The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1917-05-31
THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY
Continued from last week
PART II

MOAN must nave peen IN every &c,
and yet almost never on land. He tolt
me once, with grave smile, that n,
man in the world lived SO methodica
life as he. you know the boys "a,
am the Iron Mask, and you know
how busy he was" He said il did no,
do for any one 10 try to read all the
time more than TO do anything else all
the time, but that he read just five
i hours day. Then he said, 81 keep
up my notebooks, writing in them at
such and such hours from what have
been reading, and include in them
my scrapbooks" These were very
curious 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 ex-
tracts from newspapers. They had
bits of plants and ribbons, shells tied
on and carved scraps Of bone and
wood, which he had taught the men to
cut for him, and they were beautifully
illustrated.
Till he grew very old, he always
went aloft a great deal. He always
kept up his exercise, and ] never
heard that he was III. II any other
man was i'll he was the kindest nurse
in the world, and he knew more than
half the surgeons do. Then il any
body was sick or died, or il the cap
tain wanted him to on any other occa-
sion, he was always ready to read
prayers. | have remarked that he
read beautifully.
My own acquaintance with Philip
Nolan began six or eight years after
the war, on my first voyage after !
was appointed midshipman. 1t was
in the first days after our slave trade
treaty, while the reigning house,
which was still in Virginia, had still
sort of sentimentalism about the
suppression of the horrors of the Mid
die Passage, and something was some
times done that way. | first came to
understand anything about "the man
without a country" one day when we
overhauled dirty little schooner which
had slaves on board. An officer was
sent to take charge of her, and after a
few minutes he sent back his boat to
ask that some one might be sent him
who could speak Portuguese. We
were all looking over the rail when
the message came, and we all wished
we could interpret when the captain
asked who spoke Portuguese. But
none of the officers did, and just as the
captain was sending forward to ask if
any of the people could, Nolan step
ped out and said he should be glad to
interpret if the captain wished, as he
understood the language. The cap
tain thanked him, fitted out another
boat with him, and in this boat it was
my luck to go.
When we got there it was such a
scene as you seldom see and never
want to. Nastiness beyond account,
and chaos run loose in the midst of the
nastiness. The negroes were, most of
them, out of the hold and swarming i
all round the dirty deck, with cen
trail throng surrounding Vaughan and
him in every dialect and
patois of dialect, from the Zulu click
up to the Partisan of Beledeljereed.
As we came on deck Vaughan look
I'd down from hogshead on which he
had mounted in desperation and said:
"For Gods love, is there anybody
Who can make these wretehes under
stand something? ?"
Nolan said he could speak Portu-
yuese and one or two fine looking
zroomen were draggen out, who, rs
t had been found already, had work
d for the Portuguese at Fernando.
20. |,
"Tell them they are Free" said
Vaughan, land tell them that these
ascals are to be hanged as soon Is we
an get rope enough"
Nolan explained 1t in such Portu- 4,
,uese as the Kroomen could under
tand and they in turn to such Of the A.,
negroes as could understand them.
then there was such yell of delight,
Of fists, leaping and dancing, ,
issing of Nolan's feet and general
ush made to the hogshead by way of
pontaneous worship Of Vaughan as
he deus ex machina Of the occasion.
"Tell them" said Vaughan, well
leased, that will take them all TO /
ape Palmas."
This did not answer so well. Cape