The San Francisco call., 1896-10-24

4
Portland harbor opens. 1t is on the southwest
| coast of Maine and Cape Elizabeth is It's wess
| headland Many hundreds OF ISLANDS anu
| isiets make the bay very picturesque. Ii 10
| favorite summer resort.
CODE CORRESPONDENT G. S., Berkeley, Cal.
The Commissioners for the revision ana the
reform of the law are E. T. Baldwin. Ryianu
B. Wallace and James C. Daily. NO report OF
the work they have done has yet been gwen 70
the public They will make their report 70 tne
Legislature.
SILVER ON DEPosrr-J j. NJ, City. The United
States Sub Treasury does not e1change Solo
for silver dollars, but does exchange sliyes
certificates for standard silver collars. 1;.e Inc
banks refuse 10 receive more tnah a ilmlteo
am cunt of silver, for the reason thaI tneY 90
their business on gold basis.
CAPITALS AND LARGEST CITIEs-J. 81. g.,
City. The most accurate list of largest cltless
also the capitals of the States west OF the Mis-
sissippi, can be found in the latest enltlon Oh
the atlas issued by Rand d McNally. Inc same
Information may also be hal from the Jonn-
son Encyclopedia. edition of 1898, under the
head of the different States.
Com AND SILVER IN THE ARTs-W. r. M,
Napa, Cal 1t is estimated that the annual
consumption of precious metals in the arts IN
the world is: Silver, $33, $40 ,6S1; gold, $32,-
1sS0 s4 %as slso ase and OF silver $ai6 se2
200 The total prod from 1893 10 1854
Inclusive was $8,277 ,325, ,15O gold ana
$40, ,O18, ,681, 900 silver
THE MELoN-E. K, City. The melon is
classed as a fruit and not as a vegetable. The
melon is supposed to be native of sub-tropi-
cal Asia, though it has never been discovered
| in wild state; that is, there is no record OF
| such disnoyery 1t is said to derive its name
| from the Grecian Island, Melos, and the or1gl-
| nal English name was musk melon. II Was
introduced into England from Jamaica ii 1917.
/
| FILLING VACANCIES = Subscriber, Lassen
County, Cal. The county governments act OF
March "a, 1893, says: ''The Supervisors nave
the power to fill, by appointment all VacanEies
| that NAV oocur in any Office that may be filed
! by the appointment OF the Board OF super
| visors, and the elective county OF tSWnsIilp
officers. except those OF Judges OF the Snid
Court and Supervisors; the appolnlee " HoiU
| Office for the unexpired term
WATcHEs-A J. de L., City. There are no
published statistics that will show the greatest
| number OF watches made by any American
/ factory during the five years ending last July.
| The principal factories are at Wal tham Mass,
| and Elgin, Ill. 1t is claimed that the hrst
! watches AS this depar tment is not adyert1s-
ing watch factories it cannot inform you
which watches are considered the best In the
! United States.
AUTHOR OF POVERTY GRAss"-An admirer OF
| THE CALL, City. Mrs. Lille B. Chase Wyman'
author of Poverty Grass" was born IN valley
Falls R. L. December 10, 1847. She became
the wife OF ]. c. Wyman in 1878, and wrote
| "Poverty Grass in 1886. She has been con-
| tributor to the Atlantic Monthly and to the
New England Magazine. She has Tor some
time past been living in Southern georgia. n
letter addressed to ner, care of the Atlantic
Monthly, Boston, will reach her.
NAruRAL1zAT1oN-E. s., San Leandro. Cal.
Any alien under the age of 21 years who has
resided in the United States three years next
preceding his arriving at that age, and VINO
has continued to reside therein to the time he
may make application to be admitted citizen
| thereof, may, after he arrives at the age OF Il
years, and after he has resided five years
within the United States. including the three
years of his minority, be admitted citizen;
but he must make q declaration on oath ana
prove to the satisfaction of the court that Tor
| two years next preceding it has been his bona
fide Intention to become citizen. The natur-
aliZation laws are the same in all the States
CELESTIAL EMPIRE-N. o.. Vallejo, Cal. Why
the Chinese call their country the Celestial
EmpireD and why they are called "Celestlals"
is explained by Dr. S. w. Williams in his book,
''The Middle Kingdom" +" as follows:
The Chinese have many names to designate
themselves and the land they inhabit- One of the
ahelsn a oi nd ,6ese the @ word agobsr
almost ancient is 81 Hal, or Gall withinl "the
SpT seai w6e Ra Is ehuns aass kwoh sr9 20
establishment of the Chan dynasty, about 115O
B. e., when the imperial family so called Its own
special state in Honan because it was surrounded
4 by all the others. The name was retained as the
empire grew, and thus has been strengthened the
popular belief that 1t Is In the center of the earth
Ali the names Indicate the van3y and the itnor
| ance of the people respecting heir geographical
position and their rank among the nations. They
have not been alone in this foble, Tor the Egyp-
tians Greeks and Romans all had their terms
for their pos sessions, which intimated their
, own ideas of their superiority; while, too the
area OF of these monarchies in their
, widest extent eqpaled that of China proper. The
family of Thain, which hourished about 246 years
before Christ also established the custom. sIrce
continued. of calling the country by the name OF
the dynasty then reigRing. The term now fre-
quently heard In countries, the Celestial
Empire is derived from Tien Chan-L e., "Heav-
! enly dynasty meaning the Kingdom which the
dynasty appointed by heaven rules over, but the
term Celestials'' entirely Of foreign manufac-
ture, and their language could with difficulty be
| made to express such patronymic. The express
sions Hwa Yen, '!The Flowery Language" and
Chung Hwa Kwoh; 1.-THE Middle Flowery King
doms are frequently used for the written lam
guage of the country, because the Chinese con-
slider themselves to be among the most polished
and civilized of all nations which is the OF
hwa (transated fowery) in these phrases.