"Hoh! That's just it. Teacher stuffs us with things everybody knows. All the easy things. Any cow or any hen can know 'em. I want the other things. If she's a teacher she ought to know about the bottom of the sea. She ought to tell us about Atlantis. There's be some fun in that."
"Atlantis?"
"Yes. That was the big island out in the Atlantic Ocean that suddenly disappeared. It sank to the bottom of the sea. Don't you remember?"
Ruth was honest and slowly shook her head. Yet she knew that her position as mentor, spiritual guide and good example became weaker should the ignoramus she was rebuking display more learning than herself.
But Cyrus was too much absorbed in the bigness of his subject to think of himself or other trifles. "Why, Ruthy, it was a whole kingdom, this island—a continent. It was covered with beautiful temples, whole cities and lots of people. And all of a sudden—nobody knows why—it disappeared beneath the waves! And now, to-day, down at the bottom of the ocean those cities and those marble temples are still standing!"
"AND NOW, TODAY, DOWN AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN, THOSE CITIES AND THOSE MARBLE TEMPLES ARE STILL STANDING"—Page 123
"Where was this island?"
"Off to the west of Spain, and Africa. People think the Azores and the Canary Islands are the tops of mountains of that sunken country."