Stories of American Life and Adventure

A free download from http://www.dertz.in


Stories of American Life and
Adventure, by

Edward Eggleston
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Stories of American Life and Adventure
Author: Edward Eggleston
Release Date: April 9, 2005 [eBook #15597]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF
AMERICAN LIFE AND ADVENTURE***
E-text prepared by Mark C. Orton and the Project Gutenberg Online
Distributed Proofreading Team

Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which
includes the original illustrations. See 15597-h.htm or 15597-h.zip:
(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/9/15597/15597-h/15597-h.htm) or
(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/5/5/9/15597/15597-h.zip)

STORIES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND ADVENTURE
by
EDWARD EGGLESTON
Author of Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans, A First
Book in American History, and A History of the United States and its
People for the Use of Schools American Book Company New York :
Cincinnati : Chicago
1895, 1923

[Illustration: Grand Canyon.]

PREFACE.
This book is intended to serve three main purposes.
One of these is to make school reading pleasant by supplying matter
simple and direct in style, and sufficiently interesting and exciting to
hold the reader's attention in a state of constant wakefulness; that is, to
keep the mind in the condition in which instruction can be received
with the greatest advantage.
A second object is to cultivate an interest in narratives of fact by
selecting chiefly incidents full of action, such as are attractive to the
minds of boys and girls whose pulses are yet quick with youthful life.
The early establishment of a preference for stories of this sort is the

most effective antidote to the prevalent vice of reading inferior fiction
for mere stimulation.
But the principal aim of this book is to make the reader acquainted with
American life and manners in other times. The history of life has come
to be esteemed of capital importance, but it finds, as yet, small place in
school instruction. The stories and sketches in this book relate mainly
to earlier times and to conditions very different from those of our own
day. They will help the pupil to apprehend the life and spirit of our
forefathers. Many of them are such as make him acquainted with that
adventurous pioneer life, which thus far has been the largest element in
our social history, and which has given to the national character the
traits of quick-wittedness, humor, self-reliance, love of liberty, and
democratic feeling. These traits in combination distinguish us from
other peoples.
Stories such as these here told of Indian life, of frontier peril and escape,
of adventures with the pirates and kidnappers of colonial times, of
daring Revolutionary feats, of dangerous whaling voyages, of scientific
exploration, and of personal encounters with savages and wild beasts,
have become the characteristic folklore of America. Books of history
rarely know them, but they are history of the highest kind,--the
quintessence of an age that has passed, or that is swiftly passing away,
forever. With them are here intermingled sketches of the homes, the
food and drink, the dress and manners, the schools and children's plays,
of other times. The text-book of history is chiefly busy with the great
events and the great personages of history: this book seeks to make the
young American acquainted with the daily life and character of his
forefathers. In connection with the author's "Stories of Great Americans
for Little Americans," it is intended to form an introduction to the study
of our national history.
It has been thought desirable to make the readings in this book cover in
a general way the whole of our vast country. The North and the South,
the Atlantic seaboard, the Pacific slope, and the great interior basin of
the continent, are alike represented in these pages.

CONTENTS.
A White Boy among the Indians
The Making of a Canoe
Some Things about Indian Corn
Some Women in the Indian Wars
The Coming of Tea and Coffee
Kidnapped Boys
The Last Battle of Blackbeard
An Old Philadelphia School
A Dutch Family in the Revolution
A School of Long Ago
Stories of Whaling
A Whaling Song
A Strange Escape
Grandmother Bear
The Great Turtle
The Rattlesnake God
Witchcraft in Louisiana
A Story of Niagara
Among the Alligators

Jasper
Song of Marion's Men
A Brave Girl
A Prisoner among the Indians
Hungry Times in the Woods
Scouwa becomes a White Man again
A Baby Lost in the Woods
Elizabeth Zane
The River Pirates
Old-fashioned Telegraphs
A Boy's Foolish Adventure
A Foot Race for Life
Loretto and his Wife
A Blackfoot Story
How Fremont