It was a beautiful evening at the close of a warm, luscious day in
old Spain. It was such an evening as one would select for trysting
purposes. The honeysuckle gave out the sweet announcement of its
arrival on the summer breeze, and the bulbul sang in the dark vistas of
the olive trees--sang of his love and his hope, and of the victory he
anticipated in the morrow’s bulbul fight, and the plaudits of the royal
couple who would be there. The pink west paled away to the touch of
twilight, and the soft zenith was sown with stars coming like celestial
fire-flies on the breast of a mighty meadow.
Across the dusk, with bowed head, came a woman. Her air was one of
proud humility. It was the air of royalty in the presence of an
over-ruling power. It was Isabella. She was on her way to confession.
She carried a large, beautifully bound volume containing a memorandum
of her sins for the day. Ever and anon she would refer to it, but the
twilight had come on so fast that she could not read it.
Reaching the confessional, she kneeled, and, by the aid of her notes,
she told off to the good Father and receptacle of the queen’s trifling
sins, Fernando de Talavera, how wicked she had been. When it was over
and the queen had risen to go, Fernando came forth, and with a solemn
obeisance said:
“May it please your Majesty, I have today received a letter from my
good friend the prior of the Franciscan convent of St. Mary’s of Rabida
in Andalusia. With your Majesty’s permission, I will read it to you.”
“Proceed,” exclaimed Isabella, gravely, taking a piece of crochet work
from her apron and seating herself comfortably near the dim light.
“It is dated the sixth month and tenth day of the month, and reads as
follows:
“‘Dear Brother: This letter will be conveyed into your hands by the
bearer hereof. His name is Christopher Columbus, a native of Genoa, who
has been living on me for two years. But he is a good man, devout and
honest. He is willing to work, but I have nothing to do in his line.
Times, as you know, are dull, and in his own profession nothing seems
to be doing. He is by profession a discoverer. He has been successful
in the work where he has had opportunities, and there has been no
complaint so far on the part of those who have employed him. Everything
he has ever discovered has remained that way, and he is willing to
let his work show for itself. Should you be able to bring this to the
notice of her Majesty, who is tender of heart, I would be most glad;
and should her most gracious Majesty have any discovering to be done,
or should she contemplate a change or desire to substitute another in
the place of the present discoverer, she will do well to consider the
qualifications of my friend. Very sincerely and fraternally thine,
etc., etc.’”
The queen inquired still further regarding Columbus, and, taking the
letter, asked Talavera to send him to the royal sitting room at ten
o’clock the following day.
When Columbus arose the next morning he found a note from the royal
confessor, and, without waiting for breakfast, for he had almost
overcome the habit of eating, he reversed his cuffs, and, taking a
fresh handkerchief from his valise and putting it in his pocket so that
the corner would coyly stick out a little, he was soon on his way to
the palace. He carried also a small globe wrapped up in a newspaper.
The interview was encouraging until the matter of money necessary for
the trip was touched upon. His Majesty was called in, and spoke sadly
of the public deficit. He said that there were one hundred dollars
still due on his salary, and the palace had not been painted for eight
years. He had taken orders on the store till he was tired of it. “Our
meat bill,” said he, taking off his crown and mashing a hornet on the
wall, “is sixty days overdue. We owe the hired girl for three weeks;
and how are we going to get funds enough to do any discovering, when
you remember that we have got to pay for an extra session this fall for
the purpose of making money plenty?”
But Isabella came and sat by him in her winning way, and with the
moistened corner of her handkerchief removed a spot of maple syrup
from the ermine trimming of his reigning gown. She patted his hand,
and, with her gentle voice, cheered him and told him that if he would
economize and go without cigars or wine, in less than two hundred years
he would have saved enough to fit Columbus out.
A few weeks later he had saved one hundred and fifty dollars in this
way. The queen then went at twilight and pawned a large breast-pin,
and, although her chest was very sensitive to cold, she went without it
all the following winter, in order that Columbus might discover America
before immigration set in here.
Too much cannot be said of the heroism of Queen Isabella and the
courage of her convictions. A man would have said, under such
circumstances, that there would be no sense in discovering a place that
was not popular. Why discover a place when it is so far out of the way?
Why discover a country with no improvements? Why discover a country
that is so far from the railroad? Why discover, at great expense, an
entirely new country?
But Isabella did not stop to listen to these croaks. In the language of
the Honorable Jeremiah M. Rusk, “She seen her duty and she done it.”
That was Isabella’s style.
Columbus now began to select steamer chairs and rugs. He had already
secured the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, and on the 3rd of August,
1492, he sailed from Palos.
Isabella brought him a large bunch of beautiful flowers as he was about
to sail, and Ferdinand gave him a nice yachting cap and a spicy French
novel to read on the road.
He was given a commission as viceroy or governor of all the lands he
might discover, with hunting and shooting privileges on same.
He stopped several weeks at the Canary Islands, where he and his one
hundred and twenty men rested and got fresh water. He then set out
sailing due west over an unknown sea to blaze the way for liberty.
Soon, however, his men began to murmur. They began also to pick on
Columbus and occupy his steamer chair when he wanted to use it himself.
They got to making chalk marks on the deck and compelling him to pay a
shilling before he could cross them. Some claimed that they were lost
and that they had been sailing around for over a week in a circle, one
man stating that he recognized a spot in the sea that they had passed
eight times already.
Finally they mutinied, and started to throw the great navigator
overboard, but he told them that if they would wait until the next
morning he would tell them a highly amusing story that he heard just
before he left Palos.
Thus his life was saved, for early in the morning the cry of “Land ho!”
was heard, and America was discovered.
A saloon was at once started, and the first step thus taken towards the
foundation of a republic. From that one little timid saloon, with its
family entrance, has sprung the magnificent and majestic machine which,
lubricated with spoils and driven by wind, gives to every American
today the right to live under a Government selected for him by men who
make that their business.
Columbus discovered America several times after the 12th of October,
1492, and finally, while prowling about looking for more islands,
discovered South America near the mouth of the Orinoco.
He was succeeded as governor by Francisco de Bobadilla, who sent him
back finally in chains. Thus we see that the great are not always
happy. There is no doubt that millions of people every year avoid many
discomforts by remaining in obscurity.