HOW THE TURKS CAME BY THEIR CRESCENT. WHEN Philip of Macedon approached by night with his troops to scale the walls of Byzantium, the moon, then new or in crescent, shone out and discovered his design to the besieged, who repulsed him. The crescent was after that adopted as the favorite badge of the city. When the Turks took Byzantium they found the crescent in every public place, and believing it to possess some magical power, adopted it themselves. A CHAPEL BELL. THE largest bell in the world is the one called "King of Bells," in Moscow, Russia. It was cast in 1733, but fell during a fire, and remained buried in the earth till 1836. It is more than three times as high as a man, being over nineteen feet high, and weighs as much as two hundred and twenty common cart-loads of coal. There is a large piece broken out of one side, so that it cannot be rung as a bell; but it is set upon a stone foundation, and used as a chapel, of which the broken place is the door. TEN THOUSAND TELEGRAMS AT ONCE. IN 1871, at a celebration held in New York in honor of Professor Morse, the original instrument invented by him was exhibited, connected at that moment by wire with every one of the ten thousand instruments then in use in the country. At a signal a message from the inventor was sent vibrating throughout the United States, and was read at the same time in every city from New York to New Orleans and San Francisco. THE TRUE "REBECCA." SIR WALTER SCOTT's model for the Rebecca of "Ivanhoe" was a young Jewish lady in Philadelphia, named Rebecca Gratz. She was beautiful, and noted for her devotion to the Jewish faith. One of the most intimate friends of her family was Washington Irving. Irving visited Scott, and spoke of Miss Gratz, her beauty and her devotion. Scott was deeply impressed, and planned the story of "Ivanhoe," naming his heroine Rebecca. AUSTERLITZ PLANNED BY JOHN MILTON. from the sixth book of that poem, where Satan brings his artillery to bear upon Michael and his angelic host with such dire effect: "Training his devilish enginery impaled On every side with shadowing squadrons deep to hide the fraud." PRETTY NAMES FOR BOOKS. THE following are some of the curious titles of old English books: 1. "A Most Delectable Sweet Perfumed Nosegay for God's Saints to Smell at." 2. "Biscuit Baked in the Oven of Charity, carefully conserved for the Chickens of the Church, the Sparrows of the Spirit, and the sweet Swallows of Salvation." 3. "A Sigh of Sorrow for the Sinners of Zion breathed out of a Hole in the Wall of an Earthly Vessel known among men by the name of Samuel Fish" (a Quaker who had been imprisoned). 4. Eggs of Charity Layed for the Chickens of the Covenant and Boiled with the Water of Divine Love. Take ye out and eat." 5. "Seven Sobs of a Sorrowful Soul for Sin." 6. "The Spiritual Mustard-Pot to make the Soul Sneeze with Devotion." Most of these were published in the time of Cromwell. NAPOLEON declared to Sir Colin Campbell, who had prisons. charge of the exile on the isle of Elba, that he was a great admirer of Milton's "Paradise Lost," and that he had read it to some purpose. He said further that he had borrowed the idea or plan of the battle of Austerlitz A CRIPPLED CONQUEROR. TAMERLANE was called the "Prince of Destruction." His real name was Timour, but, being lame, he was called "Timour lane," which means "lame Timour," and it be came corrupted into the name by which we know him. He was one of the greatest soldiers that ever lived, and it is said no other conqueror won by the sword so large a part of the world. WHY GONDOLAS ARE BLACK. IN former times the nobles of Venice spent such immense sums in decorating their gondolas that the gov ernment passed a law that all should be alike, and all have since been painted black. Some gondolas have been on the lakes of Central Park, and many were used in Chicago at the time of the World's Fair. WHY "BEACON STREET? BEACON STREET, in Boston, derives its name from a beacon which stood on the summit of the hill so that, in case of an invasion, the country could be roused by setting fire to a barrel of tar kept there. The beacon was blown down by the violence of the wind in 1789. Beacon Hill was the highest of the three hills which gave Boston its original name, Trimountain. FOUNDING OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY. The General Court of Massachusetts voted in 1636 to give £400 to found a college at Newtown, afterward called Cambridge. It is said that "this was the first legislative assembly in which the people, through their representatives, gave their own money to found a place of education." A WILLOW FROM NAPOLEON'S GRAVE. OVER the grave of Cotton Mather in Copp's buryingground (near Bunker Hill, Boston) is a weeping-willow tree which was grown from a cutting of the willow-tree that shaded the grave of Napoleon at St. Helena. MICHELANGELO AS ARCHITECT. THE great artist Michelangelo was as famous an THE Revolutionary War, from its first outbreak at Lexington, April 19, 1775, to the final disbanding of the army, April 19, 1783, lasted just eight years to a day. THE Second Epistle of St. John is a letter to a lady. LEONARDO DA VINCI, the great painter, who painted architect or designer as he was a painter. He designed the famous picture of the Last Supper, is said to have the church of St. Peter at Rome, which is built in the form of a Latin cross. He also designed another church in Rome, and, besides these, planned a number of famous structures. THE PEACOCK AT HOME. THE real home of the peacock or peafowl is in India. There they were and are hunted, and their flesh is used for food. As these birds live in the same region as the tiger, peacock-hunting is a very dangerous sport. The long train of the peacock is not its tail, as many suppose, but is composed of feathers which grow out just above the tail, and are called the tail-coverts. Peacocks have been known for many hundred years. They are mentioned in the Bible: Job mentions them, and they are mentioned too in I Kings, 10. Hundreds of years ago in Rome many thousand peacocks were killed for the great feasts which the emperors made. The brains of the peacock were considered a great treat, and many had to be killed for a single feast. "THE MISSISSIPPI OF STREETS." BROADWAY is five miles long, with nearly half its line as straight as an arrow flies, so that the eye may look invented the wheelbarrow. SAMUEL ADAMS first originated the idea of declaring the American colonies independent of Great Britain. THE tusks of the elephant never stop growing till the animal dies. THE goldfish is a native of China, and was seen in England first in 1691. ANCIENT soldiers were taught to fight equally well with either hand. IN France St. Nicholas's day is the fête-day for boys, and St. Catherine's day is the fête-day for girls. CARTHAGE was destroyed 146 B. C. It was twentyfour miles in circumference, and is said to have been burning seventeen days. IN winding up the clock of Trinity Church, New York, it is said that the crank or handle has to be turned round eight hundred and fifty times. There's nobody knows," said the old tin sheep, "till he 's old how an old toy feels. "I used to trundle about the floor; But that was when I was young and new; It 's something that now I could not do. No; I shall quietly rest myself on this shelf behind the door. "Creak!" said the sheep; "what's gone amiss? Some one is taking me out, I know. They 're pulling my string, and away I go. Stop! oh, stop!" cried the old tin sheep; "I never can go like this!" But Tommy pulled the sheep around; About the nursery it went so fast The floor beneath seemed flying past, While creakety-creakety-creak! the wheels went round with a doleful sound. Then Tommy left it there on its side; The wheels moved slowly and stopped with a creak, And the wax doll heard it faintly speak. "There's nobody knows what he can do," said the sheep, "till he has tried." |