Part 28

_Answer._—The true name of this celebrated dwarf was Charles Heywood Stratton. He was born in Bridgeport, Conn., Jan. 4, 1838, and died at his residence, Middleboro, Mass., July 15, 1883, of apoplexy. The attention of P. T. Barnum, the showman, was first drawn to Stratton in November, 1842, when the midget was about 4 years old. He was then less than 2 feet high, weighed less than 16 pounds, was beautifully formed, a blonde, with ruddy cheeks and mirthful eyes. Barnum introduced him to the public Dec. 8, 1842, by the name of General Tom Thumb; now known the world over. He paid him $3 a week and expenses for himself and his mother for the first four weeks, after which he engaged him for a year at $7 a week, but, as the boy proved a great attraction, he soon raised the wages to $25 a week. In January, 1846, under a contract of $50 a week, Mr. Barnum took him to Europe, where he made a profitable tour through England, France, and Germany. He was presented to Queen Victoria, Louis Phillipe, King William of Prussia (now the German Emperor), and other rulers, who treated him with marked kindness. The next year he returned to Europe for three months. On his return home he proved a greater attraction than ever, and Mr. Barnum says that in twelve days in Philadelphia he received $5,504.91; and in one day at Providence he took in $976.98. In 1857 he took Tom Thumb and Cordelia Howard, famous as little Eva in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” to Europe, where these children appeared in humorous characters, creating a furore and gathering a golden harvest. In 1862 Mr. Barnum introduced the two sister midgets, Lavinia and Minnie Warren, to the public, the former of whom young Stratton married before the end of that year. True to his chief instinct Barnum desired to turn the courting and the marriage ceremony to pecuniary account, offering $15,000 to postpone the wedding for a month, and then have it take place in the Academy of Music as an exhibition at so much a seat. To the credit of the bride and groom, they repelled this offer with just indignation, and were married in Grace Church, New York. The public reception at the Metropolitan Hotel, immediately following, was a notable affair. After this, for week after week, the three tiny folks drew crowds of admirers at Barnum’s old museum on the corner where the New York _Herald_ office now stands, the receipts sometimes being over $3,000 a day. Mr. and Mrs. Stratton had a pleasant home at Middleboro, where they spent a large part of their time when not on the stage. They had one child, who died at the age of 2 years and 6 months. Both of them have been noted for sprightly intelligence, and have hosts of friends in all circles of society.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.

URBANA, Ill.

Will you please to give a short biography of Napoleon Bonaparte?

NETTIE AYERS.

_Answer._—He was born at Ajaccio, Corsica, Aug. 15, 1769. His mother, a strong and cultured, but severe woman, ruled her household with a rod of iron, and to her the son owed his indomitable will. At ten years of age he was sent to a military school at Brienne, France, and six years later entered the army. In 1792, having taken an active part in the defection in Ajaccio, he was expelled, with the rest of his family, from the city. After several years of brilliant military service Napoleon was made commander of the campaign in Italy, which closed with the treaty of Campo Formio. On the eve of his departure he was married to the beautiful and accomplished Mme. Josephine Beauharnais. The year after the close of the Italian campaign (1797) Napoleon set out for Egypt, designing to investigate its wealth, art treasures and other antiquities, but the expedition proved disastrous and he soon returned to meet a critical state of affairs in France, leaving the army under the command of General Kleber. On Aug. 2, 1802, the French people made Bonaparte First Consul for life, and in the same year received at his hands the famous Code Napoleon, the product of the best legal talent of the nation, and undoubtedly one of the noblest monuments of his administration. It still forms the great body of French law. Two years later, he was proclaimed Emperor. After a remarkable career in war and peace, he sacrificed his heart and highest manhood to his ambition by divorcing his faithful Josephine to form a royal alliance with Maria Louisa, daughter of the Emperor of Austria. The decline of his power soon followed, like a pursuing Nemesis; beginning with the fearful disasters succeeding the burning of Moscow and the ensuing retreat in the midst of a Russian winter, and ending with the disastrous battle of Leipsic, the fall of Paris, his first abdication, and his exile (1814) to the little island of Elba. He escaped to France ten months later; raised another army, and hastened to meet the allies—English, Germans, and Netherlanders—in Belgium, on the fatal field of Waterloo. A few months later and he was a prisoner for life on the desolate island of St. Helena, in custody of Great Britain, where he died of cancer of the stomach May 5, 1821. By almost universal concession he is regarded as the greatest military commander that ever lived. Had his diplomacy been equal to his military genius it is probable that he would have remained to his death, as he was for a period of more than six years, the virtual master of nearly all the civilized States of Continental Europe. In 1840 his mortal remains were carried to France and buried in Paris, the scene of his greatest triumphs as of his final downfall.

WEIGHT OF LUMBER.

DECATUR, Ill.

Please publish a table of the weight per thousand feet, “Chicago yard measure,” of planed and unplaned boards, flooring, siding, etc., and do your readers a practical service.

OLD SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—The following table is given in the lumber inspection rules printed by the Northwestern Lumberman Publishing Company of this city. It presents the average of the actual weights in the shipment of 20,000,000 feet of lumber during a single season:

Weight in Description pounds

Boards, 1, 1¼, and 1½ inch thick, surfaced on one side per thousand ft. 2,102 Boards, 1, 1¼, and 1½ inch thick, surfaced on two sides 2,068 Boards, 2 inches thick, surfaced on one side 2,000 Flooring, white pine, dressed and matched 1,890 Flooring, 4 inches wide, dressed and matched 1,793 Flooring, hard pine, dressed and matched 2,366 Ship laps, 8 inch 1,711 Ship laps, 10 inch 1,725 Ship laps, 12 inch 1,855 Ceiling, white pine, ⅜ inch 786 Ceiling, hard pine, ⅜ inch 950 Siding 865 Piece stuff, rough 2,560 Piece stuff, surfaced on one side 2,210 Thin, clear 1,380 Ceiling, ⅝ 1,120 Rough boards 2,524 Fence, hard pine 2,910 Fencing, 6 inch 2,433 Shingles, pine, per 1,000 248 Shingles, cedar, per 1,000 203 Lath, dry 502

ST. ANASTASIUS—APOSTLE OF HUNGARY.

Who was called the “Apostle of Hungary,” where was he born, and when did he live?

W. I. PRATT.

_Answer._—St. Anastasius, surnamed Astric, was born in France, A. D. 954, and died in 1044. He gained great influence over Stephen I., King of Hungary, 997-1038, who intrusted the zealous missionary with almost unlimited powers. These he used with such rare wisdom and spirit that the Hungarians were rapidly converted from paganism. The freedom of all Christian slaves was proclaimed, the political organization of the kingdom was reconstructed, schools were established, and, in fine, Hungary was transformed from barbarism to a state of inchoate Christian civilization. He is honored in history and tradition as the “Apostle of Hungary.”

EXECUTIVE AND DEPARTMENT SALARIES.

AUGUSTA, Kan.

Please give the organization of the President’s household, give the salaries of its several officers, and state who pays the same. Also give the organization of each of the departments under the several members of the President’s Cabinet.

C. H. M.

_Answer._—The President’s salary is $50,000 a year. The organization of the executive office gives him a private secretary, with salary of $3,250; assistant secretary, $2,250; two executive clerks, each $2,000; stenographer, $1,800; five other clerks, severally $1,200, $1,400, and $1,800; steward, $1,800; usher, $1,400; five messengers, each $1,200; four doorkeepers, each $1,200; watchman, $900; furnace-keeper, $864.

The principal officers of the Department of State are: Secretary of State, salary, $8,000; Assistant Secretary, $4,500; Second Assistant, $3,500; Third Assistant, $3,500; Chief Clerk, $2,750; Examiner of Claims, $3,500; Chief of Diplomatic Bureau, $2,100; Chief of Consular Bureau, $2,100; Chief of Indexes and Archives, $2,100; Chief of Bureau of Accounts, $2,100; Librarian, $2,100; Translator, $2,100. There are thirty-nine clerks with salaries ranging from $1,800 down to $900; a proof-reader, $1,300; a lithographer, $1,200; chief engineer, $1,200; assistant engineer, $1,000; messengers, watchmen, laborers, and firemen, in all twenty-four, ranging from $1,000 down to $660.

The Treasury Department is one of the most, perhaps the most important and laborious department of the government. The Secretary’s salary is $8,000, the Assistant Secretary receives $4,500; Second Assistant Secretary, $4,500; Chief Clerk, $2,700; First Comptroller, $5,000; Second Comptroller, $5,000; Commissioner of Customs, $4,000; First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Auditors, each, $3,600; Treasurer of the United States, $6,000; Assistant Treasurer, $3,600; Register of the Treasury, $4,000; Comptroller of the Currency, $5,000; Commissioner of Internal Revenue, $6,000; Solicitor of Internal Revenue, $4,500; Solicitor of the Treasury, $4,500; Director of the Mint, $4,500; Chief of Bureau of Engraving and Printing, $4,500; Chief of Bureau of Statistics, $2,400; Supervising Architect, $4,500; Superintendent of United States Coast Survey, $6,000; Chairman of Lighthouse Board, $4,000; Superintendent of Life-saving Service, $4,000; Inspector General of Steamboats, $3,500; Chief of Appointment Division, $2,500; Chief of Warrant Division, $2,750; Chief of Public Moneys Division, $2,500; Chief of Customs Division, $2,750. The subordinate officers and employes under the above chief officers of the Treasury number many thousands, varying in number with the emergencies of the service. The total official list of this department for all parts of the country, including collectors of customs and internal revenue and their employes, covers 195 octavo pages, with from sixty to ninety-six names on a page.

The Department of the Interior is organized as follows: Secretary of the Interior, salary, $8,000; Assistant Secretary, $3,500; Chief Clerk, $2,750; Assistant Attorney General, $5,000; Commissioner of General Land Office, $4,000; Commissioner of Pensions, $5,000; Commissioner of Patents, $4,500; Commissioner of Indian Affairs, $4,000; Commissioner of Education, $3,000; Director of Geological Survey, $6,000; Superintendent of Census, $5,000. Other officers and employes in all parts of the country, but mainly at Washington, vary in number from time to time, more perhaps than those of any other department, ranging from about 7,500 to about 9,000, with salaries from $3,000 down to $600.

The Secretary of War receives $8,000 a year; Chief Clerk, $2,500; Adjutant General, $5,500; Inspector General, $5,500; Quartermaster General, $5,500; Commissary General, $5,500; Surgeon General, $5,500; Chief Medical Purveyor, $4,200; Judge Advocate General, $5,500; Chief of Engineers, $5,500; Chief Signal Officer, $5,500; Chief of Ordnance, $5,500. The complete official list of the department at present embraces about 4,000 names, with salaries from $3,000 to $660.

The Secretary of the Navy receives $8,000; Chief Clerk, $2,500; Judge Advocate General, $4,500; Chiefs of the Bureaus of yards and docks, navigation, ordnance, provisions and clothing, medicine and surgery, equipment and recruiting, construction and repair, steam-engineering, each $5,000; Commandant of navy yard, $4,500; Pay Inspector, $3,000; Commandant of Marine Corps, $4,500; Superintendent of Naval Observatory, $5,000; Superintendent of Nautical Almanac, $3,500; Chief Signal Officer, $3,500; Hydrographer, $3,500. The total official list of the Navy numbers now about 2,800, with salaries from $3,000 to $660.

The Postmaster General receives $8,000; the First, Second and Third Assistants, each $3,500; Superintendent of Foreign Mails, $3,000; Assistant Attorney General for Postoffice Department, $4,000; Superintendent of Money-order System, $3,000. The total official list for employes at Washington numbers about 5,000, with salaries ranging from those already given down to $660 a year.

The Department of Justice is organized with Attorney General, salary, $8,000; Solicitor General, $7,000; First Assistant Attorney General, $5,000; Second Assistant Attorney General, $5,000. There are about fifty clerks, copyists, messengers, laborers, etc., at salaries from $2,200 to $660.

WHEN THE SEASONS BEGIN.

WENONA, Ill.

To end an argument, please inform us, through Our Curiosity Shop, when summer begins.

C. M. TURNER.

_Answer._—The civil or tropical year, the one commonly used in the measure of time, is the period which elapses from the sun’s appearance on one of the tropical circles to its return to the same. It varies very slightly, and has a mean length of 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 49.7 seconds. Astronomically considered, the four seasons begin at the equinoctial or the solstitial points. The summer solstice is the meridian, passing through the point where the sun touches the tropic of cancer; the winter solstice is the meridian passing through the point where it touches the tropic of capricorn; and the equinoctial points are the points at which the sun’s path or equinoctial crosses the celestial equator. All these points shift, according to very exact astronomical laws, from year to year; and so the precise times when the seasons begin are matters of the nicest mathematical calculations. For example, last year the seasons began as follows:

Winter began Dec. 21, 1881, at 10:52 a. m. and lasted 90 days, 1 hour, and 10 minutes.

Spring began March 21, 1882, at 12:02 p. m. and lasted 91d, 20h, and 4m.

Summer began June 21, 1882, at 8:06 a. m. and lasted 93d, 14h, and 23m.

Winter began Dec. 21, 1882, at 4:45 p. m. and lasted 89d, 18h, and 16m.

The beginning of the seasons this year are given as follows:

Winter began Dec. 21, 1882, at 4:45 p. m. and lasted 88 days, and 54 minutes.

Spring began March 20, 1883, at 5:39 p. m. and lasted 92d, 20h, and 14m.

Summer began June 21, 1883, at 1:53 p. m. and lasts 93d, 14h, and 35m.

Winter will begin Dec. 21, 1883, at 10:44 a. m. and last 89d, 16h, and 16m.

HENRY CLAY.

HOOSIER, Pa.

Please give me an account of Henry Clay and his descendants.

A SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—Henry Clay was born near Richmond, Va., April 12, 1777. His father died in 1782, and ten years later his mother married again and moved to Kentucky, leaving Henry as a clerk in Richmond. In 1797 Henry followed her, and opened a law office in Lexington. He took an active part in the framing of a new constitution for Kentucky, upon her separation from Virginia when he strongly urged some provision for the abolition of slavery, but in vain. From this time he became prominent in politics. In 1803 a State Senator, a United States Senator in 1806, one of the negotiators of peace in the war of 1812, and twice a Speaker of the House, he was no stranger to statesmanship when in 1824 he appeared as a candidate for the presidency. He was defeated, however, as was also the case in 1832 and 1844 when he was the candidate of the Whig party. As an orator he stands among the very first that this country has produced. As a statesman he was far-seeing, a wise political economist, a devoted lover of the Union, and absolutely incorruptible. “I would rather be right than be the President,” is one of his utterances, made under circumstances that tested his sincerity. He did what he believed was right, offended the slave oligarchy thereby, as he foresaw he should do, and barely failed of election to the presidency in the ensuing campaign as the consequence. Knowing the desperate measures to which the champions of slavery would resort to preserve and extend that institution, he averted threatened secession in 1821 by bringing forward the “Missouri Compromise;” again in 1850 by another compromise known as the “Omnibus bill.” The effect of these pacific measures was to defer the inevitable final appeal to arms until the strength of the free States had outgrown the slave power, and the Union was able to grapple with secession and throttle it. As one of the commissioners who negotiated the treaty of Ghent, at the close of the second war with England, he caused the erasure of the clause granting free navigation of the Mississippi to British vessels. Protection to American industry through a wise adjustment of the tariff, found in him one of the ablest of its early champions. Mr. Clay married Lucretia Hart, in 1799, who bore him six daughters and five sons. The last of the daughters died in 1835. Of the sons, the most promising, Henry, born in 1811, fell at the battle of Buena Vesta, Feb. 23, 1847. James B., born in 1817, was a representative in Congress from his father’s old district, 1857-9. He was a member of the Peace Commission of 1861; died at Montreal, Jan. 26, 1864. Thomas Hart, born in 1803, took office under President Lincoln as minister to Nicaragua, and, later, to Honduras. He died at Lexington, Ky., March 18, 1871.

FOUNDING OF YALE AND DARTMOUTH.

MELVIN, Ill.

Please state when and by whom Yale, Harvard, and Dartmouth colleges were founded.

A. BUCKHOLZ.

_Answer._—Yale College was founded in 1700, by the Connecticut Colony, under the trusteeship of the ten principal ministers of the colony. Harvard University was founded at Cambridge in 1636, and named for the Rev. John Harvard, who gave $3,500 toward its endowment fund. Dartmouth College was chartered in 1769, and named for Lord Dartmouth, because of his interest and benefactions. These institutions were chartered by corporations, and not by single individuals.

SWARMING OF BEES.

KEWANEE, Ill.

In swarming, do the old or the young bees leave the hive?

“TOPSY.”

_Answer._—The first swarm of a season leaves the hive under the guidance of the old queen, before the new brood is hatched. This swarm consists of most of the old workers and drones. As soon as the new brood is five or six days old, young queens lead forth other swarms, composed for the most part of young bees, until only one queen remains in the old hive with a swarm.

MARTIN LUTHER.

URBANA, Ill.

Will you please give me a short biography of Martin Luther?

NETTIE AYRES.

_Answer._—Martin Luther was born of poor parents, at Eisleben, in 1483. After studying at Erfurt and being confirmed priest, Luther accepted a professorship at the University of Wittemberg in 1508. In 1510 he was sent on a mission to Rome, where he had an insight into the corruptions of the papacy, and upon his return he immediately entered upon his work of reform, especially attacking the sale of indulgences. One of his first acts was to nail on the door of Wittemberg Church ninety-five theses, in which he denied the power of the Pope to forgive sins. Great excitement followed, and Luther was summoned by Pope Leo X. to appear at Rome. The university and electors interfered, and a legate from Rome came to Germany to hear Luther’s defense. Soon Luther’s books and papers gained a wide circulation, and in 1520 came a papal bull of excommunication, which Luther burned in the gate of Wittemberg in the presence of a large company. The next year Charles V. convened the Diet of Worms, which ordered the destruction of Luther’s books and the arrest of the heretic. He was now imprisoned by friends in the Castle of Wartburg for his protection, and soon after his release married the gifted Katharine Von Bora, a nun whom he had converted to Protestantism. His later life was spent in writing and controversy, though, on the whole, very quiet. He died in 1546.

FALL OF WESTERN RIVERS.

1. What is the elevation of Rock Island, St. Louis, and Cairo above the Gulf of Mexico? 2. What is the fall per mile required to give a river a current of two miles an hour? 3. State average fall of the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

J. H. RHODES.

_Answer._—1. Rock Island is about 536 feet, St. Louis 408 feet, and Cairo about 322 feet above tide-water. 2. The number of inches fall per mile required to give a current of two miles depends very greatly upon the volume of the stream, the character of the bed, and the directness of the channel. The same stream is sluggish at low water and a rushing torrent at high flood. The current of the Lower Mississippi, with a fall of nearly three inches per mile, has an annual average of three miles an hour in midstream. 3. The slope of rivers falling into the Mississippi from the west is about six inches per mile, and that of those from the east is about three inches per mile, except in the case of the Ohio River, whose mean descent from Pittsburg to Cairo, including the falls and rapids at Louisville, is about 5⅙ inches. The mean descent of the Mississippi from the mouth of the Ohio to the gulf is a little over 2⅘ inches a mile. Between Lake Itasca and the mouth of the Ohio the descent of the Mississippi is much more rapid. From its source to the Falls of Pecogama, 270 miles, the total descent is 324 feet; thence to Pine River, 200 miles, the fall is 165 feet; thence to Crow Wing, 47 miles, it is 49 feet. Below this are the Sauk Rapids, then the Rapids and Falls of St. Anthony, 18 feet at a leap and 66 feet in a single mile; then the Rock Island Rapids, 22 feet; and the Des Moines Rapids, 24 feet. The total descent between Lake Itasca and the mouth of the Ohio is 1,285 feet.

PRINCIPAL BATTLES OF THE REBELLION.

YORK, Neb.

Please give the dates of the principal battles of the rebellion, who commanded in each, and the number killed on both sides.

J. I. MOSBARGER.