E. S. BROOKS

   PREFACE.

    In these progressive days,
           when so much energy
               and discussion
            are devoted to
             what is
                  termed equality
                       and the rights of woman,
         it is well to remember
             that there have been
                   in the distant
                 past women,
           and girls even,
         who by their actions
               and endeavors
             proved themselves the
            equals of the men
                   of their time
                 in valor,
           shrewdness,
         and ability.

    This volume
        seeks to tell
               for the girls
                   and boys
                       of to-day the stories of
                     some of their sisters
                           of the long-ago,
          --girls who by eminent position
              or valiant deeds
            became historic even
             before they
                had passed the charming
                       season of girlhood.

    Their stories
        are fruitful of varying lessons,
           for some
               of these historic girls
            were wilful
                   as well as courageous,
         and mischievous
               as well as tender-hearted.

    But from
           all the lessons and
         from all the morals,
           one truth stands
               out most clearly
          --the fact
             that age and country,
           time and surroundings,
         make but little change
               in the real girl-nature,
           that has ever been impulsive,
         trusting,
           tender,
         and true,
           alike in the days
               of the Syrian Zenobia and
             in those
                   of the modern American school-girl.

    After all,
           whatever the opportunity,
         whatever the limitation,
           whatever the
             possibilities
             of this same never-changing
                       girl-nature,
         no better precept
            can be
                  laid down
                    for our own bright
                         young maidens,
           as none better
            can be
                  deduced from the stories
             herewith presented,
         than that phrased
            in Kingsley's noble
                yet simple verse:

    "Be good,
           sweet maid,
         and let
             who will be clever
    Do noble things,
           not dream them,
         all day long
    And so make life,
           death,
         and the vast forever
               One grand,
           sweet song."

    Grateful acknowledgment
        is made
               by the author
                   for the numerous expressions
                       of interest
         that came to him
               from his girl-readers
             as the papers now
              gathered into book-form
            appeared from time
                  to time
                       in the pages
                           of St. Nicholas.

    The approval of those
         for whom one studies
               and labors
            is the pleasantest and most
                  enduring return.

 
  ZENOBIA OF PALMYRA: THE GIRL
       OF THE SYRIAN DESERT.

    [Afterward known as
         "Zenobia Augusta,
               Queen of the East."]

    A.D.
        250.

    MANY
        and many miles
               and many days'
              journey toward the rising sun,
           over seas
               and mountains and deserts,
          --farther to the east
               than Rome,
           or Constantinople,
         or even Jerusalem
               and old Damascus,--stand the ruins
                   of a once mighty city,
           scattered over a mountain-walled oasis
               of the great Syrian desert,
         thirteen hundred feet
               above the sea,
           and just
            across the northern
                border of Arabia.

    Look for it
           in your geographies.

    It is known as Palmyra.

    To-day the jackal
        prowls through its deserted streets
               and the lizard
              suns himself
                   on its fallen columns,
           while thirty
           or forty miserable
              Arabian huts huddle
                   together in
                       a small corner of
             what was once
                   the great court-yard
                 of the magnificent Temple
                   of the Sun.

    And yet,
           sixteen centuries ago,
         Palmyra,
           or Tadmor as it
            was originally called,
         was one of the
               most beautiful cities
             in the world.

    Nature and art combined to
         make it glorious.

    Like a glittering mirage
           out of the sand-swept desert
        arose its palaces
               and temples
             and grandly sculptured archways.

    With aqueducts and monuments and
          gleaming porticos
               with countless groves of palm-trees
                   and gardens full of verdure;