The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-10-13

in the war vessels vii not be. known
until b e gives up its dad 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 iponors 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 a
gunboat there remained the 81 ark and
the whale and the endless to 5sing of
the sea which cannot resi-. Once. a
Year. In the decoration OF the graves,
those who fen in the land were remem-
bered- But how about the graves OF
Those win went down at sea? Moth
ing but h arcfHangePs nrumpet shah
reach their fog3y bed. A few of them
were gathered into naval cemeteries of
The land. and we every year garland
the o that covers Them But who
VIII put flowers on THE fallen crew OF
the exploded Westield and Shawsheen
and the sunken SouthfieId and the
Winfield Scott? Bullets threatening I'm,
front, bombs threatening from above.
torpedOeS threatening from beneath,
and the ocean. with its reputation OF
5000 years for shipwreck, lying all
around, am I not right in saying 1t re-
qlIired a special courage for the navy
in 1863 as it required especial courage
i'm 1898.
x THE ADMIRAL.
It looks picturesque and beautiful to
see a 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 pass
ing shops, the decks Immediately
clean and the guns at quarantine firing
a parting salute. But the poetry is all
gone out of that ship as it comes out
Of that engagement, it's deck red with
human blood, wheelhouse gone, the
cabins a pile of shattered mirrors and
destroyed furniture, steering wheel
broken, smokestack crushed, a hum
dred pound Whitworth rifle shot hav-
ing left it's mark from port to star
boar, the shrouds rent away, ladders
splintered and decks plowed up and
smoke blackened and scalded corpses
lying among those who are gasping
their last gasp far away from home
n kindred, whom they love as we
love wife and parents and children. =
Oh, men of the American navy re-
turned from Manila and San iago and
Havana, as well as those who are sur
vivors of the naval conflicts of 1863
n 1854, men of the western gulf
squadron, of the eastern gulf squadron
of the South Atlantic squadron, of the
North Atlantic squadron, of h Mis-
sissippi squadron, of the Pacific squad
ron, of the West India squadron and
Of the Potomac f~1otilla, hear our
thanksi Take the benediction of our
| churches. Accept the Inequalities of
the nation. If we had our way, we
would get you not only a pension, but
a home and a princely wardrobe and
an equipage and a banquet while you
live and after your departure a cata-
falque and a manSOleum of S%culptured
marble, with a model of the ship in
which you wbn the day. 1t is consid-
cred a gallant thing when in a naval
fight the flagship with it's blue ensign
goes ahead UP a river on into a bay, it's
admiral standing in the shrouds watch
ing and giving orders. But I have to
tell you. O veterans of the American
navy, if you are as loyal to Christ as
you were to the government, there is a
flagship sailing ahead of you of which
Christ is the admiral, and he watches
from the shrouds, and the heavens are
the blue ensign, and he leads you to-
| ward the harbor, and all the broad
sides of earth and hell cannot damage
| you and We whose garments were once
red with your own blood shall have a
robe washed and made white in the
blood of the Lamb. Their strike eight
bells! High noon in heaven!
A WORD FOR VETERANS.
While we are heartily greeting and
b~anqueting the sailor patriots Just now
returned we must not forget the vet.
Grams of the navy now in marine hos
pitfalls or spending their old days ir
their own or their children's home
steads. 0 ye veterans, 7 charge you
bear up under the aches and weak
nesses that you still carry from the
WartimeS. You are not as stalwart as
you would Ave been but for that ner.
vous strain and for that terrific ex.
posture. Let every ache and pain, in
stead of depressing, remind you Of
your fidelity. You have in nerve
and muscle and Dor and dimmed eye.
sight and difficult hearing and short.
ness of breath many intimations tina
you are gradually going DOWN It il
the service of many years ago that il
telling on you. Be of good cheer. w,
w you just as much as though you
lifeblood had gurgled through the soup
pers of h ship in the Red river expe
dition or as though you had gone down
With the Melville off Hatteras. On,
keep your flag flying, as did the illus
trious W~eehawken. Good cheer, m.
boysl The memory of man is poor
and all that talk about the countr,
eve forgetting those who fought 70
it is an untruth. 1t does forget. Wit
ACoS " lhC NCLCId Oils SOIIlGlll1GS Idt
to turn the hand organs on the stree
to get their families a living. Wit
ness how ruthlessly some of them wer
turned out Of office that some bloat O
a politician might take their place
Witness the fact that there is not
man or woman now under Is years O
G who has any full appreciation O
the four years m~artyrdom OF 1861 t
1865, inclusive. But while men ma,
forget, God never forgets. He remem
bers the swinging hammock. He re
members h ~forecastle. He remem
bers the frozen ropes of that Januar
tempest. He remembers the amputa
ton without sufficient ether. He re
members the horrors of that d~eafenin
night when forts from both sides belch
ed on you their fury and t~heheaven
glowed with ascending and descend
ing missiles of death and your shi
quaked under the recoil of the one hun
dred FOUNDER, while all the gunner
according to command, stood on tir
toe, with mouth wide open, lest tn
conclusion shatter hearing or brain
He remembers it all better than yo