Chapter 3

[1]From an account by Stephen Vail used inGraded Literature Readers, by permission ofTruth.

CHAPTER V

ELECTRICITY: LIGHTING, TRANSPORTATION, AND OTHER USES

Man must have discovered artificial light as soon as he discovered fire, for the two exist together. The first light was probably produced by burning sticks or pieces of wood. In his search for more light, man learned how to make the tallow candle. Lights made in one form or other from the fats of animals persisted almost to the threshold of the present. The next step forward was to the use of oil; and the next, to the use of gas.

The first practical use of gas for purposes of illumination was in 1792. In that year William Murdoch, an English engineer, produced gas artificially from coal, and with it lighted his house in Cornwall, a county of England. Nine years afterward a Frenchman named Lebon illuminated his house and garden in Paris with gas produced from wood. Street lighting by gas was introduced in 1807 by an Englishman named F. A. Winzer or Windsor, in Pall Mall, one of the fine streets of London. The first gas lights in America were installed in 1806 by David Melville, of Newport, Rhode Island, in his residence and in the streets adjacent. Baltimore was the first city in the United States to adopt gas lighting for its streets. This was in 1817.

When gas was first used, there was much opposition to it, as there usually has been to improvements in general. The citizens of Philadelphia protested for more than twenty years against the introduction of gas into that city for purposes of illumination. Some of the newspapers of the time called gas a "folly and a nuisance"; and one of the professors in the University of Pennsylvania declared that even if gas were the good thing its supporters were declaring it to be, tallow candles and oil lamps were good enough for him. But gas triumphed, and to-day the world could scarcely do without it, either for illumination or for fuel.

The electric light had its beginning about 1800 in the experiments of Sir Humphry Davy, a British investigator. He discovered that if two pieces of carbon are brought into contact, completing a circuit through which an electric current flows, and if the carbon points are separated by a short distance, the points will become intensely hot and emit a brilliant light. The wordarc, used in connection with the arc lamp or light, refers to the gap or arc between the two carbon points, across which the electric current leaps in creating the light.

Following Sir Humphry Davy's experiments, several arc lights were invented, with greater or less degree of success, and about 1860 electricity was tried successfully for lighting in some lighthouses along the British coast. The widespread usage and the usefulness of the arc electric light, however, are due to Charles Francis Brush, an electrical inventor of Cleveland, Ohio, who in 1876 simplified the arc light so as to bring it into general use for lighting streets, large rooms, halls, and outdoor spaces. Brush was also the inventor of an electric-dynamo machine that has added to his fame. After the invention of the arc light, he took out more than fifty other patents. The incandescent electric light, for lighting residences and small rooms, came a little later as the invention of Edison.

Thomas Alva Edison is one of the most remarkable men of all times and places. Alexander, Caesar, and Napoleon together did not benefit mankind as has this quiet American inventor. He was born at Milan, Ohio, February 11, 1847. His father was of Dutch descent and his mother was Scotch. The mother, who had been a teacher, gave him all the schooling he received. Early in life he showed great mental vigor and ingenuity. When he was twelve years old, he is said to have read the histories of Hume and Gibbon.

Thomas A. Edison

When Thomas was seven years old, the Edison family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. He soon became a newsboy on the Grand Trunk railway running into Detroit. He also became proprietor of a news stand, a book store, and a vegetable market, each a separate enterprise in Port Huron, employing eleven boys in all. His spare hours in Detroit, between the arrival and departure of his train, he spent reading in the Free Library. Before long he had bought a small hand printing press, some old type, and plates for "patent insides" from the proprietor of a Detroit newspaper, and using the baggage car for an office, he started theGrand Trunk Herald, the first and only newspaper ever published on a railway train. His inquiring mind led him one day to make some chemical experiments in the car. He overturned a bottle of phosphorus, set the car on fire, and as a result was not permitted to use it longer for a newspaper office.

One day young Edison snatched the child of the station agent at Mount Clemens, Michigan, from beneath the wheels of a locomotive. In gratitude for this act, the station agent taught him telegraphy. In a few months his ingenuity, one of the chief characteristics of the great inventor, led him to string a private telegraph wire from the depot to the town. Over this wire he forwarded messages, charging ten cents for each message. Next he went to Stratford, Canada, as night operator for the Grand Trunk railway. One night he received an order to hold a train. He stopped to reply before signaling the train, and when he reached the platform the train had passed. A collision resulted, though not a serious one, and Edison was ordered to report at the office of the general manager. Edison hastily climbed on a freight train, went to Port Huron, and probably has not yet called on the general manager.

Edison worked as telegraph operator at various places. Although he was a brilliant and rapid telegrapher, his fondness for playing pranks and making fun lost him several positions. After making his first experiments with a telegraph repeater, he left Indianapolis for Cincinnati, where he earned sixty dollars per month, besides something extra for night work. He Worked next in Louisville and Memphis. He was poor in purse, for all his money went to defray the expenses of his experiments. His fondness for Victor Hugo's great work,Les Miserables, gained for him the nicknames of "Victor" and "Hugo."

At Memphis he perfected his telegraph repeater and was the first to bring New Orleans into direct communication with New York. However, the manager at Memphis was jealous of him and dismissed him. Shabby and destitute, he made his way back to Louisville, walking a hundred miles of the way, and resumed his old position. After he had worked in the Louisville office for two years, his experimenting again got him into trouble. He upset some sulphuric acid, part of which trickled through the floor and spoiled the carpet in the manager's room below. For this he was discharged. He next went to New Orleans, intending to sail for Brazil; but the ship had gone and an old Spanish sailor advised him to stay in America. He went back to Cincinnati, where he made some of his first experiments in duplex telegraphy, a system whereby two messages may be sent over the same wire at the same time.

A little while afterward, as poor as ever and as unattractive in dress, he walked into the telegraph office in Boston, where he had procured work. His co-workers there, thinking they would have some fun at his expense, set him to receiving messages from the most rapid operators in New York. Instead of throwing up his hands in defeat, as his companions expected, he received the messages easily, with a good margin to spare, and asked the operator sending at the other end of the line to "please send with the other foot." He was at once placed regularly on the New York wire. While in Boston, Edison opened a small workshop, put many of his ideas into definite shape, and took out his first patent. It was upon a chemical apparatus to record votes. He tried to introduce this into Congress, but failed, although he proved that it "would work."

He left Boston not only without money, but in debt, and went to New York. This was in 1871 when he was twenty-four years old. At that time an apparatus called a "gold indicator" was in use in the offices of about six hundred brokers, to show fluctuations in the prices of gold. The system was operated from a central office near Wall street. One day this central office was filled with six hundred messenger boys, each bringing the complaint that the machinery had broken. No one knew how to repair it. A stranger walked up, looked at the apparatus, and said to the manager, "Mr. Law, I think I can show you where the trouble is." The machinery was repaired, the office was cleared, and order was restored. "What is your name, sir?" asked the delighted manager. "Edison," was the reply. He was engaged as superintendent at a salary of $200 per month, and from that hour his fortunes were assured.

Edison at once busied himself with inventing. He improved and invented various machines used in the stock markets, and in 1872 perfected his system of duplex telegraphy. Two years later he brought out the wonderful quadruplex system, by which four messages may be sent over the same wire at the same time. This system saved millions of dollars and dispensed with thousands of miles of poles and wires.

He started a large factory at Newark, New Jersey, employing some three hundred men. Sometimes he was working on as many as forty-five improvements and original inventions at once. In 1876 he stopped manufacturing and turned all his attention to inventing. In that year he established a laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey, twenty-five miles from New York City. When this laboratory was outgrown, he founded a new one at Orange, New Jersey, the largest laboratory ever established by one man for scientific research and invention. It comprises one building 250 feet long and three stories high, and four smaller buildings, each one hundred feet long and one story high. The principal building contains a library of thirty thousand reference books, a lecture room, and an exhibition room, where a remarkable collection of instruments of almost every kind is to be seen.

When Edison began working to produce an incandescent electric light for illuminating residences and small rooms, most of the scientists of England said that such a light could not be produced. For nine years he worked on this invention. The chief problem was to find, for the horseshoe thread or filament used to give off the light, a material that should glow with sufficient intensity and yet not be consumed by the great heat necessary to produce the light. In his search for this material he tried all kinds of rags and textiles steeped in various chemicals, different kinds of paper, wood, inner and outer bark, cornstalks, etc. Finally he sent one of his assistants to the East, and in Japan a kind of bamboo was found answering the requirements. Perseverance won, and the incandescent electric light became a reality about 1880.

An Incandescent Light

Thomas Edison is one of the most systematic of workers, and nearly all his inventions have been the result of intelligent and methodical labor directed toward a definite aim. He reads carefully what other investigators have found out, so as not to waste time in going over fruitless ground. He also keeps copious note books of his own operations, so that there may be no loss of time and energy. His invention of the phonograph, however, was accidental. While he was working to improve the telephone, the idea of the phonograph suddenly came into his mind. A little while afterward the first phonograph, crude but successful, was finished. At first this instrument was regarded as a toy, but later the invention was sold for a million dollars.

Edison is a man of remarkable personality. Once when someone referred to him as a genius and said that he supposed a genius worked only when the spirit moved him, the inventor replied, "Genius is two per cent inspiration and ninety-eight per cent perspiration." He certainly possesses great native talent for inventing. This was apparent in his early boyhood. But much of his marvelous success is due to the intelligent direction of effort, to tireless perseverance, and to long hours of work. In 1897 he devoted his attention exclusively to the invention of a new storage battery, upon which he had been working for five years. For more than a year he worked harder than a day laborer. He was in his laboratory by half past seven in the morning; his luncheon was sent to him there; he went home to dinner, but he returned by eight o'clock. At half past eleven his carriage called for him, but often the coachman was compelled to wait three or four hours before the inventor was willing to suspend his work. While the first incandescent electric lighting plant was being prepared in New York City, Edison himself worked part of the time in the trenches, to be sure that the work would be properly done.

There is scarcely an electrical apparatus or an electrical process in existence to-day that does not bear the mark of some great change for the better coming from this most ingenious of American inventors. He has taken out more than four hundred patents on original inventions and improvements. Mr. Edison is still living in his beautiful home at West Orange, New Jersey, near his laboratory. He is frequently called the "Wizard of Menlo Park."

The idea of using electricity as motive power on railroads is nearly as old as the railroads themselves. In 1837, when the utility of steam for purposes of transportation was doubted, Robert Davidson propelled a car with an electric engine on the Edinburgh and Glasgow road. In the fifties Thomas Davenport, a Vermont blacksmith, constructed an electric engine containing all the essential elements of the modern electric motor. Little progress, however, was made in the use of electricity for motive power, because the cost of producing the electric current was so great. In 1887 Lieut. Sprague, overcoming most of the difficulties then existing, installed at Richmond, Virginia, the first successful electric railway in the world. Managers of street railways in other cities visited Richmond, and after an inspection of what Sprague had done there, decided to substitute electricity for animal power. No other construction has had a more rapid growth since the time of its invention than the electric railway. In 1890 there were only thirteen unimportant electric roads. Now there is hardly a city of the civilized world where the hum of the electric street car is not heard at all hours of day and night. Modern urban life could scarcely exist without it. It is rapidly pushing its way into the country and giving the farmer the privilege of rapid and cheap transit.

The uses of electricity are by no means exhausted in the four major inventions of the telegraph, the telephone, the electric light, and the electric street car. It has been put to many minor uses. Among the most interesting and important of these are the Roentgen or X-rays, discovered by Wilhelm Konrad von Roentgen, a German physicist, in 1895. They were named X-rays by their discoverer, because the ultimate nature of their radiation was unknown, the letter X being commonly used in algebra to represent an unknown quantity. The X-rays are peculiar electric rays having the power to penetrate wood, flesh, and other opaque substances. They are of much value to surgery in disclosing the location of bullets, foreign substances of various kinds, and other objective points in the interior of the human body.

The United States government has demonstrated through its Department of Agriculture that electricity applied to the soil will quicken and help the growth of certain vegetables. It has also shown that certain crops are forwarded by the application of electric light.

The New York legislature in 1888 passed a law providing that criminals should be executed in that state thereafter by electrocution, that is, by sending through the body of the condemned person, a current of electricity strong enough to produce death. Execution in this way makes death quicker and apparently less painful than by hanging, the method used previously, and subsequently several other states have passed laws for electrical execution, following the example of New York.

Elisha Gray, who contested with Bell the invention of the telephone, was the inventor of a peculiar machine called the telautograph.Teleandgraphhave been previously explained.Autois from a Greek word meaning "itself." The meaning oftelautograph, therefore, is "to write afar by itself." By means of the telautograph, which is operated with electric currents, if a person writes with an ordinary lead pencil on paper, say in Washington or any other place, at the same time the writing will be reproduced with pen and paper at the other end of the line, in New York or wherever the message may be sent.

One of the important uses of electricity is in connection with the electric block signal. This is a device for preventing railroad collisions. The signals are operated with electricity, and show engineers whether or not a certain section of the track ahead of them is clear.

Electricity is used also in the production of certain chemical substances; in covering base metals with a coating of a precious metal, as gold or silver, called electroplating; in producing a solid metal page from rows of type, called an electrotype, which is used in printing; in the navigation of small boats and the propulsion of automobiles; in playing organs and pianos; in driving electric fans; in drawing elevators in high buildings; in call-bells and door-bells; in police-alarms and fire-alarms; in the treatment of certain diseases; and in many other useful ways. What electricity may do for the future cannot even be guessed.

CHAPTER VI

THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA

The birthplace of mankind is supposed to have been somewhere in Asia, untold thousands of years ago. The race is thought to have spread thence to the northern coast of Africa and to the peninsulas that jut down from the south of Europe. The travelers of ancient times were the Phœnicians. They occupied a narrow strip of land along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Their country was small and with difficulty supported an increasing population. To the east of them were barbaric hordes, who poured over the mountains and pushed the Phœnicians to the sea, making of them traders and colonizers. As early as twelve centuries before Christ they were founding colonies, exploring strange lands, trading all over the known world, and leaving their alphabet wherever they went. Arriving at a favorable place, they would pull their ships ashore, plant a crop, wait till it had matured, reap it, and go on. They founded many colonies on such sites.

Herodotus, a Greek, born in Asia Minor nearly five hundred years before Christ, is called the father of history and geography. He tells us that in his time the earth was thought to consist of the coast regions of the Mediterranean Sea, extending rather vaguely north and south, and bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean and on the east by the great Persian Empire. The wordMediterraneanis made up of two Latin words meaning "the middle of the earth." Eratosthenes, a Greek geographer who was born on the northern coast of Africa about three centuries before Christ, wrote a geographical treatise in which he announced his belief that the earth was in the form of a sphere revolving on its own axis. He succeeded in convincing only a few, however, that his theory was right. The next great geographer was Strabo, born in the northeast part of Asia Minor in the year 64 B.C. He was a great traveler and observer, and wrote a work on geography that has come down to us. The parts dealing with his own observations are especially valuable.

The great traveler of mediæval times was Marco Polo, an Italian, born in Venice in 1254 A.D. He traveled widely, had many adventures, and published an account of his travels. His experiences were a great stimulus to geographical inquiry and discovery. About this time also the mariners' compass was introduced into Europe. Civilization seems to be indebted to the Chinese for the compass, for it is mentioned by them as an instrument of navigation as early as the third or fourth century after Christ. With the advent of the compass, seamen were no longer compelled to hug the shore; they acquired more daring to sail the open sea, and geographical exploration was correspondingly widened.

Geographical knowledge grew very slowly. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, explorers had become familiar with the range of the ocean, the outline of the continents, and with many islands. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, four fifths of the land area of the entire globe was unknown. Africa, except a narrow rim of coast, was almost as little known as the planet Mars is to-day. At the opening of the last century men knew little more about Asia than did Marco Polo, three or four centuries earlier. In America the whole vast area west of the Mississippi River was unknown in 1800. The coast of Australia had not yet been traced, and nothing was known of its interior. At that time South America was better known than any other of the continental land masses, except Europe; now it is the least explored of all. The nineteenth century, wonderful for advancement in many fields of human endeavor, was a marvelous one for the growth of geographical knowledge. As we stand in the doorway of the twentieth century, there is scarcely one eleventh of the land area of the whole earth that remains unexplored. Lewis and Clark pushed their way through the unknown vastness of the American Northwest; Livingstone and Stanley penetrated the dark continent of Africa; and in September, 1909, Lieut. Robert E. Peary of the United States Navy startled civilization by announcing his discovery of the North Pole. With the exception of a few interior tracts to-day, the only portions of the earth unknown and unmapped lie around the poles, and these are being rapidly sought out and brought to knowledge.

Of all geographical conquests, by far the greatest is the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492 A.D. The story of Columbus is one of the most interesting and pathetic in history. It is a story of toil, hardship, perseverance, and great success, requited with disappointment and disgrace.

Christophoro Colombo was born in Genoa, Italy, about 1435 or 1436 A.D. Following the custom of those times in giving names Latin forms, his name became Christopher Columbus. In Latin the wordcolumbameans "dove." His father was a wool-comber who was wealthy enough to send his son to a university, where he studied mathematics and astronomy. On leaving the university, he worked a few months at his father's trade, but when he was fifteen years old he determined to be a sailor.

Of the late boyhood and early manhood of Columbus little is known. He seems to have traveled much, and it is certain that he studied much. It was popularly supposed in the time of Columbus that the earth was flat; that it was surrounded by a great world-river called "Oceanus" or the ocean, and that if one should come to the edge he would plunge down into illimitable space. From the time of Eratosthenes and Aristotle, Greek thinkers and scholars who lived several hundreds of years before the birth of Christ had known that the earth was round, and Columbus believed this fact too. He mastered the books, both ancient and contemporary, on geography and navigation, learned to draw charts and to construct spheres, and fitted himself to be a practical seaman and navigator.

In 1470 he arrived at Lisbon, Portugal, after he had been shipwrecked in a sea fight and had escaped to land on a plank. In Portugal he married the daughter of an old sea captain. He pored over the logs and papers of his father-in-law, and talked with old seamen of their voyages and of the mysteries of the western sea. About this time he seems to have arrived at the conclusion that much of the world remained undiscovered. There were strange rumors about the western sea. Navigators had seen queer pieces of wood and some canes in the ocean, and the bodies of two strange men had been washed ashore, "very broad-faced, and differing in aspect from Christians." European commerce was in need of a shorter route to Asia than the overland route then in use. Columbus hoped that he could reach the eastern coast of Asia by sailing west. He did not believe the earth as large as it really is, and he over-estimated the size of Asia, so that he did not realize the breadth of the Atlantic or the magnitude of the task before him.

Columbus was poor, and money was required for so huge an undertaking as a voyage to Asia. It was necessary, therefore, for him to seek aid in the enterprise. He asked help first from the senate of his native town, Genoa; but Genoa turned to him an unhearing ear. He applied next to King John of Portugal. The king referred the matter to a council of geographers, who reported against it. With the lurking hope that there might be something in the plan, the king was dishonorable enough to send out an expedition secretly to test it. The sailors who made the attempt soon lost heart and returned without having accomplished anything. When Columbus learned of the king's secret attempt, he was so outraged that he left Portugal for Spain. At about the same time he sent his brother Bartholomew to England to enlist the assistance of the British sovereign, King Henry VII. After much waiting and much vexation, Columbus at last gained the interest of the Spanish king, Ferdinand, who referred the proposition to a council of his astronomers and geographers. They finally decided that the project was vain and visionary and that they could have nothing more to do with it.

In great discouragement Columbus began preparations to go to France. At the door of a monastery in the little maritime town of Palos, he knocked and asked for bread and water for his son, Diego, who was accompanying him. He was received at the monastery, and there he met some persons of influence who interceded for him with the Spanish queen, Isabella. He went to the Court again, his plan was once more investigated, and once more Columbus was refused the aid he was seeking. He set out for France and had journeyed some distance on the way. In the meantime an official won the queen's consent to the enterprise, and there is a story that in her enthusiasm she offered to pledge her jewels to raise money for the expedition. A messenger who was sent to overtake Columbus brought him back, and on the seventeenth of April, 1492, the formal agreement between him and the king and queen of Spain was entered into, signed, and sealed.

Columbus's aim was to find the east coast of Asia. For the accomplishment of this he had a number of motives. He wanted to win wealth and fame for himself, to provide a shorter and cheaper route for commerce with the East, and to convert to Christianity the Grand Khan, a great Asiatic ruler, to whom he bore a letter of introduction from the rulers of Spain.

Great difficulty was experienced in finding sailors for so uncertain and terrifying a trip. Freedom was offered to convicts and bankrupts if they would accompany the expedition. At last seamen were secured to man three small ships, stores were provided, and everything was made ready for the voyage. The adventurers numbered, all told, one hundred and twenty. The shore presented a strange spectacle on the morning of departure. The friends of the sailors stood on shore weeping and wringing their hands, confident in the belief that their loved ones would be swallowed up by some fabulous monster of the western deep, or in some way be forever lost to them. On the morning of Friday, August 3, 1492, at eight o'clock, the little fleet of three ships weighed anchor at the port of Palos, Spain, and set out on the most uncertain and the greatest of all ocean voyages.

The ships had been on the sea three weeks, and no land had yet been sighted. The compass no longer pointed due north. A meteor fell into the ocean not far from the ships. The sailors lost courage. They declared that they must perish if they went on, and that their commander ought to be compelled to return. Some of them proposed to throw him into the sea. Columbus kept two reckonings; a correct one for himself, and an incorrect one to appease the sailors. He pleaded with his men to be courageous, as long as mild methods availed. He then grew harsh and commanded them. Through all the uncertainty and the mutterings of the sailors, he clung unwaveringly to his purpose—to push forward. He had no thought of going back.

Flying birds and floating objects promised land, but time went on and no land appeared. The sailors grew more and more violent. On the night of the eleventh of October, Columbus himself saw a light in the distance, which sometimes flickered and sometimes disappeared, as if it might be a torch borne by some one walking. All were now in eager expectancy. At two o'clock on the morning of Friday, October twelfth, a cannon fired from one of the vessels announced that a sailor had actually discovered land.

When daylight came, Columbus landed. The first thing he did upon reaching the shore was to fall upon his knees, kiss the earth, and with tears of joy thank God for deliverance from the perils of such a voyage. His men, ashamed of their mutiny and distrust, threw themselves at his feet, imploring his forgiveness. Columbus next drew his sword, planted the royal banner, and in the name of the Spanish sovereigns took possession of the country. In honor of his deliverance he named the place San Salvador, which means Saint Savior, or Holy Savior.

One of his three vessels was wrecked by a storm near the island of Santo Domingo, called also Hayti and Hispaniola. Columbus built a fort on this island from the wrecked ship, and left in it a colony of about forty of the crew. Desirous of returning to Spain with an account of his voyage, he set sail in January, 1493, on the return trip. A terrific storm was encountered. Columbus, fearing that his ships might sink, and wishing to preserve a record of what he had done, wrote an account of the voyage on a piece of parchment and placed it in a cask, which he threw overboard in the hope that it might be carried to shore and found. The storm abated, however, and on the fifteenth of March he sailed with two of his vessels into the port of Palos.

Columbus on the Deck of the Santa Maria

Columbus on the Deck of the Santa MariaFrom the painting by von Piloty.

He entered the city amid the shouts of the people, the booming of cannons, and the ringing of bells. Hastening to Barcelona, where the king and queen were then holding court, he was received with a triumphal procession. Seated next to the throne, he gave an account of his discoveries and exhibited the new country's products which he had brought back—gold, cotton, parrots, curious weapons, strange plants, unknown birds and beasts, and the nine Indians whom he had brought with him for baptism. Great honors were poured upon him. The king and queen could scarcely do enough for him.

In September, 1493, Columbus sailed westward on his second voyage. The fort which he had built on Santo Domingo was found burned, and the colony was scattered. He decided to build a second fort, and coasting forty miles east of Cape Haytien he selected a site where he founded the town of Isabella, named in honor of the Spanish queen. He discovered and explored a number of the islands of the West Indies, including Porto Rico, which has belonged to the United States since the recent war with Spain. The second voyage closed with his return to Spain in June, 1496.

On next to the last day of May, 1498, with six ships Columbus set out on his third voyage. On the first day of August he discovered the Continent of South America. He thought it was only an island. Sailing along the shore, he believed that the various capes which he passed were islands, and not until he reached the mouth of the great Orinoco River did he conclude that what he had discovered was not an island but a great continent.

On his return to the new town of Isabella, he found that matters had not gone well there while he was away. The natives had risen in revolt against the tyranny of the governor whom Columbus left to rule the island in his absence. For some time Columbus's enemies, who had become jealous of him, had been trying to poison the minds of the Spanish king and queen against him. Finally the Spanish rulers sent an officer to inquire into the affairs of the new colony. When this officer arrived, he took possession of Columbus's house, put Columbus in chains, and sent him back to Spain. These chains Columbus kept to the day of his death, and his son Hernando says his father requested that they might be buried with him. After he arrived in Spain, he was restored to the good will of the king and queen who soon sent him on another voyage.

In May, 1502, Columbus set sail on his fourth and last voyage, during which he endured very great dangers. Two of his vessels were destroyed by a storm and the other two were wrecked off the coast of Jamaica. Separated from all the rest of the world, a number of his companions revolted, threatened his life, deserted him, and settled on another part of the island. The natives ceased to bring him food, and death seemed imminent. In this extremity he took advantage of an approaching eclipse of the moon. He told the natives that his God would destroy the moon as a token of the punishment to be inflicted upon them, if they did not bring the white men food. When the eclipse came, the natives implored Columbus to intercede for them with his God, and they brought him food in abundance. After the shipwreck, the navigator sent some of his boldest men in canoes to ask relief of the governor of the colony in Hispaniola. The messengers reached the colony in safety, but the governor would not undertake the rescue of Columbus. They bought a vessel, took it to Jamaica, and after a year of danger and anxiety on the island, in June, 1504, Columbus started on his homeward voyage. In September of this year he landed on Spanish soil for the last time. This final voyage was not productive of any important results.

Soon after his return Queen Isabella died, and about two years later, on May 12, 1506, Columbus himself died at Valladolid, Spain. He was buried first at Valladolid, but his remains were soon transferred to a monastery in Seville, Spain. They were exhumed in 1536 and taken across the sea to the city of Santo Domingo, on the island of Hayti, which he had discovered. In 1796 the remains were taken to Havana, Cuba, where they remained until the close of the Spanish-American war. In 1898, after the island of Cuba had passed from Spain to the United States, the body of the great admiral was taken across the Atlantic again to Spain, where it now rests.

In person Columbus was tall and well formed. Early in life he had auburn hair, but by the time he was thirty years old his hair had been turned white with care, hardship, and trouble. His face was long, and he had gray eyes and an aquiline nose. He was moderate in all his habits, and was one of the most religious of men. He was of a poetic temperament and thus lacked some of the essential qualities of great leadership. He was broad in his outlook, noble in his aspirations, and benevolent in spirit.

Columbus died ignorant of the fact that he had discovered a new world. He believed that the great continent which he gave to civilization was Asia, and that he had only found a new way to that country. He called the natives whom he found "Indians," thinking that they were inhabitants of India. When it was known that a new country had actually been discovered, it was named "America" in honor of Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian geographer and navigator, who visited, it seems, the mainland of this country in 1497. The land discovered by Columbus on the night of October 12, 1492, is believed to have been Watling's island, one of the groups of the West Indies.

Eighteen years elapsed between the time when Christopher Columbus conceived his enterprise and that August morning in 1492 when he set sail on his first voyage of discovery. He had gone about from place to place seeking aid, but spurned everywhere. These years were spent in almost hopeless anxiety, in poverty, and in neglect. The people of his day thought him crazy. When he passed by, they pointed to their foreheads and smiled. He braved the dangers of unknown waters, of mutinous crews, of hostile natives, and of starvation. What is worse, he endured the arrows of jealousy, slander, and misrepresentation. He had a contract with the Spanish crown whereby he was to receive certain honors and wealth as a result of his discoveries. He could not get King Ferdinand to fulfill the contract. He was sent home in chains from the great hemisphere he had discovered, and even the honor of its name went to another who had no claim to it.

Through the career of every successful man there runs a grim determination to do the thing in hand. Columbus had this determination and with it he triumphed. The stars hid themselves behind storms; the compass refused to act normally; a strange and terrible ocean roared; mutiny howled and jealousy hissed, but on one thing he was determined—he would do his best to accomplish the thing he had set himself to accomplish; and he did it.

One of the most inspiring poems in American literature is Joaquin Miller's "Columbus:"—

Behind him lay the gray Azores,Behind the Gate of Hercules;Before him not the ghost of shores,Before him only shoreless seas.The good mate said: "Now must we pray,For lo! the very stars are gone.Brave Adm'r'l, speak, what shall I say?""Why, say: 'Sail on! sail on! and on!'""My men grow mutinous day by day;My men grow ghastly wan and weak."The stout mate thought of home; a sprayOf salt wave washed his swarthy cheek."What shall I say, brave Adm'r'l, say,If we sight naught but seas at dawn?""Why, you shall say at break of day:'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!'"They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow,Until at last the blanched mate said:"Why, now not even God would knowShould I and all my men fall dead.These very winds forget their way,For God from these dread seas is gone.Now speak, brave Adm'r'l, speak and say"—He said: "Sail on! sail on! and on!"They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate:"This mad sea shows his teeth to-night.He curls his lips, he lies in wait,With lifted teeth as if to bite!Brave Adm'r'l, say but one good word:What shall we do when hope is gone?"The word leapt like a leaping sword:"Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!"Then, pale and worn he kept his deckAnd peered through darkness. Ah, that nightOf all dark nights! And then a speck—A light! a light! a light! a light!It grew, a starlit flag unfurled!It grew to be time's burst of dawn.He gained a world; he gave that worldIts grandest lesson: "Oh! sail on!"

Behind him lay the gray Azores,

Behind the Gate of Hercules;

Before him not the ghost of shores,

Before him only shoreless seas.

The good mate said: "Now must we pray,

For lo! the very stars are gone.

Brave Adm'r'l, speak, what shall I say?"

"Why, say: 'Sail on! sail on! and on!'"

"My men grow mutinous day by day;My men grow ghastly wan and weak."The stout mate thought of home; a sprayOf salt wave washed his swarthy cheek."What shall I say, brave Adm'r'l, say,If we sight naught but seas at dawn?""Why, you shall say at break of day:'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!'"

"My men grow mutinous day by day;

My men grow ghastly wan and weak."

The stout mate thought of home; a spray

Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.

"What shall I say, brave Adm'r'l, say,

If we sight naught but seas at dawn?"

"Why, you shall say at break of day:

'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!'"

They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow,Until at last the blanched mate said:"Why, now not even God would knowShould I and all my men fall dead.These very winds forget their way,For God from these dread seas is gone.Now speak, brave Adm'r'l, speak and say"—He said: "Sail on! sail on! and on!"

They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow,

Until at last the blanched mate said:

"Why, now not even God would know

Should I and all my men fall dead.

These very winds forget their way,

For God from these dread seas is gone.

Now speak, brave Adm'r'l, speak and say"—

He said: "Sail on! sail on! and on!"

They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate:"This mad sea shows his teeth to-night.He curls his lips, he lies in wait,With lifted teeth as if to bite!Brave Adm'r'l, say but one good word:What shall we do when hope is gone?"The word leapt like a leaping sword:"Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!"

They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate:

"This mad sea shows his teeth to-night.

He curls his lips, he lies in wait,

With lifted teeth as if to bite!

Brave Adm'r'l, say but one good word:

What shall we do when hope is gone?"

The word leapt like a leaping sword:

"Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!"

Then, pale and worn he kept his deckAnd peered through darkness. Ah, that nightOf all dark nights! And then a speck—A light! a light! a light! a light!It grew, a starlit flag unfurled!It grew to be time's burst of dawn.He gained a world; he gave that worldIts grandest lesson: "Oh! sail on!"

Then, pale and worn he kept his deck

And peered through darkness. Ah, that night

Of all dark nights! And then a speck—

A light! a light! a light! a light!

It grew, a starlit flag unfurled!

It grew to be time's burst of dawn.

He gained a world; he gave that world

Its grandest lesson: "Oh! sail on!"

CHAPTER VII

WEAPONS AND GUNPOWDER

Man's weapons of warfare, offensive and defensive, have been many and curious. David slew Goliath with a stone from a sling. The Scriptures tell us that Samson, the mighty man of the Bible, killed a thousand Philistines at one time with the jaw-bone of an ass. The study of the development of arms makes one of the most significant chapters in the history of civilization.

The use of stone weapons seems to have been universally characteristic of the earlier races of mankind, as it still is distinctive of the ruder races. The weapons made from stone were necessarily few and simple. The most common was an ax, made from various kinds of stone and with varying degrees of skill. Spear-points and arrow-heads were made of flint. These show a comparatively high type of workmanship. The highest efforts of the ancient stone-workers culminated in a leaf-shaped dagger or knife of flint, various in form but uniform in type. These flint daggers differed also in size, but seldom exceeded a foot in length. They were never ground or polished, but delicately chipped to a fine, straight edge, and were often beautiful.

Statues Showing Knights in Armor

In the Bronze Age several kinds of bronze daggers were made. The characteristic weapon of this period, however, was the leaf-shaped bronze sword. "No warlike weapon of any period is more graceful in form or more beautifully finished." This sword had a very thin edge on both sides running from hilt to point, and the handle was of bone, horn, or wood. The thinness of the edge seems to have been produced without the aid of hammer or file. The weapon was better fitted for stabbing and thrusting than for cutting with the edge. Bronze spear-points have been found, but throughout the Bronze Age arrow-heads were made of flint. There were also shields of bronze, held in the hand by a handle fastened to the center. The period of transition between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age is marked by an iron sword, which was similar in form to the leaf-shaped bronze sword.

Homer, the great Greek bard who is supposed to have lived about a thousand years before the birth of Christ, in speaking of the wars of the Greeks, describes their weapons somewhat fully. They used a double-edged, bronze-bladed sword, the hilt and scabbard of which were adorned with gold and silver. In the combats of the Homeric age, however, the spear, lance, or javelin played the principal part; swords were used only for fighting at close range. Bows and arrows also were used. The only iron weapon specifically mentioned is the arrow-head. This was inserted in a split shaft, precisely like the flint arrow-heads of the early North American Indians and other modern savages. The defensive armor of the heroic age of Greece was entirely of bronze. It consisted of a helmet for the head, cuirass for the chest, greaves for the legs, and a shield. The bronze cuirass was often ornamented with gold. The shield was round or oval in shape, very large, and covered with hide. The Greeks of the later or historic age fought chiefly with long, heavy spears. Later the shield was reduced in size and the sword increased in length. The light-armed troops were furnished with a light javelin having a strap or thong fastened to the middle to assist in hurling. A linen corselet came into use instead of the heavy metal cuirass. The mounted troops were supplied with a longer sword, a javelin, and a short dagger.

The military strength of early Egypt lay in her archers, who fought either on foot or from chariots. The Egyptian bow was a little shorter than a man's height. The string was of hide or cord; the arrows were of reed, winged with three feathers and pointed with bronze heads, and were from two to three feet in length. The Egyptian archers carried a curved, broad-bladed sword, and a dagger or a battle-axe for combat at close quarters. Their defensive armor consisted of a quilted head-piece and coat. They used no shield, as this would have interfered with the use of the bow. The infantry were classified according to the weapons with which they fought—as spearmen, swordsmen, clubmen, and slingers. The spears were five or six feet long and had triangular or leaf-shaped heads of bronze. The spearmen carried shields shaped like a door with a curved top, having a hole in the upper portion through which they could look. These shields were about half as high as a man and were covered with hairy hide, with the hair attached. The early swords of Egypt were of bronze, straight, double-edged, tapering from hilt to point, and measuring from two and a half to three feet in length.

The ancient Assyrians fought with swords somewhat like those of Egypt. They used also bows, lances, spears, and javelins. Their shields were round and convex; and their cuirass was a close-fitting garment made of many layers of flax, plaited together or interwoven, and cemented and hardened with glue. This linen corselet was found also among the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans.

The characteristic weapon of the Romans, the greatest warriors of ancient times, was what the Romans themselves called the "pilum." This weapon was a pike having a stout iron head carried on a rod of iron. The iron rod was about twenty inches long and terminated in a socket for the insertion of the wooden shaft, which was a little more than three feet in length. The entire weapon was therefore about five feet long. The pilum could be hurled as a javelin with great effect. Piercing the shield of the enemy, the slender iron rod bent under the weight of the shaft, which trailed along the ground, making the shield useless for purposes of defense. When used at close quarters, the pilum had something of the efficiency of the modern bayonet; and when wielded firmly in both hands, it served to ward off sword-strokes, which fell harmlessly upon the long and strong iron neck of the weapon. No warrior of ancient times was more formidable than the Roman with his pilum. The Romans had also swords of bronze and bronze armor, resembling the armor and the swords of the Greeks. In the prosperous days of Rome, her legions, under one of the greatest military commanders of all time, Julius Caesar, brought nearly all the world of that day to the feet of their general.

The Franks, a Germanic people who lived early in the Christian era and who gave their name to France, used the battle-ax as their chief weapon. It had a broad blade and a short handle and was used as a missile. It is said that a blow of an ax, when hurled, would pierce an enemy's shield or kill him, and that the Franks rarely missed their aim. They wore no armor, not even helmets, though they carried swords, round shields, and darts with barbed iron heads, which were used for throwing or thrusting. When this dart became fixed in an adversary's shield, it was the habit of the Frank to bound forward, place a foot upon one end of the trailing dart, and, compelling the enemy to lower his shield, slay him with the battle-ax. The Franks used also a short, straight, broad-bladed sword, double-edged and obtuse at the point. The military organization of the later Franks changed from infantry to cavalry, and this change gave way in time to the era of chivalry. The superior soldiers of the time of Charlemagne had added to their equipment the celebrated coat of mail.

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