ange that four centuries go by before even Genoa erects his monument,
which we have admired to-day; though monuments to the memory of Columbus
have been erected in many cities, yet, how tardy the world was to
appreciate the value of Columbus's discovery, a third of the land of the
globe. How pitiful the last days of Columbus, who, old and ill, returning
in 1504 from his fourth voyage to the new world, found his patroness
Isabella dying, and Ferdinand heartless. With no money to pay his bills,
Columbus died May 20th, 1505, in poor quarters at Valladolid, his last
words being, 'Into thy hands, O Lord, I commit my spirit.' It is now
natural perhaps that many cities should claim his birth and his bones."

"Yes," said Lucille, "how encouraging some of the world's kind epitaphs
would be if they were only spoken before death came. Two hemispheres now
eagerly study the inspiring story of Columbus's faith, courage,
perseverance, and success."

Henley said, "Captain Hall, you are young yet, but by the time you reach
my age you will have little use for the sentiment young people so often
indulge in. When New York tries her hand with expositions she will
doubtless deal with facts. The truth is, Columbus was human like the
rest of us, and followed in the wake of others for his own personal
aggrandizement. He was not the first man to discover America. The
Norsemen antedated him by five centuries."

"What if the Norsemen did first discover America?" said Colonel Harris.
"The discoveries of the vikings were not utilized by civilization. It is
held by the courts that a patent is valid only in the name of the
inventor who first gives the invention a useful introduction. Columbus's
discovery was fortunately made at a time when civilization was able with
men and money to follow up and appropriate its advantages."

"The true discoverer of America," said Henley, "I believe to be Jean
Cousin, a sea captain of Dieppe, France, who crossed the Atlantic and
sailed into the Amazon River in 1488, four years before Columbus reached
San Salvador. Then Spain, Portugal, the States of the Church, Ferdinand,
Isabella, and Columbus attempted to rob Cousin of his bold adventure. In
brief these are the facts: Jean Cousin was an able and scientific
navigator. In 1487 his skill so contributed in securing a naval victory
for the French over the English that the reward for his personal valor
was the gift of an armed ship from the merchants of Dieppe, who expe