Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-10-10


hoGr- TIE adventures wssa they had not
started Tie ships begin 70 roll aud
pitch Ga. Il = such . ds4ig atfGl seEs@-
Eisn tor laagisnlsn. They begin 10 bother
CapS4la Columbus with questions. They
" AT to knCw what be tAlaks u tie
xszEler They y anE 10 know when 10
Eaiaks rs Wal probably get t3ere. Every
cEe shen ne stxEts taxing cbS~xSa-
nons Of the saa with al sStTolabs they
voader what hs sees sni sex more qaes-
tons. The crew are rather grouty.
SOIue Of them came On under four
months advance pay and others we're
impressed into the service. Fox sixteen
days the wind Is dead east and that
pleases the captain, because It blows
them farther aud farther away from the
European coast and farther on toward
the snore o. another country, II there y
any
After awhile there GENES calm day,
and the attempt Is made 10 fathoIn the
Ocean, and they canuot touch bottom,
though the line and lead run down two
hundred fsthems. More delightful sen-
sations for those who are not good sail
orsl A fathom IS six feet, and two hun
cred fathoms. one thousand two hundred
feet. and below that IT may % many
hundred feet deeper. To add interest 70
the voyage, on the twentieth day out
violent storm sweeps the sea, and the
Atlantic ocean tries what IL can do with
the Santa Maria. the Plnta and tho
Nina Some Of you know something Of
what sea can DO with the Umbria, the
Majestic. the TeCtonic and the City Of
Paris, and you must imagine what the
ocean could do with those three small
SHIPS OF olden time.
You may judge what the ocean was
then By what 1t Is now. 1t has never
changed its habits. IL can smile like
the morning, but often il Is the archangel
OF wrath, and its most rollicking fun Is
shipwreck. The mutinous crew would
have killed Columbus had it not been
for the general opinion on shipboard
that he was tho only one that could take
them back home in safety. The promise
Of silk waistcoat and forty dollars in
money 10 the man who should first dis
cover land appessed them somewhat, but
the indignation and blasphemy and
threats of assassination must have been
awful. Yet God sustained the great
sailor commanding the Santa Maria.
Every evening on shipboard they had
prayers and sung vesper hymn But
after all he patience of those on board
the ships had been exhausted, and the
great captain or admiral had been
cured by every anathema that human
hips could frame, one night a sailor saw
light moving along the shore. and then
moving up and down, and then diSap-
pearing. On Friday morning at two
o'clock, jast long enough after Thurs
day 10 maze IT sure that it was Friday,
and so give another blow at the world
idea Of unlucky days-on Friday morn
ing. Oct. 12. 1872. q gun from the Pinta
agnaled ''land ahead"
Then the ships lay to, and tho boats
were lowered. and Captain Christopher
Columbus first stepped upon the shore,
amid the song Of birds and the air a
surge of redolence, and took possession
in the name of the Father, and the Son
and the Holy Ghost. So the voyage
that began with the sacrament ended
with Gloria in Excelsis Deo." From
! that day onward you say there can be
4 nothing for Columbus but honors, re-
wards, rhapsodies, palaces and world
wide applause. No! not On his way
/ back to Spain the ship WIS so wrenched
/ by the tempest and so threatened with
| destruction that he wrote a brief ac-
count of his discovery and put it in q
cask and threw it overheard that the
world might not lose the advantage Of
/ his adventures.
HUnors awaited him on the beach, but
he undertook second voyage. and with
it came all maligning and persecution
and deruncistion and poverty. He was
called a land grabber. liar, cheat, a
| fraud, a deceiver Of nations. Specu-
lators robbed him OF his good name,
l coursiers deprecated his discoveries, and
/ there came 10 him ruined health and i'm
/ prisonment and chains. of which he said
while he ratified them on his wrists, II
VIII wear them as memento Of the
| gratitude OF princes" Amid keen ap-
probation Of the worlds abuse and
cruelty, and with body writing in the
tortures OF govt he groaned out his last
| words, ''In msnus tuas Domino COM
/ mendo spiritum meum"-"luto thy
/ hands. o Lord. commend my spirit. "
OF course he had regal obsequies.
| That is the way the world tries TO atone
for its mean treatment OF great benefac-
/ tors. Many man has had a fine ride
to nis grave who during this life had to
walk all the way. A big funeral, and
instead of bread they give him a stone
| that Il tombstone. But death. that
brings quiet to the body Of others, did not
bring auies to his. First buried in the
church Of Santa Maria. Seven years
aftsrward removed to Seville. Twenty
| three yssrs afterward removed to san
7 Domingo Finally removed 10 Cuba.
wish his bones might be moved Just
once more, and now that they have come
so near ~ America as Cuba they might
during the great Columbian year be
transported 70 our own shores, where
they belong. and that In the fifth cen
! fury after his iecease the American con
tiaent might build a fnansoleum worthy
Of him who picked this jewel OF hemi-
sphere CT. OK tho sea and set It in the
crown q the worlds geography.
But the bright monday sun Of that
old sailors prosperity went down in
thickest highs. and though here and
/ there a rnounuent has been lifted In his