These were his gifts to Brazil during his long reign, while surrounding
Nations were struggling with anarchy and civil war.
Before Dom Pedro was eighteen, he signed a contract of marriage with a
Princess whom he had never seen, Theresa Christina Maria, sister of the
King of the two Sicilies. A Brazilian squadron conducted her to Rio, and
the city received her with splendid ceremonies.
II
_My People_
Under Dom Pedro’s guiding influence, Brazil gained steadily in power,
importance, and reputation. Home industries and foreign commerce
doubled. Telegraphic communications were established with the United
States and Europe. Good steamship lines, both coastwise and oceanic,
made Brazil accessible to all the world. Public property was opened to
settlement, and the Government became as hospitable to all foreign
enterprise as it had before this been exclusive.
Above all things, Dom Pedro wanted to stimulate the love of knowledge
among his People, to give the boys and girls of every class an equal
chance. Free public schools were established all over the Empire.
One time, the Emperor learned that 3,000,000 francs had been pledged by
citizens for a fine bronze statue of himself to be given the place of
honour in a city square. Dom Pedro, expressing his deep gratitude, said
that it would please him far more if the money could be used for public
schools instead. The grade and high school buildings of Rio have always
been noted for their beauty, size, and equipment.
While so many of the South American States were lagging far behind the
times, Brazil, under Dom Pedro, caught up with other progressive Nations
of the World. Liberty of speech and religious tolerance were not even
questioned, but taken for granted.
III
_Emancipating the Slaves_
1888
The greatest national event during Dom Pedro’s reign was the Abolition
of Slavery, and no one worked harder to bring it to pass than the
Emperor himself.
The African slave-trade had been abolished in 1850 and from that time on
public opinion grew more and more in favour of Emancipation, in spite of
the strong opposition of planters and wealthy slave owners.
Following Dom Pedro’s example, many high-minded citizens freed their own
slaves. The slave was enabled to free himself in many ways, such as
raising his own purchase money. The incentive to do this was great, for
an ambitious slave had plenty of chance to rise in the world.
Dom Pedro’s dearest wish was that he might live to see every slave in
the country a free man, and this wish came true in the last year of his
reign.
He had gone abroad in poor health, leaving his daughter Isabel as
Regent. When Congress met, the Princess Isabel railroaded the Abolition
Bill through both Houses in eight days, and signed the bill which put
the law into immediate effect.
IV
_The Empire of the Southern Cross--No More!_
Soon after the humane Princess Isabel had freed the slaves, Dom Pedro
came hastening home from Europe. He landed in Rio, and was received with
genuine enthusiasm. But his loved personality could no longer stand
between the throne and the widespread desire for a Republic together
with the popular discontent aroused by the Princess’s acts.
In 1889, a Republican revolt took the whole Empire by surprise. It had
long been brewing beneath the surface, but so great was the Emperor’s
popularity that Republicans had tacitly agreed to postpone the new
Government until his death.
A rumor that Dom Pedro might abdicate in favour of Princess Isabel, and
thus initiate another generation of monarchy, precipitated the
Revolution. The Republican leagues, with the backing of the army and
navy, refused to wait any longer.
Dom Pedro, summoned from Petropolis by telegram, found a Provisional
Government already organized when he reached the capital. In the
Imperial Palace at Rio, surrounded by insurgents, the old Emperor was
told briefly that his long reign was over.
“We are forced to notify you,” said the ultimatum, “that the Provisional
Government expects from your Patriotism the sacrifice of leaving
Brazilian territory with your family in the shortest possible time.”
Dom Pedro the Second replied simply:--
“I resolve to submit to the command of circumstances and will depart
with my family for Europe to-morrow, leaving this beloved Country to
which I have tried to give firm testimony of my love and my dedication
during nearly half a century as chief of the State. I shall always have
kind remembrances of Brazil and hopes for its prosperity.”
The next day the Imperial Family sailed for Lisbon.
In three days’ time a monarchy had been overthrown _without bloodshed_
or opposition. The Emperor, who had sometimes been called the best
Republican in Brazil, was replaced by a military dictator.
The homesick Emperor, living in European hotels or rented villas,
“always remained as one on the point of departure, as if he ever
expected to be recalled by his former subjects, a hope which till the
last moment would not die out of his heart.”
_Margarette Daniels_ (_Arranged_)
THE UNITED STATES OF BRAZIL
Brazil, whose name originally meant the Land of Red Dye Wood, is to-day,
the United States of Brazil with a Constitution like our own. It has a
President, Vice-President, and House of Congress, and an army and navy.
It has railroads, beautiful cities, many towns, and a world commerce.
Brazil exports quantities of rubber, sugar, coffee, and other products.
The milky juice of the caoutchouc or rubber, is gathered largely from
the wild rubber-trees growing in the tropical forests far in the
interior of Brazil, or along the banks of the Amazon. Our United States
receives great shipments of this rubber. The coffee-trees flourish in
the famous red earth of Brazil, producing large crops of the delicious
berry, to make happy the breakfast tables of the world.
There is the friendliest of relations between our United States and
Brazil. It is no uncommon sight to meet Brazilian sailors in their
picturesque uniform, at home on the streets of New York City. And when
the statue of Bolivar, the Liberator of Venezuela, was unveiled in
Central Park in 1921, there was present a detachment of Brazilian
Marines detailed from their battleship anchored in New York Harbour.
They made an imposing appearance, filing down the park-slope of Bolivar
Hill, in the military procession which accompanied President Harding.
The year 1922, the one hundredth anniversary of Brazilian Independence,
has been celebrated by People of the United States. Out of friendship
for Brazil, they have presented her with a statue of Liberty cast in
bronze. Liberty holds aloft two entwined banners, the Brazilian Flag and
the Stars and Stripes. The Brazilian Government has selected one of the
most prominent spots in the city of Rio Janeiro, as a site for the
statue.
DECEMBER 20
WILLIAM BRADFORD
AND
THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS
_The word of God to Leyden came,
Dutch town, by Zuyder Zee:
“Rise up, my Children of no name,
My kings and priests to be.
There is an Empire in the West
Which I will soon unfold,
A thousand harvests in her breast,
Rocks ribbed with iron and gold.”_
* * * * *
_They left the towers of Leyden Town,
They left the Zuyder Zee,
And where they cast their anchor down,
Rose Freedom’s realm to be.”_
J. E. RANKIN
THE PILGRIM FATHERS
_So they left that goodly and pleasant city which had been their resting
place near twelve years._
_But they knew they were Pilgrims, and looked not much on these things;
but lift up their eyes to the Heavens, their dearest country, and
quieted their spirits._
_Governor_ WILLIAM BRADFORD
WILLIAM BRADFORD was born about 1590
The _Mayflower_ reached Cape Cod; Mayflower Compact signed,
November 11, 1620
The Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, probably December 20, 1620
William Bradford died, May 9, 1657
THE FATHER OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES
William Bradford’s birthday, we celebrate on the anniversary of the
landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock. We do not know the exact date
of his birth.
He was just an ordinary boy living in a small English village. He was
brought up by relatives, for his father and mother had died when he was
a child. They had left him a small fortune, so he was not in want.
When about twelve years old, he began to read the Bible. It interested
him so much, that when older he attended the meetings of some neighbours
who were studying the Bible and worshipping God in their own little
Assembly. Separatists, they were called, for they had separated from the
Established Church of England.
In those days, it was a crime in England for any one to hold or attend
religious meetings of Separatists. The Bible printed in the English
tongue, had long been forbidden reading, but in William Bradford’s days,
it was beginning to be read quite widely, specially by Separatists.
These poor people’s Assemblies were watched by spies and informers.
Separatists were arrested and imprisoned, while some were executed.
Others fled into Holland--brave liberty-loving Holland--where there was
no persecution for religion’s sake.
William Bradford became a Separatist. When about eighteen years old, he,
too, fled into Holland, where he might serve his Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, in full liberty of conscience.
For ten years or more he lived in Holland. He was a member of an English
Separatist Church in Leyden, under the gentle rule of its beloved
pastor, John Robinson.
The Separatists believed that every man in the church-congregation
should have a voice in its management; thus they elected their pastor.
The time came when a part of Pastor Robinson’s congregation decided to
emigrate and seek a home in the New World. The leaders of this little
band of Pilgrims--the Pilgrim Fathers, we call them--were William
Bradford, John Carver, and Edward Winslow. With them went William
Brewster, who was to be their pastor in the New World. Miles Standish,
also, went with them, and became the Captain of their small army, which
defended them against the Indians.
So the Pilgrim Fathers, together with their wives, little ones, and men
and maid servants, said farewell to Holland’s hospitable shore. Soon
after, they sailed from England in the _Mayflower_, to found a
settlement in the savage New World, under the rule of England.
They took with them the seeds of American Independence. They had left
England so that they might have the freedom which was theirs by rights.
They were come to America so that they might govern themselves, every
man having a voice in the government of the new settlement as well as in
the management of his own congregation. This principle of
self-government, the Pilgrims embodied in the famous Mayflower Compact,
an agreement which they drew up and signed the day they reached New
England.
Meanwhile, far to the South of New England another Colony of Englishmen
had planted and was fostering other seeds of American Independence.[3]
But let us see what became of William Bradford, since we are celebrating
his birthday. We will let Cotton Mather tell it in his own quaint
style:--
“The rest of his days were spent in the services and the temptations of
that American wilderness. Here was Master Bradford, in the year 1621,
unanimously chosen the Governor of the Plantation. The difficulties
whereof were such that if he had not been a person of more than
ordinary piety, wisdom, and courage, he must have sunk under them.” He
served for thirty-seven years, “in every one of which he was chosen
their Governor, except the three years wherein Master Winslow and the
two years wherein Master Prince, at the choice of the people, took a
turn with him.... But the crown of all was his holy, prayerful,
watchful, and fruitful, walk with God.... He died May 9th, 1657, in the
69th year of his age, lamented by all the Colonies of New England as a
common Blessing and Father to them all.”
THE SAVAGE NEW WORLD
It was November, 1620. The ocean swelled angrily. A cold wind was
blowing, as day broke over the gray water. Sea-gulls swooped and wheeled
around the good ship _Mayflower_, which, with tattered sails, was
driving through the billows. For over two months she had been on her way
from Plymouth, England, carrying the Pilgrims. And, now, while the dull
day was breaking, suddenly a cry was heard:--
“Land Ho!”
The Pilgrims came crowding to the deck, fathers, mothers, children, men,
and maid-servants. They looked eagerly toward the west. They saw the
coast of the New World, as the ship rushed nearer, low with a white
line of surf beating against its wooded shore.
It was a very new, strange, savage world awaiting them, full of unknown
horrors and Indians. Yet the Pilgrims were not fearful. Had they not
committed themselves to God’s will? And was not this to be their home,
the land to which He was bringing them? So they fell on their knees, and
blessed Him who had guided them safely through storm and stress.
The wide bay where they first anchored--Cape Cod Bay--was wooded to the
water’s edge, with pines and oaks, with sassafras and juniper, with
birch and holly, ash and walnut. Whales swam spouting around the ship,
while flocks of wild fowl flew screaming overhead.
And when at last the Pilgrims went ashore in that uninhabited spot, how
briskly the mothers and sisters rubbed and scrubbed, as they washed the
Pilgrims’ clothes. For it had been a frightful two months’ voyage, with
so many storms and so much sickness aboard, that little washing had been
done. And the first thing the Pilgrim Mothers did, was to hold a great
wash day.
And while the women washed, the carpenter repaired the ship’s shallop;
for William Bradford and some of the others wished to explore the coast,
in order to find a safe and pleasant spot for their settlement.
While the shallop was being got ready, the Pilgrims decided to send out
a party by land, to see what the country was like.
And many thrilling adventures, the Pilgrim Fathers had before they
discovered a site, and built Plymouth Town.
On their first adventure, they saw Indians in the distance. They walked
through fields of corn-stubble which belonged to Indians. They found a
white man’s kettle and the ruins of a cabin. They dug up a fine, great,
new basket filled with corn, red, yellow, and blue. They took the corn
with them, intending to search out the owner, and pay him well.
On the second adventure, they found empty Indian wigwams, more corn, and
the grave of a man with yellow hair.
On the third adventure, they left their shallop, at night, to camp on
shore. In the gray dusk of morning, a band of fierce Nauset Indians
attacked them. A flight of brass-headed or claw-tipped arrows came
flying across the Pilgrims’ barricade. The Pilgrims fired their guns,
and the Nausets, whooping loudly, bounded away into the dusk. The
Pilgrims pursued them for a short distance.
Though many arrows had fallen around them, none of the Pilgrims were
hurt. They gave thanks to God for their deliverance; and, after naming
the spot The _Place of the First Encounter_, they sailed away in their
shallop to explore the coast near by.
Then, at last, they discovered a beautiful site for their town, situated
on a fine harbour. They returned to the _Mayflower_, with the good news.
And a few days before Christmas, the _Mayflower_ anchored in the
harbour, and the Pilgrim folk landed on Plymouth Rock.
On Christmas day, they began to build Plymouth Town.
WELCOME, ENGLISHMEN!
“Welcome!”
That cry--just one English word--sounded through the street of Plymouth,
and startled the Pilgrims. They caught up their muskets and ran from the
houses.
A tall naked savage, his lank hair clinging to his shoulders, was
stalking along the street, holding a bow and arrows.
“Welcome!” he shouted.
The Pilgrims returned his greeting.
He was Samoset, Chief of Pemaquid, he told them. He had journeyed from
very far off. He had learned English among the Englishmen who sometimes
came to fish off the coast of his country.
The Pilgrims, glad to talk with a friendly Indian, invited him to eat
with them. Then, as the wind was rising, they wrapped a warm coat around
his naked body. They gave him biscuit with butter, and cheese, and a
piece of cooked duck; all of which he seemed to relish hugely.
And in answer to their questions Samoset told them many things about
that country. As for the Nauset Indians, who had attacked them so
fiercely at The Place of the First Encounter, he said that these Nausets
hated all white men because a certain Englishman, one Captain Hunt, a
short time before the Pilgrims landed, had cruelly deceived the Nauset
Indians, kidnapping twenty of them, and selling them to other white men.
All this and much more, Samoset told the Pilgrims. He stayed with them
that night. The next day they sent him away with a gift of a knife, a
ring, and a bracelet. He went off promising that he would come soon
again and bring other Indians to trade with them.
But the Pilgrims were troubled, for they had not found the owners of the
buried corn.
LOST! LOST! A BOY!
There were children on the _Mayflower_--Oceanus Hopkins who was born at
sea, Peregrine White who gave his first baby-cry soon after the
_Mayflower_ reached the New World, Francis Billington who almost blew up
the _Mayflower_, while trying to make fireworks, and John Billington.
John was a mischievous youngster, and so lively that the Pilgrim Fathers
had to keep a stern eye upon him. But in spite of their watching, he got
lost. For one day, soon after the Pilgrims were settled in Plymouth, he
slipped out of the town, and into the woods that stretched farther than
eye could see from the top of the highest tree.
That night when John did not come home, the Plymouth folk were worried.
Where was the boy? they asked. How had he managed to slip from the town
without being seen? Had he strayed into the woods? Had a savage caught
him and carried him off?
Governor Bradford sent a party to look for him. They scoured the woods
about, but there was no John.
Five days went by,--five anxious days for the Plymouth folk. And John
had not returned when a message came from the friendly Indian, King
Massasoit, saying that the Nausets had the lad. The Nauset Indians were
the same fierce savages who had attacked the Pilgrims at The Place of
the First Encounter.
A shallop was launched and victualed; and the next morning ten of the
Pilgrims, with Tisquantum, their Indian interpreter, set sail for
Nauset.
It was a dangerous trip. At first the day was calm and bright, then came
on a storm of wind with thunder and lightning, that lashed the little
ship; while a waterspout almost broke over her. “But GOD be praised!”
says the _Pilgrim Chronicle_, which tells about _the lost boy_, “GOD be
praised! it dured not long, and we put in that night for harbour at a
place called Cummaquid, where we had some hope to find the boy.”
But they didn’t find him there. “The Nausets have got him,” said the
friendly Cummaquid Indians, when they came down the next morning to
catch lobsters. And they invited the Pilgrims to come ashore and eat
with them. So six of them landed, hoping to learn something more about
John.
Iyanough, the handsome young Cummaquid Chief, welcomed them heartily. He
made a feast of venison and maize cakes. And after they had eaten, he
offered to go with them to help rescue John. So the Pilgrims put out to
sea again, taking Iyanough and two of his braves. They made the best
speed possible, for they were anxious to find what had happened to the
boy.
The tide was out when they reached Nauset, and the water was so shallow
that they had to anchor at a distance from land. Iyanough, his braves,
and Tisquantum, went ashore to find Aspinet the Nauset Chief. They hoped
to persuade him to give up John, if he was still alive.
Meanwhile, crowds of Nauset Indians came running down to the beach. They
waded out from shore; and soon they were swarming around the shallop.
The Pilgrims stood guard to keep them from boarding her, for they
remembered all too well, how these same savages had attacked them with
showers of brass-headed arrows.
Finally, they allowed two of the Indians to climb into the shallop. And
what was the Pilgrims’ delight when they found that one of the two was
part owner of the corn dug up at Cornhill. They welcomed him gladly.
They told him that they wished to pay for the corn. They asked him to
come to Plymouth for the payment. He promised that he would.
By this time the sun was setting, but Iyanough had not returned with
news of John. This made the Pilgrims all the more anxious.
After sunset, they saw a long train of Nauset Indians come winding down
to the beach. At their head, walked their haughty Chief Aspinet. He drew
near to the edge of the beach. Some of his warriors stood guard with
their bows and arrows ready to shoot. The others laid down their
weapons and followed Aspinet into the water. They began to wade out
toward the shallop. And whom should the Pilgrims see sitting on the
shoulders of a big Indian, but John himself, covered with strings of
beads! He had been visiting in the Nauset village, where his new friend
the big Indian had feasted and entertained him in his wigwam.
And while the Indian was giving John over to the Pilgrims, Aspinet
announced that he and his people wished to make peace with the white
men. So the Pilgrims made peace with him, and presented him with a
strong English knife. They gave another one to the big Indian in return
for his kindness to John. Aspinet and his warriors then went back
friendly and satisfied, to their village.
So the lost boy was found.
And so the buried corn was paid for at last.
THE RATTLESNAKE CHALLENGE
It was just before Christmas, when a strange Brave came into Plymouth
town, carrying a bundle of new arrows wrapped in a rattlesnake-skin.
He asked for Tisquantum. When they told him that Tisquantum was away, he
smiled and seemed glad. He laid down the skin, and turned to run out of
the town.
[Illustration: JOHN BILLINGTON BROUGHT ON THE SHOULDERS OF AN INDIAN]
But Governor Bradford did not like his looks nor his queer gift, so
ordered Captain Standish to seize him. The Captain laid hold of him, and
locked him up for the night. At first the poor Indian shook so with fear
that he could not speak. Then as they questioned him gently, he grew
calmer. And when they promised to set him free if he would tell who had
sent him, he confessed to being a messenger from Canonicus, the great
Chieftain of the Naragansett Indians, a People powerful and many
thousands strong.
Governor Bradford, in the morning, set him free, bidding him go back to
Canonicus and tell him that if he would not live at peace with the white
men, as their other Indian neighbours did, the white men would show him
their wrath.
The messenger listened quietly. He refused all offers of food, but
thanked the Pilgrims for their kindness. Then he sped away to his
master.
When Tisquantum came back, they asked him what the rattlesnake-skin
meant.
To send a rattlesnake-skin meant an enemy, he said. It was the same as
sending a challenge.
In answer, Governor Bradford stuffed the skin full of powder, and sent
it back by an Indian runner to Canonicus.
The runner delivered it with such terrifying words of defiance, that
Canonicus would not even touch it for fear of the powder and shot, nor
would he let the rattlesnake-skin stay overnight in his village. The
runner refused to take it back to Plymouth. Canonicus then gave it to
one of his own Indians, who had it posted from place to place, until at
last it was returned to Governor Bradford--_unopened_!
THE GREAT DROUGHT
How the Pilgrims’ little farms did flourish! Rye, barley, maize, oats,
beans, and peas grew and thrived; also parsnips, carrots, turnips,
onions, melons, radishes, and beets. In the gardens, were fragrant
herbs. Refreshing watercresses grew wild in the meadows; while fruit
ripened on the trees, which the Pilgrims had found already growing in
the land.
But early during the third Summer, destruction threatened those little
farms. There was a great drought. For many weeks, scarcely a drop of
rain fell.