Felipa Munnis Perestrelle, daughter of an able Captain of Prince
Henry of Portugal, called the “Navigator.” He married her in 1471.
His father-in-law’s charts, globes, etc., helped to mature his plans
of discovery. Diego, who accompanied his father on the occasion
when they were reduced to such straits that Columbus begged at the
monastery of La Rabida for bread and water for the child, was the
only issue of this marriage. This wife died in 1483 or thereabout.
He next married Beatriz Enriquez, at Cordova, in 1487. She was the
mother of his second son, Fernando Columbus, who in time became his
father’s biographer.
POSTAGE ON MANUSCRIPT.
COOKSVILLE, Wis.
What is the postage rate on manuscript for books or newspapers?
INQUIRER.
_Answer._—Ruling 264, page 683 of the Postal Guide for 1883 says:
“All manuscript matter designed for publication in books, magazines,
periodicals, or newspapers is subject to letter postage, unless
accompanied by proof-sheets or corrected proof-sheets of such
manuscript, or of which such manuscript is a correction or addition.”
Ruling 508, page 711, says: “‘Book manuscript’ is a term no longer
used in the postal law. Manuscript accompanied by proof-sheets, and
corrected proof-sheets relating to it, may pass in the mails as
third-class matter in unsealed packages.” The rate for third-class
matter is “1 cent for each two ounces or fractional part thereof.”
PERPETUAL ALMANACS.
BLOOMINGTON, Ill.
Please give a rule for finding the day of the week on which any
historical event occurred when only the day of the month is given.
CHRONOLOGIST.
_Answer._—This is too much like a question in arithmetic for these
columns, from which all arithmetical problems are ruled out. Several
distinct classes of questions might come up under “Chronologist’s”
query. One of the first considerations is to determine whether the
historical date is given in “old style” reckoning or “new style,” as
a separate rule must be applied in each of these cases. Another rule
applies to dates before the Christian era. Leap years are taken into
account in all these rules. Every example involves an arithmetical
computation. There are “perpetual almanacs” that contain tables and
rules for all such computations. There is a chart published in this
city entitled “Almanac for All Time, Past and Future,” which answers
all queries of this nature.
CHICAGO FLOWER MISSION.
CANTON, Ill.
What is the Flower Mission of Chicago? State the nature of its
work, and how to reach it by letter or express.
MRS. J. D.
_Answer._—The object of the Chicago Flower Mission is to collect
and distribute flowers among the charitable institutions of the
city; chiefly through the wards of hospitals. The influence of these
cheery tokens of loving sympathy is believed to be most wholesome.
The condition of the mind has, in most cases of disease, a great
effect on the body. Nothing does more to recuperate the sick than a
hopeful, cheerful spirit, and a lively love of life and earnest wish
to recover. Flowers and their associations are delightful reminders
of the world in its fairest phases, and woo the sick back to life
with a tender eloquence akin to love. Letters or offerings of flowers
addressed to the “President of the Chicago Flower Mission, Atheneum
Building, Chicago,” will reach the mission.
LAND ENTRIES BY MARRIED WOMEN.
ROCHELLE, Ill.
Please tell whether a married woman can take up government land in
place of her husband, and oblige at least one of your readers,
C. A. REYNOLDS.
_Answer._—Under the pre-emption laws, which restrict the pre-emption
privilege to heads of families, widows, or single persons over the
age of 21, who are citizens of the United States or who have declared
their intention to become such, it has been judicially decided: 1.
That if a single woman marry after filing her declaratory statement,
she thereby abandons her right as a pre-emptor, although it is not
so in the case of timber-culture claim or homestead entry; 2. The
“head of a family” means the actual, living head of a family; hence,
that “a deserted wife or one whose husband is a confirmed drunkard
may be the head of a family;” also, that “a married woman who has
minor children and has been abandoned by her husband without cause
and left to support and maintain herself and children, is the head
of a family and entitled to pre-empt in her own name.” Under like
circumstances married women may make homestead and timber-culture
entries. Otherwise a married woman cannot pre-empt government land or
make a homestead or timber-culture entry.
CASUALTIES OF THE CIVIL WAR.
CHICAGO, Ill.
Will you please settle a dispute by telling how many lives were
lost in our civil war; and how many were so wounded as to seriously
cripple them for life?
A READER.
_Answer._—According to the Provost-Marshal General’s report, the
casualties in the Union army from the commencement of the late civil
war to its close, or say until Aug. 1, 1865, were as follows:
Killed—
Volunteer officers, white 3,357
Volunteer enlisted men, white 54,350
Officers of colored troops 124
Enlisted men of colored troops 1,790
Regulars 1,355
——————
Total 60,976
Died of Wounds—
Volunteer officers 1,595
Volunteer enlisted men 32,095
Officers of colored troops 46
Enlisted men of colored troops 1,037
Regulars 1,174
——————
Total 35,959
Died of Disease—
Volunteer officers 2,141
Volunteer enlisted men 152,013
Officers of colored troops 90
Enlisted men of colored troops 26,211
Regulars 3,009
———————
Total 183,467
Discharged for Disability—
Volunteer officers 3,058
Volunteer enlisted men 209,102
Officers of colored troops 166
Enlisted men 6,889
Regulars 5,091
———————
Total 224,306
The report of the Adjutant General of the army about five years
later, Oct. 25, 1870, puts the total number of deaths in the Union
army during the rebellion at 303,504, while the Surgeon General of
the army reports the number at 282,955. The Adjutant General reports
the total number killed in battle as 44,238; the Surgeon General
reports 35,408; the former reports the total number who died of
wounds as 33,993; and the latter as 49,205; the former reports the
number who died of disease as 149,043; the latter as 186,216. The
Quartermaster General reports the total number of graves under his
supervision as 315,555; only 172,309 of which have been identified.
Taking all things into consideration, the differences, according to
these several reports from officers of different departments, are, in
most instances, readily accounted for.
According to the only data at hand, the total Confederate losses in
action are estimated as follows: Killed, 51,525; wounded, 227,871.
The number who died of wounds and disease is not stated; according
to a “partial statement” in the American Almanac for 1883, was
133,821. It is not clearly stated whether this includes those killed
on the field.
To the above should be added the losses in the Union and Confederate
navies, amounting in the case of the former to 4,030 killed and
wounded in action; 2,532 died of disease; and 2,070 other casualties.
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.
INDEPENDENCE, Iowa.
Will the Curiosity Shop please to give the origin of the Church of
England, and an outline of its history?
H. N. BAKER.
_Answer._—The history of the Church of England previous to the
Reformation is closely connected with that of the Roman Catholic
Church. Tradition states that some of the Apostles first carried
Christianity to Britain, and the later work was carried on by Sts.
Augustine, Aidan and Chad. From the eighth till the sixteenth century
the English Church was subject to Rome, and the final separation was
due to the extreme measures adopted at the Council of Trent. But
for 200 years the seed sown by Wycliffe had been bearing fruit and
preparing the people for the great work of Luther. From 1066 to 1356
there was a constant struggle between the civil and ecclesiastical
powers. Then came Wycliffe’s translation into English of the Bible,
and his continued war against some of the leading doctrines of the
Romish Church, which led to the formation of a new sect called the
Lollards, holding views similar to those of the present church.
Despite persecution the new doctrines spread, encouraged by Cranmer,
and later by Queen Elizabeth, until in 1562 the thirty-nine articles
of faith were finally reviewed and adopted, and Protestantism was
recognized as the religion of England. In 1801, by the “Act of
Union,” the Episcopal churches in England and Ireland were united but
the latter church was disestablished and disendowed in 1869.
WILLIAM WALLACE—ROBERT BRUCE.
VALLEY, Wis.
1. Will you please give a few of the principal facts in the life of
Sir William Wallace? 2. Where and when did Robert Bruce die?
E. F. MARSHALL.
_Answer._—1. Wallace was the younger son of a Scottish knight of
good family in the southwest of Scotland. Neither the date nor the
place of his birth is definitely known, but the former must have been
about 1270. There is nothing certain known of his early life. He
first comes into notice as the leader of an insurrectionary movement
against Edward I. who had usurped the regal rights of John Baliol,
King of Scotland, and held him a prisoner in the Tower of London. In
1297 the rebellion against Edward had become general, and Wallace,
resolved to force the liberation of Baliol and the independence
of Scotland, made preparations to invade England. On the 11th of
September he defeated the English forces under the Earl of Surrey
at Sterling Castle with great slaughter, and, pursuing them into
Cumberland and Northumberland, ravaged that portion of England. On
his return he was made Governor of Scotland, or Regent, in the name
of the imprisoned monarch. This elevation of a man of comparatively
humble birth over the nobility of Scotland excited fierce jealousy
among the latter, which undoubtedly had much to do with the defeat of
the Scots the subsequent year by the English King and an overwhelming
army at Falkirk, July 22. The war was continued with varying fortunes
for seven years, but in 1304 Edward compelled the Scots to submit,
granting amnesty to all the insurgent nobles. Wallace, however, was
excepted from amnesty, and, having been betrayed into the hands
of Edward by his own countrymen, he was carried to London, where,
after a mock trial on the charge of treason, and the endurance of
barbarities of the most savage nature, he was executed Aug. 23, 1305.
His name is held in reverence by all true Scots, who now concede to
him the glory of having roused the Scotch love of country, and led
the way to that sturdy resistance of English oppression which finally
resulted in averting the fate that overtook Ireland. A monument to
Wallace was erected at Abbey Craig, near Stirling, at a cost of
£13,000, and inaugurated Aug. 27, 1869. 2. Robert Bruce, King of
Scots, died at Cardross Castle, on the firth of Clyde, June 7, 1329.
ANNUAL EXPENDITURES OF THE UNITED STATES.
DIXON, Ill.
What has been the least expenditure of the United States Government
in any single year since it was established; also what has been the
greatest, and what has been the annual expenditure of each year
since the war?
A SUBSCRIBER.
_Answer._—The gross expenditures of the United States Government
in 1791 amounted to $3,797,436.78. This is the lowest sum, and the
next lowest was in 1793, $6,479,977.97. The greatest amount any
year before the great rebellion was in 1859, during Buchanan’s
administration, when his Secretary of War was so busy arming the
South, $83,678,642.92. The largest amount expended by the government
in any single year was in 1865. Beginning with that year the table
below shows the gross expenditures of the government year by year
down to June 30, 1882:
1865 $1,906,443,331.37
1866 1,139,344,081.95
1867 1,093,079,655.27
1868 1,069,889,970.74
1869 584,777,996.11
1870 702,907,842.88
1871 691,680,858.90
1872 682,525,270.21
1873 524,044,597.91
1874 724,698,933.99
1875 682,000,885.32
1876 714,446,357.39
1877 565,299,898.91
1878 590,641,271.70
1879 966,393.692.69
1880 700,233,238.19
1881 425,865,222.64
1882 529,627,739.12
TRUMAN HENRY SAFFORD.
AURORA, Ill.
What has become of that wonderful mathematician, T. H. Safford?
Does he still retain those remarkable powers which distinguished
him as a boy? Oblige several readers with a few facts as to his
life.
F. STRINGER.
_Answer._—Truman Henry Safford, once widely noticed as “the
remarkable boy mathematician,” was born at Royalton, Vt., Jan. 6,
1836, and graduated at Harvard in 1854. He compiled an almanac
when he was 9 years old, making all the astronomical and other
calculations. When he was but about 14 he calculated the elliptic
elements of the first comet of 1849. He was appointed in 1863 Adjunct
Observer in the Cambridge University, and two years later made
Acting Director. While at this observatory he determined the right
ascension of 1,700 stars and the declination of 450, and made 6,000
transit observations, besides completing Professor Bond’s report of
discoveries in the constellation Orion. On Dec. 28, 1865, he accepted
the post of director of the Chicago Observatory, where he remained
until 1878, making many observations of similar nature to the last
above named. He is now connected with Williams College.
HERO AND LEANDER.
CHICAGO, Ill.
Please tell the story of Hero and Leander, illustrated in the
picture displayed in a window on State street, corner of Adams.
IGNORAMUS.
_Answer._—Hero was a priestess of Venus. Leander was a youth of
Abydos, a famous city on the Asiatic side of the strait of the
Hellespont, nearly opposite the city of Sestos on the European coast,
where he first saw Hero. It appears to have been a case of love at
first sight, and an intensely ardent case at that. Hero’s office
as priestess, and the resolute opposition of her parents stood in
the way of their union, cold and strong as the swift current of the
Hellespont, which at this its narrowest point, is swift and deep, and
about one and a quarter miles wide. Undaunted by all these obstacles,
Leander swam across the strait every night to visit his beloved, who
directed his course by holding a torch from the upper window of a
tower on the shore. After many delightful meetings, the dauntless
lover was drowned one stormy night, and his body was washed ashore at
the foot of the tower where Hero stood, expecting him. Heartbroken at
the sight, she flung herself from the tower into the sea, and passed
with her lover into the immortality of art and song.
XENOPHON AND GROTE.
PETERSBURG, Ill.
1. Please give a sketch of the lives of the historians, Xenophon
and Grote. 2. Describe the scythed chariots of the Greeks and
Persians.
CONSTANT READER.
_Answer._—Xenophon, son of the Athenian, Gryllus, was born B. C.
445-4. He was a pupil of Socrates. He joined the expedition of
Cyrus against Artaxerxes, King of Persia, and in the retreat of the
ten thousand, following the battle of Cunaxa, became the leader
of the Greeks, after the treacherous execution of their former
generals. A full account of the expedition and retreat is given in
his “Anabasis.” Being banished from Athens soon after his return,
he joined the Spartan army, in which he fought against his own
countrymen at Coronea. He lived at Scillus, in Elis, for more than
twenty years (until driven thence by the Eleans), hunting, farming,
and writing. It was there that he wrote the “Anabasis” and the
“Hellenica.” The last years of his life were passed at Corinth, where
he died about 356 B. C. George Grote, politician, historian, and
philosopher, was born at Clay Hill, Beckenham, Kent, Eng., in 1794.
As a statesman he was in sympathy with the leading reforms of his
time, and made several effective speeches in their behalf. His first
work as an author was upon parliamentary reform. The preparation
of his history of Greece occupied thirteen years, and the last two
volumes were published in 1856. In 1865 appeared his work on Plato.
Thereafter he devoted himself to the study of Aristotle. 2. The
scythed chariot was used by the Britons and Persians. It had two
wheels connected by an axle, upon which rested, without springs, the
body of the chariot, consisting of a floor with a semi-circular guard
in front about three feet high. It had no seat, and was open at the
back. In it stood the warrior and his charioteer. Attached to the
rims of the wheels projecting on each side and bristling from the
axle were scythes or blades of swords for cutting down those who came
in the way.
FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.
ROBERTS, Ill.
Tell us something of the birth, education, and work of Florence
Nightingale, the famous hospital nurse.
JAMES BOND.
_Answer._—She was born at Florence, Italy, in 1823, being the
daughter of William Shore Nightingale, Embly Park, Hampshire;
she was educated with great care, and was rather notable for her
brilliant accomplishments. Very early she showed great interest in
all institutions for the alleviation of suffering, and later visited
and inspected hospitals throughout Europe. She studied with Sisters
of Charity in Paris their system of nursing in the hospitals of
that city, and was trained also in the institution of Protestant
Deaconesses at Kaiserwerthen, on the Rhine. Later she organized the
Sanitarium for Governesses in London. Soon after the breaking out
of the Crimean war she offered to organize a nursing department at
Scutari, and with the consent of Lord Herbert left England Oct. 21,
1854, reaching Constantinople in time to take charge of the wounded
from the battle of Inkerman. In 1855 she was prostrated by a fever,
the result of overwork, but refused to rest, and remained in Scutari
until the English evacuated Turkey, July 28, 1856. The British army
almost idolized her. For some years Miss Nightingale has been an
invalid, but she has never ceased to plan and work for the welfare
of soldiers. At the close of the Crimean war a fund of $250,000 was
subscribed to enable her to establish a school for the training of
nurses, which is doing a noble work. She has published several books
bearing upon the work to which her life has been devoted.
ARTIFICIAL POULTRY BROODERS.
WICHITA, Kan.
What is an “artificial mother” or chicken brooder? Please tell us
what it looks like and how to use it?
AN OLD SUBSCRIBER.
_Answer._—There are two or three illustrations and descriptions
of chicken brooders, but they are all essentially the same thing.
Of course the nearer it comes to being a good substitute for the
hen mother the better it will be. Make a box about three or four
feet square and five or six inches deep, with a board top and a
sheet-iron, or, still better, a zinc bottom. Some tack a lamb skin,
drooping nearly to the bottom, to the top of this box and do not use
artificial heat; but the generally approved plan is to use one lamp
and tin flue like those used in the artificial incubator, hitherto
described, for warming a brooder of this size. Bore several small
auger holes through the top as escape flues for the heat; or, still
better, arrange three or four tin escape pipes of an inch diameter,
as was done in the “heater” of the incubator, dropping them down to
within a couple of inches of the bottom of the box. Next cut a strip
from some old blanket, or other coarse, soft woolen stuff, and tack
it around the lower edge of the box so that it will hang down about
four inches all round. Slash this at intervals of three or four
inches, so that the chicks can push through it. Now set blocks two
inches thick under two corners and three inches thick under the other
two corners, and your brooder is ready for use. Keep the temperature
up to 80 or 90 deg. Keep the box thoroughly clean, and move it
from one dry place to another every day or so. Dust the chicks
occasionally with sulphur or pyrethrum, to keep off vermin, and smear
their feathers here and there with paraffine. On one side of the
brooder there should be a “run” for the chicks to exercise in, which
may be a box covered with laths on top and sides, but with space next
the ground to allow them to run out. For protection against rats at
night cover the whole brooder with a close box perforated with small
auger-holes for ventilation.
RELIGIOUS STATISTICS OF CHICAGO.
ROCKFORD, Ill.
What is the present number of churches in Chicago? Does the
increase of churches and church membership keep pace with the
increase of population?
MRS. W.
_Answer._.—Mr. E. F. Cragin, one of the officers of the
Congregational Club of this city, has given some attention to this
subject, and at the last meeting of the club presented the following
figures, based on the census and the number of churches and church
members, computed from the best data at hand:
Churches Ratio of
and Members
Year. Missions. Year. Population. to Pop.
1840 6 1840 4,479 1 to 747
1851 28 1850 28,269 1 to 1,009
1862 84 1860 109,260 1 to 1,301
1870 187 1870 298,977 1 to 1,599
1880 242 1880 503,185 1 to 2,079
These figures include Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, Jewish
synagogues, two Mormon churches, several Spiritualists societies,
and indeed, every society listed in our city directory as religious
organizations. There are 188 of the 242 churches given for 1880,
which are classed by Mr. Cragin as Evangelical Protestants, of which
38 have services conducted in foreign languages. The population
between 6 and 21 years is given as 155,000, while the total
membership of Sunday schools is but 81,289. By way of postscript Mr.
Cragin remarks that the number of arrests in 1882 was over 33,000, or
1 to 18 of the population.
BRUNO, THE PANTHEIST.
NORTHWOOD, Iowa.
Who was “the Philosopher Bruno?”
L. O. HARMON.
_Answer._—Giordano Bruno, the leader of the modern school of
pantheistic philosophy, was born at Nola, Naples, about the middle of
the sixteenth century. He joined the order of the Dominican Monks,
but becoming dissatisfied with some of their doctrines, was expelled.
He fled first to Geneva, thence to Paris, and finally to England,
meeting with opposition and persecution. In 1585 he returned to
Paris, and in the next year went to Germany, where he studied and
taught. Becoming dissatisfied there, he settled in Padua, Italy, but
was soon after arrested in Venice by officers of the Inquisition,
and burned at Rome in 1600. 2. A sketch of Socrates has rarely been
given. 3. The Credit Mobilier is also fully explained in the bound
volume of “The Curiosity Shop” for 1880.
CITIZENS’ LEAGUE—TEMPERANCE ARGUMENTS.
MOUNT MORRIS, Ill.
Favor us with a statement of the precise objects and scope of the
Citizens’ League of Illinois, and the chief provisions of its
constitution and by-laws: as we may conclude to form a branch
organization here.
W. P. J.
_Answer._—The organization is called “The Citizens’ League of the
State of Illinois.” Its objects are the suppression of the sale
of liquors to minors and drunkards, and the enforcement of the
liquor laws. These objects it aims to effect (1) by enforcing all
existing laws and ordinances, prohibiting the selling or giving of
intoxicating liquors to minors or drunkards, and prohibiting minors
from playing games in places where liquors are sold, (2) by adopting
from time to time such other means as may be deemed necessary, or
as may in experience be found advisable for the accomplishment of
the general purposes of the organization, which is the saving of our
youth from habits of dissipation and vice, and, (3) by organizing
and fostering, especially in every county seat in Illinois, local
leagues, having the same object in view.
Any local league in Illinois, the name of which contains the words
“The Citizens’ League” in addition to words of distinction, and
the constitution of which is in harmony with the object of the
above association, as expressed in section 2 of article 1 of its
constitution, may become a constitutional branch of this league on
the payment of $10 per annum, with power to send three delegates to
each league meeting.