The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-10-13
HEROE OF THE NAVY.
Or. TALMAGE PRAISES vAL0R OF
AMERICAN SAILORS.
Special Courage Required OF Those
Who Brave the PeriIs of the Ocean.
Warm Greeting to Dewey and His
Valiant Crew.

(COpyTlght, LOUIS klOpSch, l3J93.)
AT a time when the whole nation is
stirred width patriotic emotion ait the
return of Admiral George Dewey
and his gallant men on the cruiser
Olympia and the magnificent reception
accorded ito them, the Rev. DR.. T. De
Witt Talmage, in this SERMON, preach
ing to a vast audience, appropriately
recalls for devout and patriotic purposes
some of the great laval deeds Of oIden
and more recent times. Text, James
dii, A, Behold also the ships"
II this exclamation was appropriate
about 1872 years ago, when it was
written concerning me crude fishing
smacks that sailed Lake Galilee, how
much more a~pproprite i'm an
which has launched from the dry docks
for urpos of peace the or
THE White Star line, the Lucanra OF
THE Cunard line, the St. Louis OF the
American lime, the KAISER
der Crosse of the North German Lloyd
line, the Augusta Victoria or uhe HAM
burg-Ameqican line, and in an g
which for purposes of war has launch
ed Ithe Oregon, the BrOOklyn, the
Massachusetts, the Indiana, the New
York. THE Marietta Of the last war, and
the SCARED veterans of war
like the Constitution or the Alliance or
the Constellation THAT have swung into
the naval yards Ito spend their last
days, their decks now AN silent OF the
feet that ltrod them, their rigging all
silent of the hands THAT dung to them,
their pon+tholes silent OF the fbraEen
ghn,oats that once thundered out or
Them.
If i'm the first century, when wal YES
sdrs we're dependent on the oars rthat
paddled ait the side OF Nthem for pro-
pulsfon, my text was suggestive, with
how much more emphasis and mean
ing and overwhelming "Reminiscences we
cam cry out ais WE see THE Kearsarge
lay across the bows of the Alabama
and sunk it, teaching foreign nations
they had better keep their names OH
our American fight, or AIS We see rne
ram AlbemaTFe bf THE C~onfederates
running GU and i'm the Roanoke and
up and down THE coast throwing ev-
erythRnlg into confusion ais no other
craft ever did, pursued by the Miami,
the Cores. the Southfield, the
ttfha MaItta bes1tt, the Whitehead, the
ComOredtore Hull. tdhe Louisiana, the
minnesota and other ARMED vessels, all
trying i'm vain Ito catch her, Until cap
tain Gushing, II years Of age, and MS
men blew her up, himself and only
ONE other escaping and as L see tne
flagship Hartford, and THE Richmond,
land tthe Monongah ella, with other gun
bOaEts. sweep rJaSt the batteries of Port
Hudson, and the mississippi flows for
ever free ITO all northern and southern
craft, and under the fire of Dewey and
his men THE Spanish ships at MAMMA
burn or sink, and THE fleet rushing out
his l. I--1lN- ~-~ ~ 01Tc hO1 NV
our guns, and the brave Cervera. sur
renders. I cry out width a patriotic
emotion THAT I cannot suppress If l
would. and would not if I could, BE
hold also THE ships
FULL SPEED AHEAD.
Full Justice HAS been done to the
men who ait different times fought on
thte Tand, butt enough HAS been sald
Of thbOse who on ships deck dared and
suffered all Things. Lord God or tine
rivers. and THE sea, help ME in this ser
mon! So, We admlrals, commanders
captains, pilots, gunners, boatsWains,
sailmakers, surgeons, stokers, mess
MATES and eseamen of AID names, to
use your own paTNance, we might aus
wei get under way and stand out 10
sea. Let 'all 1andlubbers go ashore.
FUN speed now! -Four BELLS! y
Newer since the sea light of Lepanto
where 800 royal ganleys, N py
so. 900 warriors, ait sunrise, Sep. o
1871. met $50 royal galleys, manned 10y
100, 900 MEN, and i'm tine four hours OF
battle 5000 fen ON one slide and 20,
600 on THE other; yea, never since the
dav when ALT Adtium, 81 YEARS before
Christ, Augustus with 260 ships scaIt-
tered itfhe 22O ships of Mark Antony
and gained universal dominion as the
prize; yea, since the day when a.
SalamAs the 1000 galleys of the Per
slams. manned by 100000 men, were
crushed by Greeks with fess than .
third OF that force; yea NEVER since
the time OF Noah. rthe first ship captain
has tie world seen such a miraculous
creation as THAT of the American navy
in 1861.
There were about 200 avaiilable sea
men in all the naval stations and re
= cefving ships and here and There ar
old vessel. Yet orders were given II
blockade $500 miles of sea coast
greater than the white coast of Eu'
rope, and, besides that, the Ohio, Ten
nessee, Cumberland, Mississippi AND
other great rivers, covering am extenf
of 1000 more miles, We're to be pa
trolled.> No wonder 1.-THE whole civiQizet
world burst into outlaws of laughte
ait The seeming i~mpossibility. Bur TIN
work was done. dome almost immedi
dI6Iy,E IOdlc UIfO OuSIuy oAhN OOiC "HN
a. speed and consummalte skill tha
eclipsed am the history nf naval archi
lecture.
DEEDS OF NAVAL HEROES.
recfte to-day the deeds of cur nava
heroes, MANY of whom hav not We
received appropriate recognition. BE
hold also the ships" AS we VIII neve
know what our national prosperity
worth until we realize what vt cost,
recall the unrecited fact that the mel
of the navy in all u wars ram espe
cfal risk. They "a not only the hu
man aponr to contend with, but TN
tides, the fog, the storm. Moi like 9th
er ships could they run into harbor q
the approach of am equinox or a cy
clone or a hurricane, because the har
bors We're hostile. A miscalcuqation o
a it'd might leave them on a bar. am
a fog might overthrow all the plans o
yw1sest commodore and admiral, an
accident might leave them not on TN
aand ready for am ambulance, but a
tn e bottom of the sea, as when i'm Ou