CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL
378
CHESTNUT
many on both sides; out of a crew of 379 The Chesapeake lost 61 in killed or mortally wounded, and 85 more or less severely wounded; The Shannon's losses (out of a crew of 330) were 33 killed and 50 wounded. See Cooper's History of the Navy of the United States and Roosevelt's The Naval War of 1812.
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, a project, favored in 1774 by Washington, to connect the great inland lakes by a navigable waterway from Lake Erie across the Alleghenies, utilizing the affluents of the Ohio River, thence to tidewaters on the Potomac. The undertaking was not in his day put into effect; though in 1820 it was revived by the state of Virginia, and a company was organized to construct the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, from Georgetown, D. C., to Cumberland, Md., by utilizing the waterway of the Potomac and tunneling the mountains beyond Paw-Paw Bend, thence to Cumberland. The project was completed in 1850, at a cost exceeding n| million dollars. The canal has a length of 185 miles, and by means of about 75 locks (100 feet in length by 15 feet in width) it gains a total elevation of over 600 feet, the water being supplied by the Potomac. The depth of the canal is 6 feet, while its width to Harper's Ferry is 60 feet on the surface and 42 feet at the bottom. The continuation of the canal to tap the inland lakes is a matter still in the future; though of late the city of Pittsburg, Pa., has taken hearty interest in the scheme, both by urging the Federal authorities to carry the canalization of the Monongahela River south to Fairmont, W. Va., and by planning to construct a canal, 16 feet deep and estimated to cost over $30,000,000, from Pitts-burg to Ashtabula, Ohio, on Lake Erie.
Chess, a game played with pieces of different value upon a board chequered in two colors and divided in sixty-four squares, is the most ancient of all the current games of skill. Chess is probably of Asiatic origin, although a game similar to it was known to the Egyptians. One of the earliest books to be printed in English was Caxton's Ye Game and Playe of ye Chesse (1479). The literature upon chess is at the present time enormous.
The pieces at the disposal of each player are a king, a queen, two bishops, two knights, two castles or rooks and eight pawns. The king moves in any direction one square; the queen, so far as the board is free, either diagonally or horizontally; the bishop, diagonally on its own color; the knight, one square horizontally or vertically and one square diagonally; the castle, horizontally and vertically; the pawns, to the next square in front. For the peculiar moves in castling, capturing and moving two squares with pawns, and "queening the pawn, the reader is referred to books upon chess.
l& theory, since, t&.Q (orqes o£ Qa-ch ipla^ei
are equal, every game of chess if rightly played should end in a draw. But the charm of chess arises from its infinite variety. No two games are alike. None the less, the best openings in chess have been reduced to a science, so that the earnest student of the game needs to practise the standard openings as given in books. There is no better plan for the learner than to play over the published games of the great masters.
The strategy of chess imitates that of war. The king is for each player the final object of attack and defence. Often, however, it is better to direct the attack upon some other piece, and to weaken the enemy before attempting to checkmate him. A king is checkmated when he is attacked in such a manner that if he were not the king he must needs be taken. The value of chess as a mode of mental recreation is almost beyond praise. At the same time it may be too serious a study for the good of the scholar whose mind is overtaxed by mental work. Moreover, the virtue which chess is held to possess, of training the mental powers for other purposes than the game itself, would seem to have been exaggerated.
Ches'ter, a, city in Delaware County, Pa., on the Delaware River, ten miles from Philadelphia. It has a military academy, large shipbuilding yards and manufactures of cotton and woolen goods, engines, etc. It was founded by the Swedes in 1643, and is the oldest town in the state. Population 38>537-
Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Lord, was born in London, Eng., Sept. 22, 1694. He studied at Cambridge, and was a member of Parliament. He was acquainted with Swift, Pope, Johnson and other authors. It was by offering his patronage to Dr. Samuel Johnson, after his famous dictionary appeared, though he had withheld it before, that he drew from the indignant Johnson the witty letter declining the courtesy that is so famous in English literature. Chesterfield, is best remembered by his Letters to His Son. He died March 24, 1773.
Chest'nut, species of the genus Castanea, which is closely related to the beech. There are about five species, which occur in the temperate regions of northeastern America, Europe, northern Africa and Asia. The peasants of Italy and Spain regard the chestnut as quite important. This chestnut is not sweet like ours, but very good when cooked. Three species are cultivated in this country for the fruit, namely, the European chestnut (£7, sativa), also known as French, Spanish and Italian chestnut; the American chestnut (C. Americana); and the Japanese chestnut (C. crenata).
The European chestnut is a tall, spreading tree the burrs very large, the nuts larger than the American chestnut. The Japanese qlaestnuib i% a, dwarfish, slander, tree an^i
