John Hammond

“ They were sitting in the drawing-room after dinner, the room dimly lighted by darkly-shaded lamps, the windows wide open to the summer sky and moonlit lake. In that subdued light Lady Maulevrier looked a woman in the prime of life. The classical modelling of her features and the delicacy of her complexion were unimpaired by time, while those traces of thought and care which gave age to her face in the broad light of day were invisible at night. John Hammond contemplated that refined and placid countenance with profound admiration. ”

“ And yet there was something distinctive about the man, Hammond thought, something wild and uncanny, which made him unlike any of those hale and hearty-looking dalesmen on whom old age sate so lightly. No, John Hammond could not fancy this man, with his pallid countenance and pale crafty eyes, to be of the same race as those rugged and honest-looking descendants of the Norsemen. ”

“ John Hammond was too experienced a mountaineer to be deterred by a little snow. He went up Silver Howe, and from the rugged breast of the mountain saw the sun leap up from amidst a chaos of hill and crag, in all his majesty, while the grey mists of night slowly floated up from the valley that had lain hidden below them, and Grasmere Lake sparkled and flashed in the light of the newly-risen sun. ”

“ Hammond?'
'Hammond knows that there is such a place, I daresay,' replied Maulevrier, replying for his friend.
'But you do not know Lord Hartfield, perhaps,' said her ladyship, not arrogantly, but still in a tone which implied her conviction that John Hammond would not be hand-in-glove with earls, in Scotland or elsewhere.
'Oh, yes! I know him by sight—every one in Argyleshire knows him by sight.'
'Naturally. A young man in his position must be widely known. Is he popular?'
'Fairly so.'
'His father and I were friends many years ago,' said Lady Maulevrier, with a faint sigh. ”

“ Every man’s character has its weak spot, and this was the weak spot in John Hammond’s. There were moments when he despised himself for the halo with which his imagination encircled the heads of the caste [39] into which he had not been born. There were other moments when he felt inclined to marry the Lady Victoria Mauleverer.
Mr. Hammond entered.
“I’m afraid you find me brutally punctual, marchioness,” he said, in a vigorous, masculine voice that seemed to go through the atmosphere of the drawing-room like a breath of fresh air. “That is the worst of business habits. ”

“ Antiquary. Who is the Hamon or Hammond that is evidently the subject of this epigram and is referred to in Satyre V, l. 87, I cannot say. I am disposed to think that it may be John Hammond, LL.D., the civilist, the father of James I's physician and of Charles I's chaplain. I have no proof that he was an antiquarian, but a civilist and authority on tithes may well have been so, and he belonged to [pg 60] the class which Donne satirizes with most of anger and feeling, the examiners and torturers of Catholic prisoners. We find him in Strype's Annals collaborating with the notorious Topcliffe. ”

“ Hammond, the king's chaplain, was his uncle, and had lately introduced him to his Majesty as an ingenuous and repentant youth, and, notwithstanding his post, of real loyalty. They forgot that Hammond had another uncle, Lieutenant-General Hammond, who was as democratic as the chaplain was loyal, and was a great patron of the Adjutators. They seem to have reckoned as little on the honour of the young man, who was a gentleman and officer, and had married a daughter of John Hampden. ”

“ The king told Hammond that he had come to put himself in his care, believing him loyal, and one that would not betray him. Hammond expressed himself as highly honoured by his majesty's confidence, but would only promise to do all he could for his majesty consistent with his duty as a man of honour. There was, however, nothing for it now but to go with him, Charles and his attendants probably thinking they could win him over. ”

“ Hammond is a leading figure are the American Association for the Advancement of Science, of which he was elected a Fellow in 1891, the National Civic Federation and several lesser ones of a political or civic nature. He is a member of the Century and University Clubs, of New York, and of the University Clubs of Denver, Salt Lake City and San Francisco. ”

“ He says time is all important, and the Reform Committee's hands should not be tied while the Boers gain time.
Reports of Jameson's meeting the enemy have been amplified. Now it is said that fifty of his men have been killed and three hundred Boers. Sir John Willoughby is believed to be shot.
I drove out to my home to reassure my women, Mr. Sharwood having brought in word that the coachman Adams had almost caused a panic by his garish tipsy account of 'what was going on in town,' and 'the many risks he ran when taking the mistress out.'
Parker was overjoyed to see me, and so was Totsey. ”

“ The three husbands have photographs of wife and children; Colonel Rhodes, the bachelor, a sponge-bag and pin-cushion. Every day I find a short list of things which they want got for them. It is many a long year since they had such simple desires: bed-sheets and pillow-cases, a shade for their window, Dutch dictionary, and lead pencils.
January 25.—The Reformers, with the exceptions of Messrs. Lionel Phillips, George Farrar, Colonel Rhodes, John Hays Hammond, and Percy Fitzpatrick, are released to-day on bail of ten thousand dollars each. They are not permitted to leave Pretoria however. ”

“ Hammond's appointment to the Governorship of the island (Sept. 9) was Cromwell's doing, in anticipation of what might be needed; then he had stirred up the Agitators at Putney to threaten the King's life at Hampton Court; then he had warned the King, through Whalley, of the designs of the Agitators, so as to frighten him into flight; then, through Ashburnham or otherwise, he had suggested the Isle of Wight as the very place for the King to go to, and so had caught him in the prepared trap. ”

“ He refers to the Grand Army Remonstrance, of the publication of which he has just heard. "We could perhaps have wished the stay of it till after the Treaty," he says, for himself and the officers of his northern part of the Army; "yet, seeing it is come out, we trust to rejoice in the will of the Lord, waiting His further pleasure." Again returning to the main topic, Hammond's scruples, he pleads almost yearningly with him: "Dear Robin, beware of men; look up to the Lord." ”

“ He is today one of the great and successful engineering experts of the world. This is a story that Mr. Hammond never relates himself, nor is the writer aware that it has ever appeared in print before.
Following the completion of his works in South Africa and his exoneration, morally, for his part in the Jameson raid, Mr. Hammond settled in London, England, and there became interested in a number of large mining companies in various parts of the world, including the United States and Mexico. ”

“ Hammond has made a deep study of international trade relations, and some of his utterances concerning development of foreign trade for the United States have been adopted as the basis of trade reform. He has also taken a very prominent part In the advocacy of reforms in the nation's mining laws, and has helped in the creation of numerous acts passed by Congress in recent years for the protection of lives and property of the miners. ”

“ John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson—Their elevation to the first offices of our government, will demonstrate that sovereignty is yet with the people, and guarantee the defence of our national rights, whether assailed by the pen or the sword. ”

“ Alban's, requiring his presence with all possible speed at head-quarters, and ordering him to leave the island meanwhile in charge of Colonel Ewer, the bearer of the letter. This letter did not reach Hammond till Nov. 25 (the very day when Cromwell was writing to him from Yorkshire) ; and it was not then delivered to him by Colonel Ewer in person, but by a messenger. The next day, Sunday, Nov. 26, Hammond wrote from Carisbrooke Castle to the two Houses of Parliament, informing them of what had happened, enclosing a copy of Fairfax's letter, and signifying his intention of obeying it. ”

“ O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O, thus be it ever, when Freedom shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
And conquer we must, when our cause it is just.
And this be our motto, “In God is our trust!”
And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
CENTENNIAL HYMN.
JOHN G. WHITTIER.
Our father’s God! ”

“ Australian, Scotch, Africander, Cycle, Colonial, Natal, Irish, Northumbrian, Cornish, and Bettington's Horse and the Ambulance Corps. Most of the mines are closing down. Women and children are still flying from the town. Alas! some men, too, who are heartily jeered by the crowd at the railroad station. [2]
St. John's Ambulance Society is advertising for qualified nurses or ladies willing to assist.
Natives are in a state of great panic. ”

“ He was called back to San Francisco from Mexico to become consulting engineer of mines in Grass Valley, California, and also was chosen as Consulting Engineer for the Union Iron Works of San Francisco, the Central Pacific and the Southern Pacific Railroads. The work accomplished by Mr. Hammond in these offices added to his reputation and he was commissioned to examine mining properties in all parts of the world. ”

“ Girt by the smiling waters of one of America’s most beautiful lakes, overtopped by a verdant mountain, and gazing out upon green fields in the shade of majestic woodlands, all of the atmosphere of the place is one of peace and aloofness from the pain of human suffering. ”

“ One turns from the picture with regret, only to follow on to new vistas. You wind through groves of evergreens and eucalypti out into the open meadows, a riot of flowers in springtime, that top the cliffs above the Golden Gate. The famous straits lie just below, Fort’s Point antiquated bastions on their hither shore fronting the white-washed walls of the harbor-light on the Point Bonita bluffs opposite. ”

“ Where the difference of forms is considerable, knowledge of the character and opportunities of the writer may sometimes determine the preference of one form to others, as probably the most accurate. A Massachusetts or Connecticut name written by John Eliot or Experience Mayhew—or by the famous interpreter, Thomas Stanton—may safely be assumed to represent the original combination of sounds more exactly than the form given it by some town-recorder, ignorant of the Indian language and who perhaps did not always write or spell his own correctly. ”

“ Passing over the causeway one sees to the left hand, across a ribbon of water, the island which Fort Winthrop crowns in a very modest and inconspicuous fashion. Passing over a draw-bridge one enters the reservation and finds one’s self beneath the shadow of the walls of the fort and on the historic ground which its predecessors and itself have held in fief for many, many years. ”

“ Hammond stood holding the ends of the cord that bound the Invisible, twisted round his hand, while before him, self-supporting as it were, he beheld a rope laced and interlaced, and stretching tightly around a vacant space. I never saw a man look so thoroughly stricken with awe. Nevertheless his face expressed all the courage and determination which I knew him to possess. ”

“ On any bright and cheering day throngs can be found at the old fort, of various classes and of widely sundered poles of thought; but joined together in one great common heritage, a capacity for making use of that which they have and of taking their pleasure in a devout and noiseless manner not to be seen amongst the habitants of any other great American city. ”

“ Lescarbot infused a brave spirit into even the most dreary of the odd crew which made up this colony. We can picture the merry adventurers in their rude little fort engaged in their pranks of drollery thousands of miles away from home and with inhospitable wilderness and bleak shores for environs. ”

“ Here, if he has been wise and has made his arrangements properly, the will be met by a boat from the light-house and will be carried across to the island.
Arrived at the landing which gives access to the fort, one is struck by the graceful desolation of the scene. The boards and timbers of the wharf have rotted, and [252] ends of planks hang down toward the water like withered arms. Yet the brilliant Georgia sunshine gives a charm to it all. One does not feel in the presence of decay; one feels only in the presence of something that is passing painlessly away. ”

“ They are not visible from the river and the visitor is not aware of their existence until he steps to the edge of the bluff and looks down upon them. The parade is a stony lawn. Not a blade of grass is to be seen and everything is of that ashy light-grey color so trying to the eyes. It is a relief to gaze out upon the green bottom lands through which one passed before ascending to the top of the eminence where stands the fort. ”

“ The echoes of the discharge of this ancient firearm were seldom allowed to die in these wildernesses until the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, until the complete ascendency of white man over red had been established. ”