HOWITZER 



2857 



HUBBARD 



zine. To the latter periodical he has for years 

 contributed charming, informal comments on 

 literary and other topics of the day, under 

 the caption "The Editor's Easy Chair." 



His first novel, Their Wedding Journey, is a 

 story of two very human lives. Its homeli- 

 ness and pleasant, everyday character secured 

 for it wide popularity. It was followed by a 

 long succession of novels. His Rise of Silas 

 Lapham is a broadly American novel, fraught 

 with kindly human sympathy. His Hazard of 

 New Fortunes is a story of the dramatic un- 

 rest of current conditions in a big city. His 

 farces include The Elevator, The Sleeping Car, 

 The Mouse Trap and The Register. He has 

 also written many essays and some poetry, but 

 is best known as a novelist. Among his most 

 important novels are A Modern Instance, A 

 Foregone Conclusion, The World of Chance, 

 Story of a Play, Ragged Lady and The Ken- 

 tons. Years of My Youth, a volume of remi- 

 niscences, was published in 1915. C.W.K. 



HOWITZER, hou'itser, a form of cannon 

 designed to throw a shell at a high angle, so 

 that its fire reaches soldiers protected from 

 direct shots by fortifications and entrench- 

 ments. Howitzers are intermediate between 

 guns and mortars, being longer in proportion 

 to their caliber than the mortar, and shorter 

 than the gun. During the War of the Nations 

 the great destructive power of huge siege how- 

 itzers was appalling. The projectiles from the 



HOWITZER 



Type of great gun used by the Germans in the 

 War of the Nations. 



most powerful of these monsters plowed their 

 way through the thickest concrete walls and 

 dug out great holes in the earth below. The 

 shells used against fortifications are filled with 

 high explosives, while those used in searching 

 wit trenches carry shrapnel. 



HOWLERS, a name applied to a group of 

 American monkeys which utter sounds prob- 



ably as hideous as ever were heard in a forest or 

 zoo. These monkeys live chiefly in the tropi- 

 cal forests of Brazil, Venezuela and Mexico, 

 and are of large size, with human-looking, 

 rounded heads, projecting muzzle, and face sur- 

 rounded by a fringe of hair. The fur is red- 

 brown, brown or black, and the long tail is 

 adapted for holding or grasping. The extraor- 

 dinary voice of the howlers, which makes the 

 woods echo with most unpleasant sounds at 

 early morning and at evening, is due to the 

 inflation of a bone in the throat into a hollow 

 drum, which communicates with the larynx. 

 Howlers feed on fruit and leaves. They are 

 the largest monkeys of the western hemisphere. 

 See MONKEY. 



HUBBARD, ELBERT (1850-1915), a picturesque 

 figure in modern American letters, who won 

 success as an advertisement writer, lecturer, 

 publisher, editor and essayist, but who became 

 most widely known as the founder of the "Roy- 

 croft Shop" in 

 East Aurora, 

 N. Y. This is 

 an establishment 

 where artistic 

 books are pro- 

 duced and various 

 handicrafts are 

 practiced, includ- 

 ing basket-mak- 

 ing, the fashion- 

 i n g of articles 

 from hammered 

 brass, and furni- 

 ture-making. 

 "Fra Elbertus," as 

 he was accustomed to style himself, was born 

 in Bloomington, 111., and educated in the com- 

 mon schools. A vigorous and independent 

 thinker, whose vein of sarcasm was often tem- 

 pered by his kindly philosophy and his whimsi- 

 cal sense of humor, he attracted wide attention 

 as publisher of The Philistine ("a magazine 

 of protest") and The Fra, the organ of the 

 Roycrofters. The former, devoted to philoso- 

 phy and criticism, always interested the reader 

 and as often startled him because of its frank, 

 sometimes immodest, tone, and its freedom 

 from convention. In The Fra, an open forum 

 for the courageous discussion of all sorts of 

 subjects, Elbert Hubbard's forceful, epigram- 

 matic style was seen at its best. 



Among his best-known writings are a series 

 of Little Journeys to the homes of authors, 

 musicians, artists and philosophers; these 



ELBERT HUBBARD 



