oung Christopher's "great and noble desire to
pass to where the spices grow," and listened with interest to his plans
to reach those rich spice lands by sailing west.

The ideas of Columbus seemed too visionary to most princes, and it was
years before he was able to persuade the Spanish sovereigns, Ferdinand
and Isabella, to grant him three small ships and enough men to start
upon his voyage. But on August 3, 1492, he finally set sail from Palos,
in Spain.

All the world knows the history of that great voyage, of the tremendous
difficulties that beset Columbus, how his men grew fearful and would
have turned back, how he had to change the ship's reckoning as he had
seen his cousin change the compass, how he had sometimes to plead with
his men and sometimes to threaten them.

In time he found boughs with fresh leaves and berries floating on the
sea, and caught the odor of spices from the west. Then he knew he was
nearing that magic land of riches sailors dreamt of, and thought he had
found the shortest passage to the East Indies and Cathay. That would
have been a wonderful discovery, but the one he was actually making was
infinitely greater. Instead of a new sea passage he was reaching a new
continent, and adding a hemisphere to the known world.

Such was the result of the dreams and ambitions of the boy born and bred
in the old seaport of Genoa.

II

Michael Angelo

The Boy of the Medici Gardens: 1475-1564

The Italian city of Florence was entering on the Golden Age of its
history toward the end of the fifteenth century. Lorenzo, called the
Magnificent, was head of the house of Medici, and first citizen of the
proud Republic. He was himself an artist, a poet, and a philosopher; he
loved the beautiful things of life, and had gathered about him a little
court of men of genius.

Florence at that time was also a great business city, and among the
prominent merchant families was that of the Buonarotti. Ludovico
Buonarotti had several sons, and he had named his second child Michael
Angelo, and had planned that he should follow him in trade. Fortunately
for the world, however, the boy had a will of his own.

Even while he was still in charge of a nurse, and was just beginning to
learn to use his hands, he would draw simple pictures and paint them
whenever he had the chance. His father had little use for a painter, and
sent the boy to the grammar school of Francesco d'Urbino, in Florence,
thinking to make a