2.2 New England

 2.2 New England

The northeastern New England colonies had generally thin, stony soil, relatively little level land, and long winters, making it difficult to make a living from farming. Turning to other pursuits, the New Englanders harnessed waterpower and established grain mills and sawmills. Good stands of timber encouraged shipbuilding. Excellent harbors promoted trade, and the sea became a source of great wealth. In Massachusetts, the cod industry alone quickly furnished a basis for prosperity.

With the bulk of the early settlers living in villages and towns around the harbors, many New Englanders carried on some kind of trade or business. Common pastureland and woodlots served the needs of townspeople, who worked small farms nearby. Compactness made possible the village school, the village church, and the village or town hall, where citizens met to discuss matters of common interest.

The Massachusetts Bay Colony continued to expand its commerce. From the middle of the 17th century onward it grew prosperous, so that Boston became one of America's greatest ports.

 Oak timber for ships' hulls, tall pines for spars and masts, and pitch for the seams of ships came from the Northeastern forests. Building their own vessels and sailing them to ports all over the world, the shipmasters of Massachusetts Bay laid the foundation for a trade that was to grow steadily in importance. By the end of the colonial period, one third of all vessels under the British flag were built in New England. Fish, ship's stores, and woodenware swelled the exports. New England merchants and shippers soon discovered that rum and slaves were profitable commodities. One of their most enterprising – if unsavory – trading practices of the time was the "triangular trade." Traders would purchase slaves off the coast of Africa for New England rum, then sell the slaves in the West Indies where they would buy molasses to bring home for sale to the local rum producers.

Directions: Base your answers to the following questions on the text and your knowledge of social studies.

1. Which of the following was not a productive pursuit in New England?
a. Farming
b. Fishing
c. Lumber milling
d. Shipbuilding 

2. Where did citizens of New England meet to discuss matters of common local interest?
a. Beach
b. Common woodlot
c. Street
d. Town hall 

3. By the start of the American Revolution, what percentage of all vessels sailing under the British flag were built in New England?
a. 25%
b. 33%
c. 66%
d. 75%

4. What trading practice involved purchasing slaves off the coast of Africa for New England rum, then selling the slaves in the West Indies where the traders would buy molasses to bring home for sale to local rum producers?
a. Molasses trade
b. Rum trade
c. Slave trade
d. Triangular trade

1.12 The Enduring Mystery of the Anasazi

 1.12 The Enduring Mystery of the Anasazi

Time-worn pueblos and dramatic cliff towns, set amid the stark, rugged mesas and canyons of Colorado and New Mexico, mark the settlements of some of the earliest inhabitants of North America, the Anasazi (a Navajo word meaning "ancient ones").

By 500 A.D. the Anasazi had established some of the first villages in the American Southwest, where they hunted and grew crops of corn, squash, and beans. The Anasazi flourished over the centuries, developing sophisticated dams and irrigation systems; creating a masterful, distinctive pottery tradition; and carving multiroom dwellings into the sheer sides of cliffs that remain among the most striking archaeological sites in the United States today.

Yet by the year 1300, they had abandoned their settlements, leaving their pottery, implements, even clothing – as though they intended to return – and seemingly vanished into history. Their homeland remained empty of human beings for more than a century – until the arrival of new tribes, such as the Navajo and the Ute, followed by the Spanish and other European settlers.

The story of the Anasazi is tied inextricably to the beautiful but harsh environment in which they chose to live. Early settlements, consisting of simple pithouses scooped out of the ground, evolved into sunken kivas (underground rooms) that served as meeting and religious sites. Later generations developed the masonry techniques for building square, stone pueblos. But the most dramatic change in Anasazi living was the move to the cliff sides below the flat – topped mesas, where the Anasazi carved their amazing, multilevel dwellings.

The Anasazi lived in a communal society. They traded with other peoples in the region, but signs of warfare are few and isolated. And although the Anasazi certainly had religious and other leaders, as well as skilled artisans, social or class distinctions were virtually nonexistent.

Religious and social motives undoubtedly played a part in the building of the cliff communities and their final abandonment. But the struggle to raise food in an increasingly difficult environment was probably the paramount factor. As populations grew, farmers planted larger areas on the mesas, causing some communities to farm marginal lands, while others left the mesa tops for the cliffs. But the Anasazi couldn't halt the steady loss of the land's fertility from constant use, nor withstand the region's cyclical droughts. Analysis of tree rings, for example, shows that a drought lasting 23 years, from 1276 to 1299, finally forced the last groups of Anasazi to leave permanently.

Although the Anasazi dispersed from their ancestral homeland, their legacy remains in the remarkable archaeological record that they left behind, and in the Hopi, Zuni, and other Pueblo peoples who are their descendants.

 Answer the following questions based on the reading and your knowledge of social studies.

1. The name for the __________ comes from a Navajo word meaning “ancient ones.”
a. Anasazi
b. Cherokee
c. Choctaw
d. Hopi 

2. Which of the following statements is not true of the Anasazi?
a. Carved multi-room dwellings into the sheer sides of cliffs
b. Created a masterful, distinctive pottery tradition
c. Developed sophisticated dams and irrigation systems
d. Flourished until the end of the sixteenth century

3. What served as meeting and religious sites for the Anasazi?
a. cliff dwellings
b. kivas
c. mesas
d. pueblos

4. What type of society did the Anasazi live in?
a. capitalistic
b. communal
c. rigidly hierarchical
d. totalitarian

5. What, lasting from 1276 until 1299, finally forced the last groups of Anasazi to leave permanently?
a. drought
b. flood
c. invasion
d. warfare

1.10 The Second Generation of British Colonies

 1.10 The Second Generation of British Colonies

The religious and civil conflict in England in the mid-17th century limited immigration, as well as the attention the mother country paid the fledgling American colonies.

In part to provide for the defense measures England was neglecting, the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven colonies formed the New England Confederation in 1643. It was the European colonists' first attempt at regional unity.

 The early history of the British settlers reveals a good deal of contention – religious and political – as groups vied for power and position among themselves and their neighbors. Maryland, in particular, suffered from the bitter religious rivalries that afflicted England during the era of Oliver Cromwell. One of the casualties was the state's Toleration Act, which was revoked in the 1650s. It was soon reinstated, however, along with the religious freedom it guaranteed.

With the restoration of King Charles II in 1660, the British once again turned their attention to North America. Within a brief span, the first European settlements were established in the Carolinas and the Dutch driven out of New Netherland. New proprietary colonies were established in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.

The Dutch settlements had been ruled by autocratic governors appointed in Europe. Over the years, the local population had become estranged from them. As a result, when the British colonists began encroaching on Dutch claims in Long Island and Manhattan, the unpopular governor was unable to rally the population to their defense. New Netherland fell in 1664. The terms of the capitulation, however, were mild: The Dutch settlers were able to retain their property and worship as they pleased.

As early as the 1650s, the Albemarle Sound region off the coast of what is now northern North Carolina was inhabited by settlers trickling down from Virginia. The first proprietary governor arrived in 1664. The first town in Albemarle, a remote area even today, was not established until the arrival of a group of French Huguenots in 1704. 

In 1670 the first settlers, drawn from New England and the Caribbean island of Barbados, arrived in what is now Charleston, South Carolina. An elaborate system of government, to which the British philosopher John Locke contributed, was prepared for the new colony. One of its prominent features was a failed attempt to create a hereditary nobility. One of the colony's least appealing aspects was the early trade in Indian slaves. With time, however, timber, rice, and indigo gave the colony a worthier economic base.

In 1681 William Penn, a wealthy Quaker and friend of Charles II, received a large tract of land west of the Delaware River, which became known as Pennsylvania. To help populate it, Penn actively recruited a host of religious dissenters from England and the continent – Quakers, Mennonites, Amish, Moravians, and Baptists.

When Penn arrived the following year, there were already Dutch, Swedish, and English settlers living along the Delaware River. It was there he founded Philadelphia, the "City of Brotherly Love."

In keeping with his faith, Penn was motivated by a sense of equality not often found in other American colonies at the time. Thus, women in Pennsylvania had rights long before they did in other parts of America. Penn and his deputies also paid considerable attention to the colony's relations with the Delaware Indians, ensuring that they were paid for land on which the Europeans settled.

Georgia was settled in 1732, the last of the 13 colonies to be established. Lying close to, if not actually inside the boundaries of Spanish Florida, the region was viewed as a buffer against Spanish incursion. But it had another unique quality: The man charged with Georgia's fortifications, General James Oglethorpe, was a reformer who deliberately set out to create a refuge where the poor and former prisoners would be given new opportunities.

Answer the following questions based on the reading and your knowledge of social studies.

1. Which of the following was not part of the New England Confederation?
a. Connecticut
b. Massachusetts Bay
c. New Amsterdam
d. Plymouth 

2. During the Commonwealth period when England was controlled by Oliver Cromwell, the ____________________ was revoked in Maryland.
a. Bill of Rights
b. Magna Carta
c. Mayflower Compact
d. Toleration Act

3. With the restoration of King Charles II in 1660, new proprietary colonies were established in all but which of the following?
a. Delaware
b. New Jersey
c. New York
d. South Carolina 

4. New Netherland fell to the English in __________.
a. 1659
b. 1664
c. 1669
d. 1674 

5. The first town of the Albemarle Sound region of North Carolina was established by ____________________ in 1704.
a. French Huguenots
b. refugees from New Netherland
c. Scottish immigrants
d. Virginians

6. The first settlers arrived in what is now ____________________, South Carolina, in 1670.
a. Charleston
b. Jamestown
c. Myrtle Beach
d. Savannah 

7. William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, was a ___________________.
a. Baptist
b. Mennonite
c. Moravian
d. Quaker

8. William Penn made certain that the Delaware Indians were paid for land on which Europeans settled in Pennsylvania.
a. True
b. False

1.9 Colonial-Indian Relations

 1.9 Colonial-Indian Relations

By 1640 the British had solid colonies established along the New England coast and the Chesapeake Bay. In between were the Dutch and the tiny Swedish community. To the west were the original Americans, then called Indians.

Sometimes friendly, sometimes hostile, the Eastern tribes were no longer strangers to the Europeans. Although Native Americans benefited from access to new technology and trade, the disease and thirst for land that the early settlers also brought posed a serious challenge to their long-established way of life.

At first, trade with the European settlers brought advantages: knives, axes, weapons, cooking utensils, fishhooks, and a host of other goods. Those Indians who traded initially had significant advantage over rivals who did not. In response to European demand, tribes such as the Iroquois began to devote more attention to fur trapping during the 17th century. Furs and pelts provided tribes the means to purchase colonial goods until late into the 18th century.

Early colonial-Native-American relations were an uneasy mix of cooperation and conflict. On the one hand, there were the exemplary relations that prevailed during the first half century of Pennsylvania's existence. On the other were a long series of setbacks, skirmishes, and wars, which almost invariably resulted in an Indian defeat and further loss of land.

The first of the important Native-American uprisings occurred in Virginia in 1622, when some 347 whites were killed, including a number of missionaries who had just recently come to Jamestown.

White settlement of the Connecticut River region touched off the Pequot War in 1637. In 1675 King Philip, the son of the native chief who had made the original peace with the Pilgrims in 1621, attempted to unite the tribes of southern New England against further European encroachment of their lands. In the struggle, however, Philip lost his life and many Indians were sold into servitude.

The steady influx of settlers into the backwoods regions of the Eastern colonies disrupted Native-American life. As more and more game was killed off, tribes were faced with the difficult choice of going hungry, going to war, or moving and coming into conflict with other tribes to the west.

 The Iroquois, who inhabited the area below lakes Ontario and Erie in northern New York and Pennsylvania, were more successful in resisting European advances. In 1570 five tribes joined to form the most complex Native-American nation of its time, the "Ho-De-No-Sau-Nee," or League of the Iroquois. The league was run by a council made up of 50 representatives from each of the five member tribes. The council dealt with matters common to all the tribes, but it had no say in how the free and equal tribes ran their day-to-day affairs. No tribe was allowed to make war by itself. The council passed laws to deal with crimes such as murder.

The Iroquois League was a strong power in the 1600s and 1700s. It traded furs with the British and sided with them against the French in the war for the dominance of America between 1754 and 1763. The British might not have won that war otherwise.

The Iroquois League stayed strong until the American Revolution. Then, for the first time, the council could not reach a unanimous decision on whom to support. Member tribes made their own decisions, some fighting with the British, some with the colonists, some remaining neutral. As a result, everyone fought against the Iroquois. Their losses were great and the league never recovered.

Answer the following questions based on the reading and your knowledge of social studies. 

1. Tribes such as the Iroquois began to devote more time to ____________________ during the 17th century in response to European demand.
a. commercial fishing
b. deer domestication
c. fur trapping
d. settled farming

2. What conflict was touched off by white settlement of the Connecticut region in 1637?

3. What conflict between English settlers and Native Americans took place in the 1670s in southern New England?

4. What Native-American group inhabited the area below lakes Ontario and Erie in northern New York and Pennsylvania?

5. The ____________________ was run by a council made up of 50 representatives from each of the five member tribes.
a. Dutch East India Company
b. General Court
c. House of Burgesses
d. League of the Iroquois 

6. What war, known as the Seven Years’ War in Europe, took place between 1756 and 1763?
a. American Revolution
b. French and Indian War
c. King Philip’s War
d. Pequot War

7. The Iroquois League fell apart after the ____________________.
a. American Revolution
b. end of fur trapping
c. French and Indian War
d. Pequot War

1.8 New Netherland and Maryland

 1.8 New Netherland and Maryland

Hired by the Dutch East India Company, Henry Hudson in 1609 explored the area around what is now New York City and the river that bears his name, to a point probably north of present-day Albany, New York. Subsequent Dutch voyages laid the basis for their claims and early settlements in the area.

As with the French to the north, the first interest of the Dutch was the fur trade. To this end, they cultivated close relations with the Five Nations of the Iroquois, who were the key to the heartland from which the furs came. In 1617 Dutch settlers built a fort at the junction of the Hudson and the Mohawk Rivers, where Albany now stands.

Settlement on the island of Manhattan began in the early 1620s. In 1624, the island was purchased from local Native Americans for the reported price of $24. It was promptly renamed New Amsterdam.

In order to attract settlers to the Hudson River region, the Dutch encouraged a type of feudal aristocracy, known as the "patroon" system. The first of these huge estates were established in 1630 along the Hudson River. Under the patroon system, any stockholder, or patroon, who could bring 50 adults to his estate over a four-year period was given a 25- kilometer river-front plot, exclusive fishing and hunting privileges, and civil and criminal jurisdiction over his lands. In turn, he provided livestock, tools, and buildings. The tenants paid the patroon rent and gave him first option on surplus crops.

Further to the south, a Swedish trading company with ties to the Dutch attempted to set up its first settlement along the Delaware River three years later. Without the resources to consolidate its position, New Sweden was gradually absorbed into New Netherland, and later, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

In 1632 the Catholic Calvert family obtained a charter for land north of the Potomac River from King Charles I in what became known as Maryland. As the charter did not expressly prohibit the establishment of non-Protestant churches, the colony became a haven for Catholics. Maryland's first town, St. Mary's, was established in 1634 near where the Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay.

While establishing a refuge for Catholics, who faced increasing persecution in Anglican England, the Calverts were also interested in creating profitable estates. To this end, and to avoid trouble with the British government, they also encouraged Protestant immigration.

Maryland’s royal charter had a mixture of feudal and modern elements. On the one hand the Calvert family had the power to create manorial estates. On the other, they could only make laws with the consent of freemen (property holders). They found that in order to attract settlers – and make a profit from their holdings – they had to offer people farms, not just tenancy on manorial estates. The number of independent farms grew in consequence. Their owners demanded a voice in the affairs of the colony. Maryland's first legislature met in 1635.

Answer the following questions based on the reading and your knowledge of social studies. 

1. Who, hired by the Dutch East India Company, explored the area around what is now New York City in 1609?

2. What was the first interest of the Dutch?

3. Dutch settlers built a fort where __________ now stands in 1617, at the junction of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers.
a. Albany
b. Buffalo
c. New York City
d. Rochester

4. Dutch settlement on __________ Island, which was renamed New Amsterdam, began in the 1620s.
a. Liberty
b. Long
c. Manhattan
d. Staten 

5. The __________ system was a type of feudal aristocracy which the Dutch encouraged in order to attract settlers to the area along the Hudson River.
a. communal
b. democratic
c. patroon
d. primogeniture

6. __________, a settlement along the Delaware River, was gradually absorbed into Delaware, New Netherland, and Pennsylvania.
a. Connecticut
b. New Sweden
c. Roanoke
d. Staten Island

7. What Catholic family obtained a charter, in 1632, for what became known as Maryland?

8. What was Maryland’s first town?

9. Who were considered “freemen” in early colonial Maryland?

Massachusetts

 Massachusetts

During the religious upheavals of the 16th century, a body of men and women called Puritans sought to reform the Established Church of England from within. Essentially, they demanded that the rituals and structures associated with Roman Catholicism be replaced by simpler Calvinist Protestant forms of faith and worship. Their reformist ideas, by destroying the unity of the state church, threatened to divide the people and to undermine royal authority.

In 1607 a small group of Separatists – a radical sect of Puritans who did not believe the Established Church could ever be reformed – departed for Leyden, Holland, where the Dutch granted them asylum. However, the Calvinist Dutch restricted them mainly to low-paid laboring jobs. Some members of the congregation grew dissatisfied with this discrimination and resolved to emigrate to the New World.

In 1620, a group of Leyden Puritans secured a land patent from the Virginia Company. Numbering 101, they set out for Virginia on the Mayflower. A storm sent them far north and they landed in New England on Cape Cod. Believing themselves outside the jurisdiction of any organized government, the men drafted a formal agreement to abide by "just and equal laws" drafted by leaders of their own choosing. This was the Mayflower Compact.

In December the Mayflower reached Plymouth harbor; the Pilgrims began to build their settlement during the winter. Nearly half the colonists died of exposure and disease, but neighboring Wampanoag Indians provided the information that would sustain them: how to grow maize. By the next fall, the Pilgrims had a plentiful crop of corn, and a growing trade based on furs and lumber.

 A new wave of immigrants arrived on the shores of Massachusetts Bay in 1630 bearing a grant from King Charles I to establish a colony. Many of them were Puritans whose religious practices were increasingly prohibited in England. Their leader, John Winthrop, urged them to create a "city upon a hill" in the New World – a place where they would live in strict accordance with their religious beliefs and set an example for all of Christendom.

The Massachusetts Bay Colony was to play a significant role in the development of the entire New England region, in part because Winthrop and his Puritan colleagues were able to bring their charter with them. Thus the authority for the colony's government resided in Massachusetts, not in England.

 Under the charter's provisions, power rested with the General Court, which was made up of "freemen" required to be members of the Puritan, or Congregational, Church. This guaranteed that the Puritans would be the dominant political as well as religious force in the colony. The General Court elected the governor, who for most of the next generation would be John Winthrop.

The rigid orthodoxy of the Puritan rule was not to everyone's liking. One of the first to challenge the General Court openly was a young clergyman named Roger Williams, who objected to the colony's seizure of Indian lands and advocated separation of church and state. Another dissenter, Anne Hutchinson, challenged key doctrines of Puritan theology. Both they and their followers were banished.

Williams purchased land from the Narragansett Indians in what is now Providence, Rhode Island, in 1636. In 1644, a sympathetic Puritan controlled English Parliament gave him the charter that established Rhode Island as a distinct colony where complete separation of church and state as well as freedom of religion was practiced.

So‑called heretics like Williams were not the only ones who left Massachusetts. Orthodox Puritans, seeking better lands and opportunities, soon began leaving Massachusetts Bay Colony. News of the fertility of the Connecticut River Valley, for instance, attracted the interest of farmers having a difficult time with poor land. By the early 1630s, many were ready to brave the danger of Indian attack to obtain level ground and deep, rich soil. These new communities often eliminated church membership as a prerequisite for voting, thereby extending the franchise to ever larger numbers of men.

At the same time, other settlements began cropping up along the New Hampshire and Maine coasts, as more and more immigrants sought the land and liberty the New World seemed to offer.

Questions:

1. What group sought to reform the Church of England from within during the 16th century?

2. Where did Puritan Separatists go in 1607?

3. In 1620, a group of Leyden Puritans set out for Virginia on the __________.
a. Beagle
b. Bounty
c. Jolly Roger
d. Mayflower

4. Puritan settlers at Cape Cod agreed to abide by “just and equal laws” in the __________.
a. Constitution
b. Declaration of the Rights of Man
c. Mayflower Compact
d. Pilgrim’s Progress 

5. Puritan settlers at Plymouth were aided by what Native-American group?

6. Who urged Massachusetts Puritans to create a “city upon a hill”?

7. Under the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, power rested with the __________.
a. Church of England
b. General Court
c. Native Americans
d. Parliament

8. Members of the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony had to be “freemen” who belonged to the __________, or Congregational, Church.
a. Anglican
b. Baptist
c. Catholic
d. Puritan

9. What colonial woman famously challenged key doctrines of Puritan theology?

Jamestown

 Jamestown

The first of the British colonies to take hold in North America was Jamestown. On the basis of a charter which King James I granted to the Virginia (or London) company, a group of about 100 men set out for the Chesapeake Bay in 1607. Seeking to avoid conflict with the Spanish, they chose a site about 60 kilometers up the James River from the bay.

 Made up of townsmen and adventurers more interested in finding gold than farming, the group was unequipped by temperament or ability to embark upon a completely new life in the wilderness. Among them, Captain John Smith emerged as the dominant figure. Despite quarrels, starvation, and Native-American attacks, his ability to enforce discipline held the little colony together through its first year.

In 1609 Smith returned to England, and in his absence, the colony descended into anarchy. During the winter of 1609-1610, the majority of the colonists succumbed to disease. Only 60 of the original 300 settlers were still alive by May 1610. That same year, the town of Henrico (now Richmond) was established farther up the James River.

It was not long, however, before a development occurred that revolutionized Virginia's economy. In 1612 John Rolfe began cross‑breeding imported tobacco seed from the West Indies with native plants and produced a new variety that was pleasing to European taste. The first shipment of this tobacco reached London in 1614. Within a decade it had become Virginia's chief source of revenue.

Prosperity did not come quickly, however, and the death rate from disease and Indian attacks remained extraordinarily high. Between 1607 and 1624 approximately 14,000 people migrated to the colony, yet only 1,132 were living there in 1624. On recommendation of a royal commission, the king dissolved the Virginia Company, and made it a royal colony that year.

Questions: 

1. What English monarch granted a charter to the Virginia company? 

2. Who emerged as the dominant figure in the Jamestown colony during its first year? 

3. How many of Jamestown’s original 300 settlers were still alive by May of 1610? 

4. Who began breeding tobacco in Virginia in 1612? 

5. When was Virginia made a royal colony?

Early Settlements

 Early Settlements

The early 1600s saw the beginning of a great tide of emigration from Europe to North America. Spanning more than three centuries, this movement grew from a trickle of a few hundred English colonists to a flood of millions of newcomers. Impelled by powerful and diverse motivations, they built a new civilization on the northern part of the continent.

The first English immigrants to what is now the United States crossed the Atlantic long after thriving Spanish colonies had been established in Mexico, the West Indies, and South America. Like all early travelers to the New World, they came in small, overcrowded ships. During their six-to 12-week voyages, they lived on meager rations. Many died of disease, ships were often battered by storms, and some were lost at sea.

Most European emigrants left their homelands to escape political oppression, to seek the freedom to practice their religion, or to find opportunities denied them at home. Between 1620 and 1635, economic difficulties swept England. Many people could not find work. Even skilled artisans could earn little more than a bare living. Poor crop yields added to the distress. In addition, the Commercial Revolution had created a burgeoning textile industry, which demanded an ever increasing supply of wool to keep the looms running. Landlords enclosed farmlands and evicted the peasants in favor of sheep cultivation. Colonial expansion became an outlet for this displaced peasant population.

The colonists' first glimpse of the new land was a vista of dense woods. The settlers might not have survived had it not been for the help of friendly Indians, who taught them how to grow native plants – pumpkin, squash, beans, and corn. In addition, the vast, virgin forests, extending nearly 2,100 kilometers along the Eastern seaboard, proved a rich source of game and firewood. They also provided abundant raw materials used to build houses, furniture, ships, and profitable items for export.

Although the new continent was remarkably endowed by nature, trade with Europe was vital for articles the settlers could not produce. The coast served the immigrants well. The whole length of shore provided many inlets and harbors. Only two areas – North Carolina and southern New Jersey – lacked harbors for ocean-going vessels.

Majestic rivers – the Kennebec, Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna, Potomac, and numerous others – linked lands between the coast and the Appalachian Mountains with the sea. Only one river, however, the St. Lawrence – dominated by the French in Canada – offered a water passage to the Great Lakes and the heart of the continent. Dense forests, the resistance of some Indian tribes, and the formidable barrier of the Appalachian Mountains discouraged settlement beyond the coastal plain. Only trappers and traders ventured into the wilderness. For the first hundred years the colonists built their settlements compactly along the coast.

Political considerations influenced many people to move to America. In the 1630s, arbitrary rule by England's Charles I gave impetus to the migration. The subsequent revolt and triumph of Charles' opponents under Oliver Cromwell in the 1640s led many cavaliers – "king's men" – to cast their lot in Virginia. In the German speaking regions of Europe, the oppressive policies of various petty princes – particularly with regard to religion – and the devastation caused by a long series of wars helped swell the movement to America in the late 17th and 18th centuries.

 The journey entailed careful planning and management, as well as considerable expense and risk. Settlers had to be transported nearly 5,000 kilometers across the sea. They needed utensils, clothing, seed, tools, building materials, livestock, arms, and ammunition. In contrast to the colonization policies of other countries and other periods, the emigration from England was not directly sponsored by the government but by private groups of individuals whose chief motive was profit.

Directions: Read the passage, then answer the questions below. 

1.What was the journey to North America like for early English colonists? 

2.What was happening in England between 1620 and 1635? 

3.How did the Commercial Revolution in England affect peasant farmers? 

4.How did Native Americans help early English colonists? 

5.Why did early English colonists stick close by the Atlantic coast? 

6.How did Oliver Cromwell’s rule lead to immigration to Virginia? 

7.Why were Germans drawn to North America? 

8.Describe the role played by the English government in colonizing North America.

The First Europeans

 The First Europeans

The first Europeans to arrive in North America – at least the first for whom there is solid evidence – were Norse, traveling west from Greenland, where Erik the Red had founded a settlement around the year 985. In 1001 his son Leif is thought to have explored the northeast coast of what is now Canada and spent at least one winter there.

While Norse sagas suggest that Viking sailors explored the Atlantic coast of North America down as far as the Bahamas, such claims remain unproven. In 1963, however, the ruins of some Norse houses dating from that era were discovered at L'Anse-aux-Meadows in northern Newfoundland, thus supporting at least some of the saga claims.

In 1497, just five years after Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean looking for a western route to Asia, a Venetian sailor named John Cabot arrived in Newfoundland on a mission for the British king. Although quickly forgotten, Cabot's journey was later to provide the basis for British claims to North America. It also opened the way to the rich fishing grounds off George's Banks, to which European fishermen, particularly the Portuguese, were soon making regular visits.

Columbus never saw the mainland of the future United States, but the first explorations of it were launched from the Spanish possessions that he helped establish. The first of these took place in 1513 when a group of men under Juan Ponce de León landed on the Florida coast near the present city of St. Augustine.

With the conquest of Mexico in 1522, the Spanish further solidified their position in the Western Hemisphere. The ensuing discoveries added to Europe's knowledge of what was now named America – after the Italian Amerigo Vespucci, who wrote a widely popular account of his voyages to a "New World." By 1529 reliable maps of the Atlantic coastline from Labrador to Tierra del Fuego had been drawn up, although it would take more than another century before hope of discovering a "Northwest Passage" to Asia would be completely abandoned.

Among the most significant early Spanish explorations was that of Hernando De Soto, a veteran conquistador who had accompanied Francisco Pizarro in the conquest of Peru. Leaving Havana in 1539, De Soto's expedition landed in Florida and ranged through the southeastern United States as far as the Mississippi River in search of riches.

 Another Spaniard, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, set out from Mexico in 1540 in search of the mythical Seven Cities of Cibola. Coronado's travels took him to the Grand Canyon and Kansas, but failed to reveal the gold or treasure his men sought. However, his party did leave the peoples of the region a remarkable, if unintended, gift: Enough of his horses escaped to transform life on the Great Plains. Within a few generations, the Plains Indians had become masters of horsemanship, greatly expanding the range and scope of their activities.

While the Spanish were pushing up from the south, the northern portion of the present – day United States was slowly being revealed through the journeys of men such as Giovanni da Verrazano. A Florentine who sailed for the French, Verrazano made landfall in North Carolina in 1524, then sailed north along the Atlantic Coast past what is now New York harbor.

A decade later, the Frenchman Jacques Cartier set sail with the hope – like the other Europeans before him – of finding a sea passage to Asia. Cartier's expeditions along the St. Lawrence River laid the foundation for the French claims to North America, which were to last until 1763.

 Following the collapse of their first Quebec colony in the 1540s, French Huguenots attempted to settle the northern coast of Florida two decades later. The Spanish, viewing the French as a threat to their trade route along the Gulf Stream, destroyed the colony in 1565. Ironically, the leader of the Spanish forces, Pedro Menéndez, would soon establish a town not far away – St. Augustine. It was the first permanent European settlement in what would become the United States.

The great wealth that poured into Spain from the colonies in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Peru provoked great interest on the part of the other European powers. Emerging maritime nations such as England, drawn in part by Francis Drake's successful raids on Spanish treasure ships, began to take an interest in the New World.

In 1578 Humphrey Gilbert, the author of a treatise on the search for the Northwest Passage, received a patent from Queen Elizabeth to colonize the "heathen and barbarous landes" in the New World that other European nations had not yet claimed. It would be five years before his efforts could begin. When he was lost at sea, his half-brother, Walter Raleigh, took up the mission.

In 1585 Raleigh established the first British colony in North America, on Roanoke Island off the coast of North Carolina. It was later abandoned, and a second effort two years later also proved a failure. It would be 20 years before the British would try again. This time – at Jamestown in 1607 – the colony would succeed, and North America would enter a new era.

Directions: Read the passage above, then answer the questions below.

1.According to available evidence, who were the first Europeans to reach the Americas? 

2.Whose explorations provided the basis for British (English) claims in North America? 

3.What European explorer traveled to what is now Florida in 1513? 

4.What European country conquered Mexico? 

5.Describe the travels and explorations of Hernando De Soto. 

6.Describe the search for the Seven Cities of Cibola. 

7.What areas of North America were explored by Jacques Cartier? 

8.What was the first permanent settlement in what would become the United States? 

9.Who founded the English colony at Roanoke?

Native American Cultures

 Native American Cultures

The America that greeted the first Europeans was far from an empty wilderness. It is now thought that as many people lived in the Western Hemisphere as in Western Europe at that time – about 40 million. Estimates of the number of Native Americans living in what is now the United States at the onset of European colonization range from two to 18 million, with most historians tending toward the lower figure. What is certain is the devastating effect that European disease had on the indigenous population practically from the time of initial contact. Smallpox, in particular, ravaged whole communities and is thought to have been a much more direct cause of the precipitous decline in the Indian population in the 1600s than the numerous wars and skirmishes with European settlers.

 Indian customs and culture at the time were extraordinarily diverse, as could be expected, given the expanse of the land and the many different environments to which they had adapted. Some generalizations, however, are possible. Most tribes, particularly in the wooded eastern region and the Midwest, combined aspects of hunting, gathering, and the cultivation of maize and other products for their food supplies. In many cases, the women were responsible for farming and the distribution of food, while the men hunted and participated in war.

By all accounts, Native-American society in North America was closely tied to the land. Identification with nature and the elements was integral to religious beliefs. Their life was essentially clan – oriented and communal, with children allowed more freedom and tolerance than was the European custom of the day.

Although some North American tribes developed a type of hieroglyphics to preserve certain texts, Native-American culture was primarily oral, with a high value placed on the recounting of tales and dreams. Clearly, there was a good deal of trade among various groups and strong evidence exists that neighboring tribes maintained extensive and formal relations – both friendly and hostile.

Directions: Read the passage above, then answer the questions below.

1.How many people lived in what is now the United States at the start of European colonization of the Americas? 

2.What killed countless numbers of Native Americans following European colonization of the Americas? 

3.Describe Native American cultures at the time of European colonization. 

4. Imagine that you are a Native American living in what is now the United States in 1600. What might you think of European colonists? Explain your answer.

Mound Builders and Pueblos

Mound Builders and Pueblos

The first Native-American group to build mounds in what is now the United States often are called the Adenans. They began constructing earthen burial sites and fortifications around 600 B.C. Some mounds from that era are in the shape of birds or serpents; they probably served religious purposes not yet fully understood.

The Adenans appear to have been absorbed or displaced by various groups collectively known as Hopewellians. One of the most important centers of their culture was found in southern Ohio, where the remains of several thousand of these mounds still can be seen. Believed to be great traders, the Hopewellians used and exchanged tools and materials across a wide region of hundreds of kilometers.

 By around 500 A.D., the Hopewellians disappeared, too, gradually giving way to a broad group of tribes generally known as the Mississippians or Temple Mound culture. One city, Cahokia, near Collinsville, Illinois, is thought to have had a population of about 20,000 at its peak in the early 12th century. At the center of the city stood a huge earthen mound, flattened at the top, that was 30 meters high and 37 hectares at the base. Eighty other mounds have been found nearby.

Cities such as Cahokia depended on a combination of hunting, foraging, trading, and agriculture for their food and supplies. Influenced by the thriving societies to the south, they evolved into complex hierarchical societies that took slaves and practiced human sacrifice.

In what is now the southwest United States, the Anasazi, ancestors of the modern Hopi Indians, began building stone and adobe pueblos around the year 900. These unique and amazing apartment-like structures were often built along cliff faces; the most famous, the “cliff palace” of Mesa Verde, Colorado, had more than 200 rooms. Another site, the Pueblo Bonito ruins along New Mexico’s Chaco River, once contained more than 800 rooms.

Perhaps the most affluent of the pre-Columbian Native Americans lived in the Pacific Northwest, where the natural abundance of fish and raw materials made food supplies plentiful and permanent villages possible as early as 1,000 B.C. The opulence of their “potlatch” gatherings remains a standard for extravagance and festivity probably unmatched in early American history.

Directions: Read the passage above, then answer the questions below. 

1.Who were the first mound builders? 

2.Describe the Hopewellians. 

3.What was life like in Cahokia? 

4.Describe how and where the Anasazi lived. 

5.How did Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest live?

THE FIRST AMERICANS

 THE FIRST AMERICANS

At the height of the Ice Age, between 34,000 and 30,000 B.C., much of the world’s water was locked up in vast continental ice sheets. As a result, the Bering Sea was hundreds of meters below its current level, and a land bridge, known as Beringia, emerged between Asia and North America. At its peak, Beringia is thought to have been some 1,500 kilometers wide. A moist and treeless tundra, it was covered with grasses and plant life, attracting the large animals that early humans hunted for their survival.

The first people to reach North America almost certainly did so without knowing they had crossed into a new continent. They would have been following game, as their ancestors had for thousands of years, along the Siberian coast and then across the land bridge.

Once in Alaska, it would take these first North Americans thousands of years more to work their way through the openings in great glaciers south to what is now the United States. Evidence of early life in North America continues to be found. Little of it, however, can be reliably dated before 12,000 B.C.; a recent discovery of a hunting lookout in northern Alaska, for example, may date from almost that time. So too may the finely crafted spear points and items found near Clovis, New Mexico.

Similar artifacts have been found at sites throughout North and South America, indicating that life was probably already well established in much of the Western Hemisphere by some time prior to 10,000 B.C.

Around that time the mammoth began to die out and the bison took its place as a principal source of food and hides for these early North Americans. Over time, as more and more species of large game vanished — whether from overhunting or natural causes — plants, berries, and seeds became an increasingly important part of the early American diet. Gradually, foraging and the first attempts at primitive agriculture appeared. Native Americans in what is now central Mexico led the way, cultivating corn, squash, and beans, perhaps as early as 8,000 B.C. Slowly, this knowledge spread northward.

By 3,000 B.C., a primitive type of corn was being grown in the river valleys of New Mexico and Arizona. Then the first signs of irrigation began to appear, and, by 300 B.C., signs of early village life.

By the first centuries A.D., the Hohokam were living in settlements near what is now Phoenix, Arizona, where they built ball courts and pyramid-like mounds reminiscent of those found in Mexico, as well as a canal and irrigation system.

Directions: Read the text above, then answer the questions below.

1.What is the name of the land bridge which emerged between Asia and North America during the last ice age? 

2.Why did the first people cross into North America from Asia?

3.According to archaeological artifacts, how long have human beings lived in the Western Hemisphere? 

4.What animals were hunted by the earliest Americans?

5.How early was corn planted in what is now Arizona?

6.Describe life for the Hohokam of present-day Arizona.

ODE TO PABLO’S TENNIS SHOES

 ODE TO PABLO’S TENNIS SHOES

They wait under Pablo’s bed,
Rain-beaten, sun-beaten,
A scuff of green
At their tips
From when he fell
In the school yard.
He fell leaping for a football
That sailed his way.
But Pablo fell and got up,
Green on his shoes,
With the football
Out of reach.

Now it’s night.
Pablo is in bed listening
To his mother laughing
To the Mexican novelas on TV.
His shoes, twin pets
That snuggle his toes,
Are under the bed.
He should have bathed,
But he didn’t.
(Dirt rolls from his palm,
Blades of grass
Tumble from his hair.)
He wants to be
Like his shoes,
A little dirty
From the road,
A little worn
From racing to the drinking fountain
A hundred times in one day.
It takes water
To make him go,
And his shoes to get him
There. He loves his shoes,
Cloth like a sail,
Rubber like
A lifeboat on rough sea.
Pablo is tired,
Sinking into the mattress.
His eyes sting from
Grass and long words in books.
He needs eight hours
Of sleep
To cool his shoes,
The tongues hanging
Out, exhausted.

—Gary Soto

from The Freedom Writers Diary Foreword by Zlata Filipovic

 from The Freedom Writers Diary Foreword by Zlata Filipovic

When I was asked to write the foreword to The Freedom Writers Diary, I must say I was extremely honored and proud, but at the same time amazed by how many wonderful things can happen in such a short time.

I met the students of Wilson High School in March 1996, when thanks to their dedication, effort and will, they invited my parents, Mirna (my best friend from Bosnia, who was living with me at the time) and myself to come to the city of Long Beach, California. When I met them, I was touched by their warmth and kindness. They were teenagers just like me, and like all young people all over the world, they have an amazing potential to grow into truly great people, leaders, ones who will inspire others.

These students and their teacher, Erin Gruwell, chose to read Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, my own book, Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo (and many other books), and were inspired to start writing their own diaries. They had organized themselves and chose to do something different, something memorable, something powerful and humane. They chose to rid themselves of doing things the easy way, the way they’ve always been done, and chose to write, to create, to fight stereotypes and live up to the name of true Freedom Writers. I am immensely proud and happy to have had a chance to meet them and to play some role in their “growth” as human beings.

I started writing my own diary before the war in Bosnia because I wanted to have a place to record my childhood and create something that I could look back on and laugh, cry and reminisce.[1] I wanted to see myself grow through my writing. Some of my older girlfriends had their own diaries, and having read the diaries of Anne Frank and Adrian Mole, I was absolutely certain that writing a diary was the right thing to do. I never imagined that my diary would be published, and certainly didn’t expect it to become a war diary. I also never dreamed that my childhood would be cut short. These things seemed too impossible to think about, because it’s human nature to always believe that “bad” things happen to other people, not us. But when misfortune comes our way, we find ourselves surprised, confused, scared, angry and sad.

When the Bosnian war started with all its horrors and disrupted my happy and carefree childhood, my diary became more than a place to record daily events. It became a friend, the paper that it was made of was ready and willing to accept anything and everything I had to say; it could handle my fear, my questions, my sadness. I discovered the beauty of writing—when one can pour oneself onto a great white emptiness and fill it with emotions and thoughts and leave them there forever. And I kept on writing during almost two years of war; it became a type of therapy for dealing with everything that was going on.

I see a parallel between the Freedom Writers and myself because we’ve all been subjected to things in our surroundings that could have made us feel like victims. Life brings good things and bad things, it makes people sad and happy in their own homes, within their families, in school and on the street. Sometimes we suffer because of many things over which we have no control: the color of our skin, poverty, our religion, our family situation, war. It would be easy to become a victim of our circumstances and continue feeling sad, scared or angry; or instead, we could choose to deal with injustice humanely and break the chains of negative thoughts and energies, and not let ourselves sink into it. Writing about the things that happen to us allows us to look objectively at what’s going on around us and turn a negative experience into something positive and useful. This process requires a lot of work, effort and greatness, but it is possible, and the Freedom Writers have proved it—they’ve chosen a difficult, but powerful, path.

After I left Bosnia, the war continued, and as we’ve recently seen, a similar thing happened in Kosovo. People have asked me what I think about this, and all I can say is that it makes me terribly sad. Now, almost all of the young former Yugoslavians know what a bomb sounds like, what a cellar is and what the absence of water, electricity or home feels like. And again, these children and young people had nothing to do with the situation they found themselves in. I just hope that the anger, hate and sadness they have experienced will not remain inside them, and that they will be able to rise above their experiences. Because if they grow up holding on to such terrible feelings, it could lead to another war sometime in the future when the fate of the country is in their hands. This is why I believe that everything the Freedom Writers have overcome and accomplished is very important and must be respected. If they had chosen to stay encapsulated[2] in the anger and hate that surrounded them in their neighborhoods, the seeds of hatred and fear would have grown with them and history would repeat itself with their children in the future. The Freedom Writers chose to break this cycle and make their positive experiences a lesson for generations to come.

And, of course, I will always very highly respect and admire the Freedom Writers’ mentor, their friend and teacher, Erin Gruwell, who is also my friend. She never wants to be congratulated or held responsible for the great things that came out of Room 203 at Wilson High School, but she must be. She was (and still is) much more than a teacher to the Freedom Writers. She was a parent to those who did not have, or could not communicate with, their own; she was an older friend who was fun to be around; but she was also very loyal, someone who cared and fought for each one of her “kids.” She shared her education, tenacity[3] and love with them and made a huge difference in her students’ lives. They could have remained the “underachievers” they’d been labeled before they arrived in her classroom. But in just several years, she made a tremendous difference and created a safe place for them to grow and blossom into amazing people. She made authors and, I dare say, historical figures out of them. Many teachers consider their after-school time to be precious, but Erin gave herself over to her work. She was dedicated to helping her students learn, opening their eyes to injustice and guiding them to the weapons (in this case a pen, knowledge, a measure of faith, and an unyielding determination) with which to fight intolerance. Finally, she taught them how to assume their rightful place in the world. I know her students will remember her the rest of their lives, as well they should. I wish that teachers everywhere were like her—because the world would be a much better place. I always say that the young people are the future of the world, and if we start with them first, if we educate and develop a sense of tolerance among them, our future, the future of this world, will be in good hands for generations to come.

How many good things can come out of a bad situation? I’m a perfect example. I was a small happy Sarajevan girl whose country was struck by war. Suddenly I was put in the position of having some say and possible influence in the world. I did not want that responsibility, and I wish that my diary had never been published; if not for the war, there would have been no reason to share it with the world. But nonetheless, some good has come out of it.

Anne Frank’s diary inspired the world, and good has come out of her tragedy. Her strength kept her going for as long as it could, and subsequently has been recognized by millions of people, young and old. The greatness of those who are no longer with us fortunately remains to lead and inspire those left behind.

[1] reminisce — recall the past
[2] encapsulated — encased; enclosed
[3] tenacity — persistence; stubbornness

Observing Mars from Mars and the Search for Life by Elaine Scott

 Observing Mars from Mars and the Search for Life by Elaine Scott

From the beginning of history, Mars, the small red planet that is fourth from the Sun, has always fascinated—even frightened—those who have watched it move from east to west across the night sky. Ages ago, people may have looked at Mars’s reddish color and thought of all the blood that is spilled during war. Perhaps that is why the ancient Assyrians called Mars the “Shedder of Blood,” and the Greeks, Romans, and, later, the Vikings named the planet after their gods of war. Mars was ancient Rome’s god of war, and that is the name that has endured.

Our earliest ancestors used stories and myths to explain the mysteries of nature. They knew little about science, as we think of it today. Nevertheless, astronomy, the study of the universe beyond Earth, is one of the world’s oldest sciences. The earliest astronomers, like Ptolemy (tole-uh-me) (approximately a.d. 100–179), who lived in Roman Egypt, didn’t have telescopes or other instruments to help them study the moon and the stars. They had to rely on their own eyesight. Then, in 1608, the telescope was invented by a Dutch optician, Hans Lippershey (lip-er-shy), who lived from 1570 to 1619. Lippershey’s invention had two lenses at either end of a tube. One, called a convex lens, curved outward. It made objects appear bigger than they were, but blurry. The smaller lens, called a concave lens, curved inward. It made objects look smaller, but clearer. When light passed through both lenses, objects appeared three to four times larger and closer than they were. Just a year later, in 1609, the Italian Galileo Galilei (ga-luh-lay-oh ga-luh-lay-ee) (1564–1642) made improvements to the instrument that enabled it to make objects appear 20 times larger than their true size.

Telescopes continued to improve. Galileo’s was five to six feet in length, but by the middle of the 17th century, telescopes had grown. In 1656, a telescope made by Dutch mathematician Christiaan Huygens (hoy-gehns) (1629–1695) was 23 feet long and could magnify 100 times.

The telescope changed astronomy forever. Knowledge of the universe grew, and ancient ideas gave way to new ones. The belief that Earth was at the center of our solar system gave way to the theory that the Sun was at the center.

Astronomers continued to observe the planets and stars and make notes about what they saw. In 1877, an Italian astronomer, Giovanni Schiaparelli (joh-von-ne skyah-puhrel-lee) (1835–1910) trained his telescope on Mars and made a surprising discovery. He announced that the planet seemed to be crisscrossed by a series of channels—or, in Italian, canali. Unfortunately, when Schiaparelli’s work was translated into English, a mistake was made. The word canali was translated as the word “canals.” Though both are waterways, a canal is built by people, while a channel is created by nature. Debate raged among the astronomers of the day: Had the waterways on Mars been created by intelligent beings, or were they natural Martian formations? Throughout his life, Schiaparelli remained neutral on the question. However, many of those who read Schiaparelli’s papers in English believed they were reading about constructed canals, and they drew the conclusion that these canals had been made by a civilization living on Mars. The American astronomer Percival Lowell (1855–1916) was among the biggest believers.

In 1894, Percival Lowell established the Lowell Observatory on top of Mars Hill in Flagstaff, Arizona. For 23 years, Lowell worked at his observatory, studying Mars and making drawings of the features he saw through his telescope. As he observed Schiaparelli’s “canals,” he became convinced they had been built by intelligent beings. Lowell promoted his views in three books: Mars, published in 1895, Mars and Its Canals (1906), and Mars as the Abode of Life (1908). In Mars, Lowell wrote, “Certainly what we see hints at the existence of beings who are in advance of, not behind us, in the journey of life.” Though we know now that he was incorrect, Percival Lowell was relying upon scientific “evidence” to formulate a hypothesis, or prediction, about what Martian life might be like.

At the same time, another man, the English writer H. G. Wells (1866–1946), was using his imagination to form a very different picture of life on Mars. In 1898, Wells’s science fiction novel The War of the Worlds—which was later used as the basis for the famous radio broadcast—was published. It was one of the first books to describe an alien invasion from another planet.

Thanks to the scientific efforts of Lowell and others, and the creative effort of H. G. Wells, the idea of a habitable world somewhere else in our solar system began to capture the world’s imagination.

More About Mars

• Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun.
• Mars orbits the Sun at an average distance of 141.5 million miles.
• Mars’s distance from Earth varies, according to the orbits of both planets. At its closest, Mars is 33.9 million miles away. At its farthest, it is 249 million miles away.
• Mars is about half the size of Earth, though its land area is about the same. This is because our planet is covered with oceans, and Mars is not.
• Because it is smaller than Earth, Mars’s gravity is only 38 percent as strong as Earth’s. A human weighing 160 pounds on Earth would weigh only about 60 pounds on Mars.
• Mars has two tiny moons—Phobos and Deimos. Phobos means “fear,” and Deimos means “panic.” In mythology, Phobos and Deimos were the offspring of Mars. The moons were discovered in 1877 by Asaph Hall, working at the U.S. Naval Observatory.
• The month of March takes its name from Mars.
• One Martian day, or “sol,” lasts 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35 seconds.
• Traveling at an average speed of 53,979 mph, it takes Mars 687 Earth days to make one orbit around the Sun.
• Mars boasts both the largest volcano and the largest canyon system in the solar system.
• The average temperature on Mars is –64 degrees Fahrenheit, but at its poles the temperature can dip to –225°F and at the equator it can rise to 80°F.
• Martian wind can blow at hurricane force—more than 75 miles per hour.

from Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

 from Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

We’re walking out the front door to go to the matinee[1] when Aunt Minnie calls to us from where she’s ironing in the parlor.

“I’m sorry,” she says, wiping a hand on her forehead. “But one of you kids is going to have to go over to Nana Philly’s and give her lunch. I’ve just got too much laundry to do today.”

“Not me,” Beans says quickly.

“Me neither!” says Kermit.

“No way, no how, Ma!” Buddy says.

Aunt Minnie looks up at the ceiling as if she’s praying for patience. She’s going to be praying a long time at this rate.

“I’ll do it,” I say. Nana Philly can’t be any worse than Shirley Temple.[2]

Aunt Minnie gives me a long look. “Thank you, Turtle,” she says. She sounds surprised. “You’re a good girl.”

“Course I am,” I say. “You’re just used to rotten boys.”

“Why, Turtle!” Miss Bea says with a confused smile when she opens the door. “How lovely to see you! But I was expecting your aunt.”

“Aunt Minnie’s got laundry. I’ll give Nana Philly her lunch,” I say.

“Aren’t you a dear,” she says. “Well, whatever you make her, just be sure it’s soft.” She lowers her voice a notch. “Her teeth aren’t very good.”

“All right,” I say.

“I won’t be long,” she says, walking down the steps. “You’re so sweet to do this!”

But I’m not sweet—I’m curious. It’s not every day you find out you have a grandmother you didn’t even know was alive. And despite what everyone says about Nana Philly being terrible, I’ve been wanting to see if she’ll be different with me. After all, I’m a girl. Maybe she just hates boys. Wouldn’t blame her if she did.

I walk into the house with fresh eyes. This is where Mama grew up. A thousand questions flash through my mind: Which bedroom did she sleep in? Did she run up and down the hallway? Did she sit at the piano? I hope not. That stool doesn’t look too sturdy.

Nana Philly is sitting in the rocking chair in her bedroom reading a new magazine. She’s dressed the same way as when I first saw her.

“I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m Turtle,” I say. “Your granddaughter.”

She looks up.

“Sadiebelle’s girl.”

And blinks.

“Mama’s in New Jersey,” I explain. “She got a job as a housekeeper to a rich lady.”

Nana Philly stares at me.

“I’m supposed to make you lunch. You hungry?” I ask.

The old lady doesn’t say anything; she just looks back down at her magazine. It’s not exactly the tearful reunion I was imagining, although maybe that blink was her way of saying she was happy to see me. Then again, maybe she has dust in her eye.

I go into the kitchen and look around. Mama’s always making fancy lunches for the ladies she works for. You wouldn’t even know people were standing in breadlines[3] if you walked in and saw what they were eating: iced cantaloupe, shrimp aspic, caviar sandwiches with cream cheese, hearts of lettuce with French dressing, meringue cookies.

There’s no caviar or cream cheese in sight, but there is bread on the table and milk in the icebox,[4] so I decide to make milk toast. I toast up some bread, stick it in a bowl, and pour milk over it. It’s tasty, and it’s mushy.

Nana Philly eyes the bowl suspiciously when I place it on the little table in front of her.

“It’s milk toast,” I say. “We eat it all the time.” Strange as it seems, I want her to like it.

She doesn’t move and then I realize why.

“Oh, no! I forgot your spoon,” I say, and rush back into the kitchen. I hear a thump, and when I return, the bowl is lying facedown on the floor, milk splattered everywhere.

“What happened?” I ask.

Nana Philly doesn’t say anything. Not that I really expect her to.

“I must have put it too close to the edge,” I say, and clean up the mess. Then I set about making another bowl of milk toast. I bring it out—with a spoon this time—and place it in front of her on the little table.

“Here you go,” I say. “I hope you like it.”

She looks at the bowl for a moment and then her hand whips out and knocks it right off the table and onto the floor.

I’m so shocked, I just stand there. I didn’t really believe what the boys said about her before, but I do now.

“You did that on purpose,” I say. “Why? I’m your granddaughter!”

Her mouth twitches as if this amuses her.

Something hopeful in me hardens. She reminds me of all the rotten kids I’ve ever lived with.

“You don’t scare me,” I say.

I clean up the mess again and make another bowl of milk toast. But this time I don’t give it to the mean old lady who’s my grandmother; instead, I sit down in a chair and start eating. She stares at me, her eyes following every spoonful.

“This is delicious,” I say, and smile. “Shame you spilled yours.”

I swear I can see her mouth watering.

When Miss Bea returns, Nana Philly and I are sitting in the parlor.

 “Did you two have a nice lunch?”

“We had a lovely time,” I say.

“Would you like to come again tomorrow? Give your poor aunt a break?” Miss Bea asks.

“Sure,” I say, and smile sweetly at Nana Philly. “I’m looking forward to getting to know my grandmother.”

Miss Bea’s waiting for me on the front porch with her shopping basket when I arrive the next afternoon.

“There’s grits-and-grunts-and-gravy on the stove and guava duff for dessert. There’s plenty for both of you,” Miss Bea says. “I’ve got shopping to do, so I might be a while.”

“Take your time,” I say.

“Thank you, Turtle,” she says. “You’re a dear.”

Nana Philly’s in her room looking at her magazine as usual. I notice it’s upside down.

“Must be some real interesting reading you got there,” I say.

The old woman ignores me, so I go into the kitchen. I spoon out two bowls of gritsand-grunts-and-gravy. Folks here eat this all the time. Grunts are little fish and grits are like porridge. That’s the one good thing about Key West: there’s food everywhere—hanging from trees, in the ocean—and it’s all free.

After what happened yesterday at lunch, I figured Nana Philly would have wised up. But I guess you can’t teach a mean old lady new tricks, because the bowl hasn’t been in front of her for more than a moment when her hand knocks it off the table. It falls to the floor in a splatter.

“You know, there sure are a lot of hungry folks who would have liked to eat that,” I say, but all she does is stare at the upside-down magazine a little harder.

I clean up the mess and eat my own lunch with her watching the whole time. It’s uncomfortable, but it’s just like dealing with a rotten kid: if you back down in front of them, they’ll never leave you be.

When I’m finished, I carry a bowl of guava duff out and place it in front of her. She lifts her hand to smack it, but I snatch it away just in time.

“You’re not wasting dessert,” I say. “I’ll eat it.”

I sit down and take a bite. It’s delicious. It tastes a little like plum pudding.

“Miss Bea sure is a good cook.”

Nana Philly pretends to ignore me, but I can tell she’s watching. She reminds me of a lobster, with her beady eyes peeking out at me from under her red hat.

“Mama’s a good cook, too. She makes the best caramel custard. One of our old employers, Mr. Hearn, couldn’t get enough of it. He had her make it four nights a week.”

I study Nana Philly closely. “You know, Mama told me you were dead.”

She glances down quickly, and it comes to me.

“You were mean to her, too, weren’t you?” I ask. “Is that why she hasn’t come back to Key West?”

My grandmother doesn’t look up, and I know the answer to my own question.

“Poor Mama,” I whisper. Chased off by her own mother. No wonder she’s such a wreck.

A shadow crosses Nana Philly’s face and, for a brief moment, I see something like regret in her blue eyes, but then it’s gone.

It happens just like in the Bible: on the third day, there’s a miracle.

“I can tell the old girl’s really looking forward to seeing you today,” Miss Bea says.

I doubt that, but say, “Really?”

“Even had me get out her best hat,” Miss Bea says.

I’m not impressed. I didn’t even want to come here today after what I learned yesterday, but Aunt Minnie got used to me helping out, so I don’t have any choice now. This is what I get for being a good girl.

When I walk into the bedroom, Nana Philly puts down her magazine and looks at me. She’s wearing a royal blue hat with a peacock feather.

“You expecting the queen?” I ask.

Miss Bea has made conch chowder, and it’s simmering on the stove. I fill two bowls and carry them out, placing one in front of Nana Philly. I sit down with my bowl and start eating, waiting to hear her bowl hit the floor. But when I look up, she’s holding the spoon. She brings it to her mouth with her good hand and swallows the chowder.

 She takes another spoonful. And another.

Soon her bowl is empty.

“You know,” I say, “I missed seeing a matinee the first day when I came here to give you lunch. It was a Shirley Temple picture.”

Her eyes fly to my face.

“Which is fine by me, because I hate Shirley Temple,” I say.

A corner of my grandmother’s mouth turns up in a crooked smile, and her eyes shine.

“Me thoo,” she says. 

[1] matinee — an afternoon movie
[2] Shirley Temple — a child movie star of the time
[3] breadlines — lines of people waiting to receive free food given by the government in the 1930s
[4] icebox — refrigerator

Drumbeats and Bullets from The Boys’ War by Jim Murphy

 Drumbeats and Bullets from The Boys’ War by Jim Murphy

The groggy soldier woke up to a persistent, brain-rattling drumming noise. Thrump. Thrump. Thrump. He rolled over in an attempt to ignore the sound and pulled his blanket up over his head. The drumming went on and intensified as drummers all over camp signaled the call to muster.[1] There was no escaping it, and eventually—and usually with a grumble—the soldier got up to start another day.

Soldiers probably came to hate the sound of the drums, especially when they heard them on a drizzly, cold morning. Yet drummer boys who served during the Civil War provided valuable service to the armies of both sides, although some didn’t realize it at first.

“I wanted to fight the Rebs,”[2] a twelve-year-old boy wrote, “but I was very small and they would not give me a musket. The next day I went back and the man behind the desk said I looked as if I could hold a drum and if I wanted I could join that way. I did, but I was not happy to change a musket for a stick.”

This boy was disappointed at being assigned a “nonfighting” and, to him, dull job. Most likely, he saw himself always drumming in parades or in the safety of camp. He would soon learn differently.

The beat of the drum was one of the most important means of communicating orders to soldiers in the Civil War. Drummers did find themselves in camp sounding the routine calls to muster or meals and providing the beat for marching drills. But more often than not, they were with the troops in the field, not just marching to the site of the battle but in the middle of the fighting. It was the drumbeat that told the soldiers how and when to maneuver as smoke poured over the battlefield. And the sight of a drummer boy showed soldiers where their unit was located, helping to keep them close together.

Drummers were such a vital part of battle communication that they often found themselves the target of enemy fire. “A ball[3] hit my drum and bounced off and I fell over,” a Confederate drummer at the Battle of Cedar Creek recalled. “When I got up, another ball tore a hole in the drum and another came so close to my ear that I heard it sing.”

Naturally, such killing fire alarmed many drummer boys at first. But like their counterparts with rifles, they soon learned how to face enemy shells without flinching.[4] Fourteen-year-old Orion Howe was struck by several Confederate bullets during the Battle of Vicksburg in 1863. Despite his wounds, he maintained his position and relayed the orders given him. For his bravery, Howe would later receive the Medal of Honor.

Drumming wasn’t the only thing these boys did, either. While in camp, they would carry water, rub down horses, gather wood, or cook for the soldiers. There is even evidence that one was a barber for the troops when he wasn’t drumming. After a battle, most drummers helped carry wounded soldiers off the field or assisted in burial details. And many drummer boys even got their wish to fight the enemy.

Fighting in the Civil War was particularly bloody. Of the 900 men in the First Maine Heavy Artillery, 635 became casualties in just seven minutes of fighting at the Battle of Petersburg. A North Carolina regiment saw 714 of its 800 soldiers killed at Gettysburg. At such a time, these boys put down their drums and took up whatever rifle was handy. One such drummer was Johnny Clem.

Clem ran away from home in 1861 when he was eleven years old. He enlisted, and the Twenty-second Michigan Regiment took him in as their drummer, paying him thirteen dollars a month for his services. Several months later, at the Battle of Shiloh, Clem earned the nickname of “Johnny Shiloh” when a piece of cannon shell bounced off a tree stump and destroyed his drum. When another drum was shattered in battle, Clem found a musket and fought bravely for the rest of the war, becoming a sergeant in the fall of 1863.

The Civil War would be the last time drummer boys would be used in battle. The roar of big cannons and mortars, the rapid firing of thousands of rifles, and the shouts of tens of thousands of men made hearing a drumbeat difficult. More and more, bugles were being used to pass along orders. Military tactics were changing, too. Improved weapons made it impractical to have precise lines of soldiers face their enemy at close range. Instead, smaller, fast-moving units and trench warfare, neither of which required drummers, became popular.

Even as their role in the fighting was changing, Civil War drummers stayed at their positions signaling orders to the troops. Hundreds were killed and thousands more wounded. “A cannon ball came bouncing across the corn field,” a drummer boy recalled, “kicking up dirt and dust each time it struck the earth. Many of the men in our company took shelter behind a stone wall, but I stood where I was and never stopped drumming. An officer came by on horseback and chastised the men, saying ‘this boy puts you all to shame. Get up and move forward.’ We all began moving across the corn field. . . . Even when the fighting was at its fiercest and I was frightened, I stood straight and did as I was ordered. . . . I felt I had to be a good example for the others.”

[1] muster — to assemble troops
[2] Rebs — a nickname given to soldiers in the Confederate army
[3] ball — a lead ball fired from a gun
[4] flinching — drawing away; falling back

History of the Submarine Sandwich by Linda Stradley

 History of the Submarine Sandwich by Linda Stradley

Submarine Sandwich - It is a king-sized sandwich on an Italian loaf of bread approximately 12 inches long and 3 inches wide, filled with boiled ham, hard salami, cheeses, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and sometimes flavored with garlic and oregano. It is thought that the original concept of these sandwiches came from the Italians who immigrated to New York in the late 1800s and brought with them their favorite Italian Sandwich recipes.

1910 - The family of Dominic Conti (1874-1954) claims he was the first to use the name, submarine sandwich. Angela Zuccaro, granddaughter of Dominic, related the following information:

My grandfather came to this country circa 1895 from Montella, Italy. Around 1910, he started his grocery store, called Dominic Conti’s Grocery Store, on Mill Street in Paterson New Jersey, where he was selling the traditional Italian sandwiches. His sandwiches were made from a recipe he brought with him from Italy which consisted of a long crust roll, filled with cold cuts, topped with lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, onions, oil, vinegar, Italian spices, salt, and pepper. The sandwich started with a layer of cheese and ended with a layer of cheese (this was so the bread wouldn’t get soggy).

My mother often told me about how my grandfather came to name his sandwich the Submarine. She remembered the incident very well, as she was 16 years old at the time. She related that when Grandfather went to see the Holland I in 1927, the raised submarine hull that was put on display in Westside Park, he said, “It looks like the sandwich I sell at my store.” From that day on, he called his sandwich the “submarine.” People came from miles around to buy one of my grandfather’s subs.

No Experience Needed By Maria Bartiromo

No Experience Needed By Maria Bartiromo

Trial and Error
Fred DeLuca was just looking for a way to pay his college tuition. He ended up founding Subway, the multimillion-dollar restaurant chain.

It was the summer of 1965, and DeLuca, then 17 and right out of high school, had tagged along with his parents to visit Peter Buck, a family friend. At some point, Buck asked DeLuca about his plans for the future. “I’m going to college, but I need a way to pay for it,” DeLuca recalls saying. “Buck said, ‘You should open a submarine sandwich shop.’”

When Buck was growing up in Maine, he frequented Amato’s for its Italian subs. And DeLuca often ate at Mike’s Sandwiches in Schenectady, New York, before he moved to Connecticut. Says DeLuca, “I didn’t know anything about subs, but Pete had noticed that people in the sandwich business did pretty well.”

Sitting in Buck’s backyard on that July afternoon, they agreed to be partners. They designed the menu and pricing, says DeLuca, “even though we didn’t know what the food would cost.” And they set a goal: to open 32 stores in ten years. After doing some research (eating at Amato’s), Buck wrote a check for $1,000. DeLuca rented a storefront in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and when they couldn’t cover their start-up costs, Buck kicked in another $1,000.

DeLuca’s mom scouted out food suppliers, and his father looked for equipment. When they needed a sign, DeLuca’s dad suggested they try a guy he worked with. “So we drive over to Dick’s apartment and tell him the story. He jumps in the car, comes to the store, designs a logo and paints the sign.” The first Subway was ready for business.

“As far as product quality and operational methods, it was what you would imagine a 17-year-old doing,” DeLuca says. “Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. After six months, we were doing poorly, but we didn’t know how badly, because we didn’t have any financial controls.”

DeLuca was manning the store and commuting to the University of Bridgeport. Buck was working at his day job as a nuclear physicist in New York. They’d meet Monday evenings and brainstorm options for keeping the business afloat. “We convinced ourselves to open a second store. It wasn’t that costly, and we figured we could tell the public, ‘We’re so successful, we’re opening a second store.’ Still, it was a lot of learning by trial and error,” DeLuca says.

Intimate Ties
When DeLuca’s car broke down, he found a ride with a kid who was an enthusiastic Subway fan. “This kid points to my store and says, ‘They have great sandwiches, and you can get all the soda you want free. You go in with a few friends and order sandwiches, and when the kid behind the counter turns around to make them, you go into the cooler and sneak the soda out.’ ”

DeLuca was flabbergasted. He hadn’t realized that he needed to keep track of his sales and his inventory. But the partners’ seat-of-the-pants, learn-as-you-go approach turned out to be one of their strengths.

For example, every Friday, DeLuca and his mom would drive around and hand-deliver the checks to pay their suppliers. “It probably took us two and a half hours and it wasn’t necessary, but as a result, the suppliers got to know us very well. They allowed us more credit than we deserved, and the personal relationships that resulted really helped out,” DeLuca says.

And having a goal was a huge plus. “Even though it felt like we were a gang that couldn’t shoot straight, we knew what direction we were going. Being persistent was important,” DeLuca emphasizes. “There are so many obstacles that can get you down. You just have to keep working toward your objective.”

By 1982, with the team operating 200 stores, DeLuca was thinking big. “I set a goal of having 5,000 stores by 1994. The team thought I was crazy.”

They blew past DeLuca’s goal, operating 8,000 stores by 1994. In 2007, Subway Restaurants numbered 20,446 stores in the United States and 6,113 stores overseas.

In many ways, Subway continues to be a network of family and close friends. “I am still partners with Pete,” DeLuca reports. “My sister works here. My mom is retired from the board. I have uncles, aunts and a cousin in the business. Our old-time franchisees are bringing their sons and daughters into the business.” Even Dick, who designed the first logo, still works with Subway.

Those intimate ties provided a safety net for the fledgling company. Later, they helped it grow and prosper. For DeLuca, they are the ultimate secret to his success. As he says, “It’s just a bigger family now.”

School Photographer by Kristine O’Connell George

 School Photographer by Kristine O’Connell George

When I am behind my camera lens
I can make people stand closer,
wrap their arms around each other,
even get them to smile.
When I am behind my camera lens
I see things others don’t.
I can record a single moment
That distorts or tells the truth.
When I am behind my camera lens
I can see everything
Except my own self, hiding
behind my camera.

All the Way to the Duck Pond by Sandra Beswetherick

 All the Way to the Duck Pond by Sandra Beswetherick

“Here’s an easy out,” Wade says from behind his catcher’s mask.

“Don’t listen to him,” I tell Nicole as she goes up to bat.

 It’s spring, and for the past three weeks that’s meant baseball in gym class. Teams. With me and my best friend, Nicole, almost always being chosen last.

“Everyone move in!” calls Amanda, signaling to the fielders from the pitcher’s mound.

“You’ll be sorry!” I shout.

“Yeah, right,” Wade says as he squats down behind home plate.

 Brandon, the best baseball player in the whole school, collapses on third base and yawns. “Hurry up, shrimp. Don’t take all day.”

Shrimp. That’s what practically everyone at school calls Nicole and me. The shrimps. It isn’t our fault we’re the smallest. And just because we’re small doesn’t mean we aren’t good.

“Ignore him, Nicole,” I say from our bench behind home plate. “What he says doesn’t matter.”

Nicole glances back at me.

At least I wish it didn’t matter. It’ll get you down if you let it.

“You can hit that ball!” I say. “I’ve seen you!”

“Yeah? Where?” asks Laura, sitting beside me on the bench.

“In the city park next to her house,” I say right back. “Last Saturday.”

Laura doesn’t believe me. No one does. No one believes that Nicole can clobber that ball. And it’s making Nicole not believe it, too. Her body’s all stiff. She’s standing all wrong. She’s choking up too far on the bat.

Amanda pitches. The ball goes way up, then drops down. Why can’t she pitch to Nicole the same way she pitches to everyone else?

Nicole swings hard, misses, and spins like a top.

Ron, the first baseman, laughs. Brandon, lying on his back, folds his hands under his head, using third base as a pillow. Even Ms. Perce makes a face that says ouch.

“Nicole, you can do it!” I say. “Just pretend you’re in the park, like last Saturday!”

Last Saturday—when we didn’t play on teams. When we just took turns with the neighborhood kids. And when no one called us shrimps or dared to move in from the outfield when we were at bat.

Nicole looks at me again. This time she smiles, I think, even though the smile is crooked. But she fixes her grip on the bat.

Amanda pitches really slowly again. It’s as if the ball will never reach home plate. But Nicole leans forward and swings.

Thunk!

She hits it! For the first time ever at school, she actually hits it! The ball pops up, then bounces to the ground behind her. Foul ball.

“See, Nicole?” I shout. “You can hit that ball!”

“Big deal,” Laura says. “It didn’t go anywhere.”

“Hit it again!” I yell, ignoring Laura. “Harder!”

Nicole’s smile isn’t so crooked anymore. She takes a deep breath and lets it out. She spreads her feet wider apart and bends her knees a little. Then she takes a few practice swings.

Nicole’s getting ready to show everyone. I just know it. She’s going to blast that ball like she did last Saturday when she whammed it into the duck pond.

“Action, at last!” It’s Brandon on third. He’s standing up, getting ready. “Let’s see you really slam it.” This time he isn’t teasing.

Nicole glances in his direction. Her smile grows wider. She takes one more practice swing.

Amanda throws the ball. It’s another slow one.

“Come on, Nicole!” My hands are clenched together in a knot. “Hit it all the way to the duck pond!” I don’t care if nobody but Nicole understands what I mean.

Nicole steps forward, bringing the bat back over her shoulder. I squeeze my hands even tighter and almost close my eyes.

 Craaack!

The ball sails high over Amanda’s head. Amanda stands there with her mouth hanging open, watching it go. And the fielders—for a second, it’s as if their feet grew roots into the ground.

“Run, Nicole!” I holler.

She crosses first base, then keeps going to second and third. Dust flies up behind her.

“Home, Nicole!” I’m jumping up and down, going wild. I’m the only one cheering because everyone else is too surprised. Even Ms. Perce looks amazed as Nicole goes tearing past her.

“Yeesss!” I scream.

It’s a home run! A for-real home run! I knew she could do it. Nicole knew it, too. She just needed someone to help her believe.

“Hey, shrim—I mean, Nicole,” Brandon calls. “All right!”

The way Nicole crosses home plate—it’s as if she made home runs every day of the week. Then she picks up the bat and hands it to me. “Your turn,” she says, smiling.

“OK!” yells Amanda to the fielders. “Everyone spread out!”

I step up to home plate, bat in my hands, ready for whatever pitches come my way.

A Candlelit Holiday by Elaine Masters

 A Candlelit Holiday by Elaine Masters

On one full-moon night every fall, the rivers and lakes of Thailand are dotted with twinkling candles. The Thais are celebrating "Loi Krathong," or "Floating Leaf Cup Day."

No one knows for sure how this lovely custom got started. Some say it was started 700 years ago by a wife of a kind who wanted to surprise and please her husband. Others say it started even longer ago as a special religious ceremony. But however it began, it is delightful.

Families always used to make their floats, or little boats, from banana leaves torn into strips and woven into the shape of a bowl. Then they beautifully decorated them with flowers. Now, while many families still make their own floats, others simply buy them. Modern floats may be made of banana leaves or plastic. All of them still hold a lighted candle, a flower, a stick or two of sweet-smelling incense, and a coin.

On the holiday evening, families gather at parks near lakes, rivers, or canals for outdoor dinners. Adults sit on mats and visit with their neighbors while children play tag or hide-in-seek. In some cities, blazing fireworks and dancers in shining silk costumes entertain the crowd.

Many men and women sell things. People sell floats to those who have not made them at home. Other people sell balloons in various shapes and colors or clever toys made of bamboo. Food sellers offer noodle soup, dried fish, candy, little cakes, roasted chicken, and bamboo tubes filled with sticky rice cooked in coconut milk. They pour soft drinks into small plastic bags, whirl a rubber band around the top, and stick in a short straw.

Then, when the full moon rises, families light the candles and set their little boats afloat. The waterway soon twinkles like a fairyland with candles bobbing in their floats and fireworks reflecting in the water.

Walking the dog

Walking the dog

"We'll me you back at the car in half an hour. Now remember, don't let that dog off the leash!" said Mom, as she locked the car door.

"We'll be careful!" replied Alex. His sister Nina nodded. The children ran down the path towards Bramble Pond with their spaniel Jeeves at their heels.

Alex and Nina had lived in the New Forest all their lives. They knew every path and track around their village; they knew where to gather primroses in spring and blackberries in autumn; they knew where the wild forest ponies and red deer lived; they knew the best places for exploring or flying a kite. However, this was the first time they had been allowed out alone with Jeeves, their new dog. Trotting and leaping along the path, ears flapping like fans, Jeeves was soon tripping the children up with his leash.

"Honestly!" grumbled Alex, as he untangled himself for the fourth time. "Once more, and I'm letting him off the Leash!"

"You can't do that, Alex!" said Nina bossily. "Mom said we're not allowed." Alex frowned in annoyance. Who was Nina to be bossing him around? He was the eldest! Jeeves chose this moment to curl his leash around Alex's ankle...

"That does it!" yelled Alex, (Now sprawled face down in a puddle). He unclipped the leash. Jeeves, released, shot forward like an arrow, straight into Bramble Pond. Horrified, Alex and Nina pelted after him.

Ten minutes later, Jeeves was still playing happily in the muddy pond. On the slippery edge, the children called and coaxed. It was no use - Jeeves wouldn't budge. "Right, that's it!" roared Alex, purple in the face. "I'm going in!"

"No!" wailed Nina, but Alex was already knee-deep. As Alex splashed his way towards him. Jeeves darted out. He shook himself. cleverly avoided Nina's clutching hands by rolling in a cowpat, then set off again. Paralyzed with fear, the children watched as he wriggled under some barbed wire into a field of sheep.

"We must get him out!" cried Nina anxiously. "He'll get into so much trouble!" But they were excluded by the barbed wire. To make things worse, now the sheep were starting to fuss.

Alex froze. An angry figure brandishing a stick had appeared from the barn. In no time at all, Jeeves was a prisoner. "This your dog?" growled the farmer. "If I ever catch him worrying my sheep again, I'll have the law on you." Gabbling apologies, Alex took Jeeves and Nina clipped on the Leash. As fast as Olympic medalists, they fled along the path until the farmer was out of sight.

"Phew! That was close!" said Alex, relieved. "Well, at least everything's ok now." They set off, grinning happily.

Meanwhile, back at the car, Mom and Dad were waiting. A wet, muddy, filthy and smelly procession drew nearer and nearer. Alex had spoken too soon. Their telling-off broke all previous records.

"I can't believe Mom wouldn't let any of us back in the car," wailed Nina. "I'm really tired!"

"Who cares about the walk? I can't believe we have to give Jeeves a bath and shampoo! I'll never let him off the leash again!"