Now this is odd. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library has scanned the text of a whole whack of documents from the Civil War era that “demonstrate the Confederate States of America’s unsuccessful attempt to create a viable nation state.” One of these is an 1864 school geography textbook, A Geography for Beginners, by K. J. Stewart. The entire text and images have been reproduced. It’s a fascinating insight into mid-nineteenth-century pedagogy. Cringe at how geography was taught! (Questions: “Who provided metals, &c., for mankind? Did He provide enough of them?” Answers: “God” and “yes”, if you know what’s good for you. No cracks about whether this text is still in use in Mississippi.) Via The Cartoonist.