| Mein Herr looked so thoroughly bewildered that I thought
it best to change the subject. “What a useful thing a pocket-map is!” I
remarked.
“That’s another thing we’ve learned from your Nation,”
said Mein Herr, “map-making. But we’ve carried it much further than you.
What do you consider the largest map that would be really useful?”
“About six inches to the mile.”
“Only six inches!” exclaimed Mein Herr. “We very soon
got to six yards to the mile. Then we tried a hundred yards to the mile.
And then came the grandest idea of all! We actually made a map of the country,
on the scale of a mile to the mile!”
|
”Have you used it much?” I enquired.
“It has never been spread out, yet,” said Mein Herr: “the
farmers objected: they said it would cover the whole country, and shut
out the sunlight! So we now use the country itself, as its own map, and
I assure you it does nearly as well.
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