(1) I find that McEllicott’s Debater is out of print, but if you will
send fifty cents to F. E. Grant, 23 West 42nd street, New York City, he
will mail to you an excellent, up-to-date book which covers about the
same ground as the McEllicott Debater.
Mr. Grant is an unwearied, indefatigable, never-say-die bookseller, and
he makes a speciality of getting all sorts of books for all sorts of
people.
(2) Get a thorough High School Education and let the dead languages go
to thunder. If you want to learn any other language than English, study
French.
P.S. Yes: there is a good deal of use in studying ancient history. It is
worth a great deal for a man to have a clear general idea of what was
done on this earth before he got here.
You don’t want to feel bad because of your ignorance when gentlemen with
whom you may be talking refer to Semiramis, Alcibiades, Cyrus, Alexander,
Cæsar and the rest of those ancient celebrities. Oh, yes: read up on
history, ancient and modern, so that when you associate with intelligent
people you will know what they are talking about.
* * * * *
BELFAST MILLS, VA., Jan. 1, 1906.
_Hon. Thomas E. Watson, Thomson, Ga._
DEAR SIR: What are some of the distinguishing features of the
“Code Napoleon?”
Which do you consider the half-dozen most important and
significant events in the history of the world in 1905? Ditto
in the history of the United States for 1905?
Who were the ten or twelve greatest statesmen in the South
during the Reconstruction Period?
Dividing the history of the United States from 1860 to 1905,
into epochs, what periods would you name?
Does not Roosevelt’s administration mark a new period or epoch?
Yours truly,
⸺ ⸺.