Slidell, John
John (1793-1871), an American politician. He was born in New York City and died in London. He was a graduate of Columbia, 1810, and studied law. In 1819 he opened an office in New Orleans . He became United States district attorney for Louisiana, sat in Congress, 1842-5, was appointed minister to Mexico, but was rejected by the Mexican government in 1845. He was a member of the United States Senate, 1853-61. He was an active participant in the formation of the Confederacy. In September of 1861 Messrs. Slidell and Mason were appointed commissioners of the Confederacy to France, ran the blockade to Havana, and took passage on the British steamer Trent. Captain Wilkes of the United States navy, in command of the Jacinto, overhauled the Trent and took off the commissioners. The British government, acting within its rights, demanded the disavowal of the act and the release of the commissioners. President Lincoln complied, and set Messrs. Slidell and Mason at liberty to proceed on their errand. They failed to secure French recognition of the Confederacy, but they did obtain a large loan, much to the subsequent regret of the French financiers.
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Sligo
a maritime county of Ireland. It is in Connaught and has an area of 707 square miles. The coast has numerous inlets and a splendid bay. Near the border is situated Roth Crauachan, celebrated as the court of Queen Maeve, the great opponent of Cuchulain, and with the site of a famous mediæval school in the vicinity. Cattle raising, fisheries, and agriculture are the chief industries. Pop. about 75,000.
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Sloan
JOHN, an American painter, born at Lock Haven, Pa., in 1871. He was educated at the Philadelphia Central High School and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He was espe- JOHN SLOAN cially well known for his paintings and etchings of city life subjects, as well as for his drawings published in many of the most prominent magazines. He received a medal for etchings at the Panama-Pacific Exposition. He was an instructor at the Art Student's League and a director of the Society of Independent Artists.
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Slocum
HENRY WARNER, an American military officer; born in Delphi, Onondaga co., N. Y., Sept. 24, 1827. He was graduated at the United States Military Academy in 1852; resigned his commission in 1856; studied law, and practiced in Syracuse, N. Y. He was elected a member of the State Legislature in 1859. When the Civil War broke out he was commissioned a colonel of volunteers in the Union army. He was at the first battle of Bull Run, commanding a regiment, July 21, 1861; was promoted Brigadier-General in the autumn of 1861, and commanded a division in the battles of Gaines's Mill, White Oak Swamp, and Malvern Hill. In 1862 he was promoted Major-General; participated in the battles of Bull Run, Aug. 29 and 30; commanded a corps at the battle of Chancellorsville, and at Gettysburg, July 2 and 3, 1863, was placed in command of a corps on the left wing of General Sherman's army; and took part in the great "March to the Sea," leading the left wing of the army from Atlanta to Savannah. In September, 1865, he resigned from the army; settled in Brooklyn; and resumed the practice of law. He was elected to Congress in 1869 and served till 1873. He died in Brooklyn, N. Y., April 14, 1894.
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Sloe
slo, a European plum tree. It grows from four to ten feet high. It produces rather small plums of a pale blue, covered with bloom. "As black as a sloe," is expressive of dark eyes. On account of its thorns and the toughness of the twigs, the sloe makes an excellent hedge. The sloe-thorn furnishes the fine walking sticks, the redoubtable limber, tough, "blackthorn stick," of which so lively an account is given at Irish fairs. Of late these shillalahs have been so scarce and so difficult to obtain that a fine specimen commands a pound in the London market. The wood of the sloe takes a fine polish, resembling that of the appletree, and is much used for tool handles. The mild fruit has a puckery taste and is of little value. The sloe is considered, however, the ancestor of the common European domestic plum. See Plum
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Slosson
EDWIN EMERY, an American editor and writer, born at Albany, Kan., in 1865. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1890, and took post-graduate studies at the University of Chicago. He was for several years professor of chemistry at the University of Wyoming. In 1903 he became literary manager of the "Independent," and from 1912 was an associate professor at the Columbia School of Journalism. He wrote "Great American Universities" (1910); "Major Prophets of To-Day" (1914); "Creative Chemistry" (1919); "The American Spirit in Education” (1919).
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Sloyd
sloid, a system of training in the use of tools. It is known also as the Swedish system of manual training from its use in Sweden and Finland. The original sloyd consisted in producing a variety of household utensils as dippers, wooden spoons, ladles, knives, etc., by whittling. The system was expanded especially by Otto Solomon (Naas Normal, 1876), to include many other articles and other material, as iron and brass. Drafting was added. In a way the fundamental difference between sloyd and manual training as commonly understood is that which differentiates whittling from carpentry. Doubtless sloyd calls for a more artistic eye and a defter hand.
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Slug
. See Snail
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Smalkald
a small city of Central Germany noted in the Reformation. Present population, about 7,000. It is today surrounded by walls and a moat. Narrow, crooked streets are lined with Gothic houses adorned with lofty gables and rich carving. A monument in the marketplace commemorates Karl Wilhelm, a native of the place, the author of the German war song, Die Wacht am Rhine (The Watch on the Rhine). In 1631 the Protestant princes met in an old-fashioned inn called The Crown to form the League of Smalkald against the Catholic emperor, Charles V. The inn still receives guests. Another inn indicated by an inscription and the sign of a Golden Swan is the place where Luther, Melanchthon, and other reformers met in 1637 to draw up the Smalkald Articles, a reaffirmation of the Augsburg Confession. See Luther ; Augsburg
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