Newspaper Page Text
THE REPUBLIC: SUNDAY. 'JULY 6, 1902. '
'.HISTORIC OXFORD, THE ATHENS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE,
"Where 100 American Boys Are to Have Perpetual Scholarships.
Frank G. Carpenter Describes England's Foremost University as a
Medieval Institution With Medieval Ways.
Students Who Do Not Comply With Curfew Rules Are Hunted by
Keepers With Human "Dogs.'
Co!!.-?.? Fines aiid Chancellors' Courts More Play Than Work in
English Student Life TTow Americans Can Live Well
There on Fifteen ITiuidred Dollars a Year.
E-pt -t fmZnae of T!. Sunday RpraiKls.
rtj' June 17. In the Athens of the
Jr"h Kmplre. surround cd by the tlrae
caoi co.lrcci of England's oldest universi
ty u lr the shadows of the mighty trees
w hero for rpntorlcs the greatest scholar.- cf
cr l!er-5t;ir have walked. I writo for rny
Atrer. an readers. Ily the bequest of Cecil
Pi-ides, Oxford Fnivcrsity lias becomn to
t;s the roost interesting seat of learning
outside i he T"n!tel States. From now on a
1 rr,f pvd American boys, two from
ear-b Ftnte and Tcrritnry. are to be kept
r"r at H-hool. Mr. Rhoi!c.-.'s trill prO"-Mes
that ear l student is to be allowed 300 or
J) 1 3 a pi' for experses. and that th
number thai! be kept full by new arr"'nt
mer male through competitive examina
tions f rr rrj ;. ear to year. For ihla rea'on
exon i-ati-irs for Oxford will henceforth 1
us oiinmun In our country as examination
for V. est Point and Annapolis, and a stream
of Oxford graduates will slouly permeate
even part of the Union.
But first let me give you some Idea of th
university and its surroundings I despair
of transmitting moro than an lmprev-lon
ICathanlel Hawthorne has truly said that
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"The Tcorld has no place Hfee It, mn4 It
tvould take a lifetime and more than one
to comprehend and enjoy It satisfactorily."
I have visited most of the classic spots on
the globo. but none like this. Oxford Is
more Impressive than Athena and the spirit
of learned antiquity seems to hover mora
closely over It than oer the older ruins of
'India, China and Japan. For moro than
XOOO years men have sathered here for
L study. Tradition ascrlbcb Oxford's founda
tion to King Alfred In 9T2. When It began
s It was connected with the monasteries, but
for more than seven centuries It was a unl-
vorslty pure and simple. During the middle
ages It had as many as 3.0CO students at
one time, and on through the centuries new
colleges have grow n up about It, and It has
held Its own as one of the chief educational
- Institutions ot the world.
Twenty-Three Different Colleges
in Town of Oxford.
The town of Oxford has now 60,000 people.
It Is situated about sixty miles from Lon
don, In the heart of rural England. It la
v embraced by the Isis or Upper Thames, and
the Cherwell. which here Join and flow on
t to London, as the Thames to the sea. The
colleges are scattered all over the city.
- Tbcy are not like our great schools and
you can get no idea of them by such com
? parlsons.
Oxford "University Is not one college, but
" twenty-three colleges. Each college has Its
ft own buildings, muslve stone structures of
two and three stories, surrounding green
," courts or quadraafles with mighty trees
lining the streets In front of them, and
parks axo ecsXUred here and there about
them. Ily somw the Isla and the Cherwell
flow and In others stand trees centuries
-- old.
The colleges are indescribable in their
time-worn and venerable grandeur. Many
ot them are mora uku monasteries than col-
leges. They have their cloisters looking out
i upon the quadrangles and through their
X carved doorways you might expect to see
. a monk In gown, and cowl come forth. Tto
walls are fairly chewed by the teeth of
time. The pillars have holes In them like
those In the. bark of a inlgnty tree long
since dead, and on tbo roofs of soma tho
slate Is as worn as the wooden snlngles
o( t bouse ICO years old. Bach college haa
Jts chpel and dicing hall, with Its windows
f of stained glass, many of .them painted by
The old masters. Borne have walls beautl-
fully carved, soma are paneled In oak, and
( -wondrous architecture meets you at every
stej?.
Each college Is Independent of the others.
Iach has Jits own students, its own profes
sors and its own lecturers, although the stu
dents of the various colleges may attend
lectures where they please. The students
of a collego live In It and the number va
ries according to the room and popularity
of the Institution. At present there are 3,S0)
undergraduates going to school here. There
ure titty professors and a large number ot
tutors.
The system of Instruction Is different from
anything we have at home, and it seems to
xno that the American boys -will have an
easy time and wlU be able to take honors
without working as hard as In the United
Etalex.
System Is One of Lectnrei
Without Rqcitations.
The system teems to be merely one of lec
tures without recitations. No questions are
asked In classroom and the sole test of a
man's scholarship Is In examinations at tho
end of the term. Bach student ts supposed
to have a tutor who looks over his work
and revises tt from tlma to time, but the
average man dqes not work half es hard
as the America.! student and the education
Klven Is undoubtedly far below that of our
chief universities.
It Is commonly said that more study is
required in preparation for Oxford than In
the carrying out of tho college course. The
requirements sre about the same as for the
classical course of "Vale, Harvard or Prince
ton. Examinations, for instance, may be
taken at heme, and If a boy nas a good
foundation in Latin and Greek he gels la
Trlthout trouble. After admission, he attends
lectures as closely or as loosely as bo
pleases, the only requirement being that he
pass the examination.
The university course of study is prac
tically only half as long as that of our col
leges. It nominally runs for three years,
but each year-la divided In half and one
half of it the student spends at home or
away from Oxford. Durlnz th!a time be Ii
uproscl to b; studying by lilmelf. but this
la more suppuMtton than anything else.
This leaves three years of -lx months each,
or eighteen momni, for the college course.
Our colleges require four jears of at leait
nine months or thlrty-slx months in all,
rnd It !s fair to say that the American stu
dent gets In more hard study In one month
of till time th-ir tft-i Oxford man does In
two. I have Irfore me a boulc recommend
ed Vy ITio head of the Bodleian Library, the
chief library of Oxford, and one cf the
great libraries of the world, giving reliable
Information about the university. Aroord
It g to this the average man her spend
Iiji day as follows: IIo gives his mornings
tt work. hU nfternons to p'ay and hli
evenings to such social recreations ts
piea-e him most. lie entertains his friends
a breakfuts, luncheons and wines, and
often eves In for rowing, cricket and foot
ball, which are the chlf sports of the Insti
tution. 1 have talked with bctb professors
and students, and as far as I can learn the
men here hate much more leisure than In
our American colleses. and to many of
tlem a university coune Is more play than
work.
I can clvo you a better Idea of college
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life by taldng yon nsrongn en of lhes
institutions. Let us visit Christ Church
College. It has 300 students and Is the
richest and most orlstocratlo of the twenty-three
colleges which make up the uni
versity. The others nro much tho Fame,
only smaller, although every one covers
several acres and would be considered
Inrge outside of Oxford. The buildings ot
Christ Church, with their quadranclrs.
must havo an area uf ten acres. Ths chief
structure fronts on Oornmarket street, not
far from the Thames. Its front is longor
than a big American city block, and with
Its great toner at the end it looks more
like a fort than a college. There Is a gate
In the center with a statue of Cardinal
Wblsey abovo It and a stone tower r!ln;r
over It. At the gate there Is e, doorkeeper
always on guard. He clows the gate at
nlsht with massive doors and scrutinizes
carefully all who go into the college dur
ing tho daytime.
In the tower over the gate li the great
btll of the university. It is known as Elg
Tom, and It nightly rings the curfew of
the university. The bell weighs eight tons,
end Its ding-dong can be heard for miles
about Oxford. The curfew bell is rung nt
five minutes past 9. At that time the sound
of 101 strokes Is heard warning the students
that they must be In their rooms in the
college and that If they are not they will
be fined and punished.
As soen as the bell stops ringing the two
proctors of the university start out with
their aralstants to look up recreant stu
dents. The proctors might be called the
chiefs of the college police. They are uni
versity men. and each has four assistants
taken from the town people to help him,
so that In all the posse of college police
which makes Its nightly round numbers
ten. The assistants are called bulldogs
they might be called bloodhounds, for it
Is their business to track down the flsetng
undergraduates. The proctors first make
their regular round ot the billiard raloons
and beer houses and warn the student: that
they must go la.
Scheme of Fines for
Being Out Late.
If they find a man en the streets without
a college cap or gown they accost him
with the question!
"Do you belong to the unlversltyr'
If the man answers "yes." his name and
college are brusquely Inquired. He Is asked
why h Is out without his gown and cap,
and is ordered to so in at once and report
without delay before the vice chancellors'
court at 10 the next morning for fine csa
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,&n Oxw cayss-'uTQisoiCjAKfy.
punishment. If he erectes disturbance in
the street cr gets into trouble of any kind
he ts called before this court, and the matt
who Is out after 12 has a serious time with
the authorities.
There Is a regular scheme of fines for be
ing out late. Each college has Its own pen
alties, but In general the charge for ab-
rence between 9 and 10 Is 1 penny: between!
10 and II. 2 pence, and between 11 and ii
1 shilling. The man who is out after 12
may be fined 1 or & or even more, ac
cording to the offense. Ho Is nlso liable to
in gated-that Is. to be kept In the college
after S o'clock every night for a week, a
month, or perhaps a whole term. The fines
for misdemeanors run as high as C3. and
In ssrlous cares the students are rome
tlmcs represented by counsel In college
court. ,
The unlverrfty has complete control over
the students, and in many respects ever
the town of Oxford as well. The vice chan
cellor can order objectionable persons to
leave the city, and can enforce the going
away of young women whose characters
tend to Injure the morality of the stu
dtnts. The officials can Imprison such char
acters, and fine them, and they do their
best to keep them out of Oxford.
But let us enter the gato under which
Big Tom hangs. It is now noon and the
heavy doors are thrown back.. You can re
a wicket through one of them throuzh
which the doorkeeper looks at nlsht and
takes the name of the student who calls
after hours and collects his fine.
Arched Entrance Similar
to That of a Vault.
We now- pass on Into the quadrangle.
This Is an Immense hollow court of about
four acres, covered with grass, shaved as
closely as though it was carpeted. There
Is a fountain In the center and wide, well
kept walks radiate from this to the main
entrances of the buildings. This Is only ono
quadrangle of th Institution. Christ
Church has five, but this is the largest and
finest. The great stone structure about It
Is cf only two stories, but the ceilings are
so high that It has the effect of a four
story building of the United States
The walls are entered by arched doors
much like those of a great vault. A wide
stono pavement runs clear around the build
ing, corresponding to the cloisters of some
of the other colleges, and on this you roar
see students in black caps and gowns walk
ing. The many windows which look out upon
tho court have long boxes of flowers in
them. Those windows belong to the stu
dents' rooms. Every man a.t Oxford hu
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suite of two or three rooms of his own. IIo
has a bedroom, a sitting-room and a bath
room, and the colleges are so large tnat
there Is no crowding. The rooms are well
lighted, but the heating of them is by
grates.
I made a number cf Inquiries about the
expenses of living at Oxfcrd. I find that
the American boys with their JUW) a year,
will be better provided, for than the average
EnplHh undergraduates. The best authori
ties stato that a man who is careful can
live ut Oxford on J0 a year if he has a
homo at which to s(end his vacations. He
Is at Oxrord only six months, and thU
means an average of a little more than 5133
a month. Some men cut down their college
life to abeput 5 a year, tut a great many
spend more. The entrance fee at most of
th. colleges Is js. In addition a deposit of
JIM U required to c.Aer kitchen and other
fets. The matrlculatmn fee is $12.5. and It
costs from tlt to J3tt to furnish one's
rooms. I have In this statement reduced the
pounds sterling to American money.
Each student has his rooms In the college
frtc of rent, bt b must have his own fur
niture. The cubtum is to buy the furniture
vf the last occupant.
Old Kitchens Are Among
the School's Curiosities.
The college has a professional valuator,
who fixes the amount to be paid, and tho
Incoming ctudent atlas such things as he
pleases and takes uway such furniture s
he pleases on his departure. Many of the
rooms ore magnificently fitted up. They
have easy chairs and luxuriant couches. On
their walls ar.e fine pictures and on tho
floors Turkish rugs.
The students live In the colleges much
as In a hotel. Each man has a servant,
whom he shares with seven or eight others.
The servant Is known as a "scout." He
runs errands, takes care of the rooms and
serves such of the dials as are taken In
the rooms.
Each college has a common kitchen,
where all the cooking Is done, and each has
a common dining-room or banquet hall,
where all the students weet In the evening
for dinner. In the hall there Is a reading
desk, at which one of the professors stands
and asks grace, and a platform with a
special table for the dons or profsscrs.
The dinners ore served In table d'hote style.
nt a fixed charge, wines and liquors being
extra
The kitchens of the college are among the
curloslUes of Oxford. That of Christ Church
has been In existence since the days of Car
dinal Wolsey, and In it hangs a great grid
iron which was used by the cooks of tho
Cardinal- In entering It you pass by the
cathedral, uhlch Is the chapel of the col-
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basement, entering a great atoce-walled
room, with a celling at Wast sixty feet
high. At one side of the room Is a fireplace
large enough to roast an ox. beforo which
fowls and meats aro still roasted on spits.
The fireplace Is so arranged that a dozen
cr moro Iron spits can be hung In front of
It at ono time, and as many as sixty chick
ens can be thus roasted at once. In other
parts of tho room there or large ranges,
steamers big enough to cook two sacks of
potatoes at a time and all the accompani
ments of the kitchen of a large hotel.
Twenty-two cooks nre kept buy preparing
meals for the students. They dress la
white, with white caps, and I:aw their
chiefs and subordinates.
Food Js Served
at Cost Price.
All the cooking for the 569 stud.nts of
Chtitt Church Collf ge Is dene In this kitch
en, and the kitchen accounts of the boys
are kept here. The kitchen clerk has a day
book and a ledger. He keeps to the cent
what each student has and gives him a
memorandum at the close of each week, al
though payment Is not expected until the
term, following the one for which the ac
count Is rendered.
As I went through the kitchen I stopped
at tho clerk's oillce and looked at the ac
counts. Food Is given at cot price and
the charges teem to be very moderate. The
ordirary breakfast consists ot fish or bacon
and eggs. The student Is served with threo
boiled eggs and some bacon for about
S cents. He gets a luncheon of cold meats
for a little more, and bis dinner In the
common banqueting hall costs him about
4J cent. I give you hero the menu for last
night's dinner:
Baked Ha-Mock.
Piquant bi.:c.
Hoist Mutton,
ttfak and KMny Ft.
Hinted' I'aitrr.
Wln Jelly.
Extras: Asparagus, 1 pence; new pota
toes, 2 pence; cream, 2 pence; sweet ome
lette. S pence.
In addition to the charge for tho regular
dinner are the buttery bills. Including the
wine. Most of the students drink wine, beer
or whisky with their meals. The collego
Itself furnishes a variety of beer and a mild
claret, but most men keep their own stock
ot winea ard liquors. I asked some ques
tions as to the drinking habits of the col
leges end was told that the men as a rule
nre temperate, although now and then one
oversteps his limit and becomes Intoxecat
ed. Without a disturbance Is made, how
ever, such a matter would not be noticed.
One of tho most common forms of enter
tainment In the college Is the giving of
luncheons and wines. There were thirty
luncheon parties last Sunday In Chri't
Church alone. At such luncheons all tho
delicacies of the season are provided. In
cluding champagne and other liquors. The
nverage kitchen expenses ameunt to fl or
J3 u week. Many of the students nre high
livers, ami the expenses of a number of
those at Christ Church range from 110 to
13 per week each.
Walls Are Paneled in
Old Enplish Oak.
I understand the students do not espe
cially like the dinners In the banqueting
halls. The toll In Christ Church College
makes you think more of one of the nlI-s
of a cathedral than a dinlng-mom. It has
beautiful windows of stained glass. Its
walls are paneled In old English oak and
Its celling Is about fifty feet high. The room
Is 150 feet long and forty feet wide, and its
walls are hung with portraits of the great
men of the college. I noticed a fine portrait
of Gladstone, of John Wesley. John Locke
and of Lewis Carroll, the author of "Alice
In Wonderland." among them. Another
portrait was that of tho Doctor Fell of
whom yoa may remember the verse:
I .a not Hie thee. Doctor Fell.
Tfc reason hy I eann-.t tell;
Cut thl ore thing I know rail well,
I 6o not like tae. Doctor Fell.
There are also portraits of King Edward
VII. who was a student of Christ Church:
of Cardinal Wolsey, who founded It. and of
to many others that It would require a
column to mention them all.
Leaving Christ Church I visited many ot
tho other colleges. Each has Its student3
who have made names In English litera
ture. In finance and in other ways. At
Masdalen, Addison went to school and the
beautiful two-mile walk about the recrea
tion grounds behind it Is known os "Addi
son's Walt"
In Pembroke College yott may ce tn
room which Samuel Johnson occupied and
the desk on which he wrote his dictionary.
At Xew College, founded In UT3. Sydney
Smith was educated, and lo Balllol. Car
dinal Manning. Dean Stanley and Mathew
Arnold studied. Oriel College Is especially
interesting Just now. because It was the one
which Cecil Rhodes attended and to which
ho lately gav JS90.000 for Improvement
and repairs. Oriel was founded In 1S2S. It
had among Its students Sir Walter Raleigh.
Bishop WUbtrforce and Toomas Hughes,
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the man who wrote "Tom Crown's Sihool
days at Oxford." I might sNo spak of
Braser.ose College and others, but they are
all the same ild and quaint filled with tho
famous literary ghosts of the past and tho
serious black-gowned mortarboard-batted
professors and the gay young students of
the present.
What Oxford Thinks of th
American Scholarships.
It Is difficult to grt an unpreludlred view
of the Rhodes bequtst arrl of he effect it
will have upon OxforJ. There are a !arg
numbcr of studnts ami professors who co
not welcome this fo-m of the American in
vasion. The newspaper fcf the country
have pretty wj:!l Iii.rus.-eU it. and thr
seems to l-e a ttaeral fear th.it I: will
shake up the dry lone of the university
to the dl'comfort of the eay-golng people
who now occupy It,
At preent about 9.0 studeits gradual
from Oxford cv.ry year, and cf these
three-fourth take honors Tfc honors are
of different grde. and It wtll be Krans"
If the Americans, picked rr-n as l!ir will
be. do not ge' moro than their proportion
ate store. I belir that th students are
really afraid of them, and tlt.s thought Is
strengthened by tli unpleasa.it things b-M
about us and the Rhodes li-queiPt In tho
several college magaz'res. I have before
me the chief perioll-Mls of this wek.
The isiS refers Insultingly to America,
saying, among other tHnq?:
'It roui-t be confes-cd that to many Eng
lishmen, and parti- uiarly oxford men. tha
rcheme' Is unpalatable :a a iegre." The
editors lough at the UN'a -f Ui American
papers asserting th hope that "no Ameri
can will accept a dollar of Rode'.s tar
nished gold." ami add: "This sen an ab
solute Jt In the mouth 'if th- American
who too frequently adopts tlm Horatlsn.
motto: 'Get money; honestly if you can.
DO ANIMALS REASON?
wr.ivr.ES for the scsdat repttbuc.
The case of Robert Browning's oulldog .s
one of the. most remarkable instances on
record of the reasoning powers of animals.
The great poet received tho dog as a pres
ent from a friend, and the animal ot once
became greatly attached to his new mas
ter. It would tol-rate no Interference from
any person except him or his mother, and
Tvould never allow strangers to be too fa
miliar. ,
If a neighbor came In. he tras not al
lowed to shake hands with hr. for the dog
lit or.ee showed his teeth. Not even her
husband was allowed to approach her too
closely, and even if Robert was more frf n I
ly with her than the dog thought proper t-e
animal would snarl.
One cav. to subject him to a severs test.
Ttobrt Browning put h's arm around his
mother's neck as they eat at table. Th
dog Immediately went round b-hlnd them,
put his forefeet on the back of tha chair,
and pushed Robert's arm away.
The same bulldog had a particular aver
sion to Mrs. Browning's favorite cat. The
feline annoyed him very much, but be al
ways refralred from attacking her. One
day. when the family wero out. he chased
the unfortunate cat under a cupboard and
kept her there besieged nil day. until Mrs.
Browning returned and gave him a se
vere lecture. He necr molested the cat
In'The bird world, there Is no more keen
eved specimen than tho blue heron. And
ether birds sem to know this fact, for he
Is used by them as a sentinel while they are
feeding, and he acts for smaller birds -who
may be near his f ceding ground. Ducks and
geese make good ue of him. and It is a
matter of wonder that sportsmen partic
ularly duck and geese hunters don't em
ploy decoy herons In order to attract these
wild fowl. Tho long legs and keen eyes of
tho he-en arc particularly adaptable for
scouting: and while the smaller birds grub
away in tho tall reeds, tho heron stands
motionless, with his head abevo their tops.
Invisible, save to the little ones for whom
he Is keeping watch.
The frightened, half-stifled cries of a rar
rot hanging helplessly In its cage near a
lift saved the lives of nvny peoffle In a
Manchester warehouse. Volumes of smoke
came pouring through tho ventilators of the
building, when suddenly the cries of "Fire,
fire! Poor Polly! Poor Jack! Jack Is
afrakir were heard, together with piercing
shrieks. In a short while fire engines an!
escapes were on the scene.
Human cries wero heard from the top
window. Ladders were pushed up higher,
end Mr. nnd Mrs. John Ratcllffe and John
Martin taken down. Ratcllffe suddenly re
membered the rarrot, and. together with a
fireman, both groped their way to where
he last was seen. Tho cage was found, but
the bird was dead.
Doctor M. L. Holbrook seems perfectly
convinced that the ordinary female spider
has a large nmount of brains and reason.
To cite an Instance, he as that last sum
mer ho had a particular opportunity of
watching a large spider that had a web on
the top of a decaying pca'-h tree, with so
few leaves that the strands of tho web
were In view. When the doctor first saw
tho spider with his glass, she seemed to be
climbing from the top of the tree on noth
ing to a telephone wire some fifteen feet
away, and somewhat higher than the web.
When she reached the wire, she went round
It. and then back.
In studying thp situation. Doctor Hol
brook found that th web was ta located
that It required a cable to hold It up. and
the spider had In some way got one over
the wire so far away. This she did by
throwing out a slender silk-n thread, which,
on account of Its glutlnoui properties, at
IS THERE SNOW
WRXTTES FOR THC SCXDAT RKruciJC.
From a scries of photographs taken In
Jamaica a few months ago. Professor TV.
H. rickerlng lias concluded that a small
amount of snow may exist on the moon's
surface. He noticed In particular that the
great walled plain Plato shows a regular
progressive change during the lunar day.
White patches aro seen upon Its floor,
which, as the sun rises higher above it. di
minish in size and vanish; and these. Mr.
Pickering tcliev's. to be snow. In an arti
cle entitled. "Changes on the Morm Real
nnd Arparent." in the Pall Mall Magazine.
Mr. E. Walter Maunder states his reasons
for believing that Mr. Pickering is mis
taken. The observation Itself may be accepted.
Indeed, there Is nothing novel about It.
Such changes In the Illumination of the floor
of riato 3zp described In all the text-books,
and, so far as his observations have yet
como to hand, they appear to contain noth
ing new.
For to have snow we must have an ap
preciable atmosphere, capable of sustain
ing water vapor; and that the moon has
r.o such atmosphere we know, both from
observation and from theory. The sharp
ness with which a star disappears when
the moon passes before It. the Intense
blackness of all ehadows on the lunar sur
face, the erispness of the horns of the cres
cent moon, the absolute lack of any spec
troscopic evidence for a lunar atmosphere
during, an eclipse of the sun an observa
tion which was repeated under the most fa
vorabls circumstances by the French as
tronomers In Egypt during the eclipse of
November 11 last-are Quito sufficient o rul
but get It.' and who applies the principle
no ! thoruuch!y tn his football matches
than to h! st.L-Jf hbmg transactions."
Unfriendly Comment in the
Monthly Point of View.
Further on th i-is supposes the Ameri
can character tilil be m;,ro-.d by an Eng
lish education. :t.i tfcit. this Improvement
will 19 benefit ial to t. but It adds "that
it !o" not suppose th rubbing the ansles
jff uncultivated American youth was a
matter of concern to Cecil Khcdes. tho ms,
plr maker."
The- Oxford Tolnt of V.cw for this month
has an article venturing that the founda
lion of the American scholarships may bo
a ml'take. It states that "trie Americans
are reaHy our friends very little mors than
tt- French or the Germans." and goes en
t.- -ay that "whre .U sentimental cant
has he-n brushed aH the friendship be
tween America and England will b founa
to i what ArSstotlj terms 'a watery
friendship.'" ow.rg. jh rhaps. to the Inter
vening !-as. It si" that the Americans
ar for- Ignrs. and ir.ftnat"? that they are
not as we!o"ne as tin- Germans.
The "Varsltj quofs a speech from Mr.
D. I Siv.ry of St. Jhn's College at the
I'nlcn D-riiilng ?ci. ly. the chief on of
the university, in r.-h,ch nt? says: "The
American scholar w-iM have too much
money, and this hulking lout would set a
bail example of extruvicance."
I might add other i-pinion. but I regard
the most of them a mre froth and am
prune to b!Iev tli tt th- majority of ths
prxifes-sors and students her are Inclined
to be fair, and that a hen the young Amer
icans do come tVv will be fairly treated.
It Is to be hoped that the best of our
young1 men will be sent, anl If so I have
no fear whatever but they will more than
ht Id their own.
FRAXK G. CARPENTER.
Orrrlsht. lJCi. ty F. O. Carpenter.
tached Itself to the wire. Every momlrig,
so long as Doctor HoEirook watched. d
spider traveled onco over the cable. In or
dr t mnd or strengthen lt-
In ins book. "The L-fe of the Bee." M.
Miur'.c Ma.terlinck gives some extraor
dinary Insranc's of tte Ingenuity of this
little creiture. "In ordor," he says, "to sat
isfy myself that hexagonal architecture
was truly within the spirit of the tee. I cut
off and removed one ds y a disc cf the six
of a C-shllllng rec from the center of a
comb, nt a spot whee there were both
broodcells and cells full of honey. I cut Into
the circumference of this disk, and inserted
a piece of tin. shaped exactly to its di
mensions ,nnd possessed of resistance suf
ficient to prevent tho bees from bending it,
I then replaced the sites of comb, duly fur
nished with Its slab of tin. on the spot
whence I had removed It. so that one eld
of the comb presented no abnormal fea
tures, while the other displayed a. sort of
dp cavity, with the piece of tin at Its
bae. The bees were disconcerted at first,
and flocked In numbers to examine and In
spect this curious chasm. But. as I fed them,
copiously v ry evening, there came a mo
ment when they had -10 more cells avail
able f.-ir th storage of provisions. There
upon tiey Eumrmned tielr great engineers,
distinguished sculptors and waxworkers.
and Invited them to trro this useless cav
ity to profitable accotnr. In forty-eight
hours the entlrs surface of the tin
was covared with outlined cells. Thert
wero less regular than those cf an ordinary
comb, wherefore the queen declined to lay
any eggs there, for the genaratlon that
would have arisen therefrom would neces
sarily have been deformed."
A curious fact. too. Is that when the bea
tasted honey which came In contact with
the tin they disliked tha flavor, and imme
diately covered the tlr. with a coating cf
wax.
But perhaps the most remarraMe of an
instances of animal reasoning was the case
of Captain Mahon's dog. Snap, which.
through some mistake was left behind
when his master chanjrd his place of res
idence. The neighbors saw him. wandering alxxd
disconsolately, and soma times threw hint
a bone or a piece of tread, but Snap was
never seen to eat ocythmg. They could
not account for this, and one day they fol
lowed him as ha ran c!t with a huge piece
of meat.
He entered tha garden, and, looking
round carefully, started scraping with, his
forepaws1 In one of tho beds. After he had;
excavated a sufficiently large larder, he de
posited the meat In It. and then covered, tt
over.
When the neighbors due trp the meat
th-y also found a regular storeroom o
f jod of every description, for Snap had evi
dently been putUng by hla findings for
rainy day.
Tho Asiatic elephant never forget ,
wrong, even If his chance of revenge enly
comes after years of waiting. Captain Ship,
an Indian officer, once gave an elephant a
sandwich the butter of which had been
mixed with red pepper. Six weeks later he
visited the elephant again. At first the an
imal received him kindly, but Immediately
the Captain turned his back he received a
shower or dirty water idl over him.
The spirit of revenge is well developed ta
monkeys. Sir Andrew Frith tells a remark
able story of a certain officer who had,
often teased and ill-treated a baboon which,
was kept In the officers' quarters. One day
the oiflccr wan on his vay to dress parade,
when the baboon espied him. The animal
immediately seized a bucket of water,
poured it Into a depression In the ground,
and mixed a mud parte, with which ha
covered the officer's spotless uniform when
the bated tormentor passed near the spot.
ON THE MOON?
an appreciable lunar atmosphere out et
court.
But the theoretical considerations are yet
more conclusive. The first point to note
is that a lunar atmosphere, if It existed,
would be distributed In quite a different
fashion from the atmosphere of the earth.
Here we find that If we climb a mountain
some three and a half miles high a little
higher than Mount Blanc, that Is to say
we should have pastd through one-half of
the utrnospherc: the barometer would re
cord for ta a pressure but one-half what it
had don- at sea level Were It possible to
ascend to twice that height, to seven miles,
tho pressure would be reduced to one
fourth; and at ten and c half mllas. to one
eighth. Not so with the moon's atmos
phere. Whatever Its density on the surface.
we should have to ascend nearly twenty
miles -for that density was reduced to
to one-half, and to forty-seven miles befor
it was quartered. This difference of distri
bution. If we take accocnt of it stor.e .would
hate a vary striking effect. For. If the at
mosphere density at the moon's surface
were no greater than that at forty mile
above the earth's surface, at fifty miles
aobve the two planeu. the moon would
have the denser atmosphere, and for all
heights above that. Tl.a total amount of
such a lunar atmoephepj would nearly cor
respond to that above a distance cf thirty
miles from the aarth. though Its distribu
tion would be very different, for Its density
would be rruch more nearly uniform. Such,
an atmosphere could nut fall to give evi
dence of Its presence In twilight effert.
and In softening the extreme hardness and
blackness of lunar shadows; but It vrould
be quite Incapable of carrying any appre
ciable amount of water vapor, or of sus
taining any cloud that could possibly make
Its prasence felt across the f0.0 mllis
-vUcS sirtc3 us iron the moon.
A
ill im(i Wi Mwi,'i,traaSarrti ,
'Ha.sSiiT'fafcijrN-ski--a . .- Si ft&rfsii
" ;.Trtri'"ri"
rt
ijtAi i ri' jjaHMsPtnlii
