Reading Made Easy for Foreigners - Third Reader Part 16

"Grotto," "Soda," "Turban," and "Young Faithful." The tremendous force with which some of these hot springs even now act, and the peculiarities of the earth's formation in this section of our country, may give us some faint idea of the phenomena through which our little world has pa.s.sed until it became the dwelling-place of man.

LESSON LV

OUR COUNTRY TO-DAY

_PART I_

The United States is one of the youngest nations of the world.

Civilized men first went to England nearly twenty centuries ago, but since Columbus discovered America only four centuries have pa.s.sed.

Each of these four centuries has a character of its own and is quite unlike the others. The first was the time of exploring, the second of colonizing, the third of deciding who should rule in America, and the fourth of growth and development.

During the first century explorers from France, England, and Spain visited the New World, each claiming for his own country the part that he explored. Each hoped to find gold, but only the Spaniards, who went to Mexico and Peru, were successful. There was little thought of making settlements, and at the end of the first century the Spanish colonies of St. Augustine and Santa Fe were the only ones on the mainland of what is now the territory of the United States.

During the second century much colonizing was done. The French settled chiefly along the Saint Lawrence River; the English settled along the Atlantic coast of North America; the Spanish in Mexico and South America; the Dutch by the Hudson River; the Swedes by the Delaware.

The European nations discovered that it was worth while to have American colonies.

During the third century there was a long struggle to see which nation should rule in America. England and France were far ahead of the others, but which of them should it be? The French and Indian Wars gave the answer, "England." Then another question arose; should it be England or the Thirteen Colonies? The Revolutionary War answered, "The Colonies." At the end of the third century the United States had been established, and the land east of the Mississippi was under her rule.

In the last century there has been a great gain in people and in land.

To-day there are thirty times as many people in this country as there were then.

USEFUL INFORMATION

It may not be generally known that we have in the nickel five-cent piece of our American coinage a key to the tables of linear measures and weights. The diameter of a nickel is exactly two centimeters, and its weight is five grammes. Five nickels in a row will give the length of the decimeter, and two of them will weigh a decagram. As the kiloliter is a cubic meter, the key of the measure of length is also that of capacity.

Among the North American Indians polished sh.e.l.ls were used as currency.

This money was called _wampum_ and was recognized by the colonists.

Six white sh.e.l.ls were exchanged for three purple beads, and these in turn were equivalent to one English penny.

LESSON LVI

OUR COUNTRY TO-DAY

_PART II_

How has it come about that the number of people in the United States has increased with such rapidity? It is partly because more have been born than have died, and partly because so many have come from foreign countries. Fifty years ago large villages were common in which there were hardly any foreigners. Now one-sixth of the whole number of inhabitants of the United States are people who were born in some other country.

These people are glad to come because the workingmen of America receive higher wages than those of any other country, and because in America a man is free to rise to any position that he is fitted to hold. The country is ready to give the education that will prepare her citizens to rise to high positions. It is believed that an educated man is likely to make a better citizen than an ignorant man, and therefore the public schools of the United States are entirely free. Then, too, there are public libraries not only in the cities but in many of the little villages, so that men who are too old to go to school may educate themselves by reading. There is opportunity to use all kinds of knowledge in carrying on the manufactures of the country. Almost everything that used to be made by hand is now made by machinery, and the skill to invent a machine that will work a little better than the one in use is always well rewarded. Knowledge is also needed to develop the mineral wealth of the country. Within the limits of the United States are metals, coal, natural gas, and petroleum, and it is the skill and inventive genius of her citizens that have brought such great wealth to the country from these products.

This inventive genius has also given us rapid and cheap transportation.

In the old days a man had to make or raise most things for himself.

Manufactured articles that could be made very cheaply in one place became exceedingly dear when they had to be carried long distances by wagons over poor roads. Many delicate kinds of fruit would spoil on such long journeys. Now, fruit can be sent from California to Maine in fine condition. Cheap and rapid transportation is a great convenience.

Business men need not live in the cities near their offices,--the steam or electric cars will carry them eight or ten miles in the time that it would take to walk one mile. The postal service and the telegraph are sure and rapid. So also is the telephone. No wonder, then, that our commerce has reached the fabulous sum of one billion, five hundred million dollars in one year.

What the United States will become tomorrow, will lie in the hands of those who are the children of to-day.

LESSON LVII

PICTURES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY

On the southern bank of the James River in Virginia stand the ruins of an old church. Its crumbling tower and broken arch are almost hidden by the tangled vines which cover it. Within the walls of the church-yard may be found a few ancient tombstones overgrown with ivy and long gra.s.s.

This is all that remains of the first English settlement in America,--the colony of Jamestown, Virginia.

This first permanent English settlement in the New World was made in the year 1607, more than a hundred years after the discovery of America by Columbus. Some attempts to colonize had been made by the English before this time. The most important of these was undertaken by the famous but unfortunate Sir Walter Raleigh.

Raleigh obtained from Queen Elizabeth a grant of a vast territory, to be called Virginia, in honor of Elizabeth, the "virgin queen." It extended from the Hudson River to the boundary of what is now Georgia.

In attempting to colonize Virginia, Raleigh spent a large fortune. But his colonies never prospered. The settlers returned home disgusted with the hards.h.i.+ps of the wilderness. In 1589 Raleigh sold his rights to a stock company.

Nevertheless the enterprise which proved too difficult for Raleigh was carried out during Raleigh's lifetime, under the leaders.h.i.+p of the famous John Smith.

The idea of colonizing Virginia had been growing wonderfully. In 1606 a company of "n.o.blemen, gentlemen, and merchants," called the London Company, obtained from King James the First a charter for "planting and ruling" South Virginia.

The company had gathered together a band of men willing to try their fortunes in Virginia, and they were just about to embark when Smith reached London. To Smith's bold and roving disposition the idea of a New World was irresistible, and he joined the colonists.

In the last month of the year 1606, the party--in all, one hundred and five men--set sail in a little fleet of three vessels commanded by Captain Newport.

On the 23d of May, 1607, after a weary and distressing voyage, the Virginia colonists landed. They commenced the settlement of Jamestown.

When the king's sealed instructions were opened, and the names of the seven directors were made known, it was found that John Smith was to be one of the seven. Through the jealousy of Wingfield, who was chosen president, he was not allowed to take his place in the council.

But this did not prevent his being the ablest man among them, and the colonists were soon glad to turn to him for guidance. For now their condition was most deplorable. They were surrounded by hostile Indians; the provisions they had brought from England were soon consumed; and the diseases caused by the hot, moist climate in a short time reduced their number by one-half.

Besides, the colonists were a troublesome cla.s.s to deal with. Many of them were broken-down "gentlemen," who despised hard work. A very few were farmers or mechanics or persons fitted for the life they sought.

Day by day Smith made his influence more and more felt. He soon became the head of the colony. He put in force the good old rule that he who would not work should not eat.

Many strange adventures are told about John Smith during the two years he remained in Virginia. He left the colony in the autumn of 1609 on account of a severe wound which he received, and which obliged him to return to England to be cured.

The colonists, having lost the guidance of this resourceful man, were soon reduced to great want; still they held out and later on became a flouris.h.i.+ng colony.

LESSON LVIII

THOMAS A. EDISON