518 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



natural orders of animals. He gave full ac- 

 counts of nine tribes of Karens, and of five or 

 six races of the Burmese family of nations, 

 with extended vocabularies of the languages 

 of each, and a vast amount of information con- 

 cerning the religion, habits, manners, and civ- 

 ilization of these different nations, all or near- 

 ly all gathered from personal observations. 

 The India Government were so much pleased 

 with this work that they purchased the greater 

 part of the edition, and in 1872-'73 paid Dr. 

 Mason's expenses to Northern Burmah, which 

 required some further explorations ; and pro- 

 posed to pay him a liberal sum for its revision, 

 and for the copyright of a new edition, and 

 to defray his expenses to and from Calcutta, 

 and while remaining there to superintend the 

 printing of the work, assuming also all the 

 expense of its publication. Of this work, the 



freatest of English botanists said that "Dr. 

 rancis Mason had made the most valuable 

 additions to the flora and fauna of Burmah of 

 any man of modern times." It was character- 

 istic of Dr. Mason that, finding a difficulty in 

 getting the edition of 1860 printed according 

 to his ideas at Rangoon, he learned the print- 

 er's art when past sixty years of age, and set up 

 the greater part of the work himself, and pro- 

 duced the most creditable piece of book-print- 

 ing that had ever been done in Burmah. Be- 

 sides the works already mentioned, he had 

 prepared the first book published in the Karen 

 language, " The Sayings of the Elders," and 

 subsequently a small work on pathology and 

 materia medica for his students, in one of the 

 Karen dialects, having studied medicine for 

 the purpose ; and had published in English : 

 " Eeport of the Tavoy Mission Society ;" " Life 

 of Ko-Tha-Byu, the Karen Apostle ; " " Me- 

 moir of Mrs. Helen M. Mason" (1847); and 

 " Memoir of Sau Quala " (1850). He had also 

 contributed largely to the Missionary Maga- 

 zine, to the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic 

 Society, and for several years edited the Morn- 

 ing Star, a Karen monthly, which was pub- 

 lished in both the Sgau and Pwo dialects. 



MASSACHUSETTS. The session of the 

 Massachusetts Legislature for 1874 began on 

 the 8th of January, and ended on the 30th 

 of June. Scarcely had the session opened 

 when a large number of petitions were re- 

 ceived, asking that a resolution adopted by 

 the Legislature in 1872, which had been con- 

 strued as censuring Senator Charles Sum- 

 ner for introducing a bill in the United States 

 Senate providing that "the names of battles 

 with fellow-citizens shall not be continued in 

 the Army Register, or placed on the regimen- 

 tal colors of the United States," be rescinded. 

 Most of the petitions read as follows, and were 

 unanimously signed : 



To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives 



~ ~kjr 1 I.* v * 



Whereas, At the extra session of the Legislature 

 of 1872 of this Commonwealth, called for the sole 

 and exclusive purpose of alleviating a great public 



calamity, a resolution virtually censuring one of the 

 representatives of the State, in the Senate of the 

 Union, was offered and adopted : 



Therefore, we, the undersigned, citizens of Massa- 

 chusetts, with a jealous regard to the honor and good 

 name of the State, and with a proud and grateful 

 appreciation of the character and public services of 

 Charles Sumner, respectfully but earnestly ask your 

 honorable body to rescind and annul the resolution 

 aforesaid, passed by the Legislature of Massachu- 

 setts on the 18th of December, 1872. 



A resolution rescinding the resolution of 

 1872 was promptly offered, and after long de- 

 bates was adopted in both branches. The 

 vote in the Senate was 26 in favor of the re- 

 scinding resolution, and 7 against it ; in the 

 House 119 voted in favor of it, and 49 against 

 it, and 69 members were absent when the vote 

 was taken. A few weeks after this, Senator 

 Sumner died, and the duty of choosing his suc- 

 cessor devolved upon the Legislature. There 

 was a long contest extending over several 

 weeks, and involving many ballots before the 

 matter was decided. The Republican mem- 

 bers were divided in their preference, their 

 two leading candidates being Henry L. Dawes, 

 and Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, while the Dem- 

 ocrats voted for Benjamin R. Curtis. Finally 

 a compromise was effected, in accordfince with 

 which the Republicans were generally united 

 on William B. Washburn, then Governor of 

 the State, and elected him. The last two bal- 

 lots taken show approximately the position of 

 the members during the long contest, and pre- 

 cisely their position on the final vote. The 

 last ballot but one was as follows : 



Whole number of votes 263 



Necessary to a choice 133 



E. R. Hoar 75 



Henry L. Dawes 72 



B. R. Curtis 69 



N. P. Banks 12 



Charles F. Adams 19 



William B. Washburn 18 



Scattering 8 



The last and decisive ballot was as follows : 



Whole number of votes 267 



Necessary to a choice 134 



William B. Washburn 149 



Benjamin R. Curtis 64 



Henry L. Dawes 26 



CharlesF. Adams 17 



N. P. Banks 4 



Scattering 7 



Governor Washburn resigned the Executive 

 chair to Lieutenant-Governor Talbot on the 

 30th of April. The important subjects of 

 legislation which occupied by far the largest 

 share of attention were the regulation of the 

 hours of labor in manufacturing establishments, 

 the repeal of the laws prohibiting the sale 

 of intoxicating liquors and establishing a State 

 constabulary to enforce the same, and the 

 management of the railroad-line through the 

 Hoosac Tunnel. On the first subject there 

 were several different bills introduced, and va- 

 rious substitutes and amendments offered and 

 discussed at great length. A bill was finally 

 passed limiting the hours of labor for minors 

 under eighteen years of age, and for women, 

 in the manufactoring establishments of tho 



