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mn f iTit nil iiiniir iiif lilt nif iiir int iirt iiif niiniiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiniif iiiMiiNiiLiii 1^ SKETCHES OF AMERICA AND AMERICANS BY GEORGE HAIGHT I. 1920 HANSON ROACH FOWLER CO. CHICAGO H 14 • Copyright 1920 Hanson Roach FowlerCo. JAN -7 1921 g)CI,A604881 -\^v^ I TO MY WIFE Preface THERE is no country whose story is more inter- esting than that of our own United States. To the student of history, America offers a most fertile field. Our annals ought to appeal deeply to all of our citizens. From a wider popular acquaintance with our past will come a better understanding of our institutions, a clearer idea of the rights and privileges of Americans and their foundation, a wider appreciation of the cost of the citizenship we enjoy, and a deeper conception of our duties in cher- ishing and preserving our inheritance. In the American narratives, thousands of men and women appear who were leaders in great ac- complishments. Some were partly or wholly ap- preciated by their contemporaries many were not ; generally known or understood. Among all of these are multitudes of heroes. In a country's heroes can be found the measure of that country's ideals. More than this, by a knowledge of heroes ideals can be created and stimulated. To arouse, though only in small measure, an in- terest in the heroic and vital of America, these short essays are written. Their fields are very small. None is complete, either as biography or history. All relate to subjects and events that are widely known. If they command attention suffi- cient to induce further particular study by those to whom any element of novelty is presented, or by PREFACE those to whom they serve only as small reminders of the greater fields from which they are drawn, they will have succeeded to the full limit of the author's purpose. G. I. H. The story of the Alamo is of men who, rather than yield to a tyrant, fought valiantly under terrific odds and died in defense of their natural rights. The Alamo "Then came Santa Anna; a crescent of flame! Then the red escalade; then the fight hand to hand; Such an unequal fight as never had name Since the Persian hordes butchered that doomed Spar- tan band. — All day, all day and all night; and the morning? so slow. Through the battle smoke mantling the Alamo. "Now silence! Such silence! Two thousand lay dead In a crescent outside! And within? Not a breath Save the gasp of a woman, with gory gashed head, All alone, all alone there, waiting for death; And she but a nurse. Yet when shall we know Another like this of the Alamo?" — Joaquin Miller. IN the heart of the city of San Antonio, Texas, an old mission lifts its scarified walls. "The Cottonwood" is the English translation of its pres- ent name. To the Spanish monks who built it two centuries ago it was known as the Mission of San de Valero. It was afterwards called, and is now known to every American, as "The Alamo." It is approached along a busy street, where a part of the old enclosure wall is still standing. One passes through the door of the church as reverently as if called there by a profound religious appeal. Within is silence. The few casual visitors move noiselessly over the dirt and gravel floor. The sounds of clanging cars and the busy bustle of the street are unheard.