The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-06-08
MISCELLANY.
Old Glory.

Viu VhOfJ
"My ship was returning from Japan
to the United States, five years ago.
We had been on the China station for
over three years, and most of US, for
ward as well as aft, were pretty lone
some, as you may fancy, for a sight of
this smiling land of ours. We were
eight days out from Yokohama, making
for Honolulu to coal ship, when we
were overtaken by the Fourth Of July.
All the ships in the American navy, you
remember, are dressed with bunting
from stem to stern on independence
day, whether the ships are at anchor or
at sea, in any quarter of the globe.
Our signal quartermaster made an es-
pecially beautiful job of ship dressing
on this Fourth of July, and, with our
100-foot homeward bound pennant
streaming fiat with the fresh breeze,
don't doubt that we made brave and
beautiful picture as viewed from dis
lance, were there only few ships in
the offing to view US. But we seemed
to be absolutely alone in mid-Pacifc.
During the first three or four days of
our AFOREMENTIONED cruise out of ia
pan, we had run across few ships, all
flying the British flag, but on this sun
shiny Fourth of July morning we
seemed to be quite alone on the sea.
We were all lolling about the decks,
somewhat stupidity, along about ten
O'Clock in the morning, after inspec-
ton, talking about where we intended
putting in our detached time after our
ship went out of commission.
ga saill' sung out the boy in the
| lookout.
"'Whereaway2 shouted the officer
of the deck, and you may believe that
we were all attention to catch the COM
pass points sung out by the lad aloft.
1.-THE sail was skysl, still and tiny
as the link in lady's lorgnette chain,
on the outermost verge of the south
eastern horizon. Yet all of us aft took
the poop for it with our glasses, and
the men up for'ard jammed to to'gal-
liant fo'c'sle and strained their eyes for
the sail, which was making for US. A
sailing ship approaching you at sea
from the far horizon seems to make at
you with bounds when you yourself are
driving for her, and by the time we
took second look at the approaching
ship her huge royals, bellied out by the
fresh breeze, shone clear and brilliant
in our eyes, reflected by the bright
morning sun. But by the time we
could make out the royals we had no
time for them. Our gaze was focused
on the bit of bunting at the main-the
stars aud stripes of our republic. l
think a bit of a chill ran over the
spines of all of us when we saw that.
1t seemed such devilshly beautiful
idea, that-the flag bounding slap at us
right out of the middle of the Pacific,
and of all mornings, on this Fourth of
July morning.
"'This is good; this is good NUT
tered the old skipper trifle hoarsely,
and then the hull of the approaching
ship danced on the amethyst horizon
for us, her code of signals futtering.
"'The Shenandoah, out of Bath
shouted the signal quartermaster from
the bridge.
"You ought to have heard the men
up forward, bless their mischievous,
generous souls. They let out whoop
that rang around the circle of indigo
sea like a Valhalla shout of victory,
and 1 fear we were bit undignified
aft, for one of the senior watch officers
alongside us on the poop deliberately
| lulCW LILO Gap W thC uOSht tht NOV pOth
of his arms in the air and emitted a
series of bowls that were calculated to
make the voice of our siren seem small
by comparison.
"'Does she wave," he howled "Well,
does she wave?"
"The Shenandoah, probably queen of
all the clippers in the world, bore down
upon us with every thread of her can
vas set and drawing-as beautiful a
picture as any man ever sees in this
world. And there, huttering far above
her main skys'l, swapping in the breeze
and waving grandly with the dips and
leans of the great ship-the flag! 1t
would be hard to describe the feeling
we all experienced when the Shenan-
doah swept by within 100 yards of US.
Her crew were just as much pleased
as we were, and she did not wait for US
to dip, but just as she swung by US like
princess in the pride of her finery,
again and again was the banner dipped
in reply to our banner dipping at the
mizzen, and the clippers crew, ranged
along the weather rail, mingled their
hoarse shouts with the tremendous
cheering of our man-o'-war's men.
"When man sees the flag of his ma
tive land under circumstances like these
the memory of it is going to abide with
him. "-Washington Star.