diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:13:08 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:13:08 -0700 |
| commit | 1ca044356f22d9b103ba1fa5f2c3c22e522f51b3 (patch) | |
| tree | 705bfa84a3e0435a3e49702d8a61dafc25da963b | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-8.txt | 7702 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 157317 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 1984602 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/24354-h.htm | 7927 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/images/illus01.png | bin | 0 -> 152303 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/images/illus02.png | bin | 0 -> 111768 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/images/illus03.png | bin | 0 -> 123067 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/images/illus04.png | bin | 0 -> 121638 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/images/illus05.png | bin | 0 -> 103861 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/images/illus06.png | bin | 0 -> 137202 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/images/illus07.png | bin | 0 -> 112177 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/images/illus08.png | bin | 0 -> 128186 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/images/illus09.png | bin | 0 -> 114276 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/images/illus10.png | bin | 0 -> 79268 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/images/illus11.png | bin | 0 -> 112596 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/images/illus12.png | bin | 0 -> 106542 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/images/illus13.png | bin | 0 -> 129067 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/images/illus14.png | bin | 0 -> 94000 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/images/illus15.png | bin | 0 -> 84839 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/images/illus16.png | bin | 0 -> 123758 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354-h/images/illus17.png | bin | 0 -> 2709 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354.txt | 7702 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24354.zip | bin | 0 -> 157279 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
26 files changed, 23347 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/24354-8.txt b/24354-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8898add --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7702 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Historic Boyhoods, by Rupert Sargent Holland + + +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: Historic Boyhoods + + +Author: Rupert Sargent Holland + + + +Release Date: January 18, 2008 [eBook #24354] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORIC BOYHOODS*** + + +E-text prepared by David Garcia, Graeme Mackreth, 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 24354-h.htm or 24354-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/3/5/24354/24354-h/24354-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/3/5/24354/24354-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Kentuckiana Digital Library. See + http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc=kyetexts;xc=1&idno=B92-224-31182809&view=toc + + + + + +HISTORIC BOYHOODS + +by + +RUPERT S. HOLLAND + +Author of "The Count at Harvard," "Builders of United Italy," etc. + + + + + + + +[Illustration: THE FLEET OF COLUMBUS NEARING AMERICA] + + + +Philadelphia George W. Jacobs & Company Publishers + +Copyright, 1909, by George W. Jacobs and Company +Published October, 1909 +All rights reserved +Printed in U.S.A. + + + +_To the dear memory of L.B.R._ + +The thanks of the author are due the Century Company for permission to +reprint certain of these stories which appeared in _Saint Nicholas_ in +shorter form. + + + + +CONTENTS + + I. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS + The Boy of Genoa + + II. MICHAEL ANGELO + The Boy of the Medici Gardens + + III. WALTER RALEIGH + The Boy of Devon + + IV. PETER THE GREAT + The Boy of the Kremlin + + V. FREDERICK THE GREAT + The Boy of Potsdam + + VI. GEORGE WASHINGTON + The Boy of the Old Dominion + + VII. DANIEL BOONE + The Boy of the Frontier + + VIII. JOHN PAUL JONES + The Boy of the Atlantic + + IX. MOZART + The Boy of Salzburg + + X. LAFAYETTE + The Boy of Versailles + + XI. HORATIO NELSON + The Boy of the Channel Fleet + + XII. ROBERT FULTON + The Boy of the Conestoga + + XIII. ANDREW JACKSON + The Boy of the Carolinas + + XIV. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE + The Boy of Brienne + + XV. WALTER SCOTT + The Boy of the Canongate + + XVI. JAMES FENIMORE COOPER + The Boy of Otsego Hall + + XVII. JOHN ERICSSON + The Boy of the Göta Canal + +XVIII. GARIBALDI + The Boy of the Mediterranean + + XIX. ABRAHAM LINCOLN + The Boy of the American Wilderness + + XX. CHARLES DICKENS + The Boy of the London Streets + + XXI. OTTO VON BISMARCK + The Boy of Göttingen + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +The Fleet of Columbus Nearing America + +Walter Raleigh and the Fisherman of Devon + +Peter the Great + +Mrs. Washington Urges George Not to Enter the Navy + +Daniel Boone's First View of Kentucky + +Paul Jones Capturing the "Serapis" + +Mozart and His Sister Before Maria Theresa + +Lafayette Tells of His Wish to Aid America + +Nelson Boarding the "San Josef" + +Robert Fulton's First Experiment with Paddle Wheels + +Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans + +The Snow Fort at Brienne + +Napoleon as a Cadet in Paris + +Street in Edinburgh Where Scott Played as a Boy + +Birthplace of Abraham Lincoln + +Charles Dickens at Eighteen + + + + +I + +Christopher Columbus The Boy of Genoa: 1446(?)-1506 + + +A privateer was leaving Genoa on a certain June morning in 1461, and +crowds of people had gathered on the quays to see the ship sail. +Dark-hued men from the distant shores of Africa, clad in brilliant red +and yellow and blue blouses or tunics and hose, with dozens of +glittering gilded chains about their necks, and rings in their ears, +jostled sun-browned sailors and merchants from the east, and the +fairer-skinned men and women of the north. + +Genoa was a great seaport in those days, one of the greatest ports of +the known world, and her fleets sailed forth to trade with Spain and +Portugal, France and England, and even with the countries to the north +of Europe. The sea had made Genoa rich, had given fortunes to the nobles +who lived in the great white marble palaces that shone in the sun, had +placed her on an equal footing with that other great Italian sea city, +Venice, with whom she was continually at war. + +But all the ships that left her harbor were not trading vessels. Genoa +the Superb had many enemies always on the alert to swoop down upon her +trade. So she had to maintain a great war-fleet. In addition to this +danger, the Mediterranean was then the home of roving pirates, ready to +seize any vessel, without regard to its flag, which promised to yield +them booty. + +The life of a Genoese boy in those days was packed full of adventures. +Most of the boys went to sea as soon as they were old enough to hold an +oar or to pull a rope, and they had to be ready at any moment to drop +the oar or rope and seize a sword or a pike to repel pirates or other +enemies. There was always the chance of a sudden chase or a secret +attack on a Christian boat by savage Mussulmen, and so bitter was the +endless war of the two religions that in such cases the victors rarely +spared the lives of the vanquished, or, if they did, sold them in port +as slaves. Moreover the ships were frail, and the Mediterranean storms +severe, and many barks that contrived to escape the pirates fell victims +to the fury of head winds. The life of a Genoese sailor was about as +dangerous a life as could well be imagined. + +On this June morning a large privateer was to set sail from the port, +and the families of the men and boys who were outward bound had come +down to say good-bye. The centre of one little group was a boy about +fifteen, strong and broad for his years, though not very tall, with warm +olive skin, bright black eyes, and fair hair that fell to his ears. His +name was Christopher Colombo, and he was going to sail with a relative +called Colombo the Younger who commanded a ship in the service of Genoa. + +The young Christopher had always loved to be upon the sea. Among the +first sights that he remembered were glimpses of the Mediterranean in +fair and stormy weather, the first tales he had heard were stories of +strange adventures that had befallen sailors. His home had sprung from +the waves, its glory had been drawn from the inland sea, the great chain +of high mountains at its back cut it off from the land and the pursuits +of other cities. Christopher thought of the sea by day, and dreamed of +it by night, and was already planning when he grew up to go in search of +some of those strange adventures the old bronzed mariners were so fond +of describing. + +The boy's mother and father kissed him good-bye, and his younger +brothers and sister looked at him enviously as he left them with a wave +of his hand and went on board the ship. The latter was very clumsy, +according to our ideas. She rode high in the water, with a great deck at +the stern set like a small house up in the air, and with a great bow +that bore the figurehead of the patron saint of the sea, Saint +Christopher. Her sails were hung flat against the masts and were painted +in broad stripes of red and yellow. She was very magnificent to look +upon, but not very seaworthy. + +The marble of Genoa's palaces dropped astern. The ship was sailing +south, and under favoring breezes soon lost sight of land. Constant +watch was kept for other vessels; any that might appear was more apt to +be an enemy than a friend, because Genoa was at war then with many +rivals, chief among them Naples and Aragon. Ships had been sailing +constantly of late from Genoa to prey upon the commerce of Naples, in +revenge for what the Neapolitans had once done to Genoa. + +Colombo the captain was fond of his young kinsman Christopher, and at +the start of the voyage had him in his cabin and told him some of his +plans. The captain said he had orders to sail to Tunis to capture the +Spanish galley _Fernandina_. The galley was richly laden, and each +sailor would have a large share of booty. The boy listened with +sparkling eyes; this would be his first chance to have a hand in a fight +at sea. + +The winds of June were favoring, and Colombo's ship soon reached the +island of San Pietro off Sardinia. Here the captain went ashore to try +and learn news of the _Fernandina_. He found friendly merchants who had +word from all the Mediterranean ports, and they told him that the galley +was not alone, but accompanied by two other Spanish ships. Colombo was a +born fighter, and this news did not frighten him. The more ships he +might capture the greater would be his own share of glory and of prize +money. + +When the captain told his news to the sailors on his return from shore, +there was great consternation. The men had no liking to attack two +fighting ships besides the galley. At first they simply murmured among +themselves, but the longer they discussed the desperate nature of the +plan the more alarmed they grew. By the time that the ship was ready to +sail southward from Sardinia they had determined to go no farther, and +sent three of their leaders to speak to Colombo. + +The captain was with Christopher studying a map of the Mediterranean +when the men came before him. They told him that they positively +refused to sail south and insisted that he put in at Marseilles for more +ships and men. Colombo saw that he could not force them to sail farther, +so, with what grace he could, he gave his consent to alter the course. + +The men left the cabin, and after a few minutes' thought the captain +spoke to the boy. "Christopher," said he, "bring me the great compass +from its box near the helmsman's stand. Bring it secretly. The men +should all be on the lower deck making ready to sail. Let no one see +thee with it." + +The boy left the cabin and climbed the ladder to the great poop-deck at +the stern where the helmsman had a view far over the sea. He waited +until no one was about, and then quickly took the compass from its box, +and hiding it under the loose folds of his cloak, brought it to the +captain. He placed it on the table. Then he fastened the door so that +none might enter. + +Colombo opened the compass-case, and drew a pot of paint and a brush +toward him. The boy watched breathlessly while the captain painted over +the marks of the compass with thick white paint, and then on top of that +drew in new lines and figures in black. He was changing the compass +completely. + +When the work was done Christopher bore the case back to its box as +secretly as he had taken it. Then Colombo went out to the sailors and +gave them orders to spread sail. It was rapidly growing dark as they +left the coast of Sardinia. + +At sunrise, when Christopher came on deck to stand his watch, he knew +that their ship must be off the city of Carthagena, although all the +crew supposed they well on their way to Marseilles. Not long after, as +they were drawing nearer to the shore, the lookout signaled a vessel. +She was soon seen to be flying the flag of Naples. Fortunately this ship +was alone at the time, and the sailors were not afraid to attack her. + +Orders were quickly given to sail as close to her as possible, and +preparations were made to board her. The other ship seemed no less eager +to engage in battle, and in a very short time grappling-irons were +thrown out and the ships were fastened close together. Then a fierce +combat followed between the two crews as each in turn tried to scale the +sides of the other vessel. + +A sea-fight in the fifteenth century was fought hand to hand, each ship +being like a fort from which small attacking parties rushed out to climb +the other's battlements. When men met on the decks they used sword and +pike and dagger just as they would have on shore. Fire was thrown from +one ship into the rigging and sails of the other, and flames soon caught +and greedily devoured the woodwork of the boats. It was wild work; the +blazing sails, the broken cheers of the men, the fierce struggle over +the two decks. + +Christopher fought bravely whenever chance offered, but the captain kept +him close to his hand to carry messages. It soon appeared that the enemy +were the stronger, and they bore the Genoese back and back farther from +their bulwarks and across their decks. As the enemy gained a foothold +they held torches to everything that would burn, and soon Colombo's ship +was wrapped in fire and the only choice seemed to be between surrender +and jumping into the sea. + +A burning rope fell from a mast and set fire to Christopher's cloak. He +tore the cloak from him. He saw that the Neapolitans must win and he had +no desire to be carried off to Naples as a prisoner. The flames were +gaining fast as he leaped to the rail on the free side of the ship, and +dove overboard. He came up free from the wreckage and found a long +sweep-oar floating near him. With that support he struck out for the +shore of Africa, only a short distance away. His first sea-fight had +nearly proved his last. + +Self-reliance was the corner-stone of this young mariner's character. He +could take care of himself on whatever shore he was thrown. He landed on +the beach of Carthagena and told the story of his adventures to the +group of sailors who crowded about him on the sands. There is a strong +sense of comradeship among seamen, and so, although none of the men who +heard the boy's tale were from Genoa, they fitted him out with dry +clothes and found enough money to keep him in food and shelter. + +There he stayed for some time, waiting until some Genoese bark should +put into port. Meanwhile he was very much interested in the stories the +seafarers of all lands told to people who would listen to them. Again +and again he heard mariners wondering whether there might not be a +shorter passage to the rich Indies of the East than the long overland +route through China. The question interested him, and he took to +studying it with care. + +One day an old sailor on the beach told him of his voyages in the +western ocean, and how once his ship had come so close to the edge of +the world that but for the miracle of a sudden change in the wind they +must certainly have been carried over the side. The same bearded seaman +told Christopher many other curious things; how he had himself seen +beautiful pieces of carved wood, cut in some strange fashion, floating +on the western sea, and had picked up one day a small boat which seemed +to be made of the bark of a tree, but of a pattern none had ever seen +before. + +Then, and here his voice would sink and his eyes grow large with wonder, +he told Christopher how men who were explorers were certain that +somewhere in that unsailed western sea, just before one came to the +edge, was an island rich in gold and gems and rare, delicious fruits, +where men need never work if they chose to stay there, or if they came +home might bring such treasures with them as would put to shame the +richest princes of all Europe. It was said that there one caught fish +already cooked, and that there people of great beauty lived, with dark +red skins and wearing feathers in their hair. + +"And is no one certain of this?" asked Christopher, his eyes wide with +excitement. "Not even the men who have found the African coast and the +isle of Flores?" + +The old sailor shook his head. "Nay, nay, boy. The wonderful island lies +so close to the world's edge that 'tis a perilous thing to try to find +it." + +"Still," said Christopher, "'twould be well worth the finding, and some +time when I'm a man and can win a ship of my own I'm going to make the +venture." + +But the sailor shook his head. "Better leave the unknown sea to itself, +lad," said he. "A whole skin is worth more to a man than all the gold of +King Solomon's mines." + +"Is it true," asked the boy after a time, "that there are terrible +monsters in the Dark Sea?" That was the name given in those days to the +ocean that stretched indefinitely to the west. "I've seen pictures of +strange creatures on ships' maps, but never saw the like of any of +them." + +"No, nor would you be likely to, lad," said the sailor, "for such as see +those monsters don't come back. But true they are. A great captain told +me once that part of the Dark Sea was black as pitch, and that great +birds flew over it looking for ships. You've heard of the giant Roc that +flies through the air there, so strong that it can pick up the biggest +ship that ever sailed in its beak, and carry it to the clouds? There it +crushes ship and men in its talons, and drops men's limbs, armor, +timber, all that's left, down to the Dark Sea monsters who wait to +devour the wreckage in their huge jaws. Ugh, 'tis an ugly thought, and +enough to keep any man safe this side the world." + +"In some places fair, in some dark," mused Christopher. "It would be +worth sailing out there to find which was the truth." + +"Where would be the good of finding that if you never came back, boy?" + +Christopher shrugged his shoulders. "Just for the fun of finding out, +perhaps," he said. + + * * * * * + +A month later Christopher saw a galley flying the flag of Genoa enter +the harbor. When the captain came on shore the boy went to him, and +telling him who he was, asked for a chance to go as sailor back to +Genoa. The captain knew the boy's father, Domenico Colombo, and gave +Christopher a place on the galley. She was sailing north, homeward +bound, and a few days later, having safely avoided all hostile ships and +storms, the galley came into sight of the beautiful white city in its +nest against the hills. + +It was a happy day when the young sailor landed and surprised his father +and mother by walking in upon them. News of Colombo's defeat by the ship +of Naples had come to Genoa, and Christopher's family had given him up +as lost. + +But narrow as his escape on that voyage had been, such chances were part +of the sailor's life in that age, and Christopher was quite ready to +take his share of privation and danger with his mates. It was only by +weathering such storms that he could ever hope to be put in charge of +rich merchantmen or to command his own vessel in his city's defense. So +he sailed again soon after, and in a year or two had come to know the +Mediterranean Sea as well as the back of his hand. + +Captains found he was good at making maps, and paid him to draw them, +and when he was on shore he spent all his time studying charts and +plans, and soon became so expert that he could support himself by +preparing new charts. Yet, in spite of all his study, he found that the +maps covered only a small part of the sea, and gave him no knowledge of +the waters to the west. There he now began to believe the +long-looked-for sea passage to the East Indies must lie. + +Christopher grew to manhood, and then a chance shipwreck threw him in +Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. The Portuguese were the great sailors +of the age, and the young man met many famous captains who were planning +trips to the western coast of Africa and about the Cape of Good Hope. + +Some of the captains took an interest in the sailor who made such +splendid maps and was so eager to go on dangerous exploring trips, and +they brought him to the notice of the King of Portugal. One of them, +Toscanelli, wrote of the young Christopher's "great and noble desire to +pass to where the spices grow," and listened with interest to his plans +to reach those rich spice lands by sailing west. + +The ideas of Columbus seemed too visionary to most princes, and it was +years before he was able to persuade the Spanish sovereigns, Ferdinand +and Isabella, to grant him three small ships and enough men to start +upon his voyage. But on August 3, 1492, he finally set sail from Palos, +in Spain. + +All the world knows the history of that great voyage, of the tremendous +difficulties that beset Columbus, how his men grew fearful and would +have turned back, how he had to change the ship's reckoning as he had +seen his cousin change the compass, how he had sometimes to plead with +his men and sometimes to threaten them. + +In time he found boughs with fresh leaves and berries floating on the +sea, and caught the odor of spices from the west. Then he knew he was +nearing that magic land of riches sailors dreamt of, and thought he had +found the shortest passage to the East Indies and Cathay. That would +have been a wonderful discovery, but the one he was actually making was +infinitely greater. Instead of a new sea passage he was reaching a new +continent, and adding a hemisphere to the known world. + +Such was the result of the dreams and ambitions of the boy born and bred +in the old seaport of Genoa. + + + + +II + +Michael Angelo + +The Boy of the Medici Gardens: 1475-1564 + + +The Italian city of Florence was entering on the Golden Age of its +history toward the end of the fifteenth century. Lorenzo, called the +Magnificent, was head of the house of Medici, and first citizen of the +proud Republic. He was himself an artist, a poet, and a philosopher; he +loved the beautiful things of life, and had gathered about him a little +court of men of genius. + +Florence at that time was also a great business city, and among the +prominent merchant families was that of the Buonarotti. Ludovico +Buonarotti had several sons, and he had named his second child Michael +Angelo, and had planned that he should follow him in trade. Fortunately +for the world, however, the boy had a will of his own. + +Even while he was still in charge of a nurse, and was just beginning to +learn to use his hands, he would draw simple pictures and paint them +whenever he had the chance. His father had little use for a painter, and +sent the boy to the grammar school of Francesco d'Urbino, in Florence, +thinking to make a scholar of him. There were, however, many studios in +the neighborhood of the school, and many artists at work in them, and +the boy would neglect his studies to haunt the places where he might +see how grown men drew and painted. + +Watching the artists, young Michael Angelo soon formed a lasting +friendship with a boy of great talent a few years older than himself, by +name Francesco Granacci. This boy was a pupil of Domenico Ghirlandajo, a +very great painter. The more Michael Angelo saw Granacci and his work in +the studio the more he longed for a chance to study painting. He could +think of nothing else; he begged his father and uncles to let him be an +artist instead of a merchant or a scholar. But the father and uncles, +coming from a long line of successful merchants, treated the boy's +requests with scorn. + +Michael Angelo was determined to be an artist, however, and finally, +though with the greatest reluctance, his father signed a contract with +Ghirlandajo by which the boy was to study drawing and painting in his +studio and do whatever other work the master might desire. The master +was to pay the boy six gold florins for the first year's work, eight for +the second, and ten for the third. + +The young Buonarotti found plenty of work to be done in his master's +studio. Besides the regular day's work he was constantly painting +sketches of his own, and trying his hand at a dozen different things. +His eye and hand were most surprisingly true. Time and again the master +or some of the older students, coming across the boy at work, would be +held spellbound by his skill. + +One day when the men had left work the boy drew a picture of the +scaffolding on which they had been standing and sketched in portraits of +the men so perfectly that when his master found the drawing he cried to +a friend in amazement, "The boy understands this better than I do +myself!" + +There was little in the world about him that this boy failed to see. He +soon painted his first real picture, choosing a subject that was popular +in those days, the temptation of St. Antony. All kinds of queer animals +figured in the picture, and that he might get the colors of their +shining backs and scales just right he spent days in the market eagerly +studying the fish there for sale. Again the master was amazed at his +pupil's work, and now for the first time began to feel a certain envy of +him. + +This feeling rapidly increased. The scholars were often given some of +Ghirlandajo's own studies to copy, and one day Michael Angelo brought +the artist one of the studies which he had himself corrected by adding a +few thick lines. Beyond all doubt the picture was improved. It was hard, +however, for the master to be corrected by his own apprentice, and soon +after that the boy's stay in the studio came to an end. Fortunately his +friend Granacci had already interested the great patron, Lorenzo de' +Medici, in the young Buonarotti and he was now invited to join the band +of youths of talent who made the Medici's palace their home. + +In Lorenzo's palace young Michael Angelo was very happy. He was fond of +the Medici's sons, boys nearly his own age; like almost all the rest of +Florence he worshiped the citizen-prince whose one desire seemed to be +that Florence should be beautiful; and he was happiest of all in the +chance to study his own beloved art. + +In May of each year Lorenzo gave a pageant, and the spring in which +Michael Angelo came to the palace Lorenzo placed the carnival in charge +of the boy's friend, Francesco Granacci. Day by day the boys planned for +the great procession. At noon they were free from their teachers, and +then they would scatter to the gardens. + +One such May noon, when the sun was hot, a group of them ran out from +the palace, and threw themselves on the grass in the shade of a row of +poplars. They were all absorbed in the one subject; their tongues could +scarcely keep pace with their nimble fancies. + +"What shalt thou go as, Paolo?" said one. "I heard Messer Lorenzo say +that thou shouldst be something marvelously fine; but what can be so +fine as Romulus in a Roman triumph?" + +"I am to be the thrice-gifted Apollo, dressed as your Athenians saw him, +with harp and bow, and the crown of laurel on my head. That will be a +sight for thee, Ludovico mio, and for the pretty eyes of thy Bianca +also." Paolo laughed as one who well knew the value of his yellow locks +and blue eyes in a land of brown and black. "What art thou to be in +Messer Lorenzo's coming pageant, Michael?" + +The young Michael, a slim, black-haired youth, was lying on his back, +his head resting in his hands, his eyes watching the circling flight of +some pigeons. + +"I?" he said dreamily. "Oh, I have given little thought to that, I shall +be whatever Francesco wishes; he knows what is needed better than any +one else." + +As he spoke a tall youth came into the garden and sat down in the middle +of the group. He had curious, smiling eyes, and hands that were fine and +pointed like a woman's. He answered all questions easily, telling each +what part he was to play in the triumphal procession of Paulus Æmilius +that was to dazzle the good people of Florence on the morrow. He had +become chief favorite in the little court of young people that the +Medici loved to have about him, and his remarkable talent for detail had +made him the leader in all entertainments. + +The boy Michael listened for a time to the flowing words of young +Granacci, then rose and wandered to where some stone-masons had lately +been at work. He stopped in front of a block of marble that was +gradually taking the form of the mask of a faun. + +Near the block stood an antique mask, a garden ornament, and this the +boy studied for a few moments before he picked up one of the mason's +deserted tools and began to cut the stone himself. + +The gay chatter under the poplars went on, but the boy with the chisel, +lost in thought, his heavy brows bent into a bow, chipped and cut, +forgetful of everything else. A half hour passed, and a long shadow fell +across the marble. Michael looked up to see his patron, Lorenzo, +standing beside him. The boy glanced from the fine, keen face of the +Medici to the marble mask of the old faun in front of him. + +"Well, sirrah," said Lorenzo, half seriously, half in jest, "what wilt +thou be up to next?" + +"Jacopó, one of the builders, gave me a stone," answered the boy, "and +told me I might do what I would with it. Yonder is my copy, the old +figure there." + +"But," said Lorenzo, critically, "your faun is old, and yet you have +given him all his teeth; you should have known in a face as aged as that +some of the teeth are wanting." + +"True," said the young sculptor, and taking his chisel, with a few +strokes he made such a gap in the mouth as no master could have +improved. + +The Medici watched, and when the change was made, broke into laughter. +"Right, boy!" he cried. "'Tis perfect; Praxiteles himself could not have +bettered that!" Then, with a quizzical smile, he looked the youth over. +"I knew thou wert a painter; and now a sculptor; what will thy clever +hand be doing next?" + +"Bearing arms in your worship's cause, an' the saints be good!" +exclaimed the boy, his deep eyes, full of admiration, on his patron's +face. + +"Ah," said Lorenzo, "so? Well, perhaps the day will come. Florence is +like a rose-bed, but I cannot cure the city as I would of thorns." He +fell into thought, then roused again. "But thou, young Michael Angelo, +dost know what a time I had to make thy father let thee be a painter, +and now thou addest to thy sins and cuttest in marble. Where will be the +end of thy infamy?" + +The boy caught the gleam in his friend's eyes, and his serious face +broke into smiles. + +"In Rome, Signor Lorenzo, in the Holy Father's house. There I shall go +some day." + +"And why to Rome?" + +"Every one goes to Rome; thy marvelous pageants are Roman; art lives +there." + +"Yes," mused Lorenzo, "Rome on its hills is still the Eternal City. And +yet in those far days to come I doubt if thou wilt be as happy as in +Lorenzo's gardens. How sayest thou, boy?" + +"I know not," was the answer. "Only I know that I shall go." + +The laughter of the other boys came to their ears, and Lorenzo turned. +"Thy faun is done; to-morrow will I speak with Poliziano of our new +sculptor. What is Granacci saying over there? Come with me and listen." +So, the prince's arm resting affectionately on the boy's shoulder, they +crossed the garden to the noisy group. + +Life was gay then in Florence. Lorenzo de' Medici was ruling the +turbulent city by keeping it occupied with merrymaking, by beautifying +its squares with priceless treasures, by helping its poor but ambitious +children to win their heart's desires, by mingling with the citizens at +all times, and writing them ballads to sing, and giving them masques to +act. His house was open to the great men of Italy; on his entertainments +he lavished his wealth, set no bounds to the means he gave Granacci and +the others to make the pageants gorgeous, and superintended everything +with his own wonderfully keen eye for beauty. + +The triumphal procession of Paulus Æmilius on the morrow after the +little scene in the gardens was an all-day revel. The good folk of +Florence left their shops and homes and lined the streets, and for hours +floats drawn by prancing horses and picturing great scenes in Roman +history passed before the delighted people's eyes. Among the warriors, +the heroes, the nymphs and fauns, they recognized their neighbors' +children or their own sons and daughters; they were all parcel of it; it +was their own triumph as well as Rome's. Girls sang and danced and +smiled, boys posed and cheered and played heroic parts, the whole youth +of the city spent the day in fairy-land. + +Chief among the boys was the little group of artists who were studying +in Lorenzo's mansion, and chief among these Granacci, who was Master of +the Revels, Paolo Tornabuoni, who made a wonderful Apollo, seated on a +golden globe playing upon a lyre, and the dark-browed Michael Angelo, +clad in a tunic, one of the noble youth of early Rome. His father, +Ludovico Buonarotti, and his mother, Francesca, were in the crowd that +watched him pass. + +"Yonder he goes," cried the proud mother; "dost see thy son, Ludovico?" +But her husband scowled; he had little use for a son of his who had +rather be painter than merchant. + +A year of happiness passed for the boys in the Medici gardens, and then +the skies of Florence darkened. A monk from San Marco named Savonarola +raised his voice to shame the gay people of their extravagance, and his +bitter tongue sought out Lorenzo the Magnificent as chief offender. The +boy Michael Angelo went to hear Savonarola preach, and came away heavy +of mind and heart. He heard the beautiful things of the world assailed +as sinful, and his beloved master called a servant of the Evil One. A +winter of reproach came upon the city, and when it ended, and Lent was +over, darkness fell, for Lorenzo lay dead at his summer home of Careggi, +in 1492--the year when Columbus discovered America. + +For a long time Michael Angelo, stunned by his patron's loss, could do +no work, and when at last he found the heart to take up his brush and +palette it was no longer in the great house of the Medici, but in a +little room he had arranged for himself as a studio under his father's +roof. + +He was not long left to work there in peace; the three sons of Lorenzo, +boys of nearly his own age, who had been playmates with him in the +gardens, and had studied with him under the same masters, needed his +help. The great Medici had said, long before, that of his three sons one +was good, one clever, and the third a fool. Giulio, now thirteen years +old, was the good one; Giovanni, seventeen years old, already a Prince +Cardinal of the Church, was the clever one, and Piero, the oldest, now +head of the family in Florence, was the fool. + +The storm raised by Savonarola was ready to break about Piero de' +Medici's head, and such friends as were still faithful to him he +gathered about him at his house. Michael Angelo, his old playmate, was +among the number, and so he again moved to the palace. For a brief time +they sought to win back the favor of the people by a return to the +old-time magnificence. + +With no wise head to guide, the youths were soon in sore straits. Their +love of art, their study of the poets, their attempt to revive the +history of Greece and Rome were all scorned and mocked at as so much +wanton dissipation. The boys drew closer together; the fate of their +house hung trembling in the balance. + +Then one morning a young lute-player named Cardiere came to Michael +Angelo and, drawing him aside from the others, told him that in a dream +the night before, Lorenzo had appeared to him, robed in torn black +garments, and in deep, melancholy tones had ordered him to tell Piero, +his son, that he would soon be driven out from Florence, never to +return. Michael Angelo told the musician to tell Piero, but the latter +was too frightened to obey. + +A few days later he came again to Michael Angelo, this time pale and +shaking with fear, and said that Lorenzo had appeared to him a second +time, had repeated what he had said to him before, and had threatened +him with dire punishment if he dared again to disobey his strict +command. + +Alarmed at the news Michael Angelo spoke his mind to Cardiere and bade +him set off at once to see Piero, who was at Careggi, and give him his +father's warning. Cardiere, half-way to Careggi, met Piero and some +friends riding in toward Florence. The minstrel stopped their way and +besought Piero to hear his story. The young Medici bade him speak, but +when he had heard the warning he laughed, and his friends laughed with +him. + +Bibbiena, one of Piero's closest friends, and later to be the subject +of one of Raphael's masterpieces, cried aloud in scorn to Cardiere: +"Fool! Dost think that Lorenzo gives thee such honor before his own son +that he would thus appear to thee rather than to Piero?" With laughter +at Cardiere's crestfallen face the gay troop rode on, and the poor +messenger of evil tidings returned slowly with his news to Michael +Angelo. + +By now the boy sculptor was thoroughly alarmed. Like almost every one +else of that age he believed in portents and visions; he therefore took +Cardiere's story to heart, and in addition he could see for himself that +the foolish, headstrong Piero was taking no steps to turn the growing +discontent. He hated to leave his friends, but knew that they would pay +no heed to his warnings. So, after much hesitation, he decided, with two +comrades of about his own age, to go to Venice and seek work in that +quieter city. + +Ordinarily it would have taken the three boys about a week to ride from +Florence to Venice, but at that time French troops were scattered +through the country, and they had to follow a roundabout course to reach +the city by the sea. They had very little money, and had gone only a +short distance when this small amount was exhausted. By that time they +had reached the city of Bologna, and there they turned aside. + +Like most of the Italian cities Bologna tried to keep itself +independent, and to this end the ruling family had made a strange law +with regard to foreigners. Every stranger entering the city gates had to +present himself before the governor and receive from him a seal of red +wax on the thumb. If a stranger neglected to do this, he was liable to +be thrown into prison and fined. + +The boy Michael Angelo and his two friends knew nothing of this odd law, +and entered the city gaily, without having the necessary wax on their +thumbs. As soon as this was noticed they were seized, taken before a +judge, and sentenced to pay six hundred and fifty lire. They had not +that much money between them, and so for a short time were placed under +lock and key. + +Fortunately news of the boys' arrest came to a nobleman of the city who +was much interested in art and who had already heard of Michael Angelo's +ability. He at once had the boys set free, and invited Michael Angelo to +visit him at his home. But Michael did not wish to leave his friends, +and felt that it would be an imposition for the three of them to accept +the invitation. + +When he spoke in this fashion to the nobleman the latter was very much +amused. "Ah, well," said he, "if things stand so I must beg of you to +take me also with your two friends to roam about the world at your +expense." The joke showed the boy the absurd side of the matter. He gave +his friends the little money he had left, said good-bye to them, and +accepted the invitation to stay in Bologna. + +A very short time after, Piero de' Medici, driven from Florence by an +angry people, came to Bologna and met his old friend of Lorenzo's +gardens. For a short time the boys were together, then the young Medici +set out to seek aid from other cities, in an attempt to rebuild his +family fortunes. + +Meanwhile the nobleman who had offered Michael Angelo a home was +delighted with his young friend. He found him keenly interested in Dante +and Petrarch, and equally gifted as a sculptor and painter. He gave him +work to do in the Church of San Petronio, and Michael did so well there +that the artists of Bologna grew jealous of him, and at the end of the +year forced him to leave the city. + +Then the boy artist went back to his home, only to find it changed +unspeakably. Florence, that had been a city of delight, was now a city +of dread. Savonarola held the people's ear, and had taught them to +destroy what Lorenzo had led them to love. The monks of San Marco made +bonfires of their paintings, priceless manuscripts had met with the same +fate, and Lorenzo's house had been robbed of all its sculpture. The +gardens were strewn with broken statues that had once been Michael +Angelo's delight. He walked through them sadly, and realized that he +alone was left of that group who had found so much happiness there only +a few years before. The words that he had spoken to Lorenzo on the day +he chiseled the faun came back to him, "To Rome I shall go some day," +and thither he now set his face. + +Thereafter the Eternal City claimed Michael Angelo. Cardinal after +cardinal, pope after pope, employed his marvelous genius to beautify the +capital of the world. As he had said, he found work to do in the Holy +Father's house. Whatever else they might do, the Italians of that age +worshiped art, and there were two stars in their sky, Raphael and +Michael Angelo. + +Again Fate's wheel turned, and at last Michael Angelo returned to +Florence, loaded with honors, this time again the guest of a Medici, +Giulio, the playmate of his youth, ruling as autocrat where his father +had ruled as a mere citizen. A little later, and the shrewdest of the +three boys, Giovanni, became Pope Leo X. + +As men the friends of boyhood differed, but they were alike in their +devotion to Florence and the things they had learned in her school years +before. At the height of his power Michael Angelo turned his hand to the +Medici Chapel and built there lasting monuments to their glory and his +genius, a wonderful return for the rare days of his boyhood in their +gardens. + + + + +III + +Walter Raleigh + +The Boy of Devon: 1552-1618 + + +Summer was over England, and the county of Devon, running down to +Cornwall between two seas, was painted in bright hues. The downs were +softly carpeted with purple and yellow gorse and heather that made a +wonderful soft mist as one looked across the fields. Low hills, +brilliant green ridges against the sky, ran inland from the sea, and in +the little hollows here and there nestled small straw-thatched cottages +with shining white walls, or the more pretentious Tudor farmhouses with +red or brown roofs, and much half-timbered decoration. + +The Devon winters were long, with heavy snow, and men had to build so +that they might have all possible protection from the winds that swept +across the open upland country. So they built down in the valleys and in +the long low inlets from the sea that were called combes, and as a +result one might stand on the high moors looking across country, and +never know there was a house within a mile. It is a country full of +surprises. + +On a fine morning when Devon was looking its best, a boy came out of a +dwelling that was half farmhouse, half manor-house, and that lay in a +cup of low hills on the edge of a tract of moorland. The house belonged +to a man named Walter Raleigh, of Fardell, a gentleman of good family +whose fortunes had sunk to a low ebb. It was one-storied, with thatched +roof, gabled wings, and a projecting central porch. Here lived Mr. +Raleigh of Fardell with his wife Katherine, four sons and a daughter. It +was a large family for such a small estate, and already the father was +wondering what would happen to the younger boys when the little property +should have descended, according to the law of the land, to the oldest +son. + +It was the boy Walter, youngest of the sons, who had come out of the +house, and stood looking about him. He was a good-looking fellow, with +fair hair, blue eyes, and the ruddy English skin. It did not take him +long to decide which way to go this morning. He made straight for an oak +wood that lay before the house, and followed a little path that led +through it. Two miles and a half through the wood lay Budleigh Salterton +Bay, and Walter liked that best of all the places near his home. + +He passed the oaks and came out into open country. Here, where the gorse +made a soft carpet on the ground, the salt of the sea blew freshly in to +him. He gave a great shout, and pulling off his cap, ran as fast as he +could, down to the shore of the bay. A few boats swung at anchor there, +and an old man sat on the beach, mending a fishing net. + +The boy swept the sea with his eyes from point to point of the bay, +looked longingly at the boats, then walked over to the old mariner. + +"Good-morning, gaffer," said he. "It's a fine sailing breeze out on the +bay." + +"And good-morning to ye, Master Walter," said the old man, glancing up +from his nets. "A fine breeze it be, an' more's the pity when there's +work to be done on shore." + +"So say I," said the boy, throwing himself down on the sand by the +sailor. "I'd dearly like to sail across to France to-day." + +"How comes it you're not to school?" asked the man. + +"School's done. Next month I go to Oxford, to Oriel College. Methinks +'tis a great shame to spend one's time studying when there's so much +else to be done in the world. The only books I like are those that tell +of far-away lands and adventures and such things. But to Oxford I must +go, says father, like a gentleman's son, and so I suppose I must." + +He lay out on the sand, his head resting in his hands, his eyes gazing +up to the sky. "Tell me, gaffer, if you had your choice of the two, +would you rather be a sailor, or a gentleman of the court, and live at +London, near Queen Elizabeth?" + +The man laughed. "I a courtier!" he cried. "I'd die of fright most like. +I've never been to London town, but they say it's a terrible place!" + +"Would you rather sail out to the west,--to the Indies, or perhaps to +Guiana?" asked Walter. + +The man nodded. "The savages be'nt so terrifyin' to a sailor as the folk +o' London town." + +"And in London they might throw you into the Tower," mused Walter. +"You're right, gaffer. 'Tis better to be free, and your own man, even if +'tis only among savages. Think you England will be at war soon?" + +The sailor looked up from his net, and glanced out across the bay. "I +figure you'll live long enough to do some fightin', lad. Them Spanish +dons be plannin' for to sweep the seas of Englishmen." + +Walter sat up, and followed the man's gaze out to sea. "That they'll +never do," said he, "as long as there are Devon men to build a boat and +man it. But if there is a war I'm going to it, aye, as certain as we two +be sitting here in Budleigh Bay." + +"War's a fearsome thing, lad," said the sailor. "I've fought the pirates +in the south, and I've seen sights would turn a man's hair gray in a +night. 'Tis no holiday work to fight across your decks." + +"Tell me about it," begged the boy, sitting up and clasping his knees in +his hands. "I love to hear of fights and strange adventures." + +So, while the sailor worked over his net he talked of his wanderings, of +his cruises, of his battles, of his flights, and the boy, his eyes wide +with admiration, drank in the yarns. Mariner never found a better +audience than this small boy of the Devon coast. + +It was long past noon when the sailor and Walter left the beach. The boy +went back through the wood to the house, and made his lunch in the +pantry off of bread and cheese. The family were used to Walter's +wanderings, and never waited for him. Now, in his holiday time, he was +free to go where he would. + +[Illustration: WALTER RALEIGH AND THE FISHERMAN OF DEVON] + +Mr. Raleigh of Fardell wanted all his sons brought up as the sons of a +gentleman should be, and so, although he was quite poor, he managed to +send Walter that autumn to the University of Oxford. Walter was only +fifteen, but boys went to college at that age in those days. + +Oxford in 1567 was something like the Eton of to-day. There were not +many college buildings, and the students in cap and gown looked quite as +young as schoolboys do now. Oriel College was near the broad Christ +Church meadows that led down to the river, and from there Walter could +look across to the fields where the boys practiced their favorite sport +of archery, to the silver thread of the little river as it wound in and +out among the trees, and across it to the park where a herd of deer +roamed free. + +The Oxford country, inland and not far from the centre of England, was +very different from his beloved Devonshire. Here there were many +gentlemen's parks, with well-kept lawns and gardens, lots of small +woods, and meadows broken now and again by little sparkling brooks. +Everything was very neat and beautifully cared for. But in Devon was the +wide sweep of the high moorlands, the herds of grazing ponies, the +glorious carpet of the heather, the salt smell of the sea. + +Often the boy was homesick for that more barren country, and that shore +from which he loved to watch the sails, and very often he was tempted to +leave Oriel and go out to seek his fortune by himself. He did not give +in to the desire, however. He stayed on for three years, holding his +own in his studies, and winning the reputation of a good speaker. + +Walter's chance for adventure came full soon. His mother's family, the +Champernouns, were related to the French Huguenot house of Montgomerie. +The Catholics and the Huguenots were at war in France, and Walter's +cousin Henry obtained permission of Queen Elizabeth to raise a troop of +a hundred gentlemen in England to fight with him in France. He asked +Raleigh at Oriel to join him, and the boy eagerly accepted. So he left +Oxford, and with a number of others of good family, many scarcely older +than himself, he crossed the Channel and entered France. + +The moment was not a good one. The Huguenots had just lost the battle of +Moncontour, and a little time after their great chief, the Prince of +Condé, fell at Jarnac. But the small band of English gentlemen +adventurers was not at all cast down. The Huguenot cause did not mean a +great deal to them, and they speedily consoled themselves for Condé's +loss. + +When they actually took the field they found the warfare a very +irregular sort of fighting, a sudden swoop down upon the Catholics in +some ill-defended town, a quick retreat at the approach of regular +troops, an occasional short skirmish in the open. Walter was sent into +Languedoc, and joined in the chase of Catholics through the hills. + +The country was full of steep cliffs, and there were many caves hidden +in them. Fugitives would escape through the open country and meet in +these recesses, and the Englishmen would follow, tracking them after +the manner of hunters of wild game. Sometimes they would come to the top +of a cliff, overlooking a cave in which they had seen men hide. Then +they would lower lighted bundles of straw by iron chains until they came +opposite the mouth of the cave. In a short time the men in hiding would +be smoked out, and compelled to surrender. Often they had hidden +treasures of money or plate in the caves, and these would fall into the +captors' hands. This lure of booty added spice to the hunt. + +It was rough, wild work, but it was a rough age, and men had few +scruples when it came to dealing with their enemies. Young Raleigh +proved a good fighter, fond of the hunts through the hills, and always +ready for any wild expedition. He cared little enough for the cause for +which the troop was supposed to be fighting. It was the opportunity to +advance himself that concerned him most. + +When he came back from France he found that there was no place for him +at the manor-house in Devon. As a younger son he must fight his own way +in the world. He had always loved London next after the Devon coast, and +so he went there now, hoping that he might find some favor with the +court. Queen Elizabeth liked to have youths of good family and good +looks about her, and there were many of them living in London who used +her court as a sort of club. + +Walter made many friends of his own age, and lived as most of them did, +mixing in all the excitements of city life. He was now rather a wild, +reckless young blade, as willing to draw his sword in a street fight as +to pay compliments to a pretty maid of honor. One day he got into a +fight at a tavern with a noisy braggart. He managed to throw the man +into a chair and bind him with a rope. Then he knotted the man's beard +and moustache together so that his mouth was sealed. The rest of the +tavern applauded him for his neat manner of silencing the boaster. + +He did not always come out on top, however. On one occasion he fought in +the street with Sir Thomas Perrot, and was arrested by the town watch. +He was brought to trial, and sent to the Fleet prison for six days. The +imprisonment meant very little to him, it was simply part of the life of +adventure he was so fond of living. + +We must remember that all England, in this age of Elizabeth, was full of +this same spirit of adventure. Young men were rising rapidly; there were +a hundred ways to gain distinction, and many of them, although ways +which we might consider rather doubtful nowadays, were then regarded as +quite proper. Walter Raleigh kept his eyes wide open, and when he saw a +promising chance, he was always ready to accept it. The first adventure +that offered was to take part in a seafaring expedition. + +Englishmen of fortune in those days were in the habit of fitting out +privateers to roam the seas, much like pirates. Sir Humphrey Gilbert had +planned to send some such ships to the banks of Newfoundland to capture +any Portuguese or Spanish vessels that might have gone there for the +fishing. He intended to bring his prizes back to some Dutch port, and +there sell them. Walter liked this plan and he talked it over with Sir +Humphrey, but for some reason the plan failed. + +A very little while afterward, however, Sir Humphrey asked him to sail +in an expedition that was supposed to be searching for the northwest +passage to Cathay, but which in reality was intended to seize any +heathen lands it might find and occupy them in the name of England. The +fleet sailed, but soon fell in with a Spanish squadron that was looking +for just such English rovers. Sir Humphrey's fleet was beaten, and +forced to return home. So for a time young Raleigh's chances of winning +fortune on the seas were ended. + +He went back to London, and took up his former life at court. Very soon +he was sent with some troops to Ireland, and there again he had a chance +at the same sort of fighting he had known in France. He proved himself a +good soldier; he shunned no toil nor danger. But the life he had to lead +was a hard one, and very poorly paid, and Raleigh saw no chance to make +his fortune in that path. + +Now, however, Raleigh was known to many powerful men. When he gave up +the Irish fighting and went back to court he found that people there had +heard of what he had accomplished and that he had a reputation for +courage bordering on recklessness. That was a quality the English of +that day much admired. The great lords were almost all reckless +adventurers, plundering wherever they could, and they were glad to find +young men who would do their bidding without asking questions. + +By this time young Raleigh had become typical of his age, having its +virtues and its vices. The age was wild, coveting money in order to +fling it away on mad schemes, reveling in the dangers as well as the +glories of battle and exploration, of plundering Spanish galleons, or of +hunting untold riches in the world across the sea. Queen Elizabeth liked +daring men, and Raleigh took every opportunity to bring himself before +her notice. + +The young courtier had learned all the arts that helped to make men's +fortunes. He was tall and very handsome, a splendid swordsman, and a wit +who could hold his own with poets and with statesmen. He still spoke +with the strong broad accent of Devon, and when he learned that the +Queen liked his unusual accent he was very careful to see that he never +lost it. He studied each chance to please. + +Elizabeth was extremely vain and extremely fond of romance. One day as +she walked with certain of her lords and ladies she came to a marshy +place, and stopped in hesitation, fearing to soil her slippers. This was +the young courtier's chance. Raleigh had been in the background, but +seeing the Queen hesitate he sprang forward, and sweeping his new plush +cloak from his shoulders, spread it in the mire, so that she might +cross. The Queen's face lighted up with pleasure at the graceful act, +and she thanked the youthful gallant. Later she saw that he was given +many court suits for the cloak he had so admirably ruined. + +Having thus won her attention Raleigh next sought to fix himself in his +Queen's mind. He wrote on the window of a room in which she passed much +time the line: + + "Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall." + +Elizabeth learned who was author of the writing, and scratched the +answer underneath: + + "If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all." + +Raleigh had no fear whatever of falling, but a becoming modesty sat well +upon him. The Queen remembered the young man now for these two +qualities, his gallantry and his becoming modesty, and saw to it that a +man of such spirit should be kept at court. The ardent boy of Devon, the +restless Oxford student, the wild Huguenot trooper, had grown to be a +man worthy of notice. + +He was now, as Walter Scott pictures him in "Kenilworth," the young +seeker after royal favor, graceful, slender, restless, somewhat +supercilious, with a sonnet ever ready on his lips to delight his +friends or an epigram to sting his enemies. + +We shall see him turn his many talents to great uses. He fell to +planning voyages across the Atlantic to discover and settle parts of +North America much as Sir Humphrey Gilbert had done, and as another +young man about court, Sir Francis Drake, was doing. From the Queen, and +from one noble or another who was interested in his marvelous schemes, +he obtained the money to fit out several expeditions. Each in turn +landed near what is now the Roanoke River, and each brought back rich +gifts to the great English Queen. Among other things the explorer saw +the Indians smoking a dried leaf called tobacco, tried the custom, liked +it, and brought it back with him to England. + +Raleigh had a stroke of genius when he named his colony Virginia, in +honor of Elizabeth the Virgin Queen. It pleased her to think that a +great empire in the western world should be named for her. She gave +Raleigh whatever he asked, making him practically governor of all the +English domain in America, and for a long time Virginia was supposed to +cover even part of what later became New England. He started to colonize +the land, but his colonies did not succeed, and he lost all the money he +put into them. Nevertheless his Virginian scheme brought him a great +deal of fame, which he now craved, and kept London talking of him. + +London was soon to talk still more about this daring, brave, and +brilliant Westcountryman. The prophecy of the old sailor at Budleigh +Salterton Bay came true, and for a brief time all England held its +breath while the famous Spanish fleet, called the Armada, bore down upon +her coast. Then all over the country gentlemen of fortune manned ships +and put to sea, but especially the men of Devon, of Somerset, and +Cornwall, counties famed for their sailors. + +Among these men was Raleigh; his advice was eagerly sought by the +Queen's ministers, and when it came to the actual Channel fighting he +made one of many gallant captains. The great Armada came to grief upon +the English coast, and Raleigh had added another to his record of +achievements. + +Having been courtier, colonizer, warrior, Raleigh now blossomed forth as +a poet, and became a friend and patron of Edmund Spenser. He had much +skill in verse, and he was never lacking in imagination. But his real +talents did not lie in that direction, and as in so many other things, +he soon found himself distracted elsewhere. + +The story of Raleigh's manhood belongs to history. Turn to tales of +Elizabeth's court and you will find his name on almost every page. Now +he is high in favor, braving it with the great Earl of Leicester, now +down upon his luck, locked in some royal prison, writing verses to his +many friends. His was a strange career; at one time there was no man in +England whose favor was more sought, yet at the end he died upon the +scaffold charged with treason. Time proved him guiltless of the charge, +and almost at once the English people began to realize how great a light +had been extinguished. + +Through all his varying career he himself was the same brave, dreamy, +ambitious man, the perfect type of that age which we call the +Elizabethan. He could not stay in his native land of Devon; much as he +loved its moorland and its bays, he had to listen to the call of London +and the sea, and follow where their voices led him. Each way the road +was set with many strange adventures, but he met and passed through them +all with the high spirits that were part of his age. His courage never +failed him, nor his joy in fighting his way to fortune with his own +sharp wits. + + + + +IV + +Peter the Great + +The Boy of the Kremlin: 1672-1725 + + +The halls of the Kremlin, the Czar's palace in Moscow, were filled with +a wild rabble of soldiers on a winter afternoon near the end of the +seventeenth century. The guards of the late Czar Alexis were storming +through the maze of corridors and state apartments, breaking statues, +tearing down tapestries, and piercing and cutting to pieces invaluable +paintings with their spears and swords. + +They were big, savage-faced men, pets of the half-civilized Russian +rulers, and were called the Streltsi Guard. + +They had broken into the Kremlin in order to see the boy who was now +Czar, so that they might be sure that his stepmother had not hidden him +away, as the rumor went, in order that her own son Peter might have the +throne for himself. But once inside the Kremlin many of the soldiers +devoted themselves to pillage, until the ringleaders raised the cry, +"Where is the Czar Ivan? Show him to us! Show the boy Ivan to us! Where +is he?" + +In a small room on one of the higher floors a little group of women and +noblemen, all thoroughly frightened, were gathered about two boys. The +noise of the attack on the palace had come to their ears some time +before; they had seen from the windows the mutinous soldiers climbing +the walls and beating down the few loyal servants who had withstood +them. The din was growing more terrific every instant. It was the matter +of only a few minutes before the rioters would break into the room. + +"We must decide at once, friends," said the Czarina Natalia. "If they +enter this room they'll not stop at killing any of us." + +The smaller of the two boys, a sturdy lad of eleven years, spoke up: +"Let me go out on to the Red Staircase with Ivan, mother. When they see +that we are both here they'll be satisfied." + +A dozen objections were raised by the frightened men and women of the +court. It was much too dangerous to trust the lives of the two boys to +the whim of such a maddened mob. + +"Nevertheless Peter is right," said Natalia. "It's the only chance left +to us. They think I have done some harm to Ivan. The only way to prove +that false is for him to stand before them, and my son must go with +him." + +The small boy who had spoken before took these words as final. "Come, +Ivan," said he, and took the other's hand in his. Ivan, a tall, delicate +boy, whose face was white with fear, gripped Peter's hand hard. He was +used to trusting implicitly to his half-brother, although the latter was +two years younger than he. + +One of the noblemen opened the door, and the two boys went out of the +room and crossed the hall to the top of the great Red Staircase. They +looked down on the mob of soldiers who were gradually surging up the +stairs, brandishing swords and halberds, fighting among each other for +the possession of some treasure, and calling continually, "The Czar! +Where are the boys Ivan and Peter? Where are they?" + +At first in their excitement no one noticed the two boys on the +stairway. Ivan, who was by nature timid, shrank away from their sight as +much as he could, but Peter, who was of a different make, stood out in +full view, and held fast to his brother's hand. He had inherited the +iron nerve of the strongest of his ancestors. He looked at the mutinous +rioters with bold, fearless eyes. + +Presently a soldier caught sight of the younger boy and raised a cry +loud above the general din. "There is the boy Peter, but where is Ivan? +The Czar! The Czar!" + +A score of voices took up the cry as all eyes were turned on the +landing, and many men started up the stairs. "There is Peter, but where +is the boy Ivan?" came the deafening chorus. + +"Ivan is here with me," said Peter, his voice clear and high. He tried +to pull Ivan nearer to him so that the men might see him. "Stand up +where they can see you, Ivan!" he begged. "There's nothing to be afraid +of. They only want to see their new Czar." + +Trembling with fear the older boy, who had inherited all the weakness of +his race, and none of its strength, was finally induced to step close to +Peter. So, side by side, their hands clasped, the two looked down on the +crowded stairway, and faced the mob of soldiers. They made a strange +picture, two small boys, standing quite alone, fronting that sea of +passionate, angry faces. + +At sight of Ivan another cry arose. "There's the Czar! Hail Ivan! Hail +the son of the great Alexis!" + +For a moment the onward rush of the mob was checked, but only for a +moment. Three or four soldiers started up the stairs, their lances +pointed at Peter, shouting, "What shall we do with the son of the false +woman Natalia?" They came so close to the boy that their spears almost +touched him before they stopped. Had he turned to run no one can say +what might have happened, but he did not turn, he did not even draw back +nor show a single sign of fear. + +"I am the son of the Czar Alexis also, and I am not afraid of any of +you!" + +The boy's calm eyes fronted the nearest soldiers steadily. The men heard +his words and hesitated. + +"Peter, the son of Alexis, is not afraid of his own father's guards!" +the boy continued. "That is why I came out here when you called me." + +In the hush that had followed his first words his voice carried clear to +all the crowding men. When he finished there came a silence, and then of +a sudden cheer on cheer rose on the stairs and through the hall. "Peter, +the son of Alexis! Hail Peter! Hail the two boy Czars!" + +The nearest soldiers dropped the points of their spears and joined in +the shouting. A flush came into the younger boy's face and he smiled, +and squeezed Ivan's hand tighter. He knew that the danger had passed. + +Slowly the soldiers who had climbed nearest to the boys drew back down +the stairs. Swords were returned to scabbards, harsh voices grew +quieter, and within a quarter of an hour the Red Staircase and the great +hall were empty of men. + +Then the door of the room from which the two boys had come opened, and +Natalia and her women stepped out. The Czarina, a woman of courage +herself, took Peter in her arms. "My brave son," she murmured, "thou art +worthy of thy father. I would have stood beside thee, but the people +hate me, and it would have been worse for us all." + +"I needed no one, little mother," said Peter. "If I am ever to be a +ruler I must not fear to face my own men." Then his face grew more +serious. "But if I ever am Czar they will not break into the Kremlin +this way, mother, nor wilt thou need to hide thyself from them." + +"God grant it be so, Peter!" answered Natalia. "I think they've learned +much from thee this very day." + +The Streltsi had indeed learned that the boy Peter was no coward, and +their dislike changed to affection; but there were others in Moscow who +plotted and planned against him, because the family of the late Czar's +first wife were very powerful in Russia and they hated his second wife +Natalia, and her son, who had been his father's favorite. + +Everything that conspirators could do to break the boy's spirit was +done; he was time and again placed in peril of his life; he was +threatened and tempted and slandered to the people, but all to no avail. +His mother did her best to shield him from his enemies, but when she +found that her care was not enough she trusted to his own remarkable +judgment and courage. These never failed either the boy or his mother. + +As time passed it grew more and more clear that Peter was as strong as +his poor stepbrother Ivan was weak, and in order to satisfy the people +the younger boy was made joint-Czar with the elder. + +The real power in Russia then, however, was the Princess Sophia, Peter's +half-sister, a bitter enemy of both the boy and his mother. She did her +best to break her stepbrother's spirit, hoping that he might come to +some untimely end, as so many of the royal family had already done. She +knew that Ivan was simply a weak tool in her hands, and so bent all her +energies to try and ruin the younger Czar by taking away all restraint +from over him, and letting him indulge every pleasure and whim. + +He was given a palace of his own in a small village outside Moscow, and +Sophia selected fifty boys of his own age to be his playmates. She had +his former teachers dismissed and chose such comrades for him as she +thought would grow up idle, vicious men. + +Fortunately Peter's character was not so easily ruined. His mother and +his old teachers had given him the beginning of an education and instead +of falling into Sophia's snares, he immediately started to turn his +playmates into scholars. + +He formed a sort of military school, where the boys practiced all the +discipline necessary in camp. He himself set to work to learn to use +different tools, and in general he studied the trades of his people. He +managed to get teachers who could instruct the boys in history and +geography, and as a result instead of being good for nothing the circle +of boys in the little palace became unusually energetic and +active-minded. When he finally left the palace it had become a +well-organized military school, and continued to be run as such for a +long time afterward. + +When the Princess Sophia realized that these plans of hers were failing, +she decided on a more desperate measure. On the night of August 7, 1689, +Peter was suddenly waked in the middle of night by fugitive soldiers +coming from the Kremlin, who warned him that Sophia had gathered a band +of soldiers to come out to his palace and kill him. The boy, realizing +his extreme peril, jumped out of bed, and throwing on a few clothes ran +to the stables, where he found his favorite horse and set out with some +comrades into the neighboring forest. + +There they stayed practically in hiding until officers came from the +palace bringing him food and clothing, and gradually gathering about him +until he had quite a small body-guard. By this time he had made up his +mind what to do. + +Feeling sufficiently strong with his friends, he finally set out for a +monastery, thinking to find safe refuge there until the storm should +pass. Here more friends came to join him, and as the news of Sophia's +plot to kill the boy Czar was spread through the country, a new +enthusiasm for the youthful Peter sprang up, and the very troops that +had formerly sided with the Princess now denounced her as a traitor to +Russia. Peter wrote to his stepsister asking for explanations about the +plot at the Kremlin, but the Princess could make no satisfactory reply. + +The monastery was now crowded with officers of the court who had come to +realize that Sophia's power was gone and that the boy Czar's strength +was rising rapidly. The time had come when he was strong enough to +strike. He marched on the Kremlin and captured Sophia and those who had +been in the conspiracy with her. Some of the Streltsi Guard who had +taken part against him were tried and executed, and the Princess Sophia +was shut up in a convent for the remainder of her life. + +Such events did not tend to make the boy a merciful ruler, but +surrounded as he was by traitors and spies he was compelled to rule with +an iron hand if he was to rule at all. + +From this time dates the beginning of his real influence in Russia. The +army had been poorly organized. Now the young King set to work to drill +it as effectively as he had drilled his playmates. He learned how cannon +were built, and studied the manufacture of all kinds of firearms. About +the same time he became deeply interested in ship-building, and +determined to build a fleet of war-vessels on Lake Plestchéief. + +He took some young men of his own age with him to the bank of the lake +and there built a one-storied wooden house, a very primitive building, +the windows filled with mica instead of glass, and set a double-headed +eagle with a gilt wooden crown over the door to show it was the Czar's +residence. Here he worked hard all one winter, he himself taking a hand +in all the building that was done, laboring like any carpenter and +enjoying the work far more than the state ceremonies he was obliged to +go through with at the Kremlin. + +But even when he was so far from Moscow and so actively engaged, he sent +continual messages to the mother who had so often shielded him from +harm. Once he wrote to her as follows: + + "To my best beloved, and, while bodily life endures, my dearest + little mother, the Lady Czarina and Grand Duchess Natalia Kirílovna. + Thy little son, now here at work, Petrúshka, asks thy blessing and + wishes news of thy health. We, through thy prayers, are all well, and + the lake has been cleared of ice to-day, and all the boats, except + the big ship, are finished, only we have to wait for ropes. Therefore + I beg thy kindness that these ropes, seven hundred fathoms long, be + sent from the artillery department without delay, for our work is + waiting for them, and our stay here is so much prolonged." + +The Russians of that day knew little about building ships, and so Peter +finally went to Amsterdam. Here he dressed like a Dutch sea-captain and +spent his time with sailors and ship-builders, and thoroughly enjoyed +the difference between this new life and that at home. Many of his +native customs he now learned to look upon as uncouth. The Russians had +poor taste in dress; the Imperial Guards wore old-fashioned uniforms +consisting of a long gown, which made it very difficult for them to move +rapidly. Peter saw some French soldiers and at once decided to adopt +their smarter and more serviceable style of dress. + +[Illustration: PETER THE GREAT] + +In the same way he changed the old Russian military drill to something +resembling that of the other European countries. He had new carriages +and furniture and foods imported from France and England, and tried to +make Moscow more like a modern city than like the semi-barbarous Asiatic +village it had been. The Russian men almost all wore long, flowing +beards, and this fashion Peter quickly changed, insisting that the men +about him should adopt the fashion of the French court. + +It is hard to realize how far behind the rest of the countries of Europe +the Russia of those days was; yet it is due almost entirely to the young +Czar Peter that this great northern country finally came out from +semi-darkness. It must not be supposed that these great changes were at +first popular with the court; there was tremendous opposition to almost +everything Peter did, but the people gradually realized that he was +really working for their benefit and that he was deeply interested in +improving their condition. Slowly his popularity grew with the middle +and lower classes, until finally they spoke of their "little Czar," as +they called him affectionately, almost as though he were really one of +themselves. + +Few rulers have had a harder task than did Peter. All during his youth +the nobles plotted against him, and as he grew to manhood he escaped +assassination again and again by the narrowest of chances, but every +time he had to face danger he grew more self-reliant and more +determined, and gradually his grip on the men of both court and army +grew so strong that they realized places had changed, and that they were +as absolutely his servants as he was their master. + +In time Peter became a great king, a fearless, purposeful ruler who knit +his people together as no other Czar had ever been able to do. He led +the armies he had himself drilled to many victories. He built a great +fleet in the Baltic Sea. He established a new capital near the shores of +the Baltic, and named it after his own patron saint, St. Petersburg. + +The history of his life is full of tremendous difficulties and dangers, +but he fronted each one as he had fronted the riotous Streltsi Guards +when he was a boy of eleven, and so history has given him the title of +most powerful of all Russian Czars and has called him "Peter the +Great." + + + + +V + +Frederick the Great + +The Boy of Potsdam: 1712-1788 + + +A little boy and girl sat playing on a harpsichord in one of the great +stiffly-furnished and lofty-ceilinged rooms of the Potsdam Palace, +outside Berlin. The boy wore his yellow hair in long curls, his eyes +were merry and he laughed often, while his sister, who was a little +older, seemed quite as happy. The children were practicing for their +music lesson, and only too glad to be free of their teachers for a time, +because music was dearest to them both. + +Without a word of warning the door of the room was thrown open, and a +big, heavy-faced man stood on the threshold. + +"What's all this?" he cried, his voice snarling with anger, and his +small eyes shot with red. "Haven't I given orders that you're never to +touch that thing again?" + +At the sound of the man's voice both children had jumped from their +chairs and stood, stiff as ramrods, facing the speaker. The boy had +raised his hand to the side of his head in salute. + +"Please, sir," said the girl, "we're both so very fond of music." + +"Silence," commanded the man, who was no other than their father, +Frederick William, King of Prussia. "Fritz can speak for himself; he +doesn't need a girl to defend him." + +"Wilhelmina has told you, sir," said the boy, "how much we both love +music. Indeed I'd rather listen to it than do anything else, and I want +to learn how to play it for myself. I don't care anything about being a +soldier." + +The King's face was almost purple with anger. He looked as though he +would box the boy's ears on the spot, but he held himself in check. + +"You little brat!" he cried. "A soldier you shall be, and nothing else! +Do you think the kingdom of Prussia can be ruled by a crazy fool of a +musician? Don't talk to me of harpsichords, or books, or pictures. +You're not to be a woman, but a king!" + +The boy knew his father too well to attempt any answer; there was no one +in Prussia who would dare speak freely before King Frederick William. + +After scowling at his son in silence for some minutes the man spoke +again. "Listen to my orders and see that you obey them. From to-day your +music-masters are discharged, every instrument is moved from the palace, +and if either of you two is found playing such things I will have you +locked in your rooms for a week to live on barley and water. Now, sir, +step before me to the hair-dresser. I'll have those locks of yours shorn +so that you'll look less like a girl and more like a grenadier." + +Fritz, keeping back the tears in mingled shame and terror, walked to +the door and paced down the hall before his father. He tried to hold +himself straight like a soldier, but it was hard when he felt as though +he were being marched to execution. + +The King handed the boy over to the hair-dresser, and in fifteen minutes +the curls were all gone and Fritz's hair was close-cropped like a man's. +As soon as he was free he ran to his mother's room, and there the gentle +Queen, Sophia Dorothea, took him in her arms and comforted him. She knew +how sensitive her little son was, how absolutely different from his +father, and she could sympathize with both the children's suffering +under the King's cruelty. + +For once the mother dared to disobey her husband. The next week she told +the two children to go to a distant part of the palace grounds where +there was a deep wood, and see what they should find there. They obeyed, +and ran eagerly down the path to the forest where they had often played +under the trees and in the caves in the rocks. They came to a little +greenwood circle completely hidden from the roads and there found their +music-master. He led them to a cave, and showed them Wilhelmina's little +spinnet, and Fritz's flute lying on it. That was their mother's +surprise. She had arranged that the children's music teacher should meet +them out there and give them the lessons they wanted. Boy and girl were +happy again; they took up their music eagerly, and were soon playing as +of old. Perhaps the very secrecy lent the lessons charm. + +The hours spent in the forest and cave were a great success, but one +day Fritz found a small drum at the palace, and forgetting the King's +orders he started to march about the halls beating it, followed by the +admiring Wilhelmina. Suddenly, in the middle of the triumphal +procession, the King came upon them. Poor Fritz dropped the drumsticks +and stood at attention, while Wilhelmina, behind him, grew white with +fear of what should happen. + +To their amazement the King's stern face softened; he smiled, then he +laughed and clapped his hands. "Ah, Fritz, now you're a soldier! I +mistook you for one of my own guard, boy." + +The King was delighted. He thought that at last his son was fired with +martial fervor. While the boy went back through the halls beating his +drum Frederick called the Queen to watch his soldier son, and +immediately ordered the court artist to paint a picture of the scene on +canvas. A day or two later he told Fritz of a plan he had in store. He +would form a military company of boys of his own age for him, build them +an arsenal on the palace grounds, and have them drilled by officers of +the army. + +With the King to speak was to act. A month had not passed before the +small boy, dressed in a general's uniform, found himself in command of +about three hundred youths of his own age, all properly equipped with +uniforms and arms, and known as "The Crown Prince Cadets." They made a +remarkable contrast to that other regiment of which King Frederick +William was so proud, which was made up of giants, men all over six feet +six inches tall, seized wherever they were found in Prussia and +elsewhere and forced into his army. + +The boy general and his cadets were drilled hours at a time day after +day by the Prussian officers, in the hope of making soldiers of them and +nothing else. Fritz hated it; he wanted to read and to learn music, and +day by day he found less and less time to steal off to those wonderful +meetings in the woods or to romp with Wilhelmina in the schoolroom. The +French governess who had taught him was taken away, and he was placed +under military tutors who made him learn gunnery and battle tactics at +the arsenal which his father had built for him on the grounds. + +When the boy was ten the King started to take him to all the military +reviews. In going from garrison to garrison the King rode on a hard +wagon called a sausage-car, which was simply a padded pole about ten +feet long on which the riders sat astride. Ten or more men would jolt +over the roads on such cars with the King summer and winter, and he made +the boy ride in front of him, through the broiling sun or the winter +snow, waking him whenever he fell asleep by pulling his ear and saying, +"Too much sleep stupefies a fellow." + +In such iron fashion the father did his best to change the sensitive, +gentle nature of his son to something like his own. + +At the age of ten Fritz's days were marked out hour by hour by Frederick +William. Not even Sunday was free. He was marched from teacher to +teacher, all sports were denied him, and he was never allowed to read +or play. His hair was kept close cut, his clothes were heavy and coarse, +he was treated more like a prisoner than a prince. To the boy's masters +the King gave one direction: "Teach him to seek all glory in the soldier +profession." When his mother or sister dared to interfere the King would +turn on them in a rage; Wilhelmina was sent time and again to her room, +to be starved until she grew more docile. + +The boy's time was divided between Berlin and the Palace of +Wusterhausen, a country seat some twenty miles outside of the capital. +The palace was a very simple dwelling set in the middle of swampy +fields, with a fringe of thickets. In the grounds were many natural +fish-ponds, and game of all kinds was plentiful in the woods. The somber +old monarch loved this place, and had built there a fountain with stone +steps, where he liked to sit in the evening and smoke his long porcelain +pipe. He often had his dinner served by the fountain, and afterward +would throw himself down on the grass for a nap. Aside from this simple +entertainment, the King's only pleasure lay in hunting in the woods. + +The children and their mother found Wusterhausen very unattractive. The +only pets they were allowed were two black bears, very ugly and vicious. +They had no comforts indoors, and were treated as though they were +children of the meanest peasant. Some boys might have found sport in the +fish-ponds, the groves and the streams about the place, filled as they +were with fish and game, but Fritz cared nothing for such things. Their +loneliness drew the two children closer and closer together, and their +dislike of their father increased with each year that he took them out +to Wusterhausen. + +The father, on his part, was growing more and more contemptuous of his +son. He found Fritz cared nothing for the army, nothing for the chase, +that the hardship and exposure of rough life were torture to him. Worse +than that, he had discovered some verses in French that Fritz had +written, and spoke of him scornfully to the men of his court as "the +French flute-player and poet." It would have been very hard for the boy +if he had not had a mother and sister who were so devoted to him, and +did everything they possibly could to protect him from his father's +tyranny. + +When he was fourteen, Frederick William appointed Fritz captain of his +Grenadier Guards. This was the regiment made up of giants, and was one +of the most singular passions of the very singular old King. He sent men +through the whole of Europe and Asia to search for very tall men. Some +of the regiment were almost nine feet high. When a foreign monarch +wished to curry favor with the King of Prussia he would send him a +giant. The King showered favors on these men. He had court painters +paint portraits of each one of them. They were the very centre of that +great army which was the sole pride of the old warrior, and which he was +building up so that it should become the greatest military force in +Europe. + +Fritz tried to do his duty as captain of the regiment, and gradually +acquired something of a military bearing. For a short time his father +was pleased, but his pleasure did not last long; for the boy could not +keep away from the fascinations of music and of books, and all of the +various arts which were constantly coming into Prussia from France. + +The flute was Fritz's favorite instrument, and it so happened that a +very celebrated teacher of the flute came from Dresden about this time, +and gave lessons in the Prussian capital. As soon as Fritz learned that +this man was a splendid teacher he arranged to have him come secretly to +his room at Potsdam. The boy's mother knew of this plan, and did her +best to keep his secret; but it was a very dangerous matter, for the old +King was growing more and more suspicious, and also more and more +fierce. A friend of Fritz's, who was about his own age, stood guard +outside the boy's room, while he was having his lessons on the flute, +and another guard was stationed at the entrance to the palace grounds +with orders to send word at once if the King should appear. + +When Fritz was satisfied of his safety, he would go up to his own room, +throw aside the tight, heavy military coat which he hated, and put on a +flowing French dressing-gown, scarlet colored, and embroidered with +gold. Then, dressed to suit himself, he would take his music lesson, and +enjoy every minute of the stolen pleasure. + +One day, however, in the middle of his playing, the friend at the door +rushed into the room announcing that the King was coming. This boy and +the teacher seized the flutes and music books and ran into a +wood-closet, where they stood shaking with fear. Fritz threw off his +dressing-gown, pulled on his military coat and sat down at a table, +opening a book. + +Now the old King, his brows bent with anger, burst into the room. The +sight of his delicate son reading seemed like fuel to his rage. He never +minced his words, and proceeded to heap abuse on the head of the poor +Prince, when all of a sudden he caught sight of the end of the scarlet +gown sticking out from behind a screen. "What is that?" he cried, and +stepping across the room pulled the gown out. Beside himself with rage +he crammed it into the fireplace, and threw after it many of the +ornaments the boy had used to decorate his room. Then he walked to the +bookshelves and swept all the volumes to the floor, saying that he would +have a bookseller buy the library next day, because his son was to be a +soldier and not a scholar. For an hour he stayed there, pacing up and +down the room, lecturing Fritz until the boy was almost sick with shame. +Finally he left, and the two in the wood-closet were able to come out, +both of them almost as badly frightened as the Prince himself. + +But if the King treated his son so badly, he treated his daughter +Wilhelmina none the less so. He could hardly stand the sight of her at +times, and her mother had to arrange a series of screens in her room so +that when Frederick William came to see her the daughter could escape +behind them. After such scenes Fritz and Wilhelmina would try to comfort +each other, but the boy was gradually growing more sullen and +rebellious. + +Again and again the boy thought of escape; he would have been only too +glad to give up his position as Prince in exchange for the chance to +live simply in some foreign land, free to follow his own tastes as other +boys did theirs. He would have made the attempt, but he knew only too +well that should he escape his father's hand would fall in terrible +wrath on his dear sister Wilhelmina. He decided to stay and bear the +burdens of this life the King had planned for him rather than desert his +mother and sister. He was not a coward even if he was not made of iron. + +At last the boy felt that he must act in self-defense. His father, +suffering from the gout, took to flogging Fritz in the very presence of +the lords and ladies of the court. The boy had pride, though his father +had done his best to kill it. Once, after striking blows at Fritz's head +before the assembled court, the King cried, "Had I been so treated by my +father, I would have blown my brains out. But this fellow has no honor. +He takes all that comes." + +Fritz could stand such treatment no longer. Praying that Wilhelmina +might not suffer he planned an escape with a friend. + +His father was taking him on a journey to the Rhine in the company of a +small guard of soldiers who were told to treat the boy like a prisoner. +Three officers were ordered to ride in the same carriage with Fritz, and +never to leave him alone. The King was a hard traveler, and seemed +positively to wish for extra hardships and fatigues, the party scarcely +stopping for food or sleep. At one place, however, a short stay was +made, and there Fritz planned to escape. + +They had arrived at the town very late, and the boy with his officers +slept in a barn, as was not infrequently the case. The usual hour for +starting in the morning was three o'clock. A little after midnight Fritz +saw that his companions were sound asleep, and rose and crept out into +the open air. He had made arrangements with a servant to meet him with +horses on the village green. The boy reached the green and found the +horses, but at the same moment one of the guards, who had been awakened +by the noise Fritz made in leaving the barn, caught up with him, and +demanded of the servant who held the horses: "Sirrah! What are you doing +with those beasts?" + +The man answered, "I am getting the horses ready for the start." + +"We do not start till five o'clock. Take them back at once to the +stable." The officer pretended not to see Fritz, who had to slink back +at his heels to the barn, fully conscious that his chance to escape was +gone. + +News of this attempt reached the King, and the next day, when he met his +son, he said sarcastically, "Ah, you are still here then? I thought that +by this time you would have been in Paris." + +All the boy's spirit had not been crushed out of him, and he dared to +answer, "I certainly would have been there now had I really wished it." + +Again he tried to escape, and again he was caught, and this time he was +brought directly to the King. The father stared at his son as though he +were some wild beast, and then said angrily: "Why did you attempt to +desert?" + +"I wanted to escape because you never treat me like your son, but like +some common slave." + +"You're a cowardly deserter," said the King, "without any feelings of +honor." + +"I have as much honor as you have," answered Fritz, "and I've done only +what I've heard you say you would have done if you had been treated as I +have." + +The King, maddened beyond description, drew his sword, and would have +struck the boy had not a general in attendance thrown himself between +them, exclaiming: "Sire, you may kill me, but spare your son." + +The boy was taken out of the room and locked in prison, where he was +guarded by two sentries with fixed bayonets. The King proclaimed him a +deserter from the army, and ordered him tried for that crime. It is +small wonder that Fritz declared he would have been glad to exchange his +place for that of the poorest serf in Prussia. + +Fritz was placed in a strongly barred room like a dungeon, with no +furniture in it, and lighted by a single slit in the wall so high that +the boy could not look out of it. The coarsest brown clothes were given +him to wear. He was allowed only one or two books. His food was bought +at a near-by butcher-shop, and was cut for him, for he was not allowed a +knife. The door of his prison was opened three times a day for +ventilation, and he was provided with a single tallow candle which had +to be put out by seven o'clock in the evening. This was the way the +Crown Prince of Prussia lived when he was nineteen years old, and if +the father did not actually succeed in breaking all the boy's spirit, +he was at least changing this lovable, gentle-natured youth into a stern +and gloomy young man. + +Eventually the boy was released from his prison, but as long as his +father lived he was treated with all the harshness the King's mind could +devise. His sister Wilhelmina was kept away from him, and finally +married to a man for whom she cared little. Fritz was cut off from all +interests save that of the army, but gradually he began to acquire +something of his father's interest in creating a splendid fighting +machine. + +In time he became King of Prussia himself, free at last to do as he +would. He sought out men of genius, musicians, poets, and thinkers. He +offered Voltaire, the great Frenchman, a home with him, and his happiest +hours were spent in his company, or listening to music, or playing the +flute he had loved as a boy. But that was only one side of him, and the +side which was least seen. On the world's side he was the grasping +ruler, the great general who forced war on all his neighbors, and who +came to be known as the conqueror of Europe. + +The boy Fritz of Prussia might have become one of Europe's greatest +sovereigns, for he was naturally endowed with a love of all the finer +things of life. Instead he became a despot who plunged Europe for years +into the horrors of useless war. For this misfortune his father was +responsible. The loving mother and sister could not counterbalance the +terrible severity of the cruel King. Gradually Fritz changed from the +sunny lad who had played in the gardens of Potsdam with Wilhelmina to a +severe and arbitrary monarch. + +His father had taught him that a country's greatness depended on its +soldiers, and so Fritz made Prussia an army and compelled the world to +admit the might of his troops. To Europe he was the ambitious tyrant, +Frederick the Great. It was only to Wilhelmina and a few friends that he +showed a little of that softer nature which had been his as the boy of +Potsdam. + +At the Charlottenburg Palace hangs the famous portrait of him playing +upon the drum. It was a long step from that boy to the man Frederick the +Great. + + + + +VI + +George Washington + +The Boy of the Old Dominion: 1732-1799 + + +A few miles below Mount Vernon, on the Potomac River, was the beautiful +estate of Belvoir, belonging to an English gentleman of rank named Lord +Fairfax. The broad Potomac wound about the base of the lawn that sloped +gently downward from the old colonial mansion which sat upon a height +looking out across the exquisite Virginia country. + +The Potomac was not a busy river then, and the only trade that came up +it was such as was needed to supply the rich planters on the shores with +food and clothing. From the porch of Belvoir one might see an occasional +sailing vessel dropping up with the tide, lately come from England to +make a tour of the seaboard states, and to take home cotton and tobacco +in exchange for the silks and satins brought out to the colonies. + +A great man in both England and America was Lord Fairfax; he owned many +estates in both countries, but his favorite was this of Belvoir, not +only because of its great natural beauty, but because he liked the +company of the Virginia planters, who joined a certain frankness and +simplicity of life with all the charms of European refinement. + +Lord Fairfax kept up all the old English customs in his Potomac home. He +had a passion for horses and for hunting, and his pack of foxhounds was +the best in the colony. Sometimes he had the company of men of his own +age to hunt with him, but he was always sure that he could count upon +the fellowship of a certain boy, the son of a neighbor, named +Washington. Whenever the hunting season arrived, Lord Fairfax sent word +to Mrs. Washington that he would be glad of the company of her eldest +son George, and a day or two later the boy would appear at Belvoir, keen +to mount horse and be off for the chase. + +On one such winter day Lord Fairfax and his friend George were hunting +alone. They had had a good run and caught their fox, and were returning +home in a leisurely fashion across the rolling country south of the +hills. They were a curious couple. + +The Englishman was nearly sixty years old, more than six feet tall, very +gaunt and big-boned, with gray eyes overhung by bushy brows, sharp +features, and keen, aquiline nose. He had been a great beau in his +youthful days in London, and there was no mistaking the mark of +authority that sat upon him. + +The boy who rode by his side was not yet sixteen years old, and yet he +scarcely seemed a boy, nor would his manner have led one to treat him as +such. He was unusually tall and strong for his years, and he had so +trained himself in a strict code of conduct that a singular gravity and +decision marked his bearing. This might have had much to do with the +bond of affection between the man and the youth. Lord Fairfax was not +ashamed to listen seriously to the opinions of young George Washington, +and he had learnt that those opinions were not apt to be trivial, but +the result of deep observation and thought. + +[Illustration: MRS. WASHINGTON URGES GEORGE NOT TO ENTER THE NAVY] + +As they rode home the man asked the boy what he was planning to do. He +knew that Mrs. Washington was poor and that her son would have to make +his own way in the world. + +"What should you like to be, George?" he inquired. "I dare say you've +had enough schooling by this time." + +"The sea was my first choice, sir," was the answer. "My brother Lawrence +got me a commission in the navy, but at the last minute mother asked me +not to leave her. She has had hard times bringing us all up, and I felt, +as the eldest, that I ought to stay at home; so I gave up my +commission." + +"That was hard," said Lord Fairfax, "and yet I think you did well. There +should be openings for a young man in the colonies. It seems to me I +heard that you were very fond of the surveyor's work." + +The boy looked up quickly, and his bright eyes flashed. "So I am, sir. I +have made surveys of all the fields near school, and have got the +figures in my books at home. I should like very much to be a real +surveyor." + +"Well, George," said Lord Fairfax, "perhaps I can help you then. I've +bought lands out west, the other side the Appalachians. It's a big tract +I own, but I know little about it, and I'm told that men are settling +out there and taking it up themselves. I should like to have it +surveyed, and I think you're just the one to do it." + +"I should like it above all things," said the boy, "if you think you can +trust me to do the work properly." + +Lord Fairfax smiled slightly as he looked down at his companion. He was +apt to be somewhat amused at Washington's serious modesty. "I'll show +you the plans after dinner. I almost wish I could go out there with +you." + +They were now nearing Belvoir, and the man put spurs to his horse and +dashed across the intervening fields. The boy followed close behind, +sitting his horse to perfection. Just before they reached Belvoir they +came to a high hedge. Lord Fairfax put his horse at it and went flying +over. A second later George had followed him. There was no feat of +horsemanship to which he was not equal. + +A little later dinner was served in the big dining-room at Belvoir. Lord +Fairfax had his brother's family living with him, and with one or two +friends who were apt to be staying at the house they made quite a large +party. The long polished mahogany table gleamed with silver and glass. +Candles on it and in sconces about the white paneled walls shed a +pleasant lustre over the dinner party. + +It was a time when men and women paid great attention to dress. The +ladies wore light flowered gowns, and the men brilliant coats and +knee-breeches, with lace stocks and white powdered hair. Their manners +were of the courts of Europe, polished in the extreme, and they had all +been trained to make an art of conversation. Negro servants waited on +the table, and the noble lord presided at its head with something of the +majesty of a medieval baron in his castle. There were young people +present, and George sat with them, paying gallant speeches to the girls +and telling stories of sport to the boys. He was a popular youth, having +a singularly gentle manner which made him a great favorite with those of +his own age. + +After dinner Lord Fairfax took George to his study, and spread out the +plans of his western estate. He told the boy just where to go and what +to do, and George made notes in a small pocketbook, asking questions now +and then which showed a remarkable knowledge of the surveyor's work. + +"When can you start?" Lord Fairfax asked, as he finished with the plans. + +"At once," said the boy, "if mother can spare me, and I think she can." + +"Good. I'd like another hunt with you before you go, but when there's +work afoot a man shouldn't tarry. The sooner you start the better." + +A little later George was sleeping soundly in the guest-room +above-stairs dreaming of the adventures he hoped soon to have. + +On a March day in 1748 Washington set out with young George Fairfax, a +nephew of the English lord, to make the surveying expedition. Their road +led by Ashley's Gap, a deep pass through the Blue Ridge, that +picturesque line of mountains which had so far marked the boundary of +civilized Virginia. + +When they reached the pass they found at its base a rapidly rising +river. The melting snow which still lingered on the hilltops had swollen +the stream and in places had made the road almost impassable. The two +horsemen, by searching for fords, managed to make their way through the +pass, and came out into the wide, smiling valley of Virginia, bounded by +the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Alleghanies. Here flowed that +picturesque river called by the Indian name of Shenandoah, which means +"the Daughter of the Stars." + +The first stop the travelers made was at a rough lodge house where one +of Lord Fairfax's bailiffs lived, and here the actual work of surveying +began. Spring was rapidly coming, and young George Washington was by no +means blind to the beauties of the country in that season. He tried, +however, to look about him with a practical eye. He studied the valley +for building sites. He examined the soil. He made carefully measured +maps and drawings, after using his surveyor's rod and chain. When he had +learned all that he wanted of this locality, he followed the valley down +toward the Potomac, he and Fairfax camping out at nights under the +trees, sleeping beside a watch-fire, and keeping ever on the alert for +attack by Indians or wild animals. + +When they had reached the river they found it so swollen with spring +floods that there seemed no way of crossing it. Finally, however, they +met an Indian with a birch-bark canoe and bargained with him to take +them across. In this way, swimming their horses, they reached the +Maryland side, and set out again westward. + +Shortly after they had left the river they came to a planter's house +where they stayed over night. The next day they were surprised by the +arrival of a war party of thirty Indians carrying scalps won in battle. +The planter knew how to treat the Indians, and soon made friends with +them by offering them whiskey. George had seen little of the red men and +begged them to hold a war-dance. + +The white men and the red went out into a meadow and there built a fire, +round which the braves took their seats. The chief made a speech telling +of the tribe's deeds of valor, and calling on the warriors to win new +triumphs. Gradually one by one the reclining members of the band rose +and circled about the fire in a slow swinging step. Two Indians at a +little distance beat upon a rough drum made of wood covered with +deerskin and half filled with water. + +As the chief's voice rose higher and higher and the music grew louder +and louder, more and more men joined the dance, until finally all the +tribe was dancing about the fire, and their pace grew ever faster. Now, +from time to time, one would leap in the air uttering savage cries and +yells, then another, and finally all seemed absolutely lost in a sort of +demon's frenzy. Suddenly, at a sharp command from the chief, the dance +and the music ceased, and the warriors came up to their white friends +smiling and asking for more whiskey. + +The scene made a deep impression on George Washington. So far he had +lived only among white people, and knew little of the Indian in his +native haunts, but from the date of this war-dance he began to study +the red man's character, and before long he had become an expert in the +art of dealing with these people. + +For a month George and young Fairfax traveled through the land that +belonged to the latter's uncle, and at the end of that time the boy had +made practically a complete survey of the region. By the middle of April +he was back at Belvoir. His plans were examined and approved, and he was +well paid for his services. + +So pleased was the Englishman with George's work that he used his +efforts to get him the appointment of Public Surveyor. The position +pleased the boy, who at once started to make maps of the whole region +lying along the Potomac. He divided his time between his mother's simple +house, the big house which his older half-brother, Lawrence, had built +at Mount Vernon, and Lord Fairfax's seat at Belvoir. The strongest +friendship had grown up between the nobleman and the boy, and George +unquestionably profited greatly by his talks with this man, who was very +fond of literature and art, and who had known the most distinguished men +and women of Europe. + +Belvoir had a fine library, and George spent much of his spare time +there reading with special eagerness the history of England and +Addison's essays in the _Spectator_. His only schooling had been that +which he had gained at a very primitive log schoolhouse, where an old +man named Hobby, originally a bondsman, taught the children of the +plantations reading, writing, and arithmetic. George, however, was not +the boy to be content with such a simple education, and he had made up +his mind that if he could not go to William and Mary College he would at +least learn all he could from Lord Fairfax's well-stocked library. + +Young Washington's work as a surveyor was shortly cut in upon by the +outbreak of trouble with France. In looking over the youths of the +neighborhood who were likely to make good soldiers, attention was almost +at once attracted to him. Everybody knew he had a great sense of +responsibility, and his feats as an athlete were equally well known. + +As a small boy he had been unusually big and strong for his age, and had +always delighted in any kind of contest of strength. He could outrun, +outride and outbox any boy of either side the Potomac, and had proved it +in many contests of skill. When he was at Hobby's school he had liked to +form his mates into companies at recess time, with cane stalks for +rifles and dried gourds for drums, and drill them in the manual of arms. +They had fought mimic battles, and Washington always commanded one side. +He had really learned a good deal of the art of war in this way, and so +when men were casting about for likely young officers they naturally +thought of the boy surveyor. + +His brother Lawrence had sufficient influence to procure him an +appointment as District Adjutant General, and had him make his +headquarters at Mount Vernon, where he immediately began to drill the +raw recruits of the countryside. But in the midst of these military +operations Lawrence fell ill and had to make a sea voyage to the West +Indies, taking his young brother George with him as company. + +In the West Indies George caught smallpox, but he made a quick recovery +and after a short convalescence began to enjoy the tropical life which +was so entirely new to him. + +Unfortunately Lawrence Washington did not grow stronger, and finally +came back to Mount Vernon to die under his own roof. He was very young, +very high-spirited and accomplished, and immensely popular with all +Virginians. George had looked up to him as to a second father, and his +loss was a tremendous blow to him. Lawrence for his part must have +realized the very unusual qualities of character in his young +half-brother. He left his great estate of Mount Vernon together with +other property to his wife and daughter, and in case they should die +then to his mother and his brother George. George was asked to take +charge of the estates, and although he was still only a boy in years he +showed such splendid ability and judgment in business matters that the +whole care of the family interests soon fell upon his shoulders. + +We have already seen how deeply this boy impressed older men with his +rare judgment, and it is scarcely strange to find that he was soon after +picked out by the governor of Virginia to command an expedition sent +through the wilderness to treat with the Indians and French. This +required physical strength and firm purpose, the courage to deal with +the Indians and shrewdness to treat with the French. Washington was +known to have all these qualities. His youth was the only thing against +him, and that the governor was glad to overlook. + +It was a rough and perilous expedition, made partly in frail canoes down +the great rivers, and partly by fighting a way through the unbroken +woods. Washington met the Indians whom the French had tried hard to win +over to their side, and by the most skilful diplomacy induced the chiefs +to send back the wampums which the French had given them as tokens of +alliance. He had studied the Indian character and knew the twists and +turns of their peculiar type of mind. He was frank and outspoken with +them, and as a result won their confidence, so that for a great part of +his journey chiefs of the Delawares, the Shawnees and other tribes +traveled with him. + +Besides his success with the red men, George Washington, with his +surveyor's knowledge, made a careful study of the country through which +he passed, the result of which study was of the greatest value in later +years when he commanded an army in that region. + +He picked out the place where the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers meet +as an admirable site for a fort and made a report of its advantages from +a military point of view. Only a year or two later French engineers +proved the correctness of his judgment by settling on the spot as the +site of Fort Du Quesne, which is now Pittsburg. + +Successful as he had been with the Indians, Washington was scarcely less +successful with the civilized French commander. This man, like those at +Belvoir, recognized at once the self-command, the extreme intelligence, +and the modesty of the youth who appeared before him. The old officer +and the young pioneer met as equals and fought diplomatically across the +table as to which nation should win the alliance of the red men. The +negotiations were extremely difficult, enough to try the skill of a man +grown old in diplomatic service, but Washington completed his mission +successfully, and at last set out to retrace his steps home. + +Now they had much more difficulty with the Indians and with the +elements. Some of their guides turned traitors, and they had to watch +their arms by night and day. Ceaseless vigilance had to be used, and +time and again the little band had to make forced marches and change +their course on the spur of the moment to throw off bands of pursuing +savages. When they reached the banks of the Alleghany River they found +that it was only partly frozen over and that great quantities of broken +ice were driving down the channel in the middle. + +Washington knew that a band of hostile Indians was at his heels, and he +had to plan some way of crossing the Alleghany. He decided to build a +raft, but had only one poor hatchet with which to construct it. The men +set to work with this, and labored all day, but night came before the +raft was finished. As soon as they could they launched it and tried to +steer it across with long poles. When they reached the main channel the +raft became jammed between great cakes of ice, and it seemed as if they +would all be swept down-stream with it. Washington planted his pole +against the bottom of the stream and pushed with all his might, in hopes +of holding the raft still until the ice should have gone by. Instead the +current drove the ice against his pole with such force that he was +jerked into the water and only saved himself from being swept down the +roaring channel by seizing one of the logs. + +They found it impossible to reach shore. The best they could do was to +get to an island near which the raft had drifted. Here they passed the +night, exposed to extreme cold, in great danger of freezing; but in the +morning the drift ice was found so tightly wedged together that they +were able to cross over on it to the opposite bank of the Alleghany. + +This was but one of many adventures that befell the little party on its +homeward way. Through all kinds of dangers Washington led his men, and +finally he had the satisfaction of bringing the expedition safely back +to Williamsburg, where he gave the governor a full report of his +remarkable mission. It was practically the first expedition of its kind +in Virginian history, and the story of it soon spread far and wide +through the Old Dominion. + +Everywhere men spoke of the remarkable skill the young man had shown in +dealing with fickle Indians and crafty French. Report was made of the +trained eye with which the young commander had noticed the military +qualities of the country and of the courage he had shown in all sorts of +perils. More than that, the governor of Virginia and other men in power +realized that Washington had prudence, good judgment, and resolution to +a remarkable degree, and told each other that here was a man worthy to +uphold the interests of the colony. From the date of this trip George +Washington became a prominent figure. It was not long before he was to +be the mainstay of Virginia. + +Every one knows the story of Washington's life. From being the mainstay +of Virginia and fighting with General Braddock against the French and +Indians, he became the mainstay of the United Colonies and fought +through seven long and trying years against the veterans of England. Who +can overestimate the great patience and courage and determination that +heroic struggle required of him? + +We see him taking command of the raw recruits at Cambridge, leading his +men in victory at Trenton, sustaining them in defeat at Monmouth, +cheering them through the desperate winter at Valley Forge. Later we see +him as first President of the United States guiding the new republic +through its first troubled years, and later still as the simple +gentleman of Mount Vernon, glad to escape to the peace of the river and +fields he loved. + +There are few figures in history quite so self-reliant as that of this +"Father of his Country." The qualities which made him so remarkable a +boy were the same as those which made him so great a man. + + + + +VII + +Daniel Boone + +The Boy of the Frontier: 1735-1820 + + +Many people were riding to the big red barn that belonged to a +Pennsylvania farmer who lived on the outskirts of the little town of +Oley in Berks County. It was a Sunday morning early in the summer of +1742, and people from all the neighborhood were heading for that barn. +Almost all of them came on horseback, sometimes man and wife riding +separate steeds, sometimes the woman seated behind the man, her hands +grasping his coat. A few families, father, mother and a flock of +children, covered the road on foot, the father with a gun usually +strapped across his back. A very few people drove up in primitive +carriages, something like old-fashioned English chaises. Those who drove +were very proud, because such elegant carriages were rarely seen outside +of Philadelphia, and betokened much social prominence. + +The big doors of the red barn stood wide open, and as soon as the horses +were properly tethered the country people streamed inside. Most +primitive benches had been placed in rows facing a broad platform at the +farther end, and men, women and children filed into the seats with all +the solemnity of people entering church. As soon as they had settled +themselves on the benches they all stared at the platform. + +Five swarthy, red-skinned Indians stood on the raised place, and a +little in front of them stood a tall, strong-featured white man. The +Indians wore their native buckskin clothes, and had chains of bright +beads about their necks, but their faces were as quiet and peaceful as +that of the white man in front of them. One of them, he who looked the +youngest, wore a single brilliant red feather in his long black hair. +All the men stood there patiently until the barn was filled. + +Down in front, close to the platform, sat a small boy, his eyes fixed on +the young Indian who wore the scarlet feather. The boy was about eight +years old. His hair was dark and rather long, his blue eyes looked from +under light yellowish eyebrows, his mouth was very wide but his lips +were thin and straight. He looked alert and interested. + +Presently the white man on the platform, who was a widely-known Moravian +missionary named Count Zinzendorf, raised his voice in prayer. The +farmers, their wives, and children knelt on the floor of the barn. When +the prayer was ended the Count stated that at this meeting, or synod, as +he called it, they were to hear from five Delaware Indians, lately +converted to Christianity. One after the other the red men stepped +forward and spoke, slowly, and sometimes hesitating over long English +words, but with a fine earnestness that was accented by their strong, +dignified bearing and their firm, well-cut features. + +The boy in front listened attentively, although he could not understand +everything they said. He liked Indians, and, as long as he had to go to +church, he was glad he could look at these Delawares. + +The synod came to an end, and the congregation filed slowly out of the +barn. Those who had ridden mounted again, and went their homeward way at +the slow and decorous pace suitable to Sunday. Squire Boone, who had +been sitting on the front bench with his wife Sarah, and nine of his +eleven children, gathered the latter together, and guided them, much +like a flock of sheep, to his log cabin home near Oley. One of them, the +fourth boy, Daniel by name, had lingered behind. He had waited until the +five Delawares were leaving, and then had gone up to the youngest of the +Indians, and touched his hand. + +The Indian looked down at the small boy, and smiled. "How?" he said +encouragingly. + +"Is the feather in your hair a flamingo feather?" asked the boy. + +The Delaware nodded. "Yes, him flamingo." + +"How did you win it?" + +The young man smiled again. "Once the Delawares must have rescue from +the Hurons. A chief sent me with others to take word. We must go through +Iroquois country to get Hurons. Iroquois bad people, war with us. Other +Delawares killed, I take word in safe. Hurons go back with me, and help +my people. Chief give me flamingo feather." + +Admiration shone in the boy's eyes. "I like the Delawares," said he. + +"Delawares like you people," replied the Indian. "What you name?" + +"Daniel Boone. Some day, when I grow up, I'll come and visit you." + +"Good," said the other. He held out his hand as he was used to seeing +white men do. The boy put his palm in the Indian's, and they shook +hands. Then Daniel turned and scampered down the road after his father. + +The boys of the Boone family had a very good time. They lived on what +was then the frontier between civilization and the wilderness. They +learned to hunt and fish, and to know the habits of the animals of the +woods and fields. Moreover they were almost as used to seeing Indians as +to seeing white people, and had none of the fear of them which kept so +many of the settlers farther east continually uneasy. + +The boys and girls had plenty of work to do. Squire Boone had a big +farm, and kept five or six looms working in his house, making homespun +clothes for his large family and to sell to his neighbors. He owned a +splendid grazing range some little distance north of his home, and sent +his cattle there early each spring. + +Shortly after that Sunday of Count Zinzendorf's missionary meeting +Daniel's mother told him that he and she were to take the cattle north +to this range, and watch them during the summer. Squire Boone was needed +at the farm, the older girls were to tend the loom, and the mother had +chosen her favorite son to go north with her. + +At the beginning of summer they drove the cows to the range, and stayed +there with them until autumn. Mrs. Boone and Daniel lived in a small +cabin, far from any neighbors. Near the cabin, over a spring, was a +dairy-house. The sturdy woman worked here, making fine butter and +cheese, while Daniel kept guard over the cattle, letting them wander +over the hills and through the woods as they would, but driving them +back to their pen near the cabin at sunset. + +This duty of herdsman left Daniel much time to himself. He spent this +time in studying woodcraft. He grew passionately fond of everything +belonging to the wilderness; he knew birds and beasts, the trails +through the forest and the course of streams as well as any Indian. He +set traps of his own making, and brought his captures proudly home at +night to his mother. + +At first he had to make his own weapons, and invented a curious +implement, simply a slim, smooth-shaved sapling, with a bunch of twisted +roots at the end. This he learned to throw so skilfully that he could +readily kill birds, rabbits, and small game with it. A little later, +however, his father gave him a rifle, and he became an expert marksman, +able to provide his mother with plenty of game for food. + +It was a wonderful life for a boy who loved the country. All summer he +herded the cattle and roamed through the almost untrodden wilderness. In +the winter his father let him hunt as soon as he had learned to handle a +gun. Daniel roamed far and wide across the Neversink mountain range to +the north and west of Monocacy Valley. He kept his family supplied with +great stock of game, and he cured the animals' skins. When he had a +sufficient store of skins he set out to market them in Philadelphia. + +The city William Penn had founded on the banks of the Delaware was then +a small but prosperous village. It had been designed on the plan of a +checker-board, and most of the houses were surrounded by well-kept +gardens and flourishing orchards. Primitive as it was, the country boy +looked at it with wondering admiration. The houses, which were really +very simple, were palaces to him, when he thought of his father's log +cabin. The men and women, dressed in the latest importations brought +from London by sailing vessels, were figures of surpassing style and +elegance. + +Life in Philadelphia seemed very rich to Daniel Boone; he liked to +loiter along the streets and look in at the wide gardens and the +comfortable white porches, and he liked to stop and watch a city chaise +drive by, with a man in a claret or plum-colored suit and a woman in a +bright taffeta gown. They were almost a different race from the +buckskin-clad people of the wilderness from whom he came. + +Yet the frontier was in fact very near to Philadelphia. A few outlying +fields about the town alone separated it from the wild forest; guards +were ever ready to give warning of danger from Indians on the war-path, +and friendly Indians were constantly met with on the streets. There were +many fur-traders, too, who brought their goods to market as Daniel did, +and one was constantly meeting some rough-clad trapper in from the +wilds for a few days of city life. + +Daniel wandered about slowly, enjoying everything he saw with a boy's +delight in the unusual, and finally exchanging the skins he had brought +with him for things he needed in his hunting,--long, sharp-edged knives, +flints, powder and lead for his gun. + +When Daniel was fourteen his older brother married a young Quakeress who +had received a better education than any of her neighbors. She liked +Daniel and began to teach him to read and to figure. He was not a +brilliant scholar, but he learned enough to do rough surveying work, and +to write letters which expressed what he meant although spelled on a +plan of his own. At about the same time Squire Boone started a +blacksmith shop, and Daniel added this work to what he already did as +herdsman and hunter. The work in iron gave him a chance to plan and +carry out new ideas of his in regard to guns and traps. + +The Pennsylvania country was gradually filling up, and in 1750, when +Daniel was fifteen, Squire Boone began to wonder where his eleven +children would find farming land. Directly westward rose the Alleghany +Mountains, a high barrier to pioneers, and report said that the Indians +who lived just beyond them were particularly fierce. Southwest, however, +lay alluring valleys, broad meadows between the Appalachian ranges that +stretched from Pennsylvania through Virginia and the Carolinas into +far-off Georgia. Men who wanted new and bigger lands went south into the +Blue Ridge country, and some near neighbors of the Boones had pushed on +to the Yadkin Valley which lay in northwestern North Carolina. Reports +came back of the splendid lands they found there. + +Squire Boone was by nature a pioneer, a man who loved to explore new +lands and build new settlements, and so he decided to venture into this +new and promising country. There is a world of romance in such a journey +as this the Boones now undertook, and they were but one of many thousand +families who were pushing west and south, laying the foundations of a +great land. + +Mrs. Boone and the younger children were safely stowed away in +canvas-covered wagons, such as were later known as "prairie schooners," +and Squire Boone with Daniel and the older boys rode horseback, driving +the cattle before them, and forming an armed guard about the caravan. +They crossed the ford at Harper's Ferry and went on up the rich +Shenandoah Valley. At night camp was pitched by a spring and the wagons +drawn up in a circle about the cattle. A camp-fire was built and the +game which Daniel as huntsman had shot was cooked for supper. Sentries +were posted, and all night long father and sons took turns guarding +against attack from Indians. + +Think what a prospect lay before the pioneers! A vast tract of the +fairest and richest land in the world waiting to be claimed from the +wilderness. They had only to choose and take. But the zeal for +exploration led them on, over the table-land of western Virginia, +through the primeval forests, up the currents of the many rivers that +flow toward the Ohio, and so on to the south and west. + +As they neared the Yadkin they came to a splendid stretch of land; a +high prairie, with fine grass for cattle, and near at hand streams edged +with cane-brake. Daniel saw such fish and game as he had never seen +before, fruit to be had for the taking, and a cattle range only bounded +by the distant western mountains. But as he rode into the splendid +prairie he thought more of those distant blue-topped heights than of the +near-by meadows; he knew that on and on westward lay a great unknown +country and already he felt it call to him to be explored. + +Squire Boone chose land at a place called Buffalo Lick near the Yadkin +River, and built a home there. Daniel now spent little time about the +farm, for he had learned the value of skins in the Atlantic cities. +Buffalo were plentiful all about the settlement, and he could kill four +or five deer in a day. It was in truth a hunter's paradise. In a single +day he could kill enough bears to make a ton of what was called +bear-bacon; there were numberless wolves, panthers, and wildcats; +turkeys, beavers, otters and smaller animals ran wild all about him, and +from morn till night he was out hunting in the woods. + +But life was not all sport for the young Boones. Various Indian tribes, +the Catawbas, the Cherokees, and the Shawnese hunted not far away, and +although they were often on friendly terms with the whites, and came to +the settlement to trade, sometimes they put on their war paint, and +descended on the small frontier homes with full fury. + +As the French came down from the north disputing this new land with the +English settlers they made the Indians their allies, and the border +warfare grew more bitter. Finally the English general Braddock decided +to march west himself and try to teach the French and Indians a lesson. + +It was not likely that such a sturdy youth as Daniel Boone could resist +the desire to march against the French. The expedition promised him a +chance to push farther into that wild western country, if nothing else, +and so he joined Braddock's small army with about a hundred other North +Carolina frontiersmen. Daniel was made chief wagoner and blacksmith. + +General Braddock knew nothing of Indian warfare, and the little +expedition proved an easy target for their enemies. The cumbersome and +heavily laden baggage wagons were a great handicap to them. The English +regulars, the frontiersmen, and the baggage train were caught in the +deep ravine of Turtle Creek, a few miles away from Pittsburg, and +suddenly set upon by ambushed Indians commanded by French officers. Many +of the drivers, caught in the trap, were killed. Daniel, however, +contrived to cut the traces of his team, and mounting one of the horses, +escaped down and out of the ravine under a fire of shot and arrows. + +The Indians pursued the fugitives, laying waste the borders of +Pennsylvania and Virginia, but not following as far south as the Yadkin. +Daniel reached home, and set to work to strengthen the settlement's ties +of friendship with the two tribes of the neighborhood, the Catawbas and +the Cherokees. With their aid he was able to provide sufficient +safeguard against the Northern tribes. + +[Illustration: DANIEL BOONE'S FIRST VIEW OF KENTUCKY] + +While he was with Braddock's army Daniel had met a man named John +Finley, who fired his imagination with stories of his wanderings in the +west. He was a fur-trader, and his passion for hunting had already led +him into the Kentucky wilderness as far as the Falls of the Ohio River, +where Louisville now stands. He had had countless adventures with +Indians, with wild animals, and with the perils of stream and forest. +Young Boone drank in the stories eagerly, and resolved that some day he +would himself go out to explore the west. + +Daniel had now come to manhood. For a time he stayed in the Yadkin +Valley, but the call to follow the trail of the buffaloes and the +westward moving Shawnese was clear in his ears. Dangerous days of Indian +fighting on the border held him close at home, but the time came when he +could resist the call no longer. He left home and took his way through +the uncharted hills and forests to Kentucky. + +At times he fought for his life with roving Indians, and at times he +captained some small English garrison beset by the same red men. He won +great renown as an Indian fighter, as a hunter, as an intrepid explorer. +The little town of Boonesborough was named for him, and he defended it +through a long and perilous siege. But so soon as men came and built +homes and staked out farms Boone must be moving west. What he sought was +the wilderness; he was happiest in the great recesses of the woods, or +blazing his own trail across untrodden prairies. + +He led the vanguard into North Carolina, into West Virginia, into +Kentucky, and then into Missouri. He is a splendid example of the man +who must go first to prepare the way for others, in every way the best +type of those brave, hardy pioneers who were claiming the continent for +English-speaking people. The things he had most desired as a boy he most +desired in manhood, the rough life of a new country and the struggle to +overcome the perils of the wild. + + + + +VIII + +John Paul Jones + +The Boy of the Atlantic: 1747-1792 + + +The summer afternoon was fair, and the waves that rolled upon the north +shore of Solway Firth in the western Lowlands of Scotland were calm and +even. But the tide was coming in, and inch by inch was covering the +causeway that led from shore to a high rock some hundred yards away. The +rock was bare of vegetation, and sheer on the landward side, but on the +face toward the sea were rough jutting points that would give a climber +certain footholds, and near the top smooth ledges. + +On one or two of these ledges sea-gulls had built their nests, tucked in +under projecting points where they would be sheltered from wind and +rain. Now the gulls would sweep in from sea, curving in great circles +until they reached their homes, and then would sit on the ledge calling +to their mates across the water. Except for the cries of the gulls, +however, the rock was very quiet. The lazy regular beat of the waves +about its base was very soothing. On the longest ledge, below the +sea-gulls' nests, lay a boy about twelve years old, sound asleep, his +face turned toward the ocean. + +Either the gulls' cries or the sun, now slanting in the west, disturbed +him. He did not open his eyes, but he clenched his fists, and muttered +incoherently. Presently with a start he awoke. He rubbed his eyes, and +then sat up. "What a queer dream!" he said aloud. + +The ledge where he sat was not a very safe place. There was scarcely +room for him to move, and directly below him was the sea. But this boy +was quite as much at home on high rocks or in the water as he was on +land, and he was very fond of looking out for distant sailing vessels +and wondering where they might be bound. + +He glanced along the north shore to the little fishing hamlet of +Arbigland where he lived. He saw that the tide had come in rapidly while +he slept, and that the path to the shore was now covered. He stood up +and stretched his bare arms, brown with sunburn, high over his head. +Then he started to climb down from the ledge by the jutting points of +rock. + +He was as sure-footed as any mountaineer. His clothes were old, so +neither rock nor sea could do them much harm; his feet were bare. He was +short but very broad, and his muscles were strong and supple. When he +came to the foot of the rock he stood a moment, hunting for the deepest +pool at its base, then, loosing his hold, he dove into the water. + +In a few seconds he was up again, floating on his back; and a little +later he struck out, swimming hand over hand, toward a sandy beach to +the south. + +A young man, wearing the uniform of a lieutenant in the British navy, +stood on the beach, watching the boy swim. When the latter had landed +and shaken the water from him much as a dog would, the man approached +him. "Where on earth did you come from, John Paul?" he asked with a +laugh. "The first thing I knew I saw you swimming in from sea." + +"I was out on the rock asleep," said the boy. "The tide came up and cut +me off. And oh, Lieutenant Pearson, I had the strangest dream! I dreamt +I was in the middle of a great sea-fight. I was captain of a ship, and +her yard-arms were on fire, and we were pouring broadsides into the +enemy, afraid any minute that we'd sink. How we did fight that ship!" + +The young officer's eyes glowed. "And I hope you may some day, John!" he +exclaimed. + +"But the strangest part was that our ship didn't fly the English flag," +said the boy. "At the masthead was a flag I'd never seen, red and white +with a blue field filled with stars in the corner. What country's flag +is that?" + +Pearson thought for a moment. "There's no such flag," he said finally. +"I know them all, and there's none like that. The rest of your dream may +come true, but not that about the flag. Come, let's be walking back to +Arbigland." + +Although John Paul's father came of peaceful farmer and fisher folk who +lived about Solway Firth, his mother had been a "Highland lassie," +descended from one of the fighting clans in the Grampian Hills. The boy +had much of the Highlander's love of wild adventure, and found it hard +to live the simple life of the fishing village. The sea appealed to him, +and he much preferred it to the small Scotch parish school. His family +were poor, and as soon as he was able he was set to steering fishing +yawls and hauling lines. At twelve he was as sturdy and capable as most +boys at twenty. + +Many men in Arbigland had heard John Paul beg his father to let him +cross the Solway to the port of Whitehaven and ship on some vessel bound +for America, where his older brother William had found a new home. But +his father saw no opening for his younger son in such a life. All the +way back to town that afternoon the boy told Lieutenant Pearson of his +great desire, and the young officer said he would try to help him. + +The boy's chance, however, came in another way. A few days later it +chanced that Mr. James Younger, a big ship-owner, was on the +landing-place of Arbigland when some of the villagers caught sight of a +small fishing yawl beating up against a stiff northeast squall, trying +to gain the shelter of the little tidal-creek that formed the harbor of +the town. + +Mr. Younger looked long at the boat and then shook his head. "I don't +think she'll do it," he said dubiously. + +Yet the boat came on, and he could soon see that the only crew were a +man and a boy. The boy was steering, handling the sheets and giving +orders, while the man simply sat on the gunwale to trim the boat. + +"Who's the boy?" asked the ship-owner. + +"John Paul," said a bystander. "That's his father there." + +Mr. Younger looked at the man pointed out, who was standing near, and +who did not seem to be in the least alarmed. "Are you the lad's father?" +he asked. + +The man looked up and nodded. "Yes, that's my boy John conning the +boat," said he. "He'll fetch her in. This isn't much of a squall for +him!" + +The father spoke with truth. The boy handled his small craft with such +skill that he soon had her alongside the wharf. As soon as John Paul had +landed Mr. Younger stepped up to the father and asked to be introduced +to the son. Then the ship-owner told him how much he had admired his +seamanship, and asked if he would care to sail as master's apprentice in +a new vessel he owned, which was fitting out for a voyage to Virginia +and the West Indies. The boy's eyes danced with delight; he begged his +father to let him go, and finally Mr. Paul consented. The +twelve-year-old boy had won his wish to go to sea. + +A few days later the brig _Friendship_ sailed from Whitehaven, with +small John Paul on board, and after a slow voyage which lasted +thirty-two days dropped anchor in the Rappahannock River of Virginia. + +The life of a colonial trader was very pleasant in 1760. The +sailing-vessels usually made a triangular voyage, taking some six months +to go from England to the colonies, then to the West Indies, and so east +again. About three of the six months were spent at the small settlements +on shore, discharging goods from England, taking on board cotton and +tobacco, and bartering with the merchants. + +The Virginians, who lived on their great plantations with many servants, +were the most hospitable people in the world, always eager to entertain +a stranger, and the English sailors were given the freedom of the shore. +The _Friendship_ anchored a short distance down the river from where +John Paul's older brother lived, and the boy immediately went to see him +and stayed as his guest for some time. + +This brother William had been adopted by a wealthy planter named Jones, +and the latter was delighted with the young John Paul, and tried to get +him to leave the sailor's life and settle on the Rappahannock. But much +as John liked the easy life of the plantation, the fine riding horses, +the wide fields and splendid rivers, the call of the sea was dearer to +him, and when the _Friendship_ dropped down the Rappahannock bound for +Tobago and the Barbadoes he was on board of her. + +Those were adventurous days for sailors and merchants. Money was to be +made in many ways, and consciences were not overcareful as to the ways. +The prosperous traders of Virginia did not mind taking an interest in +some ocean rover bound on pirate's business, or in the more lawful +slave-trade with the west coast of Africa. For a time, however, young +John Paul sailed for Mr. Younger, and was finally paid by being given a +one-sixth interest in a ship called _King George's Packet_. + +The boy was now first mate, and trade with England being dull, he and +the captain decided to try the slave-trade. For two years they made +prosperous voyages between Jamaica and the coast of Guinea, helping to +found the fortunes of some of the best known families of America by +importing slaves. + +After a year, however, John Paul tired of the business, and sold his +share of the ship to the captain for about one thousand guineas. He was +not yet twenty-one, but his seafaring life had already made him fairly +well-to-do. He planned to go home and see his family in Scotland, and +took passage in the brig _John o' Gaunt_. + +Life on shipboard was full of perils then, and very soon after the brig +had cleared the Windward Islands the terrible scourge of yellow fever +was found to be on the vessel. Within a few days the captain, the mate, +and all of the crew but five had died of the disease. John Paul was +fully exposed to it, but he and the five men escaped it. He was the only +one of those left who knew anything about navigation, so he took +command, and after a stormy passage, with a crew much too small to +handle the brig, he managed to bring her safely to Whitehaven with all +her cargo. He handled her as skilfully as he had the small yawl in +Solway Firth. + +The owners of the _John o' Gaunt_ were delighted and gave John Paul and +his five sailors the ten per cent. share of the cargo which the salvage +laws entitled them to. In addition they offered him the command of a +splendid full-rigged new merchantman which was to sail between England +and America, and a tenth share of all profits. It was a very fine offer +to a man who had barely come of age, but the youth had shown that he +had few equals as a mariner. + +Good fortune shone upon him. He had no sooner sailed up the Rappahannock +again and landed at the plantation where his brother lived than he +learned that the rich old Virginian, William Jones, had recently died +and in his will had named him as one of his heirs. He had always +cherished a fancy for the sturdy, black-haired boy who had made him that +visit. The will provided that John Paul should add the planter's name to +his own. The young captain did not object to this, and so henceforth he +was known as John Paul Jones. + +Scores of stories are told of the young captain's adventures. He loved +danger, and it was his nature to enjoy a fight with men or with the +elements. On a voyage to Jamaica he met with serious trouble. Fever +again reduced the crew to six men, and Jones was the only officer able +to be on deck. A huge negro named Maxwell tried to start a mutiny and +capture the ship for his own uses. He rushed at Jones, and the latter +had to seize a belaying-pin and hit him over the head. The man fell +badly hurt and soon after reaching Jamaica died. + +Jones gave himself up to the authorities and was tried for murder on the +high seas. He said to the court: "I had two brace of loaded pistols in +my belt, and could easily have shot him. I struck with a belaying-pin in +preference, because I hoped that I might subdue him without killing +him." He was acquitted, and soon after offered command of a new ship +built to trade with India. + +[Illustration: PAUL JONES CAPTURING THE "SERAPIS"] + +The charm of life in Virginia appealed more and more strongly to the +sailor. He liked the new country, the society of the young cities along +the Atlantic coast, and he spent less time on the high seas and more +time fishing and hunting on his own land and in Chesapeake Bay. He might +have settled quietly into such prosperous retirement had not the +minutemen of Concord startled the new world into stirring action. + +John Paul Jones loved America and he loved ships. Consequently he was +one of the very first to offer his services in building a new navy. +Congress was glad to have him; he was known as a man of the greatest +courage and of supreme nautical skill. + +On September 23, 1779, Paul Jones, on board the American ship _Bon Homme +Richard_, met the British frigate _Serapis_ off the English coast. A +battle of giants followed, for both ships were manned by brave crews and +commanded by extraordinarily skilful officers. The short, black-haired, +agile American commander saw his ship catch fire, stood on his +quarterdeck while the blazing spars, sails and rigging fell about him, +while his men were mowed down by the terrific broadsides of the +_Serapis_, and calmly directed the fire of shot at the enemy. + +Terribly as the _Bon Homme Richard_ suffered, the _Serapis_ was in still +worse plight. Two-thirds of her men were killed or wounded when Paul +Jones gave the signal to board her. The Americans swarmed over the +enemy's bulwarks, and, armed with pistol and cutlass, cleared the deck. + +The captain of the _Serapis_ fought his ship to the last, but when he +saw the Americans sweeping everything before them and already heading +for the quarterdeck, he himself seized the ensign halyards and struck +his flag. Both ships were in flames, and the smoke was so thick that it +was some minutes before men realized his surrender. There was little to +choose between the two vessels; each was a floating mass of wreckage. + +A little later the English captain went on board the _Bon Homme Richard_ +and tendered his sword to the young American. The latter looked hard at +the English officer. "Captain Pearson?" he asked questioningly. + +The other bowed. + +"Ah, I thought so. I am John Paul Jones, once small John Paul of +Arbigland in the Firth. Do you remember me?" + +Pearson looked at the smoke-grimed face, the keen black eyes, the fine +figure. "I shouldn't have known you. Yes, I remember now." + +Paul Jones took the sword that was held out to him, and asked one of his +midshipmen to escort the British captain to his cabin. He could not help +smiling as a curious recollection came to him. He looked up at the +masthead above him. There floated a flag bearing thirteen red and white +stripes and a blue corner filled with stars. It was the very flag of his +dream as a boy. + +Thus it was that the sturdy Scotch boy, full of the daring spirit of his +Highland ancestors, became the great sea-fighter of a new country, and +ultimately wrote his name in history as the Father of the American +Navy. + + + + +IX + +Mozart + +The Boy of Salzburg: 1756-1791 + + +The great hall of the famous musical society of Bologna in Italy was +filled with musicians on the afternoon of October 9, 1770. They had +gathered to welcome a small boy who had recently come with his father +from the town of Salzburg in Austria. The most marvelous stories of his +genius as a composer had preceded him, and his travels through Europe +had been one long success. Yet it scarcely seemed possible that a boy of +fourteen could know so much about music as this one was said to. That +was why the learned men of Bologna had gathered together this afternoon. +They were going to test Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's skill. + +It was about four o'clock when the usher at the door announced Leopold +Mozart and his son Wolfgang. The members of the society faced the +newcomers. They saw a tall, fine-looking man accompanied by a slim, +fair-haired boy with smiling eyes and mouth. The boy was richly dressed, +with much gold lace upon his coat and trousers. He was perfectly +self-possessed, and when he saw the eyes of all the men in the room +fixed upon him he made a low bow. It was gracefully done, and a murmur +of welcome rose from the members. So this was the boy of whom all the +musicians of Europe were talking. + +The skill of the young composer was now to be put to the test. Three men +approached the boy, the president of the society and two experienced +Kapellmeisters, or choirmasters. In the presence of all the members the +boy was given a difficult anthem, which he was invited to set to music +in four parts. He was then led by a beadle into an adjoining room, and +the door locked. There the boy set to work on his composition. + +Just half an hour later the boy knocked on the door in signal that the +music was finished. The beadle opened the door, and the boy presented +his completed score to the president. The latter examined the score +carefully, then handed it to the Kapellmeisters. They in turn examined +it, and passed it on to the other members. Each man as he looked at the +composition showed his surprise. Finally it had made the circuit of the +room. Then a ballot-box was passed, and each member was asked to cast +either a white or a black ball, depending on whether he thought the +newcomer was worthy to be admitted to the distinguished society of +Bologna. Every ball cast was white. + +Young Mozart was then recalled to the room. When he entered this time he +was greeted with cheers. The president met him, and informed him of his +election. Then the members pressed about him, eager to praise his work. +He had been set a very difficult type of composition, and had +accomplished in half an hour greater results than any other candidate +had ever reached in three hours. + +The musicians of Bologna decided that the judgments of the European +courts as to this boy's genius were correct. + +Father and son proceeded on their journey south through Italy. They +reached Rome during Holy Week, and learned that the celebrated music of +the "Miserere" was being given in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. It +was very difficult to gain admittance to the Chapel, as the Pope and +many of the Cardinals were there. The rich dress of the two visitors, +the German they spoke, and the singular air of authority which the boy +showed, convinced the Swiss guards at the door that these were people of +importance. One soldier whispered to another that this was a young +German prince traveling with his tutor. They were allowed to enter, and +the boy, accustomed from infancy to the life of courts, immediately +walked to the Cardinals' table, and placed himself between the chairs of +two of those Princes of the Church. + +One of the latter, Cardinal Pallavicini, surprised at the boy's +assurance, beckoned to him, and said, "Will you have the goodness to +tell me in confidence who you are?" + +"Wolfgang Mozart of Salzburg," answered the boy. + +"What!" cried the Cardinal. "Are you really that famous boy of whom so +many men have written to me?" + +Mozart bowed in assent. "And are you not Cardinal Pallavicini?" he asked +in turn. + +"Yes," said the prelate. "Why do you ask?" + +"My father and I have letters to your Eminence," said the boy, "and are +anxious to wait upon you with our compliments." + +The Cardinal was delighted at the boy's arrival, had a seat placed for +him, and talked to him in the intermissions of the service. He +complimented him on learning Italian so quickly, saying that he could +speak very little German. When the music was over Wolfgang kissed the +Cardinal's hand, and the latter, taking his red biretta from his head, +invited the boy to make a long stay at the Papal court. + +The boy was very much impressed by the music of the "Miserere," and when +he left the Chapel asked where he could get a copy of it. To his dismay +he was told that the music was considered so wonderful that the Papal +musicians were forbidden on pain of excommunication by the Pope to take +any part of the score away, or to copy it, or allow any one else to copy +it. + +Mozart, however, was determined to have a copy of that music, even if he +had to pay the penalty of being excommunicated. He soon hit on a plan. + +The next morning the boy arrived early at the Sistine Chapel, and +devoted all his thought to remembering the music. It was exceedingly +difficult, performed as it was by a double choir, and full of singular +effects, one of which was the absence of any particular rhythm. The task +of putting down such music in notes was tremendous. Yet, when Wolfgang +left the Chapel he went straight home to the lodgings his father had +taken, and made a sketch of the entire music. He went again on Good +Friday morning, and sat with his copy hidden in his hat. In that way he +corrected and completed it. When it was finished he told his father of +it, and the news soon spread through Rome that this wonderful boy had +actually stolen the complete score of the "Miserere" exactly as it was +composed by Allegri. + +The feat was said to be unheard of, and many considered it impossible. +Certain men of importance called to see Wolfgang's father about it, with +the result that the boy was obliged to show what he had written at a +large musical party held for that special purpose. The musician +Christofori, who had sung in the choir in the Chapel, pronounced the +copy absolutely correct. Every one was amazed, and then so much +delighted at the marvelous skill of this boy of fourteen that the +penalty of excommunication was entirely forgotten. Princes, Cardinals, +all that part of Rome which loved art and music, had only wondering +admiration for the young German musician. + +There had never been any doubt among those who had met the boy Mozart +that he was a genius. At fourteen years of age he had already been +playing the clavier and the violin for a number of years. His father, +himself a musician, was attached to the court of the Archbishop of +Salzburg, and had written a great deal of music. But when he discovered +the amazing genius of his two children, his son and daughter, he devoted +himself entirely to training them. + +The boy was born January 27, 1756, and was christened John Chrysostom +Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, quite a large collection of names. The girl, +Maria, was four years older. When Maria was seven years old her father +began to give her lessons on the clavier, which was an instrument very +much like the piano, and the girl soon won the highest reputation for +her playing. When she began to play, her small brother Wolfgang, or +Woferl as he was called in nickname, although only three years old, +constantly watched her, and whenever he had the chance tried striking +the keys himself. At four he had shown the ability to remember solos +from concerts he was taken to, and it then first occurred to his father +that his son was a genius. Before long Wolfgang was composing pieces +which his father wrote down for him. + +It was only a year or two later that Leopold Mozart, coming home with a +friend one day, found the boy very busy with pen and ink. + +"What are you doing there, Woferl?" asked the father. + +"Writing a concerto for the clavier," answered the small boy. "The first +part is just finished." + +His father smiled. "It must be something very fine, I dare say; let us +look at it." + +"No, no," said Woferl, "it isn't ready yet." + +Leopold however picked up the paper, and he and his friend began to +laugh as they looked at the rudely scrawled notes. The paper was also +covered with blots, for the boy had kept jabbing his pen to the very +bottom of his inkstand, and often wiped the clots of ink across the +paper. But after a moment's examination Leopold stopped laughing, and +both men looked hard at the sheet. There were ideas in music scrawled +there which even a grown man found it difficult to understand. + +"See," said the father in amazement, "it is written correctly and +regularly, though it can't be used because it's so difficult we couldn't +find any one who could play it." + +The boy looked up quickly. "It's a concerto, father, and must be +practiced a long time before it can be played. It ought to go this way." +He began to play it as best he could on the clavier, but could give them +only the barest outline of it. As a matter of fact the boy had written +the music with a full score of accompaniments, ready to be played by a +full orchestra. + +At six Mozart knew the effect of sounds as shown by notes, and could +compose unaided by any instrument. + +Leopold Mozart could not keep the story of his children's great talents +to himself, and in a very short time news of their remarkable ability +had spread through Austria. Invitations poured in upon the father asking +him to bring the boy and girl to different courts, and he decided to +take them on a concert tour. + +The children played at all the chief cities of the empire, and +everywhere they were welcomed as infant prodigies. The Emperor and +Empress took special delight in them, loaded them with presents, and +insisted on having them treated with all the respect given to grown +artists. Little Woferl appeared at court in a suit of white and gold, +very resplendent with lace, ruffles, and ornaments of all sorts. His +small sister, in white brocaded taffeta, was dressed exactly like an +archduchess in miniature. + +It is a wonder that both children were not hopelessly spoiled by the +treatment they received, but fortunately both had much good sense, and +they enjoyed their travels without becoming conceited. + +Leopold and his children went from Austria to Paris, and then to London. +Everywhere their concerts met with the same success. In London the most +difficult pieces by Bach and Handel were put before the boy, but he +played them at sight, and without the slightest mistake. Bach was at +that time music-master to the English Queen, and he took special delight +in young Mozart. He would take the boy on his knees, and play a few +bars, and then have the boy continue them, and so, each playing in turn, +they would perform an entire sonata, as if with a single pair of hands. + +The trip to England set a final seal on Woferl's fame. His father wrote +home: "My girl is esteemed the first female performer in Europe, though +only twelve years old, and ... the high and mighty Wolfgang, though only +eight, possesses the acquirements of a man of forty. In short, those +only who see and hear can believe; and even you in Salzburg know nothing +about him, he is so changed." + +After a year or two of travel the family returned home. It was now +decided that the boy should try his hand at an opera. Genius, however, +is apt to inspire jealousy, and Mozart was now so well known that many +of the leading musicians of Germany plotted against him. It was galling +to their pride to find that a child knew so much more than they. As a +result they planned to avoid hearing the boy if they could, so that when +asked they could say they doubted his ability, and thought his great +skill most likely sham. + +[Illustration: MOZART AND HIS SISTER BEFORE MARIA THERESA] + +The father laid a plan to catch one of these men, a well-known Viennese +musician. He learned privately of a place where this man would be +present on a certain occasion, and had Woferl go there, and took with +him an exceedingly hard concerto which the man had written. During the +afternoon this concerto was placed before the boy, and he played it +perfectly. The musician could not help but show his delight at hearing +his own music so wonderfully given. He had to speak the truth. Turning +to the people present he said, "I can say no less as an honest man than +that this boy is the greatest man in the world; it could not have been +believed." + +But in spite of such occasional confessions the boy had a hard time to +succeed. Every possible obstacle was put in the way of his opera. The +manager who had agreed to produce the opera was influenced to change his +mind, the singers complained of their parts, and said that the music was +too difficult for them to sing, the copyists so altered the scores that +the boy did not recognize his own work at rehearsals. Finally father and +son had to agree that the opera be withdrawn, realizing that if it were +played it would be so wretchedly done that it would bring more blame +than praise to its composer. + +Yet this boy was not to be daunted. Although his opera which was a very +long work, containing 558 pages, was not to be given, he instantly set +to work again, and in little more than a month had finished three new +works for a full orchestra. + +Seeing how much the jealousy of other musicians in Germany and Austria +hurt his work, the young Mozart turned his eyes toward Italy. That +country was the home of the arts, and each city had its band of citizens +who were as devoted to music as they were to poetry and the stage. + +Fortunately at about the same time an invitation came from the Empress +Maria Theresa inviting the young musician to compose a dramatic serenade +in honor of the wedding of the Archduke Ferdinand in Milan. It was a +great compliment to pay so young a man, and Mozart gladly accepted. + +Going to Milan, he set to work on the composition. In contrast to the +way in which he had lately been treated in Austria he found every one in +Milan eager to be of help. The singers liked the music, and did their +best with it. When the serenade was finally publicly given it made a +great impression. The Archduke was delighted with it. For days afterward +Mozart was kept busy receiving callers who wished to offer their +congratulations. The Italians proved that they at least were not +unwilling to admit his greatness. + +Great honors had come to the young composer of Salzburg, but very little +money. Most musicians of that time were simply music-masters or +choirmasters at the different courts. Their support depended almost +entirely upon finding some prince who would keep them at his court. +Mozart cast his eyes over Europe and saw no place that offered him much +promise. The world was willing enough to shower its praises on him, but +not to provide him with his daily bread. + +There was no place open in Italy, and so, although with regret, he had +to turn homeward to Salzburg. Unfortunately a new Archbishop had just +been elected for that city, and he was devoted almost entirely to +hunting and sports, cared nothing for music, and could not understand +why young Mozart was entitled to any special favors from him. + +Under such circumstances Mozart could not stay at home; he had to accept +such chances as were offered him to make a living. Being asked to write +an opera bouffe for the carnival at Munich, he agreed, and again met +with success. The night the opera was given the theatre was so crowded +that hundreds had to be turned away at the doors. At the close of each +air there was a tremendous outburst of applause, and calls for the +composer. Afterward Mozart was presented to the whole court of Munich, +and received their thanks for the great honor he had done them. + +Singularly enough the Archbishop of Salzburg happened to be in Munich at +the same time, and was very much surprised at being congratulated on +every hand at possessing such a genius at his home. Some of the nobles +called upon him and paid him their solemn congratulations, and he was so +embarrassed that he could make no reply except to shake his head and +shrug his shoulders. + +Such trips as that to Munich however were now of rare occurrence. +Wolfgang, now about nineteen, went back to Salzburg, and set to work +harder than ever. His skill was tested in many different ways. He wrote +compositions for the church, the theatre, and the concert-chamber; he +played brilliantly on the clavier; he was a wonderful organist at all +festivals of the church, and showed the greatest skill on the violin. + +The Archbishop had to have the services of a musician on certain state +occasions, and never failed to call on Mozart when he needed him. Yet +all that he paid Mozart was a nominal salary, which was actually less +than six dollars a year. What was true of the Archbishop was now almost +equally true of all the court at Salzburg. The nobles there had never +undervalued his services until he wanted to be paid for them. Then he +was told that his abilities had been greatly overrated, and was advised +to go to Italy and study music seriously there. + +At last their neglect forced him to start forth again upon his travels +to see whether he could find a prince who would accept his services at +something nearer their real value. + +In vain the youth wandered from court to court; then for a time he +returned to Salzburg, where the Archbishop treated him as a showman +might a performing dog, using his great genius in tests of skill before +royal visitors. + +Later he went to the Emperor's court at Vienna, and there at last he +began to receive something of his due. Not only other musicians, but the +public generally admitted his great gifts. He wrote operas, "Don +Giovanni," "The Magic Flute," and "The Marriage of Figaro," being the +most popular of them. Finally he was able to do somewhat as he pleased, +instead of writing only to suit the order of a prince or noble who could +pay him with some position in his court or at his home. + +The world acknowledged Mozart's genius from the time when, a small boy +of six, he and his sister played the clavier. But the life of a musician +in those days, no matter how great his genius, was a hard one, and the +world was not very kind to the youth when he grew up and had to make his +own way. Perhaps his happiest days were those when his sister and he +traveled with their good father, and had nothing to think of but the +pleasure they could give with their great gifts. + + + + +X + +Lafayette + +The Boy of Versailles: 1757-1834 + + +Marie Antoinette, the little Queen of France, was giving a fête at the +royal palace of Versailles, outside of Paris, and the beautiful gardens +of the palace, world famous for their wonderful statues and fountains, +flowers and groves, presented an amazing sight on that midsummer night. +A hundred elves and fairies, hobgoblins and wood-nymphs danced in and +out about groups of strangely dressed grown-up people, who were neither +in court costume nor in real masquerade. The older lords and ladies of +the court were trying to humor their young Queen's whim without parting +with any of their dignity, and the result of their attempt was this very +curious sight--tall, stiff goblins, wearing elaborate, powdered wigs and +jeweled swords, stout wood-nymphs with bare arms and shoulders, and +glittering with jewels. + +Never had the court of France thought itself so absolutely absurd, and +never had the children of that famous court enjoyed themselves so much. +They played all sorts of games about the dignified people scattered over +the grounds, until the latter were quite ready to believe that the days +of elves and fairies had really returned. + +The boy Marquis de Lafayette led the revels. It was he to whom the +little Queen had appealed for help when she first planned her garden +party. Her boy husband, Louis XVI, was more interested in machinery than +in anything else. He was fond of taking clocks to pieces and putting +them together again, and in working over old locks and keys, and so had +left his young Queen very much to herself ever since he had brought her +from Austria to France. + +Marie Antoinette was passionately fond of fun, and the stiff lords and +ladies of her husband's court bored her extremely. They were anxious +above everything else to keep up their old ceremonies, and to make life +simply a matter of rules. So it was that the girl turned to the young +boy Marquis, who was almost as fond of sports as she was, and with his +help gathered a band of boys and girls of her own age about her. + +Then one summer day, while Louis was busy in his workshop, Marie +Antoinette plotted with Lafayette to hold a _fête champêtre_ in the +gardens which should be very different from anything the court of France +had seen before. She said that all her guests should appear either as +goblins or as nymphs. They would not dance the quadrille nor any other +stately measure, but would be free to romp and play such jokes as might +occur to them. When he heard these plans Lafayette shook his head +doubtfully. + +"What will the lords in waiting say to this?" he asked, "and your +Majesty's own ladies of the court?" + +The Queen laughed and shrugged her pretty shoulders. "Who cares?" she +said. "As long as Louis is king I shall do what pleases me." + +Then she clapped her hands as a new idea occurred to her. "I shall go to +Louis," she added, "and have him issue an order commanding every one who +attends the fête to dress either as a goblin or a nymph. He will do it +for me, I know." + +When the King heard her request he good-humoredly agreed, for he found +it hard to deny his pretty young wife anything, and so the order was +issued. Imagine the horror of the grown-up courtiers when they heard the +command! Unbend sufficiently to dress as goblins and nymphs? Never! The +saucy young Queen and her friends must be taught a lesson. As soon as +she knew of their disapproval she would of course give up her scheme. + +On the contrary, the Queen did nothing of the sort. She made Lafayette +master of ceremonies, and gave strict orders that no one should be +admitted to the gardens on the night of the fête unless they were +dressed as commanded. In the meantime the boys and girls were planning +the costumes they would wear and rehearsing the play they were to act. + +But the court party was not to be beaten so easily, and the Royal +Chamberlain and the Queen's Mistress of the Robes hunted up the King in +his workshop and told him that such a performance as was planned would +shame the French court in the eyes of the whole world. Louis listened to +them patiently and said he would consider the matter. Then he sent for +his wife and Lafayette and the other ringleaders. Between them they +described how absurd the courtiers would look with such good effect that +Louis laughed until he cried. Then he dismissed the whole matter from +his mind and went back to the tools on his work-table, which were the +only things that seriously concerned him. + +Now that the garden party was at its height, Lafayette was the +undisputed leader of the youths. It was he who swooped down upon the +stately Mistress of the Robes and ordered his band of hobgoblins to +carry her off to the summer-house on the edge of the woods, and keep her +a prisoner there, while they sang her the latest ballads of the Paris +streets. It was he who had a ring of fairies dance about the Lord +Chamberlain until that haughty person was so dizzy that he had to put +his hands to his eyes and run as rapidly as dignity would let him to a +place of safety. The boy took his orders from the beautiful Queen of the +Fairies, Marie Antoinette, who, more radiant and lovely than ever, sat +on the rustic throne and sent her messengers to the different groups in +the gardens. Beside her stood the young King Louis, laughing and +admiring the ingenuity of her plans. + +Next day, however, came the retribution. The courtiers were up in arms. +They had managed to go through one such evening, but they did not +propose to stand another. The most important people in France went to +the King and placed their grievances before him. Louis loved peace, so +that now he was willing to take the side of the courtiers, and as a +result the day of the children was over. + +Marie Antoinette, fond of pleasure above everything else, tried to have +her way for a short time, but before a month had passed, the weight of +its old time formal dignity had fallen on Versailles, and the children +were again made to pattern after their elders. + +Fond as the young Marquis had been of the good times with playmates of +his own age at Versailles, he could not endure the stiff court nor look +with any satisfaction to the formal life which most of the young men of +the time led. He was naturally too independent to bow and scrape as was +required. In spite of his careful training he found that he had not +acquired the endless flow of frivolous talk which was popular at court. +He was usually silent in company, and more and more given to going away +by himself, in order to escape the affectations of the life about him. +His only chance seemed to lie in the army, and therefore he spent a +great deal of his time with his regiment of Black Musketeers, and began +to plan for a military career. + +He had been made a cadet of the old French regiment called the Black +Musketeers when he was only twelve years old. Then he was a slight +little chap with bright reddish hair and very fair complexion, and much +too small to carry a man's arms; but he was so fond of the +splendid-looking set of men that whenever they paraded he was sure to be +somewhere near at hand to watch them. The boy's name had been placed on +the Musketeers' rolls, though not as a regular cadet, very soon after +his birth, because his great-uncle had been a member of the regiment and +was eager to have his family name connected with it. + +It happened that this twelve-year-old cadet was already a very important +person in the kingdom of France. He had been baptized by the names of +Marie Paul Joseph Roche Ives Gilbert de Mottier, and held the title of +Marquis of Lafayette. His father had been killed at the battle of Minden +when he was only twenty-four years old, but had already won a great name +for bravery. His mother died soon afterward, and so the young Marquis +was left almost alone in his great castle of Chavaniac in the Auvergne +Mountains of southern France. + +He must have been very lonely with no playmates of his own age and only +masters and governesses about him. He was what people called "land +poor," which meant that although he owned a large part of French +territory, it brought him in but small profit, and he had little money +to spend. + +To make up for his lack of playmates, his masters spent much time +drilling the boy Marquis in the etiquette of the French nobility. +High-born French youths at that time had many things to learn, but they +were such things as would make the boy an ornamental piece of furniture +at court. He must be able to enter a drawing-room with perfect dignity, +to compliment a lady, to pick up a fan, to offer his arm with an air of +gallantry, to take part in the formal dances of the period, to draw his +sword in case his honor should require it. + +The little boys and girls of Louis XVI's reign were dressed in stiff +court clothes almost as soon as they were old enough to talk, and were +taught bows and curtsies, gallant words and dancing steps when other +children would have been playing out-of-doors. As a result they grew up +much alike, most of them merely fashion plates to decorate the royal +palace at Versailles. + +Fortunately for the boy his lonely life in the mountains ended when he +was twelve years old. Then his great uncle sent for him to come to +Paris, and placed him at the College du Plessis, where a great many +other young courtiers were being educated. The school taught him very +little of history, of foreign languages, or sciences, but a great deal +about riding and fencing and dancing, and how to write a letter which +should be full of worldly wisdom. At about the same time his grandfather +died, and he inherited a very large fortune, so that the small boy bore +not only one of the oldest titles in the kingdom but possessed enough +money to do exactly as he pleased. There was only one course open to +him--the life of a courtier at Versailles. + +In that age of ceremony marriage was quite as much a formal matter as +other affairs of life. The young Marquis's guardians, according to the +custom of the time, immediately looked about for a girl of equal rank +who might marry their boy. They decided on little Marie Adrienne de +Noailles, daughter of a great peer of France. The girl was only twelve +years old, and her mother was very unwilling to have her married to a +boy whose character was unformed, and whose fortune would allow him to +become as wild as he chose. Her father, however, liked the match, and +her mother finally agreed, insisting, however, that the children should +wait two years before their wedding. + +When these arrangements had all been made and the engagement was +formally announced, the boy Marquis was taken to call at the house of +his future wife, and was presented to her in the garden. Formal paths +wound under a row of chestnut-trees, carefully tended flower-beds were +arranged with mathematical precision, a few peacocks strutted across the +lawn, and here and there a marble statue or a great stone jar from Italy +gave a classic touch to the scene. + +The small boy, dressed in court clothes of velvet, his fair hair in long +curls, his three-cornered hat held beneath his arm, his court rapier +hanging at his side, bright silver buckles at knees and on shoes, +advanced down the walk to the little lady who was waiting for him. She +was in flowered satin, her long, yellow hair falling to her shoulders, +her light-blue eyes looking timidly at the boy, and her pale cheeks +flushing as he approached. As he stood before her, she held out her +hand, and he delicately lifted it with his and touched his lips to her +fingers. She blushed redder, then he paid her a few stately compliments, +and they walked down the path laughing shyly at this new intimacy. She +had seen few boys before, and he had known few girls, and yet their +guardians had destined them for man and wife. + +It was a curious, old-world picture that the two children made, but the +scene was quite characteristic of the age. + +At the time he lived at Versailles and made one of the group about the +little King and Queen, the guardians of the young Marquis expected to +find him growing more and more popular with the royal court, and they +were very much surprised when they learned how reserved he was becoming +and how little he seemed interested in the pursuits of his age. When +they heard of his being one of the ringleaders at the Queen's party, +they were horrified. They determined to try and make him more like +themselves, and so sought to get him a place in the household of one of +the royal family, the Duc de Provence. + +Lafayette was very much disturbed at the thought, and secretly +determined to defeat the plan. Before the position was finally offered +him he went to a masked ball, and learning which was the Duc de Provence +in disguise, went up to him and spoke republican sentiments which were +not at all to the nobleman's liking. Then the boy allowed the masked man +to recognize him. The Duc said sharply that he should remember the +interview. Thereupon young Lafayette made him a profound bow and replied +calmly that memory was often called the wit of fools. This, of course, +ended the chance of his preferment in the royal household, and the boy +was freed from what he considered an irksome task. + +As a result however he was no longer popular at court, and soon asked +that he might be allowed to go back to his distant castle in Auvergne +until he was old enough to take his place in the army. His guardians +were glad to have him safely out of the way for a time, and granted his +request. + +So for a year the little Marie Jean Paul de Lafayette went back to his +mountain home and browsed in his father's library and rode over his +estates. He liked the peasants in the country. They were a brighter +race, not so sullen and discontented as the people in the streets of +Paris, but even here, far from Versailles, the boy heard much of the +frightful poverty of the people and the gross extravagance of the court. +It made him think, and the more he considered the matter the more he +thought the people's claims were just. + +At the end of a year the boy went back to Paris and married the girl to +whom he had been betrothed. He was sixteen, she fourteen, but the +Duchess considered that the boy had shown that he was neither a +spendthrift nor a fool, and that her daughter could be trusted to him. +So the two, scarcely more than school children, opened their residence +in Paris, and took their place in that gay world which was riding so +rapidly to its downfall. + +Meanwhile news was constantly coming to France concerning the glorious +stand which the American colonists were making against England. The love +of liberty was strong in the boy's heart, and the desire to help the +colonists soon came to be his greatest wish. Beneath his reserved manner +and his silent habits there lay the greatest enthusiasm, and the most +determined character. + +He soon had concluded that there was little hope of winning laurels in +the regiment of Black Musketeers, and he cast his eyes longingly across +the seas to where real fighting was taking place; but when he told his +wish to his friends they all opposed him. He went to an old general who +had long been a friend of his family, and urged him to help him in his +plan to go to America. + +"Ah, my boy!" said the general, "I have seen your uncle die in the +Italian wars. I saw your father killed at Minden. I will not help in the +ruin of the last member of your family. You would only risk life and +fortune over there without any chance of reward." + +That was exactly what Lafayette was anxious to do, and he would not give +up his plan. He crossed the Channel to London, and there met some of the +men who were interested in the colonial cause. He went to a secret +meeting, and heard them discuss plans to help the Americans. They, on +their part, at first looked askance at the tall, slender, reddish-haired +young Frenchman, who had so little to say himself, and who seemed so +easily embarrassed. But when they learned that he had a great fortune, +and that if he should aid their cause other young noblemen would follow +him, they did their best to win his help. They little knew how +invaluable his rare spirit would prove in winning freedom for their +land. + +As he was an officer in the French army, the young Marquis found it very +difficult to leave France without the consent of the government, and +this he could not gain. He and a friend, named Baron de Kalb, made their +plans to escape secretly from Paris to Bordeaux. When he reached the +port he found that his ship was not ready, and before he could sail two +officers arrived from court, bearing peremptory orders forbidding him to +go to America or to assist the colonists. + +[Illustration: LAFAYETTE TELLS OF HIS WISH TO AID AMERICA] + +He would not give up his great desire, and so although he pretended +that he was willing to obey the command, he planned secretly to escape +across the Spanish border and sail from a Spanish port. He and a friend +left Bordeaux in a post-chaise, announcing that they were on their way +to the French city of Marseilles. As soon as their carriage reached the +open country the young Marquis stepped out, and, now disguised as a +courier, mounted one of the horses and rode on ahead, ordering the +relays. When they reached the road which led toward Spain they changed +their course. The officers who had been set to spy upon him, however, +now were giving chase, and at the next inn Lafayette was obliged to hide +in the straw of a stable until the pursuers should pass. + +It so happened that he had ridden over that road a little time before, +and the innkeeper's daughter knew him by sight. When he rode into the +courtyard she exclaimed, "There comes the Marquis de Lafayette!" and he +was much alarmed, lest some of the bystanders should give away his +secret. He made them understand, however, that he was traveling in +disguise, so that when the pursuers arrived and asked questions, the +people of the inn all agreed that no such gentleman as Lafayette had +been seen in the neighborhood. + +By means of alternate hiding and sudden rapid riding, the Marquis +finally crossed the Spanish border, and reached the little town of +Passage. There, on April 20, 1777, he set sail in a boat happily named +_La Victoire_, heading for North America. + +America owes a great deal to this gallant young Frenchman who crossed +the seas to aid the colonies. He was among the first of those +foreigners who showed the colonists that the love of liberty was as wide +as the world. He came when hope was low, and his coming meant much to +the brave men who had to undergo the long, discouraging winter at Valley +Forge, and the days when it seemed as though time would prove them only +rebels and not patriots. He brought ships, and men, and money to aid in +the great cause, but more than all these were his own magnetic +personality and the buoyant spirit that refused to be cast down. + +The War of Independence came to an end, and Lafayette returned home. +Trouble was brewing there. The old nobility had grown too overbearing; +the men and women who tilled the soil were considered hardly better than +mere beasts of burden. Such a state could not last, and so the time came +when the mobs of Paris broke into the beautiful gardens of Versailles, +stormed the Palace of the Tuilleries, scattered some of the vain and +foolish old courtiers, but imprisoned many more, and brought to trial +the hapless King Louis and the charming Marie Antoinette. + +Lafayette, friend of their early days, stood by them through the height +of the storm, but there was little he could do against the people's +fury. The Revolution rolled over King and Queen, crushing them and their +resplendent court, and when it had passed a different type of men and +women governed France. + +Only a few of the old nobility were left, and they had learned their +lesson. Lafayette and his wife were of that number. Lover of liberty as +he was, these great events could scarcely have surprised him. The +people had done much the same as had he when, a boy at Versailles, he +rebelled against the selfish court that trod down all opposition with a +heel of iron. + + + + +XI + +Horatio Nelson + +The Boy of the Channel Fleet: 1758-1805 + + +It was a dark, rainy autumn afternoon, and the small boy, who was +trudging along the post-road that led to the English river town of +Chatham, was wet to the skin, and thoroughly tired into the bargain. He +was thin and pale, with big-searching eyes, and coal black hair that +hung tangled over his forehead. He had been traveling all day, and had +had only a roll to eat since early morning. + +Sometimes he was tempted to stop and ask people he met how far it still +was to the town on the Medway, but he overcame the temptation, because +he knew that he could reach his destination by six o'clock, and that +thinking of the distance still to go would not help him. + +Occasionally he would stop, fling his arms about his body for warmth, +and stamp his feet hard to drive away the chill. But his stops were not +frequent, because he was in a hurry to end his journey. + +On such an autumn day night sets in early, and the road ahead was simply +a gray blur by the time the boy had reached the outskirts of the town. +But when he did see the first straggling houses he could not help giving +a little cry of satisfaction. He met a pedlar going the other way. + +"Is this Chatham?" the boy asked, half fearing that the answer would be +"No." + +"Yes, this here's Chatham." + +"And where are the docks, the war-ship docks?" asked the boy. + +"Keep straight on this road and you'll walk clean into the water, and +there's the ships," said the man. + +Doubtless he wondered what the boy wanted of the war-ships, but the lad +gave him no chance to satisfy his curiosity. He was hurrying on as fast +as he could go. + +Soon the houses grew more numerous and the post-road had become a street +heading through the heart of an old-fashioned town. The boy had never +been to Chatham before, but he did not stop to look at any of the +curious houses he passed. He saw a pasty-cook's window filled with buns +and tarts, and he remembered how long it had been since breakfast, but +even that thought did not make him loiter. He must reach the docks +before all the men-o'-war's men had left for the night. + +Soon a whiff of fresh air blew in his face. He knew what that meant; he +loved that breath of the water; it nerved him to cover the last lap of +his long journey at a quick step. Then to his delight, he found himself +at last arrived at the water's edge, and before him a shore covered with +boats, and the wide river with the dim outlines of the men-o'-war. + +He stood still, peering at the great ships, until an old sailor passed +near him. "Do those ships belong to the Channel Fleet?" asked the boy. + +The mariner nodded his head. "That's part of his Majesty's Channel +Squadron, my lad. Be you thinkin' of shippin' before the mast?" + +"Perhaps. Could you tell me where to find an officer of the fleet? Are +there any still ashore?" + +The sailor glanced at a landing-stage near by. "Aye, there's an +officer's gig, and there's the very man you're lookin' for. The one in +the cocked hat with the gold trimmin' yonder." + +"Thank you," said the boy, and started on the run for the landing-stage, +completely forgetting how tired his legs had been. + +The man in the cocked hat found himself a moment later facing a small +delicate-looking boy, who was asking which vessel was the _Raisonnable_. + +He looked the boy over and then pointed out the frigate which bore that +name. "What do you want with her?" he asked, amused at the eagerness +with which the boy looked through the sea of masts at the ship he +sought. + +"My uncle's her commander, and I'm to serve on her," came the answer. +"How can I get on board?" + +"I'll look after that," said the young lieutenant. "She's my ship too." +Again his eyes ran over the small, slender figure before him. "What's +your name?" he asked. + +"Horatio Nelson, sir." + +"Well, Nelson, you look starved, and more like a drowned rat than a +midshipman. How long since you had a square meal?" + +"Since breakfast." + +"And why didn't you stop in the town and have a bite on your way here?" + +"I promised my father to come straight on to the docks, sir, and report +for duty. I said I wouldn't stop until I got here." + +"So nothing could have kept you back, eh? Well, you've reported for duty +now, as I'm your superior officer. I don't have to be on board ship for +half an hour, so my first order to you is that you come with me to a +cook-shop and have some of the roast beef of old England before you set +out to sea." + +Nothing loath, now that his promise was kept, Nelson went with the +lieutenant into one of the small, winding Chatham streets, and entered +an inn much frequented by sailors. Here the officer ordered a hot +supper, and sat by the boy while the latter ate it. Nelson was nearly +famished; it was a delight to the lieutenant to watch the satisfying of +such an appetite. + +A little later the officer and the boy were rowed out to the frigate, +and Nelson duly delivered by his new friend into the care of the ship's +commander. His uncle looked at the boy askance; he seemed very pale and +delicate and undersized, even for a boy of thirteen, but the uncle had +promised to take him on trial as midshipman, and so, though with much +misgiving, he found him his berth. + +He little knew what the sight of that Channel Fleet and the smell of the +salt water meant to the new midshipman. + +The boy's uncle, Captain Suckling by name, who was in command of this +sixty-four gun man-o'-war, had been trained in the principles of the +old English navy, which were that hardship was good for a sailor, and +that the more a man was battered about in time of peace the better he +would fight in time of war. + +Everything above decks was spick and span, and young Horatio gazed with +wondering admiration at the neatness of the white decks continually +scraped and holystoned until they fairly glistened in the sun, at the +imposing size and length of the long lines of black cannon, the special +pride of every officer, and at the symmetry and the wonderful height of +spars and sails and rigging, forming a very network in the sky. + +He had loved boats since the days when he had pumped water into the +horse-trough before his father's house in order that he might sail paper +boats in it, and now it seemed almost impossible to believe that he +stood on the deck of a ship of his Majesty's service and was to have a +hand in caring for all this cannon and rigging. He looked wonderingly at +the sailors, a bronzed, hardy lot, in their white jackets and trousers +that flared widely at the bottom, wearing their hair according to the +custom of the day in long pig-tails down their backs. + +But when he went below decks he found the picture very different. +Everything there was dirt and gloom, foul odors and general misery. The +cat-o'-nine-tails was the favorite punishment for sailors. Many a back +was deeply scored with the lash, and, worse yet, many a man had been +forced into the service against his will, seized at night by the +press-gang, cudgeled into insensibility and carried on board to wake up +later and find himself destined to serve at sea. The food was chiefly +salt beef, and in most respects the men were treated little better than +so many cattle. As a result they might be hardy, but they were also as +surly and vicious a lot as could be found anywhere. + +The poor boy had a hard time growing accustomed to such companionship. +He had longed for the glory of the sailor's life without knowing +anything about its wretchedness, and now he saw all these horrors spread +before his eyes. His uncle, believing that the best way to bring him up +was to let him entirely alone to fight his own battles, paid little or +no attention to him, and the boy, brought up in the country home of a +clergyman in Norfolk, was very homesick, and often longed for the people +and the comforts he had left; but he had a stout heart, and before a +great while had conquered this homesickness and set about to see what +work he could find to do. + +At first both officers and men regarded Horatio as simply a sickly boy +and totally unfit for life at sea, but it was not long before he +managed, in a quiet way peculiarly his own, to make a name and place for +himself on board the _Raisonnable_. + +The story got around that when he was a small boy he had one day escaped +from his nurse and run off into some dense woods near his father's +house. He had lost his way and finally, coming to a brook too wide for +him to cross, had sat down on a stone on one bank and waited. It was +some time after dark when his distracted family found him. + +"I should think you'd have been frightened to death," his grandmother +was reported to have said. + +"What's that?" asked the boy. + +"Why, fear at being alone, and the dark coming on." + +"Fear," said he, "I don't know what you mean by that. I've never seen +it." + +His uncle told the story one day to another officer, and within a week +young Nelson had been christened "Dreadnaught." + +When he was still a very new midshipman he went for a cruise in the +polar seas. One afternoon some of the men were allowed on the arctic +shore, and Nelson started on a little expedition of his own. The first +any one else knew of it was when another midshipman happened to glance +across the field of ice, and caught sight of the huge white body of a +polar bear within a few yards of Nelson. + +He called to his mates and pointed to the boy. They were too far off to +help. They saw Nelson level his musket and saw the wicked head of the +bear raised in front of him. They held their breath waiting for the +shot. In the still air they caught the click of the hammer, but heard no +report. For some reason the gun had not gone off. With a shout they +scrambled over the ice to help him, knowing he was now at the wild +beast's mercy. + +The boy, however, had turned his musket and raised the butt end in +defense when a gun on the ship boomed out the signal for all hands to go +aboard. The signal woke the echoes and thundered over the field of ice, +and the bear, frightened, turned tail and ran off as fast as his short +legs could carry him. Nelson, his musket still raised, ran after the +animal, but by this time the rescue party had come up with him. + +"What do you mean by hunting polar bears all alone, Dreadnaught?" asked +the other midshipman. "Didn't you see him coming?" + +"Yes," said the boy, "but I wanted his skin to take back home to my +father. I might have had him if that gun hadn't sent him away. Now he's +lost forever." + +"Well, I vow," said the other. "I don't believe there's another chap in +the navy with half your pluck." + +Such incidents as these showed the young sailor's courage, and he had +continual chances to show how rapidly he was learning seamanship. + +By the time he was fifteen he was practically possessed of all the +knowledge of an able seaman, and was sent on board the ship _Sea Horse_ +to the East Indies. His position at first was little better than that of +a foremast hand, but it was not long before the captain noticed the +lad's smartness and keen attention to his duties, and very soon he +called him to the quarterdeck and made him fore-midshipman. + +The captain advised the first lieutenant to keep an eye on the boy and +occasionally to let him have charge of manoeuvering the vessel. This +the lieutenant did, and to his great surprise found that Nelson was +quite as well able to handle the ship as he was himself. + +The sea life was doing him good, too. He was no longer the thin, sickly +lad who had wandered through the streets of Chatham, but a fine, +well-built, sun-tanned youth, well beloved on deck and popular with all +his mates. + +Fine as the sea life was for him, life in the East Indies was very +trying. The climate brought fever with it, and Horatio had been in the +East but a short time before he fell very ill and had to be taken from +his ship and sent home on board the _Dolphin_. The ship doctors gave up +hope of saving him, but the captain was so much interested in the boy +that he spent hours nursing him, and finally he grew better. + +The voyage from India to England was the most trying time in Nelson's +life. He felt that he was not built for the life of a sailor, although +his whole mind and heart were set upon rising in that profession. He had +no money, no influential friends; he had staked everything on winning +his way in the navy. Now it seemed as though he must give up his career +and settle down to some small place on shore. + +But his talks with the captain gradually stirred new hopes. He was +seized with patriotic zeal and determined at every risk to serve his +country on the seas, no matter what suffering it might bring to him. He +wanted to act, to do something, and this resolution became suddenly the +motive power of his life. From the time of that voyage home on the +_Dolphin_, Nelson used to say, dated his passion to win fame in the +defense of England. + +When he reached home he was given a position on a new ship, and a little +later took his examination for the rank of lieutenant. His uncle, +Captain Suckling, who had commanded the _Raissonnable_, was at the head +of the board of examiners before whom Horatio appeared. The boy was very +nervous when he entered the room, but answered the questions almost as +rapidly as they were put to him, and every answer was full and correct. +He passed the examinations triumphantly, and then his uncle introduced +him to the other members of the Board. + +One of them said, "Why didn't you tell us he was your own nephew?" + +"Because," said the old sailor, "I didn't want him to be favored in any +way. I was sure he would pass a fine examination, and as you see I +haven't been disappointed." + +Nelson was given the rank of lieutenant and assigned to the +_Lowestoffe_. The vessel cruised to the Barbadoes, in the West Indies, +and there the young lieutenant had his first chance to make his mark. +The ship fell in with an American letter-of-marque, and the first +lieutenant was ordered to board the American ship. A terrific gale was +blowing, and the sea ran so high that in spite of the efforts of the +lieutenant he was unable to reach the American boat and was forced to +return to his own frigate. + +The captain, very much disturbed at this failure to land the prize, +called the officers to him and asked warmly whether there was not one of +them who was able to take possession of the other boat. The lieutenant +who had already tried and failed offered to try again, but Nelson pushed +his way forward and exclaimed, "No, it's my turn now. If I come back it +will be time for you then." With a few sailors he jumped into the small +boat and ploughed through the seas. + +It was a hard tussle to reach the American, and when they did reach her +the sea was so high, and the prize lay so deep in the trough of the +waves, that Nelson's boat was swept over the deck of the other vessel, +and he had to come back from the other side and fight his way against +the high sea before he could finally succeed in climbing on board. + +He now had a high reputation for courage and daring at sea fit to equal +the name he had won as a skilful mariner. It did not take the captain of +the _Lowestoffe_ long to realize that the alertness and enthusiasm of +his young lieutenant bespoke a future of the greatest brilliance in his +country's service. + +In those days England was really at peace, although her eyes were +constantly turned across the Channel and wise men were preparing her for +war with France. Nelson was sent into all parts of the world, and no +matter what were his orders he always carried them out with such skill +that rapid promotion followed every return home. Time and again he fell +ill, but he was never despondent, because he was determined to continue +in his course and serve his country at any cost to himself. He also saw +the war clouds gathering, and realized that it would not be long before +he would have the chance to command a squadron against France. + +The men who had scoffed at him when he first appeared, a puny boy, at +Chatham, found themselves gradually trusting more and more to his +advice, and his uncle, who had at first predicted that three months' +service would send Horatio back to shore, was now the first to predict +that England would have good cause to be proud of this slightly-built +but marvelously active-minded youth. + +[Illustration: NELSON BOARDING THE "SAN JOSEF"] + +A boy somewhat younger than Nelson was growing up in Corsica, in France, +who was soon to win great battles for the latter country and whose +overweaning ambition was finally to plunge his land into a +life-and-death struggle with England. That boy was named Napoleon +Bonaparte, and when he became supreme in France he realized that it was +England who chiefly blocked his schemes at world-wide empire. + +He planned to invade England, and to carry his troops across the Channel +while the great English war-ships were engaged with his own vessels; but +by the time that Napoleon led the troops of France, Horatio Nelson was +in command of a British squadron. The French might be all-conquering on +land, but the English had yet to be defeated on the seas. + +Before the great decisive battle of Trafalgar Nelson sent his famous +message to all the men under him: "England expects every man to do his +duty!" When the battle was over, the little English admiral had won the +greatest naval victory in his country's history. The same indomitable +pluck that had carried him through so many dangers won that great day. +He would not be downed, no matter what the odds against him. + +The same qualities which had sent the delicate boy of thirteen hurrying +through the rain to Chatham, intent only on reaching his goal, brought +about the great sea victories of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson. + + + + +XII + +Robert Fulton + +The Boy of the Conestoga: 1765-1815 + + +It was mid-afternoon on July 3d, 1778. A group of a dozen boys sat in +the long grass that grew close down to the banks of the narrow, twisting +Conestoga River, in eastern Pennsylvania. All of the boys were hard at +work engaged in a mysterious occupation. By the side of one of them lay +a great pile of narrow pasteboard tubes, each about two feet long, and +in front of this same small boy stood a keg filled with what looked like +black sand. + +Each of the group was busy working with one of the pasteboard tubes, +stopping one end tightly with paper, and then pouring in handfuls of the +"sand" from the keg, and from time to time dropping small colored balls +into the tubes at various layers of the sand. These balls came from a +box that was guarded by the same boy who had charge of the tubes and the +keg, and he dealt them out to the others with continual words of +caution. + +"Be careful of that one, George," he said, handing him one of the +colored balls; "those red ones were very hard to make, and I haven't +many of them, but they'll burn splendidly, and make a great show when +they go off." + +"How do you stop the candle when all the balls and powder are in, Rob?" +asked another boy. + +"See, this way," said the young instructor, and he slipped a short fuse +into the tube and fastened the end with paper and a piece of twine. + +"There's something'll let folks know to-morrow's the Fourth of July," he +added proudly, as he laid the rocket beside the keg of powder. + +"What made you think of them, Rob?" asked one of the boys, looking +admiringly at the lad of fourteen who had just spoken. + +"I knew something had to be done," said Robert, "as soon as I heard they +weren't going to let us burn any candles to-morrow night 'cause candles +are so scarce. I knew we had to do something to show how proud we are +that they signed the Declaration of Independence two years ago, and so I +thought things over last night and worked out a way of making these +rockets. They'll be much grander than last year's candle parade. They +wouldn't let us light the streets, so we'll light the skies." + +"I wish the Britishers could see them!" said one of the group; and +another added: "I wish General Washington could be in Lancaster +to-morrow night!" + +Just before the warm sun dropped behind the tops of the walnut-grove +beyond the river the work was done, and a great pile of rockets lay on +the grass. Then, as though moved by one impulse, all the boys stripped +off their clothes and plunged into the cool pool of the river where it +made a great circle under the maples. They had all been born and brought +up near the winding Conestoga, and had fished in it and swam in it ever +since they could remember. + +The next evening the boys of Lancaster sprang a surprise on that quiet +but patriotic town. The authorities had forbidden the burning of candles +on account of the scarcity caused by the War of Independence, and every +one expected that second Fourth of July to pass off as quietly as any +other day. But at dusk all the boys gathered at Rob Fulton's house, just +outside town, and as soon as it was really dark proceeded to the town +square, their arms full of mysterious packages. + +It took only a few minutes to gather enough wood in the centre of the +square for a gigantic bonfire, and when all the people of Lancaster were +drawn into the square by the blaze, the boys started their display of +fireworks. The astonished people heard one dull thudding report after +another, saw a ball of colored fire flaming high in the air, then a +burst of myriad sparks and a rain of stars. They were not used to seeing +sky-rockets, most of them had never heard that there were such things, +but they were delighted with them, and hurrahed and cheered at each +fresh burst. This was indeed a great surprise. + +"What are they? Where did they come from? How did the boys get them?" +were the questions that went through the watching crowds, and it was not +long before the answer traveled from mouth to mouth: "It's one of Rob +Fulton's inventions. He read about making them in some book." + +The father of one of Robert's friends nodded his head when he heard this +news, and said to his wife: "I might have known it was young Rob; I've +never known such a boy for making things. His schoolmaster told me the +other day that when he was only ten he made his own lead pencils, +picking up any bits of sheet lead which happened to come his way, and +hammering the lead out of them and making pencils that were as good as +any in the school." + +The fireworks were a great success; for the better part of an hour they +held the attention of Lancaster, and when the last rocket had shot out +its stars every boy there felt that the Fourth of July had been +splendidly kept. For a day or two Rob Fulton was an important personage, +then he dropped back into the ranks with his schoolmates. + +It was not long after, however, that Robert set himself to work out +another problem. The Fultons lived near the Conestoga, and Robert and +his younger brothers were very fond of fishing. All they had to fish +from was a light raft which they had built the summer before, and this +cumbersome craft they had to pole from place to place. When they wanted +to fish some distance down from their farmhouse, they had to spend most +of the afternoon poling, and this heavy labor robbed the sport of half +its charm. So, a week or two after the Fourth of July, Robert told a +couple of boy friends that he was going to make a boat of his own, and +got them to help him collect the materials he needed. + +He liked mystery, and told them to tell no one of his plans. As soon as +school was over the three conspirators would steal away to the +riverside, and there hammer and saw and plane to their hearts' content. +Gradually the boat took shape under their hands, and after about ten +days' work a small, light skiff, with two paddle-wheels joined by a bar +and crank, was ready to be launched. + +The idea was that a boy standing in the middle of the skiff could make +both wheels revolve by turning the crank, and it needed only another boy +holding an oar in a crotch at the stern to steer the craft wherever he +wanted it to go. Yet, even when the boat was finished, the two other +boys were very doubtful whether such a strange-looking object would +really work, Robert himself had no doubts upon that score; he had worked +the whole plan out before he had chosen the first plank. + +The miniature side-paddle river-boat was christened the _George +Washington_, and launched in a still reach of the Conestoga. It was an +exciting moment when Robert laid hands on the crank and started the two +wheels. They turned easily, and the boat pulled steadily out from shore, +and at a twist from the steering-oar headed down-stream. It was a proud +moment for the young inventor. As they went down the river and passed +people on the banks, he could not help laughing as he saw the surprise +on their faces. + +Fishing became better sport than ever when one had a boat of this sort +to take one up-or down-stream. Very little effort sent the paddles a +long way, and there were always boys who were eager to take a turn at +the crank. + +[Illustration: ROBERT FULTON'S FIRST EXPERIMENT WITH PADDLE WHEELS] + +The Lancaster schoolmaster heard of the boat, and said to a friend: +"Take my word for it, the world's going to hear from Rob Fulton some +of these days. He can't help turning old goods to new uses. And he +doesn't know what it means to be discouraged. I met him the afternoon of +the third of July and he told me that he was going to make some rockets, +and I said I thought he would find such a task impossible. 'No, sir,' +says Robert to me, 'I don't think so. I don't think anything's +impossible if you make up your mind to do it.' That's the sort of boy he +is!" + +A large number of Hessian troops were quartered near the Conestoga, and +the Lancaster boys thought a great deal about the War for Independence, +as was natural when the fathers and brothers of most of them were +fighting in it. Such thoughts soon turned Rob Fulton's mind to making +firearms, and as soon as his boat had proved itself successful, he +planned a new type of gun, and supplied some Lancaster gunsmiths with +complete drawings for the whole,--stock, lock, and barrel,--and made +estimates of range that proved correct when the gun was finished. + +But Rob Fulton had remarkable talents in more lines than one. His +playmates had nicknamed him "Quicksilver Bob" because he was so fond of +buying that glittering metal and using it in various ways. The name +suited him well, for he could turn from one occupation to another, and +appeared to be equally good in each. Usually, however, when he was not +inventing he was learning how to paint, and he had a number of teachers, +one of whom was the famous Major André. + +The little town of Lancaster was an important place during the +Revolution. In 1777 the Continental Congress had held its sessions in +the old court-house there, and during the whole time of the war the town +was famous as the depot of supplies for the army. A great deal of powder +was stored in the town, and rifles, blankets, and clothing were +manufactured there in large quantities. + +In the autumn of 1775 Major André, who had been captured while on his +way to Quebec, was brought to Lancaster for safe keeping. He was allowed +certain liberty on parole, and lived in the house of a near neighbor of +the Fultons, named Caleb Cope. Major André was very fond of sketching, +and spent much of his time in the fields painting pictures of the +picturesque little village. No sooner had Rob Fulton heard of the +English major's skill with colors than he hunted him up and asked for a +few lessons. André was a very amiable young man, and took a great liking +to the boy. He gave him many lessons in drawing, and also in the use of +colors, and young Fulton learned rapidly under his tutoring. André was +also in the habit of playing marbles and other games with Rob and his +young friends, and the boys found him delightful company. + +At about the same time one of Robert's playmates learned a new way of +mixing and preparing colors, using mussel-shells to show them off. This +boy carried the shells covered with his new paint to school one day and +showed them to Robert. No sooner had young Fulton seen them than he +begged to be taught how they were made, and immediately started to work +mixing his own colors. The Revolution had made it very difficult to +obtain painting materials from abroad, and almost all the paints the +boys used were home-made. Fulton now began to study the making of +colors, and in a very short time was able to add to his stock. + +Wherever he went the young inventor and painter was popular. In the near +neighborhood of his home there were several factories making arms and +ammunition for the war, and guards were stationed about the doors to +make sure that no trespassers entered. But "Quicksilver Bob" was allowed +to come and go as he would. Whatever he saw he studied, and the first +thing they knew the men in charge of the factories would find the boy +submitting new plans and new suggestions to them for the improvement of +guns or powder. Much to their surprise these suggestions were almost +always good ones, and he became a very welcome visitor. He was paid for +some of this work, but much of it he did without any reward, except the +knowledge that he was in a way serving his country. To help support the +little family he used his skill as a painter in making signs for village +taverns and shops, very much as another boy artist named Benjamin West +had done in his youth. + +It happened that in 1777 some two thousand British prisoners were +brought to Lancaster and quartered there. Such a large number of the +enemy naturally caused some alarm among the quiet country people. The +officers were lodged at the taverns and at private houses, but the +soldiers themselves lived in rude barracks just outside the town, and +there were so many of them that they made quite a settlement for +themselves. Many of the Hessian troopers had their wives with them, and +these occupied square huts built of mud and sod. The little encampment +had quite a strange appearance, the small mud houses lining primitive +streets and looking like some savage settlement. + +Naturally the place had a great charm for the Lancaster boys, and +whenever they were free from school during that time Robert and his +friends were almost sure to be found in the neighborhood of the Hessian +huts, watching these strange men who had come from overseas. Fulton drew +countless pictures of them, some of them caricatures, but many faithful +copies of what he saw. When they were finished these pictures were in +great demand, and some of them were carried as far as Philadelphia, to +show the people there the curious sights of the country near Lancaster. + +In spite of his skill in these different lines, Robert was not a very +successful scholar, and his poor schoolteacher, who was a strict Quaker +of Tory principles, found him very hard to put up with at certain times. +If some inventive idea occurred to the boy while he was on his way to +school, he was quite as likely to stop and work it out as not. One time +he came in so very late that the teacher quite lost his patience. +Seizing a rod he told Robert to hold out his hand, and gave him a +caning. "There!" he exclaimed, "I hope that will make you do something." +But the boy folded his arms and answered very quietly, "I came to school +to have something beaten into my brains and not into my knuckles." It +was very hard for the teacher to do much with such a lad, particularly +as the boy was so often really very helpful to him. + +Another time when he came to school late, he had been at a shop pouring +lead into wooden pencils that were better than those he had made before, +and he handed several of them to the master. The man examined them +carefully and said they were the best he had ever had. It was hard to +scold the boy for spending his time in such ways. One time, when the +teacher had tried to rouse his ambition to study history, Robert said to +him: "My head's so full of original notions that there's no vacant room +to store away the records of dusty old books." Yet in spite of these +stories, the boy could not help picking up a great deal of general +information at school, for his mind was always alert, and he was eager +to improve on everything that had been done before. + +At this time in his boyhood it was hard to say whether the young Fulton +was more the inventor or the artist, but as soon as the war ended he +decided that he would become a painter, and went to Philadelphia, then +the chief city of the new nation, to study his art. He made enough money +by the use of his pencil and by making drawings for machinists to +support himself, and also saved enough money to buy a small farm for his +widowed mother and younger brothers and sisters. + +Benjamin West, the great painter, had lived near Lancaster, and had +heard much of Robert Fulton's boyhood inventions, and he now hunted him +out in Philadelphia, and helped him in his new line of work. The young +artist met Benjamin Franklin and found him eager to aid him in his +plans, and so, by his perseverance and the friends he was fortunate +enough to make, he laid the foundations for his future. + +When he became a man, the spirit of the inventor finally overcame that +of the painter. He went abroad and studied in laboratories in England +and France, and then he came home and built a workshop of his own. What +particularly interested him was the uses to which steam might be put, +and he studied its possibilities until he had worked out his plans for a +practical steamboat. How successful those plans were all the world +knows. + +It was a great day when the crowds that lined the Hudson River saw the +_Clermont_ prove that the era of sailing vessels had closed, and that of +steamships had dawned. But to the boys who had lived along the Conestoga +it did not seem strange that Robert Fulton had won fame as an inventor; +they had known he could make anything he chose since that second +Independence Day when he had come to his country's rescue with his +home-made sky-rockets. + + + + +XIII + +Andrew Jackson + +The Boy of the Carolinas: 1767-1845 + + +It was hard for a boy to get much of an education in the backwoods +districts of the American colonies in 1777, and especially so in such a +primitive country as that which lay along the Catawba River in South +Carolina. The colonies were at war with England, and all the care of the +people was needed to protect their farms from attacks by the enemy, and +to give as much help as they could to their country's cause. + +But if the boys and girls learned little from books they learned a great +deal from hard experience; courage and self-reliance foremost of all. +All of the children learned those lessons at a time when they might come +home any day and find their home burned down by the enemy or their +father and older brothers carried away prisoners. Even more than most of +his playmates however, young Andrew Jackson learned these things, +because his life was harder than theirs, and he saw more of the actual +fighting. By nature he was a fighter, and circumstances strengthened +that trait in him. + +Land in the Carolinas was so valuable for cotton raising that it was not +used for building purposes in those days, so the boys who lived near the +Catawba were sent to what were called "old-field schools." An +"old-field" was really a pine forest. When many crops of cotton, planted +season after season without change, had exhausted the soil, the fences +were taken away, and the land was left waste. Young pines soon sprang +up, and in a short time the field would be covered with a thick wood. + +In the wood, as near to the road as possible, a small space would be +cleared, and the rudest kind of log house built, with a huge fireplace +filling one side of the room. The chinks in the logs were filled with +red clay. The trunk of a tree, cut into a plank, was fastened to four +upright posts, and served the whole school as a writing-desk. A little +below it was stretched a smooth log, and this was the seat for the +scholars. + +A wandering schoolmaster was engaged by the farmers, only for a few +months at a time, and he taught the children reading, writing, and +arithmetic. When the weather was bad, and the roads, made of thick red +clay, were too heavy for travel, or when there was farming to be done, +the school was closed. + +This was the only school Mrs. Jackson could send her son Andrew to, and +he went there when he was about ten, and took his place on the slab +bench, a tall, slim boy, with bright blue eyes, a freckled face, very +long sandy hair, wearing a rough homespun suit, and with bare feet and +legs. He was not very fond of school, but he did like to be with other +boys, and to lead them in any kind of an adventure, particularly if +there was the chance of a fight. + +There was much in this country life to interest an active boy like +Andrew Jackson. Wherever there were no cotton fields there were thick +pine woods full of wild turkeys and deer to be had for the shooting. The +farmers of the Catawba country took their cotton to market in immense +covered wagons, often needing a week to make the journey, and camping +out every night. Boys were in demand to help load the cotton, and gather +wood for the camp-fires, and many a time Andrew was hired to travel to +market with a farmer and his wife and young children, and many a night +he spent in a little opening in the woods eating supper and sleeping +close to a blazing fire of pine knots that lighted up the trees for +yards around. + +The farmers were not apt to leave their wives and children at home, +because either the British or the Indians might sweep down upon the +district at any time. So quite a party would travel together, and that +added to the fun. Such a life, with plenty of horses to ride, and +turkeys to hunt, and journeys to make, with only occasional schooling, +appealed strongly to Andrew. + +In August, 1780, when young Jackson was twelve years old, the American +General Gates was defeated by the British, and Cornwallis marched into +the country of the Catawba. Many families left their homes and went +north to be safe from the enemy, and among others Mrs. Jackson and her +sons determined to seek a safer home. Andrew's mother and his brother +Robert left on horseback, and a day or two later Andrew followed them. + +The people all through that desolate part of the country were anxious +for news of the war, especially for word of fathers or brothers in the +army, and they stood by the roads and asked news eagerly of any chance +horseman. At one lonely house a little girl was stationed at the gate to +question travelers. About sunset one day she saw a tall, gawkish boy +come riding along the road, astride of one of the rough, wild, South +Carolina ponies. His bare legs were almost long enough to meet under the +pony; he wore a torn wide-brimmed hat which napped about his face. His +scanty shirt and trousers were covered with dust, and his face was +burned brown and worn with hardship. He had ridden so far and was so +tired that he could scarcely keep his seat. + +"Where you from?" cried the girl, as the boy reined up. + +"From down below, along Waxhaw Creek." + +"Where you going?" + +"Up along north." + +"Who you for?" + +"The Continental Congress." + +"What you doing to the Redcoats down below?" + +"Oh, we're poppin' 'em still." + +"An' what may your name be?" + +"Andy Jackson. Anythin' else you'd like to know?" + +She asked him for news of her father's regiment, but the boy knew little +about it, and was soon riding on his way, following the highroad to +Charlotte. + +In Charlotte the Jacksons boarded with some relatives, and Andrew worked +hard to pay for his food and lodging. He drove cattle, tended the mill, +brought in wood, picked beans, and did any odd jobs that fell to his +hand. All the time he was hoping for a chance to fight the enemy, and +each day he brought home some new weapon. One day it was a rude spear +which he had forged while he waited for the blacksmith to finish a job, +another time it was a wooden club, and another a tomahawk. Once he +fastened the blade of a scythe to a pole, and when he reached home began +cutting down weeds with it, crying, "Oh, if only I were a man, how I'd +cut down the Redcoats with this!" + +The man with whom he was living happened to be watching him, and said +later to Andrew's mother: "That boy Andy is going to fight his way in +this world." + +The war between the colonists and the British was especially bitter in +the Carolinas, where conditions were more rude and simple than in other +parts of the country. The stories that came to Andrew were enough to +stir any boy's blood. He had heard that at Charleston the farmers had +used their cotton bales to build a fort, that the guerrilla leader +Marion had split saws into sword blades for his men, that in more than +one encounter the Carolina militia had gone into battle with more men +than muskets, so that the unarmed men had to stand and watch the battle +until some comrade fell and they could rush in and seize his gun. +Popular legends made the Redcoats little less than devils, fit +companions for the Indian bands they sent upon the war-path. + +News of one attack after another came to the Jackson boys until they +could stand inaction no longer, and joined a small band of independent +riders, not members of any regiment, but free to attack and retreat as +they liked. + +Andrew's first real taste of battle came when he, his brother Robert, +and six friends were guarding the house of a neighbor, Captain Sands. +The captain had come to see his family, and it was known that the house +might be attacked by Tories. + +Leaving one man to watch, the rest of the defenders stretched themselves +out on the floor of the living-room and went to sleep. The sentry also +dozed, but toward midnight he was roused by a suspicious noise, and +investigating found that two bands of the enemy were approaching the +house, one in the front and one in the rear. He rushed indoors, and +seized Andrew, who was sleeping next to the door, by the hair. "The +Tories are upon us!" he cried in great alarm. The boy jumped up, and ran +out of doors. Seeing men in the distance he placed his gun in the fork +of a tree by the door, and hailed the men. They made no reply. He called +to them again. There was no answer, but they came on double-quick. + +By this time the other defenders were roused, and had joined the boy. +Andrew fired, and the attacking party answered with a volley. The Tories +who were creeping up from the rear supposed the volley was fired from +the defenders, and immediately answered with fire from their guns. +Andrew and his companions retreated into the house, having managed for a +few moments to draw the enemy's fire in the darkness against each other. +The Tories halted and learned their mistake. + +By now the men indoors opened fire from the windows on both parties. +Several Tories fell, and the rest were held at bay. Then very +fortunately a distant bugle was heard sounding the cavalry charge, and +the Tories, thinking they had been led into an ambush and were about to +be attacked in the rear, dashed to their horses and, mounting, rode off +at full speed. + +It turned out afterward that a neighbor, hearing the firing at Captain +Sands' house, had blown his bugle, hoping to give the enemy alarm in the +darkness, and that in reality the trick had worked to perfection. So the +Jackson boys had luck with them in their first skirmish. + +They were not so lucky next time. The British general heard of the +activity of the little band of colonists and planned to end them. He +heard that about forty of the farmers were gathered at the Waxhaw +meeting-house, and he sent a body of dragoons, dressed in rough country +clothes, to seize them. The farmers were expecting a band of neighbors, +and were fooled by the British. Eleven of the forty were taken +prisoners, and the rest fled, pursued hotly by the dragoons. + +Andrew found himself riding desperately by the side of his cousin, +Lieutenant Thomas Crawford. For a time they kept to the road, and then +turned across a swampy field, where they soon came to a wide slough of +mire. They plunged their horses into the bog. Andrew struggled through, +but when he reached the bank he found that his cousin's horse had +fallen, and that Thomas was trying to fight off his pursuers with his +sword. Andrew started back, but before he could get near his cousin the +latter had been forced to surrender. The boy then turned, and succeeded +in outriding the dragoons, and finally found refuge in the woods, where +his brother Robert joined him that night. + +The next morning hunger forced the two boys to seek a house, and they +crept up to their cousin's. They left their guns and horses in the +woods, and reached the house safely. Unfortunately a Tory neighbor had +seen them, and, seizing their horses and arms, he sent word to the +British soldiers. Before the boys had any notice of attack the house was +surrounded and they were taken prisoners. + +Andrew never forgot the scene that followed. There were no men in the +house, only his cousin's wife and young children. Nevertheless the +soldiers destroyed everything they could find, smashed furniture, +crockery, glass, tore all the clothing to rags, and broke in windows and +doors. Then the officer in charge ordered Andrew to clean his high +riding-boots, which were crusted with mud. The boy refused to do it, +saying, "I've a right to be treated as a prisoner of war." + +The officer swore, and aimed a blow with his sword at Andrew's head. +Jackson threw up his left arm as a shield and received two wounds, one a +deep gash on the head, the other on his hand. The officer then turned to +Robert Jackson, and ordered him to clean his boots. Robert also refused. +Then the man struck this boy on the head, and knocked him to the floor. +It was a bad business, and the whole performance, especially the brutal +treatment of a defenseless woman and two boy prisoners, made a deep +impression on Andrew's mind. He was only fourteen years old, but his +fighting spirit was that of a grown man. + +Shortly after this Andrew was ordered to mount a horse, and guide some +of the soldiers to the house of a well-known man named Thompson. He was +threatened with death if he failed to guide them right. There was +nothing for it but to obey, but the boy hit upon a plan by which he +might give Thompson a chance to escape. Instead of reaching the house by +the usual road he took the men a roundabout way which brought them into +full sight of the place half a mile before they reached it. As Andrew +had guessed, some one was on watch, and instantly gave the alarm, so +that the Redcoats had the pleasure of seeing the man they sought dash +from his house, mount a waiting horse, and make off toward a creek that +ran close by. The creek was swollen and very deep, but the rider plunged +into it and got safely across. The dragoons, however, did not dare +follow, and Thompson, shouting defiance at them, got safely into the +woods and away. + +The prisoners were now gathered together, and placed under one escort to +be taken to the British prison at Camden, South Carolina. The journey +was a very hard one. Both the Jackson boys and their cousin, Thomas +Crawford, were suffering from wounds, but they were allowed no food or +water as they were marched the forty miles. The soldiers even forbade +the boys scooping up drinking water from one of the streams they +crossed. + +The prison at Camden was wretchedness itself. Two hundred and fifty men +and boys were herded into one small enclosure. They were given no beds, +no medicine, nor bandages to dress their wounds, only a little bad bread +for food. The brothers were separated. Andrew was robbed of his coat and +shoes; he was sick and hungry and worried, for he had no idea what had +happened to his mother or brother. Then as a final horror smallpox broke +out in the prison, and the fear of contagion was added to the other +torments. + +One day Andrew was lying in the sun near the prison gate when an officer +was attracted by his youth and came up to talk with him. The officer +seemed kind, and the boy poured out the miseries of the prison life to +him. He told how the men were starved or given bad food, and how they +were ill used by the guards. The officer was shocked and promised to +look into the matter. When he did he found that the contractors were not +giving the prisoners the food they were paid to provide, and he reported +the matter to those in charge. Shortly after conditions improved. + +Then news came to the prison that the American General Greene was coming +to deliver them. They were tremendously excited at the report. General +Greene had indeed marched on Camden with a small army of twelve hundred +men, but as he had marched faster than his artillery he thought it best +to wait on a hill outside the town until the guns should come up with +him. Six days he stayed there, and then the British commander decided to +attack him without further delay. + +The prison yard would have given a good view of the battle but for a +board fence which had lately been built on top of the wall. Andrew +looked everywhere for a crack in the boards, but could find none. He +managed, however, during the night to cut a hole with an old razor blade +which had been given the prisoners to serve as a meat knife. Through +this hole he saw something of the battle next day, and described what he +saw to the men in the yard below him. + +The Americans were not expecting the British attack. When the British +general led out his nine hundred men early in the morning the Americans +were scattered over the hill, washing their clothes, cleaning their +guns, cooking, and playing cards. Andrew saw the enemy steal about the +base of the hill. There was no way in which he could warn his +countrymen. He saw the British steal up the hill, and break suddenly on +the surprised soldiers. The colonials rushed for their arms, fell into +line, met the charge. The American horse dashed upon the British rear, +and a cheer went up from the waiting prisoners. Then the British made a +second charge, and this time carried men and horses before them, down +the slope and out into the plain. The Americans ceased firing, and +finally broke in full retreat. The prisoners were in more wretched state +than they had been before. + +After the battle Andrew's spirits sank to the lowest ebb. He fell ill +with the first symptoms of the dreaded smallpox. His brother was in even +worse condition. The wound in his head had not healed, as it had never +been properly treated. He also was ill, and it seemed as though both +boys were about to fall victims to the plague. + +Fortunately, at this great crisis, help suddenly appeared. Their devoted +mother learned of the boys' state, and went by herself to Camden to see +if she could not procure a transfer of prisoners. She saw the British +general, and arranged that he should free her two sons and five of her +neighbors in return for thirteen British soldiers who had been recently +captured by a Waxhaw captain. The boys were set free, and joined their +mother. She was shocked to find them so changed by hunger, illness, and +wounds. Robert could not stand, and Andrew was little better off. They +were free, however, at last, and Mrs. Jackson planned to get them home +as soon as possible. + +The mother could get only two horses. One she rode, and Robert was put +on the other, and held in the saddle by two of the men just freed. +Andrew dragged himself wearily behind, without hat, coat, or shoes. +Forty miles of wilderness lay between Camden and the boys' old home at +Waxhaw near the Catawba. The little party trudged along as best it +could, and were only two miles from home when a cold, drenching rain +started to fall. The boys, ill already, suffered terribly. Finally they +reached home, and were put to bed. The cold rain had proved too severe +for Robert, and two days later he died. Andrew, stricken with smallpox, +as was his brother, was very ill for a long time. + +While Andrew was still sick word came to Waxhaw that the condition of +some of the men and boys in the Charleston prison ships was even worse +than that of the men at Camden. Mrs. Jackson's nephews and many of her +friends and neighbors were in the ships, and she felt that she must do +something to relieve them. As soon as she could leave Andrew, she +started with two other women to travel the hundred and sixty miles to +Charleston. + +The three women carried medicines and country delicacies and gifts for +the prisoners. It was a most heroic journey. They had no protectors, and +they were going into the enemy's lines. They succeeded, however, finally +managing to gain admittance to the ships, and to deliver the messages +from home, the food, and the medicines that were so greatly needed. No +one can say how much happiness they brought to those ships in Charleston +harbor. + +Mrs. Jackson stayed in the neighborhood of the city some time, doing +what she could to help her countrymen. Unfortunately disease was only +too rife in the prisons, and it was not long before she became ill with +the ship fever, and after a very short illness died. The news was +brought to Andrew, now fifteen years old, as he lay at home, just +recovering a little of his strength. He had always been devoted to his +mother and worshipped her memory all the days of his life. + +The British under Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, October 19, 1781, +and the war in the south practically came to an end. Andrew Jackson came +out of the Revolution without father or mother or brother, a +convalescent in the house of a cousin, with bitter memories of the war. +For a long time he was exceedingly weak and dispirited, and that +fighting aggressive nature which had marked his early boyhood did not +return to him for some time. + +The boy of sixteen had no one to advise him as to what to do. He tired +of life in the primitive Waxhaw country, and when the British evacuated +Charleston he went there, and saw something of city life. But his money +was soon spent, and he had to decide what he should turn his hand to. +The law appealed to him as a good field for advancement, just as it +appealed to so many ambitious youths of the new country. + +At almost the same time there began the emigration of many Carolina +families westward into what was to become the territory of Tennessee. +Land was given to all who would emigrate and settle there. The idea of +growing up with a new community appealed to Andrew; he knew he had the +power to make his way. In 1788 he started on his journey west, traveling +in the company of about a hundred settlers. They had many adventures and +several times they were in danger of attack from Indians. Once it was +Jackson himself, sitting by the camp-fire after the others had gone to +sleep, who detected something strange in the hooting of owls about the +camp, and waked his friends just in time to save them from being +surrounded by a band of redskins on the war-path. At last they reached +the small town which had been christened Nashville, and there Andrew +decided to settle and practice law. + +This was about the time that Washington was being inaugurated first +President of the United States. + +[Illustration: ANDREW JACKSON AT THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS] + +Andrew grew up with Tennessee. He became a big figure in the western +country. He was known as a shrewd, aggressive man, and was sent to +Congress from that district. Later, when the War of 1812 came, he was +made a general of the American forces, and finally put an end to that +war by winning the battle of New Orleans. Some of the satisfaction of +that last campaign may have atoned to him for his own sufferings in the +Revolution. When the war ended he had won the reputation of a great +general, and was one of the most popular men in the United States. His +nickname of "Old Hickory" was given him in deep affection. + +Shortly afterward he was elected President, and then reëlected. He was +intensely democratic, absolutely fearless, a magnetic leader. There are +few more remarkable stories than that of the rise of the barefooted boy +of the Waxhaw to be the chief of the great republic. + + + + +XIV + +Napoleon Bonaparte + +The Boy of Brienne: 1769-1821 + + +The playground of the French military school at Brienne was a great open +space looking down upon the town. Here, on a January afternoon in 1783, +a score of boys were hard at work building a snow fort. The winter had +been very cold and a great fall of snow at the first of the year had +covered the playground several feet deep. After each storm the boys in +the military school fought battles back and forth over the open ground, +and up and down the roads that led to the village; but this battle was +to be a memorable one. + +A little Corsican named Bonaparte was in charge of the defending forces. +He was not very popular among his playmates. He kept very much to +himself, and when he did mix with the others he had a habit of ordering +them about. Most of the other boys were afraid of him. Time and again, +when he had been disturbed as he stood reading a book in a distant +corner of the schoolroom or walking by himself in the playground, he had +turned fiercely upon his playmates and had scattered them before him +with the passion of his face and words; but when they wanted a leader +the boys turned to Bonaparte, and now when they had decided to build a +great fort they left the direction of it entirely to his care. + +The Corsican boy, who was fourteen years old, stood in the middle of the +ground, his hands clasped behind his back, nodding now in one direction, +now in another, as he ordered the boys where to bank the snow, how high +to build the ramparts, and in what lines. He was not very tall and his +face was quite colorless. Under a broad brow his piercing gray eyes +darted here and there, and then were quiet in study. He wore a blue +military coat with red facings and bright buttons, and a vest of blue +faced with white, and blue knee-breeches, and a military cocked hat. +From time to time he drew lines on the snow with a sharp-pointed stick. +Once or twice, when he found a boy idling, he spoke to him sharply, but +for the most part he kept strict silence. + +After a time a young master, dressed like a priest, came out of the +school door and walked over toward Bonaparte. He smiled as he saw the +intense look on the boy's face, and the rough plan sketched before him +on the snow. He came up to the boy and stood looking down at him. + +"Well, my young Spartan," said he, "what are you planning now? Some new +way to save the town from siege?" + +The boy glanced up at his teacher, and a little smile parted his thin +lips. "No, Monsieur Pichegru, I was considering how we might drive the +French troops out of Corsica." + +"From Corsica!" exclaimed the master. "Corsica belongs to France, and +you are a French cadet." + +The boy shook his head solemnly. "Corsica should be free," he answered. +"We are more Italian than French. I hate your barbarous words, my tongue +trips over them. If I had my way no Frenchman would be left in the +island." + +"Then it's well you don't have your way, Bonaparte," said Monsieur +Pichegru, laughing. + +Suddenly the boy's brow clouded and his eyes grew serious. "You think I +shan't have my way then? You don't know me, no one knows me. Wait until +I grow up--then you shall see." + +The master was used to this boy's strange fancies, and now he simply +shrugged his shoulders. + +"Well, well, we'll wait and see, but you must learn to curb your temper +if you ever expect to do great things in the world." + +"Why?" said the boy. "Must a general curb his temper? It's his part to +give orders, not to take them, and that, sir, is the part I mean to +play." + +Again the master shrugged his shoulders, and the same quizzical smile +his face always wore when watching this boy lighted his eyes. + +"At least we are agreed on one thing, Bonaparte; we both of us know the +most glorious profession in the world is that of the soldier. Ah, that I +might some day be a captain of artillery!" + +"Why not?" said the boy. "Isn't all of Europe one big camp? Can't any +man rise who has strength to draw a sword? Believe me, Monsieur +Pichegru, if you really want to be a captain you shall be one." + +The master glanced at the boy, and then looked quickly away. "You are a +strange lad, my little Spartan," said he. "I don't think I ever knew +a boy quite like you." + +[Illustration: THE SNOW FORT AT BRIENNE] + +The teacher moved away and the boy continued making his drawings with +the pointed stick. + +By the time the afternoon had ended the square fort of snow was +finished. It was by far the finest fortification the boys of Brienne had +ever built. It had four bastions and a rampart three and one-half feet +long. Water was poured over the top and sides so that ice might form, +and it looked like a very difficult place to take. When he considered it +finished Bonaparte ordered the boys to quit work, and taking up a book +he had thrown on the ground before him he started to stroll up and down +by the farther wall of the parade. He was fond of walking here, book in +hand, studying some military treatise, and, though only a boy, he had +gained the power of shutting out all thoughts except those of his study. + +Some of the boys had put together a rough sort of sky-rocket, and now +brought it out from the house to light it in the playground. One boy +touched a match to the fuse and the others leaped back out of reach. +There was a loud explosion, and the firework, failing to shoot off as +was intended, simply fizzled in a shower of sparks near the feet of the +boy by the wall. He glanced up, looked at the flames and then at the +circle of boys beyond. + +In an instant he had seized his stick and was among them, hitting the +boys over their heads and calling them all the names he could think of, +beside himself in a sudden storm of passion because he had been +disturbed. They fled before his attack like leaves before a whirlwind. +In a few moments he had cleared the playground. Then he threw down the +stick and picked up his book again. + +A few minutes later Monsieur Pichegru, who had been told of the +explosion, came over to him. + +"You must not lose your temper in that way, my boy," said he. "Some day +you will learn to regret it." + +"Why?" said the Corsican lad. "I was studying here, I was reading how +great Hannibal crossed the Alps, and that pack of fools broke in upon +me. I will not be disturbed." + +"You'll teach them to hate you," said the master, trying to argue the +boy out of his ill temper. + +"No, I'll teach them to do as I want, or let me alone when I wish it. +That's all I ask of them, to be let alone." The master, shaking his +head, thought that the boy would soon have his way, for day by day he +grew more solitary and his playmates' fear of him increased. + +The teachers at the school and also some of the servants saw the fort on +the playground that afternoon, and the news of it sped through the town. +According to report it was very different from the snow forts the boys +usually built, much more ingenious and complicated, and along military +lines. As a result the next morning many of the townspeople came to see +the fortifications and examined them with great interest while the boys +were indoors at study. + +When they were free in the afternoon the battle began, one party of the +boys leading the attack from the streets of the town, the other under +Bonaparte defending the bastions and rampart. Attack and defense were +well handled. The boys had already learned many military tactics and +they thoroughly enjoyed this mimic warfare, but the Corsican lad was +much too clever for his adversaries. He was continually inventing new +schemes to surprise his opponents, now sending out a party of +skirmishers to attack them in the rear or on the flanks, again luring +them into a direct assault upon the rampart, and then leading his +soldiers up and over the ice walls to scatter the enemy down the street. +By sunset there was no doubt as to which was the victor. The flag, which +was the prize of battle, was formally awarded to the boys who had held +the fort. + +There was no doubt that young Napoleon Bonaparte knew how to lead +others. He had shown that ability to an amazing degree ever since he had +first entered the school of Brienne when he was only nine years old. The +boys at Brienne were all being trained to be soldiers, and they were all +brought up in strict military discipline which would have been irksome +to many a boy. The young Corsican, however, liked it and seemed to +thrive on it. + +Some of the rules of the school were curious. Until they were twelve +years old the boys had to keep their hair cut short, after that they +were allowed to wear a pigtail, but could powder their hair only on +Sundays and Saints' Days. Each boy had a separate room which was much +like a cell, containing a hard bed with only a rug for covering. The +boys had to stay in school for six years, and they were never allowed +to leave on any pretense whatever. During the long vacation which +lasted from September fifteenth to November second they had only one +lesson a day and had plenty of time for outdoor sports. Everything +possible was done to fire their ardor for military life. They were +encouraged to read the lives of great men, especially Plutarch's +"Lives," and those historical plays which deal with great French scenes. +History and geography were the chief studies, and after those two, +mathematics. In all of these branches Bonaparte took great delight. + +Singularly enough the school, although designed to train boys for +warriors, was entirely under the charge of an order of Friars. Neither +teachers nor boys could help but admit Napoleon's great strength of +character. When the Abbé in charge organized the school into companies +of cadets the command of one company was given to this boy. He ruled +those under him with a rod of iron, and finally the boys who were the +commanders of the other companies decided to hold a court-martial. + +Bonaparte was brought before them and charged with being unworthy to +command his schoolfellows because he disdained them and had no real +regard for them. Arguments attacking him were made by various boys, but +when it came to Napoleon's turn to defend himself he refused, on the +ground that whether he were commander or not made little difference to +him. The court-martial thereupon decided to degrade him from his rank +and a formal sentence was read aloud to him. He seemed very little +concerned, and took his place with the other privates without any show +of ill feeling. For almost the first time the boys felt a sort of +affection for him because he bore his humiliation so well. + +Unlike most boys he really seemed to care very little whether he was +popular or not; all he asked was a chance to learn the art of warfare. +He was happiest when he was left alone to study history. Plutarch's +"Lives" was his favorite book, and his favorite nation among the ancient +peoples was that of Sparta, because he admired the Spartans' stern sense +of heroism and hoped to copy them. That was the reason Monsieur Pichegru +had given him the nickname of "The Spartan," and the name stuck to him +for years. + +The Corsican boy's first desire was to be a sailor. He hoped he might be +sent to the southern coast of France where he would be near his own +beloved island home. It so happened, however, that one of the French +military instructors came to Brienne after Napoleon had been there about +five years, and immediately took an interest in the boy. A little later +he, with four others, was chosen to enter a famous military school in +Paris as what were known as "gentlemen cadets." The report that was sent +to Paris respecting Bonaparte stated that he was domineering, imperious, +and obstinate, but in spite of these qualities he was chosen because of +his great ability in mathematics and the art of warfare. + +The military school of Paris was one of the sights of the French +capital. Famous visitors were always taken there, and the cadets were +intended to form the flower of the French army. Only a few of the boys +who were at the schools in the provinces were chosen to come to Paris, +and those who were chosen were put through a rigid course of study and +of physical drill in preparation for service in the army. Most of the +boys were sons of the nobility and were accustomed to bully their less +distinguished comrades. + +When Bonaparte had been in Paris a very short time he had his first +fight with such a boy. He was quite able to hold his own, but all that +first year he was continually set upon by the Parisians who loved to +taunt him with being a little Corsican and to make ridiculous nicknames +out of his two long names. He lost something of his reserve, because he +liked the military side of the Paris school much better than the church +atmosphere at Brienne. + +Nothing made him so indignant as to hear his native land spoken of +slurringly, and there were many of his comrades who took a special +delight in doing this. The boys would draw caricatures of him standing +with his hands behind his back in his favorite attitude, his brows +frowning, and his eyes thoughtful, and underneath would write "Bonaparte +planning to rescue Corsica from the hands of the French." Whenever he +had a chance he spoke bitterly of the injustice of a great people +oppressing such a tiny island as his. + +Finally some of his words came to the ears of the general in charge of +the school. He sent at once for the boy and said to him, "Sir, you are a +scholar of the King, you must learn to remember this and to moderate +your love of Corsica, which after all forms part of France." Bonaparte +was wiser than to make any answer, he simply saluted and withdrew. +But he paid no heed to the advice, and one day shortly afterward he +again spoke to a priest of the unjust treatment of Corsica. The latter +waited until the boy came to him at the confessional and then rebuked +him on this subject. Bonaparte ran back through the church crying loud +enough for all those present to hear him, "I didn't come in here to talk +about Corsica, and that priest has no right to lecture me on such a +subject!" + +[Illustration: NAPOLEON AS A CADET IN PARIS] + +The priest as well as the others in charge soon learned that it was +useless to try to change this boy's views, or indeed to keep him from +expressing them when he had a chance. They were learning, just as +Monsieur Pichegru and the friars at Brienne had learned, that he would +have his own way in spite of all opposition. + +When he was sixteen Napoleon and his best friend, a boy named Desmazis, +were ordered to join the regiment of La Fère which was then quartered in +the south of France. Napoleon was glad of this change which brought him +nearer to his island home, and he also felt that he would now learn +something of actual warfare. The two boys were taken to their regiment +in charge of an officer who stayed with them from the time they left +Paris until the carriage set them down at the garrison town. The +regiment of La Fère was one of the best in the French army, and the boy +immediately took a great liking to everything connected with it. He +found the officers well educated and anxious to help him. He declared +the blue uniform with red facings to be the most beautiful uniform in +the world. + +He had to work hard, still studying mathematics, chemistry, and the laws +of fortification, mounting guard with the other subalterns, and looking +after his own company of men. He seemed very young to be put in charge +of grown soldiers, but his great ability had brought about this +extraordinarily rapid promotion. He had a room in a boarding-house kept +by an old maid, but took his meals at the Inn of the Three Pigeons. Now +that he was an officer he began to be more interested in making a good +appearance before people. He took dancing lessons and suddenly blossomed +out into much popularity among the garrison. Older people could not help +but see his great strength of character, and time and again it was +predicted that he would rise high in the army. + +He had not been long with his regiment when he was given leave of +absence to visit his family in Corsica. His father had died, but his +mother was living, with a number of children. All of them looked to +Napoleon for help. When he reached his home, although he was only +seventeen, he was hailed as a great man. Not only his own family, but +all the neighbors and townspeople spoke of him with pride, and expected +that he would do a great deal for their island. + +He still had the same passion for that rocky land, and spent hours +wandering through the grottoes by the seashore, or in the dense olive +woods, or lying under a favorite oak tree reading history and dreaming +of his future. The open life of the fields and the pleasures of the farm +appealed strongly to him, but he knew that there was more active work +for him to do in the world, and so, after a short stay, he went back to +the main land. + +It was not long before great events took place in France. The people +arose against their king and the first gusts of the French Revolution +blew him from his throne. The young Napoleon was a great lover of +liberty; he wished it for Corsica and he wished it for the French +people. It seemed at first as though the island might be able to win its +independence, owing to the disorder in France, and the Bonapartes sided +with the conspirators who were working toward this end. But the young +lieutenant attended strictly to his own business. He watched the rapid +march of events from a distance, and when he went to Paris he was +careful not to ally himself too closely with any particular party. +Finally the Republic was proclaimed, and Napoleon saw that there would +be an immediate chance for fighting. He had complained as a boy that the +trouble with the officers was that they had not had a real taste of +battle. He hoped to be able to learn his profession on the actual field. + +At a time like this when every one doubted his neighbor, and no one knew +how long the present government would last, one quality of the young +lieutenant, his steadfast sticking to duty, made him conspicuous. +Whoever might rule the country he stuck to his work of drilling the men +under him, and step by step he advanced until he became +lieutenant-colonel. Finally his great chance came. + +The city of Toulon on the Mediterranean rebelled against the Convention, +which had in turn become the governing power of France, and surrendered +itself to the English. French troops were sent to the city, and at the +very beginning of the fighting the commander of the artillery was +wounded by a ball in the shoulder. Napoleon was next in rank and took +his place. The siege lasted for days, and the young commander was +obliged to exercise all his ingenuity to hold his position before the +English lines. It was like a repetition of the old fight of the Brienne +school yard, only now Bonaparte led the attacking forces, and he found +this a more difficult task than to defend his own iced ramparts. + +There was also trouble with some of the officers, and one of them +ordered Napoleon to place his guns in a certain line of attack. The +Corsican youth refused, declaring that he would not serve under a man +who was wanting in the simplest principles of warfare. The commander was +indignant, but all his friends said to him, "You had better let that +young man alone, he knows more about this than you. If his plan succeeds +the glory will all be yours; if he fails the blame will be his." The +officer took the advice and told young "Captain Cannon," as he called +Napoleon, that he might have his own way, but that he should answer for +the success of his plan with his head. + +"Very well," said the youth, "I'm quite satisfied with that +arrangement." + +The siege lasted a long time, and then it was finally decided to carry +the town by a grand assault. All possible forces were brought to the +attack, and at last Toulon was taken. The young lieutenant-colonel +distinguished himself greatly in this his first real battle. His horse +was shot under him, and he was wounded with a bayonet thrust in the +thigh; but he kept his men in place, and finally advancing they +succeeded in covering both the town and the fleet in the sea. When the +fighting was over the general in command wrote to Paris: "I have no +words to describe the merit of Bonaparte; much science, as much +intelligence, and too much bravery. This is but a feeble sketch of this +rare officer, and it is for you, ministers, to consecrate him to the +glory of the Republic." + +Such was the young Napoleon at twenty-three. Almost immediately he was +made general of brigade, and was looked upon as one of the coming +defenders of the French Republic. + +He went to Paris, was loaded with honors, and given post after post in +the service of his country. For a time he proved a great defender of his +people, for a time he served the Republic as no other man could; but +when defense was no longer needed he could not sheathe his sword, he had +to use it for attack whether the cause were just or not. As he won +victory after victory and tasted power he discarded even the Republic +that had made him, and placed himself upon the throne as Emperor. + +That same love of power which had made him was also his undoing. He +could not rest content with what he had. As he had predicted to Monsieur +Pichegru that afternoon at Brienne he would have his own way, and very +much as he had treated his schoolfellows there he later grew to treat +the nations of Europe. As a result they, like his playfellows, combined +against him, and sent him down finally among the privates. + + + + +XV + +Walter Scott + +The Boy of the Canongate: 1771-1832 + + +The business office of a Scotch solicitor is not an especially cheerful +place at any time, and the interior of such a room looked particularly +cheerless on a late winter afternoon in Edinburgh in 1786. A boy of +fifteen sat on a high stool at an old oak desk, and watched the snow +falling in the street. Occasionally he could see people passing the +windows: men and women wrapped to their ears in plaid shawls, for the +wind whistled down the street so loudly that the boy could hear it, and +the cold was bitter. + +The boy looked through the window until he almost felt the chill +himself, and then, to keep warm, held his head in his hands and fastened +his eyes on the big, heavy-leaved book in front of him, which bore the +unappealing title, Erskine's "Institutes." The type was fine, and the +young student had to read each line a dozen times before he could +understand it. Sometimes his eyes would involuntarily close and he would +doze a few moments, only to wake with a start to look quickly at another +desk near the fire where his father sat steadily writing, and then to a +table in the corner where a very old man was always sorting papers. + +The winter light grew dim, so dim that the boy could no longer see to +read. He closed the book with a bang. + +"Father." + +"Yes, Walter, lad?" The lawyer looked up from his writing, and smiled at +the figure on the high stool. + +"I'd best be going home; there's no more light here to see by." + +"A good reason, Walter. Wrap yourself up warm, for the night is cold." + +Young Walter slid down from his seat, and stretched his arms and legs to +cure the stiffness in them. He was a sturdy, well-built lad, with +tousled yellow hair, frank eyes with a twinkle in them, and a mouth that +was large and betokened humor. When he walked he limped, but he held +himself so straight that when he was still no one would have noticed the +deformity. + +Five minutes later the boy was plowing his way through the narrow +streets of the Canongate, the old part of Edinburgh that had as ancient +a history of street brawls as the Paris kennels. Nobody who could help +it was abroad, and Walter was glad when he reached the door of his +father's house in George's Square and could find shelter from the +cutting wind. The Scotch evening meal was simple, soon over, and then +came the time to sit before the blazing logs on the great open hearth +and tell stories. + +The older people were busy at cards in another room, and Walter, with a +group of boys of his own age who lived in the neighborhood and liked to +be with the lame lad, had the fireside to themselves. + +In front of the fire young Walter was no longer the sleepy student of +Erskine's "Institutes"; his eyes shone as he told story after story of +the Scotch border, half of them founded on old ballads or legends he +knew by heart and half the product of his own eager imagination. Whole +poems, filled with battles and hunts and knightly adventures, he could +recite from memory, and his eye for the color and trappings of history +was so keen that the boys could see the very scenes before them. They +sat in a circle about him, listening eagerly to story after story, +forgetting everything but the boy's words, and showing their fondness +and admiration for the romancer in each glance. + +Walter was minstrel and prophet and historian to the boys of the +Canongate by the winter fire, as he was to be later to the whole nation +of Englishmen. + +By the next day the snow had ceased falling, and the open squares of the +city presented the finest mimic battle-fields that could be imagined. +The boys of Edinburgh were divided into clans according to the part of +the city in which they lived, and carried on constant warfare as long as +winter lasted. Walter Scott and his brothers belonged to a clan that +made George's Square their headquarters, and their nearest and dearest +enemies were the boys of the Crosscauseway, a poorer section of the city +that lay not very far distant. + +On the day the storm ceased Walter left his high stool and ponderous +book early and joined his friends in solid array in their square. While +they waited for the enemy to come up from the side street, the boys +built snow fortifications across the Square and stocked them with +ammunition sufficient to stand a siege. Still no enemy appeared, and, +eager for a chance to try their aim, the boys of the Square boldly left +their own haunts and proceeded down the Crosscauseway in search of the +foe. + +The enemy's country lay through narrow winding streets, and there was +great need of care to avoid an ambuscade. Slipping from door to door, +from one point of vantage to the next, the boys made the whole distance +of the enemy's land without sight of an enemy. They came to the further +boundary and raised a cheer of defiance, when suddenly a hail-storm of +snowballs struck them, and from a side street the boys of the +Crosscauseway shot out. The invaders fired one round, then turned and +fled before a fierce charge. + +Back the way they came the boys retreated, and after them came the enemy +pelting them without mercy and with good aim. In the van of the pursuit +ran a tall, fair-haired boy, who wore the bright green breeches of a +tailor's clerk, who was famous for his prowess in these schoolboy +battles, and who, because of his clothes, had been given the picturesque +nickname of "Green Breeks." + +Young Scott and his friends ran back into their square, but the enemy +were close upon their heels. Green Breeks was now far in the lead of his +forces, so far in the lead that he might have been cut off had not the +pursued been panic-stricken. Over their own fortifications the boys fled +and dropped behind them for safety. Their banner, a flag given them by a +lady of the Square, waved defiantly in Green Breeks' face. The tall boy +leaped upon the rampart and seized the standard, when a blow from a +stick brought him to the ground. He fell stunned, and the blood poured +from a cut in his head. + +The watchman in George's Square was used to the boys' battles, but not +to such an ending to them. He hurried over to the fallen Green Breeks, +and the boys of both armies melted silently away. Shortly after Green +Breeks was in the hospital, his head bandaged, but otherwise little the +worse for his mishap. + +A confectioner in the Crosscauseway acted as messenger between the boys +of the Causeway and the Square, and to him Walter Scott and his brother +went early the next morning and asked if he would take Green Breeks some +money to pay for his wound and loss of time in the tailor's shop. Green +Breeks in the hospital had been asked to tell the name of the one who +had struck him, but had refused pointblank, and none of either party +could be found to tell. When the wounded leader heard of Walter's offer +he refused to accept the money on the ground that such accidents were +apt to happen to any one in battle, and that he did not need the money. +Walter sent another message, inquiring if Green Breeks' family were in +need of anything he could supply, and received the answer that he lived +with his aged grandmother who was very fond of taking snuff. Thereupon +Walter presented the old woman with a pound of snuff, and as soon as +Green Breeks was out of the hospital made him one of his friends. + +With the opening of spring Walter spent all his spare hours in his +favorite pursuit, riding through the country on a search for old +legends or curious tales of the neighborhood. Scottish history was his +never-ending delight; he knew every battle-field in the vicinity of +Edinburgh, and could tell how the armies had come to meet and what was +the result. Stories of sprites and goblins, of witches and magicians, +were eagerly sought by him. Many an old woman was led to tell the lame +boy with the eager eyes the tales she had heard as a schoolgirl, and was +well repaid by the boy's rapt attention. Hardly a stick or a stone, a +stream or a hill in the Lowlands that had a history but Walter Scott +learned it, and at the same time he learned to know the plain people, +all their habits and customs, and all the little eccentricities that +made up their characters. + +[Illustration: STREET IN EDINBURGH WHERE SCOTT PLAYED AS A BOY] + +Every Saturday in fair weather, and more frequently during the +vacations, his father allowed him a holiday from the office. Walter and +a boy friend named John Irving used to take two or three books from the +public library of Edinburgh, and go out into the neighboring country, to +Salisbury Crags, Arthur's Seat, or to a height called Blackford Hill, +from which there was a splendid view of the Lowland country. There they +read the books together, Walter always a little ahead of his friend, and +obliged to wait at the end of every two pages for him to catch up. The +books were almost always stories of knights-errant; the romances of +Spenser, the "Castle of Otranto," and translations from such Italian +writers as Ariosto, were very popular. + +Often the boys would climb high up over the rocks to find places where +they would be sheltered from the wind, and the harder the nooks were to +reach the better they liked them. Walter, in spite of his lameness, was +a good climber, and time and again, when it seemed as though they had +contrived to get into a place from which there was no way out, and must +call to passers-by for help, he would manage to discover some jutting +stone or crevice in the rock that allowed them finally to make a +perilous escape. + +That sort of adventure appealed to the boy tremendously; he liked to try +to use his wits in grappling with some natural difficulty, as the heroes +of his stories so often had to do. + +The boys devoured a great many books in these expeditions, which lasted +over two years, and Walter so mastered the pages that he read that he +could recite long passages from them to his friend weeks after they had +finished the stories. Finally they fell into the habit of making up +stories of knights for themselves, first Walter telling the adventures +of a knight to John, and leaving the hero in some very difficult +situation for John to rescue him from, and then John carrying on the +story with another adventure, and leaving the next rescue to his friend. +The stories went on from day to day, and week to week, because the boys +grew so fond of their heroes that neither had the heart to kill the +brave knight, and they could find no other way to bring his adventures +to an end. + +Although Walter spent considerable time in his father's office, he was +still studying under a tutor with other boys, preparing for college. He +was a brilliant scholar when he wanted to be, but all subjects did not +interest him. + +At one time there was a certain boy who always stood at the top of +Walter's class whom young Scott could not supplant, try as he would. +Finally Walter noticed that whenever the master asked that boy a +question the latter always fumbled with his fingers at a certain button +on the lower part of his waistcoat. Walter Scott thereupon determined to +cut off that particular button, and see what would happen. He found a +chance soon after and cut off the button with a knife, while the owner +of the coat was not looking. Then Walter waited with the greatest +interest to see what would happen. + +The next time the master asked questions of the youth at the head of the +class Walter saw the boy's fingers feel for the button, and then saw him +look down at the place on his coat where it should have been. When he +saw it was missing he grew confused, stammered, muttered to himself, and +could not answer the question. Walter came next, and, being able to +answer the question, took the other boy's place, chuckling to himself. +He did not hold it long. He had simply wished to see what would happen, +and having found out he was quite willing to surrender the place to the +boy who was really the better scholar. + +In a thousand ways Walter showed his love of history and romance. +Anything that was picturesque, whether it was a view or an old dirk, +caught his attention at once. For a short time he took lessons in oil +painting from a German. He soon found that he had not the eye nor the +hand for the work, but it happened that the teacher's father had been a +soldier in the army of Frederick the Great, and as soon as Walter found +this out, he plied the man with questions. Long afterward he said he +vividly remembered the man's picturesque account of seeing a party of +the famous Black Hussars bringing in forage carts which they had +captured from the Cossacks, with the wounded Cossacks themselves lying +high up on the piles of straw. + +Often in good weather the boys of George's Square would go on long +excursions into the country, frequently staying away from home for +several days at a time. On one such occasion they found themselves some +twenty miles away from Edinburgh without a single sixpence left among +them. Walter said afterward, "We were certainly put to our shifts, but +we asked every now and then at a cottage door for a drink of water; and +one or two of the good wives, observing our worn-out looks brought out +milk in place of water--so with that, and hips and haws, we came in +little the worse." + +His father was not at all pleased with his long absence, and asked how +he had managed with so little money. + +"Pretty much like the ravens," said the boy. "I only wished I had been +as good a player on the flute as poor George Primrose in 'The Vicar of +Wakefield.' If I had his art, I should like nothing better than to tramp +like him from cottage to cottage over the world." + +"I doubt," said the father, "I greatly doubt, sir, you were born for nae +better than a scapegoat." + +It may be that as a result of these chance expeditions Walter's father +finally came to realize that the boy might be made use of in certain +legal business that required sending messengers into the Highlands. Soon +he was sent with some legal papers to the Maclarens, who lived in that +beautiful lake country about Loch Lomond which Scott was later to make +famous in "The Lady of the Lake." It was the first time he had been in +that country, and the changing panorama unrolled before his eyes like a +land of dreams. + +It happened that Walter was traveling in the company of a sergeant and +six men from a Highland regiment stationed in Sterling, and so he +journeyed quite like some ancient chieftain, with a front and rear +guard, and bearing arms. The sergeant was a thorough Highlander, full of +stories of Rob Roy and of his own early adventures, and an excellent +companion. The trip was a great success, and fired Walter's desires to +see more of a country which even then was only half-civilized. + +A little later he had another chance, being sent north to visit another +of his father's clients, an old Jacobite who had fought in the uprisings +of 1715 and 1745. Paul Jones was then threatening a descent on the +Scotch coast, and Walter had the satisfaction of seeing the old Jacobite +chief making ready to bear arms again, and heard him exult at the +prospect of drawing claymore once more before he died. The boy was so +delighted at the stories the old man told that the latter invited him to +visit him that fall, and so he spent his holiday with him. + +Riding northward on this visit the vale of Perth first burst on his +view. Long afterward he described the tremendous impression this sight +made upon him. "I recollect pulling up the reins," he wrote later, +"without meaning to do so, and gazing on the scene before me as if I had +been afraid it would shift, like those in a theatre, before I could +distinctly observe its different parts, or convince myself that what I +saw was real." + +Even as he remembered so vividly the tales the old men and women had +told him when he was a very little boy, the stories of his grandmother, +of border warfare, of heroes of Scotland, such as Watt of Harden, and +Wight Willie of Aikwood, merrymen much like Robin Hood and Little John, +and as he remembered the romances he and his friend had read in the +hills, so he was now treasuring up wild bits of scenery with all the +ardor of a poet or a painter. He was growing to know Scotland as no +other man had ever known it. + +The boy Walter had little knowledge then of the great use to which he +was later to put his love of Scottish history; he expected to be a +lawyer and was studying to that end, but all his spare moments were +spent in hunting legends of his land. He became eager to visit the then +wild and inaccessible region of Liddesdale, so that he might see the +ruins of the famous castle of the Hermitage, and try to pick up some of +the ancient "riding ballads" as they were called, songs which were said +to be still preserved among the descendants of the old moss-troopers, +who had followed the banners of the House of Douglass, when they were +lords of that remote castle. + +He found a man who knew that rugged country well, and for seven +successive years Walter Scott made a "raid," as he called it, into that +country, following each stream to its source, and studying every ruined +tower or castle from foundation stone to topmost battlement. + +There were no inns in the whole district. The explorers had to stop over +night at any chance shepherd's hut or farmer's cottage, but everywhere +they met with open welcome, and from each home they gathered songs and +stories, and sometimes relics of border wars to take back with them to +Edinburgh. Even then the youth had little notion of what he should do +with all the facts he was gathering. The friend he traveled with said +later, "Walter was makin' himself a' the time, but he didna ken maybe +what he was about till years had passed. At first he thought o' little, +I dare say, but the queerness and the fun." + + * * * * * + +In course of time Scott was called to the bar as a lawyer, and took his +place with the dozens of young men who hung about the Parliament House +in Edinburgh waiting for briefs of cases to be argued. There were lots +of debating clubs in the Scotch capital at that time, and Scott was a +member of several. Some time was spent in argument, but more in telling +stories and in singing songs. + +Here the young lawyer ruled supreme. No other man could tell such tales +as he, and none knew so many and such curious songs. The stories were +not all his own; frequently he retold old ones that he had heard, +dressing them up to suit his taste. Once a friend complained that he had +changed a story told him the day before. + +"Why," said Scott, with twinkling eyes, "I don't change stories. I only +put a cocked hat on their heads, and stick a cane into their hands--to +make them fit for going into company." + +Fifteen years passed and all England was reading eagerly the wonderful +historical poems and romances written by a man who called himself the +"Wizard of the North." + +Scotland had always been a desolate barren country in the eyes of the +rest of the world, its history unknown, its people cold and uninviting. +Suddenly all that was changed: Scotland sprang into being as a land of +romance, filled with poetry, a country full of glorious scenery, a +people descended from a line of kings. Even the narrow streets of +Edinburgh and the old Canongate itself became historic ground under the +Wizard's spell. The Wizard was Walter Scott, and now he found the whole +world as eager to hear the stories and poems he had to tell about his +country as his boy friends had been years before. He had not changed +much as he grew up. At the height of his fame Walter Scott was still in +spirit the eager boy of the old city, finding romance everywhere about +him because he looked for it with the eyes of youth. + + + + +XVI + +James Fenimore Cooper + +The Boy of Otsego Hall: 1789-1851 + + +The finest house in central New York State in 1801 was Otsego Hall. The +owner of the house, a Mr. Cooper, fond of old English customs, lived +much like a lord of the manor of the old country, and kept open house +for his neighbors of the region. On a Saturday afternoon in September of +that year he was giving a great party, and all roads in the neighborhood +of Cooperstown, which had been named in honor of this popular gentleman, +led to Otsego Hall. + +A gay stream flowed up to the great stone posts that flanked the +entrance driveway. There were men in bright-hued, tight-fitting trousers +with high shining top-boots, brilliant plum and claret colored coats and +fawn or scarlet waistcoats, with lace stocks at their throats, their +hair well powdered, their tri-cornered hats matching their vivid coats. +They rode fine, spirited horses, and they knew how to ride, for most of +them had seen service under General Washington. Some of the ladies also +rode, but more of them came in open carriages. These latter wore +flowered satins, and carried painted fans and sunshades. Some came +across fields on foot, a young gallant swinging a light gold-headed +cane, and paying lavish compliments to the fair girl whose dimples were +heightened by small beauty patches cut in stars or crescents. + +The gay throng wound up the long drive of Otsego Hall, themselves +scarcely less brilliant than the flowers beside the path. At the top of +the drive was the big, white colonial mansion, with its high storied +porch and great white pillars. On the porch stood the genial host in a +buff-colored suit with knee-breeches, his kindly face radiating welcome +to each guest. The riders sprang from their saddles and threw the +bridles to the waiting servants, the chaises and the chariots emptied +their owners and were whisked away. All mounted the wide steps, greeted +Mr. Cooper, and passed across the porch into the polished hall. + +Here stood a large round table with a huge punchbowl in the centre and a +ring of shining glasses about it. Each guest toasted the fair lady of +the manor, and some particular lady of his own fancy, with such charming +sentiments as his wit supplied. There was a great buzz of talk and +laughter and neighborly greeting. + +Presently three young men, all dressed in the height of fashion, came up +the driveway and shook hands with Mr. Cooper. He was especially glad to +see them, for they were sons of men he had known in war times. All three +came of wealthy families living in the city of New York, and were now +traveling north to learn something of the business possibilities of the +young country. They stopped for a moment to chat with Mr. Cooper, and +then two of them entered the hall. The third was looking at a small boy, +who, dressed like Mr. Cooper in buff clothes, stood at one side of the +porch. + +"Who is the youngster?" asked the visitor. + +Mr. Cooper turned about to see. "Oh, that's my son James." He beckoned +to the boy. "Come here, son. I want you to meet Captain Philip Kent, one +of father's old friends." + +The boy, not at all abashed, put out his hand, and welcomed Captain +Kent. "Have you ever fought Indians?" he asked solemnly. + +Kent laughed and winked at Mr. Cooper. "Oh, yes. We've all fought +Indians in our day. But, thank God, that day's passed. What we want now +is a chance to rest in quiet, and try our hands at writing, and singing, +and painting, like other civilized people." He saw that some other +guests were arriving, and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Come, +James. You and I don't care to go salute the ladies just yet. Let's find +a place in the garden and have a talk." + +They went down a gravel path and turned in to the rose-garden. A bench +invited them to rest. Captain Kent sat down, and drawing a gilded +snuff-box from his waistcoat-pocket, offered it to the boy. "The very +best rappee," he said. + +James Cooper shook his head. "I don't like snuff, sir. I'd rather smoke +a pipe." + +Captain Kent took snuff and flicked the grains from his coat with his +handkerchief. "Tut, tut, young man, if you're to be a man of fashion, +and I misdoubt your father's son could be ought else, you must like what +the fashion likes. The gentlemen of St. James' Palace still take snuff, +and never are seen smoking pipes, like some of our clumsy Dutchmen over +here." + +"But St. James' Palace is in London, and we're free from England now." + +"Quite so, my good sir. But our fashions still come from across the +seas." + +"And what is a man of fashion?" asked the boy. + +Captain Kent smiled. "Ah, so you are concerned? Good! Well, I am a man +of fashion, and so are those two friends of mine who just entered your +hall. A man of fashion has a discriminating taste in wines and foods. He +knows what colors go in harmony, how to draw his sword in any matter of +honor, how to tread a minuet--oh, yes, and how to write verses to his +lady's eyes." + +The Captain put his hand in the pocket of his coat and drew out several +folded sheets of paper. He spread them out on his knee. "Do you know +Miss Betty Cosgrove?" he asked. + +The boy nodded. "Yes, indeed. She lives very near us, and always gives +me plum-cake when I go there with messages from mother." + +"Ah, she does!" exclaimed Kent, as though greatly struck and charmed by +the idea. "Well, Mr. James Cooper, I have written some verses in her +honor, hoping I might offer them to her here this afternoon. I'll read +them to you." + +"She's indoors," said the boy. "I saw her come." + +"Quite so. But I hope to lure her out here later, and I want to rehearse +the verses. What do you think of this?" + +The young man held the paper before him, and read from it. Every few +lines he would glance at the boy. James did not think much of the +poetry. He heard a great deal about tresses, and eyes, and smiles, about +Gods and Goddesses, but nothing about soldiers or Indians. He was +surprised that the Captain should have become so red in the face and +that his eyes should shine so brightly. + +"What do you think of it?" asked Captain Kent, when he had finished. + +"I don't understand it," said James. Then he added frankly, "I don't +think much of poetry." + +"May Heaven grant she does!" exclaimed the Captain. "I think 'tis quite +a fair performance for an humble poet." He folded the verses and put +them away. "Some day you will be doing the same thing, Mr. Cooper." + +"No," said the boy. "I'm to go to Yale College at New Haven next year +and learn Greek." + +"'Tis better to write verses than learn Greek," objected Kent. He put +his hand on the boy's shoulder. "But there's better yet waiting to be +done, boy. In London men write what they call novels; wonderful stories +of the great world of fashion. There's one called 'Amelia,' by Henry +Fielding, and another named 'Clarissa Harlowe,' by Richardson. Why +should not some one write such tales of our country? Alas, I fancy +because as yet we have so little fashion." + +"But we've plenty of hunters and Indians and sailors," said the boy; "I +wish I had a book about what's happened in those great woods back of +Albany." + +"Write it, lad, write it," said the Captain. "We've had our soldiers, +you and your friends must be our poets and writers. I envy you. Now let +us be going in to greet the ladies." + +The lower floor of Otsego Hall was now filled with people. All the +gentry of the countryside were gathered in the great hall, in the +dining-room, and other apartments that opened into it. Captain Kent and +his boy friend made their way through the crowd, and the Captain bent +over the hand of Mrs. Cooper and congratulated her on having so fine a +son. The boy liked his gallant friend and stayed near him, even when the +Captain finally caught sight of Miss Betty Cosgrove talking with his two +mates in a corner of the hall. + +James watched the Captain advance and in his most polished manner bend +over the lady's hand and touch it with his lips. Then the four of them +started to laugh and talk rapidly as though they had a great many things +to tell each other. The boy thought this very tiresome, and was about to +make his way back to the porch and freedom when he heard a man who stood +on the broad stairs call out, "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you all a +toast, our worthy friend and most gracious host, Mr. Cooper!" + +Servants passed glasses of punch to the guests and soon all held their +glasses raised high. + +"I pledge them," cried the man on the stairs, and the toast was drunk +with a murmur of cheers. + +"Another to our charming hostess!" some one cried, and this also was +drunk. + +Then Captain Kent clapped his hands for silence. "Ladies and gentlemen +of Cooperstown," said he, "three of us here have journeyed from New York +City to pay our duty to the fairest maid in all the thirteen states. We +have none like her on Manhattan Island. I give you Mistress Betty +Cosgrove!" + +The three young men raised their glasses, the rest followed their +example, and the toast was drunk. Miss Cosgrove blushed the color of the +rose she wore. + +One of the young men looked down to find a small boy pulling his sleeve. +"What is it?" he asked. + +"Captain Kent's been writing verses to her too," said James Cooper. "He +read them to me in the garden." + +"Ho--ho," came the laughing answer. "Good enough." He turned about. +"Ladies and gentlemen, my friend Captain Kent is a poet. He has some +verses in his pocket written to the adorable Mistress Betty. Shall we +hear them?" + +"Yes, yes," came a chorus of voices. + +It was poor Kent's turn to blush. He looked very uncomfortable. Miss +Cosgrove glanced at him with wide inquiring eyes. He had not expected to +read his poetry in such a setting. He stepped forward, and seizing +little James Cooper under the arms lifted him to a chair. + +"Behold," he said, "I should be glad to read the verses, but this +gentleman, Master Cooper, has told me they are poor, and he should know +because he plans to be an author." + +The Captain's diversion succeeded. The guests were looking at the boy. + +"My son James an author!" exclaimed Mrs. Cooper. "It's the first I've +heard of it!" + +"I don't want to," said the boy, very uncomfortable now that he was the +centre of notice. "I want to be a soldier." + +"That's right," said his father, "and I hope you may be if ever the +country needs you. Friends, I give you these United States!" + +By the time that toast was drunk Captain Kent had drawn Miss Cosgrove +into a little alcove under the stairs and James had stolen out of the +great hall. + +James Cooper was a very fortunate boy. His father's house stood in one +of the loveliest reaches of country on the Atlantic coast. Cooperstown +lay on the southeastern shore of Otsego Lake, where the Susquehanna +rushes out through a fertile valley between high hills. Bays and points +of woodland break the Lake's edge, and in the distance rise the clear +blue slopes of mountains. + +Otsego Hall was built about the time when the young republic was +stretching out for space in which to grow. Mr. Cooper found this lovely +lake, and built on the frontier. Beyond his home spread seemingly +endless forests, filled with the wandering bands of the Indians of the +Six Nations, and with all manner of wild animals. The Lake was the home +of flocks of gulls, loons and wild duck, and more times than he could +count young Cooper had seen a long file of Indian canoes steal swiftly +across its upper bays. It was an ideal region for a boy of an +adventurous turn of mind, fond of the outdoor world. + +The heir of Otsego Hall was not such a boy of the wilderness as were +Daniel Boone, Andrew Jackson or Abraham Lincoln. He did not have to +fight his way in the rough new world as they did. Mr. Cooper was +well-to-do, and intended that his son should take a proper place in the +young nation. There was little he could learn at the local academy, and +so he was soon sent to school at Albany, where he lived in the home of +an English clergyman who was fond of denouncing the war of the +Revolution and the new country, and so made James Cooper more of an +ardent patriot than ever. + +When he was thirteen he was sent to Yale College, and felt himself +almost a grown man. He had been better prepared than most of his +classmates, and so decided he did not need to study to keep up with +them. Instead of working he devoted all his time to sport, and to +wandering through the beautiful country about New Haven. He was learning +a great deal about outdoor life, and storing his mind with pictures, but +at the same time was learning little of the Latin and Greek which his +teachers thought vastly more important. He got into scrape after scrape +with other boys of his way of thinking, and finally in his third year a +midnight frolic led to his being dismissed. Mr. Cooper took his son's +side and argued with the faculty, but the boy had to leave. His father +looked about for some means of taming his son's wild habits and decided +to send him to sea for a time. + +Nothing could have pleased James better. He wanted to see the world, and +he was fond of ships. He had no special ambition, but rather looked +forward to serving in the navy. In the fall of 1806 he sailed from New +York on the ship _Sterling_ bound for England with a freight of flour. +The voyage was a long and stormy one, and the boy, who was simply a +sailor before the mast, got a good taste of life at sea. He enjoyed it +thoroughly. When they reached England he went to London in his sailor's +clothes, and knocked about that great city much like any other jack on +shore. He made friends quickly, enjoyed any new adventure, and stored up +a great stock of stories to take home. + +The boy enjoyed his voyage before the mast so much that when he returned +to New York he asked his father to get him a commission in the United +States navy. Mr. Cooper was able to do this, and James was soon after +sent as midshipman with a party of men to build a brig of sixteen guns +on Lake Ontario. It took them a winter to build the ship, and during +that time the party stayed at the tiny settlement of Oswego, a +collection of some twenty houses. All around lay the unbroken forest +stretching thirty or forty miles without a break. There was abundance of +game, many Indians, and a splendid chance to live the frontier life that +Cooper loved. He now knew the habits of the wild red men and whites, the +lore of the woods, the perils and joys of the sea, and as he helped to +build the gunboat he learned a thousand things that he was to turn to +splendid uses later. + +The boy had now grown to manhood, and yet no sign of his real work had +appeared. He was not especially fond of books or history, his views of +the charm of a soldier's life were much those he had spoken to Captain +Kent at Otsego Hall. It seemed as though he were settled in the navy. + +It is strange how chance determined the fate of young Cooper. About this +time his grandmother asked him to take her name, and for a while he +called himself Fenimore-Cooper. Then a little later he married, and his +wife did not like the idea of his leaving her on long sea voyages. He +seems to have been quite willing to give up the navy, and settle down at +Otsego Hall as lord of the manor after his father's fashion. He liked +the life of a country gentleman, and spent his time planting trees, +draining swamps, planning lawns, and cultivating flowers and fruits. By +the time he was thirty he had tried his hand at almost everything except +writing. + +It happened that as Cooper was one day reading aloud to his wife from an +English novel he threw the book down, exclaiming, "Why, I believe I +could write a better story myself!" His wife laughed, and asked him to +prove it. He said he would, and thereupon sat down and began to lay out +a plot. A few days later he was deep in work on the story, and he kept +at it until he had finished a two-volume novel, which he called +"Precaution." + +His wife and friends liked it and urged him to publish it; so in +November, 1820, appeared the first of that great series of native +American stories which were to give the young nation a distinct place in +English literature. Chance began them, but the first few books proved +so successful that Cooper settled at once into the career of novelist. + +The famous "Leather-Stocking Tales" followed, and the world made the +acquaintance of the America of the Indian and the pioneer in "The +Deerslayer," "The Last of the Mohicans," "The Pathfinder," "The +Pioneers," and "The Prairie." Here he tells the romantic story of the +conquest of the wilderness, and draws the portraits of the pioneer, the +hunter, and the Indian. The same character, Harvey Birch, called +Leather-Stocking, runs through them all, first as a youth in the novels +that deal with the red men, with the great characters of Chingachcook +and Uncas, then as a man in the dramas of the white men who blazed the +trail westward through the forests, and settled the great prairies. + +The story of Daniel Boone inspired him in these latter novels, and he +tells of such scenes as the great prairie fire and the panther fight +with the vividness of an eye-witness. "The Pioneers" is laid on the +shores of Lake Ontario where he built the war-ship, and "The Deerslayer" +about the little lake near Otsego Hall. + +He wrote great tales of the sea also, in one of which, "The Pilot," he +took as his hero John Paul Jones, tales founded on his own knowledge of +a sailor's life won at first hand; but it was the Indian tales that +brought him greatest fame. Whether the pictures of the men of the Six +Nations be accurate or not they made direct appeal to the imagination of +the world, and Indian character will always stand as Cooper drew it. +Shakespeare and Scott have made English history for us, and Cooper has +done the same thing for the history of the Indian. + +Cooper said later that he might have chosen happier periods for his +stories, more stirring events, and perhaps more beautiful scenes, but +none which would have lain so close to his heart. He never forgot what +had interested him so deeply in his boyhood, and when he wrote he went +back to his boyhood memories. Little had he realized in those days how +the words Captain Kent spoke in the garden would come true. He had +drifted into writing before he realized what a great untrodden field lay +before him. + +The story of James Fenimore Cooper is an inspiration to every American. +It is the history of a man who loved his country deeply, and who was as +fine-spirited a gentleman as he was a great author. + + + + +VII + +John Ericsson + +The Boy of the Göta Canal: 1803-1889 + + +Among the Swedish country people there still lingers a primitive half +belief in witches and goblins, and nymphs and elves of the forests and +the sea. Many a simple mountaineer, returning home from some lonely +trip, tells tales of prophetic voices he heard whispering in the wind or +of gnomes who interrupted his slumbers in the woods. One such legend +runs as follows. + +A wealthy farmer named Ericsson, who owned many acres in the Swedish +province of Vermland, had in his service a crippled lad whose business +it was to tend the sheep. This work kept him away from people much of +the time, and led him through the pine woods, beside the little tarns, +or hidden inland lakes, and up and down the wild mountains where the +fairy people dwell. He grew quite accustomed to meeting wood or lake +nymphs in his wanderings, and became so friendly with them that they +often gave him good advice, such as when to expect a storm, or where he +might find the best grazing for his flock. + +One day he was caught in the rain and when he found shelter in a +deserted barn he was so wet and exhausted that he fell into a troubled +sleep. While he slept a pixie came to him and whispered in his ear that +in time to come a house should be built on that part of farmer +Ericsson's land, and that two boys should be born there who should make +the name of Ericsson known round the world. + +The shepherd was much excited by the news, and as soon as he reached the +Ericsson house he told the fairy's prophecy. The family were very much +concerned and wrote the prophecy down in the family Bible, and also +spread the story through the province. That was in the seventeenth +century. + +Near the end of the eighteenth century young Olof Ericsson married, and +built him a home on that part of the family land where the old barn had +stood. He had three children, a daughter named Caroline, and two sons, +named Nils and John. One day the mother heard the old legend and +identified the place with her husband's house, and so became convinced +that her boys were to become world famous. They came of very good stock, +and the family traced their ancestry back to the great Leif Ericsson, +son of Eric the Red, who had been the Norse discoverer of America. + +Olof and his wife Brita were devoted to their children. Olof was part +owner of a mine at the town of Langsbaushyttan near which they lived. +The children had a governess for a time, and father and mother taught +them what they could, but the most of their days were spent playing in +the thick pine woods along the shore of the little Lake Hytt which lay +in front of their house. Sometimes Olof took the two boys with him to +the mine, and from almost the first visit a perfect passion for +machinery took possession of the younger boy John. After that he was +always playing with pencils and paper, with bits of wood and metal, and +spent hours drawing figures in the sand on the beach of the lake. + +At about this period hard times befell Sweden. The small Northern +country, half the size of Texas, with fewer people than the single city +of London, never very rich, had trouble keeping her independence from +Russia. Her king was a weakling, and lost part of his land. Then a +gentleman of fortune, a man who had been a French lawyer's apprentice, +and had risen to be a marshal, one whose sword had helped to carve out +an empire for Napoleon, suddenly was elected King of Sweden. He brought +the little country French support and better times, but meantime Olof +Ericsson had lost his property and found that he must seek work at once +to keep his family from starving. + +Olof had lost his share in the mine and had been living in the depths of +the pine forest choosing lumber for builders. He had encouraged his son +John's talent for machinery, and now began to believe that the old +prophecy might really come true. He had seen John, only ten years old, +build a miniature sawmill and pumping engine at the mine, and had been +as much astonished as any of the men there when his son proudly showed +them the designs he had drawn for a new kind of pump to drain the mines +of water. + +Even when the little family had left the mining town and were living in +the deep woods the boy continued working out his own inventions. He made +tools for himself, using sharp pine needles for the points of a drawing +compass he fashioned out of sticks, begging his mother for a few hairs +from her fur coat to make paint brushes, and actually devising a ball +and socket joint for a small windmill he was building. Everything he +could lay his hands on he turned to some mechanical use, and all his +thoughts seemed bent in that one direction. + +The new King of Sweden was now planning to build a great ship canal at +Göta to unite the Baltic and the North Seas, a scheme which had for a +long time appealed to Swedish patriots as a protection against their +great grasping neighbor, the Russian Bear. Through the influence of a +friend, Count Platen, Olof Ericsson was given work in connection with +the canal, and moved his family with him to a town called Forsvik. Here +a great many soldiers were at work, for the canal was in charge of the +army, and many skilled engineers were gathered to superintend the +building. + +Almost at the same time when Olof reported for work Count Platen and the +other officers were surprised to see a small boy, not more than thirteen +years old, come every day to watch the digging, to study the machinery, +and to ask questions of every one in the place. He was a handsome boy, +well built, with light, close-cut, curling hair, fair as Swedish boys +almost always are, with clear blue eyes, and a very firm mouth and chin. +While other boys of his age were at school or playing he would stand on +the bank of the canal, studying by the hour some piece of machinery. +Then on another day he would come with a pad of paper, some crude +home-made drawing tools, and pencils, and perching himself on a pile of +rocks or of lumber would draw the machinery as a skilled draughtsman +might, and then work over his sketch, apparently adding to it or +altering it to suit ideas of his own. + +Count Platen watched the boy for several days, and then one morning went +up to him. "May I see what you're doing?" he asked. + +The boy, who had been absolutely absorbed in his work, looked up. "It's +the sketch of a new pump to drain the canal," said he. "I made one for +father's mine in Vermland, and I don't see why the same plan can't be +used here. It'll do the work more quickly." + +Count Platen looked at the drawing on the boy's lap, and listened +intently while the young inventor explained how the machine should work. +He was astounded at the knowledge the boy had of engineering. + +"You're Olof Ericsson's son, aren't you?" he asked finally. + +The boy nodded. "Yes, I'm John Ericsson; I've an older brother Nils, +who's fifteen." + +"Is Nils as much of an engineer as you are?" + +"He knows a good deal about it. Father taught us both, but I don't think +he's as fond of machines as I am." + +The Count laughed. It sounded strange to him to hear a small boy talk of +machinery so eagerly. He could not doubt the boy's earnestness, however. +He had watched him for several days and had just examined his plans. The +boy evidently meant what he said. + +"Well, John, you're certainly a remarkable lad. I shouldn't wonder if +you'd the making of a genius in you." He considered a few minutes, and +then went on. "We need some engineers here to show these stupid soldiers +what to do. How'd you like to try such a job?" + +The boy jumped from his seat in his excitement. "I'd like it very much, +sir. Do you mean to tell the men what to do, and to have real tools to +work with?" + +Count Platen smiled. "Yes, to have entire charge of a part of the work. +That's what I mean. I really think you could do it. How old are you, +John?" + +"I'll be fourteen very soon." + +"Hm," mused the Count, "It seems absurd to put a boy of fourteen in +charge of six hundred soldiers. And yet if he has the skill to do the +work, why not? And there's small doubt that he has. Well, John, I'll see +what can be done. Meet me here to-morrow morning." + +The next day Count Platen found John anxiously awaiting him. He told the +boy at once that his plan had proved successful, and that both John and +Nils were to be enrolled as cadets in the mechanical corps of the +Swedish navy, and that John was to be put in charge of part of the canal +building. The boy was highly delighted; he knew that now he should have +a chance to try in actual working some of the inventions he had planned +on paper. As soon as he had thanked his kind friend the Count he ran +home to tell his mother the news of Nils' and his good fortune. + +It was a curious sight when the officer in command of the troops placed +six hundred soldiers in charge of young John Ericsson. They were too +well trained to laugh, but they were tremendously surprised when they +saw that their future orders were to come from this small, curly-haired +lad just barely turned fourteen. Olof Ericsson himself was scarcely less +surprised than the men; he knew his son's great mechanical ability, but +he could hardly believe that others had come to realize it so soon. + +A few days of actual work on the canal, however proved that Count Platen +had made no mistake. John knew what ought to be done, and he could show +the soldiers new and better ways of getting results, although he was +actually too small to reach the eyepiece of his leveling instrument +without the aid of a camp-stool which he carried about with him. He +brought out some of the mechanical drawings he had worked over, and had +machinery made after them, and whenever his inventions were tried they +met with success. + +For several years John commanded his six hundred men at the Göta Canal, +and then he decided to enter the army. He had grown tall, and was noted +for his great strength and skill in feats of arms. At seventeen he was +made an Ensign in the Rifle Corps, and soon after Lieutenant in the +Royal Chasseurs. He was fond of the life of the army, but he saw there +was no great future in it for him, and he could not give up his passion +for science and invention. He procured an appointment as surveyor for +the district of Jemtland, and found himself free again to work on his +own lines. + +Sweden is a rugged country, its northern part serried by great fiords, +its mountains steep and often desolate, its forests thick and many. The +young surveyor was in his element roughing it through the wild country, +with an eye to improving it for cultivation and for defense, making +elaborate maps of its hills and valleys, and charts of its fiords and +bays. He had a genius for such work, and the drawings he sent back to +Stockholm were invaluable for the development of Sweden. The surveyors +were paid according to the work they did, but John Ericsson worked so +rapidly that the officials were afraid it would cause a scandal if it +were known how much money he was receiving, and so they carried him on +their account-books as two different men and paid him for two men's +work. + +In his spare hours in Jemtland and Norrland John was busy with +inventions. As a boy he had been delighted to watch his father make a +vacuum in a tube by means of fire. Now he worked over uses to which he +could put that idea, and finally invented a flame engine based largely +on that principle. That success led him to study engines more deeply, +and had much to do with deciding his later career. + +Sweden had shown the world much that was new in the building of the Göta +Canal, and many of the improvements had been due to the boy cadet +Ericsson. He was now persuaded to write a book on "Canals," explaining +his inventions and describing the Swedish plans. In such a scientific +book the drawings of diagrams were as important as the writing. As soon +as John realized that, he could not resist the temptation to try his +hand at inventing a machine which should properly engrave the plates he +was drawing. It was pure delight to him to exercise his wits on such a +problem, and as a result in a short time he had made a machine for +engraving plates which was used successfully in preparing the +illustrations for his book on "Canals." + +The youth had now won wide recognition throughout Sweden for his +inventive skill. But his own country offered him small opportunities, +devoted though he was to the land and the people. There was more chance +for such a man in a country like England, and there he now went. +Stephenson was working then on his steam-engine, and Ericsson studied +the same subject, and built an engine which in many ways was superior to +the Englishman's. In whatever direction he turned his mind he was able +to find new ideas for improving on old methods. + +Ericsson soon built a locomotive for the directors of the railway +between Liverpool and Birmingham which was the lightest and fastest yet +constructed, starting off at the rate of fifty miles an hour. He could +not find the opportunities he wished, however, in England, and went to +Germany, and from there came to the United States. + +It was in America that Ericsson won his greatest triumphs. He had +invented a screw propeller for boats, and found a splendid market for +this type of machinery. He built the steamship _Princeton_, the first +screw steamer with her machinery under the water line. This was a great +improvement on the old top-heavy style of steamboats, but how great was +only to be known when war showed that ironclads with machinery safely +sunk beneath the water line and so out of reach of the enemy's guns +were to revolutionize naval warfare. + +By the time of the American Civil War men in all countries were +experimenting with these new ideas for ships which Ericsson had launched +upon the world. News came to Washington that the Confederate government +had an all-iron boat, low in the water, which could ram the high-riding +wooden ships of the Union navy, and would furnish little target for +their fire. The Union was in great alarm, for it looked as though this +small iron floating battery could do untold damage to the Union +shipping. There was only one man to appeal to if the North were to +offset this Southern ship, which had been christened the _Merrimac_. +John Ericsson was the man, and he agreed to build an ironclad which +should be superior to the _Merrimac_, and to build her in one hundred +days. + +On March 8, 1862, the _Merrimac_ steamed into Hampton Roads, fully +expecting to destroy the Union fleet there. But instead, to the great +amazement of her officers and men a little iron boat, so small that she +looked like a tiny pill-box on a plank, steamed out to meet her. She was +so tiny it was almost impossible to hit her; she was almost entirely +under water, and her gun turret was built to revolve so that she could +fire in any direction. It was like a battle between David and Goliath, +and when the day was over David had won, and the _Merrimac_ had to bow +to the iron "pill-box" which had been named the _Monitor_. Proud was +John Ericsson then, and rightly so, for he had invented an entirely new +kind of ship, and one which was to give its name of _Monitor_ to all +ships of its kind. + +The building of the _Monitor_ for its successful battle with the +_Merrimac_ was the most dramatic incident in Ericsson's career as an +inventor, but his whole life showed a series of wonderful inventions +which for value and wide range can probably only be compared with those +of Edison. The prophecy which the fairy had made to the shepherd in +Sweden had come true, the name of Ericsson was known throughout the +world. And in addition to John, the older brother Nils had won great +renown in Sweden. He was made Director of Canals there, and created a +nobleman for his great services to science and to his native land. + +On the Battery in New York City, overlooking the wonderful harbor that +is filled with ships of every country, stands the statue of a tall, +handsome man, somewhat of the type of those Norsemen who were the great +adventurers of the Atlantic seas. The statue is of the man who built the +_Monitor_, and who brought to the new world the genius for invention +which he had first shown on the hills and in the woods of Sweden in the +days when, a boy of fourteen, he had taught men how to build the great +canal at Göta. + + + + +XVIII + +Garibaldi + +The Boy of the Mediterranean: 1807-1882 + + +The town of Nice lay blazing with color under the hot August sun. The +houses, with their shining red-tiled roofs, their painted yellow walls, +their striped and checkered awnings, were scarcely less vivid than the +waters of the bay, which sparkled like a sea of opals under the rich +blue Mediterranean sky. Color was everywhere, brilliant even in the +sun-tanned cheeks, the black hair and eyes, the orange and gold and red +caps and sashes of the three boys who stood on the beach, looking out at +the home-coming fleet of feluccas and fishing-smacks. + +"If only I were a man!" exclaimed one of the boys. "No more Latin +lessons with the Padre. I could sail and fish all day like brother +Carlo. And sometimes I'd visit strange lands, like Africa, and have the +sort of adventures father tells of." + +"I'll be a sailor too, Cesare," agreed the tallest of the three, nodding +his head. "Only poor Giuseppe here will have to stay ashore and be a +priest." He turned a sympathetic face toward Giuseppe, who stood with +his arms folded, his black eyes looking hungrily out to sea. + +"Aye, he'll be teaching other boys just as the Padre teaches us," said +Cesare. + +This prophecy was more than the third boy could stand. He turned quickly +toward his friends. "I'll have adventures, too," he exclaimed. "I'll not +stay here in Nice all my life; I'll go to Genoa and to Rome, and perhaps +I'll fight the Turks. I want to do things, too." His deep eyes shone +with excitement and his face glowed. "Look you, Cesare and Raffaelle, +why shouldn't we turn sailors now?" + +Both boys laughed; they were used to the mad ideas of young Giuseppe +Garibaldi. He, however, was not laughing. "Why not? I've been out to sea +a hundred times with father. He lets me handle his boat sometimes, +though he does say that I'm to enter the Church. Your brother, Cesare, +has a boat that he never uses. Why shouldn't we sail in her to Genoa?" + +Giuseppe was a born leader. The other boys looked doubtfully at each +other, then back at him. The gleam in his eyes held them. + +"Let's sail to-morrow at dawn! You, Cesare, furnish the boat, I'll bring +bread and sausage from home, and Raffaelle shall get a jug of water. +Your brother's boat is sound, Cesare? We'll sail along the shore to +Genoa!" + +"Some one will catch sight of us and stop us," objected Raffaelle. + +"Nay, we'll wait till the other boats are out. They'll all be off before +dawn and we'll have the beach to ourselves." + +"I've a compass my uncle gave me on my name day," said Cesare. "I'll +bring that." + +"And I'll bring some fishing lines," put in Raffaelle, unwilling to be +outdone. + +So almost before they knew it the other two boys had agreed to +Giuseppe's plan, just as the boys of Nice usually unconsciously followed +his lead. + + * * * * * + +The Mediterranean was all silver and blue when the three boys met next +day in the early summer dawn at the pier near the Porto Olimpio where +Carlo Parodi's boat lay. Raffaelle had brought a jug of water and some +fishing lines, Giuseppe a basket of provisions, and Cesare his compass. +They could hardly wait until the last of the fishing boats had put out +to sea before they ran down the pier to embark in their own small craft. +The _Red Dragon_ was the boat's name, given her because of the painted +picture of a terrible monster that sprawled across the sail. She was old +and weather-beaten, a simple sailboat with only a shallow cabin, such as +is used in the Mediterranean to coast along the shore. + +Under Giuseppe's leadership the food and water were stowed on board, the +sail raised, and the boat cast off from the pier. Cesare took the tiller +and with a light morning breeze the _Red Dragon_ drew proudly away from +the beach and headed eastward toward Genoa. + +As the sun rose higher the breeze stiffened, the sail filled and the +brilliant dragon spread out his red body and tail. Each of the boys had +sailed this inland sea a hundred times before, but never had it seemed +so wonderful a place as on this summer morning. The water dashed along +the gunwale and sometimes sent a warm spray into their faces. Behind +them lay the curving harbor, beyond that the red and yellow and brown +roofs and walls of Nice, and still farther back the dim blue outlines of +the mountains. + +They were so excited that for some time they forgot they had had no +breakfast. Presently Raffaelle remembered it, and Giuseppe's basket was +opened and its stock of rye bread, bologna sausage and olives handed +around. The boys were surprised to find how hungry they were, but like a +prudent captain Giuseppe would only let them eat a small part of the +rations. "Suppose we should run into a spell of calm weather before we +sighted Genoa," said he. + +After breakfast Raffaelle took the helm and Cesare and Giuseppe lay up +in the bow and planned what they would do after they landed at Genoa. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile the three families of Parodi, Deandreis and Garibaldi in Nice +were considerably excited. A boy in each family had disappeared. Knowing +what close friends the three boys were the fathers sought each other. +Each family had the same tale to tell. + +Then came word that Carlo Parodi's boat was missing, and this gave the +searchers a clue. They went to the beach, but only to find that all the +fishing-boats had put out to sea some time ago. Signor Garibaldi, +however, was a man of resource and influence, and within an hour he had +found a coast-guard captain who would take him in pursuit. The +coast-guard boat was big and she could triple the speed of the small +_Red Dragon_. By ten o'clock the runaway boat was sighted just opposite +Monaco. The boys saw the pursuers coming, but even by crowding on all +their sail they could not gain a lead. So when the coast-guard came +alongside of them they surrendered. + +Even though they had not reached Genoa, the lads had tasted the salt of +adventure. Giuseppe's father boarded the _Red Dragon_, and, treating the +whole matter as a summer's lark, helped the young sailors to bring their +boat about, and tacking across toward Monaco and then out to the deeper +sea, gave them a lesson in sailing that made them quickly forget that +they were going back to Nice. + +On that sail home the father learned a good deal about Giuseppe. He +heard the boys talk freely to each other, and as he listened he realized +that this son of his was not the quiet type of boy who would make a good +priest, but that he craved the roving life of the sea, descended as he +was from generations of sailors. He himself knew the perils of the sea +only too well, how hard a man must work in its service, and how little +he might gain, and how much securer was the life on shore. But he also +knew that when once the sea called to a boy of Nice it was useless to +try to make him forget the call. Giuseppe would not make a good priest, +and he might make a good sailor. So the watchful father decided, as he +brought the little boat back to shore, to let his son follow his natural +bent. + +After their adventure Giuseppe and his two friends went quietly on with +their school life. Giuseppe's father had promised to teach him something +about navigation in the evenings, and had told him that, if he would +only be patient and wait a short time, he should make a cruise in +earnest. One day, as the boy and his father were coming home from church +a tall, black-haired man stepped up to them, and, holding out his hand, +said, "Signor, will you give us something for the refugees of Italy?" +Giuseppe's father gave the man a few coins, which he received with the +greatest thanks. As they walked on the boy kept turning back to look at +the tall gaunt-faced man they had met. Finally he said, "Who was he, +father, and what did he mean by the refugees of Italy?" + +The father looked down into the boy's eager eyes. "Our poor country," +said he, "has been thrown to the ground, and different people have been +beating her and trying to keep her down, but chiefly the big, +white-coated Austrians, Giuseppe boy. Every once in a while some of our +men band together and try to do something to help Italy get to her feet +again. That man who asked for money was such a man." + +"But why did he look so sad and white, father, and why did he say the +refugees?" + +"Our men are very few, Giuseppe, and have poor arms, and the enemy's +army is very large and their men are veteran soldiers, so that we always +lose. Then those who fought, like that poor fellow, have to fly and seek +refuge out of Italy until the storm blows past." + +Giuseppe clasped his hands behind his back, and his face grew very +thoughtful. "So that man has been to war," he said, "and for us, and the +money you gave him is going to help them the next time?" + +"Exactly," said the father, with a smile at the boy's serious manner. +Giuseppe was not usually very thoughtful. + +"How long do you think the refugees will have to go on fighting, father, +before the enemy are finally driven out of our land?" + +"Oh, they'll have to fight for years and years, and perhaps they'll +never win, for the enemy is much stronger than we Italians." + +"Then," said Giuseppe, "I'm glad, for that will give Cesare and +Raffaelle and me a chance to help them fight. I'm going to be a refugee +myself some day. Will you teach me, father, how to use a sword?" + +"All in good time," said the man, smiling. "You've got your hands full +learning the points of the compass just now." + +For some reason Giuseppe could not get the tall, black-haired man out of +his mind, and the next day, at recess, he told his two friends of his +meeting with him and what he had learned about him. + +"Couldn't we find him or another like him, this afternoon?" suggested +Cesare, very much interested. + +"We'll hunt," agreed Giuseppe. "A refugee could tell us much better +stories than those old sailors can." + +After school the three boys looked through the main streets of Nice, but +saw no one asking for alms for the cause of Italy. They went down to the +harbor, but there were no such men there. Finally in a little square +they came upon the very man Giuseppe had seen the day before. He was +sitting on the grass under a tree, and seemed to be asleep, for his head +was sunk on his folded arms. They crossed over to him quietly. Although +the day was warm he had a greatcoat fastened about his shoulders and a +soft, broad-brimmed hat pulled down upon his head. He looked tired out. + +The three boys stood in front of the man, and finally his eyes opened. +He smiled as he saw them staring at him. "What do you want with me, +signors?" said he. + +Giuseppe dropped on to the grass beside him. "I know now what you meant +when you said the refugees of Italy yesterday," he explained. "We three +boys mean to be refugees some day. We've made a vow that we'll fight the +Austrians until there isn't one of the three of us left. We'd like very +much to hear some of the things you've done." + +The man threw back his cloak and sat up a trifle straighten "Three +future refugees!" he exclaimed. "The world moves! You want to be pushing +me away already, do you? Sit down, I'll tell you what I can." + +The boys sat in front of him, and listened with rapt attention while he +told them that his home was in a little town half-way between Nice and +Genoa, that he was a member of a secret society called the Carbonari, +and that the first rule of that society was that a man must do exactly +as he was told without asking why. Not long before he had received a +secret message telling him to go to the city of Milan, taking his sword +and pistols with him. He had left his wife and children and gone to +Milan, and there he had waited a long time while the leaders of the +society planned to surprise the Austrian garrison and drive the troops +out of the city. + +The night of the attempt finally arrived but some one had betrayed them. +No sooner had they met at the place agreed on than word came that they +must scatter instantly if they wanted to escape the Austrian bayonets. +Each had gone his own way, trying to get as far from Milan as he could. +He had managed to get to Nice, where he was near the French border, and +could cross it at any time. Meanwhile he and the other refugees had to +ask alms or starve. + +The boys had heard of the society of the Carbonari which had spread all +over Italy, and they listened to this story by one of its members with +the greatest interest. They asked him a great many questions, but he +would only answer a few of them. He only told them such facts as were +public property; inquiries about the society itself were met with a +smile and a shake of the head. Before they left him they made him take +the few coins they had in their pockets, to help him and other refugees +of their country. They also made him write their names on a piece of +paper so that when the next uprising should come they might be sent for. +And they solemnly organized a secret society among themselves to last +until the time when they would be old enough to join the Carbonari. + +From that day Giuseppe kept his eyes open for any other refugees who +might be roaming through the streets of Nice. Occasionally he found some +war-worn soldier or sailor whom the authorities allowed to sit in the +sun in one of the city squares or down on the quays, but younger and +more active refugees were scarce, and preferred to cross the frontier to +Marseilles. + +Giuseppe and Raffaelle and Cesare, however, were not to be discouraged, +and as soon as they could they laid their hands on long cloaks and +broad-brimmed hats, and dressed as nearly as possible like their +black-haired friend. They invented countersigns and mottoes, planned +conspiracies, and patterned themselves as nearly after the Carbonari as +they could. But there was no new uprising at that time, and so after a +while the boys lost interest in the game of conspiracy. + +His old love of the sea came back more strongly than ever to Giuseppe, +and he begged his father to take him with him on his next cruise. His +mother thought he was too young to leave the Church school, but the boy, +already large and strong for his years, was growing very restless, and +there was no telling what mischief he might get into if he were kept at +home. + +In the long evenings he was always asking his father to describe to him +the strange cities he had visited on his travels. He begged him +especially to tell him about Rome and her seven wonderful hills, the +city which from his earliest childhood had fascinated him more than any +other place in the world. + +"Do you think I'll ever get to Rome, father?" Giuseppe would ask. + +"Yes. We'll go there together some day before long, little son," his +father would answer. + +So indeed they did. When Giuseppe was about fifteen years old he was +allowed to make his first long voyage on a brigantine bound from Nice to +Odessa, and a year later he sailed on his father's felucca to Rome. The +city of the Cæsars seemed even more wonderful than he had dreamed. It +was the heart of the world to him, and he never forgot the deep +impression that first sight of it made upon him. + +After his first voyage the young Garibaldi sailed with many captains and +saw a great deal of the world, rounding Cape Horn, voyaging to the far +north, and even crossing the Atlantic and visiting South America. He was +always deeply interested in strange lands; he loved the thrill of any +adventure, and at the sight of an act of injustice or cruelty nothing +could keep him from going at once to the rescue. + +When he was in South America he heard that the Italians were rising +against their foreign masters and were planning to fight for freedom. He +sailed for home instantly, and no sooner did he land than he was leading +a company of friends to join the Italian army. He was fearless, +generous, and as open-hearted as a child; wherever he went men flocked +to his command; within a few months the young man was virtually general +of an army, and fighting and winning battle after battle in the Alps. At +the end of a year his fame had crossed Europe. + +The freedom of Italy, however, was not won in a single campaign. +Although Garibaldi's troops were victorious, some of the other Italian +armies were not, and before long that first war of independence came to +an end. For a time the Austrians' hold over the cities of Italy seemed +stronger than ever, and Garibaldi and many of his friends were forced to +leave their homes and seek refuge in other countries. Again Garibaldi +crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and this time he went to New York, and took +up the trade of candle-maker, living in a small frame house on Staten +Island. He liked Americans; they understood him and his burning desire +for Italian freedom better than any other foreigners he met. + +He stayed on Staten Island until the chance came for him to go to sea +again as captain of a merchantman, and after that it was only a short +time before he was again in the Alps, his sword drawn, his devoted +volunteers behind him. + +It was long before the dream of Italian patriots came true and Rome +became the capital of a united country, but during those years Garibaldi +led crusade after crusade. He wore the simple costume of an Italian +peasant, with a red shirt which was copied by all his men. This +red-shirted army swept the enemy out of Sicily and Naples, drove them +back through the Alps, won so continually that the superstitious +Neapolitans believed that their leader must be in league with the Evil +One. But the people of Italy worshiped this general beyond all their +other heroes. + +Even their praises could not spoil the simplicity of Garibaldi's nature. +When his work was done he went home to live quietly with his family. The +friends of his boyhood found him very little changed, the same lover of +Italy and the sea, the same adventurous, generous spirit he had been as +a youth in Nice. + +In those youthful days his boy friends had followed him without +question, now the whole of Italy looked to him as their leader; he had +succeeded in doing what hundreds of other men had dreamed of doing, +driving the Austrians permanently out of the peninsula, and restoring to +his countrymen the ancient liberty of Italy. Yet whether as a boy upon +the Mediterranean or as the liberator of a nation he was always the same +frank, straightforward, high-minded Giuseppe Garibaldi. + + + + +XIX + +Abraham Lincoln + +The Boy of the American Wilderness: 1809-1865 + + +Squire Josiah Crawford was seated on the porch of his house in +Gentryville, Indiana, one spring afternoon when a small boy called to +see him. The Squire was a testy old man, not very fond of boys, and he +glanced up over his book, impatient and annoyed at the interruption. + +"What do you want here?" he demanded. + +The boy had pulled off his raccoon-skin cap, and stood holding it in his +hand while he eyed the old man. + +"They say down at the store, sir," said the boy, "that you have a 'Life +of George Washington,' I'd like mighty well to read it." + +The Squire peered closer at his visitor, surprised out of his annoyance +at the words. He looked over the boy, carefully examining his long, lank +figure, the tangled mass of black hair, his deep-set eyes, and large +mouth. He was evidently from some poor country family. His clothes were +home-made, and the trousers were shrunk until they barely reached below +his knees. + +"What's your name, boy?" asked the Squire. + +"Abe Lincoln, son of Tom Lincoln, down on Pidgeon Creek." + +The Squire said to himself: "It must be that Tom Lincoln, who, folks +say, is a ne'er-do-well and moves from place to place every year because +he can't make his farm support him." Then he said, aloud, to the boy: +"What do you want with my 'Life of Washington'?" + +"I've been learning about him at school, and I'd like to know more." + +The old man studied the boy in silence for some moments; something about +the lad seemed to attract him. Finally he said: "Can I trust you to take +good care of the book if I lend it to you?" + +"As good care," said the boy, "as if it was made of gold, if you'd only +please let me have it for a week." + +His eyes were so eager that the old man could not withstand them. "Wait +here a minute," he said, and went into the house. When he returned he +brought the coveted volume with him, and handed it to the boy. "There it +is," said he: "I'm going to let you have it, but be sure it doesn't come +to harm down on Pidgeon Creek." + +The boy, with the precious volume tucked tightly under his arm, went +down the single street of Gentryville with the joy of anticipation in +his face. He could hardly wait to open the book and plunge into it. He +stopped for a moment at the village store to buy some calico his +stepmother had ordered, and then struck into the road through the woods +that led to his home. + +The house which he found at the end of his trail was a very primitive +one. The first home Tom Lincoln had built on the Creek when he moved +there from Kentucky had been merely a "pole-shack," four poles driven +into the ground with forked ends at the top, other poles laid crosswise +in the forks, and a roof of poles built on this square. There had been +no chimney, only an open place for a window, and another for a door, and +strips of bark and patches of clay to keep the rain out. The new house +was a little better, it had an attic, and the first floor was divided +into several rooms. It was very simple, however; in reality only a big +log-cabin. + +The boy came out of the woods, crossed the clearing about the house, and +went in at the door. His stepmother was sitting at the window sewing. He +held up the volume for her to see. "I've got it!" he cried. "It's the +'Life of Washington,' and now I'm goin' to learn all about him." He had +barely time to put the book in the woman's hands before his father's +voice was heard calling him out-of-doors. There was work to be done on +the farm, and the rest of that afternoon Abe was kept busily employed, +and as soon as supper was finished his father set him to work mending +harness. + +At dawn the next day the boy was up and out in the fields, the "Life of +Washington" in one pocket, the other pocket filled with corn dodgers. +Unfortunately he could not read and run a straight furrow. When it was +noontime he sat under a tree, munching the cakes, and plunged into the +first chapter of the book. For half an hour he read and ate, then he had +to go on with his work until sundown. When he got home he had his supper +standing up so that he could read the book by the candle that stood on +the shelf. After supper he lay in front of the fire, still reading, and +forgetting everything about him. + +Gradually the fire burned out, the family went to bed, and young Abe was +obliged to go up to his room in the attic. He put the book on a ledge on +the wall close to the head of his bed so that nothing might happen to +it. During the night a violent storm arose, and the rain came through a +chink in the log walls. When the boy woke he found that the book was a +mass of wet paper, the type blurred, and the cover beyond repair. He was +heartbroken at the discovery. He could imagine how angry the old Squire +would be when he saw the state of the book. Nevertheless he determined +to go to Gentryville at the earliest opportunity and see what he could +do to make amends. + +The next Sunday morning found a small boy standing on the Squire's porch +with the remains of the book in his hand. When the Squire learned what +had happened he spoke his mind freely. He told Abe that he was as +worthless as his father, that he did not know how to take care of +valuable property, and that he would never loan him another book as long +as he lived. The boy faced the music, and when the angry tirade was +over, said that he would like to shuck corn for the Squire, and in that +way pay him the value of the ruined volume. Mr. Crawford accepted the +offer and named a price far greater than any possible value of the book, +and Abe set to work, spending all his spare time in the next two weeks +shucking the corn and working as chore-boy. So he finally succeeded in +paying back the full value of the ruined "Life of Washington." + +This was only one of many adventures that befell Abraham Lincoln while +he was trying to get an education. His mother had taught him to read and +write, and ever since he had learned he had longed for books to read. + +One day he said to his cousin, Dennis Hanks, "Denny, the things I want +to know are in books. My best friend is the man who will get me one." + +Dennis was very fond of his younger cousin, and as soon as he could save +up the money he went to town and bought a copy of "The Arabian Nights." +He gave this to Abe, and the latter at once started to read it aloud by +the wood-fire in the evenings. His mother, his sister Sally, and Dennis +were his audience. His father thought the reading only waste of time and +said, "Abe, your mother can't work with you pesterin' her like that," +but Mrs. Lincoln said the stories helped her, and so the reading went +on. When he came to the story of how Sindbad the Sailor went too close +to the magic rock and lost all the nails out of the bottom of his boat, +Abe laughed until he cried. + +Dennis, however, could not see the humor. "Why, Abe," said he, "that +yarn's just a lie." + +"P'raps so," answered the small boy, "but if it is, it's a mighty good +lie." + +As a matter of fact Abe had very few books. His earliest possessions +consisted of less than half-a-dozen volumes--a pioneer's library. First +of all was the Bible, a whole library in itself, containing every sort +of literature. Second was "Pilgrim's Progress," with its quaint +characters and vivid scenes told in simple English. + +"Æsop's Fables" was a third, and introduced the log-cabin boy to a +wonderful range of characters--the gods of mythology, the different +classes of mankind, and every animal under the sun; and fourth was a +History of the United States, in which there was the charm of truth, and +from which Abe learned valuable lessons of patriotism. + +He read these books over and over till he knew them by heart. He would +sit in the twilight and read a dictionary as long as he could see. He +could not afford to waste paper upon original compositions, and so he +would sit by the fire at night and cover the wooden shovel with essays +and arithmetical problems, which he would shave off and then begin +again. + +The few books he was able to get made the keen-witted country boy +anxious to find people who could answer his questions for him. In those +days many men, clergymen, judges, and lawyers, rode on circuit, stopping +over night at any farmhouse they might happen upon. When such a man +would ride up to the Lincoln clearing he was usually met by a small boy +who would fire questions at him before he could dismount from his horse. + +The visitor would be amused, but Tom Lincoln thought that a poor sort of +hospitality. He would come running out of the house and say, "Stop that, +Abe. What's happened to your manners?" Then he would turn to the +traveler, "You must excuse him. 'Light, stranger, and come in to +supper." Then Abe would go away whistling to show that he did not care. +When he found Dennis he would say, "Pa says it's not polite to ask +questions, but I guess I wasn't meant to be polite. There's such a lot +of things to know, and how am I going to know them if I don't ask +questions?" He simply stored them away until a later time, and when +supper was over he usually found his chance to make use of the visitor. + +In that day Indiana was still part of the wilderness. Primeval woods +stood close to Pidgeon Creek, and not far away were roving bands of Sacs +and Sioux, and also wild animals--bears, wildcats, and lynxes. The +settlers fought the Indians, and made use of the wild creatures for +clothing and food, and to sell at the country stores. The children spent +practically all their time out-of-doors, and young Abe Lincoln learned +the habits of the wild creatures, and explored the far recesses of the +woods. + +From his life in the woods the boy became very fond of animals. One day +some of the boys at school put a lighted coal on a turtle's back in +sport. Abe rescued the turtle, and when he got a chance wrote a +composition in school about cruel jokes on animals. It was a good paper, +and the teacher had the boy read it before the class. All the boys liked +Abe, and they took to heart what he had to say in the matter. + +It was a rough sort of life that the children of the early settlers led, +and the chances were all in favor of the Lincoln boy growing up to be +like his father, a kind-hearted, ignorant, ne'er-do-well type of man. +His mother, however, who came of a good Virginia family, had done her +best to give him some ambition. Once she had said to him, "Abe, learn +all you can, and grow up to be of some account. You've got just as +good Virginia blood in you as George Washington had." Abe did not forget +that. + +[Illustration: BIRTHPLACE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN] + +Soon after the family moved to Pidgeon Creek his mother died, and a +little later a stepmother took her place. This woman soon learned that +the boy was not the ordinary type, and kept encouraging him to make +something of himself. She was always ready to listen when he read, to +help him with his lessons, to cheer him. When he got too old to wear his +bearskin suit she told him that if he would earn enough money to get +some muslin, she would make him some white shirts, so that he would not +be ashamed to go to people's houses. Abe earned the money, and Mrs. +Lincoln purchased the cloth and made the shirts. After that Abe cut +quite a figure in Gentryville, because he liked people, and knew so many +good stories that he was always popular with a crowd. + +Small things showed the ability that was in the raw country lad. When he +was only fourteen a copy of Henry Clay's speeches fell into his hands, +and he learned most of them by heart, and what he learned from them +interested him in history. Then a little later his stepmother was ill +for some time, and Abe went to church every Sunday, and on his return +repeated the sermon almost word for word to her. Again he loved to +argue, and would take up some question he had asked of a stranger and go +on with it when the latter returned to the Creek, perhaps months after +the first visit. Mrs. Lincoln noted these things, and made up her mind +that her stepson would be a great man some day. Most frequently she +thought he would be a great lawyer, because, as she said, "When Abe got +started arguing, the other fellow'd pretty soon say he had enough." + +Probably at this time Abe was more noted for his love of learning new +things and for his great natural strength than for anything else. He was +in no sense an infant prodigy. It took him a long time to learn, but +when he had once acquired anything it stayed by him permanently. The +books he had read he knew from cover to cover, and the words he had +learned to spell at the school "spelling bees" he never forgot. Now and +again he tried his hand at writing short compositions, usually on +subjects he had read of in books, and these little essays were always to +the point and showed that the boy knew what he was discussing. One or +two of these papers got into the hands of a local newspaper and appeared +in print, much to Abe's surprise and to his stepmother's delight. + +Yet after all these qualities were not the ones which won him greatest +admiration in the rough country life. The boys and young men admired his +great size and strength, for when he was only nineteen he had reached +his full growth, and stood six feet four inches tall. Countless stories +were current about his feats of strength. + +At one time, it was said, young Abe Lincoln was seen to pick up and +carry away a chicken coop weighing six hundred pounds. At another time +Abe happened to come upon some men who were building a contrivance for +lifting some heavy posts from the ground. He stepped up to them and +said, "Say, let me have a try," and in a few minutes he had shouldered +the posts and carried them where they were wanted. As a rail-splitter he +had no equal. A man for whom he worked told his father that Abe could +sink his axe deeper into the wood than any man he ever saw. + +This great strength was a very valuable gift in such a community as that +of Gentryville, and made people respect this boy even more than would +his learning and his kindness of heart. + +A little later he lived in a village named New Salem, and there he found +a crowd of boys who were called the "Clary's Grove Boys," who were noted +for the rough handling they gave to strangers. Many a new boy had been +hardly dealt with at their hands. Sometimes they would lead him into a +fight and then beat him black and blue, and sometimes they would nail +the stranger into a hogshead and roll him down a steep hill. + +When Abe Lincoln first came to the town they were afraid to tackle him, +but when their friends taunted the crowd of young roughs with being +afraid of Lincoln's strength, they decided to lay a trap for him. The +leader of the gang was a very good wrestler, and he seized an +opportunity when all the men of the town were gathered at the country +store to challenge Abe to a wrestling match. Abe was not at all anxious +to accept the challenge, but was finally driven to it by the taunts the +gang threw at him. A ring was made in the road outside the store, and +Abe and the bully set to. + +The leader of the gang, however, found that he could not handle this +tall young stranger as easily as he had handled other youths. He gave a +signal for help. Thereupon the rest of the roughs swarmed about the two +wrestlers and by kicking at Abe's legs and trying to trip him they +nearly succeeded in bringing him to the ground. When he saw how set they +were on downing him Abe's blood rose, and suddenly putting forth his +whole strength he seized his opponent in his arms and very nearly choked +the life out of him. + +For a moment it looked as though the rest of the crowd would set upon +Lincoln and that he would have to fight the lot of them single-handed. +He sprang back against a wall and called to them to come on. But he +looked so able to take care of any number that they faltered, and in a +moment their first fury gave place to an honest admiration for Lincoln's +nerve. That ended his initiation, and as long as he stayed in New Salem +the "Clary's Grove Boys" were his devoted followers. + +The leader of the gang, whom Abe had nearly throttled, became his sworn +friend, and this bond lasted through life. When other men threatened Abe +or spoke against him in any way, this youth was always first to stand up +for him, and acted as his champion many times. Curiously enough, in +after years, when Abe had become a lawyer, he defended his old +opponent's son when the young man was on trial for his life, and +succeeded in saving him. + +Such an adventure as this with the "Clary's Grove Boys" was typical of +the way in which Abe, as he grew up, came to acquire a very definite +position in the community. In one way and another he gained the +reputation which the boys gave him of being not only the strongest, but +also "the cleverest fellow that had ever broke into the settlement." +There were many strong men in that country, but there were few really +clever ones, and the simple farmers were only too willing to admire +brains when they met them. + +The time had passed when the boy could stay in the small surroundings of +Pidgeon Creek. First he tried life on one of the river steamboats, then +served as a clerk in a store at the town of New Salem, and there he +began at odd moments to study law. + +A little later he knew enough law to become an attorney, and went to +Springfield, and after that it was only a short time before he had won +his clients. His cousin Denny came to hear him try one of his first +cases. He watched the tall, lank young fellow, still as ungainly as in +his early boyhood, and heard him tell the jury some of those same +stories he had read aloud before the fire. + +When Abe had finished his cousin said to him, "Why did you tell those +people so many stories?" + +"Why, Denny," said Abe, "a story teaches a lesson. God tells truths in +parables; they are easier for common folks to understand, and +recollect." + +Such was the simple boyhood of Abraham Lincoln, but its very simplicity, +and the hardships he had to overcome to get an education, made him a +strong man. He knew people, and when he came later to be President and +to guide the country through the greatest trial in its history, it was +those same qualities of perseverance and courage and trust in the people +that made the simple-minded man the great helmsman of the Republic. + + + + +XX + +Charles Dickens + +The Boy of the London Streets: 1812-1870 + + +The little fellow who worked all day long in the tumble-down old house +by the river Thames pasting oil-paper covers on boxes of blacking fell +ill one afternoon. One of the workmen, a big man named Bob Fagin, made +him lie down on a pile of straw in the corner and placed +blacking-bottles filled with hot water beside him to keep him warm. +There he lay until it was time for the men to stop work, and then his +friend Fagin, looking down upon the small boy of twelve, asked if he +felt able to go home. The boy got up looking so big-eyed, white-cheeked +and thin that the man put his arm about his shoulder. + +"Never mind, Bob, I think I'm all right now," said the boy. "Don't you +wait for me, go on home." + +"You ain't fit to go alone, Charley. I'm comin' along with you." + +"'Deed I am, Bob. I'm feelin' as spry as a cricket." The little fellow +threw back his shoulders and headed for the stairs. + +Fagin, however, insisted on keeping him company, and so the two, the +shabbily-dressed undersized boy, and the big strapping man came out into +the murky London twilight and took their way over the Blackfriars +Bridge. + +"Been spendin' your money at the pastry shops, Charley, again? That's +what was the matter with you, I take it." + +The boy shook his head. "No, Bob. I'm tryin' to save. When I get my +week's money I put it away in a bureau drawer, wrapped in six little +paper packages with a day of the week on each one. Then I know just how +much I've got to live on, and Sundays don't count. Sometimes I do get +hungry though, so hungry! Then I look in at the windows and play at +bein' rich." + +They crossed the Bridge, the boy's big eyes seeming to take note of +everything, the man, duller-witted, listening to his chatter. Several +times the boy tried to say good-night, but Fagin would not be shaken +off. "I'm goin' to see you to your door, Charley lad," he said each +time. + +At last they came into a little street near the Southwark Bridge. The +boy stopped by the steps of a house. "Here 'tis, Bob. Good-night. It was +good of you to take the trouble for me." + +"Good-night, Charley." + +The boy ran up the steps, and, as he noticed that Fagin still stopped, +he pulled the door-bell. Then the man went on down the street. When the +door opened the boy asked if Mr. Fagin lived there, and being told that +he did not, said he must have made a mistake in the house. Turning about +he saw that his friend had disappeared around a corner. With a little +smile of triumph he made off in the other direction. + +The door of the Marshalsea Prison stood open like a great black mouth. +The boy, tired with his long tramp, was glad to reach it and to run in. +Climbing several long flights of stairs he entered a room on the top +story where he found his family, his father, a tall pompous-looking man +dressed all in black, his mother, an amiable but extremely fragile +woman, and a small brother and sister seated at a table eating supper. +The room was very sparsely furnished; the only bright spot in it was a +small fire in a rusty grate, flanked by two bricks to prevent burning +too much fuel. + +There was a vacant place at the table for Charles, and he sat down upon +a stool and ate as ravenously as though he had not tasted food for +months. Meanwhile the tall man at the head of the table talked solemnly +to his wife at the other end, using strange long words which none of the +children could understand. + +Supper over Mr. and Mrs. Dickens (for that was their name) and the two +younger children sat before the tiny fire, and Mr. Dickens talked of how +he might raise enough money to pay his debts, leave the prison, and +start fresh in some new business. Charles had heard these same plans +from his father's lips a thousand times before, and so he took from the +cupboard an old book which he had bought at a little second-hand shop a +few days before, a small tattered copy of "Don Quixote," and read it by +the light of a tallow candle in the corner. + +The lines soon blurred before the boy's tired eyes, his head nodded, and +he was fast asleep. He was awakened by his father's deep voice. "Time +to be leaving, Charles, my son. You have not forgotten that my pecuniary +situation prevents my choosing the hour at which I shall close the door +of my house. Fortunately it is a predicament which I trust will soon be +obviated to our mutual satisfaction." + +The small fellow stood up, shook hands solemnly with his father, kissed +his mother, and took his way out of the great prison. Open doors on +various landings gave him pictures of many queer households; sometimes +he would stop as though to consider some unusually puzzling face or +figure. + +Into the night again he went, and wound through a dismal labyrinth of +the dark and narrow streets of old London. Sometimes a rough voice or an +evil face would frighten him, and he would take to his heels and run as +fast as he could. When he passed the house where he had asked for Mr. +Fagin he chuckled to himself; he would not have had his friend know for +worlds that his family's home was the Marshalsea Prison. + +Even that room in the prison, however, was more cheerful than the small +back-attic chamber where the boy fell asleep for the second time that +night. He slept on a bed made up on the floor, but his slumber was no +less deep on that account. + +The noise of workmen in a timber yard under his window woke Charles when +it seemed much too dark to be morning. It was morning, however, and he +was quickly dressed, and making his breakfast from the penny cottage +loaf of bread, section of cream cheese and small bottle of milk, which +were all he could afford to buy from the man who rented him the room. +Then he took the roll of paper marked with the name of the day from the +drawer of his bureau and counted out the pennies into his pocket. They +were not many; he had to live on seven shillings a week, and he tucked +them away very carefully in a pocket lest he lose them and have to do +without his lunch. + +He was not yet due at the blacking-factory, but he hurried away from his +room and joined the crowd of early morning people already on their way +to work. He went down the embankment along the Thames until he came to a +place where a bench was set in a corner of a wall. This was his favorite +lounging-place; London Bridge was just beyond, the river lay in front of +him, and he was far enough away from people to be safe from +interruption. + +As he sat there watching the Bridge and the Thames a little girl came to +join him. She was no bigger than he, perhaps a year or two older, but +her face was already shrewd enough for that of a grown-up woman. She was +the maid-of-all-work at a house in the neighborhood, and she had fallen +into the habit of stopping to talk for a few moments with the boy on her +way to work in the morning. She liked to listen to his stories. + +This was the boy's hour for inventing his tales; he could spin wonderful +tales about London Bridge, the Tower, and the wharves along the river. +Sometimes he made up stories about the people who passed in front of +them, and they were such astonishing stories that the girl remembered +them all day as she worked in the house. He seemed to believe them +himself; his eyes would grow far away and dreamy and his words would run +on and on until a neighboring clock brought him suddenly back to his own +position. + +"You do know a heap o' things, don't you?" said the little girl, lost in +admiration. "I'd rather have a shillin' though than all the fairy tales +in the world." + +"I wouldn't," said Charles stoutly. "I'd rather read books than do +anythin' else." + +"You've got to eat though," objected his companion, "and books won't +make you food. 'Tain't common sense." She relented in an instant. "It's +fun though, Charley Dickens. Good-bye 'til to-morrow." + +Charles went on down to the old blacking-factory by Hungerford Stairs, a +ramshackle building almost hanging over the river, damp and overrun with +rats. His place was in a recess of the counting-room on the first floor, +and as he covered the bottles with the oil-paper tops and tied them on +with string he could look from time to time through a window at the slow +coal barges swinging down the river. + +There were very few boys about the place; at lunch time he would wander +off by himself, and selecting his meal from a careful survey of several +pastry-cook's windows invest his money for the day in fancy cakes or a +tart. He missed the company of friends of his own age; even Fanny, his +oldest sister, he saw only on Sundays when she came back to the +Marshalsea from the place where she worked, to spend the day with her +family. It was only grown-up people that he saw most of the time, and +they were too busy with their own affairs to take much interest in the +small, shabby boy who looked just like any one of a thousand other +children of the streets. Of all the men at the factory it was only the +big clumsy fellow named Fagin who would stop to chat with the lad. + +So it was that Charles was forced to make friends with whomever he +could, people of any age or condition, and was driven to spend much of +his spare time roaming about the streets, lounging by the river, reading +stray books by a candle in the prison or in the little attic where he +slept. It was not a boyhood that seemed to promise much. + +In spite of this hard life which he led, Charles rarely lost his love of +fun or his natural high spirits. When he was about twelve years old his +father came into a little money, which enabled him to pay his debts so +that he was released from prison. He was also able to send his son to +school. Here he quickly blossomed out into a leader among the boys. He +was continually inventing new games, and queer languages, which were +made by adding extra syllables to ordinary words. Frequently he and +several of his school friends would go out into the street and talk to +each other in this language of their own, understanding what each other +said, but pretending to be foreigners to every one who heard them. + +Charles was also continually writing short stories, which he lent to his +friends on payment of marbles or slate-pencils or white mice, which the +boys were very fond of keeping in their desks. He and a few others +built a small theatre and painted gorgeous scenery for it, and then gave +regular plays, which he specially wrote for the theatre, to the great +entertainment of the other boys and the masters. This comfortable school +life was a great contrast to the hard knocks he had to endure when he +was at the blacking factory, and he flourished under its influence and +began to show something of his real talent for entertaining those about +him. + +Mr. Dickens, however, soon concluded that Charles ought to be making a +start in some business, and so a few years after he had entered school +he was placed as clerk in the office of a solicitor in Lincoln's Inn. +Here he had to run errands through the busy streets of London's business +life, copy all legal documents, and answer the clients who came to call +on the firm. + +The other clerks found young Dickens immensely entertaining. He could +mimic every one who called at the office, and in addition he knew the +different cockney voices of all the rabble of the London streets. He had +learnt to know the queer types of people who drifted about the river +banks and the poorer sections of the city. He knew every small +inflection of their voices and their every trick and gesture, and now he +acted them out to the great delight of the other clerks. But he could +put his powers of mimicry to greater uses. He went to the theatre, +particularly to hear Shakespeare's plays, as often as he could, and then +would repeat long passages from the plays, giving the exact voice and +manner of the leading actors. Many friends predicted that Charles would +be a great actor himself some day, and so perhaps he might had not +his interest all been drawn another way. + +[Illustration: CHARLES DICKENS AT EIGHTEEN] + +At the time he was so much charmed with the thought of becoming an actor +that he wrote to the manager of the theatre at Covent Garden, telling +him what he thought of his own gifts for the stage, and asking if he +might have an appointment. The manager wrote that they were very busy at +that time with a new play, but that he would write him soon when he +might have a chance to meet him. A little later Charles was invited to +go to the theatre and act a short piece in the presence of Charles +Kemble, a very famous actor. When the day arrived, however, he was +suffering from a very bad cold which had so swollen his throat that he +could hardly speak at all. As a result he could not go to the theatre, +and before he had another chance to try his luck he had made up his mind +that he would rather be a writer than an actor. + +It did not take Charles long to realize that the law was not to his +taste. He did not like what he saw of lawyers, and was much more apt to +make fun of than to imitate them. Looking about for some more +interesting work, he took to studying short-hand in the evenings. He +found it very hard to learn, particularly as he had to dig it out of +books in the reading-room of the British Museum, but he persevered, and +finally became very skilful, so that when he was sent by one of the +newspapers to report a debate in the House of Commons he did so +extremely well that experts stated "there never was such a short-hand +writer before." + +The life of a reporter had great charm for the youthful Dickens. He +liked the adventurous side of it, the chance to see strange scenes and +mix in interesting events. He had a great many strange adventures of his +own, and told later how on one occasion soon after he had become a +reporter, he was sent far out of London to take down a political speech, +and how coming back he had to write out his short-hand notes holding his +paper on the palm of his hand, and by the light of a dull, flickering +lantern, while the coach galloped at fifteen miles an hour through wild +and hilly country at midnight. + +In addition to reporting speeches Charles was sent to write notices of +new plays in the theatres and also reviewed new books. He signed these +reviews with his nickname "Boz," and it was not long before these +articles by Boz attracted the attention of a great many judges of good +writing. The chief editor of the _Morning Chronicle_, for which Charles +wrote, said of the youth, "He has never been a great reader of books or +plays and knows but little of them, but has spent his time in studying +life. Keep 'Boz' in reserve for great occasions. He will aye be ready +for them." + +So it proved, and he might have been a prominent newspaper man just as +he might have been a great actor had not the desire to see what he could +do with a story seized upon him. + +We have Dickens' own words to tell us how he wrote a little paper in +secret with much fear and trembling, and then dropped it stealthily into +"a dark little box, in a dark office, up a dark court in Fleet Street." +A little later his story appeared in the magazine to which he had sent +it, and he tells us how, as he looked at his words standing so gravely +before him in all the glory of print, he walked down to Westminster Hall +and turned into it for half an hour, because his eyes "were so dimmed +with joy and pride that they could not bear the street and were not fit +to be seen there." He had been very much excited over this venture of +his little story. Now he took the fact of its success to indicate that +it was worth his while to practice using his pen as a writer of fiction. + +After that Charles Dickens, although he continued working as reporter, +spent his spare hours in writing comic accounts of the various scenes of +London life which he knew so well. These were published as fast as they +were written, over the pen name of "Boz." He was paid almost nothing for +them, but he persevered, prompted by his inborn love of writing and the +fun he had in describing curious types of people. + +Then one day a young man who had just recently become a publisher called +at Charles's lodgings and told him that he was planning to publish a +monthly paper in order to sell certain pictures by Robert Seymour, an +artist who had just finished some sporting plates for a book called "The +Squib Annual." Seymour had drawn most of the pictures for this new +venture, and they were almost all of a cockney sporting type. Now +Charles was asked if he would write something to go with the pictures. + +Some one suggested that he should tell the adventures of a Nimrod Club, +the members of which should go out into the country on fishing and +hunting expeditions which would suit the drawings, but this did not +appeal to the young writer, as he knew very little about these country +sports, and was much more interested in describing curious people. He +asked for a day or two's time to think the matter over, and then finally +sent the publishers the first copy of what he chose to call the +"Pickwick Papers." + +According to a common custom of the time, the author was allowed to +write a story as it was needed by the printer, so that the first numbers +of the "Pickwick Papers" appeared while Charles was still working on the +next ones. This often put him to great inconvenience, as he sometimes +found it hard to invent new adventures to fit Seymour's pictures and yet +had to have the story written by a certain time. + +He wrote to a friend one night, "I have at this moment got Pickwick and +his friends on the Rochester coach, and they are going on swimmingly, in +company with a very different character from any I have yet described" +(Alfred Jingle), "who I flatter myself will make a decided hit. I want +to get them from the ball to the inn before I go to bed; and I think +that will take till one or two o'clock at the earliest. The publishers +will be here in the morning, so you will readily suppose I have no +alternative but to stick to my desk." + +The public was slow in appreciating the humor of the "Pickwick Papers," +and the series dragged until Part IV appeared, and with it the character +of Sam Weller. This original and very entertaining figure turned the +scales, and almost instantly there was the greatest demand for the +"Pickwick Papers." By the time the series was finished the name of "Boz" +was constantly on almost every English tongue. Here again fortune had +had much to do with deciding Dickens' career. Had the series failed, he +might have continued merely a reporter, but the humorous figure of +Weller tipped the scales in favor of his adopting the profession of +novelist. + +From that time on one novel after another flowed from Dickens' pen. For +many of their most vivid pictures he was indebted to the hard life of +his boyhood, and the strange people he had known in the days when he +worked in the blacking factory finally grew into some of his greatest +characters. The little maid-of-all-work became the Marchioness in the +"Old Curiosity Shop," Bob Fagin loaned his name to "Oliver Twist," and +in "David Copperfield" we read the story of the small boy who had to +fight his way through London alone. + +Those days of boyhood had given him a deep insight into human nature, +into the humor and pathos of other people's lives, and it was that rare +insight that enabled him to become in time one of the greatest of all +English writers, Charles Dickens, the beloved novelist of the +Anglo-Saxon people. + + + + +XXI + +Otto von Bismarck + +The Boy of Göttingen: 1815-1898 + + +A tall, slender boy, followed by a great Danish hound, walked down the +main street of the German town of Göttingen in Hanover one spring +morning in 1832. The small round cap, gay with colors, told the world +that the boy was a student at the University, and also that he belonged +to one of the students' clubs, or fighting corps, as they were called. +But this boy looked quite a dandy. A wide sash was tied about his waist, +high-polished boots came up to his knees, and he wore a knot of colors +on his breast, the same colors he sported in his cap, the emblem that he +belonged to the Brunswick student corps. Moreover he carried himself +with rather a haughty manner, and the big dog, following at his heels, +walked in much the same way. + +Presently there came strolling along the street a group of a half dozen +boys who wore the round caps of the Hanoverian Club. Something about the +boy with the dog struck them as comical, and they began to laugh, and +nudge each other, and when they came up to the boy they stopped and +stared at him in undisguised amusement. Quick color sprang to his +cheeks, he hesitated, and then came to a full stop. It was not pleasant +to be singled out as a laughing-stock in the main street of Göttingen. + +"Well, what are you laughing at?" he demanded, looking squarely at the +group of boys. + +One of them waved his hand airily in answer. "At the magnificence of our +new little Brunswicker," he answered mockingly. + +"So? And are you accustomed to laugh at magnificence?" The boy's brows +were bent and his lips had set in a very stern line. + +"When it amuses us we laugh," put in one of the others. + +"Then I'd have you know it's ill manners to laugh, and I'll teach you +better as soon as we get schlägers in our hands." + +"And who may you be?" asked the one who had spoken first. + +"My name is Otto von Bismarck. I come from Prussia, and I'm a new +student here." + +"And which of us will you fight?" + +"I'll fight you all. Send your man to me at my room, and I'll agree on +any time and place." Then, with his head held very high the boy walked +on, and the great Dane followed at his heels. + +"Bismarck?" said one of the Hanover boys to the others. "It seems to me +I've heard of him. They say he's splendid company." + +"He's surely got pluck enough," agreed another. "I like the way he faced +the lot of us." So they went on down the street, discussing the new +student. + +Otto, no whit daunted by his adventure, shortly after returned to his +room. He lighted a big china-bowled pipe, and was smoking and reading +when the messenger from the boys he had challenged came to see him. Otto +offered him a pipe, and the two were soon eagerly discussing horses and +dogs and telling about the fine hunting there was to be had in the +different parts of Germany in which their homes lay. They got on +together famously, and finally the visitor, who was the chief of his +corps, said, "What a shame we got into this trouble over nothing. You're +too good a fellow for any of us to fight. We shouldn't have guyed you +that way. Let me see if I can't fix matters up." + +"I'm quite ready to fight them all," said Otto stoutly. "I told them so, +and I always stand by my word." + +"I know," said the other, who by now had taken a great liking to the +young Prussian. "But you're not the sort to get really angry at such a +little thing, and I like you too much to want to cross swords with you." + +"And I like you," answered Otto warmly, "but remember I'm quite ready if +the others aren't of your way of thinking." + +The Hanover boy went back to his clubmates, and told them the result of +his talk with Otto. He said the latter was not a coxcomb or a dandy, but +one of the best humored fellows he had ever met, and if he had been +driven to showing his temper on the street that morning it was the +result of their rudeness, and not Otto's ill will. The other boys quite +agreed with what their captain said, and he was asked to carry their +regrets to Otto for the unfortunate meeting and their hope that the +duels might not be fought. + +The reconciliation was at once carried out, but the adventure did not +end there as far as the young paladin named Bismarck was concerned. The +Hanover captain, who was a year or two older than Otto, and knew much +more about the University, became his best friend, and soon one boy was +rarely seen without the other. There was no regular Prussian student +corps at Göttingen, and so Otto, when he had reached the University and +had been invited to join the Brunswick Club, had at once accepted. Now +his chum began to show him how much better the Hanover corps was than +that of Brunswick, and argued with him that as it was not a matter of +home pride, but simply a question as to which boys he liked best, he had +better join his new friends' club. It took little persuasion to convince +Otto that his wishes really all lay that way, and so he resigned from +the corps of Brunswick and was received into that of Hanover. + +As soon as this news spread through the University the Brunswickers were +very indignant. They declared they had been grossly insulted, and that +Otto von Bismarck should be made to pay for this slight upon them. Their +captain and best swordsman at once challenged Otto to fight with the +schläger. Otto accepted, and the duel quickly took place. + +This schläger fighting was an old custom of all the German universities, +and every boy who belonged to a corps was pretty sure to fight one or +more such duels. The schläger is very heavy and clumsy compared with a +dueling sword, and requires a very strong wrist and arm. Instead of +dexterous fencing the fighting is done by downright slashing and cutting +and usually ends when one or the other fighter has received a cut on the +face. The duel takes place with a great deal of ceremony, each student +being attended by a number of his own club, and each corps values as its +highest honor the reputation of having the best fighters in the +university. + +Otto proved his strength in this first duel with the Brunswick captain. +He himself received a number of hard blows, but he gave more than he +took, and finally cut his opponent on the cheek. That ended the duel, +and each boy retired satisfied, Otto because he had won, and the +Brunswick captain because he had another scar to prove his fighting +spirit. + +But the Brunswickers were not yet satisfied that their reputation was +entirely cleared, and so in a few days Otto received a challenge from +the next best fighter of their corps, and having fought him was +challenged by another, and so the affair continued until he had met and +defeated almost every student in the Brunswick corps. He fought twenty +schläger duels during his first year at the University, and came out of +them so well that he was ranked as one of the best fighters at +Göttingen, and the Hanoverians were very proud of him. + +In only one encounter was the young Prussian wounded. He was fighting +with a student named Biederwig, and the latter's sword-blade snapped in +two as Otto was parrying his fierce attack. The broken edge gave +Bismarck a slight cut on the cheek, and Biederwig at once claimed a +victory. The officers of the clubs, however, decided that the duel was a +drawn encounter. By this time Otto, who was just eighteen, had become +the leader among the students of Göttingen. + +Such customs seem strange and almost barbarous to Anglo-Saxon boys, but +this dueling played a large part in the college life of Germans at that +time. Otto was not by nature quarrelsome, but he was bound to hold his +own with his friends, and to do that he felt that he must take his part +in the rough life about him. Very soon after the fight with Biederwig he +was drawn into a much more serious affair. + +Among his close friends was a young German baron who had fallen out with +an English student named Knight. Each of them felt that their quarrel +demanded serious settlement and they determined to fight with pistols +instead of swords. At first Otto refused to have anything to do with the +meeting, but at the last minute the Baron's second withdrew, and the +Baron begged Otto to take his place. Otto could not refuse this appeal +of his friend, and so reluctantly consented. + +When the two met Otto paced out a much longer distance than was usual in +such cases, and had them stand very far apart. When the word was given +each student fired, but both were so nervous that their shots went very +wide. Then Otto at once interfered, stating that the honor of each was +now fully satisfied, and refusing to let them continue. Here he showed +that masterfulness of character which had already made him a leader, +and which now at once compelled the duelists to submit. + +Such a meeting as this was, however, contrary to the laws of the +University, and all the boys who took part in it were at once severely +punished. The other students told how Otto had ended the fight and +begged that he be let off, but the rector would not listen to their +requests, and Bismarck was ordered to undergo eleven days of solitary +confinement. When he was released he was welcomed back by all the +student corps, and became more of a hero than ever. + +But Otto von Bismarck's college life was not all fighting. Although he +was not much of a student, he was keenly interested in everything about +him, and fond of arguing on all sorts of subjects. History was his +favorite study; he devoured stories of great kings and statesmen and +soldiers, his keen mind always intent on discovering the reason for the +success or failure of each. + +There was then at Göttingen a young American, by name John Lothrop +Motley, who was as much interested in history as was Otto, and even more +fond of an argument. The two became close friends, and often sat up half +the night to settle some dispute between them. Motley was the more +eager, and often the young German would wake in the morning to find his +American friend sitting on the edge of his bed waiting to go on with +their discussion of the night before. It was Motley also who interested +Otto so much in American history that he took a leading part in +celebrating the Fourth of July at Göttingen. + +His college life taught the young Prussian student many valuable things +that are not told in books. He grew up with a fine knowledge of the boys +of his own age, and with a strength and courage which made him admired +by all his friends. + +A little later, when he was at home on a vacation, he was riding with +several neighbors around a pond. The banks of the pond were very steep. +Suddenly Otto heard a cry behind him. Turning he saw that a groom's +horse had stumbled and pitched the rider into deep water. The man was +terribly frightened, and it was evident that he either did not know how +to swim or was too excited to try to do so. The other horsemen stood +still, doing nothing but call to the groom. Otto, however, tore off his +coat and sword, and plunged in. The man caught at him, and clung to him +so tightly that it looked as though Otto would be pulled down with him. +Once both disappeared entirely under water, but Otto's great strength +saved him, and after a short time he was able to drag the groom to +shore. + +Great events call for great men, and usually find them. The adventures +of his college life had never found the Prussian boy wanting in nerve or +courage; he had always seized his chance and made the most of it. He did +the same thing as he grew into manhood, and tried for a time life in the +army, then on his father's farmland, and then in Parliament. + +Great changes were coming over Europe as Otto grew to manhood; old +countries were falling apart, and new ones being formed, and there was +need of strong men to advise and to check the people. Especially was +this true of Germany, which was then a collection of small kingdoms +loosely joined together. When these kingdoms needed a man to steer them +through the troubled waters that were gathering around them Otto von +Bismarck saw his opportunity and took it. + +He became the great statesman of Germany, the "Iron Chancellor" as he +was often called, the man who built the present German Empire, and gave +its crown to his own sovereign, William I, of Prussia. He was a man of +tremendous power, aggressive, fearless, masterful, showing the same +sturdy traits that had made him in his youth the most feared and admired +schläger-fighter in all Göttingen. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORIC BOYHOODS*** + + +******* This file should be named 24354-8.txt or 24354-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/3/5/24354 + + + +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/24354-8.zip b/24354-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..db64aba --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-8.zip diff --git a/24354-h.zip b/24354-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b1b348a --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h.zip diff --git a/24354-h/24354-h.htm b/24354-h/24354-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f7d2673 --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/24354-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7927 @@ +<!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 Historic Boyhoods, by Rupert Sargent Holland</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; + } + + + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .TOC {list-style-type: upper-roman; + margin-left: 3em; + text-align: left; + line-height: 150%} + a {text-decoration: none} /* no lines under links */ + + 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, Historic Boyhoods, by Rupert Sargent Holland</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: Historic Boyhoods</p> +<p>Author: Rupert Sargent Holland</p> +<p>Release Date: January 18, 2008 [eBook #24354]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORIC BOYHOODS***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by David Garcia, Graeme Mackreth,<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 Kentuckiana Digital Library<br /> + (<a href="http://kdl.kyvl.org/">http://kdl.kyvl.org/</a>)</h4> +<p> </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 + Kentuckiana Digital Library. See + <a href="http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc=kyetexts;xc=1&idno=B92-224-31182809&view=toc"> + http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc=kyetexts;xc=1&idno=B92-224-31182809&view=toc</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<p class='center'> +<img src='images/illus01.png' alt='fleet' /> +<a id='illus01' name='illus01'></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> <span class="smcap">The Fleet of Columbus Nearing America</span></p> + +<h1>Historic Boyhoods</h1> + +<h2>By RUPERT S. HOLLAND</h2> + +<p class='center'><i>Author of "The Count at Harvard," "Builders of United Italy," etc.</i></p> + +<p class='center' style="margin-top: 5em;"> +<img src='images/illus17.png' alt='illo' /> +</p> + + +<p class='center' style="margin-top: 5em;">PHILADELPHIA<br /> GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY <br />PUBLISHERS</p> + +<p class='center'>Copyright, 1909, by<br /> <span class="smcap">George W. Jacobs and Company</span><br /> <i>Published +October, 1909</i></p> + +<p class='center' style="margin-top: 5em;"><i>All rights reserved</i><br /> Printed in U.S.A.</p> + +<p class='center' style="margin-top: 10em;" ><i>To <br />the dear memory <br />of<br /> L.B.R.</i></p> + +<p class='center' style="margin-top: 5em;">The thanks of the author are due the Century Company for permission to +reprint certain of these stories which appeared in <i>Saint Nicholas</i> in +shorter form.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + + + + + + +<ul class="TOC"> +<li> +<a href="#I"> <span class="smcap">Christopher Columbus</span></a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of Genoa</span> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#II"> <span class="smcap">Michael Angelo</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of the Medici Gardens</span> +</li> +<li> + <a href="#III"> <span class="smcap">Walter Raleigh</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of Devon</span> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#IV"><span class="smcap">Peter the Great</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of the Kremlin</span> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#V"><span class="smcap">Frederick the Great</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of Potsdam</span> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#VI"><span class="smcap">George Washington</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of the Old Dominion</span> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#VII"><span class="smcap">Daniel Boone</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of the Frontier</span> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#VIII"><span class="smcap">John Paul Jones</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of the Atlantic</span> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#IX"><span class="smcap">Mozart</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of Salzburg</span> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#X"> <span class="smcap">Lafayette</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of Versailles</span> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#XI"> <span class="smcap">Horatio Nelson</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of the Channel Fleet</span> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#XII"> <span class="smcap">Robert Fulton</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of the Conestoga</span> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#XIII"> <span class="smcap">Andrew Jackson</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of the Carolinas</span> +</li> + + +<li> +<a href="#XIV"><span class="smcap">Napoleon Bonaparte</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of Brienne</span> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#XV"> <span class="smcap">Walter Scott</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of the Canongate</span> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#XVI"> <span class="smcap">James Fenimore Cooper</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of Otsego Hall</span> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#XVII"> <span class="smcap">John Ericsson</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of the Göta Canal</span> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#XVIII"> <span class="smcap">Garibaldi</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of the Mediterranean</span> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#XIX"> <span class="smcap">Abraham Lincoln</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of the American Wilderness</span> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#XX"> <span class="smcap">Charles Dickens</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of the London Streets</span> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#XXI"> <span class="smcap">Otto Von Bismarck</span></a><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Boy of Göttingen</span> +</li> +</ul> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><a href="#illus01">The Fleet of Columbus Nearing America </a> </span> <br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><a href="#illus02">Walter Raleigh and the Fisherman of Devon </a> </span> <br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><a href="#illus03">Peter the Great </a> </span> <br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><a href="#illus04">Mrs. Washington Urges George Not to Enter the Navy </a> </span> <br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><a href="#illus05">Daniel Boone's First View of Kentucky </a> </span> <br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><a href="#illus06">Paul Jones Capturing the "Serapis" </a> </span> <br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><a href="#illus07">Mozart and His Sister Before Maria Theresa </a> </span> <br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><a href="#illus08">Lafayette Tells of His Wish to Aid America </a> </span> <br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><a href="#illus09">Nelson Boarding the "San Josef" </a> </span> <br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><a href="#illus10">Robert Fulton's First Experiment with Paddle Wheels</a> </span> <br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><a href="#illus11">Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans </a> </span> <br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><a href="#illus16">The Snow Fort at Brienne </a> </span> <br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><a href="#illus12">Napoleon as a Cadet in Paris </a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><a href="#illus13">Street in Edinburgh Where Scott Played as a Boy </a> </span> <br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><a href="#illus14">Birthplace of Abraham Lincoln </a> </span> <br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><a href="#illus15">Charles Dickens at Eighteen </a></span> +</p> + + + +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + +<h3>Christopher Columbus</h3> +<h4> The Boy of Genoa: 1446(?)-1506</h4> + + +<p>A privateer was leaving Genoa on a certain June morning in 1461, and +crowds of people had gathered on the quays to see the ship sail. +Dark-hued men from the distant shores of Africa, clad in brilliant red +and yellow and blue blouses or tunics and hose, with dozens of +glittering gilded chains about their necks, and rings in their ears, +jostled sun-browned sailors and merchants from the east, and the +fairer-skinned men and women of the north.</p> + +<p>Genoa was a great seaport in those days, one of the greatest ports of +the known world, and her fleets sailed forth to trade with Spain and +Portugal, France and England, and even with the countries to the north +of Europe. The sea had made Genoa rich, had given fortunes to the nobles +who lived in the great white marble palaces that shone in the sun, had +placed her on an equal footing with that other great Italian sea city, +Venice, with whom she was continually at war.</p> + +<p>But all the ships that left her harbor were not trading vessels. Genoa +the Superb had many enemies always on the alert to swoop down upon her +trade. So she had to maintain a great war-fleet. In addition to this +danger, the Mediterranean was then the home of roving pirates, ready to +seize any vessel, without regard to its flag, which promised to yield +them booty.</p> + +<p>The life of a Genoese boy in those days was packed full of adventures. +Most of the boys went to sea as soon as they were old enough to hold an +oar or to pull a rope, and they had to be ready at any moment to drop +the oar or rope and seize a sword or a pike to repel pirates or other +enemies. There was always the chance of a sudden chase or a secret +attack on a Christian boat by savage Mussulmen, and so bitter was the +endless war of the two religions that in such cases the victors rarely +spared the lives of the vanquished, or, if they did, sold them in port +as slaves. Moreover the ships were frail, and the Mediterranean storms +severe, and many barks that contrived to escape the pirates fell victims +to the fury of head winds. The life of a Genoese sailor was about as +dangerous a life as could well be imagined.</p> + +<p>On this June morning a large privateer was to set sail from the port, +and the families of the men and boys who were outward bound had come +down to say good-bye. The centre of one little group was a boy about +fifteen, strong and broad for his years, though not very tall, with warm +olive skin, bright black eyes, and fair hair that fell to his ears. His +name was Christopher Colombo, and he was going to sail with a relative +called Colombo the Younger who commanded a ship in the service of Genoa.</p> + +<p>The young Christopher had always loved to be upon the sea. Among the +first sights that he remembered were glimpses of the Mediterranean in +fair and stormy weather, the first tales he had heard were stories of +strange adventures that had befallen sailors. His home had sprung from +the waves, its glory had been drawn from the inland sea, the great chain +of high mountains at its back cut it off from the land and the pursuits +of other cities. Christopher thought of the sea by day, and dreamed of +it by night, and was already planning when he grew up to go in search of +some of those strange adventures the old bronzed mariners were so fond +of describing.</p> + +<p>The boy's mother and father kissed him good-bye, and his younger +brothers and sister looked at him enviously as he left them with a wave +of his hand and went on board the ship. The latter was very clumsy, +according to our ideas. She rode high in the water, with a great deck at +the stern set like a small house up in the air, and with a great bow +that bore the figurehead of the patron saint of the sea, Saint +Christopher. Her sails were hung flat against the masts and were painted +in broad stripes of red and yellow. She was very magnificent to look +upon, but not very seaworthy.</p> + +<p>The marble of Genoa's palaces dropped astern. The ship was sailing +south, and under favoring breezes soon lost sight of land. Constant +watch was kept for other vessels; any that might appear was more apt to +be an enemy than a friend, because Genoa was at war then with many +rivals, chief among them Naples and Aragon. Ships had been sailing +constantly of late from Genoa to prey upon the commerce of Naples, in +revenge for what the Neapolitans had once done to Genoa.</p> + +<p>Colombo the captain was fond of his young kinsman Christopher, and at +the start of the voyage had him in his cabin and told him some of his +plans. The captain said he had orders to sail to Tunis to capture the +Spanish galley <i>Fernandina</i>. The galley was richly laden, and each +sailor would have a large share of booty. The boy listened with +sparkling eyes; this would be his first chance to have a hand in a fight +at sea.</p> + +<p>The winds of June were favoring, and Colombo's ship soon reached the +island of San Pietro off Sardinia. Here the captain went ashore to try +and learn news of the <i>Fernandina</i>. He found friendly merchants who had +word from all the Mediterranean ports, and they told him that the galley +was not alone, but accompanied by two other Spanish ships. Colombo was a +born fighter, and this news did not frighten him. The more ships he +might capture the greater would be his own share of glory and of prize +money.</p> + +<p>When the captain told his news to the sailors on his return from shore, +there was great consternation. The men had no liking to attack two +fighting ships besides the galley. At first they simply murmured among +themselves, but the longer they discussed the desperate nature of the +plan the more alarmed they grew. By the time that the ship was ready to +sail southward from Sardinia they had determined to go no farther, and +sent three of their leaders to speak to Colombo.</p> + +<p>The captain was with Christopher studying a map of the Mediterranean +when the men came before him. They told him that they positively +refused to sail south and insisted that he put in at Marseilles for more +ships and men. Colombo saw that he could not force them to sail farther, +so, with what grace he could, he gave his consent to alter the course.</p> + +<p>The men left the cabin, and after a few minutes' thought the captain +spoke to the boy. "Christopher," said he, "bring me the great compass +from its box near the helmsman's stand. Bring it secretly. The men +should all be on the lower deck making ready to sail. Let no one see +thee with it."</p> + +<p>The boy left the cabin and climbed the ladder to the great poop-deck at +the stern where the helmsman had a view far over the sea. He waited +until no one was about, and then quickly took the compass from its box, +and hiding it under the loose folds of his cloak, brought it to the +captain. He placed it on the table. Then he fastened the door so that +none might enter.</p> + +<p>Colombo opened the compass-case, and drew a pot of paint and a brush +toward him. The boy watched breathlessly while the captain painted over +the marks of the compass with thick white paint, and then on top of that +drew in new lines and figures in black. He was changing the compass +completely.</p> + +<p>When the work was done Christopher bore the case back to its box as +secretly as he had taken it. Then Colombo went out to the sailors and +gave them orders to spread sail. It was rapidly growing dark as they +left the coast of Sardinia.</p> + +<p>At sunrise, when Christopher came on deck to stand his watch, he knew +that their ship must be off the city of Carthagena, although all the +crew supposed they well on their way to Marseilles. Not long after, as +they were drawing nearer to the shore, the lookout signaled a vessel. +She was soon seen to be flying the flag of Naples. Fortunately this ship +was alone at the time, and the sailors were not afraid to attack her.</p> + +<p>Orders were quickly given to sail as close to her as possible, and +preparations were made to board her. The other ship seemed no less eager +to engage in battle, and in a very short time grappling-irons were +thrown out and the ships were fastened close together. Then a fierce +combat followed between the two crews as each in turn tried to scale the +sides of the other vessel.</p> + +<p>A sea-fight in the fifteenth century was fought hand to hand, each ship +being like a fort from which small attacking parties rushed out to climb +the other's battlements. When men met on the decks they used sword and +pike and dagger just as they would have on shore. Fire was thrown from +one ship into the rigging and sails of the other, and flames soon caught +and greedily devoured the woodwork of the boats. It was wild work; the +blazing sails, the broken cheers of the men, the fierce struggle over +the two decks.</p> + +<p>Christopher fought bravely whenever chance offered, but the captain kept +him close to his hand to carry messages. It soon appeared that the enemy +were the stronger, and they bore the Genoese back and back farther from +their bulwarks and across their decks. As the enemy gained a foothold +they held torches to everything that would burn, and soon Colombo's ship +was wrapped in fire and the only choice seemed to be between surrender +and jumping into the sea.</p> + +<p>A burning rope fell from a mast and set fire to Christopher's cloak. He +tore the cloak from him. He saw that the Neapolitans must win and he had +no desire to be carried off to Naples as a prisoner. The flames were +gaining fast as he leaped to the rail on the free side of the ship, and +dove overboard. He came up free from the wreckage and found a long +sweep-oar floating near him. With that support he struck out for the +shore of Africa, only a short distance away. His first sea-fight had +nearly proved his last.</p> + +<p>Self-reliance was the corner-stone of this young mariner's character. He +could take care of himself on whatever shore he was thrown. He landed on +the beach of Carthagena and told the story of his adventures to the +group of sailors who crowded about him on the sands. There is a strong +sense of comradeship among seamen, and so, although none of the men who +heard the boy's tale were from Genoa, they fitted him out with dry +clothes and found enough money to keep him in food and shelter.</p> + +<p>There he stayed for some time, waiting until some Genoese bark should +put into port. Meanwhile he was very much interested in the stories the +seafarers of all lands told to people who would listen to them. Again +and again he heard mariners wondering whether there might not be a +shorter passage to the rich Indies of the East than the long overland +route through China. The question interested him, and he took to +studying it with care.</p> + +<p>One day an old sailor on the beach told him of his voyages in the +western ocean, and how once his ship had come so close to the edge of +the world that but for the miracle of a sudden change in the wind they +must certainly have been carried over the side. The same bearded seaman +told Christopher many other curious things; how he had himself seen +beautiful pieces of carved wood, cut in some strange fashion, floating +on the western sea, and had picked up one day a small boat which seemed +to be made of the bark of a tree, but of a pattern none had ever seen +before.</p> + +<p>Then, and here his voice would sink and his eyes grow large with wonder, +he told Christopher how men who were explorers were certain that +somewhere in that unsailed western sea, just before one came to the +edge, was an island rich in gold and gems and rare, delicious fruits, +where men need never work if they chose to stay there, or if they came +home might bring such treasures with them as would put to shame the +richest princes of all Europe. It was said that there one caught fish +already cooked, and that there people of great beauty lived, with dark +red skins and wearing feathers in their hair.</p> + +<p>"And is no one certain of this?" asked Christopher, his eyes wide with +excitement. "Not even the men who have found the African coast and the +isle of Flores?"</p> + +<p>The old sailor shook his head. "Nay, nay, boy. The wonderful island lies +so close to the world's edge that 'tis a perilous thing to try to find +it."</p> + +<p>"Still," said Christopher, "'twould be well worth the finding, and some +time when I'm a man and can win a ship of my own I'm going to make the +venture."</p> + +<p>But the sailor shook his head. "Better leave the unknown sea to itself, +lad," said he. "A whole skin is worth more to a man than all the gold of +King Solomon's mines."</p> + +<p>"Is it true," asked the boy after a time, "that there are terrible +monsters in the Dark Sea?" That was the name given in those days to the +ocean that stretched indefinitely to the west. "I've seen pictures of +strange creatures on ships' maps, but never saw the like of any of +them."</p> + +<p>"No, nor would you be likely to, lad," said the sailor, "for such as see +those monsters don't come back. But true they are. A great captain told +me once that part of the Dark Sea was black as pitch, and that great +birds flew over it looking for ships. You've heard of the giant Roc that +flies through the air there, so strong that it can pick up the biggest +ship that ever sailed in its beak, and carry it to the clouds? There it +crushes ship and men in its talons, and drops men's limbs, armor, +timber, all that's left, down to the Dark Sea monsters who wait to +devour the wreckage in their huge jaws. Ugh, 'tis an ugly thought, and +enough to keep any man safe this side the world."</p> + +<p>"In some places fair, in some dark," mused Christopher. "It would be +worth sailing out there to find which was the truth."</p> + +<p>"Where would be the good of finding that if you never came back, boy?"</p> + +<p>Christopher shrugged his shoulders. "Just for the fun of finding out, +perhaps," he said.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>A month later Christopher saw a galley flying the flag of Genoa enter +the harbor. When the captain came on shore the boy went to him, and +telling him who he was, asked for a chance to go as sailor back to +Genoa. The captain knew the boy's father, Domenico Colombo, and gave +Christopher a place on the galley. She was sailing north, homeward +bound, and a few days later, having safely avoided all hostile ships and +storms, the galley came into sight of the beautiful white city in its +nest against the hills.</p> + +<p>It was a happy day when the young sailor landed and surprised his father +and mother by walking in upon them. News of Colombo's defeat by the ship +of Naples had come to Genoa, and Christopher's family had given him up +as lost.</p> + +<p>But narrow as his escape on that voyage had been, such chances were part +of the sailor's life in that age, and Christopher was quite ready to +take his share of privation and danger with his mates. It was only by +weathering such storms that he could ever hope to be put in charge of +rich merchantmen or to command his own vessel in his city's defense. So +he sailed again soon after, and in a year or two had come to know the +Mediterranean Sea as well as the back of his hand.</p> + +<p>Captains found he was good at making maps, and paid him to draw them, +and when he was on shore he spent all his time studying charts and +plans, and soon became so expert that he could support himself by +preparing new charts. Yet, in spite of all his study, he found that the +maps covered only a small part of the sea, and gave him no knowledge of +the waters to the west. There he now began to believe the +long-looked-for sea passage to the East Indies must lie.</p> + +<p>Christopher grew to manhood, and then a chance shipwreck threw him in +Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. The Portuguese were the great sailors +of the age, and the young man met many famous captains who were planning +trips to the western coast of Africa and about the Cape of Good Hope.</p> + +<p>Some of the captains took an interest in the sailor who made such +splendid maps and was so eager to go on dangerous exploring trips, and +they brought him to the notice of the King of Portugal. One of them, +Toscanelli, wrote of the young Christopher's "great and noble desire to +pass to where the spices grow," and listened with interest to his plans +to reach those rich spice lands by sailing west.</p> + +<p>The ideas of Columbus seemed too visionary to most princes, and it was +years before he was able to persuade the Spanish sovereigns, Ferdinand +and Isabella, to grant him three small ships and enough men to start +upon his voyage. But on August 3, 1492, he finally set sail from Palos, +in Spain.</p> + +<p>All the world knows the history of that great voyage, of the tremendous +difficulties that beset Columbus, how his men grew fearful and would +have turned back, how he had to change the ship's reckoning as he had +seen his cousin change the compass, how he had sometimes to plead with +his men and sometimes to threaten them.</p> + +<p>In time he found boughs with fresh leaves and berries floating on the +sea, and caught the odor of spices from the west. Then he knew he was +nearing that magic land of riches sailors dreamt of, and thought he had +found the shortest passage to the East Indies and Cathay. That would +have been a wonderful discovery, but the one he was actually making was +infinitely greater. Instead of a new sea passage he was reaching a new +continent, and adding a hemisphere to the known world.</p> + +<p>Such was the result of the dreams and ambitions of the boy born and bred +in the old seaport of Genoa.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<h3>Michael Angelo</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of the Medici Gardens: 1475-1564</h4> + + +<p>The Italian city of Florence was entering on the Golden Age of its +history toward the end of the fifteenth century. Lorenzo, called the +Magnificent, was head of the house of Medici, and first citizen of the +proud Republic. He was himself an artist, a poet, and a philosopher; he +loved the beautiful things of life, and had gathered about him a little +court of men of genius.</p> + +<p>Florence at that time was also a great business city, and among the +prominent merchant families was that of the Buonarotti. Ludovico +Buonarotti had several sons, and he had named his second child Michael +Angelo, and had planned that he should follow him in trade. Fortunately +for the world, however, the boy had a will of his own.</p> + +<p>Even while he was still in charge of a nurse, and was just beginning to +learn to use his hands, he would draw simple pictures and paint them +whenever he had the chance. His father had little use for a painter, and +sent the boy to the grammar school of Francesco d'Urbino, in Florence, +thinking to make a scholar of him. There were, however, many studios in +the neighborhood of the school, and many artists at work in them, and +the boy would neglect his studies to haunt the places where he might +see how grown men drew and painted.</p> + +<p>Watching the artists, young Michael Angelo soon formed a lasting +friendship with a boy of great talent a few years older than himself, by +name Francesco Granacci. This boy was a pupil of Domenico Ghirlandajo, a +very great painter. The more Michael Angelo saw Granacci and his work in +the studio the more he longed for a chance to study painting. He could +think of nothing else; he begged his father and uncles to let him be an +artist instead of a merchant or a scholar. But the father and uncles, +coming from a long line of successful merchants, treated the boy's +requests with scorn.</p> + +<p>Michael Angelo was determined to be an artist, however, and finally, +though with the greatest reluctance, his father signed a contract with +Ghirlandajo by which the boy was to study drawing and painting in his +studio and do whatever other work the master might desire. The master +was to pay the boy six gold florins for the first year's work, eight for +the second, and ten for the third.</p> + +<p>The young Buonarotti found plenty of work to be done in his master's +studio. Besides the regular day's work he was constantly painting +sketches of his own, and trying his hand at a dozen different things. +His eye and hand were most surprisingly true. Time and again the master +or some of the older students, coming across the boy at work, would be +held spellbound by his skill.</p> + +<p>One day when the men had left work the boy drew a picture of the +scaffolding on which they had been standing and sketched in portraits of +the men so perfectly that when his master found the drawing he cried to +a friend in amazement, "The boy understands this better than I do +myself!"</p> + +<p>There was little in the world about him that this boy failed to see. He +soon painted his first real picture, choosing a subject that was popular +in those days, the temptation of St. Antony. All kinds of queer animals +figured in the picture, and that he might get the colors of their +shining backs and scales just right he spent days in the market eagerly +studying the fish there for sale. Again the master was amazed at his +pupil's work, and now for the first time began to feel a certain envy of +him.</p> + +<p>This feeling rapidly increased. The scholars were often given some of +Ghirlandajo's own studies to copy, and one day Michael Angelo brought +the artist one of the studies which he had himself corrected by adding a +few thick lines. Beyond all doubt the picture was improved. It was hard, +however, for the master to be corrected by his own apprentice, and soon +after that the boy's stay in the studio came to an end. Fortunately his +friend Granacci had already interested the great patron, Lorenzo de' +Medici, in the young Buonarotti and he was now invited to join the band +of youths of talent who made the Medici's palace their home.</p> + +<p>In Lorenzo's palace young Michael Angelo was very happy. He was fond of +the Medici's sons, boys nearly his own age; like almost all the rest of +Florence he worshiped the citizen-prince whose one desire seemed to be +that Florence should be beautiful; and he was happiest of all in the +chance to study his own beloved art.</p> + +<p>In May of each year Lorenzo gave a pageant, and the spring in which +Michael Angelo came to the palace Lorenzo placed the carnival in charge +of the boy's friend, Francesco Granacci. Day by day the boys planned for +the great procession. At noon they were free from their teachers, and +then they would scatter to the gardens.</p> + +<p>One such May noon, when the sun was hot, a group of them ran out from +the palace, and threw themselves on the grass in the shade of a row of +poplars. They were all absorbed in the one subject; their tongues could +scarcely keep pace with their nimble fancies.</p> + +<p>"What shalt thou go as, Paolo?" said one. "I heard Messer Lorenzo say +that thou shouldst be something marvelously fine; but what can be so +fine as Romulus in a Roman triumph?"</p> + +<p>"I am to be the thrice-gifted Apollo, dressed as your Athenians saw him, +with harp and bow, and the crown of laurel on my head. That will be a +sight for thee, Ludovico mio, and for the pretty eyes of thy Bianca +also." Paolo laughed as one who well knew the value of his yellow locks +and blue eyes in a land of brown and black. "What art thou to be in +Messer Lorenzo's coming pageant, Michael?"</p> + +<p>The young Michael, a slim, black-haired youth, was lying on his back, +his head resting in his hands, his eyes watching the circling flight of +some pigeons.</p> + +<p>"I?" he said dreamily. "Oh, I have given little thought to that, I shall +be whatever Francesco wishes; he knows what is needed better than any +one else."</p> + +<p>As he spoke a tall youth came into the garden and sat down in the middle +of the group. He had curious, smiling eyes, and hands that were fine and +pointed like a woman's. He answered all questions easily, telling each +what part he was to play in the triumphal procession of Paulus Æmilius +that was to dazzle the good people of Florence on the morrow. He had +become chief favorite in the little court of young people that the +Medici loved to have about him, and his remarkable talent for detail had +made him the leader in all entertainments.</p> + +<p>The boy Michael listened for a time to the flowing words of young +Granacci, then rose and wandered to where some stone-masons had lately +been at work. He stopped in front of a block of marble that was +gradually taking the form of the mask of a faun.</p> + +<p>Near the block stood an antique mask, a garden ornament, and this the +boy studied for a few moments before he picked up one of the mason's +deserted tools and began to cut the stone himself.</p> + +<p>The gay chatter under the poplars went on, but the boy with the chisel, +lost in thought, his heavy brows bent into a bow, chipped and cut, +forgetful of everything else. A half hour passed, and a long shadow fell +across the marble. Michael looked up to see his patron, Lorenzo, +standing beside him. The boy glanced from the fine, keen face of the +Medici to the marble mask of the old faun in front of him.</p> + +<p>"Well, sirrah," said Lorenzo, half seriously, half in jest, "what wilt +thou be up to next?"</p> + +<p>"Jacopó, one of the builders, gave me a stone," answered the boy, "and +told me I might do what I would with it. Yonder is my copy, the old +figure there."</p> + +<p>"But," said Lorenzo, critically, "your faun is old, and yet you have +given him all his teeth; you should have known in a face as aged as that +some of the teeth are wanting."</p> + +<p>"True," said the young sculptor, and taking his chisel, with a few +strokes he made such a gap in the mouth as no master could have +improved.</p> + +<p>The Medici watched, and when the change was made, broke into laughter. +"Right, boy!" he cried. "'Tis perfect; Praxiteles himself could not have +bettered that!" Then, with a quizzical smile, he looked the youth over. +"I knew thou wert a painter; and now a sculptor; what will thy clever +hand be doing next?"</p> + +<p>"Bearing arms in your worship's cause, an' the saints be good!" +exclaimed the boy, his deep eyes, full of admiration, on his patron's +face.</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Lorenzo, "so? Well, perhaps the day will come. Florence is +like a rose-bed, but I cannot cure the city as I would of thorns." He +fell into thought, then roused again. "But thou, young Michael Angelo, +dost know what a time I had to make thy father let thee be a painter, +and now thou addest to thy sins and cuttest in marble. Where will be the +end of thy infamy?"</p> + +<p>The boy caught the gleam in his friend's eyes, and his serious face +broke into smiles.</p> + +<p>"In Rome, Signor Lorenzo, in the Holy Father's house. There I shall go +some day."</p> + +<p>"And why to Rome?"</p> + +<p>"Every one goes to Rome; thy marvelous pageants are Roman; art lives +there."</p> + +<p>"Yes," mused Lorenzo, "Rome on its hills is still the Eternal City. And +yet in those far days to come I doubt if thou wilt be as happy as in +Lorenzo's gardens. How sayest thou, boy?"</p> + +<p>"I know not," was the answer. "Only I know that I shall go."</p> + +<p>The laughter of the other boys came to their ears, and Lorenzo turned. +"Thy faun is done; to-morrow will I speak with Poliziano of our new +sculptor. What is Granacci saying over there? Come with me and listen." +So, the prince's arm resting affectionately on the boy's shoulder, they +crossed the garden to the noisy group.</p> + +<p>Life was gay then in Florence. Lorenzo de' Medici was ruling the +turbulent city by keeping it occupied with merrymaking, by beautifying +its squares with priceless treasures, by helping its poor but ambitious +children to win their heart's desires, by mingling with the citizens at +all times, and writing them ballads to sing, and giving them masques to +act. His house was open to the great men of Italy; on his entertainments +he lavished his wealth, set no bounds to the means he gave Granacci and +the others to make the pageants gorgeous, and superintended everything +with his own wonderfully keen eye for beauty.</p> + +<p>The triumphal procession of Paulus Æmilius on the morrow after the +little scene in the gardens was an all-day revel. The good folk of +Florence left their shops and homes and lined the streets, and for hours +floats drawn by prancing horses and picturing great scenes in Roman +history passed before the delighted people's eyes. Among the warriors, +the heroes, the nymphs and fauns, they recognized their neighbors' +children or their own sons and daughters; they were all parcel of it; it +was their own triumph as well as Rome's. Girls sang and danced and +smiled, boys posed and cheered and played heroic parts, the whole youth +of the city spent the day in fairy-land.</p> + +<p>Chief among the boys was the little group of artists who were studying +in Lorenzo's mansion, and chief among these Granacci, who was Master of +the Revels, Paolo Tornabuoni, who made a wonderful Apollo, seated on a +golden globe playing upon a lyre, and the dark-browed Michael Angelo, +clad in a tunic, one of the noble youth of early Rome. His father, +Ludovico Buonarotti, and his mother, Francesca, were in the crowd that +watched him pass.</p> + +<p>"Yonder he goes," cried the proud mother; "dost see thy son, Ludovico?" +But her husband scowled; he had little use for a son of his who had +rather be painter than merchant.</p> + +<p>A year of happiness passed for the boys in the Medici gardens, and then +the skies of Florence darkened. A monk from San Marco named Savonarola +raised his voice to shame the gay people of their extravagance, and his +bitter tongue sought out Lorenzo the Magnificent as chief offender. The +boy Michael Angelo went to hear Savonarola preach, and came away heavy +of mind and heart. He heard the beautiful things of the world assailed +as sinful, and his beloved master called a servant of the Evil One. A +winter of reproach came upon the city, and when it ended, and Lent was +over, darkness fell, for Lorenzo lay dead at his summer home of Careggi, +in 1492—the year when Columbus discovered America.</p> + +<p>For a long time Michael Angelo, stunned by his patron's loss, could do +no work, and when at last he found the heart to take up his brush and +palette it was no longer in the great house of the Medici, but in a +little room he had arranged for himself as a studio under his father's +roof.</p> + +<p>He was not long left to work there in peace; the three sons of Lorenzo, +boys of nearly his own age, who had been playmates with him in the +gardens, and had studied with him under the same masters, needed his +help. The great Medici had said, long before, that of his three sons one +was good, one clever, and the third a fool. Giulio, now thirteen years +old, was the good one; Giovanni, seventeen years old, already a Prince +Cardinal of the Church, was the clever one, and Piero, the oldest, now +head of the family in Florence, was the fool.</p> + +<p>The storm raised by Savonarola was ready to break about Piero de' +Medici's head, and such friends as were still faithful to him he +gathered about him at his house. Michael Angelo, his old playmate, was +among the number, and so he again moved to the palace. For a brief time +they sought to win back the favor of the people by a return to the +old-time magnificence.</p> + +<p>With no wise head to guide, the youths were soon in sore straits. Their +love of art, their study of the poets, their attempt to revive the +history of Greece and Rome were all scorned and mocked at as so much +wanton dissipation. The boys drew closer together; the fate of their +house hung trembling in the balance.</p> + +<p>Then one morning a young lute-player named Cardiere came to Michael +Angelo and, drawing him aside from the others, told him that in a dream +the night before, Lorenzo had appeared to him, robed in torn black +garments, and in deep, melancholy tones had ordered him to tell Piero, +his son, that he would soon be driven out from Florence, never to +return. Michael Angelo told the musician to tell Piero, but the latter +was too frightened to obey.</p> + +<p>A few days later he came again to Michael Angelo, this time pale and +shaking with fear, and said that Lorenzo had appeared to him a second +time, had repeated what he had said to him before, and had threatened +him with dire punishment if he dared again to disobey his strict +command.</p> + +<p>Alarmed at the news Michael Angelo spoke his mind to Cardiere and bade +him set off at once to see Piero, who was at Careggi, and give him his +father's warning. Cardiere, half-way to Careggi, met Piero and some +friends riding in toward Florence. The minstrel stopped their way and +besought Piero to hear his story. The young Medici bade him speak, but +when he had heard the warning he laughed, and his friends laughed with +him.</p> + +<p>Bibbiena, one of Piero's closest friends, and later to be the subject +of one of Raphael's masterpieces, cried aloud in scorn to Cardiere: +"Fool! Dost think that Lorenzo gives thee such honor before his own son +that he would thus appear to thee rather than to Piero?" With laughter +at Cardiere's crestfallen face the gay troop rode on, and the poor +messenger of evil tidings returned slowly with his news to Michael +Angelo.</p> + +<p>By now the boy sculptor was thoroughly alarmed. Like almost every one +else of that age he believed in portents and visions; he therefore took +Cardiere's story to heart, and in addition he could see for himself that +the foolish, headstrong Piero was taking no steps to turn the growing +discontent. He hated to leave his friends, but knew that they would pay +no heed to his warnings. So, after much hesitation, he decided, with two +comrades of about his own age, to go to Venice and seek work in that +quieter city.</p> + +<p>Ordinarily it would have taken the three boys about a week to ride from +Florence to Venice, but at that time French troops were scattered +through the country, and they had to follow a roundabout course to reach +the city by the sea. They had very little money, and had gone only a +short distance when this small amount was exhausted. By that time they +had reached the city of Bologna, and there they turned aside.</p> + +<p>Like most of the Italian cities Bologna tried to keep itself +independent, and to this end the ruling family had made a strange law +with regard to foreigners. Every stranger entering the city gates had to +present himself before the governor and receive from him a seal of red +wax on the thumb. If a stranger neglected to do this, he was liable to +be thrown into prison and fined.</p> + +<p>The boy Michael Angelo and his two friends knew nothing of this odd law, +and entered the city gaily, without having the necessary wax on their +thumbs. As soon as this was noticed they were seized, taken before a +judge, and sentenced to pay six hundred and fifty lire. They had not +that much money between them, and so for a short time were placed under +lock and key.</p> + +<p>Fortunately news of the boys' arrest came to a nobleman of the city who +was much interested in art and who had already heard of Michael Angelo's +ability. He at once had the boys set free, and invited Michael Angelo to +visit him at his home. But Michael did not wish to leave his friends, +and felt that it would be an imposition for the three of them to accept +the invitation.</p> + +<p>When he spoke in this fashion to the nobleman the latter was very much +amused. "Ah, well," said he, "if things stand so I must beg of you to +take me also with your two friends to roam about the world at your +expense." The joke showed the boy the absurd side of the matter. He gave +his friends the little money he had left, said good-bye to them, and +accepted the invitation to stay in Bologna.</p> + +<p>A very short time after, Piero de' Medici, driven from Florence by an +angry people, came to Bologna and met his old friend of Lorenzo's +gardens. For a short time the boys were together, then the young Medici +set out to seek aid from other cities, in an attempt to rebuild his +family fortunes.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the nobleman who had offered Michael Angelo a home was +delighted with his young friend. He found him keenly interested in Dante +and Petrarch, and equally gifted as a sculptor and painter. He gave him +work to do in the Church of San Petronio, and Michael did so well there +that the artists of Bologna grew jealous of him, and at the end of the +year forced him to leave the city.</p> + +<p>Then the boy artist went back to his home, only to find it changed +unspeakably. Florence, that had been a city of delight, was now a city +of dread. Savonarola held the people's ear, and had taught them to +destroy what Lorenzo had led them to love. The monks of San Marco made +bonfires of their paintings, priceless manuscripts had met with the same +fate, and Lorenzo's house had been robbed of all its sculpture. The +gardens were strewn with broken statues that had once been Michael +Angelo's delight. He walked through them sadly, and realized that he +alone was left of that group who had found so much happiness there only +a few years before. The words that he had spoken to Lorenzo on the day +he chiseled the faun came back to him, "To Rome I shall go some day," +and thither he now set his face.</p> + +<p>Thereafter the Eternal City claimed Michael Angelo. Cardinal after +cardinal, pope after pope, employed his marvelous genius to beautify the +capital of the world. As he had said, he found work to do in the Holy +Father's house. Whatever else they might do, the Italians of that age +worshiped art, and there were two stars in their sky, Raphael and +Michael Angelo.</p> + +<p>Again Fate's wheel turned, and at last Michael Angelo returned to +Florence, loaded with honors, this time again the guest of a Medici, +Giulio, the playmate of his youth, ruling as autocrat where his father +had ruled as a mere citizen. A little later, and the shrewdest of the +three boys, Giovanni, became Pope Leo X.</p> + +<p>As men the friends of boyhood differed, but they were alike in their +devotion to Florence and the things they had learned in her school years +before. At the height of his power Michael Angelo turned his hand to the +Medici Chapel and built there lasting monuments to their glory and his +genius, a wonderful return for the rare days of his boyhood in their +gardens.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<h3>Walter Raleigh</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of Devon: 1552-1618</h4> + + +<p>Summer was over England, and the county of Devon, running down to +Cornwall between two seas, was painted in bright hues. The downs were +softly carpeted with purple and yellow gorse and heather that made a +wonderful soft mist as one looked across the fields. Low hills, +brilliant green ridges against the sky, ran inland from the sea, and in +the little hollows here and there nestled small straw-thatched cottages +with shining white walls, or the more pretentious Tudor farmhouses with +red or brown roofs, and much half-timbered decoration.</p> + +<p>The Devon winters were long, with heavy snow, and men had to build so +that they might have all possible protection from the winds that swept +across the open upland country. So they built down in the valleys and in +the long low inlets from the sea that were called combes, and as a +result one might stand on the high moors looking across country, and +never know there was a house within a mile. It is a country full of +surprises.</p> + +<p>On a fine morning when Devon was looking its best, a boy came out of a +dwelling that was half farmhouse, half manor-house, and that lay in a +cup of low hills on the edge of a tract of moorland. The house belonged +to a man named Walter Raleigh, of Fardell, a gentleman of good family +whose fortunes had sunk to a low ebb. It was one-storied, with thatched +roof, gabled wings, and a projecting central porch. Here lived Mr. +Raleigh of Fardell with his wife Katherine, four sons and a daughter. It +was a large family for such a small estate, and already the father was +wondering what would happen to the younger boys when the little property +should have descended, according to the law of the land, to the oldest +son.</p> + +<p>It was the boy Walter, youngest of the sons, who had come out of the +house, and stood looking about him. He was a good-looking fellow, with +fair hair, blue eyes, and the ruddy English skin. It did not take him +long to decide which way to go this morning. He made straight for an oak +wood that lay before the house, and followed a little path that led +through it. Two miles and a half through the wood lay Budleigh Salterton +Bay, and Walter liked that best of all the places near his home.</p> + +<p>He passed the oaks and came out into open country. Here, where the gorse +made a soft carpet on the ground, the salt of the sea blew freshly in to +him. He gave a great shout, and pulling off his cap, ran as fast as he +could, down to the shore of the bay. A few boats swung at anchor there, +and an old man sat on the beach, mending a fishing net.</p> + +<p>The boy swept the sea with his eyes from point to point of the bay, +looked longingly at the boats, then walked over to the old mariner.</p> + +<p>"Good-morning, gaffer," said he. "It's a fine sailing breeze out on the +bay."</p> + +<p>"And good-morning to ye, Master Walter," said the old man, glancing up +from his nets. "A fine breeze it be, an' more's the pity when there's +work to be done on shore."</p> + +<p>"So say I," said the boy, throwing himself down on the sand by the +sailor. "I'd dearly like to sail across to France to-day."</p> + +<p>"How comes it you're not to school?" asked the man.</p> + +<p>"School's done. Next month I go to Oxford, to Oriel College. Methinks +'tis a great shame to spend one's time studying when there's so much +else to be done in the world. The only books I like are those that tell +of far-away lands and adventures and such things. But to Oxford I must +go, says father, like a gentleman's son, and so I suppose I must."</p> + +<p>He lay out on the sand, his head resting in his hands, his eyes gazing +up to the sky. "Tell me, gaffer, if you had your choice of the two, +would you rather be a sailor, or a gentleman of the court, and live at +London, near Queen Elizabeth?"</p> + +<p>The man laughed. "I a courtier!" he cried. "I'd die of fright most like. +I've never been to London town, but they say it's a terrible place!"</p> + +<p>"Would you rather sail out to the west,—to the Indies, or perhaps to +Guiana?" asked Walter.</p> + +<p>The man nodded. "The savages be'nt so terrifyin' to a sailor as the folk +o' London town."</p> + +<p>"And in London they might throw you into the Tower," mused Walter. +"You're right, gaffer. 'Tis better to be free, and your own man, even if +'tis only among savages. Think you England will be at war soon?"</p> + +<p>The sailor looked up from his net, and glanced out across the bay. "I +figure you'll live long enough to do some fightin', lad. Them Spanish +dons be plannin' for to sweep the seas of Englishmen."</p> + +<p>Walter sat up, and followed the man's gaze out to sea. "That they'll +never do," said he, "as long as there are Devon men to build a boat and +man it. But if there is a war I'm going to it, aye, as certain as we two +be sitting here in Budleigh Bay."</p> + +<p>"War's a fearsome thing, lad," said the sailor. "I've fought the pirates +in the south, and I've seen sights would turn a man's hair gray in a +night. 'Tis no holiday work to fight across your decks."</p> + +<p>"Tell me about it," begged the boy, sitting up and clasping his knees in +his hands. "I love to hear of fights and strange adventures."</p> + +<p>So, while the sailor worked over his net he talked of his wanderings, of +his cruises, of his battles, of his flights, and the boy, his eyes wide +with admiration, drank in the yarns. Mariner never found a better +audience than this small boy of the Devon coast.</p> + +<p>It was long past noon when the sailor and Walter left the beach. The boy +went back through the wood to the house, and made his lunch in the +pantry off of bread and cheese. The family were used to Walter's +wanderings, and never waited for him. Now, in his holiday time, he was +free to go where he would.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus02.png" alt="raleigh" /> +<a id="illus02" name="illus02"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> <span class="smcap">Walter Raleigh and the Fisherman of Devon</span></p> + +<p>Mr. Raleigh of Fardell wanted all his sons brought up as the sons of a +gentleman should be, and so, although he was quite poor, he managed to +send Walter that autumn to the University of Oxford. Walter was only +fifteen, but boys went to college at that age in those days.</p> + +<p>Oxford in 1567 was something like the Eton of to-day. There were not +many college buildings, and the students in cap and gown looked quite as +young as schoolboys do now. Oriel College was near the broad Christ +Church meadows that led down to the river, and from there Walter could +look across to the fields where the boys practiced their favorite sport +of archery, to the silver thread of the little river as it wound in and +out among the trees, and across it to the park where a herd of deer +roamed free.</p> + +<p>The Oxford country, inland and not far from the centre of England, was +very different from his beloved Devonshire. Here there were many +gentlemen's parks, with well-kept lawns and gardens, lots of small +woods, and meadows broken now and again by little sparkling brooks. +Everything was very neat and beautifully cared for. But in Devon was the +wide sweep of the high moorlands, the herds of grazing ponies, the +glorious carpet of the heather, the salt smell of the sea.</p> + +<p>Often the boy was homesick for that more barren country, and that shore +from which he loved to watch the sails, and very often he was tempted to +leave Oriel and go out to seek his fortune by himself. He did not give +in to the desire, however. He stayed on for three years, holding his +own in his studies, and winning the reputation of a good speaker.</p> + +<p>Walter's chance for adventure came full soon. His mother's family, the +Champernouns, were related to the French Huguenot house of Montgomerie. +The Catholics and the Huguenots were at war in France, and Walter's +cousin Henry obtained permission of Queen Elizabeth to raise a troop of +a hundred gentlemen in England to fight with him in France. He asked +Raleigh at Oriel to join him, and the boy eagerly accepted. So he left +Oxford, and with a number of others of good family, many scarcely older +than himself, he crossed the Channel and entered France.</p> + +<p>The moment was not a good one. The Huguenots had just lost the battle of +Moncontour, and a little time after their great chief, the Prince of +Condé, fell at Jarnac. But the small band of English gentlemen +adventurers was not at all cast down. The Huguenot cause did not mean a +great deal to them, and they speedily consoled themselves for Condé's +loss.</p> + +<p>When they actually took the field they found the warfare a very +irregular sort of fighting, a sudden swoop down upon the Catholics in +some ill-defended town, a quick retreat at the approach of regular +troops, an occasional short skirmish in the open. Walter was sent into +Languedoc, and joined in the chase of Catholics through the hills.</p> + +<p>The country was full of steep cliffs, and there were many caves hidden +in them. Fugitives would escape through the open country and meet in +these recesses, and the Englishmen would follow, tracking them after +the manner of hunters of wild game. Sometimes they would come to the top +of a cliff, overlooking a cave in which they had seen men hide. Then +they would lower lighted bundles of straw by iron chains until they came +opposite the mouth of the cave. In a short time the men in hiding would +be smoked out, and compelled to surrender. Often they had hidden +treasures of money or plate in the caves, and these would fall into the +captors' hands. This lure of booty added spice to the hunt.</p> + +<p>It was rough, wild work, but it was a rough age, and men had few +scruples when it came to dealing with their enemies. Young Raleigh +proved a good fighter, fond of the hunts through the hills, and always +ready for any wild expedition. He cared little enough for the cause for +which the troop was supposed to be fighting. It was the opportunity to +advance himself that concerned him most.</p> + +<p>When he came back from France he found that there was no place for him +at the manor-house in Devon. As a younger son he must fight his own way +in the world. He had always loved London next after the Devon coast, and +so he went there now, hoping that he might find some favor with the +court. Queen Elizabeth liked to have youths of good family and good +looks about her, and there were many of them living in London who used +her court as a sort of club.</p> + +<p>Walter made many friends of his own age, and lived as most of them did, +mixing in all the excitements of city life. He was now rather a wild, +reckless young blade, as willing to draw his sword in a street fight as +to pay compliments to a pretty maid of honor. One day he got into a +fight at a tavern with a noisy braggart. He managed to throw the man +into a chair and bind him with a rope. Then he knotted the man's beard +and moustache together so that his mouth was sealed. The rest of the +tavern applauded him for his neat manner of silencing the boaster.</p> + +<p>He did not always come out on top, however. On one occasion he fought in +the street with Sir Thomas Perrot, and was arrested by the town watch. +He was brought to trial, and sent to the Fleet prison for six days. The +imprisonment meant very little to him, it was simply part of the life of +adventure he was so fond of living.</p> + +<p>We must remember that all England, in this age of Elizabeth, was full of +this same spirit of adventure. Young men were rising rapidly; there were +a hundred ways to gain distinction, and many of them, although ways +which we might consider rather doubtful nowadays, were then regarded as +quite proper. Walter Raleigh kept his eyes wide open, and when he saw a +promising chance, he was always ready to accept it. The first adventure +that offered was to take part in a seafaring expedition.</p> + +<p>Englishmen of fortune in those days were in the habit of fitting out +privateers to roam the seas, much like pirates. Sir Humphrey Gilbert had +planned to send some such ships to the banks of Newfoundland to capture +any Portuguese or Spanish vessels that might have gone there for the +fishing. He intended to bring his prizes back to some Dutch port, and +there sell them. Walter liked this plan and he talked it over with Sir +Humphrey, but for some reason the plan failed.</p> + +<p>A very little while afterward, however, Sir Humphrey asked him to sail +in an expedition that was supposed to be searching for the northwest +passage to Cathay, but which in reality was intended to seize any +heathen lands it might find and occupy them in the name of England. The +fleet sailed, but soon fell in with a Spanish squadron that was looking +for just such English rovers. Sir Humphrey's fleet was beaten, and +forced to return home. So for a time young Raleigh's chances of winning +fortune on the seas were ended.</p> + +<p>He went back to London, and took up his former life at court. Very soon +he was sent with some troops to Ireland, and there again he had a chance +at the same sort of fighting he had known in France. He proved himself a +good soldier; he shunned no toil nor danger. But the life he had to lead +was a hard one, and very poorly paid, and Raleigh saw no chance to make +his fortune in that path.</p> + +<p>Now, however, Raleigh was known to many powerful men. When he gave up +the Irish fighting and went back to court he found that people there had +heard of what he had accomplished and that he had a reputation for +courage bordering on recklessness. That was a quality the English of +that day much admired. The great lords were almost all reckless +adventurers, plundering wherever they could, and they were glad to find +young men who would do their bidding without asking questions.</p> + +<p>By this time young Raleigh had become typical of his age, having its +virtues and its vices. The age was wild, coveting money in order to +fling it away on mad schemes, reveling in the dangers as well as the +glories of battle and exploration, of plundering Spanish galleons, or of +hunting untold riches in the world across the sea. Queen Elizabeth liked +daring men, and Raleigh took every opportunity to bring himself before +her notice.</p> + +<p>The young courtier had learned all the arts that helped to make men's +fortunes. He was tall and very handsome, a splendid swordsman, and a wit +who could hold his own with poets and with statesmen. He still spoke +with the strong broad accent of Devon, and when he learned that the +Queen liked his unusual accent he was very careful to see that he never +lost it. He studied each chance to please.</p> + +<p>Elizabeth was extremely vain and extremely fond of romance. One day as +she walked with certain of her lords and ladies she came to a marshy +place, and stopped in hesitation, fearing to soil her slippers. This was +the young courtier's chance. Raleigh had been in the background, but +seeing the Queen hesitate he sprang forward, and sweeping his new plush +cloak from his shoulders, spread it in the mire, so that she might +cross. The Queen's face lighted up with pleasure at the graceful act, +and she thanked the youthful gallant. Later she saw that he was given +many court suits for the cloak he had so admirably ruined.</p> + +<p>Having thus won her attention Raleigh next sought to fix himself in his +Queen's mind. He wrote on the window of a room in which she passed much +time the line:</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 15em;"> +"Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall." +</p> + +<p>Elizabeth learned who was author of the writing, and scratched the +answer underneath:</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 15em;"> +"If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all." +</p> + +<p>Raleigh had no fear whatever of falling, but a becoming modesty sat well +upon him. The Queen remembered the young man now for these two +qualities, his gallantry and his becoming modesty, and saw to it that a +man of such spirit should be kept at court. The ardent boy of Devon, the +restless Oxford student, the wild Huguenot trooper, had grown to be a +man worthy of notice.</p> + +<p>He was now, as Walter Scott pictures him in "Kenilworth," the young +seeker after royal favor, graceful, slender, restless, somewhat +supercilious, with a sonnet ever ready on his lips to delight his +friends or an epigram to sting his enemies.</p> + +<p>We shall see him turn his many talents to great uses. He fell to +planning voyages across the Atlantic to discover and settle parts of +North America much as Sir Humphrey Gilbert had done, and as another +young man about court, Sir Francis Drake, was doing. From the Queen, and +from one noble or another who was interested in his marvelous schemes, +he obtained the money to fit out several expeditions. Each in turn +landed near what is now the Roanoke River, and each brought back rich +gifts to the great English Queen. Among other things the explorer saw +the Indians smoking a dried leaf called tobacco, tried the custom, liked +it, and brought it back with him to England.</p> + +<p>Raleigh had a stroke of genius when he named his colony Virginia, in +honor of Elizabeth the Virgin Queen. It pleased her to think that a +great empire in the western world should be named for her. She gave +Raleigh whatever he asked, making him practically governor of all the +English domain in America, and for a long time Virginia was supposed to +cover even part of what later became New England. He started to colonize +the land, but his colonies did not succeed, and he lost all the money he +put into them. Nevertheless his Virginian scheme brought him a great +deal of fame, which he now craved, and kept London talking of him.</p> + +<p>London was soon to talk still more about this daring, brave, and +brilliant Westcountryman. The prophecy of the old sailor at Budleigh +Salterton Bay came true, and for a brief time all England held its +breath while the famous Spanish fleet, called the Armada, bore down upon +her coast. Then all over the country gentlemen of fortune manned ships +and put to sea, but especially the men of Devon, of Somerset, and +Cornwall, counties famed for their sailors.</p> + +<p>Among these men was Raleigh; his advice was eagerly sought by the +Queen's ministers, and when it came to the actual Channel fighting he +made one of many gallant captains. The great Armada came to grief upon +the English coast, and Raleigh had added another to his record of +achievements.</p> + +<p>Having been courtier, colonizer, warrior, Raleigh now blossomed forth as +a poet, and became a friend and patron of Edmund Spenser. He had much +skill in verse, and he was never lacking in imagination. But his real +talents did not lie in that direction, and as in so many other things, +he soon found himself distracted elsewhere.</p> + +<p>The story of Raleigh's manhood belongs to history. Turn to tales of +Elizabeth's court and you will find his name on almost every page. Now +he is high in favor, braving it with the great Earl of Leicester, now +down upon his luck, locked in some royal prison, writing verses to his +many friends. His was a strange career; at one time there was no man in +England whose favor was more sought, yet at the end he died upon the +scaffold charged with treason. Time proved him guiltless of the charge, +and almost at once the English people began to realize how great a light +had been extinguished.</p> + +<p>Through all his varying career he himself was the same brave, dreamy, +ambitious man, the perfect type of that age which we call the +Elizabethan. He could not stay in his native land of Devon; much as he +loved its moorland and its bays, he had to listen to the call of London +and the sea, and follow where their voices led him. Each way the road +was set with many strange adventures, but he met and passed through them +all with the high spirits that were part of his age. His courage never +failed him, nor his joy in fighting his way to fortune with his own +sharp wits.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h3>Peter the Great</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of the Kremlin: 1672-1725</h4> + + +<p>The halls of the Kremlin, the Czar's palace in Moscow, were filled with +a wild rabble of soldiers on a winter afternoon near the end of the +seventeenth century. The guards of the late Czar Alexis were storming +through the maze of corridors and state apartments, breaking statues, +tearing down tapestries, and piercing and cutting to pieces invaluable +paintings with their spears and swords.</p> + +<p>They were big, savage-faced men, pets of the half-civilized Russian +rulers, and were called the Streltsi Guard.</p> + +<p>They had broken into the Kremlin in order to see the boy who was now +Czar, so that they might be sure that his stepmother had not hidden him +away, as the rumor went, in order that her own son Peter might have the +throne for himself. But once inside the Kremlin many of the soldiers +devoted themselves to pillage, until the ringleaders raised the cry, +"Where is the Czar Ivan? Show him to us! Show the boy Ivan to us! Where +is he?"</p> + +<p>In a small room on one of the higher floors a little group of women and +noblemen, all thoroughly frightened, were gathered about two boys. The +noise of the attack on the palace had come to their ears some time +before; they had seen from the windows the mutinous soldiers climbing +the walls and beating down the few loyal servants who had withstood +them. The din was growing more terrific every instant. It was the matter +of only a few minutes before the rioters would break into the room.</p> + +<p>"We must decide at once, friends," said the Czarina Natalia. "If they +enter this room they'll not stop at killing any of us."</p> + +<p>The smaller of the two boys, a sturdy lad of eleven years, spoke up: +"Let me go out on to the Red Staircase with Ivan, mother. When they see +that we are both here they'll be satisfied."</p> + +<p>A dozen objections were raised by the frightened men and women of the +court. It was much too dangerous to trust the lives of the two boys to +the whim of such a maddened mob.</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless Peter is right," said Natalia. "It's the only chance left +to us. They think I have done some harm to Ivan. The only way to prove +that false is for him to stand before them, and my son must go with +him."</p> + +<p>The small boy who had spoken before took these words as final. "Come, +Ivan," said he, and took the other's hand in his. Ivan, a tall, delicate +boy, whose face was white with fear, gripped Peter's hand hard. He was +used to trusting implicitly to his half-brother, although the latter was +two years younger than he.</p> + +<p>One of the noblemen opened the door, and the two boys went out of the +room and crossed the hall to the top of the great Red Staircase. They +looked down on the mob of soldiers who were gradually surging up the +stairs, brandishing swords and halberds, fighting among each other for +the possession of some treasure, and calling continually, "The Czar! +Where are the boys Ivan and Peter? Where are they?"</p> + +<p>At first in their excitement no one noticed the two boys on the +stairway. Ivan, who was by nature timid, shrank away from their sight as +much as he could, but Peter, who was of a different make, stood out in +full view, and held fast to his brother's hand. He had inherited the +iron nerve of the strongest of his ancestors. He looked at the mutinous +rioters with bold, fearless eyes.</p> + +<p>Presently a soldier caught sight of the younger boy and raised a cry +loud above the general din. "There is the boy Peter, but where is Ivan? +The Czar! The Czar!"</p> + +<p>A score of voices took up the cry as all eyes were turned on the +landing, and many men started up the stairs. "There is Peter, but where +is the boy Ivan?" came the deafening chorus.</p> + +<p>"Ivan is here with me," said Peter, his voice clear and high. He tried +to pull Ivan nearer to him so that the men might see him. "Stand up +where they can see you, Ivan!" he begged. "There's nothing to be afraid +of. They only want to see their new Czar."</p> + +<p>Trembling with fear the older boy, who had inherited all the weakness of +his race, and none of its strength, was finally induced to step close to +Peter. So, side by side, their hands clasped, the two looked down on the +crowded stairway, and faced the mob of soldiers. They made a strange +picture, two small boys, standing quite alone, fronting that sea of +passionate, angry faces.</p> + +<p>At sight of Ivan another cry arose. "There's the Czar! Hail Ivan! Hail +the son of the great Alexis!"</p> + +<p>For a moment the onward rush of the mob was checked, but only for a +moment. Three or four soldiers started up the stairs, their lances +pointed at Peter, shouting, "What shall we do with the son of the false +woman Natalia?" They came so close to the boy that their spears almost +touched him before they stopped. Had he turned to run no one can say +what might have happened, but he did not turn, he did not even draw back +nor show a single sign of fear.</p> + +<p>"I am the son of the Czar Alexis also, and I am not afraid of any of +you!"</p> + +<p>The boy's calm eyes fronted the nearest soldiers steadily. The men heard +his words and hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Peter, the son of Alexis, is not afraid of his own father's guards!" +the boy continued. "That is why I came out here when you called me."</p> + +<p>In the hush that had followed his first words his voice carried clear to +all the crowding men. When he finished there came a silence, and then of +a sudden cheer on cheer rose on the stairs and through the hall. "Peter, +the son of Alexis! Hail Peter! Hail the two boy Czars!"</p> + +<p>The nearest soldiers dropped the points of their spears and joined in +the shouting. A flush came into the younger boy's face and he smiled, +and squeezed Ivan's hand tighter. He knew that the danger had passed.</p> + +<p>Slowly the soldiers who had climbed nearest to the boys drew back down +the stairs. Swords were returned to scabbards, harsh voices grew +quieter, and within a quarter of an hour the Red Staircase and the great +hall were empty of men.</p> + +<p>Then the door of the room from which the two boys had come opened, and +Natalia and her women stepped out. The Czarina, a woman of courage +herself, took Peter in her arms. "My brave son," she murmured, "thou art +worthy of thy father. I would have stood beside thee, but the people +hate me, and it would have been worse for us all."</p> + +<p>"I needed no one, little mother," said Peter. "If I am ever to be a +ruler I must not fear to face my own men." Then his face grew more +serious. "But if I ever am Czar they will not break into the Kremlin +this way, mother, nor wilt thou need to hide thyself from them."</p> + +<p>"God grant it be so, Peter!" answered Natalia. "I think they've learned +much from thee this very day."</p> + +<p>The Streltsi had indeed learned that the boy Peter was no coward, and +their dislike changed to affection; but there were others in Moscow who +plotted and planned against him, because the family of the late Czar's +first wife were very powerful in Russia and they hated his second wife +Natalia, and her son, who had been his father's favorite.</p> + +<p>Everything that conspirators could do to break the boy's spirit was +done; he was time and again placed in peril of his life; he was +threatened and tempted and slandered to the people, but all to no avail. +His mother did her best to shield him from his enemies, but when she +found that her care was not enough she trusted to his own remarkable +judgment and courage. These never failed either the boy or his mother.</p> + +<p>As time passed it grew more and more clear that Peter was as strong as +his poor stepbrother Ivan was weak, and in order to satisfy the people +the younger boy was made joint-Czar with the elder.</p> + +<p>The real power in Russia then, however, was the Princess Sophia, Peter's +half-sister, a bitter enemy of both the boy and his mother. She did her +best to break her stepbrother's spirit, hoping that he might come to +some untimely end, as so many of the royal family had already done. She +knew that Ivan was simply a weak tool in her hands, and so bent all her +energies to try and ruin the younger Czar by taking away all restraint +from over him, and letting him indulge every pleasure and whim.</p> + +<p>He was given a palace of his own in a small village outside Moscow, and +Sophia selected fifty boys of his own age to be his playmates. She had +his former teachers dismissed and chose such comrades for him as she +thought would grow up idle, vicious men.</p> + +<p>Fortunately Peter's character was not so easily ruined. His mother and +his old teachers had given him the beginning of an education and instead +of falling into Sophia's snares, he immediately started to turn his +playmates into scholars.</p> + +<p>He formed a sort of military school, where the boys practiced all the +discipline necessary in camp. He himself set to work to learn to use +different tools, and in general he studied the trades of his people. He +managed to get teachers who could instruct the boys in history and +geography, and as a result instead of being good for nothing the circle +of boys in the little palace became unusually energetic and +active-minded. When he finally left the palace it had become a +well-organized military school, and continued to be run as such for a +long time afterward.</p> + +<p>When the Princess Sophia realized that these plans of hers were failing, +she decided on a more desperate measure. On the night of August 7, 1689, +Peter was suddenly waked in the middle of night by fugitive soldiers +coming from the Kremlin, who warned him that Sophia had gathered a band +of soldiers to come out to his palace and kill him. The boy, realizing +his extreme peril, jumped out of bed, and throwing on a few clothes ran +to the stables, where he found his favorite horse and set out with some +comrades into the neighboring forest.</p> + +<p>There they stayed practically in hiding until officers came from the +palace bringing him food and clothing, and gradually gathering about him +until he had quite a small body-guard. By this time he had made up his +mind what to do.</p> + +<p>Feeling sufficiently strong with his friends, he finally set out for a +monastery, thinking to find safe refuge there until the storm should +pass. Here more friends came to join him, and as the news of Sophia's +plot to kill the boy Czar was spread through the country, a new +enthusiasm for the youthful Peter sprang up, and the very troops that +had formerly sided with the Princess now denounced her as a traitor to +Russia. Peter wrote to his stepsister asking for explanations about the +plot at the Kremlin, but the Princess could make no satisfactory reply.</p> + +<p>The monastery was now crowded with officers of the court who had come to +realize that Sophia's power was gone and that the boy Czar's strength +was rising rapidly. The time had come when he was strong enough to +strike. He marched on the Kremlin and captured Sophia and those who had +been in the conspiracy with her. Some of the Streltsi Guard who had +taken part against him were tried and executed, and the Princess Sophia +was shut up in a convent for the remainder of her life.</p> + +<p>Such events did not tend to make the boy a merciful ruler, but +surrounded as he was by traitors and spies he was compelled to rule with +an iron hand if he was to rule at all.</p> + +<p>From this time dates the beginning of his real influence in Russia. The +army had been poorly organized. Now the young King set to work to drill +it as effectively as he had drilled his playmates. He learned how cannon +were built, and studied the manufacture of all kinds of firearms. About +the same time he became deeply interested in ship-building, and +determined to build a fleet of war-vessels on Lake Plestchéief.</p> + +<p>He took some young men of his own age with him to the bank of the lake +and there built a one-storied wooden house, a very primitive building, +the windows filled with mica instead of glass, and set a double-headed +eagle with a gilt wooden crown over the door to show it was the Czar's +residence. Here he worked hard all one winter, he himself taking a hand +in all the building that was done, laboring like any carpenter and +enjoying the work far more than the state ceremonies he was obliged to +go through with at the Kremlin.</p> + +<p>But even when he was so far from Moscow and so actively engaged, he sent +continual messages to the mother who had so often shielded him from +harm. Once he wrote to her as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"To my best beloved, and, while bodily life endures, my dearest +little mother, the Lady Czarina and Grand Duchess Natalia Kirílovna. +Thy little son, now here at work, Petrúshka, asks thy blessing and +wishes news of thy health. We, through thy prayers, are all well, and +the lake has been cleared of ice to-day, and all the boats, except +the big ship, are finished, only we have to wait for ropes. Therefore +I beg thy kindness that these ropes, seven hundred fathoms long, be +sent from the artillery department without delay, for our work is +waiting for them, and our stay here is so much prolonged."</p></div> + +<p>The Russians of that day knew little about building ships, and so Peter +finally went to Amsterdam. Here he dressed like a Dutch sea-captain and +spent his time with sailors and ship-builders, and thoroughly enjoyed +the difference between this new life and that at home. Many of his +native customs he now learned to look upon as uncouth. The Russians had +poor taste in dress; the Imperial Guards wore old-fashioned uniforms +consisting of a long gown, which made it very difficult for them to move +rapidly. Peter saw some French soldiers and at once decided to adopt +their smarter and more serviceable style of dress.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus03.png" alt="peter" /> +<a id="illus03" name="illus03"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> <span class="smcap">Peter the Great</span></p> + +<p>In the same way he changed the old Russian military drill to something +resembling that of the other European countries. He had new carriages +and furniture and foods imported from France and England, and tried to +make Moscow more like a modern city than like the semi-barbarous Asiatic +village it had been. The Russian men almost all wore long, flowing +beards, and this fashion Peter quickly changed, insisting that the men +about him should adopt the fashion of the French court.</p> + +<p>It is hard to realize how far behind the rest of the countries of Europe +the Russia of those days was; yet it is due almost entirely to the young +Czar Peter that this great northern country finally came out from +semi-darkness. It must not be supposed that these great changes were at +first popular with the court; there was tremendous opposition to almost +everything Peter did, but the people gradually realized that he was +really working for their benefit and that he was deeply interested in +improving their condition. Slowly his popularity grew with the middle +and lower classes, until finally they spoke of their "little Czar," as +they called him affectionately, almost as though he were really one of +themselves.</p> + +<p>Few rulers have had a harder task than did Peter. All during his youth +the nobles plotted against him, and as he grew to manhood he escaped +assassination again and again by the narrowest of chances, but every +time he had to face danger he grew more self-reliant and more +determined, and gradually his grip on the men of both court and army +grew so strong that they realized places had changed, and that they were +as absolutely his servants as he was their master.</p> + +<p>In time Peter became a great king, a fearless, purposeful ruler who knit +his people together as no other Czar had ever been able to do. He led +the armies he had himself drilled to many victories. He built a great +fleet in the Baltic Sea. He established a new capital near the shores of +the Baltic, and named it after his own patron saint, St. Petersburg.</p> + +<p>The history of his life is full of tremendous difficulties and dangers, +but he fronted each one as he had fronted the riotous Streltsi Guards +when he was a boy of eleven, and so history has given him the title of +most powerful of all Russian Czars and has called him "Peter the +Great."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<h3>Frederick the Great</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of Potsdam: 1712-1788</h4> + + +<p>A little boy and girl sat playing on a harpsichord in one of the great +stiffly-furnished and lofty-ceilinged rooms of the Potsdam Palace, +outside Berlin. The boy wore his yellow hair in long curls, his eyes +were merry and he laughed often, while his sister, who was a little +older, seemed quite as happy. The children were practicing for their +music lesson, and only too glad to be free of their teachers for a time, +because music was dearest to them both.</p> + +<p>Without a word of warning the door of the room was thrown open, and a +big, heavy-faced man stood on the threshold.</p> + +<p>"What's all this?" he cried, his voice snarling with anger, and his +small eyes shot with red. "Haven't I given orders that you're never to +touch that thing again?"</p> + +<p>At the sound of the man's voice both children had jumped from their +chairs and stood, stiff as ramrods, facing the speaker. The boy had +raised his hand to the side of his head in salute.</p> + +<p>"Please, sir," said the girl, "we're both so very fond of music."</p> + +<p>"Silence," commanded the man, who was no other than their father, +Frederick William, King of Prussia. "Fritz can speak for himself; he +doesn't need a girl to defend him."</p> + +<p>"Wilhelmina has told you, sir," said the boy, "how much we both love +music. Indeed I'd rather listen to it than do anything else, and I want +to learn how to play it for myself. I don't care anything about being a +soldier."</p> + +<p>The King's face was almost purple with anger. He looked as though he +would box the boy's ears on the spot, but he held himself in check.</p> + +<p>"You little brat!" he cried. "A soldier you shall be, and nothing else! +Do you think the kingdom of Prussia can be ruled by a crazy fool of a +musician? Don't talk to me of harpsichords, or books, or pictures. +You're not to be a woman, but a king!"</p> + +<p>The boy knew his father too well to attempt any answer; there was no one +in Prussia who would dare speak freely before King Frederick William.</p> + +<p>After scowling at his son in silence for some minutes the man spoke +again. "Listen to my orders and see that you obey them. From to-day your +music-masters are discharged, every instrument is moved from the palace, +and if either of you two is found playing such things I will have you +locked in your rooms for a week to live on barley and water. Now, sir, +step before me to the hair-dresser. I'll have those locks of yours shorn +so that you'll look less like a girl and more like a grenadier."</p> + +<p>Fritz, keeping back the tears in mingled shame and terror, walked to +the door and paced down the hall before his father. He tried to hold +himself straight like a soldier, but it was hard when he felt as though +he were being marched to execution.</p> + +<p>The King handed the boy over to the hair-dresser, and in fifteen minutes +the curls were all gone and Fritz's hair was close-cropped like a man's. +As soon as he was free he ran to his mother's room, and there the gentle +Queen, Sophia Dorothea, took him in her arms and comforted him. She knew +how sensitive her little son was, how absolutely different from his +father, and she could sympathize with both the children's suffering +under the King's cruelty.</p> + +<p>For once the mother dared to disobey her husband. The next week she told +the two children to go to a distant part of the palace grounds where +there was a deep wood, and see what they should find there. They obeyed, +and ran eagerly down the path to the forest where they had often played +under the trees and in the caves in the rocks. They came to a little +greenwood circle completely hidden from the roads and there found their +music-master. He led them to a cave, and showed them Wilhelmina's little +spinnet, and Fritz's flute lying on it. That was their mother's +surprise. She had arranged that the children's music teacher should meet +them out there and give them the lessons they wanted. Boy and girl were +happy again; they took up their music eagerly, and were soon playing as +of old. Perhaps the very secrecy lent the lessons charm.</p> + +<p>The hours spent in the forest and cave were a great success, but one +day Fritz found a small drum at the palace, and forgetting the King's +orders he started to march about the halls beating it, followed by the +admiring Wilhelmina. Suddenly, in the middle of the triumphal +procession, the King came upon them. Poor Fritz dropped the drumsticks +and stood at attention, while Wilhelmina, behind him, grew white with +fear of what should happen.</p> + +<p>To their amazement the King's stern face softened; he smiled, then he +laughed and clapped his hands. "Ah, Fritz, now you're a soldier! I +mistook you for one of my own guard, boy."</p> + +<p>The King was delighted. He thought that at last his son was fired with +martial fervor. While the boy went back through the halls beating his +drum Frederick called the Queen to watch his soldier son, and +immediately ordered the court artist to paint a picture of the scene on +canvas. A day or two later he told Fritz of a plan he had in store. He +would form a military company of boys of his own age for him, build them +an arsenal on the palace grounds, and have them drilled by officers of +the army.</p> + +<p>With the King to speak was to act. A month had not passed before the +small boy, dressed in a general's uniform, found himself in command of +about three hundred youths of his own age, all properly equipped with +uniforms and arms, and known as "The Crown Prince Cadets." They made a +remarkable contrast to that other regiment of which King Frederick +William was so proud, which was made up of giants, men all over six feet +six inches tall, seized wherever they were found in Prussia and +elsewhere and forced into his army.</p> + +<p>The boy general and his cadets were drilled hours at a time day after +day by the Prussian officers, in the hope of making soldiers of them and +nothing else. Fritz hated it; he wanted to read and to learn music, and +day by day he found less and less time to steal off to those wonderful +meetings in the woods or to romp with Wilhelmina in the schoolroom. The +French governess who had taught him was taken away, and he was placed +under military tutors who made him learn gunnery and battle tactics at +the arsenal which his father had built for him on the grounds.</p> + +<p>When the boy was ten the King started to take him to all the military +reviews. In going from garrison to garrison the King rode on a hard +wagon called a sausage-car, which was simply a padded pole about ten +feet long on which the riders sat astride. Ten or more men would jolt +over the roads on such cars with the King summer and winter, and he made +the boy ride in front of him, through the broiling sun or the winter +snow, waking him whenever he fell asleep by pulling his ear and saying, +"Too much sleep stupefies a fellow."</p> + +<p>In such iron fashion the father did his best to change the sensitive, +gentle nature of his son to something like his own.</p> + +<p>At the age of ten Fritz's days were marked out hour by hour by Frederick +William. Not even Sunday was free. He was marched from teacher to +teacher, all sports were denied him, and he was never allowed to read +or play. His hair was kept close cut, his clothes were heavy and coarse, +he was treated more like a prisoner than a prince. To the boy's masters +the King gave one direction: "Teach him to seek all glory in the soldier +profession." When his mother or sister dared to interfere the King would +turn on them in a rage; Wilhelmina was sent time and again to her room, +to be starved until she grew more docile.</p> + +<p>The boy's time was divided between Berlin and the Palace of +Wusterhausen, a country seat some twenty miles outside of the capital. +The palace was a very simple dwelling set in the middle of swampy +fields, with a fringe of thickets. In the grounds were many natural +fish-ponds, and game of all kinds was plentiful in the woods. The somber +old monarch loved this place, and had built there a fountain with stone +steps, where he liked to sit in the evening and smoke his long porcelain +pipe. He often had his dinner served by the fountain, and afterward +would throw himself down on the grass for a nap. Aside from this simple +entertainment, the King's only pleasure lay in hunting in the woods.</p> + +<p>The children and their mother found Wusterhausen very unattractive. The +only pets they were allowed were two black bears, very ugly and vicious. +They had no comforts indoors, and were treated as though they were +children of the meanest peasant. Some boys might have found sport in the +fish-ponds, the groves and the streams about the place, filled as they +were with fish and game, but Fritz cared nothing for such things. Their +loneliness drew the two children closer and closer together, and their +dislike of their father increased with each year that he took them out +to Wusterhausen.</p> + +<p>The father, on his part, was growing more and more contemptuous of his +son. He found Fritz cared nothing for the army, nothing for the chase, +that the hardship and exposure of rough life were torture to him. Worse +than that, he had discovered some verses in French that Fritz had +written, and spoke of him scornfully to the men of his court as "the +French flute-player and poet." It would have been very hard for the boy +if he had not had a mother and sister who were so devoted to him, and +did everything they possibly could to protect him from his father's +tyranny.</p> + +<p>When he was fourteen, Frederick William appointed Fritz captain of his +Grenadier Guards. This was the regiment made up of giants, and was one +of the most singular passions of the very singular old King. He sent men +through the whole of Europe and Asia to search for very tall men. Some +of the regiment were almost nine feet high. When a foreign monarch +wished to curry favor with the King of Prussia he would send him a +giant. The King showered favors on these men. He had court painters +paint portraits of each one of them. They were the very centre of that +great army which was the sole pride of the old warrior, and which he was +building up so that it should become the greatest military force in +Europe.</p> + +<p>Fritz tried to do his duty as captain of the regiment, and gradually +acquired something of a military bearing. For a short time his father +was pleased, but his pleasure did not last long; for the boy could not +keep away from the fascinations of music and of books, and all of the +various arts which were constantly coming into Prussia from France.</p> + +<p>The flute was Fritz's favorite instrument, and it so happened that a +very celebrated teacher of the flute came from Dresden about this time, +and gave lessons in the Prussian capital. As soon as Fritz learned that +this man was a splendid teacher he arranged to have him come secretly to +his room at Potsdam. The boy's mother knew of this plan, and did her +best to keep his secret; but it was a very dangerous matter, for the old +King was growing more and more suspicious, and also more and more +fierce. A friend of Fritz's, who was about his own age, stood guard +outside the boy's room, while he was having his lessons on the flute, +and another guard was stationed at the entrance to the palace grounds +with orders to send word at once if the King should appear.</p> + +<p>When Fritz was satisfied of his safety, he would go up to his own room, +throw aside the tight, heavy military coat which he hated, and put on a +flowing French dressing-gown, scarlet colored, and embroidered with +gold. Then, dressed to suit himself, he would take his music lesson, and +enjoy every minute of the stolen pleasure.</p> + +<p>One day, however, in the middle of his playing, the friend at the door +rushed into the room announcing that the King was coming. This boy and +the teacher seized the flutes and music books and ran into a +wood-closet, where they stood shaking with fear. Fritz threw off his +dressing-gown, pulled on his military coat and sat down at a table, +opening a book.</p> + +<p>Now the old King, his brows bent with anger, burst into the room. The +sight of his delicate son reading seemed like fuel to his rage. He never +minced his words, and proceeded to heap abuse on the head of the poor +Prince, when all of a sudden he caught sight of the end of the scarlet +gown sticking out from behind a screen. "What is that?" he cried, and +stepping across the room pulled the gown out. Beside himself with rage +he crammed it into the fireplace, and threw after it many of the +ornaments the boy had used to decorate his room. Then he walked to the +bookshelves and swept all the volumes to the floor, saying that he would +have a bookseller buy the library next day, because his son was to be a +soldier and not a scholar. For an hour he stayed there, pacing up and +down the room, lecturing Fritz until the boy was almost sick with shame. +Finally he left, and the two in the wood-closet were able to come out, +both of them almost as badly frightened as the Prince himself.</p> + +<p>But if the King treated his son so badly, he treated his daughter +Wilhelmina none the less so. He could hardly stand the sight of her at +times, and her mother had to arrange a series of screens in her room so +that when Frederick William came to see her the daughter could escape +behind them. After such scenes Fritz and Wilhelmina would try to comfort +each other, but the boy was gradually growing more sullen and +rebellious.</p> + +<p>Again and again the boy thought of escape; he would have been only too +glad to give up his position as Prince in exchange for the chance to +live simply in some foreign land, free to follow his own tastes as other +boys did theirs. He would have made the attempt, but he knew only too +well that should he escape his father's hand would fall in terrible +wrath on his dear sister Wilhelmina. He decided to stay and bear the +burdens of this life the King had planned for him rather than desert his +mother and sister. He was not a coward even if he was not made of iron.</p> + +<p>At last the boy felt that he must act in self-defense. His father, +suffering from the gout, took to flogging Fritz in the very presence of +the lords and ladies of the court. The boy had pride, though his father +had done his best to kill it. Once, after striking blows at Fritz's head +before the assembled court, the King cried, "Had I been so treated by my +father, I would have blown my brains out. But this fellow has no honor. +He takes all that comes."</p> + +<p>Fritz could stand such treatment no longer. Praying that Wilhelmina +might not suffer he planned an escape with a friend.</p> + +<p>His father was taking him on a journey to the Rhine in the company of a +small guard of soldiers who were told to treat the boy like a prisoner. +Three officers were ordered to ride in the same carriage with Fritz, and +never to leave him alone. The King was a hard traveler, and seemed +positively to wish for extra hardships and fatigues, the party scarcely +stopping for food or sleep. At one place, however, a short stay was +made, and there Fritz planned to escape.</p> + +<p>They had arrived at the town very late, and the boy with his officers +slept in a barn, as was not infrequently the case. The usual hour for +starting in the morning was three o'clock. A little after midnight Fritz +saw that his companions were sound asleep, and rose and crept out into +the open air. He had made arrangements with a servant to meet him with +horses on the village green. The boy reached the green and found the +horses, but at the same moment one of the guards, who had been awakened +by the noise Fritz made in leaving the barn, caught up with him, and +demanded of the servant who held the horses: "Sirrah! What are you doing +with those beasts?"</p> + +<p>The man answered, "I am getting the horses ready for the start."</p> + +<p>"We do not start till five o'clock. Take them back at once to the +stable." The officer pretended not to see Fritz, who had to slink back +at his heels to the barn, fully conscious that his chance to escape was +gone.</p> + +<p>News of this attempt reached the King, and the next day, when he met his +son, he said sarcastically, "Ah, you are still here then? I thought that +by this time you would have been in Paris."</p> + +<p>All the boy's spirit had not been crushed out of him, and he dared to +answer, "I certainly would have been there now had I really wished it."</p> + +<p>Again he tried to escape, and again he was caught, and this time he was +brought directly to the King. The father stared at his son as though he +were some wild beast, and then said angrily: "Why did you attempt to +desert?"</p> + +<p>"I wanted to escape because you never treat me like your son, but like +some common slave."</p> + +<p>"You're a cowardly deserter," said the King, "without any feelings of +honor."</p> + +<p>"I have as much honor as you have," answered Fritz, "and I've done only +what I've heard you say you would have done if you had been treated as I +have."</p> + +<p>The King, maddened beyond description, drew his sword, and would have +struck the boy had not a general in attendance thrown himself between +them, exclaiming: "Sire, you may kill me, but spare your son."</p> + +<p>The boy was taken out of the room and locked in prison, where he was +guarded by two sentries with fixed bayonets. The King proclaimed him a +deserter from the army, and ordered him tried for that crime. It is +small wonder that Fritz declared he would have been glad to exchange his +place for that of the poorest serf in Prussia.</p> + +<p>Fritz was placed in a strongly barred room like a dungeon, with no +furniture in it, and lighted by a single slit in the wall so high that +the boy could not look out of it. The coarsest brown clothes were given +him to wear. He was allowed only one or two books. His food was bought +at a near-by butcher-shop, and was cut for him, for he was not allowed a +knife. The door of his prison was opened three times a day for +ventilation, and he was provided with a single tallow candle which had +to be put out by seven o'clock in the evening. This was the way the +Crown Prince of Prussia lived when he was nineteen years old, and if +the father did not actually succeed in breaking all the boy's spirit, +he was at least changing this lovable, gentle-natured youth into a stern +and gloomy young man.</p> + +<p>Eventually the boy was released from his prison, but as long as his +father lived he was treated with all the harshness the King's mind could +devise. His sister Wilhelmina was kept away from him, and finally +married to a man for whom she cared little. Fritz was cut off from all +interests save that of the army, but gradually he began to acquire +something of his father's interest in creating a splendid fighting +machine.</p> + +<p>In time he became King of Prussia himself, free at last to do as he +would. He sought out men of genius, musicians, poets, and thinkers. He +offered Voltaire, the great Frenchman, a home with him, and his happiest +hours were spent in his company, or listening to music, or playing the +flute he had loved as a boy. But that was only one side of him, and the +side which was least seen. On the world's side he was the grasping +ruler, the great general who forced war on all his neighbors, and who +came to be known as the conqueror of Europe.</p> + +<p>The boy Fritz of Prussia might have become one of Europe's greatest +sovereigns, for he was naturally endowed with a love of all the finer +things of life. Instead he became a despot who plunged Europe for years +into the horrors of useless war. For this misfortune his father was +responsible. The loving mother and sister could not counterbalance the +terrible severity of the cruel King. Gradually Fritz changed from the +sunny lad who had played in the gardens of Potsdam with Wilhelmina to a +severe and arbitrary monarch.</p> + +<p>His father had taught him that a country's greatness depended on its +soldiers, and so Fritz made Prussia an army and compelled the world to +admit the might of his troops. To Europe he was the ambitious tyrant, +Frederick the Great. It was only to Wilhelmina and a few friends that he +showed a little of that softer nature which had been his as the boy of +Potsdam.</p> + +<p>At the Charlottenburg Palace hangs the famous portrait of him playing +upon the drum. It was a long step from that boy to the man Frederick the +Great.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h3>George Washington</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of the Old Dominion: 1732-1799</h4> + + +<p>A few miles below Mount Vernon, on the Potomac River, was the beautiful +estate of Belvoir, belonging to an English gentleman of rank named Lord +Fairfax. The broad Potomac wound about the base of the lawn that sloped +gently downward from the old colonial mansion which sat upon a height +looking out across the exquisite Virginia country.</p> + +<p>The Potomac was not a busy river then, and the only trade that came up +it was such as was needed to supply the rich planters on the shores with +food and clothing. From the porch of Belvoir one might see an occasional +sailing vessel dropping up with the tide, lately come from England to +make a tour of the seaboard states, and to take home cotton and tobacco +in exchange for the silks and satins brought out to the colonies.</p> + +<p>A great man in both England and America was Lord Fairfax; he owned many +estates in both countries, but his favorite was this of Belvoir, not +only because of its great natural beauty, but because he liked the +company of the Virginia planters, who joined a certain frankness and +simplicity of life with all the charms of European refinement.</p> + +<p>Lord Fairfax kept up all the old English customs in his Potomac home. He +had a passion for horses and for hunting, and his pack of foxhounds was +the best in the colony. Sometimes he had the company of men of his own +age to hunt with him, but he was always sure that he could count upon +the fellowship of a certain boy, the son of a neighbor, named +Washington. Whenever the hunting season arrived, Lord Fairfax sent word +to Mrs. Washington that he would be glad of the company of her eldest +son George, and a day or two later the boy would appear at Belvoir, keen +to mount horse and be off for the chase.</p> + +<p>On one such winter day Lord Fairfax and his friend George were hunting +alone. They had had a good run and caught their fox, and were returning +home in a leisurely fashion across the rolling country south of the +hills. They were a curious couple.</p> + +<p>The Englishman was nearly sixty years old, more than six feet tall, very +gaunt and big-boned, with gray eyes overhung by bushy brows, sharp +features, and keen, aquiline nose. He had been a great beau in his +youthful days in London, and there was no mistaking the mark of +authority that sat upon him.</p> + +<p>The boy who rode by his side was not yet sixteen years old, and yet he +scarcely seemed a boy, nor would his manner have led one to treat him as +such. He was unusually tall and strong for his years, and he had so +trained himself in a strict code of conduct that a singular gravity and +decision marked his bearing. This might have had much to do with the +bond of affection between the man and the youth. Lord Fairfax was not +ashamed to listen seriously to the opinions of young George Washington, +and he had learnt that those opinions were not apt to be trivial, but +the result of deep observation and thought.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus04.png" alt="george" /> +<a id="illus04" name="illus04"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> <span class="smcap">Mrs. Washington Urges George Not to Enter the +Navy</span></p> + +<p>As they rode home the man asked the boy what he was planning to do. He +knew that Mrs. Washington was poor and that her son would have to make +his own way in the world.</p> + +<p>"What should you like to be, George?" he inquired. "I dare say you've +had enough schooling by this time."</p> + +<p>"The sea was my first choice, sir," was the answer. "My brother Lawrence +got me a commission in the navy, but at the last minute mother asked me +not to leave her. She has had hard times bringing us all up, and I felt, +as the eldest, that I ought to stay at home; so I gave up my +commission."</p> + +<p>"That was hard," said Lord Fairfax, "and yet I think you did well. There +should be openings for a young man in the colonies. It seems to me I +heard that you were very fond of the surveyor's work."</p> + +<p>The boy looked up quickly, and his bright eyes flashed. "So I am, sir. I +have made surveys of all the fields near school, and have got the +figures in my books at home. I should like very much to be a real +surveyor."</p> + +<p>"Well, George," said Lord Fairfax, "perhaps I can help you then. I've +bought lands out west, the other side the Appalachians. It's a big tract +I own, but I know little about it, and I'm told that men are settling +out there and taking it up themselves. I should like to have it +surveyed, and I think you're just the one to do it."</p> + +<p>"I should like it above all things," said the boy, "if you think you can +trust me to do the work properly."</p> + +<p>Lord Fairfax smiled slightly as he looked down at his companion. He was +apt to be somewhat amused at Washington's serious modesty. "I'll show +you the plans after dinner. I almost wish I could go out there with +you."</p> + +<p>They were now nearing Belvoir, and the man put spurs to his horse and +dashed across the intervening fields. The boy followed close behind, +sitting his horse to perfection. Just before they reached Belvoir they +came to a high hedge. Lord Fairfax put his horse at it and went flying +over. A second later George had followed him. There was no feat of +horsemanship to which he was not equal.</p> + +<p>A little later dinner was served in the big dining-room at Belvoir. Lord +Fairfax had his brother's family living with him, and with one or two +friends who were apt to be staying at the house they made quite a large +party. The long polished mahogany table gleamed with silver and glass. +Candles on it and in sconces about the white paneled walls shed a +pleasant lustre over the dinner party.</p> + +<p>It was a time when men and women paid great attention to dress. The +ladies wore light flowered gowns, and the men brilliant coats and +knee-breeches, with lace stocks and white powdered hair. Their manners +were of the courts of Europe, polished in the extreme, and they had all +been trained to make an art of conversation. Negro servants waited on +the table, and the noble lord presided at its head with something of the +majesty of a medieval baron in his castle. There were young people +present, and George sat with them, paying gallant speeches to the girls +and telling stories of sport to the boys. He was a popular youth, having +a singularly gentle manner which made him a great favorite with those of +his own age.</p> + +<p>After dinner Lord Fairfax took George to his study, and spread out the +plans of his western estate. He told the boy just where to go and what +to do, and George made notes in a small pocketbook, asking questions now +and then which showed a remarkable knowledge of the surveyor's work.</p> + +<p>"When can you start?" Lord Fairfax asked, as he finished with the plans.</p> + +<p>"At once," said the boy, "if mother can spare me, and I think she can."</p> + +<p>"Good. I'd like another hunt with you before you go, but when there's +work afoot a man shouldn't tarry. The sooner you start the better."</p> + +<p>A little later George was sleeping soundly in the guest-room +above-stairs dreaming of the adventures he hoped soon to have.</p> + +<p>On a March day in 1748 Washington set out with young George Fairfax, a +nephew of the English lord, to make the surveying expedition. Their road +led by Ashley's Gap, a deep pass through the Blue Ridge, that +picturesque line of mountains which had so far marked the boundary of +civilized Virginia.</p> + +<p>When they reached the pass they found at its base a rapidly rising +river. The melting snow which still lingered on the hilltops had swollen +the stream and in places had made the road almost impassable. The two +horsemen, by searching for fords, managed to make their way through the +pass, and came out into the wide, smiling valley of Virginia, bounded by +the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Alleghanies. Here flowed that +picturesque river called by the Indian name of Shenandoah, which means +"the Daughter of the Stars."</p> + +<p>The first stop the travelers made was at a rough lodge house where one +of Lord Fairfax's bailiffs lived, and here the actual work of surveying +began. Spring was rapidly coming, and young George Washington was by no +means blind to the beauties of the country in that season. He tried, +however, to look about him with a practical eye. He studied the valley +for building sites. He examined the soil. He made carefully measured +maps and drawings, after using his surveyor's rod and chain. When he had +learned all that he wanted of this locality, he followed the valley down +toward the Potomac, he and Fairfax camping out at nights under the +trees, sleeping beside a watch-fire, and keeping ever on the alert for +attack by Indians or wild animals.</p> + +<p>When they had reached the river they found it so swollen with spring +floods that there seemed no way of crossing it. Finally, however, they +met an Indian with a birch-bark canoe and bargained with him to take +them across. In this way, swimming their horses, they reached the +Maryland side, and set out again westward.</p> + +<p>Shortly after they had left the river they came to a planter's house +where they stayed over night. The next day they were surprised by the +arrival of a war party of thirty Indians carrying scalps won in battle. +The planter knew how to treat the Indians, and soon made friends with +them by offering them whiskey. George had seen little of the red men and +begged them to hold a war-dance.</p> + +<p>The white men and the red went out into a meadow and there built a fire, +round which the braves took their seats. The chief made a speech telling +of the tribe's deeds of valor, and calling on the warriors to win new +triumphs. Gradually one by one the reclining members of the band rose +and circled about the fire in a slow swinging step. Two Indians at a +little distance beat upon a rough drum made of wood covered with +deerskin and half filled with water.</p> + +<p>As the chief's voice rose higher and higher and the music grew louder +and louder, more and more men joined the dance, until finally all the +tribe was dancing about the fire, and their pace grew ever faster. Now, +from time to time, one would leap in the air uttering savage cries and +yells, then another, and finally all seemed absolutely lost in a sort of +demon's frenzy. Suddenly, at a sharp command from the chief, the dance +and the music ceased, and the warriors came up to their white friends +smiling and asking for more whiskey.</p> + +<p>The scene made a deep impression on George Washington. So far he had +lived only among white people, and knew little of the Indian in his +native haunts, but from the date of this war-dance he began to study +the red man's character, and before long he had become an expert in the +art of dealing with these people.</p> + +<p>For a month George and young Fairfax traveled through the land that +belonged to the latter's uncle, and at the end of that time the boy had +made practically a complete survey of the region. By the middle of April +he was back at Belvoir. His plans were examined and approved, and he was +well paid for his services.</p> + +<p>So pleased was the Englishman with George's work that he used his +efforts to get him the appointment of Public Surveyor. The position +pleased the boy, who at once started to make maps of the whole region +lying along the Potomac. He divided his time between his mother's simple +house, the big house which his older half-brother, Lawrence, had built +at Mount Vernon, and Lord Fairfax's seat at Belvoir. The strongest +friendship had grown up between the nobleman and the boy, and George +unquestionably profited greatly by his talks with this man, who was very +fond of literature and art, and who had known the most distinguished men +and women of Europe.</p> + +<p>Belvoir had a fine library, and George spent much of his spare time +there reading with special eagerness the history of England and +Addison's essays in the <i>Spectator</i>. His only schooling had been that +which he had gained at a very primitive log schoolhouse, where an old +man named Hobby, originally a bondsman, taught the children of the +plantations reading, writing, and arithmetic. George, however, was not +the boy to be content with such a simple education, and he had made up +his mind that if he could not go to William and Mary College he would at +least learn all he could from Lord Fairfax's well-stocked library.</p> + +<p>Young Washington's work as a surveyor was shortly cut in upon by the +outbreak of trouble with France. In looking over the youths of the +neighborhood who were likely to make good soldiers, attention was almost +at once attracted to him. Everybody knew he had a great sense of +responsibility, and his feats as an athlete were equally well known.</p> + +<p>As a small boy he had been unusually big and strong for his age, and had +always delighted in any kind of contest of strength. He could outrun, +outride and outbox any boy of either side the Potomac, and had proved it +in many contests of skill. When he was at Hobby's school he had liked to +form his mates into companies at recess time, with cane stalks for +rifles and dried gourds for drums, and drill them in the manual of arms. +They had fought mimic battles, and Washington always commanded one side. +He had really learned a good deal of the art of war in this way, and so +when men were casting about for likely young officers they naturally +thought of the boy surveyor.</p> + +<p>His brother Lawrence had sufficient influence to procure him an +appointment as District Adjutant General, and had him make his +headquarters at Mount Vernon, where he immediately began to drill the +raw recruits of the countryside. But in the midst of these military +operations Lawrence fell ill and had to make a sea voyage to the West +Indies, taking his young brother George with him as company.</p> + +<p>In the West Indies George caught smallpox, but he made a quick recovery +and after a short convalescence began to enjoy the tropical life which +was so entirely new to him.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately Lawrence Washington did not grow stronger, and finally +came back to Mount Vernon to die under his own roof. He was very young, +very high-spirited and accomplished, and immensely popular with all +Virginians. George had looked up to him as to a second father, and his +loss was a tremendous blow to him. Lawrence for his part must have +realized the very unusual qualities of character in his young +half-brother. He left his great estate of Mount Vernon together with +other property to his wife and daughter, and in case they should die +then to his mother and his brother George. George was asked to take +charge of the estates, and although he was still only a boy in years he +showed such splendid ability and judgment in business matters that the +whole care of the family interests soon fell upon his shoulders.</p> + +<p>We have already seen how deeply this boy impressed older men with his +rare judgment, and it is scarcely strange to find that he was soon after +picked out by the governor of Virginia to command an expedition sent +through the wilderness to treat with the Indians and French. This +required physical strength and firm purpose, the courage to deal with +the Indians and shrewdness to treat with the French. Washington was +known to have all these qualities. His youth was the only thing against +him, and that the governor was glad to overlook.</p> + +<p>It was a rough and perilous expedition, made partly in frail canoes down +the great rivers, and partly by fighting a way through the unbroken +woods. Washington met the Indians whom the French had tried hard to win +over to their side, and by the most skilful diplomacy induced the chiefs +to send back the wampums which the French had given them as tokens of +alliance. He had studied the Indian character and knew the twists and +turns of their peculiar type of mind. He was frank and outspoken with +them, and as a result won their confidence, so that for a great part of +his journey chiefs of the Delawares, the Shawnees and other tribes +traveled with him.</p> + +<p>Besides his success with the red men, George Washington, with his +surveyor's knowledge, made a careful study of the country through which +he passed, the result of which study was of the greatest value in later +years when he commanded an army in that region.</p> + +<p>He picked out the place where the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers meet +as an admirable site for a fort and made a report of its advantages from +a military point of view. Only a year or two later French engineers +proved the correctness of his judgment by settling on the spot as the +site of Fort Du Quesne, which is now Pittsburg.</p> + +<p>Successful as he had been with the Indians, Washington was scarcely less +successful with the civilized French commander. This man, like those at +Belvoir, recognized at once the self-command, the extreme intelligence, +and the modesty of the youth who appeared before him. The old officer +and the young pioneer met as equals and fought diplomatically across the +table as to which nation should win the alliance of the red men. The +negotiations were extremely difficult, enough to try the skill of a man +grown old in diplomatic service, but Washington completed his mission +successfully, and at last set out to retrace his steps home.</p> + +<p>Now they had much more difficulty with the Indians and with the +elements. Some of their guides turned traitors, and they had to watch +their arms by night and day. Ceaseless vigilance had to be used, and +time and again the little band had to make forced marches and change +their course on the spur of the moment to throw off bands of pursuing +savages. When they reached the banks of the Alleghany River they found +that it was only partly frozen over and that great quantities of broken +ice were driving down the channel in the middle.</p> + +<p>Washington knew that a band of hostile Indians was at his heels, and he +had to plan some way of crossing the Alleghany. He decided to build a +raft, but had only one poor hatchet with which to construct it. The men +set to work with this, and labored all day, but night came before the +raft was finished. As soon as they could they launched it and tried to +steer it across with long poles. When they reached the main channel the +raft became jammed between great cakes of ice, and it seemed as if they +would all be swept down-stream with it. Washington planted his pole +against the bottom of the stream and pushed with all his might, in hopes +of holding the raft still until the ice should have gone by. Instead the +current drove the ice against his pole with such force that he was +jerked into the water and only saved himself from being swept down the +roaring channel by seizing one of the logs.</p> + +<p>They found it impossible to reach shore. The best they could do was to +get to an island near which the raft had drifted. Here they passed the +night, exposed to extreme cold, in great danger of freezing; but in the +morning the drift ice was found so tightly wedged together that they +were able to cross over on it to the opposite bank of the Alleghany.</p> + +<p>This was but one of many adventures that befell the little party on its +homeward way. Through all kinds of dangers Washington led his men, and +finally he had the satisfaction of bringing the expedition safely back +to Williamsburg, where he gave the governor a full report of his +remarkable mission. It was practically the first expedition of its kind +in Virginian history, and the story of it soon spread far and wide +through the Old Dominion.</p> + +<p>Everywhere men spoke of the remarkable skill the young man had shown in +dealing with fickle Indians and crafty French. Report was made of the +trained eye with which the young commander had noticed the military +qualities of the country and of the courage he had shown in all sorts of +perils. More than that, the governor of Virginia and other men in power +realized that Washington had prudence, good judgment, and resolution to +a remarkable degree, and told each other that here was a man worthy to +uphold the interests of the colony. From the date of this trip George +Washington became a prominent figure. It was not long before he was to +be the mainstay of Virginia.</p> + +<p>Every one knows the story of Washington's life. From being the mainstay +of Virginia and fighting with General Braddock against the French and +Indians, he became the mainstay of the United Colonies and fought +through seven long and trying years against the veterans of England. Who +can overestimate the great patience and courage and determination that +heroic struggle required of him?</p> + +<p>We see him taking command of the raw recruits at Cambridge, leading his +men in victory at Trenton, sustaining them in defeat at Monmouth, +cheering them through the desperate winter at Valley Forge. Later we see +him as first President of the United States guiding the new republic +through its first troubled years, and later still as the simple +gentleman of Mount Vernon, glad to escape to the peace of the river and +fields he loved.</p> + +<p>There are few figures in history quite so self-reliant as that of this +"Father of his Country." The qualities which made him so remarkable a +boy were the same as those which made him so great a man.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h3>Daniel Boone</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of the Frontier: 1735-1820</h4> + + +<p>Many people were riding to the big red barn that belonged to a +Pennsylvania farmer who lived on the outskirts of the little town of +Oley in Berks County. It was a Sunday morning early in the summer of +1742, and people from all the neighborhood were heading for that barn. +Almost all of them came on horseback, sometimes man and wife riding +separate steeds, sometimes the woman seated behind the man, her hands +grasping his coat. A few families, father, mother and a flock of +children, covered the road on foot, the father with a gun usually +strapped across his back. A very few people drove up in primitive +carriages, something like old-fashioned English chaises. Those who drove +were very proud, because such elegant carriages were rarely seen outside +of Philadelphia, and betokened much social prominence.</p> + +<p>The big doors of the red barn stood wide open, and as soon as the horses +were properly tethered the country people streamed inside. Most +primitive benches had been placed in rows facing a broad platform at the +farther end, and men, women and children filed into the seats with all +the solemnity of people entering church. As soon as they had settled +themselves on the benches they all stared at the platform.</p> + +<p>Five swarthy, red-skinned Indians stood on the raised place, and a +little in front of them stood a tall, strong-featured white man. The +Indians wore their native buckskin clothes, and had chains of bright +beads about their necks, but their faces were as quiet and peaceful as +that of the white man in front of them. One of them, he who looked the +youngest, wore a single brilliant red feather in his long black hair. +All the men stood there patiently until the barn was filled.</p> + +<p>Down in front, close to the platform, sat a small boy, his eyes fixed on +the young Indian who wore the scarlet feather. The boy was about eight +years old. His hair was dark and rather long, his blue eyes looked from +under light yellowish eyebrows, his mouth was very wide but his lips +were thin and straight. He looked alert and interested.</p> + +<p>Presently the white man on the platform, who was a widely-known Moravian +missionary named Count Zinzendorf, raised his voice in prayer. The +farmers, their wives, and children knelt on the floor of the barn. When +the prayer was ended the Count stated that at this meeting, or synod, as +he called it, they were to hear from five Delaware Indians, lately +converted to Christianity. One after the other the red men stepped +forward and spoke, slowly, and sometimes hesitating over long English +words, but with a fine earnestness that was accented by their strong, +dignified bearing and their firm, well-cut features.</p> + +<p>The boy in front listened attentively, although he could not understand +everything they said. He liked Indians, and, as long as he had to go to +church, he was glad he could look at these Delawares.</p> + +<p>The synod came to an end, and the congregation filed slowly out of the +barn. Those who had ridden mounted again, and went their homeward way at +the slow and decorous pace suitable to Sunday. Squire Boone, who had +been sitting on the front bench with his wife Sarah, and nine of his +eleven children, gathered the latter together, and guided them, much +like a flock of sheep, to his log cabin home near Oley. One of them, the +fourth boy, Daniel by name, had lingered behind. He had waited until the +five Delawares were leaving, and then had gone up to the youngest of the +Indians, and touched his hand.</p> + +<p>The Indian looked down at the small boy, and smiled. "How?" he said +encouragingly.</p> + +<p>"Is the feather in your hair a flamingo feather?" asked the boy.</p> + +<p>The Delaware nodded. "Yes, him flamingo."</p> + +<p>"How did you win it?"</p> + +<p>The young man smiled again. "Once the Delawares must have rescue from +the Hurons. A chief sent me with others to take word. We must go through +Iroquois country to get Hurons. Iroquois bad people, war with us. Other +Delawares killed, I take word in safe. Hurons go back with me, and help +my people. Chief give me flamingo feather."</p> + +<p>Admiration shone in the boy's eyes. "I like the Delawares," said he.</p> + +<p>"Delawares like you people," replied the Indian. "What you name?"</p> + +<p>"Daniel Boone. Some day, when I grow up, I'll come and visit you."</p> + +<p>"Good," said the other. He held out his hand as he was used to seeing +white men do. The boy put his palm in the Indian's, and they shook +hands. Then Daniel turned and scampered down the road after his father.</p> + +<p>The boys of the Boone family had a very good time. They lived on what +was then the frontier between civilization and the wilderness. They +learned to hunt and fish, and to know the habits of the animals of the +woods and fields. Moreover they were almost as used to seeing Indians as +to seeing white people, and had none of the fear of them which kept so +many of the settlers farther east continually uneasy.</p> + +<p>The boys and girls had plenty of work to do. Squire Boone had a big +farm, and kept five or six looms working in his house, making homespun +clothes for his large family and to sell to his neighbors. He owned a +splendid grazing range some little distance north of his home, and sent +his cattle there early each spring.</p> + +<p>Shortly after that Sunday of Count Zinzendorf's missionary meeting +Daniel's mother told him that he and she were to take the cattle north +to this range, and watch them during the summer. Squire Boone was needed +at the farm, the older girls were to tend the loom, and the mother had +chosen her favorite son to go north with her.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of summer they drove the cows to the range, and stayed +there with them until autumn. Mrs. Boone and Daniel lived in a small +cabin, far from any neighbors. Near the cabin, over a spring, was a +dairy-house. The sturdy woman worked here, making fine butter and +cheese, while Daniel kept guard over the cattle, letting them wander +over the hills and through the woods as they would, but driving them +back to their pen near the cabin at sunset.</p> + +<p>This duty of herdsman left Daniel much time to himself. He spent this +time in studying woodcraft. He grew passionately fond of everything +belonging to the wilderness; he knew birds and beasts, the trails +through the forest and the course of streams as well as any Indian. He +set traps of his own making, and brought his captures proudly home at +night to his mother.</p> + +<p>At first he had to make his own weapons, and invented a curious +implement, simply a slim, smooth-shaved sapling, with a bunch of twisted +roots at the end. This he learned to throw so skilfully that he could +readily kill birds, rabbits, and small game with it. A little later, +however, his father gave him a rifle, and he became an expert marksman, +able to provide his mother with plenty of game for food.</p> + +<p>It was a wonderful life for a boy who loved the country. All summer he +herded the cattle and roamed through the almost untrodden wilderness. In +the winter his father let him hunt as soon as he had learned to handle a +gun. Daniel roamed far and wide across the Neversink mountain range to +the north and west of Monocacy Valley. He kept his family supplied with +great stock of game, and he cured the animals' skins. When he had a +sufficient store of skins he set out to market them in Philadelphia.</p> + +<p>The city William Penn had founded on the banks of the Delaware was then +a small but prosperous village. It had been designed on the plan of a +checker-board, and most of the houses were surrounded by well-kept +gardens and flourishing orchards. Primitive as it was, the country boy +looked at it with wondering admiration. The houses, which were really +very simple, were palaces to him, when he thought of his father's log +cabin. The men and women, dressed in the latest importations brought +from London by sailing vessels, were figures of surpassing style and +elegance.</p> + +<p>Life in Philadelphia seemed very rich to Daniel Boone; he liked to +loiter along the streets and look in at the wide gardens and the +comfortable white porches, and he liked to stop and watch a city chaise +drive by, with a man in a claret or plum-colored suit and a woman in a +bright taffeta gown. They were almost a different race from the +buckskin-clad people of the wilderness from whom he came.</p> + +<p>Yet the frontier was in fact very near to Philadelphia. A few outlying +fields about the town alone separated it from the wild forest; guards +were ever ready to give warning of danger from Indians on the war-path, +and friendly Indians were constantly met with on the streets. There were +many fur-traders, too, who brought their goods to market as Daniel did, +and one was constantly meeting some rough-clad trapper in from the +wilds for a few days of city life.</p> + +<p>Daniel wandered about slowly, enjoying everything he saw with a boy's +delight in the unusual, and finally exchanging the skins he had brought +with him for things he needed in his hunting,—long, sharp-edged knives, +flints, powder and lead for his gun.</p> + +<p>When Daniel was fourteen his older brother married a young Quakeress who +had received a better education than any of her neighbors. She liked +Daniel and began to teach him to read and to figure. He was not a +brilliant scholar, but he learned enough to do rough surveying work, and +to write letters which expressed what he meant although spelled on a +plan of his own. At about the same time Squire Boone started a +blacksmith shop, and Daniel added this work to what he already did as +herdsman and hunter. The work in iron gave him a chance to plan and +carry out new ideas of his in regard to guns and traps.</p> + +<p>The Pennsylvania country was gradually filling up, and in 1750, when +Daniel was fifteen, Squire Boone began to wonder where his eleven +children would find farming land. Directly westward rose the Alleghany +Mountains, a high barrier to pioneers, and report said that the Indians +who lived just beyond them were particularly fierce. Southwest, however, +lay alluring valleys, broad meadows between the Appalachian ranges that +stretched from Pennsylvania through Virginia and the Carolinas into +far-off Georgia. Men who wanted new and bigger lands went south into the +Blue Ridge country, and some near neighbors of the Boones had pushed on +to the Yadkin Valley which lay in northwestern North Carolina. Reports +came back of the splendid lands they found there.</p> + +<p>Squire Boone was by nature a pioneer, a man who loved to explore new +lands and build new settlements, and so he decided to venture into this +new and promising country. There is a world of romance in such a journey +as this the Boones now undertook, and they were but one of many thousand +families who were pushing west and south, laying the foundations of a +great land.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Boone and the younger children were safely stowed away in +canvas-covered wagons, such as were later known as "prairie schooners," +and Squire Boone with Daniel and the older boys rode horseback, driving +the cattle before them, and forming an armed guard about the caravan. +They crossed the ford at Harper's Ferry and went on up the rich +Shenandoah Valley. At night camp was pitched by a spring and the wagons +drawn up in a circle about the cattle. A camp-fire was built and the +game which Daniel as huntsman had shot was cooked for supper. Sentries +were posted, and all night long father and sons took turns guarding +against attack from Indians.</p> + +<p>Think what a prospect lay before the pioneers! A vast tract of the +fairest and richest land in the world waiting to be claimed from the +wilderness. They had only to choose and take. But the zeal for +exploration led them on, over the table-land of western Virginia, +through the primeval forests, up the currents of the many rivers that +flow toward the Ohio, and so on to the south and west.</p> + +<p>As they neared the Yadkin they came to a splendid stretch of land; a +high prairie, with fine grass for cattle, and near at hand streams edged +with cane-brake. Daniel saw such fish and game as he had never seen +before, fruit to be had for the taking, and a cattle range only bounded +by the distant western mountains. But as he rode into the splendid +prairie he thought more of those distant blue-topped heights than of the +near-by meadows; he knew that on and on westward lay a great unknown +country and already he felt it call to him to be explored.</p> + +<p>Squire Boone chose land at a place called Buffalo Lick near the Yadkin +River, and built a home there. Daniel now spent little time about the +farm, for he had learned the value of skins in the Atlantic cities. +Buffalo were plentiful all about the settlement, and he could kill four +or five deer in a day. It was in truth a hunter's paradise. In a single +day he could kill enough bears to make a ton of what was called +bear-bacon; there were numberless wolves, panthers, and wildcats; +turkeys, beavers, otters and smaller animals ran wild all about him, and +from morn till night he was out hunting in the woods.</p> + +<p>But life was not all sport for the young Boones. Various Indian tribes, +the Catawbas, the Cherokees, and the Shawnese hunted not far away, and +although they were often on friendly terms with the whites, and came to +the settlement to trade, sometimes they put on their war paint, and +descended on the small frontier homes with full fury.</p> + +<p>As the French came down from the north disputing this new land with the +English settlers they made the Indians their allies, and the border +warfare grew more bitter. Finally the English general Braddock decided +to march west himself and try to teach the French and Indians a lesson.</p> + +<p>It was not likely that such a sturdy youth as Daniel Boone could resist +the desire to march against the French. The expedition promised him a +chance to push farther into that wild western country, if nothing else, +and so he joined Braddock's small army with about a hundred other North +Carolina frontiersmen. Daniel was made chief wagoner and blacksmith.</p> + +<p>General Braddock knew nothing of Indian warfare, and the little +expedition proved an easy target for their enemies. The cumbersome and +heavily laden baggage wagons were a great handicap to them. The English +regulars, the frontiersmen, and the baggage train were caught in the +deep ravine of Turtle Creek, a few miles away from Pittsburg, and +suddenly set upon by ambushed Indians commanded by French officers. Many +of the drivers, caught in the trap, were killed. Daniel, however, +contrived to cut the traces of his team, and mounting one of the horses, +escaped down and out of the ravine under a fire of shot and arrows.</p> + +<p>The Indians pursued the fugitives, laying waste the borders of +Pennsylvania and Virginia, but not following as far south as the Yadkin. +Daniel reached home, and set to work to strengthen the settlement's ties +of friendship with the two tribes of the neighborhood, the Catawbas and +the Cherokees. With their aid he was able to provide sufficient +safeguard against the Northern tribes.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus05.png" alt="daniel" /> +<a id="illus05" name="illus05"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> <span class="smcap">Daniel Boone's First View of Kentucky</span></p> + +<p>While he was with Braddock's army Daniel had met a man named John +Finley, who fired his imagination with stories of his wanderings in the +west. He was a fur-trader, and his passion for hunting had already led +him into the Kentucky wilderness as far as the Falls of the Ohio River, +where Louisville now stands. He had had countless adventures with +Indians, with wild animals, and with the perils of stream and forest. +Young Boone drank in the stories eagerly, and resolved that some day he +would himself go out to explore the west.</p> + +<p>Daniel had now come to manhood. For a time he stayed in the Yadkin +Valley, but the call to follow the trail of the buffaloes and the +westward moving Shawnese was clear in his ears. Dangerous days of Indian +fighting on the border held him close at home, but the time came when he +could resist the call no longer. He left home and took his way through +the uncharted hills and forests to Kentucky.</p> + +<p>At times he fought for his life with roving Indians, and at times he +captained some small English garrison beset by the same red men. He won +great renown as an Indian fighter, as a hunter, as an intrepid explorer. +The little town of Boonesborough was named for him, and he defended it +through a long and perilous siege. But so soon as men came and built +homes and staked out farms Boone must be moving west. What he sought was +the wilderness; he was happiest in the great recesses of the woods, or +blazing his own trail across untrodden prairies.</p> + +<p>He led the vanguard into North Carolina, into West Virginia, into +Kentucky, and then into Missouri. He is a splendid example of the man +who must go first to prepare the way for others, in every way the best +type of those brave, hardy pioneers who were claiming the continent for +English-speaking people. The things he had most desired as a boy he most +desired in manhood, the rough life of a new country and the struggle to +overcome the perils of the wild.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h3>John Paul Jones</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of the Atlantic: 1747-1792</h4> + + +<p>The summer afternoon was fair, and the waves that rolled upon the north +shore of Solway Firth in the western Lowlands of Scotland were calm and +even. But the tide was coming in, and inch by inch was covering the +causeway that led from shore to a high rock some hundred yards away. The +rock was bare of vegetation, and sheer on the landward side, but on the +face toward the sea were rough jutting points that would give a climber +certain footholds, and near the top smooth ledges.</p> + +<p>On one or two of these ledges sea-gulls had built their nests, tucked in +under projecting points where they would be sheltered from wind and +rain. Now the gulls would sweep in from sea, curving in great circles +until they reached their homes, and then would sit on the ledge calling +to their mates across the water. Except for the cries of the gulls, +however, the rock was very quiet. The lazy regular beat of the waves +about its base was very soothing. On the longest ledge, below the +sea-gulls' nests, lay a boy about twelve years old, sound asleep, his +face turned toward the ocean.</p> + +<p>Either the gulls' cries or the sun, now slanting in the west, disturbed +him. He did not open his eyes, but he clenched his fists, and muttered +incoherently. Presently with a start he awoke. He rubbed his eyes, and +then sat up. "What a queer dream!" he said aloud.</p> + +<p>The ledge where he sat was not a very safe place. There was scarcely +room for him to move, and directly below him was the sea. But this boy +was quite as much at home on high rocks or in the water as he was on +land, and he was very fond of looking out for distant sailing vessels +and wondering where they might be bound.</p> + +<p>He glanced along the north shore to the little fishing hamlet of +Arbigland where he lived. He saw that the tide had come in rapidly while +he slept, and that the path to the shore was now covered. He stood up +and stretched his bare arms, brown with sunburn, high over his head. +Then he started to climb down from the ledge by the jutting points of +rock.</p> + +<p>He was as sure-footed as any mountaineer. His clothes were old, so +neither rock nor sea could do them much harm; his feet were bare. He was +short but very broad, and his muscles were strong and supple. When he +came to the foot of the rock he stood a moment, hunting for the deepest +pool at its base, then, loosing his hold, he dove into the water.</p> + +<p>In a few seconds he was up again, floating on his back; and a little +later he struck out, swimming hand over hand, toward a sandy beach to +the south.</p> + +<p>A young man, wearing the uniform of a lieutenant in the British navy, +stood on the beach, watching the boy swim. When the latter had landed +and shaken the water from him much as a dog would, the man approached +him. "Where on earth did you come from, John Paul?" he asked with a +laugh. "The first thing I knew I saw you swimming in from sea."</p> + +<p>"I was out on the rock asleep," said the boy. "The tide came up and cut +me off. And oh, Lieutenant Pearson, I had the strangest dream! I dreamt +I was in the middle of a great sea-fight. I was captain of a ship, and +her yard-arms were on fire, and we were pouring broadsides into the +enemy, afraid any minute that we'd sink. How we did fight that ship!"</p> + +<p>The young officer's eyes glowed. "And I hope you may some day, John!" he +exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"But the strangest part was that our ship didn't fly the English flag," +said the boy. "At the masthead was a flag I'd never seen, red and white +with a blue field filled with stars in the corner. What country's flag +is that?"</p> + +<p>Pearson thought for a moment. "There's no such flag," he said finally. +"I know them all, and there's none like that. The rest of your dream may +come true, but not that about the flag. Come, let's be walking back to +Arbigland."</p> + +<p>Although John Paul's father came of peaceful farmer and fisher folk who +lived about Solway Firth, his mother had been a "Highland lassie," +descended from one of the fighting clans in the Grampian Hills. The boy +had much of the Highlander's love of wild adventure, and found it hard +to live the simple life of the fishing village. The sea appealed to him, +and he much preferred it to the small Scotch parish school. His family +were poor, and as soon as he was able he was set to steering fishing +yawls and hauling lines. At twelve he was as sturdy and capable as most +boys at twenty.</p> + +<p>Many men in Arbigland had heard John Paul beg his father to let him +cross the Solway to the port of Whitehaven and ship on some vessel bound +for America, where his older brother William had found a new home. But +his father saw no opening for his younger son in such a life. All the +way back to town that afternoon the boy told Lieutenant Pearson of his +great desire, and the young officer said he would try to help him.</p> + +<p>The boy's chance, however, came in another way. A few days later it +chanced that Mr. James Younger, a big ship-owner, was on the +landing-place of Arbigland when some of the villagers caught sight of a +small fishing yawl beating up against a stiff northeast squall, trying +to gain the shelter of the little tidal-creek that formed the harbor of +the town.</p> + +<p>Mr. Younger looked long at the boat and then shook his head. "I don't +think she'll do it," he said dubiously.</p> + +<p>Yet the boat came on, and he could soon see that the only crew were a +man and a boy. The boy was steering, handling the sheets and giving +orders, while the man simply sat on the gunwale to trim the boat.</p> + +<p>"Who's the boy?" asked the ship-owner.</p> + +<p>"John Paul," said a bystander. "That's his father there."</p> + +<p>Mr. Younger looked at the man pointed out, who was standing near, and +who did not seem to be in the least alarmed. "Are you the lad's father?" +he asked.</p> + +<p>The man looked up and nodded. "Yes, that's my boy John conning the +boat," said he. "He'll fetch her in. This isn't much of a squall for +him!"</p> + +<p>The father spoke with truth. The boy handled his small craft with such +skill that he soon had her alongside the wharf. As soon as John Paul had +landed Mr. Younger stepped up to the father and asked to be introduced +to the son. Then the ship-owner told him how much he had admired his +seamanship, and asked if he would care to sail as master's apprentice in +a new vessel he owned, which was fitting out for a voyage to Virginia +and the West Indies. The boy's eyes danced with delight; he begged his +father to let him go, and finally Mr. Paul consented. The +twelve-year-old boy had won his wish to go to sea.</p> + +<p>A few days later the brig <i>Friendship</i> sailed from Whitehaven, with +small John Paul on board, and after a slow voyage which lasted +thirty-two days dropped anchor in the Rappahannock River of Virginia.</p> + +<p>The life of a colonial trader was very pleasant in 1760. The +sailing-vessels usually made a triangular voyage, taking some six months +to go from England to the colonies, then to the West Indies, and so east +again. About three of the six months were spent at the small settlements +on shore, discharging goods from England, taking on board cotton and +tobacco, and bartering with the merchants.</p> + +<p>The Virginians, who lived on their great plantations with many servants, +were the most hospitable people in the world, always eager to entertain +a stranger, and the English sailors were given the freedom of the shore. +The <i>Friendship</i> anchored a short distance down the river from where +John Paul's older brother lived, and the boy immediately went to see him +and stayed as his guest for some time.</p> + +<p>This brother William had been adopted by a wealthy planter named Jones, +and the latter was delighted with the young John Paul, and tried to get +him to leave the sailor's life and settle on the Rappahannock. But much +as John liked the easy life of the plantation, the fine riding horses, +the wide fields and splendid rivers, the call of the sea was dearer to +him, and when the <i>Friendship</i> dropped down the Rappahannock bound for +Tobago and the Barbadoes he was on board of her.</p> + +<p>Those were adventurous days for sailors and merchants. Money was to be +made in many ways, and consciences were not overcareful as to the ways. +The prosperous traders of Virginia did not mind taking an interest in +some ocean rover bound on pirate's business, or in the more lawful +slave-trade with the west coast of Africa. For a time, however, young +John Paul sailed for Mr. Younger, and was finally paid by being given a +one-sixth interest in a ship called <i>King George's Packet</i>.</p> + +<p>The boy was now first mate, and trade with England being dull, he and +the captain decided to try the slave-trade. For two years they made +prosperous voyages between Jamaica and the coast of Guinea, helping to +found the fortunes of some of the best known families of America by +importing slaves.</p> + +<p>After a year, however, John Paul tired of the business, and sold his +share of the ship to the captain for about one thousand guineas. He was +not yet twenty-one, but his seafaring life had already made him fairly +well-to-do. He planned to go home and see his family in Scotland, and +took passage in the brig <i>John o' Gaunt</i>.</p> + +<p>Life on shipboard was full of perils then, and very soon after the brig +had cleared the Windward Islands the terrible scourge of yellow fever +was found to be on the vessel. Within a few days the captain, the mate, +and all of the crew but five had died of the disease. John Paul was +fully exposed to it, but he and the five men escaped it. He was the only +one of those left who knew anything about navigation, so he took +command, and after a stormy passage, with a crew much too small to +handle the brig, he managed to bring her safely to Whitehaven with all +her cargo. He handled her as skilfully as he had the small yawl in +Solway Firth.</p> + +<p>The owners of the <i>John o' Gaunt</i> were delighted and gave John Paul and +his five sailors the ten per cent. share of the cargo which the salvage +laws entitled them to. In addition they offered him the command of a +splendid full-rigged new merchantman which was to sail between England +and America, and a tenth share of all profits. It was a very fine offer +to a man who had barely come of age, but the youth had shown that he +had few equals as a mariner.</p> + +<p>Good fortune shone upon him. He had no sooner sailed up the Rappahannock +again and landed at the plantation where his brother lived than he +learned that the rich old Virginian, William Jones, had recently died +and in his will had named him as one of his heirs. He had always +cherished a fancy for the sturdy, black-haired boy who had made him that +visit. The will provided that John Paul should add the planter's name to +his own. The young captain did not object to this, and so henceforth he +was known as John Paul Jones.</p> + +<p>Scores of stories are told of the young captain's adventures. He loved +danger, and it was his nature to enjoy a fight with men or with the +elements. On a voyage to Jamaica he met with serious trouble. Fever +again reduced the crew to six men, and Jones was the only officer able +to be on deck. A huge negro named Maxwell tried to start a mutiny and +capture the ship for his own uses. He rushed at Jones, and the latter +had to seize a belaying-pin and hit him over the head. The man fell +badly hurt and soon after reaching Jamaica died.</p> + +<p>Jones gave himself up to the authorities and was tried for murder on the +high seas. He said to the court: "I had two brace of loaded pistols in +my belt, and could easily have shot him. I struck with a belaying-pin in +preference, because I hoped that I might subdue him without killing +him." He was acquitted, and soon after offered command of a new ship +built to trade with India.</p> + +<p class='center'> +<img src='images/illus06.png' alt="paul" /> +<a id='illus06' name='illus06'></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> <span class="smcap">Paul Jones Capturing the "Serapis"</span></p> + +<p>The charm of life in Virginia appealed more and more strongly to the +sailor. He liked the new country, the society of the young cities along +the Atlantic coast, and he spent less time on the high seas and more +time fishing and hunting on his own land and in Chesapeake Bay. He might +have settled quietly into such prosperous retirement had not the +minutemen of Concord startled the new world into stirring action.</p> + +<p>John Paul Jones loved America and he loved ships. Consequently he was +one of the very first to offer his services in building a new navy. +Congress was glad to have him; he was known as a man of the greatest +courage and of supreme nautical skill.</p> + +<p>On September 23, 1779, Paul Jones, on board the American ship <i>Bon Homme +Richard</i>, met the British frigate <i>Serapis</i> off the English coast. A +battle of giants followed, for both ships were manned by brave crews and +commanded by extraordinarily skilful officers. The short, black-haired, +agile American commander saw his ship catch fire, stood on his +quarterdeck while the blazing spars, sails and rigging fell about him, +while his men were mowed down by the terrific broadsides of the +<i>Serapis</i>, and calmly directed the fire of shot at the enemy.</p> + +<p>Terribly as the <i>Bon Homme Richard</i> suffered, the <i>Serapis</i> was in still +worse plight. Two-thirds of her men were killed or wounded when Paul +Jones gave the signal to board her. The Americans swarmed over the +enemy's bulwarks, and, armed with pistol and cutlass, cleared the deck.</p> + +<p>The captain of the <i>Serapis</i> fought his ship to the last, but when he +saw the Americans sweeping everything before them and already heading +for the quarterdeck, he himself seized the ensign halyards and struck +his flag. Both ships were in flames, and the smoke was so thick that it +was some minutes before men realized his surrender. There was little to +choose between the two vessels; each was a floating mass of wreckage.</p> + +<p>A little later the English captain went on board the <i>Bon Homme Richard</i> +and tendered his sword to the young American. The latter looked hard at +the English officer. "Captain Pearson?" he asked questioningly.</p> + +<p>The other bowed.</p> + +<p>"Ah, I thought so. I am John Paul Jones, once small John Paul of +Arbigland in the Firth. Do you remember me?"</p> + +<p>Pearson looked at the smoke-grimed face, the keen black eyes, the fine +figure. "I shouldn't have known you. Yes, I remember now."</p> + +<p>Paul Jones took the sword that was held out to him, and asked one of his +midshipmen to escort the British captain to his cabin. He could not help +smiling as a curious recollection came to him. He looked up at the +masthead above him. There floated a flag bearing thirteen red and white +stripes and a blue corner filled with stars. It was the very flag of his +dream as a boy.</p> + +<p>Thus it was that the sturdy Scotch boy, full of the daring spirit of his +Highland ancestors, became the great sea-fighter of a new country, and +ultimately wrote his name in history as the Father of the American +Navy.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h3>Mozart</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of Salzburg: 1756-1791</h4> + + +<p>The great hall of the famous musical society of Bologna in Italy was +filled with musicians on the afternoon of October 9, 1770. They had +gathered to welcome a small boy who had recently come with his father +from the town of Salzburg in Austria. The most marvelous stories of his +genius as a composer had preceded him, and his travels through Europe +had been one long success. Yet it scarcely seemed possible that a boy of +fourteen could know so much about music as this one was said to. That +was why the learned men of Bologna had gathered together this afternoon. +They were going to test Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's skill.</p> + +<p>It was about four o'clock when the usher at the door announced Leopold +Mozart and his son Wolfgang. The members of the society faced the +newcomers. They saw a tall, fine-looking man accompanied by a slim, +fair-haired boy with smiling eyes and mouth. The boy was richly dressed, +with much gold lace upon his coat and trousers. He was perfectly +self-possessed, and when he saw the eyes of all the men in the room +fixed upon him he made a low bow. It was gracefully done, and a murmur +of welcome rose from the members. So this was the boy of whom all the +musicians of Europe were talking.</p> + +<p>The skill of the young composer was now to be put to the test. Three men +approached the boy, the president of the society and two experienced +Kapellmeisters, or choirmasters. In the presence of all the members the +boy was given a difficult anthem, which he was invited to set to music +in four parts. He was then led by a beadle into an adjoining room, and +the door locked. There the boy set to work on his composition.</p> + +<p>Just half an hour later the boy knocked on the door in signal that the +music was finished. The beadle opened the door, and the boy presented +his completed score to the president. The latter examined the score +carefully, then handed it to the Kapellmeisters. They in turn examined +it, and passed it on to the other members. Each man as he looked at the +composition showed his surprise. Finally it had made the circuit of the +room. Then a ballot-box was passed, and each member was asked to cast +either a white or a black ball, depending on whether he thought the +newcomer was worthy to be admitted to the distinguished society of +Bologna. Every ball cast was white.</p> + +<p>Young Mozart was then recalled to the room. When he entered this time he +was greeted with cheers. The president met him, and informed him of his +election. Then the members pressed about him, eager to praise his work. +He had been set a very difficult type of composition, and had +accomplished in half an hour greater results than any other candidate +had ever reached in three hours.</p> + +<p>The musicians of Bologna decided that the judgments of the European +courts as to this boy's genius were correct.</p> + +<p>Father and son proceeded on their journey south through Italy. They +reached Rome during Holy Week, and learned that the celebrated music of +the "Miserere" was being given in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. It +was very difficult to gain admittance to the Chapel, as the Pope and +many of the Cardinals were there. The rich dress of the two visitors, +the German they spoke, and the singular air of authority which the boy +showed, convinced the Swiss guards at the door that these were people of +importance. One soldier whispered to another that this was a young +German prince traveling with his tutor. They were allowed to enter, and +the boy, accustomed from infancy to the life of courts, immediately +walked to the Cardinals' table, and placed himself between the chairs of +two of those Princes of the Church.</p> + +<p>One of the latter, Cardinal Pallavicini, surprised at the boy's +assurance, beckoned to him, and said, "Will you have the goodness to +tell me in confidence who you are?"</p> + +<p>"Wolfgang Mozart of Salzburg," answered the boy.</p> + +<p>"What!" cried the Cardinal. "Are you really that famous boy of whom so +many men have written to me?"</p> + +<p>Mozart bowed in assent. "And are you not Cardinal Pallavicini?" he asked +in turn.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the prelate. "Why do you ask?"</p> + +<p>"My father and I have letters to your Eminence," said the boy, "and are +anxious to wait upon you with our compliments."</p> + +<p>The Cardinal was delighted at the boy's arrival, had a seat placed for +him, and talked to him in the intermissions of the service. He +complimented him on learning Italian so quickly, saying that he could +speak very little German. When the music was over Wolfgang kissed the +Cardinal's hand, and the latter, taking his red biretta from his head, +invited the boy to make a long stay at the Papal court.</p> + +<p>The boy was very much impressed by the music of the "Miserere," and when +he left the Chapel asked where he could get a copy of it. To his dismay +he was told that the music was considered so wonderful that the Papal +musicians were forbidden on pain of excommunication by the Pope to take +any part of the score away, or to copy it, or allow any one else to copy +it.</p> + +<p>Mozart, however, was determined to have a copy of that music, even if he +had to pay the penalty of being excommunicated. He soon hit on a plan.</p> + +<p>The next morning the boy arrived early at the Sistine Chapel, and +devoted all his thought to remembering the music. It was exceedingly +difficult, performed as it was by a double choir, and full of singular +effects, one of which was the absence of any particular rhythm. The task +of putting down such music in notes was tremendous. Yet, when Wolfgang +left the Chapel he went straight home to the lodgings his father had +taken, and made a sketch of the entire music. He went again on Good +Friday morning, and sat with his copy hidden in his hat. In that way he +corrected and completed it. When it was finished he told his father of +it, and the news soon spread through Rome that this wonderful boy had +actually stolen the complete score of the "Miserere" exactly as it was +composed by Allegri.</p> + +<p>The feat was said to be unheard of, and many considered it impossible. +Certain men of importance called to see Wolfgang's father about it, with +the result that the boy was obliged to show what he had written at a +large musical party held for that special purpose. The musician +Christofori, who had sung in the choir in the Chapel, pronounced the +copy absolutely correct. Every one was amazed, and then so much +delighted at the marvelous skill of this boy of fourteen that the +penalty of excommunication was entirely forgotten. Princes, Cardinals, +all that part of Rome which loved art and music, had only wondering +admiration for the young German musician.</p> + +<p>There had never been any doubt among those who had met the boy Mozart +that he was a genius. At fourteen years of age he had already been +playing the clavier and the violin for a number of years. His father, +himself a musician, was attached to the court of the Archbishop of +Salzburg, and had written a great deal of music. But when he discovered +the amazing genius of his two children, his son and daughter, he devoted +himself entirely to training them.</p> + +<p>The boy was born January 27, 1756, and was christened John Chrysostom +Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, quite a large collection of names. The girl, +Maria, was four years older. When Maria was seven years old her father +began to give her lessons on the clavier, which was an instrument very +much like the piano, and the girl soon won the highest reputation for +her playing. When she began to play, her small brother Wolfgang, or +Woferl as he was called in nickname, although only three years old, +constantly watched her, and whenever he had the chance tried striking +the keys himself. At four he had shown the ability to remember solos +from concerts he was taken to, and it then first occurred to his father +that his son was a genius. Before long Wolfgang was composing pieces +which his father wrote down for him.</p> + +<p>It was only a year or two later that Leopold Mozart, coming home with a +friend one day, found the boy very busy with pen and ink.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing there, Woferl?" asked the father.</p> + +<p>"Writing a concerto for the clavier," answered the small boy. "The first +part is just finished."</p> + +<p>His father smiled. "It must be something very fine, I dare say; let us +look at it."</p> + +<p>"No, no," said Woferl, "it isn't ready yet."</p> + +<p>Leopold however picked up the paper, and he and his friend began to +laugh as they looked at the rudely scrawled notes. The paper was also +covered with blots, for the boy had kept jabbing his pen to the very +bottom of his inkstand, and often wiped the clots of ink across the +paper. But after a moment's examination Leopold stopped laughing, and +both men looked hard at the sheet. There were ideas in music scrawled +there which even a grown man found it difficult to understand.</p> + +<p>"See," said the father in amazement, "it is written correctly and +regularly, though it can't be used because it's so difficult we couldn't +find any one who could play it."</p> + +<p>The boy looked up quickly. "It's a concerto, father, and must be +practiced a long time before it can be played. It ought to go this way." +He began to play it as best he could on the clavier, but could give them +only the barest outline of it. As a matter of fact the boy had written +the music with a full score of accompaniments, ready to be played by a +full orchestra.</p> + +<p>At six Mozart knew the effect of sounds as shown by notes, and could +compose unaided by any instrument.</p> + +<p>Leopold Mozart could not keep the story of his children's great talents +to himself, and in a very short time news of their remarkable ability +had spread through Austria. Invitations poured in upon the father asking +him to bring the boy and girl to different courts, and he decided to +take them on a concert tour.</p> + +<p>The children played at all the chief cities of the empire, and +everywhere they were welcomed as infant prodigies. The Emperor and +Empress took special delight in them, loaded them with presents, and +insisted on having them treated with all the respect given to grown +artists. Little Woferl appeared at court in a suit of white and gold, +very resplendent with lace, ruffles, and ornaments of all sorts. His +small sister, in white brocaded taffeta, was dressed exactly like an +archduchess in miniature.</p> + +<p>It is a wonder that both children were not hopelessly spoiled by the +treatment they received, but fortunately both had much good sense, and +they enjoyed their travels without becoming conceited.</p> + +<p>Leopold and his children went from Austria to Paris, and then to London. +Everywhere their concerts met with the same success. In London the most +difficult pieces by Bach and Handel were put before the boy, but he +played them at sight, and without the slightest mistake. Bach was at +that time music-master to the English Queen, and he took special delight +in young Mozart. He would take the boy on his knees, and play a few +bars, and then have the boy continue them, and so, each playing in turn, +they would perform an entire sonata, as if with a single pair of hands.</p> + +<p>The trip to England set a final seal on Woferl's fame. His father wrote +home: "My girl is esteemed the first female performer in Europe, though +only twelve years old, and ... the high and mighty Wolfgang, though only +eight, possesses the acquirements of a man of forty. In short, those +only who see and hear can believe; and even you in Salzburg know nothing +about him, he is so changed."</p> + +<p>After a year or two of travel the family returned home. It was now +decided that the boy should try his hand at an opera. Genius, however, +is apt to inspire jealousy, and Mozart was now so well known that many +of the leading musicians of Germany plotted against him. It was galling +to their pride to find that a child knew so much more than they. As a +result they planned to avoid hearing the boy if they could, so that when +asked they could say they doubted his ability, and thought his great +skill most likely sham.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus07.png" alt="mozart" /> +<a id="illus07" name="illus07"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> <span class="smcap">Mozart and His Sister Before Maria Theresa</span></p> + +<p>The father laid a plan to catch one of these men, a well-known Viennese +musician. He learned privately of a place where this man would be +present on a certain occasion, and had Woferl go there, and took with +him an exceedingly hard concerto which the man had written. During the +afternoon this concerto was placed before the boy, and he played it +perfectly. The musician could not help but show his delight at hearing +his own music so wonderfully given. He had to speak the truth. Turning +to the people present he said, "I can say no less as an honest man than +that this boy is the greatest man in the world; it could not have been +believed."</p> + +<p>But in spite of such occasional confessions the boy had a hard time to +succeed. Every possible obstacle was put in the way of his opera. The +manager who had agreed to produce the opera was influenced to change his +mind, the singers complained of their parts, and said that the music was +too difficult for them to sing, the copyists so altered the scores that +the boy did not recognize his own work at rehearsals. Finally father and +son had to agree that the opera be withdrawn, realizing that if it were +played it would be so wretchedly done that it would bring more blame +than praise to its composer.</p> + +<p>Yet this boy was not to be daunted. Although his opera which was a very +long work, containing 558 pages, was not to be given, he instantly set +to work again, and in little more than a month had finished three new +works for a full orchestra.</p> + +<p>Seeing how much the jealousy of other musicians in Germany and Austria +hurt his work, the young Mozart turned his eyes toward Italy. That +country was the home of the arts, and each city had its band of citizens +who were as devoted to music as they were to poetry and the stage.</p> + +<p>Fortunately at about the same time an invitation came from the Empress +Maria Theresa inviting the young musician to compose a dramatic serenade +in honor of the wedding of the Archduke Ferdinand in Milan. It was a +great compliment to pay so young a man, and Mozart gladly accepted.</p> + +<p>Going to Milan, he set to work on the composition. In contrast to the +way in which he had lately been treated in Austria he found every one in +Milan eager to be of help. The singers liked the music, and did their +best with it. When the serenade was finally publicly given it made a +great impression. The Archduke was delighted with it. For days afterward +Mozart was kept busy receiving callers who wished to offer their +congratulations. The Italians proved that they at least were not +unwilling to admit his greatness.</p> + +<p>Great honors had come to the young composer of Salzburg, but very little +money. Most musicians of that time were simply music-masters or +choirmasters at the different courts. Their support depended almost +entirely upon finding some prince who would keep them at his court. +Mozart cast his eyes over Europe and saw no place that offered him much +promise. The world was willing enough to shower its praises on him, but +not to provide him with his daily bread.</p> + +<p>There was no place open in Italy, and so, although with regret, he had +to turn homeward to Salzburg. Unfortunately a new Archbishop had just +been elected for that city, and he was devoted almost entirely to +hunting and sports, cared nothing for music, and could not understand +why young Mozart was entitled to any special favors from him.</p> + +<p>Under such circumstances Mozart could not stay at home; he had to accept +such chances as were offered him to make a living. Being asked to write +an opera bouffe for the carnival at Munich, he agreed, and again met +with success. The night the opera was given the theatre was so crowded +that hundreds had to be turned away at the doors. At the close of each +air there was a tremendous outburst of applause, and calls for the +composer. Afterward Mozart was presented to the whole court of Munich, +and received their thanks for the great honor he had done them.</p> + +<p>Singularly enough the Archbishop of Salzburg happened to be in Munich at +the same time, and was very much surprised at being congratulated on +every hand at possessing such a genius at his home. Some of the nobles +called upon him and paid him their solemn congratulations, and he was so +embarrassed that he could make no reply except to shake his head and +shrug his shoulders.</p> + +<p>Such trips as that to Munich however were now of rare occurrence. +Wolfgang, now about nineteen, went back to Salzburg, and set to work +harder than ever. His skill was tested in many different ways. He wrote +compositions for the church, the theatre, and the concert-chamber; he +played brilliantly on the clavier; he was a wonderful organist at all +festivals of the church, and showed the greatest skill on the violin.</p> + +<p>The Archbishop had to have the services of a musician on certain state +occasions, and never failed to call on Mozart when he needed him. Yet +all that he paid Mozart was a nominal salary, which was actually less +than six dollars a year. What was true of the Archbishop was now almost +equally true of all the court at Salzburg. The nobles there had never +undervalued his services until he wanted to be paid for them. Then he +was told that his abilities had been greatly overrated, and was advised +to go to Italy and study music seriously there.</p> + +<p>At last their neglect forced him to start forth again upon his travels +to see whether he could find a prince who would accept his services at +something nearer their real value.</p> + +<p>In vain the youth wandered from court to court; then for a time he +returned to Salzburg, where the Archbishop treated him as a showman +might a performing dog, using his great genius in tests of skill before +royal visitors.</p> + +<p>Later he went to the Emperor's court at Vienna, and there at last he +began to receive something of his due. Not only other musicians, but the +public generally admitted his great gifts. He wrote operas, "Don +Giovanni," "The Magic Flute," and "The Marriage of Figaro," being the +most popular of them. Finally he was able to do somewhat as he pleased, +instead of writing only to suit the order of a prince or noble who could +pay him with some position in his court or at his home.</p> + +<p>The world acknowledged Mozart's genius from the time when, a small boy +of six, he and his sister played the clavier. But the life of a musician +in those days, no matter how great his genius, was a hard one, and the +world was not very kind to the youth when he grew up and had to make his +own way. Perhaps his happiest days were those when his sister and he +traveled with their good father, and had nothing to think of but the +pleasure they could give with their great gifts.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + +<h3>Lafayette</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of Versailles: 1757-1834</h4> + + +<p>Marie Antoinette, the little Queen of France, was giving a fête at the +royal palace of Versailles, outside of Paris, and the beautiful gardens +of the palace, world famous for their wonderful statues and fountains, +flowers and groves, presented an amazing sight on that midsummer night. +A hundred elves and fairies, hobgoblins and wood-nymphs danced in and +out about groups of strangely dressed grown-up people, who were neither +in court costume nor in real masquerade. The older lords and ladies of +the court were trying to humor their young Queen's whim without parting +with any of their dignity, and the result of their attempt was this very +curious sight—tall, stiff goblins, wearing elaborate, powdered wigs and +jeweled swords, stout wood-nymphs with bare arms and shoulders, and +glittering with jewels.</p> + +<p>Never had the court of France thought itself so absolutely absurd, and +never had the children of that famous court enjoyed themselves so much. +They played all sorts of games about the dignified people scattered over +the grounds, until the latter were quite ready to believe that the days +of elves and fairies had really returned.</p> + +<p>The boy Marquis de Lafayette led the revels. It was he to whom the +little Queen had appealed for help when she first planned her garden +party. Her boy husband, Louis XVI, was more interested in machinery than +in anything else. He was fond of taking clocks to pieces and putting +them together again, and in working over old locks and keys, and so had +left his young Queen very much to herself ever since he had brought her +from Austria to France.</p> + +<p>Marie Antoinette was passionately fond of fun, and the stiff lords and +ladies of her husband's court bored her extremely. They were anxious +above everything else to keep up their old ceremonies, and to make life +simply a matter of rules. So it was that the girl turned to the young +boy Marquis, who was almost as fond of sports as she was, and with his +help gathered a band of boys and girls of her own age about her.</p> + +<p>Then one summer day, while Louis was busy in his workshop, Marie +Antoinette plotted with Lafayette to hold a <i>fête champêtre</i> in the +gardens which should be very different from anything the court of France +had seen before. She said that all her guests should appear either as +goblins or as nymphs. They would not dance the quadrille nor any other +stately measure, but would be free to romp and play such jokes as might +occur to them. When he heard these plans Lafayette shook his head +doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"What will the lords in waiting say to this?" he asked, "and your +Majesty's own ladies of the court?"</p> + +<p>The Queen laughed and shrugged her pretty shoulders. "Who cares?" she +said. "As long as Louis is king I shall do what pleases me."</p> + +<p>Then she clapped her hands as a new idea occurred to her. "I shall go to +Louis," she added, "and have him issue an order commanding every one who +attends the fête to dress either as a goblin or a nymph. He will do it +for me, I know."</p> + +<p>When the King heard her request he good-humoredly agreed, for he found +it hard to deny his pretty young wife anything, and so the order was +issued. Imagine the horror of the grown-up courtiers when they heard the +command! Unbend sufficiently to dress as goblins and nymphs? Never! The +saucy young Queen and her friends must be taught a lesson. As soon as +she knew of their disapproval she would of course give up her scheme.</p> + +<p>On the contrary, the Queen did nothing of the sort. She made Lafayette +master of ceremonies, and gave strict orders that no one should be +admitted to the gardens on the night of the fête unless they were +dressed as commanded. In the meantime the boys and girls were planning +the costumes they would wear and rehearsing the play they were to act.</p> + +<p>But the court party was not to be beaten so easily, and the Royal +Chamberlain and the Queen's Mistress of the Robes hunted up the King in +his workshop and told him that such a performance as was planned would +shame the French court in the eyes of the whole world. Louis listened to +them patiently and said he would consider the matter. Then he sent for +his wife and Lafayette and the other ringleaders. Between them they +described how absurd the courtiers would look with such good effect that +Louis laughed until he cried. Then he dismissed the whole matter from +his mind and went back to the tools on his work-table, which were the +only things that seriously concerned him.</p> + +<p>Now that the garden party was at its height, Lafayette was the +undisputed leader of the youths. It was he who swooped down upon the +stately Mistress of the Robes and ordered his band of hobgoblins to +carry her off to the summer-house on the edge of the woods, and keep her +a prisoner there, while they sang her the latest ballads of the Paris +streets. It was he who had a ring of fairies dance about the Lord +Chamberlain until that haughty person was so dizzy that he had to put +his hands to his eyes and run as rapidly as dignity would let him to a +place of safety. The boy took his orders from the beautiful Queen of the +Fairies, Marie Antoinette, who, more radiant and lovely than ever, sat +on the rustic throne and sent her messengers to the different groups in +the gardens. Beside her stood the young King Louis, laughing and +admiring the ingenuity of her plans.</p> + +<p>Next day, however, came the retribution. The courtiers were up in arms. +They had managed to go through one such evening, but they did not +propose to stand another. The most important people in France went to +the King and placed their grievances before him. Louis loved peace, so +that now he was willing to take the side of the courtiers, and as a +result the day of the children was over.</p> + +<p>Marie Antoinette, fond of pleasure above everything else, tried to have +her way for a short time, but before a month had passed, the weight of +its old time formal dignity had fallen on Versailles, and the children +were again made to pattern after their elders.</p> + +<p>Fond as the young Marquis had been of the good times with playmates of +his own age at Versailles, he could not endure the stiff court nor look +with any satisfaction to the formal life which most of the young men of +the time led. He was naturally too independent to bow and scrape as was +required. In spite of his careful training he found that he had not +acquired the endless flow of frivolous talk which was popular at court. +He was usually silent in company, and more and more given to going away +by himself, in order to escape the affectations of the life about him. +His only chance seemed to lie in the army, and therefore he spent a +great deal of his time with his regiment of Black Musketeers, and began +to plan for a military career.</p> + +<p>He had been made a cadet of the old French regiment called the Black +Musketeers when he was only twelve years old. Then he was a slight +little chap with bright reddish hair and very fair complexion, and much +too small to carry a man's arms; but he was so fond of the +splendid-looking set of men that whenever they paraded he was sure to be +somewhere near at hand to watch them. The boy's name had been placed on +the Musketeers' rolls, though not as a regular cadet, very soon after +his birth, because his great-uncle had been a member of the regiment and +was eager to have his family name connected with it.</p> + +<p>It happened that this twelve-year-old cadet was already a very important +person in the kingdom of France. He had been baptized by the names of +Marie Paul Joseph Roche Ives Gilbert de Mottier, and held the title of +Marquis of Lafayette. His father had been killed at the battle of Minden +when he was only twenty-four years old, but had already won a great name +for bravery. His mother died soon afterward, and so the young Marquis +was left almost alone in his great castle of Chavaniac in the Auvergne +Mountains of southern France.</p> + +<p>He must have been very lonely with no playmates of his own age and only +masters and governesses about him. He was what people called "land +poor," which meant that although he owned a large part of French +territory, it brought him in but small profit, and he had little money +to spend.</p> + +<p>To make up for his lack of playmates, his masters spent much time +drilling the boy Marquis in the etiquette of the French nobility. +High-born French youths at that time had many things to learn, but they +were such things as would make the boy an ornamental piece of furniture +at court. He must be able to enter a drawing-room with perfect dignity, +to compliment a lady, to pick up a fan, to offer his arm with an air of +gallantry, to take part in the formal dances of the period, to draw his +sword in case his honor should require it.</p> + +<p>The little boys and girls of Louis XVI's reign were dressed in stiff +court clothes almost as soon as they were old enough to talk, and were +taught bows and curtsies, gallant words and dancing steps when other +children would have been playing out-of-doors. As a result they grew up +much alike, most of them merely fashion plates to decorate the royal +palace at Versailles.</p> + +<p>Fortunately for the boy his lonely life in the mountains ended when he +was twelve years old. Then his great uncle sent for him to come to +Paris, and placed him at the College du Plessis, where a great many +other young courtiers were being educated. The school taught him very +little of history, of foreign languages, or sciences, but a great deal +about riding and fencing and dancing, and how to write a letter which +should be full of worldly wisdom. At about the same time his grandfather +died, and he inherited a very large fortune, so that the small boy bore +not only one of the oldest titles in the kingdom but possessed enough +money to do exactly as he pleased. There was only one course open to +him—the life of a courtier at Versailles.</p> + +<p>In that age of ceremony marriage was quite as much a formal matter as +other affairs of life. The young Marquis's guardians, according to the +custom of the time, immediately looked about for a girl of equal rank +who might marry their boy. They decided on little Marie Adrienne de +Noailles, daughter of a great peer of France. The girl was only twelve +years old, and her mother was very unwilling to have her married to a +boy whose character was unformed, and whose fortune would allow him to +become as wild as he chose. Her father, however, liked the match, and +her mother finally agreed, insisting, however, that the children should +wait two years before their wedding.</p> + +<p>When these arrangements had all been made and the engagement was +formally announced, the boy Marquis was taken to call at the house of +his future wife, and was presented to her in the garden. Formal paths +wound under a row of chestnut-trees, carefully tended flower-beds were +arranged with mathematical precision, a few peacocks strutted across the +lawn, and here and there a marble statue or a great stone jar from Italy +gave a classic touch to the scene.</p> + +<p>The small boy, dressed in court clothes of velvet, his fair hair in long +curls, his three-cornered hat held beneath his arm, his court rapier +hanging at his side, bright silver buckles at knees and on shoes, +advanced down the walk to the little lady who was waiting for him. She +was in flowered satin, her long, yellow hair falling to her shoulders, +her light-blue eyes looking timidly at the boy, and her pale cheeks +flushing as he approached. As he stood before her, she held out her +hand, and he delicately lifted it with his and touched his lips to her +fingers. She blushed redder, then he paid her a few stately compliments, +and they walked down the path laughing shyly at this new intimacy. She +had seen few boys before, and he had known few girls, and yet their +guardians had destined them for man and wife.</p> + +<p>It was a curious, old-world picture that the two children made, but the +scene was quite characteristic of the age.</p> + +<p>At the time he lived at Versailles and made one of the group about the +little King and Queen, the guardians of the young Marquis expected to +find him growing more and more popular with the royal court, and they +were very much surprised when they learned how reserved he was becoming +and how little he seemed interested in the pursuits of his age. When +they heard of his being one of the ringleaders at the Queen's party, +they were horrified. They determined to try and make him more like +themselves, and so sought to get him a place in the household of one of +the royal family, the Duc de Provence.</p> + +<p>Lafayette was very much disturbed at the thought, and secretly +determined to defeat the plan. Before the position was finally offered +him he went to a masked ball, and learning which was the Duc de Provence +in disguise, went up to him and spoke republican sentiments which were +not at all to the nobleman's liking. Then the boy allowed the masked man +to recognize him. The Duc said sharply that he should remember the +interview. Thereupon young Lafayette made him a profound bow and replied +calmly that memory was often called the wit of fools. This, of course, +ended the chance of his preferment in the royal household, and the boy +was freed from what he considered an irksome task.</p> + +<p>As a result however he was no longer popular at court, and soon asked +that he might be allowed to go back to his distant castle in Auvergne +until he was old enough to take his place in the army. His guardians +were glad to have him safely out of the way for a time, and granted his +request.</p> + +<p>So for a year the little Marie Jean Paul de Lafayette went back to his +mountain home and browsed in his father's library and rode over his +estates. He liked the peasants in the country. They were a brighter +race, not so sullen and discontented as the people in the streets of +Paris, but even here, far from Versailles, the boy heard much of the +frightful poverty of the people and the gross extravagance of the court. +It made him think, and the more he considered the matter the more he +thought the people's claims were just.</p> + +<p>At the end of a year the boy went back to Paris and married the girl to +whom he had been betrothed. He was sixteen, she fourteen, but the +Duchess considered that the boy had shown that he was neither a +spendthrift nor a fool, and that her daughter could be trusted to him. +So the two, scarcely more than school children, opened their residence +in Paris, and took their place in that gay world which was riding so +rapidly to its downfall.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile news was constantly coming to France concerning the glorious +stand which the American colonists were making against England. The love +of liberty was strong in the boy's heart, and the desire to help the +colonists soon came to be his greatest wish. Beneath his reserved manner +and his silent habits there lay the greatest enthusiasm, and the most +determined character.</p> + +<p>He soon had concluded that there was little hope of winning laurels in +the regiment of Black Musketeers, and he cast his eyes longingly across +the seas to where real fighting was taking place; but when he told his +wish to his friends they all opposed him. He went to an old general who +had long been a friend of his family, and urged him to help him in his +plan to go to America.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my boy!" said the general, "I have seen your uncle die in the +Italian wars. I saw your father killed at Minden. I will not help in the +ruin of the last member of your family. You would only risk life and +fortune over there without any chance of reward."</p> + +<p>That was exactly what Lafayette was anxious to do, and he would not give +up his plan. He crossed the Channel to London, and there met some of the +men who were interested in the colonial cause. He went to a secret +meeting, and heard them discuss plans to help the Americans. They, on +their part, at first looked askance at the tall, slender, reddish-haired +young Frenchman, who had so little to say himself, and who seemed so +easily embarrassed. But when they learned that he had a great fortune, +and that if he should aid their cause other young noblemen would follow +him, they did their best to win his help. They little knew how +invaluable his rare spirit would prove in winning freedom for their +land.</p> + +<p>As he was an officer in the French army, the young Marquis found it very +difficult to leave France without the consent of the government, and +this he could not gain. He and a friend, named Baron de Kalb, made their +plans to escape secretly from Paris to Bordeaux. When he reached the +port he found that his ship was not ready, and before he could sail two +officers arrived from court, bearing peremptory orders forbidding him to +go to America or to assist the colonists.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus08.png" alt="lafayette" /> +<a id="illus08" name="illus08"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> <span class="smcap">Lafayette Tells of His Wish to Aid America</span></p> + +<p>He would not give up his great desire, and so although he pretended +that he was willing to obey the command, he planned secretly to escape +across the Spanish border and sail from a Spanish port. He and a friend +left Bordeaux in a post-chaise, announcing that they were on their way +to the French city of Marseilles. As soon as their carriage reached the +open country the young Marquis stepped out, and, now disguised as a +courier, mounted one of the horses and rode on ahead, ordering the +relays. When they reached the road which led toward Spain they changed +their course. The officers who had been set to spy upon him, however, +now were giving chase, and at the next inn Lafayette was obliged to hide +in the straw of a stable until the pursuers should pass.</p> + +<p>It so happened that he had ridden over that road a little time before, +and the innkeeper's daughter knew him by sight. When he rode into the +courtyard she exclaimed, "There comes the Marquis de Lafayette!" and he +was much alarmed, lest some of the bystanders should give away his +secret. He made them understand, however, that he was traveling in +disguise, so that when the pursuers arrived and asked questions, the +people of the inn all agreed that no such gentleman as Lafayette had +been seen in the neighborhood.</p> + +<p>By means of alternate hiding and sudden rapid riding, the Marquis +finally crossed the Spanish border, and reached the little town of +Passage. There, on April 20, 1777, he set sail in a boat happily named +<i>La Victoire</i>, heading for North America.</p> + +<p>America owes a great deal to this gallant young Frenchman who crossed +the seas to aid the colonies. He was among the first of those +foreigners who showed the colonists that the love of liberty was as wide +as the world. He came when hope was low, and his coming meant much to +the brave men who had to undergo the long, discouraging winter at Valley +Forge, and the days when it seemed as though time would prove them only +rebels and not patriots. He brought ships, and men, and money to aid in +the great cause, but more than all these were his own magnetic +personality and the buoyant spirit that refused to be cast down.</p> + +<p>The War of Independence came to an end, and Lafayette returned home. +Trouble was brewing there. The old nobility had grown too overbearing; +the men and women who tilled the soil were considered hardly better than +mere beasts of burden. Such a state could not last, and so the time came +when the mobs of Paris broke into the beautiful gardens of Versailles, +stormed the Palace of the Tuilleries, scattered some of the vain and +foolish old courtiers, but imprisoned many more, and brought to trial +the hapless King Louis and the charming Marie Antoinette.</p> + +<p>Lafayette, friend of their early days, stood by them through the height +of the storm, but there was little he could do against the people's +fury. The Revolution rolled over King and Queen, crushing them and their +resplendent court, and when it had passed a different type of men and +women governed France.</p> + +<p>Only a few of the old nobility were left, and they had learned their +lesson. Lafayette and his wife were of that number. Lover of liberty as +he was, these great events could scarcely have surprised him. The +people had done much the same as had he when, a boy at Versailles, he +rebelled against the selfish court that trod down all opposition with a +heel of iron.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2> + +<h3>Horatio Nelson</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of the Channel Fleet: 1758-1805</h4> + + +<p>It was a dark, rainy autumn afternoon, and the small boy, who was +trudging along the post-road that led to the English river town of +Chatham, was wet to the skin, and thoroughly tired into the bargain. He +was thin and pale, with big-searching eyes, and coal black hair that +hung tangled over his forehead. He had been traveling all day, and had +had only a roll to eat since early morning.</p> + +<p>Sometimes he was tempted to stop and ask people he met how far it still +was to the town on the Medway, but he overcame the temptation, because +he knew that he could reach his destination by six o'clock, and that +thinking of the distance still to go would not help him.</p> + +<p>Occasionally he would stop, fling his arms about his body for warmth, +and stamp his feet hard to drive away the chill. But his stops were not +frequent, because he was in a hurry to end his journey.</p> + +<p>On such an autumn day night sets in early, and the road ahead was simply +a gray blur by the time the boy had reached the outskirts of the town. +But when he did see the first straggling houses he could not help giving +a little cry of satisfaction. He met a pedlar going the other way.</p> + +<p>"Is this Chatham?" the boy asked, half fearing that the answer would be +"No."</p> + +<p>"Yes, this here's Chatham."</p> + +<p>"And where are the docks, the war-ship docks?" asked the boy.</p> + +<p>"Keep straight on this road and you'll walk clean into the water, and +there's the ships," said the man.</p> + +<p>Doubtless he wondered what the boy wanted of the war-ships, but the lad +gave him no chance to satisfy his curiosity. He was hurrying on as fast +as he could go.</p> + +<p>Soon the houses grew more numerous and the post-road had become a street +heading through the heart of an old-fashioned town. The boy had never +been to Chatham before, but he did not stop to look at any of the +curious houses he passed. He saw a pasty-cook's window filled with buns +and tarts, and he remembered how long it had been since breakfast, but +even that thought did not make him loiter. He must reach the docks +before all the men-o'-war's men had left for the night.</p> + +<p>Soon a whiff of fresh air blew in his face. He knew what that meant; he +loved that breath of the water; it nerved him to cover the last lap of +his long journey at a quick step. Then to his delight, he found himself +at last arrived at the water's edge, and before him a shore covered with +boats, and the wide river with the dim outlines of the men-o'-war.</p> + +<p>He stood still, peering at the great ships, until an old sailor passed +near him. "Do those ships belong to the Channel Fleet?" asked the boy.</p> + +<p>The mariner nodded his head. "That's part of his Majesty's Channel +Squadron, my lad. Be you thinkin' of shippin' before the mast?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. Could you tell me where to find an officer of the fleet? Are +there any still ashore?"</p> + +<p>The sailor glanced at a landing-stage near by. "Aye, there's an +officer's gig, and there's the very man you're lookin' for. The one in +the cocked hat with the gold trimmin' yonder."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said the boy, and started on the run for the landing-stage, +completely forgetting how tired his legs had been.</p> + +<p>The man in the cocked hat found himself a moment later facing a small +delicate-looking boy, who was asking which vessel was the <i>Raisonnable</i>.</p> + +<p>He looked the boy over and then pointed out the frigate which bore that +name. "What do you want with her?" he asked, amused at the eagerness +with which the boy looked through the sea of masts at the ship he +sought.</p> + +<p>"My uncle's her commander, and I'm to serve on her," came the answer. +"How can I get on board?"</p> + +<p>"I'll look after that," said the young lieutenant. "She's my ship too." +Again his eyes ran over the small, slender figure before him. "What's +your name?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Horatio Nelson, sir."</p> + +<p>"Well, Nelson, you look starved, and more like a drowned rat than a +midshipman. How long since you had a square meal?"</p> + +<p>"Since breakfast."</p> + +<p>"And why didn't you stop in the town and have a bite on your way here?"</p> + +<p>"I promised my father to come straight on to the docks, sir, and report +for duty. I said I wouldn't stop until I got here."</p> + +<p>"So nothing could have kept you back, eh? Well, you've reported for duty +now, as I'm your superior officer. I don't have to be on board ship for +half an hour, so my first order to you is that you come with me to a +cook-shop and have some of the roast beef of old England before you set +out to sea."</p> + +<p>Nothing loath, now that his promise was kept, Nelson went with the +lieutenant into one of the small, winding Chatham streets, and entered +an inn much frequented by sailors. Here the officer ordered a hot +supper, and sat by the boy while the latter ate it. Nelson was nearly +famished; it was a delight to the lieutenant to watch the satisfying of +such an appetite.</p> + +<p>A little later the officer and the boy were rowed out to the frigate, +and Nelson duly delivered by his new friend into the care of the ship's +commander. His uncle looked at the boy askance; he seemed very pale and +delicate and undersized, even for a boy of thirteen, but the uncle had +promised to take him on trial as midshipman, and so, though with much +misgiving, he found him his berth.</p> + +<p>He little knew what the sight of that Channel Fleet and the smell of the +salt water meant to the new midshipman.</p> + +<p>The boy's uncle, Captain Suckling by name, who was in command of this +sixty-four gun man-o'-war, had been trained in the principles of the +old English navy, which were that hardship was good for a sailor, and +that the more a man was battered about in time of peace the better he +would fight in time of war.</p> + +<p>Everything above decks was spick and span, and young Horatio gazed with +wondering admiration at the neatness of the white decks continually +scraped and holystoned until they fairly glistened in the sun, at the +imposing size and length of the long lines of black cannon, the special +pride of every officer, and at the symmetry and the wonderful height of +spars and sails and rigging, forming a very network in the sky.</p> + +<p>He had loved boats since the days when he had pumped water into the +horse-trough before his father's house in order that he might sail paper +boats in it, and now it seemed almost impossible to believe that he +stood on the deck of a ship of his Majesty's service and was to have a +hand in caring for all this cannon and rigging. He looked wonderingly at +the sailors, a bronzed, hardy lot, in their white jackets and trousers +that flared widely at the bottom, wearing their hair according to the +custom of the day in long pig-tails down their backs.</p> + +<p>But when he went below decks he found the picture very different. +Everything there was dirt and gloom, foul odors and general misery. The +cat-o'-nine-tails was the favorite punishment for sailors. Many a back +was deeply scored with the lash, and, worse yet, many a man had been +forced into the service against his will, seized at night by the +press-gang, cudgeled into insensibility and carried on board to wake up +later and find himself destined to serve at sea. The food was chiefly +salt beef, and in most respects the men were treated little better than +so many cattle. As a result they might be hardy, but they were also as +surly and vicious a lot as could be found anywhere.</p> + +<p>The poor boy had a hard time growing accustomed to such companionship. +He had longed for the glory of the sailor's life without knowing +anything about its wretchedness, and now he saw all these horrors spread +before his eyes. His uncle, believing that the best way to bring him up +was to let him entirely alone to fight his own battles, paid little or +no attention to him, and the boy, brought up in the country home of a +clergyman in Norfolk, was very homesick, and often longed for the people +and the comforts he had left; but he had a stout heart, and before a +great while had conquered this homesickness and set about to see what +work he could find to do.</p> + +<p>At first both officers and men regarded Horatio as simply a sickly boy +and totally unfit for life at sea, but it was not long before he +managed, in a quiet way peculiarly his own, to make a name and place for +himself on board the <i>Raisonnable</i>.</p> + +<p>The story got around that when he was a small boy he had one day escaped +from his nurse and run off into some dense woods near his father's +house. He had lost his way and finally, coming to a brook too wide for +him to cross, had sat down on a stone on one bank and waited. It was +some time after dark when his distracted family found him.</p> + +<p>"I should think you'd have been frightened to death," his grandmother +was reported to have said.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" asked the boy.</p> + +<p>"Why, fear at being alone, and the dark coming on."</p> + +<p>"Fear," said he, "I don't know what you mean by that. I've never seen +it."</p> + +<p>His uncle told the story one day to another officer, and within a week +young Nelson had been christened "Dreadnaught."</p> + +<p>When he was still a very new midshipman he went for a cruise in the +polar seas. One afternoon some of the men were allowed on the arctic +shore, and Nelson started on a little expedition of his own. The first +any one else knew of it was when another midshipman happened to glance +across the field of ice, and caught sight of the huge white body of a +polar bear within a few yards of Nelson.</p> + +<p>He called to his mates and pointed to the boy. They were too far off to +help. They saw Nelson level his musket and saw the wicked head of the +bear raised in front of him. They held their breath waiting for the +shot. In the still air they caught the click of the hammer, but heard no +report. For some reason the gun had not gone off. With a shout they +scrambled over the ice to help him, knowing he was now at the wild +beast's mercy.</p> + +<p>The boy, however, had turned his musket and raised the butt end in +defense when a gun on the ship boomed out the signal for all hands to go +aboard. The signal woke the echoes and thundered over the field of ice, +and the bear, frightened, turned tail and ran off as fast as his short +legs could carry him. Nelson, his musket still raised, ran after the +animal, but by this time the rescue party had come up with him.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by hunting polar bears all alone, Dreadnaught?" asked +the other midshipman. "Didn't you see him coming?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the boy, "but I wanted his skin to take back home to my +father. I might have had him if that gun hadn't sent him away. Now he's +lost forever."</p> + +<p>"Well, I vow," said the other. "I don't believe there's another chap in +the navy with half your pluck."</p> + +<p>Such incidents as these showed the young sailor's courage, and he had +continual chances to show how rapidly he was learning seamanship.</p> + +<p>By the time he was fifteen he was practically possessed of all the +knowledge of an able seaman, and was sent on board the ship <i>Sea Horse</i> +to the East Indies. His position at first was little better than that of +a foremast hand, but it was not long before the captain noticed the +lad's smartness and keen attention to his duties, and very soon he +called him to the quarterdeck and made him fore-midshipman.</p> + +<p>The captain advised the first lieutenant to keep an eye on the boy and +occasionally to let him have charge of manœuvering the vessel. This +the lieutenant did, and to his great surprise found that Nelson was +quite as well able to handle the ship as he was himself.</p> + +<p>The sea life was doing him good, too. He was no longer the thin, sickly +lad who had wandered through the streets of Chatham, but a fine, +well-built, sun-tanned youth, well beloved on deck and popular with all +his mates.</p> + +<p>Fine as the sea life was for him, life in the East Indies was very +trying. The climate brought fever with it, and Horatio had been in the +East but a short time before he fell very ill and had to be taken from +his ship and sent home on board the <i>Dolphin</i>. The ship doctors gave up +hope of saving him, but the captain was so much interested in the boy +that he spent hours nursing him, and finally he grew better.</p> + +<p>The voyage from India to England was the most trying time in Nelson's +life. He felt that he was not built for the life of a sailor, although +his whole mind and heart were set upon rising in that profession. He had +no money, no influential friends; he had staked everything on winning +his way in the navy. Now it seemed as though he must give up his career +and settle down to some small place on shore.</p> + +<p>But his talks with the captain gradually stirred new hopes. He was +seized with patriotic zeal and determined at every risk to serve his +country on the seas, no matter what suffering it might bring to him. He +wanted to act, to do something, and this resolution became suddenly the +motive power of his life. From the time of that voyage home on the +<i>Dolphin</i>, Nelson used to say, dated his passion to win fame in the +defense of England.</p> + +<p>When he reached home he was given a position on a new ship, and a little +later took his examination for the rank of lieutenant. His uncle, +Captain Suckling, who had commanded the <i>Raissonnable</i>, was at the head +of the board of examiners before whom Horatio appeared. The boy was very +nervous when he entered the room, but answered the questions almost as +rapidly as they were put to him, and every answer was full and correct. +He passed the examinations triumphantly, and then his uncle introduced +him to the other members of the Board.</p> + +<p>One of them said, "Why didn't you tell us he was your own nephew?"</p> + +<p>"Because," said the old sailor, "I didn't want him to be favored in any +way. I was sure he would pass a fine examination, and as you see I +haven't been disappointed."</p> + +<p>Nelson was given the rank of lieutenant and assigned to the +<i>Lowestoffe</i>. The vessel cruised to the Barbadoes, in the West Indies, +and there the young lieutenant had his first chance to make his mark. +The ship fell in with an American letter-of-marque, and the first +lieutenant was ordered to board the American ship. A terrific gale was +blowing, and the sea ran so high that in spite of the efforts of the +lieutenant he was unable to reach the American boat and was forced to +return to his own frigate.</p> + +<p>The captain, very much disturbed at this failure to land the prize, +called the officers to him and asked warmly whether there was not one of +them who was able to take possession of the other boat. The lieutenant +who had already tried and failed offered to try again, but Nelson pushed +his way forward and exclaimed, "No, it's my turn now. If I come back it +will be time for you then." With a few sailors he jumped into the small +boat and ploughed through the seas.</p> + +<p>It was a hard tussle to reach the American, and when they did reach her +the sea was so high, and the prize lay so deep in the trough of the +waves, that Nelson's boat was swept over the deck of the other vessel, +and he had to come back from the other side and fight his way against +the high sea before he could finally succeed in climbing on board.</p> + +<p>He now had a high reputation for courage and daring at sea fit to equal +the name he had won as a skilful mariner. It did not take the captain of +the <i>Lowestoffe</i> long to realize that the alertness and enthusiasm of +his young lieutenant bespoke a future of the greatest brilliance in his +country's service.</p> + +<p>In those days England was really at peace, although her eyes were +constantly turned across the Channel and wise men were preparing her for +war with France. Nelson was sent into all parts of the world, and no +matter what were his orders he always carried them out with such skill +that rapid promotion followed every return home. Time and again he fell +ill, but he was never despondent, because he was determined to continue +in his course and serve his country at any cost to himself. He also saw +the war clouds gathering, and realized that it would not be long before +he would have the chance to command a squadron against France.</p> + +<p>The men who had scoffed at him when he first appeared, a puny boy, at +Chatham, found themselves gradually trusting more and more to his +advice, and his uncle, who had at first predicted that three months' +service would send Horatio back to shore, was now the first to predict +that England would have good cause to be proud of this slightly-built +but marvelously active-minded youth.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus09.png" alt="nelson" /> +<a id="illus09" name="illus09"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> <span class="smcap">Nelson Boarding the "San Josef"</span></p> + +<p>A boy somewhat younger than Nelson was growing up in Corsica, in France, +who was soon to win great battles for the latter country and whose +overweaning ambition was finally to plunge his land into a +life-and-death struggle with England. That boy was named Napoleon +Bonaparte, and when he became supreme in France he realized that it was +England who chiefly blocked his schemes at world-wide empire.</p> + +<p>He planned to invade England, and to carry his troops across the Channel +while the great English war-ships were engaged with his own vessels; but +by the time that Napoleon led the troops of France, Horatio Nelson was +in command of a British squadron. The French might be all-conquering on +land, but the English had yet to be defeated on the seas.</p> + +<p>Before the great decisive battle of Trafalgar Nelson sent his famous +message to all the men under him: "England expects every man to do his +duty!" When the battle was over, the little English admiral had won the +greatest naval victory in his country's history. The same indomitable +pluck that had carried him through so many dangers won that great day. +He would not be downed, no matter what the odds against him.</p> + +<p>The same qualities which had sent the delicate boy of thirteen hurrying +through the rain to Chatham, intent only on reaching his goal, brought +about the great sea victories of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2> + +<h3>Robert Fulton</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of the Conestoga: 1765-1815</h4> + + +<p>It was mid-afternoon on July 3d, 1778. A group of a dozen boys sat in +the long grass that grew close down to the banks of the narrow, twisting +Conestoga River, in eastern Pennsylvania. All of the boys were hard at +work engaged in a mysterious occupation. By the side of one of them lay +a great pile of narrow pasteboard tubes, each about two feet long, and +in front of this same small boy stood a keg filled with what looked like +black sand.</p> + +<p>Each of the group was busy working with one of the pasteboard tubes, +stopping one end tightly with paper, and then pouring in handfuls of the +"sand" from the keg, and from time to time dropping small colored balls +into the tubes at various layers of the sand. These balls came from a +box that was guarded by the same boy who had charge of the tubes and the +keg, and he dealt them out to the others with continual words of +caution.</p> + +<p>"Be careful of that one, George," he said, handing him one of the +colored balls; "those red ones were very hard to make, and I haven't +many of them, but they'll burn splendidly, and make a great show when +they go off."</p> + +<p>"How do you stop the candle when all the balls and powder are in, Rob?" +asked another boy.</p> + +<p>"See, this way," said the young instructor, and he slipped a short fuse +into the tube and fastened the end with paper and a piece of twine.</p> + +<p>"There's something'll let folks know to-morrow's the Fourth of July," he +added proudly, as he laid the rocket beside the keg of powder.</p> + +<p>"What made you think of them, Rob?" asked one of the boys, looking +admiringly at the lad of fourteen who had just spoken.</p> + +<p>"I knew something had to be done," said Robert, "as soon as I heard they +weren't going to let us burn any candles to-morrow night 'cause candles +are so scarce. I knew we had to do something to show how proud we are +that they signed the Declaration of Independence two years ago, and so I +thought things over last night and worked out a way of making these +rockets. They'll be much grander than last year's candle parade. They +wouldn't let us light the streets, so we'll light the skies."</p> + +<p>"I wish the Britishers could see them!" said one of the group; and +another added: "I wish General Washington could be in Lancaster +to-morrow night!"</p> + +<p>Just before the warm sun dropped behind the tops of the walnut-grove +beyond the river the work was done, and a great pile of rockets lay on +the grass. Then, as though moved by one impulse, all the boys stripped +off their clothes and plunged into the cool pool of the river where it +made a great circle under the maples. They had all been born and brought +up near the winding Conestoga, and had fished in it and swam in it ever +since they could remember.</p> + +<p>The next evening the boys of Lancaster sprang a surprise on that quiet +but patriotic town. The authorities had forbidden the burning of candles +on account of the scarcity caused by the War of Independence, and every +one expected that second Fourth of July to pass off as quietly as any +other day. But at dusk all the boys gathered at Rob Fulton's house, just +outside town, and as soon as it was really dark proceeded to the town +square, their arms full of mysterious packages.</p> + +<p>It took only a few minutes to gather enough wood in the centre of the +square for a gigantic bonfire, and when all the people of Lancaster were +drawn into the square by the blaze, the boys started their display of +fireworks. The astonished people heard one dull thudding report after +another, saw a ball of colored fire flaming high in the air, then a +burst of myriad sparks and a rain of stars. They were not used to seeing +sky-rockets, most of them had never heard that there were such things, +but they were delighted with them, and hurrahed and cheered at each +fresh burst. This was indeed a great surprise.</p> + +<p>"What are they? Where did they come from? How did the boys get them?" +were the questions that went through the watching crowds, and it was not +long before the answer traveled from mouth to mouth: "It's one of Rob +Fulton's inventions. He read about making them in some book."</p> + +<p>The father of one of Robert's friends nodded his head when he heard this +news, and said to his wife: "I might have known it was young Rob; I've +never known such a boy for making things. His schoolmaster told me the +other day that when he was only ten he made his own lead pencils, +picking up any bits of sheet lead which happened to come his way, and +hammering the lead out of them and making pencils that were as good as +any in the school."</p> + +<p>The fireworks were a great success; for the better part of an hour they +held the attention of Lancaster, and when the last rocket had shot out +its stars every boy there felt that the Fourth of July had been +splendidly kept. For a day or two Rob Fulton was an important personage, +then he dropped back into the ranks with his schoolmates.</p> + +<p>It was not long after, however, that Robert set himself to work out +another problem. The Fultons lived near the Conestoga, and Robert and +his younger brothers were very fond of fishing. All they had to fish +from was a light raft which they had built the summer before, and this +cumbersome craft they had to pole from place to place. When they wanted +to fish some distance down from their farmhouse, they had to spend most +of the afternoon poling, and this heavy labor robbed the sport of half +its charm. So, a week or two after the Fourth of July, Robert told a +couple of boy friends that he was going to make a boat of his own, and +got them to help him collect the materials he needed.</p> + +<p>He liked mystery, and told them to tell no one of his plans. As soon as +school was over the three conspirators would steal away to the +riverside, and there hammer and saw and plane to their hearts' content. +Gradually the boat took shape under their hands, and after about ten +days' work a small, light skiff, with two paddle-wheels joined by a bar +and crank, was ready to be launched.</p> + +<p>The idea was that a boy standing in the middle of the skiff could make +both wheels revolve by turning the crank, and it needed only another boy +holding an oar in a crotch at the stern to steer the craft wherever he +wanted it to go. Yet, even when the boat was finished, the two other +boys were very doubtful whether such a strange-looking object would +really work, Robert himself had no doubts upon that score; he had worked +the whole plan out before he had chosen the first plank.</p> + +<p>The miniature side-paddle river-boat was christened the <i>George +Washington</i>, and launched in a still reach of the Conestoga. It was an +exciting moment when Robert laid hands on the crank and started the two +wheels. They turned easily, and the boat pulled steadily out from shore, +and at a twist from the steering-oar headed down-stream. It was a proud +moment for the young inventor. As they went down the river and passed +people on the banks, he could not help laughing as he saw the surprise +on their faces.</p> + +<p>Fishing became better sport than ever when one had a boat of this sort +to take one up-or down-stream. Very little effort sent the paddles a +long way, and there were always boys who were eager to take a turn at +the crank.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus10.png" alt="fulton" /> +<a id="illus10" name="illus10"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Robert Fulton's First Experiment with Paddle +Wheels</span></p> + +<p>The Lancaster schoolmaster heard of the boat, and said to a friend: +"Take my word for it, the world's going to hear from Rob Fulton some +of these days. He can't help turning old goods to new uses. And he +doesn't know what it means to be discouraged. I met him the afternoon of +the third of July and he told me that he was going to make some rockets, +and I said I thought he would find such a task impossible. 'No, sir,' +says Robert to me, 'I don't think so. I don't think anything's +impossible if you make up your mind to do it.' That's the sort of boy he +is!"</p> + +<p>A large number of Hessian troops were quartered near the Conestoga, and +the Lancaster boys thought a great deal about the War for Independence, +as was natural when the fathers and brothers of most of them were +fighting in it. Such thoughts soon turned Rob Fulton's mind to making +firearms, and as soon as his boat had proved itself successful, he +planned a new type of gun, and supplied some Lancaster gunsmiths with +complete drawings for the whole,—stock, lock, and barrel,—and made +estimates of range that proved correct when the gun was finished.</p> + +<p>But Rob Fulton had remarkable talents in more lines than one. His +playmates had nicknamed him "Quicksilver Bob" because he was so fond of +buying that glittering metal and using it in various ways. The name +suited him well, for he could turn from one occupation to another, and +appeared to be equally good in each. Usually, however, when he was not +inventing he was learning how to paint, and he had a number of teachers, +one of whom was the famous Major André.</p> + +<p>The little town of Lancaster was an important place during the +Revolution. In 1777 the Continental Congress had held its sessions in +the old court-house there, and during the whole time of the war the town +was famous as the depot of supplies for the army. A great deal of powder +was stored in the town, and rifles, blankets, and clothing were +manufactured there in large quantities.</p> + +<p>In the autumn of 1775 Major André, who had been captured while on his +way to Quebec, was brought to Lancaster for safe keeping. He was allowed +certain liberty on parole, and lived in the house of a near neighbor of +the Fultons, named Caleb Cope. Major André was very fond of sketching, +and spent much of his time in the fields painting pictures of the +picturesque little village. No sooner had Rob Fulton heard of the +English major's skill with colors than he hunted him up and asked for a +few lessons. André was a very amiable young man, and took a great liking +to the boy. He gave him many lessons in drawing, and also in the use of +colors, and young Fulton learned rapidly under his tutoring. André was +also in the habit of playing marbles and other games with Rob and his +young friends, and the boys found him delightful company.</p> + +<p>At about the same time one of Robert's playmates learned a new way of +mixing and preparing colors, using mussel-shells to show them off. This +boy carried the shells covered with his new paint to school one day and +showed them to Robert. No sooner had young Fulton seen them than he +begged to be taught how they were made, and immediately started to work +mixing his own colors. The Revolution had made it very difficult to +obtain painting materials from abroad, and almost all the paints the +boys used were home-made. Fulton now began to study the making of +colors, and in a very short time was able to add to his stock.</p> + +<p>Wherever he went the young inventor and painter was popular. In the near +neighborhood of his home there were several factories making arms and +ammunition for the war, and guards were stationed about the doors to +make sure that no trespassers entered. But "Quicksilver Bob" was allowed +to come and go as he would. Whatever he saw he studied, and the first +thing they knew the men in charge of the factories would find the boy +submitting new plans and new suggestions to them for the improvement of +guns or powder. Much to their surprise these suggestions were almost +always good ones, and he became a very welcome visitor. He was paid for +some of this work, but much of it he did without any reward, except the +knowledge that he was in a way serving his country. To help support the +little family he used his skill as a painter in making signs for village +taverns and shops, very much as another boy artist named Benjamin West +had done in his youth.</p> + +<p>It happened that in 1777 some two thousand British prisoners were +brought to Lancaster and quartered there. Such a large number of the +enemy naturally caused some alarm among the quiet country people. The +officers were lodged at the taverns and at private houses, but the +soldiers themselves lived in rude barracks just outside the town, and +there were so many of them that they made quite a settlement for +themselves. Many of the Hessian troopers had their wives with them, and +these occupied square huts built of mud and sod. The little encampment +had quite a strange appearance, the small mud houses lining primitive +streets and looking like some savage settlement.</p> + +<p>Naturally the place had a great charm for the Lancaster boys, and +whenever they were free from school during that time Robert and his +friends were almost sure to be found in the neighborhood of the Hessian +huts, watching these strange men who had come from overseas. Fulton drew +countless pictures of them, some of them caricatures, but many faithful +copies of what he saw. When they were finished these pictures were in +great demand, and some of them were carried as far as Philadelphia, to +show the people there the curious sights of the country near Lancaster.</p> + +<p>In spite of his skill in these different lines, Robert was not a very +successful scholar, and his poor schoolteacher, who was a strict Quaker +of Tory principles, found him very hard to put up with at certain times. +If some inventive idea occurred to the boy while he was on his way to +school, he was quite as likely to stop and work it out as not. One time +he came in so very late that the teacher quite lost his patience. +Seizing a rod he told Robert to hold out his hand, and gave him a +caning. "There!" he exclaimed, "I hope that will make you do something." +But the boy folded his arms and answered very quietly, "I came to school +to have something beaten into my brains and not into my knuckles." It +was very hard for the teacher to do much with such a lad, particularly +as the boy was so often really very helpful to him.</p> + +<p>Another time when he came to school late, he had been at a shop pouring +lead into wooden pencils that were better than those he had made before, +and he handed several of them to the master. The man examined them +carefully and said they were the best he had ever had. It was hard to +scold the boy for spending his time in such ways. One time, when the +teacher had tried to rouse his ambition to study history, Robert said to +him: "My head's so full of original notions that there's no vacant room +to store away the records of dusty old books." Yet in spite of these +stories, the boy could not help picking up a great deal of general +information at school, for his mind was always alert, and he was eager +to improve on everything that had been done before.</p> + +<p>At this time in his boyhood it was hard to say whether the young Fulton +was more the inventor or the artist, but as soon as the war ended he +decided that he would become a painter, and went to Philadelphia, then +the chief city of the new nation, to study his art. He made enough money +by the use of his pencil and by making drawings for machinists to +support himself, and also saved enough money to buy a small farm for his +widowed mother and younger brothers and sisters.</p> + +<p>Benjamin West, the great painter, had lived near Lancaster, and had +heard much of Robert Fulton's boyhood inventions, and he now hunted him +out in Philadelphia, and helped him in his new line of work. The young +artist met Benjamin Franklin and found him eager to aid him in his +plans, and so, by his perseverance and the friends he was fortunate +enough to make, he laid the foundations for his future.</p> + +<p>When he became a man, the spirit of the inventor finally overcame that +of the painter. He went abroad and studied in laboratories in England +and France, and then he came home and built a workshop of his own. What +particularly interested him was the uses to which steam might be put, +and he studied its possibilities until he had worked out his plans for a +practical steamboat. How successful those plans were all the world +knows.</p> + +<p>It was a great day when the crowds that lined the Hudson River saw the +<i>Clermont</i> prove that the era of sailing vessels had closed, and that of +steamships had dawned. But to the boys who had lived along the Conestoga +it did not seem strange that Robert Fulton had won fame as an inventor; +they had known he could make anything he chose since that second +Independence Day when he had come to his country's rescue with his +home-made sky-rockets.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h2> + +<h3>Andrew Jackson</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of the Carolinas: 1767-1845</h4> + + +<p>It was hard for a boy to get much of an education in the backwoods +districts of the American colonies in 1777, and especially so in such a +primitive country as that which lay along the Catawba River in South +Carolina. The colonies were at war with England, and all the care of the +people was needed to protect their farms from attacks by the enemy, and +to give as much help as they could to their country's cause.</p> + +<p>But if the boys and girls learned little from books they learned a great +deal from hard experience; courage and self-reliance foremost of all. +All of the children learned those lessons at a time when they might come +home any day and find their home burned down by the enemy or their +father and older brothers carried away prisoners. Even more than most of +his playmates however, young Andrew Jackson learned these things, +because his life was harder than theirs, and he saw more of the actual +fighting. By nature he was a fighter, and circumstances strengthened +that trait in him.</p> + +<p>Land in the Carolinas was so valuable for cotton raising that it was not +used for building purposes in those days, so the boys who lived near the +Catawba were sent to what were called "old-field schools." An +"old-field" was really a pine forest. When many crops of cotton, planted +season after season without change, had exhausted the soil, the fences +were taken away, and the land was left waste. Young pines soon sprang +up, and in a short time the field would be covered with a thick wood.</p> + +<p>In the wood, as near to the road as possible, a small space would be +cleared, and the rudest kind of log house built, with a huge fireplace +filling one side of the room. The chinks in the logs were filled with +red clay. The trunk of a tree, cut into a plank, was fastened to four +upright posts, and served the whole school as a writing-desk. A little +below it was stretched a smooth log, and this was the seat for the +scholars.</p> + +<p>A wandering schoolmaster was engaged by the farmers, only for a few +months at a time, and he taught the children reading, writing, and +arithmetic. When the weather was bad, and the roads, made of thick red +clay, were too heavy for travel, or when there was farming to be done, +the school was closed.</p> + +<p>This was the only school Mrs. Jackson could send her son Andrew to, and +he went there when he was about ten, and took his place on the slab +bench, a tall, slim boy, with bright blue eyes, a freckled face, very +long sandy hair, wearing a rough homespun suit, and with bare feet and +legs. He was not very fond of school, but he did like to be with other +boys, and to lead them in any kind of an adventure, particularly if +there was the chance of a fight.</p> + +<p>There was much in this country life to interest an active boy like +Andrew Jackson. Wherever there were no cotton fields there were thick +pine woods full of wild turkeys and deer to be had for the shooting. The +farmers of the Catawba country took their cotton to market in immense +covered wagons, often needing a week to make the journey, and camping +out every night. Boys were in demand to help load the cotton, and gather +wood for the camp-fires, and many a time Andrew was hired to travel to +market with a farmer and his wife and young children, and many a night +he spent in a little opening in the woods eating supper and sleeping +close to a blazing fire of pine knots that lighted up the trees for +yards around.</p> + +<p>The farmers were not apt to leave their wives and children at home, +because either the British or the Indians might sweep down upon the +district at any time. So quite a party would travel together, and that +added to the fun. Such a life, with plenty of horses to ride, and +turkeys to hunt, and journeys to make, with only occasional schooling, +appealed strongly to Andrew.</p> + +<p>In August, 1780, when young Jackson was twelve years old, the American +General Gates was defeated by the British, and Cornwallis marched into +the country of the Catawba. Many families left their homes and went +north to be safe from the enemy, and among others Mrs. Jackson and her +sons determined to seek a safer home. Andrew's mother and his brother +Robert left on horseback, and a day or two later Andrew followed them.</p> + +<p>The people all through that desolate part of the country were anxious +for news of the war, especially for word of fathers or brothers in the +army, and they stood by the roads and asked news eagerly of any chance +horseman. At one lonely house a little girl was stationed at the gate to +question travelers. About sunset one day she saw a tall, gawkish boy +come riding along the road, astride of one of the rough, wild, South +Carolina ponies. His bare legs were almost long enough to meet under the +pony; he wore a torn wide-brimmed hat which napped about his face. His +scanty shirt and trousers were covered with dust, and his face was +burned brown and worn with hardship. He had ridden so far and was so +tired that he could scarcely keep his seat.</p> + +<p>"Where you from?" cried the girl, as the boy reined up.</p> + +<p>"From down below, along Waxhaw Creek."</p> + +<p>"Where you going?"</p> + +<p>"Up along north."</p> + +<p>"Who you for?"</p> + +<p>"The Continental Congress."</p> + +<p>"What you doing to the Redcoats down below?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, we're poppin' 'em still."</p> + +<p>"An' what may your name be?"</p> + +<p>"Andy Jackson. Anythin' else you'd like to know?"</p> + +<p>She asked him for news of her father's regiment, but the boy knew little +about it, and was soon riding on his way, following the highroad to +Charlotte.</p> + +<p>In Charlotte the Jacksons boarded with some relatives, and Andrew worked +hard to pay for his food and lodging. He drove cattle, tended the mill, +brought in wood, picked beans, and did any odd jobs that fell to his +hand. All the time he was hoping for a chance to fight the enemy, and +each day he brought home some new weapon. One day it was a rude spear +which he had forged while he waited for the blacksmith to finish a job, +another time it was a wooden club, and another a tomahawk. Once he +fastened the blade of a scythe to a pole, and when he reached home began +cutting down weeds with it, crying, "Oh, if only I were a man, how I'd +cut down the Redcoats with this!"</p> + +<p>The man with whom he was living happened to be watching him, and said +later to Andrew's mother: "That boy Andy is going to fight his way in +this world."</p> + +<p>The war between the colonists and the British was especially bitter in +the Carolinas, where conditions were more rude and simple than in other +parts of the country. The stories that came to Andrew were enough to +stir any boy's blood. He had heard that at Charleston the farmers had +used their cotton bales to build a fort, that the guerrilla leader +Marion had split saws into sword blades for his men, that in more than +one encounter the Carolina militia had gone into battle with more men +than muskets, so that the unarmed men had to stand and watch the battle +until some comrade fell and they could rush in and seize his gun. +Popular legends made the Redcoats little less than devils, fit +companions for the Indian bands they sent upon the war-path.</p> + +<p>News of one attack after another came to the Jackson boys until they +could stand inaction no longer, and joined a small band of independent +riders, not members of any regiment, but free to attack and retreat as +they liked.</p> + +<p>Andrew's first real taste of battle came when he, his brother Robert, +and six friends were guarding the house of a neighbor, Captain Sands. +The captain had come to see his family, and it was known that the house +might be attacked by Tories.</p> + +<p>Leaving one man to watch, the rest of the defenders stretched themselves +out on the floor of the living-room and went to sleep. The sentry also +dozed, but toward midnight he was roused by a suspicious noise, and +investigating found that two bands of the enemy were approaching the +house, one in the front and one in the rear. He rushed indoors, and +seized Andrew, who was sleeping next to the door, by the hair. "The +Tories are upon us!" he cried in great alarm. The boy jumped up, and ran +out of doors. Seeing men in the distance he placed his gun in the fork +of a tree by the door, and hailed the men. They made no reply. He called +to them again. There was no answer, but they came on double-quick.</p> + +<p>By this time the other defenders were roused, and had joined the boy. +Andrew fired, and the attacking party answered with a volley. The Tories +who were creeping up from the rear supposed the volley was fired from +the defenders, and immediately answered with fire from their guns. +Andrew and his companions retreated into the house, having managed for a +few moments to draw the enemy's fire in the darkness against each other. +The Tories halted and learned their mistake.</p> + +<p>By now the men indoors opened fire from the windows on both parties. +Several Tories fell, and the rest were held at bay. Then very +fortunately a distant bugle was heard sounding the cavalry charge, and +the Tories, thinking they had been led into an ambush and were about to +be attacked in the rear, dashed to their horses and, mounting, rode off +at full speed.</p> + +<p>It turned out afterward that a neighbor, hearing the firing at Captain +Sands' house, had blown his bugle, hoping to give the enemy alarm in the +darkness, and that in reality the trick had worked to perfection. So the +Jackson boys had luck with them in their first skirmish.</p> + +<p>They were not so lucky next time. The British general heard of the +activity of the little band of colonists and planned to end them. He +heard that about forty of the farmers were gathered at the Waxhaw +meeting-house, and he sent a body of dragoons, dressed in rough country +clothes, to seize them. The farmers were expecting a band of neighbors, +and were fooled by the British. Eleven of the forty were taken +prisoners, and the rest fled, pursued hotly by the dragoons.</p> + +<p>Andrew found himself riding desperately by the side of his cousin, +Lieutenant Thomas Crawford. For a time they kept to the road, and then +turned across a swampy field, where they soon came to a wide slough of +mire. They plunged their horses into the bog. Andrew struggled through, +but when he reached the bank he found that his cousin's horse had +fallen, and that Thomas was trying to fight off his pursuers with his +sword. Andrew started back, but before he could get near his cousin the +latter had been forced to surrender. The boy then turned, and succeeded +in outriding the dragoons, and finally found refuge in the woods, where +his brother Robert joined him that night.</p> + +<p>The next morning hunger forced the two boys to seek a house, and they +crept up to their cousin's. They left their guns and horses in the +woods, and reached the house safely. Unfortunately a Tory neighbor had +seen them, and, seizing their horses and arms, he sent word to the +British soldiers. Before the boys had any notice of attack the house was +surrounded and they were taken prisoners.</p> + +<p>Andrew never forgot the scene that followed. There were no men in the +house, only his cousin's wife and young children. Nevertheless the +soldiers destroyed everything they could find, smashed furniture, +crockery, glass, tore all the clothing to rags, and broke in windows and +doors. Then the officer in charge ordered Andrew to clean his high +riding-boots, which were crusted with mud. The boy refused to do it, +saying, "I've a right to be treated as a prisoner of war."</p> + +<p>The officer swore, and aimed a blow with his sword at Andrew's head. +Jackson threw up his left arm as a shield and received two wounds, one a +deep gash on the head, the other on his hand. The officer then turned to +Robert Jackson, and ordered him to clean his boots. Robert also refused. +Then the man struck this boy on the head, and knocked him to the floor. +It was a bad business, and the whole performance, especially the brutal +treatment of a defenseless woman and two boy prisoners, made a deep +impression on Andrew's mind. He was only fourteen years old, but his +fighting spirit was that of a grown man.</p> + +<p>Shortly after this Andrew was ordered to mount a horse, and guide some +of the soldiers to the house of a well-known man named Thompson. He was +threatened with death if he failed to guide them right. There was +nothing for it but to obey, but the boy hit upon a plan by which he +might give Thompson a chance to escape. Instead of reaching the house by +the usual road he took the men a roundabout way which brought them into +full sight of the place half a mile before they reached it. As Andrew +had guessed, some one was on watch, and instantly gave the alarm, so +that the Redcoats had the pleasure of seeing the man they sought dash +from his house, mount a waiting horse, and make off toward a creek that +ran close by. The creek was swollen and very deep, but the rider plunged +into it and got safely across. The dragoons, however, did not dare +follow, and Thompson, shouting defiance at them, got safely into the +woods and away.</p> + +<p>The prisoners were now gathered together, and placed under one escort to +be taken to the British prison at Camden, South Carolina. The journey +was a very hard one. Both the Jackson boys and their cousin, Thomas +Crawford, were suffering from wounds, but they were allowed no food or +water as they were marched the forty miles. The soldiers even forbade +the boys scooping up drinking water from one of the streams they +crossed.</p> + +<p>The prison at Camden was wretchedness itself. Two hundred and fifty men +and boys were herded into one small enclosure. They were given no beds, +no medicine, nor bandages to dress their wounds, only a little bad bread +for food. The brothers were separated. Andrew was robbed of his coat and +shoes; he was sick and hungry and worried, for he had no idea what had +happened to his mother or brother. Then as a final horror smallpox broke +out in the prison, and the fear of contagion was added to the other +torments.</p> + +<p>One day Andrew was lying in the sun near the prison gate when an officer +was attracted by his youth and came up to talk with him. The officer +seemed kind, and the boy poured out the miseries of the prison life to +him. He told how the men were starved or given bad food, and how they +were ill used by the guards. The officer was shocked and promised to +look into the matter. When he did he found that the contractors were not +giving the prisoners the food they were paid to provide, and he reported +the matter to those in charge. Shortly after conditions improved.</p> + +<p>Then news came to the prison that the American General Greene was coming +to deliver them. They were tremendously excited at the report. General +Greene had indeed marched on Camden with a small army of twelve hundred +men, but as he had marched faster than his artillery he thought it best +to wait on a hill outside the town until the guns should come up with +him. Six days he stayed there, and then the British commander decided to +attack him without further delay.</p> + +<p>The prison yard would have given a good view of the battle but for a +board fence which had lately been built on top of the wall. Andrew +looked everywhere for a crack in the boards, but could find none. He +managed, however, during the night to cut a hole with an old razor blade +which had been given the prisoners to serve as a meat knife. Through +this hole he saw something of the battle next day, and described what he +saw to the men in the yard below him.</p> + +<p>The Americans were not expecting the British attack. When the British +general led out his nine hundred men early in the morning the Americans +were scattered over the hill, washing their clothes, cleaning their +guns, cooking, and playing cards. Andrew saw the enemy steal about the +base of the hill. There was no way in which he could warn his +countrymen. He saw the British steal up the hill, and break suddenly on +the surprised soldiers. The colonials rushed for their arms, fell into +line, met the charge. The American horse dashed upon the British rear, +and a cheer went up from the waiting prisoners. Then the British made a +second charge, and this time carried men and horses before them, down +the slope and out into the plain. The Americans ceased firing, and +finally broke in full retreat. The prisoners were in more wretched state +than they had been before.</p> + +<p>After the battle Andrew's spirits sank to the lowest ebb. He fell ill +with the first symptoms of the dreaded smallpox. His brother was in even +worse condition. The wound in his head had not healed, as it had never +been properly treated. He also was ill, and it seemed as though both +boys were about to fall victims to the plague.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, at this great crisis, help suddenly appeared. Their devoted +mother learned of the boys' state, and went by herself to Camden to see +if she could not procure a transfer of prisoners. She saw the British +general, and arranged that he should free her two sons and five of her +neighbors in return for thirteen British soldiers who had been recently +captured by a Waxhaw captain. The boys were set free, and joined their +mother. She was shocked to find them so changed by hunger, illness, and +wounds. Robert could not stand, and Andrew was little better off. They +were free, however, at last, and Mrs. Jackson planned to get them home +as soon as possible.</p> + +<p>The mother could get only two horses. One she rode, and Robert was put +on the other, and held in the saddle by two of the men just freed. +Andrew dragged himself wearily behind, without hat, coat, or shoes. +Forty miles of wilderness lay between Camden and the boys' old home at +Waxhaw near the Catawba. The little party trudged along as best it +could, and were only two miles from home when a cold, drenching rain +started to fall. The boys, ill already, suffered terribly. Finally they +reached home, and were put to bed. The cold rain had proved too severe +for Robert, and two days later he died. Andrew, stricken with smallpox, +as was his brother, was very ill for a long time.</p> + +<p>While Andrew was still sick word came to Waxhaw that the condition of +some of the men and boys in the Charleston prison ships was even worse +than that of the men at Camden. Mrs. Jackson's nephews and many of her +friends and neighbors were in the ships, and she felt that she must do +something to relieve them. As soon as she could leave Andrew, she +started with two other women to travel the hundred and sixty miles to +Charleston.</p> + +<p>The three women carried medicines and country delicacies and gifts for +the prisoners. It was a most heroic journey. They had no protectors, and +they were going into the enemy's lines. They succeeded, however, finally +managing to gain admittance to the ships, and to deliver the messages +from home, the food, and the medicines that were so greatly needed. No +one can say how much happiness they brought to those ships in Charleston +harbor.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Jackson stayed in the neighborhood of the city some time, doing +what she could to help her countrymen. Unfortunately disease was only +too rife in the prisons, and it was not long before she became ill with +the ship fever, and after a very short illness died. The news was +brought to Andrew, now fifteen years old, as he lay at home, just +recovering a little of his strength. He had always been devoted to his +mother and worshipped her memory all the days of his life.</p> + +<p>The British under Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, October 19, 1781, +and the war in the south practically came to an end. Andrew Jackson came +out of the Revolution without father or mother or brother, a +convalescent in the house of a cousin, with bitter memories of the war. +For a long time he was exceedingly weak and dispirited, and that +fighting aggressive nature which had marked his early boyhood did not +return to him for some time.</p> + +<p>The boy of sixteen had no one to advise him as to what to do. He tired +of life in the primitive Waxhaw country, and when the British evacuated +Charleston he went there, and saw something of city life. But his money +was soon spent, and he had to decide what he should turn his hand to. +The law appealed to him as a good field for advancement, just as it +appealed to so many ambitious youths of the new country.</p> + +<p>At almost the same time there began the emigration of many Carolina +families westward into what was to become the territory of Tennessee. +Land was given to all who would emigrate and settle there. The idea of +growing up with a new community appealed to Andrew; he knew he had the +power to make his way. In 1788 he started on his journey west, traveling +in the company of about a hundred settlers. They had many adventures and +several times they were in danger of attack from Indians. Once it was +Jackson himself, sitting by the camp-fire after the others had gone to +sleep, who detected something strange in the hooting of owls about the +camp, and waked his friends just in time to save them from being +surrounded by a band of redskins on the war-path. At last they reached +the small town which had been christened Nashville, and there Andrew +decided to settle and practice law.</p> + +<p>This was about the time that Washington was being inaugurated first +President of the United States.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus11.png" alt="jackson" /> +<a id="illus11" name="illus11"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> <span class="smcap">Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans</span></p> + +<p>Andrew grew up with Tennessee. He became a big figure in the western +country. He was known as a shrewd, aggressive man, and was sent to +Congress from that district. Later, when the War of 1812 came, he was +made a general of the American forces, and finally put an end to that +war by winning the battle of New Orleans. Some of the satisfaction of +that last campaign may have atoned to him for his own sufferings in the +Revolution. When the war ended he had won the reputation of a great +general, and was one of the most popular men in the United States. His +nickname of "Old Hickory" was given him in deep affection.</p> + +<p>Shortly afterward he was elected President, and then reëlected. He was +intensely democratic, absolutely fearless, a magnetic leader. There are +few more remarkable stories than that of the rise of the barefooted boy +of the Waxhaw to be the chief of the great republic.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h2> + +<h3>Napoleon Bonaparte</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of Brienne: 1769-1821</h4> + + +<p>The playground of the French military school at Brienne was a great open +space looking down upon the town. Here, on a January afternoon in 1783, +a score of boys were hard at work building a snow fort. The winter had +been very cold and a great fall of snow at the first of the year had +covered the playground several feet deep. After each storm the boys in +the military school fought battles back and forth over the open ground, +and up and down the roads that led to the village; but this battle was +to be a memorable one.</p> + +<p>A little Corsican named Bonaparte was in charge of the defending forces. +He was not very popular among his playmates. He kept very much to +himself, and when he did mix with the others he had a habit of ordering +them about. Most of the other boys were afraid of him. Time and again, +when he had been disturbed as he stood reading a book in a distant +corner of the schoolroom or walking by himself in the playground, he had +turned fiercely upon his playmates and had scattered them before him +with the passion of his face and words; but when they wanted a leader +the boys turned to Bonaparte, and now when they had decided to build a +great fort they left the direction of it entirely to his care.</p> + +<p>The Corsican boy, who was fourteen years old, stood in the middle of the +ground, his hands clasped behind his back, nodding now in one direction, +now in another, as he ordered the boys where to bank the snow, how high +to build the ramparts, and in what lines. He was not very tall and his +face was quite colorless. Under a broad brow his piercing gray eyes +darted here and there, and then were quiet in study. He wore a blue +military coat with red facings and bright buttons, and a vest of blue +faced with white, and blue knee-breeches, and a military cocked hat. +From time to time he drew lines on the snow with a sharp-pointed stick. +Once or twice, when he found a boy idling, he spoke to him sharply, but +for the most part he kept strict silence.</p> + +<p>After a time a young master, dressed like a priest, came out of the +school door and walked over toward Bonaparte. He smiled as he saw the +intense look on the boy's face, and the rough plan sketched before him +on the snow. He came up to the boy and stood looking down at him.</p> + +<p>"Well, my young Spartan," said he, "what are you planning now? Some new +way to save the town from siege?"</p> + +<p>The boy glanced up at his teacher, and a little smile parted his thin +lips. "No, Monsieur Pichegru, I was considering how we might drive the +French troops out of Corsica."</p> + +<p>"From Corsica!" exclaimed the master. "Corsica belongs to France, and +you are a French cadet."</p> + +<p>The boy shook his head solemnly. "Corsica should be free," he answered. +"We are more Italian than French. I hate your barbarous words, my tongue +trips over them. If I had my way no Frenchman would be left in the +island."</p> + +<p>"Then it's well you don't have your way, Bonaparte," said Monsieur +Pichegru, laughing.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the boy's brow clouded and his eyes grew serious. "You think I +shan't have my way then? You don't know me, no one knows me. Wait until +I grow up—then you shall see."</p> + +<p>The master was used to this boy's strange fancies, and now he simply +shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Well, well, we'll wait and see, but you must learn to curb your temper +if you ever expect to do great things in the world."</p> + +<p>"Why?" said the boy. "Must a general curb his temper? It's his part to +give orders, not to take them, and that, sir, is the part I mean to +play."</p> + +<p>Again the master shrugged his shoulders, and the same quizzical smile +his face always wore when watching this boy lighted his eyes.</p> + +<p>"At least we are agreed on one thing, Bonaparte; we both of us know the +most glorious profession in the world is that of the soldier. Ah, that I +might some day be a captain of artillery!"</p> + +<p>"Why not?" said the boy. "Isn't all of Europe one big camp? Can't any +man rise who has strength to draw a sword? Believe me, Monsieur +Pichegru, if you really want to be a captain you shall be one."</p> + +<p>The master glanced at the boy, and then looked quickly away. "You are a +strange lad, my little Spartan," said he. "I don't think I ever knew +a boy quite like you."</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus16.png" alt="fort" /> +<a id="illus16" name="illus16"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> <span class="smcap">The Snow Fort at Brienne</span></p> + +<p>The teacher moved away and the boy continued making his drawings with +the pointed stick.</p> + +<p>By the time the afternoon had ended the square fort of snow was +finished. It was by far the finest fortification the boys of Brienne had +ever built. It had four bastions and a rampart three and one-half feet +long. Water was poured over the top and sides so that ice might form, +and it looked like a very difficult place to take. When he considered it +finished Bonaparte ordered the boys to quit work, and taking up a book +he had thrown on the ground before him he started to stroll up and down +by the farther wall of the parade. He was fond of walking here, book in +hand, studying some military treatise, and, though only a boy, he had +gained the power of shutting out all thoughts except those of his study.</p> + +<p>Some of the boys had put together a rough sort of sky-rocket, and now +brought it out from the house to light it in the playground. One boy +touched a match to the fuse and the others leaped back out of reach. +There was a loud explosion, and the firework, failing to shoot off as +was intended, simply fizzled in a shower of sparks near the feet of the +boy by the wall. He glanced up, looked at the flames and then at the +circle of boys beyond.</p> + +<p>In an instant he had seized his stick and was among them, hitting the +boys over their heads and calling them all the names he could think of, +beside himself in a sudden storm of passion because he had been +disturbed. They fled before his attack like leaves before a whirlwind. +In a few moments he had cleared the playground. Then he threw down the +stick and picked up his book again.</p> + +<p>A few minutes later Monsieur Pichegru, who had been told of the +explosion, came over to him.</p> + +<p>"You must not lose your temper in that way, my boy," said he. "Some day +you will learn to regret it."</p> + +<p>"Why?" said the Corsican lad. "I was studying here, I was reading how +great Hannibal crossed the Alps, and that pack of fools broke in upon +me. I will not be disturbed."</p> + +<p>"You'll teach them to hate you," said the master, trying to argue the +boy out of his ill temper.</p> + +<p>"No, I'll teach them to do as I want, or let me alone when I wish it. +That's all I ask of them, to be let alone." The master, shaking his +head, thought that the boy would soon have his way, for day by day he +grew more solitary and his playmates' fear of him increased.</p> + +<p>The teachers at the school and also some of the servants saw the fort on +the playground that afternoon, and the news of it sped through the town. +According to report it was very different from the snow forts the boys +usually built, much more ingenious and complicated, and along military +lines. As a result the next morning many of the townspeople came to see +the fortifications and examined them with great interest while the boys +were indoors at study.</p> + +<p>When they were free in the afternoon the battle began, one party of the +boys leading the attack from the streets of the town, the other under +Bonaparte defending the bastions and rampart. Attack and defense were +well handled. The boys had already learned many military tactics and +they thoroughly enjoyed this mimic warfare, but the Corsican lad was +much too clever for his adversaries. He was continually inventing new +schemes to surprise his opponents, now sending out a party of +skirmishers to attack them in the rear or on the flanks, again luring +them into a direct assault upon the rampart, and then leading his +soldiers up and over the ice walls to scatter the enemy down the street. +By sunset there was no doubt as to which was the victor. The flag, which +was the prize of battle, was formally awarded to the boys who had held +the fort.</p> + +<p>There was no doubt that young Napoleon Bonaparte knew how to lead +others. He had shown that ability to an amazing degree ever since he had +first entered the school of Brienne when he was only nine years old. The +boys at Brienne were all being trained to be soldiers, and they were all +brought up in strict military discipline which would have been irksome +to many a boy. The young Corsican, however, liked it and seemed to +thrive on it.</p> + +<p>Some of the rules of the school were curious. Until they were twelve +years old the boys had to keep their hair cut short, after that they +were allowed to wear a pigtail, but could powder their hair only on +Sundays and Saints' Days. Each boy had a separate room which was much +like a cell, containing a hard bed with only a rug for covering. The +boys had to stay in school for six years, and they were never allowed +to leave on any pretense whatever. During the long vacation which +lasted from September fifteenth to November second they had only one +lesson a day and had plenty of time for outdoor sports. Everything +possible was done to fire their ardor for military life. They were +encouraged to read the lives of great men, especially Plutarch's +"Lives," and those historical plays which deal with great French scenes. +History and geography were the chief studies, and after those two, +mathematics. In all of these branches Bonaparte took great delight.</p> + +<p>Singularly enough the school, although designed to train boys for +warriors, was entirely under the charge of an order of Friars. Neither +teachers nor boys could help but admit Napoleon's great strength of +character. When the Abbé in charge organized the school into companies +of cadets the command of one company was given to this boy. He ruled +those under him with a rod of iron, and finally the boys who were the +commanders of the other companies decided to hold a court-martial.</p> + +<p>Bonaparte was brought before them and charged with being unworthy to +command his schoolfellows because he disdained them and had no real +regard for them. Arguments attacking him were made by various boys, but +when it came to Napoleon's turn to defend himself he refused, on the +ground that whether he were commander or not made little difference to +him. The court-martial thereupon decided to degrade him from his rank +and a formal sentence was read aloud to him. He seemed very little +concerned, and took his place with the other privates without any show +of ill feeling. For almost the first time the boys felt a sort of +affection for him because he bore his humiliation so well.</p> + +<p>Unlike most boys he really seemed to care very little whether he was +popular or not; all he asked was a chance to learn the art of warfare. +He was happiest when he was left alone to study history. Plutarch's +"Lives" was his favorite book, and his favorite nation among the ancient +peoples was that of Sparta, because he admired the Spartans' stern sense +of heroism and hoped to copy them. That was the reason Monsieur Pichegru +had given him the nickname of "The Spartan," and the name stuck to him +for years.</p> + +<p>The Corsican boy's first desire was to be a sailor. He hoped he might be +sent to the southern coast of France where he would be near his own +beloved island home. It so happened, however, that one of the French +military instructors came to Brienne after Napoleon had been there about +five years, and immediately took an interest in the boy. A little later +he, with four others, was chosen to enter a famous military school in +Paris as what were known as "gentlemen cadets." The report that was sent +to Paris respecting Bonaparte stated that he was domineering, imperious, +and obstinate, but in spite of these qualities he was chosen because of +his great ability in mathematics and the art of warfare.</p> + +<p>The military school of Paris was one of the sights of the French +capital. Famous visitors were always taken there, and the cadets were +intended to form the flower of the French army. Only a few of the boys +who were at the schools in the provinces were chosen to come to Paris, +and those who were chosen were put through a rigid course of study and +of physical drill in preparation for service in the army. Most of the +boys were sons of the nobility and were accustomed to bully their less +distinguished comrades.</p> + +<p>When Bonaparte had been in Paris a very short time he had his first +fight with such a boy. He was quite able to hold his own, but all that +first year he was continually set upon by the Parisians who loved to +taunt him with being a little Corsican and to make ridiculous nicknames +out of his two long names. He lost something of his reserve, because he +liked the military side of the Paris school much better than the church +atmosphere at Brienne.</p> + +<p>Nothing made him so indignant as to hear his native land spoken of +slurringly, and there were many of his comrades who took a special +delight in doing this. The boys would draw caricatures of him standing +with his hands behind his back in his favorite attitude, his brows +frowning, and his eyes thoughtful, and underneath would write "Bonaparte +planning to rescue Corsica from the hands of the French." Whenever he +had a chance he spoke bitterly of the injustice of a great people +oppressing such a tiny island as his.</p> + +<p>Finally some of his words came to the ears of the general in charge of +the school. He sent at once for the boy and said to him, "Sir, you are a +scholar of the King, you must learn to remember this and to moderate +your love of Corsica, which after all forms part of France." Bonaparte +was wiser than to make any answer, he simply saluted and withdrew. +But he paid no heed to the advice, and one day shortly afterward he +again spoke to a priest of the unjust treatment of Corsica. The latter +waited until the boy came to him at the confessional and then rebuked +him on this subject. Bonaparte ran back through the church crying loud +enough for all those present to hear him, "I didn't come in here to talk +about Corsica, and that priest has no right to lecture me on such a +subject!"</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus12.png" alt="napoleon" /> +<a id="illus12" name="illus12"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> <span class="smcap">Napoleon as a Cadet in Paris</span></p> + +<p>The priest as well as the others in charge soon learned that it was +useless to try to change this boy's views, or indeed to keep him from +expressing them when he had a chance. They were learning, just as +Monsieur Pichegru and the friars at Brienne had learned, that he would +have his own way in spite of all opposition.</p> + +<p>When he was sixteen Napoleon and his best friend, a boy named Desmazis, +were ordered to join the regiment of La Fère which was then quartered in +the south of France. Napoleon was glad of this change which brought him +nearer to his island home, and he also felt that he would now learn +something of actual warfare. The two boys were taken to their regiment +in charge of an officer who stayed with them from the time they left +Paris until the carriage set them down at the garrison town. The +regiment of La Fère was one of the best in the French army, and the boy +immediately took a great liking to everything connected with it. He +found the officers well educated and anxious to help him. He declared +the blue uniform with red facings to be the most beautiful uniform in +the world.</p> + +<p>He had to work hard, still studying mathematics, chemistry, and the laws +of fortification, mounting guard with the other subalterns, and looking +after his own company of men. He seemed very young to be put in charge +of grown soldiers, but his great ability had brought about this +extraordinarily rapid promotion. He had a room in a boarding-house kept +by an old maid, but took his meals at the Inn of the Three Pigeons. Now +that he was an officer he began to be more interested in making a good +appearance before people. He took dancing lessons and suddenly blossomed +out into much popularity among the garrison. Older people could not help +but see his great strength of character, and time and again it was +predicted that he would rise high in the army.</p> + +<p>He had not been long with his regiment when he was given leave of +absence to visit his family in Corsica. His father had died, but his +mother was living, with a number of children. All of them looked to +Napoleon for help. When he reached his home, although he was only +seventeen, he was hailed as a great man. Not only his own family, but +all the neighbors and townspeople spoke of him with pride, and expected +that he would do a great deal for their island.</p> + +<p>He still had the same passion for that rocky land, and spent hours +wandering through the grottoes by the seashore, or in the dense olive +woods, or lying under a favorite oak tree reading history and dreaming +of his future. The open life of the fields and the pleasures of the farm +appealed strongly to him, but he knew that there was more active work +for him to do in the world, and so, after a short stay, he went back to +the main land.</p> + +<p>It was not long before great events took place in France. The people +arose against their king and the first gusts of the French Revolution +blew him from his throne. The young Napoleon was a great lover of +liberty; he wished it for Corsica and he wished it for the French +people. It seemed at first as though the island might be able to win its +independence, owing to the disorder in France, and the Bonapartes sided +with the conspirators who were working toward this end. But the young +lieutenant attended strictly to his own business. He watched the rapid +march of events from a distance, and when he went to Paris he was +careful not to ally himself too closely with any particular party. +Finally the Republic was proclaimed, and Napoleon saw that there would +be an immediate chance for fighting. He had complained as a boy that the +trouble with the officers was that they had not had a real taste of +battle. He hoped to be able to learn his profession on the actual field.</p> + +<p>At a time like this when every one doubted his neighbor, and no one knew +how long the present government would last, one quality of the young +lieutenant, his steadfast sticking to duty, made him conspicuous. +Whoever might rule the country he stuck to his work of drilling the men +under him, and step by step he advanced until he became +lieutenant-colonel. Finally his great chance came.</p> + +<p>The city of Toulon on the Mediterranean rebelled against the Convention, +which had in turn become the governing power of France, and surrendered +itself to the English. French troops were sent to the city, and at the +very beginning of the fighting the commander of the artillery was +wounded by a ball in the shoulder. Napoleon was next in rank and took +his place. The siege lasted for days, and the young commander was +obliged to exercise all his ingenuity to hold his position before the +English lines. It was like a repetition of the old fight of the Brienne +school yard, only now Bonaparte led the attacking forces, and he found +this a more difficult task than to defend his own iced ramparts.</p> + +<p>There was also trouble with some of the officers, and one of them +ordered Napoleon to place his guns in a certain line of attack. The +Corsican youth refused, declaring that he would not serve under a man +who was wanting in the simplest principles of warfare. The commander was +indignant, but all his friends said to him, "You had better let that +young man alone, he knows more about this than you. If his plan succeeds +the glory will all be yours; if he fails the blame will be his." The +officer took the advice and told young "Captain Cannon," as he called +Napoleon, that he might have his own way, but that he should answer for +the success of his plan with his head.</p> + +<p>"Very well," said the youth, "I'm quite satisfied with that +arrangement."</p> + +<p>The siege lasted a long time, and then it was finally decided to carry +the town by a grand assault. All possible forces were brought to the +attack, and at last Toulon was taken. The young lieutenant-colonel +distinguished himself greatly in this his first real battle. His horse +was shot under him, and he was wounded with a bayonet thrust in the +thigh; but he kept his men in place, and finally advancing they +succeeded in covering both the town and the fleet in the sea. When the +fighting was over the general in command wrote to Paris: "I have no +words to describe the merit of Bonaparte; much science, as much +intelligence, and too much bravery. This is but a feeble sketch of this +rare officer, and it is for you, ministers, to consecrate him to the +glory of the Republic."</p> + +<p>Such was the young Napoleon at twenty-three. Almost immediately he was +made general of brigade, and was looked upon as one of the coming +defenders of the French Republic.</p> + +<p>He went to Paris, was loaded with honors, and given post after post in +the service of his country. For a time he proved a great defender of his +people, for a time he served the Republic as no other man could; but +when defense was no longer needed he could not sheathe his sword, he had +to use it for attack whether the cause were just or not. As he won +victory after victory and tasted power he discarded even the Republic +that had made him, and placed himself upon the throne as Emperor.</p> + +<p>That same love of power which had made him was also his undoing. He +could not rest content with what he had. As he had predicted to Monsieur +Pichegru that afternoon at Brienne he would have his own way, and very +much as he had treated his schoolfellows there he later grew to treat +the nations of Europe. As a result they, like his playfellows, combined +against him, and sent him down finally among the privates.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h2> + +<h3>Walter Scott</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of the Canongate: 1771-1832</h4> + + +<p>The business office of a Scotch solicitor is not an especially cheerful +place at any time, and the interior of such a room looked particularly +cheerless on a late winter afternoon in Edinburgh in 1786. A boy of +fifteen sat on a high stool at an old oak desk, and watched the snow +falling in the street. Occasionally he could see people passing the +windows: men and women wrapped to their ears in plaid shawls, for the +wind whistled down the street so loudly that the boy could hear it, and +the cold was bitter.</p> + +<p>The boy looked through the window until he almost felt the chill +himself, and then, to keep warm, held his head in his hands and fastened +his eyes on the big, heavy-leaved book in front of him, which bore the +unappealing title, Erskine's "Institutes." The type was fine, and the +young student had to read each line a dozen times before he could +understand it. Sometimes his eyes would involuntarily close and he would +doze a few moments, only to wake with a start to look quickly at another +desk near the fire where his father sat steadily writing, and then to a +table in the corner where a very old man was always sorting papers.</p> + +<p>The winter light grew dim, so dim that the boy could no longer see to +read. He closed the book with a bang.</p> + +<p>"Father."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Walter, lad?" The lawyer looked up from his writing, and smiled at +the figure on the high stool.</p> + +<p>"I'd best be going home; there's no more light here to see by."</p> + +<p>"A good reason, Walter. Wrap yourself up warm, for the night is cold."</p> + +<p>Young Walter slid down from his seat, and stretched his arms and legs to +cure the stiffness in them. He was a sturdy, well-built lad, with +tousled yellow hair, frank eyes with a twinkle in them, and a mouth that +was large and betokened humor. When he walked he limped, but he held +himself so straight that when he was still no one would have noticed the +deformity.</p> + +<p>Five minutes later the boy was plowing his way through the narrow +streets of the Canongate, the old part of Edinburgh that had as ancient +a history of street brawls as the Paris kennels. Nobody who could help +it was abroad, and Walter was glad when he reached the door of his +father's house in George's Square and could find shelter from the +cutting wind. The Scotch evening meal was simple, soon over, and then +came the time to sit before the blazing logs on the great open hearth +and tell stories.</p> + +<p>The older people were busy at cards in another room, and Walter, with a +group of boys of his own age who lived in the neighborhood and liked to +be with the lame lad, had the fireside to themselves.</p> + +<p>In front of the fire young Walter was no longer the sleepy student of +Erskine's "Institutes"; his eyes shone as he told story after story of +the Scotch border, half of them founded on old ballads or legends he +knew by heart and half the product of his own eager imagination. Whole +poems, filled with battles and hunts and knightly adventures, he could +recite from memory, and his eye for the color and trappings of history +was so keen that the boys could see the very scenes before them. They +sat in a circle about him, listening eagerly to story after story, +forgetting everything but the boy's words, and showing their fondness +and admiration for the romancer in each glance.</p> + +<p>Walter was minstrel and prophet and historian to the boys of the +Canongate by the winter fire, as he was to be later to the whole nation +of Englishmen.</p> + +<p>By the next day the snow had ceased falling, and the open squares of the +city presented the finest mimic battle-fields that could be imagined. +The boys of Edinburgh were divided into clans according to the part of +the city in which they lived, and carried on constant warfare as long as +winter lasted. Walter Scott and his brothers belonged to a clan that +made George's Square their headquarters, and their nearest and dearest +enemies were the boys of the Crosscauseway, a poorer section of the city +that lay not very far distant.</p> + +<p>On the day the storm ceased Walter left his high stool and ponderous +book early and joined his friends in solid array in their square. While +they waited for the enemy to come up from the side street, the boys +built snow fortifications across the Square and stocked them with +ammunition sufficient to stand a siege. Still no enemy appeared, and, +eager for a chance to try their aim, the boys of the Square boldly left +their own haunts and proceeded down the Crosscauseway in search of the +foe.</p> + +<p>The enemy's country lay through narrow winding streets, and there was +great need of care to avoid an ambuscade. Slipping from door to door, +from one point of vantage to the next, the boys made the whole distance +of the enemy's land without sight of an enemy. They came to the further +boundary and raised a cheer of defiance, when suddenly a hail-storm of +snowballs struck them, and from a side street the boys of the +Crosscauseway shot out. The invaders fired one round, then turned and +fled before a fierce charge.</p> + +<p>Back the way they came the boys retreated, and after them came the enemy +pelting them without mercy and with good aim. In the van of the pursuit +ran a tall, fair-haired boy, who wore the bright green breeches of a +tailor's clerk, who was famous for his prowess in these schoolboy +battles, and who, because of his clothes, had been given the picturesque +nickname of "Green Breeks."</p> + +<p>Young Scott and his friends ran back into their square, but the enemy +were close upon their heels. Green Breeks was now far in the lead of his +forces, so far in the lead that he might have been cut off had not the +pursued been panic-stricken. Over their own fortifications the boys fled +and dropped behind them for safety. Their banner, a flag given them by a +lady of the Square, waved defiantly in Green Breeks' face. The tall boy +leaped upon the rampart and seized the standard, when a blow from a +stick brought him to the ground. He fell stunned, and the blood poured +from a cut in his head.</p> + +<p>The watchman in George's Square was used to the boys' battles, but not +to such an ending to them. He hurried over to the fallen Green Breeks, +and the boys of both armies melted silently away. Shortly after Green +Breeks was in the hospital, his head bandaged, but otherwise little the +worse for his mishap.</p> + +<p>A confectioner in the Crosscauseway acted as messenger between the boys +of the Causeway and the Square, and to him Walter Scott and his brother +went early the next morning and asked if he would take Green Breeks some +money to pay for his wound and loss of time in the tailor's shop. Green +Breeks in the hospital had been asked to tell the name of the one who +had struck him, but had refused pointblank, and none of either party +could be found to tell. When the wounded leader heard of Walter's offer +he refused to accept the money on the ground that such accidents were +apt to happen to any one in battle, and that he did not need the money. +Walter sent another message, inquiring if Green Breeks' family were in +need of anything he could supply, and received the answer that he lived +with his aged grandmother who was very fond of taking snuff. Thereupon +Walter presented the old woman with a pound of snuff, and as soon as +Green Breeks was out of the hospital made him one of his friends.</p> + +<p>With the opening of spring Walter spent all his spare hours in his +favorite pursuit, riding through the country on a search for old +legends or curious tales of the neighborhood. Scottish history was his +never-ending delight; he knew every battle-field in the vicinity of +Edinburgh, and could tell how the armies had come to meet and what was +the result. Stories of sprites and goblins, of witches and magicians, +were eagerly sought by him. Many an old woman was led to tell the lame +boy with the eager eyes the tales she had heard as a schoolgirl, and was +well repaid by the boy's rapt attention. Hardly a stick or a stone, a +stream or a hill in the Lowlands that had a history but Walter Scott +learned it, and at the same time he learned to know the plain people, +all their habits and customs, and all the little eccentricities that +made up their characters.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus13.png" alt="street" /> +<a id="illus13" name="illus13"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> <span class="smcap">Street in Edinburgh Where Scott Played as a Boy</span></p> + +<p>Every Saturday in fair weather, and more frequently during the +vacations, his father allowed him a holiday from the office. Walter and +a boy friend named John Irving used to take two or three books from the +public library of Edinburgh, and go out into the neighboring country, to +Salisbury Crags, Arthur's Seat, or to a height called Blackford Hill, +from which there was a splendid view of the Lowland country. There they +read the books together, Walter always a little ahead of his friend, and +obliged to wait at the end of every two pages for him to catch up. The +books were almost always stories of knights-errant; the romances of +Spenser, the "Castle of Otranto," and translations from such Italian +writers as Ariosto, were very popular.</p> + +<p>Often the boys would climb high up over the rocks to find places where +they would be sheltered from the wind, and the harder the nooks were to +reach the better they liked them. Walter, in spite of his lameness, was +a good climber, and time and again, when it seemed as though they had +contrived to get into a place from which there was no way out, and must +call to passers-by for help, he would manage to discover some jutting +stone or crevice in the rock that allowed them finally to make a +perilous escape.</p> + +<p>That sort of adventure appealed to the boy tremendously; he liked to try +to use his wits in grappling with some natural difficulty, as the heroes +of his stories so often had to do.</p> + +<p>The boys devoured a great many books in these expeditions, which lasted +over two years, and Walter so mastered the pages that he read that he +could recite long passages from them to his friend weeks after they had +finished the stories. Finally they fell into the habit of making up +stories of knights for themselves, first Walter telling the adventures +of a knight to John, and leaving the hero in some very difficult +situation for John to rescue him from, and then John carrying on the +story with another adventure, and leaving the next rescue to his friend. +The stories went on from day to day, and week to week, because the boys +grew so fond of their heroes that neither had the heart to kill the +brave knight, and they could find no other way to bring his adventures +to an end.</p> + +<p>Although Walter spent considerable time in his father's office, he was +still studying under a tutor with other boys, preparing for college. He +was a brilliant scholar when he wanted to be, but all subjects did not +interest him.</p> + +<p>At one time there was a certain boy who always stood at the top of +Walter's class whom young Scott could not supplant, try as he would. +Finally Walter noticed that whenever the master asked that boy a +question the latter always fumbled with his fingers at a certain button +on the lower part of his waistcoat. Walter Scott thereupon determined to +cut off that particular button, and see what would happen. He found a +chance soon after and cut off the button with a knife, while the owner +of the coat was not looking. Then Walter waited with the greatest +interest to see what would happen.</p> + +<p>The next time the master asked questions of the youth at the head of the +class Walter saw the boy's fingers feel for the button, and then saw him +look down at the place on his coat where it should have been. When he +saw it was missing he grew confused, stammered, muttered to himself, and +could not answer the question. Walter came next, and, being able to +answer the question, took the other boy's place, chuckling to himself. +He did not hold it long. He had simply wished to see what would happen, +and having found out he was quite willing to surrender the place to the +boy who was really the better scholar.</p> + +<p>In a thousand ways Walter showed his love of history and romance. +Anything that was picturesque, whether it was a view or an old dirk, +caught his attention at once. For a short time he took lessons in oil +painting from a German. He soon found that he had not the eye nor the +hand for the work, but it happened that the teacher's father had been a +soldier in the army of Frederick the Great, and as soon as Walter found +this out, he plied the man with questions. Long afterward he said he +vividly remembered the man's picturesque account of seeing a party of +the famous Black Hussars bringing in forage carts which they had +captured from the Cossacks, with the wounded Cossacks themselves lying +high up on the piles of straw.</p> + +<p>Often in good weather the boys of George's Square would go on long +excursions into the country, frequently staying away from home for +several days at a time. On one such occasion they found themselves some +twenty miles away from Edinburgh without a single sixpence left among +them. Walter said afterward, "We were certainly put to our shifts, but +we asked every now and then at a cottage door for a drink of water; and +one or two of the good wives, observing our worn-out looks brought out +milk in place of water—so with that, and hips and haws, we came in +little the worse."</p> + +<p>His father was not at all pleased with his long absence, and asked how +he had managed with so little money.</p> + +<p>"Pretty much like the ravens," said the boy. "I only wished I had been +as good a player on the flute as poor George Primrose in 'The Vicar of +Wakefield.' If I had his art, I should like nothing better than to tramp +like him from cottage to cottage over the world."</p> + +<p>"I doubt," said the father, "I greatly doubt, sir, you were born for nae +better than a scapegoat."</p> + +<p>It may be that as a result of these chance expeditions Walter's father +finally came to realize that the boy might be made use of in certain +legal business that required sending messengers into the Highlands. Soon +he was sent with some legal papers to the Maclarens, who lived in that +beautiful lake country about Loch Lomond which Scott was later to make +famous in "The Lady of the Lake." It was the first time he had been in +that country, and the changing panorama unrolled before his eyes like a +land of dreams.</p> + +<p>It happened that Walter was traveling in the company of a sergeant and +six men from a Highland regiment stationed in Sterling, and so he +journeyed quite like some ancient chieftain, with a front and rear +guard, and bearing arms. The sergeant was a thorough Highlander, full of +stories of Rob Roy and of his own early adventures, and an excellent +companion. The trip was a great success, and fired Walter's desires to +see more of a country which even then was only half-civilized.</p> + +<p>A little later he had another chance, being sent north to visit another +of his father's clients, an old Jacobite who had fought in the uprisings +of 1715 and 1745. Paul Jones was then threatening a descent on the +Scotch coast, and Walter had the satisfaction of seeing the old Jacobite +chief making ready to bear arms again, and heard him exult at the +prospect of drawing claymore once more before he died. The boy was so +delighted at the stories the old man told that the latter invited him to +visit him that fall, and so he spent his holiday with him.</p> + +<p>Riding northward on this visit the vale of Perth first burst on his +view. Long afterward he described the tremendous impression this sight +made upon him. "I recollect pulling up the reins," he wrote later, +"without meaning to do so, and gazing on the scene before me as if I had +been afraid it would shift, like those in a theatre, before I could +distinctly observe its different parts, or convince myself that what I +saw was real."</p> + +<p>Even as he remembered so vividly the tales the old men and women had +told him when he was a very little boy, the stories of his grandmother, +of border warfare, of heroes of Scotland, such as Watt of Harden, and +Wight Willie of Aikwood, merrymen much like Robin Hood and Little John, +and as he remembered the romances he and his friend had read in the +hills, so he was now treasuring up wild bits of scenery with all the +ardor of a poet or a painter. He was growing to know Scotland as no +other man had ever known it.</p> + +<p>The boy Walter had little knowledge then of the great use to which he +was later to put his love of Scottish history; he expected to be a +lawyer and was studying to that end, but all his spare moments were +spent in hunting legends of his land. He became eager to visit the then +wild and inaccessible region of Liddesdale, so that he might see the +ruins of the famous castle of the Hermitage, and try to pick up some of +the ancient "riding ballads" as they were called, songs which were said +to be still preserved among the descendants of the old moss-troopers, +who had followed the banners of the House of Douglass, when they were +lords of that remote castle.</p> + +<p>He found a man who knew that rugged country well, and for seven +successive years Walter Scott made a "raid," as he called it, into that +country, following each stream to its source, and studying every ruined +tower or castle from foundation stone to topmost battlement.</p> + +<p>There were no inns in the whole district. The explorers had to stop over +night at any chance shepherd's hut or farmer's cottage, but everywhere +they met with open welcome, and from each home they gathered songs and +stories, and sometimes relics of border wars to take back with them to +Edinburgh. Even then the youth had little notion of what he should do +with all the facts he was gathering. The friend he traveled with said +later, "Walter was makin' himself a' the time, but he didna ken maybe +what he was about till years had passed. At first he thought o' little, +I dare say, but the queerness and the fun."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In course of time Scott was called to the bar as a lawyer, and took his +place with the dozens of young men who hung about the Parliament House +in Edinburgh waiting for briefs of cases to be argued. There were lots +of debating clubs in the Scotch capital at that time, and Scott was a +member of several. Some time was spent in argument, but more in telling +stories and in singing songs.</p> + +<p>Here the young lawyer ruled supreme. No other man could tell such tales +as he, and none knew so many and such curious songs. The stories were +not all his own; frequently he retold old ones that he had heard, +dressing them up to suit his taste. Once a friend complained that he had +changed a story told him the day before.</p> + +<p>"Why," said Scott, with twinkling eyes, "I don't change stories. I only +put a cocked hat on their heads, and stick a cane into their hands—to +make them fit for going into company."</p> + +<p>Fifteen years passed and all England was reading eagerly the wonderful +historical poems and romances written by a man who called himself the +"Wizard of the North."</p> + +<p>Scotland had always been a desolate barren country in the eyes of the +rest of the world, its history unknown, its people cold and uninviting. +Suddenly all that was changed: Scotland sprang into being as a land of +romance, filled with poetry, a country full of glorious scenery, a +people descended from a line of kings. Even the narrow streets of +Edinburgh and the old Canongate itself became historic ground under the +Wizard's spell. The Wizard was Walter Scott, and now he found the whole +world as eager to hear the stories and poems he had to tell about his +country as his boy friends had been years before. He had not changed +much as he grew up. At the height of his fame Walter Scott was still in +spirit the eager boy of the old city, finding romance everywhere about +him because he looked for it with the eyes of youth.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h2> + +<h3>James Fenimore Cooper</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of Otsego Hall: 1789-1851</h4> + + +<p>The finest house in central New York State in 1801 was Otsego Hall. The +owner of the house, a Mr. Cooper, fond of old English customs, lived +much like a lord of the manor of the old country, and kept open house +for his neighbors of the region. On a Saturday afternoon in September of +that year he was giving a great party, and all roads in the neighborhood +of Cooperstown, which had been named in honor of this popular gentleman, +led to Otsego Hall.</p> + +<p>A gay stream flowed up to the great stone posts that flanked the +entrance driveway. There were men in bright-hued, tight-fitting trousers +with high shining top-boots, brilliant plum and claret colored coats and +fawn or scarlet waistcoats, with lace stocks at their throats, their +hair well powdered, their tri-cornered hats matching their vivid coats. +They rode fine, spirited horses, and they knew how to ride, for most of +them had seen service under General Washington. Some of the ladies also +rode, but more of them came in open carriages. These latter wore +flowered satins, and carried painted fans and sunshades. Some came +across fields on foot, a young gallant swinging a light gold-headed +cane, and paying lavish compliments to the fair girl whose dimples were +heightened by small beauty patches cut in stars or crescents.</p> + +<p>The gay throng wound up the long drive of Otsego Hall, themselves +scarcely less brilliant than the flowers beside the path. At the top of +the drive was the big, white colonial mansion, with its high storied +porch and great white pillars. On the porch stood the genial host in a +buff-colored suit with knee-breeches, his kindly face radiating welcome +to each guest. The riders sprang from their saddles and threw the +bridles to the waiting servants, the chaises and the chariots emptied +their owners and were whisked away. All mounted the wide steps, greeted +Mr. Cooper, and passed across the porch into the polished hall.</p> + +<p>Here stood a large round table with a huge punchbowl in the centre and a +ring of shining glasses about it. Each guest toasted the fair lady of +the manor, and some particular lady of his own fancy, with such charming +sentiments as his wit supplied. There was a great buzz of talk and +laughter and neighborly greeting.</p> + +<p>Presently three young men, all dressed in the height of fashion, came up +the driveway and shook hands with Mr. Cooper. He was especially glad to +see them, for they were sons of men he had known in war times. All three +came of wealthy families living in the city of New York, and were now +traveling north to learn something of the business possibilities of the +young country. They stopped for a moment to chat with Mr. Cooper, and +then two of them entered the hall. The third was looking at a small boy, +who, dressed like Mr. Cooper in buff clothes, stood at one side of the +porch.</p> + +<p>"Who is the youngster?" asked the visitor.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cooper turned about to see. "Oh, that's my son James." He beckoned +to the boy. "Come here, son. I want you to meet Captain Philip Kent, one +of father's old friends."</p> + +<p>The boy, not at all abashed, put out his hand, and welcomed Captain +Kent. "Have you ever fought Indians?" he asked solemnly.</p> + +<p>Kent laughed and winked at Mr. Cooper. "Oh, yes. We've all fought +Indians in our day. But, thank God, that day's passed. What we want now +is a chance to rest in quiet, and try our hands at writing, and singing, +and painting, like other civilized people." He saw that some other +guests were arriving, and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Come, +James. You and I don't care to go salute the ladies just yet. Let's find +a place in the garden and have a talk."</p> + +<p>They went down a gravel path and turned in to the rose-garden. A bench +invited them to rest. Captain Kent sat down, and drawing a gilded +snuff-box from his waistcoat-pocket, offered it to the boy. "The very +best rappee," he said.</p> + +<p>James Cooper shook his head. "I don't like snuff, sir. I'd rather smoke +a pipe."</p> + +<p>Captain Kent took snuff and flicked the grains from his coat with his +handkerchief. "Tut, tut, young man, if you're to be a man of fashion, +and I misdoubt your father's son could be ought else, you must like what +the fashion likes. The gentlemen of St. James' Palace still take snuff, +and never are seen smoking pipes, like some of our clumsy Dutchmen over +here."</p> + +<p>"But St. James' Palace is in London, and we're free from England now."</p> + +<p>"Quite so, my good sir. But our fashions still come from across the +seas."</p> + +<p>"And what is a man of fashion?" asked the boy.</p> + +<p>Captain Kent smiled. "Ah, so you are concerned? Good! Well, I am a man +of fashion, and so are those two friends of mine who just entered your +hall. A man of fashion has a discriminating taste in wines and foods. He +knows what colors go in harmony, how to draw his sword in any matter of +honor, how to tread a minuet—oh, yes, and how to write verses to his +lady's eyes."</p> + +<p>The Captain put his hand in the pocket of his coat and drew out several +folded sheets of paper. He spread them out on his knee. "Do you know +Miss Betty Cosgrove?" he asked.</p> + +<p>The boy nodded. "Yes, indeed. She lives very near us, and always gives +me plum-cake when I go there with messages from mother."</p> + +<p>"Ah, she does!" exclaimed Kent, as though greatly struck and charmed by +the idea. "Well, Mr. James Cooper, I have written some verses in her +honor, hoping I might offer them to her here this afternoon. I'll read +them to you."</p> + +<p>"She's indoors," said the boy. "I saw her come."</p> + +<p>"Quite so. But I hope to lure her out here later, and I want to rehearse +the verses. What do you think of this?"</p> + +<p>The young man held the paper before him, and read from it. Every few +lines he would glance at the boy. James did not think much of the +poetry. He heard a great deal about tresses, and eyes, and smiles, about +Gods and Goddesses, but nothing about soldiers or Indians. He was +surprised that the Captain should have become so red in the face and +that his eyes should shine so brightly.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of it?" asked Captain Kent, when he had finished.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand it," said James. Then he added frankly, "I don't +think much of poetry."</p> + +<p>"May Heaven grant she does!" exclaimed the Captain. "I think 'tis quite +a fair performance for an humble poet." He folded the verses and put +them away. "Some day you will be doing the same thing, Mr. Cooper."</p> + +<p>"No," said the boy. "I'm to go to Yale College at New Haven next year +and learn Greek."</p> + +<p>"'Tis better to write verses than learn Greek," objected Kent. He put +his hand on the boy's shoulder. "But there's better yet waiting to be +done, boy. In London men write what they call novels; wonderful stories +of the great world of fashion. There's one called 'Amelia,' by Henry +Fielding, and another named 'Clarissa Harlowe,' by Richardson. Why +should not some one write such tales of our country? Alas, I fancy +because as yet we have so little fashion."</p> + +<p>"But we've plenty of hunters and Indians and sailors," said the boy; "I +wish I had a book about what's happened in those great woods back of +Albany."</p> + +<p>"Write it, lad, write it," said the Captain. "We've had our soldiers, +you and your friends must be our poets and writers. I envy you. Now let +us be going in to greet the ladies."</p> + +<p>The lower floor of Otsego Hall was now filled with people. All the +gentry of the countryside were gathered in the great hall, in the +dining-room, and other apartments that opened into it. Captain Kent and +his boy friend made their way through the crowd, and the Captain bent +over the hand of Mrs. Cooper and congratulated her on having so fine a +son. The boy liked his gallant friend and stayed near him, even when the +Captain finally caught sight of Miss Betty Cosgrove talking with his two +mates in a corner of the hall.</p> + +<p>James watched the Captain advance and in his most polished manner bend +over the lady's hand and touch it with his lips. Then the four of them +started to laugh and talk rapidly as though they had a great many things +to tell each other. The boy thought this very tiresome, and was about to +make his way back to the porch and freedom when he heard a man who stood +on the broad stairs call out, "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you all a +toast, our worthy friend and most gracious host, Mr. Cooper!"</p> + +<p>Servants passed glasses of punch to the guests and soon all held their +glasses raised high.</p> + +<p>"I pledge them," cried the man on the stairs, and the toast was drunk +with a murmur of cheers.</p> + +<p>"Another to our charming hostess!" some one cried, and this also was +drunk.</p> + +<p>Then Captain Kent clapped his hands for silence. "Ladies and gentlemen +of Cooperstown," said he, "three of us here have journeyed from New York +City to pay our duty to the fairest maid in all the thirteen states. We +have none like her on Manhattan Island. I give you Mistress Betty +Cosgrove!"</p> + +<p>The three young men raised their glasses, the rest followed their +example, and the toast was drunk. Miss Cosgrove blushed the color of the +rose she wore.</p> + +<p>One of the young men looked down to find a small boy pulling his sleeve. +"What is it?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Captain Kent's been writing verses to her too," said James Cooper. "He +read them to me in the garden."</p> + +<p>"Ho—ho," came the laughing answer. "Good enough." He turned about. +"Ladies and gentlemen, my friend Captain Kent is a poet. He has some +verses in his pocket written to the adorable Mistress Betty. Shall we +hear them?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," came a chorus of voices.</p> + +<p>It was poor Kent's turn to blush. He looked very uncomfortable. Miss +Cosgrove glanced at him with wide inquiring eyes. He had not expected to +read his poetry in such a setting. He stepped forward, and seizing +little James Cooper under the arms lifted him to a chair.</p> + +<p>"Behold," he said, "I should be glad to read the verses, but this +gentleman, Master Cooper, has told me they are poor, and he should know +because he plans to be an author."</p> + +<p>The Captain's diversion succeeded. The guests were looking at the boy.</p> + +<p>"My son James an author!" exclaimed Mrs. Cooper. "It's the first I've +heard of it!"</p> + +<p>"I don't want to," said the boy, very uncomfortable now that he was the +centre of notice. "I want to be a soldier."</p> + +<p>"That's right," said his father, "and I hope you may be if ever the +country needs you. Friends, I give you these United States!"</p> + +<p>By the time that toast was drunk Captain Kent had drawn Miss Cosgrove +into a little alcove under the stairs and James had stolen out of the +great hall.</p> + +<p>James Cooper was a very fortunate boy. His father's house stood in one +of the loveliest reaches of country on the Atlantic coast. Cooperstown +lay on the southeastern shore of Otsego Lake, where the Susquehanna +rushes out through a fertile valley between high hills. Bays and points +of woodland break the Lake's edge, and in the distance rise the clear +blue slopes of mountains.</p> + +<p>Otsego Hall was built about the time when the young republic was +stretching out for space in which to grow. Mr. Cooper found this lovely +lake, and built on the frontier. Beyond his home spread seemingly +endless forests, filled with the wandering bands of the Indians of the +Six Nations, and with all manner of wild animals. The Lake was the home +of flocks of gulls, loons and wild duck, and more times than he could +count young Cooper had seen a long file of Indian canoes steal swiftly +across its upper bays. It was an ideal region for a boy of an +adventurous turn of mind, fond of the outdoor world.</p> + +<p>The heir of Otsego Hall was not such a boy of the wilderness as were +Daniel Boone, Andrew Jackson or Abraham Lincoln. He did not have to +fight his way in the rough new world as they did. Mr. Cooper was +well-to-do, and intended that his son should take a proper place in the +young nation. There was little he could learn at the local academy, and +so he was soon sent to school at Albany, where he lived in the home of +an English clergyman who was fond of denouncing the war of the +Revolution and the new country, and so made James Cooper more of an +ardent patriot than ever.</p> + +<p>When he was thirteen he was sent to Yale College, and felt himself +almost a grown man. He had been better prepared than most of his +classmates, and so decided he did not need to study to keep up with +them. Instead of working he devoted all his time to sport, and to +wandering through the beautiful country about New Haven. He was learning +a great deal about outdoor life, and storing his mind with pictures, but +at the same time was learning little of the Latin and Greek which his +teachers thought vastly more important. He got into scrape after scrape +with other boys of his way of thinking, and finally in his third year a +midnight frolic led to his being dismissed. Mr. Cooper took his son's +side and argued with the faculty, but the boy had to leave. His father +looked about for some means of taming his son's wild habits and decided +to send him to sea for a time.</p> + +<p>Nothing could have pleased James better. He wanted to see the world, and +he was fond of ships. He had no special ambition, but rather looked +forward to serving in the navy. In the fall of 1806 he sailed from New +York on the ship <i>Sterling</i> bound for England with a freight of flour. +The voyage was a long and stormy one, and the boy, who was simply a +sailor before the mast, got a good taste of life at sea. He enjoyed it +thoroughly. When they reached England he went to London in his sailor's +clothes, and knocked about that great city much like any other jack on +shore. He made friends quickly, enjoyed any new adventure, and stored up +a great stock of stories to take home.</p> + +<p>The boy enjoyed his voyage before the mast so much that when he returned +to New York he asked his father to get him a commission in the United +States navy. Mr. Cooper was able to do this, and James was soon after +sent as midshipman with a party of men to build a brig of sixteen guns +on Lake Ontario. It took them a winter to build the ship, and during +that time the party stayed at the tiny settlement of Oswego, a +collection of some twenty houses. All around lay the unbroken forest +stretching thirty or forty miles without a break. There was abundance of +game, many Indians, and a splendid chance to live the frontier life that +Cooper loved. He now knew the habits of the wild red men and whites, the +lore of the woods, the perils and joys of the sea, and as he helped to +build the gunboat he learned a thousand things that he was to turn to +splendid uses later.</p> + +<p>The boy had now grown to manhood, and yet no sign of his real work had +appeared. He was not especially fond of books or history, his views of +the charm of a soldier's life were much those he had spoken to Captain +Kent at Otsego Hall. It seemed as though he were settled in the navy.</p> + +<p>It is strange how chance determined the fate of young Cooper. About this +time his grandmother asked him to take her name, and for a while he +called himself Fenimore-Cooper. Then a little later he married, and his +wife did not like the idea of his leaving her on long sea voyages. He +seems to have been quite willing to give up the navy, and settle down at +Otsego Hall as lord of the manor after his father's fashion. He liked +the life of a country gentleman, and spent his time planting trees, +draining swamps, planning lawns, and cultivating flowers and fruits. By +the time he was thirty he had tried his hand at almost everything except +writing.</p> + +<p>It happened that as Cooper was one day reading aloud to his wife from an +English novel he threw the book down, exclaiming, "Why, I believe I +could write a better story myself!" His wife laughed, and asked him to +prove it. He said he would, and thereupon sat down and began to lay out +a plot. A few days later he was deep in work on the story, and he kept +at it until he had finished a two-volume novel, which he called +"Precaution."</p> + +<p>His wife and friends liked it and urged him to publish it; so in +November, 1820, appeared the first of that great series of native +American stories which were to give the young nation a distinct place in +English literature. Chance began them, but the first few books proved +so successful that Cooper settled at once into the career of novelist.</p> + +<p>The famous "Leather-Stocking Tales" followed, and the world made the +acquaintance of the America of the Indian and the pioneer in "The +Deerslayer," "The Last of the Mohicans," "The Pathfinder," "The +Pioneers," and "The Prairie." Here he tells the romantic story of the +conquest of the wilderness, and draws the portraits of the pioneer, the +hunter, and the Indian. The same character, Harvey Birch, called +Leather-Stocking, runs through them all, first as a youth in the novels +that deal with the red men, with the great characters of Chingachcook +and Uncas, then as a man in the dramas of the white men who blazed the +trail westward through the forests, and settled the great prairies.</p> + +<p>The story of Daniel Boone inspired him in these latter novels, and he +tells of such scenes as the great prairie fire and the panther fight +with the vividness of an eye-witness. "The Pioneers" is laid on the +shores of Lake Ontario where he built the war-ship, and "The Deerslayer" +about the little lake near Otsego Hall.</p> + +<p>He wrote great tales of the sea also, in one of which, "The Pilot," he +took as his hero John Paul Jones, tales founded on his own knowledge of +a sailor's life won at first hand; but it was the Indian tales that +brought him greatest fame. Whether the pictures of the men of the Six +Nations be accurate or not they made direct appeal to the imagination of +the world, and Indian character will always stand as Cooper drew it. +Shakespeare and Scott have made English history for us, and Cooper has +done the same thing for the history of the Indian.</p> + +<p>Cooper said later that he might have chosen happier periods for his +stories, more stirring events, and perhaps more beautiful scenes, but +none which would have lain so close to his heart. He never forgot what +had interested him so deeply in his boyhood, and when he wrote he went +back to his boyhood memories. Little had he realized in those days how +the words Captain Kent spoke in the garden would come true. He had +drifted into writing before he realized what a great untrodden field lay +before him.</p> + +<p>The story of James Fenimore Cooper is an inspiration to every American. +It is the history of a man who loved his country deeply, and who was as +fine-spirited a gentleman as he was a great author.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII</h2> + +<h3>John Ericsson</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of the Göta Canal: 1803-1889</h4> + + +<p>Among the Swedish country people there still lingers a primitive half +belief in witches and goblins, and nymphs and elves of the forests and +the sea. Many a simple mountaineer, returning home from some lonely +trip, tells tales of prophetic voices he heard whispering in the wind or +of gnomes who interrupted his slumbers in the woods. One such legend +runs as follows.</p> + +<p>A wealthy farmer named Ericsson, who owned many acres in the Swedish +province of Vermland, had in his service a crippled lad whose business +it was to tend the sheep. This work kept him away from people much of +the time, and led him through the pine woods, beside the little tarns, +or hidden inland lakes, and up and down the wild mountains where the +fairy people dwell. He grew quite accustomed to meeting wood or lake +nymphs in his wanderings, and became so friendly with them that they +often gave him good advice, such as when to expect a storm, or where he +might find the best grazing for his flock.</p> + +<p>One day he was caught in the rain and when he found shelter in a +deserted barn he was so wet and exhausted that he fell into a troubled +sleep. While he slept a pixie came to him and whispered in his ear that +in time to come a house should be built on that part of farmer +Ericsson's land, and that two boys should be born there who should make +the name of Ericsson known round the world.</p> + +<p>The shepherd was much excited by the news, and as soon as he reached the +Ericsson house he told the fairy's prophecy. The family were very much +concerned and wrote the prophecy down in the family Bible, and also +spread the story through the province. That was in the seventeenth +century.</p> + +<p>Near the end of the eighteenth century young Olof Ericsson married, and +built him a home on that part of the family land where the old barn had +stood. He had three children, a daughter named Caroline, and two sons, +named Nils and John. One day the mother heard the old legend and +identified the place with her husband's house, and so became convinced +that her boys were to become world famous. They came of very good stock, +and the family traced their ancestry back to the great Leif Ericsson, +son of Eric the Red, who had been the Norse discoverer of America.</p> + +<p>Olof and his wife Brita were devoted to their children. Olof was part +owner of a mine at the town of Langsbaushyttan near which they lived. +The children had a governess for a time, and father and mother taught +them what they could, but the most of their days were spent playing in +the thick pine woods along the shore of the little Lake Hytt which lay +in front of their house. Sometimes Olof took the two boys with him to +the mine, and from almost the first visit a perfect passion for +machinery took possession of the younger boy John. After that he was +always playing with pencils and paper, with bits of wood and metal, and +spent hours drawing figures in the sand on the beach of the lake.</p> + +<p>At about this period hard times befell Sweden. The small Northern +country, half the size of Texas, with fewer people than the single city +of London, never very rich, had trouble keeping her independence from +Russia. Her king was a weakling, and lost part of his land. Then a +gentleman of fortune, a man who had been a French lawyer's apprentice, +and had risen to be a marshal, one whose sword had helped to carve out +an empire for Napoleon, suddenly was elected King of Sweden. He brought +the little country French support and better times, but meantime Olof +Ericsson had lost his property and found that he must seek work at once +to keep his family from starving.</p> + +<p>Olof had lost his share in the mine and had been living in the depths of +the pine forest choosing lumber for builders. He had encouraged his son +John's talent for machinery, and now began to believe that the old +prophecy might really come true. He had seen John, only ten years old, +build a miniature sawmill and pumping engine at the mine, and had been +as much astonished as any of the men there when his son proudly showed +them the designs he had drawn for a new kind of pump to drain the mines +of water.</p> + +<p>Even when the little family had left the mining town and were living in +the deep woods the boy continued working out his own inventions. He made +tools for himself, using sharp pine needles for the points of a drawing +compass he fashioned out of sticks, begging his mother for a few hairs +from her fur coat to make paint brushes, and actually devising a ball +and socket joint for a small windmill he was building. Everything he +could lay his hands on he turned to some mechanical use, and all his +thoughts seemed bent in that one direction.</p> + +<p>The new King of Sweden was now planning to build a great ship canal at +Göta to unite the Baltic and the North Seas, a scheme which had for a +long time appealed to Swedish patriots as a protection against their +great grasping neighbor, the Russian Bear. Through the influence of a +friend, Count Platen, Olof Ericsson was given work in connection with +the canal, and moved his family with him to a town called Forsvik. Here +a great many soldiers were at work, for the canal was in charge of the +army, and many skilled engineers were gathered to superintend the +building.</p> + +<p>Almost at the same time when Olof reported for work Count Platen and the +other officers were surprised to see a small boy, not more than thirteen +years old, come every day to watch the digging, to study the machinery, +and to ask questions of every one in the place. He was a handsome boy, +well built, with light, close-cut, curling hair, fair as Swedish boys +almost always are, with clear blue eyes, and a very firm mouth and chin. +While other boys of his age were at school or playing he would stand on +the bank of the canal, studying by the hour some piece of machinery. +Then on another day he would come with a pad of paper, some crude +home-made drawing tools, and pencils, and perching himself on a pile of +rocks or of lumber would draw the machinery as a skilled draughtsman +might, and then work over his sketch, apparently adding to it or +altering it to suit ideas of his own.</p> + +<p>Count Platen watched the boy for several days, and then one morning went +up to him. "May I see what you're doing?" he asked.</p> + +<p>The boy, who had been absolutely absorbed in his work, looked up. "It's +the sketch of a new pump to drain the canal," said he. "I made one for +father's mine in Vermland, and I don't see why the same plan can't be +used here. It'll do the work more quickly."</p> + +<p>Count Platen looked at the drawing on the boy's lap, and listened +intently while the young inventor explained how the machine should work. +He was astounded at the knowledge the boy had of engineering.</p> + +<p>"You're Olof Ericsson's son, aren't you?" he asked finally.</p> + +<p>The boy nodded. "Yes, I'm John Ericsson; I've an older brother Nils, +who's fifteen."</p> + +<p>"Is Nils as much of an engineer as you are?"</p> + +<p>"He knows a good deal about it. Father taught us both, but I don't think +he's as fond of machines as I am."</p> + +<p>The Count laughed. It sounded strange to him to hear a small boy talk of +machinery so eagerly. He could not doubt the boy's earnestness, however. +He had watched him for several days and had just examined his plans. The +boy evidently meant what he said.</p> + +<p>"Well, John, you're certainly a remarkable lad. I shouldn't wonder if +you'd the making of a genius in you." He considered a few minutes, and +then went on. "We need some engineers here to show these stupid soldiers +what to do. How'd you like to try such a job?"</p> + +<p>The boy jumped from his seat in his excitement. "I'd like it very much, +sir. Do you mean to tell the men what to do, and to have real tools to +work with?"</p> + +<p>Count Platen smiled. "Yes, to have entire charge of a part of the work. +That's what I mean. I really think you could do it. How old are you, +John?"</p> + +<p>"I'll be fourteen very soon."</p> + +<p>"Hm," mused the Count, "It seems absurd to put a boy of fourteen in +charge of six hundred soldiers. And yet if he has the skill to do the +work, why not? And there's small doubt that he has. Well, John, I'll see +what can be done. Meet me here to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>The next day Count Platen found John anxiously awaiting him. He told the +boy at once that his plan had proved successful, and that both John and +Nils were to be enrolled as cadets in the mechanical corps of the +Swedish navy, and that John was to be put in charge of part of the canal +building. The boy was highly delighted; he knew that now he should have +a chance to try in actual working some of the inventions he had planned +on paper. As soon as he had thanked his kind friend the Count he ran +home to tell his mother the news of Nils' and his good fortune.</p> + +<p>It was a curious sight when the officer in command of the troops placed +six hundred soldiers in charge of young John Ericsson. They were too +well trained to laugh, but they were tremendously surprised when they +saw that their future orders were to come from this small, curly-haired +lad just barely turned fourteen. Olof Ericsson himself was scarcely less +surprised than the men; he knew his son's great mechanical ability, but +he could hardly believe that others had come to realize it so soon.</p> + +<p>A few days of actual work on the canal, however proved that Count Platen +had made no mistake. John knew what ought to be done, and he could show +the soldiers new and better ways of getting results, although he was +actually too small to reach the eyepiece of his leveling instrument +without the aid of a camp-stool which he carried about with him. He +brought out some of the mechanical drawings he had worked over, and had +machinery made after them, and whenever his inventions were tried they +met with success.</p> + +<p>For several years John commanded his six hundred men at the Göta Canal, +and then he decided to enter the army. He had grown tall, and was noted +for his great strength and skill in feats of arms. At seventeen he was +made an Ensign in the Rifle Corps, and soon after Lieutenant in the +Royal Chasseurs. He was fond of the life of the army, but he saw there +was no great future in it for him, and he could not give up his passion +for science and invention. He procured an appointment as surveyor for +the district of Jemtland, and found himself free again to work on his +own lines.</p> + +<p>Sweden is a rugged country, its northern part serried by great fiords, +its mountains steep and often desolate, its forests thick and many. The +young surveyor was in his element roughing it through the wild country, +with an eye to improving it for cultivation and for defense, making +elaborate maps of its hills and valleys, and charts of its fiords and +bays. He had a genius for such work, and the drawings he sent back to +Stockholm were invaluable for the development of Sweden. The surveyors +were paid according to the work they did, but John Ericsson worked so +rapidly that the officials were afraid it would cause a scandal if it +were known how much money he was receiving, and so they carried him on +their account-books as two different men and paid him for two men's +work.</p> + +<p>In his spare hours in Jemtland and Norrland John was busy with +inventions. As a boy he had been delighted to watch his father make a +vacuum in a tube by means of fire. Now he worked over uses to which he +could put that idea, and finally invented a flame engine based largely +on that principle. That success led him to study engines more deeply, +and had much to do with deciding his later career.</p> + +<p>Sweden had shown the world much that was new in the building of the Göta +Canal, and many of the improvements had been due to the boy cadet +Ericsson. He was now persuaded to write a book on "Canals," explaining +his inventions and describing the Swedish plans. In such a scientific +book the drawings of diagrams were as important as the writing. As soon +as John realized that, he could not resist the temptation to try his +hand at inventing a machine which should properly engrave the plates he +was drawing. It was pure delight to him to exercise his wits on such a +problem, and as a result in a short time he had made a machine for +engraving plates which was used successfully in preparing the +illustrations for his book on "Canals."</p> + +<p>The youth had now won wide recognition throughout Sweden for his +inventive skill. But his own country offered him small opportunities, +devoted though he was to the land and the people. There was more chance +for such a man in a country like England, and there he now went. +Stephenson was working then on his steam-engine, and Ericsson studied +the same subject, and built an engine which in many ways was superior to +the Englishman's. In whatever direction he turned his mind he was able +to find new ideas for improving on old methods.</p> + +<p>Ericsson soon built a locomotive for the directors of the railway +between Liverpool and Birmingham which was the lightest and fastest yet +constructed, starting off at the rate of fifty miles an hour. He could +not find the opportunities he wished, however, in England, and went to +Germany, and from there came to the United States.</p> + +<p>It was in America that Ericsson won his greatest triumphs. He had +invented a screw propeller for boats, and found a splendid market for +this type of machinery. He built the steamship <i>Princeton</i>, the first +screw steamer with her machinery under the water line. This was a great +improvement on the old top-heavy style of steamboats, but how great was +only to be known when war showed that ironclads with machinery safely +sunk beneath the water line and so out of reach of the enemy's guns +were to revolutionize naval warfare.</p> + +<p>By the time of the American Civil War men in all countries were +experimenting with these new ideas for ships which Ericsson had launched +upon the world. News came to Washington that the Confederate government +had an all-iron boat, low in the water, which could ram the high-riding +wooden ships of the Union navy, and would furnish little target for +their fire. The Union was in great alarm, for it looked as though this +small iron floating battery could do untold damage to the Union +shipping. There was only one man to appeal to if the North were to +offset this Southern ship, which had been christened the <i>Merrimac</i>. +John Ericsson was the man, and he agreed to build an ironclad which +should be superior to the <i>Merrimac</i>, and to build her in one hundred +days.</p> + +<p>On March 8, 1862, the <i>Merrimac</i> steamed into Hampton Roads, fully +expecting to destroy the Union fleet there. But instead, to the great +amazement of her officers and men a little iron boat, so small that she +looked like a tiny pill-box on a plank, steamed out to meet her. She was +so tiny it was almost impossible to hit her; she was almost entirely +under water, and her gun turret was built to revolve so that she could +fire in any direction. It was like a battle between David and Goliath, +and when the day was over David had won, and the <i>Merrimac</i> had to bow +to the iron "pill-box" which had been named the <i>Monitor</i>. Proud was +John Ericsson then, and rightly so, for he had invented an entirely new +kind of ship, and one which was to give its name of <i>Monitor</i> to all +ships of its kind.</p> + +<p>The building of the <i>Monitor</i> for its successful battle with the +<i>Merrimac</i> was the most dramatic incident in Ericsson's career as an +inventor, but his whole life showed a series of wonderful inventions +which for value and wide range can probably only be compared with those +of Edison. The prophecy which the fairy had made to the shepherd in +Sweden had come true, the name of Ericsson was known throughout the +world. And in addition to John, the older brother Nils had won great +renown in Sweden. He was made Director of Canals there, and created a +nobleman for his great services to science and to his native land.</p> + +<p>On the Battery in New York City, overlooking the wonderful harbor that +is filled with ships of every country, stands the statue of a tall, +handsome man, somewhat of the type of those Norsemen who were the great +adventurers of the Atlantic seas. The statue is of the man who built the +<i>Monitor</i>, and who brought to the new world the genius for invention +which he had first shown on the hills and in the woods of Sweden in the +days when, a boy of fourteen, he had taught men how to build the great +canal at Göta.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII</h2> + +<h3>Garibaldi</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of the Mediterranean: 1807-1882</h4> + + +<p>The town of Nice lay blazing with color under the hot August sun. The +houses, with their shining red-tiled roofs, their painted yellow walls, +their striped and checkered awnings, were scarcely less vivid than the +waters of the bay, which sparkled like a sea of opals under the rich +blue Mediterranean sky. Color was everywhere, brilliant even in the +sun-tanned cheeks, the black hair and eyes, the orange and gold and red +caps and sashes of the three boys who stood on the beach, looking out at +the home-coming fleet of feluccas and fishing-smacks.</p> + +<p>"If only I were a man!" exclaimed one of the boys. "No more Latin +lessons with the Padre. I could sail and fish all day like brother +Carlo. And sometimes I'd visit strange lands, like Africa, and have the +sort of adventures father tells of."</p> + +<p>"I'll be a sailor too, Cesare," agreed the tallest of the three, nodding +his head. "Only poor Giuseppe here will have to stay ashore and be a +priest." He turned a sympathetic face toward Giuseppe, who stood with +his arms folded, his black eyes looking hungrily out to sea.</p> + +<p>"Aye, he'll be teaching other boys just as the Padre teaches us," said +Cesare.</p> + +<p>This prophecy was more than the third boy could stand. He turned quickly +toward his friends. "I'll have adventures, too," he exclaimed. "I'll not +stay here in Nice all my life; I'll go to Genoa and to Rome, and perhaps +I'll fight the Turks. I want to do things, too." His deep eyes shone +with excitement and his face glowed. "Look you, Cesare and Raffaelle, +why shouldn't we turn sailors now?"</p> + +<p>Both boys laughed; they were used to the mad ideas of young Giuseppe +Garibaldi. He, however, was not laughing. "Why not? I've been out to sea +a hundred times with father. He lets me handle his boat sometimes, +though he does say that I'm to enter the Church. Your brother, Cesare, +has a boat that he never uses. Why shouldn't we sail in her to Genoa?"</p> + +<p>Giuseppe was a born leader. The other boys looked doubtfully at each +other, then back at him. The gleam in his eyes held them.</p> + +<p>"Let's sail to-morrow at dawn! You, Cesare, furnish the boat, I'll bring +bread and sausage from home, and Raffaelle shall get a jug of water. +Your brother's boat is sound, Cesare? We'll sail along the shore to +Genoa!"</p> + +<p>"Some one will catch sight of us and stop us," objected Raffaelle.</p> + +<p>"Nay, we'll wait till the other boats are out. They'll all be off before +dawn and we'll have the beach to ourselves."</p> + +<p>"I've a compass my uncle gave me on my name day," said Cesare. "I'll +bring that."</p> + +<p>"And I'll bring some fishing lines," put in Raffaelle, unwilling to be +outdone.</p> + +<p>So almost before they knew it the other two boys had agreed to +Giuseppe's plan, just as the boys of Nice usually unconsciously followed +his lead.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The Mediterranean was all silver and blue when the three boys met next +day in the early summer dawn at the pier near the Porto Olimpio where +Carlo Parodi's boat lay. Raffaelle had brought a jug of water and some +fishing lines, Giuseppe a basket of provisions, and Cesare his compass. +They could hardly wait until the last of the fishing boats had put out +to sea before they ran down the pier to embark in their own small craft. +The <i>Red Dragon</i> was the boat's name, given her because of the painted +picture of a terrible monster that sprawled across the sail. She was old +and weather-beaten, a simple sailboat with only a shallow cabin, such as +is used in the Mediterranean to coast along the shore.</p> + +<p>Under Giuseppe's leadership the food and water were stowed on board, the +sail raised, and the boat cast off from the pier. Cesare took the tiller +and with a light morning breeze the <i>Red Dragon</i> drew proudly away from +the beach and headed eastward toward Genoa.</p> + +<p>As the sun rose higher the breeze stiffened, the sail filled and the +brilliant dragon spread out his red body and tail. Each of the boys had +sailed this inland sea a hundred times before, but never had it seemed +so wonderful a place as on this summer morning. The water dashed along +the gunwale and sometimes sent a warm spray into their faces. Behind +them lay the curving harbor, beyond that the red and yellow and brown +roofs and walls of Nice, and still farther back the dim blue outlines of +the mountains.</p> + +<p>They were so excited that for some time they forgot they had had no +breakfast. Presently Raffaelle remembered it, and Giuseppe's basket was +opened and its stock of rye bread, bologna sausage and olives handed +around. The boys were surprised to find how hungry they were, but like a +prudent captain Giuseppe would only let them eat a small part of the +rations. "Suppose we should run into a spell of calm weather before we +sighted Genoa," said he.</p> + +<p>After breakfast Raffaelle took the helm and Cesare and Giuseppe lay up +in the bow and planned what they would do after they landed at Genoa.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Meanwhile the three families of Parodi, Deandreis and Garibaldi in Nice +were considerably excited. A boy in each family had disappeared. Knowing +what close friends the three boys were the fathers sought each other. +Each family had the same tale to tell.</p> + +<p>Then came word that Carlo Parodi's boat was missing, and this gave the +searchers a clue. They went to the beach, but only to find that all the +fishing-boats had put out to sea some time ago. Signor Garibaldi, +however, was a man of resource and influence, and within an hour he had +found a coast-guard captain who would take him in pursuit. The +coast-guard boat was big and she could triple the speed of the small +<i>Red Dragon</i>. By ten o'clock the runaway boat was sighted just opposite +Monaco. The boys saw the pursuers coming, but even by crowding on all +their sail they could not gain a lead. So when the coast-guard came +alongside of them they surrendered.</p> + +<p>Even though they had not reached Genoa, the lads had tasted the salt of +adventure. Giuseppe's father boarded the <i>Red Dragon</i>, and, treating the +whole matter as a summer's lark, helped the young sailors to bring their +boat about, and tacking across toward Monaco and then out to the deeper +sea, gave them a lesson in sailing that made them quickly forget that +they were going back to Nice.</p> + +<p>On that sail home the father learned a good deal about Giuseppe. He +heard the boys talk freely to each other, and as he listened he realized +that this son of his was not the quiet type of boy who would make a good +priest, but that he craved the roving life of the sea, descended as he +was from generations of sailors. He himself knew the perils of the sea +only too well, how hard a man must work in its service, and how little +he might gain, and how much securer was the life on shore. But he also +knew that when once the sea called to a boy of Nice it was useless to +try to make him forget the call. Giuseppe would not make a good priest, +and he might make a good sailor. So the watchful father decided, as he +brought the little boat back to shore, to let his son follow his natural +bent.</p> + +<p>After their adventure Giuseppe and his two friends went quietly on with +their school life. Giuseppe's father had promised to teach him something +about navigation in the evenings, and had told him that, if he would +only be patient and wait a short time, he should make a cruise in +earnest. One day, as the boy and his father were coming home from church +a tall, black-haired man stepped up to them, and, holding out his hand, +said, "Signor, will you give us something for the refugees of Italy?" +Giuseppe's father gave the man a few coins, which he received with the +greatest thanks. As they walked on the boy kept turning back to look at +the tall gaunt-faced man they had met. Finally he said, "Who was he, +father, and what did he mean by the refugees of Italy?"</p> + +<p>The father looked down into the boy's eager eyes. "Our poor country," +said he, "has been thrown to the ground, and different people have been +beating her and trying to keep her down, but chiefly the big, +white-coated Austrians, Giuseppe boy. Every once in a while some of our +men band together and try to do something to help Italy get to her feet +again. That man who asked for money was such a man."</p> + +<p>"But why did he look so sad and white, father, and why did he say the +refugees?"</p> + +<p>"Our men are very few, Giuseppe, and have poor arms, and the enemy's +army is very large and their men are veteran soldiers, so that we always +lose. Then those who fought, like that poor fellow, have to fly and seek +refuge out of Italy until the storm blows past."</p> + +<p>Giuseppe clasped his hands behind his back, and his face grew very +thoughtful. "So that man has been to war," he said, "and for us, and the +money you gave him is going to help them the next time?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly," said the father, with a smile at the boy's serious manner. +Giuseppe was not usually very thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"How long do you think the refugees will have to go on fighting, father, +before the enemy are finally driven out of our land?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, they'll have to fight for years and years, and perhaps they'll +never win, for the enemy is much stronger than we Italians."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Giuseppe, "I'm glad, for that will give Cesare and +Raffaelle and me a chance to help them fight. I'm going to be a refugee +myself some day. Will you teach me, father, how to use a sword?"</p> + +<p>"All in good time," said the man, smiling. "You've got your hands full +learning the points of the compass just now."</p> + +<p>For some reason Giuseppe could not get the tall, black-haired man out of +his mind, and the next day, at recess, he told his two friends of his +meeting with him and what he had learned about him.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't we find him or another like him, this afternoon?" suggested +Cesare, very much interested.</p> + +<p>"We'll hunt," agreed Giuseppe. "A refugee could tell us much better +stories than those old sailors can."</p> + +<p>After school the three boys looked through the main streets of Nice, but +saw no one asking for alms for the cause of Italy. They went down to the +harbor, but there were no such men there. Finally in a little square +they came upon the very man Giuseppe had seen the day before. He was +sitting on the grass under a tree, and seemed to be asleep, for his head +was sunk on his folded arms. They crossed over to him quietly. Although +the day was warm he had a greatcoat fastened about his shoulders and a +soft, broad-brimmed hat pulled down upon his head. He looked tired out.</p> + +<p>The three boys stood in front of the man, and finally his eyes opened. +He smiled as he saw them staring at him. "What do you want with me, +signors?" said he.</p> + +<p>Giuseppe dropped on to the grass beside him. "I know now what you meant +when you said the refugees of Italy yesterday," he explained. "We three +boys mean to be refugees some day. We've made a vow that we'll fight the +Austrians until there isn't one of the three of us left. We'd like very +much to hear some of the things you've done."</p> + +<p>The man threw back his cloak and sat up a trifle straighten "Three +future refugees!" he exclaimed. "The world moves! You want to be pushing +me away already, do you? Sit down, I'll tell you what I can."</p> + +<p>The boys sat in front of him, and listened with rapt attention while he +told them that his home was in a little town half-way between Nice and +Genoa, that he was a member of a secret society called the Carbonari, +and that the first rule of that society was that a man must do exactly +as he was told without asking why. Not long before he had received a +secret message telling him to go to the city of Milan, taking his sword +and pistols with him. He had left his wife and children and gone to +Milan, and there he had waited a long time while the leaders of the +society planned to surprise the Austrian garrison and drive the troops +out of the city.</p> + +<p>The night of the attempt finally arrived but some one had betrayed them. +No sooner had they met at the place agreed on than word came that they +must scatter instantly if they wanted to escape the Austrian bayonets. +Each had gone his own way, trying to get as far from Milan as he could. +He had managed to get to Nice, where he was near the French border, and +could cross it at any time. Meanwhile he and the other refugees had to +ask alms or starve.</p> + +<p>The boys had heard of the society of the Carbonari which had spread all +over Italy, and they listened to this story by one of its members with +the greatest interest. They asked him a great many questions, but he +would only answer a few of them. He only told them such facts as were +public property; inquiries about the society itself were met with a +smile and a shake of the head. Before they left him they made him take +the few coins they had in their pockets, to help him and other refugees +of their country. They also made him write their names on a piece of +paper so that when the next uprising should come they might be sent for. +And they solemnly organized a secret society among themselves to last +until the time when they would be old enough to join the Carbonari.</p> + +<p>From that day Giuseppe kept his eyes open for any other refugees who +might be roaming through the streets of Nice. Occasionally he found some +war-worn soldier or sailor whom the authorities allowed to sit in the +sun in one of the city squares or down on the quays, but younger and +more active refugees were scarce, and preferred to cross the frontier to +Marseilles.</p> + +<p>Giuseppe and Raffaelle and Cesare, however, were not to be discouraged, +and as soon as they could they laid their hands on long cloaks and +broad-brimmed hats, and dressed as nearly as possible like their +black-haired friend. They invented countersigns and mottoes, planned +conspiracies, and patterned themselves as nearly after the Carbonari as +they could. But there was no new uprising at that time, and so after a +while the boys lost interest in the game of conspiracy.</p> + +<p>His old love of the sea came back more strongly than ever to Giuseppe, +and he begged his father to take him with him on his next cruise. His +mother thought he was too young to leave the Church school, but the boy, +already large and strong for his years, was growing very restless, and +there was no telling what mischief he might get into if he were kept at +home.</p> + +<p>In the long evenings he was always asking his father to describe to him +the strange cities he had visited on his travels. He begged him +especially to tell him about Rome and her seven wonderful hills, the +city which from his earliest childhood had fascinated him more than any +other place in the world.</p> + +<p>"Do you think I'll ever get to Rome, father?" Giuseppe would ask.</p> + +<p>"Yes. We'll go there together some day before long, little son," his +father would answer.</p> + +<p>So indeed they did. When Giuseppe was about fifteen years old he was +allowed to make his first long voyage on a brigantine bound from Nice to +Odessa, and a year later he sailed on his father's felucca to Rome. The +city of the Cæsars seemed even more wonderful than he had dreamed. It +was the heart of the world to him, and he never forgot the deep +impression that first sight of it made upon him.</p> + +<p>After his first voyage the young Garibaldi sailed with many captains and +saw a great deal of the world, rounding Cape Horn, voyaging to the far +north, and even crossing the Atlantic and visiting South America. He was +always deeply interested in strange lands; he loved the thrill of any +adventure, and at the sight of an act of injustice or cruelty nothing +could keep him from going at once to the rescue.</p> + +<p>When he was in South America he heard that the Italians were rising +against their foreign masters and were planning to fight for freedom. He +sailed for home instantly, and no sooner did he land than he was leading +a company of friends to join the Italian army. He was fearless, +generous, and as open-hearted as a child; wherever he went men flocked +to his command; within a few months the young man was virtually general +of an army, and fighting and winning battle after battle in the Alps. At +the end of a year his fame had crossed Europe.</p> + +<p>The freedom of Italy, however, was not won in a single campaign. +Although Garibaldi's troops were victorious, some of the other Italian +armies were not, and before long that first war of independence came to +an end. For a time the Austrians' hold over the cities of Italy seemed +stronger than ever, and Garibaldi and many of his friends were forced to +leave their homes and seek refuge in other countries. Again Garibaldi +crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and this time he went to New York, and took +up the trade of candle-maker, living in a small frame house on Staten +Island. He liked Americans; they understood him and his burning desire +for Italian freedom better than any other foreigners he met.</p> + +<p>He stayed on Staten Island until the chance came for him to go to sea +again as captain of a merchantman, and after that it was only a short +time before he was again in the Alps, his sword drawn, his devoted +volunteers behind him.</p> + +<p>It was long before the dream of Italian patriots came true and Rome +became the capital of a united country, but during those years Garibaldi +led crusade after crusade. He wore the simple costume of an Italian +peasant, with a red shirt which was copied by all his men. This +red-shirted army swept the enemy out of Sicily and Naples, drove them +back through the Alps, won so continually that the superstitious +Neapolitans believed that their leader must be in league with the Evil +One. But the people of Italy worshiped this general beyond all their +other heroes.</p> + +<p>Even their praises could not spoil the simplicity of Garibaldi's nature. +When his work was done he went home to live quietly with his family. The +friends of his boyhood found him very little changed, the same lover of +Italy and the sea, the same adventurous, generous spirit he had been as +a youth in Nice.</p> + +<p>In those youthful days his boy friends had followed him without +question, now the whole of Italy looked to him as their leader; he had +succeeded in doing what hundreds of other men had dreamed of doing, +driving the Austrians permanently out of the peninsula, and restoring to +his countrymen the ancient liberty of Italy. Yet whether as a boy upon +the Mediterranean or as the liberator of a nation he was always the same +frank, straightforward, high-minded Giuseppe Garibaldi.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX</h2> + +<h3>Abraham Lincoln</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of the American Wilderness: 1809-1865</h4> + + +<p>Squire Josiah Crawford was seated on the porch of his house in +Gentryville, Indiana, one spring afternoon when a small boy called to +see him. The Squire was a testy old man, not very fond of boys, and he +glanced up over his book, impatient and annoyed at the interruption.</p> + +<p>"What do you want here?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>The boy had pulled off his raccoon-skin cap, and stood holding it in his +hand while he eyed the old man.</p> + +<p>"They say down at the store, sir," said the boy, "that you have a 'Life +of George Washington,' I'd like mighty well to read it."</p> + +<p>The Squire peered closer at his visitor, surprised out of his annoyance +at the words. He looked over the boy, carefully examining his long, lank +figure, the tangled mass of black hair, his deep-set eyes, and large +mouth. He was evidently from some poor country family. His clothes were +home-made, and the trousers were shrunk until they barely reached below +his knees.</p> + +<p>"What's your name, boy?" asked the Squire.</p> + +<p>"Abe Lincoln, son of Tom Lincoln, down on Pidgeon Creek."</p> + +<p>The Squire said to himself: "It must be that Tom Lincoln, who, folks +say, is a ne'er-do-well and moves from place to place every year because +he can't make his farm support him." Then he said, aloud, to the boy: +"What do you want with my 'Life of Washington'?"</p> + +<p>"I've been learning about him at school, and I'd like to know more."</p> + +<p>The old man studied the boy in silence for some moments; something about +the lad seemed to attract him. Finally he said: "Can I trust you to take +good care of the book if I lend it to you?"</p> + +<p>"As good care," said the boy, "as if it was made of gold, if you'd only +please let me have it for a week."</p> + +<p>His eyes were so eager that the old man could not withstand them. "Wait +here a minute," he said, and went into the house. When he returned he +brought the coveted volume with him, and handed it to the boy. "There it +is," said he: "I'm going to let you have it, but be sure it doesn't come +to harm down on Pidgeon Creek."</p> + +<p>The boy, with the precious volume tucked tightly under his arm, went +down the single street of Gentryville with the joy of anticipation in +his face. He could hardly wait to open the book and plunge into it. He +stopped for a moment at the village store to buy some calico his +stepmother had ordered, and then struck into the road through the woods +that led to his home.</p> + +<p>The house which he found at the end of his trail was a very primitive +one. The first home Tom Lincoln had built on the Creek when he moved +there from Kentucky had been merely a "pole-shack," four poles driven +into the ground with forked ends at the top, other poles laid crosswise +in the forks, and a roof of poles built on this square. There had been +no chimney, only an open place for a window, and another for a door, and +strips of bark and patches of clay to keep the rain out. The new house +was a little better, it had an attic, and the first floor was divided +into several rooms. It was very simple, however; in reality only a big +log-cabin.</p> + +<p>The boy came out of the woods, crossed the clearing about the house, and +went in at the door. His stepmother was sitting at the window sewing. He +held up the volume for her to see. "I've got it!" he cried. "It's the +'Life of Washington,' and now I'm goin' to learn all about him." He had +barely time to put the book in the woman's hands before his father's +voice was heard calling him out-of-doors. There was work to be done on +the farm, and the rest of that afternoon Abe was kept busily employed, +and as soon as supper was finished his father set him to work mending +harness.</p> + +<p>At dawn the next day the boy was up and out in the fields, the "Life of +Washington" in one pocket, the other pocket filled with corn dodgers. +Unfortunately he could not read and run a straight furrow. When it was +noontime he sat under a tree, munching the cakes, and plunged into the +first chapter of the book. For half an hour he read and ate, then he had +to go on with his work until sundown. When he got home he had his supper +standing up so that he could read the book by the candle that stood on +the shelf. After supper he lay in front of the fire, still reading, and +forgetting everything about him.</p> + +<p>Gradually the fire burned out, the family went to bed, and young Abe was +obliged to go up to his room in the attic. He put the book on a ledge on +the wall close to the head of his bed so that nothing might happen to +it. During the night a violent storm arose, and the rain came through a +chink in the log walls. When the boy woke he found that the book was a +mass of wet paper, the type blurred, and the cover beyond repair. He was +heartbroken at the discovery. He could imagine how angry the old Squire +would be when he saw the state of the book. Nevertheless he determined +to go to Gentryville at the earliest opportunity and see what he could +do to make amends.</p> + +<p>The next Sunday morning found a small boy standing on the Squire's porch +with the remains of the book in his hand. When the Squire learned what +had happened he spoke his mind freely. He told Abe that he was as +worthless as his father, that he did not know how to take care of +valuable property, and that he would never loan him another book as long +as he lived. The boy faced the music, and when the angry tirade was +over, said that he would like to shuck corn for the Squire, and in that +way pay him the value of the ruined volume. Mr. Crawford accepted the +offer and named a price far greater than any possible value of the book, +and Abe set to work, spending all his spare time in the next two weeks +shucking the corn and working as chore-boy. So he finally succeeded in +paying back the full value of the ruined "Life of Washington."</p> + +<p>This was only one of many adventures that befell Abraham Lincoln while +he was trying to get an education. His mother had taught him to read and +write, and ever since he had learned he had longed for books to read.</p> + +<p>One day he said to his cousin, Dennis Hanks, "Denny, the things I want +to know are in books. My best friend is the man who will get me one."</p> + +<p>Dennis was very fond of his younger cousin, and as soon as he could save +up the money he went to town and bought a copy of "The Arabian Nights." +He gave this to Abe, and the latter at once started to read it aloud by +the wood-fire in the evenings. His mother, his sister Sally, and Dennis +were his audience. His father thought the reading only waste of time and +said, "Abe, your mother can't work with you pesterin' her like that," +but Mrs. Lincoln said the stories helped her, and so the reading went +on. When he came to the story of how Sindbad the Sailor went too close +to the magic rock and lost all the nails out of the bottom of his boat, +Abe laughed until he cried.</p> + +<p>Dennis, however, could not see the humor. "Why, Abe," said he, "that +yarn's just a lie."</p> + +<p>"P'raps so," answered the small boy, "but if it is, it's a mighty good +lie."</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact Abe had very few books. His earliest possessions +consisted of less than half-a-dozen volumes—a pioneer's library. First +of all was the Bible, a whole library in itself, containing every sort +of literature. Second was "Pilgrim's Progress," with its quaint +characters and vivid scenes told in simple English.</p> + +<p>"Æsop's Fables" was a third, and introduced the log-cabin boy to a +wonderful range of characters—the gods of mythology, the different +classes of mankind, and every animal under the sun; and fourth was a +History of the United States, in which there was the charm of truth, and +from which Abe learned valuable lessons of patriotism.</p> + +<p>He read these books over and over till he knew them by heart. He would +sit in the twilight and read a dictionary as long as he could see. He +could not afford to waste paper upon original compositions, and so he +would sit by the fire at night and cover the wooden shovel with essays +and arithmetical problems, which he would shave off and then begin +again.</p> + +<p>The few books he was able to get made the keen-witted country boy +anxious to find people who could answer his questions for him. In those +days many men, clergymen, judges, and lawyers, rode on circuit, stopping +over night at any farmhouse they might happen upon. When such a man +would ride up to the Lincoln clearing he was usually met by a small boy +who would fire questions at him before he could dismount from his horse.</p> + +<p>The visitor would be amused, but Tom Lincoln thought that a poor sort of +hospitality. He would come running out of the house and say, "Stop that, +Abe. What's happened to your manners?" Then he would turn to the +traveler, "You must excuse him. 'Light, stranger, and come in to +supper." Then Abe would go away whistling to show that he did not care. +When he found Dennis he would say, "Pa says it's not polite to ask +questions, but I guess I wasn't meant to be polite. There's such a lot +of things to know, and how am I going to know them if I don't ask +questions?" He simply stored them away until a later time, and when +supper was over he usually found his chance to make use of the visitor.</p> + +<p>In that day Indiana was still part of the wilderness. Primeval woods +stood close to Pidgeon Creek, and not far away were roving bands of Sacs +and Sioux, and also wild animals—bears, wildcats, and lynxes. The +settlers fought the Indians, and made use of the wild creatures for +clothing and food, and to sell at the country stores. The children spent +practically all their time out-of-doors, and young Abe Lincoln learned +the habits of the wild creatures, and explored the far recesses of the +woods.</p> + +<p>From his life in the woods the boy became very fond of animals. One day +some of the boys at school put a lighted coal on a turtle's back in +sport. Abe rescued the turtle, and when he got a chance wrote a +composition in school about cruel jokes on animals. It was a good paper, +and the teacher had the boy read it before the class. All the boys liked +Abe, and they took to heart what he had to say in the matter.</p> + +<p>It was a rough sort of life that the children of the early settlers led, +and the chances were all in favor of the Lincoln boy growing up to be +like his father, a kind-hearted, ignorant, ne'er-do-well type of man. +His mother, however, who came of a good Virginia family, had done her +best to give him some ambition. Once she had said to him, "Abe, learn +all you can, and grow up to be of some account. You've got just as +good Virginia blood in you as George Washington had." Abe did not forget +that.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus14.png" alt="lincoln" /> +<a id="illus14" name="illus14"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> <span class="smcap">Birthplace of Abraham Lincoln</span></p> + +<p>Soon after the family moved to Pidgeon Creek his mother died, and a +little later a stepmother took her place. This woman soon learned that +the boy was not the ordinary type, and kept encouraging him to make +something of himself. She was always ready to listen when he read, to +help him with his lessons, to cheer him. When he got too old to wear his +bearskin suit she told him that if he would earn enough money to get +some muslin, she would make him some white shirts, so that he would not +be ashamed to go to people's houses. Abe earned the money, and Mrs. +Lincoln purchased the cloth and made the shirts. After that Abe cut +quite a figure in Gentryville, because he liked people, and knew so many +good stories that he was always popular with a crowd.</p> + +<p>Small things showed the ability that was in the raw country lad. When he +was only fourteen a copy of Henry Clay's speeches fell into his hands, +and he learned most of them by heart, and what he learned from them +interested him in history. Then a little later his stepmother was ill +for some time, and Abe went to church every Sunday, and on his return +repeated the sermon almost word for word to her. Again he loved to +argue, and would take up some question he had asked of a stranger and go +on with it when the latter returned to the Creek, perhaps months after +the first visit. Mrs. Lincoln noted these things, and made up her mind +that her stepson would be a great man some day. Most frequently she +thought he would be a great lawyer, because, as she said, "When Abe got +started arguing, the other fellow'd pretty soon say he had enough."</p> + +<p>Probably at this time Abe was more noted for his love of learning new +things and for his great natural strength than for anything else. He was +in no sense an infant prodigy. It took him a long time to learn, but +when he had once acquired anything it stayed by him permanently. The +books he had read he knew from cover to cover, and the words he had +learned to spell at the school "spelling bees" he never forgot. Now and +again he tried his hand at writing short compositions, usually on +subjects he had read of in books, and these little essays were always to +the point and showed that the boy knew what he was discussing. One or +two of these papers got into the hands of a local newspaper and appeared +in print, much to Abe's surprise and to his stepmother's delight.</p> + +<p>Yet after all these qualities were not the ones which won him greatest +admiration in the rough country life. The boys and young men admired his +great size and strength, for when he was only nineteen he had reached +his full growth, and stood six feet four inches tall. Countless stories +were current about his feats of strength.</p> + +<p>At one time, it was said, young Abe Lincoln was seen to pick up and +carry away a chicken coop weighing six hundred pounds. At another time +Abe happened to come upon some men who were building a contrivance for +lifting some heavy posts from the ground. He stepped up to them and +said, "Say, let me have a try," and in a few minutes he had shouldered +the posts and carried them where they were wanted. As a rail-splitter he +had no equal. A man for whom he worked told his father that Abe could +sink his axe deeper into the wood than any man he ever saw.</p> + +<p>This great strength was a very valuable gift in such a community as that +of Gentryville, and made people respect this boy even more than would +his learning and his kindness of heart.</p> + +<p>A little later he lived in a village named New Salem, and there he found +a crowd of boys who were called the "Clary's Grove Boys," who were noted +for the rough handling they gave to strangers. Many a new boy had been +hardly dealt with at their hands. Sometimes they would lead him into a +fight and then beat him black and blue, and sometimes they would nail +the stranger into a hogshead and roll him down a steep hill.</p> + +<p>When Abe Lincoln first came to the town they were afraid to tackle him, +but when their friends taunted the crowd of young roughs with being +afraid of Lincoln's strength, they decided to lay a trap for him. The +leader of the gang was a very good wrestler, and he seized an +opportunity when all the men of the town were gathered at the country +store to challenge Abe to a wrestling match. Abe was not at all anxious +to accept the challenge, but was finally driven to it by the taunts the +gang threw at him. A ring was made in the road outside the store, and +Abe and the bully set to.</p> + +<p>The leader of the gang, however, found that he could not handle this +tall young stranger as easily as he had handled other youths. He gave a +signal for help. Thereupon the rest of the roughs swarmed about the two +wrestlers and by kicking at Abe's legs and trying to trip him they +nearly succeeded in bringing him to the ground. When he saw how set they +were on downing him Abe's blood rose, and suddenly putting forth his +whole strength he seized his opponent in his arms and very nearly choked +the life out of him.</p> + +<p>For a moment it looked as though the rest of the crowd would set upon +Lincoln and that he would have to fight the lot of them single-handed. +He sprang back against a wall and called to them to come on. But he +looked so able to take care of any number that they faltered, and in a +moment their first fury gave place to an honest admiration for Lincoln's +nerve. That ended his initiation, and as long as he stayed in New Salem +the "Clary's Grove Boys" were his devoted followers.</p> + +<p>The leader of the gang, whom Abe had nearly throttled, became his sworn +friend, and this bond lasted through life. When other men threatened Abe +or spoke against him in any way, this youth was always first to stand up +for him, and acted as his champion many times. Curiously enough, in +after years, when Abe had become a lawyer, he defended his old +opponent's son when the young man was on trial for his life, and +succeeded in saving him.</p> + +<p>Such an adventure as this with the "Clary's Grove Boys" was typical of +the way in which Abe, as he grew up, came to acquire a very definite +position in the community. In one way and another he gained the +reputation which the boys gave him of being not only the strongest, but +also "the cleverest fellow that had ever broke into the settlement." +There were many strong men in that country, but there were few really +clever ones, and the simple farmers were only too willing to admire +brains when they met them.</p> + +<p>The time had passed when the boy could stay in the small surroundings of +Pidgeon Creek. First he tried life on one of the river steamboats, then +served as a clerk in a store at the town of New Salem, and there he +began at odd moments to study law.</p> + +<p>A little later he knew enough law to become an attorney, and went to +Springfield, and after that it was only a short time before he had won +his clients. His cousin Denny came to hear him try one of his first +cases. He watched the tall, lank young fellow, still as ungainly as in +his early boyhood, and heard him tell the jury some of those same +stories he had read aloud before the fire.</p> + +<p>When Abe had finished his cousin said to him, "Why did you tell those +people so many stories?"</p> + +<p>"Why, Denny," said Abe, "a story teaches a lesson. God tells truths in +parables; they are easier for common folks to understand, and +recollect."</p> + +<p>Such was the simple boyhood of Abraham Lincoln, but its very simplicity, +and the hardships he had to overcome to get an education, made him a +strong man. He knew people, and when he came later to be President and +to guide the country through the greatest trial in its history, it was +those same qualities of perseverance and courage and trust in the people +that made the simple-minded man the great helmsman of the Republic.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX</h2> + +<h3>Charles Dickens</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of the London Streets: 1812-1870</h4> + + +<p>The little fellow who worked all day long in the tumble-down old house +by the river Thames pasting oil-paper covers on boxes of blacking fell +ill one afternoon. One of the workmen, a big man named Bob Fagin, made +him lie down on a pile of straw in the corner and placed +blacking-bottles filled with hot water beside him to keep him warm. +There he lay until it was time for the men to stop work, and then his +friend Fagin, looking down upon the small boy of twelve, asked if he +felt able to go home. The boy got up looking so big-eyed, white-cheeked +and thin that the man put his arm about his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, Bob, I think I'm all right now," said the boy. "Don't you +wait for me, go on home."</p> + +<p>"You ain't fit to go alone, Charley. I'm comin' along with you."</p> + +<p>"'Deed I am, Bob. I'm feelin' as spry as a cricket." The little fellow +threw back his shoulders and headed for the stairs.</p> + +<p>Fagin, however, insisted on keeping him company, and so the two, the +shabbily-dressed undersized boy, and the big strapping man came out into +the murky London twilight and took their way over the Blackfriars +Bridge.</p> + +<p>"Been spendin' your money at the pastry shops, Charley, again? That's +what was the matter with you, I take it."</p> + +<p>The boy shook his head. "No, Bob. I'm tryin' to save. When I get my +week's money I put it away in a bureau drawer, wrapped in six little +paper packages with a day of the week on each one. Then I know just how +much I've got to live on, and Sundays don't count. Sometimes I do get +hungry though, so hungry! Then I look in at the windows and play at +bein' rich."</p> + +<p>They crossed the Bridge, the boy's big eyes seeming to take note of +everything, the man, duller-witted, listening to his chatter. Several +times the boy tried to say good-night, but Fagin would not be shaken +off. "I'm goin' to see you to your door, Charley lad," he said each +time.</p> + +<p>At last they came into a little street near the Southwark Bridge. The +boy stopped by the steps of a house. "Here 'tis, Bob. Good-night. It was +good of you to take the trouble for me."</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Charley."</p> + +<p>The boy ran up the steps, and, as he noticed that Fagin still stopped, +he pulled the door-bell. Then the man went on down the street. When the +door opened the boy asked if Mr. Fagin lived there, and being told that +he did not, said he must have made a mistake in the house. Turning about +he saw that his friend had disappeared around a corner. With a little +smile of triumph he made off in the other direction.</p> + +<p>The door of the Marshalsea Prison stood open like a great black mouth. +The boy, tired with his long tramp, was glad to reach it and to run in. +Climbing several long flights of stairs he entered a room on the top +story where he found his family, his father, a tall pompous-looking man +dressed all in black, his mother, an amiable but extremely fragile +woman, and a small brother and sister seated at a table eating supper. +The room was very sparsely furnished; the only bright spot in it was a +small fire in a rusty grate, flanked by two bricks to prevent burning +too much fuel.</p> + +<p>There was a vacant place at the table for Charles, and he sat down upon +a stool and ate as ravenously as though he had not tasted food for +months. Meanwhile the tall man at the head of the table talked solemnly +to his wife at the other end, using strange long words which none of the +children could understand.</p> + +<p>Supper over Mr. and Mrs. Dickens (for that was their name) and the two +younger children sat before the tiny fire, and Mr. Dickens talked of how +he might raise enough money to pay his debts, leave the prison, and +start fresh in some new business. Charles had heard these same plans +from his father's lips a thousand times before, and so he took from the +cupboard an old book which he had bought at a little second-hand shop a +few days before, a small tattered copy of "Don Quixote," and read it by +the light of a tallow candle in the corner.</p> + +<p>The lines soon blurred before the boy's tired eyes, his head nodded, and +he was fast asleep. He was awakened by his father's deep voice. "Time +to be leaving, Charles, my son. You have not forgotten that my pecuniary +situation prevents my choosing the hour at which I shall close the door +of my house. Fortunately it is a predicament which I trust will soon be +obviated to our mutual satisfaction."</p> + +<p>The small fellow stood up, shook hands solemnly with his father, kissed +his mother, and took his way out of the great prison. Open doors on +various landings gave him pictures of many queer households; sometimes +he would stop as though to consider some unusually puzzling face or +figure.</p> + +<p>Into the night again he went, and wound through a dismal labyrinth of +the dark and narrow streets of old London. Sometimes a rough voice or an +evil face would frighten him, and he would take to his heels and run as +fast as he could. When he passed the house where he had asked for Mr. +Fagin he chuckled to himself; he would not have had his friend know for +worlds that his family's home was the Marshalsea Prison.</p> + +<p>Even that room in the prison, however, was more cheerful than the small +back-attic chamber where the boy fell asleep for the second time that +night. He slept on a bed made up on the floor, but his slumber was no +less deep on that account.</p> + +<p>The noise of workmen in a timber yard under his window woke Charles when +it seemed much too dark to be morning. It was morning, however, and he +was quickly dressed, and making his breakfast from the penny cottage +loaf of bread, section of cream cheese and small bottle of milk, which +were all he could afford to buy from the man who rented him the room. +Then he took the roll of paper marked with the name of the day from the +drawer of his bureau and counted out the pennies into his pocket. They +were not many; he had to live on seven shillings a week, and he tucked +them away very carefully in a pocket lest he lose them and have to do +without his lunch.</p> + +<p>He was not yet due at the blacking-factory, but he hurried away from his +room and joined the crowd of early morning people already on their way +to work. He went down the embankment along the Thames until he came to a +place where a bench was set in a corner of a wall. This was his favorite +lounging-place; London Bridge was just beyond, the river lay in front of +him, and he was far enough away from people to be safe from +interruption.</p> + +<p>As he sat there watching the Bridge and the Thames a little girl came to +join him. She was no bigger than he, perhaps a year or two older, but +her face was already shrewd enough for that of a grown-up woman. She was +the maid-of-all-work at a house in the neighborhood, and she had fallen +into the habit of stopping to talk for a few moments with the boy on her +way to work in the morning. She liked to listen to his stories.</p> + +<p>This was the boy's hour for inventing his tales; he could spin wonderful +tales about London Bridge, the Tower, and the wharves along the river. +Sometimes he made up stories about the people who passed in front of +them, and they were such astonishing stories that the girl remembered +them all day as she worked in the house. He seemed to believe them +himself; his eyes would grow far away and dreamy and his words would run +on and on until a neighboring clock brought him suddenly back to his own +position.</p> + +<p>"You do know a heap o' things, don't you?" said the little girl, lost in +admiration. "I'd rather have a shillin' though than all the fairy tales +in the world."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't," said Charles stoutly. "I'd rather read books than do +anythin' else."</p> + +<p>"You've got to eat though," objected his companion, "and books won't +make you food. 'Tain't common sense." She relented in an instant. "It's +fun though, Charley Dickens. Good-bye 'til to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Charles went on down to the old blacking-factory by Hungerford Stairs, a +ramshackle building almost hanging over the river, damp and overrun with +rats. His place was in a recess of the counting-room on the first floor, +and as he covered the bottles with the oil-paper tops and tied them on +with string he could look from time to time through a window at the slow +coal barges swinging down the river.</p> + +<p>There were very few boys about the place; at lunch time he would wander +off by himself, and selecting his meal from a careful survey of several +pastry-cook's windows invest his money for the day in fancy cakes or a +tart. He missed the company of friends of his own age; even Fanny, his +oldest sister, he saw only on Sundays when she came back to the +Marshalsea from the place where she worked, to spend the day with her +family. It was only grown-up people that he saw most of the time, and +they were too busy with their own affairs to take much interest in the +small, shabby boy who looked just like any one of a thousand other +children of the streets. Of all the men at the factory it was only the +big clumsy fellow named Fagin who would stop to chat with the lad.</p> + +<p>So it was that Charles was forced to make friends with whomever he +could, people of any age or condition, and was driven to spend much of +his spare time roaming about the streets, lounging by the river, reading +stray books by a candle in the prison or in the little attic where he +slept. It was not a boyhood that seemed to promise much.</p> + +<p>In spite of this hard life which he led, Charles rarely lost his love of +fun or his natural high spirits. When he was about twelve years old his +father came into a little money, which enabled him to pay his debts so +that he was released from prison. He was also able to send his son to +school. Here he quickly blossomed out into a leader among the boys. He +was continually inventing new games, and queer languages, which were +made by adding extra syllables to ordinary words. Frequently he and +several of his school friends would go out into the street and talk to +each other in this language of their own, understanding what each other +said, but pretending to be foreigners to every one who heard them.</p> + +<p>Charles was also continually writing short stories, which he lent to his +friends on payment of marbles or slate-pencils or white mice, which the +boys were very fond of keeping in their desks. He and a few others +built a small theatre and painted gorgeous scenery for it, and then gave +regular plays, which he specially wrote for the theatre, to the great +entertainment of the other boys and the masters. This comfortable school +life was a great contrast to the hard knocks he had to endure when he +was at the blacking factory, and he flourished under its influence and +began to show something of his real talent for entertaining those about +him.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dickens, however, soon concluded that Charles ought to be making a +start in some business, and so a few years after he had entered school +he was placed as clerk in the office of a solicitor in Lincoln's Inn. +Here he had to run errands through the busy streets of London's business +life, copy all legal documents, and answer the clients who came to call +on the firm.</p> + +<p>The other clerks found young Dickens immensely entertaining. He could +mimic every one who called at the office, and in addition he knew the +different cockney voices of all the rabble of the London streets. He had +learnt to know the queer types of people who drifted about the river +banks and the poorer sections of the city. He knew every small +inflection of their voices and their every trick and gesture, and now he +acted them out to the great delight of the other clerks. But he could +put his powers of mimicry to greater uses. He went to the theatre, +particularly to hear Shakespeare's plays, as often as he could, and then +would repeat long passages from the plays, giving the exact voice and +manner of the leading actors. Many friends predicted that Charles would +be a great actor himself some day, and so perhaps he might had not +his interest all been drawn another way.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus15.png" alt="dickens" /> +<a id="illus15" name="illus15"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> <span class="smcap">Charles Dickens at Eighteen</span></p> + +<p>At the time he was so much charmed with the thought of becoming an actor +that he wrote to the manager of the theatre at Covent Garden, telling +him what he thought of his own gifts for the stage, and asking if he +might have an appointment. The manager wrote that they were very busy at +that time with a new play, but that he would write him soon when he +might have a chance to meet him. A little later Charles was invited to +go to the theatre and act a short piece in the presence of Charles +Kemble, a very famous actor. When the day arrived, however, he was +suffering from a very bad cold which had so swollen his throat that he +could hardly speak at all. As a result he could not go to the theatre, +and before he had another chance to try his luck he had made up his mind +that he would rather be a writer than an actor.</p> + +<p>It did not take Charles long to realize that the law was not to his +taste. He did not like what he saw of lawyers, and was much more apt to +make fun of than to imitate them. Looking about for some more +interesting work, he took to studying short-hand in the evenings. He +found it very hard to learn, particularly as he had to dig it out of +books in the reading-room of the British Museum, but he persevered, and +finally became very skilful, so that when he was sent by one of the +newspapers to report a debate in the House of Commons he did so +extremely well that experts stated "there never was such a short-hand +writer before."</p> + +<p>The life of a reporter had great charm for the youthful Dickens. He +liked the adventurous side of it, the chance to see strange scenes and +mix in interesting events. He had a great many strange adventures of his +own, and told later how on one occasion soon after he had become a +reporter, he was sent far out of London to take down a political speech, +and how coming back he had to write out his short-hand notes holding his +paper on the palm of his hand, and by the light of a dull, flickering +lantern, while the coach galloped at fifteen miles an hour through wild +and hilly country at midnight.</p> + +<p>In addition to reporting speeches Charles was sent to write notices of +new plays in the theatres and also reviewed new books. He signed these +reviews with his nickname "Boz," and it was not long before these +articles by Boz attracted the attention of a great many judges of good +writing. The chief editor of the <i>Morning Chronicle</i>, for which Charles +wrote, said of the youth, "He has never been a great reader of books or +plays and knows but little of them, but has spent his time in studying +life. Keep 'Boz' in reserve for great occasions. He will aye be ready +for them."</p> + +<p>So it proved, and he might have been a prominent newspaper man just as +he might have been a great actor had not the desire to see what he could +do with a story seized upon him.</p> + +<p>We have Dickens' own words to tell us how he wrote a little paper in +secret with much fear and trembling, and then dropped it stealthily into +"a dark little box, in a dark office, up a dark court in Fleet Street." +A little later his story appeared in the magazine to which he had sent +it, and he tells us how, as he looked at his words standing so gravely +before him in all the glory of print, he walked down to Westminster Hall +and turned into it for half an hour, because his eyes "were so dimmed +with joy and pride that they could not bear the street and were not fit +to be seen there." He had been very much excited over this venture of +his little story. Now he took the fact of its success to indicate that +it was worth his while to practice using his pen as a writer of fiction.</p> + +<p>After that Charles Dickens, although he continued working as reporter, +spent his spare hours in writing comic accounts of the various scenes of +London life which he knew so well. These were published as fast as they +were written, over the pen name of "Boz." He was paid almost nothing for +them, but he persevered, prompted by his inborn love of writing and the +fun he had in describing curious types of people.</p> + +<p>Then one day a young man who had just recently become a publisher called +at Charles's lodgings and told him that he was planning to publish a +monthly paper in order to sell certain pictures by Robert Seymour, an +artist who had just finished some sporting plates for a book called "The +Squib Annual." Seymour had drawn most of the pictures for this new +venture, and they were almost all of a cockney sporting type. Now +Charles was asked if he would write something to go with the pictures.</p> + +<p>Some one suggested that he should tell the adventures of a Nimrod Club, +the members of which should go out into the country on fishing and +hunting expeditions which would suit the drawings, but this did not +appeal to the young writer, as he knew very little about these country +sports, and was much more interested in describing curious people. He +asked for a day or two's time to think the matter over, and then finally +sent the publishers the first copy of what he chose to call the +"Pickwick Papers."</p> + +<p>According to a common custom of the time, the author was allowed to +write a story as it was needed by the printer, so that the first numbers +of the "Pickwick Papers" appeared while Charles was still working on the +next ones. This often put him to great inconvenience, as he sometimes +found it hard to invent new adventures to fit Seymour's pictures and yet +had to have the story written by a certain time.</p> + +<p>He wrote to a friend one night, "I have at this moment got Pickwick and +his friends on the Rochester coach, and they are going on swimmingly, in +company with a very different character from any I have yet described" +(Alfred Jingle), "who I flatter myself will make a decided hit. I want +to get them from the ball to the inn before I go to bed; and I think +that will take till one or two o'clock at the earliest. The publishers +will be here in the morning, so you will readily suppose I have no +alternative but to stick to my desk."</p> + +<p>The public was slow in appreciating the humor of the "Pickwick Papers," +and the series dragged until Part IV appeared, and with it the character +of Sam Weller. This original and very entertaining figure turned the +scales, and almost instantly there was the greatest demand for the +"Pickwick Papers." By the time the series was finished the name of "Boz" +was constantly on almost every English tongue. Here again fortune had +had much to do with deciding Dickens' career. Had the series failed, he +might have continued merely a reporter, but the humorous figure of +Weller tipped the scales in favor of his adopting the profession of +novelist.</p> + +<p>From that time on one novel after another flowed from Dickens' pen. For +many of their most vivid pictures he was indebted to the hard life of +his boyhood, and the strange people he had known in the days when he +worked in the blacking factory finally grew into some of his greatest +characters. The little maid-of-all-work became the Marchioness in the +"Old Curiosity Shop," Bob Fagin loaned his name to "Oliver Twist," and +in "David Copperfield" we read the story of the small boy who had to +fight his way through London alone.</p> + +<p>Those days of boyhood had given him a deep insight into human nature, +into the humor and pathos of other people's lives, and it was that rare +insight that enabled him to become in time one of the greatest of all +English writers, Charles Dickens, the beloved novelist of the +Anglo-Saxon people.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI</h2> + +<h3>Otto von Bismarck</h3> + +<h4>The Boy of Göttingen: 1815-1898</h4> + + +<p>A tall, slender boy, followed by a great Danish hound, walked down the +main street of the German town of Göttingen in Hanover one spring +morning in 1832. The small round cap, gay with colors, told the world +that the boy was a student at the University, and also that he belonged +to one of the students' clubs, or fighting corps, as they were called. +But this boy looked quite a dandy. A wide sash was tied about his waist, +high-polished boots came up to his knees, and he wore a knot of colors +on his breast, the same colors he sported in his cap, the emblem that he +belonged to the Brunswick student corps. Moreover he carried himself +with rather a haughty manner, and the big dog, following at his heels, +walked in much the same way.</p> + +<p>Presently there came strolling along the street a group of a half dozen +boys who wore the round caps of the Hanoverian Club. Something about the +boy with the dog struck them as comical, and they began to laugh, and +nudge each other, and when they came up to the boy they stopped and +stared at him in undisguised amusement. Quick color sprang to his +cheeks, he hesitated, and then came to a full stop. It was not pleasant +to be singled out as a laughing-stock in the main street of Göttingen.</p> + +<p>"Well, what are you laughing at?" he demanded, looking squarely at the +group of boys.</p> + +<p>One of them waved his hand airily in answer. "At the magnificence of our +new little Brunswicker," he answered mockingly.</p> + +<p>"So? And are you accustomed to laugh at magnificence?" The boy's brows +were bent and his lips had set in a very stern line.</p> + +<p>"When it amuses us we laugh," put in one of the others.</p> + +<p>"Then I'd have you know it's ill manners to laugh, and I'll teach you +better as soon as we get schlägers in our hands."</p> + +<p>"And who may you be?" asked the one who had spoken first.</p> + +<p>"My name is Otto von Bismarck. I come from Prussia, and I'm a new +student here."</p> + +<p>"And which of us will you fight?"</p> + +<p>"I'll fight you all. Send your man to me at my room, and I'll agree on +any time and place." Then, with his head held very high the boy walked +on, and the great Dane followed at his heels.</p> + +<p>"Bismarck?" said one of the Hanover boys to the others. "It seems to me +I've heard of him. They say he's splendid company."</p> + +<p>"He's surely got pluck enough," agreed another. "I like the way he faced +the lot of us." So they went on down the street, discussing the new +student.</p> + +<p>Otto, no whit daunted by his adventure, shortly after returned to his +room. He lighted a big china-bowled pipe, and was smoking and reading +when the messenger from the boys he had challenged came to see him. Otto +offered him a pipe, and the two were soon eagerly discussing horses and +dogs and telling about the fine hunting there was to be had in the +different parts of Germany in which their homes lay. They got on +together famously, and finally the visitor, who was the chief of his +corps, said, "What a shame we got into this trouble over nothing. You're +too good a fellow for any of us to fight. We shouldn't have guyed you +that way. Let me see if I can't fix matters up."</p> + +<p>"I'm quite ready to fight them all," said Otto stoutly. "I told them so, +and I always stand by my word."</p> + +<p>"I know," said the other, who by now had taken a great liking to the +young Prussian. "But you're not the sort to get really angry at such a +little thing, and I like you too much to want to cross swords with you."</p> + +<p>"And I like you," answered Otto warmly, "but remember I'm quite ready if +the others aren't of your way of thinking."</p> + +<p>The Hanover boy went back to his clubmates, and told them the result of +his talk with Otto. He said the latter was not a coxcomb or a dandy, but +one of the best humored fellows he had ever met, and if he had been +driven to showing his temper on the street that morning it was the +result of their rudeness, and not Otto's ill will. The other boys quite +agreed with what their captain said, and he was asked to carry their +regrets to Otto for the unfortunate meeting and their hope that the +duels might not be fought.</p> + +<p>The reconciliation was at once carried out, but the adventure did not +end there as far as the young paladin named Bismarck was concerned. The +Hanover captain, who was a year or two older than Otto, and knew much +more about the University, became his best friend, and soon one boy was +rarely seen without the other. There was no regular Prussian student +corps at Göttingen, and so Otto, when he had reached the University and +had been invited to join the Brunswick Club, had at once accepted. Now +his chum began to show him how much better the Hanover corps was than +that of Brunswick, and argued with him that as it was not a matter of +home pride, but simply a question as to which boys he liked best, he had +better join his new friends' club. It took little persuasion to convince +Otto that his wishes really all lay that way, and so he resigned from +the corps of Brunswick and was received into that of Hanover.</p> + +<p>As soon as this news spread through the University the Brunswickers were +very indignant. They declared they had been grossly insulted, and that +Otto von Bismarck should be made to pay for this slight upon them. Their +captain and best swordsman at once challenged Otto to fight with the +schläger. Otto accepted, and the duel quickly took place.</p> + +<p>This schläger fighting was an old custom of all the German universities, +and every boy who belonged to a corps was pretty sure to fight one or +more such duels. The schläger is very heavy and clumsy compared with a +dueling sword, and requires a very strong wrist and arm. Instead of +dexterous fencing the fighting is done by downright slashing and cutting +and usually ends when one or the other fighter has received a cut on the +face. The duel takes place with a great deal of ceremony, each student +being attended by a number of his own club, and each corps values as its +highest honor the reputation of having the best fighters in the +university.</p> + +<p>Otto proved his strength in this first duel with the Brunswick captain. +He himself received a number of hard blows, but he gave more than he +took, and finally cut his opponent on the cheek. That ended the duel, +and each boy retired satisfied, Otto because he had won, and the +Brunswick captain because he had another scar to prove his fighting +spirit.</p> + +<p>But the Brunswickers were not yet satisfied that their reputation was +entirely cleared, and so in a few days Otto received a challenge from +the next best fighter of their corps, and having fought him was +challenged by another, and so the affair continued until he had met and +defeated almost every student in the Brunswick corps. He fought twenty +schläger duels during his first year at the University, and came out of +them so well that he was ranked as one of the best fighters at +Göttingen, and the Hanoverians were very proud of him.</p> + +<p>In only one encounter was the young Prussian wounded. He was fighting +with a student named Biederwig, and the latter's sword-blade snapped in +two as Otto was parrying his fierce attack. The broken edge gave +Bismarck a slight cut on the cheek, and Biederwig at once claimed a +victory. The officers of the clubs, however, decided that the duel was a +drawn encounter. By this time Otto, who was just eighteen, had become +the leader among the students of Göttingen.</p> + +<p>Such customs seem strange and almost barbarous to Anglo-Saxon boys, but +this dueling played a large part in the college life of Germans at that +time. Otto was not by nature quarrelsome, but he was bound to hold his +own with his friends, and to do that he felt that he must take his part +in the rough life about him. Very soon after the fight with Biederwig he +was drawn into a much more serious affair.</p> + +<p>Among his close friends was a young German baron who had fallen out with +an English student named Knight. Each of them felt that their quarrel +demanded serious settlement and they determined to fight with pistols +instead of swords. At first Otto refused to have anything to do with the +meeting, but at the last minute the Baron's second withdrew, and the +Baron begged Otto to take his place. Otto could not refuse this appeal +of his friend, and so reluctantly consented.</p> + +<p>When the two met Otto paced out a much longer distance than was usual in +such cases, and had them stand very far apart. When the word was given +each student fired, but both were so nervous that their shots went very +wide. Then Otto at once interfered, stating that the honor of each was +now fully satisfied, and refusing to let them continue. Here he showed +that masterfulness of character which had already made him a leader, +and which now at once compelled the duelists to submit.</p> + +<p>Such a meeting as this was, however, contrary to the laws of the +University, and all the boys who took part in it were at once severely +punished. The other students told how Otto had ended the fight and +begged that he be let off, but the rector would not listen to their +requests, and Bismarck was ordered to undergo eleven days of solitary +confinement. When he was released he was welcomed back by all the +student corps, and became more of a hero than ever.</p> + +<p>But Otto von Bismarck's college life was not all fighting. Although he +was not much of a student, he was keenly interested in everything about +him, and fond of arguing on all sorts of subjects. History was his +favorite study; he devoured stories of great kings and statesmen and +soldiers, his keen mind always intent on discovering the reason for the +success or failure of each.</p> + +<p>There was then at Göttingen a young American, by name John Lothrop +Motley, who was as much interested in history as was Otto, and even more +fond of an argument. The two became close friends, and often sat up half +the night to settle some dispute between them. Motley was the more +eager, and often the young German would wake in the morning to find his +American friend sitting on the edge of his bed waiting to go on with +their discussion of the night before. It was Motley also who interested +Otto so much in American history that he took a leading part in +celebrating the Fourth of July at Göttingen.</p> + +<p>His college life taught the young Prussian student many valuable things +that are not told in books. He grew up with a fine knowledge of the boys +of his own age, and with a strength and courage which made him admired +by all his friends.</p> + +<p>A little later, when he was at home on a vacation, he was riding with +several neighbors around a pond. The banks of the pond were very steep. +Suddenly Otto heard a cry behind him. Turning he saw that a groom's +horse had stumbled and pitched the rider into deep water. The man was +terribly frightened, and it was evident that he either did not know how +to swim or was too excited to try to do so. The other horsemen stood +still, doing nothing but call to the groom. Otto, however, tore off his +coat and sword, and plunged in. The man caught at him, and clung to him +so tightly that it looked as though Otto would be pulled down with him. +Once both disappeared entirely under water, but Otto's great strength +saved him, and after a short time he was able to drag the groom to +shore.</p> + +<p>Great events call for great men, and usually find them. The adventures +of his college life had never found the Prussian boy wanting in nerve or +courage; he had always seized his chance and made the most of it. He did +the same thing as he grew into manhood, and tried for a time life in the +army, then on his father's farmland, and then in Parliament.</p> + +<p>Great changes were coming over Europe as Otto grew to manhood; old +countries were falling apart, and new ones being formed, and there was +need of strong men to advise and to check the people. Especially was +this true of Germany, which was then a collection of small kingdoms +loosely joined together. When these kingdoms needed a man to steer them +through the troubled waters that were gathering around them Otto von +Bismarck saw his opportunity and took it.</p> + +<p>He became the great statesman of Germany, the "Iron Chancellor" as he +was often called, the man who built the present German Empire, and gave +its crown to his own sovereign, William I, of Prussia. He was a man of +tremendous power, aggressive, fearless, masterful, showing the same +sturdy traits that had made him in his youth the most feared and admired +schläger-fighter in all Göttingen.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORIC BOYHOODS***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 24354-h.txt or 24354-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/3/5/24354">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/3/5/24354</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/24354-h/images/illus01.png b/24354-h/images/illus01.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8e1e77 --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/images/illus01.png diff --git a/24354-h/images/illus02.png b/24354-h/images/illus02.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ebd69f3 --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/images/illus02.png diff --git a/24354-h/images/illus03.png b/24354-h/images/illus03.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f853800 --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/images/illus03.png diff --git a/24354-h/images/illus04.png b/24354-h/images/illus04.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4fbb12b --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/images/illus04.png diff --git a/24354-h/images/illus05.png b/24354-h/images/illus05.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..75993bb --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/images/illus05.png diff --git a/24354-h/images/illus06.png b/24354-h/images/illus06.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..79f017c --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/images/illus06.png diff --git a/24354-h/images/illus07.png b/24354-h/images/illus07.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6528873 --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/images/illus07.png diff --git a/24354-h/images/illus08.png b/24354-h/images/illus08.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dbe6304 --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/images/illus08.png diff --git a/24354-h/images/illus09.png b/24354-h/images/illus09.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce50439 --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/images/illus09.png diff --git a/24354-h/images/illus10.png b/24354-h/images/illus10.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c465a71 --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/images/illus10.png diff --git a/24354-h/images/illus11.png b/24354-h/images/illus11.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b9d755b --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/images/illus11.png diff --git a/24354-h/images/illus12.png b/24354-h/images/illus12.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d36902b --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/images/illus12.png diff --git a/24354-h/images/illus13.png b/24354-h/images/illus13.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a8f34a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/images/illus13.png diff --git a/24354-h/images/illus14.png b/24354-h/images/illus14.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4ea3c11 --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/images/illus14.png diff --git a/24354-h/images/illus15.png b/24354-h/images/illus15.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..efc8e49 --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/images/illus15.png diff --git a/24354-h/images/illus16.png b/24354-h/images/illus16.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c1ee506 --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/images/illus16.png diff --git a/24354-h/images/illus17.png b/24354-h/images/illus17.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..26edbe3 --- /dev/null +++ b/24354-h/images/illus17.png diff --git a/24354.txt b/24354.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..066e250 --- /dev/null +++ b/24354.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7702 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Historic Boyhoods, by Rupert Sargent Holland + + +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: Historic Boyhoods + + +Author: Rupert Sargent Holland + + + +Release Date: January 18, 2008 [eBook #24354] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORIC BOYHOODS*** + + +E-text prepared by David Garcia, Graeme Mackreth, 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 24354-h.htm or 24354-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/3/5/24354/24354-h/24354-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/3/5/24354/24354-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Kentuckiana Digital Library. See + http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc=kyetexts;xc=1&idno=B92-224-31182809&view=toc + + + + + +HISTORIC BOYHOODS + +by + +RUPERT S. HOLLAND + +Author of "The Count at Harvard," "Builders of United Italy," etc. + + + + + + + +[Illustration: THE FLEET OF COLUMBUS NEARING AMERICA] + + + +Philadelphia George W. Jacobs & Company Publishers + +Copyright, 1909, by George W. Jacobs and Company +Published October, 1909 +All rights reserved +Printed in U.S.A. + + + +_To the dear memory of L.B.R._ + +The thanks of the author are due the Century Company for permission to +reprint certain of these stories which appeared in _Saint Nicholas_ in +shorter form. + + + + +CONTENTS + + I. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS + The Boy of Genoa + + II. MICHAEL ANGELO + The Boy of the Medici Gardens + + III. WALTER RALEIGH + The Boy of Devon + + IV. PETER THE GREAT + The Boy of the Kremlin + + V. FREDERICK THE GREAT + The Boy of Potsdam + + VI. GEORGE WASHINGTON + The Boy of the Old Dominion + + VII. DANIEL BOONE + The Boy of the Frontier + + VIII. JOHN PAUL JONES + The Boy of the Atlantic + + IX. MOZART + The Boy of Salzburg + + X. LAFAYETTE + The Boy of Versailles + + XI. HORATIO NELSON + The Boy of the Channel Fleet + + XII. ROBERT FULTON + The Boy of the Conestoga + + XIII. ANDREW JACKSON + The Boy of the Carolinas + + XIV. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE + The Boy of Brienne + + XV. WALTER SCOTT + The Boy of the Canongate + + XVI. JAMES FENIMORE COOPER + The Boy of Otsego Hall + + XVII. JOHN ERICSSON + The Boy of the Goeta Canal + +XVIII. GARIBALDI + The Boy of the Mediterranean + + XIX. ABRAHAM LINCOLN + The Boy of the American Wilderness + + XX. CHARLES DICKENS + The Boy of the London Streets + + XXI. OTTO VON BISMARCK + The Boy of Goettingen + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +The Fleet of Columbus Nearing America + +Walter Raleigh and the Fisherman of Devon + +Peter the Great + +Mrs. Washington Urges George Not to Enter the Navy + +Daniel Boone's First View of Kentucky + +Paul Jones Capturing the "Serapis" + +Mozart and His Sister Before Maria Theresa + +Lafayette Tells of His Wish to Aid America + +Nelson Boarding the "San Josef" + +Robert Fulton's First Experiment with Paddle Wheels + +Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans + +The Snow Fort at Brienne + +Napoleon as a Cadet in Paris + +Street in Edinburgh Where Scott Played as a Boy + +Birthplace of Abraham Lincoln + +Charles Dickens at Eighteen + + + + +I + +Christopher Columbus The Boy of Genoa: 1446(?)-1506 + + +A privateer was leaving Genoa on a certain June morning in 1461, and +crowds of people had gathered on the quays to see the ship sail. +Dark-hued men from the distant shores of Africa, clad in brilliant red +and yellow and blue blouses or tunics and hose, with dozens of +glittering gilded chains about their necks, and rings in their ears, +jostled sun-browned sailors and merchants from the east, and the +fairer-skinned men and women of the north. + +Genoa was a great seaport in those days, one of the greatest ports of +the known world, and her fleets sailed forth to trade with Spain and +Portugal, France and England, and even with the countries to the north +of Europe. The sea had made Genoa rich, had given fortunes to the nobles +who lived in the great white marble palaces that shone in the sun, had +placed her on an equal footing with that other great Italian sea city, +Venice, with whom she was continually at war. + +But all the ships that left her harbor were not trading vessels. Genoa +the Superb had many enemies always on the alert to swoop down upon her +trade. So she had to maintain a great war-fleet. In addition to this +danger, the Mediterranean was then the home of roving pirates, ready to +seize any vessel, without regard to its flag, which promised to yield +them booty. + +The life of a Genoese boy in those days was packed full of adventures. +Most of the boys went to sea as soon as they were old enough to hold an +oar or to pull a rope, and they had to be ready at any moment to drop +the oar or rope and seize a sword or a pike to repel pirates or other +enemies. There was always the chance of a sudden chase or a secret +attack on a Christian boat by savage Mussulmen, and so bitter was the +endless war of the two religions that in such cases the victors rarely +spared the lives of the vanquished, or, if they did, sold them in port +as slaves. Moreover the ships were frail, and the Mediterranean storms +severe, and many barks that contrived to escape the pirates fell victims +to the fury of head winds. The life of a Genoese sailor was about as +dangerous a life as could well be imagined. + +On this June morning a large privateer was to set sail from the port, +and the families of the men and boys who were outward bound had come +down to say good-bye. The centre of one little group was a boy about +fifteen, strong and broad for his years, though not very tall, with warm +olive skin, bright black eyes, and fair hair that fell to his ears. His +name was Christopher Colombo, and he was going to sail with a relative +called Colombo the Younger who commanded a ship in the service of Genoa. + +The young Christopher had always loved to be upon the sea. Among the +first sights that he remembered were glimpses of the Mediterranean in +fair and stormy weather, the first tales he had heard were stories of +strange adventures that had befallen sailors. His home had sprung from +the waves, its glory had been drawn from the inland sea, the great chain +of high mountains at its back cut it off from the land and the pursuits +of other cities. Christopher thought of the sea by day, and dreamed of +it by night, and was already planning when he grew up to go in search of +some of those strange adventures the old bronzed mariners were so fond +of describing. + +The boy's mother and father kissed him good-bye, and his younger +brothers and sister looked at him enviously as he left them with a wave +of his hand and went on board the ship. The latter was very clumsy, +according to our ideas. She rode high in the water, with a great deck at +the stern set like a small house up in the air, and with a great bow +that bore the figurehead of the patron saint of the sea, Saint +Christopher. Her sails were hung flat against the masts and were painted +in broad stripes of red and yellow. She was very magnificent to look +upon, but not very seaworthy. + +The marble of Genoa's palaces dropped astern. The ship was sailing +south, and under favoring breezes soon lost sight of land. Constant +watch was kept for other vessels; any that might appear was more apt to +be an enemy than a friend, because Genoa was at war then with many +rivals, chief among them Naples and Aragon. Ships had been sailing +constantly of late from Genoa to prey upon the commerce of Naples, in +revenge for what the Neapolitans had once done to Genoa. + +Colombo the captain was fond of his young kinsman Christopher, and at +the start of the voyage had him in his cabin and told him some of his +plans. The captain said he had orders to sail to Tunis to capture the +Spanish galley _Fernandina_. The galley was richly laden, and each +sailor would have a large share of booty. The boy listened with +sparkling eyes; this would be his first chance to have a hand in a fight +at sea. + +The winds of June were favoring, and Colombo's ship soon reached the +island of San Pietro off Sardinia. Here the captain went ashore to try +and learn news of the _Fernandina_. He found friendly merchants who had +word from all the Mediterranean ports, and they told him that the galley +was not alone, but accompanied by two other Spanish ships. Colombo was a +born fighter, and this news did not frighten him. The more ships he +might capture the greater would be his own share of glory and of prize +money. + +When the captain told his news to the sailors on his return from shore, +there was great consternation. The men had no liking to attack two +fighting ships besides the galley. At first they simply murmured among +themselves, but the longer they discussed the desperate nature of the +plan the more alarmed they grew. By the time that the ship was ready to +sail southward from Sardinia they had determined to go no farther, and +sent three of their leaders to speak to Colombo. + +The captain was with Christopher studying a map of the Mediterranean +when the men came before him. They told him that they positively +refused to sail south and insisted that he put in at Marseilles for more +ships and men. Colombo saw that he could not force them to sail farther, +so, with what grace he could, he gave his consent to alter the course. + +The men left the cabin, and after a few minutes' thought the captain +spoke to the boy. "Christopher," said he, "bring me the great compass +from its box near the helmsman's stand. Bring it secretly. The men +should all be on the lower deck making ready to sail. Let no one see +thee with it." + +The boy left the cabin and climbed the ladder to the great poop-deck at +the stern where the helmsman had a view far over the sea. He waited +until no one was about, and then quickly took the compass from its box, +and hiding it under the loose folds of his cloak, brought it to the +captain. He placed it on the table. Then he fastened the door so that +none might enter. + +Colombo opened the compass-case, and drew a pot of paint and a brush +toward him. The boy watched breathlessly while the captain painted over +the marks of the compass with thick white paint, and then on top of that +drew in new lines and figures in black. He was changing the compass +completely. + +When the work was done Christopher bore the case back to its box as +secretly as he had taken it. Then Colombo went out to the sailors and +gave them orders to spread sail. It was rapidly growing dark as they +left the coast of Sardinia. + +At sunrise, when Christopher came on deck to stand his watch, he knew +that their ship must be off the city of Carthagena, although all the +crew supposed they well on their way to Marseilles. Not long after, as +they were drawing nearer to the shore, the lookout signaled a vessel. +She was soon seen to be flying the flag of Naples. Fortunately this ship +was alone at the time, and the sailors were not afraid to attack her. + +Orders were quickly given to sail as close to her as possible, and +preparations were made to board her. The other ship seemed no less eager +to engage in battle, and in a very short time grappling-irons were +thrown out and the ships were fastened close together. Then a fierce +combat followed between the two crews as each in turn tried to scale the +sides of the other vessel. + +A sea-fight in the fifteenth century was fought hand to hand, each ship +being like a fort from which small attacking parties rushed out to climb +the other's battlements. When men met on the decks they used sword and +pike and dagger just as they would have on shore. Fire was thrown from +one ship into the rigging and sails of the other, and flames soon caught +and greedily devoured the woodwork of the boats. It was wild work; the +blazing sails, the broken cheers of the men, the fierce struggle over +the two decks. + +Christopher fought bravely whenever chance offered, but the captain kept +him close to his hand to carry messages. It soon appeared that the enemy +were the stronger, and they bore the Genoese back and back farther from +their bulwarks and across their decks. As the enemy gained a foothold +they held torches to everything that would burn, and soon Colombo's ship +was wrapped in fire and the only choice seemed to be between surrender +and jumping into the sea. + +A burning rope fell from a mast and set fire to Christopher's cloak. He +tore the cloak from him. He saw that the Neapolitans must win and he had +no desire to be carried off to Naples as a prisoner. The flames were +gaining fast as he leaped to the rail on the free side of the ship, and +dove overboard. He came up free from the wreckage and found a long +sweep-oar floating near him. With that support he struck out for the +shore of Africa, only a short distance away. His first sea-fight had +nearly proved his last. + +Self-reliance was the corner-stone of this young mariner's character. He +could take care of himself on whatever shore he was thrown. He landed on +the beach of Carthagena and told the story of his adventures to the +group of sailors who crowded about him on the sands. There is a strong +sense of comradeship among seamen, and so, although none of the men who +heard the boy's tale were from Genoa, they fitted him out with dry +clothes and found enough money to keep him in food and shelter. + +There he stayed for some time, waiting until some Genoese bark should +put into port. Meanwhile he was very much interested in the stories the +seafarers of all lands told to people who would listen to them. Again +and again he heard mariners wondering whether there might not be a +shorter passage to the rich Indies of the East than the long overland +route through China. The question interested him, and he took to +studying it with care. + +One day an old sailor on the beach told him of his voyages in the +western ocean, and how once his ship had come so close to the edge of +the world that but for the miracle of a sudden change in the wind they +must certainly have been carried over the side. The same bearded seaman +told Christopher many other curious things; how he had himself seen +beautiful pieces of carved wood, cut in some strange fashion, floating +on the western sea, and had picked up one day a small boat which seemed +to be made of the bark of a tree, but of a pattern none had ever seen +before. + +Then, and here his voice would sink and his eyes grow large with wonder, +he told Christopher how men who were explorers were certain that +somewhere in that unsailed western sea, just before one came to the +edge, was an island rich in gold and gems and rare, delicious fruits, +where men need never work if they chose to stay there, or if they came +home might bring such treasures with them as would put to shame the +richest princes of all Europe. It was said that there one caught fish +already cooked, and that there people of great beauty lived, with dark +red skins and wearing feathers in their hair. + +"And is no one certain of this?" asked Christopher, his eyes wide with +excitement. "Not even the men who have found the African coast and the +isle of Flores?" + +The old sailor shook his head. "Nay, nay, boy. The wonderful island lies +so close to the world's edge that 'tis a perilous thing to try to find +it." + +"Still," said Christopher, "'twould be well worth the finding, and some +time when I'm a man and can win a ship of my own I'm going to make the +venture." + +But the sailor shook his head. "Better leave the unknown sea to itself, +lad," said he. "A whole skin is worth more to a man than all the gold of +King Solomon's mines." + +"Is it true," asked the boy after a time, "that there are terrible +monsters in the Dark Sea?" That was the name given in those days to the +ocean that stretched indefinitely to the west. "I've seen pictures of +strange creatures on ships' maps, but never saw the like of any of +them." + +"No, nor would you be likely to, lad," said the sailor, "for such as see +those monsters don't come back. But true they are. A great captain told +me once that part of the Dark Sea was black as pitch, and that great +birds flew over it looking for ships. You've heard of the giant Roc that +flies through the air there, so strong that it can pick up the biggest +ship that ever sailed in its beak, and carry it to the clouds? There it +crushes ship and men in its talons, and drops men's limbs, armor, +timber, all that's left, down to the Dark Sea monsters who wait to +devour the wreckage in their huge jaws. Ugh, 'tis an ugly thought, and +enough to keep any man safe this side the world." + +"In some places fair, in some dark," mused Christopher. "It would be +worth sailing out there to find which was the truth." + +"Where would be the good of finding that if you never came back, boy?" + +Christopher shrugged his shoulders. "Just for the fun of finding out, +perhaps," he said. + + * * * * * + +A month later Christopher saw a galley flying the flag of Genoa enter +the harbor. When the captain came on shore the boy went to him, and +telling him who he was, asked for a chance to go as sailor back to +Genoa. The captain knew the boy's father, Domenico Colombo, and gave +Christopher a place on the galley. She was sailing north, homeward +bound, and a few days later, having safely avoided all hostile ships and +storms, the galley came into sight of the beautiful white city in its +nest against the hills. + +It was a happy day when the young sailor landed and surprised his father +and mother by walking in upon them. News of Colombo's defeat by the ship +of Naples had come to Genoa, and Christopher's family had given him up +as lost. + +But narrow as his escape on that voyage had been, such chances were part +of the sailor's life in that age, and Christopher was quite ready to +take his share of privation and danger with his mates. It was only by +weathering such storms that he could ever hope to be put in charge of +rich merchantmen or to command his own vessel in his city's defense. So +he sailed again soon after, and in a year or two had come to know the +Mediterranean Sea as well as the back of his hand. + +Captains found he was good at making maps, and paid him to draw them, +and when he was on shore he spent all his time studying charts and +plans, and soon became so expert that he could support himself by +preparing new charts. Yet, in spite of all his study, he found that the +maps covered only a small part of the sea, and gave him no knowledge of +the waters to the west. There he now began to believe the +long-looked-for sea passage to the East Indies must lie. + +Christopher grew to manhood, and then a chance shipwreck threw him in +Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. The Portuguese were the great sailors +of the age, and the young man met many famous captains who were planning +trips to the western coast of Africa and about the Cape of Good Hope. + +Some of the captains took an interest in the sailor who made such +splendid maps and was so eager to go on dangerous exploring trips, and +they brought him to the notice of the King of Portugal. One of them, +Toscanelli, wrote of the young Christopher's "great and noble desire to +pass to where the spices grow," and listened with interest to his plans +to reach those rich spice lands by sailing west. + +The ideas of Columbus seemed too visionary to most princes, and it was +years before he was able to persuade the Spanish sovereigns, Ferdinand +and Isabella, to grant him three small ships and enough men to start +upon his voyage. But on August 3, 1492, he finally set sail from Palos, +in Spain. + +All the world knows the history of that great voyage, of the tremendous +difficulties that beset Columbus, how his men grew fearful and would +have turned back, how he had to change the ship's reckoning as he had +seen his cousin change the compass, how he had sometimes to plead with +his men and sometimes to threaten them. + +In time he found boughs with fresh leaves and berries floating on the +sea, and caught the odor of spices from the west. Then he knew he was +nearing that magic land of riches sailors dreamt of, and thought he had +found the shortest passage to the East Indies and Cathay. That would +have been a wonderful discovery, but the one he was actually making was +infinitely greater. Instead of a new sea passage he was reaching a new +continent, and adding a hemisphere to the known world. + +Such was the result of the dreams and ambitions of the boy born and bred +in the old seaport of Genoa. + + + + +II + +Michael Angelo + +The Boy of the Medici Gardens: 1475-1564 + + +The Italian city of Florence was entering on the Golden Age of its +history toward the end of the fifteenth century. Lorenzo, called the +Magnificent, was head of the house of Medici, and first citizen of the +proud Republic. He was himself an artist, a poet, and a philosopher; he +loved the beautiful things of life, and had gathered about him a little +court of men of genius. + +Florence at that time was also a great business city, and among the +prominent merchant families was that of the Buonarotti. Ludovico +Buonarotti had several sons, and he had named his second child Michael +Angelo, and had planned that he should follow him in trade. Fortunately +for the world, however, the boy had a will of his own. + +Even while he was still in charge of a nurse, and was just beginning to +learn to use his hands, he would draw simple pictures and paint them +whenever he had the chance. His father had little use for a painter, and +sent the boy to the grammar school of Francesco d'Urbino, in Florence, +thinking to make a scholar of him. There were, however, many studios in +the neighborhood of the school, and many artists at work in them, and +the boy would neglect his studies to haunt the places where he might +see how grown men drew and painted. + +Watching the artists, young Michael Angelo soon formed a lasting +friendship with a boy of great talent a few years older than himself, by +name Francesco Granacci. This boy was a pupil of Domenico Ghirlandajo, a +very great painter. The more Michael Angelo saw Granacci and his work in +the studio the more he longed for a chance to study painting. He could +think of nothing else; he begged his father and uncles to let him be an +artist instead of a merchant or a scholar. But the father and uncles, +coming from a long line of successful merchants, treated the boy's +requests with scorn. + +Michael Angelo was determined to be an artist, however, and finally, +though with the greatest reluctance, his father signed a contract with +Ghirlandajo by which the boy was to study drawing and painting in his +studio and do whatever other work the master might desire. The master +was to pay the boy six gold florins for the first year's work, eight for +the second, and ten for the third. + +The young Buonarotti found plenty of work to be done in his master's +studio. Besides the regular day's work he was constantly painting +sketches of his own, and trying his hand at a dozen different things. +His eye and hand were most surprisingly true. Time and again the master +or some of the older students, coming across the boy at work, would be +held spellbound by his skill. + +One day when the men had left work the boy drew a picture of the +scaffolding on which they had been standing and sketched in portraits of +the men so perfectly that when his master found the drawing he cried to +a friend in amazement, "The boy understands this better than I do +myself!" + +There was little in the world about him that this boy failed to see. He +soon painted his first real picture, choosing a subject that was popular +in those days, the temptation of St. Antony. All kinds of queer animals +figured in the picture, and that he might get the colors of their +shining backs and scales just right he spent days in the market eagerly +studying the fish there for sale. Again the master was amazed at his +pupil's work, and now for the first time began to feel a certain envy of +him. + +This feeling rapidly increased. The scholars were often given some of +Ghirlandajo's own studies to copy, and one day Michael Angelo brought +the artist one of the studies which he had himself corrected by adding a +few thick lines. Beyond all doubt the picture was improved. It was hard, +however, for the master to be corrected by his own apprentice, and soon +after that the boy's stay in the studio came to an end. Fortunately his +friend Granacci had already interested the great patron, Lorenzo de' +Medici, in the young Buonarotti and he was now invited to join the band +of youths of talent who made the Medici's palace their home. + +In Lorenzo's palace young Michael Angelo was very happy. He was fond of +the Medici's sons, boys nearly his own age; like almost all the rest of +Florence he worshiped the citizen-prince whose one desire seemed to be +that Florence should be beautiful; and he was happiest of all in the +chance to study his own beloved art. + +In May of each year Lorenzo gave a pageant, and the spring in which +Michael Angelo came to the palace Lorenzo placed the carnival in charge +of the boy's friend, Francesco Granacci. Day by day the boys planned for +the great procession. At noon they were free from their teachers, and +then they would scatter to the gardens. + +One such May noon, when the sun was hot, a group of them ran out from +the palace, and threw themselves on the grass in the shade of a row of +poplars. They were all absorbed in the one subject; their tongues could +scarcely keep pace with their nimble fancies. + +"What shalt thou go as, Paolo?" said one. "I heard Messer Lorenzo say +that thou shouldst be something marvelously fine; but what can be so +fine as Romulus in a Roman triumph?" + +"I am to be the thrice-gifted Apollo, dressed as your Athenians saw him, +with harp and bow, and the crown of laurel on my head. That will be a +sight for thee, Ludovico mio, and for the pretty eyes of thy Bianca +also." Paolo laughed as one who well knew the value of his yellow locks +and blue eyes in a land of brown and black. "What art thou to be in +Messer Lorenzo's coming pageant, Michael?" + +The young Michael, a slim, black-haired youth, was lying on his back, +his head resting in his hands, his eyes watching the circling flight of +some pigeons. + +"I?" he said dreamily. "Oh, I have given little thought to that, I shall +be whatever Francesco wishes; he knows what is needed better than any +one else." + +As he spoke a tall youth came into the garden and sat down in the middle +of the group. He had curious, smiling eyes, and hands that were fine and +pointed like a woman's. He answered all questions easily, telling each +what part he was to play in the triumphal procession of Paulus AEmilius +that was to dazzle the good people of Florence on the morrow. He had +become chief favorite in the little court of young people that the +Medici loved to have about him, and his remarkable talent for detail had +made him the leader in all entertainments. + +The boy Michael listened for a time to the flowing words of young +Granacci, then rose and wandered to where some stone-masons had lately +been at work. He stopped in front of a block of marble that was +gradually taking the form of the mask of a faun. + +Near the block stood an antique mask, a garden ornament, and this the +boy studied for a few moments before he picked up one of the mason's +deserted tools and began to cut the stone himself. + +The gay chatter under the poplars went on, but the boy with the chisel, +lost in thought, his heavy brows bent into a bow, chipped and cut, +forgetful of everything else. A half hour passed, and a long shadow fell +across the marble. Michael looked up to see his patron, Lorenzo, +standing beside him. The boy glanced from the fine, keen face of the +Medici to the marble mask of the old faun in front of him. + +"Well, sirrah," said Lorenzo, half seriously, half in jest, "what wilt +thou be up to next?" + +"Jacopo, one of the builders, gave me a stone," answered the boy, "and +told me I might do what I would with it. Yonder is my copy, the old +figure there." + +"But," said Lorenzo, critically, "your faun is old, and yet you have +given him all his teeth; you should have known in a face as aged as that +some of the teeth are wanting." + +"True," said the young sculptor, and taking his chisel, with a few +strokes he made such a gap in the mouth as no master could have +improved. + +The Medici watched, and when the change was made, broke into laughter. +"Right, boy!" he cried. "'Tis perfect; Praxiteles himself could not have +bettered that!" Then, with a quizzical smile, he looked the youth over. +"I knew thou wert a painter; and now a sculptor; what will thy clever +hand be doing next?" + +"Bearing arms in your worship's cause, an' the saints be good!" +exclaimed the boy, his deep eyes, full of admiration, on his patron's +face. + +"Ah," said Lorenzo, "so? Well, perhaps the day will come. Florence is +like a rose-bed, but I cannot cure the city as I would of thorns." He +fell into thought, then roused again. "But thou, young Michael Angelo, +dost know what a time I had to make thy father let thee be a painter, +and now thou addest to thy sins and cuttest in marble. Where will be the +end of thy infamy?" + +The boy caught the gleam in his friend's eyes, and his serious face +broke into smiles. + +"In Rome, Signor Lorenzo, in the Holy Father's house. There I shall go +some day." + +"And why to Rome?" + +"Every one goes to Rome; thy marvelous pageants are Roman; art lives +there." + +"Yes," mused Lorenzo, "Rome on its hills is still the Eternal City. And +yet in those far days to come I doubt if thou wilt be as happy as in +Lorenzo's gardens. How sayest thou, boy?" + +"I know not," was the answer. "Only I know that I shall go." + +The laughter of the other boys came to their ears, and Lorenzo turned. +"Thy faun is done; to-morrow will I speak with Poliziano of our new +sculptor. What is Granacci saying over there? Come with me and listen." +So, the prince's arm resting affectionately on the boy's shoulder, they +crossed the garden to the noisy group. + +Life was gay then in Florence. Lorenzo de' Medici was ruling the +turbulent city by keeping it occupied with merrymaking, by beautifying +its squares with priceless treasures, by helping its poor but ambitious +children to win their heart's desires, by mingling with the citizens at +all times, and writing them ballads to sing, and giving them masques to +act. His house was open to the great men of Italy; on his entertainments +he lavished his wealth, set no bounds to the means he gave Granacci and +the others to make the pageants gorgeous, and superintended everything +with his own wonderfully keen eye for beauty. + +The triumphal procession of Paulus AEmilius on the morrow after the +little scene in the gardens was an all-day revel. The good folk of +Florence left their shops and homes and lined the streets, and for hours +floats drawn by prancing horses and picturing great scenes in Roman +history passed before the delighted people's eyes. Among the warriors, +the heroes, the nymphs and fauns, they recognized their neighbors' +children or their own sons and daughters; they were all parcel of it; it +was their own triumph as well as Rome's. Girls sang and danced and +smiled, boys posed and cheered and played heroic parts, the whole youth +of the city spent the day in fairy-land. + +Chief among the boys was the little group of artists who were studying +in Lorenzo's mansion, and chief among these Granacci, who was Master of +the Revels, Paolo Tornabuoni, who made a wonderful Apollo, seated on a +golden globe playing upon a lyre, and the dark-browed Michael Angelo, +clad in a tunic, one of the noble youth of early Rome. His father, +Ludovico Buonarotti, and his mother, Francesca, were in the crowd that +watched him pass. + +"Yonder he goes," cried the proud mother; "dost see thy son, Ludovico?" +But her husband scowled; he had little use for a son of his who had +rather be painter than merchant. + +A year of happiness passed for the boys in the Medici gardens, and then +the skies of Florence darkened. A monk from San Marco named Savonarola +raised his voice to shame the gay people of their extravagance, and his +bitter tongue sought out Lorenzo the Magnificent as chief offender. The +boy Michael Angelo went to hear Savonarola preach, and came away heavy +of mind and heart. He heard the beautiful things of the world assailed +as sinful, and his beloved master called a servant of the Evil One. A +winter of reproach came upon the city, and when it ended, and Lent was +over, darkness fell, for Lorenzo lay dead at his summer home of Careggi, +in 1492--the year when Columbus discovered America. + +For a long time Michael Angelo, stunned by his patron's loss, could do +no work, and when at last he found the heart to take up his brush and +palette it was no longer in the great house of the Medici, but in a +little room he had arranged for himself as a studio under his father's +roof. + +He was not long left to work there in peace; the three sons of Lorenzo, +boys of nearly his own age, who had been playmates with him in the +gardens, and had studied with him under the same masters, needed his +help. The great Medici had said, long before, that of his three sons one +was good, one clever, and the third a fool. Giulio, now thirteen years +old, was the good one; Giovanni, seventeen years old, already a Prince +Cardinal of the Church, was the clever one, and Piero, the oldest, now +head of the family in Florence, was the fool. + +The storm raised by Savonarola was ready to break about Piero de' +Medici's head, and such friends as were still faithful to him he +gathered about him at his house. Michael Angelo, his old playmate, was +among the number, and so he again moved to the palace. For a brief time +they sought to win back the favor of the people by a return to the +old-time magnificence. + +With no wise head to guide, the youths were soon in sore straits. Their +love of art, their study of the poets, their attempt to revive the +history of Greece and Rome were all scorned and mocked at as so much +wanton dissipation. The boys drew closer together; the fate of their +house hung trembling in the balance. + +Then one morning a young lute-player named Cardiere came to Michael +Angelo and, drawing him aside from the others, told him that in a dream +the night before, Lorenzo had appeared to him, robed in torn black +garments, and in deep, melancholy tones had ordered him to tell Piero, +his son, that he would soon be driven out from Florence, never to +return. Michael Angelo told the musician to tell Piero, but the latter +was too frightened to obey. + +A few days later he came again to Michael Angelo, this time pale and +shaking with fear, and said that Lorenzo had appeared to him a second +time, had repeated what he had said to him before, and had threatened +him with dire punishment if he dared again to disobey his strict +command. + +Alarmed at the news Michael Angelo spoke his mind to Cardiere and bade +him set off at once to see Piero, who was at Careggi, and give him his +father's warning. Cardiere, half-way to Careggi, met Piero and some +friends riding in toward Florence. The minstrel stopped their way and +besought Piero to hear his story. The young Medici bade him speak, but +when he had heard the warning he laughed, and his friends laughed with +him. + +Bibbiena, one of Piero's closest friends, and later to be the subject +of one of Raphael's masterpieces, cried aloud in scorn to Cardiere: +"Fool! Dost think that Lorenzo gives thee such honor before his own son +that he would thus appear to thee rather than to Piero?" With laughter +at Cardiere's crestfallen face the gay troop rode on, and the poor +messenger of evil tidings returned slowly with his news to Michael +Angelo. + +By now the boy sculptor was thoroughly alarmed. Like almost every one +else of that age he believed in portents and visions; he therefore took +Cardiere's story to heart, and in addition he could see for himself that +the foolish, headstrong Piero was taking no steps to turn the growing +discontent. He hated to leave his friends, but knew that they would pay +no heed to his warnings. So, after much hesitation, he decided, with two +comrades of about his own age, to go to Venice and seek work in that +quieter city. + +Ordinarily it would have taken the three boys about a week to ride from +Florence to Venice, but at that time French troops were scattered +through the country, and they had to follow a roundabout course to reach +the city by the sea. They had very little money, and had gone only a +short distance when this small amount was exhausted. By that time they +had reached the city of Bologna, and there they turned aside. + +Like most of the Italian cities Bologna tried to keep itself +independent, and to this end the ruling family had made a strange law +with regard to foreigners. Every stranger entering the city gates had to +present himself before the governor and receive from him a seal of red +wax on the thumb. If a stranger neglected to do this, he was liable to +be thrown into prison and fined. + +The boy Michael Angelo and his two friends knew nothing of this odd law, +and entered the city gaily, without having the necessary wax on their +thumbs. As soon as this was noticed they were seized, taken before a +judge, and sentenced to pay six hundred and fifty lire. They had not +that much money between them, and so for a short time were placed under +lock and key. + +Fortunately news of the boys' arrest came to a nobleman of the city who +was much interested in art and who had already heard of Michael Angelo's +ability. He at once had the boys set free, and invited Michael Angelo to +visit him at his home. But Michael did not wish to leave his friends, +and felt that it would be an imposition for the three of them to accept +the invitation. + +When he spoke in this fashion to the nobleman the latter was very much +amused. "Ah, well," said he, "if things stand so I must beg of you to +take me also with your two friends to roam about the world at your +expense." The joke showed the boy the absurd side of the matter. He gave +his friends the little money he had left, said good-bye to them, and +accepted the invitation to stay in Bologna. + +A very short time after, Piero de' Medici, driven from Florence by an +angry people, came to Bologna and met his old friend of Lorenzo's +gardens. For a short time the boys were together, then the young Medici +set out to seek aid from other cities, in an attempt to rebuild his +family fortunes. + +Meanwhile the nobleman who had offered Michael Angelo a home was +delighted with his young friend. He found him keenly interested in Dante +and Petrarch, and equally gifted as a sculptor and painter. He gave him +work to do in the Church of San Petronio, and Michael did so well there +that the artists of Bologna grew jealous of him, and at the end of the +year forced him to leave the city. + +Then the boy artist went back to his home, only to find it changed +unspeakably. Florence, that had been a city of delight, was now a city +of dread. Savonarola held the people's ear, and had taught them to +destroy what Lorenzo had led them to love. The monks of San Marco made +bonfires of their paintings, priceless manuscripts had met with the same +fate, and Lorenzo's house had been robbed of all its sculpture. The +gardens were strewn with broken statues that had once been Michael +Angelo's delight. He walked through them sadly, and realized that he +alone was left of that group who had found so much happiness there only +a few years before. The words that he had spoken to Lorenzo on the day +he chiseled the faun came back to him, "To Rome I shall go some day," +and thither he now set his face. + +Thereafter the Eternal City claimed Michael Angelo. Cardinal after +cardinal, pope after pope, employed his marvelous genius to beautify the +capital of the world. As he had said, he found work to do in the Holy +Father's house. Whatever else they might do, the Italians of that age +worshiped art, and there were two stars in their sky, Raphael and +Michael Angelo. + +Again Fate's wheel turned, and at last Michael Angelo returned to +Florence, loaded with honors, this time again the guest of a Medici, +Giulio, the playmate of his youth, ruling as autocrat where his father +had ruled as a mere citizen. A little later, and the shrewdest of the +three boys, Giovanni, became Pope Leo X. + +As men the friends of boyhood differed, but they were alike in their +devotion to Florence and the things they had learned in her school years +before. At the height of his power Michael Angelo turned his hand to the +Medici Chapel and built there lasting monuments to their glory and his +genius, a wonderful return for the rare days of his boyhood in their +gardens. + + + + +III + +Walter Raleigh + +The Boy of Devon: 1552-1618 + + +Summer was over England, and the county of Devon, running down to +Cornwall between two seas, was painted in bright hues. The downs were +softly carpeted with purple and yellow gorse and heather that made a +wonderful soft mist as one looked across the fields. Low hills, +brilliant green ridges against the sky, ran inland from the sea, and in +the little hollows here and there nestled small straw-thatched cottages +with shining white walls, or the more pretentious Tudor farmhouses with +red or brown roofs, and much half-timbered decoration. + +The Devon winters were long, with heavy snow, and men had to build so +that they might have all possible protection from the winds that swept +across the open upland country. So they built down in the valleys and in +the long low inlets from the sea that were called combes, and as a +result one might stand on the high moors looking across country, and +never know there was a house within a mile. It is a country full of +surprises. + +On a fine morning when Devon was looking its best, a boy came out of a +dwelling that was half farmhouse, half manor-house, and that lay in a +cup of low hills on the edge of a tract of moorland. The house belonged +to a man named Walter Raleigh, of Fardell, a gentleman of good family +whose fortunes had sunk to a low ebb. It was one-storied, with thatched +roof, gabled wings, and a projecting central porch. Here lived Mr. +Raleigh of Fardell with his wife Katherine, four sons and a daughter. It +was a large family for such a small estate, and already the father was +wondering what would happen to the younger boys when the little property +should have descended, according to the law of the land, to the oldest +son. + +It was the boy Walter, youngest of the sons, who had come out of the +house, and stood looking about him. He was a good-looking fellow, with +fair hair, blue eyes, and the ruddy English skin. It did not take him +long to decide which way to go this morning. He made straight for an oak +wood that lay before the house, and followed a little path that led +through it. Two miles and a half through the wood lay Budleigh Salterton +Bay, and Walter liked that best of all the places near his home. + +He passed the oaks and came out into open country. Here, where the gorse +made a soft carpet on the ground, the salt of the sea blew freshly in to +him. He gave a great shout, and pulling off his cap, ran as fast as he +could, down to the shore of the bay. A few boats swung at anchor there, +and an old man sat on the beach, mending a fishing net. + +The boy swept the sea with his eyes from point to point of the bay, +looked longingly at the boats, then walked over to the old mariner. + +"Good-morning, gaffer," said he. "It's a fine sailing breeze out on the +bay." + +"And good-morning to ye, Master Walter," said the old man, glancing up +from his nets. "A fine breeze it be, an' more's the pity when there's +work to be done on shore." + +"So say I," said the boy, throwing himself down on the sand by the +sailor. "I'd dearly like to sail across to France to-day." + +"How comes it you're not to school?" asked the man. + +"School's done. Next month I go to Oxford, to Oriel College. Methinks +'tis a great shame to spend one's time studying when there's so much +else to be done in the world. The only books I like are those that tell +of far-away lands and adventures and such things. But to Oxford I must +go, says father, like a gentleman's son, and so I suppose I must." + +He lay out on the sand, his head resting in his hands, his eyes gazing +up to the sky. "Tell me, gaffer, if you had your choice of the two, +would you rather be a sailor, or a gentleman of the court, and live at +London, near Queen Elizabeth?" + +The man laughed. "I a courtier!" he cried. "I'd die of fright most like. +I've never been to London town, but they say it's a terrible place!" + +"Would you rather sail out to the west,--to the Indies, or perhaps to +Guiana?" asked Walter. + +The man nodded. "The savages be'nt so terrifyin' to a sailor as the folk +o' London town." + +"And in London they might throw you into the Tower," mused Walter. +"You're right, gaffer. 'Tis better to be free, and your own man, even if +'tis only among savages. Think you England will be at war soon?" + +The sailor looked up from his net, and glanced out across the bay. "I +figure you'll live long enough to do some fightin', lad. Them Spanish +dons be plannin' for to sweep the seas of Englishmen." + +Walter sat up, and followed the man's gaze out to sea. "That they'll +never do," said he, "as long as there are Devon men to build a boat and +man it. But if there is a war I'm going to it, aye, as certain as we two +be sitting here in Budleigh Bay." + +"War's a fearsome thing, lad," said the sailor. "I've fought the pirates +in the south, and I've seen sights would turn a man's hair gray in a +night. 'Tis no holiday work to fight across your decks." + +"Tell me about it," begged the boy, sitting up and clasping his knees in +his hands. "I love to hear of fights and strange adventures." + +So, while the sailor worked over his net he talked of his wanderings, of +his cruises, of his battles, of his flights, and the boy, his eyes wide +with admiration, drank in the yarns. Mariner never found a better +audience than this small boy of the Devon coast. + +It was long past noon when the sailor and Walter left the beach. The boy +went back through the wood to the house, and made his lunch in the +pantry off of bread and cheese. The family were used to Walter's +wanderings, and never waited for him. Now, in his holiday time, he was +free to go where he would. + +[Illustration: WALTER RALEIGH AND THE FISHERMAN OF DEVON] + +Mr. Raleigh of Fardell wanted all his sons brought up as the sons of a +gentleman should be, and so, although he was quite poor, he managed to +send Walter that autumn to the University of Oxford. Walter was only +fifteen, but boys went to college at that age in those days. + +Oxford in 1567 was something like the Eton of to-day. There were not +many college buildings, and the students in cap and gown looked quite as +young as schoolboys do now. Oriel College was near the broad Christ +Church meadows that led down to the river, and from there Walter could +look across to the fields where the boys practiced their favorite sport +of archery, to the silver thread of the little river as it wound in and +out among the trees, and across it to the park where a herd of deer +roamed free. + +The Oxford country, inland and not far from the centre of England, was +very different from his beloved Devonshire. Here there were many +gentlemen's parks, with well-kept lawns and gardens, lots of small +woods, and meadows broken now and again by little sparkling brooks. +Everything was very neat and beautifully cared for. But in Devon was the +wide sweep of the high moorlands, the herds of grazing ponies, the +glorious carpet of the heather, the salt smell of the sea. + +Often the boy was homesick for that more barren country, and that shore +from which he loved to watch the sails, and very often he was tempted to +leave Oriel and go out to seek his fortune by himself. He did not give +in to the desire, however. He stayed on for three years, holding his +own in his studies, and winning the reputation of a good speaker. + +Walter's chance for adventure came full soon. His mother's family, the +Champernouns, were related to the French Huguenot house of Montgomerie. +The Catholics and the Huguenots were at war in France, and Walter's +cousin Henry obtained permission of Queen Elizabeth to raise a troop of +a hundred gentlemen in England to fight with him in France. He asked +Raleigh at Oriel to join him, and the boy eagerly accepted. So he left +Oxford, and with a number of others of good family, many scarcely older +than himself, he crossed the Channel and entered France. + +The moment was not a good one. The Huguenots had just lost the battle of +Moncontour, and a little time after their great chief, the Prince of +Conde, fell at Jarnac. But the small band of English gentlemen +adventurers was not at all cast down. The Huguenot cause did not mean a +great deal to them, and they speedily consoled themselves for Conde's +loss. + +When they actually took the field they found the warfare a very +irregular sort of fighting, a sudden swoop down upon the Catholics in +some ill-defended town, a quick retreat at the approach of regular +troops, an occasional short skirmish in the open. Walter was sent into +Languedoc, and joined in the chase of Catholics through the hills. + +The country was full of steep cliffs, and there were many caves hidden +in them. Fugitives would escape through the open country and meet in +these recesses, and the Englishmen would follow, tracking them after +the manner of hunters of wild game. Sometimes they would come to the top +of a cliff, overlooking a cave in which they had seen men hide. Then +they would lower lighted bundles of straw by iron chains until they came +opposite the mouth of the cave. In a short time the men in hiding would +be smoked out, and compelled to surrender. Often they had hidden +treasures of money or plate in the caves, and these would fall into the +captors' hands. This lure of booty added spice to the hunt. + +It was rough, wild work, but it was a rough age, and men had few +scruples when it came to dealing with their enemies. Young Raleigh +proved a good fighter, fond of the hunts through the hills, and always +ready for any wild expedition. He cared little enough for the cause for +which the troop was supposed to be fighting. It was the opportunity to +advance himself that concerned him most. + +When he came back from France he found that there was no place for him +at the manor-house in Devon. As a younger son he must fight his own way +in the world. He had always loved London next after the Devon coast, and +so he went there now, hoping that he might find some favor with the +court. Queen Elizabeth liked to have youths of good family and good +looks about her, and there were many of them living in London who used +her court as a sort of club. + +Walter made many friends of his own age, and lived as most of them did, +mixing in all the excitements of city life. He was now rather a wild, +reckless young blade, as willing to draw his sword in a street fight as +to pay compliments to a pretty maid of honor. One day he got into a +fight at a tavern with a noisy braggart. He managed to throw the man +into a chair and bind him with a rope. Then he knotted the man's beard +and moustache together so that his mouth was sealed. The rest of the +tavern applauded him for his neat manner of silencing the boaster. + +He did not always come out on top, however. On one occasion he fought in +the street with Sir Thomas Perrot, and was arrested by the town watch. +He was brought to trial, and sent to the Fleet prison for six days. The +imprisonment meant very little to him, it was simply part of the life of +adventure he was so fond of living. + +We must remember that all England, in this age of Elizabeth, was full of +this same spirit of adventure. Young men were rising rapidly; there were +a hundred ways to gain distinction, and many of them, although ways +which we might consider rather doubtful nowadays, were then regarded as +quite proper. Walter Raleigh kept his eyes wide open, and when he saw a +promising chance, he was always ready to accept it. The first adventure +that offered was to take part in a seafaring expedition. + +Englishmen of fortune in those days were in the habit of fitting out +privateers to roam the seas, much like pirates. Sir Humphrey Gilbert had +planned to send some such ships to the banks of Newfoundland to capture +any Portuguese or Spanish vessels that might have gone there for the +fishing. He intended to bring his prizes back to some Dutch port, and +there sell them. Walter liked this plan and he talked it over with Sir +Humphrey, but for some reason the plan failed. + +A very little while afterward, however, Sir Humphrey asked him to sail +in an expedition that was supposed to be searching for the northwest +passage to Cathay, but which in reality was intended to seize any +heathen lands it might find and occupy them in the name of England. The +fleet sailed, but soon fell in with a Spanish squadron that was looking +for just such English rovers. Sir Humphrey's fleet was beaten, and +forced to return home. So for a time young Raleigh's chances of winning +fortune on the seas were ended. + +He went back to London, and took up his former life at court. Very soon +he was sent with some troops to Ireland, and there again he had a chance +at the same sort of fighting he had known in France. He proved himself a +good soldier; he shunned no toil nor danger. But the life he had to lead +was a hard one, and very poorly paid, and Raleigh saw no chance to make +his fortune in that path. + +Now, however, Raleigh was known to many powerful men. When he gave up +the Irish fighting and went back to court he found that people there had +heard of what he had accomplished and that he had a reputation for +courage bordering on recklessness. That was a quality the English of +that day much admired. The great lords were almost all reckless +adventurers, plundering wherever they could, and they were glad to find +young men who would do their bidding without asking questions. + +By this time young Raleigh had become typical of his age, having its +virtues and its vices. The age was wild, coveting money in order to +fling it away on mad schemes, reveling in the dangers as well as the +glories of battle and exploration, of plundering Spanish galleons, or of +hunting untold riches in the world across the sea. Queen Elizabeth liked +daring men, and Raleigh took every opportunity to bring himself before +her notice. + +The young courtier had learned all the arts that helped to make men's +fortunes. He was tall and very handsome, a splendid swordsman, and a wit +who could hold his own with poets and with statesmen. He still spoke +with the strong broad accent of Devon, and when he learned that the +Queen liked his unusual accent he was very careful to see that he never +lost it. He studied each chance to please. + +Elizabeth was extremely vain and extremely fond of romance. One day as +she walked with certain of her lords and ladies she came to a marshy +place, and stopped in hesitation, fearing to soil her slippers. This was +the young courtier's chance. Raleigh had been in the background, but +seeing the Queen hesitate he sprang forward, and sweeping his new plush +cloak from his shoulders, spread it in the mire, so that she might +cross. The Queen's face lighted up with pleasure at the graceful act, +and she thanked the youthful gallant. Later she saw that he was given +many court suits for the cloak he had so admirably ruined. + +Having thus won her attention Raleigh next sought to fix himself in his +Queen's mind. He wrote on the window of a room in which she passed much +time the line: + + "Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall." + +Elizabeth learned who was author of the writing, and scratched the +answer underneath: + + "If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all." + +Raleigh had no fear whatever of falling, but a becoming modesty sat well +upon him. The Queen remembered the young man now for these two +qualities, his gallantry and his becoming modesty, and saw to it that a +man of such spirit should be kept at court. The ardent boy of Devon, the +restless Oxford student, the wild Huguenot trooper, had grown to be a +man worthy of notice. + +He was now, as Walter Scott pictures him in "Kenilworth," the young +seeker after royal favor, graceful, slender, restless, somewhat +supercilious, with a sonnet ever ready on his lips to delight his +friends or an epigram to sting his enemies. + +We shall see him turn his many talents to great uses. He fell to +planning voyages across the Atlantic to discover and settle parts of +North America much as Sir Humphrey Gilbert had done, and as another +young man about court, Sir Francis Drake, was doing. From the Queen, and +from one noble or another who was interested in his marvelous schemes, +he obtained the money to fit out several expeditions. Each in turn +landed near what is now the Roanoke River, and each brought back rich +gifts to the great English Queen. Among other things the explorer saw +the Indians smoking a dried leaf called tobacco, tried the custom, liked +it, and brought it back with him to England. + +Raleigh had a stroke of genius when he named his colony Virginia, in +honor of Elizabeth the Virgin Queen. It pleased her to think that a +great empire in the western world should be named for her. She gave +Raleigh whatever he asked, making him practically governor of all the +English domain in America, and for a long time Virginia was supposed to +cover even part of what later became New England. He started to colonize +the land, but his colonies did not succeed, and he lost all the money he +put into them. Nevertheless his Virginian scheme brought him a great +deal of fame, which he now craved, and kept London talking of him. + +London was soon to talk still more about this daring, brave, and +brilliant Westcountryman. The prophecy of the old sailor at Budleigh +Salterton Bay came true, and for a brief time all England held its +breath while the famous Spanish fleet, called the Armada, bore down upon +her coast. Then all over the country gentlemen of fortune manned ships +and put to sea, but especially the men of Devon, of Somerset, and +Cornwall, counties famed for their sailors. + +Among these men was Raleigh; his advice was eagerly sought by the +Queen's ministers, and when it came to the actual Channel fighting he +made one of many gallant captains. The great Armada came to grief upon +the English coast, and Raleigh had added another to his record of +achievements. + +Having been courtier, colonizer, warrior, Raleigh now blossomed forth as +a poet, and became a friend and patron of Edmund Spenser. He had much +skill in verse, and he was never lacking in imagination. But his real +talents did not lie in that direction, and as in so many other things, +he soon found himself distracted elsewhere. + +The story of Raleigh's manhood belongs to history. Turn to tales of +Elizabeth's court and you will find his name on almost every page. Now +he is high in favor, braving it with the great Earl of Leicester, now +down upon his luck, locked in some royal prison, writing verses to his +many friends. His was a strange career; at one time there was no man in +England whose favor was more sought, yet at the end he died upon the +scaffold charged with treason. Time proved him guiltless of the charge, +and almost at once the English people began to realize how great a light +had been extinguished. + +Through all his varying career he himself was the same brave, dreamy, +ambitious man, the perfect type of that age which we call the +Elizabethan. He could not stay in his native land of Devon; much as he +loved its moorland and its bays, he had to listen to the call of London +and the sea, and follow where their voices led him. Each way the road +was set with many strange adventures, but he met and passed through them +all with the high spirits that were part of his age. His courage never +failed him, nor his joy in fighting his way to fortune with his own +sharp wits. + + + + +IV + +Peter the Great + +The Boy of the Kremlin: 1672-1725 + + +The halls of the Kremlin, the Czar's palace in Moscow, were filled with +a wild rabble of soldiers on a winter afternoon near the end of the +seventeenth century. The guards of the late Czar Alexis were storming +through the maze of corridors and state apartments, breaking statues, +tearing down tapestries, and piercing and cutting to pieces invaluable +paintings with their spears and swords. + +They were big, savage-faced men, pets of the half-civilized Russian +rulers, and were called the Streltsi Guard. + +They had broken into the Kremlin in order to see the boy who was now +Czar, so that they might be sure that his stepmother had not hidden him +away, as the rumor went, in order that her own son Peter might have the +throne for himself. But once inside the Kremlin many of the soldiers +devoted themselves to pillage, until the ringleaders raised the cry, +"Where is the Czar Ivan? Show him to us! Show the boy Ivan to us! Where +is he?" + +In a small room on one of the higher floors a little group of women and +noblemen, all thoroughly frightened, were gathered about two boys. The +noise of the attack on the palace had come to their ears some time +before; they had seen from the windows the mutinous soldiers climbing +the walls and beating down the few loyal servants who had withstood +them. The din was growing more terrific every instant. It was the matter +of only a few minutes before the rioters would break into the room. + +"We must decide at once, friends," said the Czarina Natalia. "If they +enter this room they'll not stop at killing any of us." + +The smaller of the two boys, a sturdy lad of eleven years, spoke up: +"Let me go out on to the Red Staircase with Ivan, mother. When they see +that we are both here they'll be satisfied." + +A dozen objections were raised by the frightened men and women of the +court. It was much too dangerous to trust the lives of the two boys to +the whim of such a maddened mob. + +"Nevertheless Peter is right," said Natalia. "It's the only chance left +to us. They think I have done some harm to Ivan. The only way to prove +that false is for him to stand before them, and my son must go with +him." + +The small boy who had spoken before took these words as final. "Come, +Ivan," said he, and took the other's hand in his. Ivan, a tall, delicate +boy, whose face was white with fear, gripped Peter's hand hard. He was +used to trusting implicitly to his half-brother, although the latter was +two years younger than he. + +One of the noblemen opened the door, and the two boys went out of the +room and crossed the hall to the top of the great Red Staircase. They +looked down on the mob of soldiers who were gradually surging up the +stairs, brandishing swords and halberds, fighting among each other for +the possession of some treasure, and calling continually, "The Czar! +Where are the boys Ivan and Peter? Where are they?" + +At first in their excitement no one noticed the two boys on the +stairway. Ivan, who was by nature timid, shrank away from their sight as +much as he could, but Peter, who was of a different make, stood out in +full view, and held fast to his brother's hand. He had inherited the +iron nerve of the strongest of his ancestors. He looked at the mutinous +rioters with bold, fearless eyes. + +Presently a soldier caught sight of the younger boy and raised a cry +loud above the general din. "There is the boy Peter, but where is Ivan? +The Czar! The Czar!" + +A score of voices took up the cry as all eyes were turned on the +landing, and many men started up the stairs. "There is Peter, but where +is the boy Ivan?" came the deafening chorus. + +"Ivan is here with me," said Peter, his voice clear and high. He tried +to pull Ivan nearer to him so that the men might see him. "Stand up +where they can see you, Ivan!" he begged. "There's nothing to be afraid +of. They only want to see their new Czar." + +Trembling with fear the older boy, who had inherited all the weakness of +his race, and none of its strength, was finally induced to step close to +Peter. So, side by side, their hands clasped, the two looked down on the +crowded stairway, and faced the mob of soldiers. They made a strange +picture, two small boys, standing quite alone, fronting that sea of +passionate, angry faces. + +At sight of Ivan another cry arose. "There's the Czar! Hail Ivan! Hail +the son of the great Alexis!" + +For a moment the onward rush of the mob was checked, but only for a +moment. Three or four soldiers started up the stairs, their lances +pointed at Peter, shouting, "What shall we do with the son of the false +woman Natalia?" They came so close to the boy that their spears almost +touched him before they stopped. Had he turned to run no one can say +what might have happened, but he did not turn, he did not even draw back +nor show a single sign of fear. + +"I am the son of the Czar Alexis also, and I am not afraid of any of +you!" + +The boy's calm eyes fronted the nearest soldiers steadily. The men heard +his words and hesitated. + +"Peter, the son of Alexis, is not afraid of his own father's guards!" +the boy continued. "That is why I came out here when you called me." + +In the hush that had followed his first words his voice carried clear to +all the crowding men. When he finished there came a silence, and then of +a sudden cheer on cheer rose on the stairs and through the hall. "Peter, +the son of Alexis! Hail Peter! Hail the two boy Czars!" + +The nearest soldiers dropped the points of their spears and joined in +the shouting. A flush came into the younger boy's face and he smiled, +and squeezed Ivan's hand tighter. He knew that the danger had passed. + +Slowly the soldiers who had climbed nearest to the boys drew back down +the stairs. Swords were returned to scabbards, harsh voices grew +quieter, and within a quarter of an hour the Red Staircase and the great +hall were empty of men. + +Then the door of the room from which the two boys had come opened, and +Natalia and her women stepped out. The Czarina, a woman of courage +herself, took Peter in her arms. "My brave son," she murmured, "thou art +worthy of thy father. I would have stood beside thee, but the people +hate me, and it would have been worse for us all." + +"I needed no one, little mother," said Peter. "If I am ever to be a +ruler I must not fear to face my own men." Then his face grew more +serious. "But if I ever am Czar they will not break into the Kremlin +this way, mother, nor wilt thou need to hide thyself from them." + +"God grant it be so, Peter!" answered Natalia. "I think they've learned +much from thee this very day." + +The Streltsi had indeed learned that the boy Peter was no coward, and +their dislike changed to affection; but there were others in Moscow who +plotted and planned against him, because the family of the late Czar's +first wife were very powerful in Russia and they hated his second wife +Natalia, and her son, who had been his father's favorite. + +Everything that conspirators could do to break the boy's spirit was +done; he was time and again placed in peril of his life; he was +threatened and tempted and slandered to the people, but all to no avail. +His mother did her best to shield him from his enemies, but when she +found that her care was not enough she trusted to his own remarkable +judgment and courage. These never failed either the boy or his mother. + +As time passed it grew more and more clear that Peter was as strong as +his poor stepbrother Ivan was weak, and in order to satisfy the people +the younger boy was made joint-Czar with the elder. + +The real power in Russia then, however, was the Princess Sophia, Peter's +half-sister, a bitter enemy of both the boy and his mother. She did her +best to break her stepbrother's spirit, hoping that he might come to +some untimely end, as so many of the royal family had already done. She +knew that Ivan was simply a weak tool in her hands, and so bent all her +energies to try and ruin the younger Czar by taking away all restraint +from over him, and letting him indulge every pleasure and whim. + +He was given a palace of his own in a small village outside Moscow, and +Sophia selected fifty boys of his own age to be his playmates. She had +his former teachers dismissed and chose such comrades for him as she +thought would grow up idle, vicious men. + +Fortunately Peter's character was not so easily ruined. His mother and +his old teachers had given him the beginning of an education and instead +of falling into Sophia's snares, he immediately started to turn his +playmates into scholars. + +He formed a sort of military school, where the boys practiced all the +discipline necessary in camp. He himself set to work to learn to use +different tools, and in general he studied the trades of his people. He +managed to get teachers who could instruct the boys in history and +geography, and as a result instead of being good for nothing the circle +of boys in the little palace became unusually energetic and +active-minded. When he finally left the palace it had become a +well-organized military school, and continued to be run as such for a +long time afterward. + +When the Princess Sophia realized that these plans of hers were failing, +she decided on a more desperate measure. On the night of August 7, 1689, +Peter was suddenly waked in the middle of night by fugitive soldiers +coming from the Kremlin, who warned him that Sophia had gathered a band +of soldiers to come out to his palace and kill him. The boy, realizing +his extreme peril, jumped out of bed, and throwing on a few clothes ran +to the stables, where he found his favorite horse and set out with some +comrades into the neighboring forest. + +There they stayed practically in hiding until officers came from the +palace bringing him food and clothing, and gradually gathering about him +until he had quite a small body-guard. By this time he had made up his +mind what to do. + +Feeling sufficiently strong with his friends, he finally set out for a +monastery, thinking to find safe refuge there until the storm should +pass. Here more friends came to join him, and as the news of Sophia's +plot to kill the boy Czar was spread through the country, a new +enthusiasm for the youthful Peter sprang up, and the very troops that +had formerly sided with the Princess now denounced her as a traitor to +Russia. Peter wrote to his stepsister asking for explanations about the +plot at the Kremlin, but the Princess could make no satisfactory reply. + +The monastery was now crowded with officers of the court who had come to +realize that Sophia's power was gone and that the boy Czar's strength +was rising rapidly. The time had come when he was strong enough to +strike. He marched on the Kremlin and captured Sophia and those who had +been in the conspiracy with her. Some of the Streltsi Guard who had +taken part against him were tried and executed, and the Princess Sophia +was shut up in a convent for the remainder of her life. + +Such events did not tend to make the boy a merciful ruler, but +surrounded as he was by traitors and spies he was compelled to rule with +an iron hand if he was to rule at all. + +From this time dates the beginning of his real influence in Russia. The +army had been poorly organized. Now the young King set to work to drill +it as effectively as he had drilled his playmates. He learned how cannon +were built, and studied the manufacture of all kinds of firearms. About +the same time he became deeply interested in ship-building, and +determined to build a fleet of war-vessels on Lake Plestcheief. + +He took some young men of his own age with him to the bank of the lake +and there built a one-storied wooden house, a very primitive building, +the windows filled with mica instead of glass, and set a double-headed +eagle with a gilt wooden crown over the door to show it was the Czar's +residence. Here he worked hard all one winter, he himself taking a hand +in all the building that was done, laboring like any carpenter and +enjoying the work far more than the state ceremonies he was obliged to +go through with at the Kremlin. + +But even when he was so far from Moscow and so actively engaged, he sent +continual messages to the mother who had so often shielded him from +harm. Once he wrote to her as follows: + + "To my best beloved, and, while bodily life endures, my dearest + little mother, the Lady Czarina and Grand Duchess Natalia Kirilovna. + Thy little son, now here at work, Petrushka, asks thy blessing and + wishes news of thy health. We, through thy prayers, are all well, and + the lake has been cleared of ice to-day, and all the boats, except + the big ship, are finished, only we have to wait for ropes. Therefore + I beg thy kindness that these ropes, seven hundred fathoms long, be + sent from the artillery department without delay, for our work is + waiting for them, and our stay here is so much prolonged." + +The Russians of that day knew little about building ships, and so Peter +finally went to Amsterdam. Here he dressed like a Dutch sea-captain and +spent his time with sailors and ship-builders, and thoroughly enjoyed +the difference between this new life and that at home. Many of his +native customs he now learned to look upon as uncouth. The Russians had +poor taste in dress; the Imperial Guards wore old-fashioned uniforms +consisting of a long gown, which made it very difficult for them to move +rapidly. Peter saw some French soldiers and at once decided to adopt +their smarter and more serviceable style of dress. + +[Illustration: PETER THE GREAT] + +In the same way he changed the old Russian military drill to something +resembling that of the other European countries. He had new carriages +and furniture and foods imported from France and England, and tried to +make Moscow more like a modern city than like the semi-barbarous Asiatic +village it had been. The Russian men almost all wore long, flowing +beards, and this fashion Peter quickly changed, insisting that the men +about him should adopt the fashion of the French court. + +It is hard to realize how far behind the rest of the countries of Europe +the Russia of those days was; yet it is due almost entirely to the young +Czar Peter that this great northern country finally came out from +semi-darkness. It must not be supposed that these great changes were at +first popular with the court; there was tremendous opposition to almost +everything Peter did, but the people gradually realized that he was +really working for their benefit and that he was deeply interested in +improving their condition. Slowly his popularity grew with the middle +and lower classes, until finally they spoke of their "little Czar," as +they called him affectionately, almost as though he were really one of +themselves. + +Few rulers have had a harder task than did Peter. All during his youth +the nobles plotted against him, and as he grew to manhood he escaped +assassination again and again by the narrowest of chances, but every +time he had to face danger he grew more self-reliant and more +determined, and gradually his grip on the men of both court and army +grew so strong that they realized places had changed, and that they were +as absolutely his servants as he was their master. + +In time Peter became a great king, a fearless, purposeful ruler who knit +his people together as no other Czar had ever been able to do. He led +the armies he had himself drilled to many victories. He built a great +fleet in the Baltic Sea. He established a new capital near the shores of +the Baltic, and named it after his own patron saint, St. Petersburg. + +The history of his life is full of tremendous difficulties and dangers, +but he fronted each one as he had fronted the riotous Streltsi Guards +when he was a boy of eleven, and so history has given him the title of +most powerful of all Russian Czars and has called him "Peter the +Great." + + + + +V + +Frederick the Great + +The Boy of Potsdam: 1712-1788 + + +A little boy and girl sat playing on a harpsichord in one of the great +stiffly-furnished and lofty-ceilinged rooms of the Potsdam Palace, +outside Berlin. The boy wore his yellow hair in long curls, his eyes +were merry and he laughed often, while his sister, who was a little +older, seemed quite as happy. The children were practicing for their +music lesson, and only too glad to be free of their teachers for a time, +because music was dearest to them both. + +Without a word of warning the door of the room was thrown open, and a +big, heavy-faced man stood on the threshold. + +"What's all this?" he cried, his voice snarling with anger, and his +small eyes shot with red. "Haven't I given orders that you're never to +touch that thing again?" + +At the sound of the man's voice both children had jumped from their +chairs and stood, stiff as ramrods, facing the speaker. The boy had +raised his hand to the side of his head in salute. + +"Please, sir," said the girl, "we're both so very fond of music." + +"Silence," commanded the man, who was no other than their father, +Frederick William, King of Prussia. "Fritz can speak for himself; he +doesn't need a girl to defend him." + +"Wilhelmina has told you, sir," said the boy, "how much we both love +music. Indeed I'd rather listen to it than do anything else, and I want +to learn how to play it for myself. I don't care anything about being a +soldier." + +The King's face was almost purple with anger. He looked as though he +would box the boy's ears on the spot, but he held himself in check. + +"You little brat!" he cried. "A soldier you shall be, and nothing else! +Do you think the kingdom of Prussia can be ruled by a crazy fool of a +musician? Don't talk to me of harpsichords, or books, or pictures. +You're not to be a woman, but a king!" + +The boy knew his father too well to attempt any answer; there was no one +in Prussia who would dare speak freely before King Frederick William. + +After scowling at his son in silence for some minutes the man spoke +again. "Listen to my orders and see that you obey them. From to-day your +music-masters are discharged, every instrument is moved from the palace, +and if either of you two is found playing such things I will have you +locked in your rooms for a week to live on barley and water. Now, sir, +step before me to the hair-dresser. I'll have those locks of yours shorn +so that you'll look less like a girl and more like a grenadier." + +Fritz, keeping back the tears in mingled shame and terror, walked to +the door and paced down the hall before his father. He tried to hold +himself straight like a soldier, but it was hard when he felt as though +he were being marched to execution. + +The King handed the boy over to the hair-dresser, and in fifteen minutes +the curls were all gone and Fritz's hair was close-cropped like a man's. +As soon as he was free he ran to his mother's room, and there the gentle +Queen, Sophia Dorothea, took him in her arms and comforted him. She knew +how sensitive her little son was, how absolutely different from his +father, and she could sympathize with both the children's suffering +under the King's cruelty. + +For once the mother dared to disobey her husband. The next week she told +the two children to go to a distant part of the palace grounds where +there was a deep wood, and see what they should find there. They obeyed, +and ran eagerly down the path to the forest where they had often played +under the trees and in the caves in the rocks. They came to a little +greenwood circle completely hidden from the roads and there found their +music-master. He led them to a cave, and showed them Wilhelmina's little +spinnet, and Fritz's flute lying on it. That was their mother's +surprise. She had arranged that the children's music teacher should meet +them out there and give them the lessons they wanted. Boy and girl were +happy again; they took up their music eagerly, and were soon playing as +of old. Perhaps the very secrecy lent the lessons charm. + +The hours spent in the forest and cave were a great success, but one +day Fritz found a small drum at the palace, and forgetting the King's +orders he started to march about the halls beating it, followed by the +admiring Wilhelmina. Suddenly, in the middle of the triumphal +procession, the King came upon them. Poor Fritz dropped the drumsticks +and stood at attention, while Wilhelmina, behind him, grew white with +fear of what should happen. + +To their amazement the King's stern face softened; he smiled, then he +laughed and clapped his hands. "Ah, Fritz, now you're a soldier! I +mistook you for one of my own guard, boy." + +The King was delighted. He thought that at last his son was fired with +martial fervor. While the boy went back through the halls beating his +drum Frederick called the Queen to watch his soldier son, and +immediately ordered the court artist to paint a picture of the scene on +canvas. A day or two later he told Fritz of a plan he had in store. He +would form a military company of boys of his own age for him, build them +an arsenal on the palace grounds, and have them drilled by officers of +the army. + +With the King to speak was to act. A month had not passed before the +small boy, dressed in a general's uniform, found himself in command of +about three hundred youths of his own age, all properly equipped with +uniforms and arms, and known as "The Crown Prince Cadets." They made a +remarkable contrast to that other regiment of which King Frederick +William was so proud, which was made up of giants, men all over six feet +six inches tall, seized wherever they were found in Prussia and +elsewhere and forced into his army. + +The boy general and his cadets were drilled hours at a time day after +day by the Prussian officers, in the hope of making soldiers of them and +nothing else. Fritz hated it; he wanted to read and to learn music, and +day by day he found less and less time to steal off to those wonderful +meetings in the woods or to romp with Wilhelmina in the schoolroom. The +French governess who had taught him was taken away, and he was placed +under military tutors who made him learn gunnery and battle tactics at +the arsenal which his father had built for him on the grounds. + +When the boy was ten the King started to take him to all the military +reviews. In going from garrison to garrison the King rode on a hard +wagon called a sausage-car, which was simply a padded pole about ten +feet long on which the riders sat astride. Ten or more men would jolt +over the roads on such cars with the King summer and winter, and he made +the boy ride in front of him, through the broiling sun or the winter +snow, waking him whenever he fell asleep by pulling his ear and saying, +"Too much sleep stupefies a fellow." + +In such iron fashion the father did his best to change the sensitive, +gentle nature of his son to something like his own. + +At the age of ten Fritz's days were marked out hour by hour by Frederick +William. Not even Sunday was free. He was marched from teacher to +teacher, all sports were denied him, and he was never allowed to read +or play. His hair was kept close cut, his clothes were heavy and coarse, +he was treated more like a prisoner than a prince. To the boy's masters +the King gave one direction: "Teach him to seek all glory in the soldier +profession." When his mother or sister dared to interfere the King would +turn on them in a rage; Wilhelmina was sent time and again to her room, +to be starved until she grew more docile. + +The boy's time was divided between Berlin and the Palace of +Wusterhausen, a country seat some twenty miles outside of the capital. +The palace was a very simple dwelling set in the middle of swampy +fields, with a fringe of thickets. In the grounds were many natural +fish-ponds, and game of all kinds was plentiful in the woods. The somber +old monarch loved this place, and had built there a fountain with stone +steps, where he liked to sit in the evening and smoke his long porcelain +pipe. He often had his dinner served by the fountain, and afterward +would throw himself down on the grass for a nap. Aside from this simple +entertainment, the King's only pleasure lay in hunting in the woods. + +The children and their mother found Wusterhausen very unattractive. The +only pets they were allowed were two black bears, very ugly and vicious. +They had no comforts indoors, and were treated as though they were +children of the meanest peasant. Some boys might have found sport in the +fish-ponds, the groves and the streams about the place, filled as they +were with fish and game, but Fritz cared nothing for such things. Their +loneliness drew the two children closer and closer together, and their +dislike of their father increased with each year that he took them out +to Wusterhausen. + +The father, on his part, was growing more and more contemptuous of his +son. He found Fritz cared nothing for the army, nothing for the chase, +that the hardship and exposure of rough life were torture to him. Worse +than that, he had discovered some verses in French that Fritz had +written, and spoke of him scornfully to the men of his court as "the +French flute-player and poet." It would have been very hard for the boy +if he had not had a mother and sister who were so devoted to him, and +did everything they possibly could to protect him from his father's +tyranny. + +When he was fourteen, Frederick William appointed Fritz captain of his +Grenadier Guards. This was the regiment made up of giants, and was one +of the most singular passions of the very singular old King. He sent men +through the whole of Europe and Asia to search for very tall men. Some +of the regiment were almost nine feet high. When a foreign monarch +wished to curry favor with the King of Prussia he would send him a +giant. The King showered favors on these men. He had court painters +paint portraits of each one of them. They were the very centre of that +great army which was the sole pride of the old warrior, and which he was +building up so that it should become the greatest military force in +Europe. + +Fritz tried to do his duty as captain of the regiment, and gradually +acquired something of a military bearing. For a short time his father +was pleased, but his pleasure did not last long; for the boy could not +keep away from the fascinations of music and of books, and all of the +various arts which were constantly coming into Prussia from France. + +The flute was Fritz's favorite instrument, and it so happened that a +very celebrated teacher of the flute came from Dresden about this time, +and gave lessons in the Prussian capital. As soon as Fritz learned that +this man was a splendid teacher he arranged to have him come secretly to +his room at Potsdam. The boy's mother knew of this plan, and did her +best to keep his secret; but it was a very dangerous matter, for the old +King was growing more and more suspicious, and also more and more +fierce. A friend of Fritz's, who was about his own age, stood guard +outside the boy's room, while he was having his lessons on the flute, +and another guard was stationed at the entrance to the palace grounds +with orders to send word at once if the King should appear. + +When Fritz was satisfied of his safety, he would go up to his own room, +throw aside the tight, heavy military coat which he hated, and put on a +flowing French dressing-gown, scarlet colored, and embroidered with +gold. Then, dressed to suit himself, he would take his music lesson, and +enjoy every minute of the stolen pleasure. + +One day, however, in the middle of his playing, the friend at the door +rushed into the room announcing that the King was coming. This boy and +the teacher seized the flutes and music books and ran into a +wood-closet, where they stood shaking with fear. Fritz threw off his +dressing-gown, pulled on his military coat and sat down at a table, +opening a book. + +Now the old King, his brows bent with anger, burst into the room. The +sight of his delicate son reading seemed like fuel to his rage. He never +minced his words, and proceeded to heap abuse on the head of the poor +Prince, when all of a sudden he caught sight of the end of the scarlet +gown sticking out from behind a screen. "What is that?" he cried, and +stepping across the room pulled the gown out. Beside himself with rage +he crammed it into the fireplace, and threw after it many of the +ornaments the boy had used to decorate his room. Then he walked to the +bookshelves and swept all the volumes to the floor, saying that he would +have a bookseller buy the library next day, because his son was to be a +soldier and not a scholar. For an hour he stayed there, pacing up and +down the room, lecturing Fritz until the boy was almost sick with shame. +Finally he left, and the two in the wood-closet were able to come out, +both of them almost as badly frightened as the Prince himself. + +But if the King treated his son so badly, he treated his daughter +Wilhelmina none the less so. He could hardly stand the sight of her at +times, and her mother had to arrange a series of screens in her room so +that when Frederick William came to see her the daughter could escape +behind them. After such scenes Fritz and Wilhelmina would try to comfort +each other, but the boy was gradually growing more sullen and +rebellious. + +Again and again the boy thought of escape; he would have been only too +glad to give up his position as Prince in exchange for the chance to +live simply in some foreign land, free to follow his own tastes as other +boys did theirs. He would have made the attempt, but he knew only too +well that should he escape his father's hand would fall in terrible +wrath on his dear sister Wilhelmina. He decided to stay and bear the +burdens of this life the King had planned for him rather than desert his +mother and sister. He was not a coward even if he was not made of iron. + +At last the boy felt that he must act in self-defense. His father, +suffering from the gout, took to flogging Fritz in the very presence of +the lords and ladies of the court. The boy had pride, though his father +had done his best to kill it. Once, after striking blows at Fritz's head +before the assembled court, the King cried, "Had I been so treated by my +father, I would have blown my brains out. But this fellow has no honor. +He takes all that comes." + +Fritz could stand such treatment no longer. Praying that Wilhelmina +might not suffer he planned an escape with a friend. + +His father was taking him on a journey to the Rhine in the company of a +small guard of soldiers who were told to treat the boy like a prisoner. +Three officers were ordered to ride in the same carriage with Fritz, and +never to leave him alone. The King was a hard traveler, and seemed +positively to wish for extra hardships and fatigues, the party scarcely +stopping for food or sleep. At one place, however, a short stay was +made, and there Fritz planned to escape. + +They had arrived at the town very late, and the boy with his officers +slept in a barn, as was not infrequently the case. The usual hour for +starting in the morning was three o'clock. A little after midnight Fritz +saw that his companions were sound asleep, and rose and crept out into +the open air. He had made arrangements with a servant to meet him with +horses on the village green. The boy reached the green and found the +horses, but at the same moment one of the guards, who had been awakened +by the noise Fritz made in leaving the barn, caught up with him, and +demanded of the servant who held the horses: "Sirrah! What are you doing +with those beasts?" + +The man answered, "I am getting the horses ready for the start." + +"We do not start till five o'clock. Take them back at once to the +stable." The officer pretended not to see Fritz, who had to slink back +at his heels to the barn, fully conscious that his chance to escape was +gone. + +News of this attempt reached the King, and the next day, when he met his +son, he said sarcastically, "Ah, you are still here then? I thought that +by this time you would have been in Paris." + +All the boy's spirit had not been crushed out of him, and he dared to +answer, "I certainly would have been there now had I really wished it." + +Again he tried to escape, and again he was caught, and this time he was +brought directly to the King. The father stared at his son as though he +were some wild beast, and then said angrily: "Why did you attempt to +desert?" + +"I wanted to escape because you never treat me like your son, but like +some common slave." + +"You're a cowardly deserter," said the King, "without any feelings of +honor." + +"I have as much honor as you have," answered Fritz, "and I've done only +what I've heard you say you would have done if you had been treated as I +have." + +The King, maddened beyond description, drew his sword, and would have +struck the boy had not a general in attendance thrown himself between +them, exclaiming: "Sire, you may kill me, but spare your son." + +The boy was taken out of the room and locked in prison, where he was +guarded by two sentries with fixed bayonets. The King proclaimed him a +deserter from the army, and ordered him tried for that crime. It is +small wonder that Fritz declared he would have been glad to exchange his +place for that of the poorest serf in Prussia. + +Fritz was placed in a strongly barred room like a dungeon, with no +furniture in it, and lighted by a single slit in the wall so high that +the boy could not look out of it. The coarsest brown clothes were given +him to wear. He was allowed only one or two books. His food was bought +at a near-by butcher-shop, and was cut for him, for he was not allowed a +knife. The door of his prison was opened three times a day for +ventilation, and he was provided with a single tallow candle which had +to be put out by seven o'clock in the evening. This was the way the +Crown Prince of Prussia lived when he was nineteen years old, and if +the father did not actually succeed in breaking all the boy's spirit, +he was at least changing this lovable, gentle-natured youth into a stern +and gloomy young man. + +Eventually the boy was released from his prison, but as long as his +father lived he was treated with all the harshness the King's mind could +devise. His sister Wilhelmina was kept away from him, and finally +married to a man for whom she cared little. Fritz was cut off from all +interests save that of the army, but gradually he began to acquire +something of his father's interest in creating a splendid fighting +machine. + +In time he became King of Prussia himself, free at last to do as he +would. He sought out men of genius, musicians, poets, and thinkers. He +offered Voltaire, the great Frenchman, a home with him, and his happiest +hours were spent in his company, or listening to music, or playing the +flute he had loved as a boy. But that was only one side of him, and the +side which was least seen. On the world's side he was the grasping +ruler, the great general who forced war on all his neighbors, and who +came to be known as the conqueror of Europe. + +The boy Fritz of Prussia might have become one of Europe's greatest +sovereigns, for he was naturally endowed with a love of all the finer +things of life. Instead he became a despot who plunged Europe for years +into the horrors of useless war. For this misfortune his father was +responsible. The loving mother and sister could not counterbalance the +terrible severity of the cruel King. Gradually Fritz changed from the +sunny lad who had played in the gardens of Potsdam with Wilhelmina to a +severe and arbitrary monarch. + +His father had taught him that a country's greatness depended on its +soldiers, and so Fritz made Prussia an army and compelled the world to +admit the might of his troops. To Europe he was the ambitious tyrant, +Frederick the Great. It was only to Wilhelmina and a few friends that he +showed a little of that softer nature which had been his as the boy of +Potsdam. + +At the Charlottenburg Palace hangs the famous portrait of him playing +upon the drum. It was a long step from that boy to the man Frederick the +Great. + + + + +VI + +George Washington + +The Boy of the Old Dominion: 1732-1799 + + +A few miles below Mount Vernon, on the Potomac River, was the beautiful +estate of Belvoir, belonging to an English gentleman of rank named Lord +Fairfax. The broad Potomac wound about the base of the lawn that sloped +gently downward from the old colonial mansion which sat upon a height +looking out across the exquisite Virginia country. + +The Potomac was not a busy river then, and the only trade that came up +it was such as was needed to supply the rich planters on the shores with +food and clothing. From the porch of Belvoir one might see an occasional +sailing vessel dropping up with the tide, lately come from England to +make a tour of the seaboard states, and to take home cotton and tobacco +in exchange for the silks and satins brought out to the colonies. + +A great man in both England and America was Lord Fairfax; he owned many +estates in both countries, but his favorite was this of Belvoir, not +only because of its great natural beauty, but because he liked the +company of the Virginia planters, who joined a certain frankness and +simplicity of life with all the charms of European refinement. + +Lord Fairfax kept up all the old English customs in his Potomac home. He +had a passion for horses and for hunting, and his pack of foxhounds was +the best in the colony. Sometimes he had the company of men of his own +age to hunt with him, but he was always sure that he could count upon +the fellowship of a certain boy, the son of a neighbor, named +Washington. Whenever the hunting season arrived, Lord Fairfax sent word +to Mrs. Washington that he would be glad of the company of her eldest +son George, and a day or two later the boy would appear at Belvoir, keen +to mount horse and be off for the chase. + +On one such winter day Lord Fairfax and his friend George were hunting +alone. They had had a good run and caught their fox, and were returning +home in a leisurely fashion across the rolling country south of the +hills. They were a curious couple. + +The Englishman was nearly sixty years old, more than six feet tall, very +gaunt and big-boned, with gray eyes overhung by bushy brows, sharp +features, and keen, aquiline nose. He had been a great beau in his +youthful days in London, and there was no mistaking the mark of +authority that sat upon him. + +The boy who rode by his side was not yet sixteen years old, and yet he +scarcely seemed a boy, nor would his manner have led one to treat him as +such. He was unusually tall and strong for his years, and he had so +trained himself in a strict code of conduct that a singular gravity and +decision marked his bearing. This might have had much to do with the +bond of affection between the man and the youth. Lord Fairfax was not +ashamed to listen seriously to the opinions of young George Washington, +and he had learnt that those opinions were not apt to be trivial, but +the result of deep observation and thought. + +[Illustration: MRS. WASHINGTON URGES GEORGE NOT TO ENTER THE NAVY] + +As they rode home the man asked the boy what he was planning to do. He +knew that Mrs. Washington was poor and that her son would have to make +his own way in the world. + +"What should you like to be, George?" he inquired. "I dare say you've +had enough schooling by this time." + +"The sea was my first choice, sir," was the answer. "My brother Lawrence +got me a commission in the navy, but at the last minute mother asked me +not to leave her. She has had hard times bringing us all up, and I felt, +as the eldest, that I ought to stay at home; so I gave up my +commission." + +"That was hard," said Lord Fairfax, "and yet I think you did well. There +should be openings for a young man in the colonies. It seems to me I +heard that you were very fond of the surveyor's work." + +The boy looked up quickly, and his bright eyes flashed. "So I am, sir. I +have made surveys of all the fields near school, and have got the +figures in my books at home. I should like very much to be a real +surveyor." + +"Well, George," said Lord Fairfax, "perhaps I can help you then. I've +bought lands out west, the other side the Appalachians. It's a big tract +I own, but I know little about it, and I'm told that men are settling +out there and taking it up themselves. I should like to have it +surveyed, and I think you're just the one to do it." + +"I should like it above all things," said the boy, "if you think you can +trust me to do the work properly." + +Lord Fairfax smiled slightly as he looked down at his companion. He was +apt to be somewhat amused at Washington's serious modesty. "I'll show +you the plans after dinner. I almost wish I could go out there with +you." + +They were now nearing Belvoir, and the man put spurs to his horse and +dashed across the intervening fields. The boy followed close behind, +sitting his horse to perfection. Just before they reached Belvoir they +came to a high hedge. Lord Fairfax put his horse at it and went flying +over. A second later George had followed him. There was no feat of +horsemanship to which he was not equal. + +A little later dinner was served in the big dining-room at Belvoir. Lord +Fairfax had his brother's family living with him, and with one or two +friends who were apt to be staying at the house they made quite a large +party. The long polished mahogany table gleamed with silver and glass. +Candles on it and in sconces about the white paneled walls shed a +pleasant lustre over the dinner party. + +It was a time when men and women paid great attention to dress. The +ladies wore light flowered gowns, and the men brilliant coats and +knee-breeches, with lace stocks and white powdered hair. Their manners +were of the courts of Europe, polished in the extreme, and they had all +been trained to make an art of conversation. Negro servants waited on +the table, and the noble lord presided at its head with something of the +majesty of a medieval baron in his castle. There were young people +present, and George sat with them, paying gallant speeches to the girls +and telling stories of sport to the boys. He was a popular youth, having +a singularly gentle manner which made him a great favorite with those of +his own age. + +After dinner Lord Fairfax took George to his study, and spread out the +plans of his western estate. He told the boy just where to go and what +to do, and George made notes in a small pocketbook, asking questions now +and then which showed a remarkable knowledge of the surveyor's work. + +"When can you start?" Lord Fairfax asked, as he finished with the plans. + +"At once," said the boy, "if mother can spare me, and I think she can." + +"Good. I'd like another hunt with you before you go, but when there's +work afoot a man shouldn't tarry. The sooner you start the better." + +A little later George was sleeping soundly in the guest-room +above-stairs dreaming of the adventures he hoped soon to have. + +On a March day in 1748 Washington set out with young George Fairfax, a +nephew of the English lord, to make the surveying expedition. Their road +led by Ashley's Gap, a deep pass through the Blue Ridge, that +picturesque line of mountains which had so far marked the boundary of +civilized Virginia. + +When they reached the pass they found at its base a rapidly rising +river. The melting snow which still lingered on the hilltops had swollen +the stream and in places had made the road almost impassable. The two +horsemen, by searching for fords, managed to make their way through the +pass, and came out into the wide, smiling valley of Virginia, bounded by +the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Alleghanies. Here flowed that +picturesque river called by the Indian name of Shenandoah, which means +"the Daughter of the Stars." + +The first stop the travelers made was at a rough lodge house where one +of Lord Fairfax's bailiffs lived, and here the actual work of surveying +began. Spring was rapidly coming, and young George Washington was by no +means blind to the beauties of the country in that season. He tried, +however, to look about him with a practical eye. He studied the valley +for building sites. He examined the soil. He made carefully measured +maps and drawings, after using his surveyor's rod and chain. When he had +learned all that he wanted of this locality, he followed the valley down +toward the Potomac, he and Fairfax camping out at nights under the +trees, sleeping beside a watch-fire, and keeping ever on the alert for +attack by Indians or wild animals. + +When they had reached the river they found it so swollen with spring +floods that there seemed no way of crossing it. Finally, however, they +met an Indian with a birch-bark canoe and bargained with him to take +them across. In this way, swimming their horses, they reached the +Maryland side, and set out again westward. + +Shortly after they had left the river they came to a planter's house +where they stayed over night. The next day they were surprised by the +arrival of a war party of thirty Indians carrying scalps won in battle. +The planter knew how to treat the Indians, and soon made friends with +them by offering them whiskey. George had seen little of the red men and +begged them to hold a war-dance. + +The white men and the red went out into a meadow and there built a fire, +round which the braves took their seats. The chief made a speech telling +of the tribe's deeds of valor, and calling on the warriors to win new +triumphs. Gradually one by one the reclining members of the band rose +and circled about the fire in a slow swinging step. Two Indians at a +little distance beat upon a rough drum made of wood covered with +deerskin and half filled with water. + +As the chief's voice rose higher and higher and the music grew louder +and louder, more and more men joined the dance, until finally all the +tribe was dancing about the fire, and their pace grew ever faster. Now, +from time to time, one would leap in the air uttering savage cries and +yells, then another, and finally all seemed absolutely lost in a sort of +demon's frenzy. Suddenly, at a sharp command from the chief, the dance +and the music ceased, and the warriors came up to their white friends +smiling and asking for more whiskey. + +The scene made a deep impression on George Washington. So far he had +lived only among white people, and knew little of the Indian in his +native haunts, but from the date of this war-dance he began to study +the red man's character, and before long he had become an expert in the +art of dealing with these people. + +For a month George and young Fairfax traveled through the land that +belonged to the latter's uncle, and at the end of that time the boy had +made practically a complete survey of the region. By the middle of April +he was back at Belvoir. His plans were examined and approved, and he was +well paid for his services. + +So pleased was the Englishman with George's work that he used his +efforts to get him the appointment of Public Surveyor. The position +pleased the boy, who at once started to make maps of the whole region +lying along the Potomac. He divided his time between his mother's simple +house, the big house which his older half-brother, Lawrence, had built +at Mount Vernon, and Lord Fairfax's seat at Belvoir. The strongest +friendship had grown up between the nobleman and the boy, and George +unquestionably profited greatly by his talks with this man, who was very +fond of literature and art, and who had known the most distinguished men +and women of Europe. + +Belvoir had a fine library, and George spent much of his spare time +there reading with special eagerness the history of England and +Addison's essays in the _Spectator_. His only schooling had been that +which he had gained at a very primitive log schoolhouse, where an old +man named Hobby, originally a bondsman, taught the children of the +plantations reading, writing, and arithmetic. George, however, was not +the boy to be content with such a simple education, and he had made up +his mind that if he could not go to William and Mary College he would at +least learn all he could from Lord Fairfax's well-stocked library. + +Young Washington's work as a surveyor was shortly cut in upon by the +outbreak of trouble with France. In looking over the youths of the +neighborhood who were likely to make good soldiers, attention was almost +at once attracted to him. Everybody knew he had a great sense of +responsibility, and his feats as an athlete were equally well known. + +As a small boy he had been unusually big and strong for his age, and had +always delighted in any kind of contest of strength. He could outrun, +outride and outbox any boy of either side the Potomac, and had proved it +in many contests of skill. When he was at Hobby's school he had liked to +form his mates into companies at recess time, with cane stalks for +rifles and dried gourds for drums, and drill them in the manual of arms. +They had fought mimic battles, and Washington always commanded one side. +He had really learned a good deal of the art of war in this way, and so +when men were casting about for likely young officers they naturally +thought of the boy surveyor. + +His brother Lawrence had sufficient influence to procure him an +appointment as District Adjutant General, and had him make his +headquarters at Mount Vernon, where he immediately began to drill the +raw recruits of the countryside. But in the midst of these military +operations Lawrence fell ill and had to make a sea voyage to the West +Indies, taking his young brother George with him as company. + +In the West Indies George caught smallpox, but he made a quick recovery +and after a short convalescence began to enjoy the tropical life which +was so entirely new to him. + +Unfortunately Lawrence Washington did not grow stronger, and finally +came back to Mount Vernon to die under his own roof. He was very young, +very high-spirited and accomplished, and immensely popular with all +Virginians. George had looked up to him as to a second father, and his +loss was a tremendous blow to him. Lawrence for his part must have +realized the very unusual qualities of character in his young +half-brother. He left his great estate of Mount Vernon together with +other property to his wife and daughter, and in case they should die +then to his mother and his brother George. George was asked to take +charge of the estates, and although he was still only a boy in years he +showed such splendid ability and judgment in business matters that the +whole care of the family interests soon fell upon his shoulders. + +We have already seen how deeply this boy impressed older men with his +rare judgment, and it is scarcely strange to find that he was soon after +picked out by the governor of Virginia to command an expedition sent +through the wilderness to treat with the Indians and French. This +required physical strength and firm purpose, the courage to deal with +the Indians and shrewdness to treat with the French. Washington was +known to have all these qualities. His youth was the only thing against +him, and that the governor was glad to overlook. + +It was a rough and perilous expedition, made partly in frail canoes down +the great rivers, and partly by fighting a way through the unbroken +woods. Washington met the Indians whom the French had tried hard to win +over to their side, and by the most skilful diplomacy induced the chiefs +to send back the wampums which the French had given them as tokens of +alliance. He had studied the Indian character and knew the twists and +turns of their peculiar type of mind. He was frank and outspoken with +them, and as a result won their confidence, so that for a great part of +his journey chiefs of the Delawares, the Shawnees and other tribes +traveled with him. + +Besides his success with the red men, George Washington, with his +surveyor's knowledge, made a careful study of the country through which +he passed, the result of which study was of the greatest value in later +years when he commanded an army in that region. + +He picked out the place where the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers meet +as an admirable site for a fort and made a report of its advantages from +a military point of view. Only a year or two later French engineers +proved the correctness of his judgment by settling on the spot as the +site of Fort Du Quesne, which is now Pittsburg. + +Successful as he had been with the Indians, Washington was scarcely less +successful with the civilized French commander. This man, like those at +Belvoir, recognized at once the self-command, the extreme intelligence, +and the modesty of the youth who appeared before him. The old officer +and the young pioneer met as equals and fought diplomatically across the +table as to which nation should win the alliance of the red men. The +negotiations were extremely difficult, enough to try the skill of a man +grown old in diplomatic service, but Washington completed his mission +successfully, and at last set out to retrace his steps home. + +Now they had much more difficulty with the Indians and with the +elements. Some of their guides turned traitors, and they had to watch +their arms by night and day. Ceaseless vigilance had to be used, and +time and again the little band had to make forced marches and change +their course on the spur of the moment to throw off bands of pursuing +savages. When they reached the banks of the Alleghany River they found +that it was only partly frozen over and that great quantities of broken +ice were driving down the channel in the middle. + +Washington knew that a band of hostile Indians was at his heels, and he +had to plan some way of crossing the Alleghany. He decided to build a +raft, but had only one poor hatchet with which to construct it. The men +set to work with this, and labored all day, but night came before the +raft was finished. As soon as they could they launched it and tried to +steer it across with long poles. When they reached the main channel the +raft became jammed between great cakes of ice, and it seemed as if they +would all be swept down-stream with it. Washington planted his pole +against the bottom of the stream and pushed with all his might, in hopes +of holding the raft still until the ice should have gone by. Instead the +current drove the ice against his pole with such force that he was +jerked into the water and only saved himself from being swept down the +roaring channel by seizing one of the logs. + +They found it impossible to reach shore. The best they could do was to +get to an island near which the raft had drifted. Here they passed the +night, exposed to extreme cold, in great danger of freezing; but in the +morning the drift ice was found so tightly wedged together that they +were able to cross over on it to the opposite bank of the Alleghany. + +This was but one of many adventures that befell the little party on its +homeward way. Through all kinds of dangers Washington led his men, and +finally he had the satisfaction of bringing the expedition safely back +to Williamsburg, where he gave the governor a full report of his +remarkable mission. It was practically the first expedition of its kind +in Virginian history, and the story of it soon spread far and wide +through the Old Dominion. + +Everywhere men spoke of the remarkable skill the young man had shown in +dealing with fickle Indians and crafty French. Report was made of the +trained eye with which the young commander had noticed the military +qualities of the country and of the courage he had shown in all sorts of +perils. More than that, the governor of Virginia and other men in power +realized that Washington had prudence, good judgment, and resolution to +a remarkable degree, and told each other that here was a man worthy to +uphold the interests of the colony. From the date of this trip George +Washington became a prominent figure. It was not long before he was to +be the mainstay of Virginia. + +Every one knows the story of Washington's life. From being the mainstay +of Virginia and fighting with General Braddock against the French and +Indians, he became the mainstay of the United Colonies and fought +through seven long and trying years against the veterans of England. Who +can overestimate the great patience and courage and determination that +heroic struggle required of him? + +We see him taking command of the raw recruits at Cambridge, leading his +men in victory at Trenton, sustaining them in defeat at Monmouth, +cheering them through the desperate winter at Valley Forge. Later we see +him as first President of the United States guiding the new republic +through its first troubled years, and later still as the simple +gentleman of Mount Vernon, glad to escape to the peace of the river and +fields he loved. + +There are few figures in history quite so self-reliant as that of this +"Father of his Country." The qualities which made him so remarkable a +boy were the same as those which made him so great a man. + + + + +VII + +Daniel Boone + +The Boy of the Frontier: 1735-1820 + + +Many people were riding to the big red barn that belonged to a +Pennsylvania farmer who lived on the outskirts of the little town of +Oley in Berks County. It was a Sunday morning early in the summer of +1742, and people from all the neighborhood were heading for that barn. +Almost all of them came on horseback, sometimes man and wife riding +separate steeds, sometimes the woman seated behind the man, her hands +grasping his coat. A few families, father, mother and a flock of +children, covered the road on foot, the father with a gun usually +strapped across his back. A very few people drove up in primitive +carriages, something like old-fashioned English chaises. Those who drove +were very proud, because such elegant carriages were rarely seen outside +of Philadelphia, and betokened much social prominence. + +The big doors of the red barn stood wide open, and as soon as the horses +were properly tethered the country people streamed inside. Most +primitive benches had been placed in rows facing a broad platform at the +farther end, and men, women and children filed into the seats with all +the solemnity of people entering church. As soon as they had settled +themselves on the benches they all stared at the platform. + +Five swarthy, red-skinned Indians stood on the raised place, and a +little in front of them stood a tall, strong-featured white man. The +Indians wore their native buckskin clothes, and had chains of bright +beads about their necks, but their faces were as quiet and peaceful as +that of the white man in front of them. One of them, he who looked the +youngest, wore a single brilliant red feather in his long black hair. +All the men stood there patiently until the barn was filled. + +Down in front, close to the platform, sat a small boy, his eyes fixed on +the young Indian who wore the scarlet feather. The boy was about eight +years old. His hair was dark and rather long, his blue eyes looked from +under light yellowish eyebrows, his mouth was very wide but his lips +were thin and straight. He looked alert and interested. + +Presently the white man on the platform, who was a widely-known Moravian +missionary named Count Zinzendorf, raised his voice in prayer. The +farmers, their wives, and children knelt on the floor of the barn. When +the prayer was ended the Count stated that at this meeting, or synod, as +he called it, they were to hear from five Delaware Indians, lately +converted to Christianity. One after the other the red men stepped +forward and spoke, slowly, and sometimes hesitating over long English +words, but with a fine earnestness that was accented by their strong, +dignified bearing and their firm, well-cut features. + +The boy in front listened attentively, although he could not understand +everything they said. He liked Indians, and, as long as he had to go to +church, he was glad he could look at these Delawares. + +The synod came to an end, and the congregation filed slowly out of the +barn. Those who had ridden mounted again, and went their homeward way at +the slow and decorous pace suitable to Sunday. Squire Boone, who had +been sitting on the front bench with his wife Sarah, and nine of his +eleven children, gathered the latter together, and guided them, much +like a flock of sheep, to his log cabin home near Oley. One of them, the +fourth boy, Daniel by name, had lingered behind. He had waited until the +five Delawares were leaving, and then had gone up to the youngest of the +Indians, and touched his hand. + +The Indian looked down at the small boy, and smiled. "How?" he said +encouragingly. + +"Is the feather in your hair a flamingo feather?" asked the boy. + +The Delaware nodded. "Yes, him flamingo." + +"How did you win it?" + +The young man smiled again. "Once the Delawares must have rescue from +the Hurons. A chief sent me with others to take word. We must go through +Iroquois country to get Hurons. Iroquois bad people, war with us. Other +Delawares killed, I take word in safe. Hurons go back with me, and help +my people. Chief give me flamingo feather." + +Admiration shone in the boy's eyes. "I like the Delawares," said he. + +"Delawares like you people," replied the Indian. "What you name?" + +"Daniel Boone. Some day, when I grow up, I'll come and visit you." + +"Good," said the other. He held out his hand as he was used to seeing +white men do. The boy put his palm in the Indian's, and they shook +hands. Then Daniel turned and scampered down the road after his father. + +The boys of the Boone family had a very good time. They lived on what +was then the frontier between civilization and the wilderness. They +learned to hunt and fish, and to know the habits of the animals of the +woods and fields. Moreover they were almost as used to seeing Indians as +to seeing white people, and had none of the fear of them which kept so +many of the settlers farther east continually uneasy. + +The boys and girls had plenty of work to do. Squire Boone had a big +farm, and kept five or six looms working in his house, making homespun +clothes for his large family and to sell to his neighbors. He owned a +splendid grazing range some little distance north of his home, and sent +his cattle there early each spring. + +Shortly after that Sunday of Count Zinzendorf's missionary meeting +Daniel's mother told him that he and she were to take the cattle north +to this range, and watch them during the summer. Squire Boone was needed +at the farm, the older girls were to tend the loom, and the mother had +chosen her favorite son to go north with her. + +At the beginning of summer they drove the cows to the range, and stayed +there with them until autumn. Mrs. Boone and Daniel lived in a small +cabin, far from any neighbors. Near the cabin, over a spring, was a +dairy-house. The sturdy woman worked here, making fine butter and +cheese, while Daniel kept guard over the cattle, letting them wander +over the hills and through the woods as they would, but driving them +back to their pen near the cabin at sunset. + +This duty of herdsman left Daniel much time to himself. He spent this +time in studying woodcraft. He grew passionately fond of everything +belonging to the wilderness; he knew birds and beasts, the trails +through the forest and the course of streams as well as any Indian. He +set traps of his own making, and brought his captures proudly home at +night to his mother. + +At first he had to make his own weapons, and invented a curious +implement, simply a slim, smooth-shaved sapling, with a bunch of twisted +roots at the end. This he learned to throw so skilfully that he could +readily kill birds, rabbits, and small game with it. A little later, +however, his father gave him a rifle, and he became an expert marksman, +able to provide his mother with plenty of game for food. + +It was a wonderful life for a boy who loved the country. All summer he +herded the cattle and roamed through the almost untrodden wilderness. In +the winter his father let him hunt as soon as he had learned to handle a +gun. Daniel roamed far and wide across the Neversink mountain range to +the north and west of Monocacy Valley. He kept his family supplied with +great stock of game, and he cured the animals' skins. When he had a +sufficient store of skins he set out to market them in Philadelphia. + +The city William Penn had founded on the banks of the Delaware was then +a small but prosperous village. It had been designed on the plan of a +checker-board, and most of the houses were surrounded by well-kept +gardens and flourishing orchards. Primitive as it was, the country boy +looked at it with wondering admiration. The houses, which were really +very simple, were palaces to him, when he thought of his father's log +cabin. The men and women, dressed in the latest importations brought +from London by sailing vessels, were figures of surpassing style and +elegance. + +Life in Philadelphia seemed very rich to Daniel Boone; he liked to +loiter along the streets and look in at the wide gardens and the +comfortable white porches, and he liked to stop and watch a city chaise +drive by, with a man in a claret or plum-colored suit and a woman in a +bright taffeta gown. They were almost a different race from the +buckskin-clad people of the wilderness from whom he came. + +Yet the frontier was in fact very near to Philadelphia. A few outlying +fields about the town alone separated it from the wild forest; guards +were ever ready to give warning of danger from Indians on the war-path, +and friendly Indians were constantly met with on the streets. There were +many fur-traders, too, who brought their goods to market as Daniel did, +and one was constantly meeting some rough-clad trapper in from the +wilds for a few days of city life. + +Daniel wandered about slowly, enjoying everything he saw with a boy's +delight in the unusual, and finally exchanging the skins he had brought +with him for things he needed in his hunting,--long, sharp-edged knives, +flints, powder and lead for his gun. + +When Daniel was fourteen his older brother married a young Quakeress who +had received a better education than any of her neighbors. She liked +Daniel and began to teach him to read and to figure. He was not a +brilliant scholar, but he learned enough to do rough surveying work, and +to write letters which expressed what he meant although spelled on a +plan of his own. At about the same time Squire Boone started a +blacksmith shop, and Daniel added this work to what he already did as +herdsman and hunter. The work in iron gave him a chance to plan and +carry out new ideas of his in regard to guns and traps. + +The Pennsylvania country was gradually filling up, and in 1750, when +Daniel was fifteen, Squire Boone began to wonder where his eleven +children would find farming land. Directly westward rose the Alleghany +Mountains, a high barrier to pioneers, and report said that the Indians +who lived just beyond them were particularly fierce. Southwest, however, +lay alluring valleys, broad meadows between the Appalachian ranges that +stretched from Pennsylvania through Virginia and the Carolinas into +far-off Georgia. Men who wanted new and bigger lands went south into the +Blue Ridge country, and some near neighbors of the Boones had pushed on +to the Yadkin Valley which lay in northwestern North Carolina. Reports +came back of the splendid lands they found there. + +Squire Boone was by nature a pioneer, a man who loved to explore new +lands and build new settlements, and so he decided to venture into this +new and promising country. There is a world of romance in such a journey +as this the Boones now undertook, and they were but one of many thousand +families who were pushing west and south, laying the foundations of a +great land. + +Mrs. Boone and the younger children were safely stowed away in +canvas-covered wagons, such as were later known as "prairie schooners," +and Squire Boone with Daniel and the older boys rode horseback, driving +the cattle before them, and forming an armed guard about the caravan. +They crossed the ford at Harper's Ferry and went on up the rich +Shenandoah Valley. At night camp was pitched by a spring and the wagons +drawn up in a circle about the cattle. A camp-fire was built and the +game which Daniel as huntsman had shot was cooked for supper. Sentries +were posted, and all night long father and sons took turns guarding +against attack from Indians. + +Think what a prospect lay before the pioneers! A vast tract of the +fairest and richest land in the world waiting to be claimed from the +wilderness. They had only to choose and take. But the zeal for +exploration led them on, over the table-land of western Virginia, +through the primeval forests, up the currents of the many rivers that +flow toward the Ohio, and so on to the south and west. + +As they neared the Yadkin they came to a splendid stretch of land; a +high prairie, with fine grass for cattle, and near at hand streams edged +with cane-brake. Daniel saw such fish and game as he had never seen +before, fruit to be had for the taking, and a cattle range only bounded +by the distant western mountains. But as he rode into the splendid +prairie he thought more of those distant blue-topped heights than of the +near-by meadows; he knew that on and on westward lay a great unknown +country and already he felt it call to him to be explored. + +Squire Boone chose land at a place called Buffalo Lick near the Yadkin +River, and built a home there. Daniel now spent little time about the +farm, for he had learned the value of skins in the Atlantic cities. +Buffalo were plentiful all about the settlement, and he could kill four +or five deer in a day. It was in truth a hunter's paradise. In a single +day he could kill enough bears to make a ton of what was called +bear-bacon; there were numberless wolves, panthers, and wildcats; +turkeys, beavers, otters and smaller animals ran wild all about him, and +from morn till night he was out hunting in the woods. + +But life was not all sport for the young Boones. Various Indian tribes, +the Catawbas, the Cherokees, and the Shawnese hunted not far away, and +although they were often on friendly terms with the whites, and came to +the settlement to trade, sometimes they put on their war paint, and +descended on the small frontier homes with full fury. + +As the French came down from the north disputing this new land with the +English settlers they made the Indians their allies, and the border +warfare grew more bitter. Finally the English general Braddock decided +to march west himself and try to teach the French and Indians a lesson. + +It was not likely that such a sturdy youth as Daniel Boone could resist +the desire to march against the French. The expedition promised him a +chance to push farther into that wild western country, if nothing else, +and so he joined Braddock's small army with about a hundred other North +Carolina frontiersmen. Daniel was made chief wagoner and blacksmith. + +General Braddock knew nothing of Indian warfare, and the little +expedition proved an easy target for their enemies. The cumbersome and +heavily laden baggage wagons were a great handicap to them. The English +regulars, the frontiersmen, and the baggage train were caught in the +deep ravine of Turtle Creek, a few miles away from Pittsburg, and +suddenly set upon by ambushed Indians commanded by French officers. Many +of the drivers, caught in the trap, were killed. Daniel, however, +contrived to cut the traces of his team, and mounting one of the horses, +escaped down and out of the ravine under a fire of shot and arrows. + +The Indians pursued the fugitives, laying waste the borders of +Pennsylvania and Virginia, but not following as far south as the Yadkin. +Daniel reached home, and set to work to strengthen the settlement's ties +of friendship with the two tribes of the neighborhood, the Catawbas and +the Cherokees. With their aid he was able to provide sufficient +safeguard against the Northern tribes. + +[Illustration: DANIEL BOONE'S FIRST VIEW OF KENTUCKY] + +While he was with Braddock's army Daniel had met a man named John +Finley, who fired his imagination with stories of his wanderings in the +west. He was a fur-trader, and his passion for hunting had already led +him into the Kentucky wilderness as far as the Falls of the Ohio River, +where Louisville now stands. He had had countless adventures with +Indians, with wild animals, and with the perils of stream and forest. +Young Boone drank in the stories eagerly, and resolved that some day he +would himself go out to explore the west. + +Daniel had now come to manhood. For a time he stayed in the Yadkin +Valley, but the call to follow the trail of the buffaloes and the +westward moving Shawnese was clear in his ears. Dangerous days of Indian +fighting on the border held him close at home, but the time came when he +could resist the call no longer. He left home and took his way through +the uncharted hills and forests to Kentucky. + +At times he fought for his life with roving Indians, and at times he +captained some small English garrison beset by the same red men. He won +great renown as an Indian fighter, as a hunter, as an intrepid explorer. +The little town of Boonesborough was named for him, and he defended it +through a long and perilous siege. But so soon as men came and built +homes and staked out farms Boone must be moving west. What he sought was +the wilderness; he was happiest in the great recesses of the woods, or +blazing his own trail across untrodden prairies. + +He led the vanguard into North Carolina, into West Virginia, into +Kentucky, and then into Missouri. He is a splendid example of the man +who must go first to prepare the way for others, in every way the best +type of those brave, hardy pioneers who were claiming the continent for +English-speaking people. The things he had most desired as a boy he most +desired in manhood, the rough life of a new country and the struggle to +overcome the perils of the wild. + + + + +VIII + +John Paul Jones + +The Boy of the Atlantic: 1747-1792 + + +The summer afternoon was fair, and the waves that rolled upon the north +shore of Solway Firth in the western Lowlands of Scotland were calm and +even. But the tide was coming in, and inch by inch was covering the +causeway that led from shore to a high rock some hundred yards away. The +rock was bare of vegetation, and sheer on the landward side, but on the +face toward the sea were rough jutting points that would give a climber +certain footholds, and near the top smooth ledges. + +On one or two of these ledges sea-gulls had built their nests, tucked in +under projecting points where they would be sheltered from wind and +rain. Now the gulls would sweep in from sea, curving in great circles +until they reached their homes, and then would sit on the ledge calling +to their mates across the water. Except for the cries of the gulls, +however, the rock was very quiet. The lazy regular beat of the waves +about its base was very soothing. On the longest ledge, below the +sea-gulls' nests, lay a boy about twelve years old, sound asleep, his +face turned toward the ocean. + +Either the gulls' cries or the sun, now slanting in the west, disturbed +him. He did not open his eyes, but he clenched his fists, and muttered +incoherently. Presently with a start he awoke. He rubbed his eyes, and +then sat up. "What a queer dream!" he said aloud. + +The ledge where he sat was not a very safe place. There was scarcely +room for him to move, and directly below him was the sea. But this boy +was quite as much at home on high rocks or in the water as he was on +land, and he was very fond of looking out for distant sailing vessels +and wondering where they might be bound. + +He glanced along the north shore to the little fishing hamlet of +Arbigland where he lived. He saw that the tide had come in rapidly while +he slept, and that the path to the shore was now covered. He stood up +and stretched his bare arms, brown with sunburn, high over his head. +Then he started to climb down from the ledge by the jutting points of +rock. + +He was as sure-footed as any mountaineer. His clothes were old, so +neither rock nor sea could do them much harm; his feet were bare. He was +short but very broad, and his muscles were strong and supple. When he +came to the foot of the rock he stood a moment, hunting for the deepest +pool at its base, then, loosing his hold, he dove into the water. + +In a few seconds he was up again, floating on his back; and a little +later he struck out, swimming hand over hand, toward a sandy beach to +the south. + +A young man, wearing the uniform of a lieutenant in the British navy, +stood on the beach, watching the boy swim. When the latter had landed +and shaken the water from him much as a dog would, the man approached +him. "Where on earth did you come from, John Paul?" he asked with a +laugh. "The first thing I knew I saw you swimming in from sea." + +"I was out on the rock asleep," said the boy. "The tide came up and cut +me off. And oh, Lieutenant Pearson, I had the strangest dream! I dreamt +I was in the middle of a great sea-fight. I was captain of a ship, and +her yard-arms were on fire, and we were pouring broadsides into the +enemy, afraid any minute that we'd sink. How we did fight that ship!" + +The young officer's eyes glowed. "And I hope you may some day, John!" he +exclaimed. + +"But the strangest part was that our ship didn't fly the English flag," +said the boy. "At the masthead was a flag I'd never seen, red and white +with a blue field filled with stars in the corner. What country's flag +is that?" + +Pearson thought for a moment. "There's no such flag," he said finally. +"I know them all, and there's none like that. The rest of your dream may +come true, but not that about the flag. Come, let's be walking back to +Arbigland." + +Although John Paul's father came of peaceful farmer and fisher folk who +lived about Solway Firth, his mother had been a "Highland lassie," +descended from one of the fighting clans in the Grampian Hills. The boy +had much of the Highlander's love of wild adventure, and found it hard +to live the simple life of the fishing village. The sea appealed to him, +and he much preferred it to the small Scotch parish school. His family +were poor, and as soon as he was able he was set to steering fishing +yawls and hauling lines. At twelve he was as sturdy and capable as most +boys at twenty. + +Many men in Arbigland had heard John Paul beg his father to let him +cross the Solway to the port of Whitehaven and ship on some vessel bound +for America, where his older brother William had found a new home. But +his father saw no opening for his younger son in such a life. All the +way back to town that afternoon the boy told Lieutenant Pearson of his +great desire, and the young officer said he would try to help him. + +The boy's chance, however, came in another way. A few days later it +chanced that Mr. James Younger, a big ship-owner, was on the +landing-place of Arbigland when some of the villagers caught sight of a +small fishing yawl beating up against a stiff northeast squall, trying +to gain the shelter of the little tidal-creek that formed the harbor of +the town. + +Mr. Younger looked long at the boat and then shook his head. "I don't +think she'll do it," he said dubiously. + +Yet the boat came on, and he could soon see that the only crew were a +man and a boy. The boy was steering, handling the sheets and giving +orders, while the man simply sat on the gunwale to trim the boat. + +"Who's the boy?" asked the ship-owner. + +"John Paul," said a bystander. "That's his father there." + +Mr. Younger looked at the man pointed out, who was standing near, and +who did not seem to be in the least alarmed. "Are you the lad's father?" +he asked. + +The man looked up and nodded. "Yes, that's my boy John conning the +boat," said he. "He'll fetch her in. This isn't much of a squall for +him!" + +The father spoke with truth. The boy handled his small craft with such +skill that he soon had her alongside the wharf. As soon as John Paul had +landed Mr. Younger stepped up to the father and asked to be introduced +to the son. Then the ship-owner told him how much he had admired his +seamanship, and asked if he would care to sail as master's apprentice in +a new vessel he owned, which was fitting out for a voyage to Virginia +and the West Indies. The boy's eyes danced with delight; he begged his +father to let him go, and finally Mr. Paul consented. The +twelve-year-old boy had won his wish to go to sea. + +A few days later the brig _Friendship_ sailed from Whitehaven, with +small John Paul on board, and after a slow voyage which lasted +thirty-two days dropped anchor in the Rappahannock River of Virginia. + +The life of a colonial trader was very pleasant in 1760. The +sailing-vessels usually made a triangular voyage, taking some six months +to go from England to the colonies, then to the West Indies, and so east +again. About three of the six months were spent at the small settlements +on shore, discharging goods from England, taking on board cotton and +tobacco, and bartering with the merchants. + +The Virginians, who lived on their great plantations with many servants, +were the most hospitable people in the world, always eager to entertain +a stranger, and the English sailors were given the freedom of the shore. +The _Friendship_ anchored a short distance down the river from where +John Paul's older brother lived, and the boy immediately went to see him +and stayed as his guest for some time. + +This brother William had been adopted by a wealthy planter named Jones, +and the latter was delighted with the young John Paul, and tried to get +him to leave the sailor's life and settle on the Rappahannock. But much +as John liked the easy life of the plantation, the fine riding horses, +the wide fields and splendid rivers, the call of the sea was dearer to +him, and when the _Friendship_ dropped down the Rappahannock bound for +Tobago and the Barbadoes he was on board of her. + +Those were adventurous days for sailors and merchants. Money was to be +made in many ways, and consciences were not overcareful as to the ways. +The prosperous traders of Virginia did not mind taking an interest in +some ocean rover bound on pirate's business, or in the more lawful +slave-trade with the west coast of Africa. For a time, however, young +John Paul sailed for Mr. Younger, and was finally paid by being given a +one-sixth interest in a ship called _King George's Packet_. + +The boy was now first mate, and trade with England being dull, he and +the captain decided to try the slave-trade. For two years they made +prosperous voyages between Jamaica and the coast of Guinea, helping to +found the fortunes of some of the best known families of America by +importing slaves. + +After a year, however, John Paul tired of the business, and sold his +share of the ship to the captain for about one thousand guineas. He was +not yet twenty-one, but his seafaring life had already made him fairly +well-to-do. He planned to go home and see his family in Scotland, and +took passage in the brig _John o' Gaunt_. + +Life on shipboard was full of perils then, and very soon after the brig +had cleared the Windward Islands the terrible scourge of yellow fever +was found to be on the vessel. Within a few days the captain, the mate, +and all of the crew but five had died of the disease. John Paul was +fully exposed to it, but he and the five men escaped it. He was the only +one of those left who knew anything about navigation, so he took +command, and after a stormy passage, with a crew much too small to +handle the brig, he managed to bring her safely to Whitehaven with all +her cargo. He handled her as skilfully as he had the small yawl in +Solway Firth. + +The owners of the _John o' Gaunt_ were delighted and gave John Paul and +his five sailors the ten per cent. share of the cargo which the salvage +laws entitled them to. In addition they offered him the command of a +splendid full-rigged new merchantman which was to sail between England +and America, and a tenth share of all profits. It was a very fine offer +to a man who had barely come of age, but the youth had shown that he +had few equals as a mariner. + +Good fortune shone upon him. He had no sooner sailed up the Rappahannock +again and landed at the plantation where his brother lived than he +learned that the rich old Virginian, William Jones, had recently died +and in his will had named him as one of his heirs. He had always +cherished a fancy for the sturdy, black-haired boy who had made him that +visit. The will provided that John Paul should add the planter's name to +his own. The young captain did not object to this, and so henceforth he +was known as John Paul Jones. + +Scores of stories are told of the young captain's adventures. He loved +danger, and it was his nature to enjoy a fight with men or with the +elements. On a voyage to Jamaica he met with serious trouble. Fever +again reduced the crew to six men, and Jones was the only officer able +to be on deck. A huge negro named Maxwell tried to start a mutiny and +capture the ship for his own uses. He rushed at Jones, and the latter +had to seize a belaying-pin and hit him over the head. The man fell +badly hurt and soon after reaching Jamaica died. + +Jones gave himself up to the authorities and was tried for murder on the +high seas. He said to the court: "I had two brace of loaded pistols in +my belt, and could easily have shot him. I struck with a belaying-pin in +preference, because I hoped that I might subdue him without killing +him." He was acquitted, and soon after offered command of a new ship +built to trade with India. + +[Illustration: PAUL JONES CAPTURING THE "SERAPIS"] + +The charm of life in Virginia appealed more and more strongly to the +sailor. He liked the new country, the society of the young cities along +the Atlantic coast, and he spent less time on the high seas and more +time fishing and hunting on his own land and in Chesapeake Bay. He might +have settled quietly into such prosperous retirement had not the +minutemen of Concord startled the new world into stirring action. + +John Paul Jones loved America and he loved ships. Consequently he was +one of the very first to offer his services in building a new navy. +Congress was glad to have him; he was known as a man of the greatest +courage and of supreme nautical skill. + +On September 23, 1779, Paul Jones, on board the American ship _Bon Homme +Richard_, met the British frigate _Serapis_ off the English coast. A +battle of giants followed, for both ships were manned by brave crews and +commanded by extraordinarily skilful officers. The short, black-haired, +agile American commander saw his ship catch fire, stood on his +quarterdeck while the blazing spars, sails and rigging fell about him, +while his men were mowed down by the terrific broadsides of the +_Serapis_, and calmly directed the fire of shot at the enemy. + +Terribly as the _Bon Homme Richard_ suffered, the _Serapis_ was in still +worse plight. Two-thirds of her men were killed or wounded when Paul +Jones gave the signal to board her. The Americans swarmed over the +enemy's bulwarks, and, armed with pistol and cutlass, cleared the deck. + +The captain of the _Serapis_ fought his ship to the last, but when he +saw the Americans sweeping everything before them and already heading +for the quarterdeck, he himself seized the ensign halyards and struck +his flag. Both ships were in flames, and the smoke was so thick that it +was some minutes before men realized his surrender. There was little to +choose between the two vessels; each was a floating mass of wreckage. + +A little later the English captain went on board the _Bon Homme Richard_ +and tendered his sword to the young American. The latter looked hard at +the English officer. "Captain Pearson?" he asked questioningly. + +The other bowed. + +"Ah, I thought so. I am John Paul Jones, once small John Paul of +Arbigland in the Firth. Do you remember me?" + +Pearson looked at the smoke-grimed face, the keen black eyes, the fine +figure. "I shouldn't have known you. Yes, I remember now." + +Paul Jones took the sword that was held out to him, and asked one of his +midshipmen to escort the British captain to his cabin. He could not help +smiling as a curious recollection came to him. He looked up at the +masthead above him. There floated a flag bearing thirteen red and white +stripes and a blue corner filled with stars. It was the very flag of his +dream as a boy. + +Thus it was that the sturdy Scotch boy, full of the daring spirit of his +Highland ancestors, became the great sea-fighter of a new country, and +ultimately wrote his name in history as the Father of the American +Navy. + + + + +IX + +Mozart + +The Boy of Salzburg: 1756-1791 + + +The great hall of the famous musical society of Bologna in Italy was +filled with musicians on the afternoon of October 9, 1770. They had +gathered to welcome a small boy who had recently come with his father +from the town of Salzburg in Austria. The most marvelous stories of his +genius as a composer had preceded him, and his travels through Europe +had been one long success. Yet it scarcely seemed possible that a boy of +fourteen could know so much about music as this one was said to. That +was why the learned men of Bologna had gathered together this afternoon. +They were going to test Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's skill. + +It was about four o'clock when the usher at the door announced Leopold +Mozart and his son Wolfgang. The members of the society faced the +newcomers. They saw a tall, fine-looking man accompanied by a slim, +fair-haired boy with smiling eyes and mouth. The boy was richly dressed, +with much gold lace upon his coat and trousers. He was perfectly +self-possessed, and when he saw the eyes of all the men in the room +fixed upon him he made a low bow. It was gracefully done, and a murmur +of welcome rose from the members. So this was the boy of whom all the +musicians of Europe were talking. + +The skill of the young composer was now to be put to the test. Three men +approached the boy, the president of the society and two experienced +Kapellmeisters, or choirmasters. In the presence of all the members the +boy was given a difficult anthem, which he was invited to set to music +in four parts. He was then led by a beadle into an adjoining room, and +the door locked. There the boy set to work on his composition. + +Just half an hour later the boy knocked on the door in signal that the +music was finished. The beadle opened the door, and the boy presented +his completed score to the president. The latter examined the score +carefully, then handed it to the Kapellmeisters. They in turn examined +it, and passed it on to the other members. Each man as he looked at the +composition showed his surprise. Finally it had made the circuit of the +room. Then a ballot-box was passed, and each member was asked to cast +either a white or a black ball, depending on whether he thought the +newcomer was worthy to be admitted to the distinguished society of +Bologna. Every ball cast was white. + +Young Mozart was then recalled to the room. When he entered this time he +was greeted with cheers. The president met him, and informed him of his +election. Then the members pressed about him, eager to praise his work. +He had been set a very difficult type of composition, and had +accomplished in half an hour greater results than any other candidate +had ever reached in three hours. + +The musicians of Bologna decided that the judgments of the European +courts as to this boy's genius were correct. + +Father and son proceeded on their journey south through Italy. They +reached Rome during Holy Week, and learned that the celebrated music of +the "Miserere" was being given in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. It +was very difficult to gain admittance to the Chapel, as the Pope and +many of the Cardinals were there. The rich dress of the two visitors, +the German they spoke, and the singular air of authority which the boy +showed, convinced the Swiss guards at the door that these were people of +importance. One soldier whispered to another that this was a young +German prince traveling with his tutor. They were allowed to enter, and +the boy, accustomed from infancy to the life of courts, immediately +walked to the Cardinals' table, and placed himself between the chairs of +two of those Princes of the Church. + +One of the latter, Cardinal Pallavicini, surprised at the boy's +assurance, beckoned to him, and said, "Will you have the goodness to +tell me in confidence who you are?" + +"Wolfgang Mozart of Salzburg," answered the boy. + +"What!" cried the Cardinal. "Are you really that famous boy of whom so +many men have written to me?" + +Mozart bowed in assent. "And are you not Cardinal Pallavicini?" he asked +in turn. + +"Yes," said the prelate. "Why do you ask?" + +"My father and I have letters to your Eminence," said the boy, "and are +anxious to wait upon you with our compliments." + +The Cardinal was delighted at the boy's arrival, had a seat placed for +him, and talked to him in the intermissions of the service. He +complimented him on learning Italian so quickly, saying that he could +speak very little German. When the music was over Wolfgang kissed the +Cardinal's hand, and the latter, taking his red biretta from his head, +invited the boy to make a long stay at the Papal court. + +The boy was very much impressed by the music of the "Miserere," and when +he left the Chapel asked where he could get a copy of it. To his dismay +he was told that the music was considered so wonderful that the Papal +musicians were forbidden on pain of excommunication by the Pope to take +any part of the score away, or to copy it, or allow any one else to copy +it. + +Mozart, however, was determined to have a copy of that music, even if he +had to pay the penalty of being excommunicated. He soon hit on a plan. + +The next morning the boy arrived early at the Sistine Chapel, and +devoted all his thought to remembering the music. It was exceedingly +difficult, performed as it was by a double choir, and full of singular +effects, one of which was the absence of any particular rhythm. The task +of putting down such music in notes was tremendous. Yet, when Wolfgang +left the Chapel he went straight home to the lodgings his father had +taken, and made a sketch of the entire music. He went again on Good +Friday morning, and sat with his copy hidden in his hat. In that way he +corrected and completed it. When it was finished he told his father of +it, and the news soon spread through Rome that this wonderful boy had +actually stolen the complete score of the "Miserere" exactly as it was +composed by Allegri. + +The feat was said to be unheard of, and many considered it impossible. +Certain men of importance called to see Wolfgang's father about it, with +the result that the boy was obliged to show what he had written at a +large musical party held for that special purpose. The musician +Christofori, who had sung in the choir in the Chapel, pronounced the +copy absolutely correct. Every one was amazed, and then so much +delighted at the marvelous skill of this boy of fourteen that the +penalty of excommunication was entirely forgotten. Princes, Cardinals, +all that part of Rome which loved art and music, had only wondering +admiration for the young German musician. + +There had never been any doubt among those who had met the boy Mozart +that he was a genius. At fourteen years of age he had already been +playing the clavier and the violin for a number of years. His father, +himself a musician, was attached to the court of the Archbishop of +Salzburg, and had written a great deal of music. But when he discovered +the amazing genius of his two children, his son and daughter, he devoted +himself entirely to training them. + +The boy was born January 27, 1756, and was christened John Chrysostom +Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, quite a large collection of names. The girl, +Maria, was four years older. When Maria was seven years old her father +began to give her lessons on the clavier, which was an instrument very +much like the piano, and the girl soon won the highest reputation for +her playing. When she began to play, her small brother Wolfgang, or +Woferl as he was called in nickname, although only three years old, +constantly watched her, and whenever he had the chance tried striking +the keys himself. At four he had shown the ability to remember solos +from concerts he was taken to, and it then first occurred to his father +that his son was a genius. Before long Wolfgang was composing pieces +which his father wrote down for him. + +It was only a year or two later that Leopold Mozart, coming home with a +friend one day, found the boy very busy with pen and ink. + +"What are you doing there, Woferl?" asked the father. + +"Writing a concerto for the clavier," answered the small boy. "The first +part is just finished." + +His father smiled. "It must be something very fine, I dare say; let us +look at it." + +"No, no," said Woferl, "it isn't ready yet." + +Leopold however picked up the paper, and he and his friend began to +laugh as they looked at the rudely scrawled notes. The paper was also +covered with blots, for the boy had kept jabbing his pen to the very +bottom of his inkstand, and often wiped the clots of ink across the +paper. But after a moment's examination Leopold stopped laughing, and +both men looked hard at the sheet. There were ideas in music scrawled +there which even a grown man found it difficult to understand. + +"See," said the father in amazement, "it is written correctly and +regularly, though it can't be used because it's so difficult we couldn't +find any one who could play it." + +The boy looked up quickly. "It's a concerto, father, and must be +practiced a long time before it can be played. It ought to go this way." +He began to play it as best he could on the clavier, but could give them +only the barest outline of it. As a matter of fact the boy had written +the music with a full score of accompaniments, ready to be played by a +full orchestra. + +At six Mozart knew the effect of sounds as shown by notes, and could +compose unaided by any instrument. + +Leopold Mozart could not keep the story of his children's great talents +to himself, and in a very short time news of their remarkable ability +had spread through Austria. Invitations poured in upon the father asking +him to bring the boy and girl to different courts, and he decided to +take them on a concert tour. + +The children played at all the chief cities of the empire, and +everywhere they were welcomed as infant prodigies. The Emperor and +Empress took special delight in them, loaded them with presents, and +insisted on having them treated with all the respect given to grown +artists. Little Woferl appeared at court in a suit of white and gold, +very resplendent with lace, ruffles, and ornaments of all sorts. His +small sister, in white brocaded taffeta, was dressed exactly like an +archduchess in miniature. + +It is a wonder that both children were not hopelessly spoiled by the +treatment they received, but fortunately both had much good sense, and +they enjoyed their travels without becoming conceited. + +Leopold and his children went from Austria to Paris, and then to London. +Everywhere their concerts met with the same success. In London the most +difficult pieces by Bach and Handel were put before the boy, but he +played them at sight, and without the slightest mistake. Bach was at +that time music-master to the English Queen, and he took special delight +in young Mozart. He would take the boy on his knees, and play a few +bars, and then have the boy continue them, and so, each playing in turn, +they would perform an entire sonata, as if with a single pair of hands. + +The trip to England set a final seal on Woferl's fame. His father wrote +home: "My girl is esteemed the first female performer in Europe, though +only twelve years old, and ... the high and mighty Wolfgang, though only +eight, possesses the acquirements of a man of forty. In short, those +only who see and hear can believe; and even you in Salzburg know nothing +about him, he is so changed." + +After a year or two of travel the family returned home. It was now +decided that the boy should try his hand at an opera. Genius, however, +is apt to inspire jealousy, and Mozart was now so well known that many +of the leading musicians of Germany plotted against him. It was galling +to their pride to find that a child knew so much more than they. As a +result they planned to avoid hearing the boy if they could, so that when +asked they could say they doubted his ability, and thought his great +skill most likely sham. + +[Illustration: MOZART AND HIS SISTER BEFORE MARIA THERESA] + +The father laid a plan to catch one of these men, a well-known Viennese +musician. He learned privately of a place where this man would be +present on a certain occasion, and had Woferl go there, and took with +him an exceedingly hard concerto which the man had written. During the +afternoon this concerto was placed before the boy, and he played it +perfectly. The musician could not help but show his delight at hearing +his own music so wonderfully given. He had to speak the truth. Turning +to the people present he said, "I can say no less as an honest man than +that this boy is the greatest man in the world; it could not have been +believed." + +But in spite of such occasional confessions the boy had a hard time to +succeed. Every possible obstacle was put in the way of his opera. The +manager who had agreed to produce the opera was influenced to change his +mind, the singers complained of their parts, and said that the music was +too difficult for them to sing, the copyists so altered the scores that +the boy did not recognize his own work at rehearsals. Finally father and +son had to agree that the opera be withdrawn, realizing that if it were +played it would be so wretchedly done that it would bring more blame +than praise to its composer. + +Yet this boy was not to be daunted. Although his opera which was a very +long work, containing 558 pages, was not to be given, he instantly set +to work again, and in little more than a month had finished three new +works for a full orchestra. + +Seeing how much the jealousy of other musicians in Germany and Austria +hurt his work, the young Mozart turned his eyes toward Italy. That +country was the home of the arts, and each city had its band of citizens +who were as devoted to music as they were to poetry and the stage. + +Fortunately at about the same time an invitation came from the Empress +Maria Theresa inviting the young musician to compose a dramatic serenade +in honor of the wedding of the Archduke Ferdinand in Milan. It was a +great compliment to pay so young a man, and Mozart gladly accepted. + +Going to Milan, he set to work on the composition. In contrast to the +way in which he had lately been treated in Austria he found every one in +Milan eager to be of help. The singers liked the music, and did their +best with it. When the serenade was finally publicly given it made a +great impression. The Archduke was delighted with it. For days afterward +Mozart was kept busy receiving callers who wished to offer their +congratulations. The Italians proved that they at least were not +unwilling to admit his greatness. + +Great honors had come to the young composer of Salzburg, but very little +money. Most musicians of that time were simply music-masters or +choirmasters at the different courts. Their support depended almost +entirely upon finding some prince who would keep them at his court. +Mozart cast his eyes over Europe and saw no place that offered him much +promise. The world was willing enough to shower its praises on him, but +not to provide him with his daily bread. + +There was no place open in Italy, and so, although with regret, he had +to turn homeward to Salzburg. Unfortunately a new Archbishop had just +been elected for that city, and he was devoted almost entirely to +hunting and sports, cared nothing for music, and could not understand +why young Mozart was entitled to any special favors from him. + +Under such circumstances Mozart could not stay at home; he had to accept +such chances as were offered him to make a living. Being asked to write +an opera bouffe for the carnival at Munich, he agreed, and again met +with success. The night the opera was given the theatre was so crowded +that hundreds had to be turned away at the doors. At the close of each +air there was a tremendous outburst of applause, and calls for the +composer. Afterward Mozart was presented to the whole court of Munich, +and received their thanks for the great honor he had done them. + +Singularly enough the Archbishop of Salzburg happened to be in Munich at +the same time, and was very much surprised at being congratulated on +every hand at possessing such a genius at his home. Some of the nobles +called upon him and paid him their solemn congratulations, and he was so +embarrassed that he could make no reply except to shake his head and +shrug his shoulders. + +Such trips as that to Munich however were now of rare occurrence. +Wolfgang, now about nineteen, went back to Salzburg, and set to work +harder than ever. His skill was tested in many different ways. He wrote +compositions for the church, the theatre, and the concert-chamber; he +played brilliantly on the clavier; he was a wonderful organist at all +festivals of the church, and showed the greatest skill on the violin. + +The Archbishop had to have the services of a musician on certain state +occasions, and never failed to call on Mozart when he needed him. Yet +all that he paid Mozart was a nominal salary, which was actually less +than six dollars a year. What was true of the Archbishop was now almost +equally true of all the court at Salzburg. The nobles there had never +undervalued his services until he wanted to be paid for them. Then he +was told that his abilities had been greatly overrated, and was advised +to go to Italy and study music seriously there. + +At last their neglect forced him to start forth again upon his travels +to see whether he could find a prince who would accept his services at +something nearer their real value. + +In vain the youth wandered from court to court; then for a time he +returned to Salzburg, where the Archbishop treated him as a showman +might a performing dog, using his great genius in tests of skill before +royal visitors. + +Later he went to the Emperor's court at Vienna, and there at last he +began to receive something of his due. Not only other musicians, but the +public generally admitted his great gifts. He wrote operas, "Don +Giovanni," "The Magic Flute," and "The Marriage of Figaro," being the +most popular of them. Finally he was able to do somewhat as he pleased, +instead of writing only to suit the order of a prince or noble who could +pay him with some position in his court or at his home. + +The world acknowledged Mozart's genius from the time when, a small boy +of six, he and his sister played the clavier. But the life of a musician +in those days, no matter how great his genius, was a hard one, and the +world was not very kind to the youth when he grew up and had to make his +own way. Perhaps his happiest days were those when his sister and he +traveled with their good father, and had nothing to think of but the +pleasure they could give with their great gifts. + + + + +X + +Lafayette + +The Boy of Versailles: 1757-1834 + + +Marie Antoinette, the little Queen of France, was giving a fete at the +royal palace of Versailles, outside of Paris, and the beautiful gardens +of the palace, world famous for their wonderful statues and fountains, +flowers and groves, presented an amazing sight on that midsummer night. +A hundred elves and fairies, hobgoblins and wood-nymphs danced in and +out about groups of strangely dressed grown-up people, who were neither +in court costume nor in real masquerade. The older lords and ladies of +the court were trying to humor their young Queen's whim without parting +with any of their dignity, and the result of their attempt was this very +curious sight--tall, stiff goblins, wearing elaborate, powdered wigs and +jeweled swords, stout wood-nymphs with bare arms and shoulders, and +glittering with jewels. + +Never had the court of France thought itself so absolutely absurd, and +never had the children of that famous court enjoyed themselves so much. +They played all sorts of games about the dignified people scattered over +the grounds, until the latter were quite ready to believe that the days +of elves and fairies had really returned. + +The boy Marquis de Lafayette led the revels. It was he to whom the +little Queen had appealed for help when she first planned her garden +party. Her boy husband, Louis XVI, was more interested in machinery than +in anything else. He was fond of taking clocks to pieces and putting +them together again, and in working over old locks and keys, and so had +left his young Queen very much to herself ever since he had brought her +from Austria to France. + +Marie Antoinette was passionately fond of fun, and the stiff lords and +ladies of her husband's court bored her extremely. They were anxious +above everything else to keep up their old ceremonies, and to make life +simply a matter of rules. So it was that the girl turned to the young +boy Marquis, who was almost as fond of sports as she was, and with his +help gathered a band of boys and girls of her own age about her. + +Then one summer day, while Louis was busy in his workshop, Marie +Antoinette plotted with Lafayette to hold a _fete champetre_ in the +gardens which should be very different from anything the court of France +had seen before. She said that all her guests should appear either as +goblins or as nymphs. They would not dance the quadrille nor any other +stately measure, but would be free to romp and play such jokes as might +occur to them. When he heard these plans Lafayette shook his head +doubtfully. + +"What will the lords in waiting say to this?" he asked, "and your +Majesty's own ladies of the court?" + +The Queen laughed and shrugged her pretty shoulders. "Who cares?" she +said. "As long as Louis is king I shall do what pleases me." + +Then she clapped her hands as a new idea occurred to her. "I shall go to +Louis," she added, "and have him issue an order commanding every one who +attends the fete to dress either as a goblin or a nymph. He will do it +for me, I know." + +When the King heard her request he good-humoredly agreed, for he found +it hard to deny his pretty young wife anything, and so the order was +issued. Imagine the horror of the grown-up courtiers when they heard the +command! Unbend sufficiently to dress as goblins and nymphs? Never! The +saucy young Queen and her friends must be taught a lesson. As soon as +she knew of their disapproval she would of course give up her scheme. + +On the contrary, the Queen did nothing of the sort. She made Lafayette +master of ceremonies, and gave strict orders that no one should be +admitted to the gardens on the night of the fete unless they were +dressed as commanded. In the meantime the boys and girls were planning +the costumes they would wear and rehearsing the play they were to act. + +But the court party was not to be beaten so easily, and the Royal +Chamberlain and the Queen's Mistress of the Robes hunted up the King in +his workshop and told him that such a performance as was planned would +shame the French court in the eyes of the whole world. Louis listened to +them patiently and said he would consider the matter. Then he sent for +his wife and Lafayette and the other ringleaders. Between them they +described how absurd the courtiers would look with such good effect that +Louis laughed until he cried. Then he dismissed the whole matter from +his mind and went back to the tools on his work-table, which were the +only things that seriously concerned him. + +Now that the garden party was at its height, Lafayette was the +undisputed leader of the youths. It was he who swooped down upon the +stately Mistress of the Robes and ordered his band of hobgoblins to +carry her off to the summer-house on the edge of the woods, and keep her +a prisoner there, while they sang her the latest ballads of the Paris +streets. It was he who had a ring of fairies dance about the Lord +Chamberlain until that haughty person was so dizzy that he had to put +his hands to his eyes and run as rapidly as dignity would let him to a +place of safety. The boy took his orders from the beautiful Queen of the +Fairies, Marie Antoinette, who, more radiant and lovely than ever, sat +on the rustic throne and sent her messengers to the different groups in +the gardens. Beside her stood the young King Louis, laughing and +admiring the ingenuity of her plans. + +Next day, however, came the retribution. The courtiers were up in arms. +They had managed to go through one such evening, but they did not +propose to stand another. The most important people in France went to +the King and placed their grievances before him. Louis loved peace, so +that now he was willing to take the side of the courtiers, and as a +result the day of the children was over. + +Marie Antoinette, fond of pleasure above everything else, tried to have +her way for a short time, but before a month had passed, the weight of +its old time formal dignity had fallen on Versailles, and the children +were again made to pattern after their elders. + +Fond as the young Marquis had been of the good times with playmates of +his own age at Versailles, he could not endure the stiff court nor look +with any satisfaction to the formal life which most of the young men of +the time led. He was naturally too independent to bow and scrape as was +required. In spite of his careful training he found that he had not +acquired the endless flow of frivolous talk which was popular at court. +He was usually silent in company, and more and more given to going away +by himself, in order to escape the affectations of the life about him. +His only chance seemed to lie in the army, and therefore he spent a +great deal of his time with his regiment of Black Musketeers, and began +to plan for a military career. + +He had been made a cadet of the old French regiment called the Black +Musketeers when he was only twelve years old. Then he was a slight +little chap with bright reddish hair and very fair complexion, and much +too small to carry a man's arms; but he was so fond of the +splendid-looking set of men that whenever they paraded he was sure to be +somewhere near at hand to watch them. The boy's name had been placed on +the Musketeers' rolls, though not as a regular cadet, very soon after +his birth, because his great-uncle had been a member of the regiment and +was eager to have his family name connected with it. + +It happened that this twelve-year-old cadet was already a very important +person in the kingdom of France. He had been baptized by the names of +Marie Paul Joseph Roche Ives Gilbert de Mottier, and held the title of +Marquis of Lafayette. His father had been killed at the battle of Minden +when he was only twenty-four years old, but had already won a great name +for bravery. His mother died soon afterward, and so the young Marquis +was left almost alone in his great castle of Chavaniac in the Auvergne +Mountains of southern France. + +He must have been very lonely with no playmates of his own age and only +masters and governesses about him. He was what people called "land +poor," which meant that although he owned a large part of French +territory, it brought him in but small profit, and he had little money +to spend. + +To make up for his lack of playmates, his masters spent much time +drilling the boy Marquis in the etiquette of the French nobility. +High-born French youths at that time had many things to learn, but they +were such things as would make the boy an ornamental piece of furniture +at court. He must be able to enter a drawing-room with perfect dignity, +to compliment a lady, to pick up a fan, to offer his arm with an air of +gallantry, to take part in the formal dances of the period, to draw his +sword in case his honor should require it. + +The little boys and girls of Louis XVI's reign were dressed in stiff +court clothes almost as soon as they were old enough to talk, and were +taught bows and curtsies, gallant words and dancing steps when other +children would have been playing out-of-doors. As a result they grew up +much alike, most of them merely fashion plates to decorate the royal +palace at Versailles. + +Fortunately for the boy his lonely life in the mountains ended when he +was twelve years old. Then his great uncle sent for him to come to +Paris, and placed him at the College du Plessis, where a great many +other young courtiers were being educated. The school taught him very +little of history, of foreign languages, or sciences, but a great deal +about riding and fencing and dancing, and how to write a letter which +should be full of worldly wisdom. At about the same time his grandfather +died, and he inherited a very large fortune, so that the small boy bore +not only one of the oldest titles in the kingdom but possessed enough +money to do exactly as he pleased. There was only one course open to +him--the life of a courtier at Versailles. + +In that age of ceremony marriage was quite as much a formal matter as +other affairs of life. The young Marquis's guardians, according to the +custom of the time, immediately looked about for a girl of equal rank +who might marry their boy. They decided on little Marie Adrienne de +Noailles, daughter of a great peer of France. The girl was only twelve +years old, and her mother was very unwilling to have her married to a +boy whose character was unformed, and whose fortune would allow him to +become as wild as he chose. Her father, however, liked the match, and +her mother finally agreed, insisting, however, that the children should +wait two years before their wedding. + +When these arrangements had all been made and the engagement was +formally announced, the boy Marquis was taken to call at the house of +his future wife, and was presented to her in the garden. Formal paths +wound under a row of chestnut-trees, carefully tended flower-beds were +arranged with mathematical precision, a few peacocks strutted across the +lawn, and here and there a marble statue or a great stone jar from Italy +gave a classic touch to the scene. + +The small boy, dressed in court clothes of velvet, his fair hair in long +curls, his three-cornered hat held beneath his arm, his court rapier +hanging at his side, bright silver buckles at knees and on shoes, +advanced down the walk to the little lady who was waiting for him. She +was in flowered satin, her long, yellow hair falling to her shoulders, +her light-blue eyes looking timidly at the boy, and her pale cheeks +flushing as he approached. As he stood before her, she held out her +hand, and he delicately lifted it with his and touched his lips to her +fingers. She blushed redder, then he paid her a few stately compliments, +and they walked down the path laughing shyly at this new intimacy. She +had seen few boys before, and he had known few girls, and yet their +guardians had destined them for man and wife. + +It was a curious, old-world picture that the two children made, but the +scene was quite characteristic of the age. + +At the time he lived at Versailles and made one of the group about the +little King and Queen, the guardians of the young Marquis expected to +find him growing more and more popular with the royal court, and they +were very much surprised when they learned how reserved he was becoming +and how little he seemed interested in the pursuits of his age. When +they heard of his being one of the ringleaders at the Queen's party, +they were horrified. They determined to try and make him more like +themselves, and so sought to get him a place in the household of one of +the royal family, the Duc de Provence. + +Lafayette was very much disturbed at the thought, and secretly +determined to defeat the plan. Before the position was finally offered +him he went to a masked ball, and learning which was the Duc de Provence +in disguise, went up to him and spoke republican sentiments which were +not at all to the nobleman's liking. Then the boy allowed the masked man +to recognize him. The Duc said sharply that he should remember the +interview. Thereupon young Lafayette made him a profound bow and replied +calmly that memory was often called the wit of fools. This, of course, +ended the chance of his preferment in the royal household, and the boy +was freed from what he considered an irksome task. + +As a result however he was no longer popular at court, and soon asked +that he might be allowed to go back to his distant castle in Auvergne +until he was old enough to take his place in the army. His guardians +were glad to have him safely out of the way for a time, and granted his +request. + +So for a year the little Marie Jean Paul de Lafayette went back to his +mountain home and browsed in his father's library and rode over his +estates. He liked the peasants in the country. They were a brighter +race, not so sullen and discontented as the people in the streets of +Paris, but even here, far from Versailles, the boy heard much of the +frightful poverty of the people and the gross extravagance of the court. +It made him think, and the more he considered the matter the more he +thought the people's claims were just. + +At the end of a year the boy went back to Paris and married the girl to +whom he had been betrothed. He was sixteen, she fourteen, but the +Duchess considered that the boy had shown that he was neither a +spendthrift nor a fool, and that her daughter could be trusted to him. +So the two, scarcely more than school children, opened their residence +in Paris, and took their place in that gay world which was riding so +rapidly to its downfall. + +Meanwhile news was constantly coming to France concerning the glorious +stand which the American colonists were making against England. The love +of liberty was strong in the boy's heart, and the desire to help the +colonists soon came to be his greatest wish. Beneath his reserved manner +and his silent habits there lay the greatest enthusiasm, and the most +determined character. + +He soon had concluded that there was little hope of winning laurels in +the regiment of Black Musketeers, and he cast his eyes longingly across +the seas to where real fighting was taking place; but when he told his +wish to his friends they all opposed him. He went to an old general who +had long been a friend of his family, and urged him to help him in his +plan to go to America. + +"Ah, my boy!" said the general, "I have seen your uncle die in the +Italian wars. I saw your father killed at Minden. I will not help in the +ruin of the last member of your family. You would only risk life and +fortune over there without any chance of reward." + +That was exactly what Lafayette was anxious to do, and he would not give +up his plan. He crossed the Channel to London, and there met some of the +men who were interested in the colonial cause. He went to a secret +meeting, and heard them discuss plans to help the Americans. They, on +their part, at first looked askance at the tall, slender, reddish-haired +young Frenchman, who had so little to say himself, and who seemed so +easily embarrassed. But when they learned that he had a great fortune, +and that if he should aid their cause other young noblemen would follow +him, they did their best to win his help. They little knew how +invaluable his rare spirit would prove in winning freedom for their +land. + +As he was an officer in the French army, the young Marquis found it very +difficult to leave France without the consent of the government, and +this he could not gain. He and a friend, named Baron de Kalb, made their +plans to escape secretly from Paris to Bordeaux. When he reached the +port he found that his ship was not ready, and before he could sail two +officers arrived from court, bearing peremptory orders forbidding him to +go to America or to assist the colonists. + +[Illustration: LAFAYETTE TELLS OF HIS WISH TO AID AMERICA] + +He would not give up his great desire, and so although he pretended +that he was willing to obey the command, he planned secretly to escape +across the Spanish border and sail from a Spanish port. He and a friend +left Bordeaux in a post-chaise, announcing that they were on their way +to the French city of Marseilles. As soon as their carriage reached the +open country the young Marquis stepped out, and, now disguised as a +courier, mounted one of the horses and rode on ahead, ordering the +relays. When they reached the road which led toward Spain they changed +their course. The officers who had been set to spy upon him, however, +now were giving chase, and at the next inn Lafayette was obliged to hide +in the straw of a stable until the pursuers should pass. + +It so happened that he had ridden over that road a little time before, +and the innkeeper's daughter knew him by sight. When he rode into the +courtyard she exclaimed, "There comes the Marquis de Lafayette!" and he +was much alarmed, lest some of the bystanders should give away his +secret. He made them understand, however, that he was traveling in +disguise, so that when the pursuers arrived and asked questions, the +people of the inn all agreed that no such gentleman as Lafayette had +been seen in the neighborhood. + +By means of alternate hiding and sudden rapid riding, the Marquis +finally crossed the Spanish border, and reached the little town of +Passage. There, on April 20, 1777, he set sail in a boat happily named +_La Victoire_, heading for North America. + +America owes a great deal to this gallant young Frenchman who crossed +the seas to aid the colonies. He was among the first of those +foreigners who showed the colonists that the love of liberty was as wide +as the world. He came when hope was low, and his coming meant much to +the brave men who had to undergo the long, discouraging winter at Valley +Forge, and the days when it seemed as though time would prove them only +rebels and not patriots. He brought ships, and men, and money to aid in +the great cause, but more than all these were his own magnetic +personality and the buoyant spirit that refused to be cast down. + +The War of Independence came to an end, and Lafayette returned home. +Trouble was brewing there. The old nobility had grown too overbearing; +the men and women who tilled the soil were considered hardly better than +mere beasts of burden. Such a state could not last, and so the time came +when the mobs of Paris broke into the beautiful gardens of Versailles, +stormed the Palace of the Tuilleries, scattered some of the vain and +foolish old courtiers, but imprisoned many more, and brought to trial +the hapless King Louis and the charming Marie Antoinette. + +Lafayette, friend of their early days, stood by them through the height +of the storm, but there was little he could do against the people's +fury. The Revolution rolled over King and Queen, crushing them and their +resplendent court, and when it had passed a different type of men and +women governed France. + +Only a few of the old nobility were left, and they had learned their +lesson. Lafayette and his wife were of that number. Lover of liberty as +he was, these great events could scarcely have surprised him. The +people had done much the same as had he when, a boy at Versailles, he +rebelled against the selfish court that trod down all opposition with a +heel of iron. + + + + +XI + +Horatio Nelson + +The Boy of the Channel Fleet: 1758-1805 + + +It was a dark, rainy autumn afternoon, and the small boy, who was +trudging along the post-road that led to the English river town of +Chatham, was wet to the skin, and thoroughly tired into the bargain. He +was thin and pale, with big-searching eyes, and coal black hair that +hung tangled over his forehead. He had been traveling all day, and had +had only a roll to eat since early morning. + +Sometimes he was tempted to stop and ask people he met how far it still +was to the town on the Medway, but he overcame the temptation, because +he knew that he could reach his destination by six o'clock, and that +thinking of the distance still to go would not help him. + +Occasionally he would stop, fling his arms about his body for warmth, +and stamp his feet hard to drive away the chill. But his stops were not +frequent, because he was in a hurry to end his journey. + +On such an autumn day night sets in early, and the road ahead was simply +a gray blur by the time the boy had reached the outskirts of the town. +But when he did see the first straggling houses he could not help giving +a little cry of satisfaction. He met a pedlar going the other way. + +"Is this Chatham?" the boy asked, half fearing that the answer would be +"No." + +"Yes, this here's Chatham." + +"And where are the docks, the war-ship docks?" asked the boy. + +"Keep straight on this road and you'll walk clean into the water, and +there's the ships," said the man. + +Doubtless he wondered what the boy wanted of the war-ships, but the lad +gave him no chance to satisfy his curiosity. He was hurrying on as fast +as he could go. + +Soon the houses grew more numerous and the post-road had become a street +heading through the heart of an old-fashioned town. The boy had never +been to Chatham before, but he did not stop to look at any of the +curious houses he passed. He saw a pasty-cook's window filled with buns +and tarts, and he remembered how long it had been since breakfast, but +even that thought did not make him loiter. He must reach the docks +before all the men-o'-war's men had left for the night. + +Soon a whiff of fresh air blew in his face. He knew what that meant; he +loved that breath of the water; it nerved him to cover the last lap of +his long journey at a quick step. Then to his delight, he found himself +at last arrived at the water's edge, and before him a shore covered with +boats, and the wide river with the dim outlines of the men-o'-war. + +He stood still, peering at the great ships, until an old sailor passed +near him. "Do those ships belong to the Channel Fleet?" asked the boy. + +The mariner nodded his head. "That's part of his Majesty's Channel +Squadron, my lad. Be you thinkin' of shippin' before the mast?" + +"Perhaps. Could you tell me where to find an officer of the fleet? Are +there any still ashore?" + +The sailor glanced at a landing-stage near by. "Aye, there's an +officer's gig, and there's the very man you're lookin' for. The one in +the cocked hat with the gold trimmin' yonder." + +"Thank you," said the boy, and started on the run for the landing-stage, +completely forgetting how tired his legs had been. + +The man in the cocked hat found himself a moment later facing a small +delicate-looking boy, who was asking which vessel was the _Raisonnable_. + +He looked the boy over and then pointed out the frigate which bore that +name. "What do you want with her?" he asked, amused at the eagerness +with which the boy looked through the sea of masts at the ship he +sought. + +"My uncle's her commander, and I'm to serve on her," came the answer. +"How can I get on board?" + +"I'll look after that," said the young lieutenant. "She's my ship too." +Again his eyes ran over the small, slender figure before him. "What's +your name?" he asked. + +"Horatio Nelson, sir." + +"Well, Nelson, you look starved, and more like a drowned rat than a +midshipman. How long since you had a square meal?" + +"Since breakfast." + +"And why didn't you stop in the town and have a bite on your way here?" + +"I promised my father to come straight on to the docks, sir, and report +for duty. I said I wouldn't stop until I got here." + +"So nothing could have kept you back, eh? Well, you've reported for duty +now, as I'm your superior officer. I don't have to be on board ship for +half an hour, so my first order to you is that you come with me to a +cook-shop and have some of the roast beef of old England before you set +out to sea." + +Nothing loath, now that his promise was kept, Nelson went with the +lieutenant into one of the small, winding Chatham streets, and entered +an inn much frequented by sailors. Here the officer ordered a hot +supper, and sat by the boy while the latter ate it. Nelson was nearly +famished; it was a delight to the lieutenant to watch the satisfying of +such an appetite. + +A little later the officer and the boy were rowed out to the frigate, +and Nelson duly delivered by his new friend into the care of the ship's +commander. His uncle looked at the boy askance; he seemed very pale and +delicate and undersized, even for a boy of thirteen, but the uncle had +promised to take him on trial as midshipman, and so, though with much +misgiving, he found him his berth. + +He little knew what the sight of that Channel Fleet and the smell of the +salt water meant to the new midshipman. + +The boy's uncle, Captain Suckling by name, who was in command of this +sixty-four gun man-o'-war, had been trained in the principles of the +old English navy, which were that hardship was good for a sailor, and +that the more a man was battered about in time of peace the better he +would fight in time of war. + +Everything above decks was spick and span, and young Horatio gazed with +wondering admiration at the neatness of the white decks continually +scraped and holystoned until they fairly glistened in the sun, at the +imposing size and length of the long lines of black cannon, the special +pride of every officer, and at the symmetry and the wonderful height of +spars and sails and rigging, forming a very network in the sky. + +He had loved boats since the days when he had pumped water into the +horse-trough before his father's house in order that he might sail paper +boats in it, and now it seemed almost impossible to believe that he +stood on the deck of a ship of his Majesty's service and was to have a +hand in caring for all this cannon and rigging. He looked wonderingly at +the sailors, a bronzed, hardy lot, in their white jackets and trousers +that flared widely at the bottom, wearing their hair according to the +custom of the day in long pig-tails down their backs. + +But when he went below decks he found the picture very different. +Everything there was dirt and gloom, foul odors and general misery. The +cat-o'-nine-tails was the favorite punishment for sailors. Many a back +was deeply scored with the lash, and, worse yet, many a man had been +forced into the service against his will, seized at night by the +press-gang, cudgeled into insensibility and carried on board to wake up +later and find himself destined to serve at sea. The food was chiefly +salt beef, and in most respects the men were treated little better than +so many cattle. As a result they might be hardy, but they were also as +surly and vicious a lot as could be found anywhere. + +The poor boy had a hard time growing accustomed to such companionship. +He had longed for the glory of the sailor's life without knowing +anything about its wretchedness, and now he saw all these horrors spread +before his eyes. His uncle, believing that the best way to bring him up +was to let him entirely alone to fight his own battles, paid little or +no attention to him, and the boy, brought up in the country home of a +clergyman in Norfolk, was very homesick, and often longed for the people +and the comforts he had left; but he had a stout heart, and before a +great while had conquered this homesickness and set about to see what +work he could find to do. + +At first both officers and men regarded Horatio as simply a sickly boy +and totally unfit for life at sea, but it was not long before he +managed, in a quiet way peculiarly his own, to make a name and place for +himself on board the _Raisonnable_. + +The story got around that when he was a small boy he had one day escaped +from his nurse and run off into some dense woods near his father's +house. He had lost his way and finally, coming to a brook too wide for +him to cross, had sat down on a stone on one bank and waited. It was +some time after dark when his distracted family found him. + +"I should think you'd have been frightened to death," his grandmother +was reported to have said. + +"What's that?" asked the boy. + +"Why, fear at being alone, and the dark coming on." + +"Fear," said he, "I don't know what you mean by that. I've never seen +it." + +His uncle told the story one day to another officer, and within a week +young Nelson had been christened "Dreadnaught." + +When he was still a very new midshipman he went for a cruise in the +polar seas. One afternoon some of the men were allowed on the arctic +shore, and Nelson started on a little expedition of his own. The first +any one else knew of it was when another midshipman happened to glance +across the field of ice, and caught sight of the huge white body of a +polar bear within a few yards of Nelson. + +He called to his mates and pointed to the boy. They were too far off to +help. They saw Nelson level his musket and saw the wicked head of the +bear raised in front of him. They held their breath waiting for the +shot. In the still air they caught the click of the hammer, but heard no +report. For some reason the gun had not gone off. With a shout they +scrambled over the ice to help him, knowing he was now at the wild +beast's mercy. + +The boy, however, had turned his musket and raised the butt end in +defense when a gun on the ship boomed out the signal for all hands to go +aboard. The signal woke the echoes and thundered over the field of ice, +and the bear, frightened, turned tail and ran off as fast as his short +legs could carry him. Nelson, his musket still raised, ran after the +animal, but by this time the rescue party had come up with him. + +"What do you mean by hunting polar bears all alone, Dreadnaught?" asked +the other midshipman. "Didn't you see him coming?" + +"Yes," said the boy, "but I wanted his skin to take back home to my +father. I might have had him if that gun hadn't sent him away. Now he's +lost forever." + +"Well, I vow," said the other. "I don't believe there's another chap in +the navy with half your pluck." + +Such incidents as these showed the young sailor's courage, and he had +continual chances to show how rapidly he was learning seamanship. + +By the time he was fifteen he was practically possessed of all the +knowledge of an able seaman, and was sent on board the ship _Sea Horse_ +to the East Indies. His position at first was little better than that of +a foremast hand, but it was not long before the captain noticed the +lad's smartness and keen attention to his duties, and very soon he +called him to the quarterdeck and made him fore-midshipman. + +The captain advised the first lieutenant to keep an eye on the boy and +occasionally to let him have charge of manoeuvering the vessel. This +the lieutenant did, and to his great surprise found that Nelson was +quite as well able to handle the ship as he was himself. + +The sea life was doing him good, too. He was no longer the thin, sickly +lad who had wandered through the streets of Chatham, but a fine, +well-built, sun-tanned youth, well beloved on deck and popular with all +his mates. + +Fine as the sea life was for him, life in the East Indies was very +trying. The climate brought fever with it, and Horatio had been in the +East but a short time before he fell very ill and had to be taken from +his ship and sent home on board the _Dolphin_. The ship doctors gave up +hope of saving him, but the captain was so much interested in the boy +that he spent hours nursing him, and finally he grew better. + +The voyage from India to England was the most trying time in Nelson's +life. He felt that he was not built for the life of a sailor, although +his whole mind and heart were set upon rising in that profession. He had +no money, no influential friends; he had staked everything on winning +his way in the navy. Now it seemed as though he must give up his career +and settle down to some small place on shore. + +But his talks with the captain gradually stirred new hopes. He was +seized with patriotic zeal and determined at every risk to serve his +country on the seas, no matter what suffering it might bring to him. He +wanted to act, to do something, and this resolution became suddenly the +motive power of his life. From the time of that voyage home on the +_Dolphin_, Nelson used to say, dated his passion to win fame in the +defense of England. + +When he reached home he was given a position on a new ship, and a little +later took his examination for the rank of lieutenant. His uncle, +Captain Suckling, who had commanded the _Raissonnable_, was at the head +of the board of examiners before whom Horatio appeared. The boy was very +nervous when he entered the room, but answered the questions almost as +rapidly as they were put to him, and every answer was full and correct. +He passed the examinations triumphantly, and then his uncle introduced +him to the other members of the Board. + +One of them said, "Why didn't you tell us he was your own nephew?" + +"Because," said the old sailor, "I didn't want him to be favored in any +way. I was sure he would pass a fine examination, and as you see I +haven't been disappointed." + +Nelson was given the rank of lieutenant and assigned to the +_Lowestoffe_. The vessel cruised to the Barbadoes, in the West Indies, +and there the young lieutenant had his first chance to make his mark. +The ship fell in with an American letter-of-marque, and the first +lieutenant was ordered to board the American ship. A terrific gale was +blowing, and the sea ran so high that in spite of the efforts of the +lieutenant he was unable to reach the American boat and was forced to +return to his own frigate. + +The captain, very much disturbed at this failure to land the prize, +called the officers to him and asked warmly whether there was not one of +them who was able to take possession of the other boat. The lieutenant +who had already tried and failed offered to try again, but Nelson pushed +his way forward and exclaimed, "No, it's my turn now. If I come back it +will be time for you then." With a few sailors he jumped into the small +boat and ploughed through the seas. + +It was a hard tussle to reach the American, and when they did reach her +the sea was so high, and the prize lay so deep in the trough of the +waves, that Nelson's boat was swept over the deck of the other vessel, +and he had to come back from the other side and fight his way against +the high sea before he could finally succeed in climbing on board. + +He now had a high reputation for courage and daring at sea fit to equal +the name he had won as a skilful mariner. It did not take the captain of +the _Lowestoffe_ long to realize that the alertness and enthusiasm of +his young lieutenant bespoke a future of the greatest brilliance in his +country's service. + +In those days England was really at peace, although her eyes were +constantly turned across the Channel and wise men were preparing her for +war with France. Nelson was sent into all parts of the world, and no +matter what were his orders he always carried them out with such skill +that rapid promotion followed every return home. Time and again he fell +ill, but he was never despondent, because he was determined to continue +in his course and serve his country at any cost to himself. He also saw +the war clouds gathering, and realized that it would not be long before +he would have the chance to command a squadron against France. + +The men who had scoffed at him when he first appeared, a puny boy, at +Chatham, found themselves gradually trusting more and more to his +advice, and his uncle, who had at first predicted that three months' +service would send Horatio back to shore, was now the first to predict +that England would have good cause to be proud of this slightly-built +but marvelously active-minded youth. + +[Illustration: NELSON BOARDING THE "SAN JOSEF"] + +A boy somewhat younger than Nelson was growing up in Corsica, in France, +who was soon to win great battles for the latter country and whose +overweaning ambition was finally to plunge his land into a +life-and-death struggle with England. That boy was named Napoleon +Bonaparte, and when he became supreme in France he realized that it was +England who chiefly blocked his schemes at world-wide empire. + +He planned to invade England, and to carry his troops across the Channel +while the great English war-ships were engaged with his own vessels; but +by the time that Napoleon led the troops of France, Horatio Nelson was +in command of a British squadron. The French might be all-conquering on +land, but the English had yet to be defeated on the seas. + +Before the great decisive battle of Trafalgar Nelson sent his famous +message to all the men under him: "England expects every man to do his +duty!" When the battle was over, the little English admiral had won the +greatest naval victory in his country's history. The same indomitable +pluck that had carried him through so many dangers won that great day. +He would not be downed, no matter what the odds against him. + +The same qualities which had sent the delicate boy of thirteen hurrying +through the rain to Chatham, intent only on reaching his goal, brought +about the great sea victories of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson. + + + + +XII + +Robert Fulton + +The Boy of the Conestoga: 1765-1815 + + +It was mid-afternoon on July 3d, 1778. A group of a dozen boys sat in +the long grass that grew close down to the banks of the narrow, twisting +Conestoga River, in eastern Pennsylvania. All of the boys were hard at +work engaged in a mysterious occupation. By the side of one of them lay +a great pile of narrow pasteboard tubes, each about two feet long, and +in front of this same small boy stood a keg filled with what looked like +black sand. + +Each of the group was busy working with one of the pasteboard tubes, +stopping one end tightly with paper, and then pouring in handfuls of the +"sand" from the keg, and from time to time dropping small colored balls +into the tubes at various layers of the sand. These balls came from a +box that was guarded by the same boy who had charge of the tubes and the +keg, and he dealt them out to the others with continual words of +caution. + +"Be careful of that one, George," he said, handing him one of the +colored balls; "those red ones were very hard to make, and I haven't +many of them, but they'll burn splendidly, and make a great show when +they go off." + +"How do you stop the candle when all the balls and powder are in, Rob?" +asked another boy. + +"See, this way," said the young instructor, and he slipped a short fuse +into the tube and fastened the end with paper and a piece of twine. + +"There's something'll let folks know to-morrow's the Fourth of July," he +added proudly, as he laid the rocket beside the keg of powder. + +"What made you think of them, Rob?" asked one of the boys, looking +admiringly at the lad of fourteen who had just spoken. + +"I knew something had to be done," said Robert, "as soon as I heard they +weren't going to let us burn any candles to-morrow night 'cause candles +are so scarce. I knew we had to do something to show how proud we are +that they signed the Declaration of Independence two years ago, and so I +thought things over last night and worked out a way of making these +rockets. They'll be much grander than last year's candle parade. They +wouldn't let us light the streets, so we'll light the skies." + +"I wish the Britishers could see them!" said one of the group; and +another added: "I wish General Washington could be in Lancaster +to-morrow night!" + +Just before the warm sun dropped behind the tops of the walnut-grove +beyond the river the work was done, and a great pile of rockets lay on +the grass. Then, as though moved by one impulse, all the boys stripped +off their clothes and plunged into the cool pool of the river where it +made a great circle under the maples. They had all been born and brought +up near the winding Conestoga, and had fished in it and swam in it ever +since they could remember. + +The next evening the boys of Lancaster sprang a surprise on that quiet +but patriotic town. The authorities had forbidden the burning of candles +on account of the scarcity caused by the War of Independence, and every +one expected that second Fourth of July to pass off as quietly as any +other day. But at dusk all the boys gathered at Rob Fulton's house, just +outside town, and as soon as it was really dark proceeded to the town +square, their arms full of mysterious packages. + +It took only a few minutes to gather enough wood in the centre of the +square for a gigantic bonfire, and when all the people of Lancaster were +drawn into the square by the blaze, the boys started their display of +fireworks. The astonished people heard one dull thudding report after +another, saw a ball of colored fire flaming high in the air, then a +burst of myriad sparks and a rain of stars. They were not used to seeing +sky-rockets, most of them had never heard that there were such things, +but they were delighted with them, and hurrahed and cheered at each +fresh burst. This was indeed a great surprise. + +"What are they? Where did they come from? How did the boys get them?" +were the questions that went through the watching crowds, and it was not +long before the answer traveled from mouth to mouth: "It's one of Rob +Fulton's inventions. He read about making them in some book." + +The father of one of Robert's friends nodded his head when he heard this +news, and said to his wife: "I might have known it was young Rob; I've +never known such a boy for making things. His schoolmaster told me the +other day that when he was only ten he made his own lead pencils, +picking up any bits of sheet lead which happened to come his way, and +hammering the lead out of them and making pencils that were as good as +any in the school." + +The fireworks were a great success; for the better part of an hour they +held the attention of Lancaster, and when the last rocket had shot out +its stars every boy there felt that the Fourth of July had been +splendidly kept. For a day or two Rob Fulton was an important personage, +then he dropped back into the ranks with his schoolmates. + +It was not long after, however, that Robert set himself to work out +another problem. The Fultons lived near the Conestoga, and Robert and +his younger brothers were very fond of fishing. All they had to fish +from was a light raft which they had built the summer before, and this +cumbersome craft they had to pole from place to place. When they wanted +to fish some distance down from their farmhouse, they had to spend most +of the afternoon poling, and this heavy labor robbed the sport of half +its charm. So, a week or two after the Fourth of July, Robert told a +couple of boy friends that he was going to make a boat of his own, and +got them to help him collect the materials he needed. + +He liked mystery, and told them to tell no one of his plans. As soon as +school was over the three conspirators would steal away to the +riverside, and there hammer and saw and plane to their hearts' content. +Gradually the boat took shape under their hands, and after about ten +days' work a small, light skiff, with two paddle-wheels joined by a bar +and crank, was ready to be launched. + +The idea was that a boy standing in the middle of the skiff could make +both wheels revolve by turning the crank, and it needed only another boy +holding an oar in a crotch at the stern to steer the craft wherever he +wanted it to go. Yet, even when the boat was finished, the two other +boys were very doubtful whether such a strange-looking object would +really work, Robert himself had no doubts upon that score; he had worked +the whole plan out before he had chosen the first plank. + +The miniature side-paddle river-boat was christened the _George +Washington_, and launched in a still reach of the Conestoga. It was an +exciting moment when Robert laid hands on the crank and started the two +wheels. They turned easily, and the boat pulled steadily out from shore, +and at a twist from the steering-oar headed down-stream. It was a proud +moment for the young inventor. As they went down the river and passed +people on the banks, he could not help laughing as he saw the surprise +on their faces. + +Fishing became better sport than ever when one had a boat of this sort +to take one up-or down-stream. Very little effort sent the paddles a +long way, and there were always boys who were eager to take a turn at +the crank. + +[Illustration: ROBERT FULTON'S FIRST EXPERIMENT WITH PADDLE WHEELS] + +The Lancaster schoolmaster heard of the boat, and said to a friend: +"Take my word for it, the world's going to hear from Rob Fulton some +of these days. He can't help turning old goods to new uses. And he +doesn't know what it means to be discouraged. I met him the afternoon of +the third of July and he told me that he was going to make some rockets, +and I said I thought he would find such a task impossible. 'No, sir,' +says Robert to me, 'I don't think so. I don't think anything's +impossible if you make up your mind to do it.' That's the sort of boy he +is!" + +A large number of Hessian troops were quartered near the Conestoga, and +the Lancaster boys thought a great deal about the War for Independence, +as was natural when the fathers and brothers of most of them were +fighting in it. Such thoughts soon turned Rob Fulton's mind to making +firearms, and as soon as his boat had proved itself successful, he +planned a new type of gun, and supplied some Lancaster gunsmiths with +complete drawings for the whole,--stock, lock, and barrel,--and made +estimates of range that proved correct when the gun was finished. + +But Rob Fulton had remarkable talents in more lines than one. His +playmates had nicknamed him "Quicksilver Bob" because he was so fond of +buying that glittering metal and using it in various ways. The name +suited him well, for he could turn from one occupation to another, and +appeared to be equally good in each. Usually, however, when he was not +inventing he was learning how to paint, and he had a number of teachers, +one of whom was the famous Major Andre. + +The little town of Lancaster was an important place during the +Revolution. In 1777 the Continental Congress had held its sessions in +the old court-house there, and during the whole time of the war the town +was famous as the depot of supplies for the army. A great deal of powder +was stored in the town, and rifles, blankets, and clothing were +manufactured there in large quantities. + +In the autumn of 1775 Major Andre, who had been captured while on his +way to Quebec, was brought to Lancaster for safe keeping. He was allowed +certain liberty on parole, and lived in the house of a near neighbor of +the Fultons, named Caleb Cope. Major Andre was very fond of sketching, +and spent much of his time in the fields painting pictures of the +picturesque little village. No sooner had Rob Fulton heard of the +English major's skill with colors than he hunted him up and asked for a +few lessons. Andre was a very amiable young man, and took a great liking +to the boy. He gave him many lessons in drawing, and also in the use of +colors, and young Fulton learned rapidly under his tutoring. Andre was +also in the habit of playing marbles and other games with Rob and his +young friends, and the boys found him delightful company. + +At about the same time one of Robert's playmates learned a new way of +mixing and preparing colors, using mussel-shells to show them off. This +boy carried the shells covered with his new paint to school one day and +showed them to Robert. No sooner had young Fulton seen them than he +begged to be taught how they were made, and immediately started to work +mixing his own colors. The Revolution had made it very difficult to +obtain painting materials from abroad, and almost all the paints the +boys used were home-made. Fulton now began to study the making of +colors, and in a very short time was able to add to his stock. + +Wherever he went the young inventor and painter was popular. In the near +neighborhood of his home there were several factories making arms and +ammunition for the war, and guards were stationed about the doors to +make sure that no trespassers entered. But "Quicksilver Bob" was allowed +to come and go as he would. Whatever he saw he studied, and the first +thing they knew the men in charge of the factories would find the boy +submitting new plans and new suggestions to them for the improvement of +guns or powder. Much to their surprise these suggestions were almost +always good ones, and he became a very welcome visitor. He was paid for +some of this work, but much of it he did without any reward, except the +knowledge that he was in a way serving his country. To help support the +little family he used his skill as a painter in making signs for village +taverns and shops, very much as another boy artist named Benjamin West +had done in his youth. + +It happened that in 1777 some two thousand British prisoners were +brought to Lancaster and quartered there. Such a large number of the +enemy naturally caused some alarm among the quiet country people. The +officers were lodged at the taverns and at private houses, but the +soldiers themselves lived in rude barracks just outside the town, and +there were so many of them that they made quite a settlement for +themselves. Many of the Hessian troopers had their wives with them, and +these occupied square huts built of mud and sod. The little encampment +had quite a strange appearance, the small mud houses lining primitive +streets and looking like some savage settlement. + +Naturally the place had a great charm for the Lancaster boys, and +whenever they were free from school during that time Robert and his +friends were almost sure to be found in the neighborhood of the Hessian +huts, watching these strange men who had come from overseas. Fulton drew +countless pictures of them, some of them caricatures, but many faithful +copies of what he saw. When they were finished these pictures were in +great demand, and some of them were carried as far as Philadelphia, to +show the people there the curious sights of the country near Lancaster. + +In spite of his skill in these different lines, Robert was not a very +successful scholar, and his poor schoolteacher, who was a strict Quaker +of Tory principles, found him very hard to put up with at certain times. +If some inventive idea occurred to the boy while he was on his way to +school, he was quite as likely to stop and work it out as not. One time +he came in so very late that the teacher quite lost his patience. +Seizing a rod he told Robert to hold out his hand, and gave him a +caning. "There!" he exclaimed, "I hope that will make you do something." +But the boy folded his arms and answered very quietly, "I came to school +to have something beaten into my brains and not into my knuckles." It +was very hard for the teacher to do much with such a lad, particularly +as the boy was so often really very helpful to him. + +Another time when he came to school late, he had been at a shop pouring +lead into wooden pencils that were better than those he had made before, +and he handed several of them to the master. The man examined them +carefully and said they were the best he had ever had. It was hard to +scold the boy for spending his time in such ways. One time, when the +teacher had tried to rouse his ambition to study history, Robert said to +him: "My head's so full of original notions that there's no vacant room +to store away the records of dusty old books." Yet in spite of these +stories, the boy could not help picking up a great deal of general +information at school, for his mind was always alert, and he was eager +to improve on everything that had been done before. + +At this time in his boyhood it was hard to say whether the young Fulton +was more the inventor or the artist, but as soon as the war ended he +decided that he would become a painter, and went to Philadelphia, then +the chief city of the new nation, to study his art. He made enough money +by the use of his pencil and by making drawings for machinists to +support himself, and also saved enough money to buy a small farm for his +widowed mother and younger brothers and sisters. + +Benjamin West, the great painter, had lived near Lancaster, and had +heard much of Robert Fulton's boyhood inventions, and he now hunted him +out in Philadelphia, and helped him in his new line of work. The young +artist met Benjamin Franklin and found him eager to aid him in his +plans, and so, by his perseverance and the friends he was fortunate +enough to make, he laid the foundations for his future. + +When he became a man, the spirit of the inventor finally overcame that +of the painter. He went abroad and studied in laboratories in England +and France, and then he came home and built a workshop of his own. What +particularly interested him was the uses to which steam might be put, +and he studied its possibilities until he had worked out his plans for a +practical steamboat. How successful those plans were all the world +knows. + +It was a great day when the crowds that lined the Hudson River saw the +_Clermont_ prove that the era of sailing vessels had closed, and that of +steamships had dawned. But to the boys who had lived along the Conestoga +it did not seem strange that Robert Fulton had won fame as an inventor; +they had known he could make anything he chose since that second +Independence Day when he had come to his country's rescue with his +home-made sky-rockets. + + + + +XIII + +Andrew Jackson + +The Boy of the Carolinas: 1767-1845 + + +It was hard for a boy to get much of an education in the backwoods +districts of the American colonies in 1777, and especially so in such a +primitive country as that which lay along the Catawba River in South +Carolina. The colonies were at war with England, and all the care of the +people was needed to protect their farms from attacks by the enemy, and +to give as much help as they could to their country's cause. + +But if the boys and girls learned little from books they learned a great +deal from hard experience; courage and self-reliance foremost of all. +All of the children learned those lessons at a time when they might come +home any day and find their home burned down by the enemy or their +father and older brothers carried away prisoners. Even more than most of +his playmates however, young Andrew Jackson learned these things, +because his life was harder than theirs, and he saw more of the actual +fighting. By nature he was a fighter, and circumstances strengthened +that trait in him. + +Land in the Carolinas was so valuable for cotton raising that it was not +used for building purposes in those days, so the boys who lived near the +Catawba were sent to what were called "old-field schools." An +"old-field" was really a pine forest. When many crops of cotton, planted +season after season without change, had exhausted the soil, the fences +were taken away, and the land was left waste. Young pines soon sprang +up, and in a short time the field would be covered with a thick wood. + +In the wood, as near to the road as possible, a small space would be +cleared, and the rudest kind of log house built, with a huge fireplace +filling one side of the room. The chinks in the logs were filled with +red clay. The trunk of a tree, cut into a plank, was fastened to four +upright posts, and served the whole school as a writing-desk. A little +below it was stretched a smooth log, and this was the seat for the +scholars. + +A wandering schoolmaster was engaged by the farmers, only for a few +months at a time, and he taught the children reading, writing, and +arithmetic. When the weather was bad, and the roads, made of thick red +clay, were too heavy for travel, or when there was farming to be done, +the school was closed. + +This was the only school Mrs. Jackson could send her son Andrew to, and +he went there when he was about ten, and took his place on the slab +bench, a tall, slim boy, with bright blue eyes, a freckled face, very +long sandy hair, wearing a rough homespun suit, and with bare feet and +legs. He was not very fond of school, but he did like to be with other +boys, and to lead them in any kind of an adventure, particularly if +there was the chance of a fight. + +There was much in this country life to interest an active boy like +Andrew Jackson. Wherever there were no cotton fields there were thick +pine woods full of wild turkeys and deer to be had for the shooting. The +farmers of the Catawba country took their cotton to market in immense +covered wagons, often needing a week to make the journey, and camping +out every night. Boys were in demand to help load the cotton, and gather +wood for the camp-fires, and many a time Andrew was hired to travel to +market with a farmer and his wife and young children, and many a night +he spent in a little opening in the woods eating supper and sleeping +close to a blazing fire of pine knots that lighted up the trees for +yards around. + +The farmers were not apt to leave their wives and children at home, +because either the British or the Indians might sweep down upon the +district at any time. So quite a party would travel together, and that +added to the fun. Such a life, with plenty of horses to ride, and +turkeys to hunt, and journeys to make, with only occasional schooling, +appealed strongly to Andrew. + +In August, 1780, when young Jackson was twelve years old, the American +General Gates was defeated by the British, and Cornwallis marched into +the country of the Catawba. Many families left their homes and went +north to be safe from the enemy, and among others Mrs. Jackson and her +sons determined to seek a safer home. Andrew's mother and his brother +Robert left on horseback, and a day or two later Andrew followed them. + +The people all through that desolate part of the country were anxious +for news of the war, especially for word of fathers or brothers in the +army, and they stood by the roads and asked news eagerly of any chance +horseman. At one lonely house a little girl was stationed at the gate to +question travelers. About sunset one day she saw a tall, gawkish boy +come riding along the road, astride of one of the rough, wild, South +Carolina ponies. His bare legs were almost long enough to meet under the +pony; he wore a torn wide-brimmed hat which napped about his face. His +scanty shirt and trousers were covered with dust, and his face was +burned brown and worn with hardship. He had ridden so far and was so +tired that he could scarcely keep his seat. + +"Where you from?" cried the girl, as the boy reined up. + +"From down below, along Waxhaw Creek." + +"Where you going?" + +"Up along north." + +"Who you for?" + +"The Continental Congress." + +"What you doing to the Redcoats down below?" + +"Oh, we're poppin' 'em still." + +"An' what may your name be?" + +"Andy Jackson. Anythin' else you'd like to know?" + +She asked him for news of her father's regiment, but the boy knew little +about it, and was soon riding on his way, following the highroad to +Charlotte. + +In Charlotte the Jacksons boarded with some relatives, and Andrew worked +hard to pay for his food and lodging. He drove cattle, tended the mill, +brought in wood, picked beans, and did any odd jobs that fell to his +hand. All the time he was hoping for a chance to fight the enemy, and +each day he brought home some new weapon. One day it was a rude spear +which he had forged while he waited for the blacksmith to finish a job, +another time it was a wooden club, and another a tomahawk. Once he +fastened the blade of a scythe to a pole, and when he reached home began +cutting down weeds with it, crying, "Oh, if only I were a man, how I'd +cut down the Redcoats with this!" + +The man with whom he was living happened to be watching him, and said +later to Andrew's mother: "That boy Andy is going to fight his way in +this world." + +The war between the colonists and the British was especially bitter in +the Carolinas, where conditions were more rude and simple than in other +parts of the country. The stories that came to Andrew were enough to +stir any boy's blood. He had heard that at Charleston the farmers had +used their cotton bales to build a fort, that the guerrilla leader +Marion had split saws into sword blades for his men, that in more than +one encounter the Carolina militia had gone into battle with more men +than muskets, so that the unarmed men had to stand and watch the battle +until some comrade fell and they could rush in and seize his gun. +Popular legends made the Redcoats little less than devils, fit +companions for the Indian bands they sent upon the war-path. + +News of one attack after another came to the Jackson boys until they +could stand inaction no longer, and joined a small band of independent +riders, not members of any regiment, but free to attack and retreat as +they liked. + +Andrew's first real taste of battle came when he, his brother Robert, +and six friends were guarding the house of a neighbor, Captain Sands. +The captain had come to see his family, and it was known that the house +might be attacked by Tories. + +Leaving one man to watch, the rest of the defenders stretched themselves +out on the floor of the living-room and went to sleep. The sentry also +dozed, but toward midnight he was roused by a suspicious noise, and +investigating found that two bands of the enemy were approaching the +house, one in the front and one in the rear. He rushed indoors, and +seized Andrew, who was sleeping next to the door, by the hair. "The +Tories are upon us!" he cried in great alarm. The boy jumped up, and ran +out of doors. Seeing men in the distance he placed his gun in the fork +of a tree by the door, and hailed the men. They made no reply. He called +to them again. There was no answer, but they came on double-quick. + +By this time the other defenders were roused, and had joined the boy. +Andrew fired, and the attacking party answered with a volley. The Tories +who were creeping up from the rear supposed the volley was fired from +the defenders, and immediately answered with fire from their guns. +Andrew and his companions retreated into the house, having managed for a +few moments to draw the enemy's fire in the darkness against each other. +The Tories halted and learned their mistake. + +By now the men indoors opened fire from the windows on both parties. +Several Tories fell, and the rest were held at bay. Then very +fortunately a distant bugle was heard sounding the cavalry charge, and +the Tories, thinking they had been led into an ambush and were about to +be attacked in the rear, dashed to their horses and, mounting, rode off +at full speed. + +It turned out afterward that a neighbor, hearing the firing at Captain +Sands' house, had blown his bugle, hoping to give the enemy alarm in the +darkness, and that in reality the trick had worked to perfection. So the +Jackson boys had luck with them in their first skirmish. + +They were not so lucky next time. The British general heard of the +activity of the little band of colonists and planned to end them. He +heard that about forty of the farmers were gathered at the Waxhaw +meeting-house, and he sent a body of dragoons, dressed in rough country +clothes, to seize them. The farmers were expecting a band of neighbors, +and were fooled by the British. Eleven of the forty were taken +prisoners, and the rest fled, pursued hotly by the dragoons. + +Andrew found himself riding desperately by the side of his cousin, +Lieutenant Thomas Crawford. For a time they kept to the road, and then +turned across a swampy field, where they soon came to a wide slough of +mire. They plunged their horses into the bog. Andrew struggled through, +but when he reached the bank he found that his cousin's horse had +fallen, and that Thomas was trying to fight off his pursuers with his +sword. Andrew started back, but before he could get near his cousin the +latter had been forced to surrender. The boy then turned, and succeeded +in outriding the dragoons, and finally found refuge in the woods, where +his brother Robert joined him that night. + +The next morning hunger forced the two boys to seek a house, and they +crept up to their cousin's. They left their guns and horses in the +woods, and reached the house safely. Unfortunately a Tory neighbor had +seen them, and, seizing their horses and arms, he sent word to the +British soldiers. Before the boys had any notice of attack the house was +surrounded and they were taken prisoners. + +Andrew never forgot the scene that followed. There were no men in the +house, only his cousin's wife and young children. Nevertheless the +soldiers destroyed everything they could find, smashed furniture, +crockery, glass, tore all the clothing to rags, and broke in windows and +doors. Then the officer in charge ordered Andrew to clean his high +riding-boots, which were crusted with mud. The boy refused to do it, +saying, "I've a right to be treated as a prisoner of war." + +The officer swore, and aimed a blow with his sword at Andrew's head. +Jackson threw up his left arm as a shield and received two wounds, one a +deep gash on the head, the other on his hand. The officer then turned to +Robert Jackson, and ordered him to clean his boots. Robert also refused. +Then the man struck this boy on the head, and knocked him to the floor. +It was a bad business, and the whole performance, especially the brutal +treatment of a defenseless woman and two boy prisoners, made a deep +impression on Andrew's mind. He was only fourteen years old, but his +fighting spirit was that of a grown man. + +Shortly after this Andrew was ordered to mount a horse, and guide some +of the soldiers to the house of a well-known man named Thompson. He was +threatened with death if he failed to guide them right. There was +nothing for it but to obey, but the boy hit upon a plan by which he +might give Thompson a chance to escape. Instead of reaching the house by +the usual road he took the men a roundabout way which brought them into +full sight of the place half a mile before they reached it. As Andrew +had guessed, some one was on watch, and instantly gave the alarm, so +that the Redcoats had the pleasure of seeing the man they sought dash +from his house, mount a waiting horse, and make off toward a creek that +ran close by. The creek was swollen and very deep, but the rider plunged +into it and got safely across. The dragoons, however, did not dare +follow, and Thompson, shouting defiance at them, got safely into the +woods and away. + +The prisoners were now gathered together, and placed under one escort to +be taken to the British prison at Camden, South Carolina. The journey +was a very hard one. Both the Jackson boys and their cousin, Thomas +Crawford, were suffering from wounds, but they were allowed no food or +water as they were marched the forty miles. The soldiers even forbade +the boys scooping up drinking water from one of the streams they +crossed. + +The prison at Camden was wretchedness itself. Two hundred and fifty men +and boys were herded into one small enclosure. They were given no beds, +no medicine, nor bandages to dress their wounds, only a little bad bread +for food. The brothers were separated. Andrew was robbed of his coat and +shoes; he was sick and hungry and worried, for he had no idea what had +happened to his mother or brother. Then as a final horror smallpox broke +out in the prison, and the fear of contagion was added to the other +torments. + +One day Andrew was lying in the sun near the prison gate when an officer +was attracted by his youth and came up to talk with him. The officer +seemed kind, and the boy poured out the miseries of the prison life to +him. He told how the men were starved or given bad food, and how they +were ill used by the guards. The officer was shocked and promised to +look into the matter. When he did he found that the contractors were not +giving the prisoners the food they were paid to provide, and he reported +the matter to those in charge. Shortly after conditions improved. + +Then news came to the prison that the American General Greene was coming +to deliver them. They were tremendously excited at the report. General +Greene had indeed marched on Camden with a small army of twelve hundred +men, but as he had marched faster than his artillery he thought it best +to wait on a hill outside the town until the guns should come up with +him. Six days he stayed there, and then the British commander decided to +attack him without further delay. + +The prison yard would have given a good view of the battle but for a +board fence which had lately been built on top of the wall. Andrew +looked everywhere for a crack in the boards, but could find none. He +managed, however, during the night to cut a hole with an old razor blade +which had been given the prisoners to serve as a meat knife. Through +this hole he saw something of the battle next day, and described what he +saw to the men in the yard below him. + +The Americans were not expecting the British attack. When the British +general led out his nine hundred men early in the morning the Americans +were scattered over the hill, washing their clothes, cleaning their +guns, cooking, and playing cards. Andrew saw the enemy steal about the +base of the hill. There was no way in which he could warn his +countrymen. He saw the British steal up the hill, and break suddenly on +the surprised soldiers. The colonials rushed for their arms, fell into +line, met the charge. The American horse dashed upon the British rear, +and a cheer went up from the waiting prisoners. Then the British made a +second charge, and this time carried men and horses before them, down +the slope and out into the plain. The Americans ceased firing, and +finally broke in full retreat. The prisoners were in more wretched state +than they had been before. + +After the battle Andrew's spirits sank to the lowest ebb. He fell ill +with the first symptoms of the dreaded smallpox. His brother was in even +worse condition. The wound in his head had not healed, as it had never +been properly treated. He also was ill, and it seemed as though both +boys were about to fall victims to the plague. + +Fortunately, at this great crisis, help suddenly appeared. Their devoted +mother learned of the boys' state, and went by herself to Camden to see +if she could not procure a transfer of prisoners. She saw the British +general, and arranged that he should free her two sons and five of her +neighbors in return for thirteen British soldiers who had been recently +captured by a Waxhaw captain. The boys were set free, and joined their +mother. She was shocked to find them so changed by hunger, illness, and +wounds. Robert could not stand, and Andrew was little better off. They +were free, however, at last, and Mrs. Jackson planned to get them home +as soon as possible. + +The mother could get only two horses. One she rode, and Robert was put +on the other, and held in the saddle by two of the men just freed. +Andrew dragged himself wearily behind, without hat, coat, or shoes. +Forty miles of wilderness lay between Camden and the boys' old home at +Waxhaw near the Catawba. The little party trudged along as best it +could, and were only two miles from home when a cold, drenching rain +started to fall. The boys, ill already, suffered terribly. Finally they +reached home, and were put to bed. The cold rain had proved too severe +for Robert, and two days later he died. Andrew, stricken with smallpox, +as was his brother, was very ill for a long time. + +While Andrew was still sick word came to Waxhaw that the condition of +some of the men and boys in the Charleston prison ships was even worse +than that of the men at Camden. Mrs. Jackson's nephews and many of her +friends and neighbors were in the ships, and she felt that she must do +something to relieve them. As soon as she could leave Andrew, she +started with two other women to travel the hundred and sixty miles to +Charleston. + +The three women carried medicines and country delicacies and gifts for +the prisoners. It was a most heroic journey. They had no protectors, and +they were going into the enemy's lines. They succeeded, however, finally +managing to gain admittance to the ships, and to deliver the messages +from home, the food, and the medicines that were so greatly needed. No +one can say how much happiness they brought to those ships in Charleston +harbor. + +Mrs. Jackson stayed in the neighborhood of the city some time, doing +what she could to help her countrymen. Unfortunately disease was only +too rife in the prisons, and it was not long before she became ill with +the ship fever, and after a very short illness died. The news was +brought to Andrew, now fifteen years old, as he lay at home, just +recovering a little of his strength. He had always been devoted to his +mother and worshipped her memory all the days of his life. + +The British under Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, October 19, 1781, +and the war in the south practically came to an end. Andrew Jackson came +out of the Revolution without father or mother or brother, a +convalescent in the house of a cousin, with bitter memories of the war. +For a long time he was exceedingly weak and dispirited, and that +fighting aggressive nature which had marked his early boyhood did not +return to him for some time. + +The boy of sixteen had no one to advise him as to what to do. He tired +of life in the primitive Waxhaw country, and when the British evacuated +Charleston he went there, and saw something of city life. But his money +was soon spent, and he had to decide what he should turn his hand to. +The law appealed to him as a good field for advancement, just as it +appealed to so many ambitious youths of the new country. + +At almost the same time there began the emigration of many Carolina +families westward into what was to become the territory of Tennessee. +Land was given to all who would emigrate and settle there. The idea of +growing up with a new community appealed to Andrew; he knew he had the +power to make his way. In 1788 he started on his journey west, traveling +in the company of about a hundred settlers. They had many adventures and +several times they were in danger of attack from Indians. Once it was +Jackson himself, sitting by the camp-fire after the others had gone to +sleep, who detected something strange in the hooting of owls about the +camp, and waked his friends just in time to save them from being +surrounded by a band of redskins on the war-path. At last they reached +the small town which had been christened Nashville, and there Andrew +decided to settle and practice law. + +This was about the time that Washington was being inaugurated first +President of the United States. + +[Illustration: ANDREW JACKSON AT THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS] + +Andrew grew up with Tennessee. He became a big figure in the western +country. He was known as a shrewd, aggressive man, and was sent to +Congress from that district. Later, when the War of 1812 came, he was +made a general of the American forces, and finally put an end to that +war by winning the battle of New Orleans. Some of the satisfaction of +that last campaign may have atoned to him for his own sufferings in the +Revolution. When the war ended he had won the reputation of a great +general, and was one of the most popular men in the United States. His +nickname of "Old Hickory" was given him in deep affection. + +Shortly afterward he was elected President, and then reelected. He was +intensely democratic, absolutely fearless, a magnetic leader. There are +few more remarkable stories than that of the rise of the barefooted boy +of the Waxhaw to be the chief of the great republic. + + + + +XIV + +Napoleon Bonaparte + +The Boy of Brienne: 1769-1821 + + +The playground of the French military school at Brienne was a great open +space looking down upon the town. Here, on a January afternoon in 1783, +a score of boys were hard at work building a snow fort. The winter had +been very cold and a great fall of snow at the first of the year had +covered the playground several feet deep. After each storm the boys in +the military school fought battles back and forth over the open ground, +and up and down the roads that led to the village; but this battle was +to be a memorable one. + +A little Corsican named Bonaparte was in charge of the defending forces. +He was not very popular among his playmates. He kept very much to +himself, and when he did mix with the others he had a habit of ordering +them about. Most of the other boys were afraid of him. Time and again, +when he had been disturbed as he stood reading a book in a distant +corner of the schoolroom or walking by himself in the playground, he had +turned fiercely upon his playmates and had scattered them before him +with the passion of his face and words; but when they wanted a leader +the boys turned to Bonaparte, and now when they had decided to build a +great fort they left the direction of it entirely to his care. + +The Corsican boy, who was fourteen years old, stood in the middle of the +ground, his hands clasped behind his back, nodding now in one direction, +now in another, as he ordered the boys where to bank the snow, how high +to build the ramparts, and in what lines. He was not very tall and his +face was quite colorless. Under a broad brow his piercing gray eyes +darted here and there, and then were quiet in study. He wore a blue +military coat with red facings and bright buttons, and a vest of blue +faced with white, and blue knee-breeches, and a military cocked hat. +From time to time he drew lines on the snow with a sharp-pointed stick. +Once or twice, when he found a boy idling, he spoke to him sharply, but +for the most part he kept strict silence. + +After a time a young master, dressed like a priest, came out of the +school door and walked over toward Bonaparte. He smiled as he saw the +intense look on the boy's face, and the rough plan sketched before him +on the snow. He came up to the boy and stood looking down at him. + +"Well, my young Spartan," said he, "what are you planning now? Some new +way to save the town from siege?" + +The boy glanced up at his teacher, and a little smile parted his thin +lips. "No, Monsieur Pichegru, I was considering how we might drive the +French troops out of Corsica." + +"From Corsica!" exclaimed the master. "Corsica belongs to France, and +you are a French cadet." + +The boy shook his head solemnly. "Corsica should be free," he answered. +"We are more Italian than French. I hate your barbarous words, my tongue +trips over them. If I had my way no Frenchman would be left in the +island." + +"Then it's well you don't have your way, Bonaparte," said Monsieur +Pichegru, laughing. + +Suddenly the boy's brow clouded and his eyes grew serious. "You think I +shan't have my way then? You don't know me, no one knows me. Wait until +I grow up--then you shall see." + +The master was used to this boy's strange fancies, and now he simply +shrugged his shoulders. + +"Well, well, we'll wait and see, but you must learn to curb your temper +if you ever expect to do great things in the world." + +"Why?" said the boy. "Must a general curb his temper? It's his part to +give orders, not to take them, and that, sir, is the part I mean to +play." + +Again the master shrugged his shoulders, and the same quizzical smile +his face always wore when watching this boy lighted his eyes. + +"At least we are agreed on one thing, Bonaparte; we both of us know the +most glorious profession in the world is that of the soldier. Ah, that I +might some day be a captain of artillery!" + +"Why not?" said the boy. "Isn't all of Europe one big camp? Can't any +man rise who has strength to draw a sword? Believe me, Monsieur +Pichegru, if you really want to be a captain you shall be one." + +The master glanced at the boy, and then looked quickly away. "You are a +strange lad, my little Spartan," said he. "I don't think I ever knew +a boy quite like you." + +[Illustration: THE SNOW FORT AT BRIENNE] + +The teacher moved away and the boy continued making his drawings with +the pointed stick. + +By the time the afternoon had ended the square fort of snow was +finished. It was by far the finest fortification the boys of Brienne had +ever built. It had four bastions and a rampart three and one-half feet +long. Water was poured over the top and sides so that ice might form, +and it looked like a very difficult place to take. When he considered it +finished Bonaparte ordered the boys to quit work, and taking up a book +he had thrown on the ground before him he started to stroll up and down +by the farther wall of the parade. He was fond of walking here, book in +hand, studying some military treatise, and, though only a boy, he had +gained the power of shutting out all thoughts except those of his study. + +Some of the boys had put together a rough sort of sky-rocket, and now +brought it out from the house to light it in the playground. One boy +touched a match to the fuse and the others leaped back out of reach. +There was a loud explosion, and the firework, failing to shoot off as +was intended, simply fizzled in a shower of sparks near the feet of the +boy by the wall. He glanced up, looked at the flames and then at the +circle of boys beyond. + +In an instant he had seized his stick and was among them, hitting the +boys over their heads and calling them all the names he could think of, +beside himself in a sudden storm of passion because he had been +disturbed. They fled before his attack like leaves before a whirlwind. +In a few moments he had cleared the playground. Then he threw down the +stick and picked up his book again. + +A few minutes later Monsieur Pichegru, who had been told of the +explosion, came over to him. + +"You must not lose your temper in that way, my boy," said he. "Some day +you will learn to regret it." + +"Why?" said the Corsican lad. "I was studying here, I was reading how +great Hannibal crossed the Alps, and that pack of fools broke in upon +me. I will not be disturbed." + +"You'll teach them to hate you," said the master, trying to argue the +boy out of his ill temper. + +"No, I'll teach them to do as I want, or let me alone when I wish it. +That's all I ask of them, to be let alone." The master, shaking his +head, thought that the boy would soon have his way, for day by day he +grew more solitary and his playmates' fear of him increased. + +The teachers at the school and also some of the servants saw the fort on +the playground that afternoon, and the news of it sped through the town. +According to report it was very different from the snow forts the boys +usually built, much more ingenious and complicated, and along military +lines. As a result the next morning many of the townspeople came to see +the fortifications and examined them with great interest while the boys +were indoors at study. + +When they were free in the afternoon the battle began, one party of the +boys leading the attack from the streets of the town, the other under +Bonaparte defending the bastions and rampart. Attack and defense were +well handled. The boys had already learned many military tactics and +they thoroughly enjoyed this mimic warfare, but the Corsican lad was +much too clever for his adversaries. He was continually inventing new +schemes to surprise his opponents, now sending out a party of +skirmishers to attack them in the rear or on the flanks, again luring +them into a direct assault upon the rampart, and then leading his +soldiers up and over the ice walls to scatter the enemy down the street. +By sunset there was no doubt as to which was the victor. The flag, which +was the prize of battle, was formally awarded to the boys who had held +the fort. + +There was no doubt that young Napoleon Bonaparte knew how to lead +others. He had shown that ability to an amazing degree ever since he had +first entered the school of Brienne when he was only nine years old. The +boys at Brienne were all being trained to be soldiers, and they were all +brought up in strict military discipline which would have been irksome +to many a boy. The young Corsican, however, liked it and seemed to +thrive on it. + +Some of the rules of the school were curious. Until they were twelve +years old the boys had to keep their hair cut short, after that they +were allowed to wear a pigtail, but could powder their hair only on +Sundays and Saints' Days. Each boy had a separate room which was much +like a cell, containing a hard bed with only a rug for covering. The +boys had to stay in school for six years, and they were never allowed +to leave on any pretense whatever. During the long vacation which +lasted from September fifteenth to November second they had only one +lesson a day and had plenty of time for outdoor sports. Everything +possible was done to fire their ardor for military life. They were +encouraged to read the lives of great men, especially Plutarch's +"Lives," and those historical plays which deal with great French scenes. +History and geography were the chief studies, and after those two, +mathematics. In all of these branches Bonaparte took great delight. + +Singularly enough the school, although designed to train boys for +warriors, was entirely under the charge of an order of Friars. Neither +teachers nor boys could help but admit Napoleon's great strength of +character. When the Abbe in charge organized the school into companies +of cadets the command of one company was given to this boy. He ruled +those under him with a rod of iron, and finally the boys who were the +commanders of the other companies decided to hold a court-martial. + +Bonaparte was brought before them and charged with being unworthy to +command his schoolfellows because he disdained them and had no real +regard for them. Arguments attacking him were made by various boys, but +when it came to Napoleon's turn to defend himself he refused, on the +ground that whether he were commander or not made little difference to +him. The court-martial thereupon decided to degrade him from his rank +and a formal sentence was read aloud to him. He seemed very little +concerned, and took his place with the other privates without any show +of ill feeling. For almost the first time the boys felt a sort of +affection for him because he bore his humiliation so well. + +Unlike most boys he really seemed to care very little whether he was +popular or not; all he asked was a chance to learn the art of warfare. +He was happiest when he was left alone to study history. Plutarch's +"Lives" was his favorite book, and his favorite nation among the ancient +peoples was that of Sparta, because he admired the Spartans' stern sense +of heroism and hoped to copy them. That was the reason Monsieur Pichegru +had given him the nickname of "The Spartan," and the name stuck to him +for years. + +The Corsican boy's first desire was to be a sailor. He hoped he might be +sent to the southern coast of France where he would be near his own +beloved island home. It so happened, however, that one of the French +military instructors came to Brienne after Napoleon had been there about +five years, and immediately took an interest in the boy. A little later +he, with four others, was chosen to enter a famous military school in +Paris as what were known as "gentlemen cadets." The report that was sent +to Paris respecting Bonaparte stated that he was domineering, imperious, +and obstinate, but in spite of these qualities he was chosen because of +his great ability in mathematics and the art of warfare. + +The military school of Paris was one of the sights of the French +capital. Famous visitors were always taken there, and the cadets were +intended to form the flower of the French army. Only a few of the boys +who were at the schools in the provinces were chosen to come to Paris, +and those who were chosen were put through a rigid course of study and +of physical drill in preparation for service in the army. Most of the +boys were sons of the nobility and were accustomed to bully their less +distinguished comrades. + +When Bonaparte had been in Paris a very short time he had his first +fight with such a boy. He was quite able to hold his own, but all that +first year he was continually set upon by the Parisians who loved to +taunt him with being a little Corsican and to make ridiculous nicknames +out of his two long names. He lost something of his reserve, because he +liked the military side of the Paris school much better than the church +atmosphere at Brienne. + +Nothing made him so indignant as to hear his native land spoken of +slurringly, and there were many of his comrades who took a special +delight in doing this. The boys would draw caricatures of him standing +with his hands behind his back in his favorite attitude, his brows +frowning, and his eyes thoughtful, and underneath would write "Bonaparte +planning to rescue Corsica from the hands of the French." Whenever he +had a chance he spoke bitterly of the injustice of a great people +oppressing such a tiny island as his. + +Finally some of his words came to the ears of the general in charge of +the school. He sent at once for the boy and said to him, "Sir, you are a +scholar of the King, you must learn to remember this and to moderate +your love of Corsica, which after all forms part of France." Bonaparte +was wiser than to make any answer, he simply saluted and withdrew. +But he paid no heed to the advice, and one day shortly afterward he +again spoke to a priest of the unjust treatment of Corsica. The latter +waited until the boy came to him at the confessional and then rebuked +him on this subject. Bonaparte ran back through the church crying loud +enough for all those present to hear him, "I didn't come in here to talk +about Corsica, and that priest has no right to lecture me on such a +subject!" + +[Illustration: NAPOLEON AS A CADET IN PARIS] + +The priest as well as the others in charge soon learned that it was +useless to try to change this boy's views, or indeed to keep him from +expressing them when he had a chance. They were learning, just as +Monsieur Pichegru and the friars at Brienne had learned, that he would +have his own way in spite of all opposition. + +When he was sixteen Napoleon and his best friend, a boy named Desmazis, +were ordered to join the regiment of La Fere which was then quartered in +the south of France. Napoleon was glad of this change which brought him +nearer to his island home, and he also felt that he would now learn +something of actual warfare. The two boys were taken to their regiment +in charge of an officer who stayed with them from the time they left +Paris until the carriage set them down at the garrison town. The +regiment of La Fere was one of the best in the French army, and the boy +immediately took a great liking to everything connected with it. He +found the officers well educated and anxious to help him. He declared +the blue uniform with red facings to be the most beautiful uniform in +the world. + +He had to work hard, still studying mathematics, chemistry, and the laws +of fortification, mounting guard with the other subalterns, and looking +after his own company of men. He seemed very young to be put in charge +of grown soldiers, but his great ability had brought about this +extraordinarily rapid promotion. He had a room in a boarding-house kept +by an old maid, but took his meals at the Inn of the Three Pigeons. Now +that he was an officer he began to be more interested in making a good +appearance before people. He took dancing lessons and suddenly blossomed +out into much popularity among the garrison. Older people could not help +but see his great strength of character, and time and again it was +predicted that he would rise high in the army. + +He had not been long with his regiment when he was given leave of +absence to visit his family in Corsica. His father had died, but his +mother was living, with a number of children. All of them looked to +Napoleon for help. When he reached his home, although he was only +seventeen, he was hailed as a great man. Not only his own family, but +all the neighbors and townspeople spoke of him with pride, and expected +that he would do a great deal for their island. + +He still had the same passion for that rocky land, and spent hours +wandering through the grottoes by the seashore, or in the dense olive +woods, or lying under a favorite oak tree reading history and dreaming +of his future. The open life of the fields and the pleasures of the farm +appealed strongly to him, but he knew that there was more active work +for him to do in the world, and so, after a short stay, he went back to +the main land. + +It was not long before great events took place in France. The people +arose against their king and the first gusts of the French Revolution +blew him from his throne. The young Napoleon was a great lover of +liberty; he wished it for Corsica and he wished it for the French +people. It seemed at first as though the island might be able to win its +independence, owing to the disorder in France, and the Bonapartes sided +with the conspirators who were working toward this end. But the young +lieutenant attended strictly to his own business. He watched the rapid +march of events from a distance, and when he went to Paris he was +careful not to ally himself too closely with any particular party. +Finally the Republic was proclaimed, and Napoleon saw that there would +be an immediate chance for fighting. He had complained as a boy that the +trouble with the officers was that they had not had a real taste of +battle. He hoped to be able to learn his profession on the actual field. + +At a time like this when every one doubted his neighbor, and no one knew +how long the present government would last, one quality of the young +lieutenant, his steadfast sticking to duty, made him conspicuous. +Whoever might rule the country he stuck to his work of drilling the men +under him, and step by step he advanced until he became +lieutenant-colonel. Finally his great chance came. + +The city of Toulon on the Mediterranean rebelled against the Convention, +which had in turn become the governing power of France, and surrendered +itself to the English. French troops were sent to the city, and at the +very beginning of the fighting the commander of the artillery was +wounded by a ball in the shoulder. Napoleon was next in rank and took +his place. The siege lasted for days, and the young commander was +obliged to exercise all his ingenuity to hold his position before the +English lines. It was like a repetition of the old fight of the Brienne +school yard, only now Bonaparte led the attacking forces, and he found +this a more difficult task than to defend his own iced ramparts. + +There was also trouble with some of the officers, and one of them +ordered Napoleon to place his guns in a certain line of attack. The +Corsican youth refused, declaring that he would not serve under a man +who was wanting in the simplest principles of warfare. The commander was +indignant, but all his friends said to him, "You had better let that +young man alone, he knows more about this than you. If his plan succeeds +the glory will all be yours; if he fails the blame will be his." The +officer took the advice and told young "Captain Cannon," as he called +Napoleon, that he might have his own way, but that he should answer for +the success of his plan with his head. + +"Very well," said the youth, "I'm quite satisfied with that +arrangement." + +The siege lasted a long time, and then it was finally decided to carry +the town by a grand assault. All possible forces were brought to the +attack, and at last Toulon was taken. The young lieutenant-colonel +distinguished himself greatly in this his first real battle. His horse +was shot under him, and he was wounded with a bayonet thrust in the +thigh; but he kept his men in place, and finally advancing they +succeeded in covering both the town and the fleet in the sea. When the +fighting was over the general in command wrote to Paris: "I have no +words to describe the merit of Bonaparte; much science, as much +intelligence, and too much bravery. This is but a feeble sketch of this +rare officer, and it is for you, ministers, to consecrate him to the +glory of the Republic." + +Such was the young Napoleon at twenty-three. Almost immediately he was +made general of brigade, and was looked upon as one of the coming +defenders of the French Republic. + +He went to Paris, was loaded with honors, and given post after post in +the service of his country. For a time he proved a great defender of his +people, for a time he served the Republic as no other man could; but +when defense was no longer needed he could not sheathe his sword, he had +to use it for attack whether the cause were just or not. As he won +victory after victory and tasted power he discarded even the Republic +that had made him, and placed himself upon the throne as Emperor. + +That same love of power which had made him was also his undoing. He +could not rest content with what he had. As he had predicted to Monsieur +Pichegru that afternoon at Brienne he would have his own way, and very +much as he had treated his schoolfellows there he later grew to treat +the nations of Europe. As a result they, like his playfellows, combined +against him, and sent him down finally among the privates. + + + + +XV + +Walter Scott + +The Boy of the Canongate: 1771-1832 + + +The business office of a Scotch solicitor is not an especially cheerful +place at any time, and the interior of such a room looked particularly +cheerless on a late winter afternoon in Edinburgh in 1786. A boy of +fifteen sat on a high stool at an old oak desk, and watched the snow +falling in the street. Occasionally he could see people passing the +windows: men and women wrapped to their ears in plaid shawls, for the +wind whistled down the street so loudly that the boy could hear it, and +the cold was bitter. + +The boy looked through the window until he almost felt the chill +himself, and then, to keep warm, held his head in his hands and fastened +his eyes on the big, heavy-leaved book in front of him, which bore the +unappealing title, Erskine's "Institutes." The type was fine, and the +young student had to read each line a dozen times before he could +understand it. Sometimes his eyes would involuntarily close and he would +doze a few moments, only to wake with a start to look quickly at another +desk near the fire where his father sat steadily writing, and then to a +table in the corner where a very old man was always sorting papers. + +The winter light grew dim, so dim that the boy could no longer see to +read. He closed the book with a bang. + +"Father." + +"Yes, Walter, lad?" The lawyer looked up from his writing, and smiled at +the figure on the high stool. + +"I'd best be going home; there's no more light here to see by." + +"A good reason, Walter. Wrap yourself up warm, for the night is cold." + +Young Walter slid down from his seat, and stretched his arms and legs to +cure the stiffness in them. He was a sturdy, well-built lad, with +tousled yellow hair, frank eyes with a twinkle in them, and a mouth that +was large and betokened humor. When he walked he limped, but he held +himself so straight that when he was still no one would have noticed the +deformity. + +Five minutes later the boy was plowing his way through the narrow +streets of the Canongate, the old part of Edinburgh that had as ancient +a history of street brawls as the Paris kennels. Nobody who could help +it was abroad, and Walter was glad when he reached the door of his +father's house in George's Square and could find shelter from the +cutting wind. The Scotch evening meal was simple, soon over, and then +came the time to sit before the blazing logs on the great open hearth +and tell stories. + +The older people were busy at cards in another room, and Walter, with a +group of boys of his own age who lived in the neighborhood and liked to +be with the lame lad, had the fireside to themselves. + +In front of the fire young Walter was no longer the sleepy student of +Erskine's "Institutes"; his eyes shone as he told story after story of +the Scotch border, half of them founded on old ballads or legends he +knew by heart and half the product of his own eager imagination. Whole +poems, filled with battles and hunts and knightly adventures, he could +recite from memory, and his eye for the color and trappings of history +was so keen that the boys could see the very scenes before them. They +sat in a circle about him, listening eagerly to story after story, +forgetting everything but the boy's words, and showing their fondness +and admiration for the romancer in each glance. + +Walter was minstrel and prophet and historian to the boys of the +Canongate by the winter fire, as he was to be later to the whole nation +of Englishmen. + +By the next day the snow had ceased falling, and the open squares of the +city presented the finest mimic battle-fields that could be imagined. +The boys of Edinburgh were divided into clans according to the part of +the city in which they lived, and carried on constant warfare as long as +winter lasted. Walter Scott and his brothers belonged to a clan that +made George's Square their headquarters, and their nearest and dearest +enemies were the boys of the Crosscauseway, a poorer section of the city +that lay not very far distant. + +On the day the storm ceased Walter left his high stool and ponderous +book early and joined his friends in solid array in their square. While +they waited for the enemy to come up from the side street, the boys +built snow fortifications across the Square and stocked them with +ammunition sufficient to stand a siege. Still no enemy appeared, and, +eager for a chance to try their aim, the boys of the Square boldly left +their own haunts and proceeded down the Crosscauseway in search of the +foe. + +The enemy's country lay through narrow winding streets, and there was +great need of care to avoid an ambuscade. Slipping from door to door, +from one point of vantage to the next, the boys made the whole distance +of the enemy's land without sight of an enemy. They came to the further +boundary and raised a cheer of defiance, when suddenly a hail-storm of +snowballs struck them, and from a side street the boys of the +Crosscauseway shot out. The invaders fired one round, then turned and +fled before a fierce charge. + +Back the way they came the boys retreated, and after them came the enemy +pelting them without mercy and with good aim. In the van of the pursuit +ran a tall, fair-haired boy, who wore the bright green breeches of a +tailor's clerk, who was famous for his prowess in these schoolboy +battles, and who, because of his clothes, had been given the picturesque +nickname of "Green Breeks." + +Young Scott and his friends ran back into their square, but the enemy +were close upon their heels. Green Breeks was now far in the lead of his +forces, so far in the lead that he might have been cut off had not the +pursued been panic-stricken. Over their own fortifications the boys fled +and dropped behind them for safety. Their banner, a flag given them by a +lady of the Square, waved defiantly in Green Breeks' face. The tall boy +leaped upon the rampart and seized the standard, when a blow from a +stick brought him to the ground. He fell stunned, and the blood poured +from a cut in his head. + +The watchman in George's Square was used to the boys' battles, but not +to such an ending to them. He hurried over to the fallen Green Breeks, +and the boys of both armies melted silently away. Shortly after Green +Breeks was in the hospital, his head bandaged, but otherwise little the +worse for his mishap. + +A confectioner in the Crosscauseway acted as messenger between the boys +of the Causeway and the Square, and to him Walter Scott and his brother +went early the next morning and asked if he would take Green Breeks some +money to pay for his wound and loss of time in the tailor's shop. Green +Breeks in the hospital had been asked to tell the name of the one who +had struck him, but had refused pointblank, and none of either party +could be found to tell. When the wounded leader heard of Walter's offer +he refused to accept the money on the ground that such accidents were +apt to happen to any one in battle, and that he did not need the money. +Walter sent another message, inquiring if Green Breeks' family were in +need of anything he could supply, and received the answer that he lived +with his aged grandmother who was very fond of taking snuff. Thereupon +Walter presented the old woman with a pound of snuff, and as soon as +Green Breeks was out of the hospital made him one of his friends. + +With the opening of spring Walter spent all his spare hours in his +favorite pursuit, riding through the country on a search for old +legends or curious tales of the neighborhood. Scottish history was his +never-ending delight; he knew every battle-field in the vicinity of +Edinburgh, and could tell how the armies had come to meet and what was +the result. Stories of sprites and goblins, of witches and magicians, +were eagerly sought by him. Many an old woman was led to tell the lame +boy with the eager eyes the tales she had heard as a schoolgirl, and was +well repaid by the boy's rapt attention. Hardly a stick or a stone, a +stream or a hill in the Lowlands that had a history but Walter Scott +learned it, and at the same time he learned to know the plain people, +all their habits and customs, and all the little eccentricities that +made up their characters. + +[Illustration: STREET IN EDINBURGH WHERE SCOTT PLAYED AS A BOY] + +Every Saturday in fair weather, and more frequently during the +vacations, his father allowed him a holiday from the office. Walter and +a boy friend named John Irving used to take two or three books from the +public library of Edinburgh, and go out into the neighboring country, to +Salisbury Crags, Arthur's Seat, or to a height called Blackford Hill, +from which there was a splendid view of the Lowland country. There they +read the books together, Walter always a little ahead of his friend, and +obliged to wait at the end of every two pages for him to catch up. The +books were almost always stories of knights-errant; the romances of +Spenser, the "Castle of Otranto," and translations from such Italian +writers as Ariosto, were very popular. + +Often the boys would climb high up over the rocks to find places where +they would be sheltered from the wind, and the harder the nooks were to +reach the better they liked them. Walter, in spite of his lameness, was +a good climber, and time and again, when it seemed as though they had +contrived to get into a place from which there was no way out, and must +call to passers-by for help, he would manage to discover some jutting +stone or crevice in the rock that allowed them finally to make a +perilous escape. + +That sort of adventure appealed to the boy tremendously; he liked to try +to use his wits in grappling with some natural difficulty, as the heroes +of his stories so often had to do. + +The boys devoured a great many books in these expeditions, which lasted +over two years, and Walter so mastered the pages that he read that he +could recite long passages from them to his friend weeks after they had +finished the stories. Finally they fell into the habit of making up +stories of knights for themselves, first Walter telling the adventures +of a knight to John, and leaving the hero in some very difficult +situation for John to rescue him from, and then John carrying on the +story with another adventure, and leaving the next rescue to his friend. +The stories went on from day to day, and week to week, because the boys +grew so fond of their heroes that neither had the heart to kill the +brave knight, and they could find no other way to bring his adventures +to an end. + +Although Walter spent considerable time in his father's office, he was +still studying under a tutor with other boys, preparing for college. He +was a brilliant scholar when he wanted to be, but all subjects did not +interest him. + +At one time there was a certain boy who always stood at the top of +Walter's class whom young Scott could not supplant, try as he would. +Finally Walter noticed that whenever the master asked that boy a +question the latter always fumbled with his fingers at a certain button +on the lower part of his waistcoat. Walter Scott thereupon determined to +cut off that particular button, and see what would happen. He found a +chance soon after and cut off the button with a knife, while the owner +of the coat was not looking. Then Walter waited with the greatest +interest to see what would happen. + +The next time the master asked questions of the youth at the head of the +class Walter saw the boy's fingers feel for the button, and then saw him +look down at the place on his coat where it should have been. When he +saw it was missing he grew confused, stammered, muttered to himself, and +could not answer the question. Walter came next, and, being able to +answer the question, took the other boy's place, chuckling to himself. +He did not hold it long. He had simply wished to see what would happen, +and having found out he was quite willing to surrender the place to the +boy who was really the better scholar. + +In a thousand ways Walter showed his love of history and romance. +Anything that was picturesque, whether it was a view or an old dirk, +caught his attention at once. For a short time he took lessons in oil +painting from a German. He soon found that he had not the eye nor the +hand for the work, but it happened that the teacher's father had been a +soldier in the army of Frederick the Great, and as soon as Walter found +this out, he plied the man with questions. Long afterward he said he +vividly remembered the man's picturesque account of seeing a party of +the famous Black Hussars bringing in forage carts which they had +captured from the Cossacks, with the wounded Cossacks themselves lying +high up on the piles of straw. + +Often in good weather the boys of George's Square would go on long +excursions into the country, frequently staying away from home for +several days at a time. On one such occasion they found themselves some +twenty miles away from Edinburgh without a single sixpence left among +them. Walter said afterward, "We were certainly put to our shifts, but +we asked every now and then at a cottage door for a drink of water; and +one or two of the good wives, observing our worn-out looks brought out +milk in place of water--so with that, and hips and haws, we came in +little the worse." + +His father was not at all pleased with his long absence, and asked how +he had managed with so little money. + +"Pretty much like the ravens," said the boy. "I only wished I had been +as good a player on the flute as poor George Primrose in 'The Vicar of +Wakefield.' If I had his art, I should like nothing better than to tramp +like him from cottage to cottage over the world." + +"I doubt," said the father, "I greatly doubt, sir, you were born for nae +better than a scapegoat." + +It may be that as a result of these chance expeditions Walter's father +finally came to realize that the boy might be made use of in certain +legal business that required sending messengers into the Highlands. Soon +he was sent with some legal papers to the Maclarens, who lived in that +beautiful lake country about Loch Lomond which Scott was later to make +famous in "The Lady of the Lake." It was the first time he had been in +that country, and the changing panorama unrolled before his eyes like a +land of dreams. + +It happened that Walter was traveling in the company of a sergeant and +six men from a Highland regiment stationed in Sterling, and so he +journeyed quite like some ancient chieftain, with a front and rear +guard, and bearing arms. The sergeant was a thorough Highlander, full of +stories of Rob Roy and of his own early adventures, and an excellent +companion. The trip was a great success, and fired Walter's desires to +see more of a country which even then was only half-civilized. + +A little later he had another chance, being sent north to visit another +of his father's clients, an old Jacobite who had fought in the uprisings +of 1715 and 1745. Paul Jones was then threatening a descent on the +Scotch coast, and Walter had the satisfaction of seeing the old Jacobite +chief making ready to bear arms again, and heard him exult at the +prospect of drawing claymore once more before he died. The boy was so +delighted at the stories the old man told that the latter invited him to +visit him that fall, and so he spent his holiday with him. + +Riding northward on this visit the vale of Perth first burst on his +view. Long afterward he described the tremendous impression this sight +made upon him. "I recollect pulling up the reins," he wrote later, +"without meaning to do so, and gazing on the scene before me as if I had +been afraid it would shift, like those in a theatre, before I could +distinctly observe its different parts, or convince myself that what I +saw was real." + +Even as he remembered so vividly the tales the old men and women had +told him when he was a very little boy, the stories of his grandmother, +of border warfare, of heroes of Scotland, such as Watt of Harden, and +Wight Willie of Aikwood, merrymen much like Robin Hood and Little John, +and as he remembered the romances he and his friend had read in the +hills, so he was now treasuring up wild bits of scenery with all the +ardor of a poet or a painter. He was growing to know Scotland as no +other man had ever known it. + +The boy Walter had little knowledge then of the great use to which he +was later to put his love of Scottish history; he expected to be a +lawyer and was studying to that end, but all his spare moments were +spent in hunting legends of his land. He became eager to visit the then +wild and inaccessible region of Liddesdale, so that he might see the +ruins of the famous castle of the Hermitage, and try to pick up some of +the ancient "riding ballads" as they were called, songs which were said +to be still preserved among the descendants of the old moss-troopers, +who had followed the banners of the House of Douglass, when they were +lords of that remote castle. + +He found a man who knew that rugged country well, and for seven +successive years Walter Scott made a "raid," as he called it, into that +country, following each stream to its source, and studying every ruined +tower or castle from foundation stone to topmost battlement. + +There were no inns in the whole district. The explorers had to stop over +night at any chance shepherd's hut or farmer's cottage, but everywhere +they met with open welcome, and from each home they gathered songs and +stories, and sometimes relics of border wars to take back with them to +Edinburgh. Even then the youth had little notion of what he should do +with all the facts he was gathering. The friend he traveled with said +later, "Walter was makin' himself a' the time, but he didna ken maybe +what he was about till years had passed. At first he thought o' little, +I dare say, but the queerness and the fun." + + * * * * * + +In course of time Scott was called to the bar as a lawyer, and took his +place with the dozens of young men who hung about the Parliament House +in Edinburgh waiting for briefs of cases to be argued. There were lots +of debating clubs in the Scotch capital at that time, and Scott was a +member of several. Some time was spent in argument, but more in telling +stories and in singing songs. + +Here the young lawyer ruled supreme. No other man could tell such tales +as he, and none knew so many and such curious songs. The stories were +not all his own; frequently he retold old ones that he had heard, +dressing them up to suit his taste. Once a friend complained that he had +changed a story told him the day before. + +"Why," said Scott, with twinkling eyes, "I don't change stories. I only +put a cocked hat on their heads, and stick a cane into their hands--to +make them fit for going into company." + +Fifteen years passed and all England was reading eagerly the wonderful +historical poems and romances written by a man who called himself the +"Wizard of the North." + +Scotland had always been a desolate barren country in the eyes of the +rest of the world, its history unknown, its people cold and uninviting. +Suddenly all that was changed: Scotland sprang into being as a land of +romance, filled with poetry, a country full of glorious scenery, a +people descended from a line of kings. Even the narrow streets of +Edinburgh and the old Canongate itself became historic ground under the +Wizard's spell. The Wizard was Walter Scott, and now he found the whole +world as eager to hear the stories and poems he had to tell about his +country as his boy friends had been years before. He had not changed +much as he grew up. At the height of his fame Walter Scott was still in +spirit the eager boy of the old city, finding romance everywhere about +him because he looked for it with the eyes of youth. + + + + +XVI + +James Fenimore Cooper + +The Boy of Otsego Hall: 1789-1851 + + +The finest house in central New York State in 1801 was Otsego Hall. The +owner of the house, a Mr. Cooper, fond of old English customs, lived +much like a lord of the manor of the old country, and kept open house +for his neighbors of the region. On a Saturday afternoon in September of +that year he was giving a great party, and all roads in the neighborhood +of Cooperstown, which had been named in honor of this popular gentleman, +led to Otsego Hall. + +A gay stream flowed up to the great stone posts that flanked the +entrance driveway. There were men in bright-hued, tight-fitting trousers +with high shining top-boots, brilliant plum and claret colored coats and +fawn or scarlet waistcoats, with lace stocks at their throats, their +hair well powdered, their tri-cornered hats matching their vivid coats. +They rode fine, spirited horses, and they knew how to ride, for most of +them had seen service under General Washington. Some of the ladies also +rode, but more of them came in open carriages. These latter wore +flowered satins, and carried painted fans and sunshades. Some came +across fields on foot, a young gallant swinging a light gold-headed +cane, and paying lavish compliments to the fair girl whose dimples were +heightened by small beauty patches cut in stars or crescents. + +The gay throng wound up the long drive of Otsego Hall, themselves +scarcely less brilliant than the flowers beside the path. At the top of +the drive was the big, white colonial mansion, with its high storied +porch and great white pillars. On the porch stood the genial host in a +buff-colored suit with knee-breeches, his kindly face radiating welcome +to each guest. The riders sprang from their saddles and threw the +bridles to the waiting servants, the chaises and the chariots emptied +their owners and were whisked away. All mounted the wide steps, greeted +Mr. Cooper, and passed across the porch into the polished hall. + +Here stood a large round table with a huge punchbowl in the centre and a +ring of shining glasses about it. Each guest toasted the fair lady of +the manor, and some particular lady of his own fancy, with such charming +sentiments as his wit supplied. There was a great buzz of talk and +laughter and neighborly greeting. + +Presently three young men, all dressed in the height of fashion, came up +the driveway and shook hands with Mr. Cooper. He was especially glad to +see them, for they were sons of men he had known in war times. All three +came of wealthy families living in the city of New York, and were now +traveling north to learn something of the business possibilities of the +young country. They stopped for a moment to chat with Mr. Cooper, and +then two of them entered the hall. The third was looking at a small boy, +who, dressed like Mr. Cooper in buff clothes, stood at one side of the +porch. + +"Who is the youngster?" asked the visitor. + +Mr. Cooper turned about to see. "Oh, that's my son James." He beckoned +to the boy. "Come here, son. I want you to meet Captain Philip Kent, one +of father's old friends." + +The boy, not at all abashed, put out his hand, and welcomed Captain +Kent. "Have you ever fought Indians?" he asked solemnly. + +Kent laughed and winked at Mr. Cooper. "Oh, yes. We've all fought +Indians in our day. But, thank God, that day's passed. What we want now +is a chance to rest in quiet, and try our hands at writing, and singing, +and painting, like other civilized people." He saw that some other +guests were arriving, and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Come, +James. You and I don't care to go salute the ladies just yet. Let's find +a place in the garden and have a talk." + +They went down a gravel path and turned in to the rose-garden. A bench +invited them to rest. Captain Kent sat down, and drawing a gilded +snuff-box from his waistcoat-pocket, offered it to the boy. "The very +best rappee," he said. + +James Cooper shook his head. "I don't like snuff, sir. I'd rather smoke +a pipe." + +Captain Kent took snuff and flicked the grains from his coat with his +handkerchief. "Tut, tut, young man, if you're to be a man of fashion, +and I misdoubt your father's son could be ought else, you must like what +the fashion likes. The gentlemen of St. James' Palace still take snuff, +and never are seen smoking pipes, like some of our clumsy Dutchmen over +here." + +"But St. James' Palace is in London, and we're free from England now." + +"Quite so, my good sir. But our fashions still come from across the +seas." + +"And what is a man of fashion?" asked the boy. + +Captain Kent smiled. "Ah, so you are concerned? Good! Well, I am a man +of fashion, and so are those two friends of mine who just entered your +hall. A man of fashion has a discriminating taste in wines and foods. He +knows what colors go in harmony, how to draw his sword in any matter of +honor, how to tread a minuet--oh, yes, and how to write verses to his +lady's eyes." + +The Captain put his hand in the pocket of his coat and drew out several +folded sheets of paper. He spread them out on his knee. "Do you know +Miss Betty Cosgrove?" he asked. + +The boy nodded. "Yes, indeed. She lives very near us, and always gives +me plum-cake when I go there with messages from mother." + +"Ah, she does!" exclaimed Kent, as though greatly struck and charmed by +the idea. "Well, Mr. James Cooper, I have written some verses in her +honor, hoping I might offer them to her here this afternoon. I'll read +them to you." + +"She's indoors," said the boy. "I saw her come." + +"Quite so. But I hope to lure her out here later, and I want to rehearse +the verses. What do you think of this?" + +The young man held the paper before him, and read from it. Every few +lines he would glance at the boy. James did not think much of the +poetry. He heard a great deal about tresses, and eyes, and smiles, about +Gods and Goddesses, but nothing about soldiers or Indians. He was +surprised that the Captain should have become so red in the face and +that his eyes should shine so brightly. + +"What do you think of it?" asked Captain Kent, when he had finished. + +"I don't understand it," said James. Then he added frankly, "I don't +think much of poetry." + +"May Heaven grant she does!" exclaimed the Captain. "I think 'tis quite +a fair performance for an humble poet." He folded the verses and put +them away. "Some day you will be doing the same thing, Mr. Cooper." + +"No," said the boy. "I'm to go to Yale College at New Haven next year +and learn Greek." + +"'Tis better to write verses than learn Greek," objected Kent. He put +his hand on the boy's shoulder. "But there's better yet waiting to be +done, boy. In London men write what they call novels; wonderful stories +of the great world of fashion. There's one called 'Amelia,' by Henry +Fielding, and another named 'Clarissa Harlowe,' by Richardson. Why +should not some one write such tales of our country? Alas, I fancy +because as yet we have so little fashion." + +"But we've plenty of hunters and Indians and sailors," said the boy; "I +wish I had a book about what's happened in those great woods back of +Albany." + +"Write it, lad, write it," said the Captain. "We've had our soldiers, +you and your friends must be our poets and writers. I envy you. Now let +us be going in to greet the ladies." + +The lower floor of Otsego Hall was now filled with people. All the +gentry of the countryside were gathered in the great hall, in the +dining-room, and other apartments that opened into it. Captain Kent and +his boy friend made their way through the crowd, and the Captain bent +over the hand of Mrs. Cooper and congratulated her on having so fine a +son. The boy liked his gallant friend and stayed near him, even when the +Captain finally caught sight of Miss Betty Cosgrove talking with his two +mates in a corner of the hall. + +James watched the Captain advance and in his most polished manner bend +over the lady's hand and touch it with his lips. Then the four of them +started to laugh and talk rapidly as though they had a great many things +to tell each other. The boy thought this very tiresome, and was about to +make his way back to the porch and freedom when he heard a man who stood +on the broad stairs call out, "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you all a +toast, our worthy friend and most gracious host, Mr. Cooper!" + +Servants passed glasses of punch to the guests and soon all held their +glasses raised high. + +"I pledge them," cried the man on the stairs, and the toast was drunk +with a murmur of cheers. + +"Another to our charming hostess!" some one cried, and this also was +drunk. + +Then Captain Kent clapped his hands for silence. "Ladies and gentlemen +of Cooperstown," said he, "three of us here have journeyed from New York +City to pay our duty to the fairest maid in all the thirteen states. We +have none like her on Manhattan Island. I give you Mistress Betty +Cosgrove!" + +The three young men raised their glasses, the rest followed their +example, and the toast was drunk. Miss Cosgrove blushed the color of the +rose she wore. + +One of the young men looked down to find a small boy pulling his sleeve. +"What is it?" he asked. + +"Captain Kent's been writing verses to her too," said James Cooper. "He +read them to me in the garden." + +"Ho--ho," came the laughing answer. "Good enough." He turned about. +"Ladies and gentlemen, my friend Captain Kent is a poet. He has some +verses in his pocket written to the adorable Mistress Betty. Shall we +hear them?" + +"Yes, yes," came a chorus of voices. + +It was poor Kent's turn to blush. He looked very uncomfortable. Miss +Cosgrove glanced at him with wide inquiring eyes. He had not expected to +read his poetry in such a setting. He stepped forward, and seizing +little James Cooper under the arms lifted him to a chair. + +"Behold," he said, "I should be glad to read the verses, but this +gentleman, Master Cooper, has told me they are poor, and he should know +because he plans to be an author." + +The Captain's diversion succeeded. The guests were looking at the boy. + +"My son James an author!" exclaimed Mrs. Cooper. "It's the first I've +heard of it!" + +"I don't want to," said the boy, very uncomfortable now that he was the +centre of notice. "I want to be a soldier." + +"That's right," said his father, "and I hope you may be if ever the +country needs you. Friends, I give you these United States!" + +By the time that toast was drunk Captain Kent had drawn Miss Cosgrove +into a little alcove under the stairs and James had stolen out of the +great hall. + +James Cooper was a very fortunate boy. His father's house stood in one +of the loveliest reaches of country on the Atlantic coast. Cooperstown +lay on the southeastern shore of Otsego Lake, where the Susquehanna +rushes out through a fertile valley between high hills. Bays and points +of woodland break the Lake's edge, and in the distance rise the clear +blue slopes of mountains. + +Otsego Hall was built about the time when the young republic was +stretching out for space in which to grow. Mr. Cooper found this lovely +lake, and built on the frontier. Beyond his home spread seemingly +endless forests, filled with the wandering bands of the Indians of the +Six Nations, and with all manner of wild animals. The Lake was the home +of flocks of gulls, loons and wild duck, and more times than he could +count young Cooper had seen a long file of Indian canoes steal swiftly +across its upper bays. It was an ideal region for a boy of an +adventurous turn of mind, fond of the outdoor world. + +The heir of Otsego Hall was not such a boy of the wilderness as were +Daniel Boone, Andrew Jackson or Abraham Lincoln. He did not have to +fight his way in the rough new world as they did. Mr. Cooper was +well-to-do, and intended that his son should take a proper place in the +young nation. There was little he could learn at the local academy, and +so he was soon sent to school at Albany, where he lived in the home of +an English clergyman who was fond of denouncing the war of the +Revolution and the new country, and so made James Cooper more of an +ardent patriot than ever. + +When he was thirteen he was sent to Yale College, and felt himself +almost a grown man. He had been better prepared than most of his +classmates, and so decided he did not need to study to keep up with +them. Instead of working he devoted all his time to sport, and to +wandering through the beautiful country about New Haven. He was learning +a great deal about outdoor life, and storing his mind with pictures, but +at the same time was learning little of the Latin and Greek which his +teachers thought vastly more important. He got into scrape after scrape +with other boys of his way of thinking, and finally in his third year a +midnight frolic led to his being dismissed. Mr. Cooper took his son's +side and argued with the faculty, but the boy had to leave. His father +looked about for some means of taming his son's wild habits and decided +to send him to sea for a time. + +Nothing could have pleased James better. He wanted to see the world, and +he was fond of ships. He had no special ambition, but rather looked +forward to serving in the navy. In the fall of 1806 he sailed from New +York on the ship _Sterling_ bound for England with a freight of flour. +The voyage was a long and stormy one, and the boy, who was simply a +sailor before the mast, got a good taste of life at sea. He enjoyed it +thoroughly. When they reached England he went to London in his sailor's +clothes, and knocked about that great city much like any other jack on +shore. He made friends quickly, enjoyed any new adventure, and stored up +a great stock of stories to take home. + +The boy enjoyed his voyage before the mast so much that when he returned +to New York he asked his father to get him a commission in the United +States navy. Mr. Cooper was able to do this, and James was soon after +sent as midshipman with a party of men to build a brig of sixteen guns +on Lake Ontario. It took them a winter to build the ship, and during +that time the party stayed at the tiny settlement of Oswego, a +collection of some twenty houses. All around lay the unbroken forest +stretching thirty or forty miles without a break. There was abundance of +game, many Indians, and a splendid chance to live the frontier life that +Cooper loved. He now knew the habits of the wild red men and whites, the +lore of the woods, the perils and joys of the sea, and as he helped to +build the gunboat he learned a thousand things that he was to turn to +splendid uses later. + +The boy had now grown to manhood, and yet no sign of his real work had +appeared. He was not especially fond of books or history, his views of +the charm of a soldier's life were much those he had spoken to Captain +Kent at Otsego Hall. It seemed as though he were settled in the navy. + +It is strange how chance determined the fate of young Cooper. About this +time his grandmother asked him to take her name, and for a while he +called himself Fenimore-Cooper. Then a little later he married, and his +wife did not like the idea of his leaving her on long sea voyages. He +seems to have been quite willing to give up the navy, and settle down at +Otsego Hall as lord of the manor after his father's fashion. He liked +the life of a country gentleman, and spent his time planting trees, +draining swamps, planning lawns, and cultivating flowers and fruits. By +the time he was thirty he had tried his hand at almost everything except +writing. + +It happened that as Cooper was one day reading aloud to his wife from an +English novel he threw the book down, exclaiming, "Why, I believe I +could write a better story myself!" His wife laughed, and asked him to +prove it. He said he would, and thereupon sat down and began to lay out +a plot. A few days later he was deep in work on the story, and he kept +at it until he had finished a two-volume novel, which he called +"Precaution." + +His wife and friends liked it and urged him to publish it; so in +November, 1820, appeared the first of that great series of native +American stories which were to give the young nation a distinct place in +English literature. Chance began them, but the first few books proved +so successful that Cooper settled at once into the career of novelist. + +The famous "Leather-Stocking Tales" followed, and the world made the +acquaintance of the America of the Indian and the pioneer in "The +Deerslayer," "The Last of the Mohicans," "The Pathfinder," "The +Pioneers," and "The Prairie." Here he tells the romantic story of the +conquest of the wilderness, and draws the portraits of the pioneer, the +hunter, and the Indian. The same character, Harvey Birch, called +Leather-Stocking, runs through them all, first as a youth in the novels +that deal with the red men, with the great characters of Chingachcook +and Uncas, then as a man in the dramas of the white men who blazed the +trail westward through the forests, and settled the great prairies. + +The story of Daniel Boone inspired him in these latter novels, and he +tells of such scenes as the great prairie fire and the panther fight +with the vividness of an eye-witness. "The Pioneers" is laid on the +shores of Lake Ontario where he built the war-ship, and "The Deerslayer" +about the little lake near Otsego Hall. + +He wrote great tales of the sea also, in one of which, "The Pilot," he +took as his hero John Paul Jones, tales founded on his own knowledge of +a sailor's life won at first hand; but it was the Indian tales that +brought him greatest fame. Whether the pictures of the men of the Six +Nations be accurate or not they made direct appeal to the imagination of +the world, and Indian character will always stand as Cooper drew it. +Shakespeare and Scott have made English history for us, and Cooper has +done the same thing for the history of the Indian. + +Cooper said later that he might have chosen happier periods for his +stories, more stirring events, and perhaps more beautiful scenes, but +none which would have lain so close to his heart. He never forgot what +had interested him so deeply in his boyhood, and when he wrote he went +back to his boyhood memories. Little had he realized in those days how +the words Captain Kent spoke in the garden would come true. He had +drifted into writing before he realized what a great untrodden field lay +before him. + +The story of James Fenimore Cooper is an inspiration to every American. +It is the history of a man who loved his country deeply, and who was as +fine-spirited a gentleman as he was a great author. + + + + +VII + +John Ericsson + +The Boy of the Goeta Canal: 1803-1889 + + +Among the Swedish country people there still lingers a primitive half +belief in witches and goblins, and nymphs and elves of the forests and +the sea. Many a simple mountaineer, returning home from some lonely +trip, tells tales of prophetic voices he heard whispering in the wind or +of gnomes who interrupted his slumbers in the woods. One such legend +runs as follows. + +A wealthy farmer named Ericsson, who owned many acres in the Swedish +province of Vermland, had in his service a crippled lad whose business +it was to tend the sheep. This work kept him away from people much of +the time, and led him through the pine woods, beside the little tarns, +or hidden inland lakes, and up and down the wild mountains where the +fairy people dwell. He grew quite accustomed to meeting wood or lake +nymphs in his wanderings, and became so friendly with them that they +often gave him good advice, such as when to expect a storm, or where he +might find the best grazing for his flock. + +One day he was caught in the rain and when he found shelter in a +deserted barn he was so wet and exhausted that he fell into a troubled +sleep. While he slept a pixie came to him and whispered in his ear that +in time to come a house should be built on that part of farmer +Ericsson's land, and that two boys should be born there who should make +the name of Ericsson known round the world. + +The shepherd was much excited by the news, and as soon as he reached the +Ericsson house he told the fairy's prophecy. The family were very much +concerned and wrote the prophecy down in the family Bible, and also +spread the story through the province. That was in the seventeenth +century. + +Near the end of the eighteenth century young Olof Ericsson married, and +built him a home on that part of the family land where the old barn had +stood. He had three children, a daughter named Caroline, and two sons, +named Nils and John. One day the mother heard the old legend and +identified the place with her husband's house, and so became convinced +that her boys were to become world famous. They came of very good stock, +and the family traced their ancestry back to the great Leif Ericsson, +son of Eric the Red, who had been the Norse discoverer of America. + +Olof and his wife Brita were devoted to their children. Olof was part +owner of a mine at the town of Langsbaushyttan near which they lived. +The children had a governess for a time, and father and mother taught +them what they could, but the most of their days were spent playing in +the thick pine woods along the shore of the little Lake Hytt which lay +in front of their house. Sometimes Olof took the two boys with him to +the mine, and from almost the first visit a perfect passion for +machinery took possession of the younger boy John. After that he was +always playing with pencils and paper, with bits of wood and metal, and +spent hours drawing figures in the sand on the beach of the lake. + +At about this period hard times befell Sweden. The small Northern +country, half the size of Texas, with fewer people than the single city +of London, never very rich, had trouble keeping her independence from +Russia. Her king was a weakling, and lost part of his land. Then a +gentleman of fortune, a man who had been a French lawyer's apprentice, +and had risen to be a marshal, one whose sword had helped to carve out +an empire for Napoleon, suddenly was elected King of Sweden. He brought +the little country French support and better times, but meantime Olof +Ericsson had lost his property and found that he must seek work at once +to keep his family from starving. + +Olof had lost his share in the mine and had been living in the depths of +the pine forest choosing lumber for builders. He had encouraged his son +John's talent for machinery, and now began to believe that the old +prophecy might really come true. He had seen John, only ten years old, +build a miniature sawmill and pumping engine at the mine, and had been +as much astonished as any of the men there when his son proudly showed +them the designs he had drawn for a new kind of pump to drain the mines +of water. + +Even when the little family had left the mining town and were living in +the deep woods the boy continued working out his own inventions. He made +tools for himself, using sharp pine needles for the points of a drawing +compass he fashioned out of sticks, begging his mother for a few hairs +from her fur coat to make paint brushes, and actually devising a ball +and socket joint for a small windmill he was building. Everything he +could lay his hands on he turned to some mechanical use, and all his +thoughts seemed bent in that one direction. + +The new King of Sweden was now planning to build a great ship canal at +Goeta to unite the Baltic and the North Seas, a scheme which had for a +long time appealed to Swedish patriots as a protection against their +great grasping neighbor, the Russian Bear. Through the influence of a +friend, Count Platen, Olof Ericsson was given work in connection with +the canal, and moved his family with him to a town called Forsvik. Here +a great many soldiers were at work, for the canal was in charge of the +army, and many skilled engineers were gathered to superintend the +building. + +Almost at the same time when Olof reported for work Count Platen and the +other officers were surprised to see a small boy, not more than thirteen +years old, come every day to watch the digging, to study the machinery, +and to ask questions of every one in the place. He was a handsome boy, +well built, with light, close-cut, curling hair, fair as Swedish boys +almost always are, with clear blue eyes, and a very firm mouth and chin. +While other boys of his age were at school or playing he would stand on +the bank of the canal, studying by the hour some piece of machinery. +Then on another day he would come with a pad of paper, some crude +home-made drawing tools, and pencils, and perching himself on a pile of +rocks or of lumber would draw the machinery as a skilled draughtsman +might, and then work over his sketch, apparently adding to it or +altering it to suit ideas of his own. + +Count Platen watched the boy for several days, and then one morning went +up to him. "May I see what you're doing?" he asked. + +The boy, who had been absolutely absorbed in his work, looked up. "It's +the sketch of a new pump to drain the canal," said he. "I made one for +father's mine in Vermland, and I don't see why the same plan can't be +used here. It'll do the work more quickly." + +Count Platen looked at the drawing on the boy's lap, and listened +intently while the young inventor explained how the machine should work. +He was astounded at the knowledge the boy had of engineering. + +"You're Olof Ericsson's son, aren't you?" he asked finally. + +The boy nodded. "Yes, I'm John Ericsson; I've an older brother Nils, +who's fifteen." + +"Is Nils as much of an engineer as you are?" + +"He knows a good deal about it. Father taught us both, but I don't think +he's as fond of machines as I am." + +The Count laughed. It sounded strange to him to hear a small boy talk of +machinery so eagerly. He could not doubt the boy's earnestness, however. +He had watched him for several days and had just examined his plans. The +boy evidently meant what he said. + +"Well, John, you're certainly a remarkable lad. I shouldn't wonder if +you'd the making of a genius in you." He considered a few minutes, and +then went on. "We need some engineers here to show these stupid soldiers +what to do. How'd you like to try such a job?" + +The boy jumped from his seat in his excitement. "I'd like it very much, +sir. Do you mean to tell the men what to do, and to have real tools to +work with?" + +Count Platen smiled. "Yes, to have entire charge of a part of the work. +That's what I mean. I really think you could do it. How old are you, +John?" + +"I'll be fourteen very soon." + +"Hm," mused the Count, "It seems absurd to put a boy of fourteen in +charge of six hundred soldiers. And yet if he has the skill to do the +work, why not? And there's small doubt that he has. Well, John, I'll see +what can be done. Meet me here to-morrow morning." + +The next day Count Platen found John anxiously awaiting him. He told the +boy at once that his plan had proved successful, and that both John and +Nils were to be enrolled as cadets in the mechanical corps of the +Swedish navy, and that John was to be put in charge of part of the canal +building. The boy was highly delighted; he knew that now he should have +a chance to try in actual working some of the inventions he had planned +on paper. As soon as he had thanked his kind friend the Count he ran +home to tell his mother the news of Nils' and his good fortune. + +It was a curious sight when the officer in command of the troops placed +six hundred soldiers in charge of young John Ericsson. They were too +well trained to laugh, but they were tremendously surprised when they +saw that their future orders were to come from this small, curly-haired +lad just barely turned fourteen. Olof Ericsson himself was scarcely less +surprised than the men; he knew his son's great mechanical ability, but +he could hardly believe that others had come to realize it so soon. + +A few days of actual work on the canal, however proved that Count Platen +had made no mistake. John knew what ought to be done, and he could show +the soldiers new and better ways of getting results, although he was +actually too small to reach the eyepiece of his leveling instrument +without the aid of a camp-stool which he carried about with him. He +brought out some of the mechanical drawings he had worked over, and had +machinery made after them, and whenever his inventions were tried they +met with success. + +For several years John commanded his six hundred men at the Goeta Canal, +and then he decided to enter the army. He had grown tall, and was noted +for his great strength and skill in feats of arms. At seventeen he was +made an Ensign in the Rifle Corps, and soon after Lieutenant in the +Royal Chasseurs. He was fond of the life of the army, but he saw there +was no great future in it for him, and he could not give up his passion +for science and invention. He procured an appointment as surveyor for +the district of Jemtland, and found himself free again to work on his +own lines. + +Sweden is a rugged country, its northern part serried by great fiords, +its mountains steep and often desolate, its forests thick and many. The +young surveyor was in his element roughing it through the wild country, +with an eye to improving it for cultivation and for defense, making +elaborate maps of its hills and valleys, and charts of its fiords and +bays. He had a genius for such work, and the drawings he sent back to +Stockholm were invaluable for the development of Sweden. The surveyors +were paid according to the work they did, but John Ericsson worked so +rapidly that the officials were afraid it would cause a scandal if it +were known how much money he was receiving, and so they carried him on +their account-books as two different men and paid him for two men's +work. + +In his spare hours in Jemtland and Norrland John was busy with +inventions. As a boy he had been delighted to watch his father make a +vacuum in a tube by means of fire. Now he worked over uses to which he +could put that idea, and finally invented a flame engine based largely +on that principle. That success led him to study engines more deeply, +and had much to do with deciding his later career. + +Sweden had shown the world much that was new in the building of the Goeta +Canal, and many of the improvements had been due to the boy cadet +Ericsson. He was now persuaded to write a book on "Canals," explaining +his inventions and describing the Swedish plans. In such a scientific +book the drawings of diagrams were as important as the writing. As soon +as John realized that, he could not resist the temptation to try his +hand at inventing a machine which should properly engrave the plates he +was drawing. It was pure delight to him to exercise his wits on such a +problem, and as a result in a short time he had made a machine for +engraving plates which was used successfully in preparing the +illustrations for his book on "Canals." + +The youth had now won wide recognition throughout Sweden for his +inventive skill. But his own country offered him small opportunities, +devoted though he was to the land and the people. There was more chance +for such a man in a country like England, and there he now went. +Stephenson was working then on his steam-engine, and Ericsson studied +the same subject, and built an engine which in many ways was superior to +the Englishman's. In whatever direction he turned his mind he was able +to find new ideas for improving on old methods. + +Ericsson soon built a locomotive for the directors of the railway +between Liverpool and Birmingham which was the lightest and fastest yet +constructed, starting off at the rate of fifty miles an hour. He could +not find the opportunities he wished, however, in England, and went to +Germany, and from there came to the United States. + +It was in America that Ericsson won his greatest triumphs. He had +invented a screw propeller for boats, and found a splendid market for +this type of machinery. He built the steamship _Princeton_, the first +screw steamer with her machinery under the water line. This was a great +improvement on the old top-heavy style of steamboats, but how great was +only to be known when war showed that ironclads with machinery safely +sunk beneath the water line and so out of reach of the enemy's guns +were to revolutionize naval warfare. + +By the time of the American Civil War men in all countries were +experimenting with these new ideas for ships which Ericsson had launched +upon the world. News came to Washington that the Confederate government +had an all-iron boat, low in the water, which could ram the high-riding +wooden ships of the Union navy, and would furnish little target for +their fire. The Union was in great alarm, for it looked as though this +small iron floating battery could do untold damage to the Union +shipping. There was only one man to appeal to if the North were to +offset this Southern ship, which had been christened the _Merrimac_. +John Ericsson was the man, and he agreed to build an ironclad which +should be superior to the _Merrimac_, and to build her in one hundred +days. + +On March 8, 1862, the _Merrimac_ steamed into Hampton Roads, fully +expecting to destroy the Union fleet there. But instead, to the great +amazement of her officers and men a little iron boat, so small that she +looked like a tiny pill-box on a plank, steamed out to meet her. She was +so tiny it was almost impossible to hit her; she was almost entirely +under water, and her gun turret was built to revolve so that she could +fire in any direction. It was like a battle between David and Goliath, +and when the day was over David had won, and the _Merrimac_ had to bow +to the iron "pill-box" which had been named the _Monitor_. Proud was +John Ericsson then, and rightly so, for he had invented an entirely new +kind of ship, and one which was to give its name of _Monitor_ to all +ships of its kind. + +The building of the _Monitor_ for its successful battle with the +_Merrimac_ was the most dramatic incident in Ericsson's career as an +inventor, but his whole life showed a series of wonderful inventions +which for value and wide range can probably only be compared with those +of Edison. The prophecy which the fairy had made to the shepherd in +Sweden had come true, the name of Ericsson was known throughout the +world. And in addition to John, the older brother Nils had won great +renown in Sweden. He was made Director of Canals there, and created a +nobleman for his great services to science and to his native land. + +On the Battery in New York City, overlooking the wonderful harbor that +is filled with ships of every country, stands the statue of a tall, +handsome man, somewhat of the type of those Norsemen who were the great +adventurers of the Atlantic seas. The statue is of the man who built the +_Monitor_, and who brought to the new world the genius for invention +which he had first shown on the hills and in the woods of Sweden in the +days when, a boy of fourteen, he had taught men how to build the great +canal at Goeta. + + + + +XVIII + +Garibaldi + +The Boy of the Mediterranean: 1807-1882 + + +The town of Nice lay blazing with color under the hot August sun. The +houses, with their shining red-tiled roofs, their painted yellow walls, +their striped and checkered awnings, were scarcely less vivid than the +waters of the bay, which sparkled like a sea of opals under the rich +blue Mediterranean sky. Color was everywhere, brilliant even in the +sun-tanned cheeks, the black hair and eyes, the orange and gold and red +caps and sashes of the three boys who stood on the beach, looking out at +the home-coming fleet of feluccas and fishing-smacks. + +"If only I were a man!" exclaimed one of the boys. "No more Latin +lessons with the Padre. I could sail and fish all day like brother +Carlo. And sometimes I'd visit strange lands, like Africa, and have the +sort of adventures father tells of." + +"I'll be a sailor too, Cesare," agreed the tallest of the three, nodding +his head. "Only poor Giuseppe here will have to stay ashore and be a +priest." He turned a sympathetic face toward Giuseppe, who stood with +his arms folded, his black eyes looking hungrily out to sea. + +"Aye, he'll be teaching other boys just as the Padre teaches us," said +Cesare. + +This prophecy was more than the third boy could stand. He turned quickly +toward his friends. "I'll have adventures, too," he exclaimed. "I'll not +stay here in Nice all my life; I'll go to Genoa and to Rome, and perhaps +I'll fight the Turks. I want to do things, too." His deep eyes shone +with excitement and his face glowed. "Look you, Cesare and Raffaelle, +why shouldn't we turn sailors now?" + +Both boys laughed; they were used to the mad ideas of young Giuseppe +Garibaldi. He, however, was not laughing. "Why not? I've been out to sea +a hundred times with father. He lets me handle his boat sometimes, +though he does say that I'm to enter the Church. Your brother, Cesare, +has a boat that he never uses. Why shouldn't we sail in her to Genoa?" + +Giuseppe was a born leader. The other boys looked doubtfully at each +other, then back at him. The gleam in his eyes held them. + +"Let's sail to-morrow at dawn! You, Cesare, furnish the boat, I'll bring +bread and sausage from home, and Raffaelle shall get a jug of water. +Your brother's boat is sound, Cesare? We'll sail along the shore to +Genoa!" + +"Some one will catch sight of us and stop us," objected Raffaelle. + +"Nay, we'll wait till the other boats are out. They'll all be off before +dawn and we'll have the beach to ourselves." + +"I've a compass my uncle gave me on my name day," said Cesare. "I'll +bring that." + +"And I'll bring some fishing lines," put in Raffaelle, unwilling to be +outdone. + +So almost before they knew it the other two boys had agreed to +Giuseppe's plan, just as the boys of Nice usually unconsciously followed +his lead. + + * * * * * + +The Mediterranean was all silver and blue when the three boys met next +day in the early summer dawn at the pier near the Porto Olimpio where +Carlo Parodi's boat lay. Raffaelle had brought a jug of water and some +fishing lines, Giuseppe a basket of provisions, and Cesare his compass. +They could hardly wait until the last of the fishing boats had put out +to sea before they ran down the pier to embark in their own small craft. +The _Red Dragon_ was the boat's name, given her because of the painted +picture of a terrible monster that sprawled across the sail. She was old +and weather-beaten, a simple sailboat with only a shallow cabin, such as +is used in the Mediterranean to coast along the shore. + +Under Giuseppe's leadership the food and water were stowed on board, the +sail raised, and the boat cast off from the pier. Cesare took the tiller +and with a light morning breeze the _Red Dragon_ drew proudly away from +the beach and headed eastward toward Genoa. + +As the sun rose higher the breeze stiffened, the sail filled and the +brilliant dragon spread out his red body and tail. Each of the boys had +sailed this inland sea a hundred times before, but never had it seemed +so wonderful a place as on this summer morning. The water dashed along +the gunwale and sometimes sent a warm spray into their faces. Behind +them lay the curving harbor, beyond that the red and yellow and brown +roofs and walls of Nice, and still farther back the dim blue outlines of +the mountains. + +They were so excited that for some time they forgot they had had no +breakfast. Presently Raffaelle remembered it, and Giuseppe's basket was +opened and its stock of rye bread, bologna sausage and olives handed +around. The boys were surprised to find how hungry they were, but like a +prudent captain Giuseppe would only let them eat a small part of the +rations. "Suppose we should run into a spell of calm weather before we +sighted Genoa," said he. + +After breakfast Raffaelle took the helm and Cesare and Giuseppe lay up +in the bow and planned what they would do after they landed at Genoa. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile the three families of Parodi, Deandreis and Garibaldi in Nice +were considerably excited. A boy in each family had disappeared. Knowing +what close friends the three boys were the fathers sought each other. +Each family had the same tale to tell. + +Then came word that Carlo Parodi's boat was missing, and this gave the +searchers a clue. They went to the beach, but only to find that all the +fishing-boats had put out to sea some time ago. Signor Garibaldi, +however, was a man of resource and influence, and within an hour he had +found a coast-guard captain who would take him in pursuit. The +coast-guard boat was big and she could triple the speed of the small +_Red Dragon_. By ten o'clock the runaway boat was sighted just opposite +Monaco. The boys saw the pursuers coming, but even by crowding on all +their sail they could not gain a lead. So when the coast-guard came +alongside of them they surrendered. + +Even though they had not reached Genoa, the lads had tasted the salt of +adventure. Giuseppe's father boarded the _Red Dragon_, and, treating the +whole matter as a summer's lark, helped the young sailors to bring their +boat about, and tacking across toward Monaco and then out to the deeper +sea, gave them a lesson in sailing that made them quickly forget that +they were going back to Nice. + +On that sail home the father learned a good deal about Giuseppe. He +heard the boys talk freely to each other, and as he listened he realized +that this son of his was not the quiet type of boy who would make a good +priest, but that he craved the roving life of the sea, descended as he +was from generations of sailors. He himself knew the perils of the sea +only too well, how hard a man must work in its service, and how little +he might gain, and how much securer was the life on shore. But he also +knew that when once the sea called to a boy of Nice it was useless to +try to make him forget the call. Giuseppe would not make a good priest, +and he might make a good sailor. So the watchful father decided, as he +brought the little boat back to shore, to let his son follow his natural +bent. + +After their adventure Giuseppe and his two friends went quietly on with +their school life. Giuseppe's father had promised to teach him something +about navigation in the evenings, and had told him that, if he would +only be patient and wait a short time, he should make a cruise in +earnest. One day, as the boy and his father were coming home from church +a tall, black-haired man stepped up to them, and, holding out his hand, +said, "Signor, will you give us something for the refugees of Italy?" +Giuseppe's father gave the man a few coins, which he received with the +greatest thanks. As they walked on the boy kept turning back to look at +the tall gaunt-faced man they had met. Finally he said, "Who was he, +father, and what did he mean by the refugees of Italy?" + +The father looked down into the boy's eager eyes. "Our poor country," +said he, "has been thrown to the ground, and different people have been +beating her and trying to keep her down, but chiefly the big, +white-coated Austrians, Giuseppe boy. Every once in a while some of our +men band together and try to do something to help Italy get to her feet +again. That man who asked for money was such a man." + +"But why did he look so sad and white, father, and why did he say the +refugees?" + +"Our men are very few, Giuseppe, and have poor arms, and the enemy's +army is very large and their men are veteran soldiers, so that we always +lose. Then those who fought, like that poor fellow, have to fly and seek +refuge out of Italy until the storm blows past." + +Giuseppe clasped his hands behind his back, and his face grew very +thoughtful. "So that man has been to war," he said, "and for us, and the +money you gave him is going to help them the next time?" + +"Exactly," said the father, with a smile at the boy's serious manner. +Giuseppe was not usually very thoughtful. + +"How long do you think the refugees will have to go on fighting, father, +before the enemy are finally driven out of our land?" + +"Oh, they'll have to fight for years and years, and perhaps they'll +never win, for the enemy is much stronger than we Italians." + +"Then," said Giuseppe, "I'm glad, for that will give Cesare and +Raffaelle and me a chance to help them fight. I'm going to be a refugee +myself some day. Will you teach me, father, how to use a sword?" + +"All in good time," said the man, smiling. "You've got your hands full +learning the points of the compass just now." + +For some reason Giuseppe could not get the tall, black-haired man out of +his mind, and the next day, at recess, he told his two friends of his +meeting with him and what he had learned about him. + +"Couldn't we find him or another like him, this afternoon?" suggested +Cesare, very much interested. + +"We'll hunt," agreed Giuseppe. "A refugee could tell us much better +stories than those old sailors can." + +After school the three boys looked through the main streets of Nice, but +saw no one asking for alms for the cause of Italy. They went down to the +harbor, but there were no such men there. Finally in a little square +they came upon the very man Giuseppe had seen the day before. He was +sitting on the grass under a tree, and seemed to be asleep, for his head +was sunk on his folded arms. They crossed over to him quietly. Although +the day was warm he had a greatcoat fastened about his shoulders and a +soft, broad-brimmed hat pulled down upon his head. He looked tired out. + +The three boys stood in front of the man, and finally his eyes opened. +He smiled as he saw them staring at him. "What do you want with me, +signors?" said he. + +Giuseppe dropped on to the grass beside him. "I know now what you meant +when you said the refugees of Italy yesterday," he explained. "We three +boys mean to be refugees some day. We've made a vow that we'll fight the +Austrians until there isn't one of the three of us left. We'd like very +much to hear some of the things you've done." + +The man threw back his cloak and sat up a trifle straighten "Three +future refugees!" he exclaimed. "The world moves! You want to be pushing +me away already, do you? Sit down, I'll tell you what I can." + +The boys sat in front of him, and listened with rapt attention while he +told them that his home was in a little town half-way between Nice and +Genoa, that he was a member of a secret society called the Carbonari, +and that the first rule of that society was that a man must do exactly +as he was told without asking why. Not long before he had received a +secret message telling him to go to the city of Milan, taking his sword +and pistols with him. He had left his wife and children and gone to +Milan, and there he had waited a long time while the leaders of the +society planned to surprise the Austrian garrison and drive the troops +out of the city. + +The night of the attempt finally arrived but some one had betrayed them. +No sooner had they met at the place agreed on than word came that they +must scatter instantly if they wanted to escape the Austrian bayonets. +Each had gone his own way, trying to get as far from Milan as he could. +He had managed to get to Nice, where he was near the French border, and +could cross it at any time. Meanwhile he and the other refugees had to +ask alms or starve. + +The boys had heard of the society of the Carbonari which had spread all +over Italy, and they listened to this story by one of its members with +the greatest interest. They asked him a great many questions, but he +would only answer a few of them. He only told them such facts as were +public property; inquiries about the society itself were met with a +smile and a shake of the head. Before they left him they made him take +the few coins they had in their pockets, to help him and other refugees +of their country. They also made him write their names on a piece of +paper so that when the next uprising should come they might be sent for. +And they solemnly organized a secret society among themselves to last +until the time when they would be old enough to join the Carbonari. + +From that day Giuseppe kept his eyes open for any other refugees who +might be roaming through the streets of Nice. Occasionally he found some +war-worn soldier or sailor whom the authorities allowed to sit in the +sun in one of the city squares or down on the quays, but younger and +more active refugees were scarce, and preferred to cross the frontier to +Marseilles. + +Giuseppe and Raffaelle and Cesare, however, were not to be discouraged, +and as soon as they could they laid their hands on long cloaks and +broad-brimmed hats, and dressed as nearly as possible like their +black-haired friend. They invented countersigns and mottoes, planned +conspiracies, and patterned themselves as nearly after the Carbonari as +they could. But there was no new uprising at that time, and so after a +while the boys lost interest in the game of conspiracy. + +His old love of the sea came back more strongly than ever to Giuseppe, +and he begged his father to take him with him on his next cruise. His +mother thought he was too young to leave the Church school, but the boy, +already large and strong for his years, was growing very restless, and +there was no telling what mischief he might get into if he were kept at +home. + +In the long evenings he was always asking his father to describe to him +the strange cities he had visited on his travels. He begged him +especially to tell him about Rome and her seven wonderful hills, the +city which from his earliest childhood had fascinated him more than any +other place in the world. + +"Do you think I'll ever get to Rome, father?" Giuseppe would ask. + +"Yes. We'll go there together some day before long, little son," his +father would answer. + +So indeed they did. When Giuseppe was about fifteen years old he was +allowed to make his first long voyage on a brigantine bound from Nice to +Odessa, and a year later he sailed on his father's felucca to Rome. The +city of the Caesars seemed even more wonderful than he had dreamed. It +was the heart of the world to him, and he never forgot the deep +impression that first sight of it made upon him. + +After his first voyage the young Garibaldi sailed with many captains and +saw a great deal of the world, rounding Cape Horn, voyaging to the far +north, and even crossing the Atlantic and visiting South America. He was +always deeply interested in strange lands; he loved the thrill of any +adventure, and at the sight of an act of injustice or cruelty nothing +could keep him from going at once to the rescue. + +When he was in South America he heard that the Italians were rising +against their foreign masters and were planning to fight for freedom. He +sailed for home instantly, and no sooner did he land than he was leading +a company of friends to join the Italian army. He was fearless, +generous, and as open-hearted as a child; wherever he went men flocked +to his command; within a few months the young man was virtually general +of an army, and fighting and winning battle after battle in the Alps. At +the end of a year his fame had crossed Europe. + +The freedom of Italy, however, was not won in a single campaign. +Although Garibaldi's troops were victorious, some of the other Italian +armies were not, and before long that first war of independence came to +an end. For a time the Austrians' hold over the cities of Italy seemed +stronger than ever, and Garibaldi and many of his friends were forced to +leave their homes and seek refuge in other countries. Again Garibaldi +crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and this time he went to New York, and took +up the trade of candle-maker, living in a small frame house on Staten +Island. He liked Americans; they understood him and his burning desire +for Italian freedom better than any other foreigners he met. + +He stayed on Staten Island until the chance came for him to go to sea +again as captain of a merchantman, and after that it was only a short +time before he was again in the Alps, his sword drawn, his devoted +volunteers behind him. + +It was long before the dream of Italian patriots came true and Rome +became the capital of a united country, but during those years Garibaldi +led crusade after crusade. He wore the simple costume of an Italian +peasant, with a red shirt which was copied by all his men. This +red-shirted army swept the enemy out of Sicily and Naples, drove them +back through the Alps, won so continually that the superstitious +Neapolitans believed that their leader must be in league with the Evil +One. But the people of Italy worshiped this general beyond all their +other heroes. + +Even their praises could not spoil the simplicity of Garibaldi's nature. +When his work was done he went home to live quietly with his family. The +friends of his boyhood found him very little changed, the same lover of +Italy and the sea, the same adventurous, generous spirit he had been as +a youth in Nice. + +In those youthful days his boy friends had followed him without +question, now the whole of Italy looked to him as their leader; he had +succeeded in doing what hundreds of other men had dreamed of doing, +driving the Austrians permanently out of the peninsula, and restoring to +his countrymen the ancient liberty of Italy. Yet whether as a boy upon +the Mediterranean or as the liberator of a nation he was always the same +frank, straightforward, high-minded Giuseppe Garibaldi. + + + + +XIX + +Abraham Lincoln + +The Boy of the American Wilderness: 1809-1865 + + +Squire Josiah Crawford was seated on the porch of his house in +Gentryville, Indiana, one spring afternoon when a small boy called to +see him. The Squire was a testy old man, not very fond of boys, and he +glanced up over his book, impatient and annoyed at the interruption. + +"What do you want here?" he demanded. + +The boy had pulled off his raccoon-skin cap, and stood holding it in his +hand while he eyed the old man. + +"They say down at the store, sir," said the boy, "that you have a 'Life +of George Washington,' I'd like mighty well to read it." + +The Squire peered closer at his visitor, surprised out of his annoyance +at the words. He looked over the boy, carefully examining his long, lank +figure, the tangled mass of black hair, his deep-set eyes, and large +mouth. He was evidently from some poor country family. His clothes were +home-made, and the trousers were shrunk until they barely reached below +his knees. + +"What's your name, boy?" asked the Squire. + +"Abe Lincoln, son of Tom Lincoln, down on Pidgeon Creek." + +The Squire said to himself: "It must be that Tom Lincoln, who, folks +say, is a ne'er-do-well and moves from place to place every year because +he can't make his farm support him." Then he said, aloud, to the boy: +"What do you want with my 'Life of Washington'?" + +"I've been learning about him at school, and I'd like to know more." + +The old man studied the boy in silence for some moments; something about +the lad seemed to attract him. Finally he said: "Can I trust you to take +good care of the book if I lend it to you?" + +"As good care," said the boy, "as if it was made of gold, if you'd only +please let me have it for a week." + +His eyes were so eager that the old man could not withstand them. "Wait +here a minute," he said, and went into the house. When he returned he +brought the coveted volume with him, and handed it to the boy. "There it +is," said he: "I'm going to let you have it, but be sure it doesn't come +to harm down on Pidgeon Creek." + +The boy, with the precious volume tucked tightly under his arm, went +down the single street of Gentryville with the joy of anticipation in +his face. He could hardly wait to open the book and plunge into it. He +stopped for a moment at the village store to buy some calico his +stepmother had ordered, and then struck into the road through the woods +that led to his home. + +The house which he found at the end of his trail was a very primitive +one. The first home Tom Lincoln had built on the Creek when he moved +there from Kentucky had been merely a "pole-shack," four poles driven +into the ground with forked ends at the top, other poles laid crosswise +in the forks, and a roof of poles built on this square. There had been +no chimney, only an open place for a window, and another for a door, and +strips of bark and patches of clay to keep the rain out. The new house +was a little better, it had an attic, and the first floor was divided +into several rooms. It was very simple, however; in reality only a big +log-cabin. + +The boy came out of the woods, crossed the clearing about the house, and +went in at the door. His stepmother was sitting at the window sewing. He +held up the volume for her to see. "I've got it!" he cried. "It's the +'Life of Washington,' and now I'm goin' to learn all about him." He had +barely time to put the book in the woman's hands before his father's +voice was heard calling him out-of-doors. There was work to be done on +the farm, and the rest of that afternoon Abe was kept busily employed, +and as soon as supper was finished his father set him to work mending +harness. + +At dawn the next day the boy was up and out in the fields, the "Life of +Washington" in one pocket, the other pocket filled with corn dodgers. +Unfortunately he could not read and run a straight furrow. When it was +noontime he sat under a tree, munching the cakes, and plunged into the +first chapter of the book. For half an hour he read and ate, then he had +to go on with his work until sundown. When he got home he had his supper +standing up so that he could read the book by the candle that stood on +the shelf. After supper he lay in front of the fire, still reading, and +forgetting everything about him. + +Gradually the fire burned out, the family went to bed, and young Abe was +obliged to go up to his room in the attic. He put the book on a ledge on +the wall close to the head of his bed so that nothing might happen to +it. During the night a violent storm arose, and the rain came through a +chink in the log walls. When the boy woke he found that the book was a +mass of wet paper, the type blurred, and the cover beyond repair. He was +heartbroken at the discovery. He could imagine how angry the old Squire +would be when he saw the state of the book. Nevertheless he determined +to go to Gentryville at the earliest opportunity and see what he could +do to make amends. + +The next Sunday morning found a small boy standing on the Squire's porch +with the remains of the book in his hand. When the Squire learned what +had happened he spoke his mind freely. He told Abe that he was as +worthless as his father, that he did not know how to take care of +valuable property, and that he would never loan him another book as long +as he lived. The boy faced the music, and when the angry tirade was +over, said that he would like to shuck corn for the Squire, and in that +way pay him the value of the ruined volume. Mr. Crawford accepted the +offer and named a price far greater than any possible value of the book, +and Abe set to work, spending all his spare time in the next two weeks +shucking the corn and working as chore-boy. So he finally succeeded in +paying back the full value of the ruined "Life of Washington." + +This was only one of many adventures that befell Abraham Lincoln while +he was trying to get an education. His mother had taught him to read and +write, and ever since he had learned he had longed for books to read. + +One day he said to his cousin, Dennis Hanks, "Denny, the things I want +to know are in books. My best friend is the man who will get me one." + +Dennis was very fond of his younger cousin, and as soon as he could save +up the money he went to town and bought a copy of "The Arabian Nights." +He gave this to Abe, and the latter at once started to read it aloud by +the wood-fire in the evenings. His mother, his sister Sally, and Dennis +were his audience. His father thought the reading only waste of time and +said, "Abe, your mother can't work with you pesterin' her like that," +but Mrs. Lincoln said the stories helped her, and so the reading went +on. When he came to the story of how Sindbad the Sailor went too close +to the magic rock and lost all the nails out of the bottom of his boat, +Abe laughed until he cried. + +Dennis, however, could not see the humor. "Why, Abe," said he, "that +yarn's just a lie." + +"P'raps so," answered the small boy, "but if it is, it's a mighty good +lie." + +As a matter of fact Abe had very few books. His earliest possessions +consisted of less than half-a-dozen volumes--a pioneer's library. First +of all was the Bible, a whole library in itself, containing every sort +of literature. Second was "Pilgrim's Progress," with its quaint +characters and vivid scenes told in simple English. + +"AEsop's Fables" was a third, and introduced the log-cabin boy to a +wonderful range of characters--the gods of mythology, the different +classes of mankind, and every animal under the sun; and fourth was a +History of the United States, in which there was the charm of truth, and +from which Abe learned valuable lessons of patriotism. + +He read these books over and over till he knew them by heart. He would +sit in the twilight and read a dictionary as long as he could see. He +could not afford to waste paper upon original compositions, and so he +would sit by the fire at night and cover the wooden shovel with essays +and arithmetical problems, which he would shave off and then begin +again. + +The few books he was able to get made the keen-witted country boy +anxious to find people who could answer his questions for him. In those +days many men, clergymen, judges, and lawyers, rode on circuit, stopping +over night at any farmhouse they might happen upon. When such a man +would ride up to the Lincoln clearing he was usually met by a small boy +who would fire questions at him before he could dismount from his horse. + +The visitor would be amused, but Tom Lincoln thought that a poor sort of +hospitality. He would come running out of the house and say, "Stop that, +Abe. What's happened to your manners?" Then he would turn to the +traveler, "You must excuse him. 'Light, stranger, and come in to +supper." Then Abe would go away whistling to show that he did not care. +When he found Dennis he would say, "Pa says it's not polite to ask +questions, but I guess I wasn't meant to be polite. There's such a lot +of things to know, and how am I going to know them if I don't ask +questions?" He simply stored them away until a later time, and when +supper was over he usually found his chance to make use of the visitor. + +In that day Indiana was still part of the wilderness. Primeval woods +stood close to Pidgeon Creek, and not far away were roving bands of Sacs +and Sioux, and also wild animals--bears, wildcats, and lynxes. The +settlers fought the Indians, and made use of the wild creatures for +clothing and food, and to sell at the country stores. The children spent +practically all their time out-of-doors, and young Abe Lincoln learned +the habits of the wild creatures, and explored the far recesses of the +woods. + +From his life in the woods the boy became very fond of animals. One day +some of the boys at school put a lighted coal on a turtle's back in +sport. Abe rescued the turtle, and when he got a chance wrote a +composition in school about cruel jokes on animals. It was a good paper, +and the teacher had the boy read it before the class. All the boys liked +Abe, and they took to heart what he had to say in the matter. + +It was a rough sort of life that the children of the early settlers led, +and the chances were all in favor of the Lincoln boy growing up to be +like his father, a kind-hearted, ignorant, ne'er-do-well type of man. +His mother, however, who came of a good Virginia family, had done her +best to give him some ambition. Once she had said to him, "Abe, learn +all you can, and grow up to be of some account. You've got just as +good Virginia blood in you as George Washington had." Abe did not forget +that. + +[Illustration: BIRTHPLACE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN] + +Soon after the family moved to Pidgeon Creek his mother died, and a +little later a stepmother took her place. This woman soon learned that +the boy was not the ordinary type, and kept encouraging him to make +something of himself. She was always ready to listen when he read, to +help him with his lessons, to cheer him. When he got too old to wear his +bearskin suit she told him that if he would earn enough money to get +some muslin, she would make him some white shirts, so that he would not +be ashamed to go to people's houses. Abe earned the money, and Mrs. +Lincoln purchased the cloth and made the shirts. After that Abe cut +quite a figure in Gentryville, because he liked people, and knew so many +good stories that he was always popular with a crowd. + +Small things showed the ability that was in the raw country lad. When he +was only fourteen a copy of Henry Clay's speeches fell into his hands, +and he learned most of them by heart, and what he learned from them +interested him in history. Then a little later his stepmother was ill +for some time, and Abe went to church every Sunday, and on his return +repeated the sermon almost word for word to her. Again he loved to +argue, and would take up some question he had asked of a stranger and go +on with it when the latter returned to the Creek, perhaps months after +the first visit. Mrs. Lincoln noted these things, and made up her mind +that her stepson would be a great man some day. Most frequently she +thought he would be a great lawyer, because, as she said, "When Abe got +started arguing, the other fellow'd pretty soon say he had enough." + +Probably at this time Abe was more noted for his love of learning new +things and for his great natural strength than for anything else. He was +in no sense an infant prodigy. It took him a long time to learn, but +when he had once acquired anything it stayed by him permanently. The +books he had read he knew from cover to cover, and the words he had +learned to spell at the school "spelling bees" he never forgot. Now and +again he tried his hand at writing short compositions, usually on +subjects he had read of in books, and these little essays were always to +the point and showed that the boy knew what he was discussing. One or +two of these papers got into the hands of a local newspaper and appeared +in print, much to Abe's surprise and to his stepmother's delight. + +Yet after all these qualities were not the ones which won him greatest +admiration in the rough country life. The boys and young men admired his +great size and strength, for when he was only nineteen he had reached +his full growth, and stood six feet four inches tall. Countless stories +were current about his feats of strength. + +At one time, it was said, young Abe Lincoln was seen to pick up and +carry away a chicken coop weighing six hundred pounds. At another time +Abe happened to come upon some men who were building a contrivance for +lifting some heavy posts from the ground. He stepped up to them and +said, "Say, let me have a try," and in a few minutes he had shouldered +the posts and carried them where they were wanted. As a rail-splitter he +had no equal. A man for whom he worked told his father that Abe could +sink his axe deeper into the wood than any man he ever saw. + +This great strength was a very valuable gift in such a community as that +of Gentryville, and made people respect this boy even more than would +his learning and his kindness of heart. + +A little later he lived in a village named New Salem, and there he found +a crowd of boys who were called the "Clary's Grove Boys," who were noted +for the rough handling they gave to strangers. Many a new boy had been +hardly dealt with at their hands. Sometimes they would lead him into a +fight and then beat him black and blue, and sometimes they would nail +the stranger into a hogshead and roll him down a steep hill. + +When Abe Lincoln first came to the town they were afraid to tackle him, +but when their friends taunted the crowd of young roughs with being +afraid of Lincoln's strength, they decided to lay a trap for him. The +leader of the gang was a very good wrestler, and he seized an +opportunity when all the men of the town were gathered at the country +store to challenge Abe to a wrestling match. Abe was not at all anxious +to accept the challenge, but was finally driven to it by the taunts the +gang threw at him. A ring was made in the road outside the store, and +Abe and the bully set to. + +The leader of the gang, however, found that he could not handle this +tall young stranger as easily as he had handled other youths. He gave a +signal for help. Thereupon the rest of the roughs swarmed about the two +wrestlers and by kicking at Abe's legs and trying to trip him they +nearly succeeded in bringing him to the ground. When he saw how set they +were on downing him Abe's blood rose, and suddenly putting forth his +whole strength he seized his opponent in his arms and very nearly choked +the life out of him. + +For a moment it looked as though the rest of the crowd would set upon +Lincoln and that he would have to fight the lot of them single-handed. +He sprang back against a wall and called to them to come on. But he +looked so able to take care of any number that they faltered, and in a +moment their first fury gave place to an honest admiration for Lincoln's +nerve. That ended his initiation, and as long as he stayed in New Salem +the "Clary's Grove Boys" were his devoted followers. + +The leader of the gang, whom Abe had nearly throttled, became his sworn +friend, and this bond lasted through life. When other men threatened Abe +or spoke against him in any way, this youth was always first to stand up +for him, and acted as his champion many times. Curiously enough, in +after years, when Abe had become a lawyer, he defended his old +opponent's son when the young man was on trial for his life, and +succeeded in saving him. + +Such an adventure as this with the "Clary's Grove Boys" was typical of +the way in which Abe, as he grew up, came to acquire a very definite +position in the community. In one way and another he gained the +reputation which the boys gave him of being not only the strongest, but +also "the cleverest fellow that had ever broke into the settlement." +There were many strong men in that country, but there were few really +clever ones, and the simple farmers were only too willing to admire +brains when they met them. + +The time had passed when the boy could stay in the small surroundings of +Pidgeon Creek. First he tried life on one of the river steamboats, then +served as a clerk in a store at the town of New Salem, and there he +began at odd moments to study law. + +A little later he knew enough law to become an attorney, and went to +Springfield, and after that it was only a short time before he had won +his clients. His cousin Denny came to hear him try one of his first +cases. He watched the tall, lank young fellow, still as ungainly as in +his early boyhood, and heard him tell the jury some of those same +stories he had read aloud before the fire. + +When Abe had finished his cousin said to him, "Why did you tell those +people so many stories?" + +"Why, Denny," said Abe, "a story teaches a lesson. God tells truths in +parables; they are easier for common folks to understand, and +recollect." + +Such was the simple boyhood of Abraham Lincoln, but its very simplicity, +and the hardships he had to overcome to get an education, made him a +strong man. He knew people, and when he came later to be President and +to guide the country through the greatest trial in its history, it was +those same qualities of perseverance and courage and trust in the people +that made the simple-minded man the great helmsman of the Republic. + + + + +XX + +Charles Dickens + +The Boy of the London Streets: 1812-1870 + + +The little fellow who worked all day long in the tumble-down old house +by the river Thames pasting oil-paper covers on boxes of blacking fell +ill one afternoon. One of the workmen, a big man named Bob Fagin, made +him lie down on a pile of straw in the corner and placed +blacking-bottles filled with hot water beside him to keep him warm. +There he lay until it was time for the men to stop work, and then his +friend Fagin, looking down upon the small boy of twelve, asked if he +felt able to go home. The boy got up looking so big-eyed, white-cheeked +and thin that the man put his arm about his shoulder. + +"Never mind, Bob, I think I'm all right now," said the boy. "Don't you +wait for me, go on home." + +"You ain't fit to go alone, Charley. I'm comin' along with you." + +"'Deed I am, Bob. I'm feelin' as spry as a cricket." The little fellow +threw back his shoulders and headed for the stairs. + +Fagin, however, insisted on keeping him company, and so the two, the +shabbily-dressed undersized boy, and the big strapping man came out into +the murky London twilight and took their way over the Blackfriars +Bridge. + +"Been spendin' your money at the pastry shops, Charley, again? That's +what was the matter with you, I take it." + +The boy shook his head. "No, Bob. I'm tryin' to save. When I get my +week's money I put it away in a bureau drawer, wrapped in six little +paper packages with a day of the week on each one. Then I know just how +much I've got to live on, and Sundays don't count. Sometimes I do get +hungry though, so hungry! Then I look in at the windows and play at +bein' rich." + +They crossed the Bridge, the boy's big eyes seeming to take note of +everything, the man, duller-witted, listening to his chatter. Several +times the boy tried to say good-night, but Fagin would not be shaken +off. "I'm goin' to see you to your door, Charley lad," he said each +time. + +At last they came into a little street near the Southwark Bridge. The +boy stopped by the steps of a house. "Here 'tis, Bob. Good-night. It was +good of you to take the trouble for me." + +"Good-night, Charley." + +The boy ran up the steps, and, as he noticed that Fagin still stopped, +he pulled the door-bell. Then the man went on down the street. When the +door opened the boy asked if Mr. Fagin lived there, and being told that +he did not, said he must have made a mistake in the house. Turning about +he saw that his friend had disappeared around a corner. With a little +smile of triumph he made off in the other direction. + +The door of the Marshalsea Prison stood open like a great black mouth. +The boy, tired with his long tramp, was glad to reach it and to run in. +Climbing several long flights of stairs he entered a room on the top +story where he found his family, his father, a tall pompous-looking man +dressed all in black, his mother, an amiable but extremely fragile +woman, and a small brother and sister seated at a table eating supper. +The room was very sparsely furnished; the only bright spot in it was a +small fire in a rusty grate, flanked by two bricks to prevent burning +too much fuel. + +There was a vacant place at the table for Charles, and he sat down upon +a stool and ate as ravenously as though he had not tasted food for +months. Meanwhile the tall man at the head of the table talked solemnly +to his wife at the other end, using strange long words which none of the +children could understand. + +Supper over Mr. and Mrs. Dickens (for that was their name) and the two +younger children sat before the tiny fire, and Mr. Dickens talked of how +he might raise enough money to pay his debts, leave the prison, and +start fresh in some new business. Charles had heard these same plans +from his father's lips a thousand times before, and so he took from the +cupboard an old book which he had bought at a little second-hand shop a +few days before, a small tattered copy of "Don Quixote," and read it by +the light of a tallow candle in the corner. + +The lines soon blurred before the boy's tired eyes, his head nodded, and +he was fast asleep. He was awakened by his father's deep voice. "Time +to be leaving, Charles, my son. You have not forgotten that my pecuniary +situation prevents my choosing the hour at which I shall close the door +of my house. Fortunately it is a predicament which I trust will soon be +obviated to our mutual satisfaction." + +The small fellow stood up, shook hands solemnly with his father, kissed +his mother, and took his way out of the great prison. Open doors on +various landings gave him pictures of many queer households; sometimes +he would stop as though to consider some unusually puzzling face or +figure. + +Into the night again he went, and wound through a dismal labyrinth of +the dark and narrow streets of old London. Sometimes a rough voice or an +evil face would frighten him, and he would take to his heels and run as +fast as he could. When he passed the house where he had asked for Mr. +Fagin he chuckled to himself; he would not have had his friend know for +worlds that his family's home was the Marshalsea Prison. + +Even that room in the prison, however, was more cheerful than the small +back-attic chamber where the boy fell asleep for the second time that +night. He slept on a bed made up on the floor, but his slumber was no +less deep on that account. + +The noise of workmen in a timber yard under his window woke Charles when +it seemed much too dark to be morning. It was morning, however, and he +was quickly dressed, and making his breakfast from the penny cottage +loaf of bread, section of cream cheese and small bottle of milk, which +were all he could afford to buy from the man who rented him the room. +Then he took the roll of paper marked with the name of the day from the +drawer of his bureau and counted out the pennies into his pocket. They +were not many; he had to live on seven shillings a week, and he tucked +them away very carefully in a pocket lest he lose them and have to do +without his lunch. + +He was not yet due at the blacking-factory, but he hurried away from his +room and joined the crowd of early morning people already on their way +to work. He went down the embankment along the Thames until he came to a +place where a bench was set in a corner of a wall. This was his favorite +lounging-place; London Bridge was just beyond, the river lay in front of +him, and he was far enough away from people to be safe from +interruption. + +As he sat there watching the Bridge and the Thames a little girl came to +join him. She was no bigger than he, perhaps a year or two older, but +her face was already shrewd enough for that of a grown-up woman. She was +the maid-of-all-work at a house in the neighborhood, and she had fallen +into the habit of stopping to talk for a few moments with the boy on her +way to work in the morning. She liked to listen to his stories. + +This was the boy's hour for inventing his tales; he could spin wonderful +tales about London Bridge, the Tower, and the wharves along the river. +Sometimes he made up stories about the people who passed in front of +them, and they were such astonishing stories that the girl remembered +them all day as she worked in the house. He seemed to believe them +himself; his eyes would grow far away and dreamy and his words would run +on and on until a neighboring clock brought him suddenly back to his own +position. + +"You do know a heap o' things, don't you?" said the little girl, lost in +admiration. "I'd rather have a shillin' though than all the fairy tales +in the world." + +"I wouldn't," said Charles stoutly. "I'd rather read books than do +anythin' else." + +"You've got to eat though," objected his companion, "and books won't +make you food. 'Tain't common sense." She relented in an instant. "It's +fun though, Charley Dickens. Good-bye 'til to-morrow." + +Charles went on down to the old blacking-factory by Hungerford Stairs, a +ramshackle building almost hanging over the river, damp and overrun with +rats. His place was in a recess of the counting-room on the first floor, +and as he covered the bottles with the oil-paper tops and tied them on +with string he could look from time to time through a window at the slow +coal barges swinging down the river. + +There were very few boys about the place; at lunch time he would wander +off by himself, and selecting his meal from a careful survey of several +pastry-cook's windows invest his money for the day in fancy cakes or a +tart. He missed the company of friends of his own age; even Fanny, his +oldest sister, he saw only on Sundays when she came back to the +Marshalsea from the place where she worked, to spend the day with her +family. It was only grown-up people that he saw most of the time, and +they were too busy with their own affairs to take much interest in the +small, shabby boy who looked just like any one of a thousand other +children of the streets. Of all the men at the factory it was only the +big clumsy fellow named Fagin who would stop to chat with the lad. + +So it was that Charles was forced to make friends with whomever he +could, people of any age or condition, and was driven to spend much of +his spare time roaming about the streets, lounging by the river, reading +stray books by a candle in the prison or in the little attic where he +slept. It was not a boyhood that seemed to promise much. + +In spite of this hard life which he led, Charles rarely lost his love of +fun or his natural high spirits. When he was about twelve years old his +father came into a little money, which enabled him to pay his debts so +that he was released from prison. He was also able to send his son to +school. Here he quickly blossomed out into a leader among the boys. He +was continually inventing new games, and queer languages, which were +made by adding extra syllables to ordinary words. Frequently he and +several of his school friends would go out into the street and talk to +each other in this language of their own, understanding what each other +said, but pretending to be foreigners to every one who heard them. + +Charles was also continually writing short stories, which he lent to his +friends on payment of marbles or slate-pencils or white mice, which the +boys were very fond of keeping in their desks. He and a few others +built a small theatre and painted gorgeous scenery for it, and then gave +regular plays, which he specially wrote for the theatre, to the great +entertainment of the other boys and the masters. This comfortable school +life was a great contrast to the hard knocks he had to endure when he +was at the blacking factory, and he flourished under its influence and +began to show something of his real talent for entertaining those about +him. + +Mr. Dickens, however, soon concluded that Charles ought to be making a +start in some business, and so a few years after he had entered school +he was placed as clerk in the office of a solicitor in Lincoln's Inn. +Here he had to run errands through the busy streets of London's business +life, copy all legal documents, and answer the clients who came to call +on the firm. + +The other clerks found young Dickens immensely entertaining. He could +mimic every one who called at the office, and in addition he knew the +different cockney voices of all the rabble of the London streets. He had +learnt to know the queer types of people who drifted about the river +banks and the poorer sections of the city. He knew every small +inflection of their voices and their every trick and gesture, and now he +acted them out to the great delight of the other clerks. But he could +put his powers of mimicry to greater uses. He went to the theatre, +particularly to hear Shakespeare's plays, as often as he could, and then +would repeat long passages from the plays, giving the exact voice and +manner of the leading actors. Many friends predicted that Charles would +be a great actor himself some day, and so perhaps he might had not +his interest all been drawn another way. + +[Illustration: CHARLES DICKENS AT EIGHTEEN] + +At the time he was so much charmed with the thought of becoming an actor +that he wrote to the manager of the theatre at Covent Garden, telling +him what he thought of his own gifts for the stage, and asking if he +might have an appointment. The manager wrote that they were very busy at +that time with a new play, but that he would write him soon when he +might have a chance to meet him. A little later Charles was invited to +go to the theatre and act a short piece in the presence of Charles +Kemble, a very famous actor. When the day arrived, however, he was +suffering from a very bad cold which had so swollen his throat that he +could hardly speak at all. As a result he could not go to the theatre, +and before he had another chance to try his luck he had made up his mind +that he would rather be a writer than an actor. + +It did not take Charles long to realize that the law was not to his +taste. He did not like what he saw of lawyers, and was much more apt to +make fun of than to imitate them. Looking about for some more +interesting work, he took to studying short-hand in the evenings. He +found it very hard to learn, particularly as he had to dig it out of +books in the reading-room of the British Museum, but he persevered, and +finally became very skilful, so that when he was sent by one of the +newspapers to report a debate in the House of Commons he did so +extremely well that experts stated "there never was such a short-hand +writer before." + +The life of a reporter had great charm for the youthful Dickens. He +liked the adventurous side of it, the chance to see strange scenes and +mix in interesting events. He had a great many strange adventures of his +own, and told later how on one occasion soon after he had become a +reporter, he was sent far out of London to take down a political speech, +and how coming back he had to write out his short-hand notes holding his +paper on the palm of his hand, and by the light of a dull, flickering +lantern, while the coach galloped at fifteen miles an hour through wild +and hilly country at midnight. + +In addition to reporting speeches Charles was sent to write notices of +new plays in the theatres and also reviewed new books. He signed these +reviews with his nickname "Boz," and it was not long before these +articles by Boz attracted the attention of a great many judges of good +writing. The chief editor of the _Morning Chronicle_, for which Charles +wrote, said of the youth, "He has never been a great reader of books or +plays and knows but little of them, but has spent his time in studying +life. Keep 'Boz' in reserve for great occasions. He will aye be ready +for them." + +So it proved, and he might have been a prominent newspaper man just as +he might have been a great actor had not the desire to see what he could +do with a story seized upon him. + +We have Dickens' own words to tell us how he wrote a little paper in +secret with much fear and trembling, and then dropped it stealthily into +"a dark little box, in a dark office, up a dark court in Fleet Street." +A little later his story appeared in the magazine to which he had sent +it, and he tells us how, as he looked at his words standing so gravely +before him in all the glory of print, he walked down to Westminster Hall +and turned into it for half an hour, because his eyes "were so dimmed +with joy and pride that they could not bear the street and were not fit +to be seen there." He had been very much excited over this venture of +his little story. Now he took the fact of its success to indicate that +it was worth his while to practice using his pen as a writer of fiction. + +After that Charles Dickens, although he continued working as reporter, +spent his spare hours in writing comic accounts of the various scenes of +London life which he knew so well. These were published as fast as they +were written, over the pen name of "Boz." He was paid almost nothing for +them, but he persevered, prompted by his inborn love of writing and the +fun he had in describing curious types of people. + +Then one day a young man who had just recently become a publisher called +at Charles's lodgings and told him that he was planning to publish a +monthly paper in order to sell certain pictures by Robert Seymour, an +artist who had just finished some sporting plates for a book called "The +Squib Annual." Seymour had drawn most of the pictures for this new +venture, and they were almost all of a cockney sporting type. Now +Charles was asked if he would write something to go with the pictures. + +Some one suggested that he should tell the adventures of a Nimrod Club, +the members of which should go out into the country on fishing and +hunting expeditions which would suit the drawings, but this did not +appeal to the young writer, as he knew very little about these country +sports, and was much more interested in describing curious people. He +asked for a day or two's time to think the matter over, and then finally +sent the publishers the first copy of what he chose to call the +"Pickwick Papers." + +According to a common custom of the time, the author was allowed to +write a story as it was needed by the printer, so that the first numbers +of the "Pickwick Papers" appeared while Charles was still working on the +next ones. This often put him to great inconvenience, as he sometimes +found it hard to invent new adventures to fit Seymour's pictures and yet +had to have the story written by a certain time. + +He wrote to a friend one night, "I have at this moment got Pickwick and +his friends on the Rochester coach, and they are going on swimmingly, in +company with a very different character from any I have yet described" +(Alfred Jingle), "who I flatter myself will make a decided hit. I want +to get them from the ball to the inn before I go to bed; and I think +that will take till one or two o'clock at the earliest. The publishers +will be here in the morning, so you will readily suppose I have no +alternative but to stick to my desk." + +The public was slow in appreciating the humor of the "Pickwick Papers," +and the series dragged until Part IV appeared, and with it the character +of Sam Weller. This original and very entertaining figure turned the +scales, and almost instantly there was the greatest demand for the +"Pickwick Papers." By the time the series was finished the name of "Boz" +was constantly on almost every English tongue. Here again fortune had +had much to do with deciding Dickens' career. Had the series failed, he +might have continued merely a reporter, but the humorous figure of +Weller tipped the scales in favor of his adopting the profession of +novelist. + +From that time on one novel after another flowed from Dickens' pen. For +many of their most vivid pictures he was indebted to the hard life of +his boyhood, and the strange people he had known in the days when he +worked in the blacking factory finally grew into some of his greatest +characters. The little maid-of-all-work became the Marchioness in the +"Old Curiosity Shop," Bob Fagin loaned his name to "Oliver Twist," and +in "David Copperfield" we read the story of the small boy who had to +fight his way through London alone. + +Those days of boyhood had given him a deep insight into human nature, +into the humor and pathos of other people's lives, and it was that rare +insight that enabled him to become in time one of the greatest of all +English writers, Charles Dickens, the beloved novelist of the +Anglo-Saxon people. + + + + +XXI + +Otto von Bismarck + +The Boy of Goettingen: 1815-1898 + + +A tall, slender boy, followed by a great Danish hound, walked down the +main street of the German town of Goettingen in Hanover one spring +morning in 1832. The small round cap, gay with colors, told the world +that the boy was a student at the University, and also that he belonged +to one of the students' clubs, or fighting corps, as they were called. +But this boy looked quite a dandy. A wide sash was tied about his waist, +high-polished boots came up to his knees, and he wore a knot of colors +on his breast, the same colors he sported in his cap, the emblem that he +belonged to the Brunswick student corps. Moreover he carried himself +with rather a haughty manner, and the big dog, following at his heels, +walked in much the same way. + +Presently there came strolling along the street a group of a half dozen +boys who wore the round caps of the Hanoverian Club. Something about the +boy with the dog struck them as comical, and they began to laugh, and +nudge each other, and when they came up to the boy they stopped and +stared at him in undisguised amusement. Quick color sprang to his +cheeks, he hesitated, and then came to a full stop. It was not pleasant +to be singled out as a laughing-stock in the main street of Goettingen. + +"Well, what are you laughing at?" he demanded, looking squarely at the +group of boys. + +One of them waved his hand airily in answer. "At the magnificence of our +new little Brunswicker," he answered mockingly. + +"So? And are you accustomed to laugh at magnificence?" The boy's brows +were bent and his lips had set in a very stern line. + +"When it amuses us we laugh," put in one of the others. + +"Then I'd have you know it's ill manners to laugh, and I'll teach you +better as soon as we get schlaegers in our hands." + +"And who may you be?" asked the one who had spoken first. + +"My name is Otto von Bismarck. I come from Prussia, and I'm a new +student here." + +"And which of us will you fight?" + +"I'll fight you all. Send your man to me at my room, and I'll agree on +any time and place." Then, with his head held very high the boy walked +on, and the great Dane followed at his heels. + +"Bismarck?" said one of the Hanover boys to the others. "It seems to me +I've heard of him. They say he's splendid company." + +"He's surely got pluck enough," agreed another. "I like the way he faced +the lot of us." So they went on down the street, discussing the new +student. + +Otto, no whit daunted by his adventure, shortly after returned to his +room. He lighted a big china-bowled pipe, and was smoking and reading +when the messenger from the boys he had challenged came to see him. Otto +offered him a pipe, and the two were soon eagerly discussing horses and +dogs and telling about the fine hunting there was to be had in the +different parts of Germany in which their homes lay. They got on +together famously, and finally the visitor, who was the chief of his +corps, said, "What a shame we got into this trouble over nothing. You're +too good a fellow for any of us to fight. We shouldn't have guyed you +that way. Let me see if I can't fix matters up." + +"I'm quite ready to fight them all," said Otto stoutly. "I told them so, +and I always stand by my word." + +"I know," said the other, who by now had taken a great liking to the +young Prussian. "But you're not the sort to get really angry at such a +little thing, and I like you too much to want to cross swords with you." + +"And I like you," answered Otto warmly, "but remember I'm quite ready if +the others aren't of your way of thinking." + +The Hanover boy went back to his clubmates, and told them the result of +his talk with Otto. He said the latter was not a coxcomb or a dandy, but +one of the best humored fellows he had ever met, and if he had been +driven to showing his temper on the street that morning it was the +result of their rudeness, and not Otto's ill will. The other boys quite +agreed with what their captain said, and he was asked to carry their +regrets to Otto for the unfortunate meeting and their hope that the +duels might not be fought. + +The reconciliation was at once carried out, but the adventure did not +end there as far as the young paladin named Bismarck was concerned. The +Hanover captain, who was a year or two older than Otto, and knew much +more about the University, became his best friend, and soon one boy was +rarely seen without the other. There was no regular Prussian student +corps at Goettingen, and so Otto, when he had reached the University and +had been invited to join the Brunswick Club, had at once accepted. Now +his chum began to show him how much better the Hanover corps was than +that of Brunswick, and argued with him that as it was not a matter of +home pride, but simply a question as to which boys he liked best, he had +better join his new friends' club. It took little persuasion to convince +Otto that his wishes really all lay that way, and so he resigned from +the corps of Brunswick and was received into that of Hanover. + +As soon as this news spread through the University the Brunswickers were +very indignant. They declared they had been grossly insulted, and that +Otto von Bismarck should be made to pay for this slight upon them. Their +captain and best swordsman at once challenged Otto to fight with the +schlaeger. Otto accepted, and the duel quickly took place. + +This schlaeger fighting was an old custom of all the German universities, +and every boy who belonged to a corps was pretty sure to fight one or +more such duels. The schlaeger is very heavy and clumsy compared with a +dueling sword, and requires a very strong wrist and arm. Instead of +dexterous fencing the fighting is done by downright slashing and cutting +and usually ends when one or the other fighter has received a cut on the +face. The duel takes place with a great deal of ceremony, each student +being attended by a number of his own club, and each corps values as its +highest honor the reputation of having the best fighters in the +university. + +Otto proved his strength in this first duel with the Brunswick captain. +He himself received a number of hard blows, but he gave more than he +took, and finally cut his opponent on the cheek. That ended the duel, +and each boy retired satisfied, Otto because he had won, and the +Brunswick captain because he had another scar to prove his fighting +spirit. + +But the Brunswickers were not yet satisfied that their reputation was +entirely cleared, and so in a few days Otto received a challenge from +the next best fighter of their corps, and having fought him was +challenged by another, and so the affair continued until he had met and +defeated almost every student in the Brunswick corps. He fought twenty +schlaeger duels during his first year at the University, and came out of +them so well that he was ranked as one of the best fighters at +Goettingen, and the Hanoverians were very proud of him. + +In only one encounter was the young Prussian wounded. He was fighting +with a student named Biederwig, and the latter's sword-blade snapped in +two as Otto was parrying his fierce attack. The broken edge gave +Bismarck a slight cut on the cheek, and Biederwig at once claimed a +victory. The officers of the clubs, however, decided that the duel was a +drawn encounter. By this time Otto, who was just eighteen, had become +the leader among the students of Goettingen. + +Such customs seem strange and almost barbarous to Anglo-Saxon boys, but +this dueling played a large part in the college life of Germans at that +time. Otto was not by nature quarrelsome, but he was bound to hold his +own with his friends, and to do that he felt that he must take his part +in the rough life about him. Very soon after the fight with Biederwig he +was drawn into a much more serious affair. + +Among his close friends was a young German baron who had fallen out with +an English student named Knight. Each of them felt that their quarrel +demanded serious settlement and they determined to fight with pistols +instead of swords. At first Otto refused to have anything to do with the +meeting, but at the last minute the Baron's second withdrew, and the +Baron begged Otto to take his place. Otto could not refuse this appeal +of his friend, and so reluctantly consented. + +When the two met Otto paced out a much longer distance than was usual in +such cases, and had them stand very far apart. When the word was given +each student fired, but both were so nervous that their shots went very +wide. Then Otto at once interfered, stating that the honor of each was +now fully satisfied, and refusing to let them continue. Here he showed +that masterfulness of character which had already made him a leader, +and which now at once compelled the duelists to submit. + +Such a meeting as this was, however, contrary to the laws of the +University, and all the boys who took part in it were at once severely +punished. The other students told how Otto had ended the fight and +begged that he be let off, but the rector would not listen to their +requests, and Bismarck was ordered to undergo eleven days of solitary +confinement. When he was released he was welcomed back by all the +student corps, and became more of a hero than ever. + +But Otto von Bismarck's college life was not all fighting. Although he +was not much of a student, he was keenly interested in everything about +him, and fond of arguing on all sorts of subjects. History was his +favorite study; he devoured stories of great kings and statesmen and +soldiers, his keen mind always intent on discovering the reason for the +success or failure of each. + +There was then at Goettingen a young American, by name John Lothrop +Motley, who was as much interested in history as was Otto, and even more +fond of an argument. The two became close friends, and often sat up half +the night to settle some dispute between them. Motley was the more +eager, and often the young German would wake in the morning to find his +American friend sitting on the edge of his bed waiting to go on with +their discussion of the night before. It was Motley also who interested +Otto so much in American history that he took a leading part in +celebrating the Fourth of July at Goettingen. + +His college life taught the young Prussian student many valuable things +that are not told in books. He grew up with a fine knowledge of the boys +of his own age, and with a strength and courage which made him admired +by all his friends. + +A little later, when he was at home on a vacation, he was riding with +several neighbors around a pond. The banks of the pond were very steep. +Suddenly Otto heard a cry behind him. Turning he saw that a groom's +horse had stumbled and pitched the rider into deep water. The man was +terribly frightened, and it was evident that he either did not know how +to swim or was too excited to try to do so. The other horsemen stood +still, doing nothing but call to the groom. Otto, however, tore off his +coat and sword, and plunged in. The man caught at him, and clung to him +so tightly that it looked as though Otto would be pulled down with him. +Once both disappeared entirely under water, but Otto's great strength +saved him, and after a short time he was able to drag the groom to +shore. + +Great events call for great men, and usually find them. The adventures +of his college life had never found the Prussian boy wanting in nerve or +courage; he had always seized his chance and made the most of it. He did +the same thing as he grew into manhood, and tried for a time life in the +army, then on his father's farmland, and then in Parliament. + +Great changes were coming over Europe as Otto grew to manhood; old +countries were falling apart, and new ones being formed, and there was +need of strong men to advise and to check the people. Especially was +this true of Germany, which was then a collection of small kingdoms +loosely joined together. When these kingdoms needed a man to steer them +through the troubled waters that were gathering around them Otto von +Bismarck saw his opportunity and took it. + +He became the great statesman of Germany, the "Iron Chancellor" as he +was often called, the man who built the present German Empire, and gave +its crown to his own sovereign, William I, of Prussia. He was a man of +tremendous power, aggressive, fearless, masterful, showing the same +sturdy traits that had made him in his youth the most feared and admired +schlaeger-fighter in all Goettingen. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORIC BOYHOODS*** + + +******* This file should be named 24354.txt or 24354.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/3/5/24354 + + + +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/24354.zip b/24354.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff76d8d --- /dev/null +++ b/24354.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..9c3cd51 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #24354 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24354) |
