Part 30

_Answer._—The treaties made with Japan by foreign nations when that country was wholly unsophisticated in treaty-making and inexperienced in the laws of international commerce, provided for the admission of foreign products on what is practically a free-trade basis. As a consequence, the balance of trade has for years past been against Japan, her exports being considerably less in value than her imports. For example, in 1880 the exports from Japan to Great Britain (which country gets two-thirds of the whole Japanese foreign trade) amounted to only £531,621, while the British “home produce” alone imported into Japan amounted to £3,290,906. Again and again Japan, seeing the ruinous effects on home industry resulting from the too moderate tariff fixed by the foreign treaties, has sought to get a modification of those treaties permitting her to increase the tariff, but thus far with little effect. Of course the difference between the value of the imports and exports has to be paid in the precious metals. The country was already suffering from this drain of bullion, when a civil war broke out in 1868, and the government was forced to issue paper currency to meet its ordinary and extraordinary expenses. This first issue bore a promise of redemption at the end of thirteen years; but, though the rebellion had been put down and a peaceful and, in many respects, a strong, progressive government had been established, this government was not in a condition to keep its promises, and the old currency issue was replaced with a new one, without any stipulation as to when it should be redeemed. The people looked upon it with distrust, and, although it was a legal tender, it was not long before it dropped to 50 cents on the dollar as compared with specie. The government took warning, entered upon a contraction of expenditures, strove to inspire confidence in the currency, and by contracting the volume somewhat, it has raised the value of its paper money to about 75 cents on the dollar.

When Japan opened its ports to foreign commerce it was substantially without debt. It is not even now heavily burdened, and could it once check the influx of foreign goods and so develop its home productions as to bring exports and imports to something like an equilibrium, its financial condition would be superior to that of most other countries. Its foreign debt in January, 1875, amounted to no more than £3,400,000, which had been reduced by the action of the sinking fund to £2,134,700 at the end of 1881; and its home debt in July, 1880, stood at £69,406,919—a total of about $357,700,000; of which $108,000,000 was the “fiat money,” or irredeemable paper currency above described.

MEANING OF A AND AP IN SURNAMES.

GREENVILLE, Ill.

What do the abbreviations _a_ and _ap_ before a surname denote?

SEA.

_Answer._—These particles, “a” and “ap,” are abbreviations of Latin prepositions meaning “of” and “at” or “from.” Generally, when connected with names, they refer to the town or place where one was born, or the family estate. In the case, for example, of Thomas _a_ Kempis, author of that famous work entitled “Imitation of Christ,” which has been translated into more languages than any other book, save the Bible, the “a” denotes “from.” His family name was Thomas Hammerken. He was born in 1379 or 1380 in the town of Kempen, near Cologne. He was educated first at Deventer, then at Zwolle, and in the Convent of St. Agnes. After the custom of the times at these schools, he was known as “Thomas from Kempen,” and, finally, as happened in many other such cases, the school name pushed aside the family name.

TROPICAL PLANTS IN LABRADOR.

TINGLEY, Iowa.

Have any tropical plants been discovered in the rocks of Labrador? If so, where and by whom?

JAMES S. WILLIAMS.

_Answer._.—Tropical vegetation once existed far north of Labrador, as is shown by fossil remains discovered in Greenland, Iceland and Spitzbergen; but we do not know whether similar discoveries have been made in Labrador. We must refer you to Hind’s “Explorations of the Labrador Peninsula,” and Bell’s “Report of the Geological Survey of Canada,” 1879.

CURING BASKET WILLOW.

WINNECONNE, Wis.

In your edition of July 26 is an inquiry on the basket willow from T. H. Davis, of Loveland, Col. I think the answer right all but the directions for curing. In England I have seen them set the willows, after they are cut, in bundles, standing in a pond or stream of water, butts down, with stakes and poles to keep them in position. In the spring, when the sap rises, peel them by drawing through a crotched stake set firm in the ground and faced in the crotch with iron. If the willow is allowed to dry before peeling it will be hard to get the bark off and the wood will be discolored.

F. LIGHTFOOT.

JEAN PAUL RICHTER.

OCONOMOWOC, Wis.

Will you oblige me with a short sketch of Jean Paul Richter. How is Richter pronounced?

A READER.

_Answer._—Jean Paul Friedrick Richter was one of the most original characters in the literary world. He was a man of much general information, but of erratic genius. It has been said that he wrote in “gems,” so filled are his works with beautiful ideas. But his style is too careless and his thoughts too rambling to place him among classical writers. He was born at Wunsiedel, in Bavaria, March 21, 1763. Though, when quite young, his father’s death left the family in poverty, Jean Paul resolved to go to Leipsic, and by the greatest self-sacrifice he accomplished his resolve. At the end of four years, however, he was obliged to leave the town secretly to escape being arrested for debt. He now abandoned the idea of entering the church and taught for a few years, writing meanwhile. When, in 1794, he began his visits to German literary centers, he found himself the idol of the ladies, who treasured even the shorn locks of his poodle, and sometimes ventured to propose to the eccentric author himself. But he rejected them all, and in 1801 chose for himself the brilliant Caroline Mayer, of Berlin. Ever afterward the King of Bavaria gave him an annual pension of 1,000 florins and he received the degree of doctor from the University of Heidelberg. In his later years his mental strength failed and in 1824 he became totally blind. He died at Bayreuth Nov. 14, 1825, surrounded by loving friends. His character, though eccentric, was beautiful in its gentleness and philanthropy. The poor were his chief mourners. Carlyle has translated some of his writings and found in him a theme for two of his best essays. The ch in Richter’s name has the same sound as in the German word for book. It can be learned properly only by oral instruction.

INVENTOR OF COTTON GIN-WHITNEY.

WINDSOR, Ill.

Please give some items connected with the life of Eli Whitney.

SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—Eli Whitney, a graduate of Yale College in 1792, was induced to invent a machine for cleaning cotton by the widow of Nathaniel Greene, with whom he boarded while studying law. He patented the cotton-gin, but the idea was stolen by other parties, and it was only after years of litigation that he obtained the $50,000 which had been voted him for the invention by the Legislature of Georgia. In 1793 he established a manufactory for the machine near Washington, Ga., but five years later he turned his attention to the improvement of firearms, reaping a fortune therefrom.

ISINGLASS.

GLENALLIN, D. T.

Please tell me how isinglass is made, and whether the raw material is valuable.

A. H. CHASE.

_Answer._—The raw material of isinglass is the air bladders or sounds of fish, and is invaluable except for this one purpose. In Russia, where the finest isinglass is made, the sounds of the sturgeon are cut open and steeped in water until the outer membrane separates from the inner; then the latter is washed and dried in the sun. The sounds of the common cod, the hake, and other gadidae are also used for isinglass.

MOCHA ISLAND.

CHICAGO, Ill.

Is there an island by the name of Mocha? If so, please describe it. Also tell where Mocha coffee grows.

HENRY COLLINS.

_Answer._.—There is an Island named Mocha off the coast of Auracania, belonging to Chili. It is about eight miles long, very broken, and at the north end mountainous, rising to 1,230 feet above the sea. Whalers occasionally resort to it for wood and water, both of which are scarce, while the landing is bad. There is a portion of Southwest Abyssinia called Mocha. But the place by this name that is of most importance is a fortified port on the Arabian side of the Red Sea. It gives its name to the finest variety of coffee known to commerce, most of which is produced in the interior of Arabia, in the province of Yemen.

A SPORTING TERM—HIGH-BINDER.

ALEDO, Ill.

What is the meaning of “high-binder,” an old sporting term, I think?

JOSEPH WHITTAUS.

_Answer._—The high-binder is an athlete, such as a circus tumbler and jumper. The term is sometimes applied to horses that jump hurdles and ditches, or steeple-chasers.

UNITED BRETHREN.

KINGMAN, Kan.

What is the date of the founding of the sect known as the United Brethren in Christ; what are the present statistics of the church, and how does it differ from the Methodist Episcopal Church?

A SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—This sect was founded among the Germans in Pennsylvania by Philip William Otterbein and Martin Boehm in 1760. In 1875 they numbered 4,010 churches, 1,967 ministers, 136,076 members, and their church property was valued at more than $2,500,000. The church has ten educational institutions in Western States, and a large printing establishment at Dayton, Ohio. The members are sometimes called German Methodists, as their faith is Arminian; but their church polity is a mixture of Methodism, Congregationalism, and Presbyterianism. Like the Methodists, they have quarterly, annual, and general conferences, but their bishops are elected for only four years. They are very severe in the requirements of candidates for membership, admitting none who are members of secret societies or sanction slavery and the use of alcoholic liquors.

EMBER DAYS.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.

What is understood by the ember days?

N. ZEIGLER.

_Answer._—The ember days are days set apart in the calendar of the Romish and Episcopal Churches for the purpose of fasting and prayer, imploring a divine blessing upon the fruits of the earth, and upon the ordinations performed at that time. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, in the week following the first Sunday in Lent, Whitsunday, the 14th of September, and the 13th of December, are called ember days, and the weeks in which they occur are called ember weeks.

VICTOR HUGO’S WORKS.

VIENNA, Iowa.

Please give a sketch of the life of Victor Hugo, the poet and novelist. Name some of his most noted writings, and where they may be found?

H. S. ELLWANGER.

_Answer._—A brief biographical sketch of Victor Hugo may be found in Our Curiosity shop for 1880. His earlier novels are “Han d’Islande,” “Bug-Jargal,” and “Notre Dame de Paris;” his dramas, “Cromwell,” “Marion Delorme,” “Le Roi s’amuse,” “Lucrèce Borgia,” “Ruy Blas,” and “Hernani;” his poems, “Les Feuilles d’Automne,” “Les Chants du Crépuscule,” and while an exile upon the island of Guernsey he added “Les Misérables,” “Les Travailleurs de la Mer,” “L’Homme qui Rit,” and “Quatrevingt-Treize.” Since then he has published his “Speeches,” the “Légende des Siècles,” “L’Histoire d’un Crime,” and a poem, “Le Pape.” He is one of the most original and perhaps the most popular writer of fiction and lyric verse France has ever produced.

PRESIDENTS OF THE SENATE.

WAUSAU, Wis.

Please give the names of the Presidents of the United States Senate up to date. How long do the Presidents pro tempore retain that position? Give the names of Speakers of the House of Representatives, beginning with the Forty-second Congress.

N. A. S.

_Answer._—The Vice President of the United States is President of the Senate when sitting in that body, but in his absence a President pro tempore is proposed and chosen by ballot. “His office is understood to be determined on the Vice President appearing and taking the chair, or at the meeting of the Senate after the first recess.” (See Jefferson’s Manual.) The persons who have presided over the Senate are: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, George Clinton, William H. Crawford, Elbridge Gerry, John Gaillard, Daniel D. Tompkins, John C. Calhoun, Hugh L. White, Martin Van Buren, Richard M. Johnson, John Tyler, Samuel L. Southard, Willie P. Mangum, George M. Dallas, Millard Fillmore, William R. King, David R. Atkinson, Jesse D. Bright, John C. Breckinridge, Hannibal Hamlin, Andrew Johnson, Lafayette S. Foster, Benjamin F. Wade, Schuyler Colfax, Henry Wilson, Thomas W. Ferry, William A. Wheeler, Chester A. Arthur, David Davis, and the present incumbent, George F. Edmunds. It is not worth while to mention those who have filled the chair only for a few hours at a time. The Speakers since the Forty-second Congress have been James G. Blaine, Michael C. Kerr, Samuel J. Randall, and J. Warren Keifer.

DAVID H. STROTHER—“PORTE CRAYON.”

CHICAGO, Ill.

Kindly give the right name of the author of “Virginian Illustrated,” “Life in the Old Dominion,” “Virginian Canaan,” etc., which appeared in _Harper’s Monthly_, vols. 6 to 12, under the nom de plume of “Porte Crayon.” What became of him? Is he still living?

JAMES BUTCHER.

_Answer._—The real name of this author is David Hunter Strother. He was born in Virginia, in 1816, studied art in New York; first became known to the public as “Porte Crayon” in 1853; entered the Union army as Captain in 1864, resigned, and in 1867 was brevetted Brigadier General; after the war, published in _Harper’s Monthly_ a series of “Personal Reminiscences of the War;” and in 1879 went to Mexico as Consul General, an office he still holds.

THE GUINEA PIG.

WATERVILLE, Kan.

Will you please tell me, through your department, the nature and origin of the Guinea pigs? Where do they come from, and how often in a year do they breed?

“MAGNOLIA.”

_Answer._—Properly speaking, the “Guinea pig” (cava caboya) is not a pig, but a rodent closely related to the restless cavy of Uraguay and Brazil, belonging to the same natural order as the rat and beaver. Like the cavidae, it burrows in the ground, and feeds upon fruits and herbs. Its chief value consists in its beauty, which may be described thus: A white fur, patched with red and black, covering a little animal a foot long and weighing from a pound to a pound and a half—a creature inoffensive and helpless in the extreme, exceedingly restless, and not remarkably intelligent. It is supposed that this cavy was carried from South America to Europe in the fifteenth or sixteenth century, and there domesticated; and that its name is a corruption of Guiana pig. It is very prolific, beginning to breed at the age of two months, and rearing a brood of four to twelve three times a year.

DARIUS AND THE SCYTHIANS.

GENEVA, Ill.

In “Gibbon’s Rome,” Vol. III., chap. 26, page 13, we find the following foot-note: “When Darius advanced into the Moldavian desert, between the Danube and the Niester, the King of the Scythians sent him a mouse, a frog, a bird, and five arrows; a tremendous allegory!” What did this allegory signify?

C. P. DUTTON.

_Answer._—It has been variously interpreted. The following is the meaning given it by some writers: “You make war (the arrows) on a people you cannot conquer until you can subsist on roots and wild grain like the mouse, inhabit either land or water, like the frog, and flee with the swiftness of a bird.” Another rendering is: “We subsist in the wild fields like the mouse; live either on land or water, like the frog; flee like the bird, and slay our pursuers as we flee, for our right hands are full of arrows for our enemies.” Darius Hystaspes had demanded an offering of earth and water from them as a token of submission, and this was the answer of these invincible barbarians; and they made good their allegory. As Darius pursued them with an army of 700,000 men they led him farther and farther, through forests, swamps, and deserts, until his troops died of fatigue, malaria, and famine, and he was compelled to return, utterly defeated in his object, leaving all but a mere remnant of his immense army dead in the wilderness.

THE MISSISSIPPI AND MISSOURI RIVERS.

YELLOWSTONE, Wis.

The “New American Dictionary” says that the Missouri is the longest river in the world, 4,194 miles, and that the Mississippi is 3,200. “Wilson’s Geography” says the Mississippi is 4,396, and the Missouri is 3,960 miles long. Please tell us which is right, and the reasons for these variations.

JAMES LYONS.

_Answer._—The fact is that the precise lengths of the chief rivers of the globe are not known. They shift their channels and wind to such a degree as renders it a difficult problem to determine the exact length of any one of them, and exactness in such cases is not as yet a matter of sufficient practical importance to justify the expense of making accurate measurements. If it were, it would be found that every great river varies in length from time to time by cutting new channels for itself. As a consequence all statements are only estimates, and scarcely two original writers precisely agree. The latest edition of “Lippincott’s Gazetteer of the World” does not presume to speak positively, but says: “The Mississippi is about 3,000 miles long (or, as some say, 3,160).” Speaking of the Missouri, it says: “The total length of the stream, from its source to the Gulf of Mexico, is computed to be 4,300 miles.” “Chambers’ Universal Knowledge” says the Mississippi River is 2,986 miles long from its source to its mouth, and that from the latter to the source of the Missouri is 4,506 miles. Probably Lippincott’s statements are nearest to the truth, but none of them claim to be absolute measurement.

WHY EASTER IS A MOVABLE FEAST.

CHICAGO, Ill.

Why does Christmas always fall on the same day of the month, while the days celebrated in commemoration of Christ’s death and ascension change? I have submitted this question to several ministers and other learned persons without receiving a satisfactory answer.

BUSCANDO.

_Answer._—Christ was crucified on Friday, the 14th day of the Jewish month Nisan, and rose from the dead on the following Sunday. The 14th of Nisan was the Jewish “passover,” the day observed by them in commemoration of the sprinkling of their door-posts with the blood of the paschal lamb on the night when the “Destroying Angel” passed over the dwellings of the Israelites but smote the first-born of the Egyptians. As the year of the Jews is a lunar year, and the 14th of Nisan is always a full-moon day, the Christian Church, regarding the observance of the crucifixion of Christ as a substitute for the passover of the Jewish Church, determine Good Friday and Easter Sunday by the rules for reckoning the Jewish ecclesiastical year. Christmas, intended to commemorate the birth of Christ, had no connection with the ritual of the old church, and, like some two or three hundred other immovable feast days of the Church of Rome, many of them birthdays of saints, it was finally settled that it should be observed on a given day of the common calendar.

OMAHA INDIAN RESERVATION.

BOONE, Iowa.

Isn’t it about time that the Omaha Indian Reservation was opened for settlement, under the act of Congress approved Aug. 7, 1882?

GRANGER.

_Answer._—The same question, substantially, comes to THE INTER OCEAN at least once a week from one part of the country or another. In reply to an inquiry, the Acting Commissioner of the General Land Office recently wrote as follows:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4.—Editor of Inter Ocean: In reply to your inquiry of the 17th ult., I have to state that this office is unable to say what time will elapse before the Omaha Indian Reservation, in Nebraska, will be open to settlement. The requirements of the act of Aug. 7, 1882, as to appraisement, have not yet been fully complied with, and these lands are still under the jurisdiction of the Office of Indian Affairs. Yours respectfully,

LUTHER HARRISON, Acting Commissioner.

The substance of the act above referred to is given in Our Curiosity Shop for 1882, pages 113 and 128.

FIRST AMERICAN FREE SCHOOLS.

DOUGLASS, Kan.

Where and in what year were free schools first established in this country? Who was the first advocate of them? When did they become general?

HENRY BUTLER.

_Answer._—A law was passed in Massachusetts in 1649 requiring every township to maintain a free school, and every town of 100 families to maintain a grammar school to “fit youths for the university;” and it is recorded in 1665 that a free school was then supported by each town in New England. The Connecticut, Plymouth, and New Haven Colonies soon followed this good example of Massachusetts, either in whole or in part. The first public school in Pennsylvania was established in Philadelphia by the Quakers, in 1689, free to those who could not pay. In 1694 Maryland enacted that every county should have a public school, and every parish a free library of at least fifty volumes. A free grammar school was established in New York by an act passed in 1702, but a system of free common schools was not inaugurated in this State until after 1795, in which year, on the recommendation of Governor Clinton, the Legislature appropriated $50,000 to encourage the establishment of common schools—not wholly free. It was years after this before the system of schools free to all (except colored children) went into general operation in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. The Southern States waited until after the war before adopting the free-school system even for white children. Their common schools were free only for the children of confessed paupers. Who was “the first advocate” of free schools it is now impossible to determine positively. Several of them came over in the Mayflower, as there were a few free schools in Massachusetts before the above enactment of 1649, making it obligatory on every town to have them, the chief argument then being that “every child must know how to read the Bible.”

CORDOVA, MEXICO.

UNION CITY, Iowa.

My regiment was stationed at Cordova, Mexico, at the close of the Mexican war. How old is that city, by whom was it founded, and what is its present population?

M. W. V.

_Answer._—Cordova, situated about fifty-seven miles inland from Vera Cruz, Mexico, is now a city of 6,500 to 7,000 inhabitants. The district around it is very fertile, and the tobacco, sugar, coffee, and cotton produced here foster an increasing trade. Its streets are regularly laid out and well paved; most of the houses are built of stone, and the fine cathedral is much admired for its interior architecture and decorations. The city was founded by the early Spanish adventurers and missionaries on the site of an old Aztec town, and named in honor of the forerunner of Cortez, Francisco Fernandez de Cordova, the discoverer of Yucatan and the southeastern extremity of Mexico, in the year 1517. The date of the first Spanish settlement is uncertain.

MARSHAL KEITH.

FAIRMONT., Neb.

Who was Marshal Keith, “the noble exile,” killed at the battle of Hochkirchen?

W. P. JACKS.