Norwich bulletin., 1911-01-21
Written Specially for Tho BulIstin.) }

(Nrittsn Specially for Tho BuiIstin.) This sentence caught my eye the other day: ATfle 6rdinary schoolboy now days knows more geography than the wisest man in Europe did 300 years ago" It set me thinking, hundred years ago means the first part of the fifteenth century. Most of the wfsest men of those days though. the earth was fiat. and by the few who dared to think 1t might be round, its size was greatly underestimated. The western hemisphere was unknown to them, also most of the eastern. Little did they dream Of the dimen- sions of Africa. nothing was known of Australia and it's surrounding islands, nothing certain of the extreme north of their own continent, even.
 When we think what a narrow view of life theirs must have been, we can no longer wonder that those were days of bitter religious prosecutions and political strife. There was not thrive, for might made right and the weak were swept to one side by the strong. Strength meant power to crush down. not power to lift from the depths And if the wisest know so little, what must have been the ig- had they in life, accustomed to meager food and shelter, and to whom unusu- al plenty of food and drink was the greatest pleasre of all. How little better were they than the brutes in their care!
 What is stated of geography is also true of science and general intelli- geIlce. Every schoolboy or girl is in- formed today of the general princi- pies controlling the universe, the movements of the heavenly bodies, the course of winds and tides, the sea- sons growth and failures, and many other things which those days seem ed the caprice of deities, one or many, according to the belief of the people. Were the crops a failure, the gods were angry and must be appeased. Did disa ster sweep over the land, the same deity must be propitiated. Pow CT, not love, ruled all hearts from high to low.
 Those were the days when each lit tie section of the world knew only it's own affairs. General intelligence was thing unknown, and we all know how little it broadens character to hear of nothing but one's own daily routine of the doings of ones own little village or clique. Provincial is the word applied to such nowadays, but provincial means world wide com pared with five centuries ago.
 whence comes InIS Cndh9Ss Mduy causes have brought it abut. Several at once come into the mind. A few adventurous souls dared to go out into the world beyond their own precincts; the tidings they brought back. half believed though it was, was still a stimulus to similar effort on the part of others willing to brave uncertain ty for gain or fame. Then came printing, which opened up a new world to those living in darkness; add to this the telegraph, telephone. postal service, modern means of rapid tran sit in travel, and we can we'll under stand our advantages over our ances- hors of those days. We wonder they knew as much as they did and are quite proud of them on the whole for finding a way out of such adverse surroundings. Should we do as well if placed in similar circumstances? Probably not, must be the candid yer dict of most of us, for in all stages of the worlds progress, it has always been the few who became leaders, and what right have we to think we should have been among them? With all our advantages most of us are only among the crowd who do what we are told, and are swept along by public opinion and general cutsom-
 We are not compelled to look back five centuries to find equally great changes in the lives of some classes of people. Woman's place and work did mt advance as raDif1lv as did that