Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-10-05

fore the campaign is over that Mr.. Conk
ling was not striking the Administration
through Mr.. Curtis. Mr. Curtis is not
the Administration. Mr. Conkling, in spite
of what may be said, pursued conservative.
middle course in the convention.
To oblige correspondent Mississippi
Journal tries its hand at definitions, as fol-
lows: " A Radical is a Republican politician
who is not ashamed of the name, and an In
dependent is a Republican who is ashamed
of the name, and who denies being Radi-
cal when talking to Democrats, but admits
it when talking to Republicans. In other
words. an Independent is a cross between
mean Democrat and NANCY Republican.
who cannot be trusted by either.
CIeopaira's Needle.
The tall obeli>k, seventy feet in length,
which stood in lleliopolis l,5O0 years be
fore the commencement of the Christian era,
and which has long lain half buried in the
sand at Alexandria, is on its way to Eng
land 4 companion obelisk is still standing
at Alexandria. and bears the name oil
RameSes II. among its inscriptions Esyp-
biologists agree that the two obeliskS were
originally erected at lleliopolis by Thoth-
mes Ill. Wilkinson says that Thothmcs
Ill. was the Pharaoh of the Biblical mar
ratiye, in whose time the lsraelitcs made
their escape from Egypt, and ii so the en-
shaved Hebrews may have acen employed
in quarrying and erecting it.
The method by which Cleopatra Needle
has Just been iloatcd is ingenious. a hol-
low iron cylinder with wedged-shared ends
now incloscs it. The cylinder was built up
and riyetcd together around the stone-the
iron thus used weighing sixty tons. The
air spaces of the cylinder were so calculated
as to be sufficient to float the whole. Two
months were occupied in this part OF the
work, which included digging away the sand
beneath the stone, pushing the stone with
hydraulic Jacks till it was parallel with the
waters edge, and constructing sloplng road
of broken rock down to tie water. The
dimensions of the stone arc o. feet long,
taperins in width from $ feet inches to .
feet . inches. The iron cylinder is - feet
long, and Is feet in diameter All around
this iron box, wood planking was
strapped fast, and then the whole
continuance was rolled sideways down to
the water To make 1t roll, ropes were
passed around it, and wound upon wlnches
liked on vessels in the water. Other ropes
also passed around it, which unwound slowly
from winchcs on shore behind the stone, pre-
venting it from rolling too fast. When the
strain was first put on to start 1t, the vessels
moved instead, dragging their anchors !;
steam tugs were substituted, and when they
put on full steam to 90 ahead, the great
cylinder rolled. Its movement was so slow
as scarcely to he perceptiblc, and the greater
part of two days was occupied IN reaching
the water Then disappointment awaited
the toiers the cylinder filled with water,
and II powerful pump could not empty the
air SPACES. \ stone had broken hole into
the cylinder, and the stone was wedged IN
the hole. 50 the cylinder had to be rolled
back till the hole was uppcrmost; the hole
was then patched, the cylinder pumped out,
another downward roll was effected, and the
strange craft was ahoat 1t draws from
eight to ten feet of water. Wings have
been attached to prevent rolling 1t will
he towcd slowly on its long voyage; and II
is to be hoped will not spring leak on the
way.
II there are sermons in stones, says the
New York TriLuHc, there is certainly text
in this obelisk, transported from heather
temple to the capital of a Christian land
over a thousand miles of sea. The slaves
whose labors brought it to lleliopolis, thirty
four centuries ago, worshippcd a deity that
had no temple in his honor in all that land
of ancient shrincs. To-day. those temples
are ruined and deserted, and the deity o.
that snhiect-race Is the God OF ChristendOm