Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, Tyler, Polk, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan,
Lincoln, Hayes, and Garfield were lawyers; and Arthur was a
successful legal practitioner until appointed Collector of the Port
of New York by President Grant. Washington was a surveyor until
he entered the army. Madison was studying law when elected to the
Virginia Convention of 1776, after which he became absorbed in
political life. Monroe studied law under Jefferson, but did not
really enter the profession, being called off into military and
political affairs. Harrison entered military and political life
early, and was kept in it most of his days. Taylor and Grant rose
to the Chief Magistracy by distinguished military services. Johnson
was a tailor until he got into political life. As to Congress, its
membership has been too numerous for a full investigation. The
proportions indicated below will hold good, in all probability, for
the whole of the last or Forty-seventh Congress. The two Senators
and six of the eight Representatives from Alabama, both Senators and
three of the five Representatives from South Carolina, one Senator
and seven of the nine Congressmen from Virginia, both Senators and
all the four Representatives of Arkansas, in that Congress were
lawyers, or, at least, had been admitted to the bar; so were both
Senators and twelve of the nineteen Representatives from Illinois,
the two Senators and six of the nine Representatives from Iowa, both
Senators and eight of the eleven Representatives of Massachusetts,
one Senator and sixteen of the thirty-three Representatives of
Pennsylvania. The South is more given to the practice of choosing
lawyers, or persons with a smattering of the law, to represent them
in Congress and the Legislature than the North. Planters, who never
seriously expected their sons to practice, educated them in the law
formerly, as one of the qualifications for political life. The olden
prestige of the law as one of the learned professions, and the one
that led most directly to political promotions, had its influence
on the sons of the wealthy and their sires, not in the South only,
but in the North; nor on them only, but on the people. There is some
rational force also in the popular conception that lawyers are or
should be peculiarly fitted to be law-makers. The tendency in the
North for some years past, as indicated by the above statistics, is
to choose fewer lawyers and have commerce and the great industries of
the country represented by their conspicuous leaders.
SCHOOLS FOR THE COLORED RACE.
GONZALES, Texas.
How many institutions of learning for the colored race are there in
the United States, and how many persons attending them?
JOHN CRAWFORD.
_Answer._—According to the report of the Commissioner of Education,
for 1880, the educational institutions for the colored race in the
United States were then in number and attendance as follows:
Class of Institutions. Schools. Enrolled.
Public schools 17,081 806,106
Normal schools 44 7,408
High schools and academies 36 5,237
Universities and colleges 15 1,717
Schools of theology 22 800
Schools of law 3 33
Schools of medicine 2 87
Schools for deaf, dumb, and blind 2 122
—————— ———————
Total 17,205 821,570
Besides this there are a number of colored public schools in States
that fail to report them separately from the white schools; and there
are many colored children attending the same schools with the whites.
THE WYOMING MASSACRE.
CHICAGO, Ill.
To settle a dispute, please give the particulars of the massacre of
the Wyoming colonists during the revolutionary war, together with
the names of the military commanders and Indians, and oblige
A CONSTANT READER.
_Answer._—In the summer of 1778 the beautiful valley of Wyoming,
Penn., was invaded by a band of tories and Indians, and in the battle
that followed, on July 3, the American patriots, commanded by Colonel
Zebulon Butler, were defeated with horrible slaughter. Then followed
a general massacre, which some escaped by fleeing to the mountains,
while a few took refuge in Fort Forty (now Wilkesbarre). This fort
was besieged the morning of the 4th by the tories and Indians under
Colonel John Butler, and ordered to surrender; and being without any
means of defense, Colonel Dennison yielded to the entreaties of the
women and children to enter into articles of capitulation. It was
agreed upon the surrender of their arms, and the destruction of the
fort, the inhabitants of the valley should return peaceably to their
homes, but no sooner was the fort surrendered than the Indians fell
upon the houses, which they plundered and burned, killing all the
women and children who had not escaped to the mountains. The entire
village of Wilkesbarre was burned to the ground.
THE ILLINOIS BLACK LAWS.
WESTERN SPRINGS, Ill.
What were the “black laws” of Illinois?
J.L. WELLS.
_Answer._—Under the Territorial laws of Illinois persons were
allowed to bring slaves into the Territory under the name of
indentured servants. As such they might be held in bondage for a
term of ninety-nine years or less. This was in direct violation of
the spirit of the ordinance of 1787, which interdicted slavery or
involuntary servitude in all the territory north of the Ohio River.
The first State constitution, adopted in 1818, prohibited the further
introduction of slaves, but did not abolish this species of slavery
by liberating the victims of the barbarous Territorial enactments.
Thus slavery existed in Illinois in defiance of the ordinance of 1787
until the adoption of the constitution of 1848, which contained the
following provision: “There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude in this State, except as a punishment for crime.” After
the adoption of the constitution of 1818, the first Legislature
re-enacted the wicked law “respecting free negroes, mulattoes,
servants, and slaves” of Territorial times. No severer law was to
be found in any slave State. It forbade negroes or mulattoes to
settle in the State without certificates of freedom. No person was to
employ any negro or mulatto without such certificate, under a penalty
of $1.50 for each day. To harbor any slave or servant, or hinder
the owner in retaking a slave, was made a felony, punishable by
restitution or a fine of two-fold value, and whipping not to exceed
thirty stripes. Every black or mulatto without a proper certificate
was subject to arrest as a runaway slave, to be advertised for
six weeks by the sheriff, when, if not reclaimed or his freedom
established, he was sold for one year, after which he was entitled
to a freedom certificate. Any slave or servant found ten miles from
home without permit was liable to arrest and thirty-five stripes, on
the order of a justice. For misbehaving to his master or family he
was punishable with the lash. Indeed, punishment with the lash to the
number of thirty-nine and forty stripes was prescribed for each of
a long list of offenses, real or of legal construction. Even after
the adoption of the constitution of 1848, which required the General
Assembly at its first session to pass such laws as would effectually
prohibit free persons of color from immigrating to, or settling in
this State, and prohibit the owners of slaves from bringing them here
for the purpose of setting them free, the Legislature passed an act,
Feb. 12, 1853, which imposed on every such colored person a fine of
$50. If the fine was not paid forthwith, he was to be advertised and
sold to any one who would pay the fine and costs for the shortest
period of such person’s service. A case under this law was carried up
to the Supreme Court, and decided so late as 1864, to be valid. Other
provisions of these enactments were almost equally detestable. Such
were the infamous “black laws” of Illinois, which were continued,
with slight modifications, from Territorial times down to 1865, when
by act of Feb. 7, of that year, they were repealed. Had it not been
for these black laws the census of Illinois would not be blotted
with an enrollment of “168 slaves” in 1810; 917 in 1820; 747 in
1830; and 331 in 1840—the last census that carries such a stain.
Fortunately, the masters and people at large were better than their
laws. The horrors of Southern slavery would not have been tolerated
here. During the last twenty-five years of their existence the black
laws were practically a dead letter, being retained upon the statute
book more out of opposition to abolitionism, and deference to the
pro-slavery sentiment of the dominant parties than for any other
reason.
FIRST EXPLORERS OF THE FAR WEST.
KILL CREEK, Kan.
Is it a fact that early French explorers were the first to cross
the continent through the northern part of what is now the United
States?
SAMUEL RITTER.
_Answer._—No French explorers, known as explorers, traveled farther
West than Minnesota, but doubtless the French trappers reached the
head waters of the Missouri, if they did not go even farther. These,
however, have left no record of their wanderings, and we know nothing
of what they discovered. To Lewis and Clarke who in 1804-5 ascended
to the head waters of the Missouri and descended the Columbia to the
Pacific Ocean, belongs the honor of having given the first written
account of the far West.
PENNSYLVANIA WHISKY WAR.
PRAIRIE CITY, Ill.
Did the distillers of Pennsylvania at one time create an
insurrection on account of certain excise laws? If so, please state
the facts, and what means was used by the government to quell the
disturbance?
S. T. YOUNG.
_Answer._—In 1791 a tax was imposed upon domestic liquors. This
created especial dissatisfaction in Western Pennsylvania, where, in
1794, the distillers rose en masse and refused to pay the duty. But
upon the approach of militia sent by Washington, they yielded.
GAY-LUSSAC—BALLOONS.
PAWNEE ROCK, Kan.
1. Who was Gay-Lussac? 2. Who invented balloons? 3. Why was Sir
Walter Raleigh executed?
STEPHEN J. WILLARD.
_Answer._—Louis Joseph Gay-Lussac was one of the most eminent
chemists of this century. He was born at St. Leonard, France, Dec.
6, 1778. He distinguished himself as a student in the Polytechnic
College, Paris, and was selected to become the assistant of the great
French physicist and chemist, Berthollet, who was so impressed with
his originality and skill in research that on a certain occasion
he exclaimed: “Young man, it is your destiny to make discoveries.
You shall be henceforth my companion. I wish—it is a title of which
I am sure I shall have cause to be proud—I wish to be your father
in science.” While investigating terrestrial magnetism he was led
to make a balloon ascent, on Aug. 24, 1804, when he reached an
altitude of about 13,000 feet. Not satisfied, he procured a greater
balloon, and on Sept. 16 of the same year rose to an altitude of
23,000 feet, a height never before reached in a balloon, and seldom
exceeded since then. He made many valuable observations before
descending. Together with the famous Alexander von Humboldt, he made
the discovery that hydrogen and oxygen unite in the proportions of
two of the latter to one of the former, by bulk, to form water; also
that when gases combine with one another, either by weight or by
volume, they do so in very simple proportions, as 1 to 1, 1 to 2,
2 to 3, and so on. He analyzed many chemical compounds, proved the
elementary nature of several substances, such as iodine, to which he
gave the name it now bears, and he formed by chemical combinations
many valuable compounds. The French Academy elected him a member of
that distinguished body of savants; the French Government honored him
with important and highly honorable appointments; he became a member
of the Chamber of Deputies in 1831, and in 1839 was made a peer of
the realm. He devoted himself to scientific research to the last,
and was associated with the distinguished scientist Arago, in the
editorship of the Annals of Chemistry and Physics. He died in 1850.
2. Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, of Annonay, France, a town about
forty miles from Lyons, were the inventors of hot air balloons, just
one hundred years ago, and the same year two brothers of the name of
Robert made and charged the first hydrogen gas balloon, under the
superintendence of Mr. Charles, a professor of natural philosophy, in
Paris. 3. Sir Walter Raleigh was executed under a trumped up charge
of conspiracy against the life of James I., of England; but really at
the instigation of certain rivals and to gratify the king of Spain,
toward whom he had always manifested the greatest hostility.
QUARTER SECTIONS, SHORT OR LONG.
ORLEANS, Neb.
There is a case in dispute here in regard to the government survey.
They say that the government surveyor who ran the section lines
here started at the Kansas line from the wrong corner, and, running
north, made one tier of sections fifteen or twenty rods too narrow
and the next tier as much too broad. Now, after twenty years, when
the land is all occupied and more or less improved, can the line be
moved? All the old corners are plainly defined and recognized as
government corners.
B. F. POLHUMUS.
_Answer._—In the case of Peder O. Aanrud (see Copp’s Land Owner) the
Commissioner of the General Land Office made the following ruling:
“The term ‘quarter-section’ is used to designate a certain legal
subdivision of the public land ascertained by official survey.
It generally contains just 160 acres; but, through unavoidable
inaccuracy of surveys in adjusting meridians etc., it often exceeds
or falls below that amount. It is still, however, the technical legal
quarter section defined by law and ascertained by official survey.
A homestead settler may enter 160 acres in legal subdivisions lying
contiguous to each other without reference to the quarter-section
lines, or he may enter a technical quarter-section as such, in which
case he can take the amount of land contained therein, as shown by
the official survey. In entering a quarter section he cannot depart
from the ascertained lines, but must take 160 acres, more or less, as
the case may be.” The case stated in this question is extraordinary,
and may not be fully covered by the above ruling, but it is almost
certain that in all cases where patents have issued and owners have
been in undisturbed possession for sixteen years or more the titles
cannot be disturbed.
ATCHISON, THE BORDER RUFFIAN SENATOR.
TISKILWA, Ill.
Kindly inform us who Dave Atchison, of Kansas and Missouri
notoriety, was.
G. S. BATTERY.
_Answer._—He was a politician of the desperado order, who figured
in an unenviable light in the early days of Kansas. Born in Fayette
County, Ky., in 1807, he removed to Missouri in 1830. In 1841 he was
appointed by the Governor to fill an unexpired term in the United
States Senate, of which, through re-election, he continued a member
until 1855. For some time he acted with the Benton wing of the
Democratic party, which accepted the Jacksonian doctrine as opposed
to pro-slavery radicalism. In time, however, he adopted Calhounism,
including the doctrine of secession, and during the early Kansas
troubles devoted himself to making Kansas a slave State. In 1854-56
he encouraged and abetted the outrages committed by the bands of
Missouri border ruffians, who repeatedly invaded that Territory,
taking an active part in driving free-soil voters from the polls and
instigating the bloody attacks on Lawrence and Ossawatamie, and in
other villainies of those terrible times preceding the triumph of the
Free State party in Kansas.
MURDERS AND SUICIDES.
MELROSE, Wis.
Give, if you can, the number of murders and suicides in the United
States in the course of a year.
IRA JONES.
_Answer._—According to the census for 1880 there were 1,336 cases of
homicide, or murder, and manslaughter, and 2,517 cases of suicide,
of which 472 were by self-shooting, 155 by drowning, 340 by poison,
1,550 by other means.
RAINFALL IN NEBRASKA.
VAN CLEVE, Iowa.
What part of Nebraska has the greatest rainfall? What parts have
the second and the third largest average rainfall? In what month is
this fall the greatest?
J. W. JOHNSON.
_Answer._—During the ten years from 1869 to 1879 the average annual
rainfall in that part of Nebraska lying between the Missouri River
and a line drawn to where Blue River crosses the Kansas-Nebraska
Line, was thirty-eight inches. In the extreme southeastern corner
of the State, near the Missouri River, it was nearly forty inches.
West of the line above described to a line starting from the
Missouri River a little south of the mouth of Bow River, running
with a slight eastern curve to Kearney and then southwesterly to
the State line, the average rainfall was thirty-two inches. From
this last line to another starting near the mouth of the Niobrara,
curving southwesterly to a point a little east of North Platte, and
thence curving slightly to the southwest to a point a little west of
Culbertson, the rainfall averaged twenty-six inches. Between this
last line and another starting on the State line at the mouth of the
Keya Paha and running southwesterly to a point on the Kansas-Nebraska
line, midway between Culbertson and the southwest corner of the
State, the average was nineteen inches. West of this section the
rainfall is not well determined, but it diminishes from nineteen to
less than seventeen inches. The heaviest rainfall is in June.
THE SIRENS.
I have an engraving representing a lady about to go into a boat, or
a sailor about to land. It is entitled, “The Siren.” What is the
story?
BACHELOR.
_Answer._—Among the old Greek legends is one that near the island
of Caprera, in the Mediterranean Sea, there dwelt two—some versions
say three—damsels whose music was so sweet that no one who heard it
could resist its seductive charms. The passing sailor, listening to
it, forgot his country, home, and all former friends, and, unable to
escape the entrancement of their songs, remained on the barren rocks
until he died of starvation. It is further related that Ulysses, one
of the most crafty of the Greek heroes of the olden time, by the
advice of Circe, filled his sailors’ ears with wax before passing the
rock and had them lash him to the mast until the danger was passed.
When he heard the music he struggled hard to free himself and escape
to the rock, but his companions only bound him the more firmly until
their ship had passed out of hearing, whereupon the fated sisters
hurled themselves into the deep and were changed into two great
rocks. The whole legend may be regarded as an allegory, the sirens
personifying seductive pleasures.
THE FIVE POINTS IN CALVINISM.
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind.
What are the “Five Points” considered essential to pure Calvinism?
Did not the Pan-Presbyterian Council held at Philadelphia a few
years ago indorse them all?
FREEMASON.
Answer.—The “Five Points” in the confession of the Synod of Dort,
generally regarded as the essentials of Calvinism, are the following
doctrines: 1. Predestination; 2. The atonement; 3. The total
depravity of the natural man; 4. That salvation is purely of the
grace and free will of God; 5. The final perseverance of all who
have once experienced justification by faith. For a more extended
presentation of these five points see Our Curiosity Shop for 1881,
page 91. These doctrines are differently construed by Presbyterian
divines; so that in fact they are held in quite different senses
by organizations usually classed together as Calvinists. The
Pan-Presbyterian Council recognized the rights of the several bodies
represented in it to construe the Scriptures as regards these
doctrines according to their own judgments so long as they subscribed
to the general declarations of the Westminster Confession of Faith,
or the confession of the Synod of Dort.
CLAUDE DE BONNEVAL.
KILL CREEK, Kan.
Please sketch briefly the career of Claude de Bonneval.
SAMUEL RITTER.
_Answer._—Count Claude Alexandre de Bonneval, born at Limousin,
France, began his eventful career as a soldier in the French army,
but being condemned to death for insolence toward the Minister
of War, provoked by being refused promotion, on account of bad
conduct, he fled to Germany. He entered the Austrian army, and in
1723 was appointed Master of Ordnance to the Netherlands. But he
became involved in a disgraceful quarrel with the Governor, and was
sentenced to death. The sentence was, however, commuted to a year’s
imprisonment. Upon his release he went to Constantinople, and under
the name of Achmed he entered the service of the Porte, who made
him Pasha, and gave into his hands the organizing of the artillery
after the European manner. In the Turco-Russian war he achieved
great success, and won the appointment of Governor of Chios, but
soon lost the position through his imprudence. His death occurred at
Constantinople in 1747.
TO FIND THE DAY OF THE WEEK.
BATH, Ohio.
I am puzzled. Please give me a rule for ascertaining the day of the
week on which any day of the year comes.
SELIVA Q. YOLVARE.
_Answer._—To find the day of the week on which any particular date
of the current year will fall, divide the whole number of days from
the time when computation is made by 7. If there is no remainder
the day sought will be the same day of the week as the day when the
computation is made. If there is a remainder of one it is the next
day of the week, and so on. Illustration: Suppose it is Monday, July
9, and the question is, what day of the week will Aug. 10 be, proceed
as follows: In July after July 9 there are 22 days. Add 10 days in
August, making 32 days. Divide 32 by 7, and the quotient is 4 and 4
remainder. Now July 9 was Monday, so Aug. 10 will be the fourth day
of the week after Monday, or Friday. To find the day of the week for
dates in other years than the current one is a much more serious
matter. It involves many elements, and is, withal, an arithmetical
problem, and therefore excluded from Our Curiosity Shop by one of
its standing rules. There are tables for this class of questions, as
explained in an answer given not long ago.
SUPPORT OF PAUPER RELATIVES.
LONGMONT, Col.
What States, if any, require persons to support their pauper
parents and other near relatives?
C. WATSON BROWN.
_Answer._—The statutes of Illinois require “that every poor person
who shall be unable to earn a livelihood in consequence of any bodily
infirmity, idiocy, lunacy, or other unavoidable cause, shall be
supported by the father, grandfather, mother, grandmother, children,
grandchildren, brothers or sisters of such person, if they, or either
of them, be of sufficient ability; provided that when persons become
paupers from intemperance or other bad conduct they shall not be
entitled to support from any relative except parent or child.” These
relatives are to be called on in the following order: Children are
to be first called on for parents, if the children are of sufficient
ability, and, if not, then the parents of the poor person; next
brothers and sisters; next grandchildren; next grandparents. Married
females cannot be required to support their poor relatives unless
they have property in their own right. Similar laws exist in most
if not all the other States of the Union. Not having the statutes of
Colorado at hand, we must refer you to them, at the nearest justice’s
office or at the county court house, for definite information as to
your own State.
THE FIRST RAILROAD IN ILLINOIS.
ALTONA, Ill.
In a recent answer in Our Curiosity Shop it was asserted that “a
section of the Northern Cross Railroad, from Naples to Springfield,
was the first railroad in this State; also, that it was operated by
mule power until 1849.” Now let me say: 1. That the road was built
from Meredosia toward Jacksonville and Springfield in 1838. [It was
begun in 1837, and was opened through to Springfield in 1838—Editor.]
2. A locomotive was shipped by way of the rivers to Meredosia, where
it arrived and was placed on the track in November, 1838. I went from
Peoria, June 15, 1839, by steamboat to Meredosia, where I saw the
locomotive on the new railroad, coupled to a train of cars ready to
pull out. A few years later there was a branch constructed from the
bluff, four or five miles from Meredosia, to Naples. The road from
Naples to Jacksonville and Springfield became the main line, and the
spur to Meredosia was regarded as the branch. [The use of steam was
very soon abandoned, as the road was operated at a loss, and mule
power was resorted to until 1849—Editor.]
A. G. LITTLE.
DU CHAILLU, THE TRAVELER.
POSTVILLE, Iowa.
Please give a short sketch of the life of Paul B. Du Chaillu. How
is his name pronounced?
MAUD MAYO.
_Answer._.—Du Chaillu, a great African explorer, began his travels
when but a boy, with his father. For many years they lived upon the
Gaboon River, and in 1855, after spending some years in New York, he
returned to Western Africa, where he devoted four years to travel
and discovery. During this time he traveled about 8,000 miles on
foot, and collected many valuable specimens in natural history.
His works contain the result of his study during this and a later
expedition, their chief interest and value being due to the account
they contain of many hitherto strange tribes, and to his description
of the gorilla and many curious apes. Du Chaillu was born in France
about 1820. His name is pronounced Du Sha-yu, with accent on second
syllable, and sounding a as in far.
SALE OF TOBACCO BY PRODUCER.
ORLEANS, Ind.
Has Congress changed the internal revenue laws so as to allow the
producer to sell to the consumer?
A. N. W.