American writer and poet. He was a platform lecturer, speaking on education, hymnology, and his travels, which included tours in Europe, South America, Cuba, and Canada. Most of his books were written for young readers, including several volumes of Zig-Zag Journeys, the Knight of Liberty, In the Boyhood of Lincoln, Great Composers, The Patriot Schoolmaster, Songs of History, The Wampum Belt; or, The Fairest Page of History (about William Penn and his 1682 treaty with the Lenape people), Poems and Ballads, and Boys of Greenway Court. He also wrote several cantatas.
The term dates at least to the 17th century, when it was applied to Puritan roundheads during the English Civil War. It came to include residents of colonial New England, who were mostly Puritans in support of the Parliamentarians during the war. It...
