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diff --git a/old/30287.txt b/old/30287.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d8cd99 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/30287.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5797 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Modern Americans, by Chester Sanford and Grace Owen + +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: Modern Americans + A Biographical School Reader for the Upper Grades + +Author: Chester Sanford + Grace Owen + +Release Date: October 19, 2009 [EBook #30287] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MODERN AMERICANS *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +MODERN AMERICANS + +A Biographical School Reader for the Upper Grades + +By + +CHESTER M. SANFORD + +Head of the Department of Expression + +Illinois State Normal University + +GRACE A. OWEN + +Teacher of Reading + +Illinois State Normal University + +LAUREL BOOK COMPANY + +New York--CHICAGO--Philadelphia + + + + +Copyright, 1918, 1921 + +by + +Laurel Book Company + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +"Tell us about real folks." This is the request that comes to us again +and again from children in the upper grades. In response to this +appeal, the authors, in preparing "Modern Americans," have attempted +to give the pupils the worth-while things they like to read rather +than the things adults think they ought to like. + +Those who have taught reading very long agree that the old-time hero +stories have always had a peculiar charm for pupils. But all the +heroes did not live in olden times; they are with us today. Why, then, +isn't it well to acquaint the children with present-day heroes? Young +people in the upper grades are especially interested in the men and +women who are actually doing things. They desire to study in school +the persons they read about in the daily papers. Elihu Root recently +said: "It seems sometimes as if our people were interested in nothing +but personalities." + +To bridge the gap between our schools and practical everyday life has +become one of the chief concerns of the wide-awake teacher. +Accordingly, in geography we are studying the industries about us. In +English, civics, and history we are devoting an increasing amount of +time to a consideration of "Current Events." All this is in the right +direction; for, to create an interest in the men and women of the hour +and the social activities of the day makes for an intelligent +citizenship. "Acquaint the people with the great men of any period and +you have taught them the history of the period," says Carlyle. Know +the _past_, if possible; know the _present_ by all means. + +At first thought the reader may disagree with the authors in the list +of characters chosen. He may think that many of America's greatest men +and women have been omitted while others of less importance have been +given a place. In reply permit us to say that greatness of achievement +has not been the only consideration in choosing the character studies. +Not all great men and women have life stories that appeal to +children, and unless the stories do appeal, it is better to omit them +until the children are older. Then, too, it seemed desirable to select +persons in various fields of human activity, thus broadening the scope +of the child's knowledge. + +The reader will observe that we have placed much stress upon the +childhood experiences of the men and women studied, for the reason +that children are to read the stories; and since they are sure to +interpret what they read in terms of their own experiences, we must, +as far as possible, record experiences that are common to all, namely, +childhood experiences. + +It is hoped that these stories have been so brought within the +experiences of the pupils that they will be led to discuss them. Many +of the stories were tried out with children in the University Training +School and the enthusiastic discussions that followed were both +interesting and helpful. + +Lastly, and most important, the authors have attempted to inspire the +pupils with a purpose to make the most of themselves. The lives of +great men and women are sure to be an inspiration to the young. Since +great men stand for great things they are sure to embody the latest +and best in science, art, government, religion, and education. By +studying the lives of these representative men and women it is hoped +that the pupils will be stimulated to lofty purposes. + +Acknowledgement is hereby made to The Bobbs-Merrill Co., publishers of +Mr. Riley's poems, for kind permission to republish "The Old +Swimmin'-Hole"; and also, to the publishers of "The Story of a +Pioneer"--_Jordan_; "The Story of My Life"--_Keller_; and the magazine +"Success" for additional source material. + + CHESTER M. SANFORD + GRACE A. OWEN + + + + +CONTENTS + + 1. Calvin Coolidge 9 + 2. Thomas A. Edison 17 + 3. Alexander Graham Bell 29 + 4. Theodore Roosevelt 37 + 5. John Pershing 44 + 6. William Howard Taft 51 + 7. Luther Burbank 57 + 8. Clara Barton 65 + 19. George W. Goethals 73 + 10. James Whitcomb Riley 81 + 11. Helen Keller 91 + 12. Wilbur and Orville Wright 99 + 13. Robert E. Peary 109 + 14. William Jennings Bryan 117 + 15. Henry Ford 125 + 16. Ben B. Lindsey 131 + 17. Frances Willard 139 + 18. Jane Addams 147 + 19. John Mitchell 155 + 20. Maude Ballington Booth 161 + 21. Andrew Carnegie 169 + 22. Anna Shaw 177 + 23. Ernest Thompson Seton 187 + 24. John Wanamaker 195 + 25. Woodrow Wilson 205 + 26. Mark Twain 213 + 27. Warren G. Harding 221 + + + + +[Illustration: PRESIDENT COOLIDGE, MRS. COOLIDGE, AND SON, JOHN] + + + + +CALVIN COOLIDGE + + +As I begin this story, I am seated in an old-fashioned hotel in a +small village nestled amid the hills of Vermont. I have come all the +way from the broad prairies of Illinois that I might catch a little of +the spirit of Calvin Coolidge. + +In his autobiography, Mr. Coolidge wrote: "Vermont is my birthright. +Here one gets close to Nature, in the mountains and in the brooks, the +waters of which hurry to the sea; in the lakes that shine like silver +in their green setting; in the fields tilled, not by machinery, but by +the brain and hand of man. My folks are happy and contented. They +belong to themselves, live within their income, and fear no man." + +Yes, and I have met the folks of whom he boasts, and in conversing +with them it seems easy for my mind to go back to the time when Mr. +Coolidge was a barefoot boy, roaming amid these beautiful hills. In +fact, everything about this rugged New England state, with its +farmhouses and barns that were built so many years ago, seems to carry +one back to the early history of our country. + +As I looked upon the little country schoolhouse to which Mr. Coolidge +used to go, I thought of this story. One time, many years ago, there +lived a schoolmaster who had this unique custom. Every time he met a +boy who attended his school, he would lift his hat. When asked why he +did this, he replied, "Who can tell but that one of these boys will +some day become the chief ruler of the land; and inasmuch as I cannot +tell which one it will be, I must lift my hat to them all." + +Surely if a teacher were to slight any of the boys, it would be the +one with freckles and red hair, for never before in the history of our +great country have we had a red-headed president. + +Let us go back then in our imagination forty-four years and visit the +little red schoolhouse at Plymouth, Vermont, that was then better +known as the "Notch." + +To reach Plymouth is not easy, for it is eleven miles from Ludlow, +which is the nearest railroad station, and the road from Ludlow is +rough and hilly. When we reach Plymouth, we are likely to drive by, +for the town is so small it doesn't seem possible that a future +President could have been born in such an out-of-the-way place. + +The first man we meet in Plymouth is John Calvin Coolidge, the father +of our President. We soon learn that he keeps the village store, shoes +horses, collects insurance premiums, and runs a small farm. In +conversing with him, we discover that he is of staunch American +stock--in fact, he reminds us that his ancestors came to America in +1630, just ten years after the Pilgrims landed. In 1880, his +grandfather moved to the hill country that is now known as "Vermont," +and for four generations the Coolidges have lived on the same farm. + +But, we are not so much interested in the father as in the son, who, +we are told, is at school. As we approach the little country school, +we observe that it is recess, and the children are playing. Soon young +Calvin is pointed out and we try to get acquainted with him, but he is +silent and bashful. From his teacher we learn that he has few friends +and no enemies. Unlike the average freckled, red-headed boy, he is +rarely teased and never gets into a fight. He is so modest and minds +his own business so well, that the other pupils are inclined to leave +him by himself. Rarely does he play any games--not even marbles or +baseball. Later in life he bought a pair of skates, but was never +known to wear them but once. + +Young Calvin had no brothers and only one sister, Abigail, who died +when she was fifteen. His mother also died when he was a lad of +twelve, but his stepmother was always very kind to him. His own +mother, however, was his idol and even to this day, President Coolidge +carries in one of his pockets a gun metal case that holds a picture of +his mother. Calvin's father, in speaking of his son, says that he was +always a great hand to work. He continues, "When Calvin was a boy on +the farm, if I was going away and there was anything I wanted him to +do, I would tell him; but when I came back, I never thought of going +to see whether it had been done. I knew it was done." + +The following incident shows that he could not bear to leave his work +undone. "One night an aunt who was sleeping in the house heard a +strange noise in the kitchen. Hurriedly she put on her kimona, and +went downstairs to see what the commotion might be. There she found +little Calvin filling the wood box, for he had forgotten to do so the +night before. She tried to persuade him to wait until morning, but he +would not return to bed until the job was finished, declaring that he +could sleep better if the wood box were filled." + +No doubt, were we to ask President Coolidge to recall some of his +boyhood experiences on the farm, he would tell us how he slid off the +old, white mare and broke his arm so badly that the bone stuck out +through the flesh, and how long it took to bring the doctor eleven +miles over the rough road from Ludlow to set it. Or, he might tell us +about the wall-eyed cow that the hired man hit with a milking stool +and so frightened her that he could never milk her again. Alas, for +Calvin; this meant that he had to get up at five o'clock each morning +to help with the milking. + +After completing his work in the country school, Calvin attended the +Black River Academy in Ludlow where he graduated at the age of +eighteen. + +One September morning, the next fall, Calvin's father hitched up the +old, bay mare and drove his son to Ludlow where the boy took the train +for Amherst College. At that time, the college had an enrollment of +only about four hundred students. + +While in college, young Coolidge lived very modestly, paying only +$2.50 a week for room and board. His nickname in college was "Cooley." +We were able to learn very little about his college days. From one of +his professors, we learned that he never took part in athletic +sports, never danced, and attended but few of the social functions of +the school. We were able, however, to find the following in the +_Amherst Olio_, the school paper: + + "The class in Greek was going on, + "Old Ty" a lecture read, + And in the row in front there shown + Fair 'Cooley's' golden head. + + "His pate was bent upon the seat + In front of him: his hair + Old Tyler's feeble gaze did meet, + With fierce and ruddy glare. + + "O'ercome by mystic sense of dread + "Old Ty" his talk did lull,-- + 'Coolidge, I wish you'd raise your head, + I can't talk through your skull.'" + +While in college, his favorite studies were debating, philosophy, +history and the political sciences. His greatest achievement came when +he was a Senior. The Sons of the American Revolution had offered a +prize for the best essay on "The Principles of the American +Revolution." The contest was open to all college students of America. +Coolidge won first place. + +After graduating from college, young Coolidge returned to the farm and +worked all summer. That fall he went to Northampton, a mill town in +Massachusetts, where he entered the law office of Hammond & Field. +Here, under the guidance of two able lawyers, he studied so hard that +within less than two years he was admitted to the Bar. As soon as he +became a full-fledged lawyer, he organized the law firm of Coolidge & +Hemenway. + +From this point his advancement was steady and rapid. There were no +jumps in his career. In 1900, we see him City Solicitor; in 1904, +Clerk of Courts; in 1907-1908, a member of the State Legislature; and +in 1910, Mayor of Northampton. In 1912, he was elected a member of the +State Senate, and in 1914 was chosen President of the Senate. In +1916-1917-1918, he was Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, and in +1919 was chosen Governor. He has been elected to every office for +which he ever ran. This seems strange when we study him, for he is not +considered a good speaker, does not resort to flattery, is a poor +"mixer," and is not attractive in appearance. But, possibly we are +tired of the show-window type of politician, who does entirely too +much talking. Those who know him best, admit that Coolidge has earned +every promotion by attending strictly to the work he had in hand. + +An event in 1919 made Governor Coolidge a National character. The +Boston police force had organized a union and had planned to enter the +American Federation of Labor. Edwin E. Curtis, Boston's Chief of +Police, declared they had no right to do this. Three-fourths of the +policemen immediately went on a strike. The forces of lawlessness +broke loose and mob rule prevailed. Mr. Coolidge at once had nineteen +leaders of the police force brought before him for trial. He held that +the best interests of all the people could not tolerate any such +conduct on the part of the policemen. His attitude was so sound and so +firmly taken that he won the support of all law-abiding citizens. His +position also met the approval of the Nation and at once he became a +National figure. + +While Mr. Coolidge was in Northampton, he married Grace Anna Goodhue, +a teacher in the Clark School for the Deaf, at Northampton. She is a +graduate of the University of Vermont. In many ways she is the exact +opposite of the President; she is vivacious, attractive, tactful, and +richly endowed socially. To this union have been born two sons, John +and Calvin Coolidge, Jr. + +When Mr. Harding was chosen President of the United States, Calvin +Coolidge was elected Vice President. Upon the death of President +Harding, Mr. Coolidge became President, and so faithfully did he +discharge the duties of his office, that in 1924 he was chosen +President by an overwhelming majority of the voters of the Nation. + +The American people like President Coolidge because, like Lincoln, he +belongs to the plain people. He understands and loves them; he is +modest, sincere, and honorable. Even as a boy, he had a purpose, and +willpower enough to carry it out. He works hard and speaks little, but +when he does, the public listens to his wise counsel. + + + + +[Illustration: THOMAS A. EDISON (On left) +The Greatest Inventor of All Time] + + + + +THOMAS A. EDISON + + +Suppose the Pilgrim fathers that landed at Plymouth Rock so many, +many years ago should come back to earth, how many strange sights +would greet them! No longer would they be permitted to ride in a +slow, clumsy wagon, but, instead, would ride in an electric car. +Furthermore, when night came, instead of the tallow candle, they +would marvel at the brilliant electric lights. Wouldn't it be fun to +start the phonograph and watch them stare in astonishment as "the +wooden box" talked to them? But the most fun would be to take them +to the moving picture show and hear what they would say. + +Odd as it seems at first, all these marvelous inventions, and many +others, are the result of one man's work; in fact, this man has +thought out so many marvelous inventions that the whole world agrees +that he is the greatest inventor that has ever lived. Should you like +to hear the life story of one who is so truly great? I am sure you +would, for in the best sense he is a self-made American. + +But, you ask, what is a self-made American? He is one born in poverty +who has had to struggle hard for everything he has ever had; one who +has had to force his way to success through all sorts of obstacles. + +This great inventor first saw the light of day in the humble home of a +poor laboring man who lived in Milan, a small canal town in the state +of Ohio. In 1854 when Thomas A. Edison, for that is his name, was +seven years of age, his parents moved to Port Huron, Michigan, where +most of his boyhood days were spent. + +As we should naturally expect, Thomas was sent to school, but his +teachers did not understand him and his progress was very poor. +Finally his mother took him out of school and taught him herself. This +she was able to do, for, before she married, she was a successful +school teacher in Canada. + +Later in life, in speaking of his mother, he said: "I was always a +careless boy, and with a mother of different mental caliber I should +have probably turned out badly. But her firmness, her sweetness, her +goodness, were potent powers to keep me in the right path. I remember +I never used to be able to get along at school. I don't know why it +was, but I was always at the foot of the class. I used to feel that my +teachers never sympathized with me, and that my father thought that I +was stupid, and at last I almost decided that I must really be a +dunce. My mother was always kind, always sympathetic, and she never +misunderstood or misjudged me. My mother was the making of me. She was +so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had someone to live for, some one +I must not disappoint. The memory of her will always be a blessing to +me." + +When young Edison was twelve years of age, he became a newsboy on the +Grand Trunk Railroad. That he was a wide-awake, energetic lad is shown +by the following experience as told by himself. + +"At the beginning of the Civil War I was slaving late and early at +selling papers; but to tell the truth I was not making a fortune. I +worked on so small a margin that I had to be mighty careful not to +overload myself with papers that I could not sell. On the other hand, +I could not afford to carry so few that I found myself sold out long +before the end of the trip. To enable myself to hit the happy mean, I +found a plan which turned out admirably. I made a friend of one of the +compositors of the Free Press office, and persuaded him to show me +every day a galley-proof of the most important news articles. From a +study of its head-lines, I soon learned to gauge the value of the +day's news and its selling capacity, so that I could form a tolerably +correct estimate of the number of papers I should need. As a rule I +could dispose of about two hundred; but if there was any special news +from the seat of war, the sale ran up to three hundred or over. + +"Well, one day my compositor brought me a proof-slip of which nearly +the whole was taken up with a gigantic display head. It was the first +report of the battle of Pittsburgh Landing--afterward called Shiloh, +you know, and it gave the number of killed and wounded as sixty +thousand men. + +"I grasped the situation at once. Here was a chance for enormous +sales, if only the people along the line could know what had happened! +If only they could see the proof-slip I was then reading! Suddenly an +idea occurred to me. I rushed off to the telegraph operator and +gravely made a proposition to him which he received just as gravely. +He, on his part, was to wire to each of the principal stations on our +route, asking the station-master to chalk up on the bulletin-board, +used for announcing the time of arrival and departure of trains, the +news of the great battle, with its accompanying slaughter. This he was +to do at once, while I, in return, agreed to supply him with current +literature for nothing during the next six months from that date. + +"This bargain struck, I began to bethink me how I was to get enough +papers to make the grand coup I intended. I had very little cash, and, +I feared, still less credit. I went to the superintendent of the +delivery department, and preferred a modest request for one thousand +copies of the Free Press on trust. I was not much surprised when my +request was curtly and gruffly refused. In those days, though, I was a +pretty cheeky boy and I felt desperate, for I saw a small fortune in +prospect if my telegraph operator had kept his word, a point on which +I was still a trifle doubtful. Nerving myself for a great stroke, I +marched up stairs into the office of Wilbur F. Story himself and asked +to see him. I told him who I was and that I wanted fifteen hundred +copies of the paper on credit. The tall, thin, dark-eyed man stared at +me for a moment and then scratched a few words on a slip of paper. +'Take that down stairs,' said he, 'and you will get what you want.' +And so I did. Then I felt happier than I have ever felt since. + +"I took my fifteen hundred papers, got three boys to help me fold +them, and mounted the train all agog to find out whether the telegraph +operator had kept his word. At the town where our first stop was made +I usually sold two papers. As the train swung into that station I +looked ahead and thought there must be a riot going on. A big crowd +filled the platform and as the train drew up I began to realize that +they wanted my papers. Before we left, I had sold a hundred or two at +five cents each. At the next station the place was fairly black with +people. I raised the 'ante' and sold three hundred papers at ten cents +each. So it went on until Port Huron was reached. Then I transferred +my remaining stock to the wagon, which always waited for me there, +hired a small boy to sit on the pile of papers in the back, so as to +prevent any pilfering, and sold out every paper I had at a quarter of +a dollar or more per copy. I remember I passed a church full of +worshippers, and stopped to yell out my news. In ten seconds there was +not a soul left in the meeting, all of the audience, including the +parson, were clustered around me, bidding against each other for +copies of the precious paper." + +Though, as you will admit, Mr. Edison was a very successful newsboy, +he was not satisfied merely to sell papers, so at the age of fifteen +he began editing and publishing a paper of his own. To do this he +purchased a small hand printing press and fitted out, as best he +could, a printing office in an old freight car. + +The _Grand Trunk Herald_, as the paper was called, consisted of a +single sheet printed on both sides, and sold for eight cents a month. +When the paper was at the height of its popularity he sold five +hundred copies each week, and realized a profit of forty-five dollars +a month. + +He might have continued in editorial work had not a sad mishap +overtaken him. In addition to his editorial work he performed many +experiments, for his was the soul of the inventor. These experiments +were performed in the baggage car of the train. One day, as he was in +the midst of one of these experiments, a sudden lurch of the train +upset his bottle of phosphorous, setting the baggage car on fire. The +conductor, a quick-tempered man, after putting out the fire, dumped +young Edison's precious printing press and apparatus out of the car +and went on. This was a very sad experience for the lad, but the +saddest part was the fact that, as the conductor threw Edison out he +boxed his ears so severely that he was partially deaf ever after. + +Now that young Edison had lost his job as newsboy, and could no longer +print the _Grand Trunk Herald_, what was he to do? He decided, if +possible, to get a position as telegraph operator. But, you ask, how +did he learn to be a telegraph operator? + +While yet a newsboy, he had saved the life of a child by snatching it +from before a moving train. The father, a telegraph operator, was so +grateful to young Edison for saving his child that he offered to teach +him telegraphy. This offer the lad eagerly accepted, and devoted every +spare minute to his new task. From the first his progress was rapid, +and when he lost his job as newsboy he applied for a position as +telegraph operator and was given a job as night operator at Stratford +Junction, Canada, at a salary of twenty-five dollars a month. He was +now sixteen years of age. + +Within a very few years Edison became a swift and competent operator, +as the following incident will show. "Edison had been promised +employment in the Boston office. The weather was quite cold, and his +peculiar dress, topped with a slouchy broad-brimmed hat, made +something of a sensation. But Edison then cared as little for dress as +he does today. So one raw, wet day a tall man with a limp, wet duster +clinging to his legs, stalked into the superintendent's room and +said: + +"'Here I am'. + +"The superintendent eyed him from head to foot, and said: + +"'Who are you?' + +"'Tom Edison.' + +"'And who on earth might Tom Edison be?' + +"The young man explained that he had been ordered to report at the +Boston office, and was finally told to sit down in the operating room, +where his advent created much merriment. The operators made fun of him +loudly enough for him to hear. He didn't care. A few minutes later a +New York operator, noted for his swiftness, called up the Boston +office. There was no one at liberty. + +"'Well,' said the office chief, 'let the new man try him.' + +"Edison sat down and for four hours and a half wrote out messages in +his clear round hand, stuck a date and number on them, and threw them +on the floor for the office boy to pick up. The time he took in +numbering and dating the sheets were the only seconds he was not +writing out transmitted words. Faster and faster ticked the +instrument, and faster and faster went Edison's fingers, until the +rapidity with which the messages came tumbling on the floor attracted +the attention of the other operators, who, when their work was done, +gathered around to witness the spectacle. At the close of the four and +a half hours' work there flashed from New York the salutation: + +"'Hello!' + +"'Hello yourself!' ticked Edison. + +"'Who are you?' rattled into the Boston office. + +"'Tom Edison.' + +"'You are the first man in the country', ticked in the instrument, +'that could ever take me at my fastest, and the only one who could +ever sit at the other end of my wire for more than two hours and a +half. I'm proud to know you.'" + +While employed as telegraph operator Edison's inventive mind was hard +at work. Accordingly, when but seventeen years of age he invented the +Duplex telegraph which made it possible "to send two messages in +opposite directions on the same wire at the same time, without causing +any confusion." + +Though a brilliant operator, young Edison found it difficult to hold a +job, as he was always neglecting his regular work to "fool with +experiments," as his employers put it. + +Accordingly, when twenty-one years of age, he found himself in New +York City seeking work. Suppose we invite Mr. Edison to tell us of +this dramatic period of his life. + +"On the third day after my arrival, while sitting in the office of the +Laws Gold Repeating Telegraph Company, the complicated general +instrument for sending messages on all the lines suddenly came to a +stop with a crash. Within two minutes over three hundred boys,--a boy +from every broker in the street, rushed upstairs and crowded the long +aisle and office that hardly had room for one hundred, all yelling +that such and such a broker's wire was out of order and to fix it at +once. It was pandemonium, and the man in charge became so excited that +he lost control of all the knowledge he ever had. I went to the +indicator and, having studied it thoroughly, knew where the trouble +ought to be, and found it." + +"One of the innumerable contact springs had broken off and had fallen +down between the two gear wheels and stopped the instrument; but it +was not very noticeable. As I went out to tell the man in charge what +the matter was, George Laws, the inventor of the system, appeared on +the scene, the most excited person I had seen. He demanded of the man +the cause of the trouble, but the man was speechless. I ventured to +say that I knew what the trouble was, and he said, 'Fix it! Fix it! Be +quick!' I removed the spring and set the contact wheels at zero; and +the line, battery, and inspecting men scattered through the financial +district to set the instruments. In about two hours, things were +working again. Mr. Laws came to ask my name and what I was doing. I +told him and he asked me to come to his private office the following +day. He asked me a great many questions about the instruments and his +system, and I showed him how he could simplify things generally. He +then requested that I should come next day. On arrival, he stated at +once that he had decided to put me in charge of the whole plant, and +that my salary would be three hundred dollars a month." + +"This was such a violent jump from anything I had ever seen before, +that it rather paralyzed me for a while. I thought it was too much to +be lasting; but I determined to try and live up to that salary if +twenty hours a day of hard work would do it." + +It is needless to say that he made good in the biggest and best sense +of the word. + +It was at this time that Mr. Edison, now twenty-one years of age, +invented an electric stock ticker for which he received forty thousand +dollars. + +Always desiring to devote his entire time to inventive work, he now +saw that with the aid of his forty thousand dollars it was possible to +do so. Accordingly, a little later we see him constructing a +laboratory one hundred feet long at Menlo Park, a little station +twenty-five miles from Newark, New Jersey. Here for years, in company +with his assistants, he has made inventions that have revolutionized +the world. + +Finally, in 1886, his business had so seriously outgrown his quarters +that he built his present laboratories at Orange, New Jersey. These +laboratories are now housed in two beautiful, four story brick +buildings each sixty feet wide by one hundred feet long. In addition +to these laboratories there are Edison factories located in various +sections of the country. + +Though now seventy years of age, he is devoting all his time and the +time of his laboratory force in solving the great problems connected +with the present war. + + * * * * * + +"_A tool is but the extension of a man's hand, and a machine is but a +complete tool. And he that invents a machine augments the power of a +man and the well being of mankind._" --HENRY WARD BEECHER. + + + + +[Illustration: ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL +Inventor of the Telephone] + + + + +ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL + + +There is in New York City a great building seven hundred and fifty +feet high. It has fifty-three stories, and provides business homes for +ten thousand persons. + +If you had watched it rise from story to story, you would have been +amazed at the tons of cable running from the basement towards the +roof. You would have exclaimed in wonder over the miles upon miles of +wire that extended from room to room. Suppose you had asked the +purpose of these wires and cables. Do you know what the answer would +have been? You would have been told that they were placed there so a +person in any room of the building could talk to some one in any other +room within the towering walls; to any one outside in the great city, +and even to persons far away in Chicago and St. Louis. Then you would +have said, "Of course, they are telephone wires." + +You use the telephone often, do you not? Probably if you were asked to +say how many times you had talked over the telephone in your life, you +would have to reply, "More than I can remember." + +Let us think about the messages we send along the telephone wires from +day to day. They are for the most part of two kinds. We have friendly +talks with persons we know well, and we give brief business orders at +office and shop. + +But if we were gunners in the army of our country we should be told by +telephone just when, where, and how we were to fire our guns. We +would not see our target, but would shoot according to the directions +of a commanding officer who knows what must be done and telephones his +orders to us. + +If we were acting with hundreds of persons in a great scene for a +motion picture film, we should be told what to do by a man called the +director. He could not make us all hear if we were out of doors and +scattered about in groups, but he would telephone orders to his +helpers. One of these would be with each large crowd of actors. +Perhaps the telephones would be hanging on the side of a tree or set +up in rude fashion on a box. Nevertheless, that would not interfere +with their use and we should receive directions over them to do our +part in the scene then being photographed. + +These uses seem wonderful to us, but each year sees the telephone +helping man more and more in strange and powerful ways. It is likely +that we have just begun to know a little of what this great invention +can do for us. + +However, if we had been boys and girls in 1875 we should have known +nothing about talking over a telephone, for that was the year when the +public first heard that it was possible to send sounds of the human +voice along a wire from one place to another. + +There was a great fair in 1876. It was held in Philadelphia and was +called the Centennial because it celebrated the one-hundredth birthday +of our land. Persons came from foreign countries to attend the fair. +Among these visitors was a famous Brazilian gentleman. He was a man +of great knowledge and was interested in inventions. His name was Don +Pedro, and at that time he was Emperor of Brazil. Because he was the +ruler of a country, the officers of the Centennial showed him every +attention, and tried to make his visit alive with interest. + +Late one afternoon they took him to the room where the judges were +examining objects entered for exhibits. The judges were tired and +wanted to go home. They did not care to listen to a young man standing +before them. This young man was telling them that he had a new +invention; it was a telephone, and would carry the sounds of the human +voice by electricity. The judges did not believe this, and were about +to dismiss the young man without even putting the receiver to their +ears and seeing if he spoke the truth. Don Pedro stood in the doorway +listening. He looked at the judges; he looked at the young man, and +was disgusted and angered that an invention should not receive a fair +trial. He stepped forward and as he did so looked squarely at the +young man. To his surprise he recognized in him an acquaintance made +while visiting in Boston. + +At once Don Pedro examined the new instrument and then turning to the +judges asked permission to make a trial of it himself. The young +inventor went to the other end of the wire, which was in another room, +and spoke into the transmitter some lines from a great poem. Don Pedro +heard perfectly, and his praise changed the mind of the judges. They +decided to enter the invention as a "toy that might amuse the public." +This toy was the Bell telephone, the young inventor was Alexander +Graham Bell, and he had the satisfaction of seeing the "toy" become +the greatest attraction to visitors at the Centennial. This must have +brought comfort to his heart, for Mr. Bell had been trying for some +time to have people see what a convenience his invention would be. + +He had first thought of the telephone while searching for some way to +help deaf mutes to talk. His father and grandfather had both been +voice teachers in Edinburgh and London, so when young Alexander came +to America to seek his fortune it was natural he should teach methods +of using the voice. But his pupils were unfortunate persons who could +not talk because they were unable to hear the sounds of the voice. His +father had worked out a plan for teaching the deaf, that the young man +improved. It was based on observation of the position of the lips and +other vocal organs, while uttering each sound. One by one the pupil +learned the sounds by sight. Then he learned combinations of sounds +and at last came to where he could "read the lips" and tell what a +person was saying by looking at his moving lips. + +So you see Alexander Graham Bell knew a great deal about the way we +talk. He kept studying and working in his efforts to help his pupils, +and his knowledge of the human ear gave him the first idea of his +remarkable invention. + +He thought if the small and thin ear drum could send thrills and +vibrations through heavy bones, then it should be possible for a small +piece of electrified iron to make an iron ear drum vibrate. In his +imagination he saw two iron ear drums far apart but connected by an +electrified wire. One end of the wire was to catch the vibrations of +the sound, and the other was to reproduce them. He was sure he could +make an instrument of this kind, for he said, "If I can make deaf +mutes talk, I can make iron talk." + +One of his pupils helped him to do this by her words of sympathy and +interest. She was a young girl named Mabel Hubbard. While still a baby +she had lost her hearing, and consequently her speech, through an +attack of scarlet fever. She was a bright, lovable girl, and had +learned to talk through the teaching of Alexander Graham Bell. Her +father was a man of great public spirit and the best friend Mr. Bell +had in bringing the telephone before the public. Mabel Hubbard became +the wife of her teacher, and encouraged him constantly to try and try +again until his telephone would work. + +Professor Bell made his first instrument in odd hours after he had +finished teaching for the day. You may smile when you hear he used in +making it an old cigar box, two hundred feet of wire, and two magnets +taken from a toy fish pond. But this was because he was very poor and +had scarcely any money to spend on materials for his experiments. But +he kept on working, and after the Centennial he was able to found a +company and put his new invention on the market. The company had +little money, so Mr. Bell lectured and explained his work. By this +means he not only raised money, but established his name as the +inventor of the telephone. There were a number of other students who +had been thinking along the same lines as Mr. Bell, but he went +farther than any one else and was the first to carry the sounds of the +human voice by electricity. + +In the year 1877, the telephone was put into practical use for the +public. It grew slowly. People did not realize how it could help them +and they looked upon having a telephone as a luxury rather than a +necessity. It was in the same year that the first long distance line +was established. Today, when we can talk from Boston to San Francisco, +it seems strange to read that the first long distance telephone +reached only from Boston to Salem, a distance of sixteen miles. But +then Mr. Bell thought twenty miles would be the limit at which it +would be possible to send messages. So you see the Salem line was +really quite long enough to satisfy the inventor, whose first +instrument could convey sound only from the basement to the second +story of a single building. + +Before long the reward that follows struggles and trials came to +Alexander Graham Bell. The telephone went around the world because so +many countries adopted it. Japan was the first, but she was followed +quickly by others. It went to far off Abyssinia, where it is said the +monkeys use the cables for swings and the elephants use the poles for +scratching posts. + +Mr. Bell saw his invention enter every field of activity. It brought +him riches and honor, but, more than all, it became a servant of +mankind, and he could feel he had given a blessing to every class of +people. + + * * * * * + + _OUR COUNTRY!_ + +"_And for your Country, boy, and for that Flag, never dream a dream +but of serving her as she bids you, even though the service carry you +through a thousand hells. No matter what happens to you, no matter who +flatters you or who abuses you, never look at another flag, never let +a night pass but you pray God to bless that Flag. Remember, boy, that +behind officers and government, and people even, there is the Country +Herself; your Country, and you belong to Her as you belong to your own +mother. Stand by Her, boy, as you would stand by your mother._" + + --EDWARD EVERETT HALE. + + + + +[Illustration: EX-PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT +Addressing the Home Defense League] + + + + +THEODORE ROOSEVELT + + +A little boy lived in the greatest city of the United States. He +looked out from the windows of his home and saw tall buildings rising, +story upon story, until they seemed to meet the sky. He saw narrow +streets that twisted and turned in the queerest manner. Through these +streets crowds of people were forever hurrying. + +There was no chance for this boy to run races, to play ball, to ride a +horse, to row, or swim. He could not have a garden because the city +lot on which his home stood was, like all the lots around it, just +large enough for the house, so he had no yard. + +Where could he play and exercise? He was not strong, and his loving +parents wanted him to grow into a healthy, hearty boy. Can you guess +what they did for him? They turned their back porch into a gymnasium. +Here he could have great sport and some hard work too. Hard, because +at first he was so delicate he could not do what other boys did. He +tried to climb the long pole that hung from the ceiling, but would +slip back and have to begin all over again. However, he did not give +up, but kept on trying until one day he reached the top. How proud he +was! He grew so daring that the neighbors were frightened, but his +mother only said, "If the Lord hadn't taken care of Theodore Roosevelt +he would have been killed long ago." + +Fortunately not all his life was to be spent in the crowded city, for +his parents bought a country home on Long Island overlooking Oyster +Bay. Theodore went there in the summer and had a chance to live out of +doors. He tramped the woods, knew all the birds, hunted coon, gathered +walnuts, and fished in pools for minnows. But even with all these +outdoor pastimes he was far from well. Often he had choking spells of +asthma at night. Then his father would hitch a team of horses, wrap +his little invalid boy up warmly, and, taking him in his arms, drive +fifteen or twenty miles in the darkness. This was the only way he +could get his breath. + +Twice his father and mother took him to Europe in the hope of +improving his health. A playmate remembers him as "a tall, thin lad +with bright eyes, and legs like pipe-stems." He was not able to go to +school regularly, so missed the fun of being with other boys. Most of +his studying was done at home under private teachers, and in this way +he prepared for college. + +Theodore Roosevelt spent four years at Harvard University and was +graduated in 1880. It had been his aim to develop good health and a +strong body, as well as to succeed in his studies. This was a +struggle, but he won the fight, and, in speaking of himself at the +time of his leaving college, he says: "I determined to be strong and +well and did everything to make myself so. By the time I entered +Harvard, I was able to take part in whatever sports I liked. I +wrestled and sparred, and I ran a great deal, and, although I never +came in first, I got more out of the exercise than those who did, +because I immensely enjoyed it and never injured myself." + +Some time after leaving college, the frontier life of the Wild West +called him. The lonely and pathless plains thrilled him, and he became +a ranchman. His new home was a log house called Elkhorn Ranch in North +Dakota. Here he raised his own chickens, grew his own vegetables, and +got fresh meat with his gun. He bought cattle until he had thousands +of head, all bearing the brand of a Maltese Cross. No fences confined +these cattle, and sometimes they would wander for hundreds of miles. +Twice a year it was the custom to round up all the Maltese herds for +the purpose of branding the calves and "cutting out" the cattle which +were fat enough to be shipped to market. + +On these round-ups, Theodore Roosevelt did his share of the work. +Often this meant he rode fifty miles in the morning before finding the +cattle. By noon he and his cowboys would have driven many herds into +one big herd moving towards a wagon that had come out from the ranch. +This wagon brought food for the men, and Mr. Roosevelt has remarked, +"No meals ever tasted better than those eaten out on the prairie." + +Dinner over, the work of branding and selecting could be done. +Sometimes Mr. Roosevelt spent twenty-four hours at a stretch in the +saddle, dismounting only to get a fresh pony. He did everything that +his men did, and endured the hardship as well as the pleasure of +ranch life. Often during the round-up he slept in the snow, wrapped in +blankets, with no tent to shield him from the freezing cold. + +Although he kept Elkhorn Ranch for twelve years he gradually quit the +cattle business and spent more and more time in New York City where he +entered political life. + +But his vacations always found him in the West where his greatest +pleasure was hunting. He hunted all over his ranch and through the +Rocky Mountains beyond. Frequently he would go off alone with only a +slicker, some hardtack, and salt behind his saddle, and his horse and +rifle as his only companions. Once he had no water to drink for +twenty-four hours and then had to use some from a muddy pool. But such +adventures were sport for him, and he liked to see how much exposure +he could stand. Then he would return to the East, rested and +refreshed. + +When war between Spain and the United States was declared in 1898, Mr. +Roosevelt was Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He resigned this +office, saying, "I must get into the fight myself. It is a just war +and the sooner we meet it, the better. Now that it has come I have no +right to ask others to do the fighting while I stay at home." + +He decided to raise a regiment made up of men he had known in the +West, together with adventure loving Easterners, and call them his +"Rough Riders." He borrowed the name from the circus. The idea set +the country aflame, and within a month the regiment was raised, +equipped, and on Cuban soil. There was never a stranger group of men +gathered together. Cowboys and Indians rode with eastern college boys +and New York policemen. They were all ready to follow their leader, +Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt. They were full-blooded Americans. They +believed in their country, and they obeyed their leader, not because +they had to do so but because it was right that they should obey. + +The most important battle in which the Rough Riders engaged was that +of San Juan Hill, July 1 and 2, 1898. This helped to decide the war. +Roosevelt led the charge. His horse became entangled in a barb wire +fence, but he jumped off, ran ahead, and still kept in front of his +men. He lived up to his advice, "When in doubt, go ahead." + +At the close of the war, when the Rough Riders returned to the United +States, they landed on Long Island and the country rang with applause. +The men could talk of no one but their commander, Colonel Roosevelt. +The last night in camp was given over to a great celebration, and when +goodbyes were said, he told them, "Outside of my own family I shall +always feel stronger ties exist between you and me than exist between +me and anyone else on earth." + +After his bravery in the war, every one in the United States admired +Theodore Roosevelt, and was glad to honor him. He was elected Governor +of the State of New York. Two years later, when William McKinley was +made president, Roosevelt was chosen as vice-president. He had held +this office but three months when President McKinley was killed, and +Theodore Roosevelt became president of the country he loved to serve. + +In 1904 he was elected president to succeed himself, and so for seven +and one-half years he gave his energies to the greatest office in our +country. + +When his duties in the White House ended, he went on a long hunting +trip to South Africa. There he killed many strange and savage animals. +These he had mounted and sent home to government museums so they could +be observed and studied. + +Returning to the United States as a private citizen, he spent much +time in writing, for he had always liked to set down his ideas and +experiences. If you look in a library catalogue, you will find +Theodore Roosevelt wrote more than twenty books during his life. + +He died at his Sagamore Hill home in 1920, after a life of vigorous +activity to the last. + +So we see he was a cowboy, a hunter, an author, a soldier, and +president, but it was not for any of these achievements alone that we +honor Theodore Roosevelt. It is because he was first, last, and +always, an American, eager to serve our country and follow its free +flag. + + * * * * * + +"_Speak softly and carry a big stick._" + + ROOSEVELT'S FAVORITE PROVERB. + + + + +[Illustration: GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING ON A FAVORITE MOUNT] + + + + +JOHN PERSHING + + +For two long years we in America watched the progress of the great +European War. Again and again, as we read the accounts of battles in +which thousands of the brightest, best educated young men in Europe +were cut down, we ardently prayed that we in America might escape the +scourge of war. Protected by the broad Atlantic, we hoped that we +might not be drawn into this vortex of destruction. + +Finally, all our hopes were blasted when Germany, with her sly +submarines, began sinking our ships and drowning our citizens. As this +was more than any honorable nation could endure, we, too, took up arms +against Germany. + +No sooner had we entered the war than the task of raising a large army +was earnestly begun, and within a few weeks training camps were +established in every part of our country. After raising the army the +next most important task was to find a general big enough to lead it. +In this hour of need the nation turned to General John Pershing, and +asked him to lead our boys on the bloody battle fields of Europe. + +As soon as he was chosen, General Pershing, better known as "Jack" +Pershing, sailed for Europe. Days before he arrived the eyes of all +Europe were turned in eager expectation, and as soon as he reached +there, the people gave him a joyous welcome and extended to him every +possible courtesy. From the first, Europe liked General Pershing. +Tall, broad shouldered, deep-chested, with frank, clear eyes, he +impressed all with the fact that he was indeed a soldier. + +The social life of London and Paris had small attraction for General +Pershing; he was restless for the battle front that he might +thoroughly learn the war game, so that he could better teach it to our +American boys. For weeks, associating with French and English +officers, he studied methods of modern warfare. As he was doing this a +vast army of American boys landed in France, and it has now fallen to +the lot of General Jack Pershing to lead these brave lads into the +midst of the most deadly war of all time. + +Who then is Jack Pershing? Where did he come from, and what has he +done that should merit the confidence thus placed in him? + +General Pershing was born in Linn County, Missouri, Sept. 13, 1860. As +his parents were poor, young Jack, from very early in life, had to +work hard. Able to attend school for only a few months each winter, +the lad often longed for a better opportunity to get an education. +Finally he was able to go for a term to the Normal School at +Kirksville, Missouri. This was a proud day for him. But soon he had to +quit school as his money had given out. Fortunately, he was able to +pass the teacher's examination, and soon began teaching a country +school. Now that he had a taste of knowledge, he resolved not to stop +until he had secured a good education. Accordingly, he was soon back +in the Normal School, where he was graduated at the age of twenty. + +In less than a month after his graduation, he learned of a competitive +examination for entrance into West Point Military Academy. With no +rich or influential friends to help him, the young normal graduate had +little hope of getting into West Point. So excellent, however, were +his examination papers that the poor Missouri boy was readily accepted +and soon became a student in this great Military Academy. How +fortunate that he was a hard working student and passed that +examination, otherwise America today would be without General +Pershing. + +Relieved of all financial burden, for the government paid all his +expenses in West Point, he settled down to four years of hard work. So +successful was he in this work that upon his graduation he was made +senior cadet captain--the highest honor West Point can give to any +student. + +Immediately after graduation he was sent into New Mexico and Arizona +to help settle Indian difficulties. Life among the cowboys and Indians +was indeed exciting, but perhaps his most exciting experience was with +an Apache Chief by the name of Geronimo. This old chief, with his +group of warriors, had defied the entire United States for two years. +Finally he fled into Mexico and young Pershing with his army was sent +in pursuit. Odd as it may seem, the old Indian chief took almost the +same route through Mexico that Villa followed some thirty years later. +No doubt General Pershing in his pursuit of Villa often thought of his +experiences years before when after Geronimo and his warriors. + +After spending several years in the Southwest, at the age of thirty, +he was made Professor of Military Tactics in the University of +Nebraska. Here he remained four years during which time, in addition +to his work as teacher, he completed the law course in the University. +His next promotion pleased him greatly, for he was chosen a professor +in his old school, West Point, where he remained but one year when the +Cuban War broke out. Immediately he felt his country's call, and with +the Tenth United States Cavalry sailed for Cuba. + +No sooner did he land than he found himself in the thick of the +war. Among the hardest battles he was in were those at San Juan Hill +and Santiago de Cuba. Twice during this war he was recommended for +brevet commissions "for personal gallantry, untiring energy, and +faithfulness." General Baldwin, under whom he served, had this to +say of him, "I have been in many fights, through the Civil War, but +Captain Pershing is the coolest man under fire I ever saw." + +At the close of the Cuban War he was made Commissioner of Insular +Affairs with headquarters in Washington. Here he remained but a short +time when again he heard his country's call and was sent to the far +distant Philippine Islands. + +The task assigned him was by no means easy. On Mindanao, one of the +larger islands in the group, lived the Moros. So cruel and fierce were +they that during all the years Spain held the Islands she had never +attempted to civilize them. To Pershing was given the task of going +back into the mountains and capturing these Moros. To him was assigned +the most stubborn problem the Islands presented. + +The best description of this Moro campaign is written by Rowland +Thompson who says: "Up in the hills of western Mindanao some thirty +miles from the sea, lies Lake Linao, and around it live one hundred +thousand fierce, proud, uncivilized Mohammedans, a set of murderous +farmers who loved a fight so well that they were willing at any time +to die for the joy of combat, whose simple creed makes the killing of +Christians a virtue. + +"Pershing warned the hot-head of them all, the Sultan, if there were +any further trouble he would destroy their stronghold. The Sultan in +his fortress, with walls of earth and living bamboo forty feet thick, +laughed at the warning. In two days his fortress was in ruins. So +skillful was Pershing's attack that he captured the stronghold with +the loss of but two men." + +In a similar manner he later took stronghold after stronghold until +finally all the Moros were conquered. Having subdued the Moros he was +then made Governor of the Island, holding the office until he was +sent to help settle the bandit difficulty on the Mexican border. + +In his journey from the Philippine Islands to the Mexican border, +General Pershing was called upon to fight the hardest battle of his +entire life. Leaving his wife and four children at the Presidio Hotel +in San Francisco, he went to El Paso, Texas, to rent a house. While in +El Paso he was shocked to get a telegram stating that the Presidio had +burned and that his wife and three daughters had perished in the +flames. Surely this was enough to crush an ordinary man, but again he +showed the superior qualities of his manhood by bearing up bravely, +and continuing faithfully to perform the responsible tasks assigned +him. + +Though the Mexican trouble did not give General Pershing a chance to +show his ability to lead men under fire, it did give him ample +opportunity to convince his countrymen that he possessed remarkable +skill in rounding up and developing a large army. + +During the World War, General Pershing was placed in command of the +entire American Army in Europe and, through his wise council and able +handling of his forces, was proclaimed one of the greatest officers +who took part in this great war. + + * * * * * + +"_Lafayette, we are here!_" + + --GENERAL PERSHING AT LAFAYETTE'S TOMB. + + + + +[Illustration: EX-PRESIDENT WILLIAM H. TAFT +At His Son's Wedding] + + + + +WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT + + +Most great men have been born poor. For one in early life to struggle +with poverty seems to prepare him in later years to struggle with the +big problems that make men great. + +To be born amid wealth too often has a softening effect. Pampered with +all that money can buy, the rich lad looks to others rather than to +his own efforts. Not so with William Howard Taft. Though he was born +with a silver spoon in his mouth, as we sometimes say, and fortune +smiled upon him, he was never spoiled; but on the contrary he early +developed a capacity for hard work, and a willingness to take rather +than avoid hard knocks. These, as we shall see, insured his success in +later life. + +Born as he was in a beautiful home in the aristocratic section of +Cincinnati, his boyhood surroundings were almost ideal. Not only was +his home provided with every comfort, but it also was one in which +culture and refinement reigned. When you are told that young William's +father held the following positions, Judge of the Superior Court of +Cincinnati, Secretary of War under President Grant, Attorney General, +Minister to Austria and to Russia, you will readily see that the lad's +home life was truly stimulating. + +As you study the picture of Mr. Taft, you will observe that he is an +extremely large man, weighing nearly three hundred pounds. Unlike +many men, he did not become fleshy in his maturer years, but from his +boyhood has been large and, as the boys say, fat. When a mere lad he +was a plump, chubby, roly-poly chap who was always liked because he +was so good-natured. Can you guess the nicknames the other boys gave +him? Sometimes they called him "Lubber," but most of the time he was +hailed simply as "Lub." Big, over-grown boys are sure to be awkward, +and "Lub" was no exception. If he started to run across a field with +the other boys, he was sure to fall. When they turned to gather him +up, they would fairly roll with laughter, declaring that he was too +fat to see where he was stepping. The fact that when he fell he was +sure "to land on his head," caused the boys to call him "Lead-Head and +Cotton-Body." + +When he entered the Woodward High School, the boys changed his +nickname from "Lub" to "Old Bill" and later to plain "Bill." In high +school he was too fat to run, too slow for baseball, and didn't care +for football. + +At seventeen he had graduated from high school and was about to enter +Yale. Can you imagine him as he enters that great University? With +beardless cheeks that were as red as an apple, and able to tip the +scales at two hundred thirty pounds, he seemed indeed a giant. No +longer was he chubby and awkward; he was now broad shouldered, tall +and sure of step. His muscles were so firm that he was a hard +antagonist for anyone. + +Hardly had he entered school before he got "mixed up" in one of the +many college rushes of those days. In that particular rush Taft went +crashing through the sophomores like a catapult. One, a man of his own +weight, leaped in front of him. Then Taft let forth a joyous roar and +charged! He grappled with the other Ajax, lifted him bodily, and +heaved him over his head. No wonder he got the nickname of "Bull +Taft." + +Of course a chap capable of such a feat must join the football squad, +said the fellows of the University. But Bill's father back in +Cincinnati had entirely different plans for the giant freshman. He was +eager to have his son win his laurels in the classroom rather than on +the gridiron. The father, while in Yale, had won honors, and why +shouldn't his son? Furthermore, Bill had some pride, for already his +brother had carried away from Yale high honors in scholarship, and, if +possible, Bill was not to be outdone by his brother. Accordingly, he +settled down to four years of downright hard work, and "from day to +day, lesson by lesson, he slowly made his way close to the head of the +class." + +That he acquired, while in college, a relish for hard work is shown by +the fact that as soon as he had graduated he undertook three jobs at +the same time: he studied law in his father's law office, carried the +regular work of the Cincinnati Law School, and was court reporter for +_The Times Star_ of Cincinnati. + +So rapid was his achievement that at the age of twenty-four he was +made Internal Revenue Collector at a salary of $4500 a year. Surely +this was a good salary for a man so young. But other promotions were +destined to come in close succession; for, at the age of twenty-nine +he was made Judge of the Superior Court of Ohio, and a year later was +appointed by President Harrison Solicitor-General of the United States +at a salary of $7000 a year. + +After three years of service as a Solicitor-General, President +Harrison made him Judge of the Federal Court of the Sixth Circuit that +included Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. As judge of this +court, several of the most famous cases in our history came before +him, and in every case his power of analysis was so manifest, and his +decision so just that the entire nation learned to look to him with +confidence. Into his court came, on the one hand employers who were +eager for every possible advantage, and were willing to crush labor in +order to gain it; and on the other hand laborers who distrusted their +employers and were morbid and resentful. To preside over a court where +force was thus meeting force, where battle lines were distinctly drawn +was no small task. Mr. Taft, however, since he was always fair and +kind, since he possessed largeness of vision and pureness of soul, was +big enough for the task. + +At this time in Judge Taft's life he seems to have had but one +ambition--he desired to become a Judge of the Supreme Court of the +United States. But while he was eagerly looking in that direction, +his nation was preparing other and greater tasks for him. + +Far across the broad Pacific lie the Philippine Islands--more than +three thousand of them. On these islands live eight million people. As +a result of our war with Spain these islands came into our possession; +but what were we to do with them? Representing as they did every stage +of development from University graduates to Moro headhunters, the task +of governing them was indeed difficult. + +Who should be assigned this task? Where was a man big enough to bring +order out of confusion and mould these widely divergent tribes into a +unified colony? + +President McKinley and those in authority with him finally decided +that Judge Taft was the man for the place. Accordingly, he was soon +seen on the broad Pacific hurrying to the task that awaited him. From +island to island he and his commissioners journeyed studying +conditions. Everywhere he found the people suspicious and eager to +state their grievances. Naturally kind, frank and fair, he so won +their confidence that he was soon able to direct their efforts. It is +impossible here to tell of his remarkable work in the Islands. As +Governor-General he greatly reduced the death rate by introducing +sanitary conditions; he established and developed a free public school +system, and, most important of all, he trained the Filipinos in the +art of self government. + +From Governor-General of the Philippines Mr. Taft was made Secretary +of War. Fortunately, his experiences in the Islands, in a peculiar +manner, fitted him for this new responsibility; for, during his entire +sojourn in the Philippines he had come in closest contact with the +soldiers. As they at all times were his closest companions, he learned +to understand them perfectly. Able to get their viewpoint on all +matters pertaining to war, he was able to secure from the start the +highest possible cooperation. His greatest single task as Secretary of +War was to finish building the Panama Canal, and indeed this was a +task; but the Big Man kept at the big job until finally it was +completed. + +But the crowning event in the life of this great man was his election +to the presidency of the United States. Here he was the same frank, +genuine man he had always been. Had he been more of a politician he, +no doubt, would have gained greater popular favor, but, after all, the +approval of the multitudes is not the highest goal to be sought. Above +this is fidelity to duty, and this Mr. Taft always possessed in an +unusual degree. + +With the completion of his term in the White House he did not withdraw +from active life as so many ex-presidents have done; on the contrary, +he became at once a member of the faculty of his beloved Yale +University. + +During the great World War, Mr. Taft was made director of the American +Red Cross Association, and in 1920 he became the Chief Justice of the +United States Supreme Court. + + + + +LUTHER BURBANK + + +To whom does Luther Burbank belong? Massachusetts, in old New England, +claims him as her son. But far to the west, proud California, kissed +by the majestic Pacific, declares that he more truly belongs to her. +But why argue? A man whose life has so materially blessed mankind +everywhere belongs to the whole world. Recently, in far way France, +when the name of Mr. Burbank was spoken in the Chamber of Deputies in +Paris, every member arose to his feet as a tribute of honor. + +But why do we all claim Luther Burbank? Why is his name a household +word in every country? Because, without him, the world today would no +doubt be hungry. + +Mr. Burbank was born almost beneath the shadow of Bunker Hill Monument +on the seventh day of March, 1849. When able to toddle about, his +playmates were plants rather than animals. Oddly enough his first doll +was a cactus plant that he carried about proudly until one day he fell +and broke it. + +As a boy he was not strong, and did not like the rougher sports. In +school he was bashful, retiring, and serious. Though a good student he +could neither recite well nor speak pieces, as he was afraid even of +his own voice. + +[Illustration: LUTHER BURBANK +World Famous Plant Wizard] + +When he was just a lad he was taken out of school and put to work in a +plow factory that belonged to his uncle. But he did not like the +factory. Often he longed for the out of doors with its plants and +flowers. So strong was this desire for the out of doors that he left +the factory and began truck gardening on a small scale; and it was +while caring for this truck garden that he developed the Burbank +potato, thus achieving his first success. So valuable was this +discovery that the United States Department of Agriculture declares +that the Burbank potato has added to the wealth of this country +seventeen million dollars each year since this variety was developed. + +When twenty-six years of age, Mr. Burbank decided that the climate and +soil of far-away California were best suited to his work. Accordingly, +with ten of his best potatoes, and his small savings, he started +across the continent. When his journey was ended he found himself in a +fertile but unimproved valley about fifty miles north of San +Francisco. On either side of this beautiful valley were spurs of the +Coast Range Mountains. + +His first task was to find work, but as few people at that time lived +in the region, jobs were hard to get. In speaking of this period of +his life, Mr. Burbank says: "One day I heard that a man was building a +house. I went to him and asked him for the job of shingling it. He +asked me what I would do it for. The regular price was two dollars and +a half a thousand, but I was so anxious for the work that I offered to +do it for one dollar and seventy-five cents. 'All right,' he said, +'come and begin tomorrow.' But I had no shingling hammer and all the +cash I had in the world was seventy-five cents, which I at once +expended in purchasing the necessary hammer. Next morning when I +reached the job, my new hammer in hand, all ready to go to work, I was +surprised and--what shall I say--dismayed, to find another man already +at work, while the owner calmly came to me and said, 'I guess you'll +have to let that job go, as this man here has undertaken to do it for +one dollar a thousand.' + +"How disappointed I was! I had spent my last cent, had a hammer that +was no use to me now, and no job. But I kept a stiff upper lip and +work soon came, and I've never been so hard up since." + +Mr. Harwood in describing this period in the life of Mr. Burbank says: +"The man who was to become the foremost figure in the world in his +line of work, and who was to pave the way by his own discoveries and +creations for others of all lands to follow his footsteps, was a +stranger in a strange land, close to starvation, penniless, beset by +disease, hard by the gates of death. But never for an instant did this +heroic figure lose hope, never did he abandon confidence in himself +nor did he swerve from the path he had marked out. In the midst of all +he kept an unshaken faith. He accepted the trials that came, not as a +matter of course, not tamely, nor with any mock heroism, but as a +passing necessity. His resolution was of iron, his will of steel, his +heart of gold; he was fighting in the splendid armor of a clean +life." + +As a result of his industry, in a few years, Mr. Burbank was able to +buy four acres of land where he started a nursery. From the first this +enterprise was successful. Upon this plot he built a modest home where +he still resides. Here, and on a larger plot a few miles distant, all +his remarkable experiments have been made. + +Before we learn more about his achievements I am sure we should like +to become better acquainted with the man. Suppose, then, we invite +Professor Edward Wickson of the University of California, who knows +him well, to tell us about him. + +"Mr. Burbank is of medium stature and rather slender form; light eyes +and dark hair, now rapidly running to silver. His countenance is very +mobile, lighting up quickly and as quickly receding to the seriousness +of earnest attention, only to rekindle with a smile or relax into a +laugh, if the subject be in the lighter vein. He is exceedingly quick +in apprehension, seeming to anticipate the speaker, but never +intruding upon his speech. There is always a suggestion of shyness in +his manner, and there is ever present a deep respectfulness. He is +frank, open-hearted, and out-spoken. All his actions are artless and +quiet; even the modulations of his voice follow the lower keys." + +But, you ask, what marvelous things has this modest man done that +should make his name a household word the world over? + +All truly great people have high ideals that guide them in their work. +The one ideal that guides Mr. Burbank is his love for humanity. +Naturally sympathetic, he cannot endure the thought of human +suffering. + +Since so much human misery is due to lack of food, to hunger, he has +resolved if possible to make the world produce more bread. But how can +he do this? If only he can get each head of wheat to produce just one +additional grain then the problem will be solved--for then the wheat +crop of this country will be increased five million two hundred +thousand bushels. Year after year he worked at this task until finally +each head of wheat actually did produce more grains. Now that he has +succeeded in increasing the yield of wheat, he has resolved not to +stop until the yield of all the cereals is increased in a like +manner. + +By what principle, then, does he accomplish these marvelous feats? +What are his methods? Eager as we are to understand them, doubtless +most of us must wait until we have learned a great deal about science, +for his methods are extremely scientific. + +Though unable to comprehend his methods, we are able to appreciate the +results of his work. So marvelous are these results that they seem +like fairy tales. For example, he has developed a white blackberry; +but this is not all, he has developed blackberry plants so large that +a single plant produces more than a bushel of berries. + +I am sure that we all like strawberries so well that sometimes we have +wished that the strawberry season were not so short; and in the future +it will not be, for he has produced plants that bear strawberries all +summer. + +Mr. Burbank, knowing that boys and girls are likely to hit their +fingers cracking walnuts, has developed a walnut with a very thin +shell, so thin in fact that the birds can break through it and help +themselves to the meat. Now he has to thicken the shell again. + +How should you like to eat a peach that had, instead of the ordinary +stone, a fine almond in the center? In the future you may eat just +such peaches, for Mr. Burbank has developed them. + +Most of us have seen the ordinary cactus. We have been very careful, +however, not to touch it as the spines are sure to prick us. It is +interesting to know that the cactus is a desert plant--that, though +millions of acres of arid land in the West can produce little else, +they can produce enormous quantities of cactus. Unfortunately, these +plants have always been useless as neither man nor beast would eat +them. True, cattle liked them, but the cruel spines made the eating of +them impossible. + +As good pasture lands are so scarce in the West, Mr. Burbank wondered +why a cactus could not be developed that had no spines. Accordingly, +he began his work, and already has accomplished results far greater +than he had expected. Not only has he developed spineless cactus, thus +redeeming millions of acres of desert land for the use of animals, but +he has also developed scores of varieties that are pleasing to the +taste of man. Some taste like the cantaloupe, others like the peach, +and still others like the plum or pomegranate. Fortunately, they ripen +at all times during the year and can be carried to every part of the +country without decaying en route. Through the efforts of Mr. Burbank +the hitherto worthless cactus has become the most promising fruit of +the desert. + +Just as Mr. Burbank has improved the wheat, the blackberry, the +strawberry, the peach, and the cactus, so he has increased the yield +and improved the quality of practically every cereal, fruit, and +vegetable. + +True, he has not made a great fortune for himself, but a knowledge +that tens of thousands who otherwise might go hungry are, because of +his efforts, fed, must give him a satisfaction that is far greater +than money could give. And, after all, doesn't true greatness lie in +giving to others rather than in gathering to one's self? + + * * * * * + +_"And he gave it as his opinion, that whoever could make two ears of +corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only +one grew before, would deserve better of mankind and do more essential +service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put +together."_ + + --DEAN SWIFT. + + + + +CLARA BARTON + + +In the little Maryland village of Glen Echo, a frail, gentle old lady +was taking leave of this world one April day, in the year 1912. She +was greatly beloved and many friends from every state in the Union +sent her words of comfort and cheer. They praised her noble work and +called her "The Guardian Angel" of the suffering, but the little old +lady looked into the faces of those about her and said, "I know of +nothing remarkable that I have done." + +She was Clara Barton, the woman who brought the Red Cross to our +country; but, being accustomed to working always for others, her +labors did not seem great or unusual to her. Today we know she is one +of the heroines of the world, for she believed in the brotherhood of +man, and her aim was to relieve suffering humanity, irrespective of +nationality or creed. + +Her childhood was a happy, joyous one spent in the little village of +North Oxford, Massachusetts. She was the youngest child of a large +family, and her brothers and sisters were very proud of her because +she learned so rapidly and because she was never afraid of anything. +She would follow her oldest brother about the house with a slate, +begging him to give her hard sums to do. Out of doors she was eager +for adventure; her brother David often said, "Clara is never afraid, +she can ride any colt on the farm," and often he would throw her on +the bare back of a young horse and cry, "Hold fast to the mane," and +away she would gallop over the fields. + +[Illustration: CLARA BARTON +Founder of the American Red Cross] + +Winter evenings the family would gather about the great fireplace in +the living room and listen to the father tell of his experiences on +the battle fields of the Revolutionary War. He had been a soldier +under the dashing General Anthony Wayne, called "Mad Anthony" Wayne, +because of his reckless daring. Clara was thrilled by these stories of +army life, and never tired of hearing her father recount them. + +When Clara was eleven years of age, her brother David had a terrible +fall, and for more than two years he was a helpless invalid. At once +she became his nurse and he relied upon her for all manner of service, +preferring her to his older sister or even his mother. "Clara is a +born nurse," said the family, as they saw the care she was giving the +boy, and indeed she was. It was a joy to her to wait upon the sick, +and she considered it no hardship to sacrifice herself. + +When David was well, Clara went to school and prepared herself to +teach. Her scholars found her an able teacher and liked her ways of +instructing them. We know this to be true, because when she opened her +first school she had only six pupils, but her fame spread so rapidly +that when June came six hundred children had entered her classes and +were much disappointed when they found she could not teach them all +but had to have assistant teachers. + +The strain of planning for so many pupils was too heavy for her, so +she gave up teaching and took a position in the pension office at +Washington. She was there at the beginning of the great war between +the North and South, and at once felt it to be her duty to leave her +work and minister to the wounded soldiers. + +At first she busied herself in the hospitals at Washington, but she +longed to go to the front and help on the battle fields. She told her +father of her strong desire, and he said to her, "Go, if you feel it +your duty to go! I know what soldiers are, and I know that every true +soldier will respect you and your errand." + +At last our government gave her permission, and she went to the front +as fearless as any officer in the army. Amid the rain of shot and +shell she went about on errands of mercy. Then there was no organized +relief for the soldiers, no Red Cross, no Y. M. C. A., no help of any +kind except what kind persons here and there over the country tried to +give. This was very little, when compared to the vast amount of +suffering, but Clara Barton managed to gather supplies and money so +that she was able to give assistance to both the boys in blue and the +boys in gray. She saved many lives, she wrote countless letters home +for wounded soldiers, and she stood alone by the death-bed of many a +brave fellow, speaking words of comfort and cheer. Whenever anyone +suggested that she was working beyond her strength, she would say, "It +is my duty," and go on regardless of her personal welfare. One of her +best friends, Miss Lucy Larcom, wrote of her as follows: + +"We may catch a glimpse of her at Chantilly in the darkness of the +rainy midnight, bending over a dying boy who took her supporting arm +and soothing voice for his sister's--or falling into a brief sleep on +the wet ground in her tent, almost under the feet of flying cavalry; +or riding in one of her trains of army-wagons towards another field, +subduing by the way a band of mutinous teamsters into her firm friends +and allies; or at the terrible battle at Antietam, where the regular +army supplies did not arrive till three days afterward, furnishing +from her wagons cordials and bandages for the wounded, making gruel +for the fainting men from the meal in which her medicines had been +packed, extracting with her own hand a bullet from the cheek of a +wounded soldier, tending the fallen all day, with her throat parched +and her face blackened by sulphurous smoke, and at night, when the +surgeons were dismayed at finding themselves left with only one +half-burnt candle, amid thousands of bleeding, dying men, illuming the +field with candles and lanterns her forethought had supplied. No +wonder they called her 'The Angel of the Battle Field'." + +After the war, President Lincoln asked her to search for the thousands +of men who were missing. She at once visited the prisons, helped the +prisoners to regain their health, and get in touch with their +families. Besides this, she searched the National Cemeteries and had +grave stones put over many of the graves telling who were buried +there. This work took four years, and at the end of it she was so +broken in health that she went abroad for a long rest. + +While she was in Switzerland she heard first of the Red Cross Society +and attended a meeting called to establish an International Society. +Twenty-four nations were represented at the meeting, but the United +States was not among that number. For some years it refused to join. +Miss Barton devoted herself to showing our government that in joining +the International Red Cross we would not be entangling ourselves in +European affairs but would be working for the good of all men. At +last, in 1887, she won her victory, and the United States signed the +agreement of the Red Cross Society. This is called the Treaty of +Geneva. + +When the first meeting was held in Geneva, Switzerland, there were +persons present who found fault with the plan. They said the world +should do away with warfare instead of caring for those it injured. +But the Swiss President said it would take a long time for the world +to learn to do without warfare. He believed the Red Cross would help +to bring about the era of peace by caring for the afflicted and +relieving the horror of war. The terrible struggle in Europe is +showing us the truth of his words, for, when we hear about the +frightful happenings, all the glory and grandeur of warfare fade +away. + +A man who sees far into the future, has written, "Some day the Red +Cross will triumph over the cannon. The future belongs to all helpful +powers, however humble, for two allies are theirs, suffering humanity +and merciful God." + +Clara Barton, who also could look beyond her day, saw another use for +the Red Cross besides war service. She said: "It need not apply to the +battle field alone, but we should help all those who need our help." +So the American Red Cross passed an amendment to the effect that its +work should apply to all suffering from fires, floods, famine, +earthquake, and other forms of disaster. This amendment was finally +adopted by all nations. + +At the time of the Spanish War, Miss Barton was seventy years old, but +she went to Cuba and did heroic work. When the Galveston flood +occurred she was eighty, but she went to the stricken community and +helped in every way. After giving up her active work, she retired to +Glen Echo and spent the remainder of her days quietly, always +interested in the great cause to which she had given her life. + +We know what the American Red Cross does for our soldiers, and +whenever we see its emblem we should think of Clara Barton, as a +"Noble type of good, heroic womanhood; one who was kind, humane, and +helpful to all peoples, one who longed for the time when suffering and +horror should pass away." + + + + +[Illustration: GEORGE W. GOETHALS +Builder of the Panama Canal] + + + + +GEORGE W. GOETHALS + + +The men who worked on the Panama Canal used to sing this little song +of their own composing: + + "See Colonel Goethals, + Tell Colonel Goethals, + It's the only right and proper thing to do. + Just write a letter, or even better, + Arrange a little Sunday interview." + +Colonel George W. Goethals was the chief engineer of the canal, and +when he arrived in Panama he found that many of the men were +discontented. They felt they were not treated fairly. Now there were +sixty-five thousand persons employed there, and Colonel Goethals knew +that if they were not kept well and in good spirits the great work +would never be completed. So he said he would be in his office every +Sunday morning at seven o'clock. Then, any man or woman who had a +complaint could come and tell him about it. He was so wise, and +decided the cases with such fairness that the men came to believe in +their new chief and were anxious to serve him. + +It was when Theodore Roosevelt was President of the United States that +Colonel Goethals was sent to Panama. President Roosevelt was anxious +to have our dream of a canal across the Isthmus of Panama come true, +but many persons in our country as well as in other parts of the world +told him it was foolish to spend money on such an uncertain +undertaking. They said the great slides of gravel and sand along the +sides of the canal could never be stopped. They said the locks would +never work. President Roosevelt paid no attention to these comments, +but selected Colonel Goethals because he was sure he could build the +canal. + +Colonel Goethals cared as little as President Roosevelt for the +opinion that the task was impossible. In fact, he told the President: +"Say nothing to such doubting persons. By and by we will answer them +with the canal." + +We know that he did give such an answer. He built the canal right +through the red shifting hills of sand that threatened to slide down +and choke his work. He cut away a jungle so the banks of the canal +could be kept free and open. But best of all, he taught order to the +men who worked under him, and they found out that he believed in them, +he believed in the work that he was doing, and he believed in the +Government of the United States. No wonder they made a song about him +and praised his splendid leadership. + +As his title tells us, Colonel Goethals belongs to the regular army. +Until he was appointed as the chief engineer of the Panama Canal, no +military man had been in charge there. The men working on the canal +were performing civil duties, and in no way resembled soldiers. When +they heard a regular army officer was coming down, they did not like +the idea of having to obey just as if they were soldiers. Many of the +foremen and officials told their men they would have to spend their +time saluting Colonel Goethals and standing at attention with their +little fingers against the seams of their trousers. + +During the first days of his stay in Panama, a banquet was given in +honor of Colonel Goethals, for the men felt they must entertain their +new chief, though they were not friendly to him. + +At this banquet, they cheered the former engineer, John G. Stevens, +and did not applaud Colonel Goethals when he appeared. However he was +exceedingly polite and did not notice their bad manners. The men had +expected to see him wear a full dress uniform, and you can imagine how +surprised they were when they saw him dressed in citizens' clothes. +Never once while he was in Panama did Colonel Goethals appear in +uniform. + +After the banquet there was a program of speeches. Each speaker made +cutting remarks about the new military control, but the Colonel did +not seem to notice their insults. At last it was his time to speak. He +said only a few words, but they changed the minds of his hearers. He +told them they were all there to build the canal. They were working +for their government, the United States of America. He wanted no +salutes, but he wanted work. This pleased the men and they were +ashamed of their impoliteness. + +The Colonel's first act was to organize the workmen into three +divisions, the Atlantic, the Central, and the Pacific. + +He put each under a superintendent. Then he stirred up contests +between these divisions. He would tell the men on the Pacific division +how rapidly the men on the Atlantic division were digging or putting +in concrete. Of course, each division wanted to make the best showing, +and the men were always eager to get the Canal Record, a small weekly +newspaper, so they could read the scores of the different divisions. +These scores grew to be more exciting than those of ball games, and +the men worked hard and well. + +They liked Colonel Goethals and whenever he went by they saluted him; +not with the army salute which they had scorned, but by waving their +hands, lifting their caps, and greeting him with a smile on their lips +and in their eyes. + +They felt free to talk to him because they knew he was their friend. +Shortly after he started his Sunday morning office hours, some of the +lowest paid men told him that their bosses swore at them all day and +used the worst kind of language. At once he sent the following order +out all over the Canal Zone. + + PROFANE LANGUAGE + + Culebra, C. Z. Aug. 4, 1911 + + Circular No. 400: + + The use of profane or abusive language by foremen or others in + authority, when addressing subordinates, will not be + tolerated. + + Geo. W. Goethals, + Chairman and Chief Engineer. + +Some of the foreman did not talk much for a while, they had been so +used to swearing, but the Colonel's orders were obeyed. + +The work then moved along smoothly and Colonel Goethals was looking +forward to the end of his labors, when one day an engineer on the +Panama Railroad paid no attention to the signals and let his train run +into the rear coaches of another train, killing the conductor. + +This engineer was drunk, and it is against the rules of any railroad +for an intoxicated person to be in its employ. Colonel Goethals had +the engineer arrested and put in jail. However, the man belonged to a +labor union, and this union sent a committee demanding that he release +the engineer by seven o'clock that evening. If he did not, they would +order all the men working along the canal to strike. This meant that +the work on the canal would stop, and it might be weeks before it +would be resumed. They would wait, they said, for his answer until +seven o'clock that evening. Colonel Goethals listened to the +committee, then shook hands with them and went to his home. + +Seven o'clock came, then eight. The committee was worried. They +telephoned Colonel Goethals and asked for his answer. He replied in +surprise that they had it. They said it had not reached them. He +reminded them that they intended to strike at seven o'clock if the man +was not released, and then said, "It is now eight o'clock; if you call +the penitentiary, you will find the man is still there." + +The leaders did not want to strike. They had expected to make Colonel +Goethals do what they wanted. Then they said, "Do you want to tie up +the work down here, Colonel"? + +"I am not tying it up," he told them. "You are. You forget that this +is not a private enterprise, but a government job." + +When asked what he was going to do, his answer was: "Any man not at +work tomorrow morning will be given his transportation to the United +States. He will go out on the first steamer and he will never come +back." + +There was only one man who had failed to report, and he sent a +doctor's certificate saying he was too sick to work. There were no +more strikes. + +In May, 1913, a Congressman introduced a bill into the House of +Representatives providing for the promotion of Colonel Goethals from +Colonel to Major-General as a reward for his services in building the +canal. At once Colonel Goethals wrote the gentleman saying he +appreciated his kindness but he did not believe he should be singled +out for such an honor. There were many men, he said, who had done +great work in Panama, and they, as well as himself, felt repaid for +their services not only by their salary but by the honor of being +connected with such a wonderful task. He said also that the United +States Government had educated and trained him so it was but right +that it should have his services. The bill was withdrawn and Colonel +Goethals was satisfied. + +When we look at the life of this successful man it seems as if all the +years before his going to the Canal Zone were but a preparation for +the great feat that awaited him there. He was always eager to work, +and when he was a little boy in New York City he earned his first +money by doing errands. At that time he was eleven years of age, but +by the time he was fifteen he was the cashier and bookkeeper in a +market. Other boys spent their time playing ball, but he worked after +school and every Saturday. He was paid five dollars a week. His first +hope was to be a physician, but the steady indoor work had weakened +his health and he decided to become a soldier. He thought the +excellent military training would make him well and strong, so he +passed the examinations for West Point Military Academy. + +As he knew no one there, George Goethals' entry into the famous school +was but little noticed. However, as the months and years passed, every +one there was proud to claim him as a pupil or classmate. + +There are three great honors to be won at West Point. Any man who wins +one of these is called an honor man, and the entire school looks up to +him. The first honor is to have the highest grade as a student. The +second is to be named a leader and an officer over all the rest of the +class. The third is to be chosen for an office by one's classmates +because they like him. George W. Goethals won all three of these. He +was an honor man in his studies; his teachers chose him as one of the +four captains taken from his class; and this same class elected him +president in his senior year. + +With such a school record it is not at all surprising that Colonel +Goethals made steady progress in the army and so was considered by +President Roosevelt to be the one person who could build the canal. +Since its completion, this able soldier has continued to serve his +country, and when President Wilson declared we were in a state of war +with Germany, Colonel Goethals was among the first persons summoned to +help plan and supervise the great war program; for at the root of his +success lies loyalty,--loyalty to his work, to his fellow men, and to +the Government of the United States. + + * * * * * + + _CHILDREN'S PLEDGE_ + + _I pledge allegiance to my Flag + And to the Republic for which it stands; + One Nation indivisible, + With liberty and justice for all._ + + + + +JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY + + +On one of the more modest streets of Indianapolis there lived, in +1916, an invalid. He was a man sixty-two years of age, with a genial +face that had not been hardened by his years of suffering. This man, +though living in a modest home and a confirmed invalid, had the rare +distinction of being the most beloved man in America. While all +classes loved him, the children loved him most; and fortunately they +did not wait until he was dead to show their love. One of the nice +things they used to do was to send him post cards on his birthdays. +Sometimes he would get, on a single birthday, as many as a thousand +cards from school children in all parts of the country. + +While he could not answer all these cards, he did his best to let them +know that he appreciated their kindly attention, as the following +letter shows: + + "To the School Children of Indianapolis: + + "You are conspirators--every one of you, that's what you are! You + have conspired to inform the general public of my birthday, and I + am already so old that I want to forget all about it. But I will + be magnanimous and forgive you, for I know that your intent is + really friendly, and to have such friends as you are makes + me--don't care how old I am! In fact it makes me so glad and + happy that I feel as absolutely young and spry as a very + schoolboy--even as one of you--and so to all intents I am. + + "Therefore let me be with you throughout the long, lovely day, and + share your mingled joys and blessings with your parents and your + teachers, and, in the words of little Tim Cratchit: 'God bless us, + every one.' + + Ever gratefully and faithfully + Your old friend, + James Whitcomb Riley." + +[Illustration: JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY +The "Hoosier" Poet] + +On one of his birthdays the school children of Indianapolis decided to +march in a great throng by his house and greet him as he sat by his +window in an invalid's chair. To their sorrow, when this birthday came +it rained hard all day--so hard that they could not think of going out +in the storm. But in the high school was a group of pupils who decided +that no storm could keep them from showing their love. Accordingly, +early in the evening, in the pouring rain, they gathered about his +home and in clear, ringing tones sang several of his beautiful poems +that had been set to music. So delighted was the great poet that he +invited them in and they packed his large sitting room. And what an +hour they had together! As they sang he forgot his suffering and was +young again. Before they left he recited several of his poems in such +a pleasing and impressive manner that I am sure those present will +never forget it. One of these, and one which is a great favorite, is +entitled _The Old Swimmin'-Hole_. + + THE OLD SWIMMIN'-HOLE + + Oh! the old swimmin'-hole! Whare the crick so still and deep + Looked like a baby-river that was laying half asleep, + And the gurgle of the worter round the drift jest below + Sounded like the laugh of something we onc't ust to know + Before we could remember anything but the eyes + Of the angels lookin' out as we left Paradise; + But the merry days of Youth is beyond our controle, + And it's hard to part ferever with the old swimmin'-hole. + + Oh! the old swimmin'-hole! In the happy days of yore, + When I ust to lean above it on the old sickamore, + Oh! it showed me a face in its warm sunny tide + That gazed back at me so gay and glorified, + It made me love myself, as I leaped to caress + My shadder smilin' up at me with sich tenderness. + But them days is past and gone, and old Time's tuck his toll + From the old man come back to the old swimmin'-hole. + + Oh! the old swimmin'-hole! In the long, lazy days + When the hum-drum of school made so many run-a-ways, + How pleasant was the jurney down the old dusty lane, + Whare the tracks of our bare feet was all printed so plane + You could tell by the dent of the heel and the sole + They was lots o' fun on hands at the old swimmin'-hole + But the lost joys is past! Let your tears in sorrow roll + Like the rain that ust to dapple up the old swimmin'-hole. + + Oh! the old swimmin'-hole! When I last saw the place, + The scenes was all changed, like the change in my face; + The bridge of the railroad now crosses the spot + Whare the old divin'-log lays sunk and fergot. + And I stray down the banks whare the trees ust to be-- + But never again will theyr shade shelter me! + And I wish in my sorrow I could strip to the soul, + And dive off in my grave like, the old swimmin'-hole. + +Though Mr. Riley is no longer with us, he still has the same big place +in our hearts. Why do we love him so? Is it not because he was able to +reach our hearts as few have done; because he was able in all his +poems to speak the word that we needed most? + +James Whitcomb Riley was born at Greenfield, Indiana, in 1853. His +father was a lawyer and farmer combined. While he did the legal work +of the village, he also owned a farm at the edge of town. As he was a +good speaker he was in constant demand in that part of the state to +speak on all kinds of occasions. Generally, on these trips, he took +young James along; thus it was that the lad acquired a desire to +travel that it took years of his after life to satisfy. + +It was from his mother that James received his talent for writing +poetry. Though never a poet, she was exceedingly apt, as were all her +people, in writing rhymes. The beautiful tributes that Riley, later in +life, paid his mother show that she always understood and helped +him. + +Greenfield, during the boyhood days of Riley, was not the kind of +town we think of as producing poets. There were no mountains to +kindle the imagination, and no babbling brooks to encourage +meditation. In every direction were broad stretches of level land +largely covered with forests that still remained untouched. Between +these forest stretches were patches of land that were cultivated by +hand; for at that time there was but little farm machinery. The +greatest single task of the people was to clear the forests and bring +the soil under cultivation. Greenfield was, therefore, in part an +agricultural town and in part a lumber town. Like most small towns, +it was slow-moving and uninteresting. The scenes most frequented were +the loafing places. + +As there was very little in Greenfield for a lad to do, James' father +very often pressed him into service planting and cultivating corn, but +he never liked it. While at first we are inclined to regret this, we +wonder, had farm life appealed to him, whether he would have made a +great poet. + +Years later in speaking of his lack of experience in real farm life +Mr. Riley says: "Sometimes some real country boy gives me the round +turn on some farm points. For instance, here comes one slipping up to +me, 'You never lived on a farm,' he says. 'Why not'? says I. 'Well,' +he says, 'a turkey-cock _gobbles_, but he doesn't _ky-ouck_ as your +poetry says.' He has me right there. It's the turkey-hen that +_ky-oucks_. 'Well, you'll never hear another turkey-cock of mine +_ky-ouckin_,' says I. But generally I hit on the right symbols. I get +the frost on the pumpkin and the fodder in the shock; and I see the +frost on the old axe they split the pumpkins with for feed, and I get +the smell of the fodder and the cattle, so that it brings up the right +picture in the mind of the reader." + +James never enjoyed his earlier experiences in school. When he should +have been studying his history and arithmetic lessons he busied +himself with writing rhymes. Later in life he was very sorry that he +had not persevered in his regular school work. There were some things +in school, however, that he did exceptionally well. Few boys in that +part of the state could recite poetry as well as he, and he was always +called on to speak pieces at the school entertainments. Though some of +his teachers were inclined to neglect him, he had one teacher who +understood him and took a great interest in him. The name of this +teacher was Mr. Lee O. Harris, and Mr. Riley never tired of saying +good things about him. The fact that Mr. Harris loved literature and +had some poetic ability of his own made it possible for him to see in +James powers that others did not see, and to encourage him when others +discouraged him. + +After leaving school James had some experiences that were so unusual +and yet so very interesting that I am sure we should be delighted to +have him, in his own delightful manner, tell us about them. + +"I tried to read law with my father, but I didn't seem to get +anywhere. Forgot as diligently as I read; so what was the use. I had +learned the sign-painter's trade, but it was hardly what I wanted to +do always, and my health was bad--very bad. + +"A doctor here in Greenfield advised me to travel. But how in the +world was I to travel without money. It was just at this time that the +patent-medicine man came along. He needed a man, and I argued this +way: 'This man is a doctor, and if I must travel, better travel with a +doctor.' He had a fine team and a nice looking lot of fellows with +him; so I plucked up courage to ask if I couldn't go along and paint +his advertisements for him. + +"I rode out of town without saying goodbye to anyone, and though my +patron wasn't a doctor with a diploma, as I found out, he was a mighty +fine man, and kind to his horses, which was a recommendation. He was a +man of good habits, and the whole company was made up of good straight +boys. + +"My experience with him put an idea into my head-- a business idea, +for a wonder--and the next year I went down to Anderson and went into +partnership with a young fellow to travel. We organized a scheme of +advertising with paint, and we called our business 'The Graphic +Company.' We had five or six young fellows, all musicians, as well as +handy painters, and we used to capture the towns with our music. One +fellow could whistle like a nightingale, another sang like an angel, +and another played the banjo. I scuffled with the violin and guitar. + +"Our only dissipation was clothes. We dressed loud. You could hear our +clothes an incalculable distance. We had an idea it helped business. +Our plan was to take one firm of each business in town, painting its +advertisement on every road leading to town. + +"You've heard the story about my traveling all over the state as a +blind sign-painter? Well, that started this way: One day we were in a +small town, and a great crowd was watching us in breathless wonder and +curiosity; and one of our party said; 'Riley, let me introduce you as +a blind sign-painter.' So just for the mischief I put on a crazy look +in the eyes, and pretended to be blind. They led me carefully to the +ladder, and handed me my brush and paints. It was great fun. I'd hear +them saying as I worked, 'That feller ain't blind.' 'Yes he is; see +his eyes.' 'No, he ain't, I tell you; he's playin' off.' 'I tell you +he _is_ blind. Didn't you see him fall over a box and spill all his +paints?' + +"Now, that's all there was to it. I was a blind sign-painter one day +and forgot it the next. We were all boys, and jokers, naturally +enough, but not lawless. All were good fellows, all had nice homes and +good people." + +When he had spent four years with "The Graphic Company" he accepted a +position as reporter for a paper published at Anderson, Indiana. In +addition to his reporting work he wrote many short poems in the +Hoosier dialect that took well. So successful was his work on this +paper that Judge Martindale of the Indianapolis Journal offered him a +position on that paper. About the first thing he now did was to write +a series of Benjamin F. Johnson poems. In speaking of this series Mr. +Riley said, "These all appeared with editorial comment, as if they +came from an old Hoosier farmer of Boone County. They were so well +received that I gathered them together in a little parchment volume, +which I called, 'The Old Swimmin'-Hole and 'Leven More Poems', my +first book." + +This book met with immediate favor. Speakers from east to west quoted +from it. All wanted to know who the author really was. Modest as Mr. +Riley was, he had to confess that he had written the book. Other books +followed in close succession until when he died he had written +forty-two volumes. But people were not satisfied with reading his +books merely, they wanted to see and hear him. He, therefore, began in +a modest way to read his poems before audiences in his native state. +So delighted were these audiences, for he was a charming reader as +well as a capable writer, that urgent calls came from every state in +the Union to come and read for them. For a number of years he traveled +widely and appeared before thousands of audiences, but this kind of +life never appealed to him. + +Though he never married, Mr. Riley was always fond of the quiet of a +modest home. Accordingly, the closing years of his life were spent in +semi-retirement in his cozy home on Lockerbie Street, Indianapolis. + + + + +HELEN KELLER + + +A little girl was traveling with her father and mother. They were +going from a little town in Alabama to the city of Baltimore. The +journey was long and, as the little girl was only six years old, she +wanted toys and playthings with which to pass the time. + +The kind conductor let her have his punch when he was not using it. +She found that it was great fun to punch dozens of little holes in a +piece of cardboard and she would touch each hole with one of her +little fingers, but she did not count them because she had not learned +how. + +By and by a pleasant lady thought she would make a rag doll for the +little traveler. She rolled two towels up in such a way that they +looked very much like a doll, and the little girl eagerly took the new +plaything in her arms. She rocked it and loved it; but something +troubled her, for she kept feeling the doll's face and holding it out +to the friends who sat near her. They did not understand what was the +matter. + +Suddenly she jumped down and ran over to where her mother's cape had +been placed. This cape was trimmed with large beads. The little girl +pulled off two beads and turning to her mother pointed once more to +the doll's face. Then her mother understood that her daughter wanted +the doll to have eyes; so she sewed the beads firmly to the towel and +the little girl was happy. + +[Illustration: HELEN KELLER +"Hearing" Caruso Sing] + +Are you wondering why the little girl did not talk and tell what she +wanted? She could not. Just think, she was six years old and could not +speak a word! All she could do was to make a few queer sounds. +Perhaps, too, you wonder why she was so anxious for the towel doll to +have eyes. I think it was because although she herself was blind, she +liked to fancy her doll had eyes that could see the beauties of the +world. To be blind and speechless seems hard indeed, but besides +lacking these two great gifts, this little girl was deaf. Think of it! +She could not hear, she could not see, and she could not talk. + +Yet this same little girl learned to talk. She learned to read, with +her fingers, books printed for the blind in raised letters. She +studied the same lessons that other children had in school, and she +worked so hard that she was able to go to college. + +Should you not like to hear Helen Keller, for that is the name of the +little girl, tell about herself? + +She says: "I was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, a little town of +Northern Alabama. I am told that while I was still in long dresses I +showed many signs of an eager, self-asserting disposition. They say I +walked the day I was a year old. My mother had just taken me out of +the bath-tub and was holding me in her lap, when I was suddenly +attracted by the flickering shadows of leaves that danced in the +sunlight on the smooth floor. I slipped from my mother's lap and +almost ran toward them. The impulse gone, I fell down, and cried for +her to take me in her arms. + +"These happy days did not last long, for an illness came which closed +my eyes and ears and plunged me into the unconsciousness of a new born +baby. The doctor thought I could not live. Early one morning, however, +the fever left me, but I was never to see or hear again." + +From the time of her recovery until the journey of which we have been +reading, Helen Keller lived in silence and darkness. This journey was +undertaken in order to consult a famous physician who had cured many +cases of blindness. Mr. and Mrs. Keller hoped this gentleman could +help their child, and you can imagine how sad they were when he said +he could do nothing. However, he sent them to consult Dr. Alexander +Graham Bell, who had taught many deaf children to speak. Dr. Bell +played with Helen and she sat on his knee and fingered curiously his +heavy gold watch. He not only advised her parents to get a special +teacher for her, but told them of a school in Boston in which he +thought they could find some one able to unlock the doors of knowledge +for the little girl. This was in the summer, and the next March Miss +Sullivan went to Alabama to be Helen Keller's friend and teacher. + +Let us read how the little girl felt when this kind, loving woman +came. "On the afternoon of that eventful day I stood on the porch, +dumb, expectant. I felt approaching footsteps. I stretched out my +hand, as I supposed, to my mother. Some one took it and I was caught +up and held close in the arms of her who had come to reveal all things +to me. + +"The next morning my teacher gave me a doll. When I had played with it +a little while, Miss Sullivan slowly spelled into my hand the word +d-o-l-l. I was at once interested in this finger play and tried to +imitate it. When I at last succeeded I was flushed with pleasure and +pride. In the days that followed I learned to spell a great many words +with my fingers, among them were pin, hat, cup, sit, stand, and walk. + +"But my teacher had been with me several weeks before I understood +that everything has a name." + +Months and years of happy companionship now came to pass for Helen +Keller. Every winter she and her teacher went to Boston where they had +greater chances for study than in the little southern town. Here Helen +learned about snow for the first time and all her memories of her +studies in these years are joined with remembrances of the merry times +she had after school riding on a sled or toboggan and playing in the +snow. + +It was when Helen was ten years old that she learned to speak. This +was a great and wonderful experience. Her teacher took her to a lady +who had offered to teach her. It was not easy for a deaf child to +learn to talk, and Miss Keller says: + +"The lady passed my hands lightly over her face and let me feel the +position of her tongue and lips when she made a sound. I was eager to +imitate every motion, and in an hour had learned to make the sounds of +M, P, A, S, T, I. In all I had eleven lessons. I shall never forget +the surprise and delight I felt when I uttered my first connected +sentence, 'It is warm.' After that my work was practise, practise, +practise. Discouragement and weariness cast me down frequently; but +the next moment the thought that I should soon be at home and show my +loved ones what I could do spurred me on and I thought, 'My little +sister will understand me now.' When I had made speech my own, I could +not wait to go home. My eyes fill now as I think how my mother pressed +me close to her, taking in every word I spoke, while little Mildred +kissed my hand and danced." + +Now a new world was indeed open to the bright girl who was so anxious +to learn. She finished studies similar to those taught in the eight +grades of our schools and began to prepare for college. Miss Sullivan +was still with her and, although she had for a tutor a kind, patient +man who taught her algebra, geometry, and Greek, it was Miss Sullivan +who sat beside her and talked into the girl's hands the tutor's +explanations and made it possible for her to enter Radcliffe College +in Cambridge, Massachusetts. + +While at college Miss Keller, with Miss Sullivan, attended classes and +followed the lessons through the help of this noble teacher who gave +some of her best years to training her pupil. College life brought +many pleasures and interests into Helen Keller's life, and when she +finished her work there, it scarcely seemed possible that the bright, +informed young woman had ever been kept a prisoner by darkness and +silence. + +Today Miss Keller often appears in public and tells to large audiences +some of her thoughts and opinions. She is a pleasant-faced, rather +serious woman and, while her voice has a hoarse sound, quite different +from the usual tones of the human voice, it is possible to understand +her very well indeed. Her teacher is still with her as a companion and +it would be hard to say who has worked the harder in the past years of +study, Miss Keller or her devoted friend. + +Upon being asked what were her greatest pleasures Helen Keller named +reading, outdoor sports, playing with her pet dogs, and meeting +people. What she says about each of these pleasures is so interesting +that you will surely be glad to read it and see, perhaps, if you and +she, by any chance, think alike. + +She says, "Books have meant so much more to me than to many others who +can get knowledge through their eyes and ears. My book friends talk to +me with no awkwardness, and I am never shut away from them; but +reading is not my only amusement. I also enjoy canoeing and sailing. I +like to walk on country roads. Whenever it is possible my dog +accompanies me on a sail or a walk. I have had many dog friends. They +seem to understand me, and always keep close beside me when I am +alone. I love their friendly ways, and the eloquent wag of their +tails. I have often been asked, 'Do not people bore you?' I do not +understand what that means. A hearty handshake or a friendly letter +gives me genuine pleasure." + +But it has not always been easy for her to be cheerful and contented. +She has had many struggles with sad thoughts when she thinks how +she sits outside life's gate and cannot enter into the light; cannot +hear the music or enjoy the friendly speech of the world. When these +gloomy ideas come to her mind she remembers, "There is joy in +self-forgetfulness," and tries to find her happiness in the lives of +others. + + * * * * * + + "_One flag, one land; + One heart, one hand: + One Nation over all._" + + --OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. + + + + +WILBUR AND ORVILLE WRIGHT + + +There is a poem called "Darius Green and His Flying Machine." In this +poem Darius, a country boy says, "The birds can fly and why can't I?" +A Greek story, centuries old, tells how a certain man and his son made +themselves wings of wax. They flew far out over the sea, but the warm +sun melted the waxen wings, and the two flying men were drowned. + +Today the aeroplanes cut through the air with great speed. There are +many different designs, and daring young men are eager to manage these +swift flying crafts. + +However, it is but a short time since two American boys made the first +successful flights in the United States and started a factory for +building aeroplanes. Wilbur and Orville Wright lived in Dayton, Ohio. +Their father was a minister, who spent his spare time working with +tools. Once he invented a typewriter, but it was never put on the +market. The boys were interested in his workshop, and while very young +began to find their greatest pleasure in making things that would go. + +It was in the year 1879, when Orville was eight years old, that his +father brought home a toy that made a great impression on the boyish +mind. It was called a heliocopter, but the Wright boys called it "the +bat." Made of bamboo, cork, and thin paper, it had two propellers that +revolved in opposite directions by the untwining of rubber bands that +controlled them. When thrown against the ceiling, it would hover in +the air for a time. They made many models of this toy, but after a +time they became tired of it and wanted to build something more +difficult. + +[Illustration: ORVILLE WRIGHT +Joint Inventor of the Aeroplane] + +Their first venture was a printing press; and when Orville was fifteen +years of age, they were publishing a four-page paper called the +Midget. They did all the work from editor to delivery boys. + +Just about this time the bicycle craze passed over the country. +Everyone rode a wheel. Automobiles were unknown, and the new machines, +that could be ridden so fast along the highways, seemed a wonderful +invention. The Wright brothers had no money to buy a bicycle, so they +made one. You may laugh when you hear that they used a piece of old +gas pipe for the frame, but nevertheless they succeeded in their +undertaking and could ride as well on their home-made machine as their +friends did on expensive, high-grade ones. No doubt they had many long +rides and great sport with the bicycle they had built, but the Wright +brothers always found their greatest pleasure in making things rather +than in using them. Therefore, it did not seem strange to any one when +they said they wanted something better than a bicycle; but when it +became known that instead of riding rapidly over city streets and +country roads they wanted to fly through the air like birds, the +people were amazed and thought the two boys had lost their wits. + +So to do this and buy materials with which to build their new machine, +they opened a bicycle repair shop. It was in the shed back of this +shop that they first made their models of air craft. They had no +wealthy friends to back them with money. They had no chance to go +abroad, where clever men were being urged by their governments to make +experiments with what the world called "flying machines." They were +not able to go to college or to any school where they could obtain +help in working out their plan, so they started in to study by +themselves what the German, French, and English inventors had to say +about the art of flying. + +Seemingly, nothing discouraged them. Everywhere the newspapers and +magazines were poking fun at mad inventors who thought men would some +day soar through the air as birds do. There was a Professor Langley, a +man much older than the Wright brothers, who finished a machine in +1896. It flew perfectly, on the sixth day of May in that year. The +flight was made near Washington, D. C., along the Potomac river for +the distance of about three-quarters of a mile. He made another +successful flight in November. Then the United States Government urged +him to build a full-sized machine, capable of carrying a man. He +completed this machine in 1903 and attempted to launch it on the +seventh day of October in that year. An accident caused the machine to +fall into the Potomac. The aviator was thrown out and came near +drowning. Professor Langley tried to launch his machine again in +December and the same accident occurred. The machine was broken. The +newspapers made cruel fun of Professor Langley; he was criticized in +the U. S. Congress; and overcome by grief at the failure of his great +idea he tried no more. Two years later he died, crushed and broken in +spirit. + +But the Wright brothers did not let any such unkind comment hinder +their work. They kept on studying the flight of birds. Lying flat on +their backs they would watch birds for whole afternoons at a time, +until at last they came to believe that a bird himself is really an +aeroplane. The parts of the wings close to the body are supporting +planes, while the portions that can be flapped are the propellers. +Watch a hawk or a buzzard soaring and you will see they move their +wings but little. They balance themselves on the rising currents of +air. A hawk finds that on a clear warm day the air currents are high +and rise with a rotary motion. That is why we see these birds go +sailing round and round. When you see one poised above a steep hill on +a damp, windy day you may be sure he is balancing himself in the air +which rises from its slope and he will be able to glide down at will. + +The Wright brothers were certain if they could balance a machine in +the air they could make it go. To find out how to do this they made a +difficult experiment with delicate sheets of metal balanced in a long +tube. Through this tube steady currents of air were blown. The speed +with which the currents were sent through the tube was changed often, +as well as the angles of sending. Over and over they did this, until +they were sure of the same results each time. They knew how to plan +the shape of a surface that would do what they wanted it to in the +air, and they were soon ready to make a trial flight with their +aeroplane. + +The United States Weather Bureau told them the winds were strongest +and steadiest at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and there they made their +first test flights in 1900. That year they had only two minutes of +actual sailing in the air. But they went back the next year and the +next, learning more each time, and working untiringly. + +One day Dr. Octave Chanute, the man who knew more than any one else in +the United States about flying, appeared suddenly at Kitty Hawk. He +watched them, and gave as his opinion that they had gone farther than +any one else in this new art. Cheered by his words they began to work +harder. Now that they could balance in the air they must make their +machine go. + +It took them a year to learn to turn a corner. During the years 1904 +and 1905, they made 154 flights. At last they were ready, in 1909, to +make a test for our government. The United States said it would pay +$25,000 for a machine capable of going forty miles an hour. Every mile +above this speed would be paid for at the rate of $2500 and for every +mile less than this down to the rate of thirty-six miles an hour they +would deduct $2500 from the purchase money. The flight was to be in a +measured course of five miles from Ft. Meyer to Alexandria, Va. It was +not an easy flight, and it was considered to be more difficult than +crossing the English Channel, a feat then engaging the attention of +Europeans. + +Orville Wright with one passenger made the flight in fourteen minutes +and forty-two seconds, a rate of speed a little more than forty-two +miles an hour. Army officers then went to him to learn how to manage +the machine, for even then it was believed the greatest use of the +aeroplane would be in war. + +When Orville Wright was succeeding in this country, Wilbur Wright went +to France with one of their machines. At first the French people +laughed, made cartoons of him and his machine, even wrote a song about +his effort; but he soon rose above all such petty and silly things. +The French people began to see the progress the Americans were making +and took hold of the new invention more rapidly than any other +nation. + +On the same trip, Wilbur Wright visited Italy, Germany, and England, +making many flights and winning a large number of prizes. When he +returned to this country he was overwhelmed with dinners, receptions, +and medals. He made a great flight in New York City, encircling the +Statue of Liberty in the harbor and flying from Governor's Island to +Grant's Tomb and return, a distance of twenty-one miles. + +Not long after these successes Wilbur died, and his brother Orville +was left to go on with their plans. Orville still lives in Dayton, +Ohio, and has a large factory given over to building aeroplanes. + +Long before the outbreak of the great war he had said warfare could be +carried on extensively in the air, and that we were realizing but a +few of the uses of this new invention. Although he believes air travel +will become quite an everyday happening, he does not expect it to take +the place of the railroad or the steam boat. However, he hopes to see +the government carry the mails by an aerial route, and to go quickly +and easily to out-of-the-way places. + +At present his greatest interest lies in making an aeroplane that is +simple enough for any one to manage and at the same time can be sold +at a low enough price for the average person to own. This may not seem +possible to you, but remember no one ever believed the Wright boys +would be able to fly, so it would not be strange if before many years +aeroplanes were used as much as automobiles are today. In fact, +Orville Wright says: "The time is not far distant when people will +take their Sunday afternoon spins in their aeroplanes precisely as +they do now in their automobiles. People need only to recover from the +impression that it is a dangerous sport, instead of being, when +adopted by rational persons, one of the safest. It is also far more +comfortable. The driver of an automobile, even under the most +favorable circumstances, lives at a constant nerve tension. He must +keep always on the lookout for obstructions in the road, for other +automobiles, and for sudden emergencies. A long drive, therefore, is +likely to be an exhausting operation. Now the aeroplane has a great +future because this element of nerve tension is absent. The driver +enjoys the proceeding as much as his passengers and probably more. +Winds no longer terrorize the airman. He goes up except in the very +bad days." + +Concluding he says: "Aeroplaning as a sport will attract women as well +as men. Women make excellent passengers. I have never yet taken up one +who was not extremely eager to repeat the experience. This fact will, +of course, hasten the day when the aeroplane will be a great sporting +and social diversion." + + * * * * * + +_"Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, +passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and +seeing them gratified. He that labors in any great or laudable +undertaking has his fatigues first supported by hope and afterwards +rewarded by joy."_ + + --DR. JOHNSON. + + + + +[Illustration: ROBERT E. PEARY +Discoverer of the North Pole] + + + + +ROBERT E. PEARY + + +Robert E. Peary was born at Cresson Springs, Pennsylvania, May 6th, +1856. When he was but three years of age his father died and his young +mother moved back to her old home at Portland, Maine. Here his boyhood +days were spent in fishing and swimming in the bay, or in roaming over +the hills and through the forests. True, the fields with their birds +and flowers interested him to some extent, but the mighty ocean, +heaving with its mysterious tides and beset with treacherous gales, +interested him most. Never did he tire of the stories of danger and +hardship as told by the sturdy, adventurous fishermen. So eager was he +to learn the mysteries of the mighty deep that he would sit for hours +at a time listening to the sailors as they explained the tides and +shifting winds. Little did he realize in those early days that this +was precisely the knowledge that he would later need in his work as an +arctic explorer. + +But the fishermen were not his only teachers; for so faithful was he +in his regular school work that, at the age of seventeen, he was ready +to enter college. Bowdoin, the oldest and best known college in the +state, was chosen. Upon his graduation, at the age of twenty-one, he +was ready to start in life. But where should he go and what should he +do? Odd as it then seemed to his friends, he chose the little village +of Fryeburg, away back amid the mountains of Maine. Here he hung out +his sign as land surveyor. As practically no one in that little town +wanted land surveyed, he had much leisure time which he spent in long +hikes over the mountains and along the trout streams. This experience +further fitted him for his tasks as an arctic explorer. + +That he had always been an energetic student was shown by his success +in passing the United States Civil Service examination which he took +at the age of twenty-five. This examination, given by the Navy +Department, was for the purpose of choosing civil engineers. Out of +forty who took the examination only four passed, and Mr. Peary was the +youngest of the four. + +As soon as he had won the rank of Lieutenant, his first task was to +estimate carefully the cost of building a huge pier at Key West, +Florida. When the estimate was handed in, the contractors said that it +could not be built for that amount. Since Lieutenant Peary insisted +that it could, the government told him to engineer the building of the +pier himself. This he did so skillfully that he saved for the +government thirty thousand dollars. + +So brilliant was this success that he was sent to Nicaragua to +engineer the survey for the Inter-Oceanic Canal. Here his experience +in equipping an expedition, and in managing half-civilized men, +further fitted him for his great work in the north land. + +Prior to this time he seems never to have thought of arctic +explorations, for he writes: "One evening in one of my favorite +haunts, an old book store in Washington, I came upon a fugitive paper +on the Inland Ice of Greenland. A chord, which as a boy had vibrated +intensely in me at the reading of Kane's wonderful book, was touched +again. I read all I could upon the subject, noted the conflicting +experiences of the explorers, and felt that I must see for myself what +the truth was of this great mysterious interior." Then it was, as he +tells us later, that he caught the "Arctic Fever" which he never got +over until he had discovered the North Pole. As a result of this fever +he has made nine trips into the north land, and these expeditions have +consumed so much time that, though he had been married twenty-one +years when he reached the Pole, only three of these years had been +spent in the quiet of his home with his family. + +Interested as we are in all these expeditions, we are most interested, +I am sure, in the one in which he reached his goal. + +Embarked on the good ship _Roosevelt_, his expedition had no trouble +in reaching Etah Fiord on the north coast of Greenland. This place +interests us because it is the northernmost Eskimo village and is +within seven hundred miles of the Pole. + +In speaking of these Eskimos, Mr. Peary says: "There are now between +two hundred and twenty and two hundred and thirty in the tribe. They +are savages, but they are not savage; they are without government, but +they are not lawless; they are utterly uneducated according to our +standard, yet they exhibit a remarkable degree of intelligence. In +temperament like children, with a child's delight in little things, +they are nevertheless enduring as the most mature of civilized men and +women, and the best of them are faithful unto death. Without religion +and having no idea of God, they will share their last meal with anyone +who is hungry. They have no vices, no intoxicants, and no bad +habits--not even gambling. Altogether they are a people unique upon +the face of the earth." + +In his journeys into the far North Mr. Peary enjoyed many a walrus +hunt. How should you like to hunt walruses? Before you answer read the +following description of a walrus hunt: + +"Walrus-hunting is the best sport in the shooting line that I know. +There is something doing when you tackle a herd of fifty-odd, weighing +between one and two tons each, that go for you whether wounded or not; +that can punch a hole through eight inches of young ice; that try to +get into the boat to get at or upset you,--we could never make out +which, and didn't care, as the result to us would have been the +same,--or else try to raise your boat and stave holes in it. + +"Getting in a mix-up with a herd, when every man in the whale-boat is +standing by to repel boarders, hitting them over the head with oars, +boat-hooks, axes, and yelling like a cheering section at a football +game to try to scare them off; with the rifles going like young +Gatling guns, and the walruses bellowing from pain and anger, coming +to the surface with mad rushes, sending the water up in the air till +you would think a flock of geysers was turned loose in your immediate +vicinity--oh, it's great!" + +The _Roosevelt_ after leaving Etah Fiord was able to go as far north +as Cape Sheridan, about 500 miles from the North Pole. Here, on +February 15, 1909, the little party left the ship for the long journey +over a wide waste of ice. The army that was to fight the bitter polar +cold was made up of six white men, one negro, fifty-nine Eskimos, one +hundred forty dogs, and twenty-three sledges. + +For the first hundred miles after leaving the ship they were forced to +cut their way through vast stretches of jagged ice. After twenty-four +days of struggle, only twenty-four men remained; all the others having +been sent back. These twenty-four, however, were the freshest and +strongest. On they battled, always sending back the weakest. Finally, +when but two degrees from the Pole, only the negro, four Eskimos, Mr. +Peary and forty dogs remained. + +Suppose we ask Mr. Peary, in his own language, to describe the final +dash to the pole. + +"This was that for which I had worked for thirty-two years; for which +I had trained myself as for a race. For success now, in spite of my +fifty-three years, I felt trim-fit for the demands of the coming days +and eager to be on the trail. As for my party, my equipment, and my +supplies, I was in shape beyond my fondest dreams of earlier years. My +party was as loyal and responsive to my will as the fingers of my +right hand. Two of them had been my companions to the farthest point +three years before. Two others were in Clark's division, which had +such a narrow escape at that time, and were now willing to go +anywhere. My dogs were the very best. Almost all were powerful males, +hard as nails and in good spirits. My supplies were ample for forty +days. + +"I decided that I should strain every nerve to make five marches of +fifteen miles each, crowding these marches in such a way as to bring +us to the end of the fifth long enough before noon to permit the +immediate taking of an observation for latitude." + +Usually these marches were for ten or twelve hours, and the distance +covered averaged about twenty-five miles. The dangers encountered are +suggested by the following: "Near the end of the march I came upon a +lead which was just opening. It was ten yards wide directly in front +of me, but a few yards to the east was an apparently good crossing +where the single crack was divided into several. I signaled to the +sledges to hurry; then, running to the place, I had time to pick a +road across the moving ice cakes and return to help teams across +before the lead widened so as to be impassable. This passage was +effected by my jumping from one cake to another, picking the way, and +making sure that the cake would not tilt under the weight of the dogs +and the sledge, returning to the former cake where the dogs were, +encouraging the dogs ahead while the driver steered the sledge across +from cake to cake, and threw his weight from one side to the other so +that it could not overturn. We got the sledges across several cracks +so wide that while the dogs had no trouble in jumping, the men had to +be pretty active in order to follow the long sledges." + +Luckily at the end of the fifth march they were less than two miles +from the pole. Should you like to know how Mr. Peary felt at this +eventful hour? + +"Of course, I had many sensations that made sleep impossible for +hours, despite my utter fatigue--the sensations of a lifetime; but I +have no room for them here. The first thirty hours at the Pole were +spent in taking observations; in going some ten miles beyond our camp, +and some eight miles to the right of it; in taking photographs, +planting my flags, depositing my records, studying the horizon with my +telescope for possible land, and searching for a place to make a +sounding. Ten hours after our arrival the clouds cleared before a +light breeze from our left, and from that time until our departure on +the afternoon of April 7th the weather was cloudless and flawless. The +coldest temperature during the thirty hours was thirty-three degrees +below zero, and the warmest twelve below." + +Thus it was that after the nations of the world had sent out over five +hundred expeditions in search of the North Pole, an American, +educated in Old New England, schooled in hardship in the United States +Navy, planted "Old Glory" at the northernmost point of this mighty +world. To Admiral Peary, then, is conceded the greatest scientific +triumph of the century and April sixth, 1909, is a memorable day in +the history of America and the world. + + * * * * * + + _THE AMERICAN'S CREED_ + +I believe in the United States of America as a government of the +people, by the people, for the people, whose just powers are derived +from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a +sovereign Nation of many sovereign States, a perfect Union, one and +inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, +justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their +lives and fortunes. + +I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it; to support +its Constitution; to obey its laws; to respect its flag, and to defend +it against all enemies. + + --WILLIAM TYLER PAGE. + + + + +WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN + + +In the summer of 1880 three speakers were advertised to deliver +democratic addresses at a farmers' picnic to be held in a grove near +Salem, Illinois. When the eventful hour arrived, the only person +present to hear the speeches was the owner of the grove. For an hour +the speakers waited but no one else came. While each was disappointed +and humiliated, it was a crushing blow to the young man who was to +speak third on the list. This was his home community, and his own +neighbors and townsmen had thus ignored him. + +For six years he had been away to school, and during all that time he +made a special study of public speaking. So good was he in the art of +speaking that his college had heaped many honors upon him. He was +chosen one of the speakers on graduation day, and most important of +all, he had been chosen to represent his college in the annual +oratorical contest with the other colleges of the state. Now, after +all these honors, he had come back to his home vicinity, and for some +mysterious reason the people would not hear him. Surely this was +enough to dampen the ardor of any ordinary young man and put an end to +his speaking career. + +[Illustration: WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN +The Great Commoner] + +It was a hot August day in 1914. On every road entering a beautiful +Indiana city, strings of automobiles were seen hurrying to the city. +Farmers, busy as they were, forgot their work and hastened to the +city. Merchants, too, had locked their stores and refused to sell +goods. Why all the excitement? At the edge of the city, in a huge +steel auditorium that seated thousands, the people were gathering--and +such a multitude--people as far as the eye could see. Soon the speaker +of the afternoon was introduced. For two hours he held that vast +throng as no other man in America and possibly in the world could have +done. So magnetic was his personality and so genuine his appeal that +the people forgot the heat and gave him the closest possible +attention. + +Odd as it may seem, the speaker before this vast Chautauqua throng was +the same man that, years before, had tried to speak near Salem when no +one would hear him. Why the difference? What had he done that had made +the people so eager to see and hear him? + +To answer these questions it will be necessary to study his life. Mr. +Bryan was born at Salem, Illinois, March 19, 1860. Though he is of +Irish descent, his ancestors have lived in this country for more than +a hundred years. Through all these years the Bryans have belonged to +the middle class. While none of them have been very rich, on the other +hand none have been extremely poor. Though members of the family have +entered practically every profession, more have engaged in farming +than in all the other professions combined. + +Fortunately for Mr. Bryan, most of his boyhood was spent on a farm. +When he was but six years of age his father purchased a farm six +miles from Salem. It was indeed an eventful day for young William when +they moved to the large farm with its spacious farm house and broad +lawns. From the first the animals interested him most. William's +father, seeing this, built a small deer park. Here the deer, +unmolested by dogs or hunters, became so tame that the lad never tired +of petting and feeding them. + +With the abundant, nutritious food of the farm, with plenty of fresh +air, sunshine, and exercise, William soon grew into a sturdy, +broad-shouldered, deep-chested lad. Those who knew him best say that +while the other boys always had their pockets filled with keys, +strings, and tops, his were sure to be filled with cookies and +doughnuts. + +William's first day in school was indeed eventful. Ten years old and +large for his age, he seemed out of place in the first grade where the +pupils were so much younger and smaller. Soon, however, the teacher +discovered that he did not belong in this grade. Though he had never +been at school, his faithful mother had taught him to read so well +that he at once took his place with pupils of his own age. + +After five years in the public school of Salem he was sent to +Jacksonville, Illinois, where he attended Whipple Academy. From the +Academy he entered Illinois College, also in Jacksonville. Mr. Bryan +says that the thing that most impressed him in college was his tussle +with Latin and Greek. From the first these dead languages did not +appeal to him. Again and again he pleaded with his parents to be +permitted to drop these studies but they insisted on his taking the +"Classical Course." + +Though he was of ideal size and build for football and baseball, +neither appealed to him. The only forms of athletics that he liked +were running and jumping. Only once was he able to carry away a prize. +This was when he won the broad jump with twelve feet and four inches +as the distance covered. + +It was in speaking contests of all kinds that young Bryan took the +deepest interest. When he was but a green freshman in the Academy, he +had the courage to enter the declamatory contest. No one worked +harder, but in spite of his best efforts he was given a place next to +the foot of the list. Unwilling to yield to discouragement, he tried +again the next year. This time he got third place. + +The following September he entered college, and during his freshman +year took part in two contests, getting second place in each. During +his sophomore year, he had the satisfaction of winning first place in +declamation. Then it was that he made his boldest effort. He delivered +an oration that he himself had written, and again won first place. +After these successes it was not to be wondered at that his college +elected him to represent the school in the intercollegiate oratorical +contest. Pitted against the ablest contestants of the other colleges +of the state, he was able to win second place, for which he received +a prize of fifty dollars. + +Suppose Mr. Bryan had decided when he lost his first three contests +never to try again, thus yielding to defeat, do you think he ever +could have become the famous orator that he now is? + +From Mr. Bryan's picture we see that he is a large, good-natured, +friendly man. Should you like to know how he looked when he was a +young fellow? If you should, the following from the pen of the lady +who afterward became his wife will interest you. + +"I saw him first in the parlors of the young ladies' school which I +attended in Jacksonville. He entered the room with several other +students, was taller than the rest, and attracted my attention at +once. His face was pale and thin; a pair of keen dark eyes looked out +from beneath heavy brows; his nose was prominent, too large to look +well, I thought; a broad, thin-lipped mouth, and a square chin, +completed the contour of his face. + +"He was neat, though not fastidious in dress, and stood firmly and +with dignity. I noted particularly his hair and his smile, the former +black in color, plentiful, fine in quality, and parted distressingly +straight; the latter expansive and expressive. + +"In later years his smile has been the subject of considerable +comment, but the well rounded cheeks of Mr. Bryan now check its +outward march. No one has seen the real breadth of his smile who did +not see it in the early days. Upon one occasion a heartless observer +was heard to remark, 'That man can whisper in his own ear,' but this +was a cruel exaggeration." + +Upon his graduation from Illinois College at the head of his class, he +entered the Union College of Law in Chicago where he was graduated at +the age of twenty-three. Immediately he hung out his shingle in +Jacksonville, and waited for clients. Month after month he impatiently +waited until finally it dawned upon him that among the old established +lawyers of Jacksonville there was no room for an ambitious beginner. +Then it was that he remembered the advice of Horace Greeley, "Young +man, go West." + +Accordingly, with his talented young wife he went to Lincoln, +Nebraska. Here fortune smiled upon him, for so rapidly did he make a +place for himself that at the age of thirty he was chosen to represent +his district in Congress. + +If any of you have ever seen the United States Congress in session you +will realize that Mr. Bryan must have been very much younger than most +of the congressmen. Keen, quick, and eager to learn, the young +Congressman made the most of every opportunity during the four years +he was in Congress. + +In 1896, or when Mr. Bryan was thirty-six years of age, his greatest +opportunity came. Then it was that the Democratic party conferred upon +him the highest honor within its power by selecting him as its +candidate for president. Though defeated in 1896, so great was the +confidence the party had in him, that twice afterward his party asked +him to run for president. Since he was defeated every time, it is only +natural to ask what there is about him, after all, that is so great. +Though the American people differ widely in their answers to the above +query, most of them admit that he towers above the rank and file of +American politicians in his pronounced Christian integrity, in his +willingness to sacrifice for the sake of principle, and in his ability +to move men with speech, for no doubt he is one of the greatest +orators this continent has ever produced. + + * * * * * + +"_You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of +thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold._" + + --W. J. BRYAN'S CROSS OF GOLD SPEECH. + + + + +HENRY FORD + + +In the year 1879, there was a sixteen year old boy living in the +country near Detroit, Michigan. He was not fond of farm work but +nevertheless he did his share in helping his father, who was a thrifty +farmer. Day after day, this boy trudged back and forth two and +one-half miles each way to the school house. In his spare hours when +he was not farming, he had fitted up a work shop for his own use. +There was a vise, a bow-string driven lathe and a rudely built forge. +He had made these tools himself and was very proud of them. When he +was only a small boy, he had made his first tool by taking one of his +grandmother's knitting needles, heating it red hot and plunging it +into a bar of soap as he bent it into shape. Then he added a wooden +handle that he had whittled and the tool was done. + +As soon as he had something with which to work, he began to take to +pieces all manner of things just for the fun of putting them together +again. He says: "I must have taken apart and put together more than a +thousand clocks and watches." He thought it would be a fine thing to +be able to make many good watches, and to make them all alike. He +never realized this dream, but in later life he did make a good +automobile, he made many of them, and he made them all alike. + +[Illustration: HENRY FORD +In His First Motor Car] + +His first step towards this great business undertaking happened before +he was seventeen years of age, when he left his father's farm and went +to Detroit to work as a mechanic in a shop. He never returned to the +farm, although for a time he lived on some land his father had given +to him, and conducted a lumber business. All the time he was +experimenting, and he wanted to make something that would go. By the +time he was twenty-one years of age, he had built a farm locomotive +mounted on cast-iron wheels taken from a mowing machine. It was not +designed for any particular use, but was to serve as a general farm +tractor, and he had great sport running it up and down the meadow +while the cows fled in terror. + +From that time his chief interest was in building wagons to be run by +motors. His health was always good, he worked unceasingly, and slept +just as little as possible, and at last, in 1893, he made what people +called then, a wagon driven by gas; today we call it an automobile. It +ran but was not a great success, and the public made fun of the +inventor. This wagon driven by gas was the first Ford automobile and +the man who invented it was Henry Ford. He had married and lived in a +little house in Bagley Street, Detroit, Michigan. He was employed by +the Edison Company, but he had a workshop of his own in his barn. +There he built his first motor car. For material he used nothing but +junk, as he had no money with which to buy costly materials for +experiments. + +Henry Ford does not know the word discouragement, so after his first +failure he built another car and in 1898 placed it on the road. It +was better than the first one, but there were still difficulties to be +overcome. People laughed more than ever, and Detroit thought him +mildly insane on the subject of "little buggies driven by gas," as the +newspapers called them. Then one day, when no one was paying any +especial attention to him, Henry Ford made a car that would run on +level ground, would run up and down hill, and go backward and forward. +His problem was solved, and he began to make automobiles. Today he is +the head of the Ford Motor Company which has its largest factory in +Highland Park, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, not more than fifteen +miles from his birthplace. + +At the Highland Park plant, one thousand times a day a newborn car +pushes open a door by itself and goes out into the world. At once +these cars are loaded on trains and sent away, for the plant has no +storage and there are always more orders than can be filled. The Ford +cars are used by many persons, they are all made alike and they are +made in large numbers. Henry Ford's old dream about making watches has +come true, only he makes automobiles instead of timepieces. + +In his great factory the most improved machinery is used, and the +business is run on a profit-sharing plan, which means that the daily +pay of the men in his employ increases as the profit of the plant +increases. A just amount is paid to each workman and Mr. Ford says: +"If a man can make himself of any use at all, put him on, give him +his chance and if he tries to do the right thing, we can find a living +for him any way." Eight hours is the length of the working day with +extra pay for overtime work. The wages in the Ford factories have +always been above what is generally paid so there are always many +persons who want to work there. + +However, Henry Ford has two other great interests besides automobiles. +They are boys and birds. His only child is a bright and earnest boy +but Mr. Ford does not forget other boys in doing for his own. There +are always a dozen or more boys that he is training and helping to +prepare for life, thus giving to the world strong, helpful citizens. + +As for birds, he has built two hundred bird houses in the grounds of +his home. They are heated with electricity in winter so as to keep the +birds' drinking water from freezing, and by a clever arrangement of +tubes, food can be sent electrically to each little house. Recently +Mr. Ford brought from England three hundred and eighty song birds not +native to the United States. They settled down and built nests in his +trees and shrubbery. He hopes to have them increase and add to the +beauty of our natural life. + +His interest in birds and out of door life has been strengthened by +his long friendship with John Burroughs, the naturalist, and the two +have had many tramps and camping trips together. These excursions are +Mr. Ford's vacations and he likes to take them with this great nature +lover or with his other good friend, Thomas A. Edison, with whom he is +most congenial. + +Having no bad habits, perfect health, never being tired, willing to +listen to others, able to decide quickly, and world-wide in his +interests, Henry Ford is one of the twentieth century's greatest +public-spirited business men. No better illustration can be found than +the fact that although Mr. Ford did not believe in war and was a man +of peace, yet when the United States entered the World War, he +hastened to Washington, offered his great factory to the government to +make war supplies, and began running night and day to furnish our +country with war-time necessities. If some one wished to choose for +him a coat of arms they should select, "A file and hammer crossed, a +warm, glowing heart placed above them," while the words, + + "I love, + I build, + I give." + +should be written underneath. This should be sufficient to describe +the nature of the kindly, frank and unassuming man, who, with a large +amount of money coming in each month, cares nothing for it as money +but wishes to use it to promote the good will of the world. + + + + +BEN B. LINDSEY + + +Late one afternoon a tired judge was seated at his bench in the city +of Denver. The docket showed that the next case to be brought before +him was one for stealing. Anxiously he waited for the hardened +criminals to be brought in, when lo and behold! three boys hardly in +their teens were brought before him. + +When asked what they had stolen, they replied, "Pigeons." Beside the +boys stood the old man whose pigeons had been stolen. To say that he +was angry was putting it mildly. + +As the boys described the pigeon loft and how they came to steal the +pigeons, the judge became very absent-minded; for his mind went back +to the time when he himself was a boy and had been in a crowd that had +stolen pigeons. Odd as it may seem, the judge's old gang had, years +before, visited this same pigeon loft and stolen from this same old +man. Little wonder then that the judge had a warm place in his heart +for the boys who were now in trouble. + +But the old man had been annoyed for months, had watched hours to +catch the boys, and now that he had caught them, surely they should be +punished severely. He was sure the boys should be sent to prison. + +What should the judge do under the circumstances? Certainly he must +see that the pigeons were protected, for they were fancy stock and the +old man made his living by raising them. + +[Illustration: BEN B. LINDSEY +"The Kids' Judge"] + +Would sending the three boys to prison protect the old man and his +pigeons? No, for no doubt the boys belonged to a gang, and unless the +whole gang were caught, the thefts would continue. For a long time the +judge studied the matter until finally he told the boys, that if they +would go out and bring in the other members of the gang, he would be +"white" with them; he would give them a square deal. + +The boys eyed the judge critically. Did he mean what he was saying? +The boys liked his looks, for he was young and not much larger than +themselves. Then, too, he did not talk down at them from the bench, +but had left his bench, sat among them, and talked like one of them. + +It wasn't long before the boys were convinced that the judge was their +friend. He understood them, and his heart was in the right place, as +they put it. Accordingly, they went out and brought in the other +members of the gang. In his talk with the gang, the judge was as kind +and frank as he had been when talking with the three boys the day +before. He told the boys how the old man made his living by raising +pigeons, and he asked them whether they thought it was square for them +to steal his pigeons. They agreed that it was not. + +Then he told the gang how the old man and the police had caught the +three boys stealing the pigeons, and he asked them whether they +thought it would help matters to send the boys to prison. As this +remedy did not appeal to the gang the judge asked what should be done. +After some discussion, the members of the gang agreed that the best +thing to do was to give the judge their word of honor that they would +never molest the pigeon loft again. Thus it was that the old man's +rights were protected and at the same time the boys were saved from +the disgrace of a prison sentence. + +The above is but one among hundreds of instances in which Judge Ben B. +Lindsey of Denver has shown that he is indeed the boy's friend. Since +he is the boy's friend, all boys are interested in his life. + +Since he was born in Tennessee in 1869, it is not difficult for us to +figure that he is now in the prime of life. As he looks back over his +boyhood days he admits that he can recall little else than hardship. +His father, who had been an officer in the Confederate army, died when +Ben was about eighteen years of age. Before the war the Lindseys had +been in comfortable circumstances, but so great were the ravages of +war that at its close the family had lost everything. Ben, therefore, +was born in poverty. So severe were the hardships in the South that +the Lindseys came north and finally settled in Denver, Colorado. When +Ben was twelve, the family was so poor that the lad could not go to +school. Forced to work while yet so young, he had to pick up any odd +jobs that came his way. For a time he was messenger boy, and then he +managed a newspaper route. Since he was once a newsboy, is it any +wonder that he understood newsboys? It is also interesting to know +that he afterward became a judge in the same city in which he used to +peddle newspapers. + +Though Ben could not attend day school, he did go to night school +regularly. As he was not robust, it was difficult, however, for the +lad after delivering messages all day to settle down to hard study in +a night school. But Ben liked books and was not afraid of hard work. + +A little later he secured employment in a real-estate office. Here he +had some leisure time. Can you guess what he did with it? Did you know +that about the best way to learn whether or not a boy is destined to +become a great man is to find out what he does with his leisure hours? +Ben, now a young man, spent his time in studying law. To play games or +go to shows would have been much more interesting than studying great +law books, but he was determined to climb regardless of the cost. +Accordingly, at the age of twenty-four, he was made a "full-fledged" +lawyer. + +In his practice of law there was nothing exceptional until at the age +of thirty-two he was made county judge. For weeks he discharged the +usual duties connected with his office until one evening a case came +before the court that changed his entire life. The story is as +follows: + +"The hour was late; the calendar was long, and Judge Lindsey was +sitting overtime. Weary of the weary work, everybody was forcing the +machinery of the law to grind through at top speed the dull routine of +justice. All sorts of cases go before this court, grand and petty, +civil and criminal, complicated and simple. The petty larceny case was +plain; it could be disposed of in no time. A theft had been committed; +no doubt of that. Had the prisoner at the bar done it? The sleepy +policeman had his witnesses on hand and they swore out a case. There +was no doubt about it; hardly any denial. The law prescribed precisely +what was to be done to such 'cases,' and the bored judge ordered that +that thing be done. That was all. In the same breath with which he +pronounced sentence, the court called for the 'next case,' and the +shift was under way, when something happened, something out of the +ordinary. + +"A cry! an old woman's shriek, rang out of the rear of the room. There +was nothing so very extraordinary about that. Our courts are held in +public; and every now and then somebody makes a disturbance such as +this old woman made when she rose now with that cry on her lips and, +tearing her hair and rending her garments, began to beat her head +against the wall. It was the duty of the bailiff to put the person +out, and that officer in this court moved to do his duty. + +"But Judge Lindsey upheld the woman, saying: 'I had noticed her +before. As my eye wandered during the evening it had fallen several +times on her, crouched there among the back benches, and I remember I +thought how like a cave dweller she looked. I didn't connect her with +the case, any case. I didn't think of her in any human relationship +whatever. For that matter, I hadn't considered the larceny case in any +human way. And there's the point: I was a judge, judging 'cases' +according to the 'law,' till the cave dweller's mother-cry startled me +into humanity. It was an awful cry, a terrible sight, and I was +stunned. I looked at the prisoner again, but with new eyes now, and I +saw the boy, an Italian boy. A thief? No. A bad boy? Perhaps, but not +a lost criminal. + +"'I called him back, and I had the old woman brought before me. +Comforting and quieting her, I talked with the two together, as mother +and son this time, and I found that they had a home. It made me +shudder. I had been about to send that boy to a prison among criminals +when he had a home and a mother to go to. And that was the law! The +fact that that boy had a good home; the circumstances which led him +to--not steal, but 'swipe' something; the likelihood of his not doing +it again--these were 'evidence' pertinent, nay, vital, to his case. + +"'Yet the law did not require the production of such evidence. The +law? Justice? I stopped the machinery of justice to pull that boy out +of its grinders. But he was guilty; what was to be done with him? I +didn't know. I said I would take care of him myself, but I didn't know +what I meant to do, except to visit him and his mother at their home. +And I did visit them, often, and--well, we--his mother and I, with the +boy helping--we saved the boy, and today he is a fine young fellow, +industrious, self-respecting, and a friend of the Court.'" + +So deep was the impression that this case made upon Judge Lindsey that +he could not keep from thinking about it. As he thought, he made up +his mind that boys and girls should not be tried in the same court +with grown people. He also concluded that in trying a boy the +important thing was not _what_ he had done, but _why_ he had done it. +To discover and remove the cause of the crime was of much greater +importance than punishing him after the crime had been committed. + +Furthermore, he thought it very wrong to put a boy in a prison with +hardened criminals. He looked upon the prison not as a place where men +are made better but as a school of vice. To send a boy to prison, +then, must be the last resort. + +While it was not hard for Judge Lindsey to see all these things, it +was difficult indeed for him to make the people of Denver see them. +Gradually, however, he carried on his campaign of enlightenment until +today Denver is pointed out as one of a few cities that knows how +successfully to handle its boys. With its excellent juvenile court and +its sane probation laws it has blazed the path for other cities to +follow. + +And to whom are these changes due? We answer, to the man who by dint +of hard work struggled all the way from newsboy on the streets to +judge on the bench--Ben B. Lindsey. + + + + +FRANCES WILLARD + + +Two sisters and a brother lived with their parents in the country near +what is now the town of Beloit, Wisconsin. They had many pleasures in +their free, healthy life, and they were all fond of writing down in +diaries accounts of their plays, their hopes, and their plans. One day +the older of the two girls wrote: + +"I once thought I should like to be Queen Victoria's maid of honor; +then I wanted to go and live in Cuba; next I made up my mind that I +would be an artist; next that I would be a mighty hunter of the +prairies--but now I suppose I am to be a music teacher, simply that +and nothing more." + +She never became any of these things, but she did grow into such a +wise and noble woman that the entire world recognized the good she did +and was glad to honor her. The little girl's name was Frances Willard, +and the great office that was hers in later life was the presidency of +the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. + +Frances' father and mother moved to Wisconsin from the State of New +York when their children were very small. Then the new home seemed to +be in the wilderness, and the family were indeed pioneers. Frances had +a genius for planning the most exciting games. She was always the +leader of the three, and delighted in organizing her willing playmates +into Indian bands, or into daring sailors of unknown seas. The other +two children called her Frank, and were glad to have her "think up" +wonderful plays. + +[Illustration: FRANCES E. WILLARD +Founder of the +World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union] + +One day long before Frances was twelve years of age her sister wrote +in her journal, "Frank said we might as well have a ship if we did +live on shore; so we took a hen coop pointed at the top, put a big +plank across it, and stood up, one at each end, with an old rake +handle apiece to steer with. Up and down we went, slow when it was a +calm sea and fast when there was a storm, until the old hen clucked +and the chickens all ran in and we had a lively time. Frank was +captain and I was mate. We made out charts of the sea, rules about how +to navigate when it was good weather and how when it was bad. We put +up a sail made of an old sheet and had great fun, until I fell off and +hurt me." + +So you see they must have had many daring adventures. Frances longed +for a horse to ride, but there was none the children could have. This +did not discourage her in the least. She wanted to ride and so she +decided to train their pet calf. The calf's name was Dime, and Frances +said, "Dime is an unusually smart calf, she can be trained so we can +ride her." So she proceeded to do it and the children rode Dime to +their hearts' content. + +But all of their play was not out of doors. Mr. and Mrs. Willard had +brought with them from their old home many books, and the children +liked to spend hours reading in their library. The father and mother +taught them and encouraged them to study. Frances liked to write, +and, as she was a neat and orderly girl, she did not want her books +and papers disturbed. In her sister Mary's journal we read how she +managed to have her belongings untouched: + +"Today Frank gave me half her dog Frisk that she bought lately, and +for her pay I made a promise which mother witnessed and here it is: + +"I, Mary Willard, promise never to touch anything lying or being upon +Frank Willard's writing desk which father gave her. I promise never to +ask either by speaking, writing, or signing, or in any other way, any +person or body to take off or put on anything on said stand and desk +without special permission from said Frank Willard. I promise never to +touch anything which may be in something upon her stand and desk. I +promise never to put anything on it or in anything on it; I promise if +I am writing or doing anything else at her desk to go away the moment +she tells me to. If I break the promise I will let the said F. W. come +into my room and go to my trunk or go into any place where I keep my +things and take anything of mine she likes. All this I promise unless +entirely different arrangements are made. These things I promise upon +my most sacred honor." + +As Frances grew older she longed to travel. She had a great desire to +take a large part in the work of the world; but this did not seem +possible for two reasons. First, she had no money, and in the second +place, she lived in such an out of the way settlement that a journey +to the great cities of the world seemed to be nothing but a pleasant +dream that would never come true. + +Once in one of these moments of longing, she wrote, + + "Am I almost of age, + Am I almost of age, + Said a poor little girl, + And she glanced from her cage. + How long will it be + Before I shall be free, + And not fear friend or foe? + And I some folks could know + I'd not want to be of age, + But remain in my cage." + +This was her first poem, and she grew very fond of writing and then +reading aloud her own efforts. The children printed a paper, and +Frances was the editor. While writing articles to appear in it she +would often retire to a seat high up in a favorite tree. On the tree +she hung a sign, + + "The Eagle's Nest + Beware." + +You may be sure the other children left her undisturbed until her +important writing was finished. + +But it was not long before Frances went out into the world of which +she dreamed and wrote, for she was not eighteen years old when she +began teaching. This experience gave her great pleasure. She liked +her pupils and was earnest and enthusiastic. There were two questions +that she kept always before her pupils: "What are you going to be in +the world, and what are you going to do?" Every one who ever had +Frances Willard for his teacher heard these two questions many times, +and numerous young people were influenced by her to lead earnest, +helpful lives. + +During one of her summer vacations, she made the acquaintance of a +warm-hearted, generous girl who became one of her closest friends. +This young girl, of about the same age as Frances Willard, had no +mother. Her father, who was exceedingly wealthy, was deeply immersed +in his business, so his daughter was glad to have her new friend with +her often. + +One day she thought, "How splendid it would be for us to go abroad." +To think was to act with her, and almost before Frances knew it they +had started for Europe. They remained there three years and during +that time visited many remote places seldom seen by the average person +traveling in foreign lands. Frances Willard wrote many accounts of +their experiences which were published in American magazines. + +Upon her return to the United States she lectured about her journey +and became such an excellent public speaker that every one wanted to +hear her on any subject she chose, so she continued to lecture after +she ceased giving her travel talks. It is estimated that she spoke on +an average of once a day for ten years. + +Meanwhile, she was made president of a college for young ladies in the +town of Evanston, Illinois. Later she became a member of the faculty +of Northwestern University in the same community. Here she brought +wonderful help to her students, and they said of her that she was so +interesting "she turned common things to gold." + +But her life was not to be given entirely to teaching, and after a few +years she was drawn into the temperance work. This was then in its +beginning. Liquor was sold freely in every state, and there were no +laws regulating its sale or distribution. + +Miss Willard saw the sorrow and suffering caused by intemperance and +she determined to war against this great evil. Her first work was done +with what was called the Woman's Crusade. Bands of women met and +prayed in front of saloons. Often they asked to hold brief services in +the saloons and then they urged men to give up drinking. Going to +these places and praying in public was distasteful to her, but Miss +Willard felt she must do so. + +Soon, because of her zeal, the Chicago branch of the Woman's Christian +Temperance Union gave her an office. From that time she rose rapidly +from office to office in the great organization until she was made +World President of the International W. C. T. U. in 1879. She brought +the necessity for temperance before the people of the United States as +they had never seen it before, and always she said to them with +tongue and pen, "Temperance is necessary for God and Home and Native +Land." + +She went over the entire country speaking to thousands of persons and +turning their thoughts toward the great cause. Little by little she +gained ground, made progress, and could say of the spread of interest: +"It was like the fire we used to kindle on the western prairie, a +match and a wisp of dry grass was all that was needed, and behold the +magnificent spectacle of a prairie on fire, sweeping across the +landscape swift as a thousand untrained steeds and no more to be +captured than a hurricane." + +Today the results of Frances Willard's work are seen in the great and +growing interest in prohibition. What was to her a dream is coming to +pass; what she hoped for will, in all probability, soon be a reality, +and her great achievement lies in having made the question, "Shall we +permit our homes and our country to be ruined by intemperance?" one of +national importance, a question that every citizen of the United +States must answer. + +In Statuary Hall of our Nation's Capitol, where stand the statues of +those persons whose deeds have earned them the right to fame and +honor, there is only one statue of a woman. That woman is Frances E. +Willard. + + + + +JANE ADDAMS + + +Not so many years ago a little girl, living in a small Illinois town, +had a strange dream. She was quite a little girl; just old enough to +be in the second grade at school, nevertheless she always remembered +that dream. She says, "I dreamed that every one in the world was dead +excepting myself, and that upon me rested the responsibility of making +a wagon wheel. The village street remained as usual, the village +blacksmith shop was 'all there,' even a glowing fire upon the forge, +and the anvil in its customary place near the door, but no human being +was within sight. They had all gone around the edge of the hill to the +village cemetery, and I alone remained in the deserted world. I stood +in the blacksmith shop pondering on how to begin, and never once knew +how, although I fully realized that the affairs of the world could not +be resumed until at least one wheel should be made and something +started." + +The little girl dreamed this dream more than once, but she never made +the wagon wheel. However, when she was a grown woman she founded and +built up something that has become a great force for good in the +largest city of her native state. + +Perhaps you are wondering what she did. She went to live in one of the +poorest and most wretched parts of Chicago. There she furnished her +house exactly as she would if it had been in some beautiful street. +She called her home a Settlement, and invited her neighbors to come in +daily for comfort and cheer. + +[Illustration: JANE ADDAMS +Founder of Hull House, Chicago] + +In her description of the street in which she lived she says, + +"Halsted Street is thirty-two miles long, and one of the great +thoroughfares of Chicago. Polk street crosses it midway between the +stock yards to the south and the ship building yards to the north. For +the six miles between these two industries the street is lined with +shops of butchers and grocers, with dingy and gorgeous saloons, and +places for the sale of ready-made clothing. Once this was the suburbs, +but the city has grown steadily and this site has corners on three or +four foreign colonies." + +It was in the year 1899 that Jane Addams, for that is the name of the +little girl who dreamed she was to make a wagon wheel and help start +something in the world, began living in Halsted Street, and named her +home Hull House after the first owner. + +In those early days people asked her over and over why she had come to +live in Halsted Street when she could afford to live among richer +people. + +One old man used to shake his head and say it was the strangest thing +he had ever known. However, there came a time when he thought it was +most natural for the settlement to be there to feed the hungry, care +for the sick, give pleasure to the young and comfort to the aged. + +From the very first Miss Addams and her helpers made their neighbors +understand that they were ready to do even the humblest services. They +took care of children and nursed the sick. They even washed the dishes +and cleaned the house for some of the poor foreign women who had to +work all night scrubbing big office buildings. + +Besides helping in true neighborly fashion, they brought many joys to +the people about them. Some of these were quite by chance, as once +when an old Italian woman cried with pleasure over a bunch of red +roses that she saw at a reception Miss Addams gave. She was surprised, +she said, that they had been "brought so fresh all the way from +Italy." No one could make her believe they had been grown in Chicago. +She had lived there six years and never seen any, but in Italy they +bloomed everywhere all summer. + +Now the sad thing about this story was that during all the six years +of her stay in Chicago she had lived within ten blocks of a flower +store, and one car fare would have been enough to take her to one of +Chicago's beautiful public parks. No one had ever told her about them, +and so all she knew of the city was the dirty street in which she +lived. + +Miss Addams learned that most of the foreigners were as helpless as +this woman in finding anything to bring them pleasure. So Hull House +became a place where hundreds of persons went. Some joined classes +and studied, but at first it was for social purposes that the +Settlement was used the most. + +The people lived in tiny, crowded rooms and the only place they had to +gather in celebration of weddings and birthdays, and meet each other +was the saloon halls. These halls could be rented for a very small sum +with the understanding that the company would spend much money at the +saloon bar. Because of this custom many a party that started out quiet +and orderly ended with great disorder. So you can see that every one +would be glad to have Hull House where they could go and enjoy +themselves comfortably with their friends. + +A day at Hull House is most interesting. In the morning come many +little children to the Kindergarten. They are followed by older +children who come to afternoon classes, while in the evening every +room is filled with grown persons who meet in some form of study, club +or social life. + +But if you should go there now you would find instead of one building, +with which Miss Addams began, thirteen buildings and forty persons +living there to help to teach anyone who may come to Hull House. + +There are classes in foreign languages, and one may study in the night +classes almost any subject that is taught in a high school. Besides +these classes there are concerts and plays. Hull House has a theater +of its own, and the boys and girls of the neighborhood act out their +favorite dramas there. One story that has been told frequently shows +the kind of plays the boys and girls make. Almost every one thinks +this play was given in the Hull House Theater but Miss Addams writes: + + I have told the story you have reference to several times. It is + about a settlement boys' club, not at Hull House, who were asked + to write a play on the origin of the American flag. They were told + the climax must come in the third act, etc., but were given no + outline. + + The play was as follows: The first act was at "the darkest hour of + the American Revolution." A sentry walking up and down in front of + the camp, says to a soldier: "Aint it fierce? We aint got no flag + for this here Revolution." And the soldier replies: "Yes, aint it + fierce?" That is the end of the first act. Second act: The same + soldier appears before George Washington and says: "Aint it + fierce? We aint got no flag for this here Revolution." And George + Washington replies: "Yes, aint it fierce?" and that is the end of + the second act. Third Act: George Washington went to call on Betsy + Ross, who lived on Arch Street in Philadelphia, and said: + "Mistress Ross, aint it fierce? We aint got no flag for this here + Revolution," and Betsy Ross replied: "Yes, aint it fierce? Hold + the baby and I will make one." + + I sometimes tell this with a little more elaboration but I have + given you what the boys actually wrote. Of course, it has always + been detailed in the line of a funny story and cannot be taken too + seriously. + + Very sincerely yours, + JANE ADDAMS + +Is it not wonderful what Miss Addams has done for the people who had +no comfort or care? Perhaps she has but kept a promise she made to her +father when she was only seven years of age. + +They were driving through the poor, mean streets of her native town of +Cedarville, Illinois. She had never seen this particular part of the +town before, and asked her father many times why persons lived in +such dreadful places. He tried to tell her what it meant to be very +poor. She listened eagerly and then exclaimed, "When I grow up, I am +going to live in a great, big house right among horrid little houses +like these." + +In her "big house" on Halsted Street many lives have been brightened +and thousands have found the help that started them upon useful +careers. + +Jane Addams is one of the noblest women our country has had, and she +has been honored by Chicago and the entire United States for her life +of service. + +A member of the English Parliament called her "the only saint America +has produced," while an enthusiastic Chicago man, when asked to name +the greatest living man in America, answered, "Jane Addams." + +When in Chicago, try to go out to Hull House and visit for an +afternoon or evening. There are so many kinds of activities going on +all the time you can see what you like best, whether it be gymnastics, +acting, music, pottery, carpentery, or any of the literary or +industrial pursuits. + +Later on you will want to read the book Miss Addams has written of her +experience called, "Twenty Years of Hull House." + + * * * * * + +"_The union of hearts, the union of hands, and the flag of our Union +forever._" + + --G. P. MORRIS. + + + + +[Illustration: JOHN MITCHELL +President of the United Mine Workers] + + + + +JOHN MITCHELL + + +Have you ever thought how common it is for the persons who work for +others to think that they do not have enough pay for what they do? The +boy who mows the lawn wants more than the landlady is willing to pay. +Thus it was in 1902 when thousands of coal miners in Pennsylvania +became dissatisfied with their wages and started a great movement to +force their employers to pay them more. + +On one side were the rich men who owned the mines. They, eager to make +as much money for themselves as possible, were not willing to pay the +miners fair wages. Furthermore, they would not spend money to make the +mines safe for the men who worked in them. Accordingly, the living +conditions among the miners were wretched indeed. Poorly paid, they +were forced to dwell in houses that were little more than huts, and +were required to live on the coarsest fare. So dangerous were the +mines that accidents were of almost daily occurrence; yet nothing +could be done as the miners were without a leader. True, labor +agitators came and with silver speech aroused the miners, but they did +not tell them what to do. + +For a long time the battle cloud grew darker until finally the whole +nation became alarmed. So grave was the situation that Theodore +Roosevelt, then president, was asked to help avert the crisis that +seemed inevitable. At once the president left Washington for the +scene of conflict. Day after day he sought among the sullen, +half-crazed men for some solution of the difficulty, until finally he +discovered a man big enough to bring order out of confusion. + +Mr. Hugh C. Weir, in speaking of this discovery, says: "From the +inferno of the coal-strike dates the cementing of those ties of +friendship and comradeship which have bound John Mitchell and Theodore +Roosevelt. The president, plunging into the heart of the strike, +sought and found the man whose hand held the pulse of events. He found +him, haggard and white with the strain of a great exhaustion, upheld +by the inspiration of a great purpose, and forthwith John Mitchell, +coal-miner, son of a coal-miner, came into a place in the Roosevelt +esteem which few men have equaled and no man surpassed. When at the +White House conference of American governors, the president invited as +guests of honor those five Americans who, in his judgment, ranked +foremost in current progress, John Mitchell, the labor man, was high +in the quintette." To have a plain coal-miner thus honored by the +President of the United States is so exceptional that we cannot help +wondering what there was about Mr. Mitchell that earned for him such +distinction. To discover the source of his greatness it is necessary +to study his life. + +John Mitchell was born in the cottage of a humble coal-miner at +Braidwood, Illinois, in 1870. In those days Braidwood was a dreary, +dirty mining town almost surrounded by broad stretches of swamp. + +When John was but three years of age his mother died. His stepmother, +who no doubt meant well, was not affectionate; on the contrary she was +very severe. As they were very poor she had to take in washings, and +day after day it fell to John's lot to help his stepmother with the +washings. + +When he was six years of age, his father, the only real friend he had +in the world, was brought home dead, killed in a mine disaster. In +speaking of this period in his life Mr. Mitchell says: "The poverty +and hardships that followed were marked by one circumstance that is +imprinted indelibly upon my memory and which has had an impelling +influence upon my whole life. My father had served a full term of +enlistment as a volunteer in the Civil War. When he was discharged +from the army he brought home with him his soldier's clothes, and I +remember so well that when we had not sufficient bed clothing to keep +us warm in the cold winter nights, I would arise and get the heavy +soldier's coat and spread it over my little half-brother and myself. +When we were snug and warm beneath it I would feel so happy and proud +that my father had been an American soldier. And through all the years +that have passed since then I have felt that same pride in the memory +of my father, and in the love of country which, along with a good +name, was our sole heritage from him." + +When John was about ten, his stepmother married again. From the first +his stepfather did not like him, and soon he became so cruel that the +boy's heart was completely broken. With no home, with no one who cared +for him, the big world seemed cold indeed. + +Finally, unable to stand the abuse of his stepfather longer, he +gathered his few belongings in a small bundle and started out to make +his own way in the world. For a boy of only ten this was by no means +easy. From house to house he asked for work until finally a farmer +gave him a job. Though the hours were long and the work heavy, John +stuck to it for more than a year when he went to a mine in Braidwood +and got a job as breaker boy. Here he remained until he was twelve +when he decided to go west. With no money and no friends he worked his +way by slow stages all the way from Illinois to Colorado. He had hoped +that mining conditions would be much better in Colorado, but found +them even worse than they had been in Illinois. Unable to earn enough +to supply the bare necessities of life, the miners were suffering +hardship and want. + +Thus surrounded by misery, John, though but a lad, found himself +trying to think out ways of helping these unfortunate men and their +families, for he could not believe that it was right for them to +suffer as they did. + +Finally conditions in Colorado became so bad that John, then twenty +years of age, decided to return to Spring Valley, Illinois. Here, for +the first time in his life, he saw a labor union so conducted that it +was a force. The members of this union, all working men, met each week +and discussed matters that were of interest to all. After discussing +the topics they passed resolutions which they presented to the mine +owners. In this way they were able to secure better wages, shorter +hours of work, and safer mines in which to work. + +In these labor meetings young Mitchell took an active part and soon +developed ability as a public speaker. From the first his advancement +in the ranks of organized labor was rapid, so rapid in fact that at +thirty we find Mitchell president of the United Mine Workers of +America. At the time he became president the organization had but +about forty thousand members, but under his skillful leadership it +grew until in 1908 its membership numbered over three hundred thousand +men. Mr. Mitchell is still in the prime of life and is one of our most +skillful and trusted labor leaders. + +Better to appreciate the worth of the man, let us consider the +following tribute to him: "He chose to use this unusual ability for +the many rather than for himself alone. It seemed better to him that +many thousands should eat more and better bread each day than that he +should have for himself ease and luxury. + +"Andrew Carnegie, beginning as John Mitchell did, in poverty and +ignorance, made himself one of the foremost men of his time in the +finance of the world. Behind him lies, as the result of his life work, +a better system of refining steel, innumerable libraries--his gifts, +and bearing his name,--a hundred millionaires and more--his one-time +lieutenants--and personal wealth so great as to tax his gigantic +intellect to find means for its expenditure. + +"John Mitchell, in a life much shorter, leaves behind him not a better +system of refining steel, not a hundred millionaires, not innumerable +libraries with his name in stone over the doors, but better living +conditions for four hundred thousand miners--more wages, fewer hours +of labor, less dangerous mine conditions, far-reaching laws for +greater safety, a better understanding between capital and labor." + + * * * * * + +"_Let our object be our country, our whole country, and nothing but +our country. And, by the blessing of God, may that country itself +become a vast and splendid monument,--not of oppression and +terror--but of wisdom, of peace, and of liberty, upon which the world +may gaze with admiration forever._" + + --DANIEL WEBSTER. + + + + +MAUDE BALLINGTON BOOTH + + +A pleasant-faced little woman was talking to many persons in a great +hall. She wore a dark dress. On the front of it were three white stars +joined by slender chains. In the center of each one was a blue letter. +The first letter was V, the second was P, and the third was L. Their +meaning is Volunteer Prison League. + +The little woman was Maude Ballington Booth, and she was explaining +the work of this league, for she founded it. She said that she had +come from England to the United States many years ago. Upon reaching +here one of the first places she visited was a great prison in +California. There she saw so much sadness and misery that she could +not rest until she did something to help the men and women who were +shut behind iron bars. + +She began her work by holding a meeting in Sing Sing Prison on the +Hudson River in the State of New York. She told the men that she was +their friend and believed in them. She declared that there was no one +so cast down or disgraced that he could not rise and make something of +himself, if he would only try. Many of the men who heard Mrs. Booth +that day had no families and had even lost trace of all their +relatives. She said they could write her letters and she would answer. +They had never before had any one treat them so kindly, and so letters +by the hundred reached Mrs. Booth. One young man scarcely more than a +boy, wrote her thanking her for the kind letter she had sent him. He +called her "Little Mother." Soon this title became known, and all up +and down the prisons of the United States men came to talk of the +Little Mother and look for her coming; for her first work in Sing Sing +Prison was so successful that she went from state to state organizing +Volunteer Prison Leagues. + +[Illustration: MAUDE BALLINGTON BOOTH +Founder of the Volunteer Prison League] + +It is not always easy to do right even when one is well, happy, and in +his own home. Think, then, how hard a task the men in prison found it +when they became members of the new league! The day a man joined, he +had given to him a white button with a blue star and in the middle of +the star was "Look Up and Hope." He promised to do five things: + + 1. He would pray every morning and night. + + 2. He would read faithfully in the little Day Book the league sent + him. + + 3. No bad language should soil his lips. + + 4. He would keep the rules of the prison. + + 5. He would try to encourage others, too, in right doing, and when + possible get new members for the league. +From the moment a man put on a button, his guards and fellow prisoners +watched to see if he would keep his promise. A framed copy of what he +promised to do was hung in his cell as a daily reminder. If a man was +strong enough to accept these five conditions, he came to be a changed +person. He wanted to do right, and he looked forward to the time when +he would be free and could once more try anew in the big world. + +Many persons told Mrs. Booth her plan would never work, but one by one +men began to prove that it did. First there were dozens, then there +were hundreds of men returning to their homes or going out to succeed +in the business world. + +By and by Mrs. Booth saw there should be places where the men with no +families could go when they left prison. So she started "Hope Halls." +These are homes in the different large cities of the United States. +The Volunteer Prison League has officers who manage them but the +general public is never told where these houses are. + +In bygone days many men upon leaving prison have been led away by old +evil companions. Others have found no place to stay and no work open +for them because a cold, unthinking public had called them "jail +birds." Mrs. Booth wanted these men to have a chance. Today a man who +belongs to the league can, upon leaving prison, be directed to the +nearest Hope Hall. There he can stay in comfortable quarters until he +gets work. Kind friends help him and many business firms have come to +take the word of the manager of Hope Hall. They give the man work and +he goes out to take his place as a man among men. + +Mrs. Booth has given her life to building up this league, and for many +years earned all the money that was needed for running expenses. She +did this by writing, and speaking in public. Everywhere she went the +people listened to her story and many were glad to help her. + +Although we claim her as an American, Maude Ballington Booth was born +in a pretty little English village. Her father was the rector of the +little church, and her mother was a loving woman devoted to her home. +She died when Maude was fifteen years of age and on the moss-covered +stone that marks her grave are the words: "They that be wise shall +shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to +righteousness, as the stars forever and ever." + +From such a home the young girl went to London. There she met +Ballington Booth, son of General Booth, founder of the Salvation Army. +They were married and she came to the United States with him to +interest Americans in the cause of the Salvation Army. This was a hard +task. Oftentimes the army was jeered openly. The Booths were actually +stoned while holding meetings in the streets. But this did not stop +them. Their work grew, and at last they founded the Volunteers of +America and became the head of this order. + +The busiest persons generally have time to do many things. So it was +with Maude Ballington Booth, for she wrote a number of books about her +work with prisoners, as well as lovely fairy tales for her little boy +and girl. These children missed their mother very much when she went +away to speak, so the next best thing to having her at home was to +have the stories she made for them. These stories were sure to have +accounts of pet animals in them, suggesting to the Booth children +their own pets, and the following description of Snowball shows how +well Mrs. Booth could picture the feelings of an insulted pussy cat. + +"The three children seated themselves by the stately white cat; slowly +the ragged coat was opened and out sprang a frisky plebeian kitten +right under the Angora's aristocratic nose. What a picture it was. The +little black kitten startled and dazed by the light and warmth, and a +great prince of a cat towering over her. Snowball was frozen into an +attitude of horror at the unexpected apparition. Every hair stood +erect and his back looked like a deformed hunch, while his yellow eyes +flashed fire. + +"'Naughty, naughty Snowball,' called Baby, when the cats had gazed at +each other for a full minute. 'It's little, and it's cold and it's +hungry.' + +"Whatever he thought of Baby's reproof, Snowball did think it was +time to act, and like a flash the white paw darted at the offending +kitten's ear, and, I am ashamed to say, he spit most crossly in +its frightened little face, then at one bound he sprang to the +mantle-piece and sat there growling. The children looked dismayed; the +little kitten stood looking up at its unsociable host with a sweet, +questioning little face, uttering mild little mews of protest in +answer to his thunderous growls. + +"Then Brown Eyes' wrath broke, and folding the kitten in loving arms, +he said to Snowball, 'You bad, ungrateful ill natured cat, I am +surprised at you, petted and cuddled and fed on good things, you turn +and spit at a poor little kitten, who only looked up into your face +and asked you to love it. We'll go away and leave you. You can stay +there, and we'll get a saucer of cream for this kitten who is far +nicer than you, cross cat; you bad cat, we'll leave you to yourself.' + +"Left to himself Snowball repented but, alas! the door was shut. The +merry voices that resounded through the house did not call him, while +through the still room sounded the voice of his taunting enemy, that +hateful clock, the words of which his conscience could so well +interpret, 'Cross cat, bad cat, bad cat.'" + +For years Mrs. Booth went from place to place throughout the United +States raising money for the Volunteer Prison League, but when her +father died he left her a small fortune. Now she uses this money for +the great cause she loves, and is spared the hard work of traveling +and speaking. Those who have heard her, remember a small woman with a +soft, beautiful voice. This voice urged the world not to look at +trouble and failure, but to lend a helping hand to men and women who +want to lead a better life by following the stars of hope. + + + + +[Illustration: ANDREW CARNEGIE +Founder of Many Libraries] + + + + +ANDREW CARNEGIE + + +Have you a library in your town? What is it called? Should you like to +know why Andrew Carnegie decided to spend millions and millions of +dollars in building beautiful libraries in this country and Scotland? +I should like to tell you, for the story is very interesting. + +Mr. Carnegie was born in far away Scotland in the year 1835. His +father was a poor man who earned his living by weaving linen by hand. +Soon machines were invented for the weaving of linen. As these +machines could weave more cheaply, those who had made a living by hand +weaving were thrown out of work. "Andie's" father was thus thrown out +of employment and, hardly knowing which way to turn, decided to come +to America. + +Accordingly, when Andie was seven years of age, in company with his +parents and brother, he came to this land of promise. In a land so +large, it was not an easy matter for them to decide where to live. +Finally they decided to settle in Allegheny City, just across the +river from Pittsburg. + +After the home was settled, one of the first questions to be solved +was, whether Andie should go to school or go to work. But what could a +boy so small do? He could be a bobbin boy in a big factory, he was +told. So as bobbin boy, we soon see him earning his first money. Can +you guess what his first wages were? From early morning until late at +night he worked and, for a whole week's work received but one dollar +and twenty cents. + +So faithful and energetic was he, that he was soon promoted to +engine-boy at a salary of a dollar and eighty cents a week. While the +increase in salary pleased him, the work was not so pleasant, for he +had to work in a damp cellar away from fresh air and sunlight. Then, +too, he was alone most of the time. + +It was while he was engine-boy that an event happened that caused him +later in life to build libraries. Suppose we invite Mr. Carnegie, in +his own language, to tell us about it. + +"There were no fine libraries then, but in Allegheny City, where I +lived, there was a Colonel Anderson, who was well-to-do and of a +philanthropic turn. He announced, about the time I first began to +work, that he would be in his library at home, every Saturday, ready +to lend books to working boys and men. He had only about four hundred +volumes, but I doubt if ever so few books were put to better use. Only +one who has longed, as I did, for Saturday to come, that the spring of +knowledge might be opened anew to him, can imagine what Colonel +Anderson did for me and other boys of Allegheny City. Quite a number +of them have risen to eminence, and I think their rise can be traced +easily to this splendid opportunity." + +No doubt it was the kindness of Colonel Anderson that prompted Mr. +Carnegie, later in life, to bestow his wealth for the founding of +libraries. + +Since the work as engine-boy had never appealed to Andie, he was +delighted when another promotion was earned. This time he was made +messenger boy in a telegraph office in Pittsburg at a salary of two +dollars and fifty cents a week. In speaking of this period Mr. +Carnegie said: "If you want an idea as to heaven on earth, imagine +what it is to be taken from a dark cellar, where I fired the boiler +from morning until night, and dropped into an office, where light +shone from all sides, with books, papers, and pencils in profusion +around me, and oh, the tick of those mysterious brass instruments on +the desk, annihilating space and conveying intelligence to the world. +This was my first glimpse of paradise, and I walked on air." + +Fortunately, the man in charge of the office, a Scotchman by the name +of James Reid, took a liking to the Scotch lad and began to help him +by teaching him telegraphy. Accordingly, during the leisure moments +when Andie had no messages to deliver he studied so diligently that in +a remarkably short time he became a skillful telegraph operator. + +At this time his father died, leaving the support of the family to +Andie. To support them he must earn more money, and so he left his job +as messenger boy to become a telegraph operator on the Pennsylvania +railroad. While thus engaged as an operator he invented a system of +train dispatching that, each year, saved the company thousands of +dollars. This invention attracted the attention of the railroad +officials to young Carnegie, and he was made private secretary to +Colonel Scott, vice-president of the road, and a little later was made +superintendent of the Western division of the Pennsylvania railroad, +all before he was thirty years of age. + +It was while he was superintendent of the railroad that Mr. Woodruff, +the inventor of the sleeping car, came to him with the invention. Mr. +Carnegie listened to a description of the proposed cars. He saw that +the idea was good and adopted it at once. Thus it was that on Mr. +Carnegie's division of the Pennsylvania railroad the first sleeping +cars in the United States were run. + +Prior to this time all the railroad bridges had been made of wood; but +it occurred to Carnegie that bridges should be made of steel, rather +than wood. Accordingly, he organized the Keystone Bridge Company that +built the first steel bridge across the Ohio River. As the bridge +business grew, Mr. Carnegie decided that he could make more money by +making his own steel for the bridges. To do this he organized a +company and built the Union Iron Mills. So profitable were these mills +that in a short time he purchased the Edgar Thompson Steel Rail Mill +and the Homestead Steel Works. Gradually his business grew until in +1901, when he retired, his payroll exceeded eighteen million dollars a +year, and he received two hundred and fifty millions for his share of +the business. + +But, I hear you ask, "How could he earn so much money? How did he get +the money to start these great enterprises?" From the first he was +economical and saved every penny possible; and fortunately for him his +investments were always profitable, as the following examples will +show. + +When he was a telegraph operator, his friend, Mr. Scott, urged him to +buy ten shares in the Adams Express Company for six hundred dollars. +As Mr. Carnegie was able to get together but five hundred dollars, Mr. +Scott lent him the extra hundred, and the investment was made. Soon +these shares were yielding large dividends, which Mr. Carnegie +carefully saved. + +Already I have told you how Mr. Woodruff, the inventor of the sleeping +car, came to Mr. Carnegie to get him to try out these cars. So +enthusiastic was Mr. Carnegie over the invention, that he organized +the Woodruff Sleeping Car Company, and borrowed money from every +possible source to finance the enterprise. Here, too, he met with a +degree of success that was far beyond his fondest expectations. + +Suppose we invite Mr. Carnegie to tell us about his third investment. +He says: "In company with several others, I purchased the now famous +Story farm, on Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, where a well had been bored +and natural-oil struck the year before. This proved a very profitable +investment. When I first visited this famous well, the oil was running +into the creek where a few flat-bottomed scows lay filled with it, +ready to be floated down the Allegheny River on an agreed upon day +each week, when the creek was flooded by means of a temporary dam. +This was the beginning of the natural-oil business. We purchased the +farm for forty thousand dollars, and so small was our faith in the +ability of the earth to yield, for any considerable time, the hundred +barrels per day which the property was then producing that we decided +to make a pond capable of holding one hundred thousand barrels of oil, +which we estimated would be worth, when the supply ceased, one million +dollars. + +"Unfortunately for us, the pond leaked fearfully. Evaporation also +caused much loss, but we continued to run the oil in to make the loss +good day by day, until several hundred thousand barrels had gone in +this fashion. Our experience with the farm is worth reciting: its +value rose to five million dollars, and one year it paid in cash +dividends one million dollars." Surely this was a very profitable +investment. + +But most of Mr. Carnegie's money was made in the steel business, and, +you ask how this was done. + +Prior to 1868 the process of making iron into steel had been extremely +expensive. In that year Mr. Carnegie introduced a method for making +steel known as the Bessemer process. For years his mills had a +monopoly of the process; and, as it reduced the cost of making steel +by more than half, he made vast sums of money. + +About all rich men two questions are always asked: How did they get +their money, and what did they do with it? + +While Mr. Carnegie may be justly criticized for some of the methods +he adopted in getting his money, few can criticize the beautiful +spirit that he has shown in giving it away. So liberal has he been +that in a single year he gave away one hundred and twelve million +dollars. Some of his more notable gifts are $22,000,000 for the +Carnegie Institution in Washington, $24,000,000 for the Carnegie +Institution in Pittsburg, $15,000,000 for Teachers' Pensions, +$10,000,000 for Scotch Universities, and $70,000,000 for libraries. + +In the northern part of Scotland is a large and beautiful mansion +known as Skibo Castle. This was Mr. Carnegie's country estate, and +here he and his wife and daughter lived in comparative quiet. In his +late years, as in boyhood days, he loved to tread on the free heather +of his beloved country. As the years multiplied, his sympathies +gradually enlarged and his vision broadened. Though some, as they grow +old, become sour and crabbed, Mr. Carnegie became increasingly +optimistic and youthful in spirit, until death claimed him. + + * * * * * + +"_He is never alone that hath a good book._" + + + + +[Illustration: DR. ANNA SHAW +Honorary President, Woman's National Suffrage Association] + + + + +ANNA SHAW + + +When Anna Shaw was four years old, her mother left Scotland with her +family of small children and started for America to join her husband. +After a few days' sail, a fearful storm arose and the ship returned +with great difficulty to Queenstown. This was the first impressive +experience of Anna's life, and she was destined to live through many +exciting ones. Finally, another ship started on the long voyage across +the Atlantic and this time the family reached the shores of our +country and met the husband and father. Anna remembers his joy over +their reunion. + +But the next event that stands out clearly in her mind occurred after +they had lived in the United States for a year or more. Her parents +did not believe in slavery, and were anxious to help runaway slaves +gain a place of safety and freedom. They had read Uncle Tom's Cabin +aloud to their children, so Anna was not surprised when one day she +went into the cellar on an errand and found a negro woman hiding +there. The little girl was greatly excited and anxious to know just +how the woman came there and where she was going. But when she told +her parents of her discovery they became alarmed lest she might, +through her interest, say things before strangers that would disclose +their secret. Therefore they kept her away from the cellar on one +excuse or another, and although Anna was sure her home sheltered many +slaves on their journey to a free land, she never again saw one or +knew anything about the system that helped these suffering persons. + +The Shaw home was in a small Massachusetts town, and there was much +happening to engage the attention of the children. Anna recalls the +first money she ever earned. The amount was twenty-five cents, and she +was paid that for riding in a Fourth of July celebration. After this +seemingly great sum of money was hers, she and a small sister decided +to spend some of it. They bought a banana, which was to them a strange +and wonderful fruit, but they did not like it because they did not +know how to eat it. They gave it away to a boy who quickly removed the +peel and enjoyed eating the fruit. They were amazed, for they had +tried to eat it just as they bought it from the dealer. When Anna saw +their gift eaten so rapidly she was astonished and disappointed. + +This incident was to be one of the last memories of her New England +home, for the family moved to Northern Michigan and became pioneers. +For toys she received at Christmas a small saw and an axe. These were +typical of the life she was to lead for a number of years. Unlike many +girls of her age, she had no time to play with dolls or sew; she was +forced to do a man's work in helping with the new home. + +Her father was a kind, gentle man, but very much of a dreamer. He did +not realize that things must be done promptly if a family is to have +food and shelter. Once he spent weeks reading and planning what kinds +of grains would be best to sow, but long before he had decided, the +planting season was over, the young crops were up, and the Shaws had +none. The mother was not strong, yet she did an immense amount of +work. As she had been highly trained in sewing, she made the clothing +for the entire family. The two older girls, Eleanor and Mary, did the +housework and this left Anna and her brother to do the rough outdoor +work. Together they accomplished this and many other tasks. They even +made a set of furniture for their simple cabin home. + +Indians were all about through the woods, and once while out playing +Anna saw a band of them going towards her home. She hurried back to +see her mother giving them food. This they took with no thanks and +departed. But later in the year they returned and brought Mrs. Shaw a +large supply of venison to show her they appreciated her kindness. + +Another time a number of Indians stopped at the Shaw cabin, and they +had been drinking whiskey. They demanded food, and it was prepared for +them. Meanwhile Anna and her brother, fearful lest the liquor might +excite their guests, managed to go to the attic and let down a rope +from the gable window. With it they drew up all their firearms, one by +one. Then at long intervals, members of the family would slip away and +hide upstairs where they knew they would be safe unless the Indians +set fire to the house. + +The hungry guests ate up everything, then stretched themselves out and +fell into a drunken sleep. The Shaw children watched them all night +through cracks in the attic floor, and when morning came were glad to +see the Indians sneak away as if they were ashamed. + +Many hardships came to the little family. Their cow died, and for an +entire winter they had no milk. They had no coffee either, but made +something they called coffee out of dried peas and burned rye. Anna +was always cold; she cannot remember that the house was ever warm +enough to be comfortable; still she enjoyed life and made up her mind +to go to college, to be a preacher, and to be worth one hundred +thousand dollars. She named this amount because it seemed so unlikely +she would ever have any money. Often she would steal away and preach +in the woods to an imaginary audience. + +When she was fifteen years of age she began to teach school. She had +but fourteen pupils, and they learned to read from whatever books they +could find. The result was that their text books were almanacs and +hymn books. For teaching she was paid two dollars a week and board. +This latter did not amount to much, as often all she had for her +luncheon was a piece of raw salt pork. Her salary was not paid +promptly either, as the school authorities had to wait until the dog +tax was collected because it was from this fund that the teacher's +salary was drawn. + +The largest salary Anna Shaw ever received for teaching was one +hundred and fifty-six dollars a year, so at last she stopped and +started to learn the trade of sewing. This was very distasteful to +her, and she determined she would not earn her living with the needle. +What she wanted to do was to preach. Finally she had a chance to give +her first sermon, and her brother-in-law, who owned the county +newspaper, printed this notice: + + "A young girl named Anna Shaw preached at Ashton yesterday. Her + real friends deprecate the course she is pursuing." + +This did not discourage Anna Shaw, for she kept on working and in 1873 +managed to enter Albion College in Albion, Michigan. She had earned a +little money to pay her way, and she intended to get the rest by +preaching. Her family disapproved so strongly of this step that they +had nothing to do with her, and it was some years before they became +reconciled and good feeling was once more established between them and +the bright young woman. + +Anna was twenty-five when she entered college, and she had had so much +experience in her pioneer home she seemed much older. Every Sunday she +preached in mission churches to congregations composed chiefly of +Indians who sat listening solemnly, while their papooses were hung +along the walls in their queer little Indian cradles. + +From Albion College, Anna Shaw went to Boston Theological School, and +after a hard struggle with poverty, was graduated from this +institution as a minister. She had given to her for her field of labor +a little church on Cape Cod, that part of Massachusetts that seems to +stretch forth to meet the sea. Here she was the minister for seven +years. The members of her church liked her, and she was always busy +helping them in every way, from preaching funeral sermons and +performing marriage ceremonies to helping settle neighborhood +quarrels. + +There were many amusing episodes in her life. One over which she has +laughed many times was her purchase of a horse. She wanted a horse +gentle and safe for a woman, so when she went to look at one that had +been offered her the only question she asked was, "Is she safe for a +woman?" The family who owned her said she was, so Miss Shaw bought +her. When the errand boy at the Shaw residence went out to the barn to +hitch up the new horse, the creature kicked so that the boy ran from +the building thoroughly frightened. However, Miss Shaw went into the +stall and harnessed the horse easily. Soon she discovered the truth; +the horse was safe for women, she liked them, but she would not let a +man or boy come near her. The only way she could be outwitted was +when the errand boy put on a sunbonnet and long circular cloak of Miss +Shaw's. Even then the horse would eye him suspiciously, but did not +kick. Miss Shaw thought she had made a most peculiar purchase, but she +became fond of Daisy, as the horse was called, just as she did of +every person and thing in her parish. + +At last, feeling the need of more training, in order to do good in the +world, she went to a medical school, and after serious study became +Dr. Anna Shaw. While there she became interested in the cause of +Woman's Suffrage. At that time only a few persons believed that women, +as well as men, should have the right to vote, and anyone saying they +should was criticized severely. + +Dr. Shaw went to work for this cause with great energy and steadfastness +of purpose. From 1888 to 1906 she was closely associated with Miss +Susan B. Anthony who was then the head of the suffrage movement. When +Miss Anthony passed away, Dr. Shaw became one of the great leaders. In +1906 only four states had granted suffrage to women, + + Wyoming in 1869, + Colorado in 1893, + Idaho in 1896, + Utah in 1896. + +Suddenly all over the United States women became interested in this +cause to which a few devoted women had already given years of their +lives, and in 1910 Washington was added to the small list of states +where women had equal political rights with men. Then in quick +succession came + + California in 1911, + Arizona in 1912, + Kansas in 1912, + Oregon in 1912, + Alaska in 1913, + Nevada in 1914, + Montana in 1914, + New York in 1917. + +By 1917 women also had the right to vote for president and all offices +except the judiciary, in Illinois, North Dakota, Nebraska, and +Michigan. At that time there was partial suffrage for women in Arkansas, +New Mexico, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, +Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New +Hampshire, Florida and Ohio. In some of these states just mentioned, +women voted for very few offices, but still they had a slight voice in +the affairs of their state, and a large number of states refused +women all voting rights. They were Texas, Missouri, Alabama, +Tennessee, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, South +Carolina, North Carolina, Maine, Indiana, Delaware and Virginia. + +Dr. Shaw's life dream was realized when woman was given the right to +vote on all questions in every state in the union by an amendment to +the Constitution of the United States. + +Dr. Shaw died in the service of her country at Washington, in 1918. + +Like so many of America's noble men and women, the secret of Anna +Shaw's life has been service to others,--doing good to her fellowmen +and working always for human justice. + + * * * * * + + _AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL_ + + "_O Beautiful for spacious skies, + For amber waves of grain, + For purple mountain majesties + Above the fruited plain! + America! America! + God shed his grace on thee + And crown thy good with brotherhood + From sea to shining sea._" + + --KATHARINE LEE BATES. + + + + +[Illustration: ERNEST THOMPSON SETON and WIFE +Founder of the Boy Scout Movement] + + + + +ERNEST THOMPSON SETON + + +How many boys of ten years of age know what they want to do when they +are grown? Surely there are some boys of that age who have planned +their future work or at least have dreamed about it. But how many ever +do in later life just what they had thought of doing when in the +fourth grade of the public school? Not many, you may be sure. However, +some years ago there was a boy living in England who had decided on +his life work by the time his tenth birthday passed. What is more, he +carried out his plans with great success. Today you may read many of +his books and look at interesting pictures he has drawn of wild +animals that are as familiar to him as are the pets most boys and +girls have in their homes. More than this, if a boy belongs to the Boy +Scouts, he is a member of an organization that this man helped to +found in the United States. + +Ernest Thompson Seton was born in the northern part of England. His +family moved to Canada, but he attended school in England and did not +stay in America for any length of time until his schooling was +completed. His name was originally Ernest E. Thompson Seton, but some +years ago he changed it by turning the last two names around and +putting a hyphen between them. As he has written under both names, +persons sometimes wonder if there are two men who love the out of +doors and write with pleasure of their open air experiences. + +Mr. Thompson Seton's wish was to spend a large part of his life +tramping over the country studying animals and learning woodcraft. The +rest of the time he would write and make pictures of what he had seen. +He felt he could stay within doors only part of each year. So as soon +as he finished school and returned to the province of Manitoba he went +to work in the fields. It did not take him long to earn enough money +to live on during the winter, as his wants were few; then he set out +to tramp all over the province. He watched the birds; he learned the +ways of all the animals and could tell wonderful stories of their +instinct and cunning. When he did live under a roof for a few weeks, +he was always busy drawing pictures of his friends in the open or +writing down accounts of their lives. One of his best known books was +published in 1898 and was called, "Wild Animals I Have Known." This +brought him to the attention of many readers; but he had been helping +make books long before this one, for when the Century Dictionary was +published he drew for it more than a thousand pictures of the animals +that he had watched and studied. + +In the course of his life he has been a hunter, a day laborer, a +scientist, a naturalist, and an artist. At the same time he has been +able to carry out his plan of spending the greater part of each year +out of doors. Loving a free active life from his earliest boyhood, it +is not strange that Ernest Thompson Seton was the first man to +organize the Boy Scouts in America. In the Outlook for July 23, 1910, +he tells the story in a most interesting manner. He says: + +"My friend John Moale, a rich man, had bought several thousand acres +of abandoned farm lands near Boston in the year 1900. This he made +into a beautiful park, all for his own enjoyment. Around this park he +built a strong fence twelve feet high so that no one could get into +the park. His prospects of peace and happiness were excellent. But the +neighbors resented his coming. He had fenced in a lot of open ground +that had been the common cow-pasture of the adjoining village. He had +taken from the boys their nutting-ground, and forbidden the usual +summer picnics. He was an outsider, a rich man despoiling the very +poor, and they set about making it unpleasant for him. + +"They destroyed his fences, they stoned his notice-boards until they +fell, and they painted shocking pictures on his gates. Mr. Moale, a +peace-loving man, rebuilt the fences and restored the notice-boards +only to have them torn down again and again. + +"All summer this had been going on, so I learned on visiting Mr. Moale +in September. Finally I said to him: 'Let me try my hand on these +boys.' He was ready for anything, and gave me a free hand. I bought +two tents, three old Indian teepees, and two canoes. I got some bows +and arrows and a target. + +"Then I got a gang of men to make a campground by the lake on my +friend's grounds. On this I set up the tents and teepees in the form +of an Indian village. + +"Now I went to the local school house and got permission to talk to +the boys for five minutes. 'Now boys,' I said, 'Mr. Moale invites you +all to come to the Indian village on his land next Friday, after +school, to camp with him there until Monday morning. We will have all +the grub you can eat, all the canoes necessary, and everything to have +a jolly time in camp.' + +"At first the boys were bashful and suspicious, but finally they +accepted the invitation, and at 4:30 forty-two boys arrived in high +glee. + +"'Say, Mister, kin we holler?' + +"'Yes, all you want to.' + +"'Kin we take our clothes off?' + +"As the weather was warm I said, 'Yes, every stitch, if you like.' And +soon they were a mob of naked, howling savages, tearing through the +woods, jumping into the lake, or pelting each other with mud." + +After supper, Mr. Thompson Seton tells us, the boys gathered around +the camp fire while he told them one Indian story after another. For +two days the boys ate, swam, canoed, and, what was most important of +all, they became acquainted with the two men. There was no harm done +the boats, teepees, or outfit other than fair wear and tear during +that camping, and before it was over Mr. Moale, instead of having a +gang of bandits to combat the year round, had now a guard of staunch +friends, ready to fight his battles and look out for his interests +when he was away. + +That was the beginning of it. Every boy in the village is now a member +of the tribe, and three other bands have been formed in the +neighborhood. All this was in 1900. Since then thousands of workers +have become interested and the work has spread, until today the Boy +Scouts of America is one of the best known organizations of the +country. + +One reason for the growth of the Boy Scout movement is the fact that +scouting usually makes boys cleaner and more manly than they were +before. Should you like to know the Scout Laws that they learn and +practice? The first law is this: "_A scout is trustworthy._" This +means a scout's honor is to be trusted. Boy Scouts everywhere make a +great deal of the word _honor_. The following story shows the scout's +idea of honor: "A little newsboy boarded a crowded car the other night +with a very large bundle of papers, and the conductor, with coarse +good-nature, tried to favor him by not taking his fare, although of +course he could not do this without cheating the railway. The boy +looked at him with indignation, and could not believe that he was the +conductor. He went all through the car hunting for the real conductor +to whom he might pay his fare." + +"_A scout is loyal_," is the second law. _Loyalty_ is another word +that is dear to the scout. Have you ever heard a scout say bad things +about his scout master or about his fellow scouts behind their backs? +Not very often, I am sure. If a scout has anything to say against any +one, he goes directly to him and talks it over. The Scout Law explains +loyalty saying: "He is loyal to all to whom loyalty is due, his scout +leader, his home and parents and country." He must stick to them +through thick and thin against any one who is their enemy, or whoever +talks badly of them. + +Have you ever seen the scouts salute the flag? The smiling faces and +beaming eyes show that they love the flag dearly. Few can sing better +than the scouts, for they mean every word they sing. + +The instant our nation entered the great world war the Boy Scouts +offered themselves to their country to do whatever the president +asked. Since most of them were too young to enlist, it was at first +thought that they could not do much. As the months passed, however, +the boys have found one task after another, until now they are so busy +that they put to shame many older people. + +Then, too, the Boy Scouts have worked so silently, without making a +fuss about what they were doing. In many of our large cities they have +planted "war gardens" on every vacant lot they could get. In most +cases all they raised in these gardens was given to the Red Cross. +Furthermore, they have been the best friends the farmers have had. +These scouts in large numbers have left their comfortable city homes +to work on farms. They have not asked for the easy, pleasant jobs, +but have been willing to do the thing that needed to be done most +whether it was pleasant or not. Have you ever wondered who put up the +thousands of posters asking the people to save food and buy bonds? In +many cases this work has been done by the scouts. + +The Boy Scout has been able to do so much because he is taught to be +brave. The coward has no place among the scouts. The lad who is not +willing to rough it soon drops out. Long hikes, coarse food, and hard +work try the _stuff_ that's in a boy. If he can stand up to all these +he is sure to develop the endurance that makes him brave. + +As soon as the war began, the educated young men of our country went +to the officers' training camps to learn to become officers. After +thousands of these young men who had tried to become officers had +failed, the people began to wonder what the trouble was. Finally they +asked the great army officers who had examined them, and received this +answer: "Your young men are slouchy; slouchy in the way they hold +their shoulders, slouchy in the way they walk, slouchy in their use of +the English language, slouchy in the way they think." Should you like +to know how the young men who had once been scouts fared? Almost +without exception they passed, for the training they had received as +scouts had cured them of much of their slouchiness. + +A scout is not only brave but he is also courteous and helpful to +others. Nothing delights a scout more than to be able to help a child +or an old man or woman across a busy street. For these little services +he must not receive tips. Major Powell, the great English Scout +organizer, tells of a little fellow who came to his house on an +errand. When offered a tip the lad put up his hand to the salute and +said, "No, thank you, sir, I am a Boy Scout." + +About the hardest thing a scout is expected to do is to smile and +whistle under all circumstances. "The punishment for swearing or using +bad language is, for each offense, a mug of cold cold water poured +down the offender's sleeves by the other scouts." + +Much more could be written in favor of the Boy Scouts. They are a body +of boys of whom we are proud. And we shall ever be grateful to Ernest +Thompson Seton for his noble work in organizing the Boy Scouts in +America. + + * * * * * + + "_Be Prepared_" + + + + +JOHN WANAMAKER + + +It was a stormy, rainy day in New York City. We wanted to visit some +of the great stores and shops, but were afraid of the bad weather. + +Our friends who lived in the city laughed at us. They said: "This is +just the kind of a day to go to Wanamakers. We will take the subway to +the basement door and never be in the wet at all." + +So we hurried to the underground railroad that runs beneath the busy +streets, and were soon riding away in a fast express train. On we went +in the darkness, through winding tunnels to the other end of the city. +At last we stopped at a brilliantly lighted platform and were told +that this was our destination. Leaving the train we did not ascend to +the street, but went through great doors into a large room that was as +light as day. Elevators took us up, up, from floor to floor. And what +did we see, I hear you ask. We saw everything one could wish to buy. +We saw everything we had ever dreamed of purchasing. We saw many +beautiful things of which we had never heard, and we felt as if we +were visiting a magic palace. + +At noon we ate our lunch in a pleasant restaurant up at the very top +of the enormous building. It was quiet and peaceful, and we were glad +to rest. When we were through, we found an attractive little concert +hall where many persons were listening to a deep-toned organ. + +[Illustration: JOHN WANAMAKER (On left) +Great Merchant and Philanthropist] + +We were told we were welcome to sit down and hear the sweet music. An +hour passed before we were ready to leave. Then we continued our +sightseeing, and it was late in the afternoon before we were ready to +go home. We returned the same way we had come and when we were once +more far up town in our own familiar street the rain had just stopped. +Then we realized we had been in doors all day long and known nothing +of the storm. It had indeed been just the kind of a day to go to +Wanamakers. + +And what is Wanamakers? It is the name of two great stores, one in New +York City and the other in Philadelphia. The owner, John Wanamaker, is +the man who first thought of selling all manner of articles in one +store, and so built what we call today a department store. + +No one who knew John Wanamaker when he was a boy thought he had any +better chances than any other boy among his playmates, and no one +foretold that he would become a great merchant. + +A plain two story house in Philadelphia was his early home. There he +lived with his father and mother. His father was a brick maker, and +while John was very small he would help his father by turning the +bricks over so they would dry evenly. His father died in 1852. John +was just fourteen, and he went to work in a book store. His wages were +$1.50 a week, but he managed to save a little. His mother encouraged +him and he says of her, "Her smile was a bit of heaven and it never +faded out of her face till her dying day." + +Although at first the boy earned but little to help this good mother, +he soon was able to care for her in a way beyond his highest hopes. + +What caused him to succeed? His capital! "But," you say, "he had no +money; he was poor." True, his capital was not money. Let us see what +it was. A few words will tell us. He had good health, good habits, a +clean mind, thriftiness, and a tireless devotion to whatever he +thought to be his duty. + +He worked hard outside of business hours, improving himself for any +opportunity that might come. And one came when he was twenty-one years +of age. + +The directors of the Philadelphia Y. M. C. A. were looking for a young +man to become Secretary of the Association. They were anxious to +secure an earnest energetic person who would make a great success, for +it was the first time that such a position as Y. M. C. A. secretary +had been established. They selected John Wanamaker and paid him $1,000 +a year. + +He went to work with a will, and everyone felt that he more than +earned his salary. All the time he was saving, just as he had been +doing when he worked in the book store. He had great hopes and plans. +When he had saved $2000 he and a friend of his own age started a +business of their own. Their store was named Oak Hall and they sold +men's clothing. At that time business houses did not advertise in the +newspapers as they do today. Neither were signboards used. Just +imagine how puzzled the good folk of Philadelphia were when, one +morning, they saw great billboards all over their peaceful city. On +these were two letters, W. & B. No one knew what these letters meant. +Everyone was guessing, and it was not until Oak Hall was opened that +the public learned that W. & B. stood for Wanamaker & Brown, the name +of the new firm. + +Their first day's business brought in thirty-eight dollars. John +Wanamaker himself delivered the goods in a wheel barrow. Then he +hurried to a newspaper office and spent the entire thirty-eight +dollars for advertising. After reading of the wonderful goods on sale +there, customers poured into Oak Hall. They bought, too, for again +John Wanamaker had spent his money wisely. He had hired the highest +paid clerk in Philadelphia to manage the sales room, which meant that +each customer was waited upon well and went away pleased, ready to +tell his friends about the new store. + +What do you suppose was told the oftenest? Probably you would not +guess, because today all business houses have followed the plan that +was used first in Oak Hall. + +You will be surprised when you hear that it was the custom of having +one price for a garment and sticking to it that caused the most talk. +This price was marked plainly on a tag attached to the article to be +sold, and any one could see it. Before this, clothing merchants had +not marked their goods, but tried to get as much as possible from a +customer. Often one suit of clothes had a dozen prices on the same +day. So you can see what a change the energetic young man made. He did +more than this. Because he wanted to please the public, he said if any +customer was not satisfied he could return his purchase and receive +his money back. This was a startling idea, but it worked, and made +many friends for the young firm. + +Their store waked up Philadelphia. Every week some new advertising +appeared. Once great balloons were sent up from the roof. Stamped on +each one was the statement that any one who found the balloon and +returned it to Oak Hall would receive a suit of clothes. You can +imagine how the people hunted for those balloons. One was found five +months afterward in a cranberry swamp. The frightened farmer who saw +it swaying to and fro thought at first that some strange animal was +hiding there. You may be sure he was glad to hurry to Oak Hall with +his prize and get the promised suit of clothes. + +John Wanamaker kept on economizing and saving, for he wanted a bigger +business. Then the idea came to him of selling many kinds of goods +under one roof, and the modern department store was born. The store, +though small at first, gradually grew until it finally became the +largest in Philadelphia. Then it was that he decided to build an even +larger one in New York City. + +Today there are department stores throughout our country in every city +and town. We like them and take them as a matter of course. But let us +remember they had their beginning in the idea of this boy from +Philadelphia. + +His success looks very great to us, but it was built up step by step. +He says it is due "to thinking, toiling, and trusting in God." This +seems to sum up his life. Besides business, his interest in religious +affairs has always been great. He has given of his wealth to many +noble charities and helpful organizations. In Philadelphia he built a +great building for a Sunday School alone. Thousands of persons attend +this school each Sunday and there are classes there during the week +for those who have had to leave school at an early age. He has +remembered the Y. M. C. A. and, perhaps because of his early work with +it, has been unusually generous in giving buildings to struggling +associations. He even built one in the far away city of Madras, India, +thus stretching out his influence for good nearly around the world. + +But while he has had thought for those far away, he has also cared for +the people who work for him. His stores were the first to have an +entire holiday on Saturday during the hot days of summer. This was +done so the men and women could leave the crowded city, if they +wished, on Friday evening, and have a vacation of two full days in the +country or at the seashore. + +Then, too, he has encouraged the various departments of the stores to +form clubs and musical societies. At times there have been two bands +in the New York store, one composed of men and the other of women. +They have rooms and hours in which to practice. + +Besides playing and singing, some of the clubs study English, foreign +languages, and many other subjects. It is possible for every person +employed in one of the Wanamaker stores to add to his stock of +knowledge through this club life. + +Some years ago John Wanamaker began giving a pension to those who had +served him for a certain length of time. This plan has since been +followed by other firms because it promotes faithfulness and interest +in the business. + +This interest makes each one connected with the store realize he is a +part of it. Perhaps this is shown best by the way pensioned men and +women responded to Mr. Wanamaker's call in 1917, after so many men had +left to join the army and navy. They went back to take the places of +those who had gone, feeling that in so doing they were serving their +country. + +There was one fine old Scotchman past eighty years of age living in +New York who had been forty-four years in the employ of Wanamaker. He +had been on the pension roll for some time and was enjoying old age +quietly. When he heard the call from his former employer, he went down +to work as eagerly as a boy, glad he was strong and sturdy enough to +do his part in keeping the great store open to serve the public. + +Is it not a fine thing to be able to develop such spirit and energy +among thousands of persons? Surely the mother of the boy who turned +bricks for his father would rejoice if she could read her son's +record. He has become one of the greatest business men of his day; he +served our country well as Postmaster General but most of all he has +given each year more and more time and money to help make the world +better. + +Can we not say of him that, while he has always recognized that the +object of business is to make money in an honorable way, he has tried +to remember that the object of life is to do good? + + * * * * * + + "_And the star-spangled banner + In triumph shall wave + O'er the land of the free + And the home of the brave._" + + --FRANCIS SCOTT KEY. + + + + +[Illustration: EX-PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON] + + + + +WOODROW WILSON + + +Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born at Staunton, Virginia, December 28, +1856. At that time Staunton was a town of five thousand inhabitants, +situated in the beautiful and famous Valley of Virginia. Woodrow's +father, a thoroughly trained and able preacher, was pastor of the +Southern Presbyterian Church of the city. + +When Woodrow was two years of age the family moved to Augusta, +Georgia. In those days Augusta, a city of fifteen thousand people, was +one of the leading manufacturing cities of the South. With its great +railroad shops, furnaces, rolling mills, and cotton mills, it was +indeed a hive of industry. + +As a boy Woodrow was called "Tommy" by his playmates; but as he grew +into manhood he dropped his given name and signed himself--Woodrow +Wilson. His mother was a Woodrow, and by signing his name Woodrow +Wilson he hoped to do equal honor to each parent. + +During Woodrow's boyhood days, the Civil War storm-cloud was +gathering; and when he was five years of age it broke in all its fury. +Fortunately for him, Augusta was far removed from the scenes of +conflict. Never can he remember having seen troops of southern +soldiers marching through the streets of the city. Only once was he +thoroughly frightened. When General Sherman was on his famous march to +the sea, word came that he was about to capture Augusta. Immediately +the few men who were left in the city, for most of them had gone to +war, gathered all sorts of fire arms and marched forth to meet the +enemy. All night they lay on their arms, but greatly to their relief +the foe never came. + +Naturally enough the most vivid memories young Woodrow had of the war +were those in connection with the scarcity of food. Before the war the +people of the South had never thought of eating cow peas, as they were +thought to be fit only for cattle; but so scarce did food become that +Woodrow had to eat so much cow pea soup that even yet, whenever he +thinks of it, he feels the old time disgust. + +Two things that happened immediately at the close of the war made a +deep impression upon the lad who was then nine years of age. All +through the war the president of the Southern Confederacy was, as you +know, Jefferson Davis. Imagine young Woodrow's surprise when he saw +the former president marched through the streets of Augusta, a +prisoner of war, guarded by Federal soldiers. They were on their way +to Fortress Monroe. During the war Woodrow, as we have already said, +saw very little of the Confederate soldiers; but as soon as peace was +declared, the Union soldiers took possession of the city, even +occupying his father's church as a temporary barracks. The hardships +suffered during the few years immediately at the close of the war were +even greater than those during the war itself. + +A thrilling event in the life of the lad was the day when Augusta had +its first street cars. The bob-tail cars, with their red, purple, and +green lights, and drawn by mules, afforded all sorts of fun for the +boys. To make scissors by laying two pins crosswise on the rail for +the cars to pass over was one of their most pleasant pastimes. + +In those days there were no free public schools with their beautiful +buildings for Woodrow to attend, so he was sent to a private school +that was held in rooms over the post office. With Professor Derry, who +was in charge of the school, spanking was the favorite form of +punishment. While Woodrow and his chums differed very decidedly with +the Professor's views regarding spanking, the boys were never able to +convince him that their views were right. Finally, the lads discovered +that pads made from the cotton that grew in the fields on every side +of the city served them well whenever the evil day of punishment +arrived. After they had made this discovery they were more reconciled +to the Professor's views. + +The best chum Woodrow had was his father. Busy as he was with the +cares of his large church, he never was so occupied that he could not +find time to chum with his boy. For hours at a time he would read to +his son the worth-while things that Woodrow enjoyed hearing. Then, +too, the busy pastor was in the habit of taking a day off each week to +stroll with Woodrow in field, factory, or wood as the case might be. +On these long strolls the father and son talked over many of the +problems that were of interest to the lad. Little wonder, then, with +such comradeship, that Woodrow rapidly developed along right lines. + +Like all boys, he was fond of building air castles. Dwelling much in +the realm of fancy, he imagined that he occupied all sorts of +positions and did remarkable things. + +Mr. William Hale in his excellent story of the life of Wilson +describes one of these flights of the imagination as follows: "Thus +for months he was an Admiral of the Navy, and in that character wrote +out daily reports to the Navy Department. + +"His main achievement in this capacity was the discovery and +destruction of a nest of pirates in the Southern Pacific Ocean. It +appears that the government, along with all the people of the country, +had been terrified by the mysterious disappearance of ships setting +sail from or expected at our western ports. Vessels would set out with +their precious freight never to be heard from again, swallowed up in +the bosom of an ocean on which no known war raged, no known storm +swept. + +"Admiral Wilson was ordered to investigate with his fleet; after an +eventful cruise they overtook, one night, a piratical looking craft +with black hull and rakish rig. Again and again the chase eluded the +Admiral. Finally, the pursuit led the fleet to the neighborhood of an +island uncharted and hitherto unknown. Circumnavigation seemed to +prove it bare and uninhabited, with no visible harbor. There was, +however, a narrow inlet that seemed to end at an abrupt wall of rock a +few fathoms inland. Something, however, finally led the Admiral to +send a boat into this inlet--and it was discovered that it was the +cunningly contrived entrance to a spacious bay; the island really +being a sort of atoll. Here lay the ships of the outlawed enemy and +the dismantled hulls of many of the ships they had captured. And it +may be believed that the brave American tars, under the leadership of +the courageous Admiral, played a truly heroic part in the destruction +of the pirates and the succor of such of their victims as survived." + +Thus he dreamed dreams, studied, and chummed with his father until the +eventful day arrived when he must go away to college. But where should +he go? What college should he attend? A small Presbyterian college in +the South was chosen. Before the end of the first year he was taken +sick and had to leave college. Then it was that he decided to go to +Princeton University, a decision that had much to do with his future +career. Life in Princeton proved to be just the stimulus that he +needed. Here, surrounded by the keenest, most alert young men of the +country, he developed rapidly. Interested in every school activity, +from baseball to debating, he won for himself a prominent place in the +student body. So great was his thirst for knowledge, however, that his +graduation from Princeton did not satisfy him. Accordingly, he next +went to the University of Virginia where he was graduated from the +law school in 1881. But even this did not satisfy, so he spent two +years in Johns Hopkins University, receiving in 1885 the degree of +Ph.D., the highest degree that any university can give. + +Thus equipped, he became a professor first in Bryn Mawr College, then +in Wesleyan University, and finally in Princeton. So pronounced was +his success as professor in his beloved university that in 1902 he was +made President of Princeton. So able was his leadership in Princeton +that the state of New Jersey called him to be its governor. Could a +University President make a good governor? The politicians were very +much in doubt. It is needless to say that all watched him with deepest +concern. Soon, however, it became apparent even to the most skeptical +that he was destined to be New Jersey's ablest governor. Gradually, +because of his strength, his popularity grew until the eyes of all the +nation were fastened upon him. From the governor's chair he rose to +the highest honor the Nation could bestow, he was elected to the +Presidency of the United States. + +Little did he realize when he accepted this honor that with it would +come the heaviest burdens that any president save Abraham Lincoln had +been called upon to bear. For eight long years he patiently bore those +burdens and heroically faced every responsibility. Great as were the +demands made upon him, he always proved himself equal to the +emergency. + +The last three years of his service as President found him dealing +with problems of the Great World War, and at its conclusion he was one +of the leading figures in the making of the final treaty of peace +between the warring nations. + +To take part in the treaty-making, Mr. Wilson twice went to Paris. It +was the first time a president of the United States had ever traveled +beyond the borders of our own country. + +At the expiration of his term of office, Mr. Wilson took up the +practice of law, at Washington. + + * * * * * + +"_To such a task we dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything +that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who +know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her +blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and +happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she +can do no other._" + + --PRESIDENT WILSON'S WAR MESSAGE. + + + + +[Illustration: MARK TWAIN +(Samuel Langhorne Clemens)] + + + + +MARK TWAIN + + +"Talk about trying to cure warts with spunk-water. You got to go all +by yourself, to the middle of the woods, where you know there's a +spunk-water stump, and just as it's midnight you back up against the +stump and jam your hand in it and say: + + "Barley-corn, Barley-corn, Injun meal shorts, + "Spunk-water, spunk-water, swaller these warts," + +and then walk away quick eleven steps, with your eyes shut and then +turn round three times and walk home without speaking to anybody. +Because if you do speak, the charm's busted. + +"I've took off thousands of warts that way, Huck. I play with frogs so +much that I've always got considerable warts. Sometimes I take 'em off +with a bean." + +"Yes, a bean's good. I've done that." + +"But say, Huck, how do you cure 'em with dead cats?" + +By this time, doubtless you are saying, "Oh, I know from what book you +are quoting. I have Tom Sawyer at home and Huckleberry Finn, too. I +read them over and over." + +But would you not like to know something about the man, who could +write so understandingly of boys? Suppose we read the story of his +life and see if we can decide what gave him his wide knowledge of +games and adventures, of boyish larks and youthful troubles. + +We must go for his earliest experiences to a town on the Mississippi, +one hundred miles from St. Louis. In the year 1839, the Clemens family +moved to Hannibal from a still smaller town in Missouri, named +Florida. The youngest child in the Clemens family was four years old. +He was named Samuel Langhorne Clemens. For eight years this boy roved +over the hills and through the woods with his playmates. There was a +cave near Hannibal. Many strange creatures were said to hide in its +depths. Also, there was Bear Creek where the boys went swimming. Young +Sam tried hard to learn to swim. Several times he was dragged ashore +just in time to save his life, but at last he learned to swim better +than any of his friends. + +Then there was the river, the broad Mississippi. + +"It was the river that meant more to him than all the rest. Its charm +was permanent. It was the path of adventure, the gateway to the world. +The river with its islands, its great slow moving rafts, its marvelous +steamboats that were like fairyland, and its stately current going to +the sea. How it held him! He would sit by it for hours and dream. He +would venture out on it in a surreptitiously borrowed boat, when he +was barely strong enough to lift an oar out of the water." + +We are told that when Sam Clemens was only nine years of age he +managed to board one of the river steamers. He hid under a boat on the +upper deck. After the steamer started he sat watching the shore slip +past. Then came a heavy rain and a wet, shivering, little boy was +found by one of the crew. At the next stop he was put ashore and +relatives, who lived there, took him home, and so ended his first +journey upon the river. + +Years later he became a pilot on a Mississippi river boat and made +many trips from New Orleans up the river and back. Such a trip +required thirty-five days. + +While acting as a river pilot, Samuel Clemens heard the name, "Mark +Twain." An old riverman had used it as an assumed name, taking the +term from the cry of the boatmen as they tested the depth of the +river. Samuel Clemens had an intense love of joking and fun, so when +he first began to write, he suddenly thought it would be amusing to +sign some name other than his own. Therefore, he signed his articles +"Mark Twain." This name clung to him, and many persons forgot or never +knew that his real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. + +Accordingly, in the river of his boyhood love, he found the name by +which the world knows today one of the foremost American authors. Yet, +in those early days in Hannibal, he had no idea of writing. Indeed, +his days were so busy it is not likely he thought much of the future +at all. He was the leader of a band of boys that played Bandit, Pirate +and Indian. Sam Clemens was always chief. He led the way to the caves +whose chambers reached far back under the cliffs and even, perhaps, +under the river itself. + +When he was a man, Mr. Clemens wrote two books telling of these early +days in Hannibal. "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry +Finn." "Tom Sawyer" was himself, and the incidents in the book all had +their foundation in the days of his boyhood. The cave, as you may +know, plays an important part in the latter story. In "Tom Sawyer," +Indian Joe dies in the cave. There was an Indian Joe in Hannibal and +while he did not die in the cave, he was lost there for days and was +living on bats when found. This incident made a strong impression on +young Samuel Clemens and he never forgot it. It was in the Clemen's +house that Tom gave the cat pain-killer; there, too, that he induced a +crowd of boys to white-wash the fence all one Saturday morning. It was +at the Clemens' home, too, that a small boy in his night clothes came +tumbling down from an over-hung trellis upon the merry crowd cooling +taffy in the snow. + +Such happenings were part of young Sam's life. He lived the +out-of-doors and, when grown to manhood, he could recall all the +sports and pleasures of those days. He cherished the memory of his +boyhood friends and so wrote of "Huck" Finn, making him like Tom +Blakenship, one of the riotous, freedom-loving members of Sam Clemens' +band. + +These boys crowded many adventures into a few years. Hannibal was the +scene of stormy times. Black slaves were sold in the open market. +Desperadoes roamed the streets. Lawlessness was everywhere and it was +not strange that the residents of Hannibal did not think Sam Clemens +amounted to much and prophesied that he would never grow up to follow +a respectable calling. + +Yet when his father died, Sam went to work in his brother's printing +shop. Printed matter began to interest him. Then one day, in the dusty +street of Hannibal, this half-grown, lively boy picked up a scrap of +paper. A leaf torn from a history! Where did it come from? No one +knows. + +Books were not plentiful then in that little town. Yet, on this paper +the fun-loving Sam Clemens read for the first time of Joan of Arc, the +wondrous maid who led the French to victory. He had never heard of +her. He had read no history, nor had he had an active interest in +books. Studying there in the village street, reading the few lines of +the marvelous story of the Maid of Orleans, there was created in him +an interest that went with him throughout life. + +He was by turn a printer, a pilot, a pioneer, a soldier, a miner, a +newspaper reporter, a lecturer, but at last he found his true place. +He became a writer and wrote books that continue to delight thousands +upon thousands of readers. His life went into his books. Just as he +drew upon his early days in Hannibal for the material in "Huckleberry +Finn" and The "Adventures of Tom Sawyer," so he used all of his +experiences. He wrote "Life Upon The Mississippi," a record of his +days as a pilot; "Roughing It," a story of a mining camp; "The Jumping +Frog," a western story that made his fame throughout the United +States; "Innocents Abroad," a tale of his experiences abroad, and +"The Life Of Joan Of Arc," a beautiful story that was always the +author's favorite. + +During the last years of his life, Mark Twain passed the winters in +Bermuda and there he was, as ever, the friend of children. There was a +pretty, little girl at his hotel named Margaret, who was twelve years +old. She and Mr. Clemens went everywhere together and, on one +excursion, he found a beautiful, little shell. The two halves came +apart in his hand. He gave one of them to Margaret and said, "Now +dear, sometime or other in the future, I shall run across you +somewhere, and it may turn out that it is not you at all, but will be +some girl that only resembles you. I shall be saying to myself, 'I +know that this is Margaret by the look of her, but I don't know for +sure whether this is my Margaret or somebody else's;' but, no matter, +I can soon find out, for I shall take my half shell out of my packet +and say, 'I think you are my Margaret, but I am not certain; if you +are my Margaret you can produce the other half of the shell.'" + +After that Margaret played the new game often and she tried to catch +him without his half of the shell, but Mark Twain writes, "I always +defeated that game, wherefore, she came to recognize, at last, that I +was not only old, but very smart." + +Mark Twain had lived 74 years when the close of his life here came +April 20, 1910, in Redding, Connecticut. Once he wrote in one of his +humorous moments, "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to +die even the undertaker will be sorry." When his life here ended, +tributes were received from every land. He was mourned as few men have +ever been. Why? Because he knew people; he loved them and interested +them. Because, in his most famous days he still remained at heart the +boy who played beside the river and loved the surging, restless flow +of the mighty current. + + + + +[Illustration: EX-PRESIDENT WARREN G. HARDING] + + + + +WARREN G. HARDING + + +On the Saturday morning after election day in November, 1920, a crowd +of people stood waiting in the railway station in Marion, Ohio. They +were there to say goodbye to President-elect and Mrs. Harding, who +were starting on a vacation journey; for, after the stirring times of +the long campaign, they needed rest. + +When the conductor of the train asked Mr. Harding if he should make +fast time, the President-elect replied: "Go slow; I have been going +too fast for the past two weeks." + +It was not at all strange that so many should meet to say a fond +farewell, for nearly everyone in Marion seems to like Mr. Harding. As +we asked his fellow townsmen the reason for this affection, we were +surprised that nearly all gave the same reason. They said: "We like +him because he is genuine, frank, fair." "He is generous, considerate, +and knows how to be a good neighbor." Indeed this spirit of +neighborliness was shown clearly during the campaign preceding his +election, when Mr. Harding decided to remain in Marion and meet his +friends on the front porch of his own home. Because of this decision +the Republican campaign of 1920 will long be known as "The Front Porch +Campaign." To this front porch came many thousand men and women from +every section of our broad land to meet Mr. and Mrs. Harding. + +Had you been one of these pilgrims, you would have met a man over six +feet tall, with broad shoulders and a deep chest. Though he is not +bald, his hair is exceptionally gray for a man of his age. He has the +rare faculty of making you comfortable in his presence. While, with +his deep blue eyes, he looks you squarely in the face as he talks to +you, his look is so kindly that you feel at ease. + +After this brief but delightful interview, you join an expectant +multitude that has assembled on the lawn. Suddenly all eyes turn to +the porch. Here stands Mr. Harding, gracious, dignified, serious. +Breathlessly each awaits his first utterance. With a well modulated +voice he addresses the multitude as he would speak to a group of +friends. Soon you are listening as though he were speaking only to +you. With no tendency to bicker he discusses the problems of +government in a manner that reveals his clearness of vision and +pureness of soul. All too soon the address is ended and the crowd +begins to scatter. As each wends his way, the remark that is most +frequently heard is this: "I like him and I'm sure we can trust him." + +Now that you have met him and heard him speak I am sure you will want +to learn more about his life. + +On November second, in the year the great Civil War closed, Mr. +Harding was born in Corsica, Ohio. How old, then, is he? Most of his +boyhood days, however, were spent in Caledonia, Ohio, where his father +was the village Doctor. In addition to practicing medicine he owned +the Caledonian Argus, a typical village newspaper. + +Since all boys of eleven must have at least a little spending money, +Warren, as Mr. Harding was then called, found that setting type was +his easiest way to earn pin money. + +The first year Warren worked on the Argus, the circus came to town and +brought Hi Henry's Band. Warren and another boy helped with unusual +faithfulness and speed that day. They knew the paper had free tickets +for the circus. Of course they would be given tickets. They planned +what a glorious time they would have and, as long as the tickets did +not cost anything, they could spend some of their hard earned money on +side shows and ice cream. Noon came and no one had mentioned the +circus tickets. The afternoon passed slowly; two o'clock, no tickets; +three o'clock, no tickets; four, five, six o'clock, and no mention of +the circus. Two indignant boys held counsel. Then as night fell, they +went to the editor and demanded two tickets as their right. The +tickets were forthcoming and two pleased boys went to the circus. + +Perhaps the glories of Hi Henry's Band aroused the citizens of +Caledonia. At any rate a band of fifteen pieces was afterwards +organized there. An old harness maker, who liked to have the boys play +about his shop, was an expert on the valve trombone. He showed his +frequent visitor, Warren Harding, how to play the instrument; then +Warren learned the tenor horn and became a full-fledged member of the +Caledonia Band. Only those of you who have lived in a small town can +know how important the band is. It gives concerts in front of the +court house or on the square. It plays at rallies, picnics, shows, and +leads in parades. So when Warren Harding joined the Caledonia Band, he +felt quite grown up and impressive, perhaps more so than when he was +elected President. + +Not until 1882 did Dr. Harding trade his farm and move to Marion. His +son had by that time been graduated from the Ohio Central College. +Like many another young man of those days, he taught a term of school +after leaving college. But he did not plan to remain a teacher. For a +time he thought of the law as a profession, and also made some efforts +to sell insurance. But his early knowledge of a printing office and +the making of a newspaper influenced his tastes and desires. + +His father had acquired an interest in the Marion Star, a struggling +Republican paper in the county seat. Warren Harding became the editor. +He had held this office only two weeks when he went to Chicago to the +Republican National Convention hoping to see James G. Blaine nominated +for the Presidency. While he was in Chicago, his father sold the Star +and so upon his return Warren Harding, a Republican, became a reporter +on the Marion Mirror, the Democratic paper. + +In those days, the admirers of James G. Blaine wore high, gray felt +hats. Warren Harding wore his when he went about Marion gathering news +for the Democratic paper. Soon this annoyed the editor of the Mirror +and young Harding was told he must stop wearing his "Blaine" hat. He +refused, and so lost his job on the paper. + +The night of election day, when Cleveland was elected President, +Warren Harding and two old Caledonia friends decided to buy the Marion +Star. That was the beginning of an ownership that has lasted ever +since. There were plenty of hard days for the young editor but with +prophetic insight he wrote and published in the Star: + +"The Star is _not_ going to change hands but is both going to go and +grow." + +Friends laugh and joke about the hard struggles of the Marion Star and +the difficulties of the editor to make the paper go. They tell of +times when Editor Harding didn't have money enough to pay the help. +Nevertheless, he made the paper both go and grow, and these hardships +only endeared him the more to the citizens of Marion. In the end he +overcame all difficulties and his fellow citizens felt proud of his +success. + +Warren Harding had a strong sense of fairness and justice. When he had +been editor but a short time, he wrote out his newspaper creed. Today, +any reporter, who enters the service of the Marion Star, has given to +him the following rules, which the President of our Country believes +should be followed: + + + NEWSPAPER CREED + + Remember there are two sides to every question. Get them both. + + Be truthful. Get the facts. + + Mistakes are inevitable, but strive for accuracy. I would rather + have one story exactly right than a hundred half wrong. + + Be decent, be fair, be generous. + + Boost--don't knock. + + There's good in everybody. Bring out the good in everybody and + never needlessly hurt the feelings of anybody. + + In reporting a political gathering, give the facts, tell the story + as it is, not as you would like to have it. Treat all parties + alike. + + If there's any politics to be played we will play it in our + editorial columns. + + Treat all religious matters reverently. + + If it can possibly be avoided, never bring ignominy to an innocent + man or child in telling of the misfortunes or misdeeds of a + relative. + + Don't wait to be asked, but do it without asking, and above all, + be clean and never let a dirty word or suggestive story get into + type. + + I want this paper so conducted that it can go into any home + without destroying the innocence of any child. + + WARREN HARDING. + +Thus we see that President Harding has spent most of his life in +newspaper work. Here, as we can readily see, he has gained the +intimate knowledge of people that has made him genuinely human. + +But his training for the Presidency by no means stopped here. For +twenty years he has taken an active part in the problems of State and +Nation. When only thirty-five years of age he was elected a member of +the Ohio Legislature. As a member of this body, his efforts were so +successful and so thoroughly appreciated that he was later chosen to +Represent Ohio in the United States Senate. In this strategic position +he did not lose an opportunity to acquaint himself with the complex +problems of National Government. Little did he then realize that all +this knowledge was fitting him to become the Head of the Nation. Such +is the mystery of life. + +"A large upstanding man. A man of great virility. A man of undoubted +courage. An honest man, honest with himself and with the public. A man +of good judgment and entire practicality. A generous, kind-hearted, +and thoughtful man. Thoughtful of his subordinates, generous to his +adversaries, and cordial to his equals. A man whose head has not been +turned by the honors thrust upon him. A plain, everyday, practical man +without illusions or visionary ideas. A man that is a supporter of +stable government. A man intensely American in his instinct." + + + + +ADDENDA +Note: The following pages are intended for a record of additional +facts concerning the lives of these eminent Americans. + + + + +ADDENDA + + + + +ADDENDA + + + + +ADDENDA + + + + +ADDENDA + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Modern Americans, by Chester Sanford and Grace Owen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MODERN AMERICANS *** + +***** This file should be named 30287.txt or 30287.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/2/8/30287/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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. 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