RIVES 



5027 



ROAD RUNNER 



RIVES, reevz, AMELJE (1863- ), since her 

 marriage PRINCESS TROUBETZKOY, a novelist and 

 poet, was bora at Richmond, Va. Her popular 

 work, The Quick or the Dead, was the most 

 talked-of book in America when it was first 

 published, and on its appearance the young 

 author stepped from obscurity to wide celeb- 

 rity. It describes the spiritual struggles of a 

 beautiful woman who has lost her idolized hus- 

 band, and who wins the love of his cousin, 

 almost the former's duplicate in personal ap- 

 pearance. In the end, after terrible mental an- 

 guish, she decides that the influence of the 

 dead is too potent a factor in her life for her 

 to marry the "quick," that is, her husband's 

 cousin. This novel was discussed, attacked and 

 applauded ; was barred from libraries and cham- 

 pioned in pulpits. Her first book, A Brother 

 to Dragons, was published in 1888. During the 

 same year she was married to John Armstrong 

 Chandler, from whom she was divorced a few 

 years later. In 1896 she was married to Prince 

 Pierre Troubetzkoy. Her later writings include 

 The Witness of the Sun, According to Saint 

 John, Athelwold, Tanis, the Sand-digger, Hid- 

 den House, A Damsel Errant and. Barbara 

 Dering (a sequel to The Quick or the Dead). 

 In 1915 she published World's End. 



RIVIERA, re vya'rah, a narrow strip of land 

 that stretches for 172 miles along the Gulf of 



/SWITZERLAND 



ki 



WINTER AND SUMMER RESORTS IN THE 



SAME LATITUDE 



While Maine harbors are blocked with Ice. 

 orange, olive and palm trees are at their best on 

 the Riviera, but while the people of Nice are 

 enduring the dry heat of summer, Americans are 

 flocking to the cool coasts of Maine. The com- 

 fortable winters of the Mediterranean land are 

 due to warm winds from the South Atlantic; 

 the lower temperature of New England results 

 from the nearness of the icy Labrador Current. 



Genoa at the northern end of the blue Tyrrhe- 

 nian arm of the Mediterranean Sea, between 

 the mountains and the shore. The sun and the 

 south winds warm it, while the Alps in the 

 background, all gray and green with vineyards 

 and olive groves, with swift little, rushing riv- 



ers and clanking mill wheels, shut off the north 

 and east winds. These conditions make the cli- 

 mate so mild and the scenery so beautiful that 

 the Riviera is one of the famous health resorts 

 of the world. From Nice (in France) in the 

 west, into Italy through Genoa to Spezia in 

 the east, the towns and villages are almost con- 

 tinuous, linked together by a famous carriage 

 road, originally built by the ancient Romans, 

 and by a railroad which burrows through the 

 many projecting headlands in a series of about 

 eighty tunnels. 



The towns are very picturesque, with houses 

 that are rose and cream and brown in color, 

 with green and fragrant gardens, and with shops 

 filled with curios and trinkets that are a con- 

 tinuous delight to the tourists, invalids and 

 convalescents who throng there throughout tin 

 winter months. Great masses of roses, violets 

 and hyacinths are cultivated for the London 

 and Paris markets, as well as subtropical fruits, 

 dates and bananas, pomegranates and prickly 

 pears. Some of the principal towns are Nice, 

 Monaco, Monte Carlo and Mentone, in France, 

 and Bordighera, Ospedaletti, San Remo, Ra- 

 pallo, Levanto and Spezia, in Italy. 



Consult Home's Along the Rivicraa of France 

 and Italy ; Scott's The Riviera. 



ROAD RUNNER, a swift-footed bird of the 

 cuckoo family, found in the Southwestern United 

 States and Northern Mexico, known also as the 

 chaparral cock, ground cuckoo and snake killer. 

 The name road runner refers to its habit of rac- 



THE ROAD RUNNER 



ing down the road in front of horsemen or ve- 

 hicles. When it runs, it spreads wings and tail 

 into a sort of aeroplane and speeds along at an 

 amazing rate. It is nearly two feet in length 

 and has long legs with two toes at the front and 

 two in the back, and a large tail with graduated 

 feathers, which it erects saucily at will. In color 

 it is a glossy, greenish-brown, each feather being 

 fringed with white. Its nest, which is placed in 

 low trees or bushes, is made of sticks. In it are 

 placed the four to six yellowish eggs. The road 

 runner feeds on grains and insects. See CUCKOO. 



