England

England and America are made of the same history and heroes. England is home to many Americans, because their ancestors set out from it to discover their new country. Madeline Brandeis, Little Tom of England

Song of Old France

After passing the old village church, Mother and I went up a short narrow street and found ourselves almost immediately in the fields. The rough stony road meandered through the expanses of wheat and barley. On days when the sky was overcast and the wind blew down into the valley of the Seine, these fields,……

Assisi

Assisi lies far across the sea in beautiful Italy. It is a little city, built on a mountainside, with a great wall all about it, and a castle on the height above, and it looks very much as it did more than seven hundred years ago. Inside the walls, the stone houses are crowded together,……

Foreign Lands

BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON Up into the cherry tree Who should climb but little me? I held the trunk with both my hands And looked abroad in foreign lands. I saw the next door garden lie, Adorned with flowers, before my eye, And many pleasant places more That I had never seen before. I saw……

A Storybook City

Tom had said that the fishing village where his own family lived was near the birthplace of King Arthur. He had read to Bob about England’s many bloody wars; about William the Conqueror who, in the long ago, invaded Britain and made himself the first Norman king; about Henry the Eighth and powerful Queen Elizabeth.……

The Mark of Paris

This is Paris. Everything in the city has an indefinable quality which allows one to say without hesitation, “This is Paris,” even if it is only a milk can hanging on a door-knob, or a heavy brown broom noisily sweeping the leaves on a sidewalk, or a row of weather-worn books in a dusty box……

Genoa

Geoffrey found Genoa quite as wonderful as his friends had told him it would be. The streets were broad, and the houses around the harbor were built of stone and covered with clean plaster which shone white in the sun. It was all so much more open than London, and the dark, shadowy cypress trees,……

A City of the Soul

It has been said that Nürnberg is a city of the soul – a city whose influence is not only of the heart, but also of the intellect. Cradled within her walls are the memories of a strange and splendid past. The blood of Franconian, German, and Slav was blended so subtly in her life……

Crusaders’ Chorus

BY CHARLES KINGSLEY The tomb of God before us, Our fatherland behind, Our ships shall leap o’er billows steep, Before a charmèd wind. Above our van great angels Shall fight along the sky; While martyrs pure and crownèd saints To God for rescue cry. The red-cross knights and yeomen Throughout the holy town, In faith……