believed that the Church needed reforming, or _purifying_. These members
were called _Puritans_.
They were severely persecuted. A number of them emigrated from England
to Massachusetts Bay. One body of these colonists settled in Salem, and
another founded Charlestown and Boston.
About a year after the settlement of Boston, a young man came thither
from England. He, too, had left home because of religious persecution.
He was known to be a godly man, and thought to be a Puritan. He was
warmly welcomed by the Boston folk. He was Roger Williams.
But soon the good folk of Boston were scandalized.
The Puritans of Boston had not actually separated from the Established
Church, as had their neighbours, the Separatists of Plymouth; they had
merely purified their mode of worship. They had, moreover, decreed that
the Government of their Colony should be directed by their church. They
did not permit any man not in good church-standing to have a vote in
public affairs. They even persecuted folk who did not believe as they
did, and who would not attend their church.
Roger Williams soon electrified them by urging not only separation from
the Established Church, but asserting that no Government had a right to
interfere with the religious faith of any one. The place of the
Government, he said, was to prevent crime, not to enforce any form of
religion. Every man had the right to “soul liberty” he asserted.
He also insisted that the King of England had no right whatsoever to
give away the lands belonging to the Indians, without their consent.
The Puritans bitterly opposed him. After a few years, since he continued
to preach and teach his beliefs, they tried him in their court and
banished him from the Colony.
In the middle of a New England Winter, he was forced to leave his wife,
child, and many sorrowing friends, and flee through the snow to safety.
He had with him to direct his way, only a sun-dial and compass.
His sufferings were terrible. He never got over the effects of the cold
and hunger which he endured on that flight through the Wilderness.
He had made friends among the Indians, with Massasoit and Canonicus. He
had most lovingly carried the Gospel to them and their peoples. He had
passed many a night with them in their lodges.
And now that he was in want and distress, it was his Indian friends who
succoured him.
In the Spring, he had begun to build and plant at Seekonk, when Governor
Winslow of Plymouth, in the kindest of spirits, sent him word that
Seekonk was within the bounds of Plymouth Colony; and in order that
there might be no trouble with the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he advised
him to move across the water, where he would be as free as the Plymouth
folk themselves, adding that then Roger Williams and the Plymouth Folk
might be loving neighbours together.
WHAT CHEER!
_Providence_
_Founded 1636_
Without bitterness or complaint, Roger Williams prepared immediately to
abandon the cabin he had built at Seekonk, and the fields which he had
so industriously sown and cultivated.
With five companions who had joined him there, he entered his canoe and
dropped down the river, watching the bank for an inviting landing.
On approaching a little cove, friendly voices saluted him. On Slate
Rock, Indians were waiting to welcome him.
“What cheer, Netop!” they exclaimed.
It was a salutation, meaning, “How do you do, friend!”
Roger Williams and his companions landed, but were more pleased with the
welcome than the place.
Getting into their canoe again, they rounded Indian Point and Fox Point,
and sailed up a beautiful sheet of water, skirting a dense forest, to a
spot near the mouth of the Mooshausick River.
A spring of fresh water was no doubt one of its attractions. Here Roger
Williams commenced to build again, and to prepare for future planting.
He gave the place the name of _Providence_, “in grateful remembrance of
God’s merciful providence to me in my distress.”
_Z. A. Mudge_ (_Arranged_)
RISKING HIS LIFE
I
No one can say that Roger Williams was not a good Christian, a better
one than those who drove him from his home, for he soon risked his own
life to save them from danger.
The fierce and warlike Indians of the Pequot tribe had made an attack on
the settlers, and were trying to get the large and powerful tribe of the
Narragansetts to join them. They wished to kill all the white people of
the Plymouth Colony, and drive the pale faces from the country.
The people of Plymouth and of Boston, too, were in a great fright when
they heard of this. They knew that Roger Williams was the only white man
in that region who had any influence with the Indians, and they sent to
him, begging him to go to the Narragansett camp and ask the
Narragansetts not to join the Pequots.
Many men would have refused to go into a horde of raging savages, to
procure the safety of their enemies. But Roger Williams was too noble to
refuse; though he knew that his life would be in the utmost danger, for
some of the bloodthirsty Pequots were then with the Narragansetts.
He promptly went to the Indian camp, and spent three days in the
wigwams of the Sachems, though he expected every night to have the
treacherous Pequots “put their bloody knives to his throat.”
But the Narragansetts were strong friends of the honest pastor. They
listened to his counsel. And in the end, they and another tribe, the
Mohicans, joined the English against the Pequots.
Thus it was chiefly due to Roger Williams, that the Colonists were saved
from the scalping knives of the Indians.
II
Years of peace and prosperity existed in Providence plantations. The
Colony grew. No man interfered with another man’s religion. Those in the
other New England Colonies, who did not want to be forced to accept the
creed of the Puritans, came to the Colony of Roger Williams.
He was their principal pastor. He was so kind, gentle, and good, that
everybody respected and loved him. His people were his children. He had
brought them together, and spent his time working for their good; and
they looked on him as their best friend.
_Charles Morris_ (_Arranged_)
JULY 6
JOHN PAUL JONES
AMERICA’S IMMORTAL SEA-FIGHTER
_I have not yet begun to fight!_
PAUL JONES
PAUL JONES
_A song unto Liberty’s brave Buccaneer,
Ever bright be the fame of the Patriot Rover.
For our rights he first fought in his “black privateer,”
And faced the proud foe, ere our sea they crossed over
In their channel and coast,
He scattered their host._
* * * * *
_’Twas his hand that raised
The first Flag that blazed,
And his deeds ’neath the “Pine Tree” all ocean amazed._
_Ballad_ (_Condensed_)
JOHN PAUL JONES was born in Scotland, July 6, 1747
Was the first American Naval officer to receive a foreign salute
for the Stars and Stripes, 1778
Won the victory over the _Serapis_, 1779
He died in Paris, July 18, 1792
His body was brought to America in 1905 and interred with honours
at the U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis.
THE BOY OF THE SOLWAY
Born by the seashore of Scotland where the tide heaves up the Solway,
living on a promontory surrounded by romantic scenery, and with the
words of seafaring men constantly ringing in his ears, the boy, John
Paul, longed to be a sailor.
He was the son of a poor gardener. But he was of that poetic romantic
temperament, which always builds gorgeous structures in the future; and
no boy, with a fancy like that of John Pul could be content to live the
humdrum life of a gardener’s son. So he launched forth with a strong arm
and resolute spirit to hew his way among his fellows.
John Paul was only twelve or fourteen years of age, when he became a
sailor on board a ship bound to Virginia.
Thus early were his footsteps directed to America, by which his whole
future career was shaped.
After reaching America, he took the name of Jones. He rendered his new
name immortal, and the real name John Paul is sunk in that of Paul
Jones.
_J. T. Headley_ (_Arranged_)
DON’T TREAD ON ME!
In 1775, when our War for Independence broke out, Paul Jones commenced
his brilliant career.
Some men regard him as a sort of freebooter turned Patriot--an
adventurer to whom the American War was a God-send, in that it kept him
from being a pirate. But nothing could be farther from the truth.
When the War broke out, he offered to serve in the Navy. Congress
accepted his offer, and appointed him first lieutenant in the _Alfred_.
As the commander-in-chief of the squadron came on board the _Alfred_,
Paul Jones unfurled our National Flag--the first time its folds were
ever given to the breeze.
What that Flag was, strange as it may seem, no record tells us. It was
not the Stars and Stripes, for they were not adopted till two years
after.
The generally received opinion is, that it was a Pine Tree with a
rattlesnake coiled at the roots as if about to spring, and underneath
the motto:
DON’T TREAD ON ME!
If the Flag bore such a symbol, it was most appropriate to Paul Jones,
for no serpent was ever more ready to strike than he.
At all events, it unrolled to the breeze, and waved over as gallant a
young officer as ever trod a quarterdeck.
Fairly afloat--twenty-nine years of age--healthy, well-knit, though of
light and slender frame--a commissioned officer in the American Navy the
young gardener saw with joy, the shores receding as the fleet steered
for the Bahama Isles.
The result of this expedition was the capture of New Providence with a
hundred cannon and abundance of military stores.
And the capture was brought about by the perseverance and daring of
young Paul Jones.
_J. T. Headley_ (_Arranged_)
THE FIRST SALUTE
_That Flag and I are twins, born at the same hour.... We cannot be
parted in life or death. So long as we shall float, we shall float
together. If we sink, we shall go down as one._
PAUL JONES
June 14, 1777, was a great day for the United States and for Paul Jones.
On that self-same day, Congress passed two famous Resolutions;--and
_Commander_ Paul Jones and the Flag of the Nation were “born at the same
hour”:--
_Resolved_: that the Flag of the Thirteen United States be thirteen
Stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union be thirteen Stars,
white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.
_Resolved_: that Captain John Paul Jones be appointed to command the
ship _Ranger_.
Thus it came to pass that the gallant young Scotchman, eager to fight
for Liberty, hastened to make the _Ranger_ ready for sea. Then he sailed
away under orders for France.
From the harbour of Nantes, he convoyed some American ships to place
them under the protection of the French fleet in Quiberon Bay. The
commander of the French fleet was Admiral La Motte Picquet, who had been
ordered by his Government to keep the coast of France free from British
cruisers.
And it was there in Quiberon Bay, that John Paul Jones received the
first salute ever given by a foreign Nation to our Stars and Stripes--a
salute that recognized the Independence of the United States.
It was on Washington’s Birthday, 1778, that Paul Jones wrote to our
Government describing this great event:--
“I am happy in having it in my power to congratulate you,” he said,
“on my having seen the American Flag, for the first time,
recognized in the fullest and completest manner by the Flag of
France.
“I was off their bay, the 18th, and sent my boat in the next day,
to know if the Admiral would return my salute.
“He answered that he would return to me, as the senior American
Continental officer in Europe, the
[Illustration: PAUL JONES HOISTING THE STARS AND STRIPES]
same salute which he was authorized by his Court to return to an
Admiral of Holland, or of any other Republic; which was four guns
less than the salute given.
“I hesitated at this; for I had demanded gun for gun.
“Therefore, I anchored in the entrance of the bay, at a distance
from the French Fleet. But after a very particular inquiry, on the
14th, finding that he had really told the truth, I was induced to
accept of his offer; the more so as it was in fact an
acknowledgment of American Independence.
“The wind being contrary and blowing hard, it was after sunset
before the Ranger got near enough to salute La Motte Picquet with
_thirteen_ guns, which he returned with nine.
“However, to put the matter beyond a doubt, I did not suffer the
_Independence_ (an American brig that was with Paul Jones) to
salute till next morning, when I sent the Admiral word, that I
should sail through his Fleet in the brig, and would salute him in
open day.
“He was exceedingly pleased, and returned the compliment also with
nine guns.”
Paul Jones thus had the singular honor of being the first to hoist the
original Flag of Liberty on board the _Alfred_; first probably to hoist
the Stars and Stripes, which still wave in pride as our national emblem;
and first to claim for our Flag the courtesy from foreigners due to a
Sovereign State.
_Alexander S. Mackenzie_ (_Retold_)
THE POOR RICHARD
Paul Jones gave up the command of the _Ranger_ in order to take command
of a larger ship, promised him by the French Government. But he had a
long discouraging period of waiting for the new ship.
It was then that he wrote to a French official, those famous words:--
“I will not have anything to do with ships which do not sail fast, for I
intend to go in harm’s way.”
After months of desperate waiting and after writing many letters, Paul
Jones chanced to be reading a copy of Franklin’s “Poor Richard’s
Almanack.” These words caught his eye:--
_If you would have your business done, go--if not, send._
So he stopped sending letters, and hastened to Paris to plead his own
cause.
With the help of Franklin himself, Paul Jones got his ship at last. He
named it _Bon Homme Richard_, or _The Poor Richard_.
It was while commanding _The Poor Richard_, that Paul Jones gained his
famous victory over the British ship, the _Serapis_.
MICKLE’S THE MISCHIEF HE HAS DUNE
With seven ships in all--a snug little squadron for Jones, had the
different commanders been subordinate--he set sail in the _Richard_ from
France, and steered for the coast of Ireland. The want of proper
subordination was soon made manifest, for in a week’s time the vessels,
one after another, parted company, to cruise by themselves, till Paul
Jones had with him but the _Alliance_, _Pallas_, and _Vengeance_.
In a tremendous storm he bore away, and after several days of gales and
heavy seas, approached the shore of Scotland.
Taking several prizes near the Firth of Forth, he ascertained that a
twenty-four-gun ship and two cutters were in the roads. These he
determined to cut out, and, landing at Leith, lay the town under
contribution.
The inhabitants supposed his little fleet to be English vessels in
pursuit of _Paul Jones_; and a member of Parliament, a wealthy man in
the place, sent off a boat requesting powder and balls to defend
himself, as he said, against “the pirate Paul Jones.”
Jones very politely sent back the bearer with a barrel of powder
expressing his regrets that he had no shot to spare.
Soon after this, he summoned the town to surrender, but the wind
blowing steadily off the land, he could not approach with his vessel.
At length, however, the wind changed and the _Richard_ stood boldly in
for the shore. The inhabitants, as they saw her bearing steadily up
towards the place, were filled with terror, and ran hither and thither
in affright; but the good minister, Rev. Mr. Shirra, assembled his flock
on the beach, to pray the Lord to deliver them from their enemies. He
was an eccentric man, one of the quaintest of the quaint old Scot
divines, so that his prayers, even in those days, were often quoted for
their oddity and roughness.
Having gathered his congregation on the beach in full sight of the
vessel, which under a press of canvas, was making a long tack that
brought her close to the town, he knelt down on the sand and thus
began:--
“Now, dear Lord, dinna ye think it a shame for ye to send this vile
pirate to rob our folk o’ Kirkaldy; for ye ken they’re puir enow already
and hae naething to spare.
“The wa the wind blaws he’ll be here in a jiffie, and wha kens what he
may do! He’s nae too good for ony thing. Mickle’s the mischief he has
dune already. He’ll burn their hooses, tak their very claes, and tirl
them to the sark. And waes me! wha kens but the bluidy villain might tak
their lives? The puir weemen are maist frightened out o’ their wits,
and the bairns skirling after them.
“I canna think of it! I canna think of it! I hae been lang a faithful
servant to ye, Lord; but gin ye dinna turn the wind about and blaw the
scoundrel out of our gate, I’ll nae stir a foot. But will just sit here
till the tide comes. Sae tak ye’r will o’t.”
Now, to the no little astonishment of the good people, a fierce gale at
that moment began to blow, which sent one of Jones’s prizes ashore and
forced him to stand out to sea.
This fixed for ever the reputation of good Mr. Shirra. And he did not
himself wholly deny that he believed his intercessions brought on the
gale, for whenever his parishioners spoke of it to him, he always
replied:--
“I prayed, but the Lord sent the wind.”
_J. T. Headley_ (_Arranged_)
PAUL JONES HIMSELF
Paul Jones was slight, being only five feet and a half high. A stoop in
his shoulders diminished still more his stature. But he was firmly knit,
and capable of enduring great fatigue.
He had dark eyes and a thoughtful, pensive look when not engaged in
conversation; but his countenance lighted up in moments of excitement,
and in battle became terribly determined. His lips closed like a vice,
while his brow contracted with the rigidity of iron. The tones of his
voice were then haughty in the extreme, and his words had an emphasis in
them, which those who heard never forgot.
He seemed unconscious of fear, and moved amid the storm of battle, and
trod the deck of his shattered and wrecked vessel, like one who rules
his own destiny. He would cruise without fear in a single sloop, right
before the harbours of England, and sail amid ships double the size of
his own.
But with all his fierceness in the hour of battle, he had as kind a
heart as ever beat.
To see him in a hot engagement, covered with the smoke of cannon,
himself working the guns, while the timbers around him were constantly
ripping with the enemy’s shot; or watch him on the deck of his dismasted
vessel, over which the hurricane swept and the sea rolled, one would
think him destitute of emotion. But his reports of these scenes
afterwards, resembled the descriptions of an excited spectator. He was
an old Roman soldier in danger, but a poet in his after accounts of it.
Jones had great defects of character; but most of them sprang from his
want of early education. He was not a mere adventurer--owing his
elevation to headlong daring--he was a hard student as well as a hard
fighter, and had a strong intellect as well as strong arm. He wrote with
astonishing fluency considering the neglect of his early education. He
even wrote eloquently at times, and always with force. His verses were
as good as the general run of poetry of that kind.
Paul Jones was an irregular character, but his good qualities
predominated over his bad ones. And as the man who first hoisted the
American Flag at sea, and received the first salute ever offered it by a
foreign Nation, and the first who carried it victoriously through the
fight on the waves, he deserves our highest praise and most grateful
remembrance.
With such a Commander to lead the American Navy, and stand before it as
the model of a brave man, no wonder our Navy has covered itself with
glory.
_J. T. Headley_ (_Condensed_)
SOME OF HIS SAYINGS
I will not have anything to do with ships which do not sail fast, for I
intend to go in harm’s way.
(_During the fight with the Serapis_) Don’t swear, Mr. Stacy, we may at
the next moment be in Eternity; but let us do our duty.
I have not yet begun to fight!
I have ever looked out for the honour of the American Flag.
I can never renounce the glorious title of a Citizen of the United
States.
I can accept of no honour that will call in question my devotion to
America.
JULY 24
SIMON BOLIVAR OF VENEZUELA
THE LIBERATOR
_Colombians! All your beauteous Fatherland is now free.... From the
banks of the Orinoco River to the Peruvian Andes, the Army of
Liberation, marching triumphantly, has covered all the territory of
Colombia with its protecting arms._ ...
_Colombians of the South! the blood of your brothers has redeemed
you from the horrors of War!_
BOLIVAR
BOLIVAR
_Build up a Column to Bolivar!
Build it under a tropic star!
Build it high as his mounting fame!
Crown its head with his noble name!
Let the letters tell like a light afar,
“This is the Column of Bolivar!”_
_Raise the Column to Bolivar!
Firm in peace, and fierce in war!
Shout forth his noble, noble name!
Shout till his enemies die in shame!
Shout till Colombia’s woods awaken,
Like seas by a mighty tempest shaken,--
Till pity, and praise, and great disdain
Sound like an Indian hurricane!
Shout as ye shout in conquering war,
While ye build the Column to Bolivar!_
BARRY CORNWALL (_Condensed_)
BOLIVAR was born in Venezuela, July 24, 1783
Formed the Republic of Great Colombia, 1819
He died in exile, December 17, 1830
His full name was Simon Jose Antonio de la Santisima Trinidad de
Bolivar y Palacios. But he was known as the citizen, Simon Bolivar
Bolivar’s name is pronounced, Seemon Boleevar
The old-fashioned English way was to pronounce it Bollevaar, as in
the poem above.
THE PRECIOUS JEWEL
Two boys were playing a royal game of tennis in the royal tennis court
at Madrid in Spain. The rich American boy, Simon de Bolivar, from
Venezuela, was serving swift ball after swift ball to Ferdinand, Prince
of the Asturias and heir to the Spanish throne. The Queen-mother was
looking on.
The Prince saw that he was losing, and grew angry. Bolivar, small,
alert, with dark eyes flashing, played on, still winning until the
Prince refused to play any longer.
But the Queen-mother sternly bade her son finish the game.
So the Prince had to play on, and he lost.
“Some day,” exclaimed Bolivar in triumph, “I will deprive Prince
Ferdinand of the most precious jewel in his Crown!”
* * * * *
Years before this tennis-game, a great thing had happened in Venezuela.
On July 24, 1783, a baby boy was born to a rich, noble citizen of the
city of Caracas--a baby destined to deprive Prince Ferdinand of the most
precious jewel in his Crown.
He was christened Simon Jose Antonio de la Santisima Trinidad de
Bolivar, and with his mother’s name added as they do in Spanish America,
y Palacios.
A long name for a baby.
Little Bolivar had everything money could buy, and slaves to wait upon
him whenever he called. Before he was ten years old, his father and
mother died and he was left heir to several large fortunes. He owned
many hundreds of slaves and a rich plantation called San Mateo.
He was a restless, adventurous, self-willed boy, small but very alert
and bright. He did not like to study much; but he was always ready to
sit and listen to his tutor Rodriguez, whom he adored. His black eyes
sparkled as his tutor told him of lands where people governed
themselves. Sometimes Rodriguez explained the meaning of _Equality,
Fraternity, and Liberty_. And the little boy began to dream of Liberty
and Independence for his own Venezuela.
But Bolivar did not spend all his time dreaming, he was far too
passionately fond of outdoor sports for that. He fished, swam, and
learned to shoot. He joined the White Militia of the Valleys of Aragua.
When he was sixteen, his guardian sent him to Spain. There he went to
school and lived with his uncle, who was a favourite at Court.
And there, he beat the sulky Prince Ferdinand at tennis.
And there, he met and loved a noble, little Spanish maid, Maria del
Toro, just fifteen years old. So Bolivar forgot for a while his threat
to deprive Prince Ferdinand of his most precious jewel.
Bolivar and Maria were married, and went on their honeymoon to
Venezuela. They reached the lovely plantation of San Mateo, where they
lived and were very happy. But, alas! in a few months the girl-bride
sickened and died of a fever.
Then the passionate heart of young Bolivar almost broke. He vowed in his
grief never to marry again. Soon after Maria’s death, he went back to
Europe to try to forget his sorrow in travel and study.