William James Dawson

Chalmers Comes Back William James Dawson

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1919. Excerpt: ... AN APOLOGUE I Ask the pardon of my readers for interposing at this point a brief apologue. On the third of August, 1492, a man of stubborn faith and indomitable daring set out to discover a New World. His largest ship was a decked vessel of one hundred tons; the other ships of his trivial Armada were two caravels, of fifty and forty tons. His entire party of adventurers numbered only eighty-eight. He had recruited his crews with extreme difficulty. It had been necessary to offer an indemnity to criminals and broken men to induce them to serve on the expedition. Few of them had any correct comprehension of the purpose of the voyage, and none any enthusiasm for it. They were ready to mutiny on the least occasion. The falling of a meteor into the sea was interpreted by them as a divine omen not to proceed, and the westerly variations of the magnetic compass filled them with alarm. Above this crowd of timid and apprehensive men Columbus towered like a prophet of the Lord. He alone had vision; he alone was the dreamer of a dream which he knew would come true. After seventy lonely days and nights of sailing on an uncharted sea he recognised the first signs of land, the soft fragrance of unseen forests, a flight of birds, a floating branch covered with red berries, an iron-shod pole wrought by human hands; and, says the chronicle, "With these signs all of them breathed and were glad." Columbus had found a New World beyond the furthest waters. It was utterly unlike the world that he had left. It was primitive, simple, social, unfettered by artificial laws, ignorant of the grinding tyranny of caste, unstained by the pollution of courts and the selfish passions of kings. Man moved freely in the natural dignity of human nature. The kindly earth was the common herita...