One day the poor fellows were ready to give up. Then the sun fell on
the looking glasses, and flashed down into the cabin. It was the first
daylight the sick men had seen for months. The long winter night was
over. Think how happy they were!




A DINNER ON THE ICE.


After two winters of cold and darkness, Doctor Kane made up his mind
to leave the ship fast in the ice. He wanted to get to a place in
Green-land where there were people living. Then he might find some way
of getting home again.

The men started out, drawing the boats on sleds. Whenever they came to
open water, they put the boats into the water, and took the sleds in
the boats. When they came to the ice again, they had to draw out their
boats, and carry them on the sleds. At first they could travel only
about a mile a day.

It was a hard journey. Some of the men were ill. These had to be drawn
on the sleds by the rest. They had not enough food. At one time they
rested three days in a kind of cave. Here they found many birds' eggs.
These made very good food for them. At another place they staid a
week. They staid just to eat the eggs of the wild birds.

After they left this place, they were hungry. The men grew thinner and
thinner. It seemed that they must die for want of food. But one day
they saw a large seal. He was floating on a piece of ice. The hungry
men thought, "What a fine din-ner he would make for us!" If they
could get the seal, they would not die of hunger.

Every one of the poor fellows trembled for fear the seal would wake
up. A man named Pe-ter-sen took a gun, and got ready to shoot. The men
rowed the boat toward the seal. They rowed slowly and quietly. But the
seal waked up. He raised his head. The men thought that he would jump
off into the water. Then they might all die for want of food.

Doctor Kane made a motion to Pe-ter-sen. That was to tell him to shoot
quickly. But Peter-sen did not shoot. He was so much afraid that the
seal would get away, that he could not shoot. The seal now raised
himself a little more. He was getting ready to jump into the water.
Just then Petersen fired. The seal fell dead on the ice.

[Illustration: A Seal]

The men were wild with joy. They rowed the boats with all their might.
When they got to the seal, they dragged it farther away from the
water. They were so happy, that they danced on the ice. Some of them
laughed. Some were so glad, that they cried. [Illustration: Shooting
the Seal.]

Then they took their knives and began to cut up the seal. They had no
fire on the ice, and they were too hungry to think of lighting one. So
they ate the meat of the seal without waiting to cook it.





DOCTOR KANE GETS OUT OF THE FROZEN SEA.


After they got the seal, Doctor Kane and his men traveled on.
Sometimes they were on the ice. Sometimes they were in the boats. The
men were so weak, that they could hardly row the boats. They were so
hungry, that they could not sleep well at night.

One day they were rowing, when they heard a sound. It came to them
across the water. It did not sound like the cry of sea birds. It
sounded like people's voices.

"Listen!" Doctor Kane said to Pe-ter-sen.

Petersen spoke the same language as the people of Greenland. He
listened. The sound came again. Pe-ter-sen was so glad, that he could
hardly speak. He told Kane in a half whisper, that it was the voice of
some one speaking his own language. It was some Greenland men in
a boat.

The next day they got to a Greenland town. Then they got into a little
ship going to England. They knew that they could get home from
England. But the ship stopped at another Green-land town. While they
were there, a steamer was seen. It came nearer. They could see the
stars and stripes flying from her mast. It was an American steamer
sent to find Doctor Kane.

Doctor Kane and his men were full of joy. They pushed their little
boat into the water once more. This little boat was called the
"Faith." It had carried Kane and his men hundreds of miles in
icy seas.

Once more the men took their oars, and rowed. This time they rowed
with all their might. They held up the little flag that they had
carried farther north than anybody had ever been before. They rowed
straight to the steamer.

In the bow of the boat was a little man with a tattered red shirt. He
could see that the captain of the boat was looking at him through a
spy-glass.

The captain shouted to the little man, "Is that Doctor Kane?"

The little man in the red shirt shouted back, "Yes!"

Doctor Kane and his men had been gone more than two years. People had
begun to think that they had all died. This steamer had been sent to
find out what had become of them. When the men on the steamer heard
that this little man in the red shirt was Doctor Kane himself, they
sent up cheer after cheer. In a few minutes more, Doctor Kane and
his men were on the steamer. They were now safe among friends. They
were sailing away toward their homes.





LONGFELLOW AS A BOY.


[Illustration: Longfellow and the Bird]

Long-fel-low was a noble boy. He always wanted to do right. He could
not bear to see one person do any wrong to another.

He was very tender-hearted. One day he took a gun and went shooting.
He killed a robin. Then he felt sorry for the robin He came home with
tears in his eyes. He was so grieved, that he never went
shooting again.

He liked to read Irving's "Sketch Book." Its strange stories about
Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Win-kle pleased his fancy.

When he was thirteen he wrote a poem. It was about Love-well's fight
with the Indians. He sent his verses to a news-paper. He wondered if
the ed-i-tor would print them. He could not think of anything else. He
walked up and down in front of the printing office. He thought that
his poem might be in the printer's hands.

When the paper came out, there was his poem. It was signed "Henry."
Long-fel-low read it. He thought it a good poem.

But a judge who did not know whose poem it was talked about it that
evening. He said to young Long-fel-low, "Did you see that poem in the
paper? It was stiff. And all taken from other poets, too."

This made Henry Long-fel-low feel bad. But he kept on trying. After
many years, he became a famous poet.

For more than fifty years, young people have liked to read his poem
called "A Psalm of Life." Here are three stanzas of it:--


"Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sub-lime,
And, de-part-ing, leave behind us
Foot-prints on the sands of time,--

"Foot-prints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and ship-wrecked brother,
Seeing, may take heart again.

"Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still a-chiev-ing, still pur-su-ing,
Learn to labor and to wait."





KIT CARSON AND THE BEARS.


Great men of one kind are known only in new countries like ours. These
men dis-cov-er new regions. They know how to manage the Indians. They
show other people how to live in a wild country.

One of the most famous of such men was Kit Car-son. He knew all about
the wild animals. He was a great hunter. He learned the languages of
the Indians. The Indians liked him. He was a great guide. He showed
soldiers and settlers how to travel where they wished to go.

Once he was marching through the wild country with other men. Evening
came. He left the others, and went to shoot something to eat. It was
the only way to get meat for supper. When he had gone about a mile,
he saw the tracks of some elks. He followed these tracks. He came in
sight of the elks. They were eating grass on a hill, as cows do.

Kit Car-son crept up behind some bushes. But elks are very timid
animals. Before the hunter got very near, they began to run away. So
Carson fired at one of them as it was running. The elk fell dead.

But just at that moment he heard a roar. He turned to see what made
this ugly noise. Two huge bears were running toward him. They wanted
some meat for supper, too.

Kit Carson's gun was empty. He threw it down. Then he ran as fast as
he could. He wanted to find a tree.

Just as the bears were about to seize him, he got to a tree. He caught
hold of a limb. He swung himself up into the tree. The bears just
missed getting him.

But bears know how to climb trees. Carson knew that they would soon be
after him. He pulled out his knife, and began to cut off a limb. He
wanted to make a club.

A bear is much larger and stronger than a man. He cannot be killed
with a club. But every bear has one tender spot. It is his nose. He
does not like to be hit on the nose. A sharp blow on the nose hurts
him a great deal.

Kit Carson got his club cut just in time. The bears were coming after
him. Kit got up into the very top of the tree. He drew up his feet,
and made himself as small as he could.

When the bears came near, one of them reached for Kit. Whack! went the
stick on the end of his nose. The bear drew back, and whined
with pain.

First one bear tried to get him, and then the other. But which-ever
one tried, Kit was ready. The bear was sure to get his nose hurt.

[Illustration]

The bears grew tired, and rested awhile. But they kept up their
screeching and roaring. When their noses felt better, they tried
again. And then they tried again. But every time they came away with
sore noses. At last they both tried at once. But Carson pounded
faster than ever. One of the bears cried like a baby. The tears ran
out of his eyes. It hurt his feelings to have his nose treated in
this rude way.

After a long time one of the bears got tired. He went away. After
awhile the other went away too. Kit Carson staid in the tree a long
time. Then he came down. The first thing he did was to get his gun. He
loaded it. But the bears did not come back. They were too busy
rubbing noses.





HORACE GREELEY AS A BOY.


Hor-ace Gree-ley was the son of a poor farmer. He was always fond of
books. He learned to read almost as soon as he could talk. He could
read easy books when he was three years old. When he was four, he
could read any book that he could get.

He went to an old-fashioned school. Twice a day all the children stood
up to spell. They were in two classes. Little Hor-ace was in the class
with the grown-up young people. He was the best speller in the class.
It was funny to see the little midget at the head of this class of
older people. But he was only a little boy in his feelings. If he
missed a word, he would cry. The one that spelled a word that he
missed would have a right to take the head of the class. Sometimes
when he missed, the big boys would not take the head. They did not
like to make the little fellow cry. He was the pet of all the school.

People in that day were fond of spelling. They used to hold meetings
at night to spell. They called these "spelling schools."

At a spelling school two captains were picked out. These chose their
spellers. Then they tried to see which side could beat the other
at spelling.

Little Hor-ace was always chosen first. The side that got him got the
best speller in the school. Sometimes the little fellow would go to
sleep. When it came his turn to spell, some-body would wake him up. He
would rub his eyes, and spell the word. He would spell it right, too.

When he was four or five years old, he would lie under a tree, and
read. He would lie there, and forget all about his dinner or his
supper. He would not move until some-body stumbled over him or
called him.

People had not found out how to burn ker-o-sene oil in lamps then.
They used candles. But poor people like the Gree-leys could not afford
to burn many candles. Hor-ace gathered pine knots to read by
at night.

[Illustration: Greeley Reading]

He would light a pine knot Then he would throw it on top of the large
log at the back of the fire. This would make a bright flick-er-ing
light.

Horace would lay all the books he wanted on the hearth. Then he would
lie down by them. His head was toward the fire. His feet were drawn up
out of the way.

The first thing that he did was to study all his lessons for the next
day. Then he would read other books. He never seemed to know when
anybody came or went. He kept on with his reading. His father did
not want him to read too late. He was afraid that he would hurt his
eyes. And he wanted to have him get up early in the morning to help
with the work. So when nine o'clock came, he would call, "Horace,
Horace, Horace!" But it took many callings to rouse him.

When he got to bed, he would say his lessons over to his brother. He
would tell his brother what he had been reading. But his brother would
fall asleep while Horace was talking.

Horace liked to read better than he liked to work. But when he had a
task to do, he did it faith-ful-ly. His brother would say, "Let us go
fishing." But Horace would answer, "Let us get our work done first."

Horace Gree-ley's father grew poorer and poorer. When Horace was ten
years old, his land was sold. The family were now very poor. They
moved from New Hamp-shire. They settled in Ver-mont. They lived in a
poor little cabin.

Horace had to work hard like all the rest of the family. But he
borrowed all the books he could get. Sometimes he walked seven miles
to borrow a book.

A rich man who lived near the Greeleys used to lend books to Horace.
Horace had grown tall. His hair was white. He was poorly dressed. He
was a strange-looking boy. One day he went to the house of the rich
man to borrow books. Some one said to the owner of the house, "Do you
lend books to such a fellow as that?"

But the gen-tle-man said, "That boy will be a great man some day."

This made all the com-pa-ny laugh. It seemed funny that anybody should
think of this poor boy becoming a great man. But it came true. The
poor white-headed boy came to be a great man.

Horace Greeley learned all that he could learn in the country schools.
When he was thirteen, one teacher said to his father,--

"Mr. Greeley, Horace knows more than I do. It is not of any use to
send him to school any more."





HORACE GREELEY LEARNING TO PRINT.


Horace Greeley had always wanted to be a printer. He liked books and
papers. He thought it would be a fine thing to learn to make them.

One day he heard that the news-paper at East Poult-ney wanted a boy to
learn the printer's trade. He walked many long miles to see about it.
He went to see Mr. Bliss. Mr. Bliss was one of the owners of the
paper. Horace found him working in his garden. Mr. Bliss looked up.
He saw a big boy coming toward him. The boy had on a white felt hat
with a narrow brim. It looked like a half-peck measure. His hair was
white. His trousers were too short for him. All his clothes were
coarse and poor. He was such a strange-looking boy, that Mr. Bliss
wanted to laugh.

"I heard that you wanted a boy," Horace said.

"Do you want to learn to print?" Mr. Bliss said.

"Yes," said Horace.

"But a printer ought to know a good many things," said Mr. Bliss.
"Have you been to school much?"

"No," said Horace. "I have not had much chance at school. But I have
read some."

"What have you read?" asked Mr. Bliss.

"Well, I have read some his-to-ry, and some travels, and a little of
everything."

Mr. Bliss had ex-am-ined a great many schoolteachers. He liked to
puzzle teachers with hard questions. He thought he would try Horace
with these. But the gawky boy answered them all. This tow-headed boy
seemed to know everything.

Mr. Bliss took a piece of paper from his pocket. He wrote on it,
"Guess we'd better try him."

He gave this paper to Horace, and told him to take it to the printing
office. Horace, with his little white hat and strange ways, went into
the printing office. The boys in the office laughed at him. But the
foreman said he would try him.

That night the boys in the office said to Mr. Bliss, "You are not
going to take that tow head, are you?"

Mr. Bliss said, "There is something in that tow-head. You boys will
find it out soon."

[Illustration: Greeley setting Type]

A few days after this, Horace came to East Poult-ney to begin his
work. He carried a little bundle of clothes tied up in a
hand-ker-chief.

The fore-man showed him how to begin. From that time he did not once
look around. All day he worked at his type. He learned more in a day
than some boys do in a month.

Day after day he worked, and said nothing. The other boys joked him.
But he did not seem to hear them. He only kept on at his work. They
threw type at him. But he did not look up.

The largest boy in the office thought he could find a way to tease
him. One day he said that Horace's hair was too white. He went and got
the ink ball. He stained Horace's hair black in four places. This ink
stain would not wash out. But Horace did not once look up.

After that, the boys did not try to tease him any more. They all liked
the good-hearted Horace. And everybody in the town wondered that the
boy knew so much.

Horace's father had moved away to Penn-syl-va-ni-a. Horace sent him
all the money he could spare. He soon became a good printer. He
started a paper of his own. He became a famous news-paper man.





A WONDERFUL WOMAN.


Little Dor-o-thy Dix was poor. Her father did not know how to make a
living. Her mother did not know how to bring up her children.

The father moved from place to place. Sometimes he printed little
tracts to do good. But he let his own children grow up poor
and wretched.

Dor-o-thy wanted to learn. She wanted to become a teacher. She wanted
to get money to send her little brothers to school.

Dor-o-thy was a girl of strong will and temper. When she was twelve
years old, she left her wretched home. She went to her grand-mother.
Her grand-mother Dix lived in a large house in Boston. She sent
Dorothy to school.

Dorothy learned fast. But she wanted to make money. She wanted to help
her brothers. When she was fourteen, she taught a school. She tried to
make herself look like a woman. She made her dresses longer.

She soon went back to her grand-mother. She went to school again. Then
she taught school. She soon had a school in her grandmother's house.
It was a very good school. Many girls were sent to her school. Miss
Dix was often ill. But when she was well enough, she worked away. She
was able to send her brothers to school until they grew up.

Besides helping her brothers, she wanted to help other poor children.
She started a school for poor children in her grandmother's barn.

After a while she left off teaching. She was not well. She had made
all the money she needed.

But she was not idle. She went one day to teach some poor women in an
alms-house. Then she went to see the place where the crazy people were
kept. These insane people had no fire in the coldest weather.

Miss Dix tried to get the man-a-gers to put up a stove in the room.
But they would not do it. Then she went to the court. She told the
judge about it. The judge said that the insane people ought to have a
fire. He made the man-a-gers put up a stove in the place where they
were kept.

Then Miss Dix went to other towns. She wanted to see how the insane
people were treated. Some of them were shut up in dark, damp cells.
One young man was chained up with an iron collar about his neck.

Miss Dix got new laws made about the insane. She per-suad-ed the
States to build large houses for keeping the insane. She spent most of
her life at this work. The Civil War broke out. There were many sick
and wounded soldiers to be taken care of.

All of the nurses in the hos-pi-tals were put under Miss Dix. She
worked at this as long as the war lasted. Then she spent the rest of
her life doing all that she could for insane people.





THE AUTHOR OF "LITTLE WOMEN."


Lou-i-sa Al-cott was a wild little girl. When she was very little, she
would run away from home. She liked to play with beggar children.

One day she wandered so far away from her home, she could not find the
way back again. It was growing dark. The little girl's feet were
tired. She sat down on a door-step. A big dog was lying on the step.
He wagged his tail. That was his way of saying, "I am glad to
see you."

Little Lou-i-sa grew sleepy. She laid her head on the curly head of
the big dog. Then she fell asleep.

Lou-i-sa's father and mother could not find her. They sent out the
town crier to look for her.

The town crier went along the street. As he went, he rang his bell.
Every now and then he would tell that a little girl was lost. At
last the man with the bell came to the place where Louisa was asleep.
He rang his bell. That waked her up. She heard him call out in a
loud voice,--

"Lost, lost! a little girl six years old. She wore a pink frock, a
white hat, and new green shoes."

When the crier had said that, he heard a small voice coming out of the
darkness. It said, "Why, dat's me." The crier went to the voice, and
found Louisa sitting by the big dog on the door-step. The next day she
was tied to the sofa to punish her for running away.

She and her sisters learned to sew well. Louisa set up as a doll's
dress-maker. She was then twelve years old. She hung out a little
sign. She put some pretty dresses in the window to show how well
she could do.

Other girls liked the little dresses that she made. They came to her
to get dresses made for their dolls. They liked the little doll's hats
she made better than all. Louisa chased the chickens to get soft
feathers for these hats.

She turned the old fairy tales into little plays. The children played
these plays in the barn.

One of these plays was Jack and the Bean-stalk. A squash vine was put
up in the barn. This was the bean-stalk. When it was cut down, the
boy who played giant would come tumbling out of the hay-loft.

Louisa found it hard to be good and o-be-di-ent. She wrote some verses
about being good. She was fourteen years old when she wrote them. Here
they are:--


MY KINGDOM.

A little kingdom I possess
Where thoughts and feelings dwell,
And very hard I find the task
Of gov-ern-ing it well.

For passion tempts and troubles me,
A wayward will misleads,
And sel-fish-ness its shadow casts
On all my words and deeds.

I do not ask for any crown
But that which all may win,
Nor seek to conquer any world
Except the one within.


The Al-cott family were very poor. Louisa
made up her mind to do something to make money
when she got big. She did not like
being so very poor.

[Illustration]

One day she was sitting on a cart-wheel thinking. She was thinking how
poor her father was. There was a crow up in the air over her head. The
crow was cawing. There was nobody to tell her thoughts to but the
crow. She shook her fist at the big bird, and said,--

"I will do something by and by. Don't care what. I'll teach, sew, act,
write, do anything to help the family. And I'll be rich and famous
before I die. See if I don't."

The crow did not make any answer. But Louisa kept thinking about the
work she was going to do. The other children got work to do that made
money. But Louisa was left at home to do housework. She had to do the
washing. She made a little song about it. Here are some of the verses
of this song:--

[Illustration]


A SONG FROM THE SUDS.

Queen of my tub, I merrily sing,
While the white foam rises high,
And stur-di-ly wash and rinse and wring,
And fasten the clothes to dry;
Then out in the free fresh air they swing,
Under the sunny sky.

I am glad a task to me is given,
To labor at day by day;
For it brings me health and strength and hope,
And I cheer-ful-ly learn to say,
"Head you may think, Heart you may feel,
But Hand you shall work alway."


Louisa grew to be a woman at last. She went to nurse soldiers in the
war. She wrote books. When she wrote the book called "Little Women,"
all the young people were de-light-ed. What she had said to the crow
came true at last. She became famous. She had money enough to make the
family com-fort-a-ble.