Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1864-01-28
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very intimate in the English feet, and there
had been great festivities, and our mtf,
Thought they must give a great bali bb
board the ship. How they ever did it on
board the Warren lam sure do not Know,
Perhaps it was not the Warren, or perhaps
ladies tiidpottsks up semuch roam as,they
do now fpHsy wautea 10 use N Ncfanl sistate
room for something, aud they hated to do
1t without qskifgi him otb1 the ballsee the
captain said they might ask him, II they
would be, responsible that he did not talk
with the wrong people, who would give
him intelligence" So the dance went on,
the finest party that had ever been known,
dare say; for l never heard of man Of
war ball that was not, &C For ladies they had
the family of the American consul, one or
and % nice, ,beyy of English girls and
matrons, perhaps Lady Hamilton herself
WE'LL different officers relieved each other
10 standing and talking with Nolan in
friendly way, so as to be sure that nobody
else spoke, to him. The dancing went on
with spirit, and after while even the fel-
lows who took this honorary guard of Nolan
ceased to fcar any contre-temps. Only when
some English lady--Lady Hamilton, as |
said, pcrhaps7-called for set Of Amer
ican dances,H an old thing happened. Ev-
erybedy then danced contra dances. The
black band, nothing loath, conferred as to
what American dances" were, and started
off with "yirgipia Reel which they fol
lowed with NaN{oney Musk," which, in its
turn in those days should have been follow
ed by THE Old Thirteen" But just as
Dick, the Leaders r'tapped for his 6ddles to
begin, and bent forward, about to say, in
true negro state, "'The Old Thirteen gen
tlemen and ladcs " as he had said, '''Vir-
ginny Reel, if you please !" and Money
Musk if you please the. captains boy
tapped bimlon the shoulder, whispered TO
him, and be did not announce the name of
the dance; he merely bowed, began on the
ing the English girls the figure, but not tel
ling them why it had no name. .r'.
But that is not the story started to tell.
As the daucing vent on, Nolan and our
, fellows all rot at ease, as said, so much
so, that it,aeemedsq quite ynatnral sfor7him to
bow to that splendid Mrs. Graft, and say
81 hope you have not forgotten me, Miss
Rptledge. ,. Shall have the honor Of dan
cingT
, lie did it so quickly, that Shubrick, who
: was by him, could not hinder him.! She
> laughed, and said,-- G<l .fi.f-u
! II am not Miss Rutledge any longer, Mr..
. Nolan; but will dance all the same," just
! nodded to Shubrick, as if to say he must
q leave Mr.. Nolan to her, and led him off TO
:. the place where the dance was forming
Nolan thought he had got his chance.
> He had known her at Philadelphia, and at
. other places had met her, and this was a
= God send. You could not talk in contra
i dances, az you do in cotillons, or even in the
= pauses Of waltzing; but there were chance:
: for tongues and sounds, as well as for eyes
and bushes He began with her travels
n and Europe, and Vesuvius, and the French
i and then, when they had worked down. and
+ bad that long talking. thine at the bottom Of
4 the set, he said, boldly, "a little pale, she
y said; as she told me the stony, years after
3 'And what do. you hear from home, Mrs
n Graff?'' ed Lea.. .. rai. IT.
. And that splendid creature looked through
+ him.. Joyel how she must have looke'
- through him lrGii1u''A :L 70 az
7 "Home [ Mr.. Nolanl ! thought 80,
/ were the man who never wanted to hear o
- home again P'-and she walked directly III
a the deck to her husband, and left poo
: Nolan alone, as he always was. He did no
n dance again. ''''e
/ ! | cannot give any history of him in order
. nobody can now: and, indeed, am not try
ing to. These are the traditions, which
y sort out, as believe them, from the myth
which have been told about this man 70
forty years. The lies that have been tol,
n about him are legion. The fellows used +
q say he waa the, Iron Mask; and poo
M George Pons went to his grave in the belle
!. that this was the author of "Junius," VIII
was being punished for his celebrated libe
on Thomas Jefferson, Pons was not YER
strong in the historical line. A happier stol.
7; than either bf these have told is Of tn
h War. That came along soon after. | hav
aud, indeed, it may have happened NOR
than once. But which ship it was on ca \
not tell. However, in one at least, of tn
y great frjgato-duels with the English, i
o which tho navy was really baptized, it hap
1t pened that D round shot from the enem
a entered one OF our ports square, and too
9Iright down the officer, OF the gun himself
and almost every man of, the gun crew
Now you may say what ysu choose abou
courage, but that Is no. q nice thing to see
But, as the men who were not killed pick
L ed themselves up, and as they and the sur
O geon's people were carrying off the bodies
d there appeared Nolan, in his shirt.sleeves
Q with tho rammer in his hand, and, Just q
O if he had been the officer, told them, o
r with authority,--who should go to the cock
n pit with the wounded men, who should sta
with unexpectedly CHEEKY, and with tina
n way which makes men feel sure all is righ
n and is going to be right And he finis6e
v loading the gun with his own hands, aime
a it, and hads the men fire, And there h
., stayed, captain of that gun, keeping thos
g fellows in spirits, till the enemy struck, :
10 sitting on the carriage while the gun wa
d cooling. though he was exposed all the time
., showing them easier ways to handle heav
it shot, ot,rmaking the raw hands laugh at thei
pl own blunders,l- l-npd when the gun coole
!, again, getting it loaded and fired twice a
r often as any other gun on the ship. Tn
m captain walked forward, by way OF encouras
a ing the men, and Nolan touched his ha
n and said,-
'g Il am showing them how we do this i
ii the artillery, Sir"
b, And this is the part Of the story wher
10 all the legends agree: that the Commodor
a. said,-- ~ : i-.',5, l'l.." ...
0, 81 see you do, and thank you, Sir; an
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