This is a narrow serpentine path in the Mammoth Cave. The walls, only eighteen inches apart, change direction eight times in one hundred and five yards, while the distance from the sandy path to the ledge overhead is but five feet.
22. What tree is regarded as an emblem of death?
The cypress has been so used for centuries, from the sombre aspect of its dark green leaves, and from the fact that when once cut down it never grows again. In ancient times cypress logs were placed on funeral piles; probably on account of both their emblematic use and the aromatic odor, emitted by the burning wood, which would counteract any smell arising from the burning body.
23. Where is the largest clock in the world?
In the English House of Parliament. The four dials of this clock are twenty-two feet in diameter. Every half-minute the minute-hand moves nearly seven inches. The clock will go eight and one half days, but will strike for only seven and one half days, thus indicating any neglect in winding it up. The winding up of the striking apparatus takes two hours. The pendulum is fifteen feet long; the wheels are cast iron; the hour bell is eight feet high and nine feet in diameter, weighing nearly fifteen tons, and the hammer alone weighs more than five hundred pounds. This clock strikes the quarter-hours. Its pendulum beats every two seconds. The motion is kept up by a remontoir, or gravity escapement.
24. When were post-offices first established?
The first letter post was established in the Hanse towns in the early part of the thirteenth century. A line of letter posts followed, connecting Austria with Lombardy, in the reign of the Emperor Maximilian, which are said to have been organized by the princes of Thurn and Taxis; and the representatives of the same house established another line of posts from Vienna to Brussels, the most distant parts of the dominions of Charles V. This family continue to the present day to hold certain rights with regard to the German postal system, their posts being entirely distinct from those established by the crown, and sometimes in rivalry with them. In England, in early times, both public and private letters were sent by messengers, who, in the reign of Henry III., wore the royal livery. They had to provide themselves with horses until the reign of Edward I., when posts were established where horses were to be had for hire. Edward IV., when engaged in war with Scotland, had dispatches conveyed to his camp with great speed, by means of a system of relays of horses, which, however, fell into disuse on the restoration of peace. Camden mentions the office of “master of the postes” as existing in 1581, but the duties of that officer were probably connected exclusively with the supply of post horses. The posts were meant for the conveyance of government dispatches alone, and it was only by degrees that permission was extended to private individuals to make use of them. A foreign post for the conveyance of letters between London and the Continent seems to have been established by foreign merchants in the fifteenth century; and certain disputes which arose between the Flemings and the Italians regarding the right of appointing a postmaster, and were referred to the privy council, led to the institution of a “chief postmaster,” who should have charge both of the English and foreign post. The American post-office is one of our earliest institutions, and was provided for by legislation in Massachusetts in 1639, and in Virginia in 1657. A monthly post between New York and Boston was established in 1672.
25. Who was “Old Bullion”?
This sobriquet was conferred on Col. Thomas Hart Benton (1782–1852), a distinguished American statesman, on account of his advocacy of the gold and silver currency as a true remedy for the financial embarrassments in which the United States was involved after the expiration of the charter of the national bank, and as the only proper medium for government disbursements and receipts.
26. When, where, and between whom was the first duel fought in the United States?