SETTER 



5317 



SEVEN WEEKS' WAR 



in 1910 with the Sons of Daniel Boone to form 

 the Boy Scouts (which see). Seton became 

 chief scout of the new organization, and con- 

 tinued in this office until 1915. 



The animal stories of Seton, which he him- 

 self has largely illustrated, are among the 

 most interesting of their kind. They include 

 Wild Animals I Have Known, The Biography 

 of a Grizzly, Lives of the Hunted, Animal 

 Heroes and Wild Animals at Home. He has 

 also written for the Scout boys a handbook of 

 the Boy Scouts of America, and for the Wood- 

 crafters Woodcraft and Indian Lore and Man- 

 ual of the Woodcraft Indians. Seton is widely 

 known as a lecturer, and he was one of the 

 principal illustrators of The Century Diction- 

 ary. His real name is Ernest Seton Thompson, 

 but Thompson Seton has been adopted for lit- 

 erary purposes. 



SETTER, set'er, a hunting spaniel, so called 

 because it was originally taught to crouch low 

 in marking game birds. This was in the days 

 when birds were caught, in nets, and the dogs 

 had to creep close to the ground to keep their 



ENGLISH SETTER 



heads out of the meshes when the net was 

 thrown from behind them. After guns came 

 into use in hunting, setters were taught to raise 

 the forefoot in much the same way as pointers 

 do in indicating the game. The standard English 

 setter (see illustration), one of the best breeds, 

 is white, with well-marked black spots. The 

 Irish setter is red, without any trace of black, 

 but it is sometimes marked with white. A 

 well-known Scottish breed is the Gordon set- 

 ter, which has a rich, glossy black coat, with 

 dark reddish-tan spots about the head and on 

 the limbs. Of the three breeds the Gordon is 

 the heaviest. Setters are handsome, intelligent 

 dogs, and are very obedient and good tem- 

 pered. See POINTER; SPANIEL. 



SEVEN SLEEP 'ERS, heroes of a legend 

 dating from the sixth century. While the city 



of Ephesus was being persecuted by Decius 

 (A.D. 251) seven Christian brothers escaped to 

 a cave in Mount Celion. The heathen, discov- 

 ering them there, walled up the entrance with 

 rocks. The brothers fell into a marvelous 

 sleep which lasted till 447, when they were 

 awakened by a shepherd seeking shelter for 

 his sheep. One of their number went down to 

 the city to buy food, but as he offered coin 

 two centuries old he was seized as a thief of 

 hidden treasure and arrested. At his trial the 

 truth was revealed, he was accompanied by the 

 Emperor Theodosius II to the cave, and there 

 with his brothers he convinced his hearers that 

 the miracle was intended by God to confirm 

 and strengthen Christian faith. In the Koran 

 the same legend is told, and there the sleep- 

 ers are accompanied by a dog who refuses to 

 be driven away, saying: "I love those who love 

 God. Sleep, masters, and I will keep guard." 



SEVENTEEN- YEAR LOCUST. See CI- 

 CADA. 



SEVENTH-DAY AD'VENTISTS, a branch 

 of the sect of Adventists, dating from 1845, 

 who believe that the observance of the seventh 

 day (Saturday) as the Sabbath is obligatory 

 upon Christians. In 1850 headquarters were 

 established at Battle Creek, Mich., where they 

 remained until their removal to Washington, 

 D. C., in 1903. Seventh-day Adventists hold 

 that Christ will some day appear again in per- 

 son, that the dead will sleep until his second 

 coming, that the righteous dead will then be 

 raised to life, and that the living righteous 

 will be made immortal. They put great stress 

 on health and abstinence from intoxicating liq- 

 uors or self-indulgence of any kind, and were 

 the founders of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, 

 with which, however, they have no longer any 

 official connection. There are nearly 2,000 

 churches of this denomination in the United 

 States and Canada, having a membership of 

 about 75,000. See ADVENTISTS. 



Owing to their religious principles these peo- 

 ple are not permitted to take active part in 

 war. When the United States entered the War 

 of the Nations in 1917 President Wilson was 

 notified of their position. They agreed that 

 their Church should not shield "slackers," and 

 therefore refused to admit new members dur- 

 ing the continuance of the war. 



Consult Tait's Heralds of the Morning; Lough- 

 borough's The Great Second Advent Movement. 



SEVEN WEEKS' WAR, the name given to 

 the struggle which took place in 1866 between 

 Prussia and Austria. The rivalry between the 



