The Red Cloud chief., 1877-06-21

o1bBOS - AOOsSCs
Mn. Frances II. Bartlett contributes
to the Portsmouth IN. HI Weekly an
account Of . conversation she held with
Admiral Farragut In the summer Of
1885. 1t . ball given In his honor 1t what
was then called the Atlantic House. 1t
Rye Beach. n. H. and il nov known
as the Farragut House. She says:
Every preparation had been made to
give brilliancy to the ball. The house
was decked in bunting. bands Of music
lett their power to the general gayety.
and ladies WED with each other In rich.
ness Of attire. The officers Of the army
and navy were In attendance, and . few
invited guests from Portsmouth assist
ed Al l alighted from IN open carTi-
age, in the twilight I observed .
neat, sailor-lik little fellow. with .
round cap. standing It the steps. But
/, bent on the business In hand. chat of
seeing the distinguished Admiral, with
all his lanrels thick upon him. care.
lessly took the prof1ered hand of the
sailor. Masteris Mate / thought him..
entered the dressing.room. and soon
took q gentleman's arm and mingled
with the throng. Presently a lady.
whom / then resembled. accosted me.
saying: Have you Q the Admiral
this EVENING" No. l replied, but !
am all impatient to meet him. Well
she said. III bring him toyou 1t once, for
l think you are at the bottom OF q con-
tretemps. He accuses me of treating
him with cold disdain. and We will see
if we can't clear it up Very soon the
lady. wife OF an officer Of high rank,
appeared on the Admiral's arm, and
presented him to me. To my surprise
and CONSERVATION / beheld the SUD-
posed Masters Mate. whom l had met
at my carriage door. The Admiral,
mistaking me for a friend. had come
out on the piazza to welcome her. 1
now greeted him with as much com.
posture as ! could, considering nv awk.
ward blunder. The Admiral observed,
we have met before this evening, and
experienced a pang Of disappointment
at your seeming GOODNESS, as l mistook
you for this lady, who has long been
my friend Thus introduced, we were
put upon a pleasant footing at once, and
he soon asked me il l would promenade
with him through the halls and view
the decorations. / readily accepted 50
distinguished an honor, and, as We
walked. l begged him to tell me about
the banquet that had been given him
on the previous evening in Boston. A
conspicuous feature of the occasion had
been the reading, by Oliver Wendell
Homles. of his exquisite poem. in which
occurs the line about Fsrragut's being
dashed to the rigging during the Mobile
fight. The hero's bravery was equaled
only by bis mOdesty. and he shrank
from giving me a complete account of
an affair which SO closely concerned
himself. He said, Il shall make q poor
figure relating my own praises.' Oh
replied, put your share of the thing
aside and relate it to me as though you
were only a spectator and not q party
to it. Well said he, I'll try to sink
my personality Then, in q pleasant
and unaffected manner, he described
the banquet, repeating the verse of DIR.
Holmes poem in which was the allu.
sion to his being dashed to the mast.
Suddenly breaking of, he laughingly
said: They are making a great deal of
fuss about my being dashed to the mast,
when. in fact, it amounts to nothing at
all. There was no bravery in it; l
simply followed a habit which I have
always p~racticed, that of taking a strap
and flashing myself to the mast when I
90 alOft, lest l might become dizzy. l
little thought it would be turned to
such fine account in poetry. 1t was
only a matter of caution His being
dashed to the mast was a mere incident
neither adding to nor de:racting from
the great Admirars services-simply
making a pretty thing in picture and
story. But, as it had been made of sui.
ficient Importance to be denied, I have
taken the pains to reafarm it from the
herO's own lips"