The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-10-07

\ Mayrant of South Carolina. Miss Faulkner hao
/ been educated in France and Miss Mayrant pc
| longed TO one of the Carolina Huguenot families
| in which French was retained As the domssue
tongue Mr.. Adams related his anecdote OF ron
/ tanelle in French.
| When he was gone Jones, at the request OF the
| young ladies' related the anecdote correctly both
1 to text and accent. One OF the young iao!e.
| then asked Jones what he thought OF Mr.. Adams
/ French.
The reply may be freely translated as
follows:
1t is very fortunate perhaps. ladies, for the
! cause OF human rights, that the political senti-
ments of Mr.. Adams not as English as his
! French is; because, if they were, he would De
/ easily the greatest Tory in the land!
Mr. Adams heard about this. and as may
/ be imagined, he did not love the black-eyed
| young Scotch captain much better for 1t.
| 1t is a curious fact that the adoption OF
! the present design of the United States
/ flag. and the appointment Of Capt John
| Paul Jones TO the command of the snip
/ Ranger, occurred on the same daytime
! IA, 1T77. The Imaginative nature OF Jones,
/ perhaps, with touch of Gaelic supersti-
! ton, accepted this as an omen, and he
used TO say of himself and the flag
We cannot be parted in life in death. So
| long we can float we shall float togetheF. IL
we must sink, we shall SO down as onel
Sometimes the Muse of History seems
moved to turn poet.
The whole book is as fascinating as
novel in the glirnpses it reveals OF the life
and character of this remarkable man;
! but bit Of testimony from one OF his sail
( ors is of particular interest in connection
with his ideas above quoted on shipboard
/ discipline:
/ sailed, in my time. with many captains hat
! with only one Paul Jones. He was the captain
of captains. Any other commander sailed with
had some kind of method or fixed rule which
he excrted toward all those under him alike.
1t ,uitsd and Others not. but it was the
same rule all the time and to everybody. Not SO
Paul Jones. lie always knew every officer or
man in his friend knows another.
Those big black eyes Of his would look right
through new man at first sight, and, maybe,
see something behind him! At any rate, he
knew every and always dealt with each ac-
cording TO his notion. | have seen him one hour
teaching the French Language 80 his mdshipmen
and the next hour showing an apprentice how TO
knot a Turks head make neat coil
down of a painter. He in everybodys watch
and everybOdy's all the time. In fact,
may say that apy ship Paul Jones commanded
was full Of him, himself. all the time. The men
used to get crazy about him when he was vita
them and talking to them. II was only when his
back turned that anyone could warn them
away from him. II you heard peals OF laughter
from the forecastle it was likely he was there
spinning funny yarns for Jack off watch. II you
/ heard a roar of merTrient at the cabin-table 1t
was likely that his never-failing wit had over
whemcd the offcea' mess.
He was ycrv strict. have seen him sterny
roprove a young sailor who approached him, for
what he called a ''lubber's walk, say to him;
+ '.See here this is the way to walk. " And then,
after putting the novice through his PAGES Two
or three times he would say TO him. An thats
betteri You'll be bue-water sailor before YOU
: know IT, my boyln And then he would give the
| shiprate guinea out of his own pocket.
Above all things he hated the cato nine-tails
/ In two Of his ships-the Providence and the Rang
! eI-he threw il overheard the first day out There
/ was one on the Alfred that lie never allowed to
! be uscd and two in the Richard that were never
/ used but twice He consented TO fog the look
! out forward when the Richard fouled the
Alliance the second day out rom ORIENT
! and ako he allowed old Jack Robinson TO per-
/ suadc him that two foretop men ought 10 be
| whipped for laying from aloft without orders
! when the squall struck US in the Richard on
Keith But when he consented TO this he street
! " enjoined upon old Jack that the men must be
/ fogged with their shirts on. which, OF COURSE
made farce Of the whole proceeding. lie SAID
AT this time: Il have no use for the cat
/ Whenever a sailor Of mine gets vicious beyond
/ NV rcrsuaeion or control the cheapest thing IN
I the long run is to kill him right away. II you
/ do that the Others will understand II. but u
! you triee him up and fog him all the other bad
3 fellows in the ship will sympathize with him and
/ hate YOU"
this trait in his character. One Sunday wnen
we were of the west coast of Ireland, Just after
we had lost the barge aud Mr.. Lunt, he addressed
the crew on the subject of discipline. He told
| them that many years before, when ne was
hoy in the merchant service. he had seen man
: 'fogced round the feet at Port ROYAL, Jamaica
He said the man died under the lash and ne
/ then made up his mind that Paul Jones ana tae
cato -nine-tails would part COMPANY ten
you my men, he said, 'ionce for al, that When
! become convinced that sailor OF mine must
be killed. / will not leave 1t TO y zone pt
boatswain's mates under the slow torture Of
: the Iashl But will do it nyself-and so G.
d quick tia; it will make your heads swim!
This trait in the character of Paul Jones
! is especially significant, considering that
/ fogging was the usual punishment at TINS
! time in the English navy. 1t is probably
due to the quick sympathies OF this man.
( so like a tiger in battle, so considerate OF
| those about him when of duty, that the
American Navy has never been disgraced
/ by the brutalities common In that of Great
Britain till comparatively recent period
| He established precedent, and when
| precedent of mercy exists 1t is not easy TO
destroy.
The famous battle with the Scraps is
described in detail and with a diagram
showing the positions of the ships at dif-
ferent points in the combat There are
/ quotations from the statements of eye
/ witnesses and participants in the fight, and
this account is altogether as complete as
! anyone could wish. Accounts Of ii have
been written by Henry Gardner, Nathaniel
Tanning and others who actually took part
in it, and large quotations are made from
| these.
The picture given in the journal of Paul
Jones. of the last appearance of the Bon
homme Richard proves that, like Caesar,
''he could both write and fight and in 10th
was equally skillful.''
No one was now left aboard the Richard but
our dead To them ] gave the good old ship
for their coffin. and in her they found a sublime
sepulchre. She rolled heavily in the long swell,
her eun-deck awash to the port-sills, settled
slowly by the head, and sank peacefully in about
forty fathoms.
! been fshed and put ia place soon after hrln2
ceased and our torn and tattered flag was LETT
fving when we abandoned her. As she plunged
down by the head at last, her tahrah moinen
mortal eyes ever saw Of the Bonhomme Rich
ard was the defiant waving OF her unconqueied
and unstricken flag as she went down Ana: as
had given them the good old ship Tor thelr
sepulchre. now bequeathed to my immortal !
dead the flag they had 80 desperately deienued
for their winding sheet!
A little colloquy between the commo-
dore and one Of the young ladies who
made and presented the flag to him for
the Ranger, is also interesting. The thir-
teen stars in that flag were cut from the
wedding dress OF Helen Seavey, who mar
ried young officer of tie New Hampshire
line. Four of the other girls who assist
ed at that quilting party" were Mary
Langdon, Caroline Chandler, Augusta
PIERCE, and Dorothy Hall. 1t was the
| first American flag to be saluted by the
guns OF a European naval power, ana the
first that Europe ever saw. When Jones
met Miss Langdon some time after the
hattie he told her that his ardent desire
| had been to bring the flag home, but that
he could not bear to take 1t from the