Christian life -- Juvenile fiction; Dinsmore, Elsie (Fictitious character) -- Juvenile fiction; Louisiana -- Juvenile fiction
"He talked very freely on the subject, and was told that a person with
such sentiments as his 'could not live in Norfolk.' 'Well, then,' he
replied, 'I can live somewhere else,' and that very evening left the
place, with his wife and son. That was the 18th of April, 1861. He went
first to Baltimore, but afterward took a cottage at Hastings-on-the-Hudson.
"The next December he was summoned to Washington, and on the 2d of
February sailed from Hampton Roads for New Orleans."
"Where he certainly did splendid service to his country," remarked Mr.
Lilburn. "I hope she appreciated it."
"I think she did," returned the captain; "he received many marks of the
people's appreciation, among them a purse of $50,000, which was
presented him for the purchase of a home in New York City."
"Did he live to see the end of the war, sir?" asked Walter.
"Yes; he was on the James River with General Gordon when Richmond was
taken, and on hearing the news the two rode there post-haste, reaching
the city a little ahead of President Lincoln. A few days after that the
naval and military officers at Norfolk, with some of the citizens who
had remained true to the Union, gave him a public reception.
"Farragut was one of the speakers, and in the course of his remarks
said: 'This meeting recalls to me the most momentous events of my life,
when I listened in this place till the small hours of the morning, and
returned home with the feeling that Virginia was safe and firm in her
place in the Union. Our Union members of the convention were elected by
an overwhelming majority, and we believed that every thing was right.
Judge, then, of our astonishment in finding, a few days later, that the
State had been voted out by a miserable minority, for want of firmness
and resolution on the part of those whom we trusted to represent us
there, and that Virginia had been dragooned out of the Union. I was told
by a brother officer that the State had seceded, and that I must either
resign and turn traitor to the government which had supported me from
childhood, or I must leave this place.
"'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."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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