ners of war, the Captain and crew of the _Essex_ arrived in
the harbour of New York on July 7th, 1814, and young Farragut, while
waiting to be exchanged, went to Captain Porter's home at Chester, Pa.,
and while there was under the tuition of a Mr. Neif, a quaint
instructor who had been one of Napoleon's celebrated Guards. He gave
the boys in his care no lessons from books, but taught them about
plants and animals and how to climb, taking long walks with them and
giving them military drills as well, all of which Farragut enjoyed.

In the following November, the English and Americans, having made an
exchange of prisoners, Farragut was free to return to the navy, but as
a treaty of peace was made only a few weeks later between the Americans
and English, he did not have to serve against the latter again, and
during the next two years he made only one short uneventful cruise,
being quartered the rest of the time on a receiving ship, or a vessel
stationed at the navy yards, where recruits are received into the
service.

But in the Spring of 1816, he went on a cruise which proved most
interesting, on the _Washington_, a beautiful new ship carrying
seventy-four guns, which was to take the American minister to Naples.
Before leaving for the cruise, the President of the United States,
James Madison, visited the _Washington_, and among his suite was
Captain Porter, then a naval commissioner, who had come to say good-bye
to the boy whom he loved devotedly.

Farragut was sad to say good-bye, but full too of the desire for change
and adventure, and the new trip was a great experience for him.

The _Washington_ cruised all summer in the Mediterranean, stopping at
many places, which gave Farragut an opportunity to study geography in
the finest way possible. The great volcano Vesuvius was in eruption
when he visited it, which was an experience he never forgot, and
another of a very different kind was when the King of Naples and the
Emperor of Austria visited the _Washington_ and were entertained with
great display and elegance. After stopping at the coast towns of Tunis,
Tripoli and Algiers, the _Washington_ finally put up for the winter in
a Spanish harbour, and then, as during the entire cruise, the boys were
taught by the ship's chaplain, Mr. Folsom, who was so devoted to David
that when in the fall of 1817 he was appointed consul to Tunis, he
wrote to the Captain of the _Washington_ asking permission to take the
boy with him, be