condition came soon. They moved forward. At last they left the rapids
behind them, and could drift and paddle on the unobstructed river.
Roosevelt lay in the bottom of a dugout, shaded by a bit of canvas put
up over his head, and too weak from sickness even to splash water on his
face; for he was almost fainting from the muggy heat and the tropical
sunshine.
Forty-eight days, after they began their voyage on the River of Doubt,
they saw a peasant, a rubber-gatherer, the first human being they had
met. Thenceforward they journeyed without incident.
The River of Doubt flowed into the larger river, Madeira; where they
found a steamer which took them to Manaos on the Amazon.
During the homeward voyage, Roosevelt slowly recovered his strength, but
he had never again the iron physique with which he had embarked the year
before. The Brazilian Wilderness stole away ten years of his life.
He found on his return home that some geographers and South American
explorers laughed at his story of the River of Doubt. He laughed, too,
at their incredulity; and presently the Brazilian Government, having
established the truth of his exploration and named the river after him,
_Rio Teodoro_, his laughter prevailed. He took real satisfaction in
having placed on the map of Central Brazil, a river six hundred miles
long.
_William Roscoe Thayer_ (_Arranged_)
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
The evil men do lives after them; so does the good. With the passing of
years, a man’s name and fame either drift into oblivion or they are seen
in their lasting proportions.
You must sail fifty miles over the Ionian Sea and look back, before you
can fully measure the magnitude and majesty of Mount Ætna. Not
otherwise, I believe, will it be with Theodore Roosevelt, when the
people of the future look back upon him. The blemishes due to
misunderstanding will have faded away. The transient clouds will have
vanished. The world will see him as he was....
Those of us who knew him, knew him as the most astonishing human
expression of the Creative Spirit we had ever seen. His manifold
talents, his protean interests, his tireless energy, his thunderbolts
which he did not let loose, as well as those he did, his masterful will
sheathed in self-control like a sword in its scabbard, would have
rendered him superhuman, had he not possessed other qualities which made
him the best of playmates for mortals.
He had humour, which raises every one to the same level. He had loyalty,
which bound his friends to him for life. He had sympathy and capacity
for strong, deep love. How tender he was with little children! How
courteous with women! No matter whether you brought to him important
things or trifles, he understood.
I can think of no vicissitude in life in which Roosevelt’s participation
would not have been welcome. If it were danger, there could be no more
valiant comrade than he. If it were sport, he was a sportsman. If it
were mirth, he was a fountain of mirth, crystal pure and sparkling....
But yesterday, he seemed one who embodied Life to the utmost. With the
assured step of one whom nothing can frighten or surprise, he walked our
earth as on granite. Suddenly, the granite grew more unsubstantial than
a bubble, and he dropped beyond sight into the Eternal Silence.
Happy we who had such a friend! Happy the American Republic which bore
such a son!
_William Roscoe Thayer_ (_Condensed_)
OCTOBER 30
JOHN ADAMS
THE SON OF LIBERTY
SECOND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
_I have passed the Rubicon: swim or sink, live or die, survive or perish
with my Country, is my unalterable determination._
JOHN ADAMS
INDEPENDENCE DAY
_I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding
generations as the great anniversary festival._
_It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn acts
of devotion to God Almighty._
_It ought to be solemnized with pomp, and parade, with shows, games,
sports, guns, bells, bonfires, tend illuminations, from one end of this
continent to the other, from this time forward, for ever more._
JOHN ADAMS
JOHN ADAMS was born in Braintree, or Quincy, Massachusetts, October
30, 1735
Was a member of the Committee that framed the Declaration of
Independence; and he signed the Declaration
Was Commissioner to France, 1778
Was Ambassador to England, 1785
Became Second President of the United States, 1796
He died on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Signing of the
Declaration of Independence, the Fourth of July, 1826
A SON OF LIBERTY
There was no loftier genius nor purer Patriot during the struggle for
Independence, than John Adams.
He was born at Braintree--now a part of Quincy--Massachusetts. He was
descended from Henry Adams who came to America during the reign of
Charles the First. On his mother’s side, he was descended from John
Alden, the Pilgrim Father who came over in the _Mayflower_. Thus, from
both sides of his house, John Adams inherited staunch, fearless, English
blood and love of Independence.
He went to school in Braintree, and later graduated from Harvard
University. After which he studied law, and was admitted to the bar. He
married Abigail Smith of Weymouth, Massachusetts. They made their home
in Boston.
It is not possible here to tell all that John Adams did for America. He
was an ardent Patriot, a Son of Liberty, serving the country at the risk
of his life. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress. He was a
member of the Committee appointed to frame the Declaration of
Independence. He signed the Declaration. He was sent abroad on foreign
missions. He was elected Vice-President, and afterward called to be
second President of the United States. He lived to see his son, John
Quincy Adams, made sixth President of the United States.
He died on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of
Independence, at the great age of ninety-one.
_Benson J. Lossing and Other Sources_
THE ADAMS FAMILY
John Adams was not the only great American Patriot in his Family. His
cousin, Samuel Adams, was a popular and fearless leader in the movement
for Independence. His activities were so feared by England, that the
Government issued orders for his arrest and trial for high treason.
Abigail Adams, John Adams’s wife, was one of the noble American women
who helped to win the War for Independence. She kept her husband
informed of the movements of the British around Boston, while he was
attending the Continental Congress. She wrote him many patriotic
letters, which are inspiring reading to-day. She signed some of them
“Portia,” so that if they fell into the hands of the enemy, no one could
tell who wrote them. She sent many of the letters to her husband by
secret messengers.
Their son, John Quincy Adams, became sixth President of the United
States.
His son, Charles Francis Adams, and the latter’s two sons, Charles
Francis and Henry Adams, served the Country in important offices, at
home and abroad. They were historians and statesmen.
John and Abigail Adams, their son and his two sons, kept diaries or
wrote letters, memoirs, and biographies, which form a vivid and intimate
story of many historical events dating from the War for Independence
down nearly to our own time.
Thus America has to thank the Adams Family for historical records of
great importance.
AID TO THE SISTER COLONY
It was a clear and frosty night--that night, when the moonbeams fell on
the tea thrown overboard by the Boston Tea Party. Paul Revere, all
booted and spurred, was ready for a famous ride--not the one to
Lexington, but to Philadelphia this time. Soon he was off and away,
galloping southward, spreading, as he rode along, the astonishing news
that Boston Town had at last defied King George. There were public
rejoicings everywhere, as the news was passed along.
“This,” said John Adams exultingly, “is the most magnificent movement of
all!... This destruction of the tea is so bold, so daring, so firm,
intrepid and inflexible!... What measures will the Ministry take in
consequence of this? Will they resent it?--Will they dare to resent
it?--Will they punish us?--How?”
* * * * *
John Adams did not have to wait long to find out--_how_. For King George
decided to punish the people of brave Boston Town, by starving them into
submission. The Boston Port Bill was passed in England. A British Fleet
blockaded Boston Harbour. No ship could go in or out; all supplies of
food and fuel were cut off. The Boston folk suffered starvation,
disease, and death; but they would not submit. Their misery became
almost unendurable.
Then it was that Massachusetts’ sister Colonies roused themselves.
Samuel Adams of Boston sent a circular letter to each of the Colonies
asking for help. Food, fuel, and money came pouring in.
All that Summer, Boston, suffering, impoverished Boston, lay upon every
loyal American heart. Each province, county, city, town, neighbourhood,
sent its contribution.
Windham, Connecticut, began the work of relief, and sent in, with a
cordial letter of applause and sympathy, “a small flock of sheep.” Two
hundred and fifty-eight sheep was Windham’s notion of a small flock!
New Jersey soon wrote that she would be glad to know which would be more
acceptable to a suffering sister, cash or produce. “Cash,” replied
Boston, “if perfectly convenient.”
Massachusetts farmers supplied grain by the barrel and bushel. The
Marblehead fishermen forwarded “two hundred and twenty-four quintels of
good eating-fish, one barrel and three-quarters of good olive oil”--with
money to boot.
North Carolina promptly sent two sloop-loads of provisions. South
Carolina’s first gift was one hundred casks of rice.
And Baltimore Town contributed three thousand bushels of corn, twenty
barrels of rye-flour, two barrels of pork, and twenty barrels of bread.
Virginia!--there seemed to be no end to Virginia’s gifts!
And as the cool season approached, the farmers could be more liberal.
Flocks of fat sheep and droves of oxen, together with hundreds of cords
of wood, grain, and money in plenty, helped to relieve the suffering
town. From New York they came, and from Maryland, Maine, Connecticut,
Rhode Island, from the three counties on the Delaware, and from every
little mountain-town in New Hampshire and Vermont.
As for Canada, from cold and remote Quebec came some wheat, and from
Montreal a hundred pounds sterling.
The letters that accompanied the gifts, and the grateful answers from
the Boston Committee, would fill a large volume.
“Boston is suffering in the common cause,” said her sister Colonies.
“If need be,” said George Washington of Virginia, “I will raise one
thousand men, subsist them at my own expense, and march myself at their
head, for the relief of Boston.”
_James Parton, and Other Sources_ (_Retold_)
A FAMOUS DATE
September 5, 1774! What a famous date in American history! And in the
history of the whole World!
On that day, met for the first time, the Continental Congress of
America.
From Colony after Colony, the delegates came riding into Philadelphia.
George Washington of Virginia came with fiery Patrick Henry, and Edmund
Pendleton, “one of Virginia’s noblest sons.” There came Cæsar Rodney,
“burley and big, bold and bluff,” with Thomas McKean and George Read,
all from the three counties on the Delaware, and Roger Sherman with
Silas Deane of Connecticut, and John Jay and Livingston of New York.
From Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland,
and South Carolina, the eager delegates came riding into the City of
Brotherly Love. And, of course, John Adams and Samuel Adams,
representing the suffering Colony of Massachusetts Bay, were on hand
when Congress opened.
Among its first acts, the First Continental Congress sent a letter to
General Gage; an address to the People of Great Britain; one to the
People of Quebec; and a Petition to King George, setting forth the
grievances of the American Colonists, the violations of their rights as
free Englishmen, and asking for justice, but strongly urging a renewal
of harmony and union between the Colonies and the Mother Country,
England.
American histories tell how King George disregarded that Petition.
American histories, also, tell how William Pitt and other great English
statesmen, nobly defended America, as you may see if you read the story
of William Pitt, on page 93.
WHAT A GLORIOUS MORNING!
When Paul Revere came galloping into Lexington, after warning the
countryside that the British were coming to seize the powder and shot,
he roused Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who were staying with friends.
Paul Revere was come to warn them also; for the British General Gage had
given orders for their arrest, and intended to send them to England to
be tried for high treason.
The British Government was specially afraid of John Hancock, one of the
most daring and active of the Boston Patriots. “The terrible desperado,”
he was called by that Government.
While he and Samuel Adams were escaping from Lexington and hurrying
across some fields Samuel Adams exclaimed:--
“Oh, what a glorious morning is this!”
It was the morning of the Battle of Lexington, when the shot was fired
that was heard round the world.
After the Second Continental Congress opened, John Hancock was chosen to
preside, while the Congress discussed how to defend the Country.
JOHN TO SAMUEL
New England was in arms. Lexington and Concord had been fought, and
Boston was being besieged by the New England Army.
The Congress was discussing the defense of the whole Country. There were
some members who wished the Congress to take over the New England Army
and appoint a Commander-in-Chief.
It was then that John Adams met his cousin Samuel Adams, in the State
House yard. This is the way John Adams tells it:--
“‘What shall we do to get Congress to adopt our Army?’ said Samuel Adams
to John Adams.
“‘I will tell you what I am determined to do,’ said John to Samuel. ‘I
have taken pains enough to bring you to agree upon something; but you
will not agree upon anything. And now I am determined to take my own
way, let come what will come!’
“‘Well,’ said Samuel, ‘what is your scheme?’
“Said John to Samuel, ‘I will go to Congress this morning, and move that
a day be appointed to take into consideration the adoption of the Army
before Boston, the appointment of a General and officers; and I will
nominate Washington for Commander-in-Chief!’”
A GENTLEMAN FROM VIRGINIA
So it happened, that John Adams rose in his seat, and moved that the
Congress should adopt the Army of New England men, and appoint a
Commander-in-Chief, adding, that he had in mind some one for that high
command, “a gentleman from Virginia, who is among us, and very well
known to all of us; a gentleman whose skill and experience as an
officer, whose independent fortune, great talents and excellent
universal character, would command the approbation of all America, and
unite the cordial exertions of all the Colonies better than any other
person in the Union.”
Every one knew whom John Adams meant. And George Washington, who was
sitting near the door, was so overcome by modesty, that he sprang up and
darted into the library close by.
But his modesty did not prevent his election. He was unanimously chosen
Commander-in-Chief; while the army of New England men was adopted by
Congress and named “the Continental Army.”
Later, when Washington’s appointment was announced in the Congress, he
rose in his place, and said most earnestly:--
“Since the Congress desire, I will enter upon the momentous duty and
exert every power I possess in their service and for the support of the
glorious cause.
“But I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room, that I
this day declare, with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal
to the command I am honoured with.”
But far-sighted John Adams was delighted. He was enthusiastic. “There is
something charming to me in the conduct of Washington,” he wrote to a
friend, “a gentleman of one of the first fortunes upon the continent,
leaving his delicious retirement, his family and friends, sacrificing
his ease, and hazarding all in the cause of his Country.
“His views are noble and disinterested. He declared, when he accepted
the mighty trust, that he would lay before us an exact account of his
expenses, and not accept a shilling pay.”
And to Abigail Adams, his wife, far off in Braintree, guarding her
children from battle, and murder, and from sudden death, John Adams
wrote:--
“I can now inform you, that the Congress have made choice of the modest
and virtuous, the amiable, generous, and brave George Washington,
Esquire, to be General of the American Army.”
He wrote thus joyously on the 17th day of June,--while on that very day,
Abigail Adams and little John Quincy Adams were standing on a hilltop
watching Charlestown burn and fall into ashes.
THE BOY WHO BECAME PRESIDENT
“My head is much too fickle, my thoughts are running after birds’ eggs,
play, and trifles, till I get vexed with myself,” wrote little John
Quincy Adams, nine years old, to his father John Adams.
Those were terrible times. Little John Quincy’s thoughts were running
after other things besides birds’ eggs. He could hear the thunder of
British cannon and the answering roar of American guns. There was
fighting very near him. From a hilltop, he could see the battle raging.
He knew that some of the American boys who were fighting, were from
Braintree.
Sometime before, little John Quincy and his mother, Abigail Adams, had
escaped from their home in Boston, and had taken refuge in Braintree,
which was not far away. Now they were living in constant terror for fear
the British should attack Braintree. His father, John Adams, was not
there to protect him. He was attending the Continental Congress in
Philadelphia.
On the 17th of June, 1775, the British cannonading began in the
direction of Charlestown. John Quincy and his mother climbed the hill,
and watched the battle. With terror-stricken eyes, the boy saw
Charlestown go up in flames and fall in ashes. And as for Abigail Adams,
she trembled with fear lest the British should attack Braintree next;
and then what would become of John Quincy and the other children?
So John Quincy and his mother watched the famous battle of Bunker Hill.
And while they were listening to the cannon and the guns, their beloved
friend, Dr. Joseph Warren, the noble Patriot who had joined the American
forces as volunteer, fell mortally wounded.
And when the news of his death reached Braintree, John Quincy burst into
tears, for Dr. Warren had been the family physician, and had once saved
the boy from having a broken finger amputated.
And through those exciting times, John Quincy was a staunch boy-patriot.
When he was only nine years old, he became his mother’s post-boy, riding
to Boston and back, eleven or more miles each way, to get news for her.
And every morning before he climbed out of bed, he did as his mother had
taught him. After he had said the Lord’s Prayer, he recited:--
_How sleep the Brave, who sink to rest,
By all their Country’s wishes blest!
When Spring, with dewy fingers cold,
Returns to deck their hallowed mould,
She there shall dress a sweeter sod,
Than Fancy’s feet have ever trod._
_By Fairy hands their knell is rung,
By forms unseen their dirge is sung,
There Honour comes, a Pilgrim grey,
To watch the turf that wraps their clay,
And Freedom shall awhile repair
To dwell a weeping Hermit there._[1]
Thus the boy-patriot did what he could. And when he grew up, he served
his Country so well in many important matters, that he was called to
her highest office, and became the sixth President of the United States.
HOW SHALL THE STARS BE PLACED?
On that great day, when the Congress of the United States adopted the
Stars and Stripes as our National Flag, it resolved that the union
should be Thirteen Stars, white in a blue field, representing a new
Constellation.
And a new Constellation it was, Thirteen Stars of the Thirteen States
united as one, a Constellation destined to shine on all the
World--Liberty enlightening the World!
But how should the Stars be grouped upon the Flag?--that was the
question.
John Adams suggested that they should be arranged in the form of the
Constellation Lyra, the beautiful cluster of stars shining in our
northern night.
But the new Constellation of American Stars could not be arranged thus
to look well. So it was decided to place them in a circle, for a circle
has no end. And it was hoped that as the Country grew larger, adding
more States and a new Star for each State, that the circle would widen.
And it has widened and widened, until there is no longer any room for a
circle on our Flag; but spangled like the sky at night, it has become
the Star-Spangled Banner.
THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER
A mysterious foreign stranger suddenly appeared in New York City, after
John Adams had retired from the presidency. He was handsome, with
beaming hazel eyes and flashing white teeth. He was graceful, with
courtly manners. He called himself George Martin.
But what his real name was, or what his mysterious purpose was, only a
few people knew.
He was dined and toasted by New York officials. He went to the City of
Washington on his secret mission. He was granted private interviews by
the President and Secretary of State. He talked much about his friends
Catherine the Great of Russia and William Pitt of England. He seemed to
know the secret plots and political intrigues of Europe.
Then he vanished as mysteriously as he had come.
A few weeks later, John Adams heard the astounding news. The stranger
was no other than the celebrated South American Patriot, Don Francisco
de Miranda. He had sailed away secretly from New York in a little ship
laden with arms and ammunition. And, what was worse, he had taken with
him a band of young American men, some of them mere boys; and he was
sailing toward the Spanish main with the intention of freeing South
America from Spanish rule.
He had taken with him young William Steuben Smith, John Adams’s
grandson. Young Smith was a college boy, very bright and courageous, and
thirsty for adventure.
“What do you think were my sensations and reflections?” wrote John Adams
to a friend. “I shudder to this moment, at the recollection of them! I
saw the ruin of my only daughter and her good-hearted, enthusiastic
husband, and had no other hope or wish or prayer than that the ship,
with my grandson in it, might be sunk in a storm in the Gulf Stream!”
For young William Steuben Smith’s father was surveyor of the port of New
York, and had allowed Miranda’s ship to clear with arms and ammunition
in its hold, to be used against Spain with whom we were at peace.
Then came to John Adams the terrible news, that Spanish armed vessels
had captured some of the American boys. His grandson had been captured,
and thrown into a dungeon in a dark, filthy fortress in Venezuela. He
was to be tried as a pirate taken on the high seas, and without doubt he
would be hanged.
The Spanish Ambassador, who had known John Adams in Europe, hastened to
offer his services. He would intercede with Spain for the grandson, he
said.
“No,” said John Adams to a friend; “he should share the fate of his
colleagues, comrades, and fellow-prisoners.”
But happily it was all a great mistake. Young Smith was not hanged as a
pirate. He had not been captured at all. Instead, he was sailing gayly
on in Miranda’s Mystery Ship. He had been made aid-de-camp and
lieutenant-colonel, and had donned Miranda’s brilliant uniform.
For the story of what happened further to the Mystery Ship, see page
335.
HIS LAST TOAST
It was the last day of June, 1826. In five days, it would be the Fourth
of July--the Fiftieth Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of
Independence. John Adams had been one of the committee to frame the
Declaration.
A neighbour was sitting with John Adams in his home in Quincy--that used
to be Braintree. Ninety and one years old was John Adams!
The neighbour was to be orator at the annual banquet on the Fourth of
July. He had called to ask John Adams to compose the toast.
“Independence for ever!” said John Adams.
But would he not wish to add something further to the toast, asked the
neighbour.