ROSIN 



5064 



ROSS 



its rich color, which varies from red-brown to 

 purple or almost black. The black 

 are often beautifully streaked with red. When 

 the wood is cut or sawed, a slight odor of roses 

 is perceptible, which accounts for the name. 

 The heart wood grows to great dimensions and 

 is always faulty, as decay begins before the 

 tree matures. For this reason, squared planks 

 or logs are not seen; the wood is imported in 

 slabs from ten to twenty feet long, and from 

 five to twelve inches wide in the heaviest part. 

 On account of its irregular form the wood is 

 sold by weight, the price depending upon the 

 richness of the color, and varying from $50 to 

 $90 per ton; unusual specimens are sold for 

 $450 per ton. Rosewood is employed solid and 

 as veneer. It comes principally from Jamaica, 

 Brazil, Honduras, East India and Africa ; A a 

 choice quality is the product of the Dalbergia 

 tree, found in Malabar, India. 



ROSIN, rahz'in, the resin of pitch pine, 

 which may exude from wounds in the tree, but 

 which is obtained for commercial purposes by 

 distilling turpentine, the rosin remaining in the 

 tank after the turpentine has passed over. 

 Rosin is a brownish-yellow solid resembling a 

 gum in structure and having an odor like that 

 of varnish. It is most extensively employed in 

 the manufacture of varnish and is also used for 

 hardening laundry soap, in soldering, in the 

 manufacture of sealing wax and in making 

 some kinds of plaster and cement. See RESINS ; 

 TURPENTINE. 



ROSS, ALEXANDER (1783-1856), a Canadian 

 pioneer, whose books about early days in the 

 Northwest constitute a valuable part of Cana- 

 dian history. The most important of these are 

 Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon 

 or Columbia River; The Fur Hunters of the 

 Far West, and The Red River Settlement, the 

 last being written in the year of his death. 

 Ross had an eventful career. He was born in 

 Scotland, but emigrated to Canada when he 

 was eighteen. He taught school for some time 

 in Glengarry, Upper Canada, went to Oregon 

 with John Jacob Astor's expedition in 1810, and 

 then for more than a decade was in the employ 

 of the Hudson's Bay Company. About 1825 

 he settled in the Red River district, where he 

 had a large share in developing the section. 



ROSS, BETSY (1752-1836), an obscure seam- 

 stress of Philadelphia who gained an honored 

 place in the history of the United States as the 

 maker of its first national flag. She was living 

 in a small, old-fashioned brick house, at 239 

 Arch Street, when, in June, 1777, she was visited 



by a committee from Congress, headed by Gen- 

 eral Washington; the committee had heard 

 that she was an expert needlewoman, and it 

 desired her to make a flag according to the 

 design adopted by Congress on June 14 (MM: 

 FLAG, subtitle United States Flag). The story 

 has come down that Washington preferred six- 

 pointed stars, and that she persuaded him to 

 allow her to make five-pointed ones. The fla^ 

 made by her (shown on page 2195) had thir- 

 teen white stars arranged in a circle on a blue 

 field, and thirteen alternate red and white 

 stripes. Her work was* so satisfactory that the 

 government made a contract with her to pro- 

 vide all of its flags, and the business was con- 

 tinued by a daughter for over twenty years 

 after the death of Mrs. Ross. The old house 

 on Arch Street (pictured on 4622) has been 

 made a permanent memorial by the Betsy Ross 

 Memorial Association. 



"The simple stone of Betsy Ross 

 Is covered now with mold and moss, 

 But still her deathless banner flies, 

 And keeps the color of the skies. 

 A nation thrills, a nation bleeds, 

 A nation follows where it leads." 



Betsy Ross was the daughter of Samuel Gris- 

 com, a Quaker shipbuilder and carpenter who 

 helped build Independence Hall. Her husband, 

 John Ross, was the nephew of one of the sign- 

 ers of the Declaration of Independence. 



ROSS, SIR GEORGE WILLIAM (1841-1914), a 

 Canadian educator and statesman, for many 

 years a teacher and public school inspector, 

 later in turn a member of the Dominion House 

 of Commons, minister of education for Ontario 

 for sixteen years and premier of that province. 

 As minister of education he secured the passage 

 of the law federating the University of Toronto, 

 and as premier he was instrumental in securing 

 the construction of the Timiskaming & North- 

 ern Ontario Railway, which opened to settle- 

 ment a rich, new region. Sir George was a man 

 of more varied gifts and activities than perhaps 

 any other Parliamentary leader of his time. 



Sir George was born near Nairn, Ont. He 

 attended the Toronto Normal School, and for 

 many years was a teacher in the public schools. 

 From 1872 to 1883 he sat as a Liberal in the 

 House of Commons. He was then Ontario 

 minister of education until 1899, and premier 

 of the province for six years more. In middle 

 life, after he was already a national figure, he 

 studied law, and was called to the bar in 1887. 

 In 1907 he was called to the Dominion Senate, 

 in which he became the Liberal leader. Espe- 



