Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-05-13
HERE TIL

Porter when he took possession of the
Nukahiwa Islands. Not this Porter. you
know. but old Porter, his father, Es-
sex Porter-that is, the old Essex
Porter. not this Essex. AS an artillery
officer. who had seen service in the
west. Nolan knew more about forth
ffcations embrasures, ravelins, stock
AIDES and all that than any of them
did: and he worked with a right good
will in fixing that battery all right l
have always thought it was pity Por-
ter did not leave him in command there
with Gamble. That would have settled
all the question about his punishment.
We should have kept the islands, and
at this moment we should have one
station in the Pacific ocean. Our
French friends. too, when they wanted
this little watering place. would have
found 1t was preoccupied- But Madi-
all that away.
Nolan was thirty then he must have
been near eighty when ne died. He
looked sixty when he was forty. But
he never seemed to me to change a
hair afterward. AS l imagine his life,
from what I have seen and heard of
it, he must have been in every sea, and
yet almost never on land. He must
have known, in formal way, more
officers in our service than any man
living knows. He told me once, with
a grave smile. that no man in the
world lived methodical life as he
You know the boys say l am the
Iron Mask, and you know how busy
he was" He said it did not do for
any one to try to read all the time
but that he read just five hours a day
Then" he said, Il keep up my note
books, writing in them at such and
such hours from what | have been
scrap books" These were very curl
Gus indeed. He had six or eight, of
different subjects. There was one of
history, one of natural science. one
which he called odds and Ends"
But they were not merely books of eN-
tracts from newspapers. They had bits
of plants, ribbons, shells tied on. and
carved scraps of bone and wood which
and they were beautifully illustrated.
He drew admirably. He had some of
the funniest drawings there, ard some
of the most pathetic, that ] have ever
seen in my life. | wonder who will
have Nolan's scrap books?
Well, he said his reading and his
notes were his profession, and that
they took five hours and two hours.
respectively. of each day. Then" said
he. every man should have a diversion
as we'll as profession. NV natural
history is my diversion" That took
two hours a day more. The men used
to bring him birds and fish. but on
long cruise he had to satisfy himself
with ceHllpcueS anu cothi ana
such small game. He was the only
naturalist 1 ever met who knew any
thing about the habits of the house fly
and the mosquito. All those people
can tell you is whether they are
lepidoptera or steptopotera; but. as
for telling how you can get rid
of them or how they get away from
you when you strike them. why,
Linaeus knew as little of that as John
Fox. the idiot, did. These nine hours
made Nolan's regular daily 'toccupa-
ton" The rest of the time he talked
or walked. Till he grew very old he
went a1oft a great deal. He always
kept up his exercise, and ! never heard
that he was ill. If any other man was
i'll he was the kindest nurse in the
world, and he knew more than half
the surgeons do. Then if anybody was
sick or died, or if the captain wanted
him to on any other occasion. he was