Chapter 2

In the olden times these gifts of nobility were often accompanied by some personal service to the sovereign, by the performance of which the holder of the title secured his patent or right to it. At the time these grants were made the services had some especial and important meaning. Nowadays they only seem strange and rather silly. Despite this fact, the services must still be rendered, else the peer loses his patent of nobility.

The article in _The Century Magazine_ tells of these things, and how the Duke of Norfolk is obliged to furnish the sovereign with the glove worn on the right hand during the coronation service, and also to support the monarch's right arm during such times as the sceptre is carried in the hand.

Another earl is bound to carry the sword of state in the procession to Westminster.

The peers are very proud of these privileges, and make a great boast of them. The highest honor ever perhaps granted by a sovereign to a subject was earned by the lords of Kinsale. In the time of King John the head of the house performed a great service for his King, and when asked what reward he desired, replied that he had lands and money enough, but that he should like to have the privilege of wearing his hat in the presence of his sovereign, and that this right might belong to the head of his house forever.

Foolish as this right may seem to us, no Lord Kinsale would ever give it up.

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You will be interested to learn that the break in the levee near New Orleans has been closed.

It was feared that this break would prove very destructive to the surrounding country, as it occurred in the midst of the richest sugar districts of Louisiana.

The crevasse was four hundred feet wide, and in some places twenty-five feet deep. No such gap had ever been closed before, and the levee engineers declared it to be impossible to do so.

Necessity, however, decided them to make the attempt, and for the past week a large force of engineers and bridge-makers have been at work.

They first built cribs around the crevasse; cribs are walls made of timbers which break the first force of the waters; they do not of course stop their flow.

When these were in place sacks were filled with earth and thrown down in front of the cribs.

In a very short time it was seen that the sacks remained in their places, the water coming through the cribs not having sufficient force to wash them away.

More sacks were piled against the wooden wall, and gradually the waters ceased to flow through the break, and the crevasse was closed.

This feat of engineering is considered the most important work of its kind ever done. Engineers from all over the Mississippi have gone to look at it.

Very little of the sugar-cane has been damaged by the overflow, and people along the river are feeling very happy over the great work that has been done.

Future floods will not seem so terrible to them now that a way has been found of closing deep and large crevasses. * * * * *

When will the world be at peace!

The trouble in Hawaii seems to be growing more serious, and people are saying that Japan's success in her war with China, and the prosperity which followed her victories, have made her anxious for another war. It is said that she is willing to fight the United States for Hawaii if her demands about the immigrants are not agreed to.

The Japanese Minister in Hawaii, Mr. Shimamura, persists in declaring that he has received no answer to his country's request, and has sent a new note, which, it is said, is not so amiable in tone as that prepared by Commissioner Akiyama.

Mr. Shimamura said again, that if he did not receive a satisfactory reply to this note, he should leave for Tokio, and put an end to diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In addition to this very unpleasant news it is reported that two Japanese cruisers have been ordered to Hawaii, to join the _Naniwa_.

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There has been some trouble in Montana with the Cheyenne Indians.

The spring and early summer is the time when most of the Indian uprisings occur. During the winter these people sit round in their tepees or lodges, and listen to the tales of daring told them by their old warriors. All the savage spirit that is in the young bucks is excited by these tales, and the young men of the tribes become restless, wanting to show that they too can be as brave as their fathers were.

When the spring comes, and there is enough grass to feed their ponies, many of them slip away from the reservations, where the Government keeps them and feeds them, and go on the war-path.

As the West has become more thickly settled these raids have been less and less frequent, and it is now a long time since the families of settlers have had to flee from their homes for fear of the red men.

In Miles City, Mont., however, family after family has been arriving within the last few days, seeking refuge there until the country becomes quiet again.

The reason of this is that one of the chiefs, called White Bull, is reported to be on the war-path with some two hundred braves.

Women and children are being sent to all the fortified camps; settlers who are too far from camps to be able to shelter there are building stone forts for themselves, and gathering the women and children from the district within its walls. All over the section men are arming and going out to fight the Indians.

The cause for this outbreak among the Indians is supposed to be the feud that has existed for a long time between the cowboys and the Indians.

The cowboys are a very wild lot themselves, and are apt to be nearly as dangerous as the Indians when they get excited.

Their lives are somewhat lonely, being spent in riding about the country rounding up stock and doing the work of the ranches. They are, however, dear lovers of a frolic, and whenever they get into the towns and have no duties to perform, they are apt to do very boisterous and regrettable things.

One of their very bad habits is that they drink more than is good for them. When they are under the influence of liquor, and no longer masters of themselves, it is their great sport to kill an Indian.

The Indians naturally do not sit quietly by and allow tipsy cowboys to kill their friends without revenging them. They wait their chance, and kill a cowboy in return for the Indian. This results in very bitter feeling between the cowboys and the Indians, and warfare of a small kind exists between the two parties, each seeking opportunities to kill the other.

A few weeks ago a sheep-herder was shot while out looking after his sheep.

The sheriff looked into the matter, and found that the young man had been sitting down on the ground smoking when he was shot. All the signs showed that his enemies had crept up behind him, and killed him without giving him a chance to defend himself.

Traces of Indian ponies were found in the neighborhood, and these convinced the sheriff that the work had been done by the Cheyenne Indians from the neighboring reservation.

The sheriff immediately called a large force of deputies together, and rode to the reservation, demanding that the guilty Indian be given up.

The Indian agent refused to comply with his request. He said that when the excitement was over he would have the guilty parties arrested, but that he feared a general uprising among the Indians if he took any immediate steps.

The sheriff was extremely angry with the agent, and hot words followed. The Indians, getting an idea of what was happening, thought the agent was protecting them against the law, and rode round the sheriff in a circle and defied him.

After they had been riding a few minutes, they made a much wider circle, so that they were out of his reach, and one of the number called out that he had shot the herder, and defied the sheriff to capture him.

This Indian was a young man named Badger, who had been sent to Carlisle and educated, and from whom good things had been expected--but, like many of the Indians who are sent away to be educated, he had fallen back into his old habits on his return to the reservation, and in blanket and war-paint was as much a savage as if he had never been taught the blessings of civilization.

The sheriff made fresh demands for the guilty men, and finally Badger was arrested. In the mean while it was found that several other Cheyennes had taken part in the murder, and the sheriff demanded that they also should be handed over to justice.

This the Indians would not agree to. They said that one white man had been killed, and one Indian had been given up for him. They could not be made to see that all the guilty men should be punished. They thought it unreasonable to ask for four or five Indians in exchange for but one white man.

When the sheriff insisted they got very ugly, and finally two hundred of them left the reservation and went on the war-path.

It has been reported that the Cheyennes sent messages to the Sioux, asking them to join the war party, but the Sioux declined.

Some trouble is feared, but nothing of a very serious nature.

The settlers will not return to their homes till White Bull is caught, and though the commanders at the forts are trying to assure them that there is no danger, they prefer to keep their women and children in safety until White Bull has been captured and the band dispersed.

Round-ups are suspended, sheep-shearing has ceased, and everybody is armed for war.

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Word has just reached us that the American sailors who were imprisoned for nearly two years in Siberia were safely landed in San Francisco on the 4th of June.

After the Russians had succeeded in deceiving the American naval officers, as we told you on page 361 of THE GREAT ROUND WORLD, the sailors gave themselves up for lost.

Their friends in California, however, appealed to our Minister in Russia, and on the 20th of last March an order for their release was sent to the prison.

The sailors lost no time in leaving Siberia, and making their way home to their own country.

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Southern California has just been celebrating its annual flower festival. These occasions are so interesting that you would probably like to hear about them.

The flowers of California are beautiful beyond description, and grow in masses that would astonish Eastern eyes. Roses, lilies, daisies, poppies, grow on every side--the cultivated garden flowers growing in the same profusion that our wild flowers do.

The Californians are naturally very proud of their flowers, and when President Harrison was making his trip to the West in 1891, the people of the State very sensibly concluded that in his progress from the East he had seen every kind of flag decoration that the mind could suggest, but that flowers such as they could show him would be a novelty to him.

The people of Santa Barbara therefore decided to hold a flower carnival in their city as a welcome to the President when he visited them.

Arches forty feet high were stretched across the principal streets, and decorated with flowers of all kinds. Some were all of roses, some of palms and pampas grass, some of wild flowers, and some of the wonderful yellow Californian poppy. From these arches hung festoons of marguerites, wistaria, orange and lemon blossoms, the streets being canopied with flowers.

The festivities were all of a floral character, winding up with a flower dance, in which forty-eight young ladies of the city took part, each representing a different flower. Their dresses were fashioned and colored like the flowers they represented, and were covered with bunches of the real flowers.

After the young girls had danced for a few moments a number of young men dressed as bees joined the dance, and a few moments later a score of little children as butterflies.

This first carnival was such a success that it was decided to repeat it and make it an annual affair.

Since then, not only Santa Barbara, but a number of other Californian towns have held their annual flower festival.

People from the East are now making excursions to the Pacific Coast on purpose to see the charming sight.

The carnival season that has just passed has been more beautiful than usual, the favorable weather bringing the flowers out in great splendor.

In Los Angeles they had a parade of carriages decorated with flowers, a prize being given for the most tastefully decked vehicle.

The prize winner was a basket phaeton covered with pink carnations, and canopied with the blue Californian daisies.

Four white horses with harnesses of pink carnations, and collars and head-pieces of blue daisies, were attached to the carriage, and seated in it were two young ladies dressed in the same colors as the flowers.

No trouble is spared in decorating the carriages, and that no speck of any but the chosen colors may be seen, the entire carriage is first covered with cheese-cloth of the required shade, and the harness and whip wound with ribbons of the same color. The flowers are then fastened on the cloth, and the carriage, wheels and all, looks like a bower of blossoms.

When you think that this was but one of the exhibits in the parade, you can form some idea of the bounteous way flowers grow in Southern California.

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An attempt is to be made to climb Mount St. Elias, the snow-clad mountain in Alaska, which makes the boundary line between Alaska and British Columbia.

Mount St. Elias is about 18,000 feet high, and was supposed to be the highest peak on the continent till Mount Logan was discovered a few miles farther inland, that was found to be 1,500 feet higher.

The slopes of Mount St. Elias are covered with glaciers, and so far about 4,000 feet of the mountain have defied the efforts of all mountaineers.

Two parties will make the attempt this summer, one composed of American scientists, and the other of Prince Luigi of Savoy, who is a nephew of King Humbert of Italy, and some companions.

The first attempt to explore the mountain was made eleven years ago, but only an altitude of 7,200 feet was reached. Two years later an Englishman made another effort, and had climbed 11,000 feet of the mountain before he was obliged to descend.

In 1891 a party succeeded in reaching a height of 14,500 feet. Halting on this spot to rest before they ventured farther, the weather changed, clouds gathered over them, avalanches began to sweep down the mountain-sides, and the adventurers had to hurry to the base of the mountain.

Young Prince Luigi, who will make this present attempt, is most anxious to reach the top of Mount St. Elias. He will have many hardships to endure before he can hope to reach his goal. His party will have to cross the glaciers and ice-clad mountains which lie in his path, and will have to camp many days on the ice, a cold and comfortless proceeding.

The Prince declares he has only come for the sport, but his trip may be of great value to the world, for he has in his party a gentleman who is famous for his wonderful mountain photographs.

Signor Sella, as he is called, is taking a complete photographic outfit with him, and if the conditions are favorable, will bring us back some mountain pictures that will add greatly to our knowledge of the beautiful Mount St. Elias.

GENIE H. ROSENFELD.

INVENTION AND DISCOVERY.

DIAL CALENDAR.--This is a calendar which combines many good points. It is not only a monthly calendar, but weekly and daily as well. By means of two movable discs the calendar for the week appears in an opening cut in the frame just above the monthly calendar, and lest even then a person should be mystified about the date a broad black band can be shifted daily to mark the actual day. The calendar would appear to be an ideal one if only its owners remember to set it, but the trouble with the shifting calendars is that so few people remember to adjust them.

COMBINATION COT AND STEP-LADDER.--We have had lots of clever inventions for saving room in small houses, but the most original is certainly this combination of a bed and a step-ladder. It should prove a very useful article where the occupant of the bed is a light sleeper and doesn't mind having to get up when the step-ladder is needed. It might also be useful in very large families where chairs were scarce. By day it could be stood upright, and the children roosted on its various steps. By night the little brood could come down from their perches, the steps be laid lengthwise, and the family put to bed on the cot.

With the addition of a strong wire spring attached to an alarm clock, it should also make an excellent servants' bed.

At 6:30 every morning the alarm would work the spring, and the bed immediately be transformed into a pair of steps. This would promote habits of punctuality and early rising in domestic servants that would be invaluable to them.

It is true that they might resent the invention, and leave the situation, but the mistress would still have the combination bed for the newcomer.

It would be an invaluable article for house decorators and paper-hangers. They could use it as a step-ladder until they got tired of working, and then turn it over and sleep on it until they were rested.

In fact, the uses of this combination cot and step-ladder are infinite. It seems to be an article that no well-regulated family can do without.

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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 NO. 20.

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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.

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=WILLIAM BEVERLEY HARISON,= =3 & 5 West 18th Street.=

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_THE GREAT ROUND WORLD_

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