For a few months I am to command a training ship--an ironclad
that is in dry dock at present, until a captain in the English Navy
comes out, who has been sent for to command her.
"_So Here I am_--twenty-four years old and captain of a
man-of-war--a better one than any in our own navy--only for a
short time, of course, but I would be a pretty long time before I
would command one at home. Well--I accepted and will enter on
my duties in a week, as soon as my house is put in order. I saw
it--it has a long veranda, very broad; with flower garden, apricot
trees, etc., just covered with blossoms; a wide hall on the front, a
room about 18x15, with a 13-foot ceiling; then back another rather
larger, with a cupola skylight in the centre, where I am going to
put a shelf with flowers. The Government is to furnish the house
with bed, tables, chairs, sideboards, lounges, stove for kitchen. I
have grates (American) in the room, but I don't need them. We
have snow, and a good deal of ice in winter, but the thermometer
never gets below zero. I have to supply my own crockery. I will
have two servants and cook; I will only get one and the cook
first--they only cost $4 to $5.50 per month, and their board
amounts to very little. I can get along, don't you think so? Now I
want you to get Jim to pack up all my professional works on
gunnery, surveying, seamanship, mathematics, astronomy, algebra,
geometry, trigonometry, conic sections, calculus, mechanics, and
_every_ book of that description I own, including those
paperbound 'Naval Institute' papers, and put them in a box,
together with any photos, etc.
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