Chapter 2

During his whole career Spain has been the scene of many stormy trials.

In 1868 the people forced the old Queen, Isabella II., to resign the throne. She was a very wicked woman, and did so many bad things that the people would not be disgraced by her any longer. They rose against her, and she was obliged to flee to France to seek the protection of Napoleon III.

On her departure a council was appointed to choose a new sovereign. There were several claimants, among them Alfonso, the son of the deposed Isabella, and Don Carlos, the grandson of Don Carlos I. (See p. 563.)

The council rejected all the candidates, and chose a German prince. Napoleon III. objected on Queen Isabella's account; the Germans were incensed at his interference, and the argument that followed gave rise to the Franco-German War in 1870.

The Spanish council, disappointed of their German prince, finally chose a son of Victor Emmanuel of Italy, and made him King of Spain under the title of Amadeus I.

The new King did not take kindly to his throne. The Carlists were striving to gain the crown for their candidate, and the country was plunged into the horrors of a civil war.

After a reign of two years and one month Amadeus abdicated and went back to Italy, disgusted with the honors that had been thrust upon him.

This did not help the Carlists. A republic was declared which lasted until 1874. In August of that year the republic was formally acknowledged by all the countries of Europe except Russia, and in the following December the people changed their minds once more, and Alfonso, the son of Isabella, was proclaimed King by the Republican armies.

Alfonso reigned eleven years, and died in the winter of 1885. In the spring of 1886 the young King was born, his mother, Maria Christina of Austria, was declared Regent, and will continue to govern the country for the young Alfonso XIII. until he is old enough to take care of the country himself.

During all these troublous times Canovas steadily upheld the crown; through riot and revolution he never wavered, and was even banished from Spain on one occasion because of his well-known sympathy for the crown.

When the right moment came he placed himself at the head of Alfonso's friends, and succeeded in seating him on the throne.

Alfonso XII. never forgot the service Canovas had done him. He made him his Prime Minister, and during his entire reign was guided by the Minister's advice.

After Alfonso's death Canovas devoted himself to the service of the Queen Regent, and has been her faithful ally and counsellor ever since.

The Minister was, however, a haughty and arrogant man. He made many enemies through his pride, and despite the respect which both King and Queen had for him, both were more or less afraid of him.

There are two stories about him which show how little he cared how he offended even such mighty personages as his sovereigns.

On one occasion Alfonso XII., wishing to reward him for some service, offered to make him a duke. Canovas is said to have replied to the King:

"Sire, I made you a king--how can you make me a duke!"

One day, during Alfonso's lifetime, the Queen got very much out of temper with her consort, and allowed herself to give way to her anger before the court.

Canovas was greatly displeased, and followed the Queen to her apartments.

"Madam," he said, as soon as they were alone, "the interests of the monarchy are of more importance than your private feelings. To-morrow you will leave Spain for Austria, and await my orders in Vienna."

Astonishing as it may seem, the Queen obeyed.

Canovas ruled with a rod of iron. It is stated that his murder was committed in revenge for some terrible cruelties that were practised in Barcelona by his orders. A little over a year ago a bomb was thrown into one of the churches in Barcelona. Four hundred people were arrested, and it was supposed that the bomb-throwing was the outcome of an Anarchist plot.

Numbers of the persons arrested were evidently innocent, and the Government could not find out who was responsible for the outrage. Canovas refused to believe that any of the people arrested were innocent, but insisted that they knew all about it if they could only be made to speak, and so he ordered them tortured in the most inhuman ways to make them confess.

The man who shot Canovas declared, when he was arrested, that his brother had been tortured in Barcelona, and that he had killed the Minister in revenge.

Great statesman and good friend to the crown as Canovas was, he was a bad friend to the people. He believed in force. It was he who chose General Weyler to go to Cuba, well knowing his ferocious character, and that he would be sure to treat the insurgents with great severity.

Now that Canovas is dead the Cubans believe that the war will soon be brought to a close. They think that Sagasta will be appointed to fill the place of the murdered Minister, and that he will at once recall Weyler, and send Campos in his place.

They think that Sagasta will offer them home rule, and if they refuse it, and show a determination to continue the war, that Sagasta will weaken and offer to give up the island for a sum of money.

One Cuban, being asked what effect he thought the death of Canovas would have, replied:

"He has done more to harm Cuba than Weyler, and through his death the unfortunate island will lose two of her worst enemies. Canovas' death means Cuba's freedom!" But, naturally, a Cuban's estimate of a Spanish Minister cannot, be accepted as an unprejudiced one.

To his sovereign and his country Señor Canovas has ever been a most faithful servant. In him the Queen Regent loses the one man on whom Spain relied for help out of her present difficulties.

* * * * *

The Coal Strike is still unsettled.

A determined effort is being made to get the Pittsburg miners to join the strike. There is a great Pittsburg firm called the New York and Cleveland Gas and Coal Company, of which Mr. W.P. De Armitt is the head. It is a most important firm, and the strikers think that if they can only get De Armitt's men to join them they are sure of success.

The De Armitt men are, however, quite content with their treatment, and not anxious to join the strike. To win them over, large bands of striking miners have camped near the De Armitt mines, and every morning they march to the pit's mouth, intercepting the men as they are going to work, and urging them to join the strike and help their fellows.

They have already persuaded many of the men to leave work.

They have been very orderly so far, and though fears of violence are entertained, as yet there has been no rioting.

The only person who has got into trouble has been Debs.

When the strike was first organized, Debs and the other labor agitators declared that it was impossible for the strike to fail if the miners only held together. They gave such a rosy picture of the whole affair, that many of the miners believed that the great strike would be settled with little delay or trouble.

They were quite unprepared for the long and bitter struggle into which it has developed, and many of them are angry with Debs and the other agitators for misrepresenting affairs to them. Debs is therefore losing influence with the miners just now.

On the other hand, the coal-owners are combining against him, declaring that but for his mischievous intermeddling, everything could have been adjusted without trouble.

The mine-owners of West Virginia have therefore sought relief through the law, and obtained a judge's order, forbidding Debs, or any of his fellow-agitators, from making any efforts to induce the miners to strike.

They are forbidden to make speeches or conduct parades, or gather crowds in the mining districts.

This is a severe blow to the agitators. The cooperation of the West Virginia miners is also considered essential to success.

These men, like De Armitt's, have no grievances of their own for which they need redress, and it has not been easy to persuade them that they ought to strike for the sake of their less fortunate brothers.

To obtain any such result it is necessary to have a number of speakers constantly talking to the men, and teaching them, and urging them.

The order forbidding speaking and persuading is a hard blow to Debs and his workers.

He, however, declares that he is not discouraged, and that he will win the strike in spite of every effort of the owners.

While the coal trade has been thus agitated, a curious labor difficulty has arisen in Paterson, New Jersey.

There are, as you know, labor unions all over the country. Every trade has its own special union. The members of these unions, when they first join, bind themselves to be guided by the rules and laws laid down by the officers of the union.

The United Broad Silk Weavers' Union held a meeting the other day, in which it adopted a certain scale of wages, and sent out an order that no member was to work for any other wages than those fixed by the Union.

When this order was sent to Paterson there was great consternation. Nearly all the weavers there are members of the union, and when they came to examine the new scale which they were bound to abide by, they found it to be below the rate of wages which they were at that moment receiving.

The Paterson weavers have been enjoying good wages, and are in comfortable circumstances. Since the inauguration of President McKinley they have gone on strike several times. Their employers thought their demands were just, and agreed to give them the increase they asked, so that they have settled their own affairs in a way that is highly satisfactory to themselves.

Now comes this order from the labor union, and they are in a terrible dilemma.

If they obey the rules of their order, they will have to go in a body to their employers, and ask to have their wages reduced.

If they do not, they will be obliged to leave the union; and if in future their employers try to get the best of them, they will then have no one to come forward and fight their battles for them.

The outcome of this affair is being watched with a good deal of amusement and interest.

* * * * *

A scientific expedition, headed by Professor Libbey, of Princeton University, started early in July to explore a mesa or table-land of sandstone which rises out of the alkali plains, in the neighborhood of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

This mesa is seven hundred feet high. Its top has never before been trodden by man, for it rises from the plain with perpendicular walls that are inaccessible to even the most experienced mountain-climbers.

The mesa is situated near the Indian village of Acoma, and is called by the natives the Enchanted Mesa. They have a wonderful legend about it.

The rock is fifteen acres in extent and, according to their story, was once the dwelling-place of the Acoma tribe. After a while, as the tribe increased, there was not room enough on the rock for their dwellings and their fields, so they made a way down the rock, and used to send their able-bodied men below to sow and reap, while the aged and the young did the housekeeping on top of the mesa.

The story goes on to say that once, when the young men were away in the fields, a terrible storm arose; the thunders raged and the winds blew, and when at last the storm subsided it was found that the rocky staircase by which the Acomas were used to go up and down had been entirely swept away.

The Indians ran round and round the rock, but everywhere they found the straight walls as we see them to-day. It was impossible to climb them; they could not get up to the friends they had left behind, nor could the unfortunate people come down to them.

For days they tried every means to reach the top, but they could not do so. They could see their friends peering over at them, but day by day the faces grew fewer and fewer, until at last all were gone.

Since then the mesa has been held sacred by the Acomas, and regarded by them as a city of the dead.

This legend has been so thoroughly believed that scientists have often discussed the possibility of scaling this rock for the sake of the wonderful remains that must be on the top. Finally Professor Libbey determined to make the attempt.

He took with him a life-saving apparatus, of the kind that is used on the sea-coast for sending a line out to a wrecked vessel. His plan was to throw the line over the rock, and then have himself hauled up in an arrangement of ropes, used by sailors for working over the side of ships, and called by them a boatswain's chair.

The life-saving apparatus was tried, and proved to be most successful. A rocket was sent up with the life-line attached, and on the second effort was shot clear over the rock.

The line thus thrown was a thin quarter-inch rope; to this a strong hawser was attached, and after infinite labor pulled across the mesa's top. The boatswain's chair was then attached, and with the aid of a pair of strong horses, who pulled away at one end of the rope, the professor was hauled to the top of the rock.

To his disappointment he found no traces whatever of former inhabitants, and no evidences that any human being had ever trodden the rock's surface before.

He found plenty of water standing in pools, which had evidently been left from recent rains, and plenty of grass and trees similar to those found on the summits of the other buttes in the neighborhood, but the legend of the Acomas was evidently a myth.

He went from end to end of the Mesa, but there was not the slightest sign of cave or dwelling, nor even a scrap of broken pottery to prove that the rock had once been inhabited. G.H. ROSENFELD.

INVENTION AND DISCOVERY.

PORTABLE REFRIGERATING CASE.--It must be some one who loves to go on picnics or excursions who has thought out this delightful contrivance, a portable refrigerator. It comprises an inner case which holds bottles and ice, and an outer case with a partition into which the water from the ice can run, and with means for drawing it off.

A fair supply of ice would insure bottles of cold water, milk, ginger-ale, etc, throughout a long day's trip.

LEAK-STOPPER FOR PNEUMATIC TIRES.--This seems to be a very clever and practical invention.

The bicycle-tape, and the mastic, and the dozen other devices for mending punctured tires are all very well in their way, but they are not absolutely reliable.

A punctured tire is a wounded tire, and needs the aid of a bicycle doctor. All attempts at doing one's own surgery are likely to fail for the simple reason that we are not experts in the business, and do not always understand the extent of the damage.

The leak-stopper is merely a bandage to be applied to the wound till help can be found. It consists of a strap of flexible material, provided at one end with a buckle and at the other with a pair of tongues.

On the inside of the strap is some flexible air-tight material partly fastened to the strap, and so arranged that it will entirely cover the lips of the wound.

The edges are covered with adhesive material, and are firmly pressed on either lip of the wound, drawing it together and covering it with air-tight material, so that no air can escape.

The strap is then buckled round the tire, holding the ligature in place, and the air can be pumped in and the rider proceed without fear of any further difficulty.

BICYCLE PROPULSION.--So much has been invented for and said about bicycles, that it seems strange that anything is left to say or to do, yet here is a very novel idea. It is not so very long since wind and water were the only motor powers, but those days are so clearly superseded that it is quite a surprising suggestion that a wind-wheel be attached to bicycles. Machinery connects it with the driving-wheel by means of a rotary shaft, and the wind-wheel becomes an additional help. This may prove a very useful contrivance for long-distance riders.

EMBROIDERY HOOP.--There are surely among our readers some girls who embroider and who have experienced difficulty with their embroidery hoops. The inner hoop is sure to fit so tightly within the outer one that if the material to be embroidered is at all thick, neither persuasion nor force will make it slip into place. A new hoop is now being made which can be adjusted for goods of any thickness. This is done by means of a split binding-hoop, the two ends of which connect by a screw-threaded bolt, and can be loosened or tightened at will, a nut on the threaded end of the bolt holding the ends firmly in place.

* * * * *

=S.T.A. Vertical Writing Pens=

=PRICES:=

=Per Gross, $1.00; Per Dozen= (samples), =10 Cents=

Vertical writing demands a commercial pen. The "S.T.A." pens are strictly a commercial pen, made after the famous models designed by John Jackson, originator of the

_System of Upright Writing._------

The desirability of teaching children, boys especially, to write with such a pen as they will use in after life will be recognized by every good teacher.

_Introduced into the Schools of Denver, Colo., and elsewhere._

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