Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-08-12
|I10y|)R OF THE FLAG
,. V. CLARK RUSSELL
Copyright, 1896. ]

|glpiiolua a'Iames. There is scarcely 8 aFst !, f, mud from London bridge :liss to d .la a' reach that is not as "conse- EFsepa V that famous bit of soil which s'nuel ne Johnson and MT Richard Richard sppus puelt and kissed on stepping Tgs spsr prsreenwich. One of the his ts ~ s,sssts. u however. threatens to
 'p't of the annals. It does not in- fl'S ;a inc story of the Dutch inva-- < Sau .hs n river or in old Hackluyt'sI 'l asrratiye 'ag of the sailing of the Ian l.ian pn' organized by Bristol's noble e'V Vcsbastian Cabot. but it is alto l'' .oo, good and stirring to merit 2. ty rom the Thames history books ass aaslect a or ignorance of the his l ,, .bsolutely true. I pledge my z. that on the authority of the P " ", the Whitechapel county court. 'ss 'ss gear 1851 there dwelt on the v paS v ths river Thames retired tai 'sam r@ will call John Sloper out
 s.sd I to the feelings of his posteri- 'a,s z .aoh there be. This man had for 5, years carried on a fiourishing s;s the east end of London. Hav- '. D together as much money as he {, v .nnpose would supply his daily
 hs bnilt himself a villa near the s'satlittle town of Erith. His house .aaaFsd the water. In front of it s ' q considerable piece of garden X. Y. sloper showed good sense and tsste in building himself little m inc banks of the Thames. All l.Ina he was able, if he pleased. to [,.tsin himself with the sight of as rDg and striking marine picture i < anywhere to be witnessed. He Eabays built himself house above Ivs, where there is no lack of ele- ss and river beauty of many sorts, lhe chose to command view of the E,nss on it's commercial side.
 Ihbis day there was more life in the [r than there is now. In our age the jut stesmer thrusts past and is quick |eBs, the tug runs the sailing ship to kdcks or to her mooring buoys, and Esis no life in the fabric she drags. sOper's time steamers were few; the Eg of the river teemed with sailing t of every description; they tackled Ew from bank to bank as they stag Id to their destination against the Syer, sitting at his open window saue day, would be able to count 20 .asat types of rigs in almost as kayminutes. That he took 8 keen in- |a in ships, however, do not assert. the could have told you the differ a tetween 8 brig and Q schooner is 'Elyimaginable. The board on which g had fourished was not ship rd-it had nothing to do with star M or larboard. He was a tailor. not Aer and the friends who ran down ss him were of his own sort and kdti0n.
 Saper was widower. How many n he had lived with his wife I can't
 She died one Easter Monday, and Sloper took possession of his new s near Firth he mounted some M cannon on his lawn, and these M Of artillery he regularly fired ey- Easter Monday in celebration of he called the joyfulest anniver- Eof his life-from which it is to be End that Sloper and his wife had
 lived together very happily. But, aga the Whitechapel county court elhave been searched and inquiries Rln that part of London where Slo- aop was situated, it has not been lHered that Mrs. Sloper's end was Faed by her husband $ cruelty-that, nat more happened between them
 constant quarrels. Yet it must be
 mat sloper behaved as though, in
 as the old adage would put it, l'9ie ngure contained no more than lnla part of soul, when he mount N guns and rudely and noisily tri- slM over the dead whom perhaps he nave been afraid of in life, and Hlg emphasized with blasts of gun
 M BIS annual joy over his release. ~, ia tne east end of London, not
 ~ minutes walk from Sloper's
 IVY " there lived sailor named Jo-
 nfsflake. This man had served ss ooy under Collingwood; had
 ~ gunpowder at Navarino under Fag'on; had been concerned in sev-
 slns cutting out jobs in the <, Mules and was altogether as ,sl aua worthy a specimen of an old s~,s s- salior Of the vanished school as s0ld ask to see.
 Iu n been shot in the leg. He car Sl, sssat s scar over his brow. He was
 NJ yarns as piece of ancient
 ,ss D'scnltof weevils. He swore with ljssaN, 5s'ls than a Dutchman, sneered ps,t SAsiy ", at steam and held the ka s.s Oplnion of the then existing
 eaa ainsn' who he said never could
 @ tsa the old battles which had xbe making of this kingdom,
 ets aluer I! Howe's or gallant Jer-
 hs sa 0 'lon hearted Nelson's flag.
 Hpgiosa ly mad no further need of Aa ss se;, On his being paid off out of
 uD,il I r. ana he was somewhat at a