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THE PITTSBURG DISPATCH, SUNDAY, JUNE - 23, ' 188a:
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command from the corporal of marines, a
'swirl of meu, and the Commandant was
cone. He left behind him a flippant burst
of laughter and Harold leaning against the
postern to hear the last peal ot irony.
"When the Commodore reached the ver
anda of the hotel, he stood a moment look
ing over the ill-kept glacis and forlorn bar
racks. There was not an emblem of
authority anywhere. But he was thinking
of his boy, whom he had not seen for three
years. Somehow his heart turned to that
boy out of all this chaos of popular in
certitude with a tender impulse. At the
moment when no one appeared to know
what his duty was or to what he owed alle
giance; when the old lore for the authority
of the Republic seemed to be swallowed up
in confusion, he yearned to put his arms
about the one being that he had himself
consecrated to the service of his country,
and reared from a child with but one clear
idea of his duty. He felt that there would
be no hesitatinc, hair-SDlitting loyalty in
that boy's heart, for he had watered it with
his tears and set its example in his own
blood.
He dashed his hand across his eves, and
straightened himself, as if ashamed of his
afiection, put on a grim look and disap
peared in the hotel.
Lieutenant Harold lingered a few mo
ments on the parapet, and then leaving the
group listening to a burst of Southern fire
works from the Colonel, he came slowly
down the steps and had just turned upon
the pebbly road that runs to the wharf, when
he came face to face with Lieutenant frank
lin Breeze, carryiug a traveling bag.
"Great Scott!" was his immediate ex
clamation, "have you seen the Commo
dore?" "No, not yet; just this moment arrived.
"What's the situation?"
"Don't vou know. It's maddening."
"I heard just enough in New York to make
me anxious. I'm atraid the governor's in
a trap."
"Sure," replied the other. "And the
devil of it is there's no way to hety him."
"Well, that's what I came here for. How
ranch is the Government property worth?"
"There's 500,000 weight of nietal there on
the sand; they are 10 and 15 inch colurn-
mads."
"I heard," said Lieutenant Breeze, "that
the Boanoke was lying at Hilton's waiting
for a commander."
"Yes, I heard it this morning. "We get
our Government news here through a
woman."
"The understanding in army circles in
New York vas that the Secretary would
move this property South."
"Exactly, and your father will obey his
superior officer."
"Who's thewoman? asked Breeze.
"Her name is Preston. She's from South
Carolina."
"What, Georgiana ! She here ?"
"Yes, she's got a wire into the Depart
ment; vou can't make a move here without
her knowing it. Look hire, Frank, it's aj
regular conspiracy, and the people of the
North are such id)ols they can't see it"
"Where is the Preston now?"
"She's up there on the promenade, cutting
tip the service with her sharp tongue. Did
you hear the news from Pittsburg? All
the stuff at the Allegheny Arsenal has been
ordered South."
"Do you say," asked Lieutenant Breeze,
"that this Preston has retained her influ
ence at beadquarters ?"
"I say," replied Harold, "that her being
ordered'here is part of the same infernal
plot that ordered your father here. Where
are you going ?"
"I'm going up to see her; I'm an oldflame
of hers."
"Good luck to you. Come over to the
hotel when you have tasted her vitriol.
Your father's there."
While this conversation was going on,
the group on the parapet broke up.
"Colonel," said the Preston, "I'm going
to the beach. I prefer the roll of the breaker
t the roll of the drum."
"The beach by all means," cried Oakland,
"the noie of the surf is a protection."
"A what?" asked her ladyship, with gen
uine interest.
"A protection," he repeated. "We
shan't be able to hear each other talk."
There was a general gathering of skirts
and overturnine of camp stools, and Miss
Elutterlip prepared to gather in her cadet,
who were hanging halfway over the ram
parts. Oakland, who stood near her, offered his
assistance and took a preliminary look over
to see how great the fall was, incase the
boy .got the best of him. The moment his
eyes Jell on the white pebbles, he exclaimed:
"Why there's Lieutenant Breeze."
A moment later, when he offered his arm to
the Preston, that capricious creaturesat down
again. "On the whole," said she, "I think
I'll stay here, I prefer the roll of the drum.
I'm tired of human society."
And Miss Elutterlip was heard to mutter
as she swept down "Yes, when she wants
it inhuman she remains by herself.
Presently the promenade was deserted by
all but this one dainty remnant and Flick,
who held her closed parasol like a banjo,
and was picking an imaginary jig on the
handle as he kept time with the tip of his
patent leather shoe.
The lady composed herself in what might
be called an attitude of unconscious grace
just in time for the Lieutenant, who came
up the steps with a brisk jump, and stfll
carrying his traveling satchel in his hand.
Very handsome he looked, in spite of the
dust on his coat. There was something in
the Norman blue and gold of his tempera
ment that betrayed the lather's energy of
purpose in spite of his mother's grace and
comeliness. .No one who had ever seen that
mother, long since buried on a foreign shore,
could wonder at the father's admiration of
the boy.
'Ah," he cried,"Miss Preston, Georgians,
j. juai uja uiuuitub ucmu mat you were
here, and turned aside on the jump to pay
my respects to vou. I haven't seen mv
father yet; in fact, I've only been here half
an hour.
She gave him her hand cordially, and
there might have been discerned by an ex
pert, a glance of quick admiration in her
black eyes, as she took him summarily in.
"Not reported to your father yet," she
asked.
"No, I reported to you first; I understand
that vou are Commandant here. Bat, I
say, things have changed, since we ate or
anges and flirted down there at Moultrie,
haven't they? Do you know, we ought to be
bitter enemies?"
"That's like a man; he thinks that a
woman's heart changes as often and easily
as a form of government."
"I used to, that was when I was a stu
dent of yours; but I've got to be the stead
iest fellow in the world, don't ask me to
flirt again. Jupiter how stunning you
look." J
"Alas," she said with a musical laugh,
"Isee what a bitter change has come over
yon."
He picked up her hand. It was one of
those dainty, "puissant hands that have nes
tled in the fists of champions and emperors
and turned Empires upside down with noth
ing bnt dimples.
"That's my ring. Why didn't you give
it to a new lover?"
"Don't know," she answered, languidly,
"unless it was because a woman always
gives away the best she's got. What
brought you here?"
"Bun on to see the srovernor. The old
boy's been almost retired down here
thought I'd try and cheer him up a bit.
The family's under a cloud; why, I've been
waiting for a command for six months; been
virtually retired myself, and all on account
of the governor's cranky northern notions.
Xou know what a martinet he is. By jove,
Georgiana, you could help me, one word
from you would fix up my status."
"What a boy you are," she said softly,
eomewhat as if to be a "boy might be a dis
grace to the intellect, but an honor to the
heart. "Don't you know that a woman
never does a favor for a man whose heart
she has lost?"
"EubbiA, you could get me sent to a for
eign station, and, by jove, I'd take you with
me.'
"What a pirate it is. Heavens. Lieuten-
ant, move away a utue. '
. - - ...... .
J
"Fancy the Mediterranean. Why, Moul
trie and the moonlight nights at Savanuah
would pass under an eclipse, and then we'd
escape all this political hubbub and inter
necine rumpus."
"Let us be frank," said the Preston, try
ing at the same time to be fascinating. "Do
you know the situation here?"
"Only vaguely. I'm alraid the governor
has got himself in a box, and I suppose you
will lend a hand to coop him up, but you
can square yourself -with your conscience by
helpinft me"
"I suppose you mean helping yon to a
war vessel so that you can turn its guns on
my own people, eh?"
""Well, I wouldn't be as apt to asome of
the fellows who stand on the governor's side
in this broil. Tell me, for you probably
know, is the Boanoke at Hillons?"
"Yes, and waiting orders; there was a
hitch about the command."
"So I heard. Why can't we get the
Boanoke, some kind of special service, don't
you know, like Lieutenant Lynch's picnic
to the Dead Sea to discover Lot's wife."
The Preston's little diplomatic head was
doing a rapid amount of thinking. She
could get the ship for the son of Commander
Breeze, she was sure of that, if she could
guarantee his sentiments. Would it not be
a good thing to get rid of him so that tbe
secretary s conspiracy could De carried out,
with only an old martinet to deal with?
Then, too, there was a little touch of senti
ment in her judgment. After all would
not a long flirtation in the tropics be pref
erable to a long and hollow life of duplicity
here?
"What are you thinking about?" asked
tbe Lieutenant.
"I was thinking," she replied, "what a
fatal thing it is to use an old saw, and I was
just about to use one to cut this problem
all is fair in love and war; it is somewhat
stale, but I think these times have freshened
it a little."
"I accent it, especially the love clause.
Your sentiment ought to be stronger than
your politics; it generally is in a woman.
Get me the ship for the sake of old times,
and then let me renew them. Shall I send
your nieger for a blank dispatch?"
"No," she said, with a significant smile,
"there's too much dispatch already. I
haven't seen you for so long I've got to
make your acquaintance all over again. O,
I don't want you to coax, I want you to
convince."
"How shall I do it?" he exclaimed.
springing up.
"By sitting down," she said, "and not
running away. Your father is coming, I
hear his voice."
"Heavens," gasped the Lieutenant, as a
pang shot through him, "not here."
"Why not? He is probably looking for
you."
"Itemember I have not seen him jn three
years."
"So much the better. I want to enjoy
theoneeting."
The first and almost ungovernable im
pulse of the young man was to fly, but the
significant scrutiny of the black eyes that
were watcning mm determined bis painful
course.
He stood still like a statue, but in his
heart was a whirl of emotions. He saw the
white hairs of his father as he came labor
iously up the steps, and he felt the warm,
strong arms of the veteran wound round
him, but he was thinking of the black eyes
that were watching him.
"Frank, my boy," exclaimed his father,
as he stood off to admire him, "I've been
looking for you. I expected you to come
straight to me," and he regarded him with
Eardonable pride. "There's an officer who's
een trained to know his duty. He's had
an example of hard-earned honor, and I'm
proud to know he'll not disgrace it You
dog, why didn't you report to mc?"
"I was on my way," said the Lientenant,
"when I met this la'dy, who is an old ac
quaintance.
While he was saying this with his lips
his heart was saying, "God bless his white
hairs."
"Old acquaintance? Have you got any
older acquaintance than I am?" Don't you
know I haven't seen you for three years?
you rascal?"
"If I had thought that I could have been
of much service to vou "
tin - -j. . .
j, none oi your internal modesty, I
never needed you so much, nor did your
country."
"My country hasn't needed me a r-rent
deal, I've been begging for a command lor
six months from the Government, presently
there will be no government to appeal to,
and upon my word if I had been appointed
to this post, I would have resigned."
"What? Resign? What are yon talking
about? Do you know what you are saving?
Besign? Besign from doing my duty?"
"Yes father, not because there is danger
in doing it, but because there is no honor."
"No honor in doing my duty? Have I
lived to hear my boy say this?"
"Pray do not mistake me, father, cer
tainly one's duty is not as plain in this
crisis as at ordinary times."
He saw that his father was looking at
him with a pained and confused expression,
although he did not dare to return the
honest stare. He felt, too, that the black
eyes were watching every expression of his
face, and he brought every nerve to the
tavk before him.
"I beg of you," he saio, "not to discuss
these painful topics here. At a proper time
and place."
"Painful topics," repeated the old man,
with pitiable astonishment. "Are you not
an officer of the United States?"
"I hesitate to say that I am of the United
States. I am bound to tell you that my
training, my loyalty, my love of country
never taught me to turn my hand against
my own people."
One swift glance as he said this, caught
all the minutite of suffering on the noble
old face that he loved, he saw the look of
yearnine in the watery eyes in spite of the
indignation under them, and he grit his
teeth -and felt a sudden hatred for the
woman who was watching him, that he
would have been ashamed of at another
time.
He heard his father's words, tremulous
with emotion, but thev had no other mean
ing to him than that "of the suffering with
which they were freighted.
"My God, sir, you talk as if you had no
country and no father. I expected you to
comehere to my assistance. It is the one
time in my life when I depended on your
loyalty, your sense of duty and your affec
tion, and you talk to me about resigning.
Frank, my boy, have you turned traitor to
your country? No, no, I will not believe
it. Has all my training come to nothing.
wuenit is most needed? Why don't you
speak out, don't you see you are breaking
my heart?" 6
"The fact is, father, you take this matter
too acutely. My affection is not abated
one ten-thousandth part of a conceivable
supposition, but in this national matter I
have no heart"
"No heart? There's some American
blood left in you, isn't there?" He waited a
moment, and there was a silent gap that
was terrible to the young man. In that in
terval the flag, which had been attached to
new halyards, unfolded itself in a sudden
breeze, and spread its full surface of color.
Nothing was heard but the soft flap of the
uuuuuk uver meir neaos.
"Do you stand there mute?" resumed the
commodore, with more of parental than
martial authority in his tone, "while my
scarred face is blanching with shame; are
you silent, when your father and your
country appeal to you? My God, Frank,
mv boy, niy father carried the. flr with
Bainbndge, and died under it; I have
served under its folds round the world; it
was wet with my blood at Vera Cruz nnd it
waved in triumph over my deck when you
were born; never have I seen it abandoned
or dishonored by one of our family, and
when you were struck down by pirate bul
lets in the Chinese seas and I carried you in
these arms and prayed heaven to spare you
to me had I known then that you would
live to briug these gray hairs, whitened in
the service of our common country, to the
grave, I would have prayed to heaven to
let you die."
"Father, father," gasped the young man,
"you do not know what you are saying; in
the name of heaven, stop."
"Lieutenant Breeze, look at me. I -am
an old man, but I am here to represent the
Government I have hoisted the flair and I
shall do my duty to the best of my ability. I
I have no doubt about it, it is to lay down
my life whenever the nation needs it I
can only say to you, sir, that if there is any
pang in" that last hour it will be caused by
a recreant son."
And turning upon his heel, the old officer
left them without another word.
It was with something like bitterness that
the Lieutenant spoke to the Preston.
"Will you get me the ship?" he asked
eagerly.
"Your father is severe."
"Will you get me the ship?"
"Calm yourself. You speak as if I had
the assigning power. My influence ends
with a recommendation. To get command
of the Boanoke you will have to start for
Willett's to-day. If you are to have it the
order will be there before you. You under
stand you will probably be sent as far from
the States as possible.
"Enough."
"You understand, also, that whatever in
fluence I can bring to bear will he used to
that end?"
Half an hour later, and just as hewas get
ting ready for the train, Lieutenant Harold
put a cipher dispatch from New York into
his hanq.
"At all hazards keep everything in statu
quo for 48 hours; the order has been given to
remove the cuns. Prevent for that time de
velopments at any moment in Secretary's
department.
The Lieutenant knew perfectly well that
the property could not be removed in a week,
unless a regimentwassent to effect it What
he was most afraid of was that bis father
would put him under arrest, and he did not
breathe easily until he felt himself moving
toward Willett's, and heard the rattle of the
train with impatient ears.
CHAPTER IIL
Fort Gates was not a fort, even in the
official sense. At the best it was a naval
station and school. Just now it was the
most forlorn and anomalous of military de
pots. There was a million dollars' worth
of metal there under the tumble down
sheds and on the sands. The great 12 and
15 inch smooth bore guns had been lying on
their black bellies, each with a trunnion in
the air, like so many turtles out of season,
all through the pining times of peace, and
little girls in leghorn hats summer after
summer had come and climbed over them
with gleeful wonder and shouted boo in their
cavernous throats, and then gone away,
north and south, as girls will, to get ready
for long dresses and to help on the differ
ences of opinion that would, sooner or
later, set these iron monsters all roaring
with red hot throats.
The Commandant sat in bis small head
quarters, as he was pleased to call his little
room on the ground floor of the hotel, a fine
picture of helpless authority. He had
waited all the alternoon and for a great part
of a sleepless night for Frank to come
back, penitent and contrite. He had clung
to that conviction till it faded into a hoDe
and then into a fear, and now in the early
morning Lieutenant Harold bad come in
stead, to say that Lieutenant Breeze bad
disappeared. Gone.
"Gone," said the old man, with a hollow
voice that had an awful suggestion of deso
lation in it, and meant in its intonation,
"Gone out of my life forever."
Then suddenly and somewhat bitterly:
"Where is that woman?"
"Do you mean Miss Preston, sir?"
"Yes, did my calling her a woman
raise a doubt in your mind?"
"She's at her headquarters."
"Thunder and lightning, sir, what do you
mean by headquarters? Has the service
come to this, that a commanding officer's
station should be confused with the boudoir
of an adventuress?"
"I beg your pardon," said theLieutenant
"It is the slang of the place."
"What's the reason thatflagisnotflying?"
The Lieutenant hesitated. There was
even a slight flush of shame on his cheek.
"Well, sir ? Well, sir?"
"I have to report that it was stolen last
night, sir.
"Stolen I Incredible t Was there no de
tail at the works ?"
"Yes, Bir; Sergeant Sanford "
"Put the guard under arrest The Amer
ican flag stolen. I never heard ,ot such a
thing. This is a fine state of discipline, sir 1
I shall look to you to recover it."
The veteran sat at a little table, which was
evidently straining itself, like its owner, to
keep up an appearance ot official regularity,
for there was a meager display of blanks, a
bell, which nobody apswered, and some
dusty packets of documents tied with red
tape, and formally arranged in a line.
He undertook to write an order, but the
ink was thick and the pen was rusty.
Everything offended him, and the Lieuten
ant walked to the window to spare the old
man's feelings.
Presently the CommandanVcalled to him
with a softened tone:
"Lientenant"
"Yes, sir."
"See here. There's some kind of a con
spiracy here to thwart and defy the mili
tary authority of the place and the Govern
ment" "I am glad you have detected it, sir, "said
the Lieutenant with alacrity, "some ot us
have long suffered under it."
"It inust be stopped."
"Yes, sir," promptly replied the Lieuten
ant, anxious to hear how, seeing that the
(Government had a hand in it
"The property must be protected," con
tinued the Commodore with fine determina
tion, as he glanced through the window at
the bare flag staff.
"I understood this morning," said the
Lieutenant, "that the property was to be
removed."
"It has been removed, it must be re
placed." "You refer to the flag," with something
like a tone of pity in his voice. .
"Certainly, I do."
"I refer to the guns."
"What on earth are you talking about,
no guns can be removed without my
orders."
"True, sir, we might say the same of the
flag, but it is removed. I beg your pardon,
but J heard this morning that the Secretary
had ordered a contractor at Willetts to take
them to Ship Island, near Balize."
The commandant smiled grimly. "I
should suppose," he said, "that an officer of
your intelligence would know that an order
of that kind must come through the com
mandant of the post,"
''Yes, sir; in the ordinary course of official
action, but in the present state of affairs
"What on earth have I got to do with
the present state of affairs ?" interrupted
the Commodore. "Where did vou cet this
precious piece of information ?"
"X came through Miss Preston, and I am
bound to tell you that it looks, official.
She is in constant communication with the
Secretary."
It was with mingled indignation, in
credulity and contempt that the old officer
said as he got up from the table :
"O, she is, is she ? She wants to abolish
the service, probably. We'll see about
it Confound it, I'll put her in the guard
house. Come with me, sir."
He strode up and down the room once or
twice inactive indignation. His cocked
hat was on the dressing table, and the dress
sword that he had worn with dignity and
honor before emperors was lying beside it
He stopped once as if he had an inclination
to put them on, then, as if changing his
mind, he seized his round undress cap, and
started for the Preston's quarters, followed
by Lieutenant Harold.
Before they reached the rdaee'tt telegram
was placed in his hands. It came from one
of the most eminent and patriotic of men
who afterward went into history through the
Lincoln administration. It was dated at
New York, and read as follows:
"The American people will hold you re
sponsible for tbe theft of its property; the
infamous robbery at Allegheny City must
not be repeated.".
This had one effect, at least, Upon the old
officer; it made him realize that the eves of
the millions of the North were upon him.
The Preston's reception room was really
something like a headquarters. She sat at
a round center table that was covered with
papers and dispatches. She wore a dainty
morning gown of sea green hue, and her
wavy black hair that was cunningly
dressed across her temples, rounded up her
handsome face charmingly. She lay in
dolently back in her cushioned chair at the
table, and held the pen she had been using
as if it were a little level, on the tips of her
narrow fingers, in a straight line before her
eyes. By her side, evidently acting as sec
retary, was Colonel King, bursting into
ruffles and rolling in unstarched shirt
collar.
The lady did not get up as the two offi
cers, after some little annoying delay, came
brusquely in. There was a composed smile
on her face, and much suavity in her voice
as she said:
"Ah, Commodore,you must really pardon
my having to receive you what is virtually
an office, but the accommodations are so
poor here that we ladles have to forego most
of the elegant regulations of society when
morning calls are made." .
"Madam," replied the Commodore, "so
ciety had nothing to do with my visit I
came to tell you at first hand, and without
the possibility of misapprehension, that this
is a military post and that I intend to carry
out the discipline and enforce the regula
tion of the department, if I have to put
some of the women in the guard house and
break into the regulations of society."
"A very proper determination, Commo
dore, I am sure. Why did you come to me
with it?"
"Because, madam, you are interfering
with the dis:ipline. I understand that you
have put yourself in communication with
some ot tbe underlings at Washington and
are meddling in the public business to my
disparagement"
"You are wrong, and I am glad of the
opportunity to correct you. I am in com
munication w'ith the Secretary of War only,
and only as an intelligent American , on
looker. You will allow that I can try to
keep posted on events without attempting
to create them. I try to get all the news
that I can, and if I outstrip this department
I trust you will not put me under arrest for
it in our day. It pains me to say that you
are a little behind evens yourself, and were
you to arrest me you would be deprived of
a valuable source of information at this
time; Colonel, where is that dispatch?"
The Colonel found a telegram, and hand
ed it to her. She passed it to Lieutenant
Harold, who read it:
"WiLLETTS.-December 29.
"Lighters, with cranes and derrecks and a
detail of 200 men have been provided here
for the removal of the guns at Hampden.
They will probably be towed up to-day."
"Rubbish," exclaimed the Commodore.
"Not a gun shall be removed Irom this
place, unless I give the order. Even the
Secretary will have to follow the precedent
and usages of the service."
"In that case," remarked the Preston,
"you are in collision with your superior
officer. But as a mere matter of curiosity, I
should like to know how you are going to
prevent the removal."
"I do not intend to discuss the means with
you," said the Commodore, "but vou may
rest assured that I will not sit idfy by and
see the property of the government stolen
under ray eyes."
"Certainly not; will it annoy you if I
look on?"
But this remark was of little avail, for
the Commodore had marched out without
his usual courtesy.
The moment they were gone there was a
slightly maligtfant smile broke out on the
face of the Preston: "Arrest me will he, I
fancy he'll have enough to do to take care
of himself. How do you like that, Colonel,
'stealing the government property?' "
"A piece of undiluted, mush-eating, Mas
sachusetts mendacity," said the Colonel.
In a place like Hampden acts of all kinds
diffuse themselves through the atmosphere.
The air is always heavy with the trifles
that are going on. In a very few hours
Lieutenant Harold noticed that the entire
community knew the state of affairs. There
was an extra effrontery on the part of the
enemies of the Government, and a tacit
understanding among the loyal men that
the Commodore was heirless, and that the
Preston had everything her own way. Gos
sip had it that Lieutenant Breeze was in
league with her, and was an old lover.
These stories came distorted to the ears of
the Commodore, and he shut himself in his
room, where after several futile consulta
tions with his sabalterns, and vainly try
ing to get an answer to his telerams from
Washington, he sunk into a pitiable condi
tion of irrascibility and complained of a
pain in the back of the head. "
"I believe," Harold said to Oakland,
"the old man's heart is broken."
,
There was a great deal of excitement in
Hampden on the 30th of December. Mary
land was hanging on the edge of secession,
and the little town was full of strangers.
Oakland bad the opportunity of meeting
several distinguished Maryland politicians,
but he could not for the life of him make
out what their intense importance and im
patience portended, and Lieutenant Harold
was grimly taciturn.
At the rooms of the Preston two of these
dignitaries held behind closed doors a con
sultation with the lady. One or them, a
rather important and portly personage, said
to her with emphatic manner, as he kept
time to his short sentence with a fat, red fist
on her heavily littered table:
"Matters move too slowly. What is done
at once counts. Every day doubles the
danger. What are they thinking about at
mnetisr viney got tneir orders a week
ago."
"You forget," said Miss Preston, "that
the undertaking is a much larger one than
you have been accustomed to handle. To
do it quickly requires, I am told, men and
appliances, and it was necessary to send to
Baltimore for the men. What do vou
fear?" '
"Nothing definite, but a great deal
vaguely. The national tension is dreadful.
Any overt act on either side will precipi
tate matters."
"In that case," said the Preston, laugh
ing, "we shall rise from conspirators to
revolutionists That will be a decided gain.
So far as my information goes, everything
is as certain as death and as quiet. The
expedition starts to-day, and ought to be
here to-night"
The rest of the day passed in uneventful
drowsiness. The December sun lit the un
trampled and deserted sands, and showed
nothing bnt Miss Flutterlip's yellow para
sol glancing now and then on " the parapet,
and a solitary sentinel pacing monoto
nously before the old sally port and as it
went down over the Maryland hills it threw
the shadows of the coiumbiads in regular
stripes across tne yenow beach.
..The Commodore sat in his room alone,
with an open book turned upside down on
his knees. It was an old custom of his,
when he wanted to shut off worry, to get
Pollock's "Course of Time" out" of his
trunk. But it had failed this time, for he
was gazing out to sea witn a neipiess pathos,
and thinking of Frank.
It was 9 o'clock that night when Hamp
den was suddenly turned upside down. The
astonished townspeople heard the most un
accountable tooting of steam whistles and
puffkig of tugs, mingled with the distant
shouts of men, and creaking of cordage and
clanging of iron. When they swarmed
down to the beach, the whole harbor ap
peared to be full of boats. A thick haze
hung over the water, and the full moon, no
where discernible, flooded everything with
a phosphorescent light that seemed to come
through ground glass. Scores of signal
lights were glowing through the fog like
live coals. The whole vista was alive with
preparation. The expedition had arrived.
In a very short time the old wharf and the
sands were crowded by the navvies and sail
ors who were landing. There was the pop
of a cork in the Preston's room and: as
Flick handed the glass of champagne to his
mistress she reached across the table and
tipping the glass of her porSly friend said:
"Down goes the last possibility of failure."
The confusion along the shore was to the
quiet people o! Hampden something dread
ful to behold. It was as if a mob had de
scended on their coast, but it was a mob that
meant' business, for presently an electric
light was streaming over the sands, and out
of the black shadows rose the gaunt arms of J
tne immense snears and engines for remov
ing the guns.
Lieutenant Harold reported what was go
ing on to the Commodore who, still sat look
ing out to sea. The veteran listened to him
and then said:
"Go and'order out the battalion of ma
rines. How many muskets have you got?"
"Not over 25, sir."
"That will do." .
"It isn't much of a battalion, sir," with
a smile, "and I fearwill prove inadequate."
"What on earth have I to do with" the
adequacy, the obligation is enough for me.
Don't be alarmed, I shall take command of
them myselt. Order up your men. One
moment , Help me buckle on that sword."
Thus it was that at 10 o'clock that night,
when the uproar was at its height, and all
the whisky in tbe two groggeries down by
the old dry dock had been carried off, that
tbe regular marching sound of a drum was
heard, and there was seen coming across the
open space between the tort and the bar
racks a handful of men in close order led by
the Commodore. He did not hear the peal
of derisive laughter that went up from the
group at the hotel, but kept steadily on
'until helhad reached the first of the big
guns and was in the thickest of the crowd.
Then he shouted:
"Who commands this trespassing expedi
tion?" The gangs that pressed upon him looked
on with staring and slicrhtly contemptuous
curiosity. Some of them suspended their
work long enough to make course and loud
comments on the parade, and presently a
burly personage forced his way through,
tbe perspiration on his face shining like
varnish in the glare of the electric light,
and wanted to know whatever was the
matter.
"As Commandant of this post and custo
dian of the Government property," said the
veteran, "I warn you not to remove any of
it, and to peaceably leave the Government
ground1!."
A course murmur, that swelled into a
discordant jargon rose over the assemblage.
"Are you going to stop the Government
from removing its own property?" asked
the man, with a stolid sort of commiseration
in his tone and face.
"Yes," replied the Commodore, "unless
the order comes through me. Send your
men back to their boats."
"See here, Captain," said the man,
"re'te sent here to take this stuff, and
we're going to take it. If you don't want
your sojeis thrown into the bay, you'd bet
ter march 'm out of the way."
In this short colloquy the issue was
joined, and the outcome was the defiance of
conscious strength.
The Commodore gave an order: "For
ward!" he cried, "fall back there."
Anything more futile than the attempt to
force a way through that mob could not be
conceived. But it was Lientenant Harold,
who stood by the Commodore's side, and
not the Commodore who had the faintest
realizing sense of the absurd discrepancy in
the antagonistic elements.
Colonel King and his friends extricated
themselves as best they could and climbed
upon the bank, where the barracks stood, in
order to see the outcome of the collision.
What they discerned in the somewhat con
fusing light below them was a mass of ruth
less and excited men about to be converted
into a frenzied pack of wolves by the in
stinctive fear that this absurd old soldier
would not hesitate to pour his bullets into
them. But as yet this mass was actuated
only by an impulse of defiant contempt.
Some of them, as they crowded up, had
their tools, crowbars or pieces of heavy
timber in their hands. Those in the rear
were vociferous and impatient The Com
modore attempted to move his men to a
position of advantage, but the attempt was
beset with humiliating difficulties. The
crowd jostled him and was pressed upon him
by those behind, and he was about to give
the order to charge bayonets, when a heavy
missile, flung over the'heads ot the nearest
men, struck him in tbe temple, knocking off
his cap. His white hairs fluttered in the
night air as he dropped his sword and stag
gered. His men wavered, and their line
weakened as they saw it. Quick as a flash
Lieutenant Harold picked up the sword,
and with one arm around the commandant
and the other holding the blade aloft in the
air, he shouted in a clear, ringing voice:
'Steady there, close up, attention!"
There was something in the voice that
stiffened every man in the' squad immedi
ately. Jn a moment he had his men in a
little hollow square, and the crowd fell back
somewhat from the unbroken line of bayo
nets. "Nay, sir," cried Colonel King on the
bank. "The first blood is going to be
spilled in Maryland, after all. Let South
Carolina look to her laurels." '
"Are you hurt?" asked the Lieutenant,
as he replaced the Commodore's hat.
The veteran was evidently stunned by the
cruel blow, for his answer was given with
obvious pain. ,
"No, sir, no. Do yonr duty. Where's
the Lieutenant? He should be here."
"I am here, sir. I'll do mv duty."
He let the old man sink down with his
freighted with pain and reproach:
"Yes, but where, where is Frank?"
It struck the young officer, even at that
perilous moment, thaj there was something
of the awful pathos of a dying invocation
in the words and tones.
And then, as if in answer to it, there
burst upon the wet night air the report of a
heavy gun, whose reverberations billowed
up and down the astonished coast with
warning vibrations,
"Dear me," cried Colonel Kintr. "it is
an armed armada. Let me take your glass,
General."
Then occurred one of those phenomena,
often seen from the deck of a man-of-war.
The fog, either precipitated by the report,
or blown away by the discharge, left a clear
space of air, and there in the offing, loom
ing up, black and taut, was a United States
frigate with her decks cleared.
Colonel lung's exclamation was:
"If that ain't the Roanoke, I'm a re
turned idiot 1" . "
It was, indeed, and presently the clear
water was black with her boats.
The gun had made the Preston's cham
pagne glass tingle, and, seizing a mantle,
she almost ran across the parade ground to
the group on the bank, just in time to see
What her good taste would have told her
was a very pretty sight in the moonlight, if
her sectional prejudice had not somewhat
confused her judgment. It was the forma
tion of a battalion on the beach.
As soon as the command was in marching
order word was received from the command
ing officer that if any of tbe Government
property was touched h'e would blow the ex
pedition out of the water.
And ten minutes later Lieutenant Frank
lin Breeze walked into the little'group on
tne nans:.
The Preston looked at him with a wither
ing eve.
"This time," she said, "you will report to
the Secretary of War."
"It would be difficult, if not impossible,"
replied the lieutenant, with great suavity,
"we can't find him."
"Dead?" gasped the Preston.
"No; absconded."
She was staring at him with all the bit
terness of disappointment and defeat in her
face; "Miscreant and traitor," she hissed.
"Madam," said the Lieutenant, "I have
taken another lesson of you, and I was rash
enough to use the old saw you put into my
hands, instead of a sword, 'All is fair in
love and war It is somewhat stale, as you
remark, but it was our business to fresh
en it."
Her reply was lost, for just at that mo
ment Lieutenant Harold's little command
was giving three cheers.
"It's astonishing," said one Lieutenant
to the other, as he grasped his hand after
wards, "how a woman will hate you if you
usp her weapons for only halt an hour to
save your own father."
A long time afterward, when questioned
about the regularity of his exploit, he said:
"If there Is ever a moment in peace or war,
when pure bravado is excusable, it is when
it will alone gain time."
The End.
Copyright, 1889. All rights reserved.
Polite.
The Tooth's Companion. J
Fannie tried very hard to be polite and
speak correctly. At church one day she
met a little friend who had been sick for
some time. In asking abont her affliction
Li
cannie-saia: uiayoueujoy much pai:
wnen you were iu.
back against the breech of one of the big
funs. "lam here, 'sir," he repeated. He
cnt bis head down, and he heard the words.
LESSONS OF NATURE.
Key. George Hodges Writes of the
Great Disaster at Johnstown.
REAL INSIGKIFICAKCE OP MAN.
The Many Earthly Plans That Were Shat
tered by That Flood.
A CHAEACTEE THAT CANNOT PERISH
IWJUTIEX Ton THE DISPATCH. J
I take my text out of the "other Bible."
There is one Bible, written by man's finger,
under God's guidance, and inclosed between
two covers. So far as writing is concerned
there is nothing more to do to this Bible. It
is finished. The hand of its latest author
has now been dust these nineteen centuries.
In another sense, so far as reading, learning
and applying are concerned this Bible will
never be finished. It will last as long as
truth lasts, and that is forever and ever.
But beside this is the "other Bible." God
wrote this Bible, and He is still writing it.
It is written in gold and blue in the sky
above us; it is written in brown and green
upon the earth beneath us; it is written in
the history and experience of man. God
besjan writing it so long ago that when we
think even of guessing at the date, we lack
figures to set it down. This Bible is not
finished yet This, too, like the Bible of
ink and paper, like the word of truth en
shrined within it, will so on forever. Br
and bytherewill be a new heaven and anew
earth, and then this great marvelous Bible
of nature will pass out of its "Old Testa
ment" into its "New Testament," still un
finished, still teaching new and wonderful
lessons day by day through all eternity.
This Bible God is writing now. Out of
this Bible I take my text And I choose it
from that latest chapter whose last verse
God has not even vet set down, wherein is
narrated the story of the breaking of the
South Fork dam, and the wiping out of
Johnstown.
The first lesson which I take ont of this
awful and mysterious chapter is the truth of
the physical insignificance of man.
MAN'S INSIGNIFICANCE.
I stood the other day upon the great
stone bridge at Johnstown, and looked out
over tbe site of what had been a busy city.
I saw where the town had stood, street after
street green with shade trees, beautiful with
lawns, lined with comfortable houses, and
great brick blocks of stores, and there
was nothing there but sand. Not a tree,
not a house, not a brick, nor a shingle,noth
ing to mark the fact that any human being
had ever built anything more durable there
than the temporary tents which the work
men had pitched nothing but a desolate,
flat and uninhabitable waste ot barren sand!
And there beyond were the houses
which had stood along these streets.
Some tilted this way and some
that, overturned, distorted, hurled together
in heaps, transformed into hideous piles ot
broken wood, hiding dreadful and tragic
secrets. Here were heavy Ireight cars scat
tered about in all directions, burrowing in
the sand, leaning up against the corners of
buildings, standing in impossible positions,
in impossible places, as if some enormous
giant had taken up In his great hand a
score ot cars and locomotives and scattered
them about over the city as a child might
scatter a handful of pebbles over a play
town of sand. Johnstown is indescribable.
It lingers like a dreadful dream in the mind
of everybody who has seen it, but nobody
cau uia&c ib visiuie to auomer.
Only an actual sight at it can trive even
an approach to an adequate idea. And all
that wreck was done in 20 minutes. Down
came that great wave tearing through the
valley of the Conemaugh, rolling over and
over like a dreadful wheel of solid water,
houses, engines, smoke stacks, trees and
human beings rolling with it, a cloud of
thick mist enshrouding it, and a roar going
before it like the roar of all the grist mills
in the world groaning together. And when
that great wave passed Johnstown lay in
ruins.
A COMPARISON'.
A work was done there in the valley of
the Conemaugh in 20 minutes which 2,000
men in 20 months, and at an ontlay of hun
dreds of thousands of dollars will not be
able to undo. We are getting the mastery
in these days of physical forces which thus
far have been untamed. We have made
steam our beast of burden; we have put him
in harness to draw our carriages. We have
made tbe lightning our torch-bearer and
our messenger.' We warm our hands at
fires kindled by a captive giant who has
lain for ages imprisoned in thestout bastions
of the rocky earth. But we are not masters
yet Here comes this great, wild wave of
water, down go the barriers which our skill
had set up in defense; a whole strong city
falls before this untamed demon of the
L woods and hills.
We are not masters yet Even upon this
least of the hosts of heaven, upon this little
earth, we walk surrounded by great, irre
sistible, mysterious forces the water, the
wind, the lightning the common things
we see, all known only in part, all greater
enormously than we are, all unconquered.
It is a lesson in humility.
I learn a second lesson the uncertainty
of human life. Think of all the plans
which all the Johnstown people were making
on the morning of that fatal Friday. The
merchants were planning their purchases
and calculating their sales: the housewives
were planning their dinners; teachers and
scholars were thinking of the cominsr exam.
j inations; the men in the mills were looking
iorwaru to pay aay; tne youDg men and
maidens were planning their pleasures; my
friend, Mr. Diller, the rector of the little
Episcopal Church, was planning his sermon
for Sunday. "In the midst of life we are
in death," would have been a good text for
it, had he only known what nobody knew.
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,"
was the text he did preach from not vjry
long ago. They found the sermon lying
among his books. He had no expectation,
that Friday morning, of preaching that old
sermon over again, and of meeting death
that day in illustration of it He had no
thought that that day the "Amen" would
be set to the helpful sermon of his life, and
that the asceiption of triumphant praise
would that day be uttered in the nearer
presence of his Heavenly Father.
MAN PBOPOSES.
He was making his plans for to-morrow
and the next day, and so was everybody else
in Johnstown. And then the flood came.
The flood came like the flood in Noah's day.
People weie buying and selling, marrying
and giving in marriage, making their plans
for the morrow, and then, when no man ex
pected, the rain descended, and the winds
blew, and the flood came.
"The shortness and uncertainty of human
life" the phrase is a familiar one. It is so
familiar, it voices a truth which is so well
known, that we do not heed it It is like
the cry which they say has been heard more
than once of late years in the streets of
Johnstown : "Take care : get on the high
ground. The reservoir may break 1" When
that word came speeding down over the wire
from South Fork into Johnstown even
when, ast some say, some unknown rider
came urging his horse at a mad gallon down
the mountain, crying out, "The dam is
broken; take to the hills I" a great many
people did not believe it. They were used
to hearing that, or something like it, when
there was an unusually heavy rain. They
stayed where they were and met the conse
quences. That human life is, of all things, among
the most uncertain to whom does that
come as the assertion of a truth previously
undiscovered and unknown? Here it is,
written up in great letters so that all the
world may read it. You and I to-day, to
morrow, at any hour, may die.
Now, thank God, that in this world where
man's strength is so insignificant, and man's
life so transitory, one thing is of enduring
valne. And that is character. We build
houses, and ai flood may make charnel
houses out of fbem to-morrow. But the
character we bui'd lasts. We die, and are
turned again to our dust, DutJ wo lire on, J
nevertheless; the body dies, but the soul en
dnres. Tbe soul endures, and character
which is the expression, (the quality, the
personality of the soul endures with it.
THE SATE PLACE
The only safe place in this world is just
where safety lay in Johnstown on the high
ground, the only really valuable possession
is a high, strong Christian character. Then
tbe floods may come, or the winds blow into
cyclones, or tbe fire rage in universal con
flagration, we can lose nothing. Death him
self,, that rapacious robber, cannot rob us.
I tell you that when tbe roar of that tumb
ling wave came crashing down the valley
of the Conemaugh, it was not money that
people wanted, nor dress, nor position, nor
any of the ambitions which the world com
monly struggles after; no, but the memory
of a righteous life, the approving voice of a
good conscience, the possession of a char
acter worth carrying on into another world.
That, you may be sure, was what men
wanted when the day of judgment came on
mat macR a nuay m the vallev ot the
Conemaugh; that was what they wanted. And
they who had that passed on into that other
valley, named "The shadow of death,"
fearing no evil.
Man's strength is insignificant; man's
life js transitory; but character is precious
and enduring. That is tbe word which
comes to us from Johnstown. The trouble
with the lives of most of us is in the matter
of emphasis. You know that the meaning
of a sentence depends not on the words of
it only, but on the way the words are em
phasized. We all agree that God has put
us into this world to make the very most of
our life here. It is the will of God that we
should get the very most we can out of this
present world. He would have put us into
the next world at the start, if He had meant
us to think more about that world than
this, now. "A world in the hand," as
Emerson said, "is better than two in the
bush."
Make the most of life is good Christian
doctrine. And we all agree that this, that
and the other are desirable elements in a
life which ia made the most of. Bat which do
we pat first? Which-do we emphasize Ah!
jaere. i iear, we rail Into disagreement. Many
things are good; but one thing Is needful, Christ
said, essentially. He said that this one essen
tially ncedfnl thing is character. tbe winning of
the approving benediction of God. All other
tilings are good, bad or indifferent. This alone
is pre-eminently emphatic. How it flashes up
in the light of the Are which burns beside the
great bridge at Johnstownl Man's strength is
insignificant, man's life is transitory; out char
acter endures. Yes, and God endures. God
endures and God cares. "I belt eve In G J,"
we say. "in Goo, the Father." We may not
And the words particularly difficult of utter
ance. But there are men and women all
through Western Pennsylvania who when they
come upon those words to-day. jay them, if
they say them at all. with a smlilen catchin? of
the breath and a trembling of the lips.
ONE INCIDENT.
I saw a mother in that ruined city, whose hus
band had been drowned in tbe first shock of
the fl&od, but who had escaped to the attic of
her house, taking her seven children safely
with her, and one by ono there, as inch by inch
the water rose, that mother saw those children
drown. Down went the sturdy boys, down went
tbe little maiden with the bright carls, one
golden ringlet floating op on the surface of the
black water; last of all the baby In her arms.
Anu that mother is to believe in a God of fath
erly compassion, "an ever-present helo in
trouble!"
Afew months ago the boys and cirls of the
Johnstown Sunday Schools were learning as a
"gplden text:" "When thou passest through the
waters I will be with thee; and tbrouzh the
rivers, they shall not overflow thee." Where
was that promise when tbe flood came? "God?
Where is God!" somebody cried In answer to a
word of comfort. And where indeed, was God
that Black Friday along the valley of the
Conemaugh? I will tell you where God was
when the flood came, lie was in the very
midst of it. He was there, as He is everywhere,
infinite in love, infinite in power, and infinite In
wisdom. IUnowthat God is infinite in love
and in power and in wisdom, because He is
God. God made man, possessing power and
widom and the instinct of love.
He who made man is greater than jnan.
Take the ideal man, the strongest tbe wisest,
the most loving, and multiply your Ideal of
him by Infinity, and you set a dim glimpse ot
God. We reason that way, if we let our rea
son lead us, irresistibly. And beside that,
One who came from heaven, and, having con
quered death, ascended again into heaven,
said so. Christ confirmed that which some had
hoped might be true, bat which forthe most
mrt men bad hardly ventured to believe, that
He who had made man with love in his heart
had love infinite in His heart. Christ came to
teach us that the all-powerful and the all
wise cares.
THE lOTTB OF COD.
And when I read the story of the calamity at
Johnstown, or look upon the wreck and desola
tion which hold the ground where happy homes
stood only a few days ago, or hear from their
own lips of the almost unspeakable griefs of
the survivors, I believe still in the love of God.
I believe that God heard that night the bitter
cries which were lifted up to Him all down that
fatal valley. I believe that God, even God,
listened with pity and pain and tender mercy.
And I believe still in tho power of God. x
believe that if it had seemed Rood to Him. He
could have lained meteoric stones out of the
sky and strengthened tbe top of the South Fork
dam against the abrasion of the water; He
could have sent a sudden bolt of lightning and
have torn the shores of the spill-way into a
wider and an adequate channel: He coaldhave
stopped that great wave, as long ago the Jordan
stayed its waves. That I believe.
But I believe, also, in the infinite wisdom of
God. He who knows the end from tbe begin
ning. He who knows on all sides ana all the
way through, that of which we catch only a
small and imperfect glimpse. He saw that it
was somehow best that His great laws should
take their unstayed course.
Remember tba't God did not "send" that flood.
If the word "will" means desire or even pur-
yuau, tb nag nob iuo rui oi uoa inat tne
South Fork dam sbonld break, nor the fatal
wave go crashing down the hill, nor that any
body on either side the Alleebenies should
sutler any kind of loss. God did not send that
flood to show tbe wonders of His divine omnip
otence. God forbid I God did not send that
flood tp punish Johnstown. Christ preached a
sermon when tho tower fell at Slloam, which
makes that sort of mistake impossiDle, or
ought to make it impossible. God did not
"send" the flood at all.
NO MYSTEBT THEEE.
There is no mystery about the wreck of
Johnstown. If a man walks unheeding over
tbe edge of a cliff he will get his bones woken,
and if he is leading an innocent child beside
him, holding his hand, the child will go over
too, and get his bones equally broken. And
though the child be tbe only son of bis mother,
aud she a widow, that will make no difference.
But Goddoes not push thatlitilccbUdovertbat
dangerous cliff. Nobody will blame God for
that. God has set certain great, universal
laws in the world, and in accordance with these
laws this effect is going to follow that cause,
impartially and inevitably. Without this tbe
world would be simply chaos. And God does
not interfere. God has His infinitely wise and
loving reasons for not interfering.
That is how it was at Johnstown. God set
trees upon the mountains: men cut them down,
that turned tbe mountain streams when the
rain fell into fierce, ungovernable torrents.
God set a safe channel for the mountain
streams to flow into the river; men dammed it
up, and tho men who dammed it up,
not expecting any such extraordinary
rainfall as we had that last week in May, did
not make .the dam strong enough, nor tbe
waterway wide enough. So tbe dam broke,
and, alas, for tbe towns beneathl But let no
body blame God for that.
God brings no willing evil into this world of
ours, into this life of ours. Tbe truth about is
just this: That God has provided for us con
ditions of existence which are tbe best possible
for all mankind. These conditions are so uni
versal, so impartial and so unfailing, that we
call them laws the "laws of nature." When
we live, as God would have us, in accord with
these divine and neneticient laws, we live in
happiness. But when, whether consciously or
unconsciously, we disobey them, whether by
walking over the edge of a cliff, or by setting a
weak dam against a strong current, and build
ing a town under it whenever we contravene
these laws of God, some kind of pain follows.
That is one wav in which we learn what the
laws are, by tbis education of Dain. But God
does not "send" that pain. We bring the pain
upon ourselves.
DABKNESS AND LI0HT.
God sends no willing pain to us His children,
but little by little, even out of the pain which
we bring upon ourselves God brings blessing.
God turns tbe darkness into light. God trans,
lates what seems a curse into a benediction.
God is in truth an ever-present help in
trouble." but He has His own ways of helping,
and tbey are always so deep and so divine that
sometimes it seems as if there were no help
about them. God seems to have deserted us.
Only wait and see. In that last great day, tbat
day of the revelation of God's judgment, it is
not we alone who will be judged.
Godwin be judged. Clear will shine the
hidden pages of all histories. Plain will be the
reasons.evidcnt tbs motives which lie shrouded
now In clonds and darkness. Then at last we
will know why. Then we will learn how in
finite power t'ld love unspeakaole await tbe
bidding of Infinite wisdom, All tho pains of
all the sufferers in tbe world; all the great
calamities which have appalled tbe race of
man; all tbe hidden grief which in our own
lives offer insoluble enigmas we will read them
over then from tbe beginning to the end, and
praise God, We will Know why.
GEOEQS HOBQES,
FAMOUS HEIDELBERG.
Belya A. Lockwood Yisifs the Far
Famed City and Inspects
THE GEAHD .OLD UKIYEES1TY.
Everybody Drinks Wine and Beer in tha
Public Gardens, bat
THESE AEE NO DEUKKAEDS TO BE SEES
ICOBBISPOITDENCZ Or TBS DISPATCH. J
Heidelbekg, June 9. 'We sailed from
New York May 15 on the steamer "Western
land for the Universal Exposition at Paris,
but'the current reports of newspapers and
travelers of the still unfinished condition of
many of the exhibits and the postponement
of the time of meeting of the Universal
Peace Congress, to which we are also dele
gated, for three weeks, has led us to make a
detour to other places ot interest in the Old
"World, until to-day we find ourselves far
down in the possessions of Emperor "Will
iam, in this beautifnl and far-famed city,
situated on the Nectar, a branch of the
Bhine.
Heidelberg is a city of 20,000 inhabitants,
busy, bright and clean, and founded la
1275. Erom its many historical reminis
cences; the battle ground in the past of
many a conflict; alternately in the hands of
the Germans, French and Bavarians; tha
seat of the German Eeichsiag in July, 1384,
under Kmg Menrel, and replete perhaps in
more historical traditionsand wierd legends
than any of the far famed cities ot the
Khine; situated on the Neckar, about 30
miles from its confluence, it is more sought
by tourists of every land than many more
pretentious cities.
IN HOLTDAT ATTIBE.
"We chanced to visit it on the day of the
Feast of the Ascension a general holiday.
The famed university and the schools were
closed. The 1,000 soldiers stationed at the
barracks to guard the city, with their bright
uniforms, gorgeously trimmed in red and
gold, with the flags flying from the public;
buildings, lent both color and im
portance to the scene. All ot the
chnrcbes, Protestant and Catholic, were
open for morning service, for Germany is
essentially the land of tite religion. Tho
religious devotions performed, everybody in
holiday attire promenaded the stree'ts. The
red-cheeked, large-waisted, sturdy German
women, both young and old, on street and
tram car, were mostly without bonnets,
while ticcasionally one had a bonnie hand
kerchief tied under her chin, with here and
therp a lithesome country maiden wear
ing the picturesque peasant dress of the
olden time.
The cozy beer gardens, or little cool arbors
everywhere, and the shaded yards, or even
street side of the hotels had inviting little
tables and chairs for two, at which every
body, from the grandmother of SO to the
child of 5 years, stopped by the wayside to
chat with friends, during which they sipped
the large schooners of beer, or drank a bottle
of wine interlarded with pretzels.
Tbe German seems to have as much aver
sion to water as a beverage as the Prohibi
tionists of our country have to wine and
beer. They use it only for their ablutions.
At the hotels and cafes they do not ask you
if you will take wine, but simply what brand
you will have, and smile if you call for
water. But Hiedelberg is situated in the
midst of the great wine region of Germany;
the principal industry of many hundreds of
thousands of persons.
NO BEtrSKENNESS OK EIOTINO.
I watched from my hotel window until
the sun went down, many hundred persons
still eating and drinking, but saw no in
toxication, heard no rioting, no boisterous
language or loud laughing, nothing but
the most quiet enjoyment ot a general holi
day. "What the effect of this continuous
wine and beer drinking may be, mentally
or physically, npon the human system, can
only be determined, T think, by careful
study and close analysis. Only "the light
wines arc used. I have seen none of the
strong drinks, a3 mm, brandy or whisky,
sold anywhere. Occasionally one meets, as
in our own country, on man or woman, a
red nose and a bloated, disfigured face, but
they are not common. "While I have seen
no drunkenness, neither have Iseen beggars,
abject poverty or squalor of any sort. These
exist, however, in the lower portions of the
town, in asylums, pauper houses and pris
ons. They are studiously kept from the
public gaze; but many of them have emi
grated to America.
Heidelberg University, this famous in
stitution of German learning and literature,
founded in 1386 by Emperor Rupert I., with
all of the vicissitudes of fortnne that has
beset it, has with its iron discipline had
mnch to do in the molding of Germany's
rulers and princes, as well as the general
German mind. Known to the student world
more than 100 years before America was dis
covered, it celebrated the five hundredth
year of its establishment by five days of re
joicing; closing by a grand banquet in the
banqueting hall of tne old Enpert Castle
August, 1886. This wierd banqnet room,
overgrown by trees, had been deserted for
many hundred years; and this fresh sound
of revelry by the German student, who is no
stranger to fun, or to bacchanalian songs,
must have startled from their long sleep the
spirits of the old barons and granddamea
who years ago inhabited it.
THE GEK1IAIT STUDENT
is not, as in our institutions of learning, al
ways a peaceful and quiet personacre de
voted to his books; but he is made familiar
with all of the arts of war; admires most of
all bravery in his companions, which he
considers is-the ability to fight well, and is
quick to resent an insult, real or fancied.
Thus he is often in trouble often measur
ing sabers with a fellow student, assaulting
the police if too much beer has been im
bibed, or failing in proper obedience to his
tutors.
The result is an arrest and a trial by the
faculty; but, if bis offense is criminal, he is
never lodged in the common prison of the
town; but from immemorial custom is
put in the prison of the university, founded
probably before the town had a jail. The
janitress, who dimly comprehended our
poor German, conducted us through the im-
portant rooms of the university, including
the main schoolroom, recitation rooms and
chapel, and finally to these prison rooms,
with their barred windows, narrow iron bed
steads and straw mattresses, where many a
famous German Baron or General was years
ago connnea lor some aireuction of dut
and which serves as well to punish the
students of to-day.
These rooms are a studv and a lesson in
themselves. From the commencement of
the winding stair to the remotest corner of
the darkest room, every inch of space on
wall and wainscot has the cabalistic char
acters of tbe incarcerated student. Sow he
recites his own offense, now caricatures the
professors, the police, or the crowned heads
of Germany as the humor seizes him, if he
has pen, crayon o- pencil, and failing in
this, the wooden tables and straight wooden
chairs are master pieces of schoolboy wood
carving, tbat cannot fail to remind 'one of
their own school days at the country school.
In the absence of any of these instruments,
the tallow dip that lights the room has been
utilized to write or draw his profile on
the wainscoting. But there are many
worthy German students.
Belya A. Lockwood,
Easily Found.
New Tork Weekly.
Aged New Yorker I'ye often wondered
what became of my playmate, "Will "Win
kel, whose parents removed to Philadel
phia wnile he was very young. Sixty years
ago he was an errand boy in a Market
street store, but I haven't heard of him
since,
Philadelphlan (astonished "Well, why
don't you go to the store and inquire? Moj
like ho is there jet, I - j5&sa