The San Francisco call., 1896-08-28

SEAL OF THE IREASuh1-J. III. C., Clty. 1ue
abbreviation on the seal of the United States
Treasury is "Thesaur Amer. Septent. sigil.."
which sands for the full Latin legend "The-
saurus Americae Septentrionalis Sigilla,"
which signifies the Seal of the Treasury of
North America. There is q question as TO the
appropriate ness of the inscription.
MOURNING ETIQUETTE-w. s., City. writer
on etiquette says. "Now about the time ETH
quette demands mourning to be worn. The
term for widows is, of course, two years, and
sometimes in this country it is never thrown
off entirely. Grape and bombazine or Henrietta
cloth should be worn for one year and longer If
desired but that is the shortest time allowable
if assumed at all. Then the widows cap ana
the long veil may be thrown aside. The dress
may be made of silk less heavily trimmed with
Grape. The latter may be lett off at the end of
beighteen months and plain black worn until
the period OF two years is completed, when 1t
may be laid aside entirely or toned up with
sober colors. Mourning is usually one year for
parents and the same period for brothers and
sisters. 1t is usual tor wife to dress in black
for her husbands near relatives precisely as
she would for her own, For grandparents
black is WON for six months, for an uncle or
aunt three months and Tor first cousin one
month. No Grape is put on for the latter The
conventional time for wearing mourning has
been considerably shortened OF late years"
MASON AND DrxoN's LINE-J. T. NJ, City. The
Mason and Dixon line is the southern bound
ary of Pennsylvania, separating 1t from Mary
land and Virginia. 1t became famous as the
dividing line between the free and slave States.
Owing to the incorrect statements in the orig
inal grants of Maryland and Pennsylvania
serious disputes arose between the families of
William Penn and Lord Baltimore. An agree
mens was made in 1882 with regard to the
boundaries of Maryland, Pennsylvauia and
Delaware, the latter then belonging also to the
Penn family. Commissioners were appointed
in that yea to run the lines; also in 1889 and
in 1850, but they could not agree Finally
the decision of Lord Chancellor Hardwick, in
1850, was accepted in an agreement signed
July 4, 1850, and commissioners then ap-
pointed felt the need of better mathematicians.
After spe nding three years in settling the
boundary between Delaware and Maryland,
Charles Mason and jeremiah Dixon were sent
out. and on the 18th of November,
1868, in Philadelphia, they commenced to
revise the work OF their predecessors, and
afterward ran the Philadelphia line, which
they fixed at north latitude SO deg, 43 min.
26 g sec. They marked this line at intervals
of mile by erecting stones having P on one
side end NJ on the other, while every fifth mile
was marked by larger stone with the arms of
Baltimore on the other. When within thirty
six miles of the terminus the surveyors were
stopped in their work by the hostility of the
Indians in the summer Of 1857. Mason and
Dixon returned 10 England. In November
1882, Colonel Alexander Mclean of Pennsyl-
vania and Joseph Neville of Virginia ran the
remainder OF the line, which was verified by
astronomical observation and permanently
| marked in 1884 Again in 1S49 Lieutenant
Colonel James D. Graham of the United States
Typographical Engineers revised the former
surveys and found them practically correct.
OTLoLoTH-B. A, Panoche. Cal. Floor cloth.
usually called in the United States oiIcloth. is
made of coarse canvas coated on both sides
and partly saturated with thick oil paint, one
side usually having q colored pattern printed
in oil paint The canvas basis is required to
be without seam and of sufficient width to
cover considerable space of flooring, hence
spacial looms are required to weave il. 1t is
from eighteen to twenty-four feet in width
and of various lengths. The first step toward
converting this canvas into floor cloth con-
sists in stretching it on a frame, sometimes
100 feet in length by height of "a feet, the
canvas being stretched as tight as a drum.
The back or plain side is Fl rst operated upon
by priming it with a solution of size and
securing 1T with pumice. The object of this is
| to prevent too much Of the paint penetrating