Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1899-10-12


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 fiotilla.
In the cemeteries for Federal and
Confederate dead are the bodies of
most of those who fell on the land
Gut 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 o.
a gunhoat,- there remained the shark
and the whale and the endless tossing
OF the sea which cannot rest. Once
year, In the decoration of the graves,
those who fell Oh the land are re-
membered; but how about the graves
of those who went down at sea? Moth
ing but the archangel's 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 its reputation
OF 5000 years for Shipwreck, lying all
around. am I not right in saying it
required a special courage for the navy
in 1868, as it required especial courage
in 1898?
1t looks picturesque ard beautiful to
see q war vessel going out through
the Narrows, sailors in new rig sing
! ing
"A life on tho 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. its decks red
with human blood, wheelhouse gone,
the cabins a pile Of shattered mirrors
| and destroyed furniture, steering
wheel broken, smokestack crushed, a
hundred-pound Whitworth rife shot
having left Its mark from port TO star
board. the shrouds rent away. ladders
splintered and decks plowed Up, and
smoke blackened and scaided corpses
lying among these who are gasplng
their last 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
vivors Of the naval conflicts OF 1853
and 1854; 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 fotiila. hear our.
thanks! Take the benediction Of our
churches. Accept the hOSpitalitieS OF
the nation. If We had our way We
would get you not only pension, but
a home and princely wardrobe ard
an equipage and banquet while you
live, and after your departure q cata-
falQue and a mausoleum OF sculptured
marble, with a model of the ship in
which you won the day. 1t is nsid-
cred a gallant thing when, in a naval
fight, the flagship with it's blue ensign
goes ahead up river or into bay,
its admiral standing in the shrouds
watching and giving orders. But
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 a flagship sailing ahead
OF you of which Christ Is the admiral,
and ne watches from the shrouds, and
the heavens are the blue ensign, and
he leads you toward the harbor, and
all the broadsides of earth and hell
cannot damage you, and ye whose gar
ments were once red with your own
blood shall have a robe washed and
made white in the blood Of the Lamb.
Then strike eight bells! High noon in
heaven!
While We are heartily greeting and
banqueting the sailor-patriots just now
returned, we must not forget the vet
Grams of the navy row in marine hos
pitfalls, or spending their old days in
their own or their children's home
steads. Oh. We veterans. ] charge YOU
hear up under the aches and weak
nesses that you still carry from the
war times. You are not as stalwart
as you would have been but for that
nervous strain and for that terrific ex
posture. Let every ache and pain. in
stead OF depressing. remind you OF
your fidelity. The sinking Of the Wee
hawken of Morris Island, Dec. G, 1865,
was a mystery. She was not under
fire. The sea was not rough. But
Admiral Dahlgren, from the deck Of
the flag steamer Philadelphia, saw her
gradually sinking, and finally she
struck the ground. but the flag stin
fioated above the wave in sight of the.
shipping. It was afterward found that
she sank from weakness through in
juries in previous service. Her plates
hnI