_First Marriage in the American Colonies_
In 1609, at Jamestown, Virginia, the first Christian marriage ceremony
was performed, according to English rites, when Anne Burras became Mrs.
John Leyden. This was eleven years before Mary Chilton—as Mr. Winthrop
relates—was the first person to set foot on Plymouth Rock.
_First Blood of the Revolution_
The “First Blood of the Revolution” has been commonly supposed to have
been shed at Lexington, April 19, 1775, but Westminster, Vermont, files
a prior claim in favor of one William French, who, it is asserted, was
killed on the night of March 13, 1775, at the king’s court-house, in
what is now Westminster. At that time Vermont was a part of New York,
and the king’s court officers, together with a body of troops, were sent
on to Westminster to hold the usual session of the court. The people,
however, were exasperated, and assembled in the court-house to resist. A
little before midnight the troops of George III. advanced and fired
indiscriminately upon the crowd, instantly killing William French, whose
head was pierced by a musket ball. He was buried in the church-yard, and
a stone was erected to his memory, with this quaint inscription:
“In Memory of William French Who Was Shot at Westminster March ye 12th,
1775, by the hand of the Cruel Ministeral tools of Georg ye 3rd at the
Courthouse at a 11 o’clock at Night in the 22d year of his age.”
_The Oldest Buildings in America_
An adobe structure is pointed out in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which is said
to have sheltered Coronado in 1540.
The United States barracks at St. Augustine, Florida, are composed in
part of an ancient Franciscan monastery, under the name of the Convent
of St. Francis, which was completed in the latter part of the sixteenth
century.
_First Duel Fought in New England_
The following account of the first duel in New England, and probably in
this country, which occurred at Plymouth, June 18, 1621, is here given
_verbatim et literatim_:
“The Second offence is the first Duel fought in New England, upon a
Challenge at Single Combat with Sword and Dagger between Edward Dotey
and Edward Leister, Servants of Mr. Hopkins: Both being wounded, the one
in the Hand, the other in the Thigh; they are adjudg’d by the whole
Company to have their Head and Feet tied together, and for to lie for 24
Hours, without Meat or Drink; which is begun to be inflicted, but within
an Hour, because of their great Pains, at their own and their Master’s
humble request, upon Promise of better Carriage, they are Released by
the Governor.”
_First Person Cremated in America_
The first person cremated in the United States, according to wishes and
desires expressed by himself, was Colonel Henry Laurens, one of the
Revolutionary patriots. He was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in
the year, 1724, and died on his plantation near that place on December
8, 1792. His will, which he had requested to be opened and read the next
day after his death, was supplemented with the following:
“I solemnly enjoin it upon my son, as an indispensable duty, that, as
soon as he conveniently can after my decease, he cause my body to be
wrapped in twelve yards of tow cloth, and burned until it be entirely
consumed.”
The request was carried out to the letter, and was the beginning of
cremation in America.
_Old-Time Journalism_
Curious reading at the present day is the editorial in the first issue
of _The Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences and Pennsylvania
Gazette_, published by Keimer, in 1729:
“We have little News of Consequence at present, the English _Prints_
being generally stufft with Robberies, Cheats, Fires, Murders,
Bankrupcies, Promotion of some, and Hanging of others; nor can we expect
much better till Vessels arrive in the Spring when we hope to inform our
Readers what has been doing in the Court and Cabinet, in the
Parliament-House as well as the Sessions-House, so that we wish, in our
_American_ World, it may be said, as Dr. _Wild_ wittily express’d it of
the _European_, viz.,
‘_We all are seiz’d with the_ Athenian Itch
News _and_ New Things _do the whole world bewitch_.’
“In the mean Time we hope our Readers will be Content for the present,
with what we can give ’em, which if it does ’em no Good, shall do ’em no
Hurt. ’Tis the best we have, and so take it.”
_The First American Book_
The first book printed in the Anglo-American colonies was the Bay Psalm
Book. It was printed at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1640. It is a thin
volume, about the size of an ordinary 12mo of the present day. So rare
is it that the compiler of a catalogue of scarce books remarks in a note
that any comments on its importance “would be sheer impertinence.” The
acquisition of a copy must always be “the crowning triumph to which
every American collector aspires.” Another copy of the same work,
printed several years later, supposed to be the second edition, and the
only known copy of that date, went for $435.
_The Pioneer Furrier_
In a New York paper printed on the 10th of January, 1789, may be found
the first piano-forte advertisement ever published in that city. It
reads:
“John Jacob Astor, at No. 81 Queen st., next door but one to the
Friends’ Meeting House, has for sale an assortment of Piano Fortes of
the newest construction, made by the best makers in London, which he
will sell on reasonable terms. He gives cash for all kinds of Furs, and
has for sale a quantity of Canada Beaver, and Beaver Coating, Raccoon
Skins, and Raccoon Blankets, Muskrat Skins, etc., etc.”
_College Papers_
The first college paper, says the _Harvard Crimson_, was not established
by the oldest university, but by one of her younger sisters, Dartmouth.
There appeared in 1800 at that institution a paper called the _Gazette_,
which is chiefly famous for the reason that among its contributors was
Dartmouth’s most distinguished son, Daniel Webster. A few years later
Yale followed with the _Literary Cabinet_, which, however, did not live
to celebrate its birthday. It was not until 1810 that Harvard made her
first venture in journalism, and then Edward Everett, with seven
associates, issued the _Harvard Lyceum_.
_Damnatus_
A St. Louis newspaper, relieved to find that it can say “tinker’s dam”
without being guilty of profanity, shows its gratitude by proving the
same innocence for the “continental dam.” At the close of the
Revolutionary War, it says, the government called in all the continental
money. With it were found a large number of counterfeits, on each of
which, as received, was stamped the word “Dam,” a contraction of the
Latin _damnatus_ (condemned). Hence the force of the expression, “not
worth a continental dam,” for if a genuine continental note was worth
but little, a continental “dam,” or counterfeit note, must have been
utterly worthless.
_A Virginia Abolitionist_
Richard Randolph, brother of John Randolph, of Roanoke, died in 1790,
leaving a will by which he left four hundred acres to his slaves, whom
he freed. The will gave the reason for his act as follows:
“In the first place, to make restitution, as far as I am able to an
unfortunate race of bondmen, over whom my ancestors have usurped and
exercised the most lawless and monstrous tyranny, and in whom my
countrymen by their iniquitous laws, in contradiction of rights, and in
violation of every sacred law of Nature, of the inherent, inalienable,
and imprescriptible rights of man, and of every principle of moral and
political honesty, have vested me with absolute property. To express my
abhorrence of theory, as well as infamous practice, of usurping the
rights of our fellow-creatures, equally entitled with ourselves to the
enjoyment of liberty and happiness. For the aforesaid purposes, and with
an indignation too great for utterance at the tyrants of earth, from the
throned despot of a whole nation to the more despicable, but not less
petty tormentor of a single wretched slave whose torture constitutes his
wealth and enjoyment, I do hereby declare that it is my will and desire,
nay, most anxious wish, that my negroes, all of them, be liberated,”
etc., etc.
_Suspension Bridge_
The first American suspension bridge was erected in 1801, by James
Finley, across Jacob’s Creek, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. It had
a span of seventy feet, and cost six thousand dollars. In 1809 a
suspension bridge was built over the Merrimac River. It had a span of
two hundred and forty-four feet, and cost twenty thousand dollars.
_Millions for Defence_
On one occasion in Charleston, South Carolina, Thomas S. Grimke,
addressing himself to General C. Cotesworth Pinckney, asked permission
to put a question to him. The old General replied, “Certainly, sir.”
“General,” said Grimke, “we would like to know if the French Directory
ever actually proposed anything like tribute from the United States to
you, when Minister?”
“They did, sir,” he answered; “the question was, What will the United
States pay for certain political purposes, etc.?”
“What was your answer, General?” asked Grimke.
“Not a sixpence, sir,” answered General Pinckney.
“Did you say nothing else, General?”
“Not a word, sir.”
“Was there nothing about millions for defence, but not a cent for
tribute?”
General Pinckney: “I never used any such expression, sir. Mr. Robert
Goodloe Harper did at a public meeting. I never did.”
“Did you ever correct the report of Mr. Harper’s speech, General?”
“No, sir. The nation adopted the expression, and I always thought there
would have been more ostentation in denying than in submitting to the
report. The nation adopted it.”
_Machine Politics_
The term “machine politics” has been traced to Nathaniel Hawthorne, who
said, in one of his notebooks, “One thing, if no more, I have gained by
my custom-house experience—to know a politician. It is a knowledge which
no previous thought or power of sympathy could have taught me; because
the animal, or the _machine_ rather, is not in nature.”
_Anæsthesia_
Dr. Marion Sims summarized as follows the successive steps leading up to
practical demonstration:
1. That since 1800 the inhalation of nitrous oxide gas produced a
peculiar intoxication, and even allayed headache and other minor pains.
2. That Sir Humphrey Davy proposed it as an anæsthetic in surgical
operations.
3. That for more than fifty years the inhalation of sulphuric ether has
been practised by the students in our New England Colleges as an
excitant, and that its exhilarating properties are similar to those of
nitrous oxide gas.
4. That the inhalation of sulphuric ether, as an excitant, was common in
some parts of Georgia forty-five years ago, though not practised in the
colleges.
5. That Wilhite was the first man to produce profound anæsthesia, which
was done accidentally with sulphuric ether in 1839.
6. That Long was the first man to intentionally produce anæsthesia for
surgical operations, and that this was done with sulphuric ether in
1842.
7. That Long did not by accident hit upon it, but that he reasoned it
out in a philosophic and logical manner.
8. That Wells, without any knowledge of Long’s labors, demonstrated in
the same philosophic way the great principle of anæsthesia by the use of
nitrous oxide gas (1844).
9. That Morton intended to follow Wells in using the gas as an
anæsthetic in dentistry, and for this purpose asked Wells to show him
how to make the gas (1846).
10. That Wells referred Morton to Jackson for this purpose, as Jackson
was known to be a scientific man and an able chemist.
11. That Morton called on Jackson for information on the subject, and
that Jackson told Morton to use sulphuric ether instead of nitrous oxide
gas, as it was known to possess the same properties, was as safe, and
easier to get.
12. That Morton, acting upon Jackson’s off-hand suggestion, used the
ether successfully in the extraction of teeth (1846).
13. That Warren and Hayward and Bigelow performed important surgical
operations in the Massachusetts General Hospital (October, 1846) on
patients etherized by Morton, and that this introduced and popularized
the practice throughout the world.
_Anthracite Coal_
Anthracite coal was first experimentally burned, and its value as a fuel
and marketable commodity tested, in the old Fell House, Wilkesbarre,
Pennsylvania, in February, 1808. The experiment was conducted in a very
primitive sort of grate built for the purpose by Judge Jesse Fell, then
one of the leading men in the community. He had written in letters to
relatives describing the achievement, and for some time had contended
that if properly ignited the “stone coal,” as it was then called, would
burn, but his friends laughed at him. Nevertheless he studied the
problem until he decided that it was necessary to have a draft to keep
it burning. He then had the grate built of ten-inch bars, forming the
front and bottom of a box that he set in brick, and in this he placed
the stone coal, lighting it from below by means of splinters of wood and
keeping up such a draft with a bellows that the coal soon glowed red
hot. He found, too, that when red hot it quickly ignited other coal
placed upon it, and, proud of his success, he told his neighbors. They
would not believe him until they had, as he wrote, “ocular demonstration
of the fact.” Day after day the old room in the tavern was crowded with
the people of the little village and the travellers who passed through,
and soon to all parts of the region where outcroppings of coal had been
discovered the news was borne.
_Petroleum_
In the _Massachusetts Magazine_, published in 1789, occurs the following
reference to the existence of oil-springs in Pennsylvania:
“In the northern part of Pennsylvania there is a creek called Oil Creek,
which empties into the Allegheny River. It issues from a spring, on the
top of which floats an oil, similar to that called Barbadoes tar, and
from which one may gather several gallons a day. The troops sent to
guard the western posts halted at the same spring, collected some of the
oil, and bathed their joints with it. This gave them great relief from
the rheumatism with which they were afflicted. The water, of which the
troops drank freely, operated as a gentle purge.”
The curious book of Peter Kahm, entitled “Travels in North America,” and
published in 1772, gives a map in which is set down the exact location
of the oil-springs.
But there is still earlier reference to the oil supply in a letter
written by a French missionary, Joseph de la Roche d’Allion, who had
crossed the Niagara River into what is now New York State. In this
letter, written in 1629, nearly a century and a half before Kahm’s book
appeared, he mentions the oil-springs, and gives the Indian name of the
place, which he explained to mean, “There is plenty there.” The letter
was printed in Sagard’s “Historie du Canada,” in 1632.
_Photography_
M. Niepce, of Chalon-on-the-Saône, was the first to enjoy the
satisfaction of producing permanent pictures by the influence of solar
radiations. This was accomplished in 1815; and the name chosen to
designate his process was heliography. Niepce afterwards learned that
Daguerre had been conducting experiments of a similar character, and
they formed a partnership. The former, however, died in 1833, and a new
deed of partnership was signed between his son Isidore and M. Daguerre,
which resulted in the publication, in July, 1839, of the process known
as the daguerrotype. But this was not done until the French government
had passed a bill securing to M. Daguerre a pension of six thousand
francs, and to Isidore Niepce a pension of four thousand francs, both
for life, and one-half in reversion to their widows. This action of the
French government was based upon the argument that “the invention did
not admit of being secured by patent, since, as soon as published, all
might avail themselves of its advantages; it therefore chose to enjoy
the glory of endowing the world of science and of art with one of the
most surprising discoveries that honor their native land.”
Visitors to the exhibit of the University of the City of New York at the
World’s Fair in Chicago will remember the faded daguerrotype of Miss
Elizabeth Catherine Draper, a fair young woman in a huge poke bonnet,
the inside of which was filled with roses.
Its history was thus given, at the time, by Chancellor MacCracken of the
University:
“The daguerrotype is a picture of Miss Elizabeth Draper, and was taken
by her brother, John Draper, in 1840, when he was a professor in our
university. Previous to that time Daguerre had made experiments in
photography, or sun pictures, as they were then called; but he never got
beyond landscapes and pictures of still life.
“When Professor Draper first tried to photograph a person, his idea was
that the face should be covered with flour, that the outlines might be
more distinct. After many failures he decided to try one without
anything on the face, and this picture of his sister was successful at
the first trial. Delighted with his victory, Professor Draper sent the
picture to Sir William Herschel, the great English scientist, that his
achievement might be known on the other side of the water. Sir William
acknowledged the gift and sent congratulations in a letter, which was
fortunately preserved in Professor Draper’s family.”
_Old Hickory_
How General Andrew Jackson got this title is told by Captain William
Allen, who was a near neighbor of the general, and who messed with him
during the Creek War. During the campaign the soldiers were moving
rapidly to surprise the Indians, and were without tents. A cold March
rain came on, mingled with sleet, which lasted for several days. General
Jackson got a severe cold, but did not complain, as he tried to sleep in
a muddy bottom among his half-frozen soldiers. Captain Allen and his
brother John cut down a stout hickory-tree, peeled off the bark, and
made a covering for the general, who was with difficulty persuaded to
crawl into it. The next morning a drunken citizen entered the camp, and,
seeing the tent, kicked it over. As Jackson crawled from the ruins, the
toper cried, “Hello, Old Hickory! come out of your bark, and jine us in
a drink.”
_Eagle, the Emblematic_
The Etruscans were the first who adopted the eagle as the symbol of
royal power, and bore its image as a standard at the head of their
armies. From the time of Marius it was the principal emblem of the Roman
Republic, and the only standard of the legions. It was represented with
outspread wings, and was usually of silver, till the time of Hadrian,
who made it of gold. The double-headed eagle was in use among the
Byzantine emperors, to indicate, it is said, their claim to the empire
both of the East and West. It was adopted in the fourteenth century by
the German emperors, and afterwards appeared on the arms of Russia. The
arms of Prussia are distinguished by the black eagle, and those of
Poland bore the white. The white-headed eagle is the emblematic device
of the United States of America, is the badge of the order of the
Cincinnati, and is figured on coins. Napoleon adopted the eagle for the
emblem of imperial France; it was not, however, represented in heraldic
style, but in its natural form, with the thunderbolts of Jupiter. It was
disused under the Bourbons, but was restored, by a decree of Louis
Napoleon, January 1, 1852.
_John Bull_
Mrs. Markham, in her “History of England,” says, “I am told this name
cannot be traced beyond Queen Anne’s time, when an ingenious satire,
entitled the ‘History of John Bull,’ was written by the celebrated Dr.
Arbuthnot, the friend of Swift. The object of this satire was to throw
ridicule on the politics of the Spanish succession. John Bull is the
Englishman, the frog is the Dutchman, and Charles II. of Spain and Louis
XIV. are called Lord Strut and Louis Baboon.”
_The First Riddle_
The first recorded riddle was that propounded by Samson to the thirty
companions who came to the marriage feast of his wife,—afterwards burned
to death with her father by the Philistines,—and for the answer to which
he promised to give them thirty sheets, and thirty changes of garments.
“Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth
sweetness.” For the outcome, see the Book of Judges, xiv. 12–20.
_Boycott_
Captain Boycott was the agent of an estate in Ireland, and the tenants
having become dissatisfied with his management asked the landlord to
remove him. This he declined to do, and thereupon the tenants and their
friends refused to work for Boycott, and made an agreement among
themselves that none of them, their friends, or relatives should assist
or work under him at harvest. His crops were thus endangered; but
assistance arriving from Ulster, the harvest was gathered under the
protection of troops. The tenantry then decided to still further extend
their system of tabooing by including all persons who had any dealings
with Boycott. All such were not only to be ignored and treated as total
strangers, but no one was to sell to them or to buy of them.
_Vivisection_
Although cutting operations on living animals for the purpose of
acquiring physiological knowledge were practised to a small extent as
far back as the time of the Alexandrian school of medicine, William
Harvey was the first to make any great and conclusive discoveries as the
results of experiments on living animals. Harvey had a favorite dog
named Lycisca, whose experience in vivisection was made the subject of a
poem by a sympathizer, which is thus referred to by a recent English
writer:
“This discovery of the circulation of the blood, in 1620, is
attributable to our countryman Harvey, ascertained by experiments on a
dog, whose name, Lycisca, and whose sufferings and whose usefulness to
mankind, have been immortalized and handed down to posterity in some
beautiful touching lines.”
_Auld Kirk_
If anyone will turn to the author of “Our Ain Folk,” he will learn why
Scotch whiskey is called “Auld Kirk.” An old Glenesk minister used to
speak of claret as puir washy stuff, fit for English Episcopawlians and
the like; of brandy as het and fiery, like thae Methodists; sma’ beer
was thin and meeserable, like thae Baptists; and so on through the whole
gamut of drinks and sects; but invariably he would finish up by
producing the whiskey bottle, and patting it would exclaim, “Ah, the
rael Auld Kirk o’ Scotland, sir! There’s naething beats it.”
_Beer_
A recently published German work on the chemistry of beer, by M.
Reischauer, states that the use of beer dates from very early times.
Tacitus says, in his book on the manners of the ancient Germans, “Potus
humor ex hordeo aut frumento, in quandam similitudinem vini corruptus;”
and also that these Germans were indeed simple and moderate in their
food, but less so in the use of this drink from barley or wheat.
Diodorus Siculus (30 B.C.) affirms that Osiris even (1960 B.C.)
introduced a beer made from malted grain into Egypt. Archilochus (720
B.C.) and Æschylus and Sophocles (400 B.C.) refer to a barley wine
(vinum hordeaceum), and Herodotus (450 B.C.) relates that the Egyptians
made wine from barley. The Spaniards knew beer, Pliny reports, as
“celia” or “ceria;” the Gauls under the name “cerevisia.” In England and
Flanders beer was commonly in use at the time of the birth of Christ;
while old books represent Gambrinus, King of Brabant (A.D. 1200), as the
inventor of beer. It is certain that beer was known to the Chinese from
very early times. In the Middle Ages there was a celebrated brewery at
Pelusium, a town on one of the mouths of the Nile.
_Honeymoon_
The word “honeymoon” is derived from the ancient Teutons, and means
drinking for thirty days after marriage of metheglin, mead, or hydromel,
a kind of wine made from honey. Attila, a celebrated king of the Huns,
who boasted of the appellation, “The Scourge of God,” is said to have
died on his nuptial night from an uncommon effusion of blood, brought on
by indulging too freely in hydromel at his wedding-feast.
The term “honeymoon” now signifies the first month after marriage, or so
much of it as is spent from home. John Tobin, in “The Honeymoon,” thus
refers to it:
“This truth is manifest—a gentle wife
Is still the sterling comfort of man’s life;
To fools a torment, but a lasting boon
To those who wisely keep their honeymoon.”
_Gringo_
When the American army invaded Mexico a favorite song in the camps was
Burns’s “Green grow the rushes, O.” The Mexicans heard it repeated over
and over, and finally began to call the Americans by the first two
words, which they pronounced “grin go.” Hence “Gringo.”
_Erasure_
One of the earliest references to the use of india-rubber for the
removal of pencil marks occurs in a note to the introduction of a
treatise on perspective by Dr. Priestley, published in 1770. The author
remarks, at the conclusion of the preface, “Since this work was printed
off I have seen a substance excellently adapted to the purpose of wiping
from paper the marks of a black-lead pencil. It must, therefore, be of
singular use to those who practise drawing. It is sold by Mr. Nairne,
mathematical instrument maker, opposite the Royal Exchange. He sells a
cubical piece of about half an inch for 3s., and he says it will last
several years.”
_The Thimble_
There is a rich family of the name of Lofting, in England, whose fortune
was founded by the thimble. The first ever seen in England was made in
London less than 200 years ago by a metal worker named John Lofting. The
usefulness of the article commended it at once to all who used the
needle, and Lofting acquired a large fortune. The implement was then
called the thumb-bell, it being worn on the thumb when in use, and its
shape suggesting the rest of the name. This clumsy mode of utilizing it
was soon changed, however, but the name, softened into “thimble,”
remains.
_Bank Notes_
The oldest bank note probably in existence in Europe is one preserved in
the Asiatic Museum at St. Petersburg. It dates from the year 1399 B.C.,
and was issued by the Chinese government. It can be proved from Chinese
chroniclers that as early as 2697 B.C. bank notes were current in China
under the name of “flying money.” The bank note preserved at St.
Petersburg bears the name of the imperial bank, date, and number of
issue, signature of a mandarin, and contains even a list of the
punishments inflicted for forgery of notes. This relic of 4000 years ago
is probably written, for printing from wooden tablets is said to have
been introduced in China only in the year A.D. 160.
_Anno Domini_
The first sovereign who adopted the phrase, “In the year of our Lord,”
was Charles the Third, Emperor of Germany, 879. It is now the accepted
mode of designating the year in all Christian countries.
_The Oldest Declaration of Independence_
The original manuscript of the Declaration of Independence made and
signed by the revolutionary patriots of Harford County, Maryland, at a
meeting held at Harford Town on March 22, 1775, is still in existence.
This declaration is older than that of Mecklenburg, North Carolina,
which was made in May, 1775, and antedates by more than a year the
Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress, July 4, 1776.
Harford Town is Bush of the present day, and the house in which the
meeting was held was an old tavern stand, the ruins of which are yet to
be seen at Bush.
_Punctuation_
The invention of the modern system of punctuation has been attributed to
the Alexandrian grammarian Aristophanes, after whom it was improved by
succeeding grammarians; but it was so entirely lost in the time of
Charlemagne that he found it necessary to have it restored by
Warnesfried and Alouin. It consisted at first of only one point used in
three ways, and sometimes of a stroke formed in several ways; but as no
particular rules were followed in the use of these signs, punctuation
was exceedingly uncertain until the end of the fifteenth century, when
the learned Venetian printers, the Manutii, increased the number of the
signs and established some fixed rules for their application. These were
so generally adopted that we may consider the Manutii as the inventors
of the present method of punctuation; and, although modern grammarians
have introduced some improvements, nothing but a few particular rules
have been added since their time.
_Sleeping-Cars_
The first sleeping-cars ever designed were used on the Cumberland Valley
Railroad, between Harrisburg and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. They were
built in the year 1838, and ran for several years. One end of the car
was arranged in the ordinary way, with day seats, the other end was
fitted up with eighteen sleeping-berths for the night, which were
changed for the day’s running, so as to make omnibus-seats on each side
of the car. There were three lengths of berths, and three tiers on each
side. The top tier of berths hoisted on a hinge, and was secured by rope
supports to the ceiling of the car. The middle tier consisted of the
back of the omnibus-seat, hinged, and supported in the same manner. The
lower tier was the day seat along the side of the car. At that period,
there were two coach-loads of passengers arriving by turnpike road
nightly from Pittsburg; and they were very glad to have the benefit of
the sleeper during the four hours then occupied between Chambersburg and
Harrisburg, on the old plate rail. There was no charge for sleeping
accommodations.
_Eve’s Mirror_
If we are to believe Milton, our mother Eve was the first of the race to
use a mirror:
“That day I oft remember, when from sleep
I first awaked, and found myself reposed
Under a shade on flowers, much wondering where
And what I was, whence thither brought, and how;
Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound
Of waters issued from a cave, and spread
Into a liquid plain, then stood unmoved,
Pure as the expanse of heaven: I thither went
With unexperienced thought, and laid me down
On the green bank to look into the clear,
Smooth lake, that to me seemed another sky.
As I bent down to look, just opposite
A shape within the watery gleam appeared
Bending to look on me. I started back;
It started back; but pleased I soon returned;
Pleased it returned as soon with answering looks
Of sympathy and love. There I had fixed
Mine eyes till now, and pined with vain desire,
Had not a voice thus warned me, ‘What thou seest,
What there thou seest, fair creature, is thyself;
With thee it came and goes.’”
_Order of the Garter_
When Salisbury’s famed countess was dancing with glee,
Her stocking’s security fell from her knee.
Allusions and hints, sneers and whispers, went round;
The trifle was scouted, and left on the ground;
When Edward the Brave, with true soldier-like spirit,
Cried, “The garter is mine, ’tis the order of merit:
The first knights in my court shall be happy to wear—
Proud distinction!—the garter that fell from the fair;
While in letters of gold—’tis your monarch’s high will—
Shall there be inscribed, ‘Ill to him that thinks ill.’”
_Coffee_
In 1669 Soliman Agu, ambassador from the sultan, Mahomet IV., arrived in
Paris, and established the custom of drinking coffee. A Greek, named
Pasco, had already opened a coffee-house in London in 1652. The first
mention of coffee in the English statute-books occurs in 1660, when a
duty of fourpence was laid upon every gallon made and sold.
_Billiards_
The game of billiards was invented about the middle of the sixteenth
century by a London pawnbroker named William Kew. In wet weather this
pawnbroker was in the habit of taking down the three balls, and with the
yard-measure pushing them, billiard-fashion, from the counter into the
stalls. In time, the idea of a board with side-pockets suggested itself.
A black-letter manuscript says, “Master William Kew did make one board
whereby a game is played with three balls; and all the young men were
greatly recreated thereat, chiefly the young clergymen from St. Pawles:
hence one of ye strokes was named a ‘canon,’ having been by one of ye
said clergymen invented. The game is now known by the name of
‘bill-yard,’ because William or Bill Kew did first play with the
yard-measure. The stick is now called a ‘kew,’ or ‘kue.’” It is easy to
comprehend how “bill-yard” has been modernized into “billiard,” and the
transformation of “kew,” or “kue,” into “cue” is equally apparent.
_Cheap Postage_
The idea of cheap postage was suggested by a trivial incident. Rowland
Hill, who was the father of cheap postage, on one occasion saw a poor
woman, whose husband had sent her a letter, take it from the carrier,
look earnestly at the outside, and then hand it back, declining to
receive it, as the postage was too great. He expressed his sympathy;
but, when the postman was gone, she explained to him that the letter was
all on the outside. Her husband and herself had agreed on certain signs
and tokens, to be conveyed by various changes in the address; so that
she could thus tell whether he was sick or well, or was coming home
soon, or similar important intelligence. Mr. Hill thought it a pity that
the poor should be driven to such expedients; and accordingly, in 1837,
he urged, in the most strenuous manner upon the government of Great
Britain, a system of cheap postage, which, two years later, was adopted.
_Postage Stamps_
The postage stamp made its first appearance in 1839. Its invention is
due to James Chalmers, a printer of Dundee, who died in 1853. England
adopted the adhesive stamp, according to a decree of December 21, 1839,
and issued the first stamps for public use on May 6, 1840. A year later
they were introduced in the United States and Switzerland, and soon
afterwards in Bavaria, Belgium, and France.
_A Boston “Merchantman”_
Captain Kempthorn, in Longfellow’s “New England Tragedies,” back in
1665, the time of Quaker persecution, coined a now familiar phrase. He
speaks of
“A solid man of Boston,
A comfortable man, with dividends,
And the first salmon and the first green peas.”
_Theatrical Deadheads_
In the National Museum at Naples is a case of theatre tickets found in
the tragic theatre at Pompeii. They are variously made in bone, ivory,
and metal. To this day the upper gallery of an Italian theatre is called
the pigeon loft. The little tickets for the Pompeiian gallery were in
the shape of pigeons, while varying devices were used for other parts of
the house. But what attracts the most curious attention is a set of
diminutive skulls modelled in ivory. These were used solely by those
having the privilege of _free admission_, a fact suggestive of the
possible derivation of the term deadhead.
_Dollar_
Few persons have ever troubled themselves to think of the derivation of
the word dollar. It is from the German thal (valley), and came into use
in this way some 300 years ago. There is a little silver mining city or
district in northern Bohemia called Joachimstal, or Joachim’s Valley.
The reigning duke of the region authorized this city in the sixteenth
century to coin a silver piece which was called “joachimsthaler.” The
word “joachim” was soon dropped and the name “thaler” only retained. The
piece went into general use in Germany and also in Denmark, where the
orthography was changed to “daler,” whence it came into English, and was
adopted by our forefathers with some changes in the spelling.
_Marriage in Church_
Not until the time of the Reformation was marriage sanctioned as a rite
to be fittingly performed within a church. Prior to this the customary
place was at the door of the church, and not within the sacred
enclosure. This rule appears to have been transgressed, but until the
first Prayer Book of Edward VI. (1549), the rubric of the Sarum Manual
was in use, which directed that the man and the woman about to be
married should be placed before the door of the church. It was
considered indecent to unite in wedlock within the church itself.
Chaucer, in his “Canterbury Tales” (1383), alludes to this custom in his
“Wife of Bath:”
“She was a worthy woman all her live,
Husbands at the Church door had she five.”
So late as 1559 Elizabeth, daughter of Henry II. of France, was married
to Philip II. of Spain by the Bishop of Paris at the church door of
Notre Dame; while Mary Stuart had been married the year before to the
Dauphin on the same spot.
_The Degree of M. D._
The degree of Doctor of Medicine was first conferred near the beginning
of the fourteenth century. The first recorded instance occurred in the
year 1329, when Wilhelm Gordenio received the degree of Doctor of Arts
and of Medicine at the College of Asti, Italy. Soon after this date the
degree was conferred by the University of Paris.
_The Title of “Reverend”_
An interesting contribution to the history of the title of “Reverend” as
applied to clergymen is made by the Rev. Brooke Lambert in a letter to
the London _Times_. Mr. Lambert says,—
“The registers of the parish of Tamworth contain some interesting
particulars as to local usage. These registers date back from the reign
of Philip and Mary, 1556. The first title given in them to a clergyman
is the old title ‘Sir,’ with which Shakespeare has made us familiar. In
May, 1567, we have an entry ‘Sir Peter Stringar, curate.’ The clergyman
who succeeded him is called ‘Sir Richard Walker,’ but there are other
contemporaneous entries, such as ‘sacerdos,’ ‘clericus,’ ‘preacher’ and
‘verbi minister.’ These latter seem to have obtained till, in King
James’s reign, we have the prefix ‘master,’ which, as we know, was
applied to the great divine, Master Hooker, and this practice seems by
our registers to have been continued through the commonwealth, though
‘Minister of the Gospell’ is sometimes added. We have, however, in 1657
the first use of the word ‘reverend,’ evidently in this case as a
special mark of respect, not as a formal title. On ‘11 June, 1657, was
buried our Reverend Pastor Master Thomas Blake, minister of Tamworth.’
In 1693 we have a clergyman by name Samuel Collins. I had noticed with
curiosity an erasure before his name in each of the casualties,
baptismal or funereal, recorded in our register. At last, in 1701, I was
lucky enough to find an unerased entry, and it appears that the
obnoxious word was the title ‘Revd.’ (so written) prefixed to his Mr.
However, he seems not to have been able to hold to this title. One of
his children, baptized in 1706, is baptized as the child of plain Samuel
Collins, minister; and when he died, in 1706, he was buried without the
title ‘reverend’—as Mr. (_i.e._, Master) Samuel Collins, minister of
Tamworth. Henceforward the same address is used till November, 1727,
when we have the baptism of Anne, daughter of ‘ye Rev. Mr. Robert
Wilson, minister of Tamworth,’ and after that date the prefix ‘reverend’
never seems to have been omitted.”
_The First Christian Hymn_
In the works of Clement of Alexandria is given the most ancient hymn of
the Primitive Church. Clement wrote in the year 150, and the hymn itself
is said to be of much earlier origin. The first and last stanzas
rendered into English may serve to show the strains in which the happy
disciples were wont to address their loving Saviour:
“Shepherd of tender youth!
Guiding in love and truth,
Through devious ways;
Christ, our triumphant King,
We come Thy Name to sing,
And here our children bring
To shout Thy praise.
“So now, and till we die,
Sound we Thy praises high,
And joyful sing;
Infants and the glad throng,
Who to Thy Church belong,
Unite and swell the song
To Christ our King.”
_Mother Goose and Mary’s Lamb_
Many suppose “Mother Goose” to be an imaginary personage, but she was a
real woman, and her maiden name was Elizabeth Foster. She was born in
1665, married Isaac Goose in 1693, a few years later became a member of
the Old South Church, of Boston, and died in 1757, at the age of
ninety-two. Her songs were originally sung to her grandchildren. They
were first published in 1716 by her son-in-law, Thomas Fleet, of Boston.
The “Mary” that “had a little lamb” was Mary Elizabeth Sawyer, a
Massachusetts girl; her lamb was one of twins forsaken by an unnatural
mother. Mary took it home and cared for it herself. They became fast
friends, and when Mary started to school her pet missed her very much,
so one morning it followed her. At school she tucked it under her desk
and covered it with her shawl, but when she went out to her
spelling-class the lamb trotted after her. The children laughed wildly,
and the teacher had the lamb removed from the room. On that morning a
young student named Rawlston was a visitor at the school. The incident
awakened his poetic genius, and a few days later he handed Mary the
first three verses of the poem. He died soon after, ignorant of the
immortality of his verses.
_The Umbrella_
Baltimore was foremost in introducing several things now in universal
use. Its enterprise started the first steam passenger railway in this
country; it was the first to demonstrate, in connection with Washington,
the practicability of the Morse telegraph system; it was the first to
burn carburetted hydrogen gas as an illuminant; it built the first
merchants’ exchange, and originated various manufacturing industries.
All this is matter of notoriety, but it is not generally known that a
Baltimorean displayed the first umbrella seen in the United States. It
was in 1772 when he appeared on the streets walking under an umbrella
which he had purchased from a Baltimore ship that had come from India.
It is related that at sight of the innovator with his novel weather
shield women were affrighted, horses became frantic runaways, children
stoned the man, and the solitary watchman was called out. However, in
spite of so hostile a reception, an account of the umbrella episode
which reached Philadelphia had the effect of begetting for the new
article an enthusiastic adoption. New York later received the innovation
with cordiality, and it was not long before the umbrella was universally
adopted, not alone for utility, but in some instances as a badge of
dignity of the village sage. Considering the indispensability of the
umbrella to the social life of the day, the Baltimorean who had the
courage to take the initiative in umbrella-carrying deserves at least a
commemorative tablet.
_Equal Mark_
In Robert Recorde’s “Whetstone of Witte,” a treatise on algebra written
about the year 1557, he says, “To avoide the tediouse repetition of
these words, _is equalle to_, I will sette, as I doe often in worke use
a pair of parallel lines of one lengthe, thus: =, because no two things
can be more equalle.” This was the origin of this common arithmetical
sign.
_Cardinal’s Red Hat_
The red hat was granted to cardinals by Pope Innocent IV. at the Council
of Lyons, A.D. 1245, and allowed to be borne in their arms at the same
time, as an emblem that they ought to be ready to shed their blood for
the Church, especially against the Emperor Frederick II., who had just
been deposed, and his subjects absolved from their allegiance by that
Pope and Council. Varennes, however, looking for a less temporary
reason, quotes Gregory of Nyssen to prove that this color was the mark
of supreme dignity, and appeals even to the prophet Naham, ii. 3, “The
shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet.”
Hence he concludes that “the royal priesthood” belongs to the cardinals,
and that they are the chief leaders of the church militant.
_An Old Proverb_
The proverb “those who live in glass houses should not throw stones” has
been traced to the royal pedant James I. Seton says, “When London was
for the first time inundated with Scotchmen, the Duke of Buckingham,
jealous of their invasion, organized a movement against them, and
parties were formed for the purpose of breaking the windows of their
abodes. By way of retaliation, a number of Scotchmen smashed the windows
of the duke’s mansion in St. Martin’s Fields, known as the ‘Glass
House,’ and on his complaining to the king, his Majesty replied,
‘Steenie, Steenie (the nickname given to Villiers), those who live in
glass houses should be careful how they fling stanes.’”
But the idea is more than two centuries older than the time of James I.
It occurs in Chaucer’s “Troilus and Creseide,” where his use of _verre_,
instead of glass, suggests that the proverb was originally current in
Old French.
_The Stereoscope_
In the spring of 1893 the Boston _Transcript_ gave an account of the
stereoscope, for which Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes had furnished the
original model. Some inaccuracies having crept into the article, the
doctor gave his story of the invention as follows:
“The instrument in common use at that time was a box with a hinged flap
on its upper wall, which opened to let the light in upon the pictures. I
got rid of the box, made some slots into which the lower edge of the
stereograph was inserted, stuck an awl underneath for a handle, and with
the lenses and an upright partition my stereoscope was finished. The
slide afterwards substituted for these was suggested by one of Mr.
Joseph Bates’s employees. The hood was a part of my original pattern,
made of pasteboard, and shaped to fit my own forehead.
“I tried hard for some time to give my contrivance away to the dealers,
but without success. The Messrs. Anthony, of New York, who were always
polite and attentive, did not care to take up the new model. The London
Stereoscopic Company, speaking through the young man who represented
them, assured me that everything which might, could, or would be novel
or interesting in the stereoscopic line was already familiarly known in
London. One of the great houses of Philadelphia also declined my gift of
a model out of which I thought they might make some profit. At last Mr.
Bates thought he would have a few made and see if they would sell. So he
put a dozen or thereabout on the market, and they were soon disposed of.
The dozen was followed by a hundred, and by and by the sale went into
the thousands, and I was told that I might have made more money by my
stereoscope if I had patented it than I was ever going to make by
literature. But I did not care to be known as the patentee of a pill or
of a peeping contrivance.
“The above is the true story of the origin of the stereoscope with which
my name is associated.
“O. W. H.”
_The Dark Horse_
There lived in Tennessee an old chap named Sam Flynn, who traded in
horses and generally contrived to own a speedy nag or two, which he used
for racing purposes whenever he could pick up a “soft match” during his
travels. The best of his flyers was a coal-black stallion named Dusky
Pete, who was almost a thoroughbred, and able to go in the best of
company. Flynn was accustomed to saddle Pete when approaching a town and
ride him into it to give the impression that the animal was merely a
“likely hoss,” and not a flyer. One day he came to a town where a
country race-meeting was being held and he entered Pete among the
contestants. The people of the town, not knowing anything of his
antecedents, and not being overimpressed by his appearance, backed two
or three local favorites heavily against him. Flynn moved among the
crowd and took all the bets offered against his nag. Just as the
“flyers” were being saddled for the race old Judge McMinamee, who was
the turf oracle of that part of the State, arrived on the course, and
was made one of the judges. As he took his place on the stand he was
told how the betting ran, and of the folly of the owner of the strange
entry in backing his “plug” so heavily. Running his eye over the track,
the judge instantly recognized Pete, and he said, “Gentlemen, there’s a
dark horse in this race that will make some of you sick before supper.”
The judge was right. Pete “the dark horse,” lay back until the
three-quarter pole was reached, when he went to the front with a rush
and won the purse and Flynn’s bets with the greatest ease.
_The First Gold Found in California_
The existence of gold in California has been known since the expedition
of Drake in 1577; being particularly noticed by Hakluyt in his account
of the region. The occurrence of gold upon the placers was noticed in a
work upon Upper California, published in Spain in 1690, by Loyola
Cavello, at that time a priest at the mission of San José, Bay of San
Francisco. Captain Shelvocke in 1721 speaks favorably of the appearance
of the soil for gold, and of the probable richness of the country in
metals. The “Historico-Geographical Dictionary” of Antonio de Alcedo,
1786, positively affirms the abundance of gold. The favorable appearance
of the country for gold was noticed by Professor J. D. Dana, and
recorded in his geological report. In Hunt’s _Merchants’ Magazine_ for
April, 1847, is a statement by Mr. Sloat respecting the richness of the
country in gold, made from his observations there; and he predicted that
its mineral developments would greatly exceed the most sanguine
expectations.
The discovery which led to immediate development, and to an enormous
influx of population, was made February 9, 1848, at Sutter’s Mill, on
the American fork of the Sacramento River. The account of Captain John
A. Sutter himself is as follows:
“While building a mill on American River, a man employed by me, by the
name of Marshall, discovered yellow spots in the mill-race. He procured
some of the yellow stuff, and remarked to several men that he believed
it was gold; but they only laughed at him, and called him crazy. He came
to my office next day; and seeing that he wanted to speak to me alone,
and suspecting that he was under some excitement, I asked him, ‘What’s
the matter?’ We went into a room and locked the door. He wanted to be
very sure that no listeners were about; and, when satisfied, he gave me
the stuff to examine; he had it wrapped up in a piece of paper. During
our interview I had occasion to go to the door, opened it, and neglected
to lock it again; and, while handling the open package, my clerk
unexpectedly came in, when Marshall quickly put it in his pocket. After
the clerk had retired, the door was again locked, and the specimen
closely examined. Several tests that I knew of I applied as well as I
could, and satisfied myself that it was really gold. One of these tests
was with aquafortis, and the other by weighing in water. I told him it
was gold, and no mistake, and hoped the discovery could be kept secret
for six weeks,—until certain mills would be finished, and preparation
made for a large additional population. I then had about eighty white
mechanics employed. But the secret soon leaked out; was told by a woman
employed as a cook,—of course she could keep no such golden secret.”
The cook here referred to was Mrs. Wimmer, the wife of one of General
Fremont’s enlisted men. She has left on record her story of the
discovery as follows:
“We arrived here in November, 1846,” said Mrs. Wimmer, “with a party of
fourteen families, across the plains from Missouri. On reaching Sutter’s
Fort, Sacramento, we found Fremont in need of more men. My husband
enlisted before we had got the oxen unyoked, and left me and our seven
children at the fort in the care of Commissary Curtain. We drew our
rations like common soldiers for four months. Captain Sutter arranged a
room for us in the fort. As soon as Mr. Wimmer returned from Santa
Clara, where he had been stationed during the winter, he joined three
others and went over the mountains to what is now called Donner Lake, to
fetch over the effects of the Donner family, after that terrible winter
of suffering.
“In June, 1847, they loaded all our household plunder for Battle Creek,
up on the Sacramento, to put up a saw-mill, but they changed their plans
and went to Coloma. Captain Sutter and J. W. Marshall were equal
partners and were the head of the expedition. After seven days of travel
we arrived at sundown a mile above the town. Next morning Mr. Wimmer
went out to select a site for the mill, and I a site for the house. He
was to oversee the Indians, be a handy man about, and I was to be cook.
We had from fifteen to twenty men employed. We soon had a log house—a
good log house—and a log heap to cook by.
“They had been working on the mill-race, dam, and mill about six months,
when, one morning along in the first week of February, 1848, after an
absence of several days to the fort, Mr. Marshall took Mr. Wimmer and
went down to see what had been done while he was away. The water was
entirely shut off, and as they walked along, talking and examining the
work, just ahead of them, on a little rough muddy rock, lay something
looking bright, like gold. They both saw it, but Mr. Marshall was the
first to stoop to pick it up, and, as he looked at it, doubted its being
gold.
“Our little son Martin was along with them, and Mr. Marshall gave it to
him to bring up to me. He came in a hurry and said, ‘Here, mother,
here’s something Mr. Marshall and Pa found, and they want you to put it
into saleratus water to see if it will tarnish.’ I said, ‘This is gold,
and I will throw it into my lye-kettle, which I had just tried with a
feather, and if it is gold it will be gold when it comes out.’ I
finished off my soap that day and set it off to cool, and it staid there
till next morning. At the breakfast table one of the workhands raised up
his head from eating, and said, ‘I heard something about gold being
discovered, what about it?’ Mr. Marshall told him to ask Jenny, and I
told him it was in my soap-kettle.
“A plank was brought for me to lay my soap upon, and I cut it in chunks.
At the bottom of the pot was a double-handful of potash, which I lifted
in my two hands, and there was my gold as bright as it could be. Mr.
Marshall still contended it was not gold, but whether he was afraid his
men would leave him, or he really thought so, I don’t know. Mr. Wimmer
remarked that it looked like gold, weighed heavy, and would do to make
money out of. The men promised not to leave till the mill was finished.
Not being sure it was gold, Mr. Wimmer urged Mr. Marshall to go to the
fort and have it tested. He did so, and George McKinstry, an assayer,
pronounced it gold. Captain Sutter came right up with Mr. Marshall, and
called all the Indians together, and agreed with them as to certain
boundaries that they claimed, and on the right of discovery demanded
thirty per cent. of all gold taken out. They, in payment, were to give
the Indians handkerchiefs, pocket looking-glasses, shirts, beads, and
other trinkets.
“One day Mr. Marshall was packing up to go away. He had gathered
together a good deal of dust on this thirty per cent. arrangement, and
had it buried under the floor. In overhauling his traps, he said to me,
in the presence of Elisha Packwood, ‘Jenny I will give you this piece of
gold. I always intended to have a ring made from it for my mother, but I
will give it to you.’ I took it and I have had it in my possession from
that day to this. Its value is between four and five dollars. It looks
like (pardon the comparison) a piece of spruce-gum just out of the mouth
of a school girl, except the color. It is rather flat, full of
indentations, just as the teeth make in a piece of nice gum. There are
one or two rough points on the edge, which, with a little stretch of the
imagination, give the appearance of a man’s head with a helmet on, and
it can be easily identified by any one who has ever seen it.”
_The Flag of the United States_
In Admiral George H. Preble’s “Origin and Progress of the Flag of the
United States,” he says,—
In 1870, Mr. W. J. Canby, of Philadelphia, read before the Historical
Society of Pennsylvania a paper on the “History of the American Flag,”
in which he stated that his maternal grandmother, Mrs. John Ross (whose
husband was a nephew of Colonel George Ross, one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence), was the first maker and partial designer
of the stars and stripes. The house where the first flag was made was
No. 239 Arch Street, formerly 89, below Third, Philadelphia. It was a
little two-storied and attic tenement, and was occupied by Betsy Ross
after the death of her husband.
A committee of Congress, accompanied by General Washington, in June,
1776, called upon Mrs. Ross, who was an upholsterer, and engaged her to
make the flag from a rough drawing, which, according to her suggestion,
was redrawn by General Washington “then and there in her back parlor.”
The flag as thus designed was adopted by Congress. Mrs. Ross received
the employment of flag-maker for the government, and continued in it for
many years.
It is related that when Colonel George Ross and General Washington
visited Mrs. Ross and asked her to make the flag, she said, “I don’t
know whether I can, but I’ll try,” and directly suggested to the
gentlemen that the design was wrong in that the stars were six pointed,
and not five pointed as they should be. This was corrected and other
alterations were made.
_National Political Conventions_
The first national convention to nominate candidates for President and
Vice-President met in 1831. The example was set, curiously enough, not
by either of the regular political parties, but by the faction which
came into existence solely to oppose the secret order of Masonry. It is
worth while to notice that it was this movement which gave an opening to
the public careers of two men who afterwards rose, one to the
Presidency, the other to the Senate and the Secretaryship of State.
These were William H. Seward and Millard Fillmore. The Antimasonic party
grew out of the excitement produced by the mysterious disappearance of
William Morgan, a member of the Fraternity who was supposed to have
divulged its secrets. In September, 1831, a national convention of this
party assembled at Baltimore, tendered the nomination to the famous
Maryland lawyer, William Wirt, formerly Attorney-General, who accepted
it, and Amos Ellmaker, of Pennsylvania, was added to the ticket as
candidate for Vice-President.
The caucus system was now evidently extinct; no party would have dared
attempt its revival. The system of national conventions, exemplified by
the Antimasons, was seen to be the only feasible substitute. As the
supporters of Jackson now called themselves “Democrats,” so his
opponents adopted the designation of “National Republicans.” The latter
party was first in the field to call a national convention, and this
convention met at Baltimore in December, 1831. Its session was brief,
for public opinion had already marked out Henry Clay as its candidate.
Clay was nominated on the first ballot, and John Sergeant was given the
second place on the ticket. Thus the opposition to Jackson, which was
strenuous and hot, was yet divided at the start of the race between Clay
and Wirt.
The Legislature of New Hampshire issued the first call at this time for
a Democratic National Convention—the first of that long series of
powerful and exciting conclaves which have so often designated our
rulers since. This body met in May, 1832. The Democracy rallied in large
numbers at Baltimore, which may be called the City of Conventions, as
well as of Monuments, so often has it been chosen for their
meeting-place. General Lucas, of Ohio, was chosen president. One of the
first motions passed by this convention was to adopt the famous
two-thirds rule, which more than once afterwards did deadly work with
the aspirations of statesmen.
_The First United States Bank_
Immediately after the first Congress of 1791, Alexander Hamilton,
Secretary of the Treasury, recommended a national bank as one of the
means necessary to restore the credit of the government, and to act as
its financial agent. The two Houses of Congress, on his recommendation,
passed the first bank charter.
General Washington expressed serious doubts of the power to pass the
law, and took the opinions of his Cabinet, in writing. Thomas Jefferson,
Secretary of State, was against it. Edmund Randolph, Attorney-General
expressed the same opinion; while General Henry Knox, Secretary of War,
sustained Hamilton in its constitutionality. Washington referred the
opinions of Jefferson and others to Hamilton for his reply, who gave an
elaborate opinion, sustaining the right of Congress to establish the
bank.
On consideration of the whole subject General Washington was of the
opinion that the bank was unconstitutional, and that he ought to veto
it, and called on Mr. Madison to prepare for him a veto message, which
he accordingly did. Upon the presentation of that message, Washington
again expressed himself in doubt, inclining to the impression that the
power did not exist. Jefferson still adhered to his opinion that it was
clearly unconstitutional, but he advised the President that _in cases of
great and serious doubt, the doubt should be weighed in favor of
legislative authority_. Whereupon Washington signed the bill.—STEPHEN A.
DOUGLAS.
_The Oldest Living Things_
The oldest living things on this earth are trees. Given favorable
conditions for growth and sustenance, the average tree will never die of
old age—its death is merely an accident. Other younger and more vigorous
trees may spring up near it, and perhaps rob its roots of their proper
nourishment; insects may kill it, floods or winds may sweep it away, or
its roots may come in contact with rock and become so gnarled and
twisted, because they have not room to expand in their growth, that they
literally throttle the avenues of its sustenance; but these are
accidents. If such things do not happen a tree may live on for century
after century, still robust, still flourishing, sheltering with its
wide-spreading branches the men and women of age after age.
There is a yew-tree in the church-yard at Fortingal, in Perthshire,
which de Candolle, nearly a century ago, proved to the satisfaction of
botanists to be over twenty-five centuries old, and another at Hedsor,
in Buclas, which is three thousand two hundred and forty years old. How
de Candolle arrived at an apparently correct estimate of the enormous
age of these living trees is a simple thing, and the principle is
doubtless well known to-day to all. The yew, like most other trees, adds
one line, about the tenth of an inch, to its circumference each year. He
proved this after an investigation extending over several years, and we
know now, a hundred years later, that his deductions were correct. The
old yew at Hedsor has a trunk twenty-seven feet in diameter, proving its
great age, and it is in a flourishing, healthy condition now, like its
brother at Fortingal.
Humboldt refers to a gigantic boabab tree in central Africa as the
“oldest organic monument” in the world. This tree has a trunk
twenty-nine feet in diameter, and Adanson, by a series of careful
measurements, demonstrated conclusively that it had lived for not less
than five thousand one hundred and fifty years.
Still, it is not the oldest organic monument in the world, as Humboldt
declared, for Mexican scientists have proved that the Montezuma cypress
at Chepultepec, with a trunk one hundred and eighteen feet and ten
inches in circumference, is still older,—older, too, by more than a
thousand years,—for it has been shown, as conclusively as these things
can be shown, that its age is about six thousand two hundred and sixty
years. To become impressed with wonder over this, one has only to dwell
on that duration for a little while in thought.
The giant redwoods of California are profoundly impressive, not only by
reason of their age and dimensions, but of their number. The sequoias of
the Mariposa, Calaveras, and South Park groves are more than eighteen
hundred in number. The age of the “grizzly giant,” in the Mariposa
group, is four thousand six hundred and eighty years, while the
prostrate monarch of the Calaveras grove, known as the “Father of the
Forest,” with a circumference of a hundred and ten feet, and a height
when standing of four hundred and thirty-five feet, is much older.