Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/586

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SOUTH DAKOTA UNIVERSITY
506
SOUTH ISLAND

the people of the two sections of the Territory followed, and in 1888 it was decided to divide the territorial area into two States, under the names of North and South Dakota. The bill for their admission passed Congress and was signed by the President, Feb. 22, 1889. In 1890-1891 the “Indian Messiah” excitement led to troubles with the Sioux Indians, and in 1892 the Yankton Sioux ceded to the government a large part of their reservation between the Missouri and Choteau rivers.

SOUTH DAKOTA, UNIVERSITY OF, a coeducational non-sectarian institution in Vermilion, S. D., founded in 1883; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 64; students, 825; president, R. L. Slagel, Ph.D.

SOUTHEND, an English watering-place, at the mouth of the Thames estuary; 42 miles E. of London. It has good level sands, a public hall, and piers, pleasure grounds, etc. It was bombarded by the Germans during the World War. Pop. about 75,000.

SOUTHERN ALPS, the name given to the Central and loftiest portion of the great dividing range of the S. Island of New Zealand. Many of the peaks are perpetually snow-capped, the highest being Mount Cook (13,200 feet). The glaciers of the southern Alps rival those of the Swiss Alps in magnitude, and on the W. side extend to within a few hundred feet of the sea-level.

SOUTHERN BAPTISTS, the name applied to that portion of the Baptist denomination in the southern half of the United States. Its communicants number more than half of the total number in the denomination. See Baptists. The Southern Baptists' Convention has charge of the various activities of the body. These include mission boards, young people's societies, and Sunday schools. The convention supports about 1,400 missionaries.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, UNIVERSITY OF, a coeducational institution in Los Angeles, Cal., founded in 1880 under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 314; students, 4,375; president, George F. Bonard, A.M., D.D.

SOUTHERN CROSS, a constellation of the Southern Hemisphere, composed of four stars, one of which is of the first, and two of the second magnitude; they form an elongated figure, lying parallel to the horizon, nearly at the height of the pole. The largest of the four stars is the pole star of the S.

SOUTHEY, ROBERT, an English poet; born in Bristol, England, Aug. 12, 1774. Shortly after leaving Oxford he formed the acquaintance of Coleridge, the two friends marrying at the same time two sisters. After a short visit to Portugal, in 1796, he entered as a student of law at Gray's Inn. In 1801 he devoted himself to literature, and soon after took up his residence at Keswick, in Cumberland, where the remainder of his life was passed, he being thenceforth classed as one of the Lake poets. In 1807 he obtained a pension from the government, and on the death of Pye was appointed poet laureate. In 1839, two years after the death of his wife, he married Caroline Bowles. The latter years of his life were clouded by a mental imbecility which attended him to his death. His chief poems are: “Joan of Arc” (1796); “Thalaba” (1801); “Madoc” (1805); “The Curse of Kehama” (1810); “Roderick” (1814); “A Vision of Judgment” (1821); etc. Among his prose works are: “History of Brazil” (1810); “Life of Nelson” (1813); “Life of John Wesley” (1820); “History of the Peninsular War” (1823); “Sir Thomas More” (1829); “The Doctor” (1834-1837). Among his translations was “The Chronicle of the Cid.” His "Commonplace Book,” a posthumous publication in four volumes 8vo, is a marvelous monument of his reading and research. He died near Keswick, England, March 21, 1843.

SOUTH GEORGIA, a British island in the South Atlantic Ocean, uninhabited, and almost perpetually ice-bound; nearly 800 miles E. by S. of the Falkland Isles, of which it is a dependency; area, 1,000 square miles. Discovered in 1675, it was taken possession of by Captain Cook in 1775; and here in 1882-1883 lived the German expedition for observing the transit of Venus.

SOUTH HADLEY, a town in Massachusetts, in Hampshire co. It is on the Connecticut river. Its industries include the manufacture of writing paper, brick, cotton goods, lumber products, etc. It is the seat of Mount Holyoke College. Pop. (1910) 4,894; (1920) 5,527.

SOUTHINGTON, a town of Connecticut, in Hartford co. It is on the New York, New Haven, and Hartford railroad. The principal industries are the manufacture of hardware, tools, screws, etc. The town contains the borough of the same name. Pop. (1910) 5,085; (1920) 8,440.

SOUTH ISLAND, the lower of the two large islands which, with the small Stewart Island, form the British colony of New Zealand.