THE TRUE STORY OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
CALLED THE GREAT ADMIRAL
BY ELBRIDGE S. {Streeter} BROOKS
[This was orginally done on the 400th Anniversary of 1492]
[As was the great Columbian Exposition in Chicago]
[Interesting how our heroes have all be de-canizied in the
PREFACE.
This "True Story of Christopher Columbus" is offered and
inscribed to the boys and girls of America as the opening volume
in a series especially designed for their reading, and to be
called "Children's Lives of Great Men." In this series the place
of honor, or rather of position, is given to Columbus the
Admiral, because had it not been for him and for his pluck and
faith and perseverance there might have been no young Americans,
such as we know to-day, to read or care about the world's great
men.
Columbus led the American advance; he discovered the New World;
he left a record of persistence in spite of discouragement and of
triumph over all obstacles, that has been the inspiration and
guide for Americans ever since his day, and that has led them to
work on in faith and hope until the end they strove for was won.
"The True Story of Christopher Columbus" will be followed by the
"true story" of others who have left names for us to honor and
revere, who have made the world better because they lived, and
who have helped to make and to develop American freedom, strength
and progress.
It will be the endeavor to have all these presented in the
simple, straightforward, earnest way that appeals to children,
and shows how the hero can be the man, and the man the hero.
E. S. B.
THE TRUE STORY OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
CHAPTER I. BOY WITH AN IDEA.
Men who do great things are men we all like to read about. This
is the story of Christopher Columbus, the man who discovered
America. He lived four hundred years ago. When he was a little
boy he lived in Genoa. It was a beautiful city in the
northwestern part of the country called Italy. The mountains were
behind it; th