Classic legends of Atlantis—Chinese and Japanese accounts of early voyages to America—Prince Madoc and the Welsh legends—The voyages of the Vikings—Eric and Leif and their adventures—Columbus and his schemes—The most memorable voyage in history—Post-Columbian voyagers and explorers—Many men from many lands flocking to the newly-discovered continent—A new world opened to the civilization and to the greed of Europe

Parcelling out the country—Foundation of the earliest colonies—Jamestown and its settlers—Strange improvidence of the colonists—Troubles with the Indians—John Smith and Pocahontas—The Pilgrims and Puritans—Substantial growth of the New England Colonies—New York—Troubles with the Mother Country—Growth of the spirit of independence—The War of the Revolution and its results

Establishing a constitutional government—Disputes with other powers—A second war with England—Territorial acquisitions—Settlement and admission of new States—The slavery question—War with Mexico—The rush for gold in California—The Kansas troubles—How the great war was precipitated—The campaigns from Bull Run to Appomattox—Political results of the war—Rapid growth of the country since—The present state of the nation

The origin and object of universal exhibitions—New York’s Crystal Palace—Spirit and hopes of its projectors—Its display of the nation’s greatness—The Centennial Exposition of 1876—Magnitude of the enterprise—Description of its hundred buildings—Calendar of events—An impressive exposition of national development

Preparations for a celebration of the quartercentenary of Columbus—Chicago chosen as the site—Marvelous history of the Western Metropolis—How the Columbian Exhibition was organized—Sketches of its promoters—The principal buildings and grounds—Financial arrangements—An exhibition surpassing all its predecessors and fittingly commemorating the birth of a new world

Marriage Customs in the United States—Shiploads of women disposed of as wives to the earlier Virginia Planters—The Marriage Relation should be closely guarded—Divorced people, have they moral right to remarry?—A rich man and a stupid wife—Drifting apart—Duty of the Church—Views of a happy wife—Novels, love and marriage—“Beauty and the Beast”—An insulting imputation—Is it the “best match?”—Marriage blunders

Marriage not a failure—Rev. David Swing’s caustic comment—Views of Rabbi Silverman—Heartlessness of Divorce Court proceedings—Divorced persons debarred by the Queen of England—Sufferings of the children—“Vice is a monster of such hideous mien”—Shall we have a Constitutional Amendment restricting divorce?—Views of Bishop Foss and Bishop Whittaker—Position of the Catholic Church and of the Hebrews—“Church union cannot be combated”—“Burn the bridges”

Encumbered with mortgage—Energy of the farmer—Lack of capital—Labor—The farmer’s children and city life—“The borrower is servant to the lender”—The census valuation of farm lands—Hiram Sibley, the millionaire farmer—Twelve Vermont farms—The Western farmer and the railroads—Co-operative stores—“Land-poor”—Government aid for the farmers

Harm done by the liquor traffic—Views of Bishop Warren, of the Methodist Church—Miss Frances Willard’s views—“Petroleum” Nasby—Rum in politics—Channing’s aphorism—Rev. Theodore Cuyler’s summary of statistics—Causes of drunkenness—Ways to reclaim the unfortunates—Control the demon by law—Public opinion—Bishop Foss’ reply—Restrictive measures

Our harbors useless—Caught napping by England—Troops and the Indians—General Sheridan’s last report—General Sherman’s protests—Congressional inactivity—Admiral Porter hammering at Congress—A blast from the late Samuel J. Tilden—Desertions from the army—Statistics from General Schofield’s report—Frontier life for the soldier—Major Sumner’s plan

Laboring men—Their mistakes and their grievances—Labor sure to be imposed upon—Driving a sharp bargain—Low wages resulting from competition—A laborer in chains recently brought for sale into the market-place of a New England town—But the people rise in their wrath—Does practical slavery exist in the United States?—Coal miners and factory hands compared with the consistados of South America—The store system of credits—Resulting evils to the laborers

The importance of being a “full-handed workman”—Successful mechanics know more than one branch of business—This quality developed in new countries—Votes of laborers controlled by corporations—A curious experience in the West

America is a home—Not an asylum—Liberty is not license—No paupers need apply—Nor any contract laborers—Skilled labor welcome, if it comes to stay—Immigrant farmers will do us good—Too much hurry in granting citizenship—Foreign faction fights must not be kept up here—Transplanted stock improves rapidly

We don’t want the earth—We need more neighbors—Not more children—Non-assimilative races would weaken us—The Old World’s experience at land-grabbing—Let Canada alone till she wants us—Likewise Mexico—We have enough discordant interests now—We don’t want to pay other nations’ debts

He has stopped fighting—Let us stop robbing him—The Indian will work—He has plenty of brains—Capacity for education abundantly proved—Records of the experiment at Hampton—He knows a good thing when he sees it—The beneficent effects of the Dawes bill—Even the Apaches have worked as good as white men

The editor is the nation’s schoolmaster—Also the most trusty advocate of the people’s rights—He brings the people together in spirit and purpose—Always ahead of Congress and the government—Rapid improvement of the newspaper—Independence in journalism—Trial by newspaper

Boys and girls who are to be men and women—The schools are behind the times—Too much fuss and too little gain—Discipline which costs too much—Heads stuffed, but hands and hearts neglected—Faults of teaching—About faculties benumbed by routine work—What has been done can be done—The country boy ahead

Rights and wrongs of the great transportation corporations—What they have done for the country and what the country has done for them—Era of construction closed and an era of restriction and regulation begun—Why railroad officials become millionaires—Watering stock—A curious question which will be raised one of these days

New York no longer the sole dictator in the money market—Why Western business men are now independent of metropolitan money-lenders—The increase of “reserve cities”—Banking methods to dodge the laws—How unscrupulous bank directors get rich—Why so many cashiers go to Canada and how to stop them—Noted living bankers

Cities are necessary evils—But greatly to be avoided—City life is dangerous to most persons—Unnatural influences are inevitable—Hard on the purse and hard on the heart—Poverty’s last refuge—The home of the thief—The touch of nature lost—Temptations innumerable—Restraints few—No place for country boys and girls—City forms of government must change—The Darker Side—The sorrows of the city poor—Friendless and alone—Miserable homes—Health and morals menaced—All depends on one life—Chances and misfortunes—Sickness and death—The story of the Ganges paralleled—The majority are industrious—An army of heroes—Religion and rum their only comforts—Child work and child ruin—Benevolence wearied and despairing

Religion is in no danger—The letter suffers but the spirit grows—Essentials were never more prominent—The tree is judged by its fruit—Proselyting has gone out of date—Denominations have ceased to fight—A life as well as a faith

One “woman’s right” secured—She has a chance almost everywhere—The liberation of man—Woman’s wits sharpen quickly—Advantages over male workers—Woman need not marry for a home—The tables turned—Some effects upon society—Never enslaved unless stupid—The “Song of the Shirt”—The coming generation

A nation of readers—Books to be found everywhere—The Sunday-School library—Chautauqua’s great work—The American author is a busy man—Good books make their way, sooner or later—Abler men should go into authorship—Our literature making its way abroad—American writers’ characteristics—Our literature is clean, earnest and hopeful

The salt that will save us—A nation of jokers—Our Puritan and cavalier ancestors were fond of fun—President Lincoln’s jokes—Humor in the pulpit—Fun in the newspapers—Prentice—Mark Twain—Nasby—Nye and Riley—Miles O’Reilly—“Uncle Remus”—John Hay—“Bob” Burdette—All healthy fun—No malignity in our jokes—The best-natured people alive

A land full of colleges—How these institutions began to exist—Tributes to American regard for intelligence and education—Something better needed—No lack of money—Views of Presidents Dwight of Yale, Eliot of Harvard, McCosh of Princeton, White of Cornell, Bartlett of Dartmouth, and Gilman of Johns Hopkins—Bishop Potter on the place of the scholar in America

Our country first and foremost—No sectional differences—No foreign interests or entanglements—The people first, the party afterward—Loyalty to party means disloyalty to the republic—Meddlers must be suppressed—All in the family—One for all and all for one—E Pluribus Unum