Saturday, October 09, 2010

Free Columbus Day Vintage History Story

"Sail on ! sail on ! sail on ! and on !' " They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow, Until, at last, the blanched mate said : "Why, now not even God would know Should I and all my men fall dead. These very winds forget their way, For God, from these dread seas, is gone. Now speak, brave Adm'r'l ; speak and say — " He said : "Sail on ! sail on ! and on !" They sailed ! They sailed ! Then spake the mate : "This mad sea shows his teeth to-night.‎"
~ From Discovery of America(Columbus), Great Inventions and Discoveries, a vintage textbook for young readers, 1911.
To print and/or save, follow the link and right click on the images of the pages(See Table of Contents, begins on page 92). The entire book is downloadable as well.  Free and in public domain.

I just love old textbooks for younger children. The language is so beautiful, and at times history is romanticized, but what better way to get children interested in history. There is time enough in the later years to learn that "history is written by the victors".

For younger children - Cut and paste, Story of  Columbus in pictures.Click on image to enlarge.

2 comments:

P. said...

Do you know that Columbus could be portuguese? There's a lot of people that believes that. Well, his wife was.

Alexandra said...

Yes, I read that somewhere. BTW, they had a really good exhibit at the Jamestown(first English colony in Virginia) Museum today in reference to the Portuguese in Africa(Age of Exploration section).