Various

“ When one man offers up fortune and life for a sentiment, he is regarded as one different from his fellows. If an entire nation does it, it is still more amazing. But that all the nations of a Continent, forgetting their own private ambitions and interests, laying aside enmities and jealousies among themselves, should unite, and for two centuries pour out life and treasure, and expend all their energies upon an object which could bring nothing but sacrifice—no material reward,—this is a spectacle the world has seen but once, will never see again, and will never cease to wonder at! ”

“ After that they began to look enviously at Constantinople and to dream of universal empire like the Romans. They were not a horde of ignorant barbarians like the Goths. They came from an ancient seat of learning, and their leaders were men of knowledge and attainments far beyond anything existing in Europe at that time.
In the year 710, like a flock of vultures a great Mahometan host swooped down upon Christian Europe.
Spain was the extreme western limit of the Roman Empire. It was the plan of these terrible Saracens, after conquering Spain, to sweep over the Pyrenees into France. ”

“ In this way a man is better off than a country. But, on the other hand, a man can only earn just so much money; he cannot force people to buy his goods, or pay him better prices; he has to do the best he can with what he can earn; while a country can, by taxes, force people to give it the money it needs, and so it is better off than an individual.
Some of the expenses of a country that must be met are the salaries of all the officers who preserve law and order, the judges, soldiers, sailors, and the police; the pensions of the old soldiers, and of their families ”

“ I want to say how glad I was when I heard from The Great Round World that General Gomez had won a victory. I wish that that brutal General Weyler had been killed instead of General Maceo. Wasn't it extraordinary that all the trees in India were covered with that queer stuff? I wonder how it got there? Have any of the Hindustanees risen yet?
I am also very interested in the war Greece is having with Turkey. I wish the powers would not interfere with Greece and Turkey, but let them fight it out. ”

“ It is the duty of this council to collect and save all moneys due to any member of the family, to direct the business of their households, and to manage the family and its affairs so completely that the members of the family are like children under the guidance of a very careful parent; and when they come to this country, and are obliged to think and act for themselves, they are no more capable of doing so than they would be if they were really children. ”

“ As the Mahometan religion has always been a scourge and a curse, you would naturally suppose its founder was a bad man. But on the contrary he was a very good man, and had a great desire to make his people better. ”

“ Thessaly is that part of Greece which borders on Turkey, and Macedonia is a part of the Turkish Empire bordering on Greece, that at one time formed part of the Greek Empire.
There are many Greeks in Macedonia, and if war is declared it is expected that they will rise and go to the aid of their mother country.
The invasion of Turkey by the Thessalians does not mean that war is declared. It is merely a rising of the border peoples against their neighbors, and has nothing to do with the Greek Government. ”

“ Sometimes when a man has a good business that will enable him in time to pay everything he owes, the creditors will allow him to keep his business going taking the greater part of his earnings for his debts until he has paid them all off. But whichever way his affairs are settled, the man who owes money is the unhappy slave of his creditors until his last debts are paid. ”

“ Nowadays the women go along to the sugaring with the men. The boiling is done under cover, and it is the duty of the women to see that the kettles are properly cleaned and scoured. As the men do not have to divide their attention between boiling the sugar and gathering the sap, and both processes are in the charge of special people, the result is that the sugar is much better. ”

“ It has been a republic ever since, under the name of the United States of Brazil.
In February last a rebellion broke out which it was found had been started by the monarchists.
Monarchists are people who would rather be ruled by a monarch than by the will of the people. In Brazil there is quite a large party of these monarchists, who would gladly see an emperor on the throne again.
The news from Brazil states that there has been some heavy fighting between the two parties, and that the government troops have been defeated, and one of the favorite generals killed. ”

“ The news that the Greek ports are to be blockaded has made the Greeks hasten their preparations. The troops are being hurried off to Thessaly with all possible despatch.
There are reports that the Greeks are so enraged against the Emperor of Germany for his behavior over Crete, that the priests have openly said in the churches that it is a great misfortune that the future King of Greece is married to the sister of Greece's worst enemy. ”

“ A country is different from an individual in the fact that there are certain expenses that are not exactly necessary, and yet which must be provided for, for the honor of the country. A man who is in money difficulties can cut down his expenses to the mere cost of food, house, and clothes. ”

“ Quick to discern ability, no sooner did a Sultan see a man who he thought could serve him—however low his station—than he clutched the unfortunate subject and placed him in high and responsible position. ”

“ While the Chinamen who are now in this country are able to laugh at the Emperor's decree, and have no intention of going where he can make things unpleasant for them, they are horror-struck at the way their poor relatives have been stampeded. ”

“ To the surprise of everybody, a vote was passed, approving the policy of the Government, and agreeing to uphold it.
So France joins her voice with those of the other Powers, and calls on Greece to give in.
After the Chamber of Deputies adjourned, orders were sent to Toulon, a seaport on the Mediterranean Sea, at the south of France, ordering soldiers at once to Crete.
The Admirals of the allied fleets have received orders to blockade the ports of Crete; and if this fails to make the Greeks obedient to the wishes of the Powers, the Piræus and the ports of Greece are also to be blockaded. ”

“ In China the affairs of every member of the family are managed by a council. This council consists of the elders (men over sixty years of age) , and the scholars. We told you in No. 1 of The Great Round World what severe trials a man has to go through in China before he can be called a scholar. ”

“ Our friend Weyler is in a heap of trouble.
It seems that affairs in the Philippines look worse for Spain than was at first supposed.
The Spanish troops have been very severely beaten lately near Manilla, and the rebellion is so strong and so well organized that unless fresh troops can be sent immediately, the Philippines will be lost to Spain.
The insurgents are so successful that they are even venturing to offer pardons to all Spaniards, except the Captain-General, who will lay down their arms and peacefully obey the new government. ”

“ It would seem that one of the curious little customs they have in China is to arrest all the relatives of a man accused of crime, as well as the criminal himself. These unfortunate people they cast into prison, taking away from them their property, and everything of value they possess. ”

“ One thousand boys recruited these ranks every year; and as the years rolled into centuries, the organization became a more and more terrible instrument of vengeance in the hands of the Sultan, whose body-guard it formed.
The line of Sultans following Othman was characterized by intellectual force of a high order. There was a swelling and irresistible tide of conquest which moved not only toward Europe, but into Asia. One tribe after another was absorbed, until all the strongholds of the old Saracen Empire were in the hands of the Sultans, who replaced the Caliphs ”

“ The men are to go anyhow; but with only a force of 80,000 men left behind, Spain has little hope of pacifying Cuba.
The insurgents have, or will have when the Spanish troops are sent away, as many men at their command as the Spaniards have, and they feel very confident of success, because the men under them are well fed, healthy, and hopeful, while the poor Spanish soldiers are hungry, sick, and despairing. ”

“ The affairs of a country are precisely the same as those of an individual, and President McKinley, understanding well what must happen unless some change is made, is doing his best to save us from the unhappy position of a poor debtor. ”

“ When Peter the Hermit came from Jerusalem at the close of the eleventh century, and with burning eloquence told of the desecration of the Holy Places in Palestine, and of the sufferings of the small band of Christians in the Holy City, Europe rose as one man. ”

“ This little war is hardly worth speaking of at all. Toy revolutions are constantly occurring first in one and then another of the South American republics, and people have grown so accustomed to them that they hardly notice them now. ”

“ The Chinese, in their own country, live in families and clans, after the manner of the Scotch, and like the ancient Scotch people there are frequently terrible feuds or quarrels between the various clans. If one man of a clan offends a man of another clan, the two entire clans take up the quarrel, and every man of the one clan is ready to fight any man of the other clan, and injure him as far as lies in his power.
In China, as in Scotland, families or clans consist of every living member or connection of the family. ”

“ The present Custom House system is about as trying to a person's nerves as anything can be, and not a little of the trouble comes from the fact that you must not show the slightest annoyance when the officer dives into your trunk, and punches at the corner which contains your best hat, or feels in the folds of a delicate silk skirt, leaving marks of dusty fingers behind him. ”

“ Maple trees are only tapped once in two years, so that they may have time to recover from the loss of sap, and thrive and grow into fine healthy trees, for the tapping of the trees by no means kills them. There are some maples in New York State that have been producing sugar for nearly one hundred years, and show no sign of decay, though they are still tapped when their season comes round. ”

“ When you think that you can get little more than a whole change of costume, hat, boots, and gloves complete, for a hundred dollars, and that people who are rich enough to travel in foreign countries give three and four times that sum for a single outfit, you can understand just how much that paragraph is going to be liked. ”

“ But I think it must have been a sight which gladdened the angels in heaven, to see such a mighty outpouring of generous sacrifice, without one selfish end in view.
People of all ranks, rich and poor alike, gave out of their abundance or their poverty ”

“ It is known as the Dingley Bill, and, it is said, will increase the income of the Government over one hundred millions.
It is said by people who are against the bill, that, if it passes, the cost of living will become much greater. People who are in favor of it say that by preventing goods of foreign manufacture from being brought into the country, our own industries will greatly increase and our trade be much benefited. ”

“ The Government has sent 10,000 troops to Bahia, where the fighting is at present going on, and is determined to put the war down with a firm hand.
The other war is in Uruguay.
Uruguay is a small republic just south of Brazil.
This is another civil war.
The President has become unpopular with the people, and they are trying to get rid of him and put some one else in his place. ”

“ The photographs are sometimes with it and sometimes without it, though as the statue stands now in the church it is with the shield as illustrated in The Great Round World.
We have heard of no fresh rising in India; the plague and the famine are weakening the people so much that they have little spirit of revolt left. ”

“ This means that the people to whom he owes the money—his creditors, as they are called—will take his home and his furniture, and everything he possesses away from him, and divide it all up between them, and that he must begin life again as best he can. ”

“ It means that bankruptcy is coming, unless something be done to prevent it. If a man spends more than he earns, he is obliged to borrow to make up the difference; and when he can no longer borrow, he has to fail and turn all he owns over to his creditors. ”

“ In former times no woman took part in the maple-sugar manufacture. The men used first to tap the trees, and then boil the sap over wood fires that they would build in the neighborhood of the sugar bush, as the maple grove is called. ”

“ The consequence is that when a Chinaman gets into trouble, his relatives, instead of standing by him, and trying to help him, desert him with the greatest possible speed, and do their best to hide themselves in less dangerous districts. ”

“ In gratitude for this service, the Sultan gave to Etrogruhl a large piece of territory, and he became the chief of a clan in this beautiful tract of land, which was all his own, bordering on the Byzantine Empire (as it was then called) , and almost within sight of the Bosphorus and the city of Constantinople. ”

“ The See Yups declare that they can prove that the Consul is in league with the Sam Yups, and that he has made this false accusation against them to oblige the Sam Yup society.
Their only hope is that the Minister, who returns to China very shortly, may straighten matters out for them. If he will not help them they will have to choose between going back to China and having their heads cut off, and allowing their innocent relatives to be punished for them. ”