38. THE BUTTERCUP THAT WANTED TO BE A DAISY.

hŏn'est

weath ́er

Down in a field one day in June

The flowers all danced together,
Save one who tried to hide herself ·
And drooped that pleasant weather.

A robin who had flown too high
And felt a little lazy,

Was resting near this buttercup
Who wished she were a daisy.

"Dear robin," said this sad young flower,
"Perhaps you'd not mind trying
To find a nice white frill for me
Some time when you are flying."

"You silly thing," the robin said,
"I think you must be crazy.
I'd rather be my honest self
Than any made-up daisy.

"You're nicer in your own bright gown;
The little children love you;

Be the best buttercup you can,
And think no flower above you.

"Look bravely up into the sky,

And be content with knowing

That God wished for a buttercup

Just here where you are growing."

-S. O. Jewett.

Spell: honest, drooped, dance, weather, daisy, crazy.

Read, if accessible, "Golden Rod," in "Little Flower Folks."Mara L. Pratt.

How strange it seems to think that there was ever a time when no one knew of the existence of this great country, and yet it is only a little over four hundred years since the first white man came to America.

This man was Christopher Columbus, who sailed from Spain, not looking for a new land, but for a passage by water to a well known country east of Spain.

For years Columbus had begged kings and queens of Europe to give him ships to make this voyage, until at last Queen Isabella of Spain made him happy by giving him a fleet and men for the trial.

Although Columbus knew that the land to which he wished to go was east of Spain, he set sail toward the west, and went on and on farther west than any one had ever gone before.

His men were in great fear. They begged to return home. They said, "We shall sail to the

*The locating of situations and the tracing of routes upon the map of the world, and more particularly upon the map of the United States, with a filling in of details from pictures and from further reading, are earnestly recommended to secure the highest good of these outline lessons in history.

edge of the world and fall off.”

said:

66

But Columbus

"O, no; we could never do that, for the world is round, and if there were no land in the way to stop us, we should only come back to the place from which we started. Be patient a little longer and you will see that we shall come to land."

So, over and over, with patience and courage, Columbus hushed and cheered his men and kept on his westward way.

By and by, after weeks with only sky and water in sight, came signs of land. They saw grasses and sea-weed floating on the water, and a kind of bird that they knew could not fly far from land.

One night they saw a fire afar off, and at dawn the next day came the glad cry of "Land, land!"

When the sailors landed on the pleasant shore under the trees and vines, the Indians came running toward them in wonder, and gave them presents of shells, and fruits, and fish.

The men of the crew could not praise Columbus enough now. They asked his forgiveness for the trouble they had caused him upon the ship, and all sang hymns of praise to God for having brought them safe to shore again.

Columbus thought he had reached the land he had set out to find, but he had found something better than that. He had led the way to an unknown country, the country in which we live, and

which the world now calls "The land of the free and the home of the brave."

Definitions. - Fleet, a collection of ships sailing in company under one commander. Crew, the sailors who are employed to do the work on a ship.

Spell: passage, begged, voyage, although, toward, dawn, patient, patience, courage, sailor, Europe, Christopher, Columbus, praise, hymns, sought.

For what country did Columbus sail? Why did he sail west instead of east? Trace on the map the voyage of Columbus.

Read, if accessible, the story of Alonzo Pinzon.-Harper's Young People. Read stories of other American discoverers.

Copy and learn:

Great God, we thank Thee for this home-
This bounteous birthland of the free,
Where wanderers from afar may come
And breathe the air of liberty.

-Pabodie.

After it was found that Columbus had discovered a new land, nearly every country in Europe began to send out ships to explore and claim parts of it.

England claimed the land along the northern part of the Atlantic coast as far west as it went,

and English people soon began to settle here beside the Atlantic Ocean.

Captain Smith was a man who sailed with the first shipload of people that came from England to build the first English town in America. He and his friends began their settlement in the place which we now know as Virginia.

Smith had been a soldier and a sailor, and had once, when a young man, lived all alone in the woods for a long time. No better person could have been chosen as a leader in the rough, hard life of the little colony in Virginia.

Indeed, it would have been wiser if the people of the new settlement had brought with them more strong, hard-working men of common sense, like Smith, instead of white-handed "gentlemen," who did not know how to do anything to help themselves or others.

Smith taught the "gentlemen" to cut down trees, and build houses, and plant grain; and made friends of the Indians for them. He also explored the rivers and shores and made maps of the country, which were of great use to the later settlers.

Upon these trips Smith and his men suffered many hardships. Once they were wrecked in a storm and had to patch their sails with their shirts. Their bread was all spoiled by the salt water, and they were so thirsty that Smith said he would have given a barrel of gold, if he had owned so much, for a barrel of water.