I wis born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an Ameri-
(an, and lintend to perform the duties incumbent upon me in that charat.
ter to the end of my career.– Daniel Webster

WITH ISTRATIONS

BOSTON:
ESTES & LAURIAT,

PREFACE.

A

MONG the great events that marked the world's revival

from the sleep of the Dark Ages, none was more remarkable than the revelation of the American continent. From the moment when the ship of Columbus was sighted off the coast of Spain, bearing the proofs of his discovery, the name America became the synonym of wealth, of adventure, of freedom. No tale was too romantic to be believed, if its scene were laid in the New World, and the popular enthusiasm of the Crusades was repeated in the stir and excitement that ensued when the early adventurers prepared to set out on their quests for the Terrestrial Paradise, the Fountain of Youth, and the treasures of gold which were supposed to be in the possession of the savages.

The story of the discovery and exploration of America presents to us, one after another, the deluded searchers after gold, the martyrs who paid for their knowledge of a new continent with their lives, and the devotees of religion, who earnestly endeavored to carry the Christian faith to a people whose blank heathenism they honestly commiserated. The records of the early settlers have furnished an unfailing source of romantic themes for the poet and the novelist, and now, as

we close the fourth century in America's history as a factor in modern civilization, all past predictions of wealth and greatness sink into insignificance in the presence of accomplished facts, and the future of our country looms up before the world in grander proportions and with more, commanding promise than ever

.