424 SUNDRY JOURNEYS AND EXPERIENCES -III 



the Cunarder Oregon, he expressed the opinion that a 

 squadron of seven-hundred-ton yessels with beaks could 

 best defend a harbor from ironclads ; and in support of 

 this contention he cited an experience of his own as 

 showing the efficiency of the beak in naval warfare. A 

 few years before he had anchored in the Piraeus, his ship, 

 an ironclad, having a beak projecting from the bow, 

 of course under water. Noticing a Greek brig nearing 

 him, he made signals to her to keep well off; but the 

 captain of the brig, resenting this interference, and keep 

 ing straight on, endeavored to pass, at a distance which, 

 no doubt, seemed to him perfectly safe, in front of the 

 bows of the ironclad. The admiral said that not the 

 slightest shock was felt on board his own vessel ; but the 

 brig sank almost immediately. She had barely grazed 

 the end of the beak. At another time the admiral spoke 

 of the advance of the British fleet, in which he held a 

 command, upon Constantinople in 1878. The British 

 Government supposed that the Turks had virtually gone 

 over to the Russians, and the first order was to take 

 the Turkish fortresses at Constantinople immediately; 

 but this order was afterward withdrawn, and the matter 

 at issue was settled in the ensuing European conference. 



It was a pleasure to find at this Alpine resort my old 

 friend Story the sculptor. He gave us a comical account 

 of the presentation at the Vatican of Mr. George Peabody 

 by Mr. Winthrop of Boston. Referring to Mr. Peabody s 

 munificence to various institutions for aiding the needy, 

 and especially orphans, Mr. Winthrop, in a pleasant vein, 

 presented his friend to Pope Pius IX as a gentleman who, 

 though unmarried, had hundreds of children ; whereupon 

 the Pope, taking him literally, held up his hands and an 

 swered, &quot;Fi done! fi done!&quot; 



Our stay at St. Moritz was ended by a severe snow 

 storm early in August. That was too much. I had left 

 America mainly to escape snow ; my traveling all this dis 

 tance was certainly not for the purpose of finding it 

 again; and so, having hugged the stove for a day or 



