Part 48

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A Subscriber, Walnut, Iowa.—Whether persons who have been shipwrecked shall be carried free of charge upon other vessels is optional with the captains of said vessels. If landed in a strange country, they may seek aid from the consul representing their own government. The American consul is furnished with funds to help shipwrecked seamen only, but he is under obligation to do what he can for all American citizens in distress.

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Dicke, Dana, Ill.—There is no “Senator at large.” A “Representative at large” is one elected by the entire State, instead of a district, in those States failing to redistrict before the election following the reapportionment of Representatives according to the latest census. For instance, the four additional Representatives given to Kansas by the last Congressional apportionment were elected on a general State ticket and not from single districts. In Maine, where the number of Congressmen was reduced, the Legislature having failed to redistrict the State all the Representatives were elected on a general State ticket.

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David E. Gray.—1. The treaty of St. Ildefonso was an offensive and defensive alliance between the first French Republic and Spain, negotiated Aug. 19, 1796, resulting, among other things, in a war between these allied powers and England. 2. Oregon and Washington Territory fix the weight of a bushel of green apples at 45 pounds. Other States and Territories fix the legal weight of dried apples, but not of green apples, so far as we can discover.

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A Reader, Crete, Neb.—The greater weight of a body at the poles, as compared with its weight at the equator, is attributed, principally, to two causes, viz., the estimated shorter distance from the pole to the center of the earth; and the centrifugal force resulting from the revolution of the earth on its axis, which is zero at the poles and at its maximum at the equator.

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John Steele, Chicago—Yes, a fine watch may easily be ruined by too close approach to a powerful electrical machine. The hair-spring and balance wheel become magnetized, and it is difficult and costly to get them demagnetized.

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James McNulty, Chicago—The pitch of a roof is the ratio of its height divided by its span. Consequently a half pitch roof is one whose height is half its span, a quarter pitch one whose height is one-fourth the span, and so on. The answer you refer to was defective in omitting the word “span” after “foot.”

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Charles Seymour, Chicago, Ill.—The Emperor Maximilian I., of Mexico, had two foreign legions besides his French allies, one known as the “Belgic Legion,” the other as the “Austrian Legion.”

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O. Clark.—In the case of Wright vs. Wood it was decided that “four pre-emptors may combine to erect a house upon the corner common to their claims, but each pre-emptor must reside in his own part of the house.” If you will send your address and a postal-card we will answer your other question.

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Taylor Lee, Sammon’s Landing, Mich.—Great Abaco is an island in the Bahama group. It is about eighty miles long and twenty wide. Little Abaco, about twenty-eight miles long, is near it. They are both specially adapted to the raising of early vegetables for the great American markets. Being at the northern end of the Bahamas, they lie directly east of the most eastern projection of Florida. They belong to Great Britain.

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L. J. Worden, Bowling Green, Ky.—The first railroad on which a locomotive was operated was the Merthyr-Tydvil Railway, England. This was in 1804. But the first railway built for general traffic was constructed by Pease and Stephenson in 1825. It was the Stockton and Darlington Railroad in England. For further particulars see Curiosity Shop of last year, in book form, page 101.

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E. Judkins, Alpowa, W. T.—1. The author of “The Beautiful Snow” is James W. Watson.

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C. L. N., Cresco, Mich.—1. The talent of the Scriptures, or Hebrew talent, has been variously estimated at from $1,645 to $1,916. 2. To take care of your live oyster ask advice of the Superintendent of State Fisheries, Lansing, Mich.

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D. S., Winters, Ill.—The inventor of Sharps’ rifles for military and sporting purposes was Christian Sharps, a scientific machinist, born in New Jersey in 1811, died in 1874. The manufacture of these rifles was begun at Hartford, Conn., in 1854.

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W. Bird, Bolivar, Mo.—The Maas (or Meuse, as it is called in the upper part of its course) is a river of Belgium and Holland, which, after uniting with the River Rhine, discharges into the North Sea not far from Rotterdam. During the winter months the Dutch travel and amuse themselves on skates and runners on the ice of their many canals, lakes, and rivers, these being their thoroughfares in winter as well as in summer. Owing to moderate temperature and an unexpected rise in the river in the winter of 1512, the ice suddenly gave way at a point on the Maas, near Rotterdam, and a large number of people, some say about 8,000, were precipitated into the water, where the most of them perished.

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Joe Davidson, White Rock, Kan.—1. The District of Columbia contains an area of sixty-four square miles. 2. The yearly salary of the President is $50,000; that of the Vice President $8,000; of each of the members of the Cabinet $8,000; of Senators, $5,000 each, 20 cents per mile mileage, stationery $125, franking privilege, and expenses when serving on special committees; Representatives the same as Senators.

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Leonard Smith, Atalissa, Iowa—The fastest time on record for any locomotive in this country (and we find no faster for any other) is fourteen miles in eleven minutes, made by locomotive Hamilton Davis and 6 cars on the New York Central Railroad in 1855. This was an average of a mile in 47⅐ seconds.

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Prosy, Busti, Iowa.—1. Rice was introduced into this country from Madagascar through the gift of a sack of rice by the captain of a vessel driven into Charleston, S. C., in 1694, to Thomas Smith, who planted it in his garden and distributed the seed.

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M. V., Suez, Ill.—“Gulliver’s Travels” were written by Jonathan Swift, who was born in Dublin, Ireland, Nov. 30, 1667; died in the same city, Oct. 19, 1745. The above named work was a series of humoristic satires on the weaknesses of human nature, the follies of society, and the foibles of certain individuals against whom Swift cherished personal antipathies.

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Phillip Blunn, Seward, Kan.—Fremont in early life was a bold, original spirit, as is fully shown by his daring and at times almost reckless adventures during the explorations by which he discovered the overland route to California and opened up the regions of the great Salt Lake and Upper California to American settlement. He chafed under the restraints of military discipline, and was charged with disobeying or exceeding his instructions, which he sometimes undoubtedly did: and in his case it nearly always turned out fortunately for the country. He was placed under military arrest and found “guilty of mutiny and insubordination” for acting as Governor of California by appointment of Commodore Stockton in 1846, contrary to orders of General Kearney. The “Old Pathfinder,” as he was subsequently called, rather gained by the event.

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Soper Bros. & Co., Chicago—In the destruction of the Southern Hotel, St. Louis, April 11, 1877, thirteen lives were lost and thirty-five persons seriously injured. The hotel was rebuilt, and was reopened to the public about one year ago last summer.

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P. L. F., Swan Lake, Dak.—1. There are two State Normal schools in Illinois—one at Bloomington and the other at Carbondale. 2. There is no part of the earth’s surface where the sun’s rays, if unobstructed by some intervening object, would not shine into a north window at some time in the year.

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M. L. Scott, Boulder, Col.—1. The Chief Justices of the United States since 1789 have been John Jay, John Rutledge, Oliver Ellsworth, John Marshall, Roger B. Taney, Salmon P. Chase, and the present incumbent, Morrison R. Waite. 2. The corner-stone of our first Federal Capitol was laid by George Washington Sept, 18, 1793. The corner-stone of the extension of 1851 was laid by Millard Fillmore.

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A. C., Streator, Ill.—Inauguration Day, of the 4th of March, on which the term of office of the President of the United States must necessarily begin, has occurred on Sunday fourteen times this century. It occurred so the last time on the occasion of President Hayes’ inauguration, and he quietly took the oath of office in the White House Sunday afternoon. The inauguration ceremonial at the Capitol took place the next day. Inauguration Day will not fall on Sunday again during this century.

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James Harman, Central City, Neb.—The total receipts from saloon licenses in this city in 1880 amounted to $182,226.40. The expenses entailed through pauperage, damage to property and person, increased cost of police, jails, etc., cannot be accurately determined. It is a matter of estimate.

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A Subscriber, Chicago.—In the Massachusetts gubernatorial election, Butler received 133,946 votes: Bishop, 119,997, and Almy, 2,137, making Butler’s plurality 13,949, and his majority 11,812.

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The ten-mile race at the State fair held at Minneapolis last fall was won by Miss Belle Cook, with five horses, in 20:02. Little Cricket won the twenty-mile race in 40:59.

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John Allen, Topeka, Kan.—The real name of “Mary Blake,” contributor to the _Century_, is Mrs. Blakesley.

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A. B. E.—The authoress of “Curfew Must Not Ring To-night” is Rose Hartwicke Thorpe.

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J. M. H., Stanberry, Mo.—The President pro tempore of the Senate draws the same salary as the Vice President when filling the same office. You are right as to the apportionment of members of Congress. The whole question is explained on page 75 of Our Curiosity Shop of 1882, in book form, costing 25 cents, postage included. It answers hundreds of such questions as you and your fellow-students are discussing. There is no instance of a State’s returning to the condition of a Territory, unless the rebel States were in that condition before they adopted their “reconstruction constitutions” just after the war, when they were under provisional governments. Your other questions have all been answered very recently.

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“She-cau-oh,” Chicago, Ill.—We give your note just as it comes to us: “Man-i-_to_-ba—that is not the way it is pronounced, but Ma-nit-a-_bah_. Chicago should be She-cau-_oh_ (Potawatome)—‘all gone,’ ‘far-off-place.’ Sioux, pronounce Sou. I could speak the Indian language better than the English once.—She-cau-_oh_.” It is too late in the world’s history to change the pronunciation of Chicago back to the original, and, for that matter, the pronunciation of Manitoba is hopelessly anglicized into Man-i-_tow_-ba. Still we thank you for your note, and will preserve it in our bound Curiosity Shop as another witness for the original pronunciation of all these names, and what is admitted to be one of the Indian meanings of Chicago, the others, vouched for by good authority, being “strong” and “wild onion,” the sense in each case being dependent on the connection.

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Ida, Milo, Ill.—1. George III. was King of England during the whole period of the American revolution. His Prime Minister from 1770 until after the surrender of Cornwallis was Lord North, and two other of the principal members of his Cabinet were Lords Gower and Weymouth. In 1779 the latter, seeing the hopelessness of the effort to subdue the Americans, resigned, but North continued in power until after the capture of Cornwallis at Yorktown, when he resigned March 20, 1782, and was succeeded by the Marquis of Rockingham, who at once opened negotiations for peace.

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Alfred Gates, Lafayette, Ind.—The dower right of a married woman in her husband’s real estate has been abolished in Indiana and California. In States where married women are entitled to dower, it is the general rule that relinquishments of dower made by any such woman under 21 years of age are of no effect unless ratified by her after she has attained that age. Even in most States where women are “of age,” or become mistresses of themselves at an earlier age than 21, they cannot convey real estate until they have attained the full legal majority of 21 years.

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Martha J. McCoy, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.—If the paint is scaling off your recently painted house it proves that there is not much pure white lead and good boiled linseed oil in it. Unless one employs an honest painter and contracts for these substantial ingredients he is almost certain to get white lead adulterated with earths, sulphate of baryta, or other cheap materials, mixed with worthless substitutes for linseed oil. The lowest-priced paints are usually the dearest in the long run, particularly for outside work.

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Georgia L. Brown, West Salem, Wis.—1. The salary of the President was increased to $50,000 a year—making it the same as that of the Governor General of Canada—on the last day of the first term of President Grant, who drew pay according to this law from the beginning of his second term.

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S., Greenfield, Ill.—“Red Line Poets” is a trade name given to certain editions of selected poems printed on pages bordered with red lines. There are one or two English books of this description, and one or more American books. No two of them embrace the same list of authors. A Boston red-line edition contains only selections from Longfellow, Whittier, Bryant, Holmes, Lowell, and Emerson.

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Amateur Antiquary, Chicago, Ill.—“Empire State of the South” is a popular appellation for Georgia in allusion to its being the leading State in wealth and enterprise. Tennessee is sometimes called the “Big-bend State,” in allusion to the spoon-like bend of the Tennessee River. West Virginia is sometimes called the “Pan-handle State,” because it includes that singular strip of land between the Ohio River and the boundary of Pennsylvania.

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H. N. Kinney, Mantone, Ill.—The leading corn county of this State in 1881 was McLean, with a crop of 9,750,000 bushels; the next largest was Livingston, with 6,983,522 bushels. The same year Kankakee County produced 2,743,300 bushels.

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R. D. Silsby, Modale, Iowa.—Your friend is right in asserting that there are yellow and brownish varieties of cotton. The valuable Orleans cotton staples are naturally white, but there is cheap yellow and brownish staple used for nankeen cloth, and one sort known as Bourbon cotton.

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A Reader, Glenwood, Iowa.—1. The great Chicago fire of 1871 began Sunday evening, Oct. 8, and lasted until Tuesday morning. 2. Henry Wilson, the late Vice President, changed his name, by birth Colbath. Why, he always treated as a strictly private matter. His childhood was one of extreme poverty, and he was apprenticed when he was but ten years old.

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Normal Student, Stanbury, Mass.—There is no State in the Union where a man can vote before he is 21 years of age. However, if a man’s birthday is Feb. 1 he becomes of age Jan. 31, as the law takes no account of fractions of a day in a matter of this kind.

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C. H. Martin, Cheboygan, Mich.—St. Patrick was sent by Pope Celestine as a missionary to Ireland, after being a monk in the celebrated monastery of Lerius, in France. His father was a deacon in the Church of Rome, and his mother was a sister of St. Martin of Tours.

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A Reader, Chicago.—In Wisconsin it is not necessary to take out a marriage license.

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A. G. Damson, Vienna, Ill.—W. H. Russell, war correspondent of the London _Times_ during “the recent unpleasantness,” is called “Bull Run Russell” because of his overdrawn description of the first battle of Bull Run, and prediction of the speedy collapse of the Union as a consequence. He is still alive.

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Geo. T. L., Attica, N. Y.—The President of Mexico at this time is General Gonzales; installed Dec. 1, 1880, for four years. There is a Senate composed of the Vice President and two members of each of the twenty-seven States. The House of Representatives consists of one member for each 80,000 population, and in 1879 numbered 331. During the recess of Congress a Council of Government, composed of the Vice President and half of the Senate, sits, to advise the President.

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A. C., Englewood, Ill.—The silkworm spins its cocoon and passes into the torpid state of a chrysalis or pupa. If allowed to remain in this state too long it becomes active, begins to gnaw its way through the cocoon, and finally comes forth in the butterfly state. The cocoon is then of little value. But if, just before the chrysalis begins to grow active, the cocoons are dropped into boiling water the insect is instantly killed, and the silk is easily unwound and reeled for the market.

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B. B. Williams, Parsons, Kan.—The Golden Horn is the name of the inlet from the Bosphorus, which divides the city of Constantinople and constitutes its magnificent harbor.

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A. M. A., Union Grove, Ill.—When Governor Ford’s term as Governor expired, in 1846, he moved to Peoria and went into the practice of the law. He had been called from the office of Associate Judge of the Supreme Court to that of Governor, but although a good judge, he was not well suited for an advocate. Moreover, he had become addicted to overdrinking and during his gubernatorial term had made many violent enemies in his own party, some of whom spared no opportunity to wound him. He had retired from the Governorship “poorer than when he was inaugurated,” and failing to secure a remunerative practice against all the discouragements above mentioned, he fell into despondency, and died at Peoria in 1850 in indigent circumstances, but not “a pauper.”

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N. K. Pierce, Mentor, Kan.—The most elegant Pullman palace cars cost from $20,000 to $25,000, but such cars have been made in only a few special cases. The ordinary Pullman car costs from $11,000 to $15,000.

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Inquirer, LeRoy.—1. The American Almanac for 1883 states the total number of churches in the United States at 92,477, omitting the churches of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, which numbers about 8,000. 2. The membership of all the Protestant churches is stated at 8,974,400, and the “adherents” of the Roman Catholic church at 6,370,858, according to the Catholic Directory for 1882. Protestant churches enumerate only those who become members by profession of faith or letters from other churches; Roman Catholics enumerate all who have been baptized in their faith, either in infancy or after years. 3. Church attendance can only be estimated from church sittings, which average for the United States about two and a half times the membership. 4. The total number of newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals published in the United States in the census year is given as 11,314.

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Old Subscriber, Lincoln, Ill.—In most of the States the marriage of a female partner in any business firm dissolves the partnership.

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J. L. Orr, Glen Haven, Wis.—Evidently the north window of a house situated on the north pole would be a sky light. All side wall windows would look to the south.

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J. J. Stark, LaCygne, Kan.—1. The most celebrated picture of “Christ and the Last Supper” was painted by Leonardo da Vinci in 1497. 2. Your second question we cannot answer.

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E. Finley, Pontiac, Ill.—The total precipitation of moisture for the year 1882 observed by the officer of the Signal Service at Riley, McHenry County, Ill., was 35.36 inches, or 1.46 inches above the annual average for twenty-one years.

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A. N. Smith, Davenport, Iowa—To destroy chicken lice keep the hen-house clean and well ventilated and sprinkle the dusting bins with carbolic acid.

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T. L., Winona, Minn.—You are wrong. B wins the wager, because “a son born to an American minister while his parents are on official duty abroad” is in the eye of the law as much an American as if born in this country, and is eligible to the Presidency of the United States.

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Mrs. S. E. E., Fredericksburg, Iowa—For some years there was no general agreement as to the time of observing “Decoration Day,” but when it became desirable to settle on a specific day to be kept every year, May 30 having been fixed upon by one or more Legislatures, it was adopted generally.

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Charles Hallas, Adrian, Minn.—1. Congress raised the salary of the President, by act of March 3, 1873, to $50,000 per annum, at the same time cutting off certain allowances made to former Presidents, aggregating several thousands a year. Before that act the salary of Congressmen of both houses had been $5,000 and mileage, but by this act they were raised to $7,500. By act of Jan. 20, 1874, the salaries of Congressmen were reduced to the old amount.

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C. J., Topeka, Kan.—It certainly is customary when ladies or gentlemen write to any one for information for them to inclose a postal stamp or postal card for the reply. It is quite as much as one should ask of a business man that he take time to give desired information. To request this much and expect him to pay postage on the reply is what is termed in the emphatic vocabulary of the slang-slinger, “cheeky.” The very fact that postage is such a trifle makes the omission to inclose it all the more inexcusable. But while postage is a mere trifle on the single letter, to a person in a public position, called on to answer thousands of questions in a year, the aggregate postage would be a serious matter were it not for the above rule.

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E. J. Bristo.—The whites of Virginia number 880,858; the colored population is 631,616. That State has one of the most healthful climates in the world. The water is excellent except in the swamp regions in the eastern part, and the soil of about two-thirds of the State is fertile except where worn out by long tobacco culture without proper use of fertilizers and alternation of crops. Virginia can produce anything that grows in the temperate zone.

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