NICHOLAS NICKLEBY 



4231 



NICKEL 



and the Russian Church, depend, he was born 

 at Patara, in Lycia, and became bishop of 

 Myra. He is supposed to have worked many 

 miracles, some of them miracles of healing, 

 <oine wonders to convert unbelievers; and for a 

 time he suffered imprisonment for his faith. 



December 6, the day of his deabh, was long 

 celebrated with special observances in most 

 countries of Europe, and becarhe one of the 

 most popular of saints' days. Especially was 

 Saint Nicholas the patron of travelers by land 

 and by sea, of scholars, and of the young, and 

 f this latter connection, as well as 

 because of the fact that his feast day fell close 

 to Christmas, he was given a new role, that for 

 which ho is most famous,, at least in non- 

 Catholic countries. The Duteh, shortening his 

 name affectionately, made of him "Santa Glaus," 

 and thus ho is most commonly known. Prob- 

 ably the host -known children's poem ever writ- 

 ten is A Visit from Saint \icholas, by Clement 

 C. Moore (1779-1863), which describes the com- 

 ing of "Good Saint Nick," and is identified at 

 once by its opening lines: 

 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all 



through the house, 



Not a creature was stirring, not even a m 

 The stockings were hung by the chimney with 



care. 

 In the hope that Saint Nicholas soon would be 



there. 



NICHOLAS NICKLEBY, nik"lbi, a novel by 

 Charles Dickens, published in 1838-1839. The 

 plot concerns itself with the struggle between 

 Nicholas and his cruel and evil-minded uncle, 

 Ralph Nickleby, and with the rise of the hero 

 from poverty to fortune. It is not the plot, 

 howovor, winch arouses most of the interest, but 

 thr characters, some of them grotesque, many 

 of them humorous. The Mantalinis, Mrs. 

 Nickleby, the Squeere family, the Konwigses, 

 are all in thoir way inimitable, and would be of 

 absorbing interest even if no thread of plot 



. rtrd thrm. Dickens' picture (.f Dothr- 

 boys Hall, the Squeera's school in York-hire. 

 was recognised as a true description of more 



> one such institution, and aroused such in- 

 dignation that many of the abuses atta 



remedied. Nicholas's experiences with thr 

 theatrical Crummies family form one of tin 

 most interesting parts of the book. 



NICHOLSON, n,k"lson, MKKKDITII (1886- 



), ni! who-r it 



-ril a wi.i- II , 



ordsvillr. Ind. f was edurat.d in the 

 apolis, and began news- 

 paper work whm eighteen years of age. 



fifteen years he was actively identified with 

 newspapers of Indianapolis, but it was as a 

 r of entertaining fiction that he won a 

 national reputation. The House oj a Thousand 

 Candles, The Little Brown Jug at Kildarc, The 

 Lords of High Decision. The Main Chance, 

 Otherwise Phyllis, The Proof oj the Pudding, 

 The Port of Missing Men and Rosalind at i. 

 Gate are some of his novels which have en- 

 joyed great popularity, while the poems in- 

 cluded in his book Short Flights and his volume 

 of essays entitled The Provincial American 

 show his ability in other fields. In 1914 he 

 published a story entitled The Poet, the central 

 character of which is the late James Whitcomb 

 Riloy. 



NICIAS , ji/.s/i ' i as ( ? -413 B. c.) , an Athenian 

 general and statesman, prominent during the 

 Peloponnt : \\ : II wu wealthy and of 

 the aristocratic party, and opposed in succes- 

 sion Pericles and Cleon. His dominating char- 

 acteristic was caution, which he carried to such 

 extremes as to make his name a byword. In 

 the war against the Spartans he won several 

 victories, capturing Minoa and Cythera, and fn 

 421 B.C. concluded with Sparta the so-called 

 Peace of Nicias, which marked the close of tin 

 first phase of the war. 



The war policy of Alcibiades led in 415 B.C. 

 to tho expedition against Sicily, and although 

 Nicias was strongly opposed to the project, he 

 was made one of the leaders. Alcibiades was 

 soon summoned home, and Nicias as chief com- 

 mander proved himself unequal to so great a 

 task. The siege of Syracuse ended in disaster 

 to the besieging party, and upon his surrend. r 

 Nicias was put to death. No less a man than 

 Thucydides was one of his strong admirers, but 

 in his eulogies commends him rather for 

 conventional piety than for any statesmanhkr 

 qualities. 



NICKEL, nick"l. a white metal with a sliuht 

 yellowish tint, about nine time- liea\ier than 

 water, and \-rry hard. Pure mekrl is brittle, 

 hut when it contain.-, a little magncsiuiii or 

 phosphorus it can bo rolled into very thin 

 shoots (see ALLOY). It takes a high polish and 

 docs not tarnish readily when exposed to tin- 

 is 'extensively used in olcctroplat- 

 md in the manufacture of metallic articles 

 \\hirli need to be lo- those 



made of -ilver; any artiH' i,f u. h has 



been carefully nirkrl-plat< d has all 

 pearancc of burnished -:! 



e of United States coinage is of m< -k. I 

 mines at Sudbury, Ontario, are the chief 



