Francois Rabelais (1495?-1553), the most original and remarkable of all humorists, and the first noteworthy comic romancer of modern times, is chiefly noted for his great satirical work, Les Faits et Dicts du Geant Gargantua et de son Fils Pantagruel, which continues to take rank as one of the world’s masterpieces of humor and grotesque invention. Lord Bacon calls Rabelais “the great jester of France”; others have called him a “comic Homer.” More than sixty editions of his work have been published.
81. What did the North American Indians use as money?
Strings of shells and shell-beads called wampum. There were two kinds: wampumpeag, which was white, and was made from the conch or periwinkle; and suckanhock, which was black, or rather purple, and was made from the hard-shell clam. The latter was worth twice as much as the former. The shell was broken into pieces, rubbed smooth on a stone till about the thickness of a pipe-stem, then cut and pierced with a drill. It was then strung or made into belts, and served not only as money, but also as ornaments.
82. Who was “Old Hickory”?
This sobriquet was conferred upon General Andrew Jackson, in 1813, by the soldiers under his command. “The name of ‘Old Hickory,’” says Parton, “is not an instantaneous inspiration, but a growth. First of all, the remark was made by some soldier, who was struck with his commander’s pedestrian powers, that the general was ‘tough.’ Next it was observed of him that he was ‘tough as hickory.’ Then he was called Hickory. Lastly, the affectionate adjective ‘old’ was prefixed, and the general thenceforth rejoiced in the completed nickname, usually the first-won honor of a great commander.” According to another account, the name sprung from his having on one occasion set his men an example of endurance by feeding on hickory nuts, when destitute of supplies.
83. Which is the “City of Elms”?
This is a familiar denomination of New Haven, Ct., many of the streets of which are thickly shaded with lofty elms.
84. How did the schooner obtain its name?
The first schooner ever constructed is said to have been built in Gloucester, Mass., about the year 1713, by a Capt. Andrew Robinson, and to have received its name from the following trivial circumstance. When the vessel went off the stocks into the water, a by-stander cried out, “Oh, how she scoons!” Robinson instantly replied, “A scooner let her be”; and, from that time, vessels thus masted and rigged have gone by this name. The word scoon is popularly used in some parts of New England to denote the act of making stones skip along the surface of water.
85. Who was the “Mill-boy of the Slashes”?