St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-08-16


anywhere on board ship. Sentinels were
pacing here and there, but for the most part
the men were standing about in an idle and
listless manner. Some Of them were being
visited by their wives and children and were
having quiet little pi cnics with the young
sters.
''Where was the ship built" 1 said to ''the
little middy'' as we walked about
''In New York, SIR" he replied.
GLOW long ago9''
About eleven years.
GLOW long has it lain here?"
Ever since it was completed"
"How many men are there on board
now?"
about one hundred -
"Do they have that number on the ship
all the time?''
"Oh, no. Sometimes there are only if-
teen or twenty. You see this is the training
ship and they send men here to learn
Are you duly enlisted in the navy?'
"Not yet. am not quite old enough, but
expect to enlist as soon Dis can"
"Do the men have much to do!'
"Well, considerable. They have to go
through with their exercises, do guard duty,
keep the ship in order and clean, and alto
gether it makes good deal of work.
think ''the little middy'' was mistaken
in saying that the vessel had lain there
eleven years, but know she has been there
several years, and thought would not dis
II fha ~ tho n;,-;l
by asking questions, and hence l give "the
little middy's'' story uncontrolled.
went down the long flight of stairs to the
barge in waiting and as l looked back and
up she looked monster indeed, though her
wood sides did not seem entirely impervious
ing pretty fast. There were half a dozen
ladies and children, and three naval officers
on board in citizens clothes, when the barge
officer gave the signal and the men at the
crank gave the wheel turn. As the barge
moved off from the ship there was
versed the crank and brought the barge up to
the ship again. We waited long enough to
have made the trip over to the shore, when a
porty man, wearing grey mixed suit OF
citizens clothes, came on board. There
was scowl upon his brow and a roll of pa
pressed with the idea that | was in the pres
ence of "a
Superior Being,
With big capital letter for each word.
The naval officers took off their hats obseq-
uiously. the men at the crank thrust their
hats into their armpits and doubled them
selves up as though green apple had just at
that moment inaugurated game of cramp
collie in their abdomens, while the barge
officer also DOTTED his tile in defer
ence to the Great Presence. I think the Sup
erior Being and myself were the only ones,
besides the ladies, who kept our hats
on. In fact when l looked at that scowl
and saw the other hats come off, pulled my
own hat on a little harder to make sure that
it should not get off by accident. Physically,
| might have been induced to look with con-
siderable respect upon the Superior Being,
for lie was husky six-footer and proper
toned accordingly, but as he strobe brusquely
in front of some of the ladies and took a
seat, l don't think l could have been tor
tured into sufficient mental respect
to have taken my hat off.
AS soon as the barge touched the sea wall the
Superior Being arose with the mammoth
frown still clouding his brow, and again
brushing past the ladies was the first to leave
the barge, while the hat removing process
was again repeated by the men. He strobe
off with an air which seemed to say
"I'm the chap who made the Creator of
the Universe, and If you don believe it look
at that frown on my brow.n
There is a broad som ewhat across lots side
walk which affords a short cut to the officers
quarters from the barge landing, and
another narrow walk at right angles across
the grounds, making the distance at least
twice as far. The general public use the
broad walk, and the narrow one is evidently
little exclusive, and the Superior Being
took the narrow walk, looking neither to the
right or the left. I expected that
frown would swell up like the
coming in of the ocean tide
anu LUTcW Unc HAT OIL lTOn Une 0eaQ OF the
Superior Being, but as far as l could see him
he retained his tile in the proper place until
he disappeared behind the trees in front of
the residences.
The Superior Being in whose mighty pres
ence, and under the shadow of whose awful
frown had survived for perhaps three min
utes, was Capt. Vance, the commander OF
the Wabash. Just what there
is about being in charge of
an Idle vessel anchored off an empty navy
yard, to make such a Superior Being, life is
too short to fathom, but / shall always con-
graduate myself that kept my hat on. In
fact l think nothing short of one of the Cat
ling guns had just seen could have gotten
my hat off at that particular period of my
history.
The sentinels were sitting listlessly at the
gate as passed out Of the empty yard, and
the venerable duffer was still painting the
balls red as turned my face Bostonwards
and was soon again in the center Of beans
and "culchaw."
BEACON HILL.
II there is any one thing which the F. F.
first families) of the Bostonese hold in holy
horror it is Ben Butler They rejoice when
they hear the little puddle in the common
called 1.-The Frog Pond, +" and they don't mind
making twenty cent speculation out of the
glorious memories of Bunker hill, but they
can never forgive the man who told the
world that they tanned the hides of the pau
pers in the Tewkesbury almshouse. 1t was a
mixed desire to see building around which
cluster historic memories of early days, and
the more recent memory of the presiding
genius of Ben Butler, that turned my steps
to the state house on Bea-
con hill with its gilded dome.
Though ! this building is nearly ninety