Chapter 2

A harpoon is a sort of a spear, to which a long rope is attached. This spear is hurled at the whale by a sailor who stands in the bow of the boat; it has a barbed end, like that of a fish-hook, and if it once gets into the flesh of a whale it will hold fast, and the struggles of the great fish cannot pull it out.

The line attached to the harpoon is held fast by the men in the boat, and as the whale, in his pain and fright, plunges, dives, and swims about to get away from the spear that is hurting him, the boat and the men in it are dragged after him wherever he goes.

The men of Amagansett were at first very proud that three boats had succeeded in getting near enough for their occupants to strike the whale.

But their pride did not last long. Ere two minutes had passed, each boat-load was wishing that they had left the whale to the other, and everybody was as busy as could be blaming his neighbor.

The trouble was that the harpoons had all been well thrown, and all had stuck fast--too fast, for when the whale gave a mighty plunge, and set off for the North Pole, at the rate of sixty miles an hour, all the three boats, which were attached to him by their harpoon ropes, went bumping along after him, in a terrible confusion of ropes, reproaches, and bad language.

The whale sped along. The bows of the boats which were flying in his wake were lifted high in the air, and the spray flew on every side, till it was like a morning mist.

No one would let go his rope. Each man was sure his harpoon was the first thrown; so with hearts full of fury and fear, the brave whalers of Amagansett sped onward till they had made about six miles on their trip to the North Pole.

Then the whale changed his mind, decided that the South Pole was nearer than the North, and, veering round, came charging down upon the boats.

There was consternation among the whalers!

One flip of the monster's great tail would have sent them all to a watery grave. They could not separate because of their twisted ropes, so, with a few more compliments to each other, they got ready for the fight.

Before the whale had had time to do any serious harm, an old man, who had fought many such big fish in his day, seized another harpoon, plunged it into the whale's side, and finished the business.

After churning the water with his tail till the whole surface looked like soapsuds, the whale gave up the fight, and was towed in to shore.

Imagine the delight of the heroes of Amagansett, when they found that their prize was a right whale, with about 800 pounds of bone in his mouth.

His value is supposed to be about two thousand dollars; this will be equally divided among the men who caught the prize.

* * * * *

A new Immigration Bill has passed through Congress.

It provides that no one who is over sixteen years of age shall be allowed to come into the country if not able to read. The bill passed both Houses, and was sent to President Cleveland for his signature.

Some people thought that he would not sign the bill, because it is good for us to let all the immigrants into the country who want to come. Others hope that he did sign it, because they think we ought to be very careful about the kind of people we allow to enter our country, and share its privileges with us.

The present immigration laws are very strict. Every foreigner who comes to our shores has to satisfy the authorities at Ellis Island as to his worthiness, before he can be allowed to land.

Ellis Island is in New York harbor, and is used solely for the handling of immigrants.

Every ship that carries immigrants is obliged to furnish the authorities at Ellis Island with lists of these passengers, and full information about them. The steerage passengers are landed at Ellis Island, the lists are given to the clerks, and the immigrants have to pass before these clerks, and answer all their questions before they are allowed to enter our country.

Before they come to the desks where the clerks sit, they have to pass two by two before some doctors, who watch very carefully to see if there are any lame or deformed persons among them. If any such are found, the doctors separate them from the rest, and they are carefully examined to see what their trouble is.

If it is serious, and they are cripples, and not able to earn their own living, they are not allowed to come into the country, but are sent back where they came from, at the expense of the steamship company.

In Spain and Italy, and indeed in many of the European countries, there are an amazing number of cripples who make their living by begging. These professional beggars are a dirty, shiftless set of people, a disgrace and a danger to the countries they live in.

If we allowed them to enter our country it would greatly increase our taxes and expenses, for we do not allow begging, and so, as the poor unfortunates must have food and shelter, we would send them to our almshouses, and have to pay to support them. So it is forbidden to allow cripples, or people incapable of earning their own living, to come into the country.

While the doctors are watching for cripples, they also examine the immigrants carefully, to see that they have not any kind of sickness. Only healthy immigrants are allowed to land, sick people being sent back.

When the immigrants have passed the doctors, they then reach the clerks, who must be satisfied that they have money, or friends in the country, before they give them permission to land.

People who come without money are divided from the rest, and are taken before a board of inquiry.

Here they are asked why they came to the country. If they have friends who have sent for them, and who agree to feed and shelter them, they are allowed to pass. If no friends come for them, they are kept on Ellis Island till their friends are found; and if no friends are found, they are sent back to their own country.

When they have been passed from Ellis Island the immigration law has not done with them. The law says that no charity shall be given to an immigrant who has been in this country for less than a year. Any person who asks for help, and has been less than a year over here, is sent back to Ellis Island, and from thence he is carried back to his own country by the same steamship company that brought him.

So you see that the laws are almost strict enough now, and the immigrants who succeed in passing through Ellis Island are a good, solid class of people, who are likely to become worthy citizens.

* * * * *

Did you ever hear a singing mouse?

A man wrote a long story to _The Sun_, a few days ago, telling how he was awakened one night, and frightened out of his wits by hearing a noise like the peeping of a chicken in the adjoining room.

He got up and lit the gas, and saw a little brown mouse run across the floor.

He set a trap, caught the mouse, which was no sooner in the trap than it began to sing. The man whistled to it, and the little creature replied.

The man did not seem to realize that he had found a great prize, but pretending that his wife was afraid of the mouse, he drowned it in a pail of water.

When it was safely dead, he began to search through his encyclopedia to see what kind of a "beastie" he had caught. But the encyclopedia, as studied by the good man, did not seem to be any wiser than he, and he finally wrote a note to the newspaper for information.

It is a great pity he did not keep the mouse until he had looked the matter up, for chance had sent him a very gentle and charming little pet.

His singing mouse was a deer or white-foot mouse. This mouse is found all over the United States, and while several other kinds are known to sing, the deer-mouse is the sweetest of the singers.

These mice can be very easily tamed, and live happily in cages, like dormice.

In "Nature's Wonderland" an interesting story is told of a deer-mouse which was a famous singer.

It was owned by Dr. Lockwood, who was so pleased with its songs, that he set them to music, and gave them names.

He noticed that his mouse had certain songs for certain occasions. When she had awakened from a long sleep, and had taken some nice food, she would sing her great aria, which he called the "Grand Role."

When she jumped into her wheel for a spin, she had another kind of song, which he called the "Wheel Song."

She had another song that she used for state occasions, and this was so silvery and sweet, that those who heard it declared that no canary could imitate it.

It is a pity that such a pretty and curious kind of creature should have been killed through ignorance.

GENIE H. ROSENFELD.

We have another true story of a singing mouse, which will be published in "THE GREAT ROUND WORLD Animal Story-Book."--EDITOR.

Letters From Our Young Friends.

DEAR MR. EDITOR:

I take THE GREAT ROUND WORLD and like it very much. I am interested to know what has become of Robinson Crusoe's Island, as I have not seen anything about it lately. I hope there will be something about it soon.

Yours truly, NEW YORK, Feb. 19th, 1897. FREDERICK D.

P.S.--We have a club every Saturday morning, and we read THE GREAT ROUND WORLD.

DEAR FREDERICK:

We have had no further news about Crusoe's Island. Rest assured that we will tell our young friends when anything more is heard of or from the island of Juan Fernandez. THE EDITOR.

DEAR MR. EDITOR:

I have of late become deeply interested in your delightful little paper, THE GREAT ROUND WORLD, and as I saw many of the enthusiastic readers writing to you, and asking different requests, I thought I would follow their example. I use your little book for different purposes. At school we have to begin topics, and I get a great deal of information from your little paper. I also spend many happy moments reading its contents.

I wish you would send me the names of a few good books. I do not want anything like fairy tales, but something on the order of "Six Girls," by Miss Irving, or "Little Women"; or I would be more pleased with the names of a few good boarding-school stories. I would also like you to explain the relationship between Noah and Daniel Webster.

Hoping I will receive an answer in a short time, I remain,

Your interested reader, CINCINNATI, O., Feb. 22d, 1897. GRACE G.

DEAR GRACE:

We are very glad you take pleasure in THE GREAT ROUND WORLD, and that you find it useful.

We are told by a girl who is fond of reading, that "A World of Girls," by Mead, is the most delightful school story ever written.

"Jackanapes," "Six to Sixteen," "A Flat-Iron for a Farthing," are all three by Mrs. Ewing, and are charming books.

"An Old-Fashioned Girl," and Miss Yonge's "Pillars of the House," are both interesting.

History does not tell us of any close relationship between Noah and Daniel Webster. EDITOR.

DEAR EDITOR:

I tried "Sylvia's Caramels," and found them very nice.

The other day I went to the Zoo. It is very nice. Chiquita is twenty-six inches tall and twenty-six years old. She is very cunning. She slept in a cigar-box up to the time that she was six years old! The man that told about her said that there was nothing she disliked more than to be called "dear little thing."

You asked us to tell you about any book that we like. "Timothy's Quest" is one of my favorite stories, by Kate Douglas Wiggin. All her stories end well, this one especially. It is very funny, also.

Will you please send me a "Who? When? What?" chart?

Wishing success to your little paper, I remain,

Your true and constant reader, WEST NEWTON, MASS., Feb. 20th, 1897. CLARA M.B.

Grace may perhaps find Clara's favorite story, "Timothy's Quest," interesting to her. We are much obliged to Clara for her nice letter.

EDITOR.

DEAR MR. EDITOR:

It's Washington's Birthday, and a very gloomy day, too. I haven't anything to do, and mamma is in a great state of things, so I thought I would write, which I never like to do.

Well, you know there is a lot of cruelty going on all around the world.

Just think, in the summer time, how animals suffer, poor things. But I cannot do a thing. I just have to see and hear about it.

Now there goes a horse-car driver whipping his horse, and here's a man pulling the reins so the poor creature's head is bent way back and his lip bleeding. I do beg you to write something in your paper about it, but don't say who told you to, for all the children whom I know that get your paper would laugh at me; but if you don't tell them they will think it all right. I'll tell you what to write: just something to ask them to be good to animals; and tell them some of the sufferings of animals.

I don't know what to say now, so good-by.

Your friend,

DEAR LITTLE FRIEND:

We could not resist the temptation to publish your letter, though we have not put your name to it, and so no one will guess that it comes from you. Dear child, your gentle plea for dumb animals will do far more to make thoughtless people care for them than any words of ours.

But we will do our best to help you, and will try to have the article you ask for written.

There is a Society in New York for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and it publishes a lot of little books and papers telling people how to take care of animals. You should ask your mamma to let you go to the Society's rooms at No. 10 East 22d Street, and get Mr. Haines to give some of these books to you.

When you grow up you should join the Society, and then you would be able to do a great deal for animals. They will love you for your kind little heart as much as we do.

You might do something to help your favorites now, by getting all the boys and girls you know to join you in forming Bands of Mercy. These are clubs of young people who pledge themselves to be kind and helpful to all animals.

Write to Mr. J.L. Stevens, the Secretary of the American Humane Education Society, Milk Street, Boston.

Tell him THE GREAT ROUND WORLD gave you his address, and he will send you information about forming your club, and about the badges and rules.

You can do a great deal for suffering animals by interesting other boys and girls in the work, and teaching them that we ought to be even kinder to animals than we are to one another, because animals are dumb, and cannot tell us when they suffer.

EDITOR.

We have great pleasure in informing our readers that we are about to publish a volume of "GREAT ROUND WORLD Natural History Stories."

We know how much our young friends love _true_ stories. This collection will contain only true stories, and has been written by one who was an intimate friend, as she says, of each of these interesting creatures.

It has taken several years to collect them, and they are being prepared and illustrated with the greatest care.

We publish one story as a supplement, and will be very glad if our readers will let us know if it pleases them.

We are constantly having new books sent in to us. We would like to have our subscribers read the books, and write us what they think of them. Letters of this kind will be printed in THE GREAT ROUND WORLD from time to time. Any of our subscribers who have had a letter about some book published may become a "reader"--that is, new books will be given them to read, and write an account of. If the account is well-enough written to be published, the book may be kept; and others will be sent from time to time for criticism of this kind.

INVENTION AND DISCOVERY.

Some lover of the wheel, who evidently cannot bear to lose the pleasure of wheeling even when the snow lies thick on the ground, has invented a sleigh attachment. This is a runner fastened beneath the driving-wheel of the bicycle.

What a great thing this will be! Fancy wheeling away over the snow, propelling our wheels as fast as the pedals can make us go.

The bicyclists ought to be very happy this year; so many clever brains are working for their comfort and pleasure.

All who ride have been troubled at times what to do with the bicycles when they are standing still.

It may be there is damp grass, which would make it impossible to lay the precious wheel down; or there may be a thousand other little inconveniences.

Some one has come to the aid of the bicyclist, and invented a bicycle support, which can be secured to the machine, and raised at will, so as not to interfere with the wheel when in motion. It is just the thing all bicyclists have been longing for.

Another busy brain has been at work in anticipation of the summer, and the glorious time in store, riding along the country roads.

An umbrella support is the result. It consists of an attachment composed of portions which can be connected or removed at will.

What a boon it will be, on a hot summer's day, to have an umbrella comfortably held over one's head, while the hands are free to guide the wheel!

FIRST BOUND VOLUMES

OF....

=The Great Round World=

_Containing Nos. 1 to 15_

=WILL BE READY MARCH 20TH=

THESE VOLUMES WILL BE IN STRONG CLOTH, WITH TITLE ON BACK AND SIDE, WITH A HANDSOME DESIGN....

=Price, Postage Paid, $1.25=

Subscribers wishing their numbers bound will send them (express paid), enclosing 35 cents to cover cost of binding. Missing numbers or supplements will be supplied until exhausted, at regular price.

* * * * *

WILLIAM BEVERLEY HARISON

_3 & 5 West 18th Street, New York City_

THE GREAT ROUND WORLD

NATURAL HISTORY

STORIES.

A Series of True Stories

BY

JULIA TRUITT BISHOP.

Attractively Illustrated by Barnes.

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These stories will be issued in parts. Price, 10 cents each. Subscription price (12 numbers), $1.00. Part 1. issued as supplement to GREAT ROUND WORLD. 19.

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=Author's Preface.=

The stories published in this little volume have been issued from time to time in the Philadelphia _Times_, and it is at the request of many readers that they now greet the world in more enduring form. They have been written as occasion suggested, during several years; and they commemorate to me many of the friends I have known and loved in the animal world. "Shep" and "Dr. Jim," "Abdallah" and "Brownie," "Little Dryad" and "Peek-a-Boo." I have been fast friends with every one, and have watched them with such loving interest that I knew all their ways and could almost read their thoughts. I send them on to other lovers of dumb animals, hoping that the stories of these friends of mine will carry pleasure to young and old.

* * * * *

=WILLIAM BEVERLEY HARISON,=

=3 & 5 West 18th Street.=

* * * * *

=KLEMMS'=

=RELIEF PRACTICE MAPS.=

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=LIST OF MAPS.=

Small size, 9-1/2 x 11 { Plain, 5 cents each. { With Waterproofed surface 10 " "

Europe, Asia, Africa; North America, South America, East Central States, New England, Middle Atlantic States, South Atlantic States, Palestine, Australia.

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United States, British Isles, Roman Empire, Western Europe, North America, South America, Asia.

(POSTAGE ON SINGLE MAPS, 5 CENTS.)

* * * * *

"I would advise =Sunday-school teachers= to use, in connection with the lessons of 1897, =Klemm's Relief Map of the Roman Empire=. Every scholar who can draw should have a copy of it. Being blank, it can be beautifully colored: waters, blue; mountains, brown; valleys, green; deserts, yellow; cities marked with pin-holes; and the journeys of Paul can be traced upon it."--MRS. WILBUR F. CRAFTS, _President International Union of Primary Sabbath-School Teachers of the United States_.

* * * * *

=DESCRIPTION OF THE MAPS.=

These maps are made in two forms, both with beautifully executed relief (embossed)--the cheaper ones of plain stiff paper similar to drawing paper (these are to be substituted for and used as outline map blanks), the others covered with a durable waterproof surface, that can be quickly cleaned with a damp sponge, adapted to receive a succession of markings and cleansings. Oceans, lakes, and rivers, as well as land, appear in the same color, white, so as to facilitate the use of the map as a =_geographical slate_=.

* * * * *

=WILLIAM BEVERLEY HARISON _3 & 5 W. 18th St. ··· New York City_=

* * * * *

=Evolution of Empire Series=

UNITED STATES

BY

MARY PLATT PARMELE

AUTHOR OF

="Who? When? What?" "France," "Germany," "England," Etc.=

Price, Post-paid 75 Cents

* * * * *

_From New York Sun Editorial Dec._ 30, 1896.

In too many of the little school histories there is but a tedious, bare narrative of apparently unconnected facts, and there is a profitless rigmarole of dates and names: but when the sequence of cause and effect is not obscured, and form and life are given to the actors, and the development of events and institutions is traced, the story of the United States becomes, as it should become, the most, fascinating as it is the most important of histories to Americans; and whatever in historical inquiry and writing promotes accuracy, adds detail, and clears up obscurity, increases the worth and the, charm of the work.

W.B. Harison has published in his "Evolution of Empire" series, a brief historical sketch of the United States, by Mary Platt Parmele, whose other volumes in the series have received cordial praise. In this book one finds the story of our country told in about 300 pages, and very interestingly is it written. The book leaves out the innumerable incidents and figures which are of great importance to students, but which are not necessary in a book for general reading, and presents the narrative in a graphic manner, in which the interest of the reader never flags. The book is bound in blue buckram and costs but 75 cents. The other volumes in the series deal with the histories of France, England, and Germany, in the same brilliant vein.--_Hartford Post._

Its value does not lie in the multitude of facts which it contains, but rather in the lucid, natural way in which a few really important facts are presented and grouped, and in the stimulus which it imparts to a rational study of our country's history.--_The Review of Reviews._

In "The Evolution of an Empire," Mary Platt Parmele has endeavored to give in outline the story of the discovery, settlement, and development of the United States of America, touching only upon vital points and excluding all detail. The task has been a most difficult one on account of the constant temptation to deal with matters of minor importance. The author has, however, succeeded in making a very acceptable book.--_Boston Transcript._