Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1918-02-22
There Appeared Nolan in His Shirt
Sleeves.

he had taught the men to cut for him,
and they were beautifully illustrated.
He drew admirably. He had some of
the funniest drawings there, and some
Of the most pathetic, that have ever
seen in my life. I wonder who will
have Nolan's scrapbooks.
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 d.
version as we'll as a profession. My
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 him.
self with centipedes and cockroaches
and such small game. He was the only
naturalist I ever met who knew any
thing about the habits Of the house fly
and the mosquito. All those people
can tell you whether they are Lepi-
doptera 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, Linnaeus knew
as little Of that as John Foy, the idiot,
did. These nine hours made Nolan's
regular daily Occupation" The rest
Of the time he talked or walked. Till
he grew very old, he went aloft 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 kind
est 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 always ready to read
prayers. I 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 I
was appointed midshipman. It was
in the first days after our slave trade
treaty, while the reigning house,
which was still the house Of Virginia,
had still a sort Of sentimentalism
about the suppression Of the horrors
of the middle passage, and something
was sometimes done that way. We
were in the South Atlantic on that
business. From the time I joined, I
believe thought Nolan was sort Of
lay chaplain-a chaplain with blue
coat. never asked about him. Ev-
erything in the ship was strange to
me. I knew it was green to ask Ques-
tons, and I suppose I thought there
was a "Plain-Buttons" on every Ship
We had him to dine in our mess once
a week, and the caution was given that
on that day nothing was to be said
about home. But if they had told US
not to say anything about the planet
Mars or the book Of Deuteronomy, I
should not have asked why !, there were
great many things which seemed to
me to have as little reason. I first
came to understand anything about
1.-THE man without a country" one day
when we overhauled a dirty little
schooner which had slaves on board.
An officer was sent to take charge Of
her, and after few minutes he sent
back his boat to ask that someone
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 Por-
tuguese. But none of the officers did ;
! and just as the captain was sending
forward to ask If any Of the people
could, Nolan stepped out and said he
should be glad to interpret, il the cap
tain wished, as he understood the Ian.