Produced by Annie McGuire [Illustration: HARPER'S ROUND TABLE] Copyright, 1895, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All Rights Reserved. * * * * * PUBLISHED WEEKLY. NEW YORK, TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1895. FIVE CENTS A COPY. VOL. XVI.--NO. 814. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR. * * * * * [Illustration] HEROES OF AMERICA. THE FLAG-BEARER. BY THE HONORABLE THEODORE ROOSEVELT. [Illustration: Decorative I] n no war since the close of the great Napoleonic struggles has the fighting been so obstinate and bloody as in the civil war. Much has been said in song and story of the obstinate courage of the Guards at Inkerman, of the charge of the Light Brigade, and of the terrible fighting and loss of the German at Mars la Tour and Gravelotte. The praise bestowed upon the British and Germans for their valor, and for the loss that proved their valor, was well deserved. But there were over one hundred and twenty regiments, Union and Confederate, each of which in some one battle of the civil war suffered a greater loss than any English regiment at Inkerman or at any other battle in the Crimea; greater loss than was suffered by any German regiment at Gravelotte, or at any other battle of the Franco-Prussian war. No European regiment in any recent struggle has suffered such losses as at Gettysburg befell the 1st Minnesota, when 82 per cent. of the officers and men were killed and wounded; or the 141st Pennsylvania, which lost 76 per cent., or the 26th North Carolina, which lost 72 per cent.; such as at the second battle of Manassas befell the 101st New York, which lost 74 per cent.; and the 21st Georgia, which lost 76 per cent. At Cold Harbor the 25th Massachusetts lost 70 per cent., and the 10th Tennessee at Chickamauga 68 per cent.; while at Shiloh the 9th Illinois lost 63 per cent., and the 6th Mississippi 70 per cent.; and at Antietam the 1st Texas lost 82 per cent. The loss of the Light Brigade in killed and wounded in its famous charge at Balaklava was but 37 per cent. These figures show the terrible punishment endured by these regiments--chosen at random from the head of the list--which shows the slaughter roll of the civil war. Yet the shattered remnant of each regiment preserved its organization, and many of the severest losses were suffered by regiments in the hour of triumph, and not of disaster. Thus, the 1st Minnesota at Gettysburg suffered its appalling loss while charging a greatly superior force, which it drove before it; and the little huddle of wounded and unwounded men who survived their victorious charge actually kept both the flag they had captured and the ground from which they had driven their foes. A number of the Continental regiments under Washington, Greene, and Wayne did valiant fighting, and suffered severe loss. Several of the regiments raised on the Northern frontier in 1814 showed, under Brown and Scott, that they were able to meet the best troops of England on equal terms in the open, and even to overmatch them in fair fight with the bayonet. The regiments which in the Mexican war, under the lead of Taylor, captured Monterey, and beat back Santa Anna at Buena Vista, or which, with Scott as commander, stormed Molino Del Rey and Chapultepec, proved their ability to bear terrible loss, to wrest victory from overwhelming numbers, and to carry by open assault positions of formidable strength held by a veteran army. But in none of these three wars was the fighting so resolute and bloody as in the civil war. Countless deeds of heroism were performed by Northerner and by Southerner, by officer and by private, in every year of the great snuggle. The immense majority of these deeds went unrecorded, and were known to few beyond the immediate participants. Of those that were noticed it would be impossible even to make a dry catalogue in ten such volumes as this. All that can be done is to choose out two or three acts of heroism not as exceptions, but as examples of hundreds of others. The times of war are iron times, and bring out all that is best as well as all that is basest, in the human heart. In a full recital of the civil war, as of every other great conflict, there would stand out in naked relief feats of wonderful daring and self-devotion, and, mixed among them, deeds of cowardice, of treachery, of barbarous brutality. Sadder still, such a recital would show strange contrasts in the careers of individual men--men who at one time act well and nobly, and at another time ill and basely. But though the ugly truths must not be blinked, and though the lessons they teach should be set forth by every historian, and learned by every statesman and soldier, yet these are not the truths on which it is best worth while to dwell. For our good-fortune the lessons best worth learning in the nation's past are lessons of heroism. From time immemorial the armies of every warlike people have set the highest value upon the standards they bore to battle. To guard one's own flag against capture is the pride, to capture the flag of one's enemy the ambition, of every valiant soldier. In consequence, in every war between peoples of good military record, feats of daring performed by color-bearers are honorably common. The civil war was full of such incidents. Out of very many, two or three stand as especially noteworthy. One occurred at Fredericksburg on the day when half the brigades of Meagher and Caldwell lay on the bloody slope leading up to the Confederate entrenchments. Among the assaulting regiments was the 5th New Hampshire, and it lost 186 out of 300 men who made the charge. The survivors fell back sullenly behind a fence, within easy range of the Confederate rifle pits. Just before reaching it the last of the color-guard was shot, and the flag fell in the open. A Captain, Perry, instantly ran out to rescue it, and, as he reached it, was shot through the heart; another Captain, Murray, made the same attempt, and was also killed; and so was a third, Moore. Several private soldiers met a like fate. They were all killed close to the flag, and their dead bodies fell across one another. Taking advantage of this breastwork Lieutenant Nettleton crawled from behind the fence to the colors, and bore back the blood-won trophy. Another took place at Gaines Mill, where Gregg's 1st South Carolina formed part of the attacking force. The resistance was desperate, and the fury of the assault unsurpassed. At one point it fell to the lot of this regiment to bear the brunt of carrying a certain strong position. Moving forward at a run, the South-Carolinians were swept by a fierce and searching fire. Young James Taylor, a lad of sixteen, was carrying the flag, and was killed after being shot down three times, twice rising and struggling onward with the colors. The third time he fell the flag was seized by George Cotchet, and when he in turn fell, by Shubrick Hayne. Hayne was also struck down almost immediately, and the fourth lad, for none of them were over twenty years old, grasped the colors, and fell mortally wounded across the body of his friend. The fifth, Gadsden Holmes, was pierced with no less than seven balls. The sixth man, Dominick Spellman, more fortunate, but not less brave, bore the flag throughout the rest of the battle. Yet another occurred at Antietam. The 7th Maine, then under the command of Major T. W. Hyde, was one of the hundreds of regiments that on many hard-fought fields established a reputation for dash and unyielding endurance. Toward the early part of the day at Antietam it merely took its share in the charging and long-range firing with the New York and Vermont regiments, which were its immediate neighbors in the line. The fighting was very heavy. In one of the charges the Maine men passed over what had been a Confederate regiment. The gray clad soldiers were lying, both ranks, soldiers and officers, as they fell, for so many had been killed or disabled that it seemed as if the whole regiment was prone in death. Much of the time the Maine men lay on the battle-field hugging the ground under a heavy artillery fire, but beyond the reach of ordinary musketry. One of the privates, named Knox, was a wonderful shot, and had received permission to use his own special rifle, a weapon accurately sighted for very long range. While the regiment thus lay under the storm of shot and shell he asked leave to go to the front, and for an hour afterwards his companions heard his rifle crack every few minutes. Major Hyde finally, from curiosity, crept forward to see what he was doing, and found that he had driven every man away from one section of a Confederate battery, tumbling over gunner after gunner as they came forward to fire. One of his victims was a general officer, whose horse he killed. At the end of an hour or so a piece of shell took off the breech of his pet rifle, and he returned disconsolate: but after a few minutes he gathered three rifles left by wounded men, and went back again to his work. At five o'clock in the afternoon the regiment was suddenly called upon to undertake a hopeless charge, owing to the blunder of a brigade commander, who was a gallant veteran of the Mexican war, but who was also given to drink. Opposite the Union lines at this point were some hay-stacks near a group of farm buildings. They were right in the centre of the Confederate position, and sharpshooters stationed among them were picking off the Union gunners. The brigadier, thinking that they were held by but a few skirmishers, rode up to where the 7th Maine was lying on the ground, and said, "Major Hyde, take your regiment and drive the enemy from those trees and buildings." Hyde saluted, and said that he had seen a large force of rebels go in among the buildings, probably two brigades in all. The brigadier answered, "Are you afraid to go, sir?" and repeated the order emphatically. "Give the order so the regiment can hear it, and we are ready, sir," said Hyde. This was done, and "Attention!" brought every man to his feet. With the regiment were two young boys, who carried the marking guidons, and Hyde ordered these to the rear. They pretended to go, but as soon as the regiment charged came along with it. One of them lost his arm, and the other was killed on the field. The colors were carried by the color corporal, Harry Campbell. Hyde gave the orders to left face and forward, and the Maine men marched out in front of a Vermont regiment which lay beside them. Then, facing to the front, they crossed a sunken road, which was so filled with dead and wounded Confederates that Hyde's horse had to step on them to get over. Once across, they stopped for a moment in the trampled corn to straighten the line, and then charged toward the right of the barns. On they went, at the double-quick, fifteen skirmishers ahead, under Lieutenant Butler, Major Hyde on the light, on his Virginia thoroughbred, and Adjutant Haskell to the left, on a big white horse. The latter was shot down at once, as was his horse, and Hyde rode round in front of the regiment just in time to see a long line of men in gray rise from behind the stone wall of the Hagerstown pike, which was to their right, and pour in a volley: but it mostly went over their heads. He then ordered his men to left oblique. Just as they were abreast a hill to the right of the barns, Hyde, being some twenty feet ahead, looked over its top and saw several regiments of Confederates, jammed close together, and waiting at the ready; so he gave the order left flank, and, still at the double-quick, took his column past the barns and buildings towards an orchard on the hither side, hoping that he could get his men back before they were cut off, for they were faced by ten times their number. By going through the orchard he expected to be able to take advantage of a hollow, and partially escape the destructive flank fire on his return. To hope to keep the barns from which they had driven the sharpshooters was vain, for the single Maine regiment found itself opposed to portions of no less than four Confederate brigades, at least a dozen regiments all told. When the men got to the orchard fence, Sergeant Benson wrenched apart the tall pickets to let through Hyde's horse. While he was doing this a shot struck his haversack, and the men all laughed at the sight of the flying hardtack. Going into the orchard there was a rise of ground, and the Confederates fired several volleys at the Maine men, and then charged them. Hyde's horse was twice wounded, but was still able to go on. No sooner were the men in blue beyond the fence than they got into line, and met the Confederates, as they came crowding behind, with a slaughtering fire, and then charged, driving them back. The color corporal was still carrying the colors, though one of his arms had been broken; but when half-way through the orchard Hyde heard him call out as he fell, and turned back to save the colors, if possible. The apple-trees were short and thick, and he could not see much, and the Confederates speedily got between him and his men. Immediately, with the cry of "Rally, boys, to save the Major," back surged the regiment, and a volley, at arm's-length, destroyed all the foremost of their pursuers: so they rescued both their commander and the flag, which was carried off by Corporal Ring. Hyde then formed the regiment on the colors, sixty-eight men all told out of two hundred and forty who had begun the charge, and they slowly marched back toward their place in the Union line, while the New-Yorkers and Vermonters rose from the ground cheering and waving their hats. Next day, when the Confederates had retired a little from the field, the color corporal, Campbell, was found in the orchard dead, propped up against a tree, with his pipe beside him. A CHINESE CREW. Over the mantel in Grandfather Sterling's dining-room hung the picture of a great Newfoundland dog, painted so true to life that it seemed possible to run one's hand through the masses of rough curly hair as the big honest brown eyes looked down wistfully at the table just below the heavy oak frame. One winter day when Ralph Pell and his grandfather met at breakfast-time, a northeast wind was whistling around the corner of the old mansion, and hurling the snow with a musical tapping against the window-panes. The white-haired sailor looked up at the picture of the noble animal, saying, with a touch of affection in his voice: "Well, Nero, good old fellow, this is one of the kind of days you used to love. How you enjoyed plunging and rolling into a big snow drift, and making the white flakes fly!" "Grandpop," said Ralph, "you have never told me about Nero. Did he ever go to sea with you?" "Go to sea with me, boy? Why, Nero was first mate with me once, and a good one, too, when I had a Chinese crew on my vessel." "Oh, do tell me the story, please, grandpop," exclaimed Ralph, "for it must be a funny one." "Um! Not so funny as you think, perhaps; but I'll spin you the yarn, and let you judge. Well, when I was a strapping young fellow, 'way back in the forties, I sailed out of the port of Boston as mate of the bark _Eagle_, bound to Hong-Kong, which place, as your geography tells you, is in China. We had a quick passage out, but found nothing in the way of a good freight just then offering for home, so we remained for several weeks with our mud-hook--as sailors call the anchor--dropped in the same place. It was the unhealthy season, and, one by one, our crew sickened, and were sent on shore to the hospital. Next the Captain was taken down, and I found myself, with the second mate, the only man left on board the vessel. "Just at this time the Captain was offered a good paying charter to carry a cargo up the coast, so he ordered me to ship a new crew for the trip, and to take his place as Captain, saying that he would be himself again when I returned. There was not a white sailor to be engaged in the port, so I shipped a crew of coolies, as the lower class of natives are called, stowed my cargo, and set sail; but as this class of Chinamen are very dirty in the way of their clothes and habits, I took care to lock the door of the forecastle-house, in which the sailors sleep, and to make the natives take up sleeping quarters on a lot of mats thrown on top of the cargo in the hold. "As ill luck would have it, the poor second mate, who had made several voyages to the pig-tail country, and could talk pigeon-English so as to be understood by the moon-eyed sailors, went out of his head with the fever, and jumped overboard in his delirium the second night after leaving port. This left me to deal with a crowd of men who could not comprehend a single order I gave them. However, as the place to which we were bound was only about two days' sail away, and as the wind was favorable, I kept the ship on her course. "Of all the exasperating times I have ever had, that was the worst. When I wanted the crew to man a certain rope, I was obliged to cast it off the pin, put it in their hands, and make signs to them what they were to do with it; but half the time they would slack away when I wanted them to haul, so that between my anxiety and ill-humor and their surliness we speedily got on very bad terms, and I soon noticed an ugly disposition on their part toward me. I believe that the men would have turned on me if it had not been for the Captain's big dog Nero, who followed me wherever I moved, and who growled wickedly at the evil-looking crew whenever he saw them look threateningly at me. "In addition to the navigating of the ship, I was obliged to constantly superintend the setting and taking in of the sails, the steering of the ship, and many other matters, so that I dared not go below even for my meals. The afternoon of the day before I expected to reach port I was completely worn out with my labors, and almost sick from lack of sleep. At last I could stand guard no longer, so I went through a regular pantomime with the man at the wheel, signifying that he was to keep the ship going just as she was. Then I threw myself down on top of the cabin-house, and immediately fell asleep. "It was quite dark when I was awaked by Nero shaking me roughly and uttering loud and angry yelps. In one jump I made the wheel, jammed it hard over, brought the vessel to her course again, then called Nero, who stood on top of the cabin whining in an ugly way at the Chinamen who were grouped about the door of the carpenter's shop alongside the galley. "I saw through the trick at once. The wheelsman had calculated that by deserting his post, the ship would fly up into the wind and be wrecked in the strong breeze then blowing. In this way the vengeful spirit of the men was to be satisfied. When they saw that their plan had failed they sullenly entered the hold through the booby-hatch, and that was the last I ever saw of my Chinese crew. "I waited a little while, then lashed the wheel, pulled off my shoes, and sneaking forward noiselessly closed the door of the hatch and slipped the bolt into its socket. That accomplished, I went back to the wheel much easier in mind, for I knew that the crew could not gain the deck in any other way. "During the night the wind died completely away, leaving the vessel becalmed, and the sea subsided into long, easy swells. I dozed at intervals, trusting to Nero to warn me of any new danger, and so obtained some little rest. Just before daybreak, upon awakening from one of these cat-naps, I became sensible that the ship was lifting in a very sluggish way to the seas, and that her motion was new and strange. Casting my eyes over the side, I was almost petrified to see that the vessel had settled in the water almost to her deck-line, and was rapidly sinking under my feet. At the same instant there came a violent pounding forward from the inside of the booby-hatch and a chorus of wild and agonizing yells. "In a flash the heathenish trick was revealed to me. The Chinamen had determined not to be cheated out of their revenge, so had bored holes in the ship with an auger taken from the carpenter's chest. They had expected to rush out on deck in time and escape in one of the boats, probably leaving me to go down in my vessel, but found their way blocked by the locked door of the hatch. "However devilish their action had been, I could not let them drown like rats in a trap, so I started forward to their release, and had just laid my hand on the bolt when the deck blew up, owing to the confined air, with a report like that of a cannon, and I was hurled into the sea. "I quickly gained the surface, but was immediately drawn down again in the suction of the sinking vessel, and when at last I once more found myself on top of the water I was so far spent, strong swimmer though I was, that I would have sunk helplessly, but Nero caught my collar and held my head up until I recovered my breath and strength. "Shortly after this some floating object bumped up against us, which to my joy I discovered to be the large wooden chicken-coop that had rested on the deck. I climbed on top of it, and pulled Nero up beside me, and we drifted about on it until late that afternoon, when we were picked up by a Chinese junk, and carried into port. "And now, my boy," said Grandfather Sterling, in conclusion, "you have the story of the time that I went to sea with a Chinese crew, and had Nero for my first mate." THORNTON'S USELESS STUDY. BY W. J. HENDERSON. "I wish to gracious goodness that Thornton J. Seabury would make better use of his time!" That was the earnest exclamation of Mrs. Seabury, mother of Thornton; and it was her earnest conviction that her son was going to turn out to be an idle, unpractical, shiftless young man. "It's not that he's lazy," said Mrs. Seabury, when, in the distress of her heart, she went to consult the minister about her boy. "No, he's not exactly what you might call lazy; but he works on useless things. He spends hours and hours in studying things that may be very interesting and very fine to know; but what good will they ever do him? He's got to make his way in the world, and I'd like to know who's going to pay him for learning the names of the stars, and orbits, and diurnal motions, and such things as he talks about! He ought to be giving his attention to something that will help him to earn an honest living." "But, my dear Mrs. Seabury," said the Rev. Thomas Tatter, who was a man of education, "there is hardly any study that cannot be turned to account in earning a living; though I must admit that I can't help admiring your son for loving a study for its own sake." "Well, I'd admire him too," said Mrs. Seabury, "if he loved some such study as civil engineering or architecture." "Yes, I dare say that these would promise a more brilliant future for him: but we must admit the fact that his gifts are for astronomy, and you know it is almost impossible to overcome the impulses of a boy's natural gifts. Even as an astronomer a man may earn a living." "Well, I suppose there's no help for it," sighed Mrs. Seabury. All this time, Thornton, grieved at his mother's opposition to his favorite pursuit, was nevertheless more passionately attached to it than ever. From early childhood he had always regarded the heavens with delight and devouring wonder. What were those beautiful golden stars that filled the splendid dome of night with their gentle radiance! Why had God put them there, and what were they doing? Little by little he began to absorb the elementary facts of astronomy, and after a time he found that he could make no further progress without becoming a thorough mathematician. So he set himself resolutely to work, and soon knew all that his school-teacher, a college graduate, could teach him. Thornton really was a complete master of geometry, trigonometry, higher algebra, and even the more advanced branches of mathematics. His advance in astronomy was now rapid. He even put in a summer at uncongenial labor in order to earn money enough to buy three or four second-hand instruments. He never dreamed that he might turn his knowledge to practical use; but he studied simply because he loved the subject. And in the course of time astronomy repaid him for his devotion in ways that had never entered his mind. At the time when this story begins Mr. Seabury had left home, on the Maine coast, and had gone to New York to see about a good situation which had been offered him in that city. Times had been hard up in Maine, and Mr. Seabury had been out of work and could not get in again. One day he returned home and told his wife that he had secured an excellent situation in New York, but hardly knew how to stand the great expense of moving his family and his household goods such a distance. Fortunately, however, an old friend, Captain Josiah Whitby, of the schooner _Three Elms_, came to visit them that evening. As soon as he heard of the difficulty he slapped his stout knee and said: "Why, lookee, my lad, it's lucky I came. I'm goin' to sail for New York on Saturday with the _Three Elms_ in ballast to get a cargo there for Bermuda. Now it ain't agoin' to hurt me to carry all your fixin's for nothin', an' you an' your fam'ly for the price o' what you'll eat." Mrs. Seabury had some feelings of timidity about the sea-voyage, but of course such a kind offer was not to be refused, and, moreover, Mr. Seabury and Thornton were both delighted at the prospect of the voyage. So during the next two days there was a great bustle in the Seabury household. All their furniture, carpets, and other belongings were carefully packed up and stowed in the capacious after-hold of the _Three Elms_, for Mr. Seabury's intention was to live in a little house at Williamsbridge. Early Saturday morning Mr. Seabury and Thornton superintended the storage of the last load of goods, including the trunks containing their clothing and Thornton's precious books and instruments. Then the little family sat down to breakfast with Captain Whitby in the schooner's cabin, and Mr. Seabury added to his unfailing prayer before eating a petition for their safety during the voyage which they were about to undertake. "I can't get away from the wharf before three o'clock this afternoon," said the Captain, "because the _Three Elms_ can't get over the bar here except at high water." "It's spring tide to-day," remarked Thornton. "Hello, boy!" exclaimed the Captain; "are you a sailor?" "Oh no, sir," said Thornton. "I don't know one sail from another, but I know the age of the moon, and I know it's time for the spring tides here." "Well, even that's worth knowin'," said the Captain, "and if you keep your eyes open while you're aboard here, you'll learn a lot of other useful things." "It will be funny to see Thornton learning _useful_ things," exclaimed Mrs. Seabury. "Let the boy alone, mother," said Mr. Seabury, "he'll come out all right." In the afternoon the schooner got under way, with a fine westerly breeze abeam, and stood out to sea. As she passed the lighthouse at the entrance to the little harbor, the Captain took certain bearings of it with his compass, while Thornton stood by and watched him with interest. "I suppose you are fixing the schooner's position by bow-and-beam bearings," said the boy. "That's what I'm doin'," said the Captain; "but how'd you know anything about them?" "Oh, I've heard of them," said Thornton, modestly. "Well, come and see me set the patent log," said Captain Whitby. Thornton seemed to know something about that too, and the Captain decided that although the boy might have a good deal of useless knowledge in his head, he had hold of some facts worth knowing. He said as much to Mrs. Seabury, but she replied: "What's the good of his knowing those things? He isn't a sailor." "That's true enough," answered the Captain, remembering that the boy did not know one sail from another. By six o'clock the schooner was well out to sea, and as it grew dark the Captain came on deck with his sextant. Thornton became intensely interested. "Going to take Jupiter for latitude, Captain?" he asked. "That's what," was the reply; "but what do you know about it?" "Oh, I'm not so ignorant that I can't tell what latitude and longitude are," said Thornton; "and I know that Jupiter will be on the meridian at 8.32 to-night." "Well, then, you know some more things that are worth knowin' to a sailor-man, anyhow," declared Captain Whitby. For twenty-four hours the schooner glided along slowly and quickly, the wind constantly drawing ahead and forcing her off her course. Then it fell dead calm, and a heavy swell began to roll in from the southeast. "Mother," said Thornton, "don't be frightened, but we're going to have a storm." "Mercy sakes!" exclaimed Mrs. Seabury; "how do you know? The Captain hasn't said so." "The barometer has fallen rapidly for the last six hours, and the wind has been backing from west to southwest and so on around to southeast," said Thornton, "and there's going to be a gale. The Captain hasn't said anything, because he does not wish to frighten you." Two hours later it began to blow in short uneasy puffs from the southeast, and Captain Whitby ordered the top-sails and foretopmast stay-sail taken in. He laid the vessel by the wind on the starboard tack, intending to push out as far as possible from dangerous proximity to the coast. At six o'clock in the evening it was blowing freshly, and the long swells were cut up into foaming ridges. "Get the fore-sail off her!" cried Captain Whitby to his little crew, and presently the big sheet of canvas was furled snugly on its boom. "In jib, and lay aft to reef the mains'l!" It was wild weather now, and no mistake. The big roaring green billows came raging down out of the dusk in the southeast, and as the schooner would lean far over to meet them it looked as if they were going to bury her. But as each sea approached, the schooner's bowsprit would swing upward with a great heave, the sea under-ran her, and down she came with a crash and a cloud of spray into the screeching hollow. "I'll have to ask you all to go below," said the Captain; "it isn't safe for you to be on deck. You might get washed overboard." Shut in the badly lighted little cabin, with the one lamp swinging madly, the agonized groaning of timbers all around them, and the thunder of tons of water falling on the deck above them, the Seaburys began to wish that they had never left their little home to go out on the treacherous ocean. They did not go to bed, but sat on the lockers, holding fast with both hands, and momentarily expecting that some terrible catastrophe would happen. About three o'clock in the morning they heard a loud shout and a heavy thump on the deck, followed by a rapid shuffling of feet. "What can have happened?" exclaimed Mr. Seabury. "Oh, they're coming to tell us that we must take to the life-boat!" cried Mrs. Seabury. The cabin door was pushed open, and three sailors stumbled in, bearing the inanimate form of the Captain. "One o' the main throat-halyard blocks fell from aloft," said a sailor, "an' hit him. I reckon he's hurt bad." The Captain was laid in his bunk, and Mrs. Seabury forgot her fears in her anxiety to do something for him. And being one of those "handy" New England women, she could do a good deal, too. She could not find any broken bones, so she decided that the poor man had been struck on the body and injured internally. With the help of her husband, she prepared and administered a soothing drink which put the sufferer to sleep. Poor Thornton stood about idly, and keenly feeling his helplessness. But at eight o'clock he eased his mind a little by winding the chronometer. In the mean time the storm had broken; it was only a summer gale, and at nine o'clock the wind shifted to northwest, and the sun came out. Thornton and his father went on deck, leaving Mrs. Seabury to attend to the Captain, who was awake and in much pain. The mate came up to Mr. Seabury, and said: "This are a ser'ous business, sir." "Yes," answered Mr. Seabury; "I suppose you're in command now." "Waal, I am: but I wish I wasn't." "Why, how's that?" "Why, ye see," said the mate, scratching his head, "I kin sail the schooner all right: but I can't navigate her. I'm blowed ef I know w'ich way to steer now." "Why not sail west till you sight land?" "'Cause I might hit a shoal or rocks, not knowin' they was there." "Please may I speak?" said Thornton. "Well, what is it?" asked his father. "I can navigate the schooner, though I can't sail her," said the boy, earnestly. "You! Why, you never were at sea before!" "That makes no difference," said Thornton; "sailors navigate by the sun, moon, and stars, and I know all about them. Father, I _know_ that I can navigate this schooner into New York Bay. The chronometer is running; I know where the captain's sextant is, and I wish you'd let me try." "We must speak to the Captain about this," said Mr. Seabury. They went below and laid the matter before the Captain. In spite of his sufferings he became deeply attentive. He asked Thornton this question: "How are you goin' to find the position o' the schooner now? I've lost her reckonin'." "I'll take a chronometer sight right away, and another two hours from now, and work out the position by astronomical cross-bearings--Sumner's method, I think you sailors call it." "Can you work Sumner's method?" "Certainly, with sun, moon, or stars." "Then you know more navigation than I do," said the Captain. "It's nothing but applied astronomy, you know," said Thornton, "and I've always been studying astronomy." "You go ahead and see what you can do, my boy," said the Captain. "Let Bowers, the mate, handle the schooner, and you tell him which way to steer." Thornton went at once to the chronometer and set his watch by it. Then he went on deck with the Captain's sextant in his hand, and the crew stopped work to stare at him. He had a short talk with Bowers, who explained the situation to the men. "If the Captain says it's all right," said one of the men. "I s'pose it is." But, nevertheless, they could not understand how any person not a sailor could be a competent navigator, though the simple fact is that navigation has not necessarily anything to do with seamanship. The schooner was hove to for two hours, because Thornton explained to the mate that he desired to keep her in one place until he ascertained her position. At 11.15 the boy took his second sight and went below to work out his problem. His father stood over him in wonder while he filled a sheet of paper with sines, cosines, secants, and such things. At last the computation of the position was completed, and Thornton had to ascertain the course to be steered. He got the Captain's chart, and, marking the ship's place on it, went into the sufferer's cabin and showed it to him. "I guess you must be about right, boy," said the Captain. "In settin' the course, you want to get well out here." And the Captain indicated with his finger certain dangers that must be given a wide berth. Thornton set a safe course, and, going on deck, told the mate to get the schooner under way S. 1/2 W. The men sprang to their work willingly, and in a very few minutes the _Three Elms_ was cleaving her way over a comparatively quiet sea. For three days Thornton continued his labors as navigator, and on the morning of the fourth he announced that the Highlands of Navesink ought to be sighted from the masthead at eleven o'clock. A sailor was sent up to look out for them. The hour of eleven came, and he was silent. The mate and the crew looked gravely at the anxious boy. Could he have been in error? Five minutes passed, and the men began to talk angrily. Then the man aloft cried: "Land, ho! It's the bloomin' old Highlands! I know that lump!" [Illustration: A CHEER WENT UP, AND THE MATE SHOOK HANDS WITH THORNTON.] Then a cheer went up, and the mate shook hands with Thornton. Before supper the schooner was in tow of a tug, going up the Swash Channel. "Well, mother," said Thornton, "do you think astronomy is such a useless thing now?" And she was obliged to admit that she had never thought of it as the foundation of navigation. Thornton is at present the assistant to the government astronomer of a European country, and is receiving a comfortable salary. HELEN'S CHOICE. BY ANNIE HAMILTON DONNELL. Helen set the baby down on the floor, and the pan of clothes-pins beside her. "There, now, we'll see," she said, gayly. She got down, too, and arranged the pins in an orderly little circle astride the pan's edge. They went way round, and then Helen, with a sweep of fingers, sent them all clattering into the pan again. The baby crowed in wide-mouthed, toothless glee. "_You_ do it now, baby--see, just as I do," Helen said. She sprang lightly to her feet and went back to her dishes. The water was cold, and the teakettle almost empty, and mutton-chops did make such greasy plates. But Helen splashed in cheerfully. She was thinking of Uncle 'Gene's letter on the mantel-piece, and the final decision about it that very morning over the mutton-chops. It made her sing in sudden ecstatic anticipation. What did she care about cold dish-water and uncanny dishes, when she was going to-- She filled out the thought with pantomimic action, running scales up and down the edge of the sink with dripping fingers, and executing intricate tuneless measures amid dying soapsuds. "Helen, Helen!" called a sweet plaintive voice from the bedroom. "Yes'm." The musical "selection" came to a quick stop. Helen hurried in, wiping her hands on her apron and rescuing the baby from an ignominious descent upon her nose on the way. "What is it, motherdie? is your head worse?" she asked, anxiously. "I'm afraid it's those noisy clothes-pins." "No, dear, but there's a draught somewhere. I can feel it on my neck. And I wish you'd rub my shoulder again. It's unusually achy this morning." Helen found the liniment bottle, and went to work with practised, gentle touch. It was one of the dear invalid's bad days, and she had not tried to get up. Her pale face looked up into Helen's with wistful appreciation of the loving care. She was thinking of Uncle 'Gene's letter too. The clock out in the kitchen struck eleven ponderously as Helen set the bottle away and put the screen before the window. In half an hour the primary children would be home, and close on their heels the older ones. And what hungry, hurrying-scurrying little mortals they would be! "Dear little mother, poor little mother, I'll shut the door and keep the Arabs as still as I ever can." Helen always called them the Arabs when she spoke of them collectively. It was a family pet name for them. The baby had toppled into the big pan, and was fast asleep when Helen went out. She picked her up and laid her tenderly beside the mother. Then with wonderful ease she flew about, finishing the dishes, setting the table for lunch, and doing three things at once with nimble dexterity. She met the Arabs at the door with hushing forefinger. They trooped in on tiptoe, sniffing anxiously for dinner smells. "I'm awful hungry!" Archie whispered, shrilly. "So be I--_awful_!" Harry echoed. "_Are_ there sweet-potatoes, Helen?" "I smell 'em! I smell 'em!" Molly cried, under her breath, dancing across the floor. "'Sh! 'sh! Yes, there are sweet-potatoes, but not for Arabs with dirty faces. Come here this minute, and let me polish you up. Oh, Harry, where ever did you tear your trousers so? A great big hog tear!" "Folks oughter not have fences with splinters to 'em, then," Harry spluttered, with his mouth full of soapy water. "I was crawlin' under to see if Pat Curran's cow chews gum. Bill Miller says so." "Does she?" Molly asked, eagerly. "Well, I'm not certain sure, but I think so. She wouldn't open her month more'n a crack for me to look." "I bet she does," little Archie chimed in, "'cause I've seen her my own self. She makes her jaws go just this way--look!" Helen smiled in her sleeve, and laid the little discussion away in her memory for "Motherdie's" delectation. The older boys arrived, and dinner was presently in animated progress, though everybody tried to keep still--and didn't. As by magic the sweet-potatoes vanished under the eager forks and spoons, and the creamy rice followed rapid suit. The Arabs were a hearty little tribe. Nothing pleased Helen more than to have them appreciate her cooking. She sighed a little now over the thought that perhaps Mahala would scorch the rice after she was gone. "Well, I dread her!" suddenly exclaimed Roy, as if in answer to Helen's sigh. "Who?" asked Archie, between mouthfuls. "Mahala. She'll scold us like sixty-nine when we make tracks over her floors, and Helen never does." "She'll wear hoops," said Molly, holding her little silver fork in reflective suspension. "And make-b'lieve bangs." "And cloth slippers, with 'lastics criss-cross over her ankles." "And _white stockings_!" Helen contracted her eyebrows sternly. "Stop, children!" she chided. "Mahala's a good woman from the top of her head--" "Make-b'lieve bangs," murmured irrepressible Archie. "--to the soles of her feet." "Cloth slippers, you mean." Helen's eyes tried not to twinkle. "She's as much better than I am as--as--you can think," she ended, lamely. The Arabs laughed in derisive chorus. "But, honest, Helen, it's goin' to be so lonesome an' poky!" Molly wailed over her empty saucer. "We sha'n't have a speck of fun till you come home again." "A whole year!" "Twelve months. Four times twelve's forty-eight. Forty-eight times seven's--" "Three hundred 'n' sixty-five!" concluded Roy, scornfully. Roy was in the grammar grade, and was regarded as an oracle in arithmetic. The baby woke up and lifted her voice hungrily, and Helen ran away to her. The busy afternoon followed the busy morning on swift wings, and it was almost supper-time before she could sit down and think a minute. Then she held Uncle 'Gene's letter in her lap and thought about that. "Let her come soon," it said, "and stay anyway a year. She has real musical talent, and Bab's Professor Grafmann will develop it if anybody can. He's a genius. Besides, we all want her, and the child must need a breathing-spell after trying so long to tame those wild Arabs. Yon can surely find somebody else to tutor them." Yes, oh yes, there was Mahala! She was all engaged to come and do it. She was good-hearted and strong. She would be sure to treat them all well and take splendid care of Motherdie. Helen rocked back and forth contentedly. They wanted her to go--father and mother, and the Arabs would soon get used to doing without her. Dear little Arabs! She looked down at the smallest one of them, still trying to stand the clothes-pins round the edge of the big bright pan. She was improving steadily. Let's see--to-morrow--day after--day after that. Then she was going. It would be a new world opening suddenly to her, and she shut her eyes to dream the wonderful dreams more uninterruptedly. Ever since she had drummed baby tunes on the tin cake-box, by the hour at a time, she had been growing hungrier to learn to materialize the untamed melodies that ran riot in her mind, and made her fingers tingle with impotent longing. And now it was coming--her chance! Three days away! But as the three days came and went Helen's visions grew more clouded and overcast with secret misgivings. She found herself worrying for fear Mahala would not remember some of the little trivial comforts she herself had taken such delight in remembering for Motherdie. And there were the baby's soft little shoes that needed patching, and Harry's trousers, and the dish-towels were in dire need of replenishment. If she only had a dozen hands these last days, and a dozen times a dozen hours to use them! Her heart misgave her uncomfortably. But they _wanted_ her to go--of course it was just right. Nevertheless, her face grew sober and thoughtful, and something tugged distressingly at her heart-strings. The day after, and the day after that came. Helen kissed her mother over and over, and hugged the little Arabs fiercely, and went away. The houses and people on the way to the depot danced about dizzily in a mist, and she felt dizzy and topsy-turvy in acute sympathy with them. Her father walked beside her, talking briskly and constantly. Roy walked on ahead with her valise and umbrella, and never once looked around. Helen watched him through the same confusing mist, and his straight, slim little figure was oddly contorted. He had never looked bow-legged before, Helen thought in dismay! The train puffed in and puffed out again, with a little maid, stricken with sudden, overwhelming forlornness, in the corner of one of its seats. A plump, benign-looking old lady sat just behind her, and watched her with curious sympathy. The baby two seats ahead leaned over toward her insinuatingly, and made her think of _the_ baby and the clothes-pins. Mahala would never remember the clothes-pins--_never_! And she had forgotten Harry's patch, that she meant to see to last night surely. Mahala'd forget _that_, too. Helen started involuntarily to her feet. [Illustration: "WHAT IS IT, DEARIE? YOU FORGOT SOMETHIN'?"] "What is it, dearie? You forgot somethin'?" The plump old lady leaned ahead and touched her arm in friendly solicitude. "Yes, oh yes! I forgot the patches on Harry's pants." Helen lamented, "and the baby's clothes-pins." "Oh lor, dearie, never mind--never mind! Patches ain't nothin' much, nor clo'es-pins, neither. I'm comin' over an' set with you. I guess you're sorter humsick, ain't you? I've got some pep'mints in my bag. I'm goin' to see if I can't chirk you up." Helen moved her umbrella and hand satchel, and made room for her new neighbor. The arrangement had its immediate good effects. Somehow the
{'title': "Harper's Round Table, June 4, 1895 by Various", 'source': 'Project Gutenberg', 'lang': 'en'}