Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-14
OVER THE OCEAN,
A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF LIFE ON THE
DEEP BLUE SEA.

GhhfniC UESChIf ftiON Or LIZ ON The
DEEP BLUE SEA.
Rev. George Hodges DeIighrfuIIy Pictures n
Voynge-How small Things Grow Grest
on the Bounding Billows-Whcre Silent
Monks Arc Charming Companlons-The
Company One Meets on shipbonrd.
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPArcH.I
uTHERE was no more sea-" The prophet
looked ahead into the long future into
the ideal world. and came back with that ac-
count OF it-that it was world without any
sea. By the time the millennium comes, all the
mountains of difficulty, and disaster, and pain,
and hindrance, and sin will be removed and
cast into the sea." till that vast waste is filled
up, and SO there will be "no more sea-" But
there is no lack of sea now. Even the ge-
ographies will tell us that
Nobody knows the extent Of his ignorance OF
geography until he begins to plan Journey
over the sea. To a great many OF US Berlin
and Dresden and Munich are but "geographi-
cal expressions" We are little uncertain as
to whether London is in the East
or the West of England. We have to
stop to think whether Florence is north or
south of Rome. And as for dozen other
places with whose names we speedily become
rlibly familiar, we could not have told a month
ago whether they were in Europe, or Asia, or
Africa or America But when we begin for
the first time in our lives to study geography
for the purpose of learning our way, we dis
cover many things. That is one of the good
things about journey over tie ocean 1t
makes the world suddenly interesting the
map becomes bill of fare, names and dis
tances, and the points of the compass, and the
boundaries of Nations are translated into living
facts.
From Shore to Shore.
a g for the sea, no geography can measure 1t,
no description can describe 1t, no painting
can picture 1t. You stand on the deck OF one
of the great boats which take people over
the wide ferry between the New World
and the Old, and watch the leave-taklngs
of the passengers, and see the waving OF
handkerchiefs (wet ones, some of them), as the
crowd on the dock bids ''bon voyage" to the
crowd on board, and you turn your back upon
the land and look out across the limitless
water and wonder if the journey from this
world to the other may have any other than
geographical meaning, may mean anything
wider than a passage from one shore to an
other. You remember the ''other shore" of the
old hymns. And though you know well enough
that you are as safe between New YORK and
Liverpool as you were between New Y York and
Pittsburg, you find it hard to persuade yourself
of that. You board the Arizona in a frame OF
mind other than that which accompanies the
purchase of ticket at the Union depot Here
is a new experience. And most people who are
any distance past their teens shrink little
from the new.
Out you go, however, into the East, and the
past becomes ancient history, and you look
into the future only. For a week and more
you are q prisoner, with wall of deep water
between you and the world. Anything may
happen, the Capitol at Washington may be
blown up with dynamite, Pittsburg may be
swallowed down by the jaws of a natural gas
earthquake, all things may go as wrong as they
can go; but for ten days you will be serenely
unconscious of it all.
The Silent Monk Talkntive.
THERE is q Trappist monk on board the
Arizona. He is the superior of monas-
terry. near Dubuque, having so brethren under
him, these so brethren are more silent than the
inhabitants of the deaf.mute institution at
Edgcwood. Not a word may they speak, even
in whispers, even in their sleep. They must
converse in signs. Seven times day they sing
their religious Offices, but all the rest of the
time they keep silence, even from good words"
They say nothing to the world, and the world
says nothing to them. Beyond the walls
all is desert, so far as the Trappist brethren
pleasant and approachable looking man. de
is not dressed in the white cowl of his order.
Thai is in his trunk. His attire is not even
noticeably clerical. He wears beard. asked
him one day, as we talked together, whether
the brethren knew all that was going on IN
the planet Earth on the other side OF the stone
barriers, or whether monastery was ike
ship out of sight of land. I asked him il they
took daily paper at the Trapplst aooey. he
said that they did AT least the superior olo.
rather Carew Is quite abreast OF tne mooern
current OF thought ana Things. ne knows
what is going on. he reads tne century 4hago-
zine. he Is not ever averse 10 reauing noSe.s'
He has read "John ngiesanI But tne pretn-
rem know only what he tells them. Whatever
in the happenings OF the human race ne THINKS
it may be for the spiritual good OF MS monks
to know, he tells them. mat IS all. one
"ouiu niuon pieioi' .,' suon e -. =. os' 49,
to be the superior. Still. II cannot De SO very
bad to put ones responsibilities anu Judgment
and daily life into the charge Oh SO klnoiy, anu
wise, and cheeriui, ana aeVout uan as 1he
superior Oh the lrapplst monastery a' ou-
buque. 1t would De dilncul', however, 10 nhu
sight anywhere between America anu europe
more curious than the sight OF Irappist monk
reading the New YORK Herotd.
Small Things Appreciated.
PuT at sea you. have no superior to tell you
- what is going on upon the land. The
whole attention is fixed upon the present. The
smallest events are accordingly of interest.
school of porpoises tumblng about beside the
sbio attracts a congregation of passengers. An
iceberg showing its white back at a safe dis
tapce out on the horizon brings all the
opera glasses into service The spouting of a
whale gets more attention than the spouting or
an orator. The inhabitants of the floating
island gather in groups in the companion way
to note the noon record of the ships daily run,
and to comment upon the probability that the