Milford chronicle., 1901-08-23
RELIED OFF IN RHYME.
Geography Was Taught That Wa
Fifty Years Ago.


Fifty Years Ago.
10 our parents and grandparents still |
remember the way they said their lessons
in rhyme when they went to school 81
years ago? Now aud then we hear them
recite bit of verse to help their mem
cries on important facts. such as the mum
Der of days in June or the date Of bat
tie. But we seldom see any Of the obi
rhyming textbooks they used to use.
Mrs Carrie Whitney, librarian Of the
Public library. recently came across a
poetcal geography of the kind they used
80 years ago She bought it and learned
that the author. George Van Waters.
was an uncle of her mother. 1t is a
quaint and curious volume, little
worn at the edges, a little faded in
places and yellow with age. but in a good
state of preservation. II was printed III
1851 at Louisville. Philadelphia, Hart
ford. New York and Boston. The book
had a big sale apparently. II was used
IN hundreds of schools. Thousands OF
school children were compelled 10 study
it,
Fifty years ago it was not enough for
school children to study their textbooks
! and gain the ideas they taught. They
/ had 10 mem0rizp their books and speak
| off the lessons just as the author set them
down. TO help the pupil TO do this the
rhyming geography Of Mr.. Van Waters
he was a Dutchman. was Van Waters
was written. 1t contained only 50 pages.
hut there are some pretty tough lessons
between the covers MIR. Van Waters
arranged his geography -gnad- deaf like
the modern geography. with the old fa
miar cuts Of seas and continents, strange
animals and savage tribes. But half the
book is in verse Each page has two
parallel columns, the second in prose, the
first in verse One can imagine a child
getting some idea of the state of Missouri.
for instance, from reading the two and q
half inches of prose description which
Mr. Van Waters gave the state. But
what child could get any idea at all Of
Missouri from the following tortuons
verses. which the teachers compelled theil
patient little pupils TO learn by hearts"
And jefferson City on a high blrif smiles.
Up the Missouri tide twice sixty miles u2O),
On the same side. just twenty from ITS mouth.
ST. Charles is on the north bank. not the south.
, And independence west OF all hath laid heT.
From whence for Santa Fe leaves many a trader.
st. Louis on the MIsslssippi's seen.
Down from Missouri's mouth miles seventeen,
From New Orleans twelve hundred Up the tide,
5 Missouri's largest town. Missouri's pride.
And from ST. Louis. seventy miles southwest,
potos lives. known Tor her lead the Dest.
Could any child learn anything at al
about the state even If he did get all IN
rhymes by hearT What did the
Il mean2 He could not tell, even when b
O could repeat 'hcm.
If The situation of Iowa City is thus toll
in rhyme:
Il iowa City Sits the first in the state.
. Up her lair stream a cipher and an eight (s0).
J. Figures In parentheses explain that th
- poet meant 50 miles when be said IS
cipher and an eight" but II WASH
sufficient for the child to know that low
City was so miles up stream: the Chi
I tad to tell II in the lines of the book
i Even the definitions are told In vers
y The peninsula is explained thus:
S. A peninsula the dark sea weave intwines
lc Save by some neck that to the mainland joins.
!; OF mountains the poet says:
=. Mountains are high and elevated land
a, that rises Ger the province dark and grand
IN And of volcanoes:
OF Volcanoes from their craters vomit fire
Is And smoke and lava in a stream most dire.
st Here are some more rhyming delft
TO lions:
An ocean is a vast extent Of brine
Or salt sea water. boundless and sublime.
Seas large bodies OF the Driny tide
~ By land encircled round on every side.
Z chuNel is a strait that opens wide,
Ife As thesEnglish channel. where proud navics Il
ep woRd's globe, the world we live on mere.
he One halt globe is called a hemisphere.
60 A map is thus defined:
A maps picture OF the whole or part
Of the carth's surface, to be learned by heart.
AID 9he top is north, while south points to =
Y breast;
rhe right hands east, the left hands always "
More maps than one, bound up for school or
lege,
we Are called an atlas and contain much knoweC
A footnote In the work directs
us teacher as to the use of the book.
ON answer the question" says the auth
lur the pupil repeats the poetry. and in
ted own language gives the sum and S
I'M stance of the prose. The teacher IN
RS Instances should explain the liccn
,rs poetic phrases to juvenile classes."-k
-, sas City Star.