Old Naval Heroes

[Special Corretfpondexice.] Washington. ,7 au. 7. - In the spacious parlors of the ti'.'W Armyand Navy clubhouse, which has just been opened iu the aristocratie section of the city, a navy iï.iend of mine called attention te a dozon old fellows vvho were playing whist near by, and asked if í knew who they were. I did not know, and he proceüded to enlighten me. "Old adiniraLs on the retired list," said he; "old héroes, too, a good many of them. Do you see the old man who appears to bo rather stilï in his joints - the one with the lunji white whiskers and a blackened forehead? That is Admiral Worden, the hero of the Monitor. "Just at this time, when all the young men of the navy are eager for war with Chili , because of the opportunities thcy will get for winning distinction and promotion, the old admiral is an unusually interesiina: figure. There is a link be tween the past and the present. There is the man who commanded the world'a tirst ironclad turreted vessel in its first engagement. That weak, shaky old gentleman was commander of Ericsson's Monitor when she steamed into Hampton Roads and attacked the torribie Merrimac, which had been destroviag everything before her. You remember the j story - how the Monitor excited the I rision of the eneiny, how they dubbed j her the Yankee cheesebox, how the j tle craft bore the awful cannonading of her adversary without apparent injury, how the brave men on the Confedérate ram snddenly awoke to a realization of the fact that at last they had a foe worthy their prowess, and lipw the Merrimac was linally compeÜed to run away to Norfolk; jou doubtless remember, also, how the commander of the Monitor was injured by the concnssion of a shot which struck the turret with terrific force near where he was peering throtigh the sight hole. the flying partióles of iron blinding hi eyes and blackening his forehead; how he was found by Lieutenant Wise af ter the engagement lying on his back, temporarily blind, and how his first question was, 'Have I saved the Minnesota?' 'Yes, and whipped the Merrimac,' was the reply. 'ïhen 1 don't care what be comes of me,' suid Worden. Vou remember how the fate of the repnbü'1 appeared to hang in the balance during this engagement: how the intrepid captain of the Monitor was made a populai nero, and how the Yankee cheesebox instituted a revolution in naval construction and naval warfare." "Yes," said 1, ■'! remember it al!. Who could forget this naval epic?" "Well," continued my friend, "I want to teil yon a little story about this man who sits bef ore us quietly playing whist, with his face still beariug the marks of that memorable conflict - a story of a herothat is tender and pathetic. Worden served gallantly throughout the war, was made au adtniral, and five years ago was retired on the highest pay of his grade, as if still on sea duty, by a 6pecial act of congress. He had been fifty-five years in the service, and wad entitled to this distinction and reward if ever any ïnan was. Bnt what do you suppose this old hero is doing now'; What is his aim in life? 'Ah, lioutenant.' said he to me the other day, 'go to Chili if 3-0U get a chance, and distinguish yourself in the service of youx country if opportunity offers. As for me' - and here tho veteran's eye kindled with thonght of conflict, and he gave a sigh as if realizing that his fighting days were over - 'I am simply a reininiscence. I am living simply to live. My only aim in life is to cv.ltivate longevity. As long as I live my pay as a retired officer keeps my good wife f rom want, and we are able to do a little something for others. My healch is not good, but I hope to live as long as my wife does for her sake. . When she goes I hope to go with her. It is ruy desire to outlive her bnt a day. She is stronger than I am, but that I may if possible remain as loiig as she remains, 3-011 ought to see how I take care of myself. My sole oceupation, I say, is the cultivation of longevity. I study hygiëne, dietetics. every law or rule of heaith. For two years I have not been to a dinner. I do not go out nights. My entire time and energies are devoted to taking c?a-o of myself - not for rayself, understaud, but for tho 14.500 a year which the government .vllows me during my lif etiine. 'lüy good wife needs this as long as she lives, and that is what 1 am living for.' "This was the old hero's story,"' con tinued the lieutenant, "and a swoet, pretty story it is too. Do yon not think so?" "Yes; but who are the other oíd men at the whist tables?" '1 do not know them all. The two partners at the first table are Admírala Selfridge and Jenkins. Sclfridge is older than Gladstone, having enterecl' the service in ÍHIÜ. His first voyage as a middy was mude in the oíd sloop-ofwar Natchez, which eapfcured half a dozen pir&te schoonera in the West Indios. He and his present -whist partner were irridshipmen chunis together ontho Natcbcz si.xty-live yèars igo. That is going back a good víays in thé history pf the navy, isn't ivV While a young m.ui Adiuiral JenLins comniandcd part of ft boat squadron which cruised for pi ra tes in the shallow waters off the coast of Cuba. Hp. was lcnown as 'Fíghting JenMns' in hh; day and was in the old frigate Congress at the capture of the Buenos Ayrean squadrob in !844; he gave and took some hard knocks duri ing the Mesican war and oommanded a ship nnder Parragát i;i the rebellion. Those two men have seen between them 132 years of service in the navy - 72 years for Selfridge and CO years for Jenkins. "Many other retired rear admiráis re members of this club, and may ba found here dmost any day playing whist or talkng over the oíd times. Worden is, erhaps, the most congpicuous figue of the late war remaining in Vashington today. Over there in the romer ia Admiral Hughes, a bhiiï and jearty oíd fellow. fuil of reminiscencesund fnn. who first sailed in the grand dd Constitution, iifty-three years ago. sailed .11 over the world in the Constitilion, v.-hich was at that tiine the priJ' of the navy, aml billet aboard her t ■ w bt by officers suis ■ the crack cruisers oí (ie white squadron in these days. Admj'al Hught 3 still rctaius an affcctiüii forche Constitutioii, and everj' summer he Jxirneys to Portsinoiith, N. H., where tlfe old ship lies in the navy yard. that )r may agiiiii walk the decks which heprfudlytrodahalf cmbwyago. "There av., all told. on the r. rired list of th-,' navv." contufnecl tho licutonant, "iiboat COOiuen. Pefhaps one-third of fche a üveiiíWashiagton, wed aniajority of tliem drp i:i here nearly every day. It seenas to be impossible for many of these old silts to tear themselves away from the cipital, vhare there is gay society and ccngenial club life. Of thirtyseven rear idmirals on the retired list fully thirtylive in or near Washington. It is inteveáing to note how long some of these old sea dogs have been in the service. Sejfriclge, as I told yon, started as a middy ai New Year's day, 1818. Admiral Tayla' and Admiral Lee entered the service üi 1825, Admiral Sniith in 1826 and Admiral Green in 1827. "Another peculiar thing, concluded the lieutenaiit, "is that this old hero of the Monitor who sits bef ore us has lived long enough to see the naval construction of the vtörld swing back to the very type whose utility he so nobly demonstrated in Harupton Roads. The Monitor of his day was an experiment, but its success was so great that f or a time the world was crazy after vessels built af ter that model. Subsequently naval constructors have tried everything else that ingenuity could devise, wasting untold millions of public money in their experiments. Today the best battle ships of the world are built in greater or less modification of the Yankee cheesebox. The low freeboard, the ramlike bow and the heavily armored turret are features of nearly all the great battle ships of modern construction. In our own new navy the Miantonomoh, the Monadnock, the Amphitrite and the other doublé turreted monitors are the very highest class of coast defense battle ships of which we can boast, and no nation can boast better. And hare sits tho man with the powder burned face who ushered in the prototype thirty yeara ago and who haa lived to see naval construction revolutionized twice over - go from the extreme of wooden nien-of-war to vast floating fortresses of iron and steel, and theu swing back again to the immortal idea of Ericsson,"