Page:Lives of the presidents in words of one syllable (1903).djvu/91

 that he would try to do work which would put an end to sla-ver-y, which he thought was a great crime in this land. He had sons to help him. All of them would lay down their lives if they could set the slaves free. There were a few more men to work with them and these all went to Har-per's Fer-ry and held a fort for two days. They took all the arms they found in the fort. It was their hope to give these to the slaves in the South so that they might rise and fight to be free.

The laws of this land had been set at naught by John Brown, so troops were sent to seize him. There was a hard fight. The sons were shot down, but the brave old man kept up the fire till he fell with six wounds. He was tried and hung.

In 1858 Min-ne-so-ta came in as one more state. Or-e-gon came the next year, 1859, and Kan-sas in 1861.

At first it was thought that coal could be found in but two or three states, but in the new states there were great beds of it, as much coal, it is said as there was in all the rest of the world. Gold, too, was found in more states than Cal-i-for-ni-a:—it was seen in Col-o-ra-do in 1858, and in more parts of the Rock-y Mts. Mines were soon brought to light in Ne-va-da which were rich in sil-ver. Wells were sunk in Penn-syl-va-ni-a and vast beds from which oil sprung made a new and large source of wealth. Our land had means in hand for all her needs.

It was Pres-i-dent Bu-chan-an's good luck to be in the chair when these new things of worth came in. But there were, too, themes then on hand which were to bring much that was sad all through the land.

The South said it had a right to keep slaves. The man