Alphabet of History, An

<p><SPAN name="CHRISTOPHER" id="CHRISTOPHER"></SPAN></p> <ins class="caption">CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS</ins> <div class="figright"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_007.jpg" height-obs="640" width-obs="237" alt="Columbus in the New World." /></div> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">When Christopher Columbus stood the egg upon its end,<br/></span> <span class="i0">He solved a weighty problem that no one could comprehend&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Perhaps it was the puzzle whose solution clearly showed<br/></span> <span class="i0">The psychologic motives of the hen that crossed the road.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Perhaps cold storage minstrels never might have heard of this<br/></span> <span class="i4">If it hadn't been for Chris.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Columbus packed his little grip and got upon the train<br/></span> <span class="i0">And went to see that noble man, King Ferdinand of Spain.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Result: He found America&mdash;oh, do not idly nod,<br/></span> <span class="i0">For if it hadn't been for this we couldn't go abroad!<br/></span> <span class="i0">Just think of all the travel and the voyages we'd miss<br/></span> <span class="i4">If it hadn't been for Chris.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Columbus found America and won a lot of fame&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Nobody ever thought to ask him how he knew its name;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Nobody ever booked him for some lectures to declare<br/></span> <span class="i0">In eloquent assertions how he knew the land was there.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Today we might be savages, unknowing modern bliss,<br/></span> <span class="i4">If it hadn't been for Chris.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">He landed near Havana, and he said: "It seems to me<br/></span> <span class="i0">That sometime in the future little Cuby shall be free."<br/></span> <span class="i0">His vision was prophetic&mdash;far adown the future's track<br/></span> <span class="i0">He saw the dauntless Hobson and the sinking Merrimac.<br/></span> <span class="i0">We might have still been tyros in the ethics of the kiss<br/></span> <span class="i4">If it hadn't been for Chris.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Today there are big cities and big buildings named for him,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And yet he was so poor that once he thought he'd have to swim<br/></span> <span class="i0">To find this wondrous country, for he was so badly broke;<br/></span> <span class="i0">But Isabella nobly put her watch and ring in soak.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Who knows but Isabella never might have thought of this<br/></span> <span class="i4">If it hadn't been for Chris?<br/></span> <br/></div> </div> <div style="clear: both;"></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />