This Giddy Globe

............................................................. ............................................................. ............................................................. [ The Preface, which is strictly private and concerns only ourselves and the Reader, has been removed to another part of the book. ] The Author makes due Acknowledgment to Charles Scribner’s Sons for the use of certain verses, and to Miss Cecilia Loftus for her series of Perfect Day Pictures. CONTENTS I The Creation 15 Preface 19 II A Long Jump 20 III The Giddy Globe 23 IV The Use of the Globe 25 V The Equator 28 VI The Earth’s Crust 30 VII The Temperature of the Globe 32 VIII The Age of the Globe 35 IX The Face of the Globe 38 X Climate and Weather 44 XI Land and Water 47 XII The Discovery of the World 51 XIII The Habitable Globe 52 XIV The Tenants 54 XV Race 56 XVI Governments of the Globe 58 XVII The Morals of the Giddy Globe 61 XVIII The Poles 65 XIX America 70 XX Boston 75 XXI The United States 78 XXII Canada 83 XXIII Great Britain 86 XXIV Scotland 90 XXV Ireland 92 XXVI Wales 96 XXVII South America 101 XXVIII Holland 103 XXIX Belgium 106 XXX France 109 XXXI Germany 111 XXXII Switzerland 112 XXXIII Monaco 113 XXXIV Turkey 114 XXXV Russia 117 XXXVI Norway and Sweden 119 XXXVII Africa 122 XXXVIII Arabia 126 XXXIX Australia 129 XL China 131 XLI Japan 133 XLII Egypt, India, Italy, Spain, Greece, Etc. 134 Epilogue 136 Appendix 137 THIS GIDDY GLOBE WHY IS THE GLOBE? THE CREATION Six busy days it took in all To make a World and plan its fall, The seventh, SOMEONE said ’twas good And rested, should you think he could? Knowing what the result would be There would have been no rest for me! Claire Beecher Kummer. It takes much longer to write a Geography than, according to Moses, it took to create the World which it is the Geographer’s business to describe; and since the Critic has been added to the list of created beings, it is no longer the fashion for the Author to pass judgment on his own work. Let us imagine, however, that concealed in the cargo of Hypothetic Nebula destined for the construction of the Terrestrial Globe was a Protoplasmic Stowaway that sprang to being in the shape of a Critic just as the work of Creation was finished. Would it not be interesting to speculate…