Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-07-24

very valuable cargo. Have You stopped
TO consider why great Cunard or
White Star transatlantic steamer
spends as much time by her dock as I'm
travelling the high seaS7 Ills true some
OF that time must be given TO clean
Ing up the ship, but most OF II IL snas'
In loading and unloading the carsvcs.
The massive walls OF a building rest
upon deep foundations. The huge
masts and upper decks of great
steamer must have deep hull. This
hull must be filed with ballast. or else
the ship would soon topple over. This
ballast is composed of boxes filed with
merchandise or hundreds of bags Of
mail, OF steel from Birmingham works
and linens from the Irish mills, silks
from France and wines from Italy, art
treasures as well as expensive furni-
ture and clothes.
Then food must be provided for the
passengers aud the crew and huge car
goes of coal 10 keep the engines in mo-
ton. One is amazed at the thousands
of tons OF coal which a ship like the
Kaiser Wilhelm ii. carries at the be-
ginning OF its passage across the At
naces seem TO be Unsuitable. Their hun.
ger is never satisfied. Relays OF dust
begrimed stokers are shoveling the coal
day in and day out. But what about
the enormous mass OF food which must
be provided for the hungry human pas
sengers and crew? Those who live
above and below n grea. ships deck
are not to be numbered by the scores.
but by the hundreds. On the last voy-
age ] made from England there were
nearly 1900 human beings aboard.
Then there may be millions Of dollars
worth Of bullion aboard. The clearing
houses OF the two continents are con-
tinually adjusting claims. Money from
America going to Europe. Gold and sill
yer from Europe coming TO America.
The average steamer plying the Allan.
tic is not TO be despised. Its successful
voyage means life to hundreds. Its do
struction may mean death alike TO pas
sengers and crew and destruction 10
all the freight.
Safeguards OF the Voyage.
Does not each human craft carry a
valuable cargo? What about the
money which Is intrusted to a mans
care? If the cashier OF a bank alb
seconds and the bank has 10 close It's
door who suffers? Is II not the poor
widow and orphan. the old man who
has trustfully placed in the bank the
savings OF a lifetime SO that he can
have something in his old age and
money enough TO buy him casket and
a grave when he is dead? What hap
pens when n human craft founders and
sinks into the great sea OF sin? Does
ii not nearly always destroy many bu-
man lives which are dependent upon
its existence? What became OF nearly
all the ships crews and passengers
which were sunken Mt sea? What be-
came OF those who set sail from
Charleston. 5. c., in the boat which
carried the beautiful daughter OF
Aaron Burr, who was never heard OF
again? Those ships not only went
down, but they took most of their pas
sengers and crews with them. oh.
know lifebosts and life preservers are
provided by law on every boat to
guard against accidents. But, as a
rule, they do but little good. BY the
time the hurricane has completed Its
work the lifcboats are splintered. and
by the time the tornado OF sin has
wrecked human craft II not only de-
stroys a father and a husband, but also
all those whose existenccs arc depend
ent upon his life. One OF the bravest
scenes ever witnessed was that In ss-
moa harbor, when few years ago the
famous cyclone destroyed many lives.
When an English man-of.war was able
TO get up enough steam 20 head out 10
sea, the American sailors OF n sinking
ship began 10 cheer their English
cousins. IL was brave cheer. When
those sailors cheered they knew they
were on n sinking ship. and therefore
most OF them would be drowned. Let
us. as human crafts. beware how we
elbow ourselves TO sink into the seq OF
sin and destroy those loved ones who
are standing upon our upper decks.
The signal OF Distress.
The human vessels should be willing
20 stop and help those sister crafts
which are lifting their signals OF dis
tress. Why? Because distress and
need give a man an inalienable claim
Is that claim recognized so surely aud
so promptly as on the high seas. A.
sailor on the ocean Will never turn a
deaf ear 10 booming gun or shut his
eyes TO an Inverted flag or TO a white
handkerchief or cloth fiutterlng over a
raft or derelict. No sooner docs the
lookout cry, "Ship on starboard bow,
and believe IL n wreck than the cap
tain and the mates and the boatswains
and the common sailors will turn their
anxious faces toward the black object
floating upon the edge OF the horizon.
II there should be but one human be-
Ing aboard that doomed craft, five, ten,
fifteen-aye. l believe practically all
the members OF the crew will be willing
to risk their lives 10 save that one life.
/ never yet read OF n ship upon the
highways OF the sea that would not 60.
II possible, TO rescue the crew OF a sink
Ing ship. / never yet heard OF any sea
captain compelling his sailors to go to
the rescue. All that the mates have to do
under such conditions is TO call for vol
unteers and every lifeboat will be man.
ned and every oar held In firm grip.
oh, my dear friends, why is not a hu-
man being upon the land ready to an
swer signals OF distress raised by his
fallen brethren. as the sailors upon the
sea try to help those who are In dis
tress? Do not the whirlwinds OF disas-
ter shrek and howl and sweep up the
streets of a great city as we'll as among
the archipelagoes OF Mediterranean?
When. some years ago. dark, funnel
shaped cloud swiftly approached st.
Louis and in an instant broke and de-
stroyed whole streets and buried many
a corpse under the debris, did Il wreck
any more lives than do the cyclones
OF sin which are daily destroying the
hundreds and thousands OF young men
and women? Every city has its two
sides-its light side and dark side; its
pure side and its morally diseased side;
its Christian side and its internal side;
its happy side and its despairful side.
Shall we who profess to love God and
are living in health and strength have
nothing TO do with those who are fly