The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1899-10-04

father, a boy OL your HdUlIS WAi HrFSA
command anything" And his father
burst into tears and left the cabin. From
that day David Farragut started on a
new life.
Captain Pennington, an honored elder
Of my Brooklyn church, was with him in
most Of his battles and had his intimate
friendship, and he confirmed, what | had
heard elsewhere, that Farragut was good
and Christian. In every great crisis Of
life he asked and obtained the Divine di-
rection. When IN Mobile bay the monitor
Tecumseh sank from torpedo and the
great warship Brooklyn, that was to lead
the squadron, turned back, he said he
was at a loss to know whether to adj
vance or retreat, and he says: Il prayed,
% God who created man and gave him
reason. direct me what to do. Shall l so
onY And voice commanded me. Go
on and | went on" Was. there ever a
more touching Christian letter than that
which be wrote to his wife from his flag
ship Hartford? My dearest wife
write and leave this letter for you am
going into Mobile bay in the morning if
God is my leader. and | hope he is. and
in him place my trust. If he thinks it
ready to submit to his will in that as all
other things. God bless and preserve
you, my darling. and my dear boy, il any
thing should happen to me. May his
blessings rest upon you and your dear
mother"
Cheerful to the end, he said on board
the Tallapoosa in the last voyage he ever
took, ut would be we'll if died now in
harness" The sublime Episcopal service
for the dead was never more appropriate
ly rendered than over his casket and well
did all the forts of New York harbor
thunder as his body was brought to the
wharf, and we'll did the minute guns
sound and the bells toll as in a procession
having in its ranks the President OF the
United States and his cabinet and the
mighty men of land and sea the old adj
miral was carried, amid hundreds of thou
sands of uncovered heads on Broadway,
and laid on his pillow of dust in beauti-
full Woodlawn.
But just as much am l stirred at the
scene on warship's deck before Santiago
last summer, when the victory gained for
our American flag over Spanish oppres-
sion the captain took off his nat and all
the sailors and soldiers did the same and
silently they offered thanks to Almighty
God for what had been accomplished. and
when on another ship the soldiers and
sailors were cheering as Spanish vessel
sank and its officers and crews We're
struggling in the waters and the captain
of our warship cried out Don't cheer;
the poor fellows are dying" Prayers on
deck. Prayers in the forecastle! Pray
~ho 49, H. L,
mocks! Prayers on the lookout at mid
night! The battles Of that war opened
with prayer, We're pushed on with prayer
and closed with prayer, and to-day the
American nation recalls them with
prayer.
--s-... Reception to Dewey.
We hail with thanks the new genera
ton Of naval heroes. those Of the year
1893. We are too near their marvellous
deeds to fully appreciate them. a GEN.
tury from now poetry and sculpture and
painting and history will do them better
justice than we can do them now. a de-
feat at Manila would have been an inf
mite disaster. Foreign nations not over
fond of our American institutions would
have joined the other side, and the war
raging still, and perhaps hundred thou
sand graves would have opened to take
down our slain soldiers and sailors. 1t
took this country three years to get over
the disaster at Bull Run at the opening
of the civil war. How many years it
would have required to recover from q
defeat at Manila in the opening OF the
Spanish war l cannot say. God ayerted
the calamity by giving triumph to our
navy under Admiral Dewey, whose COM
ing up through the Narrows Of New York
harbor was greeted by the nation whose
welcoming cheers will not cease to re-
sound until in the capital Of the nation
the jeweled sword voted by Congress
shall be presented amid booming cannon
ade and embannered hosts, and our al-
tumnal nights shall become a confagra-
tion of srlendor, but the tramp Of these
professions and the flash of that sword
and the huzza OF that greeting and the
roar of those guns and the illumination
Of those nights will be seen and heard
as long as q page of American history
remains inviolate.
Especially let the country boys of
America join in these greetings to the
returned heroes of Manila. It is their
work. The chief character in all the
scene is the once country lad, George
Dewey. Let the Vermonters come down
and find him older, but the same modest,
unassuming, almost bashful person that
they went to school with and with whom
they sported on the playground. The
Eonors OF al the world cannot spoil him.
a few weeks ago at a banquet in Eng
land some of the titled noblemen were
affronted because our American minis
ter plenipotentiary associated the name Of
Dewey with that Of Lord Nelson. AS
well might we be affronted because the
name of Nelson is associated with tina.
Of our most renowned admiral The one
man in all the coming ages will stand as
high as the other. So this day, synpa-
thizing with all the festivities and cele-
brations Of the past week and with all
the festivities and celebrations to come
this week, let us anew thank Goo and
those heroes Of the American navy who
have done such great things for our be-
loved land. Come aboard the old ship
Zion We sailors and soldiers, whether still
in the active service or honoraby dis
charged and at home having resumed cit