Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 29, 2025
At four bells in the morning watch all hands had assembled, save for Tamada and Hansen, who appeared bearing the canvas-enveloped, flag-draped body of Simms, his sea-shroud weighted by heavy pieces of iron.
The band of the th was playing the "Merry Widow" waltz, still a favourite at the fort, and only one of the officers was not dancing. All the others young, middle-aged, and even elderly were gliding more or less gracefully, more or less happily, over the waxed floor of the big, white-walled, flag-draped hall where Fort Ellsworth had its concerts, theatricals, small hops, and big balls.
And I, I feel myself diminished, cut back, returned through the cycles of time to the little that I am. Up there, borne by the flag-draped rostrum, a man is speaking. He lifts a sculptural head aloft, whose hair is white as marble. At my distance I can hardly hear him. But the wind carries me some phrases, louder shouted, of his peroration.
The Christmas hop, which had been a paradise within flag-draped walls for Captain Stewart's guests, was numbered among delights passed, but so many more were in store and the grand climax of the year, the New Year's eve hop, though, alack! it had to be given on the night of December thirtieth instead of the thirty-first, was looked forward to with eagerness.
Tommy Downey, ears rampant, a tooth missing and a face radiant with joy and absolute self-confidence, mounted the bunting and flag-draped stage and in a booming voice wholly out of proportion to his midget dimensions and in ten dashing verses assured those assembled that the man who wore the shoulder straps was a fine enough fellow to be sure, but that it was after all the man without them who had to win the day.
Before the ancient Abbey a gun carriage, bearing the flag-draped casket of an unidentified warrior, came to rest on the very spot where the gilded coach of the proud King once had stopped. Again the square was crowded, as on that day in the long ago when the poor hatter foolishly tried to honour his sovereign.
These he had tied with a soiled pink ribbon that he had ripped from one of his ring costumes. Phil saw the daisies, and, noting their significance, smiled approvingly. "Teddy has a heart, after all," was his mental comment. Teddy Tucker proceeded to the flag-draped grave, gently placed his offering upon it, then turned away.
Nor was it always easy to wear the armour of that ideal. In other ways, it is true he was one of the most unfit for such a trial. And it was his beautiful destiny to remain to the last hour the same absolute and romantic lover, who had shown to his new bride the flag-draped vessels in the Mersey.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking