UC-NRLF 
 
 B H blM 735 
 
 P S 
 
 1122 
 
 B35 
 
 055 
 
 1893 
 
 MAIN 
 
 IRST 
 
 FOUR 
 HUNDRED 
 YEARS 
 AGO 
 
IBRAR 
 
 OF THK 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 T I KT ( > K 
 
 Accessions Nosfz+t, frit-. <"- /,;. No. 
 
 1 
 
^, 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
UP 
 
 olumbian 
 
 FOUR 
 HUNDRED 
 YEARS 
 AGO 
 
 R Colilnqbiari Poen\ for tl^e CJ^ildreri ^1]0 ^ere Unable 
 : ; ; to attend ti^e World s Fair. : : : 
 
 BY 
 
 MflRY W. BRENDER. 
 
 [ILLUSTRATED] 
 
 PRICE riPTY CENTS, 
 
 OTSEGO, MICH. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR: 
 
 1893 
 
COPYRIGHTED, 1893 
 BY 
 
 MARY W. BRENDER 
 
 ALL KIOHTS KESEKVE1) 
 
?< n 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE OBJECT of the writer in preparing the contents of 
 this booklet, was a sketch of the most interesting incidents 
 of the discovery of America, both Columbian and Ante- 
 Col^mbian, convenient for the childish mind to retain. 
 The writer does not claim for this work even ordinary 
 literary perfection, but an easy mental preparation for the 
 increasing archeolical interest in our country. It was 
 intended to be ready for sale at the Columbian Exposi 
 tion, but was unavoidably delayed. Its late appearance 
 is owing to the influence of certain friends of the writer 
 who insist that it is sufficiently instructive to guarantee a 
 reasonable intirest from friends of children in search of 
 useful reading; hence it is submitted for publication. 
 
 Very sincerely, 
 
 THE AUTHORESS. 
 
DEDICATION : 
 
 TO MY DEAR LITTLE NIECE AND NEPHEW, THIS LITTLE 
 BOOK I DEDICATE, WITH BEST WISHES. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 MY DEAR YOUNG READERS: 
 
 I have a little niece and nephew who wished very 
 much to attend the great World s Fair at Chicago, 
 but were told by their parents that, although kind 
 people had taken a great deal of pains to have things 
 nicely arranged for those children who should come, 
 it would not be a wise plan to take children where there 
 would be such great crowds of people; so, as they 
 could not see the White City built for the World s Colum 
 bian Exposition, to please them I promised to write a 
 little story about the great man in whose honor the great 
 Fair was held. Soon I was reminded of the many, many 
 children in our country who would never see any of the 
 beautiful sights of the great Fair at Jackson Park, and 
 said, "I will write my story for all of the little children 
 who must stay at home." If you like this little story, 
 look at the frontispiece, and remember that if it had not 
 been for these two little ones, I would never have thought 
 of writing it. My object in writing this is: 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 >> 0? T 
 
First, to interest you in the early history of our 
 country, and other people who have been a blessing to 
 the world. Trying to understand intelligent people s 
 minds enlightens our own minds, and leads to nobler life. 
 Just now everybody is more especially interested in the 
 discovery of America. 
 
 We wonder if Christopher Columbus ever had an 
 idea that some day in a great country like ours, children 
 would everywhere be talking and reading and studying so 
 much about him? It seems he was very fond of his own 
 little children, of whom two only, grew up to be men. 
 We think too, he must have been kind to his little sister 
 and brothers, of whom he was the eldest; for we are told 
 by some that as soon as he was able, he earned money to 
 help his father educate his younger brothers. This was 
 good of him, much better than if he had been selfish, 
 thinking only of himself, spending his time idly. His 
 father was a poor man but he managed to send his child 
 ren to school. As there were no public schools then, it was 
 ;i much harder task for parents, than now-a-days. We 
 think little Christopher must have improved his time well 
 at school, and studied and read a great deal out of school 
 too. We don t believe he spent much time on silly, use 
 less reading, or when he grew up he would never have 
 had some of the wisest scholars among his friends and ac 
 quaintances. 
 
 It seems he felt always that God meant for him to 
 do something wise and useful for the world. He lived in 
 a time when people had not studied out so many things 
 about science as they now know. You now laugh to think 
 people ever believed the world flat. But it was so. 
 Only ci very few of the wisest people believed that it might 
 
 8 
 
possibly be round. Columbus truly believed that it was 
 round and that he could prove it so. He was not afraid 
 of the unknown sea as most seamen were. It is said 
 some seamen driven by storms had accidently drifted on 
 to unknown land in the west. But it is not said that 
 many of them ever ventured back again. And their 
 stories about land were always forgotten again. It need 
 ed a man who could unite the ideas of learned people with 
 courage and patience. 
 
 Columbus did not expect by sailing west to find a 
 new country, but an old one; and by so doing prove the 
 world was round. When he found America he supposed 
 he had found Asia, and proved the world a sphere. He 
 did not quite prove the world was round but his courage 
 inspired other seamen to keep on trying and sailing until 
 about thirty years later a ship of Ferdinand Magellan did 
 sail around the world for the first time in a three years 
 voyage, 1519-1522. 
 
 Some writers tell us that Columbus was not always 
 a good man; but we cannot believe that he was not, for 
 he was a good boy and we have always believed that good 
 boys and girls would become good men and women. We 
 are told that he died like a Christian, at peace with God; 
 andj with] a bad conscience we don t think this could have 
 been. If he did do wrong it is very sad that such a great 
 life should be blotted by sins that will not hide themselves 
 anymore than his great deeds. Learn from this dear 
 young friends to keep your lives pure and free from all 
 sin. 
 
 Secondly, I wish to help you become, in time, ac 
 quainted with the ideas some people have of the very, 
 very early history of our country. I do not expect you to 
 
understand the whole of this little story at once. I wish 
 you to ask those who do understand, a great many ques 
 tions and be guided into useful reading. 
 
 Thirdly, I hope it will set you early to thinking about 
 living to some wise and useful purpose, as God may 
 direct. Whether it be in a great or humble sphere, let it 
 be that which you feel pleases God, and by so doing be 
 come a blessing. It requires a great deal of diligence 
 and patience united with courage and pluck just such as 
 Columbus had, to live to a noble purpose. Columbus 
 reminds us of Abraham when the Lord told him to go out 
 and find a country, that he would show him. He did not 
 know where he was going, or what was before him but he 
 tried to live to the high purpose that God wished him to, 
 when he said to him "thou shalt be a blessing." Jose- 
 phus tells us that Abraham was a man of enlightened 
 ideas and taught the world many wise and good things. 
 Columbus to became a blessing when he lived to prove a 
 wise idea, and gave science and learning such a strong 
 push ahead that the world never can go back to, at least 
 one old ignorant notion, And too he found a new coun 
 try, for people to settle and build up with happy homes 
 and all privileges of a free Christian country. Let us all 
 try to take good care of our country, continually building 
 up its government on principles of righteousness and jus 
 tice. And in whatever station let the world be the better 
 for our lives. That this little booklet may inspire you to 
 live to an eternal purpose and become a blessing to hu 
 manity is the wish of 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 MARY IV. B RENDER. 
 
 10 
 
Columbian, 
 
 OR 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 How learned people s minds have changed, tis found, 
 
 Since Columbus first said the world was round. 
 
 Now they jeer a child who only doubts that, 
 
 Then wise men jeered him, and declared it must be fiat, 
 
 Nor yet so big by half. 
 Close quarters we think it would have been 
 
 For youngsters of our day, 
 
 If they had had their say, 
 Or if brave Isabella had been as hard to win 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 13 
 
The Old World was then so full of people 
 At every step they d almost touch and jostle; 
 Now imagine our splendid mountain peaks 
 And valleys, rushing rivers and pretty creeks, 
 
 Sunny plains and smiling lakes. 
 And our own dear shade tree with shout and stir, 
 From stately southern palm to northern fir, 
 
 Hill, orchard, park and lawn 
 Where the children skip like fawn, 
 All hidden in the bosom of the sea as they were 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 u 
 
What would we little Americans with busy hands 
 
 And roaming feet find to do in other lands? 
 
 Would there be room for us where like hay-shocks they pile 
 
 The roses of Asia or lilies of the Nile; 
 
 The yule-logs fetch with holly and mistletoe; 
 
 Or cull dainty for-get-me-not to strow 
 
 In the blue rolling Danube? 
 A coral island then was hardly known 
 
 So like a fairy land 
 
 Bright shells on sunny strand, 
 Built as twere on a solid procious stone, 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 Think how the mitres, crowns and turbans, 
 Of mikados, rajahs popes and sultans, 
 
 Would tip and fall about, 
 
 And czars, and shahs, and kings, and kaisers storm, 
 If every boy and girl 
 Began to skip and whirl, 
 
 For then they could not make them all conform; 
 And sometimes they stirred the world to such commotion 
 It never returned to its old-fashioned notion: 
 Like Luther s pleaching and Gutenberg s printing press, 
 Or our Franklin who dignified labor though less- 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 15 
 
Who can say how we children would have fared, 
 If our First Columbian had not more dared 
 
 To do than others did. 
 Can we suppose among the men across the sea, 
 
 Another could be found 
 
 To believe the world was round, 
 And been as brave and patient as he, 
 
 Four hundred years ago ? 
 
 People talked, of a round world and lost Atlantis 
 In ancient times, for a wise old priest of Sais 
 
 Told Solon and Plato 
 
 Learned from him and taught his scholars and Jew 
 And Arab and oriental astronomers knew. 
 Until the "Dark Ages" when learning was forgot, 
 And men dared not say what they thought. 
 
 But when again learning, 
 
 like an angel of light, 
 Spread her radiant wings 
 
 over the world s dark night, 
 This was one of the truths 
 
 that first began to dawn, 
 Great scholars and travelers 
 
 with knowledge drawn 
 
 16 
 
From much study argued so, like Mandeville, 
 And those Venetians, and Tosconelli. But still, 
 
 Though land far in the west, 
 Brave seamen may have seen twas forgotten, 
 
 and there was need, 
 
 To prove such logic true, 
 
 One to reason and dare too, 
 And to purpose unite wisdom with heroic deed, 
 
 Four hnndred years ago. 
 
 Well may doughty youngsters his example prize, 
 The first of Columbian youth to rise 
 Above his birth. The poor wool-comber s son 
 Worked and studied and his title well won, 
 
 Grand Admiral of the Ocean. 
 
 And now from every land grand men and women vie, 
 To honor him for deeds that will not die; 
 And with all that s fine and rare 
 
 Hold in his name a great fair, 
 In Chicago, queen of the great lakes close by. 
 Did that poor boy dream of honor so high, 
 
 Four hundred years ago? 
 
 Of his father, humbly toiling til his day s work was done, 
 And his truly Roman mother teaching a blue-eyed son, 
 As our own dear mothers now admonishing : 
 "Always do right, then you need fear nothing," 
 
 !8 
 
We think with tcnderest love, 
 
 And wish they could have seen the fair White City, 
 That should some day be built across the sea, 
 To honor the child that listened at their knee. 
 
 19 
 
Yet grown up folks forget they once were small and say 
 "It s not a place for children to be in the way;" 
 When we d much like to celebrate in that great town, 
 With all those fine people of renown, 
 
 October twenty-first ; 
 And help to praise Columbus in our way 
 
 Of Eighteen-ninety-two, 
 
 For being so grand and true 
 And wise to find our dear America, 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 But all the schools of this great land 
 Shall stand a truly patriotic band, 
 
 And wave their starry flags; 
 And in new rhyme and song be told: 
 
 How one a brother kind, 
 
 And son of dutiful mind, 
 Became the greatest of sailors bold, 
 With mind that did reason as well as dare, 
 And as a sage could argue with men of learning rare, 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 And that boys are little men we will play, 
 Who can build three ships Columbia Day; 
 
 And the girls, little ladies, 
 Who in gowns of white, with such pretty air 
 Their bottles dash on the bows and declare, 
 
Their names: Columbus own flag-ship, 
 The Santa Maria, 
 Then Pinta and Nina; 
 
 Not sailed nor rigged in best equip, 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 But first from land to land one must beg, 
 And by some trick stand up an egg 
 
 For wise Salamanca men; 
 The states of Europe try from great to least, 
 Persuade the king, persuade the priest, 
 
 21 
 
With help from kind brother Bartholomew 
 And timely friend Pizon ; 
 From perfidous king John, 
 
 Til good queen Isabella the story knew, 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 Favored by good Deza 
 and Medina-Celli; 
 Encouraged by Fernan 
 dez and Toscanelli; 
 While unmindful of 
 
 banditti cohort. 
 Rode friar Juan by 
 night, to plead at 
 
 court, 
 
 Where Santangel 
 helped with Quin- 
 
 tanilla; 
 
 And beautiful Beatriz, 
 
 fair Beatriz of Moya 
 
 Sat near and begged 
 
 the queen. 
 
 But who of us would 
 be seen, 
 
 22 
 
As those naughty children in the streets to scoff 
 And call an old man "crazy explorer" and laugh, 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 One must be a queen to pawn her jewels or value high; 
 While on the road to France a messenger must fly, 
 And overtake Columbus at the old Pinos bridge, 
 Traveling, discouraged, toward the mountain ridge. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 And soon now a hundred and twenty men, 
 Ninety sailors, a lad, three priests and gentlemen, 
 Have bid a sad adieu, 
 
 As off from Palos, August morning third, 
 They leave dear Sunny Spain" 
 With dreadful doubts of land or gain. 
 Well sped those men who sailed that day westward 
 And won freedom for science and God s Word, 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 24 
 
When we reach the islands a while we cruise, 
 But rough men our captain shall not abuse 
 With threats of mutiny. 
 
 We ll dodge sorry king John s fleet; and punish worse, 
 The wicked owners who broke the Pinta with purpose; 
 And the crew that sulked when far out from land; 
 
 And from the Canaries, 
 
 Let us bring some birdies, 
 
 For perhaps Columbus did though so grand 
 For Diego and baby Ferdinand, 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 25 
 
Until the stoutest hearts with fear shall quail, 
 Westward we will sail, and sail, and sail, 
 
 For days, and days, and days ; 
 And now to have some fun let us pretend 
 
 To see great meteors fall, 
 
 And dancing goblins tall, 
 
 And birds that swooped whole 
 
 ships with every tar, 
 From keel to deck and sail and 
 topmost spar, 
 Where sailors fancied the 
 
 world did end, 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 Get mistaken next in the Sargossa Sea, 
 
 When little Nina fired and cried: "land for me!" 
 
 At a mirage in the west. 
 Then the sailors with courage quite aslack, 
 Declared: "we re surely lost and will turn back." 
 
27 
 
The earnest man compelled now with cowards to temporize 
 Submits all the veiled mysteries of the western skies; 
 With his new great problem of the world; for three days 
 To win ; then prays God to show his penetrating gaze, 
 
 The first faint gleam of hope, 
 And soon saw a floating branch and 
 a dear little bird; 
 And then the seamen knew, 
 That land they soon would view, 
 And list to the sweetest bird-song 
 
 ever heard, 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 Soon, a welcome fire-light glimmered, to gree 
 
 o o o 
 
 Eager watchers from that lonely little fleet. 
 Not one did sleep that long glad night. 
 Now flash! now bang ! now hark aright ! 
 
 Twas Pinta s gun that roared. 
 Land ! land ! wildly shout; land ! land 
 
 Boom ! bang ! boom ! bang ! 
 
 How they shouted, how they sang, 
 How they praised God at San Salvador land! 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 land ! 
 bang ! 
 
 28 
 
29 
 
In the light of that bright October morn, 
 To them it seemed a new world born, 
 
 And they all kissed the earth. 
 First, in richest robes with banner unfurled, 
 Straight to God a prayer sent like incense smoke uncurled, 
 
 Then to Ferdinand and Isabella, 
 
 Of Arragon and Castilla, 
 Columbus gave a gift of half the world: 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 The men who once with terror uttered threats, 
 Blushed now with shame and sharp regrets, 
 
 For doubting a leader so wise; 
 And begged at Columbus feet forgiveness; 
 While he forgave with more than manly goodness, 
 
 As only noble souls will do. 
 
 We ll think of his mother s, and Felipa s grave, 
 And lonely Beatriz at home so brave, 
 
 And some token for them bring: 
 
f i - v 
 
 31 
 
Though our books only tell, of land, and gold, 
 And the Indian band 
 From the new island-strand, 
 
 Whom he brought on his winged sea-horses bold, 
 "With eyes of lightning and voices of thunder," 
 The ships that filled the Indian with wonder, 
 Four hundred years ago ? 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Those who stood by might have seen then and now, 
 The Admiral stroke his hand across a puzzled brow: 
 
 What land was this he d found? 
 
 Somewhere, in this sea seven bishops built seven cities, 
 Tis said, when they fled from the dark-skinned enimies, 
 
 Of Roderic of Spain: 
 
 32 
 
And their 
 
 ver-blooming 
 and fruitful 
 Antilles, 
 Might they 
 not be, the 
 garden of the 
 Hesperides, 
 Whose golden 
 apples, an 
 cient Tyre 
 bought and 
 sold; 
 
 beyond Ophir, whence 
 was broght the gold, 
 Solomon s beautiful 
 temple ? 
 
 For 
 
 And where was it St. Brendan 
 f r seven years regaled, 
 
 When westward with fourteen brave monks he sailed, 
 From Tralee in Kerry, to a beautiful land, 
 And people wild, who learned from his pious band, 
 The faith of God, and called him " Quetzacoatl, 
 Rare and precious"-- with crosses on his mantle: 
 
 And before now a thousand years, 
 Returned to tell the astonished people of Erin, 
 Of his voyage and the strange land where he had been. 
 
 S3 
 
 
Or as the scalds have sung in some wild saga, 
 Of Thor, and Odin, and the Vikings of Norway, 
 
 And mixed with superstition, some truth, perhaps, 
 
 Of the Vinland of bold Leif, 
 
 son of Eric the Red. 
 Where Tyker found sweet grapes; 
 
 and Kaslsefne, who wed 
 The noble Gudrid, may have built 
 
 some mantled tower 
 For his lonely lady and their 
 
 darling baby Snorr, 
 Half those thousand years ago. 
 
And the storm-driven mariner hath told many a tale, 
 Of the secrets that slip Old Chronos in a gale; 
 
 From the fair Atlantis, 
 
 Pytheas found and lost again; to years less antique, 
 When Are Marson and the Champion of Brodovik, 
 Found Irland-it-Mikla and the White Man s land; 
 And the Zeno brothers still later their Es-to-ti-land; 
 And wild Basques, stockfish on a bluffy strand. 
 Of isles good and bad the sea had yet to reveal, 
 Talked Cousin, and Dieppe, and Skolno and Costareal, 
 
 And other seamen as bold. 
 
 Like that 
 fabulous isle 
 wrapped in 
 perennial sun 
 shine, 
 
 Where sleep 
 ing saints 
 undisturbed in 
 a cave recline, 
 
 With eyes 
 ever on the 
 sea; 
 
 
 And nothing to employ but dreams of immortal youth, 
 As time and the waves roll by, though in truth, 
 
 35 
 
Saints would better be doing for the kingdom they pray, 
 Than lazily dreaming their time away, 
 And their " Saints Land of Promise," no fable of old, 
 Should be of the western sea, which Barintus told, 
 Longer ago than all. 
 
 But a story that more than all perplexes me, 
 Is that of some stray ranger of the Eastern Sea: 
 
 How Huwi Shan, of Cathay, 
 Who aimlessly traveled with his Budhist band 
 Till he reached around the sea a goodly land, 
 
 Long centuries ago, they called Fusang. 
 
 Forty thousand li east across that sea 
 
 so the story goes 
 The great Kahn then sent his 
 
 ships. But who knows, 
 
 |; For if truth, there should be such legend 
 
 in Spain, 
 Or Italy. Or, does there yet lie 
 
 land in the main ? 
 ^ Then it may not be a fable, that beneath 
 
 this sea of darkness, 
 Sank long, long ago, the great and 
 
 wonderful Atlantis, 
 Like a drowning world, with awful 
 
 quaking throes: 
 While the memory of her ships 
 
 and mighty heroes, 
 
 36 
 
Eden-like gardens and splendid cities, 
 And ladies fair, are told as mythical stones 
 Of the gods of younger nations. 
 
 37 
 
But fable and fact alike we must pass by, 
 With hope that future years, the truth may sift; and rely 
 On later research, received as more authentic fame; 
 For this new world, fair as a babe, must have a name. 
 Since I find palm, and spice, and gum across this sea, 
 And other explorers, east by land, found the same to be, 
 
 In India and Cathay, 
 
 Though, I find not yet, the splendors of which I ve read, 
 The ancient poets and philosophers have said, 
 That this earth, like the stars, shall some day prove round, 
 And the east, and the west, together shall be bound: 
 Linked with grand thought like this, Marco Polo s Indies 
 Of the East, seem Indies of the West, and thus agrees, 
 
 That latest name is best. 
 
 38 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 When again Columbus returned to Spain 
 
 The people praised and praised until he forgot the pain 
 
 Of eighteen years of scorn. 
 But not faithful friends nor what they had done, 
 
 Nor loved ones, nor convent 
 
 Where once he d begged, sad spent, 
 Food and drink for his fainting son, 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 No care-worn clouds darken his noble brow, 
 While every one calls him a great man now- 
 Greater than the great duke, Medinacelli; 
 Greater, some thought, than scholars like Toscanelli, 
 Or friends at court, or Palos, or Rabida. 
 Greater, surely, than scoffers at Salamanca. 
 
 39 
 
Into his eye steals 
 
 sadness only, 
 When he thinks of 
 
 good Felipa, who died, 
 And his two little child 
 ren at her side. 
 It may be, too, he 
 
 wished his parents 
 
 could have known 
 How rich the fruit of 
 seed their toiling 
 
 hands had sown. 
 
 Where cnce at Isabella s feet he humbly sued 
 Her royal favor, he kneels in gratitude, 
 
 To kiss her sovereign hand. 
 Then sails again with gladder heart, 
 
 and ships of gayer sheen 
 To build a town in the name of his honored queen. 
 
 They made him a duke and a viceroy, everything 
 
 So great, he was all but a king. 
 
 The great and small for his favor plied, 
 
 Until good Queen Isabella died. 
 
 Then evil hearts so long 
 Grown jealous, sought some stain to fling, 
 
 That should bring blame and shame, 
 
 And rob his splendid name, 
 And poisoned the brain of the Spanish king, 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 40 
 
And though the lands and the 
 
 glory he won was Spain s, 
 The king s envoy sent him to 
 
 prison in chains, 
 And broke so great a heart; 
 Till good people who saw 
 
 cried: " What a wrong!" 
 
 And conscience pricked the ting, 
 
 For doing so mean a thing, 
 Until he opened the doors of the prison again; 
 Though not his royal heart to the saddened man, 
 Whose heart could never-more grow strong, 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 Ah, let us now play no funny antic, 
 
 For when last he sailed the stormy Atlantic, 
 
 His saddest troubles o ertook him. 
 
 Traitor, and storm, and shipwreck, and famine s gnaw, 
 Drove deepest their shafts of pain when he saw 
 Young Ferdinand at Sir Christopher s Cove, 
 So bravely bearing his trials for love, 
 
 Of his dear, scorned old father. 
 
 Though foes unite to thwart his noblest plan, 
 And sad in heart, the gray-haired old man 
 Still triumphs, and bestows on his ungrateful king, 
 The last best lands he found. With such offering, 
 
 41 
 
To rewin the royal favor, and promises made, 
 Vainly hoped; till his life-boat anchor weighed 
 Off coast a better world. 
 
 So poor now again, and old, 
 
 at Valladolid, 
 
 When the death angel came 
 To call the great man s name, 
 And showed him in heaven how 
 
 great was his deed. 
 Ah, should Amerigo have won 
 
 his rightful mead, 
 
 So long ere the bloom of his patient seed - 
 Four hundred years ago? 
 
 A few true friends the mighty soul regret, 
 As fell the sleep, that selfish hearts no more can fret, 
 On those keen blue eyes so often dimmed by tears, 
 In the troubled life of seventy years. 
 
 4 All that I could I have done. 
 
 To God, who hath ever helped in worst need, I now must 
 Leave all," he said, with the Christian s holy trust; 
 And on his failing breath, 
 
 Sinking fast into death, 
 
 i 
 
 Floated, like a truce o er the sea, 
 
 these words of sacred writ: 
 
 " Into thy hands, O Lord, my spirit I commit." 
 
And from a clay of noblest mold the soul had flit,- 
 Four hundred years ago? 
 
 And he who was Viceroy of the Indies, 
 And Grand Admiral of the Ocean Seas, 
 Duke of Veragua, Marquis of Jamaica, 
 And the great Discoverer of America; 
 Yet to be the inspiration 
 Of every Columbian son; 
 Was laid to rest in an unnoticed grave, 
 The friendly fathers of San Francisco gave, 
 Neath old Castillian skies. 
 
 43 
 
We hear of few who were so nobly born, 
 That could o erlook the foil 
 Of years of patient toil, 
 
 And in distress express no vengeful scorn, 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 But when the angels bore his spirit to the skies, 
 Did they explain some vision of his dying eyes, 
 Of the happy millions who should bless, 
 His land redeemed from wilderness, 
 
 To be a home of the free, 
 Where great and small may plead the right, 
 And work out their plans by truth s purer light? 
 
 44 
 
Life lit with new hopes, 
 
 in a happy dream 
 To the New world flowed. 
 
 steady ns the ocean 
 
 stream 
 
 And bore on its tide some health, some wealth to find, 
 And some who of bigotry had bitterly pined, 
 
 And some for better homes; 
 And some, who had sinned, by shame oppressed, 
 
 Sought their lives to renew, 
 
 With the sweet breath they drew, 
 From" the fresh, untainted land of the West, 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 Others, with impulse like his own earnest heart, 
 Came, urged by loving desire to impart 
 Some hope of Jesus love; 
 
 HIV B 
 
Or about the world some new grand thought 
 Like he, Copernicus, and Galileo taught, 
 
 And burning with noble zeal 
 
 The new truth to reveal; 
 Yet oft, by king on throne and priest in hood, 
 Prevented in those dark days from doing that good, 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 Unscared by spectral fancies 
 
 that o er waves play and leap, 
 
 O er the ocean no more a trackless deep, 
 Far and wide the freighted vessels sweep, 
 
 From continent to continent. 
 To West no more the mariner casts an empty look, 
 
 For teaming cities rise 
 
 To greet his anxious eyes, 
 With way plain as our toy- boat on the brook, 
 Frets not as he o er a perplexing log-book, 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 46 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 King Ferdinand, later repenting neglect so ill, 
 Sent men to bring his ashes to beautiful Seville, 
 
 And build a monument. 
 And Santa Maria de la Antigua, 
 Gave up the noblest dead that in her transepts lay. 
 Were La Cuevas aves and pater nosters farther heard 
 Or could Carthissian friars lifeless dust safer guard; 
 Or were the banks of Gaudalquiver, 
 
 Fairer than Douro s side, 
 
 To satisfy the noble pride, 
 Of those who shed the affectionate tear, 
 Or owned with kindred love the dust upon that bier, 
 
 Four hundred years ago? 
 
 47 
 
But his ashes, like his questful spirit, 
 Neath Andulusian skies albeit, 
 
 Were not forever to rest. 
 
 A new king, with honor greater than we can tell, 
 Sent them across the sea, he once had dared so well, 
 
 To sleep at San Domingo, 
 
 Where the soft sea winds blow, 
 And the waves had born his craft on their restless swell, 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
Born with that spirit he brought to the West, 
 The people, grateful now, will not let him rest, 
 
 Till his guerdon, like his quest, is won. 
 When two centuries and a half had rolled, 
 
 With the tides of ebb and flow; 
 
 With greater pomp and show, 
 Than would have pleased his foes of old, 
 He was brought to proud Havana, to he 
 Beneath a new cathedral, quaint and high, 
 
 Now called gray and old; 
 Where the sea moans and surges below, 
 
 Now sweep the winds wild above it; 
 
 Now sigh like a sad, gentle spirit. 
 He saw the same star-light and sun-glow, 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 His guerdon we children will some time win, 
 Which to him so long denied has been, 
 
 And build our monument 
 Greater than built that fickle king of the Cid. 
 
 We ll write Columbia, 
 
 Cross false America, 
 And unmake the mistake St. Die s careless schoolmen did 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 We 11 build our country up with honest character, 
 And noble minds, nor let the soulless transactor, 
 Hide behind some cunning law, a wily scheme, 
 
 49 
 
To rob and crush our fellow- 
 men; and wi h witty theme 
 Dazzle men to see wrong 
 
 as right. 
 Then grateful hearts as living 
 
 stones on duty bent, 
 Shall be the memorial, 
 And our signs armorial, 
 To the first heroe of 
 
 our continent, 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 The names of Felipa and Beatriz, 
 
 Those good wives, let us write close to his, 
 
 And near his honored queen, 
 Her maid of honor, Beatriz of Moya; 
 And plainest, the sainted mother, Susana, 
 
 Though long she d slept in death; 
 And througli ages, dark or bright, of our country, 
 
 Let this fair, faithful band 
 
 Of earnest women stand, 
 Honored on the pages of its history, 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 As he did, we 11 pass his foes without a fret, 
 And not one friend ungratefully forget; 
 Thank Genoa for parents who taught the piety, 
 And honest toil that shaped life s future dignity; 
 
 50 
 
And for her brave sons, from whom he learned so early 
 
 To dare the ocean wave. 
 For those true men, who could 
 
 reason though bigots did rage, 
 
 Thank Spain, and the wise, brave queen, 
 Who raised her grandest Palladin, 
 
 From his humble station to adorn the world s heroic page, 
 
 As the forerunner of liberty s brightest age, 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 Of that imputed stain, when for glittering gold, 
 They say his fellow-men, he bound and cruelly sold, 
 We ll rid his honored name. 
 
 51 
 
Gold! delusive gold! men cried 
 for gold till cherished pursuit; 
 He must yield and bring on 
 
 him this vile repute. 
 When earth refused to reveal 
 
 the idol dust, 
 They sold her children to 
 
 satisfy that lust, 
 
 What would Columbus do? There s none so great, 
 That must not sometimes yield to unlucky fate: 
 
 Above the king compelled; 
 
 Below the underling rebelled; 
 And hoping to appease their common greed, 
 Perchance, united will forced some unholy deed, 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 If true, sins he had that must be confessed; 
 We hope that had he done as pleased him best, 
 They never would have been, so we let them rest, 
 
 For we are sorry for him. 
 When those who write about our hero brave, 
 Would make us think he sometimes was a cruel knave, 
 
 We wish they would explain, 
 
 How prone to cause others pain, 
 They find those who, as nobly bear the filial part; 
 And kept for foes as patient, forgiving heart, 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
And Genoa s humble child we honor now, 
 And love to trace upon that patient brow, 
 
 The truth it bore within. 
 With sublime patience his divine call obeying, 
 
 Against oppression s laws, 
 
 Worked out his noble cause, 
 
 And taught the world, oft disheartened, little murmuring, 
 To live to an eternal purpose "BE A BLESSING." 
 
 Four hundred years ago. 
 
 
EXPLANATORY NOTES. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS Was born at 27 Vicco Ponticello 
 street, Genoa, Italy, 1436; died at Valladolid, Spain, May 20, 1506; 
 buried first, in the Franciscan Convent of Santa Maria de la Anti 
 gua at Val.; removed to La Cuevas, in Seville, 1513; to San Do 
 mingo, 1536; and supposed to have been removed to Havana, 1795. 
 On his first and second voyages to America he discovered the West 
 Indies; third, the continent of South America at mouth of Orinoco; 
 fourth, North America at Honduras. 
 
 FERDINAND MAGELLAN A Portuguese navigator, who set out 
 with three ships and 234 men to circumnavigate the world; he 
 reached the Phillipine Islands, where he was killed by the natives; 
 two of his ships were wrecked, but one, with only fifteen men, 
 finally accomplished the first voyage around the world, 1519-1522. 
 
 JOSEPHUS, FLAVIUS An eminent Jewish historian and patriot, 
 born at Jerusalem A. D. 37; died, 100. 
 
 ISABELLA Queen of Castile, Spain. 
 
 FERDINAND King of Arragon, Spain. 
 
 OLD WORLD Eastern continent. 
 
 ROSES OF ASIA Are grown in fields; Asia is the home of the 
 rose; perfumes are there made from them. 
 
 LILIES OF THE NILE Are renowned; perfumes are extracted 
 from them. 
 
 YULE-LOG A large piece of log burned in the fire-place at 
 Christmas-tide in England; Holly is an evergreen shrub with 
 bright red berries; Mistletoe, a parasitic plant growing on the oak. 
 
 DANUBE A river of Germany; the forget-me-not grows wild 
 and in great abundance on its banks; it here received its name. 
 
 CORAL ISLANDS Were not much known until seamen had 
 learned to venture out on the ocean. 
 
 MIKADO Sovereign of Japan; Shah of Persia; Sultan of Turkey; 
 Czar of Russia; Kaiser of Germany; Rajah, a Prince of India. 
 
 CONFORM When people adhere to established creeds they are 
 said to conform; when they embrace new ideas they usually do not 
 
 54 
 
conform; about 400 years ago a great Reformation spread over 
 Europe. 
 
 LUTHER, MARTIN Was a great preacher of Germany; born at 
 Eisleben November 10, 1483; died at Eisleben February 18, 1546. 
 
 GUTENBERG, JOHANN Born at Mainz, Germany, 1400; died at 
 Mainz February 24, 1478; invented printing press, 1450. 
 
 FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN Born January 17, 1706, at Boston, Mass.; 
 died April 17, 1770; first discoverer of the principles utilizing elec 
 tricity; he was a very practical man, of simple habits, and empha 
 sized the dignity of labor. 
 
 ATLANTIS Said by the ancients to be a large island of the At 
 lantic Ocean, destroyed by the earthquake. 
 
 SAIS An ancient city of Egypt at mouth of the Nile. 
 
 SOLON B, C. 594; an ancient Greek patriot, philosopher and 
 law-giver. 
 
 PLATO B. C. 420; a Greek philosopher and patriot. 
 
 DARK AGES, OR MIDDLE AGES The period between the fall of 
 the Roman Empire and the revival of learning. 
 
 VENETIAN TRAVELERS Morco Polo and his two brothers returned 
 to their native city, Venice, 1595, after more than twenty years of 
 travel; Nicolo Conti, another celebrated Venetian traveler of later 
 date. 
 
 TOSCANELLI, PAULO A physician of Florence, who believed and 
 argued the rotundity of the earth in Columbus time. 
 
 MANDEVILLE, SIR JOHN An English scholar, who returned 
 to England after many years of travel, in 1322. 
 
 WOOL-COMBER Columbus father, Domenico Columbus; his 
 mother was Susana Fontanarossa. 
 
 ROMAN MOTHER Columbus family were of old Roman descent; 
 Columbus had blue eyes and yellow or reddish hair when a boy. 
 
 WHITE CITY The Columbian Exposition buildings of 1892. 
 COLUMBIA DAY October 21; America was discovered October 
 12, O. S., but when the calendar was corrected it brought the day 21. 
 
 THEIR NAMES The three ships of Columbus were named Santa 
 Maria, Capt. Pero Alonso Nino; Pinta, Martin Alonso Pinzon; 
 Nina, Vincente Yanez Pinzon; they were not very good ships, 
 nor in best equipment. 
 
 SALAMANCA Was the seat of a University of Spain; the King 
 and Queen referred Columbus to the doctors there; they ridiculed 
 the idea of the sphericity of the earth, and asked him to stand up 
 an egg. 
 
 BARTHOLOMEW Columbus had three brothers, Giovanni, Bar 
 tholomew, Giocomi or Diego, and a sister Bianchinetta. 
 
 55 
 
 
PINZON MARTIN ALONZO of Palos, helped Columbus in securing 
 boats and men for his first voyage, and lent him money also; he 
 afterward was not so friendly. 
 
 KING JOHN Of Portugal, sent Columbus to explain his theory 
 before his wise men, who declared he must be crazy; the King sent 
 Columbus off, then he sent ships to find the country he had talked 
 of; but the men were afraid to go very far, and returned to ridicule 
 Columbus. 
 
 M EI NA -CELLI Was a powerful Duke of Southern Spain and 
 friend of Columbus. 
 
 JUAN PEREZ DE LA MARCHEA Prior of the Monastery of La 
 Rabida and friend of Columbus. 
 
 DEZA, DIEGO DE Friend and patron of Columbus at the court; 
 tutor of the royal children. 
 
 BANDITTI The country was infested with robbers through 
 which Father Juan rode by night to reach the court and plead for 
 Columbus. 
 
 SANTANGEL, Luis DE Treasurer of Arragon. 
 
 QUINTANILLA, ALONZO DE Treasurer of Castile. 
 
 BEATRIZ OF MOYA- Maid of honor to Isabella. 
 
 CRAZY EXPLORER Columbus was often ridiculed in the streets, 
 even by children. 
 
 JEWELS It is said Isabella offered to pawn her jewels to raise 
 the money to furnish the expense of the voyage; Spain had carried 
 on a long war and the treasury was nearly exhausted. 
 
 ROAD TO FRANCE Not the direct road from Northern Spain, 
 but from Granada to Cordova; he had received a last refusal from 
 the King and Queen, and he was on his way to see his children 
 first at Cordova, and then going to France. 
 
 PINOS BRIDGE, OR BRIDGE OF PINES The Queen s messenger 
 overtook Columbus just across this bridge, six miles out of Granada. 
 
 PALOS A seaport of Southwestern Spain, where the fleet set 
 sail on the first voyage, August 3, old style, or August 14, modern 
 time. 
 
 CANARIES Columbus did not set out directly west, but cruised 
 among the islands; Canaries, or Dog Islands, is the home of the 
 canary bird. 
 
 BROKE, PINTA The rudder of the Pinta was broken, and it was 
 suspected that the owners, who sailed with them, did it with a pur 
 pose to have an excuse to return. 
 
 DIEGO AND FERDINAND Columbus sons. 
 
 METEOR S FALL A meteor fell into the sea ahead of the ships 
 and it frightened the sailors; goblins are imaginary beings of all 
 
 56 
 
kinds which superstitious people believe in; we hope every child 
 knows better than to believe such things now. 
 
 WORLD END People used to suppose the world had an end, 
 just as a field has. 
 
 SARGOSSA SEA Places in the sea where seaweed grows; floating 
 grass is also accumulated by the ocean currents; in the distance it 
 appears like land. 
 
 MIRAGE An illusion in the air; Columbus men thought they 
 saw a large, beautiful city. 
 
 THREE DAYS The crew became at last so mutinous that Co 
 lumbus was obliged to make a condition with them that if they did 
 not find land in three days he would return. 
 
 PINTA S GUN It is said that Rodrigo de Triana, a sailor on the 
 Pinta, first shouted "Land! " and the Pinta fired the first salute. 
 
 SAN SALVADOR (OR HOLY SAVIOR) Where Columbus first landed; 
 the natives called it Guanahani, or Cat Island. 
 
 FELIPA MONIZ DE PALESTRELLO First wife of Columbus; she and 
 the two youngest children died at Funchal; she was the mother of 
 Diego. 
 
 BEATRIZ ENRIQUEZ Second wife of Columbus; was the mother 
 of Ferdinand. 
 
 WINGED SEA-HORSES The Indians supposed the ships to be 
 sea monsters, with eyes of lightning and voices of thunder. 
 
 SEVEN BISHOPS Are said to have fled from the Moors when 
 they overcame King Roderic, in the seventh century; they sailed 
 in a boat westward until they reached lovely islands, where they 
 built seven cities; are supposed to be the Antilles. 
 
 HESPERIDES, OR DAUGHTERS OF THE SEA Are supposed, also, 
 to be the Antilles; the ancients told many fanciful stories about 
 them. 
 
 GOLDEN APPLES Oranges and lemons. 
 
 TYRE An old city of Asia on the Mediterranean Sea; her men 
 were great seamen, and some suppose they must have reached 
 America in the long voyages of three years with King Solomon s 
 men, spoken of in the Bible. 
 
 OPHIR Some think may have been Mexico, Central America or 
 Peru. 
 
 ST. BRANDEN Was an Irish monk, who set out with fourteen 
 monks to find a legendary "Isle of the Blessed" of which he had 
 read; they came to a beautiful land answering to the description of 
 the West Indies or Mexico, where he lived seven years and then 
 returned, in the fifth century; the Irish monks used to have crosses 
 worked on their mantles. 
 
 57 
 
QUETZACOATL Was a Mexican hero or divinity, so long ago 
 people cannot make out just what his people did think of him; some 
 think he was St. Branden, others St. Thomas, of the Bible. 
 
 ERIN A name for Ireland. 
 
 SKALDS Old Norwegian poets and minstrels. 
 
 SAGA A song of the skalds. 
 
 THOR AND ODIN Were old Norwegian deities. 
 
 VIKINGS Brave sea captains, a sort of noble. 
 
 VINLAND Supposed to be New England; named so by the 
 Norsemen. 
 
 ERIC THE RED An old Viking; he named Greenland. 
 
 MANTLED TOWER There is an old tower at Newport, R. I. sup 
 posed to have been built by Norsemen. 
 
 LEIF ERICSON Was the son of Eric the Red; he is said to have 
 discovered America in the year 1000. 
 
 TYRKER A German sailor who came with Leif Ericson; he 
 found the grapes, after which Vinland was named. 
 
 KARLSEFNE, THORWALD A Viking who came from Greenland to 
 Vinland, and did much for the new colony. 
 
 GUDRID Was the widow of Thorstein Ericson; she married 
 Karlsefne and came to Vinland, where their son Snorr was born; 
 she was a kind, intelligent and spirited woman. 
 
 SNORR Was the son of Karlsefne and Gudrid, and was the first 
 Norse child born in Vinland; it is said that he is one of the ances 
 tors of the sculptor, Thorwaldsen. 
 
 "OLD CHRONOS" A very old name of the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 PYTHEAS An ancient mariner, who thought he found Atlantis, 
 but lost it again. 
 
 ARE MARSON A Norse or Irish sailor. 
 
 CHAMPION OF BRODOVIK An Irish sailor. 
 
 IRLAND IT MIKLA, OR GREAT IRELAND Supposed to be the 
 Carolinas. 
 
 WHITE MAN S LAND, OR HUITRAMANIA Supposed to be Geor 
 gia and Florida. 
 
 ZENO, NICOLO And his brother, Venetian gentlemen, of wealth, 
 who sailed on the Atlantic and were driven in a storm to a strange 
 land called Es-to-ti-land. 
 
 BASQUES A brave people of Northern Spain; they were brave 
 seamen, and some of them claim to have reached a bluffy country 
 where stockfish, or codfish, abound, which they called Stoxfixia; 
 supposed to be Newfoundland. 
 
 Cousis, DIEPPE, SKOLNO AND COSTAREAL Were brave seamen 
 who sailed the Atlantic, and are said to have been, at different 
 
 58 
 
times, driven on to strange land; Skolno was a Pole, in the service 
 of the Danes, sent out as an explorer. 
 
 BARINTUS Was an old monk; it is supposed his story was only 
 a myth. 
 
 EASTER SEA Pacific Ocean, east of Cathay. 
 
 CATHAY China. 
 
 Hwui SHAN A Buddhist monk, with five other monks, sup 
 posed to have wandered to America in the fifth century; Buddhist 
 monks travel aimlessly, without an objective point; Hwui Shan is 
 said to have come by way of the Aleutian Islands. 
 
 FUSANG Supposed to be Mexico. 
 
 Li A Chinese mile. 
 
 SEA OF DARKNESS The Atlantic Ocean; it is said after Atlantis 
 was destroyed it became so turbid and muddy that it was impossi 
 ble to navigate it. 
 
 QUAKING THROES It is said Atlantis was destroyed by terrible 
 earthquakes; some think that it was the same as the deluge in the 
 Bible. 
 
 EDEN-LIKE GARDENS Some think the Garden of Eden may have 
 been located on Atlantis. 
 
 GODS OF YOUNGER NATIONS Some think the deities of the East 
 ern nations were only the Kings and Queens of Atlantis; younger 
 nations, as they grew, heard of their exploits and called them gods. 
 
 MARCO POLO S INDIES OF THE EAST Columbus thought he had 
 reached the East Indies by sailing west, so he called the land West 
 Indies. 
 
 EIGHTEEN YEARS It is said Columbus was eighteen years pro 
 curing aid and the permission to develop his plans of a western 
 voyage; during this time he suffered much scorn and ridicule. 
 
 BUILT A TOWN On his second voyage Columbus founded the 
 town of Isabella, on St. Domingo. 
 
 KING S ENVOY On his third voyage Bobadilla was sent to look 
 after the affairs of Columbus, and brought him back in chains. 
 
 LAST HE SAILED Columbus made four voyages to America: 
 First, from Palos, August 3d, 1492; second, from Cadiz, Septem 
 ber 25, 1493; third, from San Lucar, May 30, 1498; on this voyage 
 he discovered South America, at the mouth of the Orinoco; fourth, 
 from Cadiz, May n, 1502; on this voyage the Governor of St. Do 
 mingo refused even in an approaching storm; shelter to his boats 
 in the harbor of the very town Columbus had built, although his 
 boats were badly damaged, he continued his explorations, and dis 
 covered North America at Honduras. Later he was totally ship 
 wrecked. 
 
 , 59 
 
SIR CHRISTOPHER S COVE, JAMAICA where Columbus was ship 
 wrecked on his last voyage; the crew endured extreme hardships; 
 after long delay the Governor of St. Domingo consented to help 
 them back to Spain. 
 
 YOUNG FERDINAND Columbus son, about twelve years of age, 
 accompanied his father on his last voyage. 
 
 VALLADOLID A town on the Douro, in Old Castile, Spain; Co 
 lumbus died here and was buried in the Franciscan Convent of 
 Santa Maria de la Antigua. 
 
 AMERIGO VESPUCIO A Florentine merchant who sailed to Amer 
 ica, and wrote such a glowing description of the country that the 
 scholars of St. Die began calling it after his name; some say he was 
 a friend of Columbus, and had no intention that he should be 
 robbed of this honor. 
 
 OLD CASTILLIAN Old Castile, a province of Spain. 
 
 To IMPART It is said one of Columbus great objects was to 
 establish the Christian religion in the country he should find. 
 
 NEW WORLD Western continent. 
 
 COPERNICUS A great German philosopher who lived from 1473 
 to 1543; he taught that the earth was only like some stars, and be 
 longed to a system of planets moving around the sun, but he dared 
 not teach it right out, for it was called heresy. 
 
 GALILEO An Italian philosopher, 1564-1642, who invented the 
 telescope, microscope, thermometer and clock: he taught that the 
 world moved, and was made to take it back, but he stamped his 
 foot on the floor and said, "It does move, nevertheless." 
 
 LOG-BOOK A record of the ship s course; Columbus did no: 
 have as perfect ways of determining the ship s course as seamen 
 now have, and it perplexed him a good deal out on the high sea. 
 
 SEVILLE A beautiful city of Southern Spain, in Andalusia, on 
 the Guadalquivir. 
 
 LA CUEVAS A Carthusian monastery of Seville, to which the 
 remains of Columbus were removed from Santa Maria de la Antigua. 
 
 AVE AND PATER-NOSTER Are formal prayers of the Roman Cath 
 olic Church. 
 
 GUADALQUIVIR A river of Andalusia, in Southern Spain. 
 
 DOURO A river of Castile, Spain. 
 
 ANDALUSIA A province of Southern Spain. 
 
 SAN DOMINGO A city of St. Domingo, West Indies. 
 
 HAVANA A city of Cuba, West Indies. 
 
 KING OF THE CID The ancient Spaniards were called Cids. 
 
 ST. DIE A small town in the domain of Duke Rene, in the 
 Varges Mountains, France; Duke Rene was fond of educated peo- 
 
 60 
 
pie; he befriended and gave a home to a great scholar by the name 
 of Walter Lud, who drew about him other scholars; Walter Lud, 
 with the help of Duke Rene, established here a flourishing school. 
 Amerigo wrote a letter, with the interesting account of the New 
 World to his friend Giocoiido, then in Paris; here Giocondo 
 met Mathias Ringmann, and told him about Amerigo s letter; 
 Ringmann became a teacher in the St. Die school; here he met 
 Walter Waldseemuller, a geographer and map-maker, and he 
 wrote up a book and drew a map, calling the New World Amer 
 ica. It seems careless of those scholars to make such a mistake, 
 but I suppose it was with them as it is with a great many people 
 now in the country and small towns, who love learning, but do not 
 always have the privilege of informing themselves correctly. 
 
 GENOA A city of Italy, where Columbus was born and reared; 
 it was called Genoa the Superb; many of her citizens were brave 
 seamen, and among them Columbus acquired his first knowledge 
 of the sea. 
 
 PALLADIN A knight or great man of Spain. 
 
 IMPUTED STAIN It is said Columbus sold the Indians for slaves; 
 it was very wrong if he did; we think his enemies have slandered 
 him a great deal. 
 
 CHERISHED PURSUIT It is said the men Columbus had with him 
 were so anxious to find gold that he was obliged often to turn from 
 his exploring, and search for gold; the King and people at home in 
 Spain expected gold, for Columbus supposed he had found Cathay 
 and India, where other travelers said it abounded. When they 
 could not find gold that is, not enough to satisfy them they 
 thought to increase their profits by selling the Indians for slaves. 
 We do not believe Columbus wished it as much as some writers 
 say, but, as rulers now-a-days must let something go on that can 
 not very well be helped, when many people wish it. We have read 
 that he did not allow the slaves to be treated unkindly when he was 
 able to prevent it. We are sorry that such wicked things ever 
 could have happened about our country, or the man to whose pa 
 tience and bravery we are indebted so much for our happy homes 
 and country. 
 
 BE A BLESSING In the twelfth chapter of Genesis we read that 
 God told Abraham to go and find a country which he should show 
 him, and said, "And thou shalt be a blessing." (Second verse.) 
 I suppose he meant by that, Abraham should live to a good, high 
 purpose and the world would be better for his having lived, and 
 that mankind should receive a blessing from his life. The Bible 
 tells us Abraham was a very patient man, and Josephus says he 
 
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