Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-10-24
Cloud Shapes and Atlas Puzzles

but VIII was only 10.
"Didn't we have lots of fun out of the
clouds?" asked VIII of Aunt Alice.
Eyes, it was good sport, and John
would have enjoyed it, too, if he had
been with us, replied Aunt Alice.
"Well, L never heard the like before, %
said John.
The three friends to whom the chill
dren are here introduced were at the
breakfast table. Aunt Alice and Will
having returned on the night before
from their summer trip to Grandfather
Burton's, in the country, Will had been
telling John, who had remained in the
city all the summer, about his adven-
lures on grandfather's farm and in the
wide woods close by the farm.
eve were real tired from running so
much one afternoon" continued Will,
"when we all went out on the lawn,
where grandfather was sitting. It was
shady and nice"
"Please pass me another you know
what" interrupted John, pointing with
his knife at plate of cakes.
GAS [ was going to say" VIII con-
tinued, eve were resting in the shade
when grandfather told me to look at the
great white clouds that were marching
round the sky. By and by grandfather
said: willie, [ see soldier with
sword in his hand Where p said I,
locking down the road. up III the sky
said he. And, sure enough, [ saw
great white cloud almost exactlyl like the
picture of Gen. Jackson IN grandfather's
dining ROOM"
"Was he marching ?" asked John.
eyes, but his legs didn't move. The
wind showed him along for three or four
minutes and then blew his head over so
that after a while the soldier turned into
q thing very much like buffalo. But
that wasn't all we saw. Aunty here soon
pointed out what looked like a lady
dressed for ball. The cloud lady had
on q dress almost exactly like white
satin. The sun was shiningon the dress
and il. glittered as if it were covered with
pearls. Near the sky-lady [ saw lion.
Grandfather said it was more like New
foundland dog, but thought it was a
lion. While we were looking at the lion
the lady changed into something that
looked like turkey. Besides, we saw
good many giants, and few mountain
ranges"
''Aunty," said John, who had been
slicing his wheat cakes into the shape of
cats and dogs and swallowing them.
"don't you remember what we heard
when we went to see Booth play Ham
let at the South Broad two winters
ago."
"Oh!" exclaimed Aunt Alice, "you
mean about Hamlet and Polonius and
the whale"
"Wko're Hamlet and Polonius ?" said
VIII.
Don't you know?" laughed John.
"Why, they're some of the great Shaks-
peare's men,"
"Who's Shakespeare ?" asked Will,
not bit disturbed by Johns laughter.
Aunt Alice smiled, and explained that
Shakespeare was the greatest writer ever
known. He lived in England's great
city of London more than 800 years ago,
when America was wild country. He
wrote plays for the theaters, and the
theaters nowadays often use his plays
because they are the best. One of his
plays is called Hamlet" because a
Prince named Hamlet is the heart and
soul of the play. Hamlet is in great
trouble, so the make-believe history
says, and a foolish old man named Po-
lonlus thinks Hamlet is crazy and treats
him like child. One day Polonius
went into room where Hamlet was and
began to talk to him. Hamlet was
standing by a window, and, pointing at
the sky, said:
do you see yonder cloud that's almost in
shape of camel?"
Polonius answered-s'B By the mass, and It's
Ike camel, indeed
us) then said-'s Methinks it is like weasel. {"
Polonius-"It is backed Cor has bacli) like
weasel"
Hamlet" Or like whale"
Polonius-"Very like whale"
So you see," continued Aunt Alice,
" that they had fun out of the clouds 800
years ago just as We had out in Lancas-
ter county last week"
"That's So" said Will, "and Hamlet
was just making fun of old Polonius,
wasn't he ?"
I'm off for school," said John. and
In moment Aunt Alice was left alone at
the table.
At school that day the shape of things
kept running in Willie's head. It was a
clear day and he couldn't find any cloud
shapes, but every map in the geography
that he was studying seemed to take on
the shape of some animal. In the map
of Europe he found several shapes and
so with all the maps.
And now let the children open their
biographies and start on jolly hunt for
" shapes" Below are given some
geography "shape-puzzles, " which may
be worked out by the children from any
good-sized atlas.
Take the map of the western hemi.
sphere and turn it around so that the
Pacific ocean shall be at the top and the
Atlantic ocean at the bottom. Now,
what part of the map looks like the head
and trunk of an elephant?
Take the map of the eastern hemi-
sphere. Let it remain in its ordinary
position, right side up. What part OF
the map looks like the head of a man
who appears to be trying to swallow a
part of Asia?
In the map of North America, looked
at from the southwest, what country re-
sembles an old dunce-cap
In the map Of the United States