BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER 



640 



BEAVER 



ive rice belt and has some of the largest rice 

 mills in the state. Manufactured products 

 are sawed and planed creosoted lumber (espe- 

 cially shingles), oil-field and saw-mill machin- 

 ery and supplies, cars, furniture, ice, cottonseed 

 oil, refined oil and petroleum products. Beau- 

 mont was settled in 1836, was chartered as a 

 m 1899, and is ruled by the commission 

 form of government. 



BEAUMONT, bo' mont, FRANCIS (1584-1616), 

 AND FLETCHER, JOHN (1579-1625), two Eng- 

 lish writers who were prominent figures among 

 the dramatists of the age of Shakespeare. 

 Their names are always associated together 

 because they worked as literary partners. Of 

 the fifty or more plays which they produced, 

 Philastcr and The Maid's Tragedy are known 

 to be largely the work of Beaumont; The 

 Faithful Shepherdess, containing much delight- 

 ful poetry, is attributed to Fletcher. The 

 particular share that each had in most of the 

 plays, however, is difficult to ascertain. Beau- 

 mont seems to have been the stronger and 

 more dignified writer of the two, but Fletcher 

 was the superior poet. 



Though their plays were fully as popular as 

 Shakespeare's in their own period, they repre- 

 sent the beginning of the decline of the Eng- 

 lish drama. Character-drawing sinks to a low 

 level in the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, 

 and the men and women of these writers are 

 so unnatural and overdrawn that they bear 

 no comparison with the lifelike creations of 

 Shakespeare. Further, though their plays are 

 clever and amusing, they are greatly marred 

 by coarseness. To the modern reader they 

 are attractive chiefly by reason of the beauti- 

 ful lyrics which they contain. 



BEAUREGARD, bo ' re gahrd, PIERRE Gus- 

 TAVH Tm-TANT (1818-1893), a Confederate gen- 

 eral who began the War of Secession by the 

 bombardment of Fort Sumter. He was born 

 in New Orleans, was graduated at West Point, 

 and after distinguishing himself in the Mexican 

 War returned to West Point as its superintend- 

 ent. In February, 1861, two months after his 

 appointment to that post, he resigned to enter 

 the Confederate army. His operations after 

 the famous attack on Sumter include the win- 

 ning of the first Battle of Bull Run, the com- 

 mand of the Confederates in the hard-fought 

 Battle of Shiloh and the defense of Charleston 

 against naval attacks by Dupont and Dahl- 

 gren. After the war he was president of the 

 New Orleans, Jackson & Mississippi Railroad, 

 adjutant-general of Louisiana, and for some 



time manager of the state lottery. For accept- 

 ing this last-named office he was severely 

 blamed, as the lottery was in evil repute and 

 was soon thereafter put out of business by act 

 of the Louisiana legislature. 



BEAVER, a fur-bearing animal which is the 

 most famous, interesting and intelligent of 

 gnawing creatures. Its life history reads like 

 that of some modest, industrious race of peo- 

 ple, which in spite of, or perhaps because of, 

 its peaceful disposition, has been almost exter- 

 minated. At one time beavers were common 

 in the northern regions of both hemispheres, 

 but they are now found in considerable num- 

 bers only in the United States and Canada. 

 Even in those countries, although laws exist for 

 their protection, fur-traders are rapidly decreas- 

 ing the numbers of this master-workman 

 among land-and-water animals. In the early 

 years of American history beavers were so 

 common that their pelts were used in place of 

 money. The term skin, used as a standard 

 measurement in fur-trading posts, was based 

 on the size of the pelt of a full-grown, perfect 

 beaver, which, when cured, weighed sixteen to 

 twenty ounces. Traders still use sticks to 

 represent this measurement. 



Distinguishing Characteristics. Beavers be- 

 long to the same family as muskrats (which 

 see). They are about two feet long, from nose 

 to root of tail, and weigh thirty-five pounds 

 and more. The tail is about ten inches long. 

 It is thick and oval-shaped, flattened horizon- 

 tally for about half its length. It is naked of 

 hair, but is covered with horny scales. The 

 tail acts as a rudder and an oar when the ani- 

 mal is in a pond or stream, and when slapped 

 on .the water it sounds a loud signal to an- 

 nounce the presence of danger. Beavers have 

 small eyes, short ears, blunt noses, small squir- 

 rel-like forefeet and large webbed hindfcet. 

 There are two kinds of hair. The upper, which 

 is long, coarse and glossy, is removed before 

 the skins are placed on the market. The under 

 hair, that which is commercially valuable, is 

 short, thick, soft and silky. Beavers are gener- 

 ally of a chestnut-brown color, but some are 

 black and others are white. Most interesting of 

 beaver characteristics are the cutting teeth (in- 

 cisors), two in each jaw. They are large, strong 

 and sharp, and are curved into a semi-circle. 

 The fronts of these teeth are of hard enamel, 

 the backs are softer and easily worn away, so a 

 chisel-like edge is always kept, for the teeth also 

 continue to grow as they are worn away. The 

 cutting teeth are to the beaver what an ax is 



