Page:What to do for Uncle Sam; a first book of citizenship (IA whattodoforuncle00bail).pdf/79

Rh America by Columbus, recommend the same as a general holiday for the people of the United States. On that day let the people, as far as possible, cease from toil and devote themselves to such exercises as may best express honor to the discoverer and their appreciation of the great achievements of the four completed centuries of American life."

That tells you how to celebrate Columbus Day. Your class at school may plan a pageant, representing our important American inventions. You may read some stories about how the first steamboat, the first locomotive, the telephone, the cable, the telegraph, the first automobile, and the first aëroplane came to be. If you ask in the public library, the librarian will be very glad to set out a shelf full of books about American inventions and progress for Columbus Day reading. They are more exciting than fairy tales, and true.

There is a great deal that children can do to help Uncle Sam keep Labor Day. He is prouder of honest work than he is of any of the Nation’s wealth. Do some extra work yourself to help some worker rest on Labor Day. Order the groceries, the meat, and the vegetables early the day before and carry them home so that the clerks and delivery men will have less to do. See that your yard and sidewalk are clean, and no rubbish is left