Various

“ Word comes from Athens that the people are not at all pleased with the idea of home rule for Crete. They want the island to be joined to Greece, and would rather fight for it, than give it up. It is very natural that they should feel this way.
If the people of some near-by country were almost all Americans and relations of ours, and were cruelly treated by their rulers, we would feel just as the Greeks do. There is hardly a family in Greece which has not suffered wrong from the Turks. It is but natural that they fight for their brothers, the Cretans. ”

“ It has long been felt by people who have given serious thought to the matter, that it was wrong to mix all the criminals together. It was thought that men who had been dishonest should not be put with men who had tried to kill, or were guilty of other awful crimes. Many people have thought that some difference in the class of the prisoners should be made.
The law does make a difference: some criminals are only given short sentences, while others have very long ones.
But the jail makes no difference whatever. Once within the prison walls, all convicts are treated in the same way. ”

“ A good many of the Amagansett men were old whalers, so they knew exactly what to do, and soon coming up with a fine young whale, they succeeded in harpooning him. Three of the five boats reached the scene in time to harpoon the whale, at the same time, and then the trouble began.
A harpoon is a sort of a spear, to which a long rope is attached. This spear is hurled at the whale by a sailor who stands in the bow of the boat; it has a barbed end, like that of a fish-hook, and if it once gets into the flesh of a whale it will hold fast, and the struggles of the great fish cannot pull it out. ”

“ He went on to say that we must be economical, and try to reduce our national debt, and that the Government should not be allowed to spend more than its income, but that if it was necessary to increase the income to meet the just expenses of pensions for soldiers and sailors who had fought for us, and for the widows and orphans of the brave men who died for our country, he thought the money should not be raised by loans, which put the country still more deeply into debt, but by taxes, whereby each man could take his share of the expense of the Government which protected his home. ”

“ Our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers, who has so singularly favored the American people in every national trial, and who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps."
He then took up the subject of Money, and said that he thought the Government wanted to look closely into the Treasury matters, and devise a means whereby we might be able to have as much money as we needed in circulation, without having to keep the enormous reserve of gold, which costs us such ruinous interest every year. ”

“ When they have been passed from Ellis Island the immigration law has not done with them. The law says that no charity shall be given to an immigrant who has been in this country for less than a year. Any person who asks for help, and has been less than a year over here, is sent back to Ellis Island, and from thence he is carried back to his own country by the same steamship company that brought him.
So you see that the laws are almost strict enough now, and the immigrants who succeed in passing through Ellis Island are a good, solid class of people, who are likely to become worthy citizens. ”

“ He takes into account that some people commit crimes through ignorance, some through weakness, and some through wickedness. He thinks that the first two classes of convicts should be carefully separated from the really bad criminals.
His plan is to divide all the convicts in the prisons into separate groups.
Group A is to consist of those who are serving their first term of imprisonment, and who may therefore be supposed to have been led into crime by others, and not to be so wicked but that a chance remains of turning them back into the paths of goodness and honesty. ”

“ Before the second papers are given him, he has to take an oath swearing to be a true and faithful citizen of his new country, and he has to give up any title that he may have borne in his former land.
The oath he takes, which is called the oath of allegiance, binds him to give up his citizenship in his former country, and to become so completely an American that if a war were to break out between his old country and the United States, he would fight against her and for America. ”

“ There will be a regular system for educating them, and training their minds into the knowledge that to be happy they must be good, and that sensible men will obey the law.
When they are sent back into the world after their term of imprisonment is over, they will have learned how to be useful and honest men, and every effort will be made to help them to lead good lives. ”

“ Group B will be made up of men who have been in prison once before, and for whom there is still hope that they may reform.
Group C will take in the men who have served more than one term of imprisonment, and whose reform is very doubtful, but even they will be separated from. ”

“ Second, because the title of King of France is not one that can be handed down from father to son, like other titles. It is the sole property of the ruler of the kingdom of France. France being no longer a kingdom, it has no king, and therefore nobody has the right to the title at all.
Third, because there being no longer a kingdom of France, nor a king of France, nobody has any especial right to use the coat of arms of the king. The court was of opinion that anybody may use it who feels inclined. ”

“ When the immigrants have passed the doctors, they then reach the clerks, who must be satisfied that they have money, or friends in the country, before they give them permission to land.
People who come without money are divided from the rest, and are taken before a board of inquiry.
Here they are asked why they came to the country. If they have friends who have sent for them, and who agree to feed and shelter them, they are allowed to pass. If no friends come for them, they are kept on Ellis Island till their friends are found ”

“ Cuba has changed places with Greece this week, and again occupies the most important place in men's thoughts.
An American citizen who was arrested there two weeks ago has been found dead in his cell, under very mysterious circumstances.
This man was Dr. Ricardo Ruiz.
He was born in Cuba, but came to the United States many years ago. He studied dentistry in Philadelphia, lived there several years, obtained his papers, and became an American citizen.
A foreigner who wishes to become an American citizen has to go before a judge and declare his intention of becoming a citizen of the United States. ”

“ Parmele very truly remarks that the child, bewildered in a labyrinth of unfamiliar names and events, fails to grasp the main lines and soon dislikes history, simply because he has been studying, not with a thinking mind, but with one overtaxed faculty, memory, intended to be the humble handmaid of the higher faculties. ”

“ The next, Group B, and also Group C, will be treated in much the same sort of way as Group A, except that these groups will be disciplined more severely than the first one.
Little time will be wasted over Group D. The men in it will be treated in the ordinary way, and the only especial attention they will get will be to see that they are never mixed with the other groups.
It is hoped that, through these means, many men who are not really criminals at heart may be brought back to decency and good citizenship. ”

“ The present immigration laws are very strict. Every foreigner who comes to our shores has to satisfy the authorities at Ellis Island as to his worthiness, before he can be allowed to land.
Ellis Island is in New York harbor, and is used solely for the handling of immigrants. ”

“ We could not resist the temptation to publish your letter, though we have not put your name to it, and so no one will guess that it comes from you. Dear child, your gentle plea for dumb animals will do far more to make thoughtless people care for them than any words of ours. ”

“ His singing mouse was a deer or white-foot mouse. This mouse is found all over the United States, and while several other kinds are known to sing, the deer-mouse is the sweetest of the singers.
These mice can be very easily tamed, and live happily in cages, like dormice. ”

“ He went back to Cuba, after a while, and settled in Guanabacoa.
Guanabacoa, if you will remember, is the town which is ruled by the cruel Fondeviella. In Number 13 of The Great Round World we told you about this man, and his cruelty.
It would seem that Dr. Ruiz fell a victim to Fondeviella's cruelty.
The Spaniards seem to have a very spiteful feeling against Cubans who have become American citizens.
They vow vengeance against such men, and are ever on the watch to find an excuse for arresting or punishing them. ”

“ The President always takes the oath of office on the porch of the Capitol—in full view of the people—and so, the work in the Senate being finished, the two Presidents walked side by side out to the eastern front of the building.
As soon as the Judges, Senators, and Congressmen had taken their places on the stand provided for them, Chief Justice Fuller came forward to the little enclosure which had been railed off and fitted with two great leathern arm-chairs for Major McKinley and Mr. Cleveland. ”

“ Rest assured that we will tell our young friends when anything more is heard of or from the island of Juan Fernandez. The Editor.
Dear Mr. Editor:
I have of late become deeply interested in your delightful little paper, The Great Round World, and as I saw many of the enthusiastic readers writing to you, and asking different requests, I thought I would follow their example. I use your little book for different purposes. At school we have to begin topics, and I get a great deal of information from your little paper. I also spend many happy moments reading its contents. ”

“ The court therefore ordered the Duke of Anjou to pay all the costs of the trial, and dismissed the case.
Does it not seem absurd for two grown men to quarrel about a title which neither of them has the slightest use for?
On the 1st of January, 1897, a new law went into force, forbidding the convicts in State's prisons to do any other work than hard labor for the benefit of the State. ”

“ Some lover of the wheel, who evidently cannot bear to lose the pleasure of wheeling even when the snow lies thick on the ground, has invented a sleigh attachment. This is a runner fastened beneath the driving-wheel of the bicycle. ”

“ If we allowed them to enter our country it would greatly increase our taxes and expenses, for we do not allow begging, and so, as the poor unfortunates must have food and shelter, we would send them to our almshouses, and have to pay to support them. So it is forbidden to allow cripples, or people incapable of earning their own living, to come into the country. ”

“ We know how much our young friends love true stories. This collection will contain only true stories, and has been written by one who was an intimate friend, as she says, of each of these interesting creatures. ”

“ He then spoke about the Tariff, and said that the tariff laws which he hoped to see made would bring in enough money to supply all needs, without directly taxing the people—which was a thing he did not approve of, except in time of war. The tariff is a tax put on all foreign products brought into this country. ”

“ The wardens, seeing how their prisoners were suffering, have been much troubled, and have all been trying to think of some means of exercising or drilling, which will interest the convicts, and make up to them for the work they have lost.
There have been so many complaints about convicts being allowed to do work that honest men can earn money by, that little by little all employment has been taken from them. ”

“ Tell him The Great Round World gave you his address, and he will send you information about forming your club, and about the badges and rules.
You can do a great deal for suffering animals by interesting other boys and girls in the work, and teaching them that we ought to be even kinder to animals than we are to one another, because animals are dumb, and cannot tell us when they suffer. ”

“ There is a Society in New York for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and it publishes a lot of little books and papers telling people how to take care of animals. You should ask your mamma to let you go to the Society's rooms at No. ”

“ A convict who was a good accountant would be put to keeping the books. A shoemaker would be set to mending and working in the shoe-shop. A bricklayer would be put to building and repairing, and so on. ”

“ While the doctors are watching for cripples, they also examine the immigrants carefully, to see that they have not any kind of sickness. Only healthy immigrants are allowed to land, sick people being sent back. ”

“ This means that they are divided into cottages, each of which holds about twenty-six criminals. Locks, bolts, and bars are not used any more than necessary. Each cottage is in the care of a matron, who has orders to keep it as much like a home as possible.
The young prisoners are taught to be good citizens, and the result has been very fine. ”