Famous Single Poems
the speakers. There were many courses, a great popping of corks, and every one was very happy. Mr. Root made the first speech and then called upon Captain Coghlan. That gallant officer at first demurred on the ground that he had never made a speech and didn't know how, but at last he was prevailed upon to rise and tell the story of the battle. That story, of course, his hearers already knew, but what they did not know (since Admiral Dewey had kept it out of the dispatches) and heard for the first time was the story of the insolent behavior of the German squadron in Manila harbor, and its interference with Admiral Dewey's blockade orders. The climax of the tale, as reported in the papers next day, ran something like this:
The German squadron was in command of Admiral von Deiderick, and one night one of his staff officers, approaching the Olympia in a launch and refusing to stop when challenged, was fired upon and very nearly sunk. He climbed the Olympia's ladder in a state of excitement thoroughly Teutonic.
"How dare you fire upon us?" he demanded. "We fly the German flag!"
"Those flags can be bought anywhere for a dollar and a half a yard," retorted Dewey. "Go back and tell your admiral that the slightest infraction of any rule will mean but one thing—war! If your people are really ready for
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