Chapter 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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