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    A Book of Americans: Illustrated by Charles Child
    A Book of Americans: Illustrated by Charles Child
    A Book of Americans: Illustrated by Charles Child
    Ebook171 pages40 minutes

    A Book of Americans: Illustrated by Charles Child

    By Stephen Vincent Benét

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    About this ebook

    “A Book of Americans” is a collection of poems concerning important figures in early American history, written by Stephen Vincent Benét. This volume is highly recommended by poetry lovers with an interest in American history, and it is not to be missed by collectors of vintage literature of this ilk. Contents include: “John Quincy Adams”, “Andrew Jackson”, “Zachary Taylor”, “John James Audubon”, “Nancy Hanks”, “Daniel Boone”, “Crawford Long and William Morton”, “Sam Houston”, “Western Wagons”, “Clipper Ships and Captains”, “James Buchanan”, “Crazy Horse”, “Stonewall Jackson”, “Abraham Lincoln”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRead Books Ltd.
    Release dateFeb 7, 2018
    ISBN9781528783378
    A Book of Americans: Illustrated by Charles Child

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      Book preview

      A Book of Americans - Stephen Vincent Benét

      Christopher Columbus

      1446?-1506

      There are lots of queer things that discoverers do

      But his was the queerest, I swear.

      He discovered our country in One Four Nine Two

      By thinking it couldn’t be there.

      It wasn’t his folly, it wasn’t his fault,

      For the very best maps of the day

      Showed nothing but water, extensive and salt,

      On the West, between Spain and Bombay.

      There were monsters, of course, every watery mile,

      Great krakens with blubbery lips

      And sea-serpents smiling a crocodile-smile

      As they waited for poor little ships.

      There were whirlpools and maelstroms, without any doubt

      And tornadoes of lava and ink.

      (Which, as nobody yet had been there to find out,

      Seems a little bit odd, don’t you think?)

      But Columbus was bold and Columbus set sail

      (Thanks to Queen Isabella, her pelf),

      For he said "Though there may be both monster and gale,

      I’d like to find out for myself."

      And he sailed and he sailed and he sailed and he SAILED,

      Though his crew would have gladly turned round

      And, morning and evening, distressfully wailed

      This is running things into the ground!

      But he paid no attention to protest or squall,

      This obstinate son of the mast,

      And so, in the end, he discovered us all,

      Remarking, Here’s India, at last!

      He didn’t intend it, he meant to heave to

      At Calcutta, Rangoon or Shanghai,

      There are many queer things that discoverers do

      But his was the queerest. Oh my!

      Indian

      I don t know who this Indian is,

      A bow within his hand,

      But he is hiding by a tree

      And watching white men land.

      They may be gods—they may be fiends—

      They certainly look rum.

      He wonders who on earth they are

      And why on earth they’ve come.

      He knows his streams are full of fish,

      His forests full of deer.

      And his tribe is the mighty tribe

      That all the others fear.

      —And, when the French or English land,

      The Spanish or the Dutch,

      They’ll tell him they’re the mighty tribe

      And no one else is much.

      They’ll kill his deer and net his fish

      And clear away his wood,

      And frequently remark to him

      They do it for his good.

      Then he will scalp and he will shoot

      And he will burn and slay

      And break the treaties he has made

      —And, children, so will they.

      We won’t go into all of that

      For it’s too long a story,

      And some is brave and some is sad

      And nearly all is gory.

      But, just remember this about

      Our ancestors so dear:

      They didn’t find an empty land.

      The Indians were here.

      Hernando De Soto

      1499?-1542

      Hernando De Soto was Spanish,

      An iron-clad conquistador.

      Adventure he knew in the sack of Peru,

      But it just made him anxious for more.

      Hernando De Soto was knightly,

      Hernando De Soto was bold,

      But like most of his lot, he’d be off like a shot

      Wherever he heard there was gold.

      So, with priest and physician and army,

      Not to speak of a number of swine,

      At Tampa he started a quest, fiery-hearted,

      For the gold of a fabulous mine.

      And from Florida way out to Texas,

      This Don of the single-track mind,

      Went chasing his dream over prairie and stream,

      And the pigs kept on trotting behind.

      He discovered the great Mississippi,

      He faced perils and hardships untold,

      And his soldiers ate bacon, if I’m not mistaken,

      But nobody found any gold.

      They buried De Soto at midnight,

      Where the wide Mississippi still

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