very effective in putting down polygamy in the territories. The Mormons have accepted the situation, and have declared that polygamy is no longer a doctrine of the church.

The next year Congress gave to the country a great boon by providing cheap postage. The cost of sending a letter to any point in the country was reduced from three

to two cents.

In 1885 the postage was made still cheaper by allowing an ounce to go for one stamp, in place of a halfounce as before.

Other questions have been recently prominent before the country.

The

Idaho was originally a part of Oregon, and was made a separate Territory in 1863. The State is but just beginning its development, but it has abundant resources for agricultural, grazing, and mining industries. Its population is more than a hundred thousand.

construction of a canal by the government, across the narrow portion of the continent, at Nicaragua, is desired by many merchants. A new navy has been begun and an effort is being made to have the work continued.

699. New States. - Four new States were admitted to the Union in November, 1889, North and South Dakota, Montana and Washington. The next July, Idaho and Wyoming were added to the

Utah, a portion of the Mexican purchase of 1848, was made a Territory by the Compromise of 1850. It had been settled by the Mormons as early as 1847. Its admission to the Union was delayed until 1896, because of opposition to the Mormon principle of polyg amy. The Mormon Church abolished polygamy in 1890. The chief industries are mining and agriculture. The population is about a quarter of a million.

number. January 4th, 1896, President Cleveland proclaimed the admission of Utah as the forty-fifth State. A new Territory was formed in 1889, by uniting a portion of the Indian Territory with the public lands. This new Territory, Oklahoma, as well as New Mexico and Arizona, are knocking at the doors of Congress. When these are admitted, the unorganized Indian and Alaska Territories, and the District of Columbia, will alone remain without state governments.

700. Hawaii. -January 16th, 1893, Queen Liliuokalani, of the Sandwich Islands, was deposed, and a republic was established, which asked for annexation to the United States. Territory may be added to the United States in two ways: -(1) by treaty made by the President with the consent of the Senate, and (2) by act of Congress, approved by the President. The latter course was followed in the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands, which was finally consummated in July, 1898,

701. Venezuela. - December 17th, 1895, President Cleveland sent a message to Congress, calling attention to the dispute over the boundary line between Venezuela and British Guiana, and re-affirming the Monroe doctrine ( 449). In accordance with a law passed by Congress, a commission was appointed to look into the matter and to ascertain the true boundary line. As a result, partly, of the investigations of this commission, Great Britain and the United States, in November, 1896, signed an agreement, submitting nearly all the disputed points to a tribunal, to consist of five jurists, two to be appointed by the United States, two by Great Britain, and the fifth to be selected by the four. Venezuela accepted the proposed terms, and thus an international difficulty, which seemed to threaten war between two great nations, was quietly settled by arbitration.

[See Appendix K, page 418 a.]

CHAPTER LXXX.

LETTERS AND ART.

702. Colonial Period. The colonial period was marked by the publication of but few books, and these were chiefly of a theological

writings. The state papers of Washington, Adams, Jefferson,

Hamilton, Madison, and others probably cannot be surpassed in

any country.

It was not until these stirring times

704. Birth of Literature. had passed, when affairs had become in a sense settled, and the United States had lost to a great extent its provincial character, and had taken upon itself a higher degree of civilization, that the country had the opportunity to turn its attention to real literary pursuits. Then a period of great intellectual development followed, bringing forward poets, novelists, essayists, and scientists, whose works have been widely read in all parts of the world.

705. Washington Irving. The pioneer of American literature, or, as some one has said, the first

This

James Fenimore Cooper. ambassador whom the New World of Letters sent to the Old, was born in New York, in 1783. Washington Irving's first book, "Knickerbocker's History of New York," published in 1809, was read by everybody. pretended to be a veritable history of New York, but was in reality a parody on the manners and customs of the early Dutch colonists. About 1820, Irving published his "Sketch Book," which is a delightful series of pen pictures on various subjects. The best known of these are Rip Van Winkle" and the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow." After this he wrote many volumes

Nathaniel Hawthorne.

706. Novelists. - James Fenimore Cooper, whom Victor Hugo calls the American Scott, was a native of New Jersey, and the

William Cullen Bryant.

of Cooper.

first novelist to be extensively read. He is intensely national, and his stories all deal with American subjects. His "Spy," published in 1821, was the first to be specially noticed. This was followed by many others. The "Pilot," with Paul Jones as the hero, published in 1823, is the best of the sea stories, and the "Last of the Mohicans," a story of Indian life, given to the public in 1826, is the best of the Leather-stocking Tales.

William Gilmore Simms wrote in a vein quite similar to that

His best-known works are "The Yemassee," "The

Partisan," and " Beauchampe."

Nathaniel Hawthorne, "the greatest imaginative writer since Shakespeare," was a rare genius, who wrote with a style unlike that of any other author. Hawthorne belonged to an old Puritan family, and, though extremely shy and retiring, was nevertheless a keen observer. "Twice Told Tales," published in 1837, was his first recognized work, but it was several years before his genius was fully realized. "The Scarlet Letter," considered by some his best work, was issued in 1850. This was closely followed by "The House of Seven Gables" and "The Blithedale Romance." "The Marble Faun came out in 1860, and vies with "The Scarlet Letter" in popularity.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

707. Poets. William Cullen Bryant, the father of American poetry, began writing verses when but ten years of age. The sublime "Thanatopsis," his finest

John Greenleaf Whittier.

simple, that children love and understand them as well as do those of maturer mind. Some of the most popular of his shorter poems. are "The Psalm of Life," The Reaper and the Flowers," "The Village Blacksmith," and "The Skeleton in Armor." "Evangeline," a story of Acadia, "Hiawatha," a tale of Indian life, and "The Courtship of Miles Standish," a poem of Pilgrim days, are among his longer works.

Edgar Allan Poe.

John Greenleaf Whittier, New England's Quaker poet, was the great champion of freedom, whose verses did much to hasten the fall of slavery. His later poems are, however, the most finished. "Snowbound," published in 1865,

a delightful idyl of country life, “Barbara Frietchie," a tale of the Rebellion, and "Maud Muller" are widely known.