The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-06-25

Of an sizes and sorts. I'd wife at each port.
But when that saw'd Polly Ply
hail'd her my lovely, and gav'd her kiss,
And swore to bring up once for all.
And from the time black Barnaby spliced rs
to this
I've been constant and true to my Poll
Gallant Paul Jones.
In the ''lanentable ballads ca ship
wreck the same superstitions are re-
peated through the 800 years. One was
that if a woman was seen on the shore
with comb and glass in her hands the
ship was doomed. The porpoise, Mother
Carey's chickens, the Flying Dutchman,
the sea serpent and the norman who
climbed up the side of the ship appear
and reappear like regular acquaintance.
In the American collection therei is equal
sentiment and far more humor. All our
early heroes of the sea are celebrated in
every kind of doggerel and pictured in
every conceivable attitude but none SO
often and SO grandiloquently as Paul
Jones. He is shown in every possible
and impossible attitude which the riot
Gus fancy of the rude artists could sug-
gest, but the favorite pose presents him
as dashing onto the enemy's deck,
swinging over his head a cutIass about
nine feet long and carrying u whole ar
senal in his belt, while bombs and hand
grenades are bursting all around The
song about his famous victory of Sept.
%, 1879. was sung in all the theaters
and popular resorts for 40 years and
had not entirely lost its hold on the
public when the civil war began It
starts off by telling how
An American frigate. frigate of fame,
With guns mounting forty, the Richard by
name,
Sailed to cruise in the channels of old Eng
nd wit 80 ,7av. TorV,1
Jones was his name.
Hurrah. hurrahl Our country forever, hurrahl
There are Ia stanzas, and the account
of the battle is remarkably correct. The
gem of the collection is a combination
of stirring poetry and humor which
celebrates the destruction of the Guer-
riere by the Constitution Aug. 10, 1912
Specimen stanzas are these:
1t Outlines has been told
That the British seamen bold
Gould fog the tars of France SO neat and
handy, oh!
But they never found their match
Till the Yankees did them catch.
Oh. the Yankee boys for fighting are the dam
dy. OIL
The first broadside we pour'd
Carried her mainmast by the board,
Which made this lofty frigate look aban-
don'd, OH
Then Dacres shook his head,
And to his officers no said,
~LordI didn't think these Yankees were so
handy, ohl''
Then Dacres came board
To deliver up his sword,
Though loath was he to part with it, it was so
handy, OIL
''Oh, keep your sword says Hull,
For it only makes you dulli'
Cheer up and let us have little brandy, OIL
Naval War Records.
The old songs stir the blood, and we
love to think of the golden age of the
American navy, but still it is pleasure
to turn from them and read Of the latest
courtesies between the two great Eng
slish speaking nations-how Captain
Mahan of the cruiser Chicago received
the British naval dignitaries on his
deck; how he became the lion of the
London season; how his views were
greatly exploited in the Pail Mall Ga
zette, and how he has been banqueted
and feted and sought at such length
that, as he says, six months would be
too short time for all the festivities
proposed by his hosts.
Commander Rush has completed his
plan of publication for the Naval War
Record, and the work is now in rapid
progress. It will necessarily differ very
much from the series relating the events
of the war on land, with which the
public is now familiar. It has been
thought best to divide 1t into purely
official and narrative sections. The first
series will contain reports, orders and
correspondence, both Federal and Con-
federate, of all naval operations during
the civil war, together with the opera
lions of vessels which acted singly Ell
Their as cruisers or privateers IN any part
of the world.
It was great misfortune that the
Confederate naval archives were burned
when Richmond was evacuated, but it
is now believed that the loss can be
largely made up by original documents
and personal testimonies So far as posi-
BILE the Federal report of any event will
be followed Immediately by the Confed-
crate. The second series will begin with
the condition of the Federal navy in
April 1861, and will proceed historical
ly with the construction and outfit of
the navies of both powers, the statistical
data of all vessels and all other impor-
- zIGsstth "
80 = 20 G@