Chapter 2

You remember that in the case of United States Vice-Consul Mr. Kellet at Bangkok, that the trouble arose from the Siamese trying to seize the property of an American citizen named Cheek, and that Siam did not want to make amends for the wrong.

It seems that the French difficulty arises from much the same cause. The Siamese Government does not like to see the taxes going out of its hands, and so, despite its treaties, seizes them for itself.

The spread of civilization into Asia has taught these Eastern monarchs many things, and they are no longer simple, docile people, who can be overawed by the knowledge and power of the Europeans.

The Japanese have recently come to the front as a nation, and it would not be surprising if the Siamese followed their example.

The King of Siam, who has just been visiting Europe to attend the Jubilee celebrations, appears to be a clever and progressive monarch.

He has been visiting Rome, and has of course been taken to see the wonderful art treasures that this very ancient city contains. His guides were much impressed by the correct taste the King displayed in matters of art. They declare that no artist could have made better comments on the various pictures and statues shown him than this King of Siam, to whom examples of Greek art were new.

The history of Italy and the deeds of its great men were also familiar to this far-away King. In passing through one of the galleries he saw the statues of King Victor Emmanuel of Italy and of Garibaldi, the two men who had worked so bravely for the liberty of Italy.

The King of Siam stopped before these statues, uncovered his head, and paid silent homage to the noble deeds of these two great heroes. His suite followed his example, all the gentlemen in his train bowing with uncovered heads and passing silently on.

The King also appears to have a keen sense of humor.

He was invited by one of the scientific societies of Rome to attend a lecture on some very deep subject, in which he was not at all interested.

He did not want to attend, but confided to King Humbert that he feared the professors would call him a barbarian if he stayed away. So to the lecture he went.

On his return King Humbert asked him how he had enjoyed it.

"To be frank with you," he replied, "it is even stronger at putting you to sleep than our opium."

When the news of the trouble in Siam was telegraphed, the King declared that he knew nothing of the affair. If he is as clever as they say, he probably keeps himself thoroughly acquainted with everything that is happening in his kingdom.

The chances are that he knows all about the matter, but does not want it mentioned until his pleasure trip is over.

* * * * *

A sad story of a wrecked steamer has just reached us.

The vessel, the _Aden_, was one of the steamers which carry passengers from Europe to India, passing through the Suez Canal.

Heavy winds and storms have been raging in the Indian Ocean for some weeks past; in fact, the storms and the earthquake about which we told you came at the same time.

The unfortunate steamer was caught in one of these tempests, and driven on a reef off Socotra Island.

Socotra is at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden. It is into this gulf that the Red Sea flows.

As soon as the accident occurred the life-boats were launched, and some of the passengers and crew were put aboard them.

Unhappily the sea was running so high that the boats could not live in it. They were soon overturned and their occupants drowned.

Two other boats were smashed to pieces in the effort to launch them, and finally seven persons found themselves forced to stay by the wreck.

The accident happened in the dead of night, and until the daylight came they were clinging together, expecting that the vessel would go down at any moment.

When morning came they found that the ship was so tightly wedged on the rocks that she was not likely to sink, but they were out of sight of land, and had no chance of rescue unless some passing vessel happened to see them.

To add to their misery, great waves were constantly washing over the wreck. They had taken refuge in one of the deck cabins, and here they were forced to stay for three or four days until the waters became calmer.

They were at first afraid that they would be starved, but a few biscuits were found in the cabin, and on these they subsisted until it was safe to cross the deck to the cook's galley without danger of being washed overboard. Here they found provisions.

Two women were of the party, and they appear to have behaved very well, doing their share toward making their comrades comfortable, and preparing the best meals they could under the circumstances.

When the storm was so far abated that they dared to go on deck, they set signals, in the hopes of attracting some passing vessel.

Two vessels, however, passed without noticing them, but at last, after fourteen days of anxiety and fear, help came to them.

They were taken off the vessel and brought safely to land.

The owners of the _Aden_ made full inquiry into the cause of the disaster, and attributed it to the storm, and not to any carelessness on the part of captain or crew.

* * * * *

There will have to be a new trial of the case against the Tobacco Trust, the jury having been discharged by the court.

We told you, in reference to the _Laurada_ trial, that it was necessary for all the twelve jurymen to agree before a verdict could be secured.

When a trial is finished and the case is given to the jury, the jurymen in the charge of the sheriff are locked up in the jury-room and kept there until they arrive at a decision or the judge dismisses them.

When the jurors arrive in their own room, a ballot is taken, and if the vote is not unanimous they begin a regular discussion of the case. A foreman of the jury is chosen at the beginning of the trial, and serves as chairman of the jury while the case is in their hands.

After he thinks the matter has been well weighed, the foreman asks the jurymen if they are ready to vote. Another ballot is then taken, each man registering his opinion.

The foreman counts the votes.

If the jury is not all of the same way of thinking, the matter is again discussed and a new ballot taken.

In the Tobacco Trust trial the jury was "out," as it is called, twenty-one hours. During that time forty ballots were taken, ten of the jury voting "guilty" and two "not guilty."

At the end of that time one of the jurors was taken ill. The foreman sent a request for a doctor, and asked the judge to dismiss the jury, as it was impossible for them to come to a decision.

The judge has the right to keep the jury locked up until he is satisfied that they cannot arrive at a verdict.

In this instance he kept them three hours longer, and then, finding them still divided ten to two, he discharged them.

In English and American law there are only two verdicts, "Guilty" or "Not guilty," and a person who has once been adjudged not guilty can never be tried again for the same crime. In Scotland they have a third verdict--"Not proven." Under this verdict a person regains his liberty, but he can be tried again at any time that fresh evidence against him is secured.

The jurors would probably have agreed on the verdict of "Not proven" had it been in use in our courts, but, as it is, there will have to be another trial of the Tobacco Trust as soon as the District Attorney is ready to prosecute.

* * * * *

People living in New York have long complained of the lack of accommodation on the surface and elevated roads.

During the crowded hours of the day it does not seem possible to put on enough cars to seat the passengers.

Men and women have to stand in these crowded cars, packed as closely as herrings in a barrel.

After enduring this nuisance for many years with surprising patience, the people have at last sought the aid of the Board of Health.

They have complained to the Board that standing in the cars is injurious to the health of women and persons in delicate health.

When the summer came on and the crowding nuisance was not abated, but the discomforts were considerably increased by the neglect of the companies to provide straps in the open cars for the people to hold on to, the complaints increased to such an extent that the Board of Health decided to take immediate action.

A careful investigation was commenced, and it was found that in rounding the curve at Fourteenth Street and Broadway, and the sharp curves at Fifty-third Street, every person who was not provided with a seat was in danger of losing life or limb.

The standing passengers were jostled, jolted, and flung this way and that, without sufficient protection against being thrown off the cars.

Inspectors from the Health Board were stationed at the different points to ascertain just how many persons were forced to travel in this dangerous manner.

The inspector detailed to watch the Lexington Avenue branch of the cable road reported that during two hours, 1,750 had been standing up in the 135 cars that had passed him.

From the various reports it was seen that most of this crowding could be stopped if the companies made rules to regulate the number of passengers allowed in each car, and provided enough cars to accommodate their patrons.

When the reports were all in, the Health Board met to discuss the matter.

One of its members is the President of the Board of Police. His department has had a great deal of trouble with the Broadway Cable Company.

It has been necessary to station extra policemen along the route to help people to cross the tracks in safety. Several policemen have been injured at the curves, and the Police Board has no love for the railroad.

At the meeting he introduced a resolution which he wished to make a part of the Sanitary Code.

The Sanitary Code is a set of rules enacted for the protection of the lives and health of the citizens. These rules relate to all matters that concern our daily life. They prohibit unhealthy businesses being carried on. They require that tenement houses shall be properly built, drained, etc. They prevent the keeping of cows, pigs, or poultry within city limits. They regulate the sale of provisions, and prevent unwholesome food being sold in the city. Under these rules, all the meat that is dressed for market within the limits of the city is inspected, and must be prepared in a certain manner. No one can offer milk for sale without a permit from the Board of Health, and this permit is only granted when the inspectors have assured themselves that the applicants have clean and airy places in which to handle the milk.

The Sanitary Code covers everything that applies to our health and comfort, and, as you may suppose, its rules are very far-reaching.

The new rule proposed by the Police Commissioner is to the effect that no surface car shall be sent around any curve at a greater rate of speed than two miles an hour.

This rule, if passed, will put an end to the horrors of Dead Man's Curve, as the Fourteenth-Street curve has come to be called, for at this slow pace the passengers will have no difficulty in keeping their feet, and the pedestrians will easily be able to get out of the way of the cars.

It will be two weeks before this rule can be made part of the Sanitary Code, and during that time arguments for and against it will be heard by the Department.

If the Health Board will only follow this rule with another, forbidding the overcrowding of cars, New Yorkers will have a chance of getting comfortable service from the car systems.

* * * * *

We told you about the great Yerkes telescope some little while ago.

It has, if you remember, the largest lens in the world, and with it astronomers can look farther into space than with any other glass now in existence.

At the end of last May the big telescope was in position, and the scientific world waited anxiously to hear of the wonders it would reveal.

Professor Barnard, who is in charge of the observatory, stated that it was impossible even to guess what discoveries might be made with it.

He stated that it allowed the observer to penetrate one-fourth farther into space than the famous Lick telescope. It was therefore to be supposed that some new knowledge about the moon and the planets would soon be obtainable.

He expected that in the course of a few weeks he would be able to give some new information about the planet Jupiter and its moons, and Saturn and its rings. He hoped also to give a fuller description of the hills and valleys on the desolate surface of the moon.

Unfortunately his hopes will not be fulfilled for a long time to come.

But eight days after the first peep had been obtained through the great glass, a very unfortunate accident happened in the observatory.

The elevating floor of the telescope gave way, and fell forty feet, to the bottom of the dome.

Two astronomers had been observing the stars the entire night, but happily they had left the building just before the accident occurred. As good luck would have it, the great telescope was also uninjured, but a great deal of damage was done to the building.

It is estimated that it will take the whole summer to tear out the wreckage and make the repairs.

During that time the telescope cannot be used. This is a great disappointment to the scientists.

We told you of the labor entailed in the grinding of a lens.

Mr. Alvan G. Clark, the man who made the great glass of which we have been speaking, has just died.

He and his father and brother had devoted their entire lives to the making of telescopes, and made many of the famous glasses of the world. The great glass at the Lick Observatory, which measures thirty-six inches across, is of their manufacture.

Their greatest triumph was the Yerkes lens, which is forty inches in diameter, and which was completed only a few months before Mr. Clark's death.

This firm did a great deal to further astronomical research. Not only did they manufacture such perfect instruments that the possibilities of observing the stars were greatly increased, but they were close students of the science themselves. Mr. Alvan G. Clark, in particular, made several important discoveries, having found no less than fourteen new stars.

* * * * *

We told you about the _Holland_, the new submarine boat which has just been launched at Elizabeth-port.

It will interest you to know that she has had a partial trial, which has proved very satisfactory.

While she was still at the wharf an attempt was made to submerge her. On the turning of the lever she sank, inch by inch, until only her tower was out of water.

A day or two after she was taken for a spin down Staten Island Sound.

She attracted a good deal of attention among the seamen, who looked rather askance at the strange cigar-shaped craft that shot through the water.

From all accounts it would appear that her crew do not regard her with very much favor.

It is said that the swish of the waters against her sides can be heard very distinctly in the engine-room, and that the crew feel somewhat nervous about her seaworthiness.

Several of these fish-like boats are being made just now. One has just been completed in Wisconsin, in which it is hoped to explore the bottom of Lakes Michigan and Huron.

Like the _Holland_, this boat can move on the surface of the water or dive beneath it at will. But this vessel is arranged with a view to remaining under water for a whole day without causing any inconvenience to the inmates.

This is not the only kind of curious vessel that has been built lately.

A ship has been devised, and is said to be actually building in Toronto, Canada, which is intended to roll across the Atlantic Ocean.

The description of this boat says that it looks exactly like a long gas-pipe. It has neither masts nor funnels, but is made of two cylinders, one inside the other.

The outer case revolves, and is fitted with paddles to propel the vessel through the water. It is claimed that by this means a very high rate of speed can be secured.

The inner cylinder is so arranged that it remains stationary, and in this are the cabins, staterooms, and engine-rooms. Both cylinders have openings at the ends, and it is through these openings that the fresh air is communicated to the staterooms.

Between the inner and outer cases are compartments for the cargo, which revolves with the outer cylinder.

It is claimed that this ship will make the trip from Liverpool to New York in forty-eight hours.

The boat is to be completed in a few weeks, and then we shall see for ourselves how much truth there is in this startling assertion.

G.H. ROSENFELD.

NEW BOOKS.

We have received two very attractive books from Ginn & Co., Boston.

"Short Stories from English History," by Albert F. Blaisdell (price, by mail, 50 cents), is a collection of very attractive stories of English history, and a book that our boys and girls will be much interested in.

"A Few Familiar Flowers," by Margaret Warner Morley, author of those charming books, "Song of Life," "Seed Babies," etc., will prove most useful to any one who wishes to study in detail the familiar flowers. Price is 70 cents by mail.

* * * * *

TO ANY ONE SENDING US

=4= [Illustration: Flourish] =New= =Subscriptions=

WE WILL SEND EXPRESS PAID

A stem-wind, stem-set, nickel movement, jewelled balances, porcelain dial, highly finished throughout

=Gold-Plated= =Watch=

EITHER OPEN FACE OR HUNTING CASE. ENGINE-TURNED (AS SHOWN IN CUT) OR WITH A HANDSOME ENGRAVED DESIGN ON CASE.

These watches are made in one of the best-known American factories, are not clocks but real watches, and are _warranted_ to keep time accurately.

THE GREAT ROUND WORLD 3 AND 5 WEST 18TH ST. NEW YORK CITY

* * * * *

TO ANY ONE SENDING US

=12 New ...= =Subscribers=

WE WILL SEND (EXPRESS PAID) A FULL

=Lawn Tennis Set=

CONSISTING OF

3 "BOY'S" RACQUETS 1 "DRIVE" RACQUET 4 STANDARD TENNIS BALLS 1 NET, 27 x 3 FEET 2 JOINTED POLES 1 MALLET 1 SET OF GUY ROPES

Complete in neat box, with set of this year's rules.

THE GREAT ROUND WORLD 3 AND 5 WEST 18TH ST. NEW YORK CITY

* * * * *

TWO BRIGHT LITTLE BOOKS

=For Our Brothers and Sisters=

MARY CATHERINE JUDD has rewritten some of those fascinating old fairy stories and put them in a little book called =Classic Myths=, price 50 cents. Some of the stories are:

=Legend of the North Wind; King Neptune and Winds and Waters; Echo, the Air Maiden; Iris, the Rainbow Queen; Tennyson's Lullaby; Orpheus, Myth of the South Wind; The Bag that was a Balloon; Hail, or the Bird with Arrow Feathers; Phaeton, Myth of the Sun; Diana, Queen of the Moon.=

A book of the same kind for our very small brothers and sisters is =Skyward and Back=, price 30 cents, post-paid.

The little stories in this book are old favorites, and were selected by other boys and girls; some of them are:

=King Sun; Air Fairies; Ice King; Water Fairies; Cloud-land Fairies.=

=_Copies of these books will be sent post-paid upon receipt of price_=

WILLIAM BEVERLEY HARISON 3 and 5 West 18th Street, New York City

* * * * *

TO ANY ONE SENDING US [Illustration: Flourish]

=5= =New Subscribers=

WE WILL SEND, EXPRESS PAID, THE NEW... ... ... ... ... ...

=Messinger Bicycle Saddle= WITH SPRING ATTACHMENT

The hard, unyielding saddles usually put on bicycles are uncomfortable and unhealthy. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

The Messinger Saddle is made of woven rattan, covered with felt and leather, and is elastic, healthy, and comfortable. The spring attachment is so arranged that the saddle yields to pressure on either side or both at once, thus overcoming all jar and vibration.

THE GREAT ROUND WORLD 3 AND 5 WEST 18TH ST. NEW YORK CITY

* * * * *

=TO ANY ONE SENDING US=

=...3...= New Subscribers

OAK WE WILL SEND A WALNUT =Lambie Book-Rest= IN CHERRY JAPANNED OR BRONZED

This book-rest holds the book in any position and at any slant, so that you can shift the book when you change your position as freely as you can move your hand. Can be made fast to chair, table, or lounge on either side.

A VERY USEFUL AND CONVENIENT THING

=And for 5 Subscribers a=

=Lambie Dictionary-Holder=

Can be used for any dictionary or large book. Keeps book open or shut, as desired. Holder carries the weight and you handle it as if it weighed nothing. Revolves, and is on castors. Can be drawn to you with one hand. Can be raised or lowered.

=IN OAK, WALNUT, OR CHERRY JAPANNED OR BRONZED....=

THE GREAT ROUND WORLD 3 AND 5 WEST 18TH ST. NEW YORK CITY

* * * * *

=PATENT APPLIED FOR= =The Latest Thing...= =Scientific Box Kite=

To any one sending us =1= new subscriber we will send one of these kites.

Scientific kite flying has attracted the attention of the world. This kite is the invention of H.H. Clayton, Chief Observer at Blue Hill Observatory, near Boston. It is used at this and other weather stations for sending up instruments in making observations. Kites of this type have attained the wonderful height of 9,200 feet, nearly two miles.

Anybody can fly this kite. It goes up straight from the hand like a bird. Will fly in a moderate breeze, and yet no wind short of a gale is too strong for it. It is made of strong, selected wood, and the finest cotton, in red.

=THE GREAT ROUND WORLD= =3 AND 5 WEST 18TH ST. NEW YORK CITY=