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118 Works of Edward Eggleston

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“The Dickens!” That was just what Charley Vanderhuyn said that Christmas Eve, and as a faithful historian I give the exact words. It sounded like swearing, though why we should regard it profane to make free with the devil’s name, or even his nickname, I never could see. Can you? Besides, there was some ambiguity […]

Periwinkle

Story type: Literature

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“Bring me that slate, Henriettar!” Miss Tucker added a superfluous r to some words, but then she made amends by dropping the final r where it was preceded by a broad vowel. If she said idear, she compounded for it by saying waw. She said lor for law, and dror for draw, but then she […]

Talking For Life

Story type: Literature

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For many years following the war I felt that I owed a grudge to the medical faculty. Having a romantic temperament and a taste for heroics, I had wished to fight and eat hard tack for my country. But whenever I presented the feeble frame in which I then dwelt, the medical man stood in […]

Priscilla

Story type: Literature

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The trained novel readers, those who have made a business of it (if any such should honor this poor little story with their attention), will glance down the opening paragraphs for a description of the heroine’s tresses. The opening sentences of Miss Braddon are enough to show how important a thing a head of hair […]

[*] I remember a story that Judge Balcom told a few years ago on the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day. I do not feel sure that it will interest everybody as it did me. Indeed, I am afraid that it will not, and yet I can not help thinking that it is just the sort of […]

The New Cashier

Story type: Literature

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My friend Macartney-Smith has working theories for everything. He illustrated one of these the other day by relating something that happened in the Giralda apartment house, where he lives in a suite overlooking Central Park. I do not remember whether he was expounding his notion that the apartment house has solved the question of co-operative […]

When my friend Capt. Terrible, U.S.N., dines at my plain table, I am a little abashed. I know that he has been accustomed always to a variety of wines and sauces, to a cigarette after each course, and to cookery that would kill an undeveloped American. So, when the captain turns the castor round three […]

A Basement Story

Story type: Literature

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I. It was one of those obscure days found only on the banks of Newfoundland. There was no sun, and yet no visible cloud; there was nothing, indeed, to test the vision by; there was no apparent fog, but sight was soon lost in a hazy indefiniteness. Near objects stood out with a distinctness almost […]

The Gunpowder Plot

Story type: Literature

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THE STORY OF A FOURTH OF JULY. Whenever one writes with photographic exactness of frontier life he is accused of inventing improbable things. “Old Davy Lindsley” lived in a queer cabin on the Pomme de Terre River. If you should ever ride over the new Northern Pacific when it shall be completed, or over that […]

The Redemptioner

Story type: Literature

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A STORY IN THREE SCENES. PROLOGUE. The stories we write are most of them love stories; but in the lives of men there are also many stories that are not love stories: some, truly, that are hate stories. The main incident of the one I am about to tell I found floating down from the […]

Sister Tabea

Story type: Literature

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Two weather-beaten stone buildings at Ephrata, in Pennsylvania, remain as monuments on this side of the water of the great pietistic movement in Germany in the early part of the eighteenth century. One of these was called Bethany, the other Sharon. A hundred and thirty or forty years ago there were other buildings with these, […]

Indian Pictures

Story type: Literature

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When Mar-quette and his men left the Il-li-nois, they went on down the river. The friendly Il-li-nois had told them that the Indians they would see were bad, and that they would kill any one who came into their country. The Frenchmen had heard before this that there were demons and monsters in the river. […]

Marquette In Iowa

Story type: Literature

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The first white men to go into the middle of our country were French-men. The French had settled in Can-a-da. They sent mis-sion-a-ries to preach to the Indians in the West. They also sent traders to buy furs from the Indians. The French-men heard the Indians talk about a great river in the West. But […]

Before the white people came, there were no houses in this country but the little huts of the In-di-ans. The In-di-an houses were made of bark, or mats, or skins, spread over poles. Some people came to one part of the country. Others started set-tle-ments in other places. When more people came, some of these […]

One Little Bag Of Rice

Story type: Literature

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The first white people that came to this country hardly knew how to get their living here. They did not know what would grow best in this country. Many of the white people learned to hunt. All the land was covered with trees. In the woods were many animals whose flesh was good to eat. […]

The King of England gave all the land in Penn-syl-va-ni-a to William Penn. The King made Penn a kind of king over Penn-syl-va-ni-a. Penn could make the laws of this new country. But he let the people make their own laws. Penn wanted to be friendly with the Indians. He paid them for all the […]

Frank-lin thought that ants know how to tell things to one another. He thought that they talk by some kind of signs. When an ant has found a dead fly too big for him to drag away, he will run off and get some other ant to help him. Frank-lin thought that ants have some […]

Few people ever knew so many things as Franklin. Men said, “How did he ever learn so many things?” For he had been a poor boy who had to work for a living. He could not go to school at all after he was ten years old. His father made soap and candles. Little Ben […]

You have read how Thomas Smith first raised rice in Car-o-li-na. After his death there lived in South Car-o-li-na a wise young woman. She showed the people how to raise another plant. Her name was Eliza Lucas. The father of Miss Lucas did not live in Car-o-li-na. He was gov-ern-or of one of the islands […]

John Stark was a famous gen-er-al in the Rev-o-lu-tion. But this story is not about the Rev-o-lu-tion. It is about Stark before he became a soldier. When he was a young man, Stark went into the woods. His brother and two other young men were with him. They lived in a camp. It was far […]

When Franklin was an old man, he wrote a cu-ri-ous letter. In that letter he told a story. It was about some-thing that happened to him when he was a boy. Here is the story put into verses, so that you will re-member it better. Some day you can read the story as Franklin told […]

Franklin And The Kite

Story type: Literature

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When Franklin wanted to know whether the ants could talk or not, he asked the ants, and they told him. When he wanted to know some-thing else, he asked the sunshine about it, as you have read in another story. That is the way that Franklin came to know so many things. He knew how […]

Putnam And The Wolf

Story type: Literature

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Putnam was a brave soldier. He fought many battles against the Indians. After that he became a general in the Revolution. But this is a story of his battle with a wolf. It took place when he was a young man, before he was a soldier. Putnam lived in Con-nect-i-cut. In the woods there were […]

A Great Good Man

Story type: Literature

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Some men are great soldiers. Some are great law-makers. Some men write great books. Some men make great in-ven-tions. Some men are great speakers. Now you are going to read about a man that was great in none of these things. He was not a soldier. He was not a great speaker. He was never […]

After the battle of Trenton, Washington went back across the Delaware River. He had not men enough to fight the whole British army. But the Americans were glad when they heard that he had beaten the Hessians. They sent him more soldiers. Then he went back across the river to Trenton again. There was a […]

Washington was fighting to set this country free. But the army that the King of England sent to fight him was stronger than Washington’s army. Washington was beaten and driven out of Brook-lyn. Then he had to leave New York. After that, he marched away into New Jersey to save his army from being taken. […]

In old times there lived in Penn-syl-va-ni-a a little fellow whose name was Ben-ja-min West. He lived in a long stone house. He had never seen a picture. The country was new, and there were not many pictures in it. Benny’s father was a Friend or Quaker. The Friends of that day did not think […]

Clark And His Men

Story type: Literature

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At the time of the Revolution there were but few people living on the north side of the O-hi-o River. But there were many Indians there. These Indians killed a great many white people in Ken-tuck-y. The Indians were sent by British officers to do this killing. There was a British fort at Vincennes in […]

Washington had been fighting for seven years to drive the British soldiers out of this country. But there were still two strong British armies in America. One of these armies was in New York. It had been there for years. The other army was far away at Yorktown in Virginia. The British general at Yorktown […]

Daniel Boone was the first settler of Ken-tuck-y. He knew all about living in the woods. He knew how to hunt the wild animals. He knew how to fight Indians, and how to get away from them. Nearly all the men that came with him to Kentucky the first time were killed. One was eaten […]

Marion’s Tower

Story type: Literature

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General Mar-i-on was one of the best fighters in the Revolution. He was a homely little man. He was also a very good man. Another general said, “Mar-i-on is good all over.” The American army had been beaten in South Car-o-li-na. Mar-i-on was sent there to keep the British from taking the whole country. Marion […]

Daniel Boone and his brother picked out a good place in Ken-tuck-y to settle. Then they went home to North Car-o-li-na. They took with them such things as were cu-ri-ous and val-u-a-ble. These were the skins of animals they had killed, and no doubt some of the heads and tails. Boone was restless. He had […]

Stories About Jefferson

Story type: Literature

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Thomas Jef-fer-son was one of the great men of the Revolution. He was not a soldier. He was not a great speaker. But he was a great thinker. And he was a great writer. He wrote a paper that was the very beginning of the United States. It was a paper that said that we […]

Decatur And The Pirates

Story type: Literature

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Nearly a hundred years have passed since the ship “Phil-a-del-phi-a” was burned. But the brave sailors who did it will never be for-got-ten. The people of Trip-o-li in Af-ri-ca were pirates. They took the ships of other nations at sea. They made slaves of their prisoners. The friends of these slaves sometimes sent money to […]

Quicksilver Bob

Story type: Literature

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Robert Fulton was the man who set steam-boats to running on the rivers. Other men had made such boats before. But Fulton made the first good one. When he was a boy, he lived in the town of Lan-cas-ter in Penn-syl-van-ia. Many guns were made in Lancaster. The men who made these guns put little […]

The Indians among whom Captain Clark and Captain Lewis traveled had many strange ways of doing things. They had nothing like our matches for making fire. One tribe of Indians had this way of lighting a fire. An Indian would lay down a dry stick. He would rub this stick with the end of another […]

A Long Journey

Story type: Literature

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A long time ago, when Thomas Jefferson was Pres-i-dent, most of the people in this country lived in the East. Nobody knew anything about the Far West. The only people that lived there were Indians. Many of these Indians had never seen a white man. The Pres-i-dent sent men to travel into this wild part […]

The Revolution was about over. Americans were very happy. Their country was to be free. At this time a little boy was born in New York. His family was named Ir-ving. What should this little boy be named? His mother said, “Washington’s work is done. Let us name the baby Washington.” So he was called […]

The First Steamboat

Story type: Literature

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The first good steam-boat was built in New York. She was built by Robert Fulton. Her name was “Clermont.” When the people saw her, they laughed. They said that such a boat would never go. For thousands of years boat-men had made their boats go by using sails and oars. People had never seen any […]

Everybody in the United States has heard the song about the star-span-gled banner. Nearly everybody has sung it. It was written by Francis Scott Key. Key was a young lawyer. In the War of 1812 he fought with the American army. The British landed soldiers in Mary-land. At Bla-dens-burg they fought and beat the Americans. […]

Fred was talking to his sister one day. He said,– “Alice, what makes people say, ‘Don’t give up the ship’?” Alice said, “I don’t know. That’s what the teacher said to me yes-ter-day when I thought that I could not get my lesson.” “Yes,” said Fred, “and that’s what father said to me. I told […]

John James Au-du-bon knew more about the birds of this country than any man had ever known before. He was born in the State of Lou-is-i-a-na. His father took him to France when he was a boy. He went to school in France. The little John James was fond of stud-y-ing about wild animals. But […]

Wil-liam Cul-len Bry-ant was the first great poet in this country. He was a small man. When he was a baby, his head was too big for his body. His father used to send the baby to be dipped in a cold spring every day. The father thought that putting his head into cold water […]

Hunting A Panther

Story type: Literature

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Audubon was traveling in the woods in Mis-sis-sip-pi. He found the little cabin of a settler. He staid there for the night. The settler told him that there was a panther in the swamp near his house. A panther is a very large and fierce animal. It is large enough to kill a man. This […]

When Au-du-bon was making his great book about birds, he had to live much in the woods. Sometimes he lived among the Indians. He once saw an Indian go into a hollow tree. There was a bear in the tree. The Indian had a knife in his hand. He fought with the bear in the […]

When Daniel Webster was a young lawyer, he was going home one night. There was snow on the ground. It was very cold. It was late, and there was nobody to be seen. But after a while he saw a poor woman. She was ahead of him. He wondered what had brought her out on […]

Dan-iel Web-ster was a great states-man. As a little boy he was called “Little Black Dan.” When he grew larger, he was thin and sickly-looking. But he had large, dark eyes. People called him “All Eyes.” He was very fond of his brother E-ze-ki-el. E-ze-ki-el was a little older than Dan-iel. Both the boys had […]

A Dinner On The Ice

Story type: Literature

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After two winters of cold and darkness, Doctor Kane made up his mind to leave the ship fast in the ice. He wanted to get to a place in Green-land where there were people living. Then he might find some way of getting home again. The men started out, drawing the boats on sleds. Whenever […]

Kane was a doctor in one of the war ships of the United States. He had sailed about the world a great deal. When he heard that ships were to be sent into the icy seas of the north, he asked to be sent along. He went the first time as a doctor. Then he […]

The India-Rubber Man

Story type: Literature

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Many years ago a strange-looking man was sometimes seen in the streets of New York. His cap was made of In-di-a rubber. So was his coat. He wore a rubber waist-coat. Even his cravat was of In-di-a rubber. He wore rubber shoes in dry weather. People called this man “The In-di-a-rubber man.” His name was […]

After they got the seal, Doctor Kane and his men traveled on. Sometimes they were on the ice. Sometimes they were in the boats. The men were so weak, that they could hardly row the boats. They were so hungry, that they could not sleep well at night. One day they were rowing, when they […]

Great men of one kind are known only in new countries like ours. These men dis-cov-er new regions. They know how to manage the Indians. They show other people how to live in a wild country. One of the most famous of such men was Kit Car-son. He knew all about the wild animals. He […]

Longfellow As A Boy

Story type: Literature

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Long-fel-low was a noble boy. He always wanted to do right. He could not bear to see one person do any wrong to another. He was very tender-hearted. One day he took a gun and went shooting. He killed a robin. Then he felt sorry for the robin He came home with tears in his […]

A Wonderful Woman

Story type: Literature

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Little Dor-o-thy Dix was poor. Her father did not know how to make a living. Her mother did not know how to bring up her children. The father moved from place to place. Sometimes he printed little tracts to do good. But he let his own children grow up poor and wretched. Dor-o-thy wanted to […]

Horace Greeley had always wanted to be a printer. He liked books and papers. He thought it would be a fine thing to learn to make them. One day he heard that the news-paper at East Poult-ney wanted a boy to learn the printer’s trade. He walked many long miles to see about it. He […]

Horace Greeley As A Boy

Story type: Literature

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Hor-ace Gree-ley was the son of a poor farmer. He was always fond of books. He learned to read almost as soon as he could talk. He could read easy books when he was three years old. When he was four, he could read any book that he could get. He went to an old-fashioned […]

Lou-i-sa Al-cott was a wild little girl. When she was very little, she would run away from home. She liked to play with beggar children. One day she wandered so far away from her home, she could not find the way back again. It was growing dark. The little girl’s feet were tired. She sat […]

It was Ar-bor Day in the Mos-sy Hill School, Johnny Little-john had to speak a piece that had some-thing to do with trees. He thought it would be a good plan to say some-thing about the little cherry tree that Washington spoiled with his hatch-et, when he was a little boy. This is what he […]

You think that folks in fine clothes are the only folks that ever see fairies, and that poor folks can’t afford them. But in the days of the real old-fashioned “Green Jacket and White Owl’s Feather” fairies, it was the poor boy carrying fagots to the cabin of his widowed mother who saw wonders of […]

The Chairs In Council

Story type: Literature

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It was a quiet autumn afternoon. I was stretched on a lounge, with a pile of newspapers for a pillow. I do not know that I succeeded in getting any information into my head by putting newspapers under it. But on this particular afternoon I was attacked by a disease of the eyes, or rather […]

I. THE WALKING-STICK WALKS. Some men carry canes. Some men make the canes carry them. I never could tell just what Mr. Blake carried his cane for. I am sure it did not often feel his weight. For he was neither old, nor rich, nor lazy. He was a tall, straight man, who walked as […]

Crooked Jack

Story type: Literature

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Jack Grip was a queer fellow. Queer because he never got enough money, and yet never seemed to know the right use of money. His family had the bare comforts of life, but his wife was a drudge, and his children had neither books nor pictures, nor any of those other things so necessary to […]

About the time the chairs had a talk together, I believe I told you. Well, ever since that time I have been afflicted, now and then, with that same disease of the eyes, inclining them to close. In fact, I am rather of the opinion that the affliction must be one of the ear, too, […]

Widow Wiggins was a wee, wiry, weird woman, with a wonderful cat–a very wonderful cat, indeed! The neighbors all said it was bewitched. Perhaps it was; I don’t know; but a very wonderful cat it was. It had a strange way of knowing, when people were talking, whether what they said was right or wrong. […]

Little Tilda Tulip had two lips as pretty as any little girl might want. But Tilda Tulip tilted her two lips into a pout, on a moment’s notice. If any thing went wrong–and things had a way of going wrong with her–if any thing went at all wrong, she would go wrong, too, as if […]

The Joblilies

Story type: Literature

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We have oak trees and green grass at our house, what many children in crowded cities do not get. Three little girls love to play in the green grass, with some pet chickens, and a white, pink-eyed rabbit for companions. Now, you must know that I am quite as fond of the oaks and the […]

Simon And The Garuly

Story type: Literature

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Chicken Little fixed herself up in her new rocking-chair, set her mouth in a very prim fashion, leaned her head on one side, and began to rock with all her might, jerking her feet from the floor every time. “I yish,” she began, “I yish somebody yould tell some stories yat yould be little for […]

Chicken Little was a picture, sitting on the floor by the window, with a stereoscope–“the thing ‘at you look fru,” she calls it–in her hand, and the pictures scattered about her. Now some of the children think that I have been “making up” Chicken Little, and that there is no such a being. A few […]

The Pickaninny

Story type: Literature

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It was rather a warm day in autumn. Aunt Cheerie had given the sewing-machine and the piano a holiday, and was sitting in the woodshed, paring apples for preserves. Wherever Aunt Cheerie was, the children were sure to be; and so there was Sunbeam, knife in hand, and Fairy, cutting a paring something less than […]

The Bound Boy

Story type: Literature

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On the third Friday evening the boys came together in some uncertainty in regard to who was to be the story-teller. But Will Sampson, the stammering president of the club, had taken care to notify John Harlan, the widow’s son, that he was to tell the story. If there was any general favorite it was […]

The next Friday evening found all the members of the Cellar-door Club in their places. Will Sampson, the stammering “chairman,” was at the top, full of life and fun as ever. Jimmie Jackson, running over with mischief, was by him, then came Tom Miller and John Harlan, while Hans Schlegel and Harry Wilson sat at […]

What queer places boys have of assembling. Sometimes in one place, sometimes in another. Hay-mows, river-banks, threshing-floors, these were the old places of resort for country boys. And nothing was so sweet to me, when I was a boy, as the newly cut clover-hay where I sat with two or three companions, watching the barn […]

All things have an end. Among other things that had an end was the fine summer weather. Many other things came to an end with it. Grass, flowers, and leaves came to an end. Chirping of katydids came to an end, and chattering of swallows and songs of robins. And with the summer ended the […]

The Young Soap-Boiler

Story type: Literature

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It was a mild evening in the early fall, when the boys got together for the next story, which of course fell to the lot of Tom Miller, the minister’s son, whom the boys familiarly called “The Dominie.” No boy in the cellar-door club was more obliging to his friends, more forgiving to those who […]

The Profligate Prince

Story type: Literature

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Friday evening next after the one on which John Harlan told his story, it rained; so the club did not meet. But they came together on the following Friday evening, and it was decided that Hans Schlegel should tell the story. “Come, Schlegel,” said Harlan, “you must know a good many, for you are always […]

A lady brought a mocking-bird from New Orleans to her home in the North. At first all the birds in the neighborhood looked upon it with contempt. The chill northern air made the poor bird homesick, and for a few days he declined to sing for anybody. “Well, I do declare,” screamed out Miss Guinea-fowl, […]

Flat Tail, The Beaver

Story type: Literature

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A colony of beavers selected a beautiful spot on a clear stream, called Silver Creek, to build themselves a habitation. Without waiting for any orders, and without any wrangling about whose place was the best, they gnawed down some young trees and laid the foundation for a dam. With that skill for which they are […]

The Making Of A Canoe

Story type: Literature

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Henry had a young Indian friend whose name was Keketaw. One day Keketaw said to him, “Let us go into the woods and make a canoe.” “If we had an ax to cut down the trees,” said the white boy, “or an adz, such as they have at Jamestown, or if we could get a […]

Among the people that came to Virginia in 1609, two years after the colony was planted, was a boy named Henry Spelman. He was the son of a well-known man. He had been a bad and troublesome boy in England, and his family sent him to Virginia, thinking that he might be better in the […]

Having eaten his breakfast of beech-nuts, a bobolink thought he would show himself neighborly; so he hopped over to an old gloomy oak tree, where there sat a hooting owl, and after bowing his head gracefully, and waving his tail in the most friendly manner, he began chirruping cheerily, somewhat in this fashion: “Good-morning, Mr. […]

When the white people first came to America, they had never seen Indian corn, which did not grow in Europe. The Indians raised it in little patches about their villages. Before planting their corn, they had to clear away the trees that covered the whole country. Their axes were made of stone, and were not […]

Kidnapped Boys

Story type: Literature

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In the days when our country belonged to England, white people were brought here to be sold. Some of these were poor people who could not get a good living in England. They came over to this country without any money. The captain of the ship in which they came sold them in this country […]

When the first settlers came to this country, tea and coffee were unknown to them. The favorite drink of that time was a kind of weak beer, which was usually made at home. The first settlers in America could not buy drinks such as they had had in England, and in a new country they […]

When white people first came to this country, they had much trouble with the Indians. After a while, when they had learned to defend themselves and got used to danger, they did not mind it much. Even the women became as brave as soldiers. In very early times there were some families of people from […]

What is now the State of New York was first settled by people from Holland who spoke the Dutch language. New York afterward became an English colony, but the Dutch settlers and their descendants still spoke the language of Holland, at the time of the American Revolution. In Flatbush, which is now a part of […]

There was a schoolmaster in Philadelphia before the Revolution who did not like to beat his pupils as other masters of that time did. When a boy behaved badly, he would take his switch and stick it into the back of the boy’s coat collar so that the switch should rise above his head in […]

Our country now reaches from one ocean to the other. But in the days before the Revolution there were only English colonies stretching up and down the Atlantic coast. Merchandise was carried from one colony to another, and from one country to another, in slow-going sailing vessels, for there were neither railroads nor steamships. In […]

A Whaling Song

Story type: Poetry

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PART OF A FAVORITE SONG SUNG BY WHALEMEN IN OLD TIMES. When spring returns with western gales, And gentle breezes sweep The ruffling seas, we spread our sails To plow the watery deep. Cape Cod, our dearest native land, We leave astern, and lose Its sinking cliffs and less’ning sands, While Zephyr gently blows. Now […]

Stories Of Whaling

Story type: Literature

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In the old days, before petroleum or kerosene had been found in this country, people had many ways of lighting their houses. A cheap light was made by putting a little grease or oil in a saucer in which was a little wick or rag lying over the edge of the saucer or drawn up […]

A School Of Long Ago

Story type: Literature

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A hundred and fifty years ago there was a famous teacher among the German settlers in Pennsylvania who was known as “The Good Schoolmaster.” His name was Christopher Dock. He had two little country schools. For three days he would teach at a little place called Skippack, and then for the next three days he […]

A Strange Escape

Story type: Literature

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In 1658 there was a little French colony at Onondaga in New York. Some of the men in this colony were traders, and some were missionaries. They were living among the Onondaga Indians. The Indians had been very friendly, but the French found out that a plot had been formed to put them all to […]

The Great Turtle

Story type: Literature

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Among the Indians there are priests or medicine men who pretend to cure diseases. They also pretend to talk to their gods and other spirits. They have many ways of deceiving the Indians. Mr. Alexander Henry, while a prisoner among the Indians, was present when the tribe he was with asked advice of the Great […]

Grandmother Bear

Story type: Literature

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Mr. Alexander Henry was made prisoner by the Indians on Lake Superior when Fort Mackinaw was taken by Indians. This was in the time of the Indian war which is called Pontiac’s War, because the great chief Pontiac started it. Nearly all the white men in Fort Mackinaw were killed, but Mr. Henry was saved. […]

A Story Of Niagara

Story type: Literature

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Many years ago, the falls of Niagara, then in the midst of a great wilderness, and a long way from the homes of the white people, seemed even more wonderful than they do now. In those days, travelers from other countries made long journeys through the woods to see this wonderful waterfall. Indians lived about […]

Witchcraft In Louisiana

Story type: Literature

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The Indian medicine men or priests have many ways of deceiving their people. A French officer found that the people of a certain tribe believed very much in an idol which a medicine man had set up. This idol was called by a long name, Vistee-poolee-keek-apook. The Indians, when they stood near, would sometimes hear […]

The Rattlesnake God

Story type: Literature

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Mr. Henry had traveled several days with the Indians going to Fort Niagara to make peace. One day the wind was blowing so hard that they could not go on. So they camped on a point in Lake Huron. While the Indians were building a hut, Mr. Henry was lighting a fire. He went off […]

Jasper

Story type: Literature

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“Marion’s Men” were famous in the Revolution for their bold adventures. The best known of all these bold men was Sergeant Jasper. At the battle of Fort Moultrie, when the flag of the fort was shot away, Jasper jumped down outside of the works, and picked it up. The balls were raining round him all […]

Among The Alligators

Story type: Literature

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Before the Revolution there lived in Pennsylvania a man named William Bartram. He was a botanist; that is to say, a man who knew a great deal about different kinds of plants. Wishing to see the plants and animals of the South, he traveled through South Carolina and Georgia, and so on into Florida. In […]

A Brave Girl

Story type: Literature

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In the time of the Revolution, a regiment of Hessian soldiers hired to fight on the British side were camped in South Carolina. They took possession of the lower part of the house of a farmer named Gibbes. The family were forced to retire to the upper story. Two American boats came up the Stono […]

James Smith lived in Pennsylvania. He was taken prisoner by the Indians just before the famous defeat of General Braddock. He was then about eighteen years old. The Indians took him to the French fort where Pittsburg now is. They made him run the gauntlet; that is, they made him run between two lines of […]

The next year after this hard winter in the woods, the Indians that Scouwa lived with went down the River St. Lawrence to Canada. At this time Canada belonged to the French. The French were at war with the English, to whom Pennsylvania belonged. The Indians were on the side of the French. Scouwa heard […]

When James Smith, or Scouwa, had been some years among the Indians, he was in a winter camp with two of his adopted brothers. The younger of these, with his family, went away to another place. Scouwa was left with the older brother and his little son. The older brother was a very wise Indian. […]

Elizabeth Zane

Story type: Literature

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On the banks of the Ohio River, near the place where the city of Wheeling now stands, there was once a fort called Fort Henry. This fort was of the kind called a blockhouse, which is a house built of logs made to fit close together. The upper part of the house jutted out beyond […]

When people first began to move across the Alleghany Mountains, there were no roads for wagons; but there were narrow paths called trails. Families traveled to the west, carrying their goods on horseback along these trails. Here is a story that will show you how they traveled. Among those who went from Virginia to Kentucky, […]

A Foot Race For Life

Story type: Literature

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In 1803 that part of our country which lies west of the Mississippi was almost unknown to the white men. In that year the President sent Captain Lewis and Captain Clark to see what the country was like. They went up the Missouri River and across the Rocky Mountains. Then they went down the Columbia […]

THE MUSKET TELEGRAPH. There are many people living who can remember when there were no telegraphs such as we have now. The telephone is still younger. Railroads are not much older than telegraphs. Horses and stagecoaches were slow. How did people send messages quickly when there were no telegraph wires? When colonies in America were […]

The River Pirates

Story type: Literature

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A hundred years ago the country near the great rivers in the interior of the United States was a wilderness. It contained only a few people, and these lived in settlements which were widely separated from one another. Hardly any of the great trees had been cut down. There were no roads, except Indian trails […]

A Blackfoot Story

Story type: Literature

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Here is a story the Indians tell. It is one of the tales with which they amuse themselves in long evenings. It may be true. At least, the Indians tell it for true. An Indian chief of the tribe called Blackfoot, or Blackfeet, went over the Rocky Mountains with a war party. He killed some […]

The Natural Bridge has long been thought one of the great curiosities of our country. It is in Virginia, and the county in which it is situated is called Rockbridge County. The traveler is riding in a stage on a wild road in the mountains. The road grows narrow. Soon it is a mere lane, […]

Loretto And His Wife

Story type: Literature

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In old times white men had not made settlements in the country near the Rocky Mountains. Tribes of Indians fought one another over that whole region. A few bold white men, fond of wild life, lived there, in order to hunt and trap the animals that bear furs. But they themselves were always in danger […]

George Northrup was but a boy of fifteen when his father died. Having nothing to keep him at home, he went to the Indian country, which at that time was in Minnesota. He had a boyish notion that he could go through to the Pacific Ocean by making his way from one tribe to another. […]

California once belonged to Mexico. Then there was a war between this country and Mexico. This is what we call the Mexican War. During that war the United States took California away from Mexico. It is now one of the richest and most beautiful States in the Union. In the old days, when California belonged […]

It is many years now since Captain Fremont made his great journey over plains and mountains to California. At that time California belonged to Mexico. The wild country east of it belonged to the United States. There were hardly any roads and no railroads in the country west of the Missouri River. Fremont was sent […]

Peter Petersen was a very little boy living in Minnesota. He lived on the very edge of the Indian country when the Indian War of 1862 broke out. Settlers were killed in their cabins before they knew that a war had begun. As the news spread, the people left their houses, and hurried into the […]

The Colorado River is the strangest river in the United States. For hundreds of miles it runs through channels in solid rocks. These channels are often thousands of feet deep. In some places the rocks rise straight up like walls. These walls are quite bare. There are no trees and no grass on them. There […]

Adventures In Alaska

Story type: Literature

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The Copper River of Alaska flows from north to south into the ocean. The Yukon River, which is farther north, runs from the east toward the west. It was known that the waters of these two rivers must be near together at the place from which they started in the mountains, but it was not […]

The Lazy, Lucky Indian

Story type: Literature

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Out in the country we now call North Dakota there once lived an Indian known as “Lazy-man.” When he was young, he had been lazy about hunting. When the other Indians had skins to sell, the lazy Indian had nothing. He grew poor. His blanket was ragged. His leggings were worn out. His wigwam was […]

Three great inventors in this country were portrait painters. Fulton, the builder of steamboats, was one of them; Morse, who planned our first electric telegraph, was another; and Alvan Clark, who found out a way of making the largest and finest telescopes in the world, was another. Alvan Clark was the son of a farmer. […]