Excerpt from Hero Tales: From American Life To sit at your fireside with such a goodly company of brave hearts is a privilege that probably never be fore has come to you. Directly before you, are men who imperiled their lives for their country. Here are women who withstood the bitterest agonies for the sake of their beloved ones. Here is a child who fled into the arms of death to save those who were in danger. There is the soldier who led an army to victory. Here is a captain who brought a thousand lives safely to port. You have, undoubtedly, often wished that you might see the conquering hero return from war, or clasp the hands of the world's bravest men. Here they are with you: Dewey, the hero of Manila; Custer, the hero of the Indian massacres; Houston, the frontiersman; Nathan Hale, the patriot. Some of them have been very near to you: Binns, the hero of the Republic dis aster, the first man to save his ship through the modern science of wireless telegraphy; Lieutenant Selfridge, who gave his life to the solution of aerial navigation while in the service of his country; heroes of the long ago; heroes of yesterday; heroes of to-day - in the company of the heroes of to-morrow. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.