navigator’s reckoning should be made at the 180th degree of
longitude west and east from Greenwich, Eng., then this would be
the international date line. Unfortunately, now, there is no such
universally accepted line, although most merchant vessels of all
nations do make the correction at the meridian above named. So it
often happens that sailors in the Pacific Ocean, because their
vessels reach the 180th meridian coming eastward on Sunday enjoy
two Sundays together, and going westward have two weeks without any
intervening Sunday. It has been proposed to fix by international
agreement upon this or some other line for this correction of
dates so as to make all ship calendars agree, but thus far a silly
national pride and other insufficient reasons have prevented such an
agreement. The meridian of Rome, as the center from which Christian
civilization was disseminated both towards the East and West, has
been proposed by some. It has the advantage of being nearly upon
the meridian of the most of the great observatories of Europe—those
of Modena, Verona, Naples, Palermo, Padua, Venice, Munich, Leipsic,
Prague, Berlin, Gotha, Copenhagen, Uraniburg, and Christiana. This
would locate the 180th degree of longitude in Behring Straits.
If such a line could be determined, and local calendars the world
over be made to correspond, it would dispose of such absurdities in
reckoning as exist now, when it is a fact that during five hours of
every day there are three different dates in use in different parts
of the world. For example: From 5:10 o’clock a. m. to 10:10 o’clock
a. m. of to-day, Sept. 17, 1883, at Chicago, the inhabitants of the
Navigator Islands, in the Pacific, are in the early part of their
Sept. 18, while those of the Philippine Islands, about sixty degrees
further west, adhering to their old calendar, are finishing Sept.
16. That is to say, from the time any given day of the week and
month begins at the earliest place of reckoning to the time it ends
at the latest place is about fifty-three hours. This is accounted
for by the fact that places discovered and receiving civilization by
Eastern communication from Europe, and those receiving it by Western
communication, took their dates from opposite directions without
allowing for the day lost in circumnavigating the globe in the one
direction and the day gained in circumnavigating it in the other. The
Philippine Islands were discovered by Magellan, sailing westward, and
conquered by a Spanish expedition dispatched from the west coast of
Mexico, which accounts for the use there of a dating later by a day
than that of the neighboring island of Hong Kong, on the China coast,
and the Japanese islands; in fact, the latest dating of any place on
the globe.
CERTAIN RIGHTS OF MARRIED WOMEN.
FORT WORTH, Texas.
Is there any State in the Union where a man is not compelled to
divide his property with his wife in case they separate? 2. What is
the proper pronunciation of “dude?”
E. G. HOWARD.
_Answer._—All States, except California and Indiana, give the wife
a dower right in her husband’s property. In case of voluntary
separation, she may agree to waive a part, or all, of her right; or
the husband may concede more than her dower right, and in case the
agreement is reduced to writing and properly acknowledged, it is
binding upon both parties, the separation being in other respects
in conformity with law. In case of a divorce for the wife’s fault,
she loses her dower right. If it is for the husband’s fault, the
court will maintain her dower rights and also award her alimony
proportioned to her husband’s income, to be paid by him at stated
periods. 2. Pronounce it dood.
QUERIES ABOUT NEBRASKA.
TABOR, Iowa,
Please inform one of your readers what portion of Nebraska is
open to homesteaders. Please give some facts in regard to water
and drought. I am told there are valuable lands, well watered,
in Custer County. Any facts concerning the lands of Central and
Western Nebraska will be gladly received.
HOME-SEEKER.
_Answer._—Most of Nebraska between Ft. Kearney and the western State
line is open to homesteaders, but perhaps the greatest immigration
at this time is to the Niobrara Valley. The Platte Valley is also
very fertile. The agricultural country extends 180 miles west of the
Missouri River, and produces great harvests of grain, flax, hemp,
and all vegetables: while south of latitude 42 degrees the common
small fruits grow in abundance. When Central Kansas and Nebraska
are settled, what is now generally regarded as the “great corn
belt” will be under cultivation. The portion of the State devoted
to grazing comprises 23,000,000 acres, generally well watered, with
Ogallala as a center. Except in the valleys, the water lies from
100 to 200 feet below the surface of the ground, and is obtained
by boring. The sandy tracts are subject to drought, but where the
subsoil is dry clay the ground is usually moist. Custer County is
settling rapidly, although it has the reputation of being sandy, and
adapted for the most part only to grazing. The mean temperature of
the State is in winter from 22 to 30 degrees, and in summer from 70
to 74 degrees. The rainfall (greatest in May and June) averages about
thirty inches in all but the extreme northwestern corner of the State.
FEUDALISM.
TOLONO, Ill.
Please give the definition of feudalism?
H. B. HASKELL.
_Answer._—Feudalism is the state of society in which all landed
property is considered as belonging to the crown. It is apportioned
by the Kings to the nobles, as feudatories, upon condition that
they render annually a certain amount of military service. These
proprietors may, in turn, partition their lands to sub-tenants in
consideration of like military service.
Feudal proprietors at first held their lands from a superior for
life; later as an inheritance. The great feudatories lived in
fortified castles, surrounded by villages of peasants who tilled
their lands. In all matters of jurisprudence they exercised supreme
authority over their dependents. To other feudatory lords each might
stand in the relation of friend or foe, though he met with them as
peers in the periodical councils of the realm. Among the services
required from their dependents or vassals, were military service,
when called upon, contribution toward the expenses of war, toward
ransom of their lord if taken captive, toward marriage expenses of
his son, and dowry of his daughter.
ADELINA PATTI.
KANKAKEE, ILL.
Decide whether Adelina Patti is a native of this country, and
settle a dispute. Also, please tell her true maiden name and the
main facts of her life.
Cymbeline.
_Answer._—Adelina Patti’s real name before her marriage was Adele
Juana Maria Patti. She is a native of Spain, being born at Madrid
April 9, 1843. She inherited her talent to some degree from her
mother, Mme. Barilli Patti, a prima donna of no mean reputation. It
is stated that she sang “Norma” at the Grand Theater, Madrid, on the
evening before Adele’s birth, and, as she lost much of the power and
sweetness of her voice after that event, she always maintained that
it had gone from her into the child. Adele has been claimed as an
American, because the family came to this country the next year after
her birth, and her brilliant fame dawned upon her in New York City.
At the age of 9 she made her first appearance before the public, and
made the tour of Canada with Strakosch and Ole Bull. She made her
debut in New York City March 3, 1854, at Paul Jullien’s concert, in
the City Assembly rooms. Then she accompanied Gottschalk, the great
pianist, to the West Indies. It was at this time that she sung in
costume with Signor Barilli at Havana the duet in the “Barber of
Seville” with such effect that the audience became excited to such a
pitch and clamored so wildly for her to reappear that she ran away in
a fright, and nothing could persuade her to return. Returning to New
York she was more popular than ever. It was in November of 1859 that
the managers of the Academy of Music, New York, after a long period
of unprofitable engagements which threatened to end in financial
ruin, brought forward Adelina Patti as Lucia. The result was an
immense success. From that time she was the pet of the metropolis.
She made her debut in London as Amina in “La Somnambula” in 1861. In
England and on the Continent she soon won her way to the first rank
among prima donnas. Devotees of the opera, of all ranks, showered
favors upon her. The Emperor of Russia, in 1870, conferred on her
the Order of Merit. Her voice is an unusually high soprano of
rich, bell-like quality, and remarkable evenness of tone, to which
qualities she adds purity of style and high artistic finish. Equally
at home in the tenderness of deep passion and the sprightly vivacity
of light comedy, she has also sung with success in oratorio. She was
married in London July 29, 1868, to the Marquis de Caux, an almost
impecunious scion of the old French nobility. It was an unhappy
alliance and has ended in a divorce granted by the French courts to
the Marquis, in 1876. According to French law she is not entitled to
marry, but, nevertheless, she now claims to be legally married to
Nicolini.
VOTING—RIGHTS AND RESTRICTIONS.
MOUND, La.
1. Are there not States where citizens over 21 years of age are
not permitted to vote without a property qualification? 2. If so,
has the representation of such States in Congress been reduced
in proportion, as would seem to be required by the United States
Constitution? 3. Do the peeresses entitled to seats in the English
House of Lords ever occupy them and vote as members of that body?
W. R. JOHNSTON.
_Answer._—1. Yes, and we gave their names in these columns recently.
Rhode Island is the most exacting one of them. 2. No. 3. Yes.
COLUMBIA RIVER.
ONARGA, Ill.
To settle a dispute, please state the precise place where the
Columbia River rises. Also give its length, and tell how far it is
navigable.
HUGH E. SUTTON.
_Answer._—The Columbia River rises in a trivial lake on the Western
slope of the Rocky Mountains, in latitude 50 deg. 31 min. north, and
longitude 116 deg. west of Greenwich. It is a swift, tortuous stream,
cutting its way through many wild, deep gorges, or canons, and
obstructed by numerous rapids and falls, until it reaches the foot of
the Cascades, a series of rapids where it makes its way through the
Cascade Mountains. Here the scene on either hand is most impressive,
rising in places to the height of sublimity. From where the Clarke
River fork enters to the sea the Columbia forms the boundary between
Oregon and Washington Territory. Its total length is variously
estimated, the best authorities making it between 1,400 and 1,450
miles. It is navigable for sea-going vessels of 300 tons burden to
the head of tide water, at the foot of the Cascades, 160 miles, and
steamboats ply on it above this, both below and above the narrow
known as the Dalles, in all 485 miles more.
THE POET LOWELL.
POPLAR CREEK, Ill.
Please give an account of the life of James Russell Lowell.
H. L. WILSON.
_Answer._—During the war with Mexico there appeared a series of
humorous poems by Hosea Biglow, aimed against the war and slavery,
which made not a little stir, not only in literary circles but in
all classes of society. The real author was James Russell Lowell, a
native of Boston, and already known as a poet through his “Legend
of Brittany,” published in 1844. In 1854 he succeeded Longfellow
as Professor of Modern Languages at Harvard. During 1857-62 he was
editor of the “Atlantic Monthly,” and 1863-72 of the “North American
Review.” In 1869 he published a volume of poems and in 1870 a
second volume, followed in 1871 by “My Study Windows.” Four years
ago he became United States Minister to the Court of St. James. In
literature Mr. Lowell has attained to well-deserved distinction on
both sides of the Atlantic, and as a diplomatist he has acquitted
himself with honor.
HALLOWEEN.
LANSING, Mich.
Give the origin and history of Halloween and describe some of the
sports.
A READER.
_Answer._—For the origin and history of Halloween see Our Curiosity
Shop for 1880, page 31. Some of the most common of the sports
connected with it are these: If you go down the cellar stairs
backwards or into a dark room, holding a lighted candle in one hand
and a looking-glass in the other, the face of your “destiny” will
appear over your left shoulder. Walk around the house three times
with a broom over your right shoulder, and you will see the same
person, or go down cellar backwards combing your hair and carrying
a candle. These things must be done at exactly midnight. Let some
one of a company “name” a number of apples, and drop them in a
pail of water. Let each of the others try to take one out with the
teeth alone, and so decide his or her fate. For other sports and
superstitions associated with Halloween see “Chambers’ Book of Days.”
MARINE HISTORY—“OLD-TIMERS.”
FRANKFORT, Mich.
In answer to H. H. H., of Chicago, who asks in Our Curiosity Shop
which is the oldest lake craft now in service, I will say: The
oldest lake craft now in service is said to be the Racine, built at
Cleveland in 1844; the next is Genesee Chief, 1846. Among some of the
other old-timers still in service are the barge Seminole, 38 years
old; Pilgrim, 35 years; Two Brothers, 37 years; Reindeer, 35 years;
schooners Arcturus, 30 years; Cascade, 30 years; Elbe, 30 years;
Sonora, 29 years; Clipper City, 29 years; Vermont, 30 years; Pilot,
35 years; Harriet Ross, age unknown. The oldest American vessel
now coasting on the ocean is the bark Amethyst, built in 1822. The
following will prove of interest to old Chicagoans, who will no
doubt recollect the circumstances: The first craft built in Chicago
was the sloop Clarisa, 1836; the first steamboats, James Allen, 213
tons; G. W. Dole, 162 tons burden, built in 1838. The first sail
arrival at Chicago was the schooner General Tracy, from Detroit,
in 1803. The first steamer arrival was the Superior, with United
States troops, in 1832. The first tugboat in Chicago harbor was the
Archimedes, a side-wheeler, exploded in 1852. The schooner Illinois
was the first sail craft to enter the Chicago River over the bar,
July 14, 1834. The schooners La-Grange, United States, Oregon, and
Illinois were some of the pioneer packet vessels sailing between
Buffalo and Chicago in 1830, carrying passengers and freight. The
little steamer called Chicago plied on the river, and in 1836 carried
the Governor and party up to Bridgeport, where the first shovelful of
sand was dug for the canal.
In connection with the above, to show what a vessel can do in her
time, I will mention as an example: The old packet ship Great
Western, built over forty years ago, plying between New York and
Liverpool, 1,800 tons burden. This vessel sailed twenty-nine years in
the packet line without losing one of her crew; also during 116 trips
she never lost a sail or spar. She has carried 30,000 passengers from
Europe to America; 200 marriages, and 1,500 births occurred on board
of her. Ten years ago she was sent to the Pacific Ocean, being a very
successful craft. She caught fire and burned to the water’s edge in
San Francisco during the past summer. For marine history of United
States, see my articles in THE DAILY INTER OCEAN, May 10, 1882, July
28, etc.
CHARLES BURMEISTER.
TO POSTMASTERS.
FAIRMOUNT, Minn.
What is the object of the little patch of leather, open at the top,
riveted to the inside of some of the United States mail-bags, not
far from the top? I have inquired of several persons, including
postmasters at one or two places, but none of them seem to know.
Only about one in three or four mail-bags have it.
A FRIEND.
_Answer._—The small pouch you refer to is a pocket for any memorandum
the postmaster may wish to send with the bag. In case a mail-bag
anywhere in the Northwest needs repairs it should be sent to the
Chicago Postoffice, which has a repair shop connected with it. The
postmaster sending such a bag should put in this pouch a memorandum
showing from what office it is sent. This is but one of many
instances in which it serves a good purpose. It is to be found only
in the new mail-bags.
STRONG DRINK OF THE HEBREWS.
VICTORIA, Neb.
We read that in the time of Samuel there were people who drank
no wine or any strong drink. Are we to suppose that they had any
stronger drink than fermented wine? Had they any distilled spirits?
READER.
_Answer._—By “strong drink” in the Old Testament we are not to
understand distilled spirits, for alcohol was not discovered until
the present era. The term refers to three beverages of the Jews—date
honey, date or palm wine unfermented, and palm wine rendered
intoxicating by fermentation, or by the admixture of stupifying
ingredients while boiling. The latter was preferred, as fermentation
made the wine bitter and harsh.
THE FATHERS ON PROTECTIVE TARIFF.
DAVENPORT, Iowa.
On what authority does Our Curiosity Shop class Washington,
Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and, still more strange to say, General
Jackson with the advocates of protective tariff?
FREE TRADER.
_Answer._—The first Congress that assembled under our present
Constitution passed the first tariff. In the preamble to that act
it is expressly affirmed that such tariff was necessary “to pay
the public debt, provide revenue, etc., and for the protection
and encouragement of American manufactures.” The necessity of
such protection was urged in the messages of Presidents George
Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison James Monroe, John Q.
Adams, and Andrew Jackson. In his annual message of Dec. 15, 1802,
among other proper objects of government, Jefferson enumerates the
following; “To foster our fisheries as nurseries of navigation and
for the nurture of man; and to _protect the manufactures_ adapted
to our circumstances.” In his annual message of 1806, apprehending
a surplus revenue, he says; “To what other objects shall these
surpluses be appropriated, and the whole surplus of impost after
the entire discharge of the public debt? Shall we suppress the
impost (or tariff) and give that advantage to foreign over domestic
manufactures?” He then suggests that on a few articles the impost
might be wisely suppressed, but in regard to the great mass of them
he says; “The patriotism of the people would prefer its continuance
and application to the great purposes of public education, roads,
rivers, canals, and other objects of public improvement.” In his
message of Nov. 8, 1808, after referring with gratification to the
increase of “internal manufactures and improvements,” he expresses
the hope that such establishments of manufacturing industry “formed
and forming, will, under the auspices of cheaper materials and
substance, the freedom of labor from taxation with us, and of
_protecting duties_ and _prohibitions_, become permanent.” Says
President Monroe, in his inaugural address of March 5, 1817; “Our
manufactures will likewise require the systematic and fostering care
of the government. Possessing, as we do, all the raw materials,
the fruit of our own soil and industry, we ought not to depend, in
the degree we have done, on supplies from other countries. It is
important, too, that the capital which nourishes our manufactures
should be domestic, as its influences in that case, instead
of exhausting, as it may do in foreign hands, would be felt
advantageously for agriculture and every other branch or industry.
Equally important is it to provide at home a market for our raw
materials, as by extending the competition it will enhance the price
and protect the cultivator against the casualties incident to foreign
markets.”
In his message of Dec. 7, 1830, General Jackson says: “The power to
impose duties on imports originally belonged to the several States.
The right to adjust these duties, with the view to the encouragement
of domestic branches of industry, is so completely incidental to
that power, that it is difficult to suppose the existence of the
one without the other.” He proceeds to say that the denial of the
right of the Federal Government “to exercise this power for the
purpose of protection would he to present the anomaly of a people
stripped of the right to foster their own industry, and to counteract
the most selfish and destructive policy which might be adopted by
foreign nations. This surely cannot be the case. This indispensable
power, thus surrendered by the States, must be within the scope of
the authority on the subject expressly delegated to Congress. In
this conclusion I am confirmed as well by the opinions of Presidents
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, who have each repeatedly
recommended the exercise of this right under the Constitution, as by
the uniform practice of Congress, the continued acquiescence of the
States, and the general understanding of the people.” In a letter to
Dr. Coleman, of North Carolina, dated at Washington City, April 20,
1824, General Jackson wrote: “If we omit or refuse to use the gifts
which Providence has extended to us, we deserve not the continuation
of His blessing. He has filled our mountains and our plains with
minerals—with lead, iron, and copper—and given us a climate and soil
for the growing of hemp and wool. These being the great materials of
our National defense, they ought to have extended to them adequate
protection; that our manufacturers and laborers may be placed in a
fair competition with those of Europe, and that we have within our
country a supply of those leading and important articles so essential
to war. I will ask what is the real situation of the agriculturist?
Where has the American farmer a market for his surplus produce?
Except for cotton he has neither a foreign nor a home market. Common
sense at once points out the remedy. Take from agriculture in the
United States 600,000 men, women, and children and you will at once
give a market for more breadstuffs than all Europe now furnishes us.
In short, sir, we have been too long subject to the policy of British
merchants. It is time we should become a little more Americanized,
and instead of feeding paupers and laborers of England, feed our own,
or else in a short time, by continuing our present policy, we shall
be rendered paupers ourselves.” In consonance with these sentiments,
Jackson, together with Martin Van Buren and Silas Wright, the
leaders of the Northern Democracy, and the great mass of the Jackson
representatives from the free States, voted for the tariff of 1828,
the highest protective tariff ever levied in this country before the
war of the rebellion. In the next subsequent decade the Democratic
party, led by the cotton States, and determined to defeat the Whig
party led by the great Protectionist, Henry Clay, espoused free trade.
DON CARLOS.
KINGMAN, Kan.
Who and what was Don Carlos?
A READER.
_Answer._—1. There was a Don Carlos in the sixteenth century. He was
the son of Philip II., of Spain; was born at Valladolid in 1545, and
recognized as heir to the throne in 1560. But owing to his dullness
at school, and distaste for study, the King deemed him unfit to reign
over his subjects, and invited the Prince’s cousin, the Archduke
Rudolf, to Spain, intending to educate him for the throne. Jealous
of this usurper, Don Carlos conceived a strong dislike to all the
King’s counselors, whom he plotted to destroy. But having foolishly
divulged to his confessor that he intended to murder some one, that
some one was suspected to be the King. The stupid Prince was tried
and convicted of high treason, and left to the mercy of the King.
Philip declared that he could make no exception in favor of such an
ungrateful son, but there is found no formal record of any sentence
of death. Don Carlos died soon afterward, at the age of 23. 2. The
Don Carlos who has of late years been causing so much trouble in
Spain, as a pretender to the throne, is the eldest son of the brother
of King Fernando VII. His wife is Princess Marguerite, of Bourbon,
daughter of Duke Carlos III., of Parma. He is a brother of the
ex-Queen Isabella, and uncle to the present King.
EDUCATION AND CHRISTIAN BENEVOLENCE.
WEXFORD, Mich.
What proportion of the benevolent and educational institutions in
the United States are built and operated by Christians, and what by
infidels?
F. J. HALL.