The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-11-26
Christopher Columbus.

A WRITER in the Chicago Tribune of
the 18th gives the following interesting, if
not strictly truthful, historical sketch of
Columbus
In the town of Genoa, four hundred
years ago. at twenty minutes past 5 o'clock
in the morning, a very small boy came
into the world. We allude to the distin-
guished G. Columbus, whose anniversary
the citizens of Chicago celebrated yester-
day. An historical sketch of the life and
public services of this remarkable man
may be found novel and interesting at the
present time.
The father and mother of Christopher
lived very near the sea, and the child used
to wander down by the shore to gather
shells. 1t was at this interesting period
of his life that he began TO wonder what
the sea was made of, and what kind of
shells there was on the other side of it.
He made paper boats and launched them,
and displayed such extraordinary aptitude
for navigation that his parents decided to
put him to school. While yet very little
boy he developed remarkable taste for
eggs, and used to rob the neighbors' hen
roosts in order to make experiments. This
was looked upon in after years as a signifi-
cant trait in his character, since it was by
means of an egg that he made the great
discovery of his life. Christopher's par
TALLY for eggs, however, got him into bad
odor with the people of Genoa, so he ran
away from home and went to S pain.
An interesting story is recorded of him
at this period. Going into mans orch
ard one morning he saw beautiful cherry
tree, and with the impetuoSity of youth
he seized a hatchet and Topped off one of
the finest branches. The owner of the
orchard sued him for damages, and wrote
to the old gentleman about it. The father
demonstrated with the son very severely,
and it was then that the young Christn-
pher made this remarkable reply which
will live as long as history repeats itself:
" Father, | can't climb a tree; l can't
do it."
He still had an eye for the sea, and for
several years his studies were divided be-
tween boat racing and the science of max
ing eggs stand on end. In this latter
branch he displayed such proficiency that
his friends used to say of him, THAT
young man will find out something one of
these days" His careless habits led him
into pccuniary difficulties, and he was
frequently obliged to flee from his cred
itors. On one of these occasions he sought
CdNC, anu VII dNdhCHlIS Ont
morning, his mind filled with the gloomiest
apprehensions, his attention was at
tracted by spider on the ceiling, which
had made several Intellectual attempts to
attach her web to some object Young
spider, and urged it to try again. The
spider accordingly made the eighth at
tempt, and succeeded. Thereupon the
young man rose and boldly faced his Gre
ditors The story got wind, and the prov
erb, "Try and try again." has ever since
been popular in Spain.
On another occasion he was lying under
the shade of ali apple tree, when large,
ripe peach fell down and struck him in the
face. Without a moments hesitation he
came to the conclusion that the world was
round, and this naturally suggested to his
logical mind the idea of going round the
world. Having no money, however, he
was obliged to forego the excursion for
some time, as nobody would lend him
dollar. He then devoted himself to domes-
tic life for time. One evening, as he
was waiting for the kettle to boil to make
a cup of tea, he observed the lid of the
kettle to be strangely agitated, and soon
discovered that it was the force of the
steam. This set him thinking, and he
conceived the great idea of applying steam
to locomotives.
Many remarkable anecdotes are told
about his youthful wanderings. One
evening he approached a small village at
the foot of the Alps, carrying a strange
banner in his hand An old patriarch
came out, and warned him not to proceed
any farther, as they were about to have an
avalanche, and one of the village beauties
made him a tempting offer if he would re-
main. The young hero rejected both the
warning and the entreaty, and, boldly
shouting Excelsior" disappeared among
the snow-clad heights, where he was found
by large dog Of the St Bernard species.
His decision of character was strik ingly
Illustrated on the occasion of his heading
large band of desperadoes for the pur-
pose of overthrowing the City Govern
ment of his native State. They had to
pass small stream called the RubicOn.
and about this time his followers began to
doubt the prOpriety OF the step they were
taking, when Columbus, striking an i'm
posing attitude. said: Gentleman, we
have crossed the Rubicon, and there's no
such word as fail" From that time
the crossing of the Rubicon became a
standing joke in history.
His generosity of disposition was dis
played on many memorable occasions.
Once when engaged in bloody riot,
where a number of Fenians had sought to
stir up rebellion, he was very thirsty
and went into a saloon to get drink.
Seeing a number of loafers standing around
the bar, he promptly handed the glass of
lager around to the company, saying:
Take it. poor fellows thy need is greater
than mine"
He always stood up for equality, and
was firm believer i'm the universal
brotherhood of man. One evening he
went to attend a reception given by no
bleman of high rank, but was refused ad-
mittance on the ground that he wore
shabby clothes. In retiring from the man.
sion he was overheard to utter this men,
orable saying, "A mans man for a
that"
Getting tired of life in Europe, Column
bus resolved to go to sea, and accordingly
he set sail in ship called the "Mayfower,"'
with a small band of poor but God fearing
men. He never told any OF them where
he was going, having no very definite idea
of il himself, and when some of the crew
venturtd to hint that they we're going on
wild goose chase stretched forth his
Fight arm majestically and said: " Soldiers
from the top of that mast ten centuries