Latest / This Country of Ours, Part 1 / 06 - This Country of Ours, Part 1 by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall

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06 - This Country of Ours, Part 1 by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall · This Country of Ours, Part 1

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  Speaker 1: This Country of Ours chapter six. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. This
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  Speaker 1: reading by Krish Aalenberg. This Country of Ours by H. E. Marshall,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter six. How the flag of England was planted on
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  Speaker 1: the shores of the New World. Christopher Columbus showed the
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  Speaker 1: way across the sea of darkness. Amerigo Vespucci gave his
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  Speaker 1: name to the great Double Continent, but it was another Italian,
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  Speaker 1: John Cabot, who first landed on the continent of North America.
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  Speaker 1: Like Columbus, Cabot was born in Genoa. When, however, he
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  Speaker 1: left his own land, he did not go to Spain
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  Speaker 1: like Columbus, but to England. He had been living in
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  Speaker 1: England for some years when the news of the first
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  Speaker 1: great voyage of Columbus was brought there. Soon every one
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  Speaker 1: was talking about the wonderful discovery from the king and
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  Speaker 1: his court downward. Cabot was a trader and a daring sailor,
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  Speaker 1: well used to sailing on the stormy seas. Yet even
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  Speaker 1: he was awed by what Columbus had done to find
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  Speaker 1: that way never known before, and by sailing west to
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  Speaker 1: reach the east, where the spices grow, seemed to him
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  Speaker 1: a thing more divine than human, and he too longed
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  Speaker 1: to follow Columbus and maybe discover new lands. King Henry
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  Speaker 1: the seventh was eager to claim new lands, as the
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  Speaker 1: kings of Spain and Portugal were doing. So he listened
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  Speaker 1: to the persuasions of John Cabot, and, in spite of
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  Speaker 1: the Pope, who had divided all the undiscovered world between
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  Speaker 1: the kings of Spain and Portugal, gave him leave to
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  Speaker 1: sail forth to the seas of the east and west
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  Speaker 1: and north, and to plant the banner of England upon
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  Speaker 1: any islands, countries, or regions belonging to heathens or infidels
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  Speaker 1: which he might discover. He bade his well beloved John
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  Speaker 1: Cabot take five ships and set forth on the adventure,
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  Speaker 1: at his own proper costs and charges. For Henry was
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  Speaker 1: a king wise but not lavish, and although he wanted
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  Speaker 1: England to have the glory of new discoveries, he was
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  Speaker 1: not eager to spend his gold on them. But where
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  Speaker 1: could a poor sailor find money enough for so great
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  Speaker 1: an adventure. So a year went past and although Cabot
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  Speaker 1: had the King's leave to go, he did not set out.
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  Speaker 1: But he did not let the King forget, and at length,
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  Speaker 1: close fisted Henry listened to the busy request and supplication
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  Speaker 1: of the eager sailor, and consented to fit out one
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  Speaker 1: small ship. So at five o'clock one sweet May morning,
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  Speaker 1: a frail little vessel called the Matthew, with a crew
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  Speaker 1: of but eighteen men, sailed out from Bristol Harbor. Many
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  Speaker 1: people came to see the vessel sail, for they were
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  Speaker 1: nearly all bristol men who were thus venturing forth on
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  Speaker 1: the unknown Deep, and their friends crowded to the harbor
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  Speaker 1: to wish them gods speed. It was a great occasion
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  Speaker 1: for Bristol, and indeed for all England, for it was
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  Speaker 1: the first voyage of discovery with which the English king
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  Speaker 1: and people had to do. So. The tiny white sailed
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  Speaker 1: ship put out to sea, followed by the prayers and
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  Speaker 1: wishes of those left behind. With tear dimmed eyes, they
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  Speaker 1: watched it till it faded from view. Then they turned
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  Speaker 1: homewards to pray for the return of their loved ones.
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  Speaker 1: Round the coast of Ireland. The vessel sped, but at
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  Speaker 1: last its green shores faded from sight, and the little
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  Speaker 1: company of eighteen brave men were alone upon the trackless waves.
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  Speaker 1: Westward and ever westward, they sailed over the hazy distance
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  Speaker 1: beyond the sunset's rim. Week after week went by six
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  Speaker 1: weeks and then seven, and still no land appeared. Those
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  Speaker 1: were days of anxiety and gloom. But still the hope
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  Speaker 1: of the golden West lured Cabot on, and at length,
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  Speaker 1: one day in June he heard the glad cry of
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  Speaker 1: land land. So on Saint John's Day in fourteen ninety seven,
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  Speaker 1: John Cabot landed somewhere on the coast of America. He
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  Speaker 1: called the land Prima Tierra vista, or first land seen,
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  Speaker 1: and because of the day upon which it was found,
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  Speaker 1: he called an island near to it Saint John's Isle.
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  Speaker 1: We cannot tell exactly where Cabot cast anchor. It may
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  Speaker 1: have been at Cape Breton or somewhere on the coast
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  Speaker 1: of Labrador. But wherever it was that he landed, he
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  Speaker 1: there set up a great cross and unfurled the flag
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  Speaker 1: of England, claiming the land for King Henry. When Cabot
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  Speaker 1: set out, he was full of the ideas of Columbus.
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  Speaker 1: He had hoped to find himself on the coast of
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  Speaker 1: Asia and in the land of gold and spices. Now
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  Speaker 1: he knew himself mistaken. He did not see any natives,
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  Speaker 1: but he knew the land was inhabited, for he found
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  Speaker 1: notched trees, snares for wild animals, and other signs of habitation,
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  Speaker 1: which he took home. He had found no golden cities,
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  Speaker 1: he had had speech with no stately potentate. Yet he
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  Speaker 1: was not utterly disappointed, for the country he had found
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  Speaker 1: seemed to him fair and fertile, and the quantities of
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  Speaker 1: fish which swarmed in the seas amazed both himself and
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  Speaker 1: his men. They had no need of lines, or even
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  Speaker 1: of nets. They had but to let down a basket,
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  Speaker 1: weighted with a stone and draw it up again, to
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  Speaker 1: have all the fish they wanted. Cabot stayed but a
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  Speaker 1: short time in the new Foundland. He would fain have
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  Speaker 1: stayed longer and explored further, but he feared lest his
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  Speaker 1: provisions would give out, and so regretfully he turned homeward.
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  Speaker 1: Great was the excitement in Bristol when the tiny ship
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  Speaker 1: came to anchor there once more, little more than three
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  Speaker 1: months after it had sailed away, and so strange were
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  Speaker 1: the tales. Master Cabot had to tell that the folk
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  Speaker 1: of Bristol would hardly have believed him, for he was
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  Speaker 1: a poor man and a foreigner. Had not his crew
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  Speaker 1: of honest Bristol men vouched for the truth of all
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  Speaker 1: he said, every one was lighted, even thrifty. King Henry
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  Speaker 1: was so much pleased that he gave Cabot ten pounds.
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  Speaker 1: It seems a small enough sum for one who had
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  Speaker 1: found a new isle, but we must remember that it
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  Speaker 1: was worth more than a hundred pounds would be worth
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  Speaker 1: to day. Cabot, at any rate, found it enough with
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  Speaker 1: which to buy a suit of silk, and dressed in
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  Speaker 1: this new splendor, he walked about the streets of Bristol,
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  Speaker 1: followed by gaping crowds. He was now called the Great Admiral,
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  Speaker 1: and much honor was paid to him. Every one was
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  Speaker 1: eager to talk with him, eager to go with him
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  Speaker 1: on his next voyage, and that even although they knew
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  Speaker 1: that many of the crew would be thieves and evildoers,
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  Speaker 1: for the king had promised to give Cabot for sailors,
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  Speaker 1: all prisoners except those who were confined for high treason
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  Speaker 1: we know little more of John Cabot. Later, King Henry
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  Speaker 1: gave him a pension of twenty pounds a year. It
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  Speaker 1: seems likely that the following year he set out again
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  Speaker 1: across the broad Atlantic, taking his sons with him. The
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  Speaker 1: rest is silent. How John Cabot ended his life. Where
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  Speaker 1: he lies taking his rest we do not know. He
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  Speaker 1: sleeps somewhere in sod unknown, without a slab, without a stone.
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  Speaker 1: We remember him chiefly because he was the first to
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  Speaker 1: lead Englishmen across the Atlantic, the first to plant the
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  Speaker 1: flag of England upon the continent of North America, which,
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  Speaker 1: in days to come was to be the home of
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  Speaker 1: two great English speaking peoples. End of Chapter six, read
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  Speaker 1: on October seventeenth, two thousand seven, in Oceanside, California,