The Story of Liberty

The Story of Liberty

-Reprinted from the original 1879 manuscript

("So you will comprehend what liberty has cost, . . . and what it is worth")

Introduction starts out:

To the Boys and Girls of America: This "Story of Liberty" is a true narrative. It covers a period of five hundred years, and is an outline of the march of the human race from Slavery to Freedom."

I was excited about this book as I started to read it and it did not disappoint! I read it myself not to the kids. This book was written for boys and girls over a hundred years ago before political correctness was important in the giving of history and also back when it was expected that kids could read and comprehend what they read without frivolity on every page. This book was amazing and did exactly what it set out to do, helped the reader comprehend what liberty costs.

That being said I am going to wait a little before Gabriel reads it. Obviously, he'll be the first of the kids to read it. It is brutally honest about history in the gory details and I mean Gory. I had to take a break from it at times and said to Babe I just wished someone could be nice! But I believe the children and even the adults of today don't understand liberty enough to know when it is being taken from them. Many don't know the cost of our liberty now or how God's hand was in history to prepare for liberty. I grew up going to a good Christian school with what many people would consider good history curriculum and I feel I didn't receive the facts I know now that puts a perspective on today. I want all my kids to read this book 2 times before they leave home, probably with about 2 years between the readings. I don't want my kids ignorant to what liberty is and what it has cost.

Let me give some example of the honesty of the book. By the way, when it comes to the treatment of women the book is VERY CAREFUL to not be to explicit for young children while also not completely leaving out their torment. I found the writing tactful in regards to women.

WARNING the following is very brutal.

Example of bluntness: Speaking of the brutality of the Jesuits

"The soldiers seize whatever pleases them in the houses, and then apply the torch. Men and women and children who lag behind in the flight are cut down without mercy. In vain their cries. The Jesuits have aroused a spirit of hate in the soldiers, and their cries are unheeded. Weary with wielding the sword, the soldiers take their unresisting prisoners to the tops of high cliffs, and pitch them upon the rocks below. To vary the work of destruction, they dig graves, and bury the women alive. When weary with that, they fill the mouths of the captives with gunpowder, and blow their heads from their bodies. They crop off their ears and nose, cut off hands and feet, and leave the poor creatures to die by slow degree."

A part of the book that struck me was about this Huguenot boy of 14 who after his leader is killed the Huguenot nobles choose him to be their leader to which he takes the following oath "I swear to defend religion, and to persevere in the common cause, till death or victory has secured for all the liberty we desire." Wow, that is quite something for a 14 year old.

Another part of the book that in a strange way was humorous to me was the story of Captain John Smith. In fact, I read part of it out loud to Babe and Gabriel and they seemed to have the same reaction as me. I was in no way aware of Capt. John Smith's life before coming to America. I would label him a courageous Peter Pan!! I have now looked up biographies of him on Amazon.com for Gabriel. I am sure it will not be dull reading. John Smith was a CHARACTER!!

My conclusion is this book is Great but honestly it is hard to sit down and read 300 pages of horror. But I am glad I am not as blind as I once was to the cost of liberty. It will be awhile before my children will read this but it will be an important part of the literature I want them to read before leaving our tutelage. My hubby just said this book is along the line of Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Oh, and what a great and detailed history lesson on the Reformation!