The concept of freedom

There is a lot of confusion about the concept of

Freedom. It exists amongst older folk as well as the

young.

In the name of freedom there are men and women

who are casual about faithfulness in marriage, there are

children who totally ignore their parents, and the gutter

press prints blatant lies. In the name of freedom people

can do their own thing and turn their backs when

someone needs help. People continue to live to suit

their feelings, their likes, their whims. This is the

freedom that is respected, even worshipped by the selfish. This freedom leads dead-straight towards the

jungle, to the tyranny of the strongest, the most wily,

the most brutal.

Freedom is only meaningful, valuable and joyful in a

climate of love. Because it so happens, that in this

world, what matters most is not freedom, but love.

A person who loves, forgets himself and gives others

power over him, gives a slice of his freedom to others.

Love sets a person free for the beautiful, the good, the

true and for the deep joys of life.

A beautiful gift

The most important thing I must give,

but the most difficult, is forgiveness.

Forgiveness. Yes, that is it.

I must forgive,always, again and again. Forgive.

As soon as I stop forgiving, I build a wall.

And a wall is the beginning of a prison.

Above all in life I’ve got to do two things

-understand and forget.

 I know many people

and I know the secrets of many people.

And I know only too well

that no two people are the same.

Each person is an entire world in himself

And he lives and feels and thinks and responds

from his own world.

And the deepest core of that world

is still unknown to me.

Therefore it seems obvious that,

in  the normal course of events,

disagreements, frictions and tensions will develop.

Only when a person understands

that other people are different,

and only when he is ready to forgive,

is it possible to live together.

Otherwise there is a state of mutual siege

And you live in a  day-in, day-out,

cold or hot war.

There are so many exceptionally good opportunities

for us to make peace,

or to make up quarrels.

We so often get a chance to give a small present,

to send a postcard inviting someone around

as a sign of reconciliation, of forgiveness.

Once the first step, the most difficult step, is taken,

the rest is easy.

Forgiveness. The most beautiful gift.

 Living together day after day

People find it very difficult

to go on  loving each other.

This is true for married couples.

After starting with an avalanche

of declaration of a love so deep

that you would gladly die for each other,

there comes the down-to-earth realization

that, after all, you are not

in the mood for dying for each other every day!

Love and friendship

I always ask myself why people can’t stay in love.

Why is loving so difficult for people who live together, day after day?

I am convinced that we often believe our own pretence.

We think that we love someone else.

But, in  fact, we only love ourselves; we love ‘me’.

Each one expects too much of the other.

It is the other person who must be pleasant.The other person must build me up, must help me out,

Must never be grumpy, must never nag.

At the slightest failing, I feel hurt.

We think too little, may be never, about what we ourselves can give 

or can do for our partner.

Don’t blurt out without thinking,‘you don’t love me any more’.

No, not before you yourself have given everything.

The statue of Liberty

The statue of Liberty symbolizes freedom , marking the arrival of millions of immigrants  to the United States.  It was designed by the French sculptor, Frederic Bartholdi.  France gave it to the United States  as gift in memory of the centennial  of the U.S. independence  from England.  The statue  symbolizes liberty in the form of a woman wearing flowing robes  and a spiked crown.  She is holding a torch in her right hand.  In her left hand  , she is  carrying a book with the date July 4, 1776 inscribed on it.  There are broken chains of tyranny  at her feel .  The statue is located on  an island in New York City harbor.

The statue of Liberty is one of the largest statue in the world.  It rises 93.5m. (306ft. 8 in.) from the bottom of the pedestal to the tip of the torch .  The figure alone is 46.4 m . (152ft. 2 in.)  high.  The right arm is 12.8m . (42 ft) long; the hand is 5.03 m. (16 ft.5 in) long; and the head measures  8.5 m.(28 ft) from neck to diadem  and  3.05 m.(10 ft) from ear to ear.  The  statue weighs 254 metric tons.  Following are the last verses of a poem inscribed  at the main entrance  to the pedestal:

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these , the homeless , tempest- tost to me ,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

(by Emma Lazarus)

    

The U.S. Flag  and the Pledge of Allegiance

Every country has a flag.  When the thirteen colonies declared their independence ,  they needed a new flag.  It is believed that  George Washington designed the flag and asked a friend, Mrs. Betsy Ross, to make it for him.  

This flag has three colors: red(for courage), white(for truth), and blue(for justice).  There were thirteen stars in a circle on  a blue field and thirteen red  and white stripes.  

The number of stars and the stripes  stood for the number states of beginning  of the United States.  Today the United States have the same flag , but there are fifty stars for the fifty states.

  The thirteen stripes still stand for  the first  thirteen states.  The flag stands not only for a country (The United States of America),  but also for the people , the land , and the government – a republic.  A republic is a government elected by the people.

People show their respect for the flag and for the United States when they say the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag:

I pledge allegiance to the flag

of the  United states of America

and to the republic for which it stands,

one nation , under god, indivisible,

with liberty and justice for all.

                             

The National Anthem

The national anthem, or song, of the U.S. is the "Star Spangled Banner."  It was written by Francis  Scott Key and is about the U.S. flag.  He was an American who was arrested  by the English in the War of 1812, which was the  second war between England and American .  He was help captive on an English ship .  The English had already burned Washington, D.C. 

Key watched the night battle against an American fort.  He kept watching to see if the American was still flying over the fort.  In the morning ,  the flag was still there.  The Americans won the war.  He wrote this song about watching the battle from an English ship:

Oh! Say , can you see, by the downs early light, 

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad  stripes  and bright stars , through the perilous fight,

O` er the ramparts we watch  were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs  bursting in air, 

Gave proof through the night that our flag   was still there.

Oh! Say does that star –spangled banner yet wave

O'ver  the land of the free and the home of the brave?

                   Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War


Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in the state of Kentucky . The family was very poor. They moved several times and lived  as pioneers in wild new country in Indiana and Illinois . They lived very far from cities and schools.  

When Abraham was nine years old, his mother died. His father remarried and his stepmother helped him to learn to read and write.  Since he could not go to the schools , he learned all he could from the few books  his family and friends had.

Lincoln left home when he was twenty –one years old.  He worked as a storekeeper , a surveyor  and a mailman.  He was friendly , kind, helpful, wise and very honest.  People called him honest Abe. 

 In 1832, he ran for public office.  He lost the election and tried again two years later.  In1834, he won the election and served in the Illinois state legislature.  During this time , he taught himself to be a lawyer.  He was a successful lawyer and was later elected to the U.A. Congress  in Washington D.C.

In 1860, Abe Lincoln was elected the sixteenth President to the United States. Just after he was elected President, the eleven southern states began to leave the Union.  

The south wanted to have slavery in the U.S. and the north said slavery was inhuman.  The southern states wanted to break away from the United States and form a new country so they could keep their slaves.

Abe Lincoln believed that slavery  was wrong.  He and his ideas became well-known in the United States during a series of government debates about slavery. He said: "A house divided  against itself cannot stand".  I believe this government  cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.  He also said that once state joined  the United States , it would be a state forever.  The North began  to fight against  the South in a Civil  War.  Lincoln  was the leader of the North.

From  1861-1865, the North and the South fought a bloody  and costly war.  Lincoln did everything he could to win the war of the North.  He declared the slaves free in 1863. 

  But the southern states did not  free their slaves until they lost  the war in April of 1865.

Lincoln was elected to a second term as  President.  The  war was over and the slaves were freed.  Less than a week after the war ended , Lincoln went to the Ford Theater  to watch a play   one night.  At 10:00 PM , he was shot by John Wilkes Booth , an actor who loved the south.  Lincoln  died early the next morning.’ 

Lincoln is remembered   as the President who freed  the slaves  and saved the Union.  His most famous  sentence was: '.. a government of the people , by the people, and for the people shall not perish  from the earth." 

Lincoln greatest speech was the Gettysburg Address.  He gave it in a soldiers' cemetery  in the state of the Pennsylvania at one of the great battlefields  of the Civil War.  Another great speech was the Second Inaugural Address.  He gave this speech at the beginning of his second term as President .  It was full of hope of the defeated  Southerners  and promised the help of the North.  

Lincoln greatest hope was to keep all the states together under one government.  He freed the slaves to try to save the Union.  He fought a long, hard war to save the Union.  He lived and died to save the Union.

Lincoln is buried in Springfield  ,  Illinois , where he lived most of his live.  His picture is on our five dollar bill ($5.00) and on our penny.  In Washington, D.C there is a beautiful monument in honor of Lincoln.   There is another beautiful monument in honor of Washington.  These two presidents  are remembered for their courage and honesty.  Their birthdays  are both in February and are celebrated together on President's day.  It is a legal holiday.

The California Gold Rush

In 1848, shortly after the war with Mexico ended , James Marshall accidentally found gold in a stream  while building a saw mill.

 John Sutter , the owner of the land , wanted to keep it a secret . But the word quickly spread across America and even to the old World and China.  Within a year , one hundred  thousand people came to Sutter land .  These people were  called the Forty  - Niners . 

Many of then found gold and got rich. Many  mining towns  were started and many people got rich selling supplies  to the gold miners at high  prices .  

San Francisco went from a sleepy little town on the Pacific to one  of the most important cities in the west.  

The first comers had it easy because the gold was near the top. But most of the others Forty-Niners had to dig deep for their gold.  Many spent almost as much to get the gold as the gold was worth.  

The owner of the land, John Sutter , died penniless as he tried to get his land back from the Forty –Niners.

The  War with Mexico

For the next ten years, the Mexicans and Americans could not agree on a border where Texas ended and  Mexico  began.  In 1845, Texas joined  the United States.  

A year late, the border fight between  Texas and Mexico grew into and war  between Mexico and United States.  The war lasted two years .  Battles took place all the way from Mexico city to Northern California.  The Mexicans lost the war and they were forced  to give up all their land north of the Rio Grande. This included  California and New Mexico.

Some American leaders were greedy and wanted to continue the war and take  over  of the Mexico.  Others felt that the United States had already taken to much. They said that the war had started over Texas and that it was unfair to take  California   as well.  But they never gave Mexico their land back. 

The states and territories of America stretched from the Atlantic  to the Pacific, and from Canada to Mexico.

Trouble with Mexico

The price of new land in the states  was becoming  very high.  Farmers  heard that there was plenty  of cheap land in the Mexican  territories.  The land seekers  from the southern states moved west to buy cheaper land from Mexico.  

At that time, Mexico owned land from the edge of the Louisiana Territory  to the  Pacific Ocean.  Many Americans settled in a  large Mexican territory called Texas and the territory soon had more Americans that  Mexicans. The Americans did not like the Mexican laws and said that the president of Mexico ,  Santa Ana, was worse to them than King George was to the settlers in Boston.  The Americans in Texas decided to declare  their independence from Mexico.  

Santa Ana did not want to lose  this large territory , so he brought 3.000 soldiers to San Antonio, Texas.  They went to the Alamo , which was an old Spanish church that the Americans  used as a fort.  There were 187  men in the Alamo.  The men of the Alamo held off the Mexicans  for six days.  But in the and , all the Americans  were killed. 

When an American leader named Sam Houston heard  about the battle ,  he formed  an army  and trapped  Santa Ana and his soldiers .  In less than twenty minutes  , the Mexican army fled.  The  Americans caught Santa Ana  and forced him to sign  a paper that said Texas was free from Mexico.

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                               Pioneers Move West

By 1836, the United States had grown to twenty-five states.  Many became restless and wanted to move west.  People heard how beautiful  Oregon  was and many  groups of people  traveled west in groups of covered wagons pulled by horses or oxen.  

These  group of covered wagons were called wagon trains.  The people who moved to the west became known as pioneers.  

The road  the pioneers took  was called the Oregon Trail.

                                             The  Northwest Territory

Before America bought the Louisiana Territory, it added the Northwest Territory.  The U.S. Government passed  a law  called the Northwest Ordinance.  It said that people who settled in territories of the United States  could form states if they chose to.  In the meantime , they would have the same rights as in the states.  

Six new state were formed from this territory.  This was the rule for settling   all new territories.  The states formed out of  the land of the Northwest Territory  were:  Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota.

                          The Louisiana Purchase

Most of the land around the thirteen colonies was owned  by England , France and Spain . Some Americans  Leaders were afraid that this land might fill up with settlers from these other countries and later the people  would cause trouble for them. 

The  American  leaders wanted their country to own more land. Thomas Jefferson , who wrote the Declaration  of Independence  , hoped that the United States of America would  someday stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. When he became President of the United States , he asked the government to buy a huge chunk of land from the French. 

The French were having financial troubles and they desperately  needed the money . The Americans were able to buy the land from them. This new chunk of land was called  the Louisiana Territory . A territory was any land owned by the United States that had not yet become a state.

Jefferson sent out to explorers , Lewis and Clark , to find out what the land was like . The trip was dangerous  and after travelling  a few months, the team of forty – five people reached the Rocky Mountains . 

The Shoshone Indians  knew  about secret  path to cross the mountains , but they would not tell everyone. One of the team members was from this tribe of Indians . She  showed  them the way and the explorers  soon the reached  the Pacific Ocean. 

The trip to the Pacific  and back took two years. Lewis and Clark  documented  their trip and made maps of the land , showing the path they took.  They told the President that he got  the best land  buy there ever was. The price for the Louisiana Territory  , which  later made  up eight states, only cost 4 cent an acre. This land was rich with forests , rivers , mountains, animals and good farm land.

                                             

                                        The First U.S. Government

After the war, the national government was very weak. The first government plan was called  the Article  of the Confederation . The new government could only make laws .

It had no President to enforce the Laws , no courts to explain laws , no one to collect  taxes , no money , and no power. This was a dangerous situation because without the strong government  the United States would fall apart. The people were also afraid that England  and Spain could take their land away.

In 1787 , George Washington met with the leaders from the original thirteen states. They wrote a new plan of government and called it the Constitution of the United States. The principles of the Constitution were liberty , equality justice for all.

  The Constitution was the highest law which everyone had to follow. Power was balanced between the national government and the states . 

The government  had three parts

*  one that made of laws , 

* one that explained the laws

* and one that enforced the laws.  

Each part had special powers to check the other parts. This was called  checks and balances.

The leaders decided that America needed a president , not a king. The people elected George Washington as the first President of the United States. He served for eight years. He is still considered the father of our country. 

Washington's birthday became a legal holiday in America.

                         The Declaration of Independence

After the Revolutionary War began , the leaders chose five men to write the  Declaration of Independence . The men decided what it should say and Thomas Jefferson was chosen to write it. 

This document  explained  why the Americans were fighting against England. It said that colonies would no longer belong to England . They would form their own free country , with their own laws and their own leaders.

 On July 4, 1776 the leaders of all the thirteen colonies gathered in Philadelphia and signed the Declaration of Independence .  

John Hancock  was the first to sign it. This day is now called independence day . It is the birthday of the United States and it is a legal holiday.

Eleanor Roosevelt  and the power of Service.

It is easy to believe that rich children of important families are happier than other children, but Eleanor Roosevelt  learned early in life that this is not always true.

She was born in New York City about a hundred years ago. Her parents were both members of old , well-established families. Her uncle was Theodore Roosevelt, who one day would become President of the United States.

But there was little happiness in Eleanor’s young life. Her father Elliot Roosevelt suffered from alcoholism. As his drinking grew worse, family life became more and more unhappy. Finally, Eleanor’s mother and father separated. When Eleanor was eight years old, her mother died and Eleanor went to live with her grandmother. Two years later, two months before Eleanor’s tenth birthday, her father died.

Five years later Eleanor was sent to school in England. The headmistress of the school, Marie Souvestre , saw that Eleanor was a bright girl with hidden talents. She helped Eleanor learn that she had a quick mind and could be a good student. Eleanor also discovered she was looked up to as a leader by the other girls. 

Marie Souvetre and Eleonor became good friends. They went on vacations together and Eleanor learned she liked travel. She enjoyed meeting new people and learning new things.

When Eleanor returned home she brought with her a new belief in her abilities and the new interests she had discovered.

From childhood, Eleanor had known the suffering of other people. Now she wanted to do something to help.

She believed she would find happiness in being of service in a  very poor section of New York City. A settlement house provides social services to poor people. For example Eleonor taught dancing to the children who had no place else to go and gave them the chance to have fun.

She was shocked to see  the terrible conditions in which many people in big cities were forced to live.

When she was 24 years old, Eleanor Roosevelt was married to her distant cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Now she took on new responsibilities. She helped her husband as he worked his way through law school, cared for her mother-in-law, and began to raise a family. 

Soon Franklin Roosevelt began career in politics, and the family moved to Washington, D.C. when the Red Cross, helping wounded soldiers who had returned from overseas.

Then tragedy struck once again. Her husband fell ill with polio, a crippling disease common in those days; he lost the use of his legs. His mother wanted him to give up politics and live quietly at his family’s home in Hyde Park, New York. But Eleanor supported Franklin’s desire to go on with his career, encouraging him on his long struggle back to health and on his return to politics.

While Franklin was recovering his strength, Eleanor became more active in public affairs. She gave speeches, taught classes at school for girls, became involved in business, and was soon accepted as an important member of the Democratic Party.

In 1928 Franklin Roosevelt was elected governor of new York. Four years later he was selected President of the United States. The Roosevelts returned to Washington and made the White house their home until Franklin Roosevelt’s death in 1945.

At first Eleanor Roosevelt thought her position as First Lady would keep her from continuing her service to others. But she realized that she had been given a wonderful opportunity. Soon she was giving weekly press conferences, talking on the radio, and writing for the newspapers. Always, she urged citizens and public officials to do more to help those who needed help the most. It was not long before she became one of the most famous women in the world.

After  Franklin Roosevelt ‘s death, President Harry Truman asked Mrs. Roosevelt to serve as a delegate to the United Nations. She played a major role in writing the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.

Eleanor Roosevelt worked for the benefit of humanity until her death. She showed how service to others is one of the best ways to have and give happiness.

                                                     

The Revolutionary  War

Americans in all the colonies were afraid that the King of England would close their harbors, too. Leaders of the colonies all voted to stop trade  with England. 

Many people in the thirteen colonies wanted to break away from  England and have a new , independent country. The leaders voted to fight against England.  This was the beginning of the revolutionary War. This war is also called the War of Independence.

Although the colonists won the first battle in Massachusetts, they knew they had to form an army to win a war. They named George Washington commander –in- chief of the Americans. Most colonists were in favor of fighting  to the end. Leaders from each of the thirteen colonies met, but they could not all agree.  Some felt England was their  "mother", others felt England was their "master".

 Many did not want  a king for across the sea to run their own country. Finally , they all agreed to tell the king that they had decided to become thirteen United States.

The  king did not want to give up his colonies without a fight. The Americans  ran low on food , money and arms. One winter, Washington soldiers  almost froze to death . Both sides were very tired 

General Lafayette brought French ships and soldiers to help the Americans fight  the English . They trapped the English at Yorktown  and general Cornwallis , the English commander , gave up. 

The war was over and the Americans had won their freedom and got the kind of government they wanted.  They war lasted six years.

                                                  The Boston Tea Party

Although the colonists  liked to drink  tea, they refused to buy the taxed tea. One day, three tea ships from England landed in Boston Harbor. 

No one would unload the tea and it sat there for days. Sam Adams and his sons of Liberty dressed as Indians , climbed onto an English ship that was importing tea, and threw all the tea into Boston harbor. 

This protest was called the Boston Tea Party. The King became angry and sent war ships and troops  to close Boston Harbor. No food and other goods could get in or out of Boston. 

The Boston Tea Party started a long fight between England and America.

                                                           Trouble with England

Although  the colonists had their own rules and leaders , they still had  to obey the king  of England. England was far away across  the Atlantic Ocean. Life was very different in England than it was in the colonies. King George did not always understand what they needed  or wanted . He began to make unfair laws and many colonists decided not to obey them.

Some colonists wanted to break away from  England  and form a country of their own .  They wanted their freedom so much that they were willing to fight for it. Sam Adams started e group  called the Songs of Liberty. 

This group was ready to fight the king's unfair laws. The trouble started in 1773 when King George  told the colonists  that they could only trade with England , and not with other countries. Many colonists did not obey him. 

To punish them, the king made them pay high taxes on almost everything they bought. Although they  sent letters  and the people to England  to explain why the taxes were too high,  the king would not listen . The colonists refused to buy anything that was taxed. 

The king decided to stop taxation on everything except tea.

                                                        The Growth of the Colonies

Towns eventually grew up all along the Atlantic Ocean and for many miles inland .  Some people felt  crowded and wanted to move west. They were , however , afraid of mountains, bears and unfriendly Indians .  

Daniel Boone was one of the best woodsmen in America . He knew how to get through  the forests and where to find water . He also knew how to hunt  wild animals and they ways of the Indians .  

Boone and some of his men carved out a safe trail across the Appalachian Mountains. They called the town Boonesboro .  Thousands of people followed and set up  farms and towns all the way to the Mississippi River.  Later, most of this land became the colony of Kentucky.

By 1733, there were 13 English colonies. From north to south they were :

New Hampshire , Massachusetts , Connecticut  , Rhode Island , Pennsylvania ,New Jersey, New York , Delaware , Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina , South Carolina , and Georgia. For about  100 years the kings of England had allowed people from England and other countries in Europe  to come and live in the 13 English colonies . 

The settlers who lived in these colonies were called colonists. 

Life in America was difficult , but it  became easier as the people learned to live and work together.

A few more short stories on USA are on the way. Hope and wish you will enjoy reading them.                                     

        The Pilgrims

There were some people in England who were not happy in their country. They were not allowed to pray the way they wanted to  and they could not have their own church there. They wanted religious freedom. They decided to leave England and go to Holland. They were not happy in Holland either. Then they decided to go to America , the new land. They were called Pilgrims because went from one country to another.

In the year 1620, the Pilgrims  crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a small ship named the Mayflower. There were about one hundred people on the ship. The trip was hard and took over three months. The Pilgrims fought with one another and no one could agree on what to do. A leader suggested  they make some rules for living there.

 The people stopped fighting and they wrote down the rules. They called these rules the Mayflower  Compact. A compact is an agreement between two or people   All the Pilgrims  signed the Mayflower Compact to show that they agreed to follow the rules  The Pilgrims got to America in December. 

They thought  they were going to arrive in Virginia , but they arrived at a cold , rocky place instead. The city they left in England  was called Plymouth , so they decided to name their new home Plymouth.

April 2nd 2015

                                                       Thanksgiving

The first winter in America was very cold. The first thing the Pilgrims did was build houses to protect themselves from the cold But it was hard to keep warm event inside the houses.  They did not have warm clothes and they did not have much food. Because of the cold and because they did not have enough to eat, many of the Pilgrims were sick and about half of them died.

Since the Pilgrims had never seen Indians before , they were afraid of them. The Pilgrims men took turns guarding  the village  against the Indians .  One spring day, some Indians came to the village. The Pilgrims were frightened and thought  the Indians  had come to fight them. 

They were wrong . They had come to make friends  with the Pilgrims. The Indians  showed the Pilgrims how to hunt the deer and wild turkeys in the woods.  They also showed  the Pilgrims how to plant corn and other vegetables .  All through the summer , the Pilgrims took care of their gardens.  In the fall , they picked all the vegetables.

The Pilgrims were very happy because they knew they would have enough to eat all winter. They decided  to have a big dinner to celebrate their harvest.  To show their thanks to the Indians , they invited the Indians to the dinner. The Indians brought  deer and wild turkeys for the dinner .  The men cooked  the meat over big, open fires , and the women made the bread, cake and pies .  Before they ate , they thanked the lord for all the good things they had. For three days  the Pilgrims  and the Indians  ate together , sang, played games , and participated  in group sports. 

By 1630, a day of thanksgiving  was begin help after each harvest.  The custom grew  and in 1863 , President Lincoln proclaimed  it as a national holiday  in the U.S. In 1941, an Act  of congress  fixed  the date  on the 4^th  Thursday  of November .  Although  that first thanksgiving  dinner happened over three hundred years ago, we still celebrate Thanksgiving  Day every November.

Thanksgiving is a legal holiday. Schools , banks , government offices  and most  businesses  are closed. On this day , families  gather and share good things  to eat and feeling of love. Because wild turkeys were eaten  on the first Thanksgiving  in America , many people have turkey for Thanksgiving dinner .  Other traditional foods are corn , stuffing  green beans, sweet potatoes , gravy , and cranberry sauce. Traditional desserts are apple pie and pumpkin pie.

Sacagawea

and the power of

Trust

IN THE SPRING OF 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led an expedition up to the Missouri River and across the rocky Mountains. Their goal was to explore the newly purchased Louisiana Territory, a huge track of land stretching from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. The year before, President Thomas Jefferson had bought the land from France. The Louisiana Territory, which more than doubled the size of United States, was largely unknown. Jefferson organized the Lewis and Clark Expedition, as it came to be known, to seek a trail to the Pacific, discover and record new plants, and learn about the Indian tribes who lived there.

In late  1804 the expedition stopped to spend the winter at a Mandan Indian village in what is now North Dakota. There they arranged for the men , animals,and equipment they would need when they were ready to move west,as soon as the weather turned warm. But they also needed someone who knew the language of the Shoshone Indians , whose land they would cross on their way to the Pacific. That is how they came to employ an Indian woman named Sacagawea. The daughter of a Shoshone Indian chief, Sacagawea had been captured in a raid by Hidaitsa Indians. She had grown up among the Hidatsas and became the wife of Toussaint Charbonneau, a French-Canadian trapper. The two leaders discovered that the only person who could speak the language of the Shoshones was Sacagawea. So  they hired Charbonneau as an interpreter after he agreed to take Sacagawea along with him on their expedition into the new American frontier.Sacagawea was only about 16 years old though she had just given birth to her first baby, a boy named Jean Baptiste, she was happy to join the expedition.Lewis and Clark put all their trust in Sacagawea because they needed help from the Shoshone Indians.Without  horses from the Shoshones, they would have no way to carry their equipment and supplies across the Rocky Mountains. Very soon the two leaders learned they had trusted the right person. When a boat tipped over and filled with water, Sacagawea calmly and quickly saved almost all of the things that had fallen out of the boat, including the records of the expedition.

  As they moved west, Sacagawea began to recognize places she had seen as a child. Then one day a large group of Shoshone Indians came to where the expedition was camped. Sacagawea was home at last.

Sacagawea soon found her brother, who was now a chief. Her eyes filled with tears of happiness.

   With Sacagwea's help as translator, the expedition was able to get the horses it needed. Some of the Shoshone Indians were hired as guides.

Sacagawea carried her baby all the way west, and all the way back. She helped make the mission a success in many ways. She found wild food for the explorers to eat.

Many times they were treated as friends by the Indians simply because Sacagawea and her baby were traveling with them.

In every way, Sacagawea showed that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark had placed their trust in the right person.

Will Rogers and the Power of  Laughter

WILL ROGERS WAS BORN about a hundred years ago on his family’s ranch near the city of Claremont, Oklahoma. In those days that part  of Oklahoma was known as Indian Territory. It had been settled by Cherokee  Indians, and Will’s mother  and father were part Cherokee Indian.

Will’s father , a hard working man, had one of the finest ranches in the territory. Many visitors stayed at the family’s beautiful and roomy house. Here young Will met many interesting people.

When Will was very young , he learned to use a lasso. The rope was tied so that it formed a loop at the end. He would twirl the loop around and than snap the rope so the loop flew out and settled around a fence post or tree  stump. When he pulled on the rope , the loop would tighten.

Soon he was catching, or ‘’roping’’ as cowboys  say, everything in sight , indoors and out. 

When he was five years old , he was given his first horse , and in no time he became an expert horseman. For young Will Rogers, happiness was a horse, a lasso, and the wide open range.

Then it came time for him to start school. He was never a good student. When he was older he was sorry he had not worked hard at getting  a good education. He did not like to study. Instead he liked to tell jokes and stories, dazzle people with his rope tricks , and make people laugh.

Finally he left school and became a cowboy in Texas. For a while  he worked as a cowboy in Argentina and South Africa.

Will Rogers liked being a cowboy, but his love of people and laughter led him finally to become an entertainer. The tricks he could do with the lasso got him jobs with shows in South Africa and Australia. Then he brought his act to New York city. Audiences liked his rope tricks and his wonderful way of telling jokes.

  In  a few years Will Rogers was appearing on Broadway, but his act had changed. He learned that people liked his sense of humor even more than rope tricks.

He talked about the events of the day, poking fun at just about everyone and everything in gentle, good-natured way.

 One time Will joked about doctors: “ Personally, I have always felt that  the best doctor in the world is the veterinarian. He can’t ask his patients what is the matter-he’s got to just know.

Another  time he joked about one of his favourite subjects, politics and politicians. “I could study all my life and not think  half amount of funny things they can think of in one session of Congress”.

People everywhere came to know Will Roberts as the Cowboy Philosopher. His funny remarks often seemed to reveal the truth about life. Even as he made Americans laugh, he got them to think.

 Once Will Rogers said:” I never met a man I didn’t like.” He never tried to hurt anyone for a laugh. He always treated laughter as a way to help people to understand one another better. He joked about president, politicians, and other important people. But very few became angry. In fact, almost everybody considered Will Rogers a friend.

 When the Great Depression came, millions of people lost their jobs. Life was hard for nearly everyone. but Will Rogers helped cheer Americans. The laughter he brought into their lives gave them courage to forget their troubles and keep working for a happier future.

 In 1935 Will Rogers was killed while flying to Alaska with his friend Wiley Post. People everywhere were sad about the loss of the man who brought so much laughter in the world.

Haym Salomon

and the Power of

Generosity

ONE OF THE GREAT HEROES of the American Revolution never fired a shot and never led soldiers into battle.Yet without his help, America might not have gained its independence. Our nation's history would have been quite different.

Born in Poland, this generous man's name was Haym Salomon. His parents taught him to value education, to be proud of his Jewish heritage,and to love his country. Haym Salomon traveled through Europe when he was a young man. During his travels he learned several languages and met many people. He returned home with valuable experience,new ideas, and a desire to help his country.

At that time,Poland was under  the control of Russia,its powerful neighbor. Haym Salomon joined a group pf Polish patriots who wanted to make Poland truly independent.But when the Russians crushed the independence movement,Salomon had to flee Poland for his life.He came to New York City where he became a merchant. His business abilities, his understanding of people, and his knowledge of many languages helped him to succeed.

He became an important financier, supplying money to help start new business and make old business grow. He was so good at his job that he soon became wealthy.

 But Haym Salomon could see that the spirit of independence was alive in the America colonies, just as it had been alive in Poland. So he joined the Sons of Liberty and became a supporter of America independence.

  When the American Revolution broke out, Salomon continued to work for the patriotic cause even though the  British occupied New York City. He supplied information to the patriots and helped captured American soldiers to escape from the city. When the British learned of his activities, he was arrested and thrown in prison.

After a time the British released him from prison and put him to work as a translator for a Hessian general. The Hessians were hired soldiers from Germany who were fighting for the British. Salomon used his new job to encourage many Hessian soldiers to resign from the army or to join the patriots.

Haym Salomon was again arrested. This time he was condemned to death. But he was able to bribe his jailer and escape to Philadelphia. He offered his services to the Continental Congress, but they were not accepted. Salmon was not discouraged. He went into business again. In a short time he was one of the busiest financiers in Philadelphia. The French government selected him to handle all its financial affairs with the United States. For his generous services, Salomon charged nothing. That was his way of helping the  patriotic cause.

   Many times during the Revolution, the Continental Congress found itself in need of money. Haym Salomon was always ready to help. His generosity knew no limits. He lent the government large sums of money. He paid to equip many patriotic soldiers and made personal loans to officials so they could continue to work in the government. He lent money to Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and others, at no profit to himself. He also helped feed the poor of Philadelphia during the darkest days of the war.  Haym Salomon's generosity helped the Americans pay for the war, keep the patriots' army in field, secure the aid of the French, and gain American independence. Haym Salomon was truly one of the great heroes of the American Revolution.