Zigzag Journeys
IN
EUROPE.
VACATION RAMBLES IN HISTORIC LANDS.
BY
HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH.
BOSTON:
ESTES AND LAURIAT.
1882.
Copyright,
By Estes & Lauriat,
1879.
“THE BOY-KING.”
PREFACE.
THE aim of the publishers and writer, in preparing thisvolume for young people, is to give a view of theprincipal places in England and France where themost interesting events have occurred; and, by afree use of pictures and illustrative stories, to presenthistoric views of the two countries in an entertainingand attractive manner.
An American teacher takes a class of boys on a vacation tour toEngland and France, and interests them in those places that illustratethe different periods of English and French history. It is his purposeto give them in this manner a picturesque view of present scenes andpast events, and to leave on their minds an outline of history for carefulreading to fill.
A few of the stories are legendary, as the “Jolly Harper Man”and the “Wise Men of Gotham;” but these illustrate the quaintmanners and customs of the Middle Ages. Nearly all of the storiesthat relate to history are strictly true.
The illustrations of history, both by pencil and pen, are given inthe disconnected way that a traveller would find them in his journeys;[Pg iv]but they may be easily combined by memory in their chronologicalorder, and made to form a harmonious series of pictures.
The writer has sought to amuse as well as to instruct, and for thispurpose the personal experiences of the young travellers are in partgiven. Two of the boys, who have small means, make the trip inthe cheapest possible manner. Tommy Toby meets the mishaps athoughtless boy might experience. The other travellers have an eyefor the literary and poetic scenes and incidents of the tour.
That the volume may amuse and entertain the young reader, andawaken in him a greater love of books of history, biography, and travel,is the hope of the publishers and the author.
28 Worcester St., Boston, Mass.
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