Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-30

authority of the officers), the exigencies Of
the day rendering it easy for her to pass
the examinations.
Miss Baker served in this famous frigate
three years without her sex becoming
known to her shipmates. She in tho
battle between Old Ironsides and the Guer-
riere, the Java and the Cyane and Levant.
her position as a marine requiring her to
take station in the tops where she loaded
and fired her musket with telling effect at
the enemy.
On the cessation of hostilities she retired
from the service and, returning to her old
home, secured the forgiveness of her PAR
ents and settled down to the everyday
life of New England rural existence. The
passion for wearing male attire, however,
did not leave her, and after she had been
home q few years she again donned mas
culne habilimentS and made a tour
through the southern states by shipping
in a coasting vessel.
Rebuking a Midshipman.
It was while she was travelling from
Springfield to Newport, r. l., in stage
coach that Miss Baker had occasion to give
an exhibition of her naval training. In the
coach was a party of sailors and an AmerI-
can midshipman who were uproarious in
| their conversation that they gave offense to
| the other woman passenger besides Miss
Baker. Addressing the offending midship-
| man, Miss Baker gave him to understand.
| In the plainest English, that he must cease
| his undesirable language or abide Icy the re-
! suits. The youngster fiared up, declared
| that he was an officer in the United States
navy, man of honor, ETC., and would take
| no counsel from a. mere sprig OF masculine
humanity Miss Baker appeared TO be.
At the conclusion of this TRADE our hero
| Inc gave the youth a slap on his check with
| her glove, and then, of course. there was
| the usual conventional exchange Of cards.
| with the meeting set down for tavern in
| Newport. The immediate upshot of the re-
buke was the abrupt cessation of improper
| talk on the part Of the midshipman and his
! all arri,-a ut U,ly
| stepped out of the coach and asked for the
| best inn, declaring that she wanted room
where a little difficulty could be settled
without interference of the authorities.
| Mine host cheerfully complied with the de-
| mand, for those were days when duels and
| matters of honor were of too frequent oc-
currence to arouse more than passing in
terest.
On reaching her apartment Miss Baker
found a second whom she promptly dis
patched to the staggering midshipman.
| After considerable delay the youth was fer
reted out, and his second selected pistols at
| ten PAGES and the time the following
| night. Very awkwardly. it happened that
| the dimensions of Miss Bakers apartment
did not permit of ten PAGES" but that
made little difference to our heroine, for her
blood was up and she wanted fight
Spelling a Plot.
At the appointed hour the clustering MIDI
shipman appeared with his second and a
few friends. When he learned that the
meeting" was to take place at distance
of only four PAGES he gave a sickly smile
and remarked:
This looks like murder
ct will not be murder SIR retorted Miss
Baker. ''if you keep up your pistol as
steadily as you did your offensive tongue
while in the COACH"
To this essay. the youth made no reply,
but he looked very blue around his gills,
as the seaman would express it.
The seconds having marked off the mea-
ger four PAGES, the opponents took their
prescribed stations and faced each other
There was something about the steady hand
and quiet nerve of the disguised woman
that seemed to take all the starch out of
the young midshipman for as he faced the
appraised pistol he seemed to forget all
about his previous blusterrngs, and hum
bly, begged that the fight might be settled
otherwise, thereby spelling an excellent
scene In dramatic plot.
On completing her tour of the southern
states Miss Baker returned TO Massachu-
sets. where she was married, and became
the mother of a respected family.