DUTCHMAN'S BREECHES 



1890 



DWARF 



became one of the Netherlands' possessions, it 

 has been twice in England's power, from 1799 

 till 1802, and from 1804 to 1816. The most im- 

 portant event in its history since then was the 

 abolition of slavery in 1863. The labor prob- 

 lem then became serious, and the agricultural 

 industries of the country were almost ruined. 

 No completely satisfactory solution was found, 

 but at the end of the nineteenth century the. 

 Netherlands showed increased interest in the 

 colony by establishing navigation service to 

 Paramaribo. An experimental botanical gar- 

 den has been established in that city to en- 

 courage agricultural activities. M.S. 



DUTCHMAN'S BREECHES, brick ' es, an odd 

 springtime flower, whose lovely white blossoms 

 tinged with creamy yellow hang in trembling 

 clusters at the end of long, straight stalks, 

 which shoot up directly from the root. From 



DUTCHMAN'S BREECHES 



four to eight of the dainty flowers are found 

 in a cluster, while fine, lacelike leaves of a 

 pale grayish-green color form a heavy foliage 

 around them. The shape of the flower shows 

 the origin of its humorous name, for the four 

 petals are united in pairs, two of them forming 

 a large double-spurred sac, and the other two, 

 which are very small, forming a protection for 

 the stigma. The roots are a collection of small 

 solid tubers enclosed in a sheath, or scaly skin. 

 The flowers may be found in bloom during 

 April and May in rich, rocky woods from 

 Nova Scotia to the Carolinas and as far west as 

 Nebraska. 



DUTIES, du'tiz. See TAX; CUSTOMS DU- 

 TIES. 



DVORAK, dvor'zhahk, ANTONIN (1841-1904), 

 a Bohemian musical composer, born in Miihl- 

 hausen, who began early in life to make a 

 living with his compositions and by playing 

 in small orchestras and in cafes. He grew 

 up among Bohemian peasants, and he learned 

 to love their folk songs so much that he 

 embodied them in many of his finest themes. 

 Not until he reached manhood was he en- 

 abled to have access to the compositions of 

 Beethoven and Mendelssohn, and the study 

 of their original scores induced him to try the 

 larger forms and resulted in his composing 

 a number of symphonies, operas, sacred com- 

 positions and some chamber music. But his 

 best works, excepting the Stabat Mater and 

 Requiem Mass, for which he is most renowned, 

 are those which deal with national Bohemian 

 folk themes. 



For many years he made England the scene 

 of his musical activities, and from 1892 to 1895 

 held the directorship of the New York Na- 

 tional Conservatory. While in the United 

 States he became intensely interested in the 

 music of the negro and the Indian, and in- 

 troduced their melodies into his symphony 

 From the New World and into the overture 

 In Nature. Despite the honors heaped upon 

 him in Europe and in America, Dvorak re- 

 mained to the end the simple man he always 

 had been. 



DWARF, a term generally applied to an 

 unusually small human being or to plants and 

 animals greatly below the average size of 

 their species. From the very earliest times 

 dwarfs have received great attention from the 

 scientific world. Ancient kings paid great 

 sums to obtain dwarfs as attendants. In the 

 days of the Pharaohs expeditions were sent 

 into the interior of Africa to procure dwarfs 

 from among the Akka tribe of pygmies. 

 Ptolemy Philadelphus was tutored by Philetas 

 of Cos, grammarian and poet, who was so 

 tiny that his shoes had to be weighted so 

 that he might not be blown away. The 

 Romans valued dwarfs very highly and some- 

 times adopted artificial means to stunt the 

 growth of children. Julia, the niece of Augus- 

 tus, was attended by two dwarfs, each twenty- 

 eight inches in height. Jeffery Hudson, famous 

 at the court of Charles I of England, was only 

 eighteen inches high at the age of thirty. His 

 stature eventually increased to thirty-nine 

 inches, and he was so active and intelligent 



