David H. Montgomery

“ Many other Americans, who are equally patriotic and equally proud of their country, believe that it would be a mistake for us to keep all of these islands. They say that distant possessions would make us weaker instead of stronger, that they would be likely to get us into quarrels with other nations, and that in the end we should have to spend enormous sums of the people's money in building more war-ships and fitting out new armies. ”

“ While in the valley they met a band of Indians, who stopped and danced a war-dance for them. The music was not remarkable,—for most of it was made by drumming on a deerskin stretched across the top of an old iron pot,—but the dancing could not be beat. The savages leaped into the air, swung their hatchets, gashed the trees, and yelled till the woods rang.
When Washington returned from his surveying trip, Lord Fairfax was greatly pleased with his work; and the governor of Virginia made him one of the public surveyors. By this means he was able to get work which paid him handsomely. ”

“ What happened later in Virginia; the Revolution; Washington; four presidents.—But though Jamestown was destroyed, Virginia kept growing in strength and wealth. What was better still, the country grew in the number of its great men. The king of England continued to rule America until, in 1776, the people of Virginia demanded that independence should be declared. The great war of the Revolution overthrew the king's power and made us free. The military leader of that war was a Virginia planter named George Washington. ”

“ Summary.— Ponce de Leon discovered Florida; another Spaniard, named Balboa, discovered the Pacific; still another, named De Soto, discovered the Mississippi. In 1565 the Spaniards began to build St. Augustine in Florida. It is the oldest city built by white men in the United States or, in fact, in all North America. ”

“ These bears were great swimmers, and would dive into the sea and come up with a large fish in their claws. As it did not look to the Cabots as if the polar bears and the icebergs would guide them to the warm countries of Asia and the Spice Islands, they turned about and went south. ”

“ The king and queen were then in the city of Barcelona (Bar-se-lō′na) , a long distance from Palos. To that city Columbus now went. He entered it on horseback, attended by the proudest and richest noblemen of Spain. He brought with him six Indians from the West Indies. They were gaily painted and wore bright feathers in their hair. Then a number of men followed, carrying rare birds, plants, and gold and silver ornaments, all found in the New World. These were presents for the king and queen. Ferdinand and Isabella received Columbus with great honor. ”

“ Smith generously gave this money to help the settlement.
As the weather was warm, the emigrants did not begin building log cabins at once, but slept on the ground, sheltered by boughs of trees. For a church they had an old tent, in which they met on Sunday. They were all members of the Church of England, or the Episcopal Church, and that tent was the first place of worship that we know of which was opened by Englishmen in America.
When the hot weather came, many fell sick. Soon the whole settlement was like a hospital. Sometimes three or four would die in one night. ”

“ All this part of America was ruled by George the Third, king of England. The king now determined to send over more soldiers, and to keep them here to prevent the French in Canada from trying to get gack the country they had lost. He wanted the people here in the thirteen colonies 8 to pay the cost of keeping these soldiers. But this the people were not willing to do, because they felt that they were able to protect themselves without help of any kind. Then the king said, If the Americans will not give the money, I will take it from them by force,—for pay it they must and shall. ”

“ Many of our people wish to keep all of the islands we have conquered from Spain.13 They believe that by so doing we shall open new markets for our goods in the East, and in China; and that by having possessions in various parts of the globe we shall make the United States a great “world-power,”—the greatest, perhaps, that has ever existed in history. ”

“ What men then knew about the world.— The maps which Columbus made and sold were very different from those we now have. At that time not half of the world had been discovered. Europe, Asia, and a small part of Africa were the chief countries known. The maps of Columbus may have shown the earth shaped like a ball; but he supposed it to be much smaller than it really is. No one then had sailed round the globe. No one then knew what lands lay west of the broad Atlantic ”

“ The tobacco plant did not grow very well there, but the potato did; and after a time thousands of farmers began to raise that vegetable, not only in Ireland, but in England too. As far back as that time—or more than three hundred years ago—America was beginning to feed the people of the Old World.
34. The Virginia settlement destroyed.— Sir Walter spent immense sums of money on his settlement in Virginia, but it did not succeed. One of the settlers, named Dare, had a daughter born there. He named her Virginia Dare. She was the first English child born in America. ”

“ Arnold was a traitor; and if we could have caught him, we should have hanged him; but he was cunning enough to run away and escape to the British. Now he was burning houses and towns in Virginia, and doing all that he could—as a traitor always will—to destroy those who had once been his best friends. He wanted to stay in Virginia and assist Cornwallis ”

“ John Cabot named it “The Land First Seen.” Up to this time Columbus had discovered nothing except the West India Islands; but John Cabot now saw the continent of North America. No civilized man1 had ever seen it before. There it lay, a great, lonely land, shaggy with forests, with not a house or a human being in sight.
22. John Cabot takes possession of the country for the king of England.— Cabot went on shore, with his son and some of his crew. In the vast, silent wilderness they set up a large cross. ”

“ They said that if an old man should bathe in its water, they would make him a boy again. Ponce de Leon 1, a Spanish soldier who was getting gray and wrinkled, set out to find this magic fountain, for he thought that there was more fun in being a boy than in growing old. ”

“ We did open fire. The Spanish Admiral was a brave man; he did the best he could with his guns to answer us, but it was of no use, and in less than three hours all of the enemy's fleet were helpless, blazing wrecks. Cervera himself barely escaped with his life. He was rescued by the crew of the Gloucester; as he came on board that ship, Commander Wainwright said to him, “I congratulate you, sir, on having made a most gallant fight.” ”

“ But these were the Indians of the south; some of the northern tribes were terribly fierce and a match for the Spaniards in cruelty.
The Indians at the east did not build cities, but lived in small villages. These villages were made up of huts, covered with the bark of trees. Such huts were called wigwams. The women did nearly all the work, such as building the wigwams and hoeing corn and tobacco. The men hunted and made war. Instead of guns the Indians had bows and arrows. With these they could bring down a deer or a squirrel quite as well as a white man could now with a rifle. ”

“ He was to “make prisoners, kill or destroy,” all Frenchmen who should try to get possession of land on the Ohio River. He built a small log fort, which he named Fort Necessity. Here the French attacked him. They had five men to his one. Colonel Washington fought like a man who liked to hear the bullets whistle past his ears,—as he said he did,—but in the end he had to give up the fort.
Then General Braddock, a noted English soldier, was sent over to Virginia, by the king, to drive the French out of the country. He started with a fine army, and Washington went with him. ”

“ The Americans at once set out to find the enemy. The Spaniards had hidden in the underbrush, where they could fire on us without being seen. They opened the battle, and as they used smokeless powder, it was difficult for our men to tell where the rifle balls came from or how to reply to them. But in the end, after pretty sharp fighting, we got possession of some high ground from which we could plainly see Santiago, where Cervera's fleet lay concealed behind the hills. ”

“ Some of the greatest men in England agreed with us, and said that they would fight, too, if they were in our place.
132. The king determines to have the money; the tea-ships, and the “Boston tea-party.”— But George the Third did not know the Americans, and he did not think that they meant what they said. He tried to make them pay the money, but they would not. From Maine to Georgia, all the people were of one mind. Then the king thought that he would try a different way. Shiploads of tea were sent over to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston. ”

“ Piece by piece Spain lost the whole of these enormous possessions, until at last she had nothing left but the two islands of Cuba and Porto Rico.
266. The rebellion in Cuba.— Many of the Cubans hated Spanish rule, and with good reason. They made several attempts to rid themselves of it and fought for ten years (1868–1878) , but without success. Finally, in the spring of 1895, they took up arms again, and with the battle cry of “Independence or death!” they set to work in grim earnest to drive out the Spaniards. Spain was determined to crush the rebellion. ”

“ It consists, with a few exceptions, of small, one-volume biographies; all of which are believed to be of acknowledged merit.
A much fuller reference list will be found in the appendix to the author's larger work, entitled The Leading Facts of American History. ”

“ Smith's trial and what came of it; how the settlers lived; the first English church; sickness; attempted desertion. he Indians of Virginia. Captain Smith goes in search of the Pacific; he is captured by Indians. Smith's life is saved by Pocahontas her marriage to John Rolfe. Captain Smith is made governor of Jamestown; the gold-diggers; "Corn, or your life." "He who will not work shall not eat." Captain Smith's cold-water cure. Captain Smith meets with an accident and goes back to England; his return to America; his death. What Captain Smith did for Virginia. Negro slaves sent to Virginia ”

“ The king closes the port of Boston; Congress meet at Philadelphia; the names American and British; what General Gage tried to do.— The king was terribly angry; and orders were given that the port of Boston should be closed, so that no ships, except the king's war-ships, should come in or go out. Nearly all trade stopped in Boston. Many of the inhabitants began to suffer for want of food; but throughout the colonies the people tried their best to help them. The New England towns sent droves of sheep and cattle, New York sent wheat, South Carolina gave two hundred barrels of rice ”

“ Teachers who wish a regular set of questions on each section will find them at the end of the section. Difficult words are defined or pronounced where they first occur.
3 Wool-comber: before wool can be spun into thread and woven into cloth, the tangled locks must be combed out straight and smooth; once this was all done by hand.
4 Mediterranean (Med′i-ter-rā′ne-an) , the sea between Europe and Africa.
5 Explorer: one who explores or discovers new countries.
6 Convent: a house in which a number of people live who devote themselves to a religious life. ”

“ President McKinley resolved to strike two blows at once, and while we hit Spain in Cuba, to hit her at the same time at Manila (Man-il′ah) , the capital of the Philippines. It happened, fortunately for us, that Commodore Dewey8 had a fleet of six war-ships at Hong Kong, China. The President telegraphed to him to start at once for Manila and to “capture or destroy” the Spanish fleet which guarded that important port. The Spaniards at that place were brave men who were determined to hold Manila against all attack; they had forts to help them; they had twice as many vessels as Commodore Dewey had ”

“ Captain Smith led the expedition. The Indians attacked them, killed three of the men, and took the captain prisoner. To amuse the Indians, Smith showed them his pocket compass. When the savages saw that the needle always pointed toward the north they were greatly astonished, and instead of killing their prisoner they decided to take him to their chief. This chief was named Powhatan4_back4}}. He was a tall, grim-looking old man, and he hated the settlers at Jamestown, because he believed that they had come to steal the land from the Indians. ”

“ William H. Johnson's 'The World's Discoverers: The Story of Bold Voyages by Brave Navigators' (Little, Brown & Co., Boston) ; J. F. Nicholls's 'Cabot'; C. Hayward's 'Cabot' in Sparks's Library of American Biography: Little, Brown & Co., Boston.
Clark, George Rogers : see Theodore Roosevelt's 'The Winning of the West', Vol. II.
Columbus : William H. Johnson's 'The World's Discoverers: The Story of Bold Voyages by Brave Navigators' (Little, Brown & Co., Boston) ; Irving's 'Columbus', abridged edition; Charles K. Adams's 'Columbus' in Makers of America Series: Dodd, Mead & Co., New York ”

“ What did she do for Walter Raleigh? What did Sir Walter then do? What American plants did the emigrants send him? What did he do with those plants? What happened to the Virginia settlement? What is said of the last days of Sir Walter Raleigh? Did Sir Walter's attempt to settle Virginia do any good?
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Footnotes 1 Venison (ven′i-zon or ven′zon) : deer meat.
2 Emigrants: persons who leave one country to go and settle in another. Thousands of emigrants from Europe now land in this country every month. ”

“ That six cents was a tax, and it went into the king's pocket. The people said, We won't pay that six cents. When the tea reached New York, the citizens sent it back again to England. They did the same thing at Philadelphia. At Charleston they let it be landed, but it was stored in damp cellars. People would not buy any of it any more than they would buy so much poison, so it all rotted and spoiled. At Boston they had a grand “tea-party.” A number of men dressed themselves up like Indians, went on board the tea-ships at night, broke open all the chests, and emptied the tea into the harbor. ”

“ Many tried to escape from this labor; but Smith said, Men who are able to dig for gold are able to chop; then he made this rule: "He who will not work shall not eat." Rather than lose his dinner, the laziest man now took his axe and set off for the woods. ”

“ The General or Continental Congress was an assembly of certain persons sent usually by all of the thirteen American colonies to meet at Philadelphia or Baltimore, to decide what should be done by the whole country. ”

“ At the South many new and flourishing towns and cities have sprung up. Mines of coal and iron have been opened, hundreds of cotton-mills and factories have been built, and long lines of railroads have been constructed. ”

“ They had no iron, but made hatchets and knives out of sharp, flat stones. They never built roads, for they had no wagons, and at the east they did not use horses; but they could find their way with ease through the thickest forest. ”

“ The battles of El Caney and San Juan were fought mainly by the “regulars”—that is, by the soldiers of the regular standing army of the United States. Volunteers are men who enlist to fight in a war but do not belong to the regular standing or permanent army of the country.
11 Cruisers (krew′zers) , vessels of war.
12 Columbus spent the last years of his life there. But it is said that the remains of Columbus were not actually carried to Valladolid, but were deposited in the Cathedral at Seville in Spain. ”

“ Cornwallis shuts himself up in Yorktown.— When Lord Cornwallis got into Virginia, he found Benedict Arnold waiting to help him. Arnold had been a general in the American army; Washington gave hime the command of the fort at West Point, on the Hudson River, and trusted him as though he was his brother. Arnold deceived him, and secretly offered to give up the fort to the British. We call a man who is false to his friends and to his country a traitor ”

“ Washington's sports and games; playing at war; “Captain George.” The great battle with the colt, and what came of it. Washington goes on a visit to Mount Vernon; he makes the acquaintance of Lord Fairfax. Lord Fairfax hires Washington to survey his land; how Washington lived in the woods; the Indian war-dance. Washington at the age of twenty-one; the French in the west; the governor of Virginia sends Washington to see the French commander. The journey back; the Indian guide; how Washington found his way throught the woods ”