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diff --git a/35331-8.txt b/35331-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9161fbd --- /dev/null +++ b/35331-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2870 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories of Great Men, by Faye Huntington + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Stories of Great Men + +Author: Faye Huntington + +Release Date: February 19, 2011 [EBook #35331] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF GREAT MEN *** + + + + +Produced by Peter Vachuska, Jason Isbell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +[Illustration: ALEXANDER THE GREAT.] + + + + + STORIES OF GREAT MEN + + + BY + FAYE HUNTINGTON + + + Author of "Stories of Remarkable Women," + "Echoing and Re-Echoing," "Those Boys," + "Dr. Deane's Way," "Couldn't be + Bought," "Mrs. Deane's Way," + "What Fide Remembers," + etc., etc. + + + ILLUSTRATED + + + BOSTON + LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY + + Copyright, 1887, + + by + + D. Lothrop and Company. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Chapter. Page + + I. Alexander the Great 7 + + II. Addison, Joseph 12 + + III. Agassiz, Louis John Rudolph 17 + + IV. Bacon, Francis 21 + + V. Cæsar, Caius Julius 27 + + VI. Disraeli, Benjamin 31 + + VII. Everett, Edward 35 + + VIII. Farragut, David Glasgow 40 + + IX. Gordon, Charles George 45 + + X. Hannibal 51 + + XI. Irving, Washington 57 + + XII. Judson, Adoniram 61 + + XIII. Knox, John 69 + + XIV. Lincoln, Abraham 75 + + XV. Morse, Samuel Finley Breese 81 + + XVI. Newton, Sir Isaac 86 + + XVII. Obookiah, Henry 91 + +XVIII. Penn, William 98 + + XIX. Quincy, Josiah 103 + + XX. Rush, Benjamin 105 + + XXI. Savonarola, Girolamo 109 + + XXII. Tennyson, Alfred 115 + +XXIII. Ulfila 120 + + XXIV. Vincent, Rev. John H., D.D. 123 + + XXV. Webster, Daniel 129 + + XXVI. Xenophon 134 + + + + +OUR ALPHABET OF GREAT MEN. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ALEXANDER THE GREAT. + + +Where shall we begin? With "A" of course, but there are so many great +men whose names begin with A, I don't know how to select. However, I +might as well go back a good way in the world's history, and say +Alexander the Great. Since he was so great that they added the word to +his name, perhaps he ought to head the list. Though mind, he is not my +idea of a great man, after all. + +Who was he, what was he, and when did he live? Three questions in one, +and questions which when well answered tell a great deal. + +He was the son of King Philip of Macedonia, and was born at Pella three +hundred and fifty-six years before Jesus came to this earth. His father +was a strong brave soldier, and his mother was a strong fierce woman, +and their son is said to have been like them both. When he was thirteen +years old he had one of the greatest men in the world for his teacher. +This man's name was Aristotle. + +Another "A," you see; but I shall have to leave you to discover his +greatness for yourselves. + +When Alexander was sixteen, his father left him to manage the country +while he himself went to war. + +When he was eighteen he won a great victory in the army. Very soon +afterwards his father was killed, and Alexander with his great army +fought his way into power, and made people recognize him as ruler of the +Greeks. + +From that time on, for years, his story might be told in one word, War. +Battle after battle was fought and won; cities were destroyed; in +Thebes, just one house was left standing, which belonged to a poet named +Pindar. I know you are curious to hear why his house was spared, and I +know that the industrious ones will try to look it up, and the lazy ones +will yawn and say, "Oh, never mind; what do I care?" + +Alexander's next wish was to conquer Persia. I am sure you would be +interested to read the account of his triumphant march. The people were +so afraid of him that they would run when they heard that his army was +coming; sometimes without an attempt to defend their cities; and all +that Alexander would have to do when he reached the town would be to +march in and take possession. + +This series of battles was closed at a place named Gordium. + +Have you ever heard of the "Gordian knot?" + +The story is, that at this place, Gordium, there was a car or chariot, +which had been dedicated to the gods; and a certain god had said that +whoever should succeed in untying the knot which fastened the pole of +the car to the yoke, should rule over Asia. No one had been found who +could untie it. But what did Alexander do when he found he could not +untie it, but cut it in two with his sword! And the people accepted him +as the man who was to rule! + +War, war, war! The great Persian soldier, Darius, had such a high +opinion of his own large army that he let Alexander get with his +soldiers to a point where they could fight, and could not well be taken, +and another great victory was the end of the story. When Darius saw his +mistake, and tried to coax Alexander into being friends, by offering +his daughter for the conqueror's wife, and a great deal of land in the +bargain, Alexander replied that he would marry the daughter if he wanted +her, whether her father was willing or not; and that all the land +belonged to him. + +Now comes a dreadful story of wrong. Alexander heard that a plot to take +his life had been discovered by one of his men named Philotas, but that +he had not told of it for two days. When asked why he did not, he said +that the story came from a worthless source and was not to be believed. +But Alexander did not trust him and decided that he should be killed. As +if this was not enough, he had him tortured to make him tell the names +of others who were suspected. It is said that Alexander stood by, and +watched the writhings, and listened to the screams of this man who had +fought by his side in many battles! + +Yet he seemed sometimes able to trust people. Once, when he was sick, +word came to him that his physician had been bribed to poison him. When +his next dose of medicine was ready, Alexander laid the letter which +told this story, before his friend, the physician, then drank the +medicine, to show how fully he trusted him. + +Before he was thirty-three years old this wonderful, sad life was +ended! I do not know anything sadder than a great, bad man. I cannot +help wondering how it would have been if Alexander had lived about three +hundred years later, and met Jesus Christ. Yet he might have known Jesus +as Abraham did, and David, and Samuel, and all that long list of great +men. + +The story of his last sickness is very dreadful. It seemed to have been +brought on by his awful grief over the death of a friend. But he had +such a strange way of grieving! All night he would spend in drinking +liquor, and all day he lay and slept off its effects. But one morning he +found himself unable to rise, and he never rose again. When he was asked +who should succeed him as ruler of the kingdom, he said, "the +strongest." But he gave his signet ring to one of his generals named +Perdiccas. + +So closed this great _little_ life. The greatest soldier who ever lived, +as men talk about soldiers, but an utter failure in the sight of him who +said: "He that ruleth his own spirit, is greater than he that taketh a +city." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +ADDISON, JOSEPH. + + +When I was a little girl, I sat listening one day while several +gentlemen who were visiting my father, talked together, and one of them +told a queer story which interested me very much, and called forth +bursts of laughter from the gentlemen. Then, one said, "That is almost +equal to Addison's time." + +Over this sentence I puzzled. The only person whom I knew by that name +was an old lame man who lived at the lower end of a long straggling +street, and who was not remarkable for anything but laziness. What could +the gentlemen who were visiting my father know about him, and what did +they mean by "Addison's time?" I hovered around my father for quite a +while, looking for a chance to ask questions, but there was no break in +the conversation, so I gave it up. Something recalled the matter to me +during the afternoon, and I asked a boy who lived near us, and with whom +I was on quite friendly terms, if old Joe Addison had a clock that was +queer; explaining to him at the same time why I wanted to know. He +replied that he had seen a very large and very ugly-looking watch +hanging in the shoe shop by old Joe's bench, and that Joe called it his +turnip, and could take the outside casing all off, just as one could +take a thing out of a box. This then was the explanation, I thought, but +though we talked it over very thoroughly, we failed to see any +connection between the story that the gentlemen had laughed over, and +old Joe Addison's watch. + +Something else came up to interest us, and we forgot all about it. And +it was more than a year afterwards that I learned that my father's +friends did not refer to old Joe at all, but to another Joseph Addison +who was quite a different character. + +I want you all to become acquainted with the real Joseph Addison; enough +to know what it means when you hear him mentioned. + +So, if you please, set down his name in your alphabetical dictionary: +Joseph Addison. + +He was born on a May-day, so it will not be hard to remember so much of +his birthday. But how shall we remember the date? Well, you know the +first figure of course, for as we count time, it is always one. Now jump +to six. Sixteen hundred? Yes; that's it. Two more figures. What is the +next figure to six? Set it down. And the next figure to one? Set that +down. Now what have you? Sixteen hundred and seventy-two. A little +thinking will fix that date so you will not be likely to forget it, and +it is really quite nice to know just when people lived. Now what was +Addison, that people are remembering him for two hundred years? First a +scholar. Then he must have studied hard. Also he was an author--a poet. +When he was about twenty-one he wrote a poem addressed to Dryden. Just +remember that man's name, will you? Some day we will make his +acquaintance. Then he translated Latin poetry, and wrote several +descriptive poems. People do not seem to have thought any of them +remarkable, and for my part I don't know how he made his living. + +[Illustration: JOSEPH ADDISON.] + +We next hear of him as a traveller. His friends managed to get a pension +for him from the king, which was to give him a chance to travel and +qualify himself to serve his Majesty. + +Imagine our government giving a young man a salary to travel around +with, just so that he might get ready to work for it! Joseph went to +France, and to Italy, and to Switzerland. Wait, did I tell you where he +was born? In Wiltshire, England. His father was a minister. I don't +think the government was so very good to him, though, for it forgot to +pay his salary, after the first year, and he had to pay his own +travelling expenses. He seems to have worked hard at his writing, and +some of the poems which people read and admire to-day were written +during these journeys. One named the "Letter From Italy." Some people +think it is the very best of all his poems. + +When he was thirty-eight years old his life began to grow brighter. His +friends succeeded in getting him a government office, and there was a +certain great duke about whose victories Addison made a poem for which +he was paid a large price. From that time he steadily rose in power. He +became secretary to Lord Halifax, and then entered Parliament. In this +place he knew one thing which great men do not always learn. That was, +how to keep still. He was spoken of as "the silent member." A good deal +of his writing is in the form of plays which were acted in the theatres. + +He had a friend named Richard Steele, with whom we must sometime get +acquainted. This Mr. Steele was editor of a paper called _The Tattler_, +for which Addison wrote a great deal. The paper which followed _The +Tattler_ was named _The Spectator_, and in these two papers are gathered +some of the finest writings of the two men. Newspapers were not so +plenty then as now, and _The Spectator_ became famous. Everybody took +it. Addison's essays which were written for it are still read and +admired. + +When he was about forty-six years old, he quarrelled with his old friend +Steele, and they took to writing against each other in the papers, and +calling one another names, like naughty children. At least Steele did; I +am not sure that Addison ever stooped so low. He did not live long after +that. In fact, he died in the June after he was forty-seven. He was +buried in Westminster Abbey in the Poets' Corner. + +Now you have been introduced to him, I hope as you grow older you will +be interested to study his character. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +AGASSIZ, LOUIS JOHN RUDOLPH. + + +Isn't that a pretty name? When he was a little Swiss boy roaming about +his home, I wonder if his mother called him Louis or Rudolph, or plain +John? How many years ago was that? Oh, not so very many. It was one May +day, in 1807, that he opened his eyes on this world. I don't know very +much about his boyhood that can be told here. He was always a good +scholar. Everybody who has anything to say of him seems to be sure of +that. And on questioning them, I find they mean by it that he worked +hard at his lessons and learned them. No boy or girl must think that +good scholars are born so. Every one of them has to work for their +wisdom. Our boy studied at home. His father was a minister. When he was +old enough he was sent away to the best schools within reach, where he +studied medicine. He became a famous man, but not as a physician. The +fact is he was an ichthyologist. Ah, now I've caught you! Who knows the +meaning of that word? Boys, are there any ichthyologists among your +friends? I asked a little girl what the word meant. She did not know and +turned to her tall brother who was studying Latin. "Humph!" he said. "Of +course I know. It is one who understands ichthyology." + +"But what is ichthyology?" she persisted. + +"Why, it is--it is ichthyology, of course," he said; and that is as much +as he seemed to know about it. + +Really, I think we can do better than that. An ichthyologist is one who +understands all about fishes. Think of the little slippery, scaly things +having such a long word as that belonging to them! Where did they get +it? Oh, go back to the Greek language, and ask your father, or your +brother, or somebody, to tell you the Greek word for fish, and you will +be able to guess the rest out for yourselves. + +Well, Louis John Rudolph, when he was quite a boy, was chosen by some +scientific men to study out the story of some fishes that were brought +from the Amazon River. You see he must have had a good name as a +student, or this honor would never have come to him. It seems he did his +work well, and became so interested that he went on studying fishes. +When he was about twenty-one, he began to write papers about their +curious and wonderful varieties, which showed so much knowledge that +scholars began to get very much interested in the student, as well as in +his fishes. As the years went by, and the boy became a man and was +called Mr. Agassiz, he became known all over the world for his knowledge +in this direction; he grew more and more interested. He found fishes +everywhere. Fossil fishes next began to interest him. What are they? +Why, fishes turned to stone. He found them among the rocks of +Switzerland. Very little was known about them. Agassiz undertook to find +out all he could. I have not time, nor room, to tell you the story of +his long hard years of work. I can only tell you that he succeeded. His +name is great, because he has been a great helper to students. It is +great for another reason. The more he studied the wonderful works of +God, the more he seemed to learn to love and trust God. The more he read +of the rocks, and the bones, scattered over the earth, the more sure he +was that the Bible was true. He came to our own country when he was not +much over thirty years old, and lived there for the rest of his life; +always studying, and teaching others. He became a professor in Cambridge +University, where he helped to build a monument for himself in the +Museum of Natural History which has helped and is helping so many +students. He was not an old man when he died--only about sixty-six +years; but he did more work in those years than most men accomplish who +live to be eighty. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +BACON, FRANCIS. + + +When I was a girl in school, the teacher used to give out topics once a +month for essays. One evening she gave to Fanny Rhodes this +topic--"Bacon." Poor Fannie hated essays worse than any of the others, I +believe, and over this subject she fairly groaned. "As if I _could_!" +she said. But she did. In just a month from the day the subjects were +given out, the essays were to be read. Fanny was among the first to be +called forward. I ought to tell you that these monthly essays were not +passed in for correction until after they were read. They were to be +given to the school exactly as they came from the author's hand. So +Fannie began: + +BACON. + + The subject assigned to me for this month is bacon. I do not see how it + is possible for any one to say much on such a subject. Everybody knows + all that there is to say about it. It is simply the flesh of hogs, + salted, or pickled, or dried. + +Before she had reached the close of this sentence, the pupils were in +such roars of laughter that her voice was drowned. She looked around +upon us with such astonished eyes that the thing grew all the funnier, +and the boys fairly shouted. + +Even the gentle teacher was laughing. + +"O Fannie, Fannie!" she said at last. "Did you really think I meant +_pork_?" + +"Why, what else could you mean?" said bewildered Fannie. And then we all +laughed again. + +"Why, Fannie," said Miss Henderson, "I thought of course you would +understand that I meant Lord Bacon." + +"Lord Bacon!" repeated poor Fannie in dismay; "I never heard of him." + +So lest you too make the same mistake, I want to introduce you, not to a +piece of pork, but to Francis Bacon, who was born in London considerably +more than three hundred years ago. Isn't that a long time to be +remembered? + +What about him? Why, he was a very learned man. A lawyer who wrote books +that the lawyers of to-day study carefully. + +Also he wrote essays on a great variety of subjects--essays that +scholars in these days read and enjoy. In fact, as I look them over, I +see many sentences which girls and boys might enjoy before they are old +enough or wise enough to be called scholars. Isn't that a queer idea, +that you must be quite wise before people will say of you "he, or she, +is a scholar?" + +I have been reading Lord Bacon's essay on "Cunning," and it certainly +shows that the people who lived hundreds of years ago, were at least as +cunning as they are now. + +Listen to this: "It is a point of cunning, when you have anything to +obtain of present despatch, to amuse the party with whom you deal, with +some other discourse, that he may not be too much awake to make +objections. + +"I knew a secretary who never came to Queen Elizabeth of England, with +bills to sign, but he would always first put her in some discourse of +state, that she might the less mind the bills." + +And this: "The breaking off in the midst of that, one was about to say, +as if he took himself up, breeds a greater appetite in him, with whom +you confer, to know more." + +Did you never hear girls talk together according to this hint? + +"Girls, it was the queerest thing you ever heard of! And then Minnie +said--but dear me! I don't suppose I ought to tell you that--" + +At which the girls are almost sure to say, "Oh, yes, do! We'll never +repeat it in the world!" + +It is my opinion that a great many boys and girls must have studied +Bacon very carefully. + +Here is another wise saying: "In things that a man would not be seen in +himself, it is a point of cunning to borrow the name of the world: +beginning, 'the world says,' or, 'there is a speech abroad.'" + +If Lord Bacon were living in these days, he would know that the way to +do it would be to commence all such sentences with "Why, they say," etc. +Have you never wondered who "they" were, who are all the time saying +such important, and often such disagreeable things? + +[Illustration: FRANCIS BACON.] + +Lord Bacon says, "I knew one that when he wrote a letter, he would put +that which was most material in the postscript; as if it had been a +by matter." I have received just such letters as that, and sometimes +they are from boys and girls. Remember, the great Lord Bacon does not +say that it is a wise thing to do, but "a point of cunning." + +I do not find that he wrote about getting into debt, but perhaps he did, +for he certainly knew a great deal about it. He has the name of having +been all his life in debt to some of his friends. So, wise man as he +was, like most other men, we can, as soon as we begin to study his life, +find something to avoid, as well as something to copy. + +Yet we are to remember him as a wonderful man. Here is what one writer +says of him: "A man so rare in knowledge, of so many several kinds, +endued with the facility and felicity of expressing it in so elegant, +significant, abundant and yet so choice a way of words, of metaphors, of +allusions, perhaps the world has not seen since it was a world." That +sentence was written long ago, yet men think much the same of him still. + +He was not only a lawyer, but a philosopher. Now just what does that +word mean? Do you know? I thought not. Let us go to the dictionary and +see. "Philosopher: one devoted to philosophy." Very well, Webster, but +what is philosophy? Look again. "Philosophy: the love of, or search +after wisdom." Why, that is extraordinary! Then we may all be +philosophers! But Webster says a great deal more about the word. If you +have a bit of the philosopher in your nature, I think after reading this +article, you will go at once to the dictionary, and have more wisdom +after you have carefully studied the word Philosophy than you had +before. Here is one more definition of the word, to give you a hint of +what Lord Bacon filled his time with. Philosophy: "The science of things +divine and human, and the causes in which they are contained." + +I wonder if you now feel introduced to this great man? Enough so, +certainly, not to think of him as a piece of pork! It is more than two +hundred and fifty years since he died. He was not an old man, only about +sixty-five, I believe; yet he had done a great deal of work, and will be +remembered, I suppose, as long as there are books to read. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +CÆSAR, CAIUS JULIUS. + + +Our Alphabet would not be complete if we left out one of the most +remarkable men that ever lived. Perhaps we shall discover why he is +called a remarkable man. + +Let your thoughts go back along the years to the first years you can +remember anything about, to the times of which your father and mother or +perhaps your grandfather and grandmother have told you. Farther than +that. Go back in the pages of history even farther than the history of +the years when our Saviour was on earth. That is a long time to think +back, is it not? But our record tells us that Cæsar was born one hundred +years before Christ. He must have been a diligent student, for he became +learned in philosophy and science, and thoroughly understood all the +arts of war. Those of you who have progressed so far in your Latin +studies, are familiar with his history of the wars he waged with the +Helvetii, a nation which occupied what is now Switzerland, and with a +king called Ariovistus. This was a German king who had crossed over the +line into Gaul, and if you have read the story of these wars, you know +something of his peculiarity as a historian, as well as something of his +skill in carrying on war. For seven years he waged war in Gaul, in the +meantime invading Britain. After this the Senate at Rome commanded Cæsar +to disband his army and return to Rome. This he refused to do except +under certain conditions which were refused; and the Senate further +declared that unless his army was disbanded by a certain day Cæsar would +be considered a public enemy. When he heard of this decree he called his +soldiers together, and by his eloquence made them feel that both he and +they had been treated badly, and then he determined to go on. It was not +lawful for a general to lead an army into the province of Rome unless +upon occasions of coming in great triumph. + +[Illustration: JULIUS CÆSAR.] + +Now I presume you have heard it said, when a person has gone too far in +some undertaking to retreat, that he "has crossed the Rubicon." The +Rubicon was a small stream which formed the boundary between Gaul, +where Cæsar had been all this time with his army, and the Roman +province. After he had made up his mind what to do, he led his soldiers +across this little river. It was not much to do, but it was the +important step which decided his future course. + +I cannot tell you all that followed; how the leaders at Rome were +terrified at the approach of the famous general, and fled pursued by +Cæsar, who soon was made dictator of Rome. A little while after, hearing +of a chance for a conquest in Asia Minor, he set out for Tarsus and +presently sent back that famous message "_Veni, vidi, vici!_"--"I came, +I saw, I conquered!" + +He came back to Rome after some further triumphs in Africa, and ruled +fifteen years. Though he gained his position of power unlawfully, he +ruled wisely and appears to have sought to promote the welfare of his +State. He made many good laws and carried forward many schemes for the +general good. Among his undertakings was the revision of the calendar, +in which he was assisted by some wise men who suggested the introduction +of leap-years to make up for the six hours which were running behind +every year. + +But he had many enemies, and these conspired to take his life. When he +was fifty-six years old he was assassinated in the Senate chamber. Among +those who conspired against him was Marcus Brutus, who had been his +friend, and when Cæsar saw the hand of Brutus uplifted against him he +exclaimed, "_Et tu Brute!_"--"Thou too Brutus!" and fell down dead. + +It has always seemed to me that there is a whole world of sadness in +those three little words "Thou too Brutus!" There is love and reproach +and despair. When a chosen friend turns against us we feel that we are +undone. + +Well, what have we found out about Cæsar's greatness? He was great in +generalship, great in statesmanship, and great in oratory, and Macaulay +says, "He possessed learning, taste, wit, eloquence, the sentiments and +manners of an accomplished gentleman." What was lacking to make him +truly great? + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +DISRAELI, BENJAMIN. + + +December 21, 1805, there came into the home of a Jewish family in +London a little boy baby. They gave this little boy a long name, but it +is a good name, and you will at once, upon hearing it, recall one of the +most interesting stories of the Old Testament. Perhaps you have already +guessed the name--Benjamin. The father was Isaac Disraeli, a wealthy +Jew, and the author of several valuable books. The young Benjamin grew +up and began to write, publishing his first work when he was twenty-one +years old. And this first book is considered a work of remarkable merit. + +He soon became interested in politics and was a candidate for Parliament +when he was about twenty-seven years old. But he was defeated not only +the first time but again and again. But not discouraged, he continued +to work towards the point which he desired to gain, and in 1837 he took +his seat in the House of Commons. He continued to hold his seat in that +legislative body until his death, when he was not attending to the +duties of higher offices. + +He was called to very high positions; indeed to the highest honors that +England has to offer her subjects. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer, +which is an office corresponding to the Secretary of the Treasury in the +United States. He was also prime minister in the Queen's Cabinet. + +He was a man of great industry, and in addition to his public labors he +wrote several novels which rank high as specimens of literary +excellence. However, as a statesman and an orator he will be longest +remembered. And right here I want to tell the boys an incident of his +career which interests me, showing his determination and persistence in +overcoming his own defects. + +The first speech he made after becoming a member of Parliament was a +very poor one. It is said that his manner as well as his words were so +pompous and pretentious and his gestures so absurdly ridiculous that +the House was convulsed with laughter. In the midst of his speech he +closed abruptly and took his seat, saying with the ring of resolve: + +"I shall sit down now and you may laugh, but the time will come when you +will listen to me!" + +And that time did come! He delivered some famous speeches in the House +of Commons, and as a debater he led his party. + +Boys, we build oftentimes upon our failures! We need not be discouraged +if we are not successful at first. Many of our great men have made +wretched work of their first efforts in the line of their ambition. But +rising above their despondency, setting themselves at work anew with +increased energy, they have conquered. So may you! Disraeli was admitted +to the peerage in 1876, and was known as Lord Beaconsfield. Afterwards, +because of some great service rendered to his country while he was a +member of the Congress of Berlin, the Queen made him a Knight of the +Garter. This is the very highest order of knighthood in the gift of the +sovereign. + +Perhaps some of you boys know something about the "Reform Bill" which +passed the House of Commons in 1876, and which gave to every householder +the right to vote. By this law a great many thousand men, nearly all of +them working men, were made voters. Disraeli was the originator, and, +the most earnest advocate as well, of that bill, which, by his energy +and power in debate was pushed through. Disraeli died a few years since, +and perhaps no statesman or author's death has ever called forth more +newspaper notices and eulogies than his. + +You will find it interesting to study the life and character of this +man, whom not only England and England's sovereign honored, but who +received many tributes of respect from the press of our own land. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +EVERETT, EDWARD. + + +We have many records of great men, born in poverty, and with limited +educational advantages, rising from obscurity to eminence, by their own +efforts. Such we style "self-made men," and in these sketches of great +men we shall have occasion to speak of some of these, but our "E" is not +such an one. Edward Everett was the son of a clergyman, and had in his +youth the best of educational privileges. That these were not +misimproved may be inferred from the fact that he was twice the +"Franklin Medal Scholar" in the Boston public schools. He graduated from +Harvard University when not quite eighteen years old. That was in 1811. +You will observe that I have not gone far back in the history of the +world for a subject. This man lived in the present century, indeed, it +is only about twenty years since he died. Young as he was, he was made +Professor of Greek Literature at Harvard, a very few years after his +graduation. But he went abroad before taking the professor's chair, in +order to prepare himself better for the duties of the position. However, +this preparation was to serve him in other capacities. Not very long did +he serve the University in that way; his countrymen had other work for +him. He had delivered some brilliant lectures at Harvard, but an oration +delivered during the last visit of Lafayette to this country, settled +the question, if any doubt yet remained as to his eloquence; it was on +that occasion pronounced matchless, and the people of Massachusetts +determined that such powers ought and should be made to do service in +the political world. At the call of the people he left the seclusion of +college walls and entered public life as a Representative in Congress. +Later he was recalled from Washington to be the Governor of his State. +Afterwards he travelled again in Europe, and settled himself in an +Italian villa, with the purpose of carrying out a fondly cherished +scheme of writing history. But again he was called into public life; +first as United States Minister to the Court of St. James; then when he +again hoped to settle to private life he was prevailed upon to accept +the Presidency of Harvard College, which he held for three years; then +before he could set about his cherished scheme of labor he was chosen +Secretary of State under President Fillmore. This was his last official +service, though he was not permitted to retire into private life. For +ten years he used his wonderful oratorical powers in the promotion of +public good; now, it was a lecture in behalf of some benevolent +enterprise, now, in commemoration of some historical event, or again, a +eulogy upon some eminent personage. When the scheme was afoot of +securing Mount Vernon to be held by an association for the people of the +United States, Edward Everett devoted his time, his energies and his +unequalled eloquence to the accomplishment of that purpose. He travelled +over the length and breadth of the land, and spoke thousands of times to +appreciative audiences upon the "Character of Washington," and as the +results of that long and wearisome journeying, he contributed to the +cause over sixty thousand dollars. But with the first peal that heralded +the beginning of the war a theme yet more inspiring was given him. The +shot fired at Sumpter reached his ear, and on the twenty-seventh of the +same month he was ready with a speech that rang out from Chester Square +with no uncertain sound. But before the bells rang out "peace" he had +ceased to speak--his lips were mute in death. Less than a week before he +died--in January, 1865--he spoke in Faneuil Hall on behalf of Freedom. + +In Boston, where his death occurred, there were demonstrations of +profound sorrow; the flag at Bunker Hill, as well as all the flags of +the city, was hung at half-mast. The church where the funeral services +were held was crowded and the streets near the church were thronged with +those anxious to pay respect to the memory of the gifted man; "the +minute guns at the Navy Yard and on the Common boomed slowly. The church +bells solemnly tolled, and the roll of muffled drums and the long, +pealing, melancholy wail of the wind instruments filled the air." + +Why the mourning? And why do we call him a great man? His country had +honored him by choosing him to fill positions of trust, he was a +scholar, a brilliant writer and eloquent speaker. Perhaps any one of +these things would have made him what men call great, but this which has +been said of him is worth more than position, scholarship, or eloquence: +"he will longest be remembered as one whose every word and gesture was +untiringly and grandly employed in animating his hearers to the best and +loftiest ends." + +There have been other men gifted in speech, with power of swaying the +minds of the multitudes who came to listen to their eloquence, of whom +this could not be said. Men who when called by their countrymen to use +their power for the country's good, have thought more of furthering +their own selfish purposes than of a nation's honor and prosperity, have +thought more of the applause of the admiring throng than of the +uplifting of the human race. Shall we not then give honor to one who so +cheerfully laid aside his own cherished plans, ever ready to serve the +public, doing his work so well in varied capacities, and of whom it +could be said that "the annals of the country must be searched in vain +to find one who had done more to advance every public interest and +patriotic cause?" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +FARRAGUT, DAVID GLASGOW. + + +The portrait of Admiral Farragut presents to view one of the finest +faces I have ever seen; it is a face I would choose to hang upon the +walls where you boys could look upon it every day of your lives. Even +the pictures upon our walls are our educators; they help to make us what +we are; then let us hang up the faces of the good, the noble and the +true. Let us choose carefully, that only pure and ennobling influences +may be thus shed into our hearts. + +David Glasgow Farragut was descended from an old Spanish family, one of +the conquerors of earlier times, a Don Pedro. His mother was of a good +old Scotch family, and it may be that he inherited from one side that +adventurous, fearless nature which carried him through so many +victories, and from the other side that sturdy independence and grand +faith which was so characteristic of him. When quite a boy he entered +the United States Navy as a midshipman. His father was an army officer, +and Admiral Farragut tells the story of his own greatest victory in life +in this way. He had accompanied his father upon one occasion as cabin +boy. He says: + +"I had some qualities which I thought made a man of me. I could swear, +drink a glass of grog, smoke, and was great at a game of cards. One day +my father said to me, as we were alone in the cabin, 'David, what do you +intend to be?' + +"'I mean to follow the sea!' + +"'Follow the sea! Yes, be a poor miserable drunken sailor before the +mast, kicked and cuffed about the world, and die in some fever hospital +in a foreign clime.' + +"'No,' I said, 'I'll tread the quarter deck and command as you do.' + +"'No, David; no boy ever trod the quarter deck with such principles as +you have and such habits as you exhibit. You'll have to change your +whole course of life if you become a man.' + +"My father left me and went on deck. I was stung with the rebuke and the +mortification--was that to be my fate, as he had pictured it? I said, +'I'll never utter another oath! I'll never drink another drop of +intoxicating liquor! I'll never gamble!'" + +And those vows he kept until his dying day. This was when he was ten +years old, and though he lived to be a great naval commander and won +many victories, I think you will agree with me that this was the +greatest of all. You know that "he that ruleth his spirit is greater +than he that taketh a city." And, too, without this triumph over his own +spirit, do you think he would have won those other battles which have +made him famous? + +During the Civil War he was put in command of an expedition against New +Orleans and soon compelled that city to surrender. For this service he +was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral. It was two years later that, +as has been said, "he tilled up the measure of his fame by the victory +of Mobile Bay." In the heat of the conflict the admiral lashed himself +high in the rigging of his flag ship, so that he could overlook the +scene and direct the movements of his fleet. If you wish to see the +brave old man in the supreme moment of his life, you must read the +account of that battle. He himself said, in speaking of the moment when +to hesitate was to lose all and to go forward seemed destruction, and he +had prayed, "O, thou Creator of man who gave him reason, guide me now. +Shall I continue on, or must I go back? A voice then thundered in my +ear, 'Go on!' and I felt myself relieved from further responsibility, +for I knew that God himself was leading me on to victory." + +He was honored by receiving the thanks of Congress for his services and +by promotion. But worn out with his severe labors in the service of his +country he was soon called to the higher reward. His work was done. His +last victory was the victory over death, for he died the death of the +Christian; the God whose guidance he invoked in the midst of the smoke +and din of battle, gave dying grace to the old hero. He was born in East +Tennessee, in 1801, and died at Portsmouth, N.H., in 1870. We are told +that from boyhood he was thoughtful, earnest and studious. He was one of +the best linguists in the Navy, and whenever his duties took him to +foreign ports he spent his spare moments in acquiring the language of +the natives. His eyes were somewhat weak and the members of his family +were kept busy reading to him, in those times when he was off duty. He +was thoroughly versed in all matters relating to his profession. The +study of the character of a man like Admiral Farragut will be a help to +any boy in the formation of his own character. The grandeur and nobility +of mind, the bravery and steadfastness of soul manifested in his public +life are an example to the boys of the present day. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +GORDON, CHARLES GEORGE. + + +Gordon, Grant, Greeley, Garfield, Gladstone--such an array of names as +sound in my ears when I think of this alphabetical list of great men! We +have come to a letter that is prolific in subjects, and it is hard to +choose. I would like to have you study the characters of the great men +whose names I have written down above and there are others--great men +whose initial letter is "G"--Gough, Garrison, Garibaldi--indeed there +seems to be no end to the list! At present we will speak of only one. I +have headed the list with the name of Gordon, not intentionally, but it +seemed to come first. Was that because he is greatest? Perhaps not. My +boys, there are noble men in this list, some of them your own +countrymen, who have done much for humanity. + +General Charles George Gordon was an Englishman, but his fame has gone +into all the earth; his example, his Christian faith and courage, is +ours to emulate. He belonged to a military family and was educated for +the army, entered his country's service at twenty-one, and distinguished +himself in the Crimean War. Afterwards he was attached to an expedition +of the French and English into China at a time when there was a +rebellion in progress, and upon application of the Chinese government to +the English for an officer to lead their forces in suppressing this +rebellion, Lieutenant Gordon was appointed to the command, and it was at +that time that he began to be called "Chinese Gordon," a name by which +he has been widely known. He was successful in suppressing the revolt +which is known as the Tai-ping Rebellion. The Chinese government were +loud in their expressions of esteem and gratitude and would have +rewarded him right royally, if he would have accepted the reward of +money; as it was, they gave him "a yellow riding-jacket to be worn on +his person, and a peacock's feather to be carried in his cap; also four +suits of uniform proper to his rank in token of their favor and desire +to do him honor." + +[Illustration: CHARLES GEORGE GORDON.] + +As he refused their money, the leading officials called upon the British +ambassador and desired to know what would please the man who had done so +much for them and would not be rewarded. They were puzzled over the +conduct of a man who seemed to be prompted by a motive other than +military glory or pecuniary reward. There has been printed a letter +written to his mother about this time which shows a strong regard for +his parents' feelings and wishes and a desire to put down the rebellion +for the good of humanity. It was several years later that he was +appointed English governor of the Soudan. He was offered a large salary, +but would accept only a moderate sum. This position gave him an +opportunity of fighting the slave trade. He sailed up the Nile to +Khartoum, and from that city he went still farther into the interior of +Africa, into the midst of a people so degraded and wretched that he +wrote "what a mystery, is it not, why they were created! A life of fear +and misery night and day!" And it was his happiness to minister to the +needs of these people. + +It is said that he gave away more than half of his small salary to +soften the lot of the poor creatures, and he was so kind and gentle +with them and so considerate of their needs, that unused as they were to +a governor who treated them with kindness, they became devoted to him, +proving over again that kindness will win even a savage heart. + +During the few years he remained governor of the Soudan he was earnest +in his fight against the slave dealers and accomplished much, but +because the Khedive from whom he received his appointment did not +support his measures, he finally resigned and returned to England. It +was a sad day for the Soudan when he left; I have not time to tell you +how affairs in that far-off country grew worse and worse, until in +January, 1884, General Gordon was sent the second time to command the +Soudan. It is said his coming was welcomed by the people who remembered +his former kindness and that they "fell on their knees before him and +kissed his hand as he passed along the streets." Many of you have read +how the brave General was at length driven into Khartoum and forced to +cut off from communication with the outside world. And finally relief +being delayed the city was taken by the rebels and General Gordon +killed. Thus in following the path of duty he went straight to his +death. He fell in the city which he had sought to defend. He died at his +post. + +Boys, the life and death of this man may teach valuable lessons. There +is always an attraction in stories of the exploits of a brave soldier, +but when you can write after that word brave the other and best +adjective of all, _Christian_, we seem to have passed the highest +eulogy. General Gordon was eminently religious. It is said of him that +he read scarcely anything but the Bible; and that "he was simply a +Christian with his whole heart, and his religion went into the minutest +details of his life." + +Once when waiting in loneliness and weariness on the Upper Nile, for +steamers which were delayed, he wrote: "I ask God not to have anything +of this world come between him and me; and not to let me fear death, or +feel regret if it comes before I complete my programme. Thank God, he +gives me the most comforting assurance that nothing shall disturb me or +come between him and me." + +Whatever may be our political opinions, whatever we may think of the +work he was set to do, and in doing which he lost his life, we are sure +of one thing, this man's devotion to duty was supreme and absolute. And +death found him not shirking or hiding from duty and from danger, as +ever fearless and bold, walking in the line of what he considered his +duty. A chivalrous Christian soldier has ended his warfare, leaving +behind a fragrant memory, a shining example of Christian faith. He +believed in his Leader, and followed with implicit trust, seeking not +for glory, yet his heroic death has covered his name with glory. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +HANNIBAL. + + +Now we will go back through all the years that have rolled away since +Christ came to dwell upon the earth for a time. And yet further back in +the history of the world we will look for our great man. Two hundred and +forty-seven years before Christ, so the chronicle runs, one of the +greatest generals, and one of the most interesting characters of +antiquity, was born at Carthage. + +And where is Carthage, does some one ask? Ah! we must ask, where _was_ +Carthage? your school maps of modern geography do not indicate the +location of this ancient city, which was great and powerful, and +situated upon the northern coast of Africa, near the site of the modern +city of Tunis. In the annals of ancient history, Carthage figures +largely, although no record of its early history has been discovered. +The city was destroyed 146 B.C. Another Carthage was built upon the +same site, which in its turn was destroyed 647 A.D.; and of this second +Carthage we are told that "few vestiges of its ancient grandeur remain +to indicate its site except some broken arches of a great aqueduct which +was fifty miles long." + +At the time when our hero was born, the first Carthage was one of the +two great and powerful cities of the world. It was about that time that +Rome and Carthage began a war for the possession of the beautiful and +rich island of Sicily. This was the first Punic War. The Carthagenians +were defeated and obliged to give up the island to the Romans. + +Hamilcar, a Carthagenian general, burning with thoughts of revenge, took +his young son Hannibal into the temple and made him lay his hand upon +the altar and swear eternal enmity to Rome; thus the boy grew up with +this one absorbing passion filling his young soul--hatred to the Romans. +When his father died, he succeeded to the command of the armies, and +soon engaged in what is known as the second Punic War. He led his army +across Spain and crossed the Pyrenees and marched through Gaul. You see +his object was to enter Italy from the North, but the Alps lifted their +proud heads, seeming to be an insurmountable obstacle lying right in the +path of this great army, like a long and frowning battlement. Would you +not think the soldiers' hearts must have quailed as they looked up to +the snow-capped peaks and realized that unless these were surmounted +their expedition must fail! + +Four little words tell the story--"he crossed the Alps!" But how much of +iron resolution, of endurance, of suffering, of loss of life, and of +perseverance lies behind that sentence! Those who know the Alps, and who +also know what it means to lead an army through difficult passes, tell +us that it was an undertaking of tremendous magnitude, and it would not +have seemed strange if after undergoing such fatigue and hardship, the +army had been defeated by the Roman forces which awaited them at the +foot of the southern slope. But this was not the case. Hannibal was the +victor not only in many minor engagements, but at last he obtained a +complete victory at a place called Cannæ, where he destroyed the Roman +army. This battle has been considered his greatest exploit in the line +of fighting. The spot where this bloody battle was fought is called the +field of blood, and when we know that forty thousand men were slain +there, we would almost expect to see even to this day, the soil stained +with blood, and surely the stain if washed out of the soil cannot be +washed out of the history of those nations. + +Hannibal is spoken of in history as one of the most extraordinary men +that ever lived. His crossing the Alps, his generalship when opposed to +disciplined and powerful forces, his sustaining himself in the enemy's +country for fifteen years, with a large army without calling upon his +own country for aid, his power over his forces, which were made up of +different nationalities, holding them subject to his authority, and +keeping down discontent and mutiny, show him to have possessed +remarkable powers and great genius. In his unflinching enmity to Rome he +was true to the teachings of his childhood. From his babyhood he had +been taught this lesson, that he must hate this enemy of his country, +and to lift Carthage to a height of power and wealth above Rome, was the +aim of his life. He knew that unless Rome could be destroyed there was +always danger for Carthage. They were rivals and one or the other must +go down and this was why he waged such an uncompromising war against +Rome. + +But our hero who set out to conquer Rome was at last conquered. After +many years of success in Italy, a danger threatened his own Carthage. +The Romans had determined to carry the war into Africa; and Hannibal was +obliged to hasten home to defend the city. He met the Roman forces under +Scipio at Zama, and was defeated and forced to sue for peace. He would +not have yielded, but his countrymen compelled him to accept the terms +which Rome offered, humiliating though they were. After this, troubles +followed him, and finally when he was about sixty-five years old the +Romans having gained in power and supremacy demanded his surrender, he +fled from Carthage, and at last seeing no hope of escape or relief, he +killed himself by opening a little cup hidden in a ring, containing a +drop of poison, which he swallowed. + +While we cannot approve his course, knowing as we do, in this Christian +age, that there are better things to live and labor for than the +carrying out of a plan of revenge and hostility towards an enemy, we +must admire many things in the character of Hannibal. His courage, his +patriotism, his unflinching devotion to the cause he had sworn to live +and die for and his faithfulness to what he believed to be his duty, or +as he would probably have expressed it his destiny. We must pity him +that when he had grown old, disappointed and discouraged, he had no +other resource in his troubles but to plunge himself into an unknown +world by his own act. In those days of darkness, before the light of the +Gospel was shed upon the world, it was considered a brave act to take +one's own life when irretrievable disaster had befallen. While learning +our lessons from the admirable traits in our hero's character, be +thankful that we have that light. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +IRVING, WASHINGTON. + + +Among the memoirs of my childhood none are more vivid than those +connected with the school which I attended up to my tenth year; the +schoolhouse, the teachers, the scholars, but above all the school books +are well remembered. That was a proud and happy morning somewhere about +my eighth birthday when I first carried my new American Manual to +school. Now you are puzzled; you have no idea what sort of a book that +was. They went out of use long ago, though in this district of which I +write the old books were retained longer than in many more favored +sections. The American Manual was a book of selections of prose and +verse for the use of reading classes, and it was through that old book, +that I became familiar with the name and writings of Washington Irving. +My first lesson in pathos was "The Widow's Son;" the sad story of +"George Somers" impressed me strongly and helped to form a taste for +that kind of reading. There was no biographical sketch of the author in +those old books, and it was not till long afterwards that I learned +anything about the writer of one of my favorite sketches. + +Washington Irving was a native of New York City. He was of Scotch +descent and early orphaned; in consequence of the death of his father +his education was conducted by his older brothers, himself being the +youngest son of the family. It is said that he was once in the presence +of General George Washington for whom he was named, and that the great +man patted the little boy on the head upon that occasion. From this you +will have some idea of when our author lived. He was born in 1783, and +you will remember that General Washington did not die until 1799, so +that it is not impossible that this story may be true. As to what that +august patting may have had to do with his future career, I cannot +guess, though he might thereby have been inspired with a lofty ambition. + +[Illustration: WASHINGTON IRVING.] + +I am sorry to have to tell you that as a schoolboy Washington Irving was +more fond of reading stories and books of travel than of the study of +his lessons; indeed it is hinted that he read his favorite books slyly, +during study hours. However that may be, he managed to pick up +considerable knowledge of books and of the art of composition, though he +did not at first choose literature as a profession, but took up the law +and failing in this he undertook commercial pursuits; making a failure +in this line also, he seemed driven into literature which had heretofore +been only a pastime. I have spoken of a pathetic sketch which struck my +childish fancy; but perhaps Irving is quite as well known through his +humorous writings as any. "The History of New York by Diedrick +Knickerbocker" has been called "the most original and humorous work of +the age." He spent much time abroad and was honored by the friendship of +even crowned heads and received many honors; among these was a gold +medal bestowed by the British crown for eminence in historical +composition. + +Irving never married, and when a little past fifty he settled at his +country home, "Sunnyside," on the Hudson, his sister and her family his +companions. But for all his devotion to a country life, Irving soon +after accepted the office of Minister to the Court of Spain, and left +his beautiful Sunnyside to spend four years at Madrid. During these four +years he wrote delightful letters to his friends at home, telling his +nieces who doted on their uncle, all about the dress and manners of the +Spanish ladies. + +He returned home in 1846 to spend the remainder of his life in +retirement, occupying himself upon his last and greatest work, _The Life +of Washington_, the fifth volume of which appeared just before the +author's death in 1859. We may not know the secrets of his life, but his +biographers tell us that the lady whom he expected to marry died early +and that he mourned her loss always and that upon his death bed his +thoughts turned towards his early love. He was fond of horseback riding +and kept up the habit of taking long rides until he was an old man, and +one day, when he was about seventy, he was thrown from his horse, +receiving severe injuries. However, he seemed to recover from the +effects of this fall and lived to be seventy-six years old, failing +gradually until the end came; the light went out and one of our greatest +American writers had crossed over to the other side. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +JUDSON, ADONIRAM. + + IN MEMORIAM. + REV. ADONIRAM JUDSON. + BORN AUG. 9, 1788, + DIED APRIL 12, 1850. + MALDEN HIS BIRTHPLACE + THE OCEAN HIS SEPULCHRE. + CONVERTED BURMANS, AND + THE BURMAN BIBLE, + HIS MONUMENT. + HIS RECORD IS ON HIGH. + + +This tells the story; indeed it tells the story of all of us. We are +born, we die, and the years which are counted in between the two dates, +filled with the work we do, whether we do good or evil, make up our +record, and stand as our monument, or if we have not built well lie as a +tumbling mass of ruins. + +The inscription which I have copied is cut upon a marble tablet erected +in the church in the town where the Missionary Judson was born. If we +had only that record our imagination would fill it out. But we are not +left to fancy him growing up an earnest Christian, going out in his +young manhood to a heathen land preaching and translating the Gospel and +at length dying on shipboard. We have a complete record of his life and +we learn that he was the son of a New England clergyman. That he was an +unusually bright boy and learned to read the Bible when he was three +years old! One incident of his boyhood is rather amusing. He was very +fond of solving riddles and puzzles; and on one occasion when he had +worked some time over a newspaper puzzle and succeeding in solving it, +had copied out his answer and carried it to the post-office. But the +postmaster gave the letter to the boy's father, fearing that some +mischief was brewing. The father with his accustomed courtesy and sense +of propriety would not break the seal, but commanded his son to open and +read the letter. The father called for the newspaper containing the +puzzle and studied the boy's work. But he said nothing then or ever +after either of reproof or commendation, but the next day he informed +Adoniram that as he was so apt at solving riddles he had purchased for +him a book of puzzles, and that as soon as he had solved all it +contained he should have one more difficult. The boy was delighted; what +boy who delights in riddles and puzzles would not be delighted with a +new book of puzzles! But imagine if you can the boy's disappointment +when he discovered the book to be a school text book on arithmetic! + +Well, arithmetic sometimes proves a puzzle, even to bright boys. He was +always a faithful student. He graduated at Brown University with the +highest honors, being the valedictorian at commencement. So exemplary +was his course while in college that the college president wrote to his +father a letter of congratulation upon having such an amiable and +promising son. + +A year after graduation young Judson entered a theological seminary. At +the time when he dedicated himself to the service of God, he consecrated +himself to the work of preaching the Gospel. But it was some time +afterwards that he began to think about being a missionary. A printed +missionary sermon preached in England was the means of turning his +thoughts to the heathen. One day while walking alone in the woods +meditating and lifting his heart to God in prayer for direction, the +command "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every +creature," came to him with a new power and meaning, and he then +resolved to obey the command. I suppose you have all heard the story of +the haystack prayer-meeting, when four young men consecrated themselves +to the work of carrying the Gospel to the heathen. About the time that +Mr. Judson gave himself up to the work, he was thrown into the society +of these four young men and together they planned as to ways and means +of carrying out their purpose. + +There were many and great difficulties in the way of carrying out their +scheme. You may wonder why the way should have been so difficult; there +was at that time no foreign missionary society in America to send them +into heathen lands. You must remember that it was seventy-five years ago +that these young Christians were fired with the spirit of missions, and +though it may seem strange to you, it is a fact that the Christian +people of our land had not yet had their attention turned to the work of +foreign missions. The command "Go into all the world," had not reached +their hearts; though the words of Christ had stood in their place in the +record of our Saviour's life, yet their meaning had not yet dawned upon +the hearts of his followers. And I fear that even now in our own day +there are many Christians who overlook the words or read them without +thought of their full meaning. + +It was when the desire of these students was brought before the +association of Congregational churches of Massachusetts that the matter +was considered by that body, and as the result the board of +commissioners for foreign missions was organized. In weakness and with +many misgivings this "mother of American foreign missionary societies" +was organized, but it has grown to be a power in the world of missions. +Afterwards Mr. Judson became a Baptist, and together with a Mr. Rice set +in motion events which led to the formation of the American Baptist +Missionary Union, another society in the interests of the foreign work. + +At length after many trials and a long wearisome journey Mr. Judson and +his wife found themselves in Burmah, which was to be the field of their +labors. For nearly forty years this devoted man labored to light up that +dark country with the Gospel light. Perhaps the most important work of +his whole life was the translation of the Scriptures into Burmese. In +his autobiographical notes are two brief records which stand for years +of hard labor: + +"1832, December 15, sent to press the last sheet of the New Testament in +Burmese;" and, "1834, January 31, finished the translation of the Old +Testament." + +While the work of translation was going on, when the New Testament was +about completed, Doctor Judson was at Ava, the capital of the Burman +Empire; war had broken out between Burmah and England, and as a +foreigner, Doctor Judson was arrested and thrown into prison. At first +he was put into the death prison, but afterwards was removed to an outer +prison, but was kept heavily ironed. Mrs. Judson, alarmed for the safety +of the manuscript, buried it under the house. + +But at length she was permitted to see her husband, and fearing that the +dampness of the soil would destroy the manuscript they devised means for +its preservation. Mrs. Judson made a sort of pillow, not at all +luxurious, lest some one should envy him and take it away; but she sewed +the manuscript up in matting, and for months Doctor Judson slept with +the precious pillow under his head. At one time when the prisoners were +thrust again into the inner prison, everything was taken from them and +the missionary feared that he should never again see his beloved +manuscript. But the pillow proved so hard that the jailer threw it back +into the prison, doubtless thinking that if the prisoner could find any +comfort in that, he was welcome to it. Once again the precious package +was taken from him and this time thrown away. But the Providence that +watches over all the interests of his children put it into the heart of +a Burmese convert to pick it up as a souvenir of his beloved missionary +teacher whom he supposed was about to be put to death, never dreaming +that it contained anything of value; and months afterwards he restored +it to Doctor Judson. And in due time it was printed and given to the +Burman world as a precious legacy from one who loved them more than +life. + +In all the years of his missionary labor Doctor Judson visited his +native land but once. He brought three children to America to be +educated and himself after a short sojourn returned to his work. But his +arduous labors, together with his intense sufferings during the period +of imprisonment, had enfeebled his constitution, and three years after +his return he died on shipboard as he was taking a short voyage in +search of health, and was buried at sea. + +Doctor Judson's life of consecration, his self renunciation, can but +influence the hearts of all who make it a study. I have heard of a young +man who was so impressed upon reading the life of this wonderful man, +that he went out into a field and there alone with Christ gave himself +up to the service of the Lord. The era of foreign missionary work began +with the hour when the few Christian students at Williams and Andover +gave themselves to the work. + +A conscientious decision may revolutionize the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +KNOX, JOHN. + + +I want to take you back to the sixteenth century, into rugged Scotland, +and into the rugged times of that period of its history. I want to +introduce to you a man of whom it was said, "No grander figure can be +found in the history of the Reformation in this island, than that of +Knox." + +John Knox was a boy when the Reformation movement began in Germany; +indeed it was ten years after that when he was ordained a priest. It was +twelve years later that he avowed himself a Protestant, and thus +incurred the wrath of the Cardinal. He was of course obliged to withdraw +from St. Andrew's, where he held the position of teacher, and seek a +place of refuge. This he found with a friend named Hugh Douglass. And +the old ruins of the chapel at that place are still called "Knox's +Kirk." One of his beloved friends was tried and condemned to the stake +for heresy. The Cardinal whose anger he had roused was killed about that +time, and Knox was suspected of having a hand in it; and, having been +tried, was condemned to the galleys. For about a year he suffered as a +prisoner and from illness. After he was set free he went to a town on +the borders of England, were he succeeded in turning the hearts of many +to the views of the Reformers. Always as he had opportunity he defended +the cause of the Reformation. + +He was raised to a post of honor by King Edward, receiving the +appointment of King's Chaplain. He was offered a bishopric, but declined +that honor. At Edward's death he was again in danger. Because the new +sovereign was not in sympathy with the views which he was advocating, +and not thinking it wise to throw away his life, he went to the +Continent; he was for a time pastor of a church in Geneva, he became a +friend of Calvin and spent two or three peaceful years. + +When he returned to England the Scottish clergy burned him in effigy, +and he was not well received even in England. Elizabeth was now upon the +throne, but this did not seem to make matters much better for Knox. + +Now I cannot tell you in the little space given me about the stormy +times that followed his return to Scotland. He believed that the time +had come when the Reformation in Scotland must be established, and he +fought bravely with tongue and pen for its success. The young and +beautiful queen of Scotland tried her powers of pleasing upon the heroic +man who had dared to speak plainly of the sins even of the court. "But +the faces of angry men could not move him, neither could the beauty of +the young queen charm him, nor her tears melt him." He continued to +preach according to his convictions, and kept it up with no lessening of +power until a short time before his death. But about 1570 his strength +declined; but though growing weaker physically, he seemed to lose none +of his intellectual and spiritual vigor. He spoke in public for the last +time November 9, 1572, and died on the twenty-fourth of the same month, +holding up his hand to testify of his adherence to the faith for which +he had lived and preached and toiled, and in which he was now dying. I +think the more you study the character of this man, the more you will +admire it. If he seemed rough, remember he lived in rough times. If he +was intolerant, it was an age of intolerance, and his intolerance was +exercised only where he felt that the truth was assailed. + +Carlyle says: "Nothing hypocritical, foolish or untrue can find harbor +in this man; a pure and manly, silent tenderness of affection is in him; +touches of genial humor are not wanting under his severe austerity. A +most clear-cut, hardy, distinct and effective man; fearing God without +any other fear. There is in Knox throughout the spirit of an old Hebrew +prophet-spirit almost altogether unique among modern men." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +LINCOLN, ABRAHAM. + + + +[Illustration: MR. LINCOLN AND TAD.] + +Of course; who should it be if not our Lincoln? The name is a household +word in all our homes, and I doubt if I can tell you anything which you +do not already know about this great man; the story of his life and his +deeds are familiar to every schoolboy. His features are well known to +you all, for there is scarcely a home that has not his portrait upon its +walls. + +In 1809 Abraham Lincoln was born in a lonely cabin on the banks of a +small river or creek in Kentucky; born to poverty, hardship and +obscurity, born to rise from obscurity, through poverty, hardship and +toil to the highest point of an American boy's ambition. He early +learned the meaning of privation and self-denial. The accounts of his +early life are somewhat meagre, but he has told us himself that he had +only about one year of school-life. Think of that, you boys who are +going steadily forward year after year, from the primary school through +all the intermediate grades up to the advanced, then to the academy, +thence to college, and afterwards to law and divinity schools, think of +Abraham Lincoln's school privileges and be thankful for your own. And +more, show your appreciation by your improvement of your advantages. + +[Illustration: LINCOLN'S EARLY HOME IN KENTUCKY.] + +Like many of our great men, Lincoln was what we style a self-made man, +and yet it seems that he owed something of his making to his stepmother. +His own mother died when he was a small boy, and the new mother who +sometime after came into the family was very helpful to the boy, +encouraging him in his love of books, and under her guidance he became a +great reader, devouring every book he could lay his hands upon. Did it +ever occur to you that it might be an advantage to some of us if we had +fewer books? Driven back again and again to the few, we should read them +more carefully and make the thoughts our own, and perhaps the stock of +ideas gathered from books would even exceed that which we gain from the +multitude of books we have in these days of bookmaking. Whether you read +much or little, few books or many, boys, read with careful thought. +Take in and digest thoroughly the thoughts presented to you. + +[Illustration: LINCOLN'S FIRST HOUSE IN ILLINOIS.] + +Well, this young man had but few books, but he seems to have laid by a +number of ideas which should develop in time into acts which were to +startle the world and overthrow existing institutions. He worked through +his early manhood and boyhood with his hands, sometimes on a farm, +sometimes as a clerk in a country store. Now as a boatman, now at +clearing up and fencing a farm. + +It was while engaged in this last-mentioned employment that he earned +the title afterwards given him in derision by his political opponents, +"The rail splitter;" but I suspect that he could have answered as did +the boy who in the days of prosperity was taunted with having been a +bootblack, "Didn't I do it well?" + +At length the way opened--or, as I think, he by his exertions forced a +way to study law, and he began his practice of the profession in +Springfield, Ill. + +I ought to have told you, however, that before his admission to the bar +he served in the Black Hawk War as captain of a company of volunteers. +He soon gained distinction as a lawyer, but presently became interested +in politics. + +[Illustration: FLATBOAT.] + +And from that time his history is closely identified with that of his +country. To tell you of the leading incidents even of his career would +be to give you in a nutshell the history of the United States for that +period. His noted contest with Stephen A. Douglas, his election to the +presidency, his re-election, his celebrated Emancipation Proclamation, +all these matters belong to the story of the stirring events of those +years of our history. Then came the sad ending of this noble life; the +cruel assassination of the beloved President, and the great man of the +time. + +Boys, you who have studied his character, can you tell me what made +Abraham Lincoln great? + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +MORSE, SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE. + + +Long before he reached the pinnacle of his fame, Samuel Finley Breese +Morse passed many quiet summer hours on the pleasant wooded borders of +the ravine overlooking the peaceful Sconondoah; and even to this day if +you wander through the beautiful Sconondoah wood and hunt out its +sequestered nooks, you will find here and there, cut deep in the rugged +bark of old forest trees, the initials S.F.B.M., carved by his hand more +than half a century ago. + +Professor Morse was born at Charlestown, Mass., in 1791. He was the son +of a Congregational clergyman, who was the author of a series of school +geographies familiar to our fathers and mothers in their schooldays. He +was educated at Yale College, and, intending to become a painter, went +to London to study art under Benjamin West; but becoming interested in +scientific studies he was for many years president of the National +Academy of Design in New York. He resided abroad three or four years. On +returning home in 1832 the conversation of some gentlemen on shipboard +in regard to an experiment which had recently been tried in Paris with +the electro-magnet, interested him and started a train of thought which +gave him the conception of the idea of the telegraph. The question arose +as to the length of time required for the fluid to pass through a wire +one hundred feet long. Upon hearing the answer, that it was +instantaneous, the thought suggested itself to Prof. Morse that it might +be carried to any distance and be the means of transmitting +intelligence. Acting upon the thought, he set to work, and before the +ship entered New York harbor had conceived and made drawings of the +telegraph. He plodded on through weary years endeavoring to bring his +invention to perfection, meeting on every hand jeers and ridicule and +undergoing many painful reverses in fortune; but for his indomitable +will, he would have given up his project long before he succeeded in +bringing it before the public, for all thought it a wild scheme which +would amount to nothing. + +In 1838 he applied to Congress for aid that he might form a line of +communication between Washington and Baltimore. Congress was quite +disposed to regard the scheme a humbug. But there was a wire stretched +from the basement of the Capitol to the ante-room of the Senate Chamber, +and after watching "the madman," as Prof. Morse was called, experiment, +the committee to whom the matter was referred decided that it was not a +humbug, and thirty thousand dollars was appropriated, enabling him to +carry out his scheme. Over these wires on the 24th of May, 1844, he sent +this message from the rooms of the U.S. Supreme Court to Baltimore: +"What hath God wrought!" and connected with this message is quite a +pretty little story. Having waited in the gallery of the Senate Chamber +till late on the last night of the session to learn the fate of his +bill, while a Senator talked against time, he at length became +discouraged, and confident that the measure would not be reached that +night went to his lodgings and made preparations to return to New York +on the morrow. The next morning, at breakfast, a card was brought to +him, and upon going to the parlor he found Miss Annie Ellsworth, the +daughter of the Commissioner of Patents, who said she had come to +congratulate him upon the passage of his bill. In his gladness he +promised Miss Ellsworth that as she had been the one to bring him the +tidings, she should be the first to send a message over the wires. And +it was at her dictation that the words, "What hath God wrought?" were +sent. + +Success was now assured; honors and riches were his, and those who had +been slow to believe in the utility of his invention were now proud of +their countryman and delighted to do him homage. Upon going abroad again +he was received more as a prince than as a plain American citizen, kings +and their subjects giving him honor. It may be believed that even in his +wildest flights of fancy Professor Morse did not dream of the rapid +spread of the use of his invention, or look forward to the time within a +few years, when the telegraph wires would weave together the ends of the +world and form a network over the entire Continent. + +A few years ago, the only telegraph wire in China was one about six +miles in length, stretching from Shanghai to the sea, and used to inform +the merchants of the arrival of vessels at the mouth of the river. A +line from Pekin to Tientsin was opened a short time since. The capital +of Southern China is in communication with the metropolis of the North, +and as Canton was connected by telegraph with the frontier of Tonquin at +the outbreak of the late political troubles, the telegraph wires now +stretch from Pekin to the most southern boundary of the Chinese Empire, +and China, ever slow to adopt foreign ideas, is crossed and re-crossed +by wires; we may say the thought which came to Prof. Morse upon that +memorable voyage has reached out and taken in the whole world. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +NEWTON, SIR ISAAC. + + +"Every body in nature attracts every other body with a force directly as +its mass and inversely as the square of its distance." This has been +called "The magnificent theory of universal gravitation which was the +crowning glory of Newton's life." I doubt not many of you have struggled +manfully with this law as laid down in your school-books, and, having +conquered it, and fixed the principle in your minds to stay, you may +like to know something about the philosopher himself. In 1642, a puny, +sickly baby was supposed to be moaning away its young life in +Lincolnshire, England. + +[Illustration: SIR ISAAC NEWTON.] + +This child's name was Isaac Newton. He belonged to a country gentleman's +family. His father having died, his mother's second marriage occasioned +the giving of the child into the care of his grandmother. As he grew +older he gained in health and was sent to school. Having inherited a +small estate, as soon as he had acquired an education which was +considered sufficient to enable him to attend to the duties of one in +his position, he was removed from school and entrusted with the +management of his estate. However, this young Newton developed a +passion for mathematical studies which led him to neglect the business +connected with his estate. He busied himself in the construction of toys +illustrating the principles of mechanics. These were not the clumsy work +which might be expected from the hands of a schoolboy, but were finished +with exceeding care and delicacy. It is said there is still in existence +two at least of these toys; one is an hour-glass kept in the rooms of +the Royal Society in London. + +Isaac Newton's mother was a wise woman in that she did not discourage +his desire for the pursuing of his studies and for investigation. She +did not say, "Now, my son, you must put away these notions and attend to +your business. You have a property here which it is your duty to manage +and enjoy. You should find satisfaction in your position as a country +squire and consider that you have no need of further study." On the +contrary, this mother allowed her son to continue his studies; he was +prepared for and entered the college at Cambridge when he was eighteen. +From that period until his death, at eighty-five, he devoted himself +unweariedly to mathematical and philosophical studies. + +You all know the story of the falling apple. He had been driven by the +plague in London to spend some time at his country-seat in Woolstrop, +and while resting one day in his garden he saw an apple fall to the +ground. Suddenly the question occurred, "Why should the apple fall to +the ground? Why, when detached from the branch, did it not fly off in +some other direction?" + +And where do you suppose he found the answer? Read the first sentence of +this article and see if _you_ find it there! The truth had been the +controlling power of all the falling apples since the creation, but it +had never before been understood or formulated; perhaps this discovery +of the law of universal gravitation gave him more renown than all his +other labors put together. + +He met with a sad misfortune, later, when, by the accidental upsetting +of a lighted candle, the work of twenty years was destroyed. The story +as told by a biographer is, that Sir Isaac left his pet dog alone in his +study for a few moments, when the candle was overturned amongst the +papers on the study table. It is further told as an evidence of the +calmness and patience of the great man, that he only said, "Ah! Fido, +you little know of the mischief you have done!" + +But although he was so quiet under the great loss, the trial was almost +too much for him; for a time his health seemed to give way, and his +mental powers suffered from the effects of the shock. He died in 1725, +and was buried in Westminster Abbey. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +OBOOKIAH, HENRY. + + +A few years ago I copied from a marble slab, imbedded in the earth upon +a grave in a quiet country cemetery at Cornwall, Ct., the following +inscription: + + Henry Obookiah of Owhyee, + Died February 17, 1818, aged 26. + +His arrival in this country gave rise to the Foreign Mission School of +which he was a worthy member. He was once an idolator and designed for a +Pagan priest; but by the grace of God, and by the prayers and +instructions of pious friends, he became a Christian. He was eminent for +piety and missionary zeal; was almost prepared to return to his native +island to preach the Gospel when God called him. In his last moments he +wept and prayed for his "Ow-hy-hee," but was submissive to the will of +God and died without fear, with a heavenly smile on his face and glory +in his soul. + +This remarkable young man was early made an orphan by the cruel massacre +of both father and mother during a fearful struggle of two parties for +the control of his native island, Hawaii. His younger brother was also +slain while the boy of our sketch was endeavoring to save him by +carrying him upon his back in his flight. Obookiah was taken prisoner +and made a member of the family of the man who had murdered his parents. +After a year or two he was discovered by an uncle, and his release from +the hands of his enemy secured. His uncle was a priest and he entered +upon the work of preparing his young nephew for the same service. This +preparation was very different from the preparation of young men in +Christian lands for the work of the Gospel ministry. One part of his +duty was to learn and to repeat long prayers; sometimes he was forced to +spend the greater part of the night in repeating these prayers in the +temple before the idols. But Henry was not happy; he had seen his +parents and little brother cruelly murdered, and thoughts of the +terrible scene and of his own lonely and orphaned condition preyed upon +his mind continually. But he had passed through still another sad +experience. Before peace was restored in the island he was again taken +prisoner together with his father's sister. He succeeded in making his +escape the very day which had been appointed for his death. His aunt was +killed by the enemy, and this made him feel more sad and lonely than +before, and he resolved to leave the island, hoping that if he should +succeed in getting away from the place where everything reminded him of +his loss he might find peace if not happiness; and this is how he was to +be brought under Christian influences in Christian America. He sailed +with Captain Britnall and landed in New York in the year 1809. He +remained for some time in the family of his friend the captain, at New +Haven. Here he became acquainted with several of the students in Yale +College, who were at once interested in this young foreigner. From one +of these friends he learned to read and write. + +His appearance was not prepossessing or promising. His clothes were +those of a rough sailor and his countenance dull and expressionless. But +he soon showed that he was neither dull nor lacking in mental power. + +For some time, while Obookiah improved in the knowledge of English, +making good progress in his studies, he was unwilling to hear any talk +about the true God. He was amiable and quite willing to be taught, and +drank in eagerly the instruction given on other subjects, but after some +months he began to pray to the true God. He had a friend, also a +Hawaiian and his first prayer in the presence of another was made in +company with his friend. A copy of this prayer has been preserved and I +copy it for you to show how even in the beginning of his own interest in +Gospel truth, his thoughts turned towards his native country. + +"Great and eternal God--make heaven--make earth--make everything--have +mercy on me--make me understand the Bible--make me good--great God, have +mercy on Thomas--make him good--make Thomas and me go back to +Hawaii--tell folks in Hawaii no more pray to stone god--make some good +man go with me to Hawaii, tell folks in Hawaii about heaven"-- + +From this time until he died his one longing was to go back to his early +home and tell the people about God. He used to talk with his friend +Thomas about it and plan the work. In his diary he wrote at one time: + +"We conversed about what we would do first at our return, how we should +begin to teach our poor brethren about the religion of Jesus Christ. We +thought we must first go to the king or else we must keep a school and +educate the children and get them to have some knowledge of the +Scriptures and give them some idea of God. The most thought that come +into my mind was to leave all in the hand of Almighty God; as he seeth +fit. The means may be easily done by us, but to make others believe, no +one could do it but God only." + +In April, 1817, a Foreign Mission School was opened at Cornwall. And +Obookiah became a pupil in this school, intending to finish his +preparation for work among his own people as soon as practicable. A +description of this Sandwich Islander as given of him at that time may +be of interest: "He was a little less than six feet in height, +well-proportioned, erect, graceful and dignified. His countenance had +lost every trace of dullness, and was in an unusual degree sprightly and +intelligent. His features were strongly marked, expressive of a sound +and penetrating mind; he had a piercing eye, a prominent Roman nose, +and a chin considerably projected. His complexion was olive, differing +equally from the blackness of the African and the redness of the Indian. +His black hair was dressed after the manner of Americans." + +As a scholar he was persevering and thorough. After he had gained some +knowledge of English, he conceived the idea of reducing his native +language to writing. As it was merely a spoken language, everything was +to be done. He had succeeded in translating the Book of Genesis and made +some progress in the work of making a grammar and dictionary. But the +work he had planned was not to be finished by his own hand. Within a +year from the time he entered the school at Cornwall he was called home. +As recorded upon the marble slab, his last thoughts were for his native +island; his last earthly longing was, that the Gospel might be preached +to his own countrymen. One of our popular cyclopædias gives a brief +mention of this remarkable young man and makes this statement: "He was +the cause of the establishment of American Missions in the Sandwich +Islands." + +To have so lived, and by his earnestness and zeal so inspired others +that upon his death they were ready to take up and carry forward the +work he had planned, was to have accomplished even more than he could +had he been permitted to enter upon the work for which he was +preparing. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +PENN, WILLIAM. + + +The other day I was looking at a map of Philadelphia, and at once my +thoughts went back to my schooldays and the primary geography in which +occurred the question, "What can you say of Philadelphia?" And the +answer, "It is regularly laid out, the streets crossing each other at +right angles like the lines on a checker-board." And again, "What is +Philadelphia sometimes called?" Answer, "The City of Brotherly Love." + +And now I wish I could set before you the calm, sweet, yet strong face +of the man who founded and named this city, who truly desired it to be a +city of love. + +William Penn was a native of London. He was born nearly a quarter of a +century after the Pilgrims landed upon Plymouth Rock; he belonged to a +good family, his father being Admiral Sir William Penn of the British +Navy. It appears that the son was of a religious turn of mind, and when +he was a boy of twelve years he believed himself to have been specially +called to a life of holiness. He was very carefully educated, but he +offended his father by joining the Quakers; indeed, it seems that +several times in the course of his life his father became very much +displeased with him, but a reconciliation always followed, and at last +the Admiral left all his estate to the son who had been such a trial to +him. While a student at the University, Penn and his Quaker friends +rebelled against the authority of the college and was expelled. The +occasion of the rebellion was in the matter of wearing surplices and of +uncovering the head in the presence of superiors. You know that the +Quakers always keep their hats on, thinking it wrong to show to man the +honor which they consider belongs only to God. + +I cannot follow with you all the vicissitudes of Penn's life; after +leaving the University he travelled upon the Continent. Afterwards he +studied law in London; he became a soldier. This strikes us as being +somewhat curious when we remember that the sect to which he belonged +are opposed to war, and preach the doctrine of love and peace. However, +he was not long in service, and meeting a noted Quaker preacher he +became firmly fixed in his devotion to the society of Friends, and was +ever after a strong advocate of its doctrines; nothing could turn him +from the path he had chosen. He was several times imprisoned on account +of his religious opinions and suffered persecution and abuse. Through +all he adhered to his views, and stood by his Quaker friends in the dark +days of persecution. He had inherited from his father a claim against +the British Government of several thousand pounds, and in settlement of +this claim he received a large tract of land in the then New World. With +the title to the land he secured the privilege of founding a colony upon +principles in accordance with his religious views. And in 1682 he came +to America and laid the foundations not only of the City of Brotherly +Love, but of the State of Pennsylvania. His object was to provide a +place of refuge for the oppressed of his own sect, but all denominations +were welcomed, and many Swedes as well as English people came. While +other colonies suffered from the attacks of the Indians, for more than +seventy years, so long as the colony was under the control of the +Quakers, no Indian ever raised his hatchet against a Pennsylvania +settler. + +Under a great elm-tree, long known as Penn's elm, he met the Indians in +council, soon after his arrival in the territory which had been ceded to +him. + +He said to them: + +"My friends, we have met on the broad pathway of good faith. We are all +one flesh and blood. Being brethren, no advantage shall be taken on +either side. Between us there shall be nothing but openness and love." + +And they replied, "While the rivers run and the sun shines, we will live +in peace with the children of William Penn." + +It has been said that this is the only treaty never sworn to and never +broken. + +William Penn lived to see his enterprise achieve a grand success. +Philadelphia had grown to be a city of no small dimensions and no little +importance. The colony had grown to be a strong, self-supporting State, +capable of self-government. + +"I will found a free colony for all mankind," said William Penn. Were +these the words of a great man? + +Unswerving integrity, undaunted courage, adherence to duty, and devotion +to the service of God--are these the characteristics of a great man? + +Then William Penn may well be placed in our Alphabet of Great Men. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +QUINCY, JOSIAH. + + +Counting back for five generations, we find in the Quincy family a +Josiah. The great-great-grandfather of the present Josiah Quincy was a +merchant, and we are told that he was a zealous patriot in Revolutionary +times, and you all know that meant a great deal. + +His son, who was called Josiah Junior, became a celebrated lawyer, and +was prominent as an advocate of liberty. It was he who with Samuel Adams +addressed the people when the British ships anchored in Boston Harbor +with the cargo of tea. But notwithstanding his reputation for +patriotism, his action in defending the soldiers who fired upon the mob +in what is known as the Boston Massacre, brought him into unpopularity. + +Yet I think that if you study the facts carefully, and weigh them well, +you will see that although the presence of the British soldiers was an +outrage, and justly obnoxious to the people, yet upon that occasion +there was some excuse for their action. And John Adams and Josiah Quincy +should not be condemned for undertaking their defence. + +Afterwards both did good service in the interest of Colonial +Independence. Quincy went to England doing much to promote the good of +his country. + +He died upon the homeward voyage in 1775, in sight of American shores. +His son Josiah, three years old at the time of his father's death, was +educated at Harvard University, became a lawyer, a member of Congress, +and having filled acceptably various other offices, was at length +elected President of Harvard, which position he held for fifteen years. +He had a son Josiah, also a graduate of Harvard, and again the fifth +Josiah in the line is a graduate of the same institution. + +There are other Quincys of this family who have attained celebrity; +among these are Edmund Quincy, who was prominent in antislavery +circles. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +RUSH, BENJAMIN. + + +In 1885, all over this land, we celebrated a centennial. It was not in +commemoration of a victory upon the battlefield, it was not the +celebration of a victory, but rather as we observe with fitting +ceremonies the anniversaries of the firing of the first guns in any +contest of right against wrong, so in this last centennial year we +commemorated the first booming of cannon in the great war against the +rum traffic, the beginning of a war that is not ended yet; all along +down the century the booming has been heard, and to-day this moral fight +is waging fiercely. + +About one hundred and forty years before, near the city of Philadelphia, +a boy named Benjamin Rush was growing up. It is said of him that as he +advanced from childhood to boyhood his love of study was unusual, +amounting to a passion. He graduated from Princeton College when only +fifteen years old, and with high honors. He began the study of medicine +in Philadelphia, but went abroad to complete his medical education and +studied under the first physicians in Edinburgh, London and Paris; thus +the best opportunities for gaining knowledge of his chosen profession +were added to natural abilities and the spirit of research. He became a +practising physician in Philadelphia, and was soon after chosen +professor of chemistry in a medical college in the same city. While he +is now at the distance of a century, best known as one who struck the +first blow for temperance reform, yet it is interesting to know that +when in 1776, he was a member of the Provincial Assembly of +Pennsylvania, he was the mover of the first resolution to consider the +expediency of a Declaration of Independence on the part of the American +Colonies. He was made chairman of a committee appointed to consider the +matter. Afterwards he was a member of the Continental Congress, and was +one of the devoted band who in Independence Hall affixed their names to +the immortal document which cut the colonies loose from their moorings +and swung them out upon a sea of blood, to bring them at last into the +harbor of freedom and independence. As was said of him at the meeting in +Philadelphia, last year: "He was a great controlling force in all that +pertained to the successful struggle of the colonies for national +independence." We are told that "He was one of the most active, original +and famous men of his times; an enthusiast, a philanthropist, a man of +immense grasp in the work-day world, as well as a polished scholar, and +a scientist of the most exact methods." + +He was interested in educational enterprises; he wrote upon epidemic +diseases, and won great honor for himself, so that the kings of other +lands bestowed upon him the medals which they are wont to give to those +whom they desire to honor. And now let me quote again from one who +appreciates the character of this truly great man: + +"This matchless physician, eminent scholar and pure patriot blent all +his wise rare gifts in one tribute and cast them at the feet of his +Master. He was a devout Christian." + +At length his soul was stirred within him as he witnessed the increasing +evils of intemperance, and he wrote and published his celebrated essay +upon "The Effects of ardent Spirits upon the Human Body and Mind, with +an account of the means of preventing them, and of the remedies for +curing them." This is said to have been the first temperance treatise +ever published--the beginning of a temperance literature. So short a +time ago, just one pamphlet of less than fifty pages; now, whole +libraries of bound books, besides scores upon scores of pamphlets, +leaflets and many periodicals devoted exclusively to the cause of +temperance! and nearly three quarters of a century after this good man +had gone to his rest, men and women from all over the land thronged the +city of his birth "To recount the victories won in the war--and to +strike glad hands of fellowship." + +And now what made Doctor Rush great? What is the best thing said of +him? + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +SAVONAROLA, GIROLAMO. + + +Four hundred and thirty-four years--1452-1886. What wonderful events +have been taking place all along through these years since the young +Girolamo first saw the light! And I have been wondering what Savonarola +would have said and done had he lived in this nineteenth century. He is +spoken of as one whose soul was stirred by ardent faith which burned +through all obstacles; as a fervid orator and as a sagacious ruler, who +evolved order out of chaos; as one who to maintain his cause of reform +braved single-handed the whole power of the Papacy. He is described as a +serious, quiet child, early showing signs of mental power. The books +which were his favorites would, I fear, be pronounced dry by the boys of +to-day. But although he was given to solid reading, he was fond of +music and poetry, and even wrote verses himself. He enjoyed solitude, +and loved to wander alone along the banks of the River Po. I ought to +have told you that his native city was Ferrara, in Italy. He was +expected to succeed his grandfather who was an eminent physician, and +with that end in view he was carefully trained. But as he grew older, he +found himself growing to regard the thought with disfavor, and as time +went on he became convinced that "his vocation was to cure men's souls +instead of men's bodies." Yet he was for a long time restrained from +entering upon the priesthood by regard for the hopes and desires of his +parents. But at length after having made this his daily prayer, "Lord, +teach me the way my soul must walk," the path of duty became clear and +he, avoiding the painful farewells, slipped away from home one day when +the rest of the family were absent at a festival, writing an +affectionate note of explanation and farewell. He entered a monastery at +Bologna, where he gave himself up to the work of special preparation for +the duties of his profession. + +After some years he was sent to Florence to preach. At first his plain +and severe denunciations of the prevailing sins of the time repelled +the people who preferred to go where they could hear more polished and +less conscience-awakening sermons, and Savonarola mourned over his +apparent failure to reach the hearts of the multitude who were rushing +on in the ways of sinful indulgence. But his soul was moved with zeal +"for the redemption of the corrupt Florentines. He must, he would, stir +them from their lethargy of sin." He was convinced that he was in the +line of duty, and the more indifferent his hearers were the more anxious +he grew for their awakening. Actuated by this motive he suddenly found +his voice and revealed his powers as an orator. God had shown him how to +reach men's hearts at last, and "he shook men's souls by his predictions +and brought them around him in panting, awestruck crowds;" then at the +close of his denunciations of sin, his voice would sink into tender +pleading and sweetly he would speak of the infinite love and mercy of +God the Father. + +After a time, St. Mark's Church would not hold the crowds which came to +hear him and he was invited to preach in the Cathedral. He was now +acknowledged as a power in Florence, and the great Lorenzo de' Medici +who was then at the height of his fame as a ruler, was alarmed, and he +sent a deputation of five of the leaders of the government to advise the +monk to be more moderate in his preaching, hinting that trouble might +follow a disregard of this advice. But the monk was unmoved. He replied, +"Tell your master that although I am an humble stranger and he the +city's lord, yet I shall remain and he will depart." He also declared +that he owed his election to God, and not to Lorenzo, and to God alone +would he render obedience. + +Lorenzo was very angry, but he tried to silence the monk by bribery, but +Savonarola would not be bribed nor driven. He continued to preach with +great fervor, denouncing sin in high places as well as in low. You know +that in those times corruption had crept into the Church of Christ, and +it was against these sins of the Church that his most scathing +denunciations were hurled. He had many followers, and he pushed his +reforms in Church and State. His enemies grew more bitter and fiercer. +Remonstrances from those in authority had no effect. He was offered a +cardinal's hat, but would not accept the conditions. He said, "I will +have no hat but that of the martyr, red with mine own blood." + +And this was his fate; at last he was put to death in 1498. Almost his +last words were, "You cannot separate me from the Church triumphant! +that is beyond thy power." In the convent of St. Mark's are preserved +various relics of the martyed monk, among which are his Bible with notes +by his own hand, and a portrait said to have been painted by Fra +Bartolommeo. I have seen a copy of this portrait. It is in profile, with +the Friar's cowl. At the first glance the expression of the prominent +features seems strangely stern, but as you study the face it seems to +soften and the sternness becomes sadness mingled with tenderness. One +can imagine those worn and pallid features lighted up with excitement, +the eyes animated and glowing with zeal, and the lips so expressive of +power, relaxing into a smile even, and thus looking upon it we wonder +not that crowds hung upon his words. + +Hatred of sin, zeal for its removal from Church and State, seems to have +been two of his strong characteristics. And he was ever bold and active +in lifting up and carrying forward the standard of truth. If sometimes +his zeal outran his wisdom and judgment, if sometimes his enthusiasm +seemed to reach what we might call a religious frenzy in which he heard +supernatural voices and saw visions, we can but believe in his sincerity +and admire his boldness and commend his fearless exposure of sin. And as +we study his character again and again we wonder as in the beginning of +this sketch, how he would have acted in these days when sin "comes in +like a flood!" Have we not need of a Savonarola? Have we not need of an +army of strong, fearless men and women who shall lift up the standard of +the Gospel against the tide of sin? One thought more: will each of my +young readers enlist in this army and be diligent in preparing to meet +the attacks of the enemy? + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +TENNYSON, ALFRED. + + +The birthplace of Alfred Tennyson, Poet-Laureate, is described as an old +white rectory, standing on the slope of a hill, the winding lanes +shadowed by tall ashes and elms, with two brooks meeting at the bottom +of the glebe field. One who has written of the poet says: "In the early +beginning of this century the wind came sweeping through the garden of +this old Lincolnshire rectory, and as the wind blew, a sturdy child of +five years old, with shining locks, stood opening his arms upon the +blast and letting himself be blown along, and as he travelled on he made +his first line of poetry, and said, 'I hear a voice that's speaking in +the wind;' and ever since that hour voices have been speaking to him and +he has given to us the thoughts borne on winds and waves and by +circumstances and surroundings, in language that we can understand. +Through his poems we catch glimpses of babbling brooks, and gardens, and +ivied walls; of Italian skies and summer mornings, of peaceful homes and +of battle crash, and as we read we may take in the pure and grand +sentiments which cannot fail to have an elevating and inspiring +influence upon our hearts and lives." + +Alfred Tennyson first saw the light in Lincolnshire, England, in the +year 1809. His father was a clergyman, and a man of great abilities, who +carefully educated his children, and from whom his sons may have +inherited their poetical genius. Of their mother it has been said that +"she was intensely and fervently religious, as a poet's mother should +be." + +The story of Alfred's first attempt at verse-making is this: one Sabbath +all the elders of the family were going to church, leaving the child +alone. An older brother gave him a slate and a subject, "The Flowers in +the Garden," and when the family returned from service he handed the +slate to his brother covered over with blank verse, then waited while +the critic read! Imagine his satisfaction when the slate was handed back +with, "Yes, you can write." + +It is also said that the first money he earned by his pen was upon the +occasion of his grandmother's death, when he wrote an elegy, at his +grandfather's request, for which the old gentleman paid him ten +shillings, saying, "There, that is the first money you have earned by +your poetry, and, take my word for it, it will be the last." + +_That_ must have been rather discouraging. If the old grandfather could +know of the honors and the money which have come to his grandson through +his writings, he would doubtless be astonished. + +He began to write for the press when quite young, and has written much, +and I have no doubt his poems are familiar to you all. He was made +Poet-Laureate in 1850. + +A boy who lived in the neighborhood of Tennyson's home in the Isle of +Wight, gave his definition of Poet-Laureate to a lady who asked him if +he knew Mr. Tennyson. + +"He makes moets for the Queen," was the boy's reply. + +"What do you mean?" asked the lady. + +"I don't know what they means," said the boy, "but p'licemen often seen +him walking about a-making of 'em under the stars." + +After Mr. Tennyson's marriage he settled at Freshwater, in the Isle of +Wight. This home of the poet is described as "a charmed palace, with +green walls without, and speaking walls within. There hung Dante with +his solemn nose and wreath; Italy gleamed over the doorways; friends' +faces lined the way, books filled the shelves, and a glow of crimson was +everywhere; the great oriel drawing-room window was full of green and +golden leaves, and the sound of birds and the distant sea. Beautiful in +spring-time when all day the lark trills overhead, and when the lark has +flown out of our hearing the thrushes begin and the air is sweet with +scents from many fragrant shrubs. + +"Later, when the health of Mrs. Tennyson required a more quiet place, +for Freshwater had become a fashionable summer resort, the family made +for themselves a new home on the summit of a high lonely hill in +Surrey." + +Now I might copy for you some bits out of the poems I like the best; or, +I might gather here a cluster of bright gems, but I think you will enjoy +the search if you each try this for yourselves instead. + +Once I had occasion to select for a literary exercise "Gems from +Tennyson," and I found it a delightful task, only it was hard to choose, +and harder to find a stopping place. I will give the boys just one +extract: + + "Not once or twice in our fair island story, + The path of duty was the way to glory; + He that ever following her commands, + On with toil of heart and knees and hands, + Through the long gorge to the far light has won + His path upward and prevail'd, + Shall find the toppling crags of duty scaled + Are close upon the shining table-lands + To which our God himself is moon and sun." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +ULFILA. + + +Long, long ago, about two centuries after our Saviour ascended into +Heaven from the midst of the wondering disciples, a calamity befell a +Christian family living in Cappadocia. You will find if you turn to the +second chapter of Acts, that among those who listened to Peter's first +sermon were men who dwelt in Cappadocia; and again Peter addresses his +first epistle to the Christians in Cappadocia, or, as the revision has +it, "To the elect who are sojourners" in various places, this one among +others. + +So you will see that the Christian religion had already, even in Peter's +time, spread thus far. + +Upon the occasion of an invasion of the Goths, the family of which I +write was carried away into captivity. Among these pagans our hero +Ulfila was born, in the year 313. His early home was upon the northern +bank of the Danube. Belonging to a Christian family he was educated in +the principles of the Christian religion, and became a bishop. He taught +the Goths the truths of the Bible, and many embraced Christianity. +Indeed, so successful were the good bishop's labors among the people, +that their chief showed his displeasure by persecuting the Christians. +Then Ulfila and many of his followers, those whom he had shown the way +of life, left the Goths, and, securing the permission of the Roman +emperor, they settled upon Roman territory. + +These were afterwards called Moesogoths, from the name of the district +in which they settled--Moesia. They gave up their warlike life, and +became an agricultural people. And the colony increased through the +immigration of others of their own people. For it seems that though +Ulfila had left, the influence of his preaching did not cease, and +others embraced Christianity, and as the persecutions continued these +determined to join Ulfila, so it came about that through the efforts of +this one man large numbers were taught the truths of the Bible. He +translated the Bible into the language of the Goths. This was an +immense labor, for he was obliged to invent a new alphabet. + +In a public library in Upsal, Sweden, there is a curious volume known as +the Codex Argenteus, or, silvered book. It is a translation of the four +Gospels, and its letters are in silver, on leaves of purple vellum. This +is a fragment of Ulfila's translation. The whole work was lost for about +five centuries, but was discovered, at least parts of it found, by a man +named Mercator, in an old abbey of Werden, in the sixteenth century. +Other parts of the New Testament have been found, but only some +fragments of Ezra and Nehemiah have been discovered of the Old +Testament. + +We have had handed down to us very few particulars of Ulfila's life. He +died at Constantinople, in 383. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +VINCENT, REV. JOHN H., D.D. + + +I have written down the name of the "great man" which I have chosen to +stand in this Alphabet, and here I pause as I reflect that to many of +you his face and form and speech are familiar. You have seen him upon +the platform and upon the avenues of Chautauqua and Framingham, and in +other places. Some of you have welcomed him at your own homes; his +smiles and his talks are among the things which will be always, so long +as you live, a pleasant memory. What can I tell you about him that you +do not already know? Yet I am not willing that another name should take +the place of this, and therefore we will talk a little together of this +friend of the young people, and idol of the older people. + +Dr. Vincent's early home was in the Sunny South. "In the land of orange +blossoms and magnolia groves," he first saw the light. Six years of his +life were spent in the home of the flowers; then the family came North +and settled in Pennsylvania. + +Like the mothers of many of our great men, John H. Vincent's mother +might fill a place in the book called "Some Remarkable Women." + +She is described as "patient, amiable, living as though she belonged to +heaven rather than earth. Often at the twilight hour, especially on +Sundays, she would take her children to her own room, and there sweetly +and tenderly tell them about the life to come, and point out their +faults and spiritual needs." + +Mrs. Bolton in her sketch of Dr. Vincent, in "How Success is Won," gives +some amusing incidents of the childhood of our Great Man. I quote from +memory, but I think it is she who tells the story of the boy of six +years gathering the children of the neighborhood, and after getting them +quiet by threatening them with the lash of a whip, he would preach to +them. And so far did his zeal carry him, that upon one occasion he tore +into several parts a small red-covered hymn book, which he valued as the +gift of his pastor, and distributed the pieces through his audience, +doubtless thinking it highly important that all should be supplied with +hymn books. Whether they all sang together from the different parts of +the book given them, we are not informed. + +Very early in life the boy seems to have decided that he would _do +something with his life worth while_; that he would do that which should +help others, and realizing that there is a world to be saved, he grew up +with the hope of one day becoming a minister. His studies were carried +on for a time at home, afterwards at a neighboring academy. Later he +engaged in teaching, continuing his studies by himself, and finally he +had fitted himself for college. Not every boy would have the will and +perseverance to carry on a course of study while teaching six hours or +more each day. However, he did not finish his college course. Not for +any want of persistence, neither did he consider such a course +unimportant. But he was anxious to be about his Master's work, and thus +it was that before he was twenty-one years old he set out to preach "on +a thirty-mile circuit, over the mountains and through the valleys of +Luzerne County, Pennsylvania." + +He travelled on horseback, studying and thinking out his sermons as he +journeyed. Everybody, young and old, were glad to see his bright, +smiling face and feel the warm grasp of his hand. It has been said that +"he never shook hands with the tips of his fingers, nor preached dry +sermons." + +It was during this period of his life that his mother whose parting +words when he went out into the world were, "My son, live near to God; +live near to God," went to be with God. One near the throne in heaven, +the other living near the throne on earth; is this the secret of John H. +Vincent's success in the Lord's vineyard? + +[Illustration: REV. JOHN H. VINCENT, D.D.] + +At length he became a pastor, preaching for a few years in New Jersey, +afterwards in the vicinity of Chicago. But all the time he was busy with +plans of an educational character. These plans which were at first +carried out in the establishing of Saturday afternoon classes of young +people, called Palestine Classes, with the purpose of studying about the +Holy Land, have at length developed a Chautauqua. I need not tell you +about Chautauqua; about the C.L.S.C., nor about the C.Y.F.R.U.; you do +not need to be told about the town and country clubs, nor about the +society of Christian ethics. Many of you have listened to those Sunday +afternoon talks in the Children's Temple, and afterwards gone to the +vesper service in the Hall of Philosophy. + +I ought to tell you that although Dr. Vincent postponed his college +course, he never gave it up, but outside college walls, he continued his +studies by himself, even in the midst of a busy life, until by regular +examinations he took his degrees, and also passed through the regular +theological course of study of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which +denomination he belongs. + +To the boys especially I recommend the study of the life and character +of Dr. Vincent. A gentleman remarked in my hearing the other day, +"probably no man living is exerting a wider influence over the hearts +and minds of the young people than Dr. Vincent!" And I thought, what a +responsibility! and how thankful the fathers and mothers should be that +he is just the man he is; that his influence is ever on the side of +truth and right; that his aim is to uplift, and that Christ is ever the +centre of his thought. To see and hear Dr. Vincent is to understand +something of the secret of his power. The sympathy which manifests +itself in every look and tone, the enthusiasm with which he enters into +his work, and which tides him over the hard places, and the personal +magnetism--which makes you, whether you will or not; these qualities, +sanctified and consecrated, make the man a power for good. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +WEBSTER, DANIEL. + + +A long time ago, not quite a century, however, upon a New England farm, +a mischievous woodchuck was caught after much time and patience had been +expended. It was the intention of the farmer's sons to put the animal to +death, but the younger boy's heart was touched with pity; he begged that +the captive might go free. His brother objecting, the case was carried +to the father. + +"Well, my boys," said the farmer, "there is the prisoner; you shall be +the counsel and plead the case for and against his life and liberty, +while I will be the judge." + +The older boy, whose name was Ezekiel, opened the case. He urged the +mischievous nature of the animal, cited the great harm already done, +said that much time and strength had been spent in securing him, and +now, if he were set free, he would only renew his depredations. He also +urged that it would be more difficult to catch him again, for he would +profit by this experience and be more cunning in the future. It was a +long and practical argument, and the proud father was apparently quite +affected by it. Then came the younger boy's turn. He pleaded the right, +of anything which God had made, to life. He said that God furnished man +with food, and all they needed; could they not spare this little +creature who was not destructive, and who had as much right to his share +of God's bounty as they had; could they not spare to him the little food +necessary to existence? Should they in selfishness and cold-heartedness +take the life which they could not restore again, and which God had +given? + +During this appeal tears started to the father's eyes, and while the boy +was in the midst of his argument, not thinking that he had won the case, +the judge started from his chair, and, dashing the tears away, +exclaimed: + +"Zeke! Zeke! you let that woodchuck go!" + +[Illustration: DANIEL WEBSTER AT MARSHFIELD.] + +This incident I have briefly written out for you is told of the early +life of the man who forty years later made his celebrated speech in the +Senate Chamber in defence of the Constitution, which ended with these +memorable words, "Liberty and union, now and forever, one and +inseparable!" + +Daniel Webster, the orator and statesman, was born at Salisbury, N.H. +The house in which he first saw the light is, I think, still standing, +though not as it was originally; some years ago it became the wing, or +kitchen part of a new house. The farm was rugged and not very fertile; +it is said that granite rocks visible in every direction, gave an air of +barrenness to the scene. Among "wild bleak hills and rough pastures," +his boyhood was spent. His advantages of education were limited. The +family library consisted of "a copy of Watts' Hymns, a cheap pamphlet +copy of Pope's Essay on Man, and the Bible, from which he learned to +read, together with an occasional almanac." + +He struggled with poverty through his college days, and after graduating +at Dartmouth, went to Boston to study law. He is described as "raw, +awkward, shabby in dress, his rough trousers ceasing a long distance +above his feet." After much discouragement he was entered in a law +office as a student. He was admitted to the bar in 1805, and in 1808 he +married Miss Grace Fletcher. A pretty story is told of his engagement. +One day he was assisting the young lady in disentangling a skein of +silk; suddenly he said: "Grace, cannot you help me tie a knot that will +never untie?" "I don't know, but I can try," she said. + +And they tied the knot, and the writer who tells the story, says, +"Though eighty years have sped by, it lies before me to-day, +time-colored, it is true, but nevertheless still untied." + +Mr. Webster was a member of Congress eight years; was in the United +States Senate nineteen years, and a Cabinet officer five years. It is +related of him that he tore up his college diploma, saying, "My industry +may make me a great man, but this parchment cannot." A classmate says he +was remarkable in college for three things: steady habits of life, close +application to study, and the ability to mind his own business. Is it +any wonder that he became a great man? + +There is much in the life and character of Daniel Webster worthy of +study, and many incidents are related which illustrate his greatness. +One of the best things on record is this: at a dinner party given in his +honor, some one asked him this question. "Mr. Webster, what was the +most important thought that ever occupied your mind?" To this he +replied, "The most important thought that ever occupied my mind was the +thought of my individual responsibility to God." + +Mr. Webster died in 1852. Thousands came to attend the funeral, and amid +the sorrowing throng they laid him away in the family tomb at +Marshfield. Thirty years more passed, and 1882 had come. It was then one +hundred years since his birth, and again thousands upon thousands came +to honor the memory of this son of New England. Men high in office--even +the President of the United States--military men, scholars, judges, +lawyers and ministers, men and women of the city and from the hillsides +and from the valleys came to the sad, solemn celebration. And a long +procession moved amid the tolling of bells, the booming of cannon, and +the low, solemn dirge played by military bands. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +XENOPHON. + + +Xenophon was an Athenian who lived about four hundred and fifty years +before Christ. He was a celebrated general, historian and philosopher. +He was a learner at the school of Socrates, and counted as one of his +most gifted disciples. The life and the teachings of the great +philosopher have been given to us by the writings of Xenophon, and his +sober and practical style gives a good idea of the original. Quintilian, +a Roman orator and critic, says of Xenophon, "The Graces dictated his +language, and the Goddess of Persuasion dwelt upon his lips." + +His style is pure and sweet, and he seems to have been a man of elegant +tastes and amiable disposition, as well as extensive knowledge of the +world. + +Perhaps his greatest exploit as a general was the leading of the Greek +troops across the mountain ranges and the plains of Asia Minor. This +was after the battle of Cunaxa, where the younger Cyrus was defeated and +slain. Xenophon had joined this expedition against the brother of Cyrus, +Artaxerxes Mnemon, with ten thousand Greek troops. After the defeat many +of the Greek leaders were treacherously murdered in the Persian camp. +The Greeks were almost in despair. They were two thousand miles from +home, surrounded by enemies, and the only way of retreat lay across +mountain ranges, deep and rapid rivers, and broad deserts. It seemed as +if fatigue and starvation and the hostility of those whom they must +encounter would effectually prevent their return to their native land, +but Xenophon roused them from their despondency, rallied the forces, and +they began the march. It was a time of great suffering, for they had +literally to fight their way. But when they reached a Grecian city after +untold peril, it was found that of the ten thousand led forth, eight +thousand and six hundred still remained. During the latter part of his +life he lived at Corinth, having been expelled from Athens. Though the +decree of banishment was revoked, he never returned. His literary work +was mostly performed during these later years. Of all his writings, his +Anabasis has been pronounced the most remarkable. It is a work giving an +account of the nations in the interior of Asia Minor, and of the Persian +Empire and its government. + +He died at Corinth, in his ninetieth year. + + + + +THE ROUND WORLD SERIES + +The Full Stature of a Man. By Julian Warth. + +Grafenburg People. By Reuen Thomas. + +The Rusty Linchpin and Luboff Archipovna. By Mme. Kokhanovsky. + +The Romance of a Letter. By Lowell Choate. + +Dorothy Thorne. By Julian Warth. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories of Great Men, by Faye Huntington + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF GREAT MEN *** + +***** This file should be named 35331-8.txt or 35331-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/3/3/35331/ + +Produced by Peter Vachuska, Jason Isbell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://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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