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- SIR WALTER RALEIGH
- THERE once lived in England a brave and noble man whose name was
- Walter Raleigh. He was not only brave and noble, but he was also
- handsome and polite; and for that reason the queen made him a knight,
- and called him Sir Walter Raleigh.
- I will tell you about it.
- When Raleigh was a young man, he was one day walking along a street
- in London. At that time the streets were not paved, and there were no
- side- walks. Raleigh was dressed in very fine style, and he wore a
- beautiful scarlet cloak thrown over his shoulders.
- As he passed along, he found it hard work to keep from stepping in the
- mud, and soiling his handsome new shoes. Soon he came to a puddle of
- muddy water which reached from one side of the street to the other. He
- could not step across. Perhaps he could jump over it.
- As he was thinking what he should do, he happened to look up. Who was
- it coming down the street, on the other side of the puddle?
- It was Elizabeth, the Queen of England, with her train of gentlewomen
- and waiting maids. She saw the dirty puddle in the street. She saw the
- handsome young man with the scarlet cloak, standing by the side of it.
- How was she to get across?
- Young Raleigh, when he saw who was coming, forgot about himself. He
- thought only of helping the queen. There was only one thing that he
- could do, and no other man would have thought of that.
- He took off his scarlet cloak, and spread it across the puddle. The queen
- could step on it now, as on a beautiful carpet.
- She walked across. She was safely over the ugly puddle, and her feet had
- not touched the mud. She paused a moment, and thanked the young
- man.
- As she walked onward with her train, she asked one of the
- gentlewomen, "Who is that brave gentleman who helped us so
- handsomely?"
- "His name is Walter Raleigh," said the gentlewoman.
- "He shall have his reward," said the queen.
- Not long after that, she sent for Raleigh to come to her palace.
- The young man went, but he had no scarlet cloak to wear. Then, while all
- the great men and fine ladies of England stood around, the queen made
- him a knight. And from that time he was known as Sir Walter Raleigh,
- the queen's favorite.
- Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Humphrey Gilbert, about whom I have
- already told you, were half-brothers.
- When Sir Humphrey made his first voyage to America, Sir Walter was
- with him. After that, Sir Walter tried several times to send men to this
- country to make a settlement.
- But those whom he sent found only great forests, and wild beasts, and
- savage Indians. Some of them went back to England; some of them died
- for want of food; and some of them were lost in the woods. At last Sir
- Walter gave up trying to get people to come to America.
- But he found two things in this country which the people of England
- knew very little about. One was the potato, the other was tobacco.
- If you should ever go to Ireland, you may be shown the place where Sir
- Walter planted the few potatoes which he carried over from America. He
- told his friends how the Indians used them for food; and he proved that
- they would grow in the Old World as well as in the New.
- Sir Walter had seen the Indians smoking the leaves of the tobacco plant.
- He thought that he would do the same, and he carried some of the leaves
- to England. Englishmen had never used tobacco before that time; and all
- who saw Sir Walter puffing away at a roll of leaves thought that it was a
- strange sight.
- One day as he was sitting in his chair and smoking, his servant came into
- the room. The man saw the smoke curling over his master's head, and he
- thought that he was on fire.
- He ran out for some water. He found a pail that was quite full. He
- hurried back, and threw the water into Sir Walter's face. Of course the
- fire was all put out.
- After that a great many men learned to smoke. And now tobacco is used
- in all countries of the world. It would have been well if Sir Walter
- Raleigh had let it alone.
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