Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1878-07-12
Death at Sea.

Soldiers die bravely on the battle field,
and resignedly in the military hospital
on shore, butthere is something very sad
In a soldiers death at sea. The sur
roundings of the ship hospital are unfa-
miliar to his eye; the roll of the vessel
is painful to him, and the thought is ever
present to his mind that if he was on
shore, If he could see the green fields, or
even the snow-clad earth, his recovery
might be possible Although nothing
could be more comfortable than the
couch on which he hes, and scarcely any
thing more soothing than the gentle roll
of the vessel to one in his condition, he
longs to stretch his limbs on the barrack
hospital bed, and to feel that he is on the
firm ground
Then the thought of the lonely burial
in the wide waste of waters obtrudes
itself upon his mind. To be launched
over the vessels side, into the lonely
ocean, committed to the deep, and left
without stone or wooden cross to
mark the spot where his mortal remains
were consigned to their everlasting rest.
All this is inexpressibly saddening to the
dying soldier. On shore his comrades
would have followed his remains to their
resting place in the churchyard, and fired
q farewell shot over his grave, and with
reluctant step have left him to sleep the
sleep that knows no waking till the
trump of the archangel summons the
dead to judgment.
How different at sea! Sewed up in a
hammock, the corps to which he belongs
summoned to the gangway-slp, a few
short but solemn prayers said over the
dead, and then the awful words:
ave commit this body to the deepP'
A plunge, and the corpse sinks into
the sea; the flag is lowered; the vessel
sails on, al the dead is left alone to the
tossing of the angry waves, or to sink
deep into the coral caves of the ocean.
No comrade may come in after days and
drop a tear over that grave no loving
hand may come and plant flower there !;
it is lost; swallowed up in the immensity
of the great graveyard Of the deep.
The writer has stood by the side Of a
diving comrade In the hospital of a troop
ship, and heard the dying give utterance
to such thoughts as the above.
"What does the surgeon say?" "TeIl
me the truth, comrade. am not afraid
of DEATH"
1T is better that you should know the
truth. be has no hope"
81 thought SO. Well, Gods will be
done; but it is hard to die in the middle
of the ocean. If had been on shore,
even in foreign country, it would have
been easier. 1t is hard to be buried at
sea-"
''The sea will give up its dead"
GAY, that ID right, eomrade. fought to
think of that. Seamen, they say, like to
cherish the thought that they viii be
buried at sea; but 1 am a soldier. I
would die happier if knew that would
be buried on shore and be followed to
the grave by my comrades. There is
something beautiful in soldiers funeral
on shore. The solemn music-that Dead
March in Saul-how l used to love it
My poor motherI 1t will grieve her TO
think that was buried at sea. Read me
that, comrade, about the sea giving up
its dead"
The chaplain at this moment ap-
preached, having been sent by the sur
geon. He read the passage of Scripture
asked for, and many other beautiful pas
sages.
The dying soldier closed his eyes dur
ing the reading. He lay silent for long
time after the chaplain had ceased. Then
he opened his eyes and muttered, feebly:
''No funeral parade; no music; no
farewell shot over my grave-committed
to the deep. The-sea-will-give-up
-iss-dead. Comrade-my-mother-
.FarewellP'
And he ceased TO live.
Next day the vessel came to a stop for
few minutes The ships bell was tolled,
the flag hoated at half mast, and the
soldiers of the corps to which the de-
ceased belonged were paraded at the
gangway. The prayers were said, the
body launched over the side, and the
vessel resumed her course. Some of the
members of other corps on board were
surprised on learning, late that evening,
that soldier had been buried during
the day.
1t is better that such things should be
so. Nothing can be gained by saddening
men unnecessarily. Cheerfulness is one
of the most potent of sanitary agents.
Every care should be taken to maintain
it among large bodies of men.