DE SOTO DISCOVERING THE MISSISSIPPI 19 POCAHONTAS 32 JAMESTOWN RUIN 54 COALING A MOVING BOAT ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER 73 OLD SPANISH FORT, ST. AUGUSTINE 98 HOME OF MARY WASHINGTON, FREDERICKSBURG, VA 108 HOME OF PATRICK HENRY DURING HIS LAST TWO TERMS AS GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA 114 ST. JOHN'S CHURCH 122 OLD MAGAZINE AT WILLIAMSBURG 138 VIEW IN THE NORTHWESTERN MOUNTAINS 155 COTTON-GIN 186 JACKSON'S BIRTHPLACE 198 THE ALAMO 218 COTTON FIELD ON SOUTHERN PLANTATION 242 COLONIAL MANSION 262 GORDON HOUSE 316 TRIUMPH OF STONEWALL JACKSON 323 LEE'S HOUSE AT RICHMOND 348 _PONCE DE LEON AND THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH._ A golden Easter day was that of the far-away year 1513, when a small fleet of Spanish ships, sailing westward from the green Bahamas, first came in sight of a flower-lined shore, rising above the blue Atlantic waves, and seeming to smile a welcome as the mariners gazed with eyes of joy and hope on the inviting arcades of its verdant forest depths. Never had the eyes of white men beheld this land of beauty before. English ships had sailed along the coast to the north, finding much of it bleak and uninviting. The caravels of Columbus had threaded the glowing line of tropic isles, and later ships had borne settlers to these lands of promise. But the rich southlands of the continent had never before been seen, and well was this unknown realm of beauty named Florida by the Spanish chief, whether by this name he meant to call it the "land of flowers" or referred to the Spanish name for Easter, Pascua Florida. However that be, he was the first of the discoverers to set foot on the soil of the great coming republic of the United States, and it is of interest that this was done within the domain of the sunny South.