Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-28

on her beam-ends half the time? He
did, agrees a third. And he treats his
men fair, too. Didn't he throw the cat
o. nine-tails overheard from the Provi-
dence and say he knew how to sail a
ship without f1oggin' her crew to death?
X X x x
pEOPLE were always expressing opin-
ions, usually very decided ones,
about John Paul Jones. He was the
sort of man who, wherever he appeared,
| caused talk. People seldom agreed
about him. An Englishwoman, although
he was at that moment at war with
her countrymen, once pronounced him
to be "the most agreeable Seawolf one
could hope to meet with" Even the
nib of Abigail Adams pen, usually so
mordant, altered a little when it
touched upon the gifted captain. Writ
ing from Paris, where her husband,
John Adams of Massachusetts, was one
of the American Commissioners, she
outlined for Elizabeth Cranch this por-
trait in pastel:
"Chevalier Jones you have heard
much of; he is most uncommon char
acter. dare say you would be as much
disappointed in him as was. From
the intrepid character he justly sup
ported in the American Navy, I ex-
pected to have seen a rough, stout, war;
like Roman-inStead of that should
sooner think of wrapping him up in
cottonwood, and putting him into my
pocket, then sending him to contend
with cannon balls"
But let us hear Mr.. Adams himself.
The scene is cosmopolitan restaurant,
the Epee Royale, at the French port of
Lorient, where Mr.. Adams, as the guest
OF Capt Jones, has come down from
Paris to inspect the Ranger:
AN elegant dinner we had, and all
very agreeable.
After dinner Jones came on board
our ship. This Is the most ambitious
and intriguing officer in the American
Navy. Jones has art and secrecy, and
aSpires very high. Eccentricities and
irregularities are to be expected from
him. They are in his character, they
are visible in his eye. His voice is
soft and still and small; his eye has
keenness and wildness and softness in
it,"
John Adams own eye had joundice in
It, but 1t could sometimes see with con-
siderable clarity. The keen, wild look
characteristic of the colonial Sea-rover
was heritage, perhaps, from his High
land mother, but the high cheekbone
was characteristic often seen on the
men of the Scottish Lowlands, in which
John Paul, afterwards called Jones, was
born, as nearly as it can be fixed, on
July 6, 1747. The place was the fishing
village of Arbigland, Parish of Kirkbean,
Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, on the
north shore of Solway Firth, in the
southwest country which produced VIII
liam Wallace, Robert Bruce, John Knox
and Robert Burns.
A year before the dark little John
Paul was born, the English had crushed,
on April 16, 1746, the last hopes for
Scottish independence at the battle of
Culloden; in consequence there settled
down upon those who had dreamed of
Stuart prince again upon the Scot
fish throne q brooding despair that
caused Smollett to write "The Tears of
Scotland" Scotsmen who had fought
for Bonnie Prince Charlie fled or were
deported by thousands to Ireland, Can
ada and to America.
His having been reared in this atmos-
phere OF resentment and defeated hopes
perhaps accounts for the bitterness that
John Paul Jones, the half Gael, fire.
quently manifested against the Eng
lish as a race, though he was ever
ready to admire individuals as searnen
and fighters.
PORN as the son Of gardener, John
Paul Jones appeared like an obscure
speck In the middle of the broad canvas
of the eighteenth century, canvas
streaked with blood, murder, rebellion,
greed, and many winds of doctrine. 1t
was a century of transition during
which nations were racked by internal
as well as external wars.
John Paul Jones entered the welter
alone, friendleSs and without influence;
vigor, a perceptive mind, personal
charm, and Steely determination to
win distinction, applause and power.
His aristocratic attitude in later years
gave color to a belief that he was the
natural son of the Earl of Selkirk but
there is no proof that his romantic heart
was fed by aught but common blood.
1t is noteworthy, however, that no.
where in his numerous collected writ
ings does John Paul Jones allude to his
father. For his mother he had an Of
ten expressed attachment, but regarding
John Paul, the father, he was
silent. Whether there was an enmity
between them, and whether this enmity
was due to the fathers failure to pre-
ceive that he had genius for son, it
cannot now be said, but there is EVIL
dence Of sympathy between the two.
The elder John Paul, of a Fife
shire family, came to the west coast of
Scotland from Leith, on the east coast,
where his forefathers had lived for
years. He was engaged by Robert Craik,
a member of Parliament. as landscape
gardener on the estate of Arbigland,
4-l- II.
third Earl Of Selkirk, who retained an
other estate to the north, the castle Of
which sat upon a promontory called
Saint Marys Isle, at the mouth of the
River Dee On this isle the little John
Paul played, waded, and sailed toy ships
during his formative years.
His mother was JEANNE Macduff,