St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1899-08-30
A VISIT TO DEWEY.
Story of Call upon the Admiral Thu
IL Fresh, Breezy aud out of the Con
ventiOnaI Rut.


Citizen, travelling in Italy, tells in a
letter to that paper how that sunny land
lost all its charms, and how and by
what they were superseded. Writing
from Naples August 6, Mr.. MacBrayne
SAYS
When we learned that Admiral George
Dewey had sailed for the bay of Naples,
we left Rome post haste. We hoped to
see the Olympia, and possibly the adj
miral, at long range; but not one of us
anticipated the honor that came to us
this afternoon, tor we were the guests
of the hero of Manila for more than an
hour. We reached Naples and took
rooms at the Royal hotel. - When
we came down to breakfast large
American flag was flying from the hotel
displayed by the natives in the rich old
Moorish dining room. 1t soon became
known that the charge d'affaires would
banquet the admiral at the hotel in the
evening, and that party of ambassa-
doris was on its way from Rome to at
tend the dinner.
We could see the white cruiser in the
bay beyond the sea wall, but we started
out bravely to spend the morning hours
in seeing the town. think that we may
have looked at six Pompelian bronzes
when we met two minor officers from
the Olympia. They were delighted to
see us. One of them was the man who
was at the wheel during the fight at
Manila. He wore the first starched shirt
that he had put on in two years. ut
I,
land put it on because | feel that we
are going home. We can't get there any
too SOON" He advised us to visit the
cruiser during the afternoon. The ad-
miral would be there, he. said, and was
always glad to see Americans. They
were more welcome than any foreign
dignitaries who ever visited him. Well,
after that there was nothing in Naples
that held any attraction for us. We re.
turned to the hotel for lunch, brought
out our silk American flag and trans
ferred it to cane, and in our best travel
ing outfits drove posthaste to the quay.
The drivers, mistaking us for some party
OF national Importance, drove us inside
the Italian navy yard, where we nearly
ordered out a naval detail before our
identify was discovered.
We stood, at length, upon the deck OF
the proudest cruiser of the American
navy, and gave our cards to the officer
of the deck. The officer said that he
would take the cards below. In the
meantime a seaman would show us
about the ship. The seaman explained
one secondary battery gun, pointed out
the big gun forward and then we lost
him forever. There is a narrow stair
way leading down into the turret of the
big gun, and after the manner of her
race, one of the American girls wanted
to 60 down into it. Somebody on the
deck below said. in friendly voice: II
wouldn't try to go down there, really,
you know"
you wouldn't? ?"
mo, really" he replied. And she saw
that it was Admiral Dewey.
People have been saying all along that
Admiral Dewey is genial, great.hearted
American, and it is all true. His face is
very handsome, for it has great strength
and its rich bronzed color today, set off
by his spotless white Uniform, tells of
perfect recovery from the strain of the
Come and see how / live" he said,
after our formal introductions were over
and he led the way into his sleeping
room, the roomy cabin that he had made
so homelike.
/ do not know how it happened but
another party Of Americans, who arriv-
ed at this point, were introduced formal
ly, and after few pleasant words were
allowed to 60 away, while we were in
vited to take tea with the Admiral. Of
course it will not look the same to you,
but out here in the bay Of Naples, with
the smoke rising from Mt. Vesuvius into
the cloud above, with the sky elsewhere
a soft Italian blue, with the sun shining
on the white villages across the way and
on the grim fortresses that guard the
port; here under the American flag, a
friendly little circle in wicker chairs,
chatting like old friends with the man
who is doing more today to give our
nation dignity abroad than any Ameri-
can who sails the seas, it was an hour in
which the Appian way in Rome, the art
treasures OF Paris, or the beauty OF the
Swiss mountains and lakes became
things that were but the fancies of an
hour. The tables were set on deck by
the Chinese steward. At home he is a
rich man, with farm and sixty labor
ers, but he has served Dewey for more
than dozen years, and he would not
leave him when the Olympia sailed for
home.
HE is richer than am" said the Ad-
miral, "but he makes the best tea that
you ever drank"
The steward served the tea, but it was
the Admiral, the captain and the flag
lieutenant who passed around the cakes.
Our conversation was that of the draw
ing room DIT sea.
1t would turn to the fight at Manila
bay and the three officers would tell how
they had believed in the cruiser and how
they would have fought the whole Span
ish fleet with her alone. There would be
delightful little comments upon incidents
OF the day, and upon the part that the
English and the Germans played
OF the sincerest friendship for the Eng
lish.
And we talked of dinners in Europe, of
how the big men of Naples had tumbled
over one another to pay their respects,
and of how the mayor had called early
in the morning, with bow nearly
touching the deck, though Dewey has
visited the harbor twenty times, and
never before heard of the mayor.
One of the girls, who was born in
Tennessee, spoke of her three cousins,
holding volunteer commissions in the
Philippines; and at once the Admiral
talked of the Tennessee regiment, and
told how its colonel had died, and some
th;no ne &c hot+Io. p..I' = -,