Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-10-02
HEROES OF THE NAVY
DR.. TALMAGE PRAISES VALOR OF
AMERICAN SAILORS.
Special Courage Required of Those
Who Brave the Perils of the Ocean.
Warm Greeting to Dewey and His
. Valiant Crew.
copyright, Louis Klopsch, 1897

when the whole nation is stirred with
patriotic emotion at the return Of Ad
miral George Dewey and his gallant
men on the cruiser Olympia and the
magnificent reception accorded to
them, the Rev. DR.. T. De Witt Tai
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 i'll, 4,
~'Behold also the ships"
If this exclamation was appropriate
about 1872 years ago. when it 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-American line. and in an age
which for purposes of war has launch
ed the Oregon, the Brooklyn. the
Texas, the Olympia, the Iowa, the
Massachusetts, the Indiana, the New
York, the Marietta of the last war, and
the SCARED veterans Of war shipping.
like the Constitution or the Alliance OF
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 chung to them.
their portfolios silent of the brazen
Threats that once Numbered out Of
them.
If in the first century, when war YES
sells were dependent on the oars that
paddled at the side of them for pro-
pulsion, my text was suggestive, with
how much more emphasis and mean
ing and overwhelming "Reminiscences we
can cry out as we see the kearSarge
lay across the bows of the Alabama
and sink it. teaching foreign nations
they had better 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 ev
erything into confusion as no other
craft ever did. pursued by the Miami,
the Ceres, the Southfield. the Sassacus.
the Mattabesett. the Whitehead. the
Commodore Hull, the Louisiana. the
Minnesota and other armed vessels, ali
trying in vain to catch her. until Cap
tain Gushing, 81 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 Monongahela, 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, l cry out with n patriotic
emotion that I cannot suppress if |
would, and would not if l 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
suffered all things. Lord God of the
rivers and the sea, help me in this ser
mon! So, We admirals, commanders.
captains, pilots. gunners, boatswains.
sailmakers, 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 all landlubbers go ashore.
Full speed ndNI Four bells.
cir f11n fob Of T mt
where 300 royal galleys, manned by
$4,000 warriors, at sunrise, Sept 6,
1871, met go royal galleys, manned by
100000 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, 81 years before
Christ, Augustus with 260 ships scat
tered the 900 ships of Mark Antony
and gained universal dominion as the
prize; yea, since the day when at
Salamis the 1000 galleys of the Per-
slams, 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 1000 more miles, were to be pa
trolled. No wonder the whole civilized
world burst into outlaws Of laughter
at the seeming impossibility. But the