CHERRY
377
CHESAPEAKE
war a part of the tribe moved west of the Mississippi to find better hunting-grounds, and in 1838 the government removed the remainder. In the Civil War they divided, Cherokees being in each army. The tribe learned several kinds of manufacturing, gradually gave up hunting, and up to the outbreak of the war held many slaves. There have been schools and missions among them for a long time. They are also rich, the
fDvernment holding for them over $1,500,ooo. hey number about 14,000.
Cher'ry, certain species of the genus Prunus, which belongs to the rose family. The cultivated tree-cherries are said to have come from two European species. The berries are also distinguished in general as sweet and sour cherries. It is the latter kind which is usually cultivated for canning, the sweet cherries being mostly confined to dooryard planting. In Japan cherries are specialized for their beauty, Cherry-blossom time being a holiday season. Our wild red cherry, pin, bird or pigeon cherry, is a graceful little tree, its bark smooth and shining, its leaves ever twinkling, and none could pass it by unnoticed in April and May, then all snowy, fragrant bloom. Its rich red fruit is a prime favorite with the birds. This tree, a quick grower and short-lived, is an excellent nurse for young forest trees. The choke-cherry is generally but a shrub, though attaining considerable size in the region lying between Nebraska and northern Texas. Both in time of blossoming and in fruit-bearing it is very attractive, the blossoms having long, fleecy bunches. Later the branches droop with the long stems aset with glowing gems, changing through various shades of yellow and red to the dark crimson of the ripe fruit •—occasionally yellow when ripe. The fruit is very good to look at but very bitter to eat, puckery and harsh to the taste.
The wild black cherry or rum-cherry, is a very valuable timber tree. It grows to the height of 50 to 90 feet, the polished wood, a rich, lustrous brown, rivalling mahogany and rosewood. It was once abundant on the Alleghany slopes, but is now quite scarce. See Rogers: The Tree Book} Louns-berry: A Guide to the Trees.
Cherubini (kd-roo-be'ne), Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore, an Italian composer, was born at Florence in 1760. He began to study music at the age of six. He produced successful operas, and in 1800 brought out one of his masterpieces, The Water-Carrier. Soon after he turned his mind to church-music, in which he became very distinguished, his first work being the Mass in F. His operas resembled Mozart's in many respects. He died March 15, 1842.
Chesapeake Bay (ches*'d-pek), meaning mother of waters, the greatest inlet in the Atlantic coast of the United States, enters Virginia and extends into Maryland. It is aoo miles long and from four to forty miles
wide. Cape Charles and Cape Henry mark its entrance. It receives the Susquehanna, Potomac, James and other rivers. The Chesapeake is so deep that the largest ships can steam up its entire length. It is also the most southern ol the deep-water bays, all those to the south being shallow.
Chesapeake, The, a frigate of the United States Navy, historically noted in the War of 1812 with Great Britain and in the preliminary impressment-controversy period. The latter period was the one when the British government refused to recognize the naturalization abroad of her subjects as absolving them from their inalienable allegiance. In the intercourse between this country and England, early in the last century, it was a frequent practice on the part of British seamen, when their ships touched at American ports, to desert and become American subjects. This naturally offended England and annoyed the captains and officers of her ships when desertions occurred on this side; so much so that it became a frequent occurrence to overhaul American ships and take from them deserters and even American subjects on the high seas. One instance of this connects itself with the United States frigate, The Chesapeake, which soon after sailing from Hampton Roads, on June 22, 1807, was overhauled for deserters by the British warship Leopard. Though unprepared for act ion, The Chesapeake resented the insult to the American flag and refused to submit to inspection or to surrender any of the foreign portion of her crew. At this The Leopard opened fire and forced The Chesapeake to haul down her flag and give up the three colored deserters aboard her. The unfriendly act, though disowned by Britain (the government of the latter refusing all redress) did much to embroil the two nations and precipitate the War of 1812-14. When the latter was in progress, The Chesapeake was again to figure in a sharp encounter with a British warship, The Shannon, commanded by Captain Broke and carrying 52 guns. On this occasion, The Chesapeake, which was then commanded by Captain Lawrence, and had an armament of 50 guns, was in better shape than formerly to take her part in the action that followed, save that she had a practically untrained crew. The two frigates met just outside of Boston, on June i, 1813, and at once an engagement ensued. So hot was the Shannon's fire., and so indifferently was it returned by her American adversary, that the encounter lasted but fifteen minutes, when The Chesapeake was forced to surrender, in spite of her gallant captain's charge to his men, as he was carried below mortally wounded: "Don't give up the ship. The Chesapeake became The Shannon's prize, and was taken by the latter into Halifax harbor, afterwards and for a few years sailing under the British flag. The casualties of the encounter were.
