st English newspaper was the English Mercury, issued in the reign
of Queen Elizabeth, and was issued in the shape of a pamphlet. The
Gazette of Venice was the original model of the modern newspaper.

The Great Eastern, at one time the greatest steamer afloat, and twice as
long as any other vessel at the time of her launching, in 1858, was 692
feet in length and 118 feet in breadth. She was too large to be handled
profitably with the motive power then available, but proved
indispensable in the laying of the Atlantic cable. She was broken up and
sold as junk, although the Isherwood system, on which she was built, has
since been revived, and is now successfully employed in shipbuilding.

The seven sages flourished in Greece in the 6th century B. C. They were
renowned for their maxims of life, and as the authors of the mottoes
inscribed in the Delphian Temple. Their names are: Solon, Chilo,
Pittacus, Bias, Periander, Cleobolus, and Thales.

A "monkey wrench" is not so named because it is a handy thing to monkey
with, or for any kindred reason. "Monkey" is not its name at all, but
"Moncky." Charles Moncky, the inventor of it, sold his patent for
$2,000, and invested the money in a house in Williamsburgh, Kings
County, N. Y.

The "Seven Wonders of the World" are seven most remarkable objects of
the ancient world. They are: The Pyramids of Egypt, Pharos of
Alexandria, Walls and Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Temple of Diana at
Ephesus, the Statue of the Olympian Jupiter, Mausoleum of Artemisia, and
Colossus of Rhodes.

In 1775 there were only twenty-seven newspapers published in the United
States. Ten years later, in 1785, there were seven published in the
English language in Philadelphia alone, of which one was a daily. The
oldest newspaper published in Philadelphia at the time of the Federal
convention was the Pennsylvania Gazette, established by Samuel Keimer,
in 1728. The second newspaper in point of age was the Pennsylvania
Journal, established in 1742 by William Bradford, whose uncle, Andrew
Bradford, established the first newspaper in Pennsylvania, the American
Weekly Mercury, in 1719. Next in age, but the first in importance, was
the Pennsylvania Packet, established by John Dunlap, in 1771. In 1784 it
became a daily, being the first daily newspaper printed on this
continent.

"Liberty," Bartholdi's statue, presented to the United States by the
French people in 1885, is the largest statue ever built. Its conception