Other editions of book European Hero Stories

I have sometimes wondered if every one realized how startlingly independent and isolated a historical fact is to a child. It has happened before his remembrance, and that alone is enough to put it into another world. It is outside of his own little experience. It has appeared to him by no familiar road, but from the unknown regions of space. This is especially true in the study of the history of our own country. The wide expanse of the Atlantic Ocean on the map, the tale of the long voyage that preceded the discovery or the settlement, remove it from the European background which to older readers gives reality to the account of the beginnings and progress of civilization in the New World. Not only to bring together stories of some of the interesting events of European history, but to choose those events which have relation to the story of the United States, those which lead up to it and explain it ; to picture scenes in the history of the chief nations of Europe and to make familiar the names of some of the prominent figures in those scenes; to show with what equipment of knowledge V,nd tradition and achievement the founders of this country left t.neir bluvopean homes; — in short, to give to the child in his degree an' approximation to the background for the study of our country 'snis^ory which a wide reading gives to the man — such is the object of this book.

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IF an Italian country boy had been taken to visit Rome fifteen hundred years ago, he would have found much to see. There were temples and theatres and baths. There were aqueducts, sometimes with arches one hundred feet high, stretching far out into the country to bring pure water to the city. There was an open space known as the Forum, where the people came together for public meetings, and in this space were beautiful pillars and arches and statues of famous Romans. Around the Fo'rum were palaces and temples and the Senate House; and directly in front of the Senate House was a platform on which speakers stood when they wished to address the people. The platform was called the rostrum, from the Latin word rostrum, meaning the beak of a warship, because it was adorned with the beaks of ships which the Romans had captured. Another open space was the great race-course, the Cir'cus Max'i-mus, where 250,000 people could sit and watch leaping, wrestling, boxing, foot-races, and especially the famous four-horse chariot races. There was the Col-i-se'um, too, where gladiators, generally captives or slaves, fought with one another or with wild beasts. The Roman streets were narrow, and they seemed still narrower because many houses were built with their upper stories projecting over the lower; but in those narrow streets there was always something of interest. Sometimes it was a wedding procession with torches and songs and the music of the flute. Sometimes it was a funeral train with not only the friends of the dead man, but also trumpeters and pipers. In the long line walked hired actors wearing waxen masks made to imitate the faces of the dead person’s ancestors. Early in the morning, one could see crowds of clients, each one hastening to the home of his patron, some wealthy man who was expected to give him either food or money.

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This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.