The morning call., 1891-01-11
TALKS FOR BOYS.
By Colonel Thomas ". Knox.
Special to THE SUNDAY CALL

The announcement of the death of DIR.
Heinrich Schlemann, the famous explorer
and MISUNDERSTANDING me of an interview
that bad with this gentleman in the au
tumn OF 1873 He had just completed his
excavations on the site Of ancient Troy and
mad brought to Athens the Antiquities OBJ
tanned there. There were six travellers of
| us-tnree Americans and three Germans,
| we greatly desired to see DR.. SchIiemann's
collection. but were told that it was not an
easy matter to do so. We asked our banker
how 1t could be brought about and he told
us that there had been some question raised
| as to the authenticity of the ANTIQUITIES. par
ticnlarly those alleged to be from the royal
| palace. and that the explorer was very SEN
sltve on this point. ''Now," said the bank
| er, " If you can manage TO convince him
beforehand that you accept without aues-
ton the genui eness of his discoveries you
| Will receive an Invitation to inspect
the curiosities." On my way back to
| the hotel thought the matter over and then
wrote note TO DR.. Schliemann, saying that
my friends and myself would deem it a
| great favor ii we could be allowed to see his
" collection of Trojan antiquities, and es-
peciallv the treasures from King Priam's
palace" thus admitting our belief in the
| genuineness of his discovery. messenger
carried the note to the explorer and re-
turned within an hour naming time when
we would be received. We were there on
the minute, and were most cordially re-
ceived by DR.. Schliemann and his amiable
vile. We saw all of the very interesting
| collection, which was afterward described
| IN the book entitled troy and la Re
mains, the doctor explaining and descrb-
| ing each OF the articles and taking evident
| pltasure In displaying them. He devoted
| fully two hours to us, and would have given
us another hour or two had we not excused
ourselves through fear of trespassing too
| much upon his valuable time.
OUR INTERVIEW
| Was n curious mixture of archaeology and
American finance. DR.. Schemann had
made some investments in American securi-
ties, and the panic of 1873 had caused a
heavy decline in some of them. While de-
s5crlbipg vase from Troy and explaining
us pecuilaritleS; he wonld suddenly pause
and ask ne, what is the cause of the fall
in the first morig ge bonds Of the
Railway"' At one time he had in his hand
golden head-dress from the royal palace
OF Troy and while we were all intent upon
his account of the way in which it was
found, and how it had been preserved from
fire at the time the palace was burned he
Stop ed short in a sentenre to ask my opin-
lon as TO the prospects Of a certain railway
line in one of the Northwestern States
|
QueS ions satisfactorily, and thus make a
partial return for his courtesy. Nine. Schle-
mann was as enthusiastic as her husband
about the excavations at Troy, and was of
| great assistance TO him in his work. She
was most accomplished luguist, speaking
all the languages of Europe, Including Turk
lsh and Greek. the latter being her native
tongue. The story is that DR.. Schiemann
fell in love with her on account Of her
superior scholarship, as she was able to re-
wi Of ,aric
''Iliad"
The site OF Troy is on Turkish soil. and
when DR.. Schliemann obtained permission to
dig there he was obliged to agree to give to
the Turkish Government one-half OF all the
antiquities he obtained. Turkey cares very
little about antiquities, and the officer who
was sent 10 supervise the work was totally
ignorant Of archaeology. At the end of every
week, or whenever the time came for max
ing division, DR. Schliemann placed the
results of his work in two piles. and the off
cial invariably chose the largest pile as the
share of bis Government. FOreseeirg this,
the doctor arranged the heaps 6rdingly,
the larger one containing nothing of value,
while the smaller one included ali the things
he cared about. When he found
THE GOLDEN TREASURE
OF the royal palace he knew that the
Turkish officer would understand the value
OF the precious metal, and must be kept in
ignorance Of the discovery. The treasure
| was certain that the officer was taking his
midday nap. Then the doctor and his wife
| threw the treasure into sack and conveyed
| 1t 10 place of safety. He did not explain
| to Us how he compensated The Turkish Gov
eminent as to its half of the golden treas
ure OF King PrianI, but knowledge of the
customs of the country leads Inc to believe
that the official in charge of the matter was
content with the equivalentin modern coin,
ounce Tor ounce.
The city of Geelong. in Australia, has Just
been celebrating its fiftieth anniversary.
Geelong stan0s on Port Philip Bay, about
forty five miles from Melbourne, and at one
time was more populous and had larger
commerce than the last-named city. 1t has
finer position on the bay than Melbourne
and altogether possesses advantages that
ought 10 have made it the great city OF Vic
toria. But by one Of those curious freaks for
which reason offers no explanation
population and commerce turned in
the direction Of Melbourne, and it
was impossible for Geelong to make
Roadway against the movement. Melbourne
has become city of nearly 100000 inhab-
ltunts, while Geelong has contented itself
! of establishing the first woolen-mill in Vic
toria, and ever since its foundation it has
been an important port for the shipment of
wool to England. At the recent celebration
the Geelong Daily Advertiser published
fac-simile of its second number, which was
| issued IN 1910, and sent the little sheet rs
supplement to all purchasers of the regular
| paper on the day of the celebra ion. The
! contrast between the old and the new are
| very interesting, and the advertisements in
| the early paper are
CURIOUS READING.
| One man advertises for runaway ser
| want, whom he had brought from England
| at heavy expense, and another calls for
| lost horse whose ownership he can prove by
| the bill OF sale. An unhappy bachelor ad-
fnr- 70.
tisement had appeared in the first number
| of the paper, as there is a letter purpurtiug
| to be from young woman who is willing to
marry and wishes to be informed as to the
| character and financial ability of the wife
seeking bachelor. In those days women
were very scarce In Australia, and it hap
pened not infrequently that prosperous
settler made a journey to England for the
purpose of finding somebody whom he could
marry and take back to his home in the
antipOdeS.
Regarding Australia, it is not generally
known that the practice of sending crimi-
nails to that country which was begun in
1887 and discontinued in 1910 Except to
Western Australia, where it continued I'M
| til 1853, was brought about through the sue
cess of the war of Independence in the
American colonies, which afterward be-
| came the United States Down to our revo-
| luton England had sent great numbers of
| criminals to Virginia, Maryland, the West
| Indies and other PARTS of America, and also
| considerable number of political offenders
| When the colonies revolted aud gained
their independence America was no
| longer available as penal resort. and
the English Government looked around
for some other locality of deportation. They
first tried the coast of Africa, but found it
| unhealthy. Attention was then turned to
Australia, which had been coming into no.
tice ever since the voyage of Captain Cook
to il In 176S. A fleet of eleven ships was
sent out in 1884, carrying nearly 1000 con-
victs, and their guards, to form settlement
in thn land