Chapter I: H-- S---- V (1)

The name of this story I’m going to put at the end, for you wouldn’t know what it means, anyway, until you have heard the story, and so it’s no use looking ahead.

All through the years since Christ was crucified, those who said they believed in Christ had been terribly treated--“persecuted,” we call it--because they were Christians. They had been flogged; they had been stoned; they had been torn with iron hooks; they had been roasted and burned to death. Yet, strange as it may seem, in spite of this terrible treatment, more and more people were becoming Christians every day. They believed so strongly in life after death, and they believed that they would be so much happier after death if they died for Christ’s sake, that they seemed even glad to suffer and to be killed. But at last the emperor himself put a stop to all these persecutions. This is how it happened.

About the year 300 A.D. Rome had an emperor by the name of Constantine. Constantine was not a Christian. His gods were the old Roman gods. He probably did not put much faith in them, however.

Well, once upon a time Constantine was fighting with an enemy when he dreamed one night that he saw in the sky a flaming cross. Beneath this cross were written the Latin words, “In hoc signo vinces.” In English this is, “In this sign thou shalt conquer.” Constantine thought this meant that if he carried the Christian cross into battle he would conquer. He thought it would at least be worth while to give the Christian God a trial. So he had his soldiers carry the cross, and he did win the battle. Then immediately he became a Christian himself and asked every one in the Roman Empire to become a Christian also. From that time on, all the Roman emperors who came after Constantine, all except one, were Christians.

To celebrate Constantine’s victory the Roman Senate built a triumphal arch in the Forum of Rome and called it the Arch of Constantine. If has three openings; the Arch of Titus has only one.

Constantine’s mother was named Helena. She was one of the very first to become a Christian and be baptized. Then she gave up her life to Christian works and built churches at Bethlehem and on the Mount of Olives. It is said that she went to Palestine and found the actual cross on which Christ had been crucified three hundred years before and sent part of it to Rome. When she died she was made a saint, and so she is now called St. Helena.

Constantine built a church over the spot where St. Peter was supposed to have been crucified. Many years later, this church was torn down so that a much larger and grander church to St. Peter might be built there.

But Constantine did not care for Rome. He preferred to live in another city in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire. This city was called Byzantium. So he moved from Rome to Byzantium and made that city his capital. Byzantium was called New Rome, and then the name was changed to Constantine’s city. In Greek, the word for “city” is “polis.” We see the word used in Anna_polis_ and Indiana_polis_. So Constantine’s City became Constantinepolis, and then shortened to Constantinople.

Hardly had the Roman Empire become Christian before a quarrel arose between those Christians who believed one thing and those who believed another. The chief thing they quarreled about was whether Christ was equal to God the Father or not equal to Him. Constantine called the two disagreeing sides together at a place called Nicæa to settle the question. There the leaders of each side argued the matter hotly. Finally, it was decided that the Christian Church should believe that God the Son and God the Father were equal. Then they agreed to put what they believed in words. This was called a creed, which means “believe,” and because it was made at Nicæa it was known as the Nicene Creed, which many Christians still say every Sunday.

Before the time of Constantine, there were no weekly holidays. Sunday was no different from any other day. People worked or did just the same things on Sunday as they did on other days. Constantine thought Christians should have one day a week for the worship of God--a “holy day,” or holiday, as we call it--so he made Sunday the Christian day of rest, a “holy day” such as Saturday was for the Jews.

But although Constantine was head of the Roman Empire, there was another man whom all Christians throughout the world looked to as their spiritual head. This man was the Bishop of Rome. In Latin he was called “papa,” which means the same thing in Latin that it does in English, “father.” So the bishop of Rome was called “papa,” and this became “pope.” St Peter was supposed to have been the first Bishop of Rome. For many centuries the pope was the spiritual ruler of all Christians everywhere, no matter in what country they lived.

As now you know what the name of this story means I’m putting it here:

In Hoc Signo Vinces

39

Our Tough Ancestors

But Rome with the Roman Empire had had her day. She had risen as high as she could. It was her turn to fall. She had become as large as she ever was to be. It was her turn to be conquered. But you cannot guess what people were to do the conquering and to be next in power.

When I was a boy there was a gang of toughs who lived down by the gas-house and railroad tracks. They were ragged, unwashed, unschooled, but terrible fighters. Their leader was known to us as Mug Mike, and the very mention of him and his gang struck terror to our souls. Every now and then they paid our neighborhood a visit. Once we had offered fight, but with such terrible results that ever after at word of their approach the alarm would be sounded and we would hide indoors.

For ages there had been such a gang of half-civilized toughs living on the northern borders of the Roman Empire. Every now and then they tried to cross over the border into the Roman lands, and the Romans had to be constantly fighting them to keep them back where they belonged. Julius Cæsar had fought with them. So had Marcus Aurelius and so had Constantine. These wild and warlike people were called Teutons and--you may be shocked to hear it, but--they are the ancestors of most of us!

They had light hair and blue eyes; that is, they were what we call blonds. The Greeks and Romans and other people who lived around the Mediterranean Sea had black hair and dark eyes. They were what we call brunettes. If you have light or brown hair, you are probably a Teuton. If you have black hair, you are probably not.

The Teutons were white people, and they were Aryans, but they were uneducated toughs and could neither read nor write.

They wore skins of animals instead of clothes made of cloth. They lived in huts made of wood, sometimes of branches woven together--like a large basket. The women raised vegetables and took care of the cows and horses. The men did the hunting and fighting and blacksmithing. Blacksmithing was very important, for the blacksmith made the swords and spears with which they fought and the tools with which they worked. That is why the name “Smith” was so honored among them.

When the men went to battle they wore the heads of animals they had killed, an ox’s head, horns and all, or the head of a wolf or bear or fox. This was to make themselves look fierce and to frighten the enemy.

_Bravery_ was the chief thing the Teuton thought good. A man might lie, he might steal, he might even commit murder, but if he was a brave warrior, he was called a “good” man.

The Teutons did not have a king. They elected their chiefs, and of course they always chose the man who was the bravest and strongest. But he could not make his son ruler after him. So he was more like a president than a king.

The Teutons had an entirely different set of gods from those of Greece and Rome. Their chief god, as you might guess, was the god of war, and they called him Woden. Woden was also the god of the sky. He was like the two Greek gods, Jupiter and Mars, put together. Woden was supposed to live in a wonderful palace in the sky called Valhalla, and many tales are told of the wonderful things he did and of the adventures he had. Wednesday, which was once Wodensday, is named after him. That is why there is a letter “d” in this word, although we don’t pronounce it.

After Woden, Thor was the next most important god. He was the god of thunder and lightning. He carried a hammer with which he fought great giants who lived in the far-off cold lands and were called “ice-giants.” Thursday, which was once Thorsday, is named after him.

Another god was named Tiu, and from his name we get Tuesday, and another Freya, from whom we get Friday, so that four out of seven of our days are named after Teuton gods, in spite of the fact that we are--most of us--Christians and no longer believe in these gods.

Of the other three days of the week, Sunday and Monday of course are named after the sun and moon, and Saturday is named after a Greek god, Saturn.

From these wild people all fair-haired people to-day are said to be descended--the English, French, German, and such of us whose forefathers are English or French or German.

About the Year 400 A.D. these Teuton toughs were becoming particularly troublesome to the Romans. They began to push their way down into the northern part of the Roman Empire, and after a few years the Romans could hold them back no longer. Two of these Teuton gangs, or tribes, as they were called, went over into Britain, and the Romans who were living there found it wisest to get out, go back to Rome, and leave the country to the Teutons.

These tribes who settled in Britain were known as Angles and Saxons. So the country came to be called the land of the Angles, or, for short, “Angle-land.” After the words “Angle-land” were said over for many years, they became “England,” which is what we call the country to-day. The people of England are still known by the full name “Anglo-Saxons,” and this is the name by which we call everything descended from these old Teuton tribes of Angles and Saxons who settled in Britain about 400 A.D.

Another gang or tribe called the Vandals went into Gaul. Gaul is where France is now. Then they kept on down into Spain, stealing, smashing, and burning like Mug Mike’s gang of toughs on Hallowe’en. They crossed over by boats into Africa. They injured or destroyed everything they came upon. So to-day when any one damages or destroys property wickedly, we call him a vandal. If you cut up your desk, tear your books, or scratch names on walls or fences, you, too, are a vandal.

A tribe called the Franks followed the Vandals into Gaul, and there they stayed, giving the name “France” to that country.

The Teutons north of Italy were the Goths. They had a leader by the name of Alaric. He was the “Mug Mike” of the gang of Goths. Alaric and his Goths crossed over the mountains into Italy and robbed or destroyed everything of value they could lay their hands on. They then entered Rome and carried away whatever they wanted, and the Romans could not stop them. But the worst was yet to come.

40

White Toughs and Yellow Toughs Meet the Champions of the World

The Teutons were wild toughs but they were white.

Farther north of the Teutons and to the east was a tribe of people who were still more savage and fierce. They were called Huns. They lived far off in the forests and wilds way beyond the Teutons, in a part of the country that no one then knew much about.

The Huns were, we think, not white as the Teutons were, but yellow. Even the Teutons themselves, fierce fighters though they were, feared the Huns, and it was chiefly because they were afraid of them and wanted to get away from them as far as they could that the Teutons went over the borders into the Roman Empire. It was much easier to fight the Romans than it was to fight the Huns.

The Huns seemed more like wild beasts than human beings. Their leader was a dreadful creature named Attila. He boasted that nothing ever grew again where his horse had trod. He and his Huns had conquered and laid waste the country all the way from the East almost to Paris. At last the Teutons made a stand against them and fought a great battle at a place not so very far from Paris, a place called Châlons.

The Teutons fought desperately; they fought madly. It was white toughs against yellow toughs, and the Huns were beaten. It was lucky they were beaten, for if they had won, these dreadful wild, yellow people might have conquered and ruled the world. The white toughs were bad enough, but the yellow would have been worse. So the battle of Châlons, 451 A.D., is written in history in capital letters and large figures--CHÂLONS 451.

After Attila and his Huns had been beaten at Châlons they left the Teutons alone, but they then went after the Romans. Turning back they went down into Italy, where there was no one able to stop them. They destroyed everything as they moved on. The people of the country didn’t even attempt to fight. They thought the Huns were monsters and simply fled before them. So on to Rome the Huns went.

Now, there was at Rome at this time a Pope named Leo I, which means Lion. Leo, of course, was neither a soldier nor a fighting man, but he and his cardinals and bishops went out from Rome to meet Attila. They were not clad in armor, and none of them carried any weapons with which to fight. The pope and those with him were dressed in gorgeous robes and richly colored garments. It seemed as if they must be slaughtered by Attila and his Huns like lambs before wolves.

But something strange happened when Attila and the pope met; exactly what no one knows. Perhaps Attila was awed by the pomp and splendor of those Christians. Perhaps he feared what Heaven might do to him if he destroyed those holy beings who had come out to meet him as if from heaven. At any rate, he did not destroy them, nor did he enter Rome, but turned about and left Italy, left it for good and all, and he and his Huns returned to the unknown land to the north from which they had come.

Now that the dreaded Attila was out of the way, the Vandals in Africa saw their chance to attack Rome. Attila had barely left Italy before the Vandals crossed over from Africa and sailed up the Tiber to Rome. They captured the city without any difficulty, helped themselves to everything they wanted, and carried away all Rome’s treasures.

Poor old Rome! She was at last beaten, beaten for good! She had been the Champion for a great many years. But now all her strength was gone. She was old and weak and no longer able to defend herself against these gangs of toughs. Rome’s last emperor had the high-sounding name “Romulus Augustulus,” the same name as the first king, Romulus, with the addition of Augustulus, which means the little Augustus. But in spite of his high-sounding name, Romulus Augustulus could do nothing. He was like the little boy living in the marble house on the avenue, the little boy with curls and a velvet suit, whom Mug Mike caught out one day and--you can guess the rest. “Great Cæsar’s ghost!” How Cæsar’s ghost must have felt!

It was the Year 476 that Rome was beaten. The western half of the empire, of which Rome had been the capital, broke up into pieces, and the pieces were ruled over by Teutons. Like Humpty Dumpty, Rome had had a great fall, and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put it together again. Only the eastern part, of which Constantinople was the capital, still went on. This eastern half was not conquered by the barbarians, and it still kept going for nearly a thousand years longer until--but wait till we come to that time in history.

People speak of this date, 476, as the end of Ancient History. After Ancient History, there was a time over five hundred years long which was known as the Dark Ages--the Night-time of History. The Dark Ages lasted from 476 to about 1000 A.D. These centuries are called the Dark Ages, because during that long time the Teutons, those uneducated toughs who were unable even to read and write, were the chief people in Europe, and they ruled over those who had once been the educated and cultured people.

The Teutons, though such rough toughs, barbarians as they were called, were, strange to say, quick to learn many things from the Romans whom they had conquered. Even before they had conquered Rome, most of the Teutons had already become Christians.

Of course they had to learn the Latin language in order to talk to their subjects. But they changed the Latin a good deal and mixed it with their own language. This mixture of their own language with the Latin at last became Italian. The Teutons who went to Spain in a like way mixed their language with the Latin, and this mixture was Spanish. In France the mixture of the two languages became French.

In Britain, however, the Anglo-Saxons would have nothing to do with the Romans and would not use the Roman language but kept their own language. After a while this language of the Anglo-Saxons was called English. The Anglo-Saxons also kept their own religion, and they worshiped Thor and Woden and their other gods until about one hundred years later, or about 600 A.D.

At that time some English slaves were being sold in the slave-market at Rome. They were very handsome. The pope saw them and asked who they were.

“They are Angles,” he was told.

“Angles!” exclaimed he; “they are handsome enough to be ’angels,’ and they should certainly be Christians.”

So he sent some missionaries to England to convert the English; to change Angles to Angels. So at last the English, too, became Christians.

41

Nightfall

It was 500 o’clock by History Time.

Night was coming on.

The Dark Ages had begun.

At least, that is what people call it now. But people didn’t call it so then.

Crazy people don’t think they are crazy.

Ignorant people don’t think they are ignorant.

So the Dark Ages didn’t think they were dark.

The ignorant Teutons were ruling over the pieces of the Western Empire.

They couldn’t read; they couldn’t write.
They didn’t know much except to fight.
They didn’t know ’twas dark as night.

At Constantinople, however, a Roman was still ruling over the Eastern Empire. This Roman was named Justinian. Now, up to this time there had been a great many rules or laws by which the people were governed. But there were so many of these rules and they were so mixed up that one law would tell you you could do one thing and another would tell you you couldn’t. It was as if your mother said you could stay up till nine o’clock to-night and your father said you must go to bed at eight. It was hard for people to tell, therefore, what one must do and what one must not do.

In order to untangle this snarl, Justinian had a set of laws made for the government of his people, and many of these were so good and so just that they are still the law to-day. If you notice that Justinian begins with “Just,” this will help you to remember that he was the one who made _just_ laws.

Another thing Justinian did that has lasted to the present time. He built in Constantinople a very beautiful church called Santa Sophia. Though it is no longer a church, it is still standing after all these years and is a beautiful sight to see. Still another thing he did which you could never guess. It had nothing to do with war or law or buildings.

Travelers from the Far East, where China now is, had brought back tales of a wonderful caterpillar that wound itself up with a fine, thin thread over a mile long, and they told stories of how the Chinese unwound this thread and wove it into cloth of the finest and smoothest kind. This thread, as you might guess, was called silk, and the caterpillar that made it was called the silkworm. People in Europe had seen this beautiful silk cloth, but how it was made had been a mystery--a secret. They thought it so wonderfully beautiful that it was supposed to have been made by fairies or elves or even sent down from heaven. Justinian found out about these caterpillars and had men bring these silkworms into Europe so that his people also might make silk cloth and have silk ribbons and fine silk garments, and therefore we give him the honor of starting the manufacture of silk in Europe.

Outside of Justinian’s empire the ignorant Teutons were living. It took them nearly a thousand years to learn as much as any school-boy now knows, and the first thing they learned was not reading, nor writing, but the Christian religion.

About the same time that Justinian lived there was a king in France named Clovis. Clovis, of course, was a Teuton and belonged to the tribe called the Franks, which gave the name “France” to that country. Clovis believed in Thor and Woden as all of his people did. Clovis had a wife named Clotilda, whom he loved very dearly. Clotilda, though a Teuton, thought all the fighting and cruelty which her people seemed to like was wrong. She had heard about the religion of Christ, which did not believe in quarreling and fighting, and she thought she would like to be a Christian. So she was baptized. Then she tried to persuade her husband, Clovis, to become a Christian, also.

Clovis was just then going to war--the very thing the Christians preached against. But, just to please his wife, he promised her, if he won the battle, he would become a Christian. He did win, and he kept his word and was baptized and had his soldiers baptized, also. Clovis made Paris his capital, and Paris is still the capital of France.

It was about this same time, also, that a king named Arthur was ruling in England. Many stories and poems have been written about him, which, however, we know are fairy-tales and not history. But although we know these stories are not true, they are, nevertheless, interesting--like those tales that are told about the heroes of the Trojan War.

It was said that there was a sword called Excalibur stuck so fast in a stone that no one could draw it out except the man who should be king of England. All the nobles had tried without success to draw the sword, when one day a young boy named Arthur pulled it out with the greatest ease, and he was accordingly proclaimed king.

King Arthur chose a company of the nobles to rule with him, and as they sat with him at a Round Table, they were known as the Knights of the Round Table. Tennyson, the great English poet, has written in verse an account of all the doings of King Arthur and his knights in a long poem called “The Idylls of the King,” which you will have to read yourself, for we must go on to the next story.

42

“Being Good”

What do you mean by “being good”?

The Teutons thought “being good” meant being brave.

The Athenians thought whatever was beautiful was “good.”

The Stoics thought “not caring” was “being good.”

The Epicureans thought having a good time was “being good.”

The martyrs thought “being good” meant suffering and dying for Christ’s sake.

Ever since the time of the martyrs, Christians who wanted to be very, very good indeed, went off into the wilderness and lived by themselves. They wished to be far away from other people, so that they could spend all their time praying and thinking holy thoughts. This, they believed was “being good.”

One of the strangest of these men who wanted to get away from others was named St. Simeon Stylites. He built for himself a pillar or column fifty feet high, and on the top of it he lived with room only to sit but not to lie down. There on the top he lived for many years, day and night, winter and summer, while the sun shone on him and the rain rained on him, and he never came down at all. He could be reached only by a ladder, which his friends used to bring him food. High up out of the world, he thought he could best lead a holy life. That was his idea of “being good” although we should think such a person simply crazy.

In the course of time, however, men who wanted to lead holy lives, instead of living alone as they had done at first, gathered in groups and built themselves homes. These men were called monks, and the house where they lived was known as a monastery or abbey. The head monk of such an abbey was called an abbot, and he ruled over the other monks like a father over his children, giving them orders and punishing them when he thought they needed it.

In the five hundreds there lived an Italian monk named Benedict. He believed very strongly that one must work if he was to be holy, that work was a necessary part of being holy. He thought, also, that monks should have no money of their own, for Christ had said in the Bible, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor.” So Benedict started a club or order of monks for those people who would agree to three things:

The first thing they were to agree to was to have no money.

The second thing was to obey.

The third thing was not to marry.

Monks who joined this club were called Benedictines.

Now, you might think there would have been hardly any one who would promise for life three such things as to have no money, to obey the abbot--no matter what he told them to do--and never to marry. Nevertheless, there were a great many men in every country of Europe who did become Benedictines.

Usually the monks lived in little bare rooms like prison cells, and ate their very simple meals together at a single table in a room called the refectory. They prayed at sunrise and sunset, and many times during the day besides, and they even woke up at midnight to say their prayers. But praying was not all they had to do. Work of every kind they were obliged to do, and they did it joyfully, whether the work was scrubbing floors or digging in the garden.

Oftentimes the monastery was situated in a barren or swampy spot on land that had been given the monks because it was no good, or even worse than no good, dangerously unhealthy. But the monks set to work and drained off the water, tilled the soil, and made the waste places bloom like the rose. Then they raised vegetables for their table, fodder for their horses and cattle and sheep. Everything they ate or used or needed, they raised or made.

But they did not only the rougher hand-work; they did fine hand-work, too. Printing had not been invented at this time; all books had to be written by hand, and the monks were the ones who did this. They copied the old books in Latin and Greek. Sometimes one monk would slowly read the book to be copied, and several other monks at one time would copy what he dictated. In this way a number of copies would be made.

The pages of the books were not made of paper but of calfskin or sheepskin, called vellum, and this vellum was much stronger and lasted much longer than paper.

These old books which the monks wrote were called “manuscripts,” which means “hand-written.” Many of these may now be seen in museums and libraries. Some of these manuscripts have been beautifully hand-printed with loving care and the initial letters and borders ornamented with designs of flowers and vines and birds and pictures in red and gold and other colors. If the monks hadn’t done this copying, many of the old books would have been lost and unknown to us.

The monks also kept diaries, writing down from day to day and year to year an account of the important things that happened. These old diaries, or chronicles, as they were called, tell us the history of the times. As there were then no newspapers, if these chronicles had not been written we should not know what went on at that time.

The monks were the best educated people of those days, and they taught others--both young and old--the things they themselves knew. The monasteries were also inns for travelers, for any one who came and asked for lodging was received and given food and a place to sleep, whether he had any money to pay or not.

The monks helped the poor and needy. The sick, too, came to the monastery to be treated and taken care of, so that a monastery was often something like a hospital, too. Many people who had received such help or attention made rich gifts to the monasteries, so they became very wealthy, although the monks could own not so much as a spoon for themselves.

So you see the monks were not merely holy men; they were most useful citizens. They were in many ways more nearly everything that Christ would have wished than perhaps any one large group of men has ever been since. They were really “GOOD FOR SOMETHING.”

43

A Camel-Driver

Every hundred years is called a century, but a thing that seems a little strange is this--the hundred years from 500 to 600 is called the _sixth_ century, not the fifth; the hundred years from 600 to 700 is called the _seventh_ century, not the sixth; and so on. Thus 615, 625, 650, and so on are all _seventh_ century.

Well, we have now reached the seventh century--the six hundreds, and we are to hear of a man who was to make a change in the whole world. He was neither a Roman nor a Greek nor a Frank nor a Goth nor a Briton. He was neither a king nor a general, but only a--

What do you suppose?

A CAMEL-DRIVER!

and he lived in a little town called Mecca in far-off Arabia. His name was Mohammed. Mohammed went on an errand for a wealthy Arabian lady, and the lady fell in love with him. Although he was a poor camel-driver and only a servant and she was rich, they were married. They lived happily together, and nothing remarkable happened until Mohammed was forty years old.

Mohammed had been in the habit of going out to a cave in the desert to study and think. One day when he visited this cave he had a dream, or a vision, as it is called when such things happen in the daytime when one is awake. In this vision, so Mohammed said, the angel Gabriel had appeared and told him that God, whom the Arabs called Allah, said he must go forth and teach the people a new religion.

So Mohammed went home to his wife and told her what had happened, and she believed his story and became his first follower. Mohammed then went forth as he had been directed and taught his relatives and friends what he said Allah had told him, and they, too, believed what he said and became his followers.

But when he set out to teach others, who were not his friends nor relatives, they simply thought him crazy and perhaps dangerous. So they got together and planned to get rid of him--even kill him if necessary. But he heard what they were planning, and so he packed up all his belongings and, with his wife and those who believed in him, left the city of Mecca and fled to the town of Medina, a little way off. This was in 622--Six-Two-Two--and was called the Hegira, which in the Arabic language means “flight.”

I have told you this exact date, for later as you will see this religion, which Mohammed started, grew bigger and bigger, and now at this very day there are one third as many people who believe in Mohammed and the religion he started as there are who believe in Christ and the religion He started; that is, there are now one third as many Mohammedans in the world as there are Christians. The Mohammedans began to count from the Hegira, 622, calling it the Year 1 as the Christians did from the Birth of Christ, as the Greeks did from the First Olympiad, as the Romans did from the Founding of Rome. So the Greeks, the Romans, the Mohammedans, and the Christians each had a different Year 1.

This new religion was called Islam. From time to time Mohammed received messages which he said came from God. Mohammed himself could neither read nor write, and so he had some one else write down these messages on palm-leaves. There were so many of these messages that when they were finally gathered together they made a big book. This book is called the “Koran,” and it is the Mohammedan Bible and tells what Mohammedans must do and what they must not do.

As Mohammed was born in Mecca, Mecca is the sacred city of the Mohammedans. To Mecca each good Mohammedan tries to go at least once in his lifetime, no matter how far off from it he may live; and toward Mecca he always faces when he prays. There are always pilgrims, as such travelers are called, wending their way to Mecca. The Mohammedans worship in a temple called a _mosque_, but they also pray five times each day wherever they may be. A man called a muezzin cries out this time for prayer. He goes out on a little balcony on the minaret of the mosque and calls aloud: “Come to prayer; come to prayer. There is but one god and he is Allah.” Then, no matter who the Mohammedan is, no matter where he may be or what he may be doing, even though he is in the street or market-place, whether he is working or playing, he faces toward Mecca, falls on his knees, bows his head and hands to the ground and prays. Sometimes he carries a small rug called a prayer-rug with him so that he may have something holy to kneel on when he prays.

Many people liked this new religion. Those who believed in Islam were known as Moslems, and before long, as I have told you, there were as many Moslems or Mohammedans as there were Christians. At first the Moslems tried to persuade others to join simply by talking to them and telling them how fine their religion was, and how much better than what they had already had. But very soon they began to _force_ others to become Moslems whether they wanted to or not. Like the highway robber who says, “Money or your life,” they gave every one a choice. “Money or your life, or be a Moslem!” This may seem a strange way for people to make others believe their religion, but the Moslems said that Allah wanted all people to be Mohammedans, and didn’t want any one who was not.

Mohammed only lived for ten years after the Hegira; that is, until 632. But those who came after Mohammed went on with the new religion and kept on conquering and making people Mohammedans with the sword.

The new leaders and rulers of the Mohammedans were called caliphs. The second caliph was named Omar. Omar went on to Jerusalem and built a Mohammedan mosque in the place where the temple of Solomon had stood. This mosque which Omar built still stands to-day in the same place in Jerusalem.

The Arabs, or Saracens, as they are also called, kept on northward toward Europe and conquered and converted every one to Islam as they went along. Those they could not convert they put to death. At last they reached the City of Constantine, Constantinople, where the people were Christians. This was the gateway from Asia to Europe, and the Arabs tried to get by. But the Christians poured down red-hot tar and burning oil from the walls of the city, and the Moslems had to stop. They could get no farther. Again and again the Moslems tried to capture the city, but without success. Finally, they had to give up trying to get into Europe by this way.

Then they tried the opposite direction from Mecca, the long, long, way round to Europe. Across Egypt they went with little difficulty, converting every one to Islam. Further on still they kept going, along the coast of Africa, conquering everything before them until they reached the ocean. Then they turned north, took boats, and crossed over the Strait of Gibraltar and marched on up into Spain. Farther and farther on they went up into France. It seemed as if they would soon conquer all of Europe and make the whole civilized world Mohammedan. But finally, near the town of Tours in France, they met their match. The king of France had a right-hand man named Charles who had been nicknamed Charles the Hammer because he could strike such terrific blows. Charles was called Mayor of the Palace, which merely meant that he was the chief servant of the king, but he was much more able than the king himself. In fact, the king was of very little account.

Charles the Hammer, with his French soldiers, went forth to meet the Moslems, and near Tours he beat them so badly that they never attempted to go farther. So Europe at last was saved from Islam and the Saracens. This battle of Tours was in 732, just 110 years from the time of the Hegira. The Mohammedan religion had only been started 110 years before; yet in this short time the Mohammedans had conquered and converted the whole of the country bordering the Mediterranean from Constantinople all the way round the southern edge and as far up into France as Tours. The people south and east of the Mediterranean are still Mohammedans to-day.

44

Perhaps you have read the “Arabian Nights.” This is the story of

Arabian Days

The Moslems had tried to get into Europe by the front gate and failed.

They had then tried the back gate and failed.

Burning tar and oil had stopped them at Constantinople.

Charles the Hammer had stopped them at Tours.

So Europe was saved from the Moslems and from the Moslem religion of Islam. Yet we may wonder what Europe would have been like if the Moslem Arabs had conquered, for the Arabs were in many ways a great people, and we have learned many things from them. Here are some of the things.

The Phenicians invented our alphabet, but the Arabs invented the figures which we use to-day in arithmetic. 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on are called Arabic figures. The Romans used letters instead of figures, V stood for 5, X for 10, C for 100, M for 1000, and so on. Think how difficult it must have been for a Roman boy to add such numbers as

IV
XII
+ MC
CXII
VII
----

They could not be added up in columns as we do. And when you think of multiplying and dividing with Roman numbers, it seems almost impossible, for example:

MCMCXVII
× XIX

Occasionally you may see Roman figures still used--on clock-faces, for instance--but all the figures that you use every day in your arithmetic and that your father uses at the bank or store or office are Arabic figures.

Another thing:

The Arabs built many beautiful buildings; but these buildings look quite different from those that the Greeks and Romans and Christians built. The doors and window-openings, instead of being square or round, were usually horseshoe-shaped. On the top of their mosques they liked to put domes shaped something like an onion, and at the corners they put tall spires or minarets from which the muezzin could call aloud the hour for prayer. They covered the walls of their buildings with beautiful mosaics and designs. The Mohammedans, however, were very careful that these designs were not copies of anything in nature, for they had a commandment in the “Koran” something like the Christian commandment, “Thou shalt not make ... any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” Because of this commandment they never made drawings or pictures of any living thing, neither of plants nor flowers nor animals. They thought they would be breaking the commandment if they did. So they made designs out of lines and curves without copying anything from nature. These designs were called Arabesques, and although they were not like anything in nature, they were often very beautiful.

Still another thing:

In Arabia there grew a little bush on which were small berries with seeds inside. The sheep seemed to like these berries and, when they ate them, became very lively. The Arabs themselves tried eating the seeds of these berries with the same effect. Then they made a drink out of these seeds by roasting and grinding them and boiling them in water. This was coffee--which the Arabs had discovered and which is now drunk all over the world.

Still another thing:

The Arabs found out that when the juice of grapes or other fruits or grains spoiled, or fermented, as we call it, a peculiar change took place. Any one who drank this changed juice became greatly excited and even crazy. They called the new thing to which these juices changed, “alcohol,” and they were so much afraid of it and what it did to those who drank it that they forbade every Mohammedan to drink anything containing alcohol, such as wine, beer, or whisky. So the Moslems not only discovered alcohol, but, believing it to be poison, they prohibited its use. They have been prohibitionists, therefore, for more than a thousand years, while all the rest of the world has been using wine and beer and other drinks containing alcohol until the United States only recently forbade their use in this country.

Still another thing:

Woolen cloth which people used for clothes was made from the hair of sheep or goats. As it took the hair of a great many such animals to make a very little cloth, woolen cloth was expensive. The Arabs found out a way of making cloth from a plant, the cotton plant, which of course was much cheaper. Then in order to decorate the cloth and make it pretty and attractive, they stamped the plain cloth with wooden blocks shaped in different forms and dipped in color. This printed cloth that the Arabs had invented was called calico.

Still another thing:

The Arabs made swords and knives of such wonderful steel that the blades could be bent double without breaking. The blades were said to be so keen they could cut through the finest hair if floated on water, a thing that only the sharpest razor will do, and yet at the same time so strong that they could cut through a bar of steel. Such swords were made in the East at a place called Damascus, which is in Arabia, and in the West at a place called Toledo, which is in Spain; and these swords and knives were known as Damascus or Toledo blades. Unfortunately, no one now knows the Arab’s secret for making such marvelous blades. It is what is called a lost art.

Near where Babylon once was the Arabs built a city named Bagdad. You have heard of it if you have ever read any of the “Arabian Nights,” for most of these stories were told about Bagdad. It was the eastern capital of the Moslems. There at Bagdad the Arabs built a great school that was famous for many, many years. At Cordova in Spain was the western capital of the Moslems, and there they built another great school.

I might tell you many other things these people did--how they invented the game of chess, of all games the one that needs the most thought; how they made clocks with pendulums to keep time--people had no real clocks before; how they started wonderful libraries of books; and so on--but this is enough for the present to show you what intelligent people they were.

The Arabs were not Aryans. They belonged to the Semite family, the same family to which the Phenicians and Jews belong. The Arabs were as clever as their cousins the Phenicians, who, you remember, were very clever, but they were also as religious as their other cousins the Jews, who, you remember, were very religious.

But the Moslems had peculiar ideas about women. They thought it was immodest for a woman to show her face to men, and so every woman had to wear a thick veil which hid her face all except her eyes whenever she went out where there were men. With such a veil she could see but not be seen.

But here are their two most peculiar ideas: they believed women were only fit to be slaves to the men, and they thought that a man might have as many wives as he wished all at one time!

So we may wonder, then, what Europe would really have been like if the Moslems had conquered all the rest of the world at that time--if they had left no country Christian--_if we were all of us Moslems to-day instead of Christians_!

45

A Light in the Dark Ages

Europe had been “dark” for three hundred years. You know what I mean.

There were not enough “bright” people to make it light. Ignorant Teutons had been ruling over the pieces of the old Roman Empire.

The Arabs were bright, but they were not in Europe.

But in 800 there was a very “bright light”--a man--a king--who by his might and power was able to join the pieces of Europe together once again to form a new Roman Empire. He was not a Roman, however, but a Teuton, as you can tell from his name, which was Charles. He was a grandson of that Charles the Hammer who had stopped the Moslems at Tours, and he was called by the French name Charlemagne, which means Charles the Great.

Charlemagne at first was king of France alone, but he was not satisfied to be king of that country only, and so he soon conquered the countries on each side of him, parts of Spain and Germany. Then he moved the capital of his empire from Paris to a place in Germany called Aix-la-Chapelle, which was more convenient than Paris to this larger empire, and besides at Aix-la-Chapelle there were warm springs which made fine baths, and Charlemagne was very fond of bathing and was a fine swimmer.

Italy was then ruled over by the pope. But the pope was having a good deal of trouble with some tribes in the north of Italy, and he asked Charlemagne if he wouldn’t come down and conquer them. Charlemagne was quite ready and willing to help the pope, so he went over into Italy and easily settled those troublesome tribes. The pope was grateful to Charlemagne for this and wished to reward him.

Now, Christians everywhere used to make trips to Rome in order to pray at the great Church of St. Peter, which had been built over the spot where St. Peter had been crucified. Well, at Christmas-time in the Year 800 Charlemagne paid such a visit to Rome. On Christmas day he went to the Church of St. Peter and was praying at the altar when suddenly the pope came forward and put a crown on his head. The pope then hailed him “Emperor,” and as the pope at that time could make kings and emperors, Charlemagne became emperor of Italy added to the other countries over which he already ruled. These countries together were really about the same as the western part of the old Roman Empire. So Charlemagne’s empire was now like a new Roman Empire, but with this big difference: it was ruled over not by a Roman, but by a Teuton.

Charlemagne started out an ignorant uneducated Teuton, but he was not like most other Teutons who didn’t know they were ignorant and didn’t care whether they were ignorant or not. He was anxious to know everything there was to be known. He wanted to be able to do everything any one could do.

In those days when the Teutons were ruling, few people had any education, and hardly any one could read or write. Charlemagne wanted an education, but there was no one in his own country who knew enough or was able to teach him. In England, however, there was a very learned monk named Alcuin. He knew more than any one of that time, and so Charlemagne invited Alcuin to come over from England and teach him and his people. Alcuin taught Charles about the sciences; he taught him Latin and Greek poetry; he taught him the wisdom of the Greek philosophers.

Charlemagne learned all these things very easily, but when it came to the simple matter of learning to read and write he found this too hard. He did learn to read a little, but he seemed unable to learn to write. It is said that he slept with his writing-pad under his pillow and practised whenever he awoke. And yet he never learned to write anything more than his name. He did not begin to study until he was a grown man, but he kept on studying all the rest of his life. Except for reading and writing, he became, next to his teacher, Alcuin, the best-educated man in Europe.

In spite of the fact that Charlemagne’s daughters were princesses, he had them taught how to weave and sew and make clothes and cook just as if they had to earn their own living.

Although Charlemagne was such a rich and powerful monarch and could have everything he wanted, he preferred to eat plain food and dress in plain clothes. He did not like all the finery that those about him loved. One day, just to make his nobles see how ridiculously dressed they were in silks and satins, he took them out hunting in the woods while a storm was going on, so that he could laugh at them. That was his idea of a good joke. You can imagine how their silk and satin robes looked after being soaked with rain, covered with mud, and torn by briers. Charlemagne thought it was very funny.

But although his tastes were simple in matters of dress, he made his home a magnificent palace. He furnished it with gold and silver tables and chairs and other gorgeous furniture. He built in it swimming-pools and a wonderful library and a theater and surrounded it with beautiful gardens.