August, 1919 
FOREST AND STREAM 
403 
once saw in Constantinople a fire engine 
carried on the shoulders of half a dozen 
swarthy Turks, who ran swiftly with it 
down the steep incline of a street to the 
fire, which burned itself out before the 
machine was put in working order. I 
could not forbear making a mental com- 
parison between that ineffectual appara- 
tus and the old “Hornet” of the long ago. 
O N special occasions, as on public 
holidays, the various up-town clans 
would unite for mutual defence and 
offence against the combined down-town 
contingents. On Washington’s Birthday, 
especially, the united forces of up-town 
and down-town would meet by custom 
and common consent on the commons near 
the Washington monument, and after 
the military parade was over several 
thousand boys would engage in a pitched 
battle lasting all the afternoon. My 
scalp still bears the scars, honorable or 
otherwise, the result of wounds inflicted 
by sharp stones, dexteriously thrown, 
during some of these encounters. 
The winter following the swimming 
match was an unusually cold one, and 
Spring Garden was covered with two or 
three inches of glare ice, affording fine 
skating for boys equipped with “high- 
Dutch” and “low-Dutch” wooden skates. 
A number of up-town clans buried the 
hatchet for the nonce and assembled on 
the north shore, while some of the Old- 
town and Sandy Bottom gangs gathered 
on another shore. All were armed with 
hockey or bandy clubs, with which we 
played a kind of golf with round stones 
on the ice. We frequently clashed with 
the enemy when chasing a stone across 
the dead line. 
One day when the spirit of enmity was 
rife and ran high, our side made a sortie 
against the common foe to rescue John- 
nie and another boy who were being 
clubbed by bigger boys. Unfortunately I 
was well in advance, for my blood was 
up, and I slipped into an air-hole and 
was carried a foot or two under the ice. 
I swam back to the opening, placed my 
hands on the ice to crawl out, but some 
of the Sandy Bottom gang were quickly 
on hand, and rapping my knuckles with 
their bandy clubs, and striking me on the 
head, pushed me under the ice again. 
This was repeated several times until I 
was completely exhausted. 
Then Johnnie rallied our clan and 
rushed to my assistance, drove off the 
cowardly crew, and dragged me out, half 
drownd and half frozen. There was a 
good fire on the shore, where I dried my 
clothing, and, with the exception of 
bruised fingers and a sore head, Richard 
was himself again. 
J OHNNIE and I had now become pret- 
ty fair sailors and occasionallv on 
Saturdays we hired a small dug-out 
canoe with leg o’ mutton sail and lee 
board from our friend the market fisher- 
man at Spring Garden. One day we 
sailed out on the Patapsco beyond Fort 
McHenry with quite a fresh breeze, and 
were hailed by an inbound schooner: 
“Boat-a-hoy! You young rascals come 
aboard or go ashore, or you’ll be 
drowned; the wind’s going to blow!” 
To satisfy the captain we put about 
and headed for the Lazzaretto opposite 
the fort, to a well-known locality that was 
famous for white perch fishing, and 
where the fish were exceptionally large. 
After filling our basket with the game- 
some panfish we sailed about the harbor 
among the shipping, and then down to 
Canton and Fell’s Point to gather speci- 
mens of rocks and stones from the dis- 
carded ballast of vessels from foreign 
ports. We were both the proud possess- 
ors of a collection of rocks, minerals and 
curios. Some pieces of rock we thought 
contained gold, but our teacher informed 
us it was “fool’s gold” or iron pyrites. 
One day I found a piece of quartz con- 
taining some specks of the genuine article 
that had been cast ashore with other bal- 
last by a vessel from California. 
On another day we saw a very strange 
and remarkable sight. The war with 
Mexico had been declared, and the horses, 
cam ons and other equipment of Major 
Ringgold’s Flying Artillery from Fort 
McHenry were being loaded on a ship 
bound for Mexico. The horses were 
being hoisted aboard in a canvas cradle 
which enveloped the body but left the 
Where small boys love to congregate 
legs free, and it afforded us much amuse- 
ment to see them vainly pawing the air 
and kicking while in transit. The guns 
were small brass field pieces with trun- 
nions, smooth-bored muzzle-loaders, ap- 
parently six-pounders. The battery was 
stationed at Fort McHenry and we had 
often seen the “fort soldiers,” as we 
called them, mounted on horses caissons 
and gun carriages during military 
parades on public holidays. 
During the past few weeks we had seen 
the camp of the Mexican volunteers near 
the Washington monument, and were 
much interested in the drilling and dress 
parade of the infantry, and the evolu- 
tions of the dragoons and while we ad- 
mired the warlike appearance of the vol- 
unteers, we would much rather have 
sailed with Major Ringgold’s battery of 
regulars. 
It did not seem very long after this 
that we witnessed a very sad sight which 
dampened entirely our military ardor for 
the time. It was the double funeral of 
Major Ringgold and Colonel Watson, of 
the volunteers, who had both been killed 
ir. action. We were much impressed but 
more depressed by the sad spectacle. The 
coffins were mounted on caissons draped 
with Old Glory, with the swords and 
military hats of the dead heroes, sur- 
rounded w’ith wreaths of fiowers, resting 
on the caskets. 
But the saddest sight to me was the 
riderless horses led behind the coffins 
with reversed boots swung across the 
empty saddles, and the military escort 
with reversed arms. I was so much af- 
fected by the mournful spectacle and the 
doleful funeral march played by the band 
that tears started to my eyes, which I 
was surreptitiously trying to wipe away 
with my handkerchief, when a gentleman 
standing beside me said: 
“Those tears, my boy, are a credit to 
you; don’t be ashamed of them.” 
When I stole a look at Johnnie, tears 
were dropping from the end of his nose, 
and I came near spoiling it all by laugh- 
ing outright. 
N OW-A-DAYS boys can buy sleds, 
wagons, bats, balls, kites and all 
other articles for sport or play, 
ready made in the shops. In my day boys 
had to make their own or do without for 
none were on sale. I exercised my me- 
chanical skill in various ways. I made 
long-bows, and cross-bows, in the use of 
which Johnnie and I had become some- 
what expert. I was acknowledged to be 
the best maker of kites and air- and fire- 
balloons in my neighborhood. I made 
bow-kites, star-kites, diamond-kites and 
eagle-kites, in addition to the common 
standard hexagon-kite. Moreover, every 
kite fashioned by my hand was war- 
ranted to be raised, or “flew,” from a 
standing start, that is, without running 
with it a short distance against the wind 
to put it up; and this feature came very 
near costing me my life. I was flying a 
kite from the roof of a shed and backing 
a little too far toward the edge, fell into 
an excavation dug for a cellar, striking 
the back of my head on a large rock that 
had not been removed. When discovered 
I was unconscious, but still grasping the 
kite string, while the kite was sailing 
gracefully aloft over the house tops. 
I once made a hexagonal kite as large 
as an ordinary door, which one day, 
owing to a freshening of the wind, took 
possession of both .Johnnie and myself 
and pulled us over a low fence and kept 
us on the trot until we were able to take 
a turn or two of the twine around a con- 
venient post. Another time I made a 
round paper lantern which I attached to 
the tail of a kite and with a short piece 
of lighted candle within it, the kite was 
sent aloft on a very dark night. We 
caused the strange star to indulge in a 
series of erratic and eccentric movements, 
until finally, by a premeditated, violent 
jerk the candle was dislodged, setting 
the lantern a-fire, and the blazing meteor 
disappeared in a flash of flame. It caused 
considerable comment and consternation 
in the minds of the credulous, and the 
strange star was the gossip and wonder 
of the neighborhood for weeks afterward. 
But Johnnie and I kept our owti counsel, 
well satisfied with the excitement caused 
by our ruse, which in a manner was al- 
most as great as that produced by the 
long tailed comet of such bitter memory, 
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