6　A City Built in a Swamp

A cap which you wear on your head means“head.”

A cap-tain also means“head”—he's the head of a company of soldiers.

A cap-ital means“head”too—it's the head city of a country or of a State.

When I was a boy I lived in the capital of the United States, but I did not live in the Capitol of the United States. That may sound funny, but it's true, for there are two kinds of capita〇ls.The capit-Al is a city, the Capit-Ol is a building, and of course I didn’t live in the Capit-Ol building.Not even the President lives there.

When our country was started men tried to find a suitable place for the capital. Eight places were tried out and at last a swamp was chosen as the proper place to build the city, because it was then near the center of our country.So a city was built there and called Washington after George Washington, because he was the First President of the United States.Even when-I-was-a-boy there was a part of Washington which every one called“Swamp Puddle”or“Swam-poodle.”I wonder if boys there still call it that.It is now one of the most beautiful cities in the World, with lovely parks and beautiful buildings.George Washington didn't live in Washington.He lived at a place in the State of Virginia about ten miles away called Mount Vernon.Washington is now on the edge of our country, over a thousand miles from the center.The capital hasn't moved, but the center of the country