GRIS-NEZ 



2626 



GROSBEAK 



America as it is in their native land. The 

 stories arc short and simple tales about beaut i- 

 ful maidens and kings or princes who ul\\a\> 

 "live happy ever afterwards," but even an older 

 person, in whom the blessed gift of imagina- 

 tion has not died, can enjoy them as much 

 as a child. 



Jakob Ludwig Grimm (1785-1863) and Wil- 

 helm Karl Grimm (1786-1859). the brothers 

 ( irimm. as they are generally called, were not 

 in the least like the sort of people one would 

 expect to find telling fairy tales. Both were 

 sober, industrious scholars, born in Hanau, Ger- 

 many, who became professors in Berlin after 

 receiving their education at the University of 

 Marburg. In 1837 they were among the seven 

 professors who protested against the abolition 

 of the constitution by the king of Hanover, 

 and both were banished for a short time. 

 Much of their writing was along scholarly lines ; 

 some of Jakob's work is especially important, 

 for he published a German grammar of four 

 volumes in 1819, which laid the foundation for 

 historical investigation of the language. When 

 writing their fairy tales they used the fictitious 

 name of GAMMER GRETHEL, but their Kinder 

 und Hausmdrchen is generally known as 

 Grimms' Fairy Tales, where the authors' fame 

 rests on these stories alone. E.c.' 



GRIS-NEZ, grena', CAPE, the point of 

 France nearest to the English coast, the dis- 

 tance across to Dover being less than twenty- 

 one miles. It is at an equal distance from 

 Calais and Boulogne, in the Department of 

 Pas de Calais. The headland is bare and 

 grayish, hence the name, which means gray 

 nose. On it stands a lighthouse with a revolv- 

 ing light 233 feet above the sea, which may be 

 plainly seen from England. It is to this that 

 Matthew Arnold, in his Dover Beach, refers 

 when he says 



On the French coast the light comes, and is gone. 



This point was attacked by the Germans in the 

 War of the Nations, when, in 1914, they re- 

 peatedly attempted to capture Calais. From it, 

 had possession been obtained, their great guns, 

 shooting twenty-three miles, could have bftm- 

 barded the English coast and controlled the 

 English Channel. 



GROM'WELL, the name commonly applied 

 to plants of the borage family, having a funnel- 

 shaped corolla which conceals the shorter sta- 

 mens and seeds of stony hardness. Formerly 

 medicinal properties were ascribed to these 

 plants, which, however, were wholly imaginary. 



The common gromwell is found in dry. gravelly 

 places in Europe, Asia, the United Stairs and 

 Canada. It has an erect stem with many 

 branches, pointed leaves and small flowers. 

 There are about forty species of this plant, 

 which are common throughout all temperate 

 zones; in America are eight or ten of those. 

 Some ha.ve roots which produce a rod dye 

 similar to alkanet. 



GRONINGEN, gro'ningen, the capital of the 

 province of the same name in Holland, and one 

 of the most important commercial centers in 

 that small country. It is situated ninety-two 

 miles north of Amsterdam, at the junction of 

 the rivers Hunse and Aa, and is connected by 

 canal with the Dollart Inlet, twenty-two miles 

 to the northeast. The city is crossed by 

 numerous canals and has extensive docks. 

 There are important manufactures of textiles, 

 sugar, furniture, cigars and tobacco, lumber, 

 machinery and gold and silver ware. Its 

 marketplace is one of the largest in Europe. 

 Groningen was an important member of the 

 Hanseatic League (which see) as early as 1282, 

 when it was a strongly-fortified city. Maurice 

 of Nassau captured it in 1594 and annexed it 

 to the Netherlands. Population in 1910, 75,341. 



GROSBEAK, grose'beek, a general name for 

 various beautiful birds of the finch family, 

 whose beaks are so thick they can open even 

 the stones of cherries. The name was derived 

 from the old French word yros, meaning thick, 

 or strong. The 

 rose - breasted 

 grosbeak, which 

 is seen through- 

 put Eastern 

 North America 

 from Southern 

 Canada to Pan- 

 ama, is one of 

 the prettiest of 

 the species. It GROSBEAK AND NEST 



has a sweet, joyous little song. The farmers 

 of Pennsylvania call this bird the potato-bug 

 bird, because it feeds on destructive potato 

 beetles, as well as on flies, wasps- and grubs. 

 The male is a little smaller than a robin, is 

 largely black, with white lower parts and a 

 beautiful rose-red breast. Its blunt beak is 

 yellow. A western species is called black- 

 headed grosbeak. 



In the Southwestern United States is found 

 the shy, handsome blue grosbeak. In solitary 

 regions of Northwestern America, the brown 

 and yellow evening grosbeak feeds on buds 



