From "New Assault upon Freedom in America."

To Columbus, adventurous Italy's most venturous son, Spain gave,
grudgingly, three miserable ships, wherewith that daring genius sailed
through the classic and mediaeval darkness which covered the great
Atlantic deep, opening to mankind a new world, and new destination
therein. No queen ever wore a diadem so precious as those pearls which
Isabella dropped into the western sea, a bridal gift, whereby the Old
World, well endowed with art and science, and the hoarded wealth of
experience, wed America, rich only in her gifts from Nature and her
hopes in time. The most valuable contribution Spain has made to mankind
is three scant ships furnished to the Genoese navigator, whom the
world's instinct pushed westward in quest of continents.

COLUMBUS THE BOLDEST NAVIGATOR.

Capt. WILLIAM H. PARKER, an American naval officer of the
nineteenth century. From "Familiar Talks on Astronomy."[51]

Let us turn our attention to Christopher Columbus, the boldest navigator
of his day; indeed, according to my view, the boldest man of whom we
have any account in history. While all the other seamen of the known
world were creeping along the shore, he heroically sailed forth on the
broad ocean.

[Illustration: THE MAP OF COLUMBUS' PILOT, JUAN DE LA COSA.

From the original in the Marine Museum, Madrid. (See page 228)]

* * * * *

When I look back upon my own voyages and recall the many anxious moments
I have passed when looking for a port at night, and when I compare my
own situation, supplied with accurate charts, perfect instruments, good
sailing directions, everything, in short, that science can supply, and
then think of Columbus in his little bark, his only instruments an
imperfect compass and a rude astrolabe, _sailing forth upon an unknown
sea_, I must award to him the credit of being the boldest seaman that
ever "sailed the salt ocean."

* * * * *

Columbus, then, had made three discoveries before he discovered
land--the trade-winds, the Sargasso Sea, and the variation of the
compass.

COLUMBUS THE PATRON SAINT OF REAL-ESTATE DEALERS.

At a banquet in Chicago of the real-estate brokers, a waggish orator
remarked that Columbus, with his cry of "Land! Land!" was clearly the
patron saint of American real-estate dealers.

THE MUTINY.

HORATIO J. PERRY, an American author. From "Reminiscences."