Seceded. Readmitted.
South Carolina Dec. 20,1860. June 11, 1868.
Mississippi Jan. 9, 1861. Feb. 3, 1870.
Alabama Jan. 11, 1861. June 11, 1868.
Florida Jan. 11, 1861. June 11, 1868.
Georgia Jan. 19, 1861. April 20, 1870.
Louisiana Jan. 26, 1861. June 11, 1868.
Texas Feb. 1, 1861. Mar. 15, 1870.
Virginia April 16, 1861. Jan. 15, 1870.
Arkansas May 6, 1861. June 20, 1868.
North Carolina May 21, 1861. June 11, 1868.
Tennessee June 24, 1861. July, 1866.
THE EARTHQUAKE OF 1811-12.--The earthquake shocks felt on the shores
of the Lower Mississippi in the years 1811-12 are recorded as among
the most remarkable phenomena of their kind. Similar instances where
earth disturbances have prevailed, severely and continuously, far from
the vicinity of a volcano, are very rare indeed. In this instance,
over an extent of country stretching for 300 miles southward from
the mouth of the Ohio river, the ground rose and sank in great
undulations, and lakes were formed and again drained. The shocks were
attended by loud explosions, great fissures--generally traveling
from northeast to southwest, and sometimes more than half a mile in
length--were opened in the earth, and from these openings mud and
water were thrown often to the tops of the highest trees. Islands in
the Mississippi were sunk, the current of the river was driven back
by the rising of its bed, and overflowed the adjacent lands. More than
half of New Madrid county was permanently submerged. The inhabitants
noticed that these earth movements were sometimes vertical and
sometimes horizontal, the former being by far the most serious
in their effects. These disturbances ceased March 26, 1812,
simultaneously with the great earthquake which destroyed the city of
Caracas, South America.
THE DARK DAYS IN NEW ENGLAND.--On May 19, 1780, there was a remarkable
darkening of the sky and atmosphere over a large part of New England,
which caused much alarm among those who witnessed it. The darkness began
between ten and eleven o'clock on the day named, and continued in
some places through the entire day, and was followed by an unusually
intense degree of blackness during the ensuing night. This phenomenon
extended from the northeastern part of New England westward as far as
Albany, and southward to the coast of New Jersey. The most intense and
prolonged darkness, however, was confined to Massachusetts, especially
to the eastern half of the State. It came up from the southwest, and
overhung the country like a pall. It was necessary to light candles in
all the houses, and thousands of good people, believing that the end
of all things terrestrial had come, betook themselves to religious
devotions. One incident of the occasion has been woven into verse with
excellent effect by the poet Whittier. The Connecticut Legislature was
in session on that day, and as the darkness came on and grew more and
more dense, the members became terrified, and thought that the day
of judgment had come; so a motion was made to adjourn. At this, a
Mr. Davenport arose and said: "Mr. Speaker, it is either the day of
judgment, or it is not. If it is not, there is no need of adjourning.
If it is, I desire to be found doing my duty. I move that candles be
brought and that we proceed to business." Mr. Davenport's suggestion
was taken, candles were brought in, and business went on as usual.
As to the explanation of this phenomenon, scientists have been much
puzzled. It was plain from the falling of the barometer that the air
was surcharged with heavy vapor. The darkness then, it might be said,
was only the result of a dense fog, but the question of the cause of
so remarkable a fog was still unanswered. Omitting this unascertained
primary cause, then, Professor Williams, of Harvard College, who
subsequently made a thorough investigation of the matter, gave it as
his opinion that this unprecedented quantity of vapor had gathered
in the air in layers so as to cut off the rays of light, by repeated
refraction, in a remarkable degree. He thought that the specific
gravity of this vapor must have been the same as that of the air,
which caused it to be held so long in suspension in the atmosphere. In
this case the extent of the darkness would coincide with the area of
the vapor, and it would continue until a change in the gravity of the
air caused the vapors to ascend or descend. In some places when the
darkness cleared it was as if the vapor was lifted and borne away by
the wind like a dark pall, and in others, after a period of intense
darkness the atmosphere gradually lightened again. In our day, a
phenomenon of this kind would be thoroughly investigated to its most
remote possible cause; but then owing to the sparse settlement of the
country and the difficulties of travel, the investigation of distant
causes could not be made. Large fires may have prevailed that spring
in the forests of Western New York and Pennsylvania--a region then an
absolute wilderness--the smoke of which was borne through the upper
regions of the atmosphere, to fall when it came to a locality of less
buoyant air, down to the lower strata. We say these fires may have
recently preceded this day, and served as its sufficient cause, but
we have only presumptive evidence that they did occur. Had Professor
Williams entertained a supposition of the previous existence of such
fires, he had then no means of verifying it, and long before the
advent of railroads and telegraphs, or even of stage lines, the
scientific theories of the dark day had passed from the general
memory.
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE LIBERTY BELL.--In 1751 the Pennsylvania
Assembly authorized a committee to procure a bell for their State
House. November 1st of that year an order was sent to London for "a
good bell of about 2,000 pounds weight." To this order were added the
following directions: "Let the bell be cast by the best workmen and
examined carefully before it is shipped, with the following words well
shaped in large letters around it, viz.: 'By order of the Assembly
of the Province of Pennsylvania, for the State House, in the city of
Philadelphia, 1752.' And underneath, 'Proclaim Liberty Through All the
Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof.--Levit. xxv. 10.'" In due time,
in the following year, the bell reached Philadelphia, but when it was
hung, early in 1753, as it was being first rung to test the sound, it
cracked without any apparent reason, and it was necessary to have it
recast. It was at first thought to be necessary to send it back to
England for the purpose, but some "ingenious workmen" in Philadelphia
wished to do the casting and were allowed to do so. In the first week
of June, 1753, the bell was again hung in the belfry of the State
House. On July 4, 1776, it was known throughout the city that the
final decision on the question of declaring the colonies independent
of Great Britain was to be made by the Continental Congress, in
session at the State House. Accordingly the old bellman had been
stationed in the belfry on that morning, with orders to ring the bell
when a boy waiting at the door of the State House below should signal
to him that the bill for independence had been passed. Hour after
hour the old man stood at his post. At last, at 2 o'clock, when he had
about concluded that the question would not be decided on that day at
least, the watchman heard a shout from below, and looking down saw
the boy at the door clapping his hands and calling at the top of his
voice: "Ring! ring!" And he did ring, the story goes, for two whole
hours, being so filled with excitement and enthusiasm that he could
not stop. When the British threatened Philadelphia, in 1777, the
precious bell was taken down and removed to the town of Bethlehem for
safety. In 1778 it was returned to the State House and a new steeple
built for it. Several years after it cracked, for some unknown reason,
under a stroke of the clapper, and its tone was thus destroyed. An
attempt was made to restore its tone by sawing the crack wider, but
without success. This bell was sent to New Orleans during the winter
to be exhibited in the World's Fair there. The Pullman Company gave
one of their handsomest cars for the transit. It was in the charge of
three custodians appointed by the Mayor of Philadelphia, who did not
leave it night or day, and guarded it as fully as possible against
accident. A pilot engine preceded the train carrying the bell over
the entire route. It left Philadelphia Jan. 24, 1885, and returned in
June.
THE ANTARCTIC POLAR REGIONS.--The climate of the southern polar regions
is much more severe than that at the north pole, the icefields extending
in degrees nearer the equator from the south than from the north. Within
the arctic circle there are tribes of men living on the borders of the
icy ocean on both the east and west hemispheres, but within the
antarctic all is one dreary, uninhabitable waste. In the extreme north
the reindeer and the musk-ox are found in numbers, but not a single land
quadruped exists beyond 50 degrees of southern latitude. Flowers are
seen in summer by the arctic navigator as far as 78 degrees north, but
no plant of any description, not even a moss or a lichen, has been
observed beyond Cockburn Island, in 64 degrees 12 minutes south
latitude. In Spitzbergen, 79 degrees north, vegetation ascends the
mountain slopes to a height of 3,000 feet, but on every land within or
near the antarctic circle the snow-line descends to the water's edge.
The highest latitude ever reached at the south is 78 degrees 10 minutes,
while in the north navigators have penetrated to 84 degrees. The reason
for this remarkable difference is the predominance of large tracts of
land in the northern regions, while in the south is a vast expanse of
ocean. In the north continental masses form an almost continuous belt
around the icy sea, while in the southern hemisphere the continents
taper down into a broad extent of frigid waters. In the north the plains
of Siberia and of the Hudson's Bay territories, warmed by the sunbeams
of summer, become at that season centers of radiating heat, while the
antarctic lands, of small extent, isolated in the midst of a polar ocean
and chilled by cold sea winds, act at every season as refrigerators of
the atmosphere. Further in the north the cold currents of the polar sea,
having but two openings of any estent through which they can convey
drift ice, have their chilly influence confined to comparatively narrow
limits, but the cold currents of the antarctic seas have scope to branch
out freely on all sides and carry their ice even into temperate waters.
Finally, at the northern hemisphere, the Gulf Stream conveys warmth even
to the shores of Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, while on the opposite
regions of the globe no traces of warm currents have been observed
beyond 55 degrees of south latitude.
THE LANGUAGE USED BY CHRIST.--The language used by Christ was the
Aramaic, the dialect of Northern Syria. The Israelites were much in
contact with Aramæan populations, and some words from that tongue
became incorporated into the Hebrew at a very early date. At the time
of Hezekiah, Aramaic had become the official language of both Judea
and Assyria: that is, the language spoken at the courts. After the
fall of Samaria the Hebrew inhabitants of Northern Israel were largely
carried into captivity, and their place was taken by colonists from
Syria, who probably spoke Aramaic as their mother tongue. The fall
of the Jewish Kingdom hastened the decay of Hebrew as a spoken
language--not that the captives forgot their own language, as is
generally assumed, but after the return to Judea the Jews found
themselves, a people few in number, among a large number of
surrounding populations using the Aramaic tongue. When the latest
books of the Old Testament were written, Hebrew, though still the
language of literature, had been supplanted by Aramaic as the language
of common life. From that time on the former tongue was the exclusive
property of scholars, and has no history save that of a merely
literary language.
HOW ANCIENT TEMPLES AND PYRAMIDS WERE BUILT.--This is beyond modern
conjecture, so imperfect is our understanding of the extent of the
mechanical knowledge of the ancients. Their appliances are believed
to have been of the simplest order, and their implements exceedingly
crude, and yet they were able to convey these enormous blocks of
stones for vast distances, over routes most difficult, and having
accomplished this, to raise them to great height, and fit them in
place without the aid of either cement or mortar to cover up the
errors of the stonecutter. How all this was done is one of the enigmas
of modern science. It has been generally believed that inclined planes
of earth were used to enable the workmen to raise the huge stones
to their places, the earth being cleared away afterward. But it is
possible that the ancients had a more extended knowledge of mechanical
powers than we usually give them credit for, and that they made use
of machinery very like that employed by moderns for lifting great
weights. Large cavities are found in some of the stones in the
pyramids, which may have been worn by the foot of a derrick turning in
them. That there were enormous numbers of men employed in the building
of these ancient structures is well known; these results of their
great aggregated strength we see, but they left no record of the means
by which this strength was focused and brought most effectually to
bear on their mighty tasks.
THE FIRST ATLANTIC CABLE.--As early as 1842 Professor Morse declared a
submarine cable connection between America and Europe to be among the
possibilities, but no attempt toward this great achievement was made
until 1854, when Cyrus Field established a company, which secured
the right of landing cables in Newfoundland for fifty years. In 1858
soundings between Ireland and Newfoundland were completed, showing
a maximum depth of 4,400 meters. Having succeeded in laying a
cable between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, Mr. Field secured the
co-operation of English capitalists in his enterprise. The laying
of the cable was begun August 7, 1857, from the port of Valencia,
Ireland, but on the third day it broke, and the expedition had to
return. Early in the following year another attempt was made.
The cable was laid from both ends at the same time, was joined in
mid-ocean, but in lowering it was broken. Again, in the same year, the
attempt was made, and this time connection was successfully made. The
first message over the line was sent August 7, 1858. The insulation
of this cable, however, was defective, and by September 4th had
quite failed. Some time was now spent in experiments, conducted by
scientists, to secure a more perfect cable. A new company was formed,
and in 1865 the work again began. The Great Eastern was employed to
lay the cable, but when it was partly laid serious defects in the line
were discovered and in repairing these it broke. The apparatus for
recovering the wire proving insufficient the vessel returned to
England. A new company, called the Anglo-American, was formed in 1865,
and again the Great Eastern was equipped for the enterprise. The plan
of the new expedition was not only to lay a new cable, but also
to take up the end of the old one and join it to a new piece, thus
obtaining a second telegraph line. The vessel sailed from Valencia
July 13, 1866, and July 27 the cable was completely laid to Heart's
Content, Newfoundland, and a message announcing the fact sent over the
wire to Lord Stanley. Queen Victoria sent a message of congratulation
to President Buchanan on the 28th. September 2d the lost cable of 1865
was recovered and its laying completed at Newfoundland September 8,
1866.
ENGRAVING ON EGGS.--The art of engraving on eggs is very puzzling to
the uninitiated, but in reality it is very simple. It merely consists
in writing upon the egg-shell with wax or varnish, or simply with
tallow, and then immersing the egg in some weak acid, such, for
example, as vinegar, dilute hydrochloric acid, or etching liquor.
Wherever the varnish or wax has not protected the shell, the lime of
the latter is decomposed and dissolved in the acid, and the writing
or drawing remains in relief. In connection with this art a curious
incident is told in history. In the month of August, 1808, at the time
of the Spanish war, there was found in a church in Lisbon an egg, on
which was plainly foretold the utter destruction of the French, who
then had control of the city. The story of the wonderful prophecy
spread through the town, causing the greatest excitement among the
superstitious populace, and a general uprising was expected.
This, however, the French commander cleverly thwarted by causing
a counter-prophecy, directly denying the first, to be engrossed on
several hundred eggs, which were then distributed in various parts of
the city. The astonished Portuguese did not know what to think of this
new phenomenon, but its "numerousness," if we may so call it, caused
it to altogether outweigh the influence of the first prediction, and
there were no further symptoms of revolt against the French.
CAYENNE PEPPER.--The name of the plant genus from which cayenne pepper
is obtained is capsicum, a name also given to the product of the
plant. This genus belongs to the solanaceæ, or night shade family, and has
no relation to the family piperaceæ, which produces the shrub yielding
black pepper. The plant which yields cayenne pepper is identical with
the common red pepper of our gardens. It is an annual, a native of
tropical countries, where it thrives luxuriantly even in the dryest
soils, but it is also cultivated in other parts of the world. It grows
to the height of two or three feet, and bears a fruit in the shape of
a conical pod or seed-vessel, which is green when immature, but bright
scarlet or orange when ripe. This pod, with its seeds, has a very
pungent taste, and is used when green for pickling, and when ripe
and dried is ground to powder to make cayenne pepper, or is used
for medicine. This powder has a strongly stimulating effect, and is
believed to aid digestion. It is also employed externally to excite
the action of the skin.
THE BIG TREES OF CALIFORNIA.--There are several groves of Big Trees in
California, the most famous of which are the Calaveras grove and the
Mariposa grove. The Calaveras grove occupies what may be described
as a band or belt 3,200 feet long and 700 in width. It is between two
slopes, in a depression in the mountains, and has a stream winding
through it, which runs dry in the summer time. In this grove the Big
Trees number ninety-three, besides a great many smaller ones, which
would be considered very large if it were not for the presence of
these monarchs of the forest. Several of the Big Trees have fallen
since the grove was discovered, one has been cut down, and one had
the bark stripped from it to the height 116 feet from the ground. The
highest now standing is the "Keystone State," 325 feet high and 45
feet in circumference; and the largest and finest is the "Empire
State." There are four trees over 300 feet in height, and 40 to 61
feet in circumference. The tree which was cut down occupied five men
twenty-two days, which would be at the rate of one man 110 days, or
nearly four months' work, not counting Sundays. Pump augers were used
for boring through the giant. After the trunk was severed from the
stump it required five men with immense wedges for three days to
topple it over. The bark was eighteen inches thick. The tree would
have yielded more than 1,000 cords of four-foot wood and 100 cords of
bark, or more than 1,100 cords in all. On the stump of the tree was
built a house, thirty feet in diameter, which the Rev. A.H. Tevis, an
observant traveler, says contains room enough in square feet, if it
were the right shape, for a parlor 12x10 feet, a dining-room 10x12,
a kitchen 10x12, two bed-rooms 10 feet square each, a pantry 4x8,
two clothes-presses 1-1/2 feet deep and 4 feet wide, and still have
a little to spare! The Mariposa grove is part of a grant made by
Congress to be set apart for public use, resort and recreation
forever. The area of the grant is two miles square and comprises two
distinct groves about half a mile apart. The upper grove contains 365
trees, of which 154 are over fifteen feet in diameter, besides a great
number of smaller ones. The average height of the Mariposa trees is
less than that of the Calaveras, the highest Mariposa tree being 272
feet; but the average size of the Mariposa is greater than that of
Calaveras. The "Grizzly Giant," in the lower grove, is 94 feet in
circumference and 31 feet in diameter; it has been decreased by
burning. Indeed, the forests at times present a somewhat unattractive
appearance, as, in the past, the Indians, to help them in their
hunting, burned off the chaparral and rubbish, and thus disfigured
many of these splendid trees by burning off nearly all the bark. The
first branch of the "Grizzly Giant" is nearly two hundred feet from
the ground and is six feet in diameter. The remains of a tree, now
prostrate, indicate that it had reached a diameter of about forty feet
and a height of 400 feet; the trunk is hollow and will admit of the
passage of three horsemen riding abreast. There are about 125 trees of
over forty feet in circumference. Besides these two main groves there
are the Tolumne grove, with thirty big trees; the Fresno grove, with
over eight hundred spread over an area of two and a half miles long
and one to two broad; and the Stanislaus grove, the Calaveras group,
with from 700 to 800. There should be named in this connection the
petrified forest near Calitoga, which contains portions of nearly one
hundred distinct trees of great size, scattered over a tract of three
or four miles in extent: the largest of this forest is eleven feet in
diameter at the base and sixty feet long. It is conjectured that these
prostrate giants were silicified by the eruption of the neighboring
Mount St. Helena, which discharged hot alkaline waters containing
silica in solution. This petrified forest is considered one of the
great natural wonders of California.
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF JERUSALEM.--The earliest name of Jerusalem
appears to have been Jebus, or poetically, Salem, and its king in
Abraham's time was Melchizedek. When the Hebrews took possession of
Canaan, the city of Salem was burned, but the fortress remained in the
hands of the Jebusites till King David took it by storm and made it the
capital of his kingdom. From that time it was called Jerusalem. During
the reigns of David and Solomon it attained its highest degree of power.
When ten of the Jewish tribes seceded under Jeroboam they made Shechem
(and later Samaria) the capital of their kingdom of Israel, and
Jerusalem remained the capital of the smaller but more powerful kingdom
of Judah. The city was taken by Shishak, King of Egypt, in 971 B.C., was
later conquered and sacked by Joash, King of Israel, and in the time of
Ahaz, the King of Syria came against it with a large force, but could
not take it. The city was besieged in Hezekiah's reign, by the army of
Sennacherib, King of Assyria, but was saved by the sudden destruction of
the invading army. After the death of Josiah, the city was tributary for
some years to the King of Egypt, but was taken after repeated attempts
by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C., and was left a heap
of ruins. The work of rebuilding it began by order of King Cyrus about
538 B.C., who allowed the Jewish people who had been carried into
captivity to return for this purpose. From this time Jerusalem enjoyed
comparative peace for several hundred years and grew to be an important
commercial city. When Alexander invaded Syria it submitted to him
without resistance. After his death it belonged for a time to Egypt and
in 198 B.C., passed with the rest of Judea under the rule of Syria.
Antiochus the Great ruled it with mildness and justice, but the tyranny
of his son, Antiochus Epiphanes, brought about the revolt, headed by the
Maccabees, through which Jerusalem gained a brief independence. In 63
B.C., Pompey the Great took the city, demolished the walls and killed
thousands of the people, but did not plunder it. However, nine years
later Crassus robbed the temple of all its treasures. The walls were
soon after rebuilt under Antipater, the Roman procurator, but when Herod
came to rule over the city with the title of King, given him by the
Roman Senate, he was resisted and only took possession after an
obstinate siege, which was followed by the massacre of great numbers of
the people. Herod improved and enlarged the city, and restored the
temple on a more magnificent scale than in Solomon's time. Jerusalem is
said at this time to have had a population of over 200,000. This period
of wealth and prosperity was also rendered most, memorable for Jerusalem
by the ministry and crucifixion of Christ. About A.D. 66, the Jews,
goaded to desperation by the tyranny of the Romans, revolted, garrisoned
Jerusalem, and defeated a Roman army sent against them. This was the
beginning of the disastrous war which ended with the destruction of the
city. It was taken by Titus, in the year 70, after a long siege, all the
inhabitants were massacred, or made prisoners, and the entire city left
a heap of ruins. The Emperor Hadrian built on the site of Jerusalem a
Roman city, under the name of Elia Capitolina, with a temple of Jupiter,
and Jews were forbidden to enter the city under pain of death. Under
Constantine it was made a place of pilgrimage for Christians, as the
Emperor's mother, Helena, had with much pains located the various sites
of events in the history of Christ. The Emperor Julian, on the contrary,
not only allowed the Jews to return to their city, but also made an
attempt, which ended in failure, to rebuild their temple. In 614 the
Persian Emperor Chosroes invaded the Roman empire. The Jews joined his
army, and after conquering the northern part of Palestine, the united
forces laid siege to and took Jerusalem. The Jews wreaked vengeance on
the Christians for what they had been forced to endure, and 20,000
people were massacred. The Persians held rule in the city for fourteen
years; it was then taken by the Romans again, but in 636 the Caliph Omar
beseiged it. After four months the city capitulated. It was under the
rule of the Caliphs for 400 years, until the Seljuk Turks in 1077
invaded Syria and made it a province of their empire. Christian pilgrims
had for many years kept up the practice of visiting the tomb of Christ,
as the Caliphs did not interfere with their devotions any further than
by exacting a small tribute from each visitor. But the cruelties
practiced upon the pilgrims by the Turks were many, and report of them
soon roused all Europe to a pitch of indignation, and brought about that
series of holy wars, which for a time restored the holy sepulcher into
Christian hands. Jerusalem was stormed and taken July 15, 1099, and
50,000 Moslems were slaughtered by their wrathful Christian foes. The
new sovereignty was precariously maintained until 1187, when it fell
before the power of Saladin. Jerusalem, after a siege of twelve days,
surrendered. Saladin, however, did not put his captives to death, but
contented himself with expelling them from the city. Jerusalem passed
into the hands of the Franks by treaty, in 1229, was retaken by the
Moslems in 1239, once more restored in 1243, and finally conquered in
1244 by a horde of Kharesmian Turks. In 1517 Palestine was conquered by
Sultan Selin I., and since then has been under the rule of the Ottoman
Empire, except for a brief period--from 1832 to 1840, when it was in the
hands of Mahomet Ali Pasha of Egypt, and his son Ibrahim had his seat of
government in Jerusalem.
THE BLACK DEATH.--- This great plague, known as the "Black Death," was
the most deadly epidemic ever known. It is believed to have been an
aggravated outburst of the Oriental plague, which from the earliest
records of history has periodically appeared in Asia and Northern
Africa. There had been a visitation of the plague in Europe in 1342;
the Black Death, in terrible virulence, appeared in 1348-9; it also
came in milder form in 1361-2, and again in 1369. The prevalence and
severity of the pestilence during this century is ascribed to the
disturbed conditions of the elements that preceded it. For a number
of years Asia and Europe had suffered from mighty earthquakes, furious
tornadoes, violent floods, clouds of locusts darkening the air and
poisoning it with their corrupting bodies. Whether these natural
disturbances were the cause of the plague is not certainly known, but
many writers on the subject regard the connection as both probable and
possible. The disease was brought from the Orient to Constantinople,
and early in 1347 appeared in Sicily and several coast towns of Italy.
After a brief pause the pestilence broke out at Avignon in January,
1348; advanced thence to Southern France, Spain and Northern Italy.
Passing through France and visiting, but not yet ravaging, Germany, it
made its way to England, cutting down its first victims at Dorset, in
August, 1348. Thence it traveled slowly, reaching London early in
the winter. Soon it embraced the entire kingdom, penetrating to every
rural hamlet, so that England became a mere pest-house. The chief
symptoms of the disease are described as "spitting, in some cases
actual vomiting, of blood, the breaking out of inflammatory boils in
parts, or over the whole of the body, and the appearance of those dark
blotches upon the skin which suggested its most startling name. Some
of the victims died almost on the first attack, some in twelve hours,
some in two days, almost all within the first three days." The utter
powerlessness of medical skill before the disease was owing partly to
the physicians' ignorance of its nature, and largely to the effect of
the spirit of terror which hung like a pall over men's minds. After
some months had passed, the practice of opening the hard boils was
adopted, with very good effect, and many lives were thus saved. But
the havoc wrought by the disease in England was terrible. It is said
that 100,000 persons died in London, nearly 60,000 in Norwich, and
proportionate numbers in other cities. These figures seem incredible,
but a recent writer, who has spent much time in the investigation of
records, asserts that at least half the population, or about 2,500,000
souls, of England perished in this outbreak. The ravages of the
pestilence over the rest of the world were no less terrible.
Germany is said to have lost 1,244,434 victims; Italy, over half the
population. On a moderate calculation, it may be assumed that there
perished in Europe during the first appearance of the Black Death,
fully 25,000,000 human beings. Concerning the Orient we have less
reliable records, but 13,000,000 are said to have died in China, and
24,000,000 in the rest of Asia and adjacent islands. The plague also
ravaged Northern Africa, but of its course there little is known.
The horrors of that dreadful time were increased by the fearful
persecutions visited on the Jews, who were accused of having caused
the pestilence by poisoning the public wells. The people rose to
exterminate the hapless race, and killed them by fire and torture
wherever found. It is impossible for us to conceive of the actual
horror of such times.
MIGHTY HAMMERS.--An authority on scientific subjects give the weights
of the great hammers used in the iron works of Europe, and their date
of manufacture, as follows: At the Terni Works, Italy, the heaviest
hammer weighs 50 tons, and was made in 1873; one at Alexandrovski,
Russia, was made the following year of like weight. In 1877, one was
finished at Creusot Works, France, weighing 80 tons; in 1885, one at
the Cockerill Works, Belgium, of 100 tons, and in 1880, at the Krupp
Works, Essen, Germany, one of 150 tons. The latter being the heaviest
hammer in the world.
ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD.--July 2, 1881, at 9:25 A.M., as
President Garfield was entering the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad depot
at Washington, preparatory to taking the cars for a two weeks' jaunt in
New England, he was fired upon and severely wounded by Charles Jules
Guitean, a native of Illinois, but of French descent. The scene of the
assassination was the ladies' reception-room at the station. The
President and Mr. Blaine, arm in arm, were walking slowly through the
aisle between two rows of benches on either side of the room; when
Guitean entered by a side door on the left of the gentlemen, passed
quickly around the back of the benches till directly behind the
President, and fired the shot that struck his arm. Mr. Garfield walked
about ten feet to the end of the aisle, and was in the act of turning to
face his assailant when the second shot struck him in the small of the
back, and he fell. The assassin was immediately seized and taken to
jail. The wounded president was conveyed in an ambulance to the White
House. As he was very faint, the first fear was of internal hemorrhage,
which might cause speedy death. But as he rallied in a few hours, this
danger was thought to be averted and inflammation was now feared. But as
symptoms of this failed to appear, the surgeons in attendance concluded
that no important organ had been injured, that the bullet would become
encysted and harmless, or might possibly be located and successfully
removed. By the 10th of July, the reports were so favorable, that the
president's recovery was regarded as certain, and public thanksgivings
were offered in several of the States, by order of the governors, for
his deliverance. The first check in the favorable symptoms occurred on
July 18, and July 23 there was a serious relapse, attended with chills
and fever. The wound had been frequently probed but without securing any
favorable result. The induction balance was used to locate the ball, and
was regarded as a success, though subsequently its indications were
known to have been altogether erroneous. The probings, therefore, in
what was assumed to be the track of the ball, only increased the
unfavorable symptoms. During the entire month of August these reports
were alternately hopeful and discouraging, the dangerous indications
being generally on the increase. By August 25, his situation was
understood to be very critical, though an apparent improvement on the
26th and 28th again aroused hope. At his own earnest desire the
president was removed, September 6, to Elberon Park, near Long Branch.
N.J., in the hope that the cooler air of the seaside might renew his
strength more rapidly. However, the improvement hoped for did not
appear. On September 16, there was a serious relapse, with well-marked
symptoms of blood poisoning, and September 19, the president died. A
post-mortem examination showed that the ball, after fracturing one of
the ribs, had passed through the spinal column, fracturing the body of
one of the vertebra, driving a number of small fragments of bone into
the soft parts adjacent, and lodging below the pancreas, where it had
become completely encysted. The immediate cause of death was hemorrhage
from one of the small arteries in the track of the ball, but the
principal cause was the poisoning of the blood from suppuration.
COINS OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES.--The following carefully prepared summary
indicates the coins in use in the various countries, taking their
names in alphabetical order:
Argentine Republic--Gold coins: 20 peso piece, $19.94; 10 pesos,
$9.97; 5 pesos, $4.98. Silver: 1 peso, 99 cents. The copper coin of
the country is the centisimo, 100 of which make a peso or dollar.
Austria--Gold coins: 8 gulden piece, $3.86; 4 gulden, $1.93. Silver:
Marie Theresa thaler, $1.02; 2 gulden, 96 cents; 1 gulden, 48 cents;
1/4 gulden, 12 cents; 20 kreutzer, 10 cents; 10 kreutzer, 5 cents.
Of the small copper coin current, known as the kreutzer, 100 make a
gulden.
Brazil--Gold coins: 20 milrei piece, $10.91; 10 milreis, $5.45.
Silver: 2 milreis, $1.09; 1 milreis, 55 cents; 1/2 milreis, 27 cents.
The Portuguese rei is used for copper money, worth about 1/8 of a
cent.
Chili--Gold coin: 10 pesos (or 1 condor), $9.10; 5 pesos, $4.55: 2
pesos, $1.82. Silver: 1 peso, 91 cents; 50 centavos, 45 cents; 20
centavos, 18 cents; 10 centavos, 9 cents; 5 centavos, 4 cents. The
copper coin is 1 centavo, 100th of a peso.
Colombia--Gold coins: Twenty peso piece, $19.30; 10 pesos, $9.65; 5
pesos, $4.82; 2 pesos, $1.93. Silver: 1 peso, 96 cents; 20 centavos,
19 cents; 10 centavos, 10 cents; 5 centavos, 5 cents. The copper
centavo of Colombia is identical in value with our cent. (The currency
of Coloumbia is also used in Venezuela.)
Denmark--Gold coins: Twenty kroner piece, $5.36; 10 kroner, $2.68.
Silver: Two kroner, 53 cents; 1 krone, 27 cents; 50 ore, 13 cents; 40
ore, 10 cents; 25 ore, 6-1/2 cents; 10 ore, 2-1/2 cents. One hundred
of the copper ore make one krone.
France--Gold coins: One hundred franc piece, $19.30; 50 francs. $9.65;
20 francs, $3.85; 10 francs, $1.93; 5 francs, 96 cents. Silver: Five
francs, 96 cents; 2 francs, 38 cents; 1 franc, 19 cents; 50 centimes,
10 cents: 20 centimes, 4 cents. The copper coins are the sou, worth
about 9-1/2 mills, and the centime, 2 mills.
Germany--Gold coins: Twenty-mark piece, $4.76; 10 marks, $2.38; 5
marks, $1.19. Silver: Five marks, $1.19; 2 marks, 48 cents; 1 mark, 24
cents; 50 pfennige, 12 cents; 20 pfennige, 5 cents. One hundred copper
pfennige make one mark.
Great Britain--Gold coins: Pound or sovereign, $4.86; guinea, $5.12.
Silver: Five shillings or crown, $1.25; half crown, 62-1/2 cents;
shilling, 25 cents; sixpence, 12-1/2 cents. Also a three-penny piece
and a four-penny piece, but the latter is being called in, and is
nearly out of circulation. The copper coins of Great Britain are the
penny, half-penny and farthing.
India--Gold coins: Thirty rupees or double mohur, $14.58; 15 rupees or
mohur, $7.29; 10 rupees, $4.86; 5 rupees, $2.43. Silver: One rupee, 48
cents, and coins respectively of the value of one-half, one-fourth and
one-eighth rupee. In copper there is the pie, one-fourth of a cent;
the pice, 3/4 of a cent; the ana, 3 cents.
Japan--Gold coins: Twenty yen, $19.94; 10 yen, $9.97; 5 yen, $4.98; 2
yen, $1.99; 1 yen, 99 cents. Silver: The 50, 20, 10 and 5 sen pieces,
answering respectively to 50, 20, 10 and 5 cents. In copper there is
the sen, answering to 1 cent.
Mexico--Gold coins: Sixteen dollar piece, $15.74; 8 dollars, $7.87;
4 dollars, $3.93; 2 dollars, $1.96; 1 dollar, 98 cents. Silver: 1
dollar, 98 cents; 50-cent piece, 49 cents; 25 cents, 24 cents. The
Mexican cent, like our own, equals one-hundreth of a dollar.
Netherlands--Gold coins: Ten-guilder piece, $4.02; 5 guilders, $2.01.
Silver: 2-1/2 guilders, $1; 1 guilder, 40 cents; half-guilder, 20
cents; 25 cents, 10 cents; 10 cents, 4 cents; 5 cents, 2 cents. The
Dutch copper cent is one-hundreth of the guilder.
Peru--Gold coins: Twenty-sol piece, $19.30; 10 sol, $9.65; 5 sol,
$4.82; 2 sol. $1.93; 1 sol, 96 cents. Silver: 1 sol, 96 cents; 50
centesimos, 48 cents; 20, 10 and 5 centesimos, worth respectively 19,
10 and 5 cents. It will be noted that the Peruvian coinage is almost
identical with that of Colombia. It is also used in Bolivia.
Portugal--Gold coin: Crown, $10.80; half-crown, $5.40; one-fifth
crown, $2.16; one-tenth crown, $1.08. These gold pieces are also
known respectively as 10, 5, 2 and 1 dollar [Transcriber's Note: The
original text reads 'pices']v pieces. The silver coins are the 500,
200, 100 [Transcriber's Note: The original text reads 'and 5'] and
50 reis coins, worth respectively 54, 21, 11 and 5 cents. One thousand
reis are equal to one crown.
Russia--Gold coins: Imperial or 10-ruble piece, $7.72; 5 rubles,
$3.86; 3 rubles, $2.31. Silver: ruble, 77 cents; half-ruble, 38 cents;
quarter-ruble, 19 cents; 20 copecks, 15 cents; 10 copecks, 7 cents; 5
copecks, 4 cents; 100 copecks are worth 1 ruble.
Turkey--Gold coins: Lira or medjidie, $4.40; half-lira, $2.20;
quarter-lira, $1.10. The silver unit is the piastre, worth 4 cents
of our currency, and silver coins of 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 piastres are
current.
The currency of Denmark is also in use in Norway and Sweden, these
three countries forming the Scandinavian Union. Belgium, France, Greece,
Italy, Roumania, Servia, Spain and Switzerland are united in the Latin
Union, and use the French coinage. The units in the different States
are, it is true, called by different names; as in France, Belgium
and Switzerland, franc and centime; in Italy, lira and centesimo; in
Greece, drachm and lepta; in Roumania, lei and bani: in Servia, dinar
and para; in Spain, peseta and centesimo; but in all cases the value
is the same.
The similarity in the coinage of different countries is worth notice.
A very slight change in the percentage of silver used would render
the half-guilder of Austria, the krone of the Scandinavian Union, the
franc of the Latin Union, the mark of Germany, the half-guilder of
Holland, the quarter-ruble of Russia, the 200-reis piece of Portugal,
the 5-piastre piece of Turkey, the half-milreis of Brazil and the
half-rupee of India, all interchangeable with the English shilling,
and all of them about the value of the quarter-dollar of North and
South American coinage. With the exception of Brazil, the other South
American States, as well as Mexico and the Central American countries,
are all rapidly approximating a uniform coinage, which the needs of
commerce will unquestionably soon harmonize with that of the United
States. Curiously enough, the great force that is assimilating the
alien branches of the human race is not Christianity but trade.
A HISTORY OF THE PANIC OF 1857.--The cause of the panic of 1857 was
mainly the rage for land speculation which had run through the country
like an epidemic. Paper cities abounded, unproductive railroads were
opened, and to help forward these projects, irresponsible banks were
started, or good banks found themselves drawn into an excessive issue
of notes. Every one was anxious to invest in real estate and become
rich by an advance in prices. Capital was attracted into this
speculation by the prospect of large gains, and so great was the
demand for money that there was a remarkable advance in the rates of
interest. In the West, where the speculative fever was at its highest,
the common rates of interest were from 2 to 5 per cent. a month.
Everything was apparently in the most prosperous condition, real
estate going up steadily, the demand for money constant, and its
manufacture by the banks progressing successfully, when the failure
of the "Ohio Life and Trust Company," came, August 24, 1857, like
a thunderbolt from a clear sky. This was followed by the portentous
mutterings of a terrible coming storm. One by one small banks in
Illinois, Ohio, and everywhere throughout the West and South went
down. September 25-26 the banks of Philadelphia suspended payment, and
thus wrecked hundreds of banks in Pennsylvania, Maryland and adjoining
States. October 13-14, after a terrible run on them by thousands of
depositors, the banks of New York suspended payment. October 14 all
the banks of Massachusetts went down, followed by a general wreckage
of credit throughout New England. The distress which followed
these calamities was very great, tens of thousands of workmen being
unemployed for months. The New York banks resumed payment again
December 12, and were soon followed by the banks in other cities. The
darkest period of the crisis now seemed past, although there was
much heart rending suffering among the poor during the winter which
followed. The commercial reports for the year 1857 showed 5,123
commercial failures, with liabilities amounting to $291,750,000.
THE HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH ROCK.--A flat rock near the vicinity of New
Plymouth is said to have been the one on which the great, body of the
Pilgrims landed from the Mayflower. The many members of the colony,
who died in the winter of 1620-21, were buried near this rock. About
1738 it was proposed to build a wharf along the shore there. At this
time there lived in New Plymouth an old man over 90 years of ago named
Thomas Faunce, who had known some of the Mayflower's passengers when a
lad, and by them had been shown the rock on which they had landed. On
hearing that it was to be covered with a wharf the old man wept, and
it has been said that his tears probably saved Plymouth Rock from
oblivion. After the Revolution it was found that the rock was quite
hidden by the sand washed upon it by the sea. The sand was cleared
away, but in attempting to take up the rock it was split in two. The
upper half was taken to the village and placed in the town square.
In 1834 it was removed to a position in front of Pilgrim Hall and
enclosed in an iron railing. In September, 1880, this half of the
stone was taken back to the shore and reunited to the other portion.
A handsome archway was then built over the rock, to protect it in part
from the depredations of relic hunters.
GRANT'S TOUR AROUND THE WORLD.--General Grant embarked on a steamer at
the Philadelphia wharf for his tour around the world May 17, 1877. He
arrived at Queenstown, Ireland, May 27. Thence he went to Liverpool,
Manchester, and on to London. He remained in that city several weeks,
and was made the recipient of the most brilliant social honors. July
5th he went to Belgium, and thence made a tour through Germany and
Switzerland, He then visited Denmark, and August 25 returned to Great
Britain, and until October spent the time in visiting the various
cities of Scotland and England. October 24th he started for Paris,
where he remained a month, then went on to Lyons, thence to
Naples, and subsequently with several friends he made a trip on the
Mediterranean, visiting the islands of Sicily, Malta and others.
Thence going to Egypt, the pyramids and other points of note were
visited, and a journey made up the Nile as far as the first cataract.
The programme of travel next included a visit to Turkey and the Holy
Land, whence, in March, the party came back to Italy through Greece,
revisited Naples, went to Turin and back to Paris. After a few weeks
spent in the social gayeties of that city, the Netherlands was chosen
as the next locality of interest, and The Hague, Rotterdam, and
Amsterdam were visited in turn. June 26, 1878, the General and his
party arrived in Berlin. After staying there some weeks they went to
Christiana and Stockholm, then to St. Petersburg, Moscow and Warsaw,
and back over German soil to Vienna. Another trip was now made through
Switzerland, and, then returning to Paris, a start was made for a
journey through Spain and Portugal, in which Victoria, Madrid, Lisbon,
Seville and other important towns were visited. A trip was also made
from Cadiz to Gibraltar by steamer. After another brief visit to
Paris, General Grant went to Ireland, arriving at Dublin January 3,
1879; visited several points of interest in that country, then, by way
of London and Paris, went to Marseilles, whence he set sail by way of
the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal for India. He reached Bombay
February 13th. Thence visited Allahabad, Agra and rode on an elephant
to Amber; also went to Benares, Delhi. Calcutta and Rangoon, spent a
week in Siam, then went by steamer to China. After spending some time
at Canton, Pekin and other places he went to Japan for a brief visit.
He went to Nagasaki, Tokio and Yokahama, and at last, September
3, 1879, set sail from Tokio on his return to the United States.
September 20th he arrived in the harbor of San Francisco. After some
weeks spent in visiting the points of interest in California and
Oregon he returned to his home in the Eastern States.
HISTORY OF VASSAR COLLEGE.--- Vassar College is on the east bank of the
Hudson, near Poughkeepsie, N.Y. It was founded in 1861. In that year
Matthew Vassar, a wealthy brewer of Poughkeepsie, gave to an
incorporated board of trustees the sum of $108,000 and 200 acres of land
for the endowment of a college for women. The building was constructed
from plans approved by him, at a cost of about $200,000. The college was
opened in September, 1865, with eight professors and twenty other
instructors, and 300 students. The first president of the college was
Professor Milo P. Jewett; the second Dr. John H. Raymond; the third the
Rev. Samuel Caldwell. The college has a fine library, with scientific
apparatus and a museum of natural history specimens.
THE ORIGINS OF CHESS.--So ancient is chess, the most purely
intellectual of games, that its origin is wrapped in mystery. The
Hindoos say that it wad the invention of an astronomer, who lived more
than 5,000 years ago, and was possessed of supernatural knowledge
and acuteness. Greek historians assert that the game was invented by
Palamedes to beguile the tedium of the siege of Troy. The Arab legend
is that it was devised for the instruction of a young despot, by his
father, a learned Brahman, to teach the youth that a king, no
matter how powerful, was dependent upon his subjects for safety. The
probability is that the game was the invention of some military genius
for the purpose of illustrating the art of war. There is no doubt,
that it originated in India, for a game called by the Sanskrit name of
Cheturanga--which in most essential points strongly resembles modern
chess, and was unquestionably the parent of the latter game--is
mentioned in Oriental literature as in use fully 2,000 years before
the Christian area. In its gradual diffusion over the world the game
has undergone many modifications and changes, but marked resemblances
to the early Indian game are still to be found in it. From India,
chess spread into Persia, and thence into Arabia, and the Arabs took
it to Spain and the rest of Western Europe.
THE DARK AGES.--The Dark Ages is a name often applied by historians to
the Middle Ages, a term comprising about 1,000 years, from the fall of
the Roman Empire in the fifth century to the invention of printing in
the fifteenth. The period is called "dark" because of the generally
depraved state of European society at this time, the subservience of
men's minds to priestly domination, and the general indifference
to learning. The admirable civilization that Rome had developed and
fostered, was swept out of existence by the barbarous invaders from
Northern Europe, and there is no doubt that the first half of the
medieval era, at least, from the year 500 to 1000, was one of the most
brutal and ruffianly epochs in history. The principal characteristic
of the middle ages were the feudal system and the papal power. By
the first the common people were ground into a condition of almost
hopeless slavery, by the second the evolution of just and equitable
governments by the ruling clashes was rendered impossible through the
intrusion of the pontifical authority into civil affairs. Learning
did not wholly perish, but it betook itself to the seclusion of the
cloisters. The monasteries were the resort of many earnest scholars,
and there were prepared the writings of historians, metaphysicians and
theologians. But during this time man lived, as the historian Symonds
says, "enveloped in a cowl." The study of nature was not only ignored
but barred, save only as it ministered in the forms of alchemy and
astrology to the one cardinal medieval virtue--- credulity. Still the
period saw many great characters and events fraught with the greatest
importance to the advancement of the race.
THE GREATEST DEPTH OF THE OCEAN NEVER MEASURED.--The deepest verified
soundings are those made in the Atlantic Ocean, ninety miles off the
island of St. Thomas, in the West Indies, 3,875 fathoms, or 23,250
feet Deeper water has been reported south of the Grand Bank of
Newfoundland, over 27,000 feet in depth, but additional soundings in
that locality did not corroborate this. Some years ago, it was claimed
that very deep soundings, from 45,000 to 48,000 feet, had been
found off the coast of South America, but this report was altogether
discredited on additional investigation in these localities. The ship
Challenger, which in 1872-74 made a voyage round the globe for the
express purpose of taking deep sea soundings in all the oceans,
found the greatest depth touched in the Pacific Ocean less than 3,000
fathoms, and the lowest in the Atlantic 3,875 fathoms, as given above.
THE ARMY OF THE REVOLUTION.--It is not positively known how many men
from the colonies served in the war. The official tabular statement
indicates a total off recorded years of enlistment and not a total of
the the men who served. Hence, a man who served from April 19, 1775,
until the formal cessation of hostilities, April 19, 1783 counted
as eight men in the aggregate. In this basis of enlisted years, the
following table gives the contribution various States: New Hampshire,
12,497; Massachusetts, 69,907; Rhode Island, 5,908; Connecticut,
31,939; New York, 17,781; New Jersey, 10,726; Pennsylvania, 25,678;
Delaware, 2,386; Maryland, 13,912; Virginia, 26,678; North Carolina,
7,263; South Carolina, 6,417; Georgia, 2,679; Total, 233,771.
THE WORLD'S DECISIVE BATTLES.--The fifteen decisive battles of the
world from the fifth century before Christ to the beginning of the
nineteenth century of the present era, are as follows:
The battle of Marathon, in which the Persian hosts were defeated by
the Greeks under Miltiades, B.C. 490.
The defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse, B.C. 413.
The battle of Arhela, in which the Persians under Darius were defeated
by the invading Greeks under Alexander the Great, B.C. 331.
The battle of the Metanrus, in which the Carthaginian forces under
Hasdrubal were overthrown by the Romans, B.C. 207. Victory of the
German tribes under Arminins over the Roman legions under Varus,
A.D. 9. (The battle was fought in what is now the province of Lippe,
Germany, near the source of the river Ems.)
Battle of Chalons, where Attila the terrible King of the Huns, was
repulsed by the Romans under Aetius, A.D. 451
Battle of Tours, in which the Saracen Turks invading Western Europe
were utterly overthrown by the Franks under Charles Martel, A.D. 732.
Battle of Hastings, by which William the Conqueror became the ruler of
England, Oct. 14, 1066.
Victory of the French under Joan of Arc over the English at Orleans,
April 29, 1429.
Defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English naval force, July 29 and
30, 1588.
Battle of Blenheim, in which the French and Bavarians were defeated
by the allied armies of Great Britain and Holland under the Duke of
Marlborough, Aug. 2, 1704.
Battle of Pultowa, the Swedish army under Charles XII, defeated by the
Russians under Peter the Great, July 8, 1709. Victory of the American
army under General Gates over the British under General Burgoyne at
Saratoga, Oct. 17, 1777.
Battle of Valmy where the allied armies of Prussia and Austria were
defeated by the French under Marshal Kellerman. Sept. 20, 1792.
Battle of Waterloo, the allied forces of the British and Prussians
defeated the French under Napoleon, the final overthrow of the great
commander, June 18, 1815.
These battles are selected as decisive, because of the important
consequences that followed them. Few students of history, probably,
would agree with Prof. Creasy, in restricting the list as he does.
Many other conflicts might be noted, fraught with great importance to
the human race, and unquestionably "decisive" in their nature; as,
for instance, the victory of Sobieski over the Turkish army at Vienna,
Sept. 12, 1683. Had the Poles and Austrians been defeated there, the
Turkish general might readily have fulfilled his threat "to stable his
horses in the Church of St. Peter's at Rome," and all Western Europe
would, no doubt, have been devastated by the ruthless and bloodthirsty
Ottomans. Of important and decisive battles since that of Waterloo
we may mention in our own Civil War those of Gettysburg, by which the
invasion of the North was checked, and at Chattanooga, Nov. 23 and 25,
1863, by which the power of the Confederates in the southwest received
a deadly blow.
THE WANDERING JEW.--There are various versions of the story of "The
Wandering Jew," the legends of whom have formed the foundation of
numerous romances, poems and tragedies. One version is that this
person was a servant in the house of Pilate, and gave the Master a
blow as He was being dragged out of the palace to go to His death.
A popular tradition makes the wanderer a member of the tribe of
Naphtali, who, some seven or eight years previous to the birth of the
Christ-child left his father to go with the wise men of the East whom
the star led to the lowly cot in Bethlehem. It runs, also, that the
cause of the killing of the children can be traced to the stories this
person related when he returned to Jerusalem of the visit of the wise
men, and the presentation of the gifts they brought to the Divine
Infant, when He was acknowledged by them to be the king of the Jews,
He was lost sight of for a time, when he appeared as a carpenter who
was employed in making the cross on which the Saviour was to be lifted
up into the eyes of all men. As Christ walked up the way to Calvary,
He had to pass the workshop of this man, and when He reached its
door, the soldiers, touched by the sufferings of the Man of Sorrows,
besought the carpenter to allow Him to rest there for a little, but
he refused, adding insult to a want of charity. Then it is said that
Christ pronounced his doom, which was to wander over the earth until
the second coming. Since that sentence was uttered, he has wandered,
courting death, but finding it not, and his punishment, becoming more
unbearable as the generations come and go. He is said to have appeared
in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and even as recently as the eighteenth
century, under the names of Cartaphilus, and Ahasuerus, by which the
Wandering Jew has been known. One of the legends described him as a
shoemaker of Jerusalem, at whose door Christ desired to rest on the
road to Calvary, but the man refused, and the sentence to wander was
pronounced.
SOME MEMORABLE DARK DAYS.--During the last hundred years there have
been an unusually large number of dark days recorded. As has been
suggested by several writers, this may have been the result of the
careful scientific observations of modern times, as well as of the
frequency of these phenomena. The dark day in the beginning of this
century about which so much has been said and written occurred Oct.
21, 1816. The first day of the same month and year is also represented
as "a close dark day." Mr. Thomas Robie, who took observations at
Cambridge, Mass., has this to offer in regard to the phenomenon. "On
Oct. 21 the day was so dark that people were forced to light candles
to eat their dinners by; which could not he from an eclipse, the solar
eclipse being the fourth of that month." The day is referred to by
another writer as "a remarkable dark day in New England and New York,"
and it is noted, quaintly by a third, that "in October, 1816, a dark
day occurred after a severe winter in New England." Nov. 26, 1816,
was a dark day in London, and is described "in the neighborhood of
Walworth and Camberwell so completely dark that some of the coachmen
driving stages were obliged to get down and lead their horses with
a lantern." The famous dark day in America was May 19, 1780. The
phenomenon began about 10 o'clock in the forenoon. The darkness
increased rapidly, and "in many places it was impossible to read
ordinary print." There was widespread fear. Many thought that the Day
of Judgment was at hand. At that time the Legislature of Connecticut
was in session at Hartford. The House of Representatives, being unable
to transact their business, adjourned. A proposal to adjourn the
council was under consideration. When the opinion of Colonel Davenport
was asked, he answered: "I am against an adjournment. The day of
judgment is approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause
for adjournment: if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish,
therefore, that candles may be brought." In Whittier's "Tent on the
Beach" is given a beautiful poetical version of this anecdote. It is
suggested by several authorities that the cause of the dark day in
1780 should be attributed simply to the presence of ordinary clouds
of very unusual volume and density. These instances are, of course,
grouped with phenomena of which not a great deal is known, and can in
no way be classed with those occurrances occasioned by the smoke from
extensive forest tires, volcanic eruptions, or fogs.
THE REMARKABLE STORY OF CHARLIE ROSS.--Charlie Ross was the son of
Christian K. Ross of Germantown, Pa., and at the time of his
disappearance was a little over 4 years of age. The child and a brother
6 years old were playing July 1, 1874, in the streets of Germantown,
when a couple of men drove up in a buggy and persuaded the children,
with promises of toys and candies, to get in and ride with them in the
vehicle. After driving around the place for a little time, the older
brother, Walter Ross, was put out of the conveyance, and the strangers
gave him 25 cents, telling him to go to a store near at hand and buy
some candy and torpedoes for himself and Charlie. Walter did as he was
told, but when he came out of the store the men with Charlie and the
vehicle had disappeared. It was believed at first by the relatives and
friends of the missing boy that he would be returned in a short time, as
they supposed he might have been taken by some drunken men. Time passed,
however, but no trace of the child had been discovered. In a few weeks a
letter was received by Mr. Ross to the effect that if he would pay
$20,000 his son would be returned, but, that the parent need not search
for Charlie, as all efforts to find the abducted boy or his captors
would only be attended with failure; and it was stated that if this
amount was not paid, Charlie would be killed. The father answered this
and a long correspondence ensued, while the search was prosecuted in all
directions. Mr. Ross wanted the child delivered at the time the money
was paid, but to this the abductors refused to agree. It is stated that
more than $50,000 were expended to recover the child. At one time two
gentlemen were two days in Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York, with the
$20,000 ransom money to be given to the child-thieves, but they did not
appear. The search was continued, and the officers of the law were
looking up any and all evidence, until they had located the two men.
These were found Dec. 4, 1874, committing a burglary in the house of
Judge Van Brunt, Bay Ridge, L. I.; the burglary was discovered, the
burglars seen and shot by persons residing in an adjoining residence.
One of the men was killed instantly, the other lived several hours, and
confessed that he and his companion had abducted Charlie Ross, but that
the dead thief, Mosher by name, was the one who knew where the boy was
secreted. Walter Ross identified the burglars as the men who had enticed
him and Charlie into the buggy. There the case rested. No new fact has
been developed. The missing child has never been found. Many times have
children been reported who resembled Charlie, and Mr. Ross has traveled
far and near in his endless search, only to return sadly and report that
his boy was still missing. No case in recent years has excited such
universal sympathy as that of Charlie Ross.
THE BLUE LAWS ON SMOKING.--There were some very stringent laws in
Massachusetts against the use of tobacco in public, and while the
penalties were not so heavy, yet they were apparently rigidly enforced
for a time. We quote from a law passed in October, 1632, as follows:
"It is ordered that noe person shall take any tobacco publiquely,
under paine of punishment; also that every one shall pay 1_d._ for every
time hee is convicted of takeing tobacco in any place, and that any
Assistant shall have power to receave evidence and give order
for levyeing of it, as also to give order for the levyeing of the
officer's charge. This order to begin the 10th of November next."
In September, 1634, we discover another law on the same article:
"Victualers, or keepers of an Ordinary, shall not suffer any tobacco
to be taken in their howses, under the penalty of 5_s._ for every
offence, to be payde by the victuler, and 12_d._ by the party that
takes it. Further, it is ordered, that noe person shall take tobacco
publiquely, under the penalty of 2_s._ 6_d._, nor privately, in his owne
house, or in the howse of another, before strangers, and that two
or more shall not take it togeather, anywhere, under the aforesaid
penalty for every offence." In November, 1637, the record runs: "All
former laws against tobacco are repealed, and tobacco is sett at
liberty;" but in September, 1638, "the [General] Court, finding that
since the repealing of the former laws against tobacco, the same is
more abused then before, it hath therefore ordered, that no man shall
take any tobacco in the fields, except in his journey, or at meale
times, under paine of 12_d._ for every offence; nor shall take any
tobacco in (or so near) any dwelling house, barne, corne or hay rick,
as may likely indanger the fireing thereof, upon paine of 10s. for
every offence; nor shall take any tobacco in any inne or common
victualing house, except in a private roome there, so as neither the
master of the same house nor any other guests there shall take offence
thereat, which if they do, then such person is fourthwith to forbeare,
upon paine of 12_s._ 6_d._ for every offence. Noe man shall kindle fyre by
gunpowder, for takeing tobacco, except in his journey, upon paine of
12_d._ for every offence."
THE REMARKABLE CAVES--WYANDOTTE AND MAMMOTH.--Wyandotte Cave is in
Jennings township, Crawford county, Ind., near the Ohio river. It is
a rival of the great Mammoth Cave in grandeur and extent. Explorations
have been made for many miles. It excels the Mammoth Cave in the
number and variety of its stalagmites and stalactites, and in the
size of several of its chambers. One of these chambers is 350 feet
in length, 245 feet in height, and contains a hill 175 feet high, on
which are three fine stalagmites. Epsom salts, niter and alum have
been obtained from the earth of the cave. The Mammoth Cave is in
Edmondson county, near Green River, about seventy-five miles from
Louisville. Its entrance is reached by passing down a wild, rocky
ravine through a dense forest. The cave extends some nine miles. To
visit the portions already traversed, it is said, requires 150 to 200
miles of travel. The cave contains a succession of wonderful avenues,
chambers, domes, abysses, grottoes, lakes, rivers, cataracts and other
marvels, which are too well known to need more than a reference. One
chamber--the Star--is about 500 feet long, 70 feet wide, 70 feet high,
the ceiling of which is composed of black gypsum, and is studded with
innumerable white points, that by a dim light resemble stars, hence
the name of the chamber. There are avenues one and a half and even
two miles in length, some of which are incrusted with beautiful
formations, and present the appearance of enchanted palace halls.
There is a natural tunnel about three-quarters of a mile long, 100
feet wide, covered with a ceiling of smooth rock 45 feet high. There
is a chamber having an area of from four to five acres, and there are
domes 200 and 300 feet high. Echo River is some three-fourths of a
mile in length, 200 feet in width at some points, and from 10 to 30 in
depth, and runs beneath an arched ceiling of smooth rock about 15 feet
high, while the Styx, another river, is 450 feet long, from 15 to 40
feet wide, and from 30 to 40 feet deep, and is spanned by a natural
bridge. Lake Lethe has about the same length and width as the river
Styx, varies in depth from 3 to 40 feet, lies beneath a ceiling some
90 feet above its surface, and sometimes rises to a height of 60 feet.
There is also a Dead Sea, quite a somber body of water. There are
several interesting caves in the neighborhood, one three miles long
and three each about a mile in length.
THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE.--The "South Sea Bubble," as it is generally
called, was a financial scheme which occupied the attention of
prominent politicians, communities, and even nations in the early
part of the eighteenth century. Briefly the facts are: In 1711 Robert
Hartley, Earl of Oxford, then Lord Treasurer, proposed to fund a
floating debt of about £10,000,000 sterling, the interest, about
$600,000, to be secured by rendering permanent the duties upon wines,
tobacco, wrought silks, etc. Purchasers of this fund were to become
also shareholders in the "South Sea Company," a corporation to have
the monopoly of the trade with Spanish South America, a part of the
capital stock of which was to be the new fund. But Spain, after the
treaty of Utrecht, refused to open her commerce to England, and the
privileges of the "South Sea Company" became worthless. There were
many men of wealth who were stockholders, and the company continued
to flourish, while the ill success of its trading operations was
concealed. Even the Spanish War of 1718 did not shake the popular
confidence. Then in April, 1720, Parliament, by large majorities in
both Houses, accepted the company's plan for paying the national debt,
and after that a frenzy of speculation seized the nation, and the
stock rose to £300 a share, and by August had reached £1,000 a share.
Then Sir John Blunt, one of the leaders, sold out, others followed,
and the stock began to fall. By the close of September the company
stopped payment and thousands were beggared. An investigation ordered
by Parliament disclosed much fraud and corruption, and many prominent
persons were implicated, some of the directors were imprisoned, and
all of them were fined to an aggregate amount of £2,000,000 for the
benefit of the stockholders. A great part of the valid assets was
distributed among them, yielding a dividend of about 33 per cent.
AREA OF NORTH AMERICA.--The following figures show the extent of
the United States as compared with the British possessions in
North America: United States, 3,602,884 square miles. British
possessions--Ontario, 121,260; Quebec, 210,020; Nova Scotia, 18,670;
New Brunswick, 27,037; British Columbia, 233,000; Manitoba, 16,000;
N.W. and Hudson Bay Territories, 2,206,725; Labrador and Arctic Ocean
Islands, make a total of 3,500,000.
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[Illustration: HOUSEHOLD RECIPES]