The Bossier banner., 1899-11-09
"REHOLD THE SHIPS" :"
Dr.. Talmage breaches on the Glory
of the Navy.
An Appropriate Sermon for Admiral
Dewey's Home Coming - Use.
full Lessons from the Lives
of Naval Heroes.

Washington,
At time when the whole nation is
stirred with patriotic emotion at the re-
turn of Admiral George Dewey and his
gallant men on the cruiser Olympia and
the magnificent reception accorded to
them, Rev. DIR. T. Dewitt Talmage, in
this sermon, preaching to vast audi
ence, appropriately recalls for devout
and patriotic purposes some OF the
great naval deeds of olden and more re-
cent times. Text, James iii, 4: "Behold
also the ships"
If this exclamation was appropriate
about 1872 years ago, when it was writ
ten concerning the crude fishing smacks
that sailed Lake Galilee, how much |
more appropriate in an age which has
launched from the drydocks for pur-
poses 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 Hamburg
American line, and in an age which for
purposes of war has launched the Ore
gon, the Brooklyn, the Texas, the Olym-
pia, the Iowa, the Massachusetts, the
Indiana, the New York, the Marietta of
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 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 portfolios 81
lent of the braZen throats that once
thundered out of them.
| If in the first century, when war ves-
sells were dependent on the oars that
padded at the side of them for propul-
sion, my text was suggestive, with how
much more emphasis and meaning and
overwhelming Renaissance we can cry
out as we see the Kearsarga lay across
the bows OF the Alabama and sink it,
teaching foreign nations they had bet
ter keep their hands off our American
fight, or as we see the ram Albemarle
Of the confederates running out and in
the Roanoke and up and down the coast,
throwing everything into confusion as
10 other craft ever did, pursued by the
Miami, the Ceres, the Southfield, the
Sassacuss, the Mattabesett, the White
!, head, the Commodore Hull, the Louisi-
ana, the Minnesota and other armed ves-
sells, all trying in vain to catch her, un-
til Capt. Cushing, 81 years of age, and
} his men blew her up, himself and only
one other escaping. and as see the flag
ship Hartford, and the Richmond, and
the Monongahela, with other gunboats,
sweep past the batteries of Port Hud-
. son, ard the Mississippi flows forever
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 San
tiago harbor are demolished by our
guns, and the brave Cervera surrenders
| cry out with a patriotic emotion that
I cannot suppress if would, and would
not if could: 'Behold also the ships!'
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 suf
fered all things. Lord God of the rivers
! and the sea, help me in this sermon
So, we admirals, commanders, captains
: pilots, gunners, boatswains, sailmak
: ers, surgeons, stokers, messmates ant
1 seamen of all names, to use your owl
parlance, we might as well get unde,
! way and stand out to sea. Let all land
: lubbers go ashore. Full speed now
e Four bells!
: Never since the sea fight of Lepanto
s where 800 royal galleys, manned by So
l. 600 warriors, at sunrise September
: 1871, met $50 royal galleys, manned b.
:. 125,OO0 men, and in the four hours o
/ battle 5000 fell on one side and $500
h en- the other; yea, never since the da
:, when at Actium, 81 years before Chris
5. Augustus with 260 ships scattered th
s. 22O ships of Mark Antony and game
l. universal dominion as the prize; ye;
e since the day when at Salamis the Lee
ealleys of the Persians, manned b
d 100000 men, were crushed by Greek
6 with less than third of that force; We;
r never since the time of Noah, the fir:
. l snip CdptdlH, lidS Tic WOIlu SCCA SuC
d a miraculous creation as that of th
American navy in 1861.
There were about 200 available Sc,
men in all the naval stations and r
: ceiving ships, and here and there q
old vessel. Yet orders were given
= blockade 1880 miles of seacoast, great'
o. than the whole coast of Europe; an
IT besides that, the Ohio, Tennessee, Cur
u berland, Mississippi and other gre
l. rivers, covering an extent of 1000 mo
t miles, were to be patrolled. No wo
e, der the whole civilized world burst in
outlaws of laughter at the seeming j,
possibility. But the work was don
done almost Immediately, done tho
oughly and done with speed and co
summate skill that eclipsed all the b
= tory Of naval architecture.
In the cemeteries for federal al
confederate dead are the bodies Of me