The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-01-09
Cnsabianca.

When i was q boy, nOUnlnR ever al
fected me 80 much MS the story of Cas-
ubianea. My boyish breast was rent in
twain, torn in two, broken asunder as it
were, and the copious.-.yes, that's the
word-=.copious tears rolled from my eyes
in cataraets, and yoti cotild see the COURSE
they took for Whole day; by two tlean
streaks down my cheeks.
L have attempted to recite it dramati-
cally ON the stage, but L would be so
overcome by the terrible story, that l
invariably broke down and never sue
ceeded in getting the boy off the burn
ing deck, whence all but him had the
good sehse to flee.
| longed to emulate him, and once,
fired by reading it, l rushed out and set
the pig-pen afire, and got upon the roof
and stood there, "beautiful and bright
ns born to rule the Storm" and / called
aloud, "Say, father, must stay ?" and
my father came running out and said
he guessed not, and ierked me down so
suddenly. and went to work on me with
a barrel stave, that L thought the deck
had blown up, and the enemy's hundred,
FOUNDERS were still blazing away.
This boy that stood on the deck s
name wasn't Casabianca, but plain Tom
Dickenhara; and during the battle his
father had told him to stay where he
was till he came back, and he stayed
there. He had probably tried that lit
tie game of disobedience before, and
knew what it would result in. Now, i'll
my boyhood L have often done good
many things which seemed heroic, when
in fact, I was constrained to be heroic
for fear of getting an unmerciful lick
idg; and, after all, | never got into the
school-readers as model l don't
think [ ever had justice done, while
other boys who have been brave and all
that, have got themselves killed and
done up in poetry for the benefit of
other children, who are learning to
read. Never mind, | am getting up a
new Whitehorn Reader, in every chap
ter of which I will appear to great adj
vantage and applause.
As L was going on to say the boy
stood on the burning deck, all alone, and
kept the battle up himself all the rest
had jumped overheard, and swan ashore
as fast as they could run, for they knew
that, "He who fights and runs away
will always live to draw his pay" This
little bit of boy would load big cam
non all by himself, take it up in his
arms, and fire it right into the other
vessels and all the while the flames
rolled up on all sides of him and made
him sweat they completely enveloped
him, and he found that it was absolutely
necessary to pull off his coat; still he
would brush the flames away, and load
and fire the cannon so rapidly that it
got red hot, and that was what he want
ed, for he then could fire red-hot balls,
and make general red-hot time, while
he was at it.
The cannon-balls flew arc,lnd hin.
One of them struck him on the mouth,
and nearly knocked n tooth, front one
down his throat. When he ran short OF
balls, he would reach up and take in
one on fly, and all the time he would
shout, "Say, father, must | stay p
The flames burned all his clothes of
him, but he said he didn't care a cent
for the loss of them, as he conld get
plenty more at a secondhand store. The
flames wrapped around him, but he re-
marked that he didn't care for that as
he was getting mad, and even if he did
run away, the old gentleman would hall
kill him any way.
A mast fell, and he picked it up an6
piched it over into one of the ships
and it mashed in the deck and killed {
great many; and he said he could dc
without mast, anyhow. And still on
above the booming of cannon and burst
ing of bombs, his voice was heard
"Say, governor, don't You think i
would be consistent with the nature o
things---I say with the nature of thing
for me to get out of this here q bu
no answer came. A 15-inch shell pass
ed through his bosom, and at the SAM
time ball took off both his arms, bu
he continued to put in his time at load
ing and unloading the cannon as if no
thing had happened, until it melte,
and ran over the burning deck, upol
which you have been informed, he stoot
whence all but him, etc.
At last all the ship was burned N
except the magazine, and the powde
which had been burning for some minu
tes, took a notion to go off on a sudden
Well, the last that ever seen of him h
was about four miles up, still shouting
"Say, father, is it incumbent on me t
ct