Part 35

Seeing an Inquirer, in the Curiosity Shop, asks information in regard to Arkansas, I will say that the Eastern Central portion of the State is nearly level, and very fertile. All fruits, vegetables, cereals, tobacco, cotton, sorghum, sweet potatoes—in fact anything one may plant—gives large returns. Owing to this locality lying in the great cotton belt, and to the large quantities of cotton produced, the usual price per bushel of Indian corn is $1; oats, 90c, and oats will yield from forty to sixty bushels per acre, with the rude implements and tillage here in vogue—a one-horse cast-iron plow, and a small tree top for a harrow. After oats and wheat are harvested the same land is frequently planted in corn, or sown with millet, or Hungarian grass, thus producing two crops a year. Land here is cheap, water is soft and pure, and timber abundant. The rivers abound in fish, and the immense forests in game. I came from Indiana. I have lived here twelve years. Have never seen a case of consumption in the State.

DR. H. C. YOUNG, Formerly Surgeon U. S. N.

PSEUDONYMS OF AUTHORS.

AUBURN, Ill.

I should like to have a list of the noms de plume of modern authors of reputation.

CHARLES HERSHMAN.

_Answer._—The following is as long a list as there is room for here; although it contains but a small proportion of the over 5,000 pseudonyms known to literature:

Pseudonyms and real names. Born. Died.

Algernon Sidney—Gideon Granger 1767 1822 Amy Lothrop—Miss Anna B. Warner 1825 An American Girl Abroad—Miss Trafton Artemus Ward—Charles F. Browne 1836 1867 Barney Cornwall—Bryan Waller Procter 1790 Boz—Charles Dickens 1812 1870 Christopher Crowfield—Mrs. H. B. Stowe 1812 Chrystal Croftangry—Sir W. Scott 1771 1832 C. L. I. O. (Clio)—Joseph Addison 1672 1719 Cornelius O’Dowd—Chas. Jas. Lever 1806 1872 Country Parson—The Rev. A. K. H. Boyd 1825 Currer Bell—Charlotte Bronte (Mrs. Nichols) 1815 1855 Diedrich Knickerbocker—Washington Irving 1783 1859 E. D. E. N—Mrs. Emma D. E. (Nevette) Southworth 1818 Edward Search (2)—Abraham Tucker 1705 1774 Edward Search (1)—Wm. Hazlitt 1778 1830 Elia—Chas. Lamb 1775 1834 Eli Perkins—Matthew D. Landon Elizabeth Wetherell—Susan Warner 1818 Ellis Bell—Emily Bronte 1819 1848 Ettrick Shepherd—James Hogg 1772 1835 Fanny Fern—Sarah Parton 1811 1872 Father Prout—Francis Mahony 1805 1866 Figaro—Mariano Jose de Larra 1809 1837 Gail Hamilton—Miss Abigail Hamilton Dodge 1838 Gamaliel Smith—Jeremy Bentham 1748 1832 Gath—George Alfred Townsend 1833 Geoffrey Crayon—Washington Irving 1783 1859 George Eliot—Mrs. Mary Ann (Evans) Lewes Cross 1820 1880 George Fitzdoodle—Wm. Makepeace Thackeray 1811 1863 Georges Sand—Mme. Dudevant 1804 1876 Grace Greenwood—Mrs. Sara J. Lippincott 1825 Horace Hornem—George Gordon, Lord Byron 1788 1824 Hosea Biglow—James R. Lowell 1819 Ik Marvel—Donald Grant Mitchell 1822 Jean Paul—Jean Paul F. Richter 1763 1825 Jedediah Cleishbotham—Sir W. Scott 1771 1832 Jennie June—Mrs. J. C. Croly 1840 John Chalkhill—Izaak Walton 1593 1683 Jonathan Oldstyle—Washington Irving 1783 1859 Josh Billings—Henry W. Shaw 1818 Joshua Coffin—Henry W. Longfellow 1807 1881 Junius—Probably Sir Philip Francis 1740 1818 Laertes—G. A. Townsend 1833 Launcelot Langstaff—Washington Irving 1783 1859 Launcelot Langstaff—William Irving 1766 1821 Launcelot Langstaff—Jas. Kirke Paulding 1779 1860 L. E. L.—Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 1839 Little Thomas—Thomas Moore 1779 1852 Luise Muhlbach—Mme. Clara Mundt 1814 1873 Malachi—Sir W. Scott 1771 1832 Malachi Malagrowther—Sir W. Scott 1771 1832 Malakoff—Samuel Johnson, LL. D. 1709 1784 Marion Harland—Mary V. (Hawes) Terhune 1835 Mark Twain—Samuel L. Clemens 1835 M. Quad—Chas. B. Lewis Mrs. Partington—B. P. Shillaber 1814 Old Bachelor—George W. Curtis 1824 Oliver Optic—William Taylor Adams 1822 Owen Meredith—Edward R. Bulwer, Lord Lytton 1831 Paul Creyton—John T. Trowbridge 1817 Parson Lot—The Rev. Charles Kingsley 1819 Saxe Holm—Miss Rush Ellis 1858 Theophilus South—Edward Chitty 1807 Timothy Titcomb—J. G. Holland 1819 1881

CHICAGO NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION.

AURORA, Ill.

To settle a dispute, state which of the Chicago newspapers has the largest circulation.

CONOVER.

_Answer._—The only criterion of newspaper circulation which there is absolutely no means of successfully disputing is the amount of postage paid on papers sent to actual subscribers. Below is given the amounts of postage paid on such circulation by each of the Chicago newspapers here named during the fiscal year ending June, 30, 1882:

THE INTER OCEAN $19,609.30 The _News_ 7,289.14 The _Times_ 6,581.10 The _Tribune_ 5,644.54 The _Herald_ 1,443.68

For circulation of papers outside of the mails there is nothing that can be regarded as an impartial standard of comparison; nothing which affords the reading and advertising public such unequivocal testimony as the above, but every intelligent person will naturally conclude that the proportions of circulation through the mails and outside of the mails will not differ very greatly.

TO POLISH SEA-SHELLS.

CRESTON, Iowa.

Please inform us through Our Curiosity Shop how to polish sea-shells and prepare them for sale.

SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—According to Cooley, one of the highest authorities on processes employed in the arts and manufactures, the surfaces of certain shells which have a natural polish should be first cleansed by rubbing with a rag dipped in hydrochloric acid (obtainable at any drug store) till the dull outer skin is removed. They must then be promptly washed in warm water, dried in hot sawdust, and polished with chamois leather. But shells destitute of natural polish may be either varnished or rubbed with a mixture of tripoli powder and turpentine, applied by means of a “wash-leather” (split sheepskin dressed with oil), and afterward with fine tripoli alone, and finally a little olive oil, the surface being brought up with vigorous use of the chamois leather. But there are shells which must first be boiled in a strong solution of potash, then ground on wheels, sometimes all the way through the outer stratum, to show an underlying one, after which they are polished with hydrochloric acid and putty powder. This last process better be left to men who make a business of shell-grinding; for it is said that “shell-grinders are almost all cripples in their hands,” owing to the dangerous nature of this operation.

STATES WITH COMPULSORY EDUCATION.

STECOAH, N. C.

Name the States and Territories which have compulsory education laws; and show how their attendance and non-attendance compare with the same in other States and Territories.

J. L. CRISP.

_Answer._—Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming have compulsory education laws, requiring every male child between certain years—usually 8 to 14—to attend school not less than a specified period—usually twelve weeks each year. The Illinois law did not come into effect until the present school year, and in several other States these laws were not passed in time to affect the statistics of 1880, so the following table gives the total number of children of school age in none but such States as had compulsory attendance laws before 1880. It gives not the average daily attendance, but the total enrollment of pupils in the public schools:

Children of States. school age. Enrollment.

California 215,978 158,765 Connecticut 140,235 119,694 Massachusetts 307,321 309,777 Michigan 506,221 362,556 New Jersey 330,685 204,961 New York 1,641,173 1,031,593 Ohio 1,043,320 747,138

The table below gives the corresponding statistics for an equal number of States not having such laws, as nearly adjacent as possible:

Children of States. school age. Enrollment.

Oregon 59,615 37,533 Maine 214,656 149,827 Rhode Island 52,273 44,780 Pennsylvania 1,370,000 937,310 Delaware 35,459 27,823 Indiana 703,558 511,283 Iowa 586,556 426,057

This comparison sheds very uncertain light upon the question as to the effect of compulsory attendance laws, because the school age period is different in different States, and it does not show the number of pupils in private schools. It would be far more interesting in this connection if it included only all children of the ages within the compulsory period in each State, and gave the number of such children enrolled in schools of any sort before and after the passage of the law. Nevertheless, these tables do indicate plainly enough that such laws are not strictly enforced in any State, and are, comparatively speaking, a dead letter in others.

BASHFULNESS WORSE THAN FEAR.

OREGON, Ill.

What brave man was it that said he had suffered far more from bashfulness than from fear?

SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—It was “John Brown, of Ossawatomie,” the hero of the Harper’s Ferry plot to emancipate as many as possible of the slaves of Virginia and Maryland, and lead them on an exodus into Canada. Being asked, on the way to the scaffold, if he felt any fear, he replied: “It has been a characteristic of me from infancy not to suffer from physical fear. I have suffered a thousand times more from bashfulness than from fear.”

CHOKE-BORE SHOTGUNS.

PECATONICA, Ill.

Please explain the difference between “full choke” and “modified choke” shotguns.

SPORTSMAN.

_Answer._—In a full choke shot-gun the bore is a perfect cylinder to within a few inches from the muzzle, where it swells inward slightly all around, and then opens out in the last six or seven inches to about the same diameter as in front of the choke. In a “modified choke” gun the barrel tapers from the shell chamber to the choke curve. In a “taper bore choke” the barrel tapers regularly from the shell chamber to the muzzle.

NIGHT GLASSES.

HARPER, Kansas.

What is a night glass? Is it true that a person can see as plainly with one of these, in fair weather, at night, as he can without one in daylight?

C. G. BOONE.

_Answer._—A night glass is simply a small terrestrial telescope, or spy-glass, ordinarily in the form of a large opera-glass, with an unusually large lens in the end toward the object to be viewed, called the object-glass, which serves to concentrate a large amount of light, and so render objects seen at night much more distinct than when viewed by either the naked eye or an ordinary spy-glass. Since it is a principle in optics that “it is impossible, by any optical arrangement whatever, to obtain an image whose brightest part shall surpass the brightest part of the object,” it is obvious that nothing seen through a night-glass, even in the clearest night, can appear as distinct as in daylight.

AMERICAN HISTORIANS.

WANDA, Ill.

Will you please publish a list of the principal American historians?

S.

_Answer._—Assuming that by “American historians” you mean historians born in America, we give the following list, naming first those who wrote chiefly of our own country, and afterward those who have written mainly of other countries: J. S. C. Abbott, b. 1805; d. 1877; George Bancroft, 1800; Richard Hildreth, 1807-1865; C. E. A. Gayarre, 1805; Francis Parkman, 1823; John C. Ridpath, 1840; John D. G. Shea, 1824; Jared Sparks, 1789-1866; James F. Cooper, 1789-1851; Hubert H. Bancroft, and Thomas H. Burton. W. H. Prescott, 1796-1859; John Lathrop Motley, 1814-1877, and Royal Robbins, 1788-1861.

SANDPAPER.

SHENANDOAH, Iowa.

Please describe the process of making sandpaper.

H. S. GALT.

_Answer._—Common window glass—that having a green tint is best—is powdered and sifted through sieves of varying fineness, for coarse and fine sandpaper. Then any coarse paper is covered with thin glue and the powdered glass is sifted upon it. After standing a day or two, the refuse sand is shaken off, and the paper is ready for use.

ALABASTER.

CLINTON, Ill.

Where is alabaster quarried and manufactured?

OLD PILGRIM.

_Answer._—Alabaster, or plaster of paris, is made in large quantities at Grand Rapids, Mich., where there are extensive beds of gypsum, the stone from which it is produced. Vases and other ornamental articles can be cut from the finest quality of this stone; but generally such articles are produced in Europe, where labor is cheaper and the class of workmen accustomed to this branch of art is numerous. The chief supply of European gypsum for fine arts is obtained at Sienna and other places in Tuscany, and manufactured at Florence, Milan, Leghorn, and Volterra.

RAILROADS ENTERING CHICAGO.

CHICAGO, Ill.

Please state the total number of railroads entering Chicago on their own tracks or others, and oblige

SEVERAL READERS.

_Answer._—Hardly two persons would agree as to “the number of railroads entering Chicago on their own tracks or others,” for the reason that one person would count all the distinct roads named in the several coupons of every through ticket from any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico to this city, while others would count only the roads chartered in Illinois and adjacent States running under separate managements, and entering Chicago over their own traces or leased right of way. The latter number about thirty-eight, the former amount to several hundred. There are twenty-seven great railway systems centering at Chicago and controlled mainly from this point, which embrace about 25,000 miles of track.

HARVARD, YALE, COLUMBIA.

WEST LEBANON, Ind.

Please give a comparison of Harvard, Yale, and Columbia Colleges in wealth, number of students, and number of graduates.

A SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—According to the report of the Bureau of Education for 1880, these institutions compare, as regards wealth, as follows:

Productive Income Income Colleges— funds. from funds. fr. tuition.

Harvard $3,959,556 $236,889 $122,835 Yale 1,293,078 79,943 102,912 Columbia 4,816,257 320,565 24,200

Besides the above, there is a scientific school connected with each of the above colleges with property, as follows:

Prod’tive Income Income Scientific Dept.— funds fr. funds fr. tuit’n

Lawrence Scientific School (Harvard) $729,623 $46,482 $2,505

Sheffield Scientific School (Yale) 265,775 28,157 15,850

School of Mines (Columbia) 36,500

As respects students enrolled and graduates of all departments, in the year above given, these institutions compared as in the totals below:

Number of Number of Degrees Colleges— Students. conferred.

Harvard 974 264 Yale 952 232 Columbia 577 415

The degrees enumerated were all conferred “in course,” honorary degrees being omitted from this statement.

THE MAID OF THE MIST.

DANVILLE, Ill.

Are you not mistaken as to the time when the Maid of the Mist ran through the great whirlpool in the Niagara River? Can you not give a fuller description than appeared in Our Curiosity Shop of Aug. 16?

SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—The date here called in question is the one given for this feat in Clemens Petersen’s article on Niagara in “Johnson’s New Universal Cyclopedia,” but in THE DAILY INTER OCEAN of Sept. 1 we gave an account from the lips of DeWitt C. McMurtry, now of Philadelphia, who claims to be the only survivor of that perilous passage. He says the trip was made June 29 1859. He gives the dimensions of the stanch little steamer at “about 150 feet over all and 16 feet beam.” She was a side-wheeler, with new and powerful engines, usually carrying 125 or 130 pounds pressure of steam, but set at this time to blow off at 228 pounds. The run was made to evade the payment of a mortgage held by Judge Addington, of Buffalo, and under an offer from some Toronto parties to pay $25,000 for the Maid of the Mist if delivered at Queenstown, on the Canada side, at the mouth of the river. Joel Robinson, the captain, was offered $500, the engineer, a Mr. Jones, and the fireman, Mr. McMurtry, each $100, to undertake this task. The captain had himself lashed in the wheelhouse, and the other two were shut in below under battened hatches. The distance from the last landing above the whirlpool to Queenstown is just five miles, one mile of which is through the whirlpool-torrent. This distance was made in seven and three-quarter minutes, only two of which were spent in the rapids. The boat was dashed about at a terrible rate. “When she first struck the rapids,” says McMurtry, “our boat leaped downward perhaps thirty feet. Then she was hurled clear out of the water. Down she would go, as if she would never stop, when suddenly she would right herself and, with a bound which seemed almost human, leap out of the water. The current runs forty-five miles an hour and the waves are twenty feet high. Jones and I were almost killed by the quickly succeeding shocks. I felt my strength rapidly oozing away as I clung to the hand-rails for dear life. There was barely time to catch my breath between concussions. Suddenly the current struck her sideways, she swung around, and shot down the stream. We had escaped the whirlpool. When I got out at Queenstown the water was waist high, the boat had been so racked and wrenched in her passage.” Jones died soon afterward. Robinson survived several years longer. According to this witness no one perished in the passage, as is stated in some narratives of the affair.

FEMALE SUFFRAGE IN NEW JERSEY.

CHICAGO, Ill.

What State was it that permitted women to vote ninety years ago?

J. M. SNOW.

_Answer._—It was New Jersey; which organized as an independent State two days before the declaration of independence, with a constitution that allowed universal suffrage, male and female, without regard to color. This constitution was not altered until 1844, when, among other changes, the suffrage was restricted to males; largely because of the apathy shown by women, especially those of the better class, in regard to the exercise of the ballot.

UNION AND REBEL PRISONERS

SWAN, Iowa.

Give the number of prisoners taken on both sides during the late war. State how many died while prisoners; and, if possible, tell how many Union soldiers once in Southern prisons still survive. How many graves in National Cemeteries?

A PRISONER OF WAR.

_Answer._—The number of Union soldiers captured by the Confederates during the late war was 212,608. The number of Confederate prisoners taken was 476,169. The number of Union soldiers who died while prisoners was 29,725, or little more than one in seven of all captured. The number of Confederates who died while prisoners was 26,774, or very nearly one in eighteen. The total number of graves in the National cemeteries is 315,555, only 172,409 of which have been identified. There is no means of learning how many who were once Union prisoners still survive.

BATTLE OF SOLFERINO.

CAMBRIDGE, Wis.

In what war was the battle of Solferino fought; and what gave this place so much importance?

R. D. THOMPSON.

_Answer._—The battle of Solferino was fought in 1859 between the French, under the Emperor Louis Napoleon, and the Sardinians, under Victor Emanuel on the side of the victors, and the Austrians, the oppressors of Italy, led by the Emperor Francis Joseph. Solferino is a place of no importance in itself, being but a village of some 1,400 inhabitants, situated in the province of Brescia, North Italy. Its position, with its famous tower, called the “Spy of Italy,” because it commands a view of the whole broad plain of Lombardy, gives it great strategic importance; and in this war, which was, in fact, for the independence and unity of Italy, the battle of Magenta, twenty days earlier, in which the Austrians were driven from the field with a loss of 9,713 killed and about 11,000 wounded and missing, and this decisive victory at Solferino, in which the allies lost about 18,000 killed and wounded and the Austrians 20,000, besides 6,000 prisoners and 30 cannon, resulted in the treaty of Villafranca, ceding Lombardy to Sardinia and virtually terminating Austrian interference in Italian affairs; so paving the way to the ultimate unification of Italy, which quickly followed.

RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENT.

BLAIR, Neb.

Was the acts for the resumption of specie payments a Republican or Democratic measure? Please give the vote on the passage of the bill.

C. C. D.

_Answer._—Resumption was advised by the Secretary of the Treasury under President Grant, was earnestly recommended in the President’s message, was brought forward in Congress by a Republican, was reported with the recommendation that it pass from the Finance Committee of the Senate, by its Chairman, Senator Sherman, Dec. 21, 1874, when a majority of the Senate and the committee were Republicans; and passed the Senate the same day, by a vote of 32 to 14. All who voted in the negative were Democrats, except Tipton and Hamilton, of Texas, both Independents. The bill passed the House on June 7, 1875, by the following vote: Yeas, 136; nays, 98; not voting, 54. The nays were all Democrats, except Clarke, Crutchfield, Dawes, Field, Gooch, Hagans, B. W. Harris, J. R. Hawley, E. R. Hoar, G. F. Hoar, Lawson, Niles, L. C. Parker, M. Sayler, H. J. Scudder, Sherwood, W. A. Smith, W. Townsend, C. W. Willard, and Woodworth, in all 20, Republicans. All who voted yea were Republicans.

ORIGIN OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

TURNER, Ill.

When did the Democratic party originate, and what were its principal doctrines when it was in power?

L. S. M.