scientific exploration, and of personal encounters with savages and
wild beasts, have become the characteristic folklore of America. Books
of history rarely know them, but they are history of the highest
kind,--the quintessence of an age that has passed, or that is swiftly
passing away, forever. With them are here intermingled sketches of the
homes, the food and drink, the dress and manners, the schools and
children's plays, of other times. The text-book of history is chiefly
busy with the great events and the great personages of history: this
book seeks to make the young American acquainted with the daily life
and character of his forefathers. In connection with the author's
"Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans," it is intended to
form an introduction to the study of our national history.

It has been thought desirable to make the readings in this book cover
in a general way the whole of our vast country. The North and the
South, the Atlantic seaboard, the Pacific slope, and the great
interior basin of the continent, are alike represented in these pages.




CONTENTS.


A White Boy among the Indians

The Making of a Canoe

Some Things about Indian Corn