Page:Handbook for Boys.djvu/359

338 wilderness. He grew up not knowing many people, but somehow in his up-coming there was developed in his life a great heart full of tenderness and kindly feeling. Doubtless it was the very hardships of life that made him what he was. At any rate, he was one of the greatest and noblest figures in all history. He was called "Honest Abe" by those who knew him because always, even in little things, he wanted to see perfect justice done; and thus it was, when he came to things of large importance, that the man was only a boy grown tall, not only in stature but in the things that make for righteousness in a nation.

The Spanish-American War—1898

The war with Spain was not of this country's seeking. The island of Cuba, whose distress had amused the sympathy the whole world, was our near neighbor, and to sit idly by and witness the inhuman treatment practised by the Spanish soldiery upon the helpless islanders would hardly be a part creditable to any people. It was not our intention at first to do other than to relieve the suffering and distress of Cuba, near at hand, and this we tried to do peaceably in the supplying of food and other necessities of life.

As the next step, the United States sent a remonstrance to Spain telling her she should send a more humane governor to the island. But as matters grew worse instead of better, even under a change of governors, the sympathy of the United States became daily more deeply enlisted in the freedom of the Cubans.

The battleship Maine was sent to Havana Harbor to protect, if need be, the Americans and American interests in Cuba. On the night of February 15th, 1898 , an explosion occurred, sinking the ship almost immediately.

With the destruction of the Maine—whether by accident or intent—with the appalling loss of two hundred and fifty-six men, including two officers, relations with Spain became more and more strained, until war seemed inevitable. On April 11, 1898, President McKinley in a special message to Congress, said: "In the name of humanity and civilization, the war in Cuba must stop."

War indeed was formally declared April 25th, and in the brief space of one hundred and fourteen days history had added to its annals: the blockading of Cuban ports whereby the Spanish fleet was trapped; the invasion and siege of the island by United States regulars, volunteers, and rough riders; the