The Canton times., 1899-10-13

members the horrors OF that deafening
night when forts from both sides
belched on You their fury and the heav-
ems glowed with ascending and descend
ing missiles of death and your ship
quaked under the recoil of the 100
FOUNDER, while all the gunners, accord
ing to command, stood on tiptoe, with
mouth wide open, Est the conclusion
shatter hearing or BRAIN. He remem-
bers it all better than you remember it,
and in some shape reward will be given.
God is the best of all paymasters, and
for those who do their whole duty to
him and the world the pension awarded
is an everlasting heaven.
Sometimes off the coast of England
the royal family have inspected the
British navy, maneuvered before them
for that purpose. In the Baltic sea the
ezar and czarina have reviewed the Rus
sian navy. To bring before the Ameri-
can people the debt they owe to the
navy go out with you on the Atlantic
ocean, where there is plenty of room,
and in imagination review the war ship
ping of our four great confliOts-1776,
1912, 1865 and 1898. Swing into line all
ye frigates, ironclads, fire rats, gun
boats and men of war! There they
come, all sail set and all furnaces in
full blast, sheaves of crystal tossing
from their cutting prows.
And now all the squadrons of all de-
partments, from smallest tugboat to
mightiest man of war, are in process
sion, decks and rigging filled with men
who on the sea fought for the old flag
ever since we were nation. Grandest
feet the world ever saw! Sail on be-
fore all ages! Run up all the colors!
Ring all the bells Yea, open all the
portfolios! Unlimber the guns and load
and fire one great broadside that shall
wake the continents in honor of peace
and the eternity of the American union!
But I lift my hand, and the scene has
vanished. Many of the ships have
dropped under the crystal pavement of
the deep, sea monsters swimming in
and out the forsaken cabin, and other
old craft have swung into the navy
yards, and many of the brave spirits
who trod their decks are gone up to tho
Eternal fortress, from whose easements
and embrasures may we not hope they
look down to-day with joy upon ma
ton in reunited brotherhood?
All those of you who were in the
naval service during the war of 1865
are now in the afternoon or evening of
life. With some of you it is two o'clock,
three o'clock, four O'clock, six o'clock,
and it will soon be sundown. If you
were of age when the war broke cut,
you are now at least 60. Many of you
have passed into the seventies. While
in our Cuban war there were more
Christian commanders on sea and land
than in any previous conflict, would
revive in your minds the fact that at
least two great admirals of the civil
war were Christians, Foote and Far
ragut. Had the Christian religion been
cowardly thing they would have had
nothing to do with it. In its faith they
lived and died. In Brooklyn navy yard
Admiral Foote held prayer meetings
and conducted revival on the receiv-
ing ship North Carolina and on Sab
baths, far out at sea, following the chap
lain with religious exhortation. In
early life, aboard the sloop aof war
Natchez, impressed by the words of a
Christian sailor, he gave his spare time
for two weeks TO the Bible and at the
end of that declared openly: "Hence-
forth, under all circumstances, will
act for God" His last words while dy-
ing at the Astor house, New York, were:
81 thank God for all His goodness to
me. He has been very good to me-"
When he entered Heaven, he did
not have to run a blockade, for it was
amid the cheers of great welcome.
The other Christian admiral will be hon
ored on earth until the day when the
fires from above shall lick up the wa
ters from beneath and there shall be
no more sea.
We hail with thanks the new gem
Grafton of naval heroes, those of the
year 1898. We are too near their mar
velous deeds to fully appreciate them.
A century from now poetry and sculp-
ture and painting and history will do
them better justice than we can do
them now. A defeat at Manila would
have been an infinite disaster. Foreign
nations not over-fond of our American
institutions would have joined the
other side, and the war so many months
past would have been raging still, and
perhaps a hundred thousand graves
would have opened to take down our
slain soldiers and sailors. 1t took this
country three years to get over the dis
aster at Bull Run at the opening of the
civil war. How many years it would
have required to recover from defeat
at Manila in the opening of the Span