The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1891-10-15
HE IS LOOKING BACKWARD.
A WcfSeI- Gentleman Un-
caIths IN Antique
Volume.
And Compares the Past
With the Present.

years contemplated as an individual
life is long time to look forward to,
but to the person Of that age how
very limited the time appears, when
in retrospective mood the mind is al
lowed to travel back and revisit for
mer scenes, and to recall scenes OF
long ago. With inconceivable swift
ness the pages of life are turned and
quickly scanned by memory, and the
man of fifty or sixty, as he sits
brooding in the shadows of our west
ern mountains is back among other
scenes in other lands. The years
have rolled away, and maybe once
more he sees a happy child at play
beneath the roof tree of an old New
England home, or by the banks of
some lovely and quiet river of New
York Even New York was from
tier state in 1925. And as memory
takes up the journey, see how it
brincs him oa toward the setting sun
impelol by destiny that he cannot
control--ho cals the home of his
manhood and the native land OF his
children midway on continent that
in his childhood WAS an unknown
land, peoplcd by ony savage race
and in his brief span OF existence
he has beheld the savage vanish from
the scene. and the trail over which he
. departed laid with steel rails; the
y spots where he eamped the sites Of
great cities; the lonely lakes and
. rivers, along whose shores he padded
y his canoe, covered with white winged
: ships and black steamers, carrying a
. commerce derived from the vast
prairies where he once hunted undis-
" turbed. Such thoughts rs these are
. common to the minds of all, but
= came to the mind OF the writer rs, in
" scanning over some old books for an
- hours recreation, he came across al
- old and antiquated looking volume
small and insignificant, and bearing
= all the marks OF ill-usage and tedious
:, hours in school, dog cared and bat
- tered, on the hy-leaf the name 0
% Aunt Mary, and then follows that o
" Aunt Laura and date 1897, showing
% it had done service to two at least
~ and from it they learned what the
20 could of this world and its pc bic
Nv They have both long since gone owe
to the silent majority and the M
N0 known mysteries of the world WHO'S
- geography has never been revealed
=, - The book, as the title page gives /
" is "Rudiments of Geography on
New Plan" with numerous engra'
ings Of manners, customs and curios
=. ties, accompanied with an atlas e,
Oh hibiting the prevailing religion
forms Of government, degrees of civ
lization, etc, by William Woodbridg
'''' A. NJ; published at Hartford
Oliver D. Cook & Sons, 1925.
''Oi review the whole book and compa
'0' the condition of the world as th'
known and what we know nc
would be too lengthy for paper Ii
''' this, and the intention is to on
'' compare a few points Of interest co
cerning our own land. Nilsson
Territory, or the Western Terrific
'''0 of the United States (here 10 an i'll;
=" tration of Indians catching buifa
~ Two Indians are driving six blii'
~ over a steep bank into pen, the
tention being to break their necks
yet the fall, or failing in this to cal
ious em alive. ! have seen considera
lave of this sport but not exactly IN
ing stylej embraced tie greater part
the the possessions Of the United Sta
It to west Of the Mississippi and still
than wilderness, consisting OF imma
plains; it is inhabited only by lndi'
and few soldiers stationed at N
tary posts. But we must pass
ping - - o. .ho o;t;os of A,nari
America is much less distinguis
" for the number and size of its CT
~ than Europe Or Asia. There /.
" none which belong to the fourth G
of cities of the world, and only
gan which are above the seventh clas
ional will explain the meaning of this
,tain ther on). In the cities the houses
,tion mostly built of brick. Washing
.ount is described as ''Laid out on an
of tensive plan and not yet co
man built, and the clusters of houses