The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1898-04-19

-, .uo laws after the arrival OF tue
- lcan with the first t:dings of the APP
,r.,,ch;uc invasion. n message from Sah-
J.. uook announced thar the vanguard
= no alton fleet had been sighted by
,,atrol boat 80 miles at sea- 1t hau
boon imn0ssible to determine the exact
s+rnnrth or numbers of the invading
aoqt hut enough had been ascertained
- verify in every detail the report gwen
o1t on the afternoon of the l>t. mat
= powerful fleet of the strongest battle
,hIns of Europe would within twenty
folIr hours. unless stopped by the guns
II Sandy Hook. be throwing their shells
INFO the heart of the metropolis, became
nj once a fact instead of n superstition.
That the defenses at the hook would
prove inadequate was almost q certainty
IN the minds of the thousands who
thronged about the bulletin boards on
the receipt Of the news that the enemy
were indeed at our very doors. That the
torpedoes that had hurricdly been placed
beyond the narroWS might prove IN
obstacle to TIC progress of the fleet
threw little encouragement on the Sitll-
alton. Nine out Of every 10 persons in
the city believed IN their hearts that be-
fore the sun went down on the even
ing Of the following day. the proudest
city on the western continent would be
in ruins or Il Suppliant at the feet of the
foreign admiralS. That the ships would
not begin their attack unit. the follow
NJ morning was probable; their COM
handlers Would scarce venture too near
the land at nightfalI. 1t was the NOR
row that the country dreaded for if the
fleet succeeded in passing the batteries
N Sandy Hook New York would lie at
the mercy of the invaders.
On board the foreign feet there was
a feeling Of confidence Oh that warm
autumn evening. That there would be
Il battle III the morning was expected,
for the guns behind the distant said
~embankments would speak with a voice
that would be heard around the world.
But what would a little fighting amount
to III the face OF the great victory that
was to follow? \ few sailors might be
killed, possibly a ship sunk in the me-
ltp. bat behind would press on the flags
Of two great powers of the old world
4 force invincihle. ~impregnable.
All that night throngs Of soher-faced
men and women passed silently from
the city toward the scene of the inev-
liable conflict, and when morning dawned
the shores which thanked the expected
passage of the fleet were black with
spectators. They might have been mis-
taken for Sights5Prs on Il holiday out
ing except for one thing: the profound
silence which held them all like a spell
as they urncd their eyes toward the
distant line. where sea met sky. and
strained their ears to catch the first
sound Of the guns which would an
nounce that the batteries at Sandy Hook
had sighted the enemy.
It came. rolling back over the green
clad hills. Il dccp-toned knell to the
waiting thousands. Before it died away
there came another. more distant. more
muft1cd report. as thought i'll answer to
the first. and then it WAS as though
some mighty volcano Hclclicd forth on
il sudden all the ~Storcd-np fury Of age,
III one thunlerouS GntOnation that seemed
to set the very ground beneath the feet
of the anxious watchers rocking to its
foundations. Few OF them had ever
heard sucn heavy ca%nnonading and with
white faces they lokcd at each other
as though TO ask if some great catastro-
phe had engulfed one or the other Of
the combatants at the very outset of the
struggle. But the deep-toned reports
continued. with now and then n sharper
and more piercing sound. and presently
4 cloud Of smoke could be seen. off to
the southwark. drifting up from the
spot where the two hemispleres were
battling for supremacy. And with
strained faces turned toward the sea
the silent ~assemblage stood and watched
the cloud grow darker and broader. and
prayed to the god of the conflict to grant
the victory to the men 50 nobly striving
for the nations honor from behind the
yellow sandhills whose crest they could
barely see.
There is no voice so eloquent as thar
OF war. and no murmur of Impotence
came from the silent thousands as they