which might, if applied to
Amerigo, have seemed almost prophetic:

"_Here lies GUIDO ANTONIO, in this sepulchre--
HE WHO SHOULD LIVE FOREVER,
Or else never have seen the light._"

This epitaph was written of the lawyer, who departed unknown and
unwept by the world, while his then obscure kinsman, Amerigo,
subsequently achieved a fame that filled the four quarters of the
earth.

The youth of Amerigo is enshrouded in the obscurity which envelops
that of the average boy in whatever age, for no one divined that he
would become great or famous, and hence he was not provided with a
biographer. This is unfortunate, of course, but we must console
ourselves with the thought that he was not unusually precocious, and
probably said little that would be considered worth preserving. It
happened that after he became world-large in importance, tales and
traditions respecting his earliest years crept out in abundance; but
these may well be looked upon with suspicion. We know scarcely more
than that his early years were happy, for he had a loving mother, and
a father wise enough to direct him in the way he should travel.

It does not always follow that the course the father prescribes is the
best one in the end, for sometimes a boy develops in unsurmised
directions; and this was the case with Amerigo Vespucci. The fortunes
of the family being on the wane, he was selected as the one to
retrieve them, and of four sons was the only one who did not receive a
college education. The other three were sent to the University of
Pisa, whence they returned with their "honors" thick upon them, and
soon lapsed into obscurity, from which they never emerged. That is,
they never "made a mark" in the world; save one brother, Girolamo, who
made a pilgrimage to Palestine, where he lived nine years, suffered
much, and lost what little fortune he carried with him.

He may have thought, perhaps, in after years, that if he had not
belonged to a family containing the world-famed navigator his exploits
would have brought him reputation; but it is more probable that if he
had not written a letter to his younger brother, Amerigo, the world
would never have heard from him at all. However, he was the first
traveller in the family, and with his university education he should
have produced a good account of his adventures; but if he ever did so
it has not been preserved from oblivion.

Amerigo was not given a college education, but something