I've always had a fondness for Columbus Day, not least because I worked for four years at a place - somewhere besides the federal government - that considered it a holiday.
Over Columbus Day weekend 2000 I bought two smashing hats from Kohls - using the $10 gift certificate I received for Secretaries Day - hugely on sale, with change left over. One of those hats I brought with me to England and wore the day we gadded about St. Ives.
It's amazing how faithful a record of history we have, to know to the day when it was that Christopher Columbus actually sighted land. After five hundred years, it's great enough that we know the exact year of his voyage, but to have preserved the date and the details of his incredible voyage is stupendously impressive! One of the best history books I have ever read, which has given me an unforgettable perspective on the how and why of major events and put the discovery of the New World into context like nothing else has, is The Story of Liberty, by Charles Coffin. This book takes the reader from the signing of the Magna Carta to the establishment of a colony in the New World, always tracing the growth of liberty throughout the centuries. From reading this book I learned about Henry VIII's six wives, Wat Tyler's rebellion, the partnership of Lawrence Coster and John Gutenberg, the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, Joan of Arc, Lucretia Borgia, Dr. Tetzel, Diet of Worms, the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and so much more.
The chapter on Columbus ends on a somber note, chronicling Columbus' ignoble end at the hands of a bloodthirsty country that gave us the Inquisition and the Armada: 'Columbus is rewarded for discovering a new world by being sent home in chains; and the man who discovered the Pacific Ocean is executed. That is the gratitude of Spain to her illustrious men.'
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2 comments:
Ah, yes, The Story of Liberty. A cornerstone in the lighting of my educational fire and a Must Read for any human even slightly interested in the "course of human events."
Thanks for the lovely reminder of what history means today and making it come alive in my mind.
By the way, The Story of Liberty is best read aloud, similar to The Scarlet Pimpernel...not that I would know or anything. :-)
Oh, yes! Who could ever forget the inimitable Sir Percy, who bowed, kissed her hand, and said with the utmost gallantry, 'Home School Legal Defense, how may I direct your call?'
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