A Treasury of Heroes and Heroines

It would be pleasant indeed to gather the characters of this book together and listen to the conversation of wholly different but interested couples--for this is a book of contrasts and has been written as such. Lives of the most dramatic and adventurous quality have been gathered from all corners of the earth, and from every age in history, in such a way that they may cover the widest possible variety of human experience.

The publishers believe that such a book would not be complete without some characters that are no less real because they have lived only in the minds of men. No explanation is needed for semi-historical characters like King Arthur, Robin Hood and William Tell, while Don Quixote, the Prince of Madness, and Rip Van Winkle, the Prince of Laziness, have been included, not because they were essentially heroic in themselves (although Don Quixote might well have claimed the laurel) but because they became heroes in the opinion of others through the very qualities that brought about their downfall. As involuntary heroes, they furnish a pleasant contrast to the more serious, actual and transcendental figures of saints, martyrs, warriors, discoverers and statesmen with which these pages are filled; they enrich the "Treasury," widen its range of colors and perform the necessary function of court jesters in the Hall of Fame.

CONTENTS

HEROES OF REALITY

CHAPTER PAGE

I BUDDHA 1

II JULIUS CÆSAR 12

III SAINT PATRICK 26

IV KING ARTHUR OF BRITAIN 33

V MOHAMMED 42

VI ALFRED THE GREAT 52

VII ROBIN HOOD 65

VIII SAINT ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY 72

IX DANTE 80

X ROBERT BRUCE 89

XI JEANNE D'ARC 100

XII CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 114

XIII WILLIAM THE SILENT 127

XIV QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND 137

XV SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 146

XVI HENRY HUDSON 156

XVII PETER THE GREAT 165

XVIII GEORGE WASHINGTON 172

XIX JOHN PAUL JONES 187

XX MOLLY PITCHER 196

XXI NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 201

XXII GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI 216

XXIII ABRAHAM LINCOLN 223

XXIV GRACE DARLING 236

XXV FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE 241

XXVI FATHER DAMIEN 248

XXVII CATHERINE BRESHKOVSKY 254

XXVIII THEODORE ROOSEVELT 262

XXIX EDITH CAVELL 272

XXX KING ALBERT OF BELGIUM 278

XXXI MARIA BOTCHKAREVA 286

HEROES OF FICTION

XXXII WILLIAM TELL 297

XXXIII DON QUIXOTE 304

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"Jeanne d'Arc drew the arrow from her breast with the courage of a veteran" Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

"King Arthur grasped the magic sword that none but the bravest might hold" 36

"Robin Hood's band made merry by killing the King's deer" 68

"'I have not yet begun to fight,' shouted Paul Jones" 188

"The cannon balls fired by Molly Pitcher fell squarely in the British lines" 196

"Don Quixote suffered nobody to draw water from the well" 276

A TREASURY OF HEROES AND HEROINES

CHAPTER I

BUDDHA

About five hundred years before the birth of Christ a mighty king reigned in India over the land of the Sakyas, from which the snowy tops of the Himalaya Mountains could be seen. His name was Suddhodana and he had two wives called Maya and Pajapati; but for a long time they bore him no children, and the King despaired of having an heir to his throne. Then Queen Maya bore a son and after he was born, the legends tell us, she had a dream in which she saw a great multitude of people bowing to her in worship. Wise men were summoned to interpret the dream, and they told her that the King's son, so golden in color and so well formed, was destined for greatness as surely as rivers ran to the sea--that he would become either a mighty conqueror who would subdue all the people of the earth, or a holy saint, a "Buddha" (the word for one enlightened) who would have more power over the minds of men than the mightiest conqueror could gain over their bodies.