The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1909-05-28

dents in the early days of the school, and that are
of sufficient age to have done shade duty for many
generations of sailors before their day, are still
standing, the march of modern improvements hav
ing been SO directed as to pass the ancient mon
archs by.
The midshipman's life, small as is its compass, is
intricate and full of interest. The externals, II
they really may be accounted externals, have o
world Of significance. The young sailors are
hemmed in with incentives to a heroic discharge
of duty. West Point has It's battle flags and its
memorial tablets to the men who served theil
country against its enemies on land. At Annapo
lis are gathered the trophies of the sea, and there
are many of them, for the defeats of the ships
of the American navy were so few that a line OF
two Of history's pages are sufficient to record them.
Perry's pennant, which few from his flagship,
the Lawrence, at the battle Of Lake Erie, is here
1t is a red ensign with the words of Lawrence EN-.
broidered on it in white letters-words that are
now the rallying cry of the men of the American
navy: Don't give up the ship" Capt. Lawrence
had been killed in the action of his ship, the
Chesapeake, with the British ship Shannon only a
few months before Perry engaged the enemy, but
his last injunction to his men already had become
the Yankee tars' watchword. The Lake Erie flag
is in an almost perfect state of preservation.
The flag of the British brig Boxer, Capt. Blyth
commanding, captured by the American brig En-
terprise off the coast of Maine, Is in the academyis
keeping. Capt. Burrows, the American command
err, was killed in the very hour of his victory. Near
the Boxer trophy are the flags of four Of the
British vessels captured by Perry at the battle
of Lake Erie-the Lady Provost, the Hunter, the
Little Belt, the Chippewa, and the Detroit. With
the Erie flags are those of the Confidence, the
Beresford, the Chubb and the Linnet, British ves-
sells sunk or taken by the American McDonough at
the battle of Lake Champlain.
Possibly the most interesting of all these spoils
of the American sea fights is the great wooden
figure of the British lion wearing a crown and
with one paw resting on a globe representing the
world. For arrogance of presumption the concep-
ton has few equals. 1t was, Of course, carrying out
in sculpture the idea of the world sovereignty of
Great Britain. When Decatur, in the ship United
States. defeated and captured the British Mace
DOMAIN the lion with its globe was found on its
forward deck.
There are two iron "long Toms" in the trophy
collection that fell into the hands of Commodore
McDonough after the victory of Lake Champlain.
One of the guns has a deep indentation made by a
shot from a gun OF the American fleet during the
action. The British commander, Commodore Down
lie, was killed In this lake fight. 1t is a matter of
record that he came to his death by getting into
the way OF the recoil of one of the cannons row
in the Annapolis museum.
Charles Stewart, the American grandfather of
the Irish leader, Charles Stewart Parnell, made
possible the addition of two flag trophies to the
Annapolis collection. When In command of the
Constitution cold Ironsides") he captured two
British men-of-war, the Cyane and the Leyant
which he fought near the coast of the Madeiras
Stewart won the fight,
The navy of the United States had its full share
of making the ~country's history. There is no pres
emit intention on the part Of the men who have
the midshipmen In charge to let them become for
getful Of the past and the glory that has come K
the service.