red years his descendants
contested in the courts for the dignities and emoluments he demanded of
the crown of Spain before undertaking what was then the most perilous
and uncertain of adventures. Even the glory of giving his name to the
lands he discovered was transferred to another--a man who followed in
his track; and it is not strange, under such circumstances, that the
artists of Spain did not leave the religious subjects upon which they
were engaged to paint the portrait of one who said of himself that he
was a beggar "without a penny to buy food."

THE STANDARD OF MODERN CRITICISM.

The Hon. WILLIAM ELEROY CURTIS, in an able article in the
_Chautauquan Magazine_, September, 1892.

Whether the meager results of recent investigation are more reliable
than the testimony of earlier pens is a serious question, and the
sympathetic and generous reader will challenge the right of modern
historians to destroy and reject traditions to which centuries have paid
reverence. The failure to supply evidence in place of that which has
been discarded is of itself sufficient to impair faith in the modern
creation, and simply demonstrates the fallacy of the theory that what
can not be proven did not exist. If the same analysis to which the
career of Columbus has been subjected should be applied to every
character in sacred and secular history, there would be little left
among the world's great heroes to admire. So we ask permission to retain
the old ideal, and remember the discoverer of our hemisphere as a man
of human weaknesses but of stern purpose, inflexible will, undaunted
courage, patience, and professional theories most of which modern
science has demonstrated to be true.

AN ITALIAN CONTEMPORARY TRIBUTE.

GIULIO DATI, a Florentine poet. Born, 1560; died about 1630.

A lengthy poem, in _ottava rima_ (founded upon the first letter of
Columbus announcing his success), was composed in 1493, by Giulio Dati,
the famous Florentine poet, and was sung in the streets of that city to
publish the discovery of the New World. The full Italian text is to be
found in R. H. Major's "Select Letters of Christopher Columbus," Hakluyt
Society, 1871.

THE MUTINY AT SEA.[35]

JEAN FRANCOIS CASIMIR DELAVIGNE, a popular French poet and
dramatist. Born at Havre, April 4, 1793; died at Lyons, December,
1843.

THREE DAYS.

On the deck stood Columbus; the ocean's expanse,
Untried and unlimited, swept