special
value is the opening chapter in the latter
book, "Uses of Great Men."

415

Elbridge S. Brooks (1846-1902) was a well-known
American writer of juvenile books on history,
government, and biography. His _True Story of
Christopher Columbus_, from which the following
selection was taken, is a well-written book
that pupils in the fifth and sixth grades read
with pleasure. _The Century Book for Young
Americans_ is a story of our government. Other
books by the same author are _The True Story of
George Washington_, _The True Story of
Lafayette_, and _The True Story of U. S.
Grant_. ("How Columbus Got His Ships" is used
here by permission of the publishers, Lothrop,
Lee & Shepard Co., Boston.)

HOW COLUMBUS GOT HIS SHIPS

ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS

When Columbus was at school he had studied about a certain man named
Pythagoras, who had lived in Greece thousands of years before he was
born, and who had said that the earth was round "like a ball or an
orange." As Columbus grew older and made maps and studied the sea, and
read books and listened to what other people said, he began to believe
that this man named Pythagoras might be right, and that the earth was
round, though everybody declared it was flat. "If it is round," he said
to himself, "what is the use of trying to sail around Africa to get to
Cathay? Why not just sail west from Italy or Spain and keep going right
around the world until you strike Cathay? I believe it could be done,"
said Columbus.

By this time Columbus was a man. He was thirty years old and was a great
sailor. He had been captain of a number of vessels; he had sailed north
and south and east; he knew all about a ship and all about the sea. But,
though he was a good sailor, when he said that he believed the earth was
round, everybody laughed at him and said that he was crazy. "Why, how
can the earth be round?" they cried. "The water would all spill out if
it were, and the men who live on the other side would all be standing on
their heads with their feet waving in the air." And then they laughed
all the harder.

But Columbus did not think it was anything to laugh at. He believed it
so strongly and felt so sure that he was right, that he set to work to
find some king or prince or great lord to let him have ships and sailors
and money enough to try to find a way