Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/97

STEELYARD 71 STEIN Danish balance, which differs from the Roman in having the counterpoise fixed at one end and the fulcrum slid along the graduated beam. STEEN, JAN, a Dutch painter; born in Leyden, Netherlands, in 1626; studied under Adrian van Ostade; joined the Leyden Guild of Painters in 1648, and for some time carried on the trade of a brewer at Delft. A sympathetic ob- server of human life, he painted genre pictures from every plane of life, the lowest as well as the highest. The grave humor of his style is best seen in such pictures as the "Doctor Visiting His Patient," a "Cavalier Giving Lessons on the Guitar to a Lady," "Domestic Life," "Tavern Company," "The Oyster Girl," "Work and Idleness," "Bad Company," "Old Age," and particularly the pieces of childhood; e. g., the pictures called "St. Nicholas" and "Twelfth Night." He died in Leyden in 1679. STEEPLECHASE, a horserace run not on a course of smooth, flat turf, but across the open country, over hedges, ditches, walls, and whatever other ob- stacles lie in the way. This variety of sport seems to have had its origin (tra- ditionally) in the frolic of a merry party of fox hunters, who agreed to race in a straight line toward a steeple visible in the distance, an event which is recorded to have happened in Ireland in 1803; further particulars of it, however, are not known. Nevertheless this was not the earliest race of the kind. One took place in Ireland in 1752 from the church of Buttevant (Cork co.) to the church of St. Leger, a distance of 4% miles. In the year 1816 a ride in England of 20 miles across country against time (un- der one hour and nine minutes) was re- garded as something extraordinary, though about that time steeplechase matches were coming into fashion with the young fox hunters of the day. The sport began to assume its existing shape about the year 1831. In 1866 the Grand National Hunt Committee was formed for the purpose of laying down rules and regulations for the proper conduct- ing of steeplechase meetings. The principal race in this class of sport in the United Kingdom is the Grand Na- tional, which was instituted at Liver- pool the headquarters of steeplechasing in 1839; it is now run on different courses in different years. The Meadow- brook Club is the pioneer of steeple- chasing in the United States. STEEVENS, GEORGE WARRING- TON, an English journalist and writer, born at Sydenham, in 1869. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford. After serving on the editorial staff of the "Pall Mall Gazette" for several years, he became, in 1897, special cor- respondent of the "Daily Mail." In this capacity he visited the United States, Egypt, Greece, India, and other coun- tries. His letters to the "Daily Mail" were republished under the titles "The Land of the Dollar" (1897); "With the Conquering Turk" (1897) ; "With Kitch- ener to Khartum" (1898) ; "The Tragedy of Dreyfus" (1899); "From Cape Town to Ladysmith" (1900). He served as correspondent in the Boer War and the hardships which he endured there led to his death at Ladysmith, while it was be- sieged by the Boers, in 1900. He was considered the most eminent war corres- pondent of his time. STEFFENS, (JOSEPH) LINCOLN, an American writer and lecturer, born in San Francisco, Cal., in 1866. He grad- uated from the University of Califor- nia in 1889 and studied philosophy at the universities of Berlin, Heidelberg, Leipzig, and Paris. He was a news- paper editor in New York City from 1892 to 1902, when he became managing editor of "McClure's Magazine." From 1906 to 1911 he was an associate editor of the "American" and "Everybody's" magazines. His researches into the mis- management and corruption of munici- pal politics, published in various news- papers and magazines, resulted in great improvement in these conditions. He wrote "The Shame of the Cities" (1904) ; "The Struggle for Self-Government" (1906); "Upbuilders" (1909); "The Least of These" (1910). He was a fre- quent contributor of articles and short stories to magazines. STEGOSAXJRID^, a family of Stego- sauria; vertebrae biconcave; ischia di- rected backward, with the sides meeting in the median line; astragalus coalesced with tibia, metatarsals short. Genera; Stegosa7i7-us, some 30 feet long, well armed with enormous bucklers, some of which were spinous, from the Jurassic beds of the Rocky Mountains; Diracodon and A7nosau7iis. STEIN (stin), CHARLOTTE VON, the intimate friend of Goethe; born in Weimar, Germany, Dec. 25, 1742; mar- ried in 1764 to the duke's master of the horse. Her friendship with Goethe was broken suddenly after the poet's return from Italy (1788). They were, how- ever, in some measure reconciled before Frau von Stein died. Goethe's "Letters" to her were first published in 1848-1851, and again, with additions, in 1883-1885;