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called districts, and in Louisiana, where they are called parishes.

261. How are counties subdivided?

A. Generally into towns and townships..

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262. What is a city?

A. A large collection of houses and inhabitants.

Cities differ greatly in extent; some have no more than 3000 or 4000 inhabitants; while others, such as New York, &c., have a hundred times as many.

263. In what way is a city particularly distinguished from a town? A. By being incorporated with peculiar privileges, and in being governed by a Mayor, Aldermen, &c.

264 What is a town, and a village?

A. A town is a collection of houses and inhabitants, smaller than a city. A village is smaller than a town.

265. What is a township?

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A. A tract of country generally divided into farms, and often containing towns, villages, and even cities, within its limits.

266. What is a county?

A. A division belonging to a State, comprising in many cases a large extent of country.

267. What do counties generally contain?

A. Nearly every county in the United States contains a county-town and a court-house.

268. What are held there?

A. Courts of justice are held there, and those who break the laws are tried and punished.

269. What is the capital of a State?

A. The city or town chosen for the meeting of the State Legislature.

270. What do the capitals of States usually contain?

A. The State House, State Prison, Governor's residence, and other offices connected with the government of the State.

271. In some States, the most important place is chosen for the capital, without any regard to position, as Boston, in Massachusetts. In most instances, however, a central position is chosen.

272. What is the State House?

A. The building where the Legislature of the State meets. 273. What is the Legislature of a State?

A. A body of men who have power to make laws.

274. Who is the Governor of a State?

A. The person who executes the laws of the State.

275. What is the capital of the United States?

A. The city of Washington, the place adopted by the American people for the annual meeting of the National Congress.

276. After whom was it named?

A. General Washington.

277. What is the National Congress?

A. An assembly composed of the Representatives elected by the people.

278. For what length of time are the Representatives elected by the people?

A. The members of the Senate are elected for six years, and those of the House of Representatives for two.

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279. What two bodies does Congress comprise ?

A. The Senate and the House of Representatives.

280. What are the duties of Congress?

A. To make the laws by which the nation is governed.

281. In what building in the city of Washington does Congress hold its meetings?

A. In the Capitol, which is one of the finest edifices in America.

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282. Who executes the laws passed by Congress?

A. The President, with the aid of the other officers of government.

283. What position does the President occupy?

A. He is the chief magistrate or head of the government. 284. By whom is he selected for that office?

A. By electors chosen by the people.

285. During what period does he hold his office?

A. For four years.

286. What forms the American nation?

A. The whole of the people of the United States.

287. The word nation signifies a distinct body of people living

under one government.

288. What is a country?

A. A large tract of land, a region, one's native soil.

289. What are the boundaries of a country?

A. The lines which separate it from others.

290. What is the interior of a country?

A. The central or inland parts.

291. What is the frontier of a country?

A. Those parts which lie near the border or boundary, the outside portions.

292. Thus we say, the Northern frontier, the Southern frontier, &c., according as the parts are situated to the North, South, East, or West. 293. What are the maritime parts of a country? A. Those parts which border on the sea-coast.

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294. Man is the most perfect of the works of God, being created in his own image, and formed by his wisdom to subdue and exercise dominion over all the earth.

295. From whom has the whole human race descended?

A. From our first parents, Adam and Eve.

296. What does the human race present?

A. Several varieties, differing greatly from each other in colour, form, and features.

297. What is the cause of the varieties in the human race?

A. It is probably owing to a difference in climate, food, and mode of life, and no doubt partly to causes which we do not understand.

298. What are the various races of mankind?

A. They are five: the European or Caucasian, Asiatic or Mongolian, American, Malay, and African or Negro.

299. How may they be classed in regard to their colour?

A. Into the White, Yellow, Red, Brown, and Black races.

300. What nations does the European or White race include ?

A. The nations of Europe, Western Asia, the North of Africa, with all the white inhabitants of America and other regions.

301. What nations does the Asiatic or Yellow race include ?

A. All the nations of Eastern Asia, (except the Malays of Malacca.)

302. What other nations belong to this race?

A. The Finns and Laplanders of Europe, and the Esquimaux of America.

303. What constitutes the Copper-coloured or Red race?

A. The Indians of America.

304. What nations does the Malay or Brown race include?

A. The people of Malacca and Malaysia, with those of Polynesia and New Zealand.

305. What part of the earth does the African or Black race inhabit? A. All Western, Central, and Southern Africa, with a considerable part of Madagascar and Australasia.

306. A large number of this race are found in both North and South America, where they are chiefly in a state of slavery.

307. The European or Caucasian is the most noble of the five races of men. It excels all others in learning and the arts, and includes the most powerful nations of ancient and modern times. The most valua ble institutions of society, and the most important and useful inventions, have originated with the people of this race.

Which is the most noble of the five races of men?

In what does it excel all others?

What does it include?

What has originated with the people of this race?

To which of the races of men do the greater part of the people of the United States belong?

To which race do you belong?

F

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