The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-05-29
Our Sons ann Girls.
The Scribe's Report.

For the FIRST time in the annals OF the
Hill Country Club no answers have
been received to one set of questions
those Of May although responses are
already at hand to the questions of the
two following weeks. Perhaps you were
all too busy with your gardening, just
then, to look up the answers.
The first question was out of our
regular course, and was intended more
especially for those who are interested
in history. 1t had reference to an Incl
dent in the life of King Canute. You
remember, perhaps, that the Danes had
been making the people of England
much trouble in the time of Alfred the
Great. He died in the year 900, and
somewhat over hundred years later
the Danes conquered England and held
it for about twenty-five years. The
king, during the greater part of this
time, was Canute, or Knut-sometime
styled "the Great" Although Dane,
he was very good king, and won the
respect and affection of his English
subjects. He was King of Denmark
and Norway, as well as of England,
and to these he added the crown of
Scotland. Macbeth, of whom we shall
want to learn something in connection
with Shakespeare works, was one of
several Scottish thames who came to &C.
knowledge Canute as their king. The
incident asked for was this: One dav,
when he had grown tired of the fattery
of his courtiers, he ordered his throne
to be set up on the sea-shore; and then,
as the tide came nearer to him, he COM
manded it to 60 back. Hence, when
any one tries to stop real progress in
any direction, he is likened to King
Canute at this time commanding the
tide to recede. OF course the tide kept
on rising higher and higher, until it
splashed over the throne and wet the
kings robes. Then he said to his court
iers: "Though kings are mighty and
rule wide realms, yet will not the seas
obey them; therefore to God alone be
honor and praise, for he rules all things,
and the wind and the seas obey him"
Sir Walter Raleigh was noted first as
soldier. He had entered college at
the age of fourteen, and before he was
twenty he had joined company that
went to aid the Huguenots who were
being prosecuted in France. Condi-
tons of peace were soon secured,
granting the Huguenots liberty of con-
science. But this treaty proved to be
an act of treachery on the part of the
icto hn Of
"a, 1872, the massacre of st. Bartholo-
NEW began. Raleigh took refuge at
the house of the English ambassador.
Here he met Philip Sidney, who had
also taken refuge there.
Raleigh also distinguished himself in
military service in Ireland, and his
name had won the attention of Queen
Elizabeth before she had ever seen him.
Sir Walter Scott describes their first
meeting. The queen, with her attend
ants, was about to enter her barge on
the Thames. The previous night had
been rainy, and in the pathway from
the palace gate to the landing was a
spot of mud. Raleigh CHANGED to be
among the spectators who were await
ing glimpse at royalty; and, as she
approached the wet place, he took from
his shoulder an elegant cloak and
spread it upon the ground for the queen
to walk over. She passed on, recog-
nizing the service with nod; and
later she sent for Raleigh to join her in
the barge.
He next became noted as a naviga-
tor. Under "patent from the queen
he fitted out two ships and sailed for
the New World, where he took pos
session of a large tract of country, and
called it Virginia, in honor of the Vir-
gin Queen. The present State of Vir-
ginia is part of this territory. He af-
terward made other voyages; but upon
the death of Elizabeth his fortunes
turned. King James treated him very
unjustly, keeping him imprisoned in
the Tower twelve years. 1t was during
this period that he wrote "The History
of the World" upon which his fame as
an author chiefly rests. He was re-
leased for the purpose of conducting an
expedition to Guiana, but the expedi-
ton not proving successful the king
decreed that Raleigh should be be-
headed. This sentence was executed
in October, 1918.
AS to the greatest work of Francis
Bacon-while some of his other works
may have more literary value-his most
important work to us was his Noruna
Organun1, or " Method of Studying the
Sciences" This has been the founda-
ton of all our modern scientific re-
search, and it is this that has immortal
lied his name. His method is called
the Inductiue System, and you will hear
much about it wherever methods of
education are being discussed. Before
Bacon's time people used to make a
theory first-such as supposing the
earth to be the center of the universe
and then try to explain facts according
to that theory. But the Inductive Sys-
tenn requires one to study facts first,
and not attempt theories until as many
facts as possible have been learned
and our theories must be simply gen.
eral conclusions based on all the facts
that can be learned. This is the way
the law of gravitation and all the other
great laws of nature have been found
out; and it is better for boys and girls
to study natural philosophy and other
natural sciences in this way so far as