Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-05-25
cEocrApnrcAL LITERATURE.

The past two years have not been with
ont their educational benefits In America,
for the war with Spain and the discovery
OF gold in Alaska have directed the MINDS
OF men into channels which have Tor
years been almost unexplored.
BETTER than any other class, the book
sellers and publishers can testify to this
shifting of public attention, for they have
had 10 cater to the altered tastes of read
ers. who, forsalxing novels and periodicals,
now cry for geographical literature ana
works pertaining TO war.
when the first bands OF gold-laden
miners returned from the Yukon and
proclaimed their good fortunes to the
world. the general reading public awoke
10 the fact that they were painfully igno-
rant of Alaska and all things connected
.herewith. The great ice-bound land
cams back 10 them merely as memory
of drowsy schooldays, when childish
faces sleepily peered at biographies ana
wondered what was the good or such
dull studies but by and by the reports
about the yellow metal became more and
more interesting, and the papers and
magazines teemed with stories OF this
frosty lei Dorado. The eyes OF Americans
were turned northward, but not untii
many a one had sought his map ana
studied that hitherto unknown country.
Men thought of leaving sunny homes ana
green fields for this land of snow, but so
little did they know OF their destination
T.r. 81. OF n
to visit some supernatural region. ana
the consequence was that we awoke one
day to realize that we were quite familar
with Alaska and could possibly capture
a public-school prize II questioned on that
country. But hardly had we fixed all
these facts in our minds before we heard
the mutterings of war in Cuba and the Ia
mentations of downtrodden people we
knew-or thought we knew, just where
this pearl of the Antilles lay. but peep
at an atlas convinced us that we had
ignored several hundred miles, and that
our memory was decidedly inaccurate.
This led to other explorations ana other
discoveries. We, the people, learned that
the United States is not the only coun-
try on the map. Across the blue sea we
steered our finger to the coasts OF SPAN
and then, drifting to still SUMMER climes'
we rested our eyes on the Canaries. Then'
travelling hundreds of miles per second,
we halted on the Cape de Verde Islands
and felt the glow of tropical suns.
And then we drifted back to our own
familiar waters and were rapidly learning
how much we didn't know about America
when the boom of cannon in the Paclhc
caused us to leap q continent and plunge
into another ocean. Here. indeed, We
found lands of which we had not dreamed,
and even yet few Of US realize that Manila
is larger than any city in our Southland.
Since that glorious though recent day in
American history we have one and all be-
come active students of geography. we
have learned much and are absorbing
knowledge every day. Hundreds OF maps
have been sold in our bookstores, and
the demand is daily increasing. Some OF
us are content to have the now familiar
picture of Cuba before us, but others
more ambitious are satisfied with nothing
less than the world. And we feel an
honest pride, too, when we can trip some
friend on his geography and display our
SUPERIOR wisdom, which was, perhaps, ac-
CURED only an hour before.
The great American eagle, with clipped
wings, has been wont to scratch in his
own back yard and abstain from peck
| ing at his neighbors. But now things
are changed since that day when the
liberty-bird calmly spread out his pin
ions before the lannon's mouth IN the
Pacific we have begun TO look around,
and every hour we are becoming more
| aggressive.