Connecticut western news., 1899-10-05

Special Courage Required of Those
 Who Brave the Perils of the Ocean.
 Warm Greeting to Dewey and His
 Valiant Crew.
 fCopyright, Louis Klopsch, 1Soo.l
 WASHINGTON, Oct. l. At a time when the whole nation is stirred with patriotic emotion at the return of Ad- mlral Georse Dewey and his gallant men on the cruiser Olympia and the magnificent reception accorded to them, the Rev. Dr. T. De Witt Tal- mage, In this sermon, preaching to a vast audience, appropriately recalls for devout and patriotic purposes some of the great naval deeds of olden and more recent times. Text, James iii, 4, Behold also the ships"
 If this exclamation was appropriate about 1872 years ago, when 1t was written concerning the crude fishing smacks that sailed Lake Galilee, how much more appropriate in an age which has launched from the dry dockS for purposes of peace the Oceanic of the White Star line, the Lucania of the Cunard line, the St. Louis of the American line, the Kaiser Wilhelm der Crosse of the North German Lloyd line, the Augusta Victoria of the Ham, burg-Americsn line, and In an age which for purposes of war has launch ed the Oregon, the Brooklyn, the Texas. the Olympia, the Iowa, the Massa achusetts, the Indiana,s the New York. the Marietta of the last war, and the scared veterans of war shipping, like the Constitution or the Alliance or the Constellation that have swung into the naval yards to spend their last days, their decks now all silent of the feet that trod them, their rigging all silent of the hands that clung to them, their portholes silent of the brazen throats that once thundered out of them.
 If In the first century, when war ves- sels were dependent on the oars that padded at the side of them for pro pulsion, my text was suggestive, with how much more emphasis and mean- ing and overwhelming reminiscence we can cry out as we see the KearsarYe lay across the bows of the Alabama and sink 1t. teaching foreign nations they had better keep their hands Qff our American fight, or as we see tbe ram Albemarle of the Confederatss running out and in the Roanoke al,d up and down the coast, throwing ev- erything Into confusion as DO other craft ever did, pursued by the Miami, the Ceres, the Southfield, the Sassacns, lhe Mattabesett, the Whitehead, the Commodore Hull, the Louisiana, the Minnesota and other armed vessels, all trying In vain to catch her, until Cap tain Cushing, 21 years of age, and his men blew her up, himself and only one other escaping. and as l see the flagship Hartford, and the Richmond, and the Monocgahela, with other gun boats. sweep past the batteries of Port Hudson. and the Mississippi flows for ever free to all northern and southern craft, and under the fire of Dewey and his men the Spanish ships at Manila burn or sink. and the fleet rushing out of Santiago harbor are demolished by our guns, and the brave Cervera sur renders, I cry out with a patriotic emotion that cannot suppress If 1 would. and would not If could, Be hold also the ships."
 Full Speed Ahead.
 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 rnn nrA nN6 >H t1,a rivers and the sea, help me in this ser mon! So. ye admirals, commanders, cdptains. pilots, gnhners, boatswains, saflmakers, surgeons, stokers, mess mates and seamen of all names, to use your own. parlance, we might as we'll get under way and stand out to sea. Let ali landlubbers go ashore Full speed now! Four bells!
 Never since the sea fight of Lepant0, where 300 royal galleys, manned by bO,0OO warriors. at sunrise, Sept. 6, 1871. met 25O royal galleys, manned by 10000 men, and in the four hours of battle 5000 fell on one side and 25,- 900 on the other; yea, never since the day when at Actium, 31 years before Christ, Augustus with 26O ships scat tered the 22O ships of Mark Antony and gained universal dominion as the prize: yea, since the day when at Salamis the 1,2O0 galleys of the Per sians. manned by 100000 men. were crushed by Greeks with less than a third of that force; yea, never since the time of Noah, the first ship captain, has the world seen such a miraculous creation as that of the American navy In 1861.
 There were about 200 available sea- men In all the naval stations and re- ceiving ships and here and there an old vessel. Yet orders were given to blockade $500 miles of sea coast, greater than the whole coast of Eu- rope. and, besides that, the Ohio, Ten nessee, Cumberland, Mississippi and other great rivers, covering an extent of 2O00 more miles, were to be pa- trolfed. No wonder the whole civilized world burst Into guffaws of laughter at the seeming impossibility. But the work was done, done almost immedi- ateiy, done thoroughly and done with a speed and consummate skill that eciipsed all the history of naval archi- lecture.
 Deeds of Naval Heroes.
 recite today the deeds of our naval heroes. many of whom have not yet received appropriate recognition. Be hold also the ships" As we will never know what our national prosperity Is worth until we realize what 1t cost, l recall the unrecitsd fact that the men of the navy in all our wars ran espe- ciai risks. They had not only the hu- man weaponry to contend with, but the tides, the fog, the storm. Not like oth- CT ships could they run into harbor at the approach of an equinox or cy- clone or hurricane, because the har- bors were hostile. A miscalculation of a tide might leave them on a bar, and 6 fog might overthrow all the plans of wispst commodore and admiral and