laws and to do his duty as a citizen. This fits him to share in our
self-government. He also brings great memories, for he likes to think
of the brave and noble deeds done by men of his race. If he is a
religious man, he worships God just as his forefathers have for
hundreds of years. To understand how the emigrant happens to know what
he does and to be what he is, we must study the history of the country
from which he comes.

ALL AMERICANS ARE EMIGRANTS. If this is true of the newcomer, it is
equally true of the rest of us, for we are all emigrants. The Indians
are the only native Americans, and when we find out more about them we
may learn that they, too, are emigrants. If we follow the history of
our families far enough back, we shall come upon the names of our
forefathers who sailed from Europe. They may have come to America in
the early days when there were only a few settlements scattered along
our Atlantic coast, or they may have come since the Revolutionary War
changed the English colonies into the United States.

Like the Canadians, the South Americans, and the Australians, we are
simply Europeans who have moved away. The story of the Europe in which
our forefathers lived is, therefore, part of our story. In order to
understand our own history we must know something of the history of
England, France, Germany, Italy, and other European lands.

WHAT THE EARLY EMIGRANTS BROUGHT. If we read the story of our
forefathers before they left Europe, we shall find answers to several
important questions. Why, we ask, did Columbus seek for new lands or
for new ways to lands already known? How did the people of Europe live
at the time he discovered America? What did they know how to do? Were
they skilful in all sorts of work, or were they as rude and ignorant