Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1904-12-30
QUEER BIOGRAPHIES.
Some Of the Earliest Used In American
Schools.

SCHOOLS,
For score of years after Biographies
began to be introduced into the schools
of America, says Clifton Johnson. in 1.-THE
New England Magazine" they depended
largely on the use of a globe to make
clear the divisions of the earth. 1t was
not long, however before nearly every
book was accompanied by an atlas and
this continued customary to about 1850.
Jedidah Morse was the pioneer among
American authors of school Biographies
The earliest rival to contest the field with
Morse's books was a small volume of
questions and answers compiled by Ma
thaniel Dwight and published at Hart
ford in 1895. Below are some of the Gu
rious bits of information the volume i'm
parts:
Q. What are the Russian funeral GER
emonies?
a. They are singular The priest
prays, and sprinkles the corpse for eight
or ten days; it is then buried with pass
port to heaven, signed by the bishop and
another clergymen, which is put between
the fingers of the deceased, and then the
people return to the house whence they
went, and drown their sorrow in intoxi-
cation. This they commonly do for about
forty days, during which time the priest
says prayers over the grave.
Q. Are they any lakes I'm Scotland?
n. There are many; but two are very
remarkable One near Lochness is on the
top of a hill almost two miles high. This
lake is small, but it has never been sound
ed nor does it ever freeze. About sew
enteen miles distant is another lake which
is frozen all the year.
@. What are the persons and char
acters of the Scots?
a. They are generally lean, raw-boned,
and have high cheek bones, which is
characterised feature
Q. What are the diversions of the
Scots?
\. They are all of the vigorous athletic
kind; such as dancing, golf and curling.
| The golf is a species of ball playing per-
formed with bat and ball the ex-
tremity of the bat being loaded with lead,
and the party which strikes the ball with
fewest strokes into a hole prepared for
the purpose wins the game.
@. What are the customs and diver
sions of the Irish?
a. There are a few customs existing
in Ireland peculiar to this country. These
are their funeral howlings and presenting
their corpses in the streets to excite the
charity of strangers their convlvial
meetings on Sunday, and dancing to bag
pipes, which are usually attended with
quarrellng.
@. What curiosities are there in
/ France?
\. fountain near Grenoble emits a
| flame which will burn paper, straw. etc.
i
about eight leagues of the same place is
an inaccessible mountain in the form of
| "A pyramid reversed.
Q. What curiosities are there in
/ Portugal?
A. There are lakes into which stone
being cast causes a rumbling like the
! noise Of an earthquake.
.. What do you observe of the inhab-
! itants of Guinea?
| a. They are chiefly pagans and idol
| aters. In Ego. where the people are gov
/ erned by a king who Is not absolute, when
they are tired of him. a deputation waits
| on him and informs him that 1t is ia
! tguing for him to bear the burden of
| government any longer, advising him to
/ take a little rest. He thanks them and
retires to his apartment as If to sleep,
and directs his women to strange him i:
! and after he expires they destroy all
! things which belonged to him or to them
selves and then kill one another. His
son succeeds to the government and on
the same terms.
@. Give a concise description of the
! Giages and Annians?
A. The first inhabit a part of the Con-
go coast: the latter live in the Macao.
| The people are canibals. They kill and eat
| their first born children; and their
friends who die are eaten by their rela-
tions. The king of Macao resides in
| Monsol where there is a market in which
exists in plenty They esteem it a lux
| ury. and it Is said that hundred pris-
| oners or slaves are daily killed for the
kings table.
G. What are the characteristics of the
! Hottentots?
/ human race. They besmear their bodies
with SCOT and grease, live upon carrion,
old leather. shoes, and everything of the
most loathsome kind; dress themselves
in sleeps skin. untanned, turning the
wool to their flesh in the winter, and the
other side in the summer. Their dress
serves them for a bed at night, for a
covering by day, and for a winding sheet
| when they die.
One geography that had marked in
dividuality of its own was a thick little
| volume. mostly in verse, entitled 1.-THE
Monitors Instructor" published at Will
mington in 1904. In the prose portion of
the book are several curious paradoxes
Here is one of them:
Three men went on journey, in which,
though their heads travelled ~ yards fur
Their than their feet, all returned alive
with their heads on.
The solution explains that IF any per-
son should travel round the globe, the
space travelled by his head will exceed
that his feet travelled" by about the
number of yards mentioned.
Cummings Geogra ply, 1914. apologies
in its preface for adding another ito the
number of Biographies already so great
as to obstruct rather than promote i'm
provement" During the previous decade
Lewis and Clark had made their journey
across the continent, and we now find
mention of the STONY Mountains" II
was a number of years before the name
Rocky was substituted for Stony. Con-
corning the Andes in South America we
are told: "These amazing mountains. In
comparison with which the Alps are but
little hills, have assures in some places q
mile wide, and deep in proportion; anC
there are others that run under ground
and resemble in extent a province"
Adams's Geography 1918, is divided
into three parts. The following is from
| Part II:
"A mountain is a vast protuberance o.
the earth"
THE White Mountains are the highest
not only in New Hampshire, but in thu
United States"