Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1863-12-09

! told US not to say anyt thing about the planet
4 Mars OF the Book of Deuteronomy, l. sl.oalid
not have asked why: there were a great many
| things which scanned TO me to have as little
/ re ason. | first came 10 un3eIstsn nd an thing
| about the man without country oae day
when overharied a dirty little schooner
| which had slaves on board. An officer was
| told to take charge of her, and, after few
H.nutes, he sent back to his boat to ask that
some one might be sent him who could speak
Portuguese. We were all looking over the
rail when the message came, and we all wish
ed we could interpret, when the captain ask
ed who spoke Portuguese. But none of the
officers did; and just as the captain was
sending forward to ask if any of the people
could, Nolan stepped out and said he shonld
be glad 10 interpret, if the captain wished
he understood the language. The captain
thanked him. fitted out another boat With
him and in this boat it was my luck to go
When We got there, it was such scene as
you seldom see, and never want to. Nastiness
beyond account and chaos loose in the
midst of the nastiness. There were not
great many of the negroes; but by way of
making what there were understand that they
were free, Vaughan had their hand -cuffs and
ankle cults knocked of, and, for convenience
sake, was putting them upon the raseais of
the schooner's crew The negroes were most
of them out of the hold, and swarming all
round the dirty deck, with central throng
surrounding Vaughan, and addressing him in
every dialect and : patois' of dialect, from
the Zulu click up TO the Partisan of Beledel-
jereed.
As we came on deck, Vaughan looked down
| from hogshead, on which he had mounted
| in desperation, and said
:" For Gods love, is there anybody who can
| make these whetches understand something >
The men gave them rum, and that did not
| quiet them. | knocked that big fellow down
| twice, and that did not soothe him. And
| then | talked Chectaw to all of them together
and FL be hanged if they understood that as
well as they understood the English"
Nolan said he could speak Portuguese, and
| one or two fine looking kroomen were drag
| ged out, who, it had been found already,
| had worked for the Portuguese on the coast
| at Fecnendo Po
Tell them they Free" said Vaughan
| 8 and tell them that these rascals are to be
| hanged soon can get rope enough"
Nolan put that into Spanish, that is, he
| explained it in such Portuguese as the kroo-
| men could understand, and they in turn To
| such OF the negroes could understand them.
! There was such yell of delight, cInchng OF
| lists, leaping and dancing, kissing of Nolan's
| feet and general rush made to the hogshe ad
! by way of spontaneous worship of Vaughan
the aeass nsacltina of the occasion.
| Tell them," said Vaughan, well pleased
&C that | will take them all to Cape PaImas."
| This did not answer so we'll Cape Palmas
was practically far from the homes of most
| of them New Orleans or Rio Janerio was
! that is, they would be eternally separated
| from home there. And their interpreters, a.
| we could understand, instantly said, t44h MOI,
| Pdlp4ds," and began to propose infinite other
| expedients in the most voluble language.
| Vaughan was rather disappointed at this re
| suit of his Hberality, and asked Nolan eagerly
| what they said. The drops stood upon poor
Nolan's white forehead, as he hushed the men
| down, and said:
He says, Not Palmas He says Take
| US home, take us to our own country, take US
| TO our own house, take US to our own picka-
/ ninnies and our own women" He says he
| has an old father and mother, who will die if
! they do not see him. And this one says he
| left his people all sick, and padded down to
Fernando to beg the white doctor to come
and help them, and that these devils caught
him in the bay just in sight of home, and that
| he has never seen anybody from home since
| then. And this one SAYS" choked out \ olan,
| ''that he had not heard word from his home
( in six months, while he has been locked up in
| an internal barracoon."
| Vaughan always said he grew gray himself
| while Nolan struggled through his interpre-
/ tation. l. who did not understand anything
| of the passion involved in it, that the very
| elements were melting with fervent heat, and
| that something was TO pay somewhere. Even
| the negroes themselves stopped bowling, as
| they saw Nolan's agony, and Vaughan's al
most equal agony of sympathy. As quick as
/ he could get words, he said:
Tell them yes, yes, yes; tell them they
shall go to the Mountains of the Moon, ifthev
will, If sail the schooner through the Great
White Desert, they shall go home ~
And after some fashion Nolan said So And
then they all fell to kissing him again, and
wanted to rub his nose with their. But he
could not stand it long; and getting Vaughan
to say he might go back, he beckoned me
down into our boat. As we Law back in the
| stern sheets, and the men gave way, he said
to me, "Youngster, let that show you what
it is to be without family without home,
and without a country. And if you are ever
tempted to say word or to do a thing that
shall put bar between you and your family,
Your home, and your country, pray God in
His mercy to take you that instant home to
His own heaven. Stick by your family, boy
forget you have self while you do every
thing for them. Think of your home, boy
write and send, and talk about it, Let it be
nearer and nearer to YOUR thought, the far
Their you have to travel from it; and rush
back to it when you are irae, that poor
black slave Is doing now. As Ion your coun-
Try, boy, ana tue words ratified IN his throat,
and for that flag" and he pointed to the
ship, & never dream dream but of serving
her as she bids you, though the service carry
you through thousand bells. No matter
what happens to you, never look at another
flag, never let night pass but you pray God
to bless that flag Remember, boy, that be
hind all these men yon have to do with, be-
hind officers, and government, and people
even, there is the country herself, your coun-
try, and that You belong to her YOU belong
to your own mother. Stand by her, boy, as
you would stand by your mother, if those
devils there had got hold of her to day "
| was frightened to death by his calm, hard
passion; but | Numbered out that | would,
by all that was holy and that | had never
thought of doing anything else. He hardly
seemed to hear me; but he did, almost in
whisper, say,-"Oh if anybody had said so
to me when | was of your age 7"
| think it was this halfconfdeLce of his,
which | never abused, for | never told this
story till now, which afterwards made u.
great friends. He was very kind to me. Of
ten he sat up, even got up, at night, to
walk the deck with me, when it was my watch
He explained to me great deal of my mathe-
matics and | owe TO him my taste for mathe-
matics He lent me books, and helped me