314 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



eye, see the land piled mountain high with the earth's 

 great glacial cap and behold the dynamic forces grinding 

 up the drift and preparing it for the soil that was yet to 

 come. 



Later on — 



"We hear the tread of pioneers 



Of Nations yet to be, 

 The first low wash of waves where soon 

 Will roll a human sea. 



THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS 



God has guided the settlement of this country. When 

 Columbus started on his venturesome voyage he firmly 

 resolved to sail due west and under no circumstances to 

 change his direction, but the flight of flocks of parrots to 

 the southwest led his seamen to appeal to the admiral to 

 follow the birds. He finally yielded, and landed in the 

 West Indies instead of upon the coast of Georgia or 

 North Carolina, thus reserving the United States for 

 English occupation. In ancient times many a battle was 

 fought upon the favorable omens of the flight of birds. 



The Roman consuls carried their chicken coops with 

 their troops, and before fighting a battle fed the birds 

 and consulted the soothsayers as to the omens. 



The Aztecs founded the City of Mexico where a vulture 

 was seen standing on a cactus with a serpent in its talons. 



But never were such great results dependent upon so 

 slight a cause as when Columbus by changing his course 

 caused the settlement of the West Indies, Mexico, and 

 South America by the Spanish people instead of the ter- 

 ritory now occupied by the original thirteen colonies of 

 the United States. Had he not changed his course he 

 would no doubt have landed upon the coast of Georgia in- 

 stead of San Salvador. 



