Eli Whitney The Inventor Of The Cotton-gin
In the harvest season of the cotton States of the South a vast, fleecy
snow-fall seems to have come down in the silence of the night and
covered acres innumerable with its virgin emblem of plenty and
prosperity. It is the regal fibre which is to set millions of looms in
busy whirl and to clothe, when duly spun and woven, half the population
of the earth. That "cotton is king" has long been held as a potent
political ax
was not king, but was an insignificant member of the agricultural
community. How cotton came to the throne is the subject of our present
sketch.
In those far-off days when King George of England was trying to force
the rebellious Americans to buy and drink his tea and pay for his
stamps, the people of Georgia and South Carolina were first beginning to
try if they could do something in the way of raising cotton. After the
war of independence was over, an American merchant in Liverpool received
from the South a small consignment of eight bags of cotton, holding
about twelve hundred pounds, the feeble pioneer of the great cotton
commerce. When it was landed on the wharves in Liverpool, in 1784, the
custom-house officials of that place looked at it with alarm and
suspicion. What was this white-faced stranger doing here, claiming to
come from a land that had never seen a cotton-plant? It must have come
from somewhere else, and this was only a deep-laid plot to get itself
landed on English soil without paying an entrance fee.
So the stranger was seized and locked up, and Mr. Rathbone, the
merchant, had no easy time in proving to the officials that it was
really a scion of the American soil, and that the ships that brought it
had the right to do so. But after it was released from confinement there
was still a difficulty. Nobody would buy it. The manufacturers were
afraid to handle this new and unknown kind of cotton for fear it would
not pay to work it up, and at last it had to be sold for a song to get a
trial. Such was the state of the American industry at the period when
the great republic was just born. It may be said that the nation and its
greatest product were born together, like twin children.
The new industry grew very slowly, and the planters who were trying to
raise cotton in their fields felt much like giving it up as something
that would never pay. In fact, there was a great difficulty in the way
that gave them no end of trouble, and made the cost of cotton so great
that there was very little room for profit. For a time it looked as if
they would have to go back to corn and rice and let cotton go by the
board.
The trouble lay in the fact that in the midst of each little head of
cotton fibres, like a young bird in its nest, lay a number of seeds, to
which the fibres were closely attached. These seeds had to be got out,
and this was very slow work. It had to be done by hand, and in each
plantation store-house a group of old negroes might be seen, diligently
at work in pulling the seeds out from the fibres. Work as hard as they
could it was not easy to clean more than a pound a day, so that by the
time the crop was ready for market it had cost so much that the planter
had to be content with a very small rate of profit. Such was the state
of the cotton industry as late as 1792, when the total product was one
hundred and thirty-eight thousand pounds. In 1795 it had jumped to six
million pounds, and in 1801 to twenty million pounds. This was a
wonderful change, and it may well be asked how it was brought about.
This question brings us to our story, which we have next to tell.
In the year 1792 a bright young Yankee came down to Georgia to begin his
career by teaching in a private family. He was one of the kind who are
born with a great turn for tinkering. When he was a boy he mended the
fiddles of all the people round about, and after that took to making
nails, canes, and hat-pins. He was so handy that the people said there
was nothing Eli Whitney could not do.
But he seems to have become tired of tinkering, for he went to college
after he had grown to manhood, and from college he went to Georgia to
teach. But there he found himself too late, for another teacher had the
place which he expected to get, so there he was, stranded far from home,
with nothing to do and with little money in his purse. By good fortune
he found an excellent friend. Mrs. Greene, the widow of the famous
General Greene of the Revolution, lived near Savannah, and took quite a
fancy to the poor young man. She urged him to stay in Georgia and to
keep up his studies, saying that he could have a home in her house as
long as he pleased.
This example of Southern hospitality was very grateful to the friendless
young man, and he accepted the kindly invitation, trying to pay his way
by teaching Mrs. Greene's children, and at the same time studying law.
But he was born for an inventor, not a lawyer, and could not keep his
fingers off of things. Nothing broke down about Mrs. Greene's house that
he did not soon set working all right again. He fitted up embroidery
frames for her, and made other things, showing himself so very handy
that she fancied he could do anything.
One day Mrs. Greene heard some of the neighboring planters complaining
of the trouble they had in clearing the cotton of its seeds. They could
manage what was called the long-staple cotton by the use of a rough
roller machine brought from England, which crushed the seeds, and then
"bowed" or whipped the dirt out of the lint. But this would not work
with short-staple cotton, the kind usually grown, and there was nothing
to do but to pick the hard seeds out by hand, at the rate of a pound a
day by the fastest workers. The planters said it would be a splendid
thing if they only had a machine that would do this work. Mrs. Greene
told them that this might not be so hard to do. "There is a young man at
my house," she said, "who can make anything;" and to prove it, she
showed them some of the things he had made. Then she introduced them to
Eli Whitney, and they asked him if he thought he could make a machine to
do the work they so badly wanted.
"I don't know about that," he replied. "I know no more about cotton than
a child knows about the moon."
"You can easily learn all there is to know about it," they urged. "We
would be glad to show you our fields and our picker-houses and give you
all the chance you need to study the subject."
Mr. Whitney made other objections. He was interested in his law studies,
and did not wish to break them off. But a chance to work at machinery
was too great an attraction for him to withstand, and at length he
consented to look over the matter and see if he could do anything with
it.
The young inventor lost no time. This was something much more to his
liking than poring over the dry books of the law, and he went to work
with enthusiasm. He went into the fields and studied the growing cotton.
Then he watched the seed-pickers at their work. Taking specimens of the
ripe cotton-boll to his room, he studied the seeds as they lay cradled
in the fibre, and saw how they were fastened to it. To get them out
there must be some way of dragging them apart, pulling the fibres from
the seed and keeping them separate.
The inventor studied and thought and dreamed, and in a very short time
his quick genius saw how the work could be done. And he no sooner saw it
than he set to work to do it. The idea of the cotton-gin was fully
formed in his mind before he had lifted his hand towards making one.
It was not easy, in fact. It is often a long road between an inventor's
first idea and a machine that will do all he wants it to. And he had
nothing to work with, but had to make his own tools and manufacture his
own wire, and work upward from the very bottom of things.
In a few months, however, he had a model ready. Mrs. Greene was so
interested in his work and so proud of his success that she induced him
to show the model and explain its working to some of her planter
friends, especially those who had induced him to engage in the work.
When they saw what he had done, and were convinced of the truth of what
he told them,--that they could clean more cotton in a day by his machine
than in many months by the old hand-picking way,--their excitement was
great, and the report of the wonderful invention spread far and wide.
Shall we say here what this machine was like? The principle was simple
enough, and from that day to this, though the machine has been greatly
improved, Whitney's first idea still holds good. It was a saw-gin then,
and it is a saw-gin still. "Gin," we may say here, is short for
"engine."
This is the plan. There is a grid, or row of wires, set upright and so
close together that the seeds will not go through the openings. Behind
these is a set of circular saws, so placed that their teeth pass through
the openings between the wires. When the machine is set in motion the
cotton is put into a hopper, which feeds it to the grid, and the
revolving saws catch the fibre or lint with their teeth and drag it
through the wires. The seeds are too large to follow, so the cotton is
torn loose from them and they slide down and out of the way. As the
wheel turns round with its teeth full of cotton lint, a revolving brush
sweeps it away so that the teeth are cleaned and ready to take up more
lint. A simple principle, you may say, but it took a good head to think
it out, and to it we owe the famous cotton industry of the South.
But poor Whitney did not get the good from his invention that he
deserved, for a terrible misfortune happened to him. Many people came to
see the invention, but he kept the workshop locked, for he did not want
strangers to see it till he had it finished and his patent granted. The
end was, that one night some thieves broke into the shop and stole the
model, and there were some machines made and in operation before the
poor inventor could make another model and secure his patent.
This is only one of the instances in which an inventor has been robbed
of the work of his brain, and others have grown rich by it, while he
has had trouble to make a living. A Mr. Miller, who afterward married
Mrs. Greene, went into partnership with Whitney, and supplied him with
funds, and he got out a patent in 1794. But the demand for the machines
was so great that he could not begin to supply them, and the pirated
machines, though they were much inferior to his perfected ones, were
eagerly bought. Then his shop burned with all its contents, and that
made him a bankrupt.
For years after that Whitney sought to obtain justice. In some of the
States he was fairly treated and in others he was not, and in 1812
Congress refused to renew the patent, and the field was thrown open for
everybody to make the machines. Nearly all he ever got for his invention
was fifty thousand dollars paid him by the Legislature of South
Carolina.
In later years Whitney began to make fire-arms for the government, and
he was so successful in this that he grew rich, while he greatly
improved the machinery and methods. It was he who first began to make
each part separately, so it would fit in any gun, a system now used in
all branches of manufacture. As for the cotton industry, to which Eli
Whitney gave the first great start, it will suffice to say that its
product has grown from less than one thousand bales, when he began his
work, to over ten million bales a year.
More
-
At The Gates Of Constantinople
From the days of Rurik down, a single desire--a single passion, we may say--has had a strong hold upon the Russian heart, the desire to possess Constantinople, that grand gate-city between Europe and Asia, with its control of the avenue to the sou... Balboa And The Discovery Of The Pacific
It was a splendid road to fortune which Columbus opened to the adventurers of Spain, and hundreds of them soon took that promising path. Among these was one Vasco Nunez de Balboa, a man poor in gold or land, but rich in courage and ambition, and w... Bayard The Good Knight
Good knights were abundant in the romance of the age of chivalry; they seem to have been greatly lacking in its history. Of knights without fear there were many; of knights "without fear and without reproach" we are specially told of but one, Pierre... Bernardo Del Carpio
Spain, like France, had its hero of legend. The great French hero was Roland, whose mighty deeds in the pass of Roncesvalles have been widely commemorated in song and story. In Spanish legend the gallant opponent of the champion of France was Bern... Bertrand Du Guesclin
In the castle of Motte-Broon, near Rennes, France, there was born about the year 1314 "the ugliest child from Rennes to Dinan," as an uncomplimentary chronicle says. He was a flat-nosed, swarthy, big-headed, broad-shouldered fellow, a regular wretch... Birger Jarl And The Conquest Of Finland
Birger Jarl, who became one of the great men of Sweden about 1250, rose to such importance in the early history of that kingdom that one cannot pass him by without saying something about his career. Sweden was then a Christian kingdom and had been f... Boadicea The Heroine Of Britain
Prasutagus, the king of the Icenians, a tribe of the ancient Britons, had amassed much wealth in the course of a long reign. On his death, in order to secure the favor of the Romans, now masters of the island, he left half his wealth by will to the ... Bolivar The Liberator And The Conquest Of New Granada
One dark night in the year 1813 a negro murderer crept stealthily into a house in Jamaica, where slept a man in a swinging hammock. Stealing silently to the side of the sleeper, the assassin plunged his knife into his breast, then turned and fled.... Boyhood Of Peter The Great
Peter the Great, grandson of the first emperor of the Romanof line, was a man of such extraordinary power of body and mind, such a remarkable combination of common sense, mental activity, advanced ideas, and determination to lift Russia to a high ... Bruce At Bannockburn
To Edward the Second, lying in luxurious idleness in his palace of pleasure at London, came the startling word that he must strike a blow or lose a kingdom. Scotland was slipping from his weak grasp. Of that great realm, won by the iron hand of hi... Buffooneries Of The Russian Court
Amid the serious matters which present themselves so abundantly in the history of Russia, buffooneries of the coarsest character at times find place. Numerous examples of this might be drawn from the reign of Peter the Great, whose idea of humor w... Caesar And Pompey
There were three leaders in Rome, Pompey, whom Sulla had named the Great, Crassus, the rich, and Caesar, the shrewd and wise. Two of these had reached their utmost height. For Pompey there was to be no more greatness, for Crassus no more riches. But... Caesar And The Pirates
We have spoken of the pirates who agreed to convey the forces of Spartacus from Italy to Sicily, but faithlessly sailed away with his money and without his men. From times immemorial the Mediterranean had been ravaged by pirate fleets, which made th... Camillus At The Siege Of Veii
We have now to tell the story of another dictator of Rome. Like Cincinnatus, Camillus is largely a creature of legend, but he plays an active part in old Roman annals, and the tale of his doings is well worth repeating. Rome was at war with the c... Canute The Great King Of Six Nations
A famous old king of Denmark, known as Harald Blaatand or Bluetooth, had many sons, of whom only one, Svend or Sweyn, outlived him. While Harald was a Christian, Sweyn was a pagan, having been brought up in the old faith by a noble warrior Palnatoke... Captain Gordon And The Raccoon Roughs
The outbreak of the Civil War, the most momentous conflict of recent times, was marked by a wave of fervent enthusiasm in the States of the South which swept with the swiftness of a prairie fire over the land. Pouring in multitudes into the centres ... Captain Robert E Lee And The Lava-beds
The Mexican War, brief as was its period of operations in the field, was marked by many deeds of daring, and also was the scene of the first service in the field of various officers who afterward became prominent in the Civil War. Chief among these ... Carpenter Peter Of Zaandam
On the banks of the river Zaan, about five miles from Amsterdam, lies the picturesque little town of Zaandam, with its cottages of blue, green, and pink, half hidden among the trees, while a multitude of windmills surround the town like so many mo... Champlain And The Iroquois
On a bright May morning in the year 1609, at the point where the stream then known as the Rivi[`e]re des Iroquois--and which has since borne the various names of the Richelieu, the Chambly, the St. Louis, the Sorel and the St. John--poured the wa... Charlemagne And The Avars
Striking is the story which the early centuries of modern Europe have to tell us. After the era of the busy building of empire in which the sturdy old Romans were the active agents, there came an era of the overthrow of empire, during which the vast... Charles The Bold And The Swiss
On the 6th of February, 1476, Duke Charles of Burgundy marched from Besancon to take the field against the Swiss, between whom and Burgundy hostilities had broken out. There were three parties to this war, Louis XI. being the third. That politic mon... Charles X And The Invasion Of Denmark
When Charles X., nephew of Gustavus Adolphus, succeeded Christina, the daughter of Gustavus, on the throne, the "Thirty Years' War" was at an end, but new wars awaited the new king. Sweden had won large possessions on the southern shores of the Balt... Charles Xii The Firebrand Of Sweden
On the 27th of June, 1682, was born one of the most extraordinary of men, the Alexander of modern times, one of those meteors of conquest which have appeared at rare intervals in the history of the world. Grandson alike of Charles X. of Sweden and F... Chevalier La Salle The Explorer Of The Mississippi
There are two great explorers whose names have been made famous by their association with the mighty river of the West, the Mississippi, or Father of Waters,--De Soto, the discoverer, and La Salle, the explorer, of that stupendous stream. Among all ... Cincinnatus And The Aequians
In the old days of Rome, not far from the time when Coriolanus yielded up his revenge at his mother's entreaty, the Roman state possessed a citizen as patriotic as Coriolanus was proud, and who did as much good as the other did evil to his native la... Colony Empire And Republic Revolution In Brazil
While the Spanish colonies of South America were battling for their liberties, the great Portuguese colony of Brazil was going through a very different experience. Bolivar and his compatriots were seeking to drive Spain out of America. On the cont... Confucius The Chinese Sage
In the later years of the Chow dynasty appeared the two greatest thinkers that China ever produced, Laoutse, the first and ablest philosopher of his race, and Confucius, a practical thinker and reformer who has had few equals in the world. Of Laouts... Corea And Its Neighbors
We have thus far followed the course of two distinct streams of history, that of Japan and that of China, flowing near each other, yet touching at very few points in their course. Near the end of the nineteenth century these two streams flowed toget... Coronado And The Seven Cities Of Cibola
The remarkable success of Cortez and Pizarro in Mexico and Peru went far to convince the Spaniards that in America they had found a veritable land of magic, filled with wonders and supremely rich in gold and gems. Ponce de Leon sought in Florida f... Cromwell And The Parliament
The Parliament of England had defeated and put an end to the king; it remained for Cromwell to put an end to the Parliament. "The Rump," the remnant of the old Parliament was derisively called. What was left of that great body contained little of ... Cudjoe The Negro Chief And The Maroons Of Jamaica
When the English conquered the island of Jamaica and drove the Spaniards out of it, they failed to conquer its sable inhabitants, negroes who had been slaves to the Spaniards, but who now fought for and maintained their freedom. Such were the Maro... Daniel Boone The Pioneer Of Kentucky
The region of Kentucky, that "dark and bloody ground" of Indian warfare, lay long unknown to the whites. No Indians even dwelt there, though it was a land of marvellous beauty and wonderful fertility. For its forests and plains so abounded with g... Darius And The Scythians
The conquest of Asia Minor by Cyrus and his Persian army was the first step towards that invasion of Greece by the Persians which proved such a vital element in the history of the Hellenic people. The next step was taken in the reign of Darius, th... De Soto And The Father Of Waters
America was to the Spaniards the land of gold. Everywhere they looked for the yellow metal, more precious in their eyes than anything else the earth yields. The wonderful adventures of Cortez in Mexico and of Pizarro in Peru, and the vast wealth in ... Drake The Sea-king And The Spanish Treasure-ships
At the end of October, 1578, Sir Francis Drake, the Sea-King of Devon, as he was called, and the most daring and persistent of the enemies of the Spanish settlements in America, sailed from Cape Horn, at the southern extremity of the continent, an... Earl Haakon And The Jomsvikings
Chief among the nobles of Haakon the Good, of Norway, was Earl Sigurd of Hlade; and first among those who followed him was Earl Haakon, Sigurd's son. After the death of Haakon the Good, the sons of Gunhild became the masters of Norway, where they ru... Eli Whitney The Inventor Of The Cotton-gin
In the harvest season of the cotton States of the South a vast, fleecy snow-fall seems to have come down in the silence of the night and covered acres innumerable with its virgin emblem of plenty and prosperity. It is the regal fibre which is to set... Elizabeth Farnese And Alberoni
In 1714 certain events took place in Spain of sufficient interest to be worth the telling. Philip V., a feeble monarch, like all those for the century preceding him, was on the throne. In his youth he had been the Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis ... Episodes In The Life Of A Traitor
At the early hour of one o'clock in the morning of September 8, 1523, a train of men-at-arms and servants, headed by a tall, stern-faced, soldierly-looking man, rode from the gates of the strong castle of Chantelle, and headed southward in the direc... Erik Blood-axe And Egil The Icelander
In the year 900 Harold the Fair-Haired, the famous monarch who made a kingdom of Norway, passed a law which was to work mischief for centuries to come. Erik, his favorite son, was named overlord of the kingdom, but with the proviso that his other so... Exploits Of A Blockade-runner
There were no more daring adventures and hair-breadth escapes during the Civil War than those encountered in running the blockade, carrying sadly-needed supplies into the ports of the Confederacy, and returning with cargoes of cotton and other valua... Fontain The Scout And The Besiegers Of Vicksburg
The Civil War was not lacking in its daring and interesting adventures of scouts, spies, despatch-bearers, and others of that interesting tribe whose field of operations lies between the armies in the field, and whose game is played with life as the... Forrest's Chase Of The Raiders
Foremost in dash and daring among the cavalry leaders of the Confederacy was Lieutenant-General Nathan B. Forrest, a hero in the saddle, some of whose exploits were like the marvels of romance. There is one of his doings in particular which General ... Four Famous Men Of Athens
In the days of Croesus, the wealthiest of ancient kings, a citizen of Athens, Alkmaeon by name, kindly lent his aid to the messengers sent by the Lydian monarch to consult the Delphian oracle, before his war with King Cyrus of Persia, This generou... Francia The Dictator The Louis Xi Of Paraguay
Among the varied countries of South America the little republic of Paraguay, clipped closely in between Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil, presents the most singular history, this being due to the remarkable career of the dictator Francia, who ruled ... Frederick Barbarossa And Milan
A proud old city was Milan, heavy with its weight of years, rich and powerful, arrogant and independent, the capital of Lombardy and the lord of many of the Lombard cities. For some twenty centuries it had existed, and now had so grown in populati... From The Hovel To The Throne
The reign of Peter the Great was signalized by two notable instances of the rise of persons from the lowest to the highest estate, ability being placed above birth and talent preferred to noble descent. A poor boy, Mentchikof by name, son of a mon... From The Shoemaker's Bench To The Throne
At the beginning of the fifth century of the Christian era China had fallen into a state of decrepitude. The second dynasty of the Tsins was near its end. For a century and a half it had held the imperial power, but now it had fallen a prey to luxur... General Greene's Famous Retreat
The rain was pouring pitilessly from the skies. The wind blew chill from the north. The country was soaked with the falling flood, dark rain-clouds swept across the heavens, and a dreary mist shut out all the distant view. In the midst of this cheer... Gonzalo Pizarro And The Land Of Cinnamon
We have now to relate the most remarkable adventure in the story of the conquest of Peru, and one of the most remarkable in the history of the New World,--the expedition of Gonzalo Pizarro to the upper waters of the Amazon and the pioneer voyage d... Gordon And The Bayonet Charge At Antietam
In the opening chapter of General John B. Gordon's interesting "Reminiscences of the Civil War" he tells us that the bayonet, so far as he knew, was very rarely used in that war, and never effectively. The bayonet, the lineal descendant of the lance... Gorm The Old Denmark's First King
In ancient times Denmark was not a kingdom, but a multitude of small provinces ruled over by warlike chiefs who called themselves kings. It was not until the ninth century that these little king-ships were combined into one kingdom, this being done ... Governor Tryon And The Carolina Regulators
The first blood shed by "rebels" in America, in those critical years when the tide of events was setting strong towards war and revolution, was by the settlers on the upper waters of the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. A hardy people these were, ... Gustavus Adolphus On The Field Of Leipsic
With the accession to the throne of Sweden in 1611 of Gustavus Adolphus, grandson of Gustavus Vasa, that country gained its ablest king, and the most famous with the exception of the firebrand of war, Charles XII., of later date. For courage, judgme... Haakon The Good And The Sons Of Gunhild
We have told how King Haakon succeeded his brother, Erik Blood-Axe, on the throne, and how, from his kindly and gentle nature, people called him Haakon the Good. There were other sons and several grandsons of Harold the Fair-Haired in the kingdom, b... Hannibal Crosses The Alps
In the year 235 B.C. the gates of the Temple of Janus were closed, for the first time since the reign of Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, nearly five centuries before. During all that long period war had hardly ever ceased in Rome. And these... Harold Fair-haired Founds The Kingdom Of Norway
To the far-off island of Iceland we must go for the story of the early days of Norway. In that frosty isle, not torn by war or rent by tumult, the people, sitting before their winter fires, had much time to think and write, and it is to Iceland we o... Henry Morgan And The Buccaneers
As the seventeenth century passed on, Spain, under the influence of religious intolerance and bad government, grew weak, both at home and abroad. Its prominent place in Europe was lost. Its vast colonial provinces in America were scenes of persecu... Hereward The Wake
Through the mist of the far past of English history there looms up before our vision a notable figure, that of Hereward the Wake, the "last of the Saxons," as he has been appropriately called, a hero of romance perhaps more than of history, but in... Hermann The Hero Of Germany
In the days of Augustus, the emperor of Rome in its golden age of prosperity, an earnest effort was made to subdue and civilize barbarian Germany. Drusus, the step-son of the emperor, led the first army of invasion into this forest-clad land of th... Hidalgo The Patriot And The Grito De Dolores
In the last quarter of the eighteenth century ideas of revolution were widely in the air. The people were rising against the tyranny of the kings. First in this struggle for liberty came the English colonies in America. Then the people of France s... Home-coming Of General Lee And His Veterans
Sad is defeat, and more than sad was the last march of General Lee's gallant army after its four years of heroic struggle, as it despondently made its way along the Virginian roads westward from the capital city which it had defended so long and val... How A Peasant Boy Became Premier
In the history of nations there have been many instances of a man descended from the lowest class of the populace reaching the highest rank. Kings, conquerors, emperors, have thus risen from the ranks of peasants and laborers, and the crown has been... How A Woman Dethroned A Man
We have told how one Catharine, of lowly birth and the captive of a warlike raid, rose to be Empress of Russia. We have now to tell how a second of the same name rose to the same dignity. This one was indeed a princess by descent, her birthplace b... How Athens Rose From Its Ashes
The torch of Xerxes and Mardonius left Athens a heap of ashes. But, like the new birth of the fabled phoenix, there rose out of these ashes a city that became the wonder of the world, and whose time-worn ruins are still worshipped by the pilgrims ... How Big Ferre Fought For France
It was in the heart of the Hundred Years' War. Everywhere France lay desolate under the feet of the English invaders. Never had land been more torn and rent, and never with less right and justice. Like a flock of vultures the English descended upon ... How Brave Horatius Kept The Bridge
The banished King Tarquin did not lightly yield his realm. He roused the neighboring cities against Rome and fought fiercely for his throne. Soon after he was exiled from Rome he sent messengers there for his goods. These the senate decreed should b... How Civilization Came To Japan:
There is not much of absorbing interest in early Japanese history. For a period of some twelve hundred years nearly all that we know of the mikados is that they "lived long and died happy." No fewer than twelve of these patriarchs lived to be over o... How Colonel Clark Won The Northwest
On the evening of the 4th of July, 1778, a merry dance was taking place at the small settlement of Kaskaskia, in that far western region afterward known as Illinois. It must not be imagined that this was a celebration of the American Independence da... How Elaine Died For Love
When Sir Bors learned that his unlucky blow had brought Lancelot nearly to death's door, he became sore indeed at heart, and hastened to Camelot in search of his noble kinsman. Here he met Lavaine, who knew him and conducted him to the bedside of ... How England Became Christian
One day, in the far-off sixth century, a youthful deacon of the Roman Church walked into the slave-market of Rome, situated at one extremity of the ancient Forum. Gregory, his name; his origin from an ancient noble family, whose genealogy could be... How Europe Entered China
For four or five thousand years China remained isolated from the rest of the civilized world, its only relations being with the surrounding peoples of its own race, notably with the Tartars of the steppes. Then, in the nineteenth century, the wall o...