The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1904-02-11
ROPES General Editor
CLARK AND HIS CHUM.

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Rear Admiral Charles E. Clark,
the Vernon er who won the love and
honor of his tcountrymen by his cele-
brated run a round Cape Horn with
the Oregon, and his participation in
the battle of Santiago Immediately
afterward, is now, according to the
Grand Rapids Herald, doing a work
that shows the kind of q man he is as
we'll as anything could. Admiral
CLARK is doing his utmost to save the
life of Rear Admiral Francis A. Cook,
retired, who is now a guest at the
residence OF the former in Philadel-
phia and an invalid at the same time,
CLARK and Cook were roommates and
ohums at the Naval Academy. Both
were ensigns in the battle of Mobile
Bay in the civil war, Cook in the
Genessee, taking part in the attack ON
the forts, while Clark on the Ossipee
passed the forts. Later both were at.
tached to the Vanderbilt on a cruise
and frequently in after years they
were at the same station. Clark, on
the Oregon, and Cook, commanding
the Brooklyn, shared the honors Of
the battle of Santiago with their
brother officers. Recently Clark has
been attached to Naval Home in
Philadelphia, while Cook, now re-
tired, has been in Annapolis, though
in a hospital i'll Brooklyn Tor a time.
Some weeks ago, Clark learned that
his old chum was sick at Annapolis,
with the valves of his heart out uf
gear and his mind distressed with
melancholia, that he was practically
alone in the house in which he had
found his wife dead, and that he was
helpless and resigned to death. Clark
immediately went to the bedside of
his friend and found things as he had
heard. Cook had shut himself up in
his house and refused to see callers at
all, making the sole exception of Clark
in his orders to his attendants. He
had given further orders that Mrs.
Cooks chair, and work table, and
basket, ETC., should not be disturbed
at all, and surrounded by reminders
Of his grief he was brooding over it
and nearing death.
CLARK saw the condition OF his
friend with great regret, but instead
OF accepting it az inevitable he at
once set to work to remedy matters in
his own way. He told Cook that he
must have the latter visit him in
Philadelphia. A couple OF days later
the hero of the Oregon came again
and that time he had a special car
and all arrangements for the transfer
Of his sick friend to his home. No"
would not be taken for an answer and
soon the journey was over and for the
first time In many years Cook was
Clark's guest. Amid the new sur
roundings, with faithful attendants,
and the news of an approaching visit
of one of his sons, on leave of absence
from his ship in the Mediterranean
3 leave of absence procured through
. ChO dnu dUONo oil WIFI
the cheering company Of the jolly
sailor chum of his youth, it is re-
ported that Cook is growing better
and may pull through after all.
All! Big-hearted, kindly Charlie
CLARK! How like him as he is known
here in Vermont and as his record
shows him to be. The man who
headed for Cuba with his one ship
without a thought of fear of the
Spanish fleets which were known to
be somewhere about that locality, now
tenderly watching beside his sick
chum and trying to keep him from
Deaths door. Where could be found
a better type for the warrior of this
great republic than in him?