Page 565 : DVORAK — DYMENT
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Dvorak (dvôr′ zhäk), Antonin, Bohemian composer, was born at Muhlhausen on the Moldau in 1841, and was the son of an inn-keeper. He learned music, it is said, first from the gypsies, but entered the Prague conservatory as bandsman and organist. In 1883 his famous Stabat Mater, produced in London in that year, first stamped him as a really great composer, and earned for him later the honorary degree from Cambridge of Doctor of Music. His Spectre’s Bride, composed for the Birmingham festival of 1885, met with enthusiastic reception, as did his oratorio, St. Ludmila, composed for the Leeds festival (1886). In 1892 he wrote a four-act opera, Dimitrij, which was first produced in Vienna. In the same year he visited the United States, where he took the direction, for a while, of the National Conservatory of Music at New York, and while there wrote a cantata, entitled Columbus, which was produced at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. His other works include dances, songs and symphonies, an opera, Jacobin, and a cantata, The American Flag. A further popular work of Dvorak’s is Der König und der Köhler (The King and the Charcoal-Burner). He died in 1904.
Dwarf, name used especially for people much under the average size of mankind. The ancients believed there were races of dwarfs, and Aristotle declared that eye-witnesses affirmed that many of these little people lived in caves on the banks of the Nile. The most notable dwarf-races of men are the Bushmen, who are about four feet seven inches in height; the Akkas in Central Africa, about four feet ten inches high, by whom Stanley was much troubled in 1881; the Obongos on Gabun River; and the still smaller Batwas, about four feet three inches high. Other tribes of small stature are also reported. In the myths of the old Germanic nations dwarfs play a prominent part. They had their kings and lived in caves within the earth, where they kept treasure and works of art. Dwarfs used to be often kept as court-pets, and lately it has become common to exhibit them as curiosities in shows. The most famous of American dwarfs was Charles Stratton, called General Tom Thumb. When he married Miss Lavinia Warren, in 1863 he was 31 inches in height, his wife being one inch taller. With their child and another dwarf, called Commodore Nutt, they were exhibited through America and England. Flynn of New York, called General Mite, was only 21 inches high. Dwarfs are oftentimes strong for their size and quite intelligent. See Giants and Dwarfs, by E. J. Wood.
Dwight, Timothy, a well-known American theologian and educator, was born in 1752, at Northampton, Mass., and was a grandson of Jonathan Edwards. He studied at Yale College, was a chaplain in the American army during the Revolution, and settled as a minister at Greenfield Hill, Conn., where he also conducted an academy with great success. In 1795 he became president of Yale College. He died at New Haven, Conn., in 1817. His sermons on theology had a wide influence. See Life of Timothy Dwight, by W. B. Sprague, in Sparks’ American Biography.
Dwight, Timothy, grandson of the preceding, was born at Norwich, Conn., in 1828, and elected president of Yale University in 1886. He was a member of the American committee for the revision of the English version of the Bible. He published in 1872 The True Ideal of an American University.
Dwina (dwē′ nȧ), Dvina or Düna, the name of two important rivers of Russia. (1) The northern Dwina is formed by the coming together of the Sukhona and the Yuk. It flows in a general northwest direction through a flat country to the Gulf of Archangel. Its length is about 450 miles, and it has several large tributaries, the largest of which, the Viuchegda, is navigable for 500 miles. The river is a valuable channel of inland trade. (2) The western Dwina rises not far from the source of the Volga and the Dnieper, emptying into the Gulf of Riga. Its course is 500 miles long, part of which is navigable. It is connected with the Dnieper, and thus with the Black Sea, by the Beresina Canal, and by other systems with the Caspian Sea, the Neva and the Gulf of Finland.
Dyaks. See Borneo.
Dyment, Albert E., born at Lynden, County of Wentworth, Ontario, 1869. His father English, his mother Scotch. Educated at Barrie Collegiate Institute and at Upper Canada College. A prosperous manufacturer and dealer in lumber. Elected for Algoma to the House of Commons in 1896 and in 1900 and for
Image: ANTONIN DVORAK
Image: TIMOTHY DWIGHT
