Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-09-16
THE FLAG OF HIS DREAM.

THE FLAG OF HIS DREAM.
What Paul Jones Saw in HIS Sleep as a
Boy Was Really What Happened When
He Became Brave Man.
A boy lay asleep in the midday sun
shine upon broad fiat ledge of rock,
with his sunburned face pillowed on
his bare brown arm. Most people
would have thought it rather dam
gerous place for nap, for the ledge
was many feet above the waves which
were now breaking against the foot of
the crag in spouts of glittering foam.
the precipice that had he happened TO
turn over in his sleep, he would have
fallen headlong over its edge down
into the flashing sea below. There he
lay, however, sleeping as soundly on
that perilous perch as if he lad been at
home in his fathers little fishing hut
among the cliffs, built all of driftwood,
with huge stones piled upon its roof to
keep the furious wind from tearing off
the shingles. But although the boys
slumber was SO deep, it was plainly
any thing but peaceful. His hands
were ciinched, his teeth set, the muscles
of his face worked convulsively, and
his quivering lips.
He dreamed that he was sailing the
seas in command of an armed vessel,
at the masthead of which fiuttered q
very strange flag. the like of which he
ly another ship, larger than his own,
oil Tor h
battle began. He heard the shouts of
the comDatants, the thunder of the
cannon, the crash of falling spars
and shattered timbers; then Il ringing
cheer broke forth, as the enemy's flag
came slowly down, and he started and
awoke. The din of the cannonade
reality it was the deep, hollow boom of
the waves that had surrounded his
rock and cut him off from the shore.
But this mattered little to one who
was the best swimmer of his age for
miles around. Clambering nimbly
down the steep face of the rock, he
plunged headlong into the sea, and
rising like cork on the crest of a
huge wave, struck out calamity for
the shore. Just as he reached it, IA
miliar voice shouted his name and he.
saw a tall young man in the uniform
of an English naval officer standing on.
the beach above him.
"AhaI' cried the latter, ''my friend
Paul trying to drown himself as usual.
What have you been doing?'
The boy answered by relating his
dream
"Well, dare say shall see you
el, %ta
young officer. ''for you're right good
yours-what did you say it was ike?"
"All covered with red stripes. Mr..
Pearson, and thirteen white stars in
one corner, on a blue ground"
''Well, your dream was wrong there,
my lad chuckled Lieutenant Pearson,
''for know every flag that flies, and
ever flag you fight under it won't be
that, unless you patch it up for your
SELF
The sun was shining upon the sea as
brilliantly as ever, but its brightest rays
could not pierce the cloud of smoke
which wrapped two ships that lay side
by side. spouting fire at each other
from their battered portfolios. The
captain of the smaller vessel-a short,
strongly-built, very handsome man,
with keen black eye-gave his orders
as coolly as ever, but his bold brown
face was growing very grave and stern.
And well it might. His whole deck
was one heap OF torn canvas and spfin-
tered wood. Nearly half his crew were
lying dead, and the hollow gurgle be-
meath his feet told how fast the fatal
water was pouring into the hull where
a heavy shot had pierced it below the
water-line.
Suddenly there. was a lull in the
firing, followed by deafening shout
of triumph. Down came the British
flag from the place where, torn though
it was with the pelting shot, it had
futtered defiantly till now; and as the
victorious captain sprang aboard the
enemy's ship. he saw the English COM
mander-a tall, tine-looking man, with
a thin streak of blood across his.
weather-beaten face offering his
sword in token of surrender
The conqueror started, and looked
keenly at him..
''Do you, remember the flag of my
dream, Mr.. Pearson?" asked he. point
ing to the Stars and Stripes floating
above them from the stump of the only
mast that was left.
What" cried Captain Pearson, in
amazement, ~-are you my little Scotch
friend John Paul?''
''They used to call me SO then, )"
answered the other. .'bub now I'm bet
ter known as Paul Jones"
And American history will tell. as
long as the world lasts, what work
Paul Jones did under the banner of the
Stars and Stripes. Young
People.
puhc AAsn