The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1899-10-04

81 Z time when the whole nation
/A\ is stirred with patriotic emotion
at the return of Admiral George
Dewey and his gallant men on the
cruiser Olympia and the magnificent
reception accorded to them, the Rev
DIR. L. De Witt Talmage, in this ser
mon, preaching to vast audience, APP
propriately recalls some great naval
deeds of olden and more recent tunes.
Text, James ill.,, 4, Behold also the
ships"
II this exclamation was appropriate
about 1872 years ago. when 1t was VIII
ten concerning the crude fishing smacks
that sailed Lake Galilee. how much more
appropriate in an age which has launch
ed from the drydocks the Oregon, and the
BROOKLYN, and the Texas. and the Oly1n-
pia, the Iowa, the Massachusetts, the In
diana, the New York the Marietta of the
last war, and the SCARED veterans of war
shipping, like the Constitution or the Al
hance or the Constellation, that have
swung into the naval yards to spend their
last days.
II in the first century, when war YES
sells were dependent on the oars that pad
died at the side of them for propulsion,
my text was suggestive, with how much
more emphasis and meaning and over
whelming Renaissance we can cry ont as
we see the Kearsarge lay across the bows
of the Alabama and sink it. teaching for
eign nations they had better keep their
hands off our American fight, or as we
see the ram Albemarle of the Confeder-
ates running out and in the Roanoke and
up and down the coast, throwing every
thing into confusion as no other craft
ever did, and as / see under the fire Of
Dewey and his men the Spanish ships at
Manila burn or sink, and the fleet rush
ing out of Santiago harbor are demollsh-
ed by our guns, and the brave Cervera
surrenders, / cry out with patriotic
emotion that I cannot suppress If would,
and would not if [ could, Behold also
the ships
Naval Heroes Deserve Praise.
Full Justice has been done to the men
who at different times fought on the land,
but not enough has been said of those
who on ships deck dared and suffered all
things. Lord God Of the rivers and the
sea, help me in this sermon! So, We ad-
mirals, commanders, captains, pilots, gum
ners, boatswains, sailmakers, surgeons,
stokers nessmates and seamen Of all
names, to use your own parlance. we
might as well get under way and stand
out to sea. Let all landlubbers so ashore.
Full speed now! Four bells!
I recite to-day the deeds Of our naval
heroes, many of whom have not yet re-
ceived appropriate recognition. Behold
also the ships" As we will never know
what our national prosperity is worth I'M
til we realize what it costs, | recall the
unrecited fact that the men of the navy
in all our wars ran especial risks. They
had not only the human weaponry to
contend with, but the tides, the fog, the
storm. Not like other ships could they
run into harbor at the approach Of an
equinox or cyclone OF hurricane, be-
cause the harbors were hostile. A mis-
calculation Of a tide might leave them on
bar, and fog might overthrow all the
plans of wisest commodore and admiral,
and accident might leave them not on the
land ready for an ambulance, but at the
bottom of the sea. No hiding behind the
earthworks, no digging in of cavalry
spurs at the sound Of retreat. Mightier
than all the fortresses on all the coasts is
the ocean when it bombards fotilla.
Undecorated Watery Graves.
In the cemeteries for Federal and Con-
federate dead are the bodies Of most Of
those who fell on the land. But where
those are who went down in the war yes
sells will not be known until the sea gives
up its dead. The Jack Tars knew that
while loving arms might carry the men
who fell on the land and bury them with
solemn liturgy and the honors OF war, for
the bodies of those who dropped from the
ratlines into the sea or went down with
all on board under the stroke Of gun
boat there remained the shark and the
whale and the endless tossing of the sea
which cannot rest. Once a year, in the
decoration Of the graves, those who fell
in the land were remembered. But how
about the graves of those who went down
at sea? Nothing but the archangeps
trumpet shall reach their lowly bed 1t
required a special courage for the navy in
1868 as it required special courage in
1898.
1t looks picturesque and beautiful to
see war vessel going out through the
NarroWs, sailors in new rig singing,
A life on the ocean wave,
A home on the rolling deep,
the colors gracefully dipping to passing
ships, the decks Immediately clean and
the guns at quarantine firing parting
salute. But the poetry is all gone out of
that ship as it comes out of that engage
ment, it's decks red with human blood.
wheelhouse gone, the cabins pile of
shattered mirrors and destroyed furni-
ture, steering wheel broken, smokestack
crushed, hundred pound Whitworth
rifle shot having left its mark from port
to starboard, the shrouds rent away, lad
ders splintered and decks plowed up and
smoke blackened and scalded corpses ly-
ing among those who are gasping their
last gasp far away from home and kim
dred, whom they love as much as we love
wife and parents and children.
Oh, men Of the American navy return
ed from Manila and Santiago and Ha-
vana, as we'll as those who are survivors
Of the naval conflicts of 1868 and 1864,
men Of the western gulf squadron, Of
the eastern gulf squadron, Of the south
Atlantic squadron, of the north Atlantic
squadroa, Of the Mississippi squadron, Of
the Pacific squadron, of the West India
snfya1rou and of tho pofonac Hot;Ilo