91

JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 98

ROBERT FULTON 106

GEORGE PEABODY 116

DANIEL WEBSTER 124

AUGUSTUS ST. GAUDENS 132

HENRY DAVID THOREAU 141

LOUISA MAY ALCOTT 149

SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE MORSE 155

WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT 164

PHILLIPS BROOKS 173

SAMUEL CLEMENS 181

JOE JEFFERSON 188

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 197

JAMES MCNEILL WHISTLER 204

RALPH WALDO EMERSON 215

JANE ADDAMS 222

LUTHER BURBANK 229

EDWARD ALEXANDER MACDOWELL 236

THOMAS ALVA EDISON 243

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

He rode beside the coach on a chestnut horse _Frontispiece_

PAGE

He began munching one of these as he went back
into the street 41

"How big is your trunk?" 88

He rode there on horseback 129

The poor fellow fell to the floor as if he were dead 166

He generally went out alone 221

THE CHILD'S BOOK OF AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY

GEORGE WASHINGTON

No one ever tells a story about the early days in America without
bringing in the name of George Washington. In fact he is called the
Father of our country. But he did not get this name until he was nearly
sixty years old; and all kinds of interesting things, like taming wild
colts, fighting Indians, hunting game, fording rivers, and commanding an
army, had happened to him before that. He really had a wonderful life.

George Washington was born in Virginia almost two hundred years ago.
Virginia was not a state then. Indeed, there were no states. Every
colony from Maine to Georgia was owned by King George, who sent men from
England to govern them.

At the time of George Washington's birth, Virginia was the richest of
the thirteen colonies. George's father, Augustine Washington, had a fine
old southern farmhouse set in the midst of a large tobacco plantation.
This farm of a thousand acres was on the Potomac River. The Washington
boys (George had two older brothers and several younger ones) had plenty
of room to play in, and Georg