The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1889-09-13
GEORGE ". CIIILD'S RECOL-
LECITONS,
Anecdotes Of Don, Pedro.

George w. Childs, 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. Ihave 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 I
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. "6 O'clock" he
said. 1t was a f~avorite hour with him;
but MI. Claghorn, not knowing this,
was agaast. 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: Il 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 favorite hour of 6 o'clock as
the time to start. We went in Judge
l. oSAC PAANaCC CdA3 a1o fISlItu NullohS
coal mines and iron-works, the Emper,
or's interest never tagging. He seemed
to understand all the details of manu-.
f~acture, and paid particular attention to
the Bessemer and Siemens processes o.
steel-making. A curious incident hap
pened while we We're at the Thomas
iron works. Mr.. Thomas (who intro
duced the process of making iron will
anthracite coal) came to me and SAT-
that his granddaughter would like t
be presented to the Emperor, as she ha'
previously met him in Egypt. So W
turned to His Majesty, and I hardl
named the young lady, when he e,
claimed: "Oh, I met you at the Pyr,
mids, and gave you my photograph, di
l not?"
We were fourteen hours on that jou,
ney, returning to Philadelphia at s !
m. I wa quite worn out and went t
bed. Rising early I picked up the Lei
ger, and about the first thing tbs
caught my eye was an account of tn
Emperor's attendance the night befor
at a meeting of the Academy of Natura
Sciences, where it appeared, he hae
taken part in the discussions of the
evening. I mention all this to show
that n monarch in the world, at least,
is a man of energy and broadcast intelli-
gence and kindest sympathy. He
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 Professor
invited him to visit Washington and the
Smithsonian Institute. and he went
Again, when 7 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 or science that had moi
engaged his attention. In women's
medical colleges he was much inter.
ested. I broached the subject during
our trip to the coal regions, and he
amazed me with the breadth of his in.
formation, dwelling, rs he did, upon the
labors of those women who were sent
out as missionaries.
THE STORY OF CALVIN F4IRBANK.
The Rev. Calvin Fairbank is now liv-
ing in Angelica, Allegheny County,
broken in health, and very poor. He
will be remembered as one OF the heroes
of the anti-slavery contest. About the
year 1910, while a teacher in a Kentucky
school, he was appealed to by a beauti-
fpl girl to a v her. Upon learning her
history he found she was 1.-THE daughter
of a wealthy Shareholder by a slave
mother. Her father had allowed her
taught at home, and she had proved an
apt scholar and was far in advance of
the other daughters in the home, and
the wife demanded. of the husband that
she should be sold South. She was
extensively advertised, and, on account
of her beauty Of person and accomplish
ments, bidders were promised from
hundreds of miles distant. Upon Fair
bank listening to the history and the
appeal of the slave girl to save her, he
set out at nee for Cincinnati and laid
the matter before Levi Coffin, and Ed
ward HARDWOOD, the great Abolitionists
of that day in Cincinnati. They raised
$500 and sent him to Salmon P. Chase
He gaye 5000, and took Fairbank to
old Nicholas Longworth. He listened
to the story, and sat down and wrote
out a check for $1,000. Chase, Har-
wood, and Coffin then met and pledged
$4,000 more if necessary. Fairbank got
back in time for the sale and bid the
girl in for $1,485.
The poor girl at the last stroke of the
auctioneer's hammer, tainted dead away,
not knowing whether she had been
saved or was the property of a gay