WILD FLOWERS OF JULY.

COMMON NAME.	COLOR.	LOCALITY, ETC.
Aconite, wolf's-bane	Purple, poison	Dry rocky places; Pennsylvania.
Agrimony	Soft yellow	Open woods; New Jersey.
Archangelica	White	Dry open woods; Middle States.
Beach-pea	Purple, large	Sea-coast; New Jersey.
Black snakeroot	White racemes	Deep woods; Maine, West.
Butterfly-pea	Violet, large	Sandy woods; Maryland, Virginia.
Button-ball	White	Wet places. Common.
Callirhœ	Red-purple	Dry fields, prairies; Illinois.
Cardinal-flower	Intense red	Wet places. Common.
Coral-berry	Pink	Dry fields and banks. Middle States.
Deptford pink	Rose-color, white spots	Dry soil; Mass. to Virginia.
Evening primrose	Pale yellow	Sandy soil. Common.
Everlasting-pea	Yellowish-white	Hill-sides; Vermont, Mass.
Fringed orchis	Purple	Dark woods; New England.
Fumitory	Rose-color, nodding	Sandy fields; New Jersey.
Ginseng	White	Cool, rich woods. Rare.
Glade mallow	White	Limestone valleys; Pennsylvania.
Grass of Parnassus	Wh., green lines	Damp meadows; Connecticut.
Hardhack	Rose-color	Damp meadows; New England.
Hedysarum	Purple	Vermont, Maine.
Hercules's club	Greenish-white	River-banks; Middle States.
Indiana dragon-root	Black and red, poison	Damp woods; West.
Indian physic	White, pink	Rich woods; Pa., New York.
Lady's-slipper	White, red lines	Deep, boggy woods; New England.
Lead-plant	Violet	Crevices of rocks; Michigan.
Marsh-pea	Blue, purple	Moist places; New England.
Meadow-beauty	Bright purple	Borders of ponds; Conn., N. J.
Meadow-sweet	White, pink	Wet, low grounds; New England.
Moss-campion	Purple, white	White Mountains.
Myrtle-pea	Pale purple	Climbing; New England thickets.
New Jersey tea	White clusters	Dry woodlands; Middle States.
Nondo, lovage	Wh., aromatic	Rich woods; Virginia.
Passion-flower	Green'h-yellow	Damp thickets; Pa., Illinois.
Pencil-flower	Yellow	New Jersey; pine-barrens.
Poison-hemlock	White, poison	Waste, wet places. Common.
Prairie rose	Deep pink	Climbing; prairies West.
Prickly poppy	Showy yellow	Open woods; South and West.
Rattle-box	Yellow	Sandy soil; New Jersey.
Royal catchfly	Deep scarlet	Western prairies.
Sea-rocket	Purplish	New England coast and West.
Slender sundew	White	Shores of Western lakes.
Snow-berry	White	Rocky banks; Vermont to Pa.
Spikenard	White	Rich woodlands; New England.
St. Andrew's cross	Yellow, stamens crossing	New Jersey; Illinois.
St. John's wort	Yellow, large	River-banks; New England.
Stone-crop	Yellow	Rocky road-sides. Common.
St. Peter's wort	Light yellow	Pine-barrens of New Jersey.
Touch-me-not	Pale yellow	Moist banks. Common.
Veratrum (false hellebore)	Purple, poison	Swamps; New England.
Vetch	Blue, purple	Thickets; New England.
Western wall-flower	Orange-yellow	Limestone cliffs; West.
Wild calla	White	Wet places. Common.
Wild hydrangea	Purple, white	Rocky banks; Pennsylvania.
Wild larkspur	Purple, blue	Rich woods; Pa., New York.
Wild licorice	Dull purple	Damp woods. Common.
Wild senna	Yellow	Damp soil; Middle States.
Wolf-berry	White, pink	West and South.

THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN NAVY.

BY BENSON J. LOSSING.

Chapter I.

"You have no right to tax us without our consent," said the English-American colonists to the British Parliament more than a hundred years ago. "The Great Charter of England forbids it."

"We have the right to control you in all cases whatsoever," answered the Parliament.

"Taxation without representation is tyranny, and we will not submit to it," the colonists declared. A mighty quarrel then began, which lasted ten years, and ended in blows. The colonists thought with Cromwell that "rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God."

The Parliament levied a stamp tax, but could not enforce it. A tax on tea was laid, when the patriotic women of America ceased drinking tea, while the men resolved that not a pound of the plant should be landed on our shores until the tax should be taken off. Nevertheless, tea ships came to Boston, when the citizens cast their cargoes into the waters of the harbor.

That tea party made the British government very angry. The King called his American subjects "rebels," and proceeded to punish the people of Boston. All the colonists stood by them. British troops were sent to make the Americans obedient vassals instead of loving subjects. The representatives of the colonists all over the land met in a General Congress at Philadelphia. That was in 1774. In that Congress Patrick Henry, of Virginia, said, "We must fight." At the same time Joseph Hawley, of Massachusetts, said in the Provincial Congress, "We must fight." The patriotic people everywhere, with compressed lips and valorous hearts, said, "We must fight."

Faint-hearted men and women shook their heads, and said: "Be prudent. You know Great Britain has scores of ships of war, and we have not one; how can we hope to win in such a contest?"

Stout-hearted men and women replied, "We will buy or build ships, make warriors of them, man them with hardy New England fishermen, and with the faith of little David meet the Goliath of England, trusting in the Lord, who will defend the right."

And the people said, "Amen."

The Congress appointed a "Marine Committee"—a sort of distributed Secretary of the Navy. They ordered more than a dozen war vessels to be built. Officers were appointed, crews were gathered, and Esek Hopkins, a seaman of Rhode Island, then almost sixty years of age, was made Commodore and Commander-in-chief of the Continental Navy. This was the germ of the United States Navy.

Early in 1776 Hopkins sailed from the Delaware to the Bahama Islands, with four ships and three sloops. At New Providence he captured the forts, nearly one hundred cannon, and a large quantity of ammunition and stores. On his return he fought several British vessels, captured two, and took his little squadron safely into the harbor of New London, Connecticut. Not doing so well as the Congress desired, he was soon afterward relieved of command, and no successor was appointed.

John Paul Jones, a little Scotchman less than thirty years of age, was one of the most active officers of this Continental Navy, and became the most conspicuous marine hero of the old war for independence. He was the first who raised an American flag over an American vessel of war, in December, 1775; and in various ships he gained such great renown that after the war he received special honors from the French monarch, became Vice-Admiral in the Russian navy, and when he died, the government of France decreed him a public funeral.

There were other Americans at that time who became naval heroes only a little less famous than Jones. There was John Manly, the veteran sailor of Marblehead, whom Washington appointed Captain when he fitted out some privateers at Boston before a navy was created. While the Congress were talking about a navy, Manly was cruising off the coast of Massachusetts in the armed schooner Lee, keenly watching for British vessels laden with military supplies for the army in Boston. He captured three of them laden with arms and munitions of war, then much needed by the patriots who were besieging the New England capital.

There was young Nicholas Biddle, who had served with Nelson in the Royal Navy, and who accompanied Hopkins to the Bahamas. He did gallant service as commander of the Randolph, until she was blown up in battle, when Biddle and all his men perished.

FRANKLIN ON HIS WAY TO FRANCE.—Drawn by Howard Pyle.

There was Captain Wilkes, with the little Reprisal, of sixteen guns, who frightened all England by his daring exploits. After fighting British armed vessels, and taking several prizes in the West Indies, he took Dr. Franklin, the representative of the Congress, to France. Then he cruised in the Bay of Biscay, captured a number of English merchantmen, and with the Reprisal and two or three other small vessels, sailed entirely around Ireland, sweeping the Channel its whole length, destroying a number of merchant vessels, and creating great alarm in all the British ports. Poor Wilkes perished soon afterward with all his crew when his ship was wrecked on the rocks of Newfoundland.

New England privateers were very busy and successful, capturing no less than thirty vessels laden with supplies for the British army in Boston. Among the most active of these was a little Connecticut cruiser of fourteen guns, named the Defense. She took prize after prize; and on a starry night in June, 1776, she, with some other small vessels, fought and conquered two British transports near Boston, laden with two hundred soldiers and a large quantity of stores. By midsummer (1776), American cruisers had captured more than five hundred British soldiers.

Captain Whipple, a bold Rhode-Islander, who, when a British naval commander threatened by letter to hang him "to the yard-arm" for an offense against the majesty of Great Britain, replied, "Catch a man before you hang him," was in command of the Continental vessel Doria. He was so successful off the coasts of New England, that when, he returned to the Delaware his prizes were so numerous, that, after manning them, he had only five of his original crew left on board the Doria.

The gallant Jones meanwhile had swept the seas along the coasts of Nova Scotia, and sailed into Newport Harbor with fifteen prizes. After resting on his laurels awhile, he was again on the Acadian coast late in 1776, where he captured a large British transport laden with supplies for Burgoyne's army in Canada. By this time cruisers sent out by Congress and privateers were harrying British shipping in all directions.

Dr. Franklin carried with him to France a number of blank commissions for army and navy officers, signed by the President and Secretary of Congress. These Franklin and the other Commissioners filled and signed, and under this authority cruisers sailed from French ports to attack British vessels. It must be remembered that France at that time, in order to injure her old enemy, England, was giving secret aid to the Americans in revolt.

How active and how harmful to the British marine were some of the cruisers commissioned by Franklin and his associates, and sent out from French ports, we shall observe presently.