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very materially without impairing its force or accuracy in any manner. From 1853 to 1865 this was the weapon of the British army, and in 1865 the Enfield was converted into a breechloader by attaching the Snider breech-loading mechanism. This arrangement, however, was only temporary. After numerous trials and experiments the Henry barrel, in connection with the Martin breech, was adopted in 1871, the first issue to troops being made in 1874. In 1855 the United States adopted what was known as the Springfield rifle, of which the caliber was .58 inches, the bullet, which was cylindro-conical in form, weighing 500 grains and the powder-charge 60 grains. During the Civil War it became necessary to issue Enfield and other rifles to the regiments, but the Springfield, with its various improvements, continued to be the standard arm of the United States up to 1893, the rifle issued to the regular army and the militia being the Springfield breechloader, caliber .45. This was displaced, however, in 1893 by the Krag-Jorgensen .30-caliber magazine-rifle, model 1892, which was adopted after competitive test. The magazine-rifle is a rifle that stores the cartridges in the stock or above the trigger, and automatically feeds them into the breech. Pulling the trigger operates the magazine so long as the supply lasts. The bullet has great penetrating power. The standard arm of the United States now is the new Springfield, model 1902. It is so small and light that cavalry can use it. An automatic rifle bids fair to become the weapon of the future. The Mondragon has given satisfaction in France, and Germany and Italy each have a model not inferior to the Mondragon automatic. See Treatise on Small Arms and Ammunition by Lieutenant-Colonel Bond, R. A. See Arms.
Riga (rē′gȧ), capital of Livonia, and the third seaport of Russia, lies on Dwina River, seven miles from its mouth and 350 from St. Petersburg. The old town has narrow streets and medieval houses and stores; but the suburbs are laid out in broad streets with handsome buildings. Manufactures are numerous and varied and employ several thousand people. Riga was founded in 1201 by Albert, bishop of Livonia, and soon became a first-rate commercial town and a member of the Hanseatic League. It belonged to Poland from 1561 till it was taken by Gustavus Adolphus in 1621, and in 1710 it was finally annexed to Russia. Population 318,400.
Riggs, Kate Douglas (Wiggin), American author, was born in Philadelphia, Sept. 28, 1857. She graduated from Abbott Academy at Andover, Mass., and made her home in California, where she was the first to organize free kindergartens. She came into prominence as the author of The Birds’ Christmas Carol, and her reputation as a writer of clever and well-told tales has never waned. Among her best-known stories are The Story of Patsy, A Cathedral Courtship, The Diary of a Goose-Girl and Rebecca of Sunny-Brook Farm. In 1895 she became the wife of G. C. Riggs, but still retains her maiden name of Wiggin as her pen-name.
Rigoletto, an opera in three acts. Words by Piave. Music by Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901). The libretto is adapted from a drama of Victor Hugo’s, and appeared first under the title La Maledizione. It possessed the necessary elements of interest for the hearer, and was so well-treated musically by Verdi as to give him world-wide fame. The first production of the opera occurred at Venice, March 11, 1851. It was not allowed on the stage, however, until such alterations had been made in the story as satisfied the government, who sanctioned the revision under its present title of Rigoletto.
Riis (rēs), Jacob Augustus, reporter, reformer, journalist and author, was born at Ribe, Denmark, in 1849. Having completed his course at Ribe Latin School, he came to the United States in 1870 and settled in New York City. After a few years of varied experience he became editor of The South Brooklyn News, which he afterwards bought and for a time managed. In 1877 he became a police-reporter for The New York Tribune, subsequently for The New York Sun. He soon became prominent in tenement-house and school reforms in lower New York City, and was active in the movement that led to the establishment of small parks in that section. In 1896 he was made executive officer of the Good-Government Clubs, and secretary of the New York Small-Parks Commission in 1897. He is frequently heard on the lecture-platform, contributes extensively to magazines, and is the author of a number of well-known and widely read books, of which the following is a list: How the Other Half Lives (result of study of the poor), The Children of the Poor, Nibsy’s Christmas, Is there a Santa Claus? Children of the Tenements, Out of Mulberry Street, Ten Years’ War, The Making of an American, The Battle of the Slum (a sequel to How the Other Half Lives), The Peril and the Preservation of the Home, Theodore Roosevelt the Citizen and The Making of an American (an autobiography).
Ri′ley, James Whitcomb, American author, familiarly known as the Hoosier poet, was born at Greenfield, Ind., in 1853. After a desultory education he began contributing verse of a dialect character to the newspapers, not a little of which, though simple and at times prosaic, is tender and touching. The success of his work led to reciting his poems in public, chiefly those in the Hoosier dialect, caught and utilized as a re-
