CHAPTER VIII.

JAMAICA.

Fun on the Ship-Mr. Cannon "Reminesces"-The Development of the West-Peter Cartwright's Sermon-Lincoln's Sore Trial— Lovejoy's Speech in the Illinois Convention-America's Great Home Market-Approach to Jamaica-Wrecks and Rocks-The Sinking of Port Royal-Kingston and the Earthquake—Stories of the Great Disaster-The Queen's Monument Twisted-A Dismantled Club-Citizens Still Bewildered-The Incident of Swettenham-A Foolish Letter-Women Carrying the Hod-Arrival of Secretary Metcalf-Governor Dines With Americans -Trouble Raising Revenue-Canada Complains of the Tariff— United States Left Out-Work of Restoration Slow.

The quiet Illinoisan was dozing calmly in his comfortable. deck-chair on the morning after our Venezuelan experience -and there was no escape. In painfully discordant tones, but with plenty of action, the entertainment committee got in its deadly work. McKinley awoke and listened, then asked to be excused.

"I am unused to such distinction," he said.

Odd, varied and picturesque as had been the scenes and

incidents of the Venezuelan trip, few were inclined to long discussion when the ship left Puerto Cabello. We were a tired lot and most of us at once sought our state-rooms. But the night's sleep had been refreshing, and ahead of us were two days at sea in a northerly course to Jamaica. We were to spend another day there and then, on the run to Colon and Panama, kill the remaining two days required by Mr. McKinley's five days' quarantine instructions. And yet we had wasted no time from the landing at St. Thomas to the departure from Puerto Cabello. In fact, we had hustled, and that under German direction. But now that we were to have two days at sea-two delightful, restful days-how were the passengers to be entertained? The insurgent ruse had been worked until there was little amusement in it. The Widow and the escapades of her monkey were attracting some attention, and there were small bits of scandal and gossip that admonished us of Mrs. Grundy's presence.

"I say," said Mrs. Culgan to young Eversman, “do you know that Mrs. Brown, of Montana, has mesmeric powers? She can tell what you are playing, a la Paderewski, from the mere movement of your fingers.”

"Indeed!" replied Eversman, imitating the piano player in pantomime. “What am I playing, Mrs. Brown ?”

"You are playing the fool!"

"That's very nice," said McKinley, "but wait, Mrs. Brown! Do you know why they call the capital of Venezuela, Caracas?"

"No, why?"

"Because, that's its name."

"But here's the Captain!" said Mrs. Smith, of Peoria. "Don't allow dogs on the ship, do you, Captain? Miss Bassett fooled you good, didn't she?" (Miss Bassett had cleverly imitated the barking of a dog in one of the cabins.)

"I dink not," said the Captain.

"But you didn't find any dog!" "No, only heard de tale."

"Ah, Mr. Speaker," said one of the party as Mr. Cannon hove in sight, "did you see Mr. Busbey in his new duck suit? He is so gorgeous we have made him admiral.” "You know why men are made admirals?" asked Mr. Cannon.

"No!"

"They are made admirals to get on the retired list."

"But Mr. Mann," exclaimed a bevy of ladies, who had helped along the McKinley song, "we must have an entertainment to-night!"

Mann looked up from a volume entitled "Venezuela," by William E. Curtis, lazily adjusted his glasses, and said: "Would it not be better to have dinner first?"

"By all means, Mr. Mann, but then the entertainment!" "Very well, you shall have the best on the boat. We will get Speaker Cannon."

"Oh, won't that be lovely!"

"Yes, we will get the Speaker," said Mann. "He is under orders on this ship. We will make him tell of his experiences in the Far West."

In the evening, after dinner, the committee having captured Mr. Cannon for a short talk, the great dining room was filled to the doors. Mann presented Sherman as the presiding officer, and one of the delightful speeches for which the New Yorker became noted aboard ship followed. Mrs. Huntoon, of Providence, sang beautifully, and then came the Speaker. It was negligee weather, and the Speaker's loose trappings strikingly portrayed the very characteristics of the founders of the West whom he extolled.

"I now present to you one of the few men who rode the circuit with the immortal Lincoln," said Sherman.

The audience rose and cheered. They had come to know the Speaker personally, and they were prepared to fall back for the treat they believed to be in store.

"Rode the circuit with Abraham Lincoln," began Uncle Joe. "That makes it necessary to reminesce-how long was it before most of you were born? And I am trying to keep up with you as a candidate for matrimony."

"The Middle West! Why the Middle West is but a matter of twenty-four hours, and yet the settlement of the Middle West, as it was known years ago, presents a record more marvelous than the history of any country on the face of the earth, from the close of the Revolution to the present time. The settlement of the Middle West involves a leadership on the part of men whose names will live through all time. It was a kind of leadership that accorded with the people who were to be led. Without such leadership and without cooperation as between the leadership and the people, leadership for great purposes cannot long prevail."

Mr. Cannon took up the life-work of Lewis and Clark, whom he pictured as types of the great American frontiersmen; spoke of their personal triumphs and high national purposes, and told how such men carried the boundary of the Republic from the Allegheny mountains to the Mississippi and then to the Pacific ocean.

"The Middle West! How odd it sounded now to those who could so easily compute distances and establish communication with the States beyond the Atlantic seaboard, and yet how important in its time was the accession to the Union of Ohio, of Indiana, of Illinois, and of Michigan! But what thoughts the inevitable Western trend of civilization recalled! The incorruptible history of it all; the individual history of it; the pioneer in his buckskin garments; the lawyer who assisted in establishing the rights and the titles for a miser

able stipend; the doctor who took his chances in the new and unsettled territory; the business man who staked his all upon the coming of the people, and the men and the women who took their chances with the elements and the Indians and hostile environment.

"I don't like to 'reminesce,' and you'll pardon me for that word," said the Speaker, "but it is important that those of us who are able may do so, as a help to the wise and safe determination of the questions of the future. The missionary had much to do with the development of the Middle West, particularly the Methodist; his industry and courage carried him across the mountains and aided him in fording the streams. Each country has its own notion of religion-but they were God-fearing men, no matter what denomination they represented, who struck out in those days for the development of God's work in the wilderness. They were made of stern stuff; they wore homespun, 'warmuses,' we used to call them; men of the Peter Cartwright type.

"The announcement went forth to the people of the wild country," the Speaker continued, “that at 6 o'clock one morning Peter Cartwright would speak. The assignment was a hard one and dare-devil fellows were to be dealt with, but Cartwright took it up and said: 'We shall have such an outpouring of the spirit as will gladden the day.'

"Cartwright was hammering away with all his enthusiasm, when the old pioneer bishop exclaimed: 'Be careful, General Jackson is coming down the aisle!'

"'Who's General Jackson?' said the preacher, defiantly. 'If he don't repent of his sins, he'll be damned the same as any guilty nigger.'

"He'll cut off your head!' said the Bishop.

"But after the services Jackson came forward and said: 'You're the kind of a man I like.' And there was more respect for religion from that time on in that vicinity.