must be asking now, with some astonishment, where is that pirate?
The practical Christian virtues, too, seem to be pres- ent, in desire at least, as well as Christian aspiration. Some of Semmes's reported utterances might make one think he lacked patience. He thinks so himself: "I am not discouraged, but I have had an excellent opportunity to practice the Christian virtue of patience, which virtue, I think, I am a little deficient in." 30 Humility, also, he endeavors to cultivate, when winds and seas tempt an angry criticism of the order of nature. "One of the most temper-trying of the contretemps of a seaman's life is, when your position is such as to render your latitude very important to you, to have a squall come up, just before it is time to look out for the sun, and to rain and obscure everything until it is a very [few] minutes too late for you, and then to have the sun shine out brightly, as if in mockery of your baffled desire. Such was the case to-day, this being the second day that we are without an observation for latitude. But I endeavor to profit by these trials, as they teach me a lesson of humility. What is man, that the sun should shine for him ? And then, in our stupidity, we fail to see things in their true light ; all the occurrences of nature, being in obedience to wise laws, must of course, be the best." 31
With the insight into Semmes's inner life and private character thus acquired we are better able to appreciate the really lofty motives that animated him in his public
