Edward Eggleston teaches American history in the best way possible for children: with 52 imaginative stories of great Americans. Stories written at a time when Americans wanted their children to be proud of their country. Stories that bring the people and times to life. Stories designed to give hours of reading pleasure. The 52 chapters here include stories about war heroes, statesmen, explorers, inventors, writers, artists, scientists, and just plain oprdinary people who made a difference. The lives of these men and women wonderfully illustrate the virtues children need to learn.
Recommended for Ages 6-8.
From the Back Cover
Americas heroes come to life for children, thanks to this 1895 classic by Edward Eggleston Edward Eggleston captures Americas heritage in the best way possible for children: with imaginative stories about great Americans. Stories written at a time when Americans wanted their children to be proud of their country. Stories that bring the people and the times to life. Stories designed to give hours of reading pleasure.
52 charming sketches from the original book, first published back in 1895, perfectly complement the text. The 52 chapters here include stories about war heroes, statesmen, explorers, inventors, writers, artists, scientists, and just plain ordinary people who made a difference. The lives of these men and women wonderfully illustrate the virtues children need to learn. Virtues like courage, unselfishness, honesty, patience, ingenuity, kindness, independence, and perseverance.
You get stories about great American men and women like...
Daniel Boone, Francis Scott Key, George Washington, Eliza Lucas, Marquette, Benjamin West, George Rogers Clark, Daniel Webster, William Penn, Louisa May Alcott, Charles Goodyear, Kit Carson, Thomas Jefferson, Benezet, Robert Fulton, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Thomas Smith, Horace Greeley, Lewis and Clark, General Marion, Benjamen Franklin, plus over a dozen more!
For children, and even for adults, Edward Egglestons writing nourishes a love and appreciation of America and the people who made it great.
About the Author
Edward Eggleston was born December 10, 1837 in Vevay, Indiana into a Methodist family. He was educated at the local high school in Vevay where he discovered his gift for writing. His militant opposition to slavery, however, caused him to refuse an offer to attend the University of Virginia. Ill health prevented his attending any college. In 1858 Edward Eggleston became a Methodist preacher. In 1866 he left the ministry to pursue his career as a writer. He began as an editor of the National Sunday School Teacher in Evanston, Illinois. In 1870 he moved to New York and began working on the Independent, for which hed been a Western correspondent for some time. In 1871 he began his career as a popular novelist with the publishing of The Hoosier Schoolmaster. His subsequent fiction had an important influence in turning American literature towards realism.
Eventually Egglestons main literary interest shifted from fiction to history. He had come to look upon the novel as a means of making a contribution to the history of civilization in America. His school histories and other minor historical and biographical publications were merely by-products of his work on an ambitious plan for a history of life in the United States, which he did not live to complete. As president of the American History Association in 1900, he set forth his conception of the ideal history as primarily a record of the culture of a people, not merely or even chiefly a record of politics and war.
His last years, like his early life, were troubled with serious illness. He died in September of 1902.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The First Steamboat The first steam-boat was built in New York. She was built by Robert Fulton. Her name was "Cler-mont." When the people saw her, they laughed. They said that such a boat would never go. For thousands of years boat-men had made their boats go by using sails and oars. People had never seen any such boat as this. It seemed foolish to believe that a boat could be pushed along by steam.
The time came for Fulton to start his boat. A crowd of people were standing on the shore. The black smoke was coming out of the smoke-stack. The people were laughing at the boat. They were sure that it would not go.
At last the boat's wheels began to turn round. Then the boat began to move. There were no oars. There were no sails. But still the boat kept moving. Faster and faster she went. All the people now saw that she could go by steam. They did not laugh any more. They began to cheer.
The little steam-boat ran up to Al-ba-ny. The people who lived on the river did not know what to make of it. They had never heard of a steam-boat. They could not see what made the boat go.
There were many sailing vessels on the river. Fulton's boat passed some of these in the night. The sailors were afraid when they saw the fire and smoke. The sound of the steam seemed dreadful to them. Some of them went down-stairs in their ships for fear. Some of them went ashore. Perhaps they thought it was a living animal that would eat them up.
But soon there were steam-boats on all the large rivers.
