Elsie at the World's Fair

by Martha Finley

  CHAPTER IX.

  By the middle of the afternoon Grandma Elsie, Grace, and the little oneswere all weary enough to be glad to return to the _Dolphin_ for a rest.

  After a refreshing nap Grace and the children gathered about Mrs. Travillaand begged for the fulfilment of her promise to tell the story of "LongTom," and she kindly complied.

  "The _General Armstrong_ was a privateer, and the fight I am now going totell about was one of the most famous of the war of 1812-14," she said."The vessel was commanded by Captain Samuel C. Reid, a native ofConnecticut. He went to sea when only eleven years old and was amidshipman with Commodore Truxton. He was still a young man--onlythirty--when the event of which we are talking occurred. That was on the26th of September, 1814, in the harbor of Fayal, one of the Azores islandsbelonging to Portugal.

  "While lying there at anchor the _Armstrong_ was attacked by a largeBritish squadron. That was in flagrant violation of the laws ofneutrality. Commodore Lloyd was the commander of the squadron. At eighto'clock in the evening he sent four large well-armed launches, each mannedby about forty men, to attack the American vessel.

  "The moon shone brightly, and Captain Reid, who had noticed the movementsof the British and suspecting that their design was to attack him, wasgetting his vessel under the guns of the castle. Those guns and his ownopened fire at almost the same instant and drove off the launches withheavy loss."

  "That means a great many men killed, grandma?" queried little Elsie.

  "Yes, dear, a great many of the British; on our side there was one mankilled, and a lieutenant was wounded. But that was not the end of theaffair. At midnight another attack was made with fourteen launches andabout five hundred men.

  "A terrible fight ensued, but at length the British were driven off with ahundred and twenty killed and one hundred and eighty wounded."

  "That was a great many," commented the little girl. "Did they give it upthen, grandma?"

  "No; at daybreak one of the British vessels, the _Carnation_, made anotherattempt. She began with a heavy fire, but the gunners of the _Armstrong_fired shots at her so rapidly and so well directed that she was soon sobadly cut up that she hastened to get out of their range.

  "In all this fighting the British had lost over three hundred in killedand wounded, while only two Americans were killed and seven wounded. Butthe _Armstrong_ was a good deal damaged and Captain Reid saw that he couldnot stand another fight such as she had just gone through, so he directedher to be scuttled to prevent her from falling into the hands of theenemy."

  "Scuttled? What's that, grandma?" asked little Ned.

  "Making holes in the bottom or sides of a vessel, so that the water canget in and sink her, is called scuttling. It was done to prevent theBritish from taking possession of her. After our men had left her,however, they boarded, and set her on fire."

  "Grandma Elsie," said Grace, "I think I remember reading that that victoryof Reid's--or perhaps I should say successful resistance--had much to dowith the saving of New Orleans."

  "Yes; that British squadron was on its way to Jamaica, where the Britishvessels were gathering for the expedition to move against and take NewOrleans, and their object in attacking the _Armstrong_ was to secure herfor themselves and make her useful in that work. Had they succeeded intaking her they would have reached New Orleans while it was utterlydefenceless, General Jackson having not yet arrived there. But Reid, inhis splendid defence of his vessel, so crippled those of the enemy thatthey did not reach Jamaica until fully ten days later than the time whenthe expedition was expected to sail from there; Lloyd was waited for andthe expedition thus delayed until Jackson had reached the city and wasmaking haste with arrangements for its defence."

  "Yes, grandma, I've heard the story about that," said little Elsie; "howthe British tried to take that city and General Jackson and his soldierskilled so very many of them, and drove the rest away."

  Neddie was looking very grave and thoughtful. "Isn't it wicked to killfolks, grandma?" he asked.

  "Yes, dear, unless it is necessary to prevent them from killing or badlyinjuring us or someone else. The British were terribly abusing our poorsailors and it was right for our government to fight them, because theywould not stop it until they were forced to do so."

  "But you haven't told about 'Long Tom' yet, grandma," said Elsie; "thatbig gun, you know, that we saw to-day."

  "Yes; it was one of those on the _Armstrong_ with which Captain Reiddefended his ship."

  "Weren't the Americans glad when they heard about it, grandma? and didn'tthey praise Captain Reid?"

  "Indeed they did! and also made him many handsome presents. The State ofNew York thanked him and gave him a sword."

  "Hadn't he afterward something to do with a change in our flag, GrandmaElsie?" asked Grace.

  "Yes; our flag at first bore thirteen stars and thirteen stripes, and asnew States were admitted another star and stripe were added for each one.But it was soon found that that was making the flag very large unless thestripes became narrower and narrower, while there was nothing to show whathad been the original number of States. Captain Reid suggested the plan ofretaining the thirteen stripes to indicate that, and the adding of a newstar every time a new State was admitted, and Congress adopted that plan.He was certainly a talented man. He invented and erected the signaltelegraphs at the Battery and the Narrows."

  "I'm proud of him, Grandma Elsie!" said Grace, her face lighting up withenthusiasm. "His defence at Fayal against such overwhelming numbers waswonderful. And so was Jackson's at New Orleans. England was a great andpowerful nation while ours was but small and weak, but we were in theright--fighting against dreadful wrongs done to our sailors--and Godhelped us to drive away our haughty, powerful foe, and deliver our bravetars from her unendurable oppression."

  "Yes, dear; and to Him let us ever give all the glory and the praise. Oh,may our nation always serve God and trust in him! then no foe shall everprevail against her."

  "I hope we do, grandma," said little Elsie, "for on a quarter papa gave methe other day, I saw the words, 'In God we trust.'"

  "Oh!" cried Ned at that moment, "the folks are coming! I see them there onthe Peristyle--papa and mamma, Grandpa and Grandma Dinsmore, Lu and theothers."

  "Yes, and the boat is waiting for them," added Elsie "and see, they aregetting in."

  "Oh, I am so glad," said Grace, "though they are earlier than usual."

  "Yes," said Grandma Elsie, "I suppose because it is Saturday evening andwe are all so tired with going and sight-seeing that we need to get earlyto bed and rest that we may not be too weary to enjoy the coming Sabbathday."

  "I 'spect so," said Ned, and running forward as his father and the othersstepped upon the deck, "Papa," he asked, "did you come home soon to getready to keep Sunday?"

  "Yes," was the reply; "we all need a good rest that we may be able toenjoy God's holy day and spend it in his service."

  "Where have you been since we left you, Lu?" asked Grace, as her sistertook a seat by her side.

  "Papa took us to look at the Krupp gun," was the reply. "It is a wonderfulone; weighs two hundred and forty-eight thousand pounds; just think! onehundred and twenty-four tons! It was certainly a great undertaking tobring it all the way from Essen, Germany, to Chicago. They told us that atHamburg and at Baltimore great cranes were used, one of which could lift asixty-five ton locomotive, to lift the gun to the trucks that were tocarry it on the railroad; they had to put eight trucks under it, fasteningtwo together, then the two pair together, and so on till they had theeight all well fastened to each other, when they laid the gun on them andstarted it off.

  "And only think, Gracie, it takes half a ton of powder and costs onethousand two hundred and fifty dollars to fire that great gun once. Wesaw the steel plate, sixteen inches thick, through which a twelve-inchshot had been fired. It had cracked the plate and thrown the upper cornerhalf a yard away. I forgot to say the projectile fired from that gunweighs a ton, and goes sixteen miles."

 
; "Oh," cried Grace, "that's just dreadful! I hope there will never be a warwhere such terrible guns will be used--never any more at all; but thatvery soon, as the Bible says, the people 'shall beat their swords intoplough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not liftup sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.'"

  "Yes," said Grandma Elsie, overhearing her, "that will be a blessed time."

  "Yes, indeed!" said Lucilla.

  "Where else did you go?" asked Grace.

  "Oh, we have been promenading along the lake shore, sitting down now andthen on the seats to watch the many boats of various sorts and sizes, ourown among the rest; and now, here we are to stay for the night, I suppose.I must, at least, for papa has said so."

  She looked smilingly up into his face as she spoke, for he was nowstanding by her side.

  "I think that will be best for each of my children, and hope that my deareldest daughter does not feel at all rebellious in regard to the matter,"he said in his pleasant, fatherly way.

  "No, indeed, papa!" she responded heartily, "though the beautiful Court ofHonor is so fascinating--especially at night--that if you had given mepermission to go back there after tea I should have been very glad to doso."

  "And I should take pleasure in allowing you that gratification if Ithought it best and right."

  "I don't doubt that in the least, papa, and I am very glad to have you todecide all such questions for me," she replied.

  "Will we go over there, to the Court of Honor, to-morrow, papa?" askedlittle Elsie.

  "No, daughter, we must keep the Sabbath day holy, and if we go anywhere itwill be to church."

  "And if we don't, we'll have a meeting here on our own deck as we have onsome other Sundays; won't we, papa?"

  "Yes; and the Lord Jesus will be with us; for he has said, 'Where two orthree are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.'"

  "Oh, papa, I shall like to think of that--that the dear Lord Jesus is herewith us--but I do wish I could see him."

  "I too," said little Ned. "Please, papa, sit down now and let your babyboy sit on your knee a little while. You have been gone so long away fromme."

  "So long, papa's dear boy!" the captain repeated with a smile of fatherlyaffection into the bright, coaxing little face, then seating himself, hetook the little fellow in his arms, and petted and caressed him to hisheart's content. "Papa missed his dear little boy," he said, "but hoped hewas having a good time here with dear grandma."

  "Yes, papa, so I was. Grandma's ever so nice, but I want my papa andmamma, too."

  "That's right, darling! mamma and papa would never know how to do withouttheir dear baby boy," Violet said, adding her caresses to those of hisfather, the captain having taken a seat close at her side.

  "Nor me either, mamma?" asked Elsie, drawing near, putting one hand intothat of her mother and laying the other on her father's knee, her look andtones a trifle wistful, as if she were half fearful that she was lesshighly appreciated than her brother.

  "No, indeed, dear child!" they replied, speaking together, "we love youjust the same."

  "Gracie also," the captain added, turning toward her with a tenderlyappreciative smile. "You were looking very weary, daughter, when you leftus some hours ago. Are you feeling better now?

  "Yes, thank you, papa," she replied with a sweet, glad smile. "How kindlycareful of me you always are!"

  "Yes," he returned, "one is apt to be careful of his choicest treasures."

  "It is so delightful to be one of your treasures, you dear papa," shesaid, going to his side in response to an inviting gesture, as Neddie gotdown from his knee to run to the side of the vessel to look at a passingboat.

  "And so delightful to have you for one," he said, drawing her to the seatNeddie had vacated. "Papa feels that he must be very careful to see thatthe strength and endurance of his feeble little girl are not overtaxed."

  "Mamma too," said Violet. "Dear child, I hope the rest of to-night,to-morrow, and the following night may entirely relieve your fatigue."

  "Thank you, mamma, I hope and believe that it will," responded Grace incheerful tones. "We will go to church to-morrow, I suppose, papa?" turningenquiringly to him.

  "Those of us who feel able and wish to," he replied. "I intend moving onup the lake to Chicago when you have all retired to your state-rooms, andto lie at anchor there until the Sabbath is past. We will have our Biblelesson as usual in the afternoon, and service on board in the evening."

  "I am glad of that, papa," said Grace, "for I always greatly enjoy a Biblelesson with you for my teacher."