Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

.........

-

FACTS ABOUT OUR COUNTRY.

Breathes there a man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said-

This is my own-my native land!

-SCOTT.

POINTS OF PECULIAR INTEREST.

It was Thursday, July 4th, 1776!

The first Atlantic cable operated in 1858.

The first steamer crossed the Atlantic in 1819.

Leif Ericsson was the Columbus of the Northmen.

Gas was first used in the United States at Boston in 1822. The battles of Bunker Hill and Lexington were fought, 1775. San Salvador, or Guanahani, is now one of the Bahamas Islands. The name America comes from the Florentine, Amerigo Vespucci. The first theater in the United States was at Williamsburg, Va., 1752. Watling Island is the British name for Columbus' first landing place. The first iron ore discovered in this country was mined in Virginia in 1715.

The first American library was founded at Harvard College, Cambridge, 1638.

Sebastian Cabot was the first navigator to sight the territory of the now United States.

First cotton raised in the United States was in Virginia, in 1621; first exported, 1747.

The population of the original thirteen States at the first census in 1790, was 3,929,214.

St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States was founded by the Spaniards in 1505.

Oberlin College, Ohio, was the first college in the United States to admit female students.

Jamestown, Va., founded 1607, was the first permanent English settlement in America.

The largest park in the United States is Fairmount, at Philadelphia, and contains 2,740 acres.

Guanahani was the native name of the first American island on which Columbus landed.

The first public schools in America were established in the New England States about 1642.

Modern investigation has shown that the Vikings visited America in the tenth and eleventh centuries.

Gaelic students claim that St. Brendan, an Irish monk, reached this continent in the sixth century.

The first telegraph in operation in America was between Washington and Baltimore, May 27, 1844.

The largest tree in the world is in Tulare county, California. It is 275 feet high and 106 feet in circumference at its base.

The first electrical signal ever transmitted between Europe and America passed over the Field submarine cable on August 5, 1858.

The present national colors of the United States were not adopted by Congress until 1777. The flag was first used by Washington at Cambridge, January 1, 1776.

Tobacco was discovered in San Domingo in 1496; afterwards by the Spaniards in Yucatan in 1520. It was introduced into France in 1560

and into England in 1583.

The part of United States territory most recently acquired is the island of San Juan, near Vancouver's Island. It was evacuated by England at the close of November, 1873.

The greatest cataract in the world is Niagara, the height of the American Falls being 165 feet. The highest fall of water in the world is that of the Yosemite in California, being 2,550 feet.

The first English settlement on the present territory of the United States was that made in Virginia by the English London Company in 1607. The Plymouth Company about the same time settled Massachusetts Bay.

The "copperhead" is a venomous serpent, closely allied to the rattlesnake and is found along our coast from New England to Florida. The term was applied by the Unionists to the peace party during the civil war, as suggesting insidious foes.

The largest producing farm in the world lies in the southwest corner of Louisiana, and is owned by a northern syndicate. It runs one hundred miles north and south. The immense tract is divided into convenient pastures, with stations of ranches every six miles. The fencing alone cost nearly $50,000.

The largest State in our grand republic is Texas, which contains 274,356 square miles, capable of sustaining 20,000,000 of people, and then it would not be more crowded than Scotland is at present. It has been estimated that the entire population of the globe could be seated upon chairs within the boundary of Texas and each have four feet of elbow

room.

What have been called Secession Ordinances were passed by the following States: (1) South Carolina, Dec. 20, 1860; (2) Florida, Jan. 7, 1861; (3) Mississippi, Jan. 9, 1861; (4) Alabama, Jan. 11, 1861; (5) Georgia, Jan. 19, 1861; (6) Louisiana, Jan. 26, 1861; (7) Texas, Feb. 7, 1861; (8) Virginia, April 17, 1861; (9) Arkansas, May 6, 1861; (10) Tennessee, May 6, 1861; (11) North Carolina, May 20, 1861. The Civil War commenced April 13, 1861.

The historic term "Border States" was usually applied to Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri. They were so called because they bordered upon the line of Free States and Slave-holding States. The term is now an anachronism.

The Whisky Insurrection occurred in Western Pennsylvania in the summer of 1794. It arose from discontent with the excise regulations, and culminated in open riot and the destruction of private property; but by the efforts of leading citizens the rising was quelled without the aid of the fifteen thousand troops which Washington promptly sent against the insurgents.

"Common Sense" is the title of a pamphlet published in 1776 by Thomas Paine, then living in Philadelphia, urging Americans to claim independence. It ridiculed the idea of a small island, 3,000 miles off, ruling the immense continent of America, and threatening three million men, more vigorous and more virtuous than their would-be enslavers. This spark was sufficient to arouse our forefathers, who at once signed their Declaration of Independence.

The largest body of fresh water in the world is Lake Superior. It is 400 miles long and 180 miles wide; its circumference, including the windings of its various bays, has been estimated at 1,800 miles.

Its area in

square miles is 32,000, which is greater than the whole of New England, leaving out Maine. The greatest depth of this inland sea is two hundred fathoms, or 1,200 feet. Its average depth is about one hundred and sixty

fathoms. It is 636 feet above sea level.

Luray cavern, a cave, not large, but remarkable for the vast number and extraordinary shapes of its stalactites, is close to Luray village, Virginia (ninety miles from Richmond). Many of these wonderful columns exceed fifty feet in length; numbers of them are hollow, giving out bell-like notes when struck; and the colors range from waxy white to yellow, brown, or rosy red. The cavern, which is lit with the electric light, attracts thousands of visitors every year.

The origin of the term "Uncle Sam," a nickname for the United States government, is traced by some to the following story: Samuel Wilson, one of the inspectors of provisions in the War of Independence was called by his workmen and friends “Uncle Sam.’ Goods came into his hands one day consigned to one of the contractors named Elbert Anderson, and marked "E. A., U. S." These initials were construed by one of the hands, "Elbert Anderson and Uncle Sam." The joke has lived and "Uncle Sam" is now a synonym for the Republic itself.

Her

Our country has the fastest war vessel in the world. The "New York" is a splendid example of an all-around warship, an unusual combination of great offensive and defensive power. On her recent trial trip she made the fastest time on record, 21.1 knots per hour, length on the water line is 380 feet 61⁄2 inches, her breadth, moulded, 64 feet 10 inches, and her mean draft 23 feet 31⁄2 inches. Her twin screw, vertical, triple expansion engines furnish an aggregate of 16,500 maximum indicated horse power. The main battery consists of six 8-inch and twelve rapid-firing 4-inch guns; her second battery of eight 6-pounder and four 1-pounder rapid-fire guns and four Gatlings. There are six above-water torpedo tubes; she has no sail power and carries two military masts with double fighting tops. Her armor is two to ten inches thick.

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »