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

mand of the Legion of the West I
told him 1t was a very gallant officer
named Grant. and that, by our last
news news, ne e. was about to establish his
Where was Vicksburgr I worked that
out on the map: it was about a hundred
miles. more or less, above his old Fort
Adams; and ! thought Fort Adams must
plantation. at walnut Hills,' said he;
well, that Is a changer
Il tell you. Ingham. It was q hard
thing to condense the history of half
a century into that talk with a sick
man. And l do not now know what I
told him-of emigration, and the means
OF it-of steamboats, and railroads and
teiegraphs-of inventions and books
and literature-of the colleges and
West Point and the Naval School-but
ever you heard. You see. 1t was Rob-
inson Crusoe asking all the accumu-
lated questions of fifty-six years,
d.n remember rem 1r,n p he asked. all Of a sud
| told him. he asked IL Old Abe was
Benjamin Lincoln's son. He said he
met old Gen. Lincoln when he was
quite a boy himself. at some Indian
kentuckian like himself. but I could
not tell him Of what family; he had
worked up from the ranks. Good for
him! cried Nolan: I am glad of that.
L
have thought our danger was in keep
ing up those regular SUGGESTIONS in the
first families Then 1 got to talking
about my visit to Washington. I told
him of meeting the Oregon representa-
tive. Harding: 1 told him about the
Smithsonian and the exploring expe-
dition; / told him about the Capitol
and the statues for the pediment. and
Washington. Ingham. told him every
thing / could think of that would show
the grandeur of his country and its
prosperity; but 1 could not make up
my mouth to tell him word about this
internal rebellion!
And he drank it in. and enjoyed it as
i cannot tell you He grew more and
more silent, yet I never thought he
was tired or faint. I gave him 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 said
with a smile that ii would open at the
right place-and SO it did. There was
l knelt down and read, and he repeated
with me, For ourselves and our coun-
try. 0 gracious God. we thank Thee. that,
Notwithstanding our manifold trans
gressions of Thy holy laws. Thou hast
continued to us Thy marvellous kind
ness'-and so to the end of that thanks
giving. Then he turned to the end of
the same book, and / read the words
beseech Thee with Thy favor to behold
and bless Thy servant, the President of
the United States. and all others in au-
thority'-and the rest of the EPISCOPAL
collect. 'Danforth,' said he. I have re-
peated those prayers night and morning.
1t is now ffty-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
am gone And I went away.
But had no thought 1t was the end.
l knew he was happy. and / wanted
him to be alone.
But in an hour. when the doctor
went in gently. he found Nolan had
breathed his life away with a smile
He had something pressed close to his
lips. 1t was his fathers badge of the
Order of the Cincinnati
I'VE 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
ed to be called their God: for He hath
prepared for them a city,
tOn this slip OF paper he had written:
Bury me in the sea: 1t has been
my home, and I love it. But will not
some one set up a stone for my memory
at Fort Adams or at Orleans. that my
disgrace may not be more than ought
to bear? Say on 1t:
I'm Memory of
PHILIP NOLAN,
Lieutenant in the army of the
United States.
HE loved his country as no other
h,c r. L,,t a.