Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-07-06
PIONEER GEOGRAPHER
SCHOOL BOOK WRITTEN By JEDI.
DIAH MORSE IN 1900.
A Study Neglected in the Time Of
the American
Colonies.


From the New England Magazine.
In colonial days geography was spoken
or as IA diversion for a winters evening"
and acquaintance with IL was considered an
accomplishment rather than a necessity.
Some rudimentary instruction in the
science was occasionally given at the more
advanced schools. but the topic was not
taken up in the elementary schools until
after the revolution. knowledge OF Il
was first made a condition for entering
Harvard in 1915. and dozen years moro
elapsed before Massachusetts named IL
among the required studies In the public
schools. To begin with. IL was not intro
ouced as a separate study. but the books
were used as readers. The same was true
or the early school histories However.
geography presently won a place of it's
own. and Kept IL IN spite OF the protests
that the scholars attention was thereby
being taken away from "cyphering"
Jedidiah Morse.
The pioneer OF American authors OF
school Biographies was Jedidiah Morse.
On the title page of most editions of his
books his name was appended with ID. ID.
Minister of the Congregation in Charles
town. Massachusetts" He was born in
lt6l, graduated from Yale in 11S3 and the
year following published at New Haven his
nrst geography Later he put forth sew
erai other Biographies, large and small.
became a compiler of gazetteers wrote va
rious important historical and religious
works. was one of the founders of Ando-
Yer Theological Seminary, and for more
than thirty years served pastor OF the
First Church in Charlestown. He won
Iame not only in his own country but was
recognized abroad man OF distin-
guished attachments. and number of his
mar 81.
German. His Geography Made Easy" a
small leather-bound Emo. OF about four
hundred pages. was for many years by far
The most popular textbook dealing with
thls subject. My copy. da ted 1900 is dedi-
Gated ITO the Young Masters and Misses
Throughout the United States"
Bits From the Pages.
Two maps of double-page size are the
only illustrations-one a map of the world,
the other OF North America
The earlier pages treat of the Doctrine
of the Sphere. of Astronomical Geography
OF Globes and Their USE" etc But soon
we come to the History OF the Discovery
or America and then to General De-
scripuon of America" In the latter chap
ter is much that is interesting and pic
tureSque. 1t includes as do all the early
biographies. a good many Imaginative trav-
elers' tales picked up from newspapers and
other chance sources without any palms
as to the reliability of their authors in
fact, 1T sometimes seems as if the more
fabulous the story the better its chance to
be recorded in the school text books We
get very entertaining glimpses of the limi-.
tatfons or geographical knowledge at the
time In the following extracts from Morse:
The Andes. in South America. stretch
along the Pacific ocean from the Isthmus
OF Darien to the Straits of Magellan. The
height OF ChimboraZo, the most elevated
point In this vast chain of mountains. is
~. $50 feet. above 5000 feet higher than any
other mountain in the known world
North America has no remarkably high
mountains. The most considerable are
those known under the general name OF the
Allegany mountains. These stretch along
In many broken ridges under different
names from Hudson's river to Georgia The
Andes and the Allegany mountains are
probably the same range interrupted by
the Gulf of Mexico.
The First Americans.
who were the first people Of America!
And whence did they come? The Able
Clavigero gives his opinion In the following
conclusions:
" The Americans descended from differ
ent nations or from different families dis
persed after the confusion of tongues No
person will doubt the truth of this who has
any knowledge of the multitude and great
diversity OF the American languages. In
Mexico alone thirty-five have already been
discovered
But how did the inhabitants and animals
originally pass to America?
The Quadrupeds and reptiles of the new
world passed there by land. This fact is
from the improba bility and incou-
of all other opinions
This necessarily supposes an ancient
union between the equinoXial countries OF
America and those of Africa. and a con-
nexion or the northern countries Of America
with Europe on the +. and Asia on the w.
The beasts of cold climes passed over the
northern isthmuses. which probably con-
nected Europe America and Asia; and the
animals and reptiles peculiar to hot coun-
tries passed over the isthmus that probably
connected 8. America with Africa. Various
reasons induce us to believe that there was
formerly a tract of land which united the
most eastern part of Brazil to the most
western part of Africa; and that all the
space of land may have been sunk by vio-
lent earthquakes, leaving only some traces
of 1t in that chain of islands of which Cape
de Verd, Ascension and st. Matthews Is
land make part. In like manner II Is
probable. the northwestern part of America
was united to the northeastern part of
Asia. and the northeastern parts of Ameri-
ca to the northwestern parts of Europe, by
Greenland, Iceland, etc.
The American Mammoth.
"Quadrupede animals within the United
States. Mammoth. This name has been
given to an unknown animal. whose bones
are found in the northern parts of both
the old and new world. From the form Of
their teeth. they are supposed to have been
carniverous Like the elephant they were
armed with tusks of ivory: but they OBJ
viously differed from the elephant in size;
their bones prove them to have been ) or q
times as large.
"A late governor of Virginia. having
asked some delegates of the Delawares
what they knew respecting this animal
the chief speaker informed him that it was
a tradition handed down from their fathers
That in ancient times a herd of them
came to the Big-bone ticks. and began an
universal destruction of the bears deer
elks. buffaloes and other animals which
had been created for the use of the In
dians; that the Great Man. above, looking
down. and seeing this, enraged that
he seized his lightning. descended to the
earth, seated himself upon a neighbouring
on a rock, which his seat
and the print of his feet are still 10 be seen,
and hurled his bolts among them till the
whole were slaughtered except the big bull,
who. presenting his forehead to the shafts,
shook them off as they fell: but at length,
one. 1t wounded him in the side;
whereupon. springing round, he bounded
over the Ohio. the Wabash, the Illinois, ami