Harper's Round Table, July 2, 1895 Part 16

Commit to Memory

the best things in Prose and Poetry, always including good Songs and Hymns. It is surprising how little good work of this kind seems to be done in the Schools, if one must judge from the small number of people who can repeat, without mistake or omission, as many as =Three= good songs or hymns.

Clear, Sharp, Definite,

and accurate Memory work is a most excellent thing, whether in School or out of it, among all ages and all cla.s.ses. But let that which is so learned be worth learning and worth retaining. The Franklin Square Song Collection presents a large number of

Old and New Songs

and Hymns, in great variety and very carefully selected, comprising Sixteen Hundred in the Eight Numbers thus far issued, together with much choice and profitable Reading Matter relating to Music and Musicians. In the complete and varied

Table of Contents,

which is sent free on application to the Publishers, there are found dozens of the best things in the World, which are well worth committing to memory; and they who know most of such good things, and appreciate and enjoy them most, are really among the best educated people in any country. They have the best result of Education. For above Contents, with sample pages of Music, address

Harper & Brothers, New York.

The Marvellous Monongahela.

To realize why the Iron City is called the "Gateway of the West," a trip should be taken up the Allegheny River, down the Ohio River, and especially up the Monongahela River. A trip up the last-named is as delightful as it is instructive. Was.h.i.+ngton in his twenty-second year first visited this section in the winter of 1753, bearing despatches from Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, to the French Commandant at the "Forks of the Ohio," and to "inquire into the number and force of the French on the Ohio and the adjacent country." Later, General Braddock, the English commander, was mortally wounded here. The dying General was deserted by his panic-stricken followers, and "Braddock's Field," on the banks of this river, will remain for all time an object of interest.

Thirty years later Albert Gallatin, a young traveller, of Switzerland, then twenty-two years of age, came to the banks of this historic stream in quest of fortune, on the advice of Patrick Henry, then Governor of Virginia. Gallatin bought the beautiful estate at New Geneva, containing 500 acres, and it is the only piece of primeval timber land left standing between Pittsburg and Morgantown, the head of navigation. A glimpse of the roof and chimneys of Gallatin's old home can be caught from the boat through the thick grove of oaks that fringes the high bluff on which it stands. A gra.s.s-covered mound enclosed with a neat fence near the water's edge tells of a story of love and grief in the early life of this young man. He had been married but three weeks when his bride died. She was buried there, in a grave unmarked by memorial of any kind, in obedience to her dying request.

On the banks of the Monongahela, at West Brownsville, was born, sixty-five years ago, James G. Blaine. Until his twelfth year the hills and waters of the Monongahela were his favorite haunts. The Monongahela River and its tributaries cleave through a coal-field in southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia exceeding in area the entire coal-field of 12,000 square miles of Great Britain. The coal is the famous Pittsburg seam, and almost all of it, lying along the river, is exposed above the surface of the water. Hundreds of coal tipples between Pittsburg and Morgan town are busily engaged in loading the fleets of coal barges that ply up and down the rivers of Ohio and Mississippi.

Some conception of this vast coal-field may be had when it is realized that the river cuts through it for over 200 miles. And this Pittsburg seam is but a part of the great Appalachian coal-field, the greatest in the world, comprising about 60,000 square miles, containing about a third more coal than all the coal measures of Europe combined.

Southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia possess the most valuable part of this splendid area, which the Monongahela carries to the workshops of Pittsburg and the towns and cities as far away as the Gulf of Mexico.

"ERIC JONARD."

Dalles of the St. Croix River.

The Dalles enjoy a fame that is historic. They consist of high vertical cliffs which flank the valley of St. Croix River as it winds its way to the Mississippi. A great formation of trap-rock a thousand feet thick crosses this part of the country, and the river flows through a fissure formed, probably, during the process of cooling in this ma.s.s of volcanic outflow. The gulch thus originally formed has been deepened and widened through the lapse of ages by the action of the water, until it has become a mighty chasm through which a wide river rolls and tumbles. Many and strange are the shapes into which the water has carved the stone as it has worn its course through the barriers.

Here and there are such strange rock formations as "The Old Man of the Dalles," the "Devil's Kitchen," "Devil's Chair," "Devil's Pulpit," and "Elbow Rock." In fact, the "Dalles of the St. Croix" (as the river here is called) is full of the most wonderful stone formations.

The Devil's Chair is a ma.s.sive vertical column which b.u.t.tresses the formation beside the river to a height of 150 feet. It has a tall back, an ample seat and foot-rest, and seems peculiarly fitted to be the resting-place of some mythical and colossal human shape. Other curious features are the wells, varying in size and depth from a few inches to thirty feet. These are shafts in the solid trap-rock a hundred feet or more above the surface of the river. Their origin is due to the grinding power of bowlders which, rolling into a depression or a hole in the rock, the water whirled into the cavity with a spiral motion, thus causing the bowlders to revolve, and in the course of ages the wells have been bored as if by some t.i.tanic power, until the subsidence of the stream has annihilated the force, and the work has ceased, leaving the bowlders in the bottom of the cavity.

The village of Taylor's Falls is situated at the head of the Dalles. The hunting and fis.h.i.+ng here are excellent.

JOHN A. RAPUE.

ST. PAUL, MINN.

How to Cure Skins.

Here is an answer to the question "How to cure the skins of small animals." After having removed the skin from the body, and having cleaned away from it all adherent flesh, anoint it with a.r.s.enical soap, for the making of which there are several ways, the following being the most used: a.r.s.enic, 1 ounce; white soap, 1 ounce; carbonate of potash, 1 drachm (1/3 of an ounce apothecaries' weight), distilled water, 6 drachms, camphor, 2 drachms.

This keeps the skin supple and prevents decay and attacks of insects.

The larger skins are generally prepared with a composition called "preservation powder." Gloves should be worn in the process to prevent danger of poison from compounds. Some skins are prepared with alum only, and others with oak-bark liquor of the tanner's pits.

E. H.

Take equal parts of salt, saltpetre, and alum, pulverize and mix. Dampen the flesh side of the hide, and sprinkle the mixture on so that it will just about cover the surface. Fold the skin in the centre, flesh side in. Roll together snugly and tie. Keep in a cool place three or four days. Then take the mixture off, and with a dull case-knife sc.r.a.pe off all the fatty and meaty particles, being careful not to sc.r.a.pe through the skin. Keep working till the hide is dry and pliable.

You can put the skin on a flat board to sc.r.a.pe it, or a better way is to put a cloth on your knee and then place the skin on that to sc.r.a.pe, then you are not apt to cut it. A little experience will soon teach you how best to work, as different skins require more or less working according to thickness.

FRANCES DE BERARD.

COULTER, COLO.

News From an Old Friend.

I am going to tell you about a trip we took some time ago to an island lying in the Danube in the vicinity of Budapest. It is called "Saint Margaret's Isle," after a daughter of one of Hungary's greatest kings, Bela IV., who reigned from 1235-70, during the dreadful invasion of the Tartars. Margaret, or as it is p.r.o.nounced in Hungarian, Margit, spent her life as a nun in a convent whose ruins are yet to be seen on this island, and lived in such a good way that she was canonized after her death. Even now many legends are current about her, which show how the people venerate her.

Now the isle is the property of the Archduke Joseph, uncle to the king.

Free access is given to the public, who repair thither in great crowds to enjoy the pleasant air and beautiful scenery; every half-hour steamers from both sides of the river convey them there. First-rate bands are always performing in the divers refreshment pavilions. A most renowned mineral spring (sulphurous) makes invalids resort to that place for drinking the waters. When roses are in season there are whole plantations of these lovely flowers in bloom, which are sold to the visitors. The whole isle looks like a beautiful English park, and might well be styled the "Emerald Isle" of the Danube.

The whole town is making preparations for the great national exhibition, which is to be next year, in commemoration of the Hungarians' coming to the country, which is the Hungary of nowadays, a thousand years ago, viz., in 896. Large edifices are erecting in the vast public garden, called Varosliget, where the exhibition will be held. The new House of Parliament and the Royal Palace, to which most extensive buildings are being added, will also be finished for this occasion. An underground electric tramway is constructing. So Budapest presents a most lively picture just now, with all these constructions.

STEPHANIE PALLAVICINI.

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY.

London Stone and Monument.

London Stone is in the very centre of the old city, and was the stone from which all distances were measured, and from which all the old Roman roads through England started. It is now built in the wall of a church, and protected by an iron grating from the too curious public. It is of unknown age, but is mentioned in an old MS. as far back as the time of Athelstane, King of the West Saxons.

The Monument, commemorating the great fire in 1666, stands where the fire ended; it is a fluted column 202 feet high. The reason given for this height is, I believe, that this is the distance from the spot where the fire started in Pudding Lane. There was once an inscription on the Monument saying that the fire was the result of a Popish plot, but this was long ago effaced.

There is a fine view from the top, but the stairs are very wearisome. In one of d.i.c.kens's books--_Martin Chuzzlewit_, I think--the man in charge of the Monument says, when some folks have paid the money necessary for admission: "They don't know what a many steps there is. It's worth twice the money to stay below." The top is enclosed with an iron railing, because so many people have committed suicide from it. Although there are hundreds of statues, memorials, monuments, etc., this is "the Monument" of London. The carriages here always go to the left instead of to the right. That seems odd to an American.

TILLIE S. TAYLOR, R. T. F.