The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 16, February, 1859: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and PoliticsVarious
History
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 16, February, 1859: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics
Various
American periodicals
All, whose memories extend so far back as the year 1850, remember the
ovation received in New York by the exiled chief. New York grants an
ovation to every one; and Monágas would, doubtless, have been received
with the same demonstration, had the breath of adverse fortune blown him
hither, instead of his antagonist.
After the first effervescence produced by the dropping of a notability
into the caldron of New York, the Llanero general was permitted to enjoy
his placid domesticity without molestation; and in a pleasant street,
far up-town among the Twenties, he lived in the midst of us for eight
quiet years. A curious serenity of evening, for a life so turbulent and
incarnadined in its beginning! How many of the thousands who were
wont to pass the stout old soldier, with his seamed forehead and gray
moustache, as he enjoyed his quiet stroll down Broadway, thought of him
as the lad of Araure, the horseman of Barinas, terror of the Spaniard,
victor of Carabobo, and President of Venezuela? But though retired and
unpretending in his exile, Paez was not neglected in New York; and the
procession which followed him, but a few weeks since, to the steamer
destined to bear him back to his native land,--a procession saddened, it
is true, by the feeble condition to which an accident had temporarily
reduced the chieftain,--showed that his solid worth was recognized and
honored.
Not yet, however, is it time for the summing-up of his history. The
exile of 1850 has been solicited to return to his country, and the
ninth anniversary of banishment may find him occupying once more the
Presidential chair. General Monágas having been deposed in March, 1858,
repeated invitations were dispatched, by the Provisional Government, to
Paez, entreating his return; and, after much cautious hesitation, he
resolved, in the following September, to comply with the request.
Subsequent events belong rather to the chronology of the day than to the
page of history we have thrown open here. Our task is at an end; the
career of the Llanero has been unfolded; we have placed ourselves in the
presence of the comrade of Bolívar, and have witnessed the rise of the
Venezuelan Republic.
BULLS AND BEARS.
[Continued.]
CHAPTER XI.
SHOWING AT WHAT COST OUR HERO ESCAPED DROWNING.
The boat lay at the wharf, a pretty little craft of six or eight tons,
with a mainsail and jib. It was a delightful afternoon; a gentle
westerly wind swept over a placid sea, and the sky was as clear as the
mirror that reflected its exquisite blue. Greenleaf and Miss Sandford
took their seats amidships, leaving the stern for the boatman. The
ropes were cast off, and the sailor was about stepping aboard, when it
was discovered that the fishing-lines had been left behind. Old Tarry
was dispatched to bring them, and he rolled off as fast as his habitual
gait allowed him. When he was fairly up the hill, Miss Sandford said,--
"You know how to sail a boat, don't you?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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