The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 50, October 21, 1897

By means of some strong derricks which they had brought for the purpose, the monster was finally lifted and dragged to the shore.

Here another kind of derrick, made like those that are used for lifting heavy guns on board ship, was brought into service, and the mass of metal was slowly lifted and lowered into the hold.

The ship had been lightened as much as possible to make room for this enormous weight, but for all that the vessel was sunk much too deep in the water for safety when she finally started on her homeward journey.

Scientists say that the meteorite is a mass of metal, and is practically composed of material similar to the steel armor used for armor-plates. All are agreed that it is the largest meteorite ever discovered.

Lieutenant Peary also brought back with him a party of Esquimaux, who are to spend the winter building an Arctic exhibit for the Natural History Museum. The materials they will use have all been brought back by Mr. Peary. They are to build a little scene which will show the Esquimaux in their national costume, occupied in some of the typical Arctic employments. The figures that will illustrate these pictures will be modelled after the Esquimaux themselves.

There are six Esquimaux in the party brought back on the Hope—three men, a woman, a boy, and a girl. They, men and women alike, wear trousers of polar-bear skins, sealskin coats, moccasins made from tanned sealskins, and fur hoods.

To make them more comfortable, Lieutenant Peary had allowed them to pitch a tent for themselves on the deck, and here the family was established, in company with their four favorite dogs, from whom they could not bear to be parted. These dogs are very useful in the polar regions. They can draw sledges over the ice, and are used by the natives much as the people of warmer climates use horses.

Lieutenant Peary also brought back with him some relics of the unfortunate Greely expedition which went to the Arctic regions in 1881, to establish an observation station for our Government. Owing to the non-arrival of expected supplies, the Greely party suffered the most terrible hardships, and was eventually rescued at Cape Sabine in Grinnel Land in 1883, after eighteen of the party had perished from cold and hunger.

Greely established the station, and, after his rescue, was raised to the rank of general, and was given a special government appointment for his services.

When Lieutenant Peary arrived in New York, he was asked whether he thought that Andrée had been able to reach the Pole in his balloon.

He said that he feared it had not been possible for him to do so. According to all he could hear, the winds had been unfavorable all summer, and the chances were that the adventurer had been carried in an opposite direction to the one he had intended to take.

In regard to his being rescued and ever reaching the land of the living again, Lieutenant Peary said he feared the chances were very slight. It all depended on the place where the balloon had descended.

If it had fallen north of Spitzbergen, it seemed unlikely that he would ever be heard of again; if, however, the winds had carried it southward, he might have taken refuge on an ice-pack, and would be floated southward with it, and eventually rescued.

Dr. Nansen, in his recent famous voyage, proved that there is a strong current flowing across the Polar Sea. By following this, a ship could be carried from one side of the Arctic Ocean to the other.

When Dr. Nansen went north it was his hope to get his ship, the Fram, into the pack, or rough ice that was being carried along in this current, and drift with it across the Pole.

He did not succeed in reaching the Pole, but his ship did drift across the Polar Sea exactly as he had supposed it would do.

It is Mr. Peary's belief that if Andrée gets on to the pack-ice, he may drift southward as Nansen did. Mr. Peary does not believe that any of the pigeons carried by Andrée could live in the Arctic cold, and be able to fly southward with a message.

The fastest ocean voyage on record has just been made by the magnificent North German Lloyd steamer, Kaiser Wilhelm the Great.

The speed record has hitherto been held by the Lucania, which made the trip from Queenstown to Sandy Hook in five days and seven hours, but that great record has now been beaten. At the rate at which the new German steamer travels, she can make the trip in four days and twenty-one hours.

The Kaiser Wilhelm does not, however, travel over the shorter route from Queenstown, but comes the longer way, from Southampton. She made this trip in five days and twenty hours, beating the St. Paul by two hours all but five minutes, and on her return trip beat her own record by thirteen hours.

Boat-builders are very enthusiastic over the speed of the new steamer, and declare that it is only a matter of time when boats will be built which will make the trip across the ocean in four days.

The Kaiser Wilhelm, besides being such a fleet vessel, is beautifully arranged for the comfort of passengers, and is considered a model ship in every respect.

The New York agents were so proud of their fine ship, that on her arrival here after her first trip, they issued numbers of invitations to people to visit her at her dock in Hoboken. The people responded in such vast numbers that the docks were thronged, and the assistance of the police had to be called in to prevent accidents.

At the time of the great naval review at Spithead, in celebration of the Queen's jubilee, the Teutonic, of the White Star line, was called on to take part in the review as one of the naval reserve. We told you about it on page 1,086.

Our country is also taking active steps to secure a good naval reserve.

At the present time there are forty-two vessels on the navy list which could be used for war purposes in time of need. To make the number yet larger, the Government has called upon all owners of large steamers and steam yachts to give information of the size and strength of their vessels, so that they can be added to the reserve list.

There should be a good many available vessels among the many fine yachts that sail our waters. We are as a nation extremely fond of yachting, and almost every wealthy man we have possesses a craft of some kind. Many of these yachts are models of build and speed, and should make excellent gunboats.

Some people have supposed that this inquiry into the ships available for war service must mean that we are about to fight Spain, but they are entirely mistaken. The Navy Department has realized that our navy is our weakest point, and is doing its best to get it into such a fine condition that we need not fear any foe either on land or sea.

There is an old proverb which says, "In times of peace prepare for war," and a very excellent proverb it is.

The Navy Department is also most anxious to secure more seamen to man its vessels, and to that end is opening recruiting offices in Chicago and throughout the West. We need more sailors and more officers to properly fit out our navy, and the department is making earnest efforts to secure them.

We are so short-handed at present that the cruiser Philadelphia, returning from Hawaii, was obliged to transfer part of her officers and crew to the Baltimore, which was to take her place at Honolulu. There were not enough sailors available to man the Baltimore without this exchange.

It is said that the health of good old Oom Paul is failing, and that he is not likely to live very long.

In spite of this, the rugged old President of the Transvaal is so anxious to be re-elected that he is going round the country making speeches and trying to secure votes, as if he were still a young man.

Oom Paul has three times been made President of the Transvaal. The presidents of the South African Republic hold office for five years, so the reins of government have been in this one man's hands for fifteen years.

He is opposed by General Joubert, the man who beat the English at the battle of Majuba Hill.

General Joubert is also much beloved by the people, and has twice before opposed Oom Paul for the office of President, but there is little chance of any other candidate being elected, so long as Paul Kruger is willing to run for office.

The Boers have a reverence and love for this great leader of theirs which is touching. They regard him as the father of their country, and feel it their duty to support him.

One old man who was asked at the last election whether he meant to vote for Kruger or Joubert, replied indignantly:

"Paul Kruger is as my father; I am as his son. Do you think I would disobey him?"

As the majority of the voters in the Transvaal seem to feel in the same way, there is little doubt that Oom Paul will be re-elected.

There were grave murmurs against the city government the other day.

One morning the papers appeared, telling in indignant words the story of how the aldermen of the city of New York were about to give away the right to build a railroad on the Kingsbridge Road.

Now the people who know most about city government think that the companies who desire the franchise which gives them the right to lay tracks and run cars through certain streets, should be made to pay a yearly sum to the city for the privilege.

There has been a good deal of trouble over this Kingsbridge Road franchise. Two companies have been anxious to secure it, but neither has offered to pay its real value for it.

The granting of the franchise is done by the vote of the Board of Aldermen, who pass the resolution much in the same way that Congress passes a bill, and send their resolution to the Mayor for his signature, in the same manner that bills are sent to the President.

In the matter of the Kingsbridge Road franchise neither of the companies made much headway.

Both companies were extremely anxious to get possession of the line, but the aldermen were equally divided in their favor.

At last a rumor got abroad that in their desire to get a decision the companies were trying to influence the aldermen.

A few days after this report was spread abroad, people were startled to learn that the aldermen had reached a decision, and that the franchise was to be given to the Third Avenue road, for a sum that was nothing like its real value.

There was a great outcry at once.

The memory of the "Broadway Steal" in 1886 was too fresh in people's minds for them to be willing that it should be repeated.

The newspapers started the cry, the law was invoked, and the aldermen were forbidden to pass the franchise for the Kingsbridge Road until the matter had been looked into.

The aldermen were a good deal startled when these papers were served on them. They remembered the Broadway trouble, and how three of a former board of aldermen had been sent to prison, six had had to leave the country, and four had only saved themselves from punishment by telling the story of their crimes, and helping the authorities to punish their fellow-sinners.

The recollection of this worried the aldermen, but they determined to meet the accusations against them, and asked their lawyer, Mr. Scott, to go to court, and ask the judge to allow them to grant the franchise.

Mr. Scott, however, refused. He told them that in his opinion they had not the slightest right to pass that franchise, and he would not go into court and plead for a thing which he knew to be wrong.

The aldermen, much disturbed at this, decided to let the matter of the franchise alone, and though there is some talk of looking more closely into the matter, and finding if any bribery has been attempted by the railroads, the chances are that now the danger is past the matter will be allowed to rest.

G.H.Rosenfeld.

BOOK REVIEWS

Wild Neighbors, Out-Door Studies in the United States, by Ernest Ingersoll, is a most interesting addition to the new books of the year. It treats in a charming way of some of the better-known animals of this country, and will be especially appreciated by those of our boys who love out-door sport. It will prove instructive, as well. (The publishers are Macmillan & Co., New York, and the price, $1.50.)

Part of the author's description of the panther reminds your editor of an interesting experience he had in the Adirondacks. Ingersoll says that "'the blood-curdling screams' of the puma have furnished forth many a fine tale for the camp-fire, but evidence of this screaming which will bear sober cross-examination is scant." In the fall of 1875 we were camping in a little clearing on the bank of the Racquette River; one of our guides, an impulsive Frenchman, started out alone one night, without waking us, and succeeded in shooting a deer. Down the river he came, shouting and making a terrible racket to express his delight; the whole party was awake and out of the tent by the time he reached the landing. Lifting the deer out of the boat, we hung it up on a pole between two trees, and then, brightening up the fire, sat around telling stories until old Father Nod began to remind us that it was 3 a.m., and not breakfast-time. Just then there came the most blood-curdling scream I have ever heard, and it seemed so near us that we all jumped to our feet and made a dash for the guns. Our old guide reassured us by saying that it was only a "painter," and he was "across the river." In the morning we went over early, and there, sure enough, were his tracks in the sand, looking very much like the prints of the palm of a boy's hand, with a row of little holes on one side where the claws stuck in. I am sure that if the author of "Wild Neighbors" had been with our party he would not have been so sceptical about a panther's ability to scream. We will forgive him because he tells so many good stories in this interesting book of his.

"Old Mother Earth," by Josephine Simpson and "The Story of Washington," by Jessie R. Smith.

The first-named book is without doubt one of the very best in its line. It adopts a simple, direct, natural way of unfolding the subject, and cannot fail to interest the children in all they see around them.

The "Story of Washington" is a little gem. The children would be delighted to read it for themselves, and the illustrations are such that children understand. It is beautifully bound for such a cheap little book, and surely ought to find favor wherever it is carefully examined.

INVENTION AND DISCOVERY

TYPEWRITER FOR BOOKS.—We have for years had typewriters that would write on loose pages of paper, but the making of a perfect machine that could write in bound volumes has not been successfully accomplished until the present time.

A typewriting machine can write much more quickly than any penman—and the work it does has the advantage of being easy to read, whereas very few people write a clear and legible hand.

In office work much of the writing to be done is making entries in books and copying into ledgers.

All this has had to be done by hand, and it has of course taken a much longer time to do.

By means of this new invention books can be kept and entries copied with the same neatness and speed of an ordinary typewriter.

The great difficulty in making a machine to do this work properly was that it was not possible to have the paper move back and forth as it does in typewriting machines generally. For bound books the paper must remain still, and the type moves over the page in the same manner that the pen does.

The new book typewriter has mastered this difficulty. The page is held firmly in a kind of frame, and the type moves with each letter or word that it writes.

In making entries in books, it is highly necessary to be sure that the writing is correct—and so this machine has a simple little device which lifts the type up and shows the writing underneath.

1

Pronounced voulee.