Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1896-06-13

1aE@ tential necessity oil
killing foreigners to defend Ameri'
cans. Some of these reservations arc
army posts and some of them nava
stations, and one of these latter is q
navy yard on the Pacific coast, in Cal
ifornia.
This navy yard is placed upon ar
island the island call it Stair ISLAND
lies near tue main land and paral
leled with it in land locked bay. 1ts
general shape in elevation is that of n
wedge standing in high bluff in one
end, where it faces the mouth of q
river, and from that eminence decln'
ing for mile to the flat part, where
the navy yard buildings are disposed.
Beyond this built and inhabited
portion the real island ends; but low
marsh, almost at level with the salt
water, and called the tules, stretches
out of sight. There is a Landmark
which may serve to fix the point O.
demarkation between terra frma ant
the marsh. This vast brick structure
is the steam engineering department,
some hundreds of yards away from
any other building.
BY day, in spite of the voices OF
wild fowl out on the tules, the steam
engineering department is desperate.
ly embarrassing, with its surround
ings OF old rusted ships boilers aud
propellers and other condemned en-
ginery, and with the din of forging
and riveting from within.
But at night SO lonely is the situa-
tion that the memory of the common.
place noise and labor which were with
in the walls when lighted by the sun
seems to emphasize now their utter
abandonment to the gloom and soil.
tude.
A dilapidated sentry's box, long dis
used, stands a.tilt. On either hand
is a cleaning of silent waters.
One evening" was an ensign on
the little man .of.war Rover, which
was lying at one of the navy yard
docks-I left the ship and went up
into the yard to call on my friend,
Paymaster Monroe, an officer of the
station. Monroe was widower and
lived alone in the spacious quart ers
assigned to the paymaster.
de was man of wit and reminis.
cences. His library had become a
rendezvous for men who after dinner
found themselves with no duty. Sew.
eral other officers were with the pay.
master, or came in later. It was New
Years Eve.
We had amused ourselves for an
hour or two when there was another
ring at the door. Monroe went to the
door himself. He brought back John.
stoD, a lieutenant of marines, with his
sword on.
81 have just time for cigar" said
Johnson. "You know, we change the
guard at II, and I have to get around
to all the posts before. Well, here's
to the new year." as the paymaster
handed him glass. ''NIay it end
with rainless night, or may not be
the officer of the day to see it out out
eide again"
ITS it raining?" inquired two or
three of us, for it had not been rain
ing when we had come in. But we
were not surprised at Johnson's assent.
1t was in the season.
"By the way" someone said, "they
ring the old year out with sixteen bells
tonight, instead OF eight"
By the naval system of striking
time, of course, every ~ o'clock is
told by eight strokes of the bell.
Sometimes the midnight between two
years is struck with repetition OF
the eight.
eyes, the commodore mentioned it
to Jackson OF my ship" I remarked.
"It is unusual, isn't it?"
Gill up" said the paymaster to the
officer OF the day. johnson yielded
to this encouragement.
"By Jove, you remind me-" said
Johnston, with the slowness, of remem.
bering something curious suddenly.
SIT was at sixteen bells between 1856
and 1857 that marine officer was shot
down near the tules. You know that
empty sentry box down there neal
the steam engineering; you can't gel
| ~ AuoA W otuhu q uoA " tuVICoiuSC' LIZ
men won't stay there"
81 never heard of this" said Sted
ley, junior paymaster and Balti
morean. "Who shot him? What il
the story?"
''It seems to be indefinite, like
other ghost stories," Johns ton an
swered. "What know is this: The lieu
tenants name I think, was Reed. Reet
had man in his command who was il
love with some fair one in the towI
over the straits. Reed fell in low,
with her himself, ard had the misfor
tune of her falling in love with him
This disturbed the private.
"How NATURAL" somebody dropped
"And he?"
creed was the officer of the day.
continued the marine, ION the nigh
of New Years Eve of 1856. That wa
in the wild, early days out here, ant
the officer of the day was Away.
mounted. This is the anniversary o
that night, and this Reed was on tn,
same duty that am on now, visiting
the posts before the change of thu
guard.
"He had been to all the others
then rode out to that box toward tn,
tules. You must have noticed it
Reed was on white horse. 1t mus
have been almost midnight, as it wal
near that hour when he left the guard
house. Sixteen bells struck at tn,
guardhouse a little before the corpora
came up with the relief to that out-of
the-way post.
''They found there the body of tn,
lieutenant, shot through the heart
with his horse gone. So was the sentr,
gone. Neither he nor the horse wa
ever heard of. 1t was supposed tina
they went out over the tules to tn,
main land"
"But you said something about
ghost"
ooh, Of course, the ghost is Reeds,
he answered. "He rides from tn