Page:EB1911 - Volume 25.djvu/735

 &ldquo;double quartets,&rdquo; he wrote an Historical Symphony tracing the progress of music from Bach to his own day; and, lastly, his gift for orchestration was quite exceptional. Yet not one of his experiments shows any essential connexion between the new form and the old material which he has so skilfully packed into it. Nor is his treatment of his beloved classical forms any nearer to organic life. In conversation with Joachim he once in his last years expressed the ambition to write a set of string quartets &ldquo;in the strict form with all the passages ending properly with shakes.&rdquo; This shows that all his work as a composer had failed to wean him from the conventions of virtuoso players, and it well illustrates the way in which &ldquo;strict forms&rdquo; desert their convenient functions to pose as classical ideas; for the &ldquo;passage ending in a shake&rdquo; is merely the easiest known way of finishing a section in concerto style, and is so far from being an essential feature in chamber-music that in the ten mature quartets of Mozart which Spohr undoubtedly regarded as his models it cannot be traced in more than twelve of the thirty-one movements in which it ought to occur.

The steady level of Spohr's mastery prevents any of his work from either rising to the height of Mendelssohn's masterpieces, or sinking to the weakness of Mendelssohn's failures. But where the true conditions of an art-form suit Spohr's training and temperament he is, at times, very nearly a great composer; and in the severely restricted medium of duets for two violins his work is an artistic tour de force, the neglect of which would be unfortunate in a wider field than that of mere violin-technique. His best work is not so great that we are obliged to live with it; but its merits demand that we should let it live. (D. F. T.)  SPOIL-FIVE, an old game of cards, probably imported from Ireland, where it is still very popular, though the original name, according to The Compleat Gamester, was “Five-Cards.” It may probably be identified with “Maw,” a game of which James I. of England was very fond. A full pack of cards is used: about five players is the best number, each receiving five cards, dealt in pairs and triplets, the card that is left at the top of the pack being turned up for trumps. If the turn-up is an ace, the dealer must “rob,” i.e. put out, face downwards, any card from his hand and take in the ace. The trump suit remains unaltered. “Robbing” must take place before the first player, the player on the dealer's left, leads. Similarly a player who holds the ace of trumps must rob, putting out any card and taking in the turn-up, but need not disclose the fact till it is his turn to play. A player who fails to rob cannot go out that hand. The card put out may not be seen. The player on the dealer's left leads. The highest card of the suit led—the value of the cards will be explained—or the highest trump, wins the trick. Players must follow suit to a lead of trumps, except in certain cases which will be mentioned. To a plain suit no one need follow except a player who holds no trumps; others may follow or trump as they please. If a player takes three tricks he wins the game. If no one succeeds there is a “spoil,” and a fresh stake, smaller than the original one as a rule, is put into the pool for the next round. The order of the cards in plain suits may be remembered by “after the knave the highest in red and the lowest in black.” In red suits the order is king, queen, knave, ten, &c., down to the ace, which is lowest: in black suits king, queen, knave, ace, &c., up to ten, which is lowest. But the ace of hearts, which is always a trump, is not reckoned in its own suit. In trumps the order is “below the queen highest in red, lowest in black.” The order in red suits is five, knave, ace, of hearts, ace of trumps, king, queen, ten, &c.: in black suits five, knave, ace of hearts, ace of trumps, king, queen, two, three, &c., up to ten, which is the lowest. When trumps are led, the Eve and the knave of trumps and the ace of hearts need not be played. This is called “reneging,” colloquially “rejigging.” The five may always renege: if it is led, no card can renege. The knave may renege if the five is played, not led. Only the five can renege to the knave led. The ace of hearts can renege to any inferior card. If hearts are not trumps and the ace of hearts is led, a trump must be

played if possible: if not, it is not necessary to play a heart. “Twenty-five” and “Forty-five” are varieties of “Spoil-five”: the game is played for either of these numbers; each trick counts five to the maker, and there is no “spoil,” but the trick made by the highest trump out scores ten; if a player gets out before that trump is played, he wins the game all the same. The winning of all five tricks is called a “jink”; at “Spoil-five” a player who jinks, if jinking is agreed upon, receives an extra stake all round; but if, after winning three tricks, he elects to “jink” and fails, he cannot score during that hand.  SPOKANE, a city and the county-seat of Spokane county, Washington, U.S.A., on both banks of the Spokane river, near the eastern boundary of the state, and about 242 m. E. of Seattle. Pop. (1800), 19,922; (1900), 36,848, of whom 7833 were foreign-born, including 1683 English Canadians, 1326 Germans, and 1168 Swedes; (1910 census) 104,402. Spokane is served by the Great Northern, the Oregon Railway & Navigation Co. (Union Pacific system), the Northern Pacific, the Idaho & Washington Northern, the Spokane, Portland & Seattle, and the Spokane & International railways, and by the Spokane & Inland Empire (electric) line connecting with the Cœur d'Alêne mining region, Idaho, and with Colfax, Washington and Moscow, Idaho. Among the principal buildings of the city are the Federal building, the county court-house, the city-hall, the post office, the Paulsen building, the Columbia and Auditorium theatres, the Spokane club, the masonic temple, the Spokesman-Review building, and a large Roman Catholic church. Spokane is the see of a Protestant Episcopal bishop. The city has a Carnegie library, and ten public parks aggregating 320 acres; the more important are Liberty Park (25 acres), Manito Park (85 acres), and Corbin Park (13 acres). Fort George Wright (established in 1895) is 3 m. west of Spokane on a tract of 1022 acres given to the United States Government by the city, for that purpose, in 1894-1895. Spokane is the seat of Gonzaga College (Roman Catholic) for boys, founded in 1887 and incorporated in 1904; of Spokane College (1907, Lutheran); of Brunot Hall (Protestant Episcopal), for girls; the Academy of the Holy Names (Roman Catholic), for girls; and of other schools and academies. Among the city's charitable institutions are a home for the friendless (1890), the St Joseph orphanage (1890), St Luke's (1900) and the Marie Beard Deaconess (1896) hospitals, each having a training school for nurses, a Florence Crittenden home, and a House of the Good Shepherd. The Spokane river is a rapidly flowing stream with two falls (the upper of 60 and the lower of 70 ft.), within the city limits, providing an estimated energy of about 35,000 horsepower at low water. Of this energy, in 1908, about 17,000 horse-power was being utilized, chiefly for generating electricity (the motive power most used in the city's industries), as well as for lighting and transit purposes, while about 9000 horse-power in electrical power was transmitted to the Cœur d'Alêne mines. At Post Falls, Idaho, 22 m. east of Spokane, about 12,000 horse-power is developed, and at Nine Mile Brioge near Spokane, about 20,000 horse-power. Spokane's manufacturing interests have developed with remarkable rapidity. In 1900 there were 84 factories capitalized at $2,211,304, and their product was valued at $3,756,119 In 1905 there were 188 factories capitalized at $5,407,313 (144.5% increase), and the value of their products was $8,830,852 (135.1% increase). The city's principal manufactures in 1905 were: lumber and planing mill products ($2,040,059); flour and grist-mill products ($1,089,396), malt liquors ($679,274); foundry and machine-shop products ($479,954); and lumber and timber products ($418,019). Spokane is an important jobbing centre, is a natural supply point for the gold, silver and lead mining regions of northern and central Idaho, eastern Washington, and Oregon, and is a distributing point for the rich agricultural districts in this region.

The first permanent settlement on the site of Spokane was made in 1874 by James N. Glover, who bought from two trappers a tract of land here. The settlement was named Spokane Falls, in memory of the Spokan Indians, a tribe of