OUR CURIOSITY SHOP. (continued 9)

Dr. H. C. Young, Formerly Surgeon U. S. N.

PSEUDONYMS OF AUTHORS.

Auburn, Ill.

I should like to have a list of the noms de plume of modern authors of reputation.

Charles Hershman.

Answer.—The following is as long a list as there is room for here; although it contains but a small proportion of the over 5,000 pseudonyms known to literature:

Pseudonyms and real names. Born. Died.

Algernon Sidney—Gideon Granger 1767 1822

Amy Lothrop—Miss Anna B. Warner 1825

An American Girl Abroad—Miss Trafton

Artemus Ward—Charles F. Browne 1836 1867

Barney Cornwall—Bryan Waller Procter 1790

Boz—Charles Dickens 1812 1870

Christopher Crowfield—Mrs. H. B. Stowe 1812

Chrystal Croftangry—Sir W. Scott 1771 1832

C. L. I. O. (Clio)—Joseph Addison 1672 1719

Cornelius O’Dowd—Chas. Jas. Lever 1806 1872

Country Parson—The Rev. A. K. H. Boyd 1825

Currer Bell—Charlotte Bronte (Mrs. Nichols) 1815 1855

Diedrich Knickerbocker—Washington Irving 1783 1859

E. D. E. N—Mrs. Emma D. E. (Nevette) Southworth 1818

Edward Search (2)—Abraham Tucker 1705 1774

Edward Search (1)—Wm. Hazlitt 1778 1830

Elia—Chas. Lamb 1775 1834

Eli Perkins—Matthew D. Landon

Elizabeth Wetherell—Susan Warner 1818

Ellis Bell—Emily Bronte 1819 1848

Ettrick Shepherd—James Hogg 1772 1835

Fanny Fern—Sarah Parton 1811 1872

Father Prout—Francis Mahony 1805 1866

Figaro—Mariano Jose de Larra 1809 1837

Gail Hamilton—Miss Abigail Hamilton Dodge 1838

Gamaliel Smith—Jeremy Bentham 1748 1832

Gath—George Alfred Townsend 1833

Geoffrey Crayon—Washington Irving 1783 1859

George Eliot—Mrs. Mary Ann (Evans) Lewes Cross 1820 1880

George Fitzdoodle—Wm. Makepeace Thackeray 1811 1863

Georges Sand—Mme. Dudevant 1804 1876

Grace Greenwood—Mrs. Sara J. Lippincott 1825

Horace Hornem—George Gordon, Lord Byron 1788 1824

Hosea Biglow—James R. Lowell 1819

Ik Marvel—Donald Grant Mitchell 1822

Jean Paul—Jean Paul F. Richter 1763 1825

Jedediah Cleishbotham—Sir W. Scott 1771 1832

Jennie June—Mrs. J. C. Croly 1840

John Chalkhill—Izaak Walton 1593 1683

Jonathan Oldstyle—Washington Irving 1783 1859

Josh Billings—Henry W. Shaw 1818

Joshua Coffin—Henry W. Longfellow 1807 1881

Junius—Probably Sir Philip Francis 1740 1818

Laertes—G. A. Townsend 1833

Launcelot Langstaff—Washington Irving 1783 1859

Launcelot Langstaff—William Irving 1766 1821

Launcelot Langstaff—Jas. Kirke Paulding 1779 1860

L. E. L.—Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 1839

Little Thomas—Thomas Moore 1779 1852

Luise Muhlbach—Mme. Clara Mundt 1814 1873

Malachi—Sir W. Scott 1771 1832

Malachi Malagrowther—Sir W. Scott 1771 1832

Malakoff—Samuel Johnson, LL. D. 1709 1784

Marion Harland—Mary V. (Hawes) Terhune 1835

Mark Twain—Samuel L. Clemens 1835

M. Quad—Chas. B. Lewis

Mrs. Partington—B. P. Shillaber 1814

Old Bachelor—George W. Curtis 1824

Oliver Optic—William Taylor Adams 1822

Owen Meredith—Edward R. Bulwer, Lord Lytton 1831

Paul Creyton—John T. Trowbridge 1817

Parson Lot—The Rev. Charles Kingsley 1819

Saxe Holm—Miss Rush Ellis 1858

Theophilus South—Edward Chitty 1807

Timothy Titcomb—J. G. Holland 1819 1881

CHICAGO NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION.

Aurora, Ill.

To settle a dispute, state which of the Chicago newspapers has the largest circulation.

Conover.

Answer.—The only criterion of newspaper circulation which there is absolutely no means of successfully disputing is the amount of postage paid on papers sent to actual subscribers. Below is given the amounts of postage paid on such circulation by each of the Chicago newspapers here named during the fiscal year ending June, 30, 1882:

The Inter Ocean $19,609.30

The News 7,289.14

The Times 6,581.10

The Tribune 5,644.54

The Herald 1,443.68

For circulation of papers outside of the mails there is nothing that can be regarded as an impartial standard of comparison; nothing which affords the reading and advertising public such unequivocal testimony as the above, but every intelligent person will naturally conclude that the proportions of circulation through the mails and outside of the mails will not differ very greatly.

TO POLISH SEA-SHELLS.

Creston, Iowa.

Please inform us through Our Curiosity Shop how to polish sea-shells and prepare them for sale.

Subscriber.

Answer.—According to Cooley, one of the highest authorities on processes employed in the arts and manufactures, the surfaces of certain shells which have a natural polish should be first cleansed by rubbing with a rag dipped in hydrochloric acid (obtainable at any drug store) till the dull outer skin is removed. They must then be promptly washed in warm water, dried in hot sawdust, and polished with chamois leather. But shells destitute of natural polish may be either varnished or rubbed with a mixture of tripoli powder and turpentine, applied by means of a “wash-leather” (split sheepskin dressed with oil), and afterward with fine tripoli alone, and finally a little olive oil, the surface being brought up with vigorous use of the chamois leather. But there are shells which must first be boiled in a strong solution of potash, then ground on wheels, sometimes all the way through the outer stratum, to show an underlying one, after which they are polished with hydrochloric acid and putty powder. This last process better be left to men who make a business of shell-grinding; for it is said that “shell-grinders are almost all cripples in their hands,” owing to the dangerous nature of this operation.

STATES WITH COMPULSORY EDUCATION.

Stecoah, N. C.

Name the States and Territories which have compulsory education laws; and show how their attendance and non-attendance compare with the same in other States and Territories.

J. L. Crisp.

Answer.—Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming have compulsory education laws, requiring every male child between certain years—usually 8 to 14—to attend school not less than a specified period—usually twelve weeks each year. The Illinois law did not come into effect until the present school year, and in several other States these laws were not passed in time to affect the statistics of 1880, so the following table gives the total number of children of school age in none but such States as had compulsory attendance laws before 1880. It gives not the average daily attendance, but the total enrollment of pupils in the public schools:

Children of

States. school age. Enrollment.

California 215,978 158,765

Connecticut 140,235 119,694

Massachusetts 307,321 309,777

Michigan 506,221 362,556

New Jersey 330,685 204,961

New York 1,641,173 1,031,593

Ohio 1,043,320 747,138

The table below gives the corresponding statistics for an equal number of States not having such laws, as nearly adjacent as possible:

Children of

States. school age. Enrollment.

Oregon 59,615 37,533

Maine 214,656 149,827

Rhode Island 52,273 44,780

Pennsylvania 1,370,000 937,310

Delaware 35,459 27,823

Indiana 703,558 511,283

Iowa 586,556 426,057

This comparison sheds very uncertain light upon the question as to the effect of compulsory attendance laws, because the school age period is different in different States, and it does not show the number of pupils in private schools. It would be far more interesting in this connection if it included only all children of the ages within the compulsory period in each State, and gave the number of such children enrolled in schools of any sort before and after the passage of the law. Nevertheless, these tables do indicate plainly enough that such laws are not strictly enforced in any State, and are, comparatively speaking, a dead letter in others.

BASHFULNESS WORSE THAN FEAR.

Oregon, Ill.

What brave man was it that said he had suffered far more from bashfulness than from fear?

Subscriber.

Answer.—It was “John Brown, of Ossawatomie,” the hero of the Harper’s Ferry plot to emancipate as many as possible of the slaves of Virginia and Maryland, and lead them on an exodus into Canada. Being asked, on the way to the scaffold, if he felt any fear, he replied: “It has been a characteristic of me from infancy not to suffer from physical fear. I have suffered a thousand times more from bashfulness than from fear.”

CHOKE-BORE SHOTGUNS.

Pecatonica, Ill.

Please explain the difference between “full choke” and “modified choke” shotguns.

Sportsman.

Answer.—In a full choke shot-gun the bore is a perfect cylinder to within a few inches from the muzzle, where it swells inward slightly all around, and then opens out in the last six or seven inches to about the same diameter as in front of the choke. In a “modified choke” gun the barrel tapers from the shell chamber to the choke curve. In a “taper bore choke” the barrel tapers regularly from the shell chamber to the muzzle.

NIGHT GLASSES.

Harper, Kansas.

What is a night glass? Is it true that a person can see as plainly with one of these, in fair weather, at night, as he can without one in daylight?

C. G. Boone.

Answer.—A night glass is simply a small terrestrial telescope, or spy-glass, ordinarily in the form of a large opera-glass, with an unusually large lens in the end toward the object to be viewed, called the object-glass, which serves to concentrate a large amount of light, and so render objects seen at night much more distinct than when viewed by either the naked eye or an ordinary spy-glass. Since it is a principle in optics that “it is impossible, by any optical arrangement whatever, to obtain an image whose brightest part shall surpass the brightest part of the object,” it is obvious that nothing seen through a night-glass, even in the clearest night, can appear as distinct as in daylight.

AMERICAN HISTORIANS.

Wanda, Ill.

Will you please publish a list of the principal American historians?

S.

Answer.—Assuming that by “American historians” you mean historians born in America, we give the following list, naming first those who wrote chiefly of our own country, and afterward those who have written mainly of other countries: J. S. C. Abbott, b. 1805; d. 1877; George Bancroft, 1800; Richard Hildreth, 1807-1865; C. E. A. Gayarre, 1805; Francis Parkman, 1823; John C. Ridpath, 1840; John D. G. Shea, 1824; Jared Sparks, 1789-1866; James F. Cooper, 1789-1851; Hubert H. Bancroft, and Thomas H. Burton. W. H. Prescott, 1796-1859; John Lathrop Motley, 1814-1877, and Royal Robbins, 1788-1861.

SANDPAPER.

Shenandoah, Iowa.

Please describe the process of making sandpaper.

H. S. Galt.

Answer.—Common window glass—that having a green tint is best—is powdered and sifted through sieves of varying fineness, for coarse and fine sandpaper. Then any coarse paper is covered with thin glue and the powdered glass is sifted upon it. After standing a day or two, the refuse sand is shaken off, and the paper is ready for use.

ALABASTER.

Clinton, Ill.

Where is alabaster quarried and manufactured?

Old Pilgrim.

Answer.—Alabaster, or plaster of paris, is made in large quantities at Grand Rapids, Mich., where there are extensive beds of gypsum, the stone from which it is produced. Vases and other ornamental articles can be cut from the finest quality of this stone; but generally such articles are produced in Europe, where labor is cheaper and the class of workmen accustomed to this branch of art is numerous. The chief supply of European gypsum for fine arts is obtained at Sienna and other places in Tuscany, and manufactured at Florence, Milan, Leghorn, and Volterra.

RAILROADS ENTERING CHICAGO.

Chicago, Ill.

Please state the total number of railroads entering Chicago on their own tracks or others, and oblige

Several Readers.

Answer.—Hardly two persons would agree as to “the number of railroads entering Chicago on their own tracks or others,” for the reason that one person would count all the distinct roads named in the several coupons of every through ticket from any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico to this city, while others would count only the roads chartered in Illinois and adjacent States running under separate managements, and entering Chicago over their own traces or leased right of way. The latter number about thirty-eight, the former amount to several hundred. There are twenty-seven great railway systems centering at Chicago and controlled mainly from this point, which embrace about 25,000 miles of track.

HARVARD, YALE, COLUMBIA.

West Lebanon, Ind.

Please give a comparison of Harvard, Yale, and Columbia Colleges in wealth, number of students, and number of graduates.

A Subscriber.

Answer.—According to the report of the Bureau of Education for 1880, these institutions compare, as regards wealth, as follows:

Productive Income Income

Colleges— funds. from funds. fr. tuition.

Harvard $3,959,556 $236,889 $122,835

Yale 1,293,078 79,943 102,912

Columbia 4,816,257 320,565 24,200

Besides the above, there is a scientific school connected with each of the above colleges with property, as follows:

Prod’tive Income Income

Scientific Dept.— funds fr. funds fr. tuit’n

Lawrence Scientific School (Harvard) $729,623 $46,482 $2,505

Sheffield Scientific School (Yale) 265,775 28,157 15,850

School of Mines (Columbia) 36,500

As respects students enrolled and graduates of all departments, in the year above given, these institutions compared as in the totals below:

Number of Number of Degrees

Colleges— Students. conferred.

Harvard 974 264

Yale 952 232

Columbia 577 415

The degrees enumerated were all conferred “in course,” honorary degrees being omitted from this statement.

THE MAID OF THE MIST.

Danville, Ill.

Are you not mistaken as to the time when the Maid of the Mist ran through the great whirlpool in the Niagara River? Can you not give a fuller description than appeared in Our Curiosity Shop of Aug. 16?

Subscriber.

Answer.—The date here called in question is the one given for this feat in Clemens Petersen’s article on Niagara in “Johnson’s New Universal Cyclopedia,” but in The Daily Inter Ocean of Sept. 1 we gave an account from the lips of DeWitt C. McMurtry, now of Philadelphia, who claims to be the only survivor of that perilous passage. He says the trip was made June 29 1859. He gives the dimensions of the stanch little steamer at “about 150 feet over all and 16 feet beam.” She was a side-wheeler, with new and powerful engines, usually carrying 125 or 130 pounds pressure of steam, but set at this time to blow off at 228 pounds. The run was made to evade the payment of a mortgage held by Judge Addington, of Buffalo, and under an offer from some Toronto parties to pay $25,000 for the Maid of the Mist if delivered at Queenstown, on the Canada side, at the mouth of the river. Joel Robinson, the captain, was offered $500, the engineer, a Mr. Jones, and the fireman, Mr. McMurtry, each $100, to undertake this task. The captain had himself lashed in the wheelhouse, and the other two were shut in below under battened hatches. The distance from the last landing above the whirlpool to Queenstown is just five miles, one mile of which is through the whirlpool-torrent. This distance was made in seven and three-quarter minutes, only two of which were spent in the rapids. The boat was dashed about at a terrible rate. “When she first struck the rapids,” says McMurtry, “our boat leaped downward perhaps thirty feet. Then she was hurled clear out of the water. Down she would go, as if she would never stop, when suddenly she would right herself and, with a bound which seemed almost human, leap out of the water. The current runs forty-five miles an hour and the waves are twenty feet high. Jones and I were almost killed by the quickly succeeding shocks. I felt my strength rapidly oozing away as I clung to the hand-rails for dear life. There was barely time to catch my breath between concussions. Suddenly the current struck her sideways, she swung around, and shot down the stream. We had escaped the whirlpool. When I got out at Queenstown the water was waist high, the boat had been so racked and wrenched in her passage.” Jones died soon afterward. Robinson survived several years longer. According to this witness no one perished in the passage, as is stated in some narratives of the affair.

FEMALE SUFFRAGE IN NEW JERSEY.

Chicago, Ill.

What State was it that permitted women to vote ninety years ago?

J. M. Snow.

Answer.—It was New Jersey; which organized as an independent State two days before the declaration of independence, with a constitution that allowed universal suffrage, male and female, without regard to color. This constitution was not altered until 1844, when, among other changes, the suffrage was restricted to males; largely because of the apathy shown by women, especially those of the better class, in regard to the exercise of the ballot.

UNION AND REBEL PRISONERS

Swan, Iowa.

Give the number of prisoners taken on both sides during the late war. State how many died while prisoners; and, if possible, tell how many Union soldiers once in Southern prisons still survive. How many graves in National Cemeteries?

A Prisoner of War.

Answer.—The number of Union soldiers captured by the Confederates during the late war was 212,608. The number of Confederate prisoners taken was 476,169. The number of Union soldiers who died while prisoners was 29,725, or little more than one in seven of all captured. The number of Confederates who died while prisoners was 26,774, or very nearly one in eighteen. The total number of graves in the National cemeteries is 315,555, only 172,409 of which have been identified. There is no means of learning how many who were once Union prisoners still survive.

BATTLE OF SOLFERINO.

Cambridge, Wis.

In what war was the battle of Solferino fought; and what gave this place so much importance?

R. D. Thompson.

Answer.—The battle of Solferino was fought in 1859 between the French, under the Emperor Louis Napoleon, and the Sardinians, under Victor Emanuel on the side of the victors, and the Austrians, the oppressors of Italy, led by the Emperor Francis Joseph. Solferino is a place of no importance in itself, being but a village of some 1,400 inhabitants, situated in the province of Brescia, North Italy. Its position, with its famous tower, called the “Spy of Italy,” because it commands a view of the whole broad plain of Lombardy, gives it great strategic importance; and in this war, which was, in fact, for the independence and unity of Italy, the battle of Magenta, twenty days earlier, in which the Austrians were driven from the field with a loss of 9,713 killed and about 11,000 wounded and missing, and this decisive victory at Solferino, in which the allies lost about 18,000 killed and wounded and the Austrians 20,000, besides 6,000 prisoners and 30 cannon, resulted in the treaty of Villafranca, ceding Lombardy to Sardinia and virtually terminating Austrian interference in Italian affairs; so paving the way to the ultimate unification of Italy, which quickly followed.

RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENT.

Blair, Neb.

Was the acts for the resumption of specie payments a Republican or Democratic measure? Please give the vote on the passage of the bill.

C. C. D.

Answer.—Resumption was advised by the Secretary of the Treasury under President Grant, was earnestly recommended in the President’s message, was brought forward in Congress by a Republican, was reported with the recommendation that it pass from the Finance Committee of the Senate, by its Chairman, Senator Sherman, Dec. 21, 1874, when a majority of the Senate and the committee were Republicans; and passed the Senate the same day, by a vote of 32 to 14. All who voted in the negative were Democrats, except Tipton and Hamilton, of Texas, both Independents. The bill passed the House on June 7, 1875, by the following vote: Yeas, 136; nays, 98; not voting, 54. The nays were all Democrats, except Clarke, Crutchfield, Dawes, Field, Gooch, Hagans, B. W. Harris, J. R. Hawley, E. R. Hoar, G. F. Hoar, Lawson, Niles, L. C. Parker, M. Sayler, H. J. Scudder, Sherwood, W. A. Smith, W. Townsend, C. W. Willard, and Woodworth, in all 20, Republicans. All who voted yea were Republicans.

ORIGIN OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

Turner, Ill.

When did the Democratic party originate, and what were its principal doctrines when it was in power?

L. S. M.

Answer.—We first read of a Democratic party in 1807, with such men as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison for its leaders. It is sometimes referred to by historians as the “Democratic Republican” party, and its adherents were quite as frequently termed Republicans as Democrats. Not until the first Democratic convention, in 1832, did what is now generally understood as the simon pure Democratic party assume positive shape. Thence forward it rapidly developed into the defender of slavery; the opponent of National banks and protective tariff; the advocate and administrator of the doctrine, “To the victors belong the spoils,” or rotation in office; first vigorously espoused and put into practice by General Jackson; and finally the champion of State sovereignty and apologist and abettor of secession. For a synopsis of the present political salmagundi, or olla podrida, denominated Democracy, and for the doctrines of the Republican party see Our Curiosity Shop for 1882, page 134.

WILL CARLETON, THE POET.

Junction City, Kan.

Please give us a sketch of Will Carleton, author of “Farm Ballads,” and other poems.

Lady Reader.

Answer.—Will Carleton was born in Hudson, Mich., Oct. 21, 1845. His parents, John H. and Celeste E. Carleton, were of English descent. They removed to Michigan from the East at an early day, where the father cleared the farm upon which he afterward lived for forty years. He was a man of great natural force of character, with a talent for extemporaneous speaking, and he soon became a man of influence, filling many offices of trust in the community, and contributing powerfully to the rapid success of the Methodist Church in Southern Michigan, of which he was a devoted member. He died in 1872. The mother is still living and resides with her son in Brooklyn, N. Y. She is a woman of decided force of character and sweetness of heart, and is beloved by all who know her. Her only other son having died on his way home, after a long imprisonment in the South during the late war, and her daughters being dead, the subject of this sketch is the only one of her five children now surviving. The boyhood of Will Carleton was passed in farm labor and study. At the district school he was particularly fond of grammar, and manifested a spirit of criticism that at times got him into discussions with his teachers which disturbed their serenity of temper. Frequently when the day for “speaking pieces” came around he would surprise his fellow pupils with original bits of humor, which, although intended for good-natured satires, ended more than once in schoolboy fights. Later he walked five miles daily to attend high school in town. At 16 he taught a country school of fifty-two pupils, and any allusions he makes to “boarding ’round” are born of experience. He graduated at Hillsdale College in 1869 with the degree of A. B., and for two years devoted himself to editorial work, being during the last of the two editor of the Detroit Weekly Tribune. He then returned to Hillsdale to reside, while giving more time to preparations for a literary life, and occasionally filling lecturing and reading engagements.

What may properly be called Mr. Carleton’s first literary success was a political satire entitled “Fax,” written during his junior vacation in the summer of 1868, at Aurora, Ill., and delivered before literary clubs during the political campaign of that year. Several thousand copies of it were published and widely circulated. His graduation poem, at Hillsdale, the next summer, was entitled “Rifts in the Clouds;” afterward incorporated in “Farm Legends.” Among his other early poems is one read on Decoration Day, 1870, entitled “Cover Them Over,” which was copied extensively at the time, and has since been recited on many other such occasions. The poems which first brought him into general notice throughout the country and abroad were his “Farm Ballads,” which having first, many of them, appeared in Harpers’ Weekly and other periodicals, were published by Harper & Bros., in 1873. “Farm Legends” followed, in 1875; “Young Folks’ Centennial Rhymes,” in 1876, and “Farm Festivals,” in 1881. In 1878 he visited Europe, spending much time among the peasantry of England, Ireland, and Scotland, and visiting the continent. The same year he removed to Chicago, making that the center of a large lecturing circuit, covering most of the Western States. Wherever he went large audiences received him with cordial welcome and tokens of approbation. In 1880 he removed to Boston, and in 1882 to Brooklyn, N. Y., his present home, near the center of the Eastern lecture circuit. Mr. Carleton contributes to several periodicals, lectures from two to five evenings a week, and is meanwhile preparing another book for the press, which will appear soon. His former volumes have sold to the extent of over 200,000 copies, and the demand is well maintained.

NUMBERS IN VARIOUS OCCUPATIONS.

Parsons, Kan.

Give the different occupations of the American people, and numbers engaged in each.

I. J. Uzzell.

Answer.—It will take too much space to name all the occupations designated in the United States census of 1880; the following are the principal ones:

In Agriculture—

Farmers and planters 4,225,945

Agricultural laborers 3,323,876

Dairymen and dairywomen 8,948

Gardeners, nursery and vine-growers 51,482

Stock-drovers 3,449

Stock-herders 24,098

Stock-raisers 16,528

Florists 4,550

All others 11,617

Total in agriculture 7,670,493

In Manufacturing and Mining—

Blacksmiths 172,726

Boot and shoemakers 194,079

Butchers 76,241

Cabinetmakers 50,654

Carpenters and joiners 373,143

Carriage and wagon makers 49,881

Cigarmakers 56,599

Cotton-mill operators 169,771

Engineers and firemen 79,625

Fishermen and oystermen 41,352

Glassworks operators 17,934

Gold and silver workers 28,405

Harness and saddle-makers 39,960

Iron and steel operatives 114,539

Leather-curriers, tanners, etc. 29,842

Lumbermen and raftsmen 30,651

Machinists 101,130

Manufacturers 44,019

Marble and stone cutters 32,842

Masons, brick and stone 102,473

Mill operatives, not specified 30,836

Millers 53,440

Milliners, dressmakers and seamstr’ses 285,401

Miners 234,228

Painters and varnishers 128,556

Paper-mill operatives 21,430

Plasterers 22,083

Plumbers and gas-fitters 19,383

Printers, lithographers, and stereo-typers 72,726

Saw and planing mill operatives 77,050

Ship carpenters, caulkers, riggers, and smiths 17,452

Silk mill operatives 18,071

Tailors and tailoresses 133,756

Tinners and tinware workers 42,818

Tobacco factory operatives 20,446

Wheelwrights 15,592

Woolen mill operatives 88,010

All others in mines and factories 754,888

Total 3,837,112

In Trade and Transportation—

Clerks in stores 353,444

Draymen, hackmen, and teamsters 177,586

Employes of railroads not clerks 236,058

Telegraph officials and employes 22,809

Sailors 60,070

Salesmen and saleswomen 72,279

Saloon-keepers and bar-tenders, besides 13,074 restaurant keepers 68,461

Traders in cigars and tobacco 11,866

Traders in clothing 10,073

Traders in coal and wood 10,871

Traders in drugs and medicines 27,704

Traders in dry goods, fancy goods, etc. 45,831

Traders in groceries 101,849

Traders in iron, tin, and copper wares 15,076

Traders in liquors and wines 13,500

Traders in live stock 12,596

Traders in lumber 11,263

Traders in produce and provisions 35,129

Traders in real estate 11,253

Traders in sewing machines 6,577

Traders and dealers not specified 112,842

Undertakers 5,113

All others 387,006

Total in trade and transportation 1,810,256

In Professional and Personal Services—

Barbers and laundresses 44,851

Clergymen 64,698

Dentists 12,314

Domestic servants 1,075,653

Employes of hotels and restaurants 77,413

Hostlers 31,697

Hotel keepers 32,453

Journalists 12,308

Laborers not specified 1,859,223

Launderers and laundresses 121,942

Lawyers 64,137

Musicians 30,477

Officials of Federal and State governments 57,081

Clerks of Federal and State governments 16,849

Employes 31,401

Physicians and surgeons 85,671

Soldiers of U. S. army and navy 24,161

Teachers and scientific persons 227,710

Other professions 2,204,199

Total in professions and transportation 4,074,238

The total number of persons in the United States reported as employed in gainful occupations in 1880 was 17,392,099, out of a total population of 50,155,783, being 34.68 per cent of the population of all ages, and 47.31 per cent of the population over 10 years of age. Of these 14,744,942 were males and 2,647,157 were females. Of the males 825,187 were between 10 and 15 years of age, and of the females, 293,169.

ISLANDS of THE UNITED STATES.

Bristol, Ill.

Please give the number and dimensions of the islands of the United States, and state their condition as to soil, water, atmosphere, vegetation, etc.; also, whether they are generally inhabited.

C. S. Hopper.

Answer.—This is a very interesting question, or series of questions, but the full answer would fill a volume. The coast of the State of Michigan alone is gemmed with no fewer than 179 islands of all sizes, from Isle Royale, which forms an entire county of more than fifty miles in length by ten in breadth, to islets of less than an acre in surface. Their total area aggregates 404,730 acres. In “Rand & McNally’s Atlas of the World” all the islands of noticeable magnitude are laid down, and by this authority it appears that Maine has 40 such islands; Massachusetts, 39; Rhode Island, 24; Connecticut, 9; New York, 22; New Jersey, 2; Delaware, 6; Maryland, 16; Virginia, 7; North Carolina, 10; South Carolina, 10; Georgia, 11; Florida, 79; Alabama, 4; Mississippi, 7: Louisiana, 24; Texas, 8; Ohio, 13; Michigan, 179; Wisconsin, 31, California, 14; Washington Territory, 26. Alaska Territory embraces more than 200 islands, many of which are of great value as fishing stations. There are hundreds of petty islets not located except in the charts of the United States Coast Survey. Many of them, like the islands in the Western rivers, are not known by names but only by numbers. But a small number of the more important islands in the above list are inhabited; less than 100 in all. The soil is of all varieties, from the fertile fields of Port Royal, Hilton Head, and Edisto, South Carolina, the home of the famous “sea island cotton,” and the rich dark loam of Long Island, New York, to the bleak rocks and barren sands of Mt. Desert, and the arid isles on the coast of California.

PRE-EMPTION CLAIM QUERIES.

St. Lawrence, Dak.

1. What is necessary to constitute “continuous residence” on a pre-emption claim? 2. What more does the law require of a single man to “prove up” than of the head or a family?

Subscriber.

Answer.—1. The courts have repeatedly decided that “the sufficiency of residence and improvement is a question of fact to be decided from the circumstances of each case.” In the case of Copley versus Rell it was ruled that “where, from the nature of the land entered under the pre-emption law, it would appear that the claimant has selected it for speculative purposes rather than for purposes of improvement and cultivation, the evidences of good faith and occupation should be of the most satisfactory character.” And again, in the case of Porter versus Johnson, it was held that what constitutes residence within the meaning of the law “is simply a question of good faith, and each case must be considered upon its own merits.” In the case of Boyse versus Goss, it was held that “the statute requires inhabitancy on the land pre-empted and this means actual residence or a home.” In case of Southern Pacific Railroad versus Newton, it was held that “occupation and use of land for purposes other than cultivation, etc., do not constitute a pre-emption claim.” While the above rulings distinctly reveal the intent of the government to exact all that is essential to actual settlement and the maintenance of a home upon the land, there are other rulings which indicate that the law will be construed liberally so long as the above essentials are preserved. For example, it has been decided that “a party while having an actual residence on his claims, may work elsewhere for other people a few weeks at a time.” Again, “where a party is very poor, a dug-out in the side of a hill or a sod-house is a satisfactory residence, and four pre-emptors may combine to erect and occupy a house on the corner common to their claims, provided each pre-emptor resides in his own part of the house. Should one of them be unmarried he may board in the family of a married pre-emptor.” 2. The law makes no difference between married and unmarried pre-emptors. In construing it, as regards what constitutes residence, the last ruling above quoted indicates that the government is disposed to make some allowance for the unfortunate circumstances of a young man who has not found any girl willing to share his dug-out sod-house or tepee and cook his corn-dodgers and potatoes for the privileges of wifehood, including a dower interest in the estate. Married and unmarried pre-emptors must each make a final affidavit, declaring that they have complied with the law in every particular, are not disqualified by owning 320 acres of land elsewhere in any State or Territory of the United States, or by other reasons specified, and must file pre-emptor’s proofs in the form of sworn answers to questions furnished them on printed blanks, which must be accompanied by sworn testimony of two witnesses, taken separately, in the form of answers to questions stated in another set of printed blanks prepared by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, all designed to attest that the law as to continuous residence, cultivation, etc., has been complied with in good faith.

A FATAL FEINT.

Princeton, Ill.

Who was the young man who when walking on the brink of Niagara River, some years ago, in company with his intended bride and her little sister, accidentally tossed the latter into the rapids, and perished in the effort to save her? What was the child’s name, and how did it all happen?

James.

Answer.—It is related of a Mr. Addington, a son of Judge Addington, of Buffalo, that when standing on Luna Island, just above the Falls of Niagara, with a Miss De Forrest and her little sister, he seized the latter playfully, and, holding her over the brink, threatened to toss her into the river. The child, in a spasm of terror, sprang from his arms and fell into the edge of the fatal current. Instantly young Addington bounded after her, succeeded in seizing her, and caught a frail bush for support. Had this held they might both have been saved, but it gave way, and man and child were carried over the falls. The common traditions represent that Mr. Addington and Miss De Forrest, who was a very lovely young lady, were engaged to be married, and that in consequence of the terrible fate of her lover and sister she became insane. This was in 1844, or thereabouts.

TARANTULAS.

Kingman, Kan.

To settle a dispute, please give a description of the tarantula, and tell where it is found.

A Reader.

Answer.—There are several varieties of tarantulas. The one from which they all take this name, the “lycosa tarantula,” is the largest of European spiders, named from Taranto, Italy, where they are very numerous. Its body is from one and a half to two inches long, ashy brown above, thorax marked with gray and abdomen with three-cornered spots and curved streaks bordered with white, with a patch of saffron-color below all, crossed by a black band. It has one spiracle, or breathing aperture, on each side, one pulmonary sac, and eight eyes. It does not spin a web to snare its prey, but captures it by running it down, and it lives in holes lined with a silk-like substance. Its bite is no more severe than that of some kinds of wasps, and is certainly not nearly so dangerous to life as it is fabled to be. The notion that its bite produced a sort of delirium and was curable only by dancing to lively music until the sufferer fell from sheer exhaustion was a superstition. For a good illustration of this ugly insect see the cut accompanying the word “tarantula” in Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary.

There is a variety of tarantula in our Southern States, called “lycosa Carolinensis” by naturalists, which is even larger than its European namesake, being about two inches long, and having legs spreading at least four inches. It has whitish legs, white sides, whitish dots and lines on the belly, and is of a mouse color on top and black or dark colored underneath. Like the Italian tarantula, it spins no web, takes its prey by pursuit, and lives in holes lined with a sort of silk. It is peculiar in carrying its young on its back, and it seldom bites.

There are certain spiders of the genus mygale in the Southwestern States, which are sometimes improperly called tarantulas.

PERRY’S VICTORY ON LAKE ERIE.

Evanston, Ill.

Can you give us the old American naval song of 1812, in which perry, pear cider, is made to pun with the name of Perry, the hero of Lake Erie.

A Reader.

Answer.—A correspondent, the Rev. W. P. Jones, of Mt. Morris, Ill., a boy at the time of that victory, recalls so much of the song as is given below. It must be remembered that Captain Barclay commanded the British squadron and General Proctor the British land forces in Canada.

Finding that the liquor flowed more freely than it was wanted, and was too hot to suit his taste, he cries out, in the last stanza, in his vain attempt to fly:

But there was no such thing as corking Perry until he had captured the entire British squadron, consisting of two ships, two schooners, a brig, and a sloop, with all on board, including forty-one killed and ninety-four wounded.

THE TWO U. S. CONSTITUTIONS.

Belmont, Iowa.

Please point out the difference between the first Constitution of the United States, under which the Revolutionary war was fought, and the present Constitution.

O. T. K.

Answer.—The Articles of Confederation conferred upon Congress none but delegated powers and recognized the absolute sovereignty of the States. Aside from the right to make war and peace, regulate foreign intercourse, receive and send embassadors, control the coinage of money, and settle disputed boundaries, Congress had no power to act without the consent of nine of the States, each casting one ballot. It could not levy taxes, and before 1787 the war debt had destroyed the financial reputation of the United States abroad. The States were divided in their interests, and at the last Colonial Congress but eight of the States sent delegates. Not the least of the weaknesses of the confederation was the non-provision for a chief magistrate, or for a national judiciary. To meet these needs it was found necessary to frame a new constitution, systematically organizing a permanent form of government. This document arranges the powers of government under three heads—legislative, executive, and judicial—and places the supreme power in the people of the whole country, instead of vainly endeavoring to maintain a multitude of independent States. It replaced a disjointed confederacy of jealous States with a Nation.

CHAPLAINS IN ARMY AND NAVY.

Gibson, Ill.

How old must a man be to be ineligible to the office of chaplain in the United States navy? How old to be ineligible to a chaplaincy in the army? How many chaplaincies are there in the army and navy and what is the rank and pay?

Constant Reader.

Answer.—A chaplain in the navy cannot be less than 21 nor more than 35 years of age at the time of his appointment. Limits of age of new appointees in the army are not specified in the statute. The President may retire a chaplain unconditionally after forty years’ service, or after he is 62 years of age. The President is authorized, by and with the consent of the Senate, to appoint thirty post chaplains and a chaplain for each of the cavalry and two infantry regiments of colored troops in the army, and not to exceed twenty-four chaplains in the navy. The rank and pay of chaplains in the navy are stated on page 88 of Curiosity Shop for 1882. Chaplains in the army have the rank of captain of infantry, without command, and are on the same footing with other officers of the army as to terms of office, retirement, and pensions. The pay of an army chaplain is $1,500 a year for the first five years’ service, $1,650 for the next five years, $1,800 for the next five, $1,950 for the next five, and $2,100 after twenty years’ service. It should be borne in mind that the duty of chaplains of colored troops and of post chaplains includes instruction of the enlisted men in the common English branches of education.

POSTAL-LAW QUERIES.

Neponset, Ill.

1. When were the salaries of postmasters changed from a percentage on stamps sold to a percentage on stamps canceled? 2. What is the postage on newspapers to Great Britain? 3. Can a supplement be sent without extra charge?

Subscriber.

Answer.—1. Under the postal law approved Jan. 23, 1874, the compensation of postmasters of the first, second, and third classes consisted of annual salaries, assigned in even hundreds of dollars, to be ascertained and fixed by the Postmaster General from their respective quarterly returns for four quarters immediately preceding the adjustment or readjustment, by adding to the whole amount of box rents, not exceeding $2,000 per annum, commissions, also not to exceed $2,000 per annum, on the postal revenues of the office. All postmasters whose salaries, computed by this law, did not amount to $1,000, constituted a fourth class, whose compensation was the box rents collected at their offices and commissions on other postal revenues of their offices at the rate of 60 per cent on the first $100 or less per quarter, 50 per cent on the next $300 or less, and 40 per cent on the excess above $400 per quarter. To swell the revenues of their offices, postmasters of the fourth-class, and some of those of the third and second-classes, went into the large cities and sold stamps to mercantile firms and other heavy dealers, in some cases even sharing commissions with them. This abuse led to a revision of the law in the act of June 17, 1878, so that commissions should be allowed only “on stamps canceled as postages on matter actually mailed” at the offices in question. 2. The postage on newspapers to Great Britain and most of her colonies, the world over, is 1 cent for every two ounces or fraction thereof. Better inquire at postoffice for postal rates, or consult the United States Postal Guide, which can be seen at every postoffice. 3. That depends on the weight.

FARM AREAS AND VALUES.

Ord, Neb.

Oblige some of your readers by giving the cultivated area of the United States; the number and value of farms, farm implements, stock, etc. Also specify the States and Territories having over 500,000 acres each under cultivation.

Henry P. Maiden.

Answer.—The total number of improved acres in the United States, according to the census of 1880, was 284,771,042, embraced in 4,008,907 farms. The value of farms, including lands, fences, and buildings, was $10,197,096,776; value of live stock, $1,500,464,609; cost of building and repairing fences, $77,763,473; cost of fertilizers purchased, $28,586,397. Estimated value of all farm productions (sold, consumed, or on hand), $2,213,402,564.

The following States and Territories had each more than 500,000 acres under cultivation;

Alabama 6,375,706

Arkansas 3,595,603

California 10,669,698

Colorado 616,169

Connecticut 1,642,188

Dakota 1,150,413

Delaware 746,958

Florida 947,640

Georgia 8,204,720

Illinois 26,115,154

Indiana 13,933,738

Iowa 19,866,541

Kansas 10,739,566

Kentucky 10,731,683

Louisiana 2,739,972

Maine 3,484,908

Maryland 3,342,700

Mass’ch’setts 2,128,311

Michigan 8,296,862

Minnesota 7,246,693

Mississippi 5,216,937

Missouri 16,745,031

Nebraska 5,504,702

N. Hampshire 2,308,112

New Jersey 2,096,297

New York 17,717,862

N. Carolina 6,481,151

Ohio 18,081,091

Oregon 2,198,645

Pennsylvan’a 13,423,007

S. Carolina 4,132,000

Tennessee 8,496,556

Texas 12,650,314

Vermont 3,286,461

Virginia 8,510,113

W. Virginia 3,792,327

Wisconsin 9,162,528

Illinois leads the column with nearly double the cultivated area of the Keystone State; Iowa comes next, and Ohio, New York, Missouri, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Texas, in the order here given, come trudging after. The next census will make marked changes in the above list.

THE GOOSE HANGS HIGH.

Bluffdale, Ill.—Some one asks in Our Curiosity Shop as to the origin of the saying, “All things are lovely, and the goose hangs high.” This is it: In the autumn, during the warm, hazy days of Indian summer the wild geese fly very high, so high that they cannot be seen, but their cry, which is a “haunk,” is plainly heard. Therefore it was, and is, a saying in the West, “All things are lovely, and the goose ‘haunks’ high,” a sure indication of continued fine weather. It is not “the goose hangs high,” which is a corruption of language, and is, moreover, nonsense.

S. G. R.

ARCTIC EXPLORATION.

Sherwood, Wis.

Mention all the attempts made to explore the arctic regions, and tell where we can find a full account of these expeditions.

William R. Bishop.

Answer.—No one work contains a full account of all the toils and sufferings, the thrilling scenes and exciting experiences of arctic exploration. The books and charts on this subject would make a good-sized library. As respects the northeast passage, they include narratives of the expeditions of Willoughby and Chancellor (English, 1553), Burroughs (English, 1556), Pet and Jackman (English, 1580), William Barentz (Dutch, 1594-96), Henry Hudson (English, 1608, and Dutch, 1609), Wood (Dutch, 1676). Behring (Russian, 1741), Shalaroff (Russian), who with his crew perished of starvation, Wiggans (English, 1784), Billings (Russian, 1787), and finally, Professor Adolf Eric Nordenskjold (Swedish), who, after two other expeditions (severally in 1875 and 1876), in 1878-9 succeeded in sailing from the North Atlantic eastward, through the Arctic Ocean and Behring Straits, into the Pacific, thus triumphantly completing the discovery of the “northeast passage.”

The search for the “northwest passage” has engaged nearly two hundred and fifty expeditions, of various nationalities. It would be useless to enumerate them all. The first attempts were made by Sebastian Cabot (English, 1498), and Martin Frobisher (English, 1576); Captain John Davis, after whom Davis’ Strait is named (English, 1585-88); Henry Hudson, after whom Hudson’s Bay is named (English, 1610); Button (English, 1615), and Bylot and Baffin, after the latter of whom Baffin’s Bay takes its name (English, 1615-16). Little more in the way of discovery in this direction was realized, although occasional attempts were made by Jens Munk, a Danish navigator, Fox, James, and others, until 1818, when Ross and Parry, under direction and support of the British Admiralty, entered upon a series of expeditions extending over more than a decade, by which a large addition was made to the knowledge of the geography of this region as far west as long 110 deg west, in Melville Sound, and north to latitude 82 deg. 45 min., and the magnetic pole was discovered. Dease, Simpson, Dr. John Rae, and other explorers followed. Then in 1845, came the memorable expedition of Sir John Franklin, whose party perished to the last man, but not until they had left records, since recovered, of discoveries showing that Sir John, had he been spared to return, was prepared to claim the honor of discovering the northwest passage. But as these records were not discovered by McClintock’s expedition (English) until 1859, and McClure (English), who went out via Behring’s Straits in search of Franklin in 1850, returned in 1852, after having brought his ship to Melville Island and his ship’s crew through from Behring’s Straits to Baffin’s Bay, had already received the award for the discovery of this long-sought passage. Besides the above, which are only the principal British expeditions, there are the American ones, under Dr. De Haven, 1850; Dr. Kane, 1853; Dr. Hayes, 1861; and Captain Hall, 1860, 1864, and 1870, full of interest, and resulting in important geographical and scientific discoveries; the Austrian Arctic Expedition of 1872-74, resulting in the discovery of Franz Joseph Land; the British Expedition, under Captain Nares, 1875-76; the Jeannette Expedition of 1879-80, which resulted in the melancholy death of Captain De Long and so many of his companions by starvation. Written and illustrated accounts of nearly all the above explorations have been published, and many of them can be found in the catalogues of the leading American publishing houses.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

Zanesville, Ohio.

When was the Declaration of Independence first proposed, and when was it finally adopted? Give the hour in the day as nearly as you can, the order of proceedings, and the scenes that followed.

George M. Hoffman.

Answer.—That enthusiastic little rebel, Rhode Island, was the first of the colonies to declare itself “free from all dependence on the crown of Great Britain.” This she did on May 4, 1776. The Assembly of Virginia in the same month instructed her delegates to the Continental Congress to present to that body a proposition “affirming the independence of the colonies from Great Britain.” In compliance with these instructions Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, on June 7, 1776, introduced his famous resolutions: “That these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown; and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign alliances. That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective colonies for their consideration and approbation.” John Adams seconded these resolutions, and an animated discussion ensued. On June 8 a committee, consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, was appointed to draw up a declaration of independence embodying the sense of Lee’s resolutions. On July 2 Lee’s resolutions were passed by the vote of twelve of the thirteen colonies, the New York delegates refraining from voting for want of instructions from their province. On July 3 the formal declaration, almost precisely as written by Thomas Jefferson, was presented by the committee above named, and was debated with great spirit, John Adams being the chief speaker on the part of the committee. The discussion was resumed on the morning of the 4th, and at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, after one or two slight modifications, it was adopted. The announcement was hailed with the liveliest enthusiasm. “Ring! ring!” shouted the lad stationed below to give the signal to the old bellman in the State House tower; and he did ring until the whole city shouted for joy. The King’s arms were wrenched from the Court House and burned in the streets; bonfires were lighted, the city illuminated, and the exultation was prolonged far into the night. In New York City the populace hurled the leaden statue of George III. from its pedestal and molded it into bullets, and in all the great cities similar demonstrations of enthusiasm were exhibited. Washington had the declaration read at the head of every brigade of the army, and the soldiers pledged fealty to the cause of independence.

INVENTOR OF THE LIFE-BOAT.

Joliet, Ill.

Who invented the life-boat, and when did he do it?

James.

Answer.—It is not easy to determine this question. Many writers give the credit to Mr. Henry Greathead, of Shields, Eng.; others give it to Lionel Lukin, a coach-builder, of London; others to William Wouldhave, parish clerk of St. Hilda’s Church, South Shields, Eng. Now that the Royal National Life-boat Institution of Great Britain alone has 271 life-boats in its service, and more than 900 lives annually, on the average, are saved, mainly by these boats, when the life-saving institutions of other countries are using them with most gratifying results, it is not strange that the honor of this invention is zealously contested. The facts seem to be these: The first patent for a life-boat was granted in England, in 1785, to Lionel Lukin. It was not satisfactory for several reasons, but was improved by Admiral Graves, of the Royal Navy, and Henry Greathead, a boatbuilder of Shields. This was improved by George Palmer, a member of the National Life-boat Institution, and remained the favorite boat in the service until 1851, when in response to the offer by the Duke of Northumberland of a prize of 100 guineas, about 100 models of improved life-boats were exhibited, and the prize was awarded to Mr. James Beeching, of Yarmouth. This boat, improved by Mr. R. Peake, of the Royal Dockyard, Woolwich, was adopted by the National Life-boat Institution, and is still its favorite model. Undoubtedly Greathead has received more credit for this invention than any one else. He received the gold medals of the Society of Arts and the Royal Humane Society. He received £1,200 from Parliament in 1802, and a purse of 100 guineas from Lloyd’s. He obtained patents and honorable awards in foreign countries and made large sums by furnishing boats for life-saving service for Great Britain and other lands. Nevertheless, the honor of inventing the self-righting life-boat is strenuously claimed for William Wouldhave, particularly by his fellow-townsmen and parishioners of South Shields. The story is that soon after a wreck, accompanied with a terrible loss of life, which occurred at Tynemouth in September, 1789, Mr. Wouldhave noticed a wooden dish floating on the surface of a well, which, on being accidentally struck by his finger, when he was assisting a woman to raise a skeel of water, turned bottom upward, and instantly righted itself again. Capsizing it again several times, he noted that it always righted itself. He discovered the self-righting principle then and there, and soon after made a model life-boat of tin, which he offered to exhibit to the ship-owners and mariners of South Shields as a suitable boat for rescuing persons from wrecks. The affair was greatly talked about, and a committee consisting of gentlemen connected with the merchant marine was appointed to test the model and any others that might be offered for inspection. Greathead, the boatbuilder above mentioned, exhibited a model at this time, and upon testing the merits of the boats Wouldhave’s proved to be self-righting and unsinkable by any water it might ship. Greathead’s model failed in these respects, though in others it was pronounced a good sea-boat. Mr. Greathead, however, was what Mr. Wouldhave was not, a shrewd business man. He made improvements in his model, adopting some of the features of Lukin’s patent above mentioned and some of Wouldhave’s, and it was not long before he had introduced it into actual service, not only in Great Britain, but elsewhere. Hence his name has become famous as the inventor of the life-boat, while Wouldhave’s name was known to few but his townsmen as the actual and original inventor. The first model made by Wouldhave is now in the Free Library Museum at South Shields. His tombstone, in St. Hilda’s Church-yard, bears a life-boat carved on it, and above the gaselier in the church a model life-boat is suspended in memory of him.

“BULLS” AND “BEARS.”

Jonesboro, Ark.

Explain how “bulls” and “bears” operate to affect the prices of stocks and provisions.

S. W. Morehead.

Answer.—The means used to “bull” and “bear,” or raise and depress, the prices of stocks, grain, provisions, etc., are innumerable, varying with the needs of the times, but influenced much more by the combinations of capitalists and brokers. The “bulls” magnify every circumstance favorable to the appreciation of the stocks they hold or have agreed to take at a given time, while those who have contracted to deliver such stocks, or who for any reason wish to buy, do all in their power to depreciate them, and are therefore nicknamed “bears.” Any one who has ever witnessed a bull and bear fight will not question the appropriateness of these terms as applied to the combatants in the exciting wars among the kings of the stock board. The bulls struggle to toss the stocks higher; the bears squeeze and tug to force the prices down. The former resort to all kinds of expedients to induce small holders to cling fast to their stocks instead of putting them on the market. They persuade them by direct appeals, or by circulating encouraging reports, that these stocks are bound to rise rapidly in value; and they often combine to buy up the stock of the few who persist in selling, so as to “corner” the market. Not content with fair means, they sometimes enter into combinations with one another, and employ third parties to buy and sell stocks of the same description on ’Change, in such a way as to create the impression that there is a greater demand for them than there really is, when in fact the sales are never consummated, or merely amount to an exchange among themselves. Often, when neither the foreign nor home news was favorable to their purposes, false reports have been telegraphed through the country by interested parties, to affect the stock board. Similar methods are pursued on boards of trade.

ORIGIN OF POSTOFFICES.

Waukesha, Wis.

What country first established a postal system for transmitting the mail? When was postal communication established in America? Give us a few facts on this subject.

J. J. S.

Answer.—Couriers for carrying royal or government dispatches are mentioned in histories of the earliest times. Royal posts existed in Assyria, Persia, Greece, and Rome. The name postoffice originated in the posts, or stations, at intervals along the roads of the Roman Empire, where couriers were kept in readiness to start on the instant. But such posts were not used for transmitting private letters. The first postal system for commercial and private correspondence appears to have been established between the Hanse Towns early in the thirteenth century. In the reign of the Emperor Maximilian I., of Germany, letter posts were established by the Princes of Thurn and Taxis, connecting the chief cities of Austria and Lombardy, and later, 1516, the same princes connected Vienna and Brussels in the same way. Maximilian’s successor, Charles V., encouraged still further extension of this private postal system by repeated enfeoffments or special franchises, until all the great commercial centers of his vast empire, from Vienna to Madrid, from the Adriatic to the North Sea, and intervening places, were brought into regular postal communication. Far back in the twelfth century the University of Paris, whose students, gathered from all civilized nations, numbered not long after this over 25,000, employed foot-runners to carry letters for its members to all parts of Europe. But not until 1524 was permission granted to the royal French posts to carry other letters than those for the government and the nobility. London merchants established a postal communication of their own with France and other continental countries as early as the fifteenth century, and it is evident that, although the royal post of England established in the thirteenth century was intended and long restricted to the transmission of government dispatches only, it had gradually become a vehicle for private correspondence. In 1581 Thomas Randolph was appointed the “Chief Postmaster” for England, with authority to establish and supervise post-houses and regulate the fees charged by postmen, but apparently without authority to receive and handle mail matter, which was left largely to the discretion of the postmen themselves. Not until the time of James I. of England was a postmaster for foreign parts appointed, and steps taken by the government to establish regular running posts, going day and night, for the transmission of letters for the general public. In 1635 such a mail was established to run weekly between London and Edinburgh, and soon eight other lines were instituted.

In this country, Massachusetts provided by legislation for the postal system as early as 1639, and Virginia in 1657. A monthly post between Boston and New York was instituted in 1672. In the beginning, letters arriving in this country from beyond the seas were delivered on board the ship. Letters not called for were left by the captain at a coffee-house near the wharf, where they were spread on a table or shelf, awaiting call. Persons calling not only took charge of their own letters, but of those of acquaintances in their neighborhood, either delivering them in person or leaving them at the minister’s or some magistrate’s office to be inquired for, or announced in church. These coffee-houses gradually grew into common use for letters between cities and the interiors, until regular posts were instituted. One of the first acts of the Continental Congress was the establishment of a general postoffice department, and the appointment of Benjamin Franklin, who had enjoyed large experience in the British colonial postal service, as the first Postmaster General.

FINANCIAL CONDITION OF FRANCE.

Hamilton, N. M.

What is the financial condition of France as compared with other European countries? Is she prepared to cope with Great Britain in case of a war between them?

E. L. Easdale.

Answer.—France is carrying a larger national debt than any other nation. It amounted at the close of the fiscal year 1882 to $4,683,840,000—nearly a billion dollars more than that of Great Britain. Besides this, like our own States and minor political divisions, the departments and municipalities of France are carrying local debts amounting in the aggregate to an immense sum. The debt of Paris in September, 1880, was 2,295,000,000 francs, or about $450,000,000. The national debt is well distributed among the people, there being in 1881 as many as 4,617,900 holders, receiving 851,909,901 francs annually for interest. So long as this interest, or “rente,” is paid promptly these holders are, for the most part, content with the government; but should the latter plunge the country into a costly war, rendering it necessary to suspend payment of the interest, and jeopardizing resumption of such payments, a popular revolution would in all probability ensue. This enormous national debt will indisputably prove a source of weakness to the government and the nation In the event of a foreign war. The imperial debt of Germany in 1882 was only $120,197,528. Add to this the debt proper of Prussia, $493,821,812, and that of the other constituent states of the empire, $735,608,892, and the total was $1,349,728,232. The imperial debt of Austro-Hungary the same year was $1,107,978,118, which, added to the Austrian debt proper, $176,914,016, and the Hungarian debt proper, $400,532,142, made a total of $1,685,424,276. The public debt of Italy in 1882 was $2,042,000,000; of Spain, $1,826,613,093; of Great Britain, $3,814,500,000; of Russia, $4,314,607,500; of the United States, $1,918,312,294.

Undoubtedly the industrial condition of France is better than that of any other European country, except Great Britain, Belgium, and Holland. The French people have been accumulating wealth at a remarkable rate since the Franco-German war, and in this respect France is stronger than her great continental neighbors.

The following table, compiled from Mulhall’s “Balance Sheet of the World,” shows the estimated capital or wealth of a few of the principal nations of Europe in 1880:

Nations— Total wealth.

Great Britain $44,800,000,000

France 37,085,000,000

Germany 30,375,000,000

Russia 17,700,000,000

Austria 15,250,000,000

Italy 9,300,000,000

Spain 6,865,000,000

Holland 5,650,000,000

The next table gives the per capita, or rate of wealth for each inhabitant, less the per capita of the public debt:

Nations— Per capita of wealth.

Great Britain $1,185

France 900

Germany 650

Russia 180

Austria 335

Italy 235

Spain 255

Holland 1,310

So much for the financial condition of France. As regards her ability to cope with England in the event of war, it is largely a matter of opinion. One hazards little in predicting that, if her people stand united, France is almost impregnable at home to any assault from Great Britain. So is the latter against any attack from the former, except in Ireland. On the sea England’s navy is far more than a match for that of France, whom she would easily strip of all her colonial possessions; but France, with a few Alabamas, could quite as easily drive Great Britain’s merchant marine from the high seas, and injure her commerce even more than the Confederates did ours during the recent rebellion.

BAROMETRICAL QUERIES.

Wilber, Kan.

1. What causes the mercury to sink in a barometer before a storm? 2. How do persons foretell the state of the weather from the movements of the barometer? 3. How far ahead can storms be predicted?

F. J. Elliott.

Answer.—The sinking of the mercury in the tube of a barometer is due to the lightness of the atmosphere, which is indicative, in most cases, of humidity, or aqueous vapor, in the air. The construction of a mercurial barometer may be stated in a few words. A glass tube, about 33 inches in length, open at one end, is filled with mercury, and while the unsealed end is covered, is inverted in a basin of mercury. As soon as the cover is removed the mercury in the tube will flow out until it stands about thirty inches above the mercury in the basin. At that point the pressure of the air upon the liquid in the basin is equal to the pressure of the liquid in the tube (the space in the upper part of the tube being a vacuum) and the flow ceases. When the air becomes heavier its pressure upon the basin will be greater and force the mercury in the tube higher; if the air becomes lighter the mercury in the tube will sink. The barometer therefore shows directly only the weight of the atmosphere, but thereby indirectly the future state of the weather is indicated. 2. This is explained in “Our Curiosity Shop” for 1881, pages 144-5. 3. How far ahead the changes of weather can be predicted depends upon so many other considerations besides that of the mere weight of the atmosphere, varying in different seasons of the year and different localities, that no answer suited to all can be given. In some instances storms have been predicted from observations of the barometer alone as much as thirty-six to forty hours before their arrival. The United States Signal Service bases its weather predictions not only on barometric phenomena, but on telegraphic reports from a multitude of stations of the temperature, humidity, clouds, direction, force and rate of motion of the winds, etc. In some cases it has given notice of storms starting in the Rocky Mountains and traveling eastward sixty hours before their arrival on the Atlantic seaboard.

EXEMPTIONS OF PRE-EMPTIONS AND HOMESTEADS.

Plankington, D. T.

Can a judgment rendered in Iowa eight or ten years ago attach to a pre-emption after the latter is proved and title taken from the government?

C. P. Wilton.

Answer.—It is expressly declared in the homestead law that “no lands acquired under the provisions of this chapter shall in any event become liable to the satisfaction of any debt contracted prior to the issuing of the patent therefor.” There is no such provision in the pre-emption law. Lands acquired under the latter law are protected from previous judgments only by the State or Territorial homestead and exemption laws.

BEST PEDESTRIAN RECORD FOR 100 MILES.

Oregon. Ill.

Oblige a reader and settle a dispute by stating whether 100 miles has ever been made by any walker or runner in a day of ten hours. Also give the quickest time for 100 miles, walking, and the same distance running.

H. W. Faragher.

Answer.—The best record for 100 miles walking, in this country, is 18 hours, 53 minutes, 4 seconds, by D. O’Leary, of Chicago; the best in England is 18 hours, 8 minutes, 15 seconds, by William Howes, London. The best record for 100 miles running, in this country, is 13 hours, 26 minutes, 30 seconds; the best in England is 13 hours, 47 minutes, and 50 seconds.

AGASSIZ, THE NATURALIST.

Spencer, Iowa.

Please give a biographical sketch of Professor Agassiz.

R. A. Coats.

Answer.—Louis John Rudolf Agassiz, the son of a Swiss Protestant clergyman, was born near Lake Neuchatel, May 28, 1807. After completing his academical course, he studied medicine at Zurich, Heidelberg, and Munich, preparatory to becoming a physician. Meanwhile Spix and Martins had returned from Brazil with a valuable collection of fossil fishes; and when, in 1826, the death of Spix made it necessary to select some one to continue the classification of his specimens, the choice fell upon Agassiz, who had already shown great ability in zoological research. Thus suddenly, at the age of 18, he began what was to be his life-long study. His next work was the study of the fresh water fishes of Central Europe, of which he published a history in 1839. In 1834 he paid his first visit to England, drawn thither by the tempting field of investigation in the fossils of the Devonian rocks. At about this time Agassiz commenced a new classification of fishes, based upon the character of the skin. Four years later he accepted a professorship at Neuchatel; and while there published his works on “Fishes of Central Europe.” “Mollusca,” and “Glaciers.” The last named work was the result of his study with Charpentier, during the year 1840. In 1847 he came to the United States, and became Professor of Zoology and Geology in Harvard. His life in this country was characterized by increased vigor as a writer. Failing health made a change of climate necessary in 1865, and with his wife and a company of assistants he visited Brazil. Later he explored the Southern Atlantic and Pacific shores of North America, gathering much valuable material for future study. His last great work was the establishment of a school for the study of marine zoology, on the island of Penikese, the gift of Mr. John Anderson, of New York, who also donated $50,000 as a permanent endowment. Professor Agassiz’s death occurred Dec. 14, 1873.

POSTMASTERS GENERAL AND THE CABINET.

Fairbury, Ill.

State who was the first Postmaster General of the United States, and who was the first Postmaster General admitted to a seat in the Cabinet.

E. E. McDowell.

Answer.—From the organization of the Federal Government down to the year 1829, the Postmasters General were not recognized as members of the Cabinet. The first Postmaster General under the present Constitution was Samuel Osgood, of Massachusetts, appointed by President Washington, Sept. 26, 1789. He was regarded as the head of a bureau. On the accession of President Jackson he nominated William T. Barry, of Kentucky, to the office of Postmaster General, and invited him to a seat in the Cabinet, since when the head of the Postoffice Department has been considered a member of the Cabinet

TO DISTINGUISH SEX OF FOWLS.

Kearney, Neb.

Is it possible to distinguish the sex of fowls by the noises they make?

Subscriber.

Answer.—An experienced poultry-raiser gives the following rules, which he says a close observer can soon learn to apply without mistake: The drake wheezes, the duck quacks. The Guinea cock and hen both have a peculiar, disagreeable chatter, but the hen sometimes says “buckwheat” or “go back” which the cock never does. The peacock can be distinguished, even when only a few months old, by the foxy red pinion feathers of his wings. In the case of turkeys, the breastbone of the cock is turned out at the front point, while that of the hen is straight. As to geese, the gabble of the common, the Embden and the Toulouse ganders is faster, finer, and higher than that of the goose, which is a slow, low bass; and the screech of the gander is fine, loud, and clear, while that of the goose is a rough bass. Both gander and goose of the English gray geese have a coarse screech and gabble, but the screech of the goose is lazy and seems to be partly broken, making two sounds, while the gander gives one clear, loud screech without any break in it. The screech of the African gander is loud and hoarse, while that of the goose is clear and stops abruptly, as if bitten off at the end. The Chinese gander gives one loud, clear screech, but that of the goose seems to be broken, making two different sounds, as if the first were made by forcing her breath out and the other by drawing it back.

INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE.

St. Paul, Minn.

What is meant by “an international date line?”

Constant Reader.

Answer.—Every person traveling around the world from west to east, with his watch or chronometer set to the time of the place at which he started, will note that the sun comes to his meridian, or noon, four minutes earlier than his chronometer time for every degree passed over, one hour for every 15 degrees, and twenty-four hours for 360 degrees, the total circuit of the earth. In other words, every one who completes such a journey gains a day, and to dispose of this superfluous day so as to make his reckoning correspond with that of his starting place, he must call the day on which he gets back (or on which he passes some certain point or meridian line) and the next following day of the week and month by the same name and date; thus having two Mondays, for example, together. On the other hand, every person traveling from east to west loses a day in making a complete circuit of the earth, and to correct his calendar must skip one day of some week.

Suppose it were universally agreed that this correction of the 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.