Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1900-09-21

can consume more time for the pupil
with less work from the teacher and
poorer results to the class. II 50, they
have not got this far west.
The little book "Why We Vote
by Horatio Alling, is, if used as a
reading book as recommended by the
State board, and not as a textbook in
Civics, one of the best books adopted.
1t has some lessons which are essen.
tial to intelligent citizenship and tells
them in Il way that children can ap.
prociate.
Our national history is quite collec-
ton OF fair paper, poor print, insignifi-
cant maps and wretched illustrations.
Events are stated with little reference
to order and no attempt at philosophy.
1t is as frigid presentation of burn
ing facts as was ever submitted to
enlist the attention OF budding genius.
The warm little coloquy between Ethen
Allen and Delaplace and the downfall
of Ticonderoga, in 1776. is put in this
inspiring way:
Ethen Allen, with the Green Noun
! tain Boys Of Vermont, captured Ticon-
deroga, on Lake Champlain, in the name
of the Great Jehovah and the Continent
tai Congress-.
The fiery exploits of Paul Jones are
summed up in these soul-stirring
words:
"John Paul Jones became a naval
val hero, and sailing into the Irish Chan
mel, set fire to shipping and destroyed
many vessels. He was given command
OF squadron OF five ships, and sailing
from France, he sped beyond the coasts
of Ireland and Scotland Whatever that
may meant In the Bonhomme Rich
ard he captured the British frigate Sera-
pts, and by his mastery warfare kept a
part OF the British navy home, to defend
the coast of Great Britain"
The terrible whirlwind of desolation
which Phil Sheridan set loose in the
Shenandoah valley in the closing days
of the civil war, are coolly described in
this language:
Meantime Sheridan with his cavalry
moved up the Shenandoah valley, and
joined Grant near Petersburg"
A cut of the Monitor and the picture
of Patrick Henry before the Virginia
Assembly, as we'll as nearly all the
portraits and many other illustrations,
are sights that amuse grown people
and frighten children.
The preface gives credit to Mr.. Rick
etts 4" for the artistic illustrations" It
is apparent that Mr.. R. furnished a
very limited number of the illustra-
tons, if his are recognized by the quail.
ification of "artistic." Still, with all
its imperfections, it is an improvement
il some respects on the book it sup
plants.
The new Geography is simply abom.
Unable. There is not page in the
book that does not contain one or more
errors of English construction, up to
as high as sixteen, on page IA, and
there may be larger number on other
pages. Nor are these error slight or
immaterial ones. The following ex-
tracts are given as proof, and they may
be paralleled many times over. In the
preface it is written: The author, with
one or two exceptions, has followed"
etc. On page IL, the first of the text,
we read that
cit Geography is more than de-
scription of things that are lifeless, for it
tells about the running brook, the roar
ing sea, the smoking mountain, the little
farm. the sailing ship, the fertile fields,
the silent DESERT"
All OF which we are expected to infer
are living things" On page Is we
read:
| Many of the most fertile lands and
plains have been flooded, and when the
waters receded, left rich layers of SOIL"
If there is any merit in the old rule
in grammar that every verb requires a
subject, expressed or understood, it
it seems to be pertinent to inquire,
what is the subject of cleft" in that
sentence?
Eight lines further down the page
begins this remarkable passage:
"The glacier is a great icy desert. No
lifts of any kind exists. In North Amer
lea it moved out in all directions, until it
covered much Of the continent. The
map here shows how the ice-sheet COW
cred the country. (which it does not do
at ALL When the ice of the glacier
melted away, it left only signs of its pre-
sence; but when the temperate-latitude
plants grewin Greenland, they left seeds,
leaves and tree-trunks, which have be-
come imbedded in the rocks as fossils.
One may now pick the leaves of temper
ate-climate trees from the rocks beneath
great ice cap. Nevertheless, to one
who studies them, the signs left by the
glacier are as clear proof as the leaves
and the seeds"
If, as is suspected, the author, with
one or two exceptions" desired to be
startling in his methods of expression,
he has succeeded most admirably.
Thus the book goes on, page after
page, never letting up for twenty lines
in succession. unless some one is quot
ed, and not always then. On page 80
we read from description of the rho
dodendron that
".In beauty of form and foliage, its
many colors, and the profusion of its
flowers, no other shrub equals it. They
are exceedingly hardy" etc.
Two lines farther ON, the same error
is repeated. On page 81, Tacoma is
said to be
"Noted for its railway machine shops,
its manufacture, and large exports trade
to China and Japan, and other cities Of
the New Pacific"
| All the nun1ic schoo1 h,,;l,1;crs ~