buryport, which graphically details the sufferings endured during their prison life. They were held in rude barracks under rigid charge, with limited yard-room for occasional exercise, and their long confinement was marked by constant attempts to tunnel out and escape. They were always intercepted, and, with every hope frustrated, punished, and humiliated, they had a painful time of it. Their life was a long and dreary vacuity, with no relief save what came through the sympathy of benevolent people outside, who humanely gave them occasional help. What the narrator has not told we can imagine: the crushed hope, the cruel restriction, the weary delay, the longing for tidings of home, the failing health, the prison fare, the irksome surveillance, the insulting reproach attendant on prisoners of war—rebels taken in arms against their king. But there were times when an old London paper was accidentally obtained—wrapping up some gratuity from the outside—and gleams of joy obtained from reading of successes by the patriots, which revived hope and made even prison life endurable. Through all their sufferings they maintained an uncompromising spirit of fidelity to the cause, though sorely tempted, and but two or three were found base enough to become free by enlisting under the British flag. They remained true to the last. Through all, the subject of this sketch bore his part. His name, written in the diary, though not orthographically correct, establishes his identity. It appears there as "Joseph Shilaby," and was probably written phonetically, as the name was thus pronounced by his towns-people, and as it is pronounced by many of the older people of Portsmouth at the present day.
The cloud at last lifted, and Benj. Franklin, at Paris, secured a cartel for exchange of prisoners, by which the crews of the "Dalton" and other privateers were taken to Brest, where the fleet of Paul Jones lay, fitting out for a cruise, and divided among the fleet. The "Bonhomme Richard," Jones's flagship, might, on personal grounds, one would think, have proved an attraction to Shillaber, but he chose the "Alliance," perhaps on the ground that she might be sooner ordered home, or because she was a new Yankee ship, and therefore safer than the flagship, which was an old East Indiaman transformed into a man-of-war. He was there on the "Alliance," and took his chances in the battle that ensued, of which his heirs had proof, many years afterwards, in the form of a share of the prize-money proceeding from that action. The amount, however, did not seem commensurate with the distinguished service rendered.
Little is known of my subject after his return, save that he was a good citizen, and lived for twenty years enjoying the peace his valor helped to win. A saintly wife rendered his home pleasant, and his fireside was doubtless made interesting by narrations of his severe experiences. It is heartily wished by the writer that the narrator had told more; but it gives him opportunity to regret that more pains are not taken by teachers and parents—especially the latter—to impress upon children the importance of events transpiring within their own knowledge or experience,
