LYNX 



3545 



LYRE 



THE LYNX 



lages have been separated from Lynn, some of 

 vhich have become fashionable summer resorts, 

 "he city adopted the commission form of gov- 



iment in 1910. 



LYNX, lingks, the name of a group of the 

 family, found in the northern parts of both 



;mispheres. A smaller species, known as the 

 it, is found as far south as Mexico. True 

 ces are smaller than leopards and larger 



tan ordinary 

 'ildcats. The 



ir, which grows 



ven on the 



leeks, is light 



rown or gray 



id very long 

 silky; some- 

 imes it is spot- 

 id or striped 

 dth a darker shade. Lynxes have stumpy 



tils, and the pointed ears are tipped with tufts 

 fur. The pupils of the eyes contract to a 



irrow, black slit. These animals live in for- 

 or in rocky places, and prowl at night. 



ley kill sheep and chickens, but almost pay 

 for them by the number of mice, rats and fer- 

 rets they destroy. They sleep in hollow trees 

 or caves, but like to climb trees and lie 

 stretched out on a limb. Young lynxes look 

 like kittens, and the mother lynx will fight 

 angrily and very cleverly against anything that 

 approaches them. The beautiful fur is much in 

 demand; because of this, and because of their 

 raids on chickens and sheep, lynxes are being 

 exterminated. 



These animals have been known by this 

 name for hundreds of years. In Greek and 

 Roman legends they were said to be able to see 

 through the thickest walls, and the car of Bac- 

 chus, the wine god, was drawn by two huge 

 lynxes. 



LYON, li'un, MARY (1797-1849), the founder 

 of Mount Holyoke College, which was the first 

 of the various women's colleges now main- 

 tained in the United States. She was born near 

 Buckland, Mass., and at the age of seventeen 

 began teaching in a common school for sev- 

 enty-five cents a week "with board." Three 

 years later she entered Sanderson Academy, 

 continuing her studies in various schools for 

 several years and teaching part of the time. 

 In 1828 Miss Zilpah P. Grant, one of her former 

 teachers, organized a seminary at Ipswich, 

 Mass., choosing Mary Lyon as her associate. 

 Six years later, when Ipswich Seminary failed 

 in its efforts to secure an endowment, Miss 



Lyon started out to establish an institution 

 which would offer a thorough education to 

 young women of moderate means. Mount 

 Holyoke College, with its advanced ideals, 

 founded in 1837, was the result, and as its prin- 

 cipal for twelve years, she did pioneer work in 

 education which made her one of the famous 

 women of the United States. In recognition 

 of her services to American education she was 

 in 1905 elected to the Hall of Fame (which 

 see). See COLLEGE, subhead Colleges for 

 Women. 



LYONS, li'unz, a great industrial city in the 

 south of France, about fifty miles west of Lake 

 Geneva, built upon a narrow, hilly strip of land 

 between the Rhone and Saone rivers. It pre- 

 sents the unusual aspect of a modern manufac- 

 turing city and a medieval town. Along the 

 river banks are busy docks and warehouses, for 

 Lyons has the greatest silk industry in the 

 world and has a large trade in coal, charcoal, 

 metal and metal goods, wine, spirits, cheese and 

 chestnuts. On the hill of La Fourviere are the 

 chapels, churches and monasteries of the Lyons 

 that was the medieval center of Christianity in 

 the West. Here is the fifteenth century ca- 

 thedral of Saint Jean; the Church of Saint 

 Martin d'Ainay, which dates back to the ninth 

 century ; the Gothic church of Saint Nizier and 

 the Hotel Dieu, that has never closed its doors 

 to the poor since it was founded in the sixth 

 century by Childibert. 



Lyons was founded about 500 B. c. by Greek 

 refugees. Under the Roman emperors it be- 

 came a city of great wealth and importance, 

 having fine temples, theaters, baths and aque- 

 ducts. In 478 Lyons was the capital of Bur- 

 gundy; afterwards it fell into the hands of the 

 Franks, and then the Saracens captured it. 

 Charlemagne rescued it, then in the eleventh 

 and twelfth centuries it became so prosperous 

 that the neighboring cities began to quarrel 

 about it, and the frightened eitizens joined 

 France for protection. During the Huguenot 

 troubles, Lyons was mainly Catholic and suf- 

 fered little harm, but in the French Revolution 

 it was nearly destroyed. Fortunately the Ger- 

 mans did not injure Lyons in the Franco-Ger- 

 man War, nor did the city suffer in the great 

 War of the Nations which began in 1914. It 

 has become the third in size and first in indus- 

 try and manufacture of the cities of France. 

 Population in 1911, 523,796. 



LYRE, lire, a musical instrument of great 

 antiquity, which originally had three strings. 

 It consisted of a hollow body from which two 



