Moss-Woman The
The Moss or Wood Folk, dwelt in the forests of Southern Germany . Their stature was small and their form strange and uncouth, bearing a strong resemblance to certain trees with which they flourished and decayed. They were a simple, timid, and inoffensive race, and had little intercourse with mankind; approaching only at rare intervals the lonely cabin of the wood-man or forester, to borrow some article of domestic use, or to beg a little of the food which the good wife was preparing for the family meal. They would also for similar purposes appear to labourers in the fields which lay on the outskirts of the forests. A loan or gift to the Moss-people was always repaid manifold. But the most highly-prized and eagerly-coveted of all mortal gifts was a draught from the maternal breast to their own little ones; for this they held. to be a sovereign remedy for all the ills to which their natures were subject. Yet was it only in the extremity of danger that they could so overcome their natural diffidence and timidity as to ask this boon--for they knew that mortal mothers turned from such nurslings with disgust and fear. It would appear that the Moss or Wood folk also lived in some parts of Scandinavia . Thus we are told that in the churchyard of Store Hedding, in Zealand, there are the remains of an oak wood which were trees by day and warriors by night.
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Most
JOHANN JOSEPH, Germanborn in Augsburg, American anarchist; bor Bavaria, 1846; in Cincinnati, in 1906. In his earlier years he served apprenticeship as a bookbinder and traveled over Europe as a journeyman of his trade. In 1874, having meanwhile become a participant in party politics, he became a member of the Reichstag, from Chemnitz, and at the same time assumed editorship of the "Freie Presse" in Berlin, a Socialist publication. His strong anarchist theories of leanings toward the the Bakunin caused him to be expelled from the Socialist party in 1879, when he founded the anarchist organ, "Die Freiheit." After serving a term of imprisonment for eulogizing the assassins of the Russian Emperor, Alexander II., he came to the United States in 1882. He immediately re-established his discontinued "Freiheit" in New York City. Henceforward he became known as an anarchist agitator.
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Mostar
formerly the chief town of Herzegovina, on the Narenta, about 35 miles from the Adriatic, and the terminus of a railway running 27 miles down the valley. It takes its name (Most Star- "old bridge") from a Roman bridge of one arch, 95 feet in span; has numerous mosques, and is the seat of a Roman bishop. Wine is Catholic and a Greek bis produced, and swords and tobacco manufactured. Pop. about 17,000.
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Moszkowski
MORITZ, Polish musician; born at Breslau in 1854, he toured when about 20 the principal European cities as pianist, living for the most part in Berlin and Paris. His suecess at the piano was later eclipsed by his work as a composer and his Spanish dances won him a world-wide fame. Among the miscellaneous works p by him: "Jeanne d'Arc," a produced symphonic poem; "Boabdil"; and the incidental music to Grabbe's "Don Juan" and "Faust" are the most notable.
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Mother Carey's Chicken
a familiar name given by sailors to the storm petrel. It is a gull-like bird that scuds along the surface of the sea, patting the water with its feet, apparently running, now down into a trough, now up on a crest. In stormy weather, when the waves are tossing, it may be seen busily searching for the small shellfish and other marine animals on which it feeds. It is the smallest web-footed bird known, being less than six inches in length, It is black with a white patch over the rump. It breeds on rocky shores. It lives habitually farther out at sea than any other bird seen in a transatlantic voyage.
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Mother Goose
a name long celebrated in the lore of the nursery through the rhymes and jingles known familiarly as Mother Goose's Melodies. The name, "Mother Goose," was first known in English through a translation from the French of Perrault's stories entitled Tales of Mother Goose. The French collection of stories was published first in 1697. The name had been in use in France long before, however, and appears in French tales as synonymous with Queen Goosefoot, an appellation of Bertha, Mother of Charles the Great, who was called "Bertha with the goose-foot," because one of her feet was larger than the other. The collection of jingles so popular with American children comes probably from a variety of scources. Mother Goose's Melodies was published first by Thomas Fleet, a Boston printer, in 1719. About 1860 an attempt was made to account for the use of the name, "Mother Goose," in the title. As Fleet's wife had borne the maiden name of Goose, the story became current that Fleet's book had been named for his mother-in-law, the widow of Isaac Goose, who had annoyed Fleet by singing these ditties continually to his children. Fleet thought to be avenged upon her by using her name for his book of jingles. This tale is probably without foundation. At present many rhymes suitable for very young children are classed as "Mother Goose" melodies, although not found in the original collection.
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Mother Hubbard
in nursery lore, the heroine of a famous story in rhyme, beginning, Old Mother Hubbard Went to the cupboard To get her poor dog a bone. The name Mother Hubbard is taken doubtless from Edmund Spenser's poem, entitled Mother Hubberd's Tale, published in Complaints, 1591. It is a satirical fable written in the style of Chaucer.
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Mother-Of-Pearl
in zoölogy and commerce, the internal layer of oyster and other nacreous or pearly shells. In entomology, a moth of the family Botydæ.
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Motherwell
a city of Scotland in Lanarkshire, 12 miles S. E. of Glasgow. It has important iron and steel works, and there are large deposits of coal in the neighborhood. It has many important industrial establishments. Pop. about 40,000.
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Motif
a musical term meaning the principal theme on which the movement of a musical composition is constructed, and which, during the movement, is constantly appearing in one or other of the parts, either complete or modified.
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