[1] For Seba, see SABAEANS, and cf. generally the commentaries on
Gen. x. 7. In Hab. iii. 7 Cushan (obviously a related form) is
parallel to Midian.
CUSHING, CALEB (1800-1879), American political leader and lawyer, was
born in Salisbury, Massachusetts, on the 17th of January 1800. He
graduated at Harvard in 1817, was tutor in mathematics there in
1820-1821, was admitted to practice in the court of common pleas in
December 1821, and began the practice of law in Newburyport, Mass., in
1824. After serving, as a Democratic-Republican, in the state house of
representatives in 1825, in the state senate in 1826, and in the house
again in 1828, he spent two years, from 1829 to 1831, in Europe, again
served in the state house of representatives in 1833 and 1834, and in
the latter year was elected by the Whigs a representative in Congress.
He served in this body from 1835 until 1843, and here the marked
inconsistency which characterized his public life became manifest; for
when John Tyler had become president, had been "read out" of the Whig
party, and had vetoed Whig measures (including a tariff bill), for which
Cushing had voted, Cushing first defended the vetoes and then voted
again for the bills. In 1843 President Tyler nominated him for secretary
of the treasury, but the senate refused to confirm him for this office.
He was, however, appointed later in the same year commissioner of the
United States to China, holding this position until 1845, and in 1844
negotiating the first treaty between China and the United States. In
1847, while again a representative in the state legislature, he
introduced a bill appropriating money for the equipment of a regiment to
serve in the Mexican War; although the bill was defeated, he raised the
necessary funds privately, and served in Mexico first as colonel and
afterwards as brigadier-general of volunteers. In 1847 and again in 1848
the Democrats nominated him for governor of Massachusetts, but on each
occasion he was defeated at the polls. He was again a representative in
the state legislature in 1851, became an associate justice of the
supreme court of Massachusetts in 1852, and during the administration
(1853-1857) of President Pierce, was attorney-general of the United
States. In 1858, 1859, 1862 and 1863 he again served in the state house
of representatives. In 1860 he presided over the National Democratic
Convention which met first at Charleston and later at Baltimore, until
he joined those who seceded from the regular convention; he then
presided also over the convention of the seceding delegates, who
nominated John C. Breckinridge for the presidency. During the Civil War,
however, he supported the National Administration. At the Geneva
conference for the settlement of the "Alabama" claims in 1871-1872 he
was one of the counsel for the United States. In 1873 President Grant
nominated him for chief justice of the United States, but in spite of
his great learning and eminence at the bar, his ante-war record and the
feeling of distrust experienced by many members of the senate on account
of his inconsistency, aroused such vigorous opposition that his
nomination was soon withdrawn. From 1874 to 1877 Cushing was United
States minister to Spain. He died at Newburyport, Mass., on the 2nd of
January 1879. He published _History and Present State of the Town of
Newburyport, Mass._ (1826); _Review of the late Revolution in France_
(1833); _Reminiscences of Spain_ (1833); _Oration on the Growth and
Territorial Progress of the United States_ (1839); _Life and Public
Services of William H. Harrison_ (1840); and _The Treaty of Washington_
(1873).
CUSHING, WILLIAM BARKER (1842-1874), American naval officer, was born in
Delafield, Wisconsin, on the 4th of November 1842. He entered the Naval
Academy from New York in 1857, but resigned in March 1861. When,
however, the Civil War began, he volunteered into the navy, was rated
acting master's mate, and became a midshipman in October 1861, and a
lieutenant in July 1862, serving in the North Atlantic blockading
squadron. The work of blockade, and of harassing the Confederates on the
coast and the rivers of the Atlantic seaboard, called for much service
in boats, and entailed a great deal of exposure. Cushing was
distinguished by his readiness to volunteer, his indefatigability, and
by his good fortune, the reward of vigilance and intelligence. The feat
by which he will be remembered was the destruction of the Confederate
ironclad "Albemarle" in the Roanoke river on the 27th of October in
1864. The vessel had done much damage to the Federal naval forces, and
her destruction was greatly desired. She was at anchor surrounded by
baulks of timber, and a cordon of boats had been stationed to row guard
against an expected Federal attack. Lieutenant Cushing undertook the
attack on her with a steam launch carrying a spar-torpedo and towing an
armed cutter. He eluded the Confederate lookout and reached the
"Albemarle" unseen. When close to he was detected, but he had time to
drive the steam launch over the baulks and to explode the torpedo
against the "Albemarle" with such success that a hole was made in her
and she sank. Cushing's own launch was destroyed. He and the few men
with him were compelled to take to the water; one was killed, another
was drowned, Cushing and one other escaped, and the rest were captured.
Cushing himself swam to the swamps on the river bank, and after wading
among them for hours reached a Federal picket boat. For destroying the
"Albemarle" he was thanked by Congress and was promoted to be
lieutenant-commander. On the 15th of January 1865 he took a conspicuous
part in the land attack on the sea-front wall of Fort Fisher. After the
war he commanded the "Lancaster" (1866-1867) and the "Maumee"
(1868-1869) in the Asiatic Squadron. In 1872 he was promoted commander
at what was an exceptionally early age, but he died on the 17th of
December 1874 of brain fever. He had suffered extreme pain for years
before his death, and in fact broke down altogether under disease
contracted in the discharge of his duty.
CUSHION (from O. Fr. _coisson_, _coussin_; according to the _New English
Dict._, from Lat. _coxa_, a hip; others say from Lat. _culcita_, a
quilt), a soft bag of some ornamental material, stuffed with wool, hair,
feathers, or even paper torn into fragments. It may be used for sitting
or kneeling upon, or to soften the hardness or angularity of a chair or
couch. It is a very ancient article of furniture, the inventories of the
contents of palaces and great houses in the early middle ages constantly
making mention of it. It was then often of great size, covered with
leather, and firm enough to serve as a seat, but the steady tendency of
all furniture has been to grow smaller. It was, indeed, used as a seat,
at all events in France and Spain, at a very much later period, and in
Saint-Simon's time we find that at the Spanish court it was still
regarded as a peculiarly honourable substitute for a chair. In France
the right to kneel upon a cushion in church behind the king was
jealously guarded and strictly regulated, as we may learn again from
Saint-Simon. This type of cushion was called a _carreau_ or square.
When seats were rude and hard the cushion may have been a necessity; it
is now one of the minor luxuries of life.
The term "cushion" is given in architecture to the sides of the Ionic
capital. It is also applied to an early and simple form of the
Romanesque capitals of Germany and England, which consist of cubical
masses, square at the top and rounded off at the four corners, so as to
reduce the lower diameter to a circle of the same size as the shaft.
CUSHMAN, CHARLOTTE SAUNDERS (1816-1876), American actress, was born in
Boston, Massachusetts, on the 23rd of July 1816. Her father, a West
India merchant, left his family in straitened circumstances, and
Charlotte, who had a fine contralto voice, went on the operatic stage.
In 1835 she successfully appeared at the Tremont theatre as the countess
Almaviva in _The Marriage of Figaro_. But her singing voice failing her
she entered the drama, and played Lady Macbeth in the same year. She
then engaged herself as a stock actress, but was soon given leading
parts. In 1842 she managed and played in the Walnut Street theatre in
Philadelphia. She accompanied Macready on an American tour, winning a
great reputation in tragedy, and in 1845 and in 1854-1855 she fulfilled
successful engagements in London. She was a keen student, and acquired a
large range of classic roles. Her best parts were perhaps Lady Macbeth
and Queen Katherine, her most popular Meg Merrilies, in a dramatization
of Scott's _Guy Mannering_. Her figure was commanding and her face
expressive, and she was animated by a temperament full of vigour and
fire. These qualities enabled her to play with success such male parts
as Romeo and Cardinal Wolsey. During her later years Miss Cushman worked
hard as a dramatic reader, in which capacity she was much appreciated.
Her last appearance on the stage took place on the 15th of May 1875, at
the Globe theatre, Boston, in which city she died on the 18th of
February 1876.
See Emma Stebbins's _Charlotte Cushman, her Letters and Memories of
her Life_ (Boston, 1878); H. A. Clapp's _Reminiscences of a Dramatic
Critic_ (Boston, 1902); and W. T. Price, _A Life of Charlotte Cushman_
(New York, 1894).
CUSP (Lat. _cuspis_, a spear, point), a projecting point, or pointed
end. In architecture (Fr. _feuille_, Ital. _cuspide_, Ger. _Knopfe_), a
cusp is the point where the foliations of tracery intersect. The
earliest example of a plain cusp is probably that at Pythagoras school,
at Cambridge,--of an ornamented cusp at Ely cathedral, where a small
roll, with a rosette at the end, is formed at the termination of a cusp.
In the later styles the terminations of the cusps were more richly
decorated; they also sometimes terminate not only in leaves or foliages,
but in rosettes, heads and other fanciful ornaments. The term
"feathering" is used of the junction of the foliated cusps in window
tracery, but is usually restricted to those cases where it is ornamented
with foliage, &c.
CUSTARD[1] APPLE, a name applied to the fruit of various species of the
genus _Anona_, natural order _Anonaceae_. The members of this genus are
shrubs or small trees having alternate, exstipulate leaves, and flowers
with three small sepals, six petals arranged in a double row and
numerous stamens. The fruit of _A. reticulata_, the common custard
apple, or "bullock's heart" of the West Indies, is dark brown in colour,
and marked with depressions, which give it a quilted appearance; its
pulp is reddish-yellow, sweetish and very soft (whence the name); the
kernels of the seeds are said to be poisonous. The sour-sop is the fruit
of _A. muricata_, native of the West Indies. The plant, which is a small
tree, has become naturalized in some parts of India where it is
extensively cultivated, as elsewhere in the tropics. It is covered with
soft prickles, is of a light-greenish hue, and has a peculiar but
agreeable sour taste, and a scent resembling that of black currants. The
sweet-sop is produced by _A. squamosa_, also a native of the West Indies
and widely cultivated in the tropics. It is known as the custard apple
by Europeans in India. It is an egg-shaped fruit, with a thick rind and
luscious pulp. An acrid principle, fatal to insects, is contained in its
seeds, leaves and unripe fruits, which, powdered and mixed with the
flour of gram (_Cicer arietinum_), are used to destroy vermin. _A.
Cherimolia_ yield the Peruvian cherimoyer, which is held to be a fruit
of very superior flavour, and is much esteemed by the creoles. _A.
palustris_, alligator apple, or cork-wood, a native of South America and
the West Indies, is valued for its wood, which serves the same purposes
as cork; the fruit, commonly known as the alligator-apple, is not eaten,
being reputed to contain a dangerous narcotic principle.