il they had entered the
harbor of Savannah or Charleston, or perhaps the broad waters of
Chesapeake Bay. Then the United States of to-day would have been
discovered and settled by Spaniards, and the whole history of the land
would have been quite different from what it has been. Spanish blood
has peopled, but not uplifted, the countries of South America and the
Spanish Main. English blood, which, following after--because Columbus
had first shown the way--peopled, saved and upbuilt the whole
magnificent northern land that Spain missed and lost. They have found
in it more gold than ever Columbus dreamed of in his never-found Cathay;
they have filled it with a nobler, braver, mightier, and more numerous
people than ever Columbus imagined the whole mysterious land of the
Indies contained; they have made it the home of freedom, of peace,
of education, of intelligence and of progress, and have protected and
bettered it until the whole world respects it for its strength, honors
it for its patriotism, admires it for its energy, and marvels at it for
its prosperity.

And this is what a flying parrot did: It turned the tide of lawless
adventure, of gold-hunting, of slave-driving, and of selfish strife for
gain to the south; it left the north yet unvisited until it was ready
for the strong, and sturdy, and determined men and women who, hunting
for liberty, came across the seas and founded the colonies that became
in time the free and independent republic of the United States of
America.

And thus has the story of Columbus really turned out. Happier than any
fairy tale, more marvelous than any wonder book, the story of the United
States of America is one that begins, "Once upon a time," and has come
to the point where it depends upon the boys and girls who read it, to
say whether or not they shall "live happily ever after."

The four hundred years of the New World's life closed its chapter of
happiness in the electric lights and brilliant sunshine of the marvelous
White City by Lake Michigan. It is a continued story of daring, devotion
and progress, that the boys and girls of America should never tire
of reading. And this story was made possible and turned out so well,
because of the briefer, but no less interesting story of the daring, the
devotion and the faith of the determined Genoese sailor of four hundred
years ago, whom men knew as Don Christopher Columbus, the Admiral of the
Ocean Seas.

End of the Project Gute