The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1854-10-27
THE SIGNAL GUN.
[From Inc New YORK Express. !

lFrom the New YORK Express
Amidst all the terrible incidents attendant
upon the destruction of the Arctic, which we
have been receiving these two days past, there
is one that impresses US with feeling of awe
and admiration, and shows all the world that
the age of heroes is not yet altogether gone
by. We refer to the young man, whose post
of duty throughout all that trying scene was
the firing of signal gun, at intervals In the
hope Of attracting the attention of vessels
from a distance to the scene of the disaster.
While all around him were death and despair,
in bold relief there he stood, Qike hope her.
sef,) with the calm determination of true
hero, discharging gun after gun, until the
gallant ship went down beneath the waves.
Here was courage and manlness-a def
ance of death, and an adhesion to duty, we
might walk over the mostfamous battle4eds
in history to look for and not fnd The SOL
dier who braves the King of Terrors at the
cannon's mouth, is animated by n species of
courage inproviSed for the occasion, by the
"pomp and circumstance" around him. There
can be properly no towards when men are
drawn up in battle array, with drums beating
colors flying, and thoughts of reward and
promotion fitting through the brain if vic
tory is won. Dastards dare anything then
under such stimulants But the bravery of
the battlefield is not the bravery which was
shown by our young hero of the wreck. The
former is species of unnatural courage-i:is is
Of an anima! nature; but the latter was moral
courage of the highest and nobest kind
With his lighted match he seemed to stand,
on the quarter of that devoted ship huring
defiance, as it were, in the very jaws of death
itself Others were desperately struggling for
life; he alone seemed to have resolved to de-
monstrate how man may die at his post of
duty, without dread or fear, in the midst of
horrors that would make most men towards.
Awfully impressive, indeed-terribly melo.
dramatic-was the last scene of all, in which
our young hero shone forth, wringing excla-
nations of admiration even from lips that
were buffettng the hungering waters then
murmuring for their prey. Stuart Holm, (for
that was his name,) "could not be induced to
leave the ship; his post was at the gun, from
first to last, firing signals; he kept firing that
gun at intervals till the ship went down. We
saw him in the rery act Of firing as the ressel
disappeared jelo,o the waterS."
In Greek or Roman days such a man, if he
had not awarded him the honors of dedication,
would have had Senates decreeing him statues
and monuments everywhere to commemorate
his deeds, that his example might not be lost
upon posterity. His conduct is given new
lustre, contrasted with that of the cravens
who, only anxious to save their own lives,
shut their ears to the shrieks of the helpless
women and children that were graphing with
horrors all around and about them. Honor
then, eternal honor, to him who went down
to death conqueror of death! That noble
ship had many noble spirits on board-but
none nobler than he.
"The brave man is not he who feels no fear,
For that stupid and irrational;
But he whose noble soul its fear subdues,
And bravely braves the danger nature shrnks from"
[Sadkspeare.