A Disappointment.

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ing-dress of the ladies, which is admirably calculated to carry on an intrigue. The part from the waist down contains thirty yards of silk, plaited in such a manner as to set perfectly smooth, in order to show a fine shape. The robe covering the head is also silk, and large enough to conceal the face excepting one eye. Equipped in this manner, I have seen ladies watch the movements of their husbands by following them through the city, the virtuous not being distinguished from the vicious."

We find among the officers then sailing in the United States the familiar names of H. Paulding, C. H. Davis, William C. Nicholson, Thomas T. Craven, H. K. Thatcher, and James Armstrong.

Returning to New York in the United States from this threeyears' service, April 25, 1827, Andrew successfully underwent his examination for passed midshipman. He had been laboriously preparing himself for this by availing himself of all opportunities of study and observation in his reach; and Admiral Davis says of this examination that Foote and himself got news of it together, and the question was how to get ready? They at once set about their preparation with great earnestness, consulting what books they had access to, but chiefly making practical observations, and reducing the science of their profession to a regular working system.

Foote had been up to this time four years and five months constantly at sea. It would seem as if he had earned the right to a little rest at home; but, as if it were expressly so planned by his superiors, he was to be allowed no time to display his midshipman's uniform ashore; and on the 26th of August, 1827, to his sore disappointment, he was sent off a second time to the West Indies for a brief cruise, first in the Natchez and afterward in the Hornet, to which he was transferred October 8, 1827. He had set his heart upon making a cruise with the Mediterranean squadron, for which station he applied. His hopes were not realized. Something better, however, than the gratification of his desires, or even the educa

C

tion of his mind, was in store for him. A change of character that raised him to a higher level of manhood awaited him on this short West India voyage. After he had been at sea some six weeks or two months, his mother received a letter from him, in which are these words: "You may discharge your mind from anxiety about your wayward son." The letter then went on to relate that one of the lieutenants of the ship had spoken to him soon after joining the Natchez on religious subjects, and, as his expression was, he had "bluffed him off" by saying that he had aimed to be honorable and honest in all things, and that would do for him. But, after getting on the station, upon a beautiful moonlight night, while riding quietly at anchor, the same officer and himself being on duty, the lieutenant spoke to him again about the subject of religion, and with such earnestness that, as he said, his "knees for the first time bowed to his Maker;" and as soon as he was released from duty, he took his Bible and went into the steerage, and read it under great agitation of mind. This he did for two weeks, when, upon going on deck one day, he came to the resolution that "henceforth, under all circumstances, he would act for God;" upon which his mental anguish and trouble vanished.

In this simple manner he recounts that event in his history which made him a new man, and a true Christian hero. It did not make him over into a perfect character, but he was established now on right principles, and a high and pure impulse was given to his life; and take that life through, at sea and on shore, in battle and at peace, in success and adversity, in life and death, we shall find that, by divine aid, he carried out the resolution made in his youth that "he would act for God."

It should be said here, so that it need not be misunderstood by the reader, that this is the biography of a Christian officer. He thought himself to be, and his life proved that he was

The Beginnings of a Religious Life.

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right in thinking himself to be, a religious man. His faith, 'in some respects, took the stamp of his Puritan training. His religious phraseology was that which was in ordinary use in New England homes and literature; but it was a pure Christianity, that showed itself by its fruits. In the case of Admiral Foote, his free and genial temperament, his extensive acquaintance with men, and his constant voyaging up and down in all parts of the world, served to make him catholic in his opinions; but none of these influences ever succeeded in effacing the strong Puritanic stamp with which he began his religious life; and, as a reformer in the naval service, it is a matter of thankfulness that they never did, for here was nourished the invincible will in right-doing that never turned back in any good enterprise, but went, like an iron prow, often roughly enough, through the most time-honored customs, and always straight to the end.

The following letter, written about this time by the commanding officer of the Natchez, though but a simple letter of introduction, seems prophetic in its expression in regard to the future character and career of our hero:

"UNITED STATES SHIP 'NATCHEZ,' PENSACOLA BAY.

"SIR,—It is with great pleasure that I have it in my power to state that Midshipman A. H. Foote served on board this ship, and I found him to be a young gentleman of great merit, being always competent and attentive to his duty; and I am impressed with the belief that he will become a very valuable officer. Mr. Foote is a young gentleman of the first respectability, and of the finest principles and feelings; and his whole conduct while he was attached to this ship has met my cordial approbation-therefore beg leave to recommend him to your favorable consideration. With very much respect, I remain your obedient servant,

"GEORGE BUDD.

"Commodore Isaac Chauncey, Commanding Naval Officer, N. Y.”

The Christian consciousness which had been awakened in the youth soon, of course, as in the case of many others in like

position both in the Navy and Army, led him to raise the question of the rightfulness of the military profession as a calling, and whether he could consistently remain in the Navy. When he came home (which he did in the Hornet on the 6th of December, 1827) he made known his scruples to his father, who asked him if he did not suppose a Navy to be necessary, and, considering it to be necessary, if there should not be good men and Christian men in it. This sensible and practical way of putting the matter seems to have entirely removed his doubts, as he never appeared to be afterward troubled upon this point..

Foote was detached, January 1, 1828, from the West India squadron, and during his brief stay on shore he was married, June 22, 1828, to his first wife, Caroline Flagg, the daughter of Bethuel Flagg, of Cheshire, Connecticut, who was permitted to cheer his arduous life but a comparatively short time. She died in the year 1838, having borne him two children, the first of whom, named Josephine, lived but four years; and the second, of the same name, was born in 1837.

We very soon find our hero afloat again in the sloop-of-war St. Louis, twenty-four guns, to which he was appointed October 5, 1828, as sailing-master, under the command of Captain John D. Sloat. They sailed from Norfolk to the Pacific on the 14th of February, 1829. Three years were passed in this cruise upon his old station in the Pacific, comprising the coasts of Chili, Peru, and Central America, during which period he was appointed acting-lieutenant; and on his return to the United States, on the 9th of December, 1831, he found awaiting him a commission as lieutenant, the commission bearing date May 27, 1830. Thus slowly, by hard work and good conduct, he was creeping up the ladder of official preferment; though in after-years promotion seemed all too slow to his ardent mind thirsting for honorable distinction.

In January, 1832, he was detached from the St. Louis; and

Voyage of the "Delaware."

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on May 1, 1833, he was assigned to the Delaware, seventy-four ship of the line, bearing the pennant of Commodore Patterson, then on the Mediterranean station, and was appointed to the honorable post of flag-lieutenant of the squadron. The Delaware sailed from Norfolk to the Mediterranean on the 30th of July, 1833. During this trip the ship touched at the principal European, Asiatic, and African Mediterranean ports; and a party of its crew, of which Lieutenant Foote was one, obtained leave to visit many of the historic points up the Nile, in Egypt, and also in the Holy Land. They landed at Joppa, and went to Jerusalem, explored the valley of. the Jordan, sailed on the Dead Sea, and climbed Mount Lebanon; and we may be sure that none of that light-hearted company of young officers looked on these sacred scenes with fresher delight than he did, who had been a constant reader of the Bible, and who had devoted his life to the Master whose footsteps once glorified these rocks and vales. A lovely daughter of Admiral Patterson, who with her two sisters accompanied the party, was so deeply impressed by her visit to Jerusalem, and the places where were the head-springs of our Christian faith, that the commencement of her religious life was dated by herself from that period; it was brief, however, for before the ship reached the shores of America, although within sight of them, Miss Patterson died, and was buried at Norfolk, at which port the Delaware ended her voyage.

This pleasant cruise of the splendid ship Delaware was a kind of triumphal progress all the way, bearing as she did the flag of our young Republic, that was every where recognized and welcomed as the emblem of freedom; and we may, indeed, regard this voyage of pleasure and of glory through the classic waters of the Mediterranean, shared by our hero in the prime of his young manhood, with health, a sound, active mind, an honorable position, and, above all, a good conscience toward God and man, and made as it was before he had a great bur