The Dermott news., 1917-05-31
THIRD INSTAIlMENT,

And this Is part of the story where all the legends agree; that the commo- dore said:
 'T see you do, and thank you sir; ;; and 1 shall never forget this day, sir, and you never shall. sir"
 And after the whole thing was over, and he had the Englishman's sword, in the midst of the state and ceremony of the quarterback, he said:
 s Where is Mir. Nolan? Ask Mir. No Ian te come here."
 And when Nolan came, the captain said:
 "Mr. Nolan, we are all very grateful to you today: you are one of Us today you will be named in the dispatches" yAnd then the old man took off his own sword of ceremony and gave it to Nolan. and made him put it on. The man told me this who saw t. Nolan cried like T bahy, and weil he might. He had not worn q sword since that internal day at Fort Adams. But al. ways nfterwnrd on occasions of cere- mony. he wore that quaint old French sword or The commodore S.
 The captain did mention him in the dispatches. II WIS always said he asked that he might be pardened. He wrote a special letter to the secretary of war. But nothing ever came of 1t. As I said. t,iat was about the time when they hegan to ignore the whole transaction at Washington, and when Nolans Imprisonment began to carry itself on because there waS nobody to stop 1t without any new orders from 0home
 have heard l. said that he WAS with Porter when he took possession of the Nukahiwa Islands. Not this Porter, you know. but old Porter. his father. Essex Porter. that k. the old Essex Porter. not this Essex As an artil- lery officer, who had seen service in the West, Nolan knew more about for tificntions, emhrasures rayciues, stockades. and all that. than any of them did and he worked with right good will in fixing that battery all right. l have always thought IL was pity Porter did not leave him in 
 would have settled all the question about his punishment We should have kept the islands. and at this mo- ment We should have one station in the Pacific ocean. Our French friends. too. when they wanted this little Wa tering place. would have found II was pre-accupied. But Madison and the VirgtniSus, of course. lung all that s1ray.
 All .hat was near fifty years ago. If .sHIan WIS thirty then, he must have been near eighty when he died. He looked sixty when he was forty. But he never seemed to me to change hair aftcrwurd As l imagine his life, from what l have seen and heard of it. he must have been in every sen, and yet almost never on land. He must have known in Il formal way, more officers ill our service than any man living knows. He told me once, pwith grave smile, that no man in the World lived so methodical q life as he. N'ou know the boys say am the 1reo Mask. and you know how busy he was." He said it did not do fer anyone to try to read all the time, more than to do anything else all the time; but that he read just five hours Il dny. Then" he said. "I keep up my note books. writing Tn them at such and such hours from what l have been reading: and l include i'll them my scrapbooks." These were very curious indeed. He had six or eight. of differ ent subjects. There was one of his tory. one of natural science, one which he called odds and Ends" But they were not merely books of extracts from newspapers. They had bits of ~r.ants and ribbons. shells tied on, and vcarved scraps of bone and wood, which he had taught the men to cut for him, and they were beautifully illustrated. He drew admirably. He had some of the funniest drawings there. and some of the most pathetic. that have ever seen in my life. I wonder who will have Nolan's scrapbooks.
 We'll. he said his reading and hls notes were his profession. and that they took Ave hours and two hours respectively of each day. Then" said he. "every man should have di. version as well as q profession. My natural history k my diversion" That took two hours q day more. The men used to bring him birds and fish. but on long cruise he had to satisfy him. self with ceatlpssles aad eeekraaehes and such small game, He was the only naturalist l ever met who knew any thing about the habits af The house fly and the mesquite, All those people can tell you whether thes arc Leni. deptera or Steptopotera; but as for Hteiling how you eaa get Fid If them. or how they get away from you when you strike theu, why, iinnaeuS knew as llttle of that as John F0y. the idiot. did. These nine hours made Nalan's Irregular daily Occupation" The rest of the time he talked or walked. Till