MARCO POLO 



3649 



MARIA CHRISTINA 



in 1895, Marconi was unable to interest the 

 Italian government in the wonderful invention 

 his genius had developed. The following year 

 he went to England, where he was well received, 

 and his method was declared feasible, but the 

 prophecy was made that it would never be prac- 

 ticed except for short distances and for limited 

 use. 



Then the Italian ministry of marine awoke 

 to a realization of the value of his invention, 

 and it undertook careful experimentation at 

 Spezzia. In 1897 the Marconi Wireless Tele- 

 graph Company was founded. Four years later 

 messages were being flashed several thousand 

 miles, over land and sea. Through the use of 

 wireless telegraphy daily newspapers with 

 American and European news are issued on 

 board transatlantic liners. 



Marconi has received numerous medals and 

 honorary appointments. In 1915 he became 

 Senator of the Kingdom of Italy, and in June 

 of the same year, when Italy entered the War 

 of the Nations, he took charge of the wireless 

 telegraph operations for his government. In 

 June, 1917, in his capacity of captain in the 

 Italian army, he visited the United States as a 

 member of the Italian commission to confer on 

 the war. 



MARCO POLO, mahr'kopo'lo. See POLO, 

 MARCO. 



MARCUS AURELIUS, mahr' kits aw re 'li us. 

 See AURELIUS, MARCUS. 



MARDI GRAS, mahr de grah' , or SHROVE 

 TUESDAY, the last one of the days of revelry 

 which are celebrated in Roman Catholic coun- 

 tries immediately before Lent. The name is a 

 French expression meaning fat Tuesday, and re- 

 fers to the French custom of leading a fat ox 

 through the streets during the festival parade. 

 Rome is the principal European center of the 

 Mardis gras festival. 



In America it has been celebrated with great 

 splendor by the people of New Orleans since 

 1857. In that city the merrymaking begins at 

 daybreak, and all the day the streets are filled 

 with gay revelers in masques and masquerade 

 costumes. One may see cowboys, Indians, 

 negro minstrels, toreadors, Chinamen, Turks, 

 princes in velvet and satin, clowns in motley 

 array, and even mock policemen. Men, w r omen 

 and children join in the fun, and the city is 

 turned over to "King Rex and his mystic crew 

 of Comus." 



A brilliant feature of both the day and even- 

 ing celebration in New Orleans is an elaborate 

 parade, including a procession of floats, or 

 229 



stages mounted on wheels, on which characters 

 pose in tableaux representing legends, fiction 

 or historical events. The Royal Parade Ground 

 (Canal Street) is made splendid with flags, 

 bunting, banners, streamers and fringes, and at 

 night it becomes a gorgeous spectacle of elec- 

 tric illumination. After the evening parade a 

 grand festival ball is held in the Old French 

 Opera House, and it is not until midnight that 

 the sounds of revelry pass into silence. The 

 following day, Ash Wednesday, ushers in the 

 season of Lent. 



MARE ISLAND, an island two miles long, 

 at the east end of San Pablo Bay, twenty-five 

 miles north of San Francisco, Cal. It is sepa- 

 rated from the city of Vallejo by a strait half 

 a mile wide, and there is ferry connection with 

 that city. A United States navy yard, on the 

 west shore of the bay, is the most important 

 of the Federal naval yards on the Pacific coast. 

 War vessels are built there, and there are ord- 

 nance yards, marine barracks, dry docks, a hos- 

 pital and an observatory: A lighthouse stands 

 on the southern extremity of the island. 



MARENGO , ma ren ' go, BATTLE OF, a decisive 

 battle between the French and Austrians, won 

 by Napoleon, June 14, 1800. In 1798, taking 

 advantage of Napoleon's absence in Egypt, Eng- 

 land, Russia and Austria formed an alliance 

 against France. Returning in 1799, Napoleon 

 found that though Russia was again friendly, 

 the success of the alliance was undermining his 

 power. Accordingly, he mustered 40,000 men, 

 and rejecting the idea of advancing by sea on 

 Italy, which was then in Austria's hands, he 

 took the more secret and dangerous route across 

 the Alps through the Saint Bernard Pass. The 

 battle of Marengo began in the morning, and 

 by noon it appeared that the French were 

 beaten; but Napoleon fought stubbornly until 

 mid-afternoon, when reinforcements arrived. 

 The day was saved; Napoleon lost General 

 Desaix, one of the few whom he loved and 

 trusted, but he gained Genoa, Piedmont and 

 Milan, and his prestige in France was again 

 secure. 



MARl'A CHRISTINA, ma re' a kriste'na 

 (1806-1878), a queen of Spain, the daughter of 

 Francis I, king of the Two Sicilies, and grand- 

 mother of King Alfonso XIII. She was the 

 fourth wife of Ferdinand VII, and bore him 

 a daughter, Isabella II, who, in virtue of a 

 proclamation issued before her birth, became 

 heiress to the kingdom. Upon the death of Fer- 

 dinand, Maria Christina was appointed guard- 

 ian of the young queen. Soon a civil war 



