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diff --git a/old/67149-0.txt b/old/67149-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 08b62f9..0000000 --- a/old/67149-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12625 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Child’s History of the World, by V. M. Hillyer - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: A Child’s History of the World - -Author: V. M. Hillyer - -Illustrators: Carle Michel Boog - M. S. Wright - -Release Date: January 12, 2022 [eBook #67149] -[Most recently updated: January 15, 2022] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Alan, Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CHILD’S HISTORY OF THE WORLD *** - - - - - A CHILD’S HISTORY - OF THE WORLD - - - - - By V. M. HILLYER - - - A CHILD’S GEOGRAPHY OF THE WORLD - A CHILD’S HISTORY OF THE WORLD - CHILD TRAINING - THE DARK SECRET - - - With EDWARD G. HUEY - - A CHILD’S HISTORY OF ART - - -[Illustration] - - - - - A CHILD’S HISTORY - OF THE WORLD - - BY - V. M. HILLYER - - HEAD MASTER OF CALVERT SCHOOL - AUTHOR OF “CHILD TRAINING,” “KINDERGARTEN - AT HOME,” ETC. - - _With Many Illustrations by_ - CARLE MICHEL BOOG - AND - M. S. WRIGHT - - [Illustration] - - D. APPLETON-CENTURY COMPANY - INCORPORATED - NEW YORK LONDON - 1934 - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY - THE CENTURY CO. - - All rights reserved. This book, or parts - thereof, must not be reproduced in any - form without permission of the publisher. - - - PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - - - -LIST OF STORIES - - - STORY PAGE - - 1 HOW THINGS STARTED 3 - - 2 UMFA-UMFA AND ITCHY-SCRATCHY 10 - - 3 FIRE! FIRE!! FIRE!!! 16 - - 4 FROM AN AIRPLANE 20 - - 5 REAL HISTORY BEGINS 24 - - 6 THE PUZZLE-WRITERS 30 - - 7 THE TOMB-BUILDERS 36 - - 8 A RICH LAND WHERE THERE WAS NO MONEY 42 - - 9 THE WANDERING JEWS 49 - - 10 FAIRY-TALE GODS 56 - - 11 A FAIRY-TALE WAR 64 - - 12 THE KINGS OF THE JEWS 70 - - 13 THE PEOPLE WHO MADE OUR A B C’S 74 - - 14 HARD AS NAILS 79 - - 15 THE CROWN OF LEAVES 84 - - 16 A BAD BEGINNING 89 - - 17 KINGS WITH CORKSCREW CURLS 94 - - 18 A CITY OF WONDER AND WICKEDNESS 99 - - 19 A SURPRISE PARTY 103 - - 20 THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD 109 - - 21 RICH MAN, POOR MAN 114 - - 22 ROME KICKS OUT HER KINGS 119 - - 23 GREECE VS. PERSIA 124 - - 24 FIGHTING MAD 132 - - 25 ONE AGAINST A THOUSAND 137 - - 26 THE GOLDEN AGE 143 - - 27 WHEN GREEK MEETS GREEK 151 - - 28 WISE MEN AND OTHERWISE 156 - - 29 A BOY KING 162 - - 30 PICKING A FIGHT 168 - - 31 THE BOOT KICKS AND STAMPS 173 - - 32 THE NEW CHAMPION OF THE WORLD 177 - - 33 THE NOBLEST ROMAN OF THEM ALL 184 - - 34 AN EMPEROR WHO WAS MADE A GOD! 191 - - 35 “THINE IS THE KINGDOM, THE POWER, AND THE - GLORY” 197 - - 36 BLOOD AND THUNDER 203 - - 37 A GOOD EMPEROR AND A BAD SON 210 - - 38 I -- H -- -- S -- -- -- -- V -- -- -- -- -- 215 - - 39 OUR TOUGH ANCESTORS 219 - - 40 WHITE TOUGHS AND YELLOW TOUGHS MEET THE - CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD 225 - - 41 NIGHTFALL 231 - - 42 BEING GOOD 236 - - 43 A CAMEL-DRIVER 242 - - 44 ARABIAN DAYS 250 - - 45 A LIGHT IN THE DARK AGES 257 - - 46 GETTING A START 264 - - 47 THE END OF THE WORLD 269 - - 48 REAL CASTLES 272 - - 49 KNIGHTS AND DAYS OF CHIVALRY 278 - - 50 A PIRATE’S GREAT GRANDSON 284 - - 51 A GREAT ADVENTURE 292 - - 52 TIT-TAT-TO; THREE KINGS IN A ROW 297 - - 53 BIBLES MADE OF STONE AND GLASS 304 - - 54 JOHN, WHOM NOBODY LOVED 311 - - 55 A GREAT STORY-TELLER 316 - - 56 “THING-A-MA-JIGGER” AND “WHAT-CHER-MA-CALL-IT”; - OR, A MAGIC NEEDLE AND A MAGIC - POWDER 322 - - 57 THELON GEST WART HATE VERWAS 327 - - 58 OFF WITH THE OLD, ON WITH THE NEW 333 - - 59 A SAILOR WHO FOUND A NEW WORLD 337 - - 60 FORTUNE-HUNTERS 346 - - 61 THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT; OR, THE SEARCH - FOR GOLD AND ADVENTURE 354 - - 62 BORN AGAIN 359 - - 63 CHRISTIANS QUARREL 365 - - 64 KING ELIZABETH 372 - - 65 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH 378 - - 66 JAMES THE SERVANT; OR, WHAT’S IN A NAME? 384 - - 67 A KING WHO LOST HIS HEAD 390 - - 68 RED CAP AND RED HEELS 395 - - 69 A SELF-MADE MAN 402 - - 70 A PRINCE WHO RAN AWAY 407 - - 71 AMERICA GETS RID OF HER KING 412 - - 72 UPSIDE DOWN 420 - - 73 A LITTLE GIANT 428 - - 74 FROM PAN AND HIS PIPES TO THE PHONOGRAPH 435 - - 75 THE DAILY PAPERS OF 1854-1865 443 - - 76 THREE NEW POSTAGE STAMPS 449 - - 77 THE AGE OF MIRACLES 454 - - 78 GERMANY FIGHTS THE WORLD 460 - - 79 YESTERDAY, TO-DAY, AND TO-MORROW 465 - - - - - This page is not for you, boys and girls. - It is for that old man or woman--twenty, - thirty, or forty years old, who may peek - into this book; and is what they would - call the - -PREFACE - - -To give the child some idea of what has gone on in the world before he -arrived; - -To take him out of his little self-centered, shut-in life, which looms -so large because it is so close to his eyes; - -To extend his horizon, broaden his view, and open up the vista down the -ages past; - -To acquaint him with some of the big events and great names and fix -these in time and space as a basis for detailed study in the future; - -To give him a chronological file with main guides, into which he can -fit in its proper place all his further historical study-- - -Is the purpose of this first SURVEY OF THE WORLD’S HISTORY. - - - - - This part is not for you, either. It is for - your father, mother, or teacher, and is - what they would call the - -INTRODUCTION - - -In common with all children of my age, I was brought up on American -History and given no other history but American, year in and year out, -year after year for eight or more years. - -So far as I knew 1492 was the beginning of the world. Any events or -characters before that time, reference to which I encountered by any -chance, were put down in my mind in the same category with fairy-tales. -Christ and His times, of which I heard only in Sunday-school, were to -me mere fiction without reality. They were not mentioned in any history -that I knew and therefore, so I thought, must belong _not_ to a realm -in time and space, but to a spiritual realm. - -To give an American child only American History is as provincial as -to teach a Texas child only Texas History. Patriotism is usually -given as the reason for such history teaching. It only promotes a -narrow-mindedness and an absurd conceit, based on utter ignorance of -any other peoples and any other times--an intolerant egotism without -foundation in fact. Since the World War it has become increasingly more -and more important that American children should have a knowledge of -other countries and other peoples in order that their attitude may be -intelligent and unprejudiced. - -As young as nine years of age, a child is eagerly inquisitive as to -what has taken place in the ages past and readily grasps a concept of -World History. Therefore, for many years Calvert School nine-year-old -pupils have been taught World History in spite of academic and -parental skepticism and antagonism. But I have watched the gradual -drift toward adoption of this plan of history teaching, and with it an -ever-increasing demand for a text-book of general history for young -children. I have found, however, that all existing text-books have to -be largely abridged and also supplemented by a running explanation and -comment, to make them intelligible to the young child. - -The recent momentous studies into the native intelligence of children -show us what the average child at different ages can understand and -what he cannot understand--what dates, figures of speech, vocabulary, -generalities, and abstractions he can comprehend and what he cannot -comprehend--and in the future all text-books will have to be written -with constant regard for these intelligence norms. Otherwise, such -texts are very likely to be “over the child’s head.” They will be -trying to teach him some things at least that, in the nature of the -case, are beyond him. - -In spite of the fact that the writer has been in constant contact with -the child mind for a great many years, he has found that whatever -was written in his study had to be revised and rewritten each time -after the lesson had been tried out in the class-room. Even though -the first writing was in what he considered the simplest language, -he has found that each and every word and expression has had to be -subjected again and again to this class-room test to determine what -meaning is conveyed. The slightest inverted phraseology or possibility -of double meaning has oftentimes been misconstrued or found confusing. -For instance, the statement that “Rome was _on_ the Tiber River” has -quite commonly been taken to mean that the city was literally built -_on top_ of the river, and the child has had some sort of fantastic -vision of houses built on piles in the river. A child of nine is still -very young--he may still believe in Santa Claus--younger in ideas, in -vocabulary and in understanding than most adults appreciate--even -though they be parents or teachers--and new information can hardly be -put too simply. - -So the topics selected have not always been the most important--but the -most important that can be understood and appreciated by a child. Most -political, sociological, economic, or religious generalities are beyond -a child’s comprehension, no matter how simply told. After all, this -History is only a preliminary story. - -Excellent biographies and stories from general history have been -written. But biographies from history do not give an historic outline. -They do not give any outline at all for future filling in; and, indeed, -unless they themselves are fitted into such a general historical -scheme, they are nothing more than so many disconnected tales floating -about in the child’s mind with no associations of time or space. - -The treatment of the subject in this book is, therefore, -chronological--telling the story of what has happened century by -century and epoch by epoch, not by nations. The story of one nation is -interrupted to take up that of another as different plots in a novel -are brought forward simultaneously. This is in line with the purpose, -which is to give the pupil a continuous view or panorama of the ages, -rather than Greek History from start to finish, then, retracing the -steps of time, Roman History, and so on. The object is to sketch the -whole picture in outline, leaving the details to be gradually filled -in by later study, as the artist sketches the general scheme of his -picture before filling in the details. Such a scheme is as necessary to -orderly classification of historical knowledge as is a filing system in -any office that can function properly or even at all. - -The Staircase of Time is to give a visual idea of the extent of time -and the progressive steps in the History of the World. Each “flight” -represents a thousand years, and each “step” a hundred--a century. If -you have a spare wall, either in the play-room, attic, or barn such -a Staircase of Time on a large scale may be drawn upon it from floor -to reaching height and made a feature if elaborated with pictures or -drawings of people and events. If the wall faces the child’s bed so -much the better, for when lying awake in the morning or at any other -time, instead of imagining fantastic designs on the wall-paper, he may -picture the crowded events on the Staircase of Time. At any rate, the -child should constantly refer either to such a Staircase of Time or to -the Time Table as each event is studied, until he has a mental image of -the Ages past. - -At first a child does not appreciate time values represented by numbers -or the relative position of dates on a time line and will wildly say -twenty-five hundred B. C. or twenty-five thousand B. C. or twenty-five -million B. C. indiscriminately. Only by constantly referring dates to -position on the Staircase of Time or the Time Table can a child come -to visualize dates. You may be _amused_, but do not be _amazed_, if a -child gives 776 thousand years A.D. as the date for the First Olympiad, -or says that Italy is located in Athens, or that Abraham was a hero of -the Trojan War. - -If you have ever been introduced to a roomful of strangers at one -time, you know how futile it is to attempt even to remember their -names to say nothing of connecting names and faces. It is necessary -to hear something interesting about each one before you can begin to -recall names and faces. Likewise an introduction to World History, the -characters and places in which are utterly unknown strangers to the -child, must be something more than a mere name introduction, and there -must be very few introductions given at a time or both names and faces -will be instantly forgotten. It is also necessary to repeat new names -constantly in order that the pupil may gradually become familiarized -with them, for so many strange people and places are bewildering. - -In order to serve the purpose of a basal outline, which in the future -is to be filled in, it is necessary that the Time Table be made a -permanent possession of the pupil. This Time Table, therefore, should -be studied like the multiplication tables until it is known one -hundred per cent and for “keeps,” and until the topic connected with -each date can be elaborated as much as desired. The aim should be to -have the pupil able to start with Primitive Man and give a summary of -World History to the present time, with dates and chief events without -prompting, questioning, hesitation, or mistake. Does this seem too much -to expect? It is not as difficult as it may sound, if suggestions given -in the text for connecting the various events into a sequence and for -passing names and events in a condensed review are followed. Hundreds -of Calvert children each year are successfully required to do this very -thing. - -The attitude, however, usually assumed by teachers, that “even if the -pupil forgets it all, there will be left a valuable impression,” is too -often an apology for superficial teaching and superficial learning. -History may be made just as much a “mental discipline” as some other -studies, but only if difficulties of dates and other abstractions are -squarely met and overcome by hard study and learned to be remembered, -not merely to be forgotten after the recitation. The story part the -child will easily remember, but it is the “who and when and where and -why” that are important, and this part is the serious study. Instead -of, “A man, once upon a time,” he should say, “King John in 1215 at -Runnymede because--” - -This book, therefore, is not a supplementary reader but a basal history -study. Just enough narrative is told to give the skeleton flesh and -blood and make it living. The idea is not how much but how little can -be told; to cut down one thousand pages to less than half of that -number without leaving only dry bones. - -No matter how the subject is presented it is necessary that the child -do his part and put his own brain to work; and for this purpose he -_should be required to retell each story after he has read it_ and -should be repeatedly questioned on names and dates as well as stories, -to make sure he is retaining and assimilating what he hears. - -I recall how once upon a time a young chap, just out of college, taught -his first class in history. With all the enthusiasm of a full-back who -has just kicked a goal from field, he talked, he sang; he drew maps -on the blackboard, on the floor, on the field; he drew pictures, he -vaulted desks, and even stood on his head to illustrate points. His -pupils attended spellbound, with their eyes wide open, their ears wide -open, and their mouths wide open. They missed nothing. They drank in -his flow of words with thirst unquenched; but, like Baron Munchausen, -he had failed to look at the other end of the drinking horse that had -been cut in half. At the end of a month his kindly principal suggested -a test, and he gave it with perfect confidence. - -There were only three questions: - - (1) Tell all you can about Columbus. - (2) “ “ “ “ “ Jamestown. - (3) “ “ “ “ “ Plymouth. - -And here are the three answers of one of the most interested pupils: - - (1) He was a _grate_ man. - (2) “ “ “ “ “ - (3) “ “ “ “ “ _to_. - - -Here is the - -STAIRCASE OF TIME - -It starts far, far, below the bottom of the pages and rises up, UP, UP -to where we are NOW--each step a hundred years, each flight of steps a -thousand. It will keep on up until it reaches high heaven. From where -we are NOW let us look down the flights below us and listen to the -Story of what has happened in the long years gone by. - -[Illustration] - -TIME TABLE - -with - -DATES AND OTHER FOOD FOR THOUGHT - -_Don’t devour these dates all at once, or they’ll make you sick, and -you’ll never want to see one again._ - -_Take them piecemeal, only one or two at a time after each story, and -be sure to digest them thoroughly._ - - PAGE - Beginning of the Earth 3 - First Rain-storm 7 - Plants 7 - Mites 8 - Insects 8 - Fish 8 - Frogs 8 - Snakes 8 - Birds 8 - Animals 8 - Monkeys 8 - People 8 - 4000 B.C. Bronze Age Begins 16 - 3400 B.C. Menes 28 - 2900 B.C. Cheops 38 - 2300 B.C. Chaldean Eclipse 46 - 1900 B.C. Abraham Leaves Ur 49 - 1700 B.C. Israelites go to Egypt 51 - 1300 B.C. Exodus; Iron Age Begins 54 - 1200 B.C. Trojan War 64 - 1100 B.C. Samuel; Saul 70 - 1000 B.C. Homer; Solomon; Hiram 68, 71, 76 - 900 B.C. Lycurgus 79 - 776 B.C. First Olympiad 87 - 753 B.C. Founding of Rome 89 - 700 B.C. Nineveh at Top 96 - 612 B.C. Fall of Nineveh 98 - Draco; Solon 114-115 - 538 B.C. Fall of Babylon 108 - 509 B.C. End of Kings at Rome 119 - 500 B.C. Brahmanism 111 - Buddhism 112 - Confucius 113 - 490 B.C. Marathon 127 - 480 B.C. Thermopylæ; 137 - Salamis 140 - 480 B.C. Golden Age 143 - 430 B.C. Peloponnesian War 151 - 336 B.C. } - 323 B.C. } Alexander the Great 159, 162 - 202 B.C. Zama 175 - 100 B.C. Birth of Julius Cæsar 184 - 55 B.C. } - 54 B.C. } Conquest of Britain 186 - 44 B.C. Death of Julius Cæsar 190 - 27 B.C. Augustus and the Empire 191 - 4 B.C. Birth of Christ 197 - Nero 203 - Titus 206 - 79 A.D. Pompeii destroyed 208 - 179 A.D. Marcus Aurelius 210 - 323 A.D. Constantine 215 - 476 A.D. Downfall of Rome 227 - 622 A.D. The Hegira 244 - 732 A.D. Tours 249 - 800 A.D. Charlemagne 257 - 900 A.D. King Alfred the Great 264 - 1000 A.D. First Discovery of America 269 - 1066 A.D. William the Conqueror 286 - 1100 A.D. The Crusades 292 - 1215 A.D. King John; Magna Charta 311 - 1300 A.D. Marco Polo 318 - 1338 A.D. Beginning of One Hundred - Years’ War; Crécy; Black - Death; Joan of Arc 327 - 1440 A.D. Invention of Printing 333 - 1453 A.D. Fall of Constantinople 335 - 1492 A.D. Columbus; Discovery of - America 337 - 1497 A.D. Vasco da Gama 348 - 1500 A.D. The Renaissance 359 - The Reformation 365 - Charles V 367 - King Henry VIII 369 - Elizabeth 372 - 1588 A.D. Spanish Armada 375 - 1600 A.D. Shakspere 380 - 1640 A.D. Charles I and Oliver Cromwell 390 - Cardinal Richelieu 395 - Louis XIV 397 - 1700 A.D. Peter the Great 402 - 1750 A.D. Frederick the Great 407 - 1776 A.D. American Revolution 412 - 1789 A.D. French Revolution 420 - 1800 A.D. Napoleon 428 - 1861 A.D. Civil War 447 - 1914 A.D. } - 1918 A.D. } The Great War 460 - - - A CHILD’S HISTORY - OF THE WORLD - - BEGINS HERE - - - - -1 - -How Things Started - - -Once upon a time there was a boy-- - -Just like me. - -He had to stay in bed in the morning until seven o’clock until his -father and mother were ready to get up; - -So did I. - -As he was always awake long before this time, he used to lie there and -think about all sorts of curious things; - -So did I. - -One thing he used to wonder was this: - -What would the world be like if there were-- - -No fathers and mothers, - -No uncles and aunts, - -No cousins or other children to play with, - -_No people at all, except himself_ in the whole world! - -Perhaps you have wondered the same thing; - -So did I. - -At last he used to get so lonely, just from thinking how dreadful such -a world would be, that he could stand it no longer and would run -to his mother’s room and jump into bed by her side just to get this -terrible thought out of his mind; - -So did I--for _I was the boy_. - -Well, there _was_ a time long, long, long ago when there were no men -or women or children, _NO PEOPLE_ of any kind in the whole world. Of -course there were no houses, for there was no one to build them or to -live in them, no towns or cities--nothing that people make. There were -just wild animals--bears and wolves, birds and butterflies, frogs and -snakes, turtles and fish. Can you think of such a world as that? - - Then, - long, long, long - -before that, there was a time when there were _NO PEOPLE_ and _NO -ANIMALS_ of any sort in the whole world; there were just growing -plants, trees and bushes, grass and flowers. Can you think of such a -world as that? - - Then, - long, long, long, - long, long, long - -before that, there was a time when there were _NO PEOPLE, NO ANIMALS, -NO PLANTS_, in the whole world; there was just bare rock and water -everywhere. Can you think of such a world as that? - - Then, - long, long, long - long, long, long--you might - keep on saying-- - “long, long, long,” all day, and - to-morrow, and all - next week, and next - month, and next - year, and it would - not be long enough-- - -before this, there was a time when there was -_NO WORLD AT ALL!_ - - -There were only the Stars - -Nothing else! - -Now, real Stars are not things with points like those in the corner of -a flag or the gold ones you put on a Christmas tree. The real stars in -the sky have no points. They are huge burning coals of fire--coals of -fire. Each star, however, is so huge that there is nothing in the world -now anywhere nearly as big. One little bit, one little scrap of a star -is bigger than our whole world--than our whole world. - -One of these stars is our Sun--yes, our Sun. The other stars would -look the same as the Sun if we could get as close to them. But at that -time, so long, long ago, our Sun was not just a big, round, white, -hot ball as we see it in the sky to-day. It was then more like the -fireworks you may have seen on the Fourth of July. It was whirling and -sputtering and throwing off sparks. - -[Illustration: The sun sputtering and throwing off sparks.] - -One of these sparks which the Sun threw far off got cool just as a -spark from the crackling log in the fireplace gets cool, and this -cooled-off spark was-- - - What do you suppose? - See if you can guess-- - It was our World!--yes, the World - on which we now live. - -At first, however, our World or Earth was nothing but a ball of rock. -This ball of rock was wrapped around with steam, like a heavy fog. - -Then the steam turned to rain and it rained on the World, - - a a a - n n n - d d d - - i i i - t t t - - r r r - a a a - i i i - n n n - e e e - d d d - -until it had filled up the hollows and made enormously big puddles. -These puddles were the oceans. The dry places were bare _rock_. - -Then, after this, came the first living things--_tiny plants_ that you -could only have seen under a microscope. At first they grew only in -the water, then along the water’s edge, then out on the rock. - -Then dirt or soil, as people call it, formed all over the rock and made -the rock into land, and the plants grew larger and spread farther over -the land. - -Then, after this, came the first _tiny animals_ in the water. They were -wee _Mites_ like drops of jelly. - -Then, after this, came things like _Insects_, some that live _in_ the -water, some _on_ the water, some _on_ the land, and some _in_ the air. - -Then, after this, came _Fish_, that live only in the water. - -Then, after this, came _Frogs_, that live in the water and on the land, -too. - -Then, after this, came _Snakes_ and huge _lizards_ bigger than -alligators, more like dragons; and they grew so big that at last they -could not move and died because they could not get enough food to eat. - -Then, after this, came _Birds_ that lay eggs and those _Animals_ like -foxes and elephants and cows that nurse their babies when they are born. - -Then, after this, came _Monkeys_. - -Then, last of all, came--what do you suppose? Yes--_People_--men, -women, and children. - -Here are the steps; see if you can take them: - - STAR, SUN; - SUN, SPARK; - SPARK, WORLD; - WORLD, STEAM; - STEAM, RAIN; - RAIN, OCEANS. - - OCEANS, PLANTS; - PLANTS, MITES; - MITES, INSECTS; - INSECTS, FISH; - FISH, FROGS; - FROGS, SNAKES. - - SNAKES, BIRDS; - BIRDS, ANIMALS; - ANIMALS, MONKEYS; - MONKEYS, PEOPLE; - And here we are! - -What do you suppose will be next? - - - - -2 - -Umfa-Umfa and Itchy-Scratchy - - -How do you suppose I know about all these things that took place so -long ago? - -I don’t. - -I’m only guessing about them. - -But there are different kinds of guesses. If I hold out my two closed -hands and ask you to guess which one has the penny in it, that is one -kind of a guess. Your guess might be right or it might be wrong. It -would be just luck. - -But there is another kind of a guess. When there is snow on the ground -and I see tracks of a boot in the snow, I guess that a man must have -passed by, for boots don’t usually walk without some one in them. That -kind of a guess is not just luck but common sense. - -And so we can guess about a great many things that have taken place -long ago, even though there was no one there at the time to see them or -tell about them. - -Men have dug down deep under the ground in different parts of the world -and have found there--what do you suppose? - -I don’t believe you would ever guess. - -They have found the heads of arrows and spears and hatchets. - -The peculiar thing about these arrows and spears and hatchets is that -they are not made of iron or steel, as you might expect, but of stone. - -Now, we are sure that only men could have made and used such things, -for birds and fish or other animals do not use hatchets or spears. -We are also sure that these men must have lived long, long years ago -before iron and steel were known, because it must have taken long, long -years for these things to have become covered up so deep by dust and -dirt. We have also found the bones of the people themselves, who must -have died thousands upon thousands of years ago, long before any one -began to write down history. So we know that the people who were living -on the earth then were working and playing, eating and fighting--doing -many of the same things we are to-day--especially the fighting. - -This time in the pre-history of the world, when people used such things -made of stone, is therefore called THE STONE AGE. - -These First Stone Age People we call _Primitive_, which simply means -First as a Primer means First Reader. Primitive People were wild -animals. Unlike other wild animals, however, they walked on their hind -legs. - -These First People had hair growing, not just on their heads, but all -over their bodies, like some shaggy dogs. They had no houses of any -sort in which to live. They simply lay down on the ground when night -came. Later, when the earth became cold, they found caves in the rocks -or in the hillsides where they could get away from the cold and storms -and other wild animals. So men, women, and children of this time were -called _Cave People_. - -They spent their days hunting some animals and running and hiding from -others. They caught animals by trapping them in a pit covered over with -bushes, or they killed them with a club or a rock if they had a chance, -or with stone-headed arrows or hatchets. They even drew pictures of -these animals on the walls of their caves, scratching the picture with -a pointed stone, and some of these pictures we can still see to-day. - -They lived on berries and nuts and grass-seeds. They robbed the nests -of birds for the eggs, which they ate raw, for they had no fire to cook -with. They were blood-thirsty; they liked to drink the warm blood of -animals they killed, as you would a glass of milk. - -They talked to each other by some sort of grunts-- - -“Umfa, umfa, glug, glug.” - -They made clothes of skins of animals they killed, for there was no -such thing as cloth. And yet, although they were real men, they lived -so much like wild animals that we call such people _savages_. - -Primitive Men were not pleasant people. They were fearful and cruel -creatures, who beat and killed and robbed whenever they had a chance. - -A cave man got his wife by stealing a girl away from her own cave home, -knocking her senseless, and dragging her off by her hair, if necessary. -The men were fighters but not brave. They would kill other animals and -other men if the others were weaker or if they could sneak upon them -and catch them off their guard, but if others were stronger they would -run and hide. - -Their only rule of life was hurt and kill what you can, and run from -what you can’t. This is what we call the first law of nature--every man -for himself. They knew if they didn’t kill they would be killed, for -there were no laws nor police to protect them. - -These primitive cave people are our ancestors, and we get from them -many of their wild ways. In spite of our religion and manners and -education, there are many men still living who act in the same way when -they get a chance. - -Jails are made for such men. - -Suppose you had been a boy or a girl in the Stone Age, with a name -like Itchy-Scratchy. I wonder how you would have liked the life. - -When you woke up in the morning, you would not have bathed or even -washed your hands and face or brushed your teeth or combed your hair. - -You ate with your fingers, for there were no knives or forks or spoons -or cups or saucers, only one bowl--which your mother had made out of -mud and dried in the sun to hold water to drink--no dishes to wash and -put away, no chairs, no tables, no table manners. - -There were no books, no paper, no pencils. - -There was no Saturday or Sunday, January or July. Except that one day -was warm and sunny or another cold and rainy, they were all alike. -There was no school to go to. Every day was a holiday. - -There was nothing to do all day long but make mud pies or pick berries -or play tag with your brothers and sisters. - -I wonder how you would like that kind of life! - -“Fine!” do you think?--“a great life--just like camping out?” - -But I have only told you part of the story. - -The cave would have been cold and damp and dark, with only the bare -ground or a pile of leaves for a bed. There would probably have been -bats and big spiders sharing the cave with you. - -You might have had on the skin of some animal your father had killed -but as this only covered part of your body and as there was no fire, -you would have felt cold in winter, and when it got very cold you might -have frozen to death. - -For breakfast you might have had some dried berries or grass-seed or a -piece of raw meat, for dinner the same thing, for supper still the same -thing. - -You would never have had any bread or milk or griddle-cakes with syrup, -or oatmeal with sugar on it, or apple pie or ice-cream. - -There was nothing to do all day long but watch out for wild -animals--bears and tigers; for there was no door with lock and key, and -a tiger, if he found you out, could go wherever you went and “get you” -even in your cave. - -And then some day your father, who had left the cave in the morning to -go hunting, would not return, and you would know he had been torn to -pieces by some wild beast, and you would wonder how long before your -turn would come next. - -Do you think you would like to have lived then? - - - - -3 - -Fire! Fire!! Fire!!! - - -The first things are usually the most interesting--the first baby, the -first tooth, the first step, the first word, the first spanking. This -book will be chiefly the story of first things; those that came second -or third or fourth or fifth you can read about and study later. - -Primitive People did not at first know what fire was. They had no -matches nor any way of making a light or a fire. They had no light -at night. They had no fire to warm themselves by. They had no fire -with which to cook their food. Somewhere and sometime, we do not know -exactly when or how, they found out how to make and use fire. - -If you rub your hands together rapidly, they become warm. Try it. If -you rub them together still more rapidly, they become hot. If you rub -two sticks together rapidly, they become warm. If you rub two sticks -together very, very, very rapidly, they become hot and at last, if you -keep it up long enough and fast enough, are set on fire. The Indians -and boy scouts do this and make a fire by twisting one stick against -another. - -This was one of the first inventions, and this invention was as -remarkable for them at that time as the invention of electric light in -our own times. - -People of the Stone Age had hair and beards that were never cut, -because they had nothing to cut them with, even had they wanted them -short, which they probably didn’t. - -Their finger-nails grew like claws until they broke off. - -They had no clothes made of cloth, for they had no cloth and nothing -with which to cut and sew cloth if they had. - -They had no saws to cut boards, no hammer or nails to fasten them -together to make houses or furniture. - -They had no forks nor spoons; no pots nor pans; no buckets nor shovels; -no needles nor pins. - -The People of the Stone Age had never seen or heard of such a thing as -iron or steel or tin or brass or anything made of these metals. For -thousands and thousands of years Primitive People got along without any -of the things that are made of metal. - -Then one day a Stone Age Man found out something by accident; a -“discovery” we call it. - -He was making a fire; and a fire, which is to us such a common, -every-day thing, was still to him very wonderful. Round his fire he -placed some rock to make a sort of camp-fire stove. Now, it happened -that this particular rock was not ordinary rock but what we now call -“ore,” for it had copper in it. The heat of the fire melted some of the -copper out of the rock, and it ran out on the ground. - -What were those bright, shining drops? - -He examined them. - -How pretty they were! - -He heated some more of the same rock and got some more copper. - -[Illustration: A cave man discovering copper.] - -Thus was the first metal discovered. - -At first people used the copper for beads and ornaments, it was so -bright and shiny. But they soon found out that copper could be pounded -into sharp blades and points, which were much better than the stone -knives and arrow-heads they had used before. - -But notice that it was not iron they discovered first, it was copper. - -We think people next discovered tin in somewhat the same way. Then, -after that, they found out that tin when mixed with copper made a -still harder and better metal than either alone. This metal, made of -tin and copper together, we now call bronze; and for two or three -thousand years people made their tools and weapons out of bronze. And -so we call the time when men used bronze tools, and bronze weapons for -hunting and fighting, the Bronze Age. - -At last some man discovered iron, and he soon saw that iron was better -for most useful things than either copper or bronze. The Iron Age -started with the discovery of iron, and we are still in the Iron Age. - -As people who lived in the Bronze and Iron Ages were able, after the -discovery of metal, to do many things they could not possibly have done -before with only stone, and as they lived much more as we do now, we -call people of the Bronze and Iron Ages “civilized.” - -You may have heard in your mythology or fairy tales of a Golden Age -also, but by this is meant something quite different. The Golden Age -means a time when everything was beautiful and lovely and everybody -wise and good. There have been times in the World’s History which have -been called the Golden Age for this reason. - -But I am afraid there never has been really a golden age--only in -fairy-tales. - - - - -4 - -From an Airplane - - -People of the Bronze and Iron Ages thought the world was flat, and they -knew only a little bit of the world, the small part where they lived; -and they thought that if you went too far the world came to an end -where you would - - TU - M - B - L - E - - O - F - F - -The far-away land which nobody knew they called the Ultima Thule. This -is a nice name to say--Ultima Thule, Ultima Thule--far-away Ultima -Thule. - -If we should go up in an airplane and look down on the world at the -place where the first civilized people once lived, we should see two -rivers, a sea and a gulf, and from so high up in the air they would -look something like this: - -[Illustration: Map of Mesopotamia and Mediterranean.] - -Now, you probably have never even heard of these rivers and seas, and -yet they have been known longer than any other places in the world. One -of these lines is the Tigris River, and the other is the Euphrates. -They run along getting closer and closer together until at last they -join each other and flow into what is called the Persian Gulf. - -You might make these two rivers in the ground of your yard or garden or -draw them on the floor if your mother will let you. Just for fun you -might name your drinking-cup “Tigris” and your glass “Euphrates.” Then -you might call your mouth, into which they both empty, the “Persian -Gulf,” for you will hear a great many new names by and by, and as -grown-up people give names to their houses and boats, to their horses -and dogs, why shouldn’t you give names to things that belong to you? -For instance, you might call your chair, your bed, your table, your -comb and brush, even your hat and shoes, after these strange names. - -Then, if we flew in our airplane to the west, we should see a country -called Egypt, another river, the Nile, and a sea now named the -Mediterranean. Mediterranean simply means “between the land,” for this -sea is surrounded by land. It is, indeed, almost like a big lake. It -is supposed that long, long ago in the Stone Age, there was no water -at all where this sea now is, only a dry valley, and that people once -lived there. - -Along the Nile in Egypt and the Tigris and Euphrates were the only -civilized nations living in the Bronze Age. The rest of the World -people knew nothing about. There may have been Cave Men living in other -parts of the World, but it is only of the people in these two places -that we have any written history until after the Iron Age began. - -All of the people who lived in the country of the Tigris and Euphrates -were white. We don’t know how nor when nor where colored people first -lived, though it is interesting to guess. There were, we think, just -three different white families and from these three families all the -white people in the world are descended. Yes, your family came from -here, ’way, ’way, ’way, ’way, back. So you will want to know the names -of these three families and which one was your own. They were: - - The Indo-Europeans, often called Aryans, - The Semites, and - The Hamites. - -Most of us belong to the Aryan family, some are Semites, but very few -in this part of the World are Hamites. - -If your name is Henry or Charles or William, you are probably an Aryan. - -If it is Moses or Solomon, you are probably a Semite. - -If it is Shufu or Rameses, you are probably a Hamite. - -The Aryans came from higher up on the map than the other two families, -we think. They were the first people to tame wild horses and to use -them for riding and drawing carts. They also had tamed cows which they -used for milk, and sheep for their wool. - - - - -5 - -Real History Begins or ’Way ’Way Back to the Time of the Gipsies - - -You can remember the big things that have happened in your own lifetime. - -And you have of course heard your father tell about things that -happened in his own life--how he fought the Germans in the Great War, -perhaps. - -And if your grandfather is still living, he can tell you still other -stories of things that took place when he was a boy before even your -father was born. - - Perhaps your - great, - great, - grandfather - may have been living when Washington was - President, and _his_ - great, - great, - great, - great, - grandfather - -may have been living when there were only wild Indians in this country. - -Although these ancestors, as they are called, are dead long since, the -story of what did happen in all their lifetimes ’way, ’way back has -been written down in books and this story is history--“his story” one -boy named it. - -Christ was living in the Year 1--no, not the first year of the world, -of course. - -Do you know how many years ago that was? - -You can tell if you know what year this is now. - -If Christ were living to-day, how old would He be? - -Nineteen hundred and more years may seem a long time. But perhaps you -have seen or heard of a man or a woman who was a hundred years old. -Have you? - -Well, in nineteen hundred years only nineteen men each a hundred years -old might have lived one after the other--nineteen men one after the -other since the time of Christ--and that doesn’t seem so long after all! - -Everything that happened _before_ Christ was born is called B.C., which -you can guess are the initials of Before Christ, so B.C. stands for -Before Christ. So much is easy. - -Everything that has happened in the world _since_ the time of Christ is -called A.D. This is not so easy for though A. might stand for After, -we know D. is not the initial of Christ. As a matter of fact, A. D. -are the initials of two Latin words, “Anno Domini.” Anno means “in the -year,” Domini “of the Lord”; so that Anno Domini is “in the year, of -the Lord,” which in ordinary, every-day language means of course “since -the time of Christ.” - -The things I have told you that I have had to guess at we call -Before-History, or _Pre-History_--which means the same thing. But the -things that have happened in the lifetime of people, who have written -them down--the stories I don’t have to guess at--we call _History_. - -The first history that we feel fairly sure is really true begins with -the Hamite family. The Hamites, you remember, were one of the three -families of the white race I have already told you about who lived by -the Tigris and Euphrates. We think that they moved away from the Tigris -and Euphrates Rivers and went down to Egypt long before history began. - -Of course they didn’t pack all their furniture on a big wagon and -move to Egypt, as you might move from the house where you now live to -another. They lived in tents then and not in houses at all, and they -only moved along a day’s journey at a time as campers or Gipsies might -do. In fact, Gipsy is short for Egyptian. When they got tired of one -place or had eaten up everything there was near-by, they rolled up -their tents, packed them on camels, and moved a little farther along -to a new place. And so camping here for a while, then gradually moving -farther along to the next good place and camping there, they at last -got as far off as the land we now call Egypt. When they finally reached -Egypt they found it such a fine country in which to live that there -they stayed for good and were called Egyptians. - -Why do you suppose they found Egypt such a fine country in which to -live? It was chiefly on account of a habit of the river Nile--a bad -habit you might at first think it--a habit of flooding the country once -every year. - -It rains so hard in the spring that the water fills up the river Nile, -overflows its banks, and spreads far out over the land, but not very -deep. It is as if you had left a water-spigot turned on and the water -running, or had begun to water your garden with a hose, and then you -had gone off and forgotten it. - -But the people know when the overflow is coming and they are glad for -it to come, so they put banks around some of it so that it is stored -up for watering the land during the rest of the year when there is no -rain. After most of the water has dried up, it has left a layer of -rich, dark, moist earth over the whole country. In this earth it is -easy to grow dates, wheat, and other things which are good for food. - -If it were not for this yearly overflow of the Nile, the country of -Egypt would be a sandy desert in which no plant or living thing would -grow--for all plants as well as animals must have water and will die -without it. Egypt, without water, would be like the great Sahara -Desert, which is not far away. It is the Nile, therefore, that makes -the land so rich and Egypt such an easy and cheap country to live -in, for food grows with little or no labor and costs almost nothing. -Besides this, the climate is so warm that people need little clothing -and do not have to buy coal or make fires to heat their houses. So it -was to this country that the Hamites at last came, finally settled -down, and were thereafter called Egyptians. - -[Illustration: Menes, 3400 B. C.] - -The first Egyptian king whose name we know was Menes, but we do not -know much about him. We believe he built some kind of waterworks -so that the people might better use the water of the Nile, and he -probably lived about 3400 B. C. He may have lived either earlier or -later, but as this is an easy date to remember, we shall take it for -a starting-point. You might remember it by supposing it is a telephone -number of a person you wanted to call up: - -Menes, First Egyptian king . . 3400 B.C. - -[Illustration] - - - - -6 - -The Puzzle-Writers - - -People of the Stone Age had learned how to talk to each other, but they -could not write, for there was no such thing as an alphabet or written -words, and so they could not send notes or messages to one another or -write stories. The Egyptians were the first people to think of a way to -write what they wanted to say. - -The Egyptians did not write with letters like ours, however, but with -signs that looked like little pictures, a lion, a spear, a bird, a -whip. This picture-writing was called hieroglyphics--see if you can say -“Hi-e-ro-glyph-ics.” Perhaps you have seen, in the puzzle sections of -a newspaper, stories written in pictures for you to guess the meaning. -Well, hieroglyphics were something like that. - -Here is the name of an Egyptian queen, whom you will hear about -later--written in hieroglyphics; her name you would never guess from -this funny writing. It is “Cleopatra.” - -A king’s or queen’s name always had a line drawn around it, like the -one you see around the above name in order to mark it more prominently -and give it more importance. It was something like the square or circle -your mother may put around her initials or monogram on her letter-paper. - -But there was no paper in those days and so the Egyptians wrote on the -leaves of a plant called papyrus that grew in the water. It is from -this name “papyrus” that we get the name “paper.” Can you see that -“paper” and “papyrus” look and sound something alike? The Egyptians’ -books were written by hand, of course, but they had no pencils nor pens -nor ink to write with. For a pen they used a reed, split at the end, -and for ink a mixture of water and soot. - -[Illustration: Cleopatra in hieroglyphic writing.] - -Their books were not made of separate pages like our books, but from -a long sheet of papyrus-leaves pasted together. This was rolled up to -form what was called a scroll, something like a roll of wall-paper, and -was read as it was unrolled. - -Stories of their kings and battles and great events in their history -they used to write on the walls of their buildings and monuments. This -writing they carved into the stone, so that it would last much longer -than that on the papyrus-leaves. - -All the old Egyptians, who wrote in hieroglyphics and knew how to read -this writing, had died long since, and for a great many years no one -knew what such writing meant. But a little over a hundred years ago a -man found out by accident how to read and understand hieroglyphics once -again. This is the way he happened to do so. - -The Nile separates into different streams before it flows into the -Mediterranean Sea. These separate streams are called mouths and one of -these mouths has been given the name “Rosetta.” - -One day a man was digging nearby this Rosetta Mouth when he dug up a -stone something like a tombstone with several kinds of writing on it. -The top writing was in pictures which we now call hieroglyphics, and no -one understood what it meant. Below this was written what was supposed -to be the same story in the Greek language, and a great many people do -understand Greek. All one had to do, therefore, to find out the meaning -of the hieroglyphics, was to compare the two writings. It was like -reading secret writing when we know what the letters stand for. You may -have tried to solve a puzzle in the back of your magazine, and this -was just such an interesting puzzle, only there was no one to tell the -answer in the next number. - -The puzzle was not so easy as it sounds, however, for it took a man -almost twenty years to solve it. That is a long time for any one to -spend in trying to solve a puzzle, isn’t it? But after this “key” to -the puzzle was found, men were able to read all of the hieroglyphics -in Egypt and so to find out what happened in that country long before -Christ was born. - -This stone is called the Rosetta Stone, from the Rosetta Mouth of the -Nile where it was found. It is now in the great British Museum in -London and is very famous, because from it we were able to learn so -much history which we otherwise would not have known. - -Egypt was ruled over by a king who was called a Pharaoh. When he died -his son became the Pharaoh and so on. All the other people were divided -into classes, and the children in each class usually became just what -their fathers had been. It was very unusual for an Egyptian to start at -the bottom and work up to the top, as a poor boy in this country may -do, though once in a great while this happened even in Egypt, as we -shall see by and by. - -The highest class of people were called priests. They were not like -priests or ministers of the church nowadays, however, for there was -no church at that time. The priests made the religion and rules, which -every one had to obey as everybody does the laws of our land. - -But the priests were not only priests; they were doctors and lawyers -and engineers, as well. They were the best-educated class, and they -were the only people who knew how to read and write, for it was very -difficult, as you might suppose, to learn how to read and write -hieroglyphics. - -The next highest class to the priests were the soldiers, and below -these were the lower classes--farmers, shepherds, shopkeepers, -merchants, mechanics, and last of all the swineherds. - -The Egyptians did not worship one God as we do. They believed in -hundreds of gods and goddesses, and they had a special god for every -sort of thing, who ruled over and had charge of that thing--a god of -the farm, a god of the home, and so on. Some of their gods were good -and some were bad, but the Egyptians prayed to them all. - -Osiris was the chief god, and Isis was his wife. Osiris was the god of -farming and judge of the dead. Their son Horus had the head of a hawk. - -Many of their gods had bodies of men with heads of animals. Animals -they thought sacred. The dog and the cat were sacred animals. The -ibis, which was a bird like a stork, was another. Then there was the -beetle, which was called a scarab. If any one killed a sacred animal -he was put to death, for the Egyptians thought it much worse to kill a -sacred and holy creature than to kill even a human being. - -[Illustration] - - - - -7 - -The Tomb-Builders - - -[Illustration: Tu-tank-amen’s tomb showing foods preserved.] - -The Egyptians believed that when they died, their souls stayed near -by their bodies. So when a person died they put in the tomb with him -all sorts of things that he had used in daily life--things to eat and -drink, furniture and dishes, toys and games. They thought the soul -would return to its own body at the day of judgment. They wanted their -bodies to be kept from decaying until judgment day, in order that the -soul might then have a body to return to. So they pickled the bodies -of the dead by soaking them in a kind of melted tar and wrapping them -round and round and round with a cloth like a bandage. A dead body -pickled in this way is called a mummy, and after thousands of years the -mummies of the Egyptian kings may still be seen. Most of them are not, -however, in the tombs where they were at first placed. They have been -moved away and put in museums, and we may see them there now. Although -they are yellow and dried up, they still look like - - “Little old men - All skin and bones.” - -At first only kings or important people of the highest classes were -made mummies, but after a while all the classes, except perhaps the -lowest, were treated in the same way. Sacred animals from beetles to -cows were also made into mummies. - -When an Egyptian died his friends heaped up a few stones over his body -just to cover it up decently and keep it from being stolen or destroyed -by those wild animals that fed on dead bodies. But a king or a rich -man wanted a bigger pile of stones over his body than just ordinary -people had. So to make sure that his pile would be big enough, a king -built it for himself before he died. Each king tried to make his pile -larger than any one else’s until at last the pile of stones became so -big it was a hill of rocks and called a pyramid. The pyramids therefore -were tombs of the kings who built them while they were alive to be -monuments to themselves when they were dead. In fact a king was much -more interested in building a home for his dead body than he was in a -home for his live body. So, instead of palaces, kings built pyramids. -There are many of these pyramids built along the bank of the Nile, and -most of them were built, we think, just after 3000 B.C. - -When a building is being put up nowadays, men use derricks and cranes -and engines to haul and raise heavy stones and beams. But the Egyptians -had no such machinery, and though they used huge stones to build the -pyramids, they had to drag these stones for many miles and raise them -into place simply by pushing and pulling them. The three biggest of -all the pyramids are near the city of Cairo. The largest one of them, -which is called the Great Pyramid, was built by a king named Cheops. -To remember when he lived, simply think of this as another telephone -number: - - Cheops 2900 B.C. - -It is said that one hundred thousand men worked twenty years to build -his pyramid. It is one of the largest buildings in the world, and some -of the blocks of stone themselves are as big as a small house. I have -been to the top of it, and it is like climbing a steep mountain with -rocky sides. I have also been far inside to the cave-like room in the -center where Cheop’s mummy was placed. There is nothing in there now, -however, except bats that fly about in the darkness, for the mummy has -disappeared--been stolen, perhaps. - -[Illustration: Cheops building his pyramid.] - -Near the Pyramid of Cheops is the Sphinx. It is a huge statue of a -lion with a man’s head. It is as big as a church, and though it is so -big, it has been carved out of one single rock. The rock, however, was -already there and so did not have to be carried. The Sphinx is a statue -of the god of the morning, and the head is that of one of the Egyptian -Pharaohs who built a pyramid near that of Cheops. The desert sand has -covered the paws and most of the body. Though the sand has been dug -away from time to time, the wind quickly covers the body with sand -again. - -The Egyptians carved other large statues of men and women out of rock. -These figures are usually many times bigger than life-size, and sit or -stand stiffly erect with both feet flat on the ground and hands close -to the body in the position some children take when they “sit” for -their photograph. - -They built huge houses for their gods. These were called temples and -took the place of our churches. These temples had gigantic--that’s the -way it is spelled, though it means “giant-ic”--columns and pillars. -Ordinary people standing beside them look like dwarfs. Here is one of -these temples, and you can see how different it is from our churches: - -[Illustration: Egyptian temple.] - -They decorated their temples and pyramids, and the cases in which the -mummies were put, with drawings and paintings. The pictures they made, -however, looked something like those a young child might draw. For -example, when they wanted to make a picture of water, they simply made -a zigzag line to represent waves; when they tried to draw a row of men -back of a row in front, they put those in the back _on top_ of those -in front. To show that a man was a king, they made him several times -larger than the other men in the picture. When they painted a picture -they used any color they thought was pretty, usually blue or yellow or -brown. Whether the person or thing was really that color or not made no -difference. - - - - -8 - -A Rich Land Where There Was No Money - - -You have read in fairy-tales of a land where cakes and candy and -sugar-plums grow on trees, where everything you want to eat or to play -with can be had just by picking it. Well, long, long ago people used to -think there had been really such a country, and where do you suppose -they said it was? Somewhere near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers--those -rivers with the strange names I asked you to learn--and they called -this spot the Garden of Eden. We do not know exactly where it was, for -there is no such place now quite as wonderful as the Garden of Eden was -supposed to be. - -Egypt was a land of one river, the Nile. The land of the Two Rivers had -several names. - -Let us suppose we are flying over the country in an airplane and -looking down at the land between these two rivers. It is called -Mesopotamia, which is two Greek words simply meaning “Between the -Rivers.” - -See the land over there by the upper Tigris. It is called _Assyria_. - -See the land near where the rivers join each other. That is called -_Babylonia_. - -See the land near where they empty. That is called _Chaldea_. - -And see over there is _Mount Ararat_, where it is supposed Noah’s Ark -rested after the flood. - -Here are a lot of new names. A young friend of mine had a train of toy -cars. He had noticed that the Pullman cars on which he had ridden had -names, and so he gave his toy cars names also. He called them: - - ASSYRIA MESOPOTAMIA - BABYLONIA ARARAT - CHALDEA EUPHRATES - -Babylonia was a very rich country, for the two rivers brought down -and dropped great quantities of earth just as the Nile did in Egypt, -and this made very rich soil. Wheat, from which we make bread, is -called the staff of life. It is the most valuable of all foods which -grow. It is supposed that wheat first grew in Babylonia. Dates in -that part of the world are almost as important a food as wheat. -Dates, too, grow there very plentifully. Now, you may think dates are -something to be eaten almost like candy but in Babylonia dates took the -place of oatmeal. In the rivers there were quantities of good fish, -and as fishing was just fun, you see that the people who lived in -Babylonia--the Babylonians, as they were called--had plenty of good -food without having to do much work for it. No one had any money in -those days; people had cows and sheep and goats, and a man was rich who -had much of these “goods.” But if a man wanted to buy or sell, he had -to buy or sell by trading something he had for something he wanted. - -Somewhere in Babylonia the people built a great tower called the _Tower -of Babel_, which you have probably heard about. It was more like a -mountain than a tower. They built other towers, too. Some say the Tower -of Babel and towers like it were built so that the people might have -a high place to which they could climb in case of another flood. But -others give a different reason. They say that the people who built -these towers came to Babylonia from farther north where there were -mountains. In this northern land they had always placed their altars -on the top of a mountain, to be close to heaven. So when they moved -to a flat country like Mesopotamia and Babylonia, where there were no -mountains, they _built_ mountains in order to have a high place for the -altar on top. To reach the top of these mountains or towers, they made, -instead of a staircase on the inside, a slanting roadway that wound -around the outside in somewhat the way a road winds around a mountain. - -There was hardly any stone either in or near Babylonia as there was in -Egypt, and so the Babylonians built their buildings of bricks, which -were made of mud formed into blocks and dried in the sun. In the course -of time, bricks of this sort crumble and turn back into dust again just -as mud pies that you might make would do. This is the reason why all -that is left of the Tower of Babel and the other buildings that were -put up so long ago are now simply hills of clay into which the brick -has turned. - -The Egyptians wrote on papyrus or carved their history in stone, but -the Babylonians had neither papyrus nor stone. All they had were -bricks. So they wrote on bricks before they were dried, while they -were still soft clay. This writing was made by punching marks into the -clay with the end of a stick. It was called _cuneiform_, which means -wedge-shaped, for it looked like little groups of wedge-shaped marks, -like chicken-tracks, made in the mud. I have seen boys’ writing that -looked more like cuneiform than it did like English. - -The Babylonians as they watched their flocks by night and by day -watched also the sun and the moon and the stars moving across the sky. -So they came to know a great deal about these heavenly bodies. - -Did you ever see the moon in the daytime? - -Oh, yes, you can. - -[Illustration: Babylonians watching eclipse.] - -Well, every once in a great while the moon as it moves across the sky -gets in front of the sun and shuts out its light--just as, if you -should put a white plate in front of an electric light, the electric -light would be darkened. It may be ten o’clock in the morning and broad -daylight when suddenly the sun is covered up by the moon as by a white -plate and it becomes night and the stars shine out and chickens, -thinking it is night, go to roost. But in a few moments the moon passes -by and the sun shines out once again. This is called an _eclipse_ of -the sun. - -Now you probably have never seen an eclipse of the sun, but some day -you may. At that time, and even to-day when ignorant people see an -eclipse of the sun, they think that something dreadful is going to -happen--the end of the world, perhaps, just because they have never -seen such a strange sight before and do not know that it is a thing -that happens regularly and that no harm comes from it. - -Well, nearly twenty-three hundred years before Christ, 2300 B. C., the -Babylonians told beforehand just when there was going to be an eclipse -of the sun. They had watched the moon moving across the sky and they -had figured out how long it would be before it would catch up with the -sun and cross directly over it. So you see how much the old Babylonians -knew about such things. Men who study the stars and other heavenly -bodies are called astronomers, and the Babylonians, therefore, were -famous astronomers. - -The Egyptians worshiped animals; but it was quite natural that the -Babylonians should worship these wonderful heavenly bodies, the sun, -moon, and stars, and they did. - -The first king of Babylonia whom we know much about--and that much is -very little--was Sargon I, who may have lived about the same time that -the pyramids were built in Egypt. - -About 2100 B. C. Babylonia had a king known far and wide for the laws -he made. His name was Hammurabi, and we still have the laws he made -though we no longer obey them; for they were carved into a stone in -cuneiform, and we have the stone. Sargon and Hammurabi are strange -names like no one’s name you ever heard before, yet they are real names -of real kings who ruled over real people. - -[Illustration] - - - - -9 - -The Wandering Jews - - -“You are” spells “Ur.” It is one of the shortest names I know. It is -the name of a little place in that part of Babylonia called Chaldea. In -this place--about nineteen hundred years B.C.--there lived a man named -Abraham. Abraham had a very large family and though he had no money he -was rich. He had large herds of sheep and goats, and these were the -chief riches in those days. Now, Abraham believed in one God, as we do, -while his neighbors, the Babylonians, worshiped idols and the heavenly -bodies, such as the sun, moon, and stars, as I have just said. Abraham -did not like his neighbors for this reason; and his neighbors didn’t -like him, either, for they thought his ideas were peculiar or even -crazy. So, about nineteen hundred years before Christ, Abraham took -his large family, his flocks, and his herds and moved to a land called -Canaan, far away on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. - -Abraham lived to be a very old man, and he had a large family. One of -his grandsons named Jacob, who was also known by the name of Israel, -had a son Joseph. You probably remember the Bible story of Jacob’s -favorite son Joseph with the coat of many colors. Joseph’s brothers -were jealous of him, as boys and even dogs are apt to be jealous of -any one who is liked better than they are. So they put Joseph into a -well and then sold him as a slave to some Egyptians who were passing -by. Then they told their father Jacob that Joseph had been killed by -wild animals. The Egyptians took Joseph to far-off Egypt--far away from -Canaan. - -[Illustration: Abraham leaving Ur. 1900 B.C.] - -But although Joseph was a slave in Egypt, and although, as I told you, -it was very difficult for any one to work his way up out of his class -to a higher class, he was so bright that at last he became one of the -rulers in Egypt. - -Now, at that time when he was ruler there came a famine in Canaan and -there was no food. In Egypt, however, there was plenty of food stored -up. So Joseph’s wicked brothers went down to Egypt to beg the rulers -for bread. They probably thought by that time their brother was dead. -They did not know that he had become such a great man and that he was -now the ruler of whom they were begging food. You can imagine how -surprised they were and how ashamed they must have felt when they found -out that the great ruler was their own brother, whom they had planned -to kill and then had sold as a slave. - -Joseph might have let his brothers starve to death or put them in -prison, or sent them back to Canaan without anything, if he had wanted -to revenge himself on them. But instead of doing any of these things, -he gave them not only all the food they wanted and more to take back -home, but made them rich presents besides. Then he told them to go back -and get the rest of his family and return with them to Egypt, and he -promised to give them a piece of land called Goshen where there would -be no famines and they might live happily. So they did as they were -told, and Israel and his sons and all their families came down and -settled in Goshen about 1700 B.C. They were called Israelites, which -means of course the children of Israel, and they believed they were -God’s chosen people. These are the people we now call the Jews. - -After Joseph, who was of course an Israelite himself, died, the kings -or Pharaohs of Egypt did not like these foreign people who belonged to -the Semite family, and treated them very badly, as other peoples have -always treated the Jews badly ever since. Though the Jews and their -sons and sons’ sons lived in Egypt for about four hundred years, they -were always hated by the Egyptians. - -Now about four hundred years from the time the Jews first came into -Egypt--400 from 1700 is 1300 B.C.--there was a ruler of Egypt called -Rameses the Great. - -[Illustration: Rameses’ mummy.] - -Rameses so hated the Jews that finally he gave orders to have every -Jewish boy baby killed. In this way he thought to get rid of these -people. One little Jewish boy named Moses, however, was saved, and when -he grew up he became the greatest leader of his people. Moses wanted to -get the Jews out of this unfriendly country where the people worshiped -false gods. And so at last he led all his people out of Egypt across -the Red Sea. This was called the Exodus, and it took place about 1300 -B.C. - -[Illustration: Rameses the Great.] - -After the Jews had left Egypt they first stopped at the foot of a -mountain called Mount Sinai, while Moses went up to the top where he -could be by himself and learn what God wanted him and the Jews to do. -Moses spent forty days praying on top of the mountain. When he came -down from the mountain-top, he brought with him the Ten Commandments, -the same Ten Commandments you may have learned in Sunday-school. But -Moses had been gone so long that when he came back again to his people -he found them worshiping a golden calf as the Egyptians had done. They -had lived in Egypt until they had come to think it was all right to -worship idols. - -Moses was very angry. It was high time, he thought, that they should -get rid of the bad influence of their old Egyptian neighbors. And at -last he succeeded in making them worship God again and gave them the -Ten Commandments for their rule of life. So Moses is called a lawgiver -and the founder of the Jewish religion. Then Moses died, and the Jews -wandered from place to place for a great many years before they finally -settled in Canaan. - -The Jews had no kings. They were ruled by men called judges, but the -judges lived very simply, just like every one else and not like kings -in palaces with servants and fine robes and rich jewels. But the Jews -wanted a real king as their enemies had and other nations who were -their neighbors. Strange they wanted a king which so many countries -have tried to get rid of--we should think they would have preferred a -President as we have. - -So at last a judge who was named Samuel said they should have a king, -and Saul was chosen. Then Samuel poured olive-oil over Saul’s head. -This may seem a queer thing to do, but it took the place of putting -a crown on his head and was a sign that he was to be king. Samuel, -therefore, was the last one of their judges, and Saul was their first -king. - -All other nations at that time believed as the Egyptians and Chaldeans -did, in fairy-tale gods or idols. But the Jews alone believed in one -God. They had a Holy Book which had been written by their prophets. -This book is the Old Testament part of the Christian Bible. - -So this is the story of the Wandering Jews who gave us the Old -Testament and the Ten Commandments, and here is the way they wandered: - - From Ur to Canaan--1900 B.C. - - From Canaan to Egypt--1700 B.C. - - From Egypt back to Canaan--1300 B.C. - - - - -10 - -Fairy-Tale Gods - - -There was once a man named Hellen--strange-sounding name for a man, -isn’t it? He was not a Semite and not a Hamite. He was an Aryan. He -had a great many children and children’s children, and they called -themselves Hellenes. They lived in a little scrap of a country that -juts out into the Mediterranean Sea, and they called their land Hellas. -I once upset a bottle of ink on my desk, and the ink ran out into a -wriggly spot that looked exactly as Hellas does on the map. Though -Hellas is hardly any bigger than one of our States, its history is more -famous than that of any other country of its size in the world. We call -Hellas “Greece” and the people who lived there “Greeks.” - -About the same time the Jews were leaving Egypt, about the time when -people were beginning to use iron instead of bronze, that is, about -1300 B.C., we first begin to hear of Hellas and the Hellenes, of Greece -and the Greeks. - -The Greeks believed in many gods, not in one God as we do and as the -Jews did, and their gods were more like people in fairy-tales than -like divine beings. Many beautiful statues have been made of their -different gods, and poems and stories have been written about them. - -There were twelve--just a dozen--chief gods. They were supposed to -live on Mount Olympus, which was the highest mountain in Greece. These -gods were not always good, but often quarreled and cheated and did -even worse things. The gods lived on a kind of food that was much more -delicious than what we eat. It was called nectar and ambrosia, and the -Greeks thought it made those who ate it immortal; that is, so that they -would never die. - -Let me introduce you to the family of the gods. I know you will be -pleased to meet them. Most of them have two names. - - _Jupiter or Zeus_ is the father of the gods and the the king who rules - over all human beings. He sits on a throne and holds a zigzag flash - of lightning called a thunderbolt in his hand. An eagle, the king of - birds, is usually by his side. - - _Juno or Hera_ is his wife and therefore queen. She carries a scepter, - and her pet bird, the peacock, is often with her. - - _Neptune or Poseidon_ is one of the brothers of Jupiter. He rules over - the sea. He rides in a chariot drawn by sea-horses and carries in his - hand a trident, which looks like a pitchfork with three points. He - can make a storm at sea or quiet the waves simply by striking them - with his trident. - - _Vulcan or Hephæstus_ is the god of fire. He is a lame blacksmith and - works at a forge. His forge is said to be in the cave of a mountain, - and as smoke and fire come forth from some mountains they are called - volcanoes after the god Vulcan inside. - - _Apollo_ is the most beautiful of all the gods. He is the god of the - sun and of song and music. Every morning--so the Greeks said--he - drives his sun-chariot across the sky from the east to the west, and - this makes the sun-lighted day. - - _Diana or Artemis_ is the twin sister of Apollo. She is the goddess of - the moon and of hunting. - - _Mars or Ares_ is the terrible god of war, who is only happy when a - war is going on--so that he is happy most of the time. - - _Mercury or Hermes_ is the messenger of the gods. He has wings on - his cap and on his sandals, and he carries in his hand a wonderful - winged stick or wand, which, if placed between two people who are - quarreling, will immediately make them friends. One day Mercury saw - two snakes fighting and he put his wand between them, whereupon they - twined around it as if in a loving hug, and ever since the snakes have - remained entwined around it. This wand is called a _caduceus_. - -[Illustration: Birth of Minerva or Athene.] - - _Minerva or Athene_ is the goddess of wisdom. She was born in a very - strange way. One day Jupiter had a terrible headache--what we call a - “splitting” headache. It got worse and worse, until at last he could - stand it no longer, but he took a very strange way to cure it. He - called Vulcan, the lame blacksmith, and told him to hit him on the - head with his hammer. Though Vulcan must have thought this a funny - request, of course he had to obey the father god. So he struck Jupiter - a terrible blow on the head, whereupon there sprang forth Minerva in - all her armor, and the headache, of which she had been the cause, had - gone. So she was born from his brain, that is why she is the goddess - of wisdom. Minerva’s Greek name is Athene, and she founded a great - city in Greece and named it after herself, Athens. She is supposed to - look out for this city as a mother does for her child. - - _Venus or Aphrodite_ is the goddess of love and beauty. She is the - most beautiful of the goddesses as Apollo is the most beautiful of the - gods. She is said to have been born from the sea-foam. Cupid, her son, - is a little chubby boy with a quiver of arrows on his back. He goes - about shooting his invisible arrows into the hearts of human beings, - but instead of dying when they are hit they at once fall in love - with some one. That is why we put hearts with arrows through them on - valentines. - - _Vesta_ is the goddess of the home and fireside, who looks out for the - family. - - _Ceres or Demeter_ is the goddess of the farmer. These are the twelve - gods of the Olympian family. - - _Pluto_ is a brother of Jupiter. He rules the world underground and - lives down there. - -There are many other less important gods and goddesses as well as some -gods that are half human, such as the three Fates and three Graces and -the nine Muses. - -Some of the planets in the sky which look like stars are still called -by the names of these Greek gods. Jupiter is the name of the largest -planet. Mars is the name of one that is reddish--the color of blood. -Venus is the name of one that is very beautiful. There is also a -Mercury and a Neptune. - -It is hard for us to understand how the Greeks could have prayed to -such gods as these, but they did. Their prayers, however, were not like -ours. Instead of kneeling and closing their eyes as we do, they stood -up and stretched their arms straight out before them. They did not pray -to be forgiven for their sins and to be made better. They prayed for -victory over their enemies or to be protected from harm. - -When they prayed they often made the god an offering of animals, fruit, -honey, or wine in order to please him so that he would grant their -prayer. The wine they poured out on the ground, thinking the god would -like to have them do this. The animals they killed and then burned by -building a fire under them on an altar. This was called a sacrifice. -Their idea seemed to be that even though the gods could not eat the -meat of the animals nor drink the wine themselves, they liked to have -something _given up_ for them. And so even to-day we say a person makes -a sacrifice when he _gives up_ something for another. - -When the Greeks were sacrificing they usually looked for some sign from -the god to see whether he was pleased or not with the sacrifice and -whether he would answer their prayer and do what they asked him or not. -A flock of birds flying overhead, a flash of lightning, or any unusual -happening they thought was a sign which meant something. Such signs -were called “omens.” Some omens were good and showed that the god would -do what he was asked, and some omens were bad and showed he would not. -Omens were very much like some of the signs that people believe in even -to-day when they say it is a good sign or good luck if you see the new -moon over the right shoulder or a bad sign or bad luck if you spill the -salt. - -Not so very far from Athens is a mountain called Mount Parnassus. On -the side of Mount Parnassus was a town called Delphi. In the town of -Delphi there was a crack in the ground, from which gas came forth, -somewhat as it does from cracks in a volcano. This gas was supposed to -be the breath of the god Apollo, and there was a woman priest called a -priestess who sat on a three-legged stool or tripod over the crack so -as to breathe the gas. She would become delirious, as some people do -when they are sick with fever and we say they are “out of their heads,” -and when people asked her questions she would mutter strange things and -a priest would tell what she meant. This place was called the Delphic -Oracle, and people would go long distances to ask the oracle questions, -for they thought Apollo was answering them. - -The Greeks went to the oracle whenever they wanted to know what to -do or what was going to happen, and they firmly believed in what the -oracle told them. Usually, however, the answers of the oracle were like -a riddle, so that they could be understood in more than one way. For -instance, a king who was about to go to war with another king asked the -oracle who would win. The oracle replied, “A great kingdom will fall.” -What do you suppose the oracle meant? Such an answer, which you can -understand in two or three ways, is still called “oracular.” - - - - -11 - -A Fairy-Tale War - - -The history of countries usually begins--and also ends--with war. -The first great happening in the history of Greece was a war. It was -called the Trojan War and was supposed to have taken place about twelve -hundred years before Christ, or not long after the beginning of the -Iron Age. But we are not only not sure of the date; we are not even -sure that there ever was such a war, for a great deal of it, we know, -is simply fairy-tale. This is the way the tale goes. - -Once there was a wedding feast of the gods and goddesses on Mount -Olympus, when suddenly a goddess who had not been invited threw a -golden apple on the table. On the apple was written these words: - - To the Fairest. - -The goddess who had thrown the apple was the goddess of quarreling; and -true to her name she _did_ start a quarrel, for each of the goddesses, -like vain human beings, thought she was the fairest and should have -the apple. At last they called in a shepherd boy named Paris to decide -which was the fairest. - -Each goddess offered Paris a present if he would choose her. Juno, the -queen of the gods, offered to make him a king; Minerva, the goddess of -wisdom, offered to make him wise; but Venus, the goddess of beauty, -offered to give him the most beautiful girl in the world for his wife. - -Now, Paris was not really a shepherd boy but the son of Priam, the king -of Troy, which was a city on the sea-shore opposite Greece. Paris when -a baby had been left on a mountain to die, but had been found by a -shepherd and brought up by him as his own child. - -Paris didn’t care about being wise; he didn’t care about being king; -what he did want was to have the most beautiful girl in the world for -his wife, and so he gave the apple to Venus. - -Now the most beautiful girl in the world was named Helen, and she was -already married to Menelaus, the king of Sparta. But in spite of that -fact Venus told Paris to go to Sparta in Greece, where he would find -Helen, and then run away with her. So Paris went to Sparta to visit -King Menelaus and was royally entertained by him. And then Paris, -although he had been treated so kindly and been trusted, one night -stole Helen away and carried her off across the sea to Troy. Though -this was in the Iron Age, it was the way a Cave Man of the Stone Age -might have acted. - -Menelaus and the Greeks were naturally very angry and immediately -prepared for war and sailed off for Troy to get Helen back. Now, in -ancient times all cities had walls built around them to protect them -from the enemy. As there were no cannons nor guns nor deadly weapons -such as are used in war nowadays, it was very hard to get into a walled -city or capture it. Troy was protected in this way with walls; and -though the Greeks tried for ten years to capture it, at the end of the -ten years Troy was still unconquered. - -So at last the Greeks decided to try a trick to get into the city. -They built a huge horse of wood, and inside this wooden horse they put -soldiers. They placed the horse in front of the city walls and then -sailed away as if at last they were giving up the war. The Trojans were -told by a spy that the horse was a gift of the gods and that they ought -to take it into the city. A Trojan priest named La-oc-o-on, however, -told his people not to have anything to do with the horse, for he -suspected a trick. But people seldom take advice when told _not_ to do -what they want to do. - -Just then some huge snakes came out of the sea and attacked Laocoon -and his two sons and, twining round them, strangled them to death. The -Trojans thought this was a sign from the gods, or an omen as they would -have said, that they should not believe Laocoon; so they determined to -take the horse into the city against his advice. The horse was so big, -however, that it would not go through the gates, and in order to get it -inside of the walls they had to tear down part of the wall itself. When -night fell, the Greek soldiers came out of the horse and opened the -gates of the city. The other Greeks, who had been waiting just out of -sight, returned and entered through the gates and the hole the Trojans -had made in the wall. Troy was easily conquered then, and the city was -burned to the ground, and Helen’s husband carried her back to Greece. -For reason of this horse trick, we still have a saying, “Beware of the -Greeks bearing gifts,” which is as much as to say, “Look out for an -enemy who makes you a present.” - -The story of the Trojan War was told in two long poems. Some people -think they are the finest poems that were ever written. One of these -poems is called the “Iliad,” from the name of the city of Troy, which -was also known as Ilium. The “Iliad” describes the Trojan War itself. -The other poem is called the “Odyssey” and describes the adventures -of one of the Greek heroes on his way home after the war was over. -This Greek hero’s name was Odysseus, which gives the name Odyssey to -the book, but he was also called Ulysses. These poems, the “Iliad” and -the “Odyssey,” were composed by a blind Greek poet named Homer, who is -supposed to have lived about two hundred years after the war; that is -about 1000 B.C. - -Homer was a bard; that is, a singing poet who went about from place to -place and sang his poems to the people. Usually a bard played on the -lyre as he sang, and the people gave him something to eat or a place to -sleep to pay him for his songs. Nowadays, instead of a Homer singing -the “Iliad” and “Odyssey,” we have the organ-grinder and street piano -playing their tunes in front of our houses. - -Homer never wrote down his poems, for he was blind; but the people were -very fond of hearing his songs, and they learned them by heart, and -mothers taught them to their children after Homer had died. At last, -many years later, another man wrote the poems down in Greek, and you -may some day read them in Greek, if you study that language, or at -least in an English translation. - -Although the Greeks thought so much of Homer, he could hardly make a -living, and he almost had to beg his daily bread. After his death -however, the people of nine different cities each proudly said that -Homer was born in their city. And so some one has made this rime: - - Nine cities claimed blind Homer dead, - Through which, alive, he’d begged his bread. - -Some people now doubt that there ever was a poet named Homer. Others -think that instead of only one man there must have been several men, -perhaps nine, who composed these poems, and this might explain how he -could be born in nine different cities. - -[Illustration] - - - - -12 - -The Kings of the Jews - - -While the blind beggar Homer was singing his wonderful songs through -the streets of Greece, a great king of the Jews was singing other -wonderful songs in Canaan. This king was named David, and he wasn’t -born a king. He was only a shepherd boy in King Saul’s army. This is -the way he happened to become king. - -At first, as you remember, the Jews had no kings; but they had asked -for kings, and at last they were given one by the name of Saul. - -David had killed the giant Goliath. We all love this Bible story -because we are always glad when the skilful little chap beats the -great, big, bragging bully. - -Well, King Saul had a daughter, and she fell in love with this brave -and athletic young David the Giant-Killer, and at last they were -married. - -So after Saul died David became king, and he was the greatest king the -Jews ever had. Although Saul had been king he had lived in a tent, not -in a palace, and he didn’t even have a capital city. - -So David conquered a city in Canaan called Jerusalem and made this city -the capital of the Jews. - -But David was not only a brave warrior and a great king; he wrote -beautiful songs as well. - -The blind beggar Homer sang of his fairy-tale gods. The great King -David sang of his one God. - -These songs are the Psalms, which you hear read and sung in church. - -Nowadays even a popular song is popular for only a few months, but -the songs which David wrote almost three thousand years ago are still -popular to-day! The Twenty-third Psalm, which starts, “The Lord is my -shepherd,” is one of the most beautiful and a good one to learn by -heart. David likens himself to a sheep and his Lord to a good shepherd -who tenderly looks out for the comfort and safety of his sheep. - -David’s son was named Solomon, and when David died Solomon became king. - -If a good fairy had asked you what you would rather have than anything -in the world, I wonder what you would have chosen. When Solomon became -king, God is said to have appeared to him in a dream and asked him what -he would rather have than anything else in the world. Instead of saying -he wanted to be made rich or powerful, Solomon asked to be made wise, -and God said He would make him the wisest man that ever lived. Here is -a story that shows how wise he was. - -Once upon a time two women came to Solomon with a baby, and each woman -said the baby was her own child. Solomon called for a sword and said, -“Cut the baby in two, and give each a half.” One of the women cried out -to give the baby to the other rather than do this, and Solomon then -knew who was the real mother and ordered the baby to be given to her. - -Solomon built a magnificent temple made of cedar-wood from the famous -forest of Lebanon, and of marble and gold and studded with jewels. Then -he built himself a wonderful palace, which was so gorgeous and splendid -that people came from all over the world to see it. The Bible tells us -just how large this temple and palace were, not in feet but in cubits. -A cubit was the distance from a man’s elbow to the end of his middle -finger, which is about one foot and a half. - -The queen of Sheba, among others, came a long distance across Arabia to -hear the wise sayings of Solomon and see his palace and the temple he -had built. - -Although the palace and temple were considered extraordinarily -magnificent at that time, you must remember that this was a thousand -years before Christ. - -Solomon’s temple and palace have disappeared long since, and there -is left of them neither stick nor stone. But his wise sayings are -preserved in every language and read by every people in every part of -the world. There are thousands of buildings now in the world that would -make his palace, if still standing, look like a child’s toy-house. But -no one has ever been able to say any better the things he said. Do -you think you could? Suppose you try. Here are some of them. They are -called proverbs. - - A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger. - - What’s that mean? - - A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor - rather than silver and gold. - - What’s that mean? - - Let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth. - - What’s that mean? - -Solomon was the last great king the Jews ever had. After he died the -Jewish nation gradually broke up and went to pieces, and the great -Jewish people are to-day without a king, without a capital, and without -a country of their own, but are found in every other country of the -world. - - - - -13 - -The People Who Made Our A B C’s - - -Long before people knew how to write, there lived a carpenter named -Cadmus. One day he was at work on a house when he wanted a tool that -he had left at home. Picking up a chip of wood, he wrote something on -it and, handing it to his slave, told him to go to his home and give -the chip to his wife, saying that it would tell her what he wanted. The -slave, wondering, did as he was told. Cadmus’s wife looked at the chip, -and without a word handed the tool to the amazed slave, who thought the -chip in some mysterious way had spoken the message. When he returned to -Cadmus with the tool, he begged for the remarkable chip, and when it -was given him, hung it around his neck for a charm. - -This is the story the Greeks told of the man they say invented the -alphabet. We believe, however, that Cadmus was a mythical person, for -the Greeks liked to make up such stories, and we think no _one_ man -made the alphabet. But Cadmus was a Phenician and we do know that the -Phenician people invented the alphabet. You probably call it your A B -C’s, but the Greeks had much harder names for the letters. They called -_A_ “alpha,” _B_ “beta,” and so on. So the Greek boy spoke of learning -his “alpha beta,” and that is why we call it the “alphabet.” - -[Illustration: Cadmus’ slave and the chip.] - -You may never have heard of Phenicia or the Phenician people. Yet, if -there had been no such country as Phenicia, you might now be learning -at school to read and write in hieroglyphics or in cuneiform. - -Up to this time, you know, people had very clumsy ways of writing. -The Egyptians had to draw pictures, and the Babylonians made writing -like chicken-tracks. The alphabet that the Phenicians invented had -twenty-two letters, and from it we get the alphabet we use to-day. - -Of course, we do not use just the same alphabet now that the Phenicians -did, but some of the letters are almost, if not quite, like those we -now have after three thousand years. For instance the - - Phenician A was written on its side--(sideways A) - E “ “ backward--Ǝ - Z “ “ just the same--Z - O “ “ “ “ “ --O - -The Phenicians lived next door to the Jews; in fact they belonged to -the same family--the Semites. Their country was just north of the -kingdom of the Jews; that is, above it on the map and lying along the -shore of the Mediterranean Sea. - -The Phenicians had a great king named Hiram who lived at the same time -as Solomon. In fact, Hiram was a friend of Solomon and sent him some -of his best workmen to help build a temple at Jerusalem. And yet Hiram -himself and the Phenicians did not believe in the Jewish God. - -The Phenicians worshiped idols, terrible monsters named Baal and -Moloch, which they called gods of the sun. They also believed in a -goddess of the moon named Astarte and made sacrifices of live children -to her idol, Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum; this is a real story and not a fairy-tale. -Just suppose you had been a child then! - -The Jews, as we have learned, were very religious, but their neighbors, -the Phenicians, though Semites and therefore relatives, were business -people and thought of nothing but money, money, money--all the time. -And they were not particular how they earned it, whether honestly or -not. Nowadays, dealers know that they must be honest if they are to -be very successful, but the Phenicians were usually tricky in their -trading with people. They always drove a good bargain and sometimes -even cheated when they had a chance. - -The Phenicians made many things to sell, and then they went far and -near to sell them. - -They knew how to make beautiful cloth and glassware and objects in gold -and silver and ivory. - -They knew the secret of making a wonderful purple dye from the body of -a little shell-fish that lived in the water near the city of Tyre. This -dye was known as Tyrian purple from the name of that city, and it was -so beautiful that kings’ robes were colored with it. - -Tyre and Sidon were the two chief cities of Phenicia, and once upon a -time they were two of the busiest cities in the world. - -In order to find people to sell to, the Phenicians traveled in boats -all over the Mediterranean Sea and even went outside this sea into the -Great Ocean. This opening is now called the Strait of Gibraltar but -was then known as the Pillars of Hercules. They went as far as the -British Isles. Other people in those days had not dared to go so far -in boats; they thought they would come to the edge of the ocean and -tumble off. But the Phenicians had no such fear, and so they were the -greatest sailors as well as the greatest traders of their times. Their -ships were built from the cedar-trees that grew on the slopes of their -hills, which were called Lebanon. - -Wherever the Phenicians found good harbors for their boats, they -started little towns where they traded with the natives, who at that -time were almost savage. With ignorant savages they found they could -drive a good bargain. For a few glass beads or a piece of purple dyed -cloth worth very little they could get in return gold and silver and -other things worth a great deal. On the African coast, one of these -towns they started was called Carthage. Of Carthage we shall hear more -by and by, for it grew to be so wealthy and important that--but wait -until I come to that story. - -[Illustration] - - - - -14 - -Hard as Nails - - -Our story goes back again to Greece, the land of Homer and the -fairy-tale gods and to Sparta, where Helen once lived. - -About nine hundred years before Christ was born, there lived in Sparta -a man named Lycurgus. That is a hard name, and when you hear about this -man you may think he was hard, too. Lycurgus wanted his city to be the -greatest in the world. - -But first he had to find out what it was that made a city and a people -great. - -So he started off and traveled for years and years visiting all the -chief countries of the world to see if he could learn what it was that -made them great. And this is what he learned. - -Wherever the people thought chiefly of fun and pleasure, of amusing -themselves and having a good time--he found they were not much good, -not much account--_not_ great. - -Wherever the people thought chiefly of hard work and did what they -ought, whether it was pleasant or not, he found they were usually good -for something--some account--great. - -So Lycurgus came back to his home Sparta and set to work to make a -set of rules which he thought would make his people greater than all -other people in the world. These rules were called a Code of Laws, and -I think you’ll agree they were very hard, and they made the Spartans -hard, too--as “hard as nails.” We shall see whether they made the -Spartans really great, also. - -To begin with, babies, as soon as they were born, were examined to see -that they were strong and perfect. Whenever one was found that did not -seem to be so, he was put out on the mountain-side and left to die. -Lycurgus wanted no weaklings in Sparta. - -When boys were seven years old, they were taken from their mothers and -put in a school, which was more like a soldiers’ camp than a school, -and they never lived anywhere else until they were sixty years old. - -In this school they were not taught the things you are, but only the -things that trained them to be good soldiers. - -There were no such things as school-books then. - -There were no spelling-books. - -There were no arithmetics. - -There were no geographies. No one knew enough about the world to write -a geography. - -There were no histories. No one knew much about things that had -happened in the world before that time, and of course none of the -history since then that you now study had taken place. - -At certain times, the Spartan boy was whipped, not because he had -done anything wrong, but just to teach him to suffer pain without -whimpering. He would have been disgraced forever if he had cried, no -matter how badly he was hurt. - -He was exercised and drilled and worked until he was ready to drop. -But still he was obliged to keep on, no matter how tired or hungry or -sleepy or aching he might be, and he must never show by any sign how he -felt. - -He was made to eat the worst kind of food, to go hungry and thirsty -for long periods of time, to go out in the bitter cold with little or -no clothing, just to get used to such hardships and able to bear all -sorts of discomforts. This kind of training, this kind of hardening, is -therefore called “Spartan discipline.” How do you think you would have -liked it? - -The Spartans’ food, clothing, and lodging were all furnished them, -though it was very poor food and poor clothing and poor lodging. They -were not allowed good things to eat, soft beds to lie on, or fine -clothing to wear. Such things were called luxuries, and luxuries, -Lycurgus thought, would make people soft and weak, and he wanted his -people hard and strong. - -The Spartans were even taught to speak in a short and blunt manner; -they were taught not to waste words; they must say what they had to say -in as few words as possible. This manner of speaking we call “Laconic” -from the name Laconia, the state in which Sparta was located. - -Once a king wrote to the Spartans a threatening letter, saying that -they had better do what he told them to, for _if_ he came and took -their country, he would destroy their city and make them slaves. - -The Spartans sent a messenger back with their answer, and when the -letter was opened, it contained only one word: - -“_IF!_” - -Even to-day, we call such an answer, short but to the point, a Laconic -answer. - -Did all this hard training and hard work make the Spartans the greatest -people in the world? - -Lycurgus did make the Spartans the strongest and best fighters in the -world--but-- - -The Spartans conquered all the peoples around about them, though there -were ten times as many--but-- - -They made these people their slaves, who did all their farming and -other work--but-- - -We shall see later whether Lycurgus’s idea was right. - -North of Sparta was another great city of Greece called Athens. There -were, of course, many other towns in Greece, but Sparta and Athens -were the most important. In Athens the people lived and thought quite -differently from those in Sparta. - -The Athenians were just as fond of everything beautiful as the Spartans -were of discipline and of everything military. - -The Athenians loved athletic games of all sorts just as the Spartans -did, but they also loved music and poetry and beautiful statues, -paintings, vases, buildings, and such things that are known as the -“arts.” - -The Athenians believed in training the mind _as well_ as the body. The -Spartans believed the training of the body was the all-important thing. -Which do you like better, the Athenians’ idea or the Spartans’ idea? - -Once at a big game a very old man was looking for a seat on the -Athenians’ side. There was no seat empty, and no Athenian offered to -give him one. Whereupon the Spartans called to the old man and gave him -the best seat on their side. The Athenians cheered the Spartans to show -how fine they thought this act. At this the Spartans said: - -“The Athenians _know_ what is right but they don’t _do_ it.” - - - - -15 - -The Crown of Leaves - - -Greek boys and young men and even girls loved all sorts of outdoor -sports. - -They didn’t play football or baseball or basketball, but they ran and -jumped and wrestled and boxed and threw the discus--a thing like a big, -heavy dinner-plate of iron. - -From time to time matches were held in different parts of Greece to see -who was the best in these sports. - -The Big Meet, however, took place only once every four years at a -place called Olympia in southern Greece; and these Olympic games, as -they were called, were the most important affairs held in Greece, for -all the winners from different parts of the country were here matched -against each other to see who should be the champion of all Greece. - -The time when the games were held was a great national holiday, for -the games were in honor of the head god Jupiter, or Zeus as the Greeks -called him. People came from all over the known world to see the games -much as they do now when a World’s Fair is held or a big football game. - -Only Greeks could enter this contest, and only those who had never -committed a crime or broken any laws--as a boy nowadays must have a -clean record in order to be allowed to play on his college or school -team. - -If there happened to be a war going on at the time, and there usually -was, so important was this holiday that a truce was declared, and -everybody went off to the games. Nothing could be allowed to interfere -with the games, and even war was not as important. “Business before -pleasure!” When the games were finished, they started fighting again! - -The Greek boys and young men would train for four years getting ready -for this big event, and then nine months before the great day they -would go to Olympia to get in training at an open-air gymnasium near -the field. - -The games lasted five days and began and ended with a parade and -prayers and sacrifices to the Greek gods, beautiful statues to whom -were placed all about the field, for this was not only sport, but a -religious service in honor of Jupiter and the other gods. - -There were all sorts of matches--in running, jumping, wrestling, -boxing, chariot-racing, and throwing the discus. - -Any one who cheated would have been put out and never again allowed to -take part. The Greek believed in what we call being a good sport. He -didn’t brag if he won. He didn’t make excuses if he lost; he didn’t cry -out that the decision was unfair. - -The athlete who won one or more of these games was the hero of all -Greece, and in particular of the town from which he came. The winner -received no money prize but was crowned with a wreath made of laurel -leaves. This he valued much more than an athlete nowadays does the -silver cup or gold medal he may win. Besides receiving the laurel -wreath, the winner had songs written to him by poets, and often statues -were made of him by sculptors. - -There were not only athletic matches but contests between poets and -musicians to see who could write the best poetry or compose and play -the sweetest music on a kind of small harp called the lyre. The winners -of these contests did not receive a laurel wreath, but they were -carried in triumph on the shoulders of the throng, as you may have -seen the captain of a winning team picked up and raised aloft by his -fellow-players after he has won. - -Now, in Greek History the first event which we can be absolutely sure -is true is the record of the winner of a foot-race in these Olympic -Games 776 years before Christ was born. And from this event the Greeks -began to count their history dates, as we do now from the birth of -Christ. It was their Year 1. - -The four years’ time between the Olympic Games was called an Olympiad. -Up to this time, they had no calendar that gave the year or date, -so 776 is the date of the first Olympiad. Greek History before that -time may have been partly true, but we know much of it was mythical. -Beginning with 776, however, Greek history is pretty much all true. - -[Illustration: Greek runner.] - -After a long while they stopped having the games, but a few years ago -it was thought it would be a good thing to start them again. So, for -the first time since before Christ, new Olympic Games were again held -in 1896 A.D., not in Olympia, however, but in Athens. The games used -to be held only in Greece. Now they are held each time in a different -country. Only Greeks used to be allowed to take part. Now, however, -athletes from almost all the countries of the world are invited to -compete. War used to be stopped when the time for the games arrived. -Now the games are stopped when war is on. - -From what we have learned of the Spartans’ training, we might guess -that they used to win most of the athletic prizes, and they did. - -Do the Spartans still continue to win most of the prizes in the New -Olympic Games? - -No. Not even the Greeks now carry off the chief prizes. - -[Illustration] - - - - -16 - -A Bad Beginning - - -Have you ever heard of the Seven-League Boots, the boots in which one -could take many miles at a single step? - -Well, there is a still bigger boot; it is over five hundred miles long, -and it is in the Mediterranean Sea. - -No, it’s not a real boot, but it would look like one if you were miles -high in an airplane and looking down upon it. - -It is called Italy. - -Something very important happened in Italy, not long after the First -Olympiad in Greece. It was so important that it was called the Year 1, -and for a thousand years people counted from it as the Greeks did from -the First Olympiad, and as we do now from the birth of Christ. This -thing that happened was not the birth of a man, however. It was the -birth of a city, and this city was called Rome. - -The history of Rome starts with stories that we know are fairy-tales -or myths in the same way that the history of Greece does. Homer told -about the wanderings of the Greek, Odysseus. A great many years later a -poet named Vergil told about the wanderings of a Trojan named Æneas. - -Æneas fled from Troy when that city was burning down and started off to -find a new home. Finally after several years he came to Italy and the -mouth of a river called the Tiber. There Æneas met the daughter of the -man who was ruling over that country, a girl by the name of Lavinia, -and married her, and they lived happily ever after. So the children of -Æneas and Lavinia ruled over the land, and they had children, and their -children had children, and their children had children, until at last -boy twins were born. These twins were named Romulus and Remus. Here -endeth the first part of the story and the trouble begins, for they did -not live happily ever after. - -At the time the twins were born, a man had stolen the kingdom, and he -feared that these two boys might grow up and take his stolen kingdom -away from him. So he put the twins in a basket and set them afloat on -the river Tiber, hoping that they might be carried out to sea or upset -and be drowned. This, he thought, was nearly all right, so long as he -didn’t kill them with his own hands. But the basket drifted ashore -instead of going out to sea or upsetting, and a mother wolf found the -twins and nursed them as if they were her own babies. And a woodpecker -also helped and fed them berries. At last a shepherd found them and -brought them up as if they were his own sons until they grew up and -became men. This sounds a good deal like the story of Paris who was -left out to die and was found and brought up by a shepherd also. - -[Illustration: Romulus and Remus with the wolf.] - -Each of the twins then wished to build a city. But they could not agree -which one was to do it, and in quarreling over the matter, Romulus -killed his own twin brother Remus. Romulus then built the city by the -Tiber River, on the spot where he and his brother had been saved and -nursed by the mother wolf. Here there were seven hills. This was in -753 B.C., and he named the city Roma after his own name, and the people -who lived there were called Romans. So that is why, ever afterward, -the Roman kings always said they were descended from the Trojan hero, -Æneas, the great-great-great-grandfather of Romulus. - -Don’t you believe this story? Neither do I. But it is such an old, old -story every one is supposed to have heard it even though it is only a -legend. - -In order to get people for the city which he had started, it is said -that Romulus invited all the thieves and bad men who had escaped from -jail to come and live in Rome, promising them that they would be safe -there. - -Then as none of the men had wives, and there were no women in his new -city, Romulus thought up a scheme to get the men wives. He invited some -people called Sabines, who lived near-by, both men and women, to come -to Rome to a big party. - -They accepted, and a great feast was spread. In the middle of the -feast, when every one was eating and drinking, a signal was given, and -each of the Romans seized a Sabine woman for his wife and ran off with -her. - -The Sabine husbands immediately prepared themselves for war against the -Romans, who had stolen their wives. When the battle had begun between -the two armies, the Sabine women ran out in the midst of the fighting -between their new and old husbands and begged them both to stop. They -said they had come to love their new husbands and would not return to -their old homes. - -What do you think of that? - -It sounds like a pretty bad beginning for a new city, doesn’t it? and -you may well wonder how Rome turned out--a city that started with -Romulus killing his brother and that was settled by escaped prisoners -who stole the wives of their neighbors. We must remember, however, that -then they were nearer the time when Primitive Men lived whose only rule -of life was: kill or be killed, steal or be stolen; and whose usual way -of getting wives was to knock them in the head and drag them off to -their caves while they were senseless. Besides, they believed in the -same gods as the Greeks, and we have heard how their gods did all sorts -of wicked things themselves. This, too, was long before Christ was -born, and at that time they did not know anything about the Christian -religion or what we call right and wrong. - -You see I have tried to think of some good excuses for the actions of -these first Romans. - - - - -17 - -Kings with Corkscrew Curls - - -After Rome’s bad start she had one king after another, and some of -these kings were pretty good and some were pretty bad. - -But the most important city in the world at this time was far away from -Rome on the Tigris River. This city was called Nineveh, and here lived -the kings of the country called Assyria, which I told you about some -time ago. - -As usual, the chief thing we hear about Assyria and the Assyrians is -that they were fighting with their neighbors. This, however, was not -the fault of their neighbors. - -The Assyrian kings who lived in Nineveh wanted more land and power, -and so they fought their neighbors in order to take their land away -from them. These kings had long corkscrew curls, and you may think -that only girls wear long curls and that a man with curls would be -“girl-like.” But these kings were not at all that kind. They were such -terrible fighters that they were feared far and near. They treated -their prisoners terribly; they skinned them alive, cut off their ears, -pulled out their tongues, bored sticks into their eyes, then bragged -about it. They made the people whom they conquered pay them huge sums -of money and promise to fight with them whenever they went to war. - -And so Assyria became so strong and powerful that she at last owned -everything of importance in the world, the land between the rivers -called Mesopotamia, and the land to the east, north, and south, and -Phenicia, and Egypt, and pretty nearly everything except Greece and -Italy. - -This big, big country of Assyria was ruled by the kings at Nineveh, -who lived in great magnificence. They built wonderful palaces for -themselves, and on each side of the way that led to the palace they -placed rows of huge statues of bulls and lions with wings and men’s -heads as a rich man nowadays might plant a row of trees along the -driveway that leads up to his home. These winged animals are what are -called cherubs in the Bible. - -Perhaps you have heard a particularly sweet and pretty little baby -called a cherub. Isn’t it strange that these hideous Assyrian monsters -should be called cherubs also? - -When the Assyrian kings were not fighting men they were fighting wild -animals, for they were very fond of hunting with bow and arrow, and -they had pictures and statues made of themselves on horseback or in -chariots fighting lions. Often they would capture the animals they -hunted alive and put them in cages so that the people could come and -see them. This was something like a “zoo” such as we have nowadays. - -[Illustration: An Assyrian cherub.] - -The rulers of Assyria had very strange names. Sennacherib was one of -the most famous. Sennacherib lived about 700 B.C. Once upon a time -Sennacherib was fighting Jerusalem. His whole army was camped one -night when as they lay asleep something happened, for when the morning -came, none woke up; all were dead, both men and horses. An English poet -named Byron has written a poem called “The Destruction of Sennacherib” -describing this event. Perhaps they were poisoned; what do you think? - -Assur-bani-pal was another king who ruled later--about 650 B.C. He was -a great fighter too, but he was also very fond of books and reading; -so Assur-bani-pal started the first public library. The books in that -first public library were, however, very peculiar. Of course they were -not printed books, and they were not even made of paper. They were -made of mud with the words pressed into the clay before it dried. This -writing was cuneiform, which I have already told you about. The books -were not arranged in bookcases, either, but were placed in piles on the -floor. They were, however, kept in careful order and numbered so that a -person who wanted to see a book in the library could call for it by its -number. - -Assyria reached the height of her power during the reign of Sennacherib -and Assur-bani-pal, and everything in Nineveh was so lovely for the -Ninevites that the time when Assur-bani-pal reigned was called the -Golden Age. - -But although everything in Nineveh was so lovely for the Ninevites, -everywhere else the Assyrians were hated and feared, for their armies -brought death and destruction wherever they went. - -So it came to pass that not long after Assur-bani-pal died, two of the -neighbors of Nineveh could stand it no longer. These two neighbors -were the king of Babylon, who lived south, and a people called the -Medes, who lived to the east and belonged to the Aryan family. So the -king of Babylon and the Medes got together and attacked Nineveh, and -together they wiped that city off the face of the earth. This was -in 612 B.C.--Six-One-Two--and the power of Nineveh and Assyria was -killed dead. This, therefore is called the Fall of Nineveh, the end of -Nineveh. We might put up a tombstone: - -[Illustration] - - - - -18 - -A City of Wonders and Wickedness - - -The king of Babylon had beaten Nineveh. But he didn’t stop with that. -He wanted his Babylon to be as great as Nineveh had been. So he went -on conquering other lands to the left and right until Babylon, in its -turn, became the leader and ruler of other countries. Was Babylon, -also, in its turn, to fall, as Nineveh had fallen? - -When at last the king of Babylon died, he left his vast empire to his -son. Now, the king’s son was not called John or James or Charles or -anything simple like that. It was--Nebuchadnezzar, and I wonder if his -father called him by all that long name or shortened it to a nickname -like “Neb,” for instance, or “Chad,” or perhaps “Nezzar.” This is the -way Nebuchadnezzar wrote his name, for he used cuneiform writing. How -would you like to write your name in such a queer way? - -[Illustration: Name of Nebuchadnezzar in cuneiform writing.] - -Nebuchadnezzar set to work and made the city of Babylon the largest, -the most magnificent and the most wonderful city of that time and -perhaps of any time. The city was in the shape of a square and covered -more ground than the two largest cities in the world to-day--New York -and London--put together. He surrounded it with a wall fifty times as -high as a man--fifty times--whew!--and so broad that a chariot could -be driven along on the top, and in this wall he made one hundred huge -brass gates. The Euphrates River flowed under the wall, across the -city, and out under the wall on the other side. - -Nebuchadnezzar could not find any one in Babylon who was beautiful -enough to be his queen. The Babylonian girls must have felt pretty -bad--or mad--about that. So he went to Media, the country that had -helped his father conquer Nineveh. There he found a lovely princess, -and so he married her and brought her home to Babylon. - -Now, Media was a land of hills and mountains, whilst Babylon was on -level ground and without even a hill in sight. Nebuchadnezzar’s queen -found Babylonia so flat and uninteresting that she became homesick, -and she longed for her own country with its wild mountain scenery. -So, just to please her and keep her contented Nebuchadnezzar set to -work and _built_ a hill for her, but the queer thing was he built it -on top of the roof of his palace! On the sides of this hill he made -beautiful gardens, and these gardens he planted not only with flowers -but also with trees, so that his queen might sit in the shade and enjoy -herself. These were called Hanging Gardens. The Hanging Gardens and the -tremendous walls were known far and wide as one of the Seven Wonders of -the world. - -Would you like to know what the other Wonders were? - -Well, the pyramids in Egypt were one; the magnificent statue of Jupiter -at Olympia, where the Olympic Games were held, was another--so those -with the Hanging Gardens make three. - -Nebuchadnezzar believed in idols like those terrible monsters the -Phenicians worshiped. The Jews away off in Jerusalem believed in one -God. Nebuchadnezzar wanted the Jews to worship his gods, but they would -not. He also wanted them to pay him taxes, and they would not. So he -sent his armies to Jerusalem, destroyed that city, burnt the beautiful -Temple that Solomon had built, and brought the Jews and all their -belongings to Babylon. There in Babylon Nebuchadnezzar kept the Jews -prisoners, and there in Babylon the Jews remained prisoners for fifty -years. - -Babylon had become not only the most magnificent city in the world; it -had become also the most wicked. The people of Babylon gave themselves -up to the wildest pleasures. Their only thought seemed to be, “Let’s -eat, drink, and be merry”; they thought nothing of the morrow; the more -wicked the pleasure the more they liked it. - -But although Nebuchadnezzar seemed able to do and able to have -everything in the world he wanted, he finally went crazy. He thought -he was a bull, and he used to get down on his hands and knees and eat -grass, imagining he was a beast of the field. - -And Babylon, in spite of its tremendous walls and brass gates, was -doomed. Babylon was to be conquered. It didn’t seem possible. How could -it be conquered, and who was to do the conquering? You would probably -never guess. - - - - -19 - -A Surprise Party - - -When I was a boy I was always told, and you have probably been told the -same thing: - -“You can have no dessert until you have eaten your dinner.” - -No matter whether I was hungry or not, “No dinner, no dessert.” This -was a rule which my father said was “like the laws of the Medes and -Persians.” - -I didn’t know then who the Medes and Persians were, but I know now -that they were two Aryan families living next to Babylon--you remember -Nebuchadnezzar had married a Median girl--and that they were governed -by laws which were fixed so hard and fast and were so unchangeable that -we still speak of any such thing that does not change as like “the laws -of the Medes and Persians.” - -The Medes and the Persians had a religion which was neither like that -of the Jews nor like the idol worship of the Babylonians. It had been -started by a Persian named Zoroaster, who was a wise man like Solomon. -He may even have lived about the same time as Solomon, but probably a -good deal later. - -Zoroaster went about among the people, teaching them wise sayings and -hymns. These wise sayings have been gathered into a book, which is now -the Persian Bible. - -Zoroaster taught that there were two great spirits in the world, the -Good Spirit and the Bad Spirit. - -The Good Spirit, he said, was Light, and the Bad Spirit, Darkness. -The Good or Light he called Mazda; where have you heard that word, I -wonder. So the Persians kept a fire, in which they thought was the Good -Spirit, constantly burning on their altars, and they had men watch -over this flame to see that it never went out. These men who watched -the flame were called Magi, and they were supposed to be able to do -all sorts of wonderful things, so that we call such wonderful things -“magic,” and the people who are able to do them we call “magicians.” - -At the time of this story which I’m telling you, the ruler of the Medes -and the Persians was a great king named Cyrus. - -But before I go on with this story I must tell you about a little -country not far from Troy. This little country was called Lydia. -Perhaps you may know a girl named Lydia. I do. Lydia was ruled over -by a king named Crœsus who was the richest man in the world. When we -want to describe a man as very wealthy, we still say he is “as rich as -Crœsus.” - -Crœsus owned nearly all the gold-mines, of which there were a great -many in that country, and besides this he collected money in the form -of taxes from all the cities near him. - -Before the time of Crœsus people did not have money such as we have -now. When they wished to buy anything, they simply traded something -they had for something they wanted--so many eggs for a pound of meat or -so much wine for a pair of sandals. To buy anything expensive, such as -a horse, they paid with a lump of gold or silver, which was weighed in -the scales to see just how heavy it was. It is hard for us to think how -people could get along without cents and nickels, dimes, quarters and -dollars--with no money at all--and yet they did. - -Crœsus, in order to make things simpler, cut up his gold into small -bits. Now, it was not easy for every one to weigh each piece each time -it was traded, for he might not have any scales handy. So Crœsus had -each piece weighed and stamped with its weight and with his name or -initials to show that he guaranteed the weight. These pieces of gold -and silver were only lumps with Crœsus’ seal pressed into them, but -they were the first real money even though they were not round and -beautifully engraved like our coins. - -Now, Cyrus, the great Persian king, thought he would like to own this -rich country of Lydia with all its gold-mines, so he set out to conquer -it. - -When Cyrus was on the way Crœsus sent in a hurry to the oracle in -Greece to ask what was going to happen and who was going to win. You -will remember what I said about the oracle at Delphi and how people -used to ask the oracle questions--to have their fortunes told, as -nowadays some people ask the ouija board. - -The oracle replied to Crœsus’ question: - -“A great kingdom shall fall.” - -Crœsus was delighted, for he thought the oracle meant that Cyrus’ -kingdom would fall. The oracle _was_ right, but not in the way Crœsus -had thought. - -A great kingdom did fall, but it was his own kingdom of Lydia and not -Cyrus’ that fell. - -But Cyrus was still not satisfied with the capture of Lydia, and so at -last he attacked Babylon. - -Now, the people in Babylon who thought of nothing but pleasure were -busy feasting and drinking and having a good time. Why should they -worry about Cyrus? Their city had walls that were so high and thick and -was protected by such strong gates of brass that it seemed as if no one -could possibly have captured it. - -[Illustration: Delphic Oracle.] - -But you remember that the Euphrates River ran beneath the walls -and crossed right through the city. Well, one night when the young -prince of Babylon named Belshazzar was having a gay party and enjoying -himself, feeling quite certain that no one could enter the city, Cyrus -made a dam and turned the waters of the river to one side. Then Cyrus’ -army marched into the city through the dry river-bed and captured the -surprised Babylonians without even a fight. It is supposed that some of -the Babylonian priests helped him to do this and even opened the gates, -for Babylon had become so wicked that they thought it time for it to be -destroyed. - -Old Lycurgus would have said: “I told you so. People who think of -nothing but pleasure never come to a good end.” - -This surprise party was in 538--5 and 3 are 8. - -Two years later Cyrus let the Jews, who had been carried away fifty -years before from Jerusalem, return to the home of their fathers, thus -ending the Babylonian Captivity. - -To-day the only thing left of this great city of Babylon, which was -once bigger than New York and London together--Babylon the Wicked, -Babylon the Magnificent, Babylon with all its great walls and brass -gates and Hanging Gardens--is only a mound of earth. A few miles away -is a ruined tower. This tower, we think, may once have been the Tower -of Babel. - - - - -20 - -The Other Side of the World - - -There used to be a “missionary box” in my Sunday-school, and into this -box we dropped our pennies to send a missionary to the heathen. - -The heathen, we were told, were people who lived on the other side of -the world and worshiped idols. - -There was the heathen “Chinee,” the heathen “Japanee,” and the heathen -Indian. - -These heathen Indians were not our American Indians. They lived in a -country called India on the other side of the world. India looks on the -map like the little thing that hangs down in the back of your mouth -when the doctor says: “Stick out your tongue. Say ’Ah.’” Our Indians -are red, but the Indians from India are white. The white Indians belong -to the Aryan family, the same family that Cyrus belonged to. - -Two thousand years before the time of Cyrus, an Aryan family had moved -away from the other Aryan families in Persia until they had come to -this country we now call India. - -In the course of time there came to be four chief classes of people in -India, four chief classes of society--high society, low society, and -two classes of society in between. These classes were called castes, -and no one in one caste would have anything to do with one in another -caste. A boy or girl in one caste would never play with a boy or girl -in another caste. A man from one caste would never marry a woman in -another. No one from one caste would eat with one in another caste, -even though he were starving. Men in different castes were even afraid -of touching each other in passing on the street. It was almost as if -they were afraid of catching some horrible disease. - -The highest caste of all were the Fighters and Rulers. The Rulers were -the Fighters, and the Fighters were the Rulers, for they had to be -fighters in order to keep their rule. - -In the next caste were the Priests; and, as in the case of the Egyptian -priests, these men were not what we think of as priests nowadays. They -were what we should call professional men--doctors, lawyers, engineers, -etc. - -Next came the farmers and tradespeople--the butcher, the baker, and -candlestick maker. - -Fourth and last were the common laborers. These were the men who knew -nothing and could do nothing but dig or chop wood or carry water. - -Below these four castes were still other people so low and mean that -they were called outcastes or Pariahs. We now call any person who has -done something so disgraceful that no one, not even the lowest, will -have anything to do with him a “pariah.” - -The people in India believed in a god whom they called Brahma, and so -we call their religion Brahmanism. The Brahmanists believed that when -a person died his soul was born again in the body of another person or -perhaps of an animal. If he had been good while alive they thought his -soul went into the body of a higher caste man when he died--as if he -were promoted from one grade to the next. If, however, he had led a bad -life they thought his soul went into the body of a lower caste man or -even of an animal. - -When a man died, his body was not buried, it was burned. If he were -a married man, his wife was obliged to throw herself alive upon the -burning flames. She was not allowed to live after her husband was dead. -If the wife died, that was another matter; the man simply got another -wife. In the Brahman temples were hideous idols, which the people -worshiped as gods. These idols had several heads apiece or many arms, -or many legs, or they had tusks sticking out of their mouths--or they -had horns coming out of their heads. - -About the year 500 B.C. there was born a prince in India by the name of -Gautama. Gautama saw so much suffering and trouble in the world that -he felt it was not right that he himself, just because he by chance -had been born rich, should be happy while others were miserable and -unhappy. So he gave up the life to which he had been born and brought -up, a life of ease and luxury with all its good things, and spent his -entire time trying to make things better for his people. - -Gautama taught the people to be good; he taught them to be honest; and -he taught them to help the poor and unfortunate. After a while people -began to call him Buddha, and he was so holy and pure that at last they -thought he must be god himself, and so they worshiped him as god. - -These people who believed in Buddha were called Buddhists, and many, -many Brahmanists left their hideous idols and became Buddhists. You see -there was no such thing as a Christian religion as yet, for this was -still five hundred years before Christ was born, and Buddhism seemed so -much better than Brahmanism that we do not wonder that great numbers of -people became Buddhists. - -Buddhists thought their religion was so good that they wanted everyone -to become Buddhists; so they sent missionaries across country and sea -to the island of Japan just as we send Christian missionaries now, and -this new religion spread far and wide. - -Perhaps you have never met nor seen nor even heard of a Buddhist, and -yet to-day there are many more Buddhists on the other side of the world -than there are Christians! - -About the same time that Gautama was starting Buddhism in India, a man -in China, a teacher by the name of Confucius, was teaching the people -of China what they ought to do and what they ought not to do. His -teachings filled several books and formed what came to be a religion -for the Chinese. - -Confucius taught his people to obey their parents and teachers and -to honor their ancestors. This sounds something like one of the Ten -Commandments: “Honor thy father and thy mother.” - -Confucius also taught the golden rule, the same golden rule you are -taught to-day, only instead of saying, “_Do_ unto others as you would -be done by,” he said, “Do _not_ do to others what you would _not_ want -others to do to you.” - -In China there are still as many people who follow the teachings of -Confucius as there are Christians in all the rest of the world. So here -are two religions each as large or larger than the Christian religion. - -China was highly civilized, even at this time, 500 B.C., and many -inventions were known and used in that country long before the rest of -the world ever heard of them. Yet we know little of China’s history -until a great deal later. - - - - -21 - -Rich Man, Poor Man - - -Whenever I pass a group of street boys playing ball, I almost always -hear some one shout, “That’s no fair!” - -There always seem to be some players who think the others are not -playing fair. Sides are always quarreling. - -They need an umpire. - -When Athens was young there were two sides among the people--the rich -and the poor, the aristocrats and the common people--and they were -always quarreling. Each side was trying to get more power, and each -side said the other wasn’t playing fair. - -They needed an umpire. - -Athens had had kings, but the kings took the side of the rich, and so -at last the Athenians had kicked out the last king, and after that they -would have no more kings. - -About the year 600 B.C. things became so very bad that a man named -Draco was chosen to make a set of rules for the Athenians to obey. -These rules he made were called the Code of Draco. - -Draco’s Code made terrible punishments for any one who broke the rules. -If a man stole anything, even as small a thing as a loaf of bread, he -was not just fined or sent to jail; he was put to death! And no matter -how small the wrong a man had done, he was put to death for it. Draco -explained the reason for such a severe law by saying that a thief -deserved to be put to death and should be. A man who killed another -deserved _more_ than to be put to death, but unfortunately there was no -worse punishment to give him. - -You can understand how much trouble the laws of Draco caused. They were -so hard that a little later another man was called upon to make a new -set of laws. This man was named Solon, and his laws were very just and -good. We now call senators and other people who make our laws “Solons” -after this man Solon who lived so long ago, even though their laws are -not always just and good. - -Still the people were not satisfied with Solon’s laws. The upper -classes thought the laws gave too much to the lower classes, and the -lower classes thought they gave too much to the upper. Both classes, -however, obeyed the laws for a while, although both classes complained -against them. - -But about 560 B.C. a man named Pisistratus stepped in and took charge -of things himself. He was not elected nor chosen by the people. He -simply made himself ruler, and he was so powerful that no one could -stop him. It was as if a boy made himself captain or umpire without -being chosen by those on the teams. - -There were others from time to time in Greece who did the same thing, -and they were called tyrants. So Pisistratus was a tyrant. Nowadays -only a ruler who is cruel and unjust is called a tyrant. Pisistratus, -however, settled the difficulties of both sides, and, though a -tyrant in the Greek sense, he was neither cruel nor unjust. In fact, -Pisistratus ruled according to the laws of Solon, and he did a great -deal to improve Athens and the life of the people. Among other things -he did, he had Homer’s poems written down, so that people could read -them, for before this time people knew them only from hearing them -recited. So the people put up with Pisistratus and also with his son -for a while. But finally the Athenians got tired of the son’s rule and -drove all the Pisistratus family out of Athens in 510 B.C. - -The next man to try and settle the quarrels of the two sides was named -Clisthenes. It is hard, sometimes, to learn the name of a stranger to -whom we have just been introduced unless we hear his name repeated -several times. So I will say over his name so that you can get used to -hearing it: - - CLISTHENES; - CLISTHENES; - CLISTHENES. - -Your father may be poor or he may be rich. - -If he is poor he has one vote when there is an election. - -If he is rich he has one vote but only one vote and no more. - -If he breaks the laws, whether he is rich or whether he is poor, he -must go to jail. - -It was not always so; it is not always so even now. But long ago it was -much worse. - -[Illustration: Ostracism.] - -Clisthenes gave every one a vote--rich and poor alike--and ruled wisely -and well. - -Clisthenes started something called ostracism. If for any reason the -people wanted to get rid of a man, all they had to do was to scratch -his name on any piece of a broken pot or jar they might find and drop -it in a voting-box on a certain day. If there were enough such votes, -the man would have to leave the city and stay away for ten years. This -was called ostracism, and a man so treated was said to be ostracized, -from the Greek name for such a broken piece of pottery, on which the -name was written. Even to-day we use this same word to speak of a -person whom no one will have anything to do with, whom no one wants -around, saying he has been ostracized. - -Have you ever been sent away from the table to the kitchen or to your -room for being naughty? - -Then you, too, have been ostracized. - -[Illustration] - - - - -22 - -Rome Kicks Out Her Kings - - -In 509 B.C. something happened in Rome. - -There were two classes of people in Rome, just as there were in Athens; -the wealthy people who were called patricians and the poor people who -were called plebeians. We use the same words now and call people who -are rich and aristocratic “patricians,” and the people who are poor and -uneducated “plebeians.” The patricians were allowed to vote, but the -plebeians were not allowed to vote. - -At last, however, the plebeians had been given the right to vote. But -in 509 Rome had a king named Tarquin. He didn’t think the plebeians -should be allowed to vote, and so he said they should not. The -plebeians would not stand this, and so they got together and drove -Tarquin out of the city, as the Athenians had driven out their king. -This was in 509, and Tarquin was the last king Rome ever had. - -After King Tarquin had been driven out, the Romans started what is -called a republic, something like our own country, but they were -afraid to have only one man as president for fear he might make himself -king, and they had had enough of kings. - -[Illustration: Lictor carrying fasces.] - -So the Romans elected _two men_ each year to be rulers over them, and -these two men they called consuls. Each consul had a body-guard of -twelve men--just a dozen. These men were given the name “lictors,” and -each lictor carried an ax tied up in a bundle of sticks. This bundle of -sticks with the ax-head sticking out in the middle or at the end was -known as “fasces” and signified that the consuls had power to punish by -whipping with the sticks or by chopping off one’s head with the ax. - -Perhaps you have seen fasces used as ornaments or as a decoration -around monuments or on buildings like a court-house, city hall, or -capitol. Why do you suppose they are used in this way? - -One of the first two consuls was named Brutus the Elder, and he had two -sons. The king, Tarquin, who had been driven out of the city, plotted -to get back to Rome and become king once more. He was able to persuade -some Romans to help him. Among those whom he persuaded were, strange to -say, the two sons of Brutus--the new consul of Rome. - -Brutus found out this plot and learned that his own children had helped -Tarquin. So Brutus had his sons tried. They were found guilty, and in -spite of the fact that they were his own children, he had the lictors -put both of them to death as well as the other traitors to Rome. - -Tarquin did not succeed in getting back the rule of Rome in this way, -and so the next year he tried again. This time he got together an army -of his neighbors, the Etruscans, and with this army he attacked Rome. - -Now, there was a wooden bridge across the Tiber River, which separated -the Etruscans from the city of Rome. In order to keep the Etruscans -from crossing into the city, a Roman named Horatius, who had already -lost one eye in fighting for Rome, gave orders to have this bridge -broken down. - -While the bridge was being chopped down, Horatius with two of his -friends stood on the far side of the bridge and fought back the whole -Etruscan army. When the bridge was cracking under the blows of the -Roman soldiers, Horatius ordered his two friends to run quickly to the -other side before the bridge fell. - -Then Horatius, all by himself, kept the enemy back until at last the -bridge crashed into the river. Horatius then jumped into the water -with all his armor on and swam toward the Roman shore. Though arrows -the Etruscans shot were falling all around him, and though his armor -weighed him down, he reached the other side safely. Even the Etruscans -were thrilled at his bravery, and, enemies though they were, they -cheered him loudly. - -There is a very famous poem called “Horatius at the Bridge,” which -describes this brave deed, and most boys like to learn at least a part -of it. - -A few years after Horatius, there lived another Roman named -Cincinnatus. He was only a simple farmer with a little farm on the bank -of the Tiber, but he was very wise and good, and the people of Rome -honored and trusted him. - -One day when an enemy was about to attack the city--for in those days -there always seemed to be enemies everywhere ready to attack Rome on -any excuse--the people had to have a leader and a general. They thought -of Cincinnatus and went and asked him to be dictator. - -Now, a dictator was the name they gave to a man who in case of sudden -danger was called upon to command the army and in fact all the people -for the time being while there was danger. Cincinnatus left his plow, -went with the people to the city, got together an army, went out and -defeated the enemy, and returned to Rome, all in twenty-four hours! - -The people were so much pleased with the quick and decided way in which -Cincinnatus had saved Rome that they wanted him to keep right on being -their general in time of peace. Even though they hated kings so much, -they would have made him king if he would have accepted. - -But Cincinnatus did not want any such thing. His duty done, he wanted -to return to his wife and humble home and his little farm. So in spite -of what many would have thought a wonderful chance, he did go back to -his plow, choosing to be just a simple farmer instead of being king. - -The city of Cincinnati in Ohio is named after a society which was -founded in honor of this old Roman, who lived nearly five hundred years -before Christ. - - - - -23 - -Greece _vs._ Persia - - -Do you know what those two little letters “vs.” mean between Greece and -Persia in the name of this story? - -Perhaps you have seen them used on football tickets when there was to -be a match between two teams, as, for example, Harvard vs. Yale. - -They stand for “versus,” which means “against.” - -Well, there was to be a great match between Greece and Persia, but -it wasn’t a game; it was a fight for life and death, a fight between -little Greece and great big Persia. - -Cyrus, the great Persian king, had conquered Babylon and other -countries, as well, and he had kept on conquering until Persia ruled -most of the world, all except Greece and Italy. - -About the Year 500 B.C. the new ruler of this vast Persian Empire was -a man named Darius. Darius looked at the map, as you might do, and saw -that he owned and ruled over a large part of it. What a pity, thought -he, that there should be a little country like Greece that did not -belong to him! - -So Darius said to himself, “I must have this piece of land called -Greece to complete my empire.” Besides, the Greeks had given him some -trouble. They had helped some of his subjects to rebel against him. -Darius said, “I must punish these Greeks for what they have done and -then just add their country to mine.” - -So he called his son-in-law and told him to go over to Greece and -conquer it. - -His son-in-law did as he was told and started out with a fleet and an -army to do the punishing. But before his fleet could reach Greece it -was destroyed by a storm, and he had to go back home without having -done anything. - -Darius was very angry at this, mad with his son-in-law and mad with the -gods who he thought had wrecked his ships, and he made up his mind that -he himself would go and do the punishing and conquering the next time. - -First, however, he sent his messengers to all the Greek cities and -ordered each of them to send him some earth and some water as a sign -that they would give him their land and become his subjects peaceably -without a fight. - -Many Greek cities were so frightened by the threat of Darius and by his -mighty power that they gave in at once and sent earth and water as -they were told to do. - -But little Athens and little Sparta both hotly refused to do so, in -spite of the fact that they were only two small cities against the vast -empire of Darius. - -Athens took Darius’ messenger and threw him into a well, saying, “There -is earth and water for you; help yourself”; and Sparta did likewise. -Then these two cities joined their forces and called on all their -neighbors to join with them to fight for their native land against -Darius and Persia. - -So Darius made ready to conquer Athens and then Sparta. - -[Illustration: A Trireme.] - -In order to reach Athens his army had to be carried across the sea in -boats. Of course, in those days there were no steamboats. Steamboats -were invented thousands of years later. The only way to make a boat go -was with sails or with oars. To make a large boat move with oars, it -was necessary to have a great many rowers--three rows one above the -other on each side of the boat. - -Such a boat was called a trireme, which means three rows of oars. It -took about 600 of these boats to carry Darius’ army over to Greece. -Each of these 600 boats carried, besides the rowers or crew, about 200 -soldiers. So you can see for yourself how many soldiers Darius had -in this army, if there were 600 ship-loads of them and 200 soldiers -on each ship. Yes, that is an example in multiplication--120,000 -soldiers--that’s right. - -So the Persians sailed across the sea; and this time there was no -storm, and they reached the shore of Greece safely. They landed on a -spot called the plain of Marathon, which was only about twenty-six -miles away from Athens. You will see presently why I have told you just -the number of miles--twenty-six. - -When the Athenians heard that the Persians were coming, they wanted to -get Sparta in a hurry to help, as she had promised to do. - -Now, there were no telegraphs or telephones or railroads, of course, -in those days. There was no way in which they could send a message to -Sparta except to have it carried by hand. - -So they called on a famous runner named Pheidippides to carry the -message. Pheidippides started out and ran the whole way from Athens to -Sparta, about one hundred and fifty miles, to carry the message. He ran -night and day, hardly stopping at all to rest or to eat, and on the -second day he was in Sparta. - -The Spartans, however, sent back word that they couldn’t start just -then; the moon wasn’t full, and it was bad luck to start when the moon -wasn’t full, as nowadays some superstitious people think it bad luck -to start on a trip on Friday. They said they would come after a while, -when the moon was full. - -But the Athenians couldn’t wait for the moon. They knew the Persians -would be in Athens before then, and they didn’t want them to get as far -as that. - -So all the fighting men in Athens left their city and went forth to -meet the Persians on the plain of Marathon--twenty-six miles away. - -The Athenians were led by a man named Miltiades, and there were only -ten thousand soldiers of them. Besides these, there were one thousand -more from a little near-by town, which was friendly with Athens and -wished to stand by her--eleven thousand in all. If you figure it out, -you will see that there were perhaps ten times as many Persians as -there were Greeks, ten Persian soldiers to one Greek soldier. - -The Greeks, however, were trained athletes, as we know, and their whole -manner of life made them physically fit. The Persians were no match for -them. And so, in spite of the small number of Greeks, the large number -of Persians were beaten, and beaten badly. Of course the Greeks were -far better soldiers than the Persians, for all their training made them -so, but more than all this, they were fighting for themselves to save -their homes and their families. - -Perhaps you have heard the fable of the hound who was chasing a hare. -The hare escaped. The hound was made fun of for not catching the little -hare. To which the hound replied, “I was only running for my supper; -the hare was running for his life.” - -The Persian soldiers were not fighting for their homes or families, -which were away back across the sea; and it made little difference to -them who won, anyway, for they were merely hirelings on slaves; they -were fighting for a king because he ordered them to. - -Naturally the Greeks were overjoyed at this victory. - -Pheidippides, the famous runner, who was now at Marathon, started off -at once to carry the joyful news back to Athens, twenty-six miles away. -The whole distance he ran without stopping for breath. But he had not -had time to rest up from his long run to Sparta, which he had taken -only a few days before, and so fast did he run this long distance that -as soon as he had reached Athens and gasped the news to the Athenians -in the market-place he dropped down dead! - -In honor of this famous run, they have nowadays, in the new Olympic -Games, what is called a Marathon race, in which the athletes run this -same distance. - -[Illustration: “The First Marathon Race.”] - -This battle of Marathon took place in 490 B. C. and is one of the most -famous battles in all history, for the great Persian army was beaten by -one little city and its neighbor, and the Persians had to go back to -their homes in disgrace. - -A little handful of people, who governed themselves, had defeated a -great king with a large army of only hired soldiers or slaves. - -But this was not the last the Greeks were to see of the Persians. - -[Illustration] - - - - -24 - -Fighting Mad - - -Darius was now angrier than ever, and still more determined to whip -those stubborn Greeks, who dared to defy him and his enormous power; -and he began to get ready for one more attempt. This time, however, he -made up his mind that he would get together such an army and navy that -there would be no chance in the world against it, and he made a solemn -oath to destroy the Greeks. So for several years he gathered troops and -supplies, but something happened, and in spite of his oath he did not -carry out his plan. Why? You guessed it. He died. - -But Darius had a son named Xerxes--pronounced as if it began with a Z. - -When I was a boy, there was an alphabet rime that began, “A is for -Apple,” and went on down to, “X is for Xerxes, a great Persian king.” -I learned the rime, though I did not know at that time anything either -about Xerxes or Persia. - -Xerxes was just as determined as his father had been that the Greeks -must be beaten, so he went on getting ready. - -But the Greeks also were just as determined that they must _not_ be -beaten, so they, too, went on getting ready, for they knew the Persians -would sooner or later come back and try again. - -At this time there were two chief men in Athens, and each was trying to -be leader. One was named Themistocles--pronounced The-mis-to-klees--and -the other Aristides--pronounced Air-is-tie-dees. Notice how many Greek -names seem to end in “es.” - -Themistocles urged the Athenians to get ready for what he knew was -coming, the next war with Persia. Especially did he urge the Athenians -to build a fleet of boats, for they had no boats and the Persians had a -great many. - -Aristides, on the other hand, didn’t believe in Themistocles’ scheme to -build boats. He thought it a foolish expense and talked against it. - -Aristides had always been so wise and fair that people called him -Aristides the Just. Some of the people wanted to get rid of him, -because they thought he was wrong and Themistocles was right. So they -waited till the time came to vote to ostracize any one they wanted to -get rid of. Do you remember who started this custom? Clisthenes--about -500 B.C. - -When the day for voting came, a man who could not write and did not -know Aristides by sight happened to ask his help in voting. Aristides -inquired what name he should write, and the man replied, “Aristides.” - -Aristides did not tell who he was, but merely said: - -“Why do you want to get rid of this man? Has he done anything wrong?” - -“Oh, no,” the voter replied. “He hasn’t done anything wrong”; but with -a long sigh he said, “I’m so tired of hearing him always called ’The -Just.’” - -Aristides must have been surprised by this unreasonable answer, but -nevertheless he wrote his own name for the voter, and when the votes -were counted there were so many that he was ostracized. - -Though it did not seem quite fair that Aristides should be ostracized, -it was fortunate, as it turned out, that Themistocles had his way, and -it was fortunate the Athenians went on preparing for war. - -They built a fleet of triremes. Then they got all the cities and towns -in Greece to agree to join forces in case of war. Sparta, on account of -its fame as a city of soldiers, was made the leader of all the others -in case war should come. - -And then, just ten years after the battle of Marathon, in 480 B. C., -the great Persian army was again ready to attack Greece. It had been, -brought together from all parts of the vast Persian Empire and was far -bigger than the former army with its 120,000 men, although that was a -large army for those days. - -This time the army is supposed to have consisted of over two million -soldiers--two million; just think of that! The question then was how -to get so many soldiers over to Greece. Such a multitude could not be -carried across to Greece in boats, for even the largest triremes only -held a few hundred men, and it would have taken--well, can you tell how -many boats, to carry over two million? Probably many more triremes than -there were in the whole world at that time. So Xerxes decided to have -his army march to Greece, the long way but the only way round. So they -started. - -Now, there is a strip of water called a strait, something like a wide -river, right across the path the Persian army had to take. This strait -was then called the Hellespont. It is, of course, still there, but if -you look on the map now you will find it is now called the Dardanelles. -But there was no bridge across the Hellespont, for it was almost a mile -wide, and they didn’t have bridges as long as that in those days. So -Xerxes fastened boats together in a line that stretched from one shore -to the other shore, and over these boats he built a floor to form a -bridge so that his army could cross upon it. - -Hardly had he finished building the bridge, however, when a storm arose -and destroyed it. Xerxes, in anger at the waves, ordered that the water -of the Hellespont be whipped as if it were a slave he were punishing. -Then he built another bridge, and this time the water behaved itself, -and his soldiers were able to cross over safely. - -So vast was Xerxes’ army that it is said to have taken it seven days -and seven nights marching continuously all the time in two long -unbroken lines to get over to the opposite shore. Xerxes’ fleet -followed the army as closely as they could along the shore, and at last -they reached the top of Greece. Down through the north of Greece the -army came, overrunning everything before it, and it seemed as though -nothing on earth could stop such numbers of men. - - - - -25 - -One Against a Thousand - - -There is a little narrow passageway with the mountains on one side -and the water on the other through which the Persians had to go to -reach Athens. This pass is called Thermopylæ, and you might guess what -Thermopylæ means if you notice that the first part is like Thermos -bottle, which means “hot” bottle. As a matter of fact, Thermopylæ meant -Hot Gateway, and was so named because this natural gateway to Greece -had hot springs near-by. - -The Greeks decided that it was best to stop the Persians at this -gate--to go to meet them there first before they reached Athens. In -such a place a few Greek soldiers could fight better against a much -larger number. - -It also seemed wise to send picked Greek troops to meet the Persians, -the very best soldiers in Greece with the very bravest general to lead -them. - -So the Spartan king, who was named Leonidas--which in Greek means “like -a lion”--was chosen to go to Thermopylæ, and with him seven thousand -soldiers--seven thousand soldiers to block the way of two million -Persians! Three hundred of these were Spartans, and a Spartan was -taught that he must never surrender, never give up. A Spartan mother -used to say to her son: - -“Come back _with_ your shield or _on_ it.” - -When Xerxes found his way blocked by this ridiculously small band of -soldiers, he sent his messengers ordering them to surrender, to give -themselves up. - -And what do you suppose Leonidas replied? - -It was what we should expect a Spartan to answer, brief and to the -point; that is, “Laconic.” He said simply: - -“Come and take us.” - -As there was nothing left for Xerxes to do but fight, he started his -army forward. - -For two days the Persians fought the Greeks, but Leonidas still held -the pass, and the Persians were unable to get through. - -Then a Greek traitor and coward, who thought he might save his own life -and be given a rich prize by Xerxes, told that king of a secret path -over the mountains by which he and his army might slip through and get -around Leonidas and his soldiers who blocked the way. - -The next morning Leonidas learned that the Persians had found out this -path and were already on the way to pen him in from behind. There was -still a chance, however, for his men to escape, and Leonidas told all -those who wanted to do so to leave. Those that remained knew that the -fight was absolutely hopeless and that it meant certain death for all -them. In spite of this, however, one thousand men, including all the -three hundred Spartans stood by their leader, for, said they: - -“We have been ordered to hold the pass, and a Spartan obeys orders, and -never surrenders, no matter what happens.” - -So there Leonidas and his thousand men fought to the bitter end until -all except one of their number was killed. - -The gateway to the city of Athens was now open, and things looked very -black for the Greeks, for there was nothing to prevent the Persians -from marching over the dead bodies of Leonidas and his men straight on -to Athens. - -The Athenians, wondering what was to happen to them, hurriedly went to -the oracle at Delphi and asked what they should do. - -The oracle replied that the city of Athens itself was doomed, that it -would be destroyed, there was no hope for it, but that the Athenians -themselves would be saved by wooden walls. - -This answer, as was usually the case in whatever the oracle said, was -a riddle, the meaning of which seemed hard to solve. Themistocles, -however, said that he knew the answer. You remember that it was he who -had been working so hard to have a fleet of ships built. Themistocles -said that the oracle meant these ships when it spoke of the wooden -walls. - -So the Athenians, following the supposed advice of the oracle, left -their city as Themistocles told them and went on board the ships, which -were not far away, in a bay called Salamis. - -The Persian army reached Athens and found it deserted. So they burned -and destroyed the city as the oracle said. Then they marched on to the -Bay of Salamis, where the Athenians were on board the ships. There, on -a hill overlooking the bay, Xerxes had a throne built for himself so -that he could sit, as if in a box at the theater looking at a play, and -watch his own large fleet destroy the much smaller one of the Greeks -with all the Athenians on board. - -The Greek fleet was commanded, of course, by Themistocles. His ships -were in this narrow bay or strait of water, somewhat in the same -way that the soldiers of Leonidas had been in the narrow valley at -Thermopylæ. - -[Illustration: Xerxes on his throne watching battle of Salamis.] - -Themistocles, seeing that the Bay of Salamis looked somewhat like the -Pass of Thermopylæ, had an idea. He made believe he was a traitor like -the traitor at Thermopylæ and sent word to Xerxes that if the Persian -fleet divided and one half stayed at one end of the strait and the -other half closed off the other end of the strait, the Greeks would be -penned in between and caught as in a trap. - -Xerxes thought this a good idea, so he gave orders to have his ships -do as Themistocles had suggested. But Xerxes, sitting smiling on his -throne, had the surprise of his life. The result was just the opposite -of what he had expected. With the Persian fleet separated in two parts, -the Greeks in between could fight both halves of the divided fleet at -the same time, and the space was so narrow that the Persians’ ships got -in the way of each other and rammed and sank their own boats. - -And so the Persian fleet was completely beaten, and the proud and -boastful Xerxes, with most of his army and all the navy that was left, -made a hasty retreat back to Persia the way they had come. - -And this was the last time the Persians ever tried to conquer little -Greece. - -If Themistocles had not had his way and built such a strong fleet, what -do you think would have become of Athens and Greece! - - - - -26 - -The Golden Age - - -When we were talking about the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, I told you -that later we should also hear of a Golden Age. - -Well, we have come to the Golden Age now. This doesn’t mean that people -at this time used things made of gold, nor that they had a great deal -of gold money. It means--well, let us see what sort of a time it was, -and then you can tell what it means. - -After the wars with Persia, Athens seemed to have been cheered up by -her victory to do wonderful things, and the next fifty years after the -Persians were driven out of Greece--that is, 480 to 430 B. C.--were -the most wonderful years in the history of Greece and perhaps the most -wonderful years in the history of the world. - -Athens had been burned down by Xerxes. At the time it happened this -seemed like a terrible misfortune. But it wasn’t. The people set to -work and built a much finer and much more beautiful city than the old -one had been. - -Now, the chief person in Athens at this time was a man named Pericles. -He was not a king nor a ruler, but he was so very wise and such a -wonderful speaker and such a popular leader that he was able to make -the Athenians do as he thought best. He was like the popular captain of -a football team, who is a fine player himself and can make fine players -of all the others on his team. Athens was his team, and he trained -it so well that any one of the team would have been able to fill any -position no matter how important it was. Some men became great artists. -Some men became great writers. Some men became great philosophers. Do -you know what philosophers are? They are wise men who know a great deal -and love knowledge. - -The artists built many beautiful buildings, theaters, and temples. They -made wonderful statues of the Greek gods and goddesses and placed them -on the buildings and about the city. - -The philosophers taught the people how to be wise and good. - -The writers composed fine poems and plays. The plays were not like -those we have nowadays but were all about the doings of the gods and -goddesses. - -The theaters were not like those we have nowadays, either. They were -always out of doors, usually on the side of a hill, where a “grand -stand” could be built facing the stage. There was little or no scenery, -and instead of an orchestra of musicians there was a chorus of singers -to accompany the actors. The actors wore false faces or masks to show -what their feelings were, a “comic” mask with a grinning face when they -wanted to be funny and a “tragic” mask with a sorrowful face when they -wanted to seem sad. - -Perhaps you have seen pictures of these masks, for in the decorations -of our own theaters these same comic and tragic masks are sometimes -used. - -[Illustration: Tragic and comic masks.] - -Athens had been named after the goddess Athene, who was supposed to -watch out for and look after the city. So the Athenians thought she -should have a special temple. Accordingly, they built one to her on -the top of a hill called the Acropolis. This temple they called in her -honor the Parthenon, meaning the “maiden,” one of the names by which -she was known. - -The Parthenon is considered the most beautiful building in the world, -though as you see by the picture, as it is to-day, it is now in ruins. -In the center of this temple was a huge statue of Athene made of gold -and ivory by a sculptor named Phidias. We are told that it was the most -beautiful statue in the world as the Parthenon was the most beautiful -building, but it has completely disappeared, and no one knows what -became of it. One might guess, however, that the gold and ivory tempted -thieves, who may have stolen it piece by piece. - -[Illustration: The Parthenon.] - -Phidias made many other statues on the outside of the Parthenon, but -most of these have been carried away and put in museums or have been -lost or destroyed. - -This statue of Athene and the other sculptures on the Parthenon made -Phidias so famous that he was asked to make a statue of Jupiter to be -placed at Olympia, where the Olympic Games were held. The statue of -Jupiter was finer even than the one he had made of Athene and was so -splendid that it was called one of the Seven Wonders of the World. You -remember the pyramids of Egypt and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were -two others of the Seven Wonders. - -Phidias is probably the greatest sculptor that ever lived, but he did -a thing which the Greeks considered a crime and would not forgive. We -do not see anything so terribly wrong in what he did, but the Greeks’ -idea of right and wrong was different from ours. This is what he did. -On the shield of the statue of Athene that he had made, Phidias carved -a picture of himself and also one of his friend Pericles. It was merely -a part of the decoration of the shield, and hardly any one would have -noticed it. But according to the Greek notion it was sacrilege to -make a picture of a human being on a statue of a goddess. So when the -Athenians found out what Phidias had done they threw him into prison, -and there he died. - -The Greeks used different kinds of columns on their buildings, and -these columns are used in many public and in some private buildings -to-day. I’ll tell you what each kind is like; then see how many you can -find. - -The Parthenon was built in a style called Doric. - -The top of the column is called the capital, and the capital of the -Doric column is shaped like a saucer with a square cover on top -of it. There was no base or block at the bottom of the column. It -rested directly on the floor. As the Doric column is so plain and -strong-looking it is called the man’s style. - -The second style is called _Ionic_. - -The capital of the Ionic column has a base, and the capital has -ornaments like curls underneath the square top, and the column has a -base. - -As this column is more slender and more ornamental than the Doric, it -is called the woman’s style. - -The third style is called _Corinthian_. - -[Illustration: 1. Doric. 2. Ionic. 3. Corinthian.] - -The capital of the Corinthian column is higher than either of the other -two and still more ornamental. It is said that the architect who first -made this column got his idea for its capital from seeing a basketful -of toys that had been placed on a child’s grave as was the custom -instead of flowers. The basket had been covered with a slab, and leaves -of the thistle called the acanthus had grown up around the basket. It -looked so pretty that the architect thought it would make a beautiful -capital for a column, and so he copied it. - -I asked some boys which one could find the most columns. The next -day one boy said he had seen two Ionic columns, one on each side of -the door of his house. The second had seen ten Doric columns on the -savings-bank. But the third said he had seen 138 Corinthian columns. - -“Where on earth did you see so many?” I asked. - -“I counted the lamp-posts from my house to the school,” he said. “They -were kind of Corinthian columns.” - -One of the friends of Pericles was a man named Herodotus. He wrote in -Greek the first history of the world. For this reason Herodotus is -called the Father of History, and some day if you study Greek you may -read what he wrote in his own language. Of course, at that time there -was very little history to write. What has happened since _hadn’t_ -happened then, and before his time little was known of what had taken -place. So Herodotus’s history was chiefly a story of the wars with -Persia, which I have just told you about. After that he had to stop; -there was nothing more to write about. - -In those days every once in a while a terrible contagious disease, -called a plague, would break out, and people would be taken sick and -die by the thousands, for the doctors knew very little about the plague -or how to cure it. Such a plague came upon Athens, and the Athenians -died like poisoned flies. Pericles himself nursed the sick and did all -he could for them, but finally he, too, was taken sick with the plague -and died. So ended the Golden Age, which has been called in honor of -its greatest man the Age of Pericles. - -[Illustration] - - - - -27 - -When Greek Meets Greek - - -The Golden Age, when Athens was so wonderful, lasted for only fifty -years. - -Why, do you suppose, did it stop at all? - -It stopped chiefly because of a fight. - -This time, however, the fight was not between Greece and some one -outside, as in the Persian Wars. The fight was between two cities -that had before this been more or less friendly--mostly less--between -Sparta and Athens. It was a family quarrel between Greeks. And the -fight was all because one of these cities--Sparta--was jealous of the -other--Athens. - -The Spartans, as you know, were fine soldiers. The Athenians were fine -soldiers, too. But ever since Themistocles with the ships he had built -had beaten the Persians at Salamis, Athens had also a fine fleet, and -Sparta had no fleet. Furthermore, Athens had become the most beautiful -and most cultured city in the whole world. - -Sparta did not care much about Athens’s beautiful buildings and her -education and culture and that sort of thing; that did not interest -her. What did make her jealous was Athens’s fleet. Sparta was inland, -not on nor near the sea-shore as Athens was; so she could not have a -fleet at all. Sparta did not intend, however, to let Athens get ahead -of her, and so on one excuse or another Sparta with all of _her_ -neighbors started a war against Athens with all of _her_ neighbors. - -Sparta was in a part of Greece which was called by the hard name, the -Peloponnesus. But in those days the boys did not think this a hard -name, for they were as familiar with it as you are with such a name as -Massachusetts, for instance, which would seem just as hard to a Greek -as Peloponnesus does to you. This war between Athens and Sparta was -therefore called the Peloponnesian War from the fact that it was not -only Sparta but all of the Peloponnesus that fought against Athens. - -We think a war lasts entirely too long if it lasts four or five years, -but the Peloponnesian War lasted twenty-seven years! There is a saying, -“When Greek meets Greek then comes a tug of war!” which means to say, -“When two equal fighters such as Athens and Sparta, both Greek, meet -each other in battle, who knows how it will end?” - -I am not going to tell you about all the battles that took place -during these twenty-seven years, but at the end of this long and bloody -war both cities were tired and worn out, and the glory of Athens was -gone. Although Sparta was ahead, neither city ever amounted to much -afterward. The Peloponnesian War ruined them both. That’s the way war -does! - -All during the Peloponnesian War there was a man at Athens by the -name of Socrates who, many think, was one of the wisest and best men -who ever lived. He was called a philosopher and went about the city -teaching the people what was right and what they ought to do. But -instead of actually _telling_ the people what he thought was right, he -asked them questions which made them see what was right. In this way, -chiefly by asking questions, he led people to find out for themselves -what he wanted them to know. This kind of teaching, simply by asking -questions, has ever since been called Socratic. - -Socrates had a snub nose and was bald and quite ugly, and yet he was -very popular with the Athenians, which may seem strange, for the -Athenians loved beautiful faces and beautiful figures and beautiful -things, and Socrates was anything but beautiful. It must have been the -beauty of Socrates’s character that made them forget his ugliness, -as I know some boys and girls who think their teacher is perfectly -beautiful just because she is so good and kind that they love her, -although she is really not pretty at all. - -Socrates had a wife named Xantippe. She had a bad temper and was the -worst kind of a crosspatch. She thought Socrates was wasting his time, -that he was a loafer, as he did no work that brought in any money. One -day she scolded him so loudly that he left the house, whereupon she -threw a bucket of water on him. Socrates, who never answered back, -merely remarked to himself: - -“After thunder, rain may be expected.” - -Socrates didn’t believe in all the Greek gods, Jupiter, Venus, and the -rest, but he was careful not to say so himself, for the Greeks were -very particular that no one should say or do anything against their -gods. Phidias, you remember, was thrown into prison for merely putting -his picture on the shield of the goddess Athene, and one would have -been put to death for teaching young men not to believe in the gods. - -At last, however, Socrates, as he had feared he would be, was charged -with not believing in the Greek gods and with teaching others not to -believe in them. And so for this he was condemned to death. He was not -hanged or put to death as prisoners are now, however. He was ordered to -drink a cup of hemlock, which was a deadly poison. Socrates’s pupils, -or disciples, as they were then called, tried to have him refuse to -drink the cup, but he would not disobey the order; and so, when he was -nearly seventy years old, he drank the cup of hemlock and died with all -his disciples around him. - -Although this was four hundred years before Christ was born, and -before, therefore, there were any such things as Christians or a -Christian religion, yet Socrates believed and taught two things that -are just what Christians also believe. - -One of these things he believed was that each of us has inside a -conscience, which tells us what is right and what is wrong; we don’t -have to read from a book or be told by another what is right or what is -wrong. - -Another thing he taught was that there is a life after death and that -when we die our souls live on. - -No wonder he was not afraid himself to die! - - - - -28 - -Wise Men and Otherwise - - -Have you ever been playing in your yard when a strange boy who had been -watching from the other side of the fence asked to be let into the -game, saying he would show you how to play? You didn’t want him around, -and you didn’t want him in, but somehow or other he got in and was soon -bossing everybody else. - -Well, there was a man named Philip who lived north of Greece, and he -had been watching Sparta and Athens--not playing but fighting--and he -wanted “to get into the game.” Philip was king of a little country -called Macedonia, but he thought he would like to be king of Greece, -also, and it seemed to him a good time, when Sparta and Athens were -“down and out” after the Peloponnesian War, to step in and make himself -king of that country. Philip was a great fighter, but he didn’t want to -fight Greece unless he had to. He wanted to be made king peaceably, and -he wanted Greece to do it willingly. So he thought up a scheme to bring -this about, and this was his scheme. - -He knew, as you do, how the Greeks hated the Persians whom they had -driven out of their country over a hundred years before. Although -the Persian Wars had taken place so long ago, the Greeks had never -forgotten the bravery of their forefathers and the tales of their -victories over the Persians. These stories had been told them over and -over by their fathers and grandfathers, and they loved to read and -reread them in Herodotus’s history of the world. - -So Philip said to the Greeks: - -“Your ancestors drove the Persians out of Greece, to be sure, but the -Persians went back to their country, and you didn’t go after them and -punish them as you should have done. You didn’t try ’to get even’ with -them. Why don’t you go over to Persia and conquer it now, and make the -Persians pay for what they did to you?” Then he slyly added: - -“Let me help you. I’ll lead you against them.” - -No one seemed to see through Philip’s scheme--nobody except one man. -This man was an Athenian named Demosthenes. - -Demosthenes, when he was a boy, had decided that he would some day be -a great speaker or orator, just as you might say you are going to be a -doctor, or an aviator, or a lawyer when you grow up. - -But Demosthenes had picked the one profession which by nature he was -worst fitted for. In the first place, he had such a very soft, weak -voice that one could hardly hear him. Besides this, he st-st-stammered -very b-b-badly and could not re-cite even a sh-sh-short p-p-poem -without hesit-t-tating and st-st-stumbling so that people laughed at -him. It seemed absurd, therefore, that he should aim to be a great -speaker. - -But Demosthenes practised and _practised_ and _practised_ by himself. -He went down on the sea-shore and put pebbles in his mouth to make it -more difficult to speak clearly. Then he spoke to the roaring waves, -making believe that he was addressing an angry crowd, who were trying -to drown the sound of his voice, so that he would have to speak very -loud indeed. - -So at last, by keeping constantly at it, Demosthenes did become the -greatest speaker that ever lived. He spoke so wonderfully that he could -make his audience laugh or make them cry whenever he wanted to, and he -could persuade them to do almost anything he wished. - -Now, Demosthenes was the man who saw through Philip’s scheme for -conquering Persia. He knew that Philip’s real aim was to become king -of Greece. So he made twelve speeches against him. These speeches were -known as Philippics, as they were against Philip. So famous were they -that even to-day we call a speech that bitterly attacks any one a -Philippic. - -The Greeks who heard Demosthenes were red-hot against Philip while -they listened to him. But as soon as they got away from the sound of -Demosthenes’s words the same Greeks became lukewarm and did nothing to -stop Philip. - -So at last, in spite of everything that Demosthenes had said, Philip -had his way and became king over all Greece. - -Before, however, he could start out, as he had promised, to conquer -Persia, he was killed by one of his own men, so that he was unable to -carry out his plan. - -But Philip had a son named Alexander. Alexander was only twenty years -old, not old enough even to vote if he had lived in our country, but -when his father died he became king of Macedonia and also of Greece. - -When Alexander was a mere child, he saw some men trying without success -to tame a young and very wild horse that shied and reared in the air so -that no one was able to ride it. Alexander asked to be allowed to try -to ride the animal. Alexander’s father made fun of his son for wanting -to attempt what those older than he had been unable to do, but at last -gave his consent. - -Now, Alexander had noticed what the others, although much older, had -not noticed. The horse seemed to be afraid of its own shadow, for young -colts are easily frightened by anything black and moving, as some -children are afraid of the dark. - -So Alexander turned the horse around facing the sun, so that its shadow -would be behind, out of sight. He then mounted the animal and, to the -amazement of all, rode off without any further trouble. - -His father was delighted at his son’s cleverness and gave him the horse -as a reward. Alexander named the horse Bucephalus and became so fond -of him that when the horse died Alexander built a monument to him and -named several cities after him. - -Now, Alexander was a wonderful boy, but he had such a wonderful teacher -named Aristotle that some people think part, at least, of his greatness -was due to the teacher. - -Aristotle was probably the greatest teacher that ever lived. If there -were more great teachers like Aristotle, it seems likely there would -have been more great pupils like Alexander. - -Aristotle wrote books about all sorts of things--books about the stars -called astronomy, books about animals called zoölogy, and books on -other subjects that you probably have never even heard of, such as -psychology and politics. - -For thousands of years these books that Aristotle wrote were the -school-books that boys and girls studied, and for a thousand years -they were the _only_ school-books. Nowadays, a school-book is usually -old-fashioned a few years after it is written and is then no longer -used. So you see how remarkable it was that Aristotle’s school-books -should have been used for so long a time. - -Aristotle had been taught by a man named Plato, who was also a great -teacher and philosopher. Plato had been a pupil of Socrates, so that -Aristotle was a kind of “grand-pupil” of Socrates. You have heard of -the Wise Men of the East. These were the three Wise Men of Greece. - - SOCRATES, - PLATO, - ARISTOTLE. - -Some day you may read what they wrote or said over two thousand years -ago. - - - - -29 - -A Boy King - - -When you are twenty years old, what do you think you will be doing? - -Will you be playing football on your college team? - -Will you be working in a bank, or what? - -When Alexander was twenty he was king of both Macedonia and Greece. But -Macedonia and Greece were entirely too small for this wonderful young -man. He wanted to own a much bigger country; in fact, he thought he -would like to own the whole world; that was all--nothing more. - -So Alexander went right ahead with his father’s plan to conquer Persia. -The time had come to pay back Persia for that last invasion one hundred -and fifty years before. - -He got together an army and crossed the Hellespont into Asia and won -battle after battle against the first Persian armies sent out to stop -him. - -He kept moving on, for Persia was a vast empire. - -Soon he came to a town where in a temple there was kept a rope tied -into a very far-famed and puzzling knot. It was called the Gordian -Knot, and it was very famous because the oracle had said that whoever -should undo this knot would conquer Persia. But no one had ever been -able to untie it. - -When Alexander heard the story, he went to the temple and took a look -at the knot. He saw at once that it would be impossible to untie it, -so, instead of even trying, as others had done, he drew his sword and -with one stroke cut the knot in two. - -So now when a person settles something difficult, not by fussing with -it as one untangles a snarl, but at a single stroke, cutting through -all difficulties, we say he “cuts the Gordian Knot.” - -From that time on, Alexander conquered one city after another and never -lost any battle of importance until he had conquered the whole of -Persia. - -Then he went into Egypt, which belonged to Persia, and conquered that -country, too. To celebrate this victory, he founded a town near the -mouth of the Nile and named it after himself, Alexandria. Then he -started there a great library which later grew to be so big that there -were said to be five hundred thousand books in it--that is, half a -million--and was the largest library of ancient times. The books were -not like those in the library of Assur-bani-pal nor the kind we have -now, of course, because printing had not been invented. They were every -one of them written by hand, and not on pages, but on long sheets which -were rolled up on sticks to form a scroll. - -[Illustration: A scroll, pens and ink.] - -In the harbor of Alexandria was a little island called Pharos, and on -this island some years later was built a remarkable lighthouse named -from the island, the Pharos, and its light could be seen for many -miles. It was really a building more like a modern sky-scraper with a -tower. It was over thirty stories high, which seemed most remarkable at -that time when most buildings were only one or two stories high, and -its light could be seen for many miles. So the Pharos of Alexandria was -called one of the Seven Wonders of the World. You have already heard of -three others, so this makes the fourth. - -Alexandria grew in the course of time to be the largest and most -important seaport of the ancient world. Now, however, the Pharos and -the library and all the old buildings have long since disappeared. - -But Alexander did not stay very long in any one place. He was -restless. He wanted to keep on the move. He wanted to see new places -and to conquer new people. He almost forgot his own little country of -Macedonia and Greece. Instead of being homesick, however, as most any -one would have been, he kept going farther and farther away from home -all the time. We should call such a man an adventurer or an explorer, -as well as a great general. And so he kept on conquering and didn’t -stop conquering until he had reached far-off India. - -There in India his army, which had stayed on with him all the way, -became homesick and wanted to go back. They had been away from home -for more than ten years and were so far off that they were afraid they -would never get back. - -Alexander was now only thirty years old, but he was called Alexander -the Great, for he was ruler of the whole world--at least, all of it -that was then known and inhabited by civilized people, except Italy, -which was still only a collection of little, unimportant towns at that -time. When Alexander found there were no more countries left for him to -conquer, he was so disappointed that he wept! - -And so at last, when there was nothing more to conquer, he agreed to do -what his army begged him and started slowly back toward Greece. - -He got as far as Babylon, the city once so large and so magnificent. -There he celebrated with a feast, but while feasting and drinking he -suddenly died. So he never reached Greece. - -This was in 323 B.C. when he was but 33 years old. You can remember -these figures easily, for they are all 3’s except the middle figure in -the date, which is one less than 3. - -Alexander the Great had conquered the largest country that has ever -been under the rule of one man, and yet this was not the only reason we -call him the “Great.” - -He was not only a great ruler and a great general, but--this may -surprise you--he was also a great teacher. Aristotle had taught him to -be that. - -Alexander taught the Greek language to the people whom he conquered -so that they could read Greek books. He taught them about Greek -sculpture and painting. He taught them the wise sayings of the Greek -philosophers, Socrates and Plato and his own teacher, Aristotle. He -trained the people in athletics as the Greeks did for their Olympic -Games. And so we can say that he taught far more people than any other -teacher who has ever lived. - -Alexander had married a beautiful Persian girl named Roxana, but their -only child was a baby, not born until after his father’s death; so when -the great king died there was no one to rule after him. He had told his -generals before he died that the strongest one of them should be the -next ruler; to fight it out among themselves, as we sometimes say, “May -the best man win.” - -So his generals did fight to see who should win, and finally four of -them, who were victorious, decided to divide up this great empire and -each have a share. - -One of his generals was named Ptolemy I, and he took Egypt as his -share and ruled well; but the others did not amount to much, and -after a while their shares became unimportant and went to pieces. -Like a red toy balloon which stretches and stretches as you blow -it up, Alexander’s empire grew bigger and bigger until--all of a -sudden--“_pop_”--nothing was left but the pieces. - - - - -30 - -Picking a Fight - - -“Every dog has his day.” - -A tennis or golf champion wins over the one who was champion before him -and then has a few years during which he is unbeaten. Sooner or later, -however, some younger and better man beats him and in turn takes the -championship. - -It seems almost the same way with countries as with people. One country -wins the championship from another, holds it for a few years, and then, -when older, finally loses it to some new-comer. - -We have seen that - - _Nineveh_ was champion for a while; then - _Babylon_ had her turn; then - _Persia_, had her turn; then - _Greece_; and, lastly, - _Macedonia_. - -You may wonder who was to be the next champion after Alexander’s empire -went to pieces--who was to have the next turn. - -When Alexander was conquering the world he went east toward the rising -sun, and south. He paid little attention to the country to the west -toward the setting sun. Rome, which we have not heard of for some time, -was then only a small town with narrow streets and frame houses. It -was not nearly important enough for Alexander to think much about. -Rome herself was not thinking of anything then except keeping the -neighboring towns from beating her. - -[Illustration: Map of Mediterranean showing Carthage, Spain, etc.] - -It is usual to speak of a city as “her” or “she” as if a city were a -girl, but Rome was more like a small boy whom all the other boys were -“picking” on. In the course of time, however, Rome began to grow up and -was not only able to take care of herself but could put up a very stiff -fight. She was then no longer satisfied with just defending herself. So -she fought and won battles with most of the other towns in Italy, until -at last she found herself champion of the whole of the “boot.” Then she -began to look around to see what other countries there were outside of -Italy that she might conquer. - -Perhaps you have noticed that Italy, the “boot,” seems about to kick a -little island as if it were a football. This island is Sicily, and just -opposite Sicily was a city called Carthage. - -Carthage had been founded by the Phenicians many years before and had -become a very rich and powerful city. As she was by the sea, she had -built many ships and traded with all the other seaports along the -Mediterranean, just as the old Phenician cities of Tyre and Sidon had -done. - -Carthage did not like to see Rome getting so strong and growing so big -and becoming so powerful. In other words, Carthage was jealous of Rome. - -Rome, on her side, was jealous of the wealth and trade of Carthage. So -Rome anxiously looked around for some excuse to get into a fight with -her. - -Now, you know how easy it is to pick a quarrel and start a fight when -you are “looking for trouble.” One boy sticks out his tongue, the other -gives him a kick, and the fight is on. - -Well, two countries are at times just like little boys; they start a -fight with just as little excuse, and though they call the fight “war” -it is nothing but a “scrap.” Only there are no fathers to come along -and give them both a spanking and send them to bed without any supper. - -So it didn’t take long for Rome and Carthage to find an excuse, and a -war was started between them. The Romans called this fight a Punic War, -for “Punic” was their name for Phenician, and the Carthaginians were -Phenicians. - -As Carthage was across the water, the Romans could not get to her -except in boats. But Rome had no boats. She was not on the sea-shore, -and she knew nothing about making boats, nor about sailing them, if she -had had them. - -The Carthaginians, on the other hand, had many, many boats, and, like -all the Phenicians, were old and experienced sailors. - -But Rome happened to find the wreck of a Carthaginian ship that had -been cast ashore, and she at once set to work to make a copy of it. -In a remarkably short time she had built one ship, then another and -another, until she had a great many ships. Then, though she was new at -the game, she attacked the Carthaginian fleet. - -It would seem that the Carthaginians could easily have won, for the -Romans knew so little about boats. But in sea battles, before this, -the fighting had been done by running into the enemy and ramming and -sinking their ships. - -The Romans knew they were no match for the Carthaginians in this sort -of fighting. So they thought up a way in which they could fight them as -on land. - -To do this they invented a kind of big hook which they called a “crow.” -The idea was for a ship to run close alongside a Carthaginian ship and, -instead of trying to sink her, to throw out this big hook or “crow,” -catch hold of the other ship, and pull both boats dose together. The -Roman soldiers would then scramble over the sides into the enemy’s boat -and fight them the same way they would on land. - -The scheme worked. - -This new kind of fighting took the Carthaginians by surprise, and they -were no match for the Romans at first. - -But Rome did not have things all her own way by any means. The -Carthaginians soon learned how to fight in this fashion, too. So Rome -lost, as well as won, battles both on land and on sea. But at last she -did win, and the Carthaginians were beaten. Thus ended the first Punic -War. - - - - -31 - -The Boot Kicks and Stamps - - -But the Carthaginians were not beaten for good. They were only waiting -for another chance to get even. As, however, they had been unsuccessful -in attacking Italy from in front as they had been doing, they made up -their minds to attack her from the back. Their scheme was to go the -long way round through Spain and down into Italy from the north. - -In order to do this, they had first of all to conquer Spain so that -they could get through. They did this, however, rather easily, for the -Carthaginians had a very great general named Hannibal. But then came -the great difficulty, to get into Italy by this back way. - -Across the top of the “boot,” at the north of Italy, there are the -great mountains called the Alps. They are miles high and covered even -in summer with ice and snow. There are crags and steep cliffs along -which any one passing who made a single misstep would be dashed to -death thousands of feet below. - -It was the Alps, therefore, that formed a bigger and better wall than -any city or country could possibly build. Of course the Romans thought -it impossible for any army to climb over such a terribly high and -dangerous wall. - -Time and again there have been things that people call impossible to -do, and then some one has come along and done them. - -People said it was impossible to fly. - -Then some one did it. - -People said it was impossible to cross the Alps with an army. - -Then Hannibal came along, and before the Romans knew what had happened -he had done it. He had crossed the Alps with his army and was in at the -back door! - -The Romans were unable to keep him from marching on toward their city, -winning battle after battle as he came along. They were unable to -prevent him marching up and down Italy, conquering other towns in Italy -and doing pretty much as he pleased. It seemed as if Rome were beaten -and she were to lose all of Italy. - -Now, in some games, if you can’t defend your own goal, it may be a good -plan to try attacking your opponent’s goal. - -Rome thought she would try this plan. While Hannibal was attacking her, -she herself would attack Carthage while its general was away and there -was no strong goal-keeper to defend that city. - -So the Romans sent a young man named Scipio with an army to do this. - -First, however, Scipio went to Spain to cut Hannibal off from the way -he had come, and this country Scipio reconquered. - -Then he went over to Africa to attack Carthage itself. - -The Carthaginians, frightened at being attacked with their general and -his army far off in Italy, sent as fast as they could for Hannibal to -come home. When at last he arrived, it was too late. Scipio fought a -famous battle at Zama near Carthage, and the Carthaginians were beaten, -beaten a second time by the Romans. Thus ended the second Punic War in -202 B.C. This is another easy name and easy date--just like a telephone -number: - - Zama--two-O-two. - -The Romans had won two wars against Carthage; you would think that they -would now have been satisfied. But they weren’t. They thought they had -not beaten Carthage badly enough. They were afraid she was not quite -dead or that she might come to life. They thought there might be a -little spark left that might start a fire if it weren’t trampled out. - -Now, it is bad sport to pummel your opponent after he is beaten, and -Carthage was beaten--beaten, black and blue--there was no hope of her -“coming back.” And yet a few years later the Romans attacked her again -for the third and last time. - -Carthage was unable to defend herself, and the Romans viciously burned -the city to the ground. It is said they even plowed over the land -so that no trace of the city should remain, and sowed it with salt -which prevented anything growing there. After that Carthage was never -rebuilt, and now it is hard to tell even where the old city once was. - -[Illustration] - - - - -32 - -The New Champion of the World - - -You can well imagine how proud all the Romans now were that they _were_ -Romans, for Rome was the champion fighter of the world. If a man could -toss his head and say, “I am a Roman citizen,” people were always ready -to do something for him, afraid to do him any harm, afraid what might -happen to them if they did. Rome was ruler not only of Italy but of -Spain and Africa. Like other nations before her, once she had started -conquering, she kept on conquering, until by 100 B.C. she in her turn -was ruler of almost all the countries bordering the Mediterranean -Sea--all except Egypt. - -The New Champion of the World, who was to be champion for a great many -years, was very businesslike and practical. - -The Greeks loved beautiful things, beautiful buildings, beautiful -sculpture, beautiful poems. The Romans copied the Greeks and learned -from them how to make many beautiful things, but the Romans were most -interested in practical and useful things. - -For example, now that Rome ruled the world, she had to be able to send -messengers and armies easily and quickly in every direction to the -end of her empire and back again. So it was necessary for her to have -roads, for of course there were no railroads then. Now, an ordinary -road made by simply clearing away the ground gets full of deep ruts and -in rainy weather becomes so muddy that it can hardly be used at all. - -So Rome set to work and built roads. These roads were like paved -streets. Large rocks were placed at the bottom for a foundation, -smaller stones placed on top, and large, flat paving-stones laid -over all. Thousands of miles of such roads she built to all parts of -her empire. One could go from almost anywhere all the way to Rome on -paved roads. We still have an expression, “All roads lead to Rome.” So -well were these roads made that many of them still exist to-day, two -thousand years after they were built. - -The Romans also showed their practical minds by making two very -important city improvements. If you live in a city, you turn on a -spigot and you get plenty of pure water whenever you want it. The -people in cities at that time, however, usually had to get their water -both for drinking and for washing from wells or springs near-by. These -springs and wells often became dirty and made the people very sick. -And so every once in a while because of such dirty water there were -those terrible plagues, those terribly contagious diseases like the one -I told you about in Athens when people died faster than they could be -buried. - -[Illustration: Roman Aqueduct.] - -The Romans wanted pure water, and so they set to work to find lakes -from which they could get pure water. As oftentimes these lakes were -many miles away from the city, they then built big pipes to carry the -water all the way to the city. Such a pipe was not made of iron or -terra-cotta as nowadays, but of stone and concrete, and was called an -“aqueduct,” which in Latin means “water-carrier.” If this aqueduct had -to cross a river or a valley, they built a bridge to hold it up. Many -of these Roman aqueducts are still standing and in use to-day. - -Now, up to this time waste water, after it had been used, and also -every other kind of dirt and refuse, was simply dumped into the street. -This naturally made the city or town filthy and unhealthy and was -another cause of plagues. But the Romans built great underground sewers -to carry off this dirt and waste water and empty it into the river or -into some other place where it would do no harm and cause no sickness. -Nowadays, every large city has aqueducts and sewers as a matter of -course, but the Romans were the first to build them on a large scale. - -One of the most important things that Rome did was to make rules that -every one had to obey; laws, we call them. Many of these laws were so -fair and just that some of our own laws to-day are copied from them. - -All the cities and towns of the Roman Empire had to pay money or taxes -to Rome. So Rome became the richest city in the world. Millions of this -money, which was brought to her, was spent in putting up beautiful -buildings in the city, temples to the gods, splendid palaces for the -rulers, public baths and huge open-air places called amphitheaters -where the people could be amused. - -The amphitheaters were something like our football and baseball fields -or stadiums. They did not have football or baseball, however. They -had chariot-races, and deadly fights between men, or between men and -animals. Chariots were small carts with large wheels drawn by two or -by four horses and driven by a man standing up. Perhaps you have seen -chariot-races in the circus. - -But the sport that the Romans enjoyed most of all was a Fight of -Gladiators. Gladiators were very strong and powerful men who had been -captured in battle by the Romans. They were made to fight with one -another or with wild animals for the amusement of the crowd. These -gladiatorial fights were very cruel, but the Romans enjoyed seeing -blood shed. They liked to see one man kill another or a wild animal. It -was so amusing. The movies would not have interested them half so much. -Usually the gladiators fought until one or the other was killed, for -the people were not, as a rule, satisfied until this was done. - -Sometimes, however, if a gladiator, who had been knocked out, had shown -himself particularly brave and a good fighter or a good sport, the -people seated all around the amphitheater would turn their thumbs _up_ -as a sign that his life was to be spared by the other gladiator. So the -winning gladiator, before killing his opponent whom he had down, would -wait to see what the people wished. If they turned their thumbs _down_, -it meant he was to finish the fight by killing his man. - -But although Rome had become such a fine and beautiful and healthy -city in which to live, the rich people were getting most of the money -that came there from all over the empire. They were getting richer -and richer all the time, while the poor people, who got nothing, were -getting poorer and poorer all the time. The Romans brought the people -whom they conquered in battle to Rome and made them work for them -without pay. These were slaves and they did all the work. It is said -that there were more than twice as many slaves as Romans--two slaves -for every Roman citizen. - -Now, Scipio, who had conquered Hannibal in the Punic War, had a -daughter named Cornelia Graccha, and she had two sons. They were very -fine boys, and Cornelia was naturally very proud of them. - -One day a very rich Roman woman was visiting Cornelia and showing off -all her rings and necklaces and other ornaments, of which she had a -great many and was very proud. - -When she had shown off all she had, she asked to see Cornelia’s jewels. - -Cornelia called to her two boys, who were playing outside, and when -they came in to their mother she put her arms around them and said: - -“_These_ are _my_ jewels.” - -But boys who are jewels when they are young do not always turn out to -be jewels when they grow up. So you may wonder how Cornelia’s jewels -tinned out. - -When they grew up, the Gracchi, as they were called, saw such great -extravagance among the rich and such great misery among the poor that -they wanted to do something about it. They saw that the poor had hardly -anything to eat and no place to live. This did not seem fair. So they -tried to lower the price of food, so that the poor might be able to buy -enough to eat. Then they tried to find some way to give the poor at -least a small piece of land where they might raise a few vegetables. -They were partly successful in bringing this about. But the rich people -didn’t like giving up anything to the poor, and they killed one of the -Gracchus brothers, and later they killed the other one, also. These -were Cornelia’s jewels. - - - - -33 - -The Noblest Roman of Them All - - -Here’s a puzzle for you: - -A man once found a very old piece of money that had on it the date “100 -B. C.” - -That couldn’t be so. Why not? See if you can tell without looking at -the answer at the bottom of the page.[1] - -[1] People living 100 years before Christ was born could not have known -when he was to be born and so could not put such a date on the coins -they made. - -In the year 100 B. C. was born in Rome a boy who was named Julius Cæsar. - -If you had asked him when he was born, he would have said in the Year -653. - -Why do you suppose? - -Because Roman boys counted time from the founding of Rome in 753 B. C., -and Cæsar was born 653 years after the city was founded. That makes it -100 years before Christ, doesn’t it? - -_Pirates_ seemed to be everywhere in the Mediterranean Sea at that -time--_Pirates_. Now that Rome was ruler of the world, there were many -ships carrying gold from different parts of the empire to Rome. So -the pirates sailed up and down, lying in wait to capture and rob these -ships laden with gold. - -When Cæsar grew to be a young man, he was sent off to sea to fight -these pirates, and he was captured by them. The pirates kept Cæsar a -prisoner and sent to Rome saying they would not let him go unless Rome -sent them a great deal of money. Cæsar knew that he would be killed if -the money was not sent. He knew, too, that he might be killed, anyway. -But he was not only not afraid but he told the pirates that if he lived -to get back home he would return with a fleet and punish every one of -them. When at last the money came they let him go, nevertheless. They -thought Cæsar would not dare to do what he said. They thought he was -just “talking big.” At any rate, they did not believe he would be able -to catch them. Cæsar, however, kept his word, came back after them as -he said he would do, and took them prisoners. Then he had them all put -to death on the cross, which was the Roman way of punishing thieves. - -The far-off places of the Roman Empire were always fighting against -Rome trying to get rid of her rule, and had to be kept in order by a -general with an army. As Cæsar had shown such bravery in fighting the -pirates he was given an army and sent to fight two of these far-off -places--Spain and a country north of Spain then known as Gaul, which -is now France. - -Cæsar conquered these countries, and then he wrote a history of his -battles in Latin, which of course was his own language. Nowadays this -book, called “Cæsar’s Commentaries,” is usually the first book which -those who study Latin read. - -In 55 B. C. Cæsar crossed over in ships to the island of Britain, which -is now England, conquered it, and went back again next year in 54 B. C. - -Cæsar was becoming famous for the way he conquered and ruled over the -western part of the Roman Empire. Besides this, he was very popular -with his soldiers. - -Now there was in Rome at this time another general named Pompey. Pompey -had been successfully fighting in the eastern part of the Roman Empire -while Cæsar had been fighting in the west. Pompey had been a great -friend of Cæsar, but when he saw how much land Cæsar had conquered and -how popular he was with his soldiers, he became very jealous of him. -Notice how many quarrels and wars are caused simply by jealousy. You -have heard of at least two already. - -So while Cæsar was away with his army Pompey went to the Roman Senate -and persuaded the senators to order Cæsar to give up the command of -his army and return to Rome. - -When Cæsar received the order from the Senate to give up his command -and return to Rome, he thought over the matter for some time. Then at -last he made up his mind that he would return to Rome, but he would -_not_ give up his command. Instead, he decided that he and his army -would take command of Rome itself. - -Now, there was a little stream called the Rubicon which separated the -part of the country over which Cæsar was given charge from that of -Rome. The Roman law forbade any general to cross this stream with an -army ready to fight--this was the line beyond which he must not pass, -for the Romans were afraid that if a general with an army got too close -to Rome he might make himself king. - -When Cæsar decided not to obey the Senate, he crossed this stream--the -Rubicon--with his army and marched on to Rome. - -People now speak of any dividing line from danger as “the Rubicon” -and say that a person “crosses the Rubicon” when he takes a step from -which there is no turning back, when he starts something difficult or -dangerous which he must finish. - -When Pompey heard that Cæsar was coming he took to his heels and fled -to Greece. In a few days Cæsar had made himself head not only of Rome -but of all Italy. Cæsar then went after Pompey in Greece and in a -battle with his army beat him badly. - -Now that Pompey was out of the way, Cæsar was the chief ruler of the -whole of the Roman Empire. - -Egypt did not yet belong to Rome. So Cæsar next went there and -conquered that country. Now, in Egypt there was ruling a beautiful -queen named Cleopatra. Cleopatra was so charming that she seemed able -to make every one fall in love with her. Cleopatra flirted with Cæsar -and so fascinated him that he almost forgot everything else except -making love to her. So although he had won Egypt he made Cleopatra -queen over that country. - -Just at this time some people in the far eastern part of the empire -started a war to get rid of the rule of Rome. Cæsar left Egypt, -traveled rapidly to the place where the enemy were, made quick work -of conquering them, then sent back the news of his victory to Rome -in the most laconic (do you remember what that means?) description -ever given of a battle. There were only three words in the message. -Although the messenger could have carried three thousand as easily as -three words, Cæsar sent a message that would have been short even for a -telegram. He wrote, “Veni, vidi, vici,” which means, “I came, I saw, I -conquered.” - -When Cæsar at last got back to Rome, the people wanted to make him -king, or said they did. Cæsar was already more than king, for he was -head of the whole Roman Empire. But he wasn’t called king, for there -had been no kings since 509 B. C., when Tarquin was driven out. The -Romans had been afraid of kings and hated them, or were supposed to -hate them. - -A few of the people thought that Cæsar was getting too much power -and believed it would be a terrible thing to make him a king. They, -therefore, decided on a plot to prevent such a thing happening. One of -these plotters was a man named Brutus who had been Cæsar’s very best -friend. - -One day when Cæsar was expected to visit the Roman Senate they lay in -wait for him until he should appear--in the same way I have seen boys -hide around the corner for some schoolmate, against whom they had a -grudge, until he should come out of school. - -Cæsar came along, and just as he was about to enter the Senate the -plotters crowded around him, and one after another they stabbed him. - -Cæsar, taken by surprise, tried to defend himself; but all he had -was his stylus, which was a kind of pen he used for writing, and he -could not do much with that, in spite of a famous saying, “The pen is -mightier than the sword.” - -When at last Cæsar saw Brutus--his best friend--strike at him, his -heart seemed broken and he gave up. Then, exclaiming in Latin, “Et tu, -Brute!” which means, “And thou, O Brutus!” he fell down dead. This was -in 44 B.C. - -Antony, one of Cæsar’s true friends, made a speech over Cæsar’s dead -body, and his words so stirred the crowd of people that gathered round -that they would have torn the murderers to pieces if they could have -caught them. - -Shakspere has written a play called “Julius Cæsar,” and the month of -July is named after him. - -Now whom do you suppose Antony called “The Noblest Roman of Them All”? - -“Julius Cæsar”? - -No, you’re wrong. Brutus, the friend who stabbed Cæsar, was called, -“The Noblest Roman of Them All.” - -Why, do you suppose? - -You’ll have to read Antony’s speech at the end of the play to find out. - -Cæsar was pronounced in Latin “Kaiser”; and in later years the rulers -of Germany were called this, and those of another country by the -shortened form, “Czar.” - - - - -34 - -An Emperor Who Was Made a God - - -A man is famous who has a town or a street named after him. - -Will you ever do anything great enough to have even an alley named -after you? - -But just suppose a month, one of the twelve months of the year, was -given your name! - -Millions upon millions of people would then write and speak your name -forever! - -But I’m going to tell you about a man who not only had a month named -after him but who was made a god! - -After Cæsar had been killed, three men ruled the Roman Empire. One of -these three men was Antony, the friend of Cæsar, who made the famous -speech over his dead body. The second was Cæsar’s adopted son, who was -named Octavius. The name of the third you don’t need to know now, for -Antony and Octavius soon got rid of him. Then no sooner had they forced -him out than each of these two began to plot to get the share of the -other. - -Antony’s share, over which he ruled, was the eastern part of the -empire. The capital of this part was Alexandria in Egypt, and so -Antony went there to live. - -In Egypt Antony fell in love with Cleopatra, as Cæsar before him had -done, and he finally married her. - -Octavius, in the west, which was his share, then made war on Antony and -Cleopatra together, and in the end beat them both. Antony felt so bad -at being beaten by Octavius that he committed suicide. - -His widow, Cleopatra, thereupon, flirted with Octavius as she had with -Julius Cæsar and Antony, hoping to make him also fall in love with her -and so win him in that way. - -But it was no use. Octavius was a different kind of man from both -Julius Cæsar and Antony. He was cold-blooded and businesslike. He had -no heart for love-making. He would not let a woman charm him or turn -him aside from his plan, which was to be the greatest man in the world! - -Cleopatra saw that it was no use trying her tricks on him. Then she -heard that she was going to be taken back to Rome and paraded through -the streets, as was done with any other prisoners taken in battle. She -could not stand such a shame as that, and so she made up her mind she -would not be taken back to Rome. - -Now, in Egypt there is a kind of snake called an asp, which is deadly -poisonous. Taking one of these asps in her hand, she uncovered her -breast and let it bite her, and so she died. - -Octavius was now ruler over all the countries that belonged to -Rome, and when he returned home to that city, the people hailed him -“Emperor.” He then gave up the name Octavius and had himself called -“Augustus Cæsar,” which is like saying, “His Majesty, Cæsar.” This was -in 27 B.C. Rome had got rid of her kings in 509. From now on she had -emperors, who were more than kings, for they ruled over many countries. - -Octavius, now with his name changed to Augustus Cæsar, was only -thirty-six years old when he became sole master of the Roman world. -Rome was the great capital of this vast empire. The city of Rome had -probably as many people as New York City proper now has, and the Roman -Empire had perhaps as many people as the United States has at present. - -Augustus set to work to make Rome a beautiful city. He tore down a -great many of the old buildings made of brick and put up in their place -a remarkable number of new and handsome buildings of marble. And so -Augustus always bragged that he found Rome brick and left it marble. - -One of the finest buildings in Rome, the Pantheon, was built. Pantheon -means the temple of all the gods. Do not mix this with the Parthenon -in Athens, for the two buildings are quite different, and though the -names look something alike and sound something alike, they mean quite -different things; Parthenon is from the goddess Athene Parthenos; -Pantheon is from the two words “Pan theon,” which means “all gods.” - -The Pantheon has a dome built of concrete. This dome is shaped like a -bowl turned upside down, and in the top of the dome is a round opening -called an eye. Though this eye is uncovered, the height is so great -above the floor that it is said that rain coming through the eye does -not wet the floor beneath but evaporates before reaching it. - -So magnificent did the city become with all these wonderful buildings, -and so permanently did it seem to be built, that it was known as The -Eternal City and is still so spoken of. - -There was a public square in Rome called the Forum. Here markets were -held and the people came together for all sorts of things. Around the -Forum were erected temples to the gods, court-houses, and other public -buildings. These court-houses were something like the temples that the -Greeks built, only the columns were put on the inside of the building -instead of on the outside. - -[Illustration: Roman forum.] - -Triumphal arches also were erected to celebrate great victories. When a -conquering hero returned from the war, he and his army passed through -this arch in a triumphal parade. - -There had been in Rome a great amphitheater that is supposed to have -held more people than any structure that has ever been built--two -hundred thousand, it is said, or more than all the people who live in -some good-sized cities. This was called the Circus Maximus. It was at -last torn down to make room for other buildings. - -Another amphitheater was the Colosseum, but this was not built until -some time after Augustus had died. It held about the same number as -the largest stadium in this country does to-day. Here were held those -fights between men, called gladiators, and wild animals that I have -already told you about. It is still standing, and, though it is in -ruins, you can sit in the same seats where the old Roman emperors did, -see the dens where the wild animals were kept, the doors where they -were let into the arena, and even bloody marks that are said to be the -stains made by the slain men and beasts. - -So many famous writers lived at the time of Augustus that this has been -called the Augustan Age. Two of the best known Latin poets, whom every -school-boy now reads after he has finished “Cæsar’s Commentaries,” -lived at this time. These poets were Vergil and Horace. Vergil wrote -the “Æneid,” which told of the wanderings of Æneas, the Trojan, who -settled in Italy, and was the great-great-great-grandfather of Romulus -and Remus. Horace wrote many short poems called Odes. They were -love-songs of shepherds and shepherdesses and songs of the farm and -country life. People liked his songs, and many still name their sons -after him. - -When Augustus Cæsar died, he was made a god, because he had done so -much for Rome; temples were built in which he was worshiped, and the -month of August was named after him. - - - - -35 - -“Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory” - - -Augustus Cæsar had been Ruler of the World. - -He had found Rome brick and left it marble. - -He had had a month named after him, and - -He had been made a god! - -Surely no one could ever be greater than he! Yet a greater than he was -living at the very same time--a greater ruler of a greater kingdom with -greater power and greater glory, although Augustus himself knew nothing -about Him and lived and died without ever having heard of Him. This -Man was born in the eastern part of Augustus’s empire in a tiny little -village called Bethlehem, and His name was Jesus Christ. - -For many, many years after Christ was born no one except His family and -friends knew or cared anything about His birth or paid the slightest -attention to it. - -Christ was a Jew, the son of a carpenter. As a boy and young man He -led a very simple and quiet life working in His father’s shop. He did -not begin to preach until He was more than thirty years old. Then He -went about teaching the people what we learn to-day as the Christian -religion. - -He taught that there was one God over all. - -He taught brotherly love, that one should love one’s neighbor as -oneself. - -He taught the golden rule; that is, “do unto others as you would be -done by.” - -He taught that there was a life after death for which this short life -on earth was only a preparation; that therefore you should “lay up your -treasures in heaven” by doing good works here. - -The poorer Jews listened to Christ and believed what He taught them. -But they thought He was going to set them free from the rule of the -Romans, which they hated. The Jewish priests, however, were afraid of -what Christ taught. He was teaching some things that were just the -opposite of what they themselves taught. So they plotted to have Him -put to death. - -Now, the Jews could not put Christ to death without the permission of -the Roman ruler of that part of the empire where Christ lived. This -ruler was named Pilate. So they went to Pilate and told him that Christ -was trying to make himself king. Christ of course meant and always said -that He was a heavenly ruler and not an earthly king. The Jews knew -that Pilate would not care at all what religion Christ taught. There -were all sorts of religions in the Roman Empire--those that believed -in mythological gods and those that believed in idols and those that -believed in the sun, moon, and so on--one more new religion made little -difference to the Romans, and Christ would not be put to death simply -for teaching another. But the Jews knew if they could make Pilate -believe that Christ was trying to make himself a king, that was a thing -He could be crucified for. Pilate did not believe much in what the -Jews said against Christ. It was a small matter to him, one way or the -other, however. But he wanted to please the Jews, so he told them to go -ahead and put Christ to death if they wanted to. So He was crucified. - -Christ had chosen twelve men to teach what He told them. These twelve -men were called apostles. After Christ was crucified these apostles -went through the land teaching the people what Christ had taught them. -Those who believed in and followed His teachings were called disciples -of Christ or Christians. The apostles were teachers; the disciples were -pupils. - -The Romans thought these disciples of Christ were trying to start a -new world empire, and that they were against Rome and the emperor and -should be arrested and put in prison. So the Christians usually held -their meetings in secret places, sometimes even underground, so that -they would not be found and arrested. - -But after a while the leaders of the Christians became bolder. They -came out of their secret places and taught and preached openly, -although they knew they would sooner or later be thrown into prison and -perhaps killed. Indeed, so strongly did they believe in the teachings -of Christ that they seemed even glad to die for His sake, as He had -died on the cross for them. - -In the first hundred years after Christ, there were a great many -Christians put to death because they were thought traitors. Christians -who died for Christ’s sake were called martyrs. The first martyr was -named Stephen. He was stoned to death about 33 A.D. - -One of the men who helped in putting Stephen to death was a man -named Saul. Saul was a Roman citizen and, like other Roman citizens, -was proud of that fact. He thought the Christians were enemies of -his country, and he did everything he could to have the Christians -punished. Then, all of a sudden, Saul had a change of heart and came to -believe in the religion of the very people whom he had been fighting. -Whatever Saul did or whatever he believed he did or believed with his -whole soul. Though he had never seen Christ, he became one of the -chief Christians and then was made an apostle and was called by his -Roman name, Paul. - -Paul preached the new religion far and wide just as earnestly as he had -fought against it at first. Then he, too, was condemned to death. Paul, -however, was, as I have said, a Roman citizen, and a Roman citizen -could not be put to death by the ordinary judges who were not Roman -citizens nor in the ordinary way by crucifying. So Paul appealed to -the emperor. Nevertheless, he was put in prison in Rome and afterward -beheaded. And so he is called St. Paul. - -Peter was another of the chief apostles. Christ had said to him, “I -will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”[2] Peter, too, -was thrown into prison, and was sentenced to be crucified. But he asked -to be crucified with his head downward. He thought it too great an -honor to die in just the same way as his Lord. On this spot in Rome -where Peter was put to death was built long afterward the largest -church in the world, the Cathedral of St. Peter. - -[2] Matthew, xvi, 19. - -As everything before Christ’s birth is called B.C. and everything since -His birth is called A.D., you would naturally suppose that 0 would be -the date of His birth. - -But it was not until some five hundred years later that people began -to date from Christ’s birth. And then, when they did begin to date -from this event, they made a mistake. It was found out that Christ was -really born four years before He was supposed to have been born--that -is, in 4 B.C.--but when the mistake was found out, it was then too late -to change. - -[Illustration] - - - - -36 - -Blood and Thunder - - -I once had a big Newfoundland dog, and he was one of the best friends -a boy ever had. I don’t know who it was that named him; he was named -before I got him; but whoever it was must either have been ignorant of -history or a bad chooser of names. He was called Nero, and even a dog -would have hated such a name, had he known whose it once was. - -Every good story usually has a villain to make it interesting. Nero is -the prize villain of history. He was a Roman emperor who lived not long -after Christ, and he is considered the most terribly cruel and wicked -ruler that ever lived. - -He killed his mother. - -He killed his wife. - -He killed his teacher, who was named Seneca. He was not a bad teacher, -either. - -We think that Nero ordered both St. Peter and St. Paul put to death, -for they were executed at this same time. - -Nero seemed to take great pleasure in making others suffer. He loved to -see men torn to pieces by wild beasts; it amused him greatly. I have -seen boys who liked to throw stones at dogs just to hear them yelp, or -tear the wings off of butterflies. Such boys must have some Nero in -them; don’t you think? - -If a man was a Christian, that gave Nero an excuse to torture him -horribly. Nero had some of the Christians wrapped in tar and pitch, -then placed around the garden of his palace and set fire to, as if -they were torches. It is even said that Nero set Rome on fire just for -the fun of seeing the city burn. Then he sat in a tower and, while he -watched the blaze spreading, played on a harp. The saying is that “Nero -fiddled while Rome burned”; but there were no fiddles at that time, and -so we know it must have been a harp. The fire burned day and night for -a whole week and destroyed more than half of the city. Then Nero laid -the blame on the Christians, who, he said, started the fire. Did you -ever blame another for something you had done? - -Some think Nero really was crazy, and we hope he was, for it is hard to -think any human being who was not crazy could act as he did. - -Nero built himself an immense palace and overlaid it extravagantly with -gold and mother-of-pearl. It was known as Nero’s House of Gold. At its -front door he put up a colossal statue of himself in bronze fifty feet -high. Both the House of Gold and the statue were later destroyed, -but the Colosseum, which was built a few years afterward, was named -Colosseum from this “coloss-al” statue of Nero that was once there. - -Nero was very conceited. He thought he could write poetry and sing -beautifully. Although he did both very badly, he liked to show off, and -no one dared to laugh at him. Had any one been so bold as to make fun -of him or even to smile, he would have had that person put to death -instantly. - -Even the Roman people who were not Christians feared and hated Nero. -So they voted to have him put out of the way. But before they had a -chance to do anything, Nero heard what they were planning, and in order -to save himself the disgrace of being put to death by his own people -he decided to kill himself. He was such a coward, however, that he -couldn’t quite bring himself to plunge the sword into his heart. But -as he hesitated, holding the sword to his breast and whimpering, his -slave, impatient to finish the job, shoved the blade in. Thus was Rome -rid of its worst ruler. - -So much for the first part of this “blood and thunder” story. Here is -the second part: - -The Jews in Jerusalem didn’t like to have Rome rule over them. They -never had. But they were afraid to do much about it. But in the Year -70 A.D. they rebelled; that is, they said they would no longer obey -Rome or pay her money. The emperor sent his son, who was named Titus, -with an army to put an end to the rebellion, to punish them as if they -were disobedient children. - -The Jews crowded into their city of Jerusalem to make a last stand -against the Romans. But Titus destroyed that city completely and the -Jews in it, a million of them, it is supposed. Then he robbed the great -temple of all its valuable ornaments and brought them back to Rome. - -To celebrate this victory over Jerusalem an arch was built in the Forum -at Rome, and through this arch Titus and his army marched in triumph. -On this arch was carved a procession, showing Titus leaving the city -of Jerusalem with these ornaments. Chief among these ornaments was a -golden seven-branched candlestick he had taken from the temple. To-day -we see many copies in brass of this famous seven-branched candlestick. -Perhaps you may have one in your home on the mantelpiece. - -The city was rebuilt later, but most of the Jews who were left have -ever since been living in all the other countries of the earth. - -Titus became emperor, but in spite of the way in which he had massacred -so many Jews, he was not such a bad emperor as you might suppose. He -thought he was doing right in killing these men because they had -rebelled against Rome. But Titus had a rule of life, much like that the -Boy Scouts now have. This rule was, “Do at least one good turn a day.” - -The third part of this story is the “thunder.” - -In Italy there is a volcano named Vesuvius. You remember that “volcano” -came from the name “Vulcan,” the blacksmith god, and people imagined -that his forge in the heart of a volcano made the smoke and flame and -ashes. From time to time this volcano, Vesuvius, thunders and quakes -and spouts forth fire and throws up stones and gas and boils over with -red-hot melted rock called lava. It is the hot inside of the earth -exploding. Yet people build houses and towns near-by and live even -on the sides of the volcano. Every once in a while their homes are -destroyed when the volcano quakes or pours forth fire. Yet the same -people go right back and build again in the same place! - -[Illustration: Vesuvius erupting, Pompeii in foreground.] - -There was at the time of Titus a little town named Pompeii near the -base of Vesuvius. Wealthy Romans used to go there to spend the summer. -Suddenly, one day in the year 79 A.D., just after Titus had become -emperor, Vesuvius began to spout forth fire. The people living in -Pompeii rushed for their lives, but they hadn’t time to get away. They -were smothered with the gases from the volcano before they hardly had -time to move and, falling down dead, were buried deep in a boiling rain -of fire and ashes, just where they happened to be when the eruption, as -it was called, took place. - -The people and their houses lay buried beneath the ashes for nearly -two thousand years, and in the course of time every one had forgotten -there ever had been such a place. People came back as they had before -and built houses over the spot where every one had forgotten there once -was a city. Then one day a man was digging a well over the spot where -Pompeii had once been. He dug up a man’s hand--no, not a real hand, -but the hand of a statue. He told others, and they set to work and dug -and dug to see what else they could find until the whole town was dug -out. And now one can go to Pompeii and see it very much as it was in 79 -A.D., before it had ever been destroyed. - -There are houses of the Romans who went there to spend their vacations. -There are shops and temples and palaces and public baths and the -theater and the market place or forum. The streets were paved with -blocks of lava, once melted stone. They still show ruts which were worn -into them by the wheels of the chariots that the Romans used to drive. -Stepping-stones were placed at some crossings, so that in case of heavy -rains, when the streets were full of water, one could cross on them -from curb to curb. These stepping-stones are still there. The floors of -the houses were made of bits of colored stone to form pictures. They -are still there. In the vestibule of one house, there is in the floor -a mosaic picture of a dog. Under it are the Latin words, “Cave canem.” -What does that mean? Can you guess? It means, “Look out for the dog!” -That was a Roman’s idea of a joke two thousand years ago! - -The bones of the people who were caught and buried alive in the ashes -were also found. There were also found bronze ornaments worn by the -women, vases that decorated the home, lamps which they used to light -the houses, pots and pans and dishes. Beds and chairs were found just -as they had been buried. Still more remarkable, cakes were found on the -table, a loaf of bread half eaten, meat ready to be cooked, a kettle on -the fire with the ashes still underneath it--beans and peas and _one -egg_ unbroken--probably the oldest egg in the world! - - - - -37 - -A Good Emperor and a Bad Son - - -Have you ever said, “I don’t care,” when you really did care? - -I have. Every one has. - -Perhaps you have been naughty and have been told you could have no -dessert or must go to bed early, and you tossed your head and said, “I -don’t care.” - -Well, once upon a time there was a society or club formed of grown-up -people who said they weren’t ever going to care what happened to them; -whether it was good or whether it was bad would make no difference. -I should call them the “Don’t Care Club,” but they called themselves -“Stoics,” and they thought the way to be good was “not to care.” - -If a Stoic’s house burned down, he would say to himself and try to make -himself believe, “I don’t care; it doesn’t matter.” - -If some one gave him a million dollars, he would say, “I don’t care; it -doesn’t matter.” - -If he was told by the doctor he was going to die next week, he would -say, “I don’t care; it doesn’t matter.” - -This Society of Stoics was started by a Greek philosopher named Zeno. - -Zeno lived in Athens later than those philosophers, Socrates and Plato, -whom you have already heard about. Zeno said that the only way to be -good and the only way to be happy was not to care for pleasure and not -to mind pain or suffering but calmly to put up with everything, no -matter how unpleasant or disagreeable it was, and the Stoics believed -him. Even to-day people who bear troubles and pain and hardships -without a murmur are called stoics. - -One of the chief members of the society was a Roman emperor. - -Rome’s worst emperor, Nero, had been dead a hundred years when there -came to the throne this new emperor, who was just as good as Nero was -bad. This emperor was named Marcus Aurelius. Although he was so very -good and pious, he was not a Christian. Indeed, Marcus Aurelius treated -the Christians terribly, as they had been treated terribly by the -previous emperors, for he thought them traitors to the empire. - -At this time most of the Romans had very little religion of any sort. -They were not Christians, but neither did they put much faith in their -own gods, Jupiter and Juno and the rest. They honored them because -they were brought up to honor them and because they thought if they -didn’t honor them they might have bad luck, so they took no chances. -But instead of believing in such gods, people usually believed in the -teachings of some wise man or philosopher and obeyed more or less the -rules he made. Zeno was one of these philosophers, and the Stoics were -the members of this society. - -Although Marcus Aurelius was an emperor, he would rather have been a -Stoic philosopher or a priest. Although he had to be a soldier and a -general, he would rather have been a writer. When he was off, fighting -with his army, he carried his writing-materials with him, and he would -go to his tent at night and write out his thoughts. These thoughts he -called his “Meditations.” Here is one of the things he wrote: - - When you find you do not want to get up early in the morning, make - this short speech to yourself. I am getting up now to do the business - of a man. Was I made to do nothing but doze and keep warm under the - covers? - -That was written long years ago, yet your father might have told you -the same thing this morning. - -People read this book of Marcus Aurelius to-day, either in the Greek in -which it was written or translated into English. - -A great many of Marcus Aurelius’ sayings seem almost as if they might -have been in the Bible. Indeed, some people keep his book by their -bedside as if it were a Bible. - -One of his rules was, “Forgive your enemies,” and he seemed almost -glad to have enemies so that he might have a chance to forgive them. -Indeed, he took such a special delight in forgiving his enemies that -he even went out of his way to do so. Though Marcus Aurelius was not a -Christian, nevertheless he was more Christian in the way he acted than -some of the later emperors who were supposed to be Christians. - -But like many people who are very good themselves, Marcus Aurelius was -unable to bring up his son to be so. His son was named Commodus, and -Commodus was just as bad as his father was good. He may have been bored -when a child by too many of his father’s instructions, for when he grew -up and was able to choose for himself and do as he pleased, instead of -following Zeno and joining the Stoics, he joined the society of another -philosopher called Epicurus. - -Epicurus had lived about the same time as Zeno. But he had taught -what at first seems almost the opposite of what Zeno taught. Epicurus -said that the chief end and aim of man and the only good in the world -was pleasure; _but_, said he, the pleasure must be of the right kind. -Nowadays people who are very fond of eating nice things, whose whole -thought in life is the pleasure of eating, are called “epicures.” - -Commodus’s one thought was pleasure, and the worst kind of pleasure at -that. A friend of mine thought Marcus Aurelius was such a fine man that -he named his son after him, “Marcus Aurelius Jones,” but when the son -grew up he was not at all like his namesake. The name “Commodus” would -have suited him much better, for instead of being good and pious, he -thought of nothing but pleasure and he was so bad that he ended in jail. - -Commodus thought nothing of giving his people a good government; he -only thought of giving himself a good time. He was an athlete and had -beautiful muscles and a handsome figure, of which he was so proud that -he had a statue made of himself. The statue showed him as the strong -and muscular god Hercules. Commodus made the people worship him as -if he were this god. Just to show off his muscles and his muscular -ability, he himself took part in prize-fights--quite bad taste for -an emperor. He poisoned or killed any one who found fault with or -criticized him. He led a wild and dissipated life, but at last he met -the end he deserved. He was strangled to death by a wrestler. - -Lycurgus would have said again: - -“I told you so.” - - - - -38 - -I-- H-- S---- V----- - - -The name of this story I’m going to put at the end, for you wouldn’t -know what it means, anyway, until you have heard the story, and so it’s -no use looking ahead. - -All through the years since Christ was crucified, those who said they -believed in Christ had been terribly treated--“persecuted,” we call -it--because they were Christians. They had been flogged; they had been -stoned; they had been torn with iron hooks; they had been roasted and -burned to death. Yet, strange as it may seem, in spite of this terrible -treatment, more and more people were becoming Christians every day. -They believed so strongly in life after death, and they believed that -they would be so much happier after death if they died for Christ’s -sake, that they seemed even glad to suffer and to be killed. But at -last the emperor himself put a stop to all these persecutions. This is -how it happened. - -About the year 300 A.D. Rome had an emperor by the name of Constantine. -Constantine was not a Christian. His gods were the old Roman gods. He -probably did not put much faith in them, however. - -Well, once upon a time Constantine was fighting with an enemy when he -dreamed one night that he saw in the sky a flaming cross. Beneath this -cross were written the Latin words, “In hoc signo vinces.” In English -this is, “In this sign thou shalt conquer.” Constantine thought this -meant that if he carried the Christian cross into battle he would -conquer. He thought it would at least be worth while to give the -Christian God a trial. So he had his soldiers carry the cross, and he -did win the battle. Then immediately he became a Christian himself and -asked every one in the Roman Empire to become a Christian also. From -that time on, all the Roman emperors who came after Constantine, all -except one, were Christians. - -To celebrate Constantine’s victory the Roman Senate built a triumphal -arch in the Forum of Rome and called it the Arch of Constantine. If has -three openings; the Arch of Titus has only one. - -Constantine’s mother was named Helena. She was one of the very first -to become a Christian and be baptized. Then she gave up her life to -Christian works and built churches at Bethlehem and on the Mount of -Olives. It is said that she went to Palestine and found the actual -cross on which Christ had been crucified three hundred years before and -sent part of it to Rome. When she died she was made a saint, and so -she is now called St. Helena. - -Constantine built a church over the spot where St. Peter was supposed -to have been crucified. Many years later, this church was torn down so -that a much larger and grander church to St. Peter might be built there. - -But Constantine did not care for Rome. He preferred to live in another -city in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire. This city was called -Byzantium. So he moved from Rome to Byzantium and made that city his -capital. Byzantium was called New Rome, and then the name was changed -to Constantine’s city. In Greek, the word for “city” is “polis.” We see -the word used in Anna_polis_ and Indiana_polis_. So Constantine’s City -became Constantinepolis, and then shortened to Constantinople. - -Hardly had the Roman Empire become Christian before a quarrel arose -between those Christians who believed one thing and those who believed -another. The chief thing they quarreled about was whether Christ was -equal to God the Father or not equal to Him. Constantine called the -two disagreeing sides together at a place called Nicæa to settle the -question. There the leaders of each side argued the matter hotly. -Finally, it was decided that the Christian Church should believe that -God the Son and God the Father were equal. Then they agreed to put -what they believed in words. This was called a creed, which means -“believe,” and because it was made at Nicæa it was known as the Nicene -Creed, which many Christians still say every Sunday. - -Before the time of Constantine, there were no weekly holidays. Sunday -was no different from any other day. People worked or did just the -same things on Sunday as they did on other days. Constantine thought -Christians should have one day a week for the worship of God--a “holy -day,” or holiday, as we call it--so he made Sunday the Christian day of -rest, a “holy day” such as Saturday was for the Jews. - -But although Constantine was head of the Roman Empire, there was -another man whom all Christians throughout the world looked to as their -spiritual head. This man was the Bishop of Rome. In Latin he was called -“papa,” which means the same thing in Latin that it does in English, -“father.” So the bishop of Rome was called “papa,” and this became -“pope.” St Peter was supposed to have been the first Bishop of Rome. -For many centuries the pope was the spiritual ruler of all Christians -everywhere, no matter in what country they lived. - -As now you know what the name of this story means I’m putting it here: - - In Hoc Signo Vinces - - - - -39 - -Our Tough Ancestors - - -But Rome with the Roman Empire had had her day. She had risen as high -as she could. It was her turn to fall. She had become as large as she -ever was to be. It was her turn to be conquered. But you cannot guess -what people were to do the conquering and to be next in power. - -When I was a boy there was a gang of toughs who lived down by the -gas-house and railroad tracks. They were ragged, unwashed, unschooled, -but terrible fighters. Their leader was known to us as Mug Mike, and -the very mention of him and his gang struck terror to our souls. Every -now and then they paid our neighborhood a visit. Once we had offered -fight, but with such terrible results that ever after at word of their -approach the alarm would be sounded and we would hide indoors. - -For ages there had been such a gang of half-civilized toughs living on -the northern borders of the Roman Empire. Every now and then they tried -to cross over the border into the Roman lands, and the Romans had to -be constantly fighting them to keep them back where they belonged. -Julius Cæsar had fought with them. So had Marcus Aurelius and so had -Constantine. These wild and warlike people were called Teutons and--you -may be shocked to hear it, but--they are the ancestors of most of us! - -They had light hair and blue eyes; that is, they were what we call -blonds. The Greeks and Romans and other people who lived around the -Mediterranean Sea had black hair and dark eyes. They were what we call -brunettes. If you have light or brown hair, you are probably a Teuton. -If you have black hair, you are probably not. - -The Teutons were white people, and they were Aryans, but they were -uneducated toughs and could neither read nor write. - -They wore skins of animals instead of clothes made of cloth. They lived -in huts made of wood, sometimes of branches woven together--like a -large basket. The women raised vegetables and took care of the cows -and horses. The men did the hunting and fighting and blacksmithing. -Blacksmithing was very important, for the blacksmith made the swords -and spears with which they fought and the tools with which they worked. -That is why the name “Smith” was so honored among them. - -When the men went to battle they wore the heads of animals they had -killed, an ox’s head, horns and all, or the head of a wolf or bear or -fox. This was to make themselves look fierce and to frighten the enemy. - -_Bravery_ was the chief thing the Teuton thought good. A man might lie, -he might steal, he might even commit murder, but if he was a brave -warrior, he was called a “good” man. - -The Teutons did not have a king. They elected their chiefs, and of -course they always chose the man who was the bravest and strongest. -But he could not make his son ruler after him. So he was more like a -president than a king. - -[Illustration: Teuton warrior.] - -The Teutons had an entirely different set of gods from those of Greece -and Rome. Their chief god, as you might guess, was the god of war, and -they called him Woden. Woden was also the god of the sky. He was like -the two Greek gods, Jupiter and Mars, put together. Woden was supposed -to live in a wonderful palace in the sky called Valhalla, and many -tales are told of the wonderful things he did and of the adventures he -had. Wednesday, which was once Wodensday, is named after him. That is -why there is a letter “d” in this word, although we don’t pronounce it. - -After Woden, Thor was the next most important god. He was the god -of thunder and lightning. He carried a hammer with which he fought -great giants who lived in the far-off cold lands and were called -“ice-giants.” Thursday, which was once Thorsday, is named after him. - -Another god was named Tiu, and from his name we get Tuesday, and -another Freya, from whom we get Friday, so that four out of seven of -our days are named after Teuton gods, in spite of the fact that we -are--most of us--Christians and no longer believe in these gods. - -Of the other three days of the week, Sunday and Monday of course are -named after the sun and moon, and Saturday is named after a Greek god, -Saturn. - -From these wild people all fair-haired people to-day are said to -be descended--the English, French, German, and such of us whose -forefathers are English or French or German. - -About the Year 400 A.D. these Teuton toughs were becoming particularly -troublesome to the Romans. They began to push their way down into the -northern part of the Roman Empire, and after a few years the Romans -could hold them back no longer. Two of these Teuton gangs, or tribes, -as they were called, went over into Britain, and the Romans who were -living there found it wisest to get out, go back to Rome, and leave the -country to the Teutons. - -These tribes who settled in Britain were known as Angles and Saxons. So -the country came to be called the land of the Angles, or, for short, -“Angle-land.” After the words “Angle-land” were said over for many -years, they became “England,” which is what we call the country to-day. -The people of England are still known by the full name “Anglo-Saxons,” -and this is the name by which we call everything descended from these -old Teuton tribes of Angles and Saxons who settled in Britain about 400 -A.D. - -Another gang or tribe called the Vandals went into Gaul. Gaul is where -France is now. Then they kept on down into Spain, stealing, smashing, -and burning like Mug Mike’s gang of toughs on Hallowe’en. They crossed -over by boats into Africa. They injured or destroyed everything they -came upon. So to-day when any one damages or destroys property -wickedly, we call him a vandal. If you cut up your desk, tear your -books, or scratch names on walls or fences, you, too, are a vandal. - -A tribe called the Franks followed the Vandals into Gaul, and there -they stayed, giving the name “France” to that country. - -The Teutons north of Italy were the Goths. They had a leader by the -name of Alaric. He was the “Mug Mike” of the gang of Goths. Alaric and -his Goths crossed over the mountains into Italy and robbed or destroyed -everything of value they could lay their hands on. They then entered -Rome and carried away whatever they wanted, and the Romans could not -stop them. But the worst was yet to come. - -[Illustration] - - - - -40 - -White Toughs and Yellow Toughs Meet the Champions of the World - - -The Teutons were wild toughs but they were white. - -Farther north of the Teutons and to the east was a tribe of people who -were still more savage and fierce. They were called Huns. They lived -far off in the forests and wilds way beyond the Teutons, in a part of -the country that no one then knew much about. - -The Huns were, we think, not white as the Teutons were, but yellow. -Even the Teutons themselves, fierce fighters though they were, feared -the Huns, and it was chiefly because they were afraid of them and -wanted to get away from them as far as they could that the Teutons went -over the borders into the Roman Empire. It was much easier to fight the -Romans than it was to fight the Huns. - -The Huns seemed more like wild beasts than human beings. Their leader -was a dreadful creature named Attila. He boasted that nothing ever grew -again where his horse had trod. He and his Huns had conquered and laid -waste the country all the way from the East almost to Paris. At last -the Teutons made a stand against them and fought a great battle at a -place not so very far from Paris, a place called Châlons. - -The Teutons fought desperately; they fought madly. It was white toughs -against yellow toughs, and the Huns were beaten. It was lucky they -were beaten, for if they had won, these dreadful wild, yellow people -might have conquered and ruled the world. The white toughs were -bad enough, but the yellow would have been worse. So the battle of -Châlons, 451 A.D., is written in history in capital letters and large -figures--CHÂLONS 451. - -After Attila and his Huns had been beaten at Châlons they left the -Teutons alone, but they then went after the Romans. Turning back they -went down into Italy, where there was no one able to stop them. They -destroyed everything as they moved on. The people of the country didn’t -even attempt to fight. They thought the Huns were monsters and simply -fled before them. So on to Rome the Huns went. - -Now, there was at Rome at this time a Pope named Leo I, which means -Lion. Leo, of course, was neither a soldier nor a fighting man, but he -and his cardinals and bishops went out from Rome to meet Attila. They -were not clad in armor, and none of them carried any weapons with which -to fight. The pope and those with him were dressed in gorgeous robes -and richly colored garments. It seemed as if they must be slaughtered -by Attila and his Huns like lambs before wolves. - -But something strange happened when Attila and the pope met; exactly -what no one knows. Perhaps Attila was awed by the pomp and splendor of -those Christians. Perhaps he feared what Heaven might do to him if he -destroyed those holy beings who had come out to meet him as if from -heaven. At any rate, he did not destroy them, nor did he enter Rome, -but turned about and left Italy, left it for good and all, and he and -his Huns returned to the unknown land to the north from which they had -come. - -Now that the dreaded Attila was out of the way, the Vandals in Africa -saw their chance to attack Rome. Attila had barely left Italy before -the Vandals crossed over from Africa and sailed up the Tiber to Rome. -They captured the city without any difficulty, helped themselves to -everything they wanted, and carried away all Rome’s treasures. - -Poor old Rome! She was at last beaten, beaten for good! She had been -the Champion for a great many years. But now all her strength was gone. -She was old and weak and no longer able to defend herself against -these gangs of toughs. Rome’s last emperor had the high-sounding name -“Romulus Augustulus,” the same name as the first king, Romulus, with -the addition of Augustulus, which means the little Augustus. But in -spite of his high-sounding name, Romulus Augustulus could do nothing. -He was like the little boy living in the marble house on the avenue, -the little boy with curls and a velvet suit, whom Mug Mike caught out -one day and--you can guess the rest. “Great Cæsar’s ghost!” How Cæsar’s -ghost must have felt! - -It was the Year 476 that Rome was beaten. The western half of the -empire, of which Rome had been the capital, broke up into pieces, and -the pieces were ruled over by Teutons. Like Humpty Dumpty, Rome had had -a great fall, and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t -put it together again. Only the eastern part, of which Constantinople -was the capital, still went on. This eastern half was not conquered by -the barbarians, and it still kept going for nearly a thousand years -longer until--but wait till we come to that time in history. - -People speak of this date, 476, as the end of Ancient History. After -Ancient History, there was a time over five hundred years long which -was known as the Dark Ages--the Night-time of History. The Dark Ages -lasted from 476 to about 1000 A.D. These centuries are called the Dark -Ages, because during that long time the Teutons, those uneducated -toughs who were unable even to read and write, were the chief people in -Europe, and they ruled over those who had once been the educated and -cultured people. - -The Teutons, though such rough toughs, barbarians as they were called, -were, strange to say, quick to learn many things from the Romans whom -they had conquered. Even before they had conquered Rome, most of the -Teutons had already become Christians. - -Of course they had to learn the Latin language in order to talk to -their subjects. But they changed the Latin a good deal and mixed it -with their own language. This mixture of their own language with the -Latin at last became Italian. The Teutons who went to Spain in a like -way mixed their language with the Latin, and this mixture was Spanish. -In France the mixture of the two languages became French. - -In Britain, however, the Anglo-Saxons would have nothing to do with -the Romans and would not use the Roman language but kept their own -language. After a while this language of the Anglo-Saxons was called -English. The Anglo-Saxons also kept their own religion, and they -worshiped Thor and Woden and their other gods until about one hundred -years later, or about 600 A.D. - -At that time some English slaves were being sold in the slave-market -at Rome. They were very handsome. The pope saw them and asked who they -were. - -“They are Angles,” he was told. - -“Angles!” exclaimed he; “they are handsome enough to be ’angels,’ and -they should certainly be Christians.” - -So he sent some missionaries to England to convert the English; -to change Angles to Angels. So at last the English, too, became -Christians. - - - - -41 - -Nightfall - - -It was 500 o’clock by History Time. - -Night was coming on. - -The Dark Ages had begun. - -At least, that is what people call it now. But people didn’t call it so -then. - -Crazy people don’t think they are crazy. - -Ignorant people don’t think they are ignorant. - -So the Dark Ages didn’t think they were dark. - -The ignorant Teutons were ruling over the pieces of the Western Empire. - - They couldn’t read; they couldn’t write. - They didn’t know much except to fight. - They didn’t know ’twas dark as night. - -At Constantinople, however, a Roman was still ruling over the Eastern -Empire. This Roman was named Justinian. Now, up to this time there had -been a great many rules or laws by which the people were governed. But -there were so many of these rules and they were so mixed up that one -law would tell you you could do one thing and another would tell you -you couldn’t. It was as if your mother said you could stay up till nine -o’clock to-night and your father said you must go to bed at eight. It -was hard for people to tell, therefore, what one must do and what one -must not do. - -In order to untangle this snarl, Justinian had a set of laws made for -the government of his people, and many of these were so good and so -just that they are still the law to-day. If you notice that Justinian -begins with “Just,” this will help you to remember that he was the one -who made _just_ laws. - -Another thing Justinian did that has lasted to the present time. He -built in Constantinople a very beautiful church called Santa Sophia. -Though it is no longer a church, it is still standing after all these -years and is a beautiful sight to see. Still another thing he did -which you could never guess. It had nothing to do with war or law or -buildings. - -Travelers from the Far East, where China now is, had brought back -tales of a wonderful caterpillar that wound itself up with a fine, -thin thread over a mile long, and they told stories of how the Chinese -unwound this thread and wove it into cloth of the finest and smoothest -kind. This thread, as you might guess, was called silk, and the -caterpillar that made it was called the silkworm. People in Europe -had seen this beautiful silk cloth, but how it was made had been a -mystery--a secret. They thought it so wonderfully beautiful that it was -supposed to have been made by fairies or elves or even sent down from -heaven. Justinian found out about these caterpillars and had men bring -these silkworms into Europe so that his people also might make silk -cloth and have silk ribbons and fine silk garments, and therefore we -give him the honor of starting the manufacture of silk in Europe. - -Outside of Justinian’s empire the ignorant Teutons were living. It took -them nearly a thousand years to learn as much as any school-boy now -knows, and the first thing they learned was not reading, nor writing, -but the Christian religion. - -About the same time that Justinian lived there was a king in France -named Clovis. Clovis, of course, was a Teuton and belonged to the tribe -called the Franks, which gave the name “France” to that country. Clovis -believed in Thor and Woden as all of his people did. Clovis had a wife -named Clotilda, whom he loved very dearly. Clotilda, though a Teuton, -thought all the fighting and cruelty which her people seemed to like -was wrong. She had heard about the religion of Christ, which did not -believe in quarreling and fighting, and she thought she would like to -be a Christian. So she was baptized. Then she tried to persuade her -husband, Clovis, to become a Christian, also. - -Clovis was just then going to war--the very thing the Christians -preached against. But, just to please his wife, he promised her, if he -won the battle, he would become a Christian. He did win, and he kept -his word and was baptized and had his soldiers baptized, also. Clovis -made Paris his capital, and Paris is still the capital of France. - -It was about this same time, also, that a king named Arthur was ruling -in England. Many stories and poems have been written about him, which, -however, we know are fairy-tales and not history. But although we know -these stories are not true, they are, nevertheless, interesting--like -those tales that are told about the heroes of the Trojan War. - -It was said that there was a sword called Excalibur stuck so fast in a -stone that no one could draw it out except the man who should be king -of England. All the nobles had tried without success to draw the sword, -when one day a young boy named Arthur pulled it out with the greatest -ease, and he was accordingly proclaimed king. - -King Arthur chose a company of the nobles to rule with him, and as they -sat with him at a Round Table, they were known as the Knights of the -Round Table. Tennyson, the great English poet, has written in verse an -account of all the doings of King Arthur and his knights in a long poem -called “The Idylls of the King,” which you will have to read yourself, -for we must go on to the next story. - -[Illustration] - - - - -42 - -“Being Good” - - -What do you mean by “being good”? - -The Teutons thought “being good” meant being brave. - -The Athenians thought whatever was beautiful was “good.” - -The Stoics thought “not caring” was “being good.” - -The Epicureans thought having a good time was “being good.” - -The martyrs thought “being good” meant suffering and dying for Christ’s -sake. - -Ever since the time of the martyrs, Christians who wanted to be very, -very good indeed, went off into the wilderness and lived by themselves. -They wished to be far away from other people, so that they could spend -all their time praying and thinking holy thoughts. This, they believed -was “being good.” - -One of the strangest of these men who wanted to get away from others -was named St. Simeon Stylites. He built for himself a pillar or column -fifty feet high, and on the top of it he lived with room only to sit -but not to lie down. There on the top he lived for many years, day -and night, winter and summer, while the sun shone on him and the rain -rained on him, and he never came down at all. He could be reached only -by a ladder, which his friends used to bring him food. High up out of -the world, he thought he could best lead a holy life. That was his idea -of “being good” although we should think such a person simply crazy. - -In the course of time, however, men who wanted to lead holy lives, -instead of living alone as they had done at first, gathered in groups -and built themselves homes. These men were called monks, and the house -where they lived was known as a monastery or abbey. The head monk of -such an abbey was called an abbot, and he ruled over the other monks -like a father over his children, giving them orders and punishing them -when he thought they needed it. - -In the five hundreds there lived an Italian monk named Benedict. He -believed very strongly that one must work if he was to be holy, that -work was a necessary part of being holy. He thought, also, that monks -should have no money of their own, for Christ had said in the Bible, -“If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the -poor.” So Benedict started a club or order of monks for those people -who would agree to three things: - -The first thing they were to agree to was to have no money. - -The second thing was to obey. - -The third thing was not to marry. - -Monks who joined this club were called Benedictines. - -Now, you might think there would have been hardly any one who would -promise for life three such things as to have no money, to obey -the abbot--no matter what he told them to do--and never to marry. -Nevertheless, there were a great many men in every country of Europe -who did become Benedictines. - -Usually the monks lived in little bare rooms like prison cells, and ate -their very simple meals together at a single table in a room called the -refectory. They prayed at sunrise and sunset, and many times during the -day besides, and they even woke up at midnight to say their prayers. -But praying was not all they had to do. Work of every kind they were -obliged to do, and they did it joyfully, whether the work was scrubbing -floors or digging in the garden. - -Oftentimes the monastery was situated in a barren or swampy spot on -land that had been given the monks because it was no good, or even -worse than no good, dangerously unhealthy. But the monks set to work -and drained off the water, tilled the soil, and made the waste places -bloom like the rose. Then they raised vegetables for their table, -fodder for their horses and cattle and sheep. Everything they ate or -used or needed, they raised or made. - -But they did not only the rougher hand-work; they did fine hand-work, -too. Printing had not been invented at this time; all books had to be -written by hand, and the monks were the ones who did this. They copied -the old books in Latin and Greek. Sometimes one monk would slowly read -the book to be copied, and several other monks at one time would copy -what he dictated. In this way a number of copies would be made. - -[Illustration: Monk writing a manuscript.] - -The pages of the books were not made of paper but of calfskin or -sheepskin, called vellum, and this vellum was much stronger and lasted -much longer than paper. - -These old books which the monks wrote were called “manuscripts,” -which means “hand-written.” Many of these may now be seen in museums -and libraries. Some of these manuscripts have been beautifully -hand-printed with loving care and the initial letters and borders -ornamented with designs of flowers and vines and birds and pictures in -red and gold and other colors. If the monks hadn’t done this copying, -many of the old books would have been lost and unknown to us. - -The monks also kept diaries, writing down from day to day and year -to year an account of the important things that happened. These old -diaries, or chronicles, as they were called, tell us the history of the -times. As there were then no newspapers, if these chronicles had not -been written we should not know what went on at that time. - -The monks were the best educated people of those days, and they taught -others--both young and old--the things they themselves knew. The -monasteries were also inns for travelers, for any one who came and -asked for lodging was received and given food and a place to sleep, -whether he had any money to pay or not. - -The monks helped the poor and needy. The sick, too, came to the -monastery to be treated and taken care of, so that a monastery was -often something like a hospital, too. Many people who had received such -help or attention made rich gifts to the monasteries, so they became -very wealthy, although the monks could own not so much as a spoon for -themselves. - -So you see the monks were not merely holy men; they were most useful -citizens. They were in many ways more nearly everything that Christ -would have wished than perhaps any one large group of men has ever been -since. They were really “GOOD FOR SOMETHING.” - -[Illustration] - - - - -43 - -A Camel-Driver - - -Every hundred years is called a century, but a thing that seems a -little strange is this--the hundred years from 500 to 600 is called the -_sixth_ century, not the fifth; the hundred years from 600 to 700 is -called the _seventh_ century, not the sixth; and so on. Thus 615, 625, -650, and so on are all _seventh_ century. - -Well, we have now reached the seventh century--the six hundreds, and we -are to hear of a man who was to make a change in the whole world. He -was neither a Roman nor a Greek nor a Frank nor a Goth nor a Briton. He -was neither a king nor a general, but only a-- - -What do you suppose? - -A CAMEL-DRIVER! - -and he lived in a little town called Mecca in far-off Arabia. His name -was Mohammed. Mohammed went on an errand for a wealthy Arabian lady, -and the lady fell in love with him. Although he was a poor camel-driver -and only a servant and she was rich, they were married. They lived -happily together, and nothing remarkable happened until Mohammed was -forty years old. - -[Illustration: Map of Saracenic empire showing Mecca, Medina, -Constantinople, Tours, Cordova, Bagdad, Jerusalem, also Europe.] - -Mohammed had been in the habit of going out to a cave in the desert to -study and think. One day when he visited this cave he had a dream, or -a vision, as it is called when such things happen in the daytime when -one is awake. In this vision, so Mohammed said, the angel Gabriel had -appeared and told him that God, whom the Arabs called Allah, said he -must go forth and teach the people a new religion. - -So Mohammed went home to his wife and told her what had happened, and -she believed his story and became his first follower. Mohammed then -went forth as he had been directed and taught his relatives and friends -what he said Allah had told him, and they, too, believed what he said -and became his followers. - -But when he set out to teach others, who were not his friends nor -relatives, they simply thought him crazy and perhaps dangerous. So they -got together and planned to get rid of him--even kill him if necessary. -But he heard what they were planning, and so he packed up all his -belongings and, with his wife and those who believed in him, left the -city of Mecca and fled to the town of Medina, a little way off. This -was in 622--Six-Two-Two--and was called the Hegira, which in the Arabic -language means “flight.” - -I have told you this exact date, for later as you will see this -religion, which Mohammed started, grew bigger and bigger, and now -at this very day there are one third as many people who believe in -Mohammed and the religion he started as there are who believe in Christ -and the religion He started; that is, there are now one third as many -Mohammedans in the world as there are Christians. The Mohammedans began -to count from the Hegira, 622, calling it the Year 1 as the Christians -did from the Birth of Christ, as the Greeks did from the First -Olympiad, as the Romans did from the Founding of Rome. So the Greeks, -the Romans, the Mohammedans, and the Christians each had a different -Year 1. - -This new religion was called Islam. From time to time Mohammed received -messages which he said came from God. Mohammed himself could neither -read nor write, and so he had some one else write down these messages -on palm-leaves. There were so many of these messages that when they -were finally gathered together they made a big book. This book is -called the “Koran,” and it is the Mohammedan Bible and tells what -Mohammedans must do and what they must not do. - -[Illustration: Muezzin on minaret calling to prayer.] - -As Mohammed was born in Mecca, Mecca is the sacred city of the -Mohammedans. To Mecca each good Mohammedan tries to go at least once -in his lifetime, no matter how far off from it he may live; and toward -Mecca he always faces when he prays. There are always pilgrims, as -such travelers are called, wending their way to Mecca. The Mohammedans -worship in a temple called a _mosque_, but they also pray five times -each day wherever they may be. A man called a muezzin cries out this -time for prayer. He goes out on a little balcony on the minaret of the -mosque and calls aloud: “Come to prayer; come to prayer. There is but -one god and he is Allah.” Then, no matter who the Mohammedan is, no -matter where he may be or what he may be doing, even though he is in -the street or market-place, whether he is working or playing, he faces -toward Mecca, falls on his knees, bows his head and hands to the ground -and prays. Sometimes he carries a small rug called a prayer-rug with -him so that he may have something holy to kneel on when he prays. - -[Illustration: Mohammedan praying.] - -Many people liked this new religion. Those who believed in Islam were -known as Moslems, and before long, as I have told you, there were as -many Moslems or Mohammedans as there were Christians. At first the -Moslems tried to persuade others to join simply by talking to them and -telling them how fine their religion was, and how much better than what -they had already had. But very soon they began to _force_ others to -become Moslems whether they wanted to or not. Like the highway robber -who says, “Money or your life,” they gave every one a choice. “Money -or your life, or be a Moslem!” This may seem a strange way for people -to make others believe their religion, but the Moslems said that Allah -wanted all people to be Mohammedans, and didn’t want any one who was -not. - -Mohammed only lived for ten years after the Hegira; that is, until 632. -But those who came after Mohammed went on with the new religion and -kept on conquering and making people Mohammedans with the sword. - -The new leaders and rulers of the Mohammedans were called caliphs. The -second caliph was named Omar. Omar went on to Jerusalem and built a -Mohammedan mosque in the place where the temple of Solomon had stood. -This mosque which Omar built still stands to-day in the same place in -Jerusalem. - -The Arabs, or Saracens, as they are also called, kept on northward -toward Europe and conquered and converted every one to Islam as they -went along. Those they could not convert they put to death. At last -they reached the City of Constantine, Constantinople, where the people -were Christians. This was the gateway from Asia to Europe, and the -Arabs tried to get by. But the Christians poured down red-hot tar and -burning oil from the walls of the city, and the Moslems had to stop. -They could get no farther. Again and again the Moslems tried to capture -the city, but without success. Finally, they had to give up trying to -get into Europe by this way. - -Then they tried the opposite direction from Mecca, the long, long, -way round to Europe. Across Egypt they went with little difficulty, -converting every one to Islam. Further on still they kept going, along -the coast of Africa, conquering everything before them until they -reached the ocean. Then they turned north, took boats, and crossed -over the Strait of Gibraltar and marched on up into Spain. Farther and -farther on they went up into France. It seemed as if they would soon -conquer all of Europe and make the whole civilized world Mohammedan. -But finally, near the town of Tours in France, they met their match. -The king of France had a right-hand man named Charles who had been -nicknamed Charles the Hammer because he could strike such terrific -blows. Charles was called Mayor of the Palace, which merely meant that -he was the chief servant of the king, but he was much more able than -the king himself. In fact, the king was of very little account. - -Charles the Hammer, with his French soldiers, went forth to meet the -Moslems, and near Tours he beat them so badly that they never attempted -to go farther. So Europe at last was saved from Islam and the Saracens. -This battle of Tours was in 732, just 110 years from the time of the -Hegira. The Mohammedan religion had only been started 110 years before; -yet in this short time the Mohammedans had conquered and converted the -whole of the country bordering the Mediterranean from Constantinople -all the way round the southern edge and as far up into France as Tours. -The people south and east of the Mediterranean are still Mohammedans -to-day. - - - - -44 - -Perhaps you have read the “Arabian Nights.” This is the story of - -Arabian Days - - -The Moslems had tried to get into Europe by the front gate and failed. - -They had then tried the back gate and failed. - -Burning tar and oil had stopped them at Constantinople. - -Charles the Hammer had stopped them at Tours. - -So Europe was saved from the Moslems and from the Moslem religion of -Islam. Yet we may wonder what Europe would have been like if the Moslem -Arabs had conquered, for the Arabs were in many ways a great people, -and we have learned many things from them. Here are some of the things. - -The Phenicians invented our alphabet, but the Arabs invented the -figures which we use to-day in arithmetic. 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on are -called Arabic figures. The Romans used letters instead of figures, V -stood for 5, X for 10, C for 100, M for 1000, and so on. Think how -difficult it must have been for a Roman boy to add such numbers as - - IV - XII - + MC - CXII - VII - ---- - -They could not be added up in columns as we do. And when you think -of multiplying and dividing with Roman numbers, it seems almost -impossible, for example: - - MCMCXVII - × XIX - -Occasionally you may see Roman figures still used--on clock-faces, for -instance--but all the figures that you use every day in your arithmetic -and that your father uses at the bank or store or office are Arabic -figures. - -Another thing: - -The Arabs built many beautiful buildings; but these buildings look -quite different from those that the Greeks and Romans and Christians -built. The doors and window-openings, instead of being square or round, -were usually horseshoe-shaped. On the top of their mosques they liked -to put domes shaped something like an onion, and at the corners they -put tall spires or minarets from which the muezzin could call aloud -the hour for prayer. They covered the walls of their buildings with -beautiful mosaics and designs. The Mohammedans, however, were very -careful that these designs were not copies of anything in nature, for -they had a commandment in the “Koran” something like the Christian -commandment, “Thou shalt not make ... any likeness of anything that is -in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the -water under the earth.” Because of this commandment they never made -drawings or pictures of any living thing, neither of plants nor flowers -nor animals. They thought they would be breaking the commandment if -they did. So they made designs out of lines and curves without copying -anything from nature. These designs were called Arabesques, and -although they were not like anything in nature, they were often very -beautiful. - -Still another thing: - -In Arabia there grew a little bush on which were small berries with -seeds inside. The sheep seemed to like these berries and, when they ate -them, became very lively. The Arabs themselves tried eating the seeds -of these berries with the same effect. Then they made a drink out of -these seeds by roasting and grinding them and boiling them in water. -This was coffee--which the Arabs had discovered and which is now drunk -all over the world. - -Still another thing: - -The Arabs found out that when the juice of grapes or other fruits or -grains spoiled, or fermented, as we call it, a peculiar change took -place. Any one who drank this changed juice became greatly excited and -even crazy. They called the new thing to which these juices changed, -“alcohol,” and they were so much afraid of it and what it did to those -who drank it that they forbade every Mohammedan to drink anything -containing alcohol, such as wine, beer, or whisky. So the Moslems -not only discovered alcohol, but, believing it to be poison, they -prohibited its use. They have been prohibitionists, therefore, for more -than a thousand years, while all the rest of the world has been using -wine and beer and other drinks containing alcohol until the United -States only recently forbade their use in this country. - -Still another thing: - -Woolen cloth which people used for clothes was made from the hair of -sheep or goats. As it took the hair of a great many such animals to -make a very little cloth, woolen cloth was expensive. The Arabs found -out a way of making cloth from a plant, the cotton plant, which of -course was much cheaper. Then in order to decorate the cloth and make -it pretty and attractive, they stamped the plain cloth with wooden -blocks shaped in different forms and dipped in color. This printed -cloth that the Arabs had invented was called calico. - -Still another thing: - -The Arabs made swords and knives of such wonderful steel that the -blades could be bent double without breaking. The blades were said to -be so keen they could cut through the finest hair if floated on water, -a thing that only the sharpest razor will do, and yet at the same time -so strong that they could cut through a bar of steel. Such swords were -made in the East at a place called Damascus, which is in Arabia, and in -the West at a place called Toledo, which is in Spain; and these swords -and knives were known as Damascus or Toledo blades. Unfortunately, no -one now knows the Arab’s secret for making such marvelous blades. It is -what is called a lost art. - -Near where Babylon once was the Arabs built a city named Bagdad. You -have heard of it if you have ever read any of the “Arabian Nights,” -for most of these stories were told about Bagdad. It was the eastern -capital of the Moslems. There at Bagdad the Arabs built a great school -that was famous for many, many years. At Cordova in Spain was the -western capital of the Moslems, and there they built another great -school. - -[Illustration: Mohammedan veiled woman standing by Saracenic ornamented -arch.] - -I might tell you many other things these people did--how they invented -the game of chess, of all games the one that needs the most thought; -how they made clocks with pendulums to keep time--people had no real -clocks before; how they started wonderful libraries of books; and so -on--but this is enough for the present to show you what intelligent -people they were. - -The Arabs were not Aryans. They belonged to the Semite family, the -same family to which the Phenicians and Jews belong. The Arabs were as -clever as their cousins the Phenicians, who, you remember, were very -clever, but they were also as religious as their other cousins the -Jews, who, you remember, were very religious. - -But the Moslems had peculiar ideas about women. They thought it was -immodest for a woman to show her face to men, and so every woman had to -wear a thick veil which hid her face all except her eyes whenever she -went out where there were men. With such a veil she could see but not -be seen. - -But here are their two most peculiar ideas: they believed women were -only fit to be slaves to the men, and they thought that a man might -have as many wives as he wished all at one time! - -So we may wonder, then, what Europe would really have been like if the -Moslems had conquered all the rest of the world at that time--if they -had left no country Christian--_if we were all of us Moslems to-day -instead of Christians_! - - - - -45 - -A Light in the Dark Ages - - -Europe had been “dark” for three hundred years. You know what I mean. - -There were not enough “bright” people to make it light. Ignorant -Teutons had been ruling over the pieces of the old Roman Empire. - -The Arabs were bright, but they were not in Europe. - -But in 800 there was a very “bright light”--a man--a king--who by his -might and power was able to join the pieces of Europe together once -again to form a new Roman Empire. He was not a Roman, however, but a -Teuton, as you can tell from his name, which was Charles. He was a -grandson of that Charles the Hammer who had stopped the Moslems at -Tours, and he was called by the French name Charlemagne, which means -Charles the Great. - -Charlemagne at first was king of France alone, but he was not satisfied -to be king of that country only, and so he soon conquered the countries -on each side of him, parts of Spain and Germany. Then he moved the -capital of his empire from Paris to a place in Germany called -Aix-la-Chapelle, which was more convenient than Paris to this larger -empire, and besides at Aix-la-Chapelle there were warm springs which -made fine baths, and Charlemagne was very fond of bathing and was a -fine swimmer. - -Italy was then ruled over by the pope. But the pope was having a good -deal of trouble with some tribes in the north of Italy, and he asked -Charlemagne if he wouldn’t come down and conquer them. Charlemagne was -quite ready and willing to help the pope, so he went over into Italy -and easily settled those troublesome tribes. The pope was grateful to -Charlemagne for this and wished to reward him. - -Now, Christians everywhere used to make trips to Rome in order to pray -at the great Church of St. Peter, which had been built over the spot -where St. Peter had been crucified. Well, at Christmas-time in the Year -800 Charlemagne paid such a visit to Rome. On Christmas day he went to -the Church of St. Peter and was praying at the altar when suddenly the -pope came forward and put a crown on his head. The pope then hailed him -“Emperor,” and as the pope at that time could make kings and emperors, -Charlemagne became emperor of Italy added to the other countries over -which he already ruled. These countries together were really about the -same as the western part of the old Roman Empire. So Charlemagne’s -empire was now like a new Roman Empire, but with this big difference: -it was ruled over not by a Roman, but by a Teuton. - -Charlemagne started out an ignorant uneducated Teuton, but he was -not like most other Teutons who didn’t know they were ignorant and -didn’t care whether they were ignorant or not. He was anxious to know -everything there was to be known. He wanted to be able to do everything -any one could do. - -In those days when the Teutons were ruling, few people had any -education, and hardly any one could read or write. Charlemagne wanted -an education, but there was no one in his own country who knew enough -or was able to teach him. In England, however, there was a very learned -monk named Alcuin. He knew more than any one of that time, and so -Charlemagne invited Alcuin to come over from England and teach him -and his people. Alcuin taught Charles about the sciences; he taught -him Latin and Greek poetry; he taught him the wisdom of the Greek -philosophers. - -Charlemagne learned all these things very easily, but when it came to -the simple matter of learning to read and write he found this too hard. -He did learn to read a little, but he seemed unable to learn to write. -It is said that he slept with his writing-pad under his pillow and -practised whenever he awoke. And yet he never learned to write anything -more than his name. He did not begin to study until he was a grown man, -but he kept on studying all the rest of his life. Except for reading -and writing, he became, next to his teacher, Alcuin, the best-educated -man in Europe. - -In spite of the fact that Charlemagne’s daughters were princesses, he -had them taught how to weave and sew and make clothes and cook just as -if they had to earn their own living. - -Although Charlemagne was such a rich and powerful monarch and could -have everything he wanted, he preferred to eat plain food and dress -in plain clothes. He did not like all the finery that those about him -loved. One day, just to make his nobles see how ridiculously dressed -they were in silks and satins, he took them out hunting in the woods -while a storm was going on, so that he could laugh at them. That was -his idea of a good joke. You can imagine how their silk and satin robes -looked after being soaked with rain, covered with mud, and torn by -briers. Charlemagne thought it was very funny. - -But although his tastes were simple in matters of dress, he made his -home a magnificent palace. He furnished it with gold and silver tables -and chairs and other gorgeous furniture. He built in it swimming-pools -and a wonderful library and a theater and surrounded it with beautiful -gardens. - -At this time and all through the Dark Ages people had a strange way of -finding out whether a person had stolen or committed a murder or any -other crime. The person suspected was not taken into court and tried -before a judge and a jury to see whether he was telling the truth and -had done the thing or not. Instead he was made to carry a red-hot iron -for ten steps, or to dip his arm into boiling water, or to walk over -red-hot coals. If he was not guilty it was thought no harm would come -to him, or if he were burned it was thought that the burn would heal -right away. This was called _trial by ordeal_. It probably started -from the story told in the Bible of Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, -who, you remember, in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, had walked through -the fiery furnace unharmed because they had done no wrong. Strange to -say, though Charlemagne was so intelligent, he believed in the trial -by ordeal. To-day we have no such cruel and unfair way of finding out -whether one is guilty or not. Yet we say of a person who has a lot of -trouble that seems to be a test of his character, “He is going through -an ordeal.” - -While Charlemagne was living, there was a caliph in far-off Bagdad -named Haroun, which is the Moslem spelling of Aaron. You may have heard -of him if you have read any of the “Arabian Nights,” for the “Arabian -Night” stories were written at this time, and Haroun is described in -them. Although Haroun was a Mohammedan, not a Christian, and though -he was ruler of an empire that hated the Christians, nevertheless he -admired Charlemagne very much. To show how much he thought of him, he -sent him valuable presents; among other things, a clock which struck -the hours, which you remember, was an invention of the Arabs. This was -a great curiosity, for there were then no clocks in Europe. People had -to tell time by the shadow the sun cast on a sun-dial, or else by the -amount of water or sand that dripped or ran out from one jar to another. - -Haroun was a very wise and good ruler over the Moslems, and so he came -to be called “al Rashid,” which means “the Just.” Do you remember what -Greek was also called “the Just”?[3] Haroun used to disguise himself as -a workman and go about among his people. He would talk with those he -met along the street and in the market-place, trying to find out how -they felt about his government and about things in general. He found -they would talk freely to him when dressed in old clothes, for then -they did not know who he was but thought him a fellow-workman. In this -way, Haroun learned a great deal about his people’s troubles and what -they liked or didn’t like about his rule. Then he would go back to his -palace and give orders to have rules and laws made to correct anything -that seemed wrong or unjust. - -[3] Aristides. - -After Charlemagne died there was no one great enough or strong enough -to hold the new Roman Empire together, and once again it broke up into -small pieces, and “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could -not put it together again.” - -[Illustration] - - - - -46 - -Getting a Start - - -I once knew a boy who had a red birthmark on his arm. It was just the -shape of England on the map, and he used to call it “My England.” - -England is just a little island. - -It was quite an unimportant little island in 900 A.D. - -England is still just a little island. - -But it is now the most important island in the world! - -About one hundred years after Charles the Great--that is, 900--there -was a king of England named Alfred. When Alfred was a boy he had a hard -time learning to read, for he did not like to study. In those days -many of the hand-written books made by the monks had pretty drawings -and letters made in bright colors and even in gold. One day Alfred’s -mother showed such a book to her children and promised to give it to -the one who could read it first. That was a game. Alfred wanted to win -the book, and so, for the first time in his life, he really tried. He -studied so hard that in a very short time he had learned to read before -his brothers and so he won the book. - -When Alfred grew up, England was being troubled by pirates. These -pirates were cousins of the English--a tribe of Teutons called Danes. -The English had long ago become Christians and civilized, but their -cousins, the Danes, were still rough and wild. They came over from -their own country across the water, landed on the coast of England, -robbed the towns and villages, and then sailed back to their homes, -carrying off everything valuable they could lay their hands on--like -bad boys who climb a farmer’s fence and steal apples from his orchard. -At last the Danes became so bold that they didn’t even run away after -robbing the country; they were like the bad boys who stick out their -tongues and throw stones at the farmer who comes after them. The king’s -armies went out to punish these pirates, but, instead of beating, they -were beaten. It began to look as if these Danes, who were able to do -pretty much as they pleased, might conquer England and rule over the -English. - -Once when things looked pretty black for England, King Alfred was -without an army. Alone, ragged, tired out, and hungry, he came to the -hut of a shepherd and asked for something to eat. The shepherd’s wife -was baking some cakes by the fire, and she told Alfred he should have -one if he watched them while she went out to milk the cow. Alfred sat -down by the fire, but in thinking about what he could do to beat the -Danes he forgot all about the cakes, and when the shepherd’s wife -returned they were all burned. Thereupon she scolded him roundly and -drove him off, not knowing that it was her king that she was treating -in this way, for he never told her who he was. - -Alfred decided that the best way to fight the Danes was not on land but -on the water, and so he set to work to build boats bigger and better -than those the Danes had. After a while he had something of a fleet, -and the boats he built were bigger than those of the Danes, but they -were so big that they could not go into shallow water without running -aground. The Danes’ boats, on account of their small size, could go -safely close in to shore. In deep water, however, Alfred’s fleet was -very strong and powerful. This was the first navy that England ever -had. England’s navy is now the largest in the world, and Alfred the -Great was the one who started it more than a thousand years ago. - -After fighting with the Danes for many years, Alfred finally thought -it best to make an agreement with them and give them a part of England -to live in if they would promise to stop stealing and live peaceably. -So the Danes did agree to this, and they settled down peaceably on the -land that Alfred gave them--and then became Christians. After that -there was no further trouble. - -Alfred made very strict laws and severely punished those who did wrong. -Indeed, it is said that the people of England were so careful to obey -the law in his reign that one might leave gold by the roadside, and no -one would steal it. - -Alfred also brought over learned men from Europe to show his people how -to make things and to teach the boys and girls and the older people how -to read and write. He is also said to have started a school that is -now one of the greatest places of learning in the world, a university -called Oxford that is now more than a thousand years old. - -But Alfred not only built a navy and made wise laws and started schools -and colleges which the English had not had before; he did many other -useful things, besides. - -He invented, for instance, a way of telling time by a burning candle. -You have heard how wonderful the clock, that which Haroun-al-Rashid -sent to Charlemagne one hundred years before was thought to be. -Although striking clocks are, of course, very common nowadays, it was -an extraordinary thing then when there were no clocks nor watches at -all in England. Alfred found out how fast candles burned down and -marked lines around them at different heights--just the distance apart -that they burned in one hour. These were called time-candles. - -Candles were also used for lighting, but when they were carried -outdoors they were very likely to be blown out by the wind. So Alfred -put the candle inside of a little box, and in order that the light -might shine through the box, he made sides of very thin pieces of -cow’s-horn, for glass then was very scarce. This box with horn sides -was called a horn lamp or “lamphorn,” and after a while this word when -said rapidly became “lanthorn,” and finally “lantern,” which we still -call such a thing to-day, although horn is, of course, no longer used, -but glass. This is one explanation of the word as the old spelling was -“lanthorn,” but it seems more likely that lantern came from the Latin -word “lanterna.” - -Such inventions may seem very small and unimportant, and they are when -you think of the marvelous inventions and wonderful machines that are -made by the thousands nowadays. These inventions of Alfred were no -more than the household ideas for which some magazines now offer only -a dollar apiece. But I have told you about them just to show you how -ignorant and almost barbarian the English, as well as other Teuton -tribes of Europe, were in those days. How much superior were the Arab -thinkers with their striking clocks. The English were just “getting a -start.” - - - - -47 - -The End of the World - - -What would you do if you knew the world was coming to an end next week, -or even next year? - -The people who lived in the tenth century thought the Bible said[4] -something that meant that the world was coming to an end in the Year -1000--which was called the millennium from the Latin word meaning a -thousand years. - -[4] Book of Revelations, chapter xx. - -Some people were glad that the world was coming to an end. They were -so poor and miserable and unhappy here that they were anxious to go to -heaven, where everything would be fine and lovely--if they had been -good here. So they were particularly good and did everything they could -to earn a place for themselves in heaven when this old world should end. - -Others were not so anxious to have the world come to an end. But, they -thought, if it were coming to an end so soon, they might as well hurry -up and enjoy themselves here while they still had a chance. - -Well, the Year 1000 came, and nothing happened. At first people simply -thought that a mistake had been made in counting the years--that there -had not really been one thousand years since Christ’s birth. The years -went by, and still people waited for the end. They re-read their Bibles -and thought perhaps it meant a thousand years after Christ’s _death_, -instead of his birth. As time went on, without any change, they began -to think the end was delayed for some reason they could not explain. -But it was not for many years after the millennium that people came at -last to realize that the world was not going to stop after all. - -Every once in a while some one who thinks he knows more than others -says the end of the world is not far off, but we may be quite sure that -the world will keep on going and that it will keep on going long after -we have all grown up and died and our children have done the same. - -At this time, when people were looking for the end of the world there -was in the north of Europe a tribe of Teutons who were not Christians -and knew and cared nothing about what the Bible said as to the end of -the world. They belonged to the same family as the Danes who had come -to England in the time of King Alfred. They were called Norsemen or -Vikings. They were bold seafaring men, even more hardy and unafraid -than the Phenician sailors of old. Their boats were painted black and -had prows carved with figures of sea-monsters or dragons. They sailed -the northern seas and went farther westward toward the setting sun than -any sailors had ever gone. They had discovered Iceland and Greenland, -and at last under their chief who was named Leif Ericson they reached -the shores of America. So about the same year that the Christians in -Europe were expecting the end of the world--the Year 1000--the Vikings -had gone to what they thought was “the end of the world.” - -They called the new country Vineland or Wineland, because they found -grapes, from which wine is made, growing there. They did not go far on -shore, however, and they thought this new land was only another small -island. They had no idea it was a new world. But it was too far away -from their own country, and they found wild savages there who made -it so uncomfortable for them that they sailed back home leaving the -country for good. The Vikings did nothing more about their discovery, -and people forgot all about this new country until nearly five hundred -years later. - - - - -48 - -Real Castles - - -You may think that castles belong only in fairy-tales of princes and -princesses. - -But about the Year 1000 there were castles almost everywhere over -Europe, and they were not fairy-castles but real ones with real people -in them. - -After the downfall of Rome in 476, the Roman Empire was broken to -pieces like a cut-up puzzle-map, and people built castles on the -pieces, and they kept on building castles up to the fourteen hundreds. -And this is why and how people built them and why they at last stopped -building them. - -Whenever any ruler, whether he was a king or only a prince, conquered -another ruler, he gave to his generals, who had fought with him and -helped him to win, pieces of the conquered land as a reward instead of -paying them in money. The generals in turn gave pieces of their land to -the chief men who had been under them and helped them in battle. These -men who were given land were called lords or nobles, and each lord was -called a vassal of him who gave the land. Each vassal had to promise -to fight with his lord whenever he was needed. He could not make this -promise lightly in an offhand way, however. He had to do it formally so -that it would seem more binding. So the vassal had to kneel in front of -his lord, place his folded hands between the folded hands of his lord, -and make the solemn promise to fight when called upon. This was called -“doing homage.” Then once a year, at least, thereafter, he had to make -the same promise over again. This method of giving away land was known -as the Feudal System. - -[Illustration: Castle, drawbridge, moat and knights.] - -Each of these lords or nobles then built himself a castle on the land -that was given him, and there he lived like a little king with all his -work-people about him. The castle was not only his home, but it had to -be a fort as well to protect him from other lords who might try to -take his castle away from him. So he usually placed it on the top of -a hill or a cliff, so that the enemy could not reach it easily, if at -all. It had great stone walls often ten feet or more thick. Surrounding -the walls there was usually a ditch called a moat filled with water to -make it more difficult for an enemy to get into the castle. - -In times of peace when there was no fighting the men farmed the land -outside of the castle; but when there was war between lords, all the -people went inside the castle walls, carrying all the food and cattle -and everything else they had, so that they could live there for months -or even years while the fighting was going on. A castle, therefore, had -to be very large to hold so many people and animals for so long a time, -and often it was really like a walled town. - -Inside the walls of the castle were many smaller buildings to house the -people and animals and for cooking and storing the food. There might -even be a church or chapel. The chief building was, of course, the -house of the lord himself and this was called the _keep_. - -The main room of the keep was the hall, which was like a very large -living-room and dining-room combined. Here meals were served at tables -which were simply long and wide boards placed on something to hold them -up. These boards were taken down and put away after the meal was over. -That is where we get the names “boarding” and “boarding-house.” There -were no forks nor spoons nor plates nor saucers nor napkins. Every one -ate with his fingers and licked them or wiped them on his clothes. -Table manners were more like _stable_ manners. The bones and scraps -they threw on the floor or to the dogs, who were allowed in the room. -Itchy-scratchy! At the end of the meal a large bowl of water and towels -were brought in so that those who wished might wash their hands. - -After dinner the household was entertained during the long evenings -with songs and stories by men called minstrels, who played and sang and -amused the company. - -Shut up within the castle walls, it seemed as if the lord and his -people would be absolutely safe against any attacks of his enemies. In -the first place, any enemy would have had to cross the moat or ditch -which surrounded the castle. Across this moat there was a drawbridge -to the entrance or gate of the castle. In the entrance itself was an -iron gate called a portcullis, which was usually raised like a window -to allow people to pass. In time of war the drawbridge was raised. But -in case an enemy was seen approaching and there was no time to raise -the drawbridge, this portcullis could be dropped at a moment’s notice. -When the drawbridge was raised there was no way of getting into the -castle except by crossing the moat filled with water. Any one trying -to do this would have had stones or melted tar thrown down on him. -Instead of windows in the wall of the castle there were only long slits -through which the fighters could shoot arrows at the enemy. At the same -time, it was very difficult for any one on the outside to hit the small -crack-like opening with an arrow. - -And yet attacks _were_ made on castles. Sometimes the enemy built a -tall wooden tower on wheels. This they would roll up as closely as they -could get to the walls, and from its top shoot directly over into the -castle. - -Sometimes they built tunnels from the outside right under the ground, -under the moat, and under the castle walls into the castle itself. - -Sometimes they built huge machines called battering-rams, and with -these they battered down the walls. - -Sometimes they used machines like great slingshots to throw stones over -the walls. Of course there were no cannons nor cannon-balls nor guns -nor gunpowder then. - -The lord and his family were the society people; all the others were -little better than slaves. In times of peace most of the common people -lived outside the castle walls on the land called the _manor_. The -lord gave them just as little as he could and took from them just as -much as he could. He had to feed and take some care of them so that -they could fight for him and serve him, just as he had to feed and take -care of his horses that carried him to battle, and the cattle that -provided him with milk and meat. But he didn’t treat them as well as -he did his domestic animals. The common people had to give their time -and labor and a large part of the crops they raised to the lord. They -themselves lived in miserable huts more like cow-sheds, with only one -room, and that had a dirt floor. Above this was perhaps a loft reached -by a ladder where they went to bed. But bed was usually only a bundle -of straw, and they slept in the clothes they wore during the day. - -These work-people were called serfs. Sometimes a serf could stand this -kind of life no longer, and he would run away. If he was not caught -within a year and a day, he was a free man. But if he was caught before -the year and a day were up, the lord might whip him, brand him with -hot irons, or even cut off his hands. Indeed, a lord could do almost -anything he wished with his serfs--except kill them, or sell them. - -So what do you think of the Feudal System? - - - - -49 - -Knights and Days of Chivalry - - -Those _years_ in history which I have been telling you about are -known as the _days_ of chivalry--which means the times of ladies and -gentlemen. The lord and his family were the gentlemen and the ladies. -All the other people, by far the greater number, were just common -people. - -There were no schools for these common people. Little was done for -them. They were taught to work and nothing else. The sons of a lord -of a castle, however, were very carefully taught. But even they were -taught only two things, how to be gentlemen and how to fight. Reading -and writing were thought of no importance; in fact, it was usually -considered a waste of time to learn such things. - -And this is the way the son of a lord was brought up. He stayed with -his mother until he was seven years old. When he reached the age of -seven he was called a page; and for the next seven years--that is, -until he was fourteen, he remained a page. During the time he was a -page his chief business was to wait on the ladies of the castle. He -ran their errands, carried their messages, waited on table, etc. He -also learned to ride a horse and to be brave and courteous. - -When he was fourteen years old he became a squire and remained a squire -for the next seven years; that is, until he was twenty-one. During -the time he was a squire he waited on the men, as he had waited on -the ladies when he was a page. He attended to the men’s horses, went -to battle with them, led an extra horse, and carried another spear or -lance, in case these should be needed. - -When he was twenty-one years old, if he had been a good squire and -had learned the lessons that he was taught, he then became a knight. -Becoming a knight was an important ceremony like graduating exercises, -for the grown boy was now to take up the business of a man. - -To get ready for this ceremony, first, he bathed. This may not seem -worth mentioning, but in those days one very rarely took a bath, -sometimes not for years. He was then dressed in new clothes. Thus -washed and dressed, he prayed all night long in the church. When day -came he appeared before all the people and solemnly swore always to do -and to be certain things: - - To be brave and good; - To fight for the Christian religion; - To protect the weak; - To honor women. - -These were his vows. A white leather belt was then put on him and gold -spurs fastened on his boots. After this had been done he knelt, and -his lord struck him over the shoulders with the flat side of a sword, -saying as he did so, “I dub thee knight.” - -A knight went into battle covered with a suit of armor made of iron -rings or steel plates like fish-scales, and with a helmet or hood of -iron. This suit protected him from the arrows and lances of the enemy. -Of course if they had had any shot or shell, armor would have been no -use at all, but they had no such things then. - -Knights were so completely covered by their armor that when sides -became mixed up in fighting, they could not tell one another apart. It -was impossible to know which were friends and which were enemies. - -So the knights wore, on the outside of the coat that went over their -armor, a design of an animal, such as a lion, or of a plant or a rose -or a cross or some ornament, and this design was known as a coat of -arms. Perhaps your father may use a coat of arms on his letter-paper -to-day, and if so he has inherited it from some great-great-grandparent -who was a knight. - -A knight, as I told you, was first of all taught to be a gentleman, -and so we still speak of one who has good manners and is courteous, -especially to ladies, as knightly or chivalrous. When a knight came -into the presence of a lady he took off his helmet. It meant, “You are -my friend, and so I do not need my helmet.” That is why gentlemen raise -their hats nowadays when they meet ladies. - -But the most important thing the knights had to learn was to fight. -Even their games were play fights. - -Each country and each age has had its own games or sports in which it -has taken special delight. The Greeks had their Olympic Games. The -Romans had their chariot-races and gladiatorial contests. We have -football and baseball. But the chief sport of the knights was a kind of -sham battle called the tournament. - -The tournament was held in a field known as the _lists_. Large crowds -with banners flying and trumpets blowing would gather around the lists -to watch the sham fight, as crowds nowadays flock to a big football -game waving pennants and tooting horns. The knights on horseback took -their places at opposite ends of the lists. They carried lances, the -points of which were covered so that they would not make a wound. At -a given signal, they rushed toward the center of the field and tried -with their lances to throw each other off their horses. The winner who -succeeded in throwing the other knights was presented with a ribbon -or a keepsake by one of the ladies, and a knight thought as much of -this trophy of victory as the winner of a cup in a tennis tournament -nowadays. - -[Illustration: Lady with falcon.] - -Knights were very fond of hunting with dogs. But they also hunted with -a trained bird called a falcon, and both lords and ladies delighted -in this sport. The falcon was trained like a hunting-dog to catch -other birds, such as wild ducks and pigeons and also small animals. -The falcon was chained to the wrist of the lord or lady, and its head -was covered with a hood as it was carried out to hunt. When a bird was -seen the hood was removed, and the falcon, which was very swift, would -swoop upon its prey and capture it. Thereupon the hunter would come -up, take the captured animal, and put the hood on the falcon again. -The men, however, usually preferred hunting the wild boar, which was a -kind of pig with sharp tusks, for this was more dangerous and therefore -supposed to be more of a man’s sport. - -[Illustration] - - - - -50 - -A Pirate’s _Great_ Grandson - - -When Alfred was king the Danes had raided England. - -At the same time their cousins the Norsemen had raided the coast of -France. - -King Alfred at last had to give the Danes a part of the English coast, -and they then settled down and became Christians. - -The French king likewise did the same thing. In order to save himself -from further raids, he gave the Norsemen a part of the French coast. -Then the Norsemen, as the Danes had done, settled down and became -Christians. - -These Norsemen who raided France were led by a very bold and brave -pirate named Rollo. In return for this gift of land Rollo was supposed -to do homage by kissing the king’s foot. But Rollo thought it beneath -him to kneel and kiss the king’s foot, so he told one of his men to do -it for him. His man did as he was told, but he didn’t like to do it, -either, and so as he kissed the king’s foot he raised it so high that -he tipped his Majesty over backward. - -[Illustration] - -That part of France which was given the Norsemen came to be called -Normandy, and it is so called to-day, and the people were known -thereafter as Normans. - -In 1066 there was a very powerful duke ruling over Normandy. His name -was William, and he was descended from Rollo the pirate. Perhaps your -name may be William. Perhaps you may even be descended from this -William. - -William was strong in body, strong in will, and strong in rule over -his people. He could shoot an arrow farther, straighter, and with more -deadly effect than any of his knights. No one else was strong enough -even to bend the bow he used. - -William and his people had become Christians, but according to their -idea the Christian God was more like their old god Woden under a new -name. William believed that “might made right,” for he was descended -from a pirate, and he still thought and acted like a pirate. So -whatever he wanted he went after and took, even though he was supposed -to be a Christian. - -Now, William was only a duke, not a king, and he wanted to be a king. -In fact, he thought he would like to be king of England, which was just -across the channel from his own dukedom. - -It so happened that a young English prince named Harold was shipwrecked -on the coast of Normandy and was found and brought before William. -Now, it seemed likely that some day Harold would be king of England, -and William thought this a good chance to get England for himself. So -before he would let Harold leave, he made the young man promise that -when his turn came to be king he would give him England just as if that -country were a horse or a suit of armor that could be given away. Then, -in order that this promise should be solemnly binding, William made -Harold place his hand on the altar and swear, just as people place a -hand on the Bible nowadays, when they take an oath. After Harold had -sworn on the altar, William had the top lifted and showed Harold that -below it were the bones of some of the Christian saints. Swearing on -the bones of a saint was the most solemn kind of an oath one could -possibly take. It was thought one would not dare to break such an oath -for fear of the wrath of God. - -Then Harold returned to England. But when the time came that he should -be king the people naturally would not let him give England to William. -Besides that, Harold said that such an oath, which he had taken against -his will, an oath which had been forced on him by a trick, was not -binding. So Harold became king. - -When William heard that Harold had been made king, he was very angry. -He said that he had been cheated and that Harold had broken his oath. -So at once he got ready an army and sailed over to take the country -away from Harold. - -As William landed from his boat he stumbled and fell headlong on the -shore. All his soldiers were shocked and greatly worried by this, for -they thought it very bad luck--a bad omen, the Greeks would have called -it. But William was quick-witted, and as he fell he grabbed up some of -the earth in both hands. Then, rising, he made believe he had fallen on -purpose and, lifting his hands in the air, exclaimed that he had taken -up the ground as a sign that he was going to have _all_ the land of -England. This changed the bad omen into good luck. - -The battle started, and the English fought furiously to defend -themselves against these foreigners who were trying to take their -country away from them. Indeed, they had almost won the battle when -William gave an order to his men to pretend they were running away. -The English then followed, wildly rejoicing, and running pell-mell -after the Normans. Just as soon, however, as the English were scattered -and in disorder, William gave another signal, and his men faced about -quickly. The English were taken by surprise, and before they could get -into fighting order again, they were defeated, and Harold, their king, -was shot through the eye and killed. This was the battle of Hastings, -one of the most famous battles in English History. - -Harold had put up a brave fight. But luck was against him. Only a few -days before this, he had had to fight a battle with his own brother, -who in a traitorous way had got together an army against him. We are -sorry for Harold, and yet it was probably better for England that -things turned out as they did--yet who can tell? - -William marched on to London and had himself crowned king on Christmas -day, 1066. Ever since then he has been known as William the Conqueror, -and the event is called the Norman Conquest. After this England had a -new line of kings--a Norman family and a pirate family--to rule over -her. - -William divided England up among his nobles as if it were a pie, and -gave each a share in the feudal way. They had to do homage to him as -his vassals and promise to fight for him and to do as he said. Each of -William’s nobles built a castle on the property he was given. William -himself built a castle in London by the Thames River. On the same spot -Julius Cæsar had built a fort, but it had disappeared; and Alfred the -Great had built a castle there, but it, too, had disappeared. But the -castle William built is still standing to-day. It is known as the Tower -of London. - -William was a splendid boss and very businesslike. He set to work and -had a list made of all the land in England, a list of all the people -and of all the property they had. This record was called the Domesday -Book and was something like the _census_ now taken in this country -every ten years. This list gave the name of every one in England and -everything each owned, even down to the last cow and pig. If your -ancestors were living in England then you can look in the Domesday Book -and find their names, how much land they owned, and how many cows and -pigs they had. - -In order that no mischief might take place at night, William started -what was called the _curfew_. Every evening at a certain hour a bell -was rung. Then all lights had to be put out, and every one had to go -indoors--supposedly to bed. - -One thing, however, that William did made the English very angry. He -was extremely fond of hunting, but there was no good place where he -could hunt near London. So in order to have a place for hunting, he -destroyed a large number of village houses and farms and turned that -part of the country into a forest. This was called the New Forest, and -though it is now nearly nine hundred years _old_ it is still called New -to this day. - -But on the whole, William, although descended from a pirate, gave -England a good government and made it a much safer and better place in -which to live than it ever had been under its former rulers. So 1066 -was almost like the Year 1 for the English. - -We think it is remarkable when children of low-bred immigrants -become society leaders, when, as we say, they rise from overalls to -dress-suits, but here we have the son’s son of a pirate rising to be -king of England, and those living now who find they are descended from -him brag of it! - -[Illustration] - - - - -51 - -A Great Adventure - - -Have you ever played the game called “Going to Jerusalem” in which -every one scrambles to get a seat when the music stops playing? - -Well, all during the Dark Ages “Going to Jerusalem” was not a game but -a real journey which Christians everywhere in Europe wanted to take and -did take if they could. They wanted to see the actual spot where Christ -had been crucified, to pray at the Holy Sepulcher, and to bring back a -palm-leaf as a souvenir, which they could show their friends, hang on -the wall, and talk about all the rest of their lives. - -So there were always some good Christians--and also some bad -ones--“going to Jerusalem.” Sometimes they went all by themselves, -but more often they went with others. As of course there were no such -things as trains in those days, poor people had to walk nearly the -whole way from France and from England, from Spain and from Germany, -and so it took them many months and sometimes years to reach Jerusalem. -These travelers were called _pilgrims_, and their trip was called a -_pilgrimage_. - -Jerusalem at that time belonged to the Turks, who were Mohammedans. The -Turks did not like these Christian pilgrims who came to see Christ’s -tomb, and they didn’t treat them very well. Indeed, some of the -pilgrims on their return told frightful stories of the way they had -been treated by the Turks and the way the holy places in Jerusalem were -also treated. - -Just before the Year 1100 there was a pope at Rome named Urban. He -was the head of all the Christians in the world. Urban heard these -tales that the pilgrims told, and he was shocked. He thought it was a -terrible thing, anyway, for the Holy City, as Jerusalem was called, -and the Holy Land, where Jerusalem was located, to be ruled over by -Mohammedans instead of by Christians. So Urban made a speech and urged -all good Christians everywhere to get together and go on a pilgrimage -to the Holy Land, with the idea of fighting the Turks and taking the -city of Jerusalem away from them. - -Now, there lived at that same time a monk whom people called Peter the -Hermit. A hermit is a man who goes off and lives entirely by himself, -usually in a cave or hut where no one can find him or go to see him, -where he can spend all day in prayer. Peter the Hermit thought such a -life was good for his soul, that it made him a better man to be hungry -and cold and uncomfortable. - -Peter the Hermit had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and was very angry -at what he saw there. So he, too, began to tell people everywhere he -went how disgraceful it was for them to allow Christ’s tomb to belong -to the Mohammedans and called on every one to start on a pilgrimage -with him to save Jerusalem. He talked to people in the churches, on the -street-corners, in the market-places, on the roadside. He was such a -wonderful orator that those who heard him wept at his descriptions and -begged to go with him. - -Before long, thousands upon thousands of people, old and young, men and -women, and even some children had pledged themselves to join a band to -go to Jerusalem and take it away from the Mohammedans. As Christ had -died on the cross, they cut pieces of red cloth in the form of a cross -and sewed them on the fronts of their coats as a sign that they were -soldiers of the cross. So these pilgrims were called _Crusaders_, which -is the Latin word for a cross-bearer. As they knew they would be gone -a long time and perhaps never return, they sold all they had and left -their homes. Not only poor people but lords and nobles and even princes -joined the army of the Crusaders, and there were, besides the crowds on -foot, large companies of those who rode on horseback. - -The plan was to start in the summer of 1096, four years before 1100, -but a great many were so anxious to get started that they didn’t wait -for the time that had been set. With Peter the Hermit and another pious -man named Walter the Penniless as their leaders, they started off -before things were really ready. - -They had no idea how very far off Jerusalem was. They hadn’t studied -geography nor maps. They had no idea how long it would take, no idea -how they would get food to eat on their journey, no idea where they -would sleep. They simply trusted in Peter the Hermit and believed that -the Lord would provide everything and show them the way. - -Onward they marched, “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” thousands upon -thousands, toward the east and far-off Jerusalem. Thousands upon -thousands of them died from disease and from hunger on the way. Every -time they came within sight of another city, they would ask, “Is this -Jerusalem?” so little did they know of the long distance that still lay -between them and that city. - -When the Mohammedan army in Jerusalem heard that the Crusaders were -coming they went forth to meet the Christians and killed almost all -of those who had started out with Peter ahead of the rest. But those -Crusaders that had started out later, as had been planned at the -beginning, marched on. - -Finally, after nearly four years, only a small band of that vast throng -that had set out so long before reached the walls of the Holy City. -When at last they saw Jerusalem before them, they were wild with joy. -They fell on their knees and wept and prayed and sang hymns and thanked -God that he had brought them to the end of their journey. Then they -furiously attacked the city. The Christians fought so terribly that -at last they beat the Mohammedans and captured Jerusalem. Then they -entered the gates and killed thousands, so that it is said the streets -of the Holy City ran with blood. This seems strange behavior for the -followers of Christ, who preached against fighting and commanded, “Put -up thy sword, for he that taketh the sword shall perish by the sword.” - -The Crusaders then made one of their leaders named Godfrey ruler of the -city. Most of the other Crusaders that were left then went back home. -So ended what is known as the First Crusade. - - - - -52 - -Tit-Tat-To; Three Kings in a Row - - - Here are three kings: - Richard of England, - Philip of France, and - Frederick Barbarossa of Germany. - -If you say their names over several times, they keep ringing through -your mind and you cannot seem to stop thinking them whether you want to -or not. - -Jerusalem was captured. But it did not stay captured very long. - -The Mohammedans attacked and won it back again. - -So the Christians started a Second Crusade. Then about once in a -lifetime during the next two hundred years there was one Crusade after -another--eight or nine in all. Sometimes these later Crusades won back -Jerusalem for a while, but for a while only. Sometimes they did not -succeed at all. - -The Third Crusade took place about a hundred years after the First; -that is, nearly 1200 A. D. These three kings--Richard of England, -Philip of France, and Frederick Barbarossa--started on the Third -Crusade. But they didn’t all finish. I will tell you about them in -three-two-one order. - -[Illustration: Richard of England, Philip of France, and Frederick -Barbarossa] - -Frederick’s name, Barbarossa, meant Red Beard, for in those days it was -the custom to give kings nicknames that described them. Frederick’s -capital was in Aix-la-Chapelle, as Charlemagne’s had been, but -Frederick was king only of Germany. When a young man he had tried to -make his country as large and powerful as the new Roman Empire that -Charlemagne had made. But he was not a great enough man, and so was -unable to do what Charlemagne had done. Frederick was quite old when -he started out on the Third Crusade with the other two kings. But he -never reached Jerusalem, for in crossing a stream on the way he was -drowned. So much for Frederick, the third king. - -The second king, Philip of France, was jealous of the first king, -Richard, because Richard was so very popular and well liked by the -Crusaders. So Philip finally gave up the Crusade and went back to -France. - -Richard of England was then the only king left on the Crusade. It would -have been better if he, too, had gone back to his country instead of -gallivanting off on a Crusade. But he thought going on a Crusade was -much better sport than staying at home and working over the difficult -business of governing his people. - -But although he had his faults, Richard was the kind of a man that -all men like and all women love. He was kind and gentle, yet strong -and brave. Richard the Lion-Hearted they called him. He was hard on -wrongdoers but fair and square. So people loved him, but they feared -him, too, for he punished the wicked and those who misbehaved. Even -long, long after he had died, mothers would try to quiet a naughty and -crying child by saying: “Hush! If you don’t be good, King Richard will -get you!” - - soHnOFFGOBBELLum! - -Even Richard’s enemies admired him. The Mohammedan king of Jerusalem at -the time of this Third Crusade was named Saladin. Saladin, though being -attacked by Richard, admired him very much and even became his friend. -And so Saladin, instead of fighting Richard, finally made a friendly -agreement with him to treat the Holy Sepulcher and the pilgrims -properly. As this arrangement was satisfactory to every one, Richard -left Jerusalem to Saladin and started back home. - -On his way home Richard was captured by one of his enemies and put in -prison and held for a large ransom from England. Richard’s friends did -not know where he was and did not know how to find him. - -Now, it so happened that Richard had a favorite minstrel named Blondel. -Blondel had composed a song of which Richard was very fond. So when -Richard was taken prisoner, Blondel wandered over the country singing -everywhere this favorite song in the hope that Richard might hear it -and reveal where he was. One day he happened to sing beneath the very -tower where Richard was imprisoned. Richard heard him and answered by -singing the refrain of the song. His friends then knew where he was, -the ransom was paid, and Richard was allowed to go free. - -When, at last, Richard did reach England, he still had adventures. This -was the time when Robin Hood was robbing travelers. Richard planned -to have himself taken prisoner by Robin Hood, so that he might capture -him and bring him to justice. So Richard disguised himself as a monk -and was captured as he had planned. But he found Robin Hood such a good -fellow after all that he forgave him and his men. - -Richard’s coat of arms was a design of three lions, one above the -other; and this same design of three lions now forms part of the shield -of England. - -After Richard’s Crusade there was a Fourth Crusade, and then in the -year 1212--which is an easy date to remember, because it is simply the -number 12 repeated--one, two, one, two--there was a crusade of children -only. This was known therefore as the Children’s Crusade. It was led by -a French boy about twelve years old named Stephen, who was named after -the first Christian martyr. - -Children from all over France left their homes and their mothers and -fathers--it seems strange to us that their mothers and fathers let them -start off on such a trip--and marched south to the Mediterranean Sea. -Here they expected the waters of the sea would part and allow them -to march on dry land to Jerusalem, as they had read in the Bible the -waters of the Red Sea had done to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt. -But the waters did not part. - -Some sailors, however, offered to take the children to Jerusalem in -their ships. They said they would do it for nothing, just for the love -of the Lord. But it turned out that these sailors were really pirates, -and as soon as they got the children on board their ships they steered -them straight across the Mediterranean to Africa into the very land of -their enemies, the Mohammedans. Here, it is said, the pirates sold the -children as slaves. This is not a Grimm’s Fairy-Tale, and the pirates -were not trapped by the children, so I cannot make a happy ending, for -it was not. - -The last or Eighth Crusade was led by a king of France called Louis. He -was so pious and so devoted to the Lord that he was made a saint and -ever after has been called St. Louis. Yet this Crusade failed, and ever -since Jerusalem has been ruled by the Mohammedans until just recently, -when, in 1918, it was captured by the English, and this, then, was -really the Last Crusade. - -Not all the Crusaders were good Christians. Like some people nowadays, -a great many were Christian only in name. In fact, though strange -to say, quite a number of the Crusaders were nothing but scalawags, -looking for excitement and adventure, and they went on a Crusade merely -as an excuse to rob and plunder. - -The Crusades did not succeed in their object, which was to keep -Jerusalem for the Christians. Yet in spite of that, they did a great -deal of good. When the Crusades first started, the Crusaders were not -nearly as civilized as the people they went to conquer. But travel -sometimes teaches people more than books, and it taught the Crusaders. -They learned the customs of the other lands through which they went. -They learned languages and literature. They learned history and art. - -There were then no public schools. Only a very, very few people had any -education at all. So the Crusades did what schools might have done. -They taught the people of Europe and put an end to the Dark Ages of -ignorance. - -[Illustration] - - - - -53 - -Bibles Made of Stone and Glass - - -How often do you go to church? - -Probably not more than once a week--on Sundays. - -But in the Middle Ages people usually went to church every day and -often several times a day. They did not go only when there was a church -service. They went to say their prayers by themselves; they went to -tell their troubles to the priest, to get advice from him, to burn a -candle to the Virgin Mary, or simply to chat with their friends. - -All during the Crusades, and immediately after the Crusades, the chief -thing that people thought about was their church. - -There was only one church in a neighborhood, and every one went to -the same church for there were no Baptists, nor Episcopalians, nor -Methodists; all were just Christians. - -The church was every one’s meeting-house, and so people naturally gave -as much money and time and labor as they could to make their church -the best that could be built. That is why there were built in France -and other parts of Europe at this time many of the finest churches -and cathedrals in the world. These churches and cathedrals are still -standing, and, because they are so beautiful, people go long distances -to see them. - -Do you know what a cathedral is? A cathedral is not just a large -church. It is the church of a bishop. In the chancel of this church -there is a special chair for the bishop. This bishop’s chair is called -in Latin a “cathedra,” and so his church is named a cathedral after -this chair. - -These churches and cathedrals were nothing like the old Greek and Roman -temples; they were not like anything that had ever been built before. - -If you have ever built a house out of blocks, you probably did it this -way: first you stood two blocks upright, and then you laid another -block across the top of these for a roof. This is the way the Greeks -and Romans built. - -But the Christians throughout Europe at that time did not build in this -way at all. - -When you were building toy-houses, instead of laying a single block -across the two standing ones, you may perhaps have tried leaning two -blocks together like the sides of a letter A for a roof? If you did, -you know what happened: the two leaning blocks pushed over the sides, -and _crash_! everything tumbled. Well, these churches were built -somewhat in this way, with stones arched across the standing stone -columns. But to keep the stone arches from pushing over the standing -stone columns the builders put up props or braces. These props or -braces were made of stone, too, and these props of stone were called -_flying buttresses_. - -[Illustration: Flying buttresses--Apse of Notre Dame.] - -The people in Italy thought this a crazy way of building. They thought -such buildings must be shaky and might easily topple over--like a -house of cards. The Goths who had conquered Italy in 476 were wild -and ignorant and after that people called anything wild and ignorant -“Gothic.” So people called all buildings such as I have just described -“Gothic,” although the Goths had nothing to do with the buildings, for -they had all died long years before. - -Indeed, from my description you, too, may think such buildings propped -up by flying buttresses must have been tottering and ugly, but they -were neither. They were not rickety, for though occasionally one that -was not carefully built did collapse, the largest and best are still -standing to-day. And although there were old-fashioned people who -thought no building was beautiful that was not built in the Roman or -Greek style, we have come to admire the great beauty of these so called -Gothic buildings. - -But there were other ways in which the Gothic churches were different -from the Greek and Roman temples. Before a Gothic church was started, -a very large cross was first drawn on the ground with its head -towards the east, because that is the direction of Jerusalem. On this -cross-shaped plan, the church was built so that if you looked down from -above on the finished building, it was shaped like a cross with the -altar always toward the east. - -Gothic churches had beautiful spires or _arrows_, which have been -likened to _fingers pointing to_ _heaven_. The doorways and windows -were not square or round at the top, but pointed, like hands placed -together in prayer. - -Nearly the whole side of a Gothic church was made of glass. These large -windows were not, however, plain white glass, but beautiful pictures -made of colored glass. Small pieces of different colors were joined -together at their edges with lead to make what looked like wonderful -paintings. But these pictures were much finer than ordinary paintings, -for the light shone through the stained glass and made the colors -brilliant as jewels--blue like the clear sky, yellow like sunlight, red -like a ruby. These pictures in glass told stories from the Bible. They -were like colored illustrations in a book. So the people who could not -read, and very few could read, were able to know the Bible stories just -by looking at these beautiful illustrations. - -Statues of saints and angels and characters in the Bible were carved in -the stonework of the church. So the churches were like Bibles of stone -and glass. - -Besides these holy beings, strange, grotesque beasts were also made in -stone--monsters like no animal that has ever been seen in nature. These -creatures were usually put on the outside edge or corner of the roof -or they were used for waterspouts and called _gargoyles_. They were -supposed to scare away evil spirits from the holy place. - -No one now knows who were the architects or the builders of these -Gothic churches or who were the sculptors or artists. Almost every one -did some work on the church, for it was _his_ church. Instead of giving -money he gave his time and labor. If he had any skill, he carved stone -or made stained glass. If he had no skill he did the work of a common -laborer. - -[Illustration: Gargoyle.] - -Some of these Gothic churches took hundreds of years to build, so that -the workmen who started them never lived to see them finished. Some of -the most famous cathedrals are Canterbury Cathedral in England, the -Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, and Cologne Cathedral in Germany. - -Cologne Cathedral took the longest of all to build, as it was not -entirely finished until about seven hundred years after it was begun! -The beautiful Cathedral of Rheims in France was almost destroyed by the -gun-fire of the Germans in the Great War only a few years ago. - -Gothic churches were built, with loving care, of stone and jeweled -glass. Nothing but the best was thought good enough. To-day almost all -churches are still built with spires, pointed doors and some stained -glass windows, and often the altar is toward the east. But although -they imitate the Gothic style in these things, they seldom have stone -ceilings, as Gothic churches had, nor flying buttresses, nor walls of -stained glass. The ceilings are usually of wood, the spire often of -wood, also, and even the whole building of wood or some cheap material. -Real Gothic was enormously expensive and difficult, and nowadays people -haven’t the time, the money, nor the interest to build in such a way. - -And that is the story of Gothic churches that the Goths had nothing to -do with. - -[Illustration] - - - - -54 - -John, Whom Nobody Loved - - -Richard, the Lion-Hearted, whom everybody loved, had a brother named -John, whom nobody loved. - -This brother John became king, but he turned out to be a very wicked -king. - -He is another one of the villains in history, whom we do not like, but -like to hear about, and like to clap when he gets what he deserves. - -John was afraid that his young nephew named Arthur might be made king -in his place, and so he had him murdered. Some say he hired others to -do the killing; some say he murdered him with his own hands. This was -a very bad beginning for his reign, but things got worse and worse as -time went on. - -John got into a quarrel with the pope in Rome. The pope at that time -was head of all Christians in the world and said what should be done -and what should not be done in all churches everywhere. The pope -ordered John to make a certain man bishop in England, and John said he -wouldn’t do it. He wanted another man, a friend of his, to be bishop. -The pope then said he would close up all the churches in England if -John didn’t do as he was told. John said he didn’t care. Let the pope -go ahead and close up all the churches if he wanted to. So the pope -ordered all churches in England to be closed until John should give -in. Nowadays this might not have made much difference, but then, as I -have told you, the church was the one most important thing in every -one’s life; in fact, nothing else mattered so much. The closing of -the churches meant that no services could be held in any church. It -meant that children could not be baptized, and so, if they died, it -was believed they could not go to heaven. It meant that couples could -not be married. It meant that the dead could not be given a Christian -burial. - -The people of England were shocked. It was as if Heaven had put a curse -on them. They were afraid that terrible things would happen to them. Of -course the people blamed John, for he was the cause of the churches’ -being closed. They were so angry at him that he became scared--afraid -what his people might do to him. When at last the pope threatened to -make another man king of England in his place--yes, the pope had as -much power as that--John in fear and trembling gave in and agreed to -do everything that at first he had said he would not do and more -besides. But John was pig-headed. He was always doing the wrong thing -and sticking to it. - -John had an idea that the world was made for the king and that people -were put upon the earth simply so that the king might have servants to -work for him, to earn money for him, to do what he wished them to do. -Many of the kings of olden days felt the same way, though they did not -go as far as John did. John would order people who were rich to give -him whatever money he wanted. If they refused to give him all he asked, -he would put them in prison, have their hands squeezed in an iron press -until the bones cracked and the blood ran, or he would even put them to -death. - -John got worse and worse until at last his barons could not stand his -actions any longer. So they made him prisoner and took him to a little -island in the Thames River called Runnymede. Here they forced John to -agree to certain things which they had written down in Latin. This was -in the Year 1215; and 1215 was a bad date for John, but a good date -for the English people. This list of things which the barons made John -agree to was called by the Latin name for a great agreement, which is -Magna Carta, or Charta. - -John did not agree to Magna Carta willingly, however. He was as angry -and furious as a spoiled child, who kicks and screams when forced to do -something he does not want to do. But he had to agree, nevertheless. - -John was unable to write his name, and so he could not sign the -agreement as people sign contracts nowadays. But he wore a seal-ring -which was used by people who could not sign their names, and this seal -he pressed into a piece of hot wax which was dropped on the agreement -where one would have signed. - -John agreed in Magna Carta to give the barons some of the rights that -we think every human being should have anyway, without an agreement. -For instance, a person certainly has the right to keep the money that -he earns, and he has the right not to have it taken away from him -unlawfully. A person also has the right not to be put in prison or be -punished by the king or any one else unless he has done something wrong -and unless he has had a fair trial. These are two of the rights that -John agreed to in Magna Carta. There were quite a number of others. - -John didn’t keep his agreement, however. He broke it the very first -time he had a good chance, as a person usually does when he is forced -to agree to something against his will. But John died pretty soon; and -so, as far as he was concerned, Magna Carta didn’t matter much. But -kings who came after him were made to agree to the same things. So ever -after 1215 the king in England was supposed to be the servant of the -people, and not the people servants of the king as they had been before -that time. - -[Illustration] - - - - -55 - -A Great Story-Teller - - -Far away from England, - -Far off in the direction of the rising sun, - -’Way beyond Italy and Jerusalem and the Tigris and Euphrates and Persia -and all the other places we have so far heard about, was a country -called Cathay--C-A-T-H-A-Y. - -If you looked down at your feet, and the world were glass, you would -see it on the other side. - -Cathay is the same place we now call China. The people in Cathay -belonged to the yellow race, the same race to which the Chinese belong. - -There had been people living in Cathay, of course, all through the -centuries that had passed, but little was known of this land or of its -people. - -But in the thirteenth century or twelve hundreds, one of these tribes -of yellow people called Mongols or Tartars, arose out of the East, like -a black and terrifying thunderstorm, and it seemed for a while as if -they might destroy all the other countries whose histories we have been -hearing about. The ruler of these people was a terrible fighter named -Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan had an army of Tartar horsemen who were -terrific fighters. Genghis and his Tartars were a good deal like Attila -and his Huns--only worse. Indeed, some people think Attila and his Huns -were Tartars also. - -Genghis usually found some excuse for making war on others, but if -he couldn’t find a good excuse he made up one, for he was bent on -conquering. He and his Tartars thought no more of killing than would -tigers or lions let loose. - -So Genghis and his horsemen swept over the land from Cathay toward -Europe. They burned and destroyed thousands upon thousands of towns and -cities and everything in their way. They slew men, women, and children -by the million. No one was able to stop them. It seemed as if they -were going to wipe off of the face of the earth all white people and -everything that white people had built. - -Genghis Khan had conquered the whole land from the Pacific Ocean to the -eastern part of Europe. But at last he stopped. With this kingdom he -seemed to be satisfied. And he might well have been satisfied, for it -was larger than the Roman Empire or that of even Alexander the Great. - -Even when Genghis died, things were no better, for his son was just as -frightful as his father and conquered still more country. - -But the grandson of Genghis Khan was much less ferocious than his -grandfather had been. He was named Kublai Khan, and he was quite -different from his father and grandfather. He made his capital at -a place in China now called Peking and ruled over this vast empire -that he had inherited from his father. Kublai’s chief interest was in -building magnificent palaces and surrounding himself with beautiful -gardens, and he made such a wonderful capital for himself that Solomon -in all his glory did not live in such splendor as did Kublai Khan. - -Now, far, far off from Peking and the palace of Kublai Khan, in the -north of Italy was a city built on the water. Its streets were of -water, and boats were used instead of carriages. This city was called -Venice. About the Year 1300 there were living in Venice two men named -Polo. The Polos got an idea in their heads that they would like to see -something of the world. So these two Venetians, and the son of one -of them named Marco Polo, started off toward the rising sun looking -for adventure, just like boys in story-books who go off to seek their -fortunes. After several years of travel, always toward the east, they -at last came to the gardens and to the magnificent palace of Kublai -Khan. - -When Kublai Khan heard that strange white men from a far-off place and -an unknown country were outside the palace, he wanted to see them. -So they were brought into his presence. They told Kublai Khan all -about their own land. They were good story-tellers, and they made it -interesting. They told him also about the Christian religion and many -other things that he had never heard of. - -The emperor was so much interested in the Polos and in the stories they -told about their country that he wanted to hear more. So he persuaded -them to stay with him and tell him more. He gave them rich presents. -Then he made them his advisers and assistants in ruling his empire. -So the Polos stayed on for years and years and years and learned the -language and came to be very important people in Cathay. - -At last after they had spent about twenty years in Cathay the Polos -thought it was about time to go home and see their own people again. So -they begged leave to return. Kublai Khan did not want them to go. They -were so useful to him and helped him so much in ruling that he didn’t -want to lose them. But in the end he did let them go, and they started -back to what once had been their home. - -When they at last arrived in Venice, they had been away so long and had -been traveling so far that no one knew them. They had almost forgotten -how to speak their own language, and they talked like foreigners. -Their clothes had become worn out and ragged by their long trip. They -looked like tramps, and not even their old friends recognized them. No -one would believe that these ragged, dirty strangers were the same fine -Venetian gentlemen who had disappeared almost twenty years before. - -The Polos told their townspeople all about their adventures and the -wonderfully rich lands and cities that they had visited. But the -townspeople only laughed at them, for they thought them story-tellers. - -Then the Polos ripped open their ragged garments, and out fell piles -of magnificent and costly jewels, diamonds and rubies and sapphires -and pearls--enough to buy a kingdom. The people looked in wonder and -amazement and began to believe. - -Marco Polo told his stories to a man who wrote them down and made a -book of them called “The Travels of Marco Polo.” This is an interesting -book for you to read even to-day, although we cannot believe all the -tales he told. We know that he exaggerated a great many things, for he -liked to amaze people. - -Marco Polo described the magnificence of Kublai Khan’s palace. He told -of its enormous dining-hall, where thousands of guests could sit down -at the table at one time. He told of a bird so huge that it could -fly away with an elephant. He said that Noah’s Ark was still on Mount -Ararat, only the mountain was so high and so dangerous to climb on -account of the ice and snow with which it was covered that no one could -go to see if the ark really were there. - -[Illustration] - - - - -56 - -“Thing-a-ma-jigger” and “What-cher-may-call-it” or a Magic Needle and a -Magic Powder - - -About this same time that Marco Polo returned from his travels, people -in Europe began to hear and talk about a magic needle and a magic -powder that did remarkable things, and some say that Marco brought -them back from Cathay, but this we doubt. The little magic needle when -floated on a straw or held up only at its middle would always turn -towards the north no matter how much you twisted it. Such a needle put -in a case was called a compass. - -Now, you may not see why such a little thing was so remarkable. But -strange as it may seem, this little thing really made it possible to -discover a new world. - -Perhaps you have played the game in which a child is blindfolded, -twisted around several times in the center of the room, and then told -to go toward the door or the window or some other point in the room. -You know how impossible it is for one who has been so turned round to -tell which way to go, and you know how absurd one looks who goes in -quite the opposite direction when he thinks he is going straight. - -Well, the sailor at sea was something like such a blindfolded child. Of -course, if the weather were fine he could tell by the sun or the stars -which way he should go. But when the weather was cloudy and bad there -was nothing for him to go by. He was then like the blindfolded child. -He might easily become confused and sail in just the opposite direction -from the way he wanted to go without knowing the difference. - -This was perhaps one of the chief reasons why sailors, before the -compass was used, had not gone far out of sight of land. They were -afraid they might not be able to find their way back. So only that part -of the world was known which could be reached by land or without going -far out of sight of land. - -But, with the compass, sailors could sail on and on through storm and -cloudy weather and keep always in the direction they wanted to go. They -simply had to follow the little magnetic needle suspended in its box. -No matter how much the boat turned or twisted or tossed, the little -needle always pointed to the north. Of course sailors did not always -want to go north, but it was very easy to tell any other direction if -they knew which was north. South was exactly opposite, east was to the -right, and west was to the left. So all they had to do was to steer the -boat on the course in whatever direction they wished. - -It was a long while, however, before sailors would use a compass. -They thought it was bewitched by some magic, and they were afraid -to have anything to do with such a thing. Sailors are likely to be -superstitious, and they were afraid that if they took the compass on -board it might bewitch their ship and bring them bad luck. - -The other magic thing was gunpowder. - -Never before 1300 had there been such things in Europe as guns or -cannons or pistols. All fighting had been done with bows and arrows or -swords or spears or with some such weapons. A sword can only be used on -a man a few feet away, but with guns an enemy may be killed and walls -battered down miles away. But after gunpowder was invented the armor -which the old knights wore was of course no longer of any use, for it -could not protect them from shot and shell. So gunpowder has changed -fighting completely and made war the terrible thing it has become. - -Although Marco Polo was supposed to have told about gunpowder and its -use in cannons as he had seen it in the East, most people think that -an English monk named Roger Bacon knew about gunpowder and also about -the compass and perhaps invented them. The monk Bacon knew about so -many things which people at that time thought were magic that he was -supposed to be in league with the devil, and so he was put in prison. -Bacon was the wisest man of his time, but he was ahead of his time. -If he were living now he would be honored as a great scientist and -inventor. But people thought he knew _too_ much--that any one who knew -as much as he did was wicked--that he was prying into God’s secrets, -which God did not want any one to know. - -Others, however, give the credit or the blame for the invention of -gunpowder to a German chemist named Schwarz. They say that one day -Schwarz was mixing some chemicals in an iron bowl with an iron mixer -called a _pestle_, such as druggists use, when, all of a sudden, -the mixture exploded and shot the iron pestle right up through the -ceiling. Schwarz was much surprised; he had had a narrow escape from -being killed; but this gave him an idea. Immediately he set to work -to think out a way to use the same mixture in battle to shoot iron -pestles at the enemy. Some people think it would have been far better -if the pestle had struck and killed Mr. Schwarz at the time, and if his -secret had been destroyed with him. We might then never have had the -terrible wars and the killing of millions of human beings which have -resulted from this discovery. It was quite a while, however, before -gunpowder was made strong enough to do much damage. In fact, it was -over a hundred years before fighting with guns entirely took the place -of fighting with bows and arrows. - -[Illustration] - - - - -57 - -Thelon Gest Wart Hate Verwas - - -Is this another Latin heading? - -No, it’s English. - -Don’t you understand English? - -It was 1338, and Edward III was king of England. Edward III wanted to -rule France as well as England. He said he was related to the former -king of France and had a better right to the country than the one who -was ruling. So he started a war to take France, and the war he started -lasted more than a hundred years. So this is known as the Hundred -Years’ War and it is: - - The Longest War that Ever Was! - -The English army sailed over from England and landed in France. The -first great battle was fought at a little place called Crécy. The -English army was on foot and was made up chiefly of the common people. -The French army were mostly knights clad in armor on horseback--the -society people. - -The French knights on horseback thought themselves much finer than the -common English soldiers who were on foot, as a man in a motor-car is -likely to look down on the man who is walking. - -The English soldiers, however, used a weapon called the _longbow_, -which shot arrows with terrific force, and they completely whipped the -French knights in spite of the fact that the knights were nobles, were -trained to be fighters, rode on horses, and were protected by armor. - -Cannon were used by the English in this battle for the first time. The -cannon, however, did not amount to much nor do very much harm. They -were so weak that they simply tossed the cannon-balls at the enemy as -one might throw a basketball or football. They scared the horses of the -French but did little other damage. But this was the beginning of what -was before long to be the end of knights and armor and feudalism. - -The battle of Crécy was only the beginning of the Hundred Years’ War. -The next year after the battle of Crécy a horribly contagious disease -called the Black Death attacked the people of Europe. It was like the -plague in Athens in the Age of Pericles, but the Black Death did not -attack just one city or country. It was supposed to have started in -Cathay, but it spread westward until it reached Europe. There was no -running away from it. It spread far and wide over the whole land and -killed more human beings than any war that has ever been. It was called -Black Death because black spots came out all over the body of any one -who caught it, and he was certain to die within a few hours or a day -or two. There was no hope. No medicine had any effect. Many people -committed suicide just as soon as they found they had the disease. Many -died just from fright, actually “scared to death.” - -It lasted two years, and millions upon millions caught the disease. -Half of the people of Europe died of it. Whole towns were wiped out, -and in many places no one was left to bury the dead. Dead bodies -lay where they had fallen--on the street, in the doorway, in the -market-place. - -The crops in the fields went to waste, for there was no one to gather -them. Horses and cows roamed over the country at will, for there was -no one to care for them. The plague attacked even sailors at sea, and -ships were found drifting about on the water with not a soul alive left -on board, with not even one left to steer the ship. - -What if it had killed every last man, woman, and child in the world! -What then would have been the future history of the world? - -But, as if there were not enough people dead already, the Hundred -Years’ War still went on year after year. The soldiers who had fought -at Crécy had been dead for years. Their children had grown up, fought, -and died; their grandchildren had grown up, fought and died, and their -great-grandchildren had done the same; and the English army was still -fighting in France. The French prince at that time was very young and -weak, and the French were almost in despair--hopeless--because they had -no strong leader to help them drive out the English after all these -many years. - -Now, in a little French village there was living a poor peasant girl, -a shepherdess, called Joan of Arc. As she watched her flocks of sheep, -she had wonderful visions. She heard voices calling to her, telling her -she was the one who must lead the French armies and save France from -England. She went to the prince’s nobles and told them her visions. -But they did not put any faith in her or her visions, and they did not -believe she was able to do the things she thought she could. - -To test her, however, they dressed up another man as the prince and put -him on the throne while the prince stood at one side with the nobles. -Then they let Joan into the room. When Joan entered the royal hall, she -gave one look at the man who was seated on the throne and dressed up as -prince. Then without hesitating she walked directly past him and went -straight to the _real_ prince. Before him she knelt and said, “I have -come to lead your armies to victory.” The prince at once gave her his -flag and a suit of armor, and she rode out at the head of all the army -and had him crowned king. - -[Illustration: Joan of Arc at the stake.] - -The French soldiers took heart again. It seemed as if the Lord had -sent an angel to lead them, and they fought so hard and so bravely that -they won many battles. - -The English soldiers, however, thought that it was not the Lord but -the devil who had sent Joan and that she was not an angel but a witch, -and they were very much afraid of her. At last, the English made her -prisoner. The French king, whom she had saved, in spite of all she -had done for him, didn’t even try to save her. Now that things were -going his way, he didn’t like to have a woman running things, and the -soldiers didn’t like to have a woman ordering them around, and they -were glad to be rid of her. - -The English tried her for a witch, judged her guilty of being a witch, -and then they burned her alive at the stake. - -But Joan seemed to have brought the French good luck, to have put -new life into their armies, for from that time on, France increased -in strength, and after more than a hundred years of fighting at last -drove the English out of the country. In one hundred years of fighting -hundreds of thousands of people had been wounded and crippled and -blinded and killed, and after it all England was no better off, just -the same as when she started--all the fighting all for nothing. - - - - -58 - -Print and Powder or Off with the Old On with the New - - -Up to this time there was not a printed book in the whole world. There -was not a newspaper. There was not a magazine. All books had to be -written by hand. This, of course, was extremely slow and expensive, so -there were very few of even these handwritten books in all the world. -Only kings and very wealthy people had any books at all. Such a book as -the Bible, for instance, cost almost as much as a house, and so no poor -people could own such a thing. Even when there was a Bible in a church, -it was so valuable that it had to be chained to keep it from being -stolen. Think of stealing a Bible! - -But about 1440 a man thought of a new way to make books. First he put -together wooden letters called type, and then smeared them with ink. -Then he pressed paper against this inky type and made a copy. After -the type was once set up, thousands of copies could be made quickly -and easily. This, as you of course know, was printing. It all seems so -simple, the wonder is that no one had thought of printing thousands of -years before. - -It is generally believed that a German named Gutenberg made the first -printed books about 1440, so he is called the inventor of printing. And -what do you suppose was the first book ever printed? Why, the book that -people thought the most important book in the world--the Bible. This -Bible was not printed in English, however, nor in German, but in Latin! - -The first book printed in English was made in England by an English -man named Caxton, and you would never guess what the English book was. -It was a description of the game of chess, the game that the Arabs had -invented. - -[Illustration: Gutenberg at his press. Comparing a printed sheet with a -manuscript.] - -Before this time few people, even though they were kings and princes, -knew how to read, because there were no books to teach them how to -read and few books for them to read if they had learned, and so what -was the use of learning. - -You can see how difficult it must have been for people throughout the -Middle Ages, without books or newspapers or anything printed, to learn -what was going on in the world, or to learn about anything that one -wanted to know. - -But, now that printing had been invented, all that was changed. -Story-books and school-books and other books could be made in large -numbers and very cheaply. People who never before were able to have -any books could now own them. Every one could now read all the famous -stories of the world and learn about geography, about history, about -anything he wanted to know. So the invention of printing was soon to -change everything. - -The Hundred Years’ War had at last come to an end soon after the -invention of printing. - -At the same time something else that was a thousand years old came to -an end. - -The Mohammedans whom we haven’t heard of for a long time, had tried to -capture Constantinople in the seventh century, but had been stopped, as -I told you, by tar and pitch that the Christians poured down on them. - -But in 1458 the Mohammedans once again attacked Constantinople. This -time, however, the Mohammedans were Turks, and they didn’t try to -batter down the walls of the city with arrows. They used gunpowder and -cannon. Cannon had been used at Crécy more than a hundred years before, -but they had done little damage. Since that time, however, they had -become greatly improved. Against the power of this new invention the -walls of Constantinople could not stand, and finally the city fell. -So Constantinople became Turkish, and the magnificent Church of Santa -Sophia, which Justinian had built a thousand years before, was turned -into a Mohammedan mosque. This was the end of all that was left of the -old Roman Empire--the other half of which had fallen in 476. - -Ever after the downfall of Constantinople in 1453, wars were fought -with gunpowder. No longer were castles of any use. No longer were -knights in armor of any use. No longer were bows and arrows of any -use--against this new kind of fighting. There was a new sound in the -world, the sound of cannon-firing: “Boom! boom! boom!” Before this, -battles had not been very noisy except for shouts of the victors and -the moans of the dying. So 1453 is called the end of the Middle Ages, -and the beginning of the New Ages that were to follow. - -Gunpowder had put an end to the Middle Ages. The invention of printing -and that little magic needle, the compass, did a great deal to start -the New Ages. - - - - -59 - -A Sailor Who Found a New World - - -What book do you like best? - -“Alice in Wonderland”? - -“Gulliver’s Travels”? - -One of the first books to be printed and one that boys at that time -liked best was - - “The Travels of Marco Polo” - -One of the boys who loved to read these stories of those far-away -countries of the East with their gold and precious jewels was an -Italian named Christopher Columbus. Christopher Columbus was born in -the city of Genoa, which is in the top of the “boot.” Like a great many -other boys who were born in seaport towns, he had heard the sailors on -the wharves tell yarns of their travels, and his greatest ambition in -life was to go off to sea and visit all the wonderful lands of which -he had read and been told. At last the chance came, and, though only -fourteen years old, he made his first voyage. After that, Columbus made -many other voyages and grew to be a middle-aged man, but he never got -to these countries he had read about in “The Travels of Marco Polo.” - -Many sea-captains of that time were trying to find a shorter way to -India than the long and tiresome one that Marco Polo had taken. They -felt sure there was a shorter way by sea and now that they had the -compass to guide them they dared to go far off searching for such a -waterway. - -By this time many books had already been printed. Some of these books -on travel were written by the old Greeks and Romans and declared what -was thought to be a crazy notion that the world was not flat but round. -Columbus had read these books and he said to himself that if the world -is really round, one should be able to reach India by sailing toward -the west. It should be much easier and shorter that way than if one -took a boat to the end of the Mediterranean Sea and then went over land -for thousands of miles the way Marco Polo had gone. - -The more Columbus thought of the idea, the surer he was that this could -be done and the more eager he was to get a ship to try out his idea. -But every one laughed at him and his notion as foolish. Of course, -being only a sailor, he had no money to buy or hire a ship in which to -make the trial and he could find no one to help him. - -So first Columbus went to the little country called Portugal. Portugal -was right on the ocean’s edge. It was to be expected then that the -people of Portugal would be famous sailors, and they _were_--as famous -as the Phenicians had been of old. So Columbus thought they might -be interested and help. Besides, the king of Portugal was extremely -interested in discovering new lands. - -But the king of Portugal thought, as the others did, that Columbus -was foolish and would have nothing to do with him. The king wanted to -make quite sure, however, that there was nothing in Columbus’s idea. -Furthermore, if there were any new land, he wanted to be the first to -discover it himself. So he secretly sent some of his sea-captains off -to explore. After a while they one and all returned and stated that -they had been as far as it was safe to go and that positively there was -nothing at all to the west but water, water, water. - -So Columbus in disgust then went to the next country--Spain--which at -that time was ruled by King Ferdinand and his queen Isabella. King -Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were just then too busy to listen to -Columbus. They were fighting with the Mohammedans, who had been in -their country ever since 732, when, you remember, they got as far north -as France. But at last Ferdinand and Isabella succeeded in driving the -Mohammedans out of their country, and then Queen Isabella became very -much interested in Columbus’s ideas and plans and finally promised to -help him. She even said she would sell her jewels, if necessary, to -give him the money to buy ships. But she didn’t have to do this. So -Columbus with her help was able to buy three little ships named the -_Niña_, _Pinta_, and _Santa María_. So small were these three boats -that nowadays we would have been afraid to go even out of sight of -shore in them. - -At last everything was ready, and Columbus set sail from the Spanish -seaport of Palos with about a hundred sailors. Many of the sailors -were criminals, who had been given a choice between prison and this -dangerous voyage. They chose to risk their lives rather than to stay -in prison. Directly toward the setting sun into the broad Atlantic, -Columbus steered. Past the Canary Islands he sailed, on and on, day and -night, always in the same direction. - -See if you can get this idea--the idea that every one had at that -time--that all there was of the world was what we have so far been -studying about. Try to forget that you ever heard of North and South -America. They, of course, knew of no such lands. Try to think of -Columbus on deck scanning the waves in the daytime or peering off in -the darkness at night, hoping sooner or later to sight, not a new -land--he wasn’t looking for a new land--but for China or India. - -[Illustration: Columbus arguing with his crew.] - -Columbus had been out for over a month, and his sailors began to -get worried. It seemed impossible that any sea could be so vast, so -endless, with nothing in sight before, behind, or on either side. They -began to think about returning. They began to be afraid they would -never reach home. They begged Columbus to turn back. They said it was -crazy to go any farther; there was nothing but water ahead of them, and -they could go on forever and ever, and there would never be anything -else. - -Columbus argued with them, but it was no use. Finally he promised -to turn back if they did not reach something very soon. As the days -went on still with nothing new, the sailors plotted to throw Columbus -overboard at night and so get rid of him. They would then sail home and -tell those back in Spain that Columbus had fallen overboard by accident. - -At last, when all had given up hope except Columbus, a sailor saw a -branch with berries on it floating in the water. Where could it have -come from? Then birds were seen flying--birds that never get very far -away from shore. Then one dark night, more than two months after they -had set sail, they saw far off ahead a twinkling light. Probably no -little light ever gave so much joy in the world. A light meant only -one thing--human beings--and land, land--land at last! And then on -the morning of October 12, 1492, the three boats ran ashore. Columbus -leaped out, and falling on his knees, offered up a prayer of thanks -to God. He then raised the Spanish flag, took possession of the land -in the name of Spain, and called it “San Salvador,” which means in -Spanish, “Holy Saviour.” - -Now, Columbus thought this land was India that he had at last reached, -though of course we know now that a great continent, North and South -America, blocked his way to India. In fact, it was only a little island -off the coast of America where he had landed. - -Strange men were the human beings he saw there. Their bodies and faces -were painted, and they had feathers in their hair. As Columbus thought -they must be people of India, he called them Indians, the name they -still bear. - -Columbus went on to other islands near-by; but he did not find any gold -nor precious stones such as he had expected, or the wonders that Marco -Polo had described; and as he had been away so long, he started back -again to Spain the way he had come. With him he took several Indians -to show the people at home, and also some tobacco, which he found them -smoking and which no one had even seen or heard of before. - -When he at last reached home safely again, people were overjoyed -at seeing him and hearing of his discoveries. Everyone was wildly -excited--but only for a while. People soon began to say it was nothing -for Columbus to have sailed westward until land was found, that anyone -could do that. - -One day when Columbus was dining with the king’s nobles, who were -trying to belittle what he had done, he took an egg and, passing it -around the table, asked each one if he could stand it on end. No one -could. When it came back to Columbus, he set it down just hard enough -to crack the end slightly and flatten it. Of course, _then_ it stood -up. “You see,” said Columbus, “it’s very easy if you only know how. So -it’s easy enough to sail west until you find land after I have done it -once and shown you how.” - -Columbus made three other voyages to America, four in all, but he never -knew he had discovered a new world. Once he landed in South America, -but he never reached North America itself. - -As Columbus did not bring back any of the precious jewels or wonderful -things that those in Spain expected him to, people lost interest in -him. Some were so spiteful and jealous of his success that they even -charged him with wrongdoing, and King Ferdinand sent out a man to -take his place. Columbus was put in chains and shipped home. Although -he was promptly set free, Columbus kept the chains as a reminder of -men’s ingratitude and asked to have them buried with him. After this, -Columbus made one other voyage, but when at last he died in Spain he -was alone and almost forgotten even by his friends. What an end for the -man who had given a new continent to the world and changed all history! - -Of all the men of whom we have heard, whether kings or queens, princes -or emperors, none can compare with Columbus. Alexander the Great, -Julius Cæsar, Charlemagne, were all killers. They took away. But -Columbus _gave_. He gave us a new world. Without money or friends or -luck, he stuck to his ideas through long years of discouragement. -Although made fun of and called a crank and even treated as a criminal -he never - - gave up, - gave out, nor - gave in! - - - - -60 - -Fortune-Hunters - - -The New World had no name. - -It was simply called the “New World,” as one might speak of the “new -baby.” - -It had to have a name, but what should it be? - -Of course if we could have chosen the name, we should have called it -“Columbia” after Columbus. But another name was selected, and this is -how it happened. - -An Italian named Americus made a voyage to the southern part of the New -World. Then he wrote a book about his travels. People read his book and -began to speak of the new land that Americus described as Americus’s -country. And so the New World came to be called America after Americus, -although in all fairness it should have been named after Columbus; -don’t you think so? Children sometimes have names given them which they -would like to change when they grow up. But then it is too late. So we -often speak and sing of our country as Columbia, although that is not -the name on the map. And that is why we call a great many cities and -towns and districts and streets Columbus or Columbia. - -After Columbus had shown that there was no danger of falling off the -world and that there really was land off to the west, almost every one -who had been hunting for India now rushed off in the direction Columbus -had taken. “Copy cats!” A genius starts something; then thousands -follow--imitate. Every sea-captain who could do so now hurried off to -the west to look for new countries, and so many discoveries were made -that this time is known as the Age of Discovery. Most of these men were -trying to get to India. They were after gold and jewels and spices, -which they thought they would find in India in great quantities. - -Now we can understand why people might go long distances in search -of gold and precious stones, but they also went after spices--such -as cloves and pepper--and you may wonder why they were so eager to -get spices? You yourself may not like pepper very much, and you may -dislike cloves. But in those days they didn’t have refrigerators filled -with ice, and meats and other foods were often spoiled. We would have -thought such food unfit to eat. But they covered it with spices to kill -the bad flavor, and then food could be eaten that otherwise one could -not have swallowed. Spices didn’t grow in Europe--only in the far east. -So people paid big prices to get them, and that is why men made long -journeys after them. - -A Portuguese sailor named Vasco da Gama was one of those who were -trying to get to India all the way by water. He did not, however, sail -_west_ as Columbus had done, but _south_ down around Africa. Others -had tried before to get to India by going south and around Africa, but -none had gone more than part way. Many frightful stories were told by -those who had tried but had at last turned back. These stories were -like the tales of “Sindbad the Sailor.” They said that the sea became -boiling hot; they said that there was a magnetic mountain which would -pull out the iron bolts in the ship, and the ship would then fall to -pieces; they said that there was a whirlpool into which a ship would -be irresistibly drawn--down, down, down to the bottom; they said there -were sea-serpents, monsters so large that they could swallow a ship at -one gulp. The southern point of Africa was called the Cape of Storms, -and the very name seemed to be bad luck, so that it was changed to Cape -of Good Hope. - -In spite of all such scary stories, Vasco da Gama kept on his way -south. Finally, after many hardships and many adventures, he passed -round the Cape of Good Hope. Then he sailed on to India, got the spices -that then were so highly prized, and returned safely home. This was in -1497, five years after Columbus’s first voyage, and Vasco da Gama -was the first one to go to India by water. Spain had the honor of -discovering a new land. Portugal had the honor of first reaching India -by water. - -[Illustration: 15ᵗͪ Century Map of Africa] - -England also was to have the honor of making discoveries. In the same -year that Vasco da Gama reached India, a man named Cabot set sail -from England on a voyage of discovery. His first trip was a failure, -but he tried again and finally came to Canada and sailed along the -coast of what is now the United States. These countries he claimed for -England, but he returned home, and England did nothing more about his -discoveries until about a hundred years later. - -Another Spaniard named Balboa explored the central part of America. He -was on the little strip of land that joined North and South America -which we now call the Isthmus of Panama. Suddenly he came to another -great ocean. This strange new ocean he named the South Sea, for -although the Isthmus of Panama connects North and South America, it -bends so that one looks _south_ over the ocean. - -Then came the longest trip of all. A Portuguese named Magellan wanted -to find a way to India _through_ the New World, for he thought there -must be some opening through which he might pass this new land that -blocked the way. He tried to get his own country to help him. But -again Portugal made the same mistake she had made in the case of -Columbus. She would not listen to Magellan. So Magellan went to Spain, -and Spain gave him five ships. - -With these five ships Magellan sailed off across the sea. When he -reached South America he sailed south along the shore trying to find -a passage through the land. One place after another seemed to be the -passage for which he was looking, but each one turned out to be nothing -but a river’s mouth. Then one of his ships was wrecked, and only four -were left. - -With these four ships he still kept on down the coast until he finally -reached what is now Cape Horn. Through the dangerous opening there, -since called after him the Straits of Magellan, he worked his way. One -ship deserted and went back home the way it had come. Only three were -then left. - -With these three ships he at last came into the great ocean on the -other side, the same ocean that Balboa had called the South Sea. This -Magellan named the “Pacific,” which means “calm,” because after all the -storms they had had it seemed so calm and quiet. But food and water -became scarce and finally gave out. Magellan’s men suffered terribly -from thirst and hunger and even ate the rats that are always to be -found on shipboard. Many of his men were taken sick and died. Still -he kept on, though he had lost most of the crew with which he had set -out. At last he reached what are now the Philippine Islands, where the -people were savages. Here he and his men got into a battle with the -natives, and Magellan was killed. There were now not enough men left -to sail three ships, and so one of these was burned, and only two were -then left. - -[Illustration: Magellan’s Victoria. (From an old print.)] - -Two of the ships, however, out of the five with which Magellan had -started out, still kept on. Then one of these was lost, disappeared, -and was never heard of again, and only a single ship named the -_Victoria_, remained. It seemed as if not one ship, not one man, would -be left to tell the tale. - -Around Africa the _Victoria_ struggled. Magellan’s men, worn out with -hunger and cold and hardships, still battled against wind and storm. -At last a leaky and broken ship with only eighteen men sailed into the -harbor from which it had set out more than three years before. And -so the _Victoria--Victory!_--Magellan’s ship, but without the heroic -Magellan--was the first ship to sail completely round the world. This -voyage settled forever the argument that had been going on for ages, -whether the earth was round or flat, for a ship had actually sailed -around the world! And yet in spite of this proof for many more years -thereafter there were people who still would not believe the world was -round, and even to-day there are people who say the world is flat, but -now we call them _cranks_. - -[Illustration: 1520 A.D.] - - - - -61 - -The Land of Enchantment or the Search for Gold and Adventure - - -All sorts of marvelous tales were told about the wealth and wonders of -the New World. - -It was said that somewhere in the New World there was a _fountain of -youth_, and that if you bathed in it or drank of its water, you would -become young again. - -It was said that somewhere in the New World there was a city called El -Dorado built of solid gold. - -So every one who liked adventure and could get enough money together -went off in search of these things that might make him famous or -healthy, wealthy or wise, or forever young. - -One of these men was Ponce de León. Ponce de León was looking for the -_fountain of youth_. While searching for this life-giving water, he -discovered Florida. But instead of finding the fountain of youth, he -lost his life in fighting with the Indians. - -Another one of these men was de Soto. He was searching for El Dorado, -the city of gold. While doing so he discovered the longest river in -the world--the Mississippi. But instead of finding El Dorado, de Soto -was taken sick with fever and died. Now, the Spaniards, to make the -Indians fear them, had said that de Soto was a god and could not die. -So in order to cover up the fact that de Soto had actually died his men -buried him at night in the river he had discovered. They then told the -Indians that he had gone on a trip to heaven and would presently return. - -The central part of America was called Mexico. Here lived at that time -a tribe of Indians known as Aztecs. These Aztecs were more civilized -than the other Indians that the explorers had come across. They did not -live in tents but in houses. They built fine temples and palaces. They -made roads and aqueducts, something like those of the Romans. They had -enormous treasures of silver and gold. And yet the Aztecs worshiped -idols and sacrificed human beings to them. Their king was a famous -chief named Montezuma. - -A Spaniard named Cortés was sent to conquer these Aztecs. He landed -on the shore of Mexico and burned his ships so that his sailors and -soldiers could not turn back. The Aztecs thought these white-faced -people were gods who had come down from heaven and that their ships -with their white sails were white-winged birds that had borne them. -They had never seen horses, some of which the Spaniards had brought -over across the water, and they were astonished at what seemed to them -terrible beasts that the white men rode. When the Spaniards fired their -cannons, the Aztecs were terrified. They thought it was thunder and -lightning that the Spaniards had let loose. - -Cortés moved on toward the Aztec capital, the City of Mexico, which was -built on an island in the middle of a lake. The natives he met on the -way fought desperately, but as they had only such weapons as men used -in the Stone and Bronze Ages, they were no match against the guns and -cannons of the Spaniards. - -Montezuma, their chief, wishing to make friends with these white gods, -sent Cortés rich gifts, cart-loads of gold, and when Cortés reached the -capital city Montezuma treated him as a guest instead of an enemy and -entertained him and could not do enough for him. Cortés told Montezuma -all about the Christian religion and tried to make him a Christian -also, but Montezuma thought his own gods just as good as the Christian -God, and he would not change. Then suddenly Cortés took Montezuma -prisoner, and terrible fighting began. At last Montezuma was killed, -and Cortés of course succeeded in conquering Mexico, for though the -Aztecs fought desperately and bravely, shot and shell were too much for -them. - -In Peru in South America was still another tribe of civilized Indians -even more wealthy than the Aztecs. They were called Incas, and it was -said that their cities were paved with gold. - -Another Spaniard named Pizarro went to Peru to conquer it as Cortés had -conquered Mexico. Pizarro told the ruler, who was called the Inca, that -the pope had given the country to Spain. The Inca had never heard of -the pope and must have wondered what the pope had to do with Peru and -how he could give it away. So naturally the Inca would not give up his -country to Spain. Then Pizarro _took_ it away. He had but a few hundred -men, but he had cannon, and of course the Incas could not stand out -against cannon. - -France and other countries of Europe also sent out explorers to conquer -parts of America, and then missionaries to teach the Indians the -Christian religion, but these you will hear more about when you study -American History. - -Many of the explorers were really pirates, even worse pirates than the -Norsemen who raided England and France, because they murdered people -who were without equal weapons to fight back. The excuse they often -gave for doing so was that they wanted to make the natives Christians. -No wonder that the natives did not think much of the Christian religion -if it taught murder of people who could not defend themselves. The -Mohammedans made converts with the sword, but the Christians made -converts with shot and shell. - -[Illustration] - - - - -62 - -Born Again - - -Here is a long word for you: it is Renaissance. - -It means: born again. - -Of course, nothing can be born again. But people call this time we have -now reached the Renaissance, the born-again time. This is the reason -why they call it that. - -You remember the Age of Pericles, don’t you? when such beautiful -sculptures and buildings were made in Athens. Well, in the fifteen -hundreds not every one was rushing off to the New World in search of -adventure. While the discoveries that I have told you about were taking -place, there were living and working in Italy some of the greatest -artists the world has ever known. - -Architects built beautiful buildings something like the old Greek and -Roman temples. Sculptors made statues that were almost as beautiful as -those of Phidias. People began to take an interest once more in the old -Greek writers, whose books were now printed for every one to read. It -seemed almost as if Athens in the Age of Pericles had been born again. -So that is why people speak of this time as the Renaissance. - -One of the greatest of these artists of the Renaissance was a man -named Michelangelo. But Michelangelo was not just a painter; he was -a sculptor, an architect, and a poet as well. Michelangelo thought -nothing of spending years working on any statue or painting that he was -doing. But when he had finished he had done something that people now -go from all over the world to see. - -Nowadays, sculptors first model a statue in clay and then copy it in -stone or cast it in bronze, but Michelangelo did not do this. He cut -his figures directly out of the stone, without making a model first. It -was as if he saw the figure imprisoned in the stone and then cut away -the part that closed the figure in. - -A large block of marble had been spoiled by another sculptor. -Michelangelo saw a figure of David _in_ it, and, setting to work, he -cut this young athlete _out_. - -He made also a statue of Moses sitting down. It is now in a church in -Rome, and when you walk up to it it is so lifelike that it seems as if -you were in the presence of the prophet Moses himself. The guide tells -you that when Michelangelo had finished this statue of Moses he was so -thrilled by the figure he had created that, feeling it must come to -life, he struck it on the knee with his hammer and commanded as he did -so, “Stand Up”! And then the guide shows you a crack in the marble to -prove that the story is true! - -[Illustration: Michelangelo at work.] - -The pope wanted Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of his own private -chapel in Rome. This was called the Sistine Chapel. At first -Michelangelo didn’t want to do the painting. He told the pope he was a -sculptor and not a painter. But the pope insisted, and Michelangelo at -last gave in. Once having agreed to do the work, however, Michelangelo -gave himself heart and soul to it. - -For four years he lived in this room--the Sistine Chapel--and hardly -ever left it day or night. Beneath the ceiling, he built himself a -platform, and, lying on this scaffold, he would read poetry and the -Bible and work “as the spirit moved him.” Locking himself in, he would -let no one enter, not even the pope himself. He wanted to be alone and -to be left alone. - -The pope, however, felt that he was a privileged character, and one -day, when he found the door left open, he came into the chapel to see -how things were getting along. Michelangelo, thereupon, accidentally -dropped some of his tools, and they just barely missed hitting the pope -on the head. The pope was very angry, but he never returned uninvited -again. - -People now go from all over the world to see this ceiling, which only -can be viewed comfortably by lying on the floor or by looking at it in -a mirror. - -Michelangelo lived to be nearly ninety years old, yet he had very -little to do with people. He could not stand being bored by them. So he -lived apart in the company of the gods and angels that he painted. - -Raphael was another famous Italian artist. He lived at the same time as -Michelangelo. Raphael, however, was just the opposite of Michelangelo -in most ways. Michelangelo liked to be by himself. Raphael loved -company. He was very popular and constantly surrounded by his friends -and admirers, for everybody loved him on account of his genius and -kindly nature. Young men swarmed about him, drinking in his words and -humbly copying everything he did. He had fifty or more pupils studying -and painting under him, and they went along with him whenever he went -out even for a walk. They almost worshiped the ground he walked on. - -Raphael painted many beautiful pictures of the Virgin Mary with the -infant Jesus. These were called Madonnas. Madonnas were almost the only -kind of pictures that artists painted at that time. Raphael painted -one especially beautiful picture of Mary and the Christ-child called -the “Sistine Madonna.” This is considered one of the twelve greatest -pictures in the world. It was painted for a little church, but it is -now in a great picture-gallery, where it has a whole room to itself. No -other pictures are thought worthy to have a place close by. - -Raphael died when he was still a young man, but he worked so hard and -so continuously that he has left a large number of pictures. He painted -only the very important parts of his pictures himself--perhaps only the -faces. The body and hands and clothing he usually left to be painted -by his pupils. They were glad to be allowed to do even a finger of a -painting on which their master had worked. - -Michelangelo’s paintings were strong and forcible as a man is supposed -to be. Raphael’s paintings were sweet and lovely and graceful, as a -woman is supposed to be. - -Leonardo da Vinci is another great artist who lived at this time. He -was left-handed, yet he could do any number of things exceptionally -well. He would be called a jack of all trades, but unlike most jacks -of all trades, he was good at all. He was an artist, an engineer, a -poet, and a scientist. It is said that he drew the first map of the -New World that had the name of America on it. He made, however, very -few paintings, because he did so many things beside, but these few -pictures are extremely beautiful. One of these is “The Last Supper.” It -is considered, as is the “Sistine Madonna,” one of the twelve greatest -paintings in the world. Unfortunately, it was painted directly on a -plastered wall, and in the course of time much of the plaster with the -paint has peeled off, so that there is little now left of the original -painting. - -Leonardo usually painted his women smiling. One of his most famous -paintings is the picture of a woman called “Mona Lisa.” She has a smile -that is called “quizzical.” You can hardly tell whether she is smiling -_at_ you or _with_ you. - - - - -63 - -Christians Quarrel - - -Some people say young boys and girls can’t understand this chapter. -They say it is too difficult. But I want to see if it is. - -Up to this time, as I have told you before, there had been only one -Christian religion--the Catholic. There was no Episcopalian, nor -Methodist, nor Baptist, nor Presbyterian, nor any other denomination. -All were just Christians. - -But in the sixteenth century some people began to think that changes -should be made in the Catholic religion. - -Others thought changes should not be made. - -Some said it was all right as it was. - -Others said it wasn’t all right as it was. So a quarrel started. - -This is the way the trouble began: The pope was building a great church -called St. Peter’s in Rome. It took the place of the old church that -Constantine had built on the spot where St. Peter was supposed to have -been crucified head down. The pope wanted it to be the largest and -finest church in the world, for Christ had said, “Thou art Peter, and -upon this rock [Peter means rock in Latin] I will build my church....” -So the Church of St. Peter’s was to be the Capitol of the Christian -religion. Both Michelangelo and Raphael had worked on the plans for the -new church. In order to get marble and stone and other materials for -this Church of St. Peter, the pope did as others before him had done; -he tore down other buildings in Rome and used their stone for the new -church. - -But besides all this the pope needed an enormous amount of money to -build such a magnificent church as he had planned. So he started to -collect from the people. Now, there was a man in Germany named Martin -Luther who was a monk and a teacher of religion in a college. Martin -Luther thought that not only this but also other things in the Catholic -Church were not right. So he made a list of ninety-five things that -he thought were not right and nailed them up on the church door in -the town where he lived, and he preached against doing these things. -The pope sent Luther an order, but Luther made a bonfire and burned -it publicly. Many took sides with Luther, and before long there was a -great body of people who had left the Catholic Church and no longer -obeyed the pope. - -The pope called on the king of Spain to help in this quarrel with -Luther. The reason he called on him was this: The king of Spain was -Charles V, the grandson of the Ferdinand and Isabella who had helped -Columbus. He was not only a good Catholic but the most powerful ruler -in Europe. The Spanish explorers had discovered different parts of -America, and so Charles was owner of a large part of the New World. But -he was emperor not only of these Spanish settlements in America but of -Austria and of Germany as well. So it was quite natural that the pope -should go to Charles for help. - -Charles commanded Luther to come to a city named Worms to be tried. He -promised Luther that no harm would be done him, and so Luther went. -When Luther arrived at Worms, Charles ordered him to take back all he -had said. Luther refused to do so. Some of Charles’s nobles said Luther -should be burned at the stake. But Charles, as he had promised, let him -go and did not punish him for his belief. Luther’s friends were afraid, -though, that other Catholics might do him harm. They knew Luther would -take no care of himself, and so they themselves took him prisoner and -kept him shut up for over a year, so that no one could harm him. While -Luther was in prison he translated the Bible into German; it was the -first time that the Bible had been written in that language. - -The people who protested against what the pope did were called -Protest-ants, and those Christians who are not Roman Catholics are -still called Protestants to-day. The time when these changes were made -in the Catholic form of worship was called the Re-form-ation, as the -old religion was _re-formed_. - -Now, you may be a Catholic and your best friend may not be a Catholic, -but that makes no difference in your friendship. But at that time those -who were Catholics were deadly enemies of those who were not. Each side -was sure it alone was right and the other side was wrong. Each side -fought for the things it thought were right, fought the other side as -furiously and madly and bitterly as if the other side were scoundrels -and devils. Friends and relatives murdered each other because they -thought differently about religion, and yet all were supposed to be -Christians. - -Charles was greatly worried and troubled by the religious quarrels -and other difficulties in his vast empire. He became sick and tired -of being emperor and of having to settle all the many problems he had -to solve. He wanted to be free to do other things that he was more -interested in. Being king did not mean being able to do whatever you -wanted, as some people think. So Charles did what few rulers have ever -done voluntarily: he resigned--“abdicated,” as it is called--and gave -up his throne to his son, who was named Philip II. - -Then Charles, glad to be rid of all the cares of state, went to live in -a monastery. There he spent his time doing what he liked--what do you -suppose?--making mechanical toys and watches--until he died! - -Now, the king of England at this time, when Charles was king of Spain, -was Henry VIII. His last name was Tudor. So many kings had first names -which were alike that such names were numbered to tell which Charles or -Henry was meant and how many of the same name there had been before. -Henry VIII was at first also a strong Catholic, and the pope had called -him Defender of the Faith. But Henry had a wife whom he wanted to get -rid of because she had no son. In order to get rid of her so that he -might marry again, he had to have what was called a divorce, and the -pope was the only one who could give Henry a divorce. Now, the pope at -Rome was head of the Christian Church of the whole world and said what -Christians could do or could not do, no matter whether they were in -Italy or Spain or England. So Henry asked the pope to grant him this -divorce. The pope, however, told him he would not give him a divorce. - -Now, Henry thought it was neither right nor proper that a man in -another country, even if he _were_ pope, should say what could be done -in England. He himself was ruler, and he didn’t intend to let any -foreigner meddle in his affairs or give him orders. - -[Illustration: Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn.] - -So then Henry said that he himself would be head of all the Christians -in England; then he could do as he wished without the pope’s -permission. So he made himself head, and then he divorced his wife. -All the churches in England were now told by the king what they should -do; the pope no longer had anything to say in the matter; the English -churches obeyed the king, not the pope. This made the second big break -in the Catholic Church. - -After this Henry VIII had five other wives, six in all; not of course -all at one time, for Christians could only have one wife at a time. His -first wife he divorced, the second he beheaded, the third died. The -same thing happened to his last three wives: the first he divorced, the -second he beheaded, and the third died--but Henry died before she did. - -Is this too difficult for you to understand? - - - - -64 - -King Elizabeth - - -King Henry VIII had two daughters. - -One was named Mary, and one was named Elizabeth. - -Their last name was of course Tudor, the same as their father’s, -although we do not usually think of kings and queens as having last -names. - -King Henry had a son, also, and he was first to become king after his -father died, for though he was younger than his sisters, a boy was -supposed to be more fit to rule than a girl. But he didn’t live long, -and then Mary was the first of the two sisters to become queen. - -“Mary, Mary, quite contrary” did not approve what her father had done -when he turned against the pope and the Catholic Church. Mary herself -was a strong Catholic and ready to fight for the pope and the Catholic -Church. In fact, she wanted to have all who were not Catholics, all -those who were Protestants, put to death. She thought that all those -who did not believe as she did were wicked and should be killed. Like -the queen in “Alice in Wonderland,” she was always saying, “Off with -his head!” This seems to us very unchristian, but in those days their -ideas about such things were peculiar. Mary had the heads of so many -people cut off that she was called Bloody Mary. - -Mary married a man who was just as strong a Catholic as she and even -“bloodier.” He was not an Englishman, but a Spaniard, Philip II of -Spain, son of Charles V, who had abdicated. - -Philip II was much sterner than his father had been. Philip tried -to make those who were Protestants, or who were supposed to be -Protestants, confess and give up Protestantism. If they did not do so, -they were tortured as the old Christian martyrs had been tortured. This -was called the Inquisition. Those suspected of being Protestants were -tormented in all sorts of horrible ways. Some were tied up in the air -by their hands, like a picture hung on the wall, until they fainted -from the pain or else confessed what they were told to confess. Some -were stretched on a rack, their heads pulled one way and their legs -the opposite way, until their bodies were nearly torn apart. Those who -were found guilty of being Protestants were killed outright, burned to -death, or put slowly to death, so that they would suffer longer. - -The people whom Philip chiefly persecuted were the Dutch people in -Holland. Holland then belonged to his empire, and a great many of the -Dutch people had become Protestants. - -Now, there was a Dutchman called William the Silent, because he talked -little but did a great deal. William was furious at the way his people -were treated. So he fought against Philip and at last succeeded in -making his country free and setting up the Dutch Republic. But William -the Silent was murdered by order of Philip. - -And that’s the kind of man Bloody Mary had for a husband. - -After Mary Tudor died, her sister, Elizabeth Tudor, became queen, -though she ruled like a king. Elizabeth had red hair and was very vain -and loved to be flattered. She had many lovers but she never married, -and as a woman who never marries is called a virgin she was known as -the Virgin Queen. - -Elizabeth was a Protestant and was just as bitter against the Catholics -as her sister and her sister’s husband had been against the Protestants. - -A relative of Elizabeth was queen of Scotland. Scotland was a country -north of England, but at that time it was not a part of England, and -its queen was named Mary Stuart. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, was -young, beautiful, and fascinating; but she was a Catholic, and so -Elizabeth and she were enemies. - -Elizabeth heard that Mary Stuart was trying to become queen of England -as well as Scotland, so she had her, although a relative, put in -prison. In prison Mary Stuart stayed for nearly twenty years and was -then at last put to death by Elizabeth’s orders. It is hard for us to -understand how any one could have his own relatives killed in this -cold-blooded way, especially any one who pretended to be a Christian, -but in those times it was a very common custom, as we see when we -hear of so many murders committed by the rulers of the people. Philip -II, the great champion of the Catholics, made up his mind to punish -Elizabeth, his sister-in-law, for killing such a good Catholic as Mary -Stuart. - -So he got together a large navy of very fine ships called the Spanish -Armada. All Spain was very proud of this fleet. It was boastfully -called the Invincible Armada; “invincible” means “unconquerable.” - -This Invincible Armada set forth in 1588 to conquer the English navy. -Lined up in the shape of a half-moon, the ships sailed grandly toward -England. - -The English fleet was composed only of little boats. But instead of -going out to meet the Armada in regular sea-battle as the Spaniards -expected, the English ships sailed out and attacked the Spanish ships -from behind and fought one ship at a time. The English were better -fighters, and their small boats were quicker and more easily managed. -They could strike a blow and get away before a Spanish ship could turn -around into position to fire. So gradually they sank or destroyed the -big Spanish boats one by one. - -Then the English set some old boats afire and started them drifting -toward the Spanish fleet. As all boats at that time were of course -made of wood, the Spaniards became frightened at these burning piles -drifting down upon them, and part of the fleet sailed away. The rest -tried to get back to Spain by sailing the long way round, north of -Scotland. But a terrible storm struck them, and almost all the boats -were shipwrecked, and thousands of dead bodies were washed up on shore. -So the great Spanish Armada was destroyed, and with it ended the power -of Spain at sea. She was no longer the great nation she had been. - -At the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign, the largest and most powerful -country in the world was Spain; at the end of her reign it was England -that was the most powerful. Ever since then her fleet, which King -Alfred started far back, has been the largest, and the saying is, -“Britannia rules the waves.” - -People at that time thought it impossible for a woman to rule as well -as a man, but under Elizabeth’s rule England in turn became the leading -country of Europe. Then people said Elizabeth ruled _like_ a man, that -she had a man’s brain, a man’s will. In fact they said she was more man -than woman--that she was a tomboy grown up--that’s why I call her “King -Elizabeth.” - -[Illustration] - - - - -65 - -The Age of Elizabeth - - -This story is about the Age of Elizabeth. - -My father always told me that it was impolite to talk about a lady’s -age. - -But I’m not going to tell you how old Elizabeth was, though she did -live and reign a great many years. - -I’m going to tell you some of the things that happened during her -long life, for the time when she lived is what is called the Age of -Elizabeth. - -There was a young man named Raleigh living when Elizabeth became queen. -One day when it was raining and the streets were muddy, Elizabeth -was about to cross the street. Raleigh saw her and, to keep her from -soiling her shoes, ran forward, took off his beautiful velvet cape, and -threw it in the puddle where she was about to step, so that she might -cross upon it as upon a carpet. The queen was greatly pleased with this -thoughtful and gentlemanly act, and she made him a knight, so that he -was then called Sir Walter Raleigh, and ever after that he was one of -her special friends. - -Sir Walter Raleigh was much interested in the new country of America. -Cabot had claimed a great part of it for England almost a hundred -years before, but England had done nothing about it. Raleigh thought -something should be done about it; he thought English people should -settle there, so that other countries like Spain, which had made so -many settlements in America, would not get ahead of England. So Raleigh -got together several companies of English people and sent them over to -an island called Roanoke, which was just off the coast of the present -State of North Carolina. At that time, however, almost the whole coast -of the United States as far north as Canada was called Virginia. It had -been named Virginia in honor of the Virgin Queen Elizabeth. - -Some of these Roanoke colonists became discouraged with the hardships -they had to suffer and so gave up and sailed back home again. Those -who remained all disappeared. Where? No one knows. We think they must -either have been killed by the Indians or have died of starvation. -At any rate, not one was left to tell the tale. Among these Roanoke -colonists was the first English child born in America--a girl, who had -been named Virginia Dare, for the queen was very popular and a great -many girls were named Virginia after her. - -Some tobacco was brought back from Virginia, and Sir Walter Raleigh -learned to smoke. This was such a strange and unknown thing at that -time that one day while he was smoking a pipe a servant who saw smoke -coming out of his mouth thought he was on fire and, running for a -bucket of water, emptied it over his head. - -Virginia is still famous for its tobacco. At first tobacco was supposed -to be very healthful, for the Indians seemed to have very good health -and they smoked a great deal. Afterward, however, in the next reign, -King James so hated tobacco that he wrote a book against it and forbade -it to be used. - -After Queen Elizabeth had died, Raleigh was put in prison, for it -was said he was plotting against the new king James, who came after -Elizabeth. The prison where he was placed was the Tower of London, the -old castle that William the Conqueror had built. Here Raleigh was kept -for thirteen long years, and to pass the time away he wrote a “History -of the World.” But at last he was put to death as many other great men -were also. - -During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, there lived the great writer of -plays, the greatest writer the world has ever known. This man was -William Shakspere. - -Shakspere’s father could not write his name. Shakspere himself spent -only six years at school. As a boy he was rather wild, and he was -arrested for hunting deer in the forest of Sir Thomas Lucy at Stratford. - -[Illustration: Shakspere reading to Elizabeth.] - -When still a boy Shakspere married a girl older than himself named Anne -Hathaway. After he had been married a few years he left her and their -three children, left the little town of Stratford, and went up to the -great city of London to seek his fortune. There Shakspere got a job -working around a theater, holding the horses of those who came to see -the plays. Then he got a chance to act in the theater, and he became an -actor, but he did not become a very good one. - -In those days the theaters had no scenery. A sign was put up to tell -what the scene was supposed to be. For instance, instead of forest -scenery, they would put up a sign saying, “This is a forest,” or -instead of a room scene a sign saying “This is a room in an inn.” There -were no actresses. Men and boys took the parts of both men and women. - -Shakspere was asked to change some of the plays that had already been -written, so that they could be better acted. He did this very well; -then he started in to write plays himself. Usually he took old stories -and made them into plays, but he did it so wonderfully well that they -are better than any plays that have ever been written before or since. - -Though Shakspere left school when only thirteen years old, he seems to -have had a remarkable knowledge of almost everything under the sun. He -shows in his plays that he knew about history and law and medicine, -and he knew and used more words than almost any writer who has ever -lived. Indeed, some people say that with the little education he had, -he could not possibly have written the plays himself, and so they have -tried to prove that some one else must have written them. Some of the -greatest of Shakspere’s plays are “Hamlet,” “The Merchant of Venice,” -“Romeo and Juliet,” and “Julius Cæsar.” - -Shakspere made a good deal of money for those times--almost a fortune. -Then he left London and went back to live in the little town of -Stratford where he was born. Here at last he died and was buried in -the village church. People wanted to move his body to a greater and -handsomer place, to a famous church in London. But some one, perhaps -Shakspere himself, had written a verse which was carved on his -tombstone. The last line of this verse said, “And curst be he who moves -my bones”; so they never were moved, for no one dared to move them. - - - - -66 - - James the Servant - or - What’s In a Name? - - -What does your name mean? - - If it is - Baker or - Miller or - Taylor or - Carpenter or - Fisher or - Cook, - -it means that at some time one of your ancestors was a - - baker, or - miller, or - tailor, or - carpenter, or - fisher, or - cook. - -If your name is Stuart or Steuart or Stewart or Steward, it means that -at some time one of your ancestors was a steward for in olden days -people knew very little about spelling, and they spelled the same name -in different ways. A steward was a chief servant. - -There was a family named Stuart in Scotland, and from chief servants -or stewards they had become rulers of the Scots. Mary Stuart, whom -Elizabeth had beheaded, was one of them. - -As Queen Elizabeth never married, she had no children to rule after -her. She was the last of the Tudor family. So the English had to look -around for a new king, and they looked to Scotland. - -Now, Scotland, as I have told you, was then a separate country and -not a part of England as now. The son of Mary Stuart was then king of -Scotland. His name was James Stuart. As he was related to the Tudors, -the English invited him to come and rule over them. He accepted the -invitation and was called James I. So we speak of his reign and that of -his children as the reign of the Stuarts. - -The Stuart family reigned for about a hundred years, that is, from 1600 -to 1700, all except about eleven years when England had no king at all. - -Many times the English must have been very sorry that they had ever -invited James to be their king, for he and the whole Stuart family -lorded it over the English people. They acted as if they were “lords of -creation,” and the English people had to fight for their rights. - -A body of men called Parliament were supposed to make the laws for the -English people. But James said that Parliament could do nothing that he -didn’t like, and if they weren’t very careful he wouldn’t let them do -any governing at all. James said that whatever the king did was right, -that the king could do no wrong, that God gave kings the right to do as -they pleased with their subjects. This was called the Divine Right of -Kings. Naturally the English people would not put up with this sort of -thing. Ever since the time of King John they had insisted on their own -rights. The Tudors had often done things that the people didn’t like, -but the Tudors were English. The Stuarts, however, were Scotch, and -the people looked on them as foreigners; what they permitted in one of -their own family they wouldn’t stand in these strangers whom they had -invited into their family. So, of course, a quarrel was bound to start. -But the real fight came with the next king and not with James. - -James was very fond of beefsteak, and one particular cut from the loin -of beef he liked especially well. It was so delicious he thought it -should be honored in some way, and so he made it a knight as if it were -a brave and gallant gentleman and dubbed it “Sir Loin,” which we still -call it to-day--although people have forgotten all about how it got -such a name, and some even say this is only a story and that he never -did such a foolish thing, anyway. - -During King James’s reign the Bible was translated into English. This -is probably the same Bible you read and that is called the King James -Bible. - -Nothing much happened in England during James’s reign, but in some -other countries a great deal did happen, although the king had little -to do with it. English people made settlements in India, that far away -country of the Brahmanists, which Columbus had tried to reach by going -west; and these settlements there grew until India at last belonged to -England. The English made settlements also in America, and these grew -until at last part of America, too, belonged to England. - -One of these settlements in America was made in the South, and one was -made in the North. Raleigh’s settlement at Roanoke had disappeared, as -I told you; but in 1607 a boatload of English gentlemen sailed over -to America looking for adventure and hoping to make their fortunes by -finding gold. They landed in Virginia and named the place where they -settled Jamestown after their king, James. But they found no gold, and -as they were not used to work, they didn’t want to do any. But their -leader, Captain John Smith, took matters in hand and said that those -that didn’t work shouldn’t eat. So then the colonists had to go to work. - -Back in England people had learned to smoke, and so the colonists -began to raise tobacco for the English people. The tobacco brought -the colonists so much money that it proved to be a gold-mine--of a -different kind--after all. But the colonial gentlemen wanted some one -to do the rough work for them. So a few years later some negroes were -brought over from Africa and sold to the colonists as slaves to do the -rough work. This was the beginning of slavery in America, which grew -and grew until in the South almost all the work was done by colored -slaves. - -A little later another company of people left England for America. -These people were not looking for fortunes, however, as the Jamestown -settlers had been. They were looking for a place where they might -worship God as they pleased, for in England they were interfered -with, and they wanted to find a place where no one would interfere -with them. So this company of people left England in 1620 in a ship -called the _Mayflower_ sailed across the ocean and landed in a place -called Plymouth, in Massachusetts, and there they settled. More than -half of them died the first winter from hardship and exposure in the -bitter weather that they have in the North, but, nevertheless, none of -those who were left would go back to England. This settlement was the -beginning of that part of the United States called New England. You -will hear more about both settlements later when you study American -History. But at present we must see what was going on in England, for -there were great “goings on” there. - -[Illustration] - - - - -67 - -A King Who Lost His Head - - -Have you ever sung, “King William was King James’ son”? - -Well, that must have been some other King James, for King Charles was -this King James’ son, and he was Charles I. - -Charles was “a chip of the old block.” Like his father he believed in -the Divine Right of Kings, that he alone had the right to say what -should be done or what should not be done, and he treated the English -people as King John had; that is, as if they were made simply to serve -his pleasure and to do as he said. - -But this time the people didn’t carry him off, as they had King John, -to agree to a paper. They started to fight. The king made ready to -fight for what he thought his rights. So he got together an army of -lords and nobles and those who agreed with him. Those who took his side -even dressed differently from those who were against him. They grew -their hair in long curls and wore a broad-brimmed hat with a large -feather and lace collars and cuffs of lace even on their breeches. - -Parliament also got together an army of the people who wanted their -rights. They had their hair cut short and wore a hat with a tall crown -and very simple clothes. A country gentleman named Oliver Cromwell -trained a regiment of soldiers to be such good fighters that they were -called Ironsides. - -[Illustration: King Charles and Oliver Cromwell.] - -The king’s army was made up of men who prepared for battle by drinking -and feasting. The parliamentary army prayed before going into battle -and sang hymns and psalms as they marched. - -At last after many battles the king’s army was beaten and King Charles -was taken prisoner. A small part of Parliament then took things in -their own hands, and though they had no right to do so they tried King -Charles and condemned him to death. They found him guilty of being a -traitor and a murderer and other terrible things. Then he was taken -out in front of his palace in London in the year 1649 and his head -was cut off. People now feel that this was a shameful thing for the -parliamentary army to do to the king, and even at that time only a part -of the English people were in favor of it. He might have been sent away -instead of being killed, or he might have had his office of king taken -away from him. - -Oliver Cromwell, the commander of the parliamentary army then ruled -over England for a few years. He was a coarse-looking person with -very rough manners, but honest and religious, and he ruled England as -a stern and strict father might rule his family. He would stand no -nonsense. Once when he was having his picture painted--for there were -no photographs then--the artist left out a big wart he had on his face. -Cromwell angrily told him, “Paint me as I am, wart and all.” Cromwell -was really a king although he called himself Protector, but he did a -great deal that was good for England. - -When Cromwell died his son became ruler after him, just as if he were -the son of a king, but the son was unable to fill his father’s shoes. -He meant well, but he hadn’t the brains or the ability that his father -had, and so in a few months he resigned. Oliver Cromwell had been so -strict that the English people had forgotten about their troubles under -the Stuarts. So in 1660 when the English found themselves without a -ruler they invited back the son of Charles I, whom they had beheaded, -and once more a Stuart became king. This was Charles II. - -Charles was called the Merry Monarch because all he seemed to think -about was eating and drinking, amusing himself, and having a good time. -He made fun of things that were holy and sacred. To revenge himself on -those who had put his father to death he had those of them who were -still living killed in the most horrible way one could think of. Those -that were dead already, Oliver Cromwell among them, were taken from -their tombs; then their dead bodies were hung and afterward beheaded. - -In his reign that old and terrible disease, the plague, broke loose -again in London. Some people thought that God had caused it, that -He was shocked by the behavior of the king and his people especially -toward holy things, that He was punishing them. The next year, 1666, a -great fire started and burned up thousands of houses, and hundreds of -churches were destroyed. But the Great Fire, as it was called, cleaned -up the disease and dirt and was therefore really a blessing. London had -been a city of wooden houses. It was rebuilt of brick and stone. - -Only one more Stuart ruler shall I tell you about--or rather a royal -pair, William and Mary--because in their reign the fight between the -people and their kings was once for all finally settled. In 1688 -Parliament drew up an agreement called the Declaration of Right, which -William and Mary signed. This agreement made Parliament ruler over the -nation, and ever since, Parliament and not the king has been the real -ruler of England. So I think we have heard enough of the Stuarts for a -while. - - - - -68 - -Red Cap and Red Heels - - -The last Louis I told you about was a saint--the Louis who went on the -last Crusade. - -The two Louis I’m going to tell you about now were not saints--not by -any means. - -They were Louis XIII and Louis XIV and they ruled France while the -Stuarts were reigning in the seventeenth century in England. - -Louis XIII was king in name only. Another man told him what to do, -and he did it. Strange to say, this other man was a great ruler of -the church called a cardinal, who wore a red cap and a red gown. The -cardinal’s name was Richelieu. - -Now, you are probably sick and tired of hearing about wars, but during -the reign of Louis XIII another long war started, and I must tell -you something about it for it lasted thirty years. It was therefore -called the Thirty Years’ War. It was different from most wars. It was -not a war of one country against another. It was a war between the -Protestants and Catholics. - -Cardinal Richelieu was of course a Catholic and the real ruler of -France, which was a Catholic country. Nevertheless, he took sides with -the Protestants, for they were fighting a Catholic country called -Austria, and he wanted to beat Austria. Most of the countries in Europe -took part in this war, but Germany was the battle-ground where most of -the fighting was done. Even Sweden, a northern country of Europe which -we have not heard of before, took part. The king of Sweden at this time -was named Gustavus Adolphus, and he was called the Snow King because he -was king of such a cold country, and also the Lion of the North, for -he was such a brave fighter. I am mentioning him particularly because -of all kings and rulers in Europe at this time he was the finest -character. Indeed, most of the other rulers thought only of themselves, -and they would lie and cheat and steal and even murder to get what -they wanted, but Gustavus Adolphus was fighting for what he thought -was right. Gustavus Adolphus was a Protestant, and so he came down -into Germany and fought on the side of the Protestants. He was a great -general, and his army won. But unfortunately he himself was at last -killed in battle. The Protestants came out ahead in the Thirty Years’ -War, and at last a famous treaty of peace was made called the Treaty of -Westphalia. By this treaty it was agreed that each country should have -whatever religion its ruler had; it could be Protestant or Catholic as -the ruler wished. - -During the Thirty Years’ War the plague, that old deadly contagious -disease we have heard of before, broke out in Germany. A little town -named Oberammergau prayed that it might be spared. The townspeople -vowed that if they were spared they would give a play of Christ’s life -once every ten years. They _were_ spared, and so every ten years, ever -since then, with only a few exceptions, they have been giving what is -called the Passion Play. As it is the only place in the world where it -is ever given, tens of thousands of Christians from all over the globe -travel to this little out-of-the-way village to see these peasants act -the stories of Christ’s life. The play is given on Sundays during the -summer of the tenth year and lasts all day long. There are about seven -hundred people who take part, half of all the people in the town. It -is a great honor to be chosen to play the part of a saint; it is the -highest earthly honor to be selected to play the part of Christ; and it -is a disgrace to be left out entirely. - -The next French king to rule after Louis XIII and Richelieu was Louis -XIV. - -The people in England had at last succeeded in getting the power to -rule themselves through their Parliament. But in France Louis would -let no one rule but himself. He said, “I am the state,” and he would -let no one have a say in the government. This was the same as the -Stuarts’ Divine Right of Kings, which the English people had put an end -to. Louis ruled for more than seventy years. This is the longest time -that any one in history has ever ruled. - -[Illustration: Louis XIV.] - -Louis XIV was called the Grand Monarch, and everything he did was to -show off. He was always parading and strutting about as if he were -the leading character in a play and not just an ordinary human being. -He wore corsets and a huge powdered wig and shoes with very high red -heels, to make himself appear taller. That, I suppose, is why some -ladies to-day wear high heels called French heels. He carried a long -cane, stuck out his elbows, turned out his toes, and strutted up and -down, for he thought these things made him seem grand, important, -imposing. - -All this may sound as if Louis were a silly person with no sense, but -you must not get that idea. In spite of his absurd manners he made -France the chief power in Europe. He was almost constantly fighting -other countries, trying to increase the size of France and to add to -his kingdom, but I have already told you so much about so many fights, -that I’m not going to tell you any more about his just now, for you -would probably not read it if I did. So France had her turn as leader -of all the other countries as Spain and England had had. - -Louis built a magnificent palace at Versailles in which were marble -halls, beautiful paintings, and many huge mirrors in which he could see -himself as he strutted along. The palace was surrounded by a park with -wonderful fountains. The water for the fountains had to be brought a -long distance, and it cost thousands of dollars to have the fountains -play just for a few minutes. Even to-day sight-seers visit Versailles -to see the magnificent palace rooms and to watch the fountains play. - -But Louis surrounded himself not only with beautiful things. He also -surrounded himself with all the most interesting men and women of his -time. All those who could do anything exceptionally well, all those who -could paint well or write well or talk well or play well or look well, -he brought together to live with him or near by him. This was called -his _court_. Those in his Court were “in society.” They were the chosen -few who looked down on all the others who were not in society. - -[Illustration: Louis XIV getting ready for bed.] - -This was all very fine for the people who were lucky enough to be “in -society”--in Louis’s court. But the poor people of France, those not in -his court, were the ones who had to pay Louis’s expenses and those of -his court. They were the ones who had to pay for his parties and balls -and feasts and for all sorts of presents which he gave his friends. So -we shall see presently what happened. The poor people would not stand -that sort of thing forever. “The worm will turn,” we say. - -[Illustration] - - - - -69 - -A Self-Made Man - - -Who was the Father of His Country? - -I know what you will say: - -“George Washington.” - -But there was another man called “The Father of His Country” before -Washington was born, and he was not an American. - -In the east of Europe there is a great country as large as our own, -and its name is Russia. Very little had been heard of Russia before -the Year 1700, for although it was the largest country in Europe, its -people were only about half civilized. The Russians were a branch of -the great Aryan family called Slavs, but although they were white -people, they were living so close to the yellow people in China that -they had become much like them in many of their ways. Then, too, the -terrible Genghis Khan and his yellow Mongols had conquered Russia -in the thirteenth century and ruled over the land. So although the -Russians were Christians, they were in every other way more like the -people of the East than like Europeans. The men had long beards and -wore long coats. The women wore veils like those the Turkish women -wore. The people counted with balls strung on wires as the Chinese did. - -Well, just before 1700 there was born a Russian prince named Peter. -When a small boy, Peter was very much afraid of the water. But he felt -so ashamed that he, a prince, should fear anything that he forced -himself to get used to the water. He would go to it and play in it and -sail boats on it, although all the time he was almost scared to death. -And so at last he not only got over this great fear but he came to like -the water and boats more than any other playthings. - -When Peter grew up the thing he wanted more than anything else in the -world was to make his country important in Europe, for before this time -it had not been. It was big but not great. And his people had to be -civilized. But before he could teach his own people, who were most of -them very poor and ignorant, he had to learn himself. As there was no -one in Russia who could teach him what he wanted to know, he disguised -himself as a common laborer and went to the little country of Holland. -Here he got a job in a shipbuilding yard and worked for several months, -cooking his own food and mending his own clothes. While he was doing -this, however, he learned all about building ships and studied many -other things besides, such as blacksmithing, cobbling shoes, and even -pulling teeth. - -Then he went to England, and everywhere he went he learned all he -could. At last he returned to his own country with the knowledge he had -gained and set to work to make Russia over. First of all, Peter wanted -Russia to have a fleet of ships as other nations had. But in order to -have a fleet he had to have water for his ships, and Russia had almost -no land bordering on the water. So Peter planned to take a sea-shore -away from the neighboring country of Sweden. - -Now the king of Sweden at this time was Charles. He was the twelfth -king named Charles that Sweden had had. Charles XII was hardly more -than a boy, and Peter thought it would be an easy matter to beat -this boy and help himself to whatever land he wanted on the water. -But Charles was not an ordinary boy. He was an extra-ordinary boy, -extra-ordinarily bright and gifted, and he had been unusually well -educated besides. He knew several languages; he had learned to ride a -horse when he was four years old and how to hunt and to fight. Besides -all this, he feared neither hardship nor danger. Indeed, he was such a -daredevil that people called him the Madman of the North. So at first -Peter’s army was beaten by Charles. - -But Peter took his beating calmly, simply remarking that Charles would -soon teach the Russian army how to win. Indeed, so successful was -Charles at first in fighting Peter and all others who threatened him -that the countries of Europe began to think of him as Alexander the -Great come to life again, and they feared he might conquer them all. -But at last the Russians did win against Charles, and Peter got his -sea-shore. Then Peter built the fleet for which he had been working and -planning for so many years. - -The capital of Russia was Moscow. It was a beautiful city but near -the center of that country and far from the water. This didn’t suit -Peter at all. Peter wanted a fine city for his capital, but he wanted -it right on the water’s edge, so that he could have his beloved ships -close to him. So he picked out a spot not only on the water but mostly -water, for it was chiefly a marsh. Then he put a third of a million -people to work filling in the marsh, and on this he built a beautiful -city. This city he called St. Petersburg in honor of his patron -saint, the apostle Peter, after whom he himself had been named. The -name of St. Petersburg was later changed to Petrograd and recently to -Leningrad. Then Peter improved the laws, started schools, and built -factories and hospitals and taught his people arithmetic, so that they -could count without having to use balls strung on strings. He made -his people dress like other Europeans. He made the men cut off their -long beards, which he thought looked countrified. The men thought it -indecent to have no beards so some saved them to be placed in their -coffins in order that at the day of resurrection they could appear -before God unashamed. He introduced all sorts of things that he found -in Europe but which were unknown in his own country, and he really made -Russia over into a great European nation, so that is why he is called -Peter the Great, the Father of his Country. - -Peter fell in love with a poor peasant girl, an orphan named Catherine, -and married her. She had no education, but she was very sweet and -lovely and bright and quick-witted, so the marriage turned out happily. -The Russians were shocked at the idea of having a queen who was not a -princess and was so low-born. But Peter had her crowned, and after he -died she ruled over Russia. - - - - -70 - -A Prince Who Ran Away - - -If you put a P in front of Russia it makes--Prussia. This is the name -of a little country in Europe, which is now a part of Germany. Russia -was big, and Peter made it great. Prussia was small, but another king -made it also great. This king was named Frederick. He, too, lived in -the eighteenth century, but a little later than Peter, and he, too, was -called “the Great”--Frederick the Great. - -Frederick’s father, who was the second king of Prussia, had a hobby for -collecting giants--as you might collect postage-stamps. Wherever he -heard of a very tall man, no matter in what country and no matter what -it cost to get him, he bought or hired him. This collection of giants -he made into a remarkable company of soldiers which was his special -pride. - -He was a very cranky, cross, and bad-tempered old king. He treated his -children terribly, especially his son Frederick, whom he called Fritz. -Fritz had curls and liked music and poetry and fancy clothes. And his -father thought he was growing up to be a girl-boy. This disgusted his -father, for he wanted a son who would be a soldier and fighter. His -father when angry used to throw dishes at him, lock him up for days -at a time, and feed him on bread and water and whip him with a cane. -Finally Fritz could stand it no longer, and he ran away. He was caught -and brought back. His father was so angry with his son for disobeying -and acting as he had done that he was actually going to have him -killed--yes, put to death--but at the last minute was persuaded not to -do it. - -But here is a funny thing: When Fritz grew up to be Frederick, he -turned out just what his father wanted him to be--a great soldier and -fighter. He still loved poetry and even tried to write poems himself, -and he was very fond of music and he played the flute very well, -indeed. But Frederick wanted above everything else to make his country -important in Europe; for before his time it was of little account, and -no one paid much attention to it. - -Now, the neighboring country to Prussia was Austria. Austria was ruled -over by a woman. This woman was named Maria Theresa. Maria Theresa had -become ruler of Austria at the same time that Frederick had become king -of Prussia. Some people thought a woman was not a fit person to rule -over a country. Frederick’s father had promised to let Maria Theresa -alone--he had promised not to fight a woman--but when Frederick became -king he wanted to add a part of Austria to his own country, and so he -simply helped himself to the piece of Maria Theresa’s country that he -wanted. He didn’t care if she was a woman or whether it was fair or -not. Of course this started a war. Before long almost every country in -Europe was fighting either with Frederick or against him. But Frederick -not only succeeded in getting what he was after; he succeeded in -holding on to it. - -Maria Theresa, however, would not give up. She wanted to get back what -had been wrongfully taken away from her. So she began quietly and -secretly to get ready for another war against Frederick. Quietly and -secretly she got other countries to promise to help her. But Frederick -heard of what she was doing, and suddenly he attacked her again, and -for seven long years this next war went on. So this was called the -Seven Years’ War. Frederick kept on fighting until he had beaten -Austria for good and until he had gained his purpose, which was to make -his little country of Prussia the most powerful country in Europe. -He still held on to the part of Austria that he had at first taken -away. Maria Theresa was a great queen, and she would have won against -Frederick had he been an ordinary king. But she had too strong a ruler -against her. Frederick was one of the world’s smartest generals and too -much for her. - -The Seven Years’ War, strange to say, was fought out not only in -Europe but in far-off America, also. England had taken Frederick’s -side. France and other countries had taken sides against him. So the -English settlers in America, who were on Frederick’s side, fought the -French settlers, who were against him. When, therefore, Frederick -won in Europe, the English in America also won against the French in -America. I am telling you all this because that is why we in America -speak English instead of French to-day. If Frederick had lost, France -would have won, and we here in America would probably now speak French -instead of English. - -Frederick, like some other kings we have heard of before, thought -nothing of lying or cheating or stealing if he had to in order to -get the better of other countries. Fair means or foul means made no -difference to him. But his own people he treated as if they were his -children and did everything he could for them. Like a lioness with her -cubs, he fought for his family, even with the world against him. - -There was a mill close by Frederick’s palace that belonged to a poor -miller. As it was not a pretty thing to be so near, the king wanted -to buy it in order to tear it down and get rid of it. But the miller -would not sell. Although Frederick the Great offered the miller a large -sum of money, he refused. A great many kings would simply have taken -the mill and perhaps put the miller in jail or put him to death, but -Frederick did neither, for he thought his lowliest subject had his -rights and that if he didn’t want to sell he shouldn’t be made to. So -he left the miller undisturbed, and the mill stands to-day as it did -then, close to the palace. - -Though Frederick was a German, strange to say, he hated the German -language. He thought it the language of the uneducated. He himself -spoke French and wrote in French and only spoke German when he had to -talk to his servants or those who did not understand French. - -[Illustration] - - - - -71 - -America Gets Rid of Her King - - - -Did you know that we once had a king? - -His name was George. - -No, George Washington wasn’t a king. - -This was another George. - -You remember the Stuarts in England--James, Charles, and the rest of -the family who ruled England for a hundred years from 1600 to 1700. -Well about 1700 England ran out of Stuarts--there were no more Stuart -children. - -As England had to have another king, they asked a distant relative of -the royal family over from one of the German states to rule England. -Yes, from Germany to rule England. His name was George, and the English -called him George I. George couldn’t even speak English. He was German -and loved his own country much better than England, but he had agreed -to come and rule over England, and he did so. You can imagine what sort -of a king he was. His son, George II ruled after him, although he, -too, was more German than English. But when the grandson, George III, -came to the throne he was a born and bred Englishman. It was in this -grandson’s reign, in the reign of George III, that our own country, the -United States, was born. - -When a wheel turns over we call it a _revolution_, which is a big name -for a little thing. - -When a _country_ turns over we also call it a revolution, which is a -big name for a big thing. - -Our country had started with the two little settlements, or colonies, -as they were called, of Jamestown and Plymouth. But it had grown and -grown until there were now a number of settlements along the coast -of the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the people who had settled here were -English, and the king of England ruled over them. The king asked all -these people to send him money, which was called taxes. Now, the money -collected from taxes was not, of course, for the king to put in his -pocketbook to use as he liked. It was supposed to be spent on the -people who were taxed, to be used for roads, schools, police, and such -things that are for the good of all. - -So these people along the coast who were paying money or taxes to the -king far off across the water thought they ought to have a vote to say -how this money should be spent and on what it should be spent. But they -did not have a vote, and so they thought they ought not to have to pay -taxes to the king away off in England. - -One of the leading citizens of America at this time was a man named -Benjamin Franklin. He was the son of a candlemaker, but from a poor boy -who had once walked the streets of Philadelphia with a loaf of bread -under each arm he had risen to a very honored position in the country. -He had learned to be a printer and had started one of the first and -best newspapers in the United States. He was a great thinker and had -invented a stove and a lamp and had succeeded in getting electricity -from the lightning in the clouds by flying a kite with a wire during a -storm. He was one of the Wise Men of the West. - -Franklin was sent over to England to try to get the king to change his -mind about taxing the colonies or to bring about some sort of agreement -with him. But King George was hardheaded, and Franklin was unable to -stop the king from doing what he had made up his mind to do. - -So the people in America, finding that talking did no good, started in -to fight. They raised an army. Then they tried to find a good man to -command the army. Such a leader must be honest and brave; he must have -a good mind; he must love his country; and he must be a good fighter. -So they looked around for a man who had all these qualities, and they -found one. The man they picked was honest and brave, for when he was a -boy, he had cut down a favorite tree of his father’s just to try a new -hatchet he had been given. In those days to cut down a cherry-tree was -a crime for which by law a man could be put to death. When this boy was -asked by his angry father if he had done it he said, “I cannot tell a -lie; I did.” Of course, now you know who it was--George Washington. - -[Illustration: George Washington surveying Lord Fairfax’s farm.] - -George learned to be a surveyor--that is, a man who measures land--and -when only sixteen years old he was employed to survey the large farm -of Lord Fairfax in Virginia; that showed he had a good mind. He then -had been a soldier and had fought the Indians bravely and well; that -showed that he loved his country and was a good fighter. So George -Washington was chosen to lead the American army against the English. - -The Americans did not at first think of starting a new country. They -simply wanted the same rights that Englishmen in England had. But -they soon found out that there was only one way to get those rights, -and that was to start a new country independent of England. So a man -named Thomas Jefferson wrote a paper which was called a Declaration of -Independence--can you say it?--because it declared that the colonies -were going to be independent of England. There were fifty-six Americans -chosen by the people to sign it. Each one of the signers would have -been put to death as a traitor to England if the United States had not -won, and each signer knew it, yet he signed it nevertheless. But just -signing this paper didn’t make England give up the colonies. Oh, no! -King George’s armies tried to stop the colonies from getting away from -the rule of England. - -Washington had a very small army with which to fight the English army, -and very little money with which to pay the soldiers or to supply them -with food or clothes or powder and shot. One winter the soldiers nearly -froze and starved to death, for they had little clothing and hardly any -food but carrots, and it seemed as if the war could not go on unless -they got help. Yet Washington kept up their spirits. - -Benjamin Franklin was sent across the ocean, not to England this time -of course, but to France to see if he couldn’t get some help from that -country. France hated England because she had lost part of America, -Canada, in the Seven Years’ War, but at first France would not help. -She took little interest in the fight for Washington’s army had lost a -number of battles against the English, and people don’t like to back a -loser. But the year after the Declaration of Independence the American -army beat the English badly at a place called Saratoga in New York -State. Then the king of France became more interested, and then he sent -help to the colonies to carry on the war. A young French nobleman named -Lafayette hurried over from France and fought under General Washington -and did so well that he has made a great name for himself. - -England, seeing that things were going against her, now wanted to make -peace with the Americans and give them the same rights that English -citizens had, but it was then too late. At the beginning of the war the -Americans would have agreed to this and been glad to agree, but now -they would agree to nothing less than entire independence of England; -and so the War went on, for England would not let the colonies go. - -The English had been beaten by the Yankees, as they called them in the -North, at a place called Saratoga. So then they sent their general, -Lord Cornwallis, to the south of our country to see if he could beat -the people there. General Greene was put in command of the Southern -American soldiers. Lord Cornwallis tried to fight Greene, but Greene -led Cornwallis a merry chase round the country until he was all tired -out and finally went into a little place called Yorktown in Virginia. -Here Cornwallis and his army were caught fast so that they could not -get out. On one side was the American army, and on the water side were -the French war-ships that had been sent over to help. So Cornwallis had -to surrender. - -King George then said, “Let us have peace”; and in 1783 the war was -ended by a treaty of peace, eight years after it had started, and the -colonies were independent of England. This was called the Revolutionary -War, and after it was over our country was called the United States. - -There were just thirteen of these original colonies that joined as -partners in this Union. That is why there are just thirteen stripes in -our flag. Some people think thirteen is an unlucky number; but our flag -with its thirteen stripes still waves over the land, and it has brought -us good luck; don’t you think so? - -Washington was made the first President, and so he is called the Father -of His Country; the First in War, the First in Peace, and the First in -the Hearts of his Countrymen. - -[Illustration] - - - - -72 - -Upside Down (header upside down) - - -Measles and Mumps are very catching. - -So are Revolutions. - -Just a little later than the Revolution of the thirteen colonies, the -people in France had a Revolution, too. They saw how successful the -Americans had been in their fight against the king of England, and so -they rebelled against their own king and queen in France. This was -called the French Revolution. - -The reason the French people rebelled against their king was because -they had very little, and the king and his royal family and nobles -seemed to have everything. Both the Americans and the French rebelled -against paying taxes. With the Americans, however, it was a matter of -principle more than anything else. Their taxes were not very large, -but they thought them unjust. The French taxes, however, not only were -unjust but they took almost everything away from the people. - -I have already told you how bad things were under Louis XIV, and they -got worse until the people could stand it no longer. - -At this time the king of France was Louis XVI, and his queen was -named Marie Antoinette. Although the people were so poor they had -hardly anything to eat except a very coarse and bad-tasting kind of -bread called black bread; they were compelled to pay the king and the -nobles money so that they could live in fine style and have “parties”; -and they had to do all sorts of work for them for nothing or next to -nothing. If any one complained he was put in a great prison in Paris -called the Bastille and left there to die. In spite of the fact that -all the people were so terribly poor, the king and the queen and their -friends lived in luxury and extravagance with everything in the world -they wanted, all paid for by the poor people. - -Neither the king nor his wife was really wicked. They were simply young -and thoughtless. They meant well, but like a great many well-meaning -people they lacked common sense and did not know how others lived. They -didn’t seem to understand that people _could_ be poor, for they had so -much themselves. Marie Antoinette was told that her subjects had no -bread to eat. “Then why don’t they eat cake?” she is said to have asked. - -To right the wrongs of the people, a body of many of the best men from -all France gathered together and, calling themselves the National -Assembly, tried to work out some plan to do away with all the injustice -the people had been suffering. They wanted to make every one free and -equal and give everybody a “say” in the government. - -But the poor had become so furiously mad at the way they had been -treated by the rich that they would stand things no longer and a wild -and angry mob of them attacked the old prison of the Bastille. They -battered down the walls and freed the prisoners and killed the guards -of the Bastille simply because they were servants of the king. Then -they cut off the heads of the guards and stuck them on poles and, -carrying them aloft, paraded through the streets of Paris. There were -only about half a dozen prisoners in the old jail, so that freeing them -didn’t matter much, but this attack was to show that the people would -no longer allow the king to imprison them. - -The Bastille was stormed on July 14, 1789. This is the beginning of -what is called the French Revolution, and this day is celebrated in -France in almost the same way that our Fourth of July is, for it is the -French Declaration of Independence against kings. - -Lafayette, who was now back in France, the same Lafayette who had -helped the Americans fight their king, sent the key of the Bastille -over to George Washington as a souvenir that his own country had now -overthrown its king and declared its independence. - -The king and queen were living in the beautiful palace at Versailles, -the palace that Louis XIV had built. All the king’s nobles, when they -heard what was taking place in Paris, became frightened and, deserting -their king and queen, took to their heels and left the country. They -knew pretty well what was going to happen, and they didn’t wait to see. - -Meanwhile the National Assembly drew up what was called a Declaration -of the Rights of Man, which was something like our Declaration of -Independence. It said that all men were born free and equal, that the -people should make the laws and the laws should be the same for all. - -Soon after the Declaration of Rights had been made, the mad mob from -Paris, ragged and wild-looking, carrying sticks and stones, and -crying, “Bread, bread!” marched out the ten miles to Versailles, where -Louis and Marie Antoinette were still living. Up the beautiful grand -staircase of the palace they rushed. The few guards remaining round -the king were unable to hold them back. They captured the king and -queen and took them prisoners to Paris. There they kept Louis and Marie -Antoinette prisoners for several years. Once the king and queen tried -to escape in disguise but were caught before they could get out of the -country and brought back. - -Then it was that the National Assembly drew up a Constitution--a set -of rules by which the country should be justly governed. This the king -agreed to and signed. - -[Illustration: French revolution crowd and guillotine.] - -But that still wasn’t enough. The people wanted no king at all to rule -over them. So about a year later they started a real republic like our -own, and the king was sentenced to death. A Frenchman had invented -a kind of machine with a big knife for chopping off heads. This was -called the guillotine, and it was used instead of an ax, for it was -quicker and surer. So the king was taken to the guillotine, and his -head was cut off. - -But the people did not settle down quiet and contented when they had -got rid of their king. They were afraid that those who were in favor -of kings might start another kingdom. The people chose red, white, and -blue as their colors and the “Marseillaise” as their national song; and -everywhere they marched they carried the tricolor, as they called the -three-colored flag, and as they marched they sang the “Marseillaise.” - -Then began what is called the Reign of Terror, and this is a tale of -blood. A man named Robespierre and two of his friends were leaders in -this Reign of Terror. Any one whom the people suspected of being in -favor of kings they caught and beheaded. The queen was one of the first -to have her head cut off. If any one even whispered, “there’s a man, -or there’s a woman, or there’s a child who is in favor of kings,” that -man, woman, or child would be rushed to the guillotine. If any one -simply hated another and wished to get rid of him, all he had to do was -to point him out as in favor of kings, and off he would be taken to the -guillotine. No one was sure of his life for a day. He never knew what -moment some personal enemy might accuse him. Hundreds, then thousands, -of suspected people were beheaded, and a special sewer had to be built -to carry off the blood. But the guillotine, fast as it was, was too -slow for the Terrorists. It could cut off but one head at a time, and -so prisoners were lined up and shot down with cannons. - -People seemed to have gone wild, crazy, mad! They insulted Christ and -the Christian religion. They put a pretty woman called the Goddess of -Reason on the altar of the beautiful Church of Notre Dame and worshiped -her instead of the Lord. They pulled down statues and pictures of -Christ and the Virgin Mary. In their places they put statues and -pictures of their own leaders. The guillotine was put up in place of -the cross. They did away with Sundays. They made a week ten days long, -and every tenth day they made a holiday instead of Sunday. They stopped -counting time from Christ’s birth, because they didn’t want anything -that had to do with Christ, and they began to call the year when the -republic was started in 1792 the year 1. - -But Robespierre wished to rule alone, and he plotted against his two -friends. One of these he had beheaded, and the other was killed in his -bath-tub by a girl named Charlotte Corday, who was in a rage at what he -had done. So Robespierre was left alone. At last the people, in fear of -this man who was such a monstrous and inhuman tyrant, rose up against -him. When he found that he too, was to be put to death, he tried to -commit suicide, but, before he could do so he was caught and taken to -the guillotine, where he went to the same death to which he had sent -countless others, and the Reign of Terror was ended. It was a pity that -he hadn’t a thousand lives with which to pay for the thousands of lives -he had taken away. - -[Illustration] - - - - -73 - -A Little Giant - - -At last the Revolution was stopped. - -It was stopped by a young soldier only about twenty years old and sixty -inches tall. - -The Government was holding a meeting in the palace while a mad mob in -the streets outside were trying to attack the palace. A young soldier -had been given a few men and told to keep the mob away. The young -soldier pointed cannons down each street that led to the palace, and -no one dared to show himself. This young soldier was named Napoleon -Bonaparte. He made such a fine record that people wanted to know who he -was and where he came from. - -Napoleon had been born on a little island called Corsica in the -Mediterranean Sea. He was born just in time to be a Frenchman, for the -island of Corsica had belonged to Italy and had only just been given to -France a few weeks before he was born. As soon as he was old enough, -he was sent off to a military school in France. There his French -schoolmates looked upon him as a foreigner and didn’t have much to -do with him. But Napoleon made high marks in arithmetic, and he loved -hard problems. Once he shut himself up in his room to work over a hard -problem, and there he stayed for three days and nights until he had -found the answer. - -Napoleon showed by the way he put an end to the French Revolution that -he was going to be a fine soldier, and so when he was only twenty-six -years old he was made a general. - -Now, at this time all the other countries of Europe had kings. France -had caught the fever of revolution from the Americans all the way -across the ocean and had got rid of her kings. The kings of these other -countries were afraid their people might catch the fever of revolution, -too. So all of these other countries became enemies of France because -France had put an end to her kings. - -Napoleon was sent off to fight Italy. He had to cross the Alps, which -Hannibal in the Punic Wars had crossed long before. But Hannibal had no -heavy cannons when he crossed; it seemed impossible for Napoleon’s army -to cross with cannons. Napoleon asked his engineers, the men who were -supposed to know about such things, if it could be done. They said they -thought it was impossible. - -“Impossible,” Napoleon angrily replied, “is a word found only in the -dictionary of fools.” Then he shouted: - -“There shall be no Alps!” and went ahead and crossed them. His army won -in Italy, and when he returned to France he was greeted by the people -as a conquering hero. But the men who were then governing France were -afraid of him. They feared he might try to make himself king because -he was so popular with the people. Napoleon, however, asked to be sent -to conquer Egypt because he had an idea he could get the better of the -English there. He thought he might then cut England off from India, the -new country that they had won in the reign of James I. England had lost -America, but she didn’t want to lose India. - -The French Government was very glad to get rid of Napoleon, and so they -sent him off to Egypt as he asked. He quickly conquered Egypt as Julius -Cæsar had done, but there was no Cleopatra to upset his plans. While -he was conquering Egypt, his fleet, which was waiting for him at the -mouth of the Nile, was caught and destroyed by the English fleet under -a great admiral, if not the greatest that ever lived. His name was Lord -Nelson. - -Napoleon had no way to take his army back to France. So he left his -army in Egypt under command of another. He himself, however, managed -to find a ship to take him back home. When he reached France he found -that the men who were supposed to be governing were quarreling among -themselves, and, seeing his chance, he had himself made one of three -men chosen to rule France. He was called first consul; and there were -supposed to be two assistant consuls, but the assistants were little -more than clerks to do Napoleon’s bidding. It was only a very short -time before he was next made first consul for life. Then, not long -after that, he became emperor of France and also king of Italy. - -The other countries of Europe began to fear that Napoleon would conquer -them, too, and make them also a part of France. So all the other -countries joined together to beat him. Napoleon planned to conquer -England first, and he got ready a fleet to cross over to England. But -his fleet was caught off Spain near a point called Trafalgar by the -same English admiral, Lord Nelson, who had beaten him in Egypt. Before -this battle, Nelson said to his sailors, “England expects that every -man will do his duty,” and they did it. Napoleon’s fleet was utterly -destroyed, though Nelson himself was killed. - -Napoleon then gave up the idea of conquering England, and he turned his -attention in the opposite direction. He had beaten Spain and Prussia -and Austria. Almost all Europe either belonged to him or had to do -what he said. Then he attacked Russia. It was a great mistake he made, -for Russia was far off, and it was wintertime and very cold. Still, he -managed to reach Moscow way off in the center of Russia with his army. -But the Russians burned the city and destroyed all the food, so that -Napoleon had nothing with which to feed his army. It was terribly cold; -there were deep snows; and, in retreating, his army suffered enormous -losses. Napoleon himself soon made a bee-line to Paris leaving his army -to get back the best way they could. Men and horses died of cold and -hunger by the thousands. Napoleon reached Paris, but his fortune had -turned. All of Europe was getting ready to put an end to the tyrant, -and it was not long after this that he was hemmed in and beaten by his -enemies. - -When Napoleon saw that he was beaten, he signed a paper saying that he -would give up and leave France. And so he did, sailing away to a little -island called Elba, just off the coast of Italy, not far from the -island where he was born. - -[Illustration: Napoleon at St. Helena.] - -But Napoleon on the island of Elba got an idea that all was not lost -and that he might return to France and get back his power again. So all -of a sudden, to the surprise of France and the rest of the world, he -landed on the coast of France. The French Government at Paris sent an -army of his old soldiers against him with orders to meet him and bring -him to Paris in an iron cage. But when his old soldiers met their old -general they went over to his side, and so with them he marched on to -Paris. The English and German armies were north of France and preparing -to fight. Napoleon quickly got together an army and went forth to meet -them. At a little town called Waterloo, Napoleon fought his last -battle, for there he was utterly beaten by an English general named -Wellington. This was the Year 1815. We still speak and probably always -will speak of any great defeat as “Waterloo.” - -There is a peculiar sentence which reads backward the same as forward. -It is what Napoleon might have said after all was over. It is: - - ABLE WAS I ERE I SAW ELBA - -After Napoleon was beaten at Waterloo, the English took him away and -put him on a little island far off in the ocean where he could not -possibly escape. It was a lonely spot named St. Helena after the mother -of Constantine. Here he lived for six years before he died. - -Napoleon was probably the greatest general that ever lived, but that -does not mean that he was the greatest man. Some say he was the worst, -for just to make himself great, he killed hundreds of thousands of -people and brought destruction and ruin to the whole of Europe wherever -he fought his battles. - -This brings us up into the nineteenth century, for Napoleon died in -1821. How long ago is that? - - - - -74 - -From Pan and His Pipes to the Phonograph - - - Frogs croak; - Cats me-ow; - Dogs bark; - Sheep bleat; - Cows moo; - Lions roar; - Hyenas laugh; - But only birds and people _sing_. - All other animals simply make noises. - But people can do what birds cannot. - They can also make music out of _things_. - -Have you ever made a cigar-box fiddle or a pin piano or musical glasses? - -In the long-ago story-book times Apollo took a pair of cow-horns and -fastened between them seven strings made from the cow’s skin. This -was called a lyre. These strings he picked with his fingers or with -a quill, making a little tinkling sound that could hardly have been -very beautiful. Yet Apollo’s son Orpheus is said to have learned from -his father to play so beautifully on the lyre that the birds and wild -beasts and even trees and rocks gathered round to hear him. - -Pan, the god of the woods, who had goat’s horns and ears and legs and -feet, tied together several whistles of different lengths and played on -these as you might on a mouth-organ. This instrument was called Pan’s -pipes. - -The lyre and Pan’s pipes were the two earliest musical instruments. -The first was a stringed instrument; the second a wind instrument. The -long strings and long pipes made low notes; the short strings and short -pipes made high tones. - -From Apollo’s lyre we get the piano with its many, many strings. Did -you ever look at the inside of a piano and see the many strings of -different lengths? They are, however, not picked as the strings of a -lyre or harp are picked, but hammered by little felt-covered blocks as -you touch the keys. - -From Pan’s pipes we get the great church organ with its pipes like -giant whistles. You don’t, of course, blow the pipes with your mouth -as you do a whistle. The pipes are so big you must blow them with a -machine like a tire-pump, and you do this as you touch the keys. - -We know what the instruments in olden times were like, but we don’t -know what the music that people made was really like; there were no -phonographs to bottle up the sounds and, when uncorked a thousand -years later, to pour forth the old notes once again. The music went off -into thin air and was lost. - -It was not until about the Year 1000 A.D. that music could even be -written down. Before then all music was played “by ear,” for there was -no written music. A Benedictine monk named Guy, or, in Italian, Guido, -thought of a way to write down musical notes, and he named the notes -do, re, mi, fa, and so on. These were the first letters of the words of -a hymn to St. John which the monks sang like the scale. - -Another Italian is sometimes called the “father of modern music.” His -name is Palestrina, and he died about 1600. He set the church service -to music, and the pope ordered all churches to follow it, but the -people didn’t like his music very much; that is, it was not what we -call “popular.” - -It was not until a hundred years later--that is, about 1700--that the -first great musician lived who wrote music that was really popular, -that the people loved, and that we still love to-day. - -He was a German named Handel. His father was a barber, a dentist, and -doctor, and he wanted his boy to become a great lawyer. But the only -thing the boy liked was music. - -In those days there were no pianos. There was a little instrument -with strings which was played by touching keys. This was called a -clavichord. Sometimes it had legs like a table. Sometimes it had no -legs and was just laid on a table. - -[Illustration: Handel is found in the attic.] - -Handel, though only six years old, got hold of one of these -instruments, and, without any one finding out about it, he had it put -up in his room in the attic of his house. After every one had gone to -bed at night he would practise on this clavichord until late, when he -was supposed to be in bed. One night his family heard sounds up under -the roof. Wondering what it could be, they took a lantern, and, quietly -climbing the attic stairs, they suddenly opened the door, and there sat -little Handel in his night-clothes on a chair with his feet reaching -only half-way to the floor, playing on the clavichord. - -After that Handel’s father saw it was no use trying to make his son -a lawyer. So he got teachers for him, and before long the boy amazed -the world with his playing. He went to England, lived there, became -an Englishman, and when he died the English people buried him in -Westminster Abbey, a church in which famous Englishmen were buried. - -Handel “set the Bible to music.” These songs with the Bible words -to be sung by a chorus of voices were called _oratorios_, and one -of these oratorios named “The Messiah” is sung almost everywhere at -Christmas-time. - -Living at the same time with Handel was another German musician named -Bach. Bach played divinely on the organ as Handel did on the clavichord -and wrote some of the finest music for the organ that ever has been -written. Strange that both Handel and Bach went blind in their old age, -but to them it was sound, not sight, that counted most. Here is another -good subject for an argument: would you rather be deaf or blind? - -Almost all musical geniuses have been musical wonders when they were -still babies. They have been great musicians even before learning to -read and write. - -One such genius was born just before Handel died. He was an Austrian -named Mozart. - -Mozart when only four years old played the piano wonderfully. He also -wrote music--composing, it is called--for others to play. - -Mozart’s father and sister played very well, so the three went on a -concert tour. Mozart, the boy wonder, played before the empress, and -everywhere he went he was treated like a prince, petted and praised and -given parties and presents. - -Then he grew up and married, and ever after he had the hardest kind of -a time trying to make a living. He composed all sorts of things, plays -with music called operas, and symphonies, which are written for whole -orchestras to play; but he made so little money that when he died he -had to be buried where they put people who were too poor to have a -grave for themselves alone. People afterward thought it a shame that -such a great composer should have no monument over his grave, but then -it was too late to find where he was buried. A monument was put up, but -to this day no one knows where Mozart’s body lies. - -A German named Beethoven had read the stories of the boy wonder, -Mozart, and he thought he, too, would like to have a boy wonder to play -before kings and queens. So when his son Louis was only five years old -he kept the boy practising long hours at the piano until he became -so tired that the tears ran down his cheeks. But Louis Beethoven, or -Ludwig, as he was called in German, finally came to be one of the -greatest musicians that have ever lived. He could sit at the piano and -make up the most beautiful music as he went along--improvise, as it is -called--but he was never satisfied with it when written down. Time and -time again he would scratch out and rewrite his music until it had been -rewritten often a dozen times. - -But Beethoven’s hearing began to grow dull. He was worried that he -might lose it entirely--a terrible thing to happen to any one, but -to one whose hearing was his fortune nothing could be worse. And at -last he did become deaf. This loss of his hearing made Beethoven -hopelessly sad and bad-tempered, cross with everything and everybody. -Nevertheless, he didn’t give up; he kept on composing just the same, -even after he could no longer hear what he had written. - -Another great and unusual German musician named Wagner lived until -1883. Though he practised all his life, he never could play very well. -But he composed the most wonderful operas that have ever been written, -and he wrote not only the music but the words, too. He took old myths -and fairy-tales and made them into plays to be sung to music. At first -some people made fun of his music, for it seemed to them so noisy and -“slam-bangy” and without tune. But people now make fun of those “some -people” who don’t like it! - -I have told you in other places of painters and poets, of architects -and wise men, of kings and heroes, of wars and troubles. I have put -this story of music of all ages in one chapter which I have tucked in -here between the acts, to give you a rest for a moment from wars and -rumors of wars. - -When I was a boy I never heard any great musicians play. Now you and I -can turn on the phonograph any time and hear the music of Palestrina or -Mozart, of Beethoven or Wagner, of dozens of other masters, played or -sung to us whenever we wish; the greatest musicians become our slaves. -No caliph in the “Arabian Nights” could command such service to his -pleasure! - - - - -75 - -The Daily Papers of 1854-1865 - - -If you could go up into your grandfather’s attic or the attic of -somebody else’s grandfather, or would dig down into some old trunk, you -might find some of the newspapers that were printed during the years -from 1854 to 1865. Then you might actually read in these daily papers -the happenings that I am now going to tell you about. Many people still -alive have taken part in some of these events themselves or know those -who have. Under the heading, “Foreign News,” you would probably find -some of the following things told about: - -ENGLISH NEWS. At this time the queen of England was named Victoria. She -was much beloved by her people because she had such a kindly nature and -Christian spirit. She was more like a mother to her people than like a -queen. She ruled for more than half a century, and the time when she -ruled is called the Victorian Age. - -The English news of 1854 would tell about a war that the English were -then fighting with Russia. Russia was a long way off, and so the -English had to send their soldiers in boats through the Mediterranean -Sea to the end, then past Constantinople in to the Black Sea. There in -a little spot of land that jutted out from Russia into the Black Sea -most of the fighting was done. This little spot of land was called the -Crimea, and the war therefore was called the Crimean War. In this war -in that far-off land thousands of English soldiers died from wounds and -disease. - -Now, there was living in England at the time of this war a lady named -Florence Nightingale. She was very tender-hearted and always looking -out for and taking care of those that were sick. Even as a little girl -she had played that her dolls were sick with headache or a broken leg, -and she would bandage the aching head or broken leg and pretend to -take care of her sick patient. When her dog was ill she nursed him as -carefully as if he were a human being. - -Florence Nightingale heard that English soldiers were dying by the -thousands in that distant land far away from home and that there were -no nurses to take care of the wounded. So she got together a number of -ladies, and they went out to the Crimea. Before she arrived almost half -the soldiers who were wounded died--fifty soldiers out of a hundred; -after she and her nurses came, only two in a hundred died. She went -about through the camps and over the battlefields at night carrying a -lamp looking for the wounded. The soldiers called her the Lady of the -Lamp, and they all loved her. - -When at last the war was over and she returned to England, the -Government voted to give her a large sum of money for what she had -done. She, however, refused the money for herself but took it to found -a home for training nurses. Nowadays trained nurses are thought almost -as necessary as doctors, and any one who is sick can call in a trained -nurse to take care of him, but at that time there were no trained -nurses and no one had ever heard of such a thing. Florence Nightingale -was the first to start trained nursing, and so she is looked upon -almost as a saint by trained nurses. - -In one battle in the Crimea a company of soldiers mounted on horseback -were given by mistake an order to attack the enemy. Though they knew it -meant certain death, they never hesitated but charged, and two-thirds -of them were killed or wounded in less than half an hour. Lord -Tennyson, the English poet, has told this story in verse which you may -know. It is called “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” - -JAPANESE NEWS. Japan is a group of islands near China. Although I have -not told you about it before, it was an old country, settled in its -ways even before Rome was founded. In Europe there have been constant -changes of kings and rulers and people and countries. But in Japan they -have had the same line of kings since before Christ. - -Japan wanted no white people in her country, and, with a very few -exceptions, she had always kept them out. But in 1854, the same year -that England began the Crimean War, an American naval officer named -Commodore Perry went to Japan and made an agreement, or treaty, as -it is called, by which Japan allowed white people to come in and do -business with her people. The Japanese seemed hungry for knowledge, to -learn how to do things in the white man’s way. When Perry first went to -Japan the Japanese lived the same way they had a thousand years before. -They knew nothing of the white man’s inventions or ways of living. But -in fifty years’ time they have jumped a thousand years in civilization! - -These are some of the things you might read about in those old -newspapers. Such news would probably have taken up little space; -perhaps they would have been found down at the bottom of a column if -the newspaper were American. But if the paper was printed between 1861 -and 1864, the greater part of it would be about a war that was going on -in our own country at that time. This was a war between our own people, -a family quarrel, which we call the Civil War. - -Two parts of our country, the North and the South, did not agree on -several matters, chief of which was the question whether the South -could own slaves. So they went to war with each other. Each side fought -for what it believed was right, and thousands upon thousands gave their -lives for what they believed. The war lasted for four years, from 1861 -to 1865, before it was decided that no one could ever again own slaves -in the United States. - -Some of you who read these pages had grandfathers or great-grandfathers -who fought in this war. Some of these fought for the South; some fought -for the North. Some of them may have died for the South; some of them -may have died for the North. - -The President of the United States at this time was a man named Abraham -Lincoln. Lincoln was a very poor boy who had been born in a log cabin. -He had taught himself to read by the light of a blazing knot of wood -at night after his day’s work was done. As he was very poor, he had -only a few books, and these he read over and over again. One of these -books was the same “Æsop’s Fables” that you read. When Lincoln was a -young man, he became a storekeeper. One day he found that he had given -a poor woman a smaller package of tea than she had paid for, and so he -closed the store and walked many miles to her house in order to return -the change. People began to call him Honest Abe after that, for he was -always very honest and kind-hearted. - -[Illustration: Lincoln visiting camp and shaking hands with the -soldiers.] - -He studied hard and became a lawyer and at last was elected President -of the United States. One day while he was in a theater watching a play -he was shot and killed by one of the actors who thought Lincoln had not -done right in freeing the slaves. - -Lincoln was one of our greatest Presidents. Washington started our -country; Lincoln prevented its splitting into two parts, and kept it -together as one big united land to grow into the great country it now -is. - - - - -76 - -Three New Postage-Stamps - - -We are getting pretty close to the present time, to “Now.” - -Let us look backward a minute to see what had been going on in Europe -since the time of Napoleon. - -After Napoleon had been sent to Elba, the French had to have another -ruler. They wanted their old kings back again. The family name of -their old kings was Bourbon. So the French thought they ought to have -a Bourbon ruler over them. Accordingly they tried out three Bourbons -one after the other, all relatives of their last king, whom they had -beheaded. - -But all of them proved no good, the French people had given the Bourbon -family a good tryout, and so at last they stopped worrying with kings -and started another republic. - -Now, a republic has a president instead of a king, so that the people -had to choose a president; and whom do you suppose they picked -out? Why, the nephew of Napoleon. The nephew of Napoleon was named -Louis Napoleon. He had planned and plotted again and again to make -himself king of France, but again and again he had failed. And now he -was elected president! But Louis Napoleon didn’t want to be _only_ -president. He wanted to be like his uncle the great Napoleon. He -dreamed of being emperor and conquering Europe, and so it was not long -after this before he had himself made emperor, and he called himself -Napoleon III.[5] - -[5] Napoleon I had a young son who might have been Napoleon II if -he had lived. The story is, that when Napoleon III was made emperor -his name was printed simply with three exclamation marks after -it--“Napoleon!!!” and this was by mistake read Napoleon III. - -Napoleon III was jealous of the neighboring country of Prussia. She was -getting to be too strong, he thought. Prussia had a king at this time -named William who was very able himself, and he had an able assistant -or prime minister named Bismarck, who was looking for an excuse to -fight France. So presently a war was started between the two countries -in 1870. Napoleon soon found he had made a bad mistake in picking the -war with Prussia. Prussia was not _getting_ too strong; she was already -too strong. - -Napoleon III was completely beaten by Prussia, and he with a large army -had to surrender. Then in disgrace he went to live in England. - -The Prussians marched into Paris and made the French agree to pay them -a billion dollars. When some of the French towns said they couldn’t -pay, Bismarck lined up the leading citizens of the place and told them -they would be shot if they didn’t raise the money that was demanded. -So France paid, and to the wonder and amazement of everybody she paid -this immense sum in two years’ time. But the French and the French -children have never forgotten the way they were made to pay and the way -they were treated by the Prussians, and so ever since then there has -been deadly enmity between these two countries. This war was called the -Franco-Prussian War, as it was between France and Prussia. - -There were a number of little countries near Prussia. They were called -German states. But though their people were related, the countries or -states were separate. As a result of this war, Prussia was able to join -all these German states together and to make for the first time one -big, strong, powerful nation called Germany, feared by other countries -on account of her great army of fighting men. William was made emperor -of all Germany and called kaiser. He was crowned in the French palace -at Versailles that Louis XIV had built. - -The French thought the Germans had been able to win this war because -they had public schools in which all their children were trained, and -because of the way their soldiers were drilled. So France set to work -and started public schools everywhere in France and imitated the German -way of drilling their army so that they would be ready for them in the -next war. - -Ever since then France has been a republic with a president and an -Assembly chosen by the people. - -At that time Italy was not a single country as now but like Germany a -collection of small states. Some of these were independent, some were -owned by France, some were owned by Austria. The king of one of these -Italian states was Victor Emmanuel. He wanted all the Italian states -to unite and become one single country like our United States. He was -helped by his prime minister, a very able man named Cavour, and by a -rough but romantic popular hero named Garibaldi, who was called the -hero of the Red Shirt. - -Garibaldi, who had been a candle-maker in New York City, was always -poor and seemed not to care for money. He was so popular that whenever -he called for soldiers to fight with him for his beloved Italy, they at -once flocked around him ready to fight to the death. - -And so at last these three, Victor Emmanuel, Cavour, and Garibaldi, -succeeded in making their country one big nation. The Italians erected -monuments to them and named streets after them. To Victor Emmanuel they -built a magnificent building on a hill in Rome overlooking the city, a -building that was intended to be more beautiful than anything built in -Athens during the time of Pericles or in Italy during the Renaissance. - -If you collect postage-stamps it would be interesting for you to get, -if you can, stamps of these countries at that time, the New French -Republic, United Germany, and United Italy. - -[Illustration: 1870] - - - - -77 - -The Age of Miracles - - -You may think the Age of Miracles was when Christ lived. - -But if a man who lived at that time should come back to earth now he -would think _this_ the Age of Miracles. - -If he heard you talk over a wire to a person a thousand miles away, he -would think you a magician. - -If you showed him people moving and acting on a movie screen, he would -think you a witch. - -If he heard you start a band playing by turning on a phonograph, he -would think you a devil. - -If he saw you fly through the air in an airplane, he would think you a -god. - -We are so used to the telephone, telegraph, and phonograph; to -steamboats, steam railroads, and trolley-cars; to electric lights, -motor-cars, moving pictures, radio, and airplanes, that it is hard to -imagine a world in which there were none of these things--absolutely -none of these things. Yet in the Year 1800 not a single one of these -inventions was known. - -Neither George Washington nor Napoleon ever saw a steam-engine, a -steam-car, nor a steamboat. They had never used a telephone nor a -telegraph nor a bicycle. My own grandfather never saw a trolley-car -nor an electric light. Even my father never saw a phonograph, a moving -picture, an automobile, nor a flying-machine. - -More wonders have been made in the last hundred years than in all the -previous centuries of the world put together. - -A Scotchman named James Watt was one of the first of these magicians -whom we call inventors. Watt had watched a boiling kettle on the stove -and noticed that the steam lifted the lid. This gave him an idea that -steam might lift other things as well as the lid of a tea-kettle. So he -made a machine in which steam lifted a lid called a piston in such a -way as to turn a wheel. This was the first steam-engine. - -Watt’s steam-engine moved wheels and other things, but it didn’t move -itself. An Englishman named Stephenson put Watt’s engine on wheels and -made the engine move its own wheels. This was the first locomotive. -Soon funny-looking carriages drawn by funny-looking engines were made -to run on tracks in America. At first these trains ran only a few miles -out from such cities as Baltimore and Philadelphia. - -Then a young fellow named Robert Fulton thought he could make a boat -go by putting Watt’s engine on board and making it turn paddle-wheels. -People laughed at him and called the boat he was building “Fulton’s -Folly,” which means “foolishness.” But the boat worked, and Fulton -had the laugh on those who had laughed at him. He called his boat the -_Clermont_, and it made regular trips up and down the river. - -No one had ever before been able to talk to another far off until -the telegraph was invented. The telegraph makes a clicking sound. -Electricity flows through a wire from one place to another place -which may be a long distance off. If you press a button at one end of -the wire you stop the electricity flowing through the wire, and the -instrument at the other end makes a click. A short click is called a -dot, and a long click is called a dash. These dots and dashes stand for -letters of the alphabet, so you can spell out a message by dots and -dashes. - - A is . -- dot-dash - B is -- ... dash-dot-dot-dot - E is . dot - H is .... dot-dot-dot-dot - T is -- dash - -An American painter named Morse invented this wonderful little -instrument. He built the first telegraph line in America between -Baltimore and Washington, and this was the first message he clicked -across it: “What hath God wrought!” - -A school-teacher named Bell was trying to find some way of making deaf -children hear, and in doing so he invented the telephone. The telephone -carries words as the telegraph carries clicks. You do not have to know -a special alphabet or spell out words by dots and dashes as you do on -the telegraph. With the telephone any one can talk from one side of -America to the other. - -Many inventions now in every-day use have been partly invented by -several people, so that it is hard to say just which one thought of -the invention first. Several people thought of a way to run a machine -by feeding it electricity. This was the electric motor. Then others -thought of a way to run a machine by exploding gas. This was the motor -used in automobiles. - -Electric lights, such as we use indoors, were invented by Thomas Alva -Edison. Edison is called a wizard, because in the Middle Ages wizards -were supposed to be able to do and to make all sorts of wonderful and -impossible things, to turn lead into gold, to make people invisible, -and that sort of thing. But Edison has done things that no wizard of a -fairy-tale had ever even thought of. Edison was a poor boy who sold -newspapers and magazines on a train. He was interested in all sorts of -experiments and fitted up a place in the baggage-car where he could -make experiments. But he made so much of a mess in the car that at last -the baggage-man kicked Edison’s whole outfit off the train. Edison -invented many things connected with the phonograph and the movies, and -he has probably made more useful and important inventions than any -other man who has ever lived, so that he is much greater than those -mere kings who have done nothing but quarrel and destroy--without whom -the world would have been much better off if they had never lived! - -Thousands of people who have lived in the past ages have tried to fly -and failed. Millions of people have said it was impossible to fly and -foolish to try. Some have even said it was wicked to try, that God -meant that only birds and angels should fly. At last, after long years -of work and thousands of trials, two American brothers named Wright did -the impossible. They invented the airplane and flew. - -An Italian named Marconi invented the radio, and others every day are -still making wonderful inventions, but you will have to read about -these yourself, for we are near the end of our history. - -Here is a good subject for an argument or debate: Are we any happier -_with_ all these inventions than people were a thousand years ago -_without_ them? - -Life is faster and more exciting; but it is more difficult and more -dangerous. Instead of enjoying a book curled up in the corner of a -sofa by a crackling fire, we leave a steam radiator and go out to -the movies. Instead of singing or playing the violin, we turn on the -graphophone or the player-piano and miss the chief joy in music, the -joy of making it ourselves. Instead of the jogging drive in an old -buggy behind a horse that goes along through the country-side almost by -himself, we speed on in dangerous autos, to which we must pay constant, -undivided attention or be wrecked. - -[Illustration: 1905] - - - - -78 - -GERMANY FIGHTS THE WORLD - - -The last chapter was one of the few without a fight in it. But now, -to make up for that, I must tell you about the greatest and the worst -fight in history. - -There is a little country in Europe called Serbia. It is next door -to Austria. A young man who lived in Serbia shot an Austrian prince. -Little Serbia apologized to Austria for what one of her people had -done. But Austria insisted that the Serbian nation was to blame for -what had been done; she refused to accept the apology and started in to -punish Serbia. - -I once saw a little dog snap at a big boy. The owner of the little dog -apologized to the big boy for what his dog had done. But the big boy -did not accept the apology, and he started in to thrash the little -boy for what his dog had done. Presently a crowd gathered round, the -friends of each boy took sides, and there was a general free-for-all -“scrap.” - -So it was in this case. One of Austria’s big friends, Germany, took -sides against Serbia, and Russia took the side of Serbia. Ever since -the time of the Franco-Prussian War and Bismarck and William, Germany -had been in training for a fight, and so had her neighbors. Nearly all -the countries of Europe had for years been getting together into two -groups, made up of the friends and the enemies of Germany; and the two -were ready to jump at each other as soon as Austria, or Germany, or -anybody else, struck at any one. - -But Germany didn’t strike at Serbia; Austria didn’t really need her -help against Serbia. Germany was sure that France, who was her enemy -and Russia’s friend, would take sides against her; and so she rushed -at France to destroy her before Russia could hit hard from the other -side. Now, to get at France Germany had to get through the little -country of Belgium. She and France had agreed that neither would march -armies through Belgium, but when the war began her armies marched in -anyway and pushed aside the Belgians, who tried to stop them. And so -her armies rushed on toward the capital of France, Paris. She got as -far as a little stream called the Marne, only twenty miles from Paris. -But here the French under General Foch stopped her army. This battle of -the Marne is probably the most famous of all the battles you have heard -about in history, for though the war was not ended for four years after -this battle, if the Germans had won at the Marne, the war would have -been over, with Germany victor, and the rest of the world would have -had to do what Germany said. - -Germany was the first to use poison gas, trying to smother her enemy; -she fought with submarines from under the sea; she attacked passenger -ships that could not fight back. The English navy was the strongest, -and it was only with submarines that Germany could fight at sea. This -war was the first one in history in which battles were fought not only -on land but up in the air and down under the water. - -England took sides with France and Russia--and these were called -Allies--to fight against Germany and Austria, and at first the war was -between these countries only. Before the war ended, however, almost all -the countries of the world had taken sides against Germany, for they -knew that if she won she would be able to tell the rest of the world -what to do. Then all of a sudden Russia had a revolution. The Russian -people killed their ruler, the czar, and his family, and refused to -fight any longer. Things began to look pretty bad for the Allies. - -The United States did not start into the war until 1917, almost three -years after it had begun; then she did so because German submarines -were sinking American passenger ships and killing Americans. - -[Illustration: Surrender of Germans.] - -America was so far off--three thousand miles away--and across an ocean -that it seemed impossible that she could do much in the war. But in -a very short time she had sent two million soldiers across in ships. -Under General Pershing they fought great battles. At last Germany was -utterly beaten, and on Armistice day, November 11, 1918, Germany -signed a paper agreeing to do everything the Allies asked; and so the -greatest war in history ended. The kaiser went to live in Holland, and -Germany became a republic. - -[Illustration: 1918] - - - - -79 - -Yesterday, To-day, and To-morrow - - -There is a candy shop near where I live. On its sign it says, “Made -Fresh Every Hour.” History is being made every day. It is being made -fresh almost every hour. The newsboy even now is calling outside of my -window, “Extra! Extra!” Is it a new war? Is it a new discovery? If you -had clipped head-lines from the papers since the World War, here are -some of the things you might have pasted in your scrapbook. - - TREATY OF PEACE - SIGNED AT VERSAILLES - - Nations Agree on Terms of Peace - - The Mohammedan Turks in the East Are - Again Threatening the Christian - Nations of the West - - - THE IRISH FREE - STATE ESTABLISHED - - After Centuries of Struggle to Become - Independent of England, Ireland at - Last, with England’s Permission, Has - Set Up a Government of Her Own - - - COLUMBUS OF THE AIR - - Read, an American, Crosses Atlantic - Ocean for First Time in an Airplane; - Lands at the Azores and Then in - Portugal; Several Others Soon Follow, - and the Ocean Is Crossed a Number of - Times - - - WOMEN CAN VOTE AT LAST - - All Through the Ages Women Have Had - Little or No “Say” in the Government; - Now, for the First Time, They Can - Vote in Our Country and in Most - Other Civilized Countries - - - STRONG DRINK PROHIBITED - - The Use of Wine and Strong Drink, - Which Has Caused So Much Crime, - Disease, Death and Unhappiness, Has - Been Forbidden in the United States - and Limited in Many Other Countries; - in the Generations to Come, Men Will - Probably Marvel That There Was Once - a Time When People Drank Poison for - Pleasure - -From now on you will have to read your history in the daily papers. - -Up to this time, history has been marked by the story of one war after -another, some big, some small, some short, some long. Almost always a -fight has been going on somewhere. It has been War, War, War; Fight, -Fight, Fight. Children scratch, kick, and bite. But the older we get, -the less do we use our fists and feet to settle quarrels. So fighting -seems to be a sign of childhood--that we are “kids”--and our fights, -that we call wars, a sign of how young the world really is and we -really are; a sign that the world is still but a minute or two old. - -Now, we admire and praise as heroes Horatius, Leonidas, Joan of Arc, -and General Foch and those others who have defended their countries -against the attacks of the enemy, as we would admire a man who shoots a -burglar or a murderer that attacks his family in the night. But those, -whether kings, generals, or princes, who do the attacking and take life -with no other excuse than to add to their power or wealth or glory, -are no better than burglars who go forth with a gun and a blackjack to -waylay, rob, and murder for the same purpose. War kills, war destroys, -war costs millions of lives and billions of dollars--money that could -be used to make us happy, instead of causing bitterness, suffering, -misery, and unhappiness; blind men and cripples, widows and orphans. No -one is better off, not even the winner. It is a terrible game, in which -even the winner loses. And yet in the long run who knows? It may be the -only way the world can grow! - -But this is certain: if wars do not end, they will be fought with -something more deadly, more terrible than shot and shell. Sooner or -later, some man of science will invent a disease more catching than -the terrible plague, more deadly than the Black Death with which to -attack the enemy. But if such a disease is let loose, once started it -will spread from one being to the next till every one has caught it and -died and no one will escape. Or he will invent a poison to poison the -air we breathe that will spread like the wind or like wildfire in dry -grass, and there will be no stopping it. The air that wraps the globe -will be a sea of poison gas. Every thing that breathes will take only -one breath, and every man, woman, and child, every beast of the field, -every bird and flying thing will drop dead. Or he will invent something -a million times more powerful than gunpowder or dynamite--something so -explosive that when discovered by some Mr. Swartz it will blow him, his -house, his town, his country, and the whole world to kingdom come--and -that will be the end of this little spark off the sun. - -Perhaps you have looked through a microscope at what seem to be wars -between germs. As germs might look up at the eye of the microscope -through which we watch their life-and-death struggles, and wonder what -is up above on the other side looking down at them, so we may look -up at the blue eye of heaven above us and wonder what all-seeing, -all-knowing, all-powerful being up there is watching our own -life-and-death struggles here below. - -Our little world, which seems so immense to us, is really only a tiny -speck, only one of countless other specks floating in space; it is like -one of the tiny motes which you may see any time in a sunbeam that -shines in at the window. Who has an eye so keen that he can count the -moving motes in such a beam of light? Who would miss one such grain of -dust if it should disappear? So this grain of dust we call the World -and all of us who live upon it could vanish without ever being noticed! - -This story ends here, but only for the present, for history is a -continued story and will never end. - -If you were living in the Year 10,000 A.D., as some boy will be, your -history would only be just begun when you had reached where we are now. -Even the World War would then seem as long ago as the fights of the -Stone Age men seem to us. You might think of us and all the inventions -we consider so wonderful as we think of the discovery of copper and -bronze. - -Will the history that is written in the Year 10,000 have any wars to -tell about? If the wars on Earth cease, will there be wars with other -worlds? - -And if there are no more wars, what will history tell about? Will it -be new inventions? What kinds? Will it be new discoveries? We know -every corner of the world now. Will it be the inside of this world or -other new worlds or a spiritual world? - -Perhaps then people will no longer use trains, steamboats, automobiles, -or even flying-machines, but go from place to place as on some magic -carpet, simply by wishing. Perhaps then they will no longer use -letters, telephones, or telegraphs, or even radio, but read each -other’s thoughts at any distance. - -And so on--World without end--AMEN! - -[Illustration: NOW] - - - - -PRONOUNCING INDEX - - -This list of the most important names in the book tells you on what -page you may find each name and how to sound those you may not know. - - Sound a as in hat. - “ aw “ “ saw. - “ ah “ “ ah! - “ ee “ “ see. - “ e or eh “ “ get. - “ er “ “ her. - “ i or ih “ “ hit - “ igh “ “ right. - “ o “ “ hot. - “ oh “ “ oh! - “ ow “ “ how. - “ u or uh “ “ up. - “ ew “ “ few. - - Aaron (air´ un), 262 - - Abednego (a bed´ nee go), 261 - - Abraham (ay´ bra ham), 49, etc. - - Acropolis (a krop´ o lis), 145 - - Adolphus, Gustavus (a dolf´ us), 396 - - Æneas (ee nee´ as), 190 etc., 196 - - Æneid (ee nee´ id), 196 - - Æsop’s Fables (ee´ sop), 447 - - Africa, 169, 348, 352 - - Age of Discovery, 347 - - Age of Miracles, 454 - - Aix-la-chapelle (ayks - la - sha pell´), 258, 298 - - Alaric (al´ a rik), 224 - - Alcuin (al´ kwin), 259, 260 - - Alexander the Great, 159 to 168 - - Alexandria, 163, 164 - - Alfred the Great, 264 to 270 - - Allah (al´ ah), 244 to 247 - - Alps, 173, 429 - - America, 271, 346 - - Americus, 346 - - Angle-land, 223 - - Angles, 223 to 230 - - Anglo-Saxons, 223, 229 - - Anno Domini, 26 - - Antony (an´ to nih), 190 to 192 - - Aphrodite (af ro digh´ tih), 60 - - Apollo (a pol´ lo), 58 to 63 - - Arabesques (air a besks´), 252 - - Arabia, 242, 252 to 256 - - Arabian Nights, 442 - - Arabs, 244 to 256 - - Ares (ay´ reez), 58 - - Arch of Constantine, 216 - - Arch of Titus, 216 - - Aristides (air is tigh´ deez), 133, 134 - - Aristotle (air is tott´ ell), 160, 166 - - Artemis (ar´ tee mis), 58 - - Arthur, 234, 311 - - Aryans (ar´ yans), 23, 56, 220, 256 - - Asia, 162, 248 - - Assurbanipal (ass er ban´ ih pal), 97, 98, 164 - - Assyria (as seer´ ih ah), 42, 94 to 98 - - Astarte (ass tar´ tih), 76 - - Athene (a thee´ nih), 59, 60, 145 to 154 - - Athene Parthenos (par´ the nos), 194 - - Athenians, 83, 114, 140 to 145, 236 - - Athens, 60, 83, 114, 126, etc. - - Attila (at´ tih lah), 225 to 227 - - Augustan Age, 196 - - Augustus, 195 to 197 - - Austria, Austrian, 396, 408, 409, 440, 462 - - Azores, 466 - - Aztecs (az´ tecks), 355 to 357 - - - Baal (bay´ al), 76 - - Babylon (bab´ in lun), 98 to 103, 106 to 108 - - Babylonia, 43 to 48 - - Babylonians, 45 to 49, 75 - - Bach (bahk), 439 - - Bacon, Roger, 324 - - Bagdad, 243, 254, 262 - - Balboa (bal boh´ ah), 350, 351 - - Baltimore, 455, 456 - - Bastille (bas teel´), 421, 422 - - Beethoven, Louis (bay´ to ven), 441, 442 - - Belgium, 461 - - Bell, 457 - - Belshazzar (bel shaz´ zar), 108 - - Benedict and Benedictines (ben´ eh dickt), 237 - - Bethlehem, 197, 216 - - Bible, King James, 387 - - Bishop of Rome, 218 - - Bismarck, 450, 451, 461 - - Black Death, 328, 468 - - Black Sea, 21, 169, 444 - - Blondel (blon dell´), 300 - - Boleyn, Anne (bool´ in), 370 - - Bourbon (boor´ bun), 449 - - Brahma, Brahmanism, Brahmanists (brah´ mah), 111, 112 - - Britain, 186, 223, 229 - - British Museum, 33 - - Bronze Age, 19 to 22 - - Brutus, 121, 189, 190 - - Bucephalus (bew sef´ a lus), 160 - - Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhists (bood´ dah), 112, 113 - - Byron, 97 - - Byzantium (bi zan´ shi um), 217 - - - Cabot (kab´ ut), 350, 379 - - Cadmus (kad´ mus), 74 - - Cæsar, Augustus (see´ zer), 193, 196 - - Cæsar, Julius, 184 to 192 - - Cairo (kigh´ ro), 38, 196 - - Canaan (kay´ nan), 50, 54, 55, 70 - - Canada, 350, 417 - - Canary Islands, 340 - - Canterbury Cathedral, 309 - - Cape of Good Hope, 348 - - Cape Horn, 351 - - Cape of Storms, 348 - - Carthage and Carthaginians (kar´ thij), 78, 170 to 176 - - Caspian Sea, 21 - - Cathay (ka thay´), 316 to 322, 328 - - Cathedral of Notre Dame (nohtr´ dam), 309 - - Cathedral of Rheims (rhance), 309 - - Cathedral of St. Peter, 201 - - Catherine, 406 - - Catholic, 365 to 371 - - Cave Man, Men, People, 12, 22, 66 - - Cavour (ka voor´), 452 - - Caxton, 334 - - Ceres (see´ reez), 61 - - Chaldea, Chaldeans (kal dee´ ah), 43, 49, 55 - - Châlons (sha lahng´), 226 - - Charge of the Light Brigade, The, 445 - - Charlemagne (sharl maign´), 257 to 263 - - Charles the Great, 257, 259, 264 - - Charles I, 390 to 393 - - Charles II, 393 - - Charles V. of Spain, 367 to 369 - - Charles XII, 404, 405 - - Charles the Hammer, 249, 250, 257 - - Cheops (k ee´ ops), 38, 39 - - China, 316, etc. - - Christ, 197 to 202 - - Church of St. Peter, 258, 366 - - Cincinnatus (sin sin nah´ tus), 122 - - Circus Maximus, 195 - - Civil War, 446 - - Clavichord (klav´ ih kord), 438 - - Cleopatra (klee o pah´ tra), 30, 188, 192 - - Clermont (kler mont´), 456 - - Clisthenes (klis´ the neez), 116, 117 133 - - Clotilda (klo till´ dah), 233 - - Clovis (klo´ vis), 233, 234 - - Cologne Cathedral, 309 - - Colosseum (kol o see´ um), 195, 205 - - Columbia, 346 - - Columbus, Christopher, 337 to 345 - - Commodus (kom´ mo dus), 213, 214 - - Confucius (kon few´ shus), 113 - - Constantine, 215 to 218 - - Constantinople, 217, 228, 231, 232, 248, 335, 336 - - Corday, Charlotte (kor day´), 427 - - Cordova (kor´ do vah), 243, 254 - - Corinthian, 148, 149 - - Cornelia, 182, 183 - - Cornwallis, Lord, 418 - - Corsica, 428 - - Cortés (kor´ te), 356, 357 - - Crécy (kres´ sih), 327 to 329, 336 - - Crimea, Crimean War (krigh mee´ ah), 444, 445, 446 - - Crœsus (kree´ sus), 104 to 106 - - Cromwell, Oliver, 391 to 393 - - Crusades (kroo say´ dz), 297 to 299, 302, 303 - - Cuneiform (kee nee´ ih form), 45, 75, 97, 99 - - Cupid, 60 - - Cyrus (sigh´ rus), 104 to 109, 124 - - Czar (zahr), 190 - - - da Gama, Vasco (day gah´ mah), 348 to 350 - - Damascus (da mas´ kus), 254 - - Danes, 265, 266 - - Dardanelles (dar da nellz´), 135 - - Dare, Virginia, 379 - - Darius (dah righ´ us), 124 to 127, 132 - - Dark Ages, 229, 231, 261 - - David, 70, 71 - - da Vinci, Leonardo (dah vin´ chih), 364 - - Declaration of Independence, 416, 417, 423 - - Declaration of Right, 394, 423 - - Defender of the Faith, 369 - - Delphi (dell´ figh), 63, 106, 139 - - Delphic Oracle, 63, 107 - - Demeter (dee mee´ ter), 61 - - Demosthenes (dee mos´ the neez), 157 to 159 - - De Soto, 354 - - Diana (digh an´ ah), 58 - - Divine Right of Kings, 386, 390, 398 - - Domesday Book, 290 - - Doric (dor´ ik), 148, 149 - - Draco (dray´ co), 114, 115 - - Dutch, Dutchman, Dutch Republic, 374 - - - Edison, Thomas Alva, 457 - - Edward III, 327 - - Egypt and Egyptians, 22, 27, 28, 30 to 41, 188, 192, 430 - - Elba, 432, 449 - - El Dorado (el do rah´ do), 354, 355 - - Elizabeth Tudor, 372, 374 to 381 - - England, 186, 223, 264 to 268, 284, 312, etc. - - Epicureans (ep ih kew ree´ ans), 236 - - Epicurus (ep ih kew´ rus), 213 - - Episcopalians, 304, 365 - - Eternal City, The, 195 - - Etruscans (ee trus´ kans), 121, 122 - - Euphrates River (ew fray´ tees), 21, 22, 26, 42, 100, 106 - - Excalibur (eks kal´ ih ber), 234 - - Exodus, 54 - - - Fairfax, Lord, 416 - - Fates, 61 - - Father of his Country--Peter the Great, 402 - Washington, 419 - - Ferdinand, King, 338, 344, 367 - - Feudal System (few´ dal), 273, 277 - - Florida, 354 - - Foch, General (fush), 461, 467 - - Forum of Rome, 195, 206, 216 - - France, 224, 297, 395, etc. - - Franco-Prussian War (frang´ ko-prush´ an), 451, 461 - - Franklin, Benjamin, 414, 417 - - Franks, 224, 233 - - Frederick Barbarossa (bar bah ross´ ah), 297, 298 - - Frederick the Great, 407 to 410 - - French Assembly, 452 - - French Revolution, 420, 422, 429 - - Freya (fray´ ah), 222 - - Fulton, Robert, 456 - - - Gabriel (gay´ brih ell), 244 - - Gargoyles (gar´ goilz), 308 - - Garibaldi (gar ih ball´ dih), 452 - - Gaul (gawl), 169, 186, 223 - - Gautama (gaw´ tah mah), 111 to 113 - - Genghis Khan (jen´ gis kahn), 316, 317, 402 - - Genoa (jen´ oh ah), 337 - - George II, 412 - - George III, 413 to 418 - - German, 297, 366, 407, 451, 460 - - Gipsies, 24, 26 - - Gladiators (gla dih ay´ tors), 181 - - Godfrey, 296 - - Goddess of Reason, 426 - - Golden Age, 19, 97, 143, 150 - - Goliath (go ligh´ eth), 70 - - Gordian Knot (gor´ dih an), 163 - - Goshen (go´ shen), 51 - - Goths (gahths), 224 - - Gracchi (grack´ igh), 183 - - Graces, 61 - - Grand Monarch (Louis XIV), 398 - - Great Fire, 394 - - Great War, 309 - - Greece, 56, etc., 64, etc., 124, etc. - - Greene, General, 418 - - Greenland, 271 - - Guido (gwee´ doh), 437 - - Gutenberg (goo´ ten berg), 334 - - Guy, 437 - - - Hamites (ham´ ights), 23, 26, 28, 56 - - Hamlet, 383 - - Hammurabi (hah mew rah´ bee), 48 - - Handel, 437 to 440 - - Hannibal, 173, 174, 175, 182, 395 - - Harold, 286, 287 - - Haroun-al-Rashid (hah roon´ al rah´ shid), 262, 263, 267 - - Hastings, Battle of, 289 - - Hathaway, Anne, 381 - - Hanging Gardens, 101, 108 - - Hegira (he jigh´ rah), 244 to 249 - - Hellas (hell´ as), 56 - - Hellen, 56 - - Helen, 65 to 67, 79 - - Helena, 216 - - Hellenes, 56 - - Hellespont (hell´ ess pont), 135, 162 - - Henry VIII, 369 to 372 - - Hephæstus (he fess´ tus), 58 - - Hera (hee´ rah), 57 - - Hercules (her´ kew leez), 214 - - Hermes (her´ meez), 58 - - Herodotus (he rod´ o tus), 149, 150, 157 - - Hieroglyphics (high´ er o gliff icks), 30, 33 - - Hiram, 76 - - Holland, 464, 374, 403 - - Holy City, Holy Land, 293, 296 - - Homer, 68, 69, 79, 89 - - Horace, 196 - - Horatius (ho ray´ shus), 121, 467 - - Horus (hoh´ rus), 34 - - Hundred Years’ War, 327 to 329, 335 - - Huns, 225 to 227 - - - Iceland, 271 - - Iliad (ill´ ih ad), 67 - - Incas (in´ kas), 357 - - India, 109, etc., 165, 387 - - Indians, 109, 343 - - Indo-Europeans, 23 - - Inquisition, 373 - - Invincible Armada (ar mah´ dah), 375 - - Ionic (igh on´ ick), 148, 149 - - Ireland, 465 - - Irish Free State, 465 - - Iron Age, 19 to 22, 64, 66 - - Ironsides, 391 - - Isabelle, Queen, 339, 367 - - Isis (igh´ sis), 34 - - Islam (iss´ lam), 245 to 250 - - Israel (iz´ rah ell), 50, 51 - - Israelites (iz´ rah ell ights), 302 - - Italy, 89, etc., 173, 452 - - - Jacob, 50 - - James I, 380, 385 to 387, 390, 412, 430 - - Jamestown, 413 - - Japan, 112, 445, 446 - - Jefferson Thomas, 416 - - Jerusalem, 70, etc., 205, 292, etc. - - Jesus, 197, 363 - - Joan of Arc (jone of ark), 330 to 332, 467 - - John, King, 311 to 314, 390 - - Joseph, 50, 51 - - Juno, 57, 65, 211 - - Jupiter, 57, 61 - - Justinian (jus tin´ i an), 231 to 233, 336 - - - Kaiser (kigh’ zer), 190 - - Knights of the Round Table, 235 - - Koran (koh´ ran), 245, 252 - - Kublai Khan (koo´ bli kahn), 318 to 320 - - - Laconia (lah koh´ ni a), 82 - - Laconic (lah kon´ ik), 82 - - Lady of the Lamp, 445 - - Lafayette (la fay et´), 417, 442 - - Laocoon (lay ock´ oh on), 66 - - Last Supper, The, 364 - - Lavinia, 90 - - Lebanon, 72, 78 - - Leif Ericson (leef ehr´ ick son), 271 - - Leningrad (len´ in grad), 405 - - Leo I (lee´ oh), 226 - - Leonidas, 137 to 140 - - Lictor (lick´ tor), 121 - - Lincoln, President Abraham, 447, 448 - - Lion of the North, 396 - - Louis I (loo´ ih), 302, 395 - - Louis XIII, 395, 397 - - Louis XIV, 395, etc. - - Louis XVI, 420 - - Lucy, Sir Thomas, 381 - - Luther, 366, 367 - - Lycurgus (ligh ker´ gus), 79 to 82 - - Lydia (lid´ i ah), 104 to 106 - - - Macedonia (mass ee doh´ ni ah) 156, etc. - - Madman of the North, 405 - - Magi (may´ jigh), 104 - - Magellan (ma jell´ an), 351,352 - - Magna Carta (mag´ nah kar´ tah), 313, 34 - - Marathon, 127 to 130 - - Marco Polo (mar´ koh po´ loh), 318, 337, 338 - - Marconi (mar koh´ nih), 458 - - Marcus Aurelius (mar´ kus ah ree´ li us), 211, 213, 220 - - Maria Theresa (ma righ a te ree´ sah), 408 to 409 - - Marie Antoinette (mah ree´ an toah net´), 321 to 423 - - Marne, 461 - - Mars, 58, 61, 222 - - Marseillaise (mar say ly ayz´), 425 - - Masks, 145 - - Massachusetts, 388 - - Mayflower, 388 - - Mazda, 104 - - Mecca (mek´ ah), 243 to 246, 248 - - Medes (meeds), 98, 103, 104 - - Media (mee´ di ah), 100 - - Medina (meh dee´ nah), 243, 244 - - Meditations, 212 - - Mediterranean Sea, 21, 22 - - Menelaus (men ee lay´ us), 65, 66 - - Menes (men eez), 28 - - Merchant of Venice, The, 383 - - Mercury, 58, 61 - - Merry Monarch (Charles II), 393 - - Mesopotamia (mes o po tay´ mi ah), 21, 42, 44, 95 - - Messiah, The (oratorio), 439 - - Methodists, 304, 365 - - Mexico, 355 to 357 - - Michelangelo (migh kell an jee loh), 360 to 366 - - Middle Ages, 304, 335, 336 - - Miltiades (mill tigh´ a deez), 128 - - Minerva, 59, 60, 65 - - Mississippi, 355 - - Mohammed (mo ham´ ed), 242 to 245, 247 - - Mohammedans, 245, etc. - - Moloch (moh´ lock), 76 - - Mona Lisa (moh’ nah lee’ zah), 364 - - Mongols (mon´ golz), 316, 402 - - Montezuma (mon tee zoo´ mah), 356 - - Morse, 456 - - Moscow (mos´ koh), 405, 432 - - Moses, 52, 154, 360 - - Moslems, 247 to 257 - - Mount Ararat (ar´ a rat), 43, 321 - - Mount of Olives, 216 - - Mount Olympus (o lim´ pus), 57, 64 - - Mount Parnassus (par nas´ us), 62 - - Mount Sinai (sigh´ nigh), 54 - - Mozart (mo´ tzart), 440 to 442 - - Muezzin (moo ez´ in), 246 - - Muses (mewz´ ez), 61 - - - Napoleon Bonaparte (na poh´ le on bon´ na part), 428 to 434 - - Napoleon, Louis, 449 - - Napoleon III, 449 - - National Assembly, 422, 423, 424 - - Nebuchadnezzar (neb oo kad nez´ ar), 99 to 103, 261 - - Nelson, Lord, 430, 431 - - Neptune, 57, 61 - - Nero, 203 to 205, 211 - - New Forest, 290 - - Nightingale, Florence, 444, 445 - - Nicæa (nigh see´ ah), 217 - - Nicene Creed (nigh´ seen), 218 - - Nile, 22, 27, 28 - - Niña (nee´ nah), 340 - - Nineveh (nin´ eh veh), 94 to 100, 168 - - Noah’s Ark, 48, 321 - - Normandy, 286, 287 - - Normans, 286, 288 - - Norsemen, 270, 284, 286, 357 - - North America, 340 to 344, 350 - - Notre Dame (nohtr dam), 309, 426 - - - Oberammergau (oh ber am´ er gow), 397 - - Octavius (ock tay´ vi us), 192, 193 - - Odysseus (o dis´e us), 68, 90 - - Odyssey (od´ ih sih), 68 - - Olympia (o lim´ pi ah), 84, 85, 101, 147 - - Olympiad (o lim´ pi ad), 87, 89 - - Olympic games, 86 to 88 - - Orpheus (or´ fe us), 436 - - Omar (oh´ mar), 247, 248 - - Osiris (o sigh´ ris), 34 - - Ostracism (os´ tra sism), 117, 118 - - Oxford, 267 - - - Palestine (pal´ es tighm), 216 - - Palestrina (pah les tree´ nah), 337, 442 - - Palos, 340 - - Pan, 436 - - Pantheon (pan’ the on), 194 - - Pariah (pay’ rih a), 110 - - Paris (the city), 234 - - Paris (the man), 65 - - Parliament, 386, etc. - - Parthenon (pahr the non), 145 to 148, 194 - - Pass of Thermopylæ (ther mop’ ih lee), 140 - - Passion Play, 397 - - Peking, 318 - - Peloponnesian War (pellv oh poh nee´ shan), 153, 156 - - Peloponnesus (pell oh poh neev sus), 152 - - Pericles, Age of (per´ i klees), 144, 147, 149, 150 - - Perry, Commodore, 446 - - Pershing, General, 464 - - Persia, 124, etc. - - Persian Bible, 104 - - Persian Gulf, 21, 22 - - Peru, 359 - - Peter the Great, 402 to 406 - - Peter the Hermit, 293, 295 - - Petrograd, 405 - - Pharaoh (fay´ roh), 33, 39, 52 - - Pharos (fay´ ros), 164 - - Pheidippides (figh dip´ ih dees), 127, 129 - - Phenicia (fee nish´ ih a), 95 - - Phenicians (fee nish´ ans), 74 to 78, 170, 171 - - Phidias (fid´ ih as), 146, 147, 154, 359 - - Philip, 156 to 159 - - Philip II, 369, 373 to 375 - - Philip of France, 297 to 299 - - Philippics (fih lip´ icks), 158 - - Philippine Islands, 352 - - Pilate, 198, 199 - - Pillars of Hercules, 77 - - Pinta (pin´ ta), 340 - - Pisistratus (pi sis´ tra tus), 115, 116 - - Pizarro (pi zair´ oh), 357 - - Plato, 161, 166, 211 - - Pluto, 61 - - Polo, 318 to 320 - - Pompeii (pom pay´ yee), 207, 208 - - Pompey (pom´ pih), 186 to 188 - - Ponce de León (pon thee dee lee´ on), 354 - - Portugal, 338, 339, 350, 351, 466 - - Portuguese (por´ chew geese´), 348 - - Poseidon (poh sigh´ don), 57 - - Priam (prigh´ am), 65 - - Primitive Men, 13, 93 - - Primitive People, 16, 17 - - Protector, 393 - - Protestants, 368, 372, 373, 374, 395 to 397 - - Protestantism, 373 - - Prussia, 407 to 409, 431, 450, 451 - - Prussians, 450 - - Ptolemy I (tol’ ih mih), 167 - - Punic War (pew´ nick), 171, 172, 175, 182 - - - Raleigh, Sir Walter, 378, 379, 380 - - Rameses (ram´ ih sees), 23, 52, 53 - - Raphael (raff´ ay ell), 362 to 366 - - Red Sea, 21, 54, 301 - - Red Shirt, Hero of, 452 - - Reformation (reff or may´ shun), 368 - - Reign of Terror, 425, 427 - - Remus (ree´ mus), 90, 91, 196 - - Renaissance (ren ay sahns´), 359, 360, 453 - - Revolution, 428 - - Richard of England (Richard the Lion-hearted), 297 to 301, 311 - - Richelieu (rish´ ih lew), 395, 397 - - Roanoke (roh´ a nohke), 379, 387 - - Robespierre (rob´ bes pyer), 425, 427 - - Robin Hood, 301 - - Rollo, 284, 286 - - Roma, 92 - - Roman Aqueduct (ack´ we duct), 179 - - Roman Catholics, 368 - - Roman Senate, 186, 189, 216 - - Rome, 89, etc. - - Romeo and Juliet, 383 - - Romulus (rom´ yew lus), 90, 92, 93, 196 - - Romulus Augustulus (a gus´ tew lus), 228 - - Rosetta Stone (roh zet´ a), 32, 33 - - Roxana (rocks an´ a), 167 - - Rubicon (rew´ bih kon), 187 - - Runnymede (run´ ih meed), 313 - - Russia, 402 to 406 - - - Sabines (say´ bighns), 92 - - Sahara (sa hah´ rah), 28 - - St. Helena (hell´ ee nah), 217, 434 - - St. John, 437 - - St. Louis, 302 - - St. Paul, 201 to 203 - - St. Peter, 201, 203, 217, 218 - - St. Petersburg, 405 - - St. Simeon Stylites (sim´ ee on stigh ligh´ tees), 236 - - Saladin, 300 - - Salamis, Bay of (sal´ ah mis), 140, 141, 151 - - Samuel, 55 - - San Salvador, 343 - - Santa Maria, 340 - - Santa Sophia, 232, 336 - - Saracens (sair´ ah sens), 248, 249 - - Saracenic Empire (sair ah sen´ ick), 243 - - Saratoga, 417, 418 - - Sargon I (sahr´ gon), 48 - - Saturn, 222 - - Saul, King, 55, 70 - - Saul (Paul), apostle, 200 - - Saxons, 223 - - Schwarz, 325 - - Scipio (sip´ ih oh), 175, 182 - - Scotland, 374 to 376, 385 - - Scots, 385 - - Semites (sem´ ights), 23, 52, 56, 76 - - Seneca (sen´ e kah), 203 - - Sennacherib (se nack´ e rib), 96, 97 - - Serbia, 460, 461 - - Seven-League Boots, 89 - - Seven Wonders of the World, 101, 147, 164 - - Seven Years’ War, 410, 417 - - Shakspere, William, 190, 380 to 383 - - Sheba, 72 - - Sicily, 170 - - Sidon (sigh´ don), 77 - - Sistine Chapel (sis´ teen), 361, 362 - - Sistine Madonna, 363, 364 - - Slavs, 402 - - Smith, Captain John, 388 - - Snow King, 396 - - Socrates (sock´ ray tees), 153 to 155, 161 - - Solomon, 71 to 73, 76, 101, 103, 104 - - Solon (soh´ lon), 115, 116 - - South Sea, 350, 351 - - Spain, 169, 339, etc. - - Spanish Armada, 375, 376 - - Sparta, 79, 82, 83, 126 to 129, 134, 151, 152, 153 - - Sphinx, 39 - - Stephen, 301 - - Stephenson, 200 - - Stoic (stoh´ ick), 210 to 213, 236 - - Stone Age, The, 11, 14, 17 - - Strait of Gibraltar, 77, 248 - - Straits of Magellan, 351 - - Stratford, 381, 383 - - Stuarts, 385, etc. - - Sweden, 396, 404 - - - Tarquin (tahr´ kwin), 119 to 121, 189 - - Tartars (tah´ tahr), 316, 317 - - Ten Commandments, 54, 55, 113 - - Tennyson, Lord, 235, 445 - - Terrorists, 426 - - Teutons, 220 to 236 - - Thames River (temz), 289, 313 - - Themistocles (thee mis´ to klees), 133, 134, 140 to 142 - - Thermopylae (ther mop´ ih lee), 137, 140 - - Thirty Years’ War, 395, 396, 397 - - Thor, 222, 230, 233 - - Tiber River, 90, 91 - - Tigris River (tigh gris), 21, 22 - - Titus (tigh´ tus), 206 to 208 - - Tiu (tih´ ew), 222 - - Toledo, 254 - - Tours (toor), 243, 249, 250, 257 - - Tower of Babel (bay´ bel), 44, 45, 108 - - Tower of London, 289, 380 - - Trafalgar (trah fal´ gar), 431 - - Travels of Marco Polo, 320, 338 - - Treaty of Westphalia (west fay´ lia), 396 - - Trojan War, 64, 67, 234 - - Trojans, 66, 67 - - Troy, 65 to 67, 90, 104 - - Tudors, 385, 386 - - Turkish, 336 - - Turks, 293, 335, 465 - - Tu-tank-amen (too tank a´ men), 36 - - Twenty-third Psalm, 71 - - Tyre (tihr), 77, 170 - - - Ultima Thule (ul´ tih mah thew lee), 20 - - Ulysses (yew liss´ ees), 68 - - United States, 413, etc. - - Ur (er), 49, 55 - - Urban (er´ ban), 293 - - - Valhalla (val hal´ lah), 222 - - Vandals (van´ dalz), 223, 224 - - Venetians, 318 - - Venice, 318, 319 - - Venus, 60, 61, 65, 154 - - Vergil, 90, 196 - - Versailles (ver´ sah´ ye), 399, 423, 451, 465 - - Vesta, 61 - - Vesuvius (vee soo’ vihus), 207, 208 - - Victor Emmanuel, 452 - - Victoria, 352, 443 - - Victorian Age, 443 - - Vikings, 270, 271 - - Vineland, 271 - - Virgin Queen, 374, 379 - - Virginia, 379, 387 - - Vulcan, 58, 60, 207 - - - Wagner (vahg’ ner), 441, 442 - - Walter the Penniless, 295 - - Washington, George, 412, 415 to 419, 422 - - Waterloo (waw ter lew´), 433 - - Watt, James, 455, 456 - - Wellington, 434 - - Western Empire, 231 - - Westminster Abbey, 439 - - William the Conqueror, 286, 290 - - William and Mary, 394 - - William of Prussia, King, 450, 451, 461 - - William the Silent, 374 - - Wise Men of the East, 161 - - Wise Men of Greece, 161 - - Woden (woh´ den), 221, 222 - - World War, 465, 469 - - Worms (vohrms), 367 - - Wright, 458 - - - Xantippe (zan tip´ e), 154 - - Xerxes (zerks´ eez), 132, etc., 140 to 143. - - - Yorktown, 418 - - - Zama (zay´ mah), 175 - - Zeno (zee´ noh), 211, 212, 213 - - Zeus (zews), 57, 84 - - Zoroaster (zoh roh as´ ter), 103, 104 - - - - - Transcriber’s Notes: - - Italics are shown thus: _sloping_. - - Small capitals have been capitalised. - - Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained. - - Perceived typographical errors have been changed. - - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CHILD’S HISTORY OF THE WORLD *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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