ond of pleasure, and he spent so much money on himself and
his friends that he had none left to pay his just debts. Penn knew
this; so he told His Majesty that if he would give him a piece of
wild land in America, he would ask nothing more.

[Illustration: WILLIAM PENN AT THE AGE OF 22.]

Charles was very glad to settle the account so easily. He therefore
gave Penn a great territory[1] north of Maryland[2] and west of the
Delaware River. This territory was nearly as large as England. The
king named it Pennsylvania, a word which means Penn's Woods. At that
time the land was not thought to be worth much. No one then had
discovered the fact that beneath Penn's Woods there were immense
mines of coal and iron, which would one day be of greater value than
all the riches of the king of England.

[Footnote 1: Territory: any very large extent of land.]

[Footnote 2: See map in paragraph 97.]

97. William Penn's religion; what he wanted to do with his American
land.--Penn belonged to a religious society called the Society of
Friends; to-day they are generally spoken of as Quakers. They are
a people who try to find out what is right by asking their own hearts.
They believe in showing no more signs of respect to one man than to
another, and at that time they would not take off their hats even
to the king himself.

[Illustration: Map of eastern Pennsylvania and surroundings.]

Penn wanted the land which had been given him here as a place where
the Friends or Quakers might go and settle. A little later the whole
of what is now the state of New Jersey was bought by Penn and other
Quakers for the same purpose. We have seen[3] that neither the
Pilgrims nor the Catholics had any real peace in England. The Quakers
suffered even more still; for oftentimes they were cruelly whipped,
thrown into dark and dirty prisons where many died of the bad
treatment they received. William Penn himself had been shut up in
jail four times on account of his religion; and though he was no
longer in such danger, because the king was his friend, yet he wanted
to provide a safe place for others who were not so well off as he
was.

[Footnote 3: See paragraphs 62 and 76.]

98. Penn sends out emigrants to Pennsylvania; he gets ready to go
himself; his conversation with the king.--Penn accordingly sent out
a number of people who were anxious to settle in Pennsylvania. The
next year, 1682, he made ready to sail, himself with a hundred more
emigrants