The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1900-09-20
MAIL BOX.

No. 5O19:-Wilmot Proviso is
the name given to an amendment
to a bill appropriating 100000
for the purchase of Mexican ter
ritory, moved Aug. s, 1846) in
the United States Congress by
Mr. David Wilmot, Democrat, in
the following terms: '"That as an
express and fundamental condition
to the acquisition of any territory
from the Republic of Mexico by
the United States, neither slavery
or Involuntary servitude shall ever
exist in any part of the said ter
ritory." This proviso, adopted by
the House of Representatives, re-
jected by the Senate, became the
starting point for the 'Free-soil"
movement of 1848.
No. 1898: -"The Girl I Left
Behind Me" has been played and
sung in England since l76O. Its
original name was brighton
Camp" It is an Irish air, but
who composed either the words or
the music is now unknown.
No. 1901 In the rigging Of
ship block is an important part
of the apparatus necessary for
raising sails and yards, Tightening
ropes, etc. The block comprises
both the frame or shell, and the
pulley or pulleys-u usually termed
'sheaves contained within it.
In nautical and mechanical lam
guage a tackle includes the rope
as we'll as the block through which
it works. Ships blocks vary
greatly in size, shape, power, de-
signation, and use, but nearly
every block comprises shell or
wooden exterior, a sheave or wheel
on which the rope runs, a pin or
axle on which the sheave turns,
and strap (of rope or iron) to
fasten the block to any particular
station.
No. 5O5e:-India rubber is OBJ
tanned mostly from the Sering-
ueros Of the Amazon, who sell it
for about IL cents a pound to the
merchants of Para, but it's value
on reaching England or the United
States is over SO cents a pound.
The best rubber forests in Brazil
will ultimately be exhausted, ow
ing to the reckless mode followed
by the Seringueros or tappers.
The. ordinary product Of tapper's,
work is from 10 to Is pounds
daily. There are 12O india rub
Der manufacturers in the United
States, employing $4,000 operators,
who produce 100000 tons of goods,
valued at $26O,OOO,OOO, per annum.
No. 5OS7:-The cockatrice is a
fabulous monster, often confound-
ed with the basilisk and regarded
as possessing deadly powers. To
the charms of the basilisk is added
a dragons tail, armed with a sting;
and it shared also it's power Of
destroying by a glance, so often
referred to in Shakespeare and
other early writer's.
No. 654:-The real is a silver
coin and money of accout in Spain,
Mexico and other old Spanish
possessions, and is the 1-2Oth part
of the piastre, or 18th of the
peseta, the franc of the new Span
ish decimal system, and has a.
value, varying with the exchange,
of about five cents. The real was
first coined in Spain in 1897. It
is also a money of account in
Portugal, being the equivalent of
forty reis. In Java it is the name
of a weight for gold and silver
articles, corresponding to seventeen
penny weights and fourteen grains
troy weight.
No. 4O64:-Koran (Arab, from
karaa, ''to ready The Reading, by
way Of eminence; term first ap-
piled to every single portion Of
Mahommed's Revelations, used
at later period for a greater
number of these, and finally for
their whole body, gathered to-
gether into the one book which
forms the religious, social, CIVIL,
commercial, military, and legal
code of Islam.