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diff --git a/35331-h/35331-h.htm b/35331-h/35331-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2011ccc --- /dev/null +++ b/35331-h/35331-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3970 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Stories Of Great Men by Faye Huntington. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +img { + border:none; +} +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.linenum { + position: absolute; + top: auto; + left: 4%; +} /* poetry number */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.sidenote { + width: 20%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} +.left {text-align: left;} +.right {text-align: right;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {color:#333;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.clear { + clear:both; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +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 + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h1>STORIES OF GREAT MEN</h1> + +<div class="center">BY</div> +<h2>FAYE HUNTINGTON</h2> + + +<p class="center">Author of "Stories of Remarkable Women,"<br /> +"Echoing and Re-Echoing," "Those Boys,"<br /> +"Dr. Deane's Way," "Couldn't be<br /> +Bought," "Mrs. Deane's Way,"<br /> +"What Fide Remembers,"<br /> +etc., etc.</p> + + +<p class="center"><i>ILLUSTRATED</i></p> + + +<p class="center">BOSTON<br /> +LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY +<!-- Page 4 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1887,<br /> + +by<br /> +<span class="smcap">D. Lothrop and Company</span>.</p> + +<p><!-- Page 5 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i001.jpg"><img src="images/i001_t.jpg" style="width:40%" alt="ALEXANDER THE GREAT."/></a> +<div class="caption">ALEXANDER THE GREAT.</div></div> + + +<p><!-- Page 6 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table summary="table of contents"> +<tr><th colspan="2" class="left">Chapter.</th><th class="right">Page</th></tr> +<tr><td class="right">I.</td><td><span class="smcap">Alexander the Great</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">II.</td><td><span class="smcap">Addison, Joseph</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">III.</td><td><span class="smcap">Agassiz, Louis John Rudolph</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">IV.</td><td><span class="smcap">Bacon, Francis</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">V.</td><td><span class="smcap">Cæsar, Caius Julius</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">VI.</td><td><span class="smcap">Disraeli, Benjamin</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">VII.</td><td><span class="smcap">Everett, Edward</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">VIII.</td><td><span class="smcap">Farragut, David Glasgow</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">IX.</td><td><span class="smcap">Gordon, Charles George</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">X.</td><td><span class="smcap">Hannibal</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">XI.</td><td><span class="smcap">Irving, Washington</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">XII.</td><td><span class="smcap">Judson, Adoniram</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">XIII.</td><td><span class="smcap">Knox, John</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">XIV.</td><td><span class="smcap">Lincoln, Abraham</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">XV.</td><td><span class="smcap">Morse, Samuel Finley Breese</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">XVI.</td><td><span class="smcap">Newton, Sir Isaac</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_86">86</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">XVII.</td><td><span class="smcap">Obookiah, Henry</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">XVIII.</td><td><span class="smcap">Penn, William</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">XIX.</td><td><span class="smcap">Quincy, Josiah</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">XX.</td><td><span class="smcap">Rush, Benjamin</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">XXI.</td><td><span class="smcap">Savonarola, Girolamo</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">XXII.</td><td><span class="smcap">Tennyson, Alfred</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">XXIII.</td><td><span class="smcap">Ulfila</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">XXIV.</td><td><span class="smcap">Vincent, Rev. John H., D.D.</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">XXV.</td><td><span class="smcap">Webster, Daniel</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">XXVI.</td><td><span class="smcap">Xenophon</span></td><td class="right"><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<p><!-- Page 7 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="OUR_ALPHABET_OF_GREAT_MEN" id="OUR_ALPHABET_OF_GREAT_MEN"></a>OUR ALPHABET OF GREAT MEN.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.<br/> + +ALEXANDER THE GREAT.</h2> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 8 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +thirteen years old he had one of the greatest men +in the world for his teacher. This man's name +was Aristotle.</p> + +<p>Another "A," you see; but I shall have to +leave you to discover his greatness for yourselves.</p> + +<p>When Alexander was sixteen, his father left +him to manage the country while he himself +went to war.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 9 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>This series of battles was closed at a place +named Gordium.</p> + +<p>Have you ever heard of the "Gordian knot?"</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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,<!-- Page 10 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Before he was thirty-three years old this won<!-- Page 11 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>derful, +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>So closed this great <i>little</i> 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."<!-- Page 12 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.<br/> + +ADDISON, JOSEPH.</h2> + + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 13 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I want you all to become acquainted with the +real Joseph Addison; enough to know what it +means when you hear him mentioned.</p> + +<p>So, if you please, set down his name in your +alphabetical dictionary: Joseph Addison.<!-- Page 14 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i015.jpg"><img src="images/i015_t.jpg" style="width:40%" alt="JOSEPH ADDISON."/></a> +<div class="caption">JOSEPH ADDISON.</div></div> + +<p>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<!-- Page 15 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +travel and qualify himself to serve his Majesty.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 16 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +spoken of as "the silent member." A good deal +of his writing is in the form of plays which were +acted in the theatres.</p> + +<p>He had a friend named Richard Steele, with +whom we must sometime get acquainted. This +Mr. Steele was editor of a paper called <i>The +Tattler</i>, for which Addison wrote a great deal. +The paper which followed <i>The Tattler</i> was +named <i>The Spectator</i>, 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 <i>The Spectator</i> became famous. +Everybody took it. Addison's essays which +were written for it are still read and admired.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Now you have been introduced to him, I +hope as you grow older you will be interested +to study his character.<!-- Page 17 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.<br/> + +AGASSIZ, LOUIS JOHN RUDOLPH.</h2> + + +<p>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<!-- Page 18 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>"But what is ichthyology?" she persisted.</p> + +<p>"Why, it is—it is ichthyology, of course," he +said; and that is as much as he seemed to know +about it.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 19 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +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<!-- Page 20 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +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.<!-- Page 21 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br/> + +BACON, FRANCIS.</h2> + + +<p>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 <i>could</i>!" 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:</p> + + +<p>BACON.</p> + +<p>The subject assigned to me for this month is +bacon. I do not see how it is possible for any<!-- Page 22 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Even the gentle teacher was laughing.</p> + +<p>"O Fannie, Fannie!" she said at last. "Did +you really think I meant <i>pork</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Why, what else could you mean?" said bewildered +Fannie. And then we all laughed +again.</p> + +<p>"Why, Fannie," said Miss Henderson, "I +thought of course you would understand that I +meant Lord Bacon."</p> + +<p>"Lord Bacon!" repeated poor Fannie in dismay; +"I never heard of him."</p> + +<p>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?<!-- Page 23 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + +<p>What about him? Why, he was a very learned +man. A lawyer who wrote books that the lawyers +of to-day study carefully.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>And this: "The breaking off in the midst of +that, one was about to say, as if he took himself<!-- Page 24 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +up, breeds a greater appetite in him, with whom +you confer, to know more."</p> + +<p>Did you never hear girls talk together according +to this hint?</p> + +<p>"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—"</p> + +<p>At which the girls are almost sure to say, +"Oh, yes, do! We'll never repeat it in the +world!"</p> + +<p>It is my opinion that a great many boys and +girls must have studied Bacon very carefully.</p> + +<p>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.'"</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i025.jpg"><img src="images/i025_t.jpg" style="width:40%" alt="FRANCIS BACON."/></a> +<div class="caption">FRANCIS BACON.</div></div> + +<p>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<!-- Page 25 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 26 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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.<!-- Page 27 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.<br/> + +CÆSAR, CAIUS JULIUS.</h2> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 28 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i029.jpg"><img src="images/i029_t.jpg" style="width:40%" alt="JULIUS CÆSAR."/></a> +<div class="caption">JULIUS CÆSAR.</div></div> + +<p>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<!-- Page 29 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 "<i>Veni, +vidi, vici!</i>"—"I came, I saw, I conquered!"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But he had many enemies, and these conspired<!-- Page 30 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +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, "<i>Et tu Brute!</i>"—"Thou +too Brutus!" and fell down dead.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?<!-- Page 31 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br/> + +DISRAELI, BENJAMIN.</h2> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 32 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 ges<!-- Page 33 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>tures +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:</p> + +<p>"I shall sit down now and you may laugh, +but the time will come when you will listen to +me!"</p> + +<p>And that time did come! He delivered some +famous speeches in the House of Commons, and +as a debater he led his party.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Perhaps some of you boys know something<!-- Page 34 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<!-- Page 35 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br/> + +EVERETT, EDWARD.</h2> + + +<p>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<!-- Page 36 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +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<!-- Page 37 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +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<!-- Page 38 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 39 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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?"<!-- Page 40 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br/> + +FARRAGUT, DAVID GLASGOW.</h2> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 41 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +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:</p> + +<p>"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?'</p> + +<p>"'I mean to follow the sea!'</p> + +<p>"'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.'</p> + +<p>"'No,' I said, 'I'll tread the quarter deck and +command as you do.'</p> + +<p>"'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.'</p> + +<p>"My father left me and went on deck. I was +stung with the rebuke and the mortification<!-- Page 42 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>—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!'"</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 43 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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.<!-- Page 44 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +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.<!-- Page 45 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br/> + +GORDON, CHARLES GEORGE.</h2> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>General Charles George Gordon was an Eng<!-- Page 46 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>lishman, +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."<!-- Page 47 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i047.jpg"><img src="images/i047_t.jpg" style="width:40%" alt="CHARLES GEORGE GORDON."/></a> +<div class="caption">CHARLES GEORGE GORDON.</div></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It is said that he gave away more than half of +his small salary to soften the lot of the poor<!-- Page 48 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 49 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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, +<i>Christian</i>, 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."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>Whatever may be our political opinions, what<!-- Page 50 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>ever +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.<!-- Page 51 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.<br/> + +HANNIBAL.</h2> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And where is Carthage, does some one ask? +Ah! we must ask, where <i>was</i> 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<!-- Page 52 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +was destroyed 146 <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> Another Carthage was +built upon the same site, which in its turn was +destroyed 647 <span class="smcap">A.D.</span>; 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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 53 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +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!</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 54 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 55 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +were rivals and one or the other must go down +and this was why he waged such an uncompromising +war against Rome.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 56 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +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.<!-- Page 57 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br/> + +IRVING, WASHINGTON.</h2> + + +<p>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;"<!-- Page 58 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i059.jpg"><img src="images/i059_t.jpg" style="width:40%" alt="WASHINGTON IRVING."/></a> +<div class="caption">WASHINGTON IRVING.</div></div> + +<p>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<!-- Page 59 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 Min<!-- Page 60 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>ister +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.</p> + +<p>He returned home in 1846 to spend the remainder +of his life in retirement, occupying himself +upon his last and greatest work, <i>The Life +of Washington</i>, 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.<!-- Page 61 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br/> + +JUDSON, ADONIRAM.</h2> + +<p class="center"> +IN MEMORIAM.<br /> +REV. ADONIRAM JUDSON.<br /> +BORN AUG. 9, 1788,<br /> +DIED APRIL 12, 1850.<br /> +MALDEN HIS BIRTHPLACE<br /> +THE OCEAN HIS SEPULCHRE.<br /> +CONVERTED BURMANS, AND<br /> +THE BURMAN BIBLE.<br /> +HIS MONUMENT.<br /> +HIS RECORD IS ON HIGH.<br /> +</p> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 62 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +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<!-- Page 63 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +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!</p> + +<p>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 veledictorian +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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 64 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 65 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 autobi<!-- Page 66 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>ographical +notes are two brief records which +stand for years of hard labor:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 prison<!-- Page 67 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>ers +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.</p> + +<p>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,<!-- Page 68 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A conscientious decision may revolutionize +the world.<!-- Page 69 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br/> + +KNOX, JOHN.</h2> + + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 70 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<!-- Page 71 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> + +<p>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,<!-- Page 72 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +and his intolerance was exercised only where he +felt that the truth was assailed.</p> + +<p>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." +<!-- Page 73 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i073.jpg"><img src="images/i073_t.jpg" style="width:40%" alt="MR. LINCOLN AND TAD."/></a> +<div class="caption">MR. LINCOLN AND TAD.</div></div> + +<p><!-- Page 74 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span><br/></p> + +<p><!-- Page 75 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br/> + +LINCOLN, ABRAHAM.</h2> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 76 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i076.jpg"><img src="images/i076_t.jpg" style="width:40%" alt="LINCOLN'S EARLY HOME IN KENTUCKY."/></a> +<div class="caption">LINCOLN'S EARLY HOME IN KENTUCKY.</div></div> + +<p>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<!-- Page 77 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +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<!-- Page 78 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +in and digest thoroughly the thoughts presented +to you.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i077.jpg"><img src="images/i077_t.jpg" style="width:40%" alt="LINCOLN'S FIRST HOUSE IN ILLINOIS."/></a> +<div class="caption">LINCOLN'S FIRST HOUSE IN ILLINOIS.</div></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 79 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +lawyer, but presently became interested in politics.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i079.jpg"><img src="images/i079_t.jpg" style="width:40%" alt="FLATBOAT."/></a> +<div class="caption">FLATBOAT.</div></div> + +<p>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<!-- Page 80 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +beloved President, and the great man of the +time.</p> + +<p>Boys, you who have studied his character, +can you tell me what made Abraham Lincoln +great?<!-- Page 81 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br/> + +MORSE, SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE.</h2> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 Ben<!-- Page 82 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>jamin +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<!-- Page 83 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +a wild scheme which would amount to nothing.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 84 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 85 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +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.<!-- Page 86 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br/> + +NEWTON, SIR ISAAC.</h2> + + +<p>"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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i087.jpg"><img src="images/i087_t.jpg" style="width:40%" alt="SIR ISAAC NEWTON."/></a> +<div class="caption">SIR ISAAC NEWTON.</div></div> + +<p>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<!-- Page 87 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +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 es<!-- Page 88 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>tate. +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.</p> + +<p>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.<!-- Page 89 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> + +<p>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?"</p> + +<p>And where do you suppose he found the answer? +Read the first sentence of this article +and see if <i>you</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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!"<!-- Page 90 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.<!-- Page 91 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br/> + +OBOOKIAH, HENRY.</h2> + + +<p>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:</p> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">Henry Obookiah of Owhyee,</span><br /> +Died February 17, 1818, aged 26.<br /> +</p> + +<p>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 with<!-- Page 92 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>out +fear, with a heavenly smile on his face and +glory in his soul.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 93 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<!-- Page 94 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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"—</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 95 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +friend Thomas about it and plan the work. In +his diary he wrote at one time:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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 pen<!-- Page 96 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>etrating +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."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>To have so lived, and by his earnestness and<!-- Page 97 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +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.<!-- Page 98 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.<br/> + +PENN, WILLIAM.</h2> + + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 Ad<!-- Page 99 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>miral +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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 100 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +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<!-- Page 101 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>He said to them:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>And they replied, "While the rivers run +and the sun shines, we will live in peace with +the children of William Penn."</p> + +<p>It has been said that this is the only treaty +never sworn to and never broken.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"I will found a free colony for all mankind,"<!-- Page 102 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +said William Penn. Were these the words of +a great man?</p> + +<p>Unswerving integrity, undaunted courage, adherence +to duty, and devotion to the service of +God—are these the characteristics of a great +man?</p> + +<p>Then William Penn may well be placed in +our Alphabet of Great Men.<!-- Page 103 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.<br/> + +QUINCY, JOSIAH.</h2> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Yet I think that if you study the facts carefully, +and weigh them well, you will see that<!-- Page 104 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>Afterwards both did good service in the interest +of Colonial Independence. Quincy went +to England doing much to promote the good of +his country.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>There are other Quincys of this family who +have attained celebrity; among these are Edmund +Quincy, who was prominent in antislavery +circles.<!-- Page 105 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.<br/> + +RUSH, BENJAMIN.</h2> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 106 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +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<!-- Page 107 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>At length his soul was stirred within him as +he witnessed the increasing evils of intemperance, +and he wrote and published his celebrated<!-- Page 108 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>And now what made Doctor Rush great? +What is the best thing said of him?<!-- Page 109 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.<br/> + +SAVONAROLA, GIROLAMO.</h2> + + +<p>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<!-- Page 110 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>After some years he was sent to Florence to +preach. At first his plain and severe denuncia<!-- Page 111 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>tions +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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 112 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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."<!-- Page 113 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 114 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +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?<!-- Page 115 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.<br/> + +TENNYSON, ALFRED.</h2> + + +<p>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,<!-- Page 116 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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."<!-- Page 117 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p><i>That</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"He makes moets for the Queen," was the +boy's reply.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" asked the lady.</p> + +<p>"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."<!-- Page 118 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Once I had occasion to select for a literary<!-- Page 119 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +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:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza">"Not once or twice in our fair island story,<br/> +The path of duty was the way to glory;<br/> +He that ever following her commands,<br/> +On with toil of heart and knees and hands,<br/> +Through the long gorge to the far light has won<br/> +His path upward and prevail'd,<br/> +Shall find the toppling crags of duty scaled<br/> +Are close upon the shining table-lands<br/> +To which our God himself is moon and sun."</div></div> + +<p><!-- Page 120 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.<br/> + +ULFILA.</h2> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>So you will see that the Christian religion +had already, even in Peter's time, spread thus +far.</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 121 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 lan<!-- Page 122 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>guage +of the Goths. This was an immense +labor, for he was obliged to invent a new alphabet.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>We have had handed down to us very few +particulars of Ulfila's life. He died at Constantinople, +in 383.<!-- Page 123 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.<br/> + +VINCENT, REV. JOHN H., D.D.</h2> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Dr. Vincent's early home was in the Sunny +South. "In the land of orange blossoms and<!-- Page 124 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 125 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>Very early in life the boy seems to have decided +that he would <i>do something with his life +worth while</i>; 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."<!-- Page 126 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i127.jpg"><img src="images/i127_t.jpg" style="width:40%" alt="REV. JOHN H. VINCENT, D.D."/></a> +<div class="caption">REV. JOHN H. VINCENT, D.D.</div></div> + +<p>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<!-- Page 127 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 sym<!-- Page 128 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>pathy +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.<!-- Page 129 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.<br/> + +WEBSTER, DANIEL.</h2> + + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 130 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> +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?</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"Zeke! Zeke! you let that woodchuck go!"</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/i131.jpg"><img src="images/i131_t.jpg" style="width:40%" alt="DANIEL WEBSTER AT MARSHFIELD."/></a> +<div class="caption">DANIEL WEBSTER AT MARSHFIELD.</div></div> + +<p>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 Sen<!-- Page 131 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>ate +Chamber in defence of the Constitution, which +ended with these memorable words, "Liberty and +union, now and forever, one and inseparable!"</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 132 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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, +saving, "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?</p> + +<p>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<!-- Page 133 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +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."</p> + +<p>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.<!-- Page 134 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.<br/> + +XENOPHON.</h2> + + +<p>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."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Perhaps his greatest exploit as a general was +the leading of the Greek troops across the moun<!-- Page 135 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>tain +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<!-- Page 136 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>He died at Corinth, in his ninetieth year.<!-- Page 137 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_ROUND_WORLD_SERIES" id="THE_ROUND_WORLD_SERIES"></a>THE ROUND WORLD SERIES</h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Full Stature of a Man.</span> By Julian Warth.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Grafenburg People.</span> By Reuen Thomas.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Rusty Linchpin and Luboff Archipovna.</span> By Mme. Kokhanovsky.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">The Romance of a Letter.</span> By Lowell Choate.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dorothy Thorne.</span> By Julian Warth.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +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-h.htm or 35331-h.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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