CHARLEMAGNE AND ROLAND

There are enough Greek legends to fill several volumes. They relate the doings of the gods and heroes of ancient Greece, and endeavor to account for the origin of plants and animals and the founding of cities. This story no doubt contains many facts but it is chiefly fiction.

While Athens was still only a small city there livedwithin its walls a man named Dædalus (dĕd´a-lŭs),who was the most skillful worker in wood and stone andmetal that had ever been known. It was he who taughtthe people how to build better houses and how to hang5their doors on hinges and how to support the roofs withpillars and posts. He was the first to fasten things togetherwith glue; he invented the plumb line and theauger; and he showed seamen how to put up masts in theirships and how to rig the sails to them with ropes. He10built a stone palace for Ægeus, the young king of Athens,and beautified the Temple of Athena which stood on thegreat rocky hill in the middle of the city.

Dædalus had a nephew named Perdix, whom he hadtaken when a boy to teach the trade of builder. But15Perdix was a very apt learner and soon surpassed his masterin the knowledge of many things. His eyes were everopen to see what was going on about him, and he learnedthe lore of the fields and the woods. Walking one day bythe sea he picked up the backbone of a great fish, and from20it he invented the saw. Seeing how a certain bird carvedholes in the trunks of trees, he learned how to make and usethe chisel. Then he invented the wheel which pottersuse in molding clay; and he made of a forked stick thefirst pair of compasses for drawing circles; and he studiedout many other curious and useful things.

Dædalus was not pleased when he saw that the lad was5so apt and wise, so ready to learn, and so eager to do.

"If he keeps on in this way," he murmured, "he willbe a greater man than I; his name will be rememberedand mine will be forgotten."

Day after day, while at his work, Dædalus pondered over10this matter, and soon his heart was filled with hatredtowards young Perdix. One morning when the two wereputting up an ornament on the outer wall of Athena'stemple, Dædalus bade his nephew go out on a narrowscaffold which hung high over the edge of the rocky cliff15whereon the temple stood. Then when the lad obeyed,it was easy enough, with a blow of a hammer, to knockthe scaffold from its fastenings.

Poor Perdix fell headlong through the air, and he wouldhave been dashed in pieces upon the stones at the foot of20the cliff had not kind Athena seen him and taken pityupon him. While he was yet whirling through mid-airshe changed him into a partridge, and he flitted away tothe hills to live forever in the woods and fields which heloved so well. And to this day, when summer breezes25blow and the wild flowers bloom in meadow and glade,the voice of Perdix may still sometimes be heard callingto his mate from among the grass and reeds or amid theleafy underwoods.

As for Dædalus, when the people of Athens heard of his30dastardly deed they were filled with grief and rage—grieffor young Perdix, whom all had learned to love; ragetowards the wicked uncle who loved only himself. At firstthey were for punishing Dædalus with the death whichhe so richly deserved, but when they remembered what hehad done to make their homes pleasanter and their lives5easier they allowed him to live; and yet they drove himout of Athens and bade him never return.

There was a ship in the harbor just ready to start on avoyage across the sea, and in it Dædalus embarked withall his precious tools and his young son Icarus (ĭk´à-rŭs).10Day after day the little vessel sailed slowly southward,keeping the shore of the mainland always upon the right.It passed Trœzen and the rocky coast of Argos and thenstruck boldly out across the sea.

At last the famous Island of Crete was reached, and15there Dædalus landed and made himself known; and theKing of Crete, who had already heard of his wondrousskill, welcomed him to his kingdom, and gave him a homein his palace, and promised that he should be rewardedwith great riches and honor if he would but stay and practice20his craft there as he had done in Athens.

Now the name of the King of Crete was Minos. Hisgrandfather, whose name was also Minos, was the son ofEuropa, a young princess whom a white bull, it was said,had brought on his back across the sea from distant Asia.25This elder Minos had been accounted the wisest of men—sowise, indeed, that Jupiter chose him to be one of thejudges of the Lower World. The younger Minos wasalmost as wise as his grandfather; and he was brave andfarseeing and skilled as a ruler of men. He had made all30the islands subject to his kingdom, and his ships sailedinto every part of the world and brought back to Cretethe riches of foreign lands. So it was not hard for him topersuade Dædalus to make his home with him and be thechief of his artisans.

And Dædalus built for King Minos a most wonderfulpalace with floors of marble and pillars of granite; and5in the palace he set up golden statues which had tonguesand could talk; and for splendor and beauty there wasno other building in all the wide earth that could be comparedwith it.

There lived in those days among the hills of Crete a10terrible monster called the Minotaur (mĭn´ō-tôr), the likeof which has never been seen from that time until now.This creature, it was said, had the body of a man but theface and head of a wild bull and the fierce nature of amountain lion. The people of Crete would not have killed15him if they could; for they thought that the Mighty Folkwho lived with Jupiter on the mountain top had sent himamong them and that these beings would be angry if anyoneshould take his life. He was the pest and terror ofall the land. Where he was least expected, there he was20sure to be; and almost every day some man, woman, orchild was caught and devoured by him.

"You have done so many wonderful things," said theking to Dædalus, "can you not do something to rid theland of this Minotaur?"25

"Shall I kill him?" asked Dædalus.

"Ah, no!" said the king. "That would only bringgreater misfortune upon us."

"I will build a house for him then," said Dædalus, "andyou can keep him in it as a prisoner."30

"But he may pine away and die if he is penned up inprison," said the king.

"He shall have plenty of room to roam about," saidDædalus; "and if you will only now and then feed one ofyour enemies to him, I promise you that he shall live andthrive."

So the wonderful artisan brought together his workmen,5and they built a marvelous house with so many rooms init and so many winding ways that no one who went farinto it could ever find his way out again; and Dædaluscalled it the Labyrinth and cunningly persuaded theMinotaur to go inside it. The monster soon lost his way10among the winding passages, but the sound of his terriblebellowings could be heard day and night as he wanderedback and forth vainly trying to find some place to escape.

Not long after this it happened that Dædalus was guiltyof a deed which angered the king very greatly; and had15not Minos wished him to build other buildings for him, hewould have put him to death and served him right.

"Hitherto," said the king, "I have honored you for yourskill and rewarded you for your labor. But now you shallbe my slave and shall serve me without hire and without20any word of praise."

Then he gave orders to the guards at the city gates thatthey should not let Dædalus pass out at any time, and heset soldiers to watch the ships that were in port so thathe could not escape by sea. But although the wonderful25artisan was thus held as a prisoner, he did not build anymore buildings for King Minos; he spent his time in planninghow he might regain his freedom.

"All my inventions," he said to his son Icarus, "havehitherto been made to please other people; now I will30invent something to please myself."

So through all the day he pretended to be planning somegreat work for the king, but every night he locked himselfup in his chamber and wrought secretly by candlelight.By and by he had made for himself a pair of strong wings,and for Icarus another pair of smaller ones; and then,5one midnight, when everybody was asleep, the two wentout to see if they could fly. They fastened the wingsto their shoulders with wax, and then sprang up into theair. They could not fly very far at first, but they did sowell that they felt sure of doing much better in time.10

The next night Dædalus made some changes in the wings.He put on an extra strap or two; he took out a featherfrom one wing and put a new feather into another; andthen he and Icarus went out into the moonlight to trythem again. They did finely this time. They flew up to15the top of the king's palace, and then they sailed away overthe walls of the city and alighted on the top of a hill. Butthey were not ready to undertake a long journey yet;and so just before daybreak, they flew back home. Everyfair night after that they practiced with their wings, and20at the end of a month they felt as safe in the air as on theground and could skim over the hilltops like birds.

Early one morning, before King Minos had risen fromhis bed, they fastened on their wings, sprang into the air,and flew out of the city. Once fairly away from the island25they turned towards the west, for Dædalus had heard ofan island named Sicily which lay hundreds of miles away,and he had made up his mind to seek a new home there.

All went well for a time, and the two bold flyers spedswiftly over the sea, skimming along only a little above30the waves, and helped on their way by the brisk east wind.Towards noon the sun shone very warm, and Dædaluscalled out to the boy, who was a little behind him, and toldhim to keep his wings cool and not fly too high. But theboy was proud of his skill in flying, and as he looked up atthe sun he thought how nice it would be to soar like ithigh above the clouds in the blue depths of the sky.5

"At any rate," said he to himself, "I will go up a littlehigher. Perhaps I can see the horses which draw the suncar, and perhaps I shall catch sight of their driver, themighty sun master himself."

So he flew up higher and higher, but his father, who was10in front, did not see him. Pretty soon, however, the heatof the sun began to melt the wax with which the boy'swings were fastened. He felt himself sinking through theair; the wings had become loosened from his shoulders.He screamed to his father, but it was too late. Dædalus15turned just in time to see Icarus fall headlong into thewaves. The water was very deep there, and the skill ofthe wonderful artisan could not save his child. He couldonly look with sorrowing eyes at the unpitying sea, andfly on alone to distant Sicily. There, men say, he lived for20many years, but he never did any great work nor builtanything half so marvelous as the Labyrinth of Crete.And the sea in which poor Icarus was drowned was calledforever afterward by his name, the Icarian Sea.

—Old Greek Stories.

1. Dædalus's adventures can be divided into three sections. Tell what happened in each of the three episodes.2. For other interesting Greek legends read Baldwin'sOld Greek Storiesor Guerber'sMyths of Ancient Greece and Rome.

1. Dædalus's adventures can be divided into three sections. Tell what happened in each of the three episodes.

2. For other interesting Greek legends read Baldwin'sOld Greek Storiesor Guerber'sMyths of Ancient Greece and Rome.

A series of legends centers about the great emperor of France, Charlemagne (shar´lē-mān), and his nephew Roland. Charlemagne's sister Bertha had married an obscure knight, Milon, and had thus incurred the anger of her brother. The following story suggests the reconciliation of the two through the forwardness of Master Roland. Roland came to be known as the greatest knight of continental Europe in the Middle Ages.Read the selection with a view to understanding the characters of the two chief personages.

Read the selection with a view to understanding the characters of the two chief personages.

Numerous stories are told of the way in whichRoland first attracted the attention of the greatemperor, his uncle. Of these the most popular is thatwhich relates how Milon, attempting to ford a stream, hadbeen carried away and drowned, while his poor half-famished5wife at home was thus left to perish of hunger. Seeingthe signs of such acute distress around him, the child wentboldly to the banqueting hall near by, where Charlemagneand his lords were feasting. Casting his eyes round for asuitable dish to plunder, Roland caught up a platter of10food and fled. His fearless act greatly amused the emperor,who forbade his servants to interfere. Thus the boycarried off his prize in triumph, and soon set it before thestartled eyes of his mother.

Excited by the success of his raid, a few minutes later the15child reëntered the hall, and with equal coolness laid handsupon the emperor's cup, full of rich wine. Challenged byCharlemagne, the boy then boldly declared that he wantedthe meat and wine for his mother, a lady of high degree.In answer to the emperor's bantering questions, he declaredthat he was his mother's cupbearer, her page, andher gallant knight, which answers so amused Charlemagne5that he sent for her. He saw her to be his own sister, and,stricken with remorse, he asked for her forgiveness andtreated her with kindness as long as she lived, and took herson into his service.

Another legend relates that Charlemagne, hearing that10the robber knight of the Ardennes had a priceless jewelset in his shield, called all his bravest noblemen together,and bade them sally forth separately, with only a page asescort, in quest of the knight. Once found, they were tochallenge him in true knightly fashion, and at the point of15the lance win the jewel he wore. A day was appointedwhen, successful or not, the courtiers were to return, and,beginning with the lowest in rank, were to give a truthfulaccount of their adventures while on the quest.

All the knights departed and scoured the forest of the20Ardennes, each hoping to meet the robber knight and winthe jewel. Among them was Milon, accompanied by hisson Roland, a lad of fifteen, whom he had taken as page andarmor-bearer. Milon had spent many days in vain searchfor the knight, when, exhausted by his long ride, he dismounted,25removed his heavy armor, and lay down under atree to sleep, bidding Roland keep close watch during hisslumbers.

For a while Roland watched faithfully; then, fired by adesire to distinguish himself, he donned his father's armor,30sprang on his steed, and rode off into the forest in search ofadventures. He had not gone very far when he saw agigantic horseman coming to meet him, and by the dazzlingglitter of a large stone set in his shield he recognized him tobe the invincible knight of the Ardennes. Afraid ofnothing, however, he laid his lance in rest when challengedto fight, and charged so bravely that he unhorsed5his opponent. A fearful battle on foot ensued, each strivinghard to accomplish the death of the other. But at last thefresh young energy of Roland conquered, and his terriblefoe fell to the ground in agony. A minute later his corpselay stiff on the field, leaving the victory in the hands of10Roland.

Hastily wrenching the coveted jewel from the shield ofthe dead warrior, the boy hid it in his breast. Then, ridingrapidly back to his sleeping father, he laid aside the armorand removed all traces of a bloody encounter. Soon after,15Milon awoke and resumed the quest, when he came uponthe body of the dead knight. He was disappointed indeedto find that another had won the jewel, and rode sadly backto court, to be present on the appointed day.

In much pomp Charlemagne ascended his throne amid20the deafening sound of trumpets. Then, seating himself, hebade the knights appear before him and relate their adventures.One after another strode up the hall, followed by anarmor-bearer holding his shield. Each in turn told offinding the knight slain and the jewel gone. Last of all25came Milon. Gloomily he made his way to the throneto repeat the story that had already been told so often.But as he went, there followed behind him, with a radiantface, young Roland, proudly bearing his father's shield,in the center of which shone the precious jewel. At the30sight of this all the nobles started, and whispered to oneanother that Milon had done the deed. Then when hedismally told how he too had found the knight dead ashout of incredulity greeted him. Turning his head, hesaw to his amazement that his own shield bore the dazzlinggem. At the sight of it he appeared so amazed thatCharlemagne set himself to question Roland and thus soon5learned how it had been obtained. In reward for his braveryin this encounter Roland was knighted, and allowed totake his place among the paladins of the emperor. Nor wasit long before he further distinguished himself, becoming,to his father's delight, the most renowned of that famous10company.

—Myths and Legends of the Middle Ages.

1. Explain fully the relationship between Charlemagne and Roland.2. How did Roland first attract the emperor's attention? What do these early acts of the youth show about the life and living of the times?3. When did Charlemagne live? Over what country did he rule? Explain the difference between an emperor and a king; a page and a knight.4. What feat did Roland perform when he was yet a page? One of the characteristics of a legend is its overstatement of fact. Is there anything improbable in Roland's overthrow of the knight? In a series of legendary stories, statements often conflict. What conflict of statement about Roland's father is there in this story?5. Any encyclopedia and many books of legends will tell you more about Roland. See what you can find, make brief notes of what you read, and report your findings from your notes to the class.6. Pronounce, spell, and define: amused; attracted; acute; interfere; triumph; gallant; separately; courtiers; distinguish; gigantic; opponent; disappointed; paladin.

1. Explain fully the relationship between Charlemagne and Roland.

2. How did Roland first attract the emperor's attention? What do these early acts of the youth show about the life and living of the times?

3. When did Charlemagne live? Over what country did he rule? Explain the difference between an emperor and a king; a page and a knight.

4. What feat did Roland perform when he was yet a page? One of the characteristics of a legend is its overstatement of fact. Is there anything improbable in Roland's overthrow of the knight? In a series of legendary stories, statements often conflict. What conflict of statement about Roland's father is there in this story?

5. Any encyclopedia and many books of legends will tell you more about Roland. See what you can find, make brief notes of what you read, and report your findings from your notes to the class.

6. Pronounce, spell, and define: amused; attracted; acute; interfere; triumph; gallant; separately; courtiers; distinguish; gigantic; opponent; disappointed; paladin.

Ancient Rome stood on seven hills on the south shore of the Tiber5River, which formed a part of the inner defensive works of the city.Only one bridge—a wooden affair—spanned the river. Across theTiber was the Janiculum, a hill fortified as an outer post of defense.

When Lars Porsena (Pŏr´sĕ-na), king of Etruria, declared suddenwar on Rome, he marched on the city so rapidly that the Janiculumwas carried by storm. Nothing stood between him and the City ofthe Seven Hills—unless the bridge were destroyed.10

Horatius and two others elected to hold the bridgehead oppositethe city against Porsena's entire army while the Romans cut downthe bridge. The best of the Etruscan warriors came against the powerfulthree, only to be slain. Just before the bridge fell into the river,Horatius sent his two comrades back across the bridge to safety.He held his foes at bay single-handed till the structure fell into the15water. Then he plunged into the Tiber with his heavy fighting gearon, and swam to the Roman side. Thus was the city saved.

Out spake the Consul roundly:"The bridge must straight go down;For since Janiculum is lost,20Naught else can save the town."Then out spake brave Horatius,5The Captain of the Gate:"To every man upon this earthDeath cometh soon or late.And how can man die better25Than facing fearful odds,10For the ashes of his fathersAnd the temples of his gods?"Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul,With all the speed ye may;I, with two more to help me,Will hold the foe in play.In yon strait path a thousand5May well be stopped by three.Now, who will stand on either hand,And keep the bridge with me?"Then out spake Spurius Lartius,—A Ramnian proud was he:10"Lo, I will stand on thy right hand,And keep the bridge with thee."And out spake strong Herminius,—Of Titian blood was he:"I will abide on thy left side,15And keep the bridge with thee.""Horatius," quoth the Consul,"As thou say'st, so let it be."And straight against that great arrayForth went the dauntless three.20For Romans, in Rome's quarrel,Spared neither land nor gold,Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life,In the brave days of old.The three stood calm and silent,25And looked upon the foes,And a great shout of laughterFrom all the vanguard rose. . . .But soon Etruria's noblestFelt their hearts sink to seeOn the earth the bloody corpses,In the path the dauntless three!Meanwhile the ax and lever5Have manfully been plied;And now the bridge hangs totteringAbove the boiling tide."Come back, come back, Horatius!"Loud cried the Fathers all;10"Back, Lartius! back, Herminius!Back, ere the ruin fall!"Back darted Spurius Lartius;Herminius darted back;And, as they passed, beneath their feet15They felt the timbers crack.But when they turned their faces,And on the farther shoreSaw brave Horatius stand alone,They would have crossed once more.20But, with a crash like thunder,Fell every loosened beam,And, like a dam, the mighty wreckLay right athwart the stream;And a long shout of triumph25Rose from the walls of Rome,As to the highest turret topsWas splashed the yellow foam.Alone stood brave Horatius,But constant still in mind;Thrice thirty thousand foes before,And the broad flood behind."Down with him!" cried false Sextus,5With a smile on his pale face."Now yield thee!" cried Lars Porsena,"Now yield thee to our grace."Round turned he, as not deigningThose craven ranks to see;10Naught spake he to Lars Porsena,To Sextus naught spake he;But he saw on PalatinusThe white porch of his home;And he spake to the noble river15That rolls by the towers of Rome:"O Tiber! Father Tiber!To whom the Romans pray!A Roman's life, a Roman's arms,Take thou in charge this day!"20So he spake, and speaking, sheathedThe good sword by his side,And with his harness on his back,Plunged headlong in the tide.No sound of joy or sorrow25Was heard from either bank;But friends and foes, in dumb surprise,With parted lips and straining eyes,Stood gazing where he sank;And when above the surgesThey saw his crest appear,All Rome sent forth a rapturous cry,And even the ranks of TuscanyCould scarce forbear to cheer.5"Curse on him!" quoth false Sextus;"Will not the villain drown?But for this stay, ere close of dayWe should have sacked the town!""Heaven help him!" quoth Lars Porsena,10"And bring him safe to shore;For such a gallant feat of armsWas never seen before."And now the ground he touches,Now on dry earth he stands;15Now round him throng the Fathers,To press his gory hands;And now, with shouts and clapping,And noise of weeping loud,He enters through the River Gate,20Borne by the joyous crowd.—Horatius.

1. This is one of the famous legends of Roman history, and it loses nothing in Macaulay's brilliant telling. Lord Macaulay (1800-1859) was an English statesman, essayist, historian, and poet. He reveled in the romance of history. Read and report on his life.2. What was the situation when this extract takes up the tale? How many soldiers had Porsena?3. Imagine yourself in Horatius's place. Read aloud his brave speech in the first and second stanzas.4. If you were dramatizing this whole situation, what scenes would you have? What would be the climax?

2. What was the situation when this extract takes up the tale? How many soldiers had Porsena?

3. Imagine yourself in Horatius's place. Read aloud his brave speech in the first and second stanzas.

4. If you were dramatizing this whole situation, what scenes would you have? What would be the climax?

PIONEER DAYSIn these days of the automobile, the swift express train, the telephone, the telegraph, and the airplane, it is hard for us to realize that our country did not always possess the conveniences and comforts we now enjoy. We are too apt to forget the struggles the pioneer fathers of our nation had in their frontier life. To them we owe a debt of gratitude not only for what we have and are, but also for the deeds of heroism they have bequeathed us as a part of our national heritage.

PIONEER DAYS

In these days of the automobile, the swift express train, the telephone, the telegraph, and the airplane, it is hard for us to realize that our country did not always possess the conveniences and comforts we now enjoy. We are too apt to forget the struggles the pioneer fathers of our nation had in their frontier life. To them we owe a debt of gratitude not only for what we have and are, but also for the deeds of heroism they have bequeathed us as a part of our national heritage.

Molly Pitcher Salutes WashingtonMolly Pitcher Salutes Washington(See following page)

The battle of Monmouth, N. J., was fought June 29, 1778. It was the first battle the Americans had with the British after the terrible winter at Valley Forge. It would have been a signal victory for Washington's troops had General Charles Lee obeyed Washington's orders. Notwithstanding Lee's acts, the American troops held their ground till nightfall, when the British quietly retreated.

At the battle of Monmouth, a young Irishwoman,wife of an artilleryman, played a very notable partin the working of the American cannon on that eventfulday in June.

Molly was born with the soul of a soldier, and although5she did not belong to the army she much preferred goingto war to staying at home and attending to domestic affairs.She was in the habit of following her husband on his variousmarches, and on the day of the Monmouth battle she waswith him on the field.10

The day was very hot. The rays of the sun came downwith such force that many of the soldiers were taken sickand some died; and the constant discharges of musketryand artillery did not make the air any cooler. Molly devotedherself to keeping her husband as comfortable as15possible, and she made frequent trips to a spring not faraway to bring him water; and on this account he was oneof the freshest and coolest artillerymen on the ground.In fact, there was no man belonging to the battery who wasable to manage one of these great guns better than Pitcher.20Returning from one of her trips to the spring, Mollyhad almost reached the place where her husband wasstationed when a bullet from the enemy struck the poorman and stretched him dead, so that Molly had no soonercaught sight of her husband than she saw him fall. She5ran to the gun, but scarcely had reached it before she heardone of the officers order the cannon to be wheeled back outof the way, saying that there was no one there who couldserve it as it had been served.

Now Molly's eyes flashed fire. One might have thought10that she would have been prostrated with grief at the lossof her husband, but as we have said, she had within herthe soul of a soldier. She had seen her husband, who wasthe same to her as a comrade, fall, and she was filled withan intense desire to avenge his death. She cried out to15the officer not to send the gun away but to let her serve it;and scarcely waiting to hear what he would say, she sprangto the cannon and began to load it and fire it. She had sooften attended her husband and even helped him in hiswork that she knew all about this sort of thing, and her20gun was managed well and rapidly.

It might be supposed that it would be a very strangething to see a woman on the battlefield firing a cannon;but even if the enemy had watched Molly with a spyglass,they would not have noticed anything to excite their surprise.25She wore an ordinary skirt, like other women ofthe time; but over this was an artilleryman's coat and onher head was a cocked hat with some jaunty feathers stuckin it, so that she looked almost as much like a man as therest of the soldiers of the battery.30

During the rest of the battle Molly bravely served hergun; and if she did as much execution in the ranks of theredcoats as she wanted to do, the loss in the regiments infront of her must have been very great. Of course all themen in the battery knew Molly Pitcher, and they watchedher with the greatest interest and admiration. She wouldnot allow anyone to take her place, but kept on loading and5firing until the work of the day was done. Then theofficers and men crowded about her with congratulationsand praise.

The next day General Greene went to Molly—whom hefound in very much the condition in which she had left10the battlefield, stained with dirt and powder, with herfine feathers gone and her cocked hat dilapidated—andconducted her, just as she was, to General Washington.When the commander in chief heard what she had done,he gave her warm words of praise. He determined to15bestow upon her a substantial reward; for anyone who wasbrave enough and able enough to step in and fill an importantplace, as Molly had filled her husband's place,certainly deserved a reward. It was not according to therules of war to give a commission to a woman; but as20Molly had acted the part of a man, Washington consideredit right to pay her for her services as if she had been a man.He therefore gave her the commission of a sergeant andrecommended that her name be placed on the list of half-payofficers for life.25

—Stories of New Jersey.

1. How did Molly come to be on the battlefield? Describe her as she looked in an artilleryman's garb. Relate briefly her deed of heroism. How was it rewarded?2. What other heroines of history can you recall?3. Frank R. Stockton (1834-1902) is a well-known name in American literature. He wrote many books, among whichRudder Grangestands high. His short stories, however, are his best work.

1. How did Molly come to be on the battlefield? Describe her as she looked in an artilleryman's garb. Relate briefly her deed of heroism. How was it rewarded?

2. What other heroines of history can you recall?

3. Frank R. Stockton (1834-1902) is a well-known name in American literature. He wrote many books, among whichRudder Grangestands high. His short stories, however, are his best work.

For thirty years Massasoit was the firm friend of the early settlers in New England. But when his son Philip came to rule over the Indian tribe their former friendship for the whites was broken. In 1675 Philip led his 10,000 warriors against the white settlers. King Philip's War lasted into 1676 when Philip was captured and slain. The following is a supposed speech of defiance that Philip delivered to the colonists.

White man, there is eternal war between thee andme! I quit not the land of my fathers but with mylife. In those woods where I bent my youthful bow, I willstill hunt the deer. Over yonder waters I will still glideunrestrained in my bark canoe. By those dashing waterfalls5I will still lay up my winter's store of food. On thesefertile meadows I will still plant my corn. Stranger, theland is mine! I understand not these paper rights. I gavenot my consent when, as thou sayest, these broad regionswere purchased, for a few baubles, of my fathers. They10could sell what was theirs; they could sell no more. Howcould my fathers sell that which the Great Spirit sent meinto the world to live upon? They knew not what theydid. The stranger came, a timid suppliant, few andfeeble, and asked to lie down on the red man's bearskin, and15warm himself at the red man's fire, and have a little pieceof land to raise corn for his women and children; and nowhe is become strong, and mighty, and bold, and spreadsout his parchment over the whole, and says, "It is mine!"Stranger, there is not room for us both. The Great Spirithas not made us to live together. There is poison in thewhite man's cup; the white man's dog barks at the redman's heels.

If I should leave the land of my fathers, whither shall I5fly? Shall I go to the south, and dwell among the gravesof the Pequots? Shall I wander to the west?—the fierceMohawk, the man-eater, is my foe. Shall I fly to the east?—thegreat water is before me. No, stranger, here I havelived, and here I will die! And if here thou abidest, there10is eternal war between thee and me. Thou hast taughtme thy arts of destruction. For that alone I thank thee;and now take heed to thy steps; the red man is thy foe.When thou goest forth by day, my bullet shall whistleby thee; when thou liest down at night, my knife is at thy15throat. The noonday sun shall not discover thy enemy,and the darkness of midnight shall not protect thy rest.Thou shalt plant in terror, and I will reap in blood; thoushalt sow the earth with corn, and I will strew it with ashes;thou shalt go forth with the sickle, and I will follow after20with the scalping knife; thou shalt build, and I will burn,till the white man or the Indian shall cease from the land.Go thy way, for this time, in safety; but remember,stranger, there is eternal war between me and thee.

1. What reasons did Philip give for declaring war? To what extent were his reasons good?2. What did he mean by "paper rights"; "a timid suppliant"; "poison in the white man's cup"; "arts of destruction"?3. Edward Everett (1794-1865) was an American statesman, orator, and scholar. He served as a member of Congress, and afterwards was president of Harvard College. He was the leading orator of his day.

1. What reasons did Philip give for declaring war? To what extent were his reasons good?

2. What did he mean by "paper rights"; "a timid suppliant"; "poison in the white man's cup"; "arts of destruction"?

3. Edward Everett (1794-1865) was an American statesman, orator, and scholar. He served as a member of Congress, and afterwards was president of Harvard College. He was the leading orator of his day.

William Dean Howells (1837-1920) long held a position of leadership among American writers of prose. In his many years of authorship he produced novels, essays, criticism, plays, travel, and biography. For ten years he was editor of theAtlantic Monthly; and he was connected at various times withHarper's Magazine,The Nation, and other journals. His writings excel in the truthfulness of the descriptions.

It would not be easy to say where or when the first logcabin was built, but it is safe to say that it was somewherein the English colonies of North America, and it iscertain that it became the type of the settler's housethroughout the whole Middle West. It may be called the5American house, the Western house, the Ohio house.Hardly any other house was built for a hundred years by themen who were clearing the land for the stately mansions ofour day. As long as the primeval forests stood, the log cabinremained the woodsman's home; and not fifty years ago10I saw log cabins newly built in one of the richest and mostprosperous regions of Ohio. They were, to be sure, logcabins of a finer pattern than the first settler reared. Theywere of logs handsomely shaped with the broadax; thejoints between the logs were plastered with mortar; the15chimney at the end was of stone; the roof was shingled,the windows were of glass, and the door was solid and wellhung. They were such cabins as were the homes of thewell-to-do settlers in all the older parts of the West. Butthroughout that region there were many log cabins, mostlysunk to the uses of stables and corn cribs, of the kind thatthe borderers built in the times of the Indian War, from1750 to 1800. They were framed of the round logs, untouchedby the ax except for the notches at the ends where5they were fitted into one another; the chimney was ofsmall sticks stuck together with mud, and was as frailas a barn-swallow's nest; the walls were stuffed with moss,plastered with clay; the floor was of rough boards calledpuncheons, riven from the block with a heavy knife; the10roof was of clapboards, split from logs and laid loosely onthe rafters and held in place with logs fastened athwartthem.

When the first settlers broke the silence of the woodswith the stroke of their axes and hewed out a space for their15cabins and their fields, they inclosed their homes with ahigh stockade of logs, for defense against the Indians; orif they built their cabins outside the wooden walls of theirstronghold, they always expected to flee to it at the firstalarm and to stand siege within it. The Indians had20no cannon, and the logs of the stockade were proof againsttheir rifles; if a breach was made, there was still the blockhouseleft, the citadel of every little fort. This was heavilybuilt, and pierced with loopholes for the riflemen within,whose wives ran bullets for them at its mighty hearth, and25who kept the savage foe from its sides by firing down uponthem through the projecting timbers of its upper story;but in many a fearful siege the Indians set the roof ablazewith arrows wrapped in burning tow, and then the fightbecame desperate indeed. After the Indian War ended,30the stockade was no longer needed, and the settlers hadonly the wild beasts to contend with, and those constantenemies of the poor in all ages and conditions—hungerand cold.

They deadened the trees around them by girdling themwith the ax, and planted the spaces between the leaflesstrunks with corn and beans and pumpkins. These were5their necessaries, but they had an occasional luxury in thewild honey from the hollow of a bee tree when the bearshad not got at it. In its season, there was an abundanceof wild fruit, plums and cherries, haws and grapes, berriesand nuts of every kind, and the maples yielded all the10sugar they chose to make from them. But it was longbefore they had, at any time, the profusion which ourmodern arts enable us to enjoy the whole year round, andin the hard beginnings the orchard and the garden wereforgotten for the fields. Their harvests must pay for the15acres bought of the government, or from some speculatorwho had never seen the land; and the settler must beprompt in paying, or else see his home pass from him afterall his toil into the hands of strangers. He worked hardand he fared hard, and if he was safer when peace came,20it is doubtful if he were otherwise more fortunate. As thegame grew scarcer it was no longer so easy to provide foodfor his family; the change from venison and wild turkeyto the pork which early began to prevail in his diet washardly a wholesome one. Besides, in cutting down the25trees he opened spaces to the sun which had been harmlessenough in the shadow of the woods, but which now sent uptheir ague-breeding miasma. Ague was the scourge ofthe whole region, and it was hard to know whether thepestilence was worse on the rich levels beside the rivers, or30on the stony hills where the settlers sometimes built toescape it.

When once the settler was housed against the weather,he had the conditions of a certain rude comfort indoors.If his cabin was not proof against the wind and rain or snow,its vast fireplace formed the means of heating, while theforest was an inexhaustible store of fuel. At first he dressed5in the skins and pelts of the deer and fox and wolf, and hiscostume could have varied little from that of the red savageabout him, for we often read how he mistook Indiansfor white men at first sight, and how the Indians in theirturn mistook white men for their own people. The whole10family went barefoot in the summer, but in winter thepioneer wore moccasins of buckskin and buckskin legginsor trousers; his coat was a hunting shirt belted at thewaist and fringed where it fell to his knees. It was ofhomespun, a mixture of wool and flax called linsey-woolsey,15and out of this the dresses of his wife and daughters weremade. The wool was shorn from the sheep, which were soscarce that they were never killed for their flesh, exceptby the wolves, which were very fond of mutton but hadno use for wool. For a wedding dress a cotton check was20thought superb, and it really cost a dollar a yard; silks,satins, laces, were unknown. A man never left his housewithout his rifle; the gun was a part of his dress, and inhis belt he carried a hunting knife and a hatchet; on hishead he wore a cap of squirrel skin, often with the plume-like25tail dangling from it.

The furniture of the cabins was, like the clothing ofthe pioneers, homemade. A bedstead was contrived bystretching poles from forked sticks driven into the groundand laying clapboards across them; the bedclothes were30bearskins. Stools, benches, and tables were roughed outwith auger and broadax; the puncheon floor was left bare,and if the earth formed the floor, no rug ever replaced thegrass which was its first carpet. The cabin had but oneroom, where the whole of life went on by day; the fatherand mother slept there at night, and the children mountedto their chamber in the loft by means of a ladder.5

The food was what has been already named. The meatwas venison, bear, raccoon, wild turkey, wild duck, andpheasant; the drink was water, or rye coffee, or whisky,which the little stills everywhere supplied only too abundantly.Wheat bread was long unknown, and corn cakes10of various makings and bakings supplied its place. Themost delicious morsel of all was corn grated while still inthe milk and fashioned into round cakes eaten hot fromthe clapboard before the fire, or from the mysterious depthsof the Dutch oven buried in coals and ashes on the hearth.15There was soon a great flow of milk from the kine thatmultiplied in the pastures in the woods, and there was sweeteningenough from the maple tree and the bee tree, butsalt was very scarce and very dear, and long journeyswere made through the perilous woods to and from the20licks, or salt springs, which the deer had discovered beforethe white man or the red man knew them.

The bees which hived their honey in the hollow treeswere tame bees gone wild, and with the coming of thesettlers some of the wild things increased so much that25they became a pest. Such were the crows which literallyblackened the fields after the settlers plowed, and whichthe whole family had to fight from the corn when it wasplanted. Such were the rabbits, and such, above all, werethe squirrels, which overran the farms and devoured every30green thing till the people combined in great squirrel huntsand destroyed them by tens of thousands. The largergame had meanwhile disappeared. The buffalo and theelk went first; the deer followed, and the bear, and eventhe useless wolf. But long after these the poisonous reptileslingered, the rattlesnake, the moccasin, and the yet-deadliercopperhead; and it was only when the whole5country was cleared that they ceased to be a very commondanger.

—Stories of Ohio.

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