The times., 1899-03-05


Is Easter Sunday the first Sunday following
the fourth full moon after Christmas2 ". y.
1t is the Sunday following that four
teenth day of the calendar moon which
falls upon or next after March II. Easter
this year comes on April 2.
When was Grover Cleveland born? .. Please
give the date of Bsmarck's birth. 3. When was
the German Emperor born? 4 The Society of
the Cincinnati was organized by the officers Of
the Revolutionary army IN May, l1s3, but on
what day? J. e. H.
March IS. 1887. 2. April 1. 1915. 5.
January %, 1859. 4. On the thirteenth.
Mr.. W. II. Burr writes; you say that
Hamilton did not fire in the duel Not so.
he fred first. and his shot rustled in the
branches above Burr's head. You say that
Hamilton repudiated the dueling code as
barbarous. He had sanctioned it by serv-
ing as a second. and his own son had fall
en- in a duel. II ever challenge was JUS
tifiable. if ever duel was fairly fought,
that one between Burr and Hamilton was.
Read Parton's Life Of Burr. "
Please tell the length of the longest steamship
in commission at this date, in passenger or mer-
''''' 49, IGNORANCE.
The Kaiser Wilhelm der Crosse. whose
length is 626 feet. But ship, already
launched and now being fitted out, ex-
ceeds this. This is the Oceanic Of the
White Star Line, 7O4 feet long, the long
est ever built Her owners hope she will
cross the Atlantic in four and one-half
days The Great Eastern was $50 feet
long.
Is it possible for snakes or cats to charm
birds? II so, what power do they employ! b.
a majority of scientists do not admit
that snakes and cats have anything IKE
a hypnotic or magnetic power TO charm
their prey, despite the many tales OF
woodsmen and others to the contrary.
They say that birds. in the presence OF
what they must instinctively know is a
deadly enemy, exhibit 4 strong and fool
ish curiosity When this has put them in
a position of actual and immediate dan
ger, the birds become paralyzed with ter
ror, Just as a man standing on railroad
track may be rendered helpless with
fright at the approach of locomotive
When was the CIayton-Bulwer Treaty madef
Who were Clayton and Bulwer. What are the
principal features OF the treaty? j. : H.
In 1850. John Middletown Clayton, LID,
was then Secretary of State in the Cabinet
of President Taylor. Previously and after
ward, he was a United States Senator from
Delaware. William Henry Lytton Bulwer
was the English dipiomatist who repre-
sented his country in the treaty negotla-
tions. He was afterward ennobled. Inc
treaty bound both parties not TO build
fortifications along, or in the vicinity OF,
an isthmian canal. and not to assume do
minion over any part of Central America
1t is open to several constructions, but Is
really null and void.
What is meant by rising and falling ba-
rometer? D. =
A barometer is an instrument for meas
uriug the pressure of the atmosphere rake
a glass tube, say 80 inches long. closed at
one end and open at the other. Fill this
with mercury and insert the open end IN q
small vessel OF mercury without letting
any of the mercury in the tube escape
All that is then needed to complete
crude barometer is scale. The mean
pressure of the atmosphere at the eartn
surface will support column OF mercury
about 80 inches high, and the variations
rarely exceed inches. A rising barome-
ter signifies that the column OF mercury
is rising, and, in general. promises fair
weather, storms being foretold by low
ering column. But it takes considerable
practice to read a barometer correctly,
and much experience TO foretell weather
conditions by it.
Is steam taking the place of water power in
running the cotton and wooden factories OF New
England! j. D. =
Not to an extent in recent years, we
think. that would count as an argument
against the use of water power for such
factories in other localities Like most
cheap things, water power has its faults.
The big one is its fluctuation- In wet sea-
sons much power is wasted by excess OF
- Iar,R hill in
dry times a factory's storage reservoirs
may not hold enough TO keep the wheels
going. The cost of water power is from
one-eighth to one-fourth that of steam,
and that's q point Many unimprOyed wa
ter-power sites exist. 1t has been esti-
mated that the total available energy or
such for the United States is 100000. 600
horse power. while but 100000 horse
power is utilized. The theoretical horse
power of Niagara Falls alone is 100000.
or nearly equal to all the power. both
water and steam, used in this country.
Tell me something of Ben Hill. one-time
Senator from Georgia. ,. What IS 4 blanket
ballot? NEW.
Mr. Hill was born in Jasper county.
Ga. September II. 1928 graduated at the
State University. 1874; became lawyer in
1915, and in 1851 was elected TO the legis-
lature as a Union man. Until the seces-
sion convention he was active in State
and National politics. and in the cOnven-
ton was an ardent adherent of the Union
until it passed resolution fayoring seces-
sion. when he became a supporter of that
movement. He was a member of the pro-
visional Confederate Congress. and from
the fall of 1861 TO the end of the war was
a member of its Senate. After the war
he was a conspicuous opponent of the re-
construction policy. He was elected to
Congress and afterward elevated to the
Senate, and died August 10, 1882 . A
ballot that covers all-th5t is. one on
which appear the names of the candidates
of all parties. 1t is used, in the American
adaptations of the Australian ballot sys-
TEN.
How long has Spain had 4 government .
How far back does China date 4 state? = When
was the great wall butlt in China: G.. W. J.
The colonization OF the coasts Of the
Spanish Peninsula began about 100 p. c.
by the Phoenicians, the Greeks. and the
CGrthaginians. The latter. in the third
century b. c., extended their conquest
over about half the peninsula. This the
Romans inherited. and they completed the
conquest IL b. c. The Gothic invasion
came in the fifth century of our era: the
Gothic kingdom was oyeTthrown in Ill by
the Moors, who remained in control for
three centuries. Christian kingdoms We're
gradually established from the eleventh
century and were united in 1879 by the
marriage OF Ferdinand V of Aragon and
Isabella OF CASTLE. The conquest of the
Moors and the discovery OF America fol-
lowed, with an era of prosperity on which
the present Spain is based. The present
Bourbon dynasty dates from the beginning
of the eighteenth century, but has expert
enced two interruptious-one of 1S0S-1S1i.
the other lS6S-1S1i >. 1t depends on whose