y must yield to the spirit of
freedom. The great struggle of the English barons under King John and
the wresting from the king of the Magna Charta, which became the basis
of English liberty, was merely another development of the idea for
which chivalry stood. The protest of the French Revolution, and the
terrible doings of the common people in these days, although wicked
and brutal in method, were symptoms of the same revolt against
oppression.

[Illustration: Pilgrim father.]

The Pilgrim Fathers

When the Pilgrim Fathers founded the American colonies, the work of
Arthur and Alfred and the other great men of ancient days was renewed
and extended and fitted to the new conditions and times. With the
English settlements of Raleigh and Captain John Smith we might almost
say that a new race of men was born and a new kind of knight was
developed. All over America an idea made itself felt that in the eyes
of the law every man should be considered just as good as every other
man, and that every man ought to have a fair and square chance {239}
at all the good things that were to be had in a land of plenty. It was
this spirit that compelled the colonists to seek their independence
and that found its way into our Declaration of Independence as
follows:

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created
equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness.

The fight of the colonists was the old-time fight of the knights
against the oppression and injustice and the might that dared to call
itself right.

[Illustration: Pioneer.]

American Pioneers

No set of men, however, showed this spirit of chivalry more than our
pioneers beyond the Alleghanies. In their work and service they
paralleled very closely the knights of the Round Table, but whereas
Arthur's knights were dressed in suits of armor, the American pioneers
were dressed in buckskin. They did, however, the very same things
which ancient chivalry had done, clearing the forests of wild animals,
suppressing the outlaws and bullies and thieves of their day and
enforcing a proper respect for women. Like the old knights they often
were compelled to do their work amid scenes of great bloodshed,
although they loved to live in peace. These American knights and
pioneers were generally termed backwoods men and scouts, and were men
of distinguished