Northern Lands; Or, Young America in Russia and Prussia

Title: Northern Lands; Or, Young America in Russia and Prussia

Author: Oliver Optic

Release date: January 27, 2017 [eBook #54059] Most recently updated: October 23, 2024

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54059

Credits: Produced by David Edwards, David K. Park, illustration images from The Internet Archive (TIA) and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Books project.)

The Second Degree Page 129.

YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD—SECOND SERIES.

NORTHERN LANDS;

OR,

YOUNG AMERICA IN RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA.

A Story of Travel and Adventure.

BY

WILLIAM T. ADAMS

(OLIVER OPTIC),

AUTHOR OF "OUTWARD BOUND," "SHAMROCK AND THISTLE," "RED CROSS," "DIKES AND DITCHES," "PALACE AND COTTAGE," "DOWN THE RHINE," "UP THE BALTIC," ETC.

BOSTON: LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS. NEW YORK: LEE, SHEPARD AND DILLINGHAM.

1872.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872,

By WILLIAM T. ADAMS,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

Electrotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry,

19 Spring Lane.

TO

MY EXCELLENT FRIEND

THE

HON. DAVIS DIVINE,

OF SAN JOSÉ, CALIFORNIA,

WHOSE ACQUAINTANCE I HAD THE PLEASURE OF MAKING

IN ST. PETERSBURG, AND WITH WHOM I TRAVELLED

THROUGH RUSSIA, AUSTRIA, TURKEY, ITALY,

SPAIN, AND PORTUGAL,

This Volume

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.

YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD.

By OLIVER OPTIC.

A Library of Travel and Adventure in Foreign Lands. First and Second Series; six volumes in each Series. 16mo. Illustrated.

First Series.

Second Series.

PREFACE.

[7]

Northern Lands, the second volume of the second series of "Young America Abroad," describes the varied experience of the juvenile tourists of the Academy Squadron in the Baltic, and during their journeys in Russia and Prussia, and their voyages between the different ports in these countries. Compared with most other countries of Europe, but little has been written about Russia, and the greater portion of this volume related to that interesting nation. The author writes from his own notes and recollection, so far as scenery, manners and customs are concerned, but he has made diligent study and use of all the material within his reach, including much that was gathered abroad. Perhaps the young people will vote that this is the dryest book the author has ever presented to them, because it contains the most useful information; but he hopes they will not neglect the historical part, which is sometimes stranger than any fiction.

But the volume is not without its story, which may be regarded as a reflection, on a small scale, of the political experience of the American citizen. Doubtless our young friends will sympathize with Scott the Joker in his devotion to fair play; and well will it be for our country when this spirit shall pervade the caucus and the voting[8] places, and those who are selfishly striving for office are as effectually rebuked and ignored as they were in the Academy Squadron. The next volume of the series, from the nature of the circumstances, rather than from any fixed intention on the part of the writer, will contain much more of stirring incident than the present.

The author, who has so long been before the public as a writer of juvenile books, and who has so often "launched a volume," has felt that his welcome must be nearly worn out, and that he had no right to expect the continued favor of his army of young friends. He was therefore very agreeably surprised at the kind reception given to "Up the Baltic," the sale of which was fully equal to the most fortunate of its predecessors in the first series. The author is very grateful for this new exhibition of kindness on the part of his young friends, and he hopes that the present volume will not only interest, but instruct and benefit them.

Harrison Square, Boston,

December 18, 1871.

[9]

NORTHERN LANDS; OR, YOUNG AMERICA IN RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA.

[11]

CHAPTER I.

AT THE PICNIC ON THE ISLAND.

"I don't believe in it!" exclaimed De Forrest, the third lieutenant of the Young America.

"I can't say I like the idea very much," replied Beckwith, the first master. "Tom Cantwell is a great scholar, without a particle of doubt, but he is no more of a seaman than that English fellow, Clyde Blacklock, and ought not to be captain."

"But under the rule of the ship, it can't be helped," added De Forrest.

"Then the rule ought to be changed. There are not half a dozen fellows in the squadron who believe that Cantwell ought to be captain."

"He hasn't been three months in the squadron. He served his first month in the steerage, and then jumped up to fourth master. Next month he will be the captain of the ship. He doesn't know enough to set a topsail, and couldn't get the ship under way to save his life."

"I shouldn't care so much about his seamanship, if he were only a decent[12] fellow," continued Beckwith.

"I don't want a fellow over me who don't know anything. I can't respect him."

"Well, what are you going to do about it? We can't help ourselves."

"I don't know that we can," replied De Forrest. "Cantwell is a great scholar, and seems to know everything without studying it; but he is mean, conceited, overbearing, and tyrannical. I don't believe the principal likes the idea of his being captain."

"But he can get along better as captain than he could as first lieutenant; for he has only to say, 'Get under way,' 'Come to anchor,' 'Take in the main-topsail,' and the executive officer gives all the orders in detail."

"That's true. Yet the captain is expected to know all these things, and to see that they are properly done. But, after all, we are not sure that Cantwell will be captain," suggested De Forrest.

"He has had a perfect mark in every lesson during the month; and I know that Captain Lincoln slipped up on his geometry two or three times."

"But the captain has beaten him in his seamanship, I know."

"There's the difficulty. We have been in port, or lying at anchor among these islands, nearly all the time, and there has been no chance to make anything in seamanship. We have hardly had an exercise in which marks were given out since we made the coast of Norway."

"Perhaps we shall, yet."

"If we do, Cantwell won't be captain, but he may be a lieutenant; and[13] that is almost as bad."

"We won't cry till we are hurt, then," said De Forrest; "though I think something ought to be done to keep us out of such a scrape in the future. I have a plan in my head, which, I think, would work first rate, and be a fair thing for all."

"What is it?" asked Beckwith.

"I'll tell you. As the matter now stands, a fellow may jump from the steerage into the captain's cabin without any experience at all in commanding, especially, as during the last month, when we are running about on shore, and we don't do much in seamanship."

"But you know that this struggle for rank puts the fellows on their good behavior; and the principal would lose his sheet anchor if the present system were abandoned."

"I don't propose to abandon it entirely. I would like to have the first five officers made elective."

"You would have the captain and the four lieutenants chosen by ballot?" asked Beckwith, interested in the plan.

"Precisely so."

"But the fellows in the steerage could have it all their own way under such a plan. They could make Clyde Blacklock, Sandford, or any such fellow captain."

"No, you haven't heard me out. The captain and the four lieutenants shall be chosen from the cabin officers only."

"I rather like that."

"Any fellow will see that it is a fair thing."

"And who would be candidates for masters, pursers, and lieutenants?"[14] asked Beckwith.

"They must obtain their rank by their merit. By my plan, ten of the fifteen cabin officers of the ship must get their positions by their scholarship, conduct, and seamanship, just as they do now; but the captain or lieutenant must first have served as master, purser, or midshipman. Then a fellow can't be captain till he has served at least one month as a cabin officer."

"The plan pleases me; but of course we can't tell how it would work without a trial."

"It would work first rate. As the matter now stands, no officer has any inducement to please anybody but the principal and the instructors, who give him his marks. By my plan he would have to keep on the right side of his inferiors in rank, or they would throw him over at the next election."

"And there would be lots of electioneering for office," laughed Beckwith.

"Well, that would give us a little excitement. Besides, we are all to be American citizens, and we ought to learn how these things are done. Under this plan Cantwell wouldn't behave as he does now in the cabin. He is nothing but a lump of selfishness. He wouldn't take all the breast of the chicken, or drown his coffee with the last gill of milk on board. I have been thinking of this thing for a week, and have talked it over with some of the fellows. All that I have spoken with like it first rate."

"I do."

"I am going to get up a petition to the principal, asking him to make this change in the system, and I want to get every fellow's name upon it."

"I will sign, for one," replied Beckwith. "But you haven't said a word[15] about the commodore, De Forrest."

"That's only a kind of ornamental office, and I don't care much about it any way; but I think that only the captains should be eligible to the position."

Precisely as men do such things on a larger scale, De Forrest, satisfied that he had added one adherent to the "cause" he was advocating, passed on to "buzz" another officer on the same subject. The students connected with the squadron were enjoying a picnic on one of the uninhabited Aland Islands. It was a lovely spot, for the island was nearly covered by a beautiful grove of pines, and one slope of it had a green carpet of verdure. The sixteen boats of the squadron and of the yachts were moored at the shore, and there was not a ripple on the sea to disturb them. The ship's band had played all the pieces they knew; and a great variety of games had been tried, with but indifferent success. The boys declared that it could be no picnic at all without the ladies. Possibly the attendance of Mrs. Kendall and Mrs. Shuffles suggested this idea to them; and, though these ladies were young, lively, and agreeable, the meagreness of the female representation on the occasion seemed to be only an aggravation. Doubtless all of them had attended picnics and

other social gatherings, where the gentler sex is the charm of the occasion, and they could not help feeling the loneliness of the situation. Besides, the locality itself was suggestive of utter isolation from the rest of the world.

All around them was a multitude of islands, but not a habitation of any kind could be seen; not a human being, not a quadruped, not even a[16] bird enlivened the scene. The water was as calm as the repose of a mountain lake, with not a single white sail to relieve the gaze of the beholder. The squadron was anchored behind an island, where it could not be seen. And the boys knew that they were north of the sixtieth parallel of latitude,—nearer to the north pole than any of them had ever been before; and the consciousness of this fact seemed to add to the lonesomeness of the place. The days were very long and the nights very short, and it was quite impossible to feel at home in such a region.

They were not the first to feel in this locality that the great, busy world was far to the south of them, and to be impressed by the silence and quiet of the place under such circumstances. A distinguished lady, in narrating her voyage among these islands, says, "We never lost sight of the shore, and sometimes were so near it that it seemed as though we could leap to it from the boat. Yet I have never seen anything so desolate as the voyage during this first day. On the open sea we should not complain; but here, so near the land, and not a boat upon the water, not a living creature on the shore, not a garden, not a human being, not a dog, not even a fishing net, to show that man had been there,—there was something awful in it."

And yet there is no lack of the beautiful in nature to charm the eye, for the islands present an endless variety of forms, with green slopes, with rocky steeps, and with forest-crowned heights. But one may be lonely even in Paradise; and silence is sometimes more oppressive than[17] the roar of the tempest, or the din of the crowded city.

The students had resorted to all the games in the catalogue of dignified sports available to young men; but the most exhilarating under ordinary circumstances were dull and heavy on the present occasion. In the middle of the afternoon they had abandoned in despair all attempts to have "a good time;" and now they were seated on the rocks, or stretched at full length upon the grass, engaged in discussion and conversation. Possibly De Forrest was forced by the quiet of the scene to agitate reform in the affairs of the squadron, which, to some extent, occupied his thoughts during the stay of the vessels among the islands. With the zeal of youth and inexperience, he believed that he had originated a new idea, that he had discovered a fatal flaw in the working of the system on which the squadron was organized. But his "original idea" had long before engaged the attention of the principal. Years before he had foreseen that the very difficulty which now appeared might arise. It is true that he had provided no remedy, except the general rule that an incompetent officer

might be removed when his unfitness was apparent; but he had very carefully considered the question and the consequences which it involved.

The third lieutenant of the Young America was not the only student who had observed and noted the remarkable scholarship of Cantwell. In the midst of such a lively competition for the honors of the squadron, which were not meaningless laurels,—for a state-room in the cabin was a substantial luxury, independent of the desire to command rather than[18] obey,—the students did not fail to notice the character of the recitations, and many kept a record of the value of them; so that the standing of Cantwell was well understood in the cabin and in the steerage. The obnoxious student was a thorough bookworm; but he was cold, stiff, selfish, and haughty. He never did anything or said anything that rendered him liable to discipline; but there was not a boy in the squadron who had so few friends, if he had any at all. His father was a very wealthy man, who supplied him liberally with money. It was said that he had been expelled from an academy where he was fitting for college on account of a difficulty into which his unpopularity had

driven him. His fellow-students hated him so cordially that they were unable to conceal their real feelings. He was attacked in such an ingenious way that he seemed to be the aggressor instead of the person assailed, and the whole blame of the riot was cast upon him. When Prince Bismarck decided that German unification required a war with France; he was skilful enough to make the latter take the initiative, and France was foolish enough to accept the issue. In like manner Cantwell, while really the objective force in the quarrel with his fellow-students, was weak enough to assume the subjective attitude; and, as France was almost annihilated for her folly, which deprived her of the sympathy and support of any other respectable power, he was ignominiously expelled for his conduct. Like scores of others under the ban of expulsion on shore, he drifted into the Academy Squadron. He was not a thorough seaman, as Captain Lincoln and most of the officers were, neither was[9] he so utterly ignorant and entirely incompetent as De Forrest and others

declared him to be. But he was not qualified for either of the high positions which the officers feared he would obtain.

De Forrest opened his theory to another officer of the squadron. He had already spoken to half a dozen of them, and created as many advocates of his plan, each of whom, interested in the scheme, went to work upon as many more of the unconverted. In another half hour there were a dozen who were entirely satisfied that the Academy Squadron would be utterly ruined if Cantwell was elevated to the rank of captain. This dozen were in turn soon at work upon another dozen, and the converts increased as a continued proportional. This process, so often repeated, soon stirred up a lively agitation among the crowd of students on the island. The principal, the instructors, and the party from the yachts, with Captain Lincoln and two other officers, were seated on a rock apart from the others, engaged in conversation. They did not observe anything unusual among the students, who seemed to be remarkably quiet, considering that they were at liberty to follow their own inclinations. The agitators had an excellent opportunity to carry on their operations without attracting

the attention of the principal and his assistants.

The subject under discussion concerned the young officers even more than the seamen, and De Forrest's plan seemed to be so fair and so practical that most of them gave in their adherence without much hesitation. The crew, who were farther removed from the glittering prizes, which were[20] to be limited to the inferior officers of the cabin, were not so readily converted.

"I don't see it," said Scott, the joker, when Beckwith approached him on the subject. "You want to make a little one-horse aristocracy in the cabin, and shut out us fellows in the steerage from any chance at the big things."

"Not at all," replied the first master.

"Yes, you do. Take my own case, if you please. I'm a genius of the first water. I got a pile of merit marks for getting tight on finkel, and making an excursion to Stockholm. During all this time, of course I was marked high on all studies. I used to talk Greek when I was a baby, and nobody could understand me. And of course I am marked high in that branch now. In Latin I always could decline faster than any other fellow. French and German I learned of my nurse, who was brought up in an Irish Canadian family, and married a Dutchman. None of these things ever give me any trouble, you see, and I am marked high. In seamanship I got a hundred and fifty for topping up the spanker boom in a seaman-like manner. Now, I expect to be captain on the first of next month, and you cabin nobs are getting up a conspiracy to deprive me of my rights. I won't stand it, Mr. Beckwith. I am an American citizen in embryo. My fathers and mothers all fought, bled, and died for the dearest rights of man. My grandfather was killed in battle six months before he was

married; and I should be a degenerate son of a glorious sire if I permitted you to pull wool over my optical members in this horrible manner."

"Be serious, will you, for a moment?" interposed the earnest officer.

[21]

"I am serious. You ask me to sign a petition to change the solid principles on which the eternal order of events is founded; and I respectfully decline to do so, Mr. Beckwith. In other words, not for Joseph."

"But you don't understand the matter, Scott."

"You cast an imputation upon my perceptive faculties."

"Nothing of the sort. You talk so fast that you won't hear what I have to say."

"You say that the captain of this noble ship must either be selected or be chosen from the cabin officers. Am I right?"

"You are."

"I am not the captain of the ship this month; neither have I the honor to be one of the cabin officers; ergo I cannot be elected captain for the month of June next ensuing."

"You are certainly right; but—"