Sir Walter Raleigh

"Sir Walter Raleigh" by James Baldwin is a biographical account that explores the life and achievements of the English explorer, soldier, and writer Sir Walter Raleigh. The book delves into Raleigh's adventurous journeys, his role in the Elizabethan court, and his significant contributions to the exploration of the New World. Baldwin captures not only Raleigh's exploits but also the political and cultural landscape of the time, offering readers a vivid portrayal of a complex figure whose legacy continues to resonate in history. Through engaging prose, Baldwin highlights themes of ambition, exploration, and the inexorable push for discovery that characterized the Age of Exploration.

• Short story

								
There once lived in England a brave and noble man whose name was
Walter Ra-leigh. He was not only brave and noble, but he was also
handsome and polite; and for that reason the queen made him a knight,
and called him Sir Walter Ra-leigh.

I will tell you about it.

When Raleigh was a young man, he was one day walking along a street in
London. At that time the streets were not paved, and there were no
sidewalks. Raleigh was dressed in very fine style, and he wore a
beau-ti-ful scar-let cloak thrown over his shoulders.

As he passed along, he found it hard work to keep from stepping in the
mud, and soiling his hand-some new shoes. Soon he came to a puddle of
muddy water which reached from one side of the street to the other. He
could not step across. Perhaps he could jump over it.

As he was thinking what he should do, he happened to look up. Who was
it coming down the street, on the other side of the puddle?

It was E-liz-a-beth, the Queen of England, with her train of
gen-tle-wom-en and waiting maids. She saw the dirty puddle in the
street. She saw the handsome young man with the scar-let cloak,
stand-ing by the side of it. How was she to get across?

Young Raleigh, when he saw who was coming, forgot about himself. He
thought only of helping the queen. There was only one thing that he
could do, and no other man would have thought of that.

He took off his scarlet cloak, and spread it across the puddle. The
queen could step on it now, as on a beautiful carpet.

She walked across. She was safely over the ugly puddle, and her feet
had not touched the mud. She paused a moment, and thanked the young
man.

As she walked onward with her train, she asked one of the
gen-tle-wom-en, "Who is that brave gen-tle-man who helped us so
handsomely?"

"His name is Walter Raleigh," said the gentle-woman.

"He shall have his reward," said the queen.

Not long after that, she sent for Raleigh to come to her pal-ace.

The young man went, but he had no scarlet cloak to wear. Then, while
all the great men and fine ladies of England stood around, the queen
made him a knight. And from that time he was known as Sir Walter
Raleigh, the queen's favorite.

Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Humphrey Gilbert about whom I have already
told you, were half-broth-ers.

When Sir Humphrey made his first voy-age to America, Sir Walter was
with him. After that, Sir Walter tried sev-er-al times to send men to
this country to make a set-tle-ment.

But those whom he sent found only great forests, and wild beasts, and
sav-age In-di-ans. Some of them went back to England; some of them
died for want of food; and some of them were lost in the woods. At
last Sir Walter gave up trying to get people to come to America.

But he found two things in this country which the people of England
knew very little about. One was the po-ta-to, the other was to-bac-co.

If you should ever go to Ireland, you may be shown the place where Sir
Walter planted the few po-ta-toes which he carried over from America.
He told his friends how the Indians used them for food; and he proved
that they would grow in the Old World as well as in the New.

Sir Walter had seen the Indians smoking the leaves of the to-bac-co
plant. He thought that he would do the same, and he carried some of
the leaves to England. Englishmen had never used tobacco before that
time; and all who saw Sir Walter puff-ing away at a roll of leaves
thought that it was a strange sight.

One day as he was sitting in his chair and smoking, his servant came
into the room. The man saw the smoke curling over his master's head,
and he thought that he was on fire.

He ran out for some water. He found a pail that was quite full. He
hurried back, and threw the water into Sir Walter's face. Of course
the fire was all put out.

After that a great many men learned to smoke. And now tobacco is used
in all countries of the world. It would have been well if Sir Walter
Raleigh had let it alone.
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