The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 21, 1897, Page 18

18 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1897. OF THE oL It is an ad all countries of fittir all ed fact by naval experts of ance es ships of W hips with the single idea of Navy Department is more ot ess our beral, and m cers and cr and No hai rooms nor rich: oards, or gangway- None of these ons could te classed as works of ey are called. rarely conceived gles in awkward anchor, and the Id Constitu.ion Ii ic designs in the Ur The center- ial this design is the o seal of , N. C. Surrounding coat of arms of Sir Wal- r of whom the city this and draping is represented the na- the left by an e right by an ehind and near oard are entwined an quiver and bow, with an English sword, typical of the conflict be- ween the native and the English in the tearly y of the colony where the city the Indian foot of old of Raleig stands. Ths two branches each side of the center are also placed there with referen. name namely, sometimes lied to The (,'11_\"‘{(1 Oaks.” D CONSTITUTION, SN SN DN N > = | Raleigh tei | board and the city’s seal on the other. F g whl : :,élfi\wmr}illllh‘fi”wn:‘:k 7 the courageous left Spitzbergen, on the 11th of July, and, with his two companions in the great balloon, guickly disappeared in the north, he set When aeronaut the whole world speculating on the chances of ever seeing him again. Scien- tific men had warned him against the dangerous undertaking, and even openly | declared that sherter and easier means of | committing suicide were to be preferred to the balloen route. Everybody admitted the ingenuity and completencss of the Swedish engineer’s plans, but insisted that | the cbstacles to be overcome by far ex- | ceeded, the numerous and skillful precau- tions of Professor Andree, Since the ascensien of the balloon on the 11th of July news from Andree has| been very scarce. . The Swedish gunboat | returning from Spitzbergen reported | briefly as follows: On the 11th of July the day was clear and the wind favorable, and the ascension of the ballcon was quickly decided on. About 2 o’clock in the after- noon Andres gave the word “go,’’ ard | the balloon shot up to an altitude of about 6u0 yards. It traveled quickly | toward tke north and bejore 8 o'clock was ont .of view, Returning home he gunboat met with southerly and westerly winds and clear weather. A | continent near Point Barrow. few days afierward a pigeon was shot by ng the capital of the State| I v ® &S SANAN v : These boards are of mahogany, but in | brass castings of elaborate design and to th e of North Carolina, it was thought appro- | some of the more recent vessels fitted for the city, priate to work in the State seal on one | flagships the Government has incurred a | miration of foreign naval officers when | large additional expense in putting in | visiting our ships. workmanship, exciting the envy and ad- o sailor ona whaler and brought home. It reported the passage of the 82 deg. north and fine progress northward. This is the only genuine message from Andree after his departure. All the other pigeons, reported from nearly every part of the globe, may safely be counied as fakes or foolish fancies. Any person fa- miliar with the capabilities of the homing pigeons and the slightest knowledge of the Arctic pigeon message from Andree reaching the civilized world depends on an accident. The shooting of this pigeon saved the message from Andree. No pigeon has ever before returned from the eternal ice of the north. That is simply begond the possibilities, If Andree has traveled straight north from Spiizbergen and passed over and beyond the north pole he would strike ex- actly the Bering Sea or the eastern penin- suia of Asia or a point on the American In that case we would have heard from him now, and his adventurous undertaking would have succeeded beyond the expectations of the most sanguine. But according to the reports of the Swedisk gunboat the wind blew from a western direction, also carrying the balloon toward the east. In thatcase he would regions will admit that a| : ultimately land on the north coast of éi»“ | beria, anywhere between Cape Tsjeljuskin | | and tie eastern peninsula of Asia. Once | | there he will be able to meet with some of | | the natives there, peopie who know | | enough of the white man to render him | | sufficient assista nce. | | 1f Andree bas met with easterly winds | | further on his road and the balloon con- | sequently carried him eastward, he will land on the north coast of America, possi- | bly on the remote and very little known | Parry Islands. He will then have to | travel over land and ice for a very great | distance, and would probably have to go into winter quarters somewhere in this ‘ terrible region where so many great ex- | plorers have succumbed. It was here that | Franklin was lost, and this was the place | where many great Enzlish and American | explorers found their graves, or from | wrere they returned with tales of horrible | sufferings and hardships, In theevent of | Andree striking this part of the Arctic | countries, we can haraly expect him or | news from him before next summer. | Even an absence of two years may be pos- | sible. It all depends on the physical | strength of Andree ana his followers. | Toey will have to go through the same | struggles that befell Dr. Nansen and Jo- hannesen on Francis Joseph Land. The preceding remarks on the possible | whereabouts of Professor Andree are founded on the sup-osition that theballoon did answer to the expectations of the aeronauts, and that the wind carried it west, northward or northeast. But if the .hnlloon failed, if the dangerous drags and anchor got stuck in the ice, and either wrecked the balloon or made the gmding ropes break, and thus deprived the balioon of its steering or impaired its stability, in that case Professor Andree and his fol- lowers would be left on the polar ice some- where near the pole with provisions for about three months and sleighs and can- vas boats. They wou!d then have a hard and long struggle ahead, and they would have to think of nothing else than reach- ing the nearest possible land. Suppose they have been able to make a descent at or near the very north pole, and that they there would have bad to let the balloon go, they would then turn to the nearest Jand that could be reached with the sleighs and boats in'the time of three months or lese. Ii the north pole is within the sphere ot the deep-water basin partiy explored by Dr. Nansen we might expect a current setting south toward the east of Green- land or possib'y toward the American archipelago or Kennedys Cnannel and Smitus Sound. From the north pole to the northernmost point known in this region is a distanceas the bird flies of 6 deg. 36 min., or about 460 English miles. 1t is 1mpossible to give any estimate on the time necessary to cover thisdistance; that may be increased by hundreds of miles, according to the condition of the ice, water-lanes and so on. If this journey can be accomplished, it is safe to calculate that Professor An'tree wiil not reach this northernmost point on the west coast of Greenland in less than threo months’ time. He will also have to live off the country, or rather off the ocean, bzcause this seciion is almost entirely cov- ered by eternal snow and ice, and only where stretches of open water can be met with is it possible to reach any game that cou!d provide food for man. If Aundree and his followers are at that point now we cannot expect them before late next summer. From time to time we have had reports from Qifferent parts of the globe of bal- loone seen at a great distance, but so far we have no reason to consider these re- ports of any importance. The last claim of a Norwegian whaler to having seen the balloon floating on the water north of Spitzbergen is only half credited, as the question becomes ob- vious: Why did ihis captain not investi- gate farther into the matter and bring back either the balloon itself or a revort of its condition? If Andree had met with 2n accident while siill in the balloon it would then have become possible to learn something about it from the wreck of the balloon. According to latest reports, the Swede, Dr. Otto Nordenskjold, recently returned from a scientific expedition in Patagonia, is going to search for the balloon reported by the Norwegian whaler. It is also as- serted that the Norwegian Government is sending a ship from Tromsoe for the same purpose. This lately reported balloom, however, month. i In 1895 there was a law passed by the State Legislature concerning the teachers’ annuity fund of California. During the vre-ent vear an amendment to thislaw was carried, which reads as follows: ‘“‘An act to amend an act entitled ‘An act to create and administer an annuity and re- tirement fund of tbe teachers of the pub- lic schools of California.’’” Under the provisions of this act all those teackers throdghout the State who desired to be bound by the conditions and avyil themselves of the privileges of this fund were obliged to file a notice with the secretary of the Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools of the counties in which they are residing on or before the 26th of June, 1897. In the cily and county of Ban Francisco all of the £41 teachers who responded contribute regularly to the fund, tnose in day schools generally paying $1 per month and those.in the night schools 50 cents. In addition to this there are two other scurces of rev:nue under the law, One- balf of the money lost by teachers from their salaries on account of absence from duties occasioned by sickness, etc., se- cures for the fund an income of at least $2C00 per annum. A certain grocery firm places coupons In certain articles of mer- chandise, especially tea, coffee, spices, ete. Every coupon contains a certain number of poinis and each point counts | one mill. The fund’s receipts from the latter source amounted to $16: during the first month and $118 last month, which means a total of some $1200 a year. The revenue of the fund is administered by a board, known as the Pubiic Sehool Teachers’ Annuity and Retirement Fund Commission, of which the Mayor of San Francisco is chairman, R. H. Webster secretary and A. C. Widber treasurer. This commission is required to divide the receipts into two parts, to be devoted to the two divisions of the general fund. Seventy-five per cent of the receipts goes to the annuity and retirement fund and the other 25 per cent to the permanent fund, which remains un- touched until it amounts to $50,000. There nuity fund and about $1000 to that of the vermanent. In addition to the above duty the commission is author.zed to re- ceive and administer all donations and bequests, which are placed to the creditof the permanent fund, Application for retirement must be made to the retirement committee, which who have pound themselves to the opera- tion of the act. The following persons were elected last April: Miss Agnes M. Manning, presiden iss Frances Hodg- kinson, sccretary; Thomas McCarthy, Miss A. F. Sprague and Silas A. White. According to the law, all teachers enjoy- into it a sum of money equal to that they would contribute in the aggregate by pav- ing $1 every school month for thirty years, which would amount to $360. They may be retired when, in the judgment of the retirement committee, they have be- come incapacitated for further school work. for retirement are successfully passed upon by the committee they are entiiled to re- ceive as many one-thirtieths of the maxi- mum annuity of $600 as the number of years they have taught in the depart- ment. If the fund st:ould ever become ex- hausted, or if the revenue proves insuffi- cient to pay the annuilies, then the teach- | ers will receive a pro rala of the whole income. Mrs. Mary J. Cline, L. E. Ryder, Mrs. H. A. 8t. John, Mrs. M. H. Currier, Miss Cor- nehia E, Campbell, Miss Victoria M. Rac- let, Mrs. Josephine Gerichten, Miss Eliza- beth M. Molloy, Miss Mary Solomon, Miss A. M. Dore and Mrs. Laura T. Hopkins, Those annuitants who have served thirty years in the department receive $50 ver ¢ IS0 ey e At the last meeting of the Librarians’ Association in San Francisco the subject of a copyrizht depository for the Pacific Coast was brougbt up for discussion by Librarian Herbert C. Nash of Stanford. Ii seems that in England there are five such depositories—one at the British Museum in London and one each at Ox- ford, Cambriage, Edinburgh and Dublin. In this country all authors are required to place two copies of their published works in the Congressional Library at Washing- ton, but this is at present the only deposi- tory of the kind in tne United States. The need of others can easily be seen, for not only is the library of Congress inac- cessible to so many thousands of readers, but t ere is alwavs the danger of loss through fire of this vast number of copy- mulate. It is, therefore, suegested that such copyright depositorfes be established in a number of cities in various parts of the country, as, for instance, in Chicago, Den- ver, New Orleans and in our own public library here in San Francisco. Alreaay California’s Representatives at Washing- ton have been interested in the matter. Some may obj:ct to thus increasing the is at present $5000 to the credit of the an- | is annually elected by all those teachers | ing the privileges of the fand must pay | When the names of the applicants | This is the list of annuitants to date: | rights waich it has taken years to accu- otfie ,]]ubfit 5580 A ,@g Eugenia $.mabutg; number of copyright depositories on the ground of added expense to the authors. Butas Mr. Nasn humorously expresses it, if their books are successes, the writers will be glad to thus further advertise their | works; and if they are failures—why, then, there will be copies on hand and to spare. * e %% The Vatican library at Rome represents the greatest accumulation of original manuscripts of classical literature in the world. About 1885 the Holy See began to print annually a descriptive e¢atalogue of all of these manuscripts of such rare value, As access to the library is denied to al- most every one, and as only a limited number of these catalogues are issued each year, the latter are -much sougnt alter by libraries all over the world. The first volume of the catalogue contained 2 | history of the Vatican Library and the | other ten are devoted to the history of the ancient Egypiians, Hebrews, Picenicians and many more of the early races, besides | fac-similes of manuscripts tiousands of | years old which the outside world has |not even heard about. It is re- ported that in ihis same library are two of the original death warrants of Jesus which were sent out to the different Jew- ish tribes. Witnin the last few weeks a special dis- | pensation from the Pope was obtained through Archbishop Keane, whereby nine volumes of this catalogue have been placed in the library at Stanford Uni- | versity. o T At the State Ncrmal School in San Jose an entirely different system of fac- ulty work has been adepted this year. Instead of having regular meetings of all | the teachers, the faculty is divided into | various committees for special work, as, for instance, all the teachers in English | form the commi:tee of English; those in the science department consiitute the science committee, etc. These different | committees elect a chairman and secre- tary and then meet to discuss the best | methods of presenting their subjects to | the pupilsand correlating the work in the | | varivus departments. Principal Randall is himself a member of each committee, | and at stated times the results of these | deliberations are brought before the fac- ulty as a whole for general aiscussion. This plan has been found a great improve- | ment over tue oid one. | | For the first time since 1805 the State Legislature made an appropriation of | $1000 for the two succeeding years with | which to buy library books at the Normal, | This, however, accoraing to Miss Royce, the librarian, is rot a sufficient sum to cover the deficit of the former years, for | | the department needs $1500 at the lowest figure. There are at present 6000 volumes | in the library, which should contain 10,000 | to meet the needs of the school. The room itself is also cramprd in its accommoda- tions, for it is daily filled to overfiowing during study hours by the 630 students in the Normal proper, and aiso by the older pupils from the training depariment, | which contains 160. { In the new botanical laboratery, which | bas recently been fitted up, the students | are engaged in the studv of fruit, flowers, stems and winter buds, according to the | lines laid down in Professor Volney Rat- tan’s new work, entitied “E'ementary Ex- | ercises in Botany,” which is especially adapted for use in the public schools ail | over California. In all the science departmentsof the | State Normal the new Barnes dissecting | microscope has been introduced. This is | designed for individual work and contains | graded millimeters on the glass surface. ' In speaking of manual training Profes- | sor James E. Addicott of the Normal said: “In the kindergarten there is a definite course, and it works well; in the primary grades the careful study of form, color and | number is proving successful; the high- | school work is practically settled; the | sloyd system is doingrgood service in the upper grales, but in the intermediate ! years, where manual training is most needed, definite links in our chain are lacking. Bat right here it must be re- | membered ihat efficlent manual training cannot be expected in our primary and grammar grades until we have outlined a course which can be followed at the ordi- nary schocl desk and can be conducted by the regular class teacher. “In planning a manual training course,” continued Professor Addicott, ‘‘we must | take into consiteration, first, the princi- vles of peda:egy; second, the average capability of pupils from both the psy- chological ana the experimental stana- point; third, its auxiliary influence science, language and mathematics; fourth, its esthetic side; and fifth, the cost of muterial and equipment. “At least half the manual training in elementary schools could be concrete work connected with other branches, for it is very largely a system of correlation with different subjects. Drawing must lend a still greater snppors than in former years to manual training. However, the esthetic side must ever be kept in view, and the two lines Isading to industry and art should as far as possible be made to support each other. “The too!s necessary for the making of exercises in these grades are the rale, com passes, square, pencil and sloyd-knife, which is safer than the ordinary pocket knife, and of such shape as to be easily adapted to all models. These tools should be kept in a very shallow desk-top such as is manufactured in the £ast. Clay, paper, cardboard and wood are the mate- rials used. “The central thonght in manual train- ing in the public schools,” concluded Pro- fessor Addicott, “'is education; second, as far as possible 1t shouid train with a di- rect view to actual work; third, prepara- tion for higher technical study should in these grades be incidental. The oppor- tunity for correlation should always be watched and the esthetic side of tue irain- ing ever kept in mind,” *w Itis not generally known that a Cam- bridge man, Dr. Furnivall of London, was the inventor of the jowboat sliding-seat. Butaside from this distinction Dr. Fur- nivall has other claims to the world’s notice, for he it was who, 1n 1864, founded the Early English Text Society, 10 wh.Ci ail the leading English scholars of !9 day belonz. Already 100 volumes Lave been published by this society, many edited by Furnivell himself, which have greatly advaunced the study of early Eng- i1sh languagse and literature. Not content with his exertions in this direction we find Dr. Furnivall later be- coming founder and director of a aumber of other societies, among which may be mentioned the New Shakespeare, the Suelley, the Wycliffe and the first Brown= ing Society. In 1869 he started the Chau- cer Society with the aim of rendering closer study of this great author poessible. While engaged in this work Dr. Furniyul! conceived the plan of makinz anext sive dictionary ot the language of Chau- cer which would aid the study of original texts already publshed by the society. In this scheme he was greatly encouraged by Professor Francis J. Child of Harvard, who 1s called the father of English philol- * | ogy in America. Dr. Furnivall succeeded in interesting in the project a young commercial trav- eler, Wilson Aylnard, who was accident- ally drowned a few years ago, but whose name will always be connected with the Chaucer Concordance, because to him we owe it that the scheme was not at first abandoned through the great difficulties that arose in its path. ‘While traveling about in the interests of his paper business, Aylward in turn succeeded in inducing over twenty-six ladies and gentilemen of leisure in both England and America to help in the mechanical part of slipwriting. Each person was directed to choose a particular pcem of Chaucer and copy on slips of paper every word which the author used in that particular work, marking the variations of the words in different lines, and giving in the first place the context of the word some- what abbreyiated. One eollegesiudent in Ohio became so interested in the plar/ ¢hat, he continued his slip-writing to within half an hour of his death, and then made his sister promise to continue his work where he had left it. Some 1dea of the magnitude of this scheme may be formed when it is learned that with repetitions included Chaucer used over 450,000 words, which is about 100,000 more tnan Shakespeare. Fully half of these word-slips for the “Concordance” were writien in America. Unfortunately the first editor, Professor Corson of .Cornell, did not direct his assistants 1o copy particles, prepositions, auxiliaries, etc., and this supplementary work, which was almost a greater task than the otber, fell to the share of the present editor. Dr. Ewald Fluegel, for- merly ot Heidelberz, but now filling a chair at Stanford, helped to write out parallel quotations from Chaucer’s con- temporaries, and also concordanced the works of Gower and Wycliffe and about seventy more works cf early English literature. These efforts will cast light on Chaucer’s own writings, and by means of them a number of intricate passages have already been elucidated. Moreover they enable to obtain glimpses behind the vhilology in Stanford Univer- sity. In 1890 the main slipwriting was fin- ished, and since that time the task of sorting them into alphabetical order has rapidly progressed, until now the work on theconcoraance proper is ready to be gin. 1tis hoped thau the firstpart of the latter may bs published in 1900, which will be tne fiftn centenary of Chaucer's deatb. In this proposed “Lexicon Con cordance to Chaucer’’ the words w.ll be arranged under different headings with reference to their history, etymoloyy and usage in Chaucer’s time and before. So precious are the vast mass of word- slips considered by Dr. Fiuegel that he has recentiy built to contain them a small fireproot chamber ovening off his study in his own home in Palo Alto. may possibly be of the same deceptive nature as the many other balloons and the great number of pigeons. ‘When we consider the vastnessof the unknown regions of the Arctic, the diffi- cuity to pass through even a small part of it, it becomes evident that a search for Dr. Andree or his balloon is a very diffi- oult undertaking. The history of Arctic travel tells of many efforts to find lost ships in the ice. It took ten years and no end of sufferings and sacrifices to find the meager disceveries of Frankiin's fate; it took nearly 200 years to learn unything definite of Willem Barents, and in both cases were the findings aided by pure ac- cidents. It was necessary to send several expeditions to find the Polaris, and in all theso cases did the rescuers know some- thing of the directions in which to look for them. A skip’s course in the ice is defined by the direction of the currents and confined to the waterways. But to find Dr. Andree would be a still more difficult undertaking. Thers is & narrow limit to our knowledge of th: cur- rents of the air, there is an uncertainty about the directions of the currents in the different strata, and unless an acci- dexnt can give us a point about the possible whereabouts of Dr. Andree, all search would be of no use Dr. Andree himselt understood this fully. Therefore he said that we should not look for him, but wait for him. He said that only tbree months’ absence would be possib'e, but searceiy to be ex- pected, one ycar would be the prokakle time in which he would accomplish the trip, and, in the worst case, he would come back after two years. We may rest assured thatall the nations interested in Arctic explorations will anxiously wait for news from the daring aeronaut. And when the proper time comes these nations will not rest satisfied with walting only. With united efforts from Sweden, Amerfca, England, Norway and Russia a great system of searches may be organized. But we have reason to hope that this may not become neces- sary. There are a great number of people going around prophesying disaster for Dr. Andree and naming him afool. If Dr. An- dree should perish they will be ready with their “Didn’t I tell you so?’ But if he should come back safe and sound, we will all without exception greet the noble and brave Bwede.and the evil prophets will have to turn to something else and condemn things about which they know as little ' as about Dr. Andree and the greatest aeronautic undertaking of the century. Eras Ruup. e et e e A Pima Trail Hound. The most insistent and pemistent trail- hound in Arizona is owned by Sam Krut- zenstein, who lives on the Sauta Cruz 1 River in Pima County, and makes his liv- ing by hunting mountain lions for the $20 bonus that the Territory pays for each hide. INear Benson, the other day, Sam’s dog treed a vig lion and sat down under the tree to await the arrival of his master. Sam struck a bear’s trail, however, and did not go to the doz for three days. When he did go both lion and dog were still at the tree and both of them wero ly dead of thirst andstarvation. Sam in the history of his dog, who will never voluntarily leave a treed animal, not even for thirst when thereis a spring close by the tree. R 5 t\ NI\ _