count: "The South Pole," published by
Keedick. Clubs may make a serious study of polar expeditions, which have
been many, and of their stories of bravery and tragedy. Read the books
of Sven Hedin.

X--GOETHALS--ENGINEER

The construction of the Panama Canal is one of the striking engineering
feats of to-day, and its success is owing mainly to George W. Goethals.
He was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1858, was graduated at West Point,
and began his career as a second lieutenant of engineers. He taught at
West Point for a time, and was chief of engineers during the
Spanish-American War and also a member of the Board of Fortifications.
After 1907 he was chief engineer of the Panama Canal, and it is his work
here that has made him famous. To secure efficiency great power was
placed in his hands. He was chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission,
president of the Panama Railway, and governor of the Canal Zone. He had
forty thousand men working under him in different departments.

The completed canal cost $375,000,000 and is one of the most colossal
engineering achievements of history.

Read "Panama, Past and Present," by Farnham Bishop (The Century
Company), "Panama and the Canal To-day," by Forbes Lindsay (The Page
Company), and "Old Panama," by C. L. G. Anderson (The Page Company).
Clubs should study also the history of the canal in past years and
especially the story of De Lesseps.

CHAPTER XVI

THE LITERATURE OF THE BIBLE

The study of the Bible, not from a theological or critical point of view
but from that which is solely literary, makes a fascinating subject for
clubs. Many distinguished writers have treated it in this way, and by
using their books in connection with the suggested Bible readings clubs
will find a year all too short to do justice to the subject.

I--THE BEGINNINGS

The first meeting will be on the Creation, with three main topics for
papers,--the Creation narrative, the idyl of the Garden of Eden and the
entrance of sin,--with readings from Genesis to illustrate each point.
The emphasis should be laid on the simplicity, dignity, and naivete of
these early chapters, and their high literary value as a poetic attempt
to describe the origin of the world. Compare with this Hebrew account
that found in the Babylonian myths on the clay tablets discovered in
the ruins of Nineveh, and also the Chaldean account of the victory of
their chief god Marduk over chaos. These will be found in "The