in diameter. The chamber has four windows, which afford a wide view of
the surrounding country, and contains two cannons, named respectively
Hancock and Adams, which were used in many engagements during the war.
The corner-stone of the monument was laid on the fiftieth anniversary
of the battle, June 17, 1825, by Lafayette, who was then visiting
America, when Webster pronounced the oration. The monument was
completed, and June 17, 1843, was dedicated, Webster again delivering
the oration.

THE SEVEN WISE MEN OF GREECE.--The names generally given are
Solon, Chilo, Pittacus, Bias, Periander (in place of whom some give
Epimenides), Cleobulus, and Thales. They were the authors of the
celebrated mottoes inscribed in later days in the Delphian Temple.
These mottoes were as follows:

"Know thyself."--Solon.

"Consider the end."--Chilo.

"Know thy opportunity."--Pittacus.

"Most men are bad."--Bias.

"Nothing is impossible to industry."--Periander.

"Avoid excesses."--Cleobulus.

"Suretyship is the precursor of ruin."--Thales.

FIRST STEAMBOAT ON THE MISSISSIPPI.--Nicholas J. Roosevelt was the
first to take a steamboat down the great river. His boat was built
at Pittsburgh, in the year 1811, under an arrangement with Fulton and
Livingston, from Fulton's plans. It was called the "New Orleans," was
about 200 tons burden, and was propelled by a stern-wheel, assisted,
when the wind was favorable, by sails carried on two masts. The hull
was 138 feet long, 30 feet beam, and the cost of the whole, including
engines, was about $40,000. The builder, with his family, an engineer,
a pilot, and six "deck hands," left Pittsburgh in October, 1811,
reaching Louisville in about seventy hours (steaming about ten miles
an hour), and New Orleans in fourteen days, steaming from Natchez.

THE EXPLORATIONS OF FREMONT.--- Among the earliest efforts of Fremont,
after he had tried and been sickened by the sea, were his experiences as
a surveyor and engineer on railroad lines from Charleston to Augusta,
Ga., and Charleston to Cincinnati. Then he accompanied an army
detachment on a military reconnoissance of the mountainous Cherokee
country in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, made in the depth of
winter. In 1838-9 he accompanied M. Nicollet in explorations of the
country between the Missouri and the British line, and his first detail
of any importance, after he had been commissioned by President Van
Buren, was to make an examinat