Chapter C: Watson Brown

_Answer._—The statutes of Illinois require “that every poor person who shall be unable to earn a livelihood in consequence of any bodily infirmity, idiocy, lunacy, or other unavoidable cause, shall be supported by the father, grandfather, mother, grandmother, children, grandchildren, brothers or sisters of such person, if they, or either of them, be of sufficient ability; provided that when persons become paupers from intemperance or other bad conduct they shall not be entitled to support from any relative except parent or child.” These relatives are to be called on in the following order: Children are to be first called on for parents, if the children are of sufficient ability, and, if not, then the parents of the poor person; next brothers and sisters; next grandchildren; next grandparents. Married females cannot be required to support their poor relatives unless they have property in their own right. Similar laws exist in most if not all the other States of the Union. Not having the statutes of Colorado at hand, we must refer you to them, at the nearest justice’s office or at the county court house, for definite information as to your own State.

THE FIRST RAILROAD IN ILLINOIS.

ALTONA, Ill.

In a recent answer in Our Curiosity Shop it was asserted that “a section of the Northern Cross Railroad, from Naples to Springfield, was the first railroad in this State; also, that it was operated by mule power until 1849.” Now let me say: 1. That the road was built from Meredosia toward Jacksonville and Springfield in 1838. [It was begun in 1837, and was opened through to Springfield in 1838—Editor.] 2. A locomotive was shipped by way of the rivers to Meredosia, where it arrived and was placed on the track in November, 1838. I went from Peoria, June 15, 1839, by steamboat to Meredosia, where I saw the locomotive on the new railroad, coupled to a train of cars ready to pull out. A few years later there was a branch constructed from the bluff, four or five miles from Meredosia, to Naples. The road from Naples to Jacksonville and Springfield became the main line, and the spur to Meredosia was regarded as the branch. [The use of steam was very soon abandoned, as the road was operated at a loss, and mule power was resorted to until 1849—Editor.]

A. G. LITTLE.

DU CHAILLU, THE TRAVELER.

POSTVILLE, Iowa.

Please give a short sketch of the life of Paul B. Du Chaillu. How
is his name pronounced?

MAUD MAYO.

_Answer._.—Du Chaillu, a great African explorer, began his travels when but a boy, with his father. For many years they lived upon the Gaboon River, and in 1855, after spending some years in New York, he returned to Western Africa, where he devoted four years to travel and discovery. During this time he traveled about 8,000 miles on foot, and collected many valuable specimens in natural history. His works contain the result of his study during this and a later expedition, their chief interest and value being due to the account they contain of many hitherto strange tribes, and to his description of the gorilla and many curious apes. Du Chaillu was born in France about 1820. His name is pronounced Du Sha-yu, with accent on second syllable, and sounding a as in far.

SALE OF TOBACCO BY PRODUCER.

ORLEANS, Ind.

Has Congress changed the internal revenue laws so as to allow the
producer to sell to the consumer?

A. N. W.

_Answer._—Yes, within a narrow limit: as shown by the following communication from Mr. Milton C. Springer, the efficient and obliging Chief Deputy Internal Revenue Collector of this district, showing changes in the law relating to the sale of leaf tobacco by the producer:

“The law (see section 3.244, United States Revised Statutes, paragraph 7) defines a retail dealer in leaf tobacco as a person whose business it is to sell leaf tobacco in quantities less than an original hogshead, case, or bale; or who sells directly to consumers; or to persons other than dealers in leaf tobacco, who have paid a special tax as such, or to manufacturers of tobacco, snuff, or cigars who have paid a special tax, or to persons who purchase in original packages for export.

“Section 2 of the act of March 3, 1883, provides that on and after May 1, retail dealers in leaf tobacco shall pay two hundred and fifty dollars ($250), and thirty cents for each additional dollar on the amount of their monthly sales, in excess of the rate of five hundred dollars ($500) per annum. Provided that farmers and producers of tobacco may sell at the place of production tobacco of their own growth and raising, at retail directly to consumers to an amount not exceeding $100 annually. This proviso, as in the case of all provisos to general provisions of law, must be construed literally:

“1. The sales must be made at the place of production.

“2. They must be made strictly to consumers and to no other persons.

“3. The tobacco must be of the growth and raising of the farmer or producer who makes the sales.

“4. The sales must be of leaf tobacco in the form and condition of leaf as it is ordinarily dried and cured for the market. If the tobacco is ‘twisted by hand or reduced into a condition to be consumed, or in any manner other than the ordinary mode of drying and curing prepared for sale or consumption, even if prepared without the use of any machine or instrument and without being pressed or sweetened,’ it is liable to a tax of 8 cents a pound. (See section 14, act of March 1, 1879).

“5. If the farmer or producer sells ordinary leaf at retail directly to consumers, as hereinbefore stated, to an amount exceeding $100 annually, he becomes liable to pay a special tax as retail dealer in leaf tobacco. He also becomes liable if he violates any of the conditions of the said proviso, as herein stated.”

RAIN-GAUGE AND TEMPERATURE.

OSBORNE CITY, Kan.

1. How should a rain-gauge be set in order to register rainfall
correctly? 2. At what hours per day are the observations of
thermometer taken to get a mean temperature?

S. B. F.

_Answer._—There are different kinds of rain-gauges, and instructions for using accompany each instrument. As a rule the mouth of a rain-gauge is larger than the graduated chamber which measures the fall. For special observations different forms of gauges are used, horizontal, inclined, or vertical. For ordinary observations the mouth of the instrument should be horizontal. Instructions of the United States Signal Service direct observers to set the rain-gauge “whenever practicable, with the top of the funnel-shaped collector twelve inches above the surface of the ground, firmly fixed in a vertical position. When a position at the level of the ground cannot be found with a sufficiently clear exposure, the gauge will be placed on the top of the instrument-room or roof of the building occupied by the observer, who will measure the height above the ground and report it to the Chief Signal Officer. The measuring-rod is graduated in inches and tenths of an inch, and the proportion between the cylinder and funnel is as ten to one, so that ten inches upon the rod correspond to one inch of actual rainfall.” “Snow will be melted and measured, and reported in the same manner as rain. If for any reason it cannot be melted, the depth will be measured, and ten inches of snow reported as one inch of rainfall.” There is a great difference in measure of rain at several elevations above the ground, not wholly explainable. Professor Phillips found the fall of rain at York, England, for the year 1833-34 to be 14.16 inches at 213 feet from the ground; 19.85 inches at 44 feet; and 25.71 on the ground. Daily mean relative humidity observations, according to the United States Signal Service, are obtained by dividing 7 a. m., 2 p. m., and 9 p. m. observations by three; the monthly means by dividing the sum of the daily means by the number of the days in the month. 2. The daily mean temperature is obtained by dividing the sum of the 7 a. m., 2 p. m., and twice the 9 p. m. observations by four.

When a rain-gauge is not at hand, a perfectly cylindrical pan or tub may be used to measure the rainfall, but it should be elevated at least a foot above the level lawn or roof.

NEAREST APPROACH TO THE POLE.

CHICAGO, Ill.

What is the nearest that any explorer has got to the north pole?

SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—The nearest approach to the north pole, 83 degrees 20 minutes 26 seconds was made May 12, 1876, by a sledge party sent off from one of the two vessels of the Nares expedition, fitted out by the British Government. The point is almost exactly half the distance from Chicago to New York City by the shortest railroad route.

OUR BROAD REPUBLIC.

GARDEN CITY, Kan.

Has the United States any territory outside of the States and
Western Territories, Alaska, and District of Columbia?

E. C. W.

_Answer._—No; unless this government should conclude to reduce to possession the lands discovered in the Arctic and Antarctic regions by Dr. Kane, Dr. Hayes, Commodore Wilkes, and other American explorers. Several of these bold discoverers planted the American flag in the ice of those inhospitable lands and gave names to coasts and islands of large extent, so situated that if “Uncle Sam” insists on his title he can now boast, with “John Bull,” that the sun never sets on his possessions.

JOHN RUSKIN’S ST. GEORGE’S COMPANY.

PETOSKEY, Mich.

Be kind enough to give a sketch of the life of John Ruskin. Did he
not attempt to found a society or colony on a novel plan and fail
of success?

E. I. L.

_Answer._—John Ruskin, the eminent English art critic, commenced the publication, in 1871, of a monthly periodical, entitled _Fors Clavigera_, addressed particularly to workingmen, and urging them to join him in forming an organization to be known as “St. George’s Company,” for the purpose of developing among the working classes a greater love of the beautiful and raising the common standard of architecture and home surroundings in rural life. He protested against “the tyranny and defilement of machinery” in country life. He set apart about $35,000 (£7,000), the tenth of his private fortune, to promote the success of this society, of which he was chosen Grand Master. The workingmen responded but poorly to all his appeals, and the undertaking is regarded as a failure. A sketch of Ruskin’s life is contained in Our Curiosity Shop of 1880, page 85.

AN EXCEPTIONAL VICE PRESIDENT.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.

What would be done in case of the failure of the people to elect a
Vice President?

A POSSIBLE CANDIDATE.

_Answer._—Just what was done in the only instance since the adoption of the twelfth amendment to the Constitution when such a failure has occurred. In 1836, no one having received a majority of the votes cast for Vice President, Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, was chosen by the United States Senate, he being one of the highest on the list of persons voted for by the people.

CENTRAL AMERICA.

BLALOCK, Ore.

1. What is the present political condition of Central America? 2.
Are the States united under one federal government, or are they
independent of each other?

W. MARIMER.

_Answer._—After much civil strife the people are becoming accustomed to republican forms of government, and educational and commercial advantages are increasing; though it must be said that the progress is not rapid. At present the country is quiet. 2. Until 1839 the republics of Central America were united into a confederation; but now each is an independent republic, governed by a president and at least one legislative body, chosen by universal suffrage. As a rule the president is elected for four years, but few have held this office for an entire term. These States consist of Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, San Salvador, and Honduras.

EXPLORERS OE THE SOUTHWEST.

WICHITA, Kan.

Our Curiosity Shop has told us of the first American explorers who
crossed the Northern part of the United States, now please tell us
who were the first Americans to cross the continent on or about the
line of the Union Pacific Railroad, or south of that? Name some
work on the explorers of the Southwest that is instructive and
reliable, but not expensive.

A SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—It was long believed, and is still generally supposed, that, after Lewis and Clarke, General John C. Fremont, then a Captain of Engineers in the United States Army, with a small force, guided by the famous Kit Carson, was the first explorer who crossed the continent within the present boundaries of the United States. This he did in 1843, following much of the way the route afterward adopted by the Union and Central Pacific Railroads. However, Mr. William E. Curtis, in his intensely interesting little book entitled “A Summer Scamper Along the Old Santa Fe Trail, and Through the Gorges to Zion,” shows conclusively that, while the world is indebted to Fremont for the first maps and published descriptions of the country between Central Colorado and the California coast, hunters and trappers had wound their way through these savage wilds years before him, and that as early as Jan. 20, 1824, a bold adventurer by the name of Sylvester Pattie, a Virginian, and his son, with a party of five other men, left the Missouri River in company with a trading party for Santa Fe, and some three years later groped his way down the Gila River into California; where he visited San Francisco, then an insignificant Mexican trading post and Jesuit mission station. Arrested as spies by the jealous Mexicans, and imprisoned, it was some time before these daring adventurers obtained their release and secured a passage from San Diego to Vera Cruz, whence they got back to the United States. “The Summer Scamper” and another book by the same author, “Children of the Sun,” both by The Inter Ocean Publishing Company, are full of spirited sketches of the early explorers of the Southwest, graphic descriptions of the scenery of this wonderful region, and observations on its natural resources and the progress of the civilization which is invading it from all directions.

LIVINGSTONE, THE EXPLORER.

Albia, Iowa.

Please give a brief account of Dr. Livingstone’s life and
explorations.

J. H. ROWLES.

_Answer._—David Livingstone was a Scotchman, born in Lanarkshire in 1817, and when a boy worked in a cotton factory. In 1840 he landed in Port Natal, Africa, as a medical missionary of the London Missionary Society, and became an associate of the Rev. Robert Moffat, whose daughter he afterward married. For sixteen years he labored earnestly in the mission work, and during that time discovered Lake Ngami (1849), and crossed the continent from the Zambesi to Loando, a journey which occupied eighteen months. While in England, in 1857, Livingstone published his “Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa.” Returning to Africa he devoted himself to exploration, and in 1865 resolved to find the source of the Nile. During the remainder of his life he was often not heard from for months, and it was during one of these protracted absences that Mr. Stanley began his travels to search for him, and found him in great destitution at Ujiji. Dr. Livingstone died while exploring the river system of the Chambeze in the belief that these were the head waters of the Nile, having reached Ulala, beyond Lake Bemba, in 1873. In 1874 his body was interred in Westminster Abbey.

SUBDIVISIONS OF GOVERNMENT SECTIONS.

VENTURA, Mich.

1. In subdividing a township into sections, to what part of the
township do the fractional sections belong? 2. Sections sometimes
overrun or fall short in the subdivision of quarter sections into
“forties” by the County Surveyor: Is this overplus or deficit
divided equally among the “forties,” or is it all thrown into one
side?

CHARLES OWENS.

_Answer._—1. The sections on the northern and western boundaries of a township are fractional—i. e., they do not contain exactly 640 acres. The small fragments of these fractional sections are called “lots,” and they are numbered from 1 upward in each section. 2. The course that surveyors are directed by the regulations of the General Land Office to pursue in the subdivision of sections is to run straight lines from the quarter section corners established by the United States survey to the opposite corresponding corners, and the point of intersection of lines so run will be the common corner to the several quarter sections, or, in other words, the legal center of the section. In the subdivision of fractional sections, where no opposite corresponding corners have been or can be fixed, the subdivision lines should be ascertained by running from the established corners due north, south, east, or west lines, as the case may be, to the water-course, Indian boundary line, or other external boundary of such fractional section. Where the lines marked in the field by the United States Deputy Surveyors are not due north and south or east and west lines, “mean courses” must be adopted. Where there is no opposite section line the subdivision line must be run parallel to the section line that is marked. The purpose is to divide the overplus or deficit arising from the unavoidable irregularities and errors of the United States survey as nearly equal as possible among the minor subdivisions of the section.

TEA, COFFEE, AND WHISKY.

When and by whom were tea, coffee, and whisky first used as a
beverage?

H. G. CLAYTON.

_Answer._—The use of tea among the Chinese, from whom it has extended to all parts of the world, cannot be traced with certainty further back than to 350 A. D., or thereabouts. This use did not become general in China until about A. D. 800. It was first introduced into Europe by the Dutch in 1610. How long coffee has been used in Arabia, its native country, is not certainly known. It was introduced into Egypt in the sixteenth century. The first coffee house in Europe was established in Constantinople in 1551. The first person to make it known to Western Europe seems to have been Leonhard Rauwolf, a German physician, a great traveler. Once introduced, the use of this delightful beverage extended rapidly. Coffee houses sprung up in all the chief cities. The first one in London was opened by a Greek in Newman’s court, Cornhill, in 1652; the first one in France was opened in Marseilles in 1671; the first one in Paris in 1672. The earliest manufacture of whisky is generally referred to the middle of the sixteenth century, but there are some reasons for believing that it had an earlier origin. It was made by the Gaels from barley, which still yields the best quality, and was called by them _uisge beatha_, later _usque baugh_, _the water of life_—of which first word “whisky” is a corruption.

CONVICT LABOR.

RUTLAND, Ill.

If convicts can make a better article than those who are not
convicts, why should other mechanics complain? At least, why
shouldn’t the public be permitted to utilize the labor of convicts
for its own good?

WM. MARSHALL.

_Answer._—No doubt it is sound policy to make use of convict labor for the public good and the improvement of the criminals themselves, but the real question is, How is this to be done? Manufacturers and honest mechanics complain that the present system of hiring out convicts to contractors puts the labor of the untaxed criminals, housed at the expense of the State, without families to support, and free from all social and civil burdens, in unfair competition with the labor or industrial products of honest workmen who have families to maintain, taxes to pay, and social and civil duties to perform. Whether the contract system can be so adjusted as to remove any just ground of complaint of the nature here pointed out is a question that is eliciting the earnest study of some of our most profound social and political economists. We cannot discuss it in this place, nor have we any dictum to proclaim. It must be said for the system that it is the only one, with few, if any, exceptions, that has rendered American penitentiaries self-sustaining.

MUSHROOM GARDENING.

CHICAGO, Ill.

Tell us how to raise mushrooms. Are they produced from seed or not?

W.

_Answer._—The mushroom spawn is sold in bricks, and should be used in the following manner: Procure a quantity of good horse dung and make it into a heap, which must be frequently turned for a fortnight, until the rankness has disappeared. Then build it into beds twelve inches in height and four feet wide, under a shed ten feet wide. This will allow room for a walk through the center of the shed. Pack the dung tightly, and cover it with long straw for ten days, when the straw must be removed and an inch of fine loam spread upon the beds. On this plant the spawn, which has been broken into pieces the size of a walnut, in rows six inches apart, and cover with another inch of mold, over which spread the straw. When the mold is too dry sprinkle it with tepid water. In five or six weeks the young mushrooms should appear.

BATTLE OF THE PYRAMIDS.

RAVANNA, Mo.

I have a picture entitled “The Battle of the Pyramids.” Where,
when, and by whom was that battle fought?