The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1877-12-14
THE LOSS OF THE HURON.
Lament for the {" Brave Hearts that
Went Down In this seas"
IRON the boston Pilot


There is something strangely affect
ing in the wreck OF a war-ship. There
may be q suffering when crowd
ed emigrant vessel goes down with its
terrified and shrieking hundreds, but
il Is the very absence Of the terror and
the weakness which makes tho death Of
proud, battle-ship strlte home so
keenly. In the hour of her peril, with
the black lee shore before her and the
wild waves around, there must be no
human weakness exhibited on her
deck. She was built to face death; her
officers and crew are expected to meet
mortal danger professionally. The sore
strait Of the Huron, as she drove ashore
in the dark night, was only phase Of
that which belonged TO her calling
which she might have had TO face open
", as Farragut's fleet sailed into de-
struction, when the bay shore was roar
ing with an encmy's guns, and the hos
tile fleet closing, and when
Prom the maintop, bold and brief.
Came the command Of the grand old chief
Co on" wa all he said,
our helm was put 20 the Starboard.
And the Hartford passed ahead"
The excitement Of fight has power to
blind men TO the danger, but we can not
doubt that brave and highly disciplined
seaman feel something Of the battle
spirit even in struggle with the ele-
ments. There are no men so accus-
toned to deal with blood and death as
men-of-wars-men. In action, there il
no room for skulking the awful pres
ence. The soldier moves from the scene
OF destruction; he is not tied to a few
yards of reeking field. But when the
enemy's broadside tears the life from
the strong sailor, his messmates "clear
the wreck
'And the dead are laid 20 port
All arrow, on the deck
The war-ship is the sailors home
not his transport. The emigrant Is
strange to ship and sea; he fears both;
and when the moment Of doom closes
there is added ID his terrors the awful
strangeness Of the surroundings But
the bluc-jacket Is part Of his vessel, and
il she goes down in fair fight he can 20
with her. and cheer going down, like
Morris's brave boys Of the sinking Cum
berland. who fired their last broadsidc
when the lips Of the guns were I'M
der water.
But when he war-ship il wrecked bv
the elements, and her gallant hearts
broken BY no foeman's fire. there is an
infinite tenderness in the Nations sor-
row. Blame will rest eventually where
it has been deserved; but our first feel
ing for the hapless Huron is one Of deep
sorrow for her noble young commander
and his officers and crew. They would
have died differently had ii been their
choice. They would have asked for
grand setting for their death-picture--
" The storm cloud all aglow
With flashes ~ fiery red.
The thunder raging below.
And the forest Of flags overhead"
But il was not 50 t. be. Enough that
the country knows they died on duty
No man can do better, whether death
come to him in the ba;tcry-smoke or the
roar u the hungry surf.
" Ifo' brave heats that went down in the
seas,
Ye are At peace in the troubled stream"
No matter, this week, about the blame.
Let us clear the wreck and lay the dead
All arrow, and mourn them with dipped
cclcrs. God bless them, captain and
orew.