The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
| Table of Contents | |
| Section | Page |
| Start of eBook | 1 |
| DEAR FREDERICK: | 1 |
| DEAR GRACE: | 1 |
| DEAR LITTLE FRIEND: | 2 |
| INVENTION AND DISCOVERY. | 3 |
| FIRST BOUND VOLUMES | 3 |
| THE GREAT ROUND WORLD | 4 |
| BY | 4 |
| UNITED STATES | 5 |
| MARY PLATT PARMELE | 5 |
We have had no further news about Crusoe’s Island. Rest assured that we will tell our young friends when anything more is heard of or from the island of Juan Fernandez. The editor.
Dear Mr. Editor:
I have of late become deeply interested in your delightful little paper, the great round world, and as I saw many of the enthusiastic readers writing to you, and asking different requests, I thought I would follow their example. I use your little book for different purposes. At school we have to begin topics, and I get a great deal of information from your little paper. I also spend many happy moments reading its contents.
I wish you would send me the names of a few good books. I do not want anything like fairy tales, but something on the order of “Six Girls,” by Miss Irving, or “Little Women”; or I would be more pleased with the names of a few good boarding-school stories. I would also like you to explain the relationship between Noah and Daniel Webster.
Hoping I will receive an answer in a short time, I remain,
Your
interested reader,
Cincinnati, O., Feb.
22d, 1897. Grace G.
We are very glad you take pleasure in the great round world, and that you find it useful.
We are told by a girl who is fond of reading, that “A World of Girls,” by Mead, is the most delightful school story ever written.
“Jackanapes,” “Six to Sixteen,” “A Flat-Iron for a Farthing,” are all three by Mrs. Ewing, and are charming books.
“An Old-Fashioned Girl,” and Miss Yonge’s “Pillars of the House,” are both interesting.
History does not tell us of any close relationship between Noah and Daniel Webster. Editor.
Dear editor:
I tried “Sylvia’s Caramels,” and found them very nice.
The other day I went to the Zoo. It is very nice. Chiquita is twenty-six inches tall and twenty-six years old. She is very cunning. She slept in a cigar-box up to the time that she was six years old! The man that told about her said that there was nothing she disliked more than to be called “dear little thing.”
You asked us to tell you about any book that we like. “Timothy’s Quest” is one of my favorite stories, by Kate Douglas Wiggin. All her stories end well, this one especially. It is very funny, also.
Will you please send me a “Who? When? What?” chart?
Wishing success to your little paper, I remain,
Your
true and constant reader,
West Newton, Mass., Feb. 20th,
1897. Clara M.B.
Grace may perhaps find Clara’s favorite story, “Timothy’s Quest,” interesting to her. We are much obliged to Clara for her nice letter.
Editor.
Dear Mr. Editor:
It’s Washington’s Birthday,
and a very gloomy day, too. I
haven’t anything to do, and mamma is in
a great state of things,
so I thought I would write, which I never like
to do.
Well, you know there is a lot of
cruelty going on all around the
world.
Just think, in the summer
time, how animals suffer, poor things.
But I cannot do a thing.
I just have to see and hear about it.
Now there goes a horse-car driver whipping his horse, and here’s a man pulling the reins so the poor creature’s head is bent way back and his lip bleeding. I do beg you to write something in your paper about it, but don’t say who told you to, for all the children whom I know that get your paper would laugh at me; but if you don’t tell them they will think it all right. I’ll tell you what to write: just something to ask them to be good to animals; and tell them some of the sufferings of animals.
I don’t know what to say now, so good-by.
Your friend,
We could not resist the temptation to publish your letter, though we have not put your name to it, and so no one will guess that it comes from you. Dear child, your gentle plea for dumb animals will do far more to make thoughtless people care for them than any words of ours.
But we will do our best to help you, and will try to have the article you ask for written.
There is a Society in New York for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and it publishes a lot of little books and papers telling people how to take care of animals. You should ask your mamma to let you go to the Society’s rooms at No. 10 East 22d Street, and get Mr. Haines to give some of these books to you.
When you grow up you should join the Society, and then you would be able to do a great deal for animals. They will love you for your kind little heart as much as we do.
You might do something to help your favorites now, by getting all the boys and girls you know to join you in forming Bands of Mercy. These are clubs of young people who pledge themselves to be kind and helpful to all animals.
Write to Mr. J.L. Stevens, the Secretary of the American Humane Education Society, Milk Street, Boston.
Tell him the great round world gave you his address, and he will send you information about forming your club, and about the badges and rules.
You can do a great deal for suffering animals by interesting other boys and girls in the work, and teaching them that we ought to be even kinder to animals than we are to one another, because animals are dumb, and cannot tell us when they suffer.
Editor.
We have great pleasure in informing our readers that we are about to publish a volume of “Great round world Natural History Stories.”
We know how much our young friends love true stories. This collection will contain only true stories, and has been written by one who was an intimate friend, as she says, of each of these interesting creatures.
It has taken several years to collect them, and they are being prepared and illustrated with the greatest care.
We publish one story as a supplement, and will be very glad if our readers will let us know if it pleases them.
We are constantly having new books sent in to us. We would like to have our subscribers read the books, and write us what they think of them. Letters of this kind will be printed in the great round world from time to time. Any of our subscribers who have had a letter about some book published may become a “reader”—that is, new books will be given them to read, and write an account of. If the account is well-enough written to be published, the book may be kept; and others will be sent from time to time for criticism of this kind.
Some lover of the wheel, who evidently cannot bear to lose the pleasure of wheeling even when the snow lies thick on the ground, has invented a sleigh attachment. This is a runner fastened beneath the driving-wheel of the bicycle.
[Illustration]
What a great thing this will be! Fancy wheeling away over the snow, propelling our wheels as fast as the pedals can make us go.
The bicyclists ought to be very happy this year; so many clever brains are working for their comfort and pleasure.
[Illustration]
All who ride have been troubled at times what to do with the bicycles when they are standing still.
It may be there is damp grass, which would make it impossible to lay the precious wheel down; or there may be a thousand other little inconveniences.
Some one has come to the aid of the bicyclist, and invented a bicycle support, which can be secured to the machine, and raised at will, so as not to interfere with the wheel when in motion. It is just the thing all bicyclists have been longing for.
[Illustration]
Another busy brain has been at work in anticipation of the summer, and the glorious time in store, riding along the country roads.
[Illustration]
An umbrella support is the result. It consists of an attachment composed of portions which can be connected or removed at will.
What a boon it will be, on a hot summer’s day, to have an umbrella comfortably held over one’s head, while the hands are free to guide the wheel!
Of....
=The Great Round World=
Containing Nos. 1 to 15
=Will be ready March 20th=
These volumes will be in
strong cloth, with title on
back and side, with A
Handsome design....
=Price, Postage Paid, $1.25=
Subscribers wishing their numbers bound will send them (express paid), enclosing 35 cents to cover cost of binding. Missing numbers or supplements will be supplied until exhausted, at regular price.
* * * * *
William Beverley Harison
3 & 5 West 18th Street, New York City
NATURAL HISTORY
Stories.
A Series of True Stories
Julia Truitt Bishop.
Attractively Illustrated by Barnes.
* * * * *
These stories will be issued in parts. Price, 10 cents each. Subscription price (12 numbers), $1.00. Part 1. issued as supplement to great round world. 19.
* * * * *
=Author’s Preface.=
The stories published in this little volume have been issued from time to time in the Philadelphia Times, and it is at the request of many readers that they now greet the world in more enduring form. They have been written as occasion suggested, during several years; and they commemorate to me many of the friends I have known and loved in the animal world. “Shep” and “Dr. Jim,” “Abdallah” and “Brownie,” “Little Dryad” and “Peek-a-Boo.” I have been fast friends with every one, and have watched them with such loving interest that I knew all their ways and could almost read their thoughts. I send them on to other lovers of dumb animals, hoping that the stories of these friends of mine will carry pleasure to young and old.
* * * * *
=William Beverley Harison,=
=3 & 5 West 18th Street.=
* * * * *
=KLEMMS’=
=Relief practice maps.=
* * * * *
=List of maps.=
Small size, 9-1/2 x 11 { Plain, 5 cents each.
{ With Waterproofed surface 10 " "
Europe, Asia, Africa; North America,
South America, East Central
States, New England, Middle Atlantic States, South
Atlantic
States, Palestine, Australia.
Large size, 10 x 15 { Plain, 10 cents each.
{ With Waterproofed Surface, 15 " "
United States, British Isles, Roman
Empire, Western Europe,
North America, South America, Asia.
(Postage on single maps, 5 cents.)
* * * * *
“I would advise =Sunday-school teachers= to use, in connection with the lessons of 1897, =Klemm’s Relief Map of the Roman Empire=. Every scholar who can draw should have a copy of it. Being blank, it can be beautifully colored: waters, blue; mountains, brown; valleys, green; deserts, yellow; cities marked with pin-holes; and the journeys of Paul can be traced upon it.”—Mrs. Wilbur F. Crafts, President International Union of Primary Sabbath-School Teachers of the United States.
* * * * *
=Description of the maps.=
These maps are made in two forms, both with beautifully executed relief (embossed)—the cheaper ones of plain stiff paper similar to drawing paper (these are to be substituted for and used as outline map blanks), the others covered with a durable waterproof surface, that can be quickly cleaned with a damp sponge, adapted to receive a succession of markings and cleansings. Oceans, lakes, and rivers, as well as land, appear in the same color, white, so as to facilitate the use of the map as a =_geographical slate_=.
* * * * *
=William Beverley
Harison
3 & 5 W. 18th St. ...
New York City=
* * * * *
=Evolution of Empire Series=
BY
AUTHOR OF
="Who? When? What?” “France,” “Germany,” “England,” Etc.=
Price,
Post-paid
75 Cents
* * * * *
From New York Sun Editorial Dec. 30, 1896.
In too many of the little school histories there is but a tedious, bare narrative of apparently unconnected facts, and there is a profitless rigmarole of dates and names: but when the sequence of cause and effect is not obscured, and form and life are given to the actors, and the development of events and institutions is traced, the story of the United States becomes, as it should become, the most, fascinating as it is the most important of histories to Americans; and whatever in historical inquiry and writing promotes accuracy, adds detail, and clears up obscurity, increases the worth and the, charm of the work.
W.B. Harison has published in his “Evolution of Empire” series, a brief historical sketch of the United States, by Mary Platt Parmele, whose other volumes in the series have received cordial praise. In this book one finds the story of our country told in about 300 pages, and very interestingly is it written. The book leaves out the innumerable incidents and figures which are of great importance to students, but which are not necessary in a book for general reading, and presents the narrative in a graphic manner, in which the interest of the reader never flags. The book is bound in blue buckram and costs but 75 cents. The other volumes in the series deal with the histories of France, England, and Germany, in the same brilliant vein.—Hartford Post.
Its value does not lie in the multitude of facts which it contains, but rather in the lucid, natural way in which a few really important facts are presented and grouped, and in the stimulus which it imparts to a rational study of our country’s history.—The Review of Reviews.
In “The Evolution of an Empire,” Mary Platt Parmele has endeavored to give in outline the story of the discovery, settlement, and development of the United States of America, touching only upon vital points and excluding all detail. The task has been a most difficult one on account of the constant temptation to deal with matters of minor importance. The author has, however, succeeded in making a very acceptable book.—Boston Transcript.
The latest issue in the “Evolution of an Empire” series is Mary Platt Parmele’s “History of the United States.” It is a short and simple outline, which presents in a book of about 300 pages the main facts of our national history, and a very fair and judicial presentment it is, too. While the general reader will find it of interest, it has been prepared more particularly for the young, who are easily wearied by the prolix details which encumber so many of the histories prepared for them. Mrs. Parmele very truly remarks that the child, bewildered in a labyrinth of unfamiliar names and events, fails to grasp the main lines and soon dislikes history, simply because he has been studying, not with a thinking mind, but with one overtaxed faculty, memory, intended to be the humble handmaid of the higher faculties. In the work under consideration, she begins with the first voyage of Columbus and brings us down to the principal events of 1893; she is sparing of details, and has merely skeletonized her theme, adding sufficient of incident, to avoid dryness. It seems a meritorious and well-prepared work, and a chronological table adds to its value.—The Detroit Free Press.
=WILLIAM BEVERLEY HARISON=
=3 and 5 West 18th St.—44
East 49th St.=
=NEW YORK CITY=
SUPPLEMENT TO
[Illustration: THE GREAT ROUND
WORLD
And WHAT IS GOING ON IN IT.]
* * * * *
THE INAUGURATION.
We have a new President.
March 4th, William McKinley was duly inaugurated as Chief Officer of our country.
For once the weather was perfect, and everybody was in the best of good humor, and up early to see the sights. At about ten o’clock Major McKinley was escorted from his hotel to the White House by a company of soldiers.
Here he was received by Mr. Cleveland, who up to the very last moment was busy writing and attending to the final duties of his office.
The members of Mr. Cleveland’s Cabinet also came to pay their respects to the President-elect. After the greetings were over, Mr. Cleveland and Major McKinley walked out on the porch side by side, ready to make their journey to the Capitol.
As they passed down the steps through the crowd that was waiting to see them, every hat came off, and the spectators stood bareheaded as the two most important men in the country passed before them.
The state carriage, drawn by four horses, was waiting for them; stepping into it, they started on their trip to the Capitol.
The streets through which the carriage passed were thronged with people, who cheered and yelled, some even dancing up and down in their excitement.
There was a trifling accident to the President’s carriage in the course of the journey, but it did not delay the procession much, and, except for the excitement it caused, would hardly have been noticed.
One of the rear horses slipped and fell, and in his fall broke one of the silver links that held the traces. It was mended in less time than it takes to tell about it, but every one feared that some accident had happened to the Presidents, and for a few minutes there was a good deal of galloping back and forth, and excitement among the leaders of the procession.
As soon as the trace was mended the procession swept on, and reached the Capitol without further delay.
An interesting part of the parade was the squad of soldiers on bicycles which brought up the rear.
Inside the Capitol all was excitement, for the President and President-elect were to be received in the Senate Chamber.
As a rule, the Senators and their desks spread out in a semicircle round the raised dais on which is the Speaker’s chair, and they take up pretty much the whole of the Chamber.
On inauguration days the desks disappear, and the Senators are seated in rows on one side. On this occasion they were placed on the right of the chamber, packed just as closely together as they could be.
All the galleries of the Senate were also closely packed with the families of the Ambassadors and Ministers, and the friends of the Senators. In a place set apart for them were Major McKinley’s family and friends, amongst them being his wife and his mother, Mrs. Nancy Allison McKinley, a bright, active old lady, over eighty years of age.
The Senators being in their places, the President of the Senate gave one stroke of his gavel, and immediately the doors of the Senate were thrown open, and the usher of the Senate announced:
“The Ambassadors of foreign countries.”
All the Senators rose to their feet, and in filed the Ambassadors in full diplomatic dress.
Their dress-coats and trousers were decorated with gold bullion, they carried their white-feathered, three-cornered hats in their hands, and across their shoulders, from left to right, were sashes of colored satin, according to their rank or their country—pink, white, yellow, and red satin.
They were ushered to seats in front of the Vice-President’s dais, and almost immediately the doors were again thrown open and the page announced:
“The Ministers of foreign countries.”
The Senators again rose, and in walked the Ministers, and were ushered to their seats.
All wore the full diplomatic costume, which, as you will see, varies considerably according to the Minister’s country. The Chinese Minister wore a slate-colored, figured silk, his official hat being of black velvet with a red silk crown. The Turkish Minister was dressed in black broadcloth and white satin, all covered with gold embroidery, and wore the national red fez as a hat. The Japanese Minister wore dark clothes magnificently embroidered in gold. The Coreau Minister had a loose robe of sea-green silk with a tortoise-shell belt. The Austrian Minister wore the beautiful Hungarian costume, with the short cloak hanging from the shoulder.
The Ministers appear from all accounts to have made a most gorgeous group with their jewels and their gold embroidery and their orders and colored dresses, making a strong contrast to the simple, ordinary dress of the Senators.
After these persons, the Judges of the Supreme Court were announced; then came the members of the House of Representatives, headed by their speaker; then President Cleveland’s Cabinet; and then the whole house rose to receive the Vice-President-elect of the United States, Mr. Garret A. Hobart, of New Jersey. He had no sooner arrived in his place, than the usher made the important announcement of the day:
“The President and the President-elect of the United States.”
Down the aisle came Mr. Cleveland and Mr. McKinley, side by side.
The whole assembly remained standing until the two Presidents had taken their seats, and then the official proceedings of the day commenced.
Mr. Hobart took his oath of office as Vice-President of the United States.
The former Vice-President then made a farewell speech to the Senate, and handed his gavel to Mr. Hobart. The gavel is a little ivory or wooden mallet used by a presiding officer to rap on a table or stone when he wishes to gain the attention of an assembly.
The first use made of the gavel by the incoming Vice-President was to rap for order while the blind Chaplain of the Senate, the Reverend Dr. Milburn, called for a blessing from on High.
The prayer over, the Vice-President made his first address to the Senate, and immediately after administered the oath to fifteen newly elected Senators. The little bustle of people leaving the galleries while this latter was proceeding, showed that the great moment had come—and it was time to inaugurate the new President.
The President always takes the oath of office on the porch of the Capitol—in full view of the people—and so, the work in the Senate being finished, the two Presidents walked side by side out to the eastern front of the building.
As soon as the Judges, Senators, and Congressmen had taken their places on the stand provided for them, Chief Justice Fuller came forward to the little enclosure which had been railed off and fitted with two great leathern arm-chairs for Major McKinley and Mr. Cleveland.
He told Mr. McKinley that it was time to take his oath of office: and standing bareheaded, his hand resting on the Bible, William McKinley swore to be true and faithful to the great trust he was receiving from the people.
His oath being taken, he kissed the Bible, and the ceremony was complete. He is the twenty-fifth President of the United States of America.
The moment had now come for the new President to deliver the inaugural address. Great anxiety has been felt about this speech, because it was expected that it would give the people some idea of the way Major McKinley meant to treat the several questions that are vexing us at the present time.
He opened his speech with these beautiful words:
“FELLOW CITIZENS:—In obedience to the will of the people, and in their presence, by the authority vested in me by this oath, I assume the arduous and responsible duties of President of the United States, relying on the support of my countrymen and invoking the guidance of Almighty God. Our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers, who has so singularly favored the American people in every national trial, and who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps.”
He then took up the subject of Money, and said that he thought the Government wanted to look closely into the Treasury matters, and devise a means whereby we might be able to have as much money as we needed in circulation, without having to keep the enormous reserve of gold, which costs us such ruinous interest every year.
He would like to have all the laws relating to the coining of money and banking of money carefully revised, and to put our money system on such a sound basis that it will not be threatened with change at each change of party.
He said that he hoped to make the other Powers of the world agree with him about the wisdom of bimetalism—which means the equal use of silver and gold. Many of our present troubles have been supposed to come from the fact that we cannot pay our debts to foreign countries in silver, but only in gold, and that we have not enough gold to pay all the debts we owe, and so we are obliged to borrow gold from these foreign countries at ruinous interest, to pay back again to them.
President McKinley hopes that we may arrange with other countries to take silver or gold equally the one with the other, just whichever happens to be most plentiful at the time.
He went on to say that we must be economical, and try to reduce our national debt, and that the Government should not be allowed to spend more than its income, but that if it was necessary to increase the income to meet the just expenses of pensions for soldiers and sailors who had fought for us, and for the widows and orphans of the brave men who died for our country, he thought the money should not be raised by loans, which put the country still more deeply into debt, but by taxes, whereby each man could take his share of the expense of the Government which protected his home.
He then spoke about the Tariff, and said that the tariff laws which he hoped to see made would bring in enough money to supply all needs, without directly taxing the people—which was a thing he did not approve of, except in time of war. The tariff is a tax put on all foreign products brought into this country.
He then touched upon Trusts, and very severely, too. He approved entirely of the efforts that had been made by Mr. Cleveland’s Government to suppress trusts, and he said that his Government would follow steadfastly in its footsteps—enforcing the laws that already existed, and making such new ones as were necessary.
He spoke about Immigration. President Cleveland vetoed the immigration bill, about which we were speaking; but President McKinley approves of restricting immigration, and will probably sign the bill if it is brought before him.
One very interesting point that he touched on was the subject of American Merchant Marine.
At the present time we have so few of our own ships sailing the seas, that we can be said to have no merchant marine at all. The ships that crowd our ports are from foreign countries.
President McKinley said he would like Congress to take the matter in hand, and assist in restoring our merchant navy to its former greatness.
Then he spoke on Foreign Policy. This is also a very interesting subject, because it shows us the attitude President McKinley will take toward poor little Cuba.
He said he believed in peace and friendship with other countries, and that war should never be entered upon until every effort for peace had failed.
He believed in a policy of non-interference, and of leaving to foreign countries the business of settling their own quarrels with their colonies.
He believed, however, in being just and impartial, ever watchful of our national honor, and always insisting on the lawful rights of our citizens every where.
About Arbitration, President McKinley said that he considered it the only true method of settling international quarrels, and that he was in favor of ratifying the treaty with Great Britain, and hoped the Senate would do so at a very early date.
He then said he should call an extra session of Congress for March 15th, to attend to various important affairs that needed immediate attention.
His closing words were:
“Let me again repeat the words of the oath administered by the Chief Justice: ’I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.’ This is the obligation I have reverently taken before the Lord Most High. To keep it will be my single purpose, my constant prayer, and I shall confidently rely upon the forbearance and assistance of all the people in the discharge of my solemn responsibilities.”
When the speech was made, the main work of the day was over.
After this came the great parade; the new and old Presidents were escorted back to the White House, in front of which a stand had been erected. From this stand the new President reviewed the parade.
This took two hours and a half to pass, and consisted of National Guardsmen from every State in the Union, a division of the regular army and navy, clubs and organizations, and a division of Indian cadets from the Government School at Carlisle.