Tombstone epitaph., 1917-06-24

Anu tne men. sliu ne, lausnlnS,
 brought off a good deal besides furs'
 Then he went back-heavens. how
 far-to ask about the Chesapeake, and
 what was done to Barron for surren-
 dering her to the Leopard, and wheth-
 CT Burr ever tried again, and he ground
 showed. But in a moment that was
 over, and he said. God forgive me
 for I am sure I forgive him Ther
 he asked about the old war-tolc me the true story of his serving the gun the day We took the Java-askeo about dear old David Porter. as ht called him. Then he settled dowr more quietly, and very happily, to heal me tell in an hour the history of fifty years.
 How l wished 1t had been some body who knew something, But did as well as l could. I told him O, the English war. told him about Full ton and the steamboat beginning. told him about old Scott and Jackson told him all could think about tn, Mississippi, and New Orleans. ant Texas. and his own old Kentucky
 And do you know he asked who wa in command of the Legion of tn,
 WestT told him 1t was a very gal lant officer psmed Grant, and that b, our last news, he was about to estab fish his headquarters at vicksburg Then, Where was VicksburgT worked that out on the map; it wa, about a hundred miles, more or less above his old Fort Adams; and thought Fort Adams must be ruiI now. It must be at old Vick's plan tation.' said he; well. that is changer
 T tell you, Ingham. 1t was a haro thing to condense the history of hal1 century into that talk with a sick man. And I do not know what 1 told him-of emigration, and the means of it-of steamboats and railroads and telegraphs-of inventions and books and llterature-of the colleges and West Point and the Naval school but with the Queerest interruptions that ever you heard. You see it was Robinson Crusoe asking all the accu- mulated questions of fifty-six years.
 "I remember he asked. all of sud den, who was president now; and when l told him. he asked If old Abe was Gen. Benjamin Lincoln's son. He said he met old General Lincoln. when he was quite a boy himself, at some Indian treaty. I said no. that old Abe was a Kentuckian like himself. but l could not tell him of what family; he had worked up from the ranks. Good for him!' cried Nolan: I am glad of that. As I have broOded and won- dered. have thought our danger was in keeping up those regular success got talking about my visit to Wash ington. I told him of meeting the Ore gon congressman, Harding; told him about Smithsonian and the exploring expedition; l told him about the capi- tol-and the statues for the pediment and CrawfOrd's Liberty and Greenough's Washington: Ingham, l told him everything I could think of that would show the grandeur of his country and its prosperity.
 And he drank it in. and enjoyed 1t as I cannot tell you. He grew more and more silent, yet l never thought he was tired or faint. I gave him a glass of water, but he just wet his lips, and told me not to go away. Then he asked me to bring the Presbyterian Book of Public Prayer which lay there, and sad. with a smile, that it would open al the right place-and so 1t did. There was his double red mark down the page; I knelt down and read. and he repeated with me, For ourselves and our country. O gra- cious God. We thank thee, that, not withstanding our manifold transgPes- sions of thy holy laws. thou hast con- tinued to us thy marvellous Kindness and so to the end of that thanksgiv- ing. Then he turned to the end of the same book. and I read the words more familiar to me: Most heartily we beseech thee with thy favor to be- hold and bless thy servant. the presi- dent of the United States, and all others in authority'-and the rest of the Episcopal collect. IDanforth,' said he, I have repeated those prayers night and morning, 1t is now fifty-five years And then he said he would go to sleep. He bent me down over him and kissed me; and he said, Look in my Bible. Danforth, when l am gone And I went away.
 But I had no thought 1t was the end. l thought he was tired and would sleep. I knew he was happy, and I wanted him to be alone.
 But in an hour. when the doctor went in gently, he found Nolan had breathed bis life away with a smile. He had something pressed close to his lips. It was his fathers badge of the Order of Cincinnati.
 We looked in his Bible, and there was a slip of paper, at the place where he had marked the text
 "They desire a country, even a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for ne hath prepared for them a city,
 "On this slip of paper he had writ