Page:LA2-NSRW-3-0470.jpg

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.


PAWNEES

1432

PEABODY

that of St. Michael, mentioned as early as 661, is the place where the early kings of Italy were crowned; restored in 1863-76, it is now called the royal basilica. The cathedral, begun in 1488 but never finished, contains the tomb of Boetius, and in a chapel connected with it are the ashes of St. Augustine. Near the city is the monastery of Cer-tosa, which was built by the first duke of Milan, its church being one of the most beautiful of that era. The university, which dates from 1300 and is thought to have been founded by Charlemagne, was famous in the middle ages. It has 1,550 students, 53 instructors and a library of 200,000 volumes. Pavia was founded by the Gauls, sacked by Attila in 453 and by Odoacer in 476. Under the Lombards, as their capital, it became the chief city of Italy. The city was taken by the French in 1527, in 1796 by Napoleon and belonged to Austria after the peace of 1814. Since 1859 it has been a part of the kingdom of Italy. Population 39,319.

Pawnees (pa'nezf), a tribe of American Indians, who lived on the Platte and its branches in Nebraska. They were divided into four bands, and were always fighting the Sioux, but have been friendly to white settlers. In 1833 and 1857 they gave parts of their lands to the United States, which, however, did not protect them from the Sioux, by whom they were slaughtered, until the remnant of the tribe removed to Indian Territory in 1876. See Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales by Grinnell.

Paw=Paw, called also pa-paw and custard-apple, is a small tree or shrub found in the central and southern parts of the United States. The fruit looks somewhat like a ripe cucumber or banana, with a yellow skin, turning brown as it becomes ripe. The flesh is soft, about the color of custard, very sweet and with large, flat, black seeds, larger than those of a watermelon. It is not often found in markets. A variety which grows in South America has a larger fruit, which is cooked with sugar and lemon before eating. Its leaves are used instead of soap, and its juice preserves meat.

Pawtuck'et, R. I., a city in Providence County, is on Pawtucket River, four miles north of Providence. The river has a fall of 50 feet, which makes the city one of manufactures. It was the site in 1790 of the first cotton-factory in the United States (the original building still stands) and for 40 years was the most important manufacturing town in the country. It has cotton, woolen, haircloth and thread factories, calico-printing works, bleaching and dyeing establishments, hosiery and silk mills, boot and shoe factories and jewelry works. Paw-tucket was settled about 1655, formed a part of Bristol County, Conn., until 1861, and became a city in 1886. Population 51,622.

Pax'ton, Sir Joseph, an English architect, was born in Bedfordshire, Aug. 3, 1801.

He began life as a gardener in the service of the duke of Devonshire. His care of the duke's great glass conservatories at Chats-worth suggested the use of glass and iron for the Crystal Palace for the great exhibition of 1851. It was the first time these materials had "! een used for so large a building, and the effect delighted all wh<_. saw it. Pax-ton was knighted for his successful design. He sat in Parliament nine years, and died at Sydenham, near London, June 8, 1865.

Payne, John Howard, an American dramatist, was born at New York, June 9, 1792. His first appearance as an actor was in that city in 1809. He was a successful ,ctor for 30 years and wrote several plays, of which the best known are Brutus, Charles II and Clari. The song, Home, Sweet Home, for which he is remembered, is in Clari, which was produced as an opera. The author had no home for the last 40 years of his life, and died in a foreign land, having been appointed American consul at Tunis, where he died on April 10, 1852. His remains were brought to America, and buried at Washington in 1883. See Life and Poems, edited by Harrison, and J. H, Payne by Brainard.

Pea, an annual vine (Pisum sativum) of the order Leguminoscz, commonly grown in gardens all over the world and extensively sown in fields as fodder ior cattle. It is a climbing vine with pinnate leaves. Its original home is western Asia and eastern Europe. Pea-seeds have been found in Egyptian tombs. About 200 varieties of garden-peas are annually offered by American seedsmen. Wrinkle-seeded peas are generally considered superior in flavor to smooth-seeded peas. Peas thrive best in fairly rich, well-drained, loamy soils. The plants are hardy, withstanding light frosts without injury, though not succeeding well in dry, hot weather. Their wealth of nitrogenous elements makes them valuable fertilizers of soils. Canada and our northern states are the chief sources of the dried peas, and furnish practically all pea-seed. Peas are highly prized as food. Immense quantities are canned green. Several plants of the Leguminoscs, as the sweet pea (q. v.) are called peas, though not peas. They have more than 20 insect-enemies, the green pea-louse doing prodigious damage.

Pea'body, Andrew Preston, an American (Unitarian) clergyman, was born at Beverly, Mass., March 9, 1811. He graduated at Harvard College in 1826, studied theology, and for seventeen years was pastor of a church at Portsmouth, N. H. He was then appointed preacher and professor of Christian morals in Harvard University. For nine years he was editor of the North American Review, a frequent contributor to periodicals and a well-known lecturer. He published Christian Doctrine, Christian Console tions, Manual ef Moral Philosophy', Chris-