Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/498

LEFT SIMCOE 434 SIMMS SIMCOE, a lake in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is about 30 miles long, and 18 miles broad, situated between Lake Ontario and the arm of Lake Huron called Georgian Bay, into which it dis- charges its waters through Lake Couchi- ching and the Severn. It contains numerous islands, and is generally frozen over in the winter, so as to be passable with safety for sleighs. SIMEON, surnamed Stylites, a Chris- tian fanatic who acquired immense fame by passing the last 47 years of his life on the tops of ruined pillars. He flour- ished, if such a word is at all applicable to him, from 392 to 459. SIMFEROPOL, a town of southern Russia; in the Crimea; capital of the former province of Taurida; on the Sal- ghir, 49% miles N. E. of Sebastopol. It consists of a European and a Tartar quarter (Ak-Mechet) and is surrounded by productive gardens and orchards. It has several churches, four mosques, large barracks, and government buildings, and exports a great quantity of fruit. Pop. about 84,000. SIMILE, in rhetoric, a figure by which two things are considered with regard to a third that is common to both. To have a just notion of similes they must be distinguished into two kinds ; one common and familiar, as where a man is com- pared to a lion in courage, and another more distant and refined, as where two things which have in themselves no re- semblance or opposition are compared with respect to their effects; as where a comparison is instituted between a flower and a song, with reference to the emo- tions they produce in the mind. SIMLA, the chief town of a district of the same name in the Punjab, and the most important hill sanitarium in British India; about 170 miles N. of Delhi. Sit- uated on a series of wooded hill ridges, covered with deodars, rhododendrons and an innumerable variety of ferns, and with an equable temperature that rarely exceeds 70°, Simla is a perfect elysium to Anglo-Indians who have come from the burning plains of Hindustan or the swamps of Bengal. For many years it has been the permanent headquarters of the supreme government of India for more than six months of the year. This tract of hill country was first acquired by the British in 1816, as a result of the Gurkha War, and has since been aug- mented by purchase, lapse, and exchange. The first house was built in 1819. There are now churches, schools, hotels, clubs, banks, etc. The district of Simla which is entirely surrounded by petty native States, has an area of 18 square mile*. The crops are wheat, Indian corn, ginger, and poppy. The neighboring mountains yield lead, iron, and slate. Pop. about 15,000 in winter; 35,000 in summer. Pop. of district 50,000. SIMMONS, FRANKLIN, an Ameri- can sculptor; born in Webster, Me., Jan. 11, 1839; first came into prominence in 1865-1866 when, at Washington, D. C, he produced several life-size bronze me- dallions of the members of the cabinet and prominent army and navy officers. In 1868 he went to Rome, Italy. He has executed over 100 portrait busts in marble, and numerous public monuments, including statues of General Grant and Roger Williams in the National Capital, and numerous ideal statues, busts, etc. A fine specimen of his work, "The Promised Land," is in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. He died in 1913. SIMMONS, FURNIFOLD McLENDEL, American Senator; born in Jones co., N. C, Jan. 20, 1854. He was admitted to the bar in 1875. In 1887 he was elected as a Democrat to Congress. In 1893 he became Internal Revenue collector for four districts in North Carolina, and acted as chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee in six campaigns. In 1901 he was elected to the United States Senate, and again in 1907, 1912, and 1918. From 1913 to 1920 he was chairman of the Finance Committee of the Senate. SIMMONS COLLEGE, an institution for the higher education of women, founded in Boston, in 1899, from be- quests left by John Simmons, a Boston merchant, who died in 1870. It was opened in 1902. Its courses include house- hold economics, secretarial and library studies, general science, philanthropic work, salesmanship, nursing, etc. There were in 1919 125 instructors and 1,111 students. President, H. LeFavour, Ph.D. SIMMONS COLLEGE, a coeducational institution for higher education, at Abi- lene, Texas, founded in 1891. It is under the control of the Baptist denomination. In 1919 there were 30 instructors and 862 students. President, J. D. Sandafer. SIMMS, WILLIAM GILMORE, an American author; born in Charleston, S. C, April 17, 1806. His publications in- clude: "Atalantis: A Tale of the Sea" (1832), the longest and most noted of his poems; "The Yemassee" (1835; re- vised ed. 1853) ; "Castle Dismal" (1845) ; "The Wigwam and the Cabin; or, Tales of the South" (1845-1846) ; "The Maroon, and Other Tales" (1855); and "War Poetry of the South" (1867). He died in Charleston, June 11, 1870.