ByTHEODORE ROOSEVELT.
In this selection there are found many of the characteristics which have made President Roosevelt so popular. Here one notes that love of all that is natural and elemental, the open-air effect, and the healthy tastes of the normal man. The style in which the President narrates his adventures in the West is also eminently in keeping with his frank, open, and unaffected nature. He writes both with enthusiasm and with an utter lack of self-consciousness. His diction is simple; his sentences are short, forcible, and vividly descriptive.They rouse in the reader that same love of adventurous sport which animates Mr. Roosevelt himself and which gives so keen a zest to his reminiscences of what he has experienced in the exciting pursuit of big game. The paragraph in which the killing of the bear is told is very striking in its command of expressive phrases."Scarlet strings of froth hung from his lips; his eyes burned like embers in the gloom.... Instantly the great bear turned with a harsh roar of fury and challenge, blowing the bloody foam from his mouth, so that I saw the gleam of his white fangs."Here are two sentences which alone would show their author to be an unconscious artist in words; and the same qualities of style are to be found in his other books of adventure—"Ranch Life" and "The Rough Riders"—as well as in the more formal but not less spirited historical narratives, his "Naval War of 1812" and "The Winning of the West." Taken together, they admirably illustrate the President's versatility.Reprinted, by permission of Messrs. G.P. Putnam's Sons, from "Hunting the Grizzly," by Theodore Roosevelt—Copyright, 1893.
In this selection there are found many of the characteristics which have made President Roosevelt so popular. Here one notes that love of all that is natural and elemental, the open-air effect, and the healthy tastes of the normal man. The style in which the President narrates his adventures in the West is also eminently in keeping with his frank, open, and unaffected nature. He writes both with enthusiasm and with an utter lack of self-consciousness. His diction is simple; his sentences are short, forcible, and vividly descriptive.They rouse in the reader that same love of adventurous sport which animates Mr. Roosevelt himself and which gives so keen a zest to his reminiscences of what he has experienced in the exciting pursuit of big game. The paragraph in which the killing of the bear is told is very striking in its command of expressive phrases."Scarlet strings of froth hung from his lips; his eyes burned like embers in the gloom.... Instantly the great bear turned with a harsh roar of fury and challenge, blowing the bloody foam from his mouth, so that I saw the gleam of his white fangs."Here are two sentences which alone would show their author to be an unconscious artist in words; and the same qualities of style are to be found in his other books of adventure—"Ranch Life" and "The Rough Riders"—as well as in the more formal but not less spirited historical narratives, his "Naval War of 1812" and "The Winning of the West." Taken together, they admirably illustrate the President's versatility.Reprinted, by permission of Messrs. G.P. Putnam's Sons, from "Hunting the Grizzly," by Theodore Roosevelt—Copyright, 1893.
In this selection there are found many of the characteristics which have made President Roosevelt so popular. Here one notes that love of all that is natural and elemental, the open-air effect, and the healthy tastes of the normal man. The style in which the President narrates his adventures in the West is also eminently in keeping with his frank, open, and unaffected nature. He writes both with enthusiasm and with an utter lack of self-consciousness. His diction is simple; his sentences are short, forcible, and vividly descriptive.They rouse in the reader that same love of adventurous sport which animates Mr. Roosevelt himself and which gives so keen a zest to his reminiscences of what he has experienced in the exciting pursuit of big game. The paragraph in which the killing of the bear is told is very striking in its command of expressive phrases."Scarlet strings of froth hung from his lips; his eyes burned like embers in the gloom.... Instantly the great bear turned with a harsh roar of fury and challenge, blowing the bloody foam from his mouth, so that I saw the gleam of his white fangs."Here are two sentences which alone would show their author to be an unconscious artist in words; and the same qualities of style are to be found in his other books of adventure—"Ranch Life" and "The Rough Riders"—as well as in the more formal but not less spirited historical narratives, his "Naval War of 1812" and "The Winning of the West." Taken together, they admirably illustrate the President's versatility.Reprinted, by permission of Messrs. G.P. Putnam's Sons, from "Hunting the Grizzly," by Theodore Roosevelt—Copyright, 1893.
In this selection there are found many of the characteristics which have made President Roosevelt so popular. Here one notes that love of all that is natural and elemental, the open-air effect, and the healthy tastes of the normal man. The style in which the President narrates his adventures in the West is also eminently in keeping with his frank, open, and unaffected nature. He writes both with enthusiasm and with an utter lack of self-consciousness. His diction is simple; his sentences are short, forcible, and vividly descriptive.They rouse in the reader that same love of adventurous sport which animates Mr. Roosevelt himself and which gives so keen a zest to his reminiscences of what he has experienced in the exciting pursuit of big game. The paragraph in which the killing of the bear is told is very striking in its command of expressive phrases."Scarlet strings of froth hung from his lips; his eyes burned like embers in the gloom.... Instantly the great bear turned with a harsh roar of fury and challenge, blowing the bloody foam from his mouth, so that I saw the gleam of his white fangs."Here are two sentences which alone would show their author to be an unconscious artist in words; and the same qualities of style are to be found in his other books of adventure—"Ranch Life" and "The Rough Riders"—as well as in the more formal but not less spirited historical narratives, his "Naval War of 1812" and "The Winning of the West." Taken together, they admirably illustrate the President's versatility.Reprinted, by permission of Messrs. G.P. Putnam's Sons, from "Hunting the Grizzly," by Theodore Roosevelt—Copyright, 1893.
In this selection there are found many of the characteristics which have made President Roosevelt so popular. Here one notes that love of all that is natural and elemental, the open-air effect, and the healthy tastes of the normal man. The style in which the President narrates his adventures in the West is also eminently in keeping with his frank, open, and unaffected nature. He writes both with enthusiasm and with an utter lack of self-consciousness. His diction is simple; his sentences are short, forcible, and vividly descriptive.
They rouse in the reader that same love of adventurous sport which animates Mr. Roosevelt himself and which gives so keen a zest to his reminiscences of what he has experienced in the exciting pursuit of big game. The paragraph in which the killing of the bear is told is very striking in its command of expressive phrases.
"Scarlet strings of froth hung from his lips; his eyes burned like embers in the gloom.... Instantly the great bear turned with a harsh roar of fury and challenge, blowing the bloody foam from his mouth, so that I saw the gleam of his white fangs."
Here are two sentences which alone would show their author to be an unconscious artist in words; and the same qualities of style are to be found in his other books of adventure—"Ranch Life" and "The Rough Riders"—as well as in the more formal but not less spirited historical narratives, his "Naval War of 1812" and "The Winning of the West." Taken together, they admirably illustrate the President's versatility.
Reprinted, by permission of Messrs. G.P. Putnam's Sons, from "Hunting the Grizzly," by Theodore Roosevelt—Copyright, 1893.
I spent much of the fall of 1889 hunting on the head-waters of the Salmon and Snake in Idaho, and along the Montana boundary line from the Bighorn Basin and the head of the Wisdom River to the neighborhood of Red Rock Pass and to the north and west of Henry's Lake. During the last fortnight my companion was the old mountain man, already mentioned, named Griffeth or Griffin—I cannot tell which, as he was always called either "Hank" or "Griff." He was a crabbedly honest old fellow, and a very skilful hunter; but he was worn out with age and rheumatism, and his temper had failed even faster than his bodily strength. He showed me a greater variety of game than I had ever seen before in so short a time; nor did I ever before or after make so successful a hunt. But he was an exceedingly disagreeable companion on account of his surly, moody ways. I generally had to get up first, to kindle the fire and make ready breakfast, and he was very quarrelsome. Finally, during my absence from camp one day, while not very far from Red Rock Pass, he found my whisky-flask, which I kept purely for emergencies, and drank all the contents. When I came back he was quite drunk. This was unbearable, and after some high words I left him, and struck off homeward through the woods on my own account. We had with us four pack and saddle horses; and of these I took a very intelligent and gentle little bronco mare, which possessed the invaluable trait of always staying near camp, even when not hobbled. I was not hampered with much of an outfit, having only my buffalo sleeping-bag, a fur coat, and my washing kit, with a couple of spare pairs ofsocks and some handkerchiefs. A frying-pan, some salt, flour, baking-powder, a small chunk of salt pork, and a hatchet, made up a light pack, which, with the bedding, I fastened across the stock saddle by means of a rope and a spare packing cinch. My cartridges and knife were in my belt; my compass and matches, as always, in my pocket. I walked, while the little mare followed almost like a dog, often without my having to hold the lariat which served as halter.
The country was for the most part fairly open, as I kept near the foot-hills where glades and little prairies broke the pine forest. The trees were of small size. There was no regular trail, but the course was easy to keep, and I had no trouble of any kind save on the second day. That afternoon I was following a stream which at last "cañoned up," that is, sank to the bottom of a cañon-like ravine impassable for a horse. I started up a side valley, intending to cross from its head coulées to those of another valley which would lead in below the cañon.
However, I got enmeshed in the tangle of winding valleys at the foot of the steep mountains, and as dusk was coming on I halted and camped in a little open spot by the side of a small, noisy brook, with crystal water. The place was carpeted with soft, wet, green moss, dotted red with the kinnikinic berries, and at its edge, under the trees where the ground was dry, I threw down the buffalo bed on the mat of sweet-smelling pine-needles. Making camp took but a moment. I opened the pack, tossed the bedding on a smooth spot, knee-haltered the little mare, dragged up a few dry logs, and then strolled off, rifle on shoulder, through the frosty gloaming, to see if I could pick up a grouse for supper.
For half a mile I walked quickly and silently over the pine-needles, across a succession of slight ridges, separated by narrow, shallow valleys. The forest here was composed of lodge-pole pines, which on the ridges grew close together, with tall slender trunks, while in the valleys the growth was more open. Though the sun was behind the mountains there was yet plenty of light by which to shoot, but it was fading rapidly.
At last, as I was thinking of turning toward camp, I stole up to the crest of one of the ridges, and looked over into the valley some sixty yards off. Immediately I caught the loom of some large, dark object; and another glance showed me a big grizzly walking slowly off with his head down. He was quartering to me, and I fired into his flank, the bullet, as I afterward found, ranging forward and piercing one lung. At the shot he uttered a loud, moaning grunt and plunged forward at a heavy gallop, while I raced obliquely down the hill to cut him off. After going a few hundred feet he reached a laurel thicket, some thirty yards broad, and two or three times as long, which he did not leave. I ran up to the edge and there halted, not liking to venture into the mass of twisted, close-growing stems and glossy foliage. Moreover, as I halted, I heard him utter a peculiar, savage kind of whine from the heart of the brush. Accordingly, I began to skirt the edge, standing on tiptoe and gazing earnestly to see if I could not catch a glimpse of his hide. When I was at the narrowest part of the thicket, he suddenly left it directly opposite, and then wheeled and stood broadside to me on the hillside, a little above. He turned his head stiffly toward me; scarlet strings of froth hung from his lips; his eyes burned like embers in the gloom.
I held true, aiming behind the shoulder, and my bullet shattered the point or lower end of his heart, taking out a big nick. Instantly the great bear turned with a harsh roar of fury and challenge, blowing the bloody foam from his mouth, so that I saw the gleam of his white fangs; and then he charged straight at me, crashing and bounding through the laurel bushes, so that it was hard to aim. I waited until he came to a fallen tree, raking him as he topped it with a ball, which entered his chest and went through the cavity of his body, but he neither swerved nor flinched, and at the moment I did not know that I had struck him. He came steadily on, and in another second was almost upon me. I fired for his forehead, but my bullet went low, entering his open mouth, smashing his lower jaw and going into the neck. I leaped to one sidealmost as I pulled the trigger; and through the hanging smoke the first thing I saw was his paw as he made a vicious side blow at me. The rush of his charge carried him past. As he struck he lurched forward, leaving a pool of bright blood where his muzzle hit the ground; but he recovered himself and made two or three jumps onward, while I hurriedly jammed a couple of cartridges into the magazine, my rifle holding only four, which I had fired. Then he tried to pull up, but as he did so his muscles seemed to give way, his head drooped, and he rolled over and over like a shot rabbit. Each of my first three bullets had inflicted a mortal wound.
It was already twilight, and I merely opened the carcass, and then trotted back to camp. Next morning I returned and with much labor took off the skin. The fur was very fine, the animal being in excellent trim, and unusually bright-colored. Unfortunately, in packing it out I lost the skull, and had to supply its place with one of plaster. The beauty of the trophy, and the memory of the circumstances under which I procured it, make me value it perhaps more highly than any other in my house.
This is the only instance in which I have been regularly charged by a grizzly. On the whole, the danger of hunting these great bears has been much exaggerated. At the beginning of the present century, when white hunters first encountered the grizzly, he was doubtless an exceedingly savage beast, prone to attack without provocation, and a redoubtable foe to persons armed with the clumsy small-bore, muzzle-loading rifles of the day. But at present bitter experience has taught him caution. He has been hunted for sport, and hunted for his pelt, and hunted for the bounty, and hunted as a dangerous enemy to stock, until, save in the very wildest districts, he has learned to be more wary than a deer, and to avoid man's presence almost as carefully as the most timid kind of game. Except in rare cases he will not attack of his own accord, and, as a rule, even when wounded, his object is escape rather than battle.
Still, when fairly brought to bay, or when moved by a sudden fit of ungovernable anger, the grizzly is beyond peradventure a very dangerous antagonist. The first shot, if taken at a bear a good distance off and previously unwounded and unharried, is not usually fraught with much danger, the startled animal being at the outset bent merely on flight. It is always hazardous, however, to track a wounded and worried grizzly into thick cover, and the man who habitually follows and kills this chief of American game in dense timber, never abandoning the bloody trail whithersoever it leads, must show no small degree of skill and hardihood, and must not too closely count the risk to life or limb. Bears differ widely in temper, and occasionally one may be found who will not show fight, no matter how much he is bullied; but, as a rule, a hunter must be cautious in meddling with a wounded animal which has retreated into a dense thicket, and has been once or twice roused; and such a beast, when it does turn, will usually charge again and again, and fight to the last with unconquerable ferocity. The short distance at which the bear can be seen through the underbrush, the fury of his charge, and his tenacity of life make it necessary for the hunter on such occasions to have steady nerves and a fairly quick and accurate aim.
It is always well to have two men in following a wounded bear under such conditions. This is not necessary, however, and a good hunter, rather than lose his quarry, will, under ordinary circumstances, follow and attack it, no matter how tangled the fastness in which it has sought refuge; but he must act warily and with the utmost caution and resolution, if he wishes to escape a terrible and probably fatal mauling. An experienced hunter is rarely rash, and never heedless; he will not, when alone, follow a wounded bear into a thicket, if by the exercise of patience, skill, and knowledge of the game's habits he can avoid the necessity; but it is idle to talk of the feat as something which ought in no case to be attempted.
While danger ought never to be needlessly incurred, it is yet true that the keenest zest in sport comes from its presence, and from the consequent exercise of the qualities necessary to overcome it. The most thrilling moments ofan American hunter's life are those in which, with every sense on the alert, and with nerves strung to the highest point, he is following alone into the heart of its forest fastness the fresh and bloody footprints of an angered grizzly; and no other triumph of American hunting can compare with the victory to be thus gained.
These big bears will not ordinarily charge from a distance of over a hundred yards; but there are exceptions to this rule. In the fall of 1890 my friend Archibald Rogers was hunting in Wyoming, south of the Yellowstone Park, and killed seven bears. One, an old he, was out on a bare table-land, grubbing for roots, when he was spied. It was early in the afternoon, and the hunters, who were on a high mountain slope, examined him for some time through their powerful glasses before making him out to be a bear. They then stalked up to the edge of the wood which fringed the table-land on one side, but could get no nearer than about three hundred yards, the plains being barren of all cover. After waiting for a couple of hours Rogers risked the shot, in despair of getting nearer, and wounded the bear, though not very seriously. The animal made off, almost broadside to, and Rogers ran forward to intercept it. As soon as it saw him it turned and rushed straight for him, not heeding his second shot, and evidently bent on charging home. Rogers then waited until it was within twenty yards, and brained it with his third bullet.
In fact bears differ individually in courage and ferocity precisely as men do, or as the Spanish bulls, of which it is said that not more than one in twenty is fit to stand the combat of the arena. One grizzly can scarcely be bullied into resistance; the next may fight to the end, against any odds, without flinching, or even attack unprovoked. Hence men of limited experience in this sport, generalizing from the actions of the two or three bears each has happened to see or kill, often reach diametrically opposite conclusions as to the fighting temper and capacity of the quarry. Even old hunters—who indeed, as a class, are very narrow-minded and opinionated—often generalize just as rashly as beginners. One will portray all bears as very dangerous; another will speak and act as if he deemed them of no more consequence than so many rabbits.
I knew one old hunter who had killed a score without ever seeing one show fight. On the other hand, Dr. James C. Merrill, U.S.A., who has had about as much experience with bears as I have had, informs me that he has been charged with the utmost determination three times. In each case the attack was delivered before the bear was wounded or even shot at, the animal being roused by the approach of the hunters from his day bed, and charging headlong at them from a distance of twenty or thirty paces. All three bears were killed before they could do any damage.
There was a very remarkable incident connected with the killing of one of them. It occurred in the northern spurs of the Bighorn range. Dr. Merrill, in company with an old hunter, had climbed down into a deep, narrow cañon. The bottom was threaded with well-beaten elk trails. While following one of these the two men turned a corner of the cañon and were instantly charged by an old she-grizzly, so close that it was only by good luck that one of the hurried shots disabled her and caused her to tumble over a cut bank where she was easily finished. They found that she had been lying directly across the game trail, on a smooth, well-beaten patch of bare earth, which looked as if it had been dug up, refilled, and trampled down. Looking curiously at this patch they saw a bit of hide only partially covered at one end; digging down they found the body of a well-grown grizzly cub. Its skull had been crushed, and the brains licked out, and there were signs of other injuries. The hunters pondered long over this strange discovery, and hazarded many guesses as to its meaning. At last they decided that probably the cub had been killed, and its brains eaten out, either by some old male grizzly or by a cougar, that the mother had returned and driven away the murderer, and that she had then buried the body and lain above it, waiting to wreak her vengeance on the first passer-by.
Old Tazewell Woody, during his thirty years' life as a hunter in the Rockies and on the great plains, killed very many grizzlies. He always exercised much caution in dealing with them; and, as it happened, he was by some suitable tree in almost every case when he was charged. He would accordingly climb the tree (a practise of which I do not approve, however), and the bear would look up at him and pass on without stopping. Once, when he was hunting in the mountains with a companion, the latter, who was down in a valley, while Woody was on the hillside, shot at a bear. The first thing Woody knew the wounded grizzly, running up-hill, was almost on him from behind. As he turned it seized his rifle in its jaws. He wrenched the rifle round, while the bear still gripped it, and pulled trigger, sending a bullet into its shoulder; whereupon it struck him with its paw, and knocked him over the rocks. By good luck he fell in a snow-bank and was not hurt in the least. Meanwhile the bear went on and they never got it.
Once he had an experience with a bear which showed a very curious mixture of rashness and cowardice. He and a companion were camped in a little teepee or wigwam, with a bright fire in front of it, lighting up the night. There was an inch of snow on the ground. Just after they went to bed a grizzly came close to camp. Their dog rushed out and they could hear it bark round in the darkness for nearly an hour; then the bear drove it off and came right into camp. It went close to the fire, picking up the scraps of meat and bread, pulled a haunch of venison down from a tree, and passed and repassed in front of the teepee, paying no heed whatever to the two men, who crouched in the doorway talking to one another. Once it passed so close that Woody could almost have touched it. Finally his companion fired into it, and off it ran, badly wounded, without any attempt at retaliation. The next morning they followed its tracks in the snow, and finally found it a quarter of a mile away. It was near a pine-tree, and had buried itself under the loose earth, pine-needles, and snow; Woody's companion almost walked over it, and putting his rifle to its ear blew out its brains.
In all his experience Woody had personally seen but four men who were badly mauled by bears. Three of these were merely wounded. One was bitten terribly in the back. Another had an arm partially chewed off. The third was a man named George Dow, and the accident happened to him on the Yellowstone about the year 1878. He was with a pack animal at the time, leading it on a trail through a wood. Seeing a big she-bear with cubs he yelled at her; whereat she ran away, but only to cache her cubs, and in a minute, having hidden them, came racing back at him. His pack animal being slow, he started to climb a tree; but before he could get far enough up she caught him, almost biting a piece out of the calf of his leg, pulled him down, bit and cuffed him two or three times, and then went on her way.
The only time Woody ever saw a man killed by a bear was once when he had given a touch of variety to his life by shipping on a New Bedford whaler which had touched at one of the Puget Sound ports. The whaler went up to a part of Alaska where bears were very plentiful and bold. One day a couple of boats' crews landed; and the men, who were armed only with an occasional harpoon or lance, scattered over the beach, one of them, a Frenchman, wading into the water after shell-fish. Suddenly a bear emerged from some bushes and charged among the astonished sailors, who scattered in every direction; but the bear, said Woody, "just had it in for that Frenchman," and went straight at him. Shrieking with terror he retreated up to his neck in the water; but the bear plunged in after him, caught him, and disemboweled him. One of the Yankee mates then fired a bomb lance into the bear's hips, and the savage beast hobbled off into the dense cover of the low scrub, where the enraged sailor-folk were unable to get at it.
The truth is that while the grizzly generally avoids a battle if possible, and often acts with great cowardice, it is never safe to take liberties with him; he usually fights desperately and dies hard when wounded and cornered, and exceptional individuals take the aggressive on small provocation.
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) has been pronounced by many eminent critics the most truly great of all the writers of fiction that France has produced. This judgment has been questioned at times by admirers of Hugo and Dumas, but on one point all students of French literature agree—that as an analyst of human character Honoré de Balzac never has had a peer.
As might have been expected of such a profound student of human nature, Balzac on various occasions attempted to analyze the character of woman. Many millions of men had essayed this task before Balzac's time and had failed, as millions of other men have been failing ever since. Philosophers have been the first to despair, for they contend that no woman ever thoroughly understands herself or any other member of her sex—in short, that she is to be understood only by the angels. But it is generally believed that Balzac came nearer the truth in his estimate of woman than any other novelist has done. Naturally his views were conflicting.The Scrap Bookherewith presents some of them.
When a woman pronounces the name of a man but twice a day, there may be some doubt as to the nature of her sentiment—but three times!
In courting women, many dry wood for a fire that will not burn for them.
No man has yet discovered the means of successfully giving friendly advice to women—not even to his own.
A man who can love deeply is never utterly contemptible.
Women are constantly the dupes, or else the victims, of their extreme sensitiveness.
A man must be a fool who does not succeed in making a woman believe that which flatters her.
A woman when she has passed forty becomes an illegible scrawl; only an old woman is capable of divining old women.
A woman full of faith in the one she loves is but a novelist's fancy.
The mistakes of a woman result almost always from her faith in the good and her confidence in the truth.
Woman is a charming creature, who changes her heart as easily as her gloves.
The man who can govern a woman can govern a nation.
In the elevated order of ideas, the life of man is glory; the life of woman is love.
Marriage has its unknown great men as war has its Napoleons and philosophy its Descartes.
The Indian axiom "Do not strike even with a flower a woman guilty of a hundred crimes," is my rule of conduct.
Most women proceed like the flea, by leaps and jumps.
When women love us, they forgive us everything, even our crimes. When they do not love us, they give us credit for nothing, not even for our virtues.
Marriage should combat without respite or mercy that monster which devours everything—habit.
There is one thing admirable in women: they never reason about their blameworthy actions; even in their dissimulation here is an element of sincerity.
Of the Five Score Men and Women Among Whom $6,760,000,000 is Divided Fiftyare Citizens of the United States—England is Represented by Thirteen—OilYielded the Largest Individual Fortune.
When the average present-day millionaire is bluntly asked to name the value of his earthly possessions he finds it difficult to answer the question correctly. It may be that he is not willing to take the questioner into his confidence. It is doubtful whether he really knows.
If this is true of the millionaire himself, it follows that when others attempt the task of estimating the amount of his wealth, the results must be conflicting. Still, excellent authorities are not lacking on this subject, and the list of the world's richest hundred persons, which is printed herewith, has been compiled from the best.
Rank. Name.Country.How Made.Total Fortune.1—John D. RockefellerUnited StatesOil$600,000,0002—A. BeitSouth AfricaGold and diamonds500,000,0003—J.B. RobinsonSouth AfricaGold400,000,0004—Czar Nicholas IIRussiaInherited350,000,0005—Andrew CarnegieUnited StatesSteel300,000,0006—W.W. AstorUnited StatesReal estate300,000,0007—Prince DemidoffRussiaInherited200,000,0008—Emperor Franz JosefAustriaInherited185,000,0009—J. Pierpont MorganUnited StatesFinance150,000,00010—William RockefellerUnited StatesOil100,000,00011—H.H. RogersUnited StatesOil100,000,00012—W.K. VanderbiltUnited StatesRailroads100,000,00013—Senator ClarkUnited StatesCopper100,000,00014—John Jacob AstorUnited StatesReal estate100,000,00015—Duke of WestminsterEnglandReal estate100,000,00016—Lord RothschildEnglandBanker100,000,00017—Baron E. de RothschildFranceBanker100,000,00018—King LeopoldBelgiumInherited and acquired100,000,00019—Grand Duke VladimirRussiaInherited100,000,00020—Russell SageUnited StatesFinance80,000,00021—H.C. FrickUnited StatesSteel and coke80,000,00022—D.O. MillsUnited StatesBanker75,000,00023—Marshall Field, Jr.United StatesInherited75,000,00024—Henry M. FlaglerUnited StatesOil60,000,00025—James J. HillUnited StatesRailroads60,000,00026—Archduke FrederickAustriaInherited60,000,00027—The SultanTurkeyInherited50,000,00028—Prince LichtensteinAustriaInherited50,000,00029—Baron BleichroderGermanyBanker50,000,00030—M. HeineFranceBanker50,000,00031—Lord IveaghIrelandBrewer50,000,00032—Señora CousinoChiliInherited50,000,00033—Sir Jervin ClarkAustraliaSheep50,000,00034—John D. ArchboldUnited StatesOil50,000,00035—Oliver PayneUnited StatesOil50,000,00036—J.B. HagginUnited StatesGold50,000,00037—Harry FieldUnited StatesInherited50,000,00038—Duke of DevonshireEnglandInherited50,000,00039—A. BrehrAustriaBanker45,000,00040—James Henry SmithUnited StatesInherited40,000,00041—Henry PhippsUnited StatesSteel40,000,00042—Alfred G. VanderbiltUnited StatesRailroads40,000,00043—H.O. HavemeyerUnited StatesSugar40,000,00044—Mrs. Hetty GreenUnited StatesFinance40,000,00045—Thomas F. RyanUnited StatesFinance40,000,00046—Lord StrathconaCanadaFinance40,000,00047—Miss Bertha KruppGermanySteel40,000,00048—Grand Duke MichaelRussiaInherited40,000,00049—Mrs. W. WalkerUnited StatesInherited35,000,00050—George GouldUnited StatesRailroads35,000,00051—Prince Henry of PlessGermanyInherited35,000,00052—J. Ogden ArmourUnited StatesMeat30,000,00053—E.T. GerryUnited StatesInherited30,000,00054—Robert W. GoeletUnited StatesReal estate30,000,00055—Don Luis WizperrazasMexicoMines30,000,00056—Earl of DerbyEnglandInherited30,000,00057—Count HenckelGermanyInherited30,000,00058—J.H. FlaglerUnited StatesFinance30,000,00059—Claus SpreckelsUnited StatesSugar30,000,00060—W.F. HavemeyerUnited StatesSugar30,000,00061—Bishop KohnAustriaInherited30,000,00062—F. SchwarzenbergerAustriaInherited30,000,00063—Jacob H. SchiffUnited StatesBanker25,000,00064—P.A.B. WidenerUnited StatesStreet cars25,000,00065—George F. BakerUnited StatesBanker25,000,00066—Duke of SutherlandScotlandReal estate25,000,00067—Duke of BedfordEnglandReal estate25,000,00068—Duke of PortlandEnglandReal estate25,000,00069—Baron A. de RothschildEnglandBanker25,000,00070—Baron L. de RothschildEnglandBanker25,000,00071—Duc d'ArenbergBelgiumInherited25,000,00072—Angelo QuintieriItalyInherited25,000,00073—M. NobelRussiaOil25,000,00074—Baron LeitenbergerAustriaInherited25,000,00075—Prince YusupoffRussiaInherited25,000,00076—Lord MountstephenCanadaReal estate25,000,00077—Queen LouiseDenmarkInherited25,000,00078—Grand Duke of HesseGermanyInherited25,000,00079—Prince Anton RadziwillGermanyInherited25,000,00080—August BelmontUnited StatesFinance20,000,00081—James StillmanUnited StatesBanker20,000,00082—John W. GatesUnited StatesFinance20,000,00083—Norman B. ReamUnited StatesFinance20,000,00084—Joseph PulitzerUnited StatesJournalist20,000,00085—James G. BennettUnited StatesJournalist20,000,00086—John G. MooreUnited StatesFinance20,000,00087—D.G. ReidUnited StatesSteel20,000,00088—Frederick PabstUnited StatesBrewer20,000,00089—William D. SloaneUnited StatesInherited20,000,00090—William B. LeedsUnited StatesRailroads20,000,00091—James B. DukeUnited StatesTobacco20,000,00092—Anthony N. BradyUnited StatesFinance20,000,00093—Geo. W. VanderbiltUnited StatesRailroads20,000,00094—Fred. W. VanderbiltUnited StatesRailroads20,000,00095—Duke of Northumberl'dEnglandInherited20,000,00096—Lord ArmstrongEnglandInherited20,000,00097—Lord BrasseyEnglandInherited20,000,00098—Sir Thomas LiptonEnglandGrocer20,000,00099—Ex-Empress EugenieFranceInherited20,000,000100—Queen WilhelminaHollandInherited20,000,000———————Total$6,760,000,000
A Garnering of Old Jokes from the Classics Impresses the Reader with the Fact thatModern Wit Isn't as New as It Ought to Be.
We moderns find it hard to improve on the ancients, except in such insignificant conveniences as speed in traveling. Even our humor is in large part no more than the re-tailored mummies of Roman, Greek, and Egyptian humor—which means, of course, that those ancients merely resurrected the jokes of their own dim ancestors. Humor comes before speech.
The Greeks had a pretty wit. And how modern the old Greek jokes do sound!
A truly didactic saying is attributed by Aelian to the Spartan magistrates. "When certain persons from Clazomenæ had come to Sparta and smeared with soot the seats on which the Spartan magistrates sat discharging public duties; on discovering what had been done and by whom, they expressed no indignation, but merely ordered a proclamation to be made, 'Let it be lawful for the people of Clazomenæ to make blackguards of themselves.'"
A truly didactic saying is attributed by Aelian to the Spartan magistrates. "When certain persons from Clazomenæ had come to Sparta and smeared with soot the seats on which the Spartan magistrates sat discharging public duties; on discovering what had been done and by whom, they expressed no indignation, but merely ordered a proclamation to be made, 'Let it be lawful for the people of Clazomenæ to make blackguards of themselves.'"
A number of apothegms, proverbs, or sayings of more or less wit occur in the collected works of Plutarch, although Schneidewin does not hesitate to attribute most of them to some impostor usurping his name. At any rate, they are handily classified, and form a bulky addition to Mr. Paley's translated specimens.
Here is a brief and bright saying which this writer attaches to King Archelaus, when a talkative barber, trimming his beard, asked him, "How shall I cut it?"
"In silence," replied the king.
The anecdote recalls one of Charles II's bragging barbers, who boasted to him he could cut his majesty's throat when he would—a boast for which he was only dismissed; though for a like rash vaunt, according to Peter Cunningham, the barber of Dionysius was crucified.
To return to Plutarch, he tells the following stories, both good in their way, of Philip of Macedon.
In passing sentence on two rogues, he ordered one to leave Macedonia with all possible speed, and the other to try to catch him.
No less astute was his query as to a strong position he wished to occupy, which was reported by the scouts to be almost impregnable.
"Is there not," he asked, "even a pathway to it wide enough for an ass laden with gold?"
Philip, too, according to Plutarch, is entitled to the fatherhood of an adage which retains its ancient fame about "calling a spade a spade."
Another story tells how Philip removed a judge, because he discovered that the man's hair and beard were dyed.
"I could not believe," Plutarch reports the king as saying, "that one who was false in his hair could be honest in his judgments."
Another sample of a witty saying from Plutarch's mint is one attributed to Themistocles, that his son was the strongest man in Greece.
"For," said he, "the Athenians rule the Hellenes, I rule the Athenians, your mother rules me, and you rule your mother."
Yet another is a retort attributed to Iphicrates, the celebrated Athenian general. Harmodius, a young aristocrat who bore a name famous in the early history of Athens, had reproached Iphicrates, who was the son of a cobbler, with his mean birth.
"My nobility," the soldier replied, "begins with me, but yours ends with you."
Another Athenian general, Phocion, was a man who preferred deeds to words. He compared the eloquent speeches of one of his political opponents to cypress-trees.
"They are tall," he said, "but they bear no fruit."
Elsewhere Plutarch tells of a man who plucked the feathers from a nightingale, and, finding it a very small bird, exclaimed:
"You little wretch, you're nothing but voice!"
And again, the repartee of a Laconian to a man of Sparta who twitted him with being unable to stand as long as himself on one leg.
"No," replied the other, "but any goose can."
An anecdote of Strabo gives a vivid picture of the clashing of a harper's performances with the sounding of a bell for opening of the fish-market. All the audience vanished at once save a little deaf man.
The harper expressed himself unutterably flattered at his having resisted the importunity of the bell.
"What!" cried the deaf man, "has the fish-bell rung? Then I'm off, too. Good-by!"
BySIR WALTER SCOTT.
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was the first of the great romantic writers of modern England. As a boy he showed an extraordinary fondness for collecting and learning by heart the legends and old-time ballads which were current in that part of Scotland where he was born. Grown older, he found equal pleasure in studying the records and traditions of early English and Scottish history.From childhood he had a remarkable gift for story-telling, and would weave together strange and curious bits of antique lore for the delight of his companions. Later, he became for a while the most popular poet in Great Britain by publishing a series of romantic poems, among which "Marmion," "The Lady of the Lake," and "Rokeby" have endured the test of time.In 1814 Scott turned from poetry to prose and published anonymously the historical novel "Waverley," which took the whole English reading world by storm. This triumph was repeated in the splendid novels which followed in rapid succession. Between 1815 and 1825 twelve of these so-called Waverley novels came from his pen. They were translated into all the languages of Europe and exercised a profound influence upon the whole subsequent history of European fiction.The Waverley novels may be grouped under two heads—novels of Scottish life, and novels based upon incidents of English history. Of the former, the greatest are "Guy Mannering," "Rob Roy," "The Heart of Midlothian," and "Old Mortality." Of the latter, the most famous are "Kenilworth," "Ivanhoe," and "The Talisman."Scott may be said to have created the historical novel, and to have quickened by means of it the national pride of his countrymen. At the time of his death he was recognized as a great public character, so that when in his last illness he went abroad in search of health the British government placed a man-of-war at his disposal.The romance of "Ivanhoe," from which this selection has been taken, is the most spirited and stirring picture of the age of chivalry that English literature contains.
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was the first of the great romantic writers of modern England. As a boy he showed an extraordinary fondness for collecting and learning by heart the legends and old-time ballads which were current in that part of Scotland where he was born. Grown older, he found equal pleasure in studying the records and traditions of early English and Scottish history.From childhood he had a remarkable gift for story-telling, and would weave together strange and curious bits of antique lore for the delight of his companions. Later, he became for a while the most popular poet in Great Britain by publishing a series of romantic poems, among which "Marmion," "The Lady of the Lake," and "Rokeby" have endured the test of time.In 1814 Scott turned from poetry to prose and published anonymously the historical novel "Waverley," which took the whole English reading world by storm. This triumph was repeated in the splendid novels which followed in rapid succession. Between 1815 and 1825 twelve of these so-called Waverley novels came from his pen. They were translated into all the languages of Europe and exercised a profound influence upon the whole subsequent history of European fiction.The Waverley novels may be grouped under two heads—novels of Scottish life, and novels based upon incidents of English history. Of the former, the greatest are "Guy Mannering," "Rob Roy," "The Heart of Midlothian," and "Old Mortality." Of the latter, the most famous are "Kenilworth," "Ivanhoe," and "The Talisman."Scott may be said to have created the historical novel, and to have quickened by means of it the national pride of his countrymen. At the time of his death he was recognized as a great public character, so that when in his last illness he went abroad in search of health the British government placed a man-of-war at his disposal.The romance of "Ivanhoe," from which this selection has been taken, is the most spirited and stirring picture of the age of chivalry that English literature contains.
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was the first of the great romantic writers of modern England. As a boy he showed an extraordinary fondness for collecting and learning by heart the legends and old-time ballads which were current in that part of Scotland where he was born. Grown older, he found equal pleasure in studying the records and traditions of early English and Scottish history.From childhood he had a remarkable gift for story-telling, and would weave together strange and curious bits of antique lore for the delight of his companions. Later, he became for a while the most popular poet in Great Britain by publishing a series of romantic poems, among which "Marmion," "The Lady of the Lake," and "Rokeby" have endured the test of time.In 1814 Scott turned from poetry to prose and published anonymously the historical novel "Waverley," which took the whole English reading world by storm. This triumph was repeated in the splendid novels which followed in rapid succession. Between 1815 and 1825 twelve of these so-called Waverley novels came from his pen. They were translated into all the languages of Europe and exercised a profound influence upon the whole subsequent history of European fiction.The Waverley novels may be grouped under two heads—novels of Scottish life, and novels based upon incidents of English history. Of the former, the greatest are "Guy Mannering," "Rob Roy," "The Heart of Midlothian," and "Old Mortality." Of the latter, the most famous are "Kenilworth," "Ivanhoe," and "The Talisman."Scott may be said to have created the historical novel, and to have quickened by means of it the national pride of his countrymen. At the time of his death he was recognized as a great public character, so that when in his last illness he went abroad in search of health the British government placed a man-of-war at his disposal.The romance of "Ivanhoe," from which this selection has been taken, is the most spirited and stirring picture of the age of chivalry that English literature contains.
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was the first of the great romantic writers of modern England. As a boy he showed an extraordinary fondness for collecting and learning by heart the legends and old-time ballads which were current in that part of Scotland where he was born. Grown older, he found equal pleasure in studying the records and traditions of early English and Scottish history.From childhood he had a remarkable gift for story-telling, and would weave together strange and curious bits of antique lore for the delight of his companions. Later, he became for a while the most popular poet in Great Britain by publishing a series of romantic poems, among which "Marmion," "The Lady of the Lake," and "Rokeby" have endured the test of time.In 1814 Scott turned from poetry to prose and published anonymously the historical novel "Waverley," which took the whole English reading world by storm. This triumph was repeated in the splendid novels which followed in rapid succession. Between 1815 and 1825 twelve of these so-called Waverley novels came from his pen. They were translated into all the languages of Europe and exercised a profound influence upon the whole subsequent history of European fiction.The Waverley novels may be grouped under two heads—novels of Scottish life, and novels based upon incidents of English history. Of the former, the greatest are "Guy Mannering," "Rob Roy," "The Heart of Midlothian," and "Old Mortality." Of the latter, the most famous are "Kenilworth," "Ivanhoe," and "The Talisman."Scott may be said to have created the historical novel, and to have quickened by means of it the national pride of his countrymen. At the time of his death he was recognized as a great public character, so that when in his last illness he went abroad in search of health the British government placed a man-of-war at his disposal.The romance of "Ivanhoe," from which this selection has been taken, is the most spirited and stirring picture of the age of chivalry that English literature contains.
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was the first of the great romantic writers of modern England. As a boy he showed an extraordinary fondness for collecting and learning by heart the legends and old-time ballads which were current in that part of Scotland where he was born. Grown older, he found equal pleasure in studying the records and traditions of early English and Scottish history.
From childhood he had a remarkable gift for story-telling, and would weave together strange and curious bits of antique lore for the delight of his companions. Later, he became for a while the most popular poet in Great Britain by publishing a series of romantic poems, among which "Marmion," "The Lady of the Lake," and "Rokeby" have endured the test of time.
In 1814 Scott turned from poetry to prose and published anonymously the historical novel "Waverley," which took the whole English reading world by storm. This triumph was repeated in the splendid novels which followed in rapid succession. Between 1815 and 1825 twelve of these so-called Waverley novels came from his pen. They were translated into all the languages of Europe and exercised a profound influence upon the whole subsequent history of European fiction.
The Waverley novels may be grouped under two heads—novels of Scottish life, and novels based upon incidents of English history. Of the former, the greatest are "Guy Mannering," "Rob Roy," "The Heart of Midlothian," and "Old Mortality." Of the latter, the most famous are "Kenilworth," "Ivanhoe," and "The Talisman."
Scott may be said to have created the historical novel, and to have quickened by means of it the national pride of his countrymen. At the time of his death he was recognized as a great public character, so that when in his last illness he went abroad in search of health the British government placed a man-of-war at his disposal.
The romance of "Ivanhoe," from which this selection has been taken, is the most spirited and stirring picture of the age of chivalry that English literature contains.
The lists now presented a most splendid spectacle. The sloping galleries were crowded with all that was noble, great, wealthy, and beautiful in the northern and midland parts of England; and the contrast of the various dresses of these dignified spectators rendered the view as gay as it was rich, while the interior and lower space, filled with the substantial burgesses and yeomen of merry England, formed, in their more plain attire, a dark fringe, or border, around this circle of brilliant embroidery, relieving, and at the same time setting off, its splendor.
The heralds finished their proclamation with the usual cry of "Largesse, largesse, gallant knights!" and gold and silver pieces were showered on them from the galleries, it being a high point of chivalry to exhibit liberality toward those whom the age accounted at once the secretaries and the historians of honor.
The bounty of the spectators was acknowledged by the customary shouts of "Love of Ladies—Death of Champions—Honor to the Generous—Glory to the Brave!"—to which the more humble spectators added their acclamations, and a numerous band of trumpeters the flourish of their martial instruments.
When these sounds had ceased, the heralds withdrew from the lists in gay and glittering procession, and none remained within them save the marshals of the field, who, armed cap-a-pie, sat on horseback, motionless as statues, at the opposite end of the lists.
Meantime, the enclosed space at the northern extremity of the lists, as it was, was now completely crowded with knights desirous to prove their skill against the challengers, and, when viewed from the galleries, presented the appearance of a sea of waving plumage, intermixed with glistening helmets, and tall lances, to the extremities of which were, in many cases, attached small pennons of about a span's breadth, which, fluttering in the air as the breeze caught them, joined with the restless motion of the feathers to add liveliness to the scene.
At length the barriers were opened, and five knights, chosen by lot, advanced slowly into the area; a single champion riding in front, and the other four following in pairs. All were splendidly armed, and my Saxon authority (in the Wardour Manuscript) records at great length their devices, their colors, and the embroidery of their horse-trappings.
It is unnecessary to be particular on these subjects. To borrow lines from a contemporary poet, who has written but too little—