The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-05-07

it to his successor in the charge, and he
to his.
The rule adopted on board the ships
on which | have met "The Man without
a Country" was, / think, transmitted
from the beginning. No mess liked to
have him permanently, because his pres
ence cut off all talk of home or of the
prospect of return, of politics or letters,
OF peace or of war--cut off more than
half the talk men like to have at sea.
But 1t was always thought too hard
that he should never meet the rest of us,
except to touch hats, and we finally sank
into one system. He was not permitted
to talk with the men unless an officer
was by. With officers he had unre
strained intercourse, as far as they and
he chose. But he grew shy, though he
had favorites: | was one. Then the cap
tain always asked him to dinner on Mon
day. Every mess in succession took up
the invitation in its turn. According to
the size of the ship, you had him at your
mess more or less often at dinner. His
breakfast he ate in his own stateroom,
he always had a stateroom, which was
where sentinel or somebody on the
watch, could see the door. And whatever
else he ate or drank he ate or drank
alone. Sometimes, when the marines or
sailors had any special jollification, they
were permitted to invite "Plain But
tons" as they called him. Then Nolan
was sent with some officer, and the men
were forbidden to speak of home while he
was there. They called him "Plain But |
tons" because, while he always chose to |
wear regulation army uniform, he was
not permitted to wear the army button,
for the reason that it bore either the |
initials or the insignia of the country
he had disowned.
/ remember soon after / Joined the
navy, ] was on shore with some of the
older officers from our ship and from the
Brandywine, which we had met at Alex
andria. We had leave to make a party
and go up to Cairo and the Pyramids. |
As we logged along some of the gentle
men fell to talking about Nolan, and
someone told the system which was
adopted from the first about his books
and other reading. As he was almost
never permitted to go on shore, even
though the vessel lay in port for months,
his time, at the best, hung heavy; and
everybody was permitted to lend him
books, ii they were not published in
America and made no allusion to it.
These were common enough in the old
days, when people in the other hemi-
sphere talked of the United States as
little as we do of Paraguay. He had
almost all the foreign papers that came
into the ship, sooner or later; only some
body must go over them first, and cut
out any advertisement or stray para
graph that alluded to America. Right in
the midst of one of Napoleon's battles,
or one of Canning's speeches poor No
Ian would find a great hole, because on
the back of the page of that paper there
had been an advertisement of a packet
Tor New York, or scrap from the presi
lent's message. / say this was the first
time ! ever heard OF this plan, which
afterwards ! had enough, and more than
enough, to do with. ] remember it, be-
'ause poor Phillips, who was of the
party, "a soon as the allusion to read
ng was made, told story of something
which happened at the Cape of Good
Hope on Nolan's first voyage; and it is
he only thing ever knew of that voy
Ige. They had touched at the Cape, and
lad done the civil thing with the Eng
ish admiral and the feet, and then,
eaving for long cruise up the Indian
,cean, Phillips had borrowed a lot of
english books from an officer, which in
hose days. as indeed in these, was quite
windfall. Among them. as the devil
would order, was the Lay of the Last
linstrel," which they had all of them
card Of but which most of them had
ever seen. | think it could not have
cen published long Well, nobody
bought there could be any risk Of any
hing national in that, though Phillips
wore old Shaw had cut out the Tenn
est" from Shakespeare before he let
,olan have it, because he said, THE
ought to be ours and, by Joye
houId be one dsy." So Nolan was per
lifted to join the circle one afternoon
hen a lot of them sat on deck smok
~ and reading aloud. People do not do
nch things SO often now, but when |
-as young we got rid of great deal of
me so. Well. so it happened that in
is turn Nolan took the book and read
, the others; and he read very well as
know Nobody in the circle knew a
ne of the poem, only it was all magic
M Ubiutt hHiNdh , anu was ttH lAtuo-
nd years ago. Poor Nolan ytad stead
v through the fifth canto, stopped
mute and drank something, and then
sgan. without thought of what was
,ming
reathes there the man, with soul so
dead.
'ho never to himself hath said
1t seems impossible to MS that any
,dy ever heard this for the first time;
1t all these fellows did then, and poor
olan himself went on, still unconscious
or mechanically :
This is. my own, my native landl fai
be,
Then they all saw something was TO Ter
y; but he expected to get through, | mel
ppose, turned little pale, but plunged ma
hose heart hath neer within him the
burned, of
home his footsteps he hath turned on
ON wandering on a foreign strandi- the
such there breathe, go, mark him well. me
car
BY this time the men were all. beside Wa
amselves, wishing there was any way the