Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 160, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 July 1917 — Page 2

The Man Without A Country

by Edward Everett Hale

FOURTH INSTALLMENT. So Philip Nolan had his wish fulfilled. Poor fellow, he repented of his folly, and then, like a man, submitted to the fate he had asked for. He never intentionally added to the difficulty or delicacy of the charge of those who had'him in hold. Accidents woul<T happen; but they never happened from his fault. Lieutenant Truxton told me that when Texas was annexed, there was a careful discussion among the officers, whether they should get hold of Nolan’s handsome set of maps, and cut Texas out of it, from the map of the world and the map of Mexico. The United States had been cut out when the atlas was bought for him. But it was voted rightly enough, that to do this would be virtually to . reveal to hihi what had happened, or, as Harry Cole said, to make him think Old Burr had succeeded. So it was from no fault of Nolan’s that a great botch happened at my own table, when, for a short time, I was in command of the George Washington corvette, on the South American station. We were lying in the La Plata, and some of the officers, who had been on shore, and had just joined again, were entertaining us with accounts of their misadventures in riding the half-wild horses of Buenos Aires. Nolan was at table, and was in an unusually bright and talkative mood. Some story of a tumble reminded him of an adventure of his own, when he was catching wild horses in Texas with his brother Stephen, at a time when he must have been quite a boy. He told the story with a good deal of spirit—so much so. ttyat the silence which often follows a good #tory hung over the table for an instant, to be broken b.y Nolan himself. For he asked, perfectly unconsciously, “Pray, what has become of Texas? After the Mexicans got their independence, I thought that province of Texas would come forward very fast. It is really one of the finest regions on earth; it Is the Italy of this continent. But I have not seen or heard a word of Texas for near twenty years.” There were two Texan officers at the table. The reason be had never heard of Texas was that Texas and her affair® had been painfully out of his newspapers since Austin began his settlements; so that, while he read of Honduras and Tamaulipas, and, till quite lately, of California, this virgin province, In which his brother had traveled so far and, I believe, had died, had ceased to be with him. Walters and Williams, the two Texas men, looked grimly at each mother, and tried not to laugh. Edward Morris had his attention attracted by the third link in the chain of the captain’s chandelier. Watrous was seized with a convulsion of sneezing. Nolan himself saw thgt something was to pay, he did not know what. And L as master of the feast, had to say: “Texas is out of the map, Mr. Nolan. Have you seen Captain Back’s curious account of Sir Thomas Roe’s Welcomed? i After that cruise I never saw Nolan again. I. wrote to him 6t least twice a year, for in that voyage we became even confidentially intimate? but he never wrote to me. The other men tell me that in those fifteen years he aged very fast, as well he might Indeed, but that he was still the same gentle, uncomplaining, silent sufferer that he ever was, bearing as best he could his self-appointed punishment, rather ifess social, perhaps, with new men whom he did not know, but more anxious, apparently, than ever to serve and befriend and teach the boys, some of whom fairly seemed to worship him. And now it seems the dear old fellow is dead. He has found a home at last, and a country. Since writing this, and while considering whether or no I would print it, as a warning to the young of today of what it Is to throw away a country, I have received from Danforth,' who is on board the Levant, a letter which gives an account of Nolan’s last hours. To understand the first words of the letter, the nonprofessional reader should remember that after 1817 the position of every officer who had Nolan in charge was one of the greatest delicacy. The government bad failed to renew the order of 1807 regarding him. What was a man to do? Should he let him. go? What, then, if he were called to account by the department for violating the order of 1807? Should he keep him? What, then, if Nolan should be liberated some day, and shquldf bring an action for false Imprisonment or kidnaping against every man who had had him in charge? I urged and pressed this upon Southard, and I have reason to think that other officers did the same thing. But the secretary always said, as they so often do at Washington, that there were no special orders to give, and that we must act on our-own judgment That means, “If you succeed, you will be sustained; if you fail, you will be disavowed.*’ Well, as Danforth Buys, all that Is over now, though I do not know but I expose myself to a criminal prosecution on .the evidence of the very revelation I am making. Hera is the letter:

“Levant, 2° 2' S. @ 131° W. “Dear Fred —I try to find heart and life to tell you that it Is all over with dear old Nolan. I have been with him on this voyage more than I ever was, and I can understand wholly-now the way in which you used to speak of the dear old fellow. I could see that he was not strong, but I had no idea that the end was so near. The doctor had been watching him very carefully, and yesterday morning came to me and told me that Nolan was not so well, and had not left his stateroom —a thing 3 never remember-before. He had let the doctor come and see him as he lay there, the first time the doctor had been in the stateroom, and he said he should like to see me. Oh, dear I do you remember the mysteries we boys used to invent about his room, in the old Intrepid days? Well, I went In, and there, to be sure, the poor fellow lay in his berth, smiling pleasantly as he gave me his hand, but looking very frail. I could not help a glance round, which showed me what a little shrine he had made of the box he was lylng in. The stars and stripes were triced up above and around a picture of Washington, and he had painted a majestic eagle, with lightnings blazing from his beak and his foot just clasping the whole globe, which his wings overshadowed. The dear old boy saw my glance, and said, with a sad smile, ‘Here, you see, I have a country!’ And then he pointed to the foot of his bed, where I had not seen before a great map of the United States, as he had drawn it from memory, and which he had there to look upon as he lay. Quaint, queer old names were on it, in large letters: ‘lndiana Territory,’ ‘Mississippi Territory,’ and ‘Louisiana,’ as I supposed our fathers learned such things; but the old fellow had patched in Texas, too; he had carried his western boundary all the way to the Pacific, but on that shore he had defined nothing. “‘Oh, Danforth,’ he said, ‘I know I am dying. I cannot get home. Surely you will tell me something now? Stop! stop! Do not speak till I say what I am sure you know, that there

“Tell Me Their Names,” He Said.

is not in this ship, that there is not in America —God bless her! —a more loyal man than I. There cannot be a man who loves the old flag as I do, or prays for it as I do, or hopes for it as I do. There are thirty-four stars in It now, Danforth. I thank God for that, though I do not know what their names are. There has never been one taken away; I thank God for ttot I know by that, that there has never been any successful Burr. Oh,„ Danforth, Danforth,’ he sighed out, ‘how like a wretched night’s dream a boy’s idea of personal fame or of separate sovereignty seems,« when one looks back on it after such a life as mine! But tell me—tell me something—tell me everything, Danforth, before I die I’ “Ingham, I swear to you that I felt like a monster that I had not told“him everything before. Danger or no danger, delicacy or no delicacy, who was I thpt I §hould have beeh acting the tyrant all this time over this dear, sainted old man, who had years ago expiated, in his whole manhood’s life, the madness of a boy’s treason? ‘Mr. Nolan,’ said I ‘I will tell you everything you ask about. Only, where shall I begin?’ “Oh, the blessed smile that crept over his white face ! and he pressed my hand and said, ‘God bless you! Tell me their names,’ he said, and he pointed to the stars on the flag. ‘The last I know is Ohio. My father lived In Kentucky. But I have guessed Michigan and Indiana and Mississippi—that was where Fort Adams is-sthey make twenty. But where are your other fourteen? You hav» not cut up any of the old ones, I hope?’ > “Well, that was not a bad text, and I told him the names, la as good order as I could, and he bade me take down his beautiful map and draw them In as I best could with my pencil. He was wild with delight about Texas, told me how his brother died there; he had marked a gold cross where he supposed his brother’s grave was; and he bad guessed at Texas. Then he

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

was delighted as he saw California and Oregon—that, he said, he had suspected partly, because he had never been permitted to land on that shore, though the ships were there so much. ‘And the men,’ said he, laughing, ‘brought off a good deal besides furs.’ Then he Went back —heavens, how far —to ask about the Chesapeake, and what was done to Barron for surrendering her to the Leopard, and whether Burr ever tried again, and he ground his teeth with the only passion he showed. But in a moment that was over, and he said, ‘God forgive me, for I am sure I forgive him.’ Then he asked about the old war —told me the true story of his serving the gun the day we took the Java —asked about dear old David Porter, as he called him. Then he settled down more quietly, and very happily, to hear me tell In an hour the history of fifty years. ~~ “How I wished it had been somebody who knew somqjhlng! But I did as well as I could. I told him of the English war. I told him about Fulton and the steamboat beginning. I told him about old Scott and Jackson; told him all I could think about the Mississippi, and New Orleans, and Texas, and his own old Kentucky. And do you know he asked who was in command of the ‘Legion of the West?’ I told him it was a very gallant officer named Grant, and that by our last news, he was about to establish his headquarters at Vicksburg. Then, ‘Where was Vicksburg?’ I worked that out on the map; it was about a hundred miles, more or less, above his old Fort Adams; and I thought Fort Adams must be a ruin now. ‘lt must be at old Vick’s plantation,’ said he; ‘well, that is a changed “I tell you, Ingham, it was a hard thing to condense the history of half a century into that talk with a sick man. And I do not know what I told him —of emigration, and the means of it —of steamboats and railroads and telegraphs—of inventions and books and literature —of the colleges and West Point and the Naval school—but with the queerest interruptions that ever you heard. You see it was Robinson Crusoe asking all the accumulated questions of fifty-six years. “I remember he asked, all of a sudden, who was president now; and when I told him, he asked if Old Abe was Gen. Benjamin Lincoln’s son. He said he met old General Lincoln, when he was quite a boy himself, at some Indian treaty. I said no, that Old Abe w y as a Kentuckian like himself, but I could not tell him of what family; he had worked up from the ranks. ‘Good for him!’ cried Nolan; ‘I am glad of that. As I have brooded and wondered, I have thought our danger was in keeping up those regular successions in the first families.’ Then I got talking about my visit to Washington. I told him of meeting the Oregon congressman, Harding; I told him about Smithsonian and the exploring expedition; I\told him about the Capitol—and the statues for the pediment and Crawford’s ‘Liberty’ and Greenough’s Washington: Ingham, I told him everything I could think of that would show the grandeur of his country and its prosperity. “And he drank it in, and enjoyed it as I cannot tell you. He grew more and more silent, yet I never thought he was tired or faint I gave him a glass of water, but he just wet his lips, and told me not to go away. Then, he asked me ta bring the Presbyterian ‘Book of Public Prayer,’ which lay there,, and said, with a smile, that it would open at the right place—and so it did. There was ids double red 'mark down the page; I knelt down and read, and he repeated with me, ‘For ourselves and our country, O gracious God, we .thank thee, that, notwithstanding our manifold transgressions of thy holy laws, thou hast continued to us thy marvelous kindness’— and so to the end of that thanksgiving. Then he turned to the end of the same book, and I read the words more familiar to me: ‘Most heartily we beseech thee with thy favor to behold and bless thy servant* the president of the United States, and all others in authority’—and the rest of the Episcopal collect. ‘Danforth,’ said he, ‘I have repeated those prayers night and morning, it is now fifty-five years.’ And ,then he said he would go to sleep. He bent me down over him and kissed me; and he said, ‘Look in my Bible, Danforth, when I am gone.’ And I went away. “But I had no thought It was the end. I thought he- was tired and would sleep. I knew he was happy, and I wanted him to be alone. “But in an hour, when the doctor went in gently, he found Nolan had breathed his life away with a smile. He had something pressed close to his lips. It was his father’s badge of the Order of Cincinnati. “We looked In his Bible, and there was a slip of paper, at the place where he had marked the text — “ "They desire a country, even a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.’ “On this slip of paper he had written: “ “Bury me in the sea; it has been my home, and I love it. But will not someone set up a stone for my memory at Fort Adams or at Orleans, that my disgrace may not be more than I ought to bear? Say on it: In Metnory of PHILIP NOLAN Lieutenant -' in< the. Army of the United States. “ ‘He loved his country as no othfif man has loved her; but no man deserved less at her hands.’ ” (THE END.)

TRIPPING UP “CY"

Job Is Done to Entire Satisfaction of His Hearers. Spinner of Yarns, Always More Remarkable Than Those Told by Others, Is Beaten at His Own Game. Sour John Marvin glanced out of the window of the shop where he was making an afternoon call, “Cy Pelton Is headed this way," he announced, “and I will make a prediction. If anyone here present ventures to speak of anything out of the ordinary that he has heard or read about, Cy will follow with something In the same line, only a little more remarkable, that he has been an eyewitness of, and he’ll be sure to place it in some place pretty far from this town. But Cy Pelton needn’t flatter himself that he ever fools me. I have sense enough to know that he always tnakes up his story as he goes along, and I live in hopes^of-seeing him-tripped up some day.” At that moment the door opened and the reputed spinner of “yarns” walked in. At his heels came Uncle Noah Briggs, the acknowledged oldest inhabitant. “I’ve just been reading an interesting piece about Abraham Lincoln," Uncle Noah began, as he accepted the easiest chair. “When he was a young man clerking in a store, someone stumped him one day to pick up a barrel of rum off the floor and hold it up to his mouth and drink out of the bnnghole; and he did It. But after he laid the barrel down again, he spit every drop of the liquor out of his mouth. That goes to show how strong Mr. Lincoln was In his arms and also how strong temperance he was.” Uncle Noah would have continued, but he made a fatal pause, and Cyrus Pelton got the floor. *T had an uncle, on my mother’s side,” he said, “that I guess was full as strong In his arms as ever Mr. Lincoln was, and even stronger in temperance. Be was blacksmith in the town of Industry. “Qne time, when I was a small boy, Hiram Quint, one of Uncle Life’s near neighbors, was building a big barn, and he had asked a lot of men to the raising. “In those <jays almost everyone drank hard cider, and thouglit nothing of it, but Uncle Life was dead set against It. When he came along that day and saw the big barrel of cider that Mr. Quint had provided for refreshment, he says, ‘Hiram, your raising would come on full as well, and some chaps here would be better off, if you would carry that cider down to the brook and dump it.’ “I saw Hiram wink at the bystanders, and says he, ‘l’m hardly strong enough. But if you are,’ says he, •you’re at liberty to do it.’ “ ‘All right,’ says Uncle Life, and he made for his blacksmith shop. In a few minutes back he came, bringing a horseshoe that he had hammered out in such a way that he could make the heel calks fit into the bunghole of the barrel as it lay there on the ground. Then, with the horseshoe as a handle, he lifted that barrel of elder as If It had been a carpetbag and carried it to the brook and emptied it.” “Now, if you will give me a chance, I should like to put in a word,” said Uncle Noah, with a show of Impatience. “It so happened that I was at the raising of Hiram Quint’s barn.” “I didn’t know that you were acquainted In the town of Industry,” said Cyrus In evident surprise. John Marvin’s eyes sparkled. “So there was such a raising,” he said. “Well, that bears out Cy’s story, so far. 1 suppose the rest of it was equally correct. Uncle Noah?’’ “No, it wasn’t,’ replied the old man emphatically; whereupon one of John Mdrvin’s rare smiles lighted up his grim features. ‘Now, I always try to be accurate," said Cyrus, hitching uneasily in his chair, “but I was only a little shaver at the time, and mebbe my recollection Is a little at fault,” , “No, -you were wrong, Cy,” said Uncle Noah firmly. “When you broke In on me, I Was about to tell the story, and tell it as ’twas. It wasn’t a barrel of cider that your uncle carried down and dumped In the brook In the wap and manner that you described it. It was two barrels of cider—one in each hand.” —Youth’s Companion.

The Alamo.

The Alamo is a mission church at San Antonio; in what is row Bexar county, Texas. In 1836 it was oothipied. by about 150 of the iir the Mexican war; TheugTi atfac6ell by 4,000 Mexicans under Santa Ana, the Texans held it from February 23 to March 6, when Santa Ana took it by storm. All but seven of the garrison perished, six of these being murdered after their surrender, and one man escaping to report the affair. In this garrison were the celebrated David Crockett and Col. James Bowie, inventor of the bowie knife. The memory of this massacre became an incitement to the Texans in subsequent encounters, and “Remember the Alamo !” became a war cry in their struggle for freedom.

Efficiency.

—Bump has a very up-to-date office. • '4, ' Gillis—Yes. He has one of these office systems where yon can find just what yon want when you don’t want It by looking where It wyuldty’t be If you did want it —Lin. j

LONG WEDDINGS IN PERSIA

Ceremonies, Continuing Several Days, Among Most Curious and Eiabo- , rate In the World. The marriage ceremonies which solemnize a wedding among the Mohammedans of Persia are among the most curious and elaborate in the world. Any American bridegroom who dislikes what men are wont to describe as the “fuss and bother” of a formal wedding should regard the case of his Persian brother ifinl take heart. __ The Persian ceremony may take from one to two weeks for its completion. Often the betrothal is a matter of many years’ standing, having been arranged by the parents when the principals were still young children. When the time for the marriage arrives the guests are summoned .by heralds, who go about the neighboring Tillages, bearing gifts of apples, cloves and roses to accompany the invitations. When some powerful personage is to be invited, the father of the bridegrbom does not send a herald, but goes himself, bearing as rich a present as he can afford to give. Before the wedding there is also a curious little business arrangement entered into. This is the matter of “kaben,” or the price of divorce. A sum is agreed upon in advance by the payment of which the future husband can put aside his wife at any time. When it is desired to make the divorce difficult, the kaben is set at Some impossible sum or commodity. The husband may be required to give the bride a hundredweight of mosquito wings, or one of his arms or legs, before he can divhrce her, a condition which generally makes the marriage a permanent affair. . The actual wedding festivities extend over days. The guests are given rooms in the house and served with rich foods and sweetmeats. Musicians and dancing girls are hired to entertain them, and if the families of the bride and groom are rich the favorite sport of the Persians may be staged by a pair of professional wrestlers. After the celebration has lasted three or four days the bride rides heavily veiled to her new, home on horseback. She is fallowed by porters bearing her dowry on their backs. The wedding celebration then continues for several days longer.

The Russian Peasants.

The taking over of some of the czar’s landed possessions recalls the fact that Albert J. Beveridge, in his book, “The Russian Advance,” published a few years ago and in which he gathered political, social and economic facts, states that evdn then the Russian peasant was looking forward “to a second emancipation, giving them new additions of land absolutely and without any cost whatever to themselves.” When the peasant ceased to be a slave he did not comprehend that he was still not free to use his master’s tools or to cut from the landowners’s forests timber for his use, “The most curious situations,” says Mr. Beveridge, “are even yet arising, growing out of this inability of the peasant to comprehend the obligation as well as the benefits of his emancipation. Liberties are taken by the Russian peasant with the property of a Russian proprietor which would not be tolerated for an instant by an American in the same situation. In all of this there is not the slightest impertinence, not the least intention to wrong the landed proprietor, nor the faintest conception on the part of the peasant that there is anything Immoral In what he does. He or his fathers did the like before, and he just continues to do the same as a matter of coursei”

New Medical Marvel.

Of all the remarkable medical innovations, probably the most marvelous Is a new antiseptic solution perfected after ten years’ work by Dr. Wilfred Fralick of New York; Dr. Oscar Eckstein of |he University of Berlin, and Dr. A. C. Allen of the University of Chicago. It is superior to the famous CarrelDakin solution because, in addition to everything that preparation can do, it can be used on the brain and in the abdominal cavity and can be injected directly into the blood without danger. The last named quality makes it of startling significance in the treatment of blood poisoning. While to put the Carrel-Dakin solution into the veins of a patient would mean certain death, the new preparation, a chlorinated solution of permanganate of-potash, can be run directly into the blood stream without disturbing anything there except the evil elements meant to be attacked.

The Grouches.

Two men sat glaring and glowering at each other in a provincial Y. M. C. A. “Who are the two grouches?” a salesman asked. “One is our hotel proprietor,” a native answered, “and the other is the editor* of the local paper.” “What’s got their goat?” “Well,” said the native, “it seems that at our school treat last evening the magician asked for the loan of a handkerchief, and somebody handed him up a big square of muslin. “The magician unfolded the square add said: ‘“Thank goQ<ja£93U there’s at least one clean sheet In this town.’ ” And ever since then the. editor has insisted that the magician was alluding to the hotel bedclothes, and the hotel man has insisted that it was the editor's paper was being knocked.— Washington Star.

The Devotional Use of the Bible

By REV. HOWARD W. POPE

Moody Bible Institute, Chicago

TEXT—Give us this day our daily bread. —Matt. 6:11.

How one shall read the Bible depends largely on what he is reading

tuned very often. No matter how good the violin is, it needs to be tuned every day, and often many times a day. Man is like a violin. He soon gets out of tune with God. The wear and tear of life, and the demoralizing atmosphere which sin creates, so affects his disposition that he ne:*ls to be brought into harmony with God every morning. It is not surprising, when we consider the subtlety of sin, and the weakness of the flesh, rather it is Strange that a harp of a thousand strings. Should keep sh tune so long. Nothing will bring the believer into touch with God so soon as a little taste of the divine Word. For devotional purposes the psalms are perhaps the best reading, because they cover so wide a range of experience. Here we find aspiration and confession, joy and sorrow, adoration and praise. Here we behold the calm CSnfidence which grows out of a sublime faith: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Again we meet the bitter anguish w r hich comes from ingratitude, or unrequited love, or The ecstasy of sin forgiven, or the passionate plea for mercy as in the fifty-first psalm, or the shout of triumph, in the thirty-sec-ond psalm. It is doubtful if there Is any experience in life for which we cannot find a duplicate In the psalter, and, noting how the man after God’s own heart behaved in similar emergencies, we are unconsciously led into the same feeling.

Morning and Eventide. In the morning read the nineteenth psalm and at eventide the eighth psalm. If you are going on tt journey, Psalm 21 is appropriate. If in per-,, plexity, read Psalm 37. If you are grateful, choose Psalm 105, or 106, or Psalm 107. If your heart needs searching, read Psalm 139, which begins with the words,. “O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me,” and after a sublime description of God’s omniscience, closes with the prayer that only an honest heart can utter: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and l#nd me in the way everlasting.” If it is comfort you need, you will find it in abundance in Psalms 34, 91 and 103. The Gospels are also excellent for devotional reading because there we come in contact with the words and works of Jesus. We see how he lived in the home and by the wayside, in the carpenter's shop, and by the open grave. We see him in public life and in private' ministry always the same, never hurried, never worried, always thinking of others and never of himself. * We see him playing with the children, watching the birds on the trees, the growing grain and the fading flowers. In everything he saw God’s love and care, and from all things natural he drew some spiritual lessons. The epistles are especially helpful to the mature Christian as revealing the relation of the believer to his fellow man; to thf,. church, the state, and the perishing world. How Long. ■ls it be asked how much one should read at a time for devotional purposes, let me answer with an illustration. I once saw a picture of the disciples on the way to Emmaus. The Master has just left them and the two men are looking at each other in glad astonishment. One of them is holding both hands over his heart as he says with rapture. “Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?” He can almost feel his heart burn still as he recalls the memory of that blessed walk. If you ask how long one shall read his Bible for devotional purposes, I answer, “Read until your heart burns and your soul thrills with the consciousness of God’s approval.” The Morning Watch. George Muller’s testimony regarding the morning watch Is very valuable: “The first thing a child of God has to do morning by morning is to obtain food for his soul. And what Is food for the soul? Not prayer, but the Word of God; not the simple reading of the Word, so that it passes through our minds as water runs throqgh ai pipe, but considering what we read*, pondering over it, and applying it to our hearts. When we pray, we speak to God. When we read the MM* God •peaks to us.”

It for. The Bible is an all-around book and serves many purposes, but it is well to ha v e in mind some definite purpose in all one’s reading. All stringed instruments quickly get out of tune. The action of the atmosphere and • constant vibration in playing, relax the tension of the strings so that they need to be