THE SUAUAf OREGOMAX, .PORTLAND. -TUNIS 28, 1UU8.
A FAVORITE game of mine In Lon
don was to walk until I became
tired or lost or both, and then take
a cab back home.
Oftenest, the bright beckoning or Pic
cadilly allured me, and I strolled along
that Primrose Path from Park Lane to
Piccadilly Circus, my mind laid open like
a fresh blotting-book, to receive whatever
impress London might carelessly leave
upon it.
Such delightful people as I would sec!
l-adies, tricked out in pink filminess of
raiment, ever striving to clutch one more
handful of their frou-frou, as it waggishly
duped their grasp, and dawdled along the
pavement behirld them.
Vet, strange to say, the flapping, f rill i
rtess rarely becomes muddily bedraggled,
. as It would on a New York street; it
merely achieves that palpable grayness
which marks everything in Ijmdon, from
lis palaces to its laundry work.
The headgear of these bamc ladies can
be called nothing less than alarming.
During the Summer of which 1 write,
it was the whim to wear huge shapes of
the mushroom or buttcr-bowl variety.
These shapes, instead of being decorated
with flowers or feathers, bore skilfully
contrived fruits, that looked bo like real
ones I was often tempted to pluck them.
Cherries and grapes were not so entirely
novel, but peaches, pears, and In one in
stance a banana, seemed, at least, mildly
ludicrous. I was rejoiced to learn that
these frultsT' being stuffed with cotton
wool, were not so weighty as they ap
peared: but they were indeed bulky, and
crowded on to the hat in such quantities
that it seemed more sensible to Turn the
butter-bowl the other side up to hold
them.
Owen Seaman calls the Knglish "the
misunderstood people." but how can one
understand those who put fly-nets on the
tops of their cahs instead of on their
horses, and wear peaches on their heads?
A difficult to understand as their own
handwriting land more than that cannot
be said!), after the solution is puzzled out
the. Lnndoncj s . are the most delightful
people in the world.
But you must accept the solution, and
take them at their own valuation; for
titey are unadaptable, and very sure of
themselves.
Now. riceadilly is not like this. Jt is
smiling, affable, charming, and very
yielding and adaptable. t will respond
to any of your moods and will give you
an atmosphere of any sort you desire.
On one side, as you walk along, are
hous.s. more or less lately ducal, hut all
of a greatly worth-while air. Citified, in
Story of Chamberlain's Success
Adroit Political Management, Coupled With Dissen
sion in Ranks of the Majority Party, Accounts for It
(On the day following the June election
in Oregon t lie Boston Transcript tele
graphed to the editor of The OreRonian re
questing bis views or the campaign and
especially the causes that led to the choice
iinvernor Chamberlain for l.'nited Slates
Senator. Mr. Si-ott'e reply is published in
tue Transcript of June 17 as follows:)
TO explain the position of George F..
Chamberlain in the politics of Ore
gon and his remarkable success
daring the past six years would require
a review of the political affairs of the
stale, extending over a long period. His
own character has been a considerable
element, for he Is a natural politician,
of Southern birth, proceeding from an an
cestry that has had the genius of politics
for generations; and he has cultivated the
arts and methods through which political
success or advancement is so often at
tained. Mr. Chamberlain is a man of no
striking ability or unusual Intellectual
power, but exceedingly adroit as a poli
tician; he does not set up for a thinker or
pose as a leader, but endeavors, and with
great success, to bit the average level of
sentiment and purpose about him. He is
only an ordinary speaker, yet a phasing
one, and is absolutely without any kind
of pretension to appear other than ha is.
These traits and habits are the ground of
Lis personal popularity.
The rest he owes wholly to the fortune
of opportunity and to the skill with which
he lias taken advantage of the situation
and conditions that have existed many
years in Oregon. For such a man the
situation could not have been better, if
made under his own direction; nor indeed
so good. Dissension among Republicans
lias been his opportunity. Through his
skill and personal popularity he has been
able to make the most of one opportunity
after another. Republican factions have
been "slashing" each other and "getting
even" with each other, and he has been
the beneficiary. It must be admitted that
he has had the tact and the temperament
lilted to this work, sucli as no other man
in Oregon has possessed; and he is wrell
entitled to all credit these qualities have
brought him.
In his early manhood he came from
Mississippi to Oregon. This was 32 years
' ago. During a long period he made little
progiess, though he became widely known
through the geniality of his nature and
his ready- power of adaptation to coiull
tiiiiis as he found them here. As he grew
Into the acquaintance of the people he
readily made friends; a firm Democrat, of
t lie Southern type, he was not an offen
sive partisan; yet he never could be
known in politics other than as a Demo
crat. Twenty years ago his political ca
reer began, ill a quiet and unostentatious
way. As a member of the Legislature,
in: did nothing notable, but his party
needing a candidate for the office of At
torney General of the state, he took the
nomination, and his good fellowship
among Republicans gave him the election
over an unpopular opponent, who was
handicapped by the usual dissensions in
his party. Herein has been the real
secret of his success throughout. He has
won every time through his tact In tak
ing advantage of situations caused by
quarrels among the Republicans of the
state. These quarrels date back many
years. The business of the main fac
tions Into which the Republican party of
Oregon is divided has been to "knife"
each other alternately, as one or the
other could find or make the opportunity;
and Mr. Chamberlain has been sueeess
v f ul every time he has won, by obtaln-
deed, with a wealthy width of stone pave
ment, and a noble height of stone front
age. On the other side Is Green Park, with
its shining, softly-waving trees, its birds,
and its grass.
But, passing the Hotel Ritz, both sides
suddenly give way to shops and restau
rants which rank among the most pre
tentious in all the world.
Many of the tradesmen are "purveyors
to the King," which magic phrase adds
a charm to the humblest sorts of wares.
The book shops and the fruiterers'
shops are, to me, most enticing of all. It
is a delight to make inquiries concerning
a book that is, perhaps, not very well
known, and. instead of the blank ignor
ance or the substitutive impulse often
found in American bookshop clerks, to
receive an intelligent opinion, quickly
backed, if necessary, by intelligent refer
ence to tabulated facts.
The unostentatious, yet almost Invari
ably trustworthy, knowledge of I-ondon
booksellers is a thing to be sighed for in
our own country. Not even in Boston
(outside of the Athenaeum) is one sure of
receiving bookish information when de
sired. But in London the bookseller
takes a personal interest in your wants,
and feels a personal pride in being able
to gratify them.
And the heaps' of second-hand books
are mines of joy.
Among them you may find, as I did,
real treasures at the price of trash.
I chanced upon an early edition of By
ron's poems four little volumes, bound in
soft, shiny green, with exquisite hand
tooling, and containing steel engraved
bookplates of old, scrolled design, which
bore the name of somebody Gordon,
whom I chose to imagine a near and dear
relative of the late George Noel.
Also. I found a paper-covered copy of
an Indian edition of Kipling's early tales,
and many such pleasant wares.
The fruit shops, too. have treasures
both new and second-hand. This seemed
strange to me, at first, and I learned of
it by hearing a fellow-customer ask to
hire a few pines.
After her departure I inquired of the
shopman the meaning of it all.
He obligingly told me that many of his
finest specimens of pineapples, canta
loupes. Hamburg grapes, and other spec
tacular fruits, could be rented out for
banquets night after night, but with
slight wear and tear on their beauty and
bloom. One enormous bunch of black
grapes, as perfect as the color studies of
fruit that used to appear as supplements
of the Art Amateur, he caressed fondly.
ment of the votes of one or other of the I
Republican factions that have alternately j
elected hint in order to beat the candi
dates who had gained their own party
nominations. It is not probable that fac- !
tional fury has been carried to such !
lengths anywhere else as among the Re- j
publicans of Oregon. How it began is an
old story, scarcely worth telling now;
but a short sketch may be well enough, j
to throw light at this time on the causes j
of Mr. Chamberlain's continuous success. ,
The original of this most rancorous and I
persistent party feud dates to the first
election of John H. Mitchell to the Sen
ate In 1872, followed by the revelations
of his former life in Pennsylvania, his
abandonment of his family there, his
j settlement in Oregon and election to the
I Senate under an assumed name, and the I
discredit thrown on him by the disclos
j ures., Yet he had a remarkable power of i
I attaching to himself men who "followed I
politics for what was in the business."
These political methods he pursued with
a skill that was marvellous, and, more
over, restrained by no scruples. The
breach started in the party by revela
tions of his imposture was rapidly deep
ened by natural opposition to his course
in office and to his methods of party
management. Devotion to him on the one
hand and opposition to him on the other
kept the Republican party in continual
turmoil down to the end of his life; re
peatedly caused its defeat, and left all
possible conditions of new troubles to
harass it after he had passed away. Most
of the time for 30 years the state has
had Democratic governors as a conse
quence of it. The senators, since 18S4.
have been saved to the Republicans
through the Legislature, which both fac
tions have assisted in carrying, through
a hope on either side of being able to
control It. The members of the House
have been little involved in these dis
putes, and latterly the Republicans have
been able to elect them by very heavy
majorities. The combined majorities- for
the two members now exceed 30.000; yet
on the popular vote the majority for Sen
ator Chamberlain is about 1600.
Since the passing of Mitchell the dis
sension in the party has been continued
by the change In the method of electing
Senators; or rather fh the methods lead
ing up to their election. To stop con
tests In the Legislature a primary law
was adopted, by which the parties were
to nominate candidates for the Senate
and submit the names to the popular
vote. It was provided also that candi
dates for the Legislature might pledge
themselves to vote for and elect to the
Senate the candidate who had received
the highest popular vote. This would
virtually take the election out of the
hands of the Legislature, whose only
function In the election would be to ratify
the so-called popular choice. Thus va
Republican Legislature might be called
on to elect a Democrat to the Senate.
One faction of the Republican party has
insisted on the innovation: the other has
vehemently opposed it. This new source
of division decided the recent election In
favor of Chamberlain. H. M. Cake was
the Republican candidate. He had pledged
to the new method. But the other Re
publican faction took the opposite posi
tion. It was unwilling to tie up the mem
bers of the Legislature with such pledges
and wished for continuance of oppor
tunity for opyn contest In the Legisla
ture: Mr. Chamberlain skillfully led his
party into the Republican breach. He
i 'Piccadilly
as he told me it had been rented out for
the last nine nights, and was yet good for
another week's work.
1 then remembered the architectural tri
umphs of fruits that had graced many of
the dinner tables I had smiled at. and I
marveled afresh at the Knglish thrift.
All shops, streets, theaters, and traffic
merge and congest in a perfect orgy of
noise, motion, and color at Piccadilly Cir
cus. The first humorous story I heard in
London was of the man who. returning
from a festal function, inquired of the
policeman, "Is this. Piccadilly Circus, or
is it Tuesday?" That story seems to me
the epitome of London humor, and also
a completo description of Piccadilly Cir
cus. The first few times I visited it I found
it bewildering, but after I had learned to
look upon it as a local habitation and a
jiame, I learned to love it. .
By day or by night, it is a great, crazy,
beautiful whirl. Kverybody in it is try
ing to get out of it, and everybody out is
trying to get in. This causes a merry
game of odds, and the elegant policemen
was just the man to do it effectively.
Making his own campaign for the pledge
he widened the Republican split; and at
th same time brought himself into such
position that Republicans who opposed
the pledge would vote for him to defeat
Cake, with intent to pass the election
up to the Legislature, which was sure to
have a heavy Republican majority, and
which they did not and do not believe
TRIBUTE OF SONG AND SENTIMENT
BROUGHT TO OUR COUNTRY'S FEET
Ringing Words of Poets and Patriots, Orators of Pulpit and Forum, Recalled by Next Sat
urday's 132d Birthday of the United States.
Upon this land a thousand, thousand blessings Shakespeare
Flap: of the free heart's hope and home!
By angel hands to valor given!
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome,
; And all thy hues were born in heaven!
Rodman Drake.
America! half brother of the world Bailey
Independence now and independence forever Webster
One flag, one land, one heart, one hand,
One nation, evermore! . ' -
Holmes.
Our Federal Union, it must be preserved Jackson
Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable Webster
Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise.
The queen of the world and the child of the skies!
x Dwight.
I know- no North, no South, no East, no West, to which I owe any allegiance Henry Clay
Our country, to be-cherished in all our hearts, to be defended by all our hands Robert Winthrop
And ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves,
While the earth bears a plant or the sea rolls its waves.
Paine.
Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be right; but our country,
right or wrong Decatur
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see
the right '. Lincoln
'Tis the star-soangled banner,
Oh ! long may it wave,
O'er the land of the free
And the home of the brave.
Francis Scott Key
Let it rise, let it rise, till it meet the sun in his coming; let the earliest light of the morning gild'
it and the parting day linger and play on its summit , Webster
The American idea demands a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people;
a government of the priticiole of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God Theodore Parker
Thy spirit, Tndenendence, let me share,
Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye, 1
Thy steps I follow with my bosom bare,
Xor heed the storm that howls along the sky.
Smallct.
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery f Forbid
it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but, as for me, give me liberty,
or give me death Patrick Henry
Let our object be our country, onr whole country, and nothing but- our country. And, by the
blessing of God,'may that country itself become a vast and : ilendid monument, not of op
pression and terror, but of wisdom, of peace, and of liberty, upon which the world may gaze
with admiration forever Webster
Here the free spirit of mankind at length
Throws its last fetters off; and who shall place
A limit to the giant's unchained strength.
Or curb his swiftness in the forward race?
W. C. Bryant
He serves his party best who serves his country best R. B. Hayes
Let us have peace U. S. Grant
OzroiitS xzc its
send glances of mild reproof after the
newsboys who hurtle through the crowd,
yelling "Dily Mile!"
The rush of traffic here Is considered a
sure road to battle, murder, or sudden
death, and the Londoner who crosses Pic
cadilly Circus rarely expects to get
through alive.
But to me London traffic seems child's
play compared to ours in New York. I
sauntered safely through Piccadilly Cir
cus, without one-tentn part of the trepi
dation that always seizes me when I try
to scurry across Broadway. The lumber
ing 'buses have no such desire to run
over people, as that which burns in the
hearts of our trolley cars. The pedes
trians are too deliberate of speed, and the
traffic too gentle of motion, to inspire
fear of jostlement.
Dawdling along, I paused to look in at
Swan & Kdgar's windows. Rather, I at
tempted to look in; for, .with a peculiar
sort of short-sightedness, these drapers
choose to beplaster their window panes
with large posters which comment favor
ably upon the wares that are presumably
behind them, but which cannot be seen
will elect Chamberlain when the test
shall .come. In this they probably will
find themselves mistaken. A majority of
the menibers chosen to the legislature
counting Republicans and Democrats to
getherhave taken the pledge. It is my
opinion the Legislature will elect Cham
berlaiu. Many Republicans, however, do
not think so. Of IK) members of both
(Houses. 77 were elected as Republicans.
by peeping through the small spaces left
between the posters.
Then across to the Criterion for tea. All
of the great restaurants present a gay
scene at tea hour, and the Criterion, with
its "decorative painting by eminent art
ists." and Its crowds of guests both emi
nent and decorative is among the gayest.
But It Is a gayety of correct and sub
dued tone. The ladies. In their flashing
finery of raiment, are of a cool, reserved
deportment, and the men drink their tea
and munch sweet cakes with a gravity
born of the seriousness of the occasion.
Jf one notices any conspicuous action or
effect in a London restaurant, one may
be sure it is perpetrated by a stranger
probably a visiting American.
I recently saw in one of our finest Fifth
avenue restaurants a most attractive
young woman, who came in accompanied
by a well-set-up, and moreover an ex
ceedingly sensible looking, young man.
With absolute savoir faire, and no trace
of self-consciousness, the girl carried in
her arm a large brown "Teddy bear."
The couple sat at a table and ordered
some luncheon, and the bear was also
Of these 77, ,SS are said to have taken
the pledge which would commit them to
Chamberlain. Of course, the 13 Demo
crats In the two Houses are all for him.
Governor Chamberlain, though popular,
is not so popular as was Governor Pen
noyer. his predecessor as Democratic
leader in the state and beneficiary of the
Republican feud in Oregon. Pennoyer
was twice elected Governor, by much
given a seat, a napkin was tucked about
his neck, and a plate placed before him.
The girl's face was sweet and refined; the
man's face was intelligent and dignified,
and the bear's face was coy and alluring.
There was no attempt to attract atten
tion, and, luncheon over, the young wom
an, who was at least 20 years old, tucked
her pet under her arm, and they walked
calmly out.
But such things are not done in London
restaurants. And yet, these also have
their peculiarities. At one small, but very
desirable, restaurant in Old Compton
street, It is the custom to steal the salt
spoons as souvenirs. Not to possess one
or more of these tiny pewter affairs,
which are shaped like coal-shovels. Is to
be benighted, indeed. So I stole one.
After my tea, I would, perhaps, trail
along Trafalgar Square, by way of Re
gent street and Pall Mall. After a long
look at the black and white grayness of
the National Gallery, I would slowly
mount Its steps, and from there take a
long look at the wonderful facade of St.
Martln's-in-the-Field. Trafalgar Square
is full of out-of-door dellghte, but If the
mood served I would go into the National
Gallery, and walk delicately, like A gag,
among the pictures. I went always alone,
for I did not care to look at certain pic
tures which I owned (by 'right of adoption
of them into my London), in danger of
hearing a companion say, "Note the deli
cate precision of the flesh tones," or,
"Observe the gradations of aerial per
spective." Nor did I want a "Hand
book," that would assert, ""Without a
prolonged examination of this picture it
is impossible to form an Idea of the art
witli which it has been executed."
Unhampered by mortal suggestion. I
paused before the pictures that belonged
to me, prolonging my examination or not,
as I chose, and for my own reasons.
Some pictures I should have loved, but
for an Ineradicable memory of their nar
. rowly blaefc-framed reproductions that
crowd the wall spaces of friends at home,
who "just love Art."
Other pictures I might have appropri
ated, but that a prolonged examination
of them was impassible by reason of the
massing In front of them of people who
go out by the day sight-seeing.
And so I took my own where I found
it. and happily wandered by A Man with
Fair Hair or Clouds at Twilight in a very
bliss of art ignorance.
Then out-of-door Iondon would call me
again, and back I would go to Trafalgar
Square, one of the lightest, brightest-colored
bits of all Kngland. From the as
phalt to the wVlkin, from the Column to
larger majorities than Chamberlain has
ever received; and ho would have re
ceived the popular vote for Senator had
the new movement and method existed in
his time. Pennoyer, also, was twice elect
ed Mayor of Portland through Republican
dissensions; though the city, on a straight
issuc or contest between parties, has al
ways been -heavily. Republican.
The great body of the Republicans who
marked their ballots for Mr. Chamberlain
in the vote for Senator are opponents of
the new system and of the pledge it at
tempts to enforce. They did not like the
use that Mr. Cake had made of the
pledge, and wished to give him and those
who had directed his campaign "their
dose of it," and send the question to the
legislature to be threshed out there.
Thus they hoped to get a result more sat
isfactory to them than the election of
either Cake or Chamberlain.
It is tile rule of the Republican faction
aries to strike at the representative man
of the opposite faction; contenting them
selves witli the single victim, yet voting
War Vessels Attract Lightning
Old Ocean Humbler Telia How Butt lesliips Druw Bolts.
THK coming of the battleship fleet
was under discussion by a party
of gentlemen in the lobby of the
Lankcrshim, one of whom was Captain
Richard Seeleye, of Bangor, en route
to San Francisco to arrange for a coal
supply when the fleet arrives, says the
Los Angeles Times. The several
chances of-trouble to the fleet were
discussed, among them that of being
struck by lightning, which 1s known
to be heavy and almost incessant in
southerly latitudes in the Summer sea
son, which com sponds with the Winter
season in the Northern latitudes. Jocu
lar allusion was made to the recent In
cident of Speaker Cannon's barn being
struck by a bolt of lightning, and that
his boom, although exposed, escaped,
which led Capt In Seeleye to the fol
lowing reminiscence:
"In 182 I was in command of the
bark J. B. Simpson and look a load of
dimension pine from Savannah, Ga., to
Colon, or Aspinwall, as Americans call
the place, for use in building docks.
The mail company was rushed with
freight, and we got a charter to take
400 casks of California wine to New
York. It made fine ballast, and I ex
pected to make a good passage. It
was in August, when the rainy season
is at its greatest fall, and rain and
lightning in that latitude arc almost
synonymous things.
' We had the customary catspaw
breezes and intermittent squalls till we
were heading in for the north point of
Hayti, to pass through the Turk's
Island passage. The lightning had been
constant and remarkably vivid that
day and got heavier as we approached
the land. Among tile crew was a Sal
vador fisherman, who was the most
gifted man in the use of profanity 1
have ever known, and that is much to
say, for seamen are universally strong
in that line. This man was at the
wheel in the last dog watch, and was
quietly cursing everything aboard and
in sight for the trouble he had in keep
ing Ills course. I would note a spe
cially heavy flash and hear the thun
derous, splitting roar simultaneously,
and then hear the oaths of the man as
lie condemned everything and every
body In one general anathema. I no
ticed the glass was very low, at 29.80.
and went on deck and directed the
mate to shorten sail. Wet gear and
canvas are difficult to handle, and I
took the wheel, telling the man to lend
a hand to shorten sail. The act was
out of the ordinary, and it brought a.
volume of profanity ftom him as he
went forward such as startled me.
"He hardly got below the line of the
afterdeck till a blinding flash came, ap
parently from everywhere, and when I
came to consciousness I was on the
floor of the cabin, and the mate and
steward were working over me to save
my life. The current took the wire on
the main topgallant masthead, and
coming down the backstays, forked, one
bolt striking the cirofane s&ajnan. in
the Church, from the National Gallery te
Morley's Hotel, are the most beautiful
blues, and greens, and whites, and reds,
and grays that can be supplied by the
combined efforts of Nature, Time, and
modern pigments. A sudden impulse,
perhaps, would make me think that I had
Immediate need of the Elgin Marbles,
and, with a farewell nod to the northeast
lion .(which is my favorite of the four), I
would Jump into a hansom and jog over
to the British Museum. But often the
approach was so clogged by pompous and
overbearing pigeons that I would make no
attempt to enter. Instead. I would find
another hansom, and take a long ride
over to the Tate Gallery.
As I bounced happily along, I would
note many landmarks of historic interest.
Some of these were real, and others made
up by myself on the spur of the moment,
to fit a passing thought.
For, if I saw an old building of pictur
esque interest. I could make myself mors
decently emotional toward the antiquity
of it by assuring myself that there was
where Sterne died, or where I'epys "made
mighty merry."
And, after all, facts are of little impor
tance compared with "those things which
really are the eternal inner world of the
imagination."
It was from the outlook of a hansom
cab that I could get some of the best
views of my London. Kvery turn would
bring new sorts of motion, sound and
color. And, blrdseyed thus, it was all so
beautiful that I wondered what Shelley
meant by saying "Hell is a city very
much like London," if, indeed, he did
say it.
Once In the Tate Gallery, I would fall
afresh under the spell of the lonely wist
fulness of G. F. Watts' Minotaur.
Then I would go to gaze long on Whis
tler's wonderful notion of Battersea
Bridge on a blue night, and then betake
myself to the Turner collection.
Here I could spend hours, floundering
In unintelligent delight among the pic
tures, sensitive to each apotheosis of
color and beauty, and not caring whether
its title might be Waves Breaking on a
Flat Beach, or River Scene with Cattle.
But too much Turner was apt to go to
my head, and Just in time I would tear
myself away, hop into a. hansom, and
make for the Wallace Collection to be
brought back to a sense of human reality
by a short interview with the Laughing
Cavalier.
What a city it Is. where cabs and picture-galleries
are within the reach of all
' who desire them!
the entire remainder of the party ticket.
This accounts for the phenomenon In a
state whose Republican vote is 80 to 70
per cent of the whole, of the election of
Democrats to the leading offices, yet
throwing tremendous majorities for all
other Republican candidates. "They take
It out" of the candidate for Governor,
and the candidate for Mayor of Portland;
and now out of the candidate (before the
people) for United States Senator. In
this business neither of the Republican
factions now is worse nor better than
the other.
But in the Presidential election the fac
tions will probably unite. If they do, at
least 60 per cent of the vote of the state
will be cast for the Republican electors.
Of course, it will be understood that this
feud is now merely a struggle in the Re
publican party for ascendency in It, or
control of it. It persists because it has
become an inveterate habit. In a party
that has a majority so large as to lie a
continual temptation to factious leader
ship, and to ambitions large and small.
stantly killing him, while the other
fork jumped to the spanker-topping
lift and struck the great steel screws
over the rudder head and went down
the rudder-well overboard. The explo
sion and blows from the flying wood
of the cover over the screws drove me
against the binnacle and stunned me.
"1 was not seriously hurt, and when
we got around to an examination we
found the bolt took the wire at Its
point, some 12 inches above the truck,
and followed the wire to the fourth
falrleader, which, being wet, allowed
the current to fork, and no part of it
went over the side where we expected
it would go, and that experience fixed
me in the belief that lightning rods
are not reliable.
The dead seaman had received the
bolt at the base of his skull, and it
passed through his body, literally burn
ing a course through his vitals and
coining out at the heel of his left shoe,
where It took one of the Iron stan
chions of the rail and was grounded
over the side.
"In the matter of the battleships, as
they may be affected by lightning, I
believe they are more liable to stroke
than an ordinary merchantman. They
are wholly of steel, and all are rigged
or fitted with the wireless appaiatus,
even to the torpedo destroyers. Night
and day waves of electric force are
constantly to come from them, and es
pecially when the tremendous white
squalls so common off the Rio de la
Plata shall come down on them. These
great ships are so full of attraction
that it is a trouble to keep steering
compasses in reliable condition, and
just how the ships would be affected
by the heavy lightnings in the South
ern Hemisphere is a matter of moment.
"It is true that ail naval ships arc
fitted witli the very latest devices for
conducting stray lightning over the
side to the water, and there is no rec
ord of any ship having been blown
up by lightning, but If anyeliip ever
offered a large atti action to draw
lightning, the battleship is the one.
"From the time the ships leave Trin
idad till they pass through the Strait?
of Magellan they will be in the path ol
almost continuous lightning storms
and with their wireless apparatus bf
exposed to stroke. The voyage of the
battleships will take them through ail
possible kinds of weather, beginning
with a Winter gale off Hatteras anc
Summer squally weather from Cape St
Roque to the Falkland Islands, includ
ing the heaviest seas, and give the of
ficers and men a trying test in sea
fighting.
"The new plan of fitting battleship
with boats, called the Wainwrighl
method, will doubtless be tried on this
cruise, which strips the ships of boats
of all kinds but sufficient to make pas.
sage to and from the shore, on th
ground that In action the boats catch
the shot and shell from rapid-fire gunr
and their splinters are more deadl
thin the fire itself.