The American is naturally proud of his country, its substantial growth
and wonderful development, and of the rapid strides it is making among
the foremost nations of the world. No matter how far elsewhere the
American citizen may have travelled, he cannot know too much of the
United States, its grand attractions and charming environment. Though
this great and vigorous nation is young, yet it has a history that is
full of interest, and a literature giving a most absorbing story of
rapid growth and patriotic progress, replete with romance, poetry and
a unique folklore.
The object of this work is to give the busy reader in acceptable form
such a comprehensive knowledge as he would like to have, of the
geography, history, picturesque attractions, peculiarities,
productions and most salient features of our great country. The
intention has been to make the book not only a work of reference, but
a work of art and of interest as well, and it is burdened neither with
too much statistics nor too intricate prolixity of description. It
covers the Continent of North America, from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian Dominion and
Alaska. It has been prepared mainly from notes specially taken by the
author during many years of extended travel all over the United States
and Canada. A method of treatment of the comprehensive subject has
been followed which is similar to the plan that has proved acceptable
in "England, Picturesque and Descriptive." The work has been arranged
in twenty-one tours, each volume beginning at the older settlements
upon the Atlantic seaboard; and each tour describing a route following
very much the lines upon which a travelling sightseer generally
advances in the respective directions taken. The book is presented to
the public as a contribution to a general knowledge of our country,
and with the hope that the reader, recognizing the difficulties of
adequate treatment of so great a subject, may find in the interest it
inspires, an indulgent excuse for any shortcomings.
J. C.
PHILADELPHIA, September, 1900.