The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1875-11-10
How g 2 Brave Captain Persisted At the
Post Of Duty.
/. by Gail Hamilton.

read on, to find that the post ofsduty was
the ship on which he sank. The same
tidings that brought DEATH nell to
thousands of hearts rang also to the
praise of the man who had refused to sur.
yive. the loss Of dis ship, but chung to her
and sank with her beneath the cruel sea.
Before we knew aught of the circum.
stances, we had, at least, the solace, Of
and we thanked God for that.
1t is ungracieus to speak Of the dead
anything but good. The lips are closed
that might reply, the hand is still that
might defend. But the dead body of the
brave captain is surrounded by three
hundred dead. whose warm, throbbing.
priceless life had been entrusted to his
care and whose untimely perishing sent
quivers Of anguish through two conti-
nents. Neither can he defend nor they
accuse. But facts remain, and for the
sake Of the living justice should awake
and give just udgnent.
The commissioners appointed to inquire
into the circumstances and discover the
causes Of tho disaster reported that the
captain ran his ship for days together in
fog by dead reckoning, without sound
ing. Aware that he was hard upon the
most dangerous and best known reefs on
the English coast, he neglected the very
precautions prescribed by his instruc-
lions. The dead reckoning was incor-
rect; the ship had gone further than was
supposed. But the Admiralty directions
for approaching the English Channel Or
dain careful use of the lead, and the
company enjoins on its commanders strict
attention to the usual precau-
tons when making the land. Yet,
in spite of the thick weather and the
treacherous fog, the ''brave captain
with hundreds Of lives and thousands Of
hearts in his keeping, neglected his duty,
disobeyed his orders, disregarded his OBJ.
legations, and flung his ship upon the
rocks and his passengers into the sea.
Had cast of the lead been taken an
hour or half an hour before the vessel
struck it would have shown them their
proximity to the danger and the error of
their reckoning says the report of the
Investigating committee, land would
probably have averted this sad disaster.
The entire neglect of the precautions laid
down for navigators when approaching
Sicily was the sole cause of this terrible
calamity. =
Is courage any atonement for reckless
ness like this? Did brave captain perish
at his post Of duty! say that faithless,
reckless, and wretched captain persisted
at the post of neglect and crime and in.
fanny. The weight OF the woe he had
wickedly caused should have sunk his
head deeper than any sea could engulf
him. The mere courage Of drowning is
but beastly virtue. When man has
wrecked name and fortune and scores of
innocent men, women, and children, he
may we'll call upon the rocks and the
mountain waves to hide him from the re-.
proaches Of his race. For what had this
miserable man to live for? How could he
meet the owners Of the ship he had lost,
the friends of the men he had destroyed?
What was there for him in this world but
the blackness of darkness forever? Did it
require most courage to fee from it or to
face it?
Last winter, in Washington, a fair,
graceful, gentle girl was frightening one
of those many charming homes which
make Washington so delightful winter
residence. Wit and beauty, taste and
culture presided there, and genius and
art were not wanting. Into the home
came the lovely girl and formed one of
its happy circle. Nor were youth and
loneliness her sole attractions; but her
mind had been so we'll trained, her time
so we'll spent that her manifold accom-
plishments, her ungirlish lore We're
themes for good.natured badinage. which
her honesty and her mirth alike re.
PEELED. In the hay-day Of youth, with
pleasure and usefulness beckoning to her,
and high hope and the promise of long
and glorious life, she took passage for
Europe, and hope and life and love were
beaten down into the raging waters by
this brave captain, perishing at the post
of duty.
Dining one day alone and somewhat list.
lessly at the hotel, [ noticed at a table
near me lady whose beauty. elegance,
and daintiness attracted my attention.
The years had touched her very tenderly.
The curling gray hair was scarcely softer
than the gracious face beneath it; the
flashing rings not more beautiful than the
hand they adorned. Two or three
handsome and stately gentlemen accom-
panied or accosted her; and in their
Difference and friendliness and in her
pleasing, appealing, one might almost say
caressins manners it was easy to see that
here was such la1y as the poet lined,
who had
"But Ted on the roses and lain in the lilies of
life''
l was curious and interested enough to
learn her name; and two days after came
the news that her only daughter, anna
BILE, accomplished, full of promise, we'll
beloved, had met her death at the hands