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twg_000000046800 | Now, won't you please play the piano for me?" "Assuredly. Choose your tune!" He fumbled a bit in the rack and passing some rather good music, he held up a torn and yellow sheet. "This is what I want," he said. I had not played it for many years. After a false start or so--for it was villainously set in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046801 | four sharps for which I have an aversion--I got through it. On a second trial I did better. The boy made no comment. He had sunk down in his chair until he was quite out of sight. "Well," I said, "what next?" There was no answer. I arose from the bench and glanced in his direction. "Hello," I cried, "what | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046802 | has become of you?" The chair was empty. I turned on all the lights. He was nowhere in sight. I shook the hangings. I looked under my desk, for perhaps the lad was hiding from me in jest. It was unlikely that he could have passed me to gain the door, but I listened at the sill for any sound | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046803 | upon the stairs. The hall was silent. I called without response. Somewhat bewildered I came back to the hearth. Only a few minutes before, as it seemed, there had been a brisk fire with a row of orange peel upon the upper log. Now all trace of the peel was gone and the logs had fallen to a white ash. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046804 | I was standing perplexed, when I observed that a little pile of papers lay on the rug just off the end of my desk as by a careless elbow. At least, I thought, this impolite fellow has forgotten some of his possessions. It will serve him right if it is poetry that he wrote upon the hilltop. I picked up | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046805 | the papers. They were yellow and soiled, and writing was scrawled upon them. At the top was a date--but it was twenty years old. I turned to the last sheet. At least I could learn the boy's name. To my amazement, I saw at the bottom in an old but familiar writing, not the boy's name, but my own. I | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046806 | gazed at the chimney bricks and their substance seemed to part before my eyes. I looked into a world beyond--a fabric of moonlight and hilltop and the hot fret of youth. Perhaps the boy had only been waiting for the fire upon the hearth to cool to enter this other world of his restless ambition and desire. Reader, if by | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046807 | chance you have the habit of writing--let us confine ourselves now to sonnets and such airy matter as rides upon the night--doubtless, you sit sometimes at your desk bare of thoughts. The juices of your intellect are parched and dry. In such plight, I beg you not to fall upon your fingers or to draw pictures on your sheet. But | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046808 | most vehemently, and with such emphasis as I possess, I beg you not to rummage among your rejected and broken fragments in the hope of recasting a withered thought to a present mood. Rather, before you sour and curdle, it is good to put on your hat and take your stupid self abroad. | 53 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046809 | Produced by Imran Ghory, Stan Goodman, Josephine Paolucci and PG Distributed Proofreaders BENEATH THE BANNER BEING NARRATIVES OF NOBLE LIVES AND BRAVE DEEDS BY F.J. CROSS _ILLUSTRATED_ "I have done my best for the honour of our country."--GORDON SECOND EDITION _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_. GOOD MORNING! GOOD NIGHT! TRUE STORIES PURE AND BRIGHT. In this work will be found a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046810 | Series of upwards of sixty Chats with Children, suitable for morning and evening reading. The book abounds with anecdotes, and contains numerous illustrations. _Ready about May, 1895_. CONTENTS. _Only a Nurse Girl_,--ALICE AYRES _A Slave Trade Warrior_,--SIR SAMUEL BAKER _Two Working Men Heroes_,--CASE AND CHEW _The Commander of the Thin Red Line_,--SIR COLIN CAMPBELL _A Sailor Bold and True_,--LORD COCHRANE | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046811 | _A Rough Diamond that was Polished_,--JOHN CASSELL "_A Brave, Fearless Sort of Lass_,"--GRACE DARLING _A Friend of Lepers_,--FATHER DAMIEN _A Great Arctic Explorer_,--SIR JOHN FRANKLIN _A Saviour of Six_,--FIREMAN FORD _A Blind Helper of the Blind_,--ELIZABETH GILBERT _A Great Traveller in the Air_,--JAMES GLAISHER _The Soldier with the Magic Wand_,--GENERAL GORDON "_Valiant and True_,"--SIR RICHARD GRENVILLE _One who Left All_,--BISHOP | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046812 | HANNINGTON _A Man who Conquered Disappointments_,--SIR HENRY HAVELOCK _A Friend of Prisoners_,--JOHN HOWARD _A Hero of the Victoria Cross_,--KAVANAGH _The Man who Braved the Flood_,--CAPTAIN LENDY _A Temperance Leader_,--JOSEPH LIVESEY _A Great Missionary Explorer_,--DAVID LIVINGSTONE _From Farm Lad to Merchant Prince_,--GEORGE MOORE _A Man who Asked and Received_,--GEORGE MLLER _A Labourer in the Vineyard_,--ROBERT MOFFAT "_The Lady with the Lamp_,"--FLORENCE | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046813 | NIGHTINGALE _For England, Home, and Duty_,--THE DEATH OF NELSON _A Woman who Succeeded by Failure_,--HARRIET NEWELL _A Martyr of the South Seas_,--BISHOP PATTESON "_K.G. and Coster_,"--LORD SHAFTESBURY _A Statesman who had no Enemies_,--W.H. SMITH _Greater than an Archbishop_,--THE REV.C. SIMEON _A Soldier Missionary_,--HEDLEY VICARS _A Lass that Loved the Sailors_,--AGNES WESTON _A Great Commander on a Famous Battlefield_ THE DUKE | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046814 | OF WELLINGTON _A Prince of Preachers_,--JOHN WESLEY _Some Children of the Kingdom_ _The Victor, the Story of an Unknown Man_ _A Boy Hero_,--JOHN CLINTON _Postscript_ BENEATH THE BANNER. _STORIES OF MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN STEADY WHEN "UNDER FIRE_". ONLY A NURSE GIRL! THE STORY OF ALICE AYRES. On the night of Thursday, 25th April, , the cry rang | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046815 | through Union Street, Borough, that the shop of Chandler, the oilman, was in flames. So rapid was the progress of the fire that, by the time the escapes reached the house, tongues of flame were shooting out from the windows, and it was impossible to place the ladders in position. The gunpowder had exploded with great violence, and casks of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046816 | oil were burning with an indescribable fury. As the people rushed together to the exciting scene they were horrified to find at one of the upper windows a girl, clad only in her night-dress, bearing in her arms a child, and crying for help. It was Alice Ayres, who, finding there was no way of escape by the staircase, was | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046817 | seeking for some means of preserving the lives of the children in her charge. The frantic crowd gathered below shouted for her to save herself; but that was not her first aim. Darting back into the blinding smoke, she fetched a feather-bed and forced it through the window. This the crowd held whilst she carefully threw down to them one | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046818 | of the children, which alighted safe on the bed. Again the people in the street called on her to save her own life; but her only answer was to go back into the fierce flames and stifling smoke, and bring out another child, which was safely transferred to the crowd below. Once again they frantically entreated her to jump down | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046819 | herself; and once again she staggered back blinded and choking into the fiery furnace; and for the third time emerged, bearing the last of her charges, whose life also was saved. Then, at length, she was free to think of herself. But, alas! her head was dizzy and confused, and she was no longer able to act as surely as | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046820 | she had hitherto done. She jumped--but, to the horror of that anxious admiring throng below, her body struck against the projecting shop-sign, and rebounded, falling with terrific force on to the hard pavement below. Her spine was so badly injured that although everything possible was done for her at Guy's Hospital, whither she was removed, she died on the following | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046821 | Sunday. Beautiful windows have been erected at Red Cross Hall, Southwark, to commemorate her heroism; but the best memorial is her own expression: "I tried to do my best"--for this will live in the hearts of all who read of her self-devotion. She had tried to do her best _always_. Her loving tenderness to the children committed to her care | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046822 | and her pure gentle life were remarked by those around her before there was any thought of her dying a heroic death. So, when the great trial came, she was prepared; and what seems to us Divine unselfishness appeared to her but simple duty. A SLAVE TRADE WARRIOR. SOME STORIES OF SIR SAMUEL BAKER. Sir Samuel Baker, who died at | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046823 | the end of the year , aged seventy-three, will always be remembered for the splendid work he did in the Soudan during the four years he ruled there, and for his explorations in Africa. In earlier life he had done good service in Ceylon, had been in the Crimea during the Russian war, and had superintended the construction of the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046824 | first Turkish railway. Then, at the age of forty, he turned his attention to African travel. Accompanied by his wife, he left Cairo in ; and, after exploring the Blue Nile, arrived in at Khartoum, situated at the junction of the White and Blue Nile. Later on he turned southward. In spite of the opposition of slave owners, and without | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046825 | guide or interpreter, he reached the Albert Nyanza; and when, after many perils, he got safely back to Northern Egypt, his fame as an explorer was fully established. His was the first expedition which had been successful in penetrating into Central Africa from the north. On his return to England he was welcomed with enthusiasm, and received many honours. In | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046826 | the year , at the request of the Khedive of Egypt, Sir Samuel undertook a journey to the Soudan to put down the slave trade. He was given supreme power for a period of four years. In December, with a small army of about men, he left Cairo for Gondokoro, about miles up the Nile, accompanied by his wife. It | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046827 | was a terrible journey. His men fell ill, the water in the river was low in many places, and the passage blocked up. At times he had to cut channels for his ships; the men lost heart; and, had the leader not been firm and steadfast, he would never have reached his destination. On one occasion he found his thirty | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046828 | vessels stranded, the river having almost dried up. Nothing daunted, he cut his way through a marsh, making a progress of only twelve miles in about a fortnight. At the end of this time he found it was impossible to proceed further along that course, and had to return to the place he had left and begin again. Still, in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046829 | spite of all obstacles, he made steady progress. At Sobat, situated on the Nile above Khartoum, he established a station, and had a watch kept on passing ships to see that no slaves were conveyed down the river. One day a vessel came in sight, and keeping in the middle of the river would have passed by without stopping. But | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046830 | Sir Samuel, having his suspicions aroused, sent to inspect it. The captain declared stoutly he had no slaves aboard. He stated that his cargo consisted simply of corn and ivory. The inspector was not convinced, and determined to test the truth of this statement. Taking a ramrod, he drove it into the corn. This produced an answering scream from below, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046831 | and a moment later a woolly head and black body were disclosed. Further search was made, and a hundred and fifty slaves were discovered packed as close as herrings in a barrel. Some were in irons, one was sewn up in a sail cloth, and all had been cruelly treated. Soon the irons were knocked off and the poor slaves | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046832 | set free, to their great wonder and delight. Sir Samuel arrived at Gondokoro on the 15th of April, . Already two years of his time had expired. In addition to checking the slave trade, he had been commissioned to introduce a system of regular commerce. He set to work at once to show the people the benefits of agricultural pursuits. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046833 | He got his followers to plant seeds, and soon they were happy enough watching for the green shoots to appear. But before long they began to suffer from want of food. The tribes round about had been set against them by the slave hunters, and would supply them with nothing; so that Baker, in the midst of plenty, seemed likely | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046834 | to perish of starvation. However, he soon adopted energetic measures to prevent that. Having taken official possession of the land in the name of the Khedive he seized a sufficient number of animals for his requirements. The head man of the tribe and his followers were soon buzzing about his ears like a swarm of wasps; but seeing he was | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046835 | not to be frightened by their threats they showed themselves ready enough in the future to supply him with cattle in return for payment. His own soldiers were nearly as troublesome as the natives. They were lazy and mutinous; the sentries went to sleep, the scouts were unreliable, they were full of complaints; whilst round about him were the natives, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046836 | ready to steal, maim, and murder whenever they could get an opportunity. His life was daily in danger; and, so as not to be taken unawares, he organised a band of forty followers for his personal service. On these men he could always rely. They were proud of the confidence placed in them, and were ready to go anywhere and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046837 | do anything. By a strange perversity they were nicknamed "the forty thieves," though they were amongst the very few who were honest. What with sickness and fighting and losses encountered on the way up the river, Baker's force was now reduced to about five hundred men, in place of the twelve hundred whom he had once reviewed at Gondokoro. Still, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046838 | he did not despair of accomplishing, with God's help, the mission on which he had been sent. In January, , with his wife and only two hundred and twelve officers and men, he started south on a journey of three or four hundred miles into the region where the slave trade was carried on with the greatest activity. He had | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046839 | arranged with one of the chiefs to supply him with two thousand porters to carry the goods of the expedition; but when the time came not a single man was forthcoming. So his soldiers had to be their own carriers for a time. At a later date he was enabled to hire five hundred men to assist him to transport | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046840 | his goods, and presented each with a cow as a reward for his services. All took the cows readily enough, but sixty-seven of the carriers did not appear at the time appointed. The others were extremely desirous of going to look after them; but Baker, knowing their ways full well, thought it better to lose the services of the sixty-seven | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046841 | men rather than to allow this; for he felt sure if they once returned to search for their companions there would be no chance of seeing a single one of them again. After many perils he reached the territory of Kabbu Rega on the Victoria Nile. The king was apparently friendly at first. But on several occasions the war drums | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046842 | sounded, and although no violence was actually offered yet Sir Samuel thought it well to be on his guard. He therefore set his men to work to build a strong fort. They cut thick logs of wood, and planted them firmly in the ground, prepared fireproof rooms for the ammunition, and were in the course of a few days ready | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046843 | in case of emergency. These preparations had been made none too soon. [Illustration: Burning the king's Divan and Huts.] A few days later a very strange thing happened. The king sent Sir Samuel a present of some jars of cider. This he gave to his troops. A little while afterwards one of his officers rushed in to say the men | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046844 | had been poisoned. It was really so. The men who had drunk of the cider were lying about in terrible pain, and apparently dying. At once Sir Samuel gave them mustard and water and other emetics, and they were soon better. But he knew that trouble was at hand. Next morning he was standing at the entrance to the fort | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046845 | with one of his men when a chorus of yells burst upon his ear. He told his bugler to sound the alarm, and was walking towards the house to get a rifle when the man beside him fell shot through the heart. The fort was surrounded by thousands of natives, who kept up a continuous fire, and the bushes near | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046846 | at hand were full of sharp-shooters. But the fort was strong, and its defenders fought bravely; the woods were gradually cleared of sharp-shooters, and the natives, ere long, broke and fled. Then Sir Samuel sent a detachment out of the fort, and set fire to the king's divan and to the surrounding huts to teach the people a lesson for | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046847 | their treachery. But the place was full of foes. A poisoned spear was thrown at Sir Samuel, and every day he remained his force was in danger of destruction, so he determined to go on to King Riongo, whom he hoped would be more friendly. It is wonderful that the party ever got there. First of all it was found | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046848 | that they would probably be a week without provisions; but, happily, Lady Baker had put by some supplies, and great was the rejoicing when her forethought became known. Then it was discovered that the country through which they had to pass was full of concealed foes. From the long grass and bushes spears were constantly hurled at them, and not | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046849 | a few of the men were mortally wounded. Sir Samuel saw several lances pass close to his wife's head, and he narrowly escaped being hit on various occasions. But, at last, Riongo's territory was reached. The king was friendly, and for a time they were in comparative safety. By April, , Baker had returned to Gondokoro, and his mission ended. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046850 | It was, to a great extent, the story of a failure, so far as its main purpose was concerned, owing to the opposition of the men who were making a profit by dealing in slaves; and who, whilst appearing to be friendly, stirred up the natives to attack him. But, failure though it was, he had done all that man | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046851 | could do; and the expedition stands out as one of the most glorious efforts which have been made against overwhelming odds to put an end to the slave trade. TWO WORKING MEN HEROES. THE STORY OF CASE AND CHEW. The large gasholders, which are often a source of wonder to youthful minds as they rise and fall, are the places | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046852 | in which gas is stored for the use of our cities. By day, when they are generally receiving more gas than they are giving out, they rise; and again at night, when less is being pumped into them than is going out for consumption in the streets and houses, they fall. The gasholder is placed in a tank of water, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046853 | so that there is no waste of gas as the huge iron holder fills or empties. Now it was in one of these gasholders that a few years ago two men did a deed that will live. Here is the brief story. The holder was being repaired, the gas had been removed, and air had been pumped into it instead | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046854 | of gas so that men could work inside, and the holder had risen about fifty feet. Two men were working inside the holder, one a foreman, and the other a labourer named Case, the latter in a diver's helmet. They were standing on a plank floating on the water. Fresh air was being pumped down to Case, who, so long | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046855 | as he kept on the helmet, was perfectly safe. All at once the foreman found he was beginning to feel faint, so he told the labourer they would go up to the top for fresh air. But he had not the strength to carry out his purpose. The raft was pulled to the ladder by which they were to get | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046856 | out; but he was unable to ascend, and fell down in a fainting condition. Then the labourer, regardless of the danger he was running, unscrewed his helmet, into which fresh air was being pumped, and, placing it quite near his fallen comrade, enabled him to get some of the air. The foreman tried in vain to get Case to put | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046857 | on the helmet; and his own strength was too slight to force him to do so. Indeed, he was in such a state of weakness that he fell on the raft, and knew no more till he once again found himself in a place of safety. Now let us see how the foreman's rescue was effected, and at what cost. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046858 | The men at the top of the holder had by this time become aware that something was wrong below; and two men, Chew and Smith by name, at once volunteered to go down below. They reached the plank, got a rope round the foreman's body, when they too began to feel the effects of the gas, and ascended the ladder, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046859 | whilst the foreman was being hoisted up by means of the rope. Smith reached the top in a fainting condition. Chew never arrived there at all; for just as he got within a few feet of safety he became insensible, and fell down into the water below and was drowned. Meantime, Case had become jammed in between the plank and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046860 | one of the stays; and so, when at length they removed him, life had passed away. Such deeds are so often done by our working men that they think nothing about it. They do not know that they are heroes--that's the best of it! It is a fact to be thankful for that everywhere throughout the land, beneath the rough | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046861 | jackets of our artisans and labourers, beat hearts as true and fearless as those which have stormed the fort or braved the dangers of the battlefield. THE COMMANDER OF THE "THIN RED LINE". THE STORY OF SIR COLIN CAMPBELL. It was the 21st Of October, . Colin Campbell, not yet sixteen, had joined the army as ensign; and the battle | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046862 | of Vimiera was about to begin. It was his "baptism of fire". Colin was in the rear company. His captain came for him, and taking the lad's hand walked with him up and down in front of the leading company for several minutes, whilst the enemy's guns were commencing to fire. Then he told the youngster to go back to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046863 | his place. "It was the greatest kindness that could have been shown to me at such a time; and through life I have felt grateful for it," wrote Colin Campbell in later life of this incident. Soon after, the regiment to which he belonged formed part of the army that retreated to Corunna, when our troops suffered such terrible hardships. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046864 | Colin Campbell had a rough time of it then. The soles of his boots were worn to pieces, and so long a time did he wear them without a change that the uppers stuck firmly to his legs; and, though the boots were soaked in hot water, the skin came away when they were taken off. After the battle of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046865 | Corunna,--when the British brought to bay, turned and defeated their foes,--it was Colin's regiment that had the honour of digging the grave in which their heroic commander Sir John Moore was buried. Battle after battle followed ere the French troops were driven out of Spain, and Colin Campbell, young as he was, fought like a veteran. At Barossa his bravery | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046866 | brought him into special notice, and at the San Sebastian he led a storming party, and was twice wounded in doing so. First of all he was shot through the right thigh; but though a storm of bullets was flying about, and men falling thick around him, he was up again, and pressed onward only to be again shot down. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046867 | For his gallant conduct on this occasion he was specially mentioned in the despatch that the general commanding the forces sent to the Duke of Wellington. A few weeks later the troops moved on, and fought at the battle of Bidassoa, Colin Campbell being left in the hospital to recover from his wounds. But so little was it to his | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046868 | liking to stay in the rear that he escaped from the hospital, and managed not only to fight at Bidassoa, but to get wounded again! He was, of course, reproved by his colonel; but who could be seriously angry with a youngster for such conduct? So when he was sent back to England to get healed of his wounds, he | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046869 | was made a captain at the early age of twenty-one. Among the first things that Colin Campbell did when he received his captain's pay was to make his father an allowance of or a year; and later on it was an immense satisfaction for him to be able to provide both for his father and sister. In the Chinese war | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046870 | of he was in command of the 98th Regiment. The tremendous heat of the country during the summer terribly thinned the ranks of his forces, and he lost over men in eighteen months. He himself was struck down by sunstroke and fever; but, owing probably to his temperate and careful habits, he soon recovered. After the Chinese war, Colin Campbell | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046871 | was busy in India, and at Chillianwallah was wounded in the arm. It was in this battle he narrowly escaped with his life. The day after the fight, when he was being assisted to take off his uniform, he found that a small pistol which had been put in his pocket without his knowledge was broken, his watch smashed, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046872 | his side bruised. A bullet had struck him, unperceived in the heat of the battle, and his life saved by its force having been arrested by the handle of the pistol. In Colin Campbell was made a K.C.B. (Knight Commander of the Bath); so we must henceforth speak of him as "Sir" Colin. March, , saw Sir Colin Campbell in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046873 | England; but though he had passed his sixtieth year, most of which had been spent in his country's service, his rest was not of long duration, as in he went out to the Crimea in command of the Highland brigade, consisting of the 42nd, 79th, and 93rd regiments. Sir Colin was proud of the splendid troops he commanded, and at | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046874 | the battle of the Alma they covered themselves with glory. The 42nd (the Black Watch) were the first of the three regiments across the river Alma. Whilst ascending the height on the Russian side of the river, Sir Colin's horse was twice wounded, the second shot killing it; but he was soon mounted on another horse, leading his men to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046875 | victory. The Guards and Highlanders strove in friendly emulation who should be first in the Russian redoubt; but Sir Colin, well ahead of his own men was first in the battery shouting:-- "We'll hae nane but Highland bonnets here!" and his troops rushed in after him like lions. The terrific charge of these fierce Highlanders, combined with their dress, struck | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046876 | terror into the hearts of the Russians; who said that they thought they had come to fight men, but did not bargain for demons in petticoats! "Now, men," Sir Colin had said before the engagement, "you are going into battle. Remember this: Whoever is wounded--I don't care what his rank is--must lie where he falls till the bandsmen come to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046877 | attend to him.... Be steady. Keep silent. Fire low. Now, men, the army will watch us. Make me proud of the Highland brigade!" At the conclusion of that well-fought day the commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan, sent for Sir Colin. His eyes were full, his lips quivered, and he was unable to speak; but he gave Campbell a hearty handshake and a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046878 | look which spoke volumes. That was a joyful day for Sir Colin. "My men behaved nobly," he writes. "I never saw troops march to battle with greater _sang froid_ and order than these three Highland regiments." The Alma had been fought on 20th September, , and on the 25th October was fought the battle of Balaclava, memorable for the "Thin | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046879 | Red Line". It looked, at one time, as if the heavy masses of Russian cavalry must entirely crush Sir Colin's Highlanders; and their commander, riding down the line of his troops, said: "Remember, there is no retreat from here, men; you must die where you stand". "Ay, ay, Sir Colin, we'll do that," came the ready response. Now, it was | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046880 | usual, in preparing to receive a cavalry charge, for soldiers to be formed in a hollow square; but on this occasion Sir Colin ranged his men, two deep, in a _thin red line_, which has become memorable in the annals of the British army. The Russian cavalry were advancing, but, instead of the masses which were expected to make the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046881 | attack, only about came on. Sir Colin's men, fierce and eager for the onset, would have dashed from behind the hillock where they were stationed, but for the stern voice commanding them to stand firm in their ranks. The Russians hardly waited for their fire. Startled by the red-coated Britishers rising up at the word of their leader, they broke | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046882 | and fled; and the men of the 93rd, who, but a little before, had made up their minds to die where they stood, saw as in a dream their enemies scattered and broken; and the cloud of horsemen which had threatened to engulf and annihilate them, make no effort to snatch the victory which seemed within their grasp. Before the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046883 | Crimean war was over, Sir Colin resigned his command, and returned to England, as a protest against an affront he had received. Honoured by the Queen with a command to attend her at Windsor, he was asked by her Majesty to return to the Crimea; and the veteran assented at once, declaring he would serve under a corporal if she | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046884 | wished it. The Russian war was soon concluded; and Sir Colin thought that at length he had finished soldiering. But it was not to be. In the summer of the Indian Mutiny broke out, and on 11th July he was asked how soon he could start for India. The old soldier of sixty-five replied that he could go the same | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046885 | evening; and on the very next day, Sunday, he was on his way to take command of the British army in India. As the Mutiny is alluded to briefly in the story of Havelock, I will only state that Sir Colin's vigorous, cautious, skilful policy ere long brought this fearful rebellion to a close. For his able conduct of the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046886 | war he was warmly thanked by the Queen; and at its conclusion was raised to the peerage, under the title of Lord Clyde. Colin Campbell was an admirable soldier, firm in discipline, setting a good example, ever thoughtful for the comfort and well-being of his men, sharing in all the hardships and perils they passed through. It is, therefore, not | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046887 | surprising that his men loved him. Not that he was by any means a perfect man. He had a temper--a very hasty and passionate temper too, and one that troubled him a good deal; but he was on the watch for that to see it did not get the better of him. Here is an entry from his diary of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046888 | 5th March, , showing something of the character of the man. "Anniversary of Barossa. An old story thirty years ago. Thank God for all His goodness to me'! Although I have suffered much from ill health, and in many ways, I am still as active as any man in the regiment, and quite as able as the youngest to go | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046889 | through fatigue." Let us just glance at the way this victor in a hundred fights regarded the approach of death. He prepared for his end with a humility as worthy of example as his deeds in the army had been. "Mind this," he said to his old friend General Eyre, "I die at peace with all the world." He frequently | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046890 | asked Mrs. Eyre to pray with him, and to read the Bible aloud. "Oh! for the pure air of Heaven," he once exclaimed, "that I might be laid at rest and peace on the lap of the Almighty!" He suffered a good deal in his last illness, and at times would jump up as if he heard the bugle, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046891 | exclaim:-- "I am ready!" And so; when he passed away on the 14th August, , in his seventy-first year, "lamented by the Queen, the army, and the people," he was quite ready to meet that last enemy, death, whom he had faced so often on the field of battle. A SAILOR BOLD AND TRUE. STORIES OF LORD COCHRANE. All who, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046892 | forgetful of self, have striven to render their country free and glorious are true heroes. Of those who have been ready to lay down their lives for the welfare of Great Britain the number is legion. From them let us select one as a type of thousands of brave men who have helped to make Britain mistress of the ocean. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046893 | Thomas Cochrane, son of Lord Dundonald, took to the sea as a duck takes to the water. When he first went on board ship the lieutenant cared neither that he was Lord Cochrane nor that he was related to the captain of the ship. He did not spare him one jot; but made him do all kinds of work, just | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046894 | as if he had been plain Tom Smith. And so it came to pass that he got a thorough training, and, being a smart youth, was soon promoted. Cochrane had the good fortune on one occasion to meet Lord Nelson, who in course of conversation said to him, "Never mind manoeuvres; always go at them". This advice he certainly followed | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046895 | throughout his life; and he began pretty early too. For being in command of a sloop of tons, called the _Speedy_, with fourteen small guns and fifty-one men, he happened to come across a good-sized Spanish vessel, with thirty-two big guns, and over men. The Spaniard, of course, was going to seize on the little English ship, and, so to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046896 | speak, gobble it up. But Cochrane, instead of waiting to be attacked, made for the Spaniard, and, after receiving the fire of all her guns, without delivering a shot, got right under the side of the _Gamo_ (so the vessel was called), and battered into her with might and main. The Spaniards did not relish this, and were going to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046897 | board the tiny English craft, but again they were forestalled; for Cochrane with all his men took the _Gamo_ by storm, killed some, and frightened others; and ere long a marvellous sight was witnessed at Minorca, the great _Gamo_ was brought by the _Speedy_ into the harbour, with over men on board, hale and hearty, whilst Cochrane never had a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046898 | fifth of that number! Ship after ship he took, till his name became a terror to the Spaniards and French; for he was so audacious, that no matter how big was the vessel he came across, nor how small his own, he "went at them," as Nelson had told him to do; and many a stately prize brought he home | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000046899 | as the result of his daring and bravery. One of the most gallant deeds he did was in connection with the defence of Rosas. Times had changed since the events related above, and Great Britain was now helping Spain in her struggle against France. When he got to Rosas the place was within an ace of surrender. The French had | 60 | gutenberg |
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