The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1892-03-11
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FIRST THINGS.

Facts of Interest to Students in Histor,
and Science.
Louisville Courier-Journal.
The first bell rung in America wa.
erected on the first church ever built
in this country, early in the year 1894
Columbus landed at Isabella, in the
island of San Domingo, in December
1893, and soon built church. Shortly
afterward a new city was begun il
the royal plain of La Vega, and was
called La Vega, or the City of the
Plains. The church, with it's bell
and all the other houses of Isabella
were then moved to La Vega. In the
year 1542 the new City of the Plains
was destroyed by an earthquake
About a quarter of century ago, il
the branches of a fig tree, which haC
grown up among the ruins of the bel
fry tower of the church, a bell was
seen, which proved to be the Original
bell in question: and this historic bel
is now in the city of Washington. Il
is of bronze, eight inches high by si1
and half across, bears the letter T
in old Gothic characters, and has the
image of San Miguel on its surface.
The first drops of blood shed in the
war of the rebellion are declared to be
at the present time in the possession
of Col. B. F. Hawkes., of the Pension
Office in Washington, and to have
been shed by Col. b. F. Kelley, who
commanded the Federal forces at the
battle of Phillippi, the first battle OF
the war. One of the first bullets fired
pierced Col. Kelley's lung and stained
his vest, which was preserved Col
Kelley did not die, although the sur
geon pronounced his wound mortal
and lived to good old age. In fact
if the surgeons in '62-'65 had known
as much as their brethren of to-day
do, one-half of the wounds pronounced
mortal would have been easily cured
The first use of the period in pune
tuation was in the Fourteenth Cen
fury. The colon came into use about
1895, the comma about 1920, the semi
colon about 1910.
The first ink was in all probability
the black fluid obtained from the cut
tie fish. The first compound ink was
a mechanical mixture of water, gum
and lampblack The first chemical
ink was an infusion of gals in sui
phate of iron. The first compound
vegetable ink contained great deal
of carbon pigment, and it is this sort
of ink in which the Oldest manuscripts
have come down to us. Pliny and
Vitruvius give practical receipts fol
making ink.
The first mention of steel pens is
believed to have been by Wordsworth
in December, 1906. He and his family
were living in the house of Lady
Beaumont, at Colerton. He begins
my Dear Lady Beaumont-There's
penmanship for you | shall not be
able to keep it up to the end in this
style, notwithstanding | have the ad
vantage of writing with one of your
steel pens" AS early as 1880 steel
pens are believed to have been known
in New York schools.
The first printing press in the United
States began its civilizing work at
Cambridge, Mass, in Harvard Uni
versity, in the year 1889. The first
American-made illustration is be-
lieved to be found in Tully's Alma
nae, of Boston, in 1893. Ehe first
American copper-plate portrait pub
lished in this country was in Increase
Mather's Ichabod," published in
1903. The three first engravers were
Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin and
Isaiah Thomas, who distinguished
himself at the battle of Lexington.
The first porter house steak was so
named in New York city, in the ia
nous old tavern of Martin Morrison,
at No. 3S7 Pearl street. This was a
favorite resort for seafaring men, A
steak being called for by an old pilot
one night, Morrison said he had nc
steaks, but would cut and broil for
him a thick slice from the sirloin
which had just been prepared fol-
roasting the next day. Morrison's
place was known as the Porter House
in the neighborhood, and its frequent
ers soon got to talking about the Por-
ter House steaks. Morrison finally
told Gibbons, his butcher in the Fly
Market, to cut up sirloins into steaks
for him thereafter.
The first game of cards of which
there is any record, and the first time
cards were used by Caucasian was
in the tent of Richard Occur de Lion,