E-text prepared by Emmy, Tor Martin Kristiansen, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 32402-h.htm or 32402-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/32402/pg32402-images.html) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32402/32402-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See http://www.archive.org/details/storyofourcountr00hurl THE STORY OF OUR COUNTRY Every Child Can Read Edited by REV. JESSE LYMAN HURLBUT, D.D. Illustrated [Illustration: STEAM SHOVEL AT WORK IN CULEBRA CUT, PANAMA CANAL.] [Illustration] The John C. Winston Co. Philadelphia Copyright, 1910, By The John C. Winston Co. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE A Talk with the Young Reader 9 CHAPTER I COLUMBUS, THE GREAT SAILOR Bold Sailors of the Northern Countries--The Northmen--Columbus the Little Boy--Columbus and the Egg--He Crosses the Atlantic, Braves the Sea and Discovers New Land 15 CHAPTER II THREE GREAT DISCOVERERS John and Sebastian Cabot--Balboa Discovers the Pacific--The Fountain of Youth and Ponce de Leon--The Naming of America 27 CHAPTER III THREE EARLY HEROES The Story of John Smith and First English Settlement--Miles Standish and the Pilgrims--Roger Williams, the Hero Preacher 36 CHAPTER IV HOW THE DUTCH AND QUAKERS CAME TO AMERICA Captain Hudson and His Ship, the _Half Moon_--The Trip up the Hudson--Adventures with the Indians--William Penn and the Quakers--How They Settled on the Delaware River 48 CHAPTER V THE CAVALIER COLONIES OF THE SOUTH The Cavaliers and Lords of England--They Settle in Virginia--The Catholics Come to Maryland--Strange Form of Government in Carolina--Paupers Settle Georgia--An Old Spanish Town in Florida 59 CHAPTER VI THE RED MEN, HOW THEY LIVED AND WERE TREATED They Were the First Americans--Their Strange Customs and Manners--How They Followed a Trail--How they Fought--Indian Massacres 70 CHAPTER VII ROYAL GOVERNORS AND LOYAL CAPTAINS How the Governor was Treated in Connecticut--The Charter Oak--An Exciting Time in Virginia 81 CHAPTER VIII OLD TIMES IN THE COLONIES When a Tallow Candle Gave the Light--Old-Time Houses--The Story of the Famous Hunter, and How he Escaped from the Indians 91 CHAPTER IX A HERO OF THE COLONIES