The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1883-03-29
Relr Admiral U. S. Navy.


Hon. GEORGE WENDELL.
Sinclair Place. Boston.
An autumral afternoon in the year 1S9-
found tae taut flag ship H0nlGd rounding
tAe lreacherOus ana dangerous extremity OF
south AmerI0d. And this day certainly IN
tended to lace itself On record with those of
!Js predecessors marked stormy, its nast!ness
Ia wind and weather gEIng all hands on DO Ard
Lde g5dlp their fill IN hard work and dis
comforts. The record Of the Nonaad on this
cruise, which she WAS ROW completing on her
nOmeWdrd bound pass ge to Boston, had
been most disagI eeable, when considered in
the light OF heavy weather work. From Suez
TO Alden, then on to Bombay, Point de Gale,
singapore Hong kong, S langhai, Nagasak
and Yokohama, tie balance sheet stood
largely IN favor of OlcANe tunes rough char
acterlstics, but with remarkable evenness he
health and original roster of the ships COM
PAM stood this day it did nearly three
years agO-WIth one exec yt5Ou. Throughout
the diverse and varied exposures incidental
70 cruising over the Aslatic station, where
cholera, levers liver co mplaInts, malaria, and
colds OF all degrees reign in full force, none
oil the crew had suffered more than tenn
Porary Inconvenience, and thus it seemed
very hard that now, IN the clio sing DAYS of
the cruise, there stood niae chances for, to
one against, victory being at st scored for
the Ces JrOyIng angel Death. When the NOHndd
reached Shanghai the early portion of her
cruise her ADMIRAL was the healthiest man
aboard. grand specimen of manhood was
ne. over SIX feet in height, weighing two
hundred OUnds, bro I'd in chest and stron. in
limo, he rightly claimed for himself a full
share OF Natures blessings. While returning
late one light from a diplomatic reception at
the Consulate at Shan -haf through over
heating and insufficient protection from the
dangerous eft cts of the peculiarly damp and
searching night air, he ciught cold. "OnlV
a cold, remarked the admiral O the doctors
OF his ship, land easy to cure" So thou lit
the medical officers, but with a quiet though
insidious progression. this cold chung to the
admiral in spite of their best efforts to era IL
cate 1t, and When the time came for leaving
1okohama, homeWArd bound, the admiral
realized that his lungs and throat were deci-
dedIy out OF order. The doctors advised re-
turning home by mail steamer to San Err ~
cisco, 50 that greater means for cur NO this
persistent cough might be found in the
pre- erred to stick to his ship, still inn
agining That his trouble would eventually
be overcome by the doctors treatment.
NO one who looked at the admiral even in
those days imagined that he would fall a
victim to lung trouble But il vas the Old
story again typifed in this case. Only cold
at first; and in spite of orthodox treatment
the peculiar climatic effects of China nursed
II, and hastened the sure result of such a
deep-seated trouble. Time passed after IeaV-
ing Yokohama Tor Boston, bringing varying
symptoms in the admiral's case, and the
doctors imagined that they held the disease
in check at least. But with the formation Of
tubeTcles, night-sweats, and the r,pid
consumption Of lung tissues which had set
IN with alarming symptoms, the patient
realized that his cold had laid the seeds of
that Eel agent OF Death, consumption The !
hacking cough Of the admiral had in itself /
been sufficient food for serious con-
sderation, and now, as in the warm
autumn DAYS the flagship CALAMITY rode (
over the blue waters of the Pacific, bound for
Cape Horn, the doctors hoped much for sue
cess. But this bojsterous afternoon Ound !
the good sh struggling with gigantic seas /
set off from the Cape by a fierce northerly /
wind. Lelden were the heavens and sad the |
he rts Of all aboard, for tn t morning the |
usual bulletin of the medical officers had set |
forth this intelligence: The admiral is in /
same condition reported last night. /
burning fever h s been slightly duced, J
while other SYMPTOMS are as heretofore an !
nOuHced." All understood these words with /
out questioning. The be owed admiral had /
during the past two weeks sunk very low. /
The symptoms of blocd-poisOning, a torpid /
liver, intense pain throughout the body. eve !
sight and mental aculties affected, appetite !
gone, through inactjOn of that great regula- /
tOr-the liver. These were he mca IS which /
had re iuced the admiral from the pinnacle of /
health to the valley and shadow OF de TIA. /
Consumption held full sw now, and the ell |
known skill of naval doctors was in this in /
stance at least com leteiy 70 led.
The admiral had Issued orders for the flag |
ship to touch at QuteYideo for coal, ana it /
was the Intention OF the doctors to land the
admiral there for treatment But one men
in The ship was wra ped in the gloom OF dis /
pair, standing by the weather r g ling on &
the poop deck he gazed absentiy over the .
sePthing waste of waters. This was the adj
miral's son, a Lieutenant, and attached to his |
fathers SAL He feared TIA t the wear and I
tear of shi life would saphis fat hers strengt
beyond endurance, an before the snip cOu q I
re On NOnteVdeO. Among a group OF sailors
gathered around one of the great guns on The
spar deck stood the captain IF the fOre-top
Brown, a slight but healthy looking m n.
His companions were listening to a recital Of
his suferings from consumption, which had I
developed while he was attacIe to the slOOp-
o.-war Ranger, lying in the rbOr Of Yoko-
hama a year aga, this yarn" having been
started By a discussion about the a1miral's
condition. The men had Just returned from
some w0ak around the deck, an order for
which ma interrupted Browns story a few
moments previously.
"A year ag, this day I was hove 70 in The
pill man s. sick bay in the Ranger. then OF
Yokohama, an / tell yOu pards, INV no use
ppin' my number, cause l was nigh on
passjn' in my en- istment papers for long
cruise aIOtt," continued b own. " Consump-
ton had me fiat aback, and he doctor sHys it
was no use to stow away S lush in my hold
seem that ms be lows vas cOud .mned 10y a
higher ov er than he could wrastle with. -
How did you pucker out of itF' asked a
Wa'aH," replied Brown, my Chinee
washman come to ne one mornin' an he says
to me, me hIb got alice san Mclean man
me iilln, 10 you heap goodr / says bring it
fl, Chang, / bay ali the same That alter
noon Chang hove up with fourteen bottles of
a lush, enough to kill or cure the who ships Z
crew, an that looked fresh in their nice " "a D !
peFs. Says On ng, China man doctor hab
got plentee more, he make heap good well
with my sick. this numbeT one medikin alice
same through Yokohama W8'aI, Itook the
bottles an told the doctor ] was COfn' to Try
one as by the sailin' oriers on the bottle, ami
the doctor he laughed and says twas no good,
but me as the reguls tiOus says from the
first, an here 1 am, ag'iu the doctors ideas
TO he sure -
With this triumphant assertion Brown
looked about the circle. Then, lowering his
voice said " boys Fve four of those precious
bottles Ieft-ain't give 'em all aw yet after
l was cured-ani II you ali think that it would
not be too free with the old MAJ suppose |
90 to his n there OntIe poop deck an say
y hat have to You. an askin' his radon
say We want the admiral to try the stuff in my
bottles, seem that they cured my cousump-
Thia de- met with sInroraI from al sides-