Are you smarter than a 8th grader from 1895?

[Garfield1966]

http://www.bertc.com/subone/grade8.htm

In 1885 the 8th grade was considered upper level education. Many children quit school as soon as they could master the basic fundamentals of the 3 R's (reading, writing and arithmetic). Most never went past the 3rd or 4th grade. That's all you needed for the farm and most city jobs. Child labor laws were not in existence. Additionally today's education has much more focus on technology and sociology than the grammar and geography of old. It's a different world with different requirements and capabilities needed to succeed.

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 from Salina, KS. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

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8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS - 1895

Grammar (Time, one hour)

1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.

2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.

3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.

4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of do, lie, lay and run.

5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.

6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.

7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.

2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?

3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts. per bu., deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?

4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?

5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.

6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.

7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per m?

8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.

9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?

10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.

2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.

3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.

4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.

5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.

6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.

7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?

8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865?

Orthography (Time, one hour)

1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic orthography, etymology, syllabication?

2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?

3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?

4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.

5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e'. Name two exceptions under each rule.

6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.

7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, super.

8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: Card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.

9. Use the following correctly in sentences, Cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.

10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)

1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?

2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?

3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?

4. Describe the mountains of N.A.

5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.

6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.

7. Name all the republics of Europe and give capital of each.

8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?

9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.

10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give inclination of the earth.

 

[TWAnr]

Snopes' take on this subject matter.

 

[Garfield1966]

It was fun while it lasted ... all 28 min of it. Lol

 

[USCREW]

answers...
1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
a.) Capitalize the first word in a sentence.
b.) Capitalize the pronoun I and the interjection O.
c.) Capitalize the first word in a quotation.
d.) Capitalize the first word in a direct question falling within a sentence.
e.) Capitalize all nouns referring to the deity and to the Bible and other sacred books.
f.) Use a capital letter for President and Presidency when these refer to the office of
President of the United States.
g.) Use a capital letter for official titles before the names of officials.
h.) Capitalize proper nouns and adjectives formed from proper nouns.
i.) Capitalize every word, except conjunctions, articles and short prepositions in the
titles of works of literature, music, art, books, etc. The first word of a title is always
capitalized.
2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.
a.) Noun
b.) Verb
c.) Adjective
d.) Adverb
e.) Pronoun
f.) Preposition
g.) Conjunction
h.) Interjection
i.) Article
Articles, interjections, conjunctions and prepositions have no modifications.
3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
a.) Verse - A sequence of words arranged metrically according to some system of design;
a single line of poetry.
b.) Stanza - A group of lines of verse forming one of the divisions of a poem or song. It
is typically made of four or more lines of verse and typically has a regular pattern in
the number of lines and the arrangement of meter and rhyme.
c.) Paragraph - A distinct section or subdivision of a chapter, letter, etc. usually dealing
with a particular point. It is begun on a new line, often indented.
4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of do, lie, lay and run.
For verb forms regarded as regular and not normally indicated include:
a.) Present tenses formed by adding -s to the infinitive (or -es after o, s, x, z, ch, and
sh) as waits, searches;
b.) Past tenses and past participles formed by simply adding -ed to the infinitive with
no other changes in the verb form, as waited, searched;
c.) Present participles formed by simply adding -ing to the infinitive with no other
changes in the verb form, as waiting, searching;
Principal Parts - do, does, did, doing; lie, lies, lied, lying; lay, lays, laid, laying; run, runs,
ran, running. These are all irregular verbs.
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
a.) In English syntax the term "case" refers to the subjective (or nominative), objective,
and possessive forms of pronouns and the possessive form of nouns. I is the subjective
(or nominative) case of the personal pronoun, me is the objective case, and my or mine
are the possessive case. Mary's is the possessive case of Mary showing ownership by
Mary herself.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
a.) Punctuation - the act, practice or system of using standardized marks in writing and
printing in separate sentences or sentence elements, or to make the meaning clearer.
b.) The Period [.] - use a period at the end of declarative sentences, indirect questions
and most imperative sentences, after most abbreviations. Do no use a period at the end
of a title of a book, article, poem, etc.; In a typed manuscript, abbreviations and the
initials of names do not have spacing after the periods, i.e., U.S.A., T.S.Eliot, e.g.
c.) The Question Mark [?] - use a question mark at the end of a direct question, after
each query in a series if you wish to emphasize each element. Use a question mark
enclosed in parentheses to express doubt about a word, fact or number. Do not use a
question mark at the end of an indirect question.
d.) The Exclamation Mark [!} - use the exclamation mark after a particularly forceful
interjection or imperative sentence.
e.) The Semicolon [;] - Use a semicolon between two independent clauses when they are
not joined by a coordinating conjunction; to separate clauses joined only by conjunctive
adverbs.
f.) The Colon [:] - Use a colon before a long formal quotation, formal statement, or a list
of items. Use a colon after a main clause when the succeeding clause or clauses explain
the first clause.
g.) The Dash [-] - Use a dash to indicate an abrupt break in the structure of the
sentence or an unfinished statement. Use a dash to set off a summary or a long
appositive.
h.) Parentheses [()] - Use parentheses to enclose material that is explanatory,
supplementary, or exemplifying. Use parentheses to enclose cross-references.
i.) Quotation Marks [" "] - Use quotation marks to enclose all direct quotations. Use
single quotation marks [' '] to enclose a quotation within another quotation. Use
quotation marks to enclose words spoken of as words, words used in special senses, or
words emphasized.
j.) The Apostrophe ['] - Use the apostrophe to indicate the possessive case of the noun
or pronoun. Use the apostrophe to indicate the omission of letters or figures. Use the
apostrophe to indicate the plurals of figures, letters, and words referred to as such,
i.e., Watch your p's and q's. There are too many "and's" in your sentence.
k.) The Hyphen [-] - Use the hyphen to divide a word at the end of a line. Use a hyphen
between parts of a compound modifier preceding a noun.
7-10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the
practical use of the rules of grammar.
Language can be thought of as articulate mind, as the means of becoming human, as the
record of wit at play, as the right hand of thought, or as a great reservoir of symbol,
but as a working tool it results from the use mankind has made of it.
Literally, no one can discover how a language is being employed, since language is always
changing, and the shifts and appearances only become apparent later. Practically,
however, we have devices for discovering what a language has been, what it is now, and
even what it is becoming.
Not always has man improved his language. As more widespread communication between
peoples comes to pass, most languages are losing their "purity", becoming a polyglot of
the many. This is not all bad. Each people and language have something to give, something
to share, and something to take, to enrich the lives of all mankind.
Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
a.) The Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic are Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and
Division.
b.) Addition - the summing of a set of numbers to obtain the total quantity of items to
which the number set refers indicated in arithmetic by + .
c.) Subtraction - the mathematical process of finding the difference between two
numbers or quantities, indicated in arithmetic by - .
d.) Multiplication - the mathematical process of finding a number or quantity (the
product) obtained by repeating a specified number or quantity a (the multiplicand) a
specified number of times (the multiplier), indicated in arithmetic by X .
e.) Division - the mathematical process of finding how many times a number (the divisor)
is contained in another number (the dividend); the number of times constitutes the
quotient, indicated in arithmetic by ÷ .
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it
hold?
The wagon box contains 2 x 10 x 3 = 60 cubic feet. A struck bushel equals 1 1/4 cubic
feet. A heaped bushel in general equals 1 1/4 struck bushels. Therefore the wagon box
if heaped contains 60 bushels and if struck, 1/5th less or 48 bushels.
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts. per bu, deducting 1050
lbs. for tare?
The actual weight of the wheat, subtracting the tare of the wagon weight of 1050 lbs is
2892 lbs. A fully ripe and dried struck bushel of wheat weighs on average 58 lbs per
bushel. Therefore the solution is 2892 ÷ 58 X $.50 = $24.93
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a
school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
The cost of 7 months of school equals $50 X 7 + $104, therefore $454.The mil levy is
therefore $454 ÷ $35,000 which equals .013 levy or $1.30 per $100 valuation of the
district.
5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
One ton equals 2000 lbs, therefore 6720 ÷ 2000 X $6 = $20.16
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
A banking month is 30 days, or 360 days per year. If the principal is held for 258 days
the proportional interest for the period held is 258 ÷ 360 X $512.60 or $25.72
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $.20 per inch?
40 X 12 X $.20 = $96.00
To verify this, lumber costs $150/1000 board feet, therefore --
40 X 16 ÷ 1000 X $150 = $96.00
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
90 days is 3 months, 1/4 of the banking year, therefore the discount is .10 ÷ 4 X $300
= $7.50
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
An acre is 16 rods square or 256 square rods. The farm has each side of 160 rods or
160 rods square, therefore 25600 square rods, and is 100 acres in extent and $1500 in
value.
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.
Bank Check
Farmer's Coop Bank
1895
Salina, Kansas
June 1, 1894
Pay To The Order Of
Salina School District 33
$57.16
Fifty Seven and 16/100 ---------------------------------
Dollars
1894-95 Tuition - James
John Q. Parent


Promissory Note
Promissory Note

I John Q. Parent do hereby promise to pay to
Farmers Coop Bank the amount of $59.88 in
12 equal payments of $4.99 on the first of each
month starting July 1st, 1894 , ending June 1st, 1895 ,
for principal $57.16 at 4 3/4 percent simple
interest
John Q. Parent, May 25, 1894


Receipt
Salina School Dist. 33
Receipt
Salina, Kansas
June 1, 1894
Received Of
John Q. Parent
$57.16
Fifty Seven and 16/100 ---------------------------------
Dollars
1894-95 Tuition - James
Roscoe R. Pound,Chmn.





U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
The History of the United States of America is divided into these several epochs:
a.) Period of Discovery and Settlement (1492 - 1690)
b.) Expansion of the Colonies (1690 - 1763)
c.) Securing Independence (1763 - 1774)
d.) The Critical Period (1774 - 1780)
e.) Testing Self-Government and the Constitution (1780 - 1840)
f.) Straining the Constitution (1840 - 1876)
g.) The United States - A Greater Nation (to present)
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
Although Leif the Lucky, known to history as Leif Ericson, a hardy Norseman from
Greenland, discovered and established outposts along the northern coasts of America
fully 500 years before Columbus, Christopher Columbus, a Genoese Italian mariner, is
generally accredited with the modern discovery of America, although he never set foot
on the mainland.
In his boyhood Columbus had studied drawing, geography and astronomy. He had been a
sailor on the Mediterranean. He made his way to Lisbon, Spain, where he became a
mapmaker, under the tutelage of a mariner whose patron was Prince Henry the
Navigator. Becoming convinced that the world was a sphere, he sought to prove that the
shortest distance to the East Indies was by sailing westward. He had the map of
Toscanelli, and believed it was correct. Probably about 1474 he began to seek the means
to furnish a fleet, seeking aid from Genoa, Portugal, Venice, France, and England. The
King of Portugal sent a secret expedition westward to test the idea of Columbus, but
they returned without sighting land. For ten long years Columbus endured these rebuffs,
and secretly left Portugal for Spain toward the end of 1484. Queen Isabella finally
gave her approval and remained his best friend during the rest of her life. She
furnished fully half the money needed for the voyage. The fleet consisted of three
vessels, small caravels furnished by the town of Palos. The largest, the Santa Maria was
only sixty-three feet long and twenty feet in breadth. She had a small cabin, while the
other two, the Pinta and the Nina were open boats with high bows and sterns, the better
to ride the waves. Columbus commanded the Santa Maria as well as the fleet. The
captains of the other two boats were the brothers Pinzon.
They sailed from Palos on August 3, 1492, and headed into unknown waters. It was not
long before the crews wanted to turn back, threatening mutiny, as all kinds of fears and
superstitions troubled them. The courage and determination of Columbus was equal to
every occasion, holding the crews to their work. Early on the morning of October 12,
1492 they sighted one of the Bahama Islands. They had found a new world. Columbus
thought he had found a part of India, and so he called the natives there Indians. They
have been called indians ever since. But we know they are not, they are the native
Americans. We celebrate October 12 as a school holiday, Columbus Day.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
The causes of the War for Independence from Great Britain were many. The colonies
had by 1763 already shown independence by quarreling with the royal governors,
insisting on ever greater measures of self-government. In 1763, after the Treaty of
Paris, France created New France, the province of Quebec. A line was drawn along the
mountain sources of the rivers flowing into the Atlantic, and the colonies were
forbidden to plant settlements beyond that line.
In 1760 George III had become king and his attempts at arbitrary rule made the
Englishmen at home fear for their liberties and finally helped drive the colonials into a
rebellion.
George tried to enforce the Cromwell's old Navigation Act of 1651 to stop smuggling
which was the life-blood of the colonials. To do this a mean measure was adopted. This
was the issuing of Writs of Assistance. These were search warrants in blank. Any
officer of the crown could write anybody's name in the blank line and proceed to search
on the suspicion of there being smuggled goods in his home or store. Boston merchants
resisted, engaging a lawyer James Otis to take the case to court. The case was lost, but
Otis mad the most eloquent speech that echoed through all the colonies. Among other
things he claimed that "a man's home was his castle." When the case was lost, John
Adams and the others left the crowded room ready to take up arms against the Writs of
Assistance. "Then and there," wrote Adams, "the child, independence, was born."
The wrangle over taxation culminated with the Stamp Act of 1765. The colonials did not
object to taxes, they knew that government costs money, that it was the duty of every
citizen to pay his just share of the tax. But they objected mightily to the method of
levying and collecting taxes. In Great Britain, no tax could be levied without the consent
of Parliament. In the colonies, no tax could be levied without the consent of the
legislatures. The colonials shouted: "Taxation without representation is tyranny!" King
George and his ministers paid no attention to the legal rights of the colonials. Seeing
that the Navigation Acts were not defeating smuggling, they adopted a new tax scheme,
the Stamp Act, whereby every legal document, every newspaper, every bill of
merchandise, almost every form of paper had to bear an official stamp. Benjamin
Franklin was in London as agent for Pennsylvania and tried to prevent the enactment of
the law, but he said he might as well have tried to prevent the sun from setting.
From then on, throughout the larger cities the colonists organized a secret society, "The
Sons of Liberty." They opposed the Stamp Act in every possible way, and were by no
means gentle in their methods. The Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, but replaced by
the even more onerous Townshend Acts of 1767. Samuel Adams, the "Father of the
Revolution" started a new and effective kind of resistance, drawing up a circular letter,
which was adopted by the Massachusetts legislature and sent to the other colonies. This
produced united action of protest against the new acts.
General Gage arrived with four regiments as the new military governor of
Massachusetts to enforce the acts. On June 17, 1774, Samuel Adams introduced a
resolution to the legislature calling for a Colonial Congress to combat these oppressive
measures and acts. Gage heard about the resolution and hurriedly sent a messenger to
deliver a proclamation dissolving the assembly. The messenger found the door locked,
and was not opened until the resolution was adopted. From then on the rest is history.
The First Continental Congress met September 5, 1774. From that moment it was clear
the colonies were ready to lay aside all their differences in the presence of threatened
attacks upon their liberties.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
After the War for Independence, the acknowledged boundaries of the United States in
1783 were:
On the north the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes, on the west the
Mississippi River, and on the south, the northern border of the Floridas extending
eastward from the mouth of the Mississippi, and of course, on the east the Atlantic
Ocean.
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson acquired the ownership of the French
province of Louisiana, a vast tract extending from the Gulf of Mexico at New
Orleans west to the mountain sources of the Mississippi tributaries, more than
doubling the size of the United States. He purchased the territory for
$15,000,000 from Napoleon, then at war with Britain. He had rather see it in the
hands of the Americans than see it captured by the ancient enemy of France. The
invention of the steamboat quickly opened up settlement of the territory.
In 1819 the Floridas were purchased from Spain, after a treaty framed by John
Quincy Adams, for $5,000,000, securing the southern border and the whole of the
Atlantic seaboard. General Andrew Jackson, sent to stop Indian troubles along the
Florida border with Georgia had, for all intents and purposes, already militarily
secured the area.
By 1843 the northern border between Canada and the US west of the Great Lakes
was fixed along the 49th parallel, and included all of the Oregon country below
that line to the Pacific Ocean.
In 1835 Texas seceded from Mexico, and at once asked for admission to the Union.
President Van Buren refused his assent, fearing war with Mexico. Texas then
became the "Lone Star Republic." Northern opposition to annexation weakened by
1845 and the Polk administration, and Texas was admitted as a slave state.
Due to the dispute over the southern boundary of Texas, April 23, 1846 when
Mexicans crossed the Rio Grande and killed every man of a small army scouting
party, war was declared with Mexico, May 13, 1846. General Zachary Taylor,
immediately after the ambush of the scouting party, began to prosecute the war,
and routed the Mexicans. Subsequently much of Mexico was conquered including
Mexico City, which practically ended the war. With the treaty of peace of 1848,
in which we annexed all of California and New Mexico, we paid Mexico
$15,000,000 "in consideration of the extension acquired by the boundaries of the
United States," as the words of the treaty put it. It was thought that the
boundary dispute was now settled, but another arose over the boundary of what
are now Arizona and New Mexico. This was settled by acquiring more land in
1853, and paying an additional $10,000,000.
Such now are the boundary extents of the United States of America.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
Kansas has had a dramatic history, even before it became the 34th state in 1861.
Historians have reported that Native Americans were living in Kansas as early as
12,000 B.C. They were followed for centuries by many different tribes making the
history of Kansas entwined with the first Americans.
Between 1541 and 1739 explorers from Spain and France came to the area in search of
gold, knowledge, and trade with the Indians. In 1803, Kansas became a part of the
United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Fifty-one years later it was organized
as a territory, which included the eastern half of Colorado.
Conflict over slavery led to bloody battles between free-staters (anti-slavery) and
pro-slavery forces. This led to the attack on Lawrence by pro-slavery forces and the
widespread public outcry associated with "Bleeding Kansas." Kansas became part of the
United States as a free state in 1861.
After the War for Southern Independence, expansion of the rail system to Kansas and
the increasing stream of immigrants lured to the state by offers of cheap land, Native
Americans were forced into smaller and smaller reservations. Ultimately their removal
to Indian Territory forced the final confrontation in the late 1870s that ended the
independent life of the Native Americans.
The establishment of military posts to protect the railroads and trails used by
immigrants led to the establishment of small towns, which followed the posts. By 1870,
the Kansas cow towns, following the westward expansion of the railroads, became well
established. Such towns as Dodge City, Abilene, Caldwell, Newton, Wichita and Salina
took their turns as the Queens of the Trail. To this day, the cattle industry remains an
important part of the state's economy.
The introduction of Turkey Red Winter Wheat by Mennonites from Russia in 1874 was
a milestone in Kansas agriculture. The wheat was ideally suited to the Kansas climate and
has made Kansas one of the leading wheat-producing states in the nation.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
The Battle of Chancellorsville, May 2 - 3, 1863 marked the turning point for the
Confederates, even though it was a victory. General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was
killed and as General Lee said, he had lost his "right arm".
The Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863, was the greatest battle of the world to that
time. The Confederates were elated with their victories at Fredricksburg and
Chancellorsville and Lee was urged to carry the war into the North and compel the
granting of a peace satisfactory to the South. With an army of 70,000 men, he crossed
the Potomac, marched across Maryland and into Pennsylvania. There he was overtaken by
the Army of the Potomac, 90,000 strong, under General Meade at the village of
Gettysburg. On the first and second days the Confederates gained ground and control.
On the third day the Union troops ceased firing to let the cannons cool. Lee thought that
he had "silenced" the enemy's guns, and ordered Pickett's division of infantry to charge
across the valley and pierce the Union lines. As 15,000 men marched out of the forest
of oaks into the open valley, the Union cannons opened fire. Great holes were torn in the
ranks. As they drew nearer the Union rifles mowed them down. They closed ranks,
charged the ridge, and the advance had reached a hand-to-hand fight when "retreat" was
sounded, leaving the valley strewn with dead. The point reached by that charge is
marked by a monument in the form of a large bronze book on which is inscribed,
"High-water Mark of the Rebellion."
The Siege of Vicksburg, May 19 to July 4th, 1863, returned control of the entire
Mississippi River and valley to the Union. Grant and Sherman had been repulsed in their
first attempts to take that stronghold. Grant moved his army down the west bank of the
river. He had his gunboats run past the forts, and marched his troops below Vicksburg,
and re-crossed for an attack from the rear. He got between the Confederate armies of
Generals Johnston and Pemberton, made Johnston retreat and drove Pemberton, after
hard fighting, into Vicksburg. Grant then settled down (May 19) for a siege. Continually
bombarding the city, he cut the city off from all supplies until the people were forced
to eat the mules and rats. There was no relief and no escape. Pemberton surrendered
with 32,000 prisoners (July 4), and the Union soldiers promptly shared their food with
the starving men, women and children.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
Samuel F.B. Morse -- inventor of the telegraph in 1840. After waiting for four years
for the needed help, the first telegraph line in the world was built from Washington,
D.C to Baltimore, and on May 24th, 1844, Professor Morse tapped out the first message
"What hath God wrought?" in the Supreme Court room and it was returned from
Baltimore. Those four words from the Bible announced one of the greatest inventions in
the world's history.
Eli Whitney - Inventor of the cotton gin in 1793, which made raising cotton profitable
in the South. Without the gin, slave holdings had been becoming unprofitable and were
dying out. Before the gin, it took a day's work by a slave to pick the seeds from a pound
of cotton. With the gin, a single slave could separate and clean a thousand pounds of
cotton a day. This led to the expansion of cotton plantings all across the South into
Texas, releasing slaves to do field work instead of picking cottonseed from the linters,
greatly prolonging the institution of slavery in the South.
Robert Fulton - the inventor of the first successful steam powered paddlewheel boat,
the Clermont. It was powered by an engine brought from England. On March 11, 1807, it
paddled up the Hudson River from New York to Albany, a distance of one hundred and
fifty miles, in thirty-two hours. That was an event far greater than a victory in war, for
it increased the power and advanced the civilization of the whole human race. The era of
the steamboat has opened up the west, the rivers the highways of commerce. There have
been over 10,000 steamboats operating on our rivers.
Alexander Graham Bell - inventor of the telephone, which made possible long-distance
voice communication between people everywhere. The invention of the telephone grew
out of improvements Bell had made to the telegraph. In 1875, along with his assistant
Thomas A. Watson, Bell constructed instruments that transmitted recognizable
voice-like sounds. Bell's first telephone patent was granted on March 7, 1876. The first
telephone company, Bell Telephone Company, was founded on July 9, 1877. We have a
telephone in our house in the hall. The line from our neighbor's to our house runs through
the barbed wire on our fences.
Abraham Lincoln - a Representative from Illinois and 16th President of the United
States; born in Hardin County, Ky., February 12, 1809. He moved with his parents to a
tract on Little Pigeon Creek, Ind., in 1816 and attended a log-cabin school at short
intervals and was mostly self-instructed in elementary branches. He moved with his
father to Macon County, Ill. in 1830 and later to Coles County, Ill. He read the
principles of law and works on surveying. During the Black Hawk War he volunteered in
a company of Sangamon County Rifles organized April 21, 1832 and was elected its
captain and served until May 27 following, when the company was mustered out of
service. He reenlisted as a private and served until mustered out June 16, 1832,
returning to New Salem, Ill. He was unsuccessful as a candidate for the State house of
representatives. He entered business as a general merchant in New Salem and was
postmaster of New Salem from 1833-1836. He became deputy county surveyor from
1834-1836. Elected a member of the State house of representatives in 1834, 1836,
1838, and 1840, he declined to be a candidate for renomination. He was admitted to the
bar in 1836, moved to Springfield, Ill. in 1837 and engaged in the practice of law. He
was elected as a Whig to the Thirtieth Congress (March 4, 1847-March 3, 1849) but
did not seek a renomination in 1848. As an unsuccessful applicant for Commissioner of
the General Land Office under President Taylor, he was tendered the Governorship of
Oregon Territory, but declined. Again he was an unsuccessful Whig candidate for
election to the United States Senate before the legislature of 1855 and again
unsuccessful Republican candidate for the United States Senate in 1858. He was
elected as a Republican President of the United States in 1860 and reelected in 1864,
serving from March 4, 1861, until his death by assassination. He was shot in the head by
the actor John Wilkes Boothe as he attended a play in Ford's Theatre in Washington,
D.C., April 14, 1865. He died the following day, April 15, 1865. He was our president
and Commander-in-Chief during the War Between the States, determined that the Union
should not perish.
William Penn - The founder of the colony of Pennsylvania in 1682, who had earlier
bought the Jerseys as a refuge for Quakers. He was a prolific writer, and his greatest
book was entitled "No Cross, No Crown", which gained him reputation even among those
who hated his religion. The king of England owed Penn's estate a very large debt, fifteen
thousand pounds, and by granting Penn's request for a tract of land, settled the debt.
When the boundaries were finally set, the tract contained about 45,000 square miles.
Penn was liberal to all white men and Indians, early deciding that in Pennsylvania there
should be perfect freedom of conscience, and freedom of worship. Knowing that people
loved freedom of government as well as freedom of conscience, he decided that the
people themselves should rule. In 1683 he laid out the plan of a city, which he called
Philadelphia, meaning "brotherly love." All treaties and agreements that were made with
the Indians and others were faithfully kept. The government that Penn established for
his colony was true to his promises of freedom. Each settler as he became a landholder
or taxpayer had the right to vote, electing the members of the council and the assembly.
The people, in that way, made their own laws. The first laws provided for the kind
treatment of the Indians, that prisoners should be treated humanely, that each child
should be schooled and taught a trade, that trial by jury should be extended to all, and
that death should be the penalty for only two crimes, murder and treason. His
beneficent understanding of the importance of freedom to prosperity of a people
presaged much of the ideals of our Constitution.
Elias Howe - Inventor of the sewing machine, was the son of a Massachusetts farmer,
and worked in a factory for fifty cents a day. In his spare moments he worked on his
invention, which appeared in 1845 as the first sewing machine. His patents earned for
him more than two million dollars.
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865?
1607 - Establishment of Jamestown colony, May 1607, in what is now Virginia. Captain
John Smith had but one rule, "He that will not work shall not eat."
1620 - On December 21, 1620, the landing of the Pilgrims in Plymouth harbor began the
settlement of New England under William Bradford, loved and respected as a man of
courage and gentleness from the time of his first election as governor in 1621 until his
death in 1657. Myles Standish was the captain of the little army protecting the colony,
a wise, courageous and helpful soldier, kind to the sick and needy.
1800 - In the election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr receivedan equal
number of votes.As the Constitution provided that the person having the greatest
number should be president, it became the duty of the House of Representatives, voting
by states, to decide between the two. After thirty-five ballots the choice fell upon
Thomas Jefferson, our third and greatest president, author of the Declaration of
Independence, and the mentor of James Madison, "Father of the Constitution". It was
on Jefferson's insistence that Madison championed the first 10 articles of amendment
to the Constitution, "The Bill of Rights."
1849 - The Gold Rush to California began after discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill on
the "American Fork" of the Sacramento river February, 1848. The great discovery was
made just as California became American territory. In the first year more than 80,000
men flocked to the "diggings", risking all to the dangers from Indians, starvation,
accident, mountains, deserts and plains, tropical fevers and of the sea in the voyage
around Cape Horn. The rapid growth of California in people and business greatly
affected the nation as a whole. At that time 300,000 people every year were streaming
in from Europe to escape the tyranny and wars there.
1865 - The end of the War Between The States signified with the raising of the flag
again at Fort Sumpter, April 14, 1865, the assassination of President Lincoln at Ford's
Theater that day, and his death April 15, 1865. The war was over, a million troops of
the Union armies marched through Washington in a last review, were mustered out, and
returned to their homes to resume their work as citizens of a reunited nation.
Orthography (Time, one hour)
1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic orthography, etymology, syllabication?
a.) Alphabet - A system of characters, signs and symbols used to indicate letters or
speech sounds, the basis of all writing.
b.) Phonetic orthography - The standardization of the sounds of the letters of the
alphabet in accordance with accepted usage. This varies from area to area within our
nation, but is becoming more and more uniform as communication and travel between the
sections increases.
c.) Etymology -- The study of the origin and development of a word, tracing it back to
its original language and to its sources in contemporary or earlier languages.
d.) Syllabication - The process of dividing a word into syllables, to determine the
phonemic sound, the accent, and roots, to enable the reader to better grasp the meaning
and pronounce the word in speech and writing.
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
The elementary sounds are the consonants and vowels. A consonant is any speech sound
produced by stopping and releasing the air stream (p, t, k, b, d, g), by stopping it at one
point while it escapes at another (m, n, l, r), by forcing it through a loosely closed or
vary narrow passage (f, v, s, z, sh, zh, th, H, kh, h, w, y) or a combination of these means.
A vowel (a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y) is a voiced speech sound characterized by
generalized friction of the air passing in a continuous stream through the pharynx and
open mouth, but with no constriction narrow enough to produce local friction.
Phonemes include all significant differences of sound, including features of voicing,
place and manner of articulation, accent, and secondary features of nasalization,
glottalization, labialization, and the like. Labial sounds are mainly formed by the lips;
glottal speech sounds are formed mainly by closure of the glottis; nasal sounds are
formed primarily by resonance in the nasal passages.
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate
letters, linguals?
a.) A trigraph is a combination of three letters representing one sound. An example is
eau as in bureau.
b.) A subvocal is beneath the voice, a silent or nearly silent sound.
c.) A dighthong is a complex vowel sound made by gliding continuously from the position
of one vowel to that for another within the same same syllable. An example is (ou) as in
down.
d.) Cognate letters are related in derivation, for instance, i and y.
e.) Linguals are sounds articulated by using the tongue, for instance the sound th.
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.
Substitutes for caret 'u' are oo as in tool, eau as in bureau, ew as in crew.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e'. Name two exceptions under each rule.
a.) When spelling words having a final silent e, drop the e when adding a suffix beginning
with a vowel. Exceptions - knowledgeable, despiteous
b.) If the suffix or verb ending begins with a consonant, keep the final e. Exceptions -
truly, judgment
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
Sometimes words have silent letters. These follow patterns that can be memorized.
Examples:
gn, pn, kn = n as in gnome, pneumonia, knife
rh, wr = r as in rhyme, wrestle
pt, ght = t as in ptomaine, height
ps, sc = s as in psalm, science
wh = h as in whole
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi,
post, non, inter, mono, super.
a.) bi - having two elements or natures, i.e., biangular, bifurcated.
b.) dis - meaning away or apart from, i.e., disassemble, disregard.
c.) mis - meaning wrong, wrongly, bad, badly, i.e., misstep, misapply.
d.) pre - meaning before, ahead of, i.e., predate, prescience.
e.) semi - meaning not whole, partly, not fully, i.e., semicircle, semifinal.
f.) post - meaning after, behind, i.e., postscript, postpartum.
g.) non - meaning not, i.e., nonhuman, nonagressive.
h.) inter - meaning between, among, or reciprocal, i.e., intercede, interchangeable.
i.) mono - meaning one, single, alone, i.e., monocline, monotheism.
j.) super - meaning above, over, on top of, i.e., superabundant, superpose.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates
the sound: Card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
[ Note: due to the limitations of html, the "macron" diacritical mark for vowels, a dash over
the vowel, signifying the sound of the vowel name, is shown as ¯a, ¯e, ¯i, ¯o, ¯u ]
card = cärd, ball = bôl; mercy = mur'c¯e; sir = sur; odd = ãd; cell = sel; rise = r¯is;
blood = blud; fare = fer; last ~ last
9. Use the following correctly in sentences, Cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein,
raze, raise, rays.
a.) The cite which was given as a source for the quote was incorrect.
b.) The site was surveyed yesterday.
c.) My rifle has a front and a rear sight.
d.) We celebrated the re-birth at fane.
f.) She would fain stay with her husband.
g.) Can she feign surprise and excitement?
h.) The vanes on the windmill are broken.
i.) It is vain to think you are better than others.
j.) Mother has a varicose vein in her leg.
k.) Tomorrow they will raze the old barn.
l.) Today they started to raise a new barn.
m.) The rays of the sun feel good in the spring.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical
marks and by syllabication.
a.) anonymity == an' o nym' i ty
b.) bestial == b¯es' tyal
c.) Capernaum == Ca pur' na um
d.) datum == d¯at' um
e.) either == ¯e' ther
f.) finaancier == fin' an sir'
g.) get == get
h.) homonym == häm' a nim
i.) inchoate == in k¯o' it
j.) I couldn't think of one starting with a "j", so, Salina == Sa l¯i' na , not Sa l¯e' na
Geography (Time, one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
a.) Climate is the prevailing or average weather of a place as determined by the
temperature and meteorological changes over a period of years.
b.) The climate of a place depends largely on the latitude of the place, the features of
the surrounding terrain, the nearness to an ocean, or a mountain range which channels
and directs wind patterns. We have seasons in our weather pattern, and changes in the
length of the warming day thoughout the year, due to the ecliptic of the earth's annual
path around the sun. It is the daily warming and cooling of the land and oceans that is
the prime generator of the world weather system.
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
The extremes of climate in Kansas are predicated on the fact that the state is in the
middle of the continent and the great plains, not near any mountains or oceans, exposed
in winter to cold winds from the north in Canada, and in summer to heavy moisture laden
winds from the Gulf of Mexico. It is the meeting of these two wind sources in fall that
creates the huge wind vortices and deep moist convections which become the tornadoes
that are a yearly danger in Kansas.
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
a.) Rivers have many uses: first, to drain off excess water from the land surface;
secondly, to replenish the aquifers under their stream bead and underlying all of Kansas
and from which we get most all of our water for irrigation and human consumption;
thirdly, the river is a highway of commerce, with the steamboats reaching far into the
west; and fourthly, as an area of recreation, fishing, boating and swimming.
b.) Oceans are the reservoir for the majority of heat received from the sun, for the
runoff of all rivers and aquifers, the source of most all rain from the evaporation of the
surface waters, and the engine which drives our weather patterns, and the moderator of
coastal climates. The ocean fisheries are a major source of protein to many of the
world's peoples. International commerce would not be possible except for the navigation
of the oceans.
4. Describe the mountains of N.A.
The mountains of North America lay in four great chains, oriented generally north to
south. They are in order from East to West, the Appalachian/Adirondack chain inland
from the Atlantic coast which includes the Blue Ridge and Smokey mountains. They are
an old range, worn down thru the aeons. Across the Great Planes from them, midway to
the Rocky Mountains, are the Black Hills of the Dakotas, somewhatisolated from the
Rockies. The Rocky Mountains, consisting of many parallel ranges, are located at the
western boundary of Montana, running southeasterly from the Yukon to Arizona and
New Mexico. They form the Continental Divide, which determines the course of the
rivers emptying into the Missizzippi drainage, and those emptying into the Pacific
Ocean. The high plateaus and basins of Utah and Nevada by and large intervene between
the Rockies and the next great chain, the Sierra mountain range in California and the
extension northward in Oregon and Washington State, where they are called the
Cascade Range. Beyond the Sierra/Cascades across the interior valleys of California
and Oregon are the Coastal Range, laying quite close to the Pacific Ocean. Westerly
from the Cascades in Washington on the Pacific Coast is the Olympic range north of the
Columbia River forming the Olympic peninsula. The Olympics have one of the important
rainforests of the world and are a valuable source for timber, as are all the mountain
ranges of North America. Most mining in North America is in the mountains, the Eastern
mountains are a source of coal and iron, the Rockies and Sierras are a source of gold,
silver and other metals.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St.
Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
a.) Monrovia City is the capital of the nation of Monrovia, onthe Atlantic Ocean, at the
mouth of the Saint Paul River. Situated on Bushrod Island and Cape Mesurado, it is the
nation's chief port and commercial center. It has extensive docks. Iron ore and rubber
are major exports; substantial quantities of imports are transshipped to neighboring
countries. The University of Liberia (founded in 1862) is here.Monrovia was founded in
1822 by the American Colonization Society as a refuge for freed slaves from North
America; it was named in honor of United States president James Monroe. Large
numbers of former slaves have been resettled here.
b.) Odessa is capital of Odessa region of the Ukraine, a port on Odessa Bay of the
Black Sea. The third largest Ukrainian city after Kiev and Kharkiv, Odessa is an
important rail junction and transportation hub. Grain, sugar, coal, cement, metals, jute,
and timber are the chief items of trade at the port of Odessa, which is the leading
Ukrainian Black Sea port. Odessa is also a naval base and the home port of a fishing and
an antarctic whaling fleet. The city's industries include shipbuilding, machine building,
metalworking, food processing, and the manufacture of chemicals, machine tools,
clothing, and products made of wood, jute, and silk. Health resorts are located nearby.
Odessa has a university (est. 1865), an opera and ballet theater (1809), a historical
museum (1825), a municipal library (1830), an astronomical observatory (1871), an
opera house (1883-87). Ukrainians, Russians, Jews, and Greeks predominate in Odessa's
cosmopolitan population. The city is said to occupy the site of an ancient Miletian Greek
colony (Odessos, Ordyssos, or Ordas) that disappeared between the 3d and 4th century.
In the 14th century the site, then under Lithuanian control, became a Crimean Tatar
fortress and trade center called Khadzhi-Bei. In 1764 it passed to the Turks, who built
a fortress (Yenu-Duniya) to protect the harbor. It was captured by the Russians in
1789.
c.) Sited on high plains at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, Denver, the capital
of Colorado, has a sunny, cool, dry climate, averaging 13 inches of precipitation a year.
The sun shines 300 days a year. Denver was established by a party of prospectors on
November 22, 1858, after a gold discovery at the confluence of Cherry Creek and the
South Platte River. Town founders named the dusty crossroads for James W. Denver,
Governor of Kansas Territory, of which eastern Colorado was then a part. Other gold
discoveries sparked a mass migration of some 100,000 in 1859-60, leading the federal
government to establish Colorado Territory in 1861.
Before the great Colorado gold rush, the Rocky Mountains offered little toattract
settlers, except "hairy bank notes," the beaver pelts prized by furtrappers, traders
and fashionably hatted gentlemen in Eastern Americaand Europe. The gold rush changed
that, as the rudely dispossessedCheyenne and Arapaho soon discovered.
The Mile High City's aggressive leadership, spearheaded by William N. Byers, founding
editor of the Rocky Mountain News, and Territorial Governor John Evans, insisted that
the Indians must go. After dispossessing the natives, Denverites built a network of
railroads that made their town the banking, minting, supply and processing center not
only for Colorado, but for neighboring states. Between 1870 when the first railroads
arrived and 1890, Denver grew from 4,759 to 106,713. In a single generation, it became
the second most populous city in the West, second only to San Francisco.Although
founded as the main supply town for Rocky Mountain mining camps, Denver also emerged
as a hub for high plains agriculture. Denver's breweries, bakeries, meat packing and
other food-processing plants made it the regional agricultural center, as well as a
manufacturing hub for farm and ranch equipment, barbed wire, windmills, seed, feed and
harnesses.
d.) Manitoba, a province in south central Canada and the easternmost of Canada's three
Prairie provinces, was part of the Hudson's Bay Company's holdings in North America
known as Prince Rupert's Land, founded in 1670. Chief interests for its first two
centuries were the fur trade, the province's major economic activity, exploration and
settlement. After 1870, Prince Rupert's Land was incorporated into the Dominion of
Canada. As large numbers of settlers came, agriculture and wheat growing became
dominant. Manitoba province has been known as the Keystone Province ever since
Canada's Governor-General Lord Dufferin described the province in 1877 as "the
keystone of that mighty arch of sister provinces which spans the continent from the
Atlantic to the Pacific." Manitoba lies in the geographic center of Canada.Manitoba and
is a transportation and processing center for the agrarian west.
e.) Mount Hecla is one of the most active volcanic constructs in Iceland is also the site
of descent into the interior in Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth,"
which we have in the bookcase at the back of the room. One of my favorite poems, by
Richard Hovey, that I just recently read is "The Quest of Merlin", which mentions
Mount Hecla in the prelude: "Interior of a cavern in the bowels of the earth,
beneath Mount Hecla. Huge rock-fragments, amid which twists tortuously a
great root of the tree Yggdrasil. A flickering flame, by the light of which are
seen the NORNS, colossal but shadowy shapes, about a gigantic but indistinct
Loom. Dull, heavy sounds, out of which arises a strange music, which resolves
itself continually into imperfect harmonies, which leave the heart in unrest. A
sense of striving and struggle beats through the music."
f.) The Yukon is Alaska's largest river. It originates in Canada in the Yukon Basin of the
Northwest Territory and flows 2,000 miles west into the Bering Sea. From the third
week in May when the ice breaks up until mid-October when it re-freezes, it is a
summer waterway. After it freezes, it is a winter highway. About 200 riverboats and
steamers carry freight during the summer months. I have heard that gold has been
discovered along the Yukon.
g.) St. Helena is an island in the Atlantic about mid-way between South America and
Africa. It was uninhabited when first discovered by the Portuguese in 1502. The island
was garrisoned by the British during the 17th century. It became famous as the place of
Napoleon Bonaparte's exile, from 1815 until his death in 1821. It is located at 15º 56'
South Latitude, 5º 42' West Longitude.
h.) The Juan Fernandez Islands, (33º 50'S, 80º 00'W) have developed in isolation,
about 400 miles west of Santiago in Chile, on two small islands of volcanic origin,
Robinson Crusoe Island and Santa Clara Island. The most ancient of these islands,
Robinson Crusoe Island, thought to be some 4 million years old, harbours plant
communities including survivors of many ancient plant groups that were once much more
widespread in the southern hemisphere. The first human occupation of the islands was in
1574 when the Spanish explorer Juan Fernandez discovered the islands.
i.) Aspinwall is a town in Georgia. It is in the area where the Seminole/Muskogee
Indians lived.
j.) The Orinoco River in Venezuela is one of South America's longest rivers, extending
1,590 mi. Its source is in the Guiana Highlands, on the slopes of the Sierra Parima, in
extreme southeastern Venezuela, on the border of Brazil. It flows northwest to a point
near La Esmeralda, where it divides. One arm, the Casiquiare River, goes south and after
a course of 180 mi enters theRio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon River. The main
branch continues northwest to the town of San Fernando de Atabapo and, flowing
generally north, forms the border between Venezuela and Colombia. After passing over
the Maipures and Atures Rapids it meets the Apure River. The Orinoco then turns
northeast and traverses theplains of Venezuela before emptying into the Atlantic
Ocean. The Orinoco averages 4 mi in width. The delta of the river begins 120 mi from
the Atlantic. The Orinoco is navigable for oceangoing ships for 260 miles, from the
mouth to the city of Ciudad Bolivar. It is navigable for smaller craft for a distance of
1,000 miles. The Orinoco was sighted in 1498 by Christopher Columbus and was first
explored by Europeans (1530-1531) to the confluence with the Meta River. The German
naturalist Alexander von Humboldt explored the upper reaches in 1799.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
The principal trade centers of the United States are New York, New York, located at
the mouth of the Hudson River; Boston, Massachusetts, located in Boston Harbor;
Chicago, Illinois, located at the south end of Lake Michigan; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
located on the reaches of Delaware Bay; Baltimore, Maryland, located on the reaches of
Chesapeake Bay; New Orleans, Louisiana, located between

 

[local 12 proud]

Maybe if our schools spent more time on social issues like 'Tolerance of homosexuality' and less on the 3R's we would'nt be falling behind...Oh Wait :unsure: