6.
"The Commoner
Curnnt Zopks
THE DEATH OF ELIZABETH CADY STANTON
recalls to a writer in the Chicago Inter-Ocean
an interesting story of a brief but Bpirltod joint do
bato between Mrs. Stanton and Horace Greoloy.
Mrs. Stanton had gone to tho office of the New
York Tribune to present a petition asking Mr.
Greeley to turn his papor ovor to tho cause. After
tho great editor had listened to Mrs. Stanton for a
while he turned, in a self-satisfied way, and asked
her what she would do in case of war. Without
a moment's hesitation she answered: "I would
do as you did, Mr. Greeley. I would send a sub
stitute." Mr. Groeloy had nothing more to say,
but he ovor afterward had the deepest reverence
for Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
WALDEMAR BORGORAS OF THE AMERI
can Museum of Natural History recently read
p papor before a historical congress in New York
city in which ho described in detail tho traditions
and beliefs of tho people of tho far horth. Tho
Now York correspondent of tho Chicago Inter
Ocean gives an interesting summary of Mr. Bor
goraB paper in tho following language: "Human
souls are like fish or seals to them," he said, recfy-
Ing this mythology of the primitive peoples; "they
come In tho night time to human dwellings, put
their nets across the entrance, and thon begin to
poke with long poles under tlie tent skirts, for the
purpose of driving out tho souls of tho sleepers
from the protecting cover of tho inner room. How-
ever, the spirits themselves aro not immune from
tho attacks of certain magicians among mortals."
Mr. Borgoras mentioned among others these talea
of the peoples among whom he worked: "Tho
whale skull carrying away a young woman, who
afterward Is rescued by her brother and returns to
her land In a boat pursued by a whale. "Tho man
who married a whilje goose woman and afterward
followed her to the land of birds through tho
opening and shutting rocks. TJie-small old man
with transparent arms whostands on the seashore
i. chopping-woodwltn a hatchet and making living
fishes of the chips. The aurora borealis is ba
lieved to be a special world inhabited by those who
die of violence. The red glare is their spilled blood.
The changing rays are disembodied'souls playing
ball with a walrus head. New-born children are
believed to be ancestors come back to earth. Their
names are found out by asking the suspended di
vining stone all the names of the preceding gen
eration in turn.
later times brokon apart by the arrival of the
Eskimo. We aro able to trace the whole extent of
this myth and to see that itt importance, dimin
ishes along its route from southern Kamchatka to
tho Columbia river."
ACCORDING TO MR. BORGORAS THE
raven myth is the most important of all.
Tho people of the northern regions believe that
the raven is the transformer, but not the creator,
of the world. Ho brirgs light and fresh water,
teaches tho human race the ways of earthly life
from marriage to tho making of nets, and at the
same time ho la the common laughing stock, is
foolish .and dirty, and is the perpetrator of many
misdeeds and the object of many tricks. He also
has the attributes of a real bird and is always
hungry. In one tribe the1 raven Is a deity and his
mythical name Is translated, by older travelers,
simply as 'God.' He Is connected with almost ev
ery talOj and even when It treats of a subject bear
ing no relation to tho raven his name will at least
be mentioned at the beginning. He is tho trans
former of the world, the 'ancestor of the tribe, and
the teacher of various pursuits, who, after making
his posterity fit for a self-reliant life, goes away to
another country or is turned to stone. Some of the
American episodes of the raven tale reappear on
Asiatic soil. The raven gives the world its pres
ent shape, creates men of stcne, and endows them
with the power of speech. He breaks the wall of
darkness with the aid of other birds and liberated
the light , Or else ho steals from the house of
spirits three skin balls containing the sun, the
moon, and the stars. He transforms himself into
a small leaf and drops into a pool, and the daughter
of a mighty wizard takes tho leaf to her house in
a bucket filled with water. His wives make him
. show his tongue, and they hind it with twine, de
priving him of the power of speech. He urges the
people to flight, under the pretext that the enemy
is coming, and then steals all their provisions. He
is swallowed by a whale, but afterward kills the
whale by pecking at its heart, and comes out In
explaining the similarities between the Asiatic
Bearing tribes and the North Pacific Indians, we
are bound to admit a former juxtaposition of these
tribes and a lino of direct connection which was in
EVERY READER OF AMERICAN HISTORY
will remember tho famous English prison
ship Jersoy in which several hundred Americans
were martyred during the days of tho revolu
tionary war. Tho Jersey at that time was sta- v
tioned in New York harbor and for fifty years a
search, moro or less regular, has been on foot
for tho old ship. It was recently discovered in
the Brooklyn navy yard lying under twelve or
fourteen feet of dirt and water near the water
front of the yard. The Brooklyn correspondent
of the Chicago Chronicle in describing tho discov
ery of this ship makes tho following comment:
"The history of the prison-ships and the dramatic
story of the men who were imprisoned and who
diod In them has not been fully preserved. For
many years it was all a mystery and then tho
skeletons of about 300 men were found in tho yard.
These wore part of the martyrs who had been
confined in tho ships by the British when they in
vaded New York, and the tale was partly told.
The skeletons wore found in the high part of the
yard, and the belief has been that the prisoners
were shot and then carried to land and buried. Tho
finding of the ship strengthens this theory. The
prisoners were probably executed and then the
prison-ship set on fire and run aground. The dis
covery of the skeletons a few years ago is well
remembered. Several barrels of bones were "gath
ered up and placed in a vault Later they were
buried in Fort Greene park with an impressive
ceremony. Tho question of whether there are
other, skeletons in the ruins of tho ship is entirely
a matter of conjecture."
OF LATE YEARS WOMEN HAVE ENGAGED
in many novel occupations, but perhaps, not
many would have the courage to follow the ono
chosen by Miss Emily L. Marden of Milwaukee,
Wis. This young lady Is a full-fledged game
buyer and for this purpose travels extensively
through the woods of the northern part of the
state. A writer in: the Chicago Chronicle tells of
this young woman's achievement in this way:
"For three months each year she goes from ship
ping point to shipping point, buying direct from
the hunters when she can or from the dealers to
whom the hunters bring the game they have Idlled.
This has to be done as rapidly as possible and
there is little rest or sleep for the young woman
until she has gathered up a sufficient quantity to
make it worth while to take the long and tire
some trip back to d-.o city. Under the game laws
no shipping is allowed and this means that every
time a consignment of game reaches town someone
with a hunter's license has brought it down from
the north as personal baggage. With Miss Marden
this personal baggage Is at times excessive and
she has brought in at one trip as many as 2,000
birds which she had gathered up in the course of
tl ree or four days' travel through the woods."
THE NEWS REPORTS OF NOVEMBER 2 RE
ported the destruction by fire" of the old
Whittler homestead at Haverhill, Mass. The Chi
cago Chronicle's description of the accident was
as follows: "The house was destroyed, but every
relic was saved by a brave and faithful woman,
Mrs. JrM. Ela, the matron, who lost her all ex
cept the clothing she wore, while she was saving
those things that the poet once handled, little
things now so dear tohis every reader. 4I don't
care now that I have"-saved them,' she said as
she guarded them. 'I have nothing left, not an
other pair of shoes, but his things are safe.' While
the 'fire was raging Mrs. Ela and her niece tore
from the walls and about the rooms those things
that the poet once owned, his bible, his pictures,
his desk and his andirons, on which blazed the
inspiring logs in whose flames he saw the visions
he has told of in his verses; his fire pan and 100
other things that were a part of his life for half
a century. Tho kitchen is charred, but remains
practically intact, and the old chimney, with its
big fireplace, stands like a monument amid all
the ashes and cinders. The home Is the property
of the Haverhill Whittier Birthplace association";
which organization took it about ten years ago,
and has since maintained it It has been the mecca
for thousands from all parts of the country
and the most noted landmark in that section of
New England.
Vol. a, No. 43.
be treated in awothing way with due regard to thn
nerves of its readers. The paper is to bo unde? ?
direction of a bank director, assisted by two frien 2
who ar lawyers, and newspaper men of nron
nence in Austria and Germany have been invited
to send descriptions of recent stirring' occurrences
treated in this way. Large prizes are offered for
the best work. ur
NEW CURES ARE BEING INVENTED FOir
tho disease to which flesh is heir, but an
heroic method comes from Europe. The Paris
correspondent of tho Chicago Record-Herald de
scribes tho new cure in this way: "M. Raoud
Pictet is a famous Swiss savant chevalier of tho
Legion of Honor, discoverer of the liquefaction
of oxygen, and a member of moro than forty scien
tific societies in France and Germany. He has in
vented a cure for diseases of tho lungs, the stom
ach, tho 'circulation and the kidneys, entitled
'Frigotheraple,' or the 'Freezing cure.' The neces
sary machinery consists of a well of metal lined
with thick furs, into which the patient descends
the depth being about five feet This well is sur
rounded by an outer shell, while the cavity be
tween tho outer and inner walls Is filled with a
combination of sulphurous and carbonic acid
known to the scientific world as 'liquide Pictet' af
ter its discoverer. This gas is kept at a liquid state
at 110 degrees below zero and is constantly forced
into tho cavity by specially constructed pumps.
M. Pictet says the patient, surrounded by furs and
the icy liquid, has no impression of cold whatever,
and, in fact, his temperaturo- rises after three min
utos' treatment, increasing from one-half to one
degree in five minutes. A period of treatment
ranging from five to fifteen minutes is sufficient
for the timebeing. M. Pictet says he himself, af
ter fifteen years of illness, was cured after eight
descents into 'the well.' "
AN INTERESTING BIT OF NEWS COMES
from Vienna and consists of tho information
that there will shortly be published In-. that city
a newspaper for nervous persons. In this newspa
per great catastrophes, bank defalcations and other
events calculated to disturb nervous persons will
AN INTERESTING REPORT WAS RECENTLY
made by the commissioner of the general
land office at Washington, wherein it wn? said
that the public land uisposed of by the govern
ment during the year aggregated 19,488,533 acres,
an increase ovor the previous year. Of this 1.
757,793 acres were sold for cash; 17,614,792 acres
were embraced in miscellaneous entries, and the
remainder were Indian lands.
ACCORDING TO THIS RRPORT TT SEEMS i
J that the forest area in the United States Is"--
increasing as on October 1, last, there were fiftv
four forest reserves, embracing 60,175,765 acres, an
increase of almost 14,000,000 acres since the last
report During the fiscal Tsar there were 1,663
forest fires discovered which burned over 87.
979 acres. The destructiveness of forest fires is be
ing constantly lessened. Concerning reforestation,
the report says: "Assuming that the reforestation
of the denuded areas in the forest reserves, where
sufficient moisture prevails to make the germina-
tion of seeds of the native trees possible, might
be expected to result in good time, if the occur
rence of devastating fires could be reduced to a
minimum, and the grazing of stock restrained with
in proper limits and reduced to a safe basis, the
forest force has been required to make extra ex
ertion to prevent damage by fire, and to keep tho
office duly informed relative to tho effects of stock
grazing and to keep out stock not licensed to enter
the reserves, and all the evidences point to almost
unvarying success. The forest trees are coming
back where there is a plentiful rainfall, and not a
little hope is found in the fact that the native
trees are reproducing themselves in the drier por
tions of the country, whore the fires are kept out
and where grazing is restrained within reasonable
Hmitsand many a waste place is becoming a wil
derness of verdure."
THE EDUCATION BILL THAT IS CAUSING
so much discussion in England and partic
ularly among tho public of London and the larger
cities is perhaps not so clearly understood by
American readers. According to a London corre
spondent of the Chicago Tribune, the elementary
schools -of England and Wales are voluntary
schools of all religious denominations and board
schools. There are in all 14,2iw voluntary schools
and 5,857 board schools. The correspondent adds:
"The voluntary schools are mainly, but not en
tirely, composed of Church of England schools.
They are divisable as follows: Church of England
schools, 11,731; Roman Catholic, 1,003; 'British
and miscellaneous, 1,052; Wesleyan, 458. In tho
voluntary schools there are, in round numbers,
3,200,000 children, In the board schools there are,
in round numbers, 2,600,000 children. The con
science clause' of the 1870 act makes it compulsory
on every school which seeks to obtain a grant for
efficiency from the state as a public elementary
school to refrain from requiring children to attena
,church or chapel; and it further requires that any
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