The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-01-15

}.
l HOUSTON POST LETTER BOX,
trhis department Ia intended 10 answer
questions that are Of general interest. It's
man MAJ object is 70 supply outsof- the way facts
sonnl interest only will not be answered.. Ne
business or personal addresses will BIO given
AZ correspondcncc should be addressed to The
/ letter Box care Houston Post. Owing to thu
II lnrEe number OF questions received answers
can not always be given PROMPTLY
! Tho moon being considered an OPAQUE
body, deriving its light from direct re0ectiou
/ from thr sun how then was Its whole "
Illuminated surface visible through tho ctrth's
shncow cast upon t,s face 2. The moon be
| ing Considered q smaller planet than the oarth.
| what cNplanatior can be given " The fac:
| that tho garths shadow did not fully cover
the moons s'rfacnf EMO
An eclipse OF the moon il caused nv the
| moons entering the cnrth's shadow; II can
not occur. therefore except whom the earth
| is between the sun and the moon, Tho shadow
OF the earth is conc shaped. and extends ont
into space TO distance Of from $4,000 TO
$4,000 miles AS thc moon reyolves around
thu earth cncs a month at II distance or
\
wonld enter the shadow every month; and
80 II would. II its orbit around the earth
ccinelded with tho orbit of the earth around
tho sun. Its orbit. however, is slantod to-
wards that of tho earth, 20 that The moon
is sometimes above tho earth's orbit, AMI
sometimes hollow It: and then arain Il some-
times coincdes with II. II Is when It coin-
cides that No have mn eclipse OF the noon,
for then tho moons path Is partly or wholly
through tho earth's shadow.
Tho coppcry appearance OF the moon, when
In total eclipse, Is due to the rays OF sun
light that strike the edge 81 the earth, and
nro rcfractcd by the lower strata OF the
carth's atmosphere It Is only the red rays
that fall upon the moon. for the carth's at
mosphoro absorbs tho blue and tho green
rays. 5 Il. # II
T.egsc Give statistics OF Odd Fellows and
KNIGHTS OF Pythlas In the United States,
GOT.
The total membership Of the sovereign grand
lodge OF the independent Order Of Odd Eel
lows was Soa557 In 1897. The above figures In
clv,do tho membership In British Columbia
(2saap: Lower Provinces British North Amer
len (laio); Manitoba (2,it): Quebec t2ila); :
Sweden ta63). The membership Of tho
Independent Order Of Odd Follows, which
includes tho grand lodges OF Anstrnl.
nsin, Germany, Denmark aud Switzer-
land, is s3I. 7ls, female members not included.
Tho American organization has no connection
with tho English order known aa tho Man
chester Unity Of Odd Fellows, who number
a0o.f6S Tho Encampnient branch OF tho lnde-
pendent Order OF Odd Fellows numbers I3l, sos
members: Rebekah lodges, sisters. l6i,613;
brothers, HOSE; Chevahers OF the Patr-
archs militant, l2606. The Grand United
Order OF Odd Fellows Of America, COM
posed Of colored Odd Fellows, has n
total membership OF 1857 The knights
of Pythias numbered on January /. 1897 ii TO
tal membership of 400, 2s1, which includes tho
subordinate lodges In tho Hawaiian islands,
MrNlco and the Province of Quebec, where
there are no grand lodges Tho membership
o. tho Uniform Rank military branch, i5-
1873. of the Endowment Rank tlifo Insurance
brnnch). 60sSs.
VIII you kindly tell mo something about
the Nicaragua canaly Give some good reaS
sons why the United States should own, "
country gain thorebyg Who. if ANYBODY, Is
working on II now? When Odd DcLcsscps
stop work on 1t and whyg W.J.M,s +
1t has been estimated that the amount OF
foreign commerce. which would be affected
by tho opening OF the Nicaragua canal ag-
grcgatcs moro than IL now served by thu
Sucz canal. Based upon the statistics Of 1889
and 1890, the tonnage affected would average
more than o,000,000 tons annually The pres
ont traffic of the Sucz canal is little over
100000 tons. The chief advantage To tho
United States would BIZ the distances saved
between Atlantic and Pacific ports by water.
San Francisco would be 10,0s0 miles nearer
~
tween New York and Hawaii 7S42 miles would
bn saved. Tho tremendous shortening OF dis
taicea would also be OF immense advantage
IN caae of war. Work on the canal has been
abardoned owing to political differences OF
opinion on the subject. DsLesGcps Was never
on the Nicaragua canal. You refer.
no doubt. TO tho Panama canal an entirely /
different subject
In reading Thomas Carlyle hud SO many OF
mis- adiectivcs ~ the comparative and super'a- 4
live degrees ending In .'er' and ''est," which
The rules OF grammar would form by using
more and most that | am led TO ask
May | take Carlyle MS the latest authority.
,lIorrlbier" aud ',bcauuluestr are specimens
81 HIS words. ED.
Carlyle was his own authority. and whatever
EXPRESSIONS he used were therefore correct
rom that atandpsoini, but for those who have
iot his literary reputation IT would be bcst to
conform 10 the rules OF speech US laid down
" the professional grammaripn. great au-
kor can take liberties with the English ianr
suago that an ordinary mortal can not safely
mitatc 1t would hardly be advisable Tor you
O follow Carlyle in all his pccularitles ana
ccentrlcties. Certainly more horrible" and
most beautiful are preferable TO ''hoFribler'
md 'bcautifulest"
To decide bet would YOU kindly inform
ne II there Ii such q place known as No Mans
and. and. II so. where situated INT
There arc several. One IL district coded
v Texas TO the United States In 1850. II lies
etween longitude 100 and 1903 west. north Of
exas. 1t was not included under any gov
though often wrongly represented IN
~ Indian TerriLorv IL now conniltutcs