Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1864-01-28
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he might be pardoned. He wrote aispecial
letter to the Secretary Of War. But moth.
ing ever came Of IL. AS / said, that was
about the time when they began to ignore
the whole transaction at Washington, and
when Nolan's imprisonment began to carry
itself On because there was nobody to stop |
IL without any new orders from home. s.ns
l have heasd,it; said that .hel was with |
Porter when he took possession of the |
Nukahiwa Islands. Not this Porter, you
know, but old Porter, his father, Essex |
Porter, that Is, the old Essex Porter, not
this Essex. As an artillery officer, who had
seen service III the West, Nolan knew more
about Notifications, embrasures, ravelins,
stockades, and all that, than any of them
did, antfhe worked with right good will
in fixing that battery all right Td,have al
wayslthought it was a pity Porter did nat
leave him In command there with Gamble.
That would, haye settled all the question
about his punishment. We should have
kept the islands, and at this moment we
Our French friends, too, when they want
found it was preoceupied. But Madison
and the Virginians, Of course, flung all that
away. as-I. &c. 10 -..L4e..u. .. ....-
All that was near fifty years ago. If
Nolan was thirty then, be must have been
near eighty when he died He looked sixty
when he was forty. But he never seemed
to me to change hair afterwards. AS ]
imagine his life, from what j have seen and
heard of it, he must have been in every sea,
and yet almost never on land. He must
have known, in formal way, more officers
in our service than any man living knows.
He told me once, with grave smile, that
no man in the world lived so methodical a
life as he. "You know the boys say | am
the Iron Mask, and you know how busy he
was" He said it did not do for any one to
try to read rall the time, moro than to do
anything else all the time; but that he read
just FIVE hours day. .'Then," he said, 81
keep up my note. books, writing in them at
such and such hours from what have been
reading; and | include in these my scrap
books. These were very curious indeed
He had six or eight, of different subjects.
T There was one Of History, one OF Natural
Science, one which he called odds and
Ends" But they were not merely books
of extracts from newspapers. They had
bits of plants and ribbons, shells tied on,
and carved scraps of bone and Wood, which
he had taught the men to cut for him, and
they were beautifully illustrated, He drew
admirably. He had some of the funniest
drawings there, and some Of the most
pathetic, that have ever seen in my life.
: wonder who will haveI Nohn's scrap
books. ,,.- ,,.I J..- s.s.l ..r ....y.-,u
=, Well, he said bis reading and his note.
3 were his profession, and that they took five
hours and two hours respectively of eacl
day. "Then," said he, 'every man shoult
/ have a diversion as well as a profession
I My Natural History is my diversion" Tha
D took two hours day more. The men useC
to bring him birds and fish, but on a lon,
cruise he had to satisfy himself with cent?
/ pedes and cockroaches and such small game
a He was the only naturalist ever met VIII
:. knew anything about the habits of thu
q house-hy and the mosquito. All those peopl
3 can tell you whether they are Leptdopter,
: or Steptopotera 4; but as for telling how yol
), can get lid .ofthem, or how they get ava.
!: from you when you strike them,-why, Lin
i neus knew as little of that as John Foy tn
f idiot did. These nine hours made. Nolan
g regular daily occupation" The rest of tn
: time he talked or walked. Till he gre,
). very old, he went aloft great deal He a
ways kept up his exercise; and never hear
h that he was i'll. If any other man was il
ID he was the kindest nurse in the world; an
he knew more than half the surgeons dc
N Then if anybody was sick or died, or if tn
of| captain wanted him to on any other occasion
ID he was always ready to read prayers. | hay
,r remarked that he read beautifully. -.
,tI Is -" [Concuded ne xt week.1 .' H