"'Thank God, I was not long in making my decision. I have spent half my life in revolutionary countries, and I know the horrors of civil war; and I told the people what I had seen and what they would experience. They laughed at me, and called me "granny," and "croaker"; and I said, "I cannot live here, and will seek some other place where I can live." I suppose they said I left my country for my country's good, and I thank God I did.'"
"A countryman to be proud of," remarked Mr. Lilburn.
"Oh, I wish I could have seen him!" exclaimed Grace. "Papa, wasn't he a Christian man?"
"I think so, daughter," replied the captain. "He is said to have had a strong religious nature and a firm reliance upon Providence, believing in God's constant guidance."
"Do you remember," said Grandma Elsie, "those lines of Oliver Wendell Holmes' written in honor of Admiral Farragut, and read at a dinner given him, in which this passage occurs?
"Fast, fast are lessening in the light
The names of high renown,
Van Tromp's proud besom pales from sight,
Old Benbow's half hull down.
"Scarce one tall frigate walks the sea,
Or skirts the safer shores,
Of all that bore to victory
Our stout old commodores.
"Hull, Bainbridge, Porter—where are they?
The answering billows roll,
Still bright in memory's sunset ray,
God rest each gallant soul!
"A brighter name must dim their light,
With more than noontide ray:
The Viking of the river fight,
The Conqueror of the bay.
"I give the name that fits him best—
Ay, better than his own—
The Sea-King of the sovereign West,
Who made his mast a throne."
"A fine poem indeed, and with a subject worthy of all its praise," remarked Cousin Ronald, as Mrs. Travilla ceased. "No wonder you are proud of him, cousins, for he was, as I said a moment since, one to be proud of; I should be proud indeed of him were he a countryman of mine."
"As each one of us—his countrymen and women—certainly is," said Mr. Dinsmore.
There was a silence of a few moments, presently broken by the captain.