The Minneapolis journal., 1903-01-24
ANsON A. CARDS HOBBY
Spurred by the Loss Of Wager, He's
Getting School Children In.
terested in Canada.
Special to The Journal.

Special to The Journal.
New York, sn.24.--Anson A. Gard. the
author, better known as THE Wander
ing Yankee" last spring made tour
through some of the eastern cities and
small towns of the United States on the
novel mission of asking fifty questions on
the history and geogra ply of Canada, the
result Of wager made in Montreal-hls
present resdence-on the relative knowl-
edge Of the school children of the United
States and Canada, he contending that
the children Of this country know more OF
Canada than the young Canadians knew
Of the United States. He formulated the
fifty questions on his own country and
put them to Canadian schools. He then
came to the United States with the fifty
questions on Canada formulated by the
Canadian and visited schools in New
York Philadelphia Baltimore, Washing
ton and number of country schools.
The result was that Mr.. Gard lost the
wager. the Canadian children being able
to answer practically all OF his ques-
tons, while the American boys and girls
knew from twenty of the fifty Philadel-
phia) to forty-one Of the fifty (Baltl-
more. Md, and Montclair, n. J.).
Mr.. Gard being the kind Of Yankee who
turns failure into success, next. Of
ferred prizes> at some sof the schools for
the best letters Canada, and has since
received many letters filled with such we'll
he now offers to wager another dinner
with his Canadian friend or anyone else
! who will take it, that these letters cam
not be eoualled by the Canadian school
children on their own country. So Tar
| the wager has not been accepted. The
| letters referred to showed vast amount
| of research by the children who. at the
examinati tion knew but little Of our neigh
| Dor to the north and Mr.. Gard is very
proud of his young countrymen and wo-
| men.
! When asked why our American children
| knew SO little of Canada Mr.. Gard said:
| School children seldom know more than
| their teachers. and the teachers in our
| American schools are so. loyal to their
| own country that they feel that they have
| done their whole duty. when they teach
! America. l might have given better
| reason by saying that they know but lit
tie outside Of ur'own country. but then
l won't say this, however true 1T is.
! At one Of the New York schools where.
a few days since, Mr.. Gard was present
| ing prizes for excellent letters on Canada
| In speaking Of Canadian weather said:
| "Children. some Of you think, with the
grown people, that Canada is very, very
cold. l thought so myself until l went
| there, but l must tell you that I have
been more chilled during the past week
in New York than have been In Canada
! during two winters. The thermometer
gets lower In Canada than here, but the
air is so dry that one does not feel the
| cold. l wonder if the little girl is here
| to day who wrote me this letter: The
children Of Quebec have very delightful
| time. 1t is nice to go out OF summer
afternoon to Dominion Square Ohis
| square is in MontreaD and see the beau
tiful ice palace-as the sun glistens its
sides, making it look like nyriads Of dia-
! monds.. Children you may laugh, but
| many grown up person thinks Of Can
ada and the north pole as very closely re-
| lated. Why. when / went to Quebec two
| summers ago, I took my heavy winter
clothing, only to find the thermometer
simmerlng around 80 in the shade. It Is
not at all what you think it Is, a barren
country. but a most delightful place both
in winter and summer, and I want you tc
know about it,
! Mr.. Cards tour among the schools
promises more than he had hoped for
Only recently the editor of one of the
great daily newspa pers of London. the
, Chronicle. wrote to ask If he would ar
range a large number of questions@ on
both Canada and the United States. to be
put before the school children Of England
i That country will be much his debtor if he
can drill into the people as we'll as the
children the fact that New Orleans is not
suberb Of San Francisco or that Chi
| cago Is not just across the river from st
Il Louis.
! Mr.. Gard is an Ohio man. and was
real estate dealer before he became a
writer.