9　Yankee Land

A pair of shoes, a hat, or an automobile we should not call“New”if they were a year old, but there is a corner of our country which is 300 years old and yet we call it“New.”About 300 years ago people from England, across the ocean, came to the northeast corner of the United States and made their homes there. So the six States north of New York, where they settled, we call New England.The Indians tried to call the white people“English，”but the best they could say was“Yenghees”or“Yankees，”just as a child in trying to say“brother”might say“buddy”—so the people of New England we still call“Yankees.”We could put all six States of New England in any one of several States out West；but though the New England States are small in size, they are big in many other things.

The largest and most important city of New England is Boston, named after a town in old England. Many people call Boston“the Hub，”by which they mean to say that the rest of the World turns round Boston, for the hub of a wheel you know is the center, around which the rest of the wheel turns.Of course, the World really turns around the North and South Poles and these Poles are the real hubs of the World；so people are only joking when they say the World turns round Boston.

Rocks and cold weather are bad for farming. New England in winter is very cold and