Show tremendous TRIFLES by ELMO SCOTT WATSON TINY URGE GREAT ADVENTURE his boyhood ranald TM throughout mcdonald cDonald listened to the sailors tales of chrit far oil off laud land across the pacific where white men were unknown the youth made up his mind that some day he would get to japan lie ile wrote la in his journal 1 I am prepared to learn of them and it if occasion should offer to instruct them of 0 us so on a june div day 1818 1848 18 18 he sat in a small boat rolling in n the wake of the whaler plymouth off the northernmost coast of japan rie ile hnz arranged with capt lawrence C B edwards to be set adrift when the plymouth approached the shores of the far oil off country the crew refused to cut the ropes that t held the small boat feeling sure that mcdonald was going to certain death but the young man insisted and lawrence left the trail frail craft and its lone occupant in a tog fog shrouded sea on july 2 near the village of not suka mcdonald capsized the boat deliberately libera tely feeling sure that no race would mistreat a shipwrecked sailor but he was imprisoned tor for ten months lie he put his time to good account however learning the language and customs of his captors who treated hi him m fairly well la in return he taught the them m english mcdonald was freed and delivered to captain glynn of 0 the treble rr eble on april 0 6 1849 ills his adventure bore fruit in a strange way one of his pupils was a youth named Morl yama who became interpreter for townsend harris the first mn minister lster from the united statis state s to japan harris task was one of the most difficult in the history of american diplomacy the trall trail that mcdonald had blazed into the closed fastnesses fast nesses of japan resulted in the rise of an oriental nation to a world power ONE CANNON BALL VICTORY I 1 TN N JULY 1812 a squadron of five 1 british war vessels led by the fla flagship royal koyal george sailed to attack sacketts Sac ketts harbor the chief american outpost on lake ontario it was held by a small force of americans manning manding a battery of sl ix and nine pound ers on top or of a rocky bluff they also had a heavy 32 to which they had bad given the name of old sow because they had found it partly imbed ded in the mud along the shore As the british ships moed mo ed to the attack capt willlim vaughans bans gunners opened fire with the old sow but the shot went wide because it was a 24 pound ball wrapped in carpet to make it fit and it drew fron from the sailors on the royal george a shout ol of derisive la laughter standing off out of range rane of the americans smaller guns tile the enemy went into action most of their shots eras crashed I 1 led against the rocks below the battery but one a 32 pound ball came hurtling over the bluff plowed a deep furrow in the ground and came to rest at the feet of a sergeant spier picking it up he ran to captain vaughan see I 1 ive been playing ball with the redcoats and caught em cm out see it if they can catch it back again he exclaimed in an instant vaughans Vau ghana men had rammed the ball down the throat of 0 the old sow it fit perfectly As the flagship nag ship sailed in close to deliver a broadside the old sow roared the 32 pound ball crashed through the stern of the british vessel raked her from end to end sent splinters flying high in the air killed 14 men and wounded 18 more seeing the destruction this one shot wrought the british commander gave the signal to retreat As his ships veered off on a mighty shout arose from the shore the americans were laughing last the old one shot had won the victory and davs d sacketts Sac ketts M harbor KENTUCKY BLUE GRASS AY kentucky and the imagination S SAY conjures up a landscape of rolling pasture lands marked by white painted fences with proud race horses pasturing on the luxuriant blue grass in 1752 1732 it was a differ rot kat picture when john finley an irishman from lancaster ra pa took a stock of goods and with four white servants went down the ohio on a trading trip near big bone lick in what Is now boone county finley met a party of shawnees coming from a hunt bunt in illinois ile he followed them to howards upper creek and unloaded his canoes on the river banks bere building a house with a stockade around it and settling down for the wirter now these goods had been packed in lancaster pa and carefully too they were encased in of dried english grass that finley find used because lie he carried a large number of breakable items into the th wilderness this packing stuff was dumped ou on the rich soil as waste material and forgot ten tell the settlers who came into that re r glon years later found a strong new kind of grass that bad pus publio liet the cane away it was kentucky blue grass the famous product byproduct by of an indian traders careless gesture a 6 western newspaper union |