Captains of Industry

Cornelius Vanderbilt. He made his money in ships. He also bought up railways so that he could always be sure of getting a lower berth.

Andrew Carnegie made his money in steel. Although he was mild, soft-spoken man, his steel had quite a temper. Thanks to Carnegie’s efforts, steel rapidly came to replace wood in almost everything but trees.

John D. Rockefeller made his money in oil, which he discovered at the bottom of wells. Rockefeller’s huge fortune seemed even larger then it was because he kept it in dimes (a 10 cent coin).

J. P. Morgan, who was a direct sort of person, made his money in money. He became immensely wealthy because of his financial interests, most of which were around eight or ten per cent.

Henry Ford manufactured one of the early automobiles. An idealist and dreamer, this great inventor dreamed of two cars in every garage – both of them Fords.

American h h h hh Holidays

Let’s start speaking about American holidays with Independence Day. It’s on the fourth of July and considered as the American nation’s birthday. On that day in 1776 the United States of America were established, when the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Each American city and town holds its own ceremony – a parade, tours through historic monuments, shows, boat-races and evening fireworks displays. There are also baseball games, water-melon eating contests, folk dancing and lots of lovely music.

Another interesting holiday is Thanksgiving Day, which was first celebrated in 1621 by English settlers of the Plymouth colony. The settlers had left their native England because they had been denied the right to separate from the Established Church. In 1620 they sailed to America on the “Mayflower” ship and landed at place which is now Plymouth, Massachusetts in November. When April came they began their planting, struggling with the rocky soil. When the fields produced a rich harvest, the Governor proclaimed “Day of Thanksgiving”. Since Lincoln’s time it has been the custom for the President of the United States to proclaim annually the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day. Table decorations include bright-colored apples, oranges, chestnuts, purple grapes. The central piece is the traditional roast turkey.

Now some words about Valentine’s Day, the sweethearts holiday when people in love express their affection for each other in different ways. The young people can do it through a small gift or a card. Ogden Nash, an American poet wrote: “All you had to do was to take a sheet of paper and draw a heart with an arrow through it carrying the words “I love you” and sign it “Guess who” and shove it under the door of your only beloved and ring the bell and run like a rabbit”.

More than 19 million sentimental Valentine’s cards are sent on every 14^th February. They put secret codes on the outside of the envelopes, like SWALK, which means: sealed with a loving kiss; ITALY: I trust and love you; or HOLLAND: hope our love lasts and never dies.

Few holidays tell us as much of the past as Halloween. Its roots date back hundreds of years to the Druid holiday when Lord of Dead gathered up the souls of all those who had died during the year to present them to Druid Heaven on October 31. The Druid New began on November 1, marking the beginning of winter and the reign of Prince of Darkness. Halloween customs today follow the ancient practices: children wear ghost and goblin costumes, masks, witches’ hats, tell ghost stories. The Druids called upon supernatural forces to placate the evil spirits, they lit huge bonfires atop hills to honour the Sun god and sitting around told each other terrible stories.