Heroines of History and Legend

Front matter

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Preface

THis book belongs to the romance of history, rather than to biography. In it are brought together stories, ballads and narrative poems which tell of the loyalty, patriotism, courage and self-sacrifice of girls and women in different ages and in many lands, from the time of the East Indian princess, Savitri, whose love was not conquered by death, to Edith Cavell, the English nurse, who gave her life in the great European war. Some of the stories are altogether true to fact; but not all that is here set forth will be found recorded in the sober pages of history. Traditional tales and medieval legends have been included; and these, in the course of countless recitations, may have become altered and the actual events linked with the marvelous. Some of them have been embellished by the fancy and imagination of the poets and prose writers of a later age; for “men will sing for aye the deed one moment brings to birth.” But even though all may not have happened exactly as related in story or verse, though there may be variations in details or in setting, these legendary tales are a part of the “high tradition of the world.” Fundamentally all of them are true; and the spirit of service, the devotion to duty, the loyalty to coun-

6 PREFACE try or religion are an inspiration to every one who delights in brave conduct or heroic action. One may not be called upon to lead troops to battle, man a gun, or defend a castle; but there are plenty of real opportunities for true heroism in the everyday life of the present and a great need for higher ideals of national service, not only for boys, but for girls as well.

The selections included in this volume represent only a small part of the great heritage of heroic and patriotic example from early Greece and Rome, the Middle Ages, and the later history of Europe and America; but additional reading has been suggested in the notes, and other tales of heroes and heroines will be found in Miss Yonge’s “ Book of Golden Deeds,” and similar collections.

It is hoped that these stories and poems will give real pleasure to the girls who read them. If heroism is contagious, may they not also help to develop a sense of obligation and the spirit that freely gives itself to others?

Etya 8, SMITH.

Pittsburgh,

February, 1921.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THB editor is indebted to the following authors and publishers for permission to use the selections indicated :

Burns & Oates: ‘‘Nurse Edith Cavell,’’ from ‘‘ A Father of Women, and Other Poems,’’ by Alice Meynell.

The Century Company: ‘‘Grizel Cochrane’s Ride,’’ by Elia W. Peattie, from St. Nicholas.

Miss Helen Gray Cone: ‘‘Greencastle Jenny.”’

J. M. Dent & Sons: ‘‘Golden Apples and Roses Red,”’ from ‘‘A Child’s Book of Saints,’’ by William Canton.

Harper & Brothers: ‘‘Mulan, the Maiden Chief,’’ from ‘“‘The Chinese; Their Education, Philosophy and Letters,’’ by W. A. P. Martin.

Houghton Mifflin Company: ‘‘Santa Filomena,’’ by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; ‘‘Saint Elizabeth,’’ by William Wetmore Story; ‘‘Heartbreak Hill,”’ by Celia Thaxter; ‘‘Barbara Frietchie,’? by John Greenleaf Whittier. (Used by permission of and by special arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Company, the authorized publishers.)

Little, Brown & Company: ‘‘The Soul of the Great Bell,’’ from ‘‘Some Chinese Ghosts,’’? by Lafcadio Hearn; ‘‘The Heroine of Verchéres,’’ from ‘‘Count Frontenac and New France,’’ by Francis Parkman.

The London Times: ‘‘Belgium, the Bar-Lass,’’ by A. Mary F. Robinson. c

8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Page Company: ‘‘How the Mohawks Set Out for Medoctec,’’ by C. G. D. Roberts.

G. P. Putnam’s Sons and Mrs. W. H. Drummond: “Madeleine Vercheres,’’ from the poems by W. H. Drummond, courtesy of G. P. Putnam’s Sons, publishers.

Seott, Foresman and Company: ‘‘Savitri’s Choice,’’ from ‘‘Hindu Literature,’’ by Elizabeth A. Reed. (Used by permission of Scott, Foresman and Company.)

Charles Scribner’s Sons: ‘‘Brier-Rose,”’ from ‘‘Idyls of Norway, and Other Poems,’’ by Hjalmar Hjorth

Boyesen. (Copyright, 1882, by Charles Scribner’s Sons.)

T. Fisher Unwin: ‘A Ballad of Orleans,’’ from ‘The Collected Poems’? of A. Mary F. Robinson.

‘“‘The Privateer of Hall’s Harbor,’’ by Graee Dean Me- Leod, is from Wide Awake, and ‘The Maid,’’ by Theodore Roberts, is from the Pall Mall M agazine