Page:LA2-NSRW-1-0226.jpg

BATANGAS

is a valuable acquisition to a farm or garden." The same author asserts that the bat may be easily tamed, gives interesting personal experiences with this creature of evil repute but warns one intending to tame it, to be careful at first of its sharp teeth and unfriendly attitude.

Bats drowse about twenty hours out of the twenty-four. They make no nests, but look out well for the newly born,, carrying the young ones with them on their backs when flying through the air. " Blind as a bat" is but another superstition, for there is sufficient evidence that the creature's little eyes serve it well. Flitting mouse is one of the names given it in England and in Germany. See Cram and Stone: American Animals\ pages in Nature Study and Life, by Hodge; Allen: Bats of North America, Bulletin No. 43, U. S. National Museum.

Batangas (ba-tAn'gas), a seaport town and district in the southern part of Luzon Island of the Philippines group, lying south of Manila and north of the island of Mindoro, in the south of the China Sea. The town is situated in a bay of the same name and possesses a fine harbor, into which the Calum-pang River empties. Population of the town, 33,131, and of the district or province over 210,000. In the vicinity are lofty mountains, with the volcanic Mount Taal rising from them; while near by is Lake Taal or Bingabon. The city, which is well built, has a number of notable buildings, including a royal palace and convent. The province exports sugar and cocoanut oil, and has manufactures of cotton fabrics, dye stuffs, silk, etc. There are several railways with their branches on the island, together with banks, consulates, industrial and trade schools and a teacher's training institute. There also are much fine timber and considerable mineral deposits.

Bata'via, the capital and chief seaport of the Dutch East Indian possessions, is situated on the coast of the island of Java. It is very unhealthy. It has been improved, however, by drainage, and most of the European inhabitants live on the higher ground of the healthy suburbs. The Dutch government has built a large harbor, a short distance away, connected with the city by railroad and canal. Batavia is one of the trading centers of the far east. The chief exports are coffee, rice, indigo, hides, oil, tea. Among the imports are cottons, woolens, silks, machinery and American ice. About half of its trade is with Holland. A telegraphic cable connects it with the city of Singapore. Population, 116,000, of whom 9,000 are Europeans.

The province of Batavia is low, but rises gently toward the south. The religion is chiefly Mohammedan. Population, nearly 1,000,000 of whom 8,000 are Europeans, 70,000 Chinese and the remainder natives.

Batavia, a town in New York, is the seat of Genesee County on Tonawanda Creek, and on the New York Central, Erie and Lehigh Valley railroads, 34 miles northeast of Buffalo and 32 southwest of Rochester. Founded at the beginning of the last century, it was incorporated as a village in 1823. It is the seat of a state institution for the blind, the Holland Purchase Land Office, a public library, and a monument to Wm. Morgan, erected by anti-Masons, in memory of one of their number who, it was charged, was abducted and, it was thought, killed in 1826 for threatening to reveal the secret of Masonry. Batavia has a number of flourishing industries, including manufactures of agricultural implements, firearms, wooden ware, shoes, plows, blinds, sashes and carriage wheels. It also has an arsenal and a convent. Population, 13,830.

Bateman, Newton, American educator, and for many years president of Knox College, Galesburg, 111., was born at Fairfield, N. J., July 22, 1822, and died at Galesburg, Oct. 22, 1897. Graduating in 1843 a* Illinois College, Jacksonville, he traveled extensively in the United States, and for a time was principal of a school in St. Louis; professor of mathematics in St. Charles College Missouri; and then superintendent of city schools in Jacksonville, 111. Later on, he became principal of the Jacksonville Female Academy and, finally, state superintendent of public instruction. In 1875, Dr. Bateman became president of Knox College, at Galesburg, Ill. While state superintendent of Illinois schools, he published a number of valuable educational reports, a codification of the school laws of Illinois and a digest of the school laws and common school decisions of the state.

Bates, Arlo (18=50), American journalist and novelist, born at East Machias, Maine, and in 1876 graduated from Bowdoin College. From 1880 to 1893 he edited the Boston Sunday Courier, while later he became a professor of English in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has published criticisms on the writing of English and on the study of literature, in addition to a number of works and several collections of poems. His best known works of fiction include The Pagans (1884), A Wheel of Fire (1885), The Philistines (1888), The Puritans (1889) and Love in a Cloud (1900). His collected verse embraces Berries of the Brier (1886), Sonnets in Shadow (1887), A Poet and His Self (1891), Told in the Gate (1802), The Torchbearers (1894) and Under me Beech Tree (1899).

Bath, the chief city of Somersetshire, England, about twelve miles from Bristol, on the River Avon. Its houses are built entirely of white stone, and the city has probably the finest situation and appearance in England. It has long been a fashionable