The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1899-10-13

recall the unreclteu TACT tnut tne men
Of tho navy IN all our wars ran espe-
cial 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 tho approach of an equinox, or
cyclone or a hurricane, because the
harbors were hostile. A miscalcula-
lion of tide might leave them on q
bar. and fog might overthrow all the
plans of the wisest commodore and adj
miral, and accident might leave them
not on the land ready for an ambu-
lance, but at the bottom of the sea, as
when in our civil war the torpedo blew
up tho Tecumseh in Mobile bay. and
nearly all on board persisted. They
were at the mercy of the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans, which have no mercy.
Such tempests as wrecked the Spanish
Armada might any day swoop upon the
squadron. No hiding behind the earth
works. No digging in OF cavalry spurs
at the sound of retreat. Mightier than
all the fortresses on all the coasts is
the ocean when 1t bombards a flotilla.
In the cemeteries for Federal and
Confederate dead are the bodies of
most of those who fell on the land.
But where those are who went down
in the war vessels 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 lit
urgy 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
gunbCat, 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 on the land are re-
membered but how about the graves
of those who went down at sea? Moth
ing but the archangefs trumpet shall
reach their lowly bed. A few of them
were gathered into naval cemeteries of
the land. and we every year garland
the sod that covers them; but who will
put flowers on the fallen crew Of the
exploded Westfield and Shawsheen,
and the sunken Southfield and the
Winfield Scott? Bullets threatening
in front, bombs threatening from
above, torpedoes threatening from be-
meath, the ocean, with it's reputation
of 5000 years for shipwreck, lying all
around, am l not right in saying it
required a special courage for the navy
in 1863, as it required especial courage
in 1898?
1t looks picturesque and beautiful to
see a war vessel going out through
the Narrows, sailors in new rig sing
ing
"a life on the ocean wave,
A home on the rolling deep!"
the colors gracefully dipping to pass
ing 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 engagement, it's decks red
with human blood, wheelhouse gone,
the cabins pile of shattered mirrors
and destroyed furniture, steering
wheel broken, smokestack crushed, a
hundred-pound Whitworth rifle shot
having left its mark from port to star
board, the shrouds rent away, ladders
splintered and decks plowed up, and
smoke blackened and scalded corpses
lying among those who are gasping
their lest gasp far away from home
and kindred, whom they love as much
as we love wife and parents and chill
dren.
O, men Of the American navy re-
turned from Manila and Santiago and
Havana, as well as those who are sur
yivors Of tho naval conflicts of 1858
and 1864; men Of the western gulf
squadron, of the eastern gulf squad
ron. of the south Atlantic squadron,
of the north Atlantic squadron, of the
Mississippi squadron, of the Pacific
squadron, of the West India squadron,
and of the Potomac flotilla, hear our
thanks! Take the bencdiction of our
churches. Accept the Inequalities of
the nation. If We had Our way we
would get you not only pension, but
a home and a princely wardrobe and
an equipage and banquet while you
live, and after your departure cata-
falque and a mausoleum of sculptured
marble, with a model of the ship in
which you won the day. 1t is consid
cred a gallant thing when, in naval
fight, the flagship with its blue ensign
goes ahead up q river or into bay,
its admiral standing in the shrouds
watching and giving orders. But l |
have to tell you, o veterans of the |
American navy! il you are as loyal
to Christ as you were to the govern
ment, there is flagship sailing ahead
Of you, of which Christ is the admiral.
and he watches from the shrouds, and
the heavens are the blue ensign, aud
he leads you toward the harbor. and