Columbus and what he found

Preface

The immoi'tal deed of Columbus will never lose its hold upon the heart of humanity, whatever the criticisms upon it. It will always be told, not only for what was found, but because simple heroism — the same element which has immortalized Greek heroic tales— will always move us, head and heart.

It is strange that, great and simple as Columbus was, we have made so little use of his story for the children, compared with that of other historic characters.

In the stilted past, for some reason, the head has made most of the estimates of the profits and losses to all concerned in this afi'air. We have not really known the man Columbus; hence we have not loved him. The deed has so blessed and dazzled us we have known only it.

The world is growing simpler and sincerer and more kind. The heart shall yet do its reckoning and shall find the humanity of it all. For during a time of slavish bondage to rules and rank, regulations and institutions, here was a man, in spite of them, perfectly true to himself and his God.

" The greatest miracle among ye is. Here stands a man."

Mentally, morally and physically, a most manly man is Columbus — and only a man. Why may we not take his character and personality, together with his position b IMIKFACK.

iu the world of geography and history, and make him a sublime figure; one which may well stand to personify, as it were, these two so-called " studies," for at least the intermediate Avorld of childhood ? This great intermediate world is at present most hungry for natural methods of instruction. As Washington with liis "pony" and " hatchet " personifies patriotism in the Kindergarten world, why may not the characteristics of Columbus serve the youth of this yet young land, better than they have heretofore ? So much real life-blood was the cost of this great deed, that there is an infinite amount of material for any parent or teacher who cares to quicken a live interest in that which is a living study, begetting life.

Not that hero-worship, unrestrained, is the object, but that something warmly human may stir the heart and mind through arresting the attention and securing an interest in human afiairs. It is no fable. The wanderings and wouderings of this modern Ulysses are all so real that naught but heroism, self-denial to the point of self-discovery, can be breathed into the young American if it be simply, sincerely and sympathetically placed before him.

This is what i have tried to do in the present volume. The motif was born of interest in my own children, and it developed as I caught more of the thought of the Kindergartners through my acquaintance with the Kindergarten Magazine and its editor, Miss Andrea Ilofer. I here wish to make acknowledgment of her most valuable

PREFACE. 7

suggestions, real aid, and encouragement in attempting such a worlv as this in these days of dire criticism and I'esearch.

Witli original translations from the writings of Fernandez de Navarrette and Las Casas, whose great works are mines of Avealth for all writers ou Columbus in this century ; with Irving and Lamartine, Arthur Helps, Mackie and others to sweeten and inspire one's spirit, and with "Winsor to provoke it, and with the able American historian, John Fiske, at the very iast to confirm the i^ositions taken, I have only to say I have done my best and am greatly indebted to them all.

The World's Fair is at hand ; the greatest panorama of the ages is to be presented to our young folks. Columbus has come to his earthly kingdom, and the children cannot too well knoAV him, and through him what happened.

Columbus has come to stay, even after the World's Fair is over. We have, somehow, reached a vantageground whence we are able not only to conceive of this lonely, single-handed, manly man and his inheren*^ genius and patience and faith, but we have also come to a point of l^ational birth where we begin universally to appreciate ourselves as a JSTation, and those who helped to create us. We are unifying more and moi-e, and are a peculiar people. America w^ll be stimulated in all her powers as never before, by all that shall be born of the Columbian Exposition. May the youth of America inherit their full birthri^-ht. M. 11. II.

gnllimhua and V^hat j-fa f alind.

I

Wliat is it? What was born four hundred years ago? Was it a child? Yes, that is what it was, and the largest and most beautiful one that ever was born.

This child seems almost to have come up out of the sea, as Venus did in the great stories of old, for that is where Columbus first fecund her, and it was in the very midst of the sea that she first came to life.

The child is America, often sweetly called Columbia; and this book is about how this child was born.

It is now just four hundred years since she was born, and I suppose you Birthday. already know of the great birthday party we are going to have. The whole world is invited, and such a

10 COLUMBUS AND WHAT III-: FOUXl).

" time " as it will Ije, you have never seen and never ^vill see again in a hundred years; so let lis be wisely I'eady.

Nearly every country on the gloT^e is either an uncle, a cousin, an aunt, or a grandmother or a grandfather, or a great-grandfather, to this young child, and we must know about them or we will not be very happy at the party. So the sooner we begin to learn of them the better for us.

This little birthday book, then, is an effort to introduce you to the real " Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean," and to tell you about her I'elatives, and to prepare you for the great birthday party,

The WorUf s Fair.

The very first tiling, boys and girls, shall be to go and see the spot which yet lies under the sun, where a big- eyed hero boy began to live.

There has been a great deal of discussion

as to where Columbus was born, but since

_, the conclusions at the last are

The City

of Genoa ^^^'^^ ^^ ^^-^^ Genoa, we will go there at once, foi' ^ve have no use for talk here, and will only try to see what the l)oy saw, since it is Columbus himself we are most interested in.

I invite 3'^ou to the city of Genoa, to the cit}' where Columbus Ijegan his ^^^onderful life in 1485 or 1436, and where he combed wool and dreamed dreams, no doubt, of the great sea and its secrets.

Genoa is one of the most picturesque places

12 COLUMBUS AISTD WHAT HE FOUND.

in the world, aucl very old, older than Eome. It was the greatest city in Europe, once. When Columbus was born, Genoa and Venice were capitals of two of the greatest powers in Europe.

Genoa was a dreamy, beautiful spot, but not a sleepy town; it was just the place in which an imaginative boy should be born.

Come with me and step into this little boat, and let us go out into the sea, off Genoa, and look back at it. At the very farthest faint line next to the sky, beyond the city, you will see the great Alpine mountains l^eeping over everything; and right on this side of them, do you trace the Apennines? And sloping on and on, down toward us, lie the hills right back of the town; all the green beauty of the hills, and plains, do you see it clustering there? And nearer, what is that around the city? That is a wall peeping out here and there. A wall so huge as that.

is a thing: wliicli we in America never see. What can it be for? In Europe you nearly always find a wall about a city. Why? Because the world used to fight so much. Within the wall see the beautiful churches rise high above everything — and those broad palaces and promenades yonder, with the houses and gardens surrounding.

The city which we have just looked at is now about as big as our Milwaukee. And this is all I can stop to tell you about Genoa, but you can read in many books of old Genoa and the brave Genoese.

What kind of a boy was this who lived at

Genoa? You must know how Columbus

^. „ discovered himself, first, and found The Boy. ' ' .

a great deal inside of his own mind long before he found the outside; that is, he thought for himself his own thoughts. The greatest discovery in earth or heaven is to find one's self.

This is the great lesson of the life of Columbus for our 1)oys and girls to-day. Of course, when he w^as a little boy, and until

r., . he was a man, he did n't know

Discoveries.

exactly what that thing was which he should discover, but he knew there was something to be discovered. I believe every one of us not only may be, but should be, a born discoverer. Our main business in the world is to do this.

For instance, if I were not to do any discovering for myself in this world, Init just see things as you see them, why, then I would only need to look out into the world through your eyes. But I do not do that; I have a pair of eyes of my own. Some people always forget to look out of their own eyes, so they learn only old things — and it is not the boys and girls alone who forget.

The boy Columbus did both — he learned and he discovered. His mind ran free in thinking out his o^vn thouofhts while he was listening also to the thoughts of others.

He was a real boy, too, not only, as I imagine, making boats and such things for himself, but we know he helped his father doing real work. His father had a lousiness, and a very good one in those days. He was a wool -comber and some say he was a weaver, also. They worked together, and many a day, no doubt, they talked of all that was going on in the world, for there were wonderful stories to tell in those times.

There Avere three younger children in the

family; two were brothers to Columbus,

^, ^ .. and their names were Diego The Family. °

and Bartholomew. There was a sister also. No doubt she was good, too, yet women in those days, unless they were queens or something great, did not figure greatly in the world's doings. So we never hear much about her, except that she married somebody.

16 COLUMBUS AXD WHAT HE FOUND.

The father's name was Dominico, and the mother's was Susanna Fontanarossa. And right here let me tell you Columbus' own name. He was really Christoforo Colombo, in the Italian language, and was not Columbus until he became a great admiral of the Ocean Sea. In Spanish his name was Christoval Colon, and w^hile he lived in Sj^ain he was thus called. He then Latinized it and made it Christopher Columbus, as was the custom of the time. So let us call him Colombo ' while we think of him a boy at home, for that is what his father and mother w^ere called in the sweet Italian language.

The bes^ business of all, thought this boy, must be the business of the sea: — and who would not think so, if it lay ever before our eyes so beautiful and inviting? His father seemed to understand him, for he let him study those studies which should best lit him for a life upon the water. Colombo first discovered this in himself, and his father was good enough to discover it in him also, and allow him to prepare for it. The boy and his father were real friends.

Colombo had distant relatives by his own name who were great water-men, and fond of doing brave, daring, even wicked deeds, and so our boy sailed with them early in life, when he was but fourteen years of age. We must now find out something about this sea business, and see what Colombo must have watched every day of his life, for you know by the map that Genoa is situated on the Mediterranean.

Venice is on the same sea, and you notice

they are not very far apart from each

other — only across Italy. But that The Sea. ,.,,. ^ -,-,-, .

little bit of land lying between

them kept them farther apart than did all

the distance by water down around the

whole of Italy. You must remember that

vessels were the main things in the world

to go about in. It was a dreadful undertaking to travel over ground, especially in a mountainous country; and you remember those mountain ranges that lie back of Genoa. It was always very hard, slow work to go anywhere except l)y water, until — just think ! — only within the last forty or fifty years.

It is only within a few years that people could fly around on land, by steam. The poor old world, or, rather, everybody in it, for thousands of years had to go al)out either afoot, on horseback, or on camel- back, or be drawn by animals in chariots, carts or wagons, o]' in very poor, queer carriages. Not another way was there under the sun for people to travel around any easier or faster over mountains, or through mud. It took weeks and weeks to bury even a queen, four hundred years ago, in Colombo's time ; for when the beautiful Queen Isabella died, we are told her subjects suffered greatly going up and down liills and

COLTjMBtTS AND WHAT HE rOtT]>fD, 19

tln'ougli mud for miles, to attend the funeral.

Let me tell you something, right here. Less than fifty years ago, a gentleman living in Cincinnati was offered a fine position on a newspaper in Chicago, and he did not accept it because the journey of two weeks, by river, canal and lakes, from Cincinnati to Chicago, would be too hard for his family. Now, you can go to bed in a " sleeper " in either of these cities, and waken in the morning in the other city, having been tucked up warmly in a most comfortable bed all night.

It is no Avonder, then, that boats, ships and the business of the water were great things in the world at that day, and no wonder that the boy Colombo longed for the sea. But even the sea vessels did not go by steam as they do now, only l)y sails and oars.

All around the Mediterranean is where the world began really to live and move for thousands of years before Colombo was l)oi'ii. Around this sea, not a hundredth part as big as the Atlantic (and your map

will prove it), is where all

The World , .. . . n .

the livmof, movmo; world lor around the /' ^ . . ^

„ .. thousands of years had been

iiediterranean. ''

crowded. And even there, they only lived on the edges of the land and never moved very far from the water.

The old Jews lived at the east end of the sea. You know the story of the long, slow journeys of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with their horses and camels, flocks and herds, over this eastern land, and of the children of Israel as they went from old Egy2:)t to Palestine, the promised land.

Greece, on this wonderful sea, is also the spot where a great era passed in the history of the world. Years and years the people there carved wonderful sculpture and thought wonderful thoughts.

Then, here, in Italy (shaped like an oldfashioned boot), hanging down into this crowded little sea, centered the great Roman Empire with the Caesars at its head.

Thick and fast, humanity had piled itself and its great liistory around this wonderful center. No, not "thick and fast," — that is a mistake, for not fast did they come to live here. How long do you suppose history was in creeping from the time of Abraham, over here in Palestine, to the time of the Caesars down here at Rome? Why, nearly two thousand years. And how long from this two thousand years when the Caesars ruled Rome — that\s about the time Jesus Christ was born over here in Palestine — do you suppose it is, until now? Why, you know that, it is one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two years! Just see how we talk about time, old Father Time.

Now all these years, except the last little

four hundred years when Co- Father Time.

lumbus louud another great

sea to cross, moving humanity had crowded

22 COLUMBUS AND AVHAT HE FOUND.

itself — not so '' fast," but very " thick " — around this Mediterranean Sea. For how long? Shall we figure on that?

The 1892 years, with which we date all our letters and legal papers, make what we call our Christian era, the time from Christ until now (the sign is A. D.); add to it the two thousand years B. C. (before Christ), that is, go to the time of Abraham, and you have three thousand eight hundred and ninety-two years. Subtract these last important four hundred years and we have three thousand four hundred and ninety-two years still left. Just think how, for all this long time, people crowded around this sea before Columbus discovered a greater one!

Now wait, there was another very strange

thing in the world always. No one yet

knows ho^v long there had been

another lot of people over in what

we now call China, India, Japan, etc.,

who were never-moving people. They did

COLUMBUS AND AVIIAT HE FOUND. 23

not know anything about the " world," and the " world " did n^t know anything about them. They did not even know about each other when many miles apart. (By the word " world," we mean the thinking, moving world, that which is thinking and moving yet.)

These people around the sea were really " the world," for they found out things, while China has found out very little as yet, and had never heard of any world beyond her own save that there were people in the West called the Latins, until some one or two hundred years before Colombo was born! Then a wonderful man named Marco Polo found out all about this Far East. And this Far East king, called Kubla-Khan, found out from Marco Polo all about the Latins. " Latins " is the best name for our Mediterranean Sea people; for a few hundred years they were Grecians, then after that, when there were still more of them, they were Romans (and

24 COLUMBUS AND WHAT HE P^OUND.

spoke Latin), so we will call them Latins for the present. We are going to the very bottom of this thing, to find out just "SN^hat that child found out, for we can. Do you not helieve we can?

Now Marco Polo climbed over to the Far East and back, somehow, and spent twentysix years doing so, and then wrote a book which excited everybody the more and more they read it. It told most wonderful thinfrs al^out that region. Colombo's father must have heard of it, too, for the l)ook was nearly two hundred years old when Colombo was l)oni, and wealthy men of Genoa owned just such l)ooks.

Marco Polo was a Venetian, and he wrote the book while in prison at Genoa. lie was there because the Genoese, once upon a time, overcame the Venetians in a fight, and he w^as taken pi'isoner with others. While there, for five or six years, with nothing else to do, he wrote iij) his travels. All books were written by hand, you know, until printing came. People did not believe half that was in this book, but Polo on his dying bed declared it was true, when he was questioned by his confessors. People have since found out that he wrote the truth. Columbus by his confessors. We know now that much of it was true. Columbus, in the main, believed every word of this book, of Cathay which Columbus expected to find in the Ocean Sea.

You must have a little of this book right here. You can get it for yourself, if you wish, and read of these most interestinf>- travels.'^"

Marco Polo tells of many kingdoms and empires which he saw. He describes minutely and most quaintly very many strange things, and it helps us to understand how

*The Travels of Marco Polo, by Thos. W. Knox.

26 COLUMBUS AJSTD WHAT HP] FOUND.

Columbus was always so sure he liad found Marco Polo's " kin2:doms " when he discovered our continent; for many strange things were very similar, such as climate, animals, birds, and, most of all, the mild temper of the inhabitants.

Marco Polo describes the great king of Cathay, his palace, his habits, and his capital city, Quinsay. It was like a story of fairyland. Read what C()loml;)o read. IN^o wonder he tried to find it:

" All the streets of the city are paved with stones or brick, so that you ride or travel in every direction without inconvenience. Were it not for this pavement you could not do so, for the country is very low and flat. But as the Great Khan's couriers could not gallop their horses over the pavement [the Great Khan was kinder to his horses than we in Chicago are], the side of the road is unpaved for their convenience. The pavement of the main street of the city, also, is laid out in t\vo parallel ways of ten paces in width on either side, leaving a space in the middle laid with fine gravel, under which are vaulted drains that convey the rain-water into the canals; and thus the road is kept dry.

" You must know the city has three thousand baths, the water of which is supplied by springs; they are hot baths, and the people take great delight in frequenting them several times a month, for they are very cleanly in their persons. They are the largest and finest l^aths in the world; large enough for one hundred persons to bathe together."

The great Pacific, as we now know it to be, was called by Polo, " Ocean Sea," the same name by which the Mediterranean people had always called the Atlantic, so of course everybody thought there was but one ocean. " The Ocean Sea," wrote Marco Polo, " comes within twenty-five miles of the city, where there is a town and an excellent haven. A great river

28 COLUMBUS AND AVHAT HE FOUND.

flows from the city of Quinsay to that sea haven, by which vessels can come to the city itself."

He tells how this Great Khan controlled nine great kingdoms, which had each a lesser king.

" In the whole of this vast country there are more than one thousand two hundred great and wealthy cities, without counting the towns and villages, which are in great numbers. And you may believe it for certain that in each of these one thousand two hundred cities the Great Khan has a garrison, and that the smallest five of such garrisons muster one thousand men each, while there are some of ten thousand, twenty thousand and thirty thousand, so that the total number of troops is something scarcely calculable.

" The people are idolaters, and since they were conquered by the Great Khan they use paper money. Both men and \vomen are fair and comely, and for the most part clothe themselves in silk.

" The people have a custom that as soon as a child is horn, they write down the day and hour, and the planet and sign under which its birth has taken place; so that every one among them knows the day of his birth. And when any one intends a journey [the greatest thing in the world was a journey], he goes to the astrologers and gives tliem particulars al^out his l)irth in oi'der to learn, whether he shall have good luck or no. These astrologers are very skillful in their business, and often their words come true, so the people have great faith in them.

" The natives of the city are men of peaceful character, both from education and from the example of their king, whose disposition is the same. They know nothing of handling arms, and keep none in their houses. In their dealings and in their manufactures they are thoroughly honest and truth-

30 OOLttMBTTS AISTD WHAT HE FOtJlsri).

fill, uiid tliere is such a degree of good will and neigld)orly attaclinieiit among l)otli men and Avonien tliat yon would take the people Avho live in the same street to be al' of one family. Yon hear no feuds or nois} quari'els or discussions among them [surely they had no saloons].

" The city of Quinsay hath an hundred miles of compass [that is, a hundred miles around it]. And in it there are twelve thousand bridges of stone, so lofty that a great fleet could pass beneath them. And let no man marvel that there are so many bridges, for you see the whole city stands, ae it were, in the water, and surrounded b} Avater, so that a g.reat many bridges are re quired to give free passage about it. And though the bridges are so high the approaches are so well contrived that horses and carts do cross them."" This city is the modern Hangcluui.

'^ Men of craft [men of business, that is],

COLtTMBtJS AJSri) WHAT HE POUND. 3l

they nor tlieir wives ever toucli a piece of work with their own hands, but live as nicely and delicately as if they were kings and queens. The wives, indeed, are most dainty and angelical creatures.

" Inside this city is a lake which has a compass of some thirty miles, and all around it are erected beautiful palaces and mansions, the most exquisite yon can imagine ; in the middle of the lake are two islands, on each of which stands a rich, lieautiful and spacious edifice furnished in such style as to seem fit for the palace of an emperor. And when any one of the citizens desires to hold a marriage feast, or to give any other entertainment, it used to be done at one of these palaces; and everything would l)e found there ready to order, such as silver plate, trenchers, and dishes, napkins and table-cloths, and ^vhatever else was needful. The king made this provision for the gratification . of his people, and the place was

32 COLUMBUS AND WJIAT HE FOUISTD.

open to every one who desired to give an entertainment. Sometimes there would be at these places an hundred different parties; some holding a banquet, others celebrating a wedding; and yet all would find good accommodations in the different apartments and pavilions, and that in so well-ordered a manner that one party was never in the way of another."

Just think of one hundred parties at one time! It is no wonder they called it "The City of Heaven," for that was their idea of heaven. Polo goes on giving descriptions of hospitals and " guards " (like our policemen), postmen and timekeepers, and many such things, so that it is not strange that he stops sometimes and says, " It seems past belief to one who merel}' hears it told, but I will write it down for you."

He tells about one thing that I cannot leave out, and that is how they gave the alarm for lire or danger of any kind.

COLUMBUS AND AVHAT HE FOUND. .'il^

" Within this city there is an eminence on which stands a tower, at the top of the tower is hunc: a slal) of Avood. Whenever iire or any other alarm breaks out in the city, a man who stands there with a mallet in his hand beats upon the slab, making a noise that is heard at a great distance." Was n't that a strange hre-bell?

Now hear a little about the king's palace: "You must know a little of its demesne [its grounds] hath a compass of ten miles, all inclosed with lofty walls, and inside the walls are the finest and most delectable gardens upon earth. There are numerous fountains in it, also, and lakes full of iish. In the middle is the palace itself. It contains twenty great and handsome halls, one of which is more than the rest and affords room for a vast multitude to dine in. It is all painted in gold with representations of histories and birds and beasts, knights and dames, and many marvelous things. It forms really a magnificent spectacle, for on all the walls and all the ceilings, you see nothing but paintings in gold. And besides these halls the palace contains one thousand large and handsome chambers all painted in gold and divers colors.

" From the Ocean Sea also come daily supplies of fish in great quantity. One would suj^pose so great a quantity could never be sold, and yet in a few hours the whole is

cleared away For a Venice groat

of silver you can have a couple of geese and two couple of ducks. Then there are calves, beeves, kids and lambs, the flesh of which is eaten by the rich and the dignitaries. Indeed, they eat fish and flesh at the same meal.