross the rivers or march in any direction until the beginning of the
+next summer.
+
+The French generals, therefore, put their men into the best quarters
+they could get for them, and the poor, half-naked, barefooted soldiers
+were glad to think that their work for that year was done.
+
+Day by day the weather grew colder. The ground was frozen hard, and ice
+began running in the rivers. After a little while the floating ice
+became so thick that the rivers were choked with it. When Christmas came
+the stream nearest the French was frozen over, and three days later the
+ice was so hard that the surface of the river was as firm as the solid
+ground.
+
+Then came an order from General Pichegru to shoulder arms and march. In
+the bitterest weather of that terrible winter the barefooted, half-clad
+French soldiers left their huts, and marched against their foes.
+Crossing the first river on the ice, they fell upon the surprised Dutch
+and utterly routed them. About the same time they made a dash at the
+strong fortified posts along the river, and captured them.
+
+The French were now masters of the large island that lay between the two
+rivers, for they are really only two branches of one river, and the land
+between them is an island. But the ice in the farther stream was not yet
+hard enough to bear the weight of cannon, so Pichegru had to stay where
+he was for a time. Both sides now watched the weather, the French hoping
+for still harder frosts, while their enemies prayed for a thaw.
+
+The cold weather continued, and day by day the ice became firmer. On the
+8th of January, 1795, Pichegru began to cross, and on the 10th his whole
+army had passed the stream, while his enemies were rapidly retreating.
+He pushed forward into the country, sending his columns in different
+directions to press the enemy at every point. The barefooted, half-naked
+French soldiers were full of spirit, and in spite of frost and snow and
+rough frozen roads they marched steadily and rapidly. City after city
+fell before them, and on the 20th of January they marched into Amsterdam
+itself, and were complete conquerors.
+
+Hungry and half-frozen as they were, it would not have been strange if
+these poor soldiers had rushed into the warm houses of the city and
+helped themselves to food and clothing. But they did nothing of the
+kind. They stacked their arms in the streets and public squares, and
+quietly waited in the snow, patiently bearing the bitter cold of the
+wind for several hours, while the magistrates were getting houses and
+food and clothing ready for them.
+
+This whole campaign was wonderful, and on almost every day some strange
+thing happened; but, perhaps, the strangest of all the events in this
+winter war was that which is shown in the picture. Pichegru, learning
+that there was a fleet of the enemy's vessels lying at anchor near the
+island of Texel, sent a column of cavalry, with some cannon, in that
+direction, to see if anything could be done. The cavalry found the
+Zuyder Zee hard frozen, and the ships firmly locked in the ice. So they
+put spurs to their horses, galloped over the frozen surface of the sea,
+marched up to the ships, and called on them to surrender. It was a new
+thing in war for ships to be charged by men on horseback; but there the
+horsemen were, with strong ice under them, and the ships could not sail
+away from them. The sailors could make a fight, of course, but the
+cavalry, with their cannon, were too strong for them, and so they
+surrendered without a battle, and for the first time in history a body
+of hussars captured a squadron of ships at anchor.
+
+[Illustration: CAPTURE OF THE DUTCH FLEET BY THE SOLDIERS OF THE FRENCH
+REPUBLIC.]
+
+
+
+
+YOUNG WASHINGTON IN THE WOODS.
+
+THE STORY OF A PERILOUS JOURNEY.
+
+
+No man ever lived whose name is more honored than that of George
+Washington, and no man ever deserved his fame more. All the success that
+ever came to him was won by hard work. He succeeded because he was the
+kind of man that he was, and not in the least because he had "a good
+chance" to distinguish himself. He never owed anything to "good luck,"
+nor even to a special education in the business of a soldier. Some men
+are called great because they have succeeded in doing great things; but
+he succeeded in doing great things because he was great in himself.
+
+Everybody who knew him, even as a boy, seems to have respected as well
+as liked him. There was something in his character which made men think
+well of him. When he was only sixteen years of age Lord Fairfax admired
+him to such a degree that he appointed him to a post which not many men
+would have been trusted to fill. He put the boy at the head of a
+surveying party, and sent him across the mountains to survey the valley
+of Virginia--a vast region which was then unsettled. So well did
+Washington perform this difficult and dangerous task that a few years
+later, when he was only twenty-one years old, the Governor of Virginia
+picked him out for a more delicate and dangerous piece of work.
+
+The English colonies lay along the Atlantic coast, while the French held
+Canada. The country west of the Alleghany Mountains, which we now know
+as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, etc., was claimed by both the French and the
+English, though only the Indians lived there. The French made friends of
+the savages, and began building forts at different points in that
+region, and putting soldiers there to keep the English away. The
+Governor of Virginia wanted to put a stop to this, and so he resolved to
+send a messenger into "the Great Woods," as the western country was
+called, to warn the French off, and to win the friendship of the Indians
+if possible.
+
+For such a service he needed a man with a cool head, good sense, great
+courage, and, above all, what boys call "grit;" for whoever should go
+would have to make his way for many hundreds of miles through a
+trackless wilderness, over mountains and rivers, and among hostile
+Indians. Young Washington had already shown what stuff he was made of,
+and, young as he was, he was regarded as a remarkable man. The governor
+therefore picked him out as the very best person for the work that was
+to be done.
+
+It was November when Washington set out, and the weather was very cold
+and wet. He took four white men and two Indians with him, the white men
+being hunters who knew how to live in the woods. As the country they had
+to pass through was a wilderness, they had to carry all their supplies
+with them on pack-horses. They rode all day through the woods, and when
+night came slept in little tents by some spring or watercourse. Day
+after day they marched forward, until at last they reached an Indian
+village, near the spot where Pittsburgh now stands, and there they
+halted to make friends with the Indians.
+
+This was not very easy, as the French had already had a good deal to do
+with the tribes in that region; but Washington persuaded the chief,
+whose name was Tanacharisson, to go with him to visit the French
+commander, who was stationed in a fort hundreds of miles away, near Lake
+Erie.
+
+This march, like the other, was slow and full of hardships; but at last
+the fort was reached, and Washington delivered his message to the French
+officer. A day or two later the Frenchman gave him his answer, which was
+that the western country belonged to the French, and that they had no
+notion of giving it up.
+
+All the trouble Washington had met in going north was nothing compared
+with what was before him in going back to Virginia again. The winter was
+now at its worst, and the weather was terrible. The rivers and creeks
+were full of floating ice, and the woods were banked high with snow. But
+Washington was not to be daunted by any kind of difficulty. He set out
+on his return march, and with the aid of canoes, in which his baggage
+was carried down a small stream that ran in that direction, he took his
+party as far as Venango, in the northwestern part of Pennsylvania.
+
+There he found that he could go no farther on horseback. The ground was
+frozen on top, but soft beneath, and the poor horses broke through the
+hard crust at every step. There was a French fort at Venango, and
+Washington might have waited there very comfortably for better weather;
+but it was his duty to get back to Virginia as soon as possible with the
+French commander's answer, and so he made up his mind to go on, even at
+the risk of his life.
+
+Leaving the rest of the party to come when they could with the horses,
+Washington and a single companion named Gist set out on foot for the
+long winter march. As they had no pack-horses to carry tents and
+cooking-vessels and food, they had to leave everything behind except
+what they could carry on their backs; and as they were obliged to take
+their rifles, powder-horns, and bullet-pouches, their hunting-knives and
+hatchets, and a blanket apiece, they were pretty heavily loaded, and
+could not afford to burden themselves with much else.
+
+Day by day the two brave fellows trudged on through the snow-drifts,
+sleeping at night as best they could, exposed to the biting cold of the
+winter, without shelter, except such as the woods afforded. There were
+other dangers besides cold and hunger. At one time a treacherous Indian,
+who had offered to act as guide, tried to lead the two white men into a
+trap. As they suspected his purpose, they refused to do as he wished,
+and a little later he suddenly turned about and shot at Washington, who
+was only a few paces distant. Missing his aim, he was quickly
+overpowered, and Gist wanted to kill him, not merely because he deserved
+to be put to death for his treachery, but also because, if allowed to go
+free, he was pretty sure to bring other hostile Indians to attack the
+lonely travellers during the night.
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON AS A SURVEYOR.]
+
+But Washington would not have him killed. He made him build a camp-fire,
+and then told him to leave them at once. The Indian did so, and as soon
+as it was certain that he was out of sight and hearing the two young men
+set out to make their escape. They knew the Indian would soon come back
+with others, and that their only chance for life was to push on as fast
+as they could. The Indians could track them in the snow, but by setting
+out at once they hoped to get so far ahead that they could not be easily
+overtaken.
+
+It was already night, and the travellers were weary from their day's
+march, but they could not afford to stop or rest. All through the night
+they toiled on. Morning came, and they must have felt it nearly
+impossible to drag their weary feet farther, but still they made no
+halt. On and on they went, and it was not till night came again that
+they thought it safe at last to stop for the rest and sleep they needed
+so badly. The strain they had undergone must have been fearful. They
+were already weary and wayworn when they first met the treacherous
+Indian, and after that they had toiled through the snow for two days and
+a night without stopping to rest or daring to refresh themselves with
+sleep.
+
+Just before reaching their journey's end they arrived at the brink of a
+river which they expected to find frozen over; but they found it full of
+floating ice instead. Without boat or bridge, there seemed no chance of
+getting across; but after a while they managed to make a rude raft, and
+upon this they undertook to push themselves across with long poles.
+
+The current was very strong, the raft was hard to manage, and the great
+fields of ice forced it out of its course. In trying to push it in the
+right direction, Washington missed his footing and fell into the icy
+river. His situation was very dangerous, but by a hard struggle he got
+upon the floating logs again. Still the current swept them along, and
+they could not reach either shore of the stream.
+
+At last they managed to leap from the logs, not to the bank, but to a
+small island in the river. There they were very little better off than
+on the raft. They were on land, it is true, but there was still no way
+of getting to shore; and as there was nothing on the island to make a
+fire with, Washington was forced, drenched as he was with ice-water, to
+pass the long winter night in the open air, without so much as a tiny
+blaze or a handful of coals by which to warm himself.
+
+Unfortunately the night proved to be a very cold one, and poor Gist's
+feet and hands were frozen before morning. Washington got no
+frost-bites, but his sufferings must have been great.
+
+During the night that part of the stream which lay between the island
+and the shore that Washington wished to reach froze over, and in the
+morning the travellers were able to renew their journey. Once across
+that, the worst of their troubles were over.
+
+Is it any wonder that a young man who did his duty in this way rapidly
+rose to distinction? He was always in earnest in his work, and always
+did it with all his might. He never shammed or shirked. He never let his
+own comfort or his own interest stand in the way when there was a duty
+to be done. He was a great man before he became a celebrated one, and
+the wisest men in the country found out the fact.
+
+When the revolution came there were other soldiers older and better
+known than Washington, but there were men in Congress who had watched
+his career carefully. They made him, therefore, commander-in-chief of
+the American armies, knowing that nobody else was so sure to do the very
+best that could be done for the country. They did not make him a great
+man by appointing him to the chief command; they appointed him because
+they knew he was a great man already.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF CATHERINE.
+
+
+Peter the Great, the emperor who, in a few years, changed Russia from a
+country of half-savage tribes into a great European nation, was one day
+visiting one of his officers, and saw in his house a young girl, who
+attracted his attention by her beauty and her graceful manners. This
+girl was a prisoner named Martha, and she was living as a sort of
+servant and housekeeper in the family of the Russian officer. She had
+been taken prisoner when the town she lived in was captured. Nobody
+knows, even to this day, exactly who she was, except that she was a poor
+orphan girl who had been brought up by a village clergyman; but it is
+generally believed that her father was a Livonian peasant.
+
+Martha's beauty and the brightness of her mind pleased the emperor so
+much that, after a while, he made up his mind to marry her, in spite of
+her humble origin. Peter was in the habit of doing pretty much as he
+pleased, whether his nobles liked it or not; but even he dared not make
+a captive peasant girl the Empress of Russia. He therefore married her
+privately, in the presence of a few of his nearest friends, who were
+charged to keep the secret. Before the marriage took place he had Martha
+baptized in the Russian Church, and changed her name to Catherine.
+
+Now Peter had a bad habit of losing his temper, and getting so angry
+that he fell into fits. As he was an absolute monarch and could do
+whatever he liked, it was very dangerous for anybody to go near him when
+he was angry. He could have a head chopped off as easily as he could
+order his breakfast. But he was very fond of Catherine, and she was the
+only person who was not in the least afraid of him. She soon learned how
+to manage him, and even in his worst fits she could soothe and quiet the
+old bear.
+
+Peter was nearly always at war, and in spite of the hardships and
+dangers of the camp and battle-field Catherine always marched with him
+at the head of the army. The soldiers wondered at her bravery, and
+learned to like her more than anybody else. If food was scarce, the
+roads rough, and the marches long, they remembered, that Catherine was
+with them, and were ashamed to grumble. If she could stand the hardships
+and face the dangers, they thought rough soldiers ought not to complain.
+
+Catherine was a wise woman as well as a brave one. She soon learned as
+much of the art of war as Peter knew, and in every time of doubt or
+difficulty her advice was asked, and her opinion counted for as much as
+if she had been one of the generals. After she had thus shown how able a
+woman she was, and had won the friendship of everybody about her by her
+good temper and her pleasant ways, Peter publicly announced his
+marriage, and declared Catherine to be his wife and czarina. But still
+he did not crown her.
+
+This was in the year 1711, and immediately afterwards Peter marched
+into the Turkish country at the head of forty thousand men. This army
+was not nearly large enough to meet the Turks, but Peter had other
+armies in different places, and had ordered all of them to meet him on
+the march. For various reasons all these armies failed to join him, and
+he found himself in a Turkish province with a very small number of
+troops. The danger was so great that he ordered Catherine and all the
+other women to go back to a place of safety. But Catherine would not go.
+She had made up her mind to stay with Peter at the head of the army, and
+was so obstinate about it that at last Peter gave her leave to remain.
+Then the wives of the generals, and, finally, of the lower officers,
+wanted to stay also. She persuaded Peter to let them do so, and the end
+of it was that the women all stayed with the army.
+
+Everything went against Peter on this march. The weather was very dry.
+Swarms of locusts were in the country, eating every green thing. There
+was no food for the horses, and many of them starved to death. It was
+hard for the Russians to go forward or to go backward, and harder still
+to stay where they were.
+
+At last the soldiers in front reported that the Turks were coming, and
+Peter soon saw a great army of two hundred thousand fierce Moslems in
+front of his little force, which counted up only thirty-eight thousand
+men. Seeing the odds against him he gave the order to retreat, and the
+army began its backward march. As it neared the river Pruth a new danger
+showed itself. The advance-guard brought word that a great force of
+savage Crim Tartars held the other bank of the river, completely cutting
+off Peter's retreat.
+
+The state of things seemed hopeless. With two hundred thousand Turks on
+one side, and a strong force of Crim Tartars holding a river on the
+other, Peter's little army was completely hemmed in. There was no water
+in the camp, and when the soldiers went to the river for it, the Tartars
+on the other shore kept up a fierce fight with them. A great horde of
+Turkish cavalry tried hard to cut off the supply entirely by pushing
+themselves between Peter's camp and the river, but the Russians managed
+to keep them back by hard fighting, and to keep a road open to the
+river.
+
+Peter knew now that unless help should come to him in some shape, and
+that very quickly, he must lose not only his army, but his empire also,
+for if the Turks should take him prisoner, it was certain that his many
+enemies would soon conquer Russia, and divide the country among
+themselves. He saw no chance of help coming, but he made up his mind to
+fight as long as he could. He formed his men in a hollow square, with
+the women in the middle, and faced his enemies.
+
+The Turks flung themselves in great masses upon his lines, trying to
+crush the little force of Russians by mere numbers. But Peter's brave
+men remembered that Catherine was inside their hollow square, and they
+stood firmly at their posts, driving back the Turks with frightful
+slaughter. Again and again and again they fell upon his lines in heavy
+masses, and again and again and again they were driven back, leaving
+the field black with their dead.
+
+This could not go on forever, of course, and both sides saw what the end
+must be. As the Turks had many times more men than Peter, it was plain
+that they would, at last, win by destroying all the Russians.
+
+For three days and nights the terrible slaughter went on. Peter's men
+beat back the Turks at every charge, but every hour their line grew
+thinner. At the end of the third day sixteen thousand of their brave
+comrades lay dead upon the field, and only twenty-two thousand remained
+to face the enemy.
+
+Towards night on the third day a terrible rumor spread through their
+camp. A whisper ran along the line that _the ammunition was giving out_.
+A few more shots from each soldier's gun, and there would be nothing
+left to fight with.
+
+Then Peter fell into the sulks. As long as he could fight he had kept up
+his spirits, but now that all was lost, and his great career seemed near
+its end, he grew angry, and went to his tent to have one of his savage
+fits. He gave orders that nobody should come near him, and there was no
+officer or soldier in all the army who would have dared enter the tent
+where he lay, in his dangerous mood.
+
+But if Peter had given up in despair, Catherine had not. In spite of
+Peter's order and his anger, she boldly went into his tent, and asked
+him to give her leave to put an end to the war by making a treaty of
+peace with the Turks, if she could. It seemed absurd to talk of such a
+thing, or to expect the Turks to make peace on any terms when they had
+so good a chance to conquer Peter, once for all, and to make him their
+prisoner. Nobody but Catherine, perhaps, would have thought of such a
+thing; but Catherine was a woman born for great affairs, and she had no
+thought of giving up any chance there might be to save Peter and the
+empire.
+
+Her first difficulty was with Peter himself. She could not offer terms
+of peace to the Turks until Peter gave her leave, and promised to fulfil
+whatever bargain she might make with them. She managed this part of
+the matter, and then set to work at the greater task of dealing with the
+Turks.
+
+[Illustration: "SHE WENT BOLDLY INTO HIS TENT."]
+
+She knew that the Turkish army was under the command of the Grand
+Vizier, and she knew something of the ways of Grand Viziers. It was not
+worth while to send any kind of messenger to a Turkish commander without
+sending him also a bribe in the shape of a present, and Catherine was
+sure that the bribe must be a very large one to buy the peace she
+wanted. But where was she to get the present? There was no money in
+Peter's army-chest, and no way of getting any from Russia. Catherine was
+not discouraged by that fact. She first got together all her own jewels,
+and then went to all the officers' wives and asked each of them for
+whatever she had that was valuable--money, jewels, and plate. She gave
+each of them a receipt for what she took, and promised to pay them the
+value of their goods when she should get back to Moscow. She went in
+this way throughout the camp, and got together all the money, all the
+jewelry, and all the silver plate that were to be found in the army. No
+one person had much, of course; but when the things were collected
+together, they made a very rich present, or bribe, for the Grand Vizier.
+
+With this for a beginning, Catherine soon convinced the Turkish
+commander that it was better to make peace with Russia than to run the
+risk of having to fight the great armies that were already marching
+towards Turkey. After some bargaining she secured a treaty which allowed
+Peter to go back to Russia in safety, and thus she saved the czar and
+the empire. A few years later Peter crowned her as Empress of Russia,
+and when he died he named her as the fittest person to be his successor
+on the throne.
+
+Thus the peasant girl of Livonia, who was made a captive in war and a
+servant, rose by her genius and courage to be the sole ruler of a great
+empire--the first woman who ever reigned over Russia. It is a strange
+but true story.
+
+
+
+
+THE VIRGINIA WIFE-MARKET.
+
+TWO SHIPLOADS OF SWEETHEARTS AND THE PRICES PAID FOR THEM.
+
+
+The first English settlement in America that came to anything was made
+in the most absurd way possible. A great company of London merchants set
+about the work of planting an English colony in Virginia, and they were
+very much in earnest about it too; but if they had been as anxious to
+have the scheme fail as they were to make it succeed, they could hardly
+have done worse for it than they did in some respects.
+
+They knew that the colonists must have something to eat and must defend
+themselves against the Indians, and so it ought to have been plain to
+them that the first men sent out must be stout farmers, who could cut
+down trees, plough the ground, raise food enough for the people to eat,
+and handle guns well, if need be. The work to be done was that of
+farmers, wood-choppers, and men who could make a living for themselves
+in a new country, and common-sense ought to have led the London Company
+to send out nobody but men of that kind to make the first settlement.
+Then, after those men had cleared some land, built some houses, and
+raised their first crop, men of other kinds might have been sent as fast
+as there was need for their services.
+
+But that was not the way in which the London Company went to work. They
+chose for their first settlers about the most unfit men they could have
+found for such a purpose. There were one hundred and five of them in
+all, and forty-eight of them--or nearly half of the whole company--were
+what people in those days called "gentlemen"--that is to say, they were
+the sons of rich men. They had never learned how to do any kind of work,
+and had been brought up to think that a gentleman could not work without
+degrading himself and losing his right to be called a gentleman. There
+were a good many "servants" also in the party, and probably most of them
+were brought to wait upon the gentlemen. There were very few farmers and
+not many mechanics in the party, although farmers and mechanics were the
+men most needed. There were some goldsmiths, who expected to work the
+gold as soon as the colonists should find it, and there was a
+perfume-maker. It is hard to say in what way this perfume-man was
+expected to make himself useful in the work of planting a settlement in
+the swamps of Virginia; but, as there were so many fine "gentlemen" in
+the party, the perfumer probably thought his wares would be in demand.
+
+None of the men brought families with them. They were single men, who
+came out to this country, not to make comfortable homes for wives and
+children, by hard and patient work, but to find gold and pearls, or to
+grow rich in some other quick and easy way, and then to go back and live
+in ease in England.
+
+It is a wonder that such men ever succeeded in planting a settlement at
+all. From the first it does not seem to have been clear to them that
+they ought to raise plenty of food for themselves and learn how to live
+by their own work. They expected the company in London to send them most
+of their food and everything else that they needed. They had plenty of
+rich land and a good climate, but they expected to be fed by people
+three thousand miles away, across a great ocean.
+
+Luckily, there was one man of sense and spirit among them--the
+celebrated Captain John Smith--who got them to work a little, and, after
+many hardships and two or three narrow escapes from failure, the colony
+was firmly planted.
+
+The London Company sent out ships every year with supplies and fresh
+colonists; but, strange as it seems, most of the men sent were
+unmarried, and even those who had wives and children left them in
+England.
+
+When we think of it, this was a very bad way to begin the work of
+settling a new country. The bachelors, of course, did not intend to
+stay all their lives in a country where there were no women and
+children. They meant to make some money as quickly as they could and
+then go back to England to live. The married men who had left their
+families behind them were in still greater haste to make what they could
+and go home. In short, for a dozen years after the colony was planted,
+nobody thought of it as his real home, where he meant to live out his
+life. If the colonists had been married men, with wives and children in
+Virginia, they would have done all they could to make the new settlement
+a pleasant one to live in: they would have built good houses, set up
+schools, and worked hard to improve their own fortunes and to keep order
+in the colony.
+
+But year after year the ships brought cargoes of single men to Virginia,
+and the settlement was scarcely more than a camp in the woods. After the
+company had been trying for a good many years to people a new country by
+landing shiploads of bachelors on its shores, it began to dawn upon
+their minds that if the Virginia settlement was ever to grow into a
+thriving and lasting colony, there must be women and children there to
+make happy homes, as well as men to raise wheat, corn, and tobacco.
+
+Sir Edwin Sandys was the wise man who saw all this most clearly. He
+urged the company to send out hard-working married men, who would take
+their wives and children with them to Virginia and settle there for
+good. But this was not all. There were already a great many bachelors in
+the colony, and there were no young women there for them to marry. Sir
+Edwin knew that if these bachelors were to stay in Virginia and become
+prosperous colonists they must have a chance to marry and set up homes
+of their own. So he went to work in England to get together a cargo of
+sweethearts for the colonists. He persuaded ninety young women of good
+character to go out in one of the company's ships, to marry young men in
+Virginia.
+
+The plan was an odd one, but it was managed with good sense and did well
+for everybody concerned. It was agreed that the company should provide
+the young women with such clothing and other things as they would need
+for the voyage, and should give them free passage on board the ship.
+When they landed in Virginia they were to be perfectly free to marry or
+not, as they pleased. If any of them did not at once find husbands to
+their liking they were to be provided for in good homes until they chose
+to marry.
+
+But no man could marry one of these young women without paying for her
+in tobacco, which was used instead of money in Virginia. The girls were
+not to be sold, exactly, but it was expected that each colonist who
+married one of them should pay the company as much as it had spent in
+bringing her across the ocean.
+
+And the men of the colony were glad enough to do this. When the shipload
+of sweethearts landed at Jamestown a large number of men who were tired
+of bachelor life hurried to the wharf to get wives for themselves if
+they could. They went among the young maids, introduced themselves, got
+acquainted, and did all the courting that was necessary in a very
+little time. The young women were honest, good, well-brought-up girls,
+and among the many men there were plenty of good, industrious, and brave
+fellows who wanted good wives, and so all the girls were "engaged" at
+once. The men paid down one hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco
+apiece--for that was the price fixed upon--and, as there was nothing to
+wait for, the clergymen were sent for and the weddings took place
+immediately.
+
+It was an odd thing to do, of course, but the circumstances were very
+unusual, and the plan of importing sweethearts by the cargo really seems
+to have been a very good one. It must have been a strange sight when the
+girls landed and met the men who had come to the town to woo and marry
+them. And many of the girls must have felt that they took great risks in
+coming three thousand miles from home and marrying men whom they had
+known for so short a time; but it seems that the marriages were happy
+ones, in spite of the haste in which they were made. The newly-married
+pairs went to work in earnest to create good homes for themselves, and
+when their English friends learned from their letters how happy and
+prosperous they were, another company of sixty sweethearts set sail for
+the colony and became the wives of good men.
+
+It was in this way that the English camp at Jamestown was changed into a
+real colony of people who meant to live in America and to build up a
+thriving community here. Now that the men had wives and children to
+provide for, they no longer lived "from hand to mouth," hoping to make a
+fortune by some lucky stroke, and then to leave the colony forever. They
+went to work, instead, to cultivate the land, to build good houses, to
+make and save money, to educate their children, and to become prosperous
+and happy in their homes. Virginia, which had been a mere stopping-place
+to them, was now their own country, where their families lived and their
+nearest friends were around them. There they expected to pass their
+lives in efforts to better their own fortunes, and to make the country
+a pleasant one for their children and grandchildren after them to live
+in. They were anxious to have schools and churches, and to keep up right
+standards of morals and proper manners in the colony, so that their
+children might grow to be good and happy men and women.
+
+That is the way in which the first English colony in America became
+prosperous, and many of the men who afterwards became famous in the
+history of the nation were the great-great-grandsons of the women whom
+Sir Edwin Sandys sent out as sweethearts for the colonists.
+
+The Pilgrims, who settled at Plymouth about the time that all this
+happened, brought their families with them, and quickly made themselves
+at home in America. The planting of these two colonies--the first in
+Virginia and the second in Massachusetts--was the beginning from which
+our great, free, and happy country, with its fifty millions of people,
+has grown.
+
+
+
+
+THE BOYHOOD OF DANIEL WEBSTER.[A]
+
+[A] For some of the materials used in this sketch I am indebted
+to the work entitled "The Boyhood of Great Men," by John G. Edgar,
+published by Messrs. Harper & Brothers.
+
+
+Daniel Webster, the great statesman, orator, and lawyer, was born on the
+18th of January, 1782.
+
+His father lived near the head-waters of the Merrimac River, and the
+only school within reach was a poor one kept open for a few months every
+winter. There Webster learned all that the country schoolmaster could
+teach him, which was very little; but he acquired a taste which did more
+for him than the reading, writing, and arithmetic of the school. He
+learned to like books, and to want knowledge; and when a boy gets really
+hungry and thirsty for knowledge it is not easy to keep him ignorant.
+When some of the neighbors joined in setting up a little circulating
+library, young Webster read every book in it two or three times, and
+even committed to memory a large part of the best of them. It was this
+eagerness for education on his part that led his father afterwards to
+send him to Exeter to school, and later to put him into Dartmouth
+College.
+
+There are not many boys in our time who have not declaimed parts of
+Webster's great speeches; and it will interest them to know that the boy
+who afterwards made those speeches could never declaim at all while he
+was at school. He learned his pieces well, and practised them in his own
+room, but he could not speak them before people to save his life.
+
+Webster was always fond of shooting and fishing, and, however hard he
+studied, the people around him called him lazy and idle, because he
+would spend whole days in these sports. Once, while he was studying
+under Dr. Woods to prepare for college, that gentleman spoke to him on
+the subject, and hurt his feelings a little. The boy went to his room
+determined to have revenge, and this is the way he took to get it. The
+usual Latin lesson was one hundred lines of Virgil, but Webster spent
+the whole night over the book. The next morning before breakfast he went
+to Dr. Woods and read the whole lesson correctly. Then he said:
+
+"Will you hear a few more lines, doctor?"
+
+The teacher consenting, Webster read on and on and on, while the
+breakfast grew cold. Still there was no sign of the boy's stopping, and
+the hungry doctor at last asked how much farther he was prepared to
+read.
+
+"To the end of the twelfth book of the AEneid," answered the "idle" boy,
+in triumph.
+
+After that, Webster did not give up his hunting and fishing, but he
+worked so hard at his lessons, and got on so fast, that there was no
+further complaint of his "idleness." He not only learned the lessons
+given to him, but more, every day, and besides this he read every good
+book he could lay his hands on, for he was not at all satisfied to know
+only what could be found in the school-books.
+
+Webster's father was poor and in debt, but finding how eager his boy was
+for education, and seeing, too, that he possessed unusual ability, he
+determined, ill as he could afford the expense, to send him to college.
+Accordingly, young Daniel went to Dartmouth.
+
+Many anecdotes are told to illustrate the character of young Dan. He was
+always lavish of his money when he had any, while his brother was
+careful but generous, especially to Dan, whom he greatly admired. On one
+occasion the boys went to a neighboring town on a high holiday, each
+with a quarter of a dollar in his pocket.
+
+"Well, Dan," said the father on their return, "what did you do with your
+money?"
+
+"Spent it," answered the boy.
+
+"And what did you do with yours, Zeke?"
+
+"Lent it to Dan," was the answer. The fact was that Dan had spent both
+quarters.
+
+Young Webster was very industrious in his studies, as we have seen, and
+he was physically strong and active as his fondness for sport proved;
+but he could never endure farm-work. One day his father wanted him to
+help him in cutting hay with a scythe; but very soon the boy complained
+that the scythe was not "hung" to suit him; that is to say, it was not
+set at a proper angle upon its handle. The old gentleman, adjusted it,
+but still it did not suit the boy. After repeated attempts to arrange it
+to Dan's liking, the father said, impatiently, "Well, hang it to suit
+yourself." And young Dan immediately "hung" it over a branch of an
+apple-tree and left it there. That was the hanging which pleased him.
+
+[Illustration: "'TO THE END OF THE TWELFTH BOOK OF THE AENEID,' ANSWERED
+THE 'IDLE' BOY, IN TRIUMPH."]
+
+After finishing his college course Webster began studying law, but
+having no money, and being unwilling to tax his father for further
+support, he went into Northern Maine, and taught school there for a
+time. While teaching he devoted his evenings to the work of copying
+deeds and other legal documents, and by close economy managed to live
+upon the money thus earned, thus saving the whole of his salary as a
+teacher. With this money to live on, he went to Boston, studied law, and
+soon distinguished himself. The story of his life as a public man, in
+the senate, in the cabinet, and at the bar, is well known, and does not
+belong to this sketch of his boyhood.
+
+
+
+
+THE SCULLION WHO BECAME A SCULPTOR.
+
+
+In the little Italian village of Possagno there lived a jolly
+stone-cutter named Pisano. He was poor, of course, or he would not have
+been a stone-cutter; but he was full of good humor, and everybody liked
+him.
+
+There was one little boy, especially, who loved old Pisano, and whom old
+Pisano loved more than anybody else in the world. This was Antonio
+Canova, Pisano's grandson, who had come to live with him, because his
+father was dead, and his mother had married a harsh man, who treated the
+little Antonio roughly.
+
+Antonio was a frail little fellow, and his grandfather liked to have him
+near him during his working hours.
+
+While Pisano worked at stone-cutting, little Canova played at it and at
+other things, such as modelling in clay, drawing, etc. The old
+grandfather, plain, uneducated man as he was, soon discovered that the
+pale-faced little fellow at his side had something more than an ordinary
+child's dexterity at such things.
+
+The boy knew nothing of art or of its laws, but he fashioned his lumps
+of clay into forms of real beauty. His wise grandfather, seeing what
+this indicated, hired a teacher to give him some simple lessons in
+drawing, so that he might improve himself if he really had the artistic
+ability which the old man suspected. Pisano was much too poor, as he
+knew, ever to give the boy an art-education and make an artist of him,
+but he thought that Antonio might at least learn to be a better
+stone-cutter than common.
+
+As the boy grew older he began to help in the shop during the day, while
+in the evening his grandmother told him stories or sang or recited
+poetry to him. All these things were educating him, though without his
+knowing it, for they were awakening his taste and stimulating his
+imagination, which found expression in the clay models that he loved to
+make in his leisure hours.
+
+It so happened that Signor Faliero, the head of a noble Venetian family,
+and a man of rare understanding in art, had a place near Pisano's house,
+and at certain seasons the nobleman entertained many distinguished
+guests there. When the palace was very full of visitors, old Pisano was
+sometimes hired to help the servants with their tasks, and the boy
+Canova, when he was twelve years old, sometimes did scullion's work
+there, also, for a day, when some great feast was given.
+
+On one of these occasions, when the Signor Faliero was to entertain a
+very large company at dinner, young Canova was at work over the pots and
+pans in the kitchen. The head-servant made his appearance, just before
+the dinner hour, in great distress.
+
+The man who had been engaged to furnish the great central ornament for
+the table had, at the last moment, sent word that he had spoiled the
+piece. It was now too late to secure another, and there was nothing to
+take its place. The great vacant space in the centre of the table
+spoiled the effect of all that had been done to make the feast artistic
+in appearance, and it was certain that Signor Faliero would be sorely
+displeased.
+
+But what was to be done? The poor fellow whose business it was to
+arrange the table was at his wits' end.
+
+While every one stood dismayed and wondering, the begrimed scullion boy
+timidly approached the distressed head-servant, and said, "If you will
+let me try, I think I can make something that will do."
+
+"You!" exclaimed the servant; "and who are you?"
+
+"I am Antonio Canova, Pisano's grandson," answered the pale-faced little
+fellow.
+
+"And what can you do, pray?" asked the man, in astonishment at the
+conceit of the lad.
+
+"I can make you something that will do for the middle of the table,"
+said the boy, "if you'll let me try."
+
+The servant had little faith in the boy's ability, but not knowing what
+else to do, he at last consented that Canova should try.
+
+Calling for a large quantity of butter, little Antonio quickly modelled
+a great crouching lion, which everybody in the kitchen pronounced
+beautiful, and which the now rejoicing head-servant placed carefully
+upon the table.
+
+The company that day consisted of the most cultivated men of
+Venice--merchants, princes, noblemen, artists, and lovers of art--and
+among them were many who, like Faliero himself, were skilled critics of
+artwork.
+
+When these people were ushered in to dinner their eyes fell upon the
+butter lion, and they forgot for what purpose they had entered the
+dining-room. They saw there something of higher worth in their eyes than
+any dinner could be, namely, a work of genius.
+
+They scanned the butter lion critically, and then broke forth in a
+torrent of praises, insisting that Faliero should tell them at once
+what great sculptor he had persuaded to waste his skill upon a work in
+butter, that must quickly melt away. But Signor Faliero was as ignorant
+as they, and he had, in his turn, to make inquiry of the chief servant.
+
+When the company learned that the lion was the work of a scullion,
+Faliero summoned the boy, and the banquet became a sort of celebration
+in his honor.
+
+But it was not enough to praise a lad so gifted. These were men who knew
+that such genius as his belonged to the world, not to a village, and it
+was their pleasure to bring it to perfection by educating the boy in
+art. Signor Faliero himself claimed the right to provide for young
+Antonio, and at once declared his purpose to defray the lad's expenses,
+and to place him under the tuition of the best masters.
+
+The boy whose highest ambition had been to become a village
+stone-cutter, and whose home had been in his poor old grandfather's
+cottage, became at once a member of Signor Faliero's family, living in
+his palace, having everything that money could buy at his command, and
+daily receiving instruction from the best sculptors of Venice.
+
+But he was not in the least spoiled by this change in his fortunes. He
+remained simple, earnest, and unaffected. He worked as hard to acquire
+knowledge and skill in art as he had meant to work to become a dexterous
+stone-cutter.
+
+Antonio Canova's career from the day on which he moulded the butter into
+a lion was steadily upward; and when he died, in 1822, he was not only
+one of the most celebrated sculptors of his time, but one of the
+greatest, indeed, of all time.
+
+
+
+
+THE BOYHOOD OF WILLIAM CHAMBERS.
+
+
+Boys and girls who can buy attractive periodicals and books at any
+bookstore or news-stand, can have very little notion of the difficulty
+that little folk had seventy or eighty years ago in getting something to
+read. It was only about fifty years ago, indeed, that this first efforts
+were made to supply cheap, instructive, and entertaining literature, and
+one of the men who made those efforts was Mr. William Chambers, who, in
+1882, when he was eighty-two years of age, published a little account of
+his life. What he has to tell of his boyhood and youth is very
+interesting.
+
+His father was unfortunate in business, and became so poor that young
+Chambers had to begin making his own way very early in life. He had
+little schooling--only six pounds' (thirty dollars) worth in all, he
+tells us--and, as there were no juvenile books or periodicals in those
+days, and no books of any other kind, except costly ones, it was hard
+for him to do much in the way of educating himself. But William Chambers
+meant to learn all that he could, and that determination counted for a
+good deal. There was a small circulating library in his native town, and
+he began by reading all the books in it, without skipping one. Then he
+got hold of a copy of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica," which most boys
+would regard as very dry reading. He read it carefully. When that was
+done young Chambers was really pretty well educated, although he did not
+know it.
+
+About that time the boy had to go to work for his living. He became an
+apprentice to a bookseller in Edinburgh. His wages were only four
+shillings (about a dollar) a week, and on that small sum he had to
+support himself, paying for food, lodging, clothes, and everything else,
+for five years. "It was a hard but somewhat droll scrimmage with
+semistarvation," he says; for, after paying for his lodgings and
+clothes, he had only about seven cents a day with which to buy his food.
+
+In the summer he jumped out of bed at five o'clock every morning, and
+spent the time before the hour for beginning business in reading and
+making electrical experiments. He studied French in that way too, and on
+Sundays carried a French Testament to church, and read in French what
+the minister read in English.
+
+Winter came on, and the poor lad was puzzled. It was not only cold, but
+entirely dark at five o'clock in the morning during the winter months,
+and William, who had only seven cents a day to buy food with, could not
+afford either a fire or a candle to read by. There was no other time of
+day, however, that he could call his own, and so it seemed that he must
+give up his reading altogether, which was a great grief to the ambitious
+lad.
+
+Just then a piece of good-luck befell him. He happened to know what is
+called a "sandwich man"--that is to say, a man who walks about with
+signs hanging behind and before him. One day this man made him a
+proposition. The sandwich man knew a baker who, with his two sons,
+carried on a small business in a cellar. The baker was fond of reading,
+but had no time for it, and as he and his sons had to bake their bread
+early in the morning, he proposed, through the sandwich man, to employ
+William Chambers as reader. His plan was that Chambers should go to the
+cellar bakery every morning at five o'clock and read to the bakers, and
+for this service he promised to give the boy one hot roll each morning.
+Here was double good-fortune. It enabled Chambers to go on with his
+reading by the baker's light and fire, and it secured for him a
+sufficient breakfast without cost.
+
+He accepted the proposition at once, and for two and a half hours every
+morning he sat on a flour-sack in the cellar, and read to the bakers by
+the light of a penny candle stuck in a bottle.
+
+Out of his small wages it was impossible for the boy to save anything,
+and so, when the five years of his apprenticeship ended, he had only
+five shillings in the world. Yet he determined to begin business at once
+on his own account. Getting credit for ten pounds' worth of books, he
+opened a little stall, and thus began what has since grown to be a great
+publishing business.
+
+He had a good deal of unoccupied time at his stall, and "in order to
+pick up a few shillings," as he says, he began to write out neat copies
+of poems for albums. Finding sale for these, he determined to enlarge
+that part of his business by printing the poems. For that purpose he
+bought a small and very "squeaky" press and a font of worn type which
+had been used for twenty years. He had to teach himself how to set the
+type, and, as his press would print only half a sheet at a time, it was
+very slow work; but he persevered, and gradually built up a little
+printing business in connection with his book-selling. After a while he
+published an edition of Burns's poems, setting the type, printing the
+pages, and binding the books with his own hands, and clearing eight
+pounds by the work.
+
+Chambers wrote a good deal at that time, and his brother Robert wrote
+still more, so that they were at once authors, printers, publishers, and
+booksellers, but all in a very small way. After ten years of this work,
+William Chambers determined to publish a cheap weekly paper, to be
+filled with entertaining and instructive matters, designed especially
+for the people who could not afford to buy expensive books and
+periodicals. Robert refused to join in this scheme, and so, for a time,
+the whole work and risk fell upon William. His friends all agreed in
+thinking that ruin would be the result; but William Chambers thought he
+knew what the people wanted, and hence he went on.
+
+The result soon justified his expectations. The first number was
+published on the 4th of February, 1832. Thirty thousand copies were sold
+in a few days, and three weeks later the sale rose to fifty thousand
+copies a week.
+
+
+
+
+HOW A BOY WAS HIRED OUT, AND WHAT CAME OF IT.
+
+
+When Michael Angelo was twelve years of age, although he had had no
+instruction in art, he did a piece of work which greatly pleased the
+painter Domenico Ghirlandajo. That artist at once declared that here was
+lad of genius, who must quit his school studies and become a painter.
+
+This was what the little Michael most wished to do, but he had no hope
+that his father would listen for a moment to the suggestion. His father,
+Ludovico Buonarotti, was a distinguished man in the state, and held art
+and artists in contempt. He had planned a great political career for his
+boy, as the boy knew very well.
+
+Ghirlandajo was enthusiastic, however, and, in company with the lad, he
+at once visited Ludovico, and asked him to place Michael in his studio.
+
+Ludovico was very angry, saying that he wished his son to become a
+prominent man in society and politics, not a dauber and a mason; but
+when he found that young Michael was determined to be an artist or
+nothing he gave way, though most ungraciously. He would not say that he
+consented to place his son with Ghirlandajo; he would not admit that the
+study of art was study, or the studio of an artist anything but a shop.
+He said to the artist: "I give up my son to you. He shall be your
+apprentice or your servant, as you please, for three years, and you must
+pay me twenty-four florins for his services."
+
+In spite of the insulting words and the insulting terms, Michael Angelo
+consented thus to be hired out as a servant to the artist, who should
+have been paid by his father for teaching him. He had to endure much,
+indeed, besides the anger and contempt of his father, who forbade him
+even to visit his house, and utterly disowned him. His fellow-pupils
+were jealous of his ability, and ill-treated him constantly, one of
+them going so far as to break his nose with a blow.
+
+When Michael Angelo had been with Ghirlandajo about two years, he went
+one day to the Gardens of St. Mark, where the Prince Lorenzo de'
+Medici--who was the foremost patron of art in Florence--had established
+a rich museum of art-works at great expense. One of the workmen in the
+garden gave the boy leave to try his hand at copying some of the
+sculptures there, and Michael, who had hitherto studied only painting,
+was glad of a chance to experiment with the chisel, which he preferred
+to the brush. He chose for his model an ancient figure of a faun, which
+was somewhat mutilated. The mouth, indeed, was entirely broken off, but
+the boy was very self-reliant, and this did not trouble him. He worked
+day after day at the piece, creating a mouth for it of his own
+imagining, with the lips parted in laughter and the teeth displayed.
+
+When he had finished, and was looking at his work, a man standing near
+asked if he might offer a criticism.
+
+"Yes," answered the boy, "if it is a just one."
+
+"Of that you shall be the judge," said the man.
+
+"Very well. What is it?"
+
+"The forehead of your faun is old, but the mouth is young. See, it has a
+full set of perfect teeth. A faun so old as this one is would not have
+perfect teeth."
+
+The lad admitted the justice of the criticism, and proceeded to remedy
+the defect by chipping away two or three of the teeth, and chiselling
+the gums so as to give them a shrivelled appearance.
+
+The next morning, when Michael went to remove his faun from the garden,
+it was gone. He searched everywhere for it, but without success.
+Finally, seeing the man who had made the suggestion about the teeth, he
+asked him if he knew where it was.
+
+"Yes," replied the man, "and if you will follow me I'll show you where
+it is."
+
+"Will you give it back to me? I made it, and have a right to it."
+
+"Oh, if you must have it, you shall."
+
+With that he led the way into the palace of the prince, and there, among
+the most precious works of art in the collection, stood the faun. The
+young sculptor cried out in alarm, declaring that the Prince Lorenzo
+would never forgive the introduction of so rude a piece of work among
+his treasures of sculpture. To his astonishment the man declared that he
+was himself the Prince Lorenzo de' Medici, and that he set the highest
+value upon this work.
+
+"I am your protector and friend," he added. "Henceforth you shall be
+counted as my son, for you are destined to become one of the great
+masters of art."
+
+This was overwhelming good-fortune. Lorenzo de' Medici was a powerful
+nobleman, known far and wide to be a most expert judge of works of art.
+His approval was in itself fame and fortune.
+
+Filled with joy, the lad went straightway to his father's house, which
+he had been forbidden to enter, and, forcing his way into Ludovico's
+presence, told him what had happened. The father refused to believe the
+good news until Michael led him into Lorenzo's presence.
+
+When the prince, by way of emphasizing his goodwill, offered Ludovico
+any post he might choose, he asked for a very modest place indeed,
+saying, with bitter contempt, that it was good enough "for the father of
+a mason."
+
+
+
+
+THE WICKEDEST MAN IN THE WORLD.
+
+
+Precisely at what time the faithful and affectionate subjects of his
+Majesty Ivan IV., Czar of all the Russias, conferred upon him his pet
+name, "The Terrible," history neglects to inform us, but we are left in
+no uncertainty as to the entire appropriateness of the title, which is
+now inseparably linked with his baptismal name. He inherited the throne
+at the age of three years, and his early education was carefully
+attended to by his faithful guardians, who snubbed and scared him, in
+the hope that they might so far weaken his intellect as to secure a
+permanent control over him, and through him govern Russia as they
+pleased. They made a footstool of him sometimes, and a football at
+others, and, under their system of training, the development of those
+qualities of mind and heart for which he is celebrated was remarkably
+rapid. He was always Ivan the Terrified, and he became Ivan the Terrible
+before he was old enough to have played a reasonably good game of
+marbles, or to have become tolerably expert in the art of mumbling the
+peg. Indeed, it seems that the young grand-prince was wholly insensible
+to the joys of these and the other excellent sports in which ordinary
+youths delight, and being of an ingenious turn of mind, he invented
+others better suited to his tastes and character. One of these
+pastimes--perhaps the first and simplest one devised by the youthful
+genius--consisted in the dropping of cats, dogs, and other domestic
+animals from the top of the palace to the pavement below, and
+sentimental historians have construed these interesting experiments in
+the law of gravitation into acts of wanton cruelty. Another of the young
+czar's amusements was to turn half-famished pet bears loose upon passing
+pedestrians, and it is the part of charity to suppose that his purpose
+in this was to study the psychological and physiognomical phenomena of
+fear. A less profitable way he had of accomplishing the same thing was
+by throwing, or, as youthful Americans phrase it, "shying," stones at
+passers-by, concealing himself meanwhile behind a screen. He cultivated
+his skill in horsemanship by riding over elderly people, cripples, and
+children. In short, his boyish sports were all of an original and highly
+interesting sort.
+
+Up to the age of thirteen Ivan was under the tutelage of a council, of
+which the Prince Shnisky was chief, and it was this prince who
+domineered over the boy and made a footstool and a football of his body.
+At that age Ivan asserted his independence in a very positive and
+emphatic way, which even the Prince Shnisky could not misapprehend. The
+young czar was out hunting, accompanied by Shnisky and other princes and
+boyards, among whom was Prince Gluisky, a rival of Shnisky's, who was
+prejudiced against that excellent gentleman. At his suggestion, Ivan
+addressed his guardian Shnisky in language which the latter deemed
+insolent. Shnisky replied angrily, and Ivan requested his dogs to
+remonstrate with the prince, which they did by tearing him limb from
+limb.
+
+Having thus silenced the dictation of Shnisky, the young prince became
+the ward of the no less excellent Gluisky, and was carefully taught that
+the only way in which he could effectually assert authority was by
+punishment. It was made clear to his budding intellect, too, that the
+shortest, simplest, and altogether the best way to get rid of
+disagreeable persons was to put them to death, and throughout his life
+Ivan never forgot this lesson for a single moment. Power, he was told,
+was worthless unless it was used, and the only way in which it could be
+really used was by oppression. For three years no pains were spared to
+teach him this system of ethics and politics, and the young prince, in
+his anxiety to perfect himself in the art of governing, diligently
+practised all these precepts.
+
+When he was seventeen years of age he was formally crowned czar. The
+citizens, ignorant of the truths of political economy and the principles
+of governmental science underlying the young Czar's system, became
+alarmed, and fired the city one night. When Ivan awoke, he was
+terrified, being of an abnormally nervous temperament, and the
+apparition of a warning monk, together with the influence of Anastasia,
+the young czarina, led the czar to abandon the simple and
+straightforward methods of government in which he had been bred, and for
+thirteen years, under the dictation of Alexis Adascheff and the monk
+Sylvester, Ivan devoted himself to the commonplace employments of
+developing Russia politically and socially. He dismissed his ministers
+and put others in their places. He reorganized the army; revised the
+code, in the interest of abstract justice; equalized assessments;
+subdued the Tartars; established forts for the protection of the
+frontiers; laid the foundation for the future greatness of his empire;
+began the work which was completed so grandly under Peter the Great;
+introduced printing into Russia; added greatly to her possessions;
+checked the abuses of the clergy; brought artists from western Europe,
+and in a hundred ways made himself famous by doing those things which
+historians love to chronicle.
+
+Meanwhile, his genius for governing upon the Gluiskian system lay
+dormant. It was not dead, but slept, and after its nap of thirteen years
+it awoke one day, refreshed. Anastasia, the beautiful queen whose
+influence had been supreme for so long a time, died, and Ivan was free
+again. He recalled an old bishop who had been banished for his crimes,
+and consulted him as to his future course.
+
+"If you wish to be truly a sovereign," said this eminent prelate, "never
+seek a counsellor wiser than yourself; never receive advice from any
+man. Command, but never obey; and you will be a terror to the boyards.
+Remember that he who is permitted to begin by advising is certain to end
+by ruling his sovereign."
+
+Here was advice of a sort suited to Ivan's taste and education, and for
+reply he kissed the good bishop's hand, saying:
+
+"My own father could not have spoken more wisely."
+
+That the czar spoke sincerely, his faithfulness in following the
+bishop's precepts abundantly attests.
+
+His ministers and advisers being manifestly wiser than he, and therefore
+not at all the proper kind of people to have about, he straightway
+banished them. He then began a diligent search for their partisans, some
+of whom he put to death, condemning others to imprisonment and torture.
+He next turned his attention to his own household, which he was resolved
+upon ruling absolutely, at least, if not well. One of the princes made
+himself disagreeable by declining to participate freely in the pleasures
+of the palace, and, for the sake of domestic harmony, Ivan had him
+poniarded while he was at his prayers. Another so far overstepped the
+bounds of courtesy and propriety as to remonstrate with one of the new
+favorites upon his improper conduct, and Ivan, in order that there might
+be no bickerings and hard feelings in his family, slew the discourteous
+prince with his own hand.
+
+He was in the habit of carrying an iron rod about with him, and he had a
+playful way of striking his friends with it now and then, merely for his
+amusement. His pleasantries of this and like sorts were endless. One day
+Prince Boris, a boyard, came to pay his respects to the czar, and as he
+bowed to the ground, according to custom, Ivan, seizing a knife, said,
+"God bless thee, my dear Boris; thou deservest a proof of my favor," and
+with that he kindly cut the nobleman's ear off.
+
+When Prince Kurbsky, whom he had threatened with death, fled to Poland
+and wrote him a letter thence, telling him pretty plainly what he
+thought of him, the czar playfully struck the bearer of the missive with
+his iron rod, as a preliminary to the reading of the letter, and the
+blood flowed copiously from the man's wounds while Ivan pondered the
+words of his rebellious subject. He then became convinced that the
+boyards generally sympathized with Kurbsky, and to teach them better he
+put a good many of them to death by torture, and deprived many others
+of their estates. His alarm was very real, however, for he was a
+phenomenon of abject cowardice. He therefore fled to a fortified place
+in the midst of a dense forest, where he remained a month, writing
+letters to the Russians, telling them that he had abdicated and left
+them to their fate as a punishment for their disloyalty and their
+crimes. Singularly enough, his flight terrified the people. He had
+taught them that he was their god as God was his, and his flight to
+Alexandrovsky seemed to them a withdrawal of the protection of
+Providence itself. Business was suspended. The courts ceased to sit. The
+country was in an agony of terror. A large deputation of boyards and
+priests journeyed to Alexandrovsky, and besought the sovereign to return
+and resume his holy functions as the head of the church, that the souls
+of so many millions might not perish. Exacting of clergy and nobles an
+admission of his absolute right to do as he pleased, and a promise that
+they would in no way interfere with or resist his authority, he returned
+to Moscow. Here he surrounded himself with a body-guard of desperadoes,
+one thousand strong at first, and afterwards increased to six thousand,
+whose duty it was to discover the czar's enemies and to sweep them from
+the face of the earth. As emblems of these their functions, each member
+of the guard carried at his saddle-bow a dog's head and a broom. As the
+punishment of the czar's enemies included the confiscation of their
+property, a large part of which was given to the guards themselves,
+these were always singularly successful in discovering the disaffection
+of wealthy nobles, finding it out oftentimes before the nobles
+themselves were aware of their own treasonable sentiments.
+
+Feeling unsafe still, Ivan built for himself a new palace, outside the
+walls of the Kremlin, making it an impregnable castle. Then, finding
+that even this did not lull his shaken nerves to rest, he proceeded to
+put danger afar off by dispossessing the twelve thousand rich nobles
+whose estates lay nearest the palace, and giving their property to his
+personal followers, so that the head which wore the crown might lie
+easy in the conviction that there were no possible enemies near on the
+other side of the impregnable walls which shut him in. But even then he
+could not sleep easily, and so he repaired again to his forest
+stronghold at Alexandrovsky, where he surrounded himself with guards and
+ramparts. Here he converted the palace into a monastery, made himself
+abbot, and his rascally followers monks. He rigorously enforced monastic
+observances of the severest sort, and no doubt became a saint, in his
+own estimation. He spent most of his time at prayers, allowing himself
+no recreation except a daily sight of the torture of the prisoners who
+were confined in the dungeons of the fortress. His guards were allowed
+rather a larger share of amusement, and they wandered from street to
+street during the day, punishing, with their hatchets, such disloyal
+persons as they encountered. They were very moderate in their
+indulgences, however, in imitation of their sovereign, doubtless, and it
+is recorded to their credit, that, at this time, they rarely killed
+more than twenty people in one day, while sometimes the number was as
+low as five.
+
+But a quiet life of this kind could not always content the czar.
+Naturally, he grew tired of individual killings, and began to long for
+some more exciting sport. When, one day, a quarrel arose between some of
+his guards and a few of the people of Torjek, Ivan saw at a glance that
+all the inhabitants of Torjek were mutinous rebels, and of course it
+became his duty to put them all to death, which he straightway did.
+
+Up to this time the genius of Ivan seems to have been cautiously feeling
+its way, and so the part of his history already sketched may be regarded
+as a mere preliminary to his real career. His extraordinary capacity for
+ruling an empire upon the principles taught him by the Prince Gluisky
+was now about to show itself in all its greatness. A criminal of
+Novgorod, feeling himself aggrieved by the authorities of that city, who
+had incarcerated him for a time, wrote a letter offering to place the
+city under Polish protection. This letter he signed, not with his own
+name, but with that of the archbishop, and, instead of sending it to the
+King of Poland, to whom it was addressed, he secreted it in the church
+of St. Sophia. Then, going to Alexandrovsky, he told Ivan that treason
+was contemplated by the Novgorodians, and that the treasonable letter
+would be found behind the statue of the Virgin in the church. Ivan sent
+a messenger to find the letter, and upon his return the czar began his
+march upon the doomed city. Happening to pass through the town of Khur,
+on his way to Novgorod, he put all its inhabitants to death, with the
+purpose, doubtless, of training his troops in the art of wholesale
+massacre, before requiring them to practise it upon the people of
+Novgorod. Finding this system of drill an agreeable pastime, he repeated
+it upon his arrival at the city of Twer, and then, in order that the
+other towns along his route might have no reason to complain of
+partiality, he bestowed upon all of them a like manifestation of his
+imperial regard.
+
+It is not my purpose to describe in detail the elaborate and ingenious
+cruelty practised in the massacre of the Novgorodians. The story is
+sickening. Ivan first heard mass, and then began the butchery, which
+lasted for many days, was conducted with the utmost deliberation and
+most ingenious cruelty, and ended in the slaughter of sixty thousand
+people. Ivan had selected certain prominent citizens, to the number of
+several hundred, whom he reserved for public and particularly cruel
+execution at Moscow. Summoning the small and wretched remnant of the
+population to his presence, he besought their prayers for the
+continuance and prosperity of his reign, and with gracious words of
+farewell took his departure from the city.
+
+The execution in Moscow of the reserved victims was a scene too horrible
+to be described in these pages. Indeed, the half of Ivan's enormities
+may not be told here at all, and even the historians content themselves
+with the barest outlines of many parts of his career. He thought himself
+in some sense a deity, and blasphemously asserted that his throne was
+surrounded by archangels precisely as God's is. Identifying himself
+with the Almighty, he claimed exemption from the observance of God's
+laws, and, in defiance of the fundamental principles of the Greek
+Church, of which he was the head, he married seven wives. Believing that
+he might with equal impunity insult the moral sense of other nations, he
+actually sought to add England's queen, Elizabeth, to the list of his
+spouses. And he was so far right in his estimate of his power to do as
+he pleased, that the Virgin Queen, head of the English Church, while she
+would not herself become one of his wives, consented to assist him, and
+selected for his eighth consort Mary Hastings, the daughter of the Earl
+of Huntingdon. She came near bringing about a marriage between the two,
+in face of the fact that the two churches of which Ivan and she were
+respectively the heads were agreed in condemning polygamy as a heinous
+crime.
+
+For one only of all his crimes Ivan showed regret, if not remorse. His
+oldest and favorite son, when the city of Pskof was besieged by the
+Poles, asked that he might be intrusted with the command of a body of
+troops with which to assist the beleaguered place. Ivan was so great a
+coward that he dared not trust the affection and loyalty of even his own
+favorite child, and in a fit of mingled fear and rage he beat the young
+man to death with his iron staff, saying, "Rebel, you are leagued with
+the boyards in a conspiracy to dethrone me."
+
+Remorse seized upon him at once, and his sufferings and his fears of
+retribution were terrible. Finally he determined to abandon the throne
+and seek peace in a convent, but the infatuated Russians entreated him
+not to desert them. He died at last, in 1580.
+
+Did Scheherazade herself ever imagine a stranger story than this? And
+yet it is plain history, and is only a fragment of the truth.
+
+
+
+
+A PRINCE WHO WOULD NOT STAY DEAD.
+
+
+His name was Dmitri, and he was hereditary Grand-Prince of all the
+Russias, being the son of Ivan the Terrible, and only surviving brother
+of Feodor, the childless successor of that blood-thirsty czar. He was
+carefully killed in the presence of witnesses, during his boyhood, and
+duly buried, with honors appropriate to his station in life; so that if
+Dmitri had been an ordinary mortal, or even an ordinary prince, there
+would have been no story of his life to tell, except the brief tragedy
+of his taking off. He was no ordinary prince, however, and so the
+trifling incident of his death during childhood had as little to do with
+his career as had one or two other episodes of a like nature in the
+history of his later life. He was born to rule Russia, and was not at
+all disposed to excuse himself from the performance of the duty
+Providence had thus imposed upon him, by pleading the two or three
+thorough killings to which he was subjected. The story, as preserved in
+authentic history, is a very interesting one, and may perhaps bear
+repeating here. The reader may find all the facts in any reputable
+history of Russia, or of the houses of Rurik and Romanoff.
+
+In his jealousy of the absolute power he wielded, Ivan the Terrible had
+made constant war upon his nobility--killing them, or driving them away,
+and in every way possible destroying whatever share of influence they
+possessed in the state. When he died, leaving as his successor Feodor, a
+weak prince, of uncertain temper and infirm intellect, the
+nobility--naturally enough--hoped to regain their ancient influence in
+the state, and might have accomplished their purpose without difficulty
+if their measures to that end had been taken concertedly; but, jealous
+as they were of the privileges of their class, they were even more
+tenacious of their individual and family pretensions. They quarrelled
+among themselves, in short, and, while they were quarrelling, a bold and
+ambitious man, Boris Godunof, who happened to be the czar's
+brother-in-law, conceived the project of becoming prime-minister and
+actual ruler of the empire. Indeed, his ambition extended even further
+than this. Not content with governing Russia in the name of Feodor, he
+set covetous eyes upon the purple itself, and was resolved to become
+czar in name as well as in fact. But this was a delicate and difficult
+task, and could by accomplished only at great risk and by great
+patience. Boris was a man of undoubted genius, extreme shrewdness,
+unlimited ambition, and remarkable personal courage; and difficult and
+dangerous as his task was, he seems never to have faltered in his
+purpose from the instant of its conception to the time of its execution.
+
+Knowing the power of money in state affairs, he took care to accumulate
+a vast sum in his own private coffers, as a first step. He conciliated
+the common people in a hundred ways--by wise legislation, by the
+reformation of abuses which pressed hardly upon them, and sometimes by
+the oppression of the nobles in the interest of the lower classes. He
+was not long in making himself altogether the most popular man in
+Russia. He removed, by death or banishment, those whom he could not
+conciliate, together with all other persons whom he thought likely to
+prove obstacles in the way of his grand purpose. In short, a very brief
+time sufficed him for the winning of a popularity which, in any country
+but Russia, would have been sufficient for his need. But Boris knew his
+Russians well. He knew that loyalty to the line of Rurik was the
+strongest feeling in their breasts, after that of devotion to their
+creed--of which, indeed, it formed a chief part. It was their fixed
+belief in the divine right of the legitimate princes of the House of
+Rurik to reign, that had kept them patient, even under the rigors of
+Ivan's rule; and Boris knew well enough that no usurper, however
+strongly intrenched in their affections he might be, could hope to win
+those superstitiously loyal people to his support against any prince of
+the right line, however brutal, unjust, and despotic that prince might
+be. He knew, in brief, that so long as any descendant of Rurik should
+live, no other man could hope to seat himself upon the Muscovite throne.
+Feodor had no children, but he had one brother, the lad Dmitri, who
+would be his successor in the natural course of events. His existence
+was sure to prove an effectual bar to all Boris's hopes; and so it was
+necessary to get him out of the way before the scheme should be ripe for
+execution. To accomplish this, the wily minister sent Dmitri and his
+mother to the distant town of Uglitch, and there, by his orders, the
+young prince was murdered, in the presence of his nurse and six other
+people, and buried from his mother's residence. This was in 1591. The
+lad's death was announced, of course. Indeed, it was known to nearly
+everybody in Uglitch, the tocsin having been sounded, and the population
+having gathered around the murdered boy, where they put to death a good
+many who were suspected of complicity with the murderers. But in
+publishing it abroad in Russia, Boris deemed it prudent to attribute it,
+some say to a fever, others to an accidental fall upon a knife with
+which the boy had been playing; and lest the people of Uglitch should
+embarrass the minister by insisting upon a different diagnosis of the
+boy's last illness, that prudent official put a great many of them to
+death, cut the tongues out of others' heads, and banished the rest to
+Siberia--laying the town in ashes. He spared the lad's mother, but shut
+her up in a convent.
+
+Dmitri was now out of the way, or, rather, he would have been if he had
+had an ordinary capacity for staying comfortably killed; and Boris
+redoubled his efforts to prepare the way for his own elevation to the
+throne, as Feodor's successor, when that prince should chance to let the
+sceptre fall from his grasp.
+
+To secure the influence of the Church in his behalf, he bought of a
+Greek bishop the right to appoint the successor of the patriarch (a sort
+of Greek Church pope); and that office presently becoming vacant, he
+appointed a creature of his own as head of the Church. He succeeded in
+winning the favor of the inferior nobility, who were very numerous, and
+made himself strong in many other ways.
+
+Boris was a fellow of infinite good-luck; and so it fell out that, at
+the precise moment when all his plans were complete, the Czar Feodor
+obligingly died. So opportunely did this event happen, that grave
+historians have been inclined to suspect Boris of having procured it in
+some way; but of this there is no positive evidence.
+
+Feodor dead, there was no heir to the throne. With him ended the line of
+Rurik, which alone the Russians recognized as legitimately entitled to
+rule the empire; and now a new czar must be chosen. The nobles
+quarrelled, of course. They agreed in thinking that one of their order
+should be elevated to the throne; but they could by no means agree which
+one it should be. Each resented the pretensions of all the others, and
+it speedily became manifest that the patriarch's nomination, upon
+whomsoever it might fall, would turn the scale and elect a czar. The
+patriarch was Boris's own creature, appointed for the sole purpose of
+forwarding that minister's plans; and he promptly nominated Boris to the
+vacant throne. The election was a prearranged affair; and presently
+Boris was waited upon--in the convent to which he had retired with the
+declared purpose of leading a monastic life in future--and informed of
+his selection by the people as Czar of all the Russias. He modestly
+declined, of course; and, equally of course, his modesty only made the
+people the more clamorous. After some weeks of petty dalliance Boris
+finally allowed himself to be persuaded, and was crowned czar, in due
+form, in the year 1598.
+
+He was not long in discovering that his position was insecure, and
+incapable of being made safe. Whatever policy he might adopt--and he was
+disposed, it appears, to govern wisely and well--was sure to displease
+some of his subjects; and in the hands of a hostile faction, his want of
+hereditary claim upon the throne was a powerful weapon. What he had
+seized by crime he must keep by tyranny and violence, and a three years'
+famine added greatly to his embarrassments. Whatever he did excited
+discontent; and to make his wretchedness complete, he fancied himself
+haunted by the ghost of the murdered Dmitri. There were symptoms of
+mutiny everywhere, which daily threatened to culminate in open revolt.
+It needed only a match to fire the mine.
+
+In 1603, when matters were at their worst, there appeared in Poland a
+young man who claimed to be the murdered Dmitri. His story was that, by
+means of an adroit substitution, another boy had been killed in his
+place; that he had escaped; and he claimed the throne of the Ruriks. He
+strongly resembled the prince he claimed to be, and his identity seemed
+to be established, also, by other evidence than mere personal
+resemblance. There was no "strawberry mark on his left arm," but both he
+and the dead prince, if, indeed, they were two distinct persons, had a
+wart on the forehead, and another under the right eye, and in both one
+arm was slightly longer than the other. The pretender, or real prince,
+as the case may be, had also a valuable jewel which had belonged to
+Dmitri; and so he was not long in winning credence for his story, both
+in Poland and in Russia. Boris gave out that the young man was the monk
+Otrafief, who had appeared in the army as his advocate and emissary; and
+some historians--Karamsin and Bell among the number--have accepted this
+theory; but a careful comparison of dates seems to contradict it.
+Whoever the man was, he was an able and accomplished diplomatist as well
+as a singularly bold warrior; and he succeeded presently in winning the
+recognition of Sigismund, King of Poland, and putting himself at the
+head of an army with which he invaded Russia. He had privately abjured
+the Greek faith, and undertaken to convert Russia into a Catholic power;
+and, in addition to the many other favors promised the Poles, he had
+engaged to marry Marina, the daughter of a Polish nobleman.
+
+During the autumn of the year 1604, this new Dmitri began his invasion
+at the head of a small army made up of Poles and Don Cossacks. On his
+march his force was swelled by accessions, and a number of towns
+declared in his favor. Boris sent an army four times as great as his
+own, to destroy him; and battle was joined on the last day of December.
+Dmitri's case seemed utterly hopeless; but he was both able and brave.
+He fought with the resolution and courage of a hero, the skill of a
+consummate tactician, and the fury of a demon. And in spite of the
+terrible odds against him, he won a great victory. In a military way,
+its results were neutralized by the withdrawal of his Poles, and by some
+other circumstances which forbade his pushing forward towards the
+capital; but the moral effect was altogether in his favor. The
+superstitious Russians saw in his marvellous success a miracle, and
+accepted it as proof positive that this was the true prince, to oppose
+whom was sacrilege. By dint of great energy Boris was able to maintain
+the war till the time of his own death, which happened during the spring
+of 1605. His son Feodor was crowned as his successor; but a few weeks
+later he was deposed and strangled, and the new Dmitri came to the
+throne.
+
+For a time his wisdom as a statesman promised to equal his skill and
+courage as a soldier, but his manifest preference for Poles to Russians
+soon created jealousy; and imagining that he could overcome prejudices
+by violent measures, as easily as he had conquered a throne, he spared
+no pains to insult the Russian national feeling. He appointed only Poles
+to high office, and lavished upon foreigners so much attention as to
+breed discontent in his own capital. His apostasy from the Greek to the
+Roman faith, also, was suspected, and the clergy became his implacable
+enemies. The disaffection grew daily, and the efforts Dmitri made to
+overawe his enemies only exasperated them. Finally, on the occasion of
+his marriage with Marina, the Polish princess--which was celebrated with
+great pomp by a throng of Polish soldiers and others, invited to Moscow
+for the purpose--a mob, headed by Shuiski, or Schnisky--for the name is
+spelled in both of these and half a dozen other ways--stormed the
+palace, butchered the Poles, and impaled Dmitri on a spear. To leave no
+doubt of his death this time, they kept his body transfixed with the
+spear, in front of the palace, for three days, that the people might
+wreak their vengeance upon the dead czar by insulting his corpse.
+
+Schnisky profited by his victory, and while the blood of the populace
+was still hot was chosen czar, as successor of the impostor he had
+overthrown. His popularity was short-lived, however. His fellows among
+the nobles resented his elevation above themselves, and ere long the
+desire for his removal was as unanimous as his election had been. This
+seemed a good time for the doubly dead Dmitri to come to life again; and
+so it was presently rumored that after all he had not been killed; that
+the corpse the people had spat upon and insulted was not his; that he
+was alive, in Poland, and ready to claim his own. This report was
+industriously circulated by the nobles; but as the people had not yet
+forgotten their hatred for the usurper, he was permitted to lie down in
+his grave again.
+
+To prevent his coming to life for a third time, the dead czar's remains
+were disinterred and burned. The ashes were collected and fired from a
+piece of artillery, and it was supposed that further resurrection on
+his part was impossible. But, as we have seen, Dmitri had a most
+astonishing genius for coming to life after being thoroughly killed; and
+presently he appeared again in Poland. This time, history says, he was
+either a Russian schoolmaster or a Polish Jew; but however that may be,
+certain it is that he so closely resembled the other two Dmitri's in
+personal appearance, even to the two warts and unequally long arms, that
+he imposed on everybody around him with his story. Even the Princess
+Marina accepted him, and actually lived with him as his wife.
+
+He was able, without much difficulty, to interest the King of Poland in
+his behalf, and to secure a declaration of war by that potentate against
+Czar Schnisky. He invaded Russia, won battles, captured Smolensko,
+invested Moscow, and finally entered the city.
+
+About this time Dmitri appeared in several other places, but only one of
+him was in Moscow at the head of a victorious army; and in behalf of
+this particular one Schnisky resigned his crown and retired to a
+monastery, whence he was soon removed to a dungeon.
+
+At this juncture the King of Poland, having plans of his own for the
+union of Russia and his own kingdom, withdrew his countenance from
+Dmitri; and that prince retired from the business of governing, and
+devoted himself for the rest of his life to the less honorable, but
+perhaps equally lucrative, profession of highway robbery. He was again
+killed after awhile, this time by a Don Cossack. But even this public
+killing had small effect. A dozen or more new Dmitri's appeared,
+claiming the throne; and some of them, says the historian Bell,
+"actually touched the sceptre for a moment, but only to recoil in fear
+from the dangerous object of their insane ambition."
+
+After awhile, having found the task an unprofitable one, perhaps, Dmitri
+seems to have made up his mind to stay dead; but in due course a race of
+his sons sprang up quite as mysteriously, if not quite as persistently,
+to pester the Russians, and peace came to them only through the
+elevation of the Romanoffs to the imperial throne. Connected as they
+were by ties of blood with the race of Rurik, they brought legitimacy to
+the rescue of a land long torn by faction. The loyalty of the people to
+sovereigns whose right to rule was derived from Rurik, gave the dynasty
+a strength sufficient to maintain itself; and after a little while Peter
+the Great taught his Russians civilization, and a new era in Russian
+history was begun.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRANGE STORIES FROM HISTORY FOR
+YOUNG PEOPLE***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 23887.txt or 23887.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/8/23887
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://www.gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
diff --git a/23887.zip b/23887.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f07a581
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23887.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c74491a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #23887 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23887)