ness, where he disciplined himself in all these austerities which have hallowed his memory in the Catholic Church and made him the model of monastic life. When thirty years of age, he penetrated farther into the desert, and took up his abode in an old ruin on the top of a hill, where he spent twenty years in the most rigorous seclusion; but, in 305 he was persuaded to leave his retreat by the prayers of numerous anchorites, who wished to live under his direction. He now founded a mastery, at first only a group of separate and scattered cells near Memphis and Arsinoe; but which nevertheless, may be considered the origin of cenobite life. After a visit to Alexandria in 311, he returned to his lonely ruin. In 355 the venerable hermit, then over a hundred years old, made a journey to Alexandria to dispute with the Arians; but feeling his end approaching, he retired to his desert home, where he died, 356 A. D. Athanasius wrote his life.

GIANTS AND DWARFS.

The most noted giants of ancient and modern times are as follows:

Many of the great men of history have been rather small in stature. Napoleon was only about 5 ft. 4 in., Wellington was 5 ft. 7 in. One of the greatest of American statesmen, Alexander H. Stephens, never exceeded 115 pounds in weight, and in his old age his weight was less than 100 pounds.

The more notable human mites are named below:

The Flavian amphitheater at Rome, known as the Colosseum from its colossal size, was begun by Vespasian, and finished by Titus 80 A.D., ten years after the destruction of Jerusalem. It was the largest structure of the kind, and is fortunately also the best preserved. It covers about five acres of ground, and was capable of seating over eighty thousand spectators. Its greatest length is six hundred and twelve feet, and its greatest breadth five hundred and fifteen, the corresponding figures for the Albert Hall in London being two hundred and seventy and two hundred and forty. On the occasion of its dedication by Titus, five thousand wild beasts were slain in the arena, the games lasting nearly a hundred days. The exterior is about one hundred and sixty feet in height, and consists of three rows of columns, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian, and, above all, a row of Corinthian pilasters. Between the columns there are arches, which form open galleries throughout the whole building; and between each alternate pilasters of the upper tier

there is a window. Besides the podium, there were three tiers or stories of seats, corresponding to the external stories. The first of these is supposed to have contained twenty-four rows of seats; and the second, sixteen. These were separated by a lofty wall from the third story, which contained the populace. The podium was a gallery surrounding the arena, in which the emperor, the senators, and vestal virgins had their seats. The building was covered by a temporary awning or wooden roof, the velarium. The open space in the center of the amphitheater was called arena, the Latin word for sand, because it was covered with sand or sawdust during the performances.

EXHIBIT OF LOCAL NAMES.

There are more than twenty-seven hundred counties in the United States. Of these, ten per cent. are named after presidents, and thirtyfive per cent. after Americans who have not been presidents (1890). 1. Counties, etc., named from presidents:

Twenty-seven counties named Washington, besides cities and towns innumerable; 43 Jefferson; 21 Jackson; 17 Lincoln, Madison, and Monroe; 12 Polk; 10 Grant; 9 Adams and Harrison; 4 Garfield, Pierce, and Van Buren.

2. Counties, etc., named from Americans who have not been presidents:

more.

Boone, Calhoun, Clay, Hancock, Putnam, Randolph, Scott, Webster and many

3. The following names are extravagant enough to hinder any place from rising into a bishopric. Only fancy a dignified clergyman signing himself "Yours faithfully, John "followed by one of the follow

ing names:

Alkaliburg, Bleeder's Gulch. Bloody Bend, Boanerges Ferry. Breeches Fork, Bludgeonsville, Bugville, Butter's Sell, Buried Pipe, Cairoville, Clean Deck, Daughter's Loss, Euchreville, Eurekapolis, Eurekaville (!), Fighting Cocks, Good Thunder, Hell and Nails Crossing, Hezekiahville, Hide and Seek, Jack Pot, Joker, Murderville, Nettle Carrier, Numaville, Peddlecake, Poker Flat, Pottawattomieville, Plumpville, Roaring Fox, Sharper's Creek, Skeletonville Agency, Soaker's Ranche, Spottedville, Starvation, Stuck-up-Canon, Thief's End, Tombstone, Ubet, Villa Realville, Yellow Medicine, Yuba Dam, etc.

WASHINGTON AND EDUCATION.

A fact long lost sight of is that George Washington himself, the "Father of his Country" was also among the first of its great benefactors to the cause of higher education. Quite recently attention has been directed to the following clause in his last will and testament:

"It has always been a source of serious regret with me to see the youth of the United States sent to foreign countries for the purpose of education, often before their minds were formed, or they had imbibed any adequate ideas of the happiness of their own. My mind has not been able to contemplate any plan more likely to affect the measure than the establishment of a university in a central part of the United States, to which the youths of fortune and talent from all parts thereof may be sent for the completion of education, and where they may be enabled to free themselves in a proper degree from those local prejudices and habitual jealousies, which, when carried to excess, are never-failing sources of disquietude to the public mind and pregnant of mischievous consequences to this country. Under these impressions:

"Item-I give and bequeath, in perpetuity, the fifty shares which I hold in the Potomac Company, toward the endowment of a university;

and, until such seminary is established, and the funds arising on these shares shall be required for its support, my further will and desire is that the profit accruing therefrom shall, whenever the dividends are made, be laid out in purchasing stock in the Bank of Columbia, or some other bank, at the discretion of my executors, or by the Treasurer of the United States for the time being, until a sum adequate to the accomplishment of the object is obtained; of which I have not the smallest doubt before many years pass away, even if no aid or encouragement is given by the legislative authority, or from any other source.

This noble bequest has been absorbed, it appears, into Uncle Sam's capacious treasury, and at five per cent compound interest would now amount to about five million dollars. It is therefore entirely fitting that our Senators should be urging, after a lapse of ninety-three years, its employment in pursuance of the testator's will on behalf of the youth of his well-beloved country.

THE WORLD'S SEVEN WONDERS.

The

The seven wonders of the world are: The Pyramids, the Colossus of Rhodes, Diana's Temple at Ephesus, the Pharos of Alexandria, the Hanging Gardens at Babylon, the Statue of the Olympian Jove, and the Mausoleum by Artemisia at Halicarnassus. The Pyramids are numerous, and space forbids anything like even a list of them. The great piles were constructed of blocks of red or synetic granite, and of a hard calcareous stone. These blocks were of extraordinary dimensions, and their transportation to the sites of the pyramids and their adjustment in their places, indicate a surprising degree of mechanical skill. The Great Pyramid covers an area of between twelve and thirteen acres. masonry consisted originally of 89,028,000 cubic feet, and still amounts to about 82,111,000 feet. The present vertical height is 450 feet, against 479 feet originally; and the present length of the sides is 746 feet, against 764 feet originally. The total weight of the stone is estimated at 6,316,000,000 tons. The city of Rhodes was besieged by Demetrius Poliorcetest King of Macedon, but, aided by Ptolemy Soter, King of Egypt, the enemy was repulsed. To express their gratiude to their allies and to their tutelary deity, they erected a brazen statue to Apollo. It was 105 feet high, and hollow, with a winding staircase that ascended to the head. After standing fifty-six years, it was overthrown by an earthquake, 224 years before Christ, and lay nine centuries on the ground, and then was sold to a Jew by the Saracens, who had captured Rhodes, about the middle of the seventh century. It is said to have required nine hundred camels to remove the metal, and from this statement it has been calculated its weight was 720,000 pounds. The Temple of Diana, at Ephesus, was built at the common charge of all the Asiatic states. The chief architect was Chersiphon, and Pliny says that 220 years were employed in completing the temple, whose riches were immense. It was 425 feet long, 225 feet broad, and was supported by 125 columns of Parian marble (sixty feet high, each weighing 150 tons), furnished by as many kings. It was set on fire on the night of Alexander's birth by an obscure person named Erostratus, who confessed on the rack that the sole motive which prompted him was the desire to transmit his name to future ages. The temple was again built, and once more burned by the Goths in their naval invasion, A.D. 256. The colossal statue of Jupiter in the temple of Olympia, at Elis, was by Phidias. It was in gold and ivory, and sat enthroned in the temple for 800 years, and was finally destroyed by fire

about A.D. 475. From the best information, it is believed that the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was a rectangular building surrounded by an Ionic portico of thirty-six columns, and surmounted by a pyramid, rising in twenty-four steps, upon the summit of which was a colossal marble quadriga with a statue of Mausolus. The magnificent structure was erected by Artemisia, who was the sister, wife, and successor of Mausolus.

THE WORLD'S NOBLEST PARK.

The Yellowstone National Park extends sixty-five miles north and south and fifty-five miles east and west, comprising 3,575 square miles, and is 6,000 feet or more above sea level. Yellowstone lake, twenty miles by fifteen, has an altitude of 7,788 feet. The mountain ranges which hem in the valleys on every side rise to the height of 10,000 to 12,000 feet, and are always covered with snow. This great park contains the most strking of all the mountains, gorges, falls, rivers, and lakes in the whole Yellowstone region. The springs on Gardiner's River cover an area of about one square mile, and three or four square miles thereabout are occupied by the remains of springs which have ceased to flow. The natural basins into which these springs flow are from four to six feet in diameter and from one to four feet in depth. The principal ones are located upon terraces midway up the sides of the mountain. The banks of the Yellowstone river abound with ravines and canons, which are carved out of the heart of the mountains through the hardest rocks. The most remarkable of these is the canon of Tower Creek and Column Mountain. The latter, which extends along the eastern bank of the river for upward of two miles, is said to resemble the Giant's Causeway. The canon of Tower Creek is about ten miles in length, and is so deep and gloomy that it is called "The Devil's Den." Where Tower Creek ends the Grand Canon begins. It is twenty miles in length, impassable throughout, and inaccessible at the water's edge, except at a few points. Its rugged edges are from 200 to 500 yards apart, and its depth is so profound that no sound ever reaches the ear from the bottom. The Grand Canon contains a great multitude of hot springs of sulphur, sulphate of copper, alum, etc. In the number and magnitude of its hot springs and geysers, the Yellowstone Park surpasses all the rest of the world. There are probably fifty geysers that throw a column of water to the height of from 50 to 200 feet, and it is stated that there are not fewer than 5,000 springs; there are two kinds, those depositing lime and those depositing silica. The temperature of the calcareous springs is from 160 to 170 degress, while that of the others rises to 200 or more. The principal collections are the upper and lower geyser basins of the Madison river and the calcareous springs on Gardiner's River. The great falls are marvels to which adventurous travelers have gone only to return and report that they are parts of the wonders of this new American wonderland.

MARVELS OF OLD EGYPT.

PYRAMIDS -The great pyramid of Gizeh is the largest structure of any kind ever erected by the hand of man. Its original dimensions at the base were 764 feet square, and its perpendicular height in the highest point is 488 feet; it covers four acres, one rood and twentytwo perches of ground, and has been estimated by an eminent English architect to have cost not less than £30,000,000, which in United States currency would be about $145,200,000. Internal evidences prove that

the great pyramid was begun about the year 2170 B.C., about the time of the birth of Abraham. It is estimated that about 5,000,000 tons of hewn stones were used in its construction.

SPHINX.-The word sphinx is from the Greek and means the strangler, and was applied to a fabled creature of the Egyptians, which had the body of a lion, the head of a man or an animal, and two wings attached to its sides. In the Egyptian hieroglyphs the sphinx symbolized wisdom and power united. It has been supposed that the fact that the overflow of the Nile occurred when the sun was in the constellations Leo and Virgo gave the idea of the combinations of form in the sphinx, but this idea seems quite unfounded. In Egypt the reigning monarch was usually represented in the form of a sphinx. The most remarkable sphinx is that near the pyramids at Gizeh. It is sculptured from the rock, masonry having been added in several places to complete the form. It is 1721⁄2 feet long by 53 feet high, but only the head of this remarkable sculpture can now be seen, the rest of the form having been concealed by the heaped-up sands of the desert.

OBELISKS.-The oldest of all the obelisks is the beautiful one of rosy granite which stands alone among the green fields upon the banks of the Nile, not far from Cairo. It is the gravestone of a great ancient city which has vanished and left only this relic behind. The city was the Bethshemesh of the Scriptures, the famous On, which is memorable to all Bible readers as the residence of the priest of Potipherah, whose daughter, Assenath, Joseph married. The Greeks called it Heliopolis.

CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE.-The two obelisks known as Cleopatra's Needles were set up at the entrance of the Temple of the Sun, in Heliopolis, Egypt; by Thothmes III., about 1831 B.C. We have no means of knowing when they were built, or by whom, except from the inscriptions on them, which indicate the above time. The material of which they were cut is granite, brought from Syene, near the first cataract of the Nile. Two centuries after their erection Rameses II. had the stones nearly covered with carving setting out of his own greatness and achievements. Twenty-three years before Christ, Augustus Cæsar moved the obelisks from Heliopolis to Alexandria and set them up in the Cæsarium, a palace, which now stands, a mere mass of ruins, near the station of the railroad to Cairo. In 1819 one of these obelisks was presented by the Egyptian Government to England, but as no one knew how to move them, it was not taken to London until 1878. Subsequently the other obelisk was presented to the United States.

The work of moving this great Egyptian obelisk from Alexandria to New York was managed by Commander H. H. Gorringe, of the United States Navy. The officer reached Alexandria October 16, 1879, and at once began to work with one hundred Arabs, who completed the excavation of the obelisk's pedestal by removing 1,730 cubic yards of earth in about twenty days. The machinery for lowering the monolith was then attached, and the block was laid in a horizontal position. Within the foundation and steps of the pedestal were found stones and implements engraved with emblematic designs, and some delay was caused in order that these might be taken up very carefully to be placed in exactly the same position in the pedestal when re-erected in New York. The obelisk was removed to the wharf and upon the steamer waiting for it, by means of cannon-balls rolling in metal grooves. The shaft, pedestal, and steps of the obelisk were removed separately, the entire mass weighing 1,470 tons.