A first book in American history with European beginnings . manors. They, too, weredivided into still smaller parts and these parts were allotted to men calledserfs. A serf was al-lowed the use of hisstrip of land and waspromised return, he must givea good share of all heraised to the lord of themanor and must work agreat part of his time onthe land which the lordreserved for serfs, who lived in wretched huts, had no legalrights and were transferred with the land as if they werecattle. This was cruel and unjust, and the wretchedlower classes had no opportunity of chan
A first book in American history with European beginnings . manors. They, too, weredivided into still smaller parts and these parts were allotted to men calledserfs. A serf was al-lowed the use of hisstrip of land and waspromised return, he must givea good share of all heraised to the lord of themanor and must work agreat part of his time onthe land which the lordreserved for serfs, who lived in wretched huts, had no legalrights and were transferred with the land as if they werecattle. This was cruel and unjust, and the wretchedlower classes had no opportunity of changing their wayof living. The whole country was divided between therude magnificence of the nobles and the suffering of thecommon people, who must slave to furnish the wealth oftheir masters. In the towns, conditions were a little better. Butthe streets were only dirty, narrow lanes. The shopsand houses were dark, low buildings huddled togetherwithin the town walls. People did not travel any morethan they could help, for roads were poor and the forests 46. Drawbridge of a Feudal Castle. BRITAIN, OR ENGLAND inhabited by bands of outlaws, men who could not earnan honest living or would not stand the tyranny of thenobles. Fighting was the greatest career, and knights andnobles gloried in battle. A boy who wanted to be a knightbegan his training when he was only seven, and eventhen he could not be-come a knight till hewas twenty-one, andhad vowed to obey andprotect the church, tobe true to his lady, andto defend the weakand helpless. The center of gai-ety was the or mockbattles, hawking andhunting, were the chiefamusements. Nearlyall learning was con-fined to the church,which, closely unitedto the state, had be-come a great power. But the days ofchivalry, of braveknights and beauti-ful ladies, of great monasteries and brilliant courts, ofbands of outlaws like the celebrated Robin Hood, wholived a life of gay adventure in the kings forest, were,after all, times of d
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookidfirstbookina, bookyear1921
