The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1889-09-13
GEORGE W. CHII.D'S RECOL-
ELECTIONS.
anecdotes of Dom Pedro.

George W.. Chllds, in an interesting
chapter of recollections contributed to
L~ippincotfs Magazine, thus exhibits
some Of the traits of one of the most
democratic of monarchs, Dom Pedro, of
Brazil: I may take advantage of this
second allusion to Longfellow to say a
word or two about o man of exalted
station and intellect-that modest mon
arch, Dom Pedro, Emperor of Brazil.
Speaking of Longfellow reminded me
of the time when Dom Pedro, gazing at
the portrait of Longfellow which hangs
in my library, exclaimed: "That is
your great American poet. have trans
lated his works into Portuguese and
made known the beauty of his verse to
all Brazil"
This was in 1876, when during the
Centennial exhibition the Emperor was
my guest, and I naturally arranged for
him to visit the various places Of inter-
est in Philadelphia. At my house 1
presented to him the late James L.
Claghorn, President Of the Academy of
Fine Arts, who invited him to visit the
Academy, and on his expressing a desire
to go, inquired what hour would be most
agreeable to His Majesty. &c O'clock" he
said. 1t was a f~avorite hour with him;
but MI. Claghorn, not knowing this,
was aghast. However, promptly at the
appointed time he had the Directors of
the Academy on hand to greet the EN-
peror. who exhibited an unfeigned and
very intelligent interest in the art treas
ures of the building. When introduced
to DIR. Ruschenberger, President of the
Academy of Natural Sciences, he sur
prised the Doctor and those about him
by saying: 81 know you as an author;"
and he proceeded to name the, books
the Doctor had written, some of them
being out Of print.
He accepted an invitation for the next
day to visit the coal regions, and set
again his f~avorite hour of 6 o'clock as
the time to start. We went in Judge
Packers private car, and visited various
coal mines and iron-works, the Emper-
or's interest tagging. He seemed
to understand all the details of manu-.
facture, and paid particular attention tc
the Bessemer and Siemens processes O
steel-making. A curious incident hap
pened while we were at the Thomas
iron works. Mr.. Thomas (who intro
duced the process of making iron will
anthracite coal) came to me and sale
that his granddaughter would like tx
be presented to the Emperor, as she hat
previously met him ir~Egypt. SO w
turned to His Majesty, and I hardl,
named the young lady, when he ex
claimed: ooh, 1 met you at the Pyra
mids, and gave you my photograph, di'
I not?"
We were fourteen hours on that jour
ney, returning to Philadelphia at s p
m. l was quite worn out and went t
bed. Rising early I picked up the Led
ger, and about the first thing tina
caught my eye was an account of tn
EniPeror's attendance the night before
at a meeting of the Academy of Natura
Sciences, where it appeared, he hat
taken part in the discussions of the
evening. I mention all this to show
that Il monarch in the world, at least
is a man of energy and broadcast intelli.
gence and kiudest sympathy. HI
seemed to know all about Professo.
Henry, of the Smithsonian Institute
when I made them acquainted; speak
ing of his original and practical appli
cation ofthe telegraph. The Professo
invited him to visit Washington and thu
Smithsonian Institute. and he went
Again, when I introduced him to Joa
quin Miller, he instantly spoke in praise
of the Sierra Nevada poems. Indeed
there was apparently nothing notable il
literature, art OF science that had no
engaged his attention. In womeni
medical colleges he was much inter
ested. I preached the subject during
our trip to the coal regions, and he
amazed me with the breadth Of his in
formation, dwelling, as he did, upon thu
labors of those who We're sen
out as missionaries.
THE STORY OF CALVIN FAIRB4NK
The Rev. Calvin Fairbank is now liv
ing in Angelica, Allegheny County
broken in health, and very poor. HI
will be remembered as one OF the heroe
of the ~anti-slavery contest. About tn
year 1910, while a teacher in a Kentuck,
school, he was appealed to by a beauti
full girl to save her. Upon learning he:
history he found she was 1.-THE daughte:
of a wealthy STAKEHOLDER by a slave
mother. Her father had allowed hel
taught at home, and she had proved al
apt scholar and was far in advance O
the other daughters in the home, ant
the wife demanded of the husband tina
she should be sold South. She wa!
extensively advertised. and, on accoun
of her beauty of person and accomplish
ments, bidders were promised from
hundreds of miles distant. Upon Fair
bank listening to the history and thu
appeal of the slave girl to saw her, he
set out at once for Cincinnati and laid
the matter before Levi Coffin, and Ed
ward HARDWOOD, the great Abolitionist'
of that day in Cincinnati. They raised
$500 and sent him to Salmon P. Chase
He gave 5000, and took Fairbank tx
old Nicholas Longworth. He listened
to the story, and sat down and wrote
out d check for 1000. Chase, Har
wood, and Coffin then met and pledged
S 1900 more if necessary. Fairbank go
back in time for the sale and bid the
girl in for $1,4S5.
The poor girl at the last stroke of the
auctioneer's hammer, tainted dead away
not knowing whether she had beer
covad or 1vaa tho propartv Of a on