^ .^^/ '^'''\ °^Ws /\. •.^^, rr, •• ^0' t^^ '.;^«- .«*' ^q,. '^-jr; •• ^0 J'^ ..i!,!.'* ^..i^'. % %.^^ 0^ ♦^!fl'* "^^ V «»1*^*' P, ^'^. ^-h^ V ♦ / ^^'^ tnsttuctot Liietature Series— No» 197 I STORY OF * LAFAYETTE 1 INSTRUCTOR LITERATURE SERIE Five- Cent Classics and Supplementary Readers A N especially fine series of little books containing material needed for Si •**• plementary Reading and Study. Classified and J^raded. Large type lower grades. A supply of these books will greatly enrich your school woi M^ This list is cottsiaiitlv being added to. If a substantial ,'iunber of books are to ordered, or if other titles than those shotvn here are desired, send for latest list. 53 Adveutures of a lyittle Waterdi FIRST YEAR Pable» and Myths 6 Fairy Stories of the Moon.— Maguire 27 ^sop's Fables — Part I — /better 28 i5J^op's Fables— Part 11—Reiter 29 Indian Myths — Bush 140 Nursery Tales — Taylor 174 Sun Myths — Reiter 175 Norse I^egends, I — Reiter Nature 1 l^ittle Plant People— Part \~Chase 2 Little Plant People— Part \\— Chase 30 Story of a Sunbeam — Miller .^i Kitty Mittens and Her Friends — Chase History 32 Patriotic Stories (Story of the Flag, Story of Washington, etc.) — Reiter Literature 230 Rhyme and Jingle Reader for Beginners SECOND YEAR Fables and Myths 33 Stories from Andersen— Tay/or 34 Stories from Grimm — Taylor 36 Little Red Riding Uood— Reiter 37 Jack and the Beanstalk — Reiter 38 Adventures of a Brownie — Reiter 1T6 Norse Legends, II— ^^'zVer Nature 3 Little Workers (Animal Stories)— '"-^ui^^ 39 Little Wood Friends — Mayne 40 Wings and Stings — Halifax 41 Story of Wool — Alaytie 42 Bird Stories from the Poets— follie History and Biography 43 Story of the Mayflower — McCabe 45 Boyhood of Washington — Reiter 164 The Little Brown Baby and Other Babies 165 Gemila, the Child of the Desert and Some of Her Sisters 166 Louise on the Rhine gud i,n Her New Home. (N^os. 164, i6s, 166 ure '■'Seven Little Sisteis" by fane, Andrews) 204 Boyhood of L,iiicolu— Reiter Literature 1 = 2 Child's Garden of Verses — Stevenson 206 Picture Study Stories for Little Children — Cranston 220 Story of the Christ Child — Husho7ver THIRD YEAR Fables and Myths 46 Puss in Boots and Cinderella — Reiter 47 Greek Myths — Klingensmiih 102 Thtimbelina and Dream Stories — Reiter 146 Sleeping Beauty and Other Sim ies 177 Legends of the Rhineland— il/cCa*^^ Nsture 49 Buds, Stems and Fruits — Mayne 51 Story of Flax — Mayie 52 Story of Glass — Hansov -Mayne 135 Little People of the Hills (Dry Air a Dry Soil PXdiUt^)— Chase 203 Little Plant People of the Waterway Chase 133 Atint Martha's Corner Cupboard— P; I. Story of Tea and the Teacup 137 Aunt Martha's Corner Cupboard— P; II. Story oi vSugar, Coffee audSalt. 138 Aunt Martha's Corner Cupboard — P: III. Story of Rice, Currants and Hon History and Biography 4 Story of Washington— ^^z7i?y 7 Story of Longfellow— il/cCa^^ 21 Story of the Pilgrims— i^ar? 5 44 Famous Early Americans (Smith, St£ dish, Pe-a.VL)—Btish 54 Story of Columbus — McCabe 55 Story of Whittier— il/fCa^^ 57 Story of Louisa M. Alcott— ^«^A 58 Story of Alice and Phoebe Ca.iy—Mcl 59 Story of the Boston Tea Party -McLi 132 Story of Franklin— Tvn /J 60 Children of the Northland- i?7<^/i 62 Childrenof the South Lauds,! (Floric Cuba, Puerto Rico) — McFee 63 Children of the South Lands, II (Afrh Hawaii, The Philippines)— .1/<:/v'^ 64 Child Life in the Colouies— I (N. Amsterdam) — Baker 65 Child Life in the Colouies — II (^Peuns \&-n.\2L)— Baker 66 Child Life in the Colonies-IIl(Vtrg x^l)— Baker 68 Stories of the Revolution— I (Eth Allen and the Green Mountain Bo; 69 Stories of the Revolution— II (Aroil Philadelphia) — McCabe 70 Stories of the Revolution— HI (Marii the Swamp Voyi)— McCabe 71 Selections from Hiawatha (For 3rd, , and 5th Grades) 167 Famous Artists, I — Laudseer and B. heur. Literature 67 Story of Robinson Crusoe — Bush 72 Bow-Wow and Mew-Mew— Ooz'^ 233 Poems Worth Knowing-Book l-Prim; FOURTH YEAR Nature 75 Story of Coal — McKane 76 Story of Wheat— //c/z/a.*' 77 Story of Cotton — Brozvn 78 Stories of the Backwoods — Reiter 134 Couquests of Little PI aut People— C/i 136 Peeps into Bird Nooks, I- McFee 181 Stories of the S\.a.vs— McFee 2C5 Eyes and No P^es and the Three Gia Con tin ii/'d on third cover J uly, 1912 INSTRUCTOR LITERATURE SERIES Story of Lafayette BY Bertha E. Btish F. A. OWEN PUBLISHING COMPANY, DANSVILLE, N. Y. Copyright, iyi2, by F. A. Owen FubUshin(t Company LAFAYETTE >. Lafayette, the Man of Two Worlds '*! have come, sir," said the youDg noble, "to offer my sword and my fortune to the service of the United States of America." The American commissioner, Silas Deane, looked at the boyish face. Only nineteen years old was Lafayette when he thus, offered himself to the cause of liberty. *'It is a boyish whim," thought the American with a sigh. Then a temptation came to him. He remembered how very rich this eager, red-haired boy was. When he was only thirteen years old the death of all his imme- diate relatives had left him the sole possessor of immense estates and revenues. He was without father or mother or any guardian to restrain him frpm spending his vast wealth in any way he chose. There did not lack flat- terers and tempters who were urging him to spend it in wicked ways. Why should Silas Deane, who loved his country as his life, endeavor to dissuade this youLg French nobleman from coming to her assistance ? Forty thousand dollars a year was Lafayette's annual income. This amount spent for the suffering, half-clad, half- starved, pitifulh^ equipped American soldiers might turn the present defeat into victory. Why should this boy not be encouraged to carry out his whim, since it would do such an immense amount of good? It was a great temptation to the commissioner. Sup- pose the thing you planned and hoped for most in life was failing just because of your poverty, and just at that 4 THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE moment someone should offer you money enough to carry out all your designs ! Supx)Ose it were offered to you freely and gladly, and the owner wished you to spend it ! Would you have the strength of mind to say, ''I thank you beyond words for your kindly offer, but I cannot accept because, my plans are too hazardous ?' ' This was the way the American commissioners felt when Lafayette offered them his sword and fortune for their cause. Hard as it was, they did have the strength of mind to refuse what they wanted more than anything in the world. Gently they pointed out to the young man that the attempt to bring independence to the thir- teen colonies across the water might be considered hope- less. There had been bad news from America. Defeat after defeat had come to the Continental arms till their- best friends felt that it was beginning to be useless to keep up the struggle. They told the young Lafayette that their government could not accept his generous offer because they had not even enough money to provide a ship to take him to xA.merica. * 'Tlien I will furnish the ship myself, ' ' said Lafaj^ette. Suppose after you had bravely refused the offer which would have saved your dearest desire from failing, the maker had insisted on your taking it and generously ar- ranged matters so that you must do it whether you con- sented to the sacrifice or no. Then you would know how the American commissioners felt on that day. ''I thank you for your frankness," said Lafayette, **but now is precisely the moment to serve your cause best. The more people are discouraged, the greater utility will result from my departure to help them. If you cannot furnish me with a vessel, I will purchase it myself and freight it at my own expense to convey your dispatches and myself to America. ' ' It was the very darkest year of the Revolutionary War. THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE 5 The news that had come to Paris was most distressing and alarming — the retreat from Long Island, the loss of New York, the battle of W'hite Plains and the retreat through New Jersey. It was certain that the British would capture the American capital, Philadelphia. Sadl^ the patriots abroad were giving up the hope that our country would be freed. They told Lafayette so. He was little more than a boy. It did not seem right to let him give his fortune to the cause, no matter how much they and he loved it, since it was in such soi-e straits. It seemed that from his doing so, his fortune and his efforts and all the future honors that would come to him from his own country would be lost. But the young ** knight of liberty" was not dismayed. ''It is especially in the hour of danger that I wish to share," he answered to their dismal forebodings. He would rather lose his fortune and his life than not help in the cause. The king of France heard of his offer and absolutely forbade his going. That made no difference to Lafayette. He got out of the French port by strategy, and away he sailed, putting himself under the liability of being ex- ecuted as a deserter from his own king and country, but minding his danger not a whit. ''From the moment that I first heard the name of America, I loved her, ' ' he said. It was not the name of the unknown country that thrilled him so, but the freedom that country stood for. It was this that made him pledge himself and all that he had to the cause of liberty in America, and offer his life for that country's service. Marie Joseph Paul Eoche Yves Gilbert Motier, Mar- quis de Lafayette was a boy whom fortune could not spoil. He had had plenty of chances to be spoiled. An 6 THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE only son of a wido^yed mother, becoming heir in tiniest babyhood to great estates, a nobleman of one of the most ancient houses of France, with all the privileges of no- bility, and becoming altogether his own master at thir- teen years old, through the death of his mother and grandfather, each of whom left him an additional for- tune, it would be hard to find a boy who had a greater chance of being ruined. The French court, gay and luxurious beyond descrip- tion, was open to him. He was chosen one of the pages of the queen, and that was the greatest honor in the kingdom to a boy. We may be sure that theie were hundreds around him who tried to entrap him with lux- ury and vice to get the spending of his money. But he was absolutely uncorrupted. *'I cannot remember when I began to love liberty," he said. *'As far back as I can remember, I loved to hear of glorious deeds, and I planned to travel over the world and win fame by them. At eight years of age, my, heart was stirred when I heard of a hyena that had done some injury in our neighborhood, and the hope of meeting it w^as the object of all my walks." He had been married, according to the custom of young nobles of the time, when he was seventeen years ■old. Most of these marriages were arranged simply to unite family fortunes, with no love in them, but Lafay- ette loved his young bride dearly. He was, however, like the brave lover in the old poem who said, "I could not love thee, dear, so much, Loved I not honor more." It was a sore grief to part from her and go to America, but he never faltered. His relative, the Count de Brog- lie, tried to dissuade him from offering his services to the struggling patriots. THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE 7 ' ' Your uncle perished in the wars of Italy, ' ' he said to the young man. ''Your father fell in the battle of Minden. I will not be accessory to the ruin of the only remaining branch of the family. I earnestly entreat you to give up this wild plan which means only poverty and suffering to you, and stay here and enjoy the wonderfully good fortune which every young man in the kingdom envies you. ' ' But Lafayette could not be dissuaded. He set sail for America, and took with him Baron DeKalb, another brave foreigner who fought for us in many battles and finally gave his life on the field of Camden. They had a stormy voyage across the Atlantic. It took sixty days. One day they passed two British men- of-war cruising for prizes in the West Indian waters, and barely escaped. The sailors who worked the ship mutinied. The man at the wheel did not know the course he should take. But the mutiny was quelled, the right course was found, more by good fortune than by skill, and they reached the coast of South Carolina in the dark- ness of the night. Lafayette could not wait for the tide. He and DeKalb got into a small boat and were rowed to shore in the darkness. Here under the midnight sky they joined hands and solemnly pledged themselves and all they had to the cause of liberty in America. The first house they went to in this country belonged to a southern planter named Major Benjamin Huger. This man had a little son named Francis, not more than four years old at the time. Lafayette took the little fellow up on his knee and talked to him, delighting in his brightness. Little did either of them think that in after years Lafayette should be in prison and this little boy, grown to be a young man, should be the one who planned and attempted Jiis rescue. 8 THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE The American commissioner, knowing that it was held by the nobles of France as a disgrace for one of their number to serve as a common soldier, had offered La- fayette the position of major-general in our army if he should carry out his intentions and cross to America to fight in our cause. But Congress, blinded to his true worth and beset bv many foreign ad\enturers who de- 'Mmmm,;"f\:M^ .^ .^^1 Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge sired positions in the army as a means to their own ends, refused to give him the promised commission. A man who was seeking honor for himself, even a good man, would have turned away in hurt pride. But young La- fayette had no thought of withdrawing his promised aid. '*Yery well," he said quietly, "I will serve as a vol- unteer." And this was the only message he sent to Congress in regard to the injustice. '* After the sacrifices I have made," the message ran, *'I have the right to exact two favors : one is to serve at THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE 9 my own expense, the other is to serve at first as a vol- unteer. Wliat sacrifices bad he made? He liad left the young wife whom he tenderly loved. He had left all the lux- uries that wealth could obtain and the delights that the most luxurious court in the world could bestow. He had matle himself liable to disgraceful punishment by disre- garding the king's command to keep himself and his fortune in France. He had fitted out his own ship. He bad already purchased clothing and arms for a company of American soldiers. He bad offered his fortune as well as his services to carry on this struggle in a strange land and proved be.yond a question that the offer was made in good faith. He had done this because he felt that the war of the newly formed American states was a struggle for liberty. Congress came to see this at last, and made him a major-general and — we are amused to note — "placed no restrictions upon the amount of ex- pense be might choose to pay out of his annual income of forty thousand dollars a year." In his very first battle he was wounded. It was at Brandy wine, and the American soldiers were retreating, overwhelmed by an army much greater in numbers and better armed. Lafayette leaped down from his horse and fought in the ranks, rallying bis men. A musket ball tore a great bole in bis leg. He did not know he was wounded till bis aide saw blood running from bis boot. His soldiers helped him on his horse, and for twelve miles he rode without drawing rein, striving all that time to check the retreat. But for a long time the retreat could not be checked. Chester Road was full of fuj2:itiv^es with cannon, baggage, and all the broken fragments of an army, hurrying for- ward and obstructing each other. The cannon of the enemy thundered behind them. Dust and uproar and 10 THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE confusion made chaos everywhere. The growing dark- ness was a fit smybol of the despair that was settling over the defeated American army. But despair, however direfuUy it might hover around, and however disastrous the defeat, did not settle where Washington and Lafay- ette were. At Chester there was a deep stream that could only be crossed by a bridge. Before this bridge La- fayette set a guard and so he once more brought the panicstricken regi- ments under control. It was his last fight- ing for many weeks. For two months he was in the hospital, but his enforced leisure was not wasted for the cause. Day after day he put in writing such persuasive letters to France that the French minister said, "He will end by un- fufnishing the palace of Versailles to serve the American cause, for when he has taken any- thing into his head, it is impossible to resist him." ''Yes," said Lafayette when told of these words of the minister, ''I would." Lafayette Monument Erected by citizens and school chilrlren of Cliester County, Pa. Braudywiue. on the Battlefield of THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE 11 Before his wouiKled leg was able to wear a boot, lie was out of the hospital and starting away with the ex- pedition that went against Lord Cornwallis. The British commander called him "the boy" and was sure that no effort would be recAiired to defeat him. "The. boy cannot escape me," he said. But there came a time when "the boy," pursued, turned suddenly into the pursuer, and Cornwallis had to retire before him. One place where Lafayette thoroughly outwitted a very confident British commander was at Barren Hill. This hill was situated about half way between the pitiful camp at Yalley Forge, where the half-naked patriots were freezing and starving for love of country, and Philadel- phia, which the British were occupying and filling with all sorts of extravagant gaieties. It was rightly believed that the British had decided to evacuate Philadelphia. Washington sent Lafayette with two thousand men to cross the Schuylkill, and take ut3 a post as an advance guard to the American army, ready to harass the rear of tlie enemy as soon as they should move. "You will remember that your detachment is a very valuable ojje, " said Washington as he gave the order, "and that an accident happening to it would be a very severe blow to the amn'. " We may be sure that the young general realized this, and determined to use every effort to guard against a surprise. But just what danger he should take his de- tachment out of, Washington did not dream. The British did succeed in surprising them. Some- body had disobeyed Lafayette's orders, not intentionally, but carelessly. A change of position had been made that was not reported to him, and an important post left un- guarded. Through this the British marched ; and before he found it out, he was surrounded. The British general, Sir William Howe, had planned 12 THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE this, and was altogether sure that his plan would be successful. * 'Tomorrow," he had said to a company of ladies on the 18th of May, "I invite you to a banquet to meet the Marquis de Lafayette who will be our prisoner." But to capture Lafayette was a good deal like the time-honored plan of catching a bird by putting salt on its taiL The British got almost near enough to catch him. His situation was desperate ; it seemed impossible for him to escape. Five thousand select British troops were at his rear, cutting off his march back to Valley Forge. Another strong British division faced his right flank, and the main column of the British army, led by Howe himself, marched out from the city and faced him in the front. He could neither go backward nor forward. He seemed to be completely entrapped. Washington, from a distance, saw it through his field glasses, and even his brave heart gave up Lafayette and his men for lost. But Lafayette was not a general to march into a place where there was but one way out. There was another road from Barren Hill, an obscure trail hidden by under- brush, that the British did not know. We wonder who showed it to Lafayette. Was it some boy about as old as those who read this story in school ? Lafayette formed a few of his men into apparent heads of columns, starting to advance toward the British in front. The trees that covered the hilltop concealed all the rest of the men from view. Silently, while the false heads of columns were just showing through the trees, seemingly ready to begin to advance, Lafayette marched the rest of the men away by the concealed road. *'Why don't they come on?" said the British, impa- tiently viewing the heads of the columns. They had not the slightest doubt that they would, as boys say, THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE 13 'Svipe the earth with them" as soon as they did come. But they never came.- Presently, to the great surprise of the British, they moved back into the woods. Tliey had joined in at the rear of their comrades and were well on their way to safety before the British commanders realized what was happening. So Lafayette got away from the net spread around him, and led his detachments back to Valley Forge in perfect order without the loss of a man. The ladies who had been invited did not see General Lafayette at the banquet that night, and General Howe was late for supper. A little more than a year after this. Congress deter- mined to present Lafayette a sword that should be a memorial of what he did for our country. The sword was a beautiful weapon, designed and executed by the best artists of that time. The knob of the handle showed on one side a shield with Lafayette's arms and his fam- ily motto. On the other side was pictured a crescent moon rising over the sea, with the coast of France in the foreground and the continent of America in the distance. This was meant to signify the spirit of liberty which was rising and growing by means of the struggle in which Lafayette had so generously engaged. On the curved parts of the guard were four medallions, each represent- ing Lafayette in some action, and*labeled : ''The Battle of Gloucester," "The Eetreat at Barren Hilh" "The Battle of Monmouth," and "The Eetreat of Pvhode Island. ' ' Before the war was over, there were many other battle names that might, even more appropriately, have been inscribed upon the sword. It was Lafayette's clever planning that caught the very Cornwallis who had boasted that " ihe boy' ' could not escape him in the trap at York- town, and so compelled the surrender, and the success of the American arms. It was Washington who, with his 14 THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE heroic determination, unshaken patience, clear vision of what was right, and the spirit that would not give up though assailed with defeat and slander and abuse and suffering, won the Kevolutionary War. But Washington would have felt that he lacked his right hand if Lafay- ette had not been there to help him. *«#^ The Council of War Before Monmouth ''America could not do without Washington," says a writer of the time, ''but Washington could not do with- out Lafayette. ' ' The friendship between these two men, one so much older than the other, is one of the most beautiful things in our history. ^''Take care of him as if he were my own son," said Washington to the doctor when the young Frenchman was wounded. THE STORY bF LAFAYETTE 15 ''I love everybody that is dear to you," he wrote to him once ; and the affectionate reverence with which La- fayette regarded Washington can hardly be described. It was at a public dinner that the two first met, and Washington, who had heard of the generous zeal of the young marquis, that "glorious boy" as soniebody called him, invited him at once to make his headquarters in the house he occupied. "I cannot promise you the luxuries of a court," he said, mindful of what the young nobleman had given up, **but, as ."you have become an American soldier, you will doubtless accommodate yourself to the fare of an Amer- ican soldier. Did he ? He never thought of counting it a hardship. Bread and salt, with Washington, was more to him than the most luxurious banquet in the court of a king. Sometimes, indeed, during the long, hard struggle the fare was reduced to that, or something less palatable tl;an bread, with no salt at all. But Lafayette never thought longingly of the fleshpots of France in compari- son with this scanty fare. He held it a privilege and a glory to share with the patriot soldiers, and most of all, with Washington. And we feel today that there could hardly have been a greater honor than to have slept under Washington's cloak with him on the field of battle. He had a chance to prove his faithfulness to his chief such as is seldom given to an under officer. We think of Washington as praised by all men as he is now, but it was not so in Kevolutionary days. Instead, he was perhaps the most abused and vilified man in all the country. His motives were impugned. His wisest plans were misunderstood and decried. While he- was doing the very best that could be done for his country under the circumstances existing, he was blamed as if he had been designedly doing the worst. False and malicious 16 THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE charges were made against him. A regular plot was formed to deprive him of his position as commander-in- chief and bring him down in dishonor. The jealous and malicious detractors of Washington did their utmost to get Lafayette over on their side. So popular and so brilliant the young Frenchman was that they felt that to win him would be to win the whole country. They were sure that if once Lafayette could be got, however inno- cently, into their nefarious scheme, its success was as- sured. They promised him the highest rank and command. They criticized what Washington had done, and said that Gates was far superior as a general. They brought up Gates' successes in the north and set in contrast the defeats and retreats that had been the portion of Wash- ington's army. They thought they could slander Wash- ington until Congress removed him, or make him so angry that he would resign in disgust. But Washington loved his country too much to stop to consider his own hurt pride. He paid no attention to their vilifyiug, but went on doing the best he could, not one whit deterred by lies and ingratitude. They could not make him resign, but th«y could hin- der his plans in many ways, and they did. They kept away the supplies that were desperately needed by his army. While his men were shivering, barefoot and half clad, and scarcely half fed, in the snow at Valley Forge, hogsheads of provisions, shoes, clothing, and all kinds of supplies were rotting in store-houses or moulderin-^ on the roads thither, enough to supply all their need. The enemies of Washington did not scruple to use every means, fair or unfair, to turn Lafayette away from his general ; but they might as well have tried to keep the sun from rising. Lafayette never swerved one hair's breadth from his chosen chief. When propdsals against THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE 17 Washington were made, he indiguantlj^ spurned them. Finding the}^ did not cease, he took them to Washingtoji. They could not win Lafayette away, but they could sep- arate him from Washington. Secretly and unknown to the commander-in-chief, they wrote to Lafayette offering him the command of an expedition to Canada in which they assured him that he would win great honor. They promised him wonderful assistance and any amount of men and supplies. Lafayette handed the letter over to Washington, and asked what he should do. Without one angry word at the indignity offered to himself by planning such an important movement without the knowl- edge and sanction of the commander-in-chief, Washing- ton advised his young friend to accept the appointment as it was an honorable one for him. In high spirits Lafayette set off. The troops were to be furnished by the northern states, and he was to take charge of them at Alban.y. He was promised that *' con- sidering the length of the route into that country in au inclement season" his men should be particularly warmly clothed, and a great store of provisions should be given him. They told him, too, that General Stark, with a large army, should be waiting for him at the rendezvous^ and that before that he would have burnt the British fleet on the northern lakes. Lafayette made his way to Albany in ice and snow, through difficulties that can hardly be imagined in these days of prepared roads and modern traveling conveniences. But when he got to the tavern where the meeting between the leaders had been appointed, nobody was there. A feeble army had been raised, but instead of the more than two thousand five hundred thoroughly equipped and warmly clad soldiers that he had been promised, he found a scant twelve hundred, and most of them '* naked, even for a summer campaign. ' ' Of General Stark the THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE 19 only word he obtained, was a letter from him wishing to know "what number of men, from whence, for what time, for what rendezvous, Lafayette wished him to raise. ' ' It was evidentl.y hopeless to undertake the expedition. Many times before Lafayette had purchased clothing for the soldiers under his command,- at his own expense, but many things beside this lack rendered the attempt an undertaking impossible to succeed. It was already in the depth of winter. If they had been all ready to start, the issue would have been doubtful. Bitterh^ mortified, Lafayette was compelled to give up the plan. "I can assure you, my dear and respected friend," he wrote to Washington, "that I am more unhappy than ever I was. ' ' He had been desired by those who appointed him to the position to write to his friends in Europe about this expedition over which he was placed in command, and he had made much of it, as they desired him to do. He felt that he would become a laughing stock if it came to nothing. And yet there was plainly no use in attempt- ing it. "I am afraid that it will reflect on my reputation and I shall bti lauglied at," he wrote sadly to Washington. "I confess, my dear General, that I find myself of very quick feelings whenever my reputation and glory are concerned in anything. Washington, so used to unjust blame, comforted him, and he went back to Valley Forge more than glad to be in any position in which he could be near his general. A pretty story is told of these times which would make us love loyal young Lafayette if we had not done it be- fore. It was at a dinner to which he was invited by the plotters against Washington. All sorts of grand prom- ises had been made to him. Toasts were being drunk with great fervor and boisterousness, and they really .s% .^^^^•v ■-W' 't'^K "^^ ^^^■^ THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE 21 tbouiilit tliey had him on their side. But at the close of the banquet, the young Frenchman rose and said gravely, "Gentlemen, I perceive that one toast has been omit- ted, and I now propose it. Gentlemen, let us drink to the Commander-in-Chief of the American Army. It does our hearts good to think how Gates and Con- way and the others in the secret must have looked : and, knowing iiow things turned out, we do not mind now that "that toast was received without cheering." Meanwhile, in France Lafayette's efforts and inspira- tion had been working much as the tiny particles of yeast work in the flour that is to make bread. It had taken a long time to diffuse itself through the mass, but it had worked unceasingly. On February 6, 1778, France ac- knowledged the independence of the United States and made a treaty with them. Then came the battle of Mon- mouth, which would have been an American success if it had not been for Lee's disobedience of Washington's orders, and after that Lafayette felt that the best work he could do for America for a while would be in France. So he sailed away in February, 1779. Times had blessedly changed in France in regard to the i\.merican cause. Lafayette had made himself liable to be punished by leaving the country in direct disobe- dience to his king's orders ; but now the king felt differ- ently. Lafayette was punished to keep up the dignity of the crown ; but his imprisonment consisted of an order to stay in his own home for a week. It was expressly stated that no one but his own family should visit him in his "prison" ; but his family connection was so large that practically the whole court of France did so. Then, with a gentle reproof from the king, he was again ad- mitted to favor, and found himself the idol of the hour. He immediatelv busied himself in the accomplishment 22 THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE of magnificent plans which he had formed for the benefit of America. He proposed to the French government that *'five ships of the line with half tlieir crews should be hired for one year for the service of the United States," and "as for the necessary funds," said he, "the gov- ernment should pledge itself only in case that it should exceed my fortune. ' ' It was he who cemented the French Alliance which was of the greatest importance in the gaining of the independence of America. Then he sailed back in time to take part, under Washington's direction, in the final campaign against Cornwallis which ended at Yorktown. It was at the beginning of this campaign that Cornwallis said, * ' The boy cannot escape me. ' ' He ended it by discovering that he could not escape the boy. Again Lafayette went back to France to assist the American cause there, and it was his ship that carried the first news of the signing of the treaty of peace to America. When peace was firmly established, he went back to America to visit Washington, and he received such an ovation from the country he had helped to free that the account of it rings like a chime of festal bells through the pages of our history. Following this came the French Eevolution. Alas ! France had no Washington ! The French Eevolution was begun in purest patriotism, but ended by being a carn- ival of bloodiest lawlessness. Lafayette did as much as he could for liberty in France. In the beginning he was the idol of the people. He was bound to the nobles and the common people alike. The nobility loved him be- cause he was one of themselves. The common people, who in this revolution soon became so much more power- ful than the nobility, loved him because he stood for their rights. It was really wonderful that he, a noble- man, should do what he did. It was he who framed that wonderful "Declaration of the Eights of Man" that THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE 23 is , as important as our Declaration of Independence. Beading it, we, who have been brought up in a free re- public, see nothing that seems very different to iis from what we have always known ; but it overturned every- thing that France had been accustomed to believe since the days of chivalry. There had been terrible oppressions in France, worse than we who have always lived in free America can im- agine. The kings and nobles were so used to being cruel and unjust to the peasants that they did not even realize their cruelty and injustice. They treated them far worse than their horses or hogs. There was profit in caring for the comfort of the beasts, but the only profit from a peasant was to squeeze out of him everything he could gain. The common people were beaten ; they were struck down ruthlessly if they chanced to anger their masters ; they were taxed till they actually died of starvation ; they were dreadfully hurt and even killed, and no one called to accouut for it. At last they rose against their oppressors, as all oppressed will some time. Perhaps the greatest wonder in the story is how La- fayette, a noble with one of the proudest names and richest estates in all the kingdom, could ever have im- bibed those principles of liberty from which he never swerved amid the fiercest temptation. Did some tutor of his boyhood teach them to him? We wonder what was his name. Did his gentle mother, who was herself of royal blood ? Did some of his kinsmen, who were the highest nobles in the. land? If Lafayette had fallen under the temptations of the time and become himself a tyrant as Napoleon did, we could scarcely have wondered. He was a general skilled in war, and he held the hearts of all the French jjeople in his hand. He had all the chance that Napolecm did to rise, and far more. He could have gained the imperial power more easily than 24 THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE Napoleon did. But he firmly put away from him every ambition for self, everything that would not work to the absolute good of his country. ' ' The sole end of all government is the public good, ' ' he had declared in that famous Declaration of the Rights of Man that was adopted by the French Assembly. He had fought for the establishment of a republic in America, but he believed that France was not yet ready for a republic. A constitutional government, with a king bound by the constitution, and responsible for obeying it and making others obey it, was his ideal for his country. When the maddened mob rose against ' the king and queen, he protected them, even as he had pro- tected the people ajiainst the king and nobles. He was the commander-in-chief of the French army. Again and again he stood for law and order, and made the citizens of France yield to it. He had voluntarily given up all the honors that came to him through birth and family. He had laid aside his title of marquis and desired to be called nothing but plain ' ' Citizen Lafayette. ' ' For a long while he was. fairly idolized in France. He could do what no one else could to control the tur- bulent on both sides. The nobles believed in him be- cause he was one of them, and belonged to one of the proudest and most ancient families of them all. The common people loved him because he stood up for their liberties, and had not joined in any of the oppressions that roused them. When the Bastile, that terrible prison in which hun- dreds and thousands of innocent victims, unjustly im- prisoned without even a trial, because they had chanced to anger the king or get in the way of some of his nobles, had met a living death, was torn down by the aroused people of Paris, the key was given to Lafayette. He sent it to Washington, his dearest friend, and the living THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE 25 embodiment in his nniicl of the liberty he desired for France. You can see the gr^at key in Mt. Vernon today. Once it was the symbol of the cruelest tyranny and shut thousands away from life and hope. Now it is the sym- bol of tyranny overthrown and liberty opened to man. But the Jacobin faction got possession of the French Assembly, and their acts were worse than the tyranny of the worst kings had been. If it had not been for them, the French devolution would have stopped when the king signed the Constitution, and everything would have gone well. That was what Lafayette wanted. But the Jaco- bins let their rancor quite run away with them, and came to desire nothing but revenge and bloodshed. Now came the awful Se[)tember Jail Delivery which was nothing less than a terrible massacre. Hired assas- sins were sent to go through the prisons, the churches, and all the places where Royalists were imprisoned or had taken refuge, and their slain bodies were piled up in heaps. From six to fourteen thousand were butchered in those awful days. The king and queen were executed, and the little iJrince who was heir to the throne so hor- ribly treated that he died of neglect and a loathsome prison disease. And then followed the awful Reign of Terror. Lafayette had retired to private life after the consti- tution was established. The Jacobins had no wish to call him out again. They feared him as a bad man fears the power of good. They feared the people too much to have him killed openly, but that made them only the more active in laving plots against his life. Indeed they had reason to fear his influence. He wasn't in the least afraid of denouncing their atrocities, and had written and published a letter accusing them, such as no other man in France would have dared to put out. They saw that Lafayette must be silenced in some way if they were iiSiSs^assiiiiiiiilitias^iiiaiiiiiSiiiL^^ S-afiiSfijj Napoleon as Consul THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE 27 to stand. A solemn oath was taken to destroy him. All his honors were taken away, and a decree of accusation enjoined his soldiers and every citizen to seize him at sight and bring him to his enemies. The very mob who had made him their idol, now, fickle and faithless, shouted for his blood. Lafayette made an effort to escape, and went to the Netherlands, intending to go from there to America. But some Aus- trian officers discovered him, and, though it was in every way unfair and against the law of nations, they seized him and made him an Austrian prisoner. He was- thrown into a secret dungeon, and his presence carefully con- cealed from everyone, so tliat only a tiny handful of his enemies knew wliere Lafayette was. A long time before, when he had just come back from his successful struggle for liberty in America, Lafayette had been sent for by Frederick the Great. The great Prussian king had asked him questions that brought out very clearly tiiat the young Frenchman would like to see the liberty that he had fought for "in America given to the countries of Europe. "Sir," said Frederick then, with one of his penetra- ting looks, "I knew a young man once, who, after visiting countries where liberty and equality reigned, conceived the idea of establishing the same system in his own country. Do you know what happened to himV" "No, sire," answered Lafayette. "He was hanged," answered the king. The meaning was evident. Lafayette had attempted to do what the mythical youug man, who so much re- sembled him, had attempted, and the result to himself, although carried on by a longer process, bade fair to be the same death. When he entered the gloomy, hidden dungeon at 01- mutz, he was told that he would never come out alive. 28 THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE His hands and feet were chained. He was treated worse than the lowest criminal would be in our countrj^ and his sufferings were so great that they brought oa an illness from which he barely escaped with his life. It was from this prison at Olmutz that the young North Carolinian, Francis Huger, who had been a four- year-old when Lafaj^ette first came to America and was entertained in his father's house, tried to rescue him. The attempt failed ; but it brought great good for it made people know where Lafayette was imprisoned. From every quarter, petitions poured in to the Austrian government begging for his release. The Austrians would not let him go, but one petition was granted. It was from his wife who begged to be allowed to come to the prison with her two daughters and share his im- prisonment. They gave her permission to come ; but they told her if she did, she must never expect to set foot outside the prison again, and that she must leave behind her every- thing that could in the least degree minister to their comfort. There was no comfort to Lafayette like having his wife with him, and she knew it. Sending her young son, who was named George Washington, to America to the protection of his illustrious namesake, she entered the prison, as she supposed, for life, taking with her her two daughters, Anastasia, sixteen years old, and thirteen-yeai-old Virginia. Here they stayed for twenty- two months. The air they breathed was foul and nox- ious. Their food was barely enough to satisfy hunger, and that of the coarsest kind. Their cells were dark and most uncomfortable. Madame Lafayette's health broke down, and it was seen that she must be removed from prison or she would die. But their sufferings were not to last always. A voice spoke for Lafayette which Austria, who had refused the THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE 29 entreaties of America, France, and England, dared not refuse. Napoleon Bonaparte came to the head of Eu- ropean affairs, and Napoleon would not be denied. The Austrian commissioners hesitated and equivocated over the matter. Bonaparte seized a valuable tea service, which had been ijresented by the Empress Catherine, and dashed it to the floor, exclaiming, ' ' Then we will have war ; but remember that in less than three months I will demolish your mcmarchy as I dash in pieces this porcelain. ' ' They knew that he would do what he said ; and they decided that it was the part of wisdom to let Lafayette go free ; but they said, through one of their ministers, that "Lafayette was not liberated at the request of France, but merely to show tlie Emperor of Austria's consideration for the United States of America." So tl'e country for which Lafayette fought was at least given a nominal part in obtaining his release. Lafayette was grateful to Napoleon, but he would not take the honors that Napoleon was very anxious to give him if he would only come out on his side. He believed, and rightly, that Napoleon's government was against that liberty for which he had offered and suffered so much. He wouki not do for Napoleon or any other man what he believed to be wrong. He went to his country home with his wife and daughters, and lived there quietly. Napoleon, seeing that he could not bend the patriot to his will, was very glad to have him keep there. It was a second time when Lafayette, by joining hands with tryanny, might have had the very greatest rewards and honors bestowed upon him, and refused. But when Napoleon fell, Lafayette treated him with the greatest kindness and sympathy, and tried to get him awaj^ to America before he should fall into the hands of the allies. Napoleon realized that the man who had refused to fol- 30 THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE low him in prosperity was the truest friend of all when adversity came. The next event in the life of Lafayette, and an event in the annals of our own nation also, was his last visit to America in the year 1824. He was an old man by this time. Washington, his friend, had been dead thirty years. All the major-generals of the Eevolutionary War were gone but him. He was so much younger than the rest of them that he had outlived them every one. It was like a hero stepping out from the pages of the school children's histories. Already the events of the Eevolu- tion seemed to the children, and their fathers and mothers also, as vague and far away as the times of the Civil War seem to you. Suppose that Lincoln, instead of being killed, had just gone to another country, and should come back again and pass through your town while you were celebrating Lis birthday in the schools ! It was almost as long since Lafayette had fought in the Eevolution as it is now since Lincoln died. Can't you imagine how the people of our country united to welcome him ? how the school-children marched out to meet him with songs and flowers, and how happy everybody was ? One incident of the time is pretty. It was told by "Walt Whitman, the poet, when he himself was an old, grayhaired man. He told how he had gone out to see Lafayette when he was a little fellow five years old ; and how, because he could not see over the heads of the crowd, Lafayette himself had lifted him up and set him on a big stone so that he could see all that was going on. We are sure that all the school-children of the day thought him a hero. We are sure that all the boys of today, who remember how he dashed into battle, and how brave and generous he was will think him a hero, too. And we are sure that everybody who studies his- THE STORY OF LAFAYETTE 31 character and sees how sincere he was, and how patiently he suffered hardships for the sake of libertj'^, giving up for the sake of doing it all the luxuries of a beautiful and wealthy home, aiid everything that love could give or money could buy, will think him a hero. When we see how he had a chance greater than Napoleon's of making himself king, or emperor, or anything which it was in the power of idolizing France to give, and did not use it so much as to enrich himself by a single penny, but, instead, sacrificed the fortune and honors that were his by inheritance — when we see how he used his great military genius only for the sake of liberty, and would not be bribed nor forced nor cajoled to so much as lift his hand to do anything that would not advance the principles he believed in — how he poured out his money like water, but served without pay, paying his men him- self when the government did not send the funds due, providing them with clothing and equipment. — we are sure that he is one of the greatest heroes who ever fought. And he is one whom no one can truthfully accvise of any wrong. Is not the best summary of his character to be found in the three names by which he is called? They are better than all the titles of nobility that could be inher- ited. He was called *'The Knight of Liberty," the "Man of Two Worlds," and, best of all, '^ Lafayette, the Friend of the People. " oLr J iifi4 28 W rSTRUCTOR LITERATURE SERIES ~ Continued. ory and Biography story of Lincoln — Reiter [ndian Children Tales— ^7«ry 212 Stories from Robin Hood — Bush 234 Poems Worth Knowing — Book II— Inter- mediate SIXTH YEAR Nature 109 Gifts of the Forest (Rubber, Cinchona, Resin, etc.) — McPee Geography 114 Great European Cities— I (London and Paris)— iv«iA 115 Great European Cities — II (Rome and Berlin I — Bush 168 Great European Cities-Ill (St. Peters- burg and Constamiuople)— i>'//i-A History and Biography 116 Old English Heroes (Alfred, Richard the Lion-lleaited, The Black Prince) 117 Later EugHsh Heroes (Cromwell, Well- ington, Gladstone) — Bush 160 Heroes of the Revolution — Tristram 163 Stories of Courage— Z>'wi/t 187 Lives of Webster and C\a.y — Tiistxnn 188 Story of Napoleon— i?7/i// 189 Stories of Heroism — Bush 197 Story of Lafayette — Bush 198 Story of Roger Williams — Leightou 209 Lewis and Clark ICxpetlition- //<•/ ;/r 20 The Great Stone V ace— Hawthorne 123 Selections from Wordsworth 124 Selections from Shelley and Keats 125 Selections from Merchant of Venice 147 Story of King Arthur as told b}' Tenny- son— //itz/Zoc/fe Continued on next page INSTRUCTOR LITERATURE SERIES -Coniinued 149 Man Without a Country, The— Hale 192 Story of Jean Valjean. 193 Selections from Vhe Sketch Book. 196 The Gray Champion— Haze/t/iorne 213 Poeni»i of Thomas Moore— Selected 216 I^amb's Tales from Shakespeare- Select- ed 231 The Oregon Trail(Coiidensed from Park- man) 238 r^amb's Adventures of Ulysses— Part I 239 lyamb's Adventures of Ulysses— Part II EIGHTH YEAR Literature 17 Enoch Avdeu— Tennyson 18 Vision of Sir Launfal— Z.ozt'/'// 19 Cotter's Saturilay Night -Burns 23 The Deserted V\\\a.^& Goldsmith 126 Rime of the Ancient Mariner 127 Grays Klegy and Other Poems 128 Speeches of Lincoln 129 Selections from Julius Ctesar 130 Selections from Henry the Kighth 131 Selections from Macbetli Price 5 Cents Each. Postage. 1 Cent Twelve or more copies sent prepaid at 142 Scott's I.ady of the Lake — Canto I 154 Scott's I,ady of the Lake — Canto II 143 Building ofthe Ship and Other Poems— Lonzfellow 148 Horatius, Ivry. Tlie Armada -7V/<7r<7«/rti' 150 Bunker Hill Address — Selections from the Adams an > ♦•To' .V" <^ *"^* AV ' '©no' .^' - ■^•^^0^