Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-11
QUEER BIOGRAPHIES
SOME OF THE EARLIEST USED IN
AMERICAN SCHOOLS.
Curious Bits of Information Impaired
by Them Through Questions
and Answers.

| From the New England Magazine.
For a score of years after biographies be-
gan to be introduced into the schools of
| America they depended largely on the use
| of a globe to make clear the divisions OF
the earth. 1t was not long, however, be-
fore nearly every book was accompanied
| by an atlas, and this continued customary
| to about 1850.
Jedidiah 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 ques-
| tions and answers compiled by Nathaniel
Dwight and published at Hartford in 1875
Below are some of the curious bits of in
formation the volume imparts:
Q. What are the Russian funeral cere-
| monies?
A They are singular. The priest prays
and sprinkles the corpse for eight or ten
| days. 1t is then buried with a passport to
| heaven signed by the bishop and another
| clergyman, 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 intoxication. rms tney
| commonly do for about forty days. during
| which time the priest says prayers over the
| grave.
Q. Are there any lakes in Scotland?
A. There many; but two are very re-
| markable. One near Lochness is on the top
| of a hill almost two miles high. This lake
| is small, but it has never been sounded, nor
| does it ever freeze. About seventeen miles
| distant Is another lake, which Is frozen all
| the year.
Q. What are the persons and characters
| 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?
A. 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 a bat and ball, the extremity
of the bat being loaded with lead, and the
| party which strikes the ball with fewest
| strokes into hole prepared for the pur-
| pose wins the game.
| Diversions of the Irish.
| Q. What are the customs and diversions
| of the Irish?
| A. There are 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 convivial meetings on
Sunday and dancing to bagpipes. which are
| usually attended with quarreling.
| Q. What curosities are there in France?
| A. A fountain near Grenoble emits a flame
| which will burn paper, straw. etc, but Will
| not burn gunpowder. Within about eight
leagues of the same place is an inaccessible
| mountain in the form of pyramid re-
| versed.
| Q. What curiosities are there in Portugal?
| A There are lakes into which a stone be-
| ing cast causes a rumbling like the noise
| of an earthquake.
Q. What do you observe of the inhabitants
of Guinea?
A They are chiefly pagans and fdolaters.
| In Ego, where the people are governed by
king who is not absolute, when they are
| tired of him, deputatiOn waits on him and
informs him that 1t is fatiguing 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
ole 10 tn or o.
him; 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
Q. Give a concise description of the Giages
and Annians.
A. The first inhabit part of the Congo
| coast; the latter live in the Macao. The
people are cannibals. They kill and eat
their first born children: and their friends
who die are eaten by ther relations. The
king of Macao resides In Monsol, where
there is a market In which human flesh Is
sold, although other meat exists in plenty.
They esteem 1t luxury. and 1t is said
hundred prisoners or slaves are daily killed
for the kings table.
Q. What are the characteristics of the
Hottentots?
A They are the most abject OF the hui
| man race. They besmear their bodies with
| SCOT and grease, live upon carton, 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
| bed at night for covering by day, and
for winding sheet when they die.
A Geographical Riddle
| One geography that had a marked indi-
| viduality of it's own was thick little vol
| ume, mostly in verse, entitled The Moni-
| tors Instructor" published a Wilmington
| 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 twelve yards
| further than their feet, all returned alive,
| with their heads on
| The solution explains that IF any person
| 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 Geography. 1914. apologies In
| its preface for adding another ito the num-
| Der of Biographies. already SO great as to
| obstruct rather than promote improve
! ment" During the previous decade Lewis
| and Clark had made their journey across
| the continent, and We now find mention of
| the STONY Mountains" 1t a number
| of years before the name Rocky was sub
| stituted for Stony. Concerning 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 place mile wide. and deep
| in proportion; and there are others that
| run under ground. and resemble in extent
| province"
| Adams Geography, 1918. is divided into
| three parts. The following is from Part II:
| "A mountain Is vast protuberance OF
| the earth
The White mountains are the highest.
| not only in New Hampshire, but in the
| United States"
| Buried With His Horace.