Harper's Round Table, October 8, 1895 Part 2

[Ill.u.s.tration: MARGARET L. MANN, DAUGHTER OF SEC. N.S.C.A.R.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE McKEE CHILDREN.]

The nation's worthiest and most distinguished men and women are lending their personal aid and encouragement to the young society. In each State the Governor and his wife with other leaders along various lines stand as its sponsors.

Already many youthful descendants of America's early heroes have flocked to the society's standard, among them the grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs.

John W. Foster, little Mary Lodge and Benjamin Harrison (Baby) McKee, and Robert John Walker, great-great-great-great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LUCY H. BRECKENRIDGE, SEC. CAPITAL SOCIETY.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MARGARET M. LOTHROP, SEC. "OLD NORTH BRIDGE SOCIETY."]

It is hoped and believed by all interested in the organization that its aims and endeavors will tend to indelibly impress on the minds of youthful Americans the great lessons of national importance that have made the country what it is, and that before the society stretches away a future of usefulness almost incalculable in the possibility of its issues.

KING KALAKAU'S ARMY.

Old King Kalakau I., of the Sandwich Islands, had an army that numbered by actual count thirty men, and was so proud of his formidable battalion that he obliged it to go through its drill twice daily under the palace windows. On every possible occasion he had his phalanx parade, and was supremely happy when visited by commanding officers of the different cruisers in the Pacific, for it gave him an opportunity to receive them at the landing-place with all his military force drawn up in honor of his guests. One day an English man-o'-war entered the harbor, and the flag-officer on board sent word to his coffee-colored majesty that he would pay him a visit. Instead of waiting in his palace to receive the officer, the King sent to the barracks, had his army hunted up, and at their head marched down to the quay, where he formed his legion in line, then sat down on the edge of the dock to await his coming guest.

Now in some way the old King had just obtained a number of blue cloth army overcoats, together with a lot of spurs, flint-lock muskets, and big bear-skin hats, such as are worn by drum-majors. Under the broiling tropical sun his warlike host stood, two ranks deep, the heavy overcoats about them, spurs strapped on bare feet, and their heads supporting the enormous hats, while their muskets were pointed in every conceivable direction.

At last the Commodore's barge was seen to leave the s.h.i.+p and make for the landing. The King hastily took his position in front of his army, and as the English officer stood up in his boat to leave it, the King called out to "fire and present arms."

Then the funniest thing of all happened.

The men in the rear rank did not elevate their muskets sufficiently, and the consequence was that the next minute the air was full of fur and remnants of bear-skin hats blown away from the heads of the soldiers in front. In another moment the disgusted and angry King was chasing his demoralized and panic-stricken army up the dock, belaboring every one of them that he overtook with his royal mace.

The scene was too much for the dignity of the English Commodore, who fell back in the stern-sheets of his boat almost strangled with laughter.

SEA RANGERS.

BY KIRK MUNROE,

AUTHOR OF "ROAD RANGERS," THE "MATE" SERIES, "SNOW-SHOES AND SLEDGES,"

ETC.

CHAPTER III.

ADMIRAL MARLIN BECOMES A RANGER.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Decorative B]

esides being a Ranger, Tom Burgess had recently joined a canoe club, and, like all young members of such a.s.sociations, was most enthusiastic over the new sport thus opened to him. His club was to camp on an uninhabited island near the eastern end of Long Island Sound for two weeks during the summer, and the plan that he now unfolded to Will Rogers was that the Rangers should also go into camp on the island at the same time.

When, according to his custom, Captain Will called a meeting of the band, and laid this proposition before them, it was received with such an outburst of enthusiasm as left no doubt of its popularity.

Although these inland boys were totally ignorant of the sea and all that pertains to it, save for such knowledge as they had gleaned from books, and the very queer ideas of a seafaring life acquired from the extraordinary drama in which most of them had recently taken part, they believed themselves to be pretty well posted in nautical matters, and were most anxious to test their theories by practical experience. So the motion to become "Sea Rangers," and partic.i.p.ate in the proposed "salt-water range," as Captain Will called it, was unanimously carried.

Then the meeting was hastily adjourned that the members might at once lay the gorgeous scheme, just unfolded to them, before their parents, and strive to gain their consent to its being undertaken.

Alas, that such enthusiasm should be dampened! But true it is that, on the following morning, in spite of bicycles and many other blessings, the Ready Rangers were the most disconsolate-looking boys to be seen in all Berks. Not one of them had succeeded in persuading the senior members of his family that the plan, which appeared to him so simple and easy of accomplishment, was either wise or practicable.

"She wanted to know how we thought of going, and how we expected to raise money for the trip, and who was going to take care of us, and all sorts of things like that," remarked little Cal Moody, sadly, in reference to his interview with his mother. "She said she never heard of anything more foolish, even from the Rangers, and that there was no use in even thinking about it, for it couldn't be considered for a minute."

"As if a fellow could help thinking about a chance that may not be offered again in a lifetime," said Cracker Bob Jones. "But my folks talked just that same way."

"Mine too," added boy after boy, mournfully.

"I don't, see," argued Sam Ray, "why parents are never willing to own up that some boys at least are perfectly well able to take care of themselves."

"They might give us just one chance to prove whether we are or not,"

broke in Mif Bowers; "but they won't even do that. They just say, 'No, and that's the end of it.' I declare it's enough to destroy all a fellow's ambition," he added, bitterly.

The canoe club to which Tom Burgess belonged had chartered a small steamer, that was to take them from New York to the island selected for their encampment, leave them there and call for them again at the end of two weeks. As the Berks boys contrasted their own prospects with those thus outlined for their city friends, they felt more and more sorry for themselves, and longed for the time when, with advancing years, they should throw off the shackles of boyhood.

So the summer wore on, school closed, the first month of vacation was pa.s.sed, and as the time arrived for the canoe club to go into its sea-side camp, the Rangers, to whom the topic was still one of constant conversation, became more and more depressed and inclined to take gloomy views of life in general.

Suddenly, as though by magic, everything was changed, and in a twinkling the darkness of disappointment was dissipated by the golden light of realized hopes. All opposition to their cherished scheme was swept away in the s.p.a.ce of a few hours; and while they could still hardly credit their good-fortune, the Rangers found themselves working like beavers to make ready for their salt-water cruise. They were to do the thing up in a style that would beat that of the canoe boys out of sight, too. Oh! it seemed incredible, and they had to rea.s.sure each other of their wonderful good-fortune every time they met in order to believe in its reality.

It all came about through their friend Admiral Marlin, who, according to promise, visited Berks to determine its desirability as a place of summer residence. Of course he renewed his acquaintance with Will Rogers, and was taken to the engine-house, where he admired the "Ranger," and met the rest of the band. Of course, too, the bluff old sailor at once won their hearts and their confidence to such an extent that they unfolded to him all their longings for a seafaring life, and their recently shattered hopes in that direction.

The Admiral took their part at once, and said it was too bad; that every boy in the country ought to know something of the sea, and that the more he knew in that line the better it would be both for him and the country. Then he went to call on his old s.h.i.+pmate, Mr. Redmond Cuddeback, who, through his invention, had now become a large stockholder in the Berks Mills.

From that visit the big-hearted old sailor returned with a beaming face and the air of one who is charged with an urgent mission. That afternoon, in company with Squire Bacon, he drove from house to house until he had held a personal interview with the parents of every Ranger in Berks. Then he desired Will Rogers to call a special meeting of the band for that very evening, as he wished to make them a communication of the greatest importance.

Never had the Rangers found their parents so smiling and also so reticent as at supper-time. The very air seemed filled with a pleasant mystery, and when the members of the band reached Range Hall they were fully impressed with the idea that something big was about to happen.

Nor were they disappointed, for they found Admiral Marlin occupying Pop Miller's one particular chair, and so impatient to address them that he could hardly wait for the formal preliminaries with which their meetings were always opened.

As soon, therefore, as he was invited to speak he plunged at once into his subject as eagerly as though he were a boy himself, by saying:

"It's all right, lads, and you can go on that salt-water cruise just as quick as ever you have a mind."

"Hurrah!" shouted Will Rogers, who was the first to grasp the full meaning of this astonis.h.i.+ng statement.

Then how all the others did cheer, and clap their hands, and give utterance to various expressive though unintelligible exclamations of joy! During this demonstration the Admiral smiled and bowed, and beamed upon them as though his happiness were fully equal to theirs.

When quiet was at length restored, he continued: "Yes, boys, it's all arranged. I've applied to the several heads of department, and obtained leave of absence for every one of you, with permission to cross the sea.

But it's to be a regular cruise instead of a mere camping frolic, and although you will visit the canoe club island, and have a chance to join in all that is going on, you will live on board s.h.i.+p, which is to my mind a much more sensible arrangement."

"Of course it is!" shouted Jack Jackstraw and the "mids.h.i.+pmite" both together.

"The s.h.i.+p," continued the Admiral, only smiling at this interruption, "is the good sloop _Millgirl_ that recently came up the river with supplies for Berks Mills, and is now lying about five miles down-stream, at the head of navigation, waiting for a return charter. She has been pressed into the service by my old friend Mr. Redmond Cuddeback, who, through me, tenders her to the Rangers for this cruise."