alike, have not been unmourned or forgotten. The memory of their deed is enshrined in the hearts of their fellow-countrymen, and a monument at Greenwich, erected by command of Queen Victoria, records the "heroic constancy and unbroken discipline." Sir Francis H. Doyle has preserved the story of these heroic men in the following lines: Right on our flank the crimson sun went down, The deep sea rolled around in dark repose, When, like the wild shriek from some captured town, A cry of women rose. leave their ranks Till our good colonel gave the word, and then Formed us in line to die. There rose no murmur from the ranks, no thought, By shameful strength, unhonoured life to seek; Our post to quit we were not trained, nor taught To trample down the weak. So we made women with their children go; The oars ply back again, and yet again; While inch by inch the drowning ship sank low, Still under stedfast men. What follows why recall? The brave who died, Died without flinching in the bloody surf; They sleep as well beneath that purple tide As others under turf. AMERICAN RIVER STEAMERS. The steamboats of the Missis In danger's hour before the rush sippi form a class by themselves, of steel, and lengthy descriptions of them are not required when the illustration at the beginning of the chapter is looked at. The negro idea that it is "like a meetin' house afloat -as expressed in a song brought home by Mr. Templeton, the famous Scottish vocalist, after his American tour -conveys perhaps as good a conception of the boat as can be obtained. The tiers of saloons, raising the upper deck high above the surrounding country at many places of the river; the multiform accommodations provided, from a barber's shop to a billiardroom ; the "snags" and "sawyers" in the river to guard against the | these and many other stories have effects of which the vessels are built with a water-tight compartment called the "snag-chamber," -the reckless racing of the boats, which makes them so dangerous that, as Sir Charles Dilke tells, the fares are collected every five minutes in case of accident;-all been told, till the character and description of an American river steamer must be familiar to all. In the records of heroism these boats are not without their place, the story of John Maynard, the steersman of such a boat on Lake Erie, having an honoured place in merican literature. The steam- | shaking hands, and bidding each ip 'Jersey' lay, one lovely May orning, off the town of Buffalo, lecked with flags," and with the ue Peter at her mainmast. rters were hurrying along the rrow quay which juts out into lake; boatmen were quarrelg with each other; travellers rrying backwards and forwards king for their luggage; friends other farewell; idlers lounging about with their hands in their pockets; car-drivers jangling for a larger fare; and all the various kinds of bustle and confusion that attend the departure of a packet from a watering-place. "But presently the anchor was heaved, the paddles began to turn, and, leaving a broad track of foam behind her, the 'Jersey' | hands, were dashed hissing on the stood westward, and held on her course for the town of Erie. Some mingled in busy conversation on politics; some sat apart, and calculated the gains of the shop or the counting-house; some were wrapped up in the book with which they were engaged; and one or two, with whom time seemed to hang heavily, composed themselves to sleep. In short, one and all were like men who thought that, let danger come to them when it might, at least it would not be that day. "It drew towards four in the afternoon, and the steamer, which had hitherto been keeping the middle of the lake, stood southwards-Erie, the place to which it was bound, lying on the southern side. Old John Maynard was at the wheel; a bluff, weather-beaten sailor, tanned by many a burning summer day and by many a winter tempest. "The land was about ten miles off, when the captain, coming on deck, saw smoke coming out from the hold. He rushed down, and found that some sparks had fallen on a bundle of tow; no one had seen the accident, and now not only much of the luggage, but the sides of the vessel were in a smouldering flame. "All hands, passengers as well as sailors, were called together; and two lines being made, one on each side of the hold, buckets of water were passed and repassed; they were filled from the lake, they flew along a line of ready | burning mass, and then passed on to the other side to be refilled. For some moments it seemed as if the flames were subdued. "In the meantime, the women on board were clustering round John Maynard, the only man unemployed who was capable of answering their questions. 'How far is it to land?' 'How long shall we be getting in?' 'Is it very deep?' 'Is there no boat?' 'Can they see us from shore?' The helmsman answered as well as he could. There was no boat ; it had been left at Buffalo to be mended; they might be seven miles from shore; they would probably be in in forty minutes; he could not tell how far the fire had reached. 'But, to speak truth,' he added, 'we are all in great danger; and I think if there were a little less talking and a little more praying, it would be the better for us, and none the worse for the boat.' "It happened that a draught of wind drove back the flames, which soon began to blaze up more furiously against the saloon; and the partition betwixt it and the hold was soon on fire. Then long wreaths of smoke began to find their way through the skylight; and the captain, seeing this, ordered all the women forward. The engineer put on his utmost steam. The American flag was run up, and reversed, in token of distress. Water was flung over the sails to make them hold the wind. And still John Maynard stood by the wheel, though now | lost his footing in endeavouring he was cut off by a sheet of smoke and flame from the ship's crew. to come forward, and fell overboard, or whether he was suffocated by the dense smoke, his comrades could not tell. At the moment the vessel struck, boats were at her side, passengers and crew leaped into them, and all, save the heroic helmsman, were rescued !" As a reverse to this picture, the following Yankee story may be given, to show what happened when a steamboat got blown up : "I had landed at Helena for a minute to drop some letters into the post-office, when all of a sudden I heard a tremendous explosion, and, looking up, saw that the sky was for a minute darkened with arms, legs, and other small bits and scraps of my fellow-travellers. Amongst an uncommonly ugly medley, I spied the second clerk, about one hundred and fifty feet above my own level. I recognised him at once, for ten minutes before I "Greater and greater grew the heat. The engineers fled from the engine-room; the passengers were clustering round the vessel's bow ; the sailors were sawing planks to which to lash the women; the boldest passengers were throwing off their coats and waistcoats, and preparing for one long struggle for life. And still the coast grew plainer and plainer; the paddles as yet worked well; they could not be more than a mile from the shore, and boats were even now starting to their assistance. 'John Maynard!' cried the captain. 'Ay, ay, sir!' said John. 'Can you hold on five minutes longer?' 'I'll try, sir,' came back the answer. And he did try. The flames came nearer and nearer; a cloud of smoke would sometimes almost suffocate him; his hair was singed; his blood seemed on fire with the great heat. Crouching had been sucking a sherryas far back as he could, he held cobbler with him out of the same the wheel firmly with his left rummer. Well, I watched him. hand, till the flesh shrivelled and He came down through the roof the muscles cracked in the flames; of a shoemaker's shop, and landed and then he stretched forth his on the floor close by the shoeright, and bore the same agony maker, who was at work. The without a scream or groan. It was clerk, being in a hurry, jumped enough for him that he heard the up to go to the assistance of the cheer of the sailors to the ap- other sufferers, when the 'man of proaching boats, and the cry of wax' demanded five hundred dolthe captain, The women first, and lars for the damage done to his then every man for himself, and roof. "Too high,' replied the clerk; God for us all.' These were the 6 never paid more than two hunlast sounds that he heard. How dred and fifty dollars in my life, he perished was not known; and I've done the same thing whether, dizzied by the smoke, he | often.”” |