ORGANIZE 

 KNOWLEDGE 



AND' PICTURE 



Ww 



W is the twenty-third letter of the English alphabet. The 

 Phoenician alphabet had no such character, nor had the 

 Greek or the early Latin, in which the sound represented by 

 W was indicated by a u or v. When u became established as 

 a vowel and v acquired its present force, a new character was 

 formed by the joining of two u's or two v's. The Italian 

 alphabet has no w, nor has the French. 



W is one of the semivowels, though it never, like y, is used without another vowel. It 

 enters into diphthongs, however, as in now, maw, new, and is sometimes used after other 

 vowels without changing their sound, as in borrow. As a consonant it has but one sound, 

 but is frequently silent before r, as in wreath, or after s, as in sword. The combination 

 of w with h is very common, as in white, but is pronounced rather as if the order were 

 reversed and the word were spelled hwitc. Occasionally the w is silent before h r as in 

 wholly. 



W ABASH, waw'bash, IND., the county seat 

 of Wabash County, is situated on the Wabash 

 River, forty-two miles southwest of Fort 

 Wayne, ninety miles northeast of Indianapolis 

 and 130 miles southeast of Chicago. It is built 

 upon rocky, hilly land, and is known locally as 

 the "Rock City." Wabash has extensive shops 

 of the Big Four Railroad, and is served by this 

 road and by the Wabash. Electric interurban 

 lines connect the city with towns in the vi- 

 cinity. In 1910 the population was 8,687; in 

 1916 it was 8,730 (Federal estimate). The pub- 

 lic buildings include the Federal building, city 

 library, Masonic Temple and Memorial Hall. 

 A rich farming country surrounds the city and 

 brings it an important trade. In addition to 

 railroad shops there are manufactories of cabi- 

 nets, motor trucks, automobile equipment, fur- 

 niture and various other commodities. Wabash 

 was settled in 1837 and was incorporated tin 

 same year. W.O.L. 



WABASH RIVER, the chief waterway of In- 

 diana and the largest northern tributary of tho * 

 Ohio. It rises in the western part of Ohio, 

 flows northwest into Indiana, west to Logans- 

 port, then south into the Ohio River. For 220 

 of its 110 miles it forms the lower boundary 

 Illinois and Indiana \ abash is 



navigable to Covington, a distance of about 300 



miles, and, at high water, as far as Lafayette. 

 Parallel to it, between Terre Haute and Hun- 

 tington, runs the Wabash and Erie Canal, which 

 connects the river with Lake Erie. 



WACHT AM RHEIN, vahKt ahm rinc, DIE 

 ("The Watch on the Rhine"), a patriotic song 

 of Germany, the words of which were written 

 by Max Schneckenburger in 1840, when it was 

 feared that the left bank of the Rhine would 

 fall into the hands of the French. The music 

 was composed by Karl Wilhelm in 1854. The 

 song, however, did not attain widespread popu- 

 larity until the outbreak of the Franco-German 

 War in 1870. It has almost the standing of a 

 national hymn. 



WACO, va'ko, TEX., the county seat of Mc- 

 Lciman County, is situated in the eastern part 

 of the state, about midway between Austin, the 

 state capital, and Dallas about ninety 

 miles <li>t.-mt from cnch. It is on the Braze* 

 River, which is here spanned by a fine suspen- 

 sion bridge, and on the (lulf. Colorado & Santa 

 Fc, tin Houston A Texas Central, the Interna- 

 il A Great Northern, the Missouri, Kansas 

 A Texas, the Saint Louis Southwestern and the 

 San Antonio A Aransas Pass railroads. An in- 

 terurban line runs to Dallas. The population 

 m 1910 was 26,425; it waa 33,385 in 1916 (Fed- 

 -timate). 



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