Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-01
The Christening Of a Ship.

| To the Editor of The Evening Star:
| Il christen thee ST. Louis!" slam, bang
| crash. and the golden wine splashei In
sparkling Iveliness and fragrant aroma
| from the hand of the Queen of America as
the greatest merchant steamship slowly,
Practically and TRANQUILITY glided from the
high stocks down the incline plane from
terra flrma, and with thrilling surge
dropped into the water a newborn child
of American industry.
Committed thus to deep water IL is a
pretty sentiment-not superstitiousness-to
perform this ceremonial christening with
this committal, amid the shouts of thou
sands, saluteS and laundering artillery, the
st. Louis was launched. The enthusiasm of
seeing so grand a sight is almost indie
scribable. No wonder the gifted Long
fellow wrote so glowingly of The Launch
or Ship" for all can chime in thought
his poetic words:
''She starts, she moves, she seems to feel
The thrill of life along her keel,
And spurning with her foot the ground
With one eXultant, JOYOUS bound
She leaps into the oceans arms"
But now breaks forth a choir of voices
from Maine to the Mississippi in denunci-
alton and anathema of the lovely lady
for having performed a so-called intemper-
snce act.
How? wherein or whereby?
These temperance ladies and associa-
tons, now denouncing this act, have here
tofore boosted of being wine spillers them
selves. They should rejoice that one more
bottle of the nocuous or innocuous bev-
erage was spilled So this seems foolish
1t was but a short time ago that the
good people of Brooklyn. N. Y, declared
against these emotional. yet beautiful lines
of Longfellow being learned or read in
their public schools as being too indicate
and amorous in expression. Is the world
growing better or worse?
The act Of christening. however, Is the
question. or of a dedication Of q ship to
the good luck Of fate and the protection of
Providence
If the poetical analogy is too delicate
and If the wine must go. why not resort
to and solely christen with water. We
use water only In our churches. / wish
to cite a beautiful ceremony bearing upon
this point, at which 1 was present a short
while ago, at a launch ia Bath, Me.
Devoted to the Industrial cause of ship
building, and having written so much in
behalf thereof, 1t was nevertheless my first
experience aboard a launch of big ship,
and the impressive and exceptional dedica-
ton thereof was so interesting that l
wish to preserve its record, as IL seemed
so much more appropriate to christen
noble ship with divine blessing than by
the meaningless act of breaking a bot
tie of wine over her deck, Jewish custom
at a marriage feast.
AS the beautiful ship Three Marys start
ed upon its to be tempest-tossed expert
ence the Right Rev. James Augustin
IiSdly OF follland Me-, OHefed the Hollow
ing prayer.
The prayer was so beautiful and service
so solemn that 1 solicited from the cour-
teous and genial bishop the translation,
verbatim: The blessing-The Lord be with
you and with Thy Spirit. Let us pray.
Lend ear o Lord. to our supplications and
with Thy holy right hand bless this ship
and all whom she may carry as Thou dds
deign to bless the Ark Of Noah when cast
i'm the flood. Support her Lord, with Thy
right hand as Thou did'st support the
blessed Peter on the water. and send Thy
Holy Angel from Heaven to deliver and
guard her from every danger, together
with all she carries; and having overcome
all dangers Of the sea, may'st Thou direct
Thy servants, her sailors into safe harbor
and guide her In a safe course. and when
her voyage is ended and her duties dis
charged mayst Thou deign to bring her
to home port In safety and prosperity.
Thou who lived and reignest with the
Father in unity with the Holy Ghost, for
ever and ever. Amen.
Auditorium nostrum in nomini Domini
Out fecit coeum ct terrain.
The bishop then pronounced his Episco-
pal blessing: May the blessing of the
Father Son and Holy Ghost descend upon
you and remain with you forever and ever
Amen" This is the only occasion of a
divine blessing to a ship by the Catholic
except, Bishop Healy informed me, in 1921
by Bishop Charcrus, but l could not learn
the name of ship
The only instance, similar, of religious
dedication of a ship in Bath, Me-, was. i
learned, about twelve years ago, when the
missionary ship Morning Star was blessed
by services and prayer of the Congrega-
tional denomination. Hence, such a dedi-
cation may be OF water. or holy water, by
any church OF sect of Christians, and sure