Where We Live | Page 7

of them. Thus these unjustly treated Indians became the enemies of the white men, and often treated them very cruelly in return. Let us remember that the Indians were the first owners of this land of ours and that they should be treated as William Penn showed us, with kindness and justice.
[Illustration: INDIAN CHIEF.]
Those wild Indians of long ago had many noble traits. They were strong and brave and fearless.
Read in some of your school books about Indians and their homes.
3
THE NEGROES
There were no negroes in this country till many years after Columbus and the other white men began to settle here. Some white men went far across the sea to Africa. They stole the negroes away from their homes, carried them to their ships and sailed back to this country. Then these white men sold the negroes to other men for money. The poor colored men had to work terribly hard as slaves and received no pay for their work. At last they were freed by Abraham Lincoln and others who helped him.
[Illustration: NEGRO.]
The negroes have much that is fine in their character. Even when they were slaves they often grew to love their masters so dearly that they would do anything in the world, even give up their lives, for their masters. We should always remember that God made the negro as well as the white man. Fair-minded people will try to be honest, kind and just to everyone.
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THE CHINESE
[Illustration: CHINESE MANDARIN AND SERVANT.]
Many Chinamen have come to our country from their distant homes in China. Their country is so crowded, and it is so hard to earn a living there, that most of the people are very poor.
The Chinese living in our country are peaceful and quiet. They work very hard in their laundries and other places of business; yet there are many white people so cruel and thoughtless as to ridicule a Chinaman whenever they see one. These white people should remember that God made the Chinaman and that he is a stranger here in our country. Is it not even worse to ill-treat a stranger than one who is at home? The color of our skin and hair is not very important. It matters far more whether we are honest, loving, industrious and fair-minded.
Not all of the white people living around us were born in this country. Where did your parents and grandparents live when they were children? Do you know any people who came from distant lands? Where were their first homes? Find out how many of the parents of your schoolmates came a long journey over the water to reach our land.
Yes, we have people from many foreign countries. Some are English, Irish, Scotch or French. Then there are the Germans, Italians, Russians and others. From what country did each of these people come?
Here they are all living together, people from all over the great wide world. Our homes stand side by side. We work and play together. Truly we are brothers and sisters, for we are all children in the great human family. It matters not from what distant land our people may have come, we should all be bound together like one family by human love and kindness.
CHAPTER VI
INDUSTRIES AND OCCUPATIONS
1
Which members of your family work? Why do they work? For what is the money they earn spent? Think which of these things are absolutely necessary to keep us alive.
We all need food.
We all need clothing.
We all need homes or shelter.
Without these provisions we should die.
How do we get our food, our clothing and our homes? How did people get them when there were no stores and no money? Do you know of any people who were compelled to get things in this way?
In a school reader, read about how primitive people lived.
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THE SOIL
We have two kinds of food, vegetable food, which grows from the ground, and animal food. Name some foods of each kind. All plants grow out of the earth or soil. The soil is necessary to produce our animal food also. The meat we eat comes from sheep, cows, chickens and other animals. These animals all live on vegetable food. Without good soil there would be no grass nor hay. No grass would mean no food for cows and sheep. So we see that all of our food really comes from the soil.
Our clothing, too, is dependent upon the soil. The cotton plant grows up out of the ground. The wool comes from the sheep, which eats grass which grows from the ground.
Even our homes could not be built without products from the earth or soil. Think how much wood is used in the construction of a house. The trees which grow in the soil give us all the wood. Much iron, steel, copper, brass and nickel are