Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1875-06-17
NUMBER IL.
THE LAST CRY.
Pathetic kncilont Of the Loss OF tho
%@ Schiller. ---

THE last cry heard was that of a little
child in the cabin" So runs the cold
and formal dispatch which announces
the breaking up of the Schiller, and the
loss of more than 800 lives. A little child
in the cabin; and its poor infantile ap.
peal for helpl Not all the tragedy Of
that sad affair, the death of the noble
Captain at his post, we hope, as became
a man and seaman; the ending of the
struggle with death upon the sharp rocks
Of Scilly, which the gallant sailors doubt
less fought, or the drowning Of the wo-
men who were on board, pitiful creatures
whose hair is already turned to .sea-weed
none of thes fates. equal that of the
child whose cry was the last sound heard
as the noble ship struck the cruel rock.
1t seems almost like a violation of The
sanctity of grief, like an invasion Of the
heart that means and refuses to be healed
Of the sorrow that will not he comfortcd,
to mention this thing, but the cry of that
child:will be heard around the globe,
piercing the ear and rending the heart Of
every man who reads this story. A little
child! What magic there is in these
words!: What cords do they touch! What
memories revive? A little child, pure
and fresh, the handiwork Of the Maker,
before the debasing breath of earth had
struck it. Sweet and innocent, the image
of his Maker and the reflection of angels
We do not wish to be accused Of senti-
mentalism, nor do we desire to be pathet-
ic, but the involuntary touch of the tele-
graph operator upon the key he struck in
the brief sentence we have quoted, will
vibrate through million hcarts-one
touch of nature makes the whole world
| kin.
It is needless now to speculate upon
the future of that little child had he lived,
and it was perhaps ordered wisely and
we'll that he should die as he did The
ocean is the graveyard of greater dead
than the earth, and in its bosom, uncotfin-
ed and unshclled, lie some Of the worlds
best heroes, Westminster Abbey is no
nobler tomb than the dark, unfathomcd
caves of the ocean, wherein lie those who
died that others might live, and who per,
ished in the most unselfish cause for
which man can die-the preservation of
the lives of their tellow-beiugs. Let us
hope that the child was savcd-the stories
run that way-telling us not only Of the
brands snatched from the burning, but OF
wrecks cast upon the shore, that after
wards bore themselves as brave]y as the
best. Casabianca, over whose melancholy
ending we mourncd in our youth, was q
subaltcrn in the ranks of hcroism com
pared with the child who made his voice
Eheard, above the roar of winds, the rush
of the waters, and the thunder of tllt
breakers, the light the good ship Schille
down. Perhaps his fatherlad been swep
into the sea an hoqfkaefore; doubtless III
laid warm upon the breast Of his dcai
mother, but that cry which rouses thu
best nature of man, and has sometime:
stayed the murderer's hand, was LearC
above the din Of the waves, and at thu
the mercy of heaven itself; for was it DO
He who said, "Su1cr little children te
come unto me, for of such is the kingdom
Of Heaven"