Page:Autobiography of Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes.djvu/68

42 my respects & bid him goodby. All the young officers stood in great fear of him; I certainly felt awe in his presence when on duty, but he had a happy way of making a young officer reconciled and treating him which made its impression. It was his habit to have some of his officers to dine with him once a fortnight and generally selected them by rotation. I dined with him in order & was very much amused to hear him say he preferred having a Midshipman of his Ship to dine than the highest dignitaries of Massachusetts, and to give them his best wine.

I desired to make application for a few days' leave to go to New York. Required to sign some papers, and as Midn Stephen Wilson was also an applicant and had made request for leave, we obtained leave to go and see the Comdre at Jamaica Plains. We hired a chaise & horse & drove out. It was after a hard rain & the roads were muddy. Wilson, who was an old Mid, said we had better "belay" the horse to the fence within a quarter of a mile, & walked to the house. The Comdre received us very politely but remarked to Wilson that the roads could not be very muddy as our boots were quite clean and we must have picked our way very carefully. This was addressed to Wilson who was much confused, and having somewhat of an impediment in his speech, and being so when he was confused, hesitated and I plainly saw that the Comdre was quite aware of the trick, if such it was, but as he had no ostler, and it would give them trouble, it was passed by. He granted our request of leave for a few days. Though he restricted Wilson, he gave me a few days of grace as he said I had just entered the Service. On leaving the Comdre we proceeded joyfully to look for our chaise and just in time to arrest the horse who had slipped his head stall & bridle & was free to depart or run away & dash the whole concern in pieces. I felt greatly ashamed of this ruse and felt it was so unlike officers to have gone apparently under false pretenses that Wilson and I were never upon a footing afterwards altho' ship and mess mates for over two years.

Fortunately we got the horse bridled again, the chaise turned around and rode back to Boston without incident. Wilson considered me too squeamish for a Midshipman but I could not reconcile myself to the deceit he had advised and we practiced. It grew out of the fear which he entertained of the Comdre, and believed if we had driven up to the house in a chaise nothing would have induced him to see us or give us the leave desired, but we received it and blessed our stars that no accident had taken place. The general feeling among the Mids was that the Comdre was exceedingly strict and harsh in his treatment of us, but I differed from them and saw a paternal care of his young officers and a scrutiny in his conduct that was constantly awake to the interests of the Service and to their welfare.

There were many bad fellows among the 54, of the older ones particularly, and those presumed greatly upon us who had just entered the Service. To give us exercise and keep us employed, on the ship's being rigged, the Mizzen Mast, its rigging and sails were assigned to