Chapter IV: Part 4

"An old soldier trembling!" scoffed Charles. "Come, count, let us see you open the door."

"Sire," answered the count, falling back a step, "let your majesty command me to face the cannon of the Germans or the Danes, and I will obey unflinchingly. But here you are asking me to defy all hell!"

The king wrenched the key from the custodian's shaking hand.

"I see clearly," he observed contemptuously, "that this concerns myself alone."

And before any of his attendants could prevent him he flung the heavy oaken door wide, and crossed the threshold, repeating the customary "With God's help!"

His three attendants, impelled by a curiosity stronger than their fear, and ashamed, perhaps, to abandon their sovereign, followed him.

The great hall blazed with the light of myriad torches. Heavy draperies replaced the ancient tapestries on the walls with their woven figures.

Ranged along both sides of the apartment in the same order as of yore hung the flags of Denmark, Germany, and the country of the Muscovite--trophies taken in war by the soldiers of Gustavus Adolphus. But the Swedish flags intermingled with the long array were swathed in funereal crape.

An immense concourse swarmed upon the serried rows of benches opposite the throne. The members of the four Estates, garbed in black, were there, each in his allotted place. And this multitude of gleaming visages against the somber background so dazzled the eye that not one of the four beholders could distinguish a familiar face among the throng. So is it with the actor who fails to single out, in the confused mass of the crowded audience, one person he knows.

On the raised dais of the throne, from which the king was wont to harangue the assembly, they saw a bleeding corpse invested with the royal insignia.

At the right of this gruesome specter, crown on head, scepter in hand, stood a child. At the left, an aged man, or fantom shade, leaned for support against the throne. From his shoulders trailed the ceremonial mantle worn by the ancient administrators of Sweden before Wasa made of the government a monarchy.

Grave-visaged, austere men in flowing robes of black, evidently holding the office of judges, were gathered near the throne around a table littered with folios and parchments. Between the dais and the assembled Estates the four spectators beheld an executioner's block, funereally draped, and by its side the ax.

Of all that vast concourse of specters no single shade gave sign that the presence of Charles and the three persons who accompanied him had been observed. A confused murmur, in which the ear failed to detect any articulate sound, greeted their entrance.

Presently the oldest of the black-gowned judges--he who seemed to fulfil the functions of president of the tribunal--rose and struck thrice with his palm upon the open folio that lay before him.

A profound hush fell instantly upon the hall. Then, through the doorway facing that which Charles had just opened, came a band of young men of prepossessing appearance, with their arms bound behind their backs. They bore themselves well, their heads raised high, their mien unabashed. Behind them stalked a robust figure, clad in a brown leather jerkin, holding the ends of the ropes which confined their hands.

The foremost of the youths, who seemed to be their leader, halted before the funereal block, and surveyed it with superb disdain. A convulsive shudder swept over the crowned cadaver at sight of the youth, and from the gaping wound the crimson blood welled afresh.

The prisoner knelt beside the block, and bent his head above it; the ax flashed aloft, and descended with a resounding crash. A sanguine river gushed from the headless trunk, losing itself in that other bloody stream; the head bounded forward, rolling across the reddened floor to the living monarch's feet, and drenched them with its uncontrolled flow.

Up to that moment surprise had held Charles mute, but this horrible spectacle restored his power of speech. Striding forward to the dais, he boldly addressed the aged administrator, repeating the prescribed formula:

"If thou art of God, speak; if thou be of that Other, leave us in peace."

In solemn tones, slowly, the fantom spoke:

"Charles! King! Not in thy reign shall his blood flow [here the voice grew less distinct] but in the reign of thy fifth successor. Wo, wo, wo to the blood of Wasa!"

As he ceased speaking the spectral forms who had participated in this astounding vision faded. In a moment they were less than painted shadows; soon they were gone; the fantastic flaming torches flickered and died, and only the light from the tapers which his attendants carried remained to illuminate the ancient mural tapestries, still faintly agitated by some ghostly breeze.

For a space there lingered in the air a murmur, melodious withal, which one of the four witnesses has compared to the rustling of the wind among the leaves, and another to the breaking of harp-strings when the harp is being tuned. But all were agreed as to the duration of the vision.

The black draperies, the severed head, the blood-stains on the flooring, all vanished as had the specters; only upon the king's slipper a crimson stain endured, which must have served him as a reminder of the night's strange happenings, had they not been too indelibly impressed upon his memory ever to be effaced.

Regaining his study, the king ordered the foregoing narrative set forth in a written statement, which he signed, as did also the three attendants who had witnessed the apparition with him.

Every precaution was taken to prevent the contents of the document from becoming public, but the marvel was none the less divulged in some unknown manner, and that during the lifetime of Charles XI. The document is still in existence, and its authenticity has remained undisputed. Its closing sentences are remarkable.

"And if that which I have narrated," says the king, "be not the exact truth, I renounce all hope of that better life which I have perchance merited by some good deeds, and above all by my zeal for the welfare of my people and the defense of the religion of my ancestors."

* * * * *

If one recalls the circumstances attendant upon the death of Gustavus III, and the manner of judgment passed upon his assassin, Ankerstroem, one cannot fail to note the analogy between these and the occurrences detailed in the singular prophecy.

Ankerstroem figures as the youth beheaded in the presence of the assembled Estates, the crowned and bleeding cadaver represents his victim Gustavus III, the child, his son and successor Gustavus Adolphus IV. And finally, in the aged administrator, one recognizes the Duke of Sudermania, the uncle of Gustavus Adolphus IV, who was first appointed regent, and ultimately attained to the kingship, after the dethronement of his nephew.

OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM.

The Story of How Its Author Received His Inspiration, Where
He Wrote the Famous Poem, and How Various
Editors Have Altered Its Phraseology.

Francis Scott Key wrote only one poem that entitled him to a lasting reputation, but so firmly has that one poem gripped the patriotic consciousness of the American people that its fame is assured as long as the nation continues.

Key was born in Maryland, August 9, 1780. He practised law at Frederick, Maryland, in 1801, but he subsequently removed to Washington, where he became district attorney for the District of Columbia.

When the British ascended Chesapeake Bay, in 1814, and captured Washington, General Ross and Admiral Cockburn set up headquarters in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, at the home of Dr. William Beanes, one of Key's friends. Later, Dr. Beanes was made prisoner by the British. Interesting himself in securing the release of his friend, Key planned to exchange for him a British prisoner in the hands of the Americans. President Madison approved the exchange, and directed John S. Skinner, agent for the exchange of prisoners, to accompany Key to the British commander.

General Ross consented to the exchange. He ordered, however, that Key and Skinner be detained until after the approaching attack on Baltimore. They had gone from Baltimore out to the British fleet in a vessel provided for them by order of President Madison. Now they were transferred to the British frigate Surprise, commanded by Admiral Cockburn's son, but soon afterward they were permitted to return, under guard, to their own vessel, whence they witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry.

By the glare of guns they could see the flag flying over the fort during the night, but before morning the firing ceased, and the two men passed a period of suspense, waiting for dawn, to see whether or not the attack had failed.

When Key discovered that the flag was still there his feelings found vent in verse. On the back of a letter he jotted down in the rough "The Star-Spangled Banner."

On his return to Baltimore, Key revised the poem and gave it to Captain Benjamin Eades, of the Twenty-Seventh Baltimore Regiment, who had it printed. Taking a copy from the press, Eades went to the tavern next to the Holiday Street Theater--a gathering-place for actors and their congenial acquaintances. Mr. Key had directed that the words be sung to the air, "Anacreon in Heaven," composed in England by John Stafford Smith, between 1770 and 1775. The verses were first read aloud to the assembled crowd, and then Ferdinand Durang stepped upon a chair and sang them.

Key died in Baltimore, January 11, 1843. James Lick bequeathed sixty thousand dollars for a monument to his memory. This noble memorial, the work of W.W. Story, stands in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. It is fifty-one feet high. Under a double arch is a seated figure of Key in bronze, while above all is a bronze figure of America, with an unfolded flag.

As Key wrote it, the poem varies in several lines from the versions that are sung to-day. We reprint verbatim a copy written out by Key himself for James Maher, gardener of the White House. It may be worth while to preface it with certain explanations of his phraseology:

He was describing an actual situation, and he appears to have addressed the lines directly to his companion, Mr. Skinner. The smoke of battle explains "the clouds of the fight." The line, "This blood has washed out his foul footstep's pollution," modified by later editors, was his answer to the boasts of a British officer, who declared before the bombardment that the fort would quickly be reduced.

The change of "on" to "o'er" in the common versions of the phrase "now shines on the stream" is the result of bungling editing. Key was picturing the reflection of the flag on the water.

In the author's version, here given, the words that have been changed by compilers are italicized. The references by numerals indicate the variations of other editions.

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER.

BY FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.

Oh! say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming.
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the _clouds of the
fight_,[1]
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare--the bombs bursting in air--
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On that shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, _half_[2] conceals, _half_[2] discloses;
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines _on_[3] the stream.
'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner--oh, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is the _foe that_[4] so vauntingly swore
_That_[5] the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country _should_[6] leave us no more?
_This_[7] blood has washed out _his_[8] foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave.
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh, thus be it ever! when _freemen_[9] shall stand
Between _their_[10] loved homes and the war's desolation.
Blest with victory and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, "In God is our trust."
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

For Mr. Jas. Maher, of Washington City, from F.S. Key. Washington, June 7, 1842.

[Footnote 1: "Perilous fight."--Griswold--Dana. Common version.]

[Footnote 2: "Now."--Dana.]

[Footnote 3: "O'er."--Several versions.]

[Footnote 4: "Band who."--Griswold--Dana.]

[Footnote 5: "Mid."--Griswold--Dana.]

[Footnote 6: "They'd."--Griswold.]

[Footnote 7: "Their."--Griswold--Dana. Common version.]

[Footnote 8: "Their."--Griswold--Dana. Common version.]

[Footnote 9: "Freeman."--Griswold.]

[Footnote 10: "Our."--Griswold--Dana. Common version.]

FROM THE COUNTRY PRESS.

Samples of the Journalistic Fodder Which Is Handed Out for Daily
Consumption Among the Children of Nature Who Inhabit Some of the
Quiet Places in the Tall Timbers.

'LIGE GOUDY'S CORN.

'Lige Goudy, a well-known and popular passenger engineer, who lives at Seymour, is raising some corn this year. A few days ago a gentleman called at Mr. Goudy's house to see him, and was informed that he had gone out to look at his corn.

The gentleman went down to the field, which he found grown over with weeds of a gigantic growth, with a sickly looking stalk of corn peeping forth here and there. The gentleman looked across the field, but could not see the proprietor thereof.

Finally the man climbed upon the fence and shouted:

"Oh, 'Lige!"

To his surprise, a reply came from among the weeds near by, in the familiar voice of Mr. Goudy.

The gentleman took a second look, but could not quite locate 'Lige, and after a moment's hesitation said:

"Shake a weed, so I can tell where you are!"--_Exchange._

WITH COMPLIMENTS TO FAY.

The _Bulletin_ is in receipt of a copy of the Fay _Observer_. Notwithstanding the fact that it has the appearance of being printed on a cider-mill with three-penny nails for type, it is a credit to the town.--_Geary (Oklahoma) Bulletin._

HABITS OF THE CODFISH.

A correspondent of the _Evening Post_ says that the codfish frequents "the table-lands of the sea." The codfish no doubt does this to secure as nearly as possible a dry, bracing atmosphere. This pure air of the submarine table-lands gives to the codfish that breadth of chest and depth of lungs which we have always noticed. The glad, free smile so characteristic of the codfish is largely attributed to the exhilaration of this oceanic altitoodleum.

The correspondent further says that "the cod subsists largely on the sea cherry." Those who have not had the pleasure of seeing the codfish climb the sea cherry tree in search of food, or clubbing the fruit from the heavily laden branches with chunks of coral, have missed a very fine sight.

The codfish, when at home rambling through the submarine forests, does not wear his vest unbuttoned, as he does while loafing around the grocery stores of the United States.--_Laramie (Wyoming) Boomerang._

THE PLACIDITY OF BOSWELL.

G.B. Boswell, while trying to ride his young mule after plowing him all day, was thrown to the ground. In the accident Mr. Boswell caught his leg over the hamestick and tore his new overalls, which he paid forty-two cents for. We are glad to know that Mr. Boswell was not hurt except that he struck the funny bone of his elbow and his mule got away, which worried him, and had it not been for his Christian disposition he would probably have been a sinner in the sight of God.--_Wilson (North Carolina) Times._

IBSEN IN NEVADA.

Ibsen's Norwegian play of "Ghosts," with one setting of scenery, no music, and three knocks with a club on the floor to raise the curtain, was presented last evening.

The play is certainly a moral hair-raiser, and the stuffing is knocked out of the decalogue at every turn.

_Mrs. Alving_, the leading lady, who keeps her chin high in the air, has married a moral monstrosity in the shape of a spavined rake, and hides it from the world. She wears a pleasant smile and gives society the glad hand, and finally lets go all holds when her husband gets gay with the hired girl, and gives an old tar three hundred plunks to marry her and stand the responsibility for the expected population.

_Oswald_, the mother's only boy, is sent to Paris to paint views for marines, and takes kindly to the gay life of the capital, where the joy of living is the rage and families are reared in a section where a printer running a job office solely on marriage certificates would hit the poor-house with a dull thud.

_Regena_, the result of _Mr. Alving's_ attentions to the hired girl, also works in the family, and falls in love with the painter-boy on his return from Paris. They vote country life too slow, and plan to go to Paris and start a family. The doting mother gives her consent, and _Pastor Menders_, who is throwing fits all through the play, has a spasm.

The boy, on being informed that the girl of his choice is his half-sister, throws another, his mama having also thrown a few in the other act.

_Engstrand_, who runs a sort of sailors' and soldiers' canteen, sets fire to an orphanage, and the boy, who has inherited a sort of mayonnaise-dressing brain from his awful dad, tears about the stage a spell, breaks some furniture, and upsets the wine. He finally takes rough-on-rats, and dies a gibbering idiot, with his mother slobbering over him and trying to figure out in her own mind that he was merely drunk and disorderly.

As a sermon on the law of heredity the play is great, but after seeing it we are glad to announce that Haverly's Minstrels will relieve the Ibsen gloom on November 6--next Monday night.--_Carson (Nevada) Appeal._

PROFESSIONAL OBITUARY.

When an editor dies in Kansas, this is the way they write the obituary: "The pen is silent; the scissors have been laid away to rust; the stillness of death pervades the very atmosphere where once the hoarse voice of the devil yelling 'copy' or 'what the hell's this word?' was wont to resound. The paste-pot has soured on the what-not; the cockroach is eating the composition off the roller, and the bluebottle fly is dying in the rich folds of the printer's towel."--_Exchange._

THE WIDOW'S GRATITUDE.

A newly made widow of Geary County sent this card of thanks to the _Republic_ for publication:

"I desire to thank my friends and neighbors most heartily in this manner for the united aid and cooperation during the illness and death of my late husband, who escaped from me by the hand of death on Friday last while eating breakfast. To the friends and all who contributed so willingly toward making the last moments and funeral of my husband a success I desire to remember most kindly, hoping these few lines will find them enjoying the same blessing. I have a good milch cow and roan gelding horse, five years old, which I will sell cheap. 'God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps on the sea, and rides upon the storm'; also a black-and-white shote, very low."--_Junction City (Kansas) Republic._

ALL OFF.

A Card from Miss Sallie McCants.--To Whom it May Concern: The engagement which existed between Miss Sallie McCants and R.N. Jordan, of Cottageville, has been mutually dissolved, it being their aim to disappoint those who reported the news of their marriage. This will allow anxious mothers with marriageable daughters the chance of opening their doors again to this esteemed young man. Respectfully, S. McCants.--_Walterboro (South Carolina) Press and Standard._

AN AGGRIEVED SUBSCRIBER.

The following letter was received recently:

"DEAR SIR: I hereby offer my resignashun as a subscribber to your papier, it being a pamphlet of such small konsequenc as not to benefit my family by takin it. What you need in your shete is branes & some one to russel up news and rite edytorials on live topics. No menshun has bin made in your shete of me butcherin a polen china pig weighin 369 pounds or the gapes in the chickens out this way. You ignor the fact that i bot a bran new bob sled and that I traded my blind mule and say nothin about Hi Simpkins jersey calf breaking his two front legs fallin in a well. 2 important chiverees have bin utterly ignored by your shete & a 3 column obitchury notice writ by me on the death of grandpa Henery was left out of your shete to say nothin of the alfabetical poem beginning 'A is for And and also for Ark,' writ by me darter. This is the reason why your paper is so unpopular here. If you don't want edytorials from this place and ain't goin to put up no news in your shete we don't want said shete.

"P.S.--If you print obitchury in your next i may sine again fur yure shete."--_Holdenville (Indian Territory) Tribune._

THE PROFESSION OF THE FOOL.

The Term Which Is Now Used to Describe Persons Who Are Lacking in Mental
Capacity Once Was the Acknowledged Title of Men of Extraordinary
Wit and Understanding.

Every man "in his time plays many parts," and it often has happened that the wise man's fate has required him to play the fool. In our day, the word "fool" is used to describe a person who is wanting in judgment or general mental capacity, and when we see a representation of an old-time fool, wearing his fool's cap and bells, we are likely to regard the original as having had the characteristics of a modern circus clown.

The fact, however, is that the professional fool of two centuries ago was an altogether different sort of person. He held his position by reason of his ready wit, which, in truth, was often wisdom in disguise. Until the end of the seventeenth century, jesters, or fools, as they were usually called, were in the retinue of every king and princeling.

That the private fool existed even as late as the eighteenth century is proved by Swift's epitaph on Dicky Pearce, but the last licensed fool of England was Armstrong, court jester to James I and Charles I, who died in 1672. He lost his office and was banished from court for a too free play of wit against Archbishop Laud.

L'Angely, his contemporary, and the last titled fool in France, was court fool to Louis XIII, and died in 1679. He was a man of gentle birth, but very poor. His biting, caustic wit, however, was so dreaded by the courtiers that he grew rich from the sums which they paid him to purchase immunity from his satire.

Ancient Greece had a class of professed fools similar to those of the Middle Ages. The Romans went a step farther and made human monstrosities of their slaves--hideous things to amuse by grotesque forms and antics their cruel masters.

The fool's business, primarily, was to amuse, but owing to the fact that he dared to tell the truth, much of an instructive nature was gathered from him by his master.

His dress varied considerably in different periods; and on his shaven head was a covering that resembled a monk's cowl, and crested with a cock's comb or with asses' ears. He wore motley, and little bells hung from various parts of his attire. He carried always a bauble, or short staff, bearing a grotesque head, sometimes the counterpart of his own.

In England, the names and sallies of many of the court jesters have been recorded, while literature makes frequent reference to them.

Prominent in the list is Will Sommers, who was court jester to Henry VIII. His effigy is at Hampton Court, and a tavern in Old Fish Street, London, once bore his name. He died in 1560.

John Heywood, who was jester to Queen Mary, was the author of numerous dramatic works and poems, and was a highly educated man.

Tarleton, famous as a clown, cannot well be omitted from the list, although he was not a licensed jester. He lived during Elizabeth's reign, but was not attached to the court nor to any nobleman. A book of his jests was published in 1611, twenty-three years after his death.

The identity of "Will," referred to as "my lord of Leicester's jesting player," never has been satisfactorily explained. Some authorities are inclined to believe that he was Will Shakespeare himself.

In France, the fantastic figure in motley lights up many dark and tragic pages of history. Triboulet, who was jester to Louis XII and Francis I, was the hero of Hugo's "Le Roi S'amuse," of Verdi's opera "Rigoletto," and appears in Rabelais' romance. His portrait was painted by Licinio, the rival of Titian.

Chicot, who was the friend as well as the jester of Henri III, has been clearly delineated by Dumas, pere, in his "Dame de Monsoreau."

Finally, there is Yorick. "Alas! poor Yorick"--who was jester at the Court of Denmark, and immortalized by Shakespeare as "a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy."

The word "fool" ceases to be a term of reproach when this array of cheery fun-makers is considered, all of them bearing the title proudly and as an honor.

The Red Man Eloquent.

Remarkable Speech Delivered in 1842 by Colonel Cobb, Head Mingo of the
Choctaws East of the Mississippi, When the Federal Government
Was Forcing the Tribe Westward.

The American Indian was a natural orator. His inspiration
came straight from the life of the forest and plain.
Figurative language adorned his every-day speech, which was
full of allusions to sun, moon, stars, the thunder, the
waterfall. Exaggeration, of course, was to be expected of
him, and most of the specimens of Indian eloquence that have
been translated and preserved are marred by hyperbole. There
remains, however, at least one bit of native American
eloquence deserving of recognition as equal to the best of
its kind in all nations, and that is the speech delivered in
1842 by Colonel Cobb, Head Mingo of the Choctaws east of the
Mississippi, in reply to the agent of the United States.

The Choctaws formerly inhabited the lands included in what
is now central and southern Mississippi and western Alabama.
They were an active nation, subsisting mainly by
agriculture. Because they flattened the foreheads of their
children, the French called them Flatheads. They
acknowledged the sovereignty of the United States in 1786,
and in the War of 1812 and the Creek War they served the
government. In 1830 they ceded the last of their lands to
the government, and were moved during the next fifteen years
to the Indian Territory, where they developed a form of
constitutional self-rule which has been completely done away
with only during the present year.

The removal of the Choctaws from their original home was
accomplished gradually, but, as Colonel Cobb's speech
indicates, not without friction. J.J. McRae, to whom Colonel
Cobb addressed himself, had been authorized to enroll the
Choctaws remaining east of the Mississippi and transport
them to their new home. Standing by Mr. McRae's side was
William Tyler, of Virginia, member of the Choctaw
commission, and brother of John Tyler, the then President of
the United States. Colonel Cobb, in his closing sentence,
referred to William Tyler.

One thousand Choctaws were assembled at Hopahka. Mr. McRae
explained to them that their "council fires could be no more
kindled here," that "their warriors could have no field for
their glory, and their spirits would decay within them."
But, he said, if they would "take the hand of their great
father, the President, which was now offered to them to lead
them to their Western home, then would their hopes be
higher, their destinies brighter." Colonel Cobb's reply
would be hard to excel in beauty of diction, comprehensive
brevity, and elevation of sentiment.

Brother--We have heard you talk as from the lips of our father, the great white chief at Washington, and my people have called upon me to speak to you. The red man has no books, and when he wishes to make known his views, like his fathers before him, he speaks from his mouth. He is afraid of writing. When he speaks he knows what he says; the Great Spirit hears him. Writing is the invention of the pale faces; it gives birth to error and to feuds. The Great Spirit talks--we hear him in the thunder--in the rushing winds and the mighty waters--but he never writes.

Brother--When you were young we were strong; we fought by your side; but our arms are now broken. You have grown large. My people have become small.

Brother--My voice is weak, you can scarcely hear me; it is not the shout of a warrior, but the wail of an infant. I have lost it in mourning over the misfortunes of my people. These are their graves, and in those aged pines you hear the ghosts of the departed. Their ashes are here, and we have been left to protect them. Our warriors are nearly all gone to the far country West; but here are the resting-places of our dead. Shall we go, too, and give their bones to the wolves?

Brother--Two sleeps have passed since we heard you talk. We have thought upon it. You ask us to leave our country, and tell us it is our father's wish. We would not desire to displease our father. We respect him, and you his child. But the Choctaw always thinks. We want time to answer.

Brother--Our hearts are full. Twelve winters ago our chiefs sold our country. Every warrior that you see here was opposed to the treaty. If the dead could have been counted, it could never have been made; but alas, though they stood around, they could not be seen or heard. Their tears came in the rain-drops and their voices in the wailing wind, but the pale faces knew it not, and our land was taken away.

Brother--We do not now complain. The Choctaw suffers, but he never weeps. You have the strong arm and we cannot resist. But the pale face worships the Great Spirit. So does the red man. The Great Spirit loves truth. When you took our country, you promised us land. There is your promise in the book. Twelve times have the trees dropped their leaves, and yet we have received no land. Our houses have been taken from us. The white man's plow turns up the bones of our fathers. We dare not kindle our fires; and yet you said we might remain, and you would give us land.

Brother--Is this _truth_? But we believe now our great father knows our condition; he will listen to us. We are as mourning orphans in our country; but our father will take us by the hand. When he fulfils his promise, we will answer his talk. He means well. We know it. But we cannot think now. Grief has made children of us. When our business is settled we shall be men again, and talk to our great father about what he has proposed.

Brother--You stand in the moccasins of the great chief, you speak the words of a mighty nation, and your talk is long. My people are small; their shadow scarcely reaches to your knee; they are scattered and gone; when I shout I hear my voice in the depths of the woods, but no answering shout comes back. My words, therefore, are few. I have nothing more to say, but I ask you to tell what I have said to the tall chief of the pale faces, whose brother stands by your side.

OTHER WAYS OF SAYING "HOWDY DO?"

Various Nations Have Different Methods of Propounding This Time-Honored
Query, But All Mean Pretty Much the Same Thing.

"How do you do?" That's English and American.

"How do you carry yourself?" That's French.

"How do you stand?" That's Italian.

"How goes it with you?" That's German.

"How do you fare?" That's Dutch.

"How can you?" That's Swedish.

"How do you perspire?" That's the Egyptian version.

"How is your stomach? Have you eaten your rice?" That's the rather medical way in which the Chinese people express their morning salutation.

"How do you have yourself?" That's Polish.

"How do you live on?" That's Russian.

"May thy shadow never be less." That's Persian.

And all mean much the same thing--the natural expression of sympathy and friendly curiosity when one human being meets another.

Little Glimpses of the 19th Century.

The Great Events in the History of the Last One Hundred Years, Assembled
so as to Present a Nutshell Record.

[_Continued from page 340._]

FIFTH DECADE.

1841

William Henry Harrison died April 4, one month after his inauguration as President of the United States, and John Tyler, the Vice-President, succeeded him. Harrison's Cabinet, excepting Daniel Webster, resigned soon after Tyler assumed office, owing to his veto of measures by which the Whigs tried to revive the National Bank. Seminole War, the most protracted and costly of all Indian wars, ended after an expenditure of ten million dollars. University of Michigan founded. Brook Farm communistic experiment begun.

The "opium war" between Great Britain and China continued during intervals separated by periods of negotiation. The British took Hong-Kong, silenced the Bogue forts, destroyed a Chinese flotilla at Canton, took that city, exacted six million dollars' indemnity from local authorities, and forced the reopening of trade there. British fleet, convoying troops and moving northward, captured successively Amoy, Chusan, Chinhai, and Wingpo. In Afghanistan (November 2), British residents and followers at Kabul were massacred, and British troops outside the city were driven off and forced to retreat toward Jelalabad.

Richard Cobden came into prominence in the British Parliament as a free trader, and the struggle over the Corn Laws began. Lord Melbourne's ministry resigned after an unsuccessful appeal to the country, and Sir Robert Peel formed a new cabinet. _Punch_, the humorous weekly, founded. Sir David Wilkie, English artist; Sir Astley Cooper, English surgeon; and Theodore Hook, English humorist, died.

=POPULATION--Washington, D.C., 23,364; New York (including boroughs now forming Greater New York), 391,114; New York (Manhattan), 312,710; London (Metropolitan District, census 1841), 1,873,676; London (old city), 125,009; United States, 17,017,723; Great Britain and Ireland (census 1841), 27,019,558.=

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year, except that William Henry Harrison became President of the United States, and was succeeded in April by John Tyler.=

1842

Maine boundary question settled by a treaty negotiated by Daniel Webster for the United States and Lord Ashburton for Great Britain. Congress resisted a threatened invasion by the French of the Hawaiian Islands. Dorr's "rebellion" in Rhode Island, by which T.W. Dorr, "free suffragist," tried to get governorship, to which S.W. King had been elected under the old charter.

War between Great Britain and China ended, Great Britain winning at all points, and reopening the opium trade. In the retreat from Kabul, Afghanistan, a British detachment and its followers were slaughtered in Khyber Pass, Dr. Brydon alone of fifteen thousand who started reaching Jelalabad, though a few who were captured were later freed. British envoys to Bokhara beheaded. Jelalabad, besieged by the Afghans, was relieved by the British, Kabul was recaptured, and Akbar Khan, leader of the insurgents, fled.

In Great Britain, Parliament rejected a Chartist petition for universal suffrage, etc., containing over three million signatures. A general strike was conducted by the Chartists; Feargus O'Connor, the leader, convicted of inciting to riot, but escaped sentence. Two attempts to assassinate Queen Victoria. Law passed by Parliament restricting the employment of women and children in coal mines. The bore of the Thames Tunnel was finished. In Algeria, the war went on, with several serious reverses for the French. The _Illustrated London News_, first publication of its kind, started. Luigi Cherubini, Italian musician; Marie Henri Beyle (better known as "Stendhal"), French novelist; Thomas Arnold, the famous head master of Rugby; and Allan Cunningham, Scottish poet, died.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year.=

1843

Extradition treaty negotiated between the United States and Great Britain. Bunker Hill monument was dedicated. Annexation of Texas by United States was mooted, and Mexico, foreseeing war, proclaimed new constitution, and Santa Anna made himself virtually dictator. Charles Thurber, Worcester, Massachusetts, built the first practical typewriter; too slow to be generally adopted.

Scinde, Northwest India, annexed by Great Britain after a brilliant campaign by Sir Charles Napier, with victories at Meanee and Hyderabad. A revival of Mahratta resistance was crushed in December by Sir Hugh Gough in the battle of Maharajpore. Natal proclaimed a British settlement, after war with the Boers, who had set up a republic there. Some Boers submitted; others migrated beyond the Drakensberg mountains. Daniel O'Connell, Irish patriot, continuing his agitation for the repeal of the Act of Union, held mammoth meetings, and was arrested on a charge of seditious conspiracy. Free-trade movement grew in Great Britain, with Cobden and Bright leading. "Rebecca" riots in Wales against toll-gates. Active demands in Hungary for electoral and other changes favoring national interests of the Magyars. Carlist struggle in Spain, after years of sporadic outbreaks, ended with the assumption of power, by the young Queen Isabella, who swore to observe constitutional rule.

Robert Southey, English poet; Dr. Hahnemann, founder of homeopathy; Washington Allston, American artist; Francis Scott Key, author of "The Star-Spangled Banner"; and Noah Webster, American lexicographer, died.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year.=

1844

In the United States, the annexation of Texas was the chief political topic. Tyler was a strong annexationist, but he failed during the year to get a treaty through the Senate. The slavery question and questions of keeping good faith with other countries were involved in the problem. Henry Clay's political aspirations went to wreck because of his vacillation concerning Texas. Anti-Mormon riots at Nauvoo, Illinois, resulted in the death of Prophet Joseph Smith; Brigham Young became leader. Samuel F.B. Morse, assisted by a Congressional grant of thirty thousand dollars, constructed a successful telegraph line from Baltimore to Washington. Copper and iron deposits discovered in Lake Superior country. Dr. Horace Wells, of Hartford, Connecticut, discovered "laughing gas." James Knox Polk elected President.

In Great Britain, Daniel O'Connell was sentenced to a heavy fine and to imprisonment, but the judgment was reversed by the House of Lords. The Repeal movement, which he had led, languished thereafter. The tractarian agitation raised at Oxford. Gold discovered in South Australia. The Y.M.C.A. founded by George Williams, in London.

Premature insurrection in Calabria, Italy, suppressed, and twenty leaders executed. As a result of the Algerian campaigns, France became involved in war with Moroccan rebels. France, which had been annexing islands in the South Seas, made amends for indignities visited on British residents in Tahiti by her naval representatives. China revoked edicts against Christianity.

Among persons of prominence who died were Albert Thorwaldsen, Danish sculptor; Bernadotte, in his later life King Charles XIV of Sweden; Joseph Bonaparte, brother of the great Napoleon; John Dalton, English chemist; and Etienne St. Hilaire, French zoologist.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year, except that Oscar I became King of Sweden and Norway, at the death of Charles XIV.=

1845

Congress passed a resolution for the annexation of Texas to the United States (January 25), and March 1 President Tyler signed it. Slavery was to be permitted in Texas. Preparations begun for war with Mexico. The Mormons decided to migrate westward from Illinois. Florida and Texas admitted to Statehood. United States Naval Academy founded at Annapolis.

In Ireland, the potato crop failed, and a terrible famine set in. Sir John Franklin set out on his ill-fated Arctic expedition, never to return. Sikh War in the Punjab begun. Peel's cabinet resigned, but as Lord John Russell failed to form a new one, Peel was recalled. Jesuits expelled from France. Indignation against France because French soldiers smothered five hundred Kabyles in the caves of Dahra, Algeria. The city of Quebec nearly destroyed by fire. Spain reluctantly recognized the independence of Venezuela. Seven Catholic cantons of Switzerland signed an act of secession from the confederacy, and agreed to support one another against all attacks; this union is called the Sonderbund.

Andrew Jackson, ex-President of the United States; Thomas Hood, English poet and humorist; Sydney Smith, English politician, clergyman, and wit; and Elizabeth Fry, English prison reformer, died.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year, except that James Knox Polk became President of the United States.=

1846

The dispute concerning the northwestern boundary between Canada and the United States was settled by the Oregon treaty, negotiated after a period of excitement in which war seemed near. Immigration into the United States passed the one hundred and fifty thousand mark this year, owing principally to the Irish famine and the beginning of revolutionary disturbances in Europe; it exceeded two hundred thousand the following year, and did not fall below that figure again until 1856. Iowa admitted to the Union.

Actual hostilities began between the United States and Mexico; General Taylor successful at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, Texas, and then invaded Mexico. A force under Colonel Philip Kearney took Santa Fe and declared New Mexico annexed to the United States; in California Captain Fremont took command of insurgents and set up a provisional American government. The American Congress declared war April 26; Mexico declared war May 23. Monterey captured by a force under General Taylor. General Winfield Scott took command of the American army. Santa Anna, Mexico's popular idol, put in command of the Mexicans.

Ether used for the first time in surgery. The Smithsonian Institute, Washington, founded. Elias Howe improved the sewing machine and patented his lock-stitch machine.

The Sikhs were defeated by the British in India, and much new territory came under British rule. British Parliament voted fifty million dollars to relieve distress in Ireland, and heavy contributions poured into the country from England and America. English government repealed the Corn Laws, Richard Cobden triumphing; Peel resigned as prime minister and was succeeded by Lord Russell. Carbolic acid obtained by Laurent, French chemist. Guncotton invented by Christian Schoenbein, German chemist. Planet Neptune discovered by Leverrier in France and Adams in England. Two attempts made on the life of Louis Philippe. Insurrections in Poland, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Portugal; general opposition to the policy of Metternich, which had governed Europe since the Fall of Napoleon. The people of Schleswig and Holstein prepared to resist the attempt of the King of Denmark to set aside the Salic law. Pope Gregory XVI died, and Pius IX, new Pope, promised many reforms and more liberal laws. Louis Napoleon made his sensational escape from the fortress of Ham.

Louis Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon I, and former King of Holland; Thomas Clarkson, English anti-slavery advocate; and Otto von Kotzebue, Russian explorer, died.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year, except that Pius IX became Pope.=

1847

In the war between the United States and Mexico, General Taylor defeated the Mexicans under Santa Anna at Buena Vista; General Scott captured Vera Cruz, and defeated Santa Anna at Cerro Gordo; Colonel Doniphan captured Chihuahua. Scott, after various successes, stormed Chapultepec, took the City of Mexico, and thus practically ended the war.

British subjects in China attacked; after several Chinese strongholds had been captured more liberty was granted foreign residents. Maltreatment of British subjects in Greece led Great Britain to send fleet to Piraeus, seizing shipping to enforce claims. The Argentine Republic granted free navigation of the La Plata River, and England and France withdrew their blockading squadrons. In Algeria, Abd-el-Kadr surrendered to French general, thus ending French war for the time. The Swiss Federal Diet ordered Jesuits expelled from all cantons, and called upon the Sonderbund ("Separate League"), composed of four Catholic cantons, to dissolve; the seceding cantons refused, civil war broke out, and after a brief campaign and the capture of Freiburg by the Federalists the seceding cantons came to terms; Jesuits expelled, monastic lands secularized, and Sonderbund dissolved.

Prussia, Bavaria--where the ruler had alienated his people by his liaison with Lola Montez--most of the other German states, France--where the socialists, led by Louis Blanc, were active--Italy, Austria, and Hungary demanded constitutional reforms. Prussian Landtag convened at Berlin and began to consider the question of the separation of Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark. Process of electro-silver plating was discovered by Rogers Brothers, of Hartford, Connecticut.

Among persons of prominence who died were Daniel O'Connell, Irish leader; Thomas Chalmers, Scotch theologian; Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, German musician; Marshals Oudinot and Grouchy, of Napoleon's army; Marie Louise of Austria, Napoleon's second wife.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year.=

1848

Peace treaty between the United States and Mexico. The war cost the United States many million dollars and about thirteen thousand lives, and had increased the bitterness between the anti-slavery and the pro-slavery forces. The United States gained five hundred and twenty-three thousand square miles of territory. James W. Marshall discovered gold about sixty miles from what is now Sacramento, California, and a rush to the gold fields began. Within two years more than one hundred thousand persons went to California. Spiritualism made its appearance in the United States. Wisconsin admitted to the Union.

Rebellion in Ireland, headed by John Mitchell and Smith O'Brien, quelled, and leaders transported. British at Multan, India, massacred, and a combined uprising of the Sikhs and Afghans occured; hurried preparations made to meet them. Another monster Chartist petition rejected by Parliament; failure of a projected meeting on Kennington Common practically ended Chartist agitation. The Orange River district in South Africa taken by the British. (Held till 1854.)

Revolution and counter-revolution in most of the continental European countries. The nations seething. Schleswig and Holstein met with reverses in attempting to transfer their allegiance from Denmark to Prussia. Polish uprising summarily crushed. Revolt in Sicily began at Palermo and spread throughout the island and to Naples. King Ferdinand II of Naples granted a liberal constitution. The Grand Duke of Tuscany granted a constitution. Revolt against Austrian rule in Italy; Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, placed himself on the side of Italian freedom, won temporary success against the Austrians, but was defeated and forced to ask for an armistice; Venice, which had joined Sardinia, proclaimed itself a free city, and placed Daniel Manin at the head of the government. The Swiss Guards checked an uprising in Naples, and King Ferdinand, encouraged thereby, revoked all the advantages he had granted. Pope Pius IX disavowed intention of fighting against Austria, though a Papal force was in the field; uprising in Rome against him; a free constitution was granted, and the Pope fled in disguise to Gaeta; a provisional government for the Papal States set up; aid sent the Pope by France.

Insurrection in Vienna; Metternich fled to England. Rebellion in Hungary; Austrian military governor murdered; provisional government established, with Kossuth and Count Louis Batthyanyi at the head. Decree that Magyar must be the sole language of the country aroused Serbs, Croats, and Slavs to a counter-rebellion, which was speedily checked. Renewed revolt in Vienna; Emperor Ferdinand abdicated in favor of his son, Francis Joseph.

Frederick William IV of Prussia had granted some liberal concessions, but riots in Berlin followed, barricades were thrown up, and in suppressing the trouble Prince William, future Kaiser, was accused of unnecessary cruelty. A preliminary Prussian Parliament was convoked, but accomplished nothing. Georg Herwegh and Frederick Hecker led an armed uprising, but were defeated. Uprisings in other parts of Germany put down, and the parliament dissolved. A new Swiss constitution adopted, along the lines of the United States constitution.

Revolution started in Paris, February 22; Guizot's ministry went out of power; Thiers placed at head of affairs; soldiers joined in the rebellion; Louis Philippe abdicated; provisional government reformed. Republic proclaimed, February 27; blundering experiments in giving state help to all who requested it led to serious disorder in Paris; Louis Napoleon elected to the Assembly; new constitution November 12; Louis Napoleon elected president of the republic, December 20.

Caroline Herschel, astronomer; Isaac d'Israeli, compiler; Captain Frederick Marryat, English novelist; Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer; John Quincy Adams, American statesman and ex-President; Lord Ashburton, British statesman; Francois Rene de Chateaubriand, French poet; Frederick Chopin, Polish musician; George Stephenson, English inventor and railroad-builder; Joens Berzelius, Swedish chemist, died.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year, except that France became a Republic, with Louis Napoleon as President; and Francis Joseph succeeded Ferdinand as Emperor of Austria.=

1849

General Zachary Taylor became President of the United States, saying, in his inaugural: "We are at peace with all the world and the rest of mankind." Department of the Interior created, and its secretary given a place in the president's cabinet. Filibustering expeditions from the United States against the Spaniards in Cuba forbidden by the President. The name of the California town Yerba Buena changed to San Francisco; California and other Western States rapidly opened to settlement by the great rush of gold-seekers; California's first constitutional convention declared against slavery.

Cholera epidemic in England. Lord Gough, in the war against the Sikhs, in India, fought bloody and indecisive battle at Chillianwalla, in the Punjab, and later at Guzerat broke the Sikh power after a prolonged engagement; the Punjab annexed by England. Borneo pirates suppressed by Sir James Brooke.

An attempt to form a republic in Rome and strip Pope of temporal power frustrated by a French force, and Pius IX restored after a year in exile. Continuance of war in Austria and Hungary; Hungary declared itself a free state; Russia allied itself to Austria; Hungarians disastrously defeated at Temesvar; Hungarian army under Goergey surrendered; Kossuth, Bem, and other Hungarian leaders fled to Turkey; Louis Batthyanyi captured and executed by the Austrians; war ended; Hungary subdued.

Sardinians completely defeated by the Austrians at Novara; King Charles Albert of Sardinia abdicated in favor of his son, Victor Emmanuel, dying soon afterward. Renewal of war between Denmark and Schleswig and Holstein and the Prussian allies of the two latter; various bloody battles fought, victory, for the most part, resting with the Danes; armistice declared July 10. Many of the minor German states urged King of Prussia to accept imperial German crown; offer refused.

Intense industrial depression in Canada, and considerable sentiment for annexation to United States. Parliamentary debates on an indemnity bill for those who suffered property loss in rebellion of 1837-1838 caused riots, and when the bill passed a mob burned the Parliament buildings at Montreal; capital removed from Montreal.

Edgar Allan Poe, American poet, critic, and writer of stories; Maria Edgeworth, Irish novelist; and James Knox Polk, former President of the United States, died.

=RULERS--The same as in the previous year, except that Zachary Taylor became President of the United States, March 4; and Victor Emmanuel became King of Sardinia.=

1850

Slavery question acute in Congress, and the year marked by passage of Clay's compromise measures, including Fugitive Slave bill. Bulwer-Clayton treaty for the joint control by Great Britain and the United States of a canal across Panama. California admitted to the Union as a free State after stirring debates in Congress. Increased Chinese immigration to California because of the failure of crops in China and the beginning of the Taiping rebellion. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" published. Jenny Lind made her first American appearance. Call is issued by South Carolina to other Southern States to consider question of State rights.

About fifty thousand persons died of cholera in England; epidemic checked late in the year. Submarine telegraph between England and France completed, but had to be relaid. The Koh-i-noor, magnificent diamond once owned by Dhuleep Singh, last native ruler of the Punjab, presented to Queen Victoria. Fifth Kafir War in South Africa begun.

Schleswig and Holstein, without aid from Prussia, made another futile attempt to throw off Danish rule. Louis Napoleon began systematic operations to make himself Emperor of France; the liberty of the French press was interfered with, and general suffrage was replaced by severely limited suffrage. Frederick William IV of Prussia granted constitutional reforms; Austria began preparations for war against Prussia, because of the latter's attempts to make the King of Prussia Emperor of Germany.

Taou-Kwang, the Chinese Emperor who ineffectually fought against the opium traffic; William Wordsworth, English poet; Sir Robert Peel, English statesman; John C. Calhoun, American statesman; and former Vice-President of the United States; Honore de Balzac, French novelist; Gay-Lussac, French chemist; and Jane Porter, English novelist, died.

=RULERS--United States, Zachary Taylor, President, died July 9, succeeded by Millard Fillmore; Great Britain, Queen Victoria; France, Louis Napoleon, President; Austria, Francis Joseph; Prussia, Frederick William IV; Spain, Isabella II; Pius IX, Pope.=

CARMEN BELLICOSUM.

Guy Humphreys McMaster (1829-1887) is little known as an author, because his life was spent mainly among law books and in the atmosphere of the courts. After being graduated from Hamilton College, and while a law student, he composed the "Carmen Bellicosum." It has become a sort of classic, with its rumble and grumble which suggest the roll of drums and the mutter of distant cannon. It was contributed by McMaster to the _Knickerbocker Magazine_ when he was only twenty years of age (1849), and it is this alone by which he will be remembered. Later in life he became a county judge and surrogate, and lost his youthful inspiration.

BY GUY HUMPHREYS MCMASTER.