A Story of a Forgotten Fight with the Indians One of the most distinguished of the minor soldiers of the Civil War, minor in the sense of being surpassed only by men of the stature of Grant, Sherman, Sheridan and Thomas, was George Crook. His exploits in the valley of the Shenandoah were brilliant, and […]

I. The Chief of all the Soldiers of Fortune At the close of the fifteenth century, to be exact, in the year 1500, in the town of Painala, in the Province of Coatzacualco, one of the feudatory divisions of the great Aztec empire of Mexico, there was born a young girl who was destined to […]

Among marine disasters there is none more extraordinary in character or more appalling in consequence, than the loss of the whaleship Essex. The Essex was a well-found whaler of two hundred and thirty-eight tons. James Pollard was her captain, with Owen Chase and Matthew Joy as mates. Six of her complement of twenty were Negroes. […]

We are accustomed to regard our country as peculiarly law-abiding and peaceful. This, in spite of the fact that three presidents have been murdered within the last forty-five years, a record of assassination of chief magistrates surpassed in no other land, not even in Russia. We need not be surprised to learn that in no […]

A Forgotten Tragedy in Early American History On the morning of the 8th of September, 1810, two ships were running side by side before a fresh southwesterly breeze off Sandy Hook, New York. One was the great United States ship Constitution, Captain Isaac Hull; the other was the little full-rigged ship Tonquin, of two hundred […]

Being Further Light on His Strange Career[1] One hundred and eighteen years ago a little man who had attracted the attention of two continents, and who, in his comparatively brief career of forty-five years, had won eternal fame for himself among the heroes of the world, died in Paris, alone in his room. He had […]

I. The Spanish Main One of the commonly misunderstood phrases in the language is “the Spanish Main.” To the ordinary individual it suggests the Caribbean Sea. Although Shakespeare in “Othello,” makes one of the gentlemen of Cyprus say that he “cannot ‘twixt heaven and main descry a sail,” and, therefore, with other poets, gives warrant […]

I. The Coming of the Devastator This is the romantic history of Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the most knightly and gentle of the Spanish discoverers, and one who would fain have been true to the humble Indian girl who had won his heart, even though his life and liberty were at stake. It is almost […]

A Study in Retribution “They that take the sword shall perish by the sword.” I. The Chief Scion of a Famous Family The reader will look in vain on the map of modern Spain for the ancient province of Estremadura, yet it is a spot which, in that it was the birthplace of the conquerors […]

Being a New Variation of an Ancient Theme A STORY FOR GROWN-UPS I “A certain man had two sons“–so begins the best and most famous story in the world’s literature. Use of the absolute superlative is always dangerous, but none will gainsay that statement, I am sure. This story, which follows that familiar tale afar […]

“Good Will Toward Men”–St. Luke 11-14. There was a time when the spirit of Christmas was of the present. There is a period when most of it is of the past. There shall come a day perhaps when all of it will be of the future. The child time, the present; the middle years, the […]

Being a Word of Much Needed Advice Christmas is the birthday of our Lord, upon which we celebrate God’s ineffable gift of Himself to His children. No human soul has ever been able to realize the full significance of that gift, no heart has ever been glad enough to contain the joy of it, and […]

In Which it is Shown how Different the Same Things may Be A Story for Girls In Philadelphia the rich and the poor live cheek by jowl–or rather, back to back. Between the streets of the rich and parallel to them, run the alleys of the poor. The rich man’s garage jostles elbows with the […]

The Stars look down On David’s town, While angels sing in Winter night; The Shepherds pray, And far away The Wise Men follow guiding light. Little Christ Child By Mary Mild In Manger lies without the Inn; Of Man the Son, Yet God in One, To save the lost in World of Sin. Still stars […]

Words by Music by CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY. ALSOP LEFFINGWELL. Moderato. The Stars look down On David’s town, While angels sing in Winter night; The shepherds pray, And far away, The Wise Men follow Guiding light. Little Christ Child, By Mary Mild, In manger lies without the inn; Of Man the Son, Yet God in One, […]

Wherein is Set Forth the Courage and Resourcefulness of Youth A Story for Boys Every boy likes snow on Christmas Day, but there is such a thing as too much of it. Henry Ives, alone in the long railroad coach, stared out of the clouded windows at the whirling mass of snow with feelings of […]

A Christmas Meditation Christmas morning, the day we celebrate as the anniversary of the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, in the obscure, little hill town of Bethlehem in the far-off Judaean land, over nineteen hundred years ago! It is said: “When beggars die, there are no comets seen: The heavens themselves blaze […]

Being Some Personal Adventures in the Far West[2] The love of Christmas is as strong in the West as it is in any section of the country–perhaps, indeed, stronger, for people who have few pleasures cherish holidays more highly than those for whom many cheap amusements are provided. But when the manifestation of the Christmas […]