A special effort has been made to secure accuracy of text,--no light task, especially with the early ballads. Where the text varied, as was often the case, that has been followed which seemed to have the greater authority, except that obvious misprints have been corrected. In this, the compiler has had the coöperation of The Riverside Press, and has had frequent occasion to admire the care and knowledge of the corrector and his assistants. B. E. S. CHILLICOTHE, OHIO, July 23, 1908. TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I THE COLONIAL PERIOD AMERICA, Arthur Cleveland Coxe 2 CHAPTER I _The Discovery of America_ THE STORY OF VINLAND, Sidney Lanier 3 THE NORSEMEN, John Greenleaf Whittier 4 THE SKELETON IN ARMOR, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 6 PROPHECY, Luigi Pulci 7 THE INSPIRATION, James Montgomery 8 COLUMBUS, Lydia Huntley Sigourney 9 COLUMBUS TO FERDINAND, Philip Freneau 9 COLUMBUS AT THE CONVENT, John T. Trowbridge 10 THE FINAL STRUGGLE, Louis James Block 11 STEER, BOLD MARINER, ON, Friedrich von Schiller 12 THE TRIUMPH, Sidney Lanier 12 COLUMBUS, Joaquin Miller 14 THE THANKSGIVING FOR AMERICA, Hezekiah Butterworth 15 COLUMBUS IN CHAINS, Philip Freneau 17 COLUMBUS DYING, Edna Dean Proctor 18 COLUMBUS, Edward Everett Hale 18 COLUMBUS AND THE MAYFLOWER, Lord Houghton 18 CHAPTER II _In the Wake of Columbus_ THE FIRST VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, Unknown 19 THE LEGEND OF WAUKULLA, Hezekiah Butterworth 19 THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH, Hezekiah Butterworth 21 PONCE DE LEON, Edith M. Thomas 22 BALBOA, Nora Perry 23 WITH CORTEZ IN MEXICO, W. W. Campbell 24 THE LUST OF GOLD, James Montgomery 24 VERAZZANO, Hezekiah Butterworth 25 ORTIZ, Hezekiah Butterworth 26 THE FALL OF MAUBILA, Thomas Dunn English 27 QUIVÍRA, Arthur Guiterman 31 NOREMBEGA, John Greenleaf Whittier 32 SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 34 THE FIRST AMERICAN SAILORS, Wallace Rice 34 CHAPTER III _The Settlement of Virginia_