BY CONTENT S. NICHOLS A SCHOOL MORALITY How Every child sought for a companion on her quest for Goodness & Beauty, & having at length chosen, received also certain treasures. CHARACTERS Everychild Joy Mathematics Latin Idleness Service Gaiety Discipline. A Page (if necessary (Enter Everychild.) No stage setting except a chair. EVERYCHILD. Were there not voices here? I came to see If this could be my chosen company. For I am growing now, and seek to come Where Goodness, and where Beauty, have their home. I am alone; but Everychild, they say, May choose what friends she 'll have upon her way. (Thinks.) I'll call for Idleness, she is so soft! Idleness! Idleness! come! (Enter, slowly, Idleness, in soft robes, with large fan and box of chocolates.) IDLENESS (languidly). Beautiful dreams Are all I desire of the world as a boon. The pleasantest life Is to swing in a hammock the long afternoon. (Sinks into a chair.) EVERYCHILD. But will you talk with me, and guard me well, And guide where Beauty bright, and Goodness, dwell? IDLENESS. No heat, and no strife; The pleasantest life Is to swing in a hammock the long afternoon. EVERYCHILD. But will you, Idleness,- And chocolate creams Are all I desire of the world EVERYCHILD. I cannot bear you! Lazy thing! away! I will have friends that laugh, and run, and play! (Idleness goes languidly out, fanning herself.) EVERYCHILD. I'll call for Gaiety! She is so fleet. Her bright wings fly beyond our mortal feet, And she has passed all shores, and knows full well Where radiant Goodness, and where Beauty, dwell. Gaiety! Gaiety! come! (Gaiety runs and dances on, in light costume, with wings. She flies to and fro across the stage, while Everychild runs after her, crying, "Take me!" but is left behind. Gaiety slaps her and runs off.) EVERYCHILD (sobbing). She slapped me just And now she leaves me all alone to cry! -I'll call for Joy! She has bright hair of gold, Quips and cranks, and wanton wiles, (No answer.) (Enter Latin, in dark gown, with blue veiling over hair and shoulders, carrying heavy volumes.) EVERYCHILD. Oh, who are you? you don't look very nice. LATIN. Stella, stellae, stellae, stellam, stella: Amo, amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant. EVERYCHILD. But what 's your name? How old are you? LATIN. My name is Latin. Ages old am I, And many a state have I seen rise and die. I reigned alone in Europe many a year; Barbarians trembled when my voice drew near. In Latin, Milton, as in English, sung; And must I study those great books all through? LATIN. Yes, that you must. But take my hand and come, For I have treasures in my mountain home: And guide where Beauty bright, and Goodness, LATIN. Aye, that I can. I know their home on high Stand thou and listen! Royal gifts have I, I lay the rails, I span the waters wide; I teach how planets sail the ether high; I guide the aëroplane that dares the sky; I tunnel deep where mighty rivers roll; I plant the stars and stripes upon the pole! EVERYCHILD. Oh, let me go with you! and can you tell Where radiant Goodness, and where Beauty, dwell? MATHEMATICS. Their servant am I. I can lead you- Stay! (As they begin to go off together, enter Discipline, in black gown and cap, with bunch of switches, arms folded, frowning.) EVERYCHILD. Oh, I'm afraid-I think I'll run away. You naughty thing! How dare you! Go away! EVERYCHILD. I won't. I want to do just as I LATIN (after a pause). Then you must leave us. Ah-do not refuse To follow Discipline, for he is good; He tames the insolent, informs the rude. He frowns, but he will let you run and grow If but his precepts you incline to know. DISCIPLINE. Let kittens play, but men must toil and soar; Honor thyself, but honor others more. LATIN. Through Discipline alone canst thou attain to be Thyself, thy highest self, eternally. EVERYCHILD. Yes, I was silly. I will take his hand. He too shall guide me into Beauty's land. (She advances to take his hand. As he says the next lines, he throws down his switches, or, if a girl, throws off dark gown and veil, and draws forth a box of treasures. At the same time, Latin and Mathematics throw off their dark gowns and veils, and appear in light garments, with flowers, fillets, or wreaths on their heads. The page may give Latin a wreath, Mathematics a lighted lantern, and gather up the gowns.) DISCIPLINE. O strong young child, since you have followed me, No longer ugly Discipline I'll be. A fairer self I show to each brave soul: In Beauty's land they call me Self-control. Mine are these stores of treasures manifold. (Pouring into her hands.) My silver rusts not, nor my well-tried gold. come, Now shall we reach the heights of Beauty's home. (Crowning her with the wreath.) Beautiful words, and noble thoughts, are these, Fine feelings, witty sayings, grace, and ease! MATHEMATICS. O thou dear child, since thou wert not afraid Of my slow step, dark dress, and heavy tread, To thy small hand entrust I now this light (gives lantern), Through all the ages ever burning bright. Clear thoughts be thine, and Truth shall keep the flame, For from her altar at the first it came. (Enter Joy and Service, quickly, hand in hand; in bright floating dresses, with wings. Joy with wreath of flowers, a star on her head and a wand; Service with Greek fillet, scattering flowers.) EVERYCHILD. Why, are n't you Joy? Joy. Oh, yes! I could not stay, Where Service goes, I follow. That 's our way. (They kiss, and circle in a little dance, which may end in a kiss.) LATIN. To guide the child they come, on high command. Service and Joy go ever hand in hand. SERVICE. In our bright home I heard the spirits say A child was seeking me this very day. (They repeat the dance and kiss.) DISCIPLINE. Farewell! (Going.) LATIN, EVERYCHILD, and MATHEMATICS. Farewell! WHAT THE DREADNOUGHTS DREAD BY HENRY M. SNEVILY "THIS is the favorite time of day for submarines to attack," said the lieutenant of marines. We were standing on the quarter-deck of the United States armored cruiser Washington, one of a fleet of fourteen war-ships slowly nosing their way toward the entrance to Long Island Sound. It was early dawn, and there was no direct light from the sun to glint on the slender periscope of a submarine, should it come sneaking along toward us. Off to port the low banks of Block Island made a bump on the horizon, and somewhere west of it lay the enemy we had driven into the Sound Connecticut shore, in order to get at New York. "We'd probably be one of the first ships struck if the sneaky little things attacked the fleet," continued the lieutenant; "for we are one of the screening vessels." That meant that we were one of a ring of ships "screening" the main division from attack. The lieutenant had scarcely finished speaking, when there was a considerable commotion on the surface of the water about fifty yards to starboard. A slender, spar-like finger appeared, and, following it, a strange object splashed to the surface much as a dolphin at play might do. A round hatch in the top of the object opened, a man with a lieutenant's epaulets rose head and shoulders above the opening, waved And in theory we were. In actual warfare, under like conditions, we should have been. The lieutenant sent an orderly below to inform the captain of our sinking. "You see," he explained, "these fellows choose the early dawn because it's harder then to see the periscopes if they have to come to the surface to look around, and it 's harder to see the foam they make because the sun does n't shine on it to make it sparkle." SUBMARINE BOAT CONSTRUCTED BY SYMONS IN 1747. the night before. It was not a real enemy, but Uncle Sam's sea-fighters were playing at the war game, and our fleet was trying to force an entrance to the waters between Long Island and the This incident was one of half a dozen I have seen during battle practice, and it showed that 1000 submarines are a power to be reckoned with as a naval weapon. Every one knows of the feats performed by British and German submarines in the present war. For the first time in history, these deadly craft have proved their practical value in actual warfare, and they have been hailed as the newest instrument of battle at sea. In anything approximating their present degree of perfection they are new; but submarine navigation is centuries old. Certain old records mention an "under-sea galley" which the Phenicians invented, but no details are given as to the construction, and the date of the venture is unknown. Aristotle is authority for the story that when Alexander the Great laid siege to the Phenician city of by squeezing them, and prevented it from flowing back by fastening the necks. Crude as this method was, it is the principle which, highly developed, is used in the submarine to-day. The "Gentleman's Magazine" describes Symons's boat and the London "Graphic" of the time 00 F THE TURTLE. INVENTED BY DAVID BUSHNELL. Tyre, he used diving-bells to get men into the city to start fires. While these were not submarine boats, they at least showed that the ancients realized the war value of operating under water, and had knowledge of some of the principles on which the science is founded to-day. An important step in submarine navigation was made by Cornelius Van Drebel, a Dutch physician, who, in 1620, constructed the first actual boat for use under water of which we have any authentic description. This craft was constructed of wood, and was made water-tight by greased leather, which was stretched tightly over the entire hull. All the earlier submarines were constructed of wood, but in 1634 a certain Father Mersenne suggested the use of metal for the hulls. He also declared that the only shape for a submarine boat was that of a fish, and that both ends should be spindle-shaped, so that the vessel could go in either direction. Although Father Mersenne never built his submarine, these first two principles have finally been accepted, and the submarines of to-day are, roughly, formed like fish, and all are made of metal. In 1747, an Englishman named Symons, or Simons, made a wooden boat shaped like a galley, large enough to hold two or three men. It was operated by oars and steered by an oar, but his method for sinking and rising was ingenious. Along the sides were a number of leather bottles. When the inventor desired to sink, he allowed water to run into these bottles, the necks of which were, of course, outside the boat and the bottles inside. When he wished to come to the surface, he expelled the water from the bottles printed a picture of it, which we have reproduced on the opposite page. Very few historians of the War of the American Revolution mention submarines, yet one of these craft, described by Alan H. Burgoyne in "Submarine Navigation, Past and Present," was used in an attack on British ships in New York Harbor. David Bushnell, an American, made several successful under-water trips in a copper vessel which, because of its shape, he called the Turtle. A number of old diagrams of this craft have been THE NAUTILUS. INVENTED BY ROBERT FULTON. preserved, and, although they differ somewhat, the accompanying cut is generally considered authentic. The Turtle was propelled by oars, AA. The paddle with which she was steered is shown at B, and these three oars, or paddles, were, of course, fitted into air-tight holes. The navigator could Copyright by Underwood & Underwood. charge of powder, which was to be used to blow in the bottom of a vessel. So successful were the trials of the Turtle that the inventor obtained permission from General Parsons to blow up the British frigate Eagle, sixty-four guns, which was lying with the fleet just north of Staten Island, in New York Harbor. As Bushnell was not a recognized belligerent, he instructed Sergeant Ezra Lee in the operation of his craft, and this gallant soldier made the perilous attempt. At night he was towed by rowboats almost to the Eagle, then sank and managed to work the Turtle under the frigate, but it was not possible to fasten the bomb to the copper bottom of the vessel, and the tide carried him away. All thought that Lee had lost his life, but, after hours of heartbreaking work at the oars, he managed to make his way back to the Americans. Meanwhile, the bomb had drifted away, and exploded where it did no harm except to frighten the crews of several passing ships half out of their wits. SOME OF THE SUBMARINES ON SERVICE AT THE PANAMA CANAL. sit on the seat, C. The boat was caused to sink or rise by pumping water into or out of the tanks, DD; and E shows a pipe by which they were filled. F was a conning-tower just about large enough for a man's head. The port-holes were of glass. Bushnell employed a safety weight, which is shown in the diagram at G. This was a large lump of lead, which was to be unscrewed if anything went wrong and the vessel would not rise when the water was pumped out, or if the pumps should not work. On one occasion the screw All this was in 1776. Twenty-four years later, another American, Robert Fulton, inventor of the steamboat, produced the most successful submarine boat known up to that time. Napoleon Bonaparte, then first consul of France, had given |