The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-05-12
THE ROMANCE OF THE SEA.

| Some of the greatest among men have spoken and written regarding the mate
 rial progress of mankind as if every
 new invention for shortening distance, for economizing time or labor and h.
 creasing production were but another step in the direction of eliminating TO-
 nance from the weary world.
 Especially has this been said of sea
 traffic. We are asked to believe that in | the tiny vessels of Magalhaens the pes | tilential hulls of Ansons squadron, or
 the cumbrous wooden walls of Trafal-
 gar there dwelt romance which is now
 non-existent at sea-that the introduce
 ton of the steam driven ship has been
 fatal to a quality which in truth be- longs not at all to material things, but holds his splendid court in the minds of men. Do they, these mourners over de- { parted romance hold, then that misery
 is essential to romance? Is is essential
 to romantic interest at sea that because
 of the smallnesS of the ships, their lack | of heathful food, their clumsinesS Of build and snaillike progress, men should
 suffer horribly and die miserably? Tru- ! ly, if these things are necessary in order 1 that romance shall flourish, we may
 find them still among us both at sea
 and on land, though, happily, in ever
 lessening proportion to an improved or
 der of things.
 But sober consideration will surely convince us that as far as true romance 1 is concerned the modern ironclad war
 ship, for instance, need abate no jot Of her claim to the three decker of last century or the Great Harry of our in 1 fant navy. The sight of a fifteen thou
 sand ton battleship cleared for action and silently dividing the ancient sea in her swift rush to meet the foe not
 man visible anywhere about her. but all grim, adamantiae, and awe inspiring in what is she less romantic than the Victory under all canvas breaking the line at Trafalgar? As an incentive to the exercise of the imagination the iron clad certainly claims first place. Like some fire breathing dragon of ancient fable she comes, apparently by her own volition, armed with powers of destruc- tion overlapping all the efforts of an- cient story-tellers. Yet to the initiated she is more wonderful, more terror
 striking than to the unknowing obser- yer. For the former pierce with the eye
 of knowledge her black walls of steel,
 and see within them hundreds of quiet,
 self-possessed men standing calmly by
 gun -breech ammunition hoist, firehose
 and hospital Deep under the water-
 line are scores of fiercely toling slaves
 to the gigantic force that actuates the
 whole mass. Hardly recognizable as
 human sealed up in stokeholes under
 pressure of several atmospheres, the
 clang of their weapons never ceases as they feed the long row of caverns glow ing white with fervent heat. All around
 them and beneath them and above, clearly to be discerned through all the
 diabolical clamor of engines and roar ing of furnaces, is that sense of invisi- ble forces subdued by the hand of man
 yet ferociously striving against re- straint, a sense that makes the head of the newcomer throb and beat in sympa- thy until it seems as if the brain must burst its containing bone.
 Just abaft these chambers of accumu- lating energy are the giants being fed thereby. Unhappy the man who can see no romance in the engine room! Moth ing exalting soul stirring. in the rhyth- mical race of weariless pistonS, no storm song in their magnificent voices as they dash round the shaft at ninety revolutions a minute. Standing amid these modern genii to which those of "The Thousand and One Nights are but puny weddings, the sight, the senses are held captive, fascinated by so splendid manifestation of the com bination of skill and strength. And | when unwillingly the gazer turns away, | there are the men; the grimy, greasy, | sweat stained men. Watchful, patient, | catlike. Ready at the first hint either | from the racing Titans themselves or | from the soaring bridge away up yon- der in the night, to manipulate lever, throttle valve and auxiliares as swiftly, | deftly and certainly as the great sur geon handles his tools in contact with the silent, living form under his hands
 What a lesson on faith is here Faith | in the workmanship of the complicated | monsters they control, faith in one an- other to do the right thing at the right | moment, when a mistake would mean faith in the watcher above who is guiding the whole enormous mass amid dangers seen and unseenl | This, too Is no blind faith, no mere ere dOlty It IS porn or KnOWledge, ana the of its being misplaced | must be constantly in mind in order to insure effective service in time of dieas- ter It would surely be a good thing if more poetry were written on the lines of "McAndrew's Hymn" always sup posing the poets could be found; greater efforts made to acquaint us who lead comfortable lives ashore with the every day heroism of the continual burnt Of- ferng rendered by the engineer fireman and trimmer, Perhaps we might then begin to discern dimly and faintly that so far from the romance of the sea be- ing destroyed by the marine engine, it has, been strengthened and added to un- til it is deeper and truer than ever
 And as with the men in the bowels of the ship so with those above, Com such a weapon of war as hint ed at in the preceding lines see the cen tral figure in his tower of steel, sur by telephones, electric bells and voice tubes! Every portion of the ship, with it's groups of faithful waiting men, is within reach of his whisper. Behind