New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-03-04

lowing communication TO the New 1Ork
Tribune:
SIR am much obliged to your CORES
pOndent, "a. B." for his words in time in
your issue of February 3, in regard to Far
ragut dashed to the mast" Perhaps
flashed" suggests more of the strait-jacket
than suited the occasion, when the gallant
Admiral was only made secure by yarn"
passed around his waist and whipped"
around the shroud some feet back of him,
80 that he might move down q step or two
before being caught under the arms by the
ropa,
it is indeed pity that this "poetic fan
ey," 50 rooted in truth, should need 30 FREE
Quent attestatiOn. IL wOuldiseem needless
now TO be put under oath in regard to facts
narrated to me by the Admiral himself,
which, twelve years ago, became the basis
of my picture-for the rigging, the yard,
the Admiral, his coat and trousers and
boots and buttons, rope, knot, and even
the weather itself, all were joint stock capt.
tai in the concern. / meant it tor pOr-
trait of the whole affair, and so, false in
one false IN all, cOmpels me to defend my
position of entire truthfulDess in the whole
composition. The art, as such, Is open for
the Judgment of the present and future.
The truth of the subject is all the gre at
Admiral's, with which l could not tamper,
and whose integrity it is my duty to de-
fend.
MOI hing probably was more remote from
the Admiral's thought than the possibility
of his view Of the case being ever disputed
or questioned, and anu willing to re-repeRt
these facts because ground for eavil, it
seems to me, comes from miseOnception of
| the exact order of events, and of the mo-
ment have chosne forls calm, picturesque
view of the exact lineaments of the hero
of the fight. could not paint him in the
smoke of hOwilzsrs-Or, Rt least, l did not
choose to do so-or speaking through his
| tube, or coming down or going mp the
| shrouds. Art has rights we are bound to
| respect, best represented generally by the
| truth.
During the earlier part of the day Far
ragut was on the other side of the ship
! that is, on the side where l do not represent
him. The torpedo ground was already
passed over, Sand island passed, and per-
| hsps the fort. AT all events he decided to
change his position, and gOtSup the sbrOuds
Oh this side of the mainm lst, where l have
| placed him, whether it was for better
view alone or to avoid the noise and smoke
OF the hUWiizer overhead, or because he had
no further need of the speaking tube at
tached to the shroud aud running along
down to the deck. Indeed, l can not re-
| member now if he told me precisely why he
came down, and went up on this side,
| know he said he did so, and that while
crossing the deck he saw a yarn" (using
his own world, and remarked to me
that it was "just the thing"-be-
cause while up on the other side the
thought passed through his mind that if he
were stunned or disabled, his body would
| be snied off into the water by the khrouds,
| and not caught on the deck, even as your
correspondent suggests. Aud he said:
Then my wife and boy would not have my
body even" / got the impression that per-
| L., t1.as-a .,Es III
| fOOlhardiness IN his previous exposure, III
seems rather severe to dissect man's heart
at such moment So, he said, he picked
| up the yarn" and when he reaseeDded the
shrOuds, on the side where represent him,
| he allowed his discretion to play the better
| part of ValOr, and passed the middle part
of the rope around his waist as a loop, and
| laying the two ends together whipped
| them over a shrOud behind him and tied
| last such knot as he aiterward tied for
| ne.
In his first "pose" for me, at the house Of
| the commander of the navy yard at Brook
| lyn, the Admiral himself arranged some
| boxes so as to keep his feet in the right pc
| sitiOn, and held on TO a stick placed at the
proper angle to represent the futtoCh
shrOud, and took the exact position re
quired for the situation. At smother time
he placed the rope around him, and tied
the knot for u model. This rope kept I'LL
l renewed my studio from EagleswoOd
about ten years since, when it was lost.
The navy yard people promised me {
model of the rigging, which l needed, bu
delay ensuing, 1 made the model my sci
from exact measurements of the ship at th
navy yard; and when the picture was done
and the Admiral brought his wife to see it
think he was more disposed to tlatter tn
l4ndsman who made the model of the flag
ship Hartford than the artist who made tn
picture of it, though he was kind enough Il
say, after various observations, that /
seemed to him "to be about the thing"
No hero ever had less of boast or falls
dignity in his style. Once, at the presenta
ton of General Seott's portrait to Genera
Grant, at the Union Leagues reception
while arranging for a sitting from the AID
miral, / suggested sending a carriage 70
him when he should come to EsgleswOOd
He said, 81 can go up to your studio IN an
cart that may happen to be at the depot
The easy-ehair nautical heroes, who al
worried lest Farragut's fame be dimmed b.
the episode of the rope and knot, will lucl
lily wait till they are humping over torped
grounds in their shrouds, or running dow
he ghosts of Dantesque Tecumsebs befoI
they are likely TO have notion anywheT
nearly so foolish as this hszy mirage, whie
floated in the Admiral's affections and spar
ned the hiatus of his duties in peril az
triumph.
The whole truth is FArragut paid his det
to his country in going up into the shroud
to see through his duty and to do it. tn
rope was purely private family affair.
did not mean TO emphasize it in my pictur
as in this note, but from the first news
the triumph &C Mobile, thought our lit
boys and girls for thousand years wOul
read OF this event, and see the great heI
tied as he really was, Bat tue Admir-
himself had no notion Of the romance
the thing, and secuted the idea. He sal
he "felt as much at home there as on tn
floor, and more"
How Obadiah Took the News.