Since writing this, and while considering whether or no I would print it, as a warning to the young Nolans and Vallandighams and Tatnalls of today of what it is to throw away a country, I have received from Danforth, who is on board the Levant, a letter which gives an account of Nolan's last hours. It removes all my doubts about telling

that the silence which often follows a
good story hung over the table for an
instant, to be broken by Nolan him-
self. For he asked perfectly uncon-
sciously,-"Pray,
sciously, "Pray, what has become of
Texas? After the Mexicans got their
independence, I thought that province
of Texas would come forward very fast.
It is really one of the finest regions on
earth; it is the Italy of this continent. 10 this story.
But I have not seen or heard a word of
Texas for near twenty years."

There were two Texan officers at the
table. The reason he had never heard
of Texas was that Texas and her affairs
had been painfully cut out of his news-
papers since Austin began his settle-
ments; so that, while he read of Hondu-
ras and Tamaulipas, and till quite
lately, of California, this virgin prov- 20
ince, in which his brother had traveled
so far, and, I believe, had died, had
ceased to be to him. Waters and Wil-
liams, the two Texas men, looked grimly
at each other and tried not to laugh.
Edward Morris had his attention at-
tracted by the third link in the chain
of the captain's chandelier. Watrous
was seized with a convulsion of sneez-
ing. Nolan himself saw that something 30
was to pay, he did not know what. And
I, as master of the feast, had to say,-

"Texas is out of the map, Mr. Nolan. Have you seen Captain Back's curious account of Sir Thomas Roe's Welcome?"

To understand the first word of the letter, the non-professional reader should remember that after 1817, the position of every officer who had Nolan in charge was one of the greatest delicacy. The government had failed to renew the order of 1807 regarding him. What was a man to do? Should he let him go? What, then, if he were called to account by the Department for violating the order of 1807? Should he keep him? What, then, if Nolan should be liberated some day, and should bring an action for false imprisonment or kidnapping against every man who had had him in charge? I urged and pressed this upon Southard, and I have reason to think that other officers did the same thing. But the Secretary always said, as they often do at Washington, that there were no special orders to give, and that we must act on our own judgment. That means, "if you succeed, you will be sustained; if you fail, you will be disavowed." Well, as Danforth says, all that is over now; though I do not know but I expose myself to a criminal prosecution on the evidence of the very revelation I am

Here is the letter:

After that cruise I never saw Nolan again. I wrote to him at least twice a year, for in that voyage we became even confidentially intimate; but he never wrote to me. The other men tell me 40 making. that in those fifteen years he aged very fast, as well he might indeed; but that he was still the same gentle, uncomplaining, silent sufferer that he ever was, bearing as best he could his selfappointed punishment, rather less social, perhaps, with new men whom he did not know, but more anxious, apparently, than ever to serve and befriend

Levant, 2° 2′ S. @ 131° W. "Dear Fred:-I try to find heart and life to tell you that it is all over with dear old Nolan. I have been with him on this voyage more than I ever was, and I can understand wholly now the way in which you used to speak of the

and teach the boys, some of whom 50 dear old fellow. I could see that he fairly seemed to worship him. And now it seems the dear old fellow is dead. He has found a home at last, and a country.

was not strong, but I had no idea the end was so near. The doctor had been watching him very carefully, and yesterday morning came to me and told

ful Burr. O Danforth, Danforth,' he sighed out, 'how like a wretched night's dream a boy's idea of personal fame or of separate sovereignty seems, when one looks back on it after such a life as mine! But tell me, tell me something, tell me everything, Danforth, before I die!'

me that Nolan was not so well, and had
not left his state-room,-a thing I never
remember before. He had let the doc-
tor come and see him as he lay there,-
the first time the doctor had been in the
state-room, and he said he should like
to see me. Oh, dear! do you remember
the mysteries we boys used to invent
about his room in the old Intrepid days?
Well, I went in, and there, to be sure, 10 like a monster that I had not told him

the poor fellow lay in his berth, smiling
pleasantly as he gave me his hand, but
looking very frail. I could not help a
glance round, which showed me what a
little shrine he had made of the box he
was lying in. The stars and stripes
were triced up above and around a pic-
ture of Washington, and he had painted
a majestic eagle, with lightnings blaz-
ing from his beak and his foot just 20
clasping the whole globe, which his
wings overshadowed. The dear old boy
saw my glance, and said, with a sad
smile, 'Here, you see, I have a country!'
And then he pointed to the foot of his
bed, where I had not seen before a great
map of the United States, as he had
drawn it from memory, and which he
had there to look upon as he lay.
Quaint, queer old names were on it, in 30
large letters: 'Indiana Territory,' 'Mis-
sissippi Territory,' and 'Louisiana Ter-
ritory,' as I suppose our fathers learned
such things: but the old fellow had
patched in Texas, too; he had carried
his western boundary all the way to the
Pacific, but on that shore he had de-
fined nothing.

""O Danforth,' he said, 'I know I am
dying. I cannot get home. Surely you 40
will tell me something now?-Stop!
stop! Do not speak till I say what I
am sure you know, that there is not in
this ship, that there is not in America,
-God bless her!-a more loyal man
than I. There cannot be a man who
loves the old flag as I do, or prays for
it as I do, or hopes for it as I do. There
are thirty-four stars in it now, Dan-
forth. I thank God for that, though I 50
do not know what their names are.
There has never been one taken away:
I thank God for that. I know by that
that there has never been any success-

"Ingham, I swear to you that I felt

everything before. Danger or no danger, delicacy or no delicacy, who was I, that I should have been acting the tyrant all this time over this dear, sainted old man, who had years ago expiated, in his whole manhood's life, the madness of a boy's treason? 'Mr. Nolan,' said I, 'I will tell you everything you ask about. Only, where shall I begin?'

"Oh, the blessed smile that crept over his white face! and he pressed my hand and said, 'God bless you! Tell me their names,' he said, and he pointed to the stars on the flag. "The last I know is Ohio. My father lived in Kentucky. But I have guessed Michigan and Indiana and Mississippi,-that was where Fort Adams is, they make twenty. But where are your other fourteen? You have not cut up any of the old ones, I hope?'

"Well, that was not a bad text, and I told him the names in as good order as I could, and he bade me take down his beautiful map and draw them in as I best could with my pencil. He was wild with delight about Texas, told me how his brother died there; he had marked a gold cross where he supposed his brother's grave was; and he had guessed at Texas. Then he was delighted as he saw California and Oregon;-that, he said, he had suspected partly, because he had never been permitted to land on that shore, though the ships were there so much. And the men,' said he, laughing, 'brought off a good deal besides furs.' Then he went back-heavens, how far!-to ask about the Chesapeake, and what was done to Barron for surrendering her to the Leopard, and whether Burr ever tried again, and he ground his teeth with

the only passion he showed. But in a moment that was over, and he said, 'God forgive me, for I am sure I forgive him.' Then he asked about the old war, told me the true story of his serving the gun the day we took the Java,― asked about dear old David Porter, as he called him. Then he settled down more quietly, and very happily, to hear

had worked up from the ranks. 'Good
for him!' cried Nolan; 'I am glad of
that.
that. As I have brooded and won-
dered, I have thought our danger was
in keeping up those regular successions
in the first families.' Then I got talk-
ing about my visit to Washington. I
told him of meeting the Oregon Con-
gressman, Harding; I told him about

me tell in an hour the history of fifty 10 the Smithsonian, and the Exploring Exyears.

"How I wished it had been somebody who knew something! But I did as well as I could. I told him of the English war. I told him about Fulton and the steamboat beginning. I told him about. old Scott, and Jackson; told him all I could think about the Mississippi, and New Orleans, and Texas, and his own old Kentucky. And do you think, he 20 asked me who was in command of the 'Legion of the West.' I told him it was a very gallant officer named Grant, and that, by our last news, he was about to establish his headquarters at Vicksburg. Then, 'Where was Vicksburg?' I worked that out on the map; it was about a hundred miles, more or less, above his old Fort Adams; and I thought Fort Adams must be a ruin 30 now. 'It must be at old Vick's plantation,' said he: 'well, that is a change!'

"I tell you, Ingham, it was a hard thing to condense the history of half a century into that talk with a sick man. And I do not now know what I told him,-of emigration, and the means of it, of steamboats, and railroads, and telegraphs, of inventions, and books,

pedition; I told him about the Capitol, and the statues for the pediment, and Crawford's Liberty, and Greenough's Washington. Ingham, I told him everything I could think of that would show the grandeur of his country and its prosperity; but I could not make up my mouth to tell him a word about this infernal Rebellion!

"And he drank it in and enjoyed it as I cannot tell you. He grew more and more silent, yet I never thought he was tired or faint. I gave him a glass of water, but he just wet his lips, and told me not to go away. Then he asked me to bring the Presbyterian 'Book of Public Prayer' which lay there, and said, with a smile, that it would open at the right place, and so it did. There was his double red mark down the page; and I knelt down and read, and he repeated with me, 'For ourselves and our country, O gracious God, we thank Thee, that, notwithstanding our manifold transgressions of Thy holy laws, Thou hast continued to us Thy marvelous kindness,'-and so to the end of that thanksgiving. Then he turned to the end of the same book, and I read

and literature-of the colleges, and 40 the words more familiar to me: 'Most West Point, and the Naval School,but with the queerest interruptions that ever you heard. You see it was Robinson Crusoe asking all the accumulated questions of fifty-six years!

"I remember he asked, all of a sudden, who was President now; and when I told him, he asked if Old Abe was General Benjamin Lincoln's son. He

heartily we beseech Thee with Thy favor to behold and bless Thy servant, the President of the United States, and all others in authority,'-and the rest of the Episcopal collect. 'Danforth,' said he, 'I have repeated those prayers night and morning, it is now fifty-five years.' And then he said he would go to sleep. He bent me down over him

said he met old General Lincoln, when 50 and kissed me; and he said, 'Look in

he was quite a boy himself, at some Indian treaty. I said no, that Old Abe was a Kentuckian like himself, but I could not tell him of what family; he

my Bible, Danforth, when I am gone.' And I went away.

"But I had no thought it was the end. I thought he was tired and would sleep.

I knew he was happy, and I wanted him to be alone.

"But in an hour, when the doctor I went in gently, he found Nolan had breathed his life away with a smile. He had something pressed close to his lips. It was his father's badge of the Order of Cincinnati.

"We looked in his Bible, and there was a slip of paper at the place where 10 he had marked the text:

"They desire a country, even a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He hath prepared for them a city.'

"On this slip of paper he had written:

"Bury me in the sea; it has been my home, and I love it. But will not some one set up a stone for my memory at Fort Adams or at Orleans, that my disgrace may not be more than I ought to bear? Say on it:

'In Memory of

'PHILIP NOLAN, 'Lieutenant in the Army of the United States.

'He loved his country as no other man has loved her; but no man deserved less at her hands.''

DAVID ROSS LOCKE (1833-1888) ("PETROLEUM V. NASBY")

MR. NASBY FINDS A NEW

BUSINESS

Post Offis, Confedrit X Roads, (wich is in the Stait uv Kentucky), January 20, 1869.

I hev it at last! I see a lite! A grate lite! A brite lite! I shall not go to Noo York, nor shall I be forced to leave the Corners, at least permanently. I hev at last struck ile! I shel live like a gentleman; I shel pay for my likker, and be on an ekal footin with other men. Bascom, whose smile is happiness, but whose frown is death, will smile onto me wunst more.

To Miss Soosan Murphy I owe my

20

present happiness. The minnit I notist she hed put in a claim agin the Government for property yoosed doorin the war by Fedral soljery, I to-wunst saw where my finanshel salvashen wuz. Immejitly I histed my shingle ez a agent to prosekoot claims agin the Government for property destroyed or yoosed, doorin the late onpleasantnis, by Fedral troops. That shingle hedn't bin out an hour before Joe Bigler hed red it to half the citizens uv the Corners; and in two hours I hed biznis on my hands, and money in my pockets. Ez a matter uv course, I insisted upon a retainin fee uv ten dollars in each case.

Issaker Gavitt and his two younger brothers wuz the first clients I hed. Their case is one uv pekoolyer hardship, and I feel ashoored that Congris will to-wunst afford them the releef they ask. The property destroyed wuz a barn and its contents, wich wuz destroyed by Buell in the second yeer uv the war; that is, the contents wud hev bin destroyed only they wuzn't in the barn, ez they hed bin sold jist previously to the Confedracy. But ez the Elder, peace to his ashes, took Con30 fedrit munny for sed contents, wich munny he, in a moment uv enthoosiasm, invested in Confedrit bonds, wich finally got to be worth nothin, we put in a claim for the valyoo uv the contents ez well ez uv the barn. Beein 70 years uv age when the war broke out, he did not volunteer in the Confedrit service, and consequently never fired a shot at the Old Flag. His two youngest sons 40 did, it is troo; but the Elder can't be held responsible for them boys. The estate is entitled to damage jist the same ez tho the Elder wuz alive.

Elder Pennibacker hez also claims to a considerable amount, wich is for fences, crops, barns, and sich, destroyed by Fedral armies. The Elder is not quite certain but that the fences wuz destroyed by order uv a Confedrit Gen50 eral, wich wuz retreetin; and it is possible that the crops, barns, and sich, wuz yoosed up at the same time. It wuz doorin the war, at any rate; and ez the Fedral Government wuz, in his

opinyun, to blame for the war, wich never wood hev bin carried on hed it yeelded ez it ought to hev done, why the Fedral Government ought to pay all these losses. Uv course I shan't put all the Elder's talk into the petishen.

horses the Deekin claims payment. He wuz, doorin the war, strictly nootral. Kentucky did not secede, neither did the Deekin. His boys went into the Confedrit service, and on several occasions he might hev cleaned his trusty rifle and gone out at nite to git a crack at Fedral pickets. Habit is strong, and ez ther were no schoolmasters to shoot,

Miss Jane McGrath's case, which is the one I shel push the hardest, is one wich, ef Congris does not consider favorably, it will show that Congris hez 10 the Deekin must shoot somethin. He

no bowels. Miss McGrath is a woman. Uv course doorin the war she wuz loyal, ez she understood loyalty. She beleeved in her State. She hed two brothers wich went into the Confedrit servis, and she gave em both horses. But wood any sister let her brother go afoot? Them horses must be set down to the credit uv her sisterly affeckshun. It will be showed, I make no doubt, that when her oldest brother's regiment (he wuz a Colonel) left for the seat uv war, that Miss McGrath presented to it a soot uv colors wich she made with her own hands, wich soot included a black flag with skull and cross-bones onto it. Sposin she did? It wuz loyalty to wat she considered her State. And the fact that doorin the war she rode twelve

considered the war a great misforchoon; and many a time hez the old patriark, with teers streemin down his cheeks, exclaimed, "Why won't Linkin withdraw his troops and let us alone?" He hez bin since the close uv the struggle a hankerin arter Peece. "Let us hev Peece!" is his cry. "Give me back my niggers; let me hev things ez they wunce 20 wuz, and I shel be soothed into quietood." He voted for Micklellan in 1864, and for Seymour in 1868; but that uv course won't count agin him in the matter uv the claim. The minnit he decided to put in the claim he withdrew from the Ku-Klux, uv wich associashun he hez bin chief since the close of the war. He is an inoffensive old man, whose pathway to the tomb needs

miles to inform a Confedrit officer that 30 soothin. The horses he lost he counts

four Fedral soljers wich hed escaped from Andersonville wuz hid in her barn, shood not operate agin her. Onto her piano ther wuz a choice collection uv Southern songs, and ther is a rumor that in Louisville wunst she did spit in the face uv a Fedral offiser; but wat uv that? Is a great Government goin to inquire closely into sich trifles? Miss McGrath give me the names uv three 40 Fedral Generals who campt on her place doorin the last year uv the war, wich wood certify to her loyalty, wich, ef they didn't, wood show that there wuzn't any gratitood in humanity.

worth $10,000, and he uv course wants remuneration to the amount uv $10,000 more for the anguish he suffered seein uv em go.

Almost every white citizen uv the Corners hez a claim, uv wich I shel hev the prosekootin; that is, them wich can raise the retainin fee. Some hundred or more who never hed anything before or doorin the war, and who are in the same condishen now, hev put in claims for sums rangin from $10,000 to $20,000, offrin me the half I git. I may take em. They kin swear to each other's loyalty, wich will redoose the cost uv evidence to a mere nominal sum.

1 shel hie me to Washington and got Mrs. Cobb to take hold with me, givin her a share. Ef she succeeds with Con

Deekin Pogram hez uv course a claim. The Deekin's horses wuz all taken by a Fedral offiser, wich wuz the more aggravatin, ez the Deekin hed, in addishen to his own, jist bought 25, 50 gris ez well ez she did with the Presiwich he wuz to hev delivered to General Morgan, uv the Confedracy, the next day, who wuz to hev paid for em in gold. They were gobbled. For these

dent, the result will be all that I kin
desire.

PETROLEUM V. NASBY, P. M.
(wich is Postmaster).